BusinessDay 11 Aug 2020

businessday market monitor

Biggest Gainer GUINNESS N14.10

6.38pc

Everdon Bureau De Change

Bitcoin

NSE Biggest Loser BUACEMENT N39.50

-1.39pc

25,027.61

Foreign Reserve $ 35.7bn Cross Rates GBP-$:1.29 YUANY - 54.37 Commodities Cocoa US$2,475.00

Gold $2,029.88

news you can trust I * *TUESDAY 11 AUGUST 2020 I vol. 19, no 625

₦5,459,743.89 +0.41

Crude Oil $ 45.09

I

N300

Buy

Sell

$-N 467.00 475.00 £-N 590.00 608.00 €-N 535.00 550.00

g

www.

FMDQ Close Foreign Exchange

Spot ($/N)

I&E FX Window CBN Official Rate

385.50 381.00

Currency Futures

($/N)

F

or ever y N100 received by the Osun State government as revenue allocation from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), N91 was deducted to service its debt, a pointer to how the state’s fiscal crisis has moved from bad to worse.

The south western state has been grappling with years of backlogs of unpaid salaries owing to what analysts described as failure of the government to judiciously harness the revenue Continues on page 30

3M 0.01 1.21

12m NGUS jul 28 2021 421.79

6M

5Y

0.29 1.99

-0.11

10 Y 0.00

30 Y -0.49

5.85

9.08

9.95

36m NGUS jul 26 2023 495.26

@

g

Osun flirts with insolvency, spends 91% of FAAC servicing debt in Q1 MICHAEL ANI & FAVOUR OLAREWAJU

fgn bonds

Treasury bills

Market

L-R: Gabreil Olonisakin, Chief of Defence Staff; Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff; Sadique Abubaka, Chief of Air Staff; Bashir Magashi, minister of defence, and Ibok Ekwe-Ibas, Chief of Naval Staff, after a meeting with the President and governors of the NorthEast at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.

60m NGUS jul 30 2025 581.52

g

Businesses eye recovery as COVID-19 shows early signs of abating Odinaka Anudu, Joshua Bassey & Anthonia Obokoh

T

here is a sense of relief in the private sector over the gradual drop in the number of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria, with businesses beginning to make projections for the first time in Continues on page 30

Inside

With depleted food reserves, Nigeria risks P. 29 hunger crisis

2

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news How new gas code will fix Nigeria’s pipeline infrastructural deficit DIPO OLADEHINDE

W

ith the flag-off of the National Gas Transportation Network Code (NGTNC) on Monday, stakeholders in the sector are hopeful that new gas code will attract more investment into pipeline infrastructure in the country.

Predicated on the need to use the enormous gas deposits in Nigeria to grow the nation’s economy, the NGTNC applies between gas producers, shippers, and their agents.

Its provisions allow a window of six months for legacy agreements to migrate onto the network code while new and intending agreements are expected to align with the new code.

Sarki Awulu, CEO, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), highlighted six major game-changing effects the new code will have in attracting more investment into Nigeria’s pipeline infrastructure.

According to Awulu, the new structure will provide a set of rules that govern the gas

transportation system, ensure non-discriminatory access to pipeline system, and guarantee secure, available, reliable and safe gas transmission system.

“The code will attract more investors into pipeline infrastructure,” Awulu said.

Awulu noted the new code will ensure cost-reflective tariffs for pipeline services, support the development of matured gas markets and provide mechanism for effective handling of contractual disputes.

“The new code will also support the development of matured gas markets, and provide mechanism for effective handling of contractual disputes,” Awulu said.

Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said the NGTNC will deepen the domestic gas market, attract more investments and unleash Nigeria’s potentials of accelerated growth.

“This Code, together with related interventions, will enable improved gas supply to power, growth of Gas Based Industries (GBIs), domestic LNG, LPG and CNG penetration as well as enhance revenue to government and www.businessday.ng

create investment opportunities for our people,” Sylva said.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and a strong member of the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC). With around 2.5 million crude oil production capacity, the country has huge gas reserves. According to data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the country has around 202 trillion cubic feet (tcf ) of proven gas reserves plus about 600 tcf unproven gas reserves.

Up till now, this gas had been largely undeveloped with huge chunk flared, and the government-owned Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) has been a sole operator providing pipeline infrastructure in the Nigerian gas market.

Salihu Jamari, managing director, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), noted that his company has been upgrading its facilities in expectation of the launch of the network code.

“We are making sure that metering is available at every point in the network. The NGC is very much aware of its role in the implementation of the network code,” Jamari stated.

3

Lagos partners private sector to empower 1.5m students with testing platform KELECHI EWUZIE

L

agos State government in partnership with Chronicles Software Development Company is giving out free SuccessBox of software to aid students preparing for West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the state.

The state commissioner for education, Folasade Adefisayo says the initiative is designed to enable students revise extensively and better prepared for excellent performance in WASSCE and BECE examinations expected to start August 17 and 24, 2020 respectively in both

public and private schools in the state.

According to Adefisayo, the SuccessBOX web application is a test platform for over 1.5 million students from all over Nigeria to prepare and excel in their examinations.

According to her, “the computer-based test (CBT) preparation software has over 15 years accumulated question bank and answers, with instant result or feedback, performance analytics and it works 100 percent offline after download and activation.”

Foluso Phillips, chairman of Chronicles Software said this is a great initiative that will impact Lagos State students positively and enable them practice with precision and go on to excel in

their examinations.

Oluwakoyejo Oluwatosin, chief executive officer, of the company stated that the goal of the initiative is to empower 1.5 million students with robust testing platform following several months of inactivity due to lockdown, the initiative will assist students to revise extensively and better prepared for excellent performance in their examinations.

Orji Kanu Emmanuel, president, Association of Formidable Educational Development (AFED), said the SuccessBOX solution is a comprehensive therapy for this purpose and that is why he has personally endorsed and recommended this for students across our network of schools.

Solomon Empire empowers student with scholarships Endurance Okafor

T

o contribute its quota to Nigeria’s education sector amid Covid-19 induced holiday, Brilliance, Purpose and Excellence Foundation (BPE), the corporate social responsibility arm of Solomon Empire recently awarded five Nigerian students with prizes as they emerged winner of its essay competition.

Targeted at senior second-

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

ary school students across Nigeria, the maiden edition of the competition which got over 150 entries was aimed at discovering new talents, encourage creative writing as well as to give voice to the young.

“Vulnerable young Nigerians in government-owned schools need to be shown the pathway to leadership as well as to help them turn their focus away from social vices and time-wasting activities,” Korede David, the founder of the foundation said, adding that @Businessdayng

he was inspired to set up the essay competition because of the lingering crisis in Nigeria’s education sector.

According to him, the foundation is also geared towards breeding young talents as well as creating a platform where they can thrive.

With entry requirements that included the age eligibility of between 13 to 17 years, applicants were expected to be registered in a secondary school (from SS1, 2 and 3 classes only).

4

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

5

6

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news

Aba residents to pay more for bread as bakers mull price increase GODFREY OFURUM, Aba

R

esidents of Aba, Abia State will pay more for bread from this week, following the decision of master bakers in the commercial city, to increase prices of the house-hold commodity, to ensure they remain in business.

The master bakers downed tools last week to enable members service their equipment and clean-up their production lines, which according to Emma Nwaohia, chairman, Aba chapter of Master Bakers Association, is an annual routine.

Nwaohia in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay explained that the bakers use the period to deliberate on issues affecting their business and make some adjustments where necessary.

According to him, the advent of coronavirus pandemic,

you cannot stop them from increasing, because they said they don’t want to be out of business, because they don’t produce wheat, which is imported.

“Our business was approved by God because Jesus used bread to feed the multitude and we are doing the same, but sometimes it is to the detriment of our business. Our governor cannot subsidise the cost of wheat, because the state does not grow wheat, neither is he going to subsidise the cost of flour since he is not a flour miller. He is a good man and if he is in a position to subsidise any of the items, he will.

On the call for use of cassava flour as a substitute for wheat, the master bakers said, “we have all tried it, but it is not working. The equipment for that mechanism is not available. And the government cannot give every bakery the equipment.

affected bakers badly. Our cost of production has increased.

“Flour millers have increased price of flour five times, between March and August, 2020. The price of 50kg bag of flour which we were buying at N9,000, before March, 2020, has gone up to N13,500. A bag of 50kg sugar went up from N13,000 to N15,000. A carton of butter sold for N6,000, before the lockdown, but now it is N13,000, while a carton of yeast, went up from N7,000 to N8,000, to N14,000 to N15,000.

“We have been struggling all this while, and so we decided to use this time to put our bakeries in order, after that, we will do some little adjustment on our prices.

He continued: “Bread is not a commodity that you can just wake up one morning and increase its price. We just want to help ourselves. Flour millers do not consult us before they increase their price and

Successful Delta fish farmer traces achievements to training received Mercy Enoch, Asaba

D

elta State government has sustained its Job and Wealth Creation Programme started in 2015/2016 pilot scheme, and now successful beneficiaries of the programme are boasting of world-class products as they trace their growth and achievements to the exceptional training and empowerment they had.

Among the over 5,000 youths so far trained and empowered to own and run their various enterprises is 33-yearold Chinwike Nwankwo who now produces fish from his farm, Chinwinkxfarms, where he also boasts of engaging six youths as staff.

Nwankwo, who hailed from Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state, has a master’s degree in Technical Education but also has passion for fishery, which made him grab the opportunity to be trained and empowered in fishery under the Youth

Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP) of the Job and Wealth Creation.

He, through his enterprise, is now contributing to the growth of the state and nation’s economy through fishery as he now owns 13 plots of land as against the initial four plots allotted to him as a start-up five years ago.

In an exclusive interview with BusinessDay in Asaba, he says, “Before I was enrolled into the programme I had a fish farm and 200 fingerlings. On graduation, the state government empowered me with 2,000 fingerlings. Today, I have over 12,000 fishes in my fish farm.

We now have what we call a ‘Fish House,’ where you come in for your varieties of fishes, crayfish and stockfish. We are also exporting our products outside Nigeria.

“One good thing about the programme was that the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, ensured individuals of Delta origin outside the country

came in to teach us, using global best practices. They did not teach us based on how things are done here in Nigeria. They so much broaden our horizon.”;Also, my wife, Florence, studied fishery in higher institution but she has passion for fashion designing, leading to her being trained in the latter, he says.

Luck smiled on Florence and she was enrolled into the Skills Training Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) of the job creation programme by the state government this year, and has been empowered following her graduation from three months training. She already has her own clients, he explains.

He advises unemployed graduates in the country never to feel or think that their education is a waste. They should not think education is a scam, as most youth believe today; education is never a scam.

Higher Education gives exposure and makes one dynamic, he says.

Nigeria Customs resumes electronic auction to decongest ports AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

N

igeria Customs Service (NCS) said it has now opened its electronic auction portal for interested persons to log in and bid for items of their choice.

The electronic auction portal was reopened after the service re-engineered the auction process.

According to a statement

by Joseph Attah, spokesperson of the Customs, interested bidders must have valid

Tax Identification Number (TIN) to be able to participate in the online bid.

“As usual, the bidding period for every week is 48 hours, beginning from Monday 12noon to Wednesday 12noon. Please note that the process is fully automated and requires no physical intervention of any kind to win,” Attah said.

Recall that Nigerian seaports especially those in Lagos have been battling with high yard occupancy rate due www.businessday.ng

to presence of several abandoned cargoes at the ports that ought to be auctioned.

Most of these goods, investigation shows, are expired goods resulting from longer waiting time of vessels on the sea and attendant inefficiency due to lack of space to drop laden goods.

This was why several stakeholders called on the Nigeria Customs to do onthe-spot auctioning without taking those goods out of the port. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news

Uncertainty, COVID-19 make banks scale down on lending HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

T

here are indications that Nigerian banks are scaling down on lending to corporates as a result of heightened credit risk and uncertainties caused by Covid-19 pandemic, BusinessDay findings show.

This development puts at risk the effort of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at encouraging banks to lend to the economy through its Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) policy.

A polygamous family, desperately in need of money put a property worth over N40 million for sale before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, but has not been able to sell because buyers are not able to borrow from the bank.

One of the buyers is a school owner planning to expand.

Agreement has been reached for N35 million but to get the money (borrow) from the bank has been difficult, as the banks are conscious of lending to a sector that is temporally closed

because of the coronavirus infection.

A church in Amuwo Odofin local government area sought to raise N7.5 million to purchase a property for expansion. The church intends to repay the loan with offerings and tithes with a building as collateral.

The church approached three banks, one said it does not finance property, the other said it cannot lend because churches are closed.

One of the conditions for borrowing money from a bank is the monthly repayment plan and collateral, which is the last resort for loan recovery.

BusinessDay gathers that banks are doing more of soft loans, especially to salary earners.

A prospective borrower has to domicile his salary with the lender and the amount a customer earns determines the amount the bank can give. The tenor of the soft loan ranges between 12 and three years at a minimum repayment plan of 33 percent.

“The reality of the matter is during weak economic situation as we have now, banks are

very careful in extended lending because a lot of companies are also weak. The probability of loan default, and businesses failing is high at this particular time,” Ayodele Akinwunmi, relationship manager, corporate banking, FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, says.

Banks lend on cash flows, and so there are companies in the hospitality sector and even schools that are looking forward to expansion that are closed in the last five months, he states.

Even if such company has a loan with the bank that has matured, there is no way the bank can renew the facility for now because they are closed.

“A lot of sectors are like that even oil companies that have done some projects at $50 per barrel and now oil is around $44.58 per barrel from about $18 per barrel. So, they have to scale down the amount of money they are giving to them,” Akinwunmi says.

There are a lot of other companies that want to import raw materials but do not have the foreign exchange to do that. A

lot of things are happening that banks will want to reassess to know the impact of on businesses.

“Some businesses that made sense eight, nine months or one year ago no longer make sense now. Banks cannot just go and throw money into the sector,” he says.

He admits that banks are lending but may not be lending as aggressively as they were before, saying it is not something bad, as economic activities pick, government is reopening the economy, lending will go on, on phone.

Fitch Solution in its Nigeria Banking & Financial Services Report for Q3 2020 expects that the oil sector downturn and government measures to limit the domestic spread of Covid-19 will cause Nigerian loan growth to slow significantly over 2020. Since 2015, the oil and gas sector has accounted for an average of 28.8 percent of total commercial bank private sector loans, which has left the banking sector highly exposed to external oil price shocks.

7

CodeCamp Initiative: Unubiko Foundation empowers Abia youths HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

A

nongovernmental organisation, Unubiko Foundation, is selecting 20 youths across Abia State for this year’s CodeCamp youth empowerment programme, which commences on August 10, 2020.

In a statement by Unubiko Foundation in Umuahia, Benjamin Isani, project director, said the CodeCamp initiative is an online digital sand leadership skills masterclass that is much more than teaching specific coding languages.

“The 20 successfully selected applicants will receive laptops, which they will use to commence the training, and afterwards use the same to start their own businesses,” Isani said.

According to him, “it is imperative that our young people in Abia get the opportunity to immerse themselves with relevant leadership and digital skills that is critical for them to effectively compete and survive in today’s hi-tech economy.

“We aim to re-channel the negative vibes that some of our youths invest in unproductive ventures to something useful by starting to build enduring products and solutions that will power Africa with techinnovation.

The CodeCamp by Unubiko foundation includes logical thinking and metaskills such as mind-mapping

and goal-setting developed during digital education, to help prepare young people to take their place in society as knowledgeable individuals instead of passive consumers.

The foundation noted that due to rising insecurity, youth unemployment and the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic, it has become necessary to accelerate the a shift towards digitally-focused empowerment of youths in Abia State.

Young Ozogwu, managing partner of Derasoft Consulting, Abuja, organisers of the programme, while commending the gesture of Unubiko foundation, observed that: “Time and time again, Unubiko has always come through for the poor, especially for the people of Abia State, lifting them up at every time of need.”

“To build young people’s digital skills is not just a niceto-have, but also a need-tohave. Digital skills are critical to helping, inspiring and training the next generation of leaders.

It is equally necessary to equip young people of today with necessary tools to become productive for themselves and the society,” Ozogwu added.

“Unubiko is an equal opportunity foundation; we are encouraging our young women to take advantage of this opportunity as well.” The philanthropic activities of Unubiko foundation have also been noticed across the state and beyond.

NBA election: Senior lawyers urge Akpata to embark on reforms Iniobong Iwok

L-R: Obadiah Simon Nkom, director general, Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office; Lamido Abdullahi Sanusi, chairman Kano-Durbar Committee, representing Aminu Ado Bayero, Sarkin Kano, and Makinde Araoye, representing Ekiti State governor, at the grand opening ceremony of the gold Durbar in Kano.

Dangote Refinery, NDE empower 200 youths in Lagos Olusola Bello

A

s part of efforts to help reduce national unemployment and poverty, the Dangote Refinery Group in collaboration with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has begun a six-month skills’ acquisition programme for the second batch of 200 youths in Ibeju-Lekki Community in Lagos State.

The training, flagged-off by Devakumar Edwin, Dangote group executive director, Strategy, Capital Projects and Portfolio Development, is aimed at curbing unemployment among the youths.

The programme cuts across a wide range of vocational skills including welding, electrical technician, plumbing, auto mechanic, radio and television repairs, refrigerator and AC repairs, building and furniture making.

Edwin said the initiative

was in line with the vision of Aliko Dangote, president of the Dangote Group, to provide employment opportunities for youths, especially those found within the company’s host communities.

He said addressing Nigeria’s unemployment crisis required providing platforms for youths to learn various vocational trades that would enable them develop themselves and also become employers of labour.

“We know that there are a lot of graduates out there looking for jobs and that is why you should focus and take this training by the NDE seriously.

We will train you; we will equip you, and also ensure that you will be employable or become entrepreneurs.

“My advice is that you should take advantage of this training to better your lives and contribute positively to the society,” he said.

He commended NDE for www.businessday.ng

making a success of the first batch training programme, which he said had totally transformed the lives of those who were trained.

The Lagos State coordinator of the NDE, Serena Edward, lauded the Dangote Group for initiating the vocational training for the youths in the community, which began in 2019.

Edward said: “We are training the youths to acquire skills in various trades through master trainers. This is the beginning of good things for the youths. Their lives are going to be totally transformed.

“The objective of the training is to give youths skills that they will be able to generate wealth and curb unemployment. The skills will make them useful to themselves and society. They will become self-employed and also generate employment for others.”

She disclosed that some Ibeju-Lekki youths who graduated

from the 2019 pilot scheme of the programme were employed

by Dangote Refinery and its contractors, while others chose to operate on their own.

She noted that the training would be conducted in line with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) guidelines due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Chief operations officer, Dangote Oil Refining Company, Giuseppe Surace, encouraged the trainees to use the opportunity provided by Dangote to acquire new skills.

The Oni-Lekki of Lekki, Olumuyiwa Ogunbekun, commended Dangote Refinery for initiating the training and for the support to the communities in the locality.

Ogunbekun, represented by the Awo of Lekki, Adewale Salami, advised the participants to fully utilise the training to improve their lives and make a positive impact in the society.

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

T

he dust is yet to settle over the election of Olumide Akpata as president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), as two senior lawyers, John Ananaba and Monday Ubani on Monday called for urgent reforms in the association to guarantee credible a election in the future.

Akpata emerged winner of the NBA election which ended on July 31, defeating two other senior lawyersBabatunde Ajibade, and Dele Adesina.

Adesina had called for the cancellation of the poll, alleging gross manipulation of the exercise.

However, reacting to the outcome of the election in separate interviews with BusinessDay on Monday, two other senior lawyers said though the election had been won by Akpata there were obvious flaws in the way it was conducted which could have b e en avoided by the electoral committee.

Ananaba, who is chairman of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), urged Akpata to initiate reforms in the NBA after his election, @Businessdayng

stressing that all the contestants had agreed that there were issues with the conduct of the election.

“All the parties agreed that the election was not perfect but it was not enough to raise dust. I think Akpata also saw and wrote that there are issues now that he is the president. He should do electoral reforms that would ensure that there would never be a complaint in the NBA election.

“There should be reforms like six months to the election. We should be sure who is voting and elections should not be expensive. The electoral committee should be elected from each zone.

They should be appointed to avoid loyalty to anybody,” Ananaba said.

Also speaking, Ubani, who is the immediate past vice president of the NBA, said though it was obvious that Akpata was the favourite to win going into the election and was popular with young lawyers who wanted reforms in the legal body, there were noticeable flaws.

According to him, “Akpata emerged because of the fact that the majority of the young lawyers wanted a change from the issue of a SAN to a non-SAN being the president.

8

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

KNOWLEDGE PLACE

Brought to you by

For feedback, comments or questions please email info@chiplc.com

Low Insurance Penetration in Nigeria:

Getting talents: Lessons from beyond awareness creation football clubs

BY: TEMITAYO OLANIYAN

By YOMIaFAWEHINMI Awareness, term used to describe a state of knowledge and understanding of a situation or phenomenon, increasingly being linked One issue that gives is most managers sleepless nights or is proffered as the solution totake lowtheir insurance penhow to get the talents that will organization etration in Nigeria.

Many consider it the messiah to the next level. Skillful and talented people are scarce, for the sector. remains if only inaccessible, andBut may the evenquestion be expensive.

The contest awareness is ever enough develop indusfor talents is so intense that it to referred to asthe a “war for try to a state its key stakeholders desire? talents.”

Despite its numerous potentials and vast array of opportunities for growth, theoptions Nigerian insurGenerally, organizations have three to source ance industry hasbuy, continued to grapple with for talents.

They can build, or borrow the talents many challenges have caused itsoutside contributhey need.

You “buy”that talent by hiring from the organization.

The Gross person Domestic becomes anProduct employee.

You tion to national (GDP) “build” talent by investing yourofcurrent employees to remain abysmally lowinand course, slowed through employee development and challenges training. its development.

Top of these is low You “borrow” talent a short-term professional penetration - oneby ofgetting the metrics (the other being either as a freelancer consultant to do thethe work.

Insurance Density)orused to measure level of Each organization to determine development of will theneed insurance sector.which option makes most industry rational choice taking into While the many watchers andconsideration concerned its strategy. I willhave use a football club’s story as an epitome stakeholders been quick to point accusof it hasat used combination these strategies to inghow fingers thea low level of of awareness on the become winning team. it is important to note that benefitsa of insurance, there exist other fundamental challenges plaguThe of Liverpool FC’s in awareness recent times is worthy ing success the industry.

Proffering creation of In the lastto three the team achieved as note. the panacea lowyears, insurance penetration noteworthy accomplishments. Of significance is the can be said to be a cosmetic approach – aware30-year wait, that Liverpool FC had to endure before ness creation alone yields low impact, thus the winning the English title by amassing 99 points in necessity of a more holistic review of the issues the 2019-20 season. The team also went to win the in order to improve the fortunes of the industry.

Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup. So how did this team suddenly become a Nigeria versus other African climes winning team?

The statistics are worrisome and indeed unfor-

The first for thing they did wasinsurance the appointment of a good tunate the Nigerian industry.

With Talent managerof in 2015. is managed

by Jürgen a population over The 200team million and more than Klopp, hascomprising demonstratedofa functional capacity for half ofwho that young people who making teams work very well. When Kloppthe resumed, the can engage in economic activities, industry team wasnot in the Theycircumstance. ended up being first in should be 10th in itsplace. current the 2019-2020 in the English Premier League.

To put thingsseason in perspective, with a total gross The second of thing of note is the team’s Management premium about N400bn (USTalent $1.1bn) in 2018, strategy.

Talent management is the process used to compared with nominal GDP of N129.1trn, the attract, identify, develop, and deploy insurance industry wasengage, able toretain, contribute only individuals who its are considered particularly valuable to 0.31%, while counterparts in other climes an organization.

When a in team has theAfrica; right individuals, contributed 16.99% South 6.69% in it becomes4.76% a winning team as2.83% it becomes a highNamibia; in Lesotho; in Kenya; and performance workplace, transforms into a ‘learning’ 2.44% in Swaziland, as reported by statista.com. organization, and enhances results and synergy.

Klopp takes talent management as one of his key The Issues priorities.

The Nigerian Insurance market is surrounded

by fundamental issues that demand theacademy attenLiverpool FC has a build strategy.

The football is oneof of all thestakeholders. tools used to build young players.

This very tion Interestingly, the issues resourceful and functional football which are not farfetched.

They have all academy, one way or the has been its center for producing and exciting other been highlighted as beingyoung impediments to players, has produced likerange Robbie Fowler, the sector’s growth. graduates The issues from low Steven Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen, lack and capitalGerrard, of operators, limited human capacity, Trent Alexander-Arnold.

These players have all turned of trust in the sector and lack of enforcement of out be outstanding footballers and assets of the club. thetocompulsory classes of insurance.

Gerrard, for example, later became the team captain who Evidently, the National Insurance Commission went on to contribute the most assists by anythe Liverpool (NAICOM), can be seen to be tackling issue player the pastfollowing 30 years. its directive to players in of lowincapital May 2019 to significantly increase their paid-up

Klopp also nurtured and gradually brought many share has capital.

Consequently, Life Insurance unyoung playersfirms like Curtis and Neco Williams into derwriting withJones minimum paid-up share the first team. This action has provided the needed capital of N2 billion (US $5.4m) would have to exposure for the youngsters. shore up to N8 billion (US $21m). General InsurLiverpool also builds players by making its current ance underwriting firm would have to shore up players better. The transformation of the form and their capital from N3 billion (US $8.2m) to N10 reputation of the team’s captain Jordan Henderson is an billion (US $27m), and Composite Insurance example. Same as Roberto Firmino. Even good players firms would have to their capital from N5 billion like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and goalkeeper (US $13.7m) to N18 billion (US $49.4m). ReinAlisson have become better players.

surance firms would have to shore up from N10 billion (US $27.4m) to N20 billion (US $54.9m).

Certainly, this recapitalization exercise had be-

This is also a compulsory insurance cover required by law. All buildings with more than 2 floors under construction are to be insured by the owner or the contractor to cover liability against construction risks. Despite the penalty of N250,000 or three years imprisonment or both, enforcement in this regard also has been very weak.

The reality is flagrant disregard for the provision as stated Section 64 of Insurance Act of 2004.

come necessary considering the current economic realities. It will no doubt also enhance the capacity of the insurance firms to underwrite big tickets transactions. The firms would also have enough capital to invest for expansion and technology – an area the industry is yet to fully take advantage of.

In the same vein, the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), has continued to push for enhanced skill and capacity of insurance professionals in the industry. Also, to tackle lack of trust by the general public in the sector, operators have embarked on a rebranding campaign aimed at improving the image of the industry which would therefore boost public confidence.

However, this article seeks to dwell on the inadequate enforcement of the 6 classes of insurance in Nigeria as the major contributory factory for low penetration. The Nigerian InsurPhoto credit: freepik ance industry, without any iota of doubt, is in a desperatehas need enforcement at leastfrom the Liverpool alsoofbought talents. of Estimates compulsory classes These include: Transfermarkt showed of thatinsurance. the club spent £1.47bn on Motor between Third Party Employee Group players theirInsurance, 18th and 19th title. Liverpool Life Insurance, Health CareDijk, Professional Indembought players like Virgil Van Alisson Becker, and nity, Keita.

Insurance of Buildings Under Construction, Naby The purchase VirgilBuildings van Dijk for in 2018,Liis Insurance of of Public and£75m Employers perhaps one of the most critical investments that ability Insurance. transformed the Liverpool team. Liverpool also The very sluggish rate of penetration is because bought players like Roberto Sadio Mane, the laws as contained in Firmino, the respective Acts and are Mohamed Salah. This trio has scored more than 250 goals not effectively enforced. collectively. The team was on the lookout for a worldclass goalkeeper and bought Alisson Becker from Roma Motor Third Party Insurance in July 2018report for £66.8m.

His arrival jigsaw A recent released by thecompleted Nigerianthe Insurers puzzle for Liverpool.

Association (NIA) states that of the over 12 milThe with buying talent is that while what lion issue vehicles on Nigerian roads, onlyyou 2.5get million you for, you insurance. may also buy the wrong persons.

The havepaygenuine Many, due to one reapurchase of players like Luis Virgil vaninsurDijk, son or the other prefer to Suarez, purchase fake Pepe Dirkat Kuyt, Lucas Leiva, Fernando Torres anceReina, policies a cheaper rate.and The government became viable investments. The purchase of players like and all relevant law enforcement agencies have Mark Gonzalez and Jermaine Pennant brought marginal a role to play. It’s about time all stakeholders emreturns to the club. In comparison, players like Andy bark on more aggressive drive towards the enCarroll, Christian Benteke, Torben Piechnik, Bruno forcement of the third party insurance for motor Cheyrou, Mario Balotelli, Gabriel Paletta, and Sebastian vehicles. With the provision of a N1 million Third Leto failed to live up to the expectations.

Party property damage limit liability cover to the

An excellent example of a68 borrow strategy was when holder under section of the Insurance Act Manchester United signed Odion Ighalo from Shanghai 2003, insured motorists benefit greatly and the Greenland Odion moved on loan forin a few incessant Shenhua. verbal exchanges on our roads the months the end the season).

Speaking about event of(until accident areofbound to further reduce as

number of insured vehicles increase. The NIA has greatly improved on the usage of www.askniid. org the portal that captures all genuinely insured

www.businessday.ng

vehicles in the country. The portal is also being used to verify the authenticity of certificates issued, but a significant proportion of the vehicles plying our roads are yet to be captured, thus necessitating more aggressive enforcement. Ensuring most vehicles are genuinely insured will not only grow the revenue of the industry but also that of government through licensing fees whilst ensuring safer roads.

Employee Group Life Insurance By law, Employers with a minimum of 5 employees, are required to take life insurance policies in favour of employees for a minimum of three times the annual total emoluments.

Section 9 (3) of the Pension Reform Act 2004 requires that, ‘In addition to the rates specified in sub-section (1) of this section, employers shall maintain life insurance policy in favour of the employee for a minimum of three times the annual total emolument of the employee.’

Unfortunately, the enforcement of this has it, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said, “I thought, withlaw Marcus not been wholistic, organizations [Rashford] out for so making long, theseveral demands on Anthony to flout it, except who mostly [Martial] and Masonthose [Greenwood] wouldrequire be high.cerWe tificates of compliance for top government patronget an experienced goalscorer, scorer, in the Africa Cup age.of Nations last season.”

I think every manager and human resources professional Insurance of Public Buildings should first look from within the organization for Section 65 of the Insurance Act 2003 expressly talents. Some talents may be latent, or some need states that: polishing or motivation.

(1)remarkable ‘Every public be toinsured a A story building of lookingshall inwards buildingwith talent registered insurer against the hazards of colis that of the Zambian National team. lapse, fire, earthquake, storm flood.’ of the On 27 April 1993, a plane with and 18 members (2) “Public building”, section includes a Zambian national team,in fourthis members of the coaching tenement house, hostel, a building occupied by staff, the chairman of the Football Association of Zambia, a tenant, or licensee and any building to two others,lodger and five crew members crashed while which members of tothe public have ingress and traveling from Lusaka Dakar to play against Senegal aggress theCup purpose of obtaining educational in a 1994 for World qualifier.

Zambia lost its entire or medical for the of recreateam and hadservice, only twoor players left-purpose Kalusha Bwalya (He tion or the transaction business. missed flight as heofwas supposed to fly to Senegal In addition theheabove, the further from Holland, to where played for PSVsection Eindhoven) and states the penalty of non-compliance to the law, Charles Musonda.

which is N100,000 or one year imprisonment or

The Football Association of Zambia had a short time to both. Only a very few owners and occupiers of raise a new team to continue the prosecution of both these public buildings adhere to this provision; the Nations Cup and the World Cup. To do this, Zambia while some arenew notplayers even aware theylocal are league. breakrecruited their from the ing the Mwila, law. who served as Botswana national team Freddie Usually, whentheaccidents occur, workers visicoach, became coach working with a former or Chelsea tors of the do not get compensated bemanager, Ianbuilding Porterfield.

Zambia had a short period

cause there is no cover.

Insurance of Buildings under construction

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

Health Care Professional Indemnity This is also a compulsory insurance policy required by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). As stipulated in Section 45 of the National Health Insurance Scheme Act of 1999, health care providers shall take out professional indemnity cover from an insurance company.

This, of course, is aimed at providing protection for the professional against liabilities that may arise from neglect, error, omission etc. while discharging his or her duties.

Despite all efforts of NAICOM and NHIS to ensure all medical professionals are covered under this policy, we still have practitioners that do not comply with this law.

Employers Liability Insurance As required in the Employee Compensation Act of 2010, all employers are expected to make a contribution of 1% of the total monthly payroll not later than the last day of each month into the Employee Compensation Fund in order to provide adequate compensation to employees or their dependents in the event of death, injury, disability, or diseases arising out of or in the course of employment.

One of the issues being encountered by the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) is nonremittance of the statutory contribution.

Conclusion Awareness creation is vital, but beyond being aware, enforcement remains a potential key driver of patronage. No doubt the Nigerian Inpreparing for the final of some the World Cup and surance Industry hasround shown appreciable Nations qualifications. qualified for the the progressCup over the years,Zambia considering that Nations Cup in Tunisia with agrew team its it raised within sector from 2005 to 2018 premium in-a few months. wentto onthe to reach finalsbillion of the come fromThis N75team billion overthe N400 Nations losing to Nigeria theroom eventual winners of in 2018.Cup, There is still a lot of for improvethe AFCON How did Zambia a winning team ments and1994. all hands must be build on deck if it must in such a short They looked inwards, borrowed catch-up with time? its counterparts. coaches, and is faced the challenge.

The sector in dire need of strict enforcement of at least the six compulsory classes of insurWhen the talent is not available, then it makes sense ance. the enforcement of theyour various to lookPerhaps outside the organization.

Sometimes only penalties stipulated in the various Actscan would option is toas borrow.

For example, a company only be a good start. to It will spread the insurance pen“borrow” a lawyer represent it in court as its in-house etrationcan’t like wildfire thecompany nooks and crannies lawyers advocateinto for the during court of the country.

Insurance that is strictly sessions.

At other Travel times, your only option is to build enforced by some European countries as a pre-a as buying may be impossible or illegal.

For example, requisiteteam for coach issuance of visa to national can only use for the instead nationalsleads from the queueshe ofispotential country employed.travelers requesting for this category of cover they would have ordinarily not We need to be strategic in the acquisition of talents. taken.

Talents and therefore some The timeare to scarce start acting is now andrequire the governdeliberate to ensure we on getthis the matter. best talent. ment mustaction lead with iron will Buying, borrowing, or building alternatives get Stakeholders in the industryare must double toand, these talents.

In theredirect example their of Liverpool we have in some cases, effortsFC,towards seen that most organizations a combinationexof advocacy, collaboration anduse enlightenment these alternatives to get talent she needs. ercises to not just thethe general public, butEvery this organization will need to use initiatives the right combination time, to drivers of these - the law of these strategies to attract great talents and create enforcement agencies, political influencers and winning teams. social elites. These stakeholders must be made change agents that are well informed before any meaningful growth can be made in the sector.

@Businessdayng

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

comment

9

comment is free

Send 800word comments to comment@businessday.ng

Nigerian economy-challenges and solutions in the maritime sector

Festus Okotie

N

igerian economy heavily relies on external trade, majorly facilitated on reliance in the maritime sector, through importation of raw materials, equipment and machinery needed by manufacturers. The sector is the backbone that facilitates trade, supply chain and economic success.

It includes enterprises engaged in designing, constructing, manufacturing, acquiring, operating, supplying, repairing and maintaining vessels. The sector activities also involve shipping lines operations, stevedoring, customs brokerage services, shipyards, dry docks, marine railways, marine repair shops, shipping, freight forwarding services and all other similar enterprises.

More than half of world merchandise trade are carried by sea, making the sector very pivotal to economic development. Without a viable maritime sector Nigeria’s economy would be very poor.

The sector is the cheapest means of moving goods in large bulk, it makes landing costs of cargoes to be lower by carrying cargoes carried over long distances.

The sector is very strategic to the Nigerian economy, especially in the areas of creating job opportunities, facilitating trade, commerce, revenue generation, promotion of tourism, enhancement of industrial growth, economic development, international relations, socialpolitical harmony, and territorial protection etc. It embraces all maritime related business activities within the nation’s maritime sector.

It’s areas of operation also include

fishing, towage, underwater resources and onshore activities, which includes port activities, shipping, ship construction, repairs and maintenance activities.

The sector is fundamental to our nation’s economic growth and very strategic to international trade, with seaports serving as an interface to where ships berth and anchor to load or unload cargoes.

Global ports handle over 80 percent of global merchandise trade in volume and are key nodes to global transport chains because they provide access to markets, support supply chains that help link-up consumers and producers. With this, it means we must continually innovate to make the sector flexible and competitive.

Trading Across Border, a world bank indicator that measures efficiency of ports, ranked Nigerian Ports among the poorest ports globally at 183rd position out of 185 countries in 2017, this is poor considering the potentials of Nigeria.

Present times have shown that countries with modern ports are leading in economic development. It is therefore necessary for us to set politics and nepotism aside, while developing strategies and policies that corroborate with Maritime legislations and regulations that emphasise on the upgrade of the Nigerian maritime sector for excellence in areas such as operations, marketing and management as well as digitisation, environmental laws, shipping container dimensions, new technologies, warehousing and the use of modern handling equipment as part of its key performance indicators and competitive advantage in the industry.

With globalisation and the evolvement of logistics and supply chains functions, seaports role has been altered to integrate manufacturing and distribution. Ports globally are evolving and constantly strategising on ways of improving efficiency, institutional reforms, efficiency, marketing strategy, training, customer service, optimisation of operations, cost reduction, partnerships, trade promotions, security, safety, resource conservation, environmental protection,

social inclusion, sustainability etc The sector is time sensitive and needs to be given priority attention by the government to create economic benefits for customers and stakeholders, for instance full privatisation is the modern strategy adopted by nations globally to boost port performance because international trade is highly dependent on waterways.

There is a need for Nigeria to partner with nations such as the Netherlands, Singapore, United Arab Emirates because these countries understand the importance of trade through waterways and they have hugely invested in building modern structures that can help channel trade as a source of income and also extend it to landlocked countries. Nigeria needs to adopt these strategies as obtained in the best ports globally to boost its port performance.

It is interesting to state that just as COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on economies globally and also affected the sector as demand and supply continue to shrink due to countrywide border restrictions, most governments have had to introduce stimulus and palliatives to cushion the effect of the pandemic. A case in point is the introduction of a $110 million freight service by the Australian Government to enable the agricultural and fisheries sector in Australia to export their high-quality produce and for them to reconnect with their international customers.

The International Freight Assistance Mechanism (IFAM) is helping Australian agricultural and fisheries producers that have been heavily impacted by pandemic containment measures, but unfortunately Nigeria a developing nation that also suffered similar loss across board cannot afford the requisite support that can help sustain businesses in the sector.

Although, Nigerian governments in the past made efforts with the private sector and its developmental partners to reposition the sector, it seems more efforts still need to be done, as there seems to be no headway and this is partly why the government’s projection to generate N2trillion from the sector cannot be achieved.

‘

It is interesting to state that just as COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on economies globally and also affected the sector as demand and supply continue to shrink due to countrywide border restrictions, most governments have had to introduce stimulus and palliatives to cushion the effect of the pandemic

Note: the rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @ https://businessday.ng Okotie, a maritime transport specialist, writes via fokotie.bernardhall@gmail.com, Fokotie@ bernardhallgroup.com

How COVID-19 has changed economic thinking

C

OVID-19 isn’t merely hurting lives and livelihood, it is weakening economic ideologies too.

The current pandemic, which initially began as a health crisis in Wuhan, China, has since become a global economic crisis. The lockdown restrictions, contraction in economic activities, crash in oil price and volatile global financial markets have resulted in a ‘crisis like no other’. Economists are working round the clock trying to decipher the economic fallout from the crisis, predict the shape and path to recovery for various economies and advise policymakers on the best practice for monetary and fiscal stimulus.

The tough job of being an economist in these uncertain times is further compounded by the weakening of decade old ideologies. The pandemic is provoking economic thought and stress testing beliefs. Economic theories are being questioned for their relevance in a post-pandemic world.

Some theories will survive the tide, some will become obsolete while others will be re-thought and re-branded: Death of globalisation?

Travel restrictions, closed borders, disrupted supply chains are shaking the foundation of globalisation. The great decoupling of the US & China is not helping matters. The pandemic that should have encouraged a collective and cooperative response has instead resulted in nationalism, reshoring of manufacturing hubs and stricter migration policies. Globalisation and interdependence of nations has been replaced with an ideology premised on the phrase ‘every man for himself’. This was further reinforced when the US bought the world stock of COVID-19 breakthrough drug, Remdesivir.

In a post COVID world, globalisation is unlikely to be completely eradicated as the key drivers – trade and information flows, comparative advantage, and economies of scale – will remain in high demand. The concept will however be rethought and may look slightly different. Countries that were hitherto on the hunt for cost reduction in setting up manufacturing hubs abroad will now also consider risk reduction. Economies will become less dependent on single supply chains and conversations may remain centered on reshoring manufacturing hubs from China, the “workshop of the world” in the near term. Companies looking to diversify their suppliers will shift to local suppliers even at higher costs. In addition, economic integration will take place on a less global scale and more regional (e.g., AfCFTA) and bilateral agreements may become more attractive.

Is economic populism so wrong?

The debate about the role of government in addressing market shortcomings is as old as time itself. The pandemic appears to have given pro-government intervention reformists all the ammunition they need.

Market failure is not a new concept. Markets are known to fail during economic downturns owing to a number of reasons including information asymmetry, moral hazard and speculation. A classic example is the 2008/2009 global financial crisis when junk assets emerged, risks were underestimated and asset values over-estimated. This necessitated the need for government regulation.

The COVID-19 crisis is no different. As economies were locked downed and financial markets crashed, governments sprang into action to cushion the fallout of the pandemic. Stimulus

www.businessday.ng

TEMITOPE OLUGBILE

packages, cash transfers and interest rate cuts became the order of the day. Whilst government intervention is essential now, pro market reformists are concerned that these bailouts will leave economies dependent even after the crisis fades.

The bailouts will only lead to bloated debt stocks, keep inefficient companies in business and result in a weaker recovery path.

Are foreign aids so bad for developing economies?

Before the pandemic, there were strong economic and political arguments against foreign aid to developing countries. Many argued that foreign aid to developing economies does more harm than good. Opponents believe that the ‘handouts’ encourage corruption, stifles growth and ultimately leaves these countries dependent.

The current pandemic has however stretched national finances of many African countries and left them at the mercy of multilateral agencies including IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank. Nigeria for instance, has secured a $3.4bn loan from IMF and is in the process of receiving another $1.4bn credit from the World Bank.

COVID-19 aid has become a necessity in many countries for two primary reasons – to minimise the mortality rate of the infectious virus and to cushion the economic fallout and fill the fiscal gaps.

However, the measure of aid effectiveness may look different. The crisis presents an opportunity for developing countries to change the narrative about these aids ending up in the wrong hands.

Fortunately, COVID-19 aids can be easily measured using evidence-based strategies such as testing levels, mortality rate and in the event of a vaccine, implementation levels. Going forward,

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

Nigerian government in the past made efforts through different interventions such as the 2007 ports reforms led by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala attempted to resolve the challenges of infrastructure shortcomings, policy, regulatory inconsistencies, overlapping functions, duplication of roles among MDAs, high incidence of corruption among port users, operators and government officials.

All these affects the ease of doing business at the ports, as well as repositioning the ports through the National Action Plan on cross border trading coordinated by the Presidential Ease of Doing Business Council (PEBEC) and other series of Presidential Executive Orders targeted at ports improvements, our ports still continue to lag behind.

With all the regular delays of imports and exports processes, unofficial charges, human interface, technical breakdown and security concerns predominant, our ports are classified among the worst ports globally and this is the main reason why importers and exporters prefer neighbouring Ports such as Cotonou, Cameroun, Togo, Ghana. Giving rise to smuggling and other corrupt practices our nation continues to lose resources due to these economic leakages in the system.

There is a need for the government to restructure the maritime sector and adopt alternative strategies that can boost growth in the sector. For instance Denmark’s strategic investments in offshore energy activities in Ocean Wind farm is a reference project we can emulate, as the Danish government generated 407 megawatts(MW) in its energy sector that covered its yearly electricity consumption of around 425,000 Danish homes in the power sector, this is a good area that Nigeria can partner with Denmark to boosts its sector.

tracking the money donated will depend on using technology to provide lenders with accurate real data base.

Obsolescence of the paradox of thrift The concept of the ‘paradox of thrift’ was popularised by renowned Economist, John Keynes, right on the heels of the Great Depression.

The concept advocates for increased consumer spending during an economic downturn. The uncertainties about job losses and earning capacity when economic activities contract makes consumers more inclined to save rather than spend. However, if everyone is saving at the same time, there is less demand for goods and services which subsequently leads to reduced output and pushes the economy deeper into the recession tunnel. The paradox of thrift may not be unconnected with Keynes popular idea that “in the long run, we are all dead”.

The ideology is however at risk of becoming obsolete in the post-pandemic world. Besides the fears of a job loss, consumers are also facing the added uncertainty of the health crisis and the likelihood of an accessible and affordable vaccine in the near term. Simply put, consumers are afraid about losing their jobs as well as contracting the virus. This has led to less spending on discretionary experiences especially those where social distancing may be difficult to maintain including cinemas, bars and restaurants. Incomes otherwise intended for holidays are also likely to be diverted to a savings account. Consumption led economies such as the United States will be amongst the hardest hit from a COVID-19 induced shift in consumer behaviour.

@Businessdayng

10

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

comment

comment is free

Send 800word comments to comment@businessday.ng

Do it all: No “silver bullet” for coronavirus

Cooperation among nations is imperative STRATEGY & POLICY

MA JOHNSON

I

cannot lay claim to the title of this article, as it was crafted from the brief of the Director General (DG) of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on August 3, 2020. I watched the DG WHO on Aljazeera TV Station as he warned the world that there might never be a “silver bullet” for the novel coronavirus popularly referred to as COVID-19 despite the rush by countries to discover effective vaccines. Tedros declaration was least expected by many people.

The DG WHO advised governments and citizens globally that we should “do it all.” That is, doing all the already known basics namely, testing, contact tracing, isolation of infected persons, maintaining physical distance and wearing a mask to suppress the pandemic, which has turned upside down normal life around the globe, and triggered a devastating economic crisis.

“We all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection,” the DG WHO stated at a virtual press conference. He further stated that for now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control. “Do it all,” the DG WHO urged.

But COVID-19 has already inflicted huge damage on economies around the world. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) world economic output for June 2020 shows that: “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a more negative impact on activities in the first half of 2020 than anticipated, and the recovery

is projected to be more gradual than previously forecasted. In 2021, global growth is projected at 5.4 percent.”

Regardless of global economic situation, all countries including those that seemingly passed peaks in infections are advised to ensure that their healthcare systems are adequately resourced.

The international community needs to vastly step up its support of national initiatives. This may include financial assistance to countries with limited healthcare capacity and channelling of funds for vaccine production as trials advance, so that adequate, affordable doses are quickly available to all countries.”

According to BusinessDay Editorial, 5 August, 2020, the Nigerian economy has seen five years of negative per capita growth, shed millions of jobs, and about half the population now live in abject poverty. On Nigeria’s economy, the IMF Mission Chief to Nigeria, says that the negative trend of per capita GDP growth could last another 5 years.

By implication, “the average Nigerian will get even poorer and fewer people will be able to afford quality healthcare and education for themselves and their families.”

While education has been disrupted in 160 countries globally which is the largest in the history of humanity, over one billion students are out-of-school globally as a result of coronavirus, says the UN Sec Gen, Antonio Guterres.

The UN Chief stated that 40 million children have missed out on education and thus, “the world faces generational catastrophe that could waste untold human potential, undermine decades of progress, and exacerbate entrenched inequalities.” Out-of-school children in Nigeria which already accounts for a fifth of the world figures could worsen due to the coronavirus pandemic, a report says.

At the time of writing this article, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the continent of Africa was 968,020, according to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention

(Africa CDC) on 4 August 2020. On the same day, the total number of cases in Nigeria was 44,129, according to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Considering the number of infected cases, what is the world doing to create a COVID-19 vaccine? We could see governments and researchers worldwide aiming to provide billions of people with an effective vaccine to counter the new, deadly, and highly infectious coronavirus. Most medical experts and many governments have cautioned that daily life cannot return to normal until their citizens have developed antibodies to fend off the virus.

Some analysts have argued that a successful vaccine is necessary but lamented that many countries lack the capacity to produce quantities that would provide immunity to all their citizens. So, what have we observed in the international environment? We have observed competition emerging over who will have access once the vaccine is ready.

Some public affairs analysts have compared the global allocation of vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic to oxygen masks dropping inside a depressurising aircraft. “You put on your own first, and then we want to help others as quickly as possible,” says a U.S Food and Drug Administration official.

The major difference however, is that airplane oxygen masks do not drop only in the first or business class. Those in economy class equally have access to oxygen masks in the airplane. What will happen when vaccines eventually become available? Maybe only those nations in first class will first have access to the vaccine if governments exhibit delay in providing access to them by people in developing countries especially those in Africa.

One may want to know how vaccines are mostly produced. Vaccines are frequently products of collaborative efforts with private pharmaceutical firms teaming up with public health agencies and/or university labs. Public

‘

If Felter’s theory was anything to go by that a vaccine on average takes 8 to 15 years to get from the laboratory into the hands of healthcare providers, and that the fastest a vaccine was ever developed is 5 years, then all humans without exception need to do it all

Johnson is an author and a retired naval engineer who has passion for African development and good governance

Currency devaluation: Why it happens and what we can do about it

T

here seems to be a common misconception by most people that Nigeria is a net importer of goods, that is, the value of our imports typically exceeds our exports of goods, and by extension, this is one of the major reasons why the economy has struggled in recent years.

But the question is, could this narrative be true and what can we do about it? In this week’s insight we explain how the trade balance impacts the exchange rate, the vulnerability of our currency to crude oil price swings and what the government can do to stabilise the Naira over the long run.

What is a trade balance?

The trade balance is simply the difference between the value of a country’s export and import of goods. When the value of exports exceeds imports, it is regarded as a trade surplus, whereas, when the value of imports outweighs exports, then it is called a trade deficit. Overtime, if a country experiences large periods of trade surplus or deficit, that country is often regarded as a net exporter or net importer.

The position of Nigeria Going as far back as 2009, it is interesting to note that till date, Nigeria has only experienced two periods of a trade deficit with her trading partners, thereby clearly showing that the value of our exports to a large extent exceeds our imports of goods, making us a net exporter of goods.

Nigeria’s trade balance is largely driven by the price of crude oil. This is because oil exports account for a significant proportion of total exports (oil exports averaged about 93.36 percent of total exports from 2009 to 2018). For example, when oil prices rose to $108.86/barrel in 2013 from $61.86/barrel in 2009, oil exports rose considerably to about $90.57 billion from $54.78 billion and Nigeria’s trade surplus rose by about 65 percent during the same period.

Therefore, it is not surprising to note that the majority of the trade deficits that Nigeria has experienced has come during periods where the oil market witnessed a slump in prices.

Oil prices crashed to about $52.37/barrel and $44.05/barrel in 2015 and 2016, respectively which consequently dragged down the value of our exports and our trade balance.

The confusion So where does this confusion about Nigeria being a net importer of goods come from? No need to think too far, it’s the common fall “guy”, our exchange rate. Conventional economics has made us understand that countries with a weak exchange rate or currency may also have higher levels of imports compared to exports.

As a result of this teaching, this has conditioned the minds of so many people to believe that the declining value of our exchange rate is as a consequence of us being a net importer of goods without comparing the values of our exports and imports. Between 2009 and 2018, www.businessday.ng

the dollar appreciated by more than 100 percent against the Naira.

However, while the economic thinking about a weak currency and high levels of imports is true to an extent, the reason why we have not seen that in Nigeria amongst other reasons has to do with the demand and supply of foreign exchange, and how international trade is conducted.

Whenever Nigeria exports crude oil, because it is quoted in dollars, we are paid in dollars and the revenue forms a portion of our external reserves. On the other hand, when we have to import goods, the importer has to exchange Naira for dollars to pay for the goods, thereby depleting our external reserves.

Stabilising the Naira over the long run These dynamics of international trade reflects that the importation of goods into Nigeria creates a market for the demand for dollars, whereas the exportation of goods does not lead to a demand for Naira, hence creating an imbalance that puts pressure on the exchange rate. Therefore, the CBN would always have to be in a position to supply foreign exchange in order to meet the demand for dollars. The bigger the import cover buffer in the external reserves, the greater the ability for CBN to use the excess cash in the reserves to support the stability of the currency and vice versa.

So therefore, it is the size of the import cover buffer that is most important to the stability of

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

health agencies play critical roles in vaccine research, providing funds to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. There are international institutions such as the WHO, the World Bank, Gavi the vaccine alliance, and other multilateral institutions that are interested in financing and manufacturing COVID-19 vaccine for global use, in particular to ensure fair allocation among all countries.

Many nations are expecting the development of vaccines to be sped up.

But many experts say the timeline of 12 to 18 months stated by U.S officials for COVID-19 vaccine is extremely optimistic. However, many experts have stressed that the pandemic may not end until there is an effective vaccine.

Even if there is a vaccine today, and it is approved, there is the challenge of producing enough to cater to the needs of about 7 billion people worldwide.

Claire Felter in his article “What is the World Doing to Create a COVID-19 Vaccine?” published in the July 23, 2020 edition of the Council Foreign Relations states that “an estimated one billion doses would need to be manufactured just to vaccinate workers in healthcare and other essential industries globally, and that is if only a single dose is required for each person.”

If Felter’s theory was anything to go by that a vaccine on average takes 8 to 15 years to get from the laboratory into the hands of healthcare providers, and that the fastest a vaccine was ever developed is 5 years, then all humans without exception need to “do it all.” As the world looks for a cure of the coronavirus pandemic, I share same sentiments with those analysts who believe that nations must build a stock of essential supplies and protective equipment, funding research and supporting public health systems. And putting in place effective plans for delivering healthcare facilities to the indigent globally at an affordable cost. Thank you!

Omobola Adu

the currency. The import cover buffer refers to the amount of money left over in the foreign external reserves after deducting the size of funding required to cover importation for the next 6 months.

The government can choose to expand the import cover buffer by enacting policies that discourage importation and by default will cause a reduction in the amount of money required to cover 6 months of importation. The government can also use economic incentives to increase the size of foreign capital it attracts into the country and reduce the amount of capital repatriated out of the country.

Lastly, the government must work towards achieving a diversification of our export by product and pricing denomination. The more Naira priced products we can export, the stronger our currency will be. Quick wins can be achieved by increasing the volume of exports in refined petroleum, processed foods, leather etc where we can easily have the products priced in Naira.

@Businessdayng

BUSINESS DAY

Tuesday 11 August 2020

comment

11

comment is free

Send 800word comments to comment@businessday.ng

Are African numbers still poor? (4)

Rafiq Raji

R

evelations of bigger economy sizes overnight, after later than usual GDP rebasing exercises by African countries, were understandably met with scepticism in the past; even as they were done in collaboration with international agencies and in accordance with best practices and were indeed better representations of statistical reality.

More regular rebasing and survey exercises since have been met with less jarring responses; albeit they are still not as frequent and consistent as desired. That said, and as recently put by The Economist, businesses and investors still “take shots in the dark when investing in new markets” on the continent.

Thus, the importance of the quality of African statistics for investment and development cannot be overemphasised. Clearly in light of these still undesirable realities, the World Bank is dedicating its 2021 World Development Report (WDR) to “Data for Development”, its first WDR on the subject. The World Bank is also putting its money where its mouth is. In late March 2020, the World Bank allocated $379 million to seven West African countries (Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo) to strengthen their statistical systems.

At this point, it is important to point out that the solution may not necessarily lie in more funding and increased capacity for national statistical agencies. That is, even as these are necessary and urgently so. For instance, Kinyondo & Pelizzo (2018) show that even wellfunded and highly distinguished global institutions and think tanks have found the task of producing valid and reliable African statistics to be quite a herculean task. Surely, these do not lack for funds or expertise, the duo argues. Kinyondo & Pelizzo’s intuition is that the lack of “a proper research culture” on the continent may instead be the

problem. Their exposition is all very well and good. But what should businesses and investors do in the interim?

We have established that African statistics, both social and economic, have been improving, albeit they remain relatively poor and inadequate. Understandably, businesses and investors continue to view them with some level of distrust. Our view is that before making capital allocation decisions, businesses and investors must look at multiple sources of data and if they can afford it, conduct their own surveys.

Inevitably, a risk-based approach may be their best bet. How do we mean? Upon assessing the official data and comparing them with more readily available real-time data like mobile phone subscriptions, spatial data, social media user data, and so on, there is little much else the prospective investor or firm can do but to take the plunge and invest in the country/sector of interest; in a pilot, say.

Information from the small-scale pilot venture would then determine whether a bigger risk should be taken or not.

For sure, the lead-time of the full investment decision takes

‘

For sure, the lead-time of the full investment decision takes longer consequently, with the risk that a decision may be made not to venture all together, with losses of potential income and jobs to the host country and its government in tandem

longer consequently, with the risk that a decision may be made not to venture all together, with losses of potential income and jobs to the host country and its government in tandem. But that is the reality.

There are cautionary tales of international firms, which overestimated the consumption potential of many an African countries but later had to roll back their ambitions when evidence on the ground proved otherwise. And in some of these examples, the subject firms had operated on the continent for decades.

Finally, there is clearly much that African statistical agencies need to do to gain the trust of users of their data. And until current and prospective businesses and investors on the continent are able to trust what they produce implicitly, there is still a long road ahead.

Edited version of the article was first published by the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies of Nanyang Business School, Singapore. References are in the original article.

“Dr Raji is chief economist at Macroafricaintel.

He was previously an Africa Economist at Standard Chartered Bank, London, UK. (Twitter: @ DrRafiqRaji)”

Nigeria data protection regulation (1)

W

hereas, The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA, hereinafter referred to as the Agency) is statutorily mandated by the NITDA Act of 2007 to, inter alia: develop Regulations for electronic governance and monitor the use of electronic data interchange and other forms of electronic communication transactions as an alternative to paper-based methods in government, commerce, education, the private and public sectors, labour and other fields, where the use of electronic communication may improve the exchange of data and information; Recognising that many public and private bodies have migrated their respective businesses and other information systems online.

Information solutions in both the private and public sectors now drive service delivery in the country through digital systems. These information systems have thus become critical information infrastructure which must be safeguarded, regulated and protected against atrocious breaches; Cognizant of emerging data protection regulations within the international community geared towards security of lives and property and fostering the integrity of commerce and industry in the volatile data economy; Conscious of the concerns and contributions of stakeholders on the issue of privacy and protection of personal data and upon evaluation of the grave challenges of leaving personal data processing unregulated; THE AGENCY hereby issues the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation and shall come into effect on the date it is approved by the Board of NITDA. Objectives The objectives of this Regulation are as follows: a) to safeguard the rights of natural persons to data privacy; b) to foster safe conduct of transactions involving the exchange of personal data;

c) to prevent manipulation of personal data and d) to ensure that Nigerian businesses remain competitive in international trade; through the safeguards afforded by a just and equitable legal regulatory framework on data protection and which regulatory framework is in tune with global best practices.

Scope of the regulation a) this Regulation applies to all transactions intended for the processing of personal data and to actual processing of personal data notwithstanding the means by which the data processing is being conducted or intended to be conducted and in respect of natural persons in Nigeria; b) this Regulation applies to natural persons residing in Nigeria or residing outside Nigeria but of Nigerian descent and c) this Regulation shall not operate to deny any Nigerian or any natural person the privacy rights he is entitled to under any law, regulation, policy, contract, for the time being in force in Nigeria or in any foreign jurisdiction.

Definitions In this Regulation, unless the context otherwise requires: a) “Act” means the National Information Technology Development Agency Act of 2007; b) “Computer” means Information Technology systems and devices, whether networked or not; c) “Consent” of the data subject means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her; d) “Data” means characters, symbols and binary on which operations are performed by a computer. Which may be stored or transmitted in the form of electronic signals is stored in any format or any device;

www.businessday.ng

e) “Database” means a collection of data organised in a manner that allows access, retrieval, deletion and procession of that data; it includes but not limited to structured, unstructured, cached and file system type databases; f) “Data Administrator “means a persons or organisation that processes data g) “Data Controller” means a person who either alone, jointly with other persons or in common with other persons or as a statutory body determines the purposes for and the manner in which personal data is processed or is to be processed; h) “Database Management System” means software that allows a computer to create a database, add, change or delete data in the database; allows data in the database to be processed, sorted or retrieved; i) “Data Portability” means the ability for data to be transferred easily from one IT system or computer to another through a safe and secure means in a standard format; j) Data Protection Compliance Organisation (DPCO) means any entity duly licensed

by NITDA for the purpose of training, auditing, consulting and rendering services and products for the purpose of compliance with this Regulation or any foreign Data Protection law or regulation having effect in Nigeria; k) “Data Subject means an identifiable person; one who can be identified directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identification number or to one or more factors specific to his physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity; l) “Data Subject Access Request” means the mechanism for an individual to request a copy of their data under a formal process and payment of a fee; m) “filing system” means any structured set of personal data which are accessible according to specific criteria, whether centralised, decentralised or dispersed on a functional or geographical basis;

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

ULOAKU EKWEGH n) “Foreign Country” means other sovereign states, autonomous or semi- autonomous territories within the international community; o) “Regulation” means this Regulation and its subsequent amendments and where circumstance requires it shall also mean any other Regulations on the processing of information relating to identifiable individual’s Personal Data, including the obtaining, holding, use or disclosure of such information to protect such information from inappropriate access, use, or disclosure’ p) Object Identifiable Information (OII) q) “Personal Data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person; It can be anything from a name, address, a photo, an email address, bank details, posts on social networking websites, medical information, and other unique identifier such as but not limited to MAC address, IP address, IMEI number, IMSI number, SIM and others.

Ekwegh is a private legal practitioner with over 15 years legal experience in law firms and as in-house counsel. She is also a fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants. Email: uloekwegh@yahoo.com

@Businessdayng

12

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

EDITORIAL Publisher/Editor-in-chief

Frank Aigbogun editor Patrick Atuanya

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

Need for CBN to unify Nigeria’s multiple exchange rates Absence of single rate creates confusion, discourages investment

T

he road to Nigeria’s economic success and property isn’t an easy one. It requires tough and bold policies along the way.

These policies, expectedly, may hurt the same households or citizens the government seeks to protect.

However, foregoing medium to longer term benefits of critical reforms in the guise of protecting Nigerians will only postpone the country’s and its citizens’ days of misery.

Daily, the reluctance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to collapse the country’s multiple exchange rates grows stronger despite recommendations from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and experts on the importance and benefits of a unified rate.

Although the CBN devalued the naira to N381/$1, this is not in any way market-determined. At this rate, experts believe the naira

is largely overpriced and should reflect the rate in the parallel market.

Due to increased pressure in the demand for dollars, the naira has weakened significantly in the parallel market against what the official CBN rate is quoting. At N470/$1 as at last week Friday, naira is trading at 20.9 percent differential to the CBN’s official quote. This is worrisome given the adverse effect this will have on the economy.

We are not unaware that CBN is working extra hard to paint a fairy picture of the naira contrary to the view of reputable institutions that the naira is overpriced. The apex bank is in denial that a devaluation is inevitable and is upbeat about its ability to do such that devaluation mongers will wait in vain.

International oil prices seem to be recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic-induced slump on the back of improved demand for oil.

This is coming on the heels of gradual reopening of economies, fuellingCBN’s ability to defend

the naira. But, in our opinion, the sustainability of defending the naira is questionable given the volatility of the oil market.

CBN’s refusal to unify the exchange rates suggests that some individuals known to the CBN are benefiting from the official rate which isn’t accessible to everyone. We consider this unprofessional and it questions the transparency of the CBN. It also sends a wrong signal to foreign investors. For clarity and investment purposes, a unified rate is not only advisable but also helpful and desirable.

For an economy starved of foreign investment and which must attract capital to achieve growth, clarity in the FX space is critical.

While we advise the federal government to shift its strategy from a debt financing model to an equity financing model, the possibility is unlikely if the CBN is unwilling to take the bold step in unifying its multiple exchange rate windows.

This must be followed by fiscal

complementary efforts of diversifying the economy through market moving and friendly policies that will attract foreign capital and make them stay in other viable sectors of the economy.

As long as crude oil remains the major export of Nigeria’s foreign trade and it is denominated in dollar, the dollar will always strengthen against the naira, most especially with the country’s huge import level.

Importation of goods into Nigeria creates a market for dollar-demand whereas the exportation of goods does not lead to Naira demand, thus creating an imbalance that puts pressure on exchange rate.

Foreign investors, IMF and World Bank have long called on Nigeria to merge its multiple exchange rates, saying the absence of a single rate creates confusion and discourages foreign investment. The CBN must take this seriously and put an end to its obsession with protecting the naira.

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

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

Enquiries NEWS ROOM 08169609331 08116759816 08033160837

} Lagos Abuja

ADVERTISING 01-2799110 08033225506 SUBSCRIPTIONS 01-2799101 07032496069 07054563299 DIGITAL SERVICES 08026011296 www.businessday.ng The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria.

01-2799100 Legal Advisers The Law Union

Mission Statement To be a diversified provider of superior business, financial and management intelligence across platforms accessible to our customers anywhere in the world.

OUR Core Values

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

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

• Entrepreneurial: We constantly search for new opportunities, maintaining the highest ethical standards in all we do • Purpose-Driven: We are committed to assembling a team of highly talented and motivated people that share our vision, while treating them with respect and fairness. www.businessday.ng

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

13

14

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS Real Estate

Expert view on how key segments of Nigerian real estate market will perform post-Covid Segun Adams

A

s Nigeria slowly reopens its economy and conversations shift to exploring post-pandemic possibilities, real estate practice in the country and the world at large will change, opening investors and property owners to new opportunities and challenges.

“This new normal will vary depending on each asset class in the Nigerian real estate sector,” said Najeeb Adeyemi, Head, Valuation/ Business Development, at Lagos-based Mustapha Ewenla & Partners. “This will vary in terms of demand, design and construction, lease arrangement and management, mode of inspection, and so on.”

Adeyemi noted that the dire need for “a home” has given rise to an increase in hitherto neglected types of properties such as studio apartments.

Investors and developers, he said, will take advantage of relief funds, lower interest rates, mortgage moratoriums, and tax concessions to build and or buy more residential units.

Also, investors with sufficient cash are taking advantage of distress sale opportunities from owners who need cash to keep up with the immediate economic repercussion of the pandemic.

For the corporate office asset class, it was largely affected during the lockdown period and worsened by the work-from-home order.

“This has further damned the need for offices and reduced business engagements such as meetings, training and trading as all of these have swiftly gone online through technology such as social media and video conferencing applications like Zoom, Microsoft Team, Webex, Google Meet, etc,” said Adeyemi.

Post-pandemic, the real

estate expert believes, the design and construction style of office spaces will begin to shift from open plan to cellular and partitioned offices due to less demand for it arising from remote working and social distancing measures.

The demand for retail outlets and warehouses will be shaped by increasing adoption of e-commerce amidst social-distancing rules.

Adeyemi said that as ecommerce and online businesses begin to experience record increase in sales through technology and internet, warehouse and fulfilment centre spaces are already and will continue to be in huge demand as logistics business has also expanded massively.

As an essential activity sector, healthcare is expected to continue to boom and that segment of real estate is tipped to enjoy growth even post-pandemic.

For education real estate, Adeyemi said that there has

been an increase in default in rents for properties rented for education and educationrelated businesses due to the lockdown and the trend continue as long as the schools are locked up. He believes that with the online course industry estimated to worth $320 billion in 2025, learning from home will soon become the order of the day.

Social distancing will largely affect the demand for and patronage of recreational businesses especially in the short term, and as long as the lockdown and social gathering restriction remain and the future of the recreational real estate, events and hospitality will depend on behavioural changes post-pandemic.

Properties used for industrial and manufacturing purposes are usually on long leases above 5 years, therefore, the effect of the pandemic on its rental obligations, and the owners will not be felt immediately, said Adeyemi.

R:L: Olalekan ogunfuye, Oloritun of Oke Poka Comminuty; Omotayo oluwole, Agbon of Poka Land; Waheed ogunkoya, Balogun of poka land; Ayodele Kolawole Aliru, Alade wuraka of Poka Land; Patrick Oriyomi, CEO Photizo Properties LTD, Alhaji Isiaka Bakre, Tony Aspire Kolawole, BRG President and Simon Adozi at the re-opening of Oasis Garden Poka Epe.

Blockchain adoption can lower Nigeria’s economic uncertainties, tech expert says MICHAEL ANI

A

round the world, there is rapid adoption of blockchain technology in growing and transforming the way businesses are being done.

Proponents say it is the technology that will revolutionize the financial services, pointing to its ability to function without a central authority and also store data in a tamper-proof way.

Given its flexibility, security and distributed nature, blockchain technology has become the base for a vast array of business applications from healthcare, real estates to finance, and a host of other industries.

Back home in Nigeria, the message appears no different, as there have been increasing discussions around how the technological application is revolutionising the way business is being done At the heart of this drive, is one of Nigeria’s biggest lenders, First Bank, which has over its 126 years of operation, been at the forefront of driving digital innovation and financial inclusion in the country The bank hosted the 2020 edition of its annual fintech summit, where it brought together an array of business leaders, industrial stakeholders, financial regulators and industry experts to discuss the growing adoption of blockchain technology.

The 2020 summit, which was done virtually, was the fourth in its series with the theme: “How Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence Will Disrupt FinTech in Nigeria,”.

Speaking at the virtual event, Chinedu Echeruo, an entrepreneur and technology expert said implementing the usage of blockchain technology has the potential of

lowering Nigeria’s economic uncertainties.

Owing to these economic uncertainties, the country has seen its risk premium-the spread between 10year government bonds and that in the domestic market space-- widen as investors bet on a higher yield to invest in its financial assets, he said However, adopting blockchain technology in the country would help in reducing the country’s perceived economic uncertainties by disrupting multiple industries and making economic processes more democratic, secure, transparent, and efficient.

“If blockchains are implemented in Nigeria, the economic uncertainties will be lower than the United States,” he said.

Echeruo who was the keynote speaker at the event said the global economy has entered a new age that is driven by computer and knowledge-based information; and technological applications such as blockchain, Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence are rapidly gaining prominence.

According to him, in a world where people don’t need to walk into places to enjoy their goods and services, adoption of these technologies can disrupt the Fintech space by reducing underlying risk uncertainty, increasing the speed of transactions, and minimizing the price of resources associated with the transactions.

The serial tech entrepreneur who in 2013, sold his company to Apple for $1 billion, also explained that adoption of these applications does not create opportunities for businesses but also regulators in the form of regulatory clarity, upholding global standards and in the regulatory sandbox.

FCMB Group records Impressive half Year 2020 results as PBT rose by 26% to N11.1bn MICHAEL ANI

F

CMB Group Plc has a ga i n p rov e d i t s resilience and capability to deliver outstanding performance and returns to customers and shareholders going by the half-year results of the financial institution released recently.

For the six months ended June 30, 2020, the Group’s profit before tax (PBT) rose by 26 per cent to N11.1 billion compared to N8.8 billion in the corresponding period in 2019. Profit after tax increased by 29 per cent

Year-on-Year to N9.7 billion.

This translates to an average return on equity(RoAE) of 9.4 per cent and earnings per share of 49 kobos, a Yearon-Year improvement of 16 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively.

The half-year results also showed that the Group recorded an increase in gross revenue by 9 per cent to N98.2 billion as against N89.8 billion for the same period last year. Net interest income equally rose by 17 per cent for the first half of 2020 to N45.4 billion from N38.7 billion posted in the first half of 2019, while non-

interest income stood at N17.5 billion, an increase of 14 per cent compared to N15.3 billion within the six months last year.

The financial institution intensified the tempo of its strong commitment and support to the growth of businesses and the Nigerian economy in general. For example, loans and advances grew by 29 per cent Year-onYear and 4 percent quarteron-quarter to N794.6 billion.

Customer deposits went up by 28 per cent Year-onYear and 11 per cent quarteron-quarter to N1.1 trillion in June 2020, implying a signifi-

www.businessday.ng

cant increase in confidence in the institution.

Total assets surged upward by 31 per cent Year-onYear and 4 per cent quarteron-quarter to N1.97 trillion as at June 2020. The Group’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 17.3 per cent, which is above the minimum requirement set by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Liquidity ratio was 32.2 per cent. Customer base across the Group grew by 29 per cent Year-on-Year from 5.9 million to 7.7 million.

FCMB Group is a holding company divided along with three business groups; Commercial and Retail Banking

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

(First City Monument Bank Limited, Credit Direct Limited, FCMB (UK) Limited and FCMB Microfinance Bank Limited); Corporate & Investment Banking (the Corporate banking division of the Bank, FCMB Capital Markets Limited and CSL Stockbrokers Limited) as well as Asset & Wealth Management (FCMB Pensions Limited, FCMB Asset Management Limited and FCMB Trustees Limited).

The subsidiaries of FCMB Group, who are market leaders in their respective segments, also performed satisfactorily within the six @Businessdayng

months. The Commercial and Retail Banking arm (comprising First City Monument Bank Limited, FCMB UK, Credit Direct Limited and FCMB Microfinance Bank) reported a 42.9 per cent Yearon-Year increase in PBT. This was due to an increase in net interest income, fixed income instruments, trading income and foreign exchange income. PBT also improved by 4.1 per cent Quarter-on-Quarter due to an increase in fixed income instruments, trading income and FX Income, as well as a decrease in expenses due to operational efficiency.

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

15

COMPANIES&MARKETS Netcore Solutions’ research explains how brands can benefit from email marketing AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

N

etcore Solutions, a global marketing technology company that offers solutions to enterprises using digital marketing, has through its newly compiled research report, highlighted the key metrics that brands should track in order to get the best out of their customers’ emails.

According to the firm, email played a major role in marketing of brands in 2019 as over 2 billion emails were sent out from Netcore Solutions’ platform in Africa alone.

Meanwhile, the new research report, which carried out analysis on over 1 billion emails, highlighted important metrics that were used as yardstick for monitoring email behaviour in Nigeria, including but not limited to

exclamation marks, question marks, subject line length, and others.

It also pointed out the two important metrics which brands should take cognizance of before sending out emails to prospects and customers.

Speaking on the outcome of the research, Chukwudi Nwokike, Client Success Manager of Netcore Solutions, said there is a growing need by organisations and brands in Nigeria to communicate with customers via emails.

According to him, unlike the traditional marketing and using text messages, clearer and more specific messages can be disseminated directly to the target audience on their devices.

“The beauty of emails is that there are integrations and tools put in place to seamlessly track customer en-

gagement through open and click rates,” Nwokike said.

Nisham Chhabra, regional vice president – Africa, said that Netcore solutions value every business relationship.

“We are dedicated to helping our clients succeed by leveraging data and technology.

By helping clients globally to create one-on-one customer experience across multiple channels, we are revolutionising customer communication,” Chhabra said.

For instance, in the 2020 edition of ‘Banking Report: How Nigeria Reads Emails,’ Netcore Solutions stated that over 20 percent of emails are opened on Saturday, and emails have the highest engagement from customers on Wednesday and Saturday.

Stating that automated emails are gradually gaining prominence, the banking report revealed that the ben-

efits attached to automated email is that it increases the rate of emails opened significantly.

The company however said that the new banking report further revealed that unsubscribe rates were highest for brands that sent 0-4 emails in a week, noting that this explains why brands lose their contacts to unsubscribes. It further highlighted measures brands can put in place to ensure unsubscribes become as minimal as possible.

“Sending relevant emails is more important than the frequency of emails sent out to subscribers. We want to advise marketers that it is important to take Gmail delivery seriously in order to see improved engagement because 73 percent of email subscribers who engage in emails sent out are Gmail users,” Netcore Solutions stated.

R-l: Fatai Adegbenro, executive secretary/CEO, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB); Tunde Oguntade, vice president/representative of president, NCRIB, and Tope Adaramola, assistant executive secretary, during the annual general meeting of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents in Lagos

K

ian Smith Trade & Co. Limited, a gold exploration, mining and processing company has pledged to enhance gold value-chain in Nigeria with the launch of ‘Kano Gold Durbar’ This is as the company also restated it’s commitment to support the federal government’s gold drive citing, noting that gold is poised to become a major income earner for Nigeria.

Speaking during the formal launch of ‘Kano Gold Durbar,’ held at Ado Bayero Mall in the state capital which was organised by Kian Smith Trade & Co. Limited and other stakeholders, Nere Teriba, the managing Director of Kain Smith, noted that gold metal

IFEOMA OKEKE

G

lobal leader in mission-critical communications, Motorola Solutions, has launched a new two-way radio device specially designed for small and medium businesses in sub Saharan Africa.

The MOTOTRBO DP540 two-way radio is built for costconscious businesses looking to transition to digital technology for reliable and efficient communications.

As demand for digital radio communication rises, small and medium businesses are looking for simple and affordable solutions for their communication needs without the need to compromise on quality.

MOTOTRBO DP540 is the perfect tool for users in need of an entry-level digital radio, offering ease of use and powerful digitalenabled features.

According to Laurent Tribout, director of Motorola Solutions indirect sales for SubSaharan Africa, “the new de-

L

which has peaked globally should be closely supported by enhancing the processing and value chain.

Teriba said: “The world is capitalising on gold and we are loosing and so those of us in this market decided that it was time to stop loosing.”

“Gold hitting $2000 per ounce is a legendary benchmark and now we are there and have passed it. It is so significant for us as a region that has gold to enhance the sector.

Everyone now is going gold even with digital currencies and we as a major stakeholder in the gold sector had to get in on that.”

Olamilekan Adegbite, the Minister of Mines and Steel development who also spoke at the event said that the federal government is commitwww.businessday.ng

ted at supporting Gold and precious metals stakeholders to boost activities around its value chain.

Adegbite commended the organisers and added that the ‘Kano Gold Durbar’ is a step in the right direction in showcasing Nigeria’s potential in gold craftsmanship.

He said: “What we are doing here today is actually to convert gold in its raw form into derivatives that is jewelries, trinkets ornaments and more and that is why we are in Kano.”

On practical ways the government would support, he said: “Also, the government is training people in the art of making jewelries. It is a 9-month a program and we are in the process of selecting people that we would train and

who would now form trainers to others in Nigeria.”

“We are trying to create a gold ecosystem that would transcend beyond the bullion to trading in jewelry and more and I think we are in the right direction.”

He further added: “Oil and gas has dominated the economy, and a lot of people do not talk about other assets that Nigeria has. This market has operated below the radar and what the government is doing now is to give recognition to these people, enhance their productivity and at the same time, they pay what is due to government.

Also, at the event, the Kano state government was presented with a gold bar that was mined processed and crafted

by Kian Smith firm.

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

vice, available through certified Motorola Solutions resellers in sub-Saharan Africa, is based on the ETSI Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) Standard, proven worldwide in affordable digital systems with low complexity.

“In today’s economy, small and medium businesses are constantly under pressure to deliver more, and deliver fast, all while keeping a conscious mind on reducing costs. With this in mind, we’ve developed a communication solution that holds all the necessary features in one affordable device” One of the risks of migrating from analogue to digital technology is the transition period, which can potentially interrupt business operations.

To make this transition smooth and easy, the MOTOTRBO DP540 can operate on both digital and analogue modes. In this way, radio users can operate and communicate on their new MOTOTRBO DP540 radios while on the job, as the business transitions to digital technology.

Here’s why NNPC intervened in disputes over Oil Mining Lease 130 STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

Kian Smith set to enhance gold value-chain with launch of ‘Kano Gold Durbar’ IFEOMA OKEKE

Motorola Solutions launches new device designed for small, medium businesses in sub Saharan Africa

ast Thursday Nigeria’s national oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) reached a gentleman’s agreement with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Limited and the South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) aimed at resolving disputes over Oil Mining Lease 130.

An Oil Mining Licence (OML) allows full-scale commercial production in a lease area. The Department of Petroleum Resources issues this.

It is granted to Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) holders on the discovery of oil in commercial quantities, (at least 10, 000 barrels per day). It grants the lessee an exclusive right to prospect, explore, produce and undertake marketing activities in connection with the specified acreage for 20 years.

The nature of the threeparty agreement comprised NNPC signing a Heads of Terms (non-binding but with moral force) with CNOOC Ltd and SAPETRO to bring to an end a dispute on Oil Mining Licence (OML) 130.

Discovered in 2003, the lease area is located in water depths of around 1, 600 metres, 200 kilometres offshore Port Harcourt and 20 kilometres southwest of the Akpo field, located on the same licence. Akpo was brought on stream in 2009.

Nine years after, Egina was brought on stream. This means the offshore licence holds the Egina and Akpo @Businessdayng

fields.

To be located 20 kilometres apart and on the same lease, area means both the Egina and Akpo oil fields are interconnected. An oil field consists of a reservoir in the rocky strata of the Earth which traps hydrocarbons. An impermeable or sealing rock layer covers the reservoir. Typically, industry professionals use the term oil field with an implied assumption of economic size.

This is why NNPC’s agreement, as captured in a Heads of Terms signed with the two companies represents a major milestone towards the resolution of all disputes related to OML 130 production sharing contract (PSC). The stateowned and run oil company did not disclose what the dispute was about or what the terms of the resolution may be.

The licence is covered by both a PSC and a productionsharing agreement (PSA).

Cnooc Ltd has a 90 percent stake in the PSC and Sapetro 10 percent. Total is the operator of the block. Nigeria receives a share of the profit oil from the PSC, but not the PSA. The Chinese company bought a stake in OML 130 in early 2006. In addition to the two producing fields, there are also the Egina South and Preowei finds.

Akpo produced 44,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2019 net to Cnooc Ltd. Egina started producing in January 2019 and reached its planned peak of 200,000 boepd in May. Of this amount, the Chinese company’s net share was 68,000 boepd.

16

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

BDTECH

In association with

E-mail: jumoke.akiyode@businessdayonline.com

‘Nigeria needs evolved regulation, governance to protect our national security data’ Esigie Aguele is the CEO and co-founder of VerifyMe Nigeria, a verification platform that enables seamless, real-time ID verifications backed by the Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank Verification Number (BVN), and Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Driver’s Licenses. In this exclusive interview with Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson, he talks about the increased need for digital identities especially in uncertain COVID-19 times, why local content is key for identity data privacy and security, and other important issues in the tech/ID verification space. Excerpts.

COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on economies across the world, including Nigeria. What has been the impact of the pandemic on the Nigerian ID Verification space, especially given that it is a relatively young industry? he short-term impact, like for everybody else, is a limit in the mobility of our verification community, so revenue was impacted. In the long term, it shed light on the need for out-of-the-box services for both banked and unbanked people.

So while we saw an initial dip, our integration pipeline has grown ten-fold during this period. As such, it has accelerated the need for our offerings in the financial services industry and other sectors where trusted data for customer onboarding is key.

these challenges and meet our clients’ eKYC needs. For example, we partnered with Jobberman to expand our agent network to almost 10,000 agents. These intentional actions have also given us a pricing advantage in the market.

T

A major value proposition for VerifyMe is the claim to enabling industry growth through trust.

Considering the instabilities of the COVID-19 climate, how can organisations leverage trust for recovery?

This is a great question. Whether you are looking to open bank accounts remotely or onboard customers for insurance, you need to provide your services to the masses and do so using trusted data about your customer. Our clients are looking for the ability to process trusted ID verifications across multiple secure sources to expand their customer base. We provide trusted and secure ID verifications from all sources as well as an additional lastmile verification layer with that ID. VerifyMe says it is on a mission to build Nigeria’s first eKYC infrastructure. How has the journey been so far? And, how soon before it arrives at the destination?

A loaded question. The journey has been difficult, complex, and reward-

Esigie Aguele

ing all in one. For us, this comes from a personal story of Tunji, our founder, and his family getting poisoned and robbed. There was a resolve to do something to ensure Nigerians have access to trusted ID verification and employment data. To see a product in the market, thriving and being used by over 30,000 employers and how we have evolved to providing eKYC to the financial sector and service industry is certainly rewarding. Regarding the destination, that is tough to say. I think “when we get there” is a function of our resolve as a country – both private and public sectors. There is still a lot of work in the regulation and oversight area that will need to take place to facilitate a very mature state of eKYC in Nigeria. I can’t say when we will get there. What I can say is every day we step towards getting there, and we are determined.

www.businessday.ng

About 41.6 percent of the Nigerian population are excluded from the formal financial system, many of whom are shut out due to illiteracy, inadequate infrastructure and inefficient technology-based facilities by service providers.

How realistic is KYC data in these circumstances towards achieving financial inclusion for all citizens?

The reality of the Nigerian eKYC market is that it’s a hybrid between ID verification services and lastmile expertise. Our sheer reach puts us ahead of the competition.

Also, our technology includes selfauditing and process auditing functions which make our data trusted and CBN tier 3 complaint. Given this strategic combination, I will say eKYC data is very realistic as we have been able to develop a solution and system of processes to meet

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

VerifyMe is exposed to sensitive citizen data due to the nature of its operations. From an industry perspective, what protocols should API companies put in place to ensure the integrity of the data collection and management processes?

First, I feel this is one of those areas where “local content” is key. There is a huge responsibility that comes with holding the identity data of a country. It has moral, national security, and privacy regulation implications, and we take this very seriously. We are licensed by all relevant government agencies and adhere to all NIMC, NITDA and NGPR regulation. We also go the extra mile by implementing internal controls to ensure our data is very secure. One of the things that makes us AntiMoney Laundering (AML) compliant is that our system of processes is geared toward collecting data in a trusted fashion; keeping and updating records to protect against tampering.

Still on data privacy and security, there are concerns about the growing presence of unlicensed API companies and even foreign firms providing the service in Nigeria without the requisite local approvals to do so. Are there any regulatory frameworks to guide activities in the industry, and what measures are put in place to ensure compliance?

I believe this is something regulatory agencies are working on getting a handle on as they become aware.

But I think earlier we discussed the need for evolved regulation and governance to meet the times and

@Businessdayng

protect our national security data.

Technology companies and companies leveraging technology for key transactions are seen as winners amid the COVID-19 disruptions as their operations were not or, at most, were minimally impacted. What are your thoughts on this based on the VerifyMe experience?

This is accurate. One thing the last few months has taught us as a company is that we are on the right track.

We have received very positive client feedback on our eKYC and ID verification products.

Against the background of conspiracy theories about 5G that has fueled resistance to it and other advanced technology in some quarters, what do you think the future holds for companies like VerifyMe Nigeria that are heavily dependent on new technologies to create digital identities for Nigerians?

We welcome 5G. Of course, better network coverage means better lastmile reach in many cases. There are always conspiracy theories about new technologies, but I’m not too worried about that. 5G is coming, and we welcome it.

Many organisations are re-inventing themselves in the face of current economic and social realities that have redefined business, perhaps forever. How is VerifyMe positioning itself to stay relevant in the new global reality?

The changes we had to make were mostly internal. For example, going from 95 percent of our staff coming into the office to 100 percent remote. But our products are built for both in-person verifications and companies looking to onboard customers remotely, so if anything, the need for VerifyMe in business workflows was highlighted as opposed to us needing to pivot.

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

17

property&lifestyle

Purple breaks new ground to build mixed-use facility for retail, residence, others CHUKA UROKO

F

our years after delivering the Maryland Mall into Nigerian retail market, Purple, one of the leading developers of retail outlets, has commenced work on a mixed-use facility that offers opportunities for retail, residence as well as hotel and lifestyle living.

Purple was one of the pioneers of neighbourhood malls in the country through their 6,730 square metre Maryland Mall, now known as Purple Maryland, before it developed the 7,000 square metres Ikoyi Plaza, which was followed by the 6,500 square metres Landmark Retail Boulevard among others.

The new development, known as PurpleLekki and sits on a land space of 10,000 square metres, is strategically located on Freedom Way, Lekki Phase 1, between the emerging Orange and Periwinkle Islands, off Lekki Epe Expressway.

Upon completion, PurpleLekki will be a mixture of

…targets Q4 2021 for project completion, delivery

L-R: Olayide Agboola, CEO & Co-Founder of Purple; Yinka Sanni, Chief Executive, West Africa, Standard Bank Group; Gboyega Fatimilehin, Founding Partner, Diya, Fatimilehin and Co, and Obinna Onunkwo, CEO, Purplemoney Microfinance Bank and DMD &Co-Founder, Purple, during the visit to the PurpleLekki project site in Lekki, Lagos.

retail groceries and departmental stores, essentials and non-essentials, co-working space, private offices as well as the play areas such as entertainment and cinema.

The outlet, which the developer aims to deliver between fourth quarter of 2021 and first quarter of 2022, is funded using a mixture of equity and sales from some

domestic financial institutions.

“With all the experiences gathered from Purple Maryland, we are bringing that to upper middle class market in Lekki Phase 1 using the development of PurpleLekki,” said Laide Agboola, chief executive officer of Purple, while speaking with newsmen at the site commence-

ment visit recently.

The location, according to him, is ideal because it captures the heavy residential and commercial traffic of Lekki Phase 1 as well as the highly residential Ikate and other neighborhoods on that axis.

PurpleLekki, he said, was going to be on seven to eight floors. That is, the ground

plus seven floors, and the upper floor, will house the serviced apartments including the hotel apartments, which cut through residential as well as hotel and lifestyle living.

“We developed the serviced apartments into a brand called the Nano-byPurple, which are essentially serviced similar to what can be found anywhere in the world and we are selling up some and retaining some.

“We expect the buyers to keep them at standards that we will set for maintenance and operation in order to ensure they become the properties that serve the need of the upper middle market,” Agboola explained.

According to him, Purple is not worried about occupancy level as it is already recording 65 percent lease of the retail space while the housing units, that are for sell, has only 20 percent left.

“We have the Market Square, Genesis Cinema, Harmony, Casper all signed up. We have an existing relationship with WorkStation and there are discussions ongoing with the Choice

and Eye Contact. We can see interest from essentials and we expect the co-working space to be taken by the tech companies, SMEs and other growing businesses. We also expect to sell more of the studio apartments,” he said.

He, however, disclosed that the company was discussing with some mortgage banks and some have expressed interest in partnering with them to help intending subscribers to ride on the opportunities provided by mortgage to buy into the Nano apartments, which sell from N35 million upwards.

“We are leveraging on the success of our flagship project, Maryland Mall, to grow our footprints in retail, entertainment and lifestyle by delivering similar assets within the next few years.

It’s a larger development and our success with Maryland Mall gives us the confidence to go for more,” he added.

He said the success of Maryland Mall showcases the fact that domestic investment fuelled by the indefatigable spirit of Nigerian entrepreneurs is essential to driving national economic growth.

Nigerians expect builders to safeguard society’s Tow oil & gas companies sign to interest in building construction - NIOB President build facility in Alaro City CHUKA UROKO

T

he Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIOB) national president, Kunle Awobodu, has said that safeguarding society’s interest in the construction, maintenance and preservation of building stock remains a logical expectation of Nigerians from professional builders.

Awobodu, who spoke at the first ever virtual induction of members into the fellowship cadre of the institute, noted that the building delivery process from design to construction was based on teamwork, with each team member playing his part.

The national president, along with the Chairman of its College of Fellows, Adebolanle Araba, challenged its new Fellows on the high expectations of the society from the profession.

“The Nigerian society stands to gain optimally when it realises and accepts that building production management is a distinct professional service rendered by builders,” Awobodu said, reminding the participants of the building delivery process.

He lamented that, for too long, the society has been misinformed about the process. He noted that while the impression had been created in the past that the designs of buildings are services rendered by specialists, the construction of the building has been wrongly presented as a service that any unlettered, untrained but ambitious and connected individual can do.

“This anomaly has been the

bane of housing and building delivery process that has earned Nigeria the unenviable reputation of a nation with seemingly unending building collapse incidents, Awobodu said.

With every sense of responsibility to protect lives and property, she said, only registered builders are charged by Nigerian law with building construction, maintenance, and deconstruction, charging the inductees to bring their wealth of experience to bear in policy formulation and mentoring of younger professionals.

Araba, who set the tone for the induction, indicating its distinctive and unprecedented nature, reminded the inductees that they were joining the cadre of the finest minds and most experienced hands in the building profession.

“You admission into the College of Fellows should not be seen from a cosmetic and superficial perspective but one with onerous responsibility.

The NIOB College of Fellows is the conscience of the profession and its members have to provide leadership for ensuring a brighter future for the good of the inductees and the society at large,” she said.

She explained that the College of Fellows remains the engine room for innovation and positive transformation and enjoined the conferees to leave a worthy legacy for future generations.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Kabir Bala, said the www.businessday.ng

NIOB constitution stipulates that a corporate member of the institute aspiring to proceed to Fellows’ cadre must have been licensed as a registered builder

by CORBON. The high point of the induction was the oath taking which evoked joyful emotions. While the Secretary of the College of Fellows, who is also the Honorary General Secretary of the NIOB, Christopher Belonwu reeled out the names of the conferees, the NIOB Legal Adviser, Fred Ogugua, administered the oath on the conferees.

Olatunde Jaiyesimi, a builder and engineer, who was the Chairman of the Activities Committee of the NIOB College of Fellows, expressed satisfaction with the innovative nature of the event, reminding the conferees to be good ambassadors of the profession while promoting team building spirit among the entire built environment professionals.

The NIOB fellows induction was witnessed by leading lights from within and outside the profession and even beyond the shores of Nigeria. Among the guests was a past National Vice President of the Australian Institute of Building (AIB), Graham Teede, who observed that despite the advantage of excellent network connectivity in Australia, the AIB could still learn from the bold step of NIOB that has upgraded most of its activities to virtual realm in order to overcome global shortcomings created

by COVID-19 pandemic.

Endurance Okafor

A

rdent Energy and Harbour P o i n t Ma r i n e , b o t h Ni g e r i a n oil and gas infrastructure service companies, are expanding their operations in Nigeria by building new facilities in Alaro City, Lagos State’s new city in the Lekki Free Zone.

As part of their plans to strengthen capacity to provide repairs and maintenance of subsea oil and gas equipment, fabrication, machine and threading services, manufacturing, inspect i o n a n d ma i nt e na n c e of marine hoses and line pipes, Ardent Energy and Harbour Point said they will build their new facilities in Alaro City.

According to the companies, the first phase of t h e d e v e l o p m e nt i s t o provide a multi-service repair and threading facility to cater for its own numerous clients. “ We a r e c o n s t a n t l y looking for ways to redefine standards in the oil and gas industry and expanding our capacity by building our new facilities in the well-designed Alaro City located in the

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

Lekki Free Zone is part of our strategic positioning as leaders in services that align with local regulations and protect the environment,” Lekan Akinrinmade, CEO of Ardent Energy and Harbour Point Marine said.

Odunayo Ojo, CEO of Alaro City, said Ardent Energy and Harbour P o i n t ’s m ov e t o A l a ro City is a testament of the contribution of a wellplanned city to economic growth. “ We a r e p l e a s e d t o welcome Ardent Energy a n d Ha r b o u r P o i n t t o Alaro City as they look to expand their operations in Nigeria and take advantage of the numerous advantages of being located in a well-planned city in a dynamic growth region,” Ojo said.

He a ssu re d that th e Alaro City team “will continue with our work of delivering the quality infrastructure and enabling environment that has already attracted more than 20 businesses to Alaro City.”

Ardent Energy and Ha r b ou r Po i nt Ma r i n e will be joining oil & gas companies like RunGas G ro u p, a Ni g e r i a n ga s infrastructure company @Businessdayng

pione er ing the de eper penetration of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) across Africa, which has already signed up to be in Alaro City.

The oil & gas company plans to expand its operations in Nigeria by locating its new comp osite c ylinder manufacturing facility in the new city in the Lekki Free Zone.

L au n c h e d i n Ja nu ar y 2019, Alaro City is planned as a 2,000-hectare mixed-income, city-scale development with industrial and logistics locations, comp l e m e n t e d b y o f f i c e s, homes, schools, healthc a re f a c i l i t i e s, h o t e l s, entertainment and 150 hectares (370 acres) of parks and open spaces.

A partnership between Rendeavour, Afr i c a’s l a r g e s t n e w c i t y builder, and Lagos State Government, Alaro City has been widely hailed as the next evolution of Lagos. More than 20 companies are currently designing or building their facilities in the city, and 3.5km of initial road networks and a modular 50MVA power plant are under construction.

18

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

EDUCATION Weekly insight on current and future trends in education

Primary/Secondary

Higher

Human Capital

JAMB hosts virtual colloquium on measures against COVID-19 MARK MAYAH

T

he Joint Admiss i o n a n d Ma triculation Board (JAMB) in collaboration with the Nigerian Defence Academy and Premium Times, is hosting a virtual colloquium as part of it’s contributions to efforts aimed at combating the ravaging covid-19 pandemic.

This colloquium is billed for Tuesday, August 11, in a statement by Head Media, JAMB, Fabian Benjamin (Dr), became necessary following the preponderance of divergent opinions from professionals on some of the pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical measures being adopted to curb the

Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, JAMB registrar

spread of the Coronavirus.

The board said, these arguments had been ventilated in almost equal and convincing measures by several individuals and agencies to the extent that the populace was becoming increasingly confused and concerned as to whether these measures were life - saving or life-threatening.

The board cited as an example, the use of disinfectant booths whereby chemicals are sprayed on human skin each time one passes through them in some public buildings, noting that as much as the use of body disinfectant booths and tunnels have been canvassed by several agencies, there have been vociferous arguments against their deployment

by other individuals and bodies.

It explained that some professionals had also argued that hard washing with soap alone was not completely effective without the additional use of alcohol - based hand sanitizers, while some had said one could serve in the place of the other.

The board said resource persons at the colloquium would interrogate these pertinent issues ranging from the effects of too much sanitising chemicals on the hand more so that people have been advised to undertake frequent hand sanitisation.

It noted that discussing these contentious issues and many more at the colloquium would help to broaden the

people’s knowledge while imparting useful advise that would equip individuals with relevant skills to navigate the new normal.

Expected at today’s virtual colloquium are the representatives of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the Executive vice chairman / chief executive of the National Science and engineering infrastructure (NASENI), the Director-General, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Deputy Managing Director and professor of Chemistry, Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Consultancy services and the DirectorGeneral Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) among other eminent scholars from the academia.

Over 1000 students battle for most innovative COVID-19 pandemic : Caleb, Ajayi idea at Enactus Nigeria competition Crowther Varsities to refund students’ KELECHI EWUZIE

O

ver 1,000 students from over 30 Universities and Polytechnics across Nigeria are expected to compete at the Enactus National Competition for an opportunity to represent Nigeria at the Prestigious Enactus World Cup taking place in Netherlands come 8 to 11 September, 2020.

Enactus is an international non-profit organisation that is improving the quality of life of people around the world providing business solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges in their communities.

Enactus is a community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nigeria national competition will hold virtually on 19 to 20 August, 2020 to showcases the impact that Enactus is making in businesses and in communities throughout the country.

Micheal Ajayi, country director, Enactus Nigeria says the competition which is cosponsored by African Capital Alliance Foundation, Seplat Petroleum Development Company assisted by Aspire Coronation Trust (Act) Foundation, Sahara Group, Sovereign Trust Insurance will highlight the innovative and business solutions that

Enactus students are deploring through community based and educational projects to address real problems for real people throughout the country and inspiring hope in them for a better tomorrow.

Other sponsors include: Axa Mansard, KPMG, GTBank, Lekoil, US Embassy, SC Johnson, First Bank, Coca-Cola, Nestle and BIC Nigeria Ajayi noted that the competition will also showcase how through the Enactus programme, the thought pattern of participating students is being developed and guided such that they are prepared for leadership positions tomorrow.

He further said that as we continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and also adapt to, or create, the new normal, Enactus Nigeria is focused on advancing the Enactus mission and inspiring the world around us in this period of uncertainties, confusion and despair.

“We recognise that while Enactus may not be on the front line of the current global health and economic crisis, Enactus students are, and will be, the front line of the recovery: through their demonstrated ingenuity, courage and resilience, they will inspire hope and help shape how we revive and thrive in the new normal”.

On the choice of virtual event, Ajayi explains that this decision was reached in consideration of the existing www.businessday.ng

travel and gathering restrictions, health risks associated with large gatherings in these times; and also to enable the Enactus network in Nigeria collectively rise up to the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic and inspire the Enactus students, and other stakeholders, to remain resolute pursuing their dreams in-spite of the challenges they may be confronted with.

He observes that being an online live-streaming event; the national competition creates tremendous opportunities for Enactus Nigeria to engage a bigger, broader and more global audience. This is why we are setting our sights high, expecting to draw a minimum of 50,000 participants from across the country and the rest of the world!

You too can help achieving this goal by sharing this information within your personal network!

We are quite happy about this change, and are looking forward to it with great excitement and expectations.

Since its inception in Nigeria in 2001, the Enactus program was structured to build the capacity of the participating students (irrespective of gender and other forms of biases) - in the areas of skills, knowledge and more importantly, character - such that they are able to populate the market place with the entrepreneurial mindset and personal leadership required to create real and sustained value for their businesses or the organizations

accommodation fees MARK MAYAH

T

wo private universities in Nigeria - Caleb University, Imota - Lagos and Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo in Oyo State have said that their institutions will reimburse the accommodation fees for the second semester to students that had earlier paid for hostel facilities.

The vice chancellors of these universities in separate statements obtained by BusinessDay in Lagos, stated that the institutions had to take the decision since students did not stay on campus due to school closure occasioned by covid-19 pandemic.

The vice Chancellor of Caleb University, Nosa OwensIbie (Prof), said that students were asked to stop paying when it became apparent that they would not resume for the second semester physically due to the pandemic.

He said, “Although the University had anticipated physical resumption during the semester, delay in resumption has led to the institution advising students who paid accommodation fees of the option of carrying such component of the fees forward or getting a refund.

“All students were however allowed to register for courses on the portal during the semester irrespective of fees status while those unable

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

to pay fees due to covid-19 challenges, have been given access to the university’s elearning platform. “ Similarly, the vice Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University, Dapo Asaju (Prof), in a letter titled, ‘’ From the vice Chancellor, ‘ to parents and students, said that the students would only be charged the prorated amount of rent for the few weeks they used the hotels before the University was shut.

Asaju who is also a bishop of the Anglican Church said, “In case of the truncated second semester, we shall charge students only the prorated amount of rent for the few weeks they used the hostel before the covid-19 lockdown.

“Those who had paid for the full semester will have the excess credited to their hostel fee account by Bursary department against next session. We do not owe the owners of hostels any money. We have remitted

@Businessdayng

all their dues, amounting to almost N100million per session. ‘ He announced the commencement of the university’s second semester examination, which he said would begin on August 10, 2020, adding that the University had acquired its own dedicated server which has a large capacity.

He explained that the capacity “Is so large that when 2000 students logged on, there was no congestion as they used only two percent of the capacity.”

According to him, the second semester examination will be conducted using the online model. He further explained that the exam would be a combination of objective tests and essay formats.

“Law students will write their examinations at various centres in the country as earlier planned. Theirs will be fully essay type and it will be invigilated by our teaching staff at the chosen centres.

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

19

EDUCATION Re-opening of Schools: KWASU ready for academic activities - Akanbi • Says physical lecture can’t be comparable to e-learning formats SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

M

uhammed Mustapha Akanbi, professor of Business Law and the Vice Chancellor, Kwara State University, Mallete, has expressed the readiness of the institution to resume academic activities if government direct schools in the country to reopen.

Akanbi, gave this indication while while speaking with journalists at NewsKeg programme of the correspondents’ chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalist in Ilorin the state capital, says: “we are already fumigating our facilities, both in Malete and Ilorin. We have been doing online lectures for classes with large number of students.

“For those with seizable numbers, we have made plans to maintain physical distancing of two feets as recommended and also divide some into other lecture classes. We also planned to fumigate our library and make sure students wear face masks” Akanbi, opined that economy is better boost when people operate or transact through physical contact, saying “we can never compare physical learning with online.”

Muhammed Mustapha Akanb, vice Chancellor Kwara State University

He commented the Government to have taken a bold and good step by allowing some particularly sets of students to resume, imploring the general public to learn to live with the COVID-19 pandemic by complying with safety protocols.

The Vice Chancellor noted that the pandemic has posed a challenge to all facets of life globally, including private universities.

“We are currently at home because of the COVID-19 and government directive. If you ask me

now; I will tell you that the universities should be reopened immediately.

“One of my vision is to improve on our IGR. Our major challenge now is the Covid-19 pandemic which has prevented us to move at the pace we want.

We rely more on our IGR, loan and school fees to fund the university. The pandemic has really affected all sectors, including government, KWASU is not excluded.”

To ensure financial sustainability in KWASU, Akanbi informed that the school

management came up with IGR centres such as KWASU Investment, KWASU Business School, KWASU Entrepreneur Centre among other measures to improve the school capacity as government alone can not do it.

“KWASU will be self sustaining in the next five years without seeking loans from banks,” he said.

“One of the reforms I embarked upon is to introduce the much popular faculties systems instead of the college been operated before.

“Also, my desire is for KWASU is to have College of Medicine. My predecessor has began the process which I will be working on to see it completed. When we have college of medicine we will be able to go into more research and challenges like covid-19 will be sommounted.

“A way forward for our professors is to ensure they go into quality oriented research.

“Research must be proving solutions to problems and not just for doing sake.

It must spell out the benefits that would be derived.”

Speaking further, the VC disclosed that “we also want to introduce tenure on administrative staff. All head of departments, directors and other now have tenure.

It’s not proper for someone to remain in a particular position for years.”

StudyFree expands access to free, quality education for Nigerian youth Kelechi Ewuzie

N

igeria’s higher education sector has been “overburdened” by strong population growth and a significant youth population explosion. That’s why it’s clear that many enthusiastic and ambitious Nigerian students who cherish the dream to acquire quality university education won’t have the opportunity.

Report indicates that only 30 percent out of 1.7 million candidates who wrote the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) were admitted in 2017.

It is against this backdrop that StudyFree, an international Edtech startup is out to help Nigerian students study abroad for free with the help of grants and scholarships through an online platform.

Dasha Kroshkina, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of StudyFree said the firm was founded to assist ambitious and goal-seeking students to realise their dream, study abroad for free with the help of grants and scholarships.

According to Kroshkina, “My international experience together with entrepreneurial thinking drove me to launch the platform that offers programmes from a bachelor’s degree to Ph.D. with scholarships around the globe”.

Kroshkina observes that that financial limitations and lack of family support hindered a lot of students from fulfilling their dream for international education.

“I was born in a provincial Russian town and couldn’t even think about traveling or education abroad. I overcame all challenges and gained

prolific expertise while studying in Spain, China, and the USA. I then understood that I should share my experience and prove that education is the most powerful instrument that can break any barrier”.

Kroshkina said.

Commenting further, Kroshkina said among other developing regions, our choice fell on Nigeria as we found out that this country is rich with talented youths. However, there are also huge gaps between proactive students who strive for success and opportunities that African countries can offer. That’s why it’s all about the impact that our startup can make in Nigeria.

Our goal is to help students who don’t have opportunities to study abroad but who possess strong motivation and aspiration.

“In recent months we held more than 150 interviews with Nigerian students. Our team was inspired by their sincere motivation to study.

It’s worth mentioning that in other countries students consider education abroad as an opportunity to move, whereas in African regions students want to accumulate state-of-the-art knowledge and come back to their home country to drive change, develop their regions, and give their experience back to the community. When our team hears such inspiring stories of African students, we’re especially glad to make the Nigerian market our major focus”.

“Another great reason why we choose to focus on Nigerian market is the fact that Africa is a fast-developing continent.

If China and India don’t surprise people with its economic breakthrough, the African market holds much potential.

Keke Senior High School wins Y2020 Governor’s Quiz competition MARK MAYAH

K

eke Senior High Schoold Agege, Lagos has emerged the best Senior Secondary School in the year 2020 Lagos State Schools Governor’s Quiz competition with 14 points.

Announcing the result at the grand finale of the competition that was held virtually, the quiz Master, Olusegun Adedeji declared Keke Senior High School, Agege winner with 14 points, Oriwu Senior Model College, Ikorodu got 12 points to clinch the second position while Lagos State Senior Model College, Kankon came third with 10 points.

In the junior category,

Fagba Junior Grammar School, Fagba took the first position with 18 points, Lagos

State Junior Model College, Kankon second position and Eva Adelaja Junior Secondary

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State Governor www.businessday.ng

School, Bariga came third positions with 16 and 12 points respectively.

For the Primary Schools’ category, Ahmad Primary School, Agege came first with 14 points, Oke Ishegun Primary School, Alimosho and Mafoluku Nur/Primary School, Oshodi-Isolo emerged second and third positions with 10 and 8 points respectively.

Speaking at the grand finale of the competition held on Friday for Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary Schools in the State, Commissioner for Education, Folasade Adefisayo revealed that this year’s competition held virtually is in line with efforts by the State Government towards engaging the students while

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

at home.

Adefisayo spoke on the need to conduct an assessment on the children and get a feedback on what they have learnt in the past few months through the Radio, Television and On-line programmes in which the Government has invested.

In her words, “In any good educational system, you don’t only test knowledge by written or summative examinations, there are so many other means such as test, quizzes, panel discussions, project work, among others, which will develop the students for the task ahead.”

The Commissioner averred that the Governor’s Quiz competition became necessary not only to check@Businessdayng

mate the students, but to also ensure that they are on top of their studies, adding that this competition will give them a wider scope in their core subjects and general studies.

She reiterated the Education and Technology Agenda of Mr. Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, expressing optimism that the children will be confident towards operating technological devices from the comfort of their homes to attend virtual academic programmes that will enhance learning outcomes.

According to the Commissioner, the quiz competition is expected to focus on the three domains of education, which are; psychomotor, cognitive and affective domain.

20

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Building an extensive intelligence network to know your markets Mitsubishi’s Takehiko Kakiuchi says the pandemic has forced Japanese companies to modernise their business practices Kana Inagaki and Leo Lewis

O

n a certain Friday every month, in the heart of Japan’s business district and in sight of the Imperial Palace, an elite group gathers for Japan’s most famous corporate meeting.

Around the table, as they have done for decades, sit some of the nation’s most powerful chief executives: leaders of the biggest bank, the biggest commodities trader and one of the largest arms makers, along with manufacturers of everything from cars and air conditioners to nuclear reactors and space rockets. Its members are diverse, but are unified by a single name: Mitsubishi — once the most formidable of Japan’s conglomerates, until it was dismantled after the second world war to curtail that power.

Its Friday Club meetings, an open secret but a strictly behind-closed-doors affair, have felt like one of the great enduring certainties of corporate Japan. But even they, admits Takehiko Kakiuchi, the 65-year-old chief executive of Mitsubishi Corporation and the central member of the club, have been suspended in recent months by a continuing rise in Covid-19 infections.

But what remains unchanged in these strange times, he says, is the supreme value that his group puts on information. Mr Kakiuchi’s company, with $5bn in annual profits, is the biggest and most prestigious of the sogo shosha, or general trading houses, that have played a pivotal part in Japan’s postwar economic growth by helping the resourcepoor nation secure everything from Australian iron ore and Chilean copper to US soyabeans.

In their role importing raw materials and helping Japanese corporations do business overseas, Mitsubishi and its rivals have built an extensive intelligence network and worldwide presence akin to a country’s foreign ministry.

“We know each country’s situation to the extent that there is not a single country Mitsubishi is not familiar with,” Mr Kakiuchi says in a face-to-face interview at its Tokyo headquarters, pointing to the group’s 1,700 subsidiaries and affiliates stationed globally.

Mitsubishi’s acute antenna for international politics is in greater need, says Mr Kakiuchi,

as Japanese companies try to navigate the post-Covid geopolitical landscape that has been upended by the US-China dispute and unrest in Hong Kong.

“You have to be a very international company to catch all the global developments that are changing by the second,” he says. “We are working with various companies on where we want to take risks together, which country we should take manufacturing operations to, and what kind of demand we should focus on capturing.”

Like most Japanese companies, Mitsubishi relocates its staff around the country and internationally at the start of the financial year in April, but global lockdowns and travel bans have made those transfers difficult this year.

Still, to ensure that Covid-19 would not curtail the group’s ability to gather intelligence, Mr Kakiuchi says he made sure — even with delays caused by a two-week quarantine — that top-level personnel changes were executed in the two markets he sees as core to managing post-Covid risks: the US and China.

The divide between the world’s two largest economies has sharpened in recent months as western nations clash with China over everything from the pandemic’s handling to technology dominance and the status of Hong Kong.

“Countries influenced by China are going to find themselves caught in the wake of the US-China power struggle,” Mr Kakiuchi says. “We have a long history of doing business with www.businessday.ng

partners all over the world, so our best way forward will be to stay as flexible as possible and adapt as needed.”

The coronavirus crisis is not the first time the group’s nimbleness has been tested.

When Mr Kakiuchi took over as president in 2016, the company had just reported its first ever annual loss as its bet on Chilean copper collapsed during the global commodities rout. The biggest humiliation was handing over Mitsubishi’s number one position to smaller rival Itochu, which had managed to remain profitable during the 2016 crisis.

Mitsubishi returned to its top position a year later, with Mr Kakiuchi vowing never to surrender its top spot again.

But in the four years that followed, the CEO has taken steps to reduce the group’s heavy reliance on its resource business, setting a 30 per cent cap on assets within its portfolio that are vulnerable to commodity prices.

Three questions for Takehiko Kakiuchi What was the first leadership lesson you learnt?

When I was a new employee working in the trading division four decades ago, we used to buy raw materials from overseas and we would sell them to wholesalers and dealers to get quick returns. But my team leader at the time pushed for us to sell directly to where there was actual demand, which was quite difficult back then. I learnt how that is the way to learn the needs of actual users, and it connects to what we’re currently trying to do with our digital efforts in connecting with consumers. That is

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

where my starting point is.

Who is your leadership hero?

I hesitate to give an actual name. But one of my favourite words in Japanese is shisei, which is best translated as “sincerity” or “devotion”. It comes from one of the famous teachings of Yoshida Shoin, who was an influential scholar and philosopher during the final years of the Tokugawa s hogunate (late 1850s). Basically it means that if you are devoted and sincere in all that you do, none will turn away when you need them most.

If you were not a CEO, what would you be?

When I was in university, I was very passionate about Japanese archery and I somehow ended up working at Mitsubishi.

But once I joined, Mitsubishi became my passion. I don’t think I have any special talent, but even if I had joined a company other than Mitsubishi, I probably would have worked very hard and put my heart into the company wherever that may have been.

Similar to a broader shift within the industry that has steadily turned trading houses into private equity-like investment groups, the company has strengthened its focus on absorbing digital technologies and entering services that are closer to consumer markets.

Late last year, Mitsubishi and telecoms group NTT agreed to take a 30 per cent stake in Here Technologies, a digital map provider for self-driving cars.

In March, a Mitsubishi-led consortium completed its €4.1bn acquisition of Dutch utility En@Businessdayng

eco, known for its focus on lowcarbon energy projects and its range of home energy services from thermostats to electric carcharging devices.

Despite the transition, the company is expected to be hit hard by the pandemic, especially with its negative impact on prices of crude oil and metallurgical coal, as well as sales of cars and steel products. While Mitsubishi has yet to release its guidance for the year ending in March 2021, brokerage Nomura already expects Itochu to overtake its rival in terms of net profit.

Still, Mr Kakiuchi says coronavirus has also created opportunities, especially as companies in Japan realise that their analogue way of doing business no longer works in the new era of lockdowns, remote working and virtual meetings with clients.

“Covid-19 has forced us to reflect on our traditional business practices and start looking at ways to take better advantage of digitisation,” he says.

The transition also means that Mr Kakiuchi’s expectations will be higher for the group’s 86,000 employees.

When asked what kind of qualities he looks for in new employees, the CEO, known for his serious and straightforward disposition, sets out a long and ambitious list. They need to be good judges of character; able to gather and analyse information; and willing to come up with their own ideas while having the leadership skills and charisma to attract people.

“They will need to think and act for themselves,” Mr Kakiuchi says.

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

21

HEC Paris tops 2020 masters in finance ranking Outstanding career progress and salary uplift give the French school the edge Leo Cremonezi

W

France for finance: French business schools, led by HEC Paris, top this year’s FT ranking of masters in finance programmes © Chirs Gloag

development, followed by improving earnings and acquiring specialised skills.

While mainland Europe is a popular place to study, with alumni from its schools representing more than 50 per cent of the cohort surveyed, UK business schools have the highest proportion of overseas graduates: nine in 10. Whether such an international intake persists after the coronavirus pandemic is a matter for future editions of the ranking.

The proportion of female students enrolled at ranked

schools has grown over time but a gender pay gap remains.

Male alumni from pre-experience programmes earn an average of $103,403, some 30 per cent more than their female contemporaries, whose average salary is $79,094. The gap rises to 34 per cent for post-experience courses. The average salary uplift is greater too: 60 per cent for men on preexperience courses, compared with 48 per cent for women.

ESCP Business School is ranked second and Skema rises one place to third. With Essec

‘‘

This year we asked graduates to rate their overall satisfaction with the MiF course — the first time we have put this question, which does not feed into the ranking calculation.

All the schools scored above eight out of 10 on average

‘‘

hen the FT’s masters in finance ranking began, in 2011, Donald Trump was still presenting The Apprentice and coronaviruses were a niche interest among microbiologists. Much has changed since then — but the number-one spot in the ranking has not. This year, as in 2011, HEC Paris tops the table.

More precisely, the French business school ranks first among providers of pre-experience masters in finance (MiF) courses — that is, for students with little or no relevant professional experience. The tables set out information on the best programmes worldwide in this area, as well as on the top three courses for people who have already worked in the finance sector. It is based on surveys of schools and of alumni who completed their masters in 2017.

HEC Paris has come top every year apart from 2017, when Edhec edged it aside, and 2019, when the ranking did not run.

Its success is explained by the financial uplift that its alumni enjoy: the highest weighted average salary, at $149,750 this year, and the highest salary percentage increase three years after graduation. The school is also the best for career progress.

Masters in Finance rankings 2020 Find out which schools are in our ranking of and postgraduate finance degrees. Find out how the tables were compiled.

HEC’s salary performance is not typical of European schools.

Analysis of the pre-experience programmes shows that alumni of Asian schools have higher salaries and raises three years after graduation, when adjusted for purchasing power parity between countries.

Alumni from US and European schools, however, report greater success in achieving their overall aims in studying an MiF. Survey respondents say their main reasons for taking an MiF are better career opportunities and personal

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

fourth and Edhec fifth, French schools have taken the top five places in two successive MiF rankings. Likely reasons for this include a long history of running MiF programmes, good connections with the finance sector and relatively low fees.

Alumni rank ESCP first for its careers service and aims achieved. For the second year in a row, the school is also top for international course experience, a category that reflects students’ exposure to internships, classes and exchanges in other countries.

Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School registered the best progression in the ranking, climbing 19 places to 30th. Among Chinese schools, CUHK was judged best in the career progress category, and scores highly for the proportion of female students represented.

WHU — Otto Beisheim School of Management, in Germany, is this year’s highest new entrant, in 22nd place.

Alumni praise its exchange programme, career events and networking opportunities.

MIT: Sloan dropped one place to eighth and is the top school in the US. Its alumni earn $142,876 on average, the highest weighted salary among @Businessdayng

US institutions in the ranking.

Surveyed graduates praised MIT: Sloan for providing a thorough immersion in the subject.

Only a few schools took part in the ranking of post-experience finance courses. London Business School (LBS) remains top, ahead of the University of Cambridge: Judge and Singapore Management University: Lee Kong Chian.

LBS alumni have the highest percentage salary increase and the school is ranked number one for career progress and international students.

Cambridge: Judge scores highest for value for money, careers service and international mobility. Its alumni have the highest salary, at $136,080.

Lee Kong Chian has the highest percentage of female students and is first for international course experience.

This year we asked graduates to rate their overall satisfaction with the MiF course — the first time we have put this question, which does not feed into the ranking calculation. All the schools scored above eight out of 10 on average.

The MiF ranking was suspended in 2019, owing to technical upgrades. This year’s calculations include data from 2018 where applicable.

22

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Media business

Are media houses target for N5m Hate Speech fine in NBC Code?

In this report, Daniel Obi assesses certain provisions including the N5 million fine for hate speech offenders and the Content Exclusivity right as contained in the 6th Amendment of the Nigerian Broadcasting industry Code. If the news media is muscled, the society who seeks information for economic and business growth will be in peril in addition to affecting employment.

Hate Speech already in 1999 Constitution here appears to be very little, if any doubt, that President Muhammadu Buhari is not a fan of free speech. In the 18 months he spent as military head of state in the mid-80s, the country was a human rights sinkhole, with press freedom abridged for fun. If that could be excused because it was a junta regime that was in power, such an excuse cannot be valid under a democratic government, which his government purports to be.

Buhari, as military Head of State in 1983-85, promulgated Decree 4, which did not take kindly to press criticisms. This saw two Nigerian journalists jailed. Drafted on March 29, 1984, Decree No. 4 was repressive and was similar to the provisions of Hate Speech Bill proposed by law makers early this year.

Section 1, sub-sections (i), (ii) and (iii) of the Decree - provided that: “Any person who publishes in any form, whether written or otherwise, any message, rumour, report or statement, being a message, rumour, statement or report which is false in any material particular or which brings or is calculated to bring the Federal Military Government or the Government of a state or public officer to ridicule or disrepute, shall be guilty of an offence under this Decree.

Even as an elected president, the record of his administration where media and human rights are concerned has been close to squalid.

His image makers have tried to sell him as a born-again; a leader now persuaded that basic democratic freedoms matter, but they have been unsuccessful.

Early this year, the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Aliyu Abdullahi sponsored a bill

T

called ‘Hate Speech and Antisocial media’ to keep critics quiet. The content of the bill was not totally different from the provision of Decree 4.

Few months later, a credible intimation of Hate Speech bill has found its way into the 6th Amendment to National Broadcasting Code unveiled

by Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information on August 4, 2020 in Lagos.

This time, the Code stipulates that those who fall foul of the provision of the broadcast code on hate speech shall pay a fine of N5m, which was raised from N500,000. According to the minister, this will compel media houses to scrutinise adverts and reports before publishing them. He said an offender who violates this law on three occasions will have the operating licence suspended.

Expectedly, all these repressive laws against the media under Buhari have attracted widespread criticisms from different corners, including the civil groups and stakeholders.

Frowning at these repressive laws, Femi Falana, a frontline lawyer who attacked the Hate Speech bill said then that democracy gives right to protest and complaint. “Democratic tenets allow freedom of

expression but the Hate Speech bill is meant to restrict that,” he said. His view was not different from others.

Speaking on Channels Television Sunrise Daily, over the hate speech as contained in the NBC Code, Tonnie Iredia, a professor of Broadcast management and media law, said the issue of hate speech is a controversial matter and could be subject to abuse.

Unfortunately, what the bill and the Hate Speech provision in the NBC Code attempt to address have already been taken care of in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria and other laws.

Section 39(1) of the Constitution guarantees Freedom of Expression as fundamental right, which is universally recognised and protected.

However, the right to freedom of expression is not absolute as there are restrictions to the rights, one of which is found in the law of defamation, sedition and libel. If the Constitution had taken care of this restriction to free expression, why is National Assembly and NBC, supervised by Lai Mohammed, still interested in enacting another Code?

Iredia believes that the Information Minister has relieved the NBC of its autonomy,

a development that may lend the provision on hate speech in the code to dangerous uses.

“Everybody expects a broadcasting commission to be an autonomous body that has no place in politics. If you listen to the news, who has been speaking? The Minister of Information. Is he the DirectorGeneral of the NBC? He argued that criticism could also be tagged hate speech and thus the broadcasting code could be subject to abuse.

The latest NBC code for the broadcasting industry also has other provisions already designed fail.

NBC Code on content exclusivity One of the contentious parts of the new Code is the provision against content exclusivity. Nigeria already operates a free market enterprise, which encourages competition to drive innovation, investment and, of course, profit.

What the new code on exclusivity attempts to do is to discourage competition in the broadcasting industry by introducing content sharing among operators. This has received wide condemnation among analysts as the purpose of the government doing away with exclusivity right of content may be counterproductive.

Under the Anti-competition provision, the Code rather states that “no broadcaster or Licensee shall enter into any form of broadcasting rights acquisition either in Nigeria or anywhere in the world to acquire any broadcasting right(s) in such a manner as to exclude persons, broadcasters or licensees, in Nigeria from sub-licensing the same”.

The intention of this provision, according to the Minister of Information, is to boost local content production and widen access to premium content. He believes that exclusive rights create monopolies by broad-

casters who intend to hold the entire market to themselves.

Expected outcomes Truly, government may have good intention by introducing sharing system of content in the broadcasting industry but in practice, the outcome may not be in tandem with government motives.

For instance, a copyright holder may likely sell his/her premium content for higher price on the disclosure that the content buyer will share the content with other broadcasting operators. The Code does not spell out the sharing formula which will be an issue but the Minister said the government will intervene when necessary. According to analysts, this will likely amount to regular unnecessary interference among private businesses.

With the sharing clause already enshrined in the code, this means that every content buyer will equally inform every content seller that the content to be purchased will be shared among other broadcasting operators in Nigeria. This will automatically raise the prices of all contents both locally and internationally whether other operators are interested in the content or not. This becomes extra and heavy cost to broadcasting operators with its consequences on advertisers and subscribers.

The Code appears silent on who initiates premium content buying. It seems that it was taken for granted that the richer broadcasting organisations will always buy the premium content and share with the other ones on lesser cost. This also means that if the richer organisations do not purchase the content for viewers, the subscribers are denied viewing of such content and the market losses.

Take the premium EPL matches as example which MultiChoice, owners of DStv

presently has the telecast right.

The right for this content every three years for Nigerian market costs about $100 million dollars which is about N45 billion.

Does the code entrust on any broadcaster the right to initially make the purchasing move and cough out the N45 billion to buy the content and then share to others? These are begging questions that need answer.

Alternatively, since Nigeria is a subsidy country and National Broadcasting Commission Code for the broadcasting industry appears to be underscoring this, government can acquire certain premium content rights including EPL and share to willing broadcasters for appropriate costs. If they pay for it, advertisers will move where the eye-balls are. Some broadcasting operators will lose and some will gain.

Certain provisions of the code are ambiguous, confusing and masked with statements that need explanation.

The Code, especially the provisions against exclusivity as it stands is good on paper as its implementation will result to unintended results.

All over the world exclusivity is the lifeblood of all forms of print and broadcast media practise and when this is removed, the industry will likely collapse.

Following the Minister, Lai Mohammed statement that the e Broadcasting Code is not a static document as he sees even the 6th Edition of the Code can be reviewed at the appropriate time. It is therefore time for operators quickly meet with the regulator and present their views for the review of the document to protect industry from collapsing. Any code should be agreed and prepared by industry operators for the industry. This one has hiccups because it was prepared by government for the industry.

Mamador unveils Ufuoma McDermott, Ifeyinwa Mogekwu as brand ambassadors

P

Z Wilmar has signed popular Nollywood actress, Ufuoma McDermott, alongside notable Chef and Food blogger, Ifeyinwa Mogekwu, also known as Ify’s Kitchen, as ambassadors, for its premium Master brand, Mamador.

Following the signing, the new ambassadors will now represent the Mamador brand,

across its marketing campaigns.

Speaking about the signings, Marketing Manager, PZ Wilmar, Chioma Mbanugo, disclosed in a statement that the partnership with Ufuoma McDermott and Ifeyinwa Mogekwu, was borne out of the brands commitment to further promote tasty cooking and healthy nutrition, as well www.businessday.ng

as the brand’s desire to foster family bonding and togetherness in Nigeria.

“As a Masterbrand, Mamador exists to inspire tasty nutrition for everyone, every day of the week. We believe tasty meals have the magic to foster family togetherness by involving, bonding over meals and connecting with family members through

new dishes, sharing recipes, cooking together and enjoying good food.

“These women, Ufuoma and Ifeyinwa, have proven to be strong and passionate women, with admirable talents and principles, whose positive lifestyles inspire many, each and every day.

Ifeyinwa as a Chef inspires many, not just on how to en-

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

joy tasty meals but also how to prepare them. Ufuoma inspires many careers moms, as she manages the work-life balance to bond with her family and sustain an excellent family unit. For this and many other attributes, Mamador is happy to be associated with them’’ An excited Ufuoma during the signing, said, “I am pleased @Businessdayng

with the opportunity to partner with the Mamador Brand.

Mamador is a brand my family and I are already used to and enjoy, so it is quite an honour to now represent the brand, this means a lot to me and I look forward to promoting family togetherness through making, sharing and enjoying tasty and nutritious meals with Mamador.”

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

23

Investments

ENERGY INTELLIGENCE

Market Insight Companies Commodity Tracker Policy

OIL

GAS

PETROCHEMICALS

POWER

National Gas Transportation Network Code will spur investments in gas sector – Derefaka ISAAC ANYAOGU

T

he National Gas Transportation Network Code launched in February, by Timipre Sylva, minister of state for Petroleum Resources went live on August 10.

Justice Derefaka, Technical Adviser, Gas Business & Policy Implementation, to the minister of State, Petroleum Resources said the Network Code opens a vista of opportunities for investors interested in the gas sub sector of the oil and gas industry.

“As encapsulated in the National Gas Policy (2017), it is critical to government’s objective in firming up the country’s domestic gas obligation, promoting export, guaranteeing gas pipeline integrity, opening access to pipeline and common understanding on metering.

“The code will also provide a uniform platform in terms of guidelines for agreements between buyers and sellers which will ensure transparency and eliminate existing bottlenecks. It is a major policy thrust of government to unlocking the potentials of gas as a resource and revenue earner for Nigeria,” said Derefaka.

According to him, the network code will open access to pipeline and common understanding on metering with a set of rules and protocols designed to govern the operations of gas network players in a way that impacts the gas market as part of efforts

Justice Derefaka

towards transparency and efficiency in the operation of pipelines in the country.

The Network Code is coming at a time when Nigeria is keen to deepen its domestic gas use. “As you may recall, the key strategies of the National Gas Policy (approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2017) are to stimulate the multiplier effect of gas in the domestic economy; position Nigeria competitively in high value export markets, and guarantee long-term energy security in the country.

“Additionally, the Nigerian Gas Master Plan, the National Gas Supply & Pricing Regulation 2008 (Which is currently undergoing intensive review by all the critical stakeholders in the gas sub sector) and the National Gas Policy 2017 all

recommend the introduction of the Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code “Now that it has gone live, it will operationalize and harmonize gas balancing arrangements to support the completion and functioning of Nigerian gas market, the security of supply and appropriate access to the relevant information, in order to facilitate trade and to move forward towards greater market integration.

The Network Code will also enable new ways of doing business in the Nigerian domestic gas market. The government says it will spur investments in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) projects. And every gas meant for domestic use either for power,

petrochemical or industrial, will have a single entry and exit point to cut short the sharp practices prevalent in the current supply and distribution system said Derefaka.

From an investor perspective, the code assures that when they invest, their gas will be operated under best practices and help in boosting the confidence of international financiers because they are always concerned about things being done properly, the government official said.

As part of regulatory and operational mechanism, the Network Code has other ancillary agreements and Licenses to be issued to the users of the Code. These include amongst others, Supplier, Operator (or Transporter), Shipper and Agents Licenses Framework/Accession Agreement, Network Entry/Exit (Interconnection) Agreements and Operational Balancing Agreement (OBA).

There are also Business Process Documents including Capacity Registration Form, Capacity Transfer Notice, Nomination Forms (Rolling Annual Estimates, Weekly Estimates, Daily Notice, Trade Nomination, Re-nomination), Curtailment Notice, Invoice, Invoice Remittance Advice, Maintenance Notification Form, Imbalance Form in place for effective operations and functioning of the code With the code in place, government hopes it will play a key role in helping to power the economy.

Chevron in search of subsea vessel for long-term deal at Agbami Field DIPO OLADEHINDE

N

igeria’s third-largest oil producer Chevron is in search for a subsea vessel for long-term deal to support operations at its Floating Production, Storage and Offloading unit (FPSO) on $3.5 billion Agbami oil field project, one of the largest deepwater discoveries in the country.

According to a new tender from Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Procurement, the subsea vessel is required for subsea construction, subsea IRM (Inspection, Repair & Maintenance), and provision of general support to Agbami FPSO operations as well as supporting other operations such as the Seabed Survey for the Agbami Field.

Chevron has a 67.3 percent Agbami Field, which lies 70 miles (113 km) off the coast of the central Niger Delta region and spans 45,000 acres (182 sq km). The oil field which is primarily with associated gas hold potentially recoverable volumes of 900 MMbbl of oil.

For prospective bidders, the subsea vessel is expected to provide minimum DP2 capability and compliant with all Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) requirements for operations within Nigeria waters which must also include installation of Subsea equipment with heave-compensated crane with minimum crane capacity of 100 metric tons at 2,000m of water depth.

Other expectations from the subsea vessel include, www.businessday.ng

deck space capable of landing Anghami Subsea trees weighing over 60 tons, capacity to remain on station for at least one month between resupply cycles, capacity to work on equipment and operate 2 work class ROVS, 150hp each, in 2,000m of water depth, distribution of diesel fuel to the FPSO and other vessels in bunkering operations, distribution of freshwater to the FPSO and other vessels.

Others include, helicopter landingpadsufficientforaSikorsky S92 helicopter, safety and life-saving equipment meeting all current SOLAS requirements, provision of engineering support services for conduct of subsea installations, provision ofsubseaintegritymanagement inspection and services.

The proposed contract

is scheduled to commence September 1 with a proposed term of four years with a one year option to extend.

To be eligible, Interested bidders are required to be pre-qualified and be in the product and service database of Nigerian Petroleum Exchange (Nipex), an electronic one-stop transaction centre, which improves on value procurement in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

In 2019, net daily production from the Agbami and Usan fields (another Chevron oil field) averaged 104,000 barrels of crude oil and 18 million cubic feet of natural gas.

With potential reserves of about 1 billion barrels of oil, the Agbami Field is one of the largest producing deepwater assets in Nigeria.

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

Opportunities from COVID-19 for distributed renewable energy companies STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

C

oronavirus pandemic is speeding up the adoption of distributed renewable energy solutions to complement inadequate supply from the national grid. It is also quickening the development of a local supply chain.

Nigeria’s weak national grid has strained power supply to health facilities, essential enterprises, citizens sheltering and working from home, and vulnerable communities.

So distributed renewable energy (DRE) systems are increasingly serving as either complementary or substitute to the grid. They provide an often cheaper alternative and sometimes provide the entire energy requirements for essential facilities. Utilities are now receptive to the option of partnering with DRE developers like mini-grid companies through the increasingly popular “under the grid” models.

Ac c o rd i ng t o Ro cky Mountain Institute, energy markets and regulatory consultants with offices in Beijing and New York, in a report titled “Under the Grid” throughout subSaharan Africa, hundreds of millions of people live “under the grid.” Such communities are within Distribution Company (DisCo) territory, but receive unreliable, inconsistent, and/or low-quality power that does not meet their needs—or they receive no power at all. These communities are thus under-grid yet also underserved.

“Nigerian utilities have the third-lowest reliability in sub-Saharan Africa, 90 percent of grid connections are considered unreliable, and outages are longer and more frequent in rural areas. Customers often average just two hours per day of unreliable, low-quality electricity service,” Sachiko Graber, Patricia Mong, and James Sherwood stated in the report.

One other driver of opportunity DRE companies are the growth of local supply chains. The COVID-19 pandemic led to delays in supply of imported solar components and stocking out due to restrictions affecting logistics. Players in the African solar industry are now seriously exploring local solutions to reduce @Businessdayng

import dependence.

“Some existing local companies who have been meeting local needs for almost a decade and local content requirements in countries such as South Africa and Morocco have supported the growth of the local market,” Ojunwa Ojemeni, an impact investing, energy development and policy expert. said in an article published by Forbes.

Some local assemblers have experienced an up to a sevenfold increase in demand for their locally assembled solar panels and are now exploring ways to increase their capacity. This is an opportunity for enabling policies and incentives across African countries to help expand local manufacturing. This would enable value-chain competitiveness and support access to sustainable energy for all.

In Nigeria, some companies are taking advantage of the opportunity.

Abuja based Konexa, an integrated utility company intends to develop up to 2.5 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy to serve grid and under-grid customers. The company also plans to incorporate 30MW of hydropower into their generation mix, which they intend to procure from an existing hydropower plant that has been constructed, but not commissioned.

More than 100 million Nigerians, out of a total population of 200 million, live in rural areas without access to electricity.

Renewable energy can be a reliable and affordable source of electricity for rural under-grid communities.

Traditionally, the government or foundations provided grants for installing a set of electricity generators interconnected to a distribution network that supplies electricity to a localised group of customers (mini-grids); and stand-alone photovoltaic systems for remote off-grid households (solar home systems).

Few private investors were attracted to the sector because it was hard for them to get information about the market and find qualified professionals with the skills required to install and maintain the equipment.

24

BUSINESS DAY

Tuesday 11 August 2020

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

25

26

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

FT

FINANCIAL TIMES

World Business Newspaper

China imposes sanctions on US officials in retaliation for Hong Kong measures

Move comes as police in territory arrest media tycoon Jimmy Lai under new security law Nicolle Liu and Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong, Xinning Liu in Beijing and Jamie Smyth in Sydney

C

hina has imposed sanctions on 11 US citizens in response to similar measures from Washington on Chinese and Hong Kong officials, as the two sides escalate their dispute over Beijing’s new security law for the city.

Beijing’s sanctions came after Hong Kong police detained media tycoon Jimmy Lai on Monday for allegedly breaching the security law, in the highest-profile arrest since the legislation was introduced in June.

China’s foreign ministry said it was imposing the measures on US senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Pat Toomey, Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton as well as congressman Chris Smith. Also on the list were Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, and Michael Abramowitz, president of US government-funded organisation Freedom House. It did not specify what form the sanctions would take.

The US last week imposed sanctions on 11 Hong Kong and Chinese officials over the implementation of the security law, including the territory’s chief executive Carrie Lam. “In response to the mistaken behaviour of the US, China implemented sanctions, effective from today, against those who have displayed vile behaviour on Hong Kong issues,” said China’s foreign ministry.

The tit-for-tat measures will

Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily publisher Next Digital, was arrested on suspicion of ‘collaborating with foreign forces’ © REUTERS

add to tensions between China and the US since the introduction of the law, which was intended to crack down on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy and protest movements.

Apart from Mr Lai, six others including two of his sons and other executives of Next Digital, Mr Lai’s media group, were also detained by the police, according to Mark Simon, a close aide to the entrepreneur.

Mr Lai’s Apple Daily newspaper released photos and live video showing several officers filing into Next Digital’s high-rise offices and beginning their searches.

They later said the number of arrests had risen to ten, including activist Agnes Chow, a leading

member of pro-democracy political group Demosisto. The police said that three were involved in running an organisation actively requesting foreign countries or organisations to impose sanctions on Hong Kong.

The police said senior executives of a media company supported the group financially using foreign accounts.

The Hong Kong government has cracked down on local activists after the national security law came into force, through arrests or by barring pro-democracy candidates from running in local elections.

The US and aligned countries have condemned the Hong Kong and Chinese governments over

the law. Aside from the sanctions against Ms Lam and others, US president Donald Trump has also withdrawn Hong Kong’s special trading status, which exempted the territory from sanctions applied to mainland China.

Foreign ministers of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing network, which comprises the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, on Monday issued a joint letter sharply criticising Hong Kong officials for postponing legislative elections and disqualifying pro-democracy candidates.

Ms Lam delayed the poll scheduled for September 6, citing the coronavirus pandemic. But critics alleged the decision was more closely driven by politics than the

health crisis.

“Beijing promised autonomy and freedoms under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle to the Hong Kong people in the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a UN-registered treaty, and must honour its commitments,” said the letter.

Mr Lai, 72, is the founder of Next Digital, the Hong Kong-listed publisher of newspaper Apple Daily and Next Magazine, which are among the most popular publications in the city. He found early success with the fashion chain Giordano but said he was inspired to move into publishing by the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

China has previously accused Mr Lai of endangering national security after he met Mike Pence, the US vice-president, last year and Mike Pompeo, secretary of state, in July 2019. Beijing has accused him of being one of the masterminds behind Hong Kong’s anti-government protests.

Mr Lai was arrested on suspicion of “collaborating with foreign forces”, according to Mr Simon.

The crime carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment. Mr Lai was already facing other criminal charges related to illegal assembly and intimidating a reporter. He has pleaded not guilty to intimidating a reporter and is expected to plead not guilty to illegal assembly.

The decision by the Five Eyes to issue a joint condemnation of Beijing and Hong Kong authorities highlights an increasing willingness to extend the group’s activities beyond intelligence sharing as tensions rise.

German Social Democrats pick Olaf Scholz to run for chancellor Party hopes finance minister’s record during pandemic will appeal to voters in elections next year Erika Solomon in Berlin

G

ermany’s Social Democrats have named finance minister Olaf Scholz as their candidate for chancellor in next year’s federal elections, a move widely expected yet controversial inside the party.

Among voters Mr Scholz is the SPD’s most popular politician.

But he is much less well-liked by the left of his own party, which is struggling to navigate a new political course after heavy losses in recent elections. Last year, Saskia Esken and Norbert WalterBorjans, themselves both further to the left, were elected as party co-leaders at the expense of Mr Scholz, a centrist.

On Monday, Ms Esken and Mr Walter-Borjans released a joint statement announcing Mr Scholz’s candidacy, saying, “Olaf has the chancellor ka-boom” — a

Supporters of Olaf Scholz argue that his handling of the economic impact of coronavirus shows the strength of his candidacy © REUTERS

reference to his June speech announcing Germany’s €130bn stimulus, a plan to help the country recover from the coronavirus crisis that also marked a decisive break with years of fiscal orthodoxy.

“We know that this decision is an unexpected turn for some,” the party leaders said. “We ask for www.businessday.ng

trust in our path. We have decided to go this way together.”

Supporters of Mr Scholz in the SPD argue that his political experience and handling of the economic fallout from the pandemic make him a strong candidate.

Launching his candidacy on Monday, Mr Scholz set out his

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

campaign platform. This includes policies designed to bolster the welfare system, better wages for workers and a plan for combating climate change. He also credited the SPD with helping Germany to play a more unifying role in Europe during the coronavirus crisis than it had during the global financial crisis more than a decade earlier.

“A new era is dawning, not only in the sense of shaping the postcoronavirus era, but also what the next decade will be about, and how we shape the future of our country, how we shape the future of Europe,” Mr Scholz said.

During the same press conference, Ms Esken and Mr WalterBorjans hailed his economic stewardship throughout the pandemic, saying it showed that “we could achieve results in a government”.

During the pandemic, Mr Scholz backed away from German governments’ traditional obsession with the , the “black zero” @Businessdayng

balanced budget policy, which had been criticised by many in his own party as well as international organisations such as the IMF. He may face other problems, however, as investigations continue into regulatory failures in connection with Wirecard, the German payments company that collapsed in June after admitting that €1.9bn of its cash probably did “not exist”.

Germany’s financial regulator, BaFin, answers to the finance ministry that Mr Scholz heads.

His candidacy also comes days after Mr Walter-Borjans said the party was open to forming a coalition with the leftwing Die Linke party — a move that would be unpopular with centrist voters.

Among Die Linke’s more controversial foreign policy stances is a call to dismantle Nato.

Peter Matuschek, chief political analyst at the polling agency Forsa, said the choice of Mr Scholz was a “desperate endeavour” by the SPD to regain popularity.

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

27

FINANCIAL TIMES

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

Heightened US-China tensions rein in gains for global stocks Beijing to sanction 11 US citizens in response to similar measures from Washington Philip Georgiadis and Harry Dempsey in London and Hudson Lockett and Daniel Shane in Hong Kong

G

ains for global stocks were held back on Monday as escalating tension between China and the US weighed against hopes of further economic stimulus.

Beijing has said it will sanction 11 US citizens in response to similar measures from Washington, intensifying the friction between the world’s two largest economies after the introduction of a tough security law on Hong Kong.

US stocks edged higher with the S&P 500 adding 0.3 per cent, as the benchmark index comes within touching distance of its February peak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose by a similar percentage.

London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4 per cent while Europe’s benchmark Stoxx 600 index gained 0.5 per cent by the afternoon.

Traders were keeping an eye on manoeuvres in Washington and their implications for more US economic support measures.

President Donald Trump on Saturday bypassed lawmakers and signed executive orders aimed at cushioning the economic blow from the coronavirus crisis.

Investors have largely brushed off headwinds including rising US-China tensions and stalled negotiations over fiscal support in Washington to push shares higher

Shares in China’s big tech groups fell again after US President Donald Trump imposed measures last week © EPA

this month.

Thomas Hempell, head of macro and markets research at Generali Insurance Asset Management, said the strong performance for equities in August showed markets “accounted for the willingness of policymakers to deliver on their responsibility to support economies”.

“That’s why Mr Trump’s move is so significant,” he said, adding that wrangling over the US stimulus package will dominate this week’s events.

“The risk market still has a bit

of legs going forward over the next weeks on global data and policy support,” he said. “Going into autumn, we are more vigilant and prepared to dial back. The rebound in macro data, which has given hopes of a V-shaped recovery, could prove to be an illusion and the recovery will slow down.”

Shares in China’s big tech groups fell for a second session after Washington unveiled sanctions targeting Beijing late last week, fuelling concerns that the spat between the world’s two biggest economies could broaden.

Tencent fell another 4.8 per cent in Hong Kong, adding to Friday’s 5.5 per cent loss after the Trump administration said at the end of last week that it would ban US companies from dealing with the Chinese group’s popular WeChat messaging app.

The Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba dropped 2.7 per cent, even though the Chinese ecommerce group was not directly affected by the US orders, which also targeted ByteDance, the owner of popular video app TikTok. Concerns over the rising tem-

perature between Beijing and Washington have scythed billions of dollars of market value from China’s fast-growing internet companies over the past two trading sessions.

“These actions are pushing forward the China-US decoupling,” said Ken Cheung, a strategist at Mizuho Bank in Hong Kong, referring to the US sanctions.

He said investors were nervous that deepening tension could unravel the so-called phase one trade deal signed between Beijing and Washington at the start of this year, though he added he did not believe the agreement was in any immediate danger.

China’s CSI 300 benchmark of Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed shares reversed earlier losses to gain 0.4 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6 per cent following the high-profile detention of media tycoon Jimmy Lai for allegedly breaching the city’s new national security law.

Oil rose after Saudi Arabia’s state energy group Saudi Aramco said on Sunday that it was experiencing a “partial recovery in the energy market”, with chief executive Amin Nasser saying “the worst is likely behind us”. Brent crude, the international benchmark, advanced 1.7 per cent to $45.20 a barrel Gold, viewed by investors as a haven during times of uncertainty, rose 0.8 per cent to $2,026 a troy ounce.

US faces inflation threat as money supply rockets If the Fed loses control of price rises, the stock market could be shaken up, Wall St bank says Robin Wigglesworth

T

he aggressive monetary and fiscal response to the coronavirus crisis in the US could trigger a burst of inflation that the Federal Reserve might struggle to control, according to Morgan Stanley. This, the bank said, could upend the stock market.

Quoting economist Milton Friedman’s dictum that “inflation is always and everywhere a

O

ne of Nigeria’s fastest growing real estate companies, Oxford International Group has expanded its business tentacles to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to reduce the stress and bring an adequate solution to the housing issues in the country, like it has successful recorded huge testimony with Lagos State.

Oxford International Group, a real estate company with over 140 subsidiaries worldwide, has the core mandate of reducing

monetary phenomenon”, Morgan Stanley’s chief US equity strategist Mike Wilson highlighted a surge in money circulating through the country’s economy.

The year-on-year growth in M2 — a broad measure of US money supply — has rocketed this year due to the efforts of monetary and fiscal policymakers to reduce the economic damage caused by the pandemic.

Although the severity of the shock makes deflation the most

likely short-term outcome, Mr Wilson argued that there is now a “greater likelihood for inflationary pressures to build”.

“While we are likely to experience big imbalances in the real economy for several more quarters, if not years, the most powerful leading indicator for inflation has already shown its hand — money supply, or M2,” said Mr Wilson.

The Fed eased monetary policy sharply after the financial

crisis of 2008, and fears of faster inflation failed to materialise.

However, Mr Wilson points to the far more aggressive fiscal response from the US government this year, which has ranged from massive lending programmes for stricken companies to stimulus cheques for households.

He also says banks are in much better shape than they were in 2008, making it more likely that money supply stays elevated.

Oxford Int’l Group expands businesses to Abuja the housing deficit in Nigeria and beyond on Tuesday took a dauntless step to innovate new subsidiaries in Abuja.

For Oxford to gain this momentum the Chairman of the group Dr. Teniola Adesanya and some executives paid a courtesy visit and business proposition to Hon. Abdullahi Adamu Candido the Executive Chairman of Abuja www.businessday.ng

Municipal Area Council (AMAC) to build a business relationship and formalize all legal procedure for a legitimate and successful inflow and outflow of business.

Adamu Candido who was delighted to receive the smart entrepreneurs said he looks forward to a very pleasant and rewarding working relationship, “considering the passion and

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

desire of these youthful Nigerians in changing the narratives of entrepreneurship in Nigeria.”

The Executive Director of Customer Relations Oxford International Group, Mr. Goodluck Olatunde stated that the essence of the visit is for inspection of how the business empire can be moved to Abuja.

According to Olatunde, the @Businessdayng

For equities, faster inflation usually tends to be positive because their earnings rise with higher prices, and fixed-coupon bonds become less attractive.

But there could be a shake-up of the stock market leaderboard, said Mr Wilson. “The problem may be that equity market leadership is skewed toward deflationary winners, making any sudden surges in inflation quite disruptive to portfolios,” he warned. partnership will bring an enormous return of profits to both parties. He said “at Oxford International Group our mission is what drives us to do everything possible to expand human potential. We do that by creating opportunities through the development of products and services that are acceptable and relevant to human and community needs using our creative and diverse team to make a positive impact in Nigeria and Africa at large,” Olatunde concluded.

28

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

29

News Transparent grid management to reduce concerns of collapse with TCN unbundling - experts HARRISON EDEH, Abuja

U

nbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) could ensure greater transparency in grid management and reduce the concerns of grid collapse in Nigeria, which has been a major recurring decimal post privatisation, with its huge negative effects on socio-economic activities.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has since last month commenced stakeholders consultations on the unbundling of the TCN, a move industry analysts say will enshrine transparency in the management of loads, address concerns of load rejects and issue out punishable enforceable sanctions on the system operator and the distributions companies (Discos).

Before now, the TCN has been performing the role of market operator and system operator, which has seen it as a judge in its own case by performing dual roles.

But those who know believe that the unbundling will see the market operator become the arbiter and settle disputes between the system operator and the distribution companies in a bid to address concerns of grid collapses

often occasioned by load rejection.

“For me, the unbundling will show more transparency in terms of market structure, on the transmission capacity and the market capacity,” Chuks Nwani, an energy lawyer and power sector governance expert, says in an interview with BusinessDay. According to Nwani,” There has been lots of blame trading between the Discos and the TCN once there is grid collapse. We expect that all that will stop with this unbundling.

“With this development, the functions of regulating the market operators will be able to settle disputes between the system operators and the Discos, most especially regarding trip offs and concerns of grid collapse.”

Speaking further on how the unbundling would help the proposed service reflective tariff, he says, “The unbundling will play a role in the much talked about service reflective tariff because the system operator would be able to communicate to the Discos on level of load sent to a particular feeder or transformer to ensure it is received to avoid load rejection and other forms of disconnect that could worsen concerns of grid collapse.”

Blakeney rakes in N940m from sale of UAC shares Iheanyi Nwachukwu

I

n the past four months, Blakeney LLP, one of the three major shareholders of UAC Nigeria plc (UACN) has substantially reduced its stakes in the conglomerate.

Blakeney cashed out about N940 million as proceeds from UACN share dealings, which happened from April 24 to August 5, details of the transactions seen by BusinessDay show.

The latest record on the sales of shares in UACN by Blakeney LLP is the 80 million shares it sold at N5.75 per share on August 5, in a transaction valued at N460 million.

UACN is a holding company that owns businesses with some of Nigeria’s strongest brands with wide distribution.

On June 17, Blakeney LLP sold 40 million units of the conglomerate at N7 each, in a transaction valued at N280 million. Blakeney is one of the oldest and largest institutional investors in Africa and the Middle East. It has investments in both listed and private companies.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) records show that on April 24, Blakeney LLP sold 6 million units at N6.20 per share, valued at N37.7 million. On April 28

it sold 4vmillion units at N6.2048 per share valued at N24.81 million. Also, on May 11, it sold 10 million units of UACN shares at N6.80 per share valued at N68 million, while on May 12 it sold 15 million units at N6.90 per share valued at N69 million.

These insider dealings were disclosed in notifications sent to NSE by Godwin Samuel, company secretary/legal adviser, UACN plc. UACN has 2,881,296,580 shares outstanding. It is listed on the Diversified Industries subsector under the NSE Conglomerates sector of the Main Board. In trading week to August 7, its share price increased to N6.4. It had reached a 52-week high of N11.15 and corresponding week low of N4.50.

UACN revenue in halfyear to June 30, 2020, decreased to N36.633 billion from H1’19 high of N40.11 billion. Gross profit decreased to N6.992 billion in H1’20 as against N8.338 billion in H1’19. The company’s H1’20 pre-tax profit closed lower at N1.033 billion from N4.169 billion in H1’19.

UACN with 1,486 employees is a diversified group organised around seven areas of activities, which include production and sale of animal feed (54.4% of net sales). www.businessday.ng

Goodluck Jonathan (m), former Nigerian President who is ECOWAS’ special envoy on mediation mission in Mali, addressing newsmen on arrival at Bamako yesterday, on a follow-up visit to engage stakeholders on the implementation of the decisions and roadmap endorsed by the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of States and Government, after their Extraordinary Virtual Summit held on July 27, 2020.

NAN

With depleted food reserves, Nigeria risks hunger crisis CALEB OJEWALE

N

igeria is treading dangerously at the brinks of a hunger crisis in the event of any severe disruptions to the country’s agricultural system. With Nigeria currently having only about 30,000 metric tons of grains in the strategic grain reserves, out of a capacity of 1.3 million metric tons, the country is grossly unprepared for any national emergency.

“What they have is a small

quantity that is meaningless,” notes an informed source who pleaded anonymity.

Divided by an estimated 100 million poor people (and not even the total population) would give a meagre 300 grams of a single type of grain, which would last only a few days. Whereas, the food reserves ought to sustain the

entire country if productivity was to be halted to near zero for a complete season or even two seasons.

BusinessDay had reported Nigeria’s inclusion among 27 countries that are on the frontline of impending COVID-19-driven food crisis, in a joint report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP).

At the beginning of the year, the assumption was that the country had about 100,000 metric tons before President Muhammadu Buhari granted approval to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to release 70,000 metric tons of grains from the National Strategic Food Reserve stock as palliatives following lockdowns occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic.

The grains to be released were from Minna Silo, Niger State – 10,000MTs of maize and 2,500MTs of

gari; Lafia Silo, Nassarawa State- 5,000MTs of millet and 1,500MTs of gari; Dustin-Ma Silo, Katsina State – 12,500MTs of maize and 5,000MT of sorghum.

Others were Yola Silo, Adamawa State – 12,500MTs maize and 5,000MTs of sorghum; Gusau Silo, Zamfara State – 15,000MTs of sorghum, and Ilesha Silo, Osun State – 1,000MTs of gari.

Putting aside if the grains were disbursed and to whom, the country would be left with about 30,000 metric tons of grains, which the earlier unnamed source asserts is the current status.

Efforts to get confirmation from Sule Haruna, director of the Strategic Grains Reserves, were futile as he neither picked calls nor replied a text message sent to him.

“How do we restock the food reserve and put back more than what was there before?” asks Kabir Ibrahim,

president, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in a phone interview. “That is very germane, because if we go by what is happening now with the insecurity in the North West and parts of the North East, where food is produced, there might be some shortage,” Ibrahim states.

If Nigeria is able to stock to full capacity, Ibrahim states, “It will be able to feed the country even if there are two consecutive seasons of no production.” However, putting just a few thousand like the 70,000 metric tons that should have been distributed recently is according to him, “like a drop in the ocean.”

This is not the first time in Nigeria that the Federal Government had to draw down its grain reserves. Earlier, 30,000MT was disbursed in response to food crisis at the various Internally Displaced

Continues on page 30

Ease of Doing Business Order in jeopardy as cost of clearing goods skyrockets AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

N

igerian importers have continued to pay dearly in cost due to the failure of agencies of government to effectively implement the Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business signed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, then acting President in 2017.

As a result, imported cargoes now dwell longer at the port, between 21 to 30 days, resulting to heavy congestion as well as longer timing for importers to clear and take delivery of their consignments.

Longer dwell time for cargoes comes with huge cost implication such as payment of demurrage and rent charges on imported cargoes to shipping companies and terminal operators.

Precisely, importers using Lagos port pay more as shipping charges for bring-

… 24-hour operation collapses … Automation to bring efficiency – experts ing goods from European Union (EU) and high terminal charges when compared with what others using Tema Port in Ghana are paying, says SBM Intel, Nigeria’s geopolitical intelligence platform.

In Apapa Port, importers pay about $374 as shipping charges on imports from EU countries; $457 as terminal handling charges and $2,055 on local transport to importers’ warehouses.

However, their counterparts using Tema Port in Ghana, neighbouring West African port, pay $321 as shipping charges on import from same EU countries; $284 as terminal handling charges and $285 on local transport to importers’ warehouses.

According to the Executive Order, Nigerian port is expected to operate 24-hour round-the-clock and also prune down the number of

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

government agencies at the port from 14 to seven.

Therefore, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and service providers at the port must be on ground 24 hours to carry out cargo examinations in order to eliminate delays and cost associated with none clearing of cargo on weekends and public holidays.

BusinessDay recent visit to Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports reveals that, three years after the order, Customs only examines containers between 9am to 5pm resumption and closing time with exception of weekends and public holidays.

Confirming this, Hassan Bello, executive secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), said recently during a virtual conversation that there was need for Nigerian ports to operate 24/7 just like the airport.

One of the reasons the na@Businessdayng

tion’s ports are heavily congested today is because the ports operate from Mondays to Fridays without weekends, which has elongated the dwell time of cargoes as well as waiting time of vessels to 50 days, Bello said.

He insisted that dwell time of cargoes would reduce from the current 20 and above to seven days, if the ports operate 24 hours round-the-clock.

Giving insight into port operations, Tony Anakebe, managing director, Gold-Link Investment Limited, who explains that cargo examination starts from 10am or 11am in some cases and ends around 3pm to 5pm, says the Ease of Doing Business cannot be effective in the ports without government building infrastructure such as automating the cargo clearing procedure and installing a functional scanning machines.

30

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news Businesses eye recovery as COVID-19 shows...

Continued from page 1

over four months.

COVID-19 cases in Africa’s most populous country have fallen 27.4 percent nationally to 453 on August 7, from 624 on July 28, according to daily data released by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

In Lagos, which has been the epicentre of the pandemic, cases have crashed 66.5 percent to 71 on August 7 from 212 on July 28. Death-to-recovery in Lagos stood at 1.46 percent on August 7, below the national average of 2.86 percent.

Similarly, death-to-cases in Lagos was 1.22 percent on same day, far below a national average of 2.04 percent, according to BusinessDay’s analysis of NCDC data.

With 10 straight days of relatively lower COVID-19 cases in Lagos and recovery rate of 83.5 percent in the state, as against the national rate of 71.4 percent of Saturday, businesses are canvassing full but cautious re-opening of the economy to cushion the effect of the impending recession.

Test data seen by BusinessDay show that Lagos tested 1,607 persons between July 26 and 29, but 1,654 between August 5 and 7. The data show that though tests have been low in Lagos, drop in numbers does not mean low testing. Lagos has tested 68,085 persons as of August 7, which is 22 percent of the total national capacity.

“With the reduction in COVID-19 cases, the closure of some isolation centres and the gradual re-opening of economic and social activities, the private sector expects that more businesses will reopen, workers will be recalled to work and there will be increased consumer spending on non-essential goods, which hitherto had affected the productivity level of businesses,” Timothy Olawale, director-general, Lagos-based Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), says in a phone conversation with BusinessDay. Muda Yusuf, director-general, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), says the declining numbers are a relief to businesses, but cautioned the government on quick relaxation of antiCOVID-19 measures.

Yusuf expects that businesses will begin to recover by early 2021, as many enterprises are down and struggling for survival. Nigeria’s economic capital has seen a dip on COVID-19 cases on the back of efforts by the government and the private sector to curtail the spread of the deadly virus.

Lagos ranks top in the number of infections, with 15,551 total cases on August

5. But it has also successfully managed and discharged 13,106 patients, leaving only 2,253 active cases. The state is closing down a number of isolation centres, including the ones in Eti-Osa, on the Lagos Island, and Agidingbi, Ikeja, the state capital.

Speaking on the decline, Doyin Odubanjo, a public health expert, and former chairman of Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Lagos chapter, notes that the epidemic is expected to decline after a while, which is what is happening.

“Care must be taken to ensure that people are not just treating themselves at home or are not testing. Though this is not likely, it can have a profound impact on the numbers as we are seeing,” he says.

However, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, state governor, who, incidentally, is the chief incident commander of the battle against Covid-19 in Lagos, offered some explanations.

“Most of our patients in Lagos recover under our supervision. We now have two pathways through which confirmed cases are managed: either through our Home-Based Strategy, or in designated Covid-19 Care Centres,” he said.

Those in the Home Care category are being supported medically with care packs, and psychologically through counselling teams available via 08000CORONA, the governor explained.

According to Sanwo-Olu, in addition to the above, the patients are allowed access to the Lagos’ telemedicine services through the stateowned EKOTELEMED, and are also visited weekly by doctors to ensure that they are recovering adequately and in a timely fashion.

Akin Abayomi, Lagos State commissioner for health had, at one of his earlier briefings, said the state was using ‘the curve model,’ meaning that it might experience the peak of coronavirus by August and after then have a gradual decline.

The Covid-19 prediction model of the state holds that the pandemic will soon reach its peak, followed by the flattening of the curve and a gradual decline in the number of cases, Abayomi said.

“Lagos will theoretically peak in the month of August, it will flatten out and over some time we will see a decline,” he had said.

A June 2020 survey by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that 42 percent of the Nigerians who were working before Covid-19 outbreak (midMarch) had lost their jobs to the pandemic. www.businessday.ng

L-R: Sunday Nwosu, director; Oluwakemi Jafojo, company secretary; Amina Maina, presiding chairman, and Matthew Akinlade, independent director, all of MRS Oil Nigeria plc, during the company’s 51st annual general meeting in Lagos.

Osun flirts with insolvency, spends 91%...

Continued from page 1

potentials of huge human and capital resources, and fresh data emanating have painted a clearer picture of how worse its financial position has got. The state may even be on the brink of seeking life support.

Of the N6.44 billion obtained as revenue from FAAC in the month of January through March 2020, Osun spent 91 percent or N5.87 billion of the amount servicing its debt, according to data compiled by BudgIT, a nongovernmental organisation that tracks fiscal expenditure of the government.

That is seven times more than the amount Yobe, a state with a similar size, spent as a deduction for debt in the period. It is also the highest deduction done ever on any of the 36 states as a percentage of FAAC, showing how terrible the fiscal situation of the state is at present.

“It simply means that the state is insolvent,” says Cheta Nwanze, lead partner at Lagos-based risk consultancy SBM Intelligence.

“Either now or soon enough, the state government will no longer be able to meet its obligations to the people. And one of the things that may arise from that is either social unrest or more people leaving the state,” Nwanze states.

A 91 percent federal allocation deducted in servicing the state’s debt profile would leave the state with only about 9 percent of the revenue to be used as expenditure on health, education as well as other financial obligations for its over 4.6 million people, according to BusinessDay estimate.

This burden on the state could have been a bit lighter but for the government’s inability to look inward and grow its stream of internally generated revenues.

In terms of IGR, the state like many others is also not faring any better.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that in the whole of 2019, Osun raked in N17.92 billion as revenues generated internally.

This figure represents ab ou t 4 2 . 5 p e rc e nt o f the total N42.14 billion (FAAC+IGR) the state printed as revenue for the period.

Like others, it could be deduced from the data that revenue got from FAAC accounts forms the larger chunk of its total revenue, accounting for close to 58 percent of revenues generated within the period.

With the heavy deduction from the state’s allocation in the first half of the year, analysts believe the state may be in for a tougher time than what was seen before.

For the analysts, they expect a fall in government expenditure, an additional pile-up of salary backlogs, increasing poverty levels in the state, widening inequality, a threat to livelihoods of Osun populace and a further fall in the standard of living to be worsened by the government inability to raise more debt due to a lack of financial viability as well as the coronavirus pandemic which has taken a toll on both federal and states revenue streams.

With a total debt profile of over N170 billion already, Osun ranks as the sixth most indebted state in Nigeria and is too insolvent to borrow more because of its lack of economic viability to repay.

A $20 million World Bank grant obtained in early 2019 to revamp its health sector has also raised serious controversy by members of the state’s National Assembly, claiming the money has not been judiciously utilised by the government as many hospitals in the state are still without drugs, appropriate

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

working facilities and understaffed.

The state has slashed its 2020 budget to N82 billion from an earlier planned amount of N119 billion due to the fiscal challenges occasioned by the pandemic, and even at that amount, analysts doubt the state’s capacity to effectively fund the budget.

With a total of 605 confirmed coronavirus cases of the virus out of which 329 have been discharged while 13 died of the virus as of 8th August, according to NDDC data, the state is battling to contain its increasing infection rate so as not to overwhelm its frail health sector.

Osun might be one of the several cases of states whose finances are on the brinks of insolvency due to a high debt burden compared to revenue, but it is certainly not the only state sailing on that boat.

Due to the inability to generate revenues, many Nigerian states are highly indebted and this singular act has pushed the country’s debt at a record high of N28.6 trillion as at end June, according to data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), of which Further analysis of the data put forth by BudgIT shows that Lagos, Osun, Plateau, Cross River Ondo, and Bayelsa have the highest FAAC deduction within the period.

The aforementioned states with net FAAC allocations of N25.23 billion, N6.44 billion, N8.53 billion, N8.02 billion, and N35.14 billion, had N15.92, N5.87, N5.18, N5.06, N4.59 and N4.55 billion deducted respectively.

O n t h e o t h e r ha n d , states of Yobe, Jigawa, Anambra, Enugu, with net FAAC allocations of N12 billion, N13.74, N12.34 billion, and N12.09 billion, had the least deduction of N820 million, N1.04 billion, N1.1 billion, and N1.31 billion, respectively. @Businessdayng

With depleted food reserves, Nigeria risks...

Continued from page 29

Person (IDP) camps across the country, noted a PwC report in June on ‘Responding to the impact of COVID-19 on food security and agriculture in Nigeria.’

The report noted that in 2009 a total of 78,000MT was distributed out of the available 85,000MT. In 2011, purchases were ordered to replenish the stock while the remainder was distributed that year, leaving no grains in storage. The situation at present is even direr as 86.4 million people in Nigeria face moderate or severe food insecurity, according to this year’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, an annual flagship report jointly prepared by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF and WFP. It also states that 36.8 percent of children under the age of five are experiencing stunted growth and 49.8 percent of women of reproductive age have anaemia.

In cost and affordability of nutrient adequate diet, this represented 34 percent of expenditure and cannot be afforded by 72.7 percent of the population. In cost and affordability of healthy diet, this constitutes 64.1 percent of expenditure and 91.1 percent of the population cannot afford it. As at 2019, the country had 24.6 million undernourished people while 17.8 million are severely food insecure.

By implication, the country cannot afford any worse condition in terms of food availability. The population of those who are food insecure would only worsen if there is an emergency and the country is unable to deploy food from its reserves.

“We have the privatised silos that are not storing any grains as of today,” remarks Ayodeji Balogun, CEO of AFEX in a Skype interview.

“They have not been efficiently used almost going to two years since the privatisation has been concluded, worse than even when the ministry (of agriculture) used it.”

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

31

news

Stakeholders advocate right pricing for aviation ground handling services IFEOMA OKEKE

N

igeria’s leading aviation ground handling companies- Aviation Handling Services (AHS), Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (Nahco Aviance) and the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc have been urged to consider price adjustment, instead of price increase, in order to survive the effects of the current Covid-19 pandemic.

Harold Demuren, a former director- general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) made the call at recent webinar organised by the Association of Aviation Ground Handlers (AGHAN).

The webinar titled, “The impact of Covid-19 on the Nigerian aviation ground handling industry: Safety, rates, regulation,” was attended by key players in the aviation industry. Demuren, who was one of the panellists, emphasised that foreign airlines should pay the dollar equivalent for ground handling services rendered to it in order to ensure the survival of the aviation ground handling companies.

Also speaking, Olaniyi Adigun, chairman of AGHAN, who is also the executive director, sales and marketing of SAHCO Plc explained that AGHAN was created to represent, advocate policies and regulation for the overall interest of the members of the association.

He stated further that the creation of AGHAN would foster an enabling environment to build and reach a consensus on critical aviation ground handling matters.

On his part, Akin Olateru, the commissioner/chief

executive officer of the Accident Investigation Bureau of Nigeria (AIB), urged AGHAN to stop the price war.

Olateru encouraged the aviation ground handlers to collaborate more and improve on their service delivery to airlines and other clients.

He also said that SAHCO and NAHCO should synergise to get appropriate pricing for the services they provide.

He called on ground handlers to improve on their service delivery by reducing turnaround time for carriers while also applying new innovation that will break the operational silos from the traditional primary services to innovative secondary and tertiary services.

Olatokunbo Fagbemi, group managing director and chief executive officer NAHCO Plc, in her remarks, called on all stakeholders to work together for the survival of the industry. According to her, the aviation industry is the worst hit by the pandemic, and by extension, the ground handling companies’’.

Fagbemi noted that the time has come for stakeholders to fashion out a survival strategy, get the buy in and support of the regulators and above all seek and push for government interventions.

She further suggested that ground handlers should be given national awards for their efforts at sustaining the industry. “We are not charging appropriately, even pre Covid-19. Let’s get what is due to us so we can survive, and we need the help of everybody to grow, we shouldn’t engage in destruction of wealth by the introduction of self-handling, instead, appropriate pricing should be implemented”.

Traffic cost to Lagos economy to surge 40% on back of 3rd Mainland Bridge closure Bunmi Bailey

C

ost implications of traffic jams for Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital city, is expected to accelerate to 40 percent on the partial closure of the 11.8km Third Mainland Bridge, one of the three bridges connecting the Lagos Island and Lagos Mainland.

A recent report by Bismarck Rewane, chief executive of Lagos-based Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) presented at the Lagos Business School (LBS) breakfast meeting last week, revealed that the bridge closure could escalate the annual cost of traffic by roughly 40 percent to $17 billion, while estimating that some $12.8 billion is lost yearly to traffic conges-

tion in Lagos.

Traffic, a condition on transport that is characterised by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queuing has almost become a norm in Nigeria’s commercial due to a number of factors, some of which are poor road network, vehicular density, bad driving, lack of respect for extant traffic rules and regulations, among others.

From a 2019 World Bank document titled “The cost of air pollution in Lagos,” the former capital city, which accounts for some 11 percent of Nigeria’s estimated 200 million population, is notable for its perennial high traffic congestion, with most commuters spending at least three hours in traffic daily and the number of vehicles in

Lagos has almost quadrupled during the last decade, reaching five million per day on the road.

The document further stated that vehicle records in Lagos indicate an average of about 227 vehicles per kilometre of road per day- considerably more than the national average of 11 vehicles per kilometre of road per day.

T h e T h i rd Ma i n l a n d Bridge which is closed for a period of six months from July 24, 2020 to January 23, 2021 is to enable the federal ministry of works and housing carry out repair works on the expansion joints and other identified areas with defects.

And with the ongoing repair works, coupled with the partial closure of the bridge, motorists have been experi-

encing more tortuous driving, longer travel time and time lost in traffic that could have been spent in doing work to gain money, thereby reducing labour productively.

“The cost might look negligible because it accounts for about two to three percent of Nigeria’s GDP. Nonetheless, it shows Nigeria is missing out on the opportunity to expand productivity at a faster pace”, said Damilola Adewale, a Lagos-based economic analyst. “This might justify why actual growth has been lagging potential growth in recent years,” he added.

According to the report, prior to the bridge closure, the estimated annual cost of traffic was put at $12.8 billion which is 11.93 percent of the state’s GDP and 3.16 percent of national GDP.

L-R: Adesoji Olasoko, general secretary; Kola Ajimoko, 1st vice president; Magnus Nnoka, president; Ezekiel Oseni, 2nd vice president, and Victor Olannye, executive secretary, all of Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN), at the association’s membership induction programme in Lagos.

Tanker drivers to resume supply as Bitcoin offers Nigerian diaspora new ways of remitting money home Lagos, NUPENG resolve impasse JOSHUA BASSEY

P

etroleum tanker drivers are set to resume lifting of products from today following a resolution reached between Lagos State government and Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).

The union had directed its members- petroleum tankers, to withdraw their service in Lagos from Monday, August 10, to protest harassment, intimation and extortion by security personnel and street urchins (area boys), insisting that the strike would continue until the Lagos State government stepped in.

At a meeting between the government and representatives of the union which lasted for some hours on Monday, the parties agreed that the state government would meet with various security agencies and secure their commitment to ensure free passage for tankers. The state government also promised to address the men-

ace of area boys in Lagos.

The government in a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and signed by Olalere Odusote, Lags State commissioner for energy and mineral resources, and Solomon Kilanko, deputy national president of NUPENG, the government also promised to look into the issue of bad roads, which the tanker drivers also complained about.

The government further promised to check the issue of overloading of trucks and come up with appropriate timing for tankers’ movement in Lagos within the next two weeks.

The tanker drivers commenced the strike on Monday, August 10, to protest what they term harassment, intimidation and unrestrained extortion by security personnel and other groups, in Lagos. They list those involved to include the police, FRSC, LASTMA, street urchins, who stop petroleum tankers at will, to demand for money before allowing passage in different parts of Lagos metropolis. www.businessday.ng

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

B

itcoin is offering Nigerians in diaspora new ways sidestepping multiple exchange rates, high and sometimes hidden charges and the lack of interoperable platforms.

Although the financial technologies (FINTECH) ecosystem has provided appreciable solutions, exchange rate arbitrage opportunities remain. Nigeria occupies a special place among the countries who suffer the most.

Overseas Development Institute (ODI) had a report published in 2016 that Africans are paying the world’s highest money transfer fees; an average of 12 percent in fees to transfer money back to relatives in Nigeria. In addition to the huge fees, the foreign currency gets converted using uncertain exchange rates.

With bitcoin, a new kind of money that is created based on mathematical proof and held electronically without any centralised banks or govern-

ment authority, money can be sent from abroad to family or friends (beneficiaries) in Nigeria at extremely low fees and better exchange rates than banks and money transfer operators, using a bitcoin wallet.

What is a bitcoin wallet?

Bitcoin wallets operate like a financial institution account, an area wherein the holder can send and receive bitcoins from different bitcoin users. This is available at Redimit or Binance.

Bitcoin wallets enable the sending and receiving of the cryptocurrency by adhering to the bitcoin protocol. These wallets are intricate software programmes that enable individuals with little to no technical knowledge to interact with the bitcoin blockchain to transact value globally, without barriers.

There are several Nigeriaprimarily based and bitcoin platforms. A bitcoin wallet holder can purchase, send or receive bitcoins using Naira Nigeria; top of them are platforms like Binance, Redimit, Quidax and Patricia.

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

How to send bitcoins to Nigeria Once the bitcoin is obtained the holder could move in advance and create a bitcoin sell order at Redimit with the quantity of bitcoin to be sent. The guidelines below will be helpful.

Four simple steps in bitcoin sell order Visit RedimIT or any other bitcoin exchange and click on sell bitcoin. Enter the value of bitcoin in United States dollar and the sender/receivers bank details. Copy Redimit’s wallet to send bitcoin. Upon receipt, naira will be paid instantly into the receiver’s bank. After receiving the bitcoin, Redimit can pay naira into the Nigerian bank account.

Remittances to Nigeria from the diaspora have increased by 210.30 percent in the past decade. It rose from $5.66 billion recorded in 2010 to $17.57 billion as of November 2019.

The available options to send and receive money in Nigeria include Western Union, Ria Money Transfer and Payoneer.

Other options which allow only @Businessdayng

receipt of money in Nigeria are Transferwise and Paypal.

So far, Chipper Cash, which was launched in 2014, is probably one of the easiest solutions to cross-country money transfer. But it currently works only in seven African countries, namely: Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria and South Africa.

Recently, however, more cryptocurrency platforms are beginning to explore the opportunities available in remittances.

Last year, Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange partnered with Flutterwave to allow naira deposits on its platform.

In February 2020, Patricia Technologies Limited launched a debit card that enables users to withdraw money from their Bitcoin wallet at any ATM (Automated Teller Machine).

How long does sell order take to complete?

Sell bitcoin order on Redimit are usually completed within minutes. Order will be completed when admin has verified bitcoin in the admin wallet.

32

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Monday 10 August, 2020

Top Gainers/Losers as at Monday 10August, 2020 LOSERS

GAINERS

ASI (Points)

Opening

Closing

Change

Company

Opening

Closing

Change

GUINNESS

N14.1

N15

0.9

BUACEMENT

N39.5

N38.95

-0.55

UNILEVER

N11.2

N12

0.8

UACN

N6.2

N5.9

-0.3

N17

N17.5

0.5

ETI

N4.25

N4.05

-0.2

VOLUME (Numbers)

WAPCO

N11.75

N12

0.25

UBA

N6.55

N6.45

-0.1

VALUE (N billion)

UCAP

N3.03

N3.24

0.21

ZENITHBANK

N16.9

N16.8

-0.1

MARKET CAP (N Trn)

Company

CAP

DEALS (Numbers)

25,027.61 4,294.00 175,326,302.00 1.425 13.055

Nigeria’s stock market opens week on a negative note

…as investors take profit in BUA Cement, UACN, ETI, others

Soties by Iheanyi Nwachukwu

N

igeria’s stock market opened this week on a negative note as investors moved to take profit in value counters like BUA Cement, UACN, ETI, Zenith Bank and UBA. The market’s benchmark performance index –the NSE All Share Index (ASI) dipped on Monday August 10 by 0.06percent to 25,027.61 points while the value of listed equities closed lower at N13.055trillion as against day open high of 25,041.89 points and N13.063 trillion respectively. This implies that investors lost about N8billion.

Afrinvest research analysts anticipate a mixed performance this week “as investors react to more corporate earnings releases.” However, the analysts expect to see some profittaking activities “given the bullish performance last week”. Stocks had gained about N180billion last week.

Also, United Capital re-

search analysts said they expect to see some profittaking activities given the bullish performance in the last two weeks. “However, we expect investors to position for the possibility of interim dividend announcements by tier-1 banks who are yet to publish their financial results,” United Capital analysts added.

The market’s negative return year-to-date (YtD) increased to -6.76percent.

In 4,294 deals, investors exchanged 175,326,302 units valued at N1.425billion.

FBN Holdings, Unilever, GTBank, Fidelity and Jaiz Bank were actively traded stocks. BUA Cement stock price decreased most, from N39.5 to N38.95, losing 55kobo or 1.39per-

cent. UACN also lost its value from N6.2 to N5.9, down 30kobo or 4.84percent. ETI decreased from N4.25 to N4.05, down by 20kobo or 4.71percent. Zenith Bank also decreased from N16.9 to N16.8, losing 10kobo or 0.59percent, while UBA decreased from N6.55 to N6.45, losing 10kobo or 1.53percent.

Verod Group acquires AXA Mansard Pension

A

XA Mansard Insurance plc has divested from its subsidiary, AXA Mansard Pensions Limited.

After obtaining the Shareholder’s approval at the Company’s Extra Ordinary General Meeting held on February 13, 2020, the Company commenced the process of divestment by appointing Messer Rand Merchant Bank as the Financial Advisers while Aluko & Oyebode acted as the Legal Advisers on the transaction.

Upon completion of a bid process, Eustacia Limited (a member of the Verod Group) was selected as the

preferred bidder. The Company along with the minority Shareholder entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Eustacia Limited to divest the entire issued ordinary share capital of AXA Mansard Pensions comprising of 60percent shareholding (2,067,672,000 shares) held by AXA Mansard Insurance plc and 40percent shareholding (1,378,448,000 shares) held by the minority shareholder.

The divestment has received letters of No Objection from the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), National Pension Commission (PENCOM), and the Federal www.businessday.ng

Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC). The completion of the divestment is subject to the receipt of the final approval of the National Pension Commission.

Commenting on the divestment, Kunle Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, AXA Mansard Insurance Plc said: “This transaction marks a new step in AXA´s broader strategy to focus on and grow our Life, Property & Casualty (P&C) and Health businesses across all its geographies. The AXA Group sees great potential in the Nigerian insurance market and believes AXA Mansard

is ideally placed to capture these opportunities, thanks to its market leadership positions in Health Insurance, Property & Casualty and Life Insurance. We plan to capitalize on our successes to further build our capabilities and continue to deliver the best offers & services to our customers”.

Speaking of the transaction, Dapo Akisanya, CEO of AXA Mansard Pensions Limited said, “We are confident about Verod’s strong commitment to providing the Company with the requisite support to actualize our promise to our clients and stakeholders.

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

Global market indicators FTSE 100 Index 6,050.59GBP +18.41+0.31%

Nikkei 225 22,329.94JPY -88.21-0.39%

S&P 500 Index 3,350.51USD -0.77-0.02%

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 12,687.53EUR +12.65+0.10%

Generic 1st ‘DM’ Future 27,583.00USD +250.00+0.91%

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 3,379.25CNY +25.22+0.75%

Agusto upgrades FCMB Asset Management’s Legacy Money Market Fund rating to A(f)

L

egacy Money Market Fund, a mutual fund managed by FCMB Asset Management Limited (FCMBAM), has received a rating upgrade. The Fund’s rating has been upgraded from A-(f) to A(f) by Agusto & Co, a foremost panAfrican rating agency. FCMBAM is the asset management arm of FCMB Group Plc, one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions.

According to Agusto & Co., “the higher rating of A(f) reflects Legacy Money Market Fund’s conservative credit and liquidity profile. Since the launch of the Fund in February 2019, it has maintained good credit quality of underlying investments, with assets held in securities with well rated entities”.

The Legacy Money Market Fund is a low risk, open-ended, Nigerian Naira-denominated mutual fund that invests in Money Market Instruments.

It is registered with the Se-

curities and Exchange Commission. Itsprimary objective is to preserve capital, and its secondary objective is to generate stable income for investors. The Fund’s performance benchmark is the average yield on the 90-day Nigerian Treasury bill. The Fund is targeted at individual and institutional investors. The minimum initial subscription in the Fund is N1,000, while the minimum holding period is 1 month.

Investors in the Legacy Money Market Fund or any of FCMBAM’s other mutual funds can access their investment accounts 24/7/365, through FCMBAM’s Customer Portal.

Speaking on the upgrade of the Fund’s credit rating from A-(f) to A(f) by Agusto & Co, the Chief Executive Officer of FCMBAM, James Ilori, said, “given the low-risk nature of the Legacy Money Market Fund, capital preservation is given utmost attention, in our investment decisions.

Samsung Electronics unveils five new power devices to empower your work, play

S

amsung Electronics Co., Ltd. hosted it’s first-ever Galaxy Unpacked virtual event live streamed from Korea to introduce a new suite of power devices.

Five devices were revealed during the event, that seamlessly integrate to empower consumers navigating a rapidly changing world: Galaxy Note20 and Galaxy Note20 Ultra, the most powerful Note series yet; Galaxy Z Fold2, the next generation foldable smartphone with enhanced refinements, Galaxy Buds Live, stylish and ergonomic ear buds with amazing sound quality; Tab S7 and S7+, versatile tablets for productivity and creativity; Galaxy Watch3, a premium smart watch along with advanced health features.

“Never before have we relied on technology like we are today. It’s how we are staying connected as we navigate the extraordinary challenges faced around the world,” said Caden Yu, Managing Director, Samsung Nigeria.

The Note series introduces new Mystic colors – soft neutral tones that transcend

@Businessdayng

changing trends with a brand new, textured haze effect that cuts down on fingerprints and smudges. Galaxy Note20 Ultra in Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black, Mystic White while Note20 is available in Mystic Bronze, Mystic Green, Mystic Gray.

Some of the highlight of Note 20 series that embraces the new normal.

Power to Work An Advanced S Pen: The enhanced S Pen offers the ultimate writing experience so you can capture your ideas whenever inspiration strikes. It gives you more accuracy and responsiveness delivering text similar to pen on paper. The S Pen’s actions makes touch less navigation of your device possible – like returning to the home screen or taking a screenshot – as simple as a flick of the wrist More Flexible and Useful Samsung Notes App Experience Samsung Notes app features auto-save and syncing capabilities, so lost work becomes a thing of the past and you can pick up right where you left off as you move from device to device.

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

33

34

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

POLITICS & POLICY Desperate moments in Edo and INEC burden of conducting election in Covid-19 era ZEBULON AGOMUO

A

llegations of assassination plots, plans to use the security agencies to rig election, invasion of state House of Assembly, and clashes between the supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have continued to raise the fears that the Edo State gubernatorial election slated for September 19, 2020 is already destined to be marred by huge violence of the stature that transpired in Kogi State on November 16 last year.

Observers have called on the Federal Government and its agencies to urgently wade in to nip in the bud any breach of public peace that could also result in loss of lives and property.

Whereas Nigerians believe it is the responsibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to superintend over the election and working hand-in-glove with the security agents to ensure a violencefree exercise, the Commission is seemingly passing the buck, saying it had no powers to sanction politicians and political powers that sponsor violence.

The Commission said its duty is to make recommendations to security agents for appropriate sanctions whenever it believes peace was breached by politicians or political parties.

Critics therefore, say with INEC disposition, politicians would continue to sponsor violence and that security agents are not likely to be non-partisan since they determine who to punish or otherwise.

It is in the opinion of pundits that INEC’s failure to punish politicians and political parties responsible for the widespread violence that tainted the 2019 general election and the off-season gubernatorial polls in Kogi and Bayelsa States last year may have emboldened others to take to violence.

Although INEC noted last year the ignoble role played by the security agencies and rented thugs in the Kogi poll, the public is yet to be told of any sanction meted out to the perpetrators of the violence and the violent murder of some innocent indigenes of the state before, during and shortly after the exercise.

That failure may have fueled the fear that the threat of violence in Edo may likely go the way of others that have remained unaddressed.

Whereas Nigerians expect urgent halt to the threat or signs of misuse of the security agency, which has already reared its ugly head in Edo, INEC is seemingly postponing the evil day by saying that it will convene a stakeholders’ meeting in the next one or two weeks.

Mahmood Yakubu

However, in a television interview monitored Sunday evening, Festus Okoye, INEC’s national commissioner and chairman of Information and Voter Education, said that the INEC was determined to conduct the Edo election and that the Commission was not sleeping on the dangerous signs that are showing up in Edo State ahead of the election.

“We are still going to convene a meeting of inter-agency consultative committee on election security to review the security in Edo and Ondo and then take pro-active measures to make sure we reduce to the barest minimum acts of violence that are capable of crippling the smooth conduct of the elections,” Okoye said.

According to him, “We are looking at the situation; we are not glossing over anything.

We are looking at everything holistically and we are going to take a very concrete and formidable position that will enable us move into Edo State and conduct election to the satisfaction of Edo people.”

Despite the social distancing order and other rules that must be observed as part of the protocols in line with the coronavirus pandemic, the INEC has continued to watch akimbo as citizens lives are put in danger while political parties in Edo engage in reckless “body-to-body” campaign.

When asked what the Commission was doing to check such campaigns that expose people to danger, Okoye said: “The rules of campaign and rallies are both constitutional and statutory. Political parties have the right to exist; they have the right to freedom of association and the right to freedom of expression. So, to that particular extent they have the right to meet. They also have the

right to campaign. But the law has made provision on the things they can do and their campaign and what they can do or not do on their campaign rallies.

“It is our responsibility to monitor some of these campaigns. If we feel very, very strongly that a particular party has fallen off the radar or a political party is doing something that is untoward, we document such activities and then forward to the security agencies, and it is now left for the security agencies to enforce the law in terms of conducting investigation and also in terms of prosecuting the political parties or a candidate before a properly constituted court of law.”

When asked if the law does not empower the INEC to stop a political campaign that appears to be putting the lives of people and their supporters at risk in the manner they are conducting their campaign, he said: “You have to look at the whole issue within a particular context. Now, Edo and Ondo States have laws regulating the conduct of individuals and groups during this pandemic period. These laws are enforceable by various state governments. So, if a political party in conducting rallies and campaigns falls foul of the law, it is the responsibility of the state government and of the security agencies to enforce the state law.

“We also have different regulations and different guidelines that border on the conduct of political parties and individuals during this period. If a political party falls short of those laws, it is not the responsibility of the INEC to arrest, investigate and prosecute; there are agencies and commissions that are statutorily saddled with this particular responsibility.”

According to him, “Our responsibility

is to document some of these issues and if we feel very, very strongly that a political party is doing things that have the capacity to jeopardise political process, we will make a formal report to the security agencies and it is left for the security agencies to take it from there.”

Okoye added that “From what we have documented so far and from what we have seen, some of the political parties in their rallies and campaigns have no regard whatsoever on the issue of social distancing and issue of wearing face marks during their rallies. Some of the campaigns have also been tainted with vain language, slanderous language, and with intemperate language capable of inflaming passion.

“There have also been threats of violence and use of force in this election. What we want to do is that, we want to be inclusive and consultative. We are going to meet with the candidates themselves, we are going to meet with the political parties, campaign councils and we are going to meet with the inter-agency consultative committee of the election security, different religious and traditional institutions to give them information at our disposal and to tell them the consequences of proceeding in a manner that jeopardises the peace and security and the challenges of going ahead with an election where the lives of our ad-hoc staff and others would be jeopardised.”

Okoye further said that the political parties know what the consequences are and that they know that as a regulatory agency saddled with the responsibility of organising, conducting and superintending elections that “we have the power to make sure that nobody jeopardises the lives of those we are going to deploy to go and conduct this election.”

On the extent the Covid-19 would impact the cost of conducting elections in Edo and Ondo States, the commissioner, who refused to give idea of the total cost of conducting the two elections, saying he did not have the figures by heart, however, said: “We now have to provide face masks for our ad-hoc staff, hand sanitisers, methylated spirit and we have to observe social distancing in terms of number of buses we hire and other things we do.”

“On the other hand, there are certain things that we can no longer do physically, for instance, some of our meetings are now done virtually, in which case, if we are saving the cost of air transportation, the cost of hotel bills, so, these costs saved from air transportation and hotel bills are now put into providing pharmaceutical interventions in this particular election. But in all, I must say that Covid-19 has created challenges for us and has jacked up just a little bit, the cost of conducting elections,” he said.

Deregistration of parties: Appeal Court sets aside high court judgment Felix Omohomhion, Abuja

T

he Appeal Court Monday set aside the judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja which held that the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) has the power to deregister political parties.

Justice Anwuli Chikere, a federal high court in Abuja had on June 11 in a judgment held that Section 225(a) of the Constitution gives INEC the powers to deregister parties that failed to comply with the provisions of the Constitution.

No fewer than 32 political parties had ap-

proached the high court seeking order to set aside the decision of INEC to deregister 74 political parties in the country that failed to make constitutional requirements to function as political party.

However, the court refused the prayers of the plaintiffs and upheld the constitutional powers of INEC to deregister political parties.

In January this year, also Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the same court in Abuja had in two separate judgments upheld the same powers of INEC. Justice Taiwo affirmed the deregistration of the National Unity Party (NUP) and the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) by the electoral www.businessday.ng

commission.

Not satisfied with the judgment, the Advance Congress of Democrats and the Progressive People Alliance, which were among the 74 political parties that deregistered on February 6, 2020, approached the appellate court to set aside the decision of the trial court.

However, in a judgment on Monday, which was prepared by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem and was delivered Justice Sodipe Lokulo, the Appeal Court held that the deregistration of the political parties in February this year was illegal.

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

The court held that INEC failed to follow due process in deregistering the parties.

The court also held that INEC’s action failed to adhere to section 225(a) of the 1999 constitution as amended.

The court added that INEC’s failure to adduce reasons for the deregistration made the deregistration illegal.

The electoral commission in its submission had told the court that the deregistered parties breached sections as required by the constitution to win at least 25percent of votes cast in one state of the federation during the last presidential election.

@Businessdayng

Tuesday 11 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

35

abujacitybusiness Comprehensive coverage of Nation’s capital

Taraba slashes 2020 budget by N39.207bn, allocates N22bn for COVID-19

L-R: Festus Okoye, national commissioner, information and voters education, Mumahmmed Haruna, national commissioner in charge of national State INEC, Mammud Yakubu, national chairman INEC and Uthman Ajidagba, resident electoral commissioner, Nasarawa State INEC during a stakeholders meeting with political parties on Nasarawa bye election under Covid-19, held in Nasawara. picture by TUNDE ADENIYI.

Nathaniel Gbaoron, Jalingo

T

he Taraba state government has announced the downward review of the 2020 budget by N39.207 billion as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The State Commissioner of Budget and Planning, Solomon Elisha who disclosed this at a press conference in Jalingo said that the review had become necessary to address the present economic realities and to accommodate new unavoidable trends result-

Aliyu assures town planners of improved budget in 2021 James Kwen, Abuja

T

he Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister of State, Ranatu Aliyu has assured members of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, that efforts would be made for improved budgetary provisions in 2021 budget.

She said this is in view of the critical roles town planners play through review and implementation of physical plans for satellite towns, urban renewal, and other levels of planning interventions.

Aliyu who gave the assurance when members of the management of the planning profession paid her a courtesy visit, also stressed that recent flooding in most

parts of the territory could have been avoided if town planners were actively engaged in the physical planning of satellite towns and settlements.

The Minister who is also a town planner by profession frowned at the conflicts of roles between physical planners and engineers and other allied professionals, saying “this is an era to redefine the essence of town planning in Nigeria”.

She said: “How can town planning not be given prominence and engineering takes precedence? And this what we faced as a professional body. The flooding which is unexpected is as a result of neglecting town planners.

Perhaps, it is an opportunity for town planners to also sit together and see how they can salvage the situation.

“However, in the FCT and with the approval of the FCT Minister, we set up an adhoc committee of town planners to go round the city to see what has been done and what is left undone. This is because if we continue to do the same thing again and again, we should not expect different result. I can tell you proudly that in the past, powers were usurped and realities are now telling on us. This is an era to redefine the essence of town planning in Nigeria”.

Aliyu appealed to members of the National Assembly to assist the profession for improved budgetary provisions for the implementation of physical plans for satellite towns and urban management.

Earlier in his remarks, the leader of delegation and Na-

UNICEF charges Nigerians on exclusive breastfeeding to promote healthier growth in children amidst COVID-19 pandemic Cynthia Egboboh, Abuja

T

he United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has urged mothers to continue practicing exclusive breastfeeding during the COVID-19 pandemic while observing all necessary safety and hygiene precautions.

UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), in a joint statement urged governments to find innovative solutions to protect and promote women’s access to breastfeeding counselling, a critical component of breastfeeding support as only 29 percent of Nigerian children between the ages of 0 to 6 months are exclusively breastfed.

“The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for stronger measures to support exclusive breastfeeding, as Nigeria joins the world to celebrate this year’s World Breastfeeding Week themed “Supporting breastfeeding for a healthier planet”, the organizations said.

Peter Hawkins, UNICEF’s Representative in Nigeria noted that breast milk saves children’s lives as it provides antibodies that give babies a healthy boost and protect them against many childhood illnesses.

“While researchers continue to test breast milk from mothers with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, current evidence indicate that it is unlikely that COVID-19 would be www.businessday.ng

transmitted through breastfeeding”.

“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, like most emergencies, leaves families with children in an extremely vulnerable position. Given the present lack of evidence that transmission of the virus could occur through breast milk, we recommend that mothers should be encouraged to initiate and continue to breastfeed their babies while observing good hygiene practices”, he said.

Hawkins noted that breast milk substitutes such as infant formula, other milk products, and beverages do not only contribute negatively to the health and development of the child, but also to environmental degradation and climate change.

tional President of Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Lekwa Ezutah, commended the Minister for what he described as “demonstrated passion and commitment to the course of physical planning” in Nigeria particularly in the Federal Capital Territory since assumption of office as FCT Minister of State.

While appreciating the efforts at creating the Directorate of Physical Planning in FCT Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD), he implored the Directorate of Physical Planning be given the full latitude to exercise its functions instead of being subsumed under the Directorate of Engineering Services of the STDD, noting that such step would promote effective delivery of services by the Directorate.

ing from the COVID-19.

Elisha said that the new budget which has been signed into law by t h e St at e G ove r n o r, Darius Ishaku without a ceremony, now stands at N176.616 billion as against the initial N215.823 billion.

He further disclosed that a total of N22.231 billion, representing 12.60% total expenditure of the revised budget is dedicated t o C OV I D - 1 9 re s p o n s e cutting across sectors bordering on crisis, recovery, mitigation livelihood and palliative.

Abdulrazaq constitutes visitation panels to Kwara Poly, Aviation College Sikirat Shegu, Ilorin

K

wara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has approved the constitution of Visitation Panel for the Kwara State Polytechnic to be chaired by Fatai Bello.

Bello was Country Representative of the Global Fund, a United Nations agency in Nigeria and former Council member of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Ilorin.

Other members of the panel are Suleiman. Talban Lafiagi; Abdulganiyu Sani, a Chartered Accountant/ forensic audit expert; Muyideen Aliyu, Rtd Director of SSS; Yetunde Adekeye, former Principal, School of Midwifery; Asmau Yusuf Saka, Rtd banker/Accountant. Assistant Director of the Kwara State Ministry of

Tertiary Education, Science and Technology (MOTEST), Ayansola Justina, will act as the secretary of the visitation panel.

The Governor has also accepted the appointment of A.G.F. Alabi (Prof), former Dean, College of Engineering, KWASU, as chairman of International Aviation College Visitation Panel, with C.O Olaosebikan, a Director of MOTEST, as the Secretary.

Other members of the visitation panel are: Rtd. Group Captain Ibrahim Adebayo (member); Abdul Fatai Olajide, Private Chartered Accountant and Auditor (member); Rtd.Captain Joel Adewale Ore, Rtd Air pilot and Instructor (member); Christiana Titilayo Amudipe, a primary health consultant and retired health practitioner (Member); and Mansuru A. Bako (Member).

Military brokers peace, commissions boreholes in Plateau, Benue Godsgift Onyedinefu, Abuja

T

roops of Operation Safe Haven have commissi o n e d t w o s o lar powered boreholes at Messiah College and Gana Ropp communities in Barkin Ladi local government area of Plateau State and have also commenced the survey for the drilling of boreholes at Shimlang community in Mangu Local Government Area of the state.

John Enenche, Coordinator, Defence Media Operations (DMO) who disclosed this said the activity was part of the Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC).

The Coordinator also

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

informed that Headquarters of Op eration Safe Haven, as part of Reconciliation and Conciliation efforts, fostered several stakeholders meeting between 1st and 4th August 2020.

“Areas covered in this regard include communities in Sanga and Jama’a Local Government Areas of Kaduna State, Barkin Ladi and Bassa Local Government Areas of Plateau State. Meetings were also held at Headquarters of Sectors 3 and 4 of Operation Safe Haven. Issues discussed centred on habitual and peaceful coexistence among the various ethnic groups”, he said. @Businessdayng

Similarly, Enenche said the Headquar ters Operation Whirl Stroke held peace-meetings in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State between the Ardo of the Fulani community and the Tiv leaders in the general area. Discussions centred on peaceful coexistence among them.

He noted that these non-kinetic efforts were s u p p o r t e d by o n g o i n g kinetic operations in the form of ambushes, raids, and clearance patrols at various locations which resulted in “appreciable successes within the period under review. Notably, between 30 July and 1 August 2020.

Thebigread

BUSINESS DAY Tuesday 11 August 2020 www.businessday.ng

Nigerian researchers blaze trail in fight against Covid-19 in Africa

E

de, Nigeria — “Strong people don’t put others down — they lift them up.”

So says the discreet sign at the entrance to one of the most remarkable research facilities in Africa.

Run by a Cameroon-raised, Harvard-trained molecular biologist, the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) has been at the forefront in the fight of killer diseases such as Ebola, Lassa fever — and now Covid-19.

The force behind the lab is Prof Christian Happi, who has a steely belief in catapulting young African scientists to the top of scientific research.

“As long as Africa fails to make intellectual contributions, it will always be told what to do,” he said.

ACEGID’S 52-year-old director has already set down a marker in the battle against coronavirus by devising a lowcost test for the highly contagious disease.

“I want to develop simple, inexpensive solutions that are aligned to Africa and our environment,” he said, speaking in his office, its walls decorated with diplomas, awards and photos of his family.

Happi founded his laboratory in 2016 in an ageing building at Redeemer’s University in Ede, an unassuming town in southwest Nigeria, with the help of funding from the World Bank and Nigerian and foreign philanthropists.

Since then, nearly 1,000 scientists, most of them Nigerians and the others from West Africa, have passed through its doors to gain top-level experience in biochemistry and genomics.

A gleaming new building — “the biggest genomic research centre in Africa” — is scheduled to open by the end of 2020 in the tropical forests around Ede. Quick test “It makes sense to be here in Nigeria. This country is the giant of Africa — if it fails, the entire continent will fail with it,” said Happi.

Nigeria is not only home to about 200-million people — its vast territory, stretching from the edge of the Sahara to the tropical coastline of the Gulf of Guinea, also hosts epidemics ranging from malaria and typhoid to meningitis, cholera and yellow fever.

This year, every mind at ACEGID is focused on Covid-19.

Nature.

“But we are demonstrating that the continent’s scientists can generate crucial data in the global fight against Covid-19 — as well as contributing to the field of genomics.”

Happi and Ihekweazu know each other well and have a common foe.

“Professor Happi is a tough character — we have a lot of debates, but both of us know that we are committed to Africa and to the country,” said Ihekweazu.

Professor Christian Happi

Nigeria has officially recorded about 800 deaths and more than 30,000 cases, but the true extent of infection is likely to be much wider, given huge, dense populations in Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja and Kano, where social distancing is almost impossible.

The country carries out on average only 3,000 tests a day — a drop in the ocean for what is needed.

Happi’s team in Ede has developed a fast-track test that has already been certified by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is being vetted for use in Nigeria and across Africa.

The test — which resembles the kind of simple dip stick used for pregnancies — costs about $3 each, against about $100 for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, a method that requires an expensive, wellequipped lab.

“I’m not interested in the big PCR machines used in Europe or the United States, which no public hospital here can afford,” said Happi, striding between

laboratories.

“I want tests that a grandmother in a village can get done in her rural clinic.”

Happi’s quest for simplicity is being conducted with state-ofthe-art equipment.

It was the first lab to sequence the genetic profile of the new coronavirus in Africa — a feat that took just a few days after the first case of the disease showed up in Lagos in early March.

The speed was “incredible”, said Chikwe Ihekweazu, head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

“Previously we would have done it in Europe or in the States.”

There are many advantages to having research excellence on one’s doorstep.

“The virus can evolve rapidly and in many ways. With genomic sequencing you have the ability to study that in real time,” said Ihekweazu.

“People might have thought that this work was impossible in Africa,” Happi said in June in the prestigious science journal

Harvard research In Cameroon, where he caught malaria as a child, Happi trained in biochemistry before going to Britain in 1998 at the age of 30 to attend a conference on malaria.

At the time, Africa was almost literally the country cousin in terms of its status in world research, and Happi recalled arriving at London’s Heathrow Airport — “a little African with a big suitcase, and feeling a little lost”.

But he made a big impact in the conference at Oxford, where as one of the few African attendees he put forward “a bunch of wacky ideas” for using gene technology in vaccines.

Such methods are at the heart of several Covid vaccines being researched today, but at the time such thinking was out of the mainstream, and Happi was snapped up by Harvard to carry out research there.

He studied and then taught there for a dozen years, specialising in malaria, a disease that claims nearly 400,000 lives each year, almost 100,000 of them in Nigeria alone.

“As long as research is not carried out on the continent, there will be no vaccine,” said Happi.

“You have to be here.”

It wasn’t his interest in malaria that brought him home, but Lassa fever — a deadly haemorrhagic cousin of Ebola.

In 2007, learning about the disease that killed about 700 Nigerians each year, Happi was stupefied to find that tests for Lassa were sent to Germany. In the time it took to get the results back, 90% of patients had already died.

“It is completely unacceptable that a disease discovered in 1969 still does not have diagnostics in 2007,” he said at the time.

He spent the next year raising funds and headed to Irrua, in southern Nigeria, where he built a lab.

There he trained two young people who were fresh out of high school in the basics of microbiology, and conducted Africa’s first-ever home-grown tests for Lassa fever.

“There was nothing, no manpower or equipment,” he recalled.

“There wasn’t even electricity.

We had to use a car battery to power the PCR machine!”

Today, Lassa tests are carried out much faster and with less trepidation. The disease, which is endemic to Nigeria, claims between 100 and 200 lives each year.

Bolstered by this experience, Happi founded ACEGID, which became a crucible of learning about African microbes — he recently discovered the Ekpoma 1 and Ekpoma 2 viruses, among hundreds of viral strains that inhabit tropical forests in West Africa.

Despite these successes, the obstacles to setting down a solid foundation for African research are many.

Many scientists, doctors and health workers are lured abroad by the offer of higher pay and better working conditions.

“Young African students may be educated in the best universities of the world, but if there is no structure to welcome them in Africa once they have graduated, it’s no good,” Happi said.

‘Make an impact’ Idowu Olawoye, 27, studied molecular biology and computer science in England before returning home in 2016.

He insisted it was no problem for him to work in Ede, a small town that lies more than six hours by road from Lagos, Nigeria’s vibrant economic hub.

“I really want to make an impact in my country,” he said.

His role is to sift through genetic changes in a coronavirus sample that, when compared with other samples, show how the pathogen has spread.

“Look, here you can see on this graph ... It’s like you are reading its passport,” he said.

His colleague, Jessica Uwamibe, 29, a doctorate in molecular biology, has been working on the final touches to the Covid-19 test, and is now researching a vaccine based on the genetic profile of the virus found among Nigerian patients.

“Here we have the diseases — and now we have the knowledge and the facilities,” Uwamibe said.

“Where else would I go?”

AFP

Published by BusinessDAY Media Ltd., The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos. Advert Hotline: 08033225506. Subscriptions 01-2950687, 07045792677. Newsroom: 08169609331 Editor: Patrick Atuanya. All correspondence to BusinessDAY Media Ltd., Box 1002, Festac Lagos. ISSN 1595 - 8590.