20112022
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
2-MONTH OUTAGE: Our case against Eko<br />
Disco — Crown Estate Residents<br />
Stories by Tunde Oso<br />
LAGOS—Residents of<br />
Crown Estate, Lekki<br />
Peninsula in Eti Osa Local<br />
Government Area of Lagos<br />
State are groaning over two<br />
months of lack of electricity<br />
supply to the community by<br />
Eko Electricity Distribution<br />
Company (EKEDC).<br />
Narrating the genesis of the<br />
Estate’s dispute with EKEDC,<br />
Mr. Wole Ogungbola, Estate<br />
Surveyor & Valuer, and Facility<br />
Manager of Crown Estate,<br />
told Vanguard that<br />
EKEDC being a monopoly<br />
has assumed an Alpha and<br />
Omega role where residents<br />
are at their mercy. “In a country<br />
where there's law and order,<br />
we ought not to be in darkness.”<br />
He explained: About 12<br />
years ago, when we were just<br />
building they classified us as<br />
a single customer by installing<br />
one meter at the entrance<br />
of the Estate on which they<br />
would bill the Estate. They<br />
called it Maximum Demand<br />
Meter (MDM) on which we<br />
were paying the bill. Even<br />
when the meter developed a<br />
fault and they estimated the<br />
bill on us, we paid, even if we<br />
have to bill individual residents<br />
in the Estate. It however,<br />
got to a point when it became<br />
humongous and unrea-<br />
WORRIED by the rise in<br />
financial fraud as a result<br />
of identity theft, DataPro<br />
Limited, a compliance solutions<br />
and technology-driven<br />
rating agency in Nigeria has<br />
made a case for the right investment<br />
in technology to prevent<br />
such infractions.<br />
Citing the Financial Action<br />
Task Force (FATF) 2020 Guidance,<br />
DataPro stated that digital<br />
ID systems must be used<br />
by financial institutions (FIs)<br />
and designated non-financial<br />
businesses and professions<br />
(DNFBPs) to assert and prove<br />
a person’s identity online and/<br />
or in a face-to-face environment.<br />
DataPro since its inception<br />
in 1995 has provided solutions<br />
to end-users in their pursuit of<br />
mitigating both business and<br />
now -EKEDC<br />
sonable that we complained:<br />
about N32 million in 2011<br />
and they on their own reduced<br />
it to N25 million. When it<br />
continued, we went to NERC<br />
in Abuja. Initially we went to<br />
report them at their EKEDC<br />
Marina Complaints Forum<br />
but discovered we cannot get<br />
justice. And the Dr. Sam Amadi,<br />
who was at the helm then<br />
listened to us and gave an order<br />
on 18-10-2011 that<br />
EKEDC must come and reconnect<br />
us and that they<br />
should not disconnect us again<br />
until we reconciled the account.<br />
Despite the NERC order<br />
they came twice to disconnect<br />
us even when we haven’t<br />
resolved the disparity.<br />
Another issue that complicated<br />
matters was that at a<br />
time in 2011 that they came<br />
into the Estate and were collecting<br />
money from individuals<br />
inside the Estate, even<br />
when they were still billing us<br />
by the MDM at the entrance.<br />
Note that they were using different<br />
tariffs for the general<br />
meter at the entrance, which<br />
was higher than the tariff they<br />
applied inside the Estate for<br />
the over 250 residents inside<br />
the Estate: Meaning 2 different<br />
tariffs for the MDM and<br />
another for 250 residents in-<br />
side the estate. All of these<br />
problems they created themselves.<br />
With the NERC order, they<br />
realised they couldn't disconnect<br />
us anyhow. However,<br />
about 2 months ago, the transformer<br />
supplying the Estate<br />
became bad and had to disconnect<br />
and we repaired it by<br />
ourselves. When we finished<br />
it, we asked EKEDC to reconnect<br />
us, but they refused, saying<br />
they would not do so until<br />
we pay our debt.<br />
“As we speak they have cited<br />
3 different indebtedness of<br />
N361million, Oct 28, 2022 in<br />
a letter said N249m, in Dec<br />
2020 they said N136illion,<br />
demonstrating an inconsistent<br />
monopoly. We have again<br />
reported to NERC and an appointment<br />
is scheduled for<br />
Tuesday next week, they said<br />
we should report to Abuja. We<br />
have repeatedly asked them<br />
to take over the collection of<br />
the bills completely,” Ogungbola<br />
concluded.<br />
Another resident, who spoke<br />
to Vanguard on condition of<br />
anonymity lamented,<br />
“EKEDC, from the look of<br />
things, will keep us in the dark<br />
for as long as they possibly can.<br />
They know we can only take<br />
so much pain in the face of rising<br />
temperatures in the 90s.<br />
Why banks must invest in identity theft,<br />
financial fraud prevention, by Adeseyoju<br />
OAAN Co-op holds first AGM, declares surplus<br />
SECTORAL advertising<br />
body, the Outdoor Advertising<br />
Association of Nigeria<br />
(OAAN) has inaugurated a<br />
committee charged with evolving<br />
a vibrant cooperative society<br />
Ṫhe action, which was conducted<br />
by its president, Chief<br />
Emmanuel Ajufo gave birth to<br />
the OAAN Cooperative and<br />
Multipurpose Society (CMS)<br />
was given the mandate among<br />
other things, to evolve a robust<br />
and viable cooperative society<br />
that will complement the<br />
OAAN brand and foster the interests<br />
and welfare of members.<br />
Chief Ajufo in his address said<br />
that in the first year of its existence,<br />
the CMS has surpassed<br />
the expectations and encouraged<br />
the management to continue<br />
to improve in every area.<br />
He asked those who had entertained<br />
some level of skepticism<br />
on the potentials of the<br />
CMS to come in and become<br />
part of the venture.<br />
Chairman of the OAAN<br />
CMS, Mr. Wole Odubanjo in<br />
his welcome address at the first<br />
annual general meeting of the<br />
body which took place at the<br />
OAAN house, Amuwo Odofin<br />
•Part of debt just paid, to be reconnected any time<br />
compliance risks.<br />
According to DataPro, Anti-<br />
Money Laundering and Countering<br />
the Financing of Terrorism<br />
Countering Proliferation<br />
Financing (AML/CFT/CPF)<br />
compliance onboarding for<br />
KYC, and Transaction Monitoring<br />
Systems (TMS) need to<br />
be fully digitised in order to<br />
reduce the incidences of identity<br />
theft, fictitious account<br />
opening and fraudulent transaction.<br />
This, it said, “Is necessary to<br />
support global and national<br />
efforts at combating money<br />
laundering, terrorist financing<br />
and proliferation financing.<br />
However, as it is with any new<br />
or emerging technology, there<br />
are risks involved in the adoption<br />
of digital ID systems that<br />
have to be understood and<br />
said that the OAAN Cooperative<br />
and Multipurpose Society<br />
(CMS) have been able to overcome<br />
the initial problems associated<br />
with the take-off of a<br />
joint venture like this “and we<br />
can safely conclude that we are<br />
clear on how to navigate<br />
through the coming years taking<br />
full advantage of our vibrant<br />
and dynamic OAAN constituency".<br />
Mr. Odubanjo noted that<br />
the membership strength is<br />
properly dimensioned.”<br />
As parts of its November<br />
Open-House raining programme,<br />
DataPro has hinted<br />
of plans to focus on how Compliance<br />
Officers, IT personnel,<br />
as well as the business people<br />
in banks, FinTechs and other<br />
financial institutions can understand<br />
and mitigate the regulatory,<br />
business, technology,<br />
cybersecurity, data protection<br />
and other associated risks involved<br />
in digital identity systems.<br />
The programme tagged:<br />
‘Digital Identity and AML/<br />
CFT/CPF Compliance,’<br />
will highlight emerging<br />
and technology risks associated<br />
with the adoption of<br />
digital ID systems for<br />
KYC, CDD and EDD purposes.<br />
• From left: Registrar, OAAN Cooperative and Multipurpose<br />
Society (CMS), Mr. Femi Alabi; Barrister Mrs. Nkiru Sampson;<br />
Chairman OAAN CMS, Mr. Wole Odubanjo; Assistant<br />
Area officer, Mr. Asaye Daniel, President Outdoor Advertising<br />
Association of Nigeria (OAAN), Chief Emmanuel Ajufo<br />
and Mr. Alfred Akokhia during the first Annual General<br />
Meeting of the body, which took place at the OAAN house,<br />
Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.<br />
on the increase and that the<br />
scope of operations has also<br />
been increased through commercial<br />
loans, sales of essential<br />
commodities and support<br />
for payment of school fees<br />
with other products being developed.<br />
The chairman declared<br />
that in the year under<br />
review, that they have been<br />
able to generate a net plus of<br />
N1, 012,945. 90, only out of<br />
which dividends will be paid<br />
to members.<br />
SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 20, 2022, PAGE 29<br />
Life Beer assures consumers of premium<br />
quality at Seed-to-Sip forum mission today,” he said.<br />
MUSIC industry icon,<br />
Anderson Obiagwu,<br />
aka ‘Big A’, explores another<br />
side of his multi-layered<br />
personality, once again,<br />
donning his creative hat as he<br />
teams up with Afrobeats<br />
godfather and friend, 2Baba,<br />
for ‘Aristo’.<br />
With the release of ‘Aristo’,<br />
‘Big A’ ticks the A&R box in his<br />
amazing Afrobeats journey<br />
coursing through stellar stints<br />
as tour/concert promoter,<br />
facility owner, label executive,<br />
media mogul and award<br />
ceremony executive producer.<br />
It’s no longer news that<br />
Afrobeats has taken its pride<br />
of place in the music world,<br />
but besides the artistes who are<br />
the visible faces of this<br />
beautiful journey, there’s also<br />
the equally important behindthe-scenes<br />
support structure<br />
that have contributed to the<br />
beautiful story. One such<br />
personality is ‘Big A’.<br />
As CEO of ‘Big A’<br />
Entertainment, publishers of<br />
African Music Magazine,<br />
organizers of AFRIMA<br />
Awards, amongst other<br />
business interests, Big A is<br />
In what it tagged Seed to<br />
Sip forum,Life Continental<br />
Lager Beer has re-assured<br />
it’s consumers of quality satisfaction<br />
as well as sustenance<br />
of its promise on the Nigeria’s<br />
premium beer.<br />
At the event, organised for<br />
the brand’s stakeholders at the<br />
Nigerian Breweries, Ama in<br />
Enugu State, the management<br />
reiterated its readiness<br />
to provide consumers with<br />
quality and satisfying products.<br />
Reports have it that the double-brewed<br />
Life Beer is produced<br />
through a rigorous, yet<br />
satisfying process to produce<br />
a premium lager that delightfully<br />
leaves the taste bud calling<br />
for more. From locally<br />
sourcing the best ingredients<br />
to the expert distilling and<br />
maturing of the beer, the double-brewed<br />
Life Beer delivers<br />
premium quality from seed to<br />
sip.<br />
The tagline ‘Life for<br />
Progress’ is a constant reminder<br />
that the brand will always<br />
be in support of its consumers’<br />
progress journey,<br />
just as the brand itself is on<br />
a journey of consistent<br />
progress.<br />
In his welcome remarks,<br />
The Brewery Manager of<br />
Nigerian Breweries Ama<br />
Enugu, Mr Peter Ani stated<br />
that Nigerian Breweries has<br />
established a niche for consistent<br />
innovation, adding<br />
that the company prides itself<br />
in the production of<br />
quality and deeply satisfying<br />
products, one of which<br />
is Life Beer, a brand that<br />
strongly supports the Igbos.<br />
“This Seed to Sip forum<br />
is about you, our consumers,<br />
and we remain committed<br />
to ensuring that the<br />
brand consistently and<br />
maximally satisfies you. It<br />
is my special pleasure to<br />
welcome you to see how we<br />
make Life Lager. We want<br />
you to experience how we<br />
make Life from seed to sip,<br />
from grain to glass, and by<br />
the time we finish today you<br />
will see the difference between<br />
A and A, that is our<br />
Speaking on the giant strides,<br />
the Senior Brand Manager of<br />
Life Continental Lager Beer,<br />
Aishat Anaekwe noted that the<br />
Double-Brewed Seed to Sip forum<br />
is consumer-focused as the<br />
brand is continually on a progressive<br />
journey to satisfy and<br />
celebrate consumers.<br />
“Life Continental Lager Beer<br />
has become a brand, synonymous<br />
with progress, and this is<br />
why we stop at nothing to satisfy<br />
our consumers’ desire for quality<br />
lager beer. We decided to go<br />
a step further to ensure Life Beer<br />
comes with a double-brewed<br />
quality - Double Brewed for<br />
That Premium Quality Taste.<br />
I’m happy to announce that Life<br />
Beer has a premium and refreshing<br />
taste brewed for consumers’<br />
enjoyment, and this seed-to-sip<br />
forum is a testament to our commitment<br />
to constantly keep you,<br />
our consumers, satisfied. Our<br />
tagline, “Life for Progress” is a<br />
constant reminder that the Life<br />
brand will always be in support<br />
of your progress journey, just like<br />
the brand itself is on the journey<br />
to making more progress.” she<br />
said.<br />
‘ARISTO’ SEASON: ‘Big A’ drops single featuring<br />
2Baba<br />
•Big A’ with 2Baba<br />
widely regarded as the<br />
foremost Afrobeats<br />
promoter in North America<br />
helping to grow the<br />
movement from the fringes<br />
to the mainstream of the<br />
touring space.<br />
2Baba reminds us of his<br />
playful side on the track,<br />
produced by Richie, with<br />
crisp visuals shot in Texas, USA<br />
and Uganda and directed by<br />
Patrick Ellis.<br />
‘Aristo’ is the first single/video,<br />
from the upcoming visual<br />
project, ‘Crossover’, an exposè<br />
on Big A’s contributions to the<br />
growth of Afrobeats delivered<br />
through music, visuals and<br />
interviews.<br />
Ex-agitator hails emergence of Smith as<br />
Amnesty chair Phase 3<br />
By Jimitota Onoyume<br />
E x-agitator<br />
President of and<br />
the<br />
Urhobo Youth Council,<br />
UYC, Abuja Chapter, Gen.<br />
Peter Aghogho, has<br />
described the emergence of<br />
Gen. Godday Smith<br />
(Bounanaowei) as the<br />
National Chairman of Phase<br />
3 of the Presidential Amnesty<br />
Programme, PAP, as a<br />
welcome development.<br />
Aghogho, in a statement,<br />
recalled that Bounanaowei<br />
who is also the national<br />
leader of the Ijaw Priests<br />
Association, has been in the<br />
struggle for about three<br />
decades, understands the<br />
Niger Delta agitations and<br />
could effectively handle the<br />
new assignment.<br />
The statement<br />
commended the new<br />
Amnesty boss, Major<br />
General Barry Ndiomu rtd,<br />
for facilitating the peace<br />
process between Gen.<br />
Julius Joseph and Gen.<br />
Tonye Bobo led by Mr.<br />
Angalapele, the chairman<br />
of the stakeholders’<br />
management committee.<br />
“The meeting peacefully<br />
and naturally brought<br />
about the emergence of<br />
Gen. Godday Smith as<br />
national Chairman of<br />
phase 3 of the<br />
programme”, he stated.<br />
On Tonye Bobo, the<br />
Urhobo youth leader<br />
said: “I also want to say<br />
that he should be ignored.<br />
He was brought in by the<br />
former leader of the<br />
programme to<br />
destabilize it. He is not a<br />
leader. We are all aware<br />
of the effort of General<br />
Those displaced by<br />
the recent flood in<br />
Otu-Jeremi, Okwagbe<br />
communities, Ughelli<br />
South local government<br />
area of Delta State were<br />
full of gratitude as they<br />
got a live cow and several<br />
items at their Internally<br />
Displaced Persons, IDP<br />
camps, to cushion the<br />
effect of the flood.<br />
The Manager,<br />
G o v e r n m e n t /<br />
Community Relations<br />
and Security of NEPL,<br />
ND Western OML 34, Mr<br />
Sheidu Aiguedo, said the<br />
impact of the flood in<br />
several of the<br />
communities was<br />
Smith to ensure the third<br />
phase was approved. The<br />
amnesty office should ignore<br />
Bobo. He is not even a camp<br />
leader. He doesn’t have the<br />
right to say people should not<br />
attend a meeting “<br />
Also speaking, the<br />
National Secretary of<br />
Meinbutus, Comr. Ebi<br />
Wayas, said Bounanaowei<br />
with his wealth of experience<br />
over the years would carry all<br />
the ex-agitators along.<br />
Firm donates relief materials<br />
to flood victims<br />
devastating.<br />
“This is the worst<br />
experience in many years in<br />
this country. We brought<br />
cows, rice, beans, and an<br />
assortment of food items to<br />
support them and identify<br />
with them because we see<br />
them as our major<br />
stakeholders and there is no<br />
better time than now to<br />
demonstrate that. It’s a<br />
continuous demonstration of<br />
our corporate social<br />
responsibilities and also in<br />
appreciation of the support<br />
we are getting from them”,<br />
Aiguedo explained.<br />
The Chairman of the Otu-<br />
Jeremi community, Mr<br />
Michael Oghenegueke<br />
thanked the firm for the<br />
gesture.