BusinessDay 02 Sep 2020

businessday market monitor FMDQ Close Benchmark NTB* & CP*

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Foreign Reserve $35.7bn

Biggest Gainer NB 5.41 pc

N37

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Spot ($/N) 25-Feb-21 5-Mar-21 23-Jul-30 30-Apr-25 20-May-27 27-Feb-34

I&E FX Window 386.00 CBN Official Rate as at

August 28, 2020

ntb

Benchmark Sovereign & Corporate Bonds

379.00

0.00

0.00

-0.10

0.19

0.26

-0.70

2.40

5.33

8.90

9.24

10.07

11.44

$-N 450.00 466.00 3m 60m 1m 2m 6m 36m 12m £-N 600.00 616.00 Currency Futures sept 30 2020 oct 28 2020 nov 25 2020 feb 24 2021 Aug 25 2021 aug 30 2023 aug 27 2025 389.54 392.38 395.23 403.75 420.81 498.32 590.10 €-N 540.00 554.00 ($/N)

$46.10

*NTB - Nigerian Treasury Bills; *CP - Commercial Paper

news you can trust I ** wednesDAY 02 september 2020 I vol. 19, no 642

Nigeria needs aviation sector ready for business IFEOMA OKEKE

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n 2018, cargo airlines across the world earned $111.3 billion as revenue—the highest since 2004, Statista said.

Though this declined to $102.4 billion in 2019, it represented substantial revenue for the global aviation industry.

Amid challenges faced by airlines resulting from COVID-19, cargo traffic is outperforming passenger traffic, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The association expects cargo revenue to grow by 8 percent in 2020 versus a 61 percent slump for passenger revenue. China Airlines’ cargo revenue rose by 153 percent in May 2020, with Evergreen Airways, a TaiwanContinues on page 31

Inside

BusinessDay’s Top CEOs & Next Bulls Awards to hold P. 2 September 5 How CITN council retreat in Port Harcourt may soon impact on Nigeria’s tax administration P. 18

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BUSINESSDAY JOBS & GROWTH SERIES

Nigeria’s backward agric model hurts jobs Josephine Okojie

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he population of Brazil is just 9 million higher than Nigeria’s.

Both countries are blessed with fertile land and exportable cash crops.

The difference, however, is that Brazil turns its sugarcane into raw sugar and exports to Nigeria, while Nigeria sells its own cocoa to the United States and in turn buys chocolates from the world’s biggest economy.

Partly as a result, Brazil’s GDP is $1.85 trillion while Nigeria’s is

And this must change - experts Brazil points way for the future

$397 billion—nearly five times bigger.

The South American country earned over $8 billion from sugar alone in 2018/19, even with 24 percent decrease in production.

That is three times Nigeria’s earnings from all of its non-oil export products in that year.

About 1.2 million Brazilians

work in sugarcane plantations and this number triple when the processing and refining segments are considered.

In 2011, Brazil contributed 5 percent to world’s milk production.

In 2018 Brazil exported $242 billion worth of goods —more than half of Nigeria’s GDP—

making it the number 25 exporter in the world.

Brazil has 220,000 coffee farms with each farm employing at least five people, and it earns over $5 billion annually from its exports.

Brazil’s success in making its Continues on page 29

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news BusinessDay’s Top CEOs & Next Bulls Awards to hold September 5 Mercy Ayodele

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usinessDay Media Limited, in collaboration with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), is hosting its sixth annual Top CEOs & Next Bulls Awards on September 5, 2020.

The theme of the event is “Advancing Against All Odds” and will celebrate chief executives of quoted companies that have demonstrated the most impressive gains in both share price and profit-aftertax over the course of 2019.

The award was introduced in 2014 to celebrate chief executives who through sound strategy, disciplined execution, world-class governance and adoption of a customerfirst ethos have delivered alpha, thereby creating competitive shareholder value.

Since inception, the annual awards have become the capital market pacesetter used by investors to identify the best performing chief executive officers and the most resilient stocks on the NSE. The winners of the award are selected by a proprietary survey carried out by the BusinessDay Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU). Respondents include equity analysts, retail and institutional investors, financial journalists, sec-

toral experts, and professional advisers.

Nomination of shortlisted companies follows the impressive growth, market reputation, regulatory compliance, and world-class corporate values of these organisations, under visionary leadership, and stead growth of these companies, attracting broad positive interest from sector watchers.

Winners of the 25 CEO awards in 2019 included renowned CEOs Herbert Wigwe, group managing director of Access Bank as well as Edwin Igbiti, the managing director of AllCO Insurance, and a host of others.

In 2019, Access Bank won the special category award as best media communicator on the NSE and E-Tranzact International plc also bagged the award of the best transformation and turnaround company on the NSE. Past winners of Next Bulls Awards have included iconic companies like Airtel, Caverton Group, Enyo Retail & Supply, Halogen Security, Innoson Group, Mojec International, SystemSpecs, and Tolaram Group.

This year, some of shortlisted for the Next Bulls are Bim-

Not a single foreigner invested in Nigerian bonds in Q2 MICHAEL ANI, DIPO OLADEHINDE & FADEKEMI AREO

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or the first time in more than four years, foreign investors avoided staking their money in Nigerian bonds in second quarter (Q2) of 2020, after a move to ration dollars heightened investors’ fear in the economy.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, is grappling with a dollar crisis caused by the double whammy of the coronavirus pandemic and a deep plunge in crude oil prices, the country’s biggest earner; and this has culminated into dampening investor’s sentiments.

There were no single subscribers to the country’s bond instruments in

Q2 of the year, according to capital importation data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

That tells a lot about investors’ apathy and perception in investing in the country’s bond assets in the period when compared with the $231 million and $361.2 million they put into Nigerian bonds in the preceding quarter and the same time last year.

“The apathy seen by foreign investors is a combination of the effect of low yields that we have in the bond market due to the Open Market Operations (OMO) policy last year, and also a risk aversion for Nigerian securities due to a lack of FX liquidity,” said Omotola Abimbola, a fixed income and macroeconomist at Lagos-based

Chapel Hill Denham.

“As investors are thinking of coming in, they also have to think of the ease in going out. It is only normal that if you have your money trapped inside to the extent you can’t take it out, you won’t bring in any fresh capital until you are sure that there is clarity in getting your money out,” Abimbola said Abimbola explained that a foreign investor would rather invest in OMO bills than Bonds since they do not face any duration risk, as “there is no maturity premium you get investing in bonds.”

A raft of Central Bank policy, last year, banning non-bank foreign investors from buying OMO bills, aimed at driving credits to the real sector of the economy to boost

growth in a frail economy, pushed excess liquidity into other debt instruments, thereby forcing yields on virtually all assets to reach lower lows.

Average yields on treasury bills have bottomed at 1.3 percent from the high of 21 percent some two years ago. Yields on OMO average around 3 percent while interest on 5-year bond instruments is also down to 5 percent.

A low-interest-rate environment alongside spiralling inflation means investors in Nigerian assets have had their worst time as they have been greeted with negative real return.

Real interest rates on Nigerian T Bills fell further below (-11%) after commodity prices accelerated Continues on page 31

Continues on page 29

Nigerian poor getting poorer in light of worsening economic shocks Oluwafadekemi Areo

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igeria’s COVID-19 curve is currently flattening, but the share of households whose safety nets are being threatened by economic shocks continues to ascend.

Statistics from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on August 30 showed that the number of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases was 138 persons, the lowest daily report recorded since April 27.

Nonetheless, the hardship being faced by Nigerians as a result of COVID-19 continues to exacerbate.

Increases in the prices of major food items consumed and farming/business inputs continue to be the most widely experienced shocks in the country, according to third round of the Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

On its own, the increased prices of major food items have affected about 90 percent of households while increases in prices of farming/ business inputs affected 64 percent of households.

Interestingly, the Nigerian COVID-19 curve started to flatten from the end of July as daily confirmed cases started dropping, according to an analysis carried out using data from the NCDC. The same can however not be said about the number of

job losses, the percentage of households reducing their consumption as well as the constraints on the ability of households to meet their basic needs.

NBS report on the third round of the Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey reveals a 27-percent increase in the number of households that have had to reduce their consumption, as this rate moved to 69 percent by the end of July from 54 percent at the end of May. Also, the percentage of households relying solely on their savings experienced a 6.8-percent increase to 31 percent, from 29 percent between mid-March to April and May. “The projected rebound of the Nigerian economy by 2023, which contracted by 6.1 percent in the second quarter of 2020 will not necessarily reflect on different units of the economy,” said Boboye Olaolu, sub-Saharan African economist at CSL Stockbrokers.

“As long as total population growth is higher than GDP growth, the economic recovery will not translate to an increase in living standards, as wealth is not adequately transferred,” he said The access of households relying on farm business to inputs for crop production has also been hampered by

Continues on page 29 www.businessday.ng

L-R: Kenechukwu Offie, director of information, Ministry of Water Resources; Bashir Hassan Ibrahim, GM, business development, North, BusinessDay Media Limited; Suleiman Adamu, minister of water resources; Ogho Okiti, MD, BusinessDay Media, and John Osadolor, director, BusinessDay Media, during a courtesy visit to the minister in Abuja.

Pic By Tunde Adeniyi

Local meter manufacturing to boom as new capital pushes available finance to $350m ISAAC ANYAOGU

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entral Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the World Bank are providing close to $350 million in funding to back the Federal Government’s resolve to put an end to estimated billing, providing the critical spark to ignite local meter manufacturing industry.

In line with the Buhari-led government import substitution policy, all the financing towards providing meters in Nigeria will be channelled to local meter manufacturers, a source with knowledge of the matter says.

BusinessDay had earlier reported that the World Bank was making available $200 million to fund a massive meter roll out that would be

… CBN to release new $150m financing … as World Bank offers $200m … but local operators say FG yet to engage with them financed in the interim by the CBN with a refund due from the World Bank when the financing was made available.

However, new details that emerged Monday indicate that a separate funding will be provided by the CBN as both agencies do not have the same procurement process, making a refund difficult to effect.

Since Nigeria is on the way to meet the conditionalities including a tariff that can guarantee some commercial returns, the World Bank will provide its $200 million funding for meter manufacturers

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who will also enjoy a buffer that make it easier for beneficiaries to repay.

Metering is a thorny issue in Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry. According to a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), of the 10,374,597 registered electricity customers, only 3,918,322 (37.77%) have been metered as at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019.

“Thus, 62.37 percent of the registered electricity customers are still on estimated billing, which has contributed to customer apathy towards @Businessdayng

payment for electricity,” the Commission said.

However, the cost of meters had gone up by over 20 percent from N36,991.50 to N44,896.17 for single-phase and from N67,055 to N82,855 for three-phase, so to procure over 5 million meters using the cost of single-phase as an estimate with installation will cost over N300 billion.

There are currently nine meter manufacturing firms in Nigeria with a capacity to produce about 100,000 me-

Continues on page 31

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NEWS

Listed downstream firms see N6.79bn wiped out of profit BALA AUGIE

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isted downstream oil and gas firms have seen over half of their profit being wiped out as the coronavirus pandemic and attendant lockdowns damped consumption of petroleum products.

Analysts say growth in the industry remains hindered by the lack of substantial investments, import constraints, and regulated pump price.

Also, the industry is beset by non-availability of foreign exchange for importation of petroleum products and slow depletion of stock due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The delay in the payment of subsidy monies by Federal Government also hinders companies from meeting obligations to bank, as there

are no cash flows to settle such debts.

For example, the five largest players in the downstream oil and gas- Total Nigeria, Mobil (11 Plc), Conoil Nigeria Plc, Ardova Nigeria Plc, and MRS Nigeria Plcrecorded a 69.35 percent or N6.79 billion reduction in profit to N3.0 billion as at June 2020, as against N9.79 billion the previous year.

A breakdown of the figures shows Total Nigeria and MRS Oil posted losses of N537.18 billion and N329.71 billion respectively.

Investors and shareholders are worried that these firms operate on slim margins as spiralling total costs are eroding weak revenue.

The cumulative sales of the four largest listed firms in the industry stood at N355.74 billion as at June 2020, but they incurred N348.94 bil-

lion in total costs, leaving a meagre margin.

What this means is that it is practically difficult for operators at the downstream oil and gas to deliver higher returns to their owners in form of bumper dividend and share appreciation.

“Looking ahead, we have a pessimistic outlook on the downstream oil and gas industry in H2-2020. This is as we expect margins of major industry players under our coverage to remain constrained over the period,” said analysts at United Capital Limited.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel for downstream oil and gas firms as the Federal Government has taken steps to deregulate the industry.

The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) implemented a

monthly market-based pricing regime, to provide prices reflective of market reality for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). The price liberalisation means petroleum prices will be adjusted in line with market realities.

The crash in the price of oil price due to the disagreement between Saudi Arabia and Russian over output cut and the coronavirus pandemic led to a reduction in pump price cap to N123.

However, the gradually recovery in Brent crude to in June 2020 means a new price N143.8 for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

There has been a decline in the consumption of petroleum product as the lockdown imposed by government to curb the spread of the virus disrupted business activities across the country.

Crashed Quorum helicopter didn’t have black box, says AIB-N IFEOMA OKEKE

...as preliminary report out in 4 weeks

ccident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N) on Tuesday said it was unable to retrieve black box from the helicopter crash scene because the helicopter had none.

The bureau disclosed, however, that preliminary reports of the crash would be released in four weeks.

Recall that on Friday August 28, a Bell Helicopter 206-B III, Serial Number 3216, Engine Model Allison 250–C20B with the nationality registration Marks 5N-BQW operated by Quorum Aviation crashed into a building at

Opebi, Ikeja Lagos State.

Speaking at a press briefing to update the public on progress made so far in investigating the helicopter crash, Akin Olateru, commissioner/ CEO of AIB-N said he was aware of the speculations circulating on social media and other public fora with regards to the probable cause of the crash and AIB’s retrieval of the Flight Data Recorder (FDR), popularly known as the black box. Olateru clarified that AIB-N did not retrieve an FDR from the aircraft as the Bell 206 is certified at approximately 1,519kg (3,350lbs) and featured five seats, adding that

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PenCom, NAICOM sign MoU on revised guidelines on retiree life annuity, group life MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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ndustry regulators, National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on revised regulation and guidelines on Retire Life Annuity and Group Life Insurance for employees.

The revised regulations and guidelines provide clarity on the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2014 in areas relating to retiree life annuity with focus on guiding stakeholders to make informed decision, ensure safety of retiree life annuity funds and assets, address concerns of mis-selling and de-marketing by pension and insurance operators as well as bringing stability into

the financial sector of the economy.

The MoU signed Tuesday in Abuja by both regulators according them, was the outcome of the collaborative efforts of PenCom and NAICOM. Section 7 (1a) Pension Reform Act 2014 states that an employee on retirement shall procure annuity for life policy or programmed withdrawal.

Annuity for life policy is a retirement instrument option for retiring employee offered by a Life Insurance Company licensed by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM). As it is popularly called, it is a type of annuity contract that provides, in return for a lump sum, a monthly or quarterly payment starting immediately after retirement and continuing for the rest of the retiree’s life. www.businessday.ng

it does not meet the necessary criteria for an FDR and was not featured with one.

“The standard requirement for an FDR in any aircraft is ten seats. It is extremely important to note that the aviation industry is the most regulated industry globally and its operations are regulated in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

“The installation and application of FDRs in aircraft is guided by ICAO

Annex 6, Parts 1 and 2.

The basic standards for both parts are essentially similar. Part 1 applies to commercial aircraft while Part 2 is for non-commercial operations.

Glo launches Mega Data plans for heavy users GBEMI FAMINU

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eavy data users on the Glo network will now enjoy more value as the grandmasters of data, Globacom, formally unveils Glo Mega Data Plans that take care of this category of subscribers by providing them reliable and affordable internet service.

In a statement in Lagos, Globacom noted that the Glo Mega Data Plans were exclusively packaged for the needs of SME customers, Small Office Home Office (SOHO) and high-end customers who require higher data benefits with longer validity periods.

It explained that the plans, which have validity periods of between 30 days and one year, start from N30,000 and go up to N100,000.

According to Globacom, “With the Covid-19 situation, millions of people rely on the internet to work or study from home, carry out most business and social transactions, hold meetings, seminars, religious worship, among other activities. We have introduced this package to cater to such heavy data users.”

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Bilau Tawakalit now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Owolabi Tawakalit Olajumoke. All former documents remain valid.

General Public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as Bridget Ukamaka Oraezue. now wish to be known and addressed as Bridget Ukamaka Jatau. All former documents remain valid. General Public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olayanju Abisola Abidemi now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Akinyemi Abisola Abidemi. All former documents remain valid. General Public please take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME

This is to notify the general public that the name was wrongly written as Olagoke Seun instead of my correct name Olagoke Oluwaseun.

All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

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Under the Glo Mega Data package, a N30,000 plan gives the subscriber 225GB with a validity of 30 days, while 300GB goes to a subscriber who chooses the N36,000 plan with 30 days’ validity.

Als o, 425GB w ill be availed a subscriber under the N50,000 plan, which is valid for 90 days, while the N60,000 plan with 120 days’ validity comes with 525GB. For subscribers who opt for N75,000 plan, they will get 675GB valid for 120 days, while a whopping 1TB and one year validity period await those that subscribe to N100,000 plan.

Glo stated further, “These fantastic data plans are available for both existing and new Glo subscribers,” and added that the plans are autorenewable and can be gifted or shared with others on the Glo network as the subscriber desires. It also assures its subscribers that Mega Data packs could be used on any compatible device such as handsets, modems and routers.

Glo subscribers who wish to purchase the plan are advised to dial 777# for plan menu and select “Super Mega Plans” to choose the plan of choice.

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PMB’s legacy: Good intentions, flawed approach

Franklin Ngwu

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n Tuesday August 25th President Muhammad Buhari while receiving Ambassadors and High Commissioners from about 8 countries listed nine areas that will be his focus in the remaining 3 years of his presidency. Using such occasions when the top diplomats visited him to present their letters of credence to announce priority areas of the government, shows the importance of the areas to PMB and his government. Many people perceived it as an indication that PMB has started thinking about his legacy and I seem to agree. Not only is it a good idea for PMB to be concerned about his legacy, it is most commendable of Mr President to make his intentions known so that Nigerians can help him to achieve his good plans of having a lasting positive legacy.

According to PMB, “In our efforts to achieve a realistic domestic and foreign policy, as well as national development, we have identified the following nine priority areas to guide our policy directions over the next few years. Build a thriving and sustainable economy; Enhance social inclusion and reduce poverty; Enlarge agricultural output for food security and export; Attain energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products and expand transport and other in-

frastructural development; Expand business growth, entrepreneurship and industrialization; Expand access to quality education, affordable healthcare and productivity of Nigerians; Build a system to fight corruption, improve governance and create social cohesion and improve security for all”.

While there is no doubt as to the importance of each of the nine areas to Nigeria’s quest for sustainable economic growth and development, the doubt is in the achievability of the plans particularly the structure and platform upon which they will be executed. Using a reverse thinking process, the question is why Nigeria is still underdeveloped and constrained the way it is and can PMB achieve what he has not been able to achieve in five years in his remaining three years. The answer is most unlikely.

In analysis of problems, a very important factor in solving a problem effectively is the proper understanding of the problem. In that perspective, a different but related question is if PMB is applying proper identification and analysis of the problem in his plans for a good legacy. Using key economic performance indicators, the answer is also most unlikely.

Everything seems to be going southunemployment, inflation, diaspora remittances, poverty, insecurity, foreign reserve, investments, exchange rate and firms’ profitability, budget deficits, declining revenue and foreign direct investment.

While the impacts of COVID-19 are noted, the fact remains that as COVID-19 kills more people with underlying challenges, our present precarious situation as an economy and nation cannot be attributed mainly to COVID-19. We have many underlying challenges which COVID-19 is just helping to expose and exacerbate.

The major problem with Nigeria and particularly PMB’s government is

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If PMB can committedly pursue and achieve devolution of powers in his remaining three years in power, he would have created and left a legacy of infinite and lasting positive impact on Nigeria. This approach will ensure quick achievement of his nine priority areas

the expectation of good results while using the same strategies that have proven inefficient and flawed over the years. It is the wrong analysis of our problems.

During his inauguration as the President in 2015, PMB listed three areas – Reducing Insecurity, Fighting Corruption and Diversification of the Economy as priority areas of his government. After over five years in government and overwhelming goodwill from Nigerians and the international community, none of the three areas can be said to have improved. Rather than improving, they have all worsened. If this is the case, what is expected is a deep retrospection on the part of PMB’s government on why expectations and targets remain not only unachieved but worsening in almost all fronts.

As usual reasons such as corruption, leadership, poor execution, weak regulation and complex bureaucracy are advanced as the causes of our failure and limited government effectiveness. Why they are valid factors, they are not the underlying reasons or the main causative factors of our development crisis. To better understand our problem, Nigeria is like a polygamous family travelling to a destination written in their late father’s will with an old problematic car bought by their father when he had one wife. With improper understanding of the problems of the old car and their father’s will, all the sons are blaming the driver with an illusion that once they take over as the driver, the journey to promise land will be easy and smooth.

The problem with Nigeria is that as a very plural society, we are using a structure of governance most suited for a homogenous society and expecting results of a plural society.

Expectedly, while the problems are well known such as poverty, insecurity and inequality, the approach we

are using to address the problems is inherently flawed. As such the problems are escalating while we keep referring to the spill over effects as the causes of our problem. It is also the reason why the focus is competition for power among the ethnic groups and power blocks rather than competition for development which we most urgently need and can achieve with the appropriate structure of governance.

To create a truly lasting and positive legacy, PMB needs to do only one thing. I implore him to appreciate that the structure of our governance is deeply faulty and unsuitable for a plural society such as Nigeria. All he needs to do is to examine and copy the structure of governance of other plural society in the world and apply it to Nigeria. Good examples include India, United Kingdom, Brazil, United States of America and many others. What they have is a devolved structure of governance and that is what Nigeria urgently needs.

If PMB can committedly pursue and achieve devolution of powers in his remaining three years in power, he would have created and left a legacy of infinite and lasting positive impact on Nigeria. This approach will ensure quick achievement of his nine priority areas. However, if this counsel is not heeded, let it be noted that the achievement of the nine priority areas might not be realised.

It will be the same failed outcomes as we have today with 2015 promises of reducing insecurity, corruption and diversification of the economy. That will imply absence of a good legacy after 8 years in power!

Dr. Ngwu, is an Economist/Associate Professor of Strategy, Risk Management & Corporate Governance, Lagos Business School and a Member, Expert Network, World Economic Forum. E-mail- fngwu@ lbs.edu.ng

Raising the next generation of African scientists

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cience, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. These disciplines are the fundamental building blocks of STEM education that Western nations have depended on to fuel their development over the past three centuries. In fact, the STEM disciplines are what enabled once developing nations to rise past their dependence on natural resource exports and move up the value chain to export high priced goods and services.

Given this successful history, when it comes to the future of African nations, we need STEM education for our youth, not aid, to grow our economies.

Why STEM education matters Education in STEM is practical in that it is a process of learning by doing. Students learn innovative methods to apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to real-world situations. Moreover, educating our youth in STEM subjects develops their ability to apply creativity, innovation, and critical thinking to create systems, services, and products that can be commercialised, create jobs, and build wealth.

But teaching STEM in Africa will be an uphill battle.

Lack of STEM holding back African

opportunity It is fair to say that many African nations face significant challenges when it comes to educating their youth. Some of our poorer countries deal with chronic shortage of school equipment and supplies, inadequate access to electricity and Internet connection, not to mention a deficit of qualified teachers and school houses. As a result, many children struggle to read even after many years in school, and many more decide to stop attending classes altogether.

Under these conditions, it is no wonder that STEM education is lagging. Many regions are stuck trying to teach education fundamentals and do not have the resources to teach advanced subjects that will help our youth rise above their humble beginnings.

Fortunately, these limitations will all begin to change for the better during the 2020s.

Winds of change for African STEM education Regardless of our current difficulties, African nations show promise for the future.

Thanks to the spread of reliable access to the Internet, renewable electricity, and cheap smartphones (and other computing devices), quality education will soon become decentralised and democratised.

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Instead of children needing to travel miles to the nearest school, they can instead watch or listen to live or prerecorded videos on their smartphones of teachers presenting their daily lessons. If they don’t have paper or writing supplies, then they can also do their readings and homework on their smartphones. And with the help of educational AI systems, each child’s unique learning progress can then be tracked, graded, and supported centrally and wirelessly by a teacher or teaching team located miles away.

These innovations will enable African youth to catch up and master the fundamentals of basic education and prepare them to tackle the more challenging STEM disciplines. From here, we are beginning to see a trend in the increasing involvement and support of the private sector in education.

Many companies across Africa face severe shortages of skilled labour. But by individually or collectively funding the creation of local trade schools that teach STEM subjects, these companies can build an ongoing pipeline of skilled labor that will help their businesses grow sustainably into the decades ahead. Likewise, foreign companies and nations that do business within Africa

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Ronald Chagoury

(especially China) are increasingly being asked to provide their expertise in the form of offering apprenticeship and job shadowing programs, setting up advanced schools and universities, and offering scholarships to promising African students.

Regardless of the approach, this emerging investment into scalable, tech-enabled basic education, along with focused STEM training from private companies, is a winwin solution that will build a brighter future for all Africans.

Chagoury Jr is the Vice Chairman of Eko Atlantic City.

Ronald covers topics relating to the present and future of Africa as he is a big believer in the untapped potential of the continent. You can learn more about Eko Atlantic at www.ekoatlantic.com.

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Poverty reduction and the confluence of insecurity and economic contraction Small Business handbook

Emeka Osuji

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he combined effects of low oil prices, a weakening local currency and the continued spread of COVID-19 have begun to turn out big negative growth numbers around the world.

Nigeria grew backwards at 6.1 percent in the second quarter, with potential to worsen in the third. The only mitigant to the sadness in this bad news is that we are still better than many. Both the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) are in worse growth trajectories, having recorded higher decline in their economies. That is probably the end of the comparison, as Nigeria is in a far worse situation in terms of joblessness and its attendant consequences.

We now have a 21.7 percent unemployment rate. It means that over 27.1 million of us who are not only willing and able to work but are actively looking to get hired, are not finding any openings.

In more caring societies, the US, people in that predicament get paid something called Unemployment Benefit, but not here. Here we assess them for personal “no income tax”. The tax authorities both at the national and subnational levels are outdoing one another for the race to the highest Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) collector.

We may recall that the president had announced, during his second term inauguration, that Nigeria will start a new programme of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, within a decade. This policy was well-publicised, analysed and sufficiently x-rayed in the context of the country’s current economic conditions. It was widely welcomed

despite the debate as to its practicability among some analysts. The last time I checked, bringing that number of us out of poverty is still a cardinal policy of the Nigerian government for the next decade. According to the president, it was his conviction, and I believe it still is, that this objective will be achieved.

In his words, “by devoting our efforts towards human capital development, efficient management of our resources, greater financial inclusion, and the transformation of the agricultural sector to ensure food security are crucial to poverty eradication”. I could not agree less with the president. In fact, one could actually go further to say that doing those things the president outlined, and doing them diligently and consistently over that time frame, would not only catapult 100 million Nigerians out of poverty but also transform the country as a whole, to an economically stable modern state.

Some critics did cast doubt on the plan, terming it over-ambitious and logically doubtful. Many such doubts were premised on the global economic conditions that have adversely impacted national revenues, and hence, capacity to invest in the requisite Social Overhead Capital entailed in the plan.

Others agree that it is doable but that Nigeria is not mentally and structurally ready to stay the course of the discipline, required for a plan as serious as that. I believe that the right to hold opinions is fundamental to the effective functioning of democratic environments. It is therefore needless to question the capacity of those that think the programme is unachievable.

What may be needful, in my view, is to try to understand the import or presupposition of each of the tactical moves or steps that the president had outlined would lead us to achieve the plan. The plan may be an ambitious one but certainly not impossible to attain.

Besides, the absence of ambition is the stagnation and southward drift. Accordingly, I would make some propositions on the route, which government plans to travel to reach this critical objective, or what I could term the tactics of the plan.

For starters, Nigeria is now officially in a state of war with several terrorists, who want to overrun the country, and establish a regressive political system, or dismember it, and carve out a territory for themselves. During wars, emergency powers are rampantly applied and effective non-military planning is supplanted by adhocism. In that regard, getting things done is often the important issue; not getting it done in a properly planned way. Therefore, consistently following through the job creation strategy may suffer as the war proceeds. Nigeria has a large population of young energetic people, who could work really hard, under appropriate incentives. It also has natural resources, beyond oil, that could be harnessed to create the jobs needed to engage the teeming mass of unemployed people.

Unfortunately, job creation in conflict-affected countries, of which Nigeria has unconsciously become a member, is not as simple as it may appear. An important question that needs to be asked, therefore, is where the jobs will come from, even if the tactics are faithfully implemented. The OECD in its 2015 report said that the fifty countries on the its “Fragile States” list account for 43 percent of people living on less than $1.25 per day – below the poverty line. It further stated that this number has the potential to reach 62 percent by the year 2030. It has also been reported that more than a billion people live in countries affected by fragility and conflict. Finding ways to balance the impacts of the job creation efforts of the government and the job destruction impact of war is a challenge.

In countries where governments are bugged down by their involvement with activities that ought to be fully privatised, the public sector may be the largest employer of labour. However, it is now obvious that such government involvement in activities best suited for the private sector, produces suboptimal results and therefore has become a vanishing model. Governments do not produce the kind of quantum job growth that is needed to significantly

‘

We now have a 21.7 percent unemployment rate. It means that over 27.1 million of us who are not only willing and able to work but are actively looking to get hired, are not finding any openings.

In more caring societies, US, people in that predicament get paid something called Unemployment Benefit, but not here

slow down unemployment in conflict areas. Besides, continual displacement of the population and destruction of livelihoods, also reduces the impact of any job creation programmes, as more and more people become refugees.

Small businesses not only provide the rapid growth of jobs in an economy, they actually do more than job creation.

They provide goods and services that also serve as inputs to the production process, thereby spurring more jobs.

Ordinarily, the best strategy should be to promote rapid expansion in the small business sector but these small businesses are always short and in need of capital. Finding creative ways to improve the capital bases of small business should be a cardinal job creation policy.

This is where a new challenge arises – the meaning of small business. The Nigerian economy is largely informal - driven by MSMEs, which are defined respectively as Microenterprises, when they have less than 10 Staff and below N5m in assets, excluding land and building; Small Enterprises when they employ less than 50 Staff and own less than N50 million in assets and Medium Enterprises when they employ less than 100 Staff and own less than N500 million worth of assets excluding land and building. This definition is now very unstable, as currency value dwindles.

The exchange rate situation has changed these definitions and made it very hard to easily classify businesses.

What kind of business can five million naira start today? It is at best, a briefcase business that will have no offices and such. Perhaps, the virtual new normal may reduce costs in brick and mortar but devaluation has redefined the capital requirement for each business category.

Small businesses have become microenterprises while medium ones have become small given the volume of naira needed to run them. We are probably looking at the need to redefine these categories for effective policy application.

Dr Osuji is head of the department of Economics at Pan Atlantic University Lagos. eosuji@ pau.edu.ng @Emekaosujii, Twitter: emekaosuji_

When the landscapes shift

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here has been a never-ending debate whether or not it’s possible to have a sustainable competitive advantage given our rapidly changing business environment.

Well, the first thing is to understand that there is no such thing as a permanent competitive advantage. Every advantage is industry specific and is relevant as long as the structure of the industry remains unchanged.

Years back, when the environment was more predictable and stable, organizations can be certain that their strategy and the plan based on it will carry them through some five years or three years. In the past commercial patterns were predictable, so organisations were designed for efficiency and effectiveness. Today commercial patterns are quite unpredictable, rather than just efficiency, organisations must be designed for agility, adaptability and speed so that they can thrive in today’s highly disruptive environment.

Being effective today will first of all require an organisation structured for speed, agility and adaptability.

So, can a competitive advantage be sustainable? It’s useless if it can’t be. While changes happen rapidly, organisations must be structured to drive strategic adjustments as often as necessary. That way the strategic advantage becomes sustainable because reviews are scenario driven rather time-driven. Just as you can sustain the service of a car so long as you carry out the necessary periodic maintenance so can

a competitive advantage be sustained through scenario-based approach.

According to Jack Welch, If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near. Strategic effectiveness requires an intelligent structure able to understand the environment and how it is changing as well as the ability to respond strategically.

In designing a strategic position, a clear understanding of the industry structure is key and attention is to be given to the most significant force(s).

But the forces of competition might shift and when that happens your strategic position comes under an attack. It may look insignificant initially, yet ignoring that might be the beginning of a serious problem.

That is the story behind the massive success of Apple’s iPod which recorded more than five million songs downloads from the iTunes store within the first two months.

The revolution began with the development of the .mp3 format in the mid-1990s which provided a means to store audio in a compressed format that was far smaller than uncompressed audio. With the relatively small hard drives of the time, this enabled people to store their music collection on their personal computers, and create their own compact discs of mixed compilations.

The natural progression from the.mp3 was the development of Internet-based file sharing platforms. Beginning with Napster, launched in 1999, many large-scale file sharing applications

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proliferated, all designed to help the illegal sharing of .mp3 files.

Many artists and record labels filed lawsuits against the offending companies, and also against people exploiting the platforms.

Although some progress was made in curbing the use of these sites, there were still millions of Americans who downloaded pirated music.

One of the first companies to try to legitimise downloading of single tracks was Apple, which opened its iTunes music store in 2002 to complement its iPod device. This way redefined the competitive landscape and created a competitive advantage for themselves.

While the players in the music industry were running to preserve the industry structure, Apple understood that what mattered was positioning their company to profit from a changed competitive landscape.

That sounds like how Blockbuster responded when Netflix took off. In May 2002, a spokesperson addressed the online rental market: “Obviously, we pay attention to any way people are getting home entertainment. We always look at all those things. We have not seen a business model that’s financially viable long-term in this arena. Online rental services are “serving a niche market.”

Three months later, clarifying that Blockbuster did not intend to launch an online business to compete with Netflix, a spokesperson announced, “We don’t believe there is enough of a demand for mail order—it’s not a sustainable

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Brian Reuben business model.” Today Netflix market capitalisation is in excess of $100 billion, Blockbuster is bankrupt!

Denying the weakness of your strategic positioning in the face of shifting competitive landscapes is an expressway to bankruptcy. Accepting the threat to your advantage and taking action to reposition yourself may be demanding, challenging and expensive, yet when that has to be done it doesn’t present another choice. If you are looking for free tools to help you analyse your strategic positioning and determine what needs to be adjusted please visit www.brianreuben.com Dr Reuben is one of the most sought after thought leaders on the subject of Strategy in Nigeria. He speaks at business events globally. He has advised and mentored senior executives in several organisations including Africa-Reinsurance Corporation, Savile Energy Luxembourg, Department of Petroleum Resources, Trident Energy United Kingdom, BusinessDay, Dolphin Telecom among others.

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BUSINESS DAY

Wednesday 02 September 2020

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Power is nothing without control (2) Character Matters with Daps

Dapo Akande

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he Aussies, known for their love of beer or the Amber Nectar, as they like to call it, are an interesting people. If you think you’re a big beer drinker, then try challenging an Australian to a drinking contest. I can assure you; he’ll drink you under the table, any day. Aussies literally drink like fish. There was a great advert in the United Kingdom for Castlemaine 4X which parodied this, several decades ago. In preparation for a barbecue (another thing Aussies are known for) party, two men were seen leaning on a truck in the outback (desert like area of Australia) and patiently watching while the drinks for the party were being loaded up.

What were they being loaded unto?

A trailer. What were the variety of drinks? No variety, only Castlemaine 4X. Only after totally overloading the trailer with Castlemaine 4X beer to the point where one could clearly hear the trailer creaking under the sheer weight of it, did they remember that they hadn’t packed any drinks for the women.

Very casually, with folded arms and a can of Castlemaine 4X he was already drinking in hand, one of the

two men said to the other who was doing exactly the same, “I guess we better add a couple of bottles of wine for the Sheilas (ladies)?” His friend agreed and promptly, two bottles of wine were plonked on top of the hundreds of crates of beer. The two men were shown looking satisfied that they had done a good job and then the camera quickly shot back to the trailer as we heard the creaking increase and before we knew it the trailer came crashing down. Without the slightest hint of any panic but with undisguised regret, one of the two men said to the other, “I guess we over did it for the Sheilas”, to which his friend in equal regret just uttered, “yeah”.

The men in the advert above who felt, “Na we dey there” packed the trailer to overload with beer, pampering to their selfish whims and giving little to no thought to the interest of others. Their greed, powerlessness to rein in their voracious appetite when opportunity came knocking to satisfy it and total misuse of position and chance to meet the needs of all, eventually caused the trailer to collapse, so it could not even move anywhere. In the end it didn’t serve anyone’s interest as the drinks were needed at their party. But the saddest part about the whole scenario was this; they didn’t ascribe the trailer’s collapse to their greed at all. They blamed it on the two bottles of wine they patted themselves on the back for so thoughtfully including for the women.

Likewise, the problem with Nigeria from the perspective of our political leaders is not current poor leadership but the people who are in too much of a hurry to enjoy a good life. The same good life the majority have been denied all their lives, frustratingly in the

midst of plenty. Our leaders will brag in the media about accomplishments which the ordinary man can barely see or feel and explain it away with the usual mantra that government resources are limited, therefore people should understand.

As far as they’re concerned, the lack of good hospitals, good roads, good educational system and the most dismal looking future for coming generations of Nigerians actually has little to do with their current performance and only to do with the corruption and profligacy of past leaders. Like the two Aussie men, they calmly try to explain away something which is so painfully obvious.

We urgently need to do something about the average Nigerian’s “do you know me?” attitude. “Don’t try me, I’m a mad man. My head no dey correct o” mentality. It beats me, why anyone would boast of not being normal in the head. I just can’t understand why people brag about something which should ordinarily be a source of concern to any normal person.

Both the “big men” and “small men” in the streets boast of their “power” and threaten to show their antagonists who they are. It’s just unfortunate that neither the big nor the small oppressor has yet realised that they’re both in the same category - they’re both small minded people who only feel big by demeaning others. All such are nothing but “small men” no matter their position or financial wherewithal.

I don’t see how such oppressors are any different to wife beaters.

Included in this category of wife beaters are the few bad eggs amongst our uniformed men, whose presence

‘

Power, just for the sake of it is far from a blessing, it’s an albatross

Changing the nation...one mind at a time Akande is a Surrey University graduate with a Masters in Professional Ethics. An alumnus of the institute for National Transformation and author of two books; The Last Flight and Shifting Anchors. Contact: dapsakande25@gmail. com

Promoting sustainability and climate resilience during a pandemic

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s governments and firms all over the world think of ways to minimise the impact of the new coronavirus pandemic and the 4.9 percent decline in economic output that the International Monetary Fund forecasted it will cause this year, the commitment to protect the environment must be at the heart of the corporate strategies and economic policies being designed to stimulate economic growth during and beyond the pandemic. This is as important for developing countries such as Nigeria that have less resources to grapple with the effects of global warming such as rising sea levels as it is for richer countries in the West.

People everywhere in the world produce and use a diverse range of building solutions to build the factories where they work, commercial buildings they lease, homes they live in and critical infrastructure required to support economic activities, increase incomes and reduce poverty. Evidently population growth and economic development drive the pace of urbanisation. It is therefore no gainsaying that the construction industry supplies the building blocks for economic growth and improving the quality of lives globally. However, if we are to sustainably advance economic growth and reduce poverty, we, as the gatekeepers of the industry, must also keep working on innovations to reduce the 5 percent of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions that our industry is responsible for.

The world is suddenly breathing fresh air due to the pandemic-induced decline in economic activities such as transportation and manufacturing. According to a BBC article on the environmental impact of the new coronavirus,

pollution levels in New York halved in March 2020 and satellite images show that nitrogen dioxide emissions fading away in industrial areas in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

In China, the Ministry of Ecology and the Environment reports that the number of days on which people enjoy “good quality air” has risen by 11.4 percent. The question is how we can transform this unintentional progress on protecting our environment into more a purposeful commitment?

As the global leader in building materials and solutions, our commitment towards taking steps to protect the environment is highly intentional. Everywhere in the over 80 countries where LafargeHolcim operates, we are at the forefront of initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing, the sector which the production of cement and building materials belongs, and construction, another massive sector in which LafargeHolcim is also a leader.

Globally, our care for the environment is guided by four strategic pillars of sustainability: Climate & Energy, Circular Economy, Environment and Communities. Our Climate and Energy commitment has seen us reduce CO2 intensity by 27 percent since 1990, equivalent to avoiding 40 million tons of CO2 in 2019 compared to 1990 or taking 8.6 million cars off the road. Our Circular Economy pillar embodies our commitment to recycling waste materials; in 2019 we reused 45 million tons of waste and are targeting to reuse 80 million tons by 2030. When we use waste to generate energy, this means less drilling for fossil fuels and less materials going into highly polluting landfills and incinerators. Our Environment

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Pillar commits us to important actions such as reducing our water usage and air pollution; we avoid the use of fresh water and depleting or polluting water in the communities where we operate. LafargeHolcim plants also reduce dust emissions by 5 percent every year. Through the Environment Pillar, we demonstrate to our host communities that we are not only committed to protecting the environment around them but also to their welfare. Since 2015, over 28 million people have benefitted our community investments in healthcare, education and other areas.

Having worked and led LafargeHolcim businesses in Europe and the Middle East and Africa regions, it is evident that our commitment to the environment is non-negotiable in any of our businesses around the world. By 2019, 86 percent of our plants had acquired an environmental management system equivalent to ISO 14001. More and more plants are working towards their own EMS to achieve 100 percent stringent compliance with our environmental standards all over the world. Lafarge Africa, has supported Nigeria’s economic growth for over 60 years and has been a leader in promoting responsible manufacturing which places a premium on the protection of the environment.

We have reduced our dust emissions at kiln stack by 28 percent and reduced net Co² per tonne of cementitious material by 1.3 percent to 535 kg/t (compared to 2018) in Nigeria. We are 100 percent compliant with the environment Protection Authority Guidelines, and continue to implement our quarry rehabilitation plan.

Lafarge has developed rehabilitation and reclamation plans for all pit and quarry sites in Nigeria while implementing biodiversity management plans for all extraction sites to

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ought to be a source of comfort to the citizenry but decide instead to use it to physically or psychologically brutalise those unable to fight back. In the same category are people in positions of authority who instead of using their position to provide an enabling environment and make things happen opt instead to plant endless bureaucratic bottlenecks and strangulate all effort to catalyse industry, just because they can. I ask you, how different to wife beaters are those who boast of past appointments held, not to remind us of how well they transformed the lives of ordinary Nigerians while they were there but to now brandish such credentials as a licence to intimidate and belittle those they supposedly went there to serve?

All the above are “little men” but if only they knew. Nigerians are still reeling from one such case but I doff my hat to the individual in question for offering an unreserved apology to the victim and Nigerians in general; a rarity in these climes, I must say.

Sadly, like the case of the two Aussies who were presented with a golden opportunity to meet the needs of all but were blinded by an unrestrained desire to satisfy themselves only, the ship called Nigeria is stuck and currently appears to be moving nowhere.

Power, just for the sake of it is far from a blessing, it’s an albatross.

@Businessdayng

Khaled El-Dokani

protect the habitats and facilitate conservation for the future.

Lafarge Africa has significantly reduced freshwater withdrawals and supports sustainability of water resources especially by making provisions in water scarce areas. All our dry process plants are built with water recirculation systems to encourage reuse and recycling of processed water. A total of 26,000 tree seedlings were planted in our Sagamu, Ewekoro, Mfamosing, Maiganga and Ashaka quarries this year and so far, 397,500 indigenous trees have been planted across our quarry sites in the country from 2011 till date.

For us at Lafarge Africa, sustainable development means enhancing the economy’s capacity to meet more of the needs of people today without jeopardising the needs and welfare of people tomorrow. As we think of enhancing the resilience of our communities and the economy amidst the economic turbulence unleashed by the new coronavirus pandemic, our actions as individuals and corporate organisations must be geared towards a better future for humanity and the environment – the earth, humans and animals alike. As we invite other manufacturing companies to join us in this commitment, we must emphasize the importance of protecting and handing over a more habitable planet to future generations.

Khaled El-Dokani is Country Chief Executive Officer, Lafarge Africa Plc

F a

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Wednesday 02 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Editorial Frank Aigbogun

The economic pains of Nigeria’s land border closure

editor Patrick Atuanya

FG has other ways to boost local production, end smuggling

Publisher/Editor-in-chief

DEPUTY EDITORS John Osadolor, Abuja Tayo Fagbule NEWS EDITOR Osa Victor Obayagbona NEWS EDITOR (Online) Chuks Oluigbo MANAGING DIRECTOR Dr. Ogho Okiti EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STRATEGY, INNOVATION & PARTNERSHIPS Oghenevwoke Ighure ADVERT MANAGER Ijeoma Ude MANAGER, CONFERENCES & EVENTS Obiora Onyeaso BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (South East, South South) Patrick Ijegbai COPY SALES MANAGER Florence Kadiri DIGITAL SALES MANAGER Linda Ochugbua GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (North)

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South) Ignatius Chukwu

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he federal government may have justified the closure of the land borders on the need to stop smuggling activities and illicit export of locally subsidised petrol to neighbouring countries while boosting local production. However, the impact of such policy on the households, businesses and the economy, at large, has been devastating.

Now that Nigeria is on the verge of another recession, the worst maybe, the period provides the federal government another opportunity to rescind its decision to close the land borders for the benefit of all. It is obvious that the cost of the border closure outweighs its benefits.

Following the closure of the borders in August 2019, Nigerians have suffered a huge spike in food prices, especially in rice which has become a staple dish in every household. The commodity which was once affordable has become expensive and a luxury for the average Nigerian.

It is incredible, yet true, that the cost of preparing a pot of Jollof rice – a popular Nigerian delicacy – has now risen 78 percent against what it used to be 4 years ago, ac-

cording to a research by SBMorgen.

This is not only painful, but also unacceptable for an economy which harbours the poorest of humans and battles rising unemployment in an economy that is barely growing.

Worsened by the pandemic, general price of commodities in Nigeria has accelerated consistently for 11 months to 12.82 percent in July 2020, eroding monthly the purchasing power of households.

For a government that often claims to care for the welfare of Nigerians, the decision to close the land borders is rather a threat to welfare.

What this means, to us, is that the 40.1 percent of Nigerians who live below the poverty line on N11,452.5 per month have to battle price hikes.

Beyond the domestic impact of this policy, Nigeria’s immediate neighbours including Benin Republic, Niger, Chad and Cameroon as well as Ghana and Togo have been hit hard by this land closure Many goods come in through the ports in Lagos and are transported by road throughout the region by hundreds of thousands of lorries.

Now, with the closure of Nigeria’s land borders, most businesses in this space have lost billions of naira while some have had to shut down.

The border closure, in our view,

goes against an existing agreement that guarantees free movement between the 15 members of the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, and questions Nigeria’s commitment and readiness to implement the Africa continental free-trade agreement (AfCFTA), which is intended to boost trade between African countries.

Though we understand that the decision to close the land borders originated from the need to end the re-export of rice from Benin to Nigeria, it should be recalled that, the country in 2013 imposed 70 percent tax on rice importation aimed not only to raise revenue, but also to encourage the local production of rice.

But smugglers took advantage of the fact that it is cheaper to import rice to Nigeria’s neighbours. In 2014, Benin lowered its tariffs on rice imports from 35 percent to 7 percent while Cameroon erased it completely from 10 percent, hence providing an opportunity to smuggle rice into Nigeria to sell at a much higher profit margin.

Be that as it may, we are of the opinion that, instead of an outright closure of the land borders, Nigeria could have sought a common external tariff, which would have made

re-exporting less profitable.

We understand that Nigeria needs a way out from oil dependence and this can only come from economic diversification. One way is to seek out ways to boost local production of Agricultural produce and increase the share of other exportable goods against crude oil which accounts for over 90 percent of total export.

However, protectionist policies will only hurt trade relations. Reducing import demand will only be achieved if domestic products can compete favourable with international products.

We urge the FG to open up the land borders and focus on ways to boost local production of rice and other products to meet international standards. Only then will import demand reduce and share of non-oil export increase against oil exports and lessen pressure on the naira.

We strongly believe that when Nigerians begin to get the same or better satisfaction from local rice, smuggling activities of foreign rice through Benin to Nigeria will seize as there won’t be a market for it anymore.

Then and only then will Nigeria unlock the benefits of AfCFTA as opposed to allowing itself to be a dumping ground for foreign goods.

HEAD, HUMAN RESOURCES Adeola Obisesan

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Imo Itsueli Mohammed Hayatudeen Afolabi Oladele Vincent Maduka Opeyemi Agbaje Amina Oyagbola Bolanle Onagoruwa Fola Laoye Chuka Mordi Mezuo Nwuneli Charles Anudu Tunji Adegbesan Eyo Ekpo Wiebe Boer Paul Arinze Boye Olusanya Ayo Gbeleyi Haruna Jalo-Waziri Clement Isong Konyin Ajayi

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BusinessDay avidly thrives on the mainstay of our core values of being The Fourth Estate, Credible, Independent, Entrepreneurial and Purpose-Driven.

• The Fourth Estate: We take pride in being guarantors of liberal economic thought • Credible: We believe in the principle of being objective, fair and fact-based • Independent: Our quest for liberal economic thought means that we are independent of private and public interests.

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Wednesday 02 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

BANKING

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Share your experience at banks with us via: hope.ashike@businessdayonline.com

CIBN certification: A commitment to providing banking services Stories by HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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he Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) at the weekend inducted a total of 1,864 graduates from Nigeria and abroad, who have completed their professional programmes with the Institute this year.

A breakdown of the number of the inductees show 899 candidates on the flagship ACIB programme, 41 candidates on Chartered Banker MBA programme, 22 candidates on MSc/ACIB programme and 902 candidates on Microfinance Certification Programme.

Olayinka David-West, Guest Speaker and Professor of Information System, Academic Director, Lagos Business School, reminded the inductees that the certification represents - a qualification and commitment to provid-

Bayo Olugbemi, president/chairman, Council, CIBN

ing banking services and not to work in a bank.

“And here you all are, gaining a banking certification in a future world where banks

may no longer exist. I urge you to look around you, the dynamics have changed and my question is where will you play? Are there 2 camps

- bank vs. Fintech? Will we collaborate or compete? Will we play to our strengths or duplicate,” David-West questioned.

Speaking on “Digital Economy: The Role of Professional Bankers”, at the virtual 2020 CIBN Graduates Induction and Prize Awards Day, she said digital economy was birthed alongside the Information Age and represents the levels of economic activity from digital connections between people and businesses and extending to devices, data and processes.

She said the financial services ecosystem has recorded significant progress in areas like Bank Verification Number (BVN) and Instant Payments. “The surge on bank branches after the first phase of the lockdown presented some interesting challenges to the ecosystem and the digital economy in general.

“So, when we compare financial inclusion levels with

BoI wins SME Bank, Deal of the Year in African Bankers’ Awards

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he Bank of Industry (BoI) has been recognized as the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) bank of the year in Africa and also for raising the deal of the year through its €1 billion syndicated loan facility from the international capital market.

The Bank of Industry was given the award at the African Bankers’ Awards ceremony, which was held virtually on the sidelines of the African Development Bank Annual Meeting.

The award event featured financial institutions and projects from all 54 countries in Africa, as well as the international community.

The awards committee said the SME Bank of the year award was for an “Institution that has considerably catalyzed funding to the private sector in Africa and promoted enterprise development by facilitating credit and funding for SMEs and providing technical assistance; and supporting institutions for growth of SMEs. “They have done this by expanding SME credit and growing SME support with linkage programmes.”

Receiving the award virtu-

ally in his office, Kayode Pitan, the bank’s managing director and CEO, thanked the award committee for the recognition and thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for providing the vision the bank is currently running with.

He said, “The award is very important to us because it means we are working in line with the President of Nigeria’s plan to have at least 10 million people employed and also support the SMEs to make that possible.

“So, once again we want

to thank President and also thank the Federal and State Governors who are partnering with us to make this possible.

“We also want to thank commercial banks for supporting their customers to access the facilities we provide.

“Through our various programmes, we were able to support over 14,000 youths in 2019; and this year, we are working harder to improve on that achievement.”

The award came days after the Bank promised increased

Kayode Pitan, managing director and CEO, The Bank of Industry www.businessday.ng

support for SMEs. The Bank’s Chairman Aliyu Abdulrahman Dikko declared on the sidelines of its 2019 Annual General Meeting that “Our greater emphasis now is really on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; we are all out to support them and going forward, this would be our continued emphasis.”

He said in 2017, lending to SMEs was about N8 billion but in 2019 the bank’s disbursement to SMEs rose to over N56 billion.

In demonstration of its commitment to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country, BoI made a total disbursement of N53.0 billion to in 2019, a 56.3% yearon-year increase from N33.9 billion in 2018.

Dikko said to further increase the bank’s capacity to support SMEs, “in the course of 2019, we made significant progress towards improving the size of our loanable funds, leveraging our strategic partnerships in the international market and the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The Bank was able to raise €1 billion through syndication by international banks for lending to SMES to create jobs.”

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mobile telecommunications penetration or even internet usage vis-a-vis their maturity, we can see that again 100 years versus 20 years, we still have a lot of gaps to close.

“The informality of the economy and the dominance of cash still requires innovation capabilities that extends beyond digitalising cash to developing financial solutions that really meet the needs of the larger population that we want to deal with,” she said.

David-West charged the inductees and bankers to reach out to 100 million adult Nigerians for introduction of the state of the financial infrastructure through digital, adding that the infrastructure has developed beyond physical branches that offer over the-counter services to digital (self-service) channels or touch points like automated teller machines (ATMs), Point of Sale (PoS) terminals and individual mobile devices.

Bayo Olugbemi, presi-

dent/Chairman of Council, CIBN, urged the new inductees and bankers to take advantage of the digital economy to shape the future of banking industry.

The induction, an annual ceremony of the Institute is the forum where student members who have completed their examinations and fulfilled all other conditions set by the Governing Council, are formally admitted into full professional membership of the Institute. “You will agree with me that COVID-19 has accelerated the space of digital evolution. “As such, it has become imperative for us to rethink our approach to digital economy which has become the new normal. “It is in the light of this, and in the recognition of important role banking and finance industry plays in the development and growth of the economy that we have decided to Xray at this event today (Saturday),” Olugbemi said.

Heritage Bank to stimulate economic growth with youth empowerment schemes

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s part of its further response to deal with the global economic challenge occasioned by COVID-19, Heritage Bank Plc has reiterated commitment to deepen its support to young entrepreneurs in Nigeria to grow their businesses either as start-ups or prospective business owners. This, the bank said, is in line with its culture as timeless wealth partners, which would impact positively on the nation’s socioeconomic development.

Ifie Sekibo managing director/CEO of the bank, stated that Heritage Bank was mindful of the devastating impact of the pandemic to the nation’s economic system, hence as an institution at the forefront of investing in human capital development for critical economy recovery, “we will up our game to empower Nigerian youths who are one of the bedrock of any vibrant economy,” he added.

He disclosed that one of the channels churned out in partnering the youths to leverage their talents and contribute their quota to the growth of the economy, was the use of financial inclu@Businessdayng

sion strategy which would be adopted to boost entrepreneurship development, as this is critical to Heritage Bank’s mission to create, preserve and transfer wealth across generations.

He further explained that Heritage Bank’s various entrepreneur schemes in the support for business had always focused on dependable job-creating sectors, such as agricultural value chain (fish farming, poultry, snail farming), cottage industry, mining and solid minerals, creative industry (tourism, arts and crafts), and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Sekibo restated that the aim of Heritage Bank being at the forefront of youth empowerment is to emancipate the latent entrepreneurial spirit in the teeming youths to unleash their support to the growth of the economy.

“At Heritage, nothing else is more fulfilling than to groom-to-empower young aspiring start-up entrepreneurs, as we mentor them to grow and become large corporates enlisted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange,” he said.

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Wednesday 02 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

FEATURE At the Faarah Coffee Lounge retreat in PH:

IGNATIUS CHUKWU

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hange and dynamism seem to be constant and most underlining factors in tax administration all over the world. Tax experts thus seem prepared for this dynamism in the face of the global recession recorded in most economies of the world.

This is what the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) calls the new normal, inferring that new situation has emerged in the tax environment that now looks normal.

This change requires the Council to quickly re-strategise to manage the situation through effective teaching and retraining of both old and incoming members in the coming months and years.

To play this role effectively, the Council moved into Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where it held its first-ever council meeting outside Lagos; with a retreat to go with it.

The CITN is at the moment led

by Gladys Olajumoke Simplice who is the President as well as Chairman of Council. The institute chose the Faarah Coffee Lounge (which actually is not just about coffee), a highly fortified and exquisitely maintained facility in the heart of the Garden City as venue of the well-attended retreat and meeting. The event took four days of intensive brainstorming, teaching and learning. The Council members said they were in Port Harcourt to also perfect some listed proposals and suggestions to the Federal Government in view of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.

The President particularly called for a national tax palliative, reiterating the call for the FG to forgo payment of income tax in 2020. She told newsmen that such palliative would boost purchasing power of workers and help rescue producers in the coming months as recession would sets in.

The President said: “If income tax payers get waiver this year, they will resume paying next year. That way, they boost the economy by having expendable income”.

As professionals who look at books of companies, the institute says most Nigerian companies cannot afford even to pay for tax advice. Olajumoke said many countries are so far giving different palliatives, adding that the taxpayer needs to first survive so as to resume payment of taxes.

Rivers State as tax model It was in this light that Simplice commended the Rivers State government led by Gov Nyesom Wike for the recent rollout of huge palliatives to taxpayers in the state.

The tax palliatives were unveiled few weeks ago. The state government said the measure was to cushion the effects of hardship occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

Governor Wike had announced the suspension of all informal sector tax drive for the year 2020, noting that the informal sector was the worst hit in terms of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He further suspended all local government taxes and levies for the 2020 tax year, except tenement rate.

He granted a waiver of 50 per cent on all assessed Capital Gains Tax (CGT) until December 2020.

These measures were released by the executive chairman of the Rivers State Internal Revenue Service (RIRS), Adoage Norteh, who announced government’s extension of the subwww.businessday.ng

How CITN council retreat in Port Harcourt may soon impact on Nigeria’s tax administration ... as tax experts train on new teachings for the new normal in tax administration

L-R: Mahuta Babangida Ibrahim (representing Fed House of Representatives); Samuel Agbeluyi (deputy vice president); Adoage Norteh (executive chairman, Rivers State Internal Revenue Service); Gladys Olajumoke Simplice (president/chairman of Council CITN); Adesina Adedayo (vice president); Innocent Ohagwa (honorary treasurer), and Adefisayo Awogbade (registrar/chief executive), while other council members standing.

mission deadline of self-assessment and annual returns by individuals and companies operating in Rivers to December 31, 2020 due to COVID-19 restriction of movements which affected businesses.

Government had stated: “Most of these MSMEs operate in the rural areas, with many having limited online connectivity to be able to file and pay their taxes electronically.”

The policy also granted a 20 per cent discount on all Personal Income Tax (PIT) assessment issued to owners of schools, hotels, pharmacies and hospitals, as well as other allied businesses in the year to December 31, 2020. Business leaders in the state swiftly welcomed the tax palliative which was released on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. The chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Rivers/Bayelsa chapter, Adawari Michael Pepple, who spoke for businesses told BusinessDay that this would shut out the various touts and task forces destroying traders’ goods everywhere in Port Harcourt.

While in Rivers State, Simplice

referred to the Rivers model and pointed at what she called evidence of tax utilization whereby tax revenue is deployed in such a way that taxpayers would see clear evidence of their sweat.

Illustrating her point with huge enthusiasm, the President called on other states to emulate the Rivers State government in both tax utilization evidences and tax palliatives regime application.

The appeal came at a time sections of taxpayers in some states including Lagos have cried out over what they called excessive squeezing by tax touts and local council agents unlike in Rivers State where such taxes have been suspended.

Some of the firms in Lagos were quoted in a recent newspaper report to say they are forced to pay many unlikely taxes including ‘Zamfara State Vehicle Paper’, ‘Ogun tax paper’, ‘Zamfara State Carriage Paper’, etc.

The firms complained that these taxes and collection methods at such a period were snuffing life out of the firms.

New normal and new teaching:

Governor Wike

Gladys Olajumoke

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Speaker after speaker at the Garden City retreat harped on the need to learn new things to contend with the emerging new dynamics in the tax environment, known as the new normal. The teaching was mainly handled by Michael Stevens Consulting who treated the theme: ‘CITN and the March Towards Strategic Redirection as a Recipe for Global Leadership in Professional Practice’.

Reviewing the training, a Council member, Justina Okoro, said the retreat looked at the journey so far as an institute and what they needed to do next to impact positively on Nigeria and the economy. “This retreat is to look at strategies and understand ways to achieve more with less effort. It is a focused cause of action in certain areas of policy. “Our leaders need to be focused in their plans of action. You need to decide what you want to achieve at the of a set period.

Corporate organizations must not be distracted in what they set out to achieve. So, you must have a vision, a mission, and strategy to achieve them.

“CITN wants to be the foremost tax institute in Africa and the world, and so how to achieve this, say in 2030.

Nigeria set certain targets for 2020; so did we achieve them, and if not, is it late? The nation can always try again.

It is to re-plan and refocus on how to achieve whatever that was intended.”

Some council members who also spoke said the retreat was important so as to fashion out ways and strategies to assist each council member to be prepared to help the general membership. They said these would help reposition the CITN in the quest to be reckoned as a global power in tax administration. They said the institute is now working to bring up practitioners committed to professionalism.

President speaks Giving a background of the institute, Simplice stated: “The CITN was signed into law by then military

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president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, in 1992. The Act gave us power to decide membership, determine what a professional will bring in, and train the practitioners.

“Taxation is a living subject and we need to track this. Things change. Over the years, the CITN has been part of all the changes and the amendments of the tax law in Nigeria because we travel all over the world and bring home the experience to improve our tax laws. We have the European Union fiscal policies, GITAP, South Africa Institute of Taxation and the UK version of it. They inform us of things happening in other places.

“If we need to train our people in any area of the tax practice, we have enough materials and intellectual resources to do that. We train others too. We train people who want to specialize in certain aspects of taxation.

We have our tax academy.

“We look at the tax Acts and how they affect life and people; are they right, or due for amendment? We recommended 90 per cent of the Finance Act of 2019. We do not only look at the government aspect but impact on the people. As we speak, we are looking at the Finance Act of 2019, and we are saying, there are certain things that can be amended because of Covid-19.

“This retreat is to first look at the journey so far as an institute and what we have done that has impacted positively on Nigeria and the economy. We want to know what we can do better and what we can tell the FG to do for the people of Nigeria. We already have the template and we will take the resolutions to the FG.” No cause for alarm: Some council members appealed to Nigerians not to be apprehensive in new tax laws and amendments that appeared to affect religious houses, saying the law only wants to tax the business activities of churches and mosques like any other business.

Wednesday 02 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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insurance today

E-mail: insurancetoday@businessdayonline.com

Current capital for micro insurance is looking unrealistic - Thomas Since the appointment of Sunday Thomas as the Commissioner for Insurance/CEO of the National Insurance Commission in acting capacity in August 2019 and his eventual confirmation by President Mohammadu Buhari in May 2020, a lot has taken place in the nation’s insurance industry. He is fast focusing on market development and growth of the sector. In this interview with Modestus Anaesoronye, he shares his vision and plan for the industry. Excerpt:

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e are far behind schedule so we are doing a catch up.

Some of the things we ought to have done have been delayed, so we are drawing them down from the drawing board to full implementation. I wouldn’t consider it as being fast. We are just trying as much as possible to keep up with our strategic document in the sense that we have set for ourselves what we want to accomplish this year and if we don’t start early it will be a challenge. The environment is changing and very frequently. What you can do today you don’t have to differ to tomorrow. So why can’t we do things that we have all it takes to do now. Of course, I took over in Acting Capacity last year and since then we just continued from where my predecessors stopped. We try to conclude those things that have been in the works and we are also looking at ways to see how we can put them into reality.

The potential of the insurance sector is huge. We have found ourselves where we are today not by reason of in action by my predecessors but probably the environment was not too conducive to get certain things done. The environment changes from time to time. So, we are presently leveraging on a fairly good environment to see how fast we can run. This is why its seems as if we are running so fast.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic has since slowed us down, we are trying to do everything in our capacity to forge ahead.

Micro insurance is one key area the Commission has identified for development. But progress in this area seems slow having been in the works since 2010, we have only three registered micro insurance companies. Why is this so?

It is one of the areas we want to fast track the process. We have a couple of applications that we should be able to conclude soon. One thing is for you to initiate something; another is for others to see the viability of the vision.

We have this but people seem to be catching up with us in terms of our vision and their understanding of these vision. For us, micro insurance in financial inclusion generally is the way to go. Financial inclusion is going to help us and it is going to drive penetration. I believe that with the way we are going about it, things will get better. We are trying to rejig the entire guideline to be more realistic. What we had before in the guideline issued about six years ago was the National, State and the Unit licensing of micro insurance companies. The amount of capital required for this with respect to some of the sectors is looking unrealistic and we may have to thinker with it.

So, are you considering reducing the amounts?

No, it can’t get lower because if you look at unit which requires N40 million or thereabout, what can it do when you want to establish a sustainable company. But it looked adequate as at the time it was conceptualised but obviously it is no longer adequate. The exchange

Sunday Thomas

rate was aboutN160 to a dollar and now it is N380 to a dollar. This does not seem good to drive the business from a sustainable basis.

So we are looking at it. So far, we have two that are States and one that has a National outlook which is Consolidated Hallmark. Already, the company has insurance culture. The National company is required to operate with N600 million and of course, it will not be adequate. So, we still believe that we need to do much more in microinsurance and financial inclusion in general, for us to get the desired penetration.

We know that only 1.5 million Nigerians have one form of insurance cover or the other.

Has the figure changed?

Certainly, the figure has changed but not as substantial as it should be. With little enforcement that is being done on motor insurance for example, many are coming into the net.

Of course, we need to do much more than we have ever done before because the number has changed significantly. You will recollect that in the last three years or so, we have been hovering around N350 billion to N400 billion premium. I believe that in the next 2years, we must make a remarkable change. If we cannot hit a trillion in the next two years, we should reach half a trillion. We must hit 50 per cent increase over what it is now. In which case, we should be talking of N700 billion instead of still dancing around N400 billion which is www.businessday.ng

not progress. That is not my vision. Actually, we should be in the realm of a trillion naira in the 2 years.

Insurance regulators and stakeholders across the world have identified mobile telephony transaction as growth booster but this has been stalled in Nigeria due to prolonged discussions between concerned regulators. How far has NAICOM gone with this?

We are close to it. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Communication Commissions (NCC) and NAICOM have been meeting. Essentially CBN and NCC and of course occasionally, NAICOM is brought into the discussion. They are close to resolving this matter. I must also sound a note of warning that technology will not automatically translate to efficient service delivery in the sense that financial inclusion requires attending to the needs of the lower end of the pyramid.

But how many people are actually transacting business using technology? Majority of them still try to go to banks. In which case, brick and mortar is still very relevant. Even as popular as banking is, you still find banks opening branches around despite being technologically driven they are. This is not to talk of a sector that is doing catch up in terms of trust. Will somebody in my village buy insurance using technology when he doesn’t know who he’s

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talking to, or where his money is going to and what value will they deliver in his hand. So, it’s going to be difficult. But as a distribution methodology, I go for technology. You can use it to distribute to those who already have knowledge of products, which is those who are conversant with the deliverables of insurance. Again, one other factor you will need to look at is the issue of financial literacy which is very low. Even an average Nigerian, probably well read, educated have the finance don’t even understand what insurance is all about. And that is why this year as a Commission and part of our development effort, is to carry out a lot of awareness creation. We will be quite heavy in creating awareness, selling the benefit of insurance on a wholesale basis.

We will be visiting all the states. Plans are already on. If we can get an appointment with the governors, we’ll follow through with the mechanisms of the state and we will be able to sustain it. Because with what we have done in the past, the mechanism for sustenance was not put in place.

What are the mechanisms for sustenance?

First and foremost, we must have our offices in the places we want to visit. Secondly, relevant committees will be set up in the states.

Three, there is a role unit that will monitor the performance in the state. With this of course, the mechanism of the state will be fully deployed for enforcement and we believe that is going to make a difference.

But some observers think enforcement has been one that the Commission has not been able to do Well, when I hear this statement, I respond by saying that we must do this in a way that will still identify the fact that there is a difference between regulation and the job of the law enforcement agencies. We are the regulator and we have a responsibility for sensitising the relevant enforcement agencies. But we must do this in a way that will still identify that there’s a difference between regulation and the job of the law enforcement agencies. For example, NAICOM cannot go and say they are checking license or any other vehicle particulars. But it can sensitize the relevant agencies by collaborating with them to do just that. All these things we tend to do as part of our awareness creation. It is going to be on a sustainable basis.

It appears the Commission is going back to Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI)?

Yes. We are re-jigging MDRI for sustainability. We believe that MDRI is a good concept, well thought of and put together but we are enhancing it. Part of the enhancement is to get agencies of states involved and get the supply end of the team to be available because we don’t just want to cultivate the demand side but part of the supply side. This is why at one of the fora when I spoke to the industry, I told them they can create like a consortium if they think it might not be too profitable for them to have individual branches.

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Wednesday 02 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

FINANCIAL INCLUSION

& INNOVATION

CBN issues licence to Glo, 9Mobile, UP subsidiaries for PSB services …demands N5.35bn financial requirement Endurance Okafor

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave an official node to telecommunication operators’ push to offer mobile money services in Nigeria as the industry regulator issued final approval to three firms to operate as Payment Service Banks (PSBs) on Friday.

The three firms are Hope PSB a subsidiary of Unified Payment, Globacom’s Money Master and 9Mobile’s 9PSB. The apex had issued Approval-in-Principle (AIP) to the three subsidiaries in September 2019.

“Three Payment Service Banks (PSB) have been granted final approval to operate as PSBs following compliance with licensing requirements: a. Hope PSB b. Moneymaster PSB c. 9 PSB,” the CBN said in a tweet.

A PSB license allows the companies to among other things; maintain savings accounts and accept deposits from individuals and small businesses, which is covered by the deposit insurance scheme; carry out payments and remittance (including cross-border personal remittance) services through various channels within Nigeria; issue debit and prepaid cards, and operate an electronic purse or wallet.

For a company to obtain the licence to operate as a

payment service bank the CBN said it would have to provide the financial requirement of N5.35 billion.

“Minimum capital N5,000,000,000.00, Nonrefundable application Fee N500,000.00, NonRefundable Licensing Fee N2,000,000.00 and change of name fee N1,000,000.00,” as complied from the new circular that has the guideline issued by the central bank for licencing and regulation of Payment Service bank.

According to the circular, the structure of the banks include the fact that they shall among other requirements operate mostly in the rural areas and unbanked locations targeting financially excluded persons, with not less than 25% financial service touchpoints

in such rural areas as defined by the CBN from time to time “Enter into direct partnership with card scheme operators. Such cards shall not be eligible for foreign currency transactions; deploy ATMs in some of these areas; deploy Point of Sale devices,” the apex bank stated.

Payment Service Banks according to the central bank shall not grant any form of loans, advances and guarantees (directly or indirectly) or accept foreign currency deposits; deal in the foreign exchange market except as prescribed by the CBN. They shall also not participate in insurance underwriting; undertake any other transaction which is not prescribed by this Guidelines,

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and shall not accept any closed scheme electronic value (e.g. airtime) as a form deposit or payment.

The apex bank said the license of a PSB may be revoked by the regulator subject to any of the following conditions: Failure to comply with any of the provisions of the PSB Guidelines or other circulars and Guidelines issued by the CBN from time to time, failure to comply with the provisions of the BOFIA, and Voluntary liquidation by a PSB with the prior written approval of the CBN. Before now, only banks and licensed financial institutions were allowed to provide financial services.

Although telecom operators and other fintech companies indicated interests to operate in the market, the

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CBN policy would not allow them. The regulator eventually shifted because of the increasing rate of financially excluded people in Nigeria and the lack of progress in getting banks to provide financial services to people living in areas that lack access.

The apex bank has a target to ensure that 80 percent of the country’s adult population is financially included in the financial cycle by the year 2020. The CBN had in a circular on July 2018, lamented that Nigeria was not meeting any of the financial inclusion targets agreed and contained in the 2012 Financial Inclusion Strategy.

Not only was the country not meeting its targets, but it was also declining in growth.

For instance, while Nigeria achieved 60.3 percent in 2012, it declined to 58.4 percent in 2016 against a target of 69.5 percent translating to financial exclusion of about 41.6 percent.

The World Bank Global Findex Report 2017 estimates that of the 1.7 billion adults who are unbanked and financially excluded worldwide out of the estimated world adult population of billion, Nigeria has 3.4 percent even though its population is 2.6 percent of the world population.

In a bid to grow the number of financially included people, the CBN released an exposure draft in October 2018 in which it proposed Payment Service Banks aimed at deepening finan-

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cial inclusion in Nigeria.

At least 30 business names applied for registration as PSBs as of December 2018, according to data from Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) which BusinessDay saw.

Among the list of applicants were four of the telecommunications companies that operate in Nigeria, MTN, Globacom, Barti Airtel and 9Mobile. Other companies include Probity Payment Service Banks; IFIS; Goals; A-Tel; among others.

“It is a very good development for financial inclusion,” Esaie Diei, former CEO of EFInA told BusinessDay. “The PSB license is going to accelerate financial services access to millions of Nigeria who were once financially excluded, particularly those living in rural communities where banks cannot reach.”

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had in 2019 welcomed the Central Bank of Nigeria’s plan to give Telcos mobile money licence to render payment services to Nigeria’s financially excluded population.

“The roll-out of Payment Service Banks guidelines that allows licensing of telco subsidiaries is welcome and should be implemented,” IMF said.

The Washington-based organisation recommended in its Article IV Consultation that the CBN should leverage PSB to include a wider range of Nigeria’s population into the financial sector.

Wednesday 02 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

AGRIBUSINESS

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‘Agribusinesses must adhere to standards, specifications to become sustainable’

Dayo Olunowo is the managing director, Agricapital Limited. In this interview with Josephine Okojie, he spoke about the Nigerian herbs and seasoning market and his organisation’s scheme for smallholder farmers.

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Why are you in agribusiness? e run an out-grower scheme where we act as an aggregator from the farmers to off-takers. The off-takers tell us what they want and we get the farmers to plant what the off-takers want following their specific standards and specifications.

Which crops are you aggregating?

Currently, we plant thyme, Orange-Flesh Sweet Potatoes (OFSP), white onions, ginger, turmeric, maize, and cassava.

Why do you specialise in seasoning and herbs instead of food crops?

We specialise in seasoning and herbs because we have a high demand for it from our offtakers. They look at the market and they are innovating, with the aim of import substitution.

For example, Nigeria imports thyme and no major player is cultivating it. Importing thyme into Nigeria yearly costs about $50 million. We have off-takers to buy thyme leaves now. Our farmers’ plant and off-takers buy.

Who are your off-takers?

We have Sano Foods who buys

in the out-growers’ scheme?

We have about 7,850 farmers in the scheme. They are located in Ibadan, Oyo, Fiditi, Ilora, Ogbomoso, Ibarapa, all in Oyo State for now.

orange-flesh sweet potatoes, thyme, and turmeric. They use them for bread, cookies, and other products. The Integrated Feeds Limited also off-take yellow maize, cassava, and other products, among many other off-takers.

What makes your services better for farmers, that is, why must they enroll here when they have associations?

What differentiates us is that we do not just aggregate, we train our farmers in good agricultural practice and currently, we have two farm assurers certified by GLOBALGAP. This enables the farmers to meet the requirement of the offtakers standard, increases yield, and encourages business continuity among parties. We also have programs for the welfare of the farmers and their families. The first one is the farmers’ medical programme.

When the farmer or any of their family members is sick, we have provision for medical care loans. At the end of the production cycle, we deduct the loan from their product sales.

We also have a farmer housing programme, in partnership with a company, which is aimed at building affordable homes for farmers.

But the challenge is that farmers

Apart from off-take agreement, have farmers keyed into other services?

Some have keyed in because we are just rolling out other services. Test-running has started and would become fully operational by the next planting season.

Dayo Olunowo

have not been keeping the record or financially included.

So, we assist to arrange their books, partner with banks to get them included financially by opening accounts for them, and getting them BVNs in preparation for the housing scheme.

The family education scheme for farmers is also there. Any of the farmers may want to buy books or pay school fees; we have made provision for loans to take care of that. The loans for farmers are affordable, between two

and five percent interest rate.

We also have a farmers’ extension networking. If farmers do not have land but they want to farm, we network them with people that have the land. We also have farmers’ access cards, a form of credit card that farmers can use to buy food and groceries at major stores.

We run these services so that farmers can concentrate on their farm operations.

How many farmers are involved and their location

Farmers do default in loan repayment most times. How is your experience with farmers in the scheme?

What we do is that we pay them on delivery of the produce. We also spend a lot of time and other resources monitoring the farm businesses. We do not sit in the office and assume that everything is well. We gave some farmers, for example, seedlings but they failed to plant it. In the process of visiting every farm, we detected that early. So, we monitor when it is time to prepare land, plant, apply fertiliser, or pesticide. We supply all the inputs to them and the balance is remitted to them after the sale of their produce.

So, because we monitor them well, we can ensure

delivery. We tie them to groups. We do not do isolated cases. We do it in a way they can guarantee one another and check defaults.

How do you handle insecurity and herdsmen’ clashes with farmers?

These are parts of the risk assessment we do carry out.

We take soil samples, check the environment, and the history of clashes as well as other risk factors before engaging farmers in certain areas. We plan that each farmer should not be more than five kilometers from another. This assists in risk management. We work with farmers’ associations which help us as well.

Are you participating in Anchor Borrowers’ scheme?

No, but we will be more involved in the programme during the next planting season.

Two years on, what are your challenges?

Introducing good agricultural practices to farmers and getting them to follow the new process of crop cultivation is challenging. The offtake partner’s requirement and the guideline must be adhered to.

Bauchi signs MoU with OCP Africa to boost agric productivity Josephine Okojie

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he Bauchi state government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with OCP Africa – top producers and exportation of phosphate-based fertilisers to boost agricultural productivity in the state.

The agreement will complement both partners’ e f f o r t s i n f ou r s p e c i f i c areas where productivity will be revamped to ensure enhanced productivity and food security for the citizenry.

Caleb Usoh, countr y m a n a g e r, O C P A f r i c a during the signing said the four complementary areas of collaboration are in the; development of last-mile inputs distribution through the OCP One Stop Shop, implementation of soil testing solutions, implementation of the Agribooster project in the state, and collaboration with

the state higher Institutions of learning.

Usoh said that as a plan to address the age-long challenge of poor access to adequate and appropriate farming inputs, training, and technology by farmers in rural underserved communities, the MoU seeks to ensure a joint development of last-mile inputs distribution through OCP One-Stop shop.

He added that both parties have agreed to collaborate in setting up and equipping five centers for the last-mile agroinputs distribution and retail in very rural under-served farming communities with high agriculture potentials within Bauchi State.

He notes that the OneStop Shop is an all-inclusive total distribution solution that seeks to make available under one roof all that is needed by a farmer to enable him to succeed in his farming endeavor.

He further asserted that the outlets are designed to www.businessday.ng

create a platform for many different companies and service providers across the entire value chain to interact with farmers in the provision of various goods and services.

According to him, the centers will provide services such as inputs and aftersales services, access to mechanization and irrigation services, training on good

agricultural practices, and center for financial solutions’ like input credit profiling and mobile money solutions to farmers and rural dwellers.

He added that the centers which are to be located in very rural areas will also be built to provide by way of CSR access to clean water for the communities.

Usoh said Bauchi state

L-R: Awral Uba, VC, Bauchi State University; Samaila Adamu, commissioner for Agriculture, Bauchi State; Caleb Usoh, country manager, OCP Africa; and Uma Obasi, head of supply chain, OCP Africa at the MoU signing between OCP Africa and the Bauchi State government to develop Agriculture in the state. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

have collaborated with it in the implementation of the OCP School Lab project from 2018 to 2019 in the form of a Mobile Soil testing caravan, which provided; Soil testing ser vices to smallholder farmers; On the spot fertilizer recommendations; Training on Good Agricultural Practices, and simple soil sampling techniques.

Under the present MoU, OCP said the collaboration with Bauchi State in the implementation of the OCP School Lab project continues so long as the Bauchi State Government is willing to invest in acquiring the mobile caravan and laboratory while OCP Africa provides technical support that will ensure the smooth operation of such initiative within Bauchi State.

On collaboration with higher Institutions of learning in the state, both parties intend to establish linkage between the Bauchi State University and OCP @Businessdayng

sponsored Mohammed 6 University in Benguerir Morocco to explore areas of academic and research collaborations, training, and exchange program.

The aim is to energize and modernize the knowledge ecosystem in Bauchi State by providing access to innovative methodologies, technologies, and research, especially within the Agriculture space.

Also, Samaila Adamu, commissioner for Agriculture, Bauchi State expressed the state government’s readiness to ensure the sustainability of the partnership.

“The essence of the MoU is for Bauchi State Government and OCP to collaborate to take the state to the highest level as far as agriculture is concerned,” he said.

“There are four major areas we want to start with. One is soil testing to know what is required of our various soils across the state. This is to improve soil quality,” he added.

22

Wednesday 02 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

MARITIMEBUSINESS Shipping

Logistics

Maritime e-Commerce

Again, Shippers’ Council frowns at 100% manual inspection of cargo by Customs amaka Anagor-Ewuzie

H

assan Bello, executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), has again frowned at the manual examination of cargoes at the nation’s seaports by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Speaking at a virtual meeting organised by the Council in Lagos recently, Bello, who described such as ‘laborious and time wasting,’ charged Customs Service to reduce delays in the cargo clearance process by dismantling roadblocks mounted by its officials at the port access roads.

“We believe that the procedure of Customs could be abridged to make sure things are done fast and there are no roadblocks after the container has been released.

Very soon, we believe scanners would be deployed by Customs so that we can reduce 100 percent physical examination, which is laborious and time wasting,” he said.

He however said that the Council, in collaboration with other sister agen-

cies, has developed a three point agenda of ensuring the realisation of a virtual port system and multimodal transportation to enhance efficiency at the port.

“It is very important that by first or second quarter of next year, 98 percent of

transactions are online.

If we do that, it will mean that we are making our port competitive, eliminating inefficiency, delay and most importantly corruption because human contacts is the reason we see so much corruption at the port. We

S

O A b d u r a h e e m, chief instructor and training assistance team at the Nigeria Customs Staff College, has described LADOL Free Zone as a success that is driven by its operational plans.

Abduraheem stated this when he led students of Junior Division Course 7 of the Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada in Abuja on a study tour tagged ‘Effective Collaborative Effect of NCS and other Relevant Stakeholders towards Enhanced National Security,’ to LADOL Free Zone.

Abduraheem said his 18-member team is on a research mission regarding the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service and its agencies.

“It was a warm reception, a lot of enlightening, lectures and presentations were given and all our questions had been answered.

I am sure the students will find all the information given beneficial to their research work and of course, their careers,” he said.

Stating that LADOL’s success is based on its operating plans, he said, LADOL needs to do more so that more people would know who they are.

Hamisu Musa Ahmed, a senior representative of Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA), explained that NEPZA promotes and facilitates local and international investment in Nigeria, noting that the agency enjoys seamless and healthy relationship with other relevant government agencies such as Customs and Immigration.

He also confirmed that LADOL Free Zone is compliant and works well with NEPZA. Vivian Sheriff Ighomaro, assistant manager, NEPZA at LADOL Free Zone, who made a presentation to the students, said Free Zones in Nigeria are the modality nations are using today www.businessday.ng

to drive rapid economic growth.

“A Free Trade Zone is an industrial area within a geographical location of a country for fiscal exceptions and other activities. Commercial export activities are encouraged in that area and it is a country within a country. Customs activities in the Free Zones are based on NEPZA Law,” she said.

On the activities of NEPZA, Ighomaro described it as a Federal Government agency that was established

by Act 63 of 1992, with the responsibility to license, promote, and establish Free Trade Zones across Nigeria.

Amy Jadesimi, managing director of LADOL, said the success of LADOL and its ability to strategically support a wide range of industries is due to the NEPZA Free Zone platform.

“Since the Zone was designated in 2006, NEPZA has provided an enabling environment, which we understand the Federal Government is now repli-

Commerce and Industry (LCCI) urged the Federal Government to introduce reforms that would facilitate trade at the port.

Yusuf identified dilapidated port access roads, lack of functional scanners and frequent breakdown of Customs server as challenges that have continued to cause setback to trade facilitation.

“Our trade policies need to be reviewed. For example, the border closure policy is impacting negatively on legitimate trade. Our foreign exchange policy is critical for trade facilitation and leaving it for Central Bank alone was not good and so the need to get things right. Tariffs should also be at a level that will be easy to enforce,” he said.

He pointed out the need for agencies of government involved in inspection of cargoes at the port to become flexible and adopt online processes.

Marine Police promises to protect dredgers against theft

LADOL selected for operational study

by Customs Staff College amaka Anagor-Ewuzie

should have a virtual port and adopt a paperless base transaction,” he said.

According to him, a committee has been set up to look into how to ensure that there is a virtual port.

“The second point agenda we have started is multimodal approach in transportation. We cannot rely on the road alone. The Council has already brokered the standard operating procedure between the Nigeria Railway Corporation and the terminals, and we are now having multiple trips by rail and with every trip by rail, we knock out 38 trucks on the road,” Bello said.

He further disclosed that delivery of cargo by barges through inland waters will also provide an alternative source of transportation that would help to reduce Apapa gridlock.

Muda Yusuf, director general, Lagos Chamber of

amaka Anagor-Ewuzie cating across the country.

LADOL operates within the ambit of established rules and regulations of NEPZA, which also brings other agencies into the Free Zone, including Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Ports Authority and Nigeria Immigration Service and other relevant government agencies,” she said.

According to her, Free Zones are gazetted under the rules created and approved by NEPZA. “There is a very strict framework in place and the Free Zone Management Company is responsible for ensuring that NEPZA’s rules and regulations are adhered to in the Zone.

There is also an office in each Zone where the Management Company reports to NEPZA,” she said.

Amy added that as part of the regulations, all of the zone enterprises and the management company are restricted from having direct contact with any government agency and must go through NEPZA.

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A

nderson Bankole, acting assistant inspector general of police (AIG) Maritime and commissioner of police (CP) has assured members of the Dredgers Association of Nigeria of Police protection in the discharge of their legitimate businesses.

Responding to the request by the executive members of the association during a familiarisation visit to the marine force headquarters annex office in Obalende, Lagos, Bankole commended the association for doing their business within the arm bit of the law, assuring them that the marine police will do all within its constitutional powers to protect their businesses and life of their workers.

“We will join you to profile the legitimate activities of registered operators and will work with you to rid the sector of illegal dredgers as well as other fly by night operators, who are out to put others at risk. I think we shall do more of intelligence gathering in this aspect in order to create enabling environment to the benefits of the maritime sector,” he said. @Businessdayng

Bankole however solicited for sustainable support from all groups, noting that stakeholders in the sector will no longer be harassed and all security issues regarding the waterways will henceforth be addressed.

Earlier, Batari Akpomejero, president of Dredgers Association, disclosed that registered operators contribute about 35 percent to gainful economic activities in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos, and wondered why they are hounded daily by all manners of persons including government officials.

“We are very sad about the daily harassment to our businesses, attacks and bodily harm to our workers, theft and destruction visited on our equipment,” he said.

Akpomejero who spoke through the secretary of the association, Richard Ntan, noted that incessant attacks are becoming unbearable, and urged the Marine Police leadership to intervene.

“We are happy and ready to work with you to stamp out the growing incidents of thefts and sundry crime against our business without which the development and growth of economy and infrastructure advancement would be greatly affected.

Wednesday 02 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

23

TRANSPORTATION Motoring

RailBusiness

ModernTravel

Roads

How efficient wagon handling in Apapa can ease gridlock, lower haulage costs MIKE OCHONMA

G Armoured Mercedes AMG G63 comes with $1.2m price tag MIKE OCHONMA Associate Editor

A

utomakers and their technical collaborators are aggressively taking issues of security especially among the premium and specialised manufacturers seriously. Last year, Inkas; a Canadian firm that recently unveiled an armored version of the current-generation Mercedes-AMG G63 last year is offering a stretch limo version for its discerning and other premium customers with the privileged few, suceessful corporate executives and typically, politicians and dictators who want more rear leg room.

The 2018 Inkas MercedesBenz G63 AMG is a stunning bullet-proof armoured SUV limousine listed at a price of Euros 1 million or about $1.2 million with a 5.5 liter gasoline V8 with a 563 horsepower engine at 5,500 with a permanent all-wheel-drivetrain that comes with a fuel capacity of 96 liters.

It gets a belt of composite armour around its perimeter that can protect against 7.62 millimeter or Winchester .308 ammunition, while the floor can withstand the blast of two simultaneously detonated hand grenades, according to Inkas. The limo also rides on run-flat tyres that allow high-speed driving when punctured, and features ballistic glass and protection for

the battery and electronics.

To t a k e p a s s e n g e r s’ minds off the threats against their lives, the limousine is equipped with a 4K television that also serves as a partition between the front and rear compartments, Apple TV integration, and reclining rear captain’s chairs with heating, cooling, and massages functions. The armoured car also has a built-in chemical filtration system to ward off biological or chemical attacks.

Because the armoured limo is based on the AMG G63 variant of the G-Class, it features a twin-turbo 4-liter V-8 making 577 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque.

That will get the stock G63 from 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds, according to Mercedes,

but the extra weight of the stretched and armoured version likely blunts acceleration considerably. An upgraded suspension helps counteract some of that added weight.

This is not the first armoured G63 limo Inkas has built as the company also offered one based on the previous-generation G63.

The company also builds armoured versions of other luxury SUVs, including the Lincoln Navigator and Infiniti QX80.

Alternatively, Mercedes is also preparing an armoured version of the next-generation S-Class as part of its Guard lineup billed to debut into the international market later this year as a 2021 model.

lobally, the use of containerized bulk materials handling solutions in the haulage business which ensures safe and efficient offloading in road and rail hauling has gained very significant traction that no nation should be left behind, including Nigeria, Africa’s biggest nation with high volume of sea trade.

Apart from that, the safe and efficient offloading of materials from both rail wagons and road trucks also improves efficiencies, lowers operating costs and protects product integrity during bulk handling, says experts familiar with how rail operations works. who argues that, as a way of facilitating container haulage and avert the recurring decimal of gridlock in and around Apapa, authorities concerned must ensure that, wagons must be designed in a way that, it will handle

inter-modal side tipper bins for rapid offloading of materials from rail wagons and road trucks and sidetip reception feeders that receives bulk materials directly from tipping trucks and loading shovels.

The tippler can be developed for the efficient unloading of containerized material from open-top containers. This advanced system allows for fast and efficient engagement, and unloading and repositioning of closely-spaced (ISO) International Standards Organisation-sized opentop containers, from road or rail transport wagons.

Once the container is safely engaged, the control system takes over full functionality to lift, unload and reposition the empty container, without the need for operator intervention.

This bulk materials transport system, which ensures ease of loading, handling and transport by either road or rail, enables traditionally locked-in markets, including miners and producers, to deliver

Primero Transport distributes 10,000 masks in Covid-19 fight DESMOND OKON

I

n response to commuter expectations, Primero Transport Services Limited (PTSL); bus operators on the Lagos BRT corridor has distributed face masks to residents including passersby, commuters, and shop owners with a kick-off of an environmental cleaning exercise in Ikorodu, its major corridor is a show of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Fola Tinubu, managing director led members of his staff into the streets of Ikorodu from the BRT Bus terminal to the King’s palace and beyond gutters cleanup exercise and pick-up of waste littered on the streets and by the roadside. The ‘Keep Ikorodu Clean,’ which is a CSR initiative of PTSL was organised in partnership with the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).

Priding itself as a socially responsible organisation, Primero’s leader said they introduced the initiative to further maintain a cleaner environment during the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that personal hygiene was one of the critical safety protocols in this era, and by keeping our environment clean, they were contributing their quota as an organisation to improve the health and safety of our stakeholders.

LAWMA supported the initiative with a compacwww.businessday.ng

tor, and its staff to help in ensuring Ikorodu was kept clean and ensuring a cleaner environment.

Face masks were simultaneously distributed to residents including onlookers, commuters, and shop owners within event’s coverage area.

Ten thousand medical masks were distributed so that residents can live and enjoy a safe and clean environment, as well as observe NCDC’s protocol of maskwearing in the fight against Covid-19 virus.

“We live in Ikorodu, we work in Ikorodu and we have to give back to Ikorodu, and the best way is we need to keep our environment clean.

We’ve been cleaning since about 9 O’clock and we’ll continue after we finish with Kabiyeesi,” Tinubu said on the reason for the initiative.

He said he believes that the state of the environment in Lagos State could be better and that was part of the reasons the event was organised.

Tinubu said the gesture is just the first part of an initiative that will be continuous.

Tinubu appreciated Primero’s staff for keying into the vision and working to ensure the company’s mission statement is met; while tirelessly serving its esteemed customers.

In his response, Kabir Adewal Shotobi; the Ikorodu monarch, thanked PTSL for the “noble, candid initiative of giving back to Ikorodu residents,” and showered prayers on the organisation and staff.

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containerised bulk materials handling products for high-speed, heavyhaul and inter-modal functions for both road and rail infrastructure.

According to some concerned industry stakeholders who are worried by the perennial traffic menace in Apapa and its environs, the federal government through the federal ministry of transportation, with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) should also make sure, the planned train wagon assembly plant in Kajola, Ogun State accommodates facilities for the manufacture of equipment for fast unloading of opentop containers.

Part of the range of the finished products that could be rolled out of the Kajola wagon assembly factory should include @Businessdayng

material batches to terminals for export at rockbottom prices.

Although some stakeholders support the global initiative to move freight transport from road to rail, others believe in a combination of the benefits of rail and road transport.

Key advantages of rail infrastructure over road transport include less long-haul bulk traffic on national roads, which results in reduced congestion and decreased wear of road surfaces.

Other benefits include improved safety for drivers and cargo, decreased road-related freight emissions and reduced insurance premiums throughout the logistics chain and high returns on investment by the haulage companies and rail service operators.

24

Wednesday 02 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Harvard Business Review

MANAGEMENTDIGEST

The Big Idea: in praise of the office GIANPIERO PETRIGLIERI

F

or nearly two decades in management academia I have been studying precarious working lives, and I have yet to find someone who does not long for a place to call home for their work. These places often shape who we become. We refer to them to describe our roots and dreams: Where did you train? Where do you work? Where would you like to be in five years’ time?

My Insead colleague Jennifer Petriglieri and I coined a term to describe places that make us: identity workspaces.

They are spaces where we learn what it means, and what it takes, to be someone. Through a bundle of stories, practice, feedback, rituals and relations, we become that someone. Ideally, but not always, remaining ourselves in the process.

I’ve seen offices personalized with pictures from their occupants’ lives outside of work and offices void of postcards from private selves, by preference or policy. Not everyone likes to blend their private and work lives. Research suggests that some interpret the opportunity to display those props as a proxy for how hospitable the workplace is to our whole selves. I might choose not to have my children’s photos on my desk, but if I can’t have them, the office becomes a brick-and-mortar uniform. Others, however, love the office for that — for giving us respite from our pri-

vate selves and a chance to be someone different, in some ways better, that ends up enriching who we are at home.

When office dwellers start working remotely, one study found, a vicious cycle ensues that voids the office of meaning even for those who remain there. The fewer people show up, the harder it is to show up.

The point of the office, this research suggests, is not to make people more productive. It is to bring them together.

Not everyone, of course, enjoys the sociality of the office.

Those whose personal identities align with the demands of their office culture, scholars argue, are more likely to experience it as affirming and liberating than those whose identities expose them to increased scrutiny or covert prejudice.

When I speak to employees who do not have an office or don’t identify with it, such as those who work in factories, emergency rooms, kitchens and shops, or on the road, “the office” sounds more remote and menacing. The office is a place where people with no knowledge of their work make up rules and decide their fate.

In those portraits, the office is a place, as a physician told me, where real work goes to die.

When I joined Sue Ashford and Amy Wreszniewski to study the lives of people who worked for themselves, the ghost of “the office” followed us everywhere. Its ever-present absence shaped those workers’ accounts of what it took to succeed — that is, to make a living, www.businessday.ng

stay sane and feel alive — when one worked alone. The office, as they described it, was a prison for the soul, where managers were arbitrary, policies unreasonable and constraints to initiative endless. And yet, they also told us, offices were cozy cages. They had the benefits of shared captivity — colleagues to laugh and commiserate with, stable remuneration, comforting rituals, tech support to summon at will. They’d never want to work in an office, those workers swore, and yet they missed it.

The most successful among those lone workers, in fact, invested heavily in cultivating the kinds of connections that most offices provide as a bundle: connections to people, to a place to work, to a standard practice and to a larger purpose. Those connections provided the focus required to keep working, the boundaries necessary not to work all the time and the courage needed to do their best work. They seemed to be chasing mastery over their working lives . . They rejected the constraints of jobs, careers and, most of all, management. But when it came to “the office,” they would rather shift its meaning than do away with it entirely: from the extension of an organization to a sanctuary for one’s work; from a stage where they had to enact a role scripted by others to a space that allowed them to embody their work.

The wish for such an office, less intrusive and more liberating, appears to be widespread.

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The number of coworking spaces grew from nearly 8,000 to more than 18,000 worldwide between 2015 and 2019. Before the coronavirus forced “knowledge workers” to work from home, those spaces promised the best of both worlds — an office with peers and perks but no managers in sight. An office where you could work productively and be yourself without being alone.

Those who could make that arrangement work for them, my colleagues and I found, firmly believed that they lived in the future of work. Job security was an illusion, they often warned us; everyone would have to learn to work like them eventually. Their future of offices without managers, however, was most unlike the future that is on the horizon now. Today, many have to deal with management without offices instead.

The COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests, forced half the people employed in the United States to leave offices and work from home. Many companies soon realized the benefits that came with it. A crowdsourced list of companies saying farewell to offices and campuses, perhaps forever, grows longer every day.

When I read reports of executives who have been inspired to make these moves by the boost in productivity they witnessed while people worked from home, I bristle.

Those productivity boosts are often due to increased anxiety.

Some have suggested that the driver for remote work is not freeing people up and boost@Businessdayng

ing productivity, but real estate costs and access to global talent who cannot easily relocate.

It might also be another move toward what the sociologist Ulrich Beck has called the individualization of risk — that is, a decades-long shift of work risk and costs from institutions to individuals.

But are we getting more freedom in return? So far, remote work seems to be an opportunity to move workers to digital workplaces whose real estate tech companies own and surveil with alacrity. On those platforms, many of us now work without offices and for invisible managers. In the officeless workplace, management has not gone away, courtesy of digital tools that monitor workers constantly.

Those who profit from the time we spend at home, obsessing about being productive, may well be cheering.

In the officeless future, fewer people will distract us from our apps, if only to remind us that there are cupcakes in the office kitchen. Many more people will reach us through our screens. But will they see us? Will remoteness fulfill the promise of humanizing work, or will it mechanize it further?

I am not sure. All I know is that we may miss the office, and managers too, when we are all working for algorithms, from home or on the road, dependent on our screens, and at the constant mercy of the market.

Gianpiero Petriglieri is an associate professor of organizational behavior at Insead.

Wednesday 02 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

25

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Tuesday 01 September 2020

Top Gainers/Losers as at Tuesday 01 September 2020 LOSERS

GAINERS Company NB

Closing

Change

Company

Opening

Closing

Change

N37

N39

2

DANGCEM

N134.9

N134

-0.9

DEALS (Numbers)

UBN

N5.3

N5

-0.3

PZ

N4.2

N4.1

-0.1

VOLUME (Numbers)

N3

N2.93

-0.07

N3.7

N3.65

-0.05

STANBIC

N36.05

N36.5

0.45

UBA

N6.25

N6.55

0.3

UACN

N5.7

N5.95

0.25

MAYBAKER

N11.95

N12.2

0.25

INTBREW

WAPCO

ASI (Points)

Opening

VALUE (N billion) MARKET CAP (N Trn)

25,413.95 3,221.00 1,073,834,245.00 2.104 13.258

Banks lead Nigeria stock market higher Iheanyi Nwachukwu

Dayo Obisan, executive commissioner operations Securities and Exchange Commission; Ibrahim Boyi, executive commissioner corporate services, SEC, Ahmed Idris, accountant general of the Federation; Lamido Yuguda, director general, SEC and Reginald Karawusa, executive commissioner Legal and Enforcement SEC during a Meeting between the SEC and Accountant General of the Federation in Abuja.

Insurance Index (+0.65percent), while NSE Industrial Index decreased by -0.12 percent following profit taking on Dangote Cement Plc which dipped most on the Bourse from N134.9 to N134, losing 90kobo or 0.67percent.

The share price of Nigerian Breweries Plc increased most, after rising from N37 to N39, up by N2 or 5.41percent. Stanbic IBTC followed after increasing from N36.05 to N36.5, adding 45kobo or 1.25percent.

UBA also advanced

from N6.25 to N6.55, adding 30kobo or 4.80percent.

ETI rose from N3.9 to N4.15, adding 25kobo or 6.41percent. The share price of UACN increased from N5.7 to N5.95, adding 25kobo or 4.39percent.

United Capital Plc, Access Bank Plc, GTBank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, and Lasaco were actively traded stocks on the Bourse. In 3,221 deals, investors exchanged 1,073,834,245 units valued at N2.104billion.

“The Nigerian equity market sustained its bullish trend for the sec-

ond successive months in August-2020 as unattractive yield environment coupled with buoyant liquidity in the financial system as well as some positive H12020 earnings publication spurred locals demand for equity”, United Capital research analysts further noted.

The analysts said a resilient financial performance and the likelihood of maintaining previous year’s interim dividend payment are key factors to watch in this new month.

…as CBN reviews scorecards

T

he release of half year (H1) results of Tier 1 banks like GTBank, Zenith Bank and UBA as well as that of Stanbic IBTC Holdings is being delayed as the banks await the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In line with its regulatory roles, the CBN currently examines the audited H1 financial results of the banks for the period ended June 30 following their Board of Directors approvals.

Zenith Bank said “the delay

Nikkei 225 23,138.07JPY -1.69-0.01%

S&P 500 Index 3,509.18USD +8.87+0.25%

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 12,974.25EUR +28.87+0.22%

Generic 1st ‘DM’ Future 28,498.00USD +82.00+0.29%

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 3,410.61CNY +14.93+0.44%

CardinalStone positions as credible borrower with successful N7.1bn CP issuance

C

GTB, Zenith, UBA, Stanbic IBTC explain delays in H1 results release Iheanyi Nwachukwu

FTSE 100 Index 5,862.05GBP -101.52-1.70%

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

B

anks drove gains in Nigeria equities as investors snapped up Tier-1 lenders on growing conviction that they will reap interim dividend and capital appreciation.

“We expect the equity market to continue the path to recovery after bottoming in March-2020. This should be supported by the yet to be published H1-2020 earnings from key banking names due to regulatory approval”, Lagos-based research analysts at United Capital said in their September 1 note.

At the close of trading session, investors gained N46billion; the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) increased by +0.34percent to 25,413.76 points while the valued of listed equities rose to N13.258trillion from preceding trading day lows of 25,327.13 points and N13.212trillion respectively. The market’s negative return (ytd) decreased to -5.32percent.

NSE Banking Index increased most by +1.07percent, followed by NSE Consumer Goods Index (+0.88percent) and NSE

Global market indicators

is to enable the bank conclude all outstanding regulatory requirements in the course of approval of the financial statement”, noting that it is optimistic the reports will be submitted to the Exchange on or before September 30.

GTBank said the primary regulator is still in the process of reviewing the audited financial system and same would be released to the market upon receipt of the said approval.

In view of this, GTBank said it requested and got 30-day extension from the Nigerian Stock Exchange, adding that “if the approval from the primary is received earlier, the www.businessday.ng

bank audited financial statement would be released to the market earlier than the period approved by the Exchange.

Stanbic IBTC informed the Nigerian Stock Exchange as well as its esteemed stakeholders that “we are experiencing a slight delay in the release of the 2020 Half Year Audited Financial Statements for Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc (Stanbic IBTC).

This delay is occasioned by the fact that we are currently seeking the approval of our primary Regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the Half Year Audited Financial Statements, following which

the said Financial Statements will then be released to the Market. We are working diligently to ensure that our Company’s 2020 Half Year Results are published on or before Friday 25 September 2020”.

Also, United Bank for Africa Plc notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange, its esteemed shareholders, stakeholders and the investing public of the delay in the filing of its Audited Financial Statements for the Half Year ended June 30, 2020 within the extended regulatory filing deadline “as the Audited Financial Statements are still undergoing necessary regulatory approvals.

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ardinalStone Partners Limited, one of Nigeria’s leading multi-asset investment management firms, has positioned as a credible borrower in the Nigerian capital market after it successfully completed its debut Commercial Paper issuance, which recorded 148 percent subscription to N7.1billion. This impressive subscription level demonstrates investors’ confidence in the company and the ability of its management team to deliver value.

The company had set out to raise N5 billion in the first tranche under its N10 billion Commercial Paper Programme recently registered with FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited.

However, subscriptions totaling N7.1 billion were received from individual and institutional Investors including asset managers, pension fund administrators amongst others. The Series I 270-day Commercial Paper was issued at an effective yield of 7percent.

Michael Nzewi, the company’s group managing director/CEO, was pleased with the overall outcome of the Commercial Paper Issuance. He indicated that the funds from the Commercial Paper Issuance would enable the company to diversify its financing mix and fund its working capital requirements.

“This issuance is expected to consolidate CardinalStone’s position as a credible borrower in the Nigerian capital market while at the same time setting a precedence for commercial paper issuance by a non-bank affiliated financial services business”, Nzewi stated.

FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited acted as lead arranger and dealer while FCMB Capital Markets Limited and CardinalStone Partners Limited were joint arrangers on the debut commercial paper transaction.

CardinalStone was founded in 2008 with the vision to build a world-class investment banking firm of African origin.

Over the years, the company has continued to offer an assortment of financial services to a diverse institutional and retail clientele base.

Vitafoam directors seen mopping up its shares Iheanyi Nwachukwu

I

n a renewed move to increase their stake in Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, the directors of the company are seen buying the shares of the company since June 2020.

Details of the company’s shares dealings by insiders show that Bamidele Osuolale Makanjuola, chairman Vitafoam Nigeria Plc purchased the shares in seven different transactions since June. On June 25, he bought 49,289 units of Vitafoam at N5.16 per share.

Also, on June 29 Makanjuola bought 18,528 units at N5.30 per share. On July 3, the chairman raised his stake in the company with additional 12,542 units bought at N5.20 per share; while on August 12, 13 and 17 he bought aggregate of 47,493 units at

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an average price of N5.38 per share.

On August 18, Alegbesogie Joseph Igbinigesu, nonexecutive director purchased aggregate 188,700 units at average price of N5.21 per share; while Adeniyi Taiwo Ayodele, executive director on August 21 bought aggregate of 192,000 units of Vitafoam Nigeria shares at average price of N5.22kobo per share.

Vitafoam traded at N5.71 per share on Monday August 31. The stock’s year-to-date (YtD) return of +29.8percent shows it outperforms the NSEASI (-5.64percent). It had reached a 52-week high of N6.10 and a corresponding low of N3.50 per share.

Vitafoam Nigeria Plc is one of Nigeria’s largest foam manufacturers, producing both flexible and rigid polyurethane products. The company has outstanding shares of 1,250,844,064 units.

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NEWS Sanwo-Olu’s push to reopen schools may sway other states – experts KELECHI EWUZIE

T

he recent pronouncement by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, of Lagos State that stateowned tertiary institutions would resume from September 14, may be the push that top hierarchy in other states need to reopen educational institutions, BusinessDay findings have revealed.

Feelers from educationists, private schools proprietors suggest that this bold move by Sanwo-Olu represents a relief for parents, students, and other stakeholders in the sector who in the last five months have had to endure school closures occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 has warned states against rushing to reopen schools.

Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the PTF cited how such hasty decision escalated Covid-19 management situation in other countries.

Mustapha advised it would be in the best interest of Nigeria to stick to the pat-

…as PTF warns against hasty reopening tern proven effective since the national response was launched.

“Whilst the PTF does not discourage making such preparations, we need to be guided by experiences from countries such as Germany, France, the United States and the UK where opening of schools in some cities led to an increase in confirmed cases and fatalities,” Mustapha. But those who spoke with BusinessDay believed that the move by Lagos State would help to force the issue as other states are contemplating the same.

“By fixing September 14, 2020 as resumption date for tertiary institutions by Lagos State governor after due consultation, Federal Government and other state governments would have no option than reopen schools for physical teaching and learning in order to rescue the academic future of students” said Uchenna Ihejirika, an educationist.

BusinessDay findings indicate that privately-owned universities in Nigeria are rearing to go, after meeting up with safety guideline set

by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the presidential task force. But this not so for most federal and state universities across the six-geo-political zones who are battling with basic infrastructure ASUU strike, among other challenges.

Minister of state for education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, in one of the daily briefings by the PTF, indicated that about 78 private universities have indicated their readiness for resumption, while the response from government-owned universities was still 50-50.

Nwajiuba who is optimistic that the date for resumption was around the corner, however, said the government was not going to be brandishing dates.

“NUC would need to do its appraisals and bring it to me. We are waiting for the same from other tertiary institutions bodies so I can situate them and present the PTF on COVID-19. I can’t give the NUC a deadline on this because our job at the ministry is to wait for their inputs. This is not a political decision alone”, Nwajiuba said.

Explainer: How do refineries that processed no crude spend N10bn in June?

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

N

igeria’s three refineries refined no crude oil yet guzzled billions of naira for operational expenses in the month of June.

According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) monthly financial and operations report for June, the latest, the combined value of output by the three refineries (at Import Parity Price) for June 2020 was approximately N0.04 billion.

There was no associated crude plus freight cost for the three refineries since there was no production but operational expenses amounted to N10.27 billion.

This resulted in an operating deficit of N10.23 billion, the report stated.

In the same month, the three refineries processed no crude and combined yield efficiency was 0.00 percent owing largely to ongoing rehabilitation works in the refineries. The declining operational performance is attributable to an on-going revamping of the refineries which is expected to further enhance capacity utilisation once completed,

NNPC claims.

In most oil-producing countries, local refining creates jobs, contributes to gross domestic products (GDP), and earns the country foreign exchange. Some experts have described Nigeria as crude sales, not an oil economy because the country refines little of the crude oil it produces.

Africa’s biggest oil producer refineries have become waste pipes, which breed inefficiencies and corruption without producing a single litre of petroleum products. The lost job creation opportunities are a steep cost for the country’s over 200 million people.

The consolidated report of refinery financial performance from June 2019 to June 2020 for the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company, and Port Harcourt Refining Company, show total operating expenses (losses) of N155.17 billion. This is an average of N12.93 billion monthly.

During these 12 months, the refineries operated at 0.00 percent capacity utilisation. The trend shows that it is unlikely that rehabilitations are going as the NNPC claims. www.businessday.ng

“The refineries have some fixed overhead costs such as salaries, wages and utilities. So, even when capacity utilisation is zero, these overhead costs have to be paid,” Ademola Henry Adigun, team lead, Facility for Oil Sector Transformation Project (FOSTER) told BusinessDay on phone.

The government continues to spend taxpayers’ money in maintaining and training staff at refineries that are moribund, recording hundreds of billions of losses.

Were the refineries private-sector led, experts, suggest, the investors or shareholders would have liquated or disposed of the losing refineries. Based on the Net Income Per Employee ratio, which is a company’s net income divided by the number of employees, NNPC is incurring losses per employee.

This losing trend of the refineries was reflective in the first audited report of Nigeria’s national oil company for the year ending in December 2018. The refineries employed 1,639 staff and had a combined total personnel cost of N46.26 billion, leaving their cost per employee at N28.83 million. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

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News BUSINESSDAY JOBS & GROWTH SERIES

Nigeria’s backward agric model hurts...

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agriculture market-oriented through value addition and investments in research holds many lessons for Nigeria in employment generation.

“Nigeria should learn from Brazil how it grew its agriculture by stimulating value addition and local demand for its agro commodities,” said Babatunde Shodipe, senior manager-export development financing, African ExportImport Bank (Afreximbank), at a First Bank agribusiness summit recently.

According to Shodipe, more wealth and employment is generated in the value chains that are closer to the consumers, saying that processing to the retailing of any agric commodity chain account for 80 percent of the entire profits of the produce.

The total number of people in employment (people with jobs) in Q2 2020 in Nigeria was 58.5 million, according to the NBS, which is nearly the population employed in agriculture in Indonesia in 2013 (49m), according to the country’s data agency. Indonesia has 68 million more people than Nigeria.

Nigeria’s agriculture is making some progress, nonetheless. In real terms, the sector grew by 1.58 percent (year-on-year) in Q2 2020, but this represents a decrease of 0.21 percent from the corresponding period of 2019. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the sector grew at 6.57 percent.

The sector contributed 24.65 percent to aggregate real GDP in Q2 2020, higher than the contributions in the second

quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020, which stood at 22.78 percent and 21.96 percent, respectively, said the NBS. Even though Nigeria’s labour intensive method seems to be generating a lot of jobs, most of the jobs are subsistence as they earn less than $2 per day, making them poor.

Mechanisation in Nigeria agriculture, which can expand the value chain and create more jobs, is lacking, according to NOI Polls.

Nigeria is one of the least mechanised farming countries in the world with the country’s tractor density put at 0.27hp/hectare, which is far below the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommended tractor density of 1.5hp/hectare.

Nigeria is 132nd out of the 188 countries worldwide measured by FAO/United Nations in terms of the number of tractors in the country.

This is one reason farming has been mainly subsistence, rather than commercial.

Yield per hectare is low in Nigeria compared with other emerging economies. Nigeria’s yield per hectare for rice is two, whereas it is 6.3 in Brazil, 3 in Ethiopia, 2.8 in South Africa, and 4.2 in Kenya. Also, Nigeria has 6.4 yield per hectare for tomato, 71.9 in Brazil, 6.2 in Ethiopia, 75.5 in South Africa, and 21.2 in Kenya.

“We must address lingering infrastructural challenges that have continued to hinder us from developing the agriculture that can create jobs,” said Kola Adebayo, a professor at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

“This is what the likes of

Nigerian poor getting poorer in light of...

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the pandemic. 72 percent of farming households that needed inorganic fertiliser and 47 percent of farming households that needed pesticide/herbicides were not able to access them, according to the round three COVID-19 impact monitor.

Additionally, the share of households unable to purchase some staple foods remained high in July: 62 percent of households who needed yams were unable to purchase them, while 37 percent of households who needed rice were unable to purchase it.

Lack of money and an increase in prices were the predominant reasons why households were not able to purchase these staples, indicating the continued economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, according to the COVID-19 impact monitoring report.

More Nigerians are going back to their jobs, but persons in rural areas have experi-

enced a higher job recovery than those in urban areas. This could be due to the relocation of Nigerians from the cities to rural areas to reduce their cost of living and find alternative job sources.

The above statement corroborates the comment made

by David Cowan, chief economist for Africa at Citibank, during the virtual luncheon in honour of Jesmin Rahman of IMF, hosted by American Business Council…that ‘Nigerians have a natural coping mechanism as the informal sector acts as a natural safety net’.

“The Nigerian government is making efforts to improve jobs as we can see from the N-power project as well as the Special Public Works programme (SPWP). But there is a need government to bring efficiency into the public sector,” Olaolu said.

“If the money the public sector makes can cover their expenses it will reduce the amount of money that government spends on them and create more funds for governwww.businessday.ng

Akinwumi Adesina (l), re-elected president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), with Charles Boamah, chairman, AfDB board of directors, during Adesina’s inauguration in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, yesterday.

NAN

Brazil did. With infrastructure and the right technology, we will realise the potential of our agriculture,” Adebayo said.

The Nigerian government has renewed its focus on the agricultural sector since the late 2014 collapse of global crude oil prices.

The shift was necessitated by the growing statistics of youth unemployment and the vast agricultural potentials that can drive a more sustain-

able economic development in Africa’s most populous nation.

Triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a consensus across board that there is no better time to leverage the potentials in the agricultural sector than now, not just to pull out of the recent recession, but also to diversify the economy and place it on the path of sustainable growth and development.

Experts say Nigeria will be able to generate more jobs and hedge its farmers against price volatility when the country adopts Brazil’s model of concentrating more investments in agric research and value addition.

Shodipe, earlier quoted, cited an example using the Brazilian coffee model, where the country was able to drive local production and processing as well as promote local consumption to ensure jobs were created and coffee farmers were hedged against global price volatility.

Analysts say central to the Brazilian model is investment in research to raise incomes andproductivityoffarmers,thus resulting in lower food prices.

Nigeria has constantly focused more on supporting farmers with finance – that has been marred with a high rate of corruption rather than

addressing lingering issues that have limited productivity for decades and driving industrialisation through the sector.

Abiodun Olorundenro, operations manager, Aquashoots Nigeria, said despite the country having a dedicated research institute for specific crops, the country was yet to boost its farmers’ productivity.

Annual income of farmers in Nigeria is $9,815, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FOA), but this is lower than Brazil’s $11,472; Ethiopia’s $14,952, South Africa’s $20,193, but higher than Thailand’s $6,346. Food production in Nigeria is insufficient to satisfy 200 million population.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has seen its unemployment rate increase to a record high of 27.1 percent in the Q2 2020, data from the NBS show.

ment to create more jobs.

“Government policies are most times too ambitious, if they can be fairer in their planning and use more realistic benchmarks, there would be hope for achieving sustainable development by 2030,” Olaolu noted.

Pre-COVID-19, United Nations (UN) predicted that by 2030, the number of undernourished persons in the world will stand at 841 million, this number has however been revised upwards to 909 million as a result of the pandemic.

Nigeria has over 83.1 million of its total population as poor persons according to the last released report on poverty in May 2020 by NBS. This number already represents about 10 percent of the total undernourished persons projection for 2030 by UN. “Maintaining price stability and improving the business environment to bring in more private businesses are two important factors for improving living standards in Nigeria”, according to Yinka Ademuwagun, Research Analyst at United Capital.

BusinessDay’s Top CEOs & Next Bulls...

Plc), Nnamdi Okonkwo (Fidelity Bank Plc), Owen Omogiafo (Transcorp Plc), Ayodeji Oseni (BOC Gases Plc), Oluwole Oshin (Custodian Investment Services Plc), Lars Richter (Julius Berger Nigeria Plc), Sarbeswar Sahoo (Prestige Assurance Plc), Abubakar Sulieman (Sterling Bank Plc), Priscilla Thorpe-Monclus (MRS Oil Nigeria Plc), Hassan Usman (Jaiz Bank Plc), Herbert Wigwe (Access Bank Plc), Gavin Young (Chams Plc) and Christiana Yisa (NCR Corporation Plc).

BusinessDay, as the organizer of the Top CEOs & Next Bulls Awards, decided to hold the event knowing that there is no better time than now to give recognition to companies that are thriving in spite of challenges, as businesses are trying to navigate the disruption brought about the recent crisis.

The event will be taking place virtually in adherence to the COVID-19 guidelines.

This award will demonstrate that that it is not all doom and gloom as real business heroes are revealed when they come against big odds.

Continued from page 4

bo Abidoye (Fintrak Software Co Ltd), Saleem Adegunwa (Rite Foods Ltd), Akinwande Ademosu (Credit Direct Ltd), Titi Adeoye (Sankore Investments Ltd), Fejiro Hanu Agbodje (Patricia Technologies Ltd), Esigie Aguele (VerifyMe Nigeria Ltd), Patrick Anegbe (Intercontinental Distillers Ltd) and Don Ebubeogu (Tiger Foods Ltd).

Others are: Valentine Chime (inq. Digital Nigeria ltd), Obi Ezeude (Beloxxi Group), Ahmad Farroukh (Smile Communications Ltd), Patrick McMichael (Eat ‘N’ GO Ltd), Paul Odunnaiya (Wemy Industries Ltd), Olatunde Ogungbade (Global Accelerex Ltd) and Adebola Sheidu (Brains and Hammers Ltd) The shortlisted Next Top CEOs for the 2020 awards are Ademola Adebise (Wema Bank Plc), Oyeyimika Adeboye (Cadbury Nigeria Plc), Adeyinka Adekoya (Wapic Insurance Plc), Kunle Ahmed (AXA Mansard Insurance Plc), Folasope Aiyesimoju

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

(UACN Property Development company), Adebola Akindele (Courteville Business Solutions Plc), Roger Brown (Seplat Petroleum Devt.Co.Plc), Carl Raymond R. Cruz (Unilever Nigeria Plc), Khaled Abdelaziz El Dokani (Lafarge Africa Plc) and Emeka Emuwa (Union Bank Plc).

The list also includes Christopher Ezeh (John Holt Plc), Babatunde Fajemirokun (AIICO Insurance Plc), Ayedun Fasina (Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc), Patrick Ilodianya (The Skye Shelter Fund Plc), Obong Idiong (African Prudential Plc), Lanre Jaiyeola (Honeywell Flour Mills Plc), Olabode Makanjuola (Caverton Offshore Plc), Ferdinand Moolman (MTN Nigeria Communications Plc), Ganiyu Musa (Cornerstone Insurance Plc), Deji Mustapha (Morison Industries Plc) Other shortlisted Next Top CEOs are Peter Olusola Obabori (Red Star Express Plc), Samuel Ogbodu (SUNU Assurances Nigeria Plc), Andrew Otike Odibi (C & I Leasing @Businessdayng

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News Not a single foreigner invested in...

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to a 27-month high of 12.8

L-R: Nollywood actors and panelists, Chioma Akpotha; Ufuoma McDermott; Ngozi Nwosu; Fatima Lawal, assistant brand manager, Mamador, and Chioma Mbanugo, marketing manager, PZ Wilmar, at the Mamador August meeting empowerment session in Lagos.

Pic by Pius Okeosisi

Nigeria needs aviation sector ready for...

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ese international airline,

having a revenue surge of 161 percent in the same month.

However, Nigeria is not in the party.

Thirteen airports designated as perishable cargo airports in the country are still not operating as such, despite promises from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to leverage it to transform the aviation sector into a major revenue earner for the country since 2013. Growth and jobs are lost as a result, worsened now by COVID-19.

Air transport GDP sharply declined by 57.38 percent in second quarter (Q2) 2020 from 5.68 percent in Q1 2020 and 12.31 percent in Q2 2019.

“There is much we can take through cargo and we are particularly looking at agricultural products that can arrive in Europe the next day fresh, which is the crux of this.

For our Zero Oil Plan, we have identified 22 products Nigeria can sell. The aim is to promote Nigeria goods and find market to sell them and our ‘One State, One Product’ plan is key to this, meaning each state of the country will give us one product that we can market, package and export,” Segun Awolowo, executive director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), who spoke at a webinar meeting held recently at the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Aviance, said.

“The country is blessed and yet we are still fixated on oil. We must put more money into non-oil exports.

We spend millions of dollars drilling for oil and most times we come up with naught, but we do not invest in the non-oil sector,” Awolowo said.

Stressing on the need for export to be promoted to grow the nation’s economic diversity as well as lift people out of poverty, Jimi Adebakin, chief executive of FBO Global Logistics Limited, also charged the government to encourage low income exporters.

“If we put the same energy we put in importation and exportation, nobody can touch us. There is a new possibility we can move 20 tons in cargo daily, but with the right awareness, we ought to be moving 100 tons daily. What is 100 tons? It is 60 trailers, and how many trailers do you see coming from the East or the North to Lagos?” he asked.

All the airlines are struggling in the face of traveller apathy, high cost of operations, and COVID-19 health concerns. Air Peace with over 120 flights pre-coronavirus now has 20 flights. Yet it has a workforce of over 3,000 but faces multiple taxes that are not easing out amid the pandemic.

In view of these realities, Air Peace had to painfully lay off 69 pilots and Bristow Helicopters sacked 100 pilots. Other airlines have also had to review the salaries being paid to staff.

While airlines wait for the ‘bounce back’ period, operators and airports authorities are however faced with the reality of responding to the impacts of the pandemic by finding best ways to mitigate costs.

Investment in airports infrastructure and facilitation of cargo exports have been identified as pathways to speed up the recovery process for the airlines and the airports.

Stakeholders and airline operators have continued to lament poor infrastructure upgrades at airports across Nigeria, which affects their output and number of staff they are able to employ.

They allege that despite the multiple charges, many of the airports in the country do not have runway lights and navigational landing aids, which mean such airports are only open between 7am and 6pm daily.

“To this end, airlines can’t fully utilise their airplanes for 24-hour operations. No airplane or factory machine can be profitable only from 7am to 6pm daylight operations,” Nogie Meggison, chairman, Airline Operators of Nigeria www.businessday.ng

(AON), noted.

Meggison therefore called for the provision of airfield lighting and navigational landing aids at all airports in Nigeria to reduce delays and cancellations, and allow for 24-hour operation and better utilisation of airplanes.

In Nigeria, passengers spend unduly long time at security screening points because of insufficient number of X-ray machines. Passengers are forced to queue at security screening points, especially at peak hours.

In other climes, it takes between 30 seconds to two minutes to get screened but in Nigerian airports, it takes between five and 15 minutes to get screened, depending on the number of passengers waiting to be checked.

Air Peace and Arik Air face a lot of delays processing passengers at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, because there is only one functional X-ray machine at any point in time and hundreds of passengers going to different destinations during the morning rush hours must pass through one functional X-ray machine at each of the terminals at the GAT. John Ojikutu, member of aviation industry think tank group, Aviation Round Table (ART), and chief executive of Centurion Securities, listed some of the infrastructural gaps that cause flight delays at Nigerian airports to include inadequate checking-incounters; inadequate passengers screening checkpoints and screening machines or unserviceable screening machines resulting in manual screening; inadequate aircraft boarding gates; inadequate aircraft parking areas; inadequate ground handling equipment or facilities, and absence of taxiways or sufficient links from aprons to runways.

Ojikutu stressed that inadequate skilled manpower to man most of these facilities or systems can cause delays, especially the passengers screening checkpoints. The

International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) recommended standard is at least five but Nigerian airports have two or three persons.

Other factors he mentioned include poor airspace management; inadequate and inexperience air traffic controllers, particularly for aerodromes and approach control, among others.

Experts have said one of the ways to make a country an aviation hub, whether cargo or passenger, is to first address its airport infrastructure in bid to attract big airlines to fly in and out of the airport.

Ado Sanusi, CEO of Aero Contractors, said with the right airport infrastructure Nigeria could grow passenger traffic by 10 million yearly.

“In Nigeria, we have the flying public, so we can still cultivate more and grow passenger traffic to 10 million per annum. This is achievable, but we must make sure we have the infrastructure so that when they enter the airport they will be happy with what they see. We must also have the confidence of the flying public so that they will feel comfortable flying our airlines,” Sanusi said Nnaji Nnolim, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, suggested that a 10-year development plan should be created for aviation infrastructure upgrade in Nigeria.

“FAAN and other agencies remit 25 percent IGR to Federal Government and we are asking that instead of remitting the 25 percent to Federal Government, they can create a consolidated account where this 25 percent will be remitted into and form a committee and from that 25 percent, they do a 10-year developmental plan, where they can list projects that they can do for 10 years. If you look at it, you will see that one of the problems we are having is that when a particular MD comes in, he will want to do a project and by the time he leaves and another MD comes in, the person will want to do another project,” Nnolim said.

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percent in July.

While getting a return that is far below inflation has been a thorn in the flesh of investors as they are left with nothing to cheer, the low-interest environment has catalysed the government and large corporates to raise cheap debt. These gains elude small businesses, which make up about 50 percent of the country’s GDP and employ over 80 percent of the population, as they are forced to borrow at a much higher cost of 25 percent from commercial banks due to their small cash flows.

As at August 29, a total of N559.77 billion had been raised by large corporates from commercial papers, which is about 103 percent higher than the N275.37 billion raised in March, according to data from the trading platform, FMDQ. Between April and July this year, the Federal Government raised N7.74 billion in bonds, down by 3 percent from the N7.94 billion raised within the first three months of the year.

With foreign portfolio investors staying out of naira debt denominated securities, it shows that Nigeria’s debt markets are now controlled by local investors.

Something needs to happen where the CBN and the Debt Management Office will have to increase interest rates and move it where the inflation rate is so that they can be national savings and a gross capital, said Birsmack Rewane, an economist/CEO of Lagos-based, Financial Derivative Company.

“Right now, what we have is a negative rate of return and it is a recipe for capital flight and pressure on the currency.

Something has to happen very soon to turn the interest rate trajectory around,” Rewane said.

Before Q2 2020, the only time - since 2013 when the state-funded data agency, the

NBS, started tracking capital importationdata,Africa’sbiggest economy had no foreign investors subscribed to its bond were in Q2’16 and Q2’17 when the economy suffered a long recession due to the global collapse in oil price and restiveness in the Niger Delta region that sent oil production to lower lows.

At that time, the Central Bank resorted to rationing the amount of greenback customers of banks spend abroad.

The apex bank at that time also expanded its list of products restricted from accessing dollars from its window.

Of course, the move came as severe pains for investors whose naira assets were stuck in their quest to convert to dollars. Manufacturers businesses were also hard hit as they were unable to find dollars to carry out major raw inputs.

It is 2020 and the scenario four years ago is already playing out after a cumulative effect of the pandemic and a standoff between two of the world’s biggest oil producers (Saudi Arabia and Russia) crashed oil prices and slowed crude oil demand, wiping off more than half of the government’s revenue.

Investors’ funds are stuck again with the CBN having over $5 billion as unmet FX obligation. BusinessDay reported that multinationals that have waited tirelessly to get their funds out are now reinvesting in their local units just to put their funds to work over the fear of further devaluation.

Already, the naira has weakened to N379/$ in the CBN official window, but almost not available on demand, while in the parallel market where dollars are accessible, the naira is trading around N475/$.

The lingering dollar crisis is badly hurting the capital market including equities, fixed income and money market, Bola Onadele. Koko, CEO, FMDQ, said in one of the webinar sessions to investors.

Local meter manufacturing to boom...

Continued from page 2

ters monthly, according to operators.

“We can close the metering gap in less than 5 years,” said Yahaya Yahaya, company secretary of Momas Electricity Meters Manufacturing Company Limited (MEMMCOL), a local meter manufacturing outfit.

There are others who import components and from which they assemble meters.

Last year, NERC approved a list of 22 meter manufacturers and recyclers to provide meters under the Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) scheme, and these nine local manufacturers featured on the list.

However, they say the Federal Government is yet to discuss their plans with them.

“We heard too that there are some funding planned for meter manufacturing, but to @Businessdayng

the best of my knowledge, no one has spoken to us about it,” Yahaya said.

The net effect of this massive financing is that Nigeria could see a boom in meter manufacturing if it materialises with the attendant benefits of employment.

Operators have canvassed long-term developmental financing to ease the acquisition of new meters considering that the sector is grossly illiquid.

“With the right conditions, multilateral organisations like development banks can provide long-term, naira financing needed to fund universal metering for all electricity users,” said Kester Enwereonu, director at Enugu DisCo. A trade group of power distribution companies also recently called on the CBN to provide financing so they could meter their customers.

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BUA Group to build 200,000 bpd refinery DIPO OLADEHINDE

T L -R: Hadiyijah Lawal, head administration, Primed E-Health; Abdul-Hafiz Are, chief executive officer Primed E-Health; Adeleke Adewolu, executive commissioner, stakeholders management, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman/CEO Nigerian Communications Commission NCC; Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy; Moses Ajewole, Elizade University; Olugbenga Ogidan, Elizade University; Ahmed Abdulazeez, business development manager, Cyberfeet Integrated Limited; Chidi Henry, programme manager, Cyberfeet Integrated Limited; Henry Nkemadu, director, research and development, NCC, during the virtual launch/award ceremony of the Covid -19 Research Grant yesterday, in Abuja.

Investing in digital infrastructure seen driving economic recovery CHUKA UROKO

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ore than ever before, technology is taking the centre stage in the economic calculation of most countries of the world, making investment in digital infrastructure a must so as to bring about recovery in Covid-19 ravaged economy.

Experts are of the view that investing in digital infrastructure can make a difference in economic recovery, pointing out that Covid-19 pandemic has pushed digital adoption forward in vast leaps in a very short space of time.

“What the pandemic has also made apparent is the disparities of infrastructure across Africa, as well as gaps in adoption and policy. It is now a necessity, rather than a luxury, to fast-track the adoption of technology,” noted Amrote Abdella, regional director, Microsoft

4Afrika, in Lagos.

According to him, by increasing productivity and facilitating innovation, technology is a key sector for the economic development of any country, adding that those who have embarked on their digital transformation journeys are better equipped to handle the obstacles that arise.

Citing a recent report by McKinsey & Company on Africa in the wake of Covid-19 which suggests that to expedite Africa’s economic recovery beyond the pandemic, Abdella said Africa would need to accelerate its digital transformation, urging governments and social sector institutions to expand and broaden digital offerings, foster an enabling environment for rapid digitisation and speed up infrastructure investments, among other things.

He noted that lack of broadband was a central

issue, explaining that access was of paramount importance. “Many countries are below the 20 percent critical mass necessary to achieve improved efficiencies and enhanced information flows for economic growth and innovation. Consumer demand for wireless connectivity is surging and spectrum is a finite source. It is critical to intensively share underused spectrum bands,” Abdella said.

Continuing, he explained, “as the Covid-19 pandemic has introduced social distancing and lockdown orders across the continent, the need for digital connectivity is more essential than ever. And as the pandemic spreads beyond major cities into peri-urban and rural areas, unconnected or underconnected populations risk becoming more vulnerable and isolated as they lack the digital means to access es-

sential services.

“Wifi hotspots can provide effective connectivity solutions to Covid-19 testing stations and field hospitals, and can support remote working and learning.”

Abdella disclosed that Microsoft has been championing the use of TV White Spaces (TWVS), which uses unused portions of spectrum for television broadcasting to bring broadband and internet-connected solutions to remote and underserved communities at an affordable cost, since the launch of 4Afrika partner Mawingu’s pilot project in 2013.

According to him, the sustainable nature of this type of spectrum use makes it very cost-efficient to implement, which is extremely beneficial for rural, underserved and developing areas. “With TVWS, people are now able to access the internet for less than 5 percent of the average household income,” he said.

hrough a financing combination of debt and equity, BUA group, a major food and infrastructure conglomerate is planning to build a new 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery expected to be operational in 2024.

According to Africa Report, published by Jeune Afrique Media Group (JAMG), France’s largest hydrocarbons group Axens won a contract to license key refinery technologies to Bua group after a bidding process managed by U.S based energy consultants KBR. KBR is also expected to handle subsequent rounds of engineering and construction phase.

Bua group’s founder, Abdulsamad Rabiu said the in-

vestment is not cheap even as he expects to “pay off in the long run, as new fuel standards continue to evolve along with the climate crisis.” “It is in the DNA of BUA Group; look at our cement plants, the most sustainable in Nigeria, same with our sugar plants,” he told Africa Report.

The Bua group refinery project will be in direct competition with Nigeria’s other large refinery project such as the Dangote refinery being promoted by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man. The Dangote refinery is planned come on stream early 2021.

Nigeria needs all the help it can get. The nation is reeling from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the record plunge in oil, which accounts for more than 90 percent of its foreign exchange earnings.

Dangote Cement promo: 11 more winners emerge TEMITAYO AYETOTO

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leven more winners have emerged in the ongoing Dangote Cement Bag of goodies season 2, promo, as they received cheques of N1 million each at a ceremony held in Ikorodu, Lagos State.

The new millionaires include block makers, bricklayers, labourers, building contractors and tilers, meaning that artisans in the building industry are emerging as winners on a daily basis.

One of the winners, Victor Amaa, a tiler commended the management of Dangote Cement for creating the promo and turning artisans into millionaires. He stated that he has been using Dangote Cement for many years and always recommend the brand to his

customers. Amaa explaining how he was able to gather the cards and successfully spelt ‘Dangote’ said that he was picking and storing the cards as he opens bags of cement in the course of his job.

For a building contractor, Thaddeus Ohadiro, the star prize of one million naira comes as an incentive to continue to use Dangote Cement in his work, just as commended the quality and suitable of the brand in construction works.

Regional sales director, Lagos/Ogun, Dangote Cement Plc, Tunde Mabogunje welcoming invitees and winners to the ceremony noted that the promo was one the biggest and most impactful in the Nigerian economy given that 1,000 winners will receive one million each.

‘FG should go beyond removing subsidy to full price liberalisation’ Rack Centre plans $100m expansion ISAAC ANYAOGU

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gainst the backdrop of Federal Government’s claim that the downstream sector has been deregulated, some operators disagree and are calling for full price liberalisation.

Adetunji Oyebanji, managing director and CEO of 11 Plc in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday said that the retail price of gasoline when compared to the template issued by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) using the official exchange rate and Platts oil price for the month of August, “you will find that prices at the pump should be significantly higher than they are right now.”

“We suspect that there may be some issues with how margins are being applied to various operators and the various sub headings within the template. So we continue to work with government to try and get clarification on this subject,

but it is very clear that there is still an element of subsidy.

The Federal Government has often said that it wants to protect consumers against being exploited by marketers, but Oyebanji clarified that in the immediate, margins are more important than looking at the bottomline of operators.

“We have continued to engage the relevant agencies of government particularly the PPPRA in terms of getting an increase and improvement in the margins that we have, which have been stuck in 2008, and they were not touched again in another 8 years. We are trying to get an improvement of that because that would directly impact our bottomlines,” he said.

Oil marketers have severally called for the complete removal of subsidy and in March this year, the Federal Government announced a removal of subsidy on petrol, but said it would continue to announce prices.

Since August, it has been www.businessday.ng

unable to issue prices because a mild recovery of oil prices when plotted against a depreciating naira translates to higher pump price of petrol. The PPPRA is unwilling to announce higher prices but the NNPC could be quietly paying fresh subsidies.

At the dollar exchange rate of N385, petrol should be selling at N155 but it sells at N145, meaning an effective daily subsidy of N560 million calculated by an assumed under-recovery of N10 for each of the 56 million litres of petrol sold in Nigeria every day.

At the dollar rate of N470 the subsidy is higher at N1.624 billion daily. This is derived from the assumed market price of N174 a litre and a N29 per litre subsidy if importers were to secure their FX on the parallel market.

In its operations and financial report for June, the state-owned oil firm reported N5.35 billion as payment for under recovery stirring controversy that it has begun paying subsidies again.

JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON

…targets creating W/Africa largest data centre

ack Centre, a leading carrier neutral data centre operator in West Africa, has announced an expansion programme that will increase capacity to a total net lettable white space of 6000 square metres and allow for 13MW (megawatts) of IT power capacity in its Lagos campus.

This will be in addition to the current expansion already underway to double existing capacity to 1.5MW and 1,200 square metres of white space in early 2021.

The expansion is said to bring unprecedented carrier neutral scale to West Africa and is in response to increasing demand for data centre space from cloud uptake, telecommunication investment and outsourcing of IT facilities by enterprises in the region.

In March 2020, Actis, a London private equity firm, announced an invest-

ment in Rack Centre, taking a controlling stake in the business alongside Jagal.

The company has revealed that the $100 million funding for this expansion will come from a $250 million pan-African data centre platform established by Actis and Convergence Partners, a leading ICT infrastructure investor in Africa.

In addition to Rack Centre, the platform is also actively developing additional buy and build opportunities across Africa, to establish a network of carrier neutral data centres aimed at catering to carrier, cloud and hyper scale customers.

Tim Parsonson, cofounder of Teraco Data Environments, the largest carrier neutral operator in Africa, joins the board as chairperson. The platform has also engaged Frank Hassett, a veteran of the global data centre industry and previous vice president of infrastructure at Equinix,

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who brings over 1300MW of build and operate experience, to assist with hyperscale expansion.

“Africa is at the start of a critical time in its development, as the 4th industrial revolution offers the chance to leapfrog many of Africa’s challenges and harness the immense potential of its people. Convergence Partners is delighted to partner with Actis in accelerating the growth of high quality data centre infrastructure, an indispensable part of the foundation of this revolution in the region,” Andile Ngcaba, chairman of Convergence Partners, said.

With 138 million internet subscribers, more than any country in Africa or Europe, and the largest population and GDP in Africa, Nigeria is a key entry point for global telecommunications, content and cloud players seeking access to the region.

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Wednesday 02 September 2020

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POLITICS & POLICY Edo guber poll: Group urges Buhari to support Obaseki’s re-election for continued good governance IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

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group under the aegis of Concerned Citizens of Edo State and in the Diaspora (COCED) on Tuesday appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to support the re-election of Governor Godwin Obaseki for a second term in the September 19 governorship election in the state.

Israel Ade’Dunia, president of the group who made the appeal at a press conference in Benin City, said that the re-election of the governor for a second term will ensure the continuation of the ongoing good governance in the state.

Ade’Dunia, however, advised the people of the state

not to be afraid, to allow guntoting men to intimidate and disenfranchise them during the governorship as it happened in Ekiti, Osun, Kogi, and other places.

While urging registered voters to come out en masse and vote for the re-election of the governor, he assured that the election shall be peaceful and that no single soul shall be lost.

“Let President Muhammadu Buhari support the good governance of Obaseki in the fear of God Almighty (Allah). Let Nigerians be able for once, get it right and conduct elections without violence and loss of life. Let peace pervade Edo State during and after the election. Let God-fearing good governance prevail in the midst of disturbing discordance,” he said.

“I call on the people of Edo State not to be afraid.

Gun-toting men should not intimidate the people and disenfranchise them as it happened in Ekiti, Osun and other places. Come out and vote on September 19, 2020. No single soul shall be lost. It shall be peaceful.

It shall be well with us. God bless our God-sent Governor Godwin Obaseki (GGGO), a.k.a ‘Wake and See’.

“I am calling on all these agents of provocateur therefore, to sheath their swords and let good governance reign. Let the waters of good governance flow. Let it flow from Edo State in pools to other states and engulf Nigeria,” he further said.

According to Ade’Dunia, “We encourage him to continue to be on the side of the people in his second tenure.

Godwin Obaseki

No sectarian, religious conflicts

‘We will hold Abdulrazaq responsible in South, says ex-lawmaker if hazard befalls Aisha Patigi’ ...Killings in Southern Kaduna SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

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he All Progressives Congress (APC) Women Network for Buhari, Kwara North Zone on Tuesday raised the alarm over what it described as toxic propaganda and character assassination targeted at denigrating the reputation of Aishat Ahman Pategi, former Kwara State commissioner for special duties who resigned last week.

The group warned that any attack on her would be considered as an affront on their people and such would attract their wrath.

A release signed by Hadiza Abubakar, zonal coordinator of APC Women Network for Buhari, Kwara North Chapter reads: “We the APC Women Network for Buhari, Kwara North Zone wish to extol the exceptional courage exhibited by one of our members and leader in Patigi Local Government Area, Hajia Aisha Ahman Pategi, the former commissioner for special duties, who showed brave spirit by voluntarily resigning from a government which seems to be losing goodwill of Kwara people particularly amongst the women constituency in the state.

“Regrettably, the same government under which Aishat served meritoriously and refused to compromise her integrity until her last resignation has suddenly begun to propagate series of toxic propaganda and character assassination targeted

at denigrating the reputation of Hajia Aishat Ahman Pategi and bring her to public ridicule.

“If despite Aishat Pategi’s selfless services and contributions to the government within the short space of time, the only way Governor Abdulrazaq could repay her is to instruct press officers to launch image damaging attacks against her as exemplified by Rafiu Ajakaiye statements, then we are forced to conclude that the governor’s actions suggest his lack of respect for women constituency.

“We want to warn strongly that the people of Pategi and entire Kwara North women have been betrayed by Governor Abdulrazaq and would not accept further media attacks on the person of our daughter,” the group said.

“Let us also add that Aisha Ahaman Pategi consulted widely before arriving at her decision and she has the backing of our highly revered stakeholders including traditional institutions in Kwara north, thus, any attacks on her will be considered as an affront on our people and such would never be allowed to go unreplied.

“Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq should therefore, call his men to order as Kwara north women are not like the APC State party chairman who refused to act when one of the governor’s aide went on radio and hurled series of insults on the him, Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, and governor refused to address this,” it further said.

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may lead to revolution - Cleric Abdulwaheed Olayinka Adubi, Kaduna

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ormer lawmaker of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and human rights activist, Senator Shehu Sani has said that the South has no sectarian or religious conflicts currently ravaging the northern part of the country.

He urged the Federal Government to set up a delegation of high calibre of northern elders to look into the sectarian and religious conflicts in the region.

The former lawmaker disclosed this on his verified twitter handle where he states that an initiative must be put in place to end the crisis.

According to him, President Buhari should humbly delegate Generals Yakubu Gowon, Abdulsami Abubakar, Audu Ogbeh, Prof. Jubril Aminu to lead a new initiative to end the ethno-religious crisis in parts of the North.

He also explained that solution to end the herdsmenfarmers violence must be provided in order to restore peace.

“The South has no sectarian or religious conflicts,” he twitted.

In a similar development, the General Overseer of Vision Pioneer Throneroom Trust Ministry Kafanchan, Apostle Emmanuel Nuhu Kure, has also urged the Federal Government to stop the killings in the northern part of the country, especially in southern Kaduna before it leads to revolution.

The cleric gave the advice while speaking at prayers and indoor protest sessions against killings in Southern Kaduna recently.

Apostle Kure said the present situation if not arrested now may lead to revolution when people would be forced to come out and defend themselves against the armed militia.

This is because, whether you are a president, governor, minister, senator, member of the house, policeman, military man, INEC chairman, chairman of a local government or councillor, civil servant, clergy man, etc. at the end of your life, it will not be you and them, but you and your Creator.”

He explained that in the last few months Edo State had witnessed, and still witnessing political crisis orchestrated by some evilintentioned minds to truncate the governor’s existing good governance.

He also alleged that those who are not happy with the governor’s developmental strides across the state want to be godfathers at all costs so that they can always take lion share of the state’s resources and allocation.

Zenith party accuses Makinde of covenant breaking …Says, party ready to unseat governor in 2023 REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan

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yo State chapter of Zenith Labour Par ty (ZLP) on Tuesday expressed worry over Governor Seyi Makinde’s alleged failure to fulfil the promises made to the party few days to the 2019 gubernatorial election.

ZLP is one of the political parties that worked for the success of Makinde who contested on the platform of People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

ZLP candidate, Sharafadeen Alli, African Democratic Congress (ADC) gubernatorial candidate, Olufemi Lanlehin and Social Democratic Party (SDP) Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN) and some politicians were persuaded by a former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and asked to jettison their ambitions and support Makinde who defeated the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Adebayo Adelabu in the March 9, 2019 election.

But 17 months after the promises were made, Makinde is allegedly yet to keep to his commitment, which he entered into with the political parties among which is ZLP. Wole Abisoye, ZLP chairman, reacting insisted that Makinde did not disappoint the party, but only disappointed himself by not honouring the agreements.

Abisoye, who addressed party members at Oyo South Senatorial meeting of the party held in Ibadan on Tuesday, however vowed that the party is ready to unseat Makinde in 2023.

The ZLP Chairman, while speaking at the meeting attended by ZLP gubernatorial candidate in 2019, Sharafadeen Alli; ZLP Senatorial candidate for Oyo South in 2019, Remi Olajide; ZLP candidate for Ido/ Ibarapa East Federal constituency, Bimbo Adepoju, and state women leader, Bola Alonge, maintained that the party has solid structure to defeat Makinde in 2023.

Edo 2020: Two policemen in APC campaign team die in road crash …Party suspends campaign IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

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wo of the police personnel attached to the campaign team of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, on Tuesday lost their lives in a road accident.

The police officers, whose

names could not be ascertained as at press time, were said to have lost their lives before Oluku junction in Ovia North-East Local Government Area on their way to Usen community for a campaign.

A statement by John Mayaki, chairman, Edo State APC Media Campaign Council, said a trailer ran into the travelling campaign entourage

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and killed two.

Mayaki said the incident, however, led to the suspension of the campaign rally in the community to honour the dead police officers.

On behalf of Pastor IzeIyamu and the APC, Mayaki condoled with the families of the victims, saying they were not alone in their grief.

He pledged that the cam@Businessdayng

paign council would do everything within its powers to ameliorate their grief.

The statement added that the APC campaign council and its candidate will reach out to the families of the policemen involved in the fatal crash.

He called on everyone to pray for the soul of the dead, and against the recurrence of such tragedies.

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BUSINESS DAY Wednesday 02 September 2020 www.businessday.ng

Is the coup making a comeback in Africa?

Democracy is the norm across the continent, but soldiers are still seizing power David Pilling

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he coup is back in Africa. Last week, soldiers in Mali overthrew the unpopular president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, completing the west African country’s second coup in eight years.

In Sudan, in April last year, after months of massive protests, the Sudanese military toppled the 30-year dictatorship of Omar alBashir. In 2017, a faction of Zimbabwe’s military ousted Robert Mugabe, who had ruled and misruled the former southern African breadbasket for 37 years.

This is not a return to the past.

Before a wave of African democratisation in the 1990s, coups were as common as military dark glasses. Now they are far less frequent, and no longer acceptable in polite circles. Coups are routinely condemned by elected leaders (who rather fancy staying in power) and by institutions such as the African Union. That is why, in all three recent “military assisted transitions” — as the perpetrators would have them — soldiers have bent over backwards to deny that a coup has taken place at all.

In Zimbabwe, the spokesman for the generals who toppled Mugabe proclaimed on television: “We wish to make it absolutely clear that this is not a military takeover” — a statement somewhat undermined by the armoured vehicles on the streets. Instead of executing Mugabe or bundling him on a plane into exile, he was placed under house arrest until he saw the wisdom of resignation.

Something similar happened this month in Mali. The president was arrested and persuaded to resign. As he put it in a broadcast: “Do I really have a choice?”

With a gun to your head, the answer is generally no.

In Sudan, the no-coup fiction was more convincing. The toppling of Bashir was preceded by waves of protests in which millions of Sudanese in dozens of cities took to the streets demanding he must go. The generals who shoved Bashir out, many of them former close allies, presented

their actions as the culmination of a popular revolution.

That is a second feature of recent coups. They are popular, at least initially. Last week’s putsch in Mali was foreshadowed by demonstrations, including by impoverished widows of soldiers who died fighting the jihadist insurgency. The president had been elected by a landslide in 2013. But by 2020, most Malians were weary of a government that had failed to bring either economic progress or peace.

In Zimbabwe, the overthrow of Mugabe was more popular still. As he tendered his “resignation”, hundreds of thousands

took to the streets of Harare to celebrate, albeit sanctioned by the generals and supplied with anti-Mugabe placards. In Sudan, in scenes of jubilation, huge crowds chanted the praises of their “people’s uprising”.

Paradoxically, the return of the coup is the flipside of more entrenched democratic norms.

Across the continent, regular elections are now standard. But leaders have become adept at manipulating the democratic process and at tweaking the constitution to extend their rule. Nic Cheeseman, a political scientist at the University of Birmingham, wrote the manual in 2018, How

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Many of the continent’s “longest-serving” leaders, including Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni (34 years in power) and Cameroon’s Paul Biya (45 years and counting) have been periodically, if dubiously, endorsed at the ballot box. When democracy is so blatantly fixed, it becomes plausible for soldiers to seize power in the name of restoring — not rupturing — the democratic contract

To Rig an Election. Both Mugabe and Bashir were experts. Four years before he was dragged away in handcuffs, 94 per cent of Sudanese voters supposedly endorsed Bashir’s presidency.

Many of the continent’s “longest-serving” leaders, including Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni (34 years in power) and Cameroon’s Paul Biya (45 years and counting) have been periodically, if dubiously, endorsed at the ballot box. When democracy is so blatantly fixed, it becomes plausible for soldiers to seize power in the name of restoring — not rupturing — the democratic contract.

Recent coups come amid a strengthening of civil society. An increasingly urban, social-media savvy and politicised young population has come into conflict with often ageing leaders who cannot meet their aspirations.

Protests have sometimes catalysed peaceful change. In Ethiopia, years of demonstrations forced the resignation of one prime minister in 2018 and the selection by an embattled ruling elite of Abiy Ahmed, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner, as a hoped-for acceptable alternative. But protests have also emboldened the military to act. Popular unrest formed the backdrop to army-controlled

transitions in Algeria last year, as well as in Mali and Sudan.

It must be acknowledged that coups in Africa are now rare.

Many countries have robust democracies. Ghana, once used to military rule, has held seven back-to-back democratic elections since 1992. Nations from Senegal to South Africa have no history of military takeover.

Even Nigeria, once a byword for coups, has been democratic for more than two decades.

Still, there are dangers. One coup tends to lead to another.

Mali is on its second and there are already rumours of disgruntled army officers gunning for Mugabe’s brutal and ineffective successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

And, once in power, soldiers may get a taste for it. Ominously, Mali’s putschists are talking about a three-year transition. In Sudan, civilians are part of a sovereign council that is supposed to organise multi-party elections in 2022. But the leadership includes generals with unsavoury pasts, and there can be many a slip between cup and lip.

“We have to call a spade a spade,” says Mr Cheeseman. “If the military takes over, even if they don’t shoot the leader, that’s still a coup.”

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