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news you can trust I ** friDAY 10 april 2020 I vol. 19, no 539

Anap Foundation COVID-19 Think Tank points to critical needs as Nigeria fights COVID-19 SEGUN ADAMS

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est kits, molecular laboratories and skilled personnel, surgical face masks and cloth face coverings are top on the list of items that Nigeria needs urgently from the outside world and willing donors to curb the spread of the ravaging coronavirus pandemic, The Anap Foundation COVID-19 Think Tank said in a statement on Thursday.

The statement, signed by Atedo N. A. Peterside, chairman, and Abubakar Siddique Mohammed, vice chairman, lists other items to include personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical personnel, respirators/ ventilators, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin + other drugs, and safety net for 40 million

₦2,969,719.26 +0.53

N300

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$-N 405.00 417.00 £-N 488.00 507.00 €-N 412.00 422.00

Crude Oil $ 26.31

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Spot ($/N)

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($/N)

fgn bonds

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NGUS mar 29 2023 401.57

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10 Y 0.00

30 Y 0.01

12.26

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NGUS mar 26 2025 411.86

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Food prices soar as coronavirus lockdown disrupts supply chain JOSEPHINE OKOJIE & BUNMI BAILEY

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he lockdown ordered by the Federal Government to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, which took effect 11 days ago, is disrupting supply chain, forcing prices of key staples to soar in the country.

From rice to garri and other

Bleak Easter looms

key food staples, prices have been making rapid climbs in the country since the lockdown began, fuelled by low supplies and panic buying.

Amid rising cases of coronavirus in the country, President

Muhammadu Buhari ordered restriction of movement in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State beginning 11pm on March 30, although take-off date for Ogun was later extended. Many states have followed suit, limiting trans-border

movements across the states.

As such, trucks transporting food items from the country’s north where they are grown to the south where the markets Continues on page 28

Continues on page 28

Inside Chagoury Brothers, owners of Eko Hotel, donate N1bn to Lagos to fight COVID-19 P. 27 Unveiling the Securities and Exchange Commission regulations for Crowdfunding P. 30-31

L-R: Ajibola Ponnle, commissioner for establishments, training and pensions, Lagos State; Kanyisola Ajayi, chaplain, Emmanuel Chapel, Methodist Church Nigeria, Banana Island Lagos; Bamidele Abiodun, first lady, Ogun State; Temitolu Falayi, Lagos liaison officer, Ekiti State Government, and Funmi Efuwape, commissioner for women affairs and social development, Ogun State/representing the governor, at the presentation of relief materials to Lagos, Ogun, and Ekiti States for 60,000 people by Emmanuel Chapel, Methodist Church Nigeria, Banana Island, in support of the Covid-19 effort in the country, yesterday.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

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Saudi, Russia end oil price war with plans to cut 10mbpd DIPO OLADEHINDE

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he Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) led

by Saudi Arabia and allied countries led by Russia on Thursday reached a historic deal on a deep output cut of up to 10 million barrels as world’s largest producers negotiated how to navigate the market with the coronavirus pandemic decreasing international demand.

In the new deal agreed on Thursday evening, Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to a production cut of 23 percent from each of their 11.3 million bpd, which implies an output quota of 8.5 million bpd.

“That is a global deal,” one OPEC source said, without specifying whether it would involve the participation of the United States, something Russia and OPEC producers have insisted on.

Although the United States was invited, it was not clear if it joined in. Washington has said US output was falling gradually due to lower prices, which Russia says is not the same as making cuts.

The new OPEC deal is expected to last for three months from April to June, while there would be 8 million bpd cut from July to December 2020 and 6 million bpd cut from Jan 2021 until April 2022.

Iran’s Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said after the meeting that these new figures are apart from the cuts expected of countries such as Brazil, Norway and the United States.

The biggest one-off cut previously agreed by OPEC alone was 2.2 million bpd which was during the 2008 financial crisis.

Sources from the meeting said the plan is to have a 5 million bpd cut from outside the OPEC plus group although the duration for the 5 million bpd

cut from outside the OPEC plus group is still unclear. Countries exempted from the deal include Iran, Libya and Venezuela.

Sources said there will likely be extra “reductions” from nonOPEC+ countries at the G-20 meeting on Friday, but those cuts aren’t voluntary ones, but rather driven by low prices and low demand.

Minutes before the meeting, OPEC sent out revised projections to member states that show dire consequences unless they agree to take part in 10 million b/d of production cuts.

“Our industry is haemorrhaging no one has been able to stem the bleeding.” Said OPEC’s Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo according to sources.

Barkindo said oil market fundamentals are “horrifying,” and warns that Q2 excess supply is “beyond anything seen before,” adding that global crude storage could be exhausted in May.

IMF, World Bank agree to provide debt relief to low-income countries ENDURANCE OKAFOR

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or low-income countries to increase their spending on urgent health needs and economic stability, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have agreed to provide immediate debt relief.

Acknowledging the fact that emerging market and developing countries are in dire need of urgent help Kristalina Georgieva, managing director, IMF on Thursday announced the agreement with the World Ban, stating that it was one of the measures to enable the countries to close residual gaps in the hundreds of billions that have been inflicted by the pandemic.

“We have revamped our Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) to provide immediate debt relief to low-income countries affected by the crisis, thereby creating space for spending on urgent health needs rather than debt repayment,” Georgieva said,

adding that the financial institutions are working with donors to increase the CCRT to $1.4 billion to extend the duration of the debt relief.

This is good news for Nigeria, one of IMF’s low-income countries whose debt servicing cost to revenue ratio, one of the key indicators for assessing debt sustainability is at a high rate of about 60 percent.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) recently announced that the Nation’s debt stock was up 4.5 percent quarter-onquarter to N27.4 trillion at the end of Q4 2019 from N26.2 trillion at the end of Q3 2019.

Out of the total debt, the domestic debt stood at N18.3 trillion (67.1% of total debt stock) while foreign debt stood at N9.1 trillion (32.9% of total debt stock).

The Federal Government’s share of the total debt stock was N21.7 trillion comprising; N7.5 trillion external debt and N14.2 trillion domestic debt.

According to IMF, global growth will turn sharply nega-

tive in 2020, and it also anticipates the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression.

“Just three months ago, we expected positive per capita income growth in over 160 of our member countries in 2020.

Today, that number has been turned on its head: we now project that over 170 countries will experience negative per capita income growth this year,” it said.

The lender of last resort also stated that emerging markets and low-income nations across Africa, Latin America, and much of Asia are at high risk.

“With weaker health systems, to begin with, many face the dreadful challenge of fighting the virus in densely populated cities and poverty-stricken slums—where social distancing is hardly an option. With fewer resources, to begin with, they are dangerously exposed to the ongoing demand and supply shocks, drastic tightening in financial conditions and some may face an unsustainable debt burden,” Georgieva said.

Covid-19: Fayemi flags off cash transfer to 5,000 indigent households

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n a bid to bring succour to indigent households during this period of movement restriction occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic, Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, on Tuesday flagged-off cash transfer to 5,000 households in collaboration with the National Cash Transfer Office and Ekiti State Cash Transfer unit.

The flag-off ceremony, which took place at Fajuyi Pavilion, Ado-Ekiti, signalled the commencement of the cash transfer at designated pay points across the 16 local governments in the state. It came barely 24 hours after the state government commenced the distribution of food items to indigent people in the state to cushion the effect of the lockdown.

Performing the disbursement of the cash transfer in Ado-Ekiti, Fayemi said each ben-

… plans to increase beneficiaries to 16,000 eficiary would receive between N20,000 and N60,000, which is a four months arrears from January to April 2020.

The governor, who was represented by the directorgeneral, Office of Transformation and Service Delivery, Bolaji Aluko, said the programme which had been on since 2016 was just being flagged-off as part of government’s efforts to assist poor households during this period of global pandemic where people were being forced to stay at home as a way of checking the spread of the deadly virus.

According to Aluko, “This is not the first cash transfer we are doing in the state, this has been a programme that has been going on for a little while, since 2016 but this is the first major public www.businessday.ng

show of the things we have been doing quietly as a state which is part of the larger National Social Investment Programme that the President Mohamadu Buhari administration started and this state has been part of it.

“We feel that this particular time when this Covid-19 disease is rearing its ugly head in the country is the right time to disburse the cash to serve as palliative to benefitting households. What we are doing right now is equally being done in some other states of the federation. You would recollect that we flagged-off distribution of food packs to some indigent citizens yesterday, and we still have other incentives to give to our people as a form of succour which would be unveiled in the course of time. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

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US evacuates 997 Americans from Nigeria amid Covid-19 pandemic … as Nigeria to evacuate citizens from Canada

IFEOMA OKEKE

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he US Mission in Nigeria has evacuated 997 Americans from Nigeria during this time of unprecedented challenge posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

From April 6-8, three US Consulate-organised chartered flights operated by Delta Air Lines and Ethiopian Airlines repatriated 850 American citizens from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos to the US. This is in addition to the 147 US citizens who departed Abuja on April 4.

In a statement by the US Consulate, it stated that these repatriation flights were made possible by the US Consulate team and great cooperation from Nigerian partners, including the Ministry of Aviation, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and the Lagos State government.

As of April 8, 2020, the Department of State has coordinated the repatriation of 50,339 Americans from 94 countries since January 29, 2020.

US Consul General Claire Pierangelo noted that in times of emergency, the US Department of State has no greater priority

than the safety and security of US citizens overseas.

“This has been three weeks in the making. We had more than 50 people working on this on a daily basis to make sure that we can find the Americans, get the planes, secure flight clearances for the planes to land here and also ensure safe passage of the Americans traveling to the airport since the city is on lockdown. It was an enormous effort and I am incredibly proud of my team. We appreciate all the help from our Nigerian partners. We couldn’t have done this without them,” Pierangelo said.

US Mission remains committed to working closely with the government of Nigeria and the various health authorities to keep everyone healthy and safe amid the Covid-19 pandemic, she said.

The US government has pledged more than $7 million in health and humanitarian funding to Nigeria in response to the pandemic that will go toward risk communication, water and sanitation activities, infection prevention, and coordination.

This assistance joins more than $5.2 billion in health assistance and more than $8.1 billion in total assistance for Nigeria over the past 20 years.

Chinese medical team tests negative to Covid-19, undergo 14 days quarantine ... as CCECC constructs two response facilities in Abuja

James Kwen, Abuja

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he 15-man Chinese medical team that arrived Nigeria Wednesday to help in the fight against the dreaded coronavirus had tested negative to the virus.

The team is also to undertake 14 days in quarantine before commencing its primary purpose of escorting the medical supplies from China, providing guidance for their usage and distribution.

The China Civil Engineering Construction Corp o ra t i o n ( C C E C C ) i n a statement by its managing director, Michael Jiang, said considering its large number of employees in Nigeria, CCECC at its own cost had dispatched a 15-member working team from China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC).

According to Jiang, 12 members of the team are experienced medical professionals with expertise in infectious disease, respiratory illness, intensive care, cardiology, neurology, general surgery and anaesthesiology. Members of the team also have relevant experience in the prevention and diagnosis of the Covid-19. “ T h e y w i l l a l s o p ro v i d e C C E C C e mp l oye e s with critical and necessary healthcare assistance where necessary. They are also

coming with adequate PPE and medical items for the employees.

“In addition, under the directive of Chinese Embassy and in response to the Nigeria Government’s request, the working team may also share with Nigerian medical teams effective methods on how to contain the COVID-19 and provide advice on the use of relevant medical equipment.

The team is not coming to treat Covid-19 patients in Nigeria”, Jiang stated.

The CCECC managing director also disclosed that in keeping with its corporate value, “Stride with Nigeria”, CCECC is participating in the construction of two Covid-19 response facilities in the FCT for free as part of its Corporate Social Responsibilities.

He said the facilities were a 196-bed at “ThisDay Dome Treatment Centre,” in collaboration with Sahara Group and Arise News, and the 150-bed “Idu Depot Treatment Centre.”

C C E C C We d n e s d ay delivered 16-tons of test k i t s, v e n t i l a t o r s, d i s i n fection machine, disposable medical masks, N95 masks, medicines, rubber gloves, protective gowns, goggles, face shields, infra-red thermometers and other critical care items, through a chartered flight operated by Air Peace to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

L-R: Daniel Amokachi, former Nigeria footballer/soccer ambassador, and Alex Addingi, vice chairman, Sinoki Group, presenting food and drinks from Silk Road Restaurant to some members of the Response Team as part of their corporate NAN social responsibility to the fight against COVID-19 in Abuja, yesterday.

Covid-19: Lessons from Ghana on how to cushion effect on people, business CHUKA UROKO

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hanaian government presents some lessons for other African countries, including the continent’s ‘big brother’ and largest economy, on how to cushion the effect of the rampaging coronavirus on their people and business, especially small scale businesses.

The ‘small’ West Africa country has come up with palliative initiatives that address directly the needs and concerns of average Ghanaians in every part, not some parts, of the country in the face of the virus.

For the next three months, including April, May and June, the Ghana Water Company and the Electricity Company of Ghana will ensure stable supply of water and electricity as directed by the government.

The president of the country, Nana Akufo-Addo, who disclosed this in a national broadcast to the people recently, stated

further that all water tankers privately and publicly owned in the country would be mobilised to ensure the supply of water to all vulnerable communities.

“The government, in collaboration with the National Board for small scale industries, business and trade associations and selected commercial and rural banks will roll out a soft loan scheme up to 600 million Cedis with a one-year moratorium and two-year repayment period for micro, small and medium scale businesses,” the president said.

For a country that is having problems with keeping its citizens at home even with a lockdown and stay-at-home order in place, this is a good and strong lesson to learn from its ‘small brother’ neighbour.

African Union (AU) study estimates that 20 million jobs are at risk in Africa in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic while Nigeria and Angola, subSaharan Africa’s biggest oil producers may be losing $65 billion in income.

Lagos discharges seven more Coronavirus patients Anthonia Obokoh & Joshua Bassey

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even of the Coronavirus pandemic patients who had been receiving treatment at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Lagos, have been discharged.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Thursday announced on his twitter handle, saying, “Good people of Lagos, I bring you awesome news from Infectious disease hospital (IDH), Yaba, which is a testament to our resolve to overcome the lethal #COVID19 pandemic ravaging the world.

“Today, we discharged 7 more patients who have fully recovered and tested negative twice consecutively for #COVID19. This brings to 39 the number of discharged patients in Lagos.”

According to the governor,

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the patients include one female and six males; three of the discharged male patients are foreign nationals; two Ukrainians and one Italian.

He added that as we look forward to more great news in the coming days, I implore you all to support our offensive against #COVID-19 by complying with our directives and taking responsibility for yourselves and your community.

The governor said in the coming days, some of our health workers would be moving around in pairs to administer an electronic questionnaire at homes and healthcare facilities to make enquiries about some symptoms like cough, cold and fever.

“This is in a bid to intensify our search for possible cases of #COVID19 in different communities across the State known as Active Case Search,” he added.

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The continent’s economies are projected to shrink this year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the AU study, which adds that African oil exporters are expected to see their budget deficits double this year while their economies shrink 3 percent on average.

These projections make Ghana’s proactive decisions to support small businesses instructive because, in any economy, small businesses are the engine of economic growth.

There is a lesson to learn here.

In Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and other places where there is a stay-at-home order in place, many residents have defied the order and moved to the streets because, according to them, there is no food in the house and there is no money to buy one.

Additionally, there is no electricity and because of that, there is no water. The situation got so bad in Kaduna that five persons had to pay the supreme sacrifice.

“I think our major problem is electricity. If there is light, you

can soak garri and drink with groundnut. If there is light, you can stay indoors, drink your garri and watch television. With that you won’t be bored in the house. But how can you stay indoors without food and there is no light? Kayode Kolawole, an Anglican church priest, queried.

Kolawole wondered why the government had no concrete plan that could keep people in their homes and by so doing help them to curtail the spread of the deadly virus. He wondered too why the politicians could go from house to house to campaign for votes but when it was time for sharing money to the poor, they would send people from Abuja.

“Who do those Abuja people know? They say they have a list of poor people in the country; how did they collect the names of the people on the list; who gave them those names? We are being made to believe that poor people are only in one part of the country; who will believe these shenanigans?” he said.

COVID-19: Lagos residents’ compliance with restriction order commendable - Razak Iniobong Iwok

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n All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftain, Lanre Razak has commended Lagos residents for their support for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu by complying with the stay-at-home order.

Razak, made the commendation in an interview with newsmen where he stated that their cooperation with Sanwo-Olu has made his job of combating coronavirus easier and effective.

The elder statesman said compliance with the restriction order is a major act towards reducing the risk of spreading the deadly disease, reminding that prevention is always, better, safer and cheaper than cure.

While commending SanwoOlu over the way he handles the issue of the dreaded coronavirus, Razak said: “His performance has reinforced the need for a Special Status for Lagos State.”

Razak also urged the resi@Businessdayng

dents to double their support and cooperation for Sanwo-Olu in the way he is handling the coronavirus issue in the state.

The Epe High Chief expressed the belief that the governor’s success story has turned Lagos State into a trusted destination and referral point for other states, including Abuja the seat of power.

He praised the governor and his team for turning the state into a saving grace for the country and beyond.

“Sanwo-Olu’s swift reaction in handling the fearful ailment has shown the level of preparedness of his administration towards tackling the dreaded disease that has become the talk of the town globally,” he asserted.

Against this backdrop, the former Public Transportation Commissioner in the state enthused that with the trending performance of Sanwo-Olu, “Lagos State would soon attain a Special Status being agitated for all this while.”

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‘Cororeflections’, COVID colours and protocols Tales from the main road

Eugenia Abu

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nce the Abuja and Lagos lockdowns on account of the Coronavirus began, I knew we all had to become creative in the way in which we lived with each other or even tolerated each other’s shenanigans. It’s amazing how a big space becomes smaller when you are all forced to stay together even though you have always stayed together. Thing is, some of us go to work and children go to school.

So, it is understandable when you are beginning to think you should loan your son who now thinks he is Tarzan to the neighbours. You are at your wits end when your four-yearold thinks he is a tank engine making unintelligible sounds in the middle of your trying to get some work done and after his 6th soft drink.

Grr… I know although I have no four-year olds now, I know the feeling. So, on the second day of the lockdown, I thought to put some inspiring daily thoughts down in a new coinage of mine titled “Cororeflections”. These are nuggets to help

us all carry on to be found on my daily WhatsApp posts.

So, we start today’s column with a few of these reflections. The first post pretty much stayed with true reflection. This is the time for deep thinking. The time to be kind to each other. The time to learn about yourself. What are you doing all the time to offend another? Time to change your ways. Be grateful for your children. Be thankful for your Parents.

On the second Cororeflection, I focussed on cooking being cathartic.

“Cooking encourages community and bonding and opens love’s doors.

Wear your Chef hat and get into the kitchen. No, it does not have to be mummy. It can be daddy or even a brother. Try out many things. Feed your family. Surprise them. Watch the smiles grow.” The feedbacks have been awesome. In fact, to the cooking one someone who lives alone felt she had been excluded. My reply was that she experiments. If she does not have a cookery book, she should google recipes. And show us online what she had cooked and let us all reward her with our admiration.

The following day, she was sharing a restaurant worthy menu. We can make the lockdown count.

My third Cororeflections was on forgiveness. “So, you are still angry with Mama Kemi? It was two years ago. Let it go. Call her today. Mama Kemi, be remorseful. Forgiveness is true humanity. Everything else is a scam.” Indeed, Nigerians form too religious and we cannot forgive. It’s

hard but we can try. At this time of deep reflection. It is time to curate our forgiveness chart and get it done and dusted.

In addition to all of the above I looked at issues of too much carpet to carpet news, full of mind-blowing statistics of the dead and advised that people should not spend the whole day checking COVID-19 updates but take time to do other things so we can air our brains from bad news. I also advised that people should not be trigger happy in sending bad news through their phones.

Not everyone is mentally strong. Do not repost unsubstantiated information. If you cannot inspire, don’t perspire. And our recent post is on reading. Reading opens the mind.

I recommend Lebanese American, Khalil Gibran’s 1923 book, The Prophet. An amazing book.

And here is a quote to help you find this book and dive deep. You will never be the same. “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing to itself. They came through you but are not from you…” I end each thought with “stay safe”. Stay cheerful. The feedbacks have been amazing. We are thankful for the ability to keep engaging in spite of the lockdown. We will keep it going for the lockdown and if we can, for longer. I hope they speak to you.

Cororeflections; daily thoughts for your lockdown relief.

In the meantime, I have been pretty intrigued by the vibrant

‘

I am heartbroken that people who should know better are putting themselves and others at risk… follow the protocols. Don’t be a Covidiot

Eugenia Abu is a broadcaster, writer, trainer, band and multimedia strategy expert and media consultant. Contact. abu_eugenia@yahoo.com

18 rules of investing

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ere are some truths to investing.

Which is your favorite?

Hard work and savings are prerequisite to investing – Unless you have wealthy, benevolent relatives, living within your means and saving money are prerequisites to investing and building wealth.

Know the three-best wealth-building investments – People of all economic means make their money grow in ownership assets – stocks, real estate, and small business – where you share in the success and profitability of the asset.

Be realistic about expected returns – Over the long term, 9 to 10 percent per year is about right for ownership investments such as stocks. Real estate, depending on the jurisdiction and entry level could return more or less. If you run a small business, you can earn higher returns and even become a multimillionaire, but years of hard work and insight are required.

Think long term – This is because ownership investments are riskier (more volatile), you must keep a long-term perspective when investing in them. Don’t invest money in such investments unless you plan to hold them for a minimum of five years, and preferably a decade or longer.

Match the time frame to the investment – Selecting good investments for yourself involves matching the time frame you have to the riskiness of the investment.

For example, for money that you expect to use within the next year, focus on safe

investments, such as money market funds.

Invest your longer-term money mostly in wealth-building investments.

Diversify – Diversification is a powerful investment concept that helps you to reduce the risk of holding more aggressive investments. Diversifying simply means that you should hold a variety of investments that don’t move in tandem in different market environments. For example, if you invest in stocks, invest worldwide, not just in the Nigerian or even US market. You can further diversify by investing in real estate.

Always consider the big picture – Understand your overall financial situation and how wise investments fit within it.

Before you invest, examine your debt obligations, tax situation, ability to fund retirement accounts, and insurance coverage.

Ignore the intricacies – Don’t feel mystified by or feel the need to follow the short-term gyrations of the financial markets. Ultimately, the prices of stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments are determined by supply and demand, which are influenced by thousands of external issues and millions of investors’ expectations and fears.

Allocate your assets – How you divvy up or allocate your money among major investments greatly determines your returns. The younger you are and the more money you earmark for the long term, the greater the percentage you should devote to ownership investments.

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– You work hard for your money. Buying and selling investments costs you money.

Investing isn’t a field where you act first and question later. Never buy an investment based on an advertisement or a salesperson’s solicitation of you.

Keep an eye on taxes – Take advantage of tax-deductible retirement accounts and understand the impact of your tax bracket when investing outside tax-sheltered retirement accounts. Consider the value of your time and your investing skills and desires.

Investing in stocks and other securities via the best mutual funds and exchange-traded funds is both time-efficient and profitable.

Real estate investing and running a small business are the most time-intensive investments.

Where possible, minimise fees – The more you pay in commissions and management fees on your investments, the greater the drag on your returns. And don’t fall prey to the thinking that “you get what you pay for.”

Don’t expect to beat the market – The large number of full-time, experienced stock market professionals makes it next to impossible for you to choose individual stocks that will consistently beat a relevant market average over an extended time period.

Don’t bail when things look bleak – The hardest time, psychologically, to hold on to your investments is when they’re down. Even the best investments go through depressed periods, which is the

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colours of the Coronavirus, bright fuchsia and tints of wild purple. In other illustrations, it is a designer’s dream green. Really? This virus on a killing spree should not have such delicious colours. In some instances, it is inspiring a new line of fashion and in others because it is so piercing it is eliciting mind-numbing fear. So, I researched it and found that most viruses are dark grey and unattractive but scientists and illustrators try to flex our imagination by giving it these colours so we can see it. My daughter is a Microbiologist turned banker and tells me, indeed there are dank colours to viruses. So, there you have it. We can see you Coronavirus.

And this too shall pass.

And finally, I am heartbroken that people who should know better are putting themselves and others at risk. From Funke Akindele, to state governors, to rich men, to lay men, religious, reckless people and not the least also leaders of countries.

While it is hard to stay home. It’s one of the ways to slow the spread. No Vaccines, no answers, no immediate clues. Follow the protocols. Don’t be a Covidiot.

Check out Oiza and Meyi’s Instagram for a song on Coronavirus and Cobham Asuquo’s song on the same thing. We shall conquer by the grace of God. Amen. Do the right thing.

Motunrayo Ade-Famoti

worst possible time to sell. Don’t sell when there’s a sale going on; if anything, consider buying more.

Ignore soothsayers and prognosticators – Predicting the future is nearly impossible. Select and hold good investments for the long term. Don’t try to time when to be in or out of a particular investment.

Minimise your trading – The more you trade, the more likely you are to make mistakes. You also get hit with increased transaction costs and higher taxes (for nonretirement account investments).

Hire advisors carefully – Before you hire investing help, first educate yourself so you can better evaluate the competence of those you may hire. Beware of conflicts of interest when you consider advisors to hire.

You are what you read and listen to – Don’t pollute your mind with bad investing strategies and philosophies. The quality of what you read and listen to is far more important than the quantity. Find out how to evaluate the quality of what you read and hear.

Lastly, your personal life and health are the highest-return, lowest-risk investments.

They’re far more important than the size of your financial portfolio.

Ade-Famoti is a lawyer and the CEO of Moneystewards

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The perfect storm and the re-alignment of global economic power THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

Obadiah Mailafia

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volutionary biologists tell us that viruses have been with us since the beginning of time. Civilisation itself has been a struggle between humans and viruses. Conspiracy theories abound. The Chinese and Americans have been at each other’s throats. Some claim it was a Chinese invention to get even with the West. Others said it was an accident from a biosecurity lab in Wuhan. The Chinese initially insisted it was brought by American soldiers.

Yet others blame it on the Chinese penchant for eating live worms, fresh monkey brain, dogs, cats, cockroaches, millipedes, pangolins and virtually anything that moves.

There is also the theory of 5G radiation, on which the jury is still out. Some physicists blame later-day Luddites for peddling such “fear mongering”. They insist that high radio spectrums do not have the radioactive characteristics associated with elements such as radium, polonium or uranium.

There is also a “Devil theory”, whereby Covid-19 is part of a grand complot by the shadowy Illuminati that govern the world to create a New World Order. They aim to achieve this grand objective through manufacturing a virus that will bring nations and communities to their knees while providing justification for population control. The stories about a new vaccine with an Orwellian electronic implant is generating great panic in Africa.

Although the world powers have been signatories to international treaties outlawing the development of chemical and biological weapons, there is anecdotal evidence that they are secretly carrying on as if nothing is amiss. The city of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus broke out in November last year, is where

China’s top-secret biological warfare research laboratory is based. In February this year, award-winning Harvard biochemist Charles Lieber was arrested by the FBI for allegedly releasing top biowarfare secrets to the Chinese. He faces a long jail term of convicted.

A French medical scientist, Jean-Paul Mira, outraged many Africans when he declared: “If I can be provocative, shouldn’t we be doing this study in Africa, where there are no masks, no treatments.” Football legends Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o came out to warn the French to desist from their racist and devilish plans against our continent.

So far, Africa has registered a total of 8,701 cases and 320 mortalities. Nigeria, has recorded 254 infections, 6 deaths and 44 recoveries. The world is surprised that our continent has weathered the storm rather well. But Director-General of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, warns that we must “prepare for the worst and prepare today”.

The economic fallouts from Covid-19 have been globally devastating. Some economists have drawn parallels to the subprime crisis of 2008-2009 while others have likened it to the Great Depression of the thirties. The Paris-based OECD recently lowered its global economic forecast for 2020 to 1.5 percent if the pandemic does not begin to decline by the second quarter.

The economic lockdown across the world has disrupted supply chains. The aviation industry has been grounded, with losses in excess of $500 billion while tourism firms have seen an excess of $800 billion wiped out from their balance sheets. Global oil prices nosedived to a low of $22 before rallying to $34.11 last week.

Stock markets have lost with more than $2 trillion. Investors have been scrambling to safety in US Treasury securities. The scramble to safety has in its turn pushed down the yield curve to less than 1 percent. There has been a demand for more and more of the greenback, as investors scramble for dollar denominated assets.

For most countries, the fiscal space will be further diminished, as big holes appear on public expenditure plans.

Debt is bound to increase. The good news, however, is that, unlike, the sub-

prime crisis that devastated Wall Street, households have not lost out significantly. But big firms and SMEs have lost considerable incomes. More than 3.5 million lay-offs have occurred in the United States alone.

But there are silver linings. The London-based Economist newspaper predicts that many couples under lockdown will make more babies, echoing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who urged his compatriots to take advantage of the enforced intimacy to reverse their dwindling population. There might well be a coronavirus “baby boom” in the coming nine months, given past trends when people were forced to stay at home during disaster emergencies.

The pandemic may also lead to a new realignment in the global balance of power. For better or worse, China will come out stronger and more prosperous.

Already, the Chinese industrial juggernaut is re-booting. The Chinese are snapping up businesses in Italy and other parts of the industrial West at a time when they are at rock-bottom prices.

Recently, the IMF announced that the Yuan (officially known as the Renminbi or “people’s money”) has been fully welcomed into international financial markets as a currency for financial transactions. The Yuan has gained 48 points in value, currently standing at 6.9795 to the dollar. There are indications that more and more central banks across the world are keeping some of their reserve assets in Yuan, amounting to a figure of $900 billion. Yuan-denominated overseas bonds have risen from a low of $895 million in 2007 to a whopping $1.08 trillion in 2018. The Middle Kingdom is galloping towards the Numero Uno position in world power.

The global response has so far been quite robust. Donald Trump has announced a total war chest of $4.5 trillion, compared to the US8 billion that Barack Obama spent during the Great Recession. Other OECD countries have followed suit, in addition to the World Bank and the IMF that have committed a combined total of $1.160 trillion to shore up member countries from the economic and financial fallout of Covid-19 pandemic. There is also a commitment to assist highly indebted countries to renegotiate their debt repayment terms.

‘ Sooner or later, this evil wind will pass. This is an opportunity to forge a new compact based on justice, solidarity and hope

The economic fallout has been horrendous for Nigeria. The 2020 budget has been revised downwards by N1.5 trillion.

Big corporations, SMEs and small traders are feeling the pinch. Poverty and hunger are bound to increase, and with them criminality and even banditry.

We were relieved when, at last, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari condescended from his reclusive palace to address the nation. We are encouraged by the Task Force that has been created and the right noises being made by the likes of Health Minister Osagie Ehanire and the indefatigable Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi. They have lost weight in recent weeks, which is a good sign.

The partial lockdown across the country has helped. But we need to see more communication and engagement with the public. The “palliatives” being promised to the poorest and most vulnerable groups should be disbursed with greater transparency and accountability.

We also welcome the initiatives being taken by CBN, with a package of more than a trillion naira for the health sector, manufacturers and SMES. The directive to the banks to exercise forbearance on commercial debt and also reduction on interest charges on CBN interventions loans are steps in the right direction. The devil, however, is always in the details of implementation.

Sooner or later, this evil wind will pass.

This is an opportunity to forge a new compact based on justice, solidarity and hope.

In his 1942 novel, The Screwtape Letters, the Oxford writer C. S. Lewis enacts a scene where Satan is boasting: “I will cause anxiety, fear and panic. I will shut down businesses, schools, places of worship and sports events. I will cause economic turmoil.” To which Jesus counters: “I will bring together neighbours, restore the family…bring dinner back to the kitchen table. I will help people slow down their lives and appreciate what really matters. I will teach my children to…trust me and not their money and material resources.”

Dr. Mailafia is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a development economist and public finance expert with a DPhil from Oxford obmailafia@gmail.com; 08036590990 (text messages only)

Of times, seasons and punctuation marks

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e are still in the Covid-19 lock down.

Very many things are still up in the air but it seems we are nearer the end of the pandemic than when it first started. As most people are taking a break even if it is from traffic and you are still working from home, I thought to also to mix things up a little this week and next week and share a blog post I wrote on my blog catapultbylb.wordpress. com. It will be in two parts so be sure to read the concluding post next week.

Language was first only spoken before it became written. Initially the spoken word was the most powerful, and when text was written, it was without spacing or punctuation marks.

Besides the miscommunication this would have empowered, it must have been extremely infuriating to say the least.

Apparently, we have a man called Aristophanes to thank because he created a system where people could add dots to lines of text to signify pauses. Without the comma, sentence parts can collide into one another unexpectedly causing all kinds of mis-readings and miscommunication. The semicolon is used between independent clauses not joined with a coordinating conjunction. Not to repeat myself, it must have been a real nuisance trying to understand what was being communicated.

So, we all agree what a total mess written communication would be without punctuation. Let us equate communication to human life. In life, there are many starts and stops, pauses, brackets and inverted commas etc. So, for example a young girl falls pregnant and her midwife mother aborts the baby by giving her some medication that would expel the foetus. The foetus is expelled and left in a cupboard in a bucket of brine to die.

The punctuation here depends on which angle you are watching this drama unfold from and which player you are. Is it a full stop, a pause or an exclamation mark?

It was a full stop for the mid-wife mother of the young girl and even for the young girl. That baby’s life was terminated and that was that about that, the end as far as they were both concerned.

For the foetus however, it was just a pause because believe it or not, some other nurses looked in the cupboard and realized that the foetus in the bucket of brine had not died. More about her later.

As for these nurses, it must have been an exclamation mark. This was just a momentary stop in proceedings (a shocking one, surely). They did not have the luxury of it being a long break in transmission because (no pun intended) it was a matter of life and death.

There were many things they had to juggle in the minute. What would they do to keep the

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foetus alive? What if it survived and was brain damaged or what if they kept it and it died in their care? Would they be charged with murder? If it survived and was even normal, would they have to personally keep it or could they give it up? If they gave it up, what if it went to a cruel family, that had ulterior motives for wanting to keep the baby. Etcetera, etcetera.

These nurses did not deliberate too long. They did not allow themselves to be paralysed by the analysis. Anything could happen, even the sky could fall in, they took the next logical step. The next step that was critical to all the other possibilities. Sufficient is the trouble of today. They did not need to pass out because of the possible trouble of tomorrow (which may never come).

As for the baby, unknown to her at the time, her punctuation was a comma. (A pause, a momentary break in transmission). To the world, if it was a movie it would have been a long pause (with ominous and /or eerie background music).

It was however not a long pause and really did not need ominous or eerie music). She however needed help to go from one comma to the next punctuation mark.

What do you think? I think the most important person in this drama (which is true life story) is the foetus who grew to become a delightful, well adjusted, amazing woman. She was totally

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Olamide Balogun shocked when she was 16years old and found out she was adopted. When she heard her story, she was absolutely blown away. Guess what she does today? You guessed right. She is an anti -abortionist activist.

She tried to contact her birth mother but could not because she traced her mum to her grandparents who did not want to have anything to do with her even after all those years later. They also did not want her mother to have anything to do with her and ensured that she and the idea of her remained a complete and total full stop. What a sad pair.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https:// businessday.ng Balogun is the founder of Box & Cedar Ltd a boutique Recruitment and HR Consulting firm Www.boxandcedar.com

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Ekwegh is a private legal practitioner with over 15 years

Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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After Covid-19 – a brave new world?

HumanAngle

Femi olugbile

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aving faced down conspiracy theorists of all shades and colours who have pinned their flags to the mast of the novel coronavirus, from 5G alarmists to right-wing bigots, it would seem hardly proper for this column to play devil’s advocate by giving fresh cause for worry to an already traumatised public.

However, it is important to begin to ask - what will the world truly look like after the horrendous pestilence known as Covid-19?

Some issues cause concern in the mind of anyone watching developments. How will people feel safe sitting in a stadium to watch a soccer match, in a classroom to listen to a lecture, in a theatre to watch a movie after this horrible experience of fear, suspicion and social distancing?

A jocular exchange on television recently raised the point about what the future of social interaction might look like. One person asked the other how she would feel safe sitting in a movie theatre to watch a film. The other party responded that she was sure that all the people in the theatre with her would have had to scan their “QR health

codes” before they were allowed in.

QR Health code? What is a QR code?

A QR (Quick Response) code is a barcode that can be read by a machine.

It was first designed in 1994 for the automotive industry.

And a QR Health Code? It is a barcode specifically designed to carry information about the health status of an individual. Scanning it and being passed as “green” – meaning the individual is not carrying the risk of spreading coronavirus or some other disease, could quite conceivably become the new way to allow people past the turnstiles and barriers into airplanes, train stations, offices and theatres in a brave new world.

No, it is not science fiction.

It has been widely reported in the press that citizens of China are gradually being allowed to return to work and normal life. What is not widely reported is how that process is being managed and monitored.

Again, it begins to sound like apocalyptic, end-times science fiction.

Every citizen of China has a mobile phone. Phone numbers are registered in a central directory. In a bold experiment that started in the eastern city of Hangzhou, citizens were required to download an app on their smartphones. It is called the Alipay Health Code. It was introduced with the help of a sister company of e-commerce giant Alibaba. On signing up and filling in their details, including granting access to personal data, the app, obviously in communication with a central database, assigns them a colour code – green, yellow or red. Anybody with a “red” code is stopped automatically by machine sensors at the entrance of any public place. The app is also auto-

matically in communication with the police, giving the person’s location and identifying code number to a central server. The system is already in use in two hundred cities. It is being rolled out all over China.

Is the Chinese QR Health code the future the world is about to embrace?

It reeks of “Big Brother is Watching You, with all the citizens” details available to “The State”.

At present, it cannot happen anywhere except in a totalitarian state.

Or can it?

What is it about the novel coronavirus that suggests the dreaded possibility that it may not fade away from public attention once people stop dying and citizens are able to go about their business? It is suggested, but not proven, that once a person has had an infection, he acquires some immunity.

How long is the immunity conferred? It is too early to tell.

It is also suggested that, given the Reproduction Quotient (R0) of the virus, if somehow 70 percent of any population could acquire immunity, then the whole community would acquire “herd immunity”. One way of achieving this is for large numbers of people to become infected, with only a few developing serious illnesses. Some people suggest that this may already be happening in Europe! The other way is for an effective vaccine to be found and used. Best estimates suggest that a vaccine may still be several months away!

Already there is a movement, started in Germany, to do widespread testing of the population for antibodies, which would show the individual who has acquired immunity. Such a person may be issued an “Immunity

‘

At this point there is a sinister convergence in the mind of anyone with an active imagination between the Chinese QR Health code and the hypothetical QR Health code that could confirm COVID19 vaccination status

Certificate” enabling him to evade restrictions, including “social distancing” and return to normal life. But if the “mass immunity” anticipated by the Germans does not work, it may mean the whole population will not really safe until they are vaccinated.

The question arises – since there will always be defaulters and dissenters, how will people who have been “safely” vaccinated be identified? A traditional vaccination card? Or a “smart” QR health code, easily readable on the mobile device?

At this point there is a sinister convergence in the mind of anyone with an active imagination between the Chinese QR Health code and the hypothetical QR Health code that could confirm COVID19 vaccination status.

There is one possible further leap into the dark. Why carry the information on a phone, which may be lost, or stolen? Why not an implant under the skin - a tiny chip? To some, who would by now be thoroughly alarmed, there is a biblical name for that chip. It is called “The mark of the Beast”.

Of course, none of this is inevitable, or a necessary cause for impotent handwringing. Who needs a QR health code to record vaccination status?

What is wrong with the good old vaccination card? Technology is made for the human being, and not the human being for technology. The human being will need, through Bioethics, to apply the brakes and take up responsibility for the direction of his science, and not just be led endlessly by the possibilities it offers. As the saying goes: “We don’t have to, just because we can.”

Olugbile is a writer and psychiatrist. synthesiz@gmail.com

Managing finance this season

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s we blame too many things on this pandemic, clearly, in the middle of it will be our finances. This is because a lot of us are primitive money thinkers, we think of no other way of making money than working daily for it. Sadly, this season we really can’t go outside to make money in the ways our hustle has taught us. So, let’s re-imagine our finance, decisions and tradeoffs. There are no worthy decisions without trade-offs.

Beyond looking for just alternatives to generate more revenue, start from adjusting your balance sheet. Your expense cannot be the same if your income has reduced. Have a budget. The truth is, too many people spend money they really don’t have, to buy things they really don’t need to impress people they don’t like, who don’t care too.

I suggest that you “prioritise” your spending this season (break them into utilities, essentials, short term versus long term, vitals and trivial). Depending on your social category, (while for some it’s to pause on a capital project as mortgage and buildings, for others it’s to decide whether to turn off all auto updates on your mobile to conserve data, or what AC to turn on to conserve power or when to turn on the generator. Proper planning, they say prevents poor performance. Stay off unnecessary payments and subscriptions.

Furthermore, consider the following tips too: No panic buying: Stay off panic buying. It leads to high pricing and unnecessary waste.

And in the words of M.W Harrison, “the waste of money cures itself, for soon there is no more waste”.

Stay off impulse buying. If you don’t define where your money is going, you’d end up wondering where it went. Have a budget and stick

by it. Anything that is not an emergency and no in the budget can wait. Also, avoid living above your means at this time. Never spend money before you have it. Don’t do “audio money”.

The term “Audio Money” was made popular by one of the P Square artistes; he used the word “audio money” to refer to money that is never seen but constantly heard from people who claim to have money. Giving a false impression of wealth puts too much pressure on you.

No matter how things get bad, keep an emergency fund. With all your dependencies, the health crisis all around household hazards, I pray you wouldn’t need it. But the reality is that life comes with uncertainties.

This a good time to reimagine your debt profiles. Move to reduce your account receivables (debts). And also, maybe those that owe you. As the saying goes, the only person who sticks to you closer than a friend in times of adversity are your creditors. Get personal with your creditors. Just sending an email won’t work. Call up the client. Meeting up the client face to face where possible. Most times, unannounced visits would help. Perfect timing is also key. Understand timing; send an email very early in the morning, so it’s the first thing they see when they wake up. If it’s either still early or late in the month, perfect time to send a subtle reminder. Offer conditioner discounts on loans (say for example, discounts or a percentage write off on the total debt can be given to people who pay you on time or in this season).

Leverage on updated regulations from the macroeconomics bailouts (some taxes may have been suspended that affects you). For example, Buhari has directed that a threemonth repayment moratorium for all TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni loans be

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implemented with immediate effect. A lot of people are restructuring their rents and bank loans too. Also, except where necessary stay off borrowing this season. Don’t ever borrow money for something that doesn’t enhance your financial goals, nor where you want to be in the future.

It’s time to think beyond and ahead. An African proverb reminds us “whoever you give the power to feed you, you also give the power to starve you”. Most people have given too much power to daily hustle and employment.

The Covid-19 suddenly didn’t drive u to stay indoors. It drove us to somewhere deeper, online. And it will never return us back to exactly where we used to be. Upgrade now. Our lives have just changed!

There is crisis and panic. As the world become more anxious, beyond survival and being desperate and hungry for a solution to these deaths and pandemic, after all these what will emerge suddenly will be new opportunities for businesses. After this pandemic, alternatives to 9 to 5s will be more available.

This means layoffs and more MBOs (Management by Objectives). More underdogs that have taken advantage to draw closer to neglected clients will take over the opportunities that they have seen and explored while others were asleep and on lockdowns. The Work from Home concept will have more credibility. For a lot of companies, in the past, there has been some sort of mental barrier to letting people work from home. Well, not anymore. I think a lot of organizations will see how well their business copes (if they get the right digital tools in place) with more of their employee base working from home (which could invariably create more work-life balance as well as cost saving,

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EIZU UWAOMA

I predict new business models, new brands, a new league of power brokers and problem solvers. Will you be one?

Also, one other thing to quickly embrace now is to maybe have an extra income. The truth is that what we most have as JOBs just an acronym for being Just Over Broke. In other words, most people work just hard enough not to get fired. And get paid just enough not to quit. It’s a rat race.

Have other streams of income. Explore your passion, challenges around you as opportunities or even begin to monetize your expertise and experiences. For example, you can start to offer consulting in your field (you’d be surprised how many people can pay for the knowledge you have and you take for granted); you can start to launch that out through blogging, a webinar, a free virtual event or even a podcast. You can write a book too. You can offer a free or discounted service in your neighbourhood at this time. E.g. you can teach your kids neighbours how to play Chess, use the piano etc.

Stay positive, stay off too much news, stay hydrated, stay home, and exercise to reduce anxiety.

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

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Editorial Publisher/Editor-in-chief

Frank Aigbogun

We must stay the course on the lockdown to contain coronavirus FG, state government must design better palliatives to ensure this lockdown work

editor Patrick Atuanya DEPUTY EDITORS John Osadolor, Abuja Tayo Fagbule NEWS EDITOR Chuks Oluigbo MANAGING DIRECTOR Dr. Ogho Okiti EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STRATEGY, INNOVATION & PARTNERSHIPS Oghenevwoke Ighure ADVERT MANAGER Ijeoma Ude FINANCE MANAGER Emeka Ifeanyi 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

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itizens have struggled as we march steadily into the second week of the lockdown President Muhammadu Buhari ordered in Lagos and Ogun State as well as the FCT. State governors locked down several states across the country. It has been tough, but Nigerians are tougher, and we urge everyone, citizen and government alike, to stay the course for the envisaged benefit.

We make this call given the possibility and desirability of an extension of the period of the lockdown. We may just be ending the first half of this game. There should be no retreat nor surrender at half-time.

Nigerians are not alone in the global reaction to the dangers posed by the coronavirus. Across Africa, notably South Africa, Rwanda, Ghana and Kenya, citizens are also staying home to stay safe. The logic of the lockdown is straightforward: the virus travels only if humans travel. It cannot, therefore, reproduce if we reduce the opportunity for such spread.

Half-measures will not work

in efforts to contain the coronavirus.

It is a sneaky and stealthy demon.

Everywhere countries relaxed for a moment, they suffered a tremendous backlash in high numbers of cases.

These are notably countries with more advanced healthcare facilities.

The Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control report that Nigeria has tested 5000 persons. It has taken six weeks to get to that number. With more facilities on the ground, the number of persons tested will increase.

The Nigerian incident load as at Monday, 6 April 2020 was 232, up from 190 only three days earlier.

Tracking shows that the number of positive cases is growing rapidly in line with the increased tests. Recoveries are also looking good, while the number of deaths remains such as not to cause a scare.

Many recent deaths attributable to the virus have come from persons who tried to game the system. In Lagos and Benin as well as Ilorin, patients died who hid their status from the hospitals. In the process of such unethical conduct, they exposed healthcare staff to the disease.

It was unfair, illogical and illustrates the dangers of cutting corners.

Fellow Nigerians, we cannot afford to cut corners in this matter.

From the work of the NCDC and experience in other countries, we envisage that Nigeria may need another two to four weeks of lockdown. The containment effort demands no less to ensure efficient tracing of the about 6000 persons the authorities fear did not comply with isolation procedures. Experts fear there may be far more following the era of community infection that we have now entered.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has hinted at the possibility of extending the lockdown.

The facts of the situation bear out his concern and projection. Containment rather than treatment is the best measure for Nigeria on the coronavirus issue.

However, containment via the lockdown route is tough. It is very tough on citizens in a country with most low-income earners in the unorganised private sector. Citizens earn and live on their daily sweat.

Long shutdowns are almost impossible.

Governments at all levels must then do more and better with the palliatives to enable this lockdown

work. Many of the official efforts have been puny and desultory. In Lagos, angry but poor residents scorned the efforts of the Speaker of the House and turned it into a plaything. It was a matter of two wrongs remaining wrong.

We call on the Federal and State governments to engage better. They must design better palliatives that take into cognisance the structure of our society. The private sector should also be fully involved.

In most states, citizens are organised along occupational lines or by communities. Anyone intent can reach Nigerians through their occupational associations or their community associations. We can organise sustainable and effective palliative measures, including soft loans that put money in their pockets. Economic activities should be scheduled to reduce comingling, maintain social distancing while enabling people to meet their needs.

We must prepare better for the extension of the lockdown. It is a marathon that Nigerians can engage if persons in authority make it a journey to which they can look forward.

The prize would be worth the price everyone pays.

GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South) Ignatius Chukwu 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

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES & MARKETS Heineken withdraws 2020 guidance as Coronavirus weakens sales

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he world’s second largest b e e r - m a k e r, Heineken said it suffered a decline in beer sales in the first three months of the year, predicting worse to come in the second quarter and scrapped its 2020 guidance due to the coronavirus crisis.

The brewer said in a note on Wednesday that it believed beer sales f e l l by 2 p e rc e nt i n t h e

first quarter and overall v o l u m e s, i n c l u d i ng c i der and soft drinks, by 4percent.

“The impact is expected to worsen in the second quarter,” Heineken warned in a statement.

Dutch brewer said it would not carry out permanent layoffs as a consequence of the crisis during 2020 and would continue to pay suppliers based on agreed payment ter ms, w ith early payments to those that were smaller and more

vulnerable.

Heineken said it has entered the crisis with a strong balance sheet as well as undrawn committed credit facilities and has successfully secured additional financing on the debt capital market in recent weeks.

Heineken becomes the latest drinks company to warn that the Coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll o n bu s i n e s s, f o l l ow i ng the world largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s warning and also Diageo.

Last month AB InBev had warned of 10percent decline in first-quarter profit after the coronavirus outbreak hit beer sales during the Chinese N e w Ye a r, s e n d i n g i t s shares skidding.

Diageo alerted that the fast-spreading virus across the glob e could erode up to $260 million off its profit in 2020.

Nightlife has suddenly come a halt as country effect a lockdown on movement in a bid to curtail the spread to the virus.

L-R: Olusola Adekoya, CEO, Shodex Beautification Landmark Ltd and Member, CPEF Governing Board; Ismail Adetola Lawal, founder/ chairman, IAL Nigeria Ltd/Chairman, CPEF board of patrons; Great Grand Ma, Essie Florence Ibijoke Kukoyi, former head teacher (rtd), Command Children School and Chairman, CPEF Projects Expansion Committee; Dr. Taiwo Afolabi, Group Executive Vice Chairman, SIFAX Group and Mrs. Oluwagbemiga Benson, Pioneer Executive Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and Chairman, CPEF Advisory Committee at the installation ceremony of Afolabi as the Grand Patron of City Profs Educational Foundation which was held at SAHCO Plc, Lagos.

Shell slows down on refining, takes up $800m hit after oil price crash OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

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head of its first q u a r t e r re s u l t , oil-giant Shell said it will write down up to $800 million in the first quarter of 2020 after a drop in oil demand due to the coronavirus.

According to Shell, the global lockdown of 3 billion people - roughly 40percent of the world’s population, demand for fuel has been in free fall, forcing it to lower its refining output by around 13percent.

“Refinery utilisation is expected to be between 80% and 84% with availability expected to be between 93% and 96%. Refining margins are expected to be weaker compared with the fourth quarter 2019. Oil Products sales volumes are expected to be between 6,000 and 7,000 thousand bar rels per day,” Shell said.

The company earlier this month said it would lower spending by $5 billion to $20 billion or less and suspend its vast $25 billion share buyback plan in an effort to weather the downturn.

Shell’s first quarter oil production was expected to fall by 4.5% versus the fourth quarter of 2019, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) volumes were set to

TECHNOLOGY

Samsung’s Q1 profit jumps on increase in chip sales

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amsung’s first-quarter operating profit increased slightly from a slump a year earlier, as solid chip sales helped cushion the effect of a blow from the coronavirus pandemic on smartphones and TVs. The global leader in semiconductors said it benefited from higher demand for chips from laptop makers and data centres amid the coronavirus-driv-

en shift to working from home, even as its mobile and consumer electronics businesses was battered.

Samsung said operating profit was expected to be 6.4 trillion won ($5.2 billion) in the quarter ended March, compared with 6.2 trillion won a year ago and the 6.2 trillion won estimate.

Revenue rose 5percent to 55 trillion won from a year ago, in line with the 55.6 trillion won estimate.

Samsung Electronics shares were 2.3% higher

while the broader market.

The maker of smartphones, TVs, appliances, memory chips and displays is the first global tech company to report its Januaryto-March quarter earnings estimates.

Samsung Electronics said last month the coronavirus would hurt sales of smartphones - which accounted for about 47percent of its revenue last year - and consumer electronics in 2020, while demand from data centres would fuel a

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recovery in memory chip markets.

When the coronavirus outbreak started in China last year, Samsung’s strategy of spreading its production base to countries including Vietnam and India seemed to pay off as supply disruptions in China hit rivals such as Apple.

But as the virus spread across the globe, Samsung too has had to close factories and retail stores in Europe, India and the United States.

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decline by 2.3%.

In integrated gas, production is expected to be between 920 and 970 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, including additional volumes from the Egypt offshore assets that were previously reported in the Upstream segment.

“The impact of the dynamically evolving business environment on first quarter results is being primarily reflected in March with a relatively minor impact in the first two months. We expect to provide further updates about the impact on our outlook in the first quarter results announcement,” the statement said.

It however allayed concerns by investors noting that its liquidity remains strong.

“Reflecting the Shell Group’s prudent balance sheet policy and to enhance financial flexibility, Shell has a new $12 billion revolving credit facility commitment. This is in addition to the $10 billion credit facility signed in December 2019. Together with cash and cash equivalents of circa $20 billion, available liquidity will rise from $30 billion to more than $40 billion, with access to extensive commercial paper programmes,” the oil-giant assured.

Operations will continue at our seaports despite lock-down, says NPA AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

COMPANY NEWS ANALYSIS INSIGHT

OIL & GAS

CONSUMER GOODS

OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

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he Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) h a s a s s u re d a l l stakeholders that arrangements have been put in place for operations to continue in the nation’s seaports in Lagos, Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports, without hindrance.

This was in line with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari that Lagos seaports should remain open in the duration of the two weeks lock-down of Lagos State alongside with Abuja and Ogun State.

According to a statement issued recently by Jatto Adams, general manager, Corporate and Strategic Com@Businessdayng

munications of NPA, safety procedures, which will guarantee the wellbeing and security of stakeholders and staff, have been put in place.

He however advised all stakeholders including port users to kindly comply with directives of port officials.

“All other government agencies responsible for smooth operations in the ports are enjoined to be at their respective duty posts to discharge their functions in line with the presidential directive of maintaining operations at the Lagos ports,” he said.

Jatto however assured stakeholders of the Authority’s commitment to facilitate trade in Nigeria through the seaport.

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS

Business Event

ENERGY

COVID-19: Cititrust supports Osun State, others with relief materials, appeals for citizens’ cooperation IFEOMA OKEKE

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ititrust has supported Osun State, others with relief materials and has appealed to Nigerians to lend individual and collective support to ongoing efforts of the federal and state governments to completely eradicate the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

This advice was given by Yemi Adefisan, the Group Chief Executive of Cititrust Holdings Plc, during the presentation of foodstuffs comprising rice, noodles and vegetable oil to the Osun State government in support of the fight against the deadly virus.

The Cititrust team which was led by Kunle Adewole, representing the Group Chief Executive, was welcomed by the state government’s delegation led by Adebayo Jimoh, a former Group Managing Director of Odu’a Investment Company Limited and Sec-

retary of the Food and Relief Committee.

Speaking further at the event which took place in Osogbo, the state capital, on Tuesday, Adefisan disclosed that the company is also extending a similar gesture to the Lagos State government and governments of Kenya, South Africa and eight other African countries.

He emphasised that it has been shown the world over that citizens’ attitude is very crucial to stopping the spread of the virus, adding, “As long as we can stop coronavirus from spreading further, it is a matter of time before we will totally eradicate it”.

He therefore urged Nigerians to adhere strictly to all the directives of government, particularly with regards to movement restriction, social distancing and hand hygiene.

Likening the fight against the virus to a football game, he said, “Each time government identifies and isolates an infected person, we have scored a goal against coro-

navirus. But each time we allow another person to get infected, we have allowed the virus to equalise against us.

“The plain truth however is that no country has the capacity to compete against the virus. For every single goal you score, it scores a hundred or more whenever you give it a chance by disobeying the directives of government.

“So our only hope of defeating coronavirus is not to allow it any chance to score by ensuring that we sit at home and resist every temptation to go out except when absolutely necessary, during this lockdown. That is the only way we can ensure its total and permanent defeat.”

He also appealed to corporate Nigeria and wealthy individuals not to get tired of supporting the fight against the virus both in cash and in kind.

Responding, Jimoh expressed the gratitude of the state government to Cititrust for the “kind, thoughtful and compassionate gesture”.

American Multinational Companies join efforts to support the Nigerian government during the Covid-19

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merican Business Council, together with its members a r e i m p l e m e n ting various measures aimed at supporting the Nigerian Government in its policy and awareness campaign during the on-going COVID-19 crisis.

“American Business Council consisting of American businesses are making adjustments for their employees and customers by enabling remote working and online learning to promote social distancing; implementing initiatives focusing on public sensitization, early detection and treatment and promoting hygiene standards. The Council also looks further to engaging the Federal and State Governments on ways the American Business Community can contribute to the overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Nigerian Economy” said the Dipo Faulkner, President of the American Business Council and Country General Manager IBM West Africa.

The Secretariat recently held an Economic update for business and political Leaders with focus on how leaders can plan and provide for the future as a result of COVID 19. Boston Consulting Group anchored this virtual meeting and the Council partnered with Abuja chamber of Commerce, Nigerian – American Chamber of Commerce and the African Venture Philanthropy Alliance.

American Companies such as Johnson & Johnson,GE, Bristol Scientific, MasterCard, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly Clark, Tolaram Group, Tropical General Investment, Mastercard and Google are ameliorating and supporting the Nigerian government as well as local enterprises in not only protecting businesses but also securing the livelihood of Nigerians.

Some of these efforts made towards corona virus include; Johnson and Johnson’s collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Trade association to see how they could provide some sort of assistance to the Federal Government.

Procter and Gamble’s support to Ogun, Oyo and Ekiti State with some of its hygiene products as well as media campaign to promote hand washing. Tropical General Investment’s support to Lagos, Ogun State Gvernment as well as the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs with some of its products.

Kimberly Clark, and Tolaram Groupsupported the Lagos State Government with its products to support the needs of the isolation centres.

Kimberly Clark is finalizing plans to distribute free diapers to pediatric wards.

Bristol Scientific isinvolved in the government response by supporting designated testing labs/facilities and available to advise on how resources can be best spent particularly when it www.businessday.ng

comes to PCR labs/tests.

Google continues to develop new resources to connect users to helpful information and resources. These include expansion of our COVID-19 SOS Alerts, and YouTube Information Panels, as well as developing a website with resources dedicated to COVID-19 education and prevention. This is in addition to the free use of their video conferencing app Meet for all G suite Customers at no cost until July 1, 2020.

Google is ramping up philanthropic efforts, committing to $50 million to the global COVID-19 response, matching up to $5 million in donations to the World Health Organization’s new COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and providing a $500,000 grant to researchers, epidemiologists and software developers working on HealthMap. Mastercard has committed $25 million in seed funding to the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, a global initiative in collaboration with Wellcome and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to speed-up the response to the COVID-19 epidemic by identifying, assessing, developing, and scaling-up treatments. This will include accelerating and evaluating new and repurposed drugs and biologics to treat patients with COVID-19 in the immediate term, and other viral pathogens in the longer-term.

L-R: Adetokunbo Kayode, president Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) with Boss Mustapha, secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), during the visit of the ACCI team to the latter in Abuja. picture by TUNDE ADENIYI.

Mohammad Mahmood-Abukakar, minister of environment discussing with Sharon Ikeazor, minister of state for environment, in Abuja.

L-R: Ridwan Sorunke, P&G Nigeria government relations manager; Jumoke Oduwole, senior special assistant to the president on the ease of doing business in Nigeria; Ihinosen Ebinum, P&G director of

L-R: Onari Brown, Executive Director, Marine & Operations, Nigerian Ports Authority; Hadiza Bala Usman, Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority; Dr. Taiwo Afolabi, Group Executive Vice Chairman, SIFAX Group and John Jenkins, Managing Director, Ports & Cargo Handling Services Limited Group during the NPA MD’s tour of all terminals in Lagos to assess the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on port operations.

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

AgriBusinessInsight Market Insights

Analysis

Commentaries

Experts/Industry Views

Commodities watch

Policy Reviews

Send in Commentaries to caleb.ojewale@businessdayonline.com

Lockdown holds lessons for future preparedness in agric sector Stories by CALEB OJEWALE Twiiter: @calebtinolu

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he need to ensure food production activities such as crop farming and animal husbandry, and required support services like input supplies remain functional during unforeseen situations that could cause nationwide shutdown, has been reinforced as currently being experienced with the Coronavirus pandemic.

Announcement of movement restrictions otherwise referred to as lockdowns, came in March around the time preparations for this year’s planting season would have started in some parts of Nigeria, particularly in the South.

The fear of harassments and extortions by the different law enforcement agencies, made farmers’ groups and corporates cry out to demand clear declarations that they could continue to carry out an important function; producing food.

The agitation by farmers, beyond ensuring their means of livelihoods would not suffer much, was perhaps of more benefit to the average Nigerian who would require food during the lockdown and afterwards. However, if agricultural productivity slowed down, the impacts would be felt not only this year, but beyond.

“We consider movement

of agricultural inputs as essential and those are to be allowed,” said Kabiru Ibrahim, president, All Farmers Association of Nigeria in a phone interview from Katsina. According to him, these constitute essential items granted exemptions when President Muhammadu Buhari announced restriction of movement in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja.

“I’m not sure those things would suffer, just like medicines and certain items used for the containment of the pandemic,” he said. “Also, day old chicks moving from one part of the country to another once marked as what they really are would be allowed passage”.

However, Ezekiel Ibrahim, president, Poultry Association of Nigeria, had raised an alarm in a statement sent to BusinessDay, that “The situation of the poultry products market is not stable at the moment.”

This statement was sent

shortly before obtaining the AFAN comment (that poultry products were not to encounter difficulties). Ibrahim explained in the statement that if urgent steps were not taken to remove the restriction on the movement of vehicles conveying poultry products like Day-Old-Chicks (DOCs), Meat and Eggs, Poultry feeds and drugs, “the poultry industry which is on the path of becoming the mainstay of the Nigerian livestock industry might be completely destroyed”.

Ibrahim in a subsequent chat indicated the challenge with moving poultry products had been resolved courtesy of intervention of top government and security officials.

Even as human beings require food to stay healthy and function, farmers also need essential inputs (such as seeds, fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides) in order for them to produce food that will be consumed by the

World food prices drop as Covid-19 slows demand populace. Just as COVID-19 arrived and necessitated lockdowns at the beginning of the new farming season, some other catastrophic occurrence could emanate in the future, and without the production and supply value chain granted immunity of sort from either overzealousness or attempts at extortions by law enforcement agencies, food security would be threatened at such a time.

“Farming by nature has its logistics side, so if inputs cannot get to the end user at the appropriate time, there’s no gainsaying it is going to affect the entire chain,” said Tunde Kayode, GM/group head of Farm Inputs, Elephant Group Plc. Following clarifications from top government officials including Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), agricultural goods and inputs appear to now enjoy ease of passage. However, in the future, stakeholders in the sector expect explicit pronouncements that would protect the industry and allow it continue operating with little or no disruptions.

For Matthew Omidiji, MD, Premier Seeds Limited, “Definitely there is going to be scarcity of food next year,” basing his comment on disruptions to the supply of inputs such as seeds and fertilisers to farmers. With time, it will be seen how much agricultural productivity will really be affected.

1mn Nigerian farmers targeted for insurance in Agritask, Royal Exchange partnership

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he announcement of a collaboration between Agritask, a leading global developer of agronomic operations platforms, and Royal Exchange, General Insurance company limited, to launch a unique joint initiative digitizing crop and livestock insurance with a social KPI, aims to underwrite 1 million small holder farmers in Nigeria by 2025.

Insurance penetration in Nigeria’s agric sector has been limited over the years, contributing to the perception of high risk associated with it and the resulting investment limitations. According to a press statement, the initiative announced involves a variety of stakeholders in the agricultural sector and beyond, including banks, cooperatives, ag-consultants, input distributors, ag-buyers etc.

T h e s t at e m e nt e m phasised that uninsured smallholder farmers can be severely impacted by

variable forces of nature, with little financial means to manage such risks. This protection gap may potentially amplify poverty, hunger, enhance various forms of inequalities within societies and ultimately introduce a burden on the economy and challenge the stability of the country. Sustainable risk mitigation mechanisms and advanced technologies are required to tackle the preceding obstacles.

In a bid to achieve this, both companies say they have “embarked on a project to create a solid foundation for digital crop-insurance framework in Nigeria by utilizing Agritask’s wellstructured and accurate data infrastructure facility”.

The infrastructure, according to the press statement, is capable of combining diverse sources of data on one platform in an unprecedented resolution, including the mapping of farmers, their field locations, crop types, weather, soil and www.businessday.ng

topography, among others.

This foundations allow for accurate risk modeling and the design and pricing of suitable insurance policies.

“Farming in most of the world is comprised of smallscale farmers who face the very same risks and challenges large commercial operations do: Bad weather, low yields, and supply chain challenges,” said Ofir Ardon, Agritask CEO. “However, they do not have the resilience that larger commercial operations have; that’s why there is a huge need for greater risk management abilities in this segment.”.

On his part, Chukwuma Kalu, head of Agribusiness & Business Development, Royal Exchange General Insurance Company Ltd explained that while there are many regional impact projects in Nigeria, most of them struggle to reach hundreds or thousands of farmers, simply because they do not have the technology required to manage and op-

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timize an operation of this scale. Therefore, many times, when the project funding ends, the impact vanishes.

“Working with Agritask, we have a great opportunity to develop a more sustainable model. We believe this kind of sustainability can, and should, become a reality across Africa,” he said, expressing hope that with Agritask’s technology, the playing field can be levelled to deliver operations of same resilience as larger commercial entities.

Importantly, it is also noted that the data infrastructure, once in place, can be utilized by a number of other stakeholders.

Building on one database, each stakeholder can have customized tools tailoring to their positioning in the ecosystem. This creates new business opportunities as well as greater empowerment of smallholders, who will benefit from better reach and higher-quality products.

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ocal food prices in Nigeria may have increased in reaction to panic buying as millions prepared for movement restrictions, however, international world food prices declined sharply in March, driven mostly by demand-side contractions linked to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Added to this, the drop in global oil prices due mostly to expectations of economic slowdown as governments roll out restrictions designed to respond to the health crisis.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, averaged 172.2 points during the month, down 4.3 percent from February.

“The price drops are largely driven by demand factors, not supply, and the

alyzes a large downward impact on biofuels, which are an important source of demand in the markets for sugar and vegetable oils,” said Peter Thoenes, an FAO analyst.

The FAO Dairy Price Index fell by 3 percent, driven by declining quotations and global import demand for skim and whole milk powders, due largely to disruptions in the dairy supply chains because of the containment measures aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19.

The FAO Cereal Price Index in March declined 1.9 percent from February and stood at nearly its level of March 2019.

International wheat prices declined, as the effects of large global supplies and broadly favorable crop prospects outweighed those of increased import demand from North Africa

demand factors are influenced by ever-more deteriorating economic prospects,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, FAO senior economist.

The FAO Sugar Price Index posted the biggest drop, down 19.1 percent from the previous month.

Causes include lower demand from out-of-home consumption linked to the confinement measures imposed by many countries, and lower demand from ethanol producers due to the steep fall in crude oil prices.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index declined 12 percent, mainly stemming from falling palm oil prices linked to the plunge in crude mineral oil prices and rising uncertainties over the pandemic’s impact on vegetable oil markets worldwide. Soy and rapeseed oil prices followed the trend.

“Oil prices have fallen by more than half during the past month, which cat-

and some small export limitations imposed by the Russian Federation.

Maize prices also declined due to both large supplies and much weaker demand from the biofuel sector.

International rice prices, by contrast, rose for the third consecutive month, with Indica quotations buoyed by stockpiling spurred by concerns over the pandemic and reports that Vietnam might introduce export bans - which the government has since downplayed.

The FAO Meat Price Index fell by 0.6 percent, led by drops in international quotations for ovine and bovine meats, for which export availabilities are large and trade capacity dampened by logistic bottlenecks. But pig meat quotations rose amid surging global demand and as processing facilities were hampered by the restrictions on the movement of workers.

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

FINTECH News

Products Review

In association with

Technology Review

Personality Review

Company Review

Cash palliative to vulnerable Nigerians shows hurdles facing epayment FRANK ELEANYA

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he choice of cash instead of electronic transfers to cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on vulnerable and indigent Nigerians have laid bare the many hurdles before electronic payment channels in the country.

Nigeria currently has 254 people that have tested positive to the coronavirus.

While 6 have died, 44 people have survived and been discharged.

A bigger worry is that the virus continues to add more states almost on a daily basis.

A breakdown of cases by states on the website of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) shows that Lagos has 130; FCT- 50; Osun- 20; Oyo11; Edo- 11; Bauchi- 6; Akwa Ibom- 5; Kaduna- 5; Ogun- 4; Enugu- 2; Ekiti- 2; Rivers-2; Benue- 1; Ondo- 1; Kwara- 2; Delta -1; and Katsina -1.

As part of measures to ease the pressure the crisis is having on the income of many households, particularly the most vulnerable in the society, the Federal government through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs embarked on a Conditional Cash Transfer programme.

The National Social Investment Programmes (N-SIP) a department under the ministry handles the cash transfers through its Household Uplifting Programme (HUP).

So far the Federal Government has rolled out the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) palliative in Anambra, Katsina, Kogi, Plateau, Oyo,

Kano, Cross River, Bauchi, Adamawa and Nasarawa states.

In every state the programme has reached, it involved the expensive logistics of transporting bags of cash escorted by heavily armed security personnel to physical locations, long queues by residents and handing over of N20,000 by officials of HUP in the open. Apart from the security risks this portends, the programme has come under heavy criticism with some people alleging the process of selecting beneficiaries and disbursement lacks transparency.

“Two days ago at the task force meeting, the Head of Service told me that the conditional cash transfer from the Federal Government would be

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N20,000 to people in 10 local government areas of Oyo State and I said, it is good, but this programme predates this administration and I have never been impressed for one day about the way they identified the poorest and the impact,” Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State said regarding the outcome of the programme in his state.

Electronic payment has relatively advanced in Nigeria in terms of the different channels now available. Financial institutions and financial technology firms have opened up the market with channels like debit cards, credit cards, electronic funds transfer, mobile money, and USSD. While about 40 million Nigerian adults without access to financial services, elec-

tronic payment channels like mobile money and USSD have been identified as the easiest way to reach this population.

Hence, the Central Bank of Nigeria and its partnering institutions have been on the campaign to bridge the financial inclusion gap for many years.

Unfortunately, with the choice of physical locations for the conditional cash transfer programme Nigeria is losing an important opportunity to reach the population of financially excluded through digital payment channels which are safer and cost effective.

“Longer-term, we run the risk of more Nigerians becoming financially excluded as a result of this crisis, at the exact moment when they as

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individuals and the overall economy would need their participation the most,” said Ashley Immanuel, head of Programmes at Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFiNA) in article on BusinessDay. Also a few fintech startups particularly those providing payment gateway services could have benefited as participants in the electronic transfers.

Given that electronic channels would have been the safest way to disburse the palliative, the reality is that mobile money and USSD is still very far from millions of Nigerians.

Hence relying on electronic transfers could have proven problematic for the government which needed to immediately get the money to

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the families that need them.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in February, during the Social Media Week Lagos, reiterated that there still exists about 200 communities in Nigeria which have no access to internet or any form of mobile access.

Although the NCC said it has started addressing the challenge with some private sector partners, the outbreak of the coronavirus is sure to delay and force an extension of the project.

The government at the federal level shares much of the blame for how it has approached the deployment of payment infrastructure and its abysmal power generation record, but the state governments have not helped matters either. Until January, most of the governors were busy renegotiating fees for right of way for laying of fibre cables which will enable broadband that powers the payment system in the country.

Thus, without proper and sufficient infrastructure deployed, electronic payments which are supposed to be the most reliable, convenient and safest way of sending money have often been unreliable with rates of transaction failures rising unchallenged.

It is believed that the involvement of mobile network operators and other big nonbanking institutions would address the challenge. But the CBN is yet to issue the coveted Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence. Until it does, the country is likely to continue to find its most vulnerable members having to depend solely on cash for every transaction.

Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

LEADINGWOMAN

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COVID-19, its effect on our businesses …Coping, CSR initiatives, need for corporate and government interventions

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Kemi Ajumobi

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n the 27th of February when it was announced that we had our first coronavirus case in Nigeria, I sensed that it was only a matter of time before we got to where we are today even though I hoped I was wrong. Today, Nigeria and indeed the rest of Africa is facing increasing cases of coronavirus infections and deaths, just like in many other parts of the world.

Like many of you, my family and I are at home where we are safe; and like many business owners, I took the decision to put the safety of my clients, employees and suppliers first, by suspending the production of Tiffany Amber’s ready-towear collections, while also thinking hard about how to ensure that this business interruption wouldn’t negatively affect the many hundreds of families that depend on us for their livelihood, directly and indirectly. At the same time, I was also acutely aware of the challenges our healthcare sector is facing in Nigeria and indeed all over Africa at this time, especially in the areas of medical supplies. As a result, in the middle of March, I took the decision to temporarily halt our production of ready to wear items and convert the production to that of medical apparel, including overalls, coverings, sheets, masks, specialist garments and the likes.

My brand, Tiffany Amber, has deployed over 5 tons of fabric and in this effort, my staff and I have been working tirelessly under the strictly recommended safety guidelines of the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Health of Nigeria to produce and make available these much needed supplies for the hospitals and medical facilities that need them.

This effort by our company is not-for-profit and is our own way of contributing towards com-

Folake Coker

Founder/Artistic Director, Tiffany Amber

bating the coronavirus pandemic in our country in our own way - by helping to reduce the impact this pandemic has had on livelihoods during this period with some being reduced drastically and in some cases cut short completely. We will continue to do so to the best of our ability and with every resource at our disposal.

As we continue to strive in these challenging times, we remain immensely grateful to all the people, professionals, institutions and governments working tirelessly to bring this pandemic to an end especially here and of course all over the world. Let us remain strong because with God behind us, this too shall pass and we will remain positive for a better future.

he last time I stepped out of my house was exactly 10 days ago!!

Oh ! How I so much miss having to wake up very early to meet up with early morning appointments, going to my various showrooms, meeting up with clients, going about to inspect my various projects, coming back home so late.....tired and exhausted, getting my outfits ready for the next day. I never thought or imagined that a time like this will come when movement will be restricted in a town like Lagos!

The most intriguing part of this whole situation is the fact that the cause of this restriction is a pandemic that is worldwide, Covid-19.

I guess God truly wants to show us how MIGHTY and POWERFUL he is… Sigh!

My team and I were in the middle of a lot of interesting projects just before the lockdown order was given.

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OVID-19 came in a rush. Although, I was mentally prepared for a possible shutdown, it still hit me very rudely.

It took me a few days of only sleeping, waking up, eating and helping the children with their online schoolwork before I could get my bearing and put my acts together.

I then set up a routine for Monday-Friday to keep me mentally alert as well as use the opportunity to begin some personal projects. I have always wanted to write a book, so I’m now able to dedicate three hours every afternoon to my writing. I also stepped up my spiritual activities and bonding with my family by playing board games and cooking competitions. I got to teach my eldest daughter how to use a mortar and pestle for pounding yams.

This season has allowed me the time to examine my

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ear financial institutions, there is need for a grace period as regards to loans with banks. Taking money out in interest payments at a time when no cash is coming in, no revenues, makes no sense to me and nobody is talking about it. The government, CBN are not saying “let us support each other” or as a bank to say “let’s support our clients”. They are not even asking how we are doing or how we are coping as a business neither are they asking “how can we help?” It is not happening. My view, www.businessday.ng

Ada Osakwe Founder/CEO of Agrolay Ventures

Funke Soyibo CEO HNK Interiors Everything is now at a standstill....we are all waiting and wondering, for how long will this go on for ? Will there be a way out soon?

Will the world ever go back to normal?

What about my staff?

People that have served and have been loyal over the years...what if this con-

tinues indefinitely or all through the month of April as we have seen in other countries? Will I not pay them their full salaries? If I decide not to, how will they survive? What about the various bills that I have to pay? So much money is tied down on goods at this time and we are just going to have to wait this out?

Hmmmmmmmmn......... these are a few of the questions that has been going on in my head. I have had to cancel 2 business trips that were scheduled for March and April. One was a conference and an award night in Dubai and the second was meant to be my yearly trip where I go around different countries to get more ideas, new innovation and designs for my business.

All these and so much more have been placed on hold indefinitely. One thing I have learnt over the years is that when I’m faced with

a situation that I have no control over, I submit to the ONE who has control over all the affairs of life.

So, I have submitted to God, to his Sovereignty, to his Power and his Might, to his faithfulness, believing and trusting that this too shall pass.

My mum in her blessed memory had a saying that has kept me over the years and the saying goes...’ when there is life, there is hope for a better tomorrow ‘ What is important now is to stay safe by staying indoors and using the time to reflect on life. I’ve also been researching for various Apps that can add value to my business, and trust me there are loads of them waiting to be discovered.

And when I’m not searching for Apps, I spend time to pray, and when I’m not praying I listen to music and other times I just Netflix and chill.

cash flow. I have decided to prioritize my spending and to place some things on hold. It has also allowed me to pause on life and reflect on my personal experiences, relationship with family, friends and colleagues.

For me, the greatest lesson of this lockdown is that, in the end, we are all mere mortals. We came to this world with nothing and we would leave it with nothing.

Only the legacy we build will remain.

I am presently grappling with the effects of COVID-19 on my business.

I run a consulting company that is also a Business Development Service Provider (BDSP) to small and medium scale businesses.

In addition, we are very active in capacity building for youths in Nigeria and within the continent. We have had to shut down our offices; however, we are still working virtually. Here,

now is when technology is most useful to us as an enabler.

Our services are tailored to present SMEs as potential ‘Brides’ (investment-ready and viable businesses), for their ‘Grooms’ (Investors, Banks). We offer advisory services on how they can

structure their businesses, access financial capital and be markets ready while building sustainable business that will outlive them.

The lockdown has also affected our revenue negatively as we had to cancel or postpone our face to face (F2F) advisory services and classroom training.

To remain in business after COVID-19 will require managing our cash flow judiciously. We are also using this period to reinvent our business model to integrate digital learning as well as develop digital products for our target market.

Many analysts have projected financial turmoil and a deep recession after the pandemic. Critical production and services are currently on hold or deferred, leading to huge losses. However, we believe in the resilience of the Nigeria economy and the people, we shall ride through this together.

just as I have been saying in the past few weeks, just the simplest things, give a grace period of six months on existing loans, yes you can limit it to customers who have been performing on their loans but give us a break, give us a breather because with no money coming in, it makes no sense when you want to be debiting accounts when there is nothing in our accounts.

Secondly, do something around reaching out, there are different things your loan desks can do right now. Entrepreneurs need help,

they need to know that their businesses may sur vive or what they can do to weather this storm.

Another thing is on ATM charges, some of these SMS charges, just put some of these things on hold at a time like this. You guys are making enough money, we see your dividends, we see your results, don’t say it was done automatically or the IT system has it programmed already, this will be very helpful.

To this end, I have put out a petition on www. change.org/NigeriaS-

upportYourSmes and I will encourage you all to please sign this petition for the government to support SMEs through this trying time. Because, SMEs make up 86 percent of our workforce, according to the Nigerian Bureau of statistics, and having this lockdown as a result of this COVID-19 epidemic is severely affecting us.

We do not have revenues coming in and as a result we cannot meet our short term cash obligations. Nigeria can do better. If you feel the way that I do, this is a chance for all of us to be heard.

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Raliat Ahuoiza Oyetunde CEO/Lead Consultant at Prinsult Global Consulting Limited

@Businessdayng

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Health Business&Life Sterling Bank supports frontline health Coronavirus lockdown: Nigeria’s opportunity to disinfect public spaces slipping away workers with N1bn COVID-19 fund CALEB OJEWALE

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Anthonia Obokoh

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terling Bank Plc, Nigeria’s leading commercial bank, has launched a N1billion Health Workers’ Fund to support frontline healthcare professionals who are taking care of persons infected with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.

To kick-start the fund, the bank donated N25 million while some public-spirited individuals have also donated N2 million, bringing the amount raised so far to N27 million.

Abubakar Suleiman, chief executive officer of Sterling Bank, who disclosed this over the weekend while addressing a virtual press conference hosted by the bank, enjoined well-meaning and publicspirited Nigerians to contribute to the fund through the website of Giving.ng, a crowdfunding platform.

Citing the unusually high rate of cases of healthcare workers infected by the virus in the course of treating patients in countries like Spain and Italy, Suleiman said it was imperative that tangible efforts are made to protect the healthcare personnel at the frontline of fighting the infection, especially given

their low number in the country.

“There was a particular point in Spain when 14 percent of those infected were healthcare workers, and we felt that if we were to have that level of infection among the limited number of healthcare workers in the country, the effect would be far-reaching and disastrous. So, we decided to intervene.”

According to Suleiman, the bank understands that getting the money with which to pay healthcare workers on the frontline and acquire protective equipment for them is critical.

Consequently, the bank will work with experts in public health or connected with the healthcare system to identify the healthcare workers who are deserving of this intervention, he said.

“Combating COVID-19 is beyond the capacity of any single institution or sector. It is a crisis that is

stretching the capacity of healthcare infrastructure and personnel world over.

And stopping this pandemic requires the elimination of boundaries to resources.

One way to do that is by setting funds aside to support brave medical responders at this time,” he added.

Expressing the hope that the fund would trigger a better way to treat health workers in the country, he disclosed that the bank had set up an independent Governance Board made up of seasoned health professionals to administer the fund while the bank concentrates on raising funds from various donors.

“Although we started the process, we have pulled back. We have set up a board that I am incredibly proud of. They will join us in solving this problem which is the most important part and they are highly respected, which makes the process credible,” Suleiman said.

igeria’s lockdown of over 25 million people in Lagos, Ogun, Abuja and varying degrees of restrictions imposed by different state governments is not being used to eliminate traces of the virus that may be in spaces that have now been devoid of human contact for days, even as an opportunity for mass disinfection of public spaces gradually slips away.

In many parts of the world, movements of people were restricted to allow authorities carry out large-scale disinfection of public areas, added to the goal of social distancing and isolation, which was best achieved by keeping people indoors.

By the time people return outside, those who are not already infected would not be exposed to viruses left on surfaces outside, at least to a considerable extent, if the disinfections are thoroughly and rigorously done. Apart from places under complete lockdown, even those with less restrictions could have disinfection exercises to lower the risk of spread when people come in contact with contaminated surfaces.

Spraying disinfectant solutions aimlessly in the air is likely to be a wasteful display, as experts have suggested that targeted disinfections of surfaces where

human beings are likely to touch, offers a better way of curtailing spread of the disease.

“It is a very good idea as it was done in many countries and it came out well,” said Chimezie Anyakora, CEO, Bloom Public Health in a WhatsApp chat with BusinessDay. “Beyond just doing it now, I will like the government to see this pandemic as an opportunity to build a stronger health system.”

Isolated, random spraying exercises through knapsack sprayers as seen in Lagos and some other states could be a good effort, but according to experts, may not deliver desired results if there is no strategic protocol to disinfect surfaces humans are likely to touch. More so, making those exercises widespread across the nooks and crannies of states where substantial numbers of positive cases have been recorded.

While it has been generally reported that Coronavirus can only survive for up to three days, the World Health Organisation states in a Q&A on its website that “It is not certain how long the virus that causes COVID-19 survives on surfaces, but it seems to behave like other coronaviruses.”

However, a publication in the Journal of Hospital Infection (JHI) by four researchers at the University Medicine Greifswald and Ruhr Univer-

sity Bochum both in Germany has suggested, “Human coronaviruses can remain infectious on inanimate surfaces at room temperature for up to 9 days.”

Last month in Accra, Ghana a combination of drones, knapsack sprayers and large trucks spraying disinfectants were deployed to some market places, reminiscent of visuals that had been shown from mass disinfection exercises in UAE, India, Mexico, China, Iran, Philippines and a few other countries.

The Journal of Hospital Infection’s article, which was an analysis of 22 studies, indicated that human coronaviruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus or endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV) can be efficiently inactivated within 1 minute by surface disinfection procedures with 62-71 percent ethanol, 0.5 percent hydrogen peroxide or 0.1 percent sodium hypochlorite.

It also noted biocidal agents such as 0.05-0.2 percent benzalkonium chloride or 0.02 percent chlorhexidine digluconate are less effective.

“I would advise that people obey the stay at home directives,” said David Oyeleye, a professor of Virology at the University of Ibadan in a phone interview.

Pregnancy and COVID19: A sensitive condition in a sensitive moment Onyedikachi Chioma Nwakanma Public health professional and founder smile with me foundation

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regnancy is usually an exciting event in every woman’s life, but it can also be quite challenging and the uncertainties of what to expect might be very unsettling.

In the COVID-19 pandemic and given the lockdown and sketchy service schedules of healthcare facilities, we intend that this piece of information can help pregnant women nationwide with everything they need to know to get quality professional assistance to ensure a healthy start for your baby or just to help a neighbour in need.

The Maternal mortality rate in Nigeria is under reported and even the reported cases are already alarming.

These cases were reported in Nigeria ’ s seemingly ‘

Normal ’ periods, how about now when the world as we know it is on near stand still.

In fact since #Covid19 began 4 months ago, about 19,000 women have died in pregnancy, during birth or within 42 days after birth.

We as a country can’t afford to add to that no.

Po o r p re g na n c y ou tcomes tell a whole lot on the physical and mental health of women, from death, to infections, to depression, there’s just a whole lot to risk when the necessary support and services are not in place.

Also, pregnant women are immunosuppressed during pregnancy, making them easily susceptible to diseases or infections, of which the Novel Corona virus is no different. There’s no telling how this will ravage a pregnant woman’s system if she’s unfortunate to get it.

There are several reasons why a woman would want to visit a healthcare facility, from Antenatal clinics, Doctors appointments, Emergency appointments and delivery appointments.

How will healthcare services be readily accessible to our women when they need it, given the sketchy services of hospitals with special focus on suspected COVID19 www.businessday.ng

cases.

Someone needs to look out for these vulnerable set of humans, whose primary need within this pregnancy period is a safe place to birth life.

This is why we are adopting a tripod approach to proffer solution for the women, which involves themselves, the healthcare facilities and the government.

Women: Our women have a role to play themselves.

Firstly with Immunity building. Pregnancy leaves women in a state of immunosuppression and this makes them open to easily falling into disease states.

I would advice our preggies to seek way to optimize their body immune system this period as much as they can; from healthy nutrition (Eating a balanced diet with plenty Fruits, vegetables, and lots of water), being compliant with their nutrient supplementation via their routine medication, hygiene and social distancing.

Also self isolation and immediate contacting of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) if they have been exposed or have symptoms in tune with COVID19.

It is also important for every pregnant woman to be

Registered in an accredited and efficient delivery Centre, if they are not. For antenatal and also delivery needs.

A good centre should have a qualified midwife, obstetrician, a theatre and anesthesiologist, and a good connection with a referral Centre if they are a primary or secondary health centre.

Also, ask about the emergency no of your doctor or hospital labour ward for emergency or delivery appointments.

The hospital Hospitals and healthcare centres all have a role to play this period, not just towards the pregnant women but regarding all aspects of their healthcare coverage. This is where digital health technology comes in, for remote consultations, management of appointment bookings, patient medical records and other logistics It’s no more news that digital health tools have shown great potential to enhance health services ’ capacity to achieve the goals of the triple aim (enhance patient experience, improve health outcomes, and control or reduce costs).

It is important for hospitals to adopt these tools to stay connected to preg-

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nant women in this period and attending to their non emergency needs and in emergency cases, giving them working phone nos to the Labour emergency wards to preinform them before their arrival to the hospital or even provide them ambulance services when required.

The Government There is only much the women and the healthcare facilities can do without the support of the government.

Especially in providing basic amenities which can enable technology and lockdown situations to thrive.

Social determinants like food, light, water, good roads, security, telecommunications network, shelter are very basic requirements without which business including those in the healthcare sector won’t thrive effectively.

Our women will suffer and continue to die, if all these are not in place, especially in a time like this when we are encouraged to stay at home and maintain social distancing. How will they eat, make calls, Access the internet, how secure will they be leaving their houses at night in emergency situations? timely remuneration for workforce: If there was ever a @Businessdayng

time not to owe your workers especially in healthcare, it is now. Compensations do the heart good. Also, providing the necessary equipment your workers need to work is very basic and encouraging.

We have a low medical work force, it is foolery to risk their lives further.

Health education, public sensitization is key, and healthcare insurance.The government shouldn’t only expand the scope of her National health insurance scheme, but should also, fund it to make it effective and accessible to Nigerians.

Out of pocket payments are not a way to go, especially this period. strengthening healthcare systems and funding healthcare), everyone has a role to play to reduce Maternal mortality rates in Nigeria and to prevent a rise in death rates amongst our women especially this period of the COVID19 pandemic.

Also, noteworthy is the fact that, If there was ever a time not to joke about unplanned and unwanted pregnancies it is now. Women and men as well are encouraged to embrace safe sexual practices and reach out to healthcare providers for safe and effective means of contraception.

Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Health Business&Life COVID-19: NAPPSA warns against misinformation, fake drugs

Tips on travel and breastfeeding

ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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he Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas (NAPPSA) Inc has expressed concerns over the high amount of misinformation about the novel coronavirus and the activities of some unscrupulous individuals who are taking advantage of the pandemic to market and sell unproven and illegal COVID-19 treatment and provision options.

The association therefore warned that the dire consequences of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria may take a more frightening turn if the country does not join the global effort to curtail the trend.

These fears were articulated in a recent release by NAPPSA entitled ‘Coronavirus Pandemic Update’ signed by Anthony Ikeme, the association’s president and Aloysius Ibe, the secretary.

“It is extremely important for everyone to know that some people and companies are trying to profit from this pandemic by selling unproven and illegally marketed products that make false claims, such as being effective against the coronavirus,” the statement says.

“Fraudulent COVID-19 products can come in many varieties, including dietary supplements and other foods, as well as products claiming to be tests, drugs, medical devices, or vaccines,” the statement states.

NAPPSA stated that these are

Adeniyi Bukola trying times when people and nations are desperately searching for solutions against the pandemic, which makes it easy for some unconscionable characters to take advantage of people’s fears.

NAPPSA thus urged the Nigerian authorities and regulatory agencies such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to closely monitor the market to ensure people’s miseries are not further compounded through exposure to dangerous substances marketed as palliatives.

They also urge them to ramp up public education campaigns to counter the misinformation about coronavirus that undermines the effort to contain the pandemic.

NAPPSA said this warning becomes necessary considering the fact that some of these fraudulent COVID-19 products and misinformation are promoted by healthcare professionals.

The association explained that as of now, there is no single approved product to either prevent or treat COVID-19 but rather that

there has been ‘promising off-label uses of existing drugs, including chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, sarilumab, lopinavir +ritonavir, baloxavir, oseltamivir, tocilizumab, and sirolimus,’ that still requires further investigations and clinical trials to determine their efficacy.

“Clinical studies are underway all over the world to determine the efficacy in using hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat COVID-19. The FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) is working closely with innovators to expedite these efforts, including leveraging scientific information about the virus and ongoing clinical trials in the US and other countries such as China, Japan, South Korea and Italy,” the association said.

NAFDAC had recently revealed that it would soon commence clinical trial of chloroquine in the country.

According to NAPPSA, there is a need for responsible dissemination of information about the global collaborative effort to curtail COVID-19.

COVID 19: Kwara begins contact tracing of 75, signs infectious Diseases Prevention Regulation SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

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s part of measures to curtail the transmission of the dreaded disease, (COVID-19), the Kwara State government has begun tracing of 75 persons suspected to have contact with coronavirus patients in the state.

Business Day reports that an indigene of Offa, who returned from UK recently, was rushed to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Wednesday with symptoms believed to be COVID-19 related.

Though the man died last Thursday and was immediately interred in line with Islamic rites, his travel history was concealed until his wife tested positive to the dreadful disease.

However, the state government on Monday confirmed two cases of Covid 19 in the state, following a report from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Briefing journalists in Ilorin Tuesday, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq says: “Yesterday evening, April 6, 2020, we received the official report from the NCDC of samples earlier taken to the Ibadan test centre. The test confirmed that Kwara State now has two cases of COVID-19. The first is the wife of a man who recently returned from UK. “The second case is a diabetic patient who also had a travel history to the UK. He came into the country on March 18. He has since gone into self isolation with his wife. Following

reasonable suspicion, sample was taken from him and he has now been confirmed positive.

“Our job is cut out for us and we are definitely not dropping the ball. Contact tracing by the Rapid Response Team of the medical advisory committee has so far netted 75 persons who have had contacts with the cases and the suspected case at UITH. “Fellow Kwarans, this is a trying moment for the whole of mankind. But we are definitely not helpless or without reasonable preparation in Kwara State. We are also blessed with committed professionals who are up to the task and willing to stand up and be counted at this time — while also taking all precautions.

Covid-19: Nigerian Military inaugurates three treatment centres, deploys 80 medical Godsgift Onyedinefu, Abuja

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he Nigerian Military has inaugurated three more facilities for treatment and isolation of patients, as part of its measures to stem the spread of Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

This brings the total number of centres to 21 across the six geopolitical zones in the country.

John Enenche, coordinator, Defence Media Operation (DMO) who disclosed this at a media

HBL Team

Breastfeeding/Pages/Medicationsand-Breastfeeding.aspx) advises that this is usually unnecessary because only a small proportion of medications are contraindicated in breastfeeding mothers or associated with adverse effects on their infants.

Executive Travel Health

briefing in Abuja, said the new centres include; the Nigerian Navy Hospital Warri, the Nigerian Navy Medical Centre Borokiri Port Harcourt and Nigeria Navy Logistics School Medical Centre, Owerrinta.

Enenche added that 80 trained medical personnel of the armed forces of Nigeria have been deployed to the centres to provide support. He noted that each facility has a capacity of 20 to 100 patients.

The coordinator also said the production of oxygen has been

completed , put into cylinders and awaiting distribution.

“The High Command of the Armed Forces of Nigeria wishes to thank the general public for their understanding and compliance with the Presidential Directive in respect of the lockdown.

“It is should be understood that the directive is in the best interest of the Nigerian populace, in order to prevent the spread of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic,” Enenche added.

Q-life Family Clinic

lifeadvisoryservices@outlook.com

Immunisations and medications n almost all situations, clinicians can and should select immunizations and medications for the nursing mother that are compatible with breastfeeding. In most circumstances, it is inappropriate to counsel mothers to wean in order to be vaccinated or to withhold vaccination due to breastfeeding status.

Breastfeeding and lactation do not affect maternal or infant dosage guidelines for any immunization or medication; children always require their own immunization or medication, regardless of maternal dose. In the absence of documented risk to the breastfeeding child of a particular maternal medication, the known risks of stopping breastfeeding generally outweigh a theoretical risk of exposure via breastfeeding.

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Immunisations Breastfeeding mothers and children should be vaccinated according to routine, recommended schedules. Administration of most live and inactivated vaccines does not affect breastfeeding, breast milk, or the process of lactation.

Only 2 vaccines, vaccinia (smallpox) and yellow fever, require special consideration. Preventive vaccinia (smallpox) vaccine is contraindicated for use in breastfeeding mothers.

Yellow fever vaccine Breastfeeding is a precaution for yellow fever vaccine administration. Three cases of yellow fever vaccine–associated neurologic disease (YEL-AND) have been reported in exclusively breastfed infants whose mothers were vaccinated with yellow fever vaccine.

All 3 infants were diagnosed with encephalitis and aged <1 month at the time of exposure.

Until specific research data are available, yellow fever vaccine should be avoided in breastfeeding women. However, when nursing mothers must travel to a yellow fever–endemic area, these women should be vaccinated.

Although there are no data, some experts recommend that breastfeeding women who receive yellow fever vaccine should temporarily suspend breastfeeding, pump, and discard milk for at least 2 weeks after vaccination before resuming breastfeeding.

Medications According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2013 Clinical Report: The Transfer of Drugs and Therapeutics into Human Breast Milk, many mothers are inappropriately advised to discontinue breastfeeding or avoid taking essential medications because of fears of adverse effects on their infants. The AAP’s Tips for Giving Accurate Information to Mothers (www.aap.org/en-us/advocacyand-policy/aap-health-initiatives/

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

Antimalarials Since chloroquine and mefloquine may be safely prescribed to infants, both are considered compatible with breastfeeding. Most experts consider short-term use of doxycycline compatible with breastfeeding. Primaquine may be used for breastfeeding mothers and children with normal G6PD levels.

The mother and infant should both be tested for G6PD deficiency before primaquine is given to the breastfeeding mother. Because data are not yet available on the safety of atovaquone-proguanil prophylaxis in infants weighing <11 lb (5 kg), Centre for Disease Control (CDC) does not recommend it to prevent malaria in women who are breastfeeding infants weighing <5 kg.

The quantity of antimalarial drugs transferred to breast milk is not enough to provide protection against malaria for the infant. The breastfeeding infant needs his or her own antimalarial drug.

Travellers diarrhea treatment Exclusive breastfeeding protects infants against travelers’ diarrhea.

Breastfeeding is ideal rehydration therapy. Children who are suspected of having travelers’ diarrhea should breastfeed more frequently.

Children in this situation should not be offered other fluids or foods that replace breastfeeding. Breastfeeding mothers with travelers’ diarrhea should continue breastfeeding if possible and increase their own fluid intake. The organisms that cause travelers’ diarrhea do not pass through breast milk. Breastfeeding mothers should carefully check the labels of over-the-counter antidiarrheal medications to avoid using bismuth subsalicylate compounds, which can lead to the transfer of salicylate to the child via breast milk. Fluoroquinolones and macrolides, which are commonly used to treat travelers’ diarrhea, are excreted in breast milk. The decision about the use of antibiotics such as fluoroquinolones and macrolides in nursing mothers should be made in consultation with the child’s primary health care provider. Most experts consider the use of short-term azithromycin compatible with breastfeeding.

Use of oral rehydration salts by breastfeeding mothers and their children is fully compatible with breastfeeding.

Special consideration:Zika virus CDC encourages mothers with Zika virus infection and living in or traveling to areas with ongoing Zika virus transmission to breastfeed their infants. Evidence suggests that the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risks of Zika virus transmission through breast milk.

Updated information is available at www.cdc.gov/pregnancy/zika/ testing-follow-up/zika-in-infantschildren.html.

Consultant Family Physician and Travel Medicine Physician Q –Life Family Clinic. qlifeadvisory@outlook.com.

I David Ogar, Graphics

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

ARTS EDUCATION 4 Cs from Covid-19: Education during the crisis The current crisis will change a lot of our existing practices, especially our approach to education Polly Alakija

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he impact of the current global health challenge on individuals, communities and larger economies cannot be underrated. There is no need to further discuss the current effects of both the lockdown of local societies and the shutdown of schools and businesses, as children stay home, and parents struggle to continue education and make the time worthwhile.

As with any radical occurrence that leaves the affected group (organisational or regional) with new principles or values, this global crisis will leave us with new approaches for living, engagement and learning. This could mean that the taught skills of the 22nd century will be different, and education will have to align to meet the needs. The children of today, who will be the drivers of tomorrow, will need to be equipped with competency and character to engage globally.

Already, educators who have been following the global trends, have noticed the changing focus and have proposed four new Cs to replace our existing 21st century emphasis on collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity. Educators believe that the “4 Cs” of the 22nd century will be Community, Caring, Connection, and Culture.

When closely analysed, we will agree that surprisingly, considering the challenges currently faced globally - climate change, pandemics, and insecurity - these four “C’s” resonate.

As global leaders re-evaluate the outcomes of previous decisions and individuals their personal choices, these 22nd Century 4 “Cs” are relevant as skills to be acquired by children, here and now.

Children who learn to care become responsible adults who understand the value of dignity and human life. In the past, where we have emphasised efficiency and productivity and competition, that led to insensitive businesses, unconcerned about the underhandedness of methods or outcomes on host communities, we must now lead with compassion.

When we care, we can connect with others, not on the sameness of our opinions or interests, but first because we are human. We can step out of our little boxes to listen and share our stories of victories and failure, joy and sadness. By stretching ourselves, we can learn – about others, our communities and ourselves.

At Five Cowries, in partnership with the DRASA Trust, we developed the “Hands that Heal” project, designed for the Obalende community after the last Ebola crisis, to leverage the arts as a medium for advocating more handwashing and water for the community. We could recognise the

Celebrating Lagos at 50, in 2017, through textile arts

Education outside the formal classroom structure.

place of access to water in cultivating a sense of dignity and esteem because we connected with their needs as fellow humans. As a result, we developed an approach to addressing the community’s needs, which, although was not implemented then, remains relevant in these times. We have the opportunity now, to act from compassion for the safety of not just one community, but the entire nation.

Community goes beyond teamwork and shallow thoughts about collaboration, to practices that encour-

Engaging children through textile arts: children will focus for hours

age communal living and learning.

These practices form the cultures of our homes, schools and organisations. Children who grasp this early will understand the importance of involving multiple stakeholders in both the decision-making and execution process, becoming perceptive, well-rounded leaders and culture architects.

The place of the arts in culture is undeniable. At Five Cowries, we have chosen to upgrade the traditional 3 “Rs” and the widely accepted 21st century skills to more lifelong skills.

Fingers not used to “swiping” have incredible manual dexterity www.businessday.ng

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Ibadan 1989 : women sharing stories through textile arts

We have learnt that through the arts, we can teach our children the values of compassion and connection, as well as community and culture.

As a young art educator, I learnt this principle when I first moved to Nigeria in 1989. I had the privilege to learn directly from some of the last Adire Eleko artists practising in Ibadan. Adire Eleko is a slow, painstaking process, that was practised in backyards and side streets - always with a group of women in conversation, sharing stories. These stories, which were intricately woven into the squared patterns, along with the history of indigo and the binding power of crafts, were at the heart of community, passed down through generations.

Care, connection through storytelling, community and culture are all interwoven. The lessons cannot be taught in theory and do not need a curriculum to be passed down.

Consequently, anyone who truly understands the concepts can teach them – not only in theory, but by expression and practice, which the arts provide.

Thankfully, art is not limited to the classroom – it is all around us.

Every aspect of nature, like the sky or tree, and every experience, including @Businessdayng

eating and playing, can be an inspiration for art and an opportunity for cultural education. At little or no cost, parents can engage their children with pencil and paper. Lessons of care and connection can be taught through improvisational theatre and music. For the older children who can manoeuvre sharper tools, needle work and embroidery can be used to teach lessons in patience.

Over the years we have used time old traditions of textile and needle arts in our teaching practice. The children in our public schools are still blessed with extraordinary manual dexterity and can be engaged quietly for hours with needle and thread. It is during these times of concentrated engagement that lifelong messages are absorbed and stories shared.

With the current issues in mind, it is time to truly rethink the essence of education. Perhaps, at this point, we have an opportunity to leapfrog (and leap right back to a more fundamental understanding of community) and surmount our massive education deficit. This can only happen if we are willing to seize the opportunities that come from a seemingly irredeemable situation. For where there is life, there is hope. Where there is compassion, there can be innovation.

Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

MoneyInsight

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How far can Bitcoin go after crossing $7000?

FRANK ELEANYA

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he price of Bitcoin reached over $7000 on Tuesday morning, setting off predictions that it could go higher as next month’s halving event nears.

The price was still holding at $7,252.33 on the Coindesk Bitcoin Index as of time of writing this report. The index also shows that bitcoin has grown by nearly 2 percent on a year-to-date basis as of Tuesday. As insignificant as that may seem, it outperforms stocks. So far in 2020, the S&P 500 is in the red over 16 percent, the Nikkei 225 is down almost 20 percent and the FTSE is down almost 25 percent.

The Nigerian stock market in April, has lost 1.76 percent of its value, compounding its woes since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Marius Reitz, General Manager for Africa, Luno, in a note to BusinessDay, said that while bitcoin may have broken through what is seen as a psychological barrier, maintaining the level is very important for other cryptocurrencies.

The Luno global exchange is home to over 3.5 million users who buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP

and Bitcoin Cash.

Investors’ activities also pushed up demand and reflected in the price of other coins such as Ethereum ($167); XRP ($0.196); and Bitcoin Cash ($264).

“There are a number of indicators which could lead to the Bitcoin price continuing to rise,” Reitz said. “Trading volumes are much lower than we have recently seen but the

futures market in Bitcoin has stabilised and back to expected levels. With the price increase miners are returning and finally investors will see that cryptocurrencies can rebuild value more quickly than other asset classes.”

The market has every reason to be optimistic.

For one, Bitcoin Halving is less than 36 days away.

Bitcoin halving refers to

Digital transformation in financial services (1) Susanne Chishti

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utty Sark, United Kingdom’s legendary sailing ship built in 1869 transported tea and cocoa beans across the world.

Lots of incremental innovations and design improvements made the clipper to one of the fastest sailing ships in its time. Cutty Sark made several journeys to Africa.

Unfortunately, the owners did not see the disruption coming when steam technology took over and soon steamships came to dominate the global trade routes.

As a result Cutty Sark became a training ship and today you can admire her, beautifully restored at a dry dock at Greenwich, east London overlooking the shiny skyline of London’s financial centre.

Will banks, asset managers and insurance companies face a similar fate, will it just be a question of time until some of them turn into museums as one author of The FINTECH Book (published by WILEY) predicted?

Disruption is part of our lives: What happened to the American company Kodak and its film business when they missed to respond to the trends towards digital photography? What happened to European telecommunications giant Nokia who owned 49.40 percent of the global mobile phone market in 2007 and ignored the launch of Apple’s iPhone that same year?

Disruption has started in financial services – summarised by the term FINTECH.

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned of the growing competition by FinTech start-ups when he said in a letter to shareholders in 2015 “Silicon Valley is coming….”

There are hundreds of startups with a lot of brains and money working on various alternatives to traditional banking.”

The challenge - all of us who work in Financial Services face - is that digital transformation and corporate innovation is really hard.

It is very difficult for financial services companies to come up with commercially successful innovation and to build an organisation which can remain innovative on an on-going basis.

Already in 1942, the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter researched unexpected, rapid spurts of entrepreneur-driven growth and introduced the term “creative disruption”. The importance of this concept has grown steadily with an increased speed of change how companies disrupt and displace each other.

Profitable big incumbents normally have a blind spot towards disruption especially when it comes from smaller, more innovative players outside their traditional set of competitors.

These fintech firms lack the incumbent’s fear of disrupting existing profit streams and do not have the burden of old legacy systems, or the high-cost structure of existing banks, investment managers or large insurance companies.

In large financial services www.businessday.ng

organisations, the “innovation muscles” are often weakened by growing bureaucratisation, loss of tolerance for risk, commitment to existing financial products and services and fears about cannibalising those, adherence to current business models, reliance on financial metrics to measure innovation and lack of innovation culture and leadership.

Therefore it is estimated that 70 percent of organisational change, efforts fail. (“Cracking the Code of Change”, Harvard Business Review, May-June 2000 by Nitin Noria and Michael Beer).

The FINTECH Circle Institute works with financial leadership teams on Digital Transformation challenges both in the UK and globally via our FinTech MasterClasses. Below, I share a summary of the most important concepts of how digital transformation can become a success including the important role the top leadership team has to play.

Scale alone is not an impediment to innovation capability. In 2007, when Apple launched the iPhone, it was already 30 years old and it was number 123 on the Fortune 500 list. So what are the lessons large banks, asset managers and insurance companies can learn – how can they digitally transform their organisations?

Digital innovation strategy It all starts with the leadership commitment to innovation and to embrace change as a matter of survival long-

term. All financial services companies need to develop an innovation strategy to set the priorities between different types of innovation options and to manage the trade-off between short- and long-term innovation opportunities.

It is also required to set the “tone from the top” and to align different parts of a complex organisation towards common objectives. A good digital innovation strategy should provide direction so employees know in which direction the organisation wants to go and why. At the end of the day, innovation strategy is about action and should be specific enough to help execute in terms of how to allocate the company’s budgets and where to focus on.

A good innovation strategy focuses on both technological innovation and business model innovation, as not just the technology or legacy infrastructures can become obsolete, but also business models can become out-dated. So, corporate innovation can be defined as a process that established businesses go through to introduce and implement new opportunities into their existing working practices.

Larger organisations will often have a dedicated team to identify what the current trends and opportunities (both from a technology and business model point of view) are.

Susanne Chishti, CEO FINTECH Circle

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a process of reducing the rate at which new cryptocurrency units are generated. For instance, the halving in May would see the block reward fall from 12.5 to 6.25 bitcoins. Essentially, halving ensures that miners have to spend more time to mine each bitcoin. Invariably, the miners would likely push up the price of the cryptocurrency to compensate for the extra effort.

The halving in May when the number of blocks hits 630,000 - is likely to significantly change the value of Bitcoin. Experts also say that it would increase demand for the cryptocurrency by further restricting supply.

While Bitcoin is fast approaching the muchawaited halving event, the halving of its main forks have started. On Wednesday Bitcoin Cash (BCH) reduced its block reward.

The night before the halv-

ing, the price jumped 7.7 percent on the CoinmarketCap. The BCH/BTC ratio also increased, hitting the highest level since March 7.

Bitcoin SV (BSV) will also experience halving later this week.

Vetle Andreas Hussars Lunde an expert at Arcane Research expects some miners to switch over to mining bitcoin following the halving of the mining reward on BCH and BSV. This will happen, they said, as the profitability of mining bitcoin will be higher, compared to mining BCH or BSV, all else equal.

“Mining is a competitive market. The marginal return on mining bitcoin, BCH and BSV should therefore be equal prior to the halving. When rewards are cut in half for BCH and BSV, the profitability of mining those coins are also cut in half, forcing a shift in the market,” Lunde said.

Visa commits $210m for COVID-19 relief, support SMEs with focus on women CALEB OJEWALE

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he Visa Foundation through two programs is committing a total of $210 million, to on one hand support small and micro businesses that are aligning with the Foundation’s long-term focus on women’s economic advancement and inclusive economic development, and on another hand, address an urgent need from local communities following the spread of COVID-19.

Visa says the first program of $10 million is designated for immediate emergency relief to support charitable organizations on the frontlines responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

These include public health and food relief, in each of the five geographic regions in which Visa operates: North America; Latin America and the Caribbean; Europe; Asia Pacific; and Central Europe, Middle East and Africa.

“As COVID-19 continues to unfold, communities are feeling the effects and need our immediate support,” said Al Kelly, CEO and chairman of Visa. “As a global company that operates a very local business, we recognize this need.

We’re also committed to the long-term recovery and will continue to explore ways we can accelerate economic activity in line with our mission to help individuals, businesses and economies thrive.”

The second program is a five-year, strategic $200 million commitment to support small and micro businesses around the world, with a focus on fostering women’s economic advancement.

This action according to the @Businessdayng

statement expands the Visa Foundation’s long-standing support for small and micro businesses globally. The funds from the Visa Foundation will provide capital to non-government organizations (NGOs) and investment partners supporting small and micro businesses.

“Now more than ever, we must accelerate our support for small businesses on the frontlines driving economic growth,” said Kelly. “As many small and micro business owners are women, there will be a ripple effect supporting women’s economic advancement, which we believe is one of the most important ways to achieve gender equality, reduce poverty and foster inclusive economic development.”

Through the $200 million small and micro business program, the Visa Foundation is expected to provide $60 million in grants to NGOs dedicated to supporting small and micro business owners, many of whom are women, in every region where Visa operates. The Visa Foundation will also allocate $140 million with investment partners that generate positive social and financial returns for small and micro businesses.

“Two hundred million dollars in new financial resources demonstrates our continuing commitment to support small and micro businesses, with a focus on women’s economic advancement globally,” said Graham Macmillan, President of the Visa Foundation. “When women thrive, communities thrive. We know this matters now more than ever as the global economy seeks to recover and rebuild.”

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

FEATURE

Global corporate divestment: Trend or expedience?

Global business appears to be headed along an obvious track. But, is this the emergence of a trend global businesses merely want to be a part of or a strategic expedience to raise liquidity and play big in their core business? Will the new decade witness more of this? Hope Moses-Ashike traces the track, finds the commonality and interrogates the development

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he tail end of the last decade witnessed more global businesses making a detour to the path of divestment. While analysts have devoted more attention to the transactions themselves, very little attention has been given to interrogating if this is a mere trend or business expedience.

Perhaps one of the most audacious of such moves was the one made by General Electric (GE) towards the end of the last decade to divest from a number of businesses the corporate giant had made a foray into over the years. Interestingly, these were successful businesses in their own rights making it difficult to suggest that GE was only divesting from troubled businesses. In September 2019, General Electric (GE) announced its plans to reduce its 50.4 percent ownership in Baker Hughes, an oil and gas company, to 38.4 percent, a transaction the company expects to raise $2.7 billion from. The divestment exercise was structured around a public offering of 115 million Baker Hughes ‘Class A’ shares priced at $21.50 each, and through a private sale of $250 million ‘Class B’ Baker Hughes shares to the oilfield services provider.

The transaction, according to the company, was the first in a series that would see GE offload the remainder of its holding in Baker Hughes over time.

It also followed the company’s long list of divestments, from its BioPharma business, distribution power unit, transportation unit, etc, which would leave the global giant focused on its core business of manufacturing of jet engines, power plants and renewable energy. In order words, GE’s divestment could be said to be purely a strategic business decision.

Similarly, Siemens AG, a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the fields of industry, energy and healthcare as well as providing infrastructure solutions, divested its stake in Siemens Energy, its turbines production subsidiary, in 2018. Like GE, Siemens has been divesting from some of its subsidiary businesses, one after the other,

in a move interpreted by analysts to be more about avoiding the attention of activist investors who have been asking other industrial giants like ABB and ThyssenKrupp to break up for better shareholder returns.

GE and Siemens are only two of the growing number of global conglomerates that have shed, or currently shedding or planning to shed, some of their shareholding in the subsidiaries that are not in their core lines of business. Michele Schechter, a director with Financial Poise, in her paper, Divest to Grow, says that the percentage of companies utilising divestments doubled from 2017 to 2019.

Will more businesses in Nigeria, Africa’s largest market, embrace this development?

According to Ernst & Young (EY)’s 2019 annual survey of corporate and private equity executives, 84 percent of global companies are planning divestment by way of the partial or full disposal of company’s assets or a business unit through a sale, exchange, closure, or bankruptcy within the next two years. The survey shows an upward swing in the trend from www.businessday.ng

the 49 percent that responded in this category in 2017. The survey also indicates that companies are turning to divestment in record numbers because divestment is seen as a reliable route to corporate growth by many corporate leaders. Why has divestment suddenly become the toast of most conglomerates across the world?

One of the most recurring reasons companies give for divest-

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It is getting clearer that the future of business lies more in more streamlined, nimble and corebusiness-focused operations which offer more value

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ment is to enable them streamline their operations. The past couple of years have seen a sustained pattern towards de-conglomeration, a tendency towards core business focus in the global business community. While diversification has some cost-saving benefits, it is becoming more apparent that it also comes at some heavy costs in the form of limited agility and poor corporate valuation. Studies have indicated that large conglomerates often operate at a 5-15 percent discount relative to the sum of their parts.

According to the EY survey, 81 percent of responders say their divestment plans are prompted by the need to streamline their operations – to focus more on their core lines of business and adapt to the ever-changing technological advances and increase their competitiveness. While the divestment activities that GE has carried out in last couple of years are to allow it to focus more on renewable energy, power and aviation, IBM’s divestments are to allow it to acquire Red Hat, which gave them new capabilities in software and technology. Just like IBM, smart global @Businessdayng

businesses sometimes divest from some businesses to raise liquidity and acquire other businesses to enable them become more competitive in the market.

Companies also go for divestments when they need to sell off redundant business units or a part of their core operations, especially if they are not performing very well, in order to place more focus on the units that are performing better and are more profitable.

Businesses turn to divestment when they need to raise capital for other purposes: acquisition of capabilities to grow their businesses, debts settlement, payment of dividends to shareholders, and so on. The major attraction for raising funds from divestment is that such funds come without interest obligations.

Some divestments are forced on corporate concerns by the government or industry regulators. This happens when new laws, which demand different set of actions from operators, are imposed on them. An example of this was the Indigenisation Decree of 1976 that forced many erstwhile foreign companies in Nigeria to sell parts of their shares to Nigerians.

Another example of a regulation which has triggered and may still trigger more divestments in Nigeria is the Regulation on the Scope of Banking Activities & Ancillary Matters, No. 3, 2010 (CBN Reg 3 of 2010) that required banks to, among other things, divest from all non-core commercial banking companies, or transfer their stakes in these companies to a holding company.

No matter the reasons adduced by businesses for divesting, judging by the rate renowned global conglomerates are divesting, it is getting clearer that the future of business lies more in more streamlined, nimble and core-businessfocused operations which offer more value. Part of the attraction lies in less complexity and better profitability than in diversified, highly complex operations that the conglomerate structure offers. The factors seem to weight more on the side of smart business expedience than mere trend. Are Nigerian corporate giants ready to travel this path? Only time will tell.

Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Hotels

Nigerian hotels to record worst Easter in industry history OBINNA EMELIKE

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or the first time in decades, hotel rooms are empty today, which is Good Friday, and will remain empty for the Easter season due to the lockdown and other efforts by governments across the world at curtailing the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19).

While the empty rooms mean huge revenue loss, major hotels across the country are expecting the worst, as they move from scaling down operations to essential services and now to an imminent shutdown because of the lockdown in Nigeria.

The lockdown has resulted in the lowest room occupancy rate in decades, less than 20 percent, which cannot sustain operations, offering near zero revenue, hence some hotels have already shutdown.

In the past years, most hotels are fully booked two weeks to Easter as most holiday seekers take advantaged of the long Easter break to unwind.

As at today, which is Good Friday, guests are nowhere near hotels, not just because of the lockdown, but also for the fear of contacting the virus as hotels are public places considered high risk for the spread of Covid-19.

For the many hotels that have already suspended their operations until further notice, the rationale for the action is that if a hotel of 100 rooms struggle to run only 30 rooms, it would be a good business decision to close down because same operation cost goes into running 30 rooms.

As well, most hotel managements have suspended operations to safeguard their employees who are vulnerable in a precarious situation such as virus outbreak.

Speaking from his hideout, Simon Ntuli, a general manager of an Abuja-based boutique hotel, said that hotels usually make huge sales during Easter period, but that this year’s celebration is unprecedented with no sales.

“There are no bookings, the earlier ones we had have been cancelled by clients. No hotel should expect guests with the lockdown. No guest wants to die, so potential guests are all hiding for safety

now”, Ntuli, said from the safety of his home.

Marcel Agada, a sales director in an international branded hotel in Lagos, disclosed that for the first time, guests were not interested in the hotel’s Easter promotion package.

“We had to withdraw the fun loaded and heavily discounted Easter package three weeks ago when we had several cancellations from guests”, Agada said.

Explaining further, he noted that the room was the major offering of the promo and when potential guests are cancelling their room bookings, there is no business to pursue again.

The likes of Transcorp Hilton, Federal Palace, Eko Hotel, Sheraton, Radisson Blu, among others that offer sumptuous Easter brunch and dinner in the past, may not be expecting guests this year as coronavirus ravages, lockdown in place and safety matters most to guests.

“If the churches are closed for Easter, why not hotels too.

Yes, hotels are down, but I think safety matters now.

Guests will always come back when safety is assured”, Agada said.

Stella Oyeniran, a traditional guest at Transcorp Hilton Abuja for the Easter package, decried the ugly situation amid regrets of the excitements her family would be missing in this year’s celebration that is suspended by the reality of coronavirus.

“Last year, we had family fun at Transcorp. From Easter brunch, dinner, Easwww.businessday.ng

ter egg races, egg hunting, egg painting,for children to swimming. For now, we are staying safe, there will be Easter in 2021”, Oyeniran, a mother of three said.

Ruth Anadi, a medical doctor, said Easter is usually her best holiday period as a Catholic because she observes the lent and afterwards treat herself to the best pamper she can afford.

This year, she is disappointed that she cannot complete her yearly ritual with a deserving Easter holiday.

“I have earlier booked for luxury spa treatment outside Abuja, but cannot travel again. I cannot even go out as I am on leave and need to rejuvenate before my resumption in May”, the doctor said.

Some Nigerians who prefer Easter holiday for family outing due to the less crowd are also happy staying safe, but regret missing their usual Easter excitement.

“Christmas comes with a lot of crowd and madness, but Easter holiday is mild and offers real exclusivity if that is what you desire. Hotels are less crowded, rates are also cheaper and bonding is better. We are missing all these now”, Jonah Aigbe, a father, said.

For Aigbe, 2020 would be the first time in the 10 years of his marriage that he is not going to take his family out for a special treat on Easter Sunday.

Expressing a contrary view, Edwin Egoro, a father of four, thinks that the current situation is offering people opportunity to

rethink holiday and their lifestyle, which he said are being overstretched.

“If there was no coronavirus, many would have jetted out by now, and enjoying in resorts across the world. I think the situation on ground is encouraging family bonding without spending so much in hotels. People now eat together, play at home and pray for safety. There is no unnecessary pressure on the pocket now”, he disclosed.

In same vein, Jude Amahotu, a public servant, thinks that people can still celebrate the Easter, but at home, not loud and keep safe too.

“I have not experienced a year where Easter was not celebrated in my 50 years existence apart from this 2020.

But it has also taught us to scale down our lifestyle. We can celebrate without spending all the millions on flight, luxury resorts and all that”, the public servant enthused.

Considering that many hotels have closed down due to lack of guests, Amahotu is concerned about job security for hotel employees in a country where unemployment rate is high.

“This is not a time to spend unnecessarily. There is going to be hardship after coronavirus is defeated. Let’s learn to be prudent now and use Easter to pray for God’s forgiveness and healing”, he urged.

Of course, there is a huge revenue loss from the suspended Easter sales due to the virus outbreak. Beyond the huge loss, Margaret Okwoh, a hotel sales manager, lamented that revenue targets for the first quarter of the year was not met and second quarter would never be met as well.

“If revenues were not met when operations were skeletal, they will never be met in the second quarter because of the shutdown across many hotels in Nigeria resulting in zero revenue”, she said.

For most hoteliers, the situation is unprecedented, as well as, overwhelming as no challenge in the history of the industry has been as tough as the impact of the virus outbreak.

They urged guests to stay safe at home and hope to welcome them to the rooms after the scourge is over.

Until then, Happy Easter!

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

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

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

Tel: 01 277 3560

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

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

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

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

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By Games Village Second Gate Durumi2 Abuja

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

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

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

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

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

entertainment

‘The Ultimate Love Show format is not a copy of any existing reality show in the world’ Adesuwa Onyenokwe, distinguished TV personality and former magazine publisher was “Aunty” on the recently concluded Ultimate Love reality television show. In this interview, she talks about her role in guiding the love guests to self discovery.

What do you think about the concept behind Ultimate Love? he Ultimate Love reality show is an idea whose time has come.

Every human needs love and association and once there is a platform for that, it will bloom. Aunty’s love pad created the perfect opportunity for this to happen. In our fast paced world the dating game is getting increasingly difficult and complicated. Being closed in one space free of the daily hustle and bustle, selected couples could focus on exploring a meaningful relationship with the help of experts. Add to that the fact that they stood the chance of walking away with gifts that would help them on their forever journey. You can’t top that as the perfect antidote for a crumbling family system: Help the primary actors, men and women, find each other even as they compete in a game that tests their wits, to win valuable prizes, ultimate of which is, true love. It is even more interesting because for once, Africa has the chance to present to the world, something totally original. The Ultimate Love Show format is not a copy of any existing reality show in the world. For example, the inclusion of Aunty is purely out of an African tradition. On this continent, relationships involve family. Family matters, and MNET has proven, through this show, that it cares.

ing the show?

Convincing the Love Guests that I had no favourites was quite a challenge, especially when I had to save a nominated couple weekly.

Though there were set criteria, every couple saved always felt I did them a favour, which implied to the rest that favouritism could have set in. I get that from my kids all the time so I could handle it.

The biggest win was the fact that a number of true relationships were formed. Even though there was obvious chemistry, the Love Guests stayed focused on the emotional rather than the physical. I didn’t think they could.

It says a lot for what the human can do to gain a prize it considers worthwhile.

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Adesuwa Onyenokwe

You helped the love guests through their journey of selfdiscovery and the desire to find love. How did you prepare for these one-on-one sessions with the love guests?

I have spent over three decades as a reporter/interviewer, been a wife for thirty-three years, and a mother for thirty-two, I would say I came prepared for this. (Smile).

And then of course coupled with the fact that I have life coaching

skills, I was able to listen in on and to the youngsters, while guiding them to a better understanding of themselves. I led them to explore their background, emotions and motives, to assist them in the process of coupling.

A listening non-judgmental ear got them relaxed and ready to open up, enough to take advice too, when it came.

What would you say was your biggest challenge and win dur-

What do you think of the Sunday nominations and the drama it caused among the Love Guests?

That was a big deal and some! The Love Guests spent the first couple of weeks in the Love Pad cavorting happily, as they picked their partners and began the process of getting to know each other, so the first nominations took them by surprise! It was a shock reminder that they were not in the pad to ‘play’. Eventually the drama of the Sunday live shows, elicited a tension that hung in the air for a couple of days till they relaxed and then bam, once another week ended, the cycle continued. Though with time couples

fashioned individual strategies to go about their nominations, those eviction nights remained tension soaked keeping them on tenterhooks, each not knowing who would go or stay.

Roksie became the first Ultimate couple of the show. What are your thoughts on their journey?

Interestingly Roksie was the only couple that stayed the entire eight weeks in the Love Pad! They never got to go out on a mission or win a spot in the love nest.

Their coupling was incidental, (they were not each other’s first choice), then hesitant, but when it picked up it just raced on to the end. Kachi’s patience paid off and Rosie’s honesty won her the viewer’s hearts, and their votes propelled Roksie to the end. The icing on the cake was the proposal and acceptance! Even the best of producers couldn’t have written a better script. This is what reality is all about. Just like with food, when love unfolds naturally and organically, it is strong, rich and enduring. I believe that will be Roksie’s story even out of the Love Pad. Going by the feedback I get from enthusiastic viewers across Africa, most of who are ‘panting’ for more, this is a good testimonial for a show that surpassed everyone’s expectations in just its first season. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing…Kudos to the show owners!

COSON losses as music rights owners withdraw international representation from its platform Obinna Emelike

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any music rights owners including members of Music Publishers Association of Nigeria (MPAN), have begun to withdraw their rights of international representation from the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON).

The withdrawal, according to music rights owners, was because of the alleged COSON’s barefaced refusal to open its books and submit to forensic audit.

As well, the unprecedented move by the rights owners, who are also the custodians of majority of earning catalogues for COSON, is a demonstration of wide music industry support for the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC)’s decision to conduct a forensic audit of COSON under the leadership of Tony Okoroji.

It would be recalled that for about two years, persons that have served on the COSON board have led loud calls for COSON under

Okoroji to be audited by the NCC. A few months ago, MPAN, an association made up of owners of interests in copyright catalogues comprised of tens of thousands of both local and international musical works, from the 1960s till date, and the single largest body of copyright owners of musical works in Nigeria, joined the call and secured many signatures of several music industry heavyweights in support of the call and for a petition to the NCC. Only recently, the NCC finally yielded to the call and commissioned KPMG, a multinational and reputable accounting firm, to conduct a forensic audit of all collecting societies including COSON. Speaking on the development, Olumide Mustapha, chairman, MPAN, said that all collecting societies except COSON have been reported to be cooperating. Rather than cooperate with the commissioned auditors, Okoroji was alleged to has since led COSON to what can be likened to an allout war with the NCC; including www.businessday.ng

Tony Okoroji

publicly disparaging the NCC. Miffed by COSON’s refusal to submit to the audit, Ajayi, one of the first voices in support of the audit and who for several years led COSON’s finance committee, lamented, “Why is COSON under Okoroji so determined to resist the

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audit? Yes, we called for the audit because we strongly suspected that certain things were wrong, especially since the finance committee was surprisingly put aside maybe because we were asking questions”.

However, those who are withdrawing the rights to international @Businessdayng

representation from COSON are individual and corporate members such as Omawumi, Sound Sultan, Baba Dee, 2Baba, Kelly Hansome, Ivory Music, Premier Music Publishing, Laolu Akins, Gospel Choral Music, Junior & Pretty, Sunny Neji, Ruggedman, Zaaki Azaay, S K Sensation and Asha Gangali.

Others include Ill Bliss, Terry G, Chocolate City, Charlimo, Boniface Itodo, M Trill, Green Light Music Publishing (representing the catalogues of the likes of Del B, Tee Y Mix, Fliptyce, Blaqjerzee, Puffy Tee, Sess, Chopstix, OJB Jezreel, DJ Klem, HOD and Tony Ross), Efe Omorogbe, Storm/Cabal, Hypertek Digital/960 Music, Now Muzik, G & A Publishing and all members of MPAN. According to the MPAN chairman, more members will be withdrawing the rights to international representation over the coming days while the likes of Olamide and The Plug (representing Davido and Mayorkun) have terminated their membership all together.

Friday 10 April 2020

Business etiquette

Janet Adetu

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f someone told me a month or two ago that I would be taking a compulsory break, slowing down on life and its activities, finally having the time to rethink, refocus and renew, I would welcome it but not believe it. It is so clear we are on fast pace that is almost impossible to stop. For some the momentum must keep going to avoid the guilty feeling or the perceived consequence of stopping the pace. You really wonder what are we all truly chasing?

I have lost count of the number of times I have desired a break and needed more time to do things but just could not find that time. I have said severally that twenty-four hours in a day at times can appear insufficient to get a day’s work done that at times thirty- six hours is required.

The current lock down “stay at home” directive though spurring quite some uncertainty is in many ways a true blessing in disguise. For some this is an opportunity to draw closer to family members, spouses, and children that on a normal day work prevented tightening the relationship. For others it is the moment where the reality of doing business differently has struck. The inability to have physical meetings means that many creative alternative means have and are still being devised.

Again, for many it is that long desired time to do a host of pending things that procrastination took over.

Well the most interesting thing has evolved, I guess it has been there along but sparingly used. Now we just cannot get enough of it, that is the life of virtuality, which has overwhelmed and taken over the business and social space. Social distancing has helped evolve even further the digitalized world. If you were unfamiliar with joining, hosting and setting up a virtual

BUSINESS DAY

Virtual decorum meeting, overnight you were taught, now you have acquired a new find skill.

In complying with the social distancing instructions and the urgent need to stop the spread of COVID 19 Corona Virus work must continue, life must go on and we must continue to stay in touch with everyone.

Whether it is a Zoom Call, Free Conferencing Call, Google Hangout or others the service providers have surely seen an upsurge in data usage which in many ways is good but also comes with its cons. Personally, I have been in more virtual meetings in the past week than I have in the last three months. These virtual calls were simply an alternative made available if circumstances prevented you from attending the meeting physically. I am fascinated how creative people have become running live programs on social media using Facebook, Instagram in a bid to their physical programs going like cooking, exercising, praying, musical concerts, trainings and so much more, For other professional groups series of meetings and conversations are continuously taking place so that there is no gap and time is being productively maximized. Above all this is now for many employers the most convenient way for employees to stay in touch, ensure that business is still running though not at full capacity as well as possibly maintaining prior appointments in the best capacity possible. For those who have already inculcated the work from home modality this is highly enforced and working in full capacity. It just shows that there is always another way of doing things that could always boost productivity and performance. I have already heard several executives admit how much more work they are able to accomplish and how much more productive hours they are putting into their work.

The new surge is great, though the influx is impacting and creating a heavy workload on the quality of the service provided. Indeed, the fluctuation in internet supply is now a slight consequence but all the same the life of virtual communication is highly

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entertainment

welcomed. So, this is the new norm, many are tapping in wholeheartedly, but it is important to remember the decorum required to benefit from these virtual meetings: Following virtual decorum Logistics Once you decide to hold a virtual meeting this should be communicated to all. Ideally communication can come by way of an email or placed on a social media group for all to see. The date, time, topic of discussion must be provided on time to all participants.

Login details One of the identified cons of te rise in zoom virtual calls is zoom bombing where uninvited persons join I a zoom call. It could be to tap into the shared information and available knowledge from a topic of interest or sadly alternative reasons not so pleasant. Login details can be provided free for all especially when it is an internal meeting or password details requested.

Attendees For many reasons this must be clearly stated without ambiguity to avoid receiving uninvited guest. If attendance is open to the general public it is advisable to collect a database of attendees by requesting that they register to join the zoom, free conferencing call or hangout, which will enable the host to capture relevant detail of attendees . With this you can avoid the attendees that do not sign in with proper names.

Open/closed to public The public domain is a vast space if the meeting reveals confidential information or knowledge purposed for signed up paying members be mindful to determine who is allowed in or not.

The COVID 19 topic of discussion is one that is huge content for all platforms and appears for general discussion. However, for some professional bodies the discussion maybe geared towards hoe to apply the situation to your profession which is sensitive and confidential so is not for general public discussion. If the particular meeting is closed to the public let all members be fully aware that it is a closed.

Muted vs unmuted Many people are still trying to un-

‘

In complying with the social distancing instructions and the urgent need to stop the spread of COVID 19 Corona Virus work must continue, life must go on and we must continue to stay in touch with everyone

derstand the intricacies of virtual calls so are not yet conversant with the fact that all noises around are picked up easily. It requires that a noiseless place be used to avoid all distractions. Where this is a challenge the mute button must be used to block out all sounds around to avoid disrupting the ongoing meeting or gathering. In the event that many people will be joining the settings may be set that mutes all on arrival and only the host can unmute others where necessary.

Be seen vs unseen The good thing with zoom calls is that you may decide to have your face shown in reality or a picture be used instead. Both are acceptable as it is the voice that is required mostly.

Be attentive and present when your video is playing and watch your every action.

Chat connection The chat box is used if difficulty is being experienced, like volume, picture quality or in asking questions where necessary. If questions are to be asked with audio then to adapt to orderliness the raise hand button should be used and raised down once the question is asked. This requires the use of a session moderator to moderate the session and coordinate the questioning and answering segment.

Disconnection Finally, be prepared that connectivity can fail at any time, when it does send a chat message to notify if the group is small. Reconnect where possible if you are logged out. Slow down in your communication to allow all to capture what you are saying.

Many meetings are timed, remember to stay within the stipulated free or paid time. End the meeting for all if you are the host Wishing you the best of future great meetings during these trying times.

Watch out for yourself and all your loved ones.

Be Safe, Stay Safe and Keep Safe!

Janet.adetu@gmail.com @janetadetu @jsketiquette

Global Citizen teams with Pepsi on virtual music concert to help those impacted by COVID-19

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s brands continue pivoting to virtual experiences due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Global Citizen and Pepsi have partnered to produce a one-night, international livestreamed event to highlight healthcare workers and amplify the efforts of organizations providing aid those impacted by the crisis.

Global Citizen, an international advocacy platform dedicated to ending extreme poverty by 2030, will host One World: Together at Home, a Live Aid-style broadcast of musical performances recorded in musicians’ homes, interspersed with footage of healthcare workers’ experiences fighting the disease and PSAs from world leaders, athletes and activists.

In a rare show of solidarity, late-night talk show rivals Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert will co-host the broadcast, alongside characters from Sesame Street.

The lineup of musical performers, curated in collaboration with Lady Gaga, includes Alanis Moris-

sette, Andrea Bocelli, Billie Eilish, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Burna Boy, Chris Martin of Coldplay, David Beckham, Eddie Vedder, Elton John, Finneas, Idris and Sabrina Elba, J Balvin, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kerry Washington, Lang Lang, Lizzo, Maluma, Paul McCartney, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Shah Rukh Khan and Stevie Wonder.

The broadcast will air live on April 18 beginning at 5 p.m. EST on global networks such as: NBCUniversal: NBC, Bravo, E!, MSNBC, MSNBC. com, NBCSN, NBC News, NBCNews.com, NBC News on YouTube, Peacock, Syfy and USA; Walt Disney Television: ABC, ABC News, ABC News Live, Freeform and Nat Ge Others are: ViacomCBS: CBS, Channel 5 in the UK, Network 10 in Australia and Telefe in Argentina; BET and MTV globally across more than 180 countries; and CMT, Comedy Central, Logo, MTV2, Paramount Network, Pop, TV Land and VH1 in the U.S, Bell Media platforms in www.businessday.ng

Canada, MultiChoice and RTE, while BBC One will broadcast an edited version of the event for U.K. audiences on April 19,2020.

The multihour program will also be broadcast on iHeartMedia stations and stream online on multiple platforms: Alibaba, Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, LiveXLive, Tencent, Tencent Music Entertainment Group, Tidal, TuneIn, Twitch, Twitter, Yahoo and YouTube.

The digital stream will feature additional performances and more stories from the people on the front lines of the pandemic.

“As we honor and support the heroic efforts of community health workers, One World: Together at Home aims to serve as a source of unity and encouragement in the global fight to end COVID-19,” said Hugh Evans, co-founder and CEO of Global Citizen, in a statement.

“Through music, entertainment and impact, the global live-cast will celebrate those who risk their own health to safeguard everyone else’s.”

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According to Pepsi’s vp of marketing, Todd Kaplan, the brand has suspended its “That’s What I Like” campaign indefinitely to reallocate its marketing efforts and full U.S. TV and digital media spend to support the promotion and production of the broadcast. Kaplan explained that Pepsi was looking for a method to bring people together while they’re apart, specifically through music.

“Pepsi hopes to bring people all over the world together to support a common cause through the power of music and entertainment,” Kaplan said. “Having worked together previously—most recently the 2018 Global Citizen Zero Waste Festival—we knew that Global Citizen would be the perfect partner for such a task.”

Pepsi is working with numerous agency partners to support marketing and creative elements, including VaynerMedia for TV, social and digital promos; Motive for digital; OMD for paid media; Acceleration Community of Companies for PR; and the in-house PepsiCo Design @Businessdayng

Center for logo design.

The broadcast extends existing initiatives from both Global Citizen and Pepsi. For the past few weeks, Global Citizen has promoted social distancing and highlighted public health efforts with Together at Home-branded content on the organization’s website. The platform has sponsored livestreamed, at-home music performances on Instagram and curated blog posts about companies shifting their efforts to fight COVID-19. It’s also asking the public to take action by donating or tweeting out information about numerous fundraisers helping those impacted

by COVID-19.

Global Citizen’s current efforts mirror its usual fundraising operations. Each year, the organization announces a specific set of goals that address social and environmental issues—and secure financial commitments from celebrities, corporations and philanthropists—for its annual Global Citizen Festival in New York’s Central Park.

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Harvard Business Review

ManagementDigest

Your company is too risk-averse Dan Lovallo , Tim Koller , Robert Uhlaner and Daniel Kahneman

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ompanies are supposed to create value for stakeholders by making risky investments. It won’t matter if even a significant percentage of them fail so long as the success of other bets compensates, which usually happens.

It’s an approach to investment that’s supported by economic theory going back to the 1950s.

In current practice, however, executives in large corporations are reluctant to propose and advocate for risky projects. They quash new ideas in favor of marginal improvements, cost-cutting and “safe” investments.

Why? We believe it’s because corporate incentives and control processes actively discourage managers from taking risks. CEOs are evaluated on their long-term performance, but managers at lower levels essentially bet their careers on every decision they make — even if outcomes are negligible to the corporation as a whole.

Consider how most investment decisions are made.

A team with an idea for an investment puts together a business case for the project, which is then presented to a committee made up of the top managers of the unit.

The committee makes a decision on the basis of whether it judges the financial models to be plausible.

The committee probably evaluates relatively few investment proposals. It is not unlikely, therefore, that if it were to allow a greater probability of failure for its investments, few or none of its decisions in a given time period would end in a successful outcome. The managers making the decisions would be held accountable for those outcomes, and their reputations — possibly even their jobs — would be at risk. The consequences of project failure would be far higher for the managers than for the company.

If this is true, we would expect that senior executives will be more open to investing in small projects than lowerlevel managers are. And that does appear to be the case. In a recent workshop, the American economist Richard Thaler

asked 22 heads of magazines owned by a large publisher if they would accept a hypothetical 50-50 investment that would pay $2 million to the parent company if it was successful or lose $1 million if unsuccessful. Only three heads said they would accept the investment. In contrast, the CEO wanted all the individual proposals to be accepted; he had realized that, when the investments were pooled together, the risk profile was much more attractive.

Companies can forgo smart investments because of managers’ aversion to risk. How do we change the practices and incentives around investment decisions so that managers become less risk-averse? Here are a few suggestions: — MAKE RISKY DECISIONS IN BATCHES: The first step is to establish a process in which projects are evaluated simultaneously with others on the basis of their collective value and risk. Ideally, a company would apply a portfolio optimization model that incorporates risk correlations across potential investment projects.

This approach would identify the least-risky portfolio for an overall target rate of return and risk given the investment opportunities available.

A simpler approach is to rank all projects across the company on the basis of their expected net present value or some version of it, such as present value divided by investment. The corporate staff then ranks the projects across the company from highest to lowest in terms of expected

value, ignoring risk. They accept projects, starting with the most value-creating project and continuing down the list.

Once the maximum amount of spending the company is comfortable with is reached, all projects left on the list are turned down.

Next, the corporate staff examines the overall risk profile of the accepted projects. If the risk types of the projects are largely uncorrelated, the overall risk of the portfolio will be lower than the risks associated with almost all the individual projects. If the risk of certain projects is correlated, increasing the overall riskiness of the portfolio, corporate staff can swap in less correlated projects from the remaining options on the list.

— BRING RISK OUT INTO THE OPEN: In our experience, few project teams perform explicit risk assessments.

The idea is to sell the project to management, and too much discussion of risk could frighten the horses. Instead, we recommend that companies consider four or even five scenarios to achieve a good understanding of the risks.

The first step in the risk assessment is to estimate the overall probabilities of each outcome. Executives are often reluctant do this, because assigning probabilities can appear subjective — but subjective probabilities are better than none.

Next, teams should explicitly identify the critical risk factors that influence outcomes.

If a team was investing in a pioneering process plant, for

instance, it would need to consider product price risk, environmental risk, technological risk, currency risk and, of course, execution risk (that is, human error on the part of managers carrying out the project).

When risks are specified in advance and agreed to by the whole team, executives are better able to identify the causes of project failure (and success). They can more easily determine whether an investment decision was good or bad, regardless of the outcome, which in turn makes it easier to take risks in the first place. It is important not to penalize poor outcomes, only bad decisions.

— MAKE RISK LESS PERSONAL: The final step in lowering risk aversion is to reduce employees’ personal risk in proposing projects that are outside the box. The simplest way to do that is to reward people whose projects are approved by senior management, regardless of the ultimate outcome of the project. A more sophisticated approach is to decouple the decision to pursue the project from its execution.

In this approach, if a new plant fails to earn an adequate return because demand is lower than expected, the failure is attributed to the decision to build the plant. If the plant fails because the project leader made construction errors that led to higher costs, the failure is attributed to execution.

Finally, smart companies always make postmortems an important element of the management system. One

company we know conducted them on its acquisitions and found that while the strategies were often sound, the executives assigned to integrate the acquired companies and carry out the strategies often lacked the resources necessary to be successful.

Managers can control how their own behavior shapes an investment decision. But outcomes depend greatly on other people’s decisions and factors beyond human control.

That means there is a strong element of chance in any investment, for which it is unreasonable to hold managers accountable. Companies need to switch from processes predicated on managing outcomes to those that encourage a rational calculation of the probabilities.

Dan Lovallo is a professor of business strategy at the University of Sydney Business School and a senior adviser to McKinsey & Company. Tim Koller is a partner at McKinsey in Stamford, Connecticut.

Robert Uhlaner is a senior partner at McKinsey in San Francisco. Daniel Kahneman is the Eugene Higgins professor of psychology, emeritus, and professor of psychology and public affairs, emeritus, at Princeton University. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 for his work (with Amos Tversky) on cognitive biases.

Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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news

SA, Angola economies will be hard DisCos say FG to pay for free electricity Nigeria, hit by Covid-19 pandemic – World Bank ... as SSA faces first recession in 25 years

... 2 months of free power will cost N120bn ISAAC ANYAOGU

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he purported free electricity from power distribution companies (DisCos) will be paid for by the Federal Government as part of palliatives to assuage the challenges posed by the coronavirus, DisCos have said.

Sunday Oduntan, executive secretary, Association of Electricity Distribution Companies (ANED), told BusinessDay by phone that the initiative is solely that of the Federal Government.

“It is not free from DisCos as there is a value chain. What we issued is a statement of support for the Federal Government’s plan,” said Oduntan.

Several media organisations reported that DisCos had agreed with the Federal Government to give custom-

ers free electricity for two months, leading many to assume that DisCos actually had the capacity.

Some analysts have wondered how that can happen considering that the power is not even for the DisCos to give.

“At a meeting between @ nassnigeria and the minister of finance, @ZShamsuna and her team, I disclosed that @ HouseNGR is considering a second stimulus bill that will provide Nigerians with free electricity supply for two months to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker, House of Representatives, tweeted on April 5.

The stimulus bill upon which the plan would be based will be considered next week.

Oduntan said that until the stimulus bill has been passed by the National Assembly, it would be impossible to

discuss when the plan would commence and how the modalities would be carried out.

Nigeria’s electricity sector is a value chain comprising electricity generators (GenCos), distributors(DisCos),theTransmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) which wheels power to where it is needed, and gas producers who sell the gas to GenCos to produce at least 75 percent of Nigeria’s power.

These operators are paid from the power sold by the DisCos and remitted to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) which then pays other players in the value chain according to their contribution.

Analysts say to give free electricity will require the buyin of all these different players because they have to agree to forfeit their earnings for two months which could constrain their ability to produce, pay staff and keep machines

running.

“The DisCos already have huge financial challenges and the GenCos are struggling to get paid, so how will it even work?” Chuks Nwani, Lagosbased energy lawyer, asked.

The Federal Government would have to pay electricity suppliers an estimated N120 billion to provide Nigerians free electricity for two months, BusinessDay analysis shows.

According to the third quarter report of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), during the third quarter of 2019, a total invoice of N179.66 billion was issued to the 11 DisCos for energy received from the NBET and for service charge by the market operator.

When this is divided for three months, it comes to an estimated N60 billion a month, and N120 billion for two months.

Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja

A

frica’s largest economies, including Nigeria, South Africa and Angola will face the toughest outcomes yet on account of ongoing coronavirus pandemic which has so far infected some 1.5 million people around the globe and killed 88,500.

This gloomy picture is contained in the World Bank’s latest Africa’s Pulse, a twiceyearly economic update for the region released Thursday afternoon.

The bank projects a sharp drop in sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP from 2.4 percent in 2019 to -2.1 to -5.1 percent in 2020, the first recession in the region over the past 25 years on account of coronavirus pandemic.

In general, oil exportingcountries will be hard hit, while growth is also expected to weaken substantially in the two fastest growing areas – the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the East African Community – due to weak external demand, disruptions to supply chains and domestic production, the World Bank said.

The region’s tourism sector is also expected to contract

sharply due to severe disruption to travel.

“While most countries in the region have been affected to different degrees by the pandemic, real gross domestic product growth is projected to fall sharply particularly in the region’s three largest economies – Nigeria, Angola, and South Africa – as a result of persistently weak growth and investment,” the bank noted.

According to the World Bank, growth has been significantly impacted by the pandemic as analysis shows that COVID-19 will cost the region between $37 billion and $79 billion in output losses for 2020 due to a combination of effects.

The losses will come in trade and value chain disruption, which impacts commodity exporters and countries with strong value chain participation; reduced foreign financing flows from remittances, tourism, foreign direct investment, foreign aid, combined with capital flight; and through direct impacts on health systems, and disruptions caused by containment measures and the public response.

Continues on page 28

Chagoury Brothers, owners of Eko Hotel, donate N1bn to Lagos to fight COVID-19 Lockdown observed in breach: Heavy vehicular traffic at Iyana Oworo, Lagos State, yesterday, as the state Rapid Response Squad (RRS) moves to enforce stay-at-home order.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

Agric, telecoms, home/personal care to post strong growth amid coronavirus outbreak – Agusto & Co. ENDURANCE OKAFOR

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he effect of the global coronavirus pandemic is causing uncertainty in Nigeria’s business environment, with economic activities in Africa’s largest economy almost at a standstill due to the lockdown imposed on states and the Federal Capital Territory to curb the spread of the virus.

The “pandemic’s effects on economic activities and businesses in Nigeria will be dire”, according to Agusto & Co., and the bottom line of most businesses in the country is expected to head south, but the Lagos-based consulting firm sees opportunities for some of the country’s industries.

“We believe a few industries are set for strong growth as a result of the pandemic,” Agusto & Co. said in a recent publication ‘COVID-19 in Nigeria: Economic Perspectives and Mitigating the Risks’.

Agusto & Co. projects the agricultural sector, telecommunications, and home and personal care industry will post strong growth on the back of the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and FCT coupled with the surge in work-from-home activity.

Agricultural sector The increasing spate of a lockdown in Nigeria brings the subject of food security to the core and Agusto & Co. believes the agricultural sector will leverage the rush for food to post strong growth.

It said “grains and other www.businessday.ng

staples (particularly locally grown rice)” are mostly “in a strong position to grow as food demand spikes from panic buying”.

The Federal Government recently announced that all markets in states where a lockdown was imposed would be allowed to open between 10 am and 2pm daily so that residents can buy food items.

“For markets, only shops and stalls selling food and groceries shall be allowed to open to customers between the hours of 10:00 am and 2:00 pm,” Aliyu Sani, national cocoordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, said.

Telecommunications industry Growth in Nigeria’s telecommunication industry is

expected to be fuelled by a surge in work-from-home activity caused by the deadly coronavirus, the increasing search for news online as many await the news of a possible cure to the novel virus, and the use of airtime for voice calls (as many are frequently checking up on their loved ones).

“Working remotely implies that several white-collar professionals will consume more internet data for work and virtual meetings leading to a spike in demand for data,” Agusto & Co. said.

The consulting firm also expects that more telecoms consumers (beyond the white-collar professionals) will spend more time on social media and other streaming apps at this time.

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Gilbert Chagoury

Ronald Chagoury

BUNMI BAILEY

as Eko Atlantic City, HITEC Construction Company, ITB Construction Limited, under the Chagoury Group, an industrial conglomerate with interests in construction, real estate and property development, flour mills, water bottling and purification, glass manufacturing, insurance, hotels, furniture manufacturing, telecommunications, IT, catering and international financing.

The Chagoury billionaire brothers who have built a reputation as giants of global philanthropy are among Africa’s richest men with generous donations to charitable projects around the world. Gilbert has always maintained that the vision for his life was greater than he could imagine and considered it a duty to give back.

The company has repeatedly stated that the safety of every Nigerian was uppermost in its mind, especially at this time of coronavirus pandemic.

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igerian-Lebanese businessmen billionaires and philanthropists, Ronald and Gilbert Chagoury, owners of Eko Hotel and Suites, Eko Atlantic City, among other businesses, have significantly boosted Nigeria’s fight against the spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic with donation of N1 billion to Lagos State government.

The billionaire businessmen are also donating 300 plates of mealsperdaytothegovernment to feed patients suffering from the disease and health workers taking care of the patients.

Lagos State is the epicentre of the coronavirus disease in Nigeria, recording 145 cases as at Wednesday, April 8.

The owners of the prestigious five-star Eko Hotel and Suites also own many other eye-popping investments, such @Businessdayng

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news Anap Foundation COVID-19 Think...

Continued from page 1

unemployed and underem-

L-R: Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture; Rauf Aregbesola, minister of interior; Abubakar Malami, attorney general of the federation/minister of justice, and Ishaq Bello, chairman, Presidential Committee on Correctional Service Reform and Decongestion, during the release of inmates granted presidential pardon and clemency at the Kuje Custodial Centre in Abuja, yesterday. NAN

Food prices soar as coronavirus...

Continued from page 1

are located are becoming scarce, thus fuelling low

supplies.

“It is difficult now to convey food items from the north to Lagos since the lockdown and this is why prices are increasing,” said Godwin Akpa, a yam trader at the popular Mile 12 market, the biggest food market in Lagos.

Despite the Federal Government exempting farmers, food processors, distributors, and retailers from the lockdown, owners of trucks conveying food supplies to markets are still afraid to head south. The few that do say they have to bribe security operatives at various checkpoints to gain ease of passage.

“Truck owners are afraid to come to Lagos because of the lockdown. The few that are willing to come are charging us higher fares because they have to bribe security officers

at checkpoints,” Akpa said.

BusinessDay survey at Oyinbo Market in Lagos shows that a 50kg bag of local parboiled rice which was sold for N17,500 11 days ago now sells for N19,000, indicating a 9 percent increase in price.

Also, a 50kg bag of foreign parboiled rice which was sold for N22,000 before the lockdown now sells for N27,000, indicating a 23 percentage increase.

A 60kg bag of red garri now sells for N26,000 as against N9,000 sold before the lockdown, indicating a 188 percentage increase, while a paint bucket of red garri now sells for N1,300 as against N700 sold nine days ago.

A 5-litre can of vegetable oil which sold for N2,000 before the lockdown now sells for N2,500, indicating a 25 percentage increase in price.

For spaghetti, a pack now sells for N4,200 as against N4,000 sold 11 days ago, indi-

Nigeria, SA, Angola economies will...

Continued from page 27

The COVID-19 crisis has the potential to equally spark a food security crisis in Africa, with agricultural production potentially contracting between 2.6 percent in an optimistic scenario and up to 7 percent if there are trade blockages.

Food imports would decline substantially (as much as 25 percent or as little as 13 percent) due to a combination of higher transaction costs and reduced domestic demand.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the limits of societies and economies across the world, and African countries are likely to be hit particularly hard,” Hafez Ghanem, World Bank vice president for Africa, said in a mailed statement.

“We are rallying all possible resources to help countries meet people’s immediate health and survival needs while also safeguarding livelihoods and jobs in the longer term – including calling for a standstill on official bilateral debt service payments which would free up funds for strengthening health systems to deal with COVID 19 and save lives, social safety nets to save livelihoods and help workers who lose jobs, support to small and medium enterprises, and food security,” Ghanem said.

Pulse authors base their macroeconomic analysis on data available by the first quarter of March 2020 as they recommend that African policymakers focus on saving lives and protecting livelihoods by www.businessday.ng

cating a 5 percentage increase in price.

In Wuse Market in Abuja, a N50kg bag of local parboiled rice now sells for N20,000 as against N18,500 sold before the lockdown, indicating an 8 percent increase.

Similarly, a 60kg bag of garri which was sold for N22,000 before the implementation of the lockdown now sells for N32,000, indicating a 45 percentage increase.

Prices are surging at a time Christians in the country, like their counterparts all over the world,arepreparingtocelebrate Easter – although this year’s celebration is already muted as a result of the impact of the ravagingcoronaviruspandemic.

“We would not be celebrating the Easter as we want to because of the coronavirus pandemic and rising food prices,” Mary Onyesi, a 55-year-old trader and mother of four, told BusinessDay. Inflation in Africa’s biggest economy accelerated to 12.20 percent in February 2020

driven by food inflation, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show.

Experts say the country’s inflation for March will further accelerate when the figures are released later in the month, owing to the continuous rise in food prices.

Nigeria’s economy has been hard hit by the outbreak of the new coronavirus that triggered a plunged in global crude oil prices. Amid the lockdown, daily wage earners are bearing brunt.

“I and my wife are daily wage earners and since the lockdown, we have not been able to earn any income and prices of food items in the market just keep rising,” said Muyiwa Rahman, a 45-yearold bricklayer who lives in Mushin, Lagos.

“We do not have any savings, and we are yet to get any of the palliatives shared by both the federal and state governments. How then do we survive this lockdown?” he asked.

focusing on strengthening health systems and taking quick actions to minimise disruptions in food supply chains.

They also recommend implementing social protection programmes, including cash transfers, food distribution and fee waivers, to support citizens, especially those working in the informal sector.

Several African countries have reacted quickly and decisively to curb the potential influx and spread of the coronavirus, very much in line with international guidelines.

But, the report points out several factors that pose challenges to the containment and mitigation measures, in particular the large and densely populated urban informal settlements, poor access to safe water and sanitation facilities, and fragile health

systems.

Ultimately, the magnitude of the impact will depend on the public’s reaction within respective countries, the spread of the disease, and the policy response. And these factors together could lead to reduced labour market participation, capital underutilisation, lower human capital accumulation, and long-term productivity effects.

“In addition to containment measures, we have seen that in responding to COVID-19, countries are opting for a combination of emergency fiscal and monetary policy actions with many central banks in the region taking important actions like cutting interest rates and providing extraordinary liquidity assistance,” Albert Zeufack, chief economist for Africa at the World Bank, noted.

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ployed citizens.

Explaining why Anap came up with the list, Peterside, who is also the founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank, said, “Our findings (Anap Foundation COVID-19 Think Tank) were that some governments and aid agencies overseas were a little confused as to what Nigeria’s ‘wish list’ was. We hope that this press release will help to bring some clarity.”

Nigeria has recorded 276 cases of coronavirus, with 44 recoveries and six deaths.

Emphasising the importance of access to test kits, the think tank said countries that have performed bestincontainingthepandemic–SouthKorea, Taiwan,SingaporeandVietnam – tested extensively and were then able to implement efficient containment processes.

The Anap Foundation COVID-19 Think Tank, which was established on March 22, 2020, is comprised of 18 members drawn from all the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria and the diaspora (USA and Germany). Its objectives include, among others, to act as a catalyst to enhance authorities’ response to COVID-19 and mobilise stakeholders around a coherent and effective action plan and encourage positive interventions by federal, state and local governments, NGOs, private sector, traditional and religious institutions, and other stakeholders to support Nigeria’s capacity to manage COVID-19.

Giving further details on molecular laboratories + skilled personnel, The Anap Foundation COVID-19 Think Tank said, “Testing capacity must be ramped up dramatically. The PCR molecular swab test is the only currently WHO approved diagnostic test for COVID-19. It is highly reliable when positive. Several novel testing modalities are in development and pending approval by global and national public health authorities. We need access to kits for purchase and by donation.”

The think tank said Nigeria needs both surgical face masks and cloth face coverings. It said surgical masks should be reserved for frontline healthcare personnel while local textile industry, from small street tailors to factories, should begin to make cloth face coverings for the citizenry.

On personal protective equipment, it said, “Gowns (which can be made by our textile factories), gloves, masks, goggles, face screens, head and foot protection, and walkie-talkies for two-way communication for those in full PPE in ICU. “Consider deploying final year medical and nursing students, retirees, and unemployed health professionals of @Businessdayng

all grades. Accept assistance from all countries that have had success in controlling the spread of COVID-19, particularly in the area of training of local manpower. WHO insight on projecting disease trajectory, and forecasting impact timing will assist in resource capacity planning (human, material, equipment and drugs), to receive assistance from countries that are in recovery phases of the crisis.

“There must be a planned correlation between the supply of ventilators and the availability of trained manpower to use this equipment.”

The Anap Foundation COVID-19 Think Tank said the country needs hydroxychloroquine & azithromycin + other drugs given that some anecdotal reports suggest a benefit of hydroxychloroquine with or without azithromycin in the treatment of COVID-19.

“Clinical trials are underway to determine the role if any of these drugs in the treatment of the infection. Understanding that these drugs are not approved for COVID-19, our pharmaceutical industry should monitor this situation and be prepared to increase production of these drugs should clinical evidence suggest they are of value,” it said.

On safety nets for 40 million unemployed and underemployed Nigerians, the think tank said dietary and monetary donations are needed.

“This should be synchronised with efforts from the government, private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGO’s), religious organisations, and grassroots political structures of the local governments to ensure the most effective coverage.

“Consider engaging traditional rulers when appropriate, who through their networks of village heads can identify impacted families and effectively organise distribution.

“Direct purchase of food from farms and farmers will have dual effect of providing lower priced food thereby boosting supply for the needy, while also providing needed support for farmers,” it said.

Importantly, the Anap Foundation COVID-19 Think Tank emphasised the criticality of accountability in spending of all the donations. It said there should be a protocol for cash donations, receipt and disbursement, and accounting and reconciliation.

“This should preferably be through streamlined recipients, for example in the U.K. the Disaster Emergency Committee,” it suggested.

Other members include onyin Ajayi (SAN), managing partner at Olaniwun Ajayi LP, Yele Aluko, EY America’s Advisory Health Sector chief medical officer, Innocent Chukwuma, regional director of Ford Foundation in West Africa, among others.

Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 10 April, 2020

BUSINESS DAY

INSIGHT

Unveiling the Securities and Exchange

Yewande Senbore ysenbore@olaniwunajayi.net

Folake Alabi falabi@olaniwunajayi.net

Yemisi Taiwo ytaiwo@olaniwunajayi.net

CROWDFUNDING CHANNELS & MARKET PARTICIPANTS Crowdfunding Portal The Crowdfunding Portal is a website, portal, application or other similar module used to facilitate interaction between fundraisers and the investing public.

Pursuant to the proposed Rules, crowdfunding activities are to be carried out on a registered Crowdfunding Portal operated only by an operator registered with the SEC as a Crowdfunding Intermediary.

Crowdfunding Portals must be registered with the SEC. To register a Crowdfunding Portal, the Commission must be satisfied that the: (i) operator (the Crowdfunding Intermediary) will be able to operate an orderly, fair and transparent market in relation to the securities or investment instruments traded through its www.businessday.ng

electronic platform; (ii) Crowdfunding Intermediary’s board, chief executive, and any person who is primarily responsible for the operations or financial management of the Crowdfunding Portal are fit and proper persons; (iii) Crowdfunding Intermediary will be able to manage any risk associated with its business and operation; (iv) rules of the Crowdfunding Portal satisfactorily protect investors, public interest, and the proper functioning of the market; and (v) Crowdfunding Intermediary has sufficient resources for the operation of the Crowdfunding Portal.

The Rules further empower the SEC to revoke or suspend the registration of a Crowdfunding Portal, and impose specified fines 7 where: (i) it fails to meet the requirements under the Proposed Rules; (ii) the Crowdfunding Intermediary fails or ceases to operate or maintain the Crowdfunding Portal for a consecutive period of 6 months; or (iii) where there is a failure to pay fees as prescribed by the Commission.

Crowdfunding Intermediaries A Crowdfunding Intermediary is a corporation that operates a Crowdfunding Portal and facilitates transactions involving the offer or sale of securities or investments through the Crowdfunding Portal. Only entities registered with the Commission as an Exchange, Dealer, Broker, Broker/Dealer or Alternative Trading Facility as prescribed under the Investment and Securities Act 2009 (ISA) and the Rules and Regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, (as Amended) may be registered as a Crowdfunding Intermediary.

A Crowdfunding Intermediary is prohibited from allowing an Issuer access to the Portal, if the Crowdfunding Portal or any of its officers, directors, significant shareholders or associated persons beneficially own or control more than 5% of the securities of that Issuer. The Crowdfunding Intermediary is also prohibited from providing financial assistance to investors for investing in an offer hosted on its platform or for which it has provided a service and from compensating any finder or introducer for providing the Crowdfunding Intermediary with information about potential investors.

The SEC may, in certain stipulated circumstances, cancel or suspend the registration of a Crowdfunding Intermediary, including where it contravenes any of the provisions of the ISA, the SEC Rules, the Code of Conduct for Capital Market Operators, is guilty of fraud or has been convicted of an offence involving

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President Muhammadu Buhari

moral turpitude. The SEC may also impose a fine of not less than NGN 1 million and the sum of NGN 10,000 for every day that a Crowdfunding Intermediary’s violation continues.

Issuer As mentioned above, MSMEs intending to raise capital through crowdfunding shall offer securities or investments through a registered Crowdfunding Portal.

Entities with complex structures, public listed companies and their subsidiaries, companies with no specific business plan or a blind pool, companies that propose to use the funds raised to provide loans or invest in other entities, or such other entity as may be specified by the Commission, are prohibited from raising funds through a Crowdfunding Portal.

An Issuer is required to file a standardized offering document

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The SEC may also impose a fine of not less than NGN 1 million and the sum of NGN 10,000 for every day that a Crowdfunding Intermediary’s violation continues

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INTRODUCTION he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) recently published its exposure draft of rules for the regulation of the currently unregulated crowdfunding activities in Nigeria (the Proposed Rules). The Proposed Rules detail the regulatory framework by which companies can raise debt or equity capital through crowdfunding, as well as the eligibility criteria and obligations of issuers, crowdfunding portals and crowdfunding intermediaries.

Under the Proposed Rules, Crowdfunding is defined as the process of raising funds to finance a project or business from the public, through an online platform. All micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) incorporated as a company in Nigeria with a minimum of two-years operating track record are eligible to raise funds through a Crowdfunding Portal registered by the Commission, in exchange for the issuance of shares, bonds/debentures, simple investment contracts or such other investment instrument as the SEC may determine from time to time.

In addition to detailing the crowdfunding process, the Proposed Rules provide for The major participants/channels in the crowdfunding space, as follows: the Crowdfunding Portal, the Crowdfunding Intermediary, the Issuer and the Investor.

We have considered in detail below, relevant provisions on the crowdfunding channels, the eligibility criteria and obligations of the participants, and outlined the crowdfunding process as contemplated under the Proposed Rules. We have also considered the benefits of the rules as well as the key concerns arising from the Proposed Rules.

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with the Crowdfunding Intermediary detailing information on the Issuer, use of proceeds, risks associated with the investment, the nature of its existing or proposed business; and the offering amount to be raised, amongst others. The offering document must be delivered to the SEC for its approval, must not be posted on any website other than the Crowdfunding Portal and must be made available to the investor before an agreement to purchase securities or the investment instrument is entered into. The Issuer is also prohibited from offering the same securities on more than one Crowdfunding Platform concurrently.

Issuers with a successful funding round are required to comply with continuous disclosure requirements, including: (i) delivery of its audited financial statements to the Crowdfunding Portal, to be made available to each investor; and (ii) prompt notification of a discontinuation of the issuer’s business or a change in the issuer’s industry.

One interesting point to note is that the securities issued via a Crowdfunding Portal are exempt from registration with the SEC, provided that the: (i) Issuer is an entity incorporated in Nigeria, and accredited and/or accepted by a Crowdfunding Portal to utilize its platform; and (ii) aggregate amount of securities or investment instruments that can be offered and sold by the Issuer within a 12-month period shall not exceed: (x) NGN 100 Million for a medium enterprise; (y) NGN 70 Million for a small enterprise; and (z) NGN 50 Million for a micro enterprise.

These limits shall however not apply to MSMEs operating as digital commodities investment platforms, or such other MSMEs as may be designated by the Commission from time to time.

Investors The Proposed Rules classify investors

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e Commission regulations for Crowdfunding

Mary Uduk, acting DG, SEC

into two broad buckets: (i) Retail Investors; and (ii) Sophisticated, High Net Worth and Qualified Institutional Investors. Retail Investors are prevented from investing more than 10% of their annual income in 12-month period, while Sophisticated, High Net Worth and Qualified Institutional Investors are not subject to an investment limit.

This limit on investment is most likely due to the belief that Sophisticated, High Net Worth and Qualified Institutional Investors have the capacity to carry out an in – depth risk assessment of such securities, prior to making their investment.

THE CROWDFUNDING PROCESS The Proposed Rules allow the public to invest in the securities of MSMEs which are hosted on Crowdfunding Portals, subject to investment limits specified by the SEC from time to time. The Rules amongst other provisions establishes a trust structure via which funds raised are held in a trust account by a custodian appointed by the Crowdfunding Portal, and are distributed only where an offering is successful, i.e., where the minimum threshold sufficient to accomplish the business objectives of the issuer have been subscribed for. Investors must be refunded within a period of 48 (forty eight) hours where the minimum threshold is not met. Where the minimum threshold is met but the funding target is not met, the issuer is required to provide a revised plan for the use of the funds to the investors and the Crowdfunding Portal.

MEs raise much – needed capital required to finance its business or projects within a regulated and structured framework. MSME issuers will also benefit from an enhanced profile as Investors will become customers, who will publicise the issuer’s products and business to their contacts.

For investors, the Proposed Rules opens up a wider pool of investment opportunities, as it provides retail investors with genuine investment opportunities, other than ponzi schemes.

Further, the stringent offering document and disclosure requirements imposed on MSMEs issuing securities on Crowdfunding Portals helps ensure the availability of the full range of information required to enable investors assess an offering and understand the attendant risks associated with the investment. In addition,

mandating that issuers have genuine business plans and also giving investors an Unconditional right to withdraw its investment within 48 (forty eight) of the close of an offer, helps curtail fraud on the part of the Issuer and Intermediary.

Aside the benefits highlighted above, a number of concerns arise from the Proposed Rules.

First, the provisions of the Proposed Rules which permits private companies to offer securities or investment instruments to the public may be considered a contravention of Section 67 (1) of the ISA (which allows only public companies and statutory bodies or banks established by or pursuant to an Act of the National Assembly to accept deposits and savings from the public) to make an invitation to the public to acquire or dispose of any of its securities.

Further, pursuant to Section 67 (1) of the ISA, an invitation will be deemed made to the public, where the offer or invitation to make an offer is advertised, published or disseminated by broadcasting, cinematography or any other means whatsoever. As such, the publication by a private company, of an offer on a Crowdfunding Portal, may be considered an invitation to the public, and a breach of the ISA. A possible solution, may be for the SEC to amend the relevant provisions of the ISA or sponsor a crowdfunding legislation which will address the gap, and provide statutory basis for the Proposed Rules.

Further, private companies looking to offer shares through a Crowdfunding Portal may find themselves constrained by the provisions of sections 22 (3) and (5) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2004 (CAMA), which restricts the number of shareholders of a private company to no more than 50 (fifty). A possible structure to be considered by is-

suers caught by this limitation and wishing to attract a shareholding crowd above the CAMA cap, may be for the investors to appoint a nominee(s), who will be the shareholder on record and hold the shares on behalf of the crowd.

It however remains to be seen whether such structure would be acceptable to the SEC. Also worthy of mention is the ambiguity created by the inconsistency in the use of Crowdfunding Intermediary vis-à-vis the Crowdfunding Portal in the Proposed Rules. A review of the Proposed Rules reveals an intent for the Crowdfunding Portal to be an electronic platform registered and operated by a Crowdfunding Intermediary, which is consistent with what obtains in other jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom (U.K) and the United States of America (U.S.A). However, certain provisions in the Proposed Rules (including the registration requirements of a Crowdfunding Portal, provisions imposing an obligation on the Crowdfunding Portal to conduct due diligence on issuers and prohibiting Crowdfunding Portals from soliciting investments) suggest that the Crowdfunding Portal is an entity and not merely an electronic platform. Given that the Crowdfunding Portal is merely an electronic platform for facilitating the trading of crowdfunded securities and not an entity in itself, we propose that amendments be made to the Proposed Rules making it clear that the: (i) constitutional documents and audited accounts required to be submitted as part of an application to register a Crowdfunding Portal is that of the Crowdfunding Intermediary; and (ii) obligations to conduct due diligence on prospective issuers, monitor the conduct of issuers, and not solicit investment, amongst others are obligations of the Crowdfunding Intermediary.

Regarding existing investmentbased crowdfunding platforms in Nigeria, the absence of grandfathering provisions in the Proposed Rules, imply that upon coming into effect of the Proposed Rules, such platforms will immediately be in violation of the rules with respect to their crowdfunding operations. It is necessary that transition provisions be included in the Proposed Rules, giving existing investment-based crowdfunding platforms a grace period within which they are required to comply with the provisions of the Proposed Rules or cease to carry on their crowdfunding operations in Nigeria.

Further, given that the scope of the Proposed Rules extends to Crowdfunding Portals located outside Nigeria but being promoted directly or indirectly in Nigeria, foreign platforms whose operator’s representative promote them in Nigeria, will need to rethink their marketing strategy, so as not to fall within the scope of regulation of the Proposed Rules or ensure they are duly registered under the Rules where their operations are captured under the Rules.

From an investor’s perspective, the absence of a secondary market, may give rise to liquidity issues as it may be difficult for investors to sell their participations if their investment preference change.

This constraint may temper the willingness of investors to take the plunge into investment-based crowdfunding. A possible solution is to adopt the position in the United Kingdom in which some platforms regulated and authorized by the U.K Financial Conduct Authority, provide a secondary marketplace for crowdfunded securities.

Also worthy of consideration is the structure in the U.S where venture exchanges facilitate trading between buyers and sellers of crowdfunded securities, but do not process transactions between those parties.

An additional challenge worth considering is the electronic nature of Crowdfunding Portals and the attendant risk of cyber-attacks, which may make it less attractive to investors.

CONCLUSION The introduction of the Proposed Rules to regulate investmentbased crowdfunding is a welcome development, as the Rules where properly applied, will jumpstart the required investment in the MSMEs and assist in raising the much-needed capital required

by MSMEs to contribute to the national economic growth.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RULES The Proposed Rules are likely to be viewed by key stakeholders as a step in the right direction, particularly as a number of positive developments will evolve in its wake, including driving economic growth and allowing MS-

Courtesy: Olaniwun Ajayi LP, Lagos www.businessday.ng

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IMPACT INVESTING

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In Association With

How impact investing is shaping lives and businesses in Africa ...Nigerian companies encouraged to replicate similar success ADEMOLA ASUNLOYE

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working environment and also build a stronger relationship with their SHF partners while fostering sustainable development throughout the region.

Another case study in Tanzania is the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF) which is aimed at strengthening food security in Tanzania through financing and capacity building for agro-processing firms.

The council provided loans for Chamwino Super Sembe Supply Limited, a company which sources maize from smallholder farmers and processes fortified maize flour for domestic food consumption.

In Tanzania, maize is the staple food for the majority her citizens—a critical crop for food security. About 8 per cent of most maize in Tanzania is produced by small-scale farmers on a subsistence scale and also as a cash crop.

Sadly, very little of the maize that is domestically grown is nutritionally fortified before it reaches the final consumers.

To change this story, Chamwino Super Sembe Supply Limited fortifies its flour (from milled maize) with iron, zinc, folic acid, and other vitamins which is then supplied to wholesalers, retailers, www.businessday.ng

hospitals, colleges and school as well as government agencies across the country.

The company, which employed over 90 employees: 30 full-time staff and 40-50 parttime employees annually purchases and processes about 5,500 metric tons of maize sourced from 1,800 smallholder farmers, majority (60 per cent) of whom are women.

Through this fund, Chamwino was able to double its purchase and milling processes, moved into a new factory equipped

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If success stories could be recorded in Tanzania, far better results will be achieved in Nigeria because of the better business environment and larger market

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he impact investing industry is growing fast with plan to make over a trillion dollars’ worth of investments over the next decade according to JP Morgan research reported in “Business Ethics magazine”.

Geared towards private investors, partners and sponsors, emphases are made that impact investing must take a balanced approach with other channels in a philanthropist’s toolkit to have the greatest possible impact. As a result, so much has been done around the globe with impact investing, even in Africa—businesses have reshaped, rebranded and new business have birthed.

The presence of impact investing in Africa is becoming more and more apparent as new grounds are broken and more opportunities unlocked: it has become impossible for the impact investing landscape not to be noticed nor its impact felt. The case studies below tell how much impact is being made particularly in Africa.

About 25,000 SMEs in Tanzania were able to access funds from “SME Impact Fund” yearly to boost their business environment after being trained with skills and knowledge to do so in a sustainable manner. As a result, SMEs were able to engage over 5,000 additional smallholder farmers (SHF) per annum which led to the creation of an additional 100 jobs per annum.

Many smallholder farmers in the underdeveloped rural areas of East Africa also benefitted indirectly from this fund as a result of higher production and higher demand from these SMEs. In addition, SME Impact Fund also promotes fair treatment of the SHFs by the SMEs and monitor payments to SHFs as well as their percentage of the end market price.

Through this credit facility, SMEs were able to increase direct and indirect employment, boost turnover and assets, improve

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with modern equipment and also expanded distribution of its fortified flour by adding six delivery trucks. d.light Design Incorporation, a global leader and pioneer power solutions company records another success story. Its impact investment traverses over the continent of Africa as it delivers affordable solar-powered solutions designed for two billion people in the developing world without access to reliable energy.

The power solution company makes high quality, affordable solar lanterns that are distributed world-wide with over half a million units delivered each month.

This product has optimised work efficiency among other things as it delivers light to millions of individuals and families.

The products and services have empowered over 100 million lives and interestingly they pay less for solar lighting compared to traditional kerosene lanterns. In addition, the lighting allows for greater productivity and income generation as their customers can work beyond daylight hours.

Another set of the major beneficiaries are the students, who with this product enjoy a better @Businessdayng

study environment even as their homes are safer and healthier without kerosene fumes. Put together, about 26 million students have benefitted from d.light power solutions.

The social and environmental impacts of this company have saved $4.1 billion energy related expenses, over 22 billion productive hours created for working and studying and it has generated 221 gigawatts hour (GWh) of renewable energy. This is huge!

It is also important to mention the significant reduction in carbon emissions (CO2) that this product was able to save the world as it offsets 23 million tons of CO2. The statistics above shows that the social and environmental impacts of this company is churning a good profit even as it is empowering lives all over Africa the same time.

As a result of the progress report and success story, d.light has won numerous certifications and awards with testimonies all over the world. It is also backed by an impressive collection of venture funds and foundations—all expecting to turn a profit on their investments; as it must continue to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.

With the success stories of these case studies, we hope to see more investors come on board to explore the same opportunities to affect lives and make profit in Nigeria. As we prepare for a post COVID-19 intervention, this is a good start for any investor or company. In terms of agricultural and educational endowments, Nigeria is well blessed. There are over 300 tertiary institutions in the country including federal and state universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and private universities, polytechnics and monotechnics.

From north to south, the country has arable land suitable for tuber and cereals. If success stories could be recorded in Tanzania, far better results will be achieved in Nigeria because of the better business environment and larger market.

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World Business Newspaper

Virus will push sub-Saharan Africa into deep recession, warns World Bank

Predicted collapse in global commodities trade set to drive first such contraction in 25 years Neil Munshi, west Africa correspondent

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he coronavirus pandemic will plunge sub-Saharan Africa into its first recession in 25 years as global trade contracts in the commodities on which many of its economies rely, the World Bank has warned.

Growth in the region is forecast to fall from 2.4 per cent in 2019 to between minus 2.1 per cent and minus 5.1 per cent, far below expected population growth of 2.7 per cent.

The decline will be driven by severe downturns in Nigeria, Angola and South Africa — the region’s largest economies — and among other commodity producers and has the potential to spark a severe food security crisis, the bank said in a report published on Thursday.

“The Covid-19 pandemic is testing the limits of societies and economies across the world, and African countries are likely to be hit particularly hard,” said Hafez Ghanem, World Bank vice-president for Africa, in a statement accompanying the report.

The report predicts that the pandemic will cost the region between $37bn and $79bn in

Health workers carry out door-to-door community screening for coronavirus in Cape Town, South Africa © Nic Bothma/EPA/Shutterstock

output losses this year, with decreases in foreign financing flows, remittances, tourism, commodity prices, FDI and international aid.

It also forecasts a “sharp decline” in output growth among the region’s key trading partners, particularly China and Europe.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region least affected by the pandemic, with just over 11,000 confirmed cases and nearly 600 deaths. But the Africa Centres for Disease Control has said that the

continent’s trajectory is tracking Europe’s.

Many countries across the region have implemented social distancing measures, closed borders and imposed lockdowns.

But with the majority of Africans working in the informal sector and many living hand-to-mouth, economists have warned that the socio-economic impact could be far worse than in other parts of the world.

An African Union report obtained by Reuters last week esti-

mated that roughly 20m jobs in the region were at risk.

“The size of the contraction that the [World Bank] is predicting is alarming,” said Yvonne Mhango, sub-Saharan Africa economist for Renaissance Capital. “The collapse in commodity prices is a factor, but over and above that is a decline in production from key trading partners which implies a sharp drop in demand for raw materials from [sub-Saharan Africa].”

Growth could fall by up to

7 percentage points in oil-exporting countries, while metals exporters could experience an 8 percentage point drop compared with a situation in which there was no pandemic, the report said. Growth would slow in less resource-dependent economies but remain positive, it predicted.

Goldman Sachs also forecast a recession for the region in a note this week and estimated that African governments collectively would see a $75bn funding gap. The World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank have announced billions of dollars in emergency credit facilities to African countries in recent weeks and called for bilateral debt relief.

Given how hard industrialised economies have been hit by the pandemic, it’s “no surprise that sub-Saharan Africa is projected to be hit by a massive recession”, said Kingsley Moghalu, former deputy governor of Nigeria’s central bank.

“The big lesson from the Covid crisis is that we should be better positioned and prepared for unforeseen global events such as global health pandemics and economic recessions by investing in healthcare and diversifying economies.”

IMF boosts emergency lending capacity to $100bn Head of fund warns emerging markets and low-income countries will be hardest hit by coronavirus James Politi in Washington

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he IMF has doubled its emergency lending capacity, raising it to $100bn to meet demand from countries needing financial aid as they grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

Kristalina Georgieva, the institution’s managing director, announced the new figure on Thursday as she warned that emerging markets and low-income countries would be hardest hit by the crisis.

In a speech ahead of the IMF’s spring meetings, which will be held in virtual form next week, Ms Georgieva announced that the IMF’s board had approved the doubling of its emergency lending facilities, and said a green light had already been given to provide rescue funds for the Kyrgyzstan, Rwanda, Madagascar and Togo.

More than 90 countries had requested aid from the IMF since Covid-19 spread around the globe in recent weeks, pushing the global economy into its deepest downturn since the Great Depression, said Ms Georgieva.

“We are still faced with extraordinary uncertainty about the depth and duration of this crisis.

It is already clear, however, that global growth will turn sharply negative in 2020,” she added.

However, she stressed that although the economic turmoil was affecting both advanced and emerging economies, poorer nations would suffer more, amid capital outflows in excess of $100bn over the past two months, a dip in remittances and the plunge in commodity prices. “We estimate the gross external financing needs for emerging market and developing countries to be in the trillions of dollars, and they can www.businessday.ng

cover only a portion of that on their own, leaving residual gaps in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

They urgently need help,” said Ms Georgieva.

As well as doubling the IMF’s emerging financing capacity — which is distinct from its more traditional bailout programmes, since funds can be negotiated more rapidly and with fewer conditions — Ms Georgieva said the fund was also looking at other measures to help financially stricken nations during the pandemic. Overall, the IMF has $1tn in financial firepower which it has said was fully available to its membership as countries struggle with the crisis.

“We are reviewing our tool kit to see how we might better use precautionary credit lines to encourage additional liquidity support, establish a short-term liquidity line and help meet countries’ financing

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needs via other options — including the use of SDRs,” she said, referring to special drawing rights, the IMF-created international reserve asset. “Where we might be unable to lend because a country’s debt is unsustainable, we will look for solutions that can unlock critical financing,” she added.

Ms Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist, became managing director of the IMF last year, replacing Christine Lagarde after the former French finance minister left Washington to lead the European Central Bank. The coronavirus crisis hit just after Ms Georgieva sought to put her stamp on the institution with a management shake-up that included the replacement of David Lipton with Geoffrey Okamoto in the fund’s number two role.

In Thursday’s speech, Ms Georgieva laid out a series of steps she said countries should adopt in @Businessdayng

the fight against the virus. These included prioritising healthcare spending and maintaining containment measures, as well as minimising disruptions to supply chains and avoiding export restrictions on key supplies, a practice that has grown more prominent as countries try to retain their own respirator masks, ventilators, protective gowns and drugs.

Ms Georgieva also backed “large, timely and targeted” fiscal stimulus, embracing policies including “tax deferrals, wage subsidies and cash transfers to the most vulnerable”, as well as extensions of jobless benefits and loan adjustments. “Lifelines for households and businesses are imperative. We need to prevent liquidity pressures from turning into solvency problems and avoid a scarring of the economy that would make the recovery so much more difficult,” she said.

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FINANCIAL TIMES

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

US executives rush in record numbers to ‘buy the dip’ As the stock market plummeted last month, managers of big companies saw value Richard Henderson in Melbourne

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xecutives at big US companies bought their own stock in record numbers last month, capitalising on a sharp drop in equity prices and injecting optimism into a market rally that has since gathered momentum.

Insider buying from chief executives, chief financial officers and board directors at big US public companies hit $1.1bn in March, the biggest total since October 2013, according to data provider Smart Insider. The purchases came from 994 executives, a record in data running back to 1990.

Insider buying is closely tracked by investors to gauge the levels of confidence in boardrooms, and helps explain a near 23 per cent gain in US stocks since March 23 that has partially reversed the rapid decline that began in February.

The data capture deals of $10,000 or more in listed groups valued at $1bn and above — roughly the threshold for companies in the S&P 500 grouping of US blue-chips — and does not include stock-based pay.

“It’s a vote of confidence —

executives are buying their stock at a time when the rest of the world is panicking,” said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist for TD Ameritrade. “Most of these people are already compensated in stock, so the fact they are putting more of their net worth in there is a good sign for the company and the market.”

Charlie Scharf, the new chief executive of Wells Fargo, was among the most active of insider

buyers. He bought $5m of the bank’s stock last month, which has already given him a paper gain of about $275,000, helped by a big rise in the stock this week after its main US regulator lifted restrictions that were imposed after a series of scandals.

If the recovery continues, the chief executive’s purchase could mirror Jamie Dimon’s 2016 deal to buy $26m of JPMorgan Chase shares, which coincided with a

bottom in bank stocks.

Richard Kinder, chairman of energy group Kinder Morgan, was the biggest spender in absolute terms, buying $14m of stock last month. The company’s shares have lost almost 30 per cent this year and touched the lowest level in March since listing in 2011. The company faces the twin challenges of a weaker oil price and big hits to economic activity from coronavirus.

Brett Icahn, son of the billionaire investor Carl Icahn, was the second heaviest spender. He purchased $11m of stock in consumer goods maker Newell Brands, whose shares are down almost 30 per cent this year.

Brett Icahn joined the board at Newell last year after his father’s company, where he also works, took a large equity stake.

Carl Icahn, who is not considered an insider, also purchased $35m of Newell stock in March through investment funds he controls, according to filings with the US securities regulator.

Mr Kinder and Brett Icahn have lost money so far on their March purchas es bas e d on Wednesday’s stock prices.

Kinder Morgan and Wells Fargo declined to comment.

Newell and Icahn Enterprises did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The insider buying alone does not explain the recent market rally, but “adds to the sense that market participants are feeling that the worst is behind us”, said Alicia Levine, chief market strategist for BNY Mellon Investment Management. “People think they can see the other side of the curve.”

Oil prices higher ahead of Opec-Russia meeting Investors hopeful, but deal to cut supply faces serious challenges David Sheppard, Anjli Raval and Derek Brower in London and Henry Foy in Moscow

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i l p r i c e s ro s e o n Thursday ahead of a crunch meeting between the Opec group of producers and Russia that could pave the way for a global production deal to combat the rapid collapse in demand from the coronavirus pandemic.

Brent crude was 4.5 per cent higher at $34.36 a barrel by lunchtime in London, while West Texas Intermediate gained 7.6 per cent to just shy of $27 a barrel. But both benchmarks have lost half their value since the start of the year as the market wrestles with cratering demand and record oversupply amid a price war.

Traders have been betting for the past week that a deal to cut supply by up to 15m barrels a day could be reached, helping to drag crude off an 18-year low near $20 a barrel. But significant hurdles remain to such a global agreement, which would equate

to roughly 15 per cent of global pre-crisis supplies.

Donald Trump, the US president, has put pressure on Russia and Opec’s largest member Saudi Arabia to forge a pact to cut 10-15m barrels a day of output. Both Riyadh and Moscow have insisted other countries, including the US, participate.

The US has indicated that its own production is likely to fall anyway due to the precipitous fall in prices, which has upended the global oil industry, with demand seen down by around a third globally due to virus shutwww.businessday.ng

downs and flight bans.

But Russian officials have pushed back against what they see as the US and other countries like Canada dressing up natural production declines as mandated cuts, even as Moscow indicated it would be willing to reduce its own output by up to 15 per cent. The deal could hinge on every side accepting the others’ definition of what constitutes a supply cut.

Some traders believe that the likely outcome will therefore be a fudge. Helima Croft at RBC Capital Markets said she ex-

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pected the “meetings will yield a broad framework agreement to curb output by a big headline number”, but that it would “likely be short on hard specifics such as duration, implementation timeline, and enforcement mechanisms.”

Energy ministers from the G20 group of the world’s wealthiest countries are due to meet on Friday for the first time ever after the so-called Opec+ group convenes today. The International Energy Agency and Saudi Arabia — which holds the rotating presidency of the G20 — are pushing for action.

The price crash has put millions of jobs in the energy sector under threat and risks causing uncontrolled shutdowns of oilfields around the globe as storage capacity runs out. That could damage fields in the long term, analysts say.

The Kremlin on Thursday reiterated its stance that all major oil producers must take part in any reduction deal. “Our position is clear: Russia stands for joint co-ordinated actions in the @Businessdayng

interests of stabilising the global energy market,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Mr Peskov declined to answer a question regarding whether Mr Putin had held discussions with the leaders of other oilproducing countries outside of Opec, aside from Mr Trump.

Mr Trump has repeatedly stressed he believes “free markets” will force a deal as the collapse in demand means Saudi Arabia and Russia will find few buyers for their crude. Global storage threatens to be overwhelmed within weeks or at best months.

But Mr Trump has also held out the threat of tariffs on oil from Saudi Arabia and Russia, blaming them for starting a price war after they moved to raise production last month, despite falling demand.

Goldman Sachs warned this week that the hit to demand meant that a cut of 10m barrels a day “would not be sufficient” even though it would be by far the largest supply agreement in history.

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

FT

ANALYSIS

FT readers: Italy and the threat to eurozone unity An issue that is dividing policymakers attracted nearly 1,000 comments. Here are the best responses FT readers

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onday’s Big Read from Miles Johns o n i n R o m e, Sam Fleming in Brussels and Guy Chazan in Berlin analysed the “massive shift” in Euroscepticism in Italy over a perceived lack of support from its northern neighbours during the coronavirus crisis. With the country reeling from more than 17,000 deaths and 139,000 cases, many Italian politicians are now urging the eurozone to mutualise debt sales that would help fund the rebuilding efforts that lie ahead.

The issue generated hundreds of comments and plenty of debate.

Here are some edited highlights.

‘Germany must bite the bullet now’ Germany missed a trick when it could have mutualised Greek debt and set up a true ECB as a copy of the US central banking system. It was Germany’s chance to create a unified continent that also served its long-term interests. Instead it made a couple of halfhearted attempts like letting in the 1m Syrian refugees and releasing the spigot on quantitative easing on the euro.

Not enough. Now it is nearly too late. Germany must bite the bullet now or watch Europe fall apart.

And now means at breakfast this morning. And doing it means a true pooling of all resources. — Lancelot George ‘Hard to see the upside for Italy’ Covid aside, it makes no sense for Italy to be in a currency union with Germany. Their manufacturing base has been severely impacted and it’s hard to see the upside for Italy. — Cam ‘States need to be individually solvent’ The EU will only work if individual states are individually solvent. Otherwise all this talk of EU solidarity is meaningless PR, because — when it matters — Germany will look after Germany, France will look after France etc.

— Underminer ‘Where would Italy go’ Italy will never leave the EU or the euro despite the demented bleating of their failed politicians.

Where would they go? Without Europe they’re left to the own devices and competencies. A fate infinitely worse that sticking with the EU. Just a nonsense. They would fail just as completely as the Brexiters are about to. — Langley ‘Aiutati che il ciel ti aiuta’ In the last 20 years (not two months . . .) there has been no growth, no productivity growth, bureaucracy is a nightmare and in two months of emergency the government could not even write a proper document deciding what

to do next. Italy and Italians should start asking why we are at this stage, and how to fix our country ourselves — “aiutati che il ciel ti aiuta (God helps those who help themselves),” as the locals say. — Dreamland ‘Mutualisation is a euphemism’ Those who want to help Italy, and to help keep the EU together, could start by stop using the euphemism “mutualisation”. Be honest and say they’re proposing to have the well-off countries (call them Germany as shorthand) cosign bonds that the weaker countries (call them Italy) are incapable of paying and have limited desire to pay even if they could. The EU already has mechanisms whereby funds are transferred from rich countries to poor. Rather then issuing mutual bonds which will only drive the wealthy countries’ voters into a rage when the least responsible inevitably default on their share, let’s just have the wealthy agree to make a one-time contribution to the most indebted, possibly paid out over a couple years. €20bn? €50bn?

In an ideal world, this would be partly paid by cutting back on such sinkholes as the Brussels bureaucracy and CAP, but since we know that won’t happen, let’s just make this one-time payment as a sign of solidarity with those struggling with the virus and with refugees.

And just move on from there with there being no expectation that there’s more to come and no sense that this is just the first step in ever closer fiscal union. — California Dreaming ‘Italy’s debt is sustainable’ It is about lowering the cost of funding. It is not about repayment.

Italy spends 6-7 per cent of budget and that is in line with what Germany and France spends. And you may not be aware that public debt is 135 per cent of GDP or roughly €2.3tn. Private savings are about €10tn. Italy’s net debt position is very, very sustainable. In addition, much of the public debt is actually www.businessday.ng

held by Italians and Italian institutions. — Carlo Langnotti in reply to California Dreaming ‘Berlin will face open hostility’ If Germany at this moment insists on their traditional policies, no matter how prudent they may be, they will face the open hostility of those who are drowning and they see someone rationing the life-jackets for no apparent reason.

They may have their way, for the short term. But they will lose all hearts and minds for a generation.

In such a case no one will expect the EU to last for a generation.

No matter how unattractive the alternatives are. People first punish their enemies, then evaluate alternatives. — A Greek ‘Italian default would mean the end of the euro’ What everyone seems to be missing is how devastating and catastrophic an Italian default would be for Europe and the globe. Italy is not tiny Greece. It would mean the end of the euro and a very probable banking catastrophe. Good luck to us all. — Mr Coletti ‘In the EU, outside the EMU’ Italy is obviously better off inside the EU but outside the EMU. Crisis just makes it even more obvious. — Joerg Washington ‘An Italian-Swiss-UK FTA?’ Italy, Switzerland, UK would be a great basis for a European free trade area that actually worked and allowed sovereign state members to compete and prosper with no pretensions to “ever closer union”, instead allowing any closer union to occur (or not) at the demand of the people. — RiskManager ‘The issue is not debt mutualisation’ This entire debate is not framed properly. The issue is not debt mutualisation, it’s support from the central bank. Italy on the other hand toils away under the boot of the ECB, which basically treats it how the Fed treats dollarised Ecuador, some foreign entity over which it bears no responsibility.

That is the signal it has sent to the

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market time and time again (see full comment here). — DamianB ‘You cannot ask for more austerity’ The virus is hitting hardest the countries which had already been weakened by the euro (Italy, Spain). Without a common fiscal response and massive support to those economies, divergences within the eurozone are going to widen and reach a breaking point where the only choice for those countries will be to default on their debt and/or leave the eurozone.

You cannot ask them for another decade of stronger austerity to pay back for the price of the pandemic.

I am not sure if I follow the Italian argument. They now want to leave the EU because without massive external help and coronabonds they will not survive?

How will that change once they do leave? — NYC Frenchie ‘Italy helps Russia and China divide Europe’ The ECB is now closing the spread, ESM money will start to flow, new fund for unemployment is being set up by Brussels. Meanwhile, I have seen the videos with Italians replacing EU flags with Chinese ones. Do they really think that the next time crisis hits China will be there to close the spread or take their patients in? I don’t think so. Italy is useful to Russians and Chinese only as far as it helps them to divide Europe into more manageable chunks. They will have no interest in holding Italy’s hand once there is nothing to be gained geopolitically. — Laplacian ‘Italy must live with its choices’ Some stupid questions from a German to the Italians: 1. Why should we give you our money while many of your politicians, journalists and citizens constantly insult us?

2. Why should we give you our money while your last government has just fulfilled one of its major electoral promises and lowered your pension age, whereas we and other people in northern Europe @Businessdayng

have to work longer and longer?

3. Why should we give you our money while you again and again vote people like Salvini, di Maio and Berlusconi into government, while you prefer Putin, Trump and Xi to Renzi, Rutte, Monti, Merkel and Draghi?

4. Why can a country like Spain make significant economic and fiscal progress but you cannot?

Your country is (still) a democracy and you have made choices, now live with the consequences.

— Linus ‘Co-ordinated response shows European spirit’ If you agree that the coronavirus is a symmetric shock then there should be a co-ordinated European response . . . If instead, you think that each nation should respond independently, then you may not have the European spirit of the founding fathers. — Claudio Marchiori ‘Who would trust these people’ What have we done? We have elected an utterly inept political class who has, inter alia, lowered the retirement age (Italy already has the shortest working life in EU) and splashed out on subsidies (with an already alarming proportion of current v capital expenditure). Who on earth would trust these people?

I am Italian and I would not. The only way out is European Commission issuing and spending debt.

This is also what [Carlo] Calenda suggests after rambling on about war reparations. — Luca ‘Do not spit in our hands’ I strongly feel that we should come together in ad hoc way to combat this crisis as much as we can, even through some kind of temporary debt sharing arrangements. But the way to achieve this is not to spit in the hands of whom a subsequent handout is expected. If anything, the insulting expressions from some southern European politicians have made me more rather than less reluctant to share some of the burden. — The daring Dutchman

Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

37

cityfile Mobile courts to try defaulters of stay-at-home order in Delta

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elta State government has inaugurated three mobile courts in Asaba, Warri and Ughelli to try violators of the stayat-home order, a measure to check the spread of killer coronavirus The three magistrate courts designated for the prosecution of offenders were inaugurated by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Marshal Umukoro on Wednesday.

A statement issued by E. Z. Dolor, chief registrar, High Court of Delta State, said the designated courts will try offenders in the three senatorial districts of the state.

“Sequel to the stay-athome order of government issued to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Delta State, the general public, especially stakeholders in the criminal justice administration sector, are hereby informed that in order to give bite

to (and ensure maximum compliance with) the said stay-at-home order, the Chief Judge of Delta State, Marshal Umukoro, has designated and inaugurated the following courts to handle cases arising from violations. “Chief Magistrate Court 1, Asaba: To hear and determine cases emanating from Delta North senatorial district.

“Chief Magistrate Court 1, Ughelli will hear and determine cases emanating from Delta Central senatorial district.

Chief Magistrate Court 1, Warri will hear and determine cases emanating from Delta South senatorial district.

“The designated courts are empowered to operate as mobile courts,” the statement said.

It called on the police, state prosecutors and other stakeholders in the criminal justice sector to file their cases for the prosecution of alleged offenders across the state.

Police arraign man for attempted murder in Ekiti

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he police have arraigned a 20-year man, Anuoluwapo Busuyi before an Ado-Ekiti Chief Magistrate Court over alleged attempted murder.

The police prosecutor, Bankole Olasunkanmi, told the court on Wednesday that the defendant committed the offence on March 29 in Igede-Ekiti, Irepodun/Ifelodun local government area of Ekiti.

He alleged that the defendant attempted to murder one Ikutiminu Daniel.

He told the court that the defendant was filling the pot-hole in the community, while he asked for money from the complainant, an Okada rider, who told him that he had no money.

He said the argument led to a fight and the defendant allegedly smashed spade on the eyes of the complainant, which caused him to sustain serious injury.

The offence, according to Olasunkanmi, contravenes Section 320 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

The prosecutor told the court that the duplicate case file has been sent to the office of Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice.

The plea of the defendant was, however not taken.

The chief magistrate, Abdulhamid Lawal, ordered that the defendant be kept in the police custody pending issuance of legal advice.

Security men on duty at Bolade Oshodi blocking the road due to the Federal Government directives against the spread of the coronavirus in Lagos.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

A’Ibom begins construction of 300-bed isolation … sets to distributes relief items to villages ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo

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kwa Ibom government has begun the construction of a 300-bed isolation centre at Ituk Mbang hospital for treatment of patients in the event of escalation of the Coronavirus pandemic in the state.

Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Emmanuel Ekuwem, disclosed this at a news conference in Uyo on Wednesday. According to Ekuwem, the Ituk Mbang isolation centre would complement the existing isolation centres at IDH Ikot Ekpene and Ibom Specialist Hospital in Uyo. He said that the five persons earlier confirmed to be coronavirus positive in the state were in good condition and under close observation by a team of medical experts.

The SSG added that contact tracing for those who might have come in contact with the confirmed cases had

begun in accordance with standard medical procedures.

“Construction work has commenced on a 300bed isolation centre in Ituk Mbang to complement existing isolation centres in Ikot Ekpene and Ibom Specialist Hospital, Uyo. “All five reported positive test cases of COVID-19 in the state earlier taken in isolation custody are hale and hearty while awaiting the conduct of a reconfirmation test.

“Even though, they have not shown any noticeable symptoms, they are under close observation by a team of specialised medical experts,’’ Ekuwem said.

He said that government had increased the number of isolation centres and acquired 19 ventilators.

Ekuwem added that the state government had procured and distributed large numbers of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other requisite tools to relevant health care institu-

tions across the state.

According to him, government has concluded plans to provide relief materials to Akwa Ibom residents to cushion the effect of lockdown, which entered its sixth day on Wednesday.

“A disbursement committee will soon announce the disbursement modalities directly to all villages in the state. The mode of disbursements to village will enable trickle down to give succour to all and sundry.

“It is worthy of note that the rice mill that was commissioned a few years ago is meeting the rice needs of the state, especially at a time like this,’’ he said.

The SSG also said that state had received some donations from corporate organisations and individuals as part of their contributions to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

He, however, solicited for more donations from multinationals companies, corporate organisations and

individuals to support the state government in containing the pandemic.

He urged residents to continue to observe all personal and respiratory hygiene guidelines earlier issued and adhere to the social distancing directive.

“While the governor is in the fore front of the fight against the pandemic threatening our state, it is imperative for residents and citizens to remain law abiding and fully observe the lockdown order as contained in the Quarantine and Restriction of Movement Regulations 2020,’’ he said.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on April 1 announced five positive cases of the COVID-19 in the state.

Based on the announcement, Governor Udom Emmanuel, in a broadcast ordered restriction of movement in the state with effect from April 3 and to last for 14 days to enhance contact tracing.

Widows, aged residents get N1.5m relief items from NGO

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nongovernmental organisation, Touch of Love and Lifting Hands Foundation, on Wednesday concluded its two-day door-to-door relief items delivery to vulnerable groups in some communities.

The relief package is to cushion the hardship from the current lockdown on Lagos.

The Federal Government on Monday imposed movement restriction in Lagos, Ogun andAbuja as part of the measures to stem the spread of the

Covid-19 pandemic.

One of those who received the relief items from the NGO on Wednesday was Sijuade Adesoji, a 99-year resident of No 3, Londoner Avenue along Kay-Farm Area in Obawole, Ifako-Ijaiye. The foundation began the distribution from Ifako-Ijaiye local government area, host community of its secretariat on Popoola Street in IjuIshaga on Tuesday afternoon.

The relief packs distributed to the less privileged, widows, widowers and the elderly conwww.businessday.ng

tained packed foods, noodles, salt, beans packs, bread, hand washing gels, surgical nose masks, and sanitisers in bags.

Atinuke Owolabi, founder, TouchofLoveandLiftingHands Foundation, told said they captured 500 households and cost the foundation N1.5 million.

Owolabi appealed to the Lagos State government to partner NGOs involved in welfare issues to ensure its relief items got to the right beneficiaries in the state.

She lamented that old peo-

pleinIfako-Ijayeanditsenvirons were neglected in the ongoing distribution of government’s relief items, hence, the foundation’s stride to bridge the gap.

“This foundation has been taking care of the health and welfare of widows, widowers, elderly citizens and the vulnerable since inception.

“Several old people besieged this place (foundation’s secretariat) on Saturday after the lockdown because they were hungry. We had to carry out emergency food distribu-

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tion before this programme.

“A lot of widows rushed down here yesterday when they heard we began the house to house distribution but we dispersed them because of the social distancing rule and told them to wait for us in their homes.

“This morning we have finished the distribution to 500 households both within and outside Ifako Ijaye,’’ she told NAN. “The government should partner with NGOs to identify @Businessdayng

the real people in need. We already have their database before the COVID-19 and they believe in us because we have been relating with them, feeding and caring for their health.

“We have their records, house addresses, passport photographs, phone numbers and other details which we can volunteer. Some of these old people are lonely and poor, some of them are abandoned because they have lost their spouses and their children live far away,’’ she said.

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BUSINESS DAY

Friday 10 April 2020

POLITICS

Group urges Buhari to adopt in full Atiku’s policy document INNOCENT ODOH, Abuja

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n umbrella support group loyal to Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election, has acknowledged the recent tendencies of President Muhammadu Buhari in implementing certain policy proposals that Atiku has initiated in his policy document for the last presidential election.

The group, All Atiku Support Group (AASG), in a statement issued on Thursday by its chairman, Oladimeji Fabiyi, called attention specifically to the recent decision of government to devalue the Naira, although the Central Bank of Nigeria had claimed that the policy was not a full devaluation of the currency, but merely currency adjustment. They, however, said the President should save the nation by wholeheartedly adopting Atiku’s policy document for a guide.

“It will be recalled that during the 2019 presidential campaign, one of the prime policy proposals by Atiku Abubakar was to reset the Naira in order to market the national currency to be more competitive and to create more traffic for direct foreign investments in Nigeria. The APC and supporters of President Buhari called Atiku all manner of names at that time. But

today, they have stealthily embraced that same policy, although giving it a different nomenclature,” the statement said.

The group also cited example of the controversial policy by Atiku to privatise the NNPC and use the revenue generated from the sale to provide key infrastructure in the country, rather than going cap in hand, asking for foreign loans. The group said for avoidance of doubt, that policy provision is contained on page 91 of the Atiku’s Plan to Get Nigeria Working Again under the headline ‘Refining and Petrochemical Infrastructure’.

“Also, when Atiku suggested that the federal gov-

ernment had no need to keep on holding exclusive equity stakes in the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC), he was derided for it. They did not bother to take time to ponder over the logic of that suggestion. They instantly threw away the baby with the bath water. We cannot begin to contemplate how much resources the country had wasted on account of this arrogance.

“As a matter of fact, shortly after President Buhari won his first term ticket, Atiku submitted his 2015 campaign Policy Document to him, which the now Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi received

from Atiku on behalf of then President-elect Buhari. The Buhari administration slept for five years before coming to the reality of why the federal government should involve the private sector in the management of the NNPC. If the administration had been up and running from Day One, we would not have accumulated so much foreign debt and the economy would have been in better shape today.

“It was in the same light that Atiku had suggested that the Federal Government should jettison subsidy regime on petroleum products in the country.

Although the All Progressives Congress (APC) and

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nation how much, in naira and kobo, their jolly ride in obduracy has cost the economy,” the group added.

The group lamented that the APC and the Buhari administration came into governance without a clear chart of how to direct the country. The group said that is why that even at this time of national emergency in the wake of Corona Virus pandemic; the Buhari government has not at one single time come up with a policy proposal, but has consistently been relying on clues given by Atiku to manage the affairs of the country.

“We are proud to reel out those clues by Atiku to include the following: closure of Nigeria’s borders, provision of palliative to the poor and vulnerable constituency of our demography, reduction of the national budget by eschewing frivolities. These are all ideas that Atiku promoted and which the Buhari government subsequently adopted,” the group noted.

The group also urged APC and the Buhari administration to take full advantage of the suggestions in the Atiku policy document, which was not made public but submitted to the Buhari administration.

“We make this appeal out of our patriotic concern of seeing our dear country make a detour from the sloping wreck they have directed its affairs in the past five years,” the group said.

President Muhammadu Buhari and formal vice president Atiku Abubakar

COVID-19: Lagos residents’ compliance with restriction order commendable - Razak n All Progressives Congress (APC), chieftain, Lanre Razak has commended Lagos residents for their support for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu by complying with the stay-athome order.

Razak, made the commendation in an interview with newsmen where he stated that their cooperation with Sanwo-Olu has made his job of combating coronavirus easier and effective.

The elder statesman said

Buhari, in their 2015 presidential campaign raised the red flag that the inclusion of a provision for the payment of subsidy in the national budget was a scam, when they came into government, they not only sustained the subsidy regime, but ended up raising the margin to an all-time high in the annals of our national budget.

“Again, Atiku cautioned them against this but his warning fell on deaf ears.

Today, after running the economy aground in five years, the harsh reality has dawned on them to uphold the truth they once made a mockery of. The question is: will the APC be honest enough to tell the

compliance with the restriction order is a major act towards reducing the risk of spreading the deadly disease, reminding that prevention is always, better, safer and cheaper than cure.

While commending Sanwo-Olu over the way he handles the issue of the dreaded coronavirus, Razak said: “His performance has reinforced the need for a Special Status for Lagos State.”

Razak also urged the residents to double their www.businessday.ng

support and cooperation for Sanwo-Olu in the way he is handling the coronavirus issue in the state.

The Epe High Chief expressed the belief that the governor’s success story has turned Lagos State into a trusted destination and referral point for other states, including Abuja the seat of power.

He praised the governor and his team for turning the state into a saving grace for the country and beyond.

“Sanwo-Olu’s swift reac-

tion in handling the fearful ailment has shown the level of preparedness of his administration towards tackling the dreaded disease that has become the talk of the town globally,” he asserted.

Against this backdrop, the former Public Transportation Commissioner in the state enthused that with the trending performance of Sanwo-Olu, “Lagos State would soon attain a Special Status being agitated for all this while.”

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ALGON takes COVID-19 enlightenment to grassroots, constitutes respond team in Nasarawa SOLOMON ATTAH, Lafia

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gainst the backdrop of the global pandemic that is threatening human existence, the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Nasarawa State has constituted a quick response team on COVID-19 that would embark on an aggressive enlightenment to the people at the grassroots.

Inaugurating the team in Lafia, the state ALGON chairman who doubles as the chairman of Lafia Local Government, Mu’azu Maifata tasked the response team to educate @Businessdayng

the people on measures to contain the virus.

Maifata urged the team to collaborate with the state response team by providing information on any person suspected with symptoms of the virus. Maifata however, distributed face masks, hand sanitizers, thermometers, hand gloves, among others to some communities to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

He also directed Lafia branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to ensure strict compliance with the government directive to ensure only one motor park is operating.

Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

39

ENERGYREPORT Oil & Gas

Power

Renewables

Environment

We’re focused on reducing losses in power sector – MOJEC olusola Bello

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he management of MOJEC International Limited, has said that what is most paramount in its mind is how to reduce the aggregate technical, commercial and collection (ATC&C ) losses in the power sector, and has, therefore, reiterated its commitment to help achieve this objective as soon as possible.

Chantelle Abdul, Chief Executive Officer of the company in an interaction with BusinessDay said that high ATC&C losses had been one of the many challenges facing operators over the years, partly due to the huge metering gap in the Nigerian electricity supply industry.

According to her effective metering is the bedrock for sustainable revenue generation and the commercial vi-

ability of the sector.

Going down memory lane, she stated that the company has been providing meter for electricity consumers in Nigeria since the ’80s, and then later muted the idea of manufacturing meters in Nigeria.

She said after the privati-

sation of the power sector, the company was among the first set of companies to introduce remote meter reading as far back as 2014.

“This was our approach to solving meter reading problem, which was a stumbling block for utility companies then. Today, not only are we

the biggest meter manufacturing company and we are working to triple our production capacity, we have also created over 5,000 jobs across the country for installers.”

The company according to her has about 80 percent market penetration rate in the Nigerian electricity mar-

ket with eight out of 11 of the utilities as its clients.

She said solving the power problem is a major puzzle in solving our socio-economic problems, stating further that Smart meter is the Point of Sale machine of the power sector and that the company is committed to reducing the ATC&C losses.

The MOJE C boss explained that the company has also introduced, the mobile MAP to help close the metering gap as soon as possible.

The company according to her has been making significant efforts to increase efficiency in the metering process and with it being one of the Meter Asset Providers(MAP) it is taking a particularly interesting approach to bridging the metering gap.

This Mobile MAP approach she said has brought MOJEC about 100k closer to bridging the metering gap in the last quarter of 2019 with

the activation taking place in various locations in Lagos and Abuja.

“With ambitious future plans for growth, we aim to further entrench our leadership in the Nigerian power sector through research and development, training in human capital and investment in infrastructure, our people, products and processes.”

According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, the customer population has grown from five million in 2012 to over 10 million as of December 2019 with about 52 percent of the population being invoiced on the basis of estimated billing.

On March 8, 2018, NERC approved the Meter Asset Provider Regulation, aimed at fast-tracking the closure of the metering gap in the sector through the engagement of third-party investors for the financing, procurement, supply, installation and maintenance of electricity meters.

‘There is need for clarifications on National Gas Network Code’ Ola Alokolaro, a partner and head of Energy and Infrastructure with Advocaat Law Practice, a full-service commercial law firm in Lagos, in this interview with Olusola Bello, speaks on the recently introduced National Gas Network Code by the Federal Government.

What is your opinion on this gas network code policy? ell, it depends on which vantage point one wants to look at it from.

If one is looking at it from the perspective of trying to bring gas to the fore in alignment to the gas national policy, yes, it is a laudable introduction.

But if we are looking at it from the perspective of liberalising the gas sector, am not too sure whether the introduction or this policy should be the priority.

Why? I say this because, no 1, I see gas as a standalone product within the oil and gas value chain. Secondly, the reformation process that the country ought to have embarked on has not been done in terms of the passage of necessary laws for the sector. So, if you look at the gas subsector you will find that the government is the transporter and also the regulator.

This cannot work. The regulator should be a regulator while the private sector should be able to transact business among themselves in terms of transportation and then the code can now govern the relationship. While the regulator ensures it enforces the necessary rules.

If you are saying reforms should take place first what happens to power plants that need gas for generation?

Ok, let’s look at it this way. You said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) is the

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Olusola Bello, Team lead,

largest producer of gas. So it is producing and transporting while Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) regulates. if anybody is denying other access into the use of the infrastructure available, it could be by NNPC itself or its subsidiary in terms of the Nigerian Gas Transportation Company .So it is important that we allow private participants to participate in the gas subsector.

First and foremost, we need to create gas hubs rather than a blanket network code without any specific gas hub. Once we create hubs and there can be trading between the shippers and transporters within that hub then we can introduce a code to govern the activities in the hubs. At any rate, where is the gas market at the moment?.

Predominantly it is the power sector that consumes the highest volume of gas. But are they close to gas stations? Not really.

We have to begin to create hubs and create the market and then introduce a code to govern the operations of the markets.

Did you see this enhancing availability of gas?

What are you talking about The National Gas Network Code?

I don’t think the National Gas Network Code alone would be what would engender a robust gas market. First, we have to treat gas as a standalone product, secondly, we have to ensure that the value chain is properly demarcated so that

Graphics: Joel Samson.

Ola Alokolaro

upstream activity will not be in any way mix up with downstream market. For example, if you look within the industrial area, yes, the Nigerian Gas Transportation Company has the monopoly but often time it gives franchise to other firms just like we see with Gaslink in Lagos. What I would have suggested would have been some independent network code to govern that arrangement and govern the independent players and we begin to grow that first within the dedicated hub before we now transmute to national code. Because if you look at it, we are suffering from the dearth of physical gas infrastructure both in terms of processing and transportation.

What did you think would happen to the gas agreements already signed?

In some scenario, with some of the franchise units, in as much as gas prices are regulated but you find out that gas price is $2.5 but you probably find out that by the

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time it gets to the market it is $7. So there are some elements of a willing buyer and willing seller arrangement within the market. If that is the case and the cost of transportation is already factored into those prices bringing these arrangements back into the network code with specific pricing would have counterproductive effect on the market that is already doing well. To ask them to move to the national gas network code within six months may affect gas supply to some of the industries. So there is need for greater clarification and understanding of relationships between the government and actual stakeholders.

What would you say is going to be the major challenge that would confront this policy?

I think it is pricing. Pricing is actually critical because anybody could perhaps procure the franchise based on certain economics and would be certain of returns on their investments. So to change the pricing now would throw a lot of those projects into turmoil.

Pricing is therefore very critical.

If you are to advise the government on this network code. What would you tell her?

My candid advice is, I mean for us, the gas policy already alluded to this, is to identify gas as a standalone product, legislate around it, embark on Public Private partnership(p pp) arrangement or concessioning arrangements in and

around where hubs can be created as opposed to the fanciful plans that we have around. But realistic speaking taking one step at a time is the best thing to do. We can then develop around that. This is the way we need to develop the sector and this is the way to move ahead.

Did you see the Petroleum Industry Bill upturning this process?

It may not necessarily upturn it. But even with the PIB there is still a need for the bill itself to take congnisance that gas should be a standalone product which it does not.

So to this extent, no, the PIB would in terms of governance structure create new regulators but that regulator is going to be regulating both upstream and downstream and still would not be segregated as it ought to be. To this extent, it would be but on the whole no.

The Federal Government recently said Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is the way to go. What is your take on this?

I think to move the entire sector forward it must be private sector-led while the government becomes the referee so to speak. If you see gas flare commercialization programme and the call for private investors to come and participate, you can see already that the entire transformation of that sector is moving forward towards being led private sector-led.

When you talk about CNG

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it is a more friendlier product.

Some investors have already invested heavily to create CNG plants so as to be able to ensure that gas being a very clean fuel and environmentally friendly is accessible to the entire country. Yes, with the gas flare commercialisation programme I know that a number of people are looking at creating CNG and LNG hubs and because of this, we should see CNG readily available in the eastern and northern parts of the country.

CNG might be able to be conveyed from point of production to point of use.

What kind of enabling environment should the government create for CNG operations?

Firstly, the PIB has to be passed to ensure that restructuring of the sector is done. Then we should start to look for a way for gas to be a standalone product. Then we Look at the unbundling of the gas sector gas transportation, distribution and retails and eventually go to privatise the sector but it must not be rushed but has to be phased.

Do you envisage that the arrangements you have enumerated above would be contained in the PIB? I don’t think the PIB would make case for privatisation but it would make for restructuring of the gas subsector and the governing structure of the industry. In terms of unbundling, yes, it will take care of that but not privatization.

40 BUSINESS DAY

Friday 10 April 2020

news

World’s fiscal measures to combat Covid-19 amount to $8trn - IMF Royal fathers wade into ASUU strikes Hope Moses-Ashike

... emerging market portfolio outflows high at $100bn

he International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday disclosed that the fiscal actions to combat Covid-19 by countries around the world have amounted to $8 trillion.

This and other details would be seen in the IMF 2020 fiscal monitor to be unveiled in Washington DC next week.

Kristalina Georgieva, IMF managing director, said this while delivering a speech titled Confronting the Crisis: Priorities for the Global Economy’ for the 2020 IMF/World Bank Spring meetings.

She said many of the poorer nations were also taking bold fiscal and monetary action, even as they grapple with this fundamental shock to their systems—and with far less firepower than their rich-country

counterparts.

Emerging markets and lowincome nations—across Africa, Latin America, and much of Asia—are at high risk, she said.

“With weaker health systems to begin with, many face the dreadful challenge of fighting the virus in densely populated cities and povertystricken slums—where social distancing is hardly an option.

With fewer resources to begin with, they are dangerously exposed to the ongoing demand and supply shocks, drastic tightening in financial conditions, and some may face an unsustainable debt burden,” Georgieva said.

In the last two months, portfolio outflows from emerging markets were about $100 billion—more than three times larger than for the same period

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of the global financial crisis.

Commodity exporters are taking a double blow from the collapse in commodity prices.

And remittances—the lifeblood of so many poor people—are expected to dwindle.

“We estimate the gross external financing needs for emerging market and developing countries to be in the trillions of dollars, and they can cover only a portion of that on their own, leaving residual gaps in the hundreds of billions of dollars. They urgently need help,” she said.

Global growth she predicted will turn sharply negative in 2020, as will be see in the IMF World Economic Outlook next week. “In fact, we anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression,” she said.

The Washington based

Fund projects that over 170 countries will experience negative per capita income growth this year, compared to the earlier expected positive per capita income growth in over 160 member countries three months ago.

However, IMF managing director outlined four-point plan to building the bridge to recovery. First was countries to continue with essential containment measures and support for health systems.

Second, to shield affected people and firms with large, timely, targeted fiscal and financial sector measures. Third, to reduce stress to the financial system and avoid contagion, and fourth, she said even as “we move through this containment phase, we must plan for recovery”.

… stakeholders meeting slated for May MARK MAYAH

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oyal fathers in the country have waded in to save tertiary institutions from imminent collapse.

Virtually all the nation’s public universities have been shut academically as a result of the ongoing industrial strike embarked on by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday, March 23, 2020.

The traditional rulers are contacting parents, religious leaders, the affected teachers and government officials in their domain, urging them to suggest viable solutions to the present crisis.

Those in the frontline of the peace moves, according to BusinessDay investigations, include the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, Emir of Bauchi, Suleiman Adamu, Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, and Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu.

Others are the Obi of Onitsha, Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, Attah Igalaland, Ameh Oboni, and other prominent traditional rulers across the six geo-political zones.

The traditional rulers, our

correspondent gathered, have created a forum through wish they intend to preach peace between the government and the universities teachers.

Also, Education Ministry sources confirmed to BusinessDay that a meeting between education minister, Adamu Adamu, the concerned traditional rulers and teachers from public universities had been scheduled to hold on May 4, 2020.

Although the meeting venue has not been fixed due to the present lockdown in virtually all the states of the federation as a result of Covid-19 pandemic, but competent ministry sources confirmed that to attend the ‘Caucus’ along with the traditional rulers and education minister were ASUU president and secretary, respectively.

It would be recalled that the union had disagreed with the government, especially on the implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which ASUU said was an imposition on the union and vowed to resist it.

While the University Transparency and Accountability System (UTAS) proposed by ASUU as alternative to the IPPIS was rejected by the government.

Nigerians want petrol price reduced to N84, survey shows …NNPC assures of availability of products at Easter OLUSOLA BELLO, DIPO OLADEHINDE (Lagos) & HARRISON EDEH (Abuja) L-R: Ade Adefeko, vice president, corporate and government relations, Olam Nigeria Limited; Abisola Olusanya, special adviser to the Lagos State governor on agriculture; Gbolahan Lawal, commissioner for agriculture, Lagos State, and Bolaji Anifowose, vice president, commercial, Crown Flour Mills, during the Olam COVID-19 food intervention/donation to the Lagos State government in Lagos.

Our office, online platforms remain open to customers during lockdown - Maersk AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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espite the 14 days lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja, the Danish shipping firm, Maersk Nigeria Limited, said its offices and online platforms had remained open to customers in Nigeria.

According to the firm, customers who come to its offices to transact business must observe strict safety measures against coronavirus as outlined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other relevant arms of government.

Adeyemi Adenaike, customer service manager of Maersk Nigeria, said in a statement on Thursday that Maersk Nigeria Limited had digital solution that was custom-made to suite customer’s needs.

“We have made significant investment in our digital platforms in order to find new ways to simplify container transport, cut down on turnaround time, reduce costs and boost transparency for its customers,” he stated.

He listed the digital solution to include intuitive website, Mobile App, custom site for cargo release and export clearance document submission such as Maersk.com, Maersk App, MyFinance, Myeasyrelease.com, and Myexportdoc. com.

He assured that the company’s electronic invoicing solution named Myfinance, was in line with government’s regulation on social distancing.

“This means that customers would be able to view all their invoices with a few clicks, eliminating the need to manually request for an invoice via email or physically at Maersk counter areas. They will be getting information on invoices, account statement and raising disputes, once they are registered on maersk.com,” Adenaike said.

He further said shippers can make payment for the company’s services through the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) E-bills payment platform from the comfort of their homes or offices, without having to visit the banks. www.businessday.ng

Covid-19: FG flags off 2020 Presidential Pardon, decongestion of correctional centres HARRISON EDEH, Abuja

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ttorney-General of the Federation and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, said his office would continue to fine-tune the roadmap and vigorously implement comprehensive action plan to ensure enduring achievements in reforming and decongesting correctional centres in the country.

Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, special assistant on media and public relations office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, confirmed Malami’s position in a statement issued to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday.

Malami, the statement, made this known at the flag-off the 2020 Presidential Pardon and Clemency granted recently by President Muhammadu Buhari to convicts in Correctional/custodial centres across Nigeria.

The event, which held at Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, on Thursday, was part of the urgent measures taken by the Federal Government towards

the speedy decongestion of correctional-custodial centres in the country in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Malami, who spoke on behalf of President Muhamadu Buhari, recalled that Nigeria had succeeded in putting in place urgent measures to ensure speedy decongestion of the custodial centres towards the control of COVID-19, which he described as part of demonstration of President Buhari’s sincerity and commitment to decongest the overcrowded Nigerian Correctional Centres.

He explained that the process of coming up with the list of beneficiaries commenced in 2018 when sequel to Mr. President’s approval, the Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy (PACPM) was inaugurated on the 28th August, 2018 to advise Mr .President in granting pardonclemency to deserving inmates and ex-convicts in line with the provisions of section 175 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

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survey conducted by BusinessDay has shown that more Nigerians are of the view that the Federal Government should have reviewed fuel price from N125 to N84 rather than N123.5.

The survey, which ended on Monday, April 6, found that 59.7 percent of 479 respondents believe the market price of petrol should have been N84 due to the fall in global oil price; 27.8 percent said the price should have been N90; 7.5 percent wanted a petrol price of N110, while and 5 percent say the N123.5 should be the new fuel price.

For the second time in two weeks, the Federal Government reviewed petrol price downward to sell at N123.5 per litre effective April 1, 2020, after it had earlier lowered the price to N125 from N145.

But some stakeholders argue that if the sector was deregulated and market forces were allowed to drive the price based on current realities in which the price of crude oil averaged $25 per barrel, the expected open market price of the product should not exceed N84 per litre.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Easter celebration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has assured Nigerians of availability of sufficient petroleum products to guarantee hitch-free celebration.

Kennie Obateru, group general manager, group public affairs division of NNPC, gave this assurance in a press release in Abuja on Thursday.

Obateru quoted Musa Lawan, managing director of Petroleum @Businessdayng

Products Marketing Company (PPMC), as saying that although there are restriction-of-movement orders in parts of the country, PPMC has maintained steady supply of petroleum products across the country and that the company has enough products in its marine and land depots that could last another two months.

“I want to assure Nigerians that the PPMC has enough petroleum products to go round as they prepare to celebrate Easter.

We have up to 2.53 billion litres both in marine and in our inland depots. There are enough petroleum products in stock, and as we speak, some vessels laden with petroleum products are en route to the country,” Lawan was quoted to have said.

According to the statement, PPMC would soon automate its processes, maintaining that the deployment of the application would reduce face-to-face interactions with marketers and promote transparency of all its operations.

The statement said Lawan commended the Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum (ADTOP), the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), operations staff at the depots and other stakeholders for ensuring the free flow of petroleum products to every nook and cranny of the country in spite of the restriction of movement in some states of the federation.

Friday 10 April, 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Thursday 09 April, 2020

Top Gainers/Losers as at Thursday 09 April, 2020 LOSERS

GAINERS Opening

Closing

Change

Company

Opening

Closing

Change

NESTLE

N765

N830.2

65.2

BUACEMENT

N31.5

N30.8

-0.7

SEPLAT

N490.1

N495

4.9

SKYAVN

N2.16

N2

-0.16

STANBIC

N24.5

N26

1.5

NAHCO

N2.53

N2.4

-0.13

DANGSUGAR

N9.75

N10.7

0.95

REDSTAREX

N3

N2.9

-0.1

WAPCO

N11.8

N12.65

0.85

UACN

N7.1

N7.05

-0.05

Company

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

21,384.03 5,427.00 314,906,187.00 5.018

Global market indicators FTSE 100 Index 5,842.66GBP +164.93+2.90%

Nikkei 225 19,345.77JPY -7.47-0.04%

S&P 500 Index 2,804.85USD +54.87+2.00%

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 10,564.74EUR +231.85+2.24%

Generic 1st ‘SP’ Future 2,766.30USD +31.40+1.15%

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 2,825.90CNY +10.54+0.37%

11.144

Nigeria stock market rallies further on increased bargains Stories by Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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emote tading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) witnessed increased bargain on Thursday April 9, making it the third positive this week as more investors chose to buy fundamentally sound stocks that hitherto traded at record lows.

The market defied analysts expectations of possible profit taking activity following previous days of gains.

The NSE All Share Index (ASI) increased by 1.47 percent at the close of trading session.

Top on the bargain hunters list are shares of Nestle Nigeria Plc, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc,

Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc. As at 3.58 pm Nigerian time on Thursday April 9, Brent crude was trading at a record high of $35.32 per barrel.

Development in the crude oil market coupled with the Coronavirus Pandemic rattles the stock market.

Federal Government efforts to curtail the spread of the virus led to the lockdown of Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos, the FCT Abuja and Ogun State.

Nestle recorded the highest gains on the Bourse after its share price moved from day open low of N765 to N830.2, adding N65.2 or 8.52percent. It was followed by Seplat which rose from N490.1 to N495, adding N4.9 or 1percent.

On the decliners list, BUA Cement led others after its

share price moved from day open high of N31.5 to N30.8, losing 70kobo or 2.22percent.

The NSE ASI increased from 21, 073.26 points to 21,384.03 points while the value of listed stocks increased by N162billion to N11.144trillion, from preceding day low of N10.982trillion.

This month, the stock market has yielded positive return of +0.39 percent, while the year to date (YtD) negative return moderated further to -20.33 percent.

All NSE sectoral indexes closed positive on Thursday except NSE industrial index that dipped. Banking stocks were actively traded, led by FBN Holdings, GTBank, Zenith Bank and UBA. In 5,427 deals, investors exchanged 314,906,187 units valued at N5.01billion.

CSCS boss appointed CSD representative on global ISSA Operating Committee

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he International Securities Services Association (ISSA) has appointed Haruna Jalo-Waziri, the Chief Executive Officer of Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, as the representative of the global community of Central Securities Depositories (CSD) on the Operating Committee of the ISSA, with immediate effect.

The Operating Committee of the ISSA, chaired by Jyi-chen Chueh, Executive Director, Standard Chartered Bank, is the pivotal Committee of the ISSA saddled with the responsibility of providing technical support and execution to the Executive Board of ISSA in proposing, executing and managing work projects aimed at advancing securities services, globally.

In conveying the appointment, Parry Colin, the Chief Executive of ISSA noted, “we are delighted that Jalo has agreed to be a member of the ISSA Operating Committee going forward. We welcome him as the representative of the World Forum of Central Securities Depositories (WFC) to the Committee”.

Parry noted the value proposition of nominating and appointing Jalo to the Operating Committee of ISSA, including his leadership role in the Nigerian CSD and his understand-

ing of ISSA as core member.

He expressed excitement at Jalo’s appointment, as he looks forward to his invaluable contributions towards delivering on the audacious mission and strategic objectives of the ISSA, going forward.

In reacting to his appointment, Jalo-Waziri noted; “this is a clarion call to service in an industry that I am most passionate about. It is my pleasure to have been nominated and appointed to join the esteemed professionals on the Operating Committee of the ISSA and I look forward to working with colleagues, with diverse global experience in actively promoting forward-thinking solutions that create efficiencies and mitigate risk within the global securities services industry.”

For more than 40 years, ISSA has made significant contributions to the development of the worldwide securities services industry by facilitating the interaction among market participants and providing leadership in the formulation and promotion of best practices in the post-trade securities services.

Headquartered in Switzerland, the ISSA is an association of the world’s largest central securities depositories, global custodians and securities transaction services banks, including The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (the CSD www.businessday.ng

for the U.S markets), Euroclear (European CSD), Clearstream (the German CSD), Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Citigrpup, Credit Suisse, Deetsche Bank AG, BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered Bank, SWIFT, Bank of New York Mellon amongst others.

The Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) is a Public Limited Company, with a diversified shareholder base, including the Nigerian Stock Exchange, some of the largest banks in Nigeria, private equity firms, investment banks and other corporate and individual shareholders.

With over two decades of operation, serving as the Central Securities Depository for the Nigerian capital market, CSCS has been pivotal to the growth and transformation of the capital market, including its audacious full dematerialization of share certificates and the shortening of settlement cycle in the capital market.

CSCS serves as the central depository for equities, commercial papers, corporate bonds, sub-national bonds, certain sovereign bonds, equity-traded funds, real estate investment trusts, mutual funds and commodities. CSCS is licensed and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

IOSCO reprioritises its work programme to address impact of COVID-19

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he Board of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has agreed to pause or delay some of its work in 2020 in order to redirect its resources to focus on the multiple challenges securities markets regulators are addressing as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

This reprioritisation confirms IOSCO´s ongoing commitment to protect investors, maintain fair, efficient and transparent markets and mitigate systemic risks.

This decision means that the work priorities outlined in IOSCO´s 2020 annual work programme needed to be reconsidered. In deciding on which priorities to pause or delay, the Board was guided by four overarching principles: a recognition that a delay would relieve untoward pressure on IOSCO members who are addressing core crisis challenges; a recognition that operational constraints on financial institu-

tions would likely impede their ability to contribute to IOSCO projects and/or follow up on final reports; a recognition that in many cases it may be inappropriate to issue reports during this crisis given that they may become wholly or partly overtaken by events and/or they would need to be modified to take account of lessons learned or factor in a substantially changed financial landscape as a result of the crisis; and a recognition that IOSCO, the Financial Stability Board and other Standard Setting Bodies with whom IOSCO collaborates are focusing substantial efforts (which is resource intensive) to address the crisis which is now the priority.

In view of these principles, the Board agreed to redeploy resources to focus primarily on matters that are directly impacted by COVID-19. Among other things, substantial resources are being devoted to addressing areas of marketbased finance which are most

exposed to heightened volatility, constrained liquidity and the potential for pro-cyclicality.

These efforts include examining investment funds, as well as margin and other risk management aspects of central clearing for financial derivatives and other securities. A limited number of other work streams that are close to completion will continue, as will work related to G-20 deliverables. The timelines for the projects in relation to asset management linked to FSB recommendations will be coordinated with the FSB. The work being delayed or paused includes IOSCO’s analysis of the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning by market intermediaries and asset managers, the impact of the growth of passive investing and potential conduct-related issues in index provision, issues around market data, outsourcing and implementation monitoring – all of which would have involved outreach to the industry and supervisors.

Primero BRT lists N16.5bn bond on NSE

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ealing Members of the Nigerian Stock Exchange were on Thursday notified about the listing of N16.5billion Series 1 term

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bond by Primero BRT Securitization SPV Plc. The Bond with a coupon rate of 17percent Fixed Rate is due 2026. It is under the N100billion Medium Term Bond Programme of Primero @Businessdayng

BRT Securitization SPV Plc. The Bonds, listed on the NSE on Thursday, April 9, 2020 were 100percent subscribed. Dunn Loren Merrifield Securities acted as the stockbroker.

42

Friday 10 April, 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 10 April 2020

BUSINESS DAY

43

Sports

What’s next for Ighalo at Manchester United?

Anthony Nlebem

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ince his return to the English Premier League, the Nigerian striker, O di o n Ig ha lo, has impressed significantly with eye-catching goals to his name with Manchester United.

The former Super Eagles forward, who played for Watford in the Premier League from 2014 to 2017, was signed on loan from Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua

by Manchester United in the January transfer window.

Ighalo has made major impact in the Premier League; scored four goals and one assist from four appearances in the FA Cup and UEFA Europa League respectively.

His impressive performances thus far had led to calls by Nigerian football fans that he should be given a permanent deal at Old Trafford, and also return to the Super Eagles (he retired

from international football after emerging the highest goal scorer at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations).

On staying at Man United, the prospect for Ighalo looks good. After initial reports of Shanghai offering him a lucrative new deal, the Chinese club is now reported to be sourcing a possible replacement.

The Nigerian has admit-

ted that playing for the Premier League club is a dream comes true.

“My support for the team was great. I tried to see every game of United every weekend if possible. I still remember those memories.

I never imagined it was going to turn out this way. Even when I played in the Premier League for Watford, I never thought this was going to

happen,” Ighalo said.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the Red Devils’ manager, has insisted that strong performances will be rewarded.

“If you impress as a player, if you impress as a person, if you can help this group improve, then, of course, there’s a chance that we’ll look at extending things,” said the Norwegian tactician with regards to Ighalo.

As for the Super Eagles, Ighalo has not hinted at a return yet. However, manager Gernot Rohr has made no secret of his desire to have the veteran goal-scorer available again.

“You know he is a very good player on and off the pitch and I have already spoken with him about his new move to Manchester United which we are very happy for.

“If a player is playing in Manchester United each coach of national teams would like to have him. Our young players could learn a lot on the side of this great goal scorer,” explained the German tactician.

NFF to offer Rohr new contract with stringent conditions Anthony Nlebem

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he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says it will offer Super Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, a new contract, but with stringent conditions that he resides in Nigeria.

NFF boss, Amaju Pinnick, outlined three major conditions the German tactician will be required to accept and meet if he is to continue as the Super Eagles technical adviser.

The NFF president said: “In one week, Rohr will get his contract; he should study

his contract and come back to us. So, give and take, within seven days, he should have his contract.

“We have told him. He must live in Nigeria. His salary will be in Naira. He must go around the leagues and see how he can nurture the players.

“If he is able to accept it, we have a deal. There are a lot of coaches that want to coach Nigeria,” Pinnick added.

Rohr, whose current contract runs out in July qualified Nigeria for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and also led Super Eagles to a 3rd-place finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

Solskjaer says Man Utd ready for transfer market business Anthony Nlebem

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anchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Red Devils are looking at transfer targets during the lockdown and believes United are well placed to exploit any knockon effects of the coronavirus suspension.

With training and matches halted in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19, the Norwegian has utiltised some of this unexpected free time to pinpoint how best to improve the squad.

Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham and Jack Grealish are among the names swirling around, with Solskjaer working with United’s staff to fine-tune targets as they look to become title challengers once more.

“Football is going to get back to normality at one point, and it’s very important we’re ready when that happens,” the United manager said.

“We want to be the best at everything, and of course now is a chance to spend more time, you discuss players, discuss plans.

“We’ve evaluated what

we need, of course with the coaching staff we’ve looked at games, evaluated games, discussing on video calls like this.”

“Who knows which clubs need to sell players?

“There might be just a situation there where you can exploit, and I know that we at Man United we are one of the biggest, and the biggest, financially well-off.

“I’m sure we are capable, when we get back to normal-

www.businessday.ng

ity, that we can do the business that we want to.”

Solskjaer’s side last played 27 days ago, when Man United roared to a 5-0 win at LASK in a Europa League last-16 first leg played behind closed doors due to Austria’s coronavirus measures.

There is no imminent sign of a return to normality of football games, meaning the likes of Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba will have surely recovered from their injury

lay-offs by the time play resumes.

“Paul and Marcus have been out, now we’ve still got games left, and I think everyone in the league will start more or less on the same level,” Solskjaer said.

“Maybe they’ve got more motivation to keep going now; as they can see when they’re back they may be on the same level or even a better level physically.

“In a way, they have got an opportunity here to play a bigger part in this season than they had hoped.

“And they are big players for us, some of the most important players.

“I’ve always been impressed with the players when we’ve had breaks.

When we came back from pre-season they were really focused.

“We’ve had the mid-season break now, we did a few things tactically in Marbella in that week and they came back focused.

“We can kick on, I’m sure we can get a good start and climb up that table if we keep doing the right thing.

“Even with the FA Cup and Europa League, if that does go ahead, we’ve got good chances there.”

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FIFA moves transfer window, approves contract extensions

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IFA has approved the extension of players’ contract until seasons are able to finish, with the coronavirus pandemic also seeing transfer window dates moved this summer.

Football’s world governing body has been working on recommendations and guidelines to address practical issues brought by the Covid-19 crisis.

The bureau of the FIFA council recently endorsed a set of principles agreed upon by a taskforce exploring the issue, with contracts and transfer windows key topics.

FIFA said: “It is proposed that contracts be extended until such time that the season does actually end”, while deals due to come into force in the next campaign would be “de@Businessdayng

layed until the next season actually does start”.

The governing body also said “it is necessary to adjust the normal regulatory position to the new factual circumstances” when it comes to transfer windows.

A statement from the governing body read: “Accordingly, FIFA will be flexible and will allow the relevant transfer windows to be moved so they fall between the end of the old season and the start of the new season.

“At the same time, FIFA will try to ensure, where possible, an overall level of coordination and will also bear in mind the need to protect the regularity, integrity and proper functioning of competitions, so that the sporting results of any competition are not unfairly disrupted.”

Women in Business S

imi Nwogugu is the executive director of Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN), a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide, which is the world’s largest and fastest-growing nonprofit economic education organisation that empowers young people to own their economic success.

Simi brought Junior Achievement to Nigeria in 1999, after she served as a volunteer in New York and realized that the entrepreneurial training programs were exactly what the large unemployed youth population in Nigeria needed.

Simi started her career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs after studying Economics and English at Mount Holyoke College, and it was at Goldman that she was introduced to JA New York. After setting up and running JA Nigeria for three years, she left to pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School, after which she worked at MTV Networks in Business Development and Corporate Strategy for a few years before launching HOD Consulting, Inc., a New York-based leadership development firm that helps major corporations retain and advance high-performing women, particularly women of colour.

Nwogugu and her contribution to worklife management in the United States, youth empowerment in Nigeria and her own personal struggles to balance work, family and social responsibility, are the subject of a Harvard Business School case study titled, An Entrepreneur’s Journey: Simi Nwogugu.

After a decade of entrepreneurship, Simi returned to her role as executive director of JAN in 2016, to help the organisation expand its economic empowerment programs to young people in the North, especially those displaced by the Boko Haram crisis. Junior Achievement Nigeria has reached over 950,000 in-and-out-of-school youths in over

29 cities across Nigeria, and some of its alumni are successful business leaders and social entrepreneurs who volunteer their time and resources to ensure JAN’s sustainability.

“As a global organisation, JA delivers unique, experiential programs focusing on the core content areas of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy which ignite the spark in young people to experience the world of business and realize the opportunities and realities of work and life in the 21st century.” She says.

According to Simi, the role JAN plays is to bring together resources from the private and public sector to improve the delivery of practical education, particularly entrepreneurial education, to Nigeria’s nation’s youth. This is because “we realize that to achieve our vision of a vibrant economy led by conscientious business leaders, we must engage as many stakeholders as possible’ She insists.

Simi has dedicated majority of her working life to two things: helping women, particularly multicultural women, realize their full leadership potential without giving up their ability to achieve excellence in their private lives as wives and mothers; and helping young Nigerians, particularly girls, realize their full leadership potential, particularly in business, and how they can combine financial success with social responsibility and macroeconomic development.

Nwogugu is filled with the determination to expand JAN programs to the North and Northeastern parts of Nigeria so as to reach and empower those girls and young women who have been denied education and rights to own their economic success.

Simi says in recent years, many Nigerian states have seen their population growth far outstrip the growth in their economy, and this has left them with the problems of falling standards of living, a huge increase in unem-

Farida Yahya CEO, Jamuje NG, The Brief Academy & Lumo Naturals

F

arida is the Co-founder and project coordinator for Jamuje NG; a platform for citizen led, community driven action towards achieving sustainable growth and development of Northern Nigeria, with focus on education, health,

business and innovation.

The Brief Academy is a learning hub dedicated to developing and supporting female-owned startups to achieve wealth and scalability. She is also the CEO of Lumo Naturals, a natural hair care solutions brand

BUSINESS DAY Friday 10 April 2020 www.businessday.ng

By Kemi Ajumobi

Simi Nwogugu Executive Director, JAN

ployment and underemployment, especially among young people, whose inability to obtain the requisite STEM skills in high demand in today’s marketplace, has rendered them unattractive to 21st-century employers.

To this end, “Junior Achievement Nigeria’s unique delivery system provides the training,

materials, and support necessary to bolster the chances for student success.” Says Simi.

Simi sits on the Advisory Council of the African Capital Alliance Foundation and is a member of the Global Advisory Committee for Teach For All. She is married with three children.

that provides a combination of natural products, techniques, artistic styles and education about African hair and the importance of healthy and natural hair to ‘naturalistas’.

In February 2017, Farida convened a roundtable on education for the Northern states with the lowest literacy rates in Nigeria, this led to the creation of a network of community leaders, with each representative working on a project to increase literacy rates by 10% in the next 7years, the common goal was to find ways to sustain these solutions while engaging communities.

In 2015, Farida was selected as one of 10 youth leaders to meet The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to discuss development, climate change and the role of the youth in promoting the sustainable development goals and increasing momentum and ownership in Nigeria, produce and communicate key messages to influence national political actions towards the implementation of the SDGs, and increase the knowledge of young people in Nigeria and across Africa on the new development agenda, especially on its opportunity for dealing with youth development issues.

Farida is a member of the technical working group for SDGs Nigeria, a group of young leaders selected by the UNDP to inspire the next generation of leaders on their roles in promoting sustainable development, and localization of the SDGs in sub national levels. This has made her instrumental in amplifying the voices of the youth in policy making decisions that cover the 17 goals, and conversations around multi stakeholders dialogue to influence action towards climate change and development by 2030.

In 2016, Yahya was selected as a Young Achiever by the Young Achievers Summit.

She is a mentor for the SOS (Skills Outside School) foundation, and I Am Nigeria initia-

tive; she mentors over 200 young girls on career choices, skills acquisition, and political inclusion using creative writing, workshops, and peer education.

She is a member of Beta business forum, a Kudirat Abiola initiative for democracy for young girls; through which she has presented papers in community outreach programs to educate young girls and women on the importance of women’s inclusion in political leadership.

Yahya received the HOD’s prize for second best research of 2010. Her thesis on eucalyptus explored using the plant as a biotechnological resource and how it can be harnessed as a biofuel. This was an eye opener for her faculty, and was used as grounds to explore green energy production in Nigeria.

As the owner of various businesses, Farida advices that you need to know that the existence of your business, relies on a constant stream of customers flooding in to purchase your products or services, and as such, you must have a plan that ensures that customers keep coming back for more of what you’re offering. She calls this the Sales Funnel.

She defines a sales funnel as “A system designed to attract your target customers to your business and then leading them through a process that allows them to know more about you, with the hope that they buy from you.”

To cultivate potential customers and guide them through the processes in the sales funnel, Farida says you need four major guiders namely: Awareness, Interest, Decision and Action. She further warns “While mastering sales funnels can be tricky, they are an amazing way of getting new customers. Ensure that you know the pain points of your target customers and give them the solution”.

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