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news you can trust I ** friDAY 15 may 2020 I vol. 19, no 564

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Hospitality industry bleeds as businesses remain shut … Eko Hotel rethinks strategy OBINNA EMELIKE & MICHAEL ANI

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To reinforce the measures instituted to contain the community spread of COVID-19, the Lagos State government has begun an extensive public enlightenment campaign, which will extend to the 20 local governments and 37 LCDAs.

Life without palliatives means deeper poverty for low, middle-class Nigerians DIPO OLADEHINDE

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ohammed Idris, 35, worked as a driver with one of the interstate transport companies in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, until the lull

in business occasioned by the COVID-19 lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State forced him out of job in April. He is now jobless and hopeless.

Idris, who came to Lagos in search of greener pastures from his hometown in Jigawa State, north-west Nigeria, lost his

means of livelihood after President Muhammadu Buhari on March 29 announced a 14-day lockdown, which later extended to five weeks, in the three key economic centres of the country to contain the spread of coronavirus. A major component of the lockdown was a ban on

interstate travel.

“I came to Lagos to live a better life and send money to my parents, but now daily feeding is a big challenge,” he said.

The situation would have been different for Idris if the Continues on page 29

he COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged the global economy has brought the hospitality industry to its knees, with the Nigerian hospitality industry facing its worst challenge in history as business remains grounded.

The pandemic came at a time the industry was still reeling from the annual JanuaryFebruary business lull, leading to the scaling down of operations to essential services in late February and a total shutdown in mid-March amid less-thandesired room occupancy rate.

The sector recorded over N10 billion revenue loss in the first quarter of 2020.

The five-week lockdown Continues on page 29

Inside

COVID-19: FG says whereabouts of Chinese medial team unknown P. 2 NSIA, Global Citizen launch solidarity support fund in COVID-19 fight P. 2

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COVID-19: FG says whereabouts of Chinese medial team unknown ... raises concerns over non-compliance with quarantine rules by Nigerian returnees TONY AILEMEN, INNOCENT ODOH, HARRISON EDEH & GODSGIFT ONYEDINEFU, Abuja

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he Federal Government on Thursday said it does not know the whereabouts of the Chinese doctors and technicians who came into the country to offer assistance to Nigeria in the fight against the coronavirus.

The shocking statement

by Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Abuja came one month after the controversial arrival of the Chinese medical team.

The arrival of the Chinese doctors and technicians had at the time generated strong criticisms, but

the Federal Government had dispelled such fears of their presence in the country, stressing that they were in the country to help.

But when asked specifically the whereabouts of the Chinese medical team at the daily briefing, Ehanire said: “I want to explain first of all that I think not all of them were doctors and I heard that some of

them are technicians, but they are staff of CCECC, the Ministry of Health is not their host, so we can’t always explain what happened to them or where they are.”

Ehanire said there seems to be a lot of interests in these doctors but they are the staff of a company and are on the Continues on page 29

Sadique Abubakar (l), chief of the air staff, with Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police, during the security meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

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NSIA, Global Citizen launch solidarity support fund in COVID-19 fight … funds targeted at less privileged citizens ANTHONIA OBOKOH, MICHAEL ANI (Lagos) & JAMES KWEN (Abuja)

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he Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and Global Citizen have announced the establishment of a new funding vehicle that will assist in providing Nigeria with immediate and long-term support in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The fund which is known as the ‘Nigeria solidarity support fund’ would be focused on providing immediate and long-term support to those at the lower end of the pyramid, the most vulnerable in the society as well as those in the informal sector of the economy.

It will also assist in strengthening the country’s healthcare system in terms of ramping up Nigeria’s testing capacity and treatment of those struck with the virus, and also reskill-

ing Nigerians to adopt the new normal beyond the pandemic.

The launching of the fund, which was done virtually, was graced by Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, and representatives of both the NSIA and Global Citizen.

Speaking at the launch, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, vice chairman, Global Citizen Nigeria, noted that the funds would be created by Nigerians for Nigeria.

According to him, the impact of the funds will be targeted at areas aimed at mitigating the effects of the pandemic and providing a recovery path for the country amid the pandemic.

He outlined four areas of focus of the funds to be supporting the most vulnerable citizens not just those affected directly by coronavirus but also those whose health and mental issues www.businessday.ng

are being affected, in terms of those who are suffering from significant sexual and other types of abuse at this point in time.

Furthermore, it would strengthen the country’s domestic healthcare systems in the more traditional areas of response such as testing ability, treatment ability, and rescaling and returning Nigeria and its citizens to the new normal that is life beyond post COVID-19.

“We have set up a road map which we have started, to establish one primary healthcare centre in each of the 774 local government areas,” he said.

Aig-Imoukhuede, however, did not mention the size of the funds but said it is in “millions of dollars and billions of naira”.

Michael Sheldrick, chief policy officer for Global Citizen, said the agency’s ongoing commitment to the African continent and, in

particular, Nigeria is motivated by two key factors: the shift in geopolitical power towards emerging markets, and the recognition that developing countries want and need to have agency over their own development.

He explained that Nigeria has a long history of active citizenship, a vibrant democracy, and a powerful pop culture (driven by music, art, and sport) – all of which make it a strong fit for the Global Citizen movement. It is also a gateway to the rest of the African continent and, particularly, key countries like Ghana and Kenya, he said.

“Our involvement in establishing the Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund alongside the NSIA directly aligns with our Nigeria policy direction for 2020 which seeks to mobilise funds and commitment to Nigeria’s most marginalised people,” he said.

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Pension fund, bond market attractive options for financing gas projects ISAAC ANYAOGU

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ith loans to the energy sector constituting over 20 percent of non-performing loans in the banking sector, analysts say the pension fund and bond market are attractive options to finance sorely-needed gas projects in an era where oil is reeling.

Nigerian commercial banks are fatigued from lending to the energy sector after refinancing has done little to assuage default.

With the price of crude oil hovering just above floor prices, it is easy to reject the suggestion of lending to the energy sector.

Nigeria’s pension fund is worth over N10 trillion and with a population where the median age is less than 20, the pot may not dry anytime soon. It would not also be needed as fast as in Europe or America where median ages are above 40.

The Federal Government is accessing the pension fund to finance infrastructure projects, and analysts say it needs to broaden the fund’s investment options.

“We need to revise the policy framework for institutional investment locally.

Nigeria has more than N10 trillion in pension fund assets, it is a huge pot,” said Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, managing director, EnergyInc Advisors, at the Nigerian Gas Association (2020) Virtual Business Forum held May 8. “If the government is saying we will borrow from it to finance infrastructure development, part of these infrastructure is gas.”

Akinkugbe-Filani argued that it is even better to create structures for investments funds to access the pension fund and put them in private equities rather than having government use the pension fund to finance infrastructural projects.

The bond market also provides an opportunity to fund gas projects, though it must be short-term and could be limited by low returns currently seen in the market, Ayodele Oni, energy lawyer and partner at Lagos-based Bloomfield lawfirm, said on the phone.

Infracredit capitalised by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and other local institutions, including local banks, provides underwriting capabilities and these need to be explored, said AkinkugbeFilani.

CEOs flag FX access, poor sales, regulation as COVID-19 bites … as Q1 MCCI drops below benchmark Gbemi Faminu

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hiefexecutiveofficers (CEOs) of manufacturing companies have highlighted foreign exchange access, poor sales and overregulation as challenges facing their firms, as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to wreak havoc across the world.

In the Manufacturers CEOs Confidence Index (MCCI) conducted by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in the first quarter of 2020, CEOs say forex sourcing and accessibility have not improved from the last quarter, rather it has worsened due to drop in oil prices and the pandemic.

According to the survey, CEOs confirm that it was pretty difficult to source forex from all the available windows.

Forty-three percent of the CEOs say the level of unsold manufactured products has not reduced in the last three months while 31 percent says the Executive Order 003, which mandates the patronage of locally produced goods by government agencies, has not been fully adhered to.

Furthermore, the CEOs @Businessdayng

complain that the raw materials and production equipment have been scarce, especially as China, which is the major hub where these things are sourced, closed down its economy to arrest the pandemic.

“The unavailability of forex negatively impacted manufacturing performance, as manufacturers could not access forex required to import vital raw materials, machines and spares that are not available locally. All of these in turn hindered the ability of operators to produce efficiently at full capacity,” the report states.

The index is a quarterly instrument for measuring changes in macroeconomic trends.

In the first quarter of 2020, the MCCI stood at 44.4 percent, which is a five-point drop from the benchmark of 50 percent, and also a drop from the 51.9 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Manufacturers in Nigeria have consistently battled various challenges prior to the breakout of the pandemic and have now been left worse as they lack the necessary buffers and palliatives to cushion the impact of the COVID-19. Consequentially, their businesses are bearing the brunt of it.

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COVID-19: No free electricity to consumers, pay your bills - BEDC IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

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Governor Hope Uzodimma (c), handing over the keys to the Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to the state chief judge, Ijeoma Aguguo in Government House, Owerri.

Shell says it has met all investment conditions for new NLNG plant Olusola Bello

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hell Gas B.V., a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, says all conditions for its Final Investment Decision (FID) on a new LNG processing unit at Nigeria LNG (NLNG) have now been met.

These conditions include formal commitment from the organisations providing financing for the project. Subsequent to the FID, NLNG has announced awards of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts.

Once operational, the new unit, known as Train 7, will add around 8 million tons per annum (mtpa) of capacity to the Bonny Island facility, taking the total to about 30mtpa.

Currently operating six processing units, or trains, the decision to build a seventh will bolster NLNG’s contribution to

the development of the country through generating revenues for the Nigerian government and delivering key natural gas products for domestic use.

NLNG is a joint venture owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC – 49%), Shell (25.6%), Total (15%) and ENI (10.4%). All shareholders have supported the EPC awards and construction schedules will be finalised once the situation with COVID-19 has stabilised.

“While remaining mindful of prevailing macro-economic challenges, Shell continues to see NLNG as a great resource that can deliver value to the people of Nigeria and investors alike.

This decision is consistent with our long-term strategy and our disciplined approach to capital investment,” said Maarten Wetselaar, Shell’s Integrated Gas and New Energies director.

“Natural gas is a core com-

Covid-19: Kano to expend N285m as palliative Adeola Ajakaiye, Kano

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ano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has order for release the sum of N285 million to the Kano COVID-19 Fund Raising Committee to be used for palliatives to vulnerable individuals in the state.

The money is to enable the Committee complete the ongoing distribution of palliatives to over 300,000 households targeted in the state.

Yahuza Bello, chairman of the Committee, who made the disclosure, while addressing journalists at the Government House, Wednesday, said the money would be expended as soon as it was released.

Bello, who is the Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, revealed that so far the Committee had expended over N100 million out of the initial money collected in the first phase of distribution of the palliatives, pointing out that N170 million was required to complete the second phase of distribution of the palliatives.

According to Bello, Gover-

nor Ganduje has also directed the Committee to distribute the 139 truckloads of grains released to the state by the Federal Government from the Strategic Grain Reserve, noting that the items contained 6,000 bags of 50kg rice, 42,600 bags of maize, 17,400 bags of sorghum, and 17, 400 bags of millet, including 2,000 Jerry cans of 20-litre vegetable oil.

The Committee is targeting another 50,000 households in the second phase of the distribution, this is in addition to the first 50,000 households that benefited under the first phase.

“The Committee is carefully monitoring distribution of the palliatives to ensure that those who benefited in the first phase do not come back to collect when the second distribution starts.

“I also wish to the people of the state, that the state government has also given the committee the directive to supervise the distribution of Ramadan Feeding programme, which we are going to discharge with all sense of transparency and equity,” he stated. www.businessday.ng

ponent of our strategy to provide more and cleaner energy solutions. With global LNG demand expected to double by 2040, the expansion of the NLNG Bonny Island facility is crucial in helping Shell meet the world’s growing energy needs. ‘‘We are happy with the progress NLNG has made over the years and its enormous contributions to the Nigerian economy.

The EPC awards for Train 7 is good news for Nigeria with the potential to bring more export revenues, unlock new projects, and attract foreign direct investments, in addition to transforming the economy of the Niger Delta and Nigeria as whole,” said Osagie Okunbor, country chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria and managing director, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited.

“Shell is positioned to support NLNG’s expansion by working with our government and other

partners to develop new gas resources to sustain this growth and enhance both domestic and export gas supplies.”

The new LNG processing unit will be funded by NLNG without shareholder loans or shareholder equity requirements. The project cost is therefore not reported as part of Shell’s overall capital expenditure.

Just this Wednesday, Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) has signed the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts for its Train 7 Project with SCD JV Consortium, comprising affiliates of Saipem, Chiyoda and Daewoo.

The execution of the EPC contracts now triggers the commencement of the Detail Design and Construction phase of the project expected to increase the capacity of NLNG’s current six-train plant by 35 percent from the extant 22 Million Tons Per Annum (MTPA) to 30 MTPA.

COVID-19: Pay attention to supply chain to avert food crisis, expert urges FG Josephine Okojie

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n a bid to ensure that Nigeria averts a looming food crisis by 2021, an expert in the agricultural sector has urged the Federal Government to remove all bottlenecks obstructing the supply of essential inputs to farmers and distribution of food across the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The enforcement of lockdown and restrictions of movement to curb the spread of the novel virus has since put a strain on the food supply chains as farmers experience difficulties in getting supplies of essential inputs and supplying produces to the markets.

Although the government had exempted producers, suppliers, distributors, and retailers of food from the restriction of movements across the country, which has only been implemented theoretically and not practically.

“The government needs to pay attention to the food network and ensure that farmers get the right seeds and other key

inputs,” said Mezuo Nwuneli, managing partner, Sahel Capital, in a recent radio show on Food Security for Households and the Nation.

“If the farmers fail to get the seeds and fertilisers among others at the right time, there is going to be a huge problem next year,” Nwuneli said.

Whatever happens now to farmers who have commenced their planting season will be felt next year if nothing is done to address the issue, he said, noting that there are key individuals on the frontline that are not only ensuring that their businesses survive but also ensuring that Nigerians get the food they need.

Some agribusinesses are now adopting innovative solutions to ensure that food gets to the plates of Nigerians, he said.

Speaking on what his organisation is doing to support vulnerable Nigerians, he stated that Sahel Capital had collaborated with a range of agro firms it had investments in to supply food to households during the restriction of movement.

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uthorities of Benin Electricity Distribution Company plc (BEDC) has urged consumers in its four franchise states to continue paying electricity bills as the power company is not offering free power supply. The four franchise states are Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti.

Adekunle Tayo, head, corporate affairs, BEDC Electricity, disclosed in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin City.

Tayo said the proposed free electricity supply to all Nigerians for two months to make life easier during the coronavirus (CIVID-19) pandemic was yet to be implemented and as such customers should continue to pay their bills.

He said the statement was in reaction to news making the rounds that some customers in part of its franchise states were engaging the services of electricians to reconnect after being disconnected for non-payment of electricity bills on the excuse that Federal Government had promised free electricity.

According to Tayo, no decision has been taken by the Federal Government on the proposal, while nobody is sure of the date of implementation, electricity supply to customers presently is not free.

“Prepaid customers need to vend energy token to avoid service disruption when they run out of energy units, while post-paid cus-

tomers need to settle outstanding bills to avoid disconnection.

“This is so because if the free electricity palliative measure is approved, it will not cover the past bills,” he said.

He however advised electricity consumers to manage their energy consumption at this critical period to avoid accumulating huge bills that might be difficult to pay in the event that the measure was eventually not approved.

In last month, residential customers consumed the largest chunk of electricity supply to BEDC from the national grid, from total supply average, he disclosed, noting that the residential customers benefited the most as the lockdown prevented commercial and industrial customers from opening shop as their consumption were diverted to households across the franchise areas.

The management of BEDC completely aligns with the plans to ensure palliative measures including free electricity supply to all Nigerians for two months to make life easier during the lockdown period due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

It was in view of the need to ease the hardship that the management of BEDC increased significantly power availability to several customers in some locations across its franchise states as well as suspended the rotational load management schedule for power supply.

CACOVID donates isolation centre to Ogun, pledges to save more lives

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pparently disturbed by increasing number of Coronavirus cases in the country, the Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) has pledged to deploy available funds to save more lives of Nigerians who may fall for Coronavirus pandemic, saying “there is no money that can replace human life.”

CACOVID also states that the emergency health response initiative against COVID-19 jointly formed by the investors and players in the nation’s private sector, is deployed to bridge the gap in the health infrastructure which has been seriously exposed and tested by the outbreak of Coronavirus in Nigeria.

Speaking at the handover ceremony of 65-bed Isolation/ Treatment Centre which was prepared to contain cases of COVID-19 in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital by CACOVID on Wednesday, Ademola Bilesanmi, Access Bank Regional Manager, West and Team Lead, CACOVID, said “COVID-19 is a global issue, it is a massive health challenge to the nations of the World and has affected lots of things.

“S o, a s a r e s p o n s i b l e private organizations, we thought it necessary to support the Federal Government and respective State Governments in the country for the fight against COVID-19. What we are doing is supporting their efforts and jointly fight this course. We have spent hundreds of millions and we are doing it across all the States of the Federation, including States that don’t have @Businessdayng

COVID-19 cases.

“It’s a multiple-pronged approach, we help bridge the gap of the health infrastructure we have in the country, which to a large extent, COVID-19 has exposed and we need to up our game as a nation in terms of health infrastructure, that is why sparing any funds, there is no money that can replace life, whatever it is that is available to us, we are willing and ready to spend and deploy it to ensure we save as many lives as possible”, he concluded.

Receiving the 65-Bed Isolation/Treatment Centre donated by CACOVID to Ogun State Government in Abeokuta, Governor Dapo Abiodun acknowledged that the donation of beds, clinical equipment and Isolation/ Treatment Centre would strengthen not only the fight against COVID-19, but would also boost health infrastructure available in the State even beyond the era of COVID-19.

Governor Abiodun, who was represented by Tomi Coker, Commissioner for Health, said “Today marks the commissioning of 5th Isolation/ Treatment Centre and this is as a result of a partnership between CACOVID which is a combination of several private sector organisations to help Government fight against COVID-19 Scourge.

“With this, they (CACOVID) have donated 100 beds to us, including sought-after equipment such as mobile xray, several oxygen concentrators, multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment and several other things to the tune over three figure of millions.

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The impact of COVID-19 on the luxury industry LUXE THOUGHTS

FUNKE OSAE-BROWN

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he Corona Virus pandemic is changing so many things; the way we live, interact with ourselves, the way we work, the way we shop and more. In January 2020 kicked off with a lot of promises and we are all excited as some of the opportunities coming our way. We looked forward to a great year and decade. Alas, things will take a remarkable turn by the start of the last month in the first quarter of February.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the luxury industry has been adjusted to the spread of the coronavirus and its likely enormous effects for the sector. The first effects were felt by Luxury brand companies when COVID-19 spread through China.

In a report by Bain and Co, China accounted for 90 percent of global luxury market growth in 2019. Conversely, as of March 25, its forecast that the luxury market globally will contract by 25 percent to 30 percent year-overyear in the first quarter of 2020.

Italy is some of the worst-hit countries by the virus and it is where the most global luxury brand has its headquarters. It is also where key suppli-

ers and artisans of luxury goods are located.

As the pandemic is still on, it is difficult to predict accurately what its full impact on the broader economy and the luxury industry specifically will be. Its duration will depend on the response of governments and consumers. However, one can look at the immediate economic impact of the crisis.

In a report by Forbes, on April 2, four luxury professionals from McKinsey, Digital Luxury Group and Lamborghini had a special IMD webinar on the significance of the COVID-19 crisis for the luxury industries. Fifty-five executives participated.

And some of them are concerned about the uncertainty of the times yet they are optimistic that the luxury industry will rebound. Ironically, the uncertainty and optimism best described the mood of the industry.

An instant poll conducted during the webinar showed 10 per cent of those who attended felt the crisis would be negative for their businesses, 24 per cent were unsure of its impact, while two-thirds thought it would bring positive changes. However, they were uncertain how long the crisis will last, which was of great concern to them.

The pandemic poses a serious threat to the sector as Gross domestic product drops, unemployment increases, and spending power reduces drastically.

Already, the stock markets around the world have come under severe strain, with an attendant dive in consumer confidence and their willingness to spend.

The crisis is not affecting every industry within luxury equally, of course.

Luxury travel is one of the worst-hit sectors as airlines are grounded, luxury cruises stopped, leisure spots closed, hotels, spas, cinemas and more inclusive. Luxury and premium travel and tourism, travel retail, travel companies, global events, and the entertainment and sports industries are drastically affected. However, luxury retail, driven by online sales, may not suffer as others in some countries.

Africa’s nascent luxury sector could be experiencing its worst times at the moment as most manufacturers of luxury brands on the continent fall under SMEs. They are forced to cut cost, cut down on staff strength, sales dropped drastically since the pandemic spread across major cities in Africa.

Some brands in the fashion and beauty industry have been forced to diversify into manufacturing face masks, Personal Protective Equipment or sanitisers to cushion the effect on their businesses. Countries like Kenya, the Gambia that is reliant on tourism are already counting the cost. The purchases of luxury goods and services by tourists will continue to be disrupted by travel restrictions.

No doubt, the impact of the pandemic varies from sector to sector. In the automobile sector, the pandemic landed in Europe during an already traumatic transition to electric vehicles that have emaciated the profit margins of many well-known automobile giants.

In the luxury watch sector, the predicament deals another blow, following 2019 slowdown caused by Hong-Kong’s political turmoil.

With key luxury souks around the world now affected, brands are do-

‘

The crisis is not affecting every industry within luxury equally, of course. Luxury travel is one of the worsthit sectors as airlines are grounded, luxury cruises stopped, leisure spots closed, hotels, spas, cinemas and more inclusive

Funke is the publisher of The Luxury Reporter magazine. Funkeadetutu@gmail.com

Language and social media

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hall we start with an analogy? Take a look at these example sentences: a. Let’s eat, children. b. Let’s eat children.

While sentence A is a call to the kids to come and eat, sentence B is a call to some person(s) to come and have children for food.

With that being said, let’s consider another pair of sentence structure: a. Mikel Obi, the captain, is here. b. Mikel Obi, the captain is here.

In regard to this pair, sentence A informs some persons of the presence of Mikel Obi, who is the captain; while sentence B informs Mikel Obi of the presence of the captain.

The implications of these pairs of expressions help to corroborate the fact that punctuation marks are to writing, what pauses, tone, tune, gaze and gesture are to speaking. All of the misinformation that can be generated by the use of pitch and tone in speaking can be generated by the poor or inappropriate usage of punctuation marks in writing.

In recent times, the problem with punctuation marks is not so much that we do not know how to use them. It is, however, the laxity which comes with social media interaction that subsequently hinders people’s abilities to use punctuation marks accurately. Chat is a quasi-conversation which shares features with face-to-face communication, and many individuals assume that constant and consistent use of punctuation marks will impede the spontaneous flow of discussions. Unfortunately, an average person spends a great deal of time in reading and writing on different social media platforms, and this has dramatically affected our use of punctuation marks in official writings; hence, the poor performances in writing tasks in schools and workplaces.

It is essential to use punctuation marks appropriately, even in our chats. If for no other reason, remember that you have nothing to lose

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if you use punctuation marks in the course of chatting. In fact, it makes you a more proficient user of the language. In stark contrast, you have so much to lose if your letter misfires, due to the inappropriate use of punctuation mark(s).

Considering the foregoing, the rest of this treatise will briefly discuss the major punctuation marks, and we will be doing ourselves the world of good if we apply the knowledge to all forms of writing, including chats.

Full stop (.): It performs the following functions: 1. It is used to mark the end of a sentence: Gani loves to teach.

2. It is used to indicate abbreviations (initials, degrees, titles) e.g. Feb., Rev., Prof., Ph.D., Bamgbose G.A. Note: When the first and last letters of a word are used to form an abbreviation, one can either put a full stop or omit it. Thus, Doctor can be abbreviated as either Dr or Dr. Conversely, a full stop should not be used for acronyms which are abbreviations for professional, business and governmental organisations: NBA, INEC, OPEC, UNICEF, etc.

Comma (,): It performs the following functions: 1. It is used after a formal salutation or complementary close, as in: Dear Sir, Yours faithfully, etc.

2. It is used in addresses, dates and figures: 2, Bello Road. July 29, 2015. 46, 000,000 3. It is used to separate a cluster of words: Charles is a handsome, tall, fair, Nigerian man.

4. It is also used to show a short break in a statement: For the first time, actually, surprisingly, moreover, in a similar vein, nevertheless, etc.

5. It is used to separate a direct quotation: ‘Don’t say a word’, said his father.

6. It is used to separate the names of business partners, degrees and other qualifications: Bamgbose G.A., B.Ed (LASU), M A (University www.businessday.ng

ing everything they can to protect the welfare of their staff and customers, through store closures and other measures. They are also assisting the frontline public health response where possible by offering to use their factories for the production of essential goods such as hand sanitizer or PPE. For example, Hermès Group, last month, announced it will retain the basic salary of its 15,500 employees worldwide. Gucci began #GucciCommunity campaign to alleviate this crisis by “helping health services with equipment and powering the scientists who are working on vaccines and treatments”. It made two separate donations of 1 million euros each to crowdfunding campaigns.

Likewise, Dolce & Gabbana provided funds for Italy’s top university scientists, Giorgio Armani gave €1.25 million to hospitals in Milan and Rome as a donation, Bulgari helped purchase a state-of-the-art microscope for the Lazzaro Spallanzani hospital in Rome.

The LVMH transformed some of its perfume factories to manufacture hand sanitisers.

Finally, going a bit back to history, the luxury industry is known to always do well in crises. The 1930s and 1940s great depression is an example, although the industry was way smaller during those years than it is now.

Industry analysts are optimistic the industry will bounce back. The pandemic will work as a driver of change and a breakup point depending on how economic, social and technological dynamism play out.

of Ibadan).

7. It separates words that are used in apposition (possible replacements) to nouns: Vincent Enyeama, the Nigerian goalkeeper, is diligent.

Colon (:): The colon performs the following functions: 1. It is used after a speaker’s name in a dialogue, especially in a written play. Lakunle: A very good morning to you, sir!

Joseph: Good morning, Lakunle; I trust you had a good night’s sleep.

2. It is used to introduce a formal listing. I found the following in the bag: her wallet, her passport, a bunch of keys and some cash.

3. It is used to introduce a formal quotation.

According to Fakoya (2008): ‘The only variety of English available to Nigerians is Nigerian English.’

4. The colon is used to separate chapters from verses in Biblical references, as in: John 3:16.

5. It is equally used to indicate time: 9:25 a.m., 11:45 p.m.

6. In addition, it is used to separate a title and a subtitle of a book. Everyday English: A compilation of Common Errors.

Semicolon (;): The semicolon performs the following functions: 1. Use a semicolon in place of a period (otherwise called full stop) to separate sentences where the conjunction has been left out: Call me tomorrow; I will give you my answer then.

2. Use the semicolon to separate units of a series when one or more of the units contain commas: The conference was graced by people from Boise, Idaho; Los Angeles, California; and Nashville, Tennessee.

3. Use the semicolon between two sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction, when one or more commas appear in the first sentence: If she can, she will attempt that feat; and if her husband is able, he will be there to see her.

Hyphen (-): The hyphen performs the fol-

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Ganiu Bamgbose

lowing functions: 1. When two or more nouns are used as adjectives, a hyphen is sometimes used to link all the nouns: A three-man committee. Moreover, to ascertain whether a compound noun is two words, one word, or hyphenated, it is of the essence to look it up in the dictionary. If you cannot find the word in the dictionary, treat the noun as separate words. The accompanying examples portray the three forms discussed: eyewitness (a one-word compound), eye shadow (a two-word compound), eye-opener (a hyphenated compound). Again, phrases that have verbal, nominal and adjectival forms should appear as separate words when used as verbs, and as one word when used as nouns or adjectives: The engine will BREAK DOWN (a verb). We suffered a BREAKDOWN (a noun) in communication.

2. The hyphen joins some prefixes to the main words: co-education, anti-climax, intradepartmental.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https:// businessday.ng Dr Bamgbose (Dr GAB) has a PhD in English and lectures at the Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos. He is a social commentator who writes on different issues of national concern and the author of daily online English lessons titled “English for Today” with hundreds of lessons available on his website www.englishdietng.com.

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Managing the economy after the pandemic THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

Obadiah Mailafia

L

ast week, a Citizen Dialogue event was hosted by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Budget to examine the fallouts from COVID-19 and the implications for management of the economy.

First, it was agreed that our GDP is likely to contract by 3.5 percent yearon-year for 2020, even as oil earnings decline by a whopping 90 percent.

Estimates for federal government of Nigeria’s net oil and gas revenue is projected to fall by 80 percent, at N1.1 trillion as against the N5.5 trillion previously projected. Oil prices are expected to average $20 per barrel as against the budget benchmark of $57 per barrel.

Secondly, revenue from Customs has also been revised downwards to N1.2 trillion as against the earlier projections of N1.5 trillion. The revenue accruable to the VAT pool account has similarly been reduced downwards to N2 trillion as against the earlier figure of N2.1 trillion. States and LGAs are now projected to get N2.1 trillion and N1.5 trillion respectively from FAAC allocation instead of the N3.3 trillion and N2.5 trillion in earlier estimates.

There will be a humongous crater by way of a deficit, in the order of magnitude of N5.6 trillion. Government is hoping to fill the gap through privatisation proceeds of N126 billion; drawdowns from FGN Special Accounts, estimated at N260 billion; bilateral/ multilateral drawdowns of about N387 billion; and new domestic and external borrowings amounting to N4.6 trillion.

From all intents and purposes, the government has succumbed to borrowing $3.4 billion from the IMF relief facility. It is a moment of truth for Nigerian economic management. I have nothing

against the IMF. As a matter of fact, I have always enjoyed working with and interacting with colleagues from the Fund, whom I find wittier and smarter than their colleagues from the World Bank. I do understand that the IMF loan comes with 3-year moratorium.

But my ominous conclusion is that it marks the end of economic freedom as we know it. Unless we are wise enough to begin saving at once to pay off Shylock as soon as we can, we may as well bid farewell to our economic sovereignty as a country.

We welcome the creation of the Economic Sustainability Committee to be chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo. The unanswered question is what role the Economic Advisory Council chaired by Doyin Salami is playing. Throughout this crisis, we have heard nothing from them. I have heard from confidential sources that the late Chief of Staff Abba Kyari (may God have mercy upon his soul), sat on their files in a way that has not allowed the technical Secretariat to function properly.

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) headed by my friend Laoye Jaiyeola, in its contributions to the dialogue, estimates that the government will need some N10.1 trillion of intervention funds to address the economic and financial crisis, but also notes that only about N4.5 trillion is on ground. This leaves a funding gap of N5.6 trillion which could be filled by a mixture of domestic and external borrowing and Quantitative Easing.

One thing that baffles me is the fact that the average production cost of Nigerian Brent crude has been placed at $33 per barrel, recently revised downward to $28 per barrel. The cost of production estimate has implications for the Petroleum Profit Tax. I do not know who determines the production cost estimates for our oil sector. I know for sure that our Bonny Light is one of the best in the world. That is why it is often called “Bonny Sweet”. It is comparable to Saudi light in requiring the most minimum refining to turn it into PMS. From the figures I have, the average production cost for Saudi light is $2.8 per barrel; $16 for Kazakhstan; $18 for Russia; $20 for Venezuela; $22.91 for OPEC average; and $64 for the USA. We

all know that American oil production is based on fracking technology, which is rather expensive. I need someone to explain to me why Nigerian oil production costs should be well above the OPEC average. Unless somebody is hiding something.

President Muhammadu Buhari also recently announced that the government will be implementing the Orosanye Committee Recommendations. That Report, my gentle readers would recall, recommended rationalisation of more than 100 agencies and departments of government. Implementation of such reforms obviously do not come without a cost – cost in terms of personnel and cost in terms of expenditure. The objective is to ensure coherence in the heart of the public service while reducing the cost of governance. To achieve optimal benefits, timing will be essential. I would therefore expect a methodical and systematic approach to such far-reaching reforms. And we need to integrate it into the overall project of addressing the global pandemic and its economic consequences. Timing and synchronicity are vital. At a time of crisis, we do not want to further undermine aggregate demand and the prospects for long-term growth. Rather, we should want to boost them.

The government, I’m aware, is committed to boosting the agricultural value-chain, enhancing industrial production and ensuring a robust health and pharmaceutical sector. The CBN has backed these objectives with some intervention funds. But we need more robust strategies to boost employment and job-creation. One of the best ways I know to do this is through public works scheme. We should structure public works engineering projects in housing, roads, railways and sanitation that do away with the intermediation of the contractor while getting as many youths as possible to be engaged in direct labour. This will help boost aggregate demand, reduce poverty and unemployment and their attendant social ills.

One other area that worries me is the leadership and management of the COVID-19 Presidential Task Force (PTF). If the people in-charge could

‘

The current crisis requires that all Nigerians are treated equally and fairly. It is an established fact that there are more poor people in the far North than elsewhere.

In this time of Ramadan, I would be more than happy to go to those places distributing food myself

only hear what Nigerians are saying in the streets and in the privacy of their homes, they would be totally shocked.

Most Nigerians do not trust the PTF. They do not believe in the figures being bandied about and they do not believe that the PTF and its sister organisation, the NCDC, is working in the interest of the common good. They believe it is just a clever avenue for some people to siphon-off humongous amounts of public resources without accountability. The burden of cynicism seems to outweigh even the laws of gravity.

The same goes for the palliatives.

There are no records of beneficiaries and amounts spent that is linked to a national database of the poor and who they are and where they live. Instead, there are tales of rotten rice being sent to some states. A Pastor from Kaduna called me the other day. He lives in the northern part of the city, which is rare for people like him, not even being an indigene. He regaled me with stories of trucks loaded with foodstuffs being distributed to various communities there, together with envelopes with cash.

In the Southern part of the city, there is nothing. Apparently, religion and ethnicity are deciding who gets what, where and how. It is a great shame that our Nigeria has become such a wicked and soulless country.

The current crisis requires that all Nigerians are treated equally and fairly.

It is an established fact that there are more poor people in the far North than elsewhere. In this time of Ramadan, I would be more than happy to go to those places distributing food myself.

The first people we must begin with should be the physically challenged, especially the blind, the paraplegic and orphans and widows. But we must manage such processes in an equitable and transparent manner. Let us have a data-base of the poor and let all social transfers be implemented based on that data-base. And let there be accountability for all the moneys spent.

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

Stability (2)

W

e are continuing from last week.

This is part 2 of this topic.

To manage crisis, as soon as you can, take ownership and stop the bleeding. Get to work to minimise the destructive effect the crisis has on your operations and services. Assess the damage so far and get the facts, ask questions, don’t just assume. In other words, do a diagnostic, ask questions of the right people so you can separate the clutter and fiction from reality.

In this situation Covid19 crisis, in particular it has been clear that there is so much garbage especially in the social media, that we have to be careful that we are getting the real and right information.

With a good grasp of the relevant facts, you are now in an excellent position to dispel rumours. You then communicate the next steps.

There is no time for emotion or excuses.

Begin to set expectations and responsibilities within your team, regarding the initial tasks. The goal now is to get the team focused on stabilising the situation. Make sure to solicit ideas from your team to help you set realistic deadlines for the completion of these initial thoughts.

Murphy’s Law states that if anything can

go wrong, it will it. The truth is that in a crisis situation, Murphy’s Law needs to be multiplied

by X where X could be 10 to 100. Regardless of Murphy’s Law, work hard to keep your plan clear and updated demand quality communication and quick action so that there will be few new surprises.

Be sure to get 100 percent understanding and buy- in from your team concerning the job to be done. The best way to do this is to be seen and heard they must understand that you are involved in the work as their leader. As said before, communicate with them often, please don’t make up any stories.

As you realise mistakes of some of your decisions as you go along, communicate this and make a note so that at the end of the crisis you would know what and what did not work.

Don’t forget to acknowledge the hard work of your team during the crisis. Demonstrate to them that you genuinely appreciate their efforts.

Learn and help them learn from the experience so that they’ll be even better prepared next time the most important aspect of a crisis is not the crisis it is how quickly you can rally your team and get them engaged to eliminate confusion and bring back order.

So, I want to ask you some questions what

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is your process for handling crisis is your team?

Are your team aware of this process? Before you have them, put it into action, can you and your team execute flawlessly or will you try to wing it? How often do you review and re-evaluate this plan with your team?

The bottom line is for you to create your plan now, soliciting input from your team to make it work for everyone. then and only then will you have an effective crisis management program in place and a team who will perform as planned.

Coming back to stability having a crisis plan like the above is so comforting to staff they know for sure that in time of crisis in time of change in time of flux there is a plan and nobody will be running around like a headless chicken.

This will clearly make for smart and hard work and indeed an entrepreneurial spirit, believing that they are working for their own good at the end of the day and not just for the organisation.

When this COVID-19 crisis first started many of us did not immediately realise it would lead to the kind of lock down we have seen, this means many had not planned for this kind of crisis before. It would have to be navigating uncharted territory.

When it was looking like this could not be

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Olamide Balogun

business as usual and to all intents and purposes it was a matter of life and death, in my own organisation I first of all made it clear to my staff that they were more important than the work. However, having said that, I knew they all also had it in the back of their minds that the continuity of the work was also of enormous important. After all that is what at the end of the day will ensure that we, both as individuals and as a firm are fine.

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

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Ekwegh is a private legal practitioner with over 15 years

Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Dateline Lagos Saturday 22nd August 1903 – the first film-show in Nigeria HumanAngle

Femi olugbile

H

e was pleased that Glover Hall was packed full. The gate fee of one penny did not seem to have kept many Lagosians away from coming to savour this new thing in the world that he, Herbert Olayinka Samuel Badmus Heelas Macaulay had arranged to thrill the people, and in the process to cement his place as the leading promoter and defender of the masses of the Lagos colony, all forty-two thousand of them.

The hall still carried an air of newness about it, set in ample grounds in Victoria Gardens on Customs Street near the Marina. It could easily accommodate a thousand people in the main auditorium and there was an upper gallery that ran along both of the long sides. There were offices and meeting rooms with signs above the doors. The two exits were clearly marked in red paint that could be seen even in the dark. The seats were stout polished wood benches arranged down the hall in such clean symmetry that there were free walkways on two sides.

He was sitting on the front row.

Beside him were his friends and close associates. They included some of the leading lights of Lagos society, especially the young and upwardly mobile who had been educated in England or Sierra Leone and had returned to make a life in the growing colony.

They were here in curious, if good, humour to support “The Wizard of Kirsten Hall,” as they liked to call him.

A few seats away from him was Alimotu Pelewura, a young lady with a growing reputation as a leader of the market women in Ereko. She was accompanied by a group of her fellow market women. They looked elegant in a uniform iro and buba made of cotton material, topped with red gele. He was aware some of his friends thought it odd that he, one of the most educated and flamboyant of Lagosians, had such affinity with these unlettered market women. He smiled as he reflected on what he had grasped instinctively since resigning from the Colonial Service in 1898 to set up his own practice as a Surveyor, and also to indulge his increasing passion to fight for the rights of the indigenous people against the overbearing presence of British Colonial authorities.

The insight was that the women held the real power behind the scenes, and you gave yourself great advantage if you cultivated them. Period.

For instance, he had seen a spark of great promise in the way this young market woman carried herself, and how she was able to organise her peers. Older people deferred to her authority instinctively. She had inherited the fish trade from her mother, but her stout spirit and leadership

powers were entirely her own. She, for her part, enjoyed the attention he lavished on her, and the attendant public recognition.

The film projector was cranking to life, indicating the proceedings were about to get under way. As in the previous ten days of Mr Balboa’s shows in Lagos, he, Herbert, as host, would get up on the podium in front to give a brief speech to the audience, in English and Yoruba, telling them that moving pictures were the latest thing in world culture and that his dream was that the people of Lagos would always be in the very forefront of modernity – in Education, in Science, as in Entertainment. Afterall they already had the trappings of modernity which others in the hinterland could not even dream of – a tram service which transacted the island, offering mass transit at a penny a ride. And a railway service which linked them all the way to Ibadan. And Carter Bridge – a world class construction over the Lagos lagoon linking the island with the mainland. All of this meant that Lagos was unique. “Eko duro gedegbe” was a phrase he like to use.

It was a delivery that bordered on the seditious, shot through as it was with a spirit of indigenous independence that could make the Europeans in the audience squirm with discomfort, but what did he care?

He was already regarded with suspicion by the colonial government.

He had heard rumours that his resignation from the Colonial Service had been because he was under a cloud of suspicion for dubious professional activities. They had no proof. As long as it was all at the level of insinuation,

‘

It was a delivery that bordered on the seditious, shot through as it was with a spirit of indigenous independence that could make the Europeans in the audience squirm with discomfort, but what did he care?

the efforts of officialdom to tar him with the brush of notoriety gave him a sense of pleasure, confirming his growing prominence as a “freedom fighter”.

The Balboa company was a oneman outfit from Spain. The man carried his clunky equipment around like a magician with a box of tricks, exhibiting short silent films in different parts of the world. He, Herbert, had made contact with Balbao through a friend in Sierra Leone, and they had agreed on terms for him to spend a couple of weeks in Lagos. Observing how the people of Lagos responded enthusiastically over the eleven days of Balboa’s shows, he was happy he had taken the financial risk.

The films were short “Western” stories with cowboys and bandits riding on horses and firing guns. There was a musical accompaniment. The audience applauded enthusiastically as the hero won the gun battle and “got the girl” each time.

Sitting in the audience, Herbert knew that this would skyrocket his fame and street credibility, to the further chagrin of the colonial officialdom.

Perhaps he should start a newspaper, he thought. Perhaps even form a political party.

All manner of possibilities played around in his head concerning the future as he sat comfortably back in his seat to savour the final showing of the first film in the country that would, eleven years hence, be known as the colonial territory of Nigeria.

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

Understanding leadership ethics

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eadership is built on the foundation of influence and credibility. When a leader’s credibility is eroded, the platform from which impact is made is destroyed. In examining the critical importance of trustworthiness in leadership, leaders must be mindful of the enormous ethical burden and responsibility of their role in the lives of the followers.

Leaders play a significant role in establishing the ethical climate of their organisations, and there is a heavy burden on leaders of organisations and nations to live and act in such a way as never to be regarded as unethical even by the loudest critic. However, we have seen many instances in the 21st century, where the sinful human nature gets in the way of ethical leadership standard.

Recent incidences have revealed that ethical standards are mere reactionary responses in compelling leaders to act within expectations rather than serve as a guide for determining the correct course of actions for leaders. Northouse, explains that humans have been concerned with the ethics of leaders all through the ages and that the history books are full of descriptions of good kings and bad kings, great empires and evil empires, and influential presidents and weak presidents.

Hence, leadership theories on ethics address two domains, assumptions about a leader’s conduct and character.

The word ethics is derived from the root word ethos in Greek, which connotes conduct, character, or customs. It is concerned with the values and morals that an individual or group of people find desirable. Leaders always make decisions, and their ethics influence the choices they make. Ethics has to do with not only what leaders do, but also who they are. It

has to do with their behaviour and with their inherent virtuousness.

Fedler offered three major approaches to ethics. First is deontology, which focusses on a person’s action, as it is believed to be the one thing that a person has control over. Next is consequentialist ethics or utilitarianism, which focusses on the results of a person’s actions. Consequentialists believe that “the end justifies the means.” Thirdly, we have virtue ethics, which centres on a person’s character and the person’s views of morality. Northouse notes that there has been a resurgence of interest in the popularity of virtue ethics, and this may be as a result of the fact that traditional approaches to ethicality have not produced desired results over time. A moral person, according to Aristotle, “demonstrates the virtues of courage, temperance, generosity, self-control, honesty, sociability, modesty, fairness, and justice.”

Every day, leaders and their followers make decisions impacting the future. Often, ethical decisions determine either a positive or negative outcome. However, decision-making is a delicate process for leaders. Not only do they have to choose between what is right and what is wrong many times, but they also need to choose between right and right. This is coupled with the pressure that power puts on human character. Chester Barnard asserts that leadership brings the risk of moral destruction.

He explained that positions of power carry complicated responsibilities which at times conflict with each other, and at other times conflict with a leader’s personal values. This is further complicated by what Bazerman and Tenbrunsel describe as ethical gaps that exist between how ethical leaders think they are and how noble they indeed are. They explained

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that people have the innate ability to believe something and to act contrary to it.

Indeed, in many of the corporate scandals that have happened in the last few decades, a number of the corporate leaders responsible did not see themselves as having done anything wrong. Bazerman and Tenbrunsel further addressed the concept of ethical fading, which is seen as what happens when organisations disperse different aspects of a decision to different parts of the organisation, making people see them as engineering, marketing, or financial problems and not as the ethical problems they usually are.

Another issue that impacts negatively on decision-making by organisational leaders is moral hypocrisy, which makes them perceive their transgressions as being less objectionable than they feel when they see others commit the same sins. We must add to all these potential ethical problems the issue of conflict of interest. This is a very tricky issue as leaders are usually not aware when this problem surfaces as most think the battle of intent is a problem of intentional corruption.

Further, Bazerman and Tenbrunsel assert that research has shown that when people have a vested interest in seeing a problem in a particular manner, they are no longer confident of objectivity.

The issue here is that there are conditions that make leaders fail to see some decisions as ethical ones, making them vulnerable to act in unintended and unethical ways. These conditions are mostly emotional. The traditional approach to ethics, which assumes that moral reasoning precedes moral judgment, is being re-examined. We now realize that moral judgment precedes moral reasoning. In other words, we make emotional decisions before

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Toye Sobande

our thinking kicks in to justify the conclusions.

Badarraco alludes to this, saying that it is unrealistic to expect people to rise above their culture, history, religious faiths, their urgent need for practical assistance, their biological predispositions, in a word, their humanity, and enter an abstract, platonic realm of dispassionate ethical analysis. Such emotional issues create boundaries around our sense of awareness, creating what is referred to as bounded ethicality.

Therefore, organisational leaders need to apply the principles of ethical leadership, bearing in mind that, it is the leadership that establishes and reinforce the values of their organisations. If there is a disparity between the mission and values of the organisation, their followers will replicate their behaviours, which will serve as an indication of the informal values of the organisation. Also, ethical leadership is more than a guide; it is a preventive measure that determines the correct course of action for individuals and organisations, as well as a qualitative standard for everyone in leadership and the followers alike.

Sobande is a Lawyer and Leadership Consultant. He is a Doctoral Candidate at Regent University, Virginia Beach, USA, for a Ph.D. in Strategic Leadership. He can be reach through Email: contactme@toyesobande.com

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Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Editorial Publisher/Editor-in-chief

Nigerians abroad: Surplus in a time of shortages

Frank Aigbogun editor Patrick Atuanya

Nigeria’s true asset is human capital, her population

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

I

t’s estimated that more than 4,000 Nigerian doctors practice in the US; over 5,000 in the UK and 568 in Canada (a 200 percent increase in 10 years). Poor pay and lack of opportunities are the primary reasons doctors are leaving the country.

Who benefits or loses when Nigerian doctors emigrate? A lot is lost: the skills and knowledge, the cost of training (it costs $5,000 to $10,000 a year to train doctors in Africa, according to one estimate), lives (2,300 children and the 145 women die every day from preventable diseases and causes), savings and taxes?

There are benefits too. A 2011 survey of 1,759 African doctors based in the US and Canada found that half were trained in their country of origin, had worked for at least five years before emigrating and sent home on average more than $6,500 a year.

These African doctors had been

in the US or Canada for an average of 21 years. In summary, the survey found that African doctors born and trained in their country of origin had each sent home roughly $130,000 (N47 million).

Do the benefits outshine the costs? According to data on remittances i.e. money Nigerians living abroad send home, money sent home from Nigerians abroad via money transfer has outstripped what the country earned from oil for the past four years.

According to PwC, a consultancy, the $25 billion Nigerians living overseas sent home in 2018 represents 6 percent of all the goods and services Nigeria produced that year. PwC further notes that the figure is equivalent to 83 percent of the 2018 budget and 11 times the amount foreign companies invested in the same period.

Nigeria exports human capital not oil.

For the President, his advisers and the heads of ministries, departments and agencies this is an after-

thought. Nothing is done to harness this immense gift. On the contrary, their comments, attitudes, and actions come across as a deliberate effort to frustrate Nigerians out of the country. You’re free to go, they say. And so they leave.

Either legally, Nigerians are among the fastest-growing immigrants in the UK and do well at school. In the US, they are among the best-educated; or illegally, every year, thousands risk their lives (knowingly and unknowingly) across the Mediterranean in order to work as prostitutes or at manual jobs in Europe. In 2016 and 2017, the most common nationality of people that arrived in Italy by sea from Libya was Nigerian – 37,550 of them in 2016. They send money home too.

If the conditions that are causing Nigerians to emigrate continue, Nigeria will run out of talent to export. The state of our public schools and hospitals and roads does not suggest we intend to be the talent factory of the world,

exporting brainpower wherever it is needed.

Ironically, the money sent home pays for the things the government is meant to provide. Retirees battling with hypertension or cancer but without any hope of receiving their pensions rely on money sent from abroad to buy their drugs.

Younger relatives’ only chance of getting a decent education depends on the euros an aunt sends from Italy.

Over four years ago, bright young Nigerians returned either to work for multinationals or to found start-ups in the flourishing technology sector. Their alumni network from some of the best schools in the world opened doors to foreign investors. The influx has reversed.

We ask, rewording the Pauline rhetoric: What then? Is the government going to make things more difficult in order to force more bright young Nigerians abroad?

By no means. At home or abroad, Nigeria’s true asset is human capital, her population.

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

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COMPANIES & MARKETS

13

COMPANY NEWS ANALYSIS INSIGHT

CONSUMER GOODS

AB InBev sees “materially worse” second quarter on Coronavirus virus impact OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

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nternational Breweries’ parent company and world’s largest beer maker,AnheuserBusch InBev forecasts a “materially worse” second quarter as coronavirus restrictions curb drinking across the globe, although it recorded single digit volume growth in Nigeria in the first quarter for the period ended 31st March.

Revenue tanked 5.8percent materially impacted by lower volumes resulting from the COVID19 pandemic. Revenue per hl grew by 3.9percent driven by the company’s premiumization and revenue management initiatives.

According to the beermaker, business started in the year with good momentum and delivered volume growth of 1.9percent in the first two months of the year excluding China, where the COVID-19 outbreak began in late January. Sadly, the impact of COVID-19 on its global results increased significantly toward the end of the quarter.

Total volumes declined by 9.3percent with own beer

volumes down 10.5percent and non-beer volumes down 0.2percent.

Excluding China, our volumes declined by 3.6% in

1Q20 despite initial growth of 1.9% in January and February.

“In Africa excluding South Africa, we delivered high single digit volume growth in

T

he Tin-Can Island Container Terminal (TICT), a multinational port operating company with its terminal located at the Tin-Can Island Port Complex in Lagos, said it has donated N100 million to the Federal Government’s Covid-19 Relief Fund.

According to the terminal operator, the donation falls within the framework of the national response plan against coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in Nigeria as well as the solidarity action initiated by the Federal Government of Nigeria for the benefit of vulnerable people.

“The donation to the Federal Government is in line with the company’s collaborative approach to act and be recognised as a proactive and pioneering change agent, keen and able to positively contribute to the develop-

the beer maker noted.

During the period under review, cost of sales was flat and increased by 10.3 percent on a per hl basis, driven pri-

(2nd l) Muftau Ayoola, permanent secretary of health, alongside the P&G Plant HR Manager, Mrs. Oyeyemi Roseline at the official handover of over 120,000 hygiene products by Procter & Gamble to Oyo State Government in support of COVID-19 relief efforts in Nigeria.

TICT donates N100m to support Nigeria’s response plan against Covid-19 AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

Nigeria. With respect to COVID-19, measures being taken in Nigeria vary state by state, though most major states have mandated a lockdown,”

ment of Nigeria and the wellbeing of the citizens,” said Etienne Rocher, managing director of TICT. He assured that the terminal must always observe all other precautionar y measures including social distancing, frequent hand washing with soap under running water and the use of masks and gloves as may be applicable.

In addition to these measures, he stated that, TICT has taken steps to prevent

the disease by advising port workers and users to adhere strictly to safety guidelines issued by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other governmental authorities in order to stop the spread of the virus.

“Tin-Can Island Container Terminal has ensured continuity of Nigerian supplies and is unwaveringly committed to continue investment in port development in Nigeria, even as it positions itself as a recognised industry player within the African continent,” Rocher said.

Recall that TICT has made significant investments in infrastructure work and equipment and employs nearly 625 people, with the goal of making its terminal the most efficient terminal in Nigeria’s economic capital, linking with the metropolitan area and its industrial centers through motorways and the promotion of waterways development.

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marily by operational deleverage resulting from the impact of COVID-19 on our volumes and transactional currency headwinds. EBITDA of 3 949 million USD represents a decrease of 13.7percent in the quarter, with EBITDA margin contraction of 331 bps to 35.9percent.

Net finance costs (excluding non-recurring net finance results) were $3160 million in 1Q20 compared to $366 million in 1Q19.

The increase was predominantly due to a mark-to-market loss of $1855 million in 1Q20 linked to the hedging of our share-based payment programs, compared to a gain of $951 million in 1Q19, resulting in a swing of $2 806 million Normalized profit attributable to equity holders of AB InBev was -845 million in 1Q20 versus $2 395 million in 1Q19. Underlying profit (normalized profit attributable to equity holders of AB InBev excluding mark-to-market losses linked to the hedging of our share-based payment programs and the impact of hyperinflation) was $1 015 million in 1Q20 as compared to $1 449 million in 1Q19.

Customs intercepts COVID-19 branded vehicle smuggling frozen poultry in Ogun AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

T

he Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intercepted a vehicle with Covid-19 sticker used to smuggled frozen chicken into the country.

The unit also intercepted various items of contraband worth N12.7 billion between January to April 2020.

Recall that the FOU Zone ‘A’ is an anti-smuggling arm of the service saddled with the responsibility of suppressing smuggling in the six states of the South-West.

According to a statement

by Jerry Attah, public relations officer of the unit, officers of the unit intercepted the vehicle under the guise of essential duty smuggling cartons of smuggled frozen chicken into the country from Benin Republic.

Attah, who quoted the Customs Area Controller of the unit, Usman Yahaya, said the

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vehicle was arrested along Ijebu-Ode Expressway.

He disclosed that the seizures were intercepted based on intelligence and the eagle eye officers who were on routine patrol at the axis.

“The officers were professional enough to intercept the vehicle which was believed to be used in the movement of essential commodities but was surprise to see that it was used for illegal activities such as movement of contraband,” he stated.

He however said that investigation has commenced to get to the root and unravel other atrocities that may have been committed using the essential duty tag.

On the activities of the command in the last four months, the CAC said contraband worth N12.7 billion were intercepted from smugglers between January to April 2020 According to him, the unit also paid a whopping N1.14 billion into the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government from Debit Note @Businessdayng

(DN) on intercepted containers from Lagos seaports, voluntary payment of Customs duty on vehicles, auction sales from PMS and among others.

Giving a breakdown of the seizures, he said 25 units of used vehicles worth N108 million, 5,644 cartons of frozen chicken worth N54.1 million were intercepted, 9,843 bags of 50kg smuggled parboiled rice worth N130.4 million and sacks of textile materials worth N94 million were seized in the month under review.

Others are, N14 million worth of used tyre, 3,764 kegs of smuggled vegetables oil worth N69.2 million, 8,365 litres of smuggled petrol also known as (PMS) and AGO also known as diesel worth N35 million.

“We wont relent on our anti-smuggling fight especially at this time the government is preaching diversification into the agric sector due to the fall in price of oil in the international market which has affected government revenue base,” Yahaya.

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Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

MONEYINSIGHT

POS transaction failure rate rise 15.3% in May amid eased lockdown FRANK ELEANYA

T

he rate of failure on Point of Sale (POS) transactions has been on a steady rise since May 2020. Data from the Nigeria Interbank-Settlement System (NIBSS) show that transaction failures has now risen to 15.31 percent between 2 and 8 May the week COVID-19 lockdown was eased.

The rate has been on a steady rise since April where it grew from 12.7 percent and ended the month at 14.17 percent. Successful transactions also dropped from 87.24 percent in April to 84.69 percent in May. The increase may not be unconnected to the easing of the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and FCT by President Muhammadu Buhari. After one month of lockdown aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria, the President

had announced the gradual reopening of businesses in the three states.

It would be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria had urged the banking public to make use of digital payment channels such as mobile banking, internet banking, mobile money, Point of Sale (POS), and USSD even as banks were expected to run skeletal promise. The CBN governor had promised that efforts would be made to ensure seamless transactions throughout the lockdown.

Although transactions on mobile phones grew by 14.5 percent between February and March and electronic bills payment rose by 36.6 percent customers’ experience was far from smooth as many reported an increase in failed bank transfers and POS transactions. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) in a statement it issued on 22 April, said it has received

a lot of complaints from consumers on issues bordering on failed electronic banking transactions within the period of lockdown.

Customers, however, have accounted for a large portion (11.06%) of the failure in POS transactions according to NIBSS chart. Banks are responsible for 3.35 percent of the failure rate.

Banks control nearly the entire 449, 998 POS terminals registered with 306,409 terminals deployed as of January. Nonetheless, persistent transaction failures and the long time required to resolve issues, customers appear to be growing impatient as the volume of transactions in January shows. Volume of transactions dropped from 46 million in December to 41 million in January the least it has been since September 2019. It is, however, a rise from January 2019 where volume was at 28 million.

Bitcoin will return to all-time highs in about 18 months - Swanepoel FRANK ELEANYA

M

arcus Swanepoel, CEO of Luno, has uncharacteristically predicted that the price of bitcoin will return to record highs it saw three years ago in about 12 to 18 months.

The prediction is coming on the eve of the most anticipated event in the history of the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin Halving describes a process of reducing the rate at which new cryptocurrency units are generated. For instance, the halving on Tuesday would see the block reward fall from 12.5 to 6.25 bitcoins.

Halving is built into the bitcoin protocol and fundamental to bitcoin’s principles.

Essentially, halving ensures that miners have to spend more time to mine each bitcoin. Invariably, the miners would likely push up the price of the cryptocurrency to compensate for the extra effort.

There is a finite number of bitcoin that will ever be in circulation (21 million) and there is no way of producing more. As such, halvings are a unique protocol which controls the supply. Money issued by governments can be created by simply printing more notes, which means it loses value to inflation if too much is printed.

“I believe we’re currently at the beginning of a long upward trend, one that, considering the broader economic environment, is set to experience increased volatility, especially in the next few weeks,” Swanepoel said.

Luno which has nearly

4 million users buying and selling 5 top cryptocurrencies on its exchange has a policy of not predicting prices.

A poll that the global exchange conducted recently found that about 75 percent of Luno users have expectations of price bump by the end of 2020.

Less than 5 percent of users have plans to sell their bitcoin over the next six months, with more than 90 percent expecting to buy more, increase trading or hold on to their crypto over the same period of time.

Although the poll reflects nearly the entire market sentiment as Tuesday approaches, Mariuz Reitz, General Manager, Luno Africa, said the current economic landscape would play a major role in the outcomes of the halving.

Important to note are the growth in adoption and use cases for bitcoin. For instance, when the first halving took place in 2012, there were only 43,000 wallets or accounts. By the second halving in 2016, there were around seven million. Presently there are over 48 million wallets, but this is still a relatively small number.

Bullish price expectations are driven by previous halving outcomes. The first halving took place on 28 November 2012, when one bitcoin was worth around $11. Less than a year after the halving, bitcoin’s price rose to $1,100.

A similar thing happened during the second halving which took place in July 2016.

Prior to the event, bitcoin was at $600 to $700. After the halving, the price surged www.businessday.ng

to a record $20,000. Notwithstanding, the two data points are still limited to make generalisations, Reitz said the market would certainly undergo a transition.

“If you drop supply of anything by 50 percent, usually it drives demand and therefore prices increase. Many have upped their holdings in anticipation of a bull run,” Reitz said. “Countries with unstable currencies like South Africa have seen bitcoin as a safe haven and good store of value and with governments printing money all over the world, inflation is likely to be higher than in the past.

The COVID-19 situation may reduce the purchasing power of fiat currency, prompting more people to consider bitcoin.”

Reitz also said transaction fees may not be affected by the halving event because they do not make up a large percentage of income for miners, whose primary goal is achieving the block reward.

This is why it is a race to see who decodes the block first.

Miners joined forces and formed large mining pools, increasing the chances of getting a block which is then shared equally along with the transaction fees.

The company noted that it has seen good growth in Nigeria over the last quarter in terms of new account openings and monthly active customers. Nigeria has surpassed South Africa on both metrics although the market is still much smaller than that of South Africa in terms of bitcoin traded. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

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Friday 15 May 2020

News

BUSINESS DAY

Products Review

Technology Review

Personality Review

15

FINTECH

Company Review

Edo State is banking on mobile money to cushion coronavirus crisis FRANK ELEANYA

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he need for efficient distribution of relief to the most vulnerable people in the society could see states easing the path to mobile money for mobile network operators (MNOs).

Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo State, on Saturday, said his government was collaborating with four telcos to create a social-register to identify 125,000 people who need relief.

A social register is a gateway for registered poor and vulnerable households to access social interventions or welfare packages by the government, philanthropists, NGOs, and businesses.

The national social register is being coordinated by the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) and it contains the names of about 2 million families.

The difference with the Edo State register is in the application. While the federal government chose to disburse cash physically and ignore electronic transfers, Edo State’s partnership with telcos will enable the government to make cash transfers directly into the virtual bank accounts of recipients.

“We intend to create mobile wallets to be used in money transfers to support these people,” Obaseki said while speaking at the first

digital edition of The Platform Nigeria, a leadership programme organized by the Covenant Christian Centre (CCC).

The telcos will be collaborating with financial institutions in the state to create the mobile wallets. Although the governor didn’t clarify on the modalities for the collaboration, the banks are likely to be depositories of the money while telcos provide the phone numbers that would be used as wallets.

Mobile money allows users to store funds in a secure electronic account, linked to a mobile phone number.

In some cases, the mobile money account number is

the same as the phone number, but not always. The service allows users to store, send, and receive money using their mobile phones.

They can buy items in shops or online, pay bills, school fees, and buy airtime.

In Nigeria, banks and fintech companies are championing the mobile money drive. In 2019 Nigerians opened more mobile money accounts in than any other year, according to a new report from GSMA. , Nigeria isn’t pulling its weight in the African market.

Since 2018, telcos in Nigeria have been waiting to be issued a Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence by

the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enable them to kick-off mobile money services in the country.

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

The CBN through its National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) plans to en-

sure that 80 percent of Nigerian adults are included in the financial net by the year 2020. Although the financial services regulator appears reluctant in letting telcos be part of the market in Nigeria, it, however, agrees that their involvement is critical to deepening financial inclusion. Hence, in 2019, the apex bank issued a super agent licence to MTN and an approval in principle for a PSB licence to Gloworld, Unified Payments, and 9Mobile.

The CBN also reviewed charges and fees for banking services as part of measures to reduce the cost of financial services and encourage more people to use them.

But according to data compiled by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA), which has covered the country’s financial inclusion space in the last 12 years, the CBN’s target is unlikely to be achieved; financial exclusion in Nigeria is widening.

“What we saw between the 2016 and 2018 data was that more people were becoming financially included but not at the same pace as the population growth rate which is why the 80 percent target of financial inclusion for this year or conversely the 20 percent exclusion target is unlikely to be met if we are all particularly realistic,” Dayo Odulate-Ademola, Head of innovation at EFInA said at the Social Media Week, in

February 2020.

In an article the group published before the lockdown was declared in Nigeria, EFInA also noted the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on household incomes and how an increasing number of people are unable to access financial services as a result of the restriction of movement.

“Longer-term, we run the risk of more Nigerians becoming financially excluded as a result of this crisis, at the exact moment when they as individuals and the overall economy would need their participation the most,” said Ashley Emmanuel, Head of Programmes at Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA).

Edo’s partnership with the telcos is arguably the first time a state government is directly involved in pushing mobile money to its citizens. The success of the programme serves as a template for other states, thereby increasing the number of people embracing electronic transactions and financial services.

“Accelerating the deployment of Payment Service Banks may be one of the most efficient ways to expand financial access following the COVID-19 pandemic and set the “digital rails” that Nigerians can use to access other services that will improve their lives, such as pay-as-you-go solar solutions,” Emmanuel said.

Bitcoin sustains rally less than six days to halving event FRANK ELEANYA

T

he price of bitcoin has remained in the green zone after ending April with a 29 percent gain and jumping over $1000 in one day and almost touched $9,5000 on Sunday, 3 April. Bitcoin also increased its market share with 2 percentage points last week while most large caps lost shares according to Luno’s weekly market update.

In the same week, the global economic figures came back with dampened expectations as the US reported firstquarter GDP growth of -4.8

ume is now trending upwards again as the price is gaining momentum.

This is expected to lead to a shift in the volume trend, as the solid volume is a healthy sign to support the rapid price increase.

As the halving event looms, bitcoin mining difficulty - a measure of how hard it is to compete for block rewards - is at an all-time high in the network’s last readjustment before the halving happens. The mining difficulty is designed to adjust itself every 2016 blocks, or about two weeks, based on the competition in each adjustment cycle.

percent. Italy’s GDP dropped by -4.5 percent, Spain came in at -5.2 percent and France at -5.8 percent. The European Central Bank said it could get worse in the second quarter as it projects a fall of 15 percent.

With the Bitcoin Halving event less than six days away, investors have also increased their position in the cryptocurrency market in anticipation of a price spike.

The 7-day average trading volume increased massively last week, with a strong real daily volume of $4 billion on Thursday. After several weeks with a clear downwards trend, the bitcoin volwww.businessday.ng

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16

Friday 15 May, 2020

BUSINESS DAY

INSIGHT COVID-19: As the Bank of Industry moves to protect its customers The disbursement to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) segment increased from ₦33.9 billion in 2018 to ₦53.0 billion in 2019, representing a remarkable 56.3% year-on-year growth.

The bank also consolidated its role as the managing partner of one of the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programmes, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).

About ₦8.2 billion was disbursed to beneficiaries in 2019, thus bringing the total disbursed amount since inception to ₦36.9 billion to 2.3 million beneficiaries nationwide. In light of this outstanding performance, GEEP was recognised by the Desmond Tutu Fellowship for its role in driving financial inclusion. The programme also won the African Development Bank’s African Bankers’ Award as the most impactful Financial Inclusion programme in Africa.

Bisi Daniels

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• All intervention funds granted by the Central Bank of Nigeria and disbursed by the Bank of Industry have been covered by the CBN’s palliative measures, which include moratorium extension and interest rate reduction to 5% per annum, which has also been communicated to the relevant customers.

• The Bank has written to all the Managing Directors and Chief Risk Officers of partnering commercial banks, officially notifying them of the Bank’s position on these initiatives.

• Also, in the Bank’s bid to support the government and private sector initiatives to fight COVID-19, the Bank donated N700m to both the CACOVID Fund, as well as the Lagos State Government and the FCT Ministerial Committee on COVID-19 Despite ending the 2019 financial year strongly to the delight of shareholders and other stakeholders, the Bank’s reputation in the socio-economic headwinds from COVID-19 was at stake. It had to show it had a responsibility to its customers as much as it cares about its balances and shareholder interests.

An official of the Bank said on Friday, “We don’t just provide loans, we work continuously with our customers to ensure that they succeed.

“We provide business advisory services other than just providing loans; and we continuously engage our customers, especially during difficult times.

“We are always conscious of our reputation as Nigeria’s oldest, largest and most successful development financing institution.

“Among our operational principles are long-term relationship with clients, based on shared responsibilities for the success of enterprises; and equitable comwww.businessday.ng

Olukayode A. Pitan. MD/CEO, Bank of Industry

mitment to the prosperity of all stakeholders.”

BOI, a limited liability company, has a long history of strong performance, operating profitably since 2004 following its successful restructuring.

In line with its vision to operate under global best practices, BOI has been benchmarking itself against top-notch DFIs in Africa, Asia, South America and Europe; and it has continuously obtained favourable credit ratings from world class credit rating agencies The group’s Total Equity as at year ended 2019 was ₦293.09billion showing a 13.4% increase over 2018 position of ₦258.24billion. In the same vein, Profit Before Tax of the group grew to ₦39.33 billion marking a year-on-year growth of 7.2% over ₦36.66 billion of 2018. The increase in profitability is as a result of improvement in loan book, as well as the efficient management of the group’s other assets and liabilities.

Despite a slow start in the first quarter of the year due to the

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build-up to the 2019 general elections, loans and advances grew by 16.7% from ₦634.11billion in 2018 to ₦740.03 billion in 2019.

Interest Income and Interest Expense increased by 20% and 54% on a year-on-year basis respectively due to increase in loan book as well as the impact of borrowings (full year impact on the interest expense in 2019, while 2018 impact was for six months).

The accounts of the Bank of Industry group reflects a strong balance sheet as well as sustained business growth in line with both regulatory requirements and global best practices; as well as a strong alignment with the strategic objectives of the Federal Government, especially in the areas of industrial growth and job creation.

The Bank’s disbursed a total of ₦234 billion to 10,145 enterprises, thus facilitating the creating of an estimated one million direct and indirect jobs.

‘

Despite ending the 2019 financial year strongly to the delight of shareholders and other stakeholders, the Bank’s reputation in the socio-economic headwinds from COVID-19 was at stake

‘

or the 10,145 enterprises that benefited from the Bank of Industry’s N234 billion disbursement in 2019, the outbreak of COVID-19 with its negative impact on business must have left some of them wondering if the support was a blessing or a curse.

With the lockdowns and shrinking demand for goods and services, some of them must rightly have wondered how they would service their debts, or even stay afloat in a raging economic storm.

But the Bank says it has not been unmindful of their fears. It noted in a statement last week, “The COVID-19 pandemic is a clear and present danger to the world, especially the developing nations like Nigeria from a health as well as an economic perspective.

“BoI understands that these are very challenging times for all Nigerians, including our dear customers and it has been working tirelessly to provide the critical support required by our customers not only to survive but to thrive in these difficult times.”

The Bank moved quickly to implement measures in compliance with the Federal Government’s directives on moratoriums for loans given by government-owned financial institutions, while also implementing its measures to ensure that customers are well-supported in line with its developmental mandate.

It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had in his presidential address on March 29, announced palliatives for the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bank said it promptly responded to the presidential directive as follows: • Communicated the moratorium period of three (3) months to customers and further advised that customers requiring more than three months can apply for a further extension, which can be up to 12 months; • Reduced the interest rates on all BOI-funded projects by 2% pa from 10% to 8% per year with effect from April 1. This has also been communicated to customers and partnering commercial banks; • Worked with our funding partners to obtain interest rate reductions on some of the funds that we manage. In particular, the Bank worked with the Nigerian Content Development Management Board to reduce the interest rates on credit facilities approved under its managed fund from 8% pa to 6% per year. This reduction in interest rate, as well as the extension of the moratorium period, has been communicated to all customers;

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Funds Mobilisation To enhance its support to the industrial sector of the economy for growth, the BOI continues to improve its capital base through facilities from reputable sources.

In 2019, the bank initiated discussions with international strategic partners towards raising funds to boost its operations. This transaction was concluded in March 2020.

The sum of €1 billion (approximately $1.11billion) was raised through a Syndicated Guaranteed Senior Loan Facility from 24 international financial institutions.

The success of this transaction shall enable the Bank to catalyse domestic production and job creation on a transformational scale, enhance local industry competitiveness, attract domestic and foreign investments, integrate local industries into domestic, regional and global value chains, grow export earnings and positively impact the overall economic development of the country.

In September 2018, the Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM) for a $500 million line of finance. The tenor is expected to be for five to six years.

An MOU between BOI and the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board for a $200m Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, for which BoI is the manager.

The Bank has reassured its customers of its commitment towards actualising its goal of supporting economic development and industrialization. It said it will continue to implement this through its mission of providing financial and business support services to enterprises in line with the economic agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Bisi is a journalist and author in Lagos

Friday 15 May, 2020

BUSINESS DAY

17

FEATURE Framework for corporate finance in developing countries Economic cycle hypothesis of a firm’s capital structure Uche Uwaleke

E

ssentially, the Economic Cycle Hypothesis (ECH), canvassed in this article, posits that the way a company is financed is determined to a large extent by the economic cycle. It goes on to argue that even the combination of resources in aid of strategic decisions is influenced by the phases of this cycle. It is this ability to weave together capital structure and strategy that gives the ECH framework its utility.

Over its history, financing decisions of firms have understandably been guided by a plethora of theories on capital structure. The debate was, and still is, the optimal mix of debt and equity that maximises the value of the firm reflected in part in its stock price. Whereas Modigliani and Miller (M&M) had argued in a seminal 1958 paper that capital structure was irrelevant in relation to firm’s value, several others such as Kraus and Litzenberger with their 1973 Tradeoff theory, Myers and Majluf through their 1984 Pecking order theory and Baker and Wurgler credited with the 2002 Market Timing theory inveighed against the proposition. All knocked the M&M theory, in what has become the standard criticism, for riding on unrealistic assumptions.

This article is not intended to join issues with these eminent Lords of Finance. Rather, it strives to provide an analytical framework that adds horsepower to how company’s capital structure, its composition of debt and equity, is shaped by the economic cycle and how it is intertwined with strategy- the missing piece in the earlier intellectual paradigm on capital structure.

So, how might swings in economic activities, expansions and contractions, influence capital structure decisions of firms? How does this tie with their strategic actions? Earlier prescriptions have tended to overlook the fluidity in the macroeconomic environment of business firms. They also ignored how the attainment of strategic goals might depend on the way and manner a company goes about raising funds. This is the gap the ECH hypothesis seeks to narrow.

As the case of many developing countries including Nigeria and South Africa forewarn, (Nigeria only emerged from a recession in 2017 while South Africa was already in a technical recession prior to the outbreak of COVID-19) economic contractions will become more frequent going forward with implications for corporate finance. The ECH of capital structure espoused here is an attempt to tease out these implications through a practical framework for raising capital whether during periods of recession or boom.

The discussion is with a bias for companies quoted on a stock exchange (as unlisted private companies do not have the benefit of issuing securities to the public) and tailored to developing countries’ unique features which lead to a number of underlying assumptions namely that: a Recession is characterised by low investments, high unemployment rate, credit default risks making banks

risk-shy. Contrariwise, economic boom is associated with high industry capacity utilisation and increase in productive activity. In most developing countries, the capital market is shallow and the debt market is dominated by the government sector.

The stock market tends to move with the economic cycle: A bear market is associated with economic recession while the market tends to be bullish during economic boom. The economy is characterised by huge fiscal deficit and so the government sector is in competition with the private sector for scarce funds driving up interest rates in the process. Tight monetary policy is more of the order and bank lending rate is high while credit to the private sector is low.

Economic recession, as the case of Nigeria has shown and quite contrary to developed countries’ experience, often exists side by side with high inflation and interest rates, stagflation in order words.

Armed with these factors predicated on the idiosyncratic features of developing economies, the ECH of capital structure is described in a 2 by 2 matrix Fundamental to the ECH is the ECCS matrix which provides a nexus between capital structure, strategy and economic cycles hitherto not explored. In it, the 3 C’s of strategy namely Costs, Competition and Customers are strung around a company’s capital structure within the cycle of economic boom and recession with implications for dividend policy. The outcome is Strategic Capital Structure.

Inside the four-box matrix, Equity is placed on the upper left quadrant, Retained Earnings on the lower left, Debt on the upper right while Asset Sale is on the lower right quadrant.

The dynamics that govern their relationship is the Economic cycle displayed on the vertical axis while Time, how long the recession lasts, is shown on the horizontal dimension.

As figure 1 indicates, a temporary period of recession calls for the use of internal resources, retained earnings, as the prime source of finance. The company’s major concern here is stability. If severe or prolonged, often lasting more than eight consecutive quarters or 2 years meaning there is a depression, the company identifies and sells assets not critical to its operations. This might be by way of a Sale-and-Buy Back arrangement in case such assets would be needed in the future when the economy recovers and cash flows improve.

The resort to draw on resources saved during economic boom is primarily because of the downturn in economic activities and against the backdrop of assumptions made earlier: the stock market is bearish making the issuance of equity unatwww.businessday.ng

tractive, the government is borrowing to fill fiscal gap, interest rates are high and so raises bankruptcy costs with debt issuance.

Following a boom, confidence in the economy gradually returns and investors’ sentiments turn positive.

So, the company issues equity starting with a Rights Issue. For the company, this is better than the debt option because in the short-term interest rates are sticky downwards. If the prosperity is sustained, the economy moves towards a low interest rate environment making debt issuance the preferred option for the pursuit of long-term corporate goal of maximising shareholder value.

Further, the framework speaks squarely to the role of economic cycles in strategic actions undertaken by companies. During periods of economic headwinds, the major consideration is how to remain stable and if turbulence is major and prolonged, how to even survive and ensure business continuity. Faced with systematic risks, the company bothers less about the revenue side and becomes more concerned with how to be a low-cost producer relative to competitors by relentlessly cutting costs and riding down “the experience curve”.

Activity based costing is handy here. As an aside, a company might be quick to lay off staff following a recession but this would be a wrong move if the downturn in economic activity is expected to be temporary.

The reason is not farfetched: sacking workers during recession smacks of fair-weather relationship between employer and employee, leads to disloyalty on the part of those retained knowing full well that it could be their turn tomorrow. Instead, salary cuts may be used beginning with a slash in Executive compensation. Layoffs can only be justified in a depression when the company is compelled to right size not least because the overriding goal is to survive.

When tailwinds arrive and the economy recovers and begins to boom eventually, the strategic goal changes to Growth. In this cell, the Boston Consulting Group’s GrowthShare matrix finds relevance. The company goes after market share via increased turnover which may not necessarily correlate with significant improvement in top and bottom lines.

For this reason, residual dividend policy involving low pay-out ratio after prioritising viable investment opportunities recommends itself.

Also, in view of the high interest rates that still persist in the short term, the company resorts to equity financing.

Following strong economic growth, often above population growth rate and prolonged boom period characterised by liquidity surfeit and strong business confidence, interest rates

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decline and the company then looks to the Debt market for new financing.

Consequent upon increased leverage positively rubbing off on profitability, expansion is rapid including through undertaking projects with positive Net Present Value. With an eye on competitors, the company increases the dividend pay-out ratio taking advantage of its signalling effect. Quite useful here will be the application of Michael Porter’s five forces competition framework. Increased discretionary cash flows that result, present a golden opportunity to build buffer against the rainy day.

For the firm, the time is ripe to harvest value for shareholders. It is only at this stage that the pursuit of the goal of shareholder wealth maximisation becomes more meaningful.

Of note is the valuable insight offered by the ECH construct to how companies might approach dividend policy over the economic cycle adopting a nil pay-out ratio during periods of recession, a low or residual policy during short periods of economic boom and an active dividend policy for prolonged boom periods.

But are these not the same postulations made by the Pecking Order and Market Timing theories? There are parallels, no doubt, to the extent that implicit in the ECH is also a pecking order that is time sensitive.

Nevertheless, while Myers and Majluf had argued for the use of debt before equity finance, the ECH, set in the context of developing countries, submit the reverse for reasons rooted in the peculiar interest rate milieu of these economies. Their contention that raising equity to finance investments might be perceived by the stock market as an attempt to “sell a lemon”, leading to adverse selection of some sort and raising the cost of equity relative to debt capital may not hold true in a high interest rate environment that diminishes the tax benefits of debt funding.

This ECH stance of equity-first before debt is consistent with the Trade Off theory which argues that at high leverage levels, bankruptcy costs tend to outweigh the tax shield from debt. On their own part, Baker and Wurgler of the Market Timing Hypothesis fame, allow that firms are indifferent between equity or debt financing as managers tend to issue equity when overvalued and repurchase when undervalued thereby taking advantage of temporary mispricing in the market. It is clear that these capital structure theories did not sufficiently deal with the overwhelming influence of economic cycles. What is more, they were also silent on how capital structure can be fused with strategic decisions.

One message that stands out in the ECH analysis is that corporate finance objective is dynamic and in sync with the economic cycle.

The maximisation of Shareholders’ wealth, contrary to a widely-held view, is not a goal suitable for all times and seasons. Because its pursuit is not a 100-meters dash, it becomes only realistic in the long run following the onset of favourable business conditions after a recession. In highlighting other goals of the company through various phases of the economic cycle, the ECH does not seek to dethrone @Businessdayng

the yardstick of shareholder value as the principal measure of corporate success. Rather, it questions the maximisation of shareholders wealth as the be-all and end-all of corporate activity irrespective of economic conditions.

Expectedly, the first tar on the ECH of capital structure matrix from academics/scholars will be the question of the place of the recovery phase in the framework. The answer of course lies somewhere between the trajectory of recession and boom and the mix of capital will accordingly be influenced by whether or not the recovery is weak or strong. With respect to new sources of finance, retained earnings is used if considered weak while a gradual shift to equity finance is justified if the recovery is considered strong. Granted that the cell boundaries may be blurred in real life, the allure of the ECH framework lies in the fact that this author has, in a simple graphic and conceptual devise, succeeded in stringing together the essential elements of strategic corporate finance. As the recent coronavirus pandemic brings home, a firm’s financing decisions, going forward, will necessarily become more adaptive if it must achieve strategic goals.

In summary, the ECH asserts that a company’s capital structure is a function of the economic cycle.

Retained earnings are used during a period of economic recession while non-critical assets are sold to generate funds if the downturn drags into a depression. Following a boom, the company opts more for equity finance while debt capital becomes the bride during a prolonged economic boom. The ECH construct delivers more: it highlights implications for strategy and dividend policy leading to the submission that quoted companies require strategic capital structure to achieve strategic goals which are fluid and dependent on the economic cycle.

Admittedly, as a framework for corporate actions, the attempt to integrate capital structure with strategy in the context of business cycles is a pioneering one and still raw. Without a doubt, the ECH hypothesis put forward here enriches the body of literature in corporate finance and should act as a springboard for future research- one capable of bringing more rigor and empiricism- in the area of strategic capital structure.

Uwaleke is a Professor of Finance & Capital Market at the Nasarawa State University Keffi where he teaches Finance Theories to Doctoral students and a visiting Professor to Nile University of Nigeria Abuja where he mentors PhD Finance majors.

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Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE African researchers develops surveillance system for detecting emerging pandemics GODSGIFT ONYEDINEFU, Abuja

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frican researchers are leading a scientific coalition to develop a surveillance system for detecting emerging pandemics in the continent.

Researchers at the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), Redeemer’s University, Ede, Nigeria, have begun a partnership with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and other research and public health partners, to implement a Sentinel project for an early warning system in Africa.

According to a statement by the AfricaCDC, the research is led by Christian Happi and Pardis Sabeti, and aims to combine genomics with new information technologies in the detection and response to emerging viral threats in real-time.

“The opportunity to use advanced genomics and the analytical infrastructure to support the diagnostic potential for patients and populations provides an exciting opportunity for countries and the continent,” says Chikwe Ihekwuazu, Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

According to the statement, the project was conceived long before COVID-19, but its relevance has become more significant in the face of this fast-spreading pandemic.

“We have seen communities of researchers and healthcare workers come together in extraordinary ways to fight COVID-19. Sentinel is, and will continue to be, a powerful example of this,” says Christian

Happi, Director at ACEGID and Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics at the Redeemer’s University, Nigeria.

“This pandemic has shown us how unprepared we are everywhere in the world for a crisis of this magnitude. But while it’s clear that we are all very much behind the curve, this pandemic will hopefully prompt government leaders to take up new tools and technologies to combat COVID-19, and to prepare

for future outbreaks,” said Pardis Sabeti, Member, Broad Institute; Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University; and Professor, Department of Immunology and Infectious Disease at Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

The statement explained that the Sentinel Project is the first of eight new projects selected by the Audacious Project, and it has three pillars: detect, connect and empower.

EMZOR roll out COVID-19 response in Lagos, Ogun State ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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n response to the community transmission phase of the COVID 19 pandemic in Nigeria, Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries has rolled out its COVID 19 Response Programmme tagged EMZOR CARES. “The programme comprises series of interventions to complement the various measures of Government and create much needed succour at various touch points with the public,” said Chinyere Kelvin, the Group Business Development Manager, Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries, Lagos and Ogun states.

According to her, the company also plays a support role by continuing production in all of our four factories in both Lagos and Ogun States, providing healthcare products to Nigerians during this pandemic.

“Our goal is to continue to keep Nigerians safe by providing immune-boosting medications like vitamins, supplements and nutritional oils,” said Kelvin.

The business development manager explained that the EMZOR CARES Programme demonstrates the company’s support

Under the first pillar, researchers will leverage ultra-sensitive genomic and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) technologies to detect pathogens. One example is SHERLOCK, a platform that uses a simple paper strip to detect viruses and that may eventually be used even in the most remote areas with minimal or no equipment.

In the second pillar, the project will connectpublic health experts

to data gleaned from these detection platforms, using mobile applications and cloud-based systems that enable healthcare workers and public health officials to share data, analyses, and insights in real-time.

And in the third pillar, the project will empowerpublic health experts by training thousands of healthcare professionals to use the sentinel tools and deploy the diagnostic technologies for populationlevel testing, building on previous experiences of ACEGID and the Broad Institute in training over 900 individuals from around the world.

“The potential of Sentinel to transform infectious disease surveillance in Africa is boundless, and its mission complements that of Africa CDC: to strengthen surveillance and emergency response, and improve management of public health threats of regional and international consequence,” says John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC. Other partners in this project are Fathom Information Design, MASS Design Group, and Dimagi.

The project partners will leverage their existing partnerships and cutting-edge genomics capacity and experience in containing diseases such as monkeypox, yellow fever, Ebola, Zika, and Lassa fever to pilot the project in West and Central Africa, and eventually scale up to other African countries and regions.

“The whole idea of the project is to ensure that we can all be on guard to protect our communities.

Each of us can be a sentinel by engaging with the healthcare system to uncover what is making us sick, and in the process warn our communities,” says Sabeti.

COVID-19: Expert stresses need for collective responsibility SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

O and celebration of the front-line workers (the Police, LASTMA, FRSC and LSNC). “ In meeting the increasing demand for face masks as a vital protective measure against coronavirus, Emzor is also reaching out to pharmacies, hospitals, customers and local communities with donations of relief and protective items. Beneficiary hospitals include Kupa Medical and Isolo General Hospitals. In addition, Emzor has made donations of relief items to both Lagos and Ogun State Governments while also donating palliative and food items www.businessday.ng

to communities in Isolo Lagos and Shagamu in Ogun State.

She added that with the EMZOR CARES programme, Emzor celebrates all front line workers during the COVID 19 pandemic, honouring their sacrifice to keep our nation safe.

“Key elements of EMZOR CARES include free face masks, alcohol-based Emzor Sterilink Sanitizers, and Emzor Paracetamol for frontline workers. The EMZOR CARES Initiative is consistent with Emzor’s commitment to ensure Unlimited Wellness for all Nigerians,” explained kelvin.

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luwole Fareme, a Medical Doctor has stressed the need for Nigerians to personally and actively be involved in the fight against Coronavirus pandemic to stem it community transmission.

Faremi, who made the call in Ilorin on Wednesday while answering questions on a Radio Kwara interactive programme “The Platform” said it is the responsibility of the people to take their health concerns seriously.

According to the Medical Practitioner, the virus could wipe out the entire human race if cares is not taken, calling on the people to obey all precautionary measures put in place by the government and the various agencies.

He states that so far, the Nation had not been able to manage the partial lockdown effectively as community transmission is not yet at it peak.

Faremi who is also a Pharmacist pointed out that everybody must be involved and assist in the task @Businessdayng

of exterminating the virus.

On the allegations that people still travels at night, the Medical Practitioner commended the Security personnel for their efforts with a charge on them to change their attitude towards addressing the trend in the interest of all.

Faremi, however, urged the government to encourage people to come out with their discovery on treatment of the virus, stressing that such claims should be subjected to the necessary clinical trials and processes.

Callers on the programme commended the Kwara State Government for its efforts at containing the virus.

Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE Ogun vaccinates U-5 children against measles, infectious diseases amid COVID-19 pandemic RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta

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mid the increasing number of Coronavirus cases across the World with attendant challenges recorded against economy and healthy living, Ogun state government has begun vaccination in all its primary health centres meant to prevent measles and other infectious diseases among the under five (U-5) children.

This immunization exercise, according to the official statement emanated from the State Primary Healthcare Development Board, will be undertaken during COVID-19 lockdown and free days across the primary health centres located in all 20 local government areas of the state.

Speaking at a Media Orientation Meeting on Increasing Denand for Measles and other Routine Immunization Vaccines, Primary Healthcare Interventions and Coronavirus Containment at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta Govern-

ment Secretariat, Elijah Ogunsola, executive secretary, Ogun State Primary Healthcare Development Board, noted that immunization of children mustn’t stop during the lockdown as this would help fighting measles and infectious diseases among infants and children.

Ogunsola however advised mothers and caregivers to present their children and wards for the first and second doses of measles vaccine at nine and 15 months respectively, for them to fully gain required

immunity against the disease, saying that the Dapo Abiodun-led administration in the state had made huge investment in child health to ensure that the vaccine was made available in all public health facilities at no cost.

He said measles is an highly contagious, but preventable disease that could cause permanent disabilities as well as death among under five children, just as he urged the parents to take the immunisation of their children and wards more seriously.

Earlier, the Acting General Manager, Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation (O GBC ), Toyin Sogbesan enjoined participants present to demystify fears, doubts, uncertainty and anxieties of the general public on measles vaccination and other health interventions through dissemination of accurate information on the safety and advantages of full immunisation against the disease, emphasising that they (participants) play key role in promoting healthy behaviour among residents of the state.

Also speaking, the Chairman, State Mobilization and Technical Committee, Lanre Ogunyinka noted that the role of the media in information management is critical to harnessing and cultivating positive behavioural attitude towards vaccination and other health interventions, adding that participants should form the right attitude to impact the audience positively in order to get the right feedback.

COVID-19: Lafia Hospital, Ibadan re-opens ...as all staff screening results came back negative REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan.

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equel to the closure of its facility to the public about two weeks ago as a result of exposure to a Covid-19 patient, the Management of Lafia Hospital, Ibadan has announced the reopening of its facility.

This comes after a strict observation of a quarantine period of 14 days in accordance with Nigeria Center

for Disease Control (NCDC) guidelines.

The hospital’s Human Relationship Manager, Kayode Sule said the facility was decontaminated on Saturday 25th of April 2020.

In a release made available to journalists on Sunday said “i am happy to inform you all that employees of the hospital have been screened for Covid-19 and the results came back negative. The quarantine period ended on Friday 8th

may 2020 and the facility has since reopened ”, he said.

Sule also said the hospital has put in place some strict procedures in accordance with NCDC’s guidelines, which includes erection of a waiting area with chairs placed to maintain the mandatory social distancing and for triage purposes.

He added that the hospital would henceforth enforce a strict ‘ NO FACE MASKS, NO ENTRY RULES’ at the hospital.

Sule added that other necessary NCDC guidelines such as infrared temperature check, hand washing cubicle, sanitizers and disinfecting the feet will be provided at the entrance of the facility.

“The management wants to appreciate you all for your resilience and understanding in those critical moments and to assure you that the safety of our staff, patients and visitors is of paramount importance to us”, he concluded.

Nurses score self high in fight against COVID-19 IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

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he National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has scored self high in the fight against the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

Catherine Eseine, chairman, Edo state council of the association gave the union a pat on the back in a statement made available to journalists in Benin, to mark the 2020 International Nurses Day. Eseine, who commend-

HBL TEAM

ed members for the efforts so far in the fight against the deadly disease noted that nurses across the globe and particular in Nigeria have put in their best to complement the efforts of other health personnel in the frontline in the management of the pandemic.

While noting that this year’s theme, “Nurses: A voice to lead, nursing the world to health”, she opined that nurses in Edo state have demonstrated unwavering commitment in collaborating with other health workers to contain the virus.

According to her, the 12th of May every year is

celebrated around the world as “International Nurses Day” being the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the mother of modern nursing.

“This year was also designated. The Year of the Nurse and Midwife’ by the World Health Organisation in honour of 200th anniversary of her birth and also in recognition of the contributions of nurses and the risks associated with nursing shortages.

“I salute all of you as frontline health workers, especially those directly involved in rendering services at the various isolation centers across the state, put-

ting your lives on the line to care for others at this very critical period in our nation and world.

“I have no doubt that through your efforts in collaboration with other health workers, we shall win this battle in no distant time”, she said.

She however, urged all residents to observe social distancing guidelines and other precautionary measures against the spread of the disease, including use of facemasks, regular handwashing with soap under running water and use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers.

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

Tips for travel after coronavirus pandemic travel restrictions are lifted Executive Travel Health

Adeniyi Bukola Q-life Family Clinic

lifeadvisoryservices@outlook.com

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here is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has greatly affected global travel and brought the world to a standstill. About ninety per cent of world population lives in countries with travel restrictions. Tourism sector including the airlines, travel companies and hospitality businesses have been adversely affected by the effect of the lockdown with massive job losses. Large proportions of travellers have had to cancel or postpone scheduled trips. Worldwide, airports are ghostly quiet, hosting only a small proportion of the number of travellers who routinely passed through them.

When the coronavirus pandemic eases or travel restrictions are lifted, people will travel again but it will not be the same, as travel will not be quick to return to normal. Travellers will have totrust that boarding a plane or cruise is safe and they will be able to enter destination country. New health safety protocol will need to be put in place by the countries, government and travel industry which are not yet agreed on at the moment and travellers need to be aware of these information before they set out on their travels. How soon will travels to return to normal?

According to a research by International Air Transportation Association (IATA) which represent global airlines, just 14% of travellers say they will resume travel as soon as restrictions are lifted.

Travel experts believe that it could be several years before people take to the skies again in the numbers they did previously. It is also believed that the travel experience could be permanently transformed perhaps more than it was after 9/11 terrorist attacks. Then the concern was security, now the concerns are how to ensure passengers both feel and are safe from the coronavirus.

New health protocols will be put in place which might include digital identity and biometrics technologies.

However, these tools will only be effective if users feel their data is protected. While there a lot of uncertainties

as to what these regulations are, with the unavailability of a proven effective vaccines presently, humans might have to learn to live with the coronavirus including travels as lockdowns will not continue forever.

To prepare for when you travel again, here are tips to stay safe when you travel.

Check the official Government Travel guidelines: Before you travel anywhere you should always check your country official government guidelines. If it is stated that you should not travel, then do not travel.

Visit the WHO website: The World Health Organisation provides information about diseases including pandemics. It is an authoritative resource to use to learn more about health-related issues before travel.

Make sure your insurance is valid: This will even be more important when travelling during or after a pandemic. Ensure you understand the policy details, if the insurance covers the country you wish to visit as well looking out for anything that might invalidate your insurance. Note that if you travel against the government guideline your insurance will not cover you.

Potentially go somewhere closer to home: It might be wiser to travel a bit closer to home rather internationally initially meaning, that if the pandemic or lockdowns or other national emergency kick off again it will be easier to return home.

Book hotels, attractions and flights with free cancellation or changes: These are additional precautions as they provide extra protection in case your plan changes.

Go on small group tours: When it becomes possible to travel again, countries may still have some restrictions on social distancing. Hence, large tours might not be allowed. Find out the destination country’s regulations before you travel.

Follow only trustworthy news outlet: To stay informed before your travels on events around the world, make sure you follow only trustworthy news source.

There are usually lots of fake news during a crisis.

Continue to improve your general hygiene: That travel has resumed does not mean the recommended precautions should be discarded.

It is important to still wear a face mask, wash hands regularly, avoid crowded areas and carry a sanitizer.

Improved hygiene after the pandemic should be a lifestyle.

Remember to keep other safe travel health tips including safe eating and drinking and personal protective measure.

I David Ogar, Graphics

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Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

LEADINGWOMAN Why Wells was awarded Pulitzer Special Citation Prize posthumously officials in the town failed to protect their lives and properties nor give them a fair trial in the courts, but take them out and murder them in cold blood when accused by white persons.

Her friend’s death inspired Wells’ investigative reporting and her campaign to end lynching. Her writing on the topic resulted in the destruction of the offices of her newspaper, but she kept on reporting on the topic. In 1892 she published Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases, a pamphlet on her research into lynching laws and how African Americans were targeted throughout the South.

She published Red Record, a 100-page expose into the topic of lynching three years later, which included graphic accounts of the horrific act and how it was levied against Black Americans.

Stories By DESMOND OKON

You may have heard of the story of a black woman who refused to give up her seat on a train ride for white people in your early history lesson. That woman is Ida B. Wells. Wells was an African American journalist, abolitionist and fierce feminist who championed many courses in America in the 1890s.

Wells once said “the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them,” and she spent her entire life attempting to do just that and fighting for Black Americans.

She was recently awarded a posthumous Special Citation awards at the 2020 Pulitzer Prize. Here are a few interesting facts about Wells and why she is an important African figure.

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Wells was born into slavery ells was born into slavery on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Like other Black Americans in slavery, she was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865. After gaining their freedom, her parents, James and Elizabeth Wells, became interested in helping Black Americans advance through political power, by attending speeches, lectures, and supporting several Republican candidates during the Reconstruction period.

An orphan at 16 Wells’ mother, father, and youngest brother died in a yellow fever outbreak in her hometown in Holly Springs. At just 16, she refused to allow her remaining siblings to be split up, so she raised them with the help of her grandmother. Wells had to find work and eventually became a teacher at a local school for black children.

An activist in Memphis Wells became an activist after relocating to Memphis, Tennessee to be closer to her extended family. She was vocal about both race and gender and soon started writing a column for The Living Way under the pen name “Iola.”

While her writings earned her national acclaim, she was fired

from her teaching position after criticizing the conditions of Black schools in the area. As if nothing had happened, she co-founded the Free Speech and Headlight and continued to write about the issues of the day.

The lynching of a friend led to her activism

In 1892, Thomas Moss, a Black grocery store owner and friend of Wells, was lynched by a mob of angry whites after a confrontation in his store. Moss and two other men were killed, provoking Wells to speak against the practice. In a column in the Free Speech and Headlight, Wells urged Black residents to leave Memphis because

Fought against women’s oppression Wells was also active in the women’s suffrage movement. In 1913, she founded the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago, the first group aimed at advocating for voting rights for Black women. She also marched in the suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., the same year, but refused to march in the back where Black women were supposed to demonstrate. Instead, she marched with the all-white delegation from Illinois. The Alpha Suffrage Club educated the Black community on voting issues and was instrumental in helping to elect Oscar De Priest to the U.S. House of Representatives, making him the first African American to serve in Congress since Reconstruction.

Her death Wells died of uremia (Kidney failure) in Chicago on March 25, 1913 at the age of 68. She was buried in the Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.

Mothers’ Day: Nigeria’s sports ministry honours mother of national hero

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ome days leading up to the celebration of Mothers’ Day, the mother of a prominent national hero was visited by an unexpected guest, the federal government, who came bearing gifts to support the woman who lives in squalor.

The ‘guest,’ in the form of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, placed the mother of late Super Eagles striker, Rashidi Yekini, Sikiratu Yekini, on a monthly stipend of N10, 000.

The gesture which took place in her home in Ijagbo, Kwara State, was disclosed by Olaitan Shittu, a representative of the Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, during a visit.

Yekini who is in her 70s, also received a cash donation of N50,000 as part of the gifts on

behalf of the minister, as well as a 50kg bag of rice, 10kg bag of wheat and six tins of Milo beverage drink.

Receiving the items, she said life has been difficult for her since the death of her son, Rashidi Yekini, adding that his siblings are not doing well too, as she praised the minister for remembering her.

Her late son died in 2012 at the age of 48 after retiring from football.

“I was hospitalised for a few days some months ago and I did cater for myself despite scarce resources. I need help from Nigerians, but this minister has done very well, especially remembering me in this month of Ramadan.

“Since my son died, it has been www.businessday.ng

very tough for me because I do not have any help from people.

Rashidi’s siblings are not doing well too, so, I was left to struggle for life every day,” she said.

While Shittu revealed that the

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ministry would also be extending the same gesture to the mother of late Super Eagles player, Samuel Okwaraji, the gesture came across as offensive and disdainful to some observers. @Businessdayng

They felt the monthly stipend of N10, 000 which is twice below the current minimum wage, was an embarrassment to the country’s capacity, especially as it involved a national hero who “gave his all” to represent the country.

“This country is a joke. The mother of a man that represented us and put the country on the world map? So, they can’t take care of this woman through social intervention fund packages or give her a reasonable work?” said Jimmy Gentle, an OAP. Although there were a few Nigerians who felt the monthly stipend was good and commended the government for it, the question in the heart of many remains whether it is the responsibility of the government to cater for the parents of national heroes.

Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

AGRIBUSINESSINSIGHT Market Insights

Analysis

Commentaries

Experts/Industry Views

Commodities watch

Policy Reviews

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Send in Commentaries to caleb.ojewale@businessdayonline.com

Govt not engaging farmers enough to develop agric, leaders say as they chart solutions If the views expressed by some leaders of farmers’ associations in Nigeria are anything to go by, there is a dearth of engagement between stakeholders in the sector and policy makers at the government level, creating in many cases, mismatch in policies and actual needs of the sector. Some of these stakeholders during a webinar by the Guild of Nigerian Agriculture Journalists (GNAJ), not only spoke about challenges in the agric sector, but they also proffered solutions. Excerpts: CALEB OJEWALE Twiiter: @calebtinolu

Bello Abubakar Funtua, president, Maize Association of Nigeria

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aize as a strategic grain in Nigeria has to be well recognized. As noted by president of the Wheat association, it is also a crop that should be recognised, not only rice, because food security is not something that should be political. Rather, it has to do with the life of all our people. It is something that has to be given a very serious attention, therefore I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the government in general that whenever it comes to dealing with food production in Nigeria, there is a need to invite all the major stakeholders.

We the leaders of the commodity associations are the drivers and must be carried along, likewise our farmers. There is a need for the government in times like this, to invite all the stakeholders to a round table so that we collectively address all the challenges and find a unanimous solution for all the farmers in Nigeria.

I want to also use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government that whatever our farmers are producing ought to be bought directly from them through our commodity associations. Take the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme for instance, where our farmers are given loans to produce.

Since the Federal Government usually buys grains through the strategic grains reserve, it is better to channel this procurement directly through the Commodity Associations to the farmers. This way, government’s money will remain in the government’s coffers. It will be like a revolving loan. A farmer gets a loan, produces then the FG buys what has been produced. This will also help farmers to produce more and they will be more

comfortable knowing that they have the market that they can sell their produce at a reasonable price.

Kabiru Ibrahim, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN)

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griculture is a private business matter and it should be so in Nigeria. Government is only to provide enabling environment for it to thrive. An investment that I am calling for is for Nigeria to commit something substantial to agriculture. The country cannot say we have foreign reserves of about $30 billion and we’re doing other things.

You should bring $10 billion out of it and put into agriculture. Let it be one off and all the crosscutting issues in agricultural production take precedence over every other thing.

Nigeria must also be able to solve the problem of power, likewise solve the problem of storage. Someone has alluded that our problem is distribution; there may be food that cannot be distributed so our transport system has to be looked into. All these issues are important because we may not be able to process anything if there is no power supply.

You cannot have agricultural produce in its raw form and make money. You must add value to it. For the business of Agriculture to be attractive, we must do value addition so that we get more value from what we produce and not end up toiling hard with little to show for it.

Also, we cannot ignore the importance of the association, because, unless people are brought together and they are sufficiently incentivised, they may not be able to keep going back to the crop that they have produced and did not give the Maximum Impact desired.

It is important to provide incentives and off take what farmers produce. There was a time we had the guaranteed minimum price (GMP) so that if we have a downturn www.businessday.ng

the government or whoever intervenes to buy from the farmers purchases from them and they would go back to the farm. If the prices Skyrocket the government will now release from the grains reserve. That is how it is done, even in the United States where they sometimes have 6 million metric tons of food in their silos. In Nigeria, these things are not there, but they can be there.

This government is by every means trying, but some of the drivers of agriculture in this country need reorientation. They need to understand that it is very critical for the stakeholders to be carried along. Engagement between policymakers and farmers should be more, we should talk to each other and know exactly what the problems are to be able to solve them.

Nafiu Abdu, president, Soybean Farmers Association of Nigeria (SOFAN)

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igeria must be selfsufficient by growing what it eats, and eating what it grows. All over the world, a number of countries have put temporary bans on exportation of crops so that their people will not go hungry. If Nigeria were still dependent on rice importation for instance, the situation would have been bad. Also, the government must be very proactive by making sure that our Farmers provide raw material for our Industries. The federal government must also encourage our SMEs and also the large Industries so that they add value to whatever our farmers produce.

It is very unfortunate that soybean produced in Nigeria is exported raw to the US, where it is converted to something new through value addition. They bring it back and sell it to us at an exorbitant price. That has to stop. The federal government must empower industries and there must be industrial clusters that off

take what our farmers are producing. There must be an efficient logistics system, which is extremely important for movement of raw material from the farmers to the industries and from the industry to the finished product markets where they are needed. That is very important and is part of the problem we are facing right now during this COVID-19.

A lot of our farmers have produce stored in their warehouse but for us to go and take them to our store is a big problem for us.

Another major issue that government needs to address is access to cheap and long-term credit facilities. It is illogical for you to give a farmer a loan and expect him to repay within six months. I think this loan should be a long term, not only to the farmers but also SMEs so that they can get strengthened with these loans that can be revolving. Another major issue that I would like to address here is issue of research and development. Government must support research in our various institutes and the universities, so that new crop varieties can be produced by our crop breeders. For example, high yielding crop varieties that can withstand adverse weather conditions, and against pests and diseases bedevilling our crops in the country.

Salim Mohammed, president, Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria

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e need to create a strong and sustainable synergy between the policy makers and the key actors that is, stakeholders in agricultural production. By this we can come to understand the needs of our country in terms of agricultural production. We have to look at the comparative advantages vis-a-vis what the country

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needs for daily consumption and devise the means on how we are going to make sure that required commodities are adequately produced.

There has to be a strategic policy for crop production in Nigeria. Each crop has its own peculiar characteristics so if the government can develop a crop based policy, at least for a period of five to ten years, such a development plan would help in boosting agricultural production. Also the government has to set up a guaranteed minimum price for each crop and there has to be an immediate off take of each crop. We have a lot of silos in the country but they are mostly useless and housing rodents. Farmers’ associations should have access to these silos, so that they can take their produce for safekeeping before off take.

While the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme by the Central Bank of Nigeria has been laudable, it has to be revisited and reviewed. This can be achieved when policy makers invite stakeholders in agricultural production, and take their inputs on how the program can be structured to effectively meet the actual needs of farmers.

As said earlier, how do you expect a farmer to take a loan and pay back in six months? Are we really serious in trying to produce food in this country? If we are serious then we have to look at the loan tenors.

For wheat, we have a single channel of off take in Nigeria, which is the conglomeration of the flour millers in the country. However, looking at the distance between one milling factory to another, the logistics in transportation of wheat to be used as input adds a lot to the cost of production when it eventually gets to the consumer.

Also, if we look at the characteristics of wheat grown in this country, we have few source of seed in Nigeria. We have only one research institute, which is the Lake Chad Research Institute that was mandated.

We need more high yielding seeds because in Nigeria, the average of our production is 3 tonnes per hectare, @Businessdayng

far below what others get.

Ezekiel Ibrahim, president, Poultry Association of Nigeria.

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s we try to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, we should note that no drug will be effective without healthy diet.

Therefore, we have to improve on the logistics of food distribution in this country. Farmers need to get ease of access to farms and inputs so that they can keep producing food to keep Nigerians healthy.

It has even been said that the hunger COVID is killing more people than the COVID-19, therefore, the most important issue for Nigeria is to sufficient food in the country. We should also strengthen distribution channels in order for to be made available to Nigerians.

Also, we need to domesticate our economy by relying less on import.

Furthermore, the ministry of agriculture needs to step up and bring stakeholders together to chart a path for sustainable food production in the country. While the CBN’s efforts in providing finance have been commendable, there is a need for monitoring and evaluation, to determine if the investments on ground have been commensurate with the funds releases. We need to be more practical and serious instead of always working on assumptions.

We can never do more without reliable data, which is currently lacking in Nigeria. Therefore, we need to build a reliable database because today in Nigeria from government to the private sector, we don’t have reliable data.

If you get 10 people and ask for the same information, they will give you 10 different Data sets. The death of accurate, quality data is limiting our ability to develop agriculture in Nigeria.

22

Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

ENERGYREPORT Oil & Gas

Power

Renewables

Environment

Oando urges Oil producers to be optimistic in face of mounting challenges of COVID-19 …says some operating costs are beyond their control olusola Bello

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i l p ro d u c e r s have been advised to remain optimistic in the face of the current Coronavirus pandemic which has devastating effect on their operations.

The companies are currently facing some challenges beyond their control especially in the area of operational costs.

Alex Irune, chief operating officer at Oando Energy Resources gave the advice while answering questions on CNN on the effect of COVID19 on the oil and gas industry and plans to mitigate it effects.

The Oando boss who spoke in respect of the financial viability of the companies after the Pandemic must have been curtailed, said: “What we must do is stay optimistic. I know for most Oil Producers currently, there are costs that as Independents, we have very

little control over, so if I break down those operating costs for you, there is a 20-40 percent that sits out of our control in terminal fees, transportation fees for crude, we have very little control over that.”.

He said as Independents, their human resource, payroll,

operations; are where they look to make those cuts and of course the capital side.

On whether this would be enough to make the companies stay afloat, he stated that it would depend on the price of crude oil.

“I think the question is the

price of oil. We’re seeing an uptick in the price, we are seeing the decision by OPEC to cut 10 million barrels come in to realise the intention of OPEC; they’ve taken that huge step. But more importantly, the Government is stepping in to ensure that Independents

Nyesom Wike, Rivers State governor displays one of the coronavirus testing machines donated to the state by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), at the Government House, Port Harcourt, on Wednesday. The governor is flanked by Simon Roddy (l), SPDC’s deputy managing director, and Adebola Aderibigbe, zonal manager, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.

Global energy demand plunges as a result of the biggest shock since 1939 olusola Bello

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he Covid-19 pandemic represents the biggest shock to the global energy system in more than seven decades, with the drop in demand this year set to dwarf the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and result in a record annual decline in carbon emissions of almost 8percent.

A new report released by the International Energy Agency provides an almost real-time view of the Covid-19 pandemic’s extraordinary impact across all major fuels.

Based on an analysis of more than 100 days of real data so far this year, the IEA’s Global Energy Review includes estimates for how energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions trends are likely to evolve over the rest of 2020.

“This is a historic shock to the entire energy world. Amid today’s unparalleled health and economic crises, the plunge in demand for nearly all major fuels is staggering, especially for coal, oil and gas.

Only renewables are holding up during the previously unheard-of slump in electricity use,” said Fatih Birol, the Olusola Bello, Team lead,

IEA executive director.

“It is still too early to determine the longer-term impacts, but the energy industry that emerges from this crisis will be significantly different from the one that came before.”

The Global Energy Review’s projections of energy demand and energy-related emissions for 2020 are based on assumptions that the lockdowns implemented around the world in response to the pandemic are progressively eased in most countries in the coming months, accompanied by a gradual economic recovery.

The report projects that energy demand will fall 6percent in 2020 – seven times the decline after the 2008 global financial crisis.

In absolute terms, the decline is unprecedented – the equivalent of losing the entire energy demand of India, the world’s third largest energy consumer.

Advanced economies are expected to see the biggest declines, with demand set to fall by 9 percent in the United States and by 11percent in the European Union. The impact of the crisis on energy demand is heavily dependent on the duration and stringency of measures to curb the spread

Graphics: Joel Samson.

of the virus. For instance, the IEA found that each month of worldwide lockdown at the levels seen in early April reduces annual global energy demand by about 1.5 percent.

Changes to electricity use during lockdowns have resulted in significant declines in overall electricity demand, with consumption levels and patterns on weekdays looking like those of a pre-crisis Sunday. Full lockdowns have pushed down electricity demand by 20% or more, with lesser impacts from partial lockdowns. Electricity demand is set to decline by 5% in 2020, the largest drop since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

At the same time, lockdown measures are driving a major shift towards lowcarbon sources of electricity including wind, solar PV, hydropower and nuclear. After overtaking coal for the first time ever in 2019, low-carbon sources are set to extend their lead this year to reach 40% of global electricity generation – 6 percentage points ahead of coal. Electricity generation from wind and solar PV continues to increase in 2020, lifted by new projects that were completed in 2019 and early 2020.

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This trend is affecting demand for electricity from coal and natural gas, which are finding themselves increasingly squeezed between low overall power demand and increasing output from renewables. As a result, the combined share of gas and coal in the global power mix is set to drop by 3 percentage points in 2020 to a level not seen since 2001.

Renewables are set to be the only energy source that will grow in 2020, with their share of global electricity generation projected to jump thanks to their priority access to grids and low operating costs. Despite supply chain disruptions that have paused or delayed deployment in several key regions this year, solar PV and wind are on track to help lift renewable electricity generation by 5% in 2020, aided by higher output from hydropower.

“This crisis has underlined the deep reliance of modern societies on reliable electricity supplies for supporting healthcare systems, businesses and the basic amenities of daily life,” said Birol.

“But nobody should take any of this for granted – greater investments and smarter policies are needed to keep electricity supplies secure.”

like ourselves are engaged in conversations to ensure a process of survival, which is indeed a process for us, is managed jointly, to see that it takes the least amount of time to a recovery.”

On what has been achieved in respect of resources put together by corporate bodies to ensure that good health infrastructures are put in place to fight COVID19 pandemic, he stated that he has witnessed impressive showing of private sector stepping forward and taking on the challenge COVID19 pandemic.

“Look, the industry at large, Russia and Saudi Arabia accelerated potentially what could have been a more manageable situation at this point, but we are where we are. We’ve made the sacrifices and taken the decisions, but what we’ve seen is the likes of the National Oil Company leading us as partners, putting in about $40 million and more into that basket. We’ve

Ikeja Electric Plc has secured latest ISO accreditation

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he electricity distribution company announced that it earned the ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management System), ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management System) and the newly published ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health & Safety Management System), following the audit carried out in March 2020 by the Auditors from DQS Management Systems Solutions, one of the world’s leading certification bodies.

Jamiu Badmos, the company’s Head of Quality, Safety, Health and Environment, while speaking on the achievements, said result of the audit as approved by Technical Committee from DQS in Germany has put Ikeja Electric in the forefront, as the first and only company in the power value chain in Nigeria with the certifications.

He said: “The achievement of these international standards is a result of our collective determination and efforts driven by leadership passion and commitment to implement business processes with strategies and innovative programmes. This will further enhance customer satisfaction, ensure environmental sustainability through more efficient

Email: energyreport@businessdayonline.com, Tel: +234-8023020011

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seen a larger group of banks and other institutions come in, and for us the key is this the effective spend and distribution of those funds through the palliative measures we have all set out to push to the most needy and the most vulnerable, because that’s really what this is about.”

He stated further by saying, Yes, COVID19 will come and we will deal with those issues, but there will be casualties after we’ve dealt with the pandemic and for a lasting solution, his company for once has taken a step to create an aggregator platform to combine donors and last mile solutions to non -governmental organisations (NGOs) and boots on the ground.

The company he stated is encouraging people to come in and donate so it can disperse this money and get it to those that really need it. It’s been an amazing showing by the private sector. “Dare I say, they have made the difference.”

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use of resources and reduction of waste, as well as improve the safety of all persons involved in the company’s activities.

“While we celebrate this great achievement, we will also like to thank our customers for their feedback and support so far. It is pertinent to inform the general public that our focus for 2020 as stated in our mantra, “Customer First, Technology Now” will not only promote business excellence in line with the achieved ISO certifications, it will also put smiles on the faces of our customers.”

According to Badmos, use of technology and purposeful engagement of staff, customers and stakeholders greatly contributed towards achieving Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental (QHSE) performance and operational excellence.

Ikeja Electric explained that its innovative initiatives such as e-billing system, functional Mobile Apps, interactive technical safety sessions, Focus Feeder Maintenance (FFM) Programme, Staff Recognition, Customer appreciation initiatives, balanced scorecards and performance reviews among others, have positively impacted on service delivery.

Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

23

Hotels The Bvlgari experience OBINNA EMELIKE

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o doubt, the lockdown and travel restrictions across the world have grounded travels, while dream holiday is impossible now.

It is all for good as safety in the face of the ravaging Coronavirus pandemic is more important than leisure.

But as hope rises for the recovery of the global economy, including tourism and hospitality, globetrotters and particularly lovers of exclusivity among them, will once again identify with the Bvlgari hotel brand. It is truly sought-after.

There are just few selected properties in major cosmopolitan cities and luxury resorts destinations across the world.

For globetrotters and particularly lovers of exclusivity among them, the Bvlgari hotel brand is truly sought-after.

There are just few selected properties in major cosmopolitan cities and luxury resorts destinations across the world.

At each of the select properties (about five in the world) the luxury hospitality collection conveys the excitement of the Bvlgari brand, its timeless glamour and its heritage of magnificent Roman jeweller.

For now the Bvlgari experience is only felt in six properties in six destinations in the world; Milan, London, Bali, Beijing, Shanghai and Dubai.

That lies the exclusivity of the brand.

If you want a taste of the Bvlgari brand, it is possible but with a cost. However, the magnificence and luxury of the brand exude more at Bvlgari Resort Dubai.

Opened in December 2017, Bvlgari Resort which is located in Dubai is a destination of choice for visitors seeking the solitude of an island escape, the residential feeling of a private house, yet situated just minutes from the heart of the vibrant city and its cultural attractions.

The 1.4 million-square-foot property is a first-of-its-kind development for Bvlgari, both in terms of scale and magnitude. With its Mediterranean village charm, the complex features the Resort joined by six residential buildings of 173 sea-facing apartments, 15 private mansions, a Beach Club, and Bvlgari’s first-ever Marina and Yacht Club.

It is all-round exclusivity at Bvlgari Resort Dubai, which most guests describe as an urban oasis. Developed

by Meraas, a leading Dubai-

based holding company, the hotel is exclusively situated on the manmade seahorse shaped island of Jumeira Bay, connected by a 300m bridge to central Dubai.

As with all the Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts, the Bvlgari Resort Dubai was designed by renowned Italian architectural firm Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel. Both the interiors and exteriors have been created with the same detail and precision of a Bvlgari jewel: pairing rare, raw materials according to colour, texture and feel, and sculpting them into objects of enduring beauty. Styled with illuminated gardens and pools and resembling a traditional seaside Italian village, it blends Mediterranean landscaping with the natural surroundings of the shores of the Arabian Gulf.

The resort includes 101 hotel rooms and suites and 20 hotel villas, all exquisitely furnished with the highest quality Italian luxury furniture brands such as Maxalto, Flos, Fexform and others, in an expression of the quality of ‘Made in Italy’. All rooms and suites have expansive views over the breathtaking Dubai skyline or the Arabian Gulf, with large balconies to truly soak up the magnificent scenery.

The size of the rooms makes the difference. From 55 to 540 square meters, the rooms offer enough space to frolic in comfort and tranquility.

Beyond the massive room offerings, Bvlgari Resort Dubai is sought-after because

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of other exclusive offerings.

One of them is the Bvlgari Spa. The 1,700 sqm BVLGARI Spa adds a further luxurious touch to the guest experience with eight treatment rooms and 25-metre indoor pool with full sea view through its magnificent floor to ceiling windows. Guests will enjoy the ultimate wellbeing experience, immersing in innovative treatments, therapies and grooming for both men and women, in addition to thermal and bathing experiences. Adjacent to the spa, a state-of-the-art fitness centre offers workshop gymnasium signature training method: a results-driven approach that redefines the very concept of well-being.

Corporate and business executives also enjoy exclusive leisure at the hotel, while being offered the best business aids and meeting venues, both at the Resort and the Yacht Club. From the Bvlgari Ballroom, Yacht Club Dubai, BVLGARI Pre-Function Garden, and BVLGARI Private Members Boardroom exclusive to the Yacht Club members, there is enough space to engage the executives.

There are great offerings for lovers of culinary delights.

Niko Romito, renowned Michelin starred Italian chef, awaits your visit to fete you with his well-curated blend of modern and classical Italian concepts. At Il Ristorante

by Niko Romito restaurant, guests marvel at the chef who interprets the exquisite flavours of Italy with modern simplicity.

You can always enjoy signature beverages at Il Bar,

Top BusinessDay Partner Hotels a quintessential steel and bronze oval bar, while soaking up the magical dusk on the outdoor terrace, with views sweeping across the Arabian Gulf.

As well, Hōseki, located on the top floors of the resort, offers one-of-a-kind Japanese culinary journey to discerning guests. At the restaurant, with only 9 seats overlooking the Dubai’s skyline, Chef Masahiro Sugiyama, who has over 157 years of family sushi traditions, offers a memorable gastronomic treat with the finest ingredients directly imported from Japan.

For casual dining experience, Il Café offers itself, while the Lobby Lounge offers the residential atmosphere of a living room where guests can enjoy Italian-themed teas and coffees in a relaxed setting, surrounded by sumptuous soft furnishings, coffee table books and famous icons of Bvlgari’s rich heritage, a taste of modern Italian comfort.

Again, the resort’s beach club is a place to heighten your excitement. It features private villa cabanas, a children’s pool and Little Gems Kids’ Club while an outdoor pool and restaurant, La Spiaggia, is the perfect spot to wind down by day or night.

But a visit to the hotel without experiencing yacht club is not complete. Located at the Marina, the club is the world’s first Bvlgari Marina & Yacht Club and it is a unique destination which overlooks a 50-boat harbour and recreates the charm of a Mediterranean village in the heart of the Arabian Gulf.

You can also see La Limonaia, the secret lemontree garden. It offers guests a private country garden-style space with the quaintness of old Italy, while offering impressive views of the Dubai skyline.

Before you go, make sure to peep into the BVLGARI Il Cioccolato boutique for ‘chocolate gem’ creations, and La Galleria, the resort’s concept store, for gift items including the sophisticated Bvlgari Le Gemme perfume collection together with a large selection of items from top niche local and international designers, to complete the resort experience.

Saeed Shehata, director of sales, Bvlgari Resorts Dubai, who was in Lagos recently to launch the brand to discerning Nigerian travellers, awaits your visit. The hotel, according to him, is partnering with Emirates Airline and Emirates Holidays to encourage Nigerians to experience the highest class of hotel luxury in the world.

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

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

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

Tel: 01 277 3560

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

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

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

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

206 Exclusive Hotel Plot 206 Oladipo Diya Road Opposite Olympia Estate

By Games Village Second Gate Durumi2 Abuja

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

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

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

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

24

Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

entertainment

Victor Olaiya goes with his trumpet Obinna Emelike

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n May 7, 2020, the remains of Victor Olaiya was laid to rest at a private cemetery in Ikoyi, Lagos. The legendary highlife musician died on February 12, 2020 at 89 years after over six decades of successful music career.

The burial, attended by family members and few friends was void of the usual fanfare for a musician of Olaiya’s calibre all because of the social distancing occasioned

by Coronavirus pandemic.

However, Olaiya, a bandleader and business mogul, who was famous for playing his trumpet in highlife style, has truly gone with his trumpet.

Born Victor Abimbola Olaiya on December 31, 1930, Olaiya, who retired from the music scene in February 2017 due to his failing health, was one of the pioneers of the Nigerian highlife music with six decades of successful career to his credit. Before his death, he was Nigeria’s leading star of highlife’s golden years of the 50 s and early 60’s.

He was one of Nigeria’s brightest musical stars, with a career that included performing at the state ball during Nigeria’s independence in 1960, in the presence of Tafawa Balewa, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Sir James Robertson, the governor general and representative of the Queen, among other dignitaries.

He also performed at the state ball three years later when Nigeria became a republic.

Trailing his journey in the music world, Olaiya toed the line of the likes of Fela Anikulapo Kuti who followed their passion against their parents’ wishes and society expectations.

In 1951, he was accepted by Howard University in the United States of America to study Civil Engineering, instead he pursued a career as a musician, to the disapproval of his parents.

Victor Olaiya, in one his live performances while alive

But if his parents were keen observers, they would have recognised his passion earlier because at an early age he learned to play the Bombardon and the French Horn.

He played with the Sammy Akpabot Band, he was the leader and trumpeter for the Old Lagos City Orchestra and joined the Bobby Benson Jam Session Orchestra.

In 1954, he formed Cool Cats, his own band, which he renamed All Stars Band when they played at the 1963 International Jazz Festival in Czechoslovakia.

His music was influenced by the horns and harmonies of James Brown. Over the course of his career, he released an album with the E T Mensah, shared a stage with Louis Armstrong, and impacted the styles of Fela Kuti and Tony Allen.

Olaiya, who was both singer and trumpeter, was famous for hit songs and albums such as ‘Baby Jowo’, ‘Feso J’aiye’, ‘Ilu Le O’ and ‘Taxi Driver’.

The new generation of highlife lovers connected with him in July

2013, when Olaiya released a music video remix of Baby Jowo (Baby Mi Da) with 2Baba (Innocent Idibia) and was received with much acclaim.

Explaining love for highlife and outlook for the music genre, in an interview with the Vanguard Newspaper in 2014, Olaiya said, “Highlife has a great future, because for it I live, for it I shall die. There is no gain saying everybody wants to talk about highlife. Highlife is the lingua franca of this nation. Fuji, reggae, afro beat, juju, all of them had to borrow a leaf or two from highlife to enable them to stand. So, it still remains the lingua franca of this nation and no type of music can threaten the existence of highlife music.”

As well, many in his heyday attested to his creative ingenuity, great stage performance and mastering of his craft. One of his great reviews was from Alade Odunewu of the Daily Times who styled him the ‘Evil Genius of Highlife’.

“They thought I moved highlife music out of the ordinary. Then,

it was believed that my Highlife was a little bit out of this world, beyond explanation. This was why Alhaji Alade Odunewu of the Daily Times styled me the Evil Genius of Highlife”, Olaiya said some years back while alive.

Moreover, most fans love Olaiya’s music because the tracks were enriched with educative lyrics and beats that make you move gently.

They will continue to appreciate his evergreen music.

In its condolence message, Premier Records Limited, the record label that produced all his great hits, described the music legend as a man of irreplaceable values and talent.

According to Michael Odiong, general manager, Premier Records Limited, his values will live forever as he had left an indelible mark as the father of contemporary highlife music in Nigeria. “He was a complete Nigerian who was born in Calabar, schooled in the East, performed in the North and settled in the West. He spoke Igbo, Efik and Hausa fluently”, Odiong

said. “He was a man on a mission whenever he climbed the stage to perform, his mission was always to deliver excellent performance. He was the only Nigerian musician to have performed at the ball for the Queen of England during Independence in 1960 and in 1963 when Nigeria became a republic. Both occasions saw the Queen dancing to his songs. We are looking at the possibilities of doing so many things that will immortalize him, we cannot reveal that now but we are working on them”.

According to Ayo Sadare, CEO, Inspiro Productions, organisers of Lagos Jazz Festival, Victor Olaiya was undoubtedly the doyen of highlife music in Nigeria and Africa.

“His songs were classic and have now become African Highlife/Jazz standards. We at Inspiro Productions/NAIJAZZ had always desired to have him headline at The Lagos International Jazz Festival but that didn’t materialise, but we were honoured to celebrate him at his Stadium Hotel base in 2013 alongside a few younger Nigerian Jazz & Highlife musicians”, he said.

The Jazz promoter noted further that Nigeria and the world may have lost a veritable cultural ambassador and legend, but his legacy, which is his music, remains with us.

Also, his fans will truly miss his performances at the Stadium Hotel Surulere, which he built as a base for his music and support for upcoming musicians. During his heyday, it was most exciting watching him blow his trumpet and sing his heart out at his own celebrated hotel.

With his death, Olaiya has joined the league of African music legends that passed away in recent time. It would be recalled that Manu Dibango, a Cameroonian music legend, died in Paris on March 24, 2020 at 86 years, while Tony Allen, Fela’s drummer, composer, songwriter, died in Paris at 79 on March 30, 2020.

Olisa Adibua debuts with first African styled music playlist

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n a bid to correct the stereotype surrounding African music, Olisa Adibua, ace Nigerian radio and TV personality, has released an eclectic, unique and sublime Pan-African playlist, with a slice of modernday, cosmopolitan Africa titled “The Oligarchy African Playlist”.

Speaking on the specially curated playlist, he said: “Africa is such a melting pot of people, cultures, languages, ideas, styles, and all sorts of diversities, and these are reflected in our music.

As someone who has promoted African music for more than thirty years, I believe it is time for us to take back control of the narrative of our music”.

Adibua noted that for over 20 years, the Western world has pigeonholed African music into

World Music and Afrobeats, but it is much more than that. According to him, there are over 200 genres of music obtainable in Africa - Makossa, Juju, Highlife, Fuji, Soukous, Kwaito, Isicathamiya, Bongo Flava, and Raï amongst others, and so just giving the sound a tag does not properly tell Africa’s story.

“It’s time to put African music on the pedestal it deserves. I’m using this playlist to promote the diversity of African music, to change the tag with which our music has been labeled, and also promote our stars and the next generation of African music stars, as there are not enough platforms to do that. I also want this playlist to correct the idea that only a few African artists can be global at the same time”.

Olisa’s five-hour-selection www.businessday.ng

spans emerging talents and superstars including: Wizkid, Davido,

Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, Shatta Wale, Sauti

Olisa Adibua

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Sol, Diamond Platnumz, Nasty C, Mi Casa, LBENJ, Aminux, Maitre Gims, Fireboy, Joeboy, Harmonize, Perruzzi, Hiro, Di’ja, Simi, Teni and King Promise among others.

On the choice of music platforms the playlist is being released, he said: “There is this fallacy that African music is big; it is not yet. It is cool now, but we want to take it beyond a passing trend and make it mainstream: as the core listeners are Africans and Africans in the diaspora. This is why it is hosted on these streaming platforms: to make it accessible to everyone” “The Oligarchy African Playlist” is out on Spotify, Apple Music, Boomplay, Amazon, Deezer, and YouTube.

Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

IMPACT INVESTING

25

In Association With

Àrgentil with $5bn in completed transactions is expanding SME impact focus-Hassan GBENGA HASSAN is the Managing Partner, Àrgentil Capital Management Limited. His firm is currently raising a $95m SME fund which will expand their impact investing activities to countries in West Africa, especially Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. He elaborates on the achievements of his firm and the nature of the impact investing landscape in Africa in this interview with TELIAT SULE. Excerpts: Kindly provide an overview of Africa’s impact investing landscape with specific focus on countries where your organisation has investments. mpact investing refers to private capital investing which targets a financial return and social/ environmental objectives. The Rockefeller Foundation was a pioneer of the term while development finance institutions (DFIs) such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have driven the development of frameworks for setting out and measuring impact investing.

The IFC’s Operating Principles and similar frameworks from other DFIs have contributed to the momentum of impact investing. Given the important role DFIs have played with crowding in private capital investing in Africa, there has generally been an alignment of meeting impact objectives and making financial returns by private equity investors in Africa. This has further been developed with the participation of private investors, many with philanthropic mandates, who are keen to see private capital go towards supporting underserved regions / markets in a sustainable way i.e. the investment does social and environmental good and is profitable so that it can continue over time.

Africa is a good example of a continent that sees congruence between challenges and opportunities. The continent faces significant challenges related to poverty, health, education, nutrition etc. It is home to more than 70%of the world’s poorest people, while under-five mortality rates are significantly higher than global average. Conversely, Africa has 5 countries represented in the 10 fastest growing economies and second highest GDP growth globally. Àrgentil Capital seeks to make impact investment where clear gaps exist in Africa today including sectors such as agribusiness, consumer goods and services, energy and technology.

Through this investment, the firm will ensure delivery of services to support reduction in hunger, provision of clean energy for power and cooking, product and services that support inclusive growth. In addition, our investments cover countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia which are underserved and fragile economies.

What is unique about Argentil Capital?

We are a firm with significant experience financing completed transactions in excess of $5 billion.

Many of these have been first of a kind deals and demonstrate an innovative approach to completing transactions.

The team also has the unique experience of establishing and operating businesses in sectors in the regions we invest in, providing in-depth knowledge of what entrepreneurs and SMEs face in financing and completing deals while creating value for investors.

I

Gbenga Hassan

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work for all; Goal 9 – Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation, and Goal 13 – Combat climate change and its impacts.

The impact strategy will also consider Goal 5 – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by applying a gender lens in evaluating portfolio companies hiring practices and making recommendations for gender-balanced teams. This strategy aligns with our target sectors in Agribusiness, Consumer Goods and Services, Energy and Technology.

So far, which sectors have given your firm the highest returns, and what factors were responsible?

The best performing investments have been in sectors with defensive features - backed by mid to long term contracts and characterised by reduced exposure to business cycles. In addition, we have done well supporting strong management teams who are deploying disruptive strategies to expand verticals or gain market share. Àrgentil Capital recently supported some organisations in Nigeria in a bid to find solutions to Covid 19. Tell us more about that move. Àrgentil is currently providing support to multiple initiatives to help with the healthcare emergency created by

‘

We expect that impact investing in Nigeria, and Africa, more broadly, will continue to benefit from the development and implementation of global principles and standards championed by the DFIs and philanthropic organisations

‘

Àrgentil’s uniqueness is captured in the following: • Entrepreneurial experience in target sectors in the investment region • Strong team operational experience to drive value addition for investee companies • Team members are from key markets in the region with strong relationships and networks.

• Targeting investments that adopt creative approaches to serve existing markets.

For how long has your organisation been engaging in impact investing, what are your focus sectors and why those sectors?

Impact has been embedded in our investment thesis from the outset with an investment criterion focused on achieving social and environmental targets with strong financial returns.

Our initial credit fund was started in 2012, to support SMEs with financing where many were unable to access lending from banks. We worked with some of the SMEs and contributed to developing their sustainable development model which involved one company joining the UN Global Compact to align its business objectives with the ten universally acceptable principles.

This has expanded to focusing on making investments in SMEs serving the lower end of the pyramid or climate change mitigation by supplying cleaner energy for power generation or cooking. We remain focused to ensure our investments stimulate economic activity, job creation and portfolio companies have a positive impact on their ecosystems.

Viewing the impact strategy through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal lens, our general impact objectives are linked to Goal 1 – End poverty in all forms everywhere; Goal 7 – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all; Goal 8 – Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent

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the COVID-19 pandemic. This has seen us provide financial resources to pay for a full complement of medical staff at one of the newly built medical facilities in Lagos State as well as support with contributions to help those affected by the economic impact of the pandemic.

We also recently partnered our portfolio company Tempohousing Nigeria and other leading firms in their fields including 54gene and Arnergy Solar to develop mobile COVID-19 testing laboratories. Two of these have been deployed in Ogun and Kano State, Nigeria. The mobile labs are environmentally friendly in terms of build and energy supply and will allow up to 400 tests be carried out in each state. The partners are working on additional deployments in more states towards making testing more accessible nationwide given the low testing per capita in Nigeria. This is in line with Àrgentil’s investment philosophy of supporting and partnering indigenous entrepreneurs to provide solutions to help fast track Africa’s development.

How much is your company’s portfolio worth in the world? Kindly provide Africa’s share and the distribution of your investments across African countries?

The team has executed its investment strategy via a credit fund, Àrgentil Principal Investment Portfolio I (APIP I), which completed 8 fully exited investments, and a follow-on fund, APIP II where we have completed 3 investments including follow on rounds to support expansion strategies. We have also made principal investments in real estate and a clean energy holding company. The total investment from us and co-investors will be ~ $30m to date in Nigeria. Àrgentil is currently raising a $95m SME fund which will expand our investing activities to other countries in West Africa.

The fund will invest in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Africa, and by extension, Nigeria has a challenging business environment. So, how do you persuade investors to subscribe to some of your portfolios?

Investors can be categorised into DFIs that have a developmental mandate alongside commercial returns, and commercial investors where the focus is commercial returns. DFIs have a strategy of supporting development and crowding in private capital into emerging and frontier markets. Africa continues to remain a key focus for such investors and Nigeria being the largest economy in sub-Sahara Africa gets its fair attention. For many commercial investors, post the Africa rising narrative, there remains the strategy to achieve strong risk adjusted returns by investing in the second fastest growing continent which offers long term growth prospects compared to more developed @Businessdayng

markets. Some key reasons for investor support have already been noted in our uniqueness above and that we have delivered good returns to them.

Our credit fund APIP I with eight investments returned 1.8x.

Based on your interactions with investors, which aspect of the business environment would you suggest the government should urgently improve?

The difficult business environment in Nigeria, captured by the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Rankings, has seen some improvement in the last few years with the efforts of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC). However, this specific indicator is still negatively perceived/experienced by investors with obvious impacts on investment decision-making. Consistency in policies that support strong economic fundamentals and encourage long term trust is recommended.

What were the challenging moments in the past and how do you overcome them?

Moving from a strong brand associated with energy and infrastructure advisory to SME investing presented some initial challenges. We were able to secure support from an anchor US-based investor into APIP I which helped us significantly. Also, the firm and partners have generally invested a significant part of our own capital into our funds which has given investors additional comfort. Further, being an entrepreneurial firm, we have also sought to develop opportunities we see by investing our own capital into early stage of projects and developing the opportunity to where larger PE investors are comfortable to come in and make a commitment. We have done this for our clean energy holding company.

Future outlook for impact investing in Nigeria and Africa.

We expect that impact investing in Nigeria, and Africa, more broadly, will continue to benefit from the development and implementation of global principles and standards championed by the DFIs and philanthropic organisations. Impact investing is going to be needed more in a post COVID-19 future as economies in Africa recover from the significant economic impact of the health crises and as society adapts to the new normal. We have already seen how important it is to be able to ensure most of the society has access to digital tools to access education, financial services, healthcare and other services which relied mainly on physical contact. At Àrgentil, we will also continue to support entrepreneurs and businesses to develop ‘home-grown’ solutions such as the COVID-19 mobile testing laboratory and similar innovations which have a positive impact on society and helps to fast track our development.

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Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news

House directs Committee on Aviation to investigate use of foreign airlines IFEOMA OKEKE

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ouse of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Aviation to urgently investigate why the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Ministry of Aviation and Ministry of Foreign Affairs engaged foreign airlines over and above indigenous carriers to evacuate stranded Nigerians abroad.

This directive was sequel to a motion sponsored by Mohammad Shamsudeen Bello representing Takai/Sumaila Federal Constituency of Kano State and eight other members of the House.

The PTF, Ministry of Aviation and Foreign Affairs Ministry had engaged British Airways, Emirates and Ethiopian Airlines to airlift stranded Nigerians from the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.

Shamsudeen Bello, while presenting the motion on behalf of others, stressed that the action of the Ministry of Aviation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the PTF contravened Chapter 11 of the 1999 Constitution.

According to Bello, “The economic objective of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the fundamental ob-

jective and principles of state policy in section 16(a) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 provides that the state shall harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient, dynamic and self-reliant economy for every citizen on the basis social justice and equity of status and opportunity.”

He further argued that there was no justification in engaging those foreign airlines when there were competent Nigerian airlines that could effectively carry out the evacuation, adding that the action amounted to short-change of the economic well-being of the country.

He noted that indigenous airlines like Air Peace, Max Air and Azman Air contribute immensely to the national income and employment of Nigerians, thereby enhancing the citizens’ welfare and national productivity.

“Air Peace, and Max Air have tree Boeing 777 each and Azman Air recently acquired Airbus A340-600 series all of which could be deployed for such operations,” he said.

He said Air Peace handled the evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa during xenophobic attacks in 2019 free of charge, and Max Air had been participating in air lift of pilgrims during Hajj without hitches.

COVID-19: Lagos commences mobile advocacy campaign …says government is determined to halt community spread JOSHUA BASSEY

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o reinforce the measures instituted to contain the community spread of COVID-19, the Lagos State government has begun an extensive Public Enlightenment campaign, which will go across all the 20 local governments and 37 LCDAs. Speaking on the commencement of the campaign, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, said the exercise was initiated after the discovery that members of the public did not comply with the directives issued by Governor Sanwo-Olu as the lockdown was eased in Lagos.

Omotoso said: “It was disappointing that residents threw caution to the winds immediately Mr. Governor announced the partial lifting of the lockdown imposed by the Federal Government.

People stormed banks without exercising caution despite the ravaging effects of the pandemic. The enhanced public enlightenment campaign, which will involve LED and mobile billboards, is expected to strengthen the advocacy on physical distancing and other preventive measures.

“Information about the symptoms, prevention and sample collection centres

for individuals who exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 will dominate the campaign.

It has become imperative to penetrate communities with details that will attract the attention of residents to engender compliance with Health experts’ directives on COVID-19.

“The campaign is to further increase awareness on symptoms, prevention and sample collection centres so that Lagosians are further equipped to combat the virus, especially at this critical stage of community transmission,” Omotoso said.

While reiterating the call

by Governor Babajide SanwoOlu that every Lagosian must #take responsibility in the fight against COVID-19, he emphasised that the #maskup Lagos campaign would be taken across the entire state.

He solicited public support in ensuring that the campaign is taken to every household and expressed optimism that the fight against COVID-19 will be won, if residents adhere strictly to the directives issued by the Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Lagos had its index COVID-19 case on February 27, 2020, and presently has 1,480 patients on admission; 528 discharged and unfortunately recorded 33 deaths. www.businessday.ng

Faosat Sanni, Oyo State commissioner for women affairs and social inclusion (representing the wife of Oyo State governor), presents a COVID-19 palliative package to Anifat Rasheed (l), Iyaloja of Ogunpa, in Ibadan yesterday. With them NAN is Christianah Abioye, permanent secretary in the ministry.

$3.2bn Chinese loan: Nigeria losing on all fronts, says Rep Igbakpa MICHAEL ANI

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igeria is on the shorter end of the stick on the over $3.2 billion loans borrowed from China, with the claim of funding critical projects for infrastructure development, according to Ben Igbakpa, a member of House of Representatives representing Ethiope East and Ethiope West Federal Constituency of Delta State.

In most cases, these loans are built in secrecy, sharp practices and opaqueness, with nothing to show forth in the Nigerian economy, Igbakpa said, Thursday at Sunrise Daily, a Channel TV breakfast show.

“Nigerians should be worried at our indebtedness to the Chinese with regards to the loans we have collected, with nothing to show, piling and waiting for our unborn generations,” Igbakpa, who is a representative from the op-

… calls for review, cancellation position People’s Democratic Party (PDP), said.

“These loans are built in secrecy with the intent that is not to our advantage,” he said.

The Exim Bank of China is Nigeria’s biggest bilateral creditors, accounting for about 11.5 percent of Nigeria’s $27.7 billion external borrowings.

As at December 2019, Nigeria’s debt to the East Asian bank stood at $3.2 billion, according to data from the government-funded agency, the Debt Management Office.

Since 2002, when Africa’s largest economy first tapped the Chinese bank, it has obtained loans in 17 different tranches to fund infrastructure projects across various sectors.

The first Chinese loan to Nigeria was agreed in March 2002, to borrow. $114.89 million each for the construction of two 335 megawatts gas

power plants of Omotosho and Papalanto in Ondo and Ogun, according to Igbakpa Igbakpa said in these loans sourced from the Chinese government that the National Assembly was left in the dark.

Also, these projects were never advertised by the Bureau of Public Properties (BPP), meaning they were never aware as well.

According to Igbakpa, many of the contracts entered into between Nigeria and the bank are written in Chinese languages with the executive government not having an in-depth knowledge of the contract they are appending their signature to.

“When some of these requests come to the floor of the National Assembly, they do not come with specific projects, it is during their implementation the projects are then attached.

“We are not aware, the BPP whose role is to advertise projects to get the best bidder are also not aware. However, they cannot raise any alarm since they are funded by the executives,” he said.

The House member however called for the review, appraisal and probably a cancellation of the contracts if it was noticed these projects were never for the best interest of Nigeria.

Section 88-89 of the Constitution gives the National Assembly the power to review projects to see whether they are not done in good faith.

A lot of controversy has trailed Nigeria’s borrowing from China, as critics say it is another way in which China, the second largest economy in the world, uses in spreading its footprints across developing nations.

Governors urge NASS to step down control of infectious diseases bill Solomon Ayado, Abuja

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igeria’s 36 states’ governors under the auspices of Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF) have asked the National Assembly to quickly step down the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill 2020 that was passed amid controversy.

Specifically, the governors said the National Assembly should not make any further legislative action on the Bill except a public hearing was conducted and the Bill was widely accepted by stakeholders.

Also, the governors have insisted to carry out a thorough review of the legislation to ascertain it implications on states. To execute the task, the NGF has mandated it Secretariat to do the review.

This was the outcome of the 8th COVID-19 Teleconference meeting of the governors on Wednesday night. A communiqué was signed by the NGF chairman and Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi to the effect.

Consequently, the NGF has

... set up committee to meet Lawan, Gbajabiamila announced a committee to review the controversial Bill. The committee has governors Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina; Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto and Simon Lalong of Plateau.

It said with the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country, it was now necessary for more health workers to be trained and the interstate travel ban be enforced more stringently.

The NGF further disclosed that it would review the 2020 budgets of states and also alter state procurement guidelines to support e-procurement and participation of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Part of the communiqué read: “The Forum is concerned with the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country which reached 4,787 as of 12th May 2020 based on an update from the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on COVID-19.

“The worrying trend urgently calls for additional measures by State Governors to ramp up capac-

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ity for testing, increase the availability of isolation beds to at least 300 per State, accelerate the procurement of additional personal protective equipment (PPE) and training for health workers, as well as the continued enforcement of interstate restriction of movement.

“In line with the commitment made by the Forum to intensify public-private collaboration for the delivery of palliatives from the private sector, Governors are making warehouses available for the delivery of palliatives and have appointed State Coordinators who will be responsible for the receipt and distribution of palliatives to vulnerable persons.

“Following an update from the Governor of Sokoto State and Vice Chairman of the NGF, H.E Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on the proposed Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, 2020 introduced by the House of Representatives, Governors raised concern with the lack of consultation with State governments who are at the forefront of the epidemic. @Businessdayng

“The Forum resolved that the Bill should be stepped down until an appropriate consultative process is held, including a public hearing to gather public opinion and concerns.

“In the light of this, the Forum established a Committee comprising the Governors of Katsina, Sokoto, and Plateau to lead a consultative meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly on the proposed Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, 2020. The NGF Secretariat was also mandated to comprehensively review the Bill and its implication on States.

“The Forum received a briefing from the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, on the Oil and Gas Industry Intervention Initiative on COVID-19, set up by oil and gas operators to provide medical consumables to States, deploy logistics and in-patient support systems, and deliver permanent medical infrastructure across the six geopolitical zones.

Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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news

‘Anti-theft solution strategic to business growth’

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L-R: Tayo Lawal, special adviser to Ogun State governor on health; Adesanya Ayinde, permanent secretary, Ministry of Health; Tomi Coker, commissioner for health; Ademola Bilesanmi, regional manager (West), Access Bank/head, CACOVID team, and Zainab Cole, special adviser to the ministry of health, at the presentation of 65-bed Isolation/COVID-19 Treatment Centre donated to Ogun State government by private sector coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) in Abeokuta.

Why Nigeria may not defeat COVID-19 pandemic in rural communities CHUKA UROKO

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uch as Nigeria is trying to contain the rampaging coronavirus pandemic through investments in both human and material resources needed, the country is not likely to win the war against the deadly virus in rural communities, an international charity, WaterAid, has said.

The reason, according to the non-profit body, is because Nigeria lacks improved access to clean water and good hygiene practices by citizens, noting that the importance and effectiveness of frequent and thorough hand-washing with soap and water to halt the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases are well known.

As community transmission of the virus rises and lockdown measures are eased in the country, both individuals and groups are getting worried, blaming the citizens for not

complying with simple safety guidelines, and also the government for not providing the needed facilities, especially water.

As at Tuesday, May 12, the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria has risen to 4,787. While 959 persons have recovered from the infectious disease, 158 others have died.

It is against this backdrop that the international charity, in a statement obtained by BusinessDay in Lagos, laments that many in Nigeria remain without clean water and good hygiene, which are the basic life-saving services.

“60 million Nigerians live without access to basic water supply and 150 million without access to hand-washing facilities with soap and water,” notes ChiChi Aniagolu-Okoye, country director, WaterAid Nigeria.

Since 1995, WaterAid has worked closely with partners and stakeholders to help people break free from poverty and disease, unlock their potential

and change their lives for good through improved access to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.

The country director points out that hand-washing with soap and clean water is one of the simplest and most costeffective public health interventions and the first line of defence against the spread of diseases such as COVID-19.

“Much of the challenge of poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene is experienced in the rural, small towns and urban slum areas of Nigeria and also among the poorest households and vulnerable and marginalised populations irrespective of locations,” she states.

“Only 8 percent of those in the rural areas have access to complete basic water, sanitation and hygiene services, compared to 18 percent of people in urban areas,” she says, adding, “millions in Nigeria, including about half of all rural dwellers, have to trek long distances and spend more than 30 minutes to get wa-

ter and usually from unimproved sources.”

The country director says it is critical that interventions to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic reached everyone and everywhere so that no one is left behind.

“In spite of the measures put in place to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria, there are no indications that the spread of the disease is abating. On the contrary, Nigeria is now experiencing massive community transmission of the disease,” she notes.

“The inadequacy of palliatives provided to address the harsh economic reality of the pandemic, a lack of facilities and supplies for taking the necessary preventive hygiene measures and the apparent lack of compliance with hygiene and social distancing guidelines by many citizens stress the need for Nigeria to have a more holistic and coordinated approach to curtailing the spread of this disease,” she advises.

I would be loyal, dedicated to Buhari - Gambari ...his success may depend on how he deals with forces around him - experts Iniobong Iwok

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brahim Gambari, newly appointed Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, has promised to be loyal and dedicated to the President, while helping him in his bid to fulfil his electoral promises to Nigerians.

Gambari added that his immediate task upon assumption of office is to make sure that the machinery of government runs smoothly, while helping the President in his bid to govern the country.

The 76-year-old scholar and diplomat from Kwara State was appointed by the President into office Wednesday to replace Abba Kyari, who died of Covid-19 complications some weeks ago.

Gambari’s appointment however, came as a surprise to many political observers in Nigeria because his name was not among those speculated to be

in contention for the position in recent weeks.

Speaking in an interview on a television programme last night, Gambari said he remained grateful to the President over the appointment, adding that his position does not require him to be in the news but rather to help the President carry out his task accordingly.

“I would provide the President with advice, making sure the machinery of government runs smoothly. It is about the President and not Chief of Staff,” he said.

According to Gambari, “I expect to be a loyal, dedicated man in terms of priority to the President. The Chief of Staff is not to be heard but to serve the President and carry out duties appropriately.

“The style I would be adopting depends on the demand of the office, but it is not about the Chief of Staff, it’s about the www.businessday.ng

President and his office.”

Speaking on Gambari’s appointment, a Political Science Lecturer from Nasarawa State University, Jideoffor Adibe said though his choice for the position was a good one, the duties and what he does will depend on what the President allows him.

The professor of political science however, advised Gambari to learn to deal with the forces in the current administration, stressing that it would play a role in his success in office.

“His appointment is good; he comes with rich credentials; he is well respected socially and international, but how well he functions depends on the length allowed by the President and the jobs given to him,” Adibe said.

“Also it depends on how he is able to deal with other forces around him. Being a Chief of Staff does not mean that other powers would disappear. How

he relates with them may determine the extent of his success,” he added.

Muhammed Ladan, director-general, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Studies, said the choice of Chief of Staff was the President’s prerogative, because the person was going to work with him directly.

Ladan said based on his rich credentials, Gambari would add value to the Buhari administration, stressing that since he was well known to the President, working together would not be difficult.

“People are just talking, but I think the choice of someone for such office is the President’s choice even though it is not an office that is constitutionally recognised. But, it is clear that if you are looking for someone who can add value to this administration, Gambari has all that it takes to do so,” Ladan said.

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frica’s growing tech solutions firm, Concept Nova, has identified its security innovative product, CargoSafe, an anti-theft solution as strategic to business growth as it is helping organisations checkmate pilfering of goods in the warehouse or transit.

The solution basically addresses both theft challenges experienced by businesses, an unfortunate development that has forced some companies to close shops and creating value geared towards achieving a safer and connected economy.

Itiekhao Ikpeminogena, Concept Nova’s general manager, said in a statement that the CargoSafe solution was designed to help corporate organisations and essential service providers save cost by preventing potential losses incurred from theft or goods diversions in their day to day operations.

“For most businesses with goods either in transit or stored in warehouses, theft or goods diversion occurrences lead to massive losses because they are unprepared to handle such situations.

With our affordable tamper-proof

solution, CargoSafe, threats are neutralised, valuable goods and assets remain 100 percent protected and high return on investment is enjoyed,” Ikpeminogena said.

Applauding the solution, Abiodun Adedeji, a warehouse manager at a manufacturing company, one of many customers of the solution in the statement, said CargoSafe had helped his company checkmate stealing of goods a development that has witnessed the success of the company.

According to Adedeji, “Success for us means accountability and proper storage keeping.

Last year, our warehouses in Apapa and Mile 2 were frequently robbed, leaving us with damaged property and loss of goods. We tried several security measures, from new security guards to CCTV but nothing fully worked. Concept Nova’s CargoSafe solution stepped up security game with its product. Since we fully integrated the solution, we have saved millions of Naira, increased accountability and successfully mastered how to prevent theft incidents.”

COVID-19: Edo boosts response capacity with new holding centre in Benin

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do State government’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the state has recorded a milestone with the completion of an additional holding centre at the Ogbe Nursing Home, located within the Government Reserved Area (GRA) of Benin City.

With the new facility, Edo now has over 500-bed capacity holding and isolation centres spread across different health facilities in the state, with the Stella Obasanjo Hospital contributing over 42-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 156-bed holding facility; University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) with 48bed ICU-equipped isolation centre, and others at the ISTH and Auchi General Hospital.

In a statement, special adviser to the governor on media and communication strategy, Crusoe Osagie, said the renovation and up-

grade of the facility into a standard holding centre was part of ramped up measures by the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

Osagie noted that the Ogbe Nursing Home would serve as a holding centre where suspected persons would be kept while their COVID-19 status was being verified through tests in the two testing centres in Benin City or at the Irrua SpecialistTeachingHospital(ISTH).

According to Osagie, “Since the outbreak of coronavirus in the state, Governor Godwin Obaseki has initiated nuanced measures to tackle the pandemic, basing his decisions on the need to protect the people not only from the virus but from the economic headwinds resulting from efforts at curtailing the spread of the virus

Life Lager beer unveils new digital branding campaign

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ife Continental Lager beer has unveiled its new packaging design in an all-new digital branding campaign for the product’s new look. Revered for its cultural identity, Life Lager held a virtual unveiling of its new bottle and can designs.

Life beer brand ambassadors Phyno and Flavour alongside another Igbo music artiste WAGA-G, unveiled the new bottle to consumers through an ingenious Instagram live launch during their weekly show, the Beer Parlour Conversations.

During the interactive session, the Ambassadors gave their fans a personal review of the new packaging design features, symbolism with the brand’s Eastern roots and its progressive forward-looking people.

The new-look Life beer bottle and can packaging has been rolled out across all stores and sales outlets nationwide, while the old product packaging will continue to be available till it gradually phases out, leaving the same beer and same great taste in a new and exciting packaging design.

As its name suggests, Life Continental Lager, popularly called ‘Mmanaya Ndu’ in the @Businessdayng

southeast, embodies the essence of being alive and promotes the heritage of progress.

From its humble beginnings in Onitsha in 1983, Life Continental Lager has evolved positively over time to a distinguished beer brand with a unique and refreshing taste so expertly brewed to give a rich, crisp distinctive taste for that rich satisfaction. Its uniqueness sets it apart and spurs the current customer loyalty the brand enjoys. This new package symbolizes progress for the beer brand while retaining that same great taste it is known for.

On the new package, brand ambassador Phyno shared his excitement stating that “this new packaging embodies everything that makes me a proud Igbo man, it is not every day you find a beer that represents your roots and cheers you on to progress.”

Speaking on the new look, Flavour stated “I’m really proud to be a part of this, Life is more than a beer. It’s a symbol of the progressive nature of our people.

I am glad to see the beer in this new look.”

The new-look of Life Lager Beer has five distinct features that have deep-rooted meanings linked to the essence of the brand.

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Friday 15 May, 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Sports Premier League issues Covid-19 protocols to clubs Anthony Nlebem

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remier League players will be subjected to strict testing and even firmer social distancing measures if they are to return to training, according to reports.

All 20 Premier League clubs are said to have been sent a 40-page document outlining protocols for a possible resumption of group training next week.

It is understood that players have received a condensed eight-page document from the Professional Footballers’ Association.

Life as a professional footballer will be unrecognisable from before the coronavirus pandemic as they will be tested twice a week and subjected to a daily temperature check and questionnaire, according to a BBC report.

If any player tests positive, with or without symptoms, they will be forced to selfisolate for seven days.

Once they are allowed in the training ground - where they must have travelled to individually and not used public transport - they will not be allowed to gather in communal areas and will not be fed.

Medical staff and physios must wear PPE when treating the players, while data will be kept on record and sent to the Premier League.

Once out on the pitch, tackling and contact will reportedly be banned for the first phase of team training while all equipment, including playing surfaces, will be disinfected.

Players, the PFA and Government staff are reported to be meeting on Wednesday over safety issues surrounding a possible restart.

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor is hopeful resumption can happen, if players are open-minded.

“If you’re asking me, with the type of guarantees or assurances that would give confidence to the players, then (returning is) achievable,” he told the Mirror.

“We’ve got to try it, see it if we can do it and see if we

can return to some form of activity. But it’s also being as careful and having as many assurances as possible that it’s achievable.

“We have to be openminded. There’s a balance between what you hope can be done and what is realistic to achieve.”

Player safety is arguably the biggest hurdle for Project Restart to overcome, followed by the opposition to playing out the season at neutral venues.

However, possibility of the Premier League campaign being completed on a homeand-away basis appears to be open after Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts of South Yorkshire Police, said

“positive” discussions had been held on Monday evening.

The UK’s national football policing lead had previously told critics of the neutral venue idea to “get a grip”, but his approach appears to have softened.

DCC Roberts said in a statement to the PA news agency: “Following a positive meeting between police, Government and football last night, we will be jointly exploring a range of options to identify a way forward, which minimises any risks to public safety and unnecessary pressure on public services, but facilitates a sensible restart to the season, to support the economic and morale benefits associated with the sport.”

Laporta eyes Guardiola return if elected president Anthony Nlebem

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oan Laporta, former Barcelona president, has hinted he will bring former manager Pep Guardiola back to the club if his bid to return as president of the LaLiga club in 2021 is successful.

Laporta was Barcelona president from 2003 to 2010 and was at the helm when Guardiola was promoted from the youth team to manager of the senior team in 2008.

Guardiola is under contract at Manchester City until June 2021 but his future is in doubt after UEFA handed the club a two-year ban from European competition for breaching Financial Fair Play rules, a ruling City have ap-

pealed.

“I’m working to introduce myself as a presidential candidate. I’ve been president

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before and I’m excited to be back,” Laporta was quoted as saying on Catalan station TV3.

“I would very much like Guardiola to come back, but now he is at City and it is a decision that Pep should take. He is a benchmark for Barcelona and many Catalans would like him to coach Barca again.

“At the right time, I will speak to the person we think should be a Barcelona coach from 2021.”

Barcelona won 14 trophies — including three league titles and the Champions League twice — during Guardiola’s reign before his exit in 2012.

Spanish football is currently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Barcelona have been in turmoil since six directors resigned in April in protest at the way the club was being run.

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FA takes FIFA to court over Chelsea’s transfer ban Anthony Nlebem

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he Football Association (FA) have taken FIFA to court in relation to Chelsea’s transfer ban, citing a complaint over the governing body’s disciplinary process regarding the verdict.

The case - listed as ‘The Football Association v FIFA’ on the website of the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] - will be heard on June 26.

In February 2019, Chelsea were handed a two-window transfer ban and a fine after being found to have breached rules relating to the registration of players under the age of 18.

The FA was also fined and warned by FIFA that it had six months to “address the situation considering the international transfer and first registration of minors

in football.”

Chelsea’s fine and transfer ban were later reduced after their own appeal to CAS, while the FA saw its fine reduced by £100,000 to £290,000 on appeal.

At the time of the sanction, the FA said it had “co-operated fully” with the investigations and had “raised some concerns” regarding FIFA’s disciplinary processes.

An FA Spokesperson said: “The FA has cooperated fully with FIFA’s investigation. As this is an ongoing legal process it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

Bundesliga teams in isolation ahead of season restart Anthony Nlebem

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erman soccer teams started the week in isolation on Monday after going into seven-day quarantine ahead of the Bundesliga season restart on Saturday, with club bosses saying completing the campaign amid the coronavirus outbreak will not be easy.

The German Football League (DFL) decided last week to resume the first and second division from May 16 after a two-month suspension, making it the first major sports league to attempt a restart.

Teams have been sent into mandatory seven-day isolation after testing for the virus in order to reduce the risk of infection before playing in empty stadiums with only a handful of staff and officials, to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Several clubs, including champions Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and VfL Wolfsburg, have picked hotels in their cities to cut travel times to training locations and airports for the weekend matches.

Others like Schalke 04, who face Dortmund in the Ruhr valley derby, and Borussia Moenchengladbach are using hotels at their stadiums.

Bayer Leverkusen and Union Berlin have moved to more isolated hotels in the countryside, as have bottom club Paderborn who will spend the week in a nearby @Businessdayng

thermal springs town.

Players and staff wore face masks as they departed for hotels where distance between tables at team lunches and dinners will become routine, as will single rooms where players will make their own beds to reduce unnecessary contact with other people.

Plans to restart, however, suffered a setback on Saturday after the entire team of second tier Dynamo Dresden was placed in two-week quarantine following two positive coronavirus tests.

“We always expected that the remainder of this season will not be trouble-free,” Borussia Dortmund Chief Executive Hans-Joachim Watzke told the Funke media group.

“These tests and results are also a sign of our transparency.”

The league, desperate to complete the season by June 30, has drawn up a detailed set of regulations for training and matches, including stringent testing that helped it get the government’s green light to restart.

But with the virus far from gone in Germany where almost 170,000 people have been infected and over 7,400 have died, the DFL is concerned any positive virus cases could seriously damage chances of finishing the season, and inflict potentially “existence-threatening” financial damage to some clubs.

“I expect everyone now to live up to their responsibilities,” DFL CEO Christian Seifert said at the weekend.

Friday 15 May 2020

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news Life without palliatives means deeper...

Continued from page 1

palliatives promised by the

federal and Lagos State governments had reached him, but he has not received any.

“I have not seen any palliatives from anybody or any government official,” he told BusinessDay. For Idris and millions of other Nigerians, including those in the middle class who are at the risk of losing their jobs as a result of the COVID-19 impact, years of GDP growth lower than population growth rate have left them poorer per capita. The inability of the government to provide them with palliatives at this critical time has worsened their woes.

The Nigerian government has only provided cash relief to 3.6 million poor households during the lockdown, a tiny figure in a country where 95.9 million people live in extreme poverty. Having surpassed India as the country with the most extreme poor people in the world in 2018, Nigeria now also ranks among the 16 countries globally where extreme poverty rates are still rising.

Godwin Emefiele, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, recently unveiled post-COVID-19 policy priorities, targeting sectors that can generate mass employment and wealth creation, including light manufacturing, affordable housing, renewable energy and cutting-edge research.

The CBN has also set up a N50bn fund that SMEs can apply to for loans and advised banks to provide forbearance to customers.

“The government’s inability to cater for its poor reflects a long-running lack of a functioning, nationwide social welfare system,” Dolapo Adeyeye, an economist with Lagos-based Creditville Lim-

ited, said.

Nigeria’s economy is on its knees amid collapsed oil prices and a ravaging pandemic. Excess Crude Account, Nigeria’s ‘rainy-day fund’, has dwindled to an all-time low of just $72 million.

Lower remittances from Nigeria’s hardworking diaspora are another warning. These typically account for 6 percent of GDP but dropped by half in February as the world’s major economies entered lockdown.

Also, fiscal challenges facing Nigeria’s 36 states are even starker. Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State governor and chairman of the Governors’ Forum, admitted states may get zero allocations from Federation Accounts Allocation and Fiscal Commission (FAAC) in June owing to the drastic fall in the prices of crude oil.

As the economy continues to falter, there is justifiable fear that more families will continue to fall into poverty, and remain trapped in it, perhaps for more generations, perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty.

But while Nigeria finds it impossible to reach its vulnerable folks, some of the world’s largest nations have kicked off plans to keep citizens afloat in these unpredictable times.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a massive package of more than $265 billion to revive an economy battered by a sevenweek lockdown enforced to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The long-awaited stimulus package amounts to about 10 percent of India’s gross domestic product.

The Canadian government announced additional aid in the form of a one-time payment of up to $500 for eligible seniors to offset any increased living expenses they have incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19: FG says whereabouts of Chinese...

Continued from page 2

company visa.

“So I will be very happy if you don’t ask me about where they are because they are not really our guests in that sense. But we have been able to learn some things from them by interacting with them from their experience in their country. We shared ideas about what they did in their country in managing COVID-19,” he said.

The 15-member Chinese medical team made up of doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on April 8, 2020, with medical equipment worth about $1.5 million, and went in for two-week quarantine period accord-

ing to COVID-19 protocols.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Task Force has decried the refusal of Nigerian returnees to comply with quarantine rules.

Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation and chairman of the task force, expressed sadness over failure of some of the returnees to adhere to the laid-down rules despite that they were well informed about the mandatory quarantine protocol.

The returnees are Nigerians recently evacuated from the UAE, the UK and the USA. “The PTF is saddened by the conduct of some of the returnees who fail to adhere to the conditions attached to their quaranwww.businessday.ng

R-L: Patrick Okundia, Edo State commissioner for health; Godwin Obaseki, governor, Edo State; Faith Ireye, coordinator, World Health Organisation (WHO), and Eze Emmanuel, team lead, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), during the signing of the state’s Incidence Action Plan for COVID-19, at the Government House, Benin City, Edo State.

Hospitality industry bleeds as businesses...

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imposed by the Federal

Government to curtail the spread of the pandemic further compounded issues for hotels in the country. The gradual easing of the lockdown has brought no respite.

With restrictions on public gatherings and air travel still in place, the industry is at a standstill with zero occupancy as all the major hotels are still shut down.

Simon Ntuli, a general manager of an Abuja-based boutique hotel, speaking from his hideout, said beyond the ban on social gatherings and travel restrictions, hotels in Abuja are still shut down because of no patronage as people are still hiding for safety.

Meche Ugwuegbu, sales manager of a Lagos-based four-star hotel, said the zero occupancy would linger as international flights, whose passengers constitute 60 percent of guests in branded

tine. I strongly urge them to obey the rules in the facilities and also urge their friends and relations to recognise the contagious nature of the disease by desisting from visiting them,” Mustapha said.

He said complying with those conditions “is in the interest of the visiting relation and in the overall public interest”.

Mustapha announced that May 14 marks the beginning of the countdown to the end of the first phase of eased lockdown, adding that the PTF would continue its assessment of the level of compliance with the guidelines and the impact on slowing down the spread of COVID 19.

“In due course, we shall make further recommendations before the second phase commences,” he said.

hotels, are no longer arriving, coupled with the ban on interstate travels and public gatherings.

“Until there is a total easing of the lockdown in Nigeria and globally, hotel rooms will still be empty. People need free movement and transportation to live their lives and transact business.

The two are not forthcoming now,” Ugwuegbu said.

The recent directive by the Lagos State government that all hotels must remain shut except those used as coronavirus isolation centres or for quartering health workers has further dashed the hope of reopening hotels soon, furthering the impact of the pandemic on hotel business.

Industry stakeholders say losses could skyrocket to over N50 billion in the second quarter of the year if recovery is delayed. Missed Easter sales opportunities and the huge business window that would likely be missed in the coming summer holiday are expected to impact hugely on the sector.

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

“We had to withdraw the fun-loaded and heavily discounted Easter package three weeks ago when we had several cancellations from guests. We would have made at least N50 million from the Easter sales,” Agada said.

He said the room was the major offering of the promo and when potential guests started cancelling their room bookings, there was no business to pursue again.

A source at Radisson Hotel Group in Nigeria said the group has not opened any of its hotels in Nigeria since the

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shutdown in March.

Also, two hotels under the Hilton brand have not opened, while Southern Sun Ikoyi and other South Africabranded hotels in Nigeria are still under lock and key.

Bola Adesola, a sales executive with Marriott International in Lagos, noted that no hotel would open when guests are not permitted by law to gather.

“Until government lifts the ban on social gatherings and restrictions on movement, no hotel will open because the operation cost is huge after a long period of no business,” Adesola said.

While the sector groans, however, experts support the continued shutdown, arguing that if a hotel of 100 rooms struggles to run only 20 rooms after the easing, it would be better to close down because same operation cost for 100 rooms goes into running 20 rooms amid taxes to pay for operating.

“Government cannot ask for taxes while hotels are shut down. So, let’s wait until business booms again instead of wasting our savings on maintaining few guests,” one expert said.

But amid the impact of the pandemic on their businesses, some players in the sector are rethinking their strategies to stay afloat.

Last week, Eko Hotels and Suites, one of the industry’s giants, announced the launch of a laundry and food delivery business, a first since its over 30 years of operation.

In a series of tweets via its official handle @EkoHotel, the hospitality giant is promising clients a 24-hour home delivery laundry service.

“Have you called us? We will pick up your laundry and have it safely delivered to your doorstep within 24 hours,” it tweeted on Thursday.

In another tweet, it said, “Dine with us in the comfort and safety of your nest as @Businessdayng

we now offer take-out and delivery options. Checkout our story highlight for a full menu.”

Industry experts with good knowledge of the matter told BusinessDay that the decision to delve into laundry services is a consequence of the huge economic loss the coronavirus-induced lockdown would have inflicted on the hotel.

“Most hospitality players now know that this pandemic is affecting their business acumen and revenue generation hence they are changing their mode of operations, business acumen and revenue generation,” said Amaka AmatokwuNdekwu, CEO, The Pyne Hospitality Company and president, Women In Hospitality Nigeria (WIHN), a leading campaign group that provides jobs and entrepreneurship training for women to explore opportunities in that sector.

Amatokwu-Ndekwu, who described the pandemic as a new world that has badly affected occupancy rates, revenue, jobs and services, said not all hospitality organisations would be able to survive the catastrophic change as many have financial commitments with banks.

“There is serious confusion and fear on how these financial obligations will be met bearing in mind the current situation of revenue loss. There is so much uncertainty both for owners and employees,” she told BusinessDay. MKO Balogun, a facilities management expert with good knowledge of the industry, said for the next one year or more “the industry will not be able to return to normal from the loss suffered from the pandemic”.

Balogun said since the major sources of revenue are being affected, players in the industry would have to find another strategy to survive.

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Friday 15 May 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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FINANCIAL TIMES

World Business Newspaper

US jobless claims rise to 36m since start of lockdowns

Almost 3m filed for first-time unemployment benefits in past week though tally is slowing PETER WELLS IN NEW YORK AND JAMES POLITI IN WASHINGTON

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lmost 3m Americans sought jobless benefits for the first time last week, bringing the total number of unemployment benefit applications to 36.6m since the coronavirus pandemic hit the world’s largest economy.

The data offered evidence of continuing deterioration in the US labour market in the face of the cascading shutdowns that have hit many businesses across the country — and dashed hopes that the pace of lay-offs would rapidly subside after the initial shock.

Although it was the slowest increase since mid-March, the number of initial jobless claims of 2.98m in the week ended May 9, was higher than expectations of 2.5m applications, according to a survey of economists by Refinitiv.

The slow decline in the pace of unemployment benefit applications will validate the grim prognosis offered by Jay Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, about the US economic outlook this week. Mr Powell on Wednesday said “significant downside risks” would still weigh on the US economy, and “additional policy measures” might be needed from both the US central bank and the government on top of the string of measures already taken so far, including slashing interest rates close to zero and enacting $3tn in fiscal stimulus.

While jobless claims have retreated for six consecutive weeks from a record 6.69m in late March, the sluggish rate of the

More US jobs have been lost in the past two months than created over the past decade © JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

decline will raise concerns that businesses are moving to deeper and more permanent reductions in their workforces.

The fate of the US labour market — which recorded an unemployment rate of 14.7 per cent in April — will also depend heavily on how successfully states can reopen their economies, a nascent process that is far from uniform across the country.

“Economic growth might get a boost from pent-up demand, but the labour markets have dug themselves a deeper hole that will be harder to climb back out of,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG. At their current rates, jobless claims remain at levels in excess of those seen during the financial crisis and reflective of the fallout

that has curtailed the US’s longest economic expansion on record.

There were some faint glimmers of hope in the data, with economists pointing to milder increases in the number of unemployed who had filed for jobless benefits for some time, as well as the number receiving unemployment insurance. The “insured unemployed” sometimes serves as an alternative measure of unemployment.

“What the continuing claims figures and the insured unemployment rate are more reliably telling us is that the unemployment rate was close to peaking at the start of May, as the number of people returning to their jobs almost offset new job losers,” said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics.

“With most states only begin-

ning to ease their lockdowns within the last 10 days, we expect a much bigger swing in hiring versus firing over the next couple of weeks, which suggests the unemployment rate will begin to drop back.”

Connecticut processed the highest number of claims in the most recent week, at 298,680, according to preliminary statelevel estimates that have not been seasonally adjusted. Georgia, Florida, California and Texas followed with the next highest, each with more than 200,000 applications filed. Among them, Georgia, Florida and Texas have been some of the first states to lift restrictions on business activity.

On the stock market, the S&P 500 benchmark index opened down about 1 per cent on Thurs-

day, putting it on track for its first three-day losing streak since early March. Government bonds remained firm, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury down 0.04 percentage points at 0.615 per cent, about the same level as before the release of the jobless figures.

Kevin Hassett, a White House economic adviser, put a brave face on the data, suggesting that the downward trend was encouraging. “ I think the fact that we came in under 3 million suggests that the turning on the economy is beginning and it’s beginning to show up with the data so what we expect now is the claims will continue to decline as the economy turns back,” he told reporters.

Easing lockdowns remains a key step to getting Americans back to work, but the question of where and when jobs can be regained is complicated by the distribution and speed at which states and regions lift their stayat-home orders.

“The pace of that improvement will be the best barometer of how fast and how completely the economy is recovering,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief US economist at MFR. “We expect that an initial burst of growth as major population areas reopen will then be followed by a longer period where improvement is much slower and more uneven, with it taking many quarters for the economy to claw its way back to pre-pandemic levels of activity.”

That process also comes with significant risks. Anthony Fauci, one of the most senior members of US president Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, warned on Tuesday that ending lockdowns too soon could lead to “suffering and death”.

Oil supply expected to hit 9-year low after demand collapses US will be biggest contributor to production cuts in 2020, says IEA ANJLI RAVAL, SENIOR ENERGY CORRESPONDENT

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il supply is expected to fall to a nine-year low this month, the International Energy Agency said, as global producers make big cuts to offset a record collapse in demand.

May production is expected to fall by 12m barrels a day, the Paris-based body said in its monthly report on Thursday, following supply reductions from oil-producer group Opec and Russia — together the so-called Opec+ group. “Massive cuts” from other countries including

the US and Canada are also being made faster than initially anticipated, according to the report.

“It is on the supply side where market forces have demonstrated their power and shown that the pain of lower prices affects all producers,” said the IEA. Total supply is expected to be 88m b/d in May. Output from non-Opec+ countries is forecast to be 4m b/d lower by June with the US — by the end of the year — anticipated to be the biggest contributor to the reductions, with output down 2.8m b/d compared with the end of 2019. www.businessday.ng

Although Saudi Arabia — Opec’s largest producer and the world’s biggest exporter — is bringing supply down by more, that is from a record high reached in April as it engaged in a price war. The kingdom’s yearon-year cut from the end of 2019 will be 900,000 b/d.

In April, US President Donald Trump put pressure on the kingdom to end a strategy of flooding the market with cut-price crude after US shale executives lobbied Washington, saying the drop in oil prices was crippling the domestic industry.

Opec and Russia agreed last month to curb supply by 9.7m

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b/d from May, with Saudi Arabia and several Gulf allies announcing additional voluntary curbs in recent days.

Mr Trump held discussions with the Saudi king about oil markets on Friday, coinciding with a series of announcements about austerity measures by the kingdom as the oil-rich nation seeks to limit the economic pain of lower prices.

The IEA said the outlook for the oil market had improved, due to supply cuts and better signs for demand as lockdown measures were loosened. Oil prices have rebounded since Brent crude, the internation@Businessdayng

al marker, plunged to an 18year low below $20 a barrel last month. On Thursday, Brent rose more than 3 per cent to above $30.

The IEA said the drop in oil demand this year, although the biggest fall ever, would not be as severe as initially thought, but it warned that a resurgence of outbreaks was a risk to a “gradualbut-fragile” recovery.

Oil consumption will slide by 8.6m barrels a day, which is lower than last month’s forecast of 9.3m b/d. This will take total demand in 2020 to 91.2m b/d, from about 100m b/d last year.

Friday 15 May 2020

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FINANCIAL TIMES

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

US bank stocks miss out on Covid-19 rebound

Weak performance is worrying sign for US economy and broader market, say analysts

RICHARD HENDERSON IN MELBOURNE AND ROBERT ARMSTRONG IN NEW YORK

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S banks have become the most unloved sector in the stock market rally, as low interest rates and souring loans reflect the economic pain caused by coronavirus.

The KBW Bank Index is down about 45 per cent this year, wiping a combined $795bn in equity value from its 24 constituents, which include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. The benchmark has trailed the wider stock market by 14 percentage points since the rebound began on March 23.

This week the wider financials sector became the market’s worst performer since that March low — an underperformance that has left strategists uneasy about the overall recovery.

“Investors are trying to get their arms around how bad this crisis can be, in terms of asset quality,” said Scott Siefers, bank analyst at Piper Sandler.

Wells Fargo, the worst performer among the big banks, has lost more than half its value this year © REUTERS

He questioned the gap in performance between banks and other stocks, given that credit losses for banks implied damage across the world’s largest economy. “How can you be worried about banks, but not their customers?”

Though US banks added billions to their provisions for loan losses in the first quarter, more charges are expected. The credit outlook “degenerated in April”, after the first quarter was in the books, said Warren Kornfeld of

Moody’s financial institutions group.

“In a low production economy, the banks are going to struggle,” said Yousef Abbasi, global market strategist at INTL FCStone, a New York-based brokerage. “We are gearing up for a longer battle — banks are going to have to cut their dividends because they are going to have to cut losses on more loans and continue forbearance.”

Valuations suggest a loss of confidence in the outlook. Last

month US banks’ price-to-book ratio fell to its lowest level since 2011, and has picked up only slightly since.

That is partly a reflection of the impact of lower interest rates, which have been slashed close to zero by the US Federal Reserve in an effort to stimulate the economy.

The profitability of banks’ core lending operations depends on the spread between what they pay for funds — interest on deposits and bonds — and what they can earn on assets such as loans. As interest rates fall, yields on assets tend to drop more quickly than funding rates.

Wells Fargo, the worst performer among the big banks, has lost more than half its value this year. On Wednesday, its stock reached an 11-year low, while US blue-chips are up by a quarter since their March nadir. Wells has smaller trading, investment banking and international operations than its large peers, leaving it more exposed to tightening loan margins.

Banks also face political pressure to put dividends on pause

in order to preserve vital capital.

Some big lenders have already halted share buybacks but continue to pay dividends, with the Fed’s blessing. Sheila Bair, former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, said at an FT conference on Wednesday that the central bank was “wrong” to permit the payments.

Analysts say they can see few positive signs for banks’ top lines.

The higher market volatility since February, which typically increases revenues from trading operations, has begun to ease. The drop in asset prices for the year also weighs on fees from banks’ fund management divisions, while lacklustre consumer spending is expected to weigh on demand for credit.

“In a zero interest rate environment, it’s very difficult to see how financials will do well,” said Max Gokhman, head of asset allocation for Pacific Life Fund Advisors.

“Banks really aren’t seeing quite as much demand — I could see things turn around for financials as things open up, but it’s hard to see that happening in 2020.”

US airlines eye job cuts once bailout strings expire Other countries’ carriers wielded axe, but Treasury restrictions limit executives’ room to act SUJEET INDAP IN NEW YORK AND CLAIRE BUSHEY IN CHICAGO

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he last time the US government pumped billions of dollars into an industry to deal with an economic crisis, it effectively took over two of the nation’s largest carmakers, securing large equity stakes in General Motors and Chrysler and forcing a painful operational restructuring that made the pair more efficient.

The Trump administration’s bailout of US airlines is different.

The US Treasury is taking just a nominal equity interest in return for grants and low-interest loans, attracting criticism it has been too generous to the companies’ shareholders.

Meanwhile, the terms of the deal explicitly prevent executives from quickly launching the painful restructuring other countries’ airlines are already doing, as they fight to survive in a world of much restricted air travel.

“This was a so-called bailout that required the CEOs to run their airlines in a way that no free market CEO who didn’t have the government aid would ever do,” said one of the bankers involved in negotiations between the Treasury and the airlines.

So far 93 US airlines have secured $12.4bn of an available $25bn in government funding for payrolls, each getting 70 per cent in the

form of grants that do not have to be repaid. As well as curbing share buybacks and executive pay, companies that took the money agreed not to lay off staff or axe routes until September 30 — even though air passenger volumes in the US have fallen by more than 90 per cent since March, and a V-shape recovery is no longer in the cards.

European carriers have announced waves of cuts — up to 12,000 jobs at British Airways, 3,000 at Ryanair, just in the past fortnight — but US airlines are still at the planning stage. United’s incoming chief executive, Scott Kirby, said he would cut cash burn from $40m a day now towards $30m a day in the third quarter and then $20m a day in the fourth, if travel has not rebounded.

“The difference between that third-quarter number and that fourth-quarter number is really about employees,” he told investors earlier this month.

Some airline bosses tried to offer the government more equity in exchange for less onerous conditions, including giving the carriers the flexibility to close some uneconomical flying routes and cutting jobs, said the person involved in the talks.

The government, however, was pursuing twin aims of ensuring airlines would still be there at the end of the pandemic and that employees would be retained, even if taxpayers were funding their salaries. www.businessday.ng

“We wanted a package directed towards Americans and funnelled through airlines,” said Sarah Nelson the president of the Association of Flight Attendants. “It’s very clear that the money goes to worker wages and benefits.”

Equity investors get limited liability, and yet they get the upside of profits Anthony Casey, University of Chicago The airlines benefit, too, because while the restrictions delay the reduction in cash burn, it allows airlines to gauge the new normal, said analyst Savanthi Syth at Raymond James. “It helps to have a little more visibility into what the new demand environment looks like before you make drastic changes to the business,” she said.

But executives’ hopes for recovery have darkened in the seven weeks since the bailout was enacted, and waiting to downsize carries a cost. Berenberg analyst Adrian Yanoshik noted that, “as a shareholder or even a debt-holder, if you have cash in the door, and it’s being used, you want that cash to be used to the highest return possible, and if you’re keeping people and capacity flying which is not earning a return, then that is inefficient”.

The Trump administration did relax the minimum-service rules this week, saying it would allow some airlines to drop routes as long as they were served by an-

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other carrier.

Restrictions on lay-offs may not be eased, but Wall Street is in no doubt about what will happen when they end. JPMorgan Chase analyst Jamie Baker, in a recent note, said: “October 1 is likely to emerge as one of the darkest days in history for airline labour.”

The taxpayer has little likelihood of recovering their investment, because even a strong rebound for share prices is likely to offset only some of the cost of the grants.

Delta Air Lines, for example, secured $5.4bn from the bailout, of which $3.8bn was a forgivable grant with the rest in the form of a 10-year unsecured loan. Warrants were also granted to the government for 1 per cent of Delta’s equity, giving the Treasury the right to buy stock at April’s level. Delta stock would need to multiply from $22 now to about $575, according to Financial Times calculations, for taxpayers to make back their outlay.

Can US taxpayers recoup the money put into the nation’s airlines?

A positive outcome for airlines’ shareholders is hardly certain, dependent not just on cutting cash burn before and after the September 30 expiry of lay-off restrictions but on finding other savings, too.

Famed investor Warren Buffett has given up on the sector, selling his stakes in the four largest US carriers at a loss. “You’ve got too many planes,” he said. @Businessdayng

Shareholders are also reliant on airlines finding the finance to see them through whatever the pandemic throws at them.

The Bush and Obama Administrations spent tens of billions funding the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler when there was no private capital available. The Trump administration’s intervention in the airline industry has not so much replaced private capital as helped carriers to access it. Delta raised $5bn from investors last month by mortgaging assets including airport landing slots, for example, and United sold $1bn of equity.

Airlines also have the option of further government funding from a second $25bn bailout pot, which next time would come not as grants but as secured loans — aeroplanes are the most likely collateral — with an interest rate that fluctuates based on a carrier’s creditworthiness.

To accept means yielding more warrants to the US Treasury.

American Airlines, the most heavily indebted carrier and the only one so far to have said it will certainly take the second bailout, will emerge with the government holding an interest equal to 12 per cent of the company.

The coronavirus pandemic has turned the US government into a financing source of last resort for swaths of corporate America, but the socialisation of risk and the picking of winners and losers has concerned some.

Women in Business S

everal governments and organisations across the globe have increased their zeal to champion the cause for more female representation in the boardroom. They may not be many but we cannot deny the fact that the numbers are increasing. The reason isn’t far-fetched, the results are there.

Several studies have opined that having women on boards gives way to enhanced acquisition and investment decisions which at the long run benefits shareholders.

Back here in Nigeria, some organisations have followed suit and it is encouraging to note that Nigeria is embracing this undeniable modern day reality that women are natural multitaskers and as such, are relevant not only at home but at work and in this instance, on the board.

Citibank is one of such as they recently welcomed Ngozi Omoke-Enyi on board.

Ngozi holds a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from University of Ibadan and MBA (Banking & Finance) from ESUT Business School, both in Nigeria. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Credit Administration and a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

She was recently made an Executive Director Operations & Technology, Citibank. With such outstanding accomplishments and proven track records, she is certainly bringing all of that and so much more as Executive Director.

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. They provide consumers, cor-

porations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

Prior to her appointment, Ngozi was the Head of Operations and Technology as well as the Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) Operations Head for Citi’s operations in Nigeria.

As Senior Country Operations Officer at Citibank Nigeria Limited, she was responsible for developing, managing and coordinating the operations and technology function in general. She was also responsible for implementing short and long term strategies and plans that align with business objectives. More importantly, Ngozi provided leadership oversight and developed talent bench for business sustainability.

A seasoned banker with thirty years’ experience, she has held a number of roles with increasing management and leadership responsibilities across all the service delivery teams, core banking operations, processing hubs and support functions. She also gained significant experience in leading Citi work streams within Middle East and Africa, contributing vastly in driving productivity, process efficiency and people development programs.

On Ngozi’s new feat, Olayemi Cardoso, Chairman of Citibank Nigeria Limited, had this to say “The board and I would like to congratulate and welcome Ngozi to the Board of Citibank Nigeria Limited.

She will be joining a distinguished line of professionals, who look forward to working with her and benefitting from

Julie Okah-Donli DG, National Agency for the Prohibition and Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP)

J

ulie Okah-Donli is a Nigerian lawyer, chartered secretary and administrator, who serves as the Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), an agency established by the Federal Government

of Nigeria in 2003 to tackle human trafficking and other related matters. She is the Founder of the Julie Donli Kidney Foundation, an NGO that supports people with kidney disease.

Her mother was actually the first woman to undergo dialysis at the Lagos

BUSINESS DAY Friday 15 May 2020 www.businessday.ng

By Kemi Ajumobi

Ngozi Omoke-Enyi Executive Director, Operations & Technology, Citibank

her wealth of experience.”

Describing her succinctly as someone who knows, understands and has worked with her, Akin Dawodu, CEO, Citi Nigeria and Citi’s Sub-Sahara Head, said “Ngozi brings a unique skill set and tremendous

experience into the board of Citibank Nigeria. Her professionalism and commitment to quality service delivery have served her well throughout her career and will render her contributions to the board invaluable.”

University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, Lagos, back in 1983. Julie’s mother had a kidney transplant and unfortunately her body rejected it. She later went back to dialysis, and complications followed. She finally passed away in 1984.

Transplant and dialysis costs a fortune hence the need to establish the foundation to help the needy. Julie admits that her mum would have died earlier if she did not have the funds to support her dialysis.

Julie Okah-Donli obtained a Diploma in Law and a Degree in Law from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and was called to the bar in 1992.She won the Deans Award of Moot Court Competition.

From 1996 to 2002, Okah-Donli worked at Anthony Igbene & Co. S. O Ajayi as an Associate.

She had also worked with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and also a one-time head of UBA Trustees.

Okah-Donli established a Legal Firm: Julie Okah & Co (Legal Practitioners) where she was the Principal Partner.

On April 13, 2017, she was appointed

by President Muhammadu Buhari as the Director-General of NAPTIP. She has been leading the federal agency to tackle human trafficking, including organ trafficking and ritual killing.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) is a law enforcement agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, founded in 2003 in order to combat human trafficking and other similar human rights violations.

NAPTIP is one of the agencies under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Justice.

Since its inception, the agency has had over 331 convictions on human traffick-

ing, as of September 2017. Between 2003 and 2017, over 3000 victims have been rescued by NAPTIP and the numbers till date have greatly increased.

The agency has been at the forefront of rescuing and rehabilitating Nigerians from Libya, with the help of Federal Government and other international organisations.

Okah-Donli has advocated for more funding to tackle human trafficking and in inter-agency collaboration. Under her leadership as DG of NAPTIP, a Whistle Blowing Policy for Human Trafficking was formed.

Occupying such a position certainly comes with its challenges however, being a woman on the job is least of her worries because she sees beyond gender. “I was born into a much disciplined family. My father was a naval officer, so we didn’t grow with any form of complex. Whether you are a boy or a girl didn’t matter in my home, and in the schools that I attended.

We were treated alike. Luckily for me, I am a very confident person. I can compete favorably with anybody, whether male or female.” She said adding that she never had to contend with issues, and instances like that never crossed her mind because “I just do what I have to do” Julie said.

Julie will readily tell any woman who desires success to be efficient and see beyond just being female, For her, “You just have to work very hard because hard work brought me where I am today. You must also believe in yourself and believe in Nigeria as a country because if you don’t believe in Nigeria, you start thinking that greener pastures are outside meanwhile that is not always the case.”

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