BusinessDay 02 Aug 2019

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news you can trust I **FRIDAY 02 AUGUST 2019 I vol. 19, no 363 I N300

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SARS’ roving patrols intensify kidnap-style arrests

Defy presidential reform order Detainees executed in Lagos for no reason – Victim alleges

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hen what should be a commercial vehicle doublecrosses you and some men jump out with guns, often clad in unmarked black outfits, wearing dreadlocks and other poorlygroomed hairstyles, with tattooed bodies, piercings and earrings, your first instinct would be: RUN! The individual is likely to think they have just been accosted by either armed robbers or kidnappers on a mission to rob, abduct,

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Buhari closes defence at tribunal after only 7 witnesses

...APC, INEC satisfied with position FELIX OMOHOMHION, Abuja resident Muhammadu Buhari, Thursday, closed his defence in the petition filed by the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja.

Atiku and the PDP are seeking to upturn the declaration of Buhari as winner of the February 23, 2019 presidential election.

At the resumed hearing of the petition on Thursday, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), lead defence counsel, told the tribunal that they have

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Inside Sale of 10 power plants awaits FG’s plan to reduce investor risk P. 4

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CALEB OJEWALE

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Treasury bills

L-R: Theo Osanakpo (SAN), Nestoil director; Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi, group managing director; Val Ucheobi (SAN), and Nnenna Obiejesi, at the Nestoil Annual General Meeting held in Lagos.

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news Displaced residents pay price of Ajegunle’s renewal ISRAEL ODUBOLA & TEMITAYO AYETOTO

A L-R: Jude Ohanehi, executive director operations; Akinwunmi Lawal, managing director/chief executive; Azubuko Udah, chairman, and Osaro Idemudia, company secretary, all of NPF Microfinance Bank plc, at the bank’s AGM at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Sale of 10 power plants awaits FG’s plan to reduce investor risk ISAAC ANYAOGU

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our years after preferred bidders were announced for Nigeria’s 10 independent power plants, the assets lie wasting away while large swaths of the country remain in darkness.

The deal to sell the power plants built under the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo ran into troubled waters when it did not come with a firm gas supply agreement.

Only the Calabar NIPP had a firm gas supply agreement with Accugas but the government has been unable to fully take the gas under the take-or-pay arrangement with Accugas and owes millions of dollars to the company for supply to the Calabar NIPP. Analysts say restructur-

ing the deal and providing financial guarantees could help close the deal, options that do not require the Federal Government spending money.

“As a way forward to resolving the issues, the Federal Government must sit down with the NIPP investors to come up with a more realistic and practical transaction structure that would address the current challenges of privatising the NIPPs,” said Odion Omonfoman, chief executive, New Hampshire Capital Ltd. Omonfoman said that would also allow the investors to make the investment to acquire and also operate the NIPPs. Beyond the absence of firm gas supply agreement, there were limited transmission lines to move power from the NIPPs to areas

where it was needed and at the time of sale, some of the plants were uncompleted.

To worsen matters, Nigeria’s power sector is leaking money. DisCos do not collect more than a quarter of invoices issued, electricity pricing does not produce commercial return, and the government is unwilling to provide a sovereign guarantee so that the bidders could use it to secure debt financing.

The Bureau of Public Enterprise and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company failed to provide commercially bankable transaction and industry agreements including share sale agreem e nt, p ow e r p u rc ha s e agreement with Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) and Put/ Call Option Agreement with the Federal Ministry of

Finance and the preferred investors that would enable them to raise the 70 percent debt financing for the acquisition in bid terms.

An industry source said despite being unable to provide investors with bankable contracts, BPE insists that they must post millions of dollars in bank guarantees covering 15 percent of their bid prices six years after the expiry of the initial bank guarantees posted by the investors. This has also stalled the NIPP privatisation, as preferred bidders have called on the BPE/NDPHC to address the transaction challenges with some going to court to force the government agencies to provide these agreements.

Analysts say this situation whets the ground for crisis.

“There’s no way the gov-

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Atiku expresses outrage over alleged secret graveyards of killed soldiers in North-East INNOCENT ODOH & STELLA ENENCHE

…military dismisses report

ormer Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday expressed shock and sadness over the alleged secret burial of 1,000 Nigerian soldiers killed

by Boko Haram/ISWAP as reported by the Wall Street Journal, stressing that Nigerians are entitled to know the truth from President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement personally signed by him, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections said he read “with a sense of heartbreak and shock” the report by the Wall Street Journal that over 1,000 Nigerian soldiers have been secretly buried at night by the

Buhari-led administration “in order to hide the true state of the war on terror”.

Atiku said he felt heartbreak for the families and friends of those soldiers who, if the report is true, have lost their loved ones without being allowed to bury them or even to have any sense of closure as regards their fate.

He said further it was unfortunate that such a thing could happen under a democracy, even as he accused President Buhari’s government of cover-up.

“I shudder to think that the cover-up of such an event of epic proportions can be true. The men and women of our armed forces are our

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first, second and last defence against our domestic and foreign enemies and should be treated with love, respect, dignity and appreciation for the invaluable service they render to Nigeria,” Atiku said.

“I cannot fathom that in the space of a year, 1,000 of these great patriots were killed and buried secretly without their families being told. I hesitate to believe that deceit on such a grand scale is even possible,” he said.

But the Defence Headquarters dismissed the Wall Street Journal report that the military maintained secret graveyards in Maimalari town, Borno State, north-east of the country, where soldiers

killed by Boko Haram/ISWAP were buried.

Onyema Nwachukwu, acting director of Defence Information (DDI), in a statement on Thursday said the military has a solemn tradition for the interment of its fallen heroes and would not indulge in such acts, which he described as “sacrilegious”.

“The Defence Headquarters has noted with dismay an online article by Wall Street Journal purporting that the Nigerian Military maintains secret graveyards in the North East theatre of operation,” Nwachukwu said in the statement.

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s at the end of May 2019, Funmilayo Afolabi and her husband had been unable to pool funds to rent a new apartment in Ajegunle, Lagos’ bustling urban slum. After their former residence, a dilapidated bungalow, was sold for N13 million in November 2018, their new landlord gave them until May to move out, with a stern warning that he would detach the roof if they failed to honour the date.

At the expiration of the deadline, Afolabi had only N40,000 when housing agents were demanding N200,000 to cover rent, agreement and commission. At the same time, the eldest of her six children, a student in Osun State Polytechnic, was making request for money. She started considering Okokomaiko, a Lagos suburb, where a selfcontained apartment could go for N90,000. In fear and disorientation, she began to pack her belongings in handy fashion and kept them with friends.

However, like light at the end of a tunnel, a N100,000 loan came from a microfinance bank. She was lucky enough to find another apartment on the same street she

had lived since 2002. To refund the loan, her obligation is N19,500 monthly for the next few months.

The acquisition of Afolabi’s former residence for full reconstruction by a new landlord is a prototype of the growing pattern of urban renewal spreading in low-cost areas of Lagos, such as Ajegunle.

Such redevelopment in urban slums does not merely involve demolition and construction of better structures which tend to be costlier. Displacement is a key feature that silently relocates many into more underdeveloped and underserviced communities in Lagos, BusinessDay’s investigation found.

Tenants who fall victim of this are often faced with the harsh effect of short notice. They are faced with the problem of distance between the potential new apartment and their workplaces. Parents worry about the new school to re-enrol their children and bother most about affordability. Should their effort to obtain another apartment in Lagos fail, some victims of displacement are sent back as far as their hometowns to start a new life.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

NCC intervenes in interconnect debt war between telcos

...service disruption persists with no clear date for debt settlement

Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson

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he Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reassured the over 174 million telecoms consumers of their protection from suffering any service disruption as a result of the ongoing regulatory intervention towards resolving the rising interconnectivity debts among telecoms operators in Nigeria.

The Commission also called on debtor operators to settle interconnect debts owed their creditor networks without further delay to prevent possible revenue drop and customer flight from their networks to competitors.

Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman of NCC, who stated this in Abuja, said as a consumer-centric regulatory authority, the NCC was keen on ensuring that the consumers continue to enjoy uninterrupted service while efforts were being made to address the issue of indebtedness in the industry.

The issue of interconnection is a matter that the Commission is handling @Businessdayng

delicately within the purview of the regulatory provisions to protect consumers by ensuring that their quality of experience (QoE) is not acutely affected, Danbatta stated.

The EVC said while regulatory approval on permission for disconnection was granted to creditor networks late last year, as a last resort towards resolving the huge interconnection debts threatening the health and sustainability of the industry, the Commission is ensuring that no telecoms subscriber is disconnected.

“Though the Commission granted approval to MTN’s request to disconnect debtor networks from its network in line with Section 100 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, the Guidelines on Procedure for Granting Approval to Disconnect Telecommunications Operators, 2012 and other regulatory instruments, what is happening now is that the creditor networks are restricting certain services to their debtor networks in form of one-way disconnection.

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Reasons there’s no more equity demand on housing loans below N5m CHUKA UROKO

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or too long, the demand for equity contribution as a pre-requisite for accessing housing loan facility from mortgage and other deposit banks has denied many Nigerians opportunity to own homes, leading to the widening housing demand-supply gap in the country.

But that narrative is changing significantly by reason of one of the recent initiatives by the Federal MortgageBankofNigeria(FMBN), which has scrapped equity contribution on housing loans below N5 million and 10 percent flat rate for housing loans beginning from N5 million to N15 million.

Zero equity on housing loans targeted at federal civil servants means those of them earning low salaries and are subscribers to the National Housing Fund (NHF) can now access N5 million mortgage with which they can start the journeytohomeownershipwithoutthe usual fear and difficulty in repaying the principal and the interest.

“We have removed equity contribution on all loans below

N5 million in order to ease access to the National Housing Funds (NHF) in the country,” Ahmed Dangiwa, FMBN’s managing director, explained at an international housing conference in Abuja recently.

Equity contribution is a financial contribution calculated as a percentage of the loan, usually as high as 30 percent, which mortgage lenders demand from borrowers to serve as a hedge against loan default and also as a means of reducing the borrower’s risk exposure.

Mortgage banking operators say equity contribution is fundamentaltomortgagelendingjustas regular flow of income is. “Equity contribution is fundamental because there are institutional and regulatory developments that are stillbeingexpectedintheindustry.

“Thereisnodependabledatabase of Nigerians yet; the national ID card remains largely unreliable and foreclosure laws are still not strong,” Eniola Bamidele, a mortgage operator, explained to BusinessDay. This has been a major impediment to owning homes in Nigeria where house

prices are extremely high. It is the reason homeownership level in the country is a little above 10 percent as against Singapore’s 65 percent, UK’s 72 percent and over 80 percent in the US. Equity contribution also validates a report compiled by Pison HousingCompanywhichsaysthat about 80 percent of the Nigerian population lives in rented accommodation, spending 50 percent of theirincomeonpayinghouserent.

The Lagos State Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LagosHOMS) was an innovative and pace-setting initiative with which the state government under the Babatunde Fashola administration wanted to increase homeownership level in thestatethroughincreasedaccess to mortgage.

The laudable scheme could not go far because of the 30 percent equity contribution, which the scheme demanded from the subscribers. The downward review of the equity contribution to as‘low’as5percentdidnotstrikea loud chord among the state’s civil servants, which the scheme was targeted at.

He made these disclosures while interfacing with the World Bank team headed by its country director, Rachid Benmessaoud, in Abuja on Wednesday.

Governor Abiodun in a statement by Kunle Somorin, his chief press secretary, said he was at the World Bank to share his vision of collective prosperity for Ogun people and bring on board global best practices on the ease of doing business from the World Bank.

He underscored the importance of development partnership to actualise his “building our future together” agenda and the centrality of public private sector partnerships.

“The Lagos - Abeokuta road is a sorry sight when it rains and our people need to commute to and

from Lagos everyday because we are to Lagos what New Jersey is to New York.

“People who commute through Iyana Ilogbo will tell you of the nightmare they encounter everyday because of potholes which cause endless gridlock.

This is a road that has been under construction for a long time and still needs about N26 billion before completion.

“Only N1 billion was in this year’s federal budget for that same road. So, as a responsible government, which is closer to the people, we have to do something,” Governor Abiodun said.

He stated further that the Epe - Ijebu Ode road required similar intervention, just as the IkoroduShagamu corridor.

building a dynamic community around Nigeria’s retailers and consumers, influencing purchasing decisions based on user-generated behavioural purchase data.

According to Dozie, Sparkle will actively support retailers in navigating a better route to market by directing the right consumers their way.

In a bid to drive wider financial inclusion and regulatory reform in the market, the team is also building a digital framework for retailers to register their companies, register for tax and register domains, as it looks to plug the gap in terms of business advisory and regulatory services for retail SMEs in the country.

“Retailers and consumers in Nigeria are currently disconnected; Sparkle is building the solution around its understanding of the challenges of small businesses, which will

help reduce the operational risks small businesses are exposed to in their infancy,” Dozie said.

The company has also entered into partnerships with Visa, Network International, as well as PricewaterHouseCoopers, and also has plans to work with Microsoft.

Retailers contribute 33 percent to total GDP and 45 percent of total employment in Nigeria, making the sector a critical part in powering the Nigerian economy. However, services available to small businesses have not been best suited.

Sparkle has identified lack of funding, poor access to market/network and lack of business training as the primary challenges for the sector, which is why the new platform will also provide access to mentorship and development.

Ogun takes over three strategic federal roads for repairs Razaq Ayinla

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overnment of Ogun State is set to take over three strategic federal roads to bolster activities in its main industrial hubs.

Governor Dapo Abiodun said he had formally sought permission of the Federal Government to dualised three major federal roads linking the state and Lagos under the public, private sector partnership arrangement.

The roads are Ikorodu – Ogijo – Shagamu road, Epe – Ijebu – Ode road and Lagos – Ota – Abeokua road.

The governor said the takeover became necessary because of the economic importance of the roads.

Dozie launches Sparkle to provide financial, lifestyle services to retail sector Endurance Okafor

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he last Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Uzoma Dozie, has announced the launch of a new financial technology community and ecosystem, Sparkle, a mobile-first platform focused on the country’s retail sector.

Sparkle will tackle how retailers can achieve their daily objectives and scale their businesses, providing a suite of innovative lifestyle services, in addition to typical current and savings accounts that exist in the market. In particular, Sparkle will deliver customer experience-led support services, ranging from inventory management and invoicing statements to foreign exchange services and a POS-via-mobile function.

Powered by AI and Machine Learning, Sparkle is

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A simple matter of birth and death HumanAngle

Femi olugbile

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he other day one of your grown-up son needed a copy of his birth certificate, issued all of twenty-five years ago, which he had somehow misplaced. It fell to you to go through the process of obtaining a reissue on his behalf.

It was a chance to get a real-time update on one of the areas emblematic of Nigeria’s underdevelopment as a nation.

The despair you would feel at the end of the experience was predictable.

One of the fundamental assumptions concerning a modern nation is that from one moment to another, it is able to tell the number of its citizens.

This is through periodic census exercises where all its citizens are counted, complemented by an accurate and real time record of births and deaths.

In both of these areas, the performance of Nigeria to date has been, sadly, a massive and embarrassing failure.

The truth, the real truth, the sad truth, is that nobody knows how many Nigerians there are in the world. Nobody knows with any accuracy, how many children are born daily in this country. The best figures, which are bandied about by government agencies and inter-

national ‘partners’, are ‘plausible guess-timates’.

Nigeria is a country that has grown in a rapid and unwieldy manner. Government functionaries like to celebrate the notion that Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa. Such facts sound nice and seem to imply that life is good for Nigerians. That, of course, is not true, as anyone on the ground would quickly verify. A lot of growth has taken place, without a commensurate amount of ‘development’. Part of the reason why ‘development’ fails to take place is that there is a paucity of accurate statistics on which workable developmental plans may be based.

There is a much-criticised Coroner’s Law nominally in force in Lagos, the only state in the federation that makes any effort to track numbers and causes of death, including those citizens who die outside the hospital system. Sadly, the law is observed mostly in the breach. It means husbands and wives, neighbours, friends, enemies, office colleagues could, and probably do, kill each other by poison, by bludgeoning or by other means and get away scot free every day, especially where the incident does not attract attention and can be passed off as ‘natural death’.

Back to the matter of births.

There is an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria known as the National Population Commission.

It has a large bureaucracy, spread across the nooks and crannies of the nation, including every one of the 774 Local Government Areas. Its officers are supposed to issue a birth certificate to every new-born Nigerian. The way it works is that in every hospital or primary care centre where deliv-

eries are carried out, the parents of the new baby are advised to go to the nearest location of the NPC to register their bundle of joy and collect a birth certificate. Being Nigerians, of course, many such parents see no need to go to such trouble. They simply take their baby home.

This is not to speak of babies born at home or at facilities run by other persons such as traditional birth attendants.

Sitting with the hard-working officers of the NPC in their cubicle next to a Maternity Hospital in Lagos during your search, and visiting the decrepit headquarters of the agency in Surulere where the roof was falling down in many places, brought home to you on this day the absurdity and futility of a country that refused to think out of the box.

Large numbers of NPC staff daily sat under-employed all over the nation waiting for parents of children who would not come. Nurses meanwhile and TBAs delivered children but could not force the parents to register them at the NPC office next door.

Of course, the nurses could simply take the statistics of the babies they birth and hand them over to the NPC to be uploaded into a centralised computer system daily! The printing and collection of the birth certificate would then be a formality that could be done any time, even several years later. That way the system would only be left to chase after the babies born at home, or in other places.

But in Nigeria, birth registration was not the ‘statutory’ function of ‘Health Ministry’, so its staff would not do it. NPC, the agency that was paid to do the work could not be always there, so it could only do it

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But in Nigeria, birth registration was not the ‘statutory’ function of ‘Health Ministry’, so its staff would not do it. NPC, the agency that was paid to do the work could not be always there, so it could only do it in part

in part.

UNICEF - one of the ‘partners’ with an interest in seeing that Nigeria learned to record its babies right was making faint, ultimately futile efforts to help. While you were there, the discussion centred on some money UNICEF had released for a ‘campaign’ in central Lagos. The officers discussed how tomorrow they would rent a canopy and spend the day at the market near the Oba’s palace, registering undocumented babies, following advocacy among the market women.

How many children could they ‘register’ in such a day, you asked, curious?

Perhaps a hundred, one of them said.

And how many mothers in Isale Eko were likely to respond to the advocacy in the market?

He shrugged his shoulders.

‘Perhaps a thousand.’

‘What would happen to the ones you can’t take tomorrow then?’

The sponsorship was only enough for one day, he explained to you, gently, as one would explain a complicated point to a retarded child.

Nigeria will not get accurate births and deaths records even if it recruited twice as many clerks to work in isolation in the dingy offices of the NPC all over the nation, or even if UNICEF spent all its ‘Aid’ money on sponsoring birth registration ‘campaigns’ in Nigeria. No. Nigeria will get accurate birth records when it learns to think creatively around its problems, and to stop its agencies from working in silos.

Femi Olugbile is a Writer and Psychiatrist. Comments to synthesiz@ gmail.com’

Principles of a growing business

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have spent over a decade working with both small and big businesses and there are a few trends I have come to notice about good businesses on their way to greatness. Those that are failing seems not to be aware of them. And like I love to say, “Anyone can fall off a ladder by accident, but no one climbs a ladder by accident”. This is so even in business. There are principles that determine a successful business. And in this article, they have been summaries as follows: 1. The principle of purpose Businesses with a central ideology and a big why (that they are passionate about), then what and how are most likely to succeed better. If you don’t know and define where you are going, then everywhere you get to would look like it. In business - chart your course.

2. The principle of vision Having a big and audacious vision is key.

We are limited, not by our abilities, but by - our vision. Define where you want to be.

Write it down and remind yourself steadily.

3. The principle of knowledge If we knew better we’d do better. To grow more, to do more - learn more.

4. The principle of branding Be well packaged. The only thing more important than what you are selling is what the buyer believes he is buying – be branded 5. The principle of character Do not overvalue what you are not and

undervalue what you are as well as what you do. We are what we repeatedly do character 6. The principle of value and results In business, don’t be a busy bee. In organizations and business, people don’t pay for efforts, they pay for results – add value 7. The principle of people Know the right people. How you NETwork determines your NETworth. Build connections and goodwill. PEOPLE - are the greatest assets in business, invest in them.

8. The principle of creativity When we all think alike, then no one is thinking -be creatively different. Think out of the box, as a matter of fact, think like there’s no box. Creativity is intelligence having fun.

9. The principle of sacrifice Difficult roads lead to beautiful places.

There’s only one way to truly succeed sustainably, sacrifice! To go up, choose something hard to give up - you may need to deny today’s desires, to achieve tomorrow’s dream.

10. The principle of risks Ships are safe at bay, but that’s not why there were made. Eagles learn to fly by jumping off the sky. Enterpreneurship is risk taking. Only those who will risk going too far, can possibly find out how far it is possible to go!

11. The principle of innovations and technology There’s no award for doing things

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manually, automate. If your process and gadget doesn’t make things better, safer, simpler, work faster and life easier, then it’s not it - replace it 12. The principle of process and continuous improvement True business grows daily, not in a day - KAIZEN. Always look for 3 things, what to start, what to stop and what to keep doing.

13. The principle of management In whatever you do, create a professionally structured mode of operation and control. - have a functional structure for what you do.

14. The principle of leadership Follow the steps of great leaders before us. Irrespective of position, influence and impact 15. The principle of marketing In marketing, positioning is everything - create the right perception. Start by identifying your market, then having a specialization that is your identity. And then segment that market with a core concentration after which you can now begin to expand the market share of that concentration. .

16. The principle of perseverance Perseverance is trying 19 times and succeeding the 20th”. Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. Its 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration - steady determination. A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others and situations have thrown at him.

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EIZU UWAOMA 17. The principle of excellence and growth An attitude, the result of always striving to do better - aspire to be outstanding 18. The principle of demography For what you do, strategically find and map out the people that need you and you’ve found the business 19. The principle of profitability Business is what you set up to add value, profitably. If it’s not for free, then...MAKE WORTHY THE FEE. 20. The principle of generosity What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains – share.

21. The principle of legacy The true test of an enterprise is succession. The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. Live to be remembered for good.

Uwaoma is a start-up, corporate restructuring and strategy consultant. He writes via contacteizu@gmail.com

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Obesity: The thief of success

Olamide Balogun

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e have been talking about a robust recruitment strategy in the last two articles.

Before we get into today’s topic just a quick digression. In a few months we will be in the year 2020.

So many people are looking forward to it and I wonder why. What do they have planned and why the excitement for 2020? I don’t know the answer but what I know is that, it is round the corner and it is going to happen whether or not you want it or are prepared for it. The conclusion is to find out why people are excited, if you are not and then get excited yourself. If for nothing else but the fact that it is a new year.

This is the summer time even though technically why we are talking summer in Nigeria baffles me.

Anyway many of the affluent have skipped town away on holiday and those not so affluent have switched off their brains.

I guess this is post half way through the year and people are tired. Until things get serious again in a few weeks I want to talk about some Human Resource problems that are not obvious but loom large.

Today we are going to be speaking

about how Obesity is a thief , killer and destroyer.

I have been traveling recently and have finally realized that obesity is now officially an epidemic of staggering proportions. There are many causes of obesity. Trauma, stress,over indulgence, unclear job descriptions and expectations, staggering un-delegated authority, ignorance, non-existent capacity building, take home pays that don’t take employee home, poverty and so on to mention just a few.

Obesity starts off as a liar. It usually hides initially when we are overweight. We don’t réalisé that if we don’t nip it in the bud quickly, overweight will become obesity for sure.

Then it starts to lie. “Oh this is how my grandmother was so it is genetic and there is nothing I can do about it. Oh only vain people keep their weight down. They just are so narcissistic. Oh everyone needs a little flesh or else you don’t look good and when sickness comes you have no buffer. I only eat this once in a while so it is okay. (Would you deliberately eat rat poison just because you don’t eat it often) I have to enjoy myself, what is life about if I can’t eat what I want. I am now a certain age and I will look terrible if I don’t have some meat on my bones.

It is the natural progression of life.

Well at least I don’t have high blood pressure or any of those ailments only a little arthritis. I can still wear girdles and look nice. I can still find my size in readymade clothes so I am not so big.”

The biggest lie is that “there is nothing I can do about it, after all I have to eat”. Meanwhile obesity ensures we continue to do obesity to ourselves. The more we do obesity to ourselves the more obese we get.

Doing obesity is just piling on the weight.

Obesity is a thief because it steals our health. By the very nature of obesity you are already unwell. You wake up tired. You may not even be able to sleep. You may not breathe well. Your heart is being strained.

You are a sitting duck for almost every chronic ailment. Living with obesity is like crossing a road without looking at the traffic lights or looking to see if a car is coming. You can get hit at anytime by any vehicle.

Obesity is a thief because it has come to steal our joy and our peace.

Many don’t even know what life without obesity is because they have lived with it for so long, they have come to believe this is life.

Obesity steals our future, our freedom our dreams, our jobs, our aspirations, our hopes, our families, our spiritual lives, our prosperity, our sanity ,our money ,our mojo ( for want of a better word) our resolve ,our friends and can I stress it enough our good health.

As if that was not enough, Obesity is a killer because many of these chronic ailments by their very natures cannot be cured until obesity is cured. So with obesity we will eventually die from one chronic ailment or the other.

Another lie is that “after all we are all going to die from something”.

However even while you are alive what is the quality of the life you are living?

Obesity destroys. After it has lied, it steals then kills and finally destroys. Am I being too dramatic?

Families are ruined by this thing.

Businesses are ruined. To cut a long story short , lives can be destroyed by this thing that you have to carry around with you. When you are obese you are dragging that load with you anywhere and everywhere you go. It reminds me of the story ‘The Pilgrim’s progress’.

Obesity kills organisations, kills

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Obesity is a thief because it steals our health. By the very nature of obesity you are already unwell.

You wake up tired. You may not even be able to sleep.

You may not breathe well

initiative, kills creativity, kills resolve and indeed anything and everything in its path.

The world needs a cure.

Guess the two major people who aid, abet and enable obesity? The medical world and the food industry.

That seems to leave us between a rock and a hard place. We seem not to have any choices. The medical world make tons of money from the fact that people are obese and have chronic ailments . The food industry turns chemicals into food and keep us addicted and living an almost comatose controlled life.

What can organisations do and why should they care? The absolute truth is that you get out of your employees only as healthy as they are.

We consider so many things when we are recruiting and appraising but we don’t consider the health and total wellbeing of our staff.

Until we hear one of them has cancer we are most unconcerned about their wellness. Paying them a salary is not enough. The first thing to do is to admit that there is a problem and it can scuttle your business. I have written this article to show that even the owners of the business and senior staff are not immune from the epidemic.

Every business owner or senior staff needs to recognize this epidemic and point it out to their staff. Set up programs to help staff so they don’t fall victims and help the victims to get free of the disease.

More on wellness next time we meet. Obesity is very tricky and cunning and comes because of many reasons. Welcome to the month of August where many battles will be fought and won.

Balogun is the founder of Box & Cedar Ltd a boutique Recruitment and HR Consulting firm Www.boxandcedar.com

Why unity is important for Nigeria now

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he significance, which is in unity, is an eternal wonder.” It takes a clairvoyant mind to unravel the deep-seated message hidden in this short phrase proffered by Bengali poet, playwright and essayist, Rabindranath Tagore.

Tagore’s thought provoking words boldly reiterates the gravity of leading a unitybased society where cohesion and harmony highlights the affairs of men and women; guiding their daily activities in pursuance of a national goal.

Sadly, when discussions centre on unity many Nigerians seem to shun the idea, they stay aloof with an air of conspicuous disinterest. On several occasions, I have had the privilege of engaging youths on this discourse, but their utterances and attitude startles my senses and I am forced to believe that Nigeria is doomed with such unholy mindset.

But on a second thought, I wonder, could it be that this 5-lettered word means nothing to us or maybe our sheer ignorance

to decipher the actual meaning of this word is the bane of our insouciant actions?

With the rising spate of religious and ethnic conflicts overwhelming the country, embracing unity seems to be the logical remedy needed to right these wrongs and help us find our rhythm - the rhythm that once defined us as a nation.

If one were in the know and up-to-date with the events unfolding in the country, then you would accept the bitter truth that Nigeria is on the brink of collapse. A thread of faith and grace holds us. But how long can this thread hold us? Aren’t we expending our last breath of grace? Aren’t we slipping fast to war?

The old dictum “United we stand, divided we fall,” is more likely to pass off as a boring cliché to an ignorant mind, but through the prism of factuality; one will indeed come to understand and appreciate its gravity in the affairs of our great nation, Nigeria where violence has become a cheered trend in our society and unity on the other hand, is booed.

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The likes of America, Canada and United Kingdom, were built by collective effort and unity. Their actions were intentional and well thought out to better the affairs of their country. Unlike us, they fight for the integrity of their nation; stand in accord to support good courses, yet we have failed to unite on small matters that require simple dialogues.

The gains of our nation cannot be harnessed without unity. Unity is at the heart of progress, development and wealth. Unity will help us harness untapped resources; create a place called home for our young generation; put Nigeria on global stage for good reasons and inspire a spirit of greatness.

Nigeria needs unity today. We too, can become a better nation if we sheathe our swords to fight a common enemy, other than ourselves.

If you think unity is cheap, try war There are copious examples from different countries to drive home the essence of embracing unity in Nigeria. The likes of Li-

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James Ehiabhili beria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Uganda to mention a few, have shocking stories to tell on the aftermath of conflict.

In recent years, war torn nations have grabbed the headlines for the wrong reasons, with rising death tolls, displaced persons and other consequential effects of conflicts. Conflict leaves in its wake stretches of sad lines, broken dreams, piteous sights of dead bodies amongst other heart-wrenching scenes. These horror-stricken episodes were fostered by years of neglected grieves, hatred and segregation.

Our visible scabs from the civil war in 1967 – 1970 are cursors for us to embrace unity. We can draw lessons from the events that fanned the embers of that war to build a better nation, where peace, love, and unity will serve as our guiding principles.

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BUSINESS DAY

Editorial Publisher/CEO

Frank Aigbogun editor Patrick Atuanya DEPUTY EDITORS John Osadolor, Abuja NEWS EDITOR Chuks Oluigbo EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STRATEGY, INNOVATION & PARTNERSHIPS Oghenevwoke Ighure GENERAL MANAGER, ADVERT Adeola Ajewole ADVERT MANAGER Ijeoma Ude FINANCE MANAGER Emeka Ifeanyi MANAGER, CONFERENCES & EVENTS Obiora Onyeaso BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (South East, South South) Patrick Ijegbai CIRCULATION MANAGER John Okpaire DIGITAL SALES MANAGER Linda Ochugbua

Regional discrepancies in education

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igeria continues to grapple with the challenge of providing qualitative education to its young ones. Over time, the quality of education provided across b oard from primary to university has so depreciated that education tourism has become an industry in the country.

But even more urgent is the problem of access to education in Nigeria. A survey conducted by UNICEF and the Nigerian government shows that Nigeria has the highest number of out of school in the world at 13.2 million.

A majority of these out of school children come from the three geopolitical regions of Northern Nigeria – Northwest, Northeast and Northcentral. Perhaps, it is the desire to ensure every Nigerian child has access compulsorily to primary and three years of secondary education that led the government to introduce

the Universal Basic Education in 1999, a scheme where the both the federal government and state governments contribute to fund basic education across the country. Sadly, since becoming fully operational in 2004, the UBE has not recorded much improvement in enrolment not to talk of quality in recent years.

Sadly the regional discrepancies in access to education have continued and are reflecting in the number of those gaining admission in Nigeria’s higher institutions. According to recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, five southern states of Imo, Anambra, Osun, Oyo and Delta accounted for one-third of students admitted to study a degree course in 2018. According to the data, a total of 422, 245 were admitted to study for one degree course or another in the Universities in 2018, a slight increase from the 418, 298 that got admit-

ted in 2017. Out of these, Imo state led the pack with 23, 799, Anambra followed closely with 20, 686 candidates, followed by Osun with 18, 975, Oyo with 17, 693 and Delta with 16, 341. Of course, the five states with the least places in Nigerian universities were northern states with Zamfara coming last with 2, 359. It was closely followed

by Sokoto 3, 623, Jigawa 3, 672, Kebbi 3, 748, and Yobe at 5, 803.

Sadly, the regions with the lowest admission in Nigerian universities also have the highest number of children out of school and the lowest literacy rates in the country. Added to these is the longstanding cultural belief which discourages girl-child education.

It is clear that this situation cannot be allowed to continue.

We cannot have a situation where policies are designed to provide access to education to all Nigerians but a section of the country continues to act in ways that continually exclude their people and put them in

disadvantage of competing with their peers in other parts of the country. This situation is at the root of the insecurity and social disorder engulfing the north of the country. You can’t have a different outcome when the greater majority of your youth were not educated at all or dropped out of school as children and have no skills or job to engage them as they grow up.

Perhaps, the federal government may want to take a closer look at how the UBEC funds accessed by the states are expended. There are strong suspicions that the funds are misapplied or diverted. That must be stopped.

Ultimately, it is down to the political and traditional leaders in northern states to change the educational outcomes of their people to give them a fighting chance of self actualisation and also save the regions and the whole country from the coming anarchy if a majority of northern youth remain uneducated and unemployable.

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Rising political tension and echoes of war in Nigeria

Chiedu Uche Okoye

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he amalgamation of northern and southern protectorates by Lord Lugard in 1914 was a marriage of convenience, which has become very tempestuous. He did not consult the ethnic leaders in the country to get their consensus before embarking on the complex undertaking of cobbling the two protectorates together. Sadly, over the years, that marriage has proved to be a grave mistake as the country is continuously and eternally embroiled in political conflicts and religious crises.

However, on the African continent, most heterogeneous countries, which experienced colonialism by white people, do quake with bloody ethnic crises and violent religious uprisings.

Sudan, which has the same colonial master as Nigeria, broke up into two countries, namely Sudan and South Sudan. Eritrea pulled out of Ethiopia after years of having political trouble with Ethiopia. In Kenya, the Kikuyu and Luo ethnic groups are fiercely engaged in bitter rivalry and fight for political power and dominance in that country. And the Englishspeaking people of Cameroun have

been fighting tirelessly to achieve self-determination.

Back home, in Nigeria, our problem of ethnic rivalry and political and religious troubles came to a head when Nigeria descended into a civil war, which raged between 1967 and 1970. However, before we got our political freedom in 1960, the seed of ethnic nationalism, which sparks off ethnic rivalry in heterogeneous countries, had been sown in Nigeria.

The promotion of ethnic nationalism and ethnocentrism by Nigeria’s ethnic champions cum politicians is a centrifugal force which has continued to undermine our national cohesion and unity. So, when the northern people threatened secession in their nine point programme in 1953, it signposted that the country has been set on the trajectory of ethnic suspicion and rivalry.

In the first republic, after we became politically independent, the north with its demographic superiority, political sophistication, and aided by the British colonialists, produced the Prime Minister of Nigeria, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa. However, the first republic politicians couldn’t pilot the affairs of the country well. Consequently, corruption became pervasive in the country, and the western region was embroiled in a bloody political crisis, which emanated remotely from Awolowo-Akintola clash of personality.

In order to arrest Nigeria’s drift to anarchy, the soldiers executed the January 15, 1966 putsch, which was botched. The intention of the coupists was to release Chief Awolowo from prison and install him as the leader

of the country. Unfortunately, their plan misfired and set in motion the happenings of unintended events, the chief of which was the eruption of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war.

Because some non-Igbo people, who were chief political players in the country, were killed in the January 15, 1966 coup, and because the lives of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Michael Okpara, and the lives of other prominent Igbo politicians were spared, the January 15, 1966 coup was tagged an Igbo coup. More so, Aguiyi Ironsi’s ascension to power following the botched January 15, 1966, and his moves to make Nigeria a unitary state reinforced the belief among Nigerians from diverse ethnic groups that the Igbo people wanted to foist Igbo hegemony and suzerainty on the country. Consequently, there was the revenge and counter-coup of July 1966, which eventuated to the pogrom of Igbo people in the north and snowballed into the Nigeria- Biafra gratuitous civil war.

Today, the situation and happenings in Nigeria bring back sad remembrances and echoes of the events preceding the Nigeria- Biafra civil war.

Now, the Boko Haram group, which is implacably opposed to girls’ acquisition of western education, abducts school girls. And members of the deadly Boko Haram insurgent group do strap bombs on their bodies and detonate them among people to kill them. It’s obvious to us that the Boko Haram group is intent on installing Islamic theocracy in Nigeria without considering the religious sensibilities of millions of other Nigerians, who are

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...the situation and happenings in Nigeria bring back sad remembrances and echoes of the events preceding the NigeriaBiafra civil war.

Christians, Buddhists, animists, free thinkers, and others.

In addition to the homicidal deeds being perpetrated by the Boko Haram group in the north-east of Nigeria, bandits are laying claim to the ownership of the north west of Nigeria, especially Zamfara State. In that area, the bandits kill people with reckless abandon, creating anarchic situation there and instilling fear into the people.

As a result, the number of ungovernable places in the country is increasing at a great and alarming speed. Sadly, the federal government has not mustered and showed the political will to solve the security problem besetting Nigeria.

But, it seems to us that it is the gruesome killings being executed by the Fulani cattle herders that will spark off war in Nigeria. With A-K47 and other guns slung across their shoulders, they patiently lie in ambush in South-West forests waiting for the auspicious time to emerge from the forests and attack occupants of posh passing cars. The murder of Mrs Olakurin, daughter of Pa Fasoranti, the Afenifere leader drew the ire of Yoruba people and outraged Nigerians. She’s believed to be murdered by suspected Fulani cattle herders while travelling in her jeep on the expressway in the southwest of Nigeria. The Fulani cattle herders are gradually abandoning their traditional occupation of cattle rearing to embrace kidnapping.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https://businessday.ng Okoye writes from Uruowulu –Obosi, Anambra State

Are federal funded social welfare programs the solution?

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ome people believe that federal funded social welfare programs are a solution to poverty. I mean it seems like a straight forward solution right. If the poor are hungry, then government provides subsidized food or some sort of food assistance program.

If the poor are homeless, then government provides free or subsidized housing. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in welfare programs. I believe that they can be beneficial, help lessen the burden that the poor face and improve their standard of living. However, without tackling the main issues that plague this country like population size, education, unemployment and security, most welfare programs will not have as much effect on the lives of those it was designed for as it should. I believe in giving as many people as possible the tools needed to survive and be independent before implementing welfare programs.

Nigeria is a highly populated country. We all know that it is one of the most populated countries in the world. According to the country profile data of Nigeria by the World Bank, the total population (millions) of Nigeria in 2018 was 195.87 and the population density (people per sq. km of land area) was 215.1.Nigeria’s population is large compared to its GDP, which leads its GDP per capita (Y/N; where Y is GDP and N is Population) to be low. This means that the standard of living for most Nigerians is low. A large portion of Nigeria’s population live below the World Banks poverty line of $1.90 or N684.97(at $1=N360.51) per day. According to an online article on Vanguard news titled 91 million Nigerians now live in extreme poverty- World Poverty Clock by Emmanuel Okogba on February 16, 2019, the World Poverty Clock created by Vienna based world data lab estimates that approximately ninety-one million Nigerians where living below the poverty

line as of February 13, 2019. Funny enough, the title of the article gives away the figure without you having to even read it. This figure however, is an increase from the figure as of June 2018, which was approximately eighty-seven million.

According to the 2017 revision of the world population prospects by the population division of United Nations DESA, Nigeria’s population is “projected to surpass that of the United States and become the third largest country in the world shortly before 2050”. A map showing total fertility rate of each country in the world by the population division of the United Nations DESA estimates that total fertility rate (TFR, the number of children a woman is expected to have if she lives through her child bearing years) for Nigeria will drop to 3-3.5 births from 2050-2055. This is still higher than the TFR for most developed countries today, which is interesting. Thirty-one plus years from now, the total fertility rate for Nigeria will still be higher than the current total fertility rate of developed countries.There should be more avenues to educate women (both married and youths) and men about the proper use of contraceptives and the importance of family planning. I don’t think drastic policies, like China’s one child policy, are needed because it hurts the country’s economy in the long run. We just need to create more awareness about the financial importance of family planning and the benefits of reducing the total fertility rate in the country. Government/ General hospitals should offer classes for women, teenage girls and youths about the use of contraceptives and safe sex practices in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

The poor lifestyle that most Nigerians find themselves in is not voluntary and is difficult to come out of. Some of those below the poverty line are stuck in a poverty trap and so their investment tomorrow is always less than their investwww.businessday.ng

ment today. In such a situation, these people in a poverty trap would need significant financial aid to help them climb out of the poverty trap.

However, this financial aid is not easy to acquire for most and people should not have gotten to that level of requiring financial aid in the first place. If the government provided quality and affordable public education systems for citizens as well as ample employment opportunities for recent graduates, majority of the people stuck in a poverty trap right now might not be stuck. The public education system in Nigeria leaves much to be desired. Even if you are able to go through the system and graduate from university, there is no guarantee that you will get a job anytime soon.

This discourages parents from investing in their kids’ higher education, especially households that can hardly afford two meals a day.There are a lot of hardworking and intelligent youths sitting at home idle with nothing to do. This lack of job affects them financially and ruins the hopes of families that expected financial assistance from their graduate child. If government can address the unemployment problem, most of the Nigerian youths will have jobs and then there will be less people dependent on welfare programs when they are implemented, which increases the chances of success of these programs.

Other than unemployment, education and population size, another main issue and the most important one in fact is security. Security within the country has been a popular topicof discussion. People in the north live in fear of the terror groupoperating heavily within their borders. Many others are extremely careful about the places they visit because of the fear of being kidnapped. The weird thing is that kidnappers are very bold and smart now a days. Some don’t even attempt their evil acts at night in lonely environments anymore. They do so during the day on a road that you would least expect it.So

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Zalum Onyechi how do you know which area is safe? Even if government by some miracle is able to fix the education system, address population growth and provide more jobs, it would not make a difference if there is no security. The lack of security can prevent people from enjoying government services and limit the effectiveness of any social welfare program implemented by the government. For example, in areas where insurgents operate, parents will not be eager to send their kids to school even if there is a large supply of schools. Workers will also not be keen to go to work because of fear of being harassed or even kidnaped on their way to work. So, you see even if everything else is fixed and security is ignored, it will seem like nothing happened.

With the large number of people living in poverty, what kind of welfare program can the government implement that will actually make a difference in people’s lives and not add to our deficit and national debt? This is why I say that the government has to first tidy up its act. Some developed countries are finding it hard to reign in the cost of some of their welfare programs.

Showing that welfare programs are not something to jump into without getting your house in order. It is not too late for government to implement changes so that the younger generation of Nigerians as well as future generations will have a different experience than most of us. By addressing the bigger issues and learning how to effectively manage resources, we as a nation can ensure that any welfare program implemented by the government will blossom.

Onyechi wrote via zalumonyechi@gmail.com

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

cityfile 14 arrested over communal clash in Ondo YOMI AYELESO, Akure

N Firefighters trying to put-off fire at the scene of an accident involving petroleum tanker in Gombe on Wednesday. NAN

1000 workers trained on emerging infectious diseases in Lagos JOSHUA BASSEY

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bout 1000 workers drawn from primar y, secondary and tertiary health facilities in Lagos have been trained on emerging infectious diseases under a programme tagged Continuing Medical Education (CME) and organised by the state ministry of health.

The CME, according to Titilayo Goncalves, the permanent secretary in ministry, is geared towards enhancing the state’s preparedness towards prevention and control of the outbreak of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola, Lassa Fever, Monkey Pox and other viral hemorrhagic diseases.

The training, Goncalves added, is also to improve

competencies and relevance of health personnel, build robust relationship between them and clients as well as maintain a high level of professionalism in health service delivery.

She said: “The Y2019 programme with the theme “improving quality healthcare is organised for health workers to boost their capacity and enhance effective service delivery.

“The theme was carefully selected to set a landmark in providing quality health to the citizenry and I am particularly enthusiastic about it because there is need for all healthcare workers to be prepared for any emerging infectious diseases, have a positive attitude and mindset towards our clients and be well equipped to be productive in the face of daily stress”.

Noting that the best divi-

dend of democracy any government can offer its citizens is the provision of quality healthcare which is made available, accessible and affordable, she warned that negative attitude of healthcare workers can make the delivery of quality, affordable and accessible health services a mirage irrespective of government’s effort.

Goncalves said that government has slated various training, orientation and capacity building courses through continuing medical education, seminars and workshops for healthcare workers with the believe that constant development of health workforce will help meet the dynamic health needs of the state being a fast growing city with over 22 million people.

She restated government’s resolve to leave no

stone unturned in ensuring best practices in healthcare delivery, adding that new structures and facilities to ensure an efficient health care system were being put in place.

One of the guest lecturers, Akin Osibogun, a professor of public health and community medicine at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, stressed the need for health workers to ensure perpetual watchfulness over emerging diseases in order to prevent them from spreading.

According to him, there are various strategies the country can put in place to prevent disease outbreaks.

“A robust health records system will enable us to be watching the disease trends, and there is already an advance in technology of a vaccinology,” Osibogun.

tor, compliance, SON, said that cylinders above 6.25 kg capacities like 12.5 kg shall be fitted with 27mm valves (fitted with safety relief device) and piped to a burner via a hose and a regulator.

“Having a cooking pot on top of cylinder as high as 12.5 kg stands the risk of tilting over. It is also highly dangerous to subject the high volume of LPG in a high volume capacity cylinder to heat from the cooker that is directly sitting on top of the cylinder,” Aboloma said.

He further explained that only 3 kg, 5 kg and 6.25 kg cylinders are used for camping gas and fitted with camping valves, stressing that any cylinder above 6.25 kg used for

camping shall be seized and destroyed.

The DG lamented many avoidable LPG cylinder explosions across the country and attendant loss of lives and property.

He admonished those dealing in the LPG gas cylinder and accessories to abide strictly by the safety requirements in the relevant Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS), given the potential danger that the substandard cylinders can pose to lives and property.

He noted that efforts have been intensified to subject LPG cylinders to laboratory tests and analysis to confirm their conformity, stressing that if these cylinders fail

critical safety parameters on construction, performance and markings they will be seized and destroyed.

He charged local and foreign investors to invest in LPG cylinder plants in the country. He said SON is working with relevant sister agencies to achieve five million metric tonnes of domestic, commercial and industrial LPG utilisation soon.

Aboloma further said SON is in the business to ensure that goods and services produced in the country meet global best standards, while also calling for both local and foreign investments into the sector to bring down importation of LPG cylinders to the barest minimum.

o fewer than 14 persons have been arrested by the police in connection with a communal clash between the people of Araromi Obu and the Ikale people in the Odigbo local government area of Ondo State.

The clash was reportedly sparked by a land dispute between the two communities. The Ondo State High Court had in May this year ruled in favour of the Ikale residents, but the Araromi-Obu community was said to have appealed the judgment.

Four persons reportedly lost their lives in the clash, while several others were injured and property worth millions of naira destroyed.

The police public relations officer (PPRO) in

Ondo, Femi Joseph, gave the identities of the suspects as Ikupokuyi Omosebi, 89; Igbekele Omosebi, 45; Olorunwa Omosebi, 29; Abiodun Akindola, 52; Omotayo Abiodun, 32; Babatunde Ifafo, 62 and Adeyelu Olusola, 37.

Others are Sola Akinrimusayo, 18; Oluwole Fadoju, 30; Johnson Akindolire, 48; Friday Oke, 18; Neri Adeyemi, 23; Sola Olarewaju, 22; and Macaulay Omoloye, 23.

“The matter is no more with us; the suspects have been charged and are already facing trial,” said Joseph told CityFile on Thursday.

He, however, said that normalcy had returned to the two warring communities as policemen have been stationed in the towns to forestall the breakdown of law and order.

Road crashes down by 30% in Anambra-FRSC

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oad accidents in Anambra State have reduced by at least 30 percent in the last six months, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has said.

The sector commander of the corps in Anambra, Andrew Kumapayi, disclosed this during an award ceremony to appreciate and honour some journalists for their services in the propagation of

safety information.

Kumapayi said the media were crucial to the success of achieving the strategic goals and mandate of the corps and called for their continued support.

“The traffic environment has greatly improved in Anambra. Traffic crashes have reduced by about 30 per cent compared to the same period in previous year.”

Police rescue mattress thief SON seizes 40ft container laden with substandard LPG cylinders from mob in Kebbi ODINAKA ANUDU

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tandards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has seized a 40-foot container loaded with substandard LPG cylinders valued at N38 million.

Osita Aboloma, the director general of SON, said the cylinders failed to meet the safety requirement and pose a threat to human lives and property in the country.

According to him, it is highly dangerous to use cylinders of higher capacities like 12.5 kg and above as camping gas where burners are fitted on top of the cylinders.

The SON boss, represented by Obiora Manafa, direc-

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he police have rescued a suspected mattress thief from a mob while in the process of being lynched in Birnin Kebbi.

N a f i u A b u b a k a r, spokesperson of the state police command, said that the suspect would, however, be charged to court after investigation.

According to him a team of police men rescued the suspect from the mob on Wednesday.

Some residents, who witnessed the event, commended the police for @Businessdayng

rescuing the suspect from the mob.

Muhammad Adamu, a resident said that the suspect was caught by the mob after he broke into a house and stole a mattress, adding that he was rescued by a team of policemen who arrived at the scene as he was being lynched.

“But for the police, the suspect would have been killed,” Adamu said.

Garba Nasiru another resident corroborated the claim, saying that the suspect is an expert in housebreaking and stealing of peoples’ property. NAN

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES & MARKETS

15

COMPANY NEWS ANALYSIS INSIGHT

BANKING

First Bank shares gain most in two months as biggest bad loan gives way LOLADE AKINMURELE

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hares of First Bank of Nigeria Holdings rallied Wednesday as a big decline in the tier-one lender’s NonPerforming Loans (NPLs) caught the eye of investors and offered some reassurance that the bank was on track to cut bad loans to within single digits by year-end.

The lender’s stock climbed 2.7 percent to N5.70, the biggest gain in two months, as it outperformed the 0.08 percent decline in banking stocks on the day.

At its current price, First bank’s stock holds a 50 percent upside potential on the consensus forecast of seven investment banks tracked by BusinessDay. The lender’s price to book ratio of 0.37 times is at a discount to peer average of 0.8 times, and means for each naira of book value, investors are valuing First Bank at 37 kobo. When a public company has a price to book ratio of below 1, it sometimes implies that it is undervalued.

First Bank published its financial statement this week that showed Non-Performing loans reduced to 14.5 percent as at June 2019, from 25.3 percent in the first quarter of 2019 and 25.9 percent in December 2018. This was possible after the bank fully wrote off its N126 billion loan exposure to Atlantic Energy over the second quarter. The upstream

oil and gas Nigerian company was First bank’s largest NPL. “In line with our commitment to address the legacy asset quality challenges, exposure to Atlantic Energy, our biggest NPL, was written off in the second quarter,” said Adesola Adeduntan, the chief executive officer of the bank.

“This is a material progress in our legacy NPL resolutions and clearly reflects our resolve towards achieving a single digit NPL ratio by year end.

In addition, this step creates significant headroom for increased business opportunities and enhanced earnings especially in the lucrative Oil & Gas sector of the economy,” Adeduntan said during an investor call Tuesday.

Reflecting the write-off, the lender’s gross loans declined 9 percent to N1.9 trillion in the second quarter. However, net loans grew 4.2 percent to N1.7 trillion, suggesting the bank created additional N43 billion loans over the quarter.

The NPL decline “brings us closer to our FY 2019 target and creates more headroom for quality asset growth,” said UK Eke, the group hanging director of the bank.

“This is paving the way for sustained improvement in asset quality and a further reduction in impairment charges that will allow us to take advantage of enhanced earnings opportunities when they arise,” Eke said during an investor presentation.

Nigerian banks took a hit

to their asset quality in 2016 after tumbling global oil prices triggered a spate of bad loans on credit given to companies in the oil and gas sector. First Bank was one of the worst hit, with 47 percent of its loan book at the time comprised of the once lucrative oil and gas debt. However, recovering oil prices and production in Nigeria has paved the way for some of those bad loans to turn the corner. Crude oil (Brent) prices have largely hovered around $65 per barrel this year, more than double the record low it fell to in Janu-

ary 2016.

First bank’s asset quality problems were not necessarily due to only a cyclical pickup in NPLs, but importantly were driven by legacy corporate mis-governance issues which the new management is now fixing, according to bank sources familiar with the matter. This they say is spurring renewed investor confidence in the bank and rubbing off on its shares.

First bank’s half year financial scorecard also showed a 0.3 percent year on year increase in gross earnings to

N294.2 billion and a 2 percent decline in net interest income to N146 billion.

Non-interest income increased 3.6 percent to N63.6 billion while impairment charge for credit losses declined 58.1 percent to N22.1 billion.

Operating expenses rose 24 percent in the period to N148.3 billion.

While Profit before tax was up 2.6 percent to N39.9 billion, after tax profit fell 5.4 percent to N31.7 billion.

“We are confident in the Group’s ability to deliver stronger results sustainably

as we execute our strategy and unlock earnings potential from recent investments in innovation and digital transformation. This will enhance our future earnings capacity and drive operational efficiencies that will enable the generation of superior returns to our shareholders,” Eke added.

Rising operation costs, a decline in profit after tax and a contraction in capital adequacy ratio (CAR) to 15.6 percent in the second quarter from 16.5 percent in the first quarter were low points for the bank.

CONSUMER GOODS

NB shares sink to 5-year low as H1 net revenue tanks on cost pressures OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

N

igeria’s largest brewer by market size, Nigerian Breweries Plc H1 net revenue dropped 1.4percent to N170bn for the half-year period ended 30th June. However, on a quarter to quarter basis, net revenue improved by 4.4percent to N86.9bn in Q2 2019 from N83.2bn in Q1 2019 Cost of Sales however climbed marginally 2percent year-on-year to N98.5bn in H1 2019 from N96.5bn in H1 2018. The higher cost of sales was driven by a 1.1percent year-on-year uptick in raw materials cost.

Consequently, gross profit declined 5.8percent to N71.6bn H1 2019 from N76.08bn in H1 2018.

On a quarter to quarter ba-

sis, gross profit climbed higher by 4.3percent to N42.1bn in Q2 2019 from N40.4bn in Q1 2019. Operating Expenses adjusted for depreciation climbed higher by 6.1percent

to N42.3bn in H1 2019 from N39.8bn in H1 2018.

The rise in Operating Expenses came as a result of a 10.9percent rise in Marketing & Distribution Expenses

adjusted for depreciation to N32.9bn in H1 2019. This was largely due to the brewer’s drive to reclaim lost market share.

Meanwhile, administra-

tive expenses adjusted for depreciation recorded a doubledigit decline of 14.8percent to N6.3bn in H1 2019 from N7.4bn in H1 2018 due to a reduction in staff headcount following the right-sizing exercise done last year.

However, the brewer did not report its gross revenue and excise duty payments; the decline in net revenue was impacted by higher excise duties payment with the second phase of ad valorem excise duty system implemented in June.

An ad valorem tax is a tax whose amount is based on the value of a transaction or of property. It is typically imposed at the time of a transaction, as in the case of a sales tax or value-added tax (VAT).

Abimbola Omotola, an analyst at Chapel Hill Den-

ham, said most brewers in the country are unable to pass the rising cost to the final consumers, who are battling with shrinking wallets after the last economic contraction.

Nigerian Breweries’ net finance cost increased 24.2percent to N5.1bn in H1 2019 from N4.1bn in H1 2018 on the back of lower Interest Income down 9.6percent to N198.5m and higher Interest Expense up 22.5percent to N5.3bn.

The higher interest expense was driven by higher Interest-bearing liabilities up 57.5percent to N43.8bn due to the recent Commercial Paper issuances done by the company to finance working capital.

NB shares tumbled to N50.00 on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Editor: LOLADE AKINMURELE (lolade.akinmurele@businessdayonline.com) Graphics: David Ogar

16

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS

Business Event

INSURANCE

Axa Mansard’s gross premium rises 22% to N29.36bn in H1 ISRAEL ODUBOLA

A

xa Mansard Plc, Nigeria’ssecondbiggest insurer by market valuehasannounced it grew gross premium income by 22 percent in the half-year 2019 period.

The insurer’s net premium income surged some 26 percent in the review period, from N9.56 billion last year as gross premium income grew faster than reinsurance expenses.

Breakdown of its premium constituents showed that the insurer realized N14.59 billion from its non-life insurance business, N5.91 billion from life business and N8.9 billion from its health maintenance segment (HMO).

Net underwriting income appreciated to N13.19 billion in the first six months of 2019 compared with N10.51 billion a year before partly supported by fees and commission on insurance contracts which

rose by a quarter.

The company’s net underwriting income jumped some 8 percent in the review period despite a 30 percent surge in underwriting expenses.

The insurer’s total investment income shrank by 13 percent from N3.28 billion reported in the previous period to N2.84 billion half-year 2019.

This was driven by N129 million losses incurred on investment property, fewer gains on financial instruments and dip in profit from contracts and other income.

The decline in investment income coupled with elevated indirect expenses took on a toll on operating profit as it dipped some 13 percent in the review period.

A further look into the company’s results showed it wrote back almost half a million to premium receivables mid-year 2019 compared with N23 million reported as impairment last year.

Premium receivables of the insurer was valued at N7.4 billion in the review period and made provision worth N73.4 million for impairment, bringing actual receivables to N7.35 billion. Receivables from HMO dominated with 62 percent share.

Thus, profit after tax shrank to N1.42 billion in the review period, 8 percent less than N1.54 billion reported last year. In addition, the insurer paid N191.8 million as interest on loans acquired from APD Limited.

In six months to June 2019, Mansard’s total assets appreciated to N84.08 billion, representing some 14 percent uptick over N73.77 billion posted last December. Also within this period, the insurer grew owners’ fund by 7.5 percent to N22.93 billion.

Axa Mansard Insurance Plc offers insurance and asset management services, covering motor, home, life travel, education, commercial insurance services as well as portfolio and risk management.

L-R: Bankole Wellington (Banky W), Budweiser brand ambassador; Guillermo Pérez Castelló, LaLiga delegate to Nigeria, Annabelle Degroo, MD; Tolulope Adedeji, marketing director, and Franscoe Bouwer, High End marketing manager, all of International Breweries Plc, at the official announcement of the commencement of Budweiser’s Sponsorship of the English Premier League (EPL) and Spanish LaLiga at the company’s head office, in Lagos. Pic by Pius Okeosisi

CONSUMER GOODS

Is Interbrew’s quest to win the “beer war” a drag on profitability?

SEGUN ADAMS

A

B InBev-owned International Breweries, Nigeria’s third-largest listed beer maker, might be gaining market share but the brewery’s loss is worsening.

Interbrew on Wednesday reported a loss of N6.84 billion for six months to June 30, 2019, some140 percent worse than a year ago when it reported a loss of N2.85 billion. This is in spite of improved sales supported by volumes from its recently opened $250mn Sagamu brewery plant.

Amidst an on-going beer war and increasing cost in the tariff-burdened beer sector, Interbrew has employed debt to finance growth and strengthened advertising campaign to lure more price-sensitive local beer consumers.

“To gain more market share Interbrew didn’t fully pass on its increasing cost to consumers,” said Fola Abimbola, equity analyst at Lagos-based FBNQuest.

“Interbrew has always said its priority for now is gaining market share, they are more long-term,” he said.

Analysts believe the beer maker needs to restructure and inject more capital to dilute its high debt to equity ratio which is around 7x, and much higher than the leverage ratio of peers.

Earlier in the year, the Interbrew reversed a hike to its premium brand dubbed “King of beer” but retraced its steps after rival beer manufacturers

did not follow suit.

Nigerian Breweries’ Heineken and Diageo’s Guinness Gold were the biggest winners in the price change.

Interbrew,the maker of Budweiser, Trophy, Hero, and Castle larger, also noted a higher impairment loss on financial assets and an increase in administrative expense in the period as cost inefficiencies beset performance.

Analysts at Lagos-based CSL Stockbroker recommend a “SELL” on Interbrew stock.

Interbrew grew sales to N68.63 billion, up by 29 percent from N53.11 billion yearon-year in H1, while the cost of sales increased by 41 percent to N41.12 billion. The company’s sale was faster than rivals in Q1, while Nigerian Breweries’ H1 sales slowed year-on-year.

Gross profit grew 10.91 percent although the gross margin was squeezed, resulting in Interbrew retaining N33.79 per N100 sales net of direct production cost, down from N39.37 in the same period of 2018.

In the period, Interbrew made less money from the sale of scrap but the decline was compensated by a much higher increase in sundry income noted in Q2 2019.

The company nearly tripled sundry income from previously recorded N13.76 million last year, this buoyed income from other sources.

A net impairment loss on the company’s financial assets in the second quarter of 2019 was 178.6 percent more than

N236 million recorded last year.

Impairment occurs when business asset’s fair market value decreases more than its book value. The asset is re-valued and a charge made to net assets.

The company’s marketing and promotion activities whilst translating to increased patronage of Interbrew products in a fiercely competitive beer industry resulted in a 30.5 percent spike in expenses to N13.5 billion.

Transportation and distribution cost jumped 43.2 percent to N6.62 billion, employee benefit expense rose 48.3 percent to N2.33 billion while advertising and promotion rose 9.7 percent to N4.57 billion.

The company’s administration expenses also jumped 66.52 percent to make little of an improvement in other gains of the brewery firm. This performance resulted in an operating loss for Interbrew.

While finance income declined significantly borrowing cost rose to N7billion, 13.5 percent increase in the review period. The burden of its debt weighed on profit as the brewery did not deleverage in the half-year.

As a result loss before tax doubled in the period while a deferred tax cushioned the effect on net income. Earnings per share dropped to a negative of 80kobo from a loss of 33kobo last year.

Shares of Interbrew remained flat at N12.5 per share on Wednesday.

www.businessday.ng

L-R: Victor Afolabi, CEO, GDM Group; Uzoma Nwagba, chief operating officer, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP); Ahmed Muhammad Tarauni, TraderMoni beneficiary; Ahmed Isma’eel, senior special assistant to the President on Social Investment Programmes; Mallam Sulaiman Musa Jido, chairman, Tarauni Market Traders, and Nnaemeka Nwosu Jnr, Micro Enterprise, Bank of Industry, at the TraderMoni townhall meeting in Kano.

L-R: Obiora Ozoekwem, regional manager, Lagos Region, Trustfund Pensions Limited; Christopher Fakanlu, head, compliance department, Trustfund Pensions Limited; Nkem Oni-Egboma, MD/CEO, Zenith Pensions Custodian Limited, and Osawaru Ekpen, staff of Zenith Pensions Custodian Limited, at the Trustfund Pensions Employer’s Forum in Lagos.

L-R: Akachukwu Ihuaru, investor management department, Central Security Clearing System (CSCS); Haruna Jalo-Waziri, MD/CEO, CSCS; Magnus Nnoka, president, Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN), and Victor Olannye, executive secretary, RIMAN, at a courtesy visit by the executive council of RIMAN to the CSCS in Lagos.

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@Businessdayng

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

MONEYINSIGHT

17

Farmcrowdy unveils Crowdyvest, new investment platform focusing on SDGs DAVID IBIDAPO

S

equel to a move to officially consolidate sister companies; Agricsquare and Farmgate Africa as part of a single entity, which is expected to create a bigger Farmcrowdy, the company has now launched yet another investment platform it calls Crowdyvest.

In a recent press briefing, Farmcrowdy explained Crowdyvest is an exclusive style platform that connects sponsors with investment opportunities that fall within seventeen of the goals under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including agriculture and other impact driven sectors.

“Having looked at all the activities with our sponsors, we have decided to create Crowdyvest, as an impact driven platform which will allow our Agric sponsors to look at the entire SDGs and seize opportunities the platform is presenting and sponsor,” said Onyeka Akumah, founder and CEO of Crowdyvest.

According to him, new sponsors will be able to sign up in what he termed a “safe, secure and trusted platform” for free, geared towards opportunities in other portfolio products and sectors via the Crowdyvest platform.

L-R: Akindele Phillips, co-founder and chief financial officer, Crowdyvest; Temitope Omotolani, co-Founder, and chief operations officer, Crowdyvest; Kenneth Obiajulu, managing director, Farmcrowdy; Onyeka Akumah, founder and CEO, Crowdyvest; and Ifeanyi Anazodo, co-Founder and VP, Data and intelligence, Crowdyvest.

The launch according to the company, will see a successful migration of all the existing sponsors under the Farmcrowdy platform to the Crowdyvest platform without any need to create a fresh account. New sponsors will also be able to sign up to the new platform. Every sponsor will continue to safely sponsor farms

on the Farmcrowdy platform as well as all other portfolio products and sponsorship opportunities to be launched via the Crowdyvest platform in the future.

“We have been able to successfully implement a business model in one of the most challenging sectors of the world, driving growth in

While telcos wait for PSB license, who will address payment infrastructure?

FRANK ELEANYA

A

s the month of July raced to its finished line, Africa’s telecommunication giant, MTN was announcing the appointment of its first ever Group Chief Digital and Fintech Officer.

The telco is one of the players on the waiting list for a promised license from the Central Bank of Nigeria to enable it offer mobile money services to its more than 64 million subscribers in Nigeria.

2019 has less than five months to go and there is little sign the apex bank will fulfil its promise. But MTN and other interested parties believe delay is not denial. After all, with the guideline on Payment Service Bank (PSB) already released, the license is a matter of time.

But is it?

Experts say that issuing PSB licenses will only amount to a little impact on financial inclusion unless the infrastructure side of payment is urgently addressed.

Victor Asemota, a technology expert on his twitter handle in January explained it this way, “They have just created a no-win situation in the market or a win with serious consequences.”

A top executive in the banking sector told BusinessDay that behind closed doors, “bank CEOs are clicking glasses. They know the telcos will seriously struggle to break even.

You are giving them license without providing infrastructure, where does it work?”

The PSB guideline which was released in October 2018, potentially allows new players like MTN, Airtel among others to established payment service banks. Prior to the

guideline, the CBN prohibited mobile network operators from providing mobile money service.

With the new guideline, MNOs, retailers, mobile money operators and banking agents with sufficient capital – about $14 million – may apply to become a payment PSB, which can provide payment services and collect deposits that can be invested in government securities or placed on deposit with a bank. They are however excluded from providing credit or insurance products.

To get a banking license requires rigorous process therefore takes a lot of time. However, depending on the jurisdiction, there are common requirements for obtaining a financial services license from any central bank in the world. These include a business plan, capitalisation, key individuals (including a board of directors and management team); IT systems (compliance, reporting, backend and frontend); correspondent and banking relations.

MTN, for instance, ticks all the boxes, still experts say the company which commands gigantic resources thanks to its recent listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), will struggle. A GSMA report makes the point that mobile money requires heavy investment in operational expenses for years before becoming profitable.

Even at the IT level, telcos are already battling for survival as inadequacy of the infrastructure take its toll. Recently, MTN had to restrict over 46.5 million subscribers from Globacom network from calling the former lines over an alleged N10 billion interconnect fees owed by the Nigerian telecom provider. Interestwww.businessday.ng

ingly, Glo also wants to get a mobile money license.

Payment infrastructure includes hardware, software, secure telecommunications network, electricity and operating environments that used to manage and operate payment system.

At the basis, the telcos will need the epileptic power situation in the country to be fixed and the internet capacity to grow significantly and reach people in rural communities.

The security problem in the country would also be a major challenge for the providers as agents would be reluctant to take up residents in communities where their lives are not guaranteed.

It should also be said that what works in one country may not work in another. In other words, that MTN and Airtel experienced successes in mobile money in other countries do not mean same will happen in Nigeria. For instance, countries like Kenya already have clearly defined legal framework for providers in the space, but the same is not the case in Nigeria. Here, the industry operates by guidelines issued intermittently by the CBN. Hence, there is an absence of a clear legal framework which breeds uncertainty thereby discouraging investors.

The major objectives of a good payment infrastructure are to improve speed, increase efficiency, and maintain the highest standards of security and resilience. While the involvement of MNOs will translate to significant growth in financial inclusion, a more sustainable long term approach will be to create provide infrastructure that also allows fintech startups and tech giants to be part of the space.

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Agriculture (food and security), and now we intend to implement this across other sectors of the economy

while having a direct impact on the achievement of United Nation’s SDGs,” Onyeka explained further.

According to Kenneth Obiajulu who now heads Farmcrowdy as the Managing Director, “It has been an amazing opportunity to lead a brand like Farmgate Africa and achieving a great amount of traction in such a short period of time. The plan is now to consolidate on the traction from both Farmcrowdy and Farmgate Africa to build a more robust Farmcrowdy that can create more value points across the African agricultural value chain.

Prior to joining Farmgate, Kenneth had worked and consulted for international organizations like The World Bank Group, TechnoServe, Sustainable Food Lab, Accenture, Nigerian Breweries, just to mention a few.

The Crowdyvest platform, according to the company, differs from all other investment platforms as it shares its sponsorship risk with its sponsors.

This means that both Crowdyvest and its sponsors will have their monies used to grow the businesses of the opportunities listed on the platform.

How Eniola became a millionaire as secondary school science student STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

P

Z Cussons Chemistry Challenge has proven to be one sure way of becoming a millionaire for any diligent secondary school science student in Nigeria.

One of Nigeria’s most recent millionaires is Aderibigbe Eniola Peace from Babcock University High School who emerged winner of the 2019 PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge that was held on July 30, 2019, showing how commitment and hard work lead to wealth.

Adele Chika of Jephthah Comprehensive Secondary School, Port Harcourt, and Ojuba Mezisashe Shalom of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja came second and third respectively.

Over 7, 500 students competed in the first stage of the competition in an online Computer Based Test (CBT) quiz across Nigeria. Top 600 candidates qualified for a controlled CBT - 200 from each region; Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Lagos. Thirteen candidates qualified from each region to sit for a practical exam during the third phase of the competition.

The top six finalists from across Nigeria that took part in the finals were: Ojuba Mezisashe Shalom, Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja; Andrew Ulan Sylvia, Premiere Academy, Abuja; Ugboma David Rex, Makun High School, Sagamu; Aderibigbe Eniola Peace, Babcock University High School; Adele Chika, Jephthah Comprehensive Secondary School, Port Harcourt; and Ndidi Christabel Chukwufumnanya, Demonstration Staff Secondary School, Asaba.

Top three winners received a trophy, a medal and N1, 000,000, N750, 000, and N500, 000 respectively.

Additional prizes were laboratory equipment for the winners’ schools.

The 4th, 5th and 6th place finalists went home with consolation prizes.

The competition was sponsored @Businessdayng

by Premier a brand within the PZ Cussons family of products and for better inclusion a regional approach was adopted for the first time making the competition a National competition with three examination hubs in Abuja, Lagos, and Port Harcourt.

Apart from this being the first time the competition went National; it was also the first time three females qualified for the finals. And for the first time a female, Ojuba Mezisashe Shalom, of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja; scored the highest during the practical stage.

An Advisory Board led by Oladele Osibanjo, professor of Chemistry, University of Ibadan was in charge of collating questions and managing proceedings during the exams to ensure the utmost quality.

Osibanjo, in his remark about the competition, said, “the PZ Cussons Chemistry competition is designed to promote the study of chemistry among students while demonstrating the relevance of chemistry in our society through an open competition between public and private secondary school students.”

The PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge is endorsed by the Lagos State Ministry of Education; Chemistry Society of Nigeria (CSN); Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria (ICCON) and the National Parents and Teachers Association (NAPTAN).

Since inception in 2013, the competition has grown as more than thirteen thousand (13000) students registered for the 2019 edition.

“The overall objective is to continue to make PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge the No. 1 platform for the support of Chemistry learning in Secondary Schools across Nigeria” Charles Nnochiri, head of Marketing, PZ Cussons Consumer, PZ Cussons Nigeria says.

PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge is Nigeria’s pure science competition.

It is an initiative of the PZ Cussons Foundation. The competition is supported by one of its brands which the Premier toilet soap.

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FINTECH News

Products Review

19

In association with

Technology Review

Personality Review

Company Review

Why Carbon’s voluntary transparency should be golden standard for fintech Stories by FRANK ELEANYA

I

n this part of the world, one of the best ways to identify a tech company with the potential for the big times is by the size of funding it raised from investors. The mindset has been that since they are able to successfully convince those investors to stake their money, the startup must be an outlier.

Thus, for many years fintech companies have hugged the limelight in the tech ecosystem by merely hauling in large sums in funding from investors. It did not matter whether anyone – other than gullible investors - saw their books or not.

All that may soon change with Carbon, a fintech firm based in Nigeria, putting a new twist. The company recently published its financial statement on its website, potentially opening a new era of transparency among startups in Nigeria’s fintech landscape.

The first time a tech startup operating within the country made its financial books public was in 2014 and 2018 when Jumia’s parent company Rocket Internet went public which required it to include limited Jumia data in its annual data, according to a report by TechCrunch. Iroko TV, the video on-demand application platform founded

by Jason Njoku also made its financials public – on social media.

The difference however, is while Carbon and Iroko TV were voluntary transparency; Jumia’s was coerced by the need to go public.

Source: Carbon’s financial statement

If Jumia was not going public, would it have opened its books for public scrutiny, would probably remain a question, but reality is the ecommerce giant lost the opportunity of a first mover in the tech space because of its ambitions.

In that light, Carbon stands a shoulder above its peers particularly in the fintech space.

The company’s financials duly audited by KPMG is a master stroke that should become a minimal standard among startups providing fintech services.

Co-founder of Carbon, Ngozi Dozie explained on

www.businessday.ng

Twitter that making its financials public was a result of a commitment the company made in 2018 to promote transparency within the fintech and tech ecosystem.

“It is about trying to build trust between ourselves and customers and stakeholders,” Chijioke Dozie, co-founder and CEO of the company told BusinessDay in a telephone interview.

Transparency is a scarce commodity in the tech ecosystem in Nigeria today. Being largely unregulated, the players in the space practically have liberty to do anything they want. A few investors

have told BusinessDay how they got their hands burnt after investing money in a startup they had thought had genuine numbers.

While fintech has grown to become one of the most attractive investment opportunities for investors, the proliferation of various startups offering services from peer-to-peer lending, savings, mobile transfers, crowdfunding, etc now poses new challenges. The challenges could be anything like cyber fraud, money laundering, data and privacy breaches among other things.

As the Central Bank of Ni-

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geria has yet to come up with a cohesive regulatory framework, investors and customers are practically flying blind in the space.

The CEO, Dozie told BusinessDay that aside from building the confidence of its customers, transparency also tells the world that Carbon is ready to compete on the global stage.

This is buttressed by the outstanding year the company had in 2018 where its revenue more than doubled growing to $10.4 million from $4.4 million in 2017. The number of loans disbursed in the same period was at a peak of

@Businessdayng

480,000.

Dozie acknowledges that Carbon may not always have a good year; there will be times when it might have a bad year.

“But it is just being honest and open,” he said.

That level of honesty may need to go beyond voluntary to becoming mandatory. It is what has distinguished Silicon Valley startups and many others in countries where regulators are alive to their duties.

It is the reason companies like Google, Facebook and Uber can be held accountable when they play beyond the boundaries of competition.

Startups operating within the European Union, for instance, are mandated by the common framework for corporate reporting. Thus, an act like Carbon’s public financial reporting is not a rarity but the norm.

It is also why investors are willing to stake huge capital on startups in these countries. So far, the only route to becoming a unicorn – valuation of $1 billion – for startups in Nigeria and Africa is through the stock exchange, whereas in other places, startups have gone to become unicorn through private investments without recourse to the capital market.

Dozie also makes the important point that transparency also help in attracting and retaining tech talents.

“From a recruitment perspective, we want recruits to know we have good prospects – that this is a company that’s doing well and wants to keep doing well,” he said in an interview.

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

19

CULINARY DELIGHTS

I

Discover Vanilla Moon where flavor and sophistication are king

t was a beautiful sunny Saturday in Lagos, after a long work week most people look forward to Saturdays. There is a saying that goes ‘Saturdays are for weddings’ and that might be true for some, but for me, Saturdays are usually for relaxation if time permits and catching up friends, usually over lunch or dinner. This edition of Culinary Delights’ is the 17th one and I

On this beautiful Saturday, I had lunch plans with my very good friend Basheer Tosin Ashafa.

BTA is the MD/CEO of Cantagali Limited, a fullservice, a niche-oriented and growing business group comprising companies such as Cantagali Limited (real estate marketing, property development, and facility management); and Triequity Capital (Investment & Finance). Basheer is very

mended that I have the petit de Pollo, which is chicken on a bed of mashed potatoes with creamy mushroom sauce. I had it with mashed potatoes and spinach. It was really filling and tasty. I finished the whole plate and was extremely satisfied.

Basheer had rib eye steak medium rare with mashed potatoes and spinach as well. It looked like 250g of deliciousness, I almsost wished I ordered

Lehle (@lehlelalumiere) works at BusinessDay in Strategy Innovation and Partnerships, she is also a financial inclusion advocate and radio anchor. Originally from Senegal Lehle has a passion for culinary experiences and enjoys discovering new restaurants in Lagos. Follow @ bdculinarydelights on Instagram

would like to thank all our avid readers, who read the column every Friday and provide constructive feedback. At this point, I feel as though I have been to or at least heard about the majority of restaurants in Lagos, so discovering this weeks restaurant, Vanilla Moon restaurant came with an inexplicable kind of excitement. From the pictures the resturant alone it oozes an atmosphere of grandeur.

I scrolled through Instagram and as I usually do and stopped by the My Crawl App page, a digital platform that shares events places and things to do in Lagos. The platform was created by Bukky Karibi Whyte, CEO of Robert Taylor Media. As I was scrolling through my Crawl app’s Instagram page, I came across Vanilla Moon, a brand new European restaurant in Victoria Island. What attracted me to the place was how bright and fresh the pictures looked online. I believe that it is fundamental for restaurants to have an online presence. Let’s face it, the world has become a digital place and increasingly people look online fo vital decision making. The majority of places I go to are either recommendations from friends or online. Restaurants that are not maximizing their digital audience are missing out on huge chunks of the economy.

intelligent and our conversations are always very mentally stimulating.

As I entered the restaurant I had a big smile on my face because the outdoor decor was stunning. The building reminds me of a modern french maisonette, reminiscent of a building you could easily find in Bordeau France. Let’s just say Vanilla Moon made a great first impression. It’s the kind of space that gives you a feeling of happiness and joy just by being surrounded by the design and aesthetic. I have noticed a trend that a lot of new restaurants are incorporating green grass carpets and flowers for their outdoor dining areas. It was clear from the moment I walked in that this wasn’t your average restaurant. The ambiance was soothing, the décor was spectacular, and the staff was unpretentiously courteous.

As I made my way inside I was greeted by a hostess who showed me to my table that Basheer was already seated on. As soon as I sat down they came to take my drink order and shortly after they took my food order. I wasn’t sure what to order so as usual, I asked the waitress to come and make a recommendation. As the restaurant is new she called the chef who is a gentleman from India, and while speaking with him I found out he had recently relocated to Lagos for the job. He recom-

the same thing as him. Here is what he had to say “It was clear from the moment I walked in that this wasn’t your average restaurant. The ambiance was soothing, the décor was spectacular, and the staff was unpretentiously courteous. Need I say that the drink had a taste of elegance and I could bet that it came from the best mixologist in town, who took his time to recommend the various drinks. I particularly enjoyed the chef and his team taking out time to engage us and get direct feedback on the quality of the meal. The only downside for me was the few staff that lolled around the restaurant, which seemed a bit awkward. Overall, I had a great evening and I recommend Vanilla Moon to anyone who has great taste”.

Vanilla Moon is located in a leafy by-lane of Victoria Island, Lagos. The menu is curated with an array of European dishes raging from a tapas menu that can take you to any outdoor Spanish market, fresh-house made pasta, steak room, sharing boards with Charcuterie, Sliders & Fondue. There is also the ruffle Mac & Cheese, Vanilla Moon Lobster Thermidor, and Twinkle Twinkle Tiramisu. The ambiance is perfect for a night out with friends, a date night or even a weekend brunch with loved ones. Equally works for outdoor/indoor dining.

GUEST

BASHEER TOSIN ASHAFA

RATING 4.5

Petit de Pollo

- N13000

Rib Eye

- N14 000

2 Mocktails

- N7000

Total

- N27,000

CONTACT Instagram: @VanillaMoonLagos

To make recommendations or for collaborations please send an email to lehle.balde@businessday.ng www.businessday.ng

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE

Experts want new health minister to fix infrastructure, improve healthcare delivery ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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edical practitioners want the new minister who will be appointed to run the current Nigeria’s healthcare system to fix infrastructural deficits in the sector and improve on public healthcare delivery across the country.

Also, they want the new minister to increase practitioners’ welfare to stem the massive migration of Nigerian doctors and improve on the annual budgetary allocation to healthcare systems in the country.

They noted that the issues highlighted are not just a problem for people in resource limited settings but a national issue which must be urgently addressed.

“We believe that it is time to invest more in improvement of the healthcare service delivery processes in Nigeria; the new minister should be someone who actually have experience and look at the healthcare system holistically,” said an health analyst who those not want his name mentioned on print.

According to him, the new

minster is expected to look at the healthcare sector at different levels, compelling health actors to value and trust each other and play the role well as mentors and advocators.

“The new ministers’ knowledge must have effecting on the sector and healthcare generally to get a good system,” the analyst said.

Similarly, Ademola Aina, chairman, HCPAN Lagos said that he expects the new minister to improve the public healthcare delivery across the country.

“Hospitals over all the country are not hospitals’ including the tertiary institutions in terms of infrastructures, we need more facilitates and also strategies to put increase in speed of the health insurance system in other for Nigerians to have access to care,” said Aina.

Doyin Odubanjo, chairman, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter advised the new minister to the factors fuelling the massive migration of Nigerian doctors, saying that human resource in the sector should be given adequate attention.

“Nigeria has one of the largest stocks of human resources for health in Africa, things are really

so bad and medical personnel’s are leaving in high numbers, currently at the moment we have an emergency, we expect the minister to fix this first,” Odubanjo said.

He added that the main issues underlying human resources for health challenges in Nigeria are insufficiently resourced and neglected health systems; poor human resources planning and management practices and structures and unsatisfactory working conditions to mention few.

Nigeria’s health expenditure as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) averaged 3.4 percent between 2007 and 2016, compared with South Africa (6.5 per cent) and Kenya (4.5 per cent), according to data sourced from the World Bank.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Nigeria has one of the lowest doctors to population ratio in Africa.

A poll citing the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), reported that there are about 72,000 nationallyregistered Nigerian doctors, with only 35,000 practising incountry. Factoring this figure with national population estimates, there is a deficit of over 260,000 doctors in Nigeria and a

minimum of 10,605 new doctors need to be recruited annually to meet global targets.

“Political will is one of the bases to successful healthcare system, the minister is expected to put more effort for the increase of budgetary allocation to the health sector, in order to stem the tide of increase in mortality and morbidity rate” Larne Yusuf,a medical practitioner said.

However, analysing the plan to strengthen Nigeria’s healthcare system, experts say the new minister could apply the six building blocks recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which includes Good service delivery comprises quality, access, safety and coverage, a well-performing workforce consists of human resources management, skills and policies and also a well performing system that ensures the production, analysis, dissemination and use of timely and reliable information.

Others are procurement and supply programs needed to ensure equitable access, assured

World breastfeeding week: WHO, UNICEF to promote significance of family-friendly policies towards enable breastfeeding ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde (2nd r); deputy Chief of Staff, Abdulmojeed Mogbonjubola (2nd l); Head of Service, Ololade Agboola (r), and Chief Consultant Ring-Road State Hospital, Ibadan, Femi Adesanya, a medical doctor, during the governor’s inspection to the hospital.

Health sector in a parlous state in Oyo says Makinde REMI FEYISIPO,Ibadan

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overnor Seyi Makinde has said that the State’s health sector was in a limbo saying what he met on ground was a mere charade.

According to him, what he met on ground was more of window dressing, adding that the past administration spent money in some of the sectors without monitoring its effectiveness.

He said: “I have visited Adeoyo State Hospital and I will soon be visiting other state hospitals in Igbeti, Saki, Ogbomoso, and Oyo. What I saw at Adeoyo was more of window dressing.

The radiography machine has never worked since it was installed.

“It means that the past government spent some money in the Health sector but they did not monitor the implementation.

If it is only monitoring we can www.businessday.ng

achieve, we would have done well for the Health sector in Oyo state.”

Makinde who also visited Ring road State hospital however promised to provide quality healthcare for people of the state.

He had earlier visited the state-owned health centre – Adeoyo Hospital, Yemetu in Ibadan.

Addressing the management on inspection of the hospital facilities, Makinde expressed concern over the poor state of the hospital.

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quality and cost-effective use, a good health financing system raises adequate funds for health, protects people from financial catastrophe, allocates resources, and purchases good and services in ways that improve quality, equity, and efficiency, and effective leadership and governance ensures the existence of strategic policy frameworks, effective oversight and coalition-building, provision of appropriate incentives, and attention to system design, and accountability.

In the pharmaceutical aspect of healthcare, the cost of drugs also makes it difficult for many people to get treatment. 70 per cent of drugs used in Nigeria are imported, implying the already financially challenged Nigerians have to a pay premium for most medicines.

However, Lessons learned from global strategies indicate that the role of multi-sectoral partnerships, particularly the private sector at country level, is a critical precursor to accelerating progress towards improving healthcare delivery.

s the world marks 2019 breast feeding week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is working with The United Nations Children’s Fund, (UNICEF) and partners to promote the importance of family-friendly policies to enable breastfeeding and help parents nurture and bond with their children in early life, when it matters most.

This includes enacting paid maternity leave for a minimum of 18 weeks, and paid paternity leave to encourage shared responsibility of caring for their children on an equal basis.

However, mothers also need access to a parent friendly workplace to protect and support their ability to continue breastfeeding upon return to work by having access to breastfeeding breaks; a safe, private, and hygienic space for expressing and storing breastmilk; and affordable childcare.

The World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is a global initiative that creates awareness of the importance of breastfeeding, improves the health of newborns and mends mythologies surrounding it and is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August.

“Exclusive breastfeeding reduces the risk of infections in babies and it is the first immunity for the child, which helps to fight against diarrhea, and pneumonia among others,’’ said Olubunmi Aiyedun, president national association of Nigeria Pediatric Nurses.

“Breast milk is adequate and ideal food for newborns and serves as first immunization.

“Breastfeeding plays a key role in newborns and child development, as a child that is exclusively breastfed will live a healthy life as @Businessdayng

well as achieve his full potential,” said Aiyedun.

Breastfeeding promotes better health for mothers and children alike. Increasing breastfeeding to near-universal levels could save more than 800 000 lives every year, the majority being children under 6 months.

Breastfeeding decreases the risk of mothers developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. It is estimated that increased breastfeeding could avert 20 000 maternal deaths each year due to breast cancer.

WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding starting within one hour after birth until a baby is 6 months old. Nutritious complementary foods should then be added while continuing to breastfeed for up to 2 years or beyond.

Larne Yusuf a medical practitioner based in Lagos said that the advocacy for exclusively breastfeeding has to be scaled up in Nigeria, stating that a lot of mothers struggle to breastfeed their children due to their jobs and some are shy because of the environments they find themselves.

“But the important thing a child needs that breast milk to grow, so we have to encourage mothers and support them to sustain breastfeeding for longer.

“Breast feeding is vital for the baby to grow and develop well; it supports the brain development of children ensuring they learn and grow into happy, healthy and productive adults.

“All babies need breast milk for the first six months of their life; awareness on exclusive breastfeeding should increase. Government should ensure that hospitals promote breastfeeding so as mothers will have the knowledge and confidence to breastfeed their children,” Yusuf added.

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE Group canvasses increase in community pharmacy services nationwide OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja

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pharmaceutical inventory management subscription service, Shelf Life, has called for increase in community pharmacy across the country.

This, it said, will checkmate the distribution of fake drugs at the community level.

In a statement signed by the Head Pharmacist, Shelf Life Nigeria, Suleman Sule, the group stressed that community pharmacy remains critical to accessible healthcare in Nigeria.

According to him, over 100 pharmacies registered in its network have achieved over 96 percent availability on over 500 life-saving medicines and essential products.

Recall that at the 91st Annual Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), pharmacists had decried the dearth of community pharmacists in the country,

calling for a deliberate action to grow the number of registered community pharmacists.

They said Nigeria needs 50,000 registered community pharmacists in the next five years.

Sule pointed out that the presence of community pharmacy will not only increase patient safety but also improve clinical decision making, service efficiency as well as improved quality of care.

According to him, the group has presence in other states of the federation, with head office in Abuja.

Beyond Nigeria, it also extends its services to other nations in the African continent including Kenya.

He said: “There are over 100,000 community pharmacies and drug shops in Nigeria, compared to approximately 26,000 public health facilities. This makes community pharmacy a critical component of accessible healthcare for Nigerians”.

FG spent N9.8bn to eradicate polio in the last three years ....Nigeria nears polio-free status GODSGIFT ONYEDINEFU, Abuja

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s the World Health Organization is set to declare Nigeria polio-free, the Federal Government has revealed that it spent N9.8 billion to ensure that the wild polio virus outbreak in 2016 was rapidly contained.

The WHO noted that if Nigeria does not report a wild polio case in the next two months, the country will reach three years without a polio case and could be certified polio-free.

The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NAPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib in a statement by the Agency’s spokesperson, Mohammed Ohitoto stated that no wild polio virus has been identified anywhere in Nigeria in almost three years. He informed that the process towards Nigeria being certified polio free will soon commence.

Shuaib explained that as part of

efforts to rapidly improve routine immunization coverage, the National and State Emergency Routine Immunization Coordination Centres already recorded significant achievements in the last 18 months.

According to him, the quality of Routine Immunization programme through quarterly conduct of Programme Asessment for Performance Management and Action, Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (PAPA-LQAS) improved from only 3 percent of lots accepted in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 46 percent of Lots accepted in second quarter of 2019.

According to the statement, the Rotary International awarded Shuaib for “excellence in service to humanity for his work on polio eradication and the fight against Ebola outbreak in 2014.”

A one-time governor of Rotary District 210 covering West Africa, Julius Adeluyi, noted that the fight against polio is one of the greatest humanitarian services carried out so far.

Nigeria’s private healthcare providers can get $800,000 loan to boost equipment financing ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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n strengthening financial and other relationships with the private sector and addressing fragmentation of financing arrangements for different types of services. Access Bank and GE Healthcare are to provide sustainable healthcare equipment financing to private healthcare providers, under the partnership, borrowers will be able to secure loans of up to $800,000 negotiable, based on the customer requirement.

GE Healthcare and Access bank scheme is therefore born out of the necessity to provide the needed support to the Nigerian Healthcare environs, by providing healthcare finance at affordable rates and longer tenor.

The partnership will help the private healthcare providers to deliver access to affordable healthcare services. However, Access Bank will provide access to loans for eligible healthcare providers,

while GE Healthcare will support the program through provision of GE healthcare equipment and technical support.

The equipment under the partnership scope includes Imaging Solutions including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT), Ultrasound Machines and Life Care Solutions. Borrowers which qualify for loans include private healthcare providers such as hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres and other private practices offering a broad array of services.

“We are committed to invest in Public and Private Partnerships that innovate new delivery models that will improve access to affordable and quality patient outcomes, as we progress towards Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) in Nigeria. Our partnership with Access Bank will help lift the financial burden off the healthcare providers,” said Eyong Ebai, general manager for GE Healthcare West, Central and French Sub-Saharan

Africa, at the signing ceremony in Lagos.

The need to provide affordable healthcare in Nigeria is key to the development of the Nigerian Healthcare sector. Yet as the World Health Organisation has identified UHC as a unifying concept and goal for the Government as they strengthen their health systems and discharge their obligations under the right to health.

Herbert Wigwe, chief executive officer (CEO) Access Bank said that there is a need to provide innovative financing models for healthcare providers especially in the private sector, who currently face challenges accessing financing for purchase of healthcare equipment due to the risk associated with the business.

“As a financing institution, we are committed to provide financing at both the health-service-provider level and at health-service-consumer levels to ensure that the people of Nigeria have all they need to live healthy lives,” he added.

Hajj August 2019: Travel tips for total health package

Dr Ade Alakija Q-life Family Clinic Continued from last week

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ravelling by Air: Many travelers will be departing from the Airport, however, make sure you arrive on time and all documents are complete. The airport is usually a congested place and spread of disease is more likely. From the check in through security and all, the contamination levels can be high for example dirty shoes on conveyor belts!. In the business

HBL TEAM

class lounges and all food to be eaten and water to be drunk, inspect, smell and decline if suspect and not fresh.

In the plane, head rest with yeast and mold can cause skin problems instead wear a scarf if possible. Viruses and bacteria circulating in the cabin increase your chances of catching cold and other respiratory infections.

If someone is sneezing or coughing near you, try to hold your breath and dip your head down or use a handkerchief which may help reduce contaminants into your lungs. You can wipe down your tray table with sanitary wipes and please be careful of seat pockets some may have been contaminated with all sorts of items including soiled baby diapers. Do not put anything like your cell phone and close use items into those pouches. Use 70 percent alcohol hand sanitizers as frequently as possible.

On arrival in Mecca, always

obey the local laws, do’s and don’ts and you should have a great spiritual experience. The Hajj is well organised and at each stage of your trip, keep well hydrated and follow all instructions.

If you feel ill or fall ill, report it immediately to the authorities.

If you are a traveller with special needs please inform your imam, doctor and the Saudi authorities.

You will be well catered for.

If you are pregnant, please consult. I am not sure you should embark on the Hajj. Take care of your personal safety and security. Though Saudi is relatively safe and stable you have people coming from all over the world.

Not all with good intentions.

Monitor the weather conditions regularly.

Meanwhile in excessive heat you should drink a lot more water probably with a pinch of salt.

Avoid the direct rays of the sun as much as possible. You are meant to be well covered so do so.

Why should you be concerned?

Large crowds in small areas can increase your risk of getting sick and/or being injured. Overcrowding can increase the risk of infections such as meningococcal disease, influenza and pneumonia.

Pilgrims performing the Hajj may also be at risk of exposure to infectious diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona virus (MERS-CoV), diphtheria, measles and cholera.

There is currently an extensive outbreak of Cholera in Africa and Western Asia including the country of Yemen, which shares a border with Saudi Arabia. Also, note that cases of MERS-CoV are still being reported in Saudi Arabia and other countries, mostly located in the Arabian Peninsula.

Before your trip: All travelers should see a healthcare professional or visit a travel health clinic, preferably 6 weeks before travel. on the other hand, Find a travel health clinic near you or make sure your routine vaccines and adult boosters, including measles,

ANTHONIA OBOKOH / Reporters. Email: obokoh.anthonia@businessdayonline.com

are up-to-date.

Also, pack a travel health kit and consider purchasing insurance. If you take regular medicines, make sure you take enough to cover the whole time you will be away and carry a doctor’s letter to avoid confusion at customs.

Visit the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health website for health requirements and recommendations for travellers to Saudi Arabia for Hajj and Umrah for information on required vaccinations and other health recommendations: The quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine (ACYW-135) is required for all travelers The polio and yellow fever vaccines are required for travelers from certain countries including Nigeria The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health recommends that children, pregnant women and epileptic patients whose illness cannot be controlled with medication postpone attending the Hajj.

I David Ogar, Graphics

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

LEADINGWOMAN

MARY NJOKU, projecting Nollywood further with outstanding collaborations and enriched content KEMI AJUMOBI

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ary’s story is compelling; she acted in Nollywood for years, before producing her first ever full-length feature, Festac Town, a semi-autobiographical series about growing up in that part of Lagos Nigeria, when she was pregnant with her first child. This was the start of ROK - a film studio and now global Nollywood brand.

She has launched ROK, ROK2 and ROK3; channels which are broadcast across Africa on DSTV and GOTV as well as ROK on SKY for the UK market, making Nollywood content easily accessible to millions of homes across the globe, reaching over 13.5 million subscribers across DSTV and GOTV platforms in Africa and 12.6m SKY subscribers in the UK. Since her first production with Festac Town, ROK is now one of the largest film studios on the continent, producing over 540 movies and 25 original TV series, cementing ROK as one of the most prolific production houses in Nollywood.

A go-getter and full-time mum to three kids, Mary brought a new approach to movie making, returning Nollywood to its roots as a medium to tell authentic African stories.

Growing up I had a good childhood and a supportive family. I grew up in Festac, in Lagos, Nigeria, as the 6th of 8 children. Festac gave me an opportunity to see the world in different ways. It gave me the opportunity to have a dream and fulfil that dream of becoming who I am today. I also had a mother who supported my dreams, who taught me to respect the process, to be patient and resilient.

When and why did you start ROK studios?

ROK Studios launched in 2013 when I was Chief Content Officer at IROKO. At the time, IROKOtv really needed to begin creating its own content as licencing fees from other Nollywood producers were becoming prohibitively expensive. Once we began creating content, we needed more, Nollywood fans’ thirst for new content is almost unquenchable. Whilst we were fortunate to have a digital platform to share our content, via IROKOtv, we felt that in order to really expand, we had to be on TV screens across the world. In 2016, we launched ROK on Sky, then ROK on DSTV and GOTV. Eventually we launched ROK2 and ROK3 on DSTV and GOTV. ROK Studios, launched in 2014, is a leading African film and television studio and production house based in Lagos, Nigeria. The studio was launched and incubated by IROKO - the leading African digital content distributor for Nollywood

content, whose flagship platform IROKOtv has transformed how Nollywood content was accessed and consumed around the world.

ROK specialises in the creation of content in partnership with the industry’s foremost creative talent and has developed, produced and financed film and TV series for distribution platforms globally. The innovative studio owns one of the larger content libraries in Nigeria, with blockbuster films and series, as well as an Animation Studio called ROK Animations Studios.

What are your challenges in running these stations? Feedback so far?

The biggest challenge is finding the right talent both on and off screen. Without the talent, there will be no content for the fans to enjoy. Once we created a talent pool for ROK, then we were able to create more content that Nollywood lovers across Africa and the UK now enjoy on ROK channels. We are constantly receiving feedback from our fans across social media channels and through the ROK ME Tour, which took place earlier this year. It’s very important for us to produce the type of content they like to see and this is why we always www.businessday.ng

listen to them.

The acquisition by Canal+ Group Our relationship with CANAL+ began about 5 years ago and we have been working together ever since, in various production and distribution capacities. Because of this relationship, they realised the growing appetite for Nollywood films across the world, hence the decision to acquire ROK in order to create more content for French Speaking Africa and their global channels.

Through this collaboration, we can continue the process of placing Nollywood on the global map.

Our stories and our local talent need to be seen and known by the rest of the world. This way, we can increase investments into the industry and create higher budget movies that can compete in global cinemas and film festivals. We can use our authentic stories to change the perception of Nigeria, and Africa, globally.

I will continue my leadership role as Director General of ROK Productions SAS, maintaining a material shareholding in the company, with total control over all content produced under the studio, in order to preserve the au-

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thenticity for our viewers across all platforms. For Nigeria and Africa as a whole, it means a renewed commitment to investing in one of our greatest exports - Nollywood!

How are you able to combine managing your business with acting and managing the family at the same time?

It’s all down to having a great partner in my husband, Jason, and of-course a great team at ROK. Jason and I constantly share responsibilities so that we don’t miss any important moments, especially time with our children.

We also have teams across Lagos, Accra and London who work hand-in-hand and constantly take on difficult tasks, so I don’t have to worry about everything. I won’t lie, it doesn’t come without its challenges, but I also think it’s important for children to see their parents work hard and achieve - it shows them what they too must do in order to succeed.

How many years have you been in Nollywood? How are you able to maintain relevance till date?

I’ve been in Nollywood for over 15 years. I think in Nollywood, the best way to create relevance is to @Businessdayng

create opportunities, not only for yourself but for others, and to be consistent while doing this.

This was the whole reason for creating ROK Studios. Our talent pool is filled with young people who are not only passionate about acting, producing, and so on but are also hard working and ready to change the world through their craft. In terms of being relevant, I think it is a case of continuing to scrutinise real life - extract from it the stories, the narratives, the people, the fears, and then be able to transcribe it onto the screen.

What is the day in your life you can never forget and why?

The day my children were born.

Motherhood is a surreal experience. Birthing my children made me feel like a super hero. All mothers are super heroes!

How challenging is it for women to rise in Nollywood?

It is quite challenging. It can take a while for you to find the right platform. You always have to start small and eventually your talent can be noticed and the bigger roles will begin to roll in. The great thing now is that women are starting to create opportunities for themselves after several years on screen. I was fortunate to have some incredible female role models to work with in the sector - they know who they are. This motivates other women to keep working as they have seen where we all started from and know that they can eventually get there.

What is your take on harassment in Nollywood by Directors/producers?

It’s a real shame. There are young people out there who are ready to work, but are being taken advantage of by predators. We need more people to speak out, and call out these bad eggs. It’s a step to making the industry better.

With the ranking on the world map, will you say Nollywood is financially buoyant and are the actors/actresses benefitting?

I wouldn’t say Nollywood is financially buoyant compared to say Hollywood or Bollywood. We could do so much better in terms of financing. It’s a shame that Nollywood is not as respected as it needs to be but this is why we are constantly working and telling our stories. Most films in Nollywood are self-financed and this is not sustainable. The actors work really hard and are not benefitting as much as they should be.

I believe the acquisition by CANAL+ is a step in the right direction for Nollywood as it will increase visibility which will in turn increase global investments for the industry.

Read the concluding story of Mary’s inspiring story on our website www. businessday.ng as she graces our Women’s Hub cover for this week. You are just a click away!

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

AGRIBUSINESSINSIGHT Market Insights

Analysis

Commentaries

Experts/Industry Views

Commodities watch

Policy Reviews

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Send in Commentaries to caleb.ojewale@businessdayonline.com

Takeaways from BusinessDay Agribusiness & Food Security Summit: To make agriculture profitable, ‘money is not the problem’ Stories by CALEB OJEWALE Twiiter: @calebtinolu

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sk the average person in agriculture, particularly primary production; what do you need to be profitable? If three things are mentioned, access to finance is sure to be included, and perhaps, the need for inputs such as seeds and fertilisers could be mentioned.

But then, a shocker; access to finance is not the biggest problem confronting the agricultural sector in Nigeria, at least going by submissions by panellists during this year’s BusinessDay Agribusiness and Food Security Summit. And, a spoiler: banks do not entirely ‘understand agriculture’, and as long as this knowledge gap exists, lending to agriculture will remain a big challenge. Coming from bankers themselves, this has to be a valid position.

The most important question is: does it matter how much finance is provided for the production of any commodity if at harvest, selling it becomes a nightmare? Access to market, and fixing infrastructural deficiencies that restrict this from happening, would make lenders more comfortable to provide credit to agriculture.

“If we encourage the local farmer to expand primary production this year and he does, then losses 40 to 60 percent of his produce post harvest, you will not get him to cultivate next year,” remarked Olabode Abikoye, executive director, Bank of Agriculture, during the panel on; Risk Management Approaches and Solutions in Agricultural Finance and Trading.

According to him, Nigeria has over the years, adopted the “strategy of optimisation as against expansion”.

Every year, more inputs such as fertilisers, improved seeds etc are brought for distribution to farmers, with little attention going into what next after production.

As he narrated, if a flour milling company is asked if they are willing to depend on a Nigerian farmer for the supply chain of grains that will

Members of the panel on ‘Risk Management Approaches and Solutions in Agricultural Finance and Trading’, in a group picture with Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo State, and Frank Aigbogun, publisher/CEO, BusinessDay Media Limited, during the 2019 BusinessDay Agribusiness and Food Security Summit.

supply their mills, they may respond in the affirmative. However, when it comes to production planning, if the Nigerian farmers can provide maize at that particular moment, and they cannot supply continually over a period, then it will hamper the entire production plan. In that case, it becomes a better business decision to import this maize from South America or elsewhere to keep the mills running, than to depend on someone who is producing seasonally.

On financing, as it is currently structured, Ayodeji Balogun, country manager for AFEX Commodities Exchange Ltd, believes it is “onehanded”, with the supply side (i.e primary production) getting more attention in finance, than the supply side (i.e processing), which creates a problem that leads to price volatility.

This is because producers are being financed to produce too much, whereas the market will not have the liquidity to absorb it, and prices will crash because supply will exceed demand. When prices decline, the farmers will stop producing, with this

comes scarcity; prices will climb up, then return to farming again, prices crash (as usual) and the cycle repeats itself continuously.

“We need to have a systematic financing structure that actually balances both demand side and supply side,” he emphasised.

Osita Nwanisobi, deputy director, Development Finance Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, while illustrating difficulties in agric finance, still using Maize as an example, noted that with an unbalanced market, when prices reduce farmers will also be unable to repay what they have borrowed from banks. When this happens, banks will of course be hesitant to lend again. The question then comes up again; is borrowing to farmers more important if there are factors that could make it difficult for them to repay? However, if they are able to sell, and profitably too, then it may in fact, be possible for them to produce with less dependence on lending or an unbridled appetite for subsidies.

Even when financing is balanced for both the ‘demand and supply

side’, Balogun of Afex commodities, gave perspectives on other factors that actually make it difficult for farmers to thrive. According to him, there are issues around quality, which make it difficult for processors to rely on commodities produced in Nigeria.

If a company is producing for instance Baby food, quality assurance has to be top notch. As he explained, in other climates, the company wants to know who the farmer is, which plot it was grown, what the quality of storage is, what truck transported the product, and have all the records.

Therefore, if there is a quality glitch while testing, they will not just be throwing out that batch, but also identifying the farmer that produced it and where the problem is coming from.

“We have a system where there is really no grain standards,” he said.

“Grade one maize in Nigeria means nothing.”

According to him, Aflatoxin levels are at points where it is hazardous.

“There was a discussion recently

that some countries are rejecting our products and we are trying to solve the problem of the rejects, but we do have a bigger problem that what is being rejected is actually the best of the quality of what we are consuming,” said Balogun.

He in fact, asserted that the quality of food being consumed in Nigeria, particularly grains, is actually Grades 4, 5 and 6. Therefore, grading and quality assurance is the next biggest problem that has to be solved in addressing market issues.

Abikoye, BOA’s executive director posed a few questions in agricultural finance; What risks are we measuring? What are we financing, and what are we supposed to be financing?

If roads in the cities are bad, it is many times worse in rural areas, the implication: their commodities are stuck there and mostly get spoilt.

There is also a lack of storage systems, which adds to the risk of losing a substantial part of whatever may have been produced. Therefore, if these infrastructural deficits are not fixed, the wastage will persist, making the sector perpetually perceived risky, and with this, lenders will shy away.

“Until we fix the inefficiency gap, we will continue to say the same stories,” said Abikoye, “and we will continue to import fertilizer and seeds, when we should actually be fixing infrastructural gaps.”

Lending is not the ‘master key’ to unlocking agricultural prosperity in Nigeria, rather, fixing the broken linkages that limit access from farm to market.

“It is a no brainer that the emerging sector in Nigeria for sustainability of growth is agriculture,” said Segun Anjorin, head, High Local Corporates at Ecobank Nigeria. According to him, there will be a shift in lending to the agric sector, but the question is; how can this be done in a manner where we do not repeat the mistakes of the past?

“You have to understand what you are funding. If you do not understand what you are funding, then you are definitely still going to have the same broken linkages,” he said.

GMOs approved in Nigeria are not harmful – NBMA Agric investment opportunities on Nigerian Agritech platforms (August)

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here are Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods in Nigeria, and even sold in perhaps all the ‘super stores’ in the country. However, those that have been approved among these products are safe for human consumption, at least according to Rufus Ebegba, director general, National Biosafety Management Agency.

Ebegba, whose agency is in charge of regulating GMO foods in Nigeria, said during a recent interactive session with agricultural journalists in Lagos, “the agency is not created to stop GMO, but to make sure they are safe for the environment as well as humans.”

He explained that the law establishing the agency makes it mandatory for all GMO products in Nigeria to be labelled to reflect

this. If this is not done and released commercially, it constitutes an offence. Those who release GMO products without approval or even concealed information are liable upon conviction to a jail term of 5 years, N2.5 million fine or both.

According to Ebegba, the fears surrounding GMO food in Nigeria are expected. With every new technology comes myths and fear, he said, stressing that the government will not just permit commodities that are not safe into the environment.

As he explained, normal GMOs are notproductsofchemicalmanipulations, but normal plants, animals or other organisms that are existing naturally.

However, man decided to modify them to suit his own purpose, with the intention to solve specific problems, particularly in the agricultural sector. www.businessday.ng

Modern biotechnology is a fast growing revolutionary tool in agricultural practice through which crops are genetically engineered to express traits such as herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, drought tolerance, increased nutritional value and other properties. Realizing the fact that modern biotechnology, which is used as a tool for this modification, is a powerful tool, it becomes pertinent to regulate in ensuring safety; for humans and the environment, and this is where bio safety becomes important.

“GMO products are not physically different from Non GMOs,” noted Ebegba. Therefore, laboratory analysis is required to determine this, and the assumptions that certain commodities are GMOs based on their physical appearance, is according to him, a false, inaccurate assessment.

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A

t the time of publication, Agribusiness Insight surfed through three digital agriculture platforms in Nigeria; Thrive Agric, Agrorite, and Farmcrowdy, for any open investment opportunities.

Please note that this is not a recommendation to invest, rather, for information purpose and individuals should carry out independent due diligence. All information reproduced below is extracted as provided by each platform.

Thrive Agric - Maize farm in Kaduna Units left (at publication): 1,683 Cost per unit: N62,000 @Businessdayng

Returns: 20 per cent after 9 Months Insured by Leadway Assurance - Soybean farms in Kebbi and Niger Units left (at publication): 5,641 Cost per unit: N47,600 Returns: 20 per cent after 9 Months Insured by Leadway Assurance Farmcrowdy No open farm cycles at the time of publication but it indicated a Ginger cycle scheduled for November.

Those scheduled for July appear to have been sold out.

Agrorite had no available sponsorship opportunity at the time of publication.

24

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Hotels

Bench Events, APO Group partner to drive hotel investment in Africa OBINNA EMELIKE

Top BusinessDay Partner Hotels Four Points by Sheraton Hotel (Oniru Chiefatancy Estate,Lekki) Tel: +234 1 448 9444

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ench Events, organisers of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) and APO Group, the leading media relations consultancy and press release distribution service, has announced a wideranging collaboration aimed at boosting investment in the hospitality industry in Africa.

The deal, which is set to run until 2022, covers the next three editions of AHIF and its Francophone equivalent, the Forum de l’Investissement Hôtelier Africain (FIHA).

Hotels are crucial in boosting the economies of developing nations. Not only do they drive tourism, encouraging foreign investment and bringing in foreign currencies, they also host important business meetings. All over Africa, international conferences like AHIF help generate huge exposure - while worldclass hotels facilitate day-today business travel for global executives and multinational organizations.

As Africa grows, it is essential hotel infrastructure develops alongside it, and Bench Events and APO Group are perfectly placed to help raise

Transcorp Hilton Abuja 1 Aguiyi Ironsi Street Maitama, Abuja Tel: +234-708-060-3000

The Wheatbaker #4 Onitolo(Lawrence Road), Ikoyi, Lagos.

Tel: 01 277 3560

Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Abuja 1 Uke St, Garki, Abuja.

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

the profile of the hospitality industry, driving international investment through increased media exposure.

AHIF 2019 takes place at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa from September 2325, 2019, while the next FIHA conference will be held in March 2020.

Bench Events has consistently ensured that AHIF and FIHA attract the highest calibre international hotel investors of any conference in Africa, connecting busi-

ness leaders from international and local markets, driving investment into hotel development and other hospitality and tourismoriented projects across the continent.

The latest edition of AHIF is predicted to be the biggest event of its kind ever staged in Africa, generating millions of dollars for the local economy, and billions for the continent as a whole.

Among the over 600 attendees will be senior figures

from the Marriott, Hilton, AccorHotels and Radisson hotel groups, while speakers include key influencers from the global hospitality investment industry.

APO Group’s involvement in the conference highlights their credentials as the most influential media distribution experts in Africa and the Middle East. In recent years, the consultancy has worked closely with some of the biggest players in the hospitality and wider tourism industries.

Southern Sun Ikoyi commemorates Mandela’s Day, donates to orphanage

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outhern Sun Ikoyi joined the rest of the world in celebrating the 10th Nelson Mandela International Day through its annual tradition of visiting and spreading love through the donation ofgifts to children of the Arrows of God Orphanage in Ajah, Lagos.

The Nelson Mandela International Day, also popularly known as Mandela Day, is an annual call of celebration observed internationally to pay tribute to an exemplary individual for his values, lega-

cy and contribution to society and humanity at large.

As a tradition for Southern Sun Ikoyi over the last 10 years in celebrating the memory of the global icon “Madiba”, the hotel paid its annual visit to the Arrows of God Orphanage, which is it adopted in bringing smiles upon the faces of the children and their care-givers through the donation of various items ranging from toys, activity books, educational textbooks, educational games, inspirational books and light refreshments to the delight of the children

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of the home.

Speaking during the visit, Ubong Nseobot, sales and marketing manager, Southern Sun Ikoyi, expressed delight on the warm reception received by the representatives of the Hotel during the visit, as she used the opportunity to specially thank the management and care givers of the home for their unwavering, dedicated and committed service towards improving the children of the ward.

She stated that, “The visit by the hotel is in furtherance with the hotel’s selfless acts

in contributing meaningfully to the sustained growth, development and service to all within our community through little acts of kindness and love, an exemplary practice which Mandela’s life represented.”

Ubong, further reiterated the hotel’s commitment in supporting the orphanage and its management, through social projects such as the much-anticipated annual golf day tournament whose proceeds have been used in supporting the orphanage daily needs in ensuring that children at the home do not live without the basic necessities of life.

The Arrows of God Orphanage, which is located in Ajah, Lagos State, cares for about 250 children in the ward. Through supports and efforts by corporate social entities like Southern Sun Ikoyi, the administration is empowered with required tools and materials to supporting and developing the children into valuable members of our society.

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Lagos Continental Hotel Plot 52, Kofo Abayomi St, Lagos Tel: 01 236 6666

Radisson Blu Hotel Ikeja #38/40 Isaac John St, Ikeja GRA100271, Ikeja Tel: +234-908-780 5555

206 Exclusive Hotel Plot 206 Oladipo Diya Road Opposite Olympia Estate

By Games Village Second Gate Durumi2 Abuja

Novotel Port Harcourt Address: 3 Stadium Road Rumuomasi, Port Harcourt Rivers State, Tel: 0809 713 5734

Radisson Lagos Ikeja #42-44 Isaac John Street, GRA Ikeja, Lagos

Southern Sun IkoyI Hotel Address: 47 Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi, Lagos Tel: +234 1 280 5200 / +234 1 280 0630 Email: ssikoyi.reservations@ tsogosun.com

Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel 1A,Ozumba Mbadiwe,Victoria Island.

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Friday 02 August 2019

Harvard Business Review

BUSINESS DAY

25

MANAGEMENTDIGEST

Managing high-stakes situations: 5 lessons from the Pentagon ASH CARTER

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n an early Sunday morning in October 2015, I was flying overseas aboard the U.S. Department of Defense’s specially equipped 747 when the first video images of an attack on a medical clinic in Kunduz, Afghanistan, started airing around the world. The clinic was operated by the international nonprofit Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders). And though the evidence was sketchy, some immediately blamed the U.S. for the bombing. MSF quickly denounced the attack as a “grave violation of International Humanitarian Law.” While my staff had issued an initial statement acknowledging the incident, the press on board my plane began clamoring for me to say something more in my role as secretary of defense.

At that point, a few hours into the flight, we still did not have a clear picture beyond what the TV was reporting and the confirmation of our commanders that no other country was operating combat aircraft over Kunduz. Yet under the circumstances, with grisly footage of a hospital in flames being broadcast around the world and multiple deaths being reported, I knew I couldn’t sit in the back of my airplane and not comment. Nor could I risk a serious international backlash to the incident, maybe even a violent uprising in Afghanistan itself, if I failed to acknowledge what had happened. I walked back to the press area on the plane and directly addressed what I described as “clearly a tragic circumstance” in Kunduz and informed reporters that a “full and transparent” investigation was being launched. I further pledged, “There will be accountability as always with these incidents, if that is required.”

I went on to detail actions I was ordering, which amounted to the early steps DOD takes to investigate and address any ap-

parent case of unintended civilian casualties. The statement wasn’t much, but it was a start.

Over time, our investigation showed that the attack, which killed 42 people and injured 37, had been caused by a series of errors by a U.S. gunship crew as well as malfunctioning electronic equipment. President Obama and I personally apologized to the president of MSF, and the U.S. made condolence payments to the families of the victims and contributed $5.7 million to rebuilding the hospital. Sixteen members of the military were disciplined for their contributions to the mistaken attack, and measures were taken to ensure no similar tragedy would recur.

The Kunduz story is the kind of problem only a high-ranking government official will face.

While the Pentagon may be in a class by itself when it comes to organizational complexity, nearly all business leaders can expect to be confronted with highstakes crises that may threaten their organization’s reputation and perhaps even its survival.

Potential business crises can range from the theft of customer data to questions about the engineering of commercial aircraft.

In my experience, the best defense isn’t just a communica-

tions plan, but also a workplace culture where people are encouraged to face problems with integrity, accountability and tenacity. That foundation is essential to the credibility of your response to crises. When crises do occur — and they will — you may find the lessons I followed while running the Pentagon useful. Here’s my checklist of actions to take when dealing with a crisis.

— SAY SOMETHING. Leaders facing a crisis need to speak and act quickly even when they don’t know all the facts — it’s part of the job. If you stay silent, you leave a void that may be filled by statements from people who may be well-meaning but ill-informed, or, worse, from rivals or adversaries. While you must say something, stick to the facts you can verify. Don’t speculate or offer guesses. That doesn’t mean you can just issue a statement that says, “We don’t know all the facts at this time.” Doing so creates the impression that the problem is out of control, and reporters or employees will turn elsewhere for information that may be speculation. Instead, list the key questions you are investigating — What happened?

Who was involved? What causes can be identified? What policies

and practices apply to the situation? — and provide any specific, accurate answers that are available.

— DO SOMETHING: MAKE A LIST OF THE MOST OBVIOUSLY USEFUL IMMEDIATE ACTIONS, AND DO THEM. When a crisis hits, your team will be anxious and eager to act. Keeping them waiting for your instructions is a recipe for demoralization, rumor-spreading and ill-considered actions that may make a bad situation worse. Give them something to do that will prove useful regardless of how the crisis unfolds. This will reinforce their sense of purpose and confidence in your leadership, and provide them with something concrete they can share with others inquiring about the crisis.

— DON’T CLAIM THINGS ARE UNDER CONTROL. PROMISE THEY WILL BE. Nothing is as harmful to confidence in you as the juxtaposition of an ongoing crisis and smooth reassurance from leadership. You need to show confidence and determination in the future, not satisfaction with the present. Explain the steps you are taking as specifically as possible — the contacts you are establishing, the data you are gathering — and describe the results you intend

2017 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate

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to achieve in concrete, affirmative terms: “We will be determining precisely what technical or human errors may have led to this incident. If individuals are found to be at fault, we will take disciplinary actions in accordance with long-established procedures. If systems were at fault, we will change them.”

— TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY, PRIVATELY AND PUBLICLY. As the organization’s leader, you’re responsible for whatever caused the crisis to erupt in the first place. There are just three possible outcomes: If you personally committed an error in judgment or execution, you’ll need to own up to it. If someone else made the mistake, you’ll need to punish or fire them. And if a system or process you manage was at fault, you’ll need to fix it. Perhaps the most valuable crisis management resource any organization can have is a robust capability for self-examination and course correction in the days, months and years after the crisis is resolved.

— IF POSSIBLE, USE THE CRISIS AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR REFORM. Episodes of dramatic failure can open up opportunities for change. In the aftermath of the Kunduz tragedy, the DOD improved the internal systems whose breakdown led to the erroneous attack. And over time I believe we also strengthened our relationships with organizations like MSF. In today’s high-pressure news environment, crises may seem to be more frequent and more threatening than ever. By speaking plainly and acting directly, you should be able to emerge with your reputation — and that of your organization — intact, and maybe even improved.

• Ash Carter was the 25th secretary of defense of the United States. He is the director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the author of “Inside the Five-Sided Box: Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership in the Pentagon.”

26

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

entertainment

A look at Daughters of Chibok …as movie screens at 76th Venice International Film Festival OBINNA EMELIKE

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n Ap r i l 1 4 , 2019, concerned Nigerians, especially mothers, women right groups, girl-child advocacy groups, among others commemorated the fifth anniversary of the abduction of 276 girls at the Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State by Boko Haram.

For those who really do not feel the impact of the kidnapping, Joel Kachi Benson, a budding filmmaker, brings the tears closer to their eyes, as he lends his camera to the ‘Chibok Girls’ cause, exploring the town and the impact of the kidnap on affected families and the community as a whole.

The filmmaker noted for his short film, ‘In Bakassi’, engages viewers in his latest movie, ‘Daughters of Chibok’, which captures the reality of the kidnap, the sustained agony of the parents, the justice delayed/ denied, the politics being played, and sadly, people taking advantage of the situation for self-gain while the affected families still wallow in penury.

The 11-minute film, which is the first-ever virtual reality film on Chibok, centres on Rifkatu Yakubu, one of the kidnapped girls. It is emotional and chronicles the trauma, which Rikatu’s

family continued to live in after she was kidnapped.

‘Daughters of Chibok’ also sees Rifkatu’s mother narrating how she got married at a young age, had eight children, and how life has been since then.

If you were at one of the venues across the country where the movie premiered on April 14, 2019, especially selected parks and gardens in Lagos, you would appreciate the creative ingenuity of the filmmaker, who managed to capture real life situations of the parents of the yet-to-return girls amid emotions.

At the Lagos Freedom Park, one of the venues, some of the viewers were so emotional that they abandoned the movie halfway.

Same situation repeated in June when British Council hosted the screening of the VR documentary of ‘Daughters of Chibok’ at its premises in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Most importantly, the screening, organised by VR360 Stories, in partnership with Imisi 3d, Northeast Humanitarian Innovation Hub, and the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, doubled as a fundraiser for the mothers of the missing girls.

The fundraising, according to Benson, was necessary because the womenfolk of Chibok play vital role in sustaining their families, and it is important that they receive support, while wait-

Benson, the filmmaker, in Chibok

ing for the return of their daughters “It is one thing to lose your child and spend years waiting for her return, and it is another to still be living in abject poverty. We must remember that these women have other children to cater for, and when you do not have the means of taking care of them, that is extra pain. If we cannot bring back their girls now, at least we should be able to do something about their economic situation,” he said.

However, Benson is being rewarded for lending his camera to capture the plights of the kidnapped girls, their parents and the entire Chibok town as Daughters of Chibok has been selected for screen-

Undergraduate wins N1m in Queen Varsity Afrika pageant BUNMI BAILEY

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o s s y O k o n k w o, 22-year-old Comp u t e r Te c h n o l ogy student of Yaba College of Technology, has emerged winner in the 2019 edition of Queen Varsity Afrika beauty pageant.

The Enugu State-born beauty queen beat four contestants out of a total of 17 on Sunday, July 28, 2019 to emerge the new queen.

This year’s pageant tagged “The search for Beauty plus Brains”, searched for beauty and brains where many Africa female undergraduates and fresh graduates engaged in intellectual battles. There were 17 contestants from 13 higher institutions including a university from Benin Republic.

The event was well attended by Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Brazil Consulate in Lagos and Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB).

Jasmine Ofoegbu, execu-

tive producer, Queen Varsity Afrika beauty pageant, said, “The Queen Varsity Afrika pageant is an empowerment project for the girl -child. Our focus is to groom and educate the girl-child in order to educate the nation.

“This is the maiden edition supported by my financial savings as this is a 10-year dream that I am passionate about and finally it is coming true. We thank FUNAAB for allowing us to camp in their beautiful facility and for allowing us to use most of their resources during the course of production”.

She also thanked, Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-president of Nigeria, for being part of the edition and for taking out his time to mentor the contestants on several issues including good citizen and how to run a business.

The five finalists tagged “Princesses” which comprised of three undergraduates and two graduates were asked tough questions by the two judges; Melvin Orji, CEO, Talkative Africa Media and Mallami Adeseun, CEO, BlvckHairwww.businessday.ng

Nigeria, to showcase intellectual capabilities.

Tonia Ifekandu, a student of Mass Communications from National Open University, emerged the fifth runner up, Arewa Omoye, a student of History and International Relations from Ekiti State University, was the fourth runner up, Joy Nwosu, a graduate of nursing from la Cite University Benin Republic was 2nd runner up, and Oruscilla Falola, graduate of Physics from FUNAAB was the 1st runner up.

The winner and the runners up were legible to attend empowerment seminars and certifications within and outside Africa.

“As the queen and face of Queen Varsity Afrika, I am going to make sure the show goes far. It is an avenue for me to market myself and my company, KOWORLD, a tech company that embodies other businesses and K-tech, a school that will help in raising more women in tech as Africa lacks female technologists”, Kossy said.

ing at the upcoming 76th Venice International Film Festival in Italy.

Venice International Film Festival, which is the oldest film festival in the world, introduced the virtual reality film competition in 2017 to celebrate and recognise films made using Virtual Reality (VR) technology. It is the first Alist film festival to toe in that path. Over 30 immersive stories were selected for in-competition and out-ofcompetition for this year’s edition. Popularly known as Venice VR, the festival looks at linear and interactive content.

Daughters of Chibok is competing in the linear content category. Among 12 other VR films selected

from around the world, Benson’s film, from Nigeria, is the only VR documentary from the continent. Other countries competing in the category include; France, China, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, USA, Italy, Taiwan and Israel.

The films will be judged by an international jury, who will determine the winners for Best VR, Best VR Experience for Interactive Content and Best VR Story for Linear Content awards respectively.

Thrilled by his nomination, Benson stated that the role of VR in today’s filmmaking cannot be overemphasised.

“I am excited about the opportunity this gives us to share authentic African

stories with the world. VR is an important tool for communication and it is delightful to know that festivals like Venice have the foresight to see its impact on the future of storytelling and are celebrating it.”

He added that, “We are excited that Daughters of Chibok is going to a platform as big as the Venice Film Festival, where the audience can have the opportunity to visit Chibok - a place that many have heard of but have never been to.

Benson is currently exploring avenues for commercial distribution of the film, and plans to use the proceeds to support the mothers of the girls that are still missing.

Benson’s love for virtual reality started in 2018, when he was commissioned to produce a 360 degree video for a client. That project opened his eyes to the potential of VR as a powerful and reformative tool for storytelling. His first VR film was ‘In Bakassi’, a short film that captures the plight of children living with PTSD in Internally Displaced Persons Camps in the northeast region.

The 76th Venice International Film Festival will run from August 28 to September 7, 2019. The festival is organised by La Biennale di Venezia, and will take place at Venice Lido.

US Navy Band bolsters US-Nigerian relationship through music

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or the second time this year, “Topside,” a brass band of the United States Naval Forces Europe, visited Nigeria from July 28-30, 2019 to bolster the U.S.-Nigerian relationship through the power of music.

Whether it was “When the Saints Go Marching In,” “Stand

By Me,” “Lion Sleeps Tonight,” or “Water No Get Enemy,” the high-energy performances of the “Topside” band were well received by the Nigerian audiences across different locations in Lagos.

On the first day of their visit, the band performed American and Nigerian tunes to the

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delight of approximately 300 children and youths at the Johnson Jakande Tinubu Park in Alausa, Lagos.

Topside also captivated a crowd at Freedom Park where they performed a special rendition of Afro-beat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s classic “Water No Get Enemy” to the delight of music lovers who sang and danced along with the band.

Monday, the group of nine musicians conducted a masterclass for established and emerging local musicians, including members of the Nigerian Trumpet Guild. Building on their long-standing

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partnership, the U.S. Navy band shared best practices with their Nigeria Navy, Air Force and Police counterparts.

“We are really excited to be playing for our Nigerian partners again, our last visit to Lagos was so well received,” said Musician 3rd Class Michael Parker, a member of the Topside band.

The U.S. Navy band performed at a special reception commemorating the 2019 Africa Partnership Station (APS) Mission. The event was held at the Nigerian Naval Dockyards in Victoria Island, Lagos and was attended by U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Kathleen FitzGibbon; U.S. Naval Forces Europe Deputy Chief of Strategy, Resources and Plans, Rear Admiral John Gumbleton; Nigerian Navy’s Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Oladele Daji; alongside Nigerian political and business leaders, as well as, members of the diplomatic corps.

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

27

entertainment A variety of meetings Business etiquette

Janet Adetu Strategies for New Technique Meetings his is the 21st Century everything is evolving so fast we are still trying to keep up. Equally new technology is having a great impact on the way businesses are being conducted. I tend to wonder though that the true essence of communication in business is slowly slipping away. A business relationship involves the cultivation of trust, credibility, integrity, respect and charisma. The best way to achieve this and to show you have presence is in the physical appearance, display of behaviour and show of proactive attitude. There are meetings and there are meetings, in the past one meeting a week was sufficient, today in order to multitask you may have at least three big ones and a dozen small ones all in the same week.

How do you manage the impact, outcome and the contributions in such meetings?

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However as a professional you need to remember that it is not about the food, so do not go with the intention of enjoying the spread of food on offer, you will become weak, worn out and inefficient for the rest of the day. Go to the meeting with the intention of interacting, engaging in discussions and decision making participation.

Lunch Hour Meetings A lot of interviews and meetings with high networth clients are taking place during the lunch hour, some very busy executives squeeze lunch hour meetings in between their very busy schedules just to accomplish the days activities. Again the intention is not to over eat so that you are completely worn out for the rest of the day. A careful warning here too, some lunch meetings may have the tendency to stretch into the latter half of the day if care is not taken wasting precious time. It should be short and sweet with motives and agenda strictly followed. Lunch hour meetings are also seen as a good test of your life skills, social skills and selling skills. Remain professional in your discussion, demeanour, behaviour and attitude.

Board Meetings A board meeting being a meeting with department heads or board

Breakfast Meeting Many organizations and institutions are incorporating breakfast meetings today, in many ways they have the tendency to save time and money. Energy levels are higher in the mornings, so you may grasp the attention of people and get best input before they engage in their normal day to day workplace issues.

of directors is of course top level, confidential and formal. The way you present yourself here is being constantly assessed as your true professional presence is on the watch, your intellectual intelligence and professionalism should be at its best. This type of meeting requires a well detailed agenda, minutes of the previous meetings as well as courtesy in the order of communication.

Power play is enforced in these meetings due to ranking and status, but structure must be adhered to. A successful board meeting depends on the head of that meeting, level of discipline and charisma to attract respect. Under no circumstance should there be two or three heads in a board meeting. Voices should be heard, opinions noted and decisions all duly approved.

‘

There is a tendency to indulge in unacceptable short hand during business discussions

Evening Meetings Evening meetings are not so productive usually inform of cocktails events or formal dinners. Where a formal meeting is scheduled after hours it is important to keep to time. Some executives or clients are so busy that this may be the only window of opportunity available.

Where the gathering is a cocktail or dinner then it is more social than business like. These are forums for getting to know others, catching up on current events, but hardly for formal decision making. In fact at a point while on the dinner table the ambience suggests that confidential discussions should be avoided; you may use the moment to set the tone for a formal meeting in the later future.

your meeting anywhere without you having to travel to a specific destination. It is strictly audio so you will need to rely on your own intelligence to decipher the emotions behind the words. Teleconferencing can be quick if given strict timing, specific direction and disciplined conduct. However it may be unduly extended if clarity and audibility pose a challenge. Video conferencing or the popular Skype meeting is easier because visual is involved.

There is better place for expression of facts and ideas. Arguments are far less if not absent during such meetings, as it allows for cordial meetings to take place across the world at different time zones. Be wary of virtual meetings as words are recorded and confidentiality is always key. Your body language may say more than your words. Security sign- in is important to avoid imposters for all types of virtual meetings.

Finally you may decide to have a meeting through a chat platform.

This is not necessarily faster because you are distracted by having to type constantly. There is a tendency to indulge in unacceptable short hand during business discussions. This is not a formal meeting platform so ideally should be discouraged unless for informal communications. Remember what you type and send cannot be retrieved once read on the other side. Be professional in all your communications your image is at stake.

What meeting is best for the discussions you want to have?

Virtual Meetings Time is always of essence in the business world, any opportunity to save time is welcoming. A teleconference allows you to have

Please share your experience with me by sending an email to or janet.adetu@jsketiquetteconsortium.com. / jtadetu@gmail.com Follow and like @janetadetu @jsketiquetteconsortium I look forward to hearing from you.

AFRIMA withdraws hosting rights from Ghana ...New host country to be announced soon OBINNA EMELIKE

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he International Committee of the All Africa Music Awards, (AFRIMA) has withdrawn the hosting rights from the Republic of Ghana for the 2019 and 2020 editions of the annual music festival over lack of capacity by the host country to meet the financial and contractual obligations entered to on July 12, 2018, necessary to retain hosting the biggest music event in Africa.

The decision was reached on July 15, 2019 after several meetings and consultations with relevant stakeholders to remedy the situation with the expectation that Ghana would provide concrete assurances and guarantees to discharge its obligations for hosting the 2019 and 2020 editions of AFRIMA after its disappointing performance on the contract during the 2018 edition of the awards held in Accra from November 21-24, 2018.

It would be recalled that decision of the African Union (AU) and AFRIMA to award a three-term hosting right (2018-2020) to Ghana followed the declaration of Nana

Akufo Addo, president of Ghana, to host the awards in Ghana on May 21, 2018 during the AFRIMA 2018 calendar unveiling ceremony in Accra. Following that, Ghana’s hosting rights for the 5th AFRIMA was publicly announced by the African Union at the African Union Secretariat Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on September 5, 2018 and a letter signed by Amira El Fadil, commissioner of social affairs, African Union, dated September 13, 2018.

Speaking on the development, Rikki Stein, international advisor, AFRIMA, said, “It was a hard decision to withdraw the awards hosting rights for the next two years (2019 and 2020 editions) from Ghana. As an awards owned for the African people, it is structured to travel around the continent giving the people the true African experience.

We have some fond memories of our time in Ghana immersing ourselves in the lifestyle and music and we have formed great friendships among the Ghanaian people. We look forward to returning to Ghana at another time. However, we cannot afford to compromise the standard of the laudable vision of AFRIMA to create a truly African brand that connects Africans and build the

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equity of Africa. The situation faced in Ghana has the potential to erode the goodwill and giant strides we have achieved in Africa through the awards”.

Stein added that AFRIMA is geared to increase the tourism and entertainment equity of a host country as the host receives an influx of international and Africa dignitaries, AFRIMA nominees, music stars and executives who attend the four-day programme of activities. AFRIMA further offers benefits that would help in raising the continental and international profile of the host country, including an opportunity to tap into the millions of participants and followers of the growing African music.

The African Union had enjoyed a successful and effective hosting partnership with the Federal Republic of Nigeria that won the right to host the four editions from 2014-2017.

However, the International Committee of AFRIMA has said it is working to determine a new host country for the 6th edition of AFRIMA and that it would be announced in August 2019. After five outstanding editions of AFRIMA from 2014 to 2018, the 6th edition will continue in the tradition of cel-

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ebrating the scintillating musical culture of Africa by featuring exhilarating Pan-Africa events through the lifespan of the calendar year in 2019.

The events on the AFRIMA 2019 calendar include the ‘Call for Entry/Entry Submission’, which opened on May 15 to end on August 2, a process when African music professionals from across the continent submit their musical works, songs and recordings via the official AFRIMA website www.afrima.org for a possible shot at nomination in one or more of the 36 categories of AFRIMA. The 6th AFRIMA Main Awards Ceremony, a four-day fiesta of music, glamour, Afrocentricism and entertainment, holds in November in the official awards Host City. The four-day event commences with the Welcome Soiree followed by the AFRIMA Music Village, the Host City Tour, the Africa Music Business Summit, the exclusive Nominees Party and concludes with the live Awards Ceremony. Fans of African music globally can follow along and take part in the AFRIMA 2019 events on social media, live stream on the AFRIMA website, the AFRIMA App and by tuning to over 84 television stations which are AFRIMA partners.

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

INTERVIEW ‘All poverty-alleviation programmes by government require proper monitoring, evaluation to thrive’ MAZI NNAMDI OKWUADIGBO was recently installed as the 55th President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). In this interview with KELECHI EWUZIE, he shares his agenda for the presidential year and what government needs to do to turn the economy around. Excerpts:

What should members, government, and Nigerian professionals expect from your tenure as the 55th president of ICAN? n my Acceptance Speech on June 3, 2019 as the 55th President of ICAN, I enunciated our agenda for this administration. I wish to reiterate that this administration is consolidating on the legacies of the Institute’s Founding Fathers and achievements of past administrations.

As a tradition of our Institute, we have over the years provided top-notch capacity building programmes for chartered accountants in the country. We have also produced chartered accountants who are occupying strategic positions in the country’s economic value chain as chief finance officers, seasoned administrators and trusted technocrats.

Our administration has resolved that capacity building would continue to be a strategy in the scheme of events. Due to this commitment, we have tagged this Presidential Year as “Harnessing Internal Capacity” which translates to Empowering our Internal Skills, Building Stability and Sustainability”.

We would democratise lifelong learning for our members through the development of our e-learning platform to make it more efficient.

Indeed, no member would be disadvantaged in access to our various training programmes due to location and distance.

The curriculum for our trainings would continue to be revised to ensure it keeps pace with global trends.

The world is now a global community, hence we would produce chartered accountants that would compete favourably well with their counterparts in other parts of the world.

I need to mention that we have equally revised the syllabus for our professional examinations. The new syllabus, which takes effect in November 2019 diet of the examinations, has been structured to address the newly emerging areas in the noble accounting profession. With this, our students are being prepared to face the highly rewarding, albeit challenging, profession.

In a concerted effort to sustain the gains of the Institute in supporting governments in their various laudable initiatives, we would maintain the existing cordial relationship between the government, media and the Institute as a strategy for bridging possible information gap. We would through the instrumentality of the

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Nnamdi Okwuadigbo

Institute’s relevant directorates raise the quality and regularity of our information outlets especially on critical national issues. We are deepening the Institute’s advocacy roles in the economy to ensure that ICAN retains its status as the number one voice in accounting and other related matters in the country.

ICAN as a body has supported the Federal government in the fight against corruption. Do you think the gains of the corruption fight have surpassed the shortcomings?

As I alluded earlier, ICAN has been at the forefront of supporting governments’ anti-corruption crusade through our Whistle Blower’s Fund and ICAN AI. Also in 2017, ICAN keyed into the new standard of ethics for professional accountants issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA). The standard sets out a first-of-its-kind framework to guide professional accountants in what actions to take in the public interest when they become aware of a potential illegal act, known as Non-Compliance with Laws And Regulations, or NOCLAR, committed by a client or employer. We continue to encourage all our members to abide by the spirit of this standard.

We also have various disciplinary measures to deal decisively with any member found to be engaged in any form of professional or financial misconduct.

These are ICAN’s initiatives to www.businessday.ng

support government at finding a permanent solution to the perennial problem of corruption in our polity.

Over the years, governments at all levels have also made conscious efforts at frontally addressing the problems of corruption in the country. I wish to state that some progress has been made in the fight against corruption.

For instance, in 2018 we witnessed some high profile convictions of past governors coupled with several other convictions by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

However, the achievements must be deepened as they still represent a tiny fraction of the corrupt tendencies in our society. Nigeria is rated

by Transparency International (TI) as the 144 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries, according to the institution’s 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index. This is not surprising as the country is still bedevilled with cases of money laundering, illicit financial outflows, budget padding, contract inflation, amongst several other financial misappropriations.

Nigeria has over the years had problems with budget design and implementation. What do you think is the way forward?

It is worrisome that the country is still in the throes of poor budget process.

Budget, being the bedrock for all financial planning in a fiscal year, is not only critical for government activities but helps in decision making and projections for investment purposes

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by stakeholders in the private sector.

Hence, the experience in the last of couple of years where budgets were not signed until mid-year tells a lot of discouraging stories about the country’s economic performance. For instance, the 2019 Appropriation Bill was signed by the President in May 2019. This implies that no serious financial transactions took place by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government until June. Technically, one can say the economy was at a halt for the first five months of the year since the inability of stakeholders in the private sector to know government’s direction would also constitute a drag in their investment drive. This leaves much to be desired.

As we all know, the weak budgeting infrastructure in the country is not due to lack of capacity or experienced professionals. Essentially, undue political interference is a major challenge that has bedevilled the country’s achievement of an efficient and effective budget system. A country’s budget is such a sensitive financial instrument that should not be turned into a pawn in the chess of politics.

There is also the need to critically look into most of the assumptions underlying our budget preparations.

Such assumptions should not be based on a parochial interest of any sitting government but rather on a holistic analysis of the country’s economic dynamics. A situation where a larger percentage of the budget, sometimes about 70%, is servicing recurrent expenditure does not also portray a country poised at deepening investments in capital expenditure that spur growth and development.

What is ICAN as an Institute doing to resolve the challenges pose by other professional bodies seeking to compete with you on the training of accounting professionals?

The ICAN brand stands tall among other professional accounting bodies in the country. The market has a way of differentiating products and left to ICAN we do not nurse any fear as to the quality of our various certification programmes. As far as the Institute is concerned, it is not a challenge to us.

As I earlier noted, however, the need to uphold professionalism and good ethical conduct in the profession compels us to support governments and create the necessary awareness on the need to be wary of any tendencies that aim to cheapen professionalism in the country. The roles of professionals are very strategic in a nation’s development that the Institute would @Businessdayng

not fold its arms and allow professionalism to be commercialised. It is therefore not about ICAN but about professionalism in the country and the danger of allowing various professions to be populated with charlatans.

When you look at economic indices like high unemployment rate, rise in food prices, among others, what advice do you have for the present Federal government to address these issues?

While some progress has been made in the country in terms of moderating inflation and restoring stability in the country’s foreign exchange, there are however a lot of grounds to cover. A dispassionate look at the various economic indices in the country suggests that there is the need for deliberate efforts to address the economic challenges. Several rating agencies have scored the country low on major parameters required to provide the enabling environment that would stimulate inclusive growth and development in the country.

Take the unemployment rate, for instance, which stood at about 23 percent according to the latest report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This figure excludes the underemployment rate of about 16 percent. As an Institute, we believe this is a time bomb. To urgently remedy this ugly situation, entrepreneurship development initiatives should be rigorously implemented for the country’s teeming youth population. Any initiative on entrepreneurship development without creating the enabling business environment would only amount to motion without movement. Hence, the infrastructural base of the country should be revamped.

A Public-Partnership Arrangements might be the low hanging fruits the country can exploit.

Tagging Nigeria as the poverty capital of the world should keep all stakeholders awake. The different poverty alleviation programmes would require proper monitoring and evaluation to ensure the country derives value from these initiatives. The educational system of the country should be refocused to make Nigerian graduates problem solvers and not job seekers.

The security challenge in the country has also reached a highly worrisome dimension that to call for a state of emergency in the security framework of the country would not be out of place. No meaningful growth can be achieved in an environment of intense ethnic and tribal tensions.

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

INTERVIEW

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‘Our goal is to open 300 stores and employ 8,000 workers in the next 5 years’ Pat McMichael is the CEO of Eat’N’Go, Nigeria’s master franchisee for the Domino’s Pizza, Cold Stone Creamery and Pinkberry Gourmet Frozen Yoghurt brands. In this interview with BUNMI BAILEY, McMichael speaks about the company and how it is thriving in the country’s tough business environment.

It has been more than a year since you have been the CEO of Eat’N’Go. How has the experience been so far? t has been a very exciting learning curve since taking over as CEO of Eat’N’Go. I have worked in many countries around the world and it takes time to understand the culture, the retail environment, the company and the team. I have to say it has been a fun and productive year. I feel very at home in Nigeria.

It has been a positive welcome from the team, our supply partners, and our customers. During the year the team has worked hard with me to introduce new retail offers to our customers that have been wellaccepted and driven our sales. We have also expanded the business across Nigeria at the same time. I have to say it has been a nonstop year. However, that is how we prefer it to be.

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Many say Nigeria is one of the toughest markets to make pizza in the world. Why is this so?

Nigeria, just like any market in the world today, has its challenges when it comes to doing business regardless of the product or service to be offered. As an organisation, it is key to understand the market you are about to do business in before setting up to succeed. Years ago, before we launched Domino’s Pizza here, many believed that Nigeria was not a viable market for Pizza.

But we came in and we introduced our products, tailored our menu’s to fit the unique Nigerian diet and tastes, and grew from there, becoming the market’s largest operator.

We had to understand what the market liked, and once we did this,

Pat McMichael

we created offerings to suit those needs.

We believe that there are numerous untapped business opportunities in Nigeria such as the huge population and other commercial advantages to grow a business, which is why we came here to establish our organisation. We believe that with the right mindset, a great team of employees and an effective business plan, you can succeed.

Since adding smaller packages of pizza, what kind of impact has it had on sales? What kinds of margins are you seeing?

We introduced the Smallie Pizza in February, a mini-pizza variant that goes for N550, as a huge innovation targeting a wider segment of the consumers and ensuring everybody can afford a box of pizza. To launch, we organised a campaign to seed over 2,000 Smallie Pizzas to Nigerians, which was a great introduction to the market to this great product. Ever since the launch, we have witnessed a growth in sales of our pizzas – Smallie, Medium and Large and now the Chairman Pizza. Smallie has helped serve as a great option for customers who may not be able to consume a medium box, and really need to enjoy a box of www.businessday.ng

Pizza as lunch or a snack. Beyond sales, Smallie Pizza has impacted our brand by making us closer than ever to our consumers and making our pizzas more accessible and enjoyable to all classes of individuals. As a consumer from a recent study said, ‘’Domino’s brought us to the reality of pizza’’. This is how far the company has touched the lives of Nigerian consumers with its products.

‘ We have just launched our 100th store in Nigeria, and are up to the construction of our 116th store, employing over 2,400 employees across the country

‘

Tell us the story of how Eat’N’Go started in Nigeria Eat’N’Go is Nigeria’s master franchisee for the Domino’s Pizza, Cold Stone Creamery and Pinkberry Gourmet Frozen Yoghurt brands.

We founded this organisation in 2012 to bring the best F&B brands, and great taste, to Nigeria. Eat’N’Go started as a food service company in Saka Tinubu, Victoria Island, Lagos, with enough staff to run one store. We did not have the Pinkberry Yoghurt brand here at the time. Now after 7 years, with over 2,400 employees and over 100 stores later, we have quickly established a reputation for providing exceptional products and services across our three brands.

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What is behind the drive for new flavours, menus, and packages?

As a business, it is important to always revolutionalise your products and services to meet the trends and shifts in tastes of the consumer.

At Eat’N’Go, we are constantly driven by innovation which allows us to keep producing groundbreaking products and services to suit customers’ varying needs. For instance, in April, we launched the Domino’s Xtra Menu, to provide our customers with better value, present them with a wider selection of quality pizza options that are delicious and affordable. Beyond this, we ensure that we continuously develop local menus that suit the dynamic Nigerian taste and diet, and go the extra mile to create some flavours that are locally sourced for our ice cream, and even customize our pizza options – such as the “chicken suya pizza” which is such a huge success that it is now a reference for other global partners. As a brand, we listen to our customers and follow their requests to create products that they love. Our passion for creating new flavours and menus simply lies in our commitment to fulfilling the satisfaction of our customers.

Are there any plans for expansions? Will you list at the Stock Market any time soon?

Indeed there are plans for expansion. So far, we have expanded our presence in eight states in Nigeria – Lagos, Abuja, Oyo, Ogun, Kwara, Akure, and Rivers – adding Calabar and other cities in the third of 2019.

As you may know, we have just launched our 100th store in Nigeria, and are up to the construction of our 116th store, employing over 2,400 employees across the country. Our goal is to open 300 stores and employ 8,000 workers in the next 5 years.

How do you source your raw materials?

When Eat’N’Go launched in Nigeria, we made sure to try and source our raw materials locally as much as possible. Now, we have over 65 percent of our products sourced locally, which is another way we work to ensure an impact in the Nigerian economy. We understand the need to buy Nigerian and reduce imports, and that is something we are continuously doing. This is part of our efforts to derive socioeconomic growth. We also know that the less we import the more @Businessdayng

successful we would be.

Nigeria is an infrastructure-heavy market, where you practically have to build most things yourself. How are you dealing with the challenges?

This is part of doing business in Nigeria. We have developed our business model around the need to include basic infrastructure in our development and running costs of the business. We have systems set up to monitor the on-going running and the costs involved with the infrastructure. This is one of the major roadblocks for some international businesses in Nigeria as they don’t understand how to do business with these challenges. We have embraced the challenges and they are second nature to us as we set up in new locations.

How is your partnership with Slum2School going so far?

Our relationship with Slum2School is becoming stronger as both organizations share a passion to promote quality education in Nigeria.

We are thankful for the opportunity to send 1,000 children to school, as a way to contribute to creating an impact in the Nigerian educational sector. We recently paid a visit to the kids from Slum2School at their flagship school in Makoko and we were happy with the development we saw. We are almost at our target of N50, 000,000 and would like to enjoin Nigerians to support our vision of sending these children to school by buying our products, so we can raise more donations, and send even more kids to school in the coming years.

You are building a factory in Shagamu. Can you tell us more about that?

We are building our new stateof-the-art Domino’s Pizza central kitchen. This is where we make our dough for all of our Stores in the Lagos region and surrounding cities. This facility will eventually be serving up to 200 stores across this region. It will provide employment for local residents as well as income for the local government to develop more infrastructures. We are also building our national warehouse in this area at the same time. This will serve all of our brands nationally.

These are both major infrastructure projects for Eat’N’Go that will support the growth of the company across the next five years, as well as contributing to the local economy.

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Thursday 01 August 2019

Top Gainers/Losers as at Thursday 01 August 2019 LOSERS

GAINERS Company

Company

Opening

Closing

Change

N19.65

N18.05

-1.6

GUARANTY

N28.4

N27.9

-0.5

INTBREW

N12.5

N12

-0.5

N5.8

N5.3

-0.5

N3

N2.7

-0.3

Opening

Closing

Change

MTNN

N127

N129.05

2.05

NASCON

N13.1

N14

0.9

BERGER

N5.7

N6.25

0.55

FIDSON

N4.1

N4.5

0.4

NCR

DANGSUGAR

N9.8

N10

0.2

ETERNA

FO

ASI (Points) DEALS (Numbers) VOLUME (Numbers) VALUE (N billion) MARKET CAP (N Trn)

27,748.46

FTSE 100 Index 7,584.87GBP -1.91-0.03%

Nikkei 225 21,540.99JPY +19.46+0.09%

2,936.00

S&P 500 Index 3,006.41USD +26.03+0.87%

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 12,253.15EUR +64.11+0.53%

Generic 1st ‘DM’ Future 27,085.00USD +230.00+0.86%

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 2,908.77CNY -23.74-0.81%

97,359,216.00 1.768 13.522

Chams assures shareholders of steady returns, pays N140mn dividend Stories by Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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hams Plc has assured its shareholders of enhanced returns on their investments as it rose from a loss to profit after tax of N385million and declared gross dividend of N140million which translates into 3 kobo per share.

Besides, the company is leveraging on restructuring of its balanced sheet to expand income stream, boost performance indicators and sustain competitive edge.

Speaking at the 35th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company in Lagos on Tuesday, the chairman, Dere Awosika stated that the company had been well positioned to enhance shareholders’ value as a result of the successful restructuring of its books which laid a solid foundation for its performance and competitiveness.

“We plan to consolidate on the progress made from the successful restructuring of our balance sheet which has helped to lay the

L – R: Folusho Phillips, chairman, Phillips Consulting Limited; Chioma Dennis, Trainee of the Year 2019 and Oscar N. Onyema, chief executive officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) during the NSE GTP Class of 2019 Graduation Ceremony and Dinner on Tuesday July 30, 2019 at the Civic Center, Victoria Island Lagos.

foundation for better performance for the company, improve its competitiveness in the ICT sector and improve the potential of the company to pay dividends.

According to her, on the strength of the new outlook, there are more opportunities for effective and efficient implementation of the company’s growth strategy.

“We plan to consolidate on the progress made in the previous years to deliver a strong and sustainable performance that enhances returns to our shareholders.

We are marching forward in the year with confidence and optimism, knowing fully well that our businesses have been strategically positioned to take advantage of key opportunities as we

Honeywell Flour Mills grows Q1 earnings, profit

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oneywell Flour Mills Plc has announced its financial figures for the first quarter (Q1) ended June 30, 2019. Summary of the financial results show revenue of N19 billion, up 7percent compared with N17.7 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2018; gross profit margin, up by 7percent from N3.193billion to N3.411billion. Operating profit went up by 52percent from N1.02 billion to N1.54 billion; while profit for the period was up by 6percent from N102million to N108million.

Speaking on the results, ‘Lanre Jaiyeola, Managing Director, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc said, “Despite

the tough operating environment, revenue for the quarter was up by 7percent to N19 billion, when compared to revenue of N17.7 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year.”

He said, “This was driven by sales of our various Pasta products, which led to the continued strong performance of our B2C business line. With the commencement of full commercial production at our ultra-modern Foods and Agro-allied complex in Sagamu, Ogun State, we were able to grow our capacity to meet the increasing demand for our Pasta products which is evidenced by the impressive 157percent volume inwww.businessday.ng

crease. The performance in Pasta gives credence to the company’s commitment to continue to expand its footprint into growth areas that will positively impact the long-term sustainability of the business.”

The Managing Director further explained details of the result saying that the “Execution of well-embedded savings and efficiency initiatives aimed at improving the company’s margins led to a 14percent drop in selling and administration expenses from N2.2 billion to N1.9 billion.

“This translated to the operating profit accelerating at a faster rate than revenue by 52percent, from N1.02 billion to N1.54 billion.

Global market indicators

stay on course in the execution of our growth strategy” she said.

Corroborating Awosika, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Femi Williams stated that the company’s restructuring paid off as reflected in its impressive financial performance for 2018 despite the setback of the previous year.

Sterling Bank grows income by 19.1%

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terling Bank Plc has reported a net interest income growth of 19.1 percent to N30.4 billion for the half year ended June 30, 2019 as against N25.5 billion for the corresponding period of 2018.

Overall the bank recorded a 5.5 percent improvement in operating income and a profit after tax of N5.66 billion.

Commenting on the financial performance, Abubakar Suleiman, Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank said, “Underlying our half year performance was a concerted effort in improving the quality of our funding base, increasingly through digital products and initiatives. Though top line earnings were impacted by a selective approach to lending, the Bank remained focused on building a sustainable business model and continued to see considerable improvement across business lines, particularly our retail and consumer and digital and transactional banking businesses.”

Other financial highlights showed that customer deposit also grew to N818.6 billion during the period under review compared to N760.6 billion in 2018, indicating a growth of 7.6 percent. Total assets grew by 4.8 percent to N1.156 bil-

lion against N1.102 billion in 2018 while net operating income also rose by 4.2 percent to N40.4 billion compared with N38.8 percent in 2018.

Reflecting on the financial performance highlights, Suleiman disclosed that the bank managed to achieve a 14 percent decline in interest expense in line with the Banks strategic objectives, resulting in a 170 basis points drop in cost of funds and, consequently, a 131 basis points increase in net interest margin. The bank achieved 14.5 percent growth in low cost funds, delivering a 7.6 percent growth in customer deposits while net operating income grew by 4.3 percent.

Personnel costs rose by 14 percent in line with the bank’s commitment to intensify strategy execution, as operating expense grew by 6.1 percent while a continuous growth in retained earnings delivered a 12.7 percent increase in shareholders’ funds to N110.1 billion.

Overall the bank grew its balance sheet by five percent to N1.15 trillion and delivered a profit after tax of N5.66 billion in the first half of the year.

NSE unveils 2019 Factbook

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he Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday July 31 launched its 2019 NSE Factbook. The Factbook is a compendium of capital market information, aimed at ensuring availability and easy access to current and historical market information for both local and foreign investors.

This special edition of The Factbook incorporates various features aimed at ensuring readers have access to diverse and comprehensive market information such as 5-year financial performance data covering the dividend history of all listed companies listed,

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ranking of rated companies in line with the Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS), international codes of listed securities, profiles of dealing members and quoted companies as well as frequently asked questions (FAQs) pertaining to the capital market.

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Commenting on the Factbook, Jude Chiemeka, Divisional Head, Trading Business of the Exchange, said, “timely and adequate information is critical to the workings of the capital market and is imperative for making desirable investment decisions.

Over the years, the NSE Factbook has continued to be an invaluable resource for the investing community, providing insight into the operations of the stock market including activities of listed companies, dealing members and other stock market stakeholders. The Factbook is therefore a veritable tool for investor education”.

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Sports AITEO restates commitment to the development of Nigerian football

… As Kano Pillars, Nasawara Amazons emerge winners of 2019 AITEO Cup Stories By Anthony Nlebem

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eading indigenous Energy Company AITEO GROUP has restates its unwavering commitment in supporting the development of Nigerian football through its sponsorship of Nigeria oldest football competition, the AIITEO Cup. The firm says it is satisfied with the quality of organization and play at the just concluded 2019 AITEO Cup, held at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.

Benedict Peters, the Executive Vice Chairman of AITEO Group, said the firm is delighted in contributing to t football development in Nigeria through its sponsorship of the AITEO Cup ”We are most grateful for the opportunity to support national sports and a honored competition that continues to pass the test of time. This year has been a learning curve but I have the deepest assurances of my board that AITEO Cup will only grow and like all fans, we look forward to more scintillating next editions.”

Nasawara Amazons stopped Riv-

ers Angels from winning a fourth successive Women’s AITEO Cup triumph and took home N10 million prize money.

In the Men’s final, Kano Pillars narrowly edged Niger Tornadoes on penalty shoot-out to win the N25 million prize money and claiming their first National Cup competition in 66 years. AITEO Group, the official Optimum partner of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).

The match was attended by top dignitaries with Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; Deputy Governor of Niger State,

Mohammed Kezo; Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State, Emmanuel Akabe; Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports, Olusade Adesola; President of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick; Managing Director of AITEO, Mr. Victor Okoronkwo; NFF Vice Presidents Seyi Akinwunmi and Shehu Dikko; AITEO’s Executive Director, Obinna Onyearu; NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi; NFF Board Members; NFF Management; Members of the Kaduna State cabinet and; AITEO Management and Staff all present.

Budweiser seals global sponsorship deals with EPL and LaLiga

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nternational Breweries, a proud member of the AB InBev group and producers of Budweiser has announced the global multi-year sponsorships of two of the top international football leagues, the English Premier League and Spanish LaLiga.

Having been a long time partner of the FIFA World Cup™ and supporter of football leagues and several national teams worldwide, Budweiser has decided to expand its support for the world’s game and connect to more football fans every year. These new sponsorships will activate in Nigeria bringing fans closer to their football heroes through a series of unique programs.

Speaking on the partnership, Annabelle Degroot, Managing Director, International Breweries, said “We are excited to kick off these long-term partnerships with the English Premier League and LaLiga, two world-class football leagues. We know how much our consumers love football and that is why it is important to us as a company to help them enjoy these great football moments in grand, unique and exciting ways only Budweiser can bring to life”. She further said “We are passionate about football, and so are our consumers, so we couldn’t be prouder to celebrate the sport, the players, and most importantly, the fans.

L-R: LaLiga Delegate to Nigeria, Guillermo Pérez Castelló; High End marketing manager, Franscoe Bouwer, managing director, Annabelle Degroot; marketing director, Tolulope Adedeji all of International Breweries Plc and Budweiser Brand Ambassador, Bankole Wellington (Banky W) at the official announcement of the commencement of Budweiser’s Sponsorship of the English Premier League (EPL) and Spanish LaLiga held on Tuesday at the company’s head office in Ikoyi, Lagos www.businessday.ng

Commenting on the sponsorships, Tolulope Adedeji, Marketing Director, International Breweries, said “Football occupies a unique place in our culture. Nigerians are passionate about football as it unites us. It has the power to transcend societal barriers such as tribe, language and religion. Football is not just the most popular sport in Nigeria, it plays an important role in the lives of the people who are endeared to it.”

Also speaking on the partnership, Premier League Interim Chief Executive, Richard Masters, said, “We are delighted to announce Budweiser as a new Premier League partner. Budweiser has a track record of innovative football sponsorships, including partnering with the FIFA World Cup™ over many years. We look forward to working together to bring our new partnership to life and capturing the imagination of our fans all over the world.”

On his own part, the President of the Spanish LaLiga, Javier Tebas, expressed the brand’s commitment to growing the passion for football in Nigeria. “This historic partnership with Budweiser will only add to the growing excitement and anticipation for this year’s season and we’re thrilled to have them as partners. This agreement will, no doubt, strengthen the global visibility of Spanish clubs,” he remarked.

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Super Falcons captain Oparanozie advocates for equal pay with Super Eagles … calls for live broadcast of Nigeria women’s league to attract sponsorship

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uper Falcons captain, Desire Oparanozie has asked that the women’s senior national team be paid the same amount of money paid to the men’s national team, the Super Eagles. She made the call at the 2019 Ladies In Sports (LIS) Conference held on Friday, July 26 at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos.

“I think we deserve equal pay. We are the most successful female team in Africa. We have done the nation proud. I believe we will get there, one step at a time,” Oparanozie said.

She also advocated for the Nigeria Women’s Football League to be televised. “The Nigeria Football Federation must work on getting the women’s league on TV. With that, there will be more eyes on the league and sponsors can come in,” said the En Avant Guingamp striker With the theme “Keeping the barriers down”, athletes, journalists, administrators, coaches and many more witnessed the fourth edition of the annual conference founded by ace sports broadcaster, Tega Onojaife.

The NFF 1st Vice President, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi opened the discussions on the importance of girls and women in sports, highlighting that sports women have to work harder to get recognition in today’s society.

“One of the things that can help Nigeria reach its potential is to give women opportunities in every area,” Akinwunmi said.

During the first panel session, Kenyan 800m World Champion, Janet Jepkosgei, 2017 Afrobasket Champion, Nkechi Akashili and Athletics blogger, Funmilayo Fameso discussed their journey in sports, the challenges they have faced and more.

Jepkosgei talked about taking a break from sport to have her first child, returning and plans going forward. “Being a mother is the best thing to have ever happened to me,” she said. “It has been a long way coming for me in athletics. I took a three year break and I just won my first race last year.

“Biologically when you come back from a break, you become stronger. It’s the best thing to do but make sure you do it at the right

time.” Jepkosgei said.

The second panel session had Ghana Women’s National team coach, Mercy Tagoe, Super Falcons forward, Desire Oparanozie and former Banyana Banyana midfielder, Amanda Dlamini discuss keeping the barriers down in football.

Oparanozie addressed the issue of equal pay while Coach Mercy Tagoe talked about her journey from being a footballer to a referee and a coach. Amanda Dlamini urged footballers to prepare for retirement, as that made it easier for her to transition into sports broadcasting after she hung up her boots.

“Football is not your whole life.

You need to get yourself ready for retirement. I had to go to the university to ensure I could do something after I retired,” Dlamini said.

NFF charges Nigerian coaches to be diligent in discharge of their duties

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he General Secretary of Nigeria Football Federation, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi has called on Nigerian indigenous coaches to be upright, diligent and alive to their responsibilities while on duty with any of the National Teams or their clubs.

Sanusi, a certified coach, made this call on when the new executive team of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association (NFCA) paid him a courtesy call at the NFF Secretariat in Abuja.

“I will tell you the home truth because I am also one of you. We have a situation in which some coaches are not alive to their responsibilities. We know some of them who instigate players to agitate unnecessarily, especially in the National Teams, because they stand to benefit from such agitation. It is not appropriate.

“I hold this body in high esteem, as I made my name in football and not even in academics. We will look at the various requests that you have made, including strengthening the Technical Department. I can assure @Businessdayng

you that we will also grant the NFCA an office at the new NFF Office, make even more robust the CAF coaching courses that we have been running and look at the issue of a few National Team coaches that are being owed with a few to offsetting those debts.”

Bosso, a former Head Coach of the U20 and U23 National Teams at different periods, was in company with Victor Nwakanma (second vice president); Etta Egbe (public relations officer); Diana Asak (welfare officer), Justine Madugu (financial secretary); Danlami Usman Akawu (assistant training officer); Abdulrazaq Usman (auditor); John Sam Obuh (treasurer) and; Stanley Eguma (secretary).

Also at the meeting were Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme (NFF Deputy General Secretary); Bola Oyeyode (Director of Competitions); Bitrus Bewarang (Director of Technical); Charity Kadiri (Director of Finance); Ademola Olajire (Director of Communications); Abdulrafiu Yusuf, Siji Lagunju and Dr. Robinson Okosun (Assistant Directors, Technical) and; Ruth David (Head of Women Football).

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

news ECOWAS, USAID hold regional confab on electoral security in West Africa Innocent Odoh, Abuja

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conomic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) ‘Reacting to Early Warning and Response Data’ (REWARD) project organised a regional conference on lessons learned in electoral security in West Africa.

A statement issued on Thursday by the United States Embassy in Abuja said the conference, held in Abuja, was to identify common trends in the ECOWAS region related to electoral conflicts and violence and to develop strategies on how different regional Electoral Violence Prevention (EVP) stakeholders can proactively prevent the recurrence of these incidents in future elections.

The electoral security conference gathered 40 key regional EVP stakeholders from across the 15 ECOWAS member states.

Among the participants were representatives from the ECOWAS Commission, election management bodies, leading regional civil society organisations (CSOs), the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions, and selected past USAID REWARD project grantees from Ghana, Mali, Niger Republic and Sierra Leone, who implemented projects in their respective countries

to promote peaceful elections.

The conference facilitated regional networking and knowledge sharing among the electoral stakeholders on innovations, best practices, and lessons learned from recent elections.

Participants also devised strategies to synergise and build on the positive achievements and address common obstacles to their work.

In accordance with the ECOWAS mandate under the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance (2001) that was adopted to reinforce the Declaration of Political Principles in the West Africa Region (1991), the conference leveraged ECOWAS’ regional role in providing electoral assistance to its member states.

The Early Warning, Political Affairs and Peacekeeping and Regional Security directorates shared case studies of ECOWAS’ electoral violence monitoring, preventive diplomacy, and electoral security engagements, respectively.

“Supporting USAID West Africa’s regional development objective of strengthening systems of non-violent conflict management across the region, the conference marked a milestone in supporting local, national and regional stakeholders to mitigate electoral conflict triggers before they escalate into violence.

Osinbajo commissions first 2.8mw Solar Hybrid Power project in FUNAI KELECHI EWUZIE

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etermined to provide uninterrupted electricity to Nigerian students through offgrid captive power plants, VicePresident Yemi Osinbajo will today commission a 2.8 megawatts Solar Hybrid Power Project in Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State.

The project, the first solar hybrid power plant of the Federal Government’s Energising Education Programme (EPP) to take education to the next level.

The solar hybrid power plant will see to it that 7,700 students and 1,819 faculty staff at FUNAI have access to clean reliable energy from the university’s 2.8mw solar hybrid power plant.

Damilola Ogunbiyi, managing director/CEO, Rural Electrification Agency (REA), says the EEP is a Federal Government intervention focused on developing off-grid, dedicated and independent power plants as well as rehabilitating existing distribution infrastructure to supply clean and reliable power to 37 federal universities and seven affiliated university teaching hospitals.

Apart from the 2.8mw solar hybrid power plant, other projects to be commissioned at the event would include the launch of 7.5km of solar powered streetlights as well as a world-class renewables’ training centre.

“This Programme will undoubtedly improve the quality of education, research and health care services at our federal universities and teaching hospitals.

I’m proud of the role that women have played in the successful implementation of this project from the Head of project being a women to the female STEM students that all worked on the project. No doubt, the EEP represents a significant milestone in green financing in Africa,” Ogunbiyi says.

The EEP project is an outcome of collaboration between the Rural Electrification Agency, Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, the Federal Ministry of Environment, the National Universities Commission, and executed by Sterling and Wilson, a solutions and services provider that provides business solutions for solar, wind energy, transmission and distribution, hybrid energy storage and turnkey data centres to organisations across the world.

Ndukwe’s appointment as MTN chairman gets stakeholders’ support Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson

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takeholders in Nigeria’s telecoms industry have been unanimous in applauding the emergence of Ernest Ndukwe, a seasoned telecoms technocrat, as the new chairman of the board of directors of MTN Nigeria.

Prominent among the group is the New Dimension Shareholders Association, a prominent group of Capital Market Investors and Shareholders in notable companies quoted on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

In a public statement signed by its president, Patrick Ajudua, the New Dimension Shareholders stated, “The appointment is a welcome development because he is tested and well experienced in the industry.”

The Association expressed optimism that the new MTN Board headed by Ndukwe would ensure transparency, compliance with corporate governance, and value addition to the shareholders.

In a similar vein, the president of Proactive Shareholders Association, Taiwo Oderinde, urged the new board to shun any corporate governance lapses capable of dragging the image of the firm through the mud.

“The new chairman, Ndukwe, is a man with a wealth of experience andconnectionsinthetelecommunications sector. As a one-time head of NCC, I believe with the support

HI 2019: NIPC records $15.15bn investment announcements in 43 projects across 12 states, FCT … Netherlands, Morocco top list of nations with more investment commitments HARRISON EDEH, Abuja

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igerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) has announced investment worth of $15.15 billion in 43 projects across 12 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Investment announcements are investment commitments made by would-be investors, specifically in countries and related companies in specific sectors of the economy, which the NIPC follows up to ensure its full maturity and benefits to the Nigerian economy.

According to NIPC records, mining and quarrying recorded investment announcements of $12.3 billion, averaging 81 percent of the total investment sum announced.

Manufacturing also recorded $2.2 billion worth of investment announced.

Within the period under review, finance and insurance recorded

$0.2 billion investment worth; also information and communication recorded investment announcements worth of $0.2 billion. Other sectors not specifically mentioned recorded $0.2 billion.

Emeka Offor, director of strategic communications, while briefing newsmen on the investment announcements on Wednesday in Abuja, noted that offshore investment announcements recorded 77 percent.

According to NIPC, states with highest investment commitments and announcements within the period under review include: Ondo, Lagos and Ogun.

Ondo State recorded $1.1 billion, Lagos $0.6 billion, Ogun recorded $0.2 billion, while other states put together recorded cumulatively investment announcements of $1.6 billion.

NIPC records further note that the Netherlands top list of the coun-

tries with the highest investment commitments with Royal Dutch announcing $10 billion investment worth.

The records show that Morocco recorded investment announcements of $2.1 billion, while Nigerian local investors made investment commitments of $1.3 billion.

Malaysia made investment announcements of $0.9 billion, other unnamed nations cumulatively made investment commitments of $3.5 billion.

In his reactions, Chijioke Ekechukwu, a former director-general of Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told BusinessDay that NIPC must ensure it followed up satisfactorily all the investment commitments to ensure it tracked up all to full maturity, noting that concern of unemploymentandrisingpopulation meant that every available options for job creation must be encouraged.

Again, NUPENG, NNPC, others meet to resolve crisis with Chevron JOSHUA BASSEY

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takeholders in the oil and gas industry, including Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) are meeting again today to resolve the crisis between Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Chevron Nigeria Limited, a major player in the upstream sector of the economy.

Parties to the crisis met in Lagos on Thursday in the effort to avert the planned industrial action by

NUPENG against Chevron, which could disrupt operations in the fragile oil and gas sector.

Afolabi Olawale, general secretary of NUPENG, told BusinessDay on Thursday that following the intervention of NNPC and NAPIMS, another meeting had been scheduled today by 11am, and the outcome would determine whether or not NUPENG would proceed with its actions against Chevron, just as he advised members to be on red alert.

NUPENG is accusing Chevron of violating agreement reached with the union of which NNPC, www.businessday.ng

NAPIMS and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment were a party.

President of NUPENG, Williams Akporeha, had knocked Chevron over alleged consistent refusal to honour the agreement signed by the parties.

“It is a public knowledge that the unions in the oil and gas industry had a protracted negotiation with Chevron Nigeria Limited over 70% labour manpower reduction which they (Chevron) claimed was required in view of reductions in their operations in the Nigeria oil and gas industry,” Akporeha said. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

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@Businessdayng

of other members of the board, he will bring this to bear in his new responsibility. I congratulate him andheshouldnotlettheshareholders and other stakeholders down,” Oderinde said.

Ndukwe,aformerexecutivevice chairman (EVC) of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has added vast experience and rich contributions to the growth of Nigerian telecoms sector over the years.

Ahighlyrespectedprofessional’scareerhasgonefullcircle,startingfrom the private sector as the managing director of a notable telecoms company, he moved into government service at the helm of the industry regulatory agency as EVC of NCC and back to the private sector, and now chairman of Nigeria’s largest operating company MTN. A recipient of the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), Ndukwe is a past chairman of Administrative Council of African Telecommunications Union (ATU), and a past chairman of the West African Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA), which he helped pioneer. He was also a vice chairmanofTelecomDevelopment Advisory Group (TDAG) of the ITU representing Nigeria.

In April 2014 he was decorated with an ITU Gold Medal Award “in recognition of his important contribution to global Information and communication technologies and to the work of ITU”.

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

news Buhari closes defence at tribunal after...

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opted to end their defence after calling seven witnesses.

Although the tribunal headed by Justice Mohammed Garba allotted six days to the president to present his defence in the challenge to his qualification for the election and the general conduct of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Buhari chose to spend only two days.

Olanipekun informed the tribunal that Buhari’s legal team had studied the hardwares, softwares, server and evidence of Atiku and PDP and decided that the defence must end there.

The senior lawyer said that the evidence adduced

by Buhari and issues ventilated inside the court and not outside the court have made the legal team come to the conclusion that it was time to restrict the legal battle to the four corners of the court by those who are learned.

“We are satisfied with the evidence we have led. We are closing our defence for President Muhammadu Buhari as second respondents and we are ready to address the court on laws,” he said.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) represented

by Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) in another dramatic turn announced that the party would also close its defence.

Fagbemi told the tribunal

that having reviewed the position of the party in the petition and conduct of the election, there was no point in over-killing the matter. He thanked the tribunal for the patience.

The senior counsel disclosed that APC was satisfied with the cross examination of witnesses and other documents and evidence put forward by President Buhari to defend himself, adding that the party would not call any witness to open any defence.

Yunus Usman (SAN), lead counsel to INEC, did not object to the position canvassed by Buhari and APC. Tribunal chairman, Justice Garba, while ruling on request made by parties in the matter, ordered the respondents to file their final address between Monday and Wednesday next week and the petitioners upon receipt of the address should have seven days to file their own to the three respondents.

Justice Garba also said that INEC, Buhari and APC should thereafter have two days to respond on point of law to issues that may be raised by Atiku and PDP and that filing and exchange of processes must come to an end on August 16, 2019.

The tribunal chairman fixed August 21, 2019 for all parties in the petition to adopt their final addresses after which judgment date will be fixed.

Sale of 10 power plants awaits FG’s plan to reduce ...

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ernment can sell the assets in their current state unless it is restructured,” said Wolemi Esan, energy lawyer at Lagos-based law firm, Olaniwon Ajayi.

To curb these challenges, the NDPHC last year agreed with the bidders to pay 30 percent of the bid prices and defer the balance until the market matures. The deferred capacity payment structure was supposed to mitigate investors’ risks by ensuring that they are only paying for available capacity that can be put on the grid and for which they would receive capacity and energy payments from NBET. But the deal fell through.

“The preferred bidders were unable to raise even 30 percent of their bid value then,” said Esan.

The assets too have suffered depreciation, wear and tear due to operations and the passage of time. The preferred bidders want the sale mechanism to factor this depreciation, loss of value and timeframe for fixing them in negotiations but cash-strapped Federal Government wanted the funds

immediately and was unwilling to shift grounds.

Investors got more concerned as the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), the entity created to buy power from GenCos and sell to DisCos and settle everybody along the value chain, could only pay back about 30 percent of the invoices issued by power generation companies (GenCos).

Yet the plants remain a huge loss to the country and could have ramped by half the current generation output. The Federal Government planned to raise $5.7 billion from selling three power plants to fund the 2018 budget.

Then it had strong offers from EMA Consortium, with a price of $625m for Calabar Generation Company, Dozzy Integrated Power with $415.7m offer for Egbema Generation Company, Seoul Electric Power Limited for Geregu Generation Company with a bid price of $690.2m, KDI Energy Resources for Gbarain Power Plant with an offer of $340m, and Omotoso plant with $659.9m by Omotosho Electric Power. www.businessday.ng

SARS’ roving patrols intensify kidnap-style...

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kill, or do all three.

But these physical and behavioural displays of hardened criminals are, on many occasions, attributes of men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police, popularly referred to as SARS, some victims of alleged SARS brutality told BusinessDay. When they accost someone with their deadly criminal appearance and the person attempts to flee, they could shoot to kill on the spot and brand the individual an armed robber – their favourite crime tag. For those who are not so ‘lucky’ to die on the spot, they are taken to the ‘station’, a euphemism for what is more like a kidnappers’ den and torture chamber. Here, the victims would be beaten severely and their pain prolonged before they eventually get executed in cold blood if their relatives are unable to bail them, which is more like payment of ransom.

This unit of the Nigeria Police Force has been so brazen in its brutal operations over the years that it is said to confiscate cars and buildings at will, even auctioning some when it feels like doing so.

“There are also cases where property seized or houses locked up by SARS have been released to their owners, among others,” media reports quoted Tony Ojukwu, executive secretary, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), to have said following the composition of a Special Investigative Panel by the Presidency to look into the activities of SARS. After months of campaigns with the popular hashtag ‘#EndSARS’, the NHRC in September 2018 inaugurated a seven-man investigative panel, which had a mandate to make recommendations for reform of SARS. Nine months later, in June 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari received the panel’s report, which had called for and received 113 complaints on alleged human

rights violations from across the country and 22 memoranda on suggestions on how to reform and restructure SARS and the Nigeria Police in general.

However, it appears implementation of these reforms is yet to take off, as SARS operatives allegedly continue to commit human rights abuses, making arrests that are better described as kidnapping where alleged suspects have to part with huge sums of money before they are released. For those who cannot pay, they are allegedly either murdered in cold blood or accused of bogus crimes they did not commit.

Martins (not real name), a driver at BusinessDay, at about 5.30am on Monday, July 22, left his home in Ajegunle, Lagos, for Festac Town, where he was going to pick the manager he chauffeurs.

On his way, he and his neighbour who were walking together got double-crossed by a shuttle bus. The bus parked and some men came down asking them to board the bus.

“Enter to go where?” Martins’ neighbour asked, explaining that they were on their way to work and not involved in any criminal activity. Martins said this statement annoyed the men he identified as SARS operatives.

The men descended on him using, amongst other things, the butt of their guns to hit him several times.

He identified himself as an employee of BusinessDay, but the men flung away his ID card, along with his driver’s licence. Moving closer to them, he said he realised the men reeked of alcohol, even though it was barely 6am.

Martins and his friend were handcuffed to the metal frame of the seat in the minivan which, according to him, “already had about 10 people cramped inside it like sardines”. They were driven to Ajeromi Police Station in Ajegunle, where they saw people being brought out of the prison and transported in a ‘Black Maria’, some sup-

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posedly to Kirikiri, and others to the court, “because they wanted to empty” the prison.

Martins was asked to arrange for payment for his release, and according to him, the officer attending to them said, “If you don’t pay, you see that Black Maria, you will be put inside and taken away.”

He was disoriented, wondering whether he would end up in Kirikiri just like that. His friend’s wife was called and they started looking for money, he narrated. He had N3,000 on him, his friend had N2,000 and an additional N10,000 was sourced by his friend’s wife, making a total of N15,000, to secure their release.

When this reporter visited Ajeromi Police Station and met CSP Busari, the DPO heading that station, he said he could not confirm or refute the account unless he met the victim, explaining that there are several offices in the premises and anyone could have impersonated SARS officers.

The SARS Commander at the station, who identified himself as Israel, said his men do not go out to raid that early in the morning, insisting it may have been any other unit being mistaken for SARS. Another victim, Alfred Anyim (real name withheld for safety reasons), who was posted to Lagos for the oneyear National Youth Service Corps scheme, was driving with three friends when they were double-crossed by a black SUV in front of a filling station at Cele Bus-stop along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

“Some men came down from the vehicle, ordering us to follow them,” Anyim recalled.

After initial resistance since they did not know the identity of those demanding to take them away, Anyim and his friends were taken to what should be a station. On arrival at the Federal SARS Annex at Sanya, Anyim said, “All of them (i.e, SARS personnel) were looking like armed robbers. Some wore earrings, dyed their hair, and one was @Businessdayng

even sleeping, as they were already high.”

Anyim and his three friends were beaten severely, made to remove their clothes and taken to cells where they were welcomed with beatings by older occupants who chanted: “What did you bring? What did you bring?” Later, Anyim was brought out, asked to write a statement and sign that his car hit a woman and she was taken to hospital.

“I did not hit anybody, so why would I write this?” he recalled asking, a question that earned him a new round of beating, where he was also being trampled on the floor.

When he refused to write the statement, another SARS officer came in and said if that was the case, Anyim and his friends would be taken to Kirikiri Maximum Prison the following day and would be accused of armed robbery.

While there, Anyim said they saw someone on his way to church brought in to be detained with his bible, and another person who was on his way to buy fuel at a filling station was picked on the road and brought there with his gallon.

“They were just picking people to beat them and collect money from them. If no one comes for you, you will be killed,” Anyim recalled.

“In my presence, people were killed that evening, and I had to keep begging that I am the only son,” he narrated.

Negotiation for their release started at N2 million after he was finally able to reach his sister. Eventually, N50,000 was paid after a three-hour bargaining period, Anyim’s sister told this reporter.

For three weeks, Anyim had to wear sunshades even indoors because every ray of light was affecting his eyes.

Going out in the sun was a punishment.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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POLITICS & POLICY Insecurity: Afenifere, YCM demand prosecution of culprits …Doubt success of Buhari’s drones, CCTV initiative Iniobong Iwok

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an-Yoruba socio-political organisation (Afenifere) and the Yoruba Patriot Movement (YPM) have demanded for the immediate prosecution of culprits apprehended over their involvement in banditry, kidnapping and other related crimes in the region.

The group als o cast doubts over the success of President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan for states to introduce Closed-Circuit television (CCT V ) and drones to fight crime in the region.

President Buhari had in a meeting with traditional rulers from the South-west states on Wednesday, revealed his administration’s security plans, which include to license states to

deploy drones and monitor their environment, while CCTV would also be deployed on major highways in the country.

But speaking in separate interviews with BusinessDay, Wednesday, Yinka Odumakin publicity secretary of Afenifere, and Soji Adejumo national president of YPM, said the refusal of the Federal Government to prosecute culprits arrested over their involvement in various crimes in the region had escalated the security situation.

Odumakin however, said CCTV and drones could only be used when those involved in a crime were not known, adding that perpetrators of the current criminal activities in the region had publicly admitted to the crime.

According to him, “What does the CCTV and drone

Jermaine Sanwo-Olu, senior special assistant on Diaspora and Foreign Relations to the Governor; Poppy Ravhura, consul (Politics) South African Consulate General, Lagos; Darkey Africa, South African ConsulGeneral in Lagos; Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor, Lagos State; Obafemi Hamzat, deputy governor; Folashade Jaji, secretary to the State Government, and Hakeem Muri-Okunola, head of service, during a courtesy visit by the Consul-General to the Governor at Lagos House, Alausa, on Thursday, August 1st, 2019.

they are talking about mean? You use drone when you don’t know the cause

of a crime, but here the people have owned up to the crime, they should be

prosecuted but they are not doing this; the criminals should be apprehended.

“This has led to impunity, personally, the drones and CCT V initiatives would fail,” Odumakin said Speaking further, Adejumo noted that the current attack in the region was premeditated, stressing that it was part of an Islamisation plan.

“The problem is that no one is being prosecuted, the killings in the Southwest are premeditated, remotely conceived, guided and executed by the herdsmen carrying out their Islamisation agenda; their plan will fail and it will be resisted.

“We have always enjoyed peaceful co-existence with them here until they started attacking us; a lot of traders from the North and Southeast are living and doing business here in the Yoruba land,” Adejumo said.

Okowa charges politicians to eschew corrupt practices Francis Sadhere, Warri

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elta State Gove r n o r, I f e a n y i Okowa has charged political office holders in the state to ensure prudent management of funds and zero tolerance for corruption in the discharge of their responsibilities.

He said that top government functionaries should be mindful of any manifestation of graft, impropriety and corruption as his administration strove for a stronger state.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Boards of Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency and Warri, Uvwie and Environs Development Agency, in Asaba, Okowa stated that political appointees were expected to be transparent while carrying out their activities.

The Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency has Ighoyota Amori as chairman, Joan Mrakpor as director-general, while Adizue Eluaka, Blessing Adidi, and Isaac Wilkie are members.

Warri, Uvwie and Environs Development Agency has Joseph Otumara as chairman and Ovuozorie Macaulay as director-general. Members are Sunny Ezonfade, Amaka

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@Businessdayng

Egboro and Kelly Otuedon Also at the event, Joseph Ojobu and James Obeuwou were sworn-in as members of the Judicial Service Commission.

According to the governor, “prudent fund management demands zero tolerance for any manifestation of graft, impropriety and corruption,” urging the politicians to strive to live above board and employ transparency in the conduct of all their duties as selflessness is key.

“Our vision of a strong Delta is aimed at transforming the state into an interconnected and united entity; that means we have to work hard to bring development to our people, not only to enhance their general welfare, but as a way of building sustainable peace.

“It is for these onerous tasks that this administration has articulated its focus for development,” he said, adding, “I, therefore, charge you (political appointees) to become conscious of your roles in the overall achievement of the laudable vision of this administration.”

“Let me warn against infighting amongst members of Boards as the Delta State government will not tolerate anything that will bring about needless distractions and embarrassment,” he added.

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FEATURE Governor Sule addressing issues of inadequate water supply in Nasarawa Solomon Attah, Lafia

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Governor Abdulahi Sule

people in terms of accessing good water caught the attention of the Governor during the Ministerial briefing on assumption into office, where he was alerted of the acute need of the water. The state of affairs at the state water board, and by extension the ministry of water resources was also alarming.

The ministry and its agency, which was deserted, with obsolete equipment, lack of manpower is now busy with activities following the steps taken by the state government to revamp the sector for sufficient water supply across the state.

According to findings, months before the present administration, both the water taps, (pipes), over head water tank strategically located and water reservoir with capacities of supplying water from 3 million to 10 million gallons per day is not only dried up, but empty and rusty.

This was in spite the huge amount of monies spent to service the board in particular as evident in one of the budgetary allocations for only chemicals is N120 million, while that of the diesel consumed N150 million.

Aside from this, there was no www.businessday.ng

overhead allocation to the board in the last eight years, even as the board could not get its total budget for one year during to the last administration, which grossly affected water supply in the entire state to date.

Additionally, some of the factors believed to have being affecting the efficiency of the board and water supply in the state are considered to be the construction of road networks in Lafia and in some parts of the state, which busted pipes buried underground, lack of manpower, refusal to pay water bill by consumers.

In the whole, there are 13 water projects spread across the 13 local

“

During my campaign and in my inaugural speech, I promised to make water available to the people of Nasarawa State, our people face untold hardship in search of water and we want an uninterrupted water supply

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he determination of the administration of Governor Abdulahi Sule of Nasarawa State to addressing the basic social amenities is not only laudable, but an indication that the people of the state will soon ooze a sight of relief from the many years challenges confronting them.

Since the assumption of office, he has proved beyond doubt that his government is poised towards fixing some of the decayed infrastructures, with a view to make life meaningful to the people.

Governor Sule, who is two months old in government and in the governance of the state, has pledged to, within 100 days in office embark on projects, programmes and to formulate policies that would direct impact on the lives of the people.

More worrisome of the challenges facing the people of the state is the fact that, In spite the huge amount of monies expended in various projects and programs that would have directly better the living condition of the people by the previous government have turn futile, as the people are serious groaning of lack of amenities.

Hitherto to the administration of Governor Sule, which embark on various development project to be completed before 100-days in office, some the projects executed by the past government are not white elephant projects abandoned, they only enjoyed propaganda on the social and conventional media to give the people false impression that the government is working.

Governor Sule’s decision to pick in particular, the provision of potable water to Nasarawa citizens was in fulfilment of his promise made to the people during the campaigns and was predicted on the fact that water is life, and one of the basic amenities required for daily domestic use.

The Governor, who is disturbed by the situation he met on ground, occasioned by the perennial water scarcity being experienced by the people across the state, his administration has took a swift to end the problem by constituted a 7-man panel to ensure clean, adequate and potable water supply to the people of the state.

The problem being faced by the

government areas, established to supply water to the people, and out of these water schemes, only six of Doma, Lafia,, Nasarawa, Wamba and Keana local government water schemes are said to be partially functioning.

This explains why there are many boreholes in virtually every settlements, especially at the urban areas. The indiscriminate digging of boreholes in the state by those who can afford to sunk boreholes in their house is worrisome, while those who can not sink same resorted to buying clean water from water vendors who themselves buy the commodity from borehole owners.

Apart from the efforts of individuals and organisations in compliment government effort in this regard, there are virtually absence of government supplied of potable and we’ll treated water in the state.

It is on this note that Governor Sule has set in motion mechanism and machineries led by a Profession of law who headed the ministry of Justice and some point the ministry of water resources and rural development during the reigns of Umaru Tanko Almakura, Abdulkarim Kana to overhaul the sector.

Inaugurating the 7-man member committee in Lafia, Sule said, the committee is expected to take an in depth appraisal of the water situation in the state and advice the government accordingly.

Governor Sule who underscore the essence and indispensable need of water to mankind, tasked members of the panel to ensure a lasting solution to water problem in the state, thereby assuring to floors water through the taps before his 100 days to communities and rural areas.

The governor however urged the committee to within two weeks period advise government on how best to ensure clean, effective, efficient water to the people of

@Businessdayng

the state.

While assuring to prioritise funding the sector, he attested to the fact how residents of the state have gone through hardship in recent years as result of scarcity of water.

The governor noted that the action was on the premise of the situation reports from the management of the state’s water board during the ministerial briefing.

According to him, the steps were also necessitated as a result of the shortage of water supply in the state especially in rural areas thereby causing untold hardship to the public.

“Water supply was one of the things I promised to deliver during my campaign and I will do everything possible to fulfil the promise,’’ the governor said.

He gave the terms of reference of the committee to include identifying all government water schemes and their present status and to determine the repair works required and the financial implication.

Consequently, he expressed confidence in the members of the committee to deliver within two months given their wealth of experience.

He noted that provision of potable drinking water is one of his main priorities of his administration, which would be neglected.

“During my campaign and in my inaugural speech, I promised to make water available to the people of Nasarawa State, our people face untold hardship in search of water and we want an uninterrupted water supply.

“We did not select members of the committee based on their regions, but based on their professional competence and experience,’’ he said.

In his response, Abdulkarim Kana said, “The time of action is now.

“It is no more time for talking and this team wants to put the state on the right path, as water is fundamental to human survival.”

He also expressed gratitude to the governor for the confidence on them and assured that they will discharge their duties without fear or favour.

Meanwhile, other members of the committee include Idris Mohammed, Sani Salihu, Simon Ibi, who are all engineers as well as Yakubu Adam. Ezekiel Audu, Umar Abdullahi, Ag.General Manager of Nasarawa State Water Board.

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

NEWS

Eunisell introduces Nigeriandeveloped cleaning solutions SEGUN ADAMS

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eading chemical solutions and oil and gas production engineering solutions group, Eunisell, has put its full weight behind the Federal Government’s local content programme by developing and launching two biodegradable cleaning solutions.

Eunisell chemists spent almost two years in the laboratory, perfecting Nutresall 250 and Eunisoll SP 200, aimed at providing cleaning solutions for the Nigerian industrial and oil and gas sectors. The market faces its own unique and often complex challenges, which guided the team to develop the solutions in Nigeria, using Nigerian expertise - critical to aligning with market dynamics and the local content programme.

Eunisoll SP 200 and Nutresall 250 are both designed to remove oily residues, stubborn stains and greasy grime from equipment, floors and machinery parts, so that dirt and emulsion can be

quickly washed away, leaving a clean, residue-free surface.

Eunisell is immensely proud that the product solutions are not only effective and cost-efficient, but in addition, are environmentally friendly, abrasion-free and non-flammable. Customers can even wash their hands with the products – No harsh chemicals are used in manufacture.

The introduction of the two products forms only part of Eunisell’s commitment to embracing the local content drive. The Group has already created numerous product solutions for the oil and gas and industrial sectors at the Eunisell Isolo Research and Development Laboratory.

For over 23 years, Eunisell, an internationally certified ISO 9001: 2015 company, which ranks among only a few successful Nigerian companies in the industry, has been providing chemical and engineering solutions to a wide base of blue-chip customers, reducing costs and improving processes.

Reforms: Edo, Okomu, Terra Agric plan 5000ha oil palm project ... as experts charge Edo civil servants on deployment of science, tech to improve efficiency

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griculture coordinator, Okomu Oil Palm plc, Billy Ghanasah, says the company is collaborating with the Edo State government and Terra Agric Nigeria to cultivate oil palm on 5000 hectares of land over a period of six years.

Ghanasah said this at the Okomu Smallholder Farm Development Project organised in collaboration with the Edo State Investment Promotion Office (ESIPO) and Terra Agriculture, in Benin City, Edo State.

The coordinator said the project would promote complete value chain development of oil palm business in the state for existing and prospective oil palm farmers, adding that the project would be spread across four local government areas

reputed for oil palm production in the state.

According to Ghanasah, Okomu will provide the inputs, technical support and offtake the produce from the farmers, noting, “We are looking at Ovia South West, Ovia North East, Uhunmwode and Esan West local government areas for locations of the hectares and we are expanding our oil mill by 50 percent in view of this project.”

Former permanent secretary, Edo State Ministry of Agriculture, Kadiri Bashiru, commended partners on the project, urging the organisers to have regular training for the youths, who will partake in the initiative.

He said the state government was empowering Edo

people to drive the economy through its agripreneur programme, which links farmers to off-takers and ensures that farmers make good returns from their business.

Chairman, Terra Agric Nigeria, Jasper Izzi, said the Ambrose Alli University (AAU) would be providing 1000 hectares of land for the oil palm project in Ekpoma under a graduate management scheme.

Izzi said AAU was also collaborating in the training of farmers and development of arable crops and animal husbandry in the proposed land, adding, “We want to have one graduate to four hectares of land. This means 250 graduates will manage 1000 hectares of land with the support of over 9,000 unskilled labourers.

“Once Okomu starts preparing the oil palm seedlings which will take about a year, we will use the land for arable crop production and animal husbandry,” he said.

Head, Edo State Investment Promotion Office, ESIPO, Kelvin Uwaibi, said the state government is partnering with the stakeholders to boost job creation and educate farmers on modern agricultural techniques to adopt.

Uwaibi said the state government would be providing the enabling environment for the investment, noting, “We are supporting this to ensure investments that come into the state have the needed environment to thrive and to ensure that we are the final destination for investors.”

MAN seeks inclusion of technical, vocational studies in educational curriculum to boost manufacturing

… okays China’s educational model AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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anufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Ikeja branch, has called for the inclusion of technical skills acquisition and vocational studies in Nigeria’s educational curriculum towards the development of the nation’s underperforming manufacturing sector.

MANalsoidentifiedtheneedfor the National Universities Commission (NUC) to consider enhancing technical certificates to have equal impetuswithdegreesinordertofind lasting solution to the impediments of manpower supply to the survival of the manufacturing sector.

Speaking at the 52 annual general meeting of MAN Ikeja branch, Thursday in Lagos, with the theme, “Restructuring the Nation’s Educational Curriculum: An Important Contributory Factor to the Manufacturing Sector Growth,” Francis Meshioye, chairman of the branch, called on the Lagos State government to reawaken technical and vocational institutes in the states by making vibrant, the Lagos State Training and Vocational Agency.

According to Meshioye, while China has given considerable attentiontoitsindustrialdevelopment by revising its national educational curriculumandenhancingteachers training programmes, Nigeria has continued to trivialise technical and vocational education.

“The China’s 211 project and 985 projects initiatives designed to raise standards and cultivate people with talents, were efforts put in place to modernised China education system. By 2015, approximately 38 percent of students in upper-secondary schools were enrolled in vocational education,” Meshioye said.

Meshioye said the high discrepancy between degree and technical certificates had also led to the loss of interest among Nigerian youths from enrolling in technical and vocational studies.

Delivering his keynote address, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, described the theme

of the meeting as a wakeup call by MAN to the government, towards ensuring that Nigeria’s manufacturing capacity is increased through the engagement of qualitative, innovative and efficient workforce.

Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by Omobolanle Ogunmola, permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, said Nigeria’s industrial revitalisation through qualitative education can be easily achieved if the country embrace global best practices from shared experiences from other countries.

He said Nigeria could benefit from studying and adapting lessons from success stories of industrialised European nations, and even the fast developing Asian tigers like China.

“In Lagos State, we understand the importance of education to industry development, hence, my administration has placed a premium on technology and education to ensure skill development and resource optimising through continuous vocational and technical studies.

He assured that his government will put more efforts in promoting research and development by focusing on the development of the numerous technical colleges in Lagos, and opening its doors to more opportunities for sustainable industry-government-academia collaboration.

Olawale Ajai, a professor from Political, Social and Legal Environment of Business, Lagos Business School (LBS), who was the guest lecturer, said there is crisis in global learning environment, which goes to show that children generally especially in sub-Saharan region, are not learning.

Ajai, who pointed out the need for Nigeria to review its educational curriculum,saideducationalcurriculum is still not the worse problem of the nation’s education system.

He added that Nigeria’s education systemrequiresmorefundingofthe existing Science, Technology and Engineering schools in the country. www.businessday.ng

L-R: Angela Chike-Dike, head of sales, Resourcery plc; Tani Fafunwa, MD, Resourcery plc, presenting the prestigious Uptime Institute Tier III Design Certification to the GTBank IT team led by Olusina Ayegbusi, group head, technology division, and Olawale Williams, group head, Service Management, in Lagos recently.

Lagos targets 100,000 children in free medical mission JOSHUA BASSEY

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agos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is today flagging off a free healthcare programme to combat organ impairment and life-threatening ailments among children.

The initiative, which falls within the pillar in the new administration’s vision to improve access to quality healthcare in the state, is targeted to reach at least 100,000 children.

The programme is to be held in seven Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across the state for six days, during which beneficiaries will be screened and treated for observed illnesses.

It will involve screening children for visual and hearing impairments, and other ailments that can negatively imp e de their capacit y to study.

Those found to have visual or hearing impairments will be provided with glasses and hearing aids to help them overcome the condition.

The free medical mission is being held in collaboration

with Healthcare Mission International, a Republic of Ireland-based non-governmental organisation (NGO).

According to Titilayo Goncalves, permanent secretary in the state ministry of health, who briefed State House journalists on Thursday, the programme signals phased implementation of Sanwo-Olu’s healthcare initiative.

She said the medical outreach was targeted at children between ages zero to 12, stressing that the choice of the demographic was strategic, because of the need to protect the children from sickness that may impede their potential.

Corroborating, Nike Osa, the executive director of the NGO, emphasised the importance of promoting children’s health, which, according to her, informed the partnership with the government.

This, Osa explained, will enable the state meet the item three of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is to realise universal health coverage for children and reduce poverty.

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EFCC secures final forfeiture of N150m plaza in Ilorin SIKIRAT SHEHU

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he Ilorin Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC has secured the final forfeiture of “Asmau Plaza”, valued at about N150 million, traced to a senior civil servant in Kwara State.

The EFCC insisted that the property is believed to be proceeds of crime.

The order of final forfeiture of the plaza, located at University Road, Tanke Area, Ilorin, was given

by Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of a Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, on August 1, 2019 following an application brought before the court by the EFCC seeking for its forfeiture.

Moving the motion, dated July 19, 2019, Nnaemeka Omewa, counsel for the EFCC, urged the court to grant the prayer for final forfeiture, pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences.

“I urge the Court to grant the motion,” he said.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Oyinloye granted the application and resolved all the issues raised in favour of the EFCC, noting that the EFCC fulfilled all the necessary @Businessdayng

requirements.

“I have gone through the application brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, I also sighted the hearing notice issued to the respondent in the suit. This Honourable Court is persuaded that he had been served with the Court Processes,” Justice Oyinloye held.

“The application brought by the EFCC is meritorious and granted; this Honourable Court hereby orders the final forfeiture of the landed property known as Asmau Plaza, Tanke Road, Ilorin, Kwara State to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

The said civil servant is facing money laundering charges before Justice Babangana Ashigar of the Federal High Court, sitting in Ilorin, and is expected back in court on September 25, 2019.

In an affidavit deposed to by Musa Gidado, an investigating officer with the EFCC, the civil servant is alleged of being complicit in the diversion of state funds.

Gidado said: “Investigations revealed that the respondent used his influence to award and inflate contracts for the construction of two classrooms at Ogbondoroko and Obanisuwa Community in Kwara State.

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news Dell Technologies adds Russia to its digitally-advanced markets in Middle East, Turkey, Africa region TEMITAYO AYETOTO

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ell Technologies has announced that its Middle East, Turkey, Africa (META) region is now being expanded to include Russia, with the change coming into effect immediately.

The re-mapping of the CIS markets follows Dell Technologies’ view that these countries have similar needs and customer requirements, leading to Russia joining the digitally advanced markets in the META region.

The region will be led by Mohammed Amin, senior vicepresident, Middle East Russia, Africa & Turkey (MERAT), and BorisShcherbakov,vice-president, Russia, will continue to lead the local Russian business operations for Dell Technologies, reporting to Mohammed.

As ICT continues to be a key driver of socio-economic growth, Russia is accelerating its national digitisation agenda across both government and industry and remains a key growth market for DellTechnologies.Combinedwith theneedtostayaheadofthedigital maturity curve and compete in a new world, companies in Russia are also making a concerted push to transform their business with technologies such as multi-cloud; Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence(AI)andSecurity–segments in which Dell Technologies

hasthebroadest,industry-leading portfolio of end-to-end solutions.

“With the expansion of our META business to include the Russian market, we are looking to increase the focus on this importantcountryandtobetterserveour customersthere,”saidAongusHegarty, president, EMEA commercial business, Dell Technologies.

“We look forward to continuing to build relevance and success for our customers and partners under Mohammed’s strong leadership and focus, and of course with Boris’ continued expertise in Russia, we are confident that we willunlocknewopportunitiesand continue building the momentum,” he said.

Mohamed Amin, senior vicepresident, Middle East, Russia, Africa, Turkey, Dell Technologies, said Russia is a market with significant potential and is poised to dramatically accelerate its adoption of disruptive technologies in the coming years.

“This is closely linked with trends we are seeing within the META region as well, so this change will allow us to extend our growth strategy and business roadmap to Russia. Within the META region, we have also built in-depth experience and seen double-digit growth year-on-year, while being the trusted partner of choice to companies as they embarkonimplementingtheirdigital strategies,” Amin said.

WAEC Nigeria sees innovation adoption as strategic to improve educational assessment KELECHI EWUZIE

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est African Examinations Council (WAEC) Nigeria says the adoption of new innovation is a strategic step examining and assessment bodies must deploy to tackle issues of evaluating skills in Africa.

WAEC observes that innovation through technology is an ongoing measure adopted across West Africa to achieve efficiency in conducting their various examinations.

Speaking at a media parley in Lagos Thursday to announce the 37th Annual Conference of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) to be hosted by Nigeria, Olu Adenipekun, head of Nigeria National office, WAEC, notes the conference will provide a platform to promote cooperation among examining and assessment bodies in Africa, adding that it will also encourage relevant examining and assessment activities among members.

According to Adenipekun, the five-day conference scheduled for August 5 – 9, in Abuja, will feature experience and knowledge sharing sessions by experts on issues of evaluation and assessment.

Adenipekun says over 400 delegates from around the world

are expected to attend the event, as sponsor international participation in the field of educational testing and assessment within the individual members countries among other objectives, will be handled at conference.

He further discloses that annual conference with the theme ‘Innovation in educational assessment will be declared opened and closed by the Minister of Education of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Is-hap Oloyede, Registrar of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board will deliver keynote address.

“There will be presentations of academic papers from keynote speakers; paper presentation in plenary sessions; four parallel sessions and breakout sessions. Cocktails, Gala and Cultural Nights are a few number of events that have been planned for the evenings during the Conference to help delegates unwind and relax,” Adenipekun states.

Some of the topics to be discussed at the conference include: Computer and information literacy in a digital age; Post-test estimates of item parameter of mathematics multiple choice test of public examination in Nigeria and basic requisites in running statistical analyses.

Debt sustainability essential for meeting SDGs in Africa - ECA HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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nited Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) sees debt sustainability as essential for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa.

Vera Songwe, ECA executive secretary, cited estimates suggesting that Africa needs $614 billion and $638 billion per year to meet its development goals, while for the funds needed to implement the 2030 Agenda across all low- and lower-middle-income countries totals $1.2 trillion per year She told African Central Bank Governors that concerns around Africa’s rising sovereign debt should not focus so much about its level, but rather the ability to pay for it.

Elaborating on this point, she stressed that managing debt dynamics well is all about implementing good fiscal policy, which in turn is linked to effective monetary policy.

Songwe spoke at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Association of African Central Banks held on July 31, 2019 in Kigali.

The theme of the meeting was: Rising African Sovereign Debt: Implications for Monetary

Policy and Financial Stability.

“When we talk about increasing Africa’s sovereign debt, immediately people worry that we’re overspending. But it is not only about the level of debt but about the capacity to pay”, Songwe highlighted. She pointed to Rwanda as an example of fiscal prudence: “Rwanda shows what good management of debt looks like – with a relatively low share of revenues dedicated to serving debt.

Just a decade away from the Sustainable Development Goals endpoint, economic growth on the continent is still far below the required levels.

This period of relatively easy access to capital, due to the prevailing low-interest rates in high-income countries, had not necessarily translated into additional growth for African countries, she stressed.

Rwanda’s Prime Minister, Edouard Ngirente, who inaugurated the meeting said that the act of borrowing itself is not inherently bad but called for ideal debt management.

“Debt can foster economic growth, and borrowing responsibly, maximising our returns on investments, and managing our debts is key to keeping debt levels sustainable”, he explained.

NPLs of Primary Mortgage Banks rise by 12.14% - NDIC HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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he quality of credits granted by the Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) in 2018 deteriorated significantly as NonPerforming Loans (NPLs) rose from N5.76 billion in 2017 to N18.63 billion in 2018, resulting in increase in the NPLs to Gross Loan Ratio from 3.70% in 2017 to 12.14% in 2018.

The 2018 annual report of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) stated that the ratio exceeded the regulatory threshold of 5 percent.

The PMBs gross earnings significantly dropped from N48.47 billion in 2017 to N29.80 billion in 2018. Operating Expenses marginally declined from N19.61 billion in 2017 to N17.67 billion in 2018. The subsector recorded a Loss of N2.29 billion in 2018, against a profit of N19.87 billion in 2017 due to poor asset quality.

Consequently, return on asset (ROA) was negative 0.74% in 2018 against 6.12% in 2017 while return on equity (ROE) was negative 3.41% against 21.68% in 2017.

The reported indicated that the PMBs total deposits declined from N103.22 billion in 2017 to N98.91 billion in 2018.

The PMBs’ average liquidity ratio was 102.53% in 2018, against 154.35% in 2017 and above the regulatory threshold. The Loans to Deposit Ratio increased from 150.75% in 2017 to 158.28% in 2018.

During the year, the PMBs encountered the certain challenges, which affected their ability to achieve their policy

objectives.

These challenges include preference for Bank Placements in DMBs; weak capital base and difficulty in raising capital due to scarcity of long-term funds; perfection and Foreclosure Challenges; delay in accessing NHF funds; poor Corporate Governance and Risk Management Practices; and huge Stock of Non-Current Assets-HeldFor Sale.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will have the PMBs recapitalise within the next five years of his second term.

Emefiele was concerned that a lot of equity is currently tied down in mortgage assets, which are today entirely cash backed.

“In our effort to support the growth of Nigeria’s real estate industry, the CBN will work in developing a framework that will enable banks to securitize mortgage loans, which can then be sold in the capital markets,” Emefiele said.

According to the NDIC report, the number of PMBs in operation was 38 in 2018. The South-West geo-political zone had the highest number of PMBs with 21 while the North Central had 9. Others accounted for the remaining eight.

The PMBs’ subsector shareholders’ fund declined to N67.19 billion as at December 31, 2018 from N91.65 billion in the corresponding period of 2017. The decline was largely associated with both the reduction in the number of PMBs in operation and the number that rendered their statutory returns in 2018. www.businessday.ng

L-R: Ehi Braimah, technical partner, Creative Youth Community Development Initiative; Kola Olayinka, regional commercial manager for West Africa, British Airways; Foluke Michael, managing director, Creative Youth Community Development Initiative; Tayo Orekoya, technical partner, Creative Youth Community Development Initiative, and Ademola Sanya, sales manager, British Airways, during the announcement of British Airways as the official airline for the United Nations adopted initiative, Solution 17, in Lagos.

Oil drops below $65 first time in six days Olusola Bello

... despite OPEC+ curbing of production

rude oil price at the international market dropped below $65 a barrel Thursday, making it the first time the price would decline in the last six days, following the US Federal Reserve interest rate cut and rising US crude oil output that has helped keep the market well supplied.

OPEC and partners including Russia, in an alliance known as OPEC+, have been curbing output this year to support the market.

The Federal Reserve reduced rates on Wednesday, but against expectations the head of the US central bank

said might not be the start of a lengthy series of cuts to shore up the economy against global economic weakness.

Brent crude LCOc1, the international benchmark, fell 85 cents to $64.20 a barrel by 08.56 GMT, having dropped more than $1 earlier in the session.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 crude was down 89 cents at $57.69.

Oil stockpiles fell again last week, along with gasoline and distillate inventories, data from the American Petroleum Institute industry group showed recently Crude inventories fell by six million barrels to 443 mil-

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lion barrels in the week ended July 26, against a forecast for a drop of 2.6 million barrels in a Reuters’ poll of analysts.

“The outlook for another draw in US crude inventories and renewed outages in Libya is supporting oil prices,’’ said UBS oil analyst, Giovanni Staunovo.

Libya’s Sharara oilfield, the country’s largest, was shut down on Tuesday after a problem with a valve on the pipeline linking it to the Zawiya oil terminal.

Tensions in the Middle East remain high, providing another bullish catalyst for prices, with the US formally asking Germany to join France and Britain @Businessdayng

to help to secure the Strait of Hormuz after the seizure of a British tanker by Iran.

“A relatively upbeat mood in risky assets took a spectacular u-turn after last night’s Fed decision,’’ Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM said.

“The dollar started to strengthen and equities and oil went into a kind of meltdown mode.’’

A rising dollar makes oil more expensive for holders of other currencies and tends to weigh on commodities priced in the US currency. The dollar hit a two-year peak against the euro on Thursday after the Fed decision.

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BUSINESS DAY

41

FINANCIAL TIMES

World Business Newspaper

JAMES POLITI IN WASHINGTON AND COLBY SMITH IN NEW YORK

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fter weeks of market pressure and internal debate, Jay Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, pulled the trigger on the US central bank’s first interest rate since the financial crisis.

That was the easy part.

While Wednesday’s announcement of a 25 basis point cut was in line with market expectations, the press conference that followed showed how challenging Mr Powell will find guiding investors on what happens next.

When the Fed chairman said that the move was a “mid-cycle adjustment in policy” — not the start of a full-blown easing cycle, which would imply multiple and possibly deep rate cuts — investors were spooked.

“The press conference muddied the waters,” said Julia Coronado, an economist at MacroPolicy Perspectives. “Even if the Fed’s own thinking hasn’t changed much, and the bar is still very low for another rate cut, the lack of clarity on the motivation and the baseline thinking and the triggers for action leave markets more confused.”

Mr Powell’s unwillingness to commit to deeper monetary easing with great force represented a contrast to the consistently dovish messages sent by Fed officials in the weeks leading up to the Fed meeting, in a series of speeches, congressional testimony, and media appearances.

Mr Powell and his colleagues had laid out the rationale for pre-

Jay Powell’s press conference swerves muddy outlook on US rates Fed chief upsets financial markets that have priced in significantly more easing

Jay Powell’s unwillingness to commit to deeper monetary easing with great force represented a contrast to the dovish messages sent by Fed officials in the weeks leading up to the Fed meeting © AFP

ventive easing in great detail, as a way to tackle low inflation and interest rates around the world, and protect the US from weaker conditions in the world economy, including the impact of trade ten-

sions. At one point two weeks ago, the dovish drumbeat had grown so loud that some investors were even betting that the Fed could act more aggressively, with an immediate cut of 50bp, with several more to

follow before the end of the year.

Yet while the Federal Open Market Committee statement signalled that the Fed would “act as appropriate to sustain the expansion”, suggesting it still had a

bias towards easing, Mr Powell’s remarks stressed that the central bank would look carefully at the data before making its next move — so much more stimulus could not be guaranteed.

Dissent on the FOMC The dissent of two FOMC members — Esther George of the Kansas City Fed and Eric Rosengren of the Boston Fed — may have factored into the more cautious approach to easing described by Mr Powell.

Both officials had signalled they wanted to see more evidence of a real hit to the US economy before approving interest rate cuts. No one dissented by calling for more dramatic easing.

“Chair Powell appeared very reluctant to suggest that additional rate cuts were likely,” said Eric Winograd, senior US economist at AllianceBernstein, and “even then, he emphasised that if there are additional cuts it would likely be a brief cycle”.

Although equity markets dropped sharply during Mr Powell’s press conference, they did recover some ground after he indicated that the Fed did not intend to stop at “just one” interest rate cut.

London Stock Exchange clinches Bolsonaro’s foe rises as unlikely acquisition of Refinitiv for $27bn ally in final pension reform push Combined group aims to rival US exchanges and Bloomberg’s financial data platform ARASH MASSOUDI IN LONDON

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he London Stock Exchange Group has agreed to buy data provider Refinitiv for $27bn, sealing a deal that will turn it into a global markets and information powerhouse to rival Michael Bloomberg’s financial data empire.

The LSE said it would pay for the purchase by issuing $14.5bn in new shares and take on $12.5bn of existing debt to acquire Refinitiv, which is best known for its Eikon desktop terminals.

It will also pick up Refinitiv’s majority stake in the listed and fast-growing bond trading platform Tradeweb and outright ownership of currency trading platform FXall. The combined group will have annual revenues of £6bn if the LSE can successfully navigate a lengthy antitrust process to complete the transaction.

Shares in the LSE jumped almost 9 per cent in early afternoon trading in London on Thursday, adding to the gains since the group confirmed at the weekend

a Financial Times report that it was in talks to buy Refinitiv. The company’s market value now sits above £24bn, up more than 20 per cent since Friday.

David Schwimmer, chief executive of the LSE, said: “Refinitiv brings highly complementary capabilities in data and capital markets, as well as deep customer relationships across a truly global business.”

Don Robert, LSE’s chairman, said: “This transaction is a defining moment for LSEG in terms of its strategic importance.”

The all-share deal will turn Refinitiv’s owners, which include US private equity group Blackstone and Canada’s Thomson Reuters, into the LSE’s biggest shareholders. Together, they will own 37 per cent of its shares and control just under 30 per cent of its voting rights.

The group has agreed to a lock-up that will prevent them from selling shares for two years, with the exception of a small portion that will be allowed to be sold after 30 days from the deal’s completion. www.businessday.ng

House speaker Rodrigo Maia has helped rally majority for bill in fragmented congress ANDRES SCHIPANI IN SÃO PAULO

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n a drizzly day in Manhattan last spring, Rodrigo Maia’s mood was as gloomy as the weather.

The speaker of Brazil’s lower house of congress was carrying a presentation showing that his country’s pension spending would balloon to 17 per cent of gross domestic product in the next four decades. Without reform of the country’s pension system this year “we’ll enter a social collapse”, he told the Financial Times on his way to a lunch with investors.

Luckily for Latin America’s largest economy, the lawmaker from Rio has emerged as the man of the hour and a reluctant ally of rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro by whipping a majority of votes for a pensions reform bill to pass a crucial hurdle this month. On July 10, the lower house of Brazil’s fragmented parliament approved it in a first-round vote by a large margin — 379 to 131.

Over 20 years in the planning, the pensions overhaul, which is key to shoring up public finances

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and restoring confidence in Brazil’s sluggish economy, is now closer than ever before to being approved.

Mr Maia has been propelled into the spotlight since Mr Bolsonaro, a former backbench lawmaker, reached the presidency in January.

The six-term congressman does not share the president’s ultra-conservative beliefs but he does agree with the need for economic reform, helping rally support for government legislation.

Now, Mr Maia must make sure the pensions bill sails through the lower house again in its second and final vote next week, otherwise, “what has already matured could rot”, before heading to two votes in the Senate for its final approval.

“Imagine, if the reform does not pass, we’ll walk to a recession,” Mr Maia said.

Mr Maia, 49, is a member of the centre-right Democratas party and hails from one of the best-known political families of Brazil. He was born in Santiago, Chile, where his father, César, a former militant of the communist party, was in exile during Brazil’s military dictatorship. Return@Businessdayng

ing from exile, his father served as a three-term mayor of Rio. In 1998, after unfinished studies in economics and a stint as banker, he was elected to congress aged 28.

An uncharismatic figure, he failed to succeed his father as Rio mayor seven years ago, winning less than 3 per cent of the votes.

Mr Maia was elected house speaker after the congressional impeachment of former leftist president Dilma Rousseff in 2016. Under Mr Bolsonaro, the congressman rose in prominence, pushing through economic reforms and acting as a parapet against the president’s culture-wars agenda and shoot-fromthe-hip approach to policymaking by haranguing foes.

For once in Brazil’s three-decadelong democratic history, “parliament will be the fireman and not the arsonist” of the Brazilian political scene, Mr Maia said.

However, the congressman has not shied away from criticising the scandal-prone government, calling it a “crisis factory” where Mr Bolsonaro’s fixation on identity politics “hampers” economic reforms.

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FT

NATIONAL NEWS

VG Siddhartha, Indian entrepreneur, 1959-2019 India’s ‘coffee king’ offered tea-loving nation a taste of global café culture AMY KAZMIN

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G Siddhartha, who died this week in tragic circumstances, introduced coffee — and café culture — to tea-loving India, offering the nation’s aspirational new middle class a taste of a global lifestyle along with the cheery promise that “a lot can happen over coffee”.

Starting with a single cyber café on Bangalore’s busiest shopping street in 1996 and inspired by the autobiography of Starbucks’ Howard Schultz, India’s “coffee king” built the country’s most ubiquitous, homegrown retail brand, with more than 1,700 Café Coffee Day outlets.

In a socially conservative country with an acute shortage of public space, CCD cafés became popular hang-outs for backpackcarrying students, laptop-toting professionals, amorous couples and even affluent sari-clad women, reflecting the zeitgeist of an aspirational young nation emerging from decades of socialist austerity.

But even while developing one of India’s biggest consumer brands — and building successful midsize tech company Mindtree, — Siddhartha kept a low personal profile. A teetotaller with a passion for contemporary art, he shied away from publicity and the media spotlight, although his door was always open to young entrepreneurs.

Siddartha’s body was pulled from a river on Wednesday, a day after he purportedly left a note saying he had “fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure”. His death has prompted an outpouring of grief both from the elite business community and ordinary Indians for whom Café Coffee Day was the stage on which the quotidian drama of their lives played out.

“He built India’s version of Starbucks,” said Mohandas Pai, a technology investor and former director at software group Infosys, in which Siddhartha was an early backer. “He was a great part of the tech ecosystem of Bangalore. This is very distressing to all of us.”

Deepu Sebin, the young founder of health-tech start-up Daily Rounds, also paid tribute to the late businessman. “We pitched our start-up ideas at CCD,” he wrote in a letter to Siddhartha shared on Twitter. “Many of us tasted the first cappuccinos from CCD. Some of us had our first date there . . . You built a brand the country will always be proud of. And you will always be an inspiration.”

Born in 1959 and raised on his family’s 400-acre coffee plantation in southern India’s remote Chikmagalur district, Siddhartha was educated by tutors at home and a small local boarding school, before graduating in economics from Mangalore’s St Aloysius College.

In 1985, after two years learning the ins and outs of equity trading as a research analyst in Mumbai, he set up his own stock brokerage in Bangalore, where he developed strong ties to the city’s nascent tech industry and married the daughter of a prominent Congress party politician. But he remained loyal to his roots in south India’s picturesque coffeegrowing region, acquiring his own expansive coffee estates.

In the early 1990s Siddhartha sponsored a delegation of South Indian coffee-growers to travel to New Delhi to appeal to then finance minister Manmohan Singh to relax the stifling state monopoly over coffee exports. When the market opened soon afterwards, he set up his Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company to ship the crop from his estates and other growers.

By 1995, ABC was India’s largest exporter of unroasted beans, and the entrepreneur decided to set up a coffee chain to add value to his commodity. Initially, it was something of a sideline to his other ventures, including his brokerage and tech investments.

That changed in 2001, when the then 20-store chain starting attracting the attention of international investors — initially AIG, then Sequoia Capital in 2004, and KKR and New Silk Route in 2010, which all helped him fund an aggressive expansion.

In an interview with the FT in 2011, soon after KKR led a $200m funding round, he was upbeat about India’s economic prospects as well as his own, calling himself “lucky to be born at the right time in the right place”.

But Siddhartha had been under growing pressure since the 2015 Bombay Stock Exchange listing of his Coffee Day Enterprises, which not only held the coffee businesses but also his interests in real estate, logistics and tech.

Coffee Day shares never traded above the IPO price, frustrating some private equity investors seeking to cash out. Since 2017, Siddhartha had also been locked in a battle with India’s income tax department and other official agencies, which had seized some of his shares.

At the time of his death, his family and their entities had pledged about 75 per cent of their holdings in Coffee Day Enterprises as collateral for loans.

In the letter apparently written just before his death, Mr Siddhartha sounded despondent, talking about heavy pressure from lenders, the tax department and one of his private equity investors, which wanted him to buy out its shares.

It was far from his past optimism. “I have failed as an entrepreneur,” he wrote. But for the millions of Indians who wove CCD into the fabric of their lives, nothing could be further from the truth. www.businessday.ng

Leon Black told investors that Jeffrey Epstein had ‘from time to time’ provided tax, estate planning and philanthropic advice to his family investment partnerships © Bloomberg

Apollo’s Leon Black seeks to reassure investors over Epstein ties Private equity firm co-founder admits ‘limited relationship’ with financier SUJEET INDAP IN NEW YORK

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pollo Global Management’s billionaire cofounder Leon Black has sought to reassure investors over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, saying that the registered sex offender had never invested in any of the firm’s private equity funds.

The firm “does not have and never has had, any relationship with Mr Epstein”, Mr Black said in a letter sent to Apollo’s investors late on Wednesday and seen by the Financial Times.

However, Apollo’s chairman and chief executive acknowleged his “limited relationship” with Mr Epstein, who pleaded guilty to state prostitution offences in 2008, and was accused last month by federal prosecutors of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls at his homes between 2002 and 2005. He has denied the charges.

In the letter, Mr Black, one of Wall Street’s most powerful financiers, told investors that Mr Epstein had “from time to time”

provided tax, estate planning and philanthropic advice to his family investment partnerships.

The two men had donated money to charities each were involved with and that Mr Epstein was an original trustee of the Black Family Foundation from 1997. Mr Epstein left the board of the foundation in 2007, Mr Black wrote.

He added that he was “completely unaware” and “deeply troubled” by the conduct described in the charges Mr Epstein now faces.

Since his arrest last month, Mr Epstein’s links to prominent business figures, politicians and academics are coming under scrutiny. Mr Epstein was a teacher at an elite school in Manhattan before beginning his association with Wall Street by taking a job at Bear Stearns.

Mr Black’s letter to investors in Apollo funds, known as limited partners, follows the release of Apollo’s second-quarter results on Wednesday. On an accompanying earnings call, a JP Morgan analyst alluded to a Bloomberg News report that California state

pension fund Calpers, a large Apollo shareholder as well as an investor in its funds, had expressed concern about Mr Black’s links to Mr Epstein.

On the call, Mr Black responded by saying that “our view right now is that it is not affecting our relationship with investors”.

In the letter to Apollo investors, Mr Black concluded by writing: “I want to reiterate our deep commitment to operating with integrity and consistent with the highest ethical standards . . . and I’m sorry if this recent media attention has been a distraction or has caused you any concern.”

Mr Black also denied recent news reports that he had promoted Mr Epstein’s services to other Apollo executives. No other Apollo employee did business with Mr Epstein, he wrote.

Mr Black and several other former employees of investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert formed Apollo in 1990. Apollo now manages more than $300bn and its backers include many of the world’s largest pensions and sovereign wealth funds.

Joe Biden comes under fire in Democratic TV debate Fierce exchanges focus on criminal justice reform, healthcare and immigration DEMETRI SEVASTOPULO AND LAUREN FEDOR IN WASHINGTON

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oe Biden, the former US vicepresident, came under intense attack from many of his rivals when 10 of the Democratic presidential contenders on Wednesday debated issues from healthcare to race to immigration.

Following a sharp attack from Senator Kamala Harris in the first Democratic debate last month, Mr Biden came under even heavier fire at the second debate.

Some of the lesser known candidates, including Senator Cory Booker, took aim at the frontrunner,

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in an effort to create “breakout” moments that could help them stand out in the record field of 25 Democratic contenders vying for the right to challenge Donald Trump.

While the candidates sparred over a range of issues, the most heated debates were over criminal justice reform, healthcare policy, and how to tackle illegal immigration.

Returning to the issue that helped her score points over Mr Biden last month, Ms Harris accused him of failing to accept that in the Senate he had sided with segregationists who opposed the busing of children into mixed-race schools.

“Had those segregationists had @Businessdayng

their way, I would not be a member of the US Senate, Cory Booker would not be a member of the US Senate, and Barack Obama would not have been in a position to nominate you [as vice-president],” Ms Harris said.

After sparring with Ms Harris over healthcare policy, over which she has appeared to change her position, he said: “My response is that the senator has had several plans.”

Mr Biden, who has called for the expansion of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, criticised Ms Harris’ version of “Medicare for All”, which would expand the public provision of healthcare over 10 years.

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

43

FINANCIAL TIMES

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

EU finance ministers set to vote on Europe’s IMF candidate Diplomats hope ballot will break impasse over Lagarde successor

MEHREEN KHAN IN BRUSSELS AND VICTOR MALLET IN PARIS

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U finance ministers are to vote on Europe’s candidate to succeed Christine Lagarde as the next managing director of the IMF in the hope of breaking an impasse that has divided northern and southern eurozone capitals.

After weeks of negotiations that have failed to reach consensus, ministers from the EU’s 28 national capitals will vote via email on Friday morning on a shortlist of at least five names, according to officials involved in the process.

The decision to hold a vote — an option that had initially been rejected by some capitals including Berlin — is designed to whittle down the possible candidates. It comes after Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister who has been chairing negotiations, failed to broker a deal.

European diplomats involved in the talks said the decision was designed to pressure some candidates into withdrawing from the race after none of the five candidates in the fray withdrew.

The shortlist is made up of Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the former Dutch chair of the Eurogroup of EU finance ministers, Olli Rehn, Finland’s central bank governor,

Nadia Calviño, Spain’s finance minister, Mário Centeno, the Portuguese current Eurogroup chief, and Kristalina Georgieva, the Bulgarian World Bank chief executive.

Candidates must submit their names for inclusion in the ballot

by Thursday evening; the vote will be held under the EU’s qualified majority rules in which bigger member states carry more weight.

After an initial vote, there could be a second round run-off between the final two candidates.

The UK, which has a new government, has asked for more time to consider whether it will field a candidate, according to two officials involved in the negotiations.

Former chancellor George Osborne threw his hat into the ring early in the contest but failed to attract much support. Meanwhile, the Canadian Bank of England governor Mark Carney is widely regarded as a competent candidate but deemed by some national capitals “not European enough” — despite holding British and Irish passports.

Traditionally Europe has nominated the head of the IMF while the US chooses one of its nationals to lead the World Bank. Europe’s failure to unite on a candidate has raised expectations that alternative candidates, including Mr Carney, could have a chance.

Patent agencies challenged to accept AI inventor Legal experts submit two machine-designed products in landmark test of patent law MARTIN COULTER IN LONDON

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t first glance, there is nothing special about two particular patent applications filed with agencies around the world this week: the first for a food container; the second for a flashing light to be used in emergency situations.

Except for one key detail: these products were designed by a machine.

In a landmark challenge to the international patents regime, a band of legal experts has called on authorities in the US and EU to recognise the “inventorship” of artificial intelligence, highlighting growing anxieties among lawmakers about the rise of machines in the creative process.

The team, led by Ryan Abbott, professor of law and health sciences at the University of Surrey, submitted applications to the US Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office, and the UK Intellectual Property Office.

This week, they informed the

UKIPO and EPO the two were in fact the work of a machine called Dabus (“device for the autonomous bootstrapping of unified sentience”), itself created by Dr Stephen Thaler, an AI expert based in Missouri.

Drawing on thousands of abstract pieces of information, including words and images, Dabus was “mentored” by Dr Thaler over a two-month period to produce increasingly complex concepts.

Its first workable design detailed a food container capable of changing shape. The second outlined a flashlight system (or “neural flame”) capable of drawing attention in an emergency situation.

“Whatever you think of the ideas on their own, that’s not really the point,” he said. “What’s striking is that the machine invented in two very different areas, neither of which its programmer had any background in.”

Under the UK Patents Act 1977 and the European Patent Convention, inventorship is restricted to “natural persons”. Likewise in the US, patent laws refer only to “individuals” as eligible inventors. www.businessday.ng

EU finance ministers will vote on Europe’s candidate to succeed Christine Lagarde as the next managing director of the IMF © EPA

Brexit uncertainty spurs Bank of England to cut UK growth forecasts Policymakers hold rates steady but see 1 in 3 chance of economy shrinking in early 2020 DELPHINE STRAUSS IN LONDON

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rexit uncertainty and global trade tensions are hitting UK growth, with the Bank of England’s forecasts showing a one-in-three chance that the economy will shrink at the start of next year.

In its August inflation report, the bank cut its central forecast for growth this year and next, predicting output would rise just 1.3 per cent in both 2019 and 2020 even if it were to cut interest rates as markets have been expecting. The BoE had previously forecast in May that output would grow by 1.5 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively.

It added there was a 33 per cent probability of negative growth in the first quarter of 2020 if interest rates remained unchanged — the highest chance of a contraction it has seen since the immediate aftermath of the Brexit referendum in August 2016.

Mark Carney, the BoE governor, dismissed suggestions that it was guilty of adopting the “gloomster” attitude decried by the new

prime minister Boris Johnson.

“It is clear the level of uncertainty is affecting business,” Mr Carney said. “It is also clear there has been a substantial shortfall in investment. It is beginning to become clear that the trade response to lower sterling has begun to fade . . . these consequences are there.”

But in contrast with the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, the BoE shows no signs of responding to the weakening outlook by cutting interest rates. Instead, the Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to hold rates at 0.75 per cent, and signalled that borrowing costs would eventually need to rise to keep inflation at its 2 per cent target — given an orderly Brexit and a recovery in global growth.

It also stuck to its collective position that interest rates could move in either direction in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The BoE’s central forecasts, premised on a smooth Brexit that would boost the economy, show inflation overshooting its target by a significant margin, rising to 2.4

per cent on a three-year horizon.

The forecasts also show a strong rebound in growth, which rises to 2.3 per cent in 2021 — above the May forecast.

But the bank acknowledged that these forecasts were of little practical use at present, since they are built on the prevailing market exchange rate and on market expectations of the path of interest rates.

In contrast with the BoE, investors are factoring in an increasing risk of a disruptive Brexit. They have assumed that policymakers would respond to this by cutting interest rates, with a quarter point increase priced in by the end of this year. Both this, and the recent sharp depreciation in sterling, result in a higher forecast for inflation.

Since Mr Johnson entered Downing Street last week, he has instructed ministers and officials to “turbocharge” no-deal preparations and on Thursday the chancellor Sajid Javid announced £2.1bn in extra funding to prepare for the UK crashing out of the EU on October 31.

Midwestern floods soak results at grain handler ADM Extreme weather has cost the global crop trader and processor $125m in the first half of 2019 GREGORY MEYER IN NEW YORK

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igh water in the Mississippi river basin brought on by abnormal rainfall this spring contributed to disappointing quarterly earnings at Archer Daniels Midlands, the global crop trader and processor.

The Chicago-based company reported net profit of $235m, or 42 cents a share, in the second quarter, less than half its earnings of $566m or $1 per share a year before. Analysts had forecast profits of 65 cents a share.

It was the lowest net income in a second quarter since 2013, according to S&P Capital IQ.

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ADM is among the small group of international companies that lead international grain handling and processing, purchasing crops such as corn, wheat and soyabeans from farms for distribution or processing into products such as animal feed, biofuels and food ingredients.

Such companies rely heavily on river barges as the most economical way to move grain. ADM owns American River Transportation, a leading barge company that ships its own and third-party grain.

Rains far above average in the second quarter halted barge traffic on the Mississippi river this spring and disrupted movements @Businessdayng

elsewhere. The intense rainfall was consistent with recent changes in the climate across the US Midwest as the planet gets warmer.

ADM said both its merchandising and handling and transportation results were down year on year due to “continued high water conditions on US rivers,” contributing to a 63 per cent fall in adjusted operating profit in its origination division.

Adjusted profit at ADM’s oilseeds division fell by 15 per cent, in part due to “production outages caused by high water” at the company’s soyabean crushing plant in Quincy, Illinois, which sits beside the Mississippi river.

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Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FT

ANALYSIS

Why Ebola cannot be tamed in Congo One year on, criticism grows of international effort that has failed to halt epidemic TOM WILSON IN BENI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

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even grave diggers dressed in medical smocks, surgical gloves and plastic boots lifted the coffin from the back of a truck and began to pick their way through more than 200 fresh burial mounds, whose simple wooden crosses cast long shadows.

Masika Kahongya was 19 and newly married when she died last month after contracting the Ebola virus. She now lies in a crowded forest clearing outside the town of Beni, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a few metres from the grave of her three-month-old son, Innocent.

The mother and child are among 1,803 people killed in the Ebola outbreak since the first cases were confirmed near Beni exactly a year ago. Surpassed only by the epidemic that claimed more than 11,000 lives in west Africa from 2014-16, it is the longest and deadliest in Congo’s history.

Each of the country’s previous nine outbreaks since 1976, when the virus was first identified, occurred in remote regions and were controlled

within three months. This time, thousands of health professionals have been deployed and more than 170,000 people have received an effective trial vaccine. Yet May, the tenth month, was the deadliest so far, and a further 349 cases were confirmed in July.

The accepted explanation for the failure of the international response has been to blame the low-level conflict that has destabilised eastern Congo for two decades. The presence of armed groups in North Kivu province made it difficult to reach victims and administer vaccinations, the country’s health ministry and the World Health Organization have said.

Some members of the response effort have been attacked and medical centres burnt down. But dozens of interviews with health professionals, aid workers, victims and their families paint a more complex picture of a response that has succeeded in some areas and failed in others.

On the red-dirt roads across the region, tens of thousands of people are stopped each day to have their hands disinfected and temperatures taken. In the new Ebola treatment centres, doctors deliver expert care.

How London became a test case for using facial recognition in democracies The police hope the software can solve and prevent crime, but can citizens ever give their consent?

MADHUMITA MURGIA IN LONDON

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n the last day of January, few of the shoppers and office workers who hurried through Romford town centre in east London, scarves pulled tight against the chill, realised they were guinea pigs in a police experiment.

The officers sitting inside a parked van nearby were watching them on screens, using a new technology that the police hope will radically reduce crime in London — live facial recognition. Cameras stationed near Romford train station picked up every face walking past, and matched it to a police watchlist of wanted criminals. Successful matches would result in immediate arrest.

For all the potential to fight crime, however, the trial quickly stumbled into the thorny issues that surround the technology. A bearded man in a blue baseball cap approached the surveilled area, with his grey jumper pulled up to cover his face. He had just been informed by a bystander that the police were testing facial recognition in the area and did not want to participate.

The police demanded that he comply and scanned his face with a facial recognition tool on a mobile phone.

Although his face did not match that of any known criminals, a verbal altercation ensued, which resulted in the man being fined £90 for telling an officer to “piss off”. The entire incident was caught on camera by journalists.

“The fact that he’s walked past clearly masking his face from recognition. It gives us grounds to stop him,”

an officer says, defending his actions.

The incident — one of four arrests of people avoiding the cameras in Romford that day — is one of the reasons that live facial recognition is causing such acute concern among observers and civil rights activists.

Given that the technology is such an overt form of surveillance, many believe that explicit consent of citizens is fundamental — something the Romford man never gave.

“When people get stopped and searched in the street, or fined for avoiding cameras, when they don’t consent to being observed by cameras, that is a problem,” says Peter Fussey, a criminologist at the University of Essex who was present in Romford, as an independent police-appointed monitor.

“The most important thing in research ethics, above all else is . . . to be absolutely sure people consent to being part of that research . . . Yet what happened in these trials is that if people did not engage with it, police would intervene, stop them and search them.”

London is now at the forefront of a battle over the use of facial recognition by the authorities that is escalating across many democratic countries.

As the technology has become commercially available in recent years, via companies like Apple and Facebook, the biggest uptake has been in countries with authoritarian political systems — most notably in China, which uses facial recognition as part of its extensive and highly intrusive surveillance of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang province that has been denounced by human rights groups. www.businessday.ng

AKK: the inside story on the woman who could be Germany’s next leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s appetite for risk has taken her from provincial politics to the heart of power GUY CHAZAN

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n the evening of Tuesday July 16, the inner circle of Germany’s C ­ hristian Democrats dialled into a conference call hosted by party boss Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. She had some surprising news. She was, she told them, the country’s new defence minister.

There was stunned silence.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, who was only elected as leader of the centreright CDU party last December, had insisted she had no interest in a cabinet job — and everyone believed her. Over and over again, she’d made it clear that her main priority was to renew and reform a party that had been ruled for the previous 18 years by the same woman — Angela Merkel.

Political ambition drove her changeofheart.Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is known in Germany as AKK, has made no secret of her desire to become Germany’s next chancellor.

Replacing Merkel as CDU boss was supposedtobetheidealspringboard.

But her performance in the post to date has been so widely criticised that it was time for a rethink.

Her only hope of succeeding Merkel in the top job was to go back on her word and enter the cabinet.

And when Ursula von der Leyen, the serving defence minister, was elected European Commission president last month, she took action. As one member of the CDU’s ruling executive says: “It is basically her last chance.”

Kramp-Karrenbauer’s fate matters because the race to replace Merkel, Germany’s chancellor since 2005, is no purely domestic affair. In a political scene roiled

by Donald Trump, Brexit and the march of European populism, Merkel has long been seen as a beacon of stability and a symbol of a rule-based, multilateral system that is under attack on all fronts.

When she leaves the political stage, whoever supplants her will be viewed as the de facto leader of the liberal west.

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Kramp-Karrenbauer remains a top contender. But her latest career move is a big gamble. The defence ministry has destroyed so many political careers in Germany it is nicknamed the “ejector seat”. Only one previous defence minister — Helmut Schmidt — went on to become chancellor. “It’s a huge risk for AKK,” says one CDU MP who declines to be named. “Defence ministers here always seem to get embroiled in scandals that are not even of their own making: will she be any exception?”

Yet Kramp-Karrenbauer prides herself on being willing to take chances. In conversation, the 56-year-old likens herself to a tightrope walker without a safety net. And a glance at her CV reveals a rare capacity for risk. It has been perhaps the defining feature of her career.

In 2012, when she was prime minister of the small western state of Saarland, she shocked voters by pulling the plug on her governing coalition and calling snap elections. The bet paid off when she won. After the general election in 2017, she took another chance, abandoning Saarland for Berlin to begin a new career as secretarygeneral of the CDU. It was a major demotion, but it showed she had her eyes on a much bigger prize: after all, Merkel had once occupied the same lowly post. Then, in December 2018, came the biggest gamble of all — her campaign to succeed Merkel as leader of the CDU. Defeat would have left her without a job, consigned to political oblivion. Instead she came out on top, narrowly beating Friedrich Merz, a millionaire lawyer loved by the CDU’s conservative wing.

Her move to the defence ministry is only the latest in a series of ­calculated gambits that have catapulted a provincial politician from the fringes of Germany to the heart of power in Berlin.

Yet unless her standing with the German public radically improves, the job of chancellor could prove forever beyond her grasp. @Businessdayng

“The impression is being formed among voters that she is not suited to be chancellor, and that is a huge problem for us,” says one CDU MP. “Because there is no obvious replacement for her.”

Ask those in Berlin when doubts about Kramp-Karrenbauer first set in, and a number will point to the press conference she held after the European Parliament elections in May. They had been her first big test since taking up the reins of the CDU, and the consensus was that she had failed it: the party won only 22.6 per cent of the vote, its worst performance in a national poll.

It was a humiliating moment for a party that has governed Germany for 50 of the past 70 years and produced some of the country’s most famous postwar chancellors — Konrad Adenauer, Helmut Kohl and Merkel herself. But the result perfectly reflected the current state of a political organisation that is deeply insecure and engaged in an ­agonising debate about its future direction. It is being squeezed between two rivals, the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) on the right and the Greens on the left, while its junior partner in government, the Social Democrats, languishes in an existential crisis.

Hailed as a new broom last December, Kramp-Karrenbauer has failed to achieve a clean sweep.

Addressing the press after the European elections, she acknowledged the CDU had “lost massively among young voters”. Polling data showed only 11 per cent of 18to 24-year-olds voted Christian Democrat, an alarming harbinger of the party’s future in a changing political landscape.

In the run-up to the poll, the CDU leader herself had upset this demographic by criticising the “Fridays for Future” demonstrations — she said young people shouldn’t bunk off school to protest against global warming, but do it in their own time. The party also backed a sweeping EU reform of copyright law that digital natives said would prevent them freely uploading material to the internet.

Friday 02 August 2019

BUSINESS DAY

45

Live @ The STOCK Exchanges Prices for Securities Traded as of Thursday 01 August 2019 Company

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PRICES FOR MAIN BOARD SECURITIES (Equities) BANKING ACCESS BANK PLC. 227,489.44 6.40 -2.29 109 2,638,625 UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC 205,196.53 6.00 -0.83 180 11,216,656 ZENITH BANK PLC 574,555.84 18.30 0.55 252 11,591,995 541 25,447,276 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FBN HOLDINGS PLC 201,013.64 5.60 -1.75 137 1,987,173 137 1,987,173 678 27,434,449 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES MTN NIGERIA COMMUNICATIONS PLC 2,626,749.91 129.05 1.61 93 3,122,940 93 3,122,940 93 3,122,940 BUILDING MATERIALS DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 2,896,886.26 170.00 -0.59 36 2,989,647 LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. 231,952.26 14.40 -0.69 138 10,205,117 174 13,194,764 174 13,194,764 EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC 288,337.83 490.00 - 1 10 1 10 1 10 946 43,752,163 REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS (REITS) SKYE SHELTER FUND PLC 1,710.00 85.50 - 0 0 UNION HOMES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST (REIT) 10,175.81 40.70 - 0 0 UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST 14,408.66 5.40 - 1 250 1 250 1 250 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS NIGERIA ENERYGY SECTOR FUND 411.91 552.20 - 0 0 VALUEALLIANCE VALUE FUND 3,312.39 103.20 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 250 CROP PRODUCTION FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC 440.00 0.20 - 0 0 OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. 49,603.32 52.00 - 8 36,653 PRESCO PLC 44,800.00 44.80 - 3 6,000 11 42,653 FISHING/HUNTING/TRAPPING ELLAH LAKES PLC. 8,520.00 4.26 - 1 200 1 200 LIVESTOCK/ANIMAL SPECIALTIES LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. 1,350.00 0.45 - 10 136,200 10 136,200 22 179,053

DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. 847.13 0.32 - 4 5,750 179.01 0.46 - 1 3,439 JOHN HOLT PLC. S C O A NIG. PLC. 1,903.99 2.93 - 0 0 TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC 39,022.07 0.96 1.04 108 7,176,615 U A C N PLC. 16,567.46 5.75 -0.86 86 3,045,780 199 10,231,584 199 10,231,584 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION ARBICO PLC. 711.32 4.79 - 0 0 0 0 INFRASTRUCTURE/HEAVY CONSTRUCTION JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. 27,192.00 20.60 - 12 33,274 ROADS NIG PLC. 165.00 6.60 - 0 0 12 33,274 REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC 2,936.19 1.13 - 2 3,701 2 3,701 14 36,975 AUTOMOBILES/AUTO PARTS DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC 954.53 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 BEVERAGES--BREWERS/DISTILLERS CHAMPION BREW. PLC. 13,231.85 1.69 - 1 10 GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. 242.22 0.89 - 1 1,000 GUINNESS NIG PLC 100,757.61 46.00 - 24 31,482 INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. 103,150.34 12.00 -4.00 8 498,535 NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 399,845.10 50.00 - 56 78,907 90 609,934 FOOD PRODUCTS DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC 97,000.00 19.40 - 180 587,022 DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC 120,000.00 10.00 2.04 72 568,181 FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. 62,530.79 15.25 1.33 74 1,154,337 HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 7,930.20 1.00 5.26 10 452,500 MULTI-TREX INTEGRATED FOODS PLC 1,340.10 0.36 - 0 0 N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. 766.26 4.30 - 1 4,390 NASCON ALLIED INDUSTRIES PLC 37,092.14 14.00 6.87 10 257,435 UNION DICON SALT PLC. 3,321.07 12.15 - 1 5 348 3,023,870 FOOD PRODUCTS--DIVERSIFIED CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 21,411.50 11.40 - 5 15,479 NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 1,006,673.44 1,270.00 - 22 3,000 27 18,479 HOUSEHOLD DURABLES NIGERIAN ENAMELWARE PLC. 1,680.31 22.10 - 0 0 VITAFOAM NIG PLC. 5,366.12 4.29 - 7 32,729 7 32,729 PERSONAL/HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. 23,822.86 6.00 - 17 56,357 UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. 183,840.17 32.00 - 12 31,811 29 88,168 501 3,773,180 BANKING ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED 146,796.41 8.00 -2.44 56 454,487 FIDELITY BANK PLC 46,359.68 1.60 -0.62 59 2,422,104 GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 821,129.90 27.90 -1.76 239 8,374,848 JAIZ BANK PLC 12,964.27 0.44 -2.22 6 788,025 SKYE BANK PLC 10,687.83 0.77 - 0 0 STERLING BANK PLC. 66,217.96 2.30 -0.87 20 2,066,317 UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 200,933.19 6.90 0.73 40 1,947,688 UNITY BANK PLC 7,948.75 0.68 3.03 12 738,972 24,301.91 0.63 - 19 484,800 WEMA BANK PLC. 451 17,277,241 INSURANCE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES AFRICAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC 4,117.00 0.20 - 0 0 AIICO INSURANCE PLC. 4,435.33 0.64 - 29 1,208,586 17,325.00 1.65 - 8 40,100 AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC 2,682.90 0.33 - 2 14,200 CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC 19,811.94 1.91 - 3 3,570 CORNERSTONE INSURANCE PLC 2,945.90 0.20 - 4 16,800 GOLDLINK INSURANCE PLC 909.99 0.20 - 0 0 1,228.00 0.20 - 0 0 GUINEA INSURANCE PLC. INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INSURANCE PLC 487.95 0.38 - 0 0 LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. 2,416.73 0.33 - 3 54,900 LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. 2,019.28 0.47 - 5 28,507 LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC 4,160.00 0.52 - 2 16,668 2,569.73 0.23 -4.17 14 915,282 MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. NEM INSURANCE PLC 11,353.08 2.15 - 2 830 NIGER INSURANCE PLC 1,547.90 0.20 - 0 0 PRESTIGE ASSURANCE PLC 2,583.62 0.48 - 2 3,105 REGENCY ASSURANCE PLC 1,333.75 0.20 - 0 0 SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC 1,668.16 0.20 - 5 271,051 STACO INSURANCE PLC 4,483.72 0.48 - 0 0 STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. 2,582.21 0.20 - 0 0 SUNU ASSURANCES NIGERIA PLC. 2,800.00 0.20 - 1 500 UNIC DIVERSIFIED HOLDINGS PLC. 516.46 0.20 - 0 0 UNIVERSAL INSURANCE PLC 3,200.00 0.20 - 0 0 VERITAS KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC 2,773.33 0.20 - 1 10,000 WAPIC INSURANCE PLC 5,219.27 0.39 -7.14 26 3,709,204

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107 6,293,303 MICRO-FINANCE BANKS FORTIS MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 11,799.67 2.58 - 0 0 2,949.76 1.29 - 3 4,175 NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 3 4,175 MORTGAGE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES ABBEY MORTGAGE BANK PLC 4,158.00 0.99 - 1 1,392 ASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC 7,370.87 0.50 - 0 0 5,796.93 1.39 - 0 0 INFINITY TRUST MORTGAGE BANK PLC RESORT SAVINGS & LOANS PLC 2,265.95 0.20 - 0 0 2,949.22 3.02 - 0 0 UNION HOMES SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC. 1 1,392 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AFRICA PRUDENTIAL PLC 7,200.00 3.60 -1.37 26 462,584 CUSTODIAN INVESTMENT PLC 32,938.44 5.60 0.90 15 463,609 DEAP CAPITAL MANAGEMENT & TRUST PLC 660.00 0.44 - 0 0 FCMB GROUP PLC. 32,476.45 1.64 1.23 44 5,722,122 ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. 1,131.98 0.22 - 0 0 391,189.12 38.20 - 13 10,290 STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC UNITED CAPITAL PLC 12,600.00 2.10 -1.41 49 1,352,577 147 8,011,182 709 31,587,293 HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS EKOCORP PLC. 1,680.29 3.37 - 1 10 UNION DIAGNOSTIC & CLINICAL SERVICES PLC 781.69 0.22 - 3 60,000 4 60,010 MEDICAL SUPPLIES MORISON INDUSTRIES PLC. 494.58 0.50 - 0 0 0 0 PHARMACEUTICALS EVANS MEDICAL PLC. 366.17 0.50 - 0 0 FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC 9,388.62 4.50 9.76 11 192,547 GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. 9,567.01 8.00 - 17 45,248 3,968.04 2.30 - 7 89,000 MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC 1,044.54 0.55 - 8 176,500 NIGERIA-GERMAN CHEMICALS PLC. 556.71 3.62 - 0 0 PHARMA-DEKO PLC. 325.23 1.50 - 0 0 43 503,295 47 563,305 COMPUTER BASED SYSTEMS COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS PLC 710.40 0.20 - 4 1,059,519 4 1,059,519 COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS OMATEK VENTURES PLC 1,470.89 0.50 - 0 0 0 0 IT SERVICES CWG PLC 6,413.06 2.54 - 1 360 NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. 572.40 5.30 -8.62 6 102,892 346.47 0.70 - 3 2,009 TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. 10 105,261 PROCESSING SYSTEMS CHAMS PLC 1,220.98 0.26 - 5 85,500 E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC 9,996.00 2.38 - 3 19,950 8 105,450 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES AIRTEL AFRICA PLC 1,215,762.01 323.50 - 10 145 10 145 32 1,270,375 BUILDING MATERIALS BERGER PAINTS PLC 1,811.40 6.25 9.65 9 158,699 CAP PLC 17,325.00 24.75 - 10 55,150 CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC 162,322.24 12.35 0.41 35 803,183 MEYER PLC. 313.43 0.59 - 1 500 1,959.74 2.47 - 2 25,025 PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC PREMIER PAINTS PLC. 1,156.20 9.40 - 1 90 58 1,042,647 ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS AUSTIN LAZ & COMPANY PLC 2,256.91 2.09 - 0 0 CUTIX PLC. 2,747.66 1.56 - 10 120,030 10 120,030 PACKAGING/CONTAINERS BETA GLASS PLC. 33,173.14 66.35 - 1 20 GREIF NIGERIA PLC 388.02 9.10 - 0 0 1 20 AGRO-ALLIED & CHEMICALS NOTORE CHEMICAL IND PLC 100,754.14 62.50 - 0 0 0 0 69 1,162,697 CHEMICALS B.O.C. GASES PLC. 2,110.36 5.07 - 4 10,700 4 10,700 METALS ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION IND. PLC. 1,781.64 8.10 - 0 0 0 0 MINING SERVICES MULTIVERSE MINING AND EXPLORATION PLC 852.39 0.20 - 2 29,800 2 29,800 PAPER/FOREST PRODUCTS THOMAS WYATT NIG. PLC. 92.40 0.42 - 0 0 0 0 6 40,500 ENERGY EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC 1,252.54 0.20 -4.76 18 537,615 18 537,615 INTEGRATED OIL AND GAS SERVICES OANDO PLC 45,996.23 3.70 - 54 1,260,038 54 1,260,038 PETROLEUM AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTORS 11 PLC 56,974.05 158.00 - 9 1,641 CONOIL PLC 13,670.86 19.70 - 57 37,370 ETERNA PLC. 3,521.19 2.70 -10.00 25 1,064,661 FORTE OIL PLC. 23,509.78 18.05 -8.14 106 960,745 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 6,354.80 20.85 - 0 0 TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 38,977.11 114.80 - 42 39,520 239 2,103,937 311 3,901,590 ADVERTISING AFROMEDIA PLC 1,820.01 0.41 - 0 0 0 0 AIRLINES MEDVIEW AIRLINE PLC 17,551.17 1.80 - 0 0 0 0 AUTOMOBILE/AUTO PART RETAILERS R T BRISCOE PLC. 341.14 0.29 - 0 0 0 0 COURIER/FREIGHT/DELIVERY RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 3,112.54 5.28 - 5 75,550 TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. 328.19 0.70 - 0 0 5 75,550 HOSPITALITY TANTALIZERS PLC 642.33 0.20 - 2 32,200 2 32,200 HOTELS/LODGING CAPITAL HOTEL PLC 4,723.78 3.05 - 2 10,000 IKEJA HOTEL PLC 3,035.04 1.46 - 2 46,408 TOURIST COMPANY OF NIGERIA PLC. 7,862.53 3.50 - 4 10,150 TRANSCORP HOTELS PLC 41,042.18 5.40 - 1 50 9 66,608 MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC 4,800.00 0.40 - 0 0 0 0 PRINTING/PUBLISHING ACADEMY PRESS PLC. 241.92 0.40 - 7 18,200 LEARN AFRICA PLC 1,018.31 1.32 - 8 130,775 STUDIO PRESS (NIG) PLC. 1,183.82 1.99 - 3 400 UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. 698.88 1.62 - 6 60,820 24 210,195

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Women in Business

BUSINESS DAY Friday 02 August 2019

By Kemi Ajumobi

Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch

Chika Madubuko

British Minister of Children and Families

CEO, Greymate Services Limited

O

lukemi Olufunto Badenoch née Adegoke; was born January 1980 and is a British Conservative politician and Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden.

Adegoke was born in Wimbledon, London to parents of Nigerian origin. Her childhood was spent in Lagos, Nigeria and the United States.

She moved to the United Kingdom at the age of sixteen. After studying Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex, she worked as a software engineer at Logica.

Adegoke went on to work at RBS as a systems analyst before working as an associate director at Coutts and later as a director at The Spectator magazine.

In 2012, Badenoch unsuccessfully contested a seat at the London Assembly. Three years later, Badenoch was selected as a London Assembly member after Suella Braverman and Victoria Borwick declined their seats after being elected as MPs at the 2015 general election. She supported Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum. Badenoch was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Saffron Walden on 8 June 2017 following the retirement of former deputy speaker Alan Haselhurst, she became the first woman to represent that constituency.

Adegoke studied Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex. She initially worked within the IT sector first as a software engineer at Logica (later CGI Group).

While working there, she studied part-time at Birkbeck, University of London and obtained a Law degree in 2009.

She then worked as a systems analyst at RBS, before pursuing a career in consultancy and financial services, working as an associate director of private bank and wealth manager Coutts and later a director at the conservative magazine The Spectator.

Olukemi joined the Conservative Party in 2005 at the age of 25. In 2010, she contested the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency against Labour’s Tessa Jowell and came third behind Jowell, and Jonathan Mitchell (the Liberal Democrat candidate).

Two years later, she stood for the Conservatives in the London Assembly election where she was placed fifth on the London-

wide list. The election saw the Conservatives win only three seats from the London-wide list, so she was not elected.

She supported Brexit in the 2016 European Union membership referendum. Badenoch supports a repeal of the ban on fox hunting.

Badenoch was elected as MP for the Saffron Walden constituency in the 2017 general election with 37,629 votes and a majority of a 24,966 (41.0%). She had also made the shortlist to be the Conservative Party candidate in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency.

In her maiden speech on the 19 July, she described the vote for Brexit as “the greatest ever vote of confidence in the project of the United Kingdom” and cited her personal heroes as the Conservative politicians Winston Churchill, Airey Neave, and Margaret Thatcher. In the same month, Badenoch was selected to join the 1922 Executive Committee. In September, she was appointed to the parliamentary Justice Select Committee. The following month, Badenoch was listed at Number 96 on Conservative political commentator Iain Dale’s “100 most influential on the Right 2017”.

She was appointed as the Conservative Party’s Vice Chair for Candidates in January 2018.

In July 2019, Badenoch was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Olukemi is married to Hamish Badenoch and they have one daughter and one son.

Hamish works for Deutsche Bank and was a Conservative councillor on the Merton London Borough Council.

On her latest appointment, she says “I’m humbled to have been appointed a junior minister at the DfE. A huge privilege to be able to serve and make a positive difference on a number of issues close to my heart. I look forward to working with the ministerial team and everyone at @educationgovuk”. She said.

The children’s minister’s role includes elements of schools policy including special educational needs and high needs funding, safeguarding in schools, disadvantaged pupils, school sport and healthy pupils and the social mobility opportunity areas.

C

hika Madubuko is a business professional par excellence, Bioengineer, Microbiologist, Entrepreneur and a job creation advocate. She has business experience spanning across three continents and blue chip multinational companies. She was Inbound Quality Control Officer at Amazon UK before she moved back to Nigeria.

She quickly got the role of Business Development Manager at Nigeria’s pioneer Agritech Company, Novus Agro where she increased its market share and launched the ‘Money at Hand’ campaign which connected rural farmers directly to FMCG conglomerates in Nigeria.

She joined Guinness Nigeria Plc after this as Business Development/Sales Executive and was part of the team that increased the Malta Guinness depletion rate and market share in Northern Nigeria before she launched Greymate Care.

She has won numerous awards including the She Leads Africa Accelerator 2017 Bronze Prize, a Laureate, Women in Africa Initiative, Morocco and most worthy of mention, is on the 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 list of trailblazers.

Chika has a BSc Applied Microbiology and Brewing from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and MSc Biotechnology and Bioengineering from the University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK. Greymate Care is an online platform that connects the elderly and vulnerable adults to a caregiver thus taking the stress of care off busy professionals.

About 50000 people turn 65 or above every day and half of that population become dependent on their loved ones for assistance with daily living due to stroke, diabetes, or sheer senescence.

Unfortunately, their loved ones are busy with their jobs to give them the care they deserve and this leaves them lonely and sick. In a bid to solve the problem, they hire a caregiver and expose themselves to further security risks as they hire a total stranger who has not been trained.

Greymate Care solves this problem by connecting them to a highly trained and

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insured caregiver whose background has been checked and has been trained to world class standard. The platform not only solves the problem but has the potential to gainfully employ up to 100,000 youths thereby alleviating unemployment in Nigeria.

“Greymate Care was created so Nigerians never have to experience the same hassle we did when my granny became bedridden due to diabetes. We were all busy and couldn’t provide her with the care she deserved. Hiring a caregiver for her was so complicated.”

She said.

To make life easier for her clients, instead of manually lifting a service user, they use hoists.

Their best bet is influencer marketing where they partner with key individuals/ firms and gain referrals from them. “Gaining their support is easy as our services are unique and of world standard. Our mantra remains ‘build an excellent product and watch it sell itself” Madubuko revealed.

Greymate Care addresses the problem and is an online platform that connects the vulnerable to a competent, insured, and professional caregiver. Their caregivers are background checked thus taking the stress of care off busy professionals.

The icing on the cake is that you can even get a doctor or a nurse from the platform.

Even in the event there’s a strike, doctors never have to worry as there is a source of income for them.

As with most businesses, there are challenges but for Chika, she pulled through.

In her words, “The African market is a very unique one and a foreign business idea would fail if necessary tweaks are not carried out. One marketing or recruitment error can grind the business to a total halt.

For Greymate Care, it was hard initially to convince everyone on the value chain, from the investors to the consumers.

The consumers were worried about safety due to concerns about crime rate and for the investors, it was about viability.

We subscribed to premium insurance and background checks from experts and with that, we were able to convince the prospects on security.” Said Madubuko.

Published by BusinessDAY Media Ltd., The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos. Advert Hotline: 08034743892. Subscriptions 01-2950687, 07045792677. Newsroom: 08169609331 Editor: Patrick Atuanya. All correspondence to BusinessDAY Media Ltd., Box 1002, Festac Lagos. ISSN 1595 - 8590.