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Uchena Ikonne, renaissance man

Uchenna Ikonne
could be described as a walking encyclopedia of some sort because of
his knowledge of the history of Nigerian music. Based in the United
States, he is a filmmaker by vocation and a lawyer by training, but his
consuming passion is Nigerian music. Ikonne is currently working on
reissuing a lot of Nigerian classic songs under his label, Comb &
Razor Sound. He shares his story with NEXT.

With your knowledge of Nigerian music classics, many would be shocked to realise that you are only 35 years old

That does often
take people by surprise. I’m primarily known as an online presence,
chiefly for my writing on my blog (http://combandrazor.blogspot.com),
so most people have no idea of my background, age, or appearance. They
generally expect me to be much older than I am because I’m writing
about Nigerian music and popular culture of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s;
and they’re often alarmed to learn that I’m in my 30s.

The funny thing
about it is that I have spent a lot of time interviewing musicians from
that era, and even when I’m sitting with them face-to-face, they still
forget how old I am. Like, we’ll be discussing some events that
happened immediately after the civil war, and they’ll say to me, “Shey,
you know that nightclub we used to go to in Port Harcourt… You remember
when so-and-so played there one Friday night like that in 1971. Were
you there that night?”

When stuff like
that happens, I’m not quite sure how to process it: do I take it as a
compliment that I appear so knowledgeable of the era that they forget I
wasn’t there? Or does it mean that hard life has aged me to the point
that men in their 50s and 60s can look at me and think I am their age
mate?

Do Nigerian youth know enough about Nigerian songs of old?

I would not even be
exaggerating if I said that many of our youth actually believe that the
Nigerian music industry started in 1998 or so. They realise that yes,
there must have been music in Nigeria “back in da dayz” – but they
think that maybe we only had a handful of artists: Fela, Osadebe, Sonny
Okosuns, Onyeka, maybe Evi-Edna, and a few other really popular names
like that. I am not playing!

I have had many
young people express this to me directly! But what’s curious is that a
lot of times, even Nigerians who are old enough to remember better have
completely forgotten most of the music of the past; cultural amnesia is
an epidemic in our society, and that’s a shame.

Tell us why you decided to embark on this task

If I didn’t do it,
who would? Well, the main thing I am working on right now is the Comb
& Razor Sound record label, which will be reissuing a lot of
classic music from Nigeria, as well as other countries in Africa and
South America.

I’m trying to make
it so that our releases are more like “publications”—big booklets full
of historical information, stories, and photographs with a CD attached
to them.

Because really,
people aren’t that interested in just buying CDs anymore and CDs are
too easily pirated, anyway. You have to give them the value for their
money. We’ll also be releasing the music on vinyl records, which
happens to be my preferred format.

You recently embarked on a trip to Nigeria to get more information; were there any challenges?

The number one
challenge is always the relative inaccessibility of the information.
It’s not like you can just walk into a library or something and
comfortably find information. You have to dig for it. And frankly, not
a lot of people have the stamina or resourcefulness to do that.

I remember when I first started telling people in Nigeria that I am looking for old records and stuff like that.

They told me, “You
can’t find that kind of thing in Nigeria today.” My reply was “No, you
mean YOU can’t find it… I can!” And they would say “Ha! You won’t see
that sort of thing in the market o!” The market? Are you kidding? Who
is looking at the market? To find this stuff, you need to go ‘under’
the market! For months on end I would be rummaging through dark and
filthy storage spaces, day in and day out. Getting sinus infections
from the dust and mould… digging through urine-soaked garbage and
getting bitten by rats. And in the end, when I show all the material
I’ve gathered, people always ask “How did you find this stuff?” as if
I’m a magician. But really, it’s all right here under our noses!

Security was also a
major challenge. Undertaking the project required me to traverse the
breadth of the country several times over, and navigating the terrain
while trying to stay ahead of the kidnapping epidemic in the East.
Well, let’s say it required a good deal of gumption and creativity.

The challenge I
feel defeated me, though, was the complete unavailability of a lot of
the material. I’m actually a filmmaker by vocation, and my original
intention had been to make a documentary film about Nigerian musicians.

Unfortunately, I
couldn’t get enough period footage to create a sufficiently dynamic
documentary because of a lot of the tapes of musical performances
recorded for television in the 1960s, 70s and 80s were either dubbed
over or thrown away. So, unfortunately, I had to put that project aside.

Any collaborations with record labels in Nigeria for more information?

No, not really. For
one thing, most of the big record labels from Nigeria’s golden age of
music – EMI, Phillips, Decca/Afrodisia, and the like – they don’t exist
anymore. And many of them even discarded or destroyed most of their
records, master tapes, artwork, videos, and documentation.

Record keeping is almost non-existent in Nigeria. Why do you think this is so?

It’s probably a
controversial view, but I think that we as Africans have a peculiar
relationship to the concept of antiquity. We joke about “African time”
and what-not, but I really do believe that the African perception of
time is a bit more… fluid than it is in the West. We tend to live
primarily in the present, and even our concept of “the present” is very
elastic.

I once read about
an anthropologist who was looking for artefacts in a certain African
country, and he was presented with a carved wooden mask representing an
ancient fertility god. He asked the indigenes if the mask was
“authentic” – by which he meant: “does this particular mask actually
date back to an ancient era of this land? Is it an antique?” And the
people told him, “Of course it’s authentic” – by which they meant:
“Yes, it was made here, and it still represents this particular
fertility god who we still worship.”

Whether or not the
mask is old was unimportant to them: all that matters is whether the
mask did its job as the avatar for the god. It wouldn’t make a
difference to them if the mask was carved 3000 years ago or yesterday.
And if there was a mask from thousands of years ago representing a god
that they no longer worshipped, then they would have no qualms with
burning it or throwing it away because it served no useful purpose for
them in “the present.”

So it is with us in
Nigeria. We’re fixated upon how utilitarian things are to us in “the
present,” and “the present” trumps everything.

That’s why you have
television stations erasing the only copies of classic TV shows like
‘The Village Headmaster’ so they can use the tapes to record today’s
music videos. It’s why record companies hired contractors to cart away
and destroy entire libraries of master tapes of Nigerian music from the
1940s to the 1980s, so they’d have room for the music of the 1990s.
‘The present’ is all that exists for us.

When will your releases hit the market?

The first of these
publications will probably be released in the US and Europe at the end
of November. I’m not sure exactly when it will come to Nigeria, but
obviously it will find its way here. It’s a musical chronicle of the
years of Nigeria’s Second Republic (1979-83) and covers a lot of the
notable developments of that era: the increased professionalisation of
the Nigerian music industry with the rise of high-tech independent
labels like Phondisk and Tabansi, the rise of solo singers as the old
bands died, the emergence of more women in the music scene, and so on.

The next one will
probably be out in December, and it will focus on the venerable
Semi-Colon Rock Group of Umuahia. Then in early 2011, we’ll have
something concentrating on music from Cross River and Akwa Ibom States
and then a spotlight on Benin-style highlife, and lots of other stuff
in the pipeline.

Is royalty payment a big issue for you?

It is a big deal to
me. A BIG deal. You see, one thing that a lot of people don’t know is
that most Nigerian musicians of years past never made any money off the
sales of their records. I mean, ask someone like Onyeka Onwenu if she
ever made even one naira from record sales. There’s no way I can in
good conscience perpetuate that kind of exploitation of our artists and
so, it’s of the utmost importance to me that the original artists are
paid, even if it’s not a huge amount of money.

CDs actually are
not selling as much as they were ten years ago, so nobody is getting
rich off selling discs. But one thing we’re working on is developing
ways to licence the music for use in films, television, adverts,
ringtones, and other applications, and hopefully we can make some
decent money for the artists that way, because some of them really,
really need it.

What do you hope to achieve with this project?

I’d love to tell
you that I hope to become a millionaire from it, but I’m much too
realistic to even fool myself with that, let alone fool you. If, as a
result of my efforts, Nigeria’s rich heritage of popular culture
becomes fully recognised and celebrated, and I get to see our national
artistic legends reap some of the money and kudos they deserve, I think
I’d call myself a happy man.

And if I’m able to
even make a few pennies from it myself to stay afloat and continue
doing what I do, that would be a bonus, because this is really
expensive work and I fund it pretty much completely out of my own
pocket.

What’s next after this?

Well, I don’t like
to look like I’m this guy who is stuck in the past, because despite my
interest in history, I’m very much on the cutting edge of culture! I
want to sign some contemporary artists to Comb & Razor Sound; I’m
just looking for artists who are really unique. What I would really
love is to find a really cool, young Nigerian hard rock/funk band.

Also, this whole
music thing is really a side track that I stumbled into over the past
two or three years and it has taken me away from my work as a
filmmaker, so I’d like to get back to making movies soon.

To that effect, I have some film projects I’m developing. I haven’t
completely given up on the documentary either. I’m also working on a
book on the history of Nigerian filmmaking, and a cartoon series for
Nigerian TV.

entertainment

Central Bank suspends four Finbank directors

Central Bank suspends four Finbank directors

The Central Bank
has come down hard on directors of rescued banks who have insider
related loans, in a renewed crackdown on those that have contributed to
the terrible state of some of the banks.

As part of efforts
to recover the loans, the Central Bank has placed some of the affected
directors on suspension with an ultimatum to repay the loans or face
prosecution.

Specifically, the
regulator on September 27 suspended four non-executive directors of
Finbank for 90 days for failure to pay their debts. They are Ernest
Orji, proprietor of Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi; Ezelue Efobi;
Iheanyichukwu Anyadiegwu; and Agnes Ebubedike.

The suspended
directors together owe the bank N20 billion, out of about N25 billion
of insider related loans. Mrs. Ebubedike is also standing trial
alongside Okey Nwosu, the former chief executive officer of the bank;
Danjuma Ocholi; and Dayo Famoroti, both of whom are former directors of
the bank.

The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had in 2009 taken them to court on a
90-count charge, bordering on money laundering and granting of reckless
loans, amongst other offences.

Outstanding indebtedness

The CBN gave each
of the directors an ultimatum to repay their outstanding indebtedness
to the bank within that period, failing which, they shall be prosecuted
and blacklisted from holding any position in any bank or financial
institution, under the purview of the CBN.

It had earlier
issued letters of query to the recalcitrant directors, who failed to
heed the warning. This latest action by the bank became inevitable,
since the affected directors did not pay back their loan.

It was gathered
that the CBN may have moved against the affected officials in order to
recover the funds from them before their final exit from the bank. The
Central Bank recently released tenure guidelines, which stipulate that
non executive directors would only serve for two years after which
their terms may be renewed for another two years, but will be subject
to the approval of the apex bank.

A source at Finbank
said the CBN onslaught is also a moral issue as directors who are
indebted to the banks have no justifications to decide on actions
against other debtors.

“It is not proper
that directors who are indebted would now sit at meetings where
decisions are taken against other debtors. This is a corporate
governance issue. It is part of the sanitisation process,” the source
said.

Only Finbank

Mohammed Abdullahi,
the Central Bank spokesperson, said the action was taken against the
directors of Finbank, and not to directors of other rescued banks. He
added that the move against the directors was in fulfillment of the
code of conduct of bank directors, which stipulates that directors
should not have non performing insider related loans.

Sola Oni, the Nigerian Stock Exchange spokesperson, said he was not aware of the development.

Finbank officials refused to comment on this development. They did not respond to enquiries on the issue for nearly a week.

But Susanne Iroche,
its chief executive, told shareholders at a forum in Lagos recently
that the bank is operating with negative capital, as 88 percent of its
loans are currently non performing.

“We have taken
deposits and shareholders fund up to N88 billion, which is yielding
nothing for us but that is costing us money. We can’t continue to
operate like that. We have to resolve this as quickly as possible,” she
said.

Only N2.7 billion
has been recovered from insider related loans, putting the total amount
of non performing loans at N156 billion, while the bank expects to
recover between N10 to N15 billion before year end.

Money

Transparency agency commences self-cleansing

Transparency agency commences self-cleansing

The Nigerian Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the promoter of transparency and
accountability in the nation’s extractive industries, said it has taken
steps to reorganise its secretariat to effectively deliver on its
mandate.

The agency came
into the negative limelight recently following reports of an internal
wrangling among some of its top officials, which appeared to have
threatened Nigeria’s quest for validation among the 31 countries that
are due for re-assessment as EITI Compliant countries by the Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) when its validation committee
meets later this month.

The roots of the
wrangling, which earned the chairman National Stakeholders Working
Group (NSWG), Assisi Asobie, a query from the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation (SGF), Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, was traced to
reports of corruption charges against the then executive secretary,
Haruna Sa’eed, and the former director of services, Stan Rerri.

Both were accused
of “abdication of responsibility and ineffectual leadership”, as well
as “inaction” in preparations towards the 2009 Civil Society (CS)
training programme, involving a controversial disbursement of about N15
million to two hotels in Lagos and Kaduna, before it was initially
postponed, and later cancelled.

Mr. Sa’eed, as head
of the secretariat, had denied authorising the disbursement of the
money, while Mr. Rerri, who reportedly colluded with the former
accountant, Sunkanmi Adeoti, and former procurement officer, Tony
Onyekweli, to make the payment without the knowledge of the ES
(Executive Secretary), ignored all entreaties to recover the money and
pay back to the NEITI coffers.

Mr. Asobie, in his
response to the SGF’s query, said the trio have been relieved of their
positions, after the Leke Alder-led ad hoc investigative committee
constituted by the board had recommended “overhaul of the
administration of NEITI Secretariat for efficiency and effectiveness.”

Roots of the crisis

Mr. Asobie also
traced the roots of the crisis to the NSWG resolution two years ago to
engage the services of human resources consultants to examine the
structure of the NEITI Secretariat; evaluate existing staff and their
official positions; develop new terms of reference for all roles within
the secretariat; design suitable managements system that fits the
requirements of NEITI; and construct recruitment guidelines and
recruitment plan for NEITI.

Though Mr. Rerri
reportedly participated actively in the recruitment of the consultants
and supported them till they completed their assignment, he, however,
rejected the recommendation that he be relieved of his position as
director, support services, or show proof of being a chartered
accountant if his wish to be a director would come to pass.

Despite the board’s
acceptance of the consultants’ recommendations, neither Mr. Sa’eed nor
Mr. Rerri took it seriously, with the latter not only continuing to
identify himself with the unofficial designation of “director
(administration/finance)”, but also going ahead to issue a letter
appointing one Garba Saidu Yakawada as ‘head of internal audit.’

Though the board
took exceptions to the disregard to its resolution, and ordered
immediate reversal, Mr. Rerri, in his petition to President Goodluck
Jonathan, alleged massive fraud in NEITI, describing his removal as “an
attempt to “silence the whistle blower.”

But, Mr. Asobie,
who accused Mr. Rerri of allowing “unprincipled bureaucratic politics
to undermine Nigeria’s interest” by mobilising groups to lobby for the
non-validation of the country by the global EITI, said he was only
“opportunistically blowing the whistle as a protective manoeuvre.” He
also said the process to appoint a new executive secretary has
commenced.

Mr. Asobie added
that work is progressing well on the conduct of the 2006-2008 audit
report, while the final report is expected between December and January
next year, while advertisements are out for expression of interest
(EOI) for the fourth oil and gas sector audit and solid minerals sector
audit.

Money

PERSONAL FINANCE: Can you draw up a budget when you are unemployed?

PERSONAL FINANCE:
Can you draw up a budget when you are unemployed?

It should be fairly obvious that people
who do not have jobs need to be particularly cautious about spending
whatever money they have, yet, surprisingly, many people in this
predicament have difficulty curbing their spending and end up making an
already dire situation even worse.

Maintaining a budget is difficult under
normal circumstances, but the idea of budgeting when you are unemployed
is an even greater challenge. One of the first things you should do to
protect yourself financially at a time like this is to draw up a budget
and try to stick to it.

Do you have an emergency fund?

Hopefully, you have an emergency fund
in place that can support you for at least a few months. Experts have
traditionally recommended a three-month emergency fund but nowadays,
with the length of time it takes to find work, it is prudent if you
can, to look at setting aside between six months to a year of expenses
saved, in the event of job loss.

Even if you are one of those who
managed to build a decent emergency fund, find ways to cut back on
utilities, groceries, entertainment, etc., to make sure it can last as
long as possible. If you do not have any emergency savings, make this a
priority when you get a job so that you are better prepared for any
future financial crisis.

Track your expenses

Gather your bank statements and find
out how much money you have and where it is all going. List your daily,
monthly, weekly, and yearly expenses from your daily newspapers to your
mobile phone bills. Try to do this for a month, writing down as much of
your spending as you can.

This will help you to identify areas
where you can cut back. Involve your spouse if you are married; it is
important that the family is fully aware of the situation and fully
engaged in the plan, but without alarming the younger family members.

Are you in debt?

If you are having difficulty paying
your bills on time or you are in debt, contact your creditors
immediately. It may be possible, if you have had a good track record,
to restructure the loan and they may offer you a modified payment plan
that will reduce your payments to a more manageable level. Don’t wait
until they give up on you and decide to foreclose; you could lose your
car or even worse, your home.

Insurance

If you received health insurance
benefits for you and you family from your former employer’s group
health insurance plan, you will have to find a way to get medical
insurance in place as soon as possible. You cannot afford to be caught
without insurance should you or a family member suddenly falls sick.
Shop around for a policy that will cover at least the basics.

Luxuries versus necessities

Look critically at what you absolutely
must have and what you can do without. It will be quite surprising to
find that there are several items that you do not really need and can
forfeit for at least a while, without altering your lifestyle
significantly.

Here are a few examples of things that many families tend to ignore when they need to cut back on luxuries or non-essentials:

Food and housing should always be
priorities in your essential spending. However, if you are in the habit
of eating out often, you will save some money by eating at home more
regularly. Many of us eat far too much anyway, and losing some calories
might well be one of the advantages you reap from your budgeting
exercise! Whilst there may be ways to cut back, do not jeopardise yours
or your family’s health.

Many people consider cable television
to be a necessary utility and spend quite a lot on subscriptions. This
might be a good time to reconsider and scale back your multichannel
package, considering the fact that you watch less than half a dozen
channels on a regular basis.

As soon as you get a job or your
finances improve, you can re-evaluate those non-essential services and
renew your subscription accordingly. This also applies to other
subscriptions including multiple club memberships and magazine
subscriptions.

Your mobile phone is an essential
expense, but one can carelessly run up outrageous phone bills if you
don’t carefully monitor your usage. Set yourself a spending limit and
try to use it just for essential calls. Likewise, if you have a
generator, limit its usage, as fuel costs can be exorbitant and
unpredictable.

Introducing practical solutions, such
as energy saving bulbs and invertors, and encouraging the family to
turn off the lights when they leave a room should reduce your bills
considerably.

Do you have any other sources of income?

Do you receive any passive income from
dividends or rent from time to time? If so, now is the time to look at
such income critically and see how much it adds up to and when you
actually receive it, so that you can plan accordingly.

Maybe you have enough coming in to explore other options, such as furthering your education, or starting your own business.

Today, a job search can take some time,
with thousands of people out there looking for the same job openings.
Even if you have to take a job that requires minimal skills to keep you
afloat until something more appropriate comes in, remember it is only
temporary; you will still be looking for a job that matches your
background and skill set.

What skills and hobbies can you put to
good use now? Be creative and consider flexible part time, freelance,
or voluntary work to help you get a foot through the door and leave
enough time for your interviews and earning you some money at the same
time.

The hardest thing about budgeting is
sticking to your plan. Even if you fail miserably the first month,
don’t be discouraged. Just make some adjustments and keep trying.
Learning how to budget in trying times can be a blessing in disguise,
as it gives you a clear view of where you are over spending and where
there is excess waste.

Even when you are out of this rough patch and earning again, such
habits will have a lasting impact on your finances and you would have
learned some timeless lessons in money management.

Money

“Nobody has ever sued Mustafa Chike Obi for sexual harassment”

“Nobody has ever sued Mustafa Chike Obi for sexual harassment”

Nominee Managing Director, Asset Management Company of
Nigeria, ( AMCON) Mustafa Chike Obi, speaks exclusively to NEXT on his
nomination, the sexual harassment allegation against him, and the company he
has been nominated to manage. You can aslo watch the full interview. Excerpts:

How would you compare
Wall Street and the Nigerian capital market?

The Nigerian capital market is a developing capital market.
It is not as fully developed as the United States capital market. But it has
some of the essential ingredients that would make it successful. There are a
lot of intelligent people, a lot of active interested parties and I think that
the regulators have spent some time taking what is best from a lot of capital
market in the world. It is not yet complete but it is young and I think it is
moving in the right direction.

How does it feel
leaving your practice to come back to Nigeria?

I did not come back here to make money. My kids are grown. I
have a consulting firm. In fact, just before I came, I had a contract that
would have paid me $4 million by the end of the year. I started it but I
gave it up. So this is all about doing something to make a difference in the
country. It sounds grandiose people don’t believe that but that is the truth.
There is a sense of guilt that we have over there that other people are
building this country and we are not. It’s there. We may find ways to subdue t
but it’s there. And so when somebody gives you opportunity to serve, you are
happy. My wife asked me if I am sure I want to do this. I told her I have no
choice.

What should Nigerians expect from AMCON which many believe will
salvage the situation at this point?

Let me first make it clear that I don’t have a job as
managing director of AMCON. I am a nominee at this point. The process needs to go
through the Senate for confirmation and nobody especially me is taking the
Senate confirmation for granted. The Senate has a role to play and it must play
it fully. Having said that, my thought as a nominee for AMCON is that AMCON was
necessary. It was necessary because some of the things that happened all over
the word also happened here. The Nigerian banking system was no worse than
anywhere else. The mistakes that were made were made everywhere else including
the United States of America. So I think that we should not spend too much
energy beating ourselves up because of what happened. It happened everywhere
else. So AMCON is necessary because it is useful to put al the non performing
loans in one place and manage them. It creates economies of scale. AMCON is
going to be able to have long term financing which will enable it hold on to
these non performing loans for longer period of time and dispose of them
gradually. So what should Nigerians expect from AMCON. Nigerians should expect
that AMCON will relieve the banks of some of the burdens that they currently
carry. It would encourage them to do what they are supposed to do to give loans
to the real economy and hopefully, through good management, AMCON would be able
to dispose of the assets it acquired at the right time. From my part, I expect
that AMCON would be a world class institutions that Nigerians can be proud of.

In line with your
brief, how do you intend to drive this process considering that you are almost
going to build an institution from scratch?

I don’t know how to answer your question about briefing, but
I will tell you that it is not an institution from scratch. A lot of people
have been working very very hard to make AMCON a reality. Those people are the
Central Bank, the National Assembly, they have spent a lot of time on this
Bill. In my opinion this is a very well crafted Bill. The ministry of finance
has worked hard. The Presidency has been involved, the ministry of justice
ensured that the bill conformed to all the legal requirement of the
constitution. So I think that a lot of work has been done. Nigerians will be
very pleasantly surprised that when AMCON starts to operate, it will move very
quickly to relieve the banks of non performing loans and recapitalise them to
the point when they are fully functioning again.

Some people think
AMCON is taking too long. It is still at the stage of confirmation of nominees
after several months and the economy is heamorrhaging. How fast should
Nigerians begin to expect action?

You asked one question but you have made a statement before
the question. You said AMCON has taken a long time. It depends on your point of
view. This Nigerian AMCON Bill, and I have studied a lot of AMCON; including
America, is in my opinion, the model that takes in all the best features of
what all the other asset management companies that have operated in the past.
It necessarily required study and deliberation. It is taking sometime but I
think that the product is the best product we could have got. It is necessary
in a democracy for every body who is involved to have their say. The banks, the
representatives of the people and the enabling institutions like Central Bank
and ministry of finance. These are busy people. They have other things to do.
So it has taken time to get them all together at the same place. But I will
repeat; once this process is complete, Nigerians will be pleasantly surprised
at how fast AMCON will move. I can’t give any timetable because I cannot
preempt the Senate confirmation process. But once that is done, I think that
within 30 days, we will see definite action.

The central bank has
directed banks to reduce their capital market exposure to 10 per cent. The
question then is what will be left for AMCON to do if the banks have reduced a
huge chunk of the bad loans which is exposure to the stock market

There are several things to this. Central Bank is the
regulatory body for banks. I am not privileged to go through the deliberation
that led to the Central Bank coming up with the 10 per cent. But from my point
of view, it makes sense that banks are primarily focused on lending to the real
economy. That is what banks are supposed to be doing. So if the central bank in
its wisdom decides that 10 per cent is a good number, I will not second guess
that. Your assumption that most of the non performing loans are based on
capital market lending, I can tell you that is not correct. There is
significant amount of non performing loans, more than the majority, that is not
capital market related. So there is still a lot of work for AMCON and the
banks.

One issue of
contention is how these assets are going to be priced. Have you contemplated
the issue of pricing?

Yes. A lot of work has been done on pricing of these assets.
There is a methodology of pricing assets. If you have all the correct
information and all other input, you can price a lot of these assets. One thing
I have heard is people talking about toxic assets. There are no toxic assets in
Nigeria. There are a lot of non performing loans. Toxic assets refer to highly
structured derivative securities that require tremendous pricing
sophistication. We don’t have those here. We have non performing loans with
more or less complete to incomplete documentation.

These loans can be priced and there are various ways of
pricing these loans. I am not going to tell you all the work that has been done
on these loans but I can tell you this; It is going to be a negotiation between
AMCON and the banks. AMCON is there to resolve problems not to create them.
AMCON will give the methodology it wants to use. It will be very transparent,
it will be published. Everybody will understand what AMCON is trying to do. We
will negotiate with the banks and we will come to such agreement. But the pricing
valuation method will be public and be published very quickly after AMCON
starts work.

So what should the
financial market expect about price?

Once AMCON publishes its valuation method, one can have
valid discussion as to which method would be best. Until then, the concept of
AMCON is one of helping, resolving a crisis. There should be no objection to
the AMCON concept. Now we can all discuss various things about its operations
when it starts operating and by law it must publish how it is going to operate.
But until then, I would advise people not to be anxious because the concept is
to provide solution, not to create problems.

Stockbrokers feel
that their interest was not adequately covered by AMCON. How do you address
this?

The Central Bank by law determines eligible institutions and
determines eligible assets. That is the duty of the central bank. AMCON doesn’t
decide who it has to deal with or what assets it has to buy. Central Bank
decides that. So if there is an issue about that, it should be directed at
somewhere else but AMCON, because AMCON is very well defined. AMCON in
consultation with the central bank and the institutions comes up with the price
and everybody is happy. If stockbrokers have a concern, I suggest that
they should wait and see what central bank directs us.

Tell us about your
stint at Kidder Peabody and the circumstances that led to your leaving

It is difficult to talk about my stay at Kidder Peabody
without talking about why I went there in the first place. I will address this
issue and leave it to you to do the research you need to do to validate what I
have said. I left Goldman Sachs where I was a very senior position where I ran
the mortgage trading desk. I was offered a job at Kidder Peabody where I was
promised a tremendous increase in my compensation. I accepted the offer. Within
a very short while, it became clear to Kidder Peabody that they could not pay
me what they had promised. I was called into an office and I was told, “We
cannot pay you this because you would be earning more than the chairman of
General Electric. We are sorry about this. Lets renegotiate.” My response was,
“I left a good situation based on what you promised me. I don’t think there is
anything to renegotiate at all.”

And subsequently, I was accused of sexually harassing an
employee of Kidder Peabody and fired. I filed a law suit against the lady and
Kidder Peabody. Get me clear. I filed a law suit for defamation of character
against both parties. Before the lawsuit could be resolved, I was offered a
very attractive position at Bear Sterns. It was suggested to me that I had to
drop the law suit because they didn’t want a senior member of Bear Stearns
having a lawsuit against another investment bank. After discussing with my
family, I decided to drop the lawsuit. Let me reiterate. Nobody has ever sued
Mustafa Chike Obi for sexual harassment. Nobody. The only suit was filed by me
against my accusers. I will say this again; the financial industry in the
United State is very highly regulated, as in anywhere else in the world.
People who are bad actors tend to be banned in the financial services industry
or given sanctions by the regulatory authorities. There has been no blemish on
my regulatory record. I have never been sanctioned by any regulator and I have
continued to get jobs from serious firms, subsequent to that event and those
firms did all the due diligence they could do and there was never any negative
story associated with my name since the Kidder incidence. I address that
because it is important that people deal with facts and not rumours. And all of
this can be verified by going to the National Association of Securities Dealers
website. You can request for the regulatory record of any individual who is a
registered representative. It is public information and I invite anybody to go
do that and if they have any questions about any records as an investment
banker.

Background checks
revealed that you filed a $10 million suit against the lady in question. So was
it on this basis that you had to withdraw the case?

It was on the basis that I either had to continue with the
lawsuit or continue with my career and my family strongly advised that I
continued with my career. That’s why I dropped the lawsuit.

You seem enthusiastic
to serve the country. What can you say about Nigeria at 50?

I have the privilege of looking at Nigeria from oversea and
I focus a lot on what has happened. There is a long way to go but we have come
a long way as well. Some years ago we couldn’t attract people like the minister
of finance, to name one, the director general of the SEC (Securities and
Exchange Commission) to name another. We couldn’t attract a lot other people
that are back. This country has come a long way and I think that if we focus on
what we have accomplished as a country, we can make the steps necessary to get
to where we want to. I am very optimistic about Nigeria. I am very happy to be
given a chance to serve and I think that this is the place where people of
talent and good intentions can make a big difference and my hope is that I can
make a big difference to Nigeria. I feel sad at being away for so long and
other people have brought it to this point. But better late than never. I hope
I can be able to add my effort.

Tell us about your
work experience in the financial market in Nigeria?

I will give you some background first. My father, Professor
Chike Obi was an academician and my older brother followed in his footsteps. He
had a PhD in physics and was professor in University of Ilorin. I was supposed
to follow in their footsteps but I realised very quickly that my love was for
the finance industry. So I abandoned that path and I came and I worked for
Chase Merchant Bank, one of the three initial merchant banks in this country at
a time when the merchant banking industry was being formed. I worked for two years
in the treasury department.

I rose to become the head of the treasury department. And I
am proud to say that we were the ones who made treasury department become an
important profit centre in banks because at the time it was a vibrant function.
So I spent two years first as an analyst in the treasury department, we were
selling bankers acceptances and commercial papers to pension funds and
insurance companies. Later on the function grew to managing the bank’s
liabilities, making sure the bank’s excess funds are well invested and managed
in such a way that the bank functioned adequately. So it became a profit
centre. I did that for two years and I left to go to Princeton University. So I
did spend two years in Nigeria. Many of my colleagues are now senior members in
that industry and I am still in touch with them. I have been aware of all the
development over the years through my colleagues.

So you think that
sufficiently positions you for this new role?

I think that the AMCON job needs more than experience. I
think it needs thorough understanding of the financial market. It needs an
international exposure. It needs a thorough knowledge of international
financial theory. It needs knowledge of the Nigerian people and Nigerian market
and situation. I think that if it was a one man job, nobody will be qualified
to do it. But luckily, there are other people that are going to be involved
that would bring in other aspects of leadership and skills so that when you
have a team you have a team that can cover all the various aspect. We need
somebody the international market can respect. We need somebody the domestic
market can respect. So we are trying to create a team at AMCON. I wish there
was just one person with all the qualities but it’s difficult to have it.
That’s the idea.

There is renewed
interest by Nigerians in the Diaspora to come back home to contribute their
quota. How do they fit into a system which is different from what you are used
to in the developed economies?

I think that the most important thing in anything you do in
life is passion. It is not skill. I know people who are skillful at things and
they have no passion and don’t get anywhere with it. If you have passion and
love for anything, everything else will come to pass. You will follow it to the
end. What I would tell people who are coming from anywhere, Diaspora or not,
who are given important responsibilities in Nigeria, I will tell them that if they
don’t have the passion and love for what they are about to do, they should not
do it. Because once you have the love and passion for what you are doing, it
doesn’t matter if you don’t have electricity for four hours, it doesn’t matter
if you in traffic jam for four hours. You are consumed with what you want to do
and how you can contribute. For me, I am like a little boy now. I am excited. I
want to do something. I want to make a difference. And do I notice that it is
warmer here than it is in New Jersey. Do I notice that generators are humming
in the background and they don’t in New Jersey? I notice that but they are
background noise. I’ll rather be here than anywhere else in the world.

How did you come
about your name Mustafa

My father Professor Chike Obi was a nationalist. He named my
elder brother Balogun to show that once you are a Nigerian, it doesn’t matter
which name you get. So I got lucky with Mustafa and my brother got lucky with
Balogun. For your information, my wife is Itsekiri, I grew up in Lagos and I
live in the United States. We have been married since 1982 and we have two
children.

Money

Nigeria buying time on football crisis

Nigeria buying time on football crisis

Nigeria
received a reprieve on Friday in its face-off with world football
governing body, FIFA, as the ban placed on the country last Monday was
lifted on Friday after a meeting of the football body’s emergency
committee.

“The FIFA Emergency
Committee decided today, 8 October 2010, to provisionally lift the
suspension of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). The decision was
taken after observing that the situation had taken a positive turn in
recent days, with the claimant at the origin of the court actions
publicly committing itself to withdrawing its claim, the acting General
Secretary of the NFF returning to his post on 5 October 2010 and the
issue of the Nigeria League being left totally within the ambit of the
NFF,” FIFA said in a statement released after the meeting.

“The suspension has
been lifted provisionally until 26 October 2010, after noting that the
next hearing before the court is scheduled for 25 October 2010 and that
only then can the judge vacate the court orders. However, should the
NFF still be embroiled in court actions or any other issue preventing
it from working freely on that date, the suspension will be
automatically confirmed until all problems have been definitively
solved.”

The decision coming
at the time it did was not surprising. In the 72 hours preceding the
reprieve there had been a flurry of activities geared towards getting
the football body to rescind its decision. A number of prominent sports
personalities including Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Falilat Ogunkoya, Henry
Amike, and Yusuf Alli had met in Lagos on Tuesday and called on FIFA to
to lift the ban. They also castigated some individuals within the
football family for initiating the ban on Nigeria.

Sacrificing Baribote

That same day,
Rumson Baribote, the chairman of Bayelsa United was fired by the
Bayelsa State Government along with other members of the board. The
action was done without much fanfare and people did not think much of
it. But for those who have followed events keenly, it was a strategic
move.

Baribote was one of
the central figures in the furore over the enlargement of the Nigeria
Premier League to 24 teams. His club had been relegated and he had
threatened to head to the Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS) in
Switzerland if he did not get justice in Nigeria. Many believe the
enlargement of the league was done to appease him, an action that irked
FIFA, which had been informed by its agents in Nigeria that Ibrahim
Bio, the Minister of Sports, was responsible for the move.

In order to appease
FIFA therefore, Baribote had to go. The reasoning was very simple. If
he is fired as Bayelsa United boss, he will have no basis to head for
CAS. With Baribote out of the way, the next step was to get Harrison
Jalla, the man who had gone to court insisting that elections must be
held first into the state football associations before that of the NFF,
to withdraw the case.

On Wednesday, Amos
Adamu, Rafiu Ladipo, and a few others met with Jalla in Lagos during
which Jalla agreed in principle to withdraw the case from court subject
to the fulfilment of certain conditions, which were not immediately
made public. Jalla said if those conditions were not met before October
25, the day the case comes up for another hearing, he would have no
choice but to continue with the suit. With that agreement, Adamu
contacted his people at FIFA headquarters informing them that the coast
was clear for the lifting of the ban. The following night Bio met with
Jalla to “encourage” him to withdraw the case.

It was thus not
surprising that FIFA went into an “emergency” session on Friday after
which it lifted the ban. Jalla was not immediately available for
comment but Princewill Oviesan, Media Officer of the National
Association of Nigerian Footballers, said that in going into
negotiations, his organisation was motivated by the need to spare
Nigerian football as much pain as possible.

“We were concerned
about the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match between Nigeria and
Guinea, that was one of the reasons we went into negotiations and we
made our position clear that if by October 25, the agreements reached
have not been implemented then we would have no choice but to continue
with the case in court,” he said.

Not yet over

While October 25 is
two weeks away, the worst may not be over yet. One of the agreements
reached at the meeting between Jalla and Adamu was that bodies like
Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and the Nigerian
University Games Association (NUGA), who former President Sani Lulu
removed from the list of delegates eligible to vote during NFF
executive committee elections, should be re-instated. This is in
addition to his main demand that state elections must hold before those
into the executive committee.

It may be easy for concession to be made with regard to the first
demand, but it is not likely that there will be progress on the matter
of state FA elections. The reason, NEXT learnt, is because Adamu, whose
tenure on the FIFA Executive Committee comes to an end in less than a
year’s time, is desperate to ensure that his lackeys appropriate
leadership positions on the NFF board. That way, his re-nomination by
Nigeria for another term on the FIFA executive committee, is assured.

Sports

Radebe’s inspiring climb from hoodlum to hero

Radebe’s inspiring climb from hoodlum to hero

Lucas
Radebe is a personal friend of Nelson Mandela, a FIFA ambassador and
one of Leeds United’s finest players of modern times but he still
vividly recalls the grim Christmas when he nearly turned his back on
what was destined to be a brilliant future.

He had his bags
packed, an airline ticket in his pocket and was ready to secretly
escape from Leeds and fly back to Johannesburg.

It was that Christmas of 1994 that he made the best decision of his life. He took his hand off the doorknob and stayed.

His first few
months in the north of England had been tough and he hated the place
which now reveres him as an adopted son and one of Leeds finest players
of modern times.

“I arrived there knowing nothing about Leeds. Going overseas for me was like walking into a dark room blindfolded.

“I had no idea what
to expect, I didn’t know anything about Leeds United – and when I
arrived it was horrible, I hated it,” he told Reuters in an interview.

By the December he
had started just one match in four months, made a few brief appearances
as a substitute, and explained how he came to be facing a swift return
home.

“Nothing was happening for me and I wanted to go. Breaking into the first team under Howard Wilkinson was tough. I hadn’t.

“I was only used
sparingly. I never played in the big games and I was getting depressed
and homesick. Me and (teammate) Phil Masina used to save up 50 pence
pieces to phone home from a payphone. That’s how bad it was.

“It was December
1994. The worst part was the weather, it was horrible and I thought,
‘my bags are packed, I’ve got my ticket, I am just going to go’. I
wasn’t going to tell anybody, I was just going.” But he changed his
mind, won a place in the side at the start of a glittering decade of
good times and is now lauded as a Leeds great as well as being a
personal friend of former South African president Mandela, who has
described the 41-year-old as “my hero”.

From the streets

He also works as a
FIFA ambassador and his new autobiography, “From the Streets of Soweto
to Soccer Superstar,” tells his astonishing life story which has seen
him rise from a Soweto hoodlum who stole and hijacked cars, became the
victim of a street shooting, but is now one of Africa’s best-loved
footballers.

“I got involved in
crime, gangsterism, hijackings. We made sure that when tomorrow came we
had something in our stomachs. But that’s the lifestyle I knew growing
up,” he said.

“There were no role
models, we didn’t have access to TV or international events, it was a
day-by-day existence and survival of the fittest.”

Radebe’s lucky
break came through his parents. They sent him away from Soweto at 15 to
school in the rural homeland of Bophuthatswana. There he began to
develop into such a superb footballer that he was signed by Kaizer
Chiefs. After three years there, reports of a talented centre-back were
circulated to clubs in England and Scotland.

“I know Dundee
United were interested and I could have gone there, and some clubs in
London. But Leeds made the best offer and I went there instead. I was
already 25, I wasn’t young but had no real idea what I was heading for.
I had never been out of South Africa, I didn’t have a clue,” he laughed.

Personal tragedy

Personal tragedy
has blighted his life too including the death of his 34-year-old wife
Feziwe from cancer two years ago leaving him to bring up his three
children alone.

But everything would have been different if he had opened that door in his digs in Leeds all those years ago and gone home.

“Standing there, I
realised the opportunity I had, and the responsibility I had, not just
of representing myself but also my country and of the chance to open
some doors for other African players.

“I changed my mind.
I thought I would rather fail having tried than not try at all. I had
been through all the dark days of apartheid, I had been shot, I had had
nothing but I survived. That’s what transformed me.

“Coming through
that childhood in which I saw many of my friends killed or jailed,
built my character and helped me face the challenges in Leeds – and
George Graham coming in as manager was absolutely brilliant for me. He
gave me my chance and the great days began.”

Champions league

In his decade with
the club, Leeds challenged for honours, reached the Champions League
semi-finals and between 1998 and 2002 finished between third and fifth
in the Premier League.

Their recent
revival after slipping down to the third tier in England pleases him
and he was given a hero’s welcome when he went back to visit Elland
Road last week.

But right now other
matters are occupying his thoughts – not least the legacy the World Cup
finals will bring to South Africa and Africa as a whole.

“If somebody had
told me in my lifetime that we would have hosted the World Cup in
Soweto, I would never have believed it. It was a tough, tough place to
grow up, I played football in the street, we had little in the way of
facilities.

“But just the fact
that Soweto hosted the World Cup was a triumph in itself.” He says the
opening day of the World Cup was one of the most emotional of his life.

“I was doing TV
with Francois Pienaar, the winner of the 1995 Rugby World Cup and when
both teams came out, I am telling you, we looked at each other, we had
goosebumps, we were like kids. It was such a great achievement, it was
the greatest thing.” The stadiums, he says, will serve as an
inspiration to future generations.

“I am sure the
World Cup, the new stadiums, everything, will take us to another level.
We don’t want to be like Japan or Korea who demolished the stadiums
after spending so much money on them in 2002.

“For me they are an
investment for youth, for the grass roots of the game. The stadiums
stand as a symbol of inspiration for the upcoming generations and can
pay dividends for the young for years.”

And what of the former Soweto bad boy who is now friends with Mandela?

“That is truly amazing. I go round to see him with my kids for lunch
or tea sometimes. He has been an amazing friend since my wife died and,
well, it’s a long way from where I started.”

Sports

Liverpool tops the league…in shirt deals

Liverpool tops the league…in shirt deals

Liverpool are on the wrong end of the English Premier League table and languishing in massive debt but they remain top of the table as far as income earned from shirt endorsement deals are concerned.

Without a doubt England’s most successful football club and one of the biggest sides in the world, Liverpool’s performance as far as the 2010/2011 season is concerned has been one not befitting of a club with such a proud history.

Although they have not won a league title for close to 19 years, they have added a host of other titles to their long list of honours, and even won the UEFA Champions League for the fifth time in their 118-year history as ‘recently’ as 2005.

But they are currently in the relegation zone on the Premier League table and, worse still, could suffer a nine-point penalty if their present owners’ holding company is put into administration.

Previously, it was believed that Liverpool will not be penalised if Kop Holdings, the company owned by Tom Hicks and George Gilliett, were to be put into administration but now a nine-point penalty is reportedly becoming a serious threat especially if Hicks and Gilliett continue to block the proposed £300 million takeover by New England Sports Ventures (NESV) and do not pay off their £280m debt by October 15; a situation that might force the Royal Bank of Scotland to put Kop Holdings into administration.

Premier League rules state that because Kop Holdings is solely focused on the ownership of Liverpool and football-related matters, a nine-point penalty is a possibility.

West Ham United were in a similar situation when their holding company Icelandic Bank Straumur became insolvent, but they escaped a point deduction because Straumur had financial interests in other ventures, not just a football club, unlike Kop Holdings.

Pick of the pack

But the Reds, irrespective of their current travails, are right there at the top when it comes to shirt endorsements along with bitter rivals Manchester United who, like Liverpool, were purchased by an American investor.

Although the disparity between the top teams and the bottom is wide, all the 20 Premier League clubs can boast of shirt deals that are comparable with those of some of the world’s top football leagues.

In total the Premier League clubs have signed shirt deals worth £403.9 million, with durations ranging on the average between one and four years. And on top of that list are Liverpool and Manchester United with deals worth £80 million, about £20 million annually.

Globally, only two other clubs have shirt deals greater than those of these two. They are Spain’s Real Madrid and Bayern Munich of Germany, both with annual figures slightly under £22 million.

Chelsea and Tottenham follow suit behind the fierce English rivals with shirt deals that annually rake in £12 million and £10 million respectively for them. Manchester City follows next before the duo of Aston Villa and Arsenal follow suit.

Although Arsenal’s deal with Emirates only rakes in around £6 million annually, the United Arab Emirates-based airliner’s deal with the London based club signed back in 2006 saw Emirates doling out £100 million for a 15-year period, along with the right to the name of their current home ground.

Back in 2006, the deal was considered outrageous by industry watchers as it was unprecedented. But just four years down the road, what was then considered the most expensive sponsorship deal ever is proving to be quite small compared to existing contracts with other clubs in the same category as the Gunners.

Worse part of it all for Arsenal is that they still have another 11 years to go before the end of their deal with Emirates.

Sports

What does FIFA hope to achieve?

What does FIFA hope to achieve?

FIFA,
according to its code of ethics, is supposed to constantly strive to
protect the image of football, from jeopardy or harm but the ban on
Nigeria seems to be protecting a particular clique from harm and not
football development in the country. This piece is not to review
whether the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) ban
is good or bad or whether it will do the game any good. What it seeks
to achieve really is what the world governing body of football, FIFA,
really wants? Is it that FIFA consciously supports corruption and
corrupt officials or they do not just want any kind of government
interference in their ‘cup of tea’?

There had been
various warnings to the Nigerian government that the hammer would fall
but in an era where next year’s elections are on the front burner,
football can go burn itself – football will not run or ruin the country.

It is also a well
known fact that FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, was irritated, vociferous
and quick to officially react when French politicians debated about the
performance of their national football team in South Africa.

That has been the
kind of imperial authority that the Switzerland-based body seeks to
wield over the game and that has led many to call FIFA a monopoly. What
FIFA does not understand is that it can so irritate countries to mutiny
and that could spell its end. How the English Premier League was formed
should be an adequate example for the football body.

FIFA can consider
itself important now but it is the game, most importantly, the players
that are important. Without them, there will be no game to administer
and the faster Blatter and his mates get that, the better it will be
for them in their handling of football affairs.

Nigeria’s President
Goodluck Jonathan tried to ban all national teams from international
soccer games for two years, following very poor performances by the
Super Eagles in South Africa added to immense corruption allegations
against football officials, but he was dissuaded from that line of
action by pleas from the Nigerian people.

Cleansing the football stable

Now it was
inevitable that the football house had to be cleansed with the FIFA
ban. But the recent pronouncements, out of court settlements and
re-instatements – no one actually knows when the Aegean stable will be
cleaned.

Though FIFA has not
come out to discuss the allegations of corruption levelled against its
officials, they are quick to issue a ban over government interference.
I believe the nation has more to gain by this ban – because there will
be no competitions to go to and therefore no estacodes or monies to be
shared. If the ban can go on for up to two years, most of the so-called
football administrators will find other businesses to do – like
importing rice! A member of the deposed board of the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF), Felix Anyansi-Agwu condemned FIFA’s action but blamed
it on the work of saboteurs.

“It should now be
clear to Nigerians who are the real enemies of Nigeria. Why should a
group of two or three people stand out and want to scuttle what the
majority have done. The election into the board of NFF was free and
fair and everybody saw it.

“I want to say in
clear terms that this is sabotage against the President of this country
who wants Nigerian football to move forward. These are the same people
who advised him to withdraw Nigeria from international football.”

Former chairman of
the Nigeria Professional League Board, Onyuki Obaseki is more concerned
about the slap on Nigeria’s sovereign status by FIFA.

Obaseki questioned
FIFA’s intrusive nature on Nigeria’s internal affairs, saying that the
country was a sovereign nation with laws that govern it.

“A court order
stopped the NFF from conducting the elections that brought about all
these problems. The NFF defied that order and FIFA is now suspending
the country,” Obaseki said.

Saluting corruption

Internal political
interference in sports can have many consequences but one thing is
sure, financial and political excesses need to be moderated – the
financial part is what makes FIFA culpable in this matter. Sports, nay
football may have major political and economic implications in a
country like Nigeria and yes, FIFA’s intervention at times may be
welcome and needed but wisdom and justice is needed especially in cases
of apparent corruption.

FIFA comes across
as saluting corruption with the inaction of the body towards the
infamous Jack Warner from Trinidad and Tobago and the wanton excesses
of the North Korea government concerning its players and coaches.

Blatter and FIFA
have been very quick to threaten Nigeria and France with bans – and
have actually suspended Greece in the past – but on cases of corruption
and human rights abuses, they have been conveniently silent.

The North Korean
government has subjected football coach Kim Jong Hun, and his players
to public ridicule. The safety of the coach in the totalitarian regime
is at risk and FIFA will not act as the body knows where its bread is
buttered.

President-elect of
the NFF, Aminu Maigari refused to comment on the situation. But
Bertrand Ekenwa, a football agent, said: “Nigerian football has been
put in jeopardy because of a selfish few. It’s only a madman that will
think of challenging FIFA.”

Well, the gauntlet has been thrown down and time will show who was right or wrong.

In the end, it just
seems that some people are taking advantage of FIFA’s protective laws
to perpetrate a lot of corruption and disharmony in Nigerian football.

This will not be the first time that Nigeria will be banned and may
not be the last. Nigeria was banned in 1996, by CAF, for pulling out of
the Nations Cup in South Africa and also suffered a two-year FIFA ban
in 1985 from age-group competitions because of age falsification.

Sports

Lax security agencies put Nigeria on the spot