▪︎becomes first Nigerian-American in the Minnesota Legislature

Ms Esther Agbaje, who contested to represent District 59B in the Minnesota House of Representatives on the platform of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, an affiliate of the US Democratic Party, has won.

The 35-year-old daughter of an Episcopal priest and a librarian, both Nigerian immigrants, defeated Republican Alan Shilepsky and Green Party candidate Lisa Neal-Delgado to represent downtown and north Minneapolis in the state House.

At 35 years old, Agbaje has a law degree from Harvard, a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a stint in the U.S. State Department, experience working with city government, and accolades at a prestigious law firm. In many ways, her resume seems tailor-made for a run for public office.

The DFL newcomer has taken to her Twitter handle to announce her victory.

“I’m honored to have earned the support and trust of my neighbors to serve as their representative for #MN #HD59B. From North #MPLS to North Loop, Elliot Park to Bryn Mawr, I will work hard everyday to represent this entire district with empathy, compassion and pride”.#ThankYou

Agbaje’s victory makes her the first Nigerian-American in the Minnesota legislature. (TNG)

*Expresses Concerns Over The Reported Killings In Oyigbo LGA

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olumide Akpata, has set up a fact-finding Committee to investigate the alleged killings of members of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State

This is contained in a statement made available to TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL) signed by the Akpata himself.

Akpata emphasized that fundamental rights of the citizens are non-negotiable and can be derogated only in circumstances permitted by the Nigerian constitution

He called on Security Agencies and those in authority to avoid actions that are likely to undermine Nigeria’s democracy

Read the full statement below:

STATEMENT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION ON THE REPORTED KILLINGS IN OYIGBO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF RIVERS STATE

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has followed with concern, the reports of killing of persons alleged to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by officers of the Nigerian military, allegedly on the orders of the Governor of Rivers State.

In response to these reports that dominated the social media over the course of last weekend, I spoke separately with the Chairmen of the Ukwa and Port Harcourt Branches of the NBA (the two branches closest to Oyigbo) to ascertain the veracity of these reports of loss of lives and violation of fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens.

Whilst the Chairmen of the two branches expressed concern over the situation, they however informed me that they were yet to conduct an on-the-spot assessment owing to the curfew imposed on the area by the State Government to forestall breakdown of law and order.

In a separate telephone conversation with the Governor of Rivers State, H. E. Nyesom Wike, he categorically denied ordering any such shooting as rumoured, but acknowledged clashes between men of the Nigerian military and some suspected IPOB members in Oyigbo Local Government Area of the State.

The Governor further explained that the curfew imposed on the area was borne out of necessity and assured me that it would be lifted yesterday, 3rd November 2020. I have now confirmed that the curfew has indeed been lifted and that residents of the area are now able to go about their lawful activities.

With the curfew now lifted, the NBA has set up a fact-finding team comprising of: (i) John Aikpokpo-Martins (1st Vice President NBA); (ii) Victor Frank-Briggs (Past Chairman NBA PH Branch); (iii) Chimaroke Ejie (Past Chairman NBA Ukwa Branch); and (iv) Anthonia Osademe (Vice-Chairman NBA PH Brach). The 4-man team is to visit Oyigbo and conduct an inquiry into the events of the last few days in the area, after which the NBA will make its findings known and determine the next steps.

Ahead of the outcome of this exercise, the NBA reiterates its position that in a democratic nation like Nigeria, respect for the fundamental rights of citizens is non-negotiable and can only be derogated from in instances permitted by the Constitution or other laws. We therefore continue to call on all and sundry (including security agencies and those in authority) to respect the dignity of life and fundamental rights of every citizen and desist from conducts likely to undermine our democracy or indeed the unity of Nigeria.

OLUMIDE AKPATA
President
1st November 2020

A public affairs company, Gatefield Nigeria Ltd., has sued Access Bank Plc N100m ($262,000) for illegally blocking an account used to finance the recent #EndSARS campaign against police brutality, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

According to Bloomberg, Gatefield Nigeria Ltd., a public affairs company, filed a case against Access Bank in a federal court in Abuja, the capital, on Oct. 28, accusing the lender of “unilaterally restricting” its account and demanding damages of 100 million naira ($262,000), according to court documents. The account was used to raise funds to support independent Nigerian journalists that covered nationwide demonstrations that lasted almost three weeks, according to the firm.

“As more people contributed to our efforts, we noticed that we could no longer conduct transactions on the dedicated account we used for this particular activity,” Adewunmi Emoruwa, the lead strategist for Abuja-based Gatefield, said Tuesday by phone.

The lawsuit will test whether blocking Gatefield’s account without a court order was unlawful. There were other allegations by individuals and organizations on social media that their accounts were restricted during the protests for apparently similar reasons.

“A successful challenge at the court could make the difference for others who were likewise targeted,” Emoruwa said.

Gatefield was told by Access Bank that it was directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to put restrictions on the account, implemented on Oct. 15, Emoruwa said. A spokesman for Access Bank said the lender doesn’t comment on its customers to third parties. A spokesman for the central bank didn’t respond to emails and calls seeking comment.

More than 70 people, including at least 22 policeman and soldiers, died as the initially peaceful protests against the excesses of the police’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, degenerated into days of rioting and looting across most of the country of more than 200 million people. Security forces killed at least 10 people when they opened fire on peaceful protesters gathered in Lagos on Oct. 20, according to human rights group, Amnesty International. The Nigerian army has denied the allegation.

Thousands took to the streets from Oct. 5 in response to a video that circulated on social media purportedly showing SARS officers molesting a civilian.

Human Rights Watch, the New York-headquartered rights group has “documented several cases of organizations and individuals whose bank accounts were frozen after receiving or disbursing funds to support the #EndSARS protests,” its Nigeria researcher, Anietie Ewang, said by email.

Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has redeemed his pledge of N20million to each family of the 10 security operatives – six soldiers and four policemen – killed by members of proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Oyigbo Local Government.

Wike, last Wednesday during a condolence visit to the Rivers Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, announced the donation.

The cheques were presented to the bereaved widows at the State Police Command and 6 Division, Nigerian Army, in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

Wike said the gesture was in fulfillment of his promise to alleviate the plight of the widows and their children.

The Governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Tammy Danagogo, described the murder of the security personnel by IPOB members as unacceptable and condemnable.

He said: “As a Governor who matches his words with action, he has sent us to come and redeem that promise and to present the cheques of 20 Million each to the widows of the four police officers killed by IPOB.”

Wike assured Mukan the state would always stand with the police to fight crime.

Mukan, on behalf of the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu thanked Wike for fulfilling his promise.

He said the police recovered some arms and arrested some persons who made confessional statements.

According to him, 22 persons had been charged to court.

At the 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Wike commiserated with the Army, the widows and families of the six soldiers killed by IPOB.

He said Rivers would ensure the criminal elements who killed the soldiers and cart away their arms and ammunition were arrested and prosecuted.

“The Governor made a pronouncement that he will give a token sum of N20million to each of the widows of the slain soldiers.

General Officer Commanding 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Maj.-General Orlu Irefin, expressed gratitude on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai and the entire Nigerian Army to the Rivers for the kind gesture to the widows of the slain soldiers.

He dispelled fake news in social media on activities of the Army in Oyigbo, emphasising actions of the Army in the area were within the ambit of the law and rules of engagement

The National Coordinator of Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, has disclosed that N50 billion had been released to states to enable them push for increased testing and improved surveillance.

Aliyu, who spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the PTF media briefing, urged governors to use the resources for the purpose the federal government made them available.

He emphasised the need for continuous investment to push down the pandemic, pointing out that the curves of the pandemic had not flattened.

The National Coordinator also said that massive testing for COVID-19 began this week.

He disclosed that a list of the first 100 passengers, who failed to show up for the test at day 14 after arriving the country, would be published once it was established that they had no cogent reason for their failure to turn up for it.

He said: “This week marks the beginning of a major initiative of increased testings for COVID-19 in the country. Congratulations to Lagos and FCT for testing a good number of their population.

“In fact, FCT has tested at least two per cent of the target we had given. Three states are well on their way – Plateau, Gombe and Rivers. They have already gone beyond 50 percent mark of the target.

“But quite a number of states have not even reached even a quarter and we continue to be concerned because we can say with a fair degree of confidence that we know what is happening in Lagos and FCT, but cannot say the same of other states.

“So, we thank all states governors for opening up sample collection centres across the country. We have given resources to state governments. Every state has received at least a billion naira.

“The state governments have received the largest single bulk of the PTF intervention. As of today, a total of N50 billion has gone to them.

“So, we have enough resources at the state level to be able to push for increased testing and improved surveillance.

“We will continue to work with states government and urge them to use these resources for the purpose that the federal government has given.

“We have to invest in making sure that the pandemic comes down. There is no doubt that we have not flattened the curve yet.

“For those of us that follow the numbers very closely, despite the fact that we are not testing enough, if you follow the number on a week to week basis, you would have noticed a change in the trajectory in the last one week based on the numbers released.

“So, please if you have symptoms, get tested; there is nothing to be afraid of if you are positive. We will take steps to make sure that you are managed properly and ensure you don’t infect your loved ones. And all of us have a role to play.

“Over the last few weeks, we have taken the initiative of opening up our economy, the combination of opening work places, schools, markets and airports

“We have had major demonstrations without any pharmaceutical interventions, a toxic situation for any country already in the toss of COVID pandemic. We should continue to be responsible for our actions, protect ourselves and those we relate with or relate to.

“The PTF is monitoring closely, the situations in European countries that are now struggling to cope with the second wave of infections. Countries like England and France have already gone into lockdown as a number of cases continue to rise.

“Up to 7,000 passengers will potentially come into the country when we fully reopen our airports. The risk of reintroduction and a second wave of COVID-19 is real and this is why we cannot rest on our oars.

“Our airports, portal services are the first lines of defence when it comes to dealing with the pandemic, so we will like to remind travellers that it is absolutely essential that you have double testing.

“Testing before boarding and testing at day seven after arrival in the country remain very important.

“When we looked at our data for the first 5,000 plus passengers coming into the country, 105 were positive at day seven of testing, whereas they had negative result on arrival. This is in a situation where we have not even opened our airports.

“Nigeria continues to have one of the most strict processes when it comes to entering the country as it relates to COVID-19. We are proud of this policy because this is what has been minimising the risk of reintroduction of the infection.

“We know there have been challenges with the portal, we continue to work very closely with our IT to make sure that passengers have a pleasant experience. But there is also responsibility on the part of the passenger.

“A situation where a passenger pays for a test and knows that a test needs to be done on day seven but fails to present for testing despite reminders, is very difficult to understand.

“The reason we test on day seven is in order to pick up those small percentage of individuals that may have been incubating the illness on their way into the country and also to allow people stop isolating on day seven.

“We know there have been issues about the cost of PCR testing and why it’s being done with the private sector. The cost is being determined by negotiation between the private laboratories and the states government.

“The role of the PTF is to ensure that the costs are not excessive. We have taken it as a priority to continue to push the cost of PCR testing down. When we started off with Abuja portal, the cost was about N42,000. It’s down N39,500.

“Last week, we directed the Lagos portal to stop charging passengers outside Lagos N50,000. Kano is charging N36,000 per test, Imo is N38,000 per test. All these are based on negotiations with states but overall, our plan is to continue to push the cost down.

“We also want to continue to supervise private laboratories to ensure they fulfill their own part of the bargain. We have teams working with the private laboratories all over the country so that passengers will not need to move around in order to have a test on day seven.

“But we have to make sure that our quarantine rules are strict if we want to stop transmission, reintroduction of COVID-19 in the country.

“We are looking at our data and over the next few days we will be publishing a list of the first 100 international passengers that failed to show up for the test at day 14.

“We will recheck with these passengers to make sure that they had not had the test by day 14. If there is no reason for failing to do so, we will suspend their passports for six months. This is the only way we can enforce testing at day seven and make sure that we follow up those that are infected.

“The alternative is to stop flights from countries with high prevalence. And for us, we don’t think this is an alternative that is palatable for all of us because we need to keep our economy up.

“For this reason, we will start enforcing what we have right at the beginning of this protocol. We already have approval from Mr. President to do so.

“These measures are not punitive. We know the pandemic is not over yet. We cannot retrogress to where we were before. There is a real risk that we will enter a second wave and we do not want to find ourselves in the situation we were back in March/April.

“So, please let’s be responsible and protect our loved ones,” he said. (NAN)

The development and sustenance of viable enterprises is no longer dependent on the size of the corporation and related factors but sound ethical practices imbibed by all stakeholders, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo stated this on Tuesday at the virtual 2020 Conference of the Institute of Directors.

According to him, “The frequent clashes between conscience and wrongful behavior will eventually create a toxic work environment and destroy corporate objectives and visions. There is also enough history of how cutting corners and dishonesty ultimately bring down the whole enterprise. This we have seen in the facts behind the collapse of many Nigerian financial institutions from the nineties to the more recent occurrences in 2009. Yes, it took a while for the institutions to unravel but the point is made that on the long run, unethical practices are unsustainable.

“Besides for quoted companies, the dangers of unethical behavior are much graver. Local and international investors have greater access to information and more options than ever before, the slightest whiff of scandal or malfeasance can destroy value built up over the years.

The local and especially the international examples of the collapse of companies thought to be too big to fail and brand names that had even once been associated with integrity and strong business ethics is a strong reminder of just how brittle edifices built on weak business ethics are.

“Today, every company’s stakeholders are far more than investors, management, or employees. They now include customers, clients, trade partners, suppliers, media, the general public, government and now, the environment.”

The event featured presentations personalities including Prof. Marc Le Menestrel, a professor of Decision Sciences; Chairman of Governing Council, Institute of Directors, Chief Chris Okunowo; and Dele Alimi, DG/CEO, Institute of Directors.

Below is the full text of the Vice President’s remarks:

REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE 2020 CONFERENCE OF THE INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS, ON TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2020

I am honoured by your kind invitation to join you this morning at the 2020 Annual Directors’ Conference of the Institute. The Institute takes the credit for the development of Nigeria’s finest breed of business executives and directors in the fulfilment of their legal and personal responsibilities to the corporate entities they serve and of course, to Nigeria as a whole.

I am particularly excited about the recent efforts of the Institute to standardize the practice of sound ethical values and lead by example with the introduction in August this year, of the IoD Code of Ethics 2020 for members and staff of the Institute.

I, therefore, congratulate the President, Chief Chris Okunowo, who many of you know, is from the best schools in the World, Igbobi College, and the Faculty of Law University of Lagos, for steering the course of the institute towards global best practices. (I am offering no prizes for guessing that the two schools I mentioned are also the schools that I attended).

My brief remarks will centre around a question that has occupied my mind for many years and led to my co-founding the Convention on Business Integrity with my friend and brother Soji Apampa in 1997.

How do you most effectively convey the truth to corporate entities, to companies, that integrity pays, that business ethics is as crucial to the bottom line and to everything else, as the other more obvious factors in delivering profitability and recognition of success for a company?

The question is complicated by the notion that business ethics is itself an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms how can you survive in the cut-throat survival of the fittest environment of business with any kind of concern for morality?

Besides, in countries where regulatory oversight and law enforcement is weak and or slow, there would seem to be, at least, in the short term, no particular advantage in choosing ethical behavior over profit.

But the arguments in favour of business ethics are much stronger. Aside from the more obvious connection between respect for obligations, sanctity of contracts, and reliability or trustworthiness and business success, clearly unethical accounting practices, false communication to shareholders or the public, (where it is sanctioned by the leadership) results in employee cynicism and defeats the commitment to corporate visions and objectives. If the employees believes that the bosses are crooks or prepared to bend the rules, they also will seek ways of short-circuiting the rules for personal benefit.

Besides, the frequent clashes between conscience and wrongful behavior will eventually create a toxic work environment and destroy corporate objectives and visions. There is also enough history of how cutting corners and dishonesty ultimately bring down the whole enterprise. This we have seen in the facts behind the collapse of many Nigerian financial institutions from the nineties to the more recent occurrences in 2009. Yes, it took a while for the institutions to unravel but the point is made that on the long run, unethical practices are unsustainable.

Besides for quoted companies, the dangers of unethical behavior are much graver. Local and international investors have greater access to information and more options than ever before, the slightest whiff of scandal or malfeasance can destroy value built up over the years.

The local and especially the international examples of the collapse of companies thought to be too big to fail and brand names that had even once been associated with integrity and strong business ethics is a strong reminder of just how brittle edifices built on weak business ethics are.

Today, every company stakeholders are far more than investors, management, or employees. They now include customers, clients, trade partners, suppliers, media, the general public, government and now, the environment.

These additional relationships have become, especially in an age of clearly excessive information flows, as important in the accountability matrix of companies as their traditional stakeholders. This probably explains the new place of open corporate social responsibility efforts, and the strong environmental stewardship initiatives that many countries are adopting around the world. Companies must show that they are not only profitable but that they are good by measures of character and concern for the environment and society.

According to a study which I came across, by Nielsen, 55% of online shoppers in 60 countries would accept paying more for goods or services from companies that are focused on having a positive impact on society and the environment. And it is becoming more so. People are paying more attention to good corporate citizenship.

The empirical evidence is beginning to match our intuition more forcefully daily. However the key is leadership. Leadership that believes the evidence and realizes that business ethics are not just moral preachments but important foundations for profitable and sustainable businesses in the 21st Century.

Indeed, for Nigerian Business Leaders, the theme of this conference is a challenge to conquer in our own interest the new frontier in business ethics, ethical leadership and sustainability.

Let me thank the executives and members of the Institute of Directors for this opportunity. I wish you excellent deliberations and look forward to receiving your conclusions at the end of the conference.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, has lamented that his ministry appears not to be a priority for the federal government.

The minister disclosed this yesterday in Abuja when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs to defend the 2021 budget estimates of his ministry.

Onyeama also lamented that a lot of the country’s foreign missions are eyesore, describing it as a terrible embarrassment for the country to have the foreign missions in such state.

He noted that due to poor funding, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is trying to rationalise and cut down on the international organisations that Nigeria belongs to.

According to Onyeama, “When you look at what the ministry gets, compared to other ministries, foreign affairs ministry is underfunded, especially when you compare it to similar countries and even smaller countries like Egypt and South Africa, which have similar number of missions to our own, and you would find out that you just cannot compare (them). Ours is really much lower. And, of course, there are competing interests; we have security issues, as education takes a lot of the budget, but I think that any suggestion of collaboration between us and your committee to try to get more will be welcome.

“On the question or suggestion on how you can help, I think that at the end of the day, it is probably a question of priority of the government. Foreign Affairs, if we just look at all the ministries, we would really see that it is almost as if foreign affairs ministry is not a priority. But it should be one of the biggest consuming ministries.

“And for the size of a country, the giant Africa, we are supposed to defend the interest of Africa and the black race around the world. We have a vast network of technical assistance programme to the pacific, to the Caribbean and to other Africa countries, and we want to be a big player, which sits at the table as one of the countries running the world, and to be able to do that, we just need many resources.”

Earlier, the Chairman of the committee, Hon. Yusuf Yakub, said Nigeria remains the whipping child of the world, buffeted on all sides, while the country’s nationals still suffer the poor fate of carrying the green passport that much part of the world hates to see.

He said while the problem was not about the ministry or the House, he expressed concern that Nigeria cannot get its international image to fit into the acceptable module of the international community.

Yakub stressed that the way the ministry appears and operates today, it is hardly the contemplation of anyone that has the interest of the Nigerian at heart.

He added: “From Ghana to Gabon, South Africa to Libya, Nigerians remain at the receiving end of, most times, state-supported violence and all forms of ill-treatment in foreign jurisdictions, including Europe, the Americas and Asia.”

Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has called on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to shelve the seven months ongoing industrial action in the best interest of the students.

Fayemi stressed the need for urgent and holistic engagement between Federal Government and the leadership of ASUU in order to bring an end to the current impasse.

The governor made this appeal in Ado-Ekiti while playing host to members of the Board of Trustees of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, led by its Chairman and former Governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, in his office.

He urged the academic union to look at the hardship the students and their parents are going through in view of the strike that has kept the students at home for over seven months.

“We need to get to a point of convergence with ASUU, but I also think ASUU should begin to look at this from the position of their importance. It is the students of the ordinary Nigerians who attend the local universities. So, even if it is for the sake of ordinary Nigerians who have children in these universities and cannot afford to send their children to private universities or abroad.

“Whatever the areas are, we would like to engage them, not as Federal Government but as concerned parties at the level of government who feel that we can still work out an arrangement in which you don’t completely dictate to your employer how he pays your salaries.

“If agreement has been entered into and if it is not going to be honoured, you owe a duty to urge other party to review it consensually and then come up with something that is mutually acceptable to both sides.

Speaking further, Fayemi who posited that education remained the greatest antidote to poverty, said education should be refocused at the national level due to its importance to national development.

“Education in Nigeria should be treated nationally. It requires a national approach; it cannot just be isolated state by state, and particularly for regulatory purpose, in terms of standard of the curriculum and in terms of supervisory engagement. We really need to do things that will make us appear as if cherish the importance of education in the lives of our citizens”, he noted.

Earlier, Dr Babangida Aliyu had told the Governor that the Foundation was established as an instrument for the promotion of the ideals of Sir Ahmadu Bello and to promote the development of Northern Nigeria which prompted the foundation to commission a research in support of efforts to improve education in the region.

The former Governor berated the high level of out-of-school children in the North and posited that the problem of education in the North requires a national approach.

He, therefore, called on the Governor in his capacity as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to spearhead the formation of an endowment fund to revamp education in the North, believing that the effort would go a long way to bridge the divide and erase some acrimonious feelings.