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Tag: Etim Etim

  • NNPC: From monopoly to monopsony – By Etim Etim

    NNPC: From monopoly to monopsony – By Etim Etim

    By Etim Etim

    Very few business organizations are as lucky as NNPCL, Nigeria’s state-owned oil company, founded over 50 years ago. Since its founding, the corporation has consistently failed to perform its basic functions and meet its organizational objectives; and rather than being liquidated or put up for sale for these failures, NNPC routinely undergoes some form of moulting, shedding its skin and assuming a new look. The façade might look brilliant, but it’s only skin-deep. NNPC was founded about the same time, or earlier than successful global state-owned oil companies like Saudi Aramco, owned by Saudi government; Petronas (Malaysian government; Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil, owned by Norway) and Petrobras, owned by Brazil. While these other ones have grown into transnational giants with oil fields and refineries across the globe, NNPC has become a cesspool of corruption, incompetence and decadence. But the corporation is very adept at playing games and worming itself into the heart of politicians, just to stay alive. This month, the government changed its status as a monopolist, responsible for sole importation of petroleum products, to a monopsonist, the sole buyer of Dangote Refinery’s petrol. NNPC is the ultimate amoeba of Corporate Nigeria, and the implications are worrisome.

    It was Aliko Dangote himself that announced that the federal government has mandated the NNPC to be the sole off-taker for petrol from his refinery. It has many implications for availability and pricing of the product. After many years of operating as an inefficient, corruption-ridden monopolist, exclusively importing fuel for years, the corporation has just turned a monopsonist – a single buyer of Dangote’s petrol. In many economies, monopolies enjoy high profits and sometimes efficiency due to lack of competition, but in the case of NNPC, Nigerians were served with persistent fuel scarcity; inefficient business models and opacity in operations. If the corporation could not deliver imported fuel to Nigerians, what’s the guarantee that it will manage the distribution of Dangote petrol without hiccups? How did NNPC incur a $6 billion indebtedness to its offshore petrol suppliers when its local customers were even paying in advance for the products? This indebtedness has cut off petrol supplies into the country and led to the acute scarcity we have today. What is the guarantee that NNPC will not owe Dangote and mess up fuel distribution in the country?

    The inefficiencies inherent in its operations would greatly impede NNPC’s capacity to purchase and distribute products to other retailers. How would the transactions be funded? Credit sales? Bank credit? IOUs? Is the corporation credit worthy? Note that the Dangote Group is still indebted to the tune of about $3 billion to some Nigerian banks, being part of the loans secured to fund the construction of the complex. Can the Group therefore afford to be further weighed down with an indeterminable exposure to a dysfunctional state enterprise? In its 2023 audited annual report, the corporation announced that it spent a whopping N7 billion on unspecified items lumped as ‘’others’’, while N10 billion was spent on NNPC Foundation. What constitutes the ‘’others’’? Such opacity is not permitted in modern business practices driven by good corporate governance.

    As a sole off-taker, NNPC has become a major determiner of petrol price at fuel stations across the country. This is why Mr. Dangote could not announce the price at which his product would be selling at the pumps. ‘’That depends on NNPC’’, he told reporters last Monday when asked the retail pump price, adding, ‘’the Federal Executive Council has asked the NNPC to determine the price’’. In other words, the country is still in a situation in which the government, instead of the market, remains the fixer of petrol price. That puts the Tinubu administration in a bind, with the immediate consequence being that the government will continue to face the wrath of labour unions whenever prices move up.

    Petrol subsidy was expected to die a natural death as full deregulation kicks in once the Dangote Refinery commences production. The government was expected to completely hand off price-fixing duties; and allow the regulators to oversight the business, the way the CBN manages the banking industry.  But since NNPC is still involved as a buyer’s monopoly (another name for monopsony), the refinery might be ‘squeezed’ to settle at a controlled price. Alternatively, the government may continue to subsidize the product – buy high from the refinery and sell lower to Nigerians. Either way, a pricing dispute between the refinery and NNPC is inevitable, and that would be bad for Dangote. In trying to fend off pressures from labour and motorists, the government may shift the blame on Dangote for being excessive in its pricing, instigating the regulators in the mid-stream and low-stream segments of the market (who had never been particularly fond of Aliko Dangote and his refinery) to clamp down on the business mogul. I pity Aliko Dangote. His patriotism has become his albatross. He can’t say ‘’No’’ to this government; and the President, being the Minister of Petroleum, doesn’t brook disagreement. Interesting days are ahead!

    My take is that NNPC should no longer enjoy any monopolistic or monopsonist status because it is incapable of managing its own affairs. Its bloated, inept, crooked and opaque.  Dangote Refinery should be allowed the freedom to appoint as many off-takers or distributors as possible.  In fact, there’s no reason why the refinery cannot even own its own filling stations either solely or in partnership with existing outlets, and sell directly to Nigerians, as it happens in other countries. Nigerians have expected that the new refinery will end perennial fuel scarcity and long queues. My hope has been that petrol would hover between N500 and N700 per litre at the pumps. But with this new arrangement of inserting NNPC into the mix, the prospects are daunting.

  • SAP, Renewed Hope and the lessons of history – By Etim Etim

    SAP, Renewed Hope and the lessons of history – By Etim Etim

    By ETIM ETIM

    Karl Marx once told us that history repeats itself, first as a tragedy and second as a farce. George Santanya put it differently. ‘’Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’’. Does history repeat itself in Nigeria? Let’s examine recent developments. General Ibrahim Babangida came to power in August 1985 and in 1986, he launched an ambitious economic policy known as Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). The core thrust of SAP was to diversify the economy away from hydrocarbon; create an industrial base that relies on domestic raw materials; deregulate the economy and liberalize the foreign exchange market. Privatization and commercialization were also integral its integral component.

    At the first auction of the dollar at the newly introduced foreign exchange market (FEM) late 1986, the Naira plummeted from 0.8 Naira to the dollar to N4.0 to the dollar. It was the first official devaluation of the Nigerian currency since it was introduced and adopted as our legal tender on January 1, 1973. The steady depreciation of the Naira against the dollar and other major international currencies under SAP brought considerable hardships to businesses and the people, just as we have today. Raw materials and manufacturing inputs became too expensive to import, leading to factory closures; massive layoffs and departures of foreign-owned companies. Notable foreign businesses like Pfizer; Hoechst AG and the Dutch electronics giant, Philips left the country, similar to what’s going on now.

    Nigerians were groaning as SAP bit harder and harder and there were complaints and grumblings all over the country, just as today, as local businesses were closing in droves. Meanwhile, the military top brass in government continuously asked people to bear with the government, make sacrifices and tighten their belts, but at the same time, they were wallowing in comfort and luxury. In 1989, violent riots broke out spontaneously in Lagos, Ibadan and some parts of the country.

    Tagged ‘’SAP riots’’, the protests spread rapidly, but there were no known organizers or leaders. There was no social media then; but words moved around quickly through the whisper network.

    Suddenly, a huge rumour emerged that Ebony magazine, the American celebrity magazine, had published an interview with Dr. Tai Solarin in which the social critic and human rights crusader had reportedly divulged that huge amount of dollars had been found in General Babangida’s foreign account. Nigerians rushed and bought off copies of the magazines, but it turned out that there was no such interview in it.

    The military government went into an overdrive, trying to manage the crisis. The government reached out to the editors of the publication in Illinois, Chicago, and convinced them to issue a disclaimer. The magazine obliged, stating categorically that no such interview was carried. But the damage has been done. Mind you, Ebony has before then been enjoying generous advertising support from the government.  Founded in November, 1945, Ebony focuses on chronicling and promoting the life and contributions of African Americans in the US. It used to be very popular in Nigeria, together with Time and Newsweek. It is an incredible turn of events that these magazines are no longer circulating in Nigeria due to the foreign exchange crisis which started with SAP.

    The Babangida regime was rattled by SAP riots, just as the Tinubu administration was unsettled by the recent protests tagged ‘’End Bad Governance Protests’’.  The following year (1990), there was a bloody military coup attempt to decapitate the IBB junta, hastening the movement of the nation’s capital to Abuja in 1991. Now, what are the striking similarities between the two epochs and what historical lessons can we draw?

    First: The technocrats in the SAP era persistently assured us that the programme was the only panacea Nigeria had. ‘’There is no alternative to SAP’’ was the common refrain. IBB’s first Finance Minister, Dr. Idika Kalu Idika, who was later succeeded by Dr. SP Chu Okongwu, was an ardent SAP advocate. Both were Ivy League-trained economists and IMF and World Bank-honed technocrats. They preached and believed in the wonders of neoliberal economic theories. Complementing their efforts was Chief Olu Falae, who was the Secretary to the Military Government. A Yale alumnus, he was also an unrepentant SAP apostle. Together, they sold SAP to Nigerians like proselytizing clergies, telling us that SAP would work. They asked Nigerians to continue to make sacrifices, bore the pains and tightened their belts. Today, the two main technocrats in the Tinubu administration, Wale Edun and Yemi Cardoso as well as other professionals are busy assuring us that the Renewed Hope hardships would soon fade away, to give way to an era of economic boom. I don’t know if anybody believes them, but selling hope is always the easiest part of governance in this country, and more often than not, the technocrats are the major salesmen.

    Second: Just as IBB, the Tinubu administration is bent on pushing through his agenda, no matter the agonies. The withdrawal of fuel subsidy and the massive depreciation of the Naira by last year have wrought the severest economic crisis this country have ever seen. In his eight-year rule, IBB withdrew fuel subsidy three times, (there were calls for ‘’SAP to have a human face’’), but the hunger, desperation and despondency in the population were not this brutal. Or is my memory failing me?

    Third: This is not the first time there’ve been exodus of foreign firms from the country due to economic meltdown. By the very nature of their operations, these foreign businesses rely solely on imported raw materials, imported packages and imported inputs – without the slightest effort at backward integration – to conduct their businesses in Nigeria. To that extent, they are prone to serious exchange rate risks that crystallize whenever there are some external shocks in the economy. They are not here to stay because they are fair weather friends (assuming you can even call them friends). It’s therefore not a surprise that they’re taking off again. I’m rather surprised that Nigerian investors are not moving quickly to take their places.

    Four: As SAP bit harder and harder, IBB was spending heavily and lavishly to maintain his stay in office. But in those days, the official vehicle of the Head of State was Peugeot 504 salon car! I don’t know what they drive these days, but with recent acquisitions, President Tinubu is indulging in the most lavish lifestyle unseen since 1999. New presidential aircraft; new presidential limousines; new residence for the Vice President, frequent foreign medical trips, etc; and the citizens are told to keep sacrificing!

    Looking back, historians believe that SAP would have succeeded but for the pervasive corruption of that era. What will they write about Renewed Hope?

  • Family, friends remember Wigwe on posthumous birthday; but where is Lagos Governor? – By Etim Etim

    Family, friends remember Wigwe on posthumous birthday; but where is Lagos Governor? – By Etim Etim

    By Etim Etim

    Six months after his tragic death in a helicopter accident in California, eminent banker, Dr. Herbert Wigwe was celebrated by his family, friends and associates on his posthumous birthday on Thursday, August 15.  In the privacy of their homes, they sang and prayed for his soul, children and relatives and in emotional public statements published in many newspapers, they were effusive in their outpouring of love and grief. Herbert died with his wife, Chizoba and son Chizi. Herbert’s friend, Abimbola, and the two pilots of the chopper, also perished. May their precious souls continue to rest in peace.

    In a highly expressive statement written in the form of a letter to their departed son whom they fondly called ‘’Gege Papa’’ and released this morning, Herbert’s aged parents, Pastor Stella and Pastor Shyngle Wigwe write, ‘’words cannot express the depth of our love for you and the immense void your absence has left in our hearts. Today, 58 years ago, God blessed us with the precious gift of you, our beloved Gege. Though your departure was sudden and heartbreaking, we find solace in knowing that only the Almighty can mend our shattered hearts’’. They described him as ‘’extraordinary and remarkable son’’ and thanked God for his life. Reading the full message from Herbert’s parents is choking, and it’s clear that the Wigwes are still hurting. Indeed, there is no greater pain to a parent than the loss of a child. I experienced it 25 years ago; and I pray that nobody should experience it.

    Herbert was born at Island Maternity Hospital in Lagos on January 15, 1966 at a momentous  period in Nigeria’s political history. On that day, the country witnessed its first military coup, a bloody event that set off a chain reaction from which the nation has yet fully recovered. He died in the night of February 9, 2024, in California (early morning of February 10 Nigerian time). Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had pledged at Herbert’s Nights of Tributes held at the Eko Convention Center, Victoria Island, Lagos, on March 4, to immortalize the departed business icon on the Lagos Island since ‘’he is an Island boy’’. The historic import of the statement was not lost on many in the cavernous hall that evening and I hope that the governor will make good his promise.

    The part of Lagos State known as Lagos Island (Isale Eko in Yoruba) is a sprawling, crowded settlement well known as the native land of the indigenes of the city.  Over the years, it has become a melting pot for Nigerians from different parts of the country and the center of culture, history and unabashed hedonism that give Lagos its uniqueness. My parents-in-law, from what is today Delta State, grew up on the Island, and so are millions of Nigerians from all over the country, some of whom had made the Island their permanent home.

    It is in the Lagos Island that freed slaves from Brazil settled when they returned to what was then a British colony – a piece of history still ingrained in the architecture and some family names. It was on the Island that Dr. Herbert Macaulay, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the other founding fathers of the country began their political career and the long fight for the independence of our nation.

    Historically, Lagos as we know it today has its origins in the Island, and this explains why the governor’s pledge to establish a memorial for Herbert over there carried a ring of historic importance. The governor was well applauded for the pledge in particular and for the searing tribute he gave in which he recalled his close relationship with the late banker. He had known Herbert for 34 years and Herbert had supported his governorship campaign generously and also support his administration through many financial initiatives, the governor announced. I enjoin Mr. Sanwo-Olu to fulfil this promise soon.

    Herbert’s younger brother, Emeka, had cut short his trip to the US days earlier to enable him spend time with his parents and coordinate the family’s activities on this memorial day. He wrote: ‘’As I pen these words in on what would have been your 58th birthday, the weight of your absence weighs heavy on my heart. It feels as though a piece of the world has been taken with you, leaving a void that can never be filled’’. I have spoken with Emeka fairly a few times since his brother’s death, and it seems to me that he’s still inconsolable and devastated.

    From Access Nation, comprising the over 28,000 men and women who work in the bank, the parent company and its many subsidiaries, came an early morning message released by Company Secretary Sunday Ekwochi, at 12.09am today. ‘’On this day, we remember the laughter, the shared moments and the countless ways you touched our lives. You may not be here to blow out the candles, but we will always honour your light that continues to shine brightly in our lives’’, it reads.

    I published my own message in the form of a poem at 12.11am. The first stanza read: ‘’A leader, a mentor, a fearless warrior. Your presence is still felt, though you are out of sight. I remember you every day, and specially on your first posthumous birthday…’’. I added in the middle of the text: ‘’your energy, wisdom and kindness, I still recall’’.

    Wigwe University and his foundation, The HOW Foundation, will remain two Herbert’s most enduring legacy. In a joint statement, titled ‘’Happy Birthday in Memoriam’’, the two institutions write, ‘’though you are no longer with us, your fearless commitment to excellence and humanity and continues to inspire and guide us. We celebrate your visionary leadership and the countless lives you touched. We shall remain steadfast in our dedication in carrying forward your extraordinary legacy’’.

    From the family of Nigeria’s former Petroleum Minister, Chief Dan L.  Etete came a soothing word of consolation to the Wigwes. Signed by the patriarch, Chief Etete himself, the prominent Odi, Kolokoma family wrote, ‘’We stand with the Wigwe Family, as we honour and remember our dearest father, son, brother and friend, Dr. Herbert O. Wigwe, CFR, a true icon and legend on his first posthumous birthday. Herbert was a perfect man and very dear to so many people. A very prosperous, and kindhearted man’’.

    Truly, a life of impact that touches lives will always endure long after the body has gone.

  • 40 years of punditry – By Etim Etim

    40 years of punditry – By Etim Etim

    By Etim Etim

    The month of August is typically filled with celebrations in my household – a wedding anniversary and two birthdays; but this year, there’s additional reason for a drink. It is the 40th anniversary of my debut as an opinion writer. It was in August 1984 that my first opinion piece appeared on the op-ed page of The Guardian newspaper – beginning what has turned out to be a lifelong passion.

    Titled ‘’The way we are’’, the piece was a piercing review of the insincerity within the Buhari military government. The Nigerian Prisons Service had taken out several pages in newspapers to advertise for tender for the supply of firewood to prisons across the country, essentially undermining a national campaign against deforestation, launched earlier in the year by the same government, to check desertification in the North and erosion in the South. In my young mind (I was only 23, going to my final undergrad year), I could sense internal conflict within the government that had prided itself as a no-nonsense disciplinarian out to correct the ills of the society.

    How could a government launch and fund such a massive campaign, asking citizens to plant trees and protect environment, and at the same time, a department in the same government is seeking contractors to supply firewood to be used for cooking food for millions of prisoners. From where would the firewood come?  The article, I understood, caused some dismay within the Buhari/Idiagbon government and triggered a search for alternative cooking fuels in the prisons.

    Since that first outing, I have been writing regularly, virtually on every subject under the sun – apart from religion – asking questions, criticizing, analyzing, proffering solutions and taking leaders to task. I have found no other art more innervating than writing. It is, indeed, one of God’s noblest gifts to humanity and it has given me a voice to refine my ideas and reach out to the world.

    A lot has happened since then. The ownership, composition and structure of the media have changed considerably, just as the character of the newsroom and the production processes of news have also been transformed.  But the most fundamental change was wrought by  the Internet and subsequent births of the social media and online publications. The media now includes a wide range of electronic platforms, while journalism has a new variant known as ‘’citizen journalism’’, which is practiced by anybody with a handheld device. As a citizen-journalist, you don’t have to possess a formal or on-the-job training on the rudiments of journalism before you create a sensation. This variant has done a great disservice to the profession because it has little or no regard to ethics and standards.

    Social media has also diminished kingdoms and dethroned emperors. When I wrote my first piece, the publisher was worshipped as an emperor and the editor venerated as a king. That era is long gone. The influential person is no longer a publisher or the editor with a daily print run of 400,000 copies. We now have young social media ‘influencers’ with over five million followers on Instagram or Tiktok.  Brands flock to them for endorsements, while newspapers scrounge for obituaries to survive.

    Writers and readers now have bigger access to national platforms. When I debuted, it was hard for the editorial page editor to accept your work for publication. The copy had to be typed double-spaced and posted (or hand delivered) to the newspaper, addressed to the Editor. I posted mine at Uyo post office. Hundreds of such mails were received daily and you would be both lucky and outstandingly good to be chosen for publication. Today, there are many online publications to write for and any piece, whether good, sensational or simply fake, could go ‘viral’, reaching millions of readers. The tyranny of the publisher and his editor has been broken!

    With the growth of social media, a new ‘industry’ has emerged within the media:  the production and distribution of unsubstantiated information. Whether it is disinformation, misinformation, malinformation or fake news, these materials are created and deliberately spread by competitors, divorced spouses, jilted lovers, aggrieved former employees or other persons to damage reputation of certain persons, brands or destroy businesses. Even the dead are not spared! Fake news makes truth hard to find and could also be one of the leading sources of danger to personal security and health. The ongoing violent riots in the UK were caused by the spread of fake news! Thankfully, the traditional media and some reputable online publications have remained impenetrable to fake news; and so, they are important source of news and information to the few that controls the most.

    Forty years ago, columnists, opinion writers and pundits were fewer in number, but more influential than they are today. The military generals in power then, ever so eager to gain legitimacy, were attentive to what the pundits wrote. They read everything, and sometimes, responded harshly. But these days, I wonder whether our ‘democrats’ even read newspapers. While the military administrators were scared of negative public perception that could trigger a revolt within and outside the barracks, today’s ‘democrats’ are not bothered by our opinions because they do not owe their legitimacy to public acceptance. Many of them did not even get into office through a legitimate electoral process, and so the peoples’ voice doesn’t matter.

    Reflecting on the essence of my maiden article, I marvel at how unchanged the character of the Nigerian government has been these past 40 years. It is still full of duplicity, hypocrisy and deceit. Officials inflict hardship on the people; ask them to tighten their belt and make sacrifices, while they revel in opulence and luxury, living large on the treasury. The way we are!

  • Why are banks against windfall tax? – By Etim Etim

    Why are banks against windfall tax? – By Etim Etim

    By Etim Etim

    On Wednesday, July 31, two senior bankers, Tony Elumelu, Chairman of UBA Group and Ladi Balogun, Group Chief Executive of FCMB Holdings, walked into President Tinubu’s office to talk to him about the proposed 70 per cent windfall tax be imposed on banks’ super profits by the government. Accompanied by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minster of the Economy, Wale Edun and chairman of FIRS, Zacheus Adedeji, the two bank chiefs, tried to convince the president to backdown from imposing such a stringent levy on profits made by the banks from foreign exchange revaluation that arose from the devaluation of the naira last financial year.

    Both bankers were in fact nominated by the industry to meet the president on its behalf and convince him of the need to withhold assent to the 2024 Finance Bill which contains the controversial 70 per cent tax. It is doubtful that the bankers were successful in their mission, according to my informed sources. The president, I was told, welcomed them warmly, but politely turned down their request, lecturing them on why the banks should be prepared to contribute much more to reviving the economy. The government, facing severe fiscal crisis due to steady decline in oil revenues in the last several years, believes that the windfall tax will rake in enough revenue to cover a good portion of the deficit in the 2024 budget.

    Following the massive devaluation of the naira against the dollar (and other foreign currencies) last year, individuals and businesses that had dollars in their bank accounts suddenly found themselves richer by over 100 per cent in naira terms. For the banks which traditionally have large foreign currency holding, the revaluation automatically translated into massive gains and sharp increase in their profits in 2023 FY – some as high as 200 per cent jump from the 2022 figures. It is on this extraordinary gain that the government wishes to impose the 70% tax, in addition to the 30% corporate tax that the banks had already paid.

    But the banks are against the draconian levy and their argument is that the tax could significantly reduce profits available to cover non-performing loans and maintain regulatory capital requirements. Reduced profitability, they argue, poses huge risk to the financial stability of the industry, especially to lenders who are already operating close to regulatory thresholds. ‘’Many manufacturers in the country are already declaring huge losses due to this same foreign exchange revaluations. What that tells me is that these companies are no longer able to service their loans; these loans are already being classified and are going bad; and the banks will soon take huge write downs on these loans’’, said an executive director in charge of corporate banking in one of the big banks. In other words, today’s super profits will turn into losses tomorrow in the industry.

    Another argument is that it is counterproductive to tax banks’ profit while the CBN has recently increased the minimum share capital for all categories of banks. ‘’The profit comes from the capital, and a further tax on profit is tantamount to taxing capital that we are trying to raise’’, said a chief financial officer in a bank. There are also the investor sentiments. Banks’ share prices have been falling – by between 10% and 15% – since the National Assembly passed the bill three weeks ago. ‘’The uncertainty this announcement has created is not good for investors’ confidence in the system’’, a bank chief executive told me.

    The fact that this tax is imposed retroactively has also raised concerns about its fairness and appropriateness. It is a well-established principle in law that no act of parliament should take retroactive effect. The FIRS is well aware of this in the various litigations it’s been involved in. In one such case (FIRS vs ACUGAS), the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, 27 June 2022, ruled that the FIRS and the Attorney General (the plaintiffs) acted unlawfully by applying the provisions of Finance Act 2019 to transactions that occurred before January 13 2020.

    Finally, imposition of tax on foreign exchange gains presents some kind of dilemma in the industry and to the tax authorities. Are these gains revenue to the banks, which should therefore be subject to corporate income tax, or are they capital gains, which may be subject to capital gains tax? Whatever the case, some analysts are claiming that the so-called windfall profit are mere paper profits as they have not really been realized, and so should not even be taxed.

    The weeklong protests rocking the country have momentarily distracted government’s attention from the from this bill. I am sure that the president will return to it when calm returns. But before then, Bank Directors Association of Nigeria will meet on August 12 to take a position on the matter.

    In May 2022, the UK government introduced windfall profit tax on crude oil producing companies. Known as Energy Profit tax, it was introduced as a response to soaring oil prices. The government argued that the tax is justified because the companies ‘’were not responsible for the windfall’’. In the first year, the government raised £2.6 billion. It is not clear how much the Nigerian government will raise from the banks, but it is notable that the banks are not resorting to litigation to settle the dispute as some businesses have done in the past. In fact, the interviews Elumelu and Balogun gave to the media after the meeting with Tinubu seems to suggest that the banks will conform if the rate is reduced.

  • Private jet, windfall tax and new capital base for banks – By Etim Etim

    Private jet, windfall tax and new capital base for banks – By Etim Etim

    By Etim Etim

    The banking industry is always in the news for many reasons, but the last one week has offered enough to fill newspaper pages. While the government wants the banks to pay tax on the excess profits they made last year, a bank chairman openly upbraided some institutions for buying private jets for their executives. The two issues have dominated discussions in many circles and I was therefore not surprised that they found their way, with a dose of humour, into a lively and educative webinar discussion organised by Coronation Merchant Bank on Tuesday, August 6. The theme was ‘’Understanding Bank Capitalisation: Rights Issues and opportunities for investors’’, and Dr Okey Umeano, the chief economist of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was the keynote speaker.

    Discussants were Bolanle Adekoya, Partner in PwC; Head, Capital Market Accounts Advisory Services Practice for West Africa; Ayokunle Olubunmi, Head, Banking and Non-Bank Ratings at Agusto and Olusegun Owadokun, deputy chief executive of Coronation Securities. The star-studded event was moderated by Wole Famurewa, an anchor at CNBC. It was designed as a teaching session to educate investors, especially the retail investors, on the intricacies of the banking recapitalisation, the significance of rights issues and how to make the right investment decisions. Coronation Merchant Bank is the issuing house to many banks, notably Access Holdings’ 17.77 billion ordinary shares offered as rights issue. The offer closes next week and there are indications that both the institutional and retail shareholders have been quite excited about the offer.

    With the deluge of new equities coming to the capital market, the webinar was quite timely and Umeano did justice to the topic. He advised investors to carefully analyse the financial statements and other documents of the issuer, particularly the reasons for the offer before a final investment decision is made. ‘’Read all the offer documents sent to you and think in terms of diversification. You must always diversify your portfolio; so, bear in mind that rights issue could lead to concentration of portfolios’’, he told participants.  He said that SEC and the CBN are collaborating and working a lot more closely, leveraging their respective IT capabilities, to ensure that the investing public is well protected and served. ‘’The two regulators are now working faster and better with the use of technology, and are committed to better services. SEC wants a very transparent market and continued education of the investors, and that’s why I commend Coronation Merchant Bank for putting together this webinar’’, Umeano said.

    Umeano noted that the banks will have to raise about N4.2 trillion in new capital, mostly though public offerings and right issues. There may also be some M&As. He stated that rights issues have been the most popular and the most widely adopted of the three in the last five years for the following reasons: the issuer bears lower cost in right issue, not only in terms of fees, but also in advertising costs. Right issues do not bring new shareholders, and so the ownership structure is maintained; the register is easier to manage; they’re usually priced below market value, and if unsuccessful, there’s the option of selling the unsubscribed portion as a public offer. The chief economist reiterated that the issuer has a statutory obligation to disclose everything about the right issue to the investors, especially purpose of the offer; risks; timelines and post offer implementation plans.

    To illustrate the potentials for banking growth, Umeano noted that the Nigerian economy is made up of a large portion of informal sector that is largely unbanked or underbanked. ‘’Banks should explore opportunities in the informal sector and in other parts of Africa which requires a lot of investment capital. He explained the roles of SEC as a regulator and the parts played by the various parties in an offer. He concluded that there is potential for growth in Nigeria’s capital market and the economy as a whole, and assured of regulatory support for banks during recapitalisation. ‘’Banking is a growing sector; many applications for banking licence are in the offing and those who have recently come into the sector are doing well,’’ he concluded. In her contributions, Bolanle Adekoya asked investors to pay attention to ‘’the banks’ track records’’, adding, ‘’equity is a long-term play; look out for dividend payout records; educate yourself about our capital markets; some of our companies are undervalued. Rights issues help you to avoid dilution’’. She said that the capital market has the potential to contribute up to 30% of GDP. ‘’The banking industry has a good track record in rights investments,’’ she concluded.

    Olusegun Owadokun, Deputy Chief Executive, Coronation Securities, deepened the discussions by explaining that banks would actually prefer to grow their capital base organically by not paying dividends and reinvesting earnings. But since that is not always the case, and the shareholders deserve their rewards, rights issues are always the preferred option.

    There were many questions from participants, who clearly were retail investors, during the Q&A; and the discussants were up to the task. One person asked, ‘’What is the guarantee that the capital the banks are raising would not be used to pay the windfall tax?’’. I added, quite mischievously, ‘’and also buy private jets’’. The laughter was loud enough to move the needle on the Richter scale! When the laughter subsided, Kunle Olubunmi of Agusto calmly explained that since much of the excess profits were not realised, the impacts of the so-called windfall tax would be minimal. He urged the investing public not to lose sleep over it.

  • Rice palliatives: Does it really help the poor? – By Etim Etim

    Rice palliatives: Does it really help the poor? – By Etim Etim

    By Etim Etim

    The big news of the week is that the federal government is distributing 24,000 bags of rice to each state of the federation in a desperate move to stave off mass protests nationwide planned to begin on next Thursday. On receiving its share, Akwa Ibom State government announced that it would add another 24,000 bags so as to reach as many people as possible in the state.

    The commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Offiong Offor noted that the gesture is ‘’to mitigate the high level of hunger, food unavailability and poverty’’ in the state. she announced that each of the officially recognized 2,272 villages will receive some bags of rice of rice. She did not specify the quantity, but on average, each village should get 21 bags. Each bag weighs 25 kg and in the market, it goes for around N40,000. If the government bought them for N50,000 each (government procurements typically attract higher prices), it means that the 24,000 bags cost a whopping N1.2 billion.

    Each village in the state has between 1,000 and 2,000 persons, according to the recent population estimates, and they will have to share 21 bags. How do 1,000 people, for example, share 21 bags of rice? You can be sure that the bulk of the 21 bags will go to the village heads, the clan heads, family heads, the youth leaders and other influential persons in the village; and this brings me to the question: Is spending N1.2 billion to procure rice for sharing a worthy idea? Could the money have been used in alternative ways to obtain better results?

    Welfare schemes are usually designed to benefit very poor individuals and households or persons living with disability who are not able to provide for themselves. Such schemes are actually more effective if they entail honest and transparent transfer of cash to the intended beneficiaries.

    With cash, the recipient could buy preferred items of need which may not necessarily be rice. As a matter of fact, a lot of rural folks have access to tubers and other sources of carbohydrates, but they lack money to buy protein-rich foods which are very essential, especially for the children. In this particular case of rice distribution, I actually believe that the government would have made greater impacts on the greatest number of people if the N1.2 billion was given out as grants to small holder farmers in each village to assist them in food production.

    The village economy across the country is dominated by subsistence farming. These subsistence farmers require little or no capital for their businesses. Thus, any little additional capital input will trigger significant output increase. They obtain inputs (mostly seeds and cuttings) from friends, relatives or neighbours and are the source of their own farm labour, often with the help of children in the household. If the government could provide as little as N20,000 to each farmer in rural Akwa Ibom, the N1.2 billion would reach 600,000 of them and that would make enormous impact on overall food production in the state. Alternatively, if the government could invest N387 million in setting up a farming scheme in each of the 31 LGAs in the state, the total outlay would not be more than the N1.2 billion spent on purchase of rice. The rice, I am afraid, will not even get to the poor! Better still, since pests prevalence has been a major problem impeding food production in the state this season, the government could have spent the N1.2 billion in procuring and spraying pesticides across farmlands in the state.

    I urge Gov. Umo Eno to rethink some of his welfare schemes, otherwise he will only succeed in catering for only PDP stalwarts in the state. When I visited Uyo in June, a prominent politician who owns a transport business told me that he had succeeded in enrolling his mother as a beneficiary of the state’s N50,000 monthly cash transfer scheme.

    ‘’But I am not proud of doing that because I know that my mother ought not to be a beneficiary’’, he told me rather ruefully, adding, ‘’my siblings and I are capable of taking care of her. But because I am in a position and I have contacts, I got her enrolled’’. This is the way many government’s welfare schemes go, and it applies to every state of the federation, including FCT. The governor may be sincere and well-intentioned in buying thousands of bags of rice (or other foodstuffs) to share to his people, but he should be well aware that the bulk of the items will never get to the intended groups of citizens.

    They are seized by those who can afford. Last Christmas, Senator Godswill Akpabio distributed bags of rice to each LGA to be shared among APC members. My friend, Dr. Ita Udosen, who is a prominent APC official and a successful medical doctor, told me that soon after, he received a call from his local leaders that two bags have been reserved for him. ‘’I wasted no time in turning down the offer. I can afford to buy rice for my family’’, he told me. Not many are that conscionable, but this is a further proof that the so-called palliatives hardly get to the right quarters.

  • A Sunday with Aliko Dangote – By Etim Etim

    A Sunday with Aliko Dangote – By Etim Etim

    By Etim Etim

    I was one of the 102 senior journalists invited from all over the country to tour the Dangote Fertilizer and Petrochemical Refinery Complex last Sunday and it turned out to be an unbelievably humbling and revealing experience. Unmistakably visible to us was the power of vision, determination to succeed in the face of many hurdles one man’s love for country.

    We were reminded that it is only we, Nigerians, that will develop our; but not some mythical ‘foreign investors’ that our leaders have been looking for. The visit lasted 11 hours during which we went around every corner of the massive complex, occupying 2,635 hectares of land (seven times the size of Victoria Island, Lagos). It is located in the Dangote Industries Free Zone (different from Lekki Free Zone which is owned by the Lagos state government). In all, we probably covered most of the 112 km of road network crisscrossing the vast compound (some journalists termed it ‘The Dangote Planet’), walking and being driven. On hand to lead the tour were Aliko Dangote himself (Group President); Edwin Devakumar (Group Vice President, Oil & Gas) and Fatima Dangote (Group Executive Director, Commercial).

    Dangote informed us that the fertilizer, petrochemical and refinery business would be quoted on the stock exchange on or before the first quarter of 2025 in what could be one of the biggest IPOs in recent years; that the NNPCL has only 7.2% stake in the refinery, not 20% as stated previously ‘’Although we had offered them 20%, they could not pay for all of that and so we had to reduce it to 7.2% which they paid for’’, he said matter-of-factly. He spoke on the politics and economics of crude oil supply from the NNPCL; the $100 million payment to Lagos state government; his encounters with shrines during construction and the role of Ooni of Ife; why he did not build the refinery in the Niger Delta region which is the nation’s hydrocarbon base and why Ogun State lost out as the initial location choice; why he has no home outside Nigeria and his plans to reconstruct the Lekki expressway. He also announced that the company will soon move into its 18-storey towers on Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi, not far from its current location.

    We arrived the refinery complex about 9.30am after a two-hour ride from the corporate headquarters of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Falomo, Ikoyi. The first port of call was a facility called Land Fall Point (LFP). ‘’Twenty-five kilometers from here into the ocean, we have our three single point mooring (SPM) where ships discharge crude oil into our subsea pipes’’, Devakumar said. An SPM is a floating buoy anchored offshore that allows the handling of liquid cargo in areas where dedicated onshore facility for loading and unloading cargo is unavailable. From LFP we went to the port and quays constructed by DIL with a load bearing capacity of 25 tonnes/sq meters to bring heavy and large cargoes close to the site to handle liquid cargoes. Soon, we were off to the fertilizer plant where the pungent smell of urea welcomed us. The plant has an installed production capacity of three million tons/yr, but it’s currently producing at half the capacity due to inadequate gas supply – the same problem that is plaguing Nigeria’s electricity supply and impeding production at NLNG.

    The fertilizer plant is the largest in Africa and the second largest in the world. Nigeria consumes one million tonnes of fertilizer per year; meaning that Dangote is able to meet local demand and while excess is exported to USA, Brazil and other places.

    From the fertilizer plant, we dashed to the conference room where Dangote gave detailed and comprehensive briefings on his businesses, right from its inception, detailing his transition from commodity trading in 1978 to a well-diversified conglomerate comprising cement, crude oil and gas exploration, agriculture, fertilizer and petrochemical refinery. He appeared disarmingly simple; mild-mannered and convincing. His voice was gentle and there was no iota of indication that this was Africa’s richest man. I sat close to him, with Kayode Komolafe of Thisday (we call him KK), sitting between us. Even though I knew what the answer might be, I asked Dangote why he didn’t site the refinery in the Niger Delta. He said that would have made the investments less expensive, but he was frightened away by the volatility in the region. ‘’But Sir, Akwa Ibom State is peaceful. There’s no violence there. You should have come Akwa Ibom’’, I pushed. Others chuckled, but Dangote contemplated my pitch briefly and said, ‘’Yes. I know your governor. I saw him last week in Lagos …’’.

    We left the conference room to tour the refinery, the labs and the control rooms. I didn’t know what to expect, but suffice it to say that the refinery is just a labyrinth of big pipes, running overhead in the open skies, without roofs, and on the ground and beneath the ground. It is a network of big and small pipes bending, twisting and contorting all over the place from its beginning at the Single Point Mooring 25 km offshore to the loading bay where refined products are pumped into tankers. As we walked around, I tapped Mr. Devakumar at a point and asked, ‘’Do you have an idea of the total lengths of all these pipes. I’m sure they’d run into thousands of kilometers. ‘’Yes’’, he answered. ‘’We are inviting Guinness World Records to register it’’. Dangote chipped in, ‘’They will have to come and audit it before they register and announce it’’. We continued walking. This is the world’s largest single-train refinery with capacity to process 650,000 barrels of crude per day. It will meet all of our needs for refined products with enough for exports. ‘’It is a game changer’’, exclaimed Devakumar.

    After the refinery, we returned to the Conference Room for more briefing, Q & A and lunch. There were questions on varied topics, including impact of energy transition on the sustainability of the refinery; title documents from Lagos state and NNPC shareholding. One cheeky journalist asked if the Dangote Refinery will also undergo the kind of turn around maintenance that government-owned refineries have been experiencing and another queried if Dangote knew why the Port Harcourt refinery has refused to work despite the billions of dollars pumped into its overhaul. The underlying mischief behind the two questions were obvious and we all had a good laugh. I asked two questions on the politics of supply of crude oil to the refinery by the NNPCL and whether he will take the refinery to the capital market. I had earlier made a note to ask Dangote about his relationship with the Tinubu administration given the dramatic and embarrassing visits from the EFCC last year. But I changed my mind and dropped the question. Dangote addressed the questions one after the other. He said fossil fuels will be around for sometime to come despite the drive for renewable energy and explained that the need for NNPCL to supply domestic refineries with crude. He is optimistic that the guidelines recently announced by the NNPCL on crude supply will make a difference, adding, ‘’I hope the IOCs will respect the guidelines. Right now, we are paying $6 premium on every barrel we buy from them, but luckily, our refinery was designed to refine different grades of crude and so we can actually buy from everywhere. But importation brings in poverty and ships out jobs’’.

    He said that Lagos State government had insisted on being paid for the land in dollars and he willingly paid the $100 million price. Although the government promptly issued the title documents, construction was delayed because of community issues. ‘’You know they have a lot of shrines here…’’, he said. We laughed heartily. ’But I must thank the Ooni for his kind interventions which quickly resolved the issues’’, he added. The delay cost him $60 million in interest charges from the banks. The refinery was initially scheduled to be sited in Ogun State, but the state government had delayed in providing the land because the governor then was making unethical demands. Dangote walked away and approached Lagos State government. But the delay cost the company about $500 million in interest payments.  That’s one of the negative outcomes of corruption.

    By now we were all tired, but nobody complained. The mood was convivial and the conversation was interesting. The refinery currently employs 30,000 people, of which 97% are Nigerians. The figure will go up to 100,000 as productions ramps up. The plant will meet all of our domestic demands for liquid products (gasoline, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel). Currently, it is producing diesel and aviation fuel; petrol will be pumped out next month, Dangote assures. The Group President says his refinery has been able to bring down diesel price and may also moderate petrol prices at the pump, depending on variables like source and price of crude and exchange rate. The event closed with a passionate vote of thanks from Ms. Fatima Dangote. She praised her father’s energy, commitment and love for Nigeria and thanked Nigerians for their unceasing love to daddy. We rushed back to our hotels to watch the England-Spain Euro final football game!

  • Mr. Budget bows out – By Etim Etim

    Mr. Budget bows out – By Etim Etim

    By Etim Etim

    President Muhammadu Buhari was less than a year in office when he realized that his officials would not be able to produce the budget for FY 2017 on time. His Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, was frantically seeking help, not only to produce the federal proposal, but also to reform and reposition the entire budgeting process. The 2016 appropriation bill was signed into law by the president very late in the year; and it was replete with irregularities. It then was clear to senior administration officials that the Budget Office of the Federation, an agency responsible for designing and drawing up the federal government’s budget proposals, required an experienced and suitably qualified leader to do the job. The man at the saddle then was clearly below his depth. Fourteen years earlier, Senator Udoma was the chairman of the Senate’s Appropriation Committee – an influential and powerful Committee that scrutinizes and approves the federal budgets and those of its over 300 parastatals. He knows a lot about the budgeting process and technicalities involved, and was therefore in a hurry to headhunt a man of requisite and cognate skills to lead the Budget Office.

    Enter Ben Ifeanyichukwu Akabueze. Early in 2016, Akabueze was appointed Special Adviser to the President on National Planning, but his job description did not include budget preparations. He had observed the debacle in the Budget Office and all the commotion surrounding the 2016 proposals, but in the nature of Nigeria’s public service, he could only offer suggestions. Somebody then mentioned to Udoma that Ben was the right man to fix the mess. After a few consultations and discussions and Senator Udoma’s recommendation, the president promptly moved Akabueze to the to the Budget Office as the sixth Director General with a clear mandate to ensure the presentation of the annual budgets to the National Assembly by September of every year; review the annual budget and advise on the necessity or otherwise of a supplementary budget and reconcile and monitor monthly performance of key revenue agencies.

    A fellow of three renowned professional bodies, (Institute of Chartered Accountants; Chartered Institute of Bankers and institute of Credit Administration), Akabueze came highly recommended for the assignment, and he soon proved that his selection was one of Buhari’s few fit-for-purpose appointments. Ben or Pastor Ben, as friends fondly call him, is one of the nation’s brightest, analytical yet unassuming professionals. For about nine years prior, he had served as the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning in Lagos State, having been appointed by Gov. Tinubu in 2006 and reappointed by Gov. Fashola in 2007. Before then, he was the Managing Director & CEO of NAL Bank (now Sterling Bank) from 2000 to 2005.

    There were rumours then that it was Asiwaju Tinubu, then National Leader of the APC, that had facilitated his appointment as the SA to the President, and subsequent deployment to the BOF. Both Akabueze and Udoma refused to comment on this when I asked them. A few months after Ben took the job, Senator Udoma told me in his office. ‘’I am lucky to have Ben around. He is sorting out the headaches in the Budget Office’’. I told Udoma that I knew Akabueze well, and that he had in December 2000 tapped me to lead the Corporate Communications department at NAL. ‘’He will make a difference’’, I assured him. I have been blessed to walk and work with the best of Nigerians in my long careers spanning two professions. Akabueze’s leadership and accomplishments as the nation’s chief budget officer between 2016 and 2024 are transformative, tangible and outstanding. I salute him for his unblemished records and sterling achievements in all of the two terms. He served with dedication, diligence and commitment.

    Under him, the budget office recorded improvements in the quality and comprehensiveness of the budget documents, leveraging technology to achieve improved levels of citizens’ engagements in the budgeting process. We now have full disclosures of federal government’s payments; improved transparency, governance, service delivery and accountability. Multi-lateral and bi-lateral project tied loans as well as grants and donor-funded projects are now reflected in the federal government budget, unlike in the past when the process was marred by opacity and lack of clarity. In addition, fiscal risks and contingent liabilities are also included in the budget pack. There’s been also improved coordination and collaboration between the executive and legislature leading to a return to the predictable January-December budget cycle, for the first time since 1999. Until then, it was only the military regimes that were able to issue budget speeches on New Year Day. Another important change that Ben and his team introduced is the inclusion of the budgets of all government-owned enterprises in the federal budget presented by the president to the National Assembly. Further, there’s also been significant improvements in the budget and expenditure management of the MDAs.

    Internally, Akabueze also restructured the BOF and took his management and staff through a visioning process that developed a vision and mission statement for the organization. Its mission is to provide efficient and qualitative budget functions to Nigeria, geared towards promoting fiscal sustainability, transparency and accountability in public finance management for national development in line with international best practices. Clearly, the achievements listed above are in with the mission. Its vision is to be a world-class technology-driven budget institution that is a catalyst for equitable distribution of the nation’s resources to engender sustainable socio-economic development. It is for no reason that he’s also known as Mr. Budget.

    Last week, I asked Akabueze to review his tenure at BOF and all the other significant positions he’s held. As he is wont to do, he contemplated the question for a while and then said, ’I have done my best. Nigerians should do the assessment’.

  • 140 days in kidnappers’ captivity – By Etim Etim

    140 days in kidnappers’ captivity – By Etim Etim

    By Etim Etim

    In the evening of August 17, 2023, twelve Akwa Ibom persons were abducted along Sokoto-Zamfara expressway as they travelled to Sokoto. Eleven of them were young men and women reporting for their NYSC camp for the mandatory one-year service, while one was the driver of the Akwa Ibom Transport company-branded bus in which they were travelling. Months passed, and one by one, the captives were released as the abductors received huge sums of ransoms from the families of the abductees. By the middle of June, 11 abductees have been released. I have followed this story with the keenness of a brain surgeon. On November 27, I wrote a piece titled, ‘’100 days in captivity: the story of the abducted corps members’’. I followed it up with another one on December 23. I asked the authorities, including the NYSC management, to do all in their power to get them out.  I argued that the government of Akwa Ibom State had a moral responsibility to intervene and facilitate their release since they were only going to serve their motherland. I also made efforts to reach the NYSC DG and hear from him on what the agency has been doing.

    Last week, I met with one of the abducted girls. It was facilitated by one of her professors. Outwardly, she looks like any other young Akwa Ibom lady, but inside, she carries a scar, an emotional wound. She sobbed intermittently as she recalled the traumatic experience in vivid details. For obvious reasons, I will conceal her identity. Her story:

    ‘’I graduated in business administration in 2021 and was called up in 2023 for the NYSC scheme. I was posted to Sokoto State and I really looked forward to serving the country. I love the NYSC scheme; the khaki trousers and white vest; the parades; the drills; the opportunity to travel to other parts of the country, meet other Nigerians and see the vastness of the country and all that. We boarded the bus at the AKTC terminus in Uyo in the morning of August 16. We were all would-be corps members; some of us were heading to Abuja and Kano, but 11 of us were going to Sokoto. We arrived Abuja in the evening and spent the night at the AKTC terminus there. Early the following morning, August 17, we set off to Kano where some people disembarked; and eleven of us proceeded to Sokoto.

    ‘’Around 7.40 pm, on the Sokoto-Zamfara expressway, we ran into a roadblock mounted by kidnappers, on both sides of the expressway. They fired sporadically into the air and ordered all 12 of us (11 would-be corps members and the driver) out of the vehicle. As we were being marched into the bush, three of us escaped, leaving nine of us (four men and five women) with the captors. We walked all night in the bush till we got to their camp where there was a hut, but we slept in the open, on the ground, in the bush, in the rain and sunshine, day and night. I was released on December 7, after spending three months and two weeks with the kidnappers in captivity. I turned 27 in captivity on Friday, December 1. It was the worst experience of my life. We were beaten every day, mostly in the mornings, with iron rod; fed once in two or three days with rice which we cooked without ingredients – just white rice no salt; no pepper; nothing. We slept on the bare ground in the bush, in the same clothes that we had on when we were captured. We had our baths once in two or three weeks in a stream about a kilometer away.  A lot of us fell sick and nearly died. I was very sick too.

    On December 7, I was released with another girl – two of us. They led us back to the expressway. I was very sick and could barely walk. On the road, NYSC officials and military personnel were waiting for us. They came in armoured military vehicles, picked us and took us to a hospital in a nearby town where we spent two days before we were taken to a military hospital in Kaduna where we spent about three weeks.

    I enrolled in the NYSC scheme after I left the hospital and I am now serving at (name withheld). I understand that the bus driver was released early this year.

    My father is late, but my mother is alive, dealing in petty business. My elder brother raised money, sold things and borrowed money to pay for the ransom. He travelled to Zamfara twice, bringing the money to designated point along the expressway for the abductors. We were released randomly as the kidnappers did not even identify the abductee on whose behalf ransoms were paid.

    I thank God for keeping us alive and rescuing us from captivity. I still suffer from trauma. I feel unsafe and I’m always afraid, anxious and apprehensive. I salute the NGOs, activists and journalists like you who worked for our release. I have not been contacted by any official of Akwa Ibom State government, but I am grateful to the management of the NYSC for doing all they could to rescue us. I pray for the remaining person in captivity’’.