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Oil price decline adds to unease over Nigeria’s economy … Weighs on equities ISAAC ANYAOGU

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L-R: Michel Puchercos, MD/country CEO, Lafarge Africa plc; Anthony Anwukah, minister of state, education; Wole Soyinka, keynote speaker, and Mobolaji Balogun, chairman, board of directors, Lafarge Africa plc, at the 5th Lafarge Africa National Literacy Competition grand finale in Lagos.

Early investors stake claim on Nigeria’s off-grid electricity market T

ISAAC ANYAOGU

he first time people i n Gb a mu - Gb a mu village, in Ijebu-East Central Local Council of Ogun state saw electric power was in February this year when a local renewable energy firm, Rubitec Solar built

an 85kw solar hybrid mini-grid with over 100 million euros financing from GIZ, a German development agency.

Like in Gbamu-Gbamu, so also in many rural communities in Nigeria, with early investors betting that improving energy access for over 75million Nigerians without grid power would payoff in the end.

“ No investor will come into any sector without a promise of value hence the off grid sector offers vast opportunities waiting to be tapped,” said Ify Malo, Nigeria Campaign Manager for Power For All, a decentralised renewable energy advocacy.

Malo said that Many Nigerians are yet to be weaned from the false narrative about solar

being unreliable and unable to power heavy equipment. There are also concerns that solar power is too expensive. However, the falling cost of solar panels and battery is making the sector attractive especially in Nigeria where market opportunities are huge.

Continues on page 34

rude oil prices have continued a 12 day free-fall, as fears of a supply glut mounts and oil producing countries including Nigeria are getting uneasy.

Africa’s biggest oil producer relies on crude oil sales to fund its budget and is responsible for over 85 percent of the country’s revenue and a fall in revenue will hamper budgetary obligations.

The dip comes three months to the general election and as Nigerian workers demand a 66 percent wage increase.

Low oil prices coupled with Nigeria’s increasing difficulty in finding buyers for its oil could erode trade surplus and further put pressure on the naira.

Meanwhile lower oil prices Continues on page 34

Inside Funding crisis hits Federal Government agencies

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Olu Fasan on Monday Mixed verdict: International businesses pass judgment on Nigeria

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Funding crisis hits Federal Government agencies ... NBS denies political pressure on data release Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja

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igeria’s government agencies are apparently facing the hardest cash crunchat least in recent timesand are finding it extremely difficult to perform their obligations, reliable sources have told BusinessDay. Less than two months to the end of the year, the finance ministry is yet to announce whether or not it has released any funds to the MDAs for 2018 capital expenditure as had been the practice, however, sources tell BusinessDay that most of the agencies have not accessed more than 10 percent of their budgeted capex for the year.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which has been called out since Wednesday for not releasing unemployment numbers since last quarter of 2017 is one of those critical agencies hard hit by the funding crisis. As seen in its data release calendar, the agency, now highly trusted for credible and timely data had scheduled to release the Q4, 2017 labor force report on January 19, 2018 but has not even commenced the survey due to lack of funds.

Reliable sources at the statistics office confirm that they are still waiting for funds to conduct critical surveys - at the moment only 25 percent has so far been released to the

statistics office for this year’s capex, while overheads have not been paid for about 5 months now.

“Like the Statistician General has been explaining, we have not been able to carry out the labour force survey basically due to budgetary constraints which I am told is being worked on and will soon be finalized.

It is not an NBS issue, it is across the agencies, and I believe that things will be sorted out soon by government,” the source who would not like to be mentioned told BusinessDay. The recent comment by Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) further confirm huge funding challenges which government agencies now face.

Adeyeye was quoted to have said on Monday that 80 per cent of the NAFDAC equipment can no longer function, obviously due to lack of funds to fix them and even to recruit more staff.

Ken Goodluck, an Abuja based political economist, speaking to BusinessDay confirmed the challenging environment within which agencies operate presently, further disclosing that even contractors are not being paid for jobs already completed, while new contracts cannot

Continues on page 34

Like Fashola, Ambode to go without N844bn 4th Mainland Bridge … govt keeps sealed lips on project JOSHUA BASSEY

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ith six more months to stay in Government House, Alausa, incumbent Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, like his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola, will go without the long promised 4th Mainland Bridge.

But unlike Fashola, Ambode came close to making the project a reality when his administration signed an agreement with a consortium of investors in May 2016 to start the construction of the bridge.

His government terminated the contract one year after it was signed, citing ‘delay’ in commencement of work by the consortium. It subsequently announced it was in talks with other local and international investors who have submitted bids for the project and would unveil a new preferred bidder in June. It never did, even as it has kept mute on the project since April this year.

By May 2019 when Ambode is expected to hand over to a new government, Lagosians would have waited for 20 years since the Bola Tinubu-led government (1999-2007) mooted the idea to build the bridge without making it real.

This is as the population of the state is now estimated at over 21 million people, with a high vehicular density of 264 vehicles per kilometer

of roadway as at 2016, according to Lagos Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (LAMATA). The increasing population as well as high car density, coupled with inadequate infrastructure has thrown up unprecedented traffic congestions which the municipal government has been unable to find a solution.

Analysts are of the view that with the state’s population project to hit 30 million people by 2030, Lagos will be a hell of place to live in and do business unless drastic measures in terms of infrastructure development are taken to ameliorate the traffic crisis.

The 36km 4th Mainland had been conceived as part of such measures.

It was designed to take traffic between mainland and island parts of the state and complement the three existing bridges- Eko, Carter and Third Mainland Bridges which are daily overstretched.

Checks by BusinessDay within the state ministry of works and infrastructure reveals state of uncertainty around the 4th Mainland Bridge project, as the government is yet to select a preferred bidder who should have been announced in May or June, according to Adebowale Akinsanya, the commissioner for works and infrastructure.

Specifically, Akinsanya while briefing journalists on Wednesday

Continues on page 34

L-R: Paul Uwaje, director, financial services, Covenant University; Ijeoma Ude, deputy advert manager, BusinessDay; Lanre Amodu, registrar, Covenant university; Anthony Osae-Brown, editor, BusinessDay; AAA Atayero, vice chancellor, Covenant university, and Akan William, deputy vice chancellor, Covenant University, during the BusinessDay team visit to the University in Ota, Ogun State, yesterday.

Pic by Pius Okeosisi

Coca-Cola set to exercise 100% option to buy Chi Limited STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

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tlanta headquartered beverage giant Coca-Cola Plc. has concluded plans to exercise its 100 percent option of acquiring Chi Nigeria Limited, makers of the Chivita line of products, sources familiar with the matter tell BusinessDay. Value of the complete acquisition is still unknown but in 2016, Coca Cola made initial equity investment of 40 per cent in the company estimated to be in the range of $300 m to $400 million. Analysts in 2016 put the value of Chi at about $1 billion.

After the acquisition of 40 percent equity, Cola-Cola had last two years indicated plans to increase ownership to 100 percent within three years, subject to regulatory approvals, while working on other long-term commercial structures.

Chi, makers Hollandia yoghurt, is the market leader in juices and value added dairy and its product portfolio includes iced teas and snacks.

“We are still on track to complete the acquisition (of Chi Ltd) by the

end of the first quarter of 2019,” Peter Njonjo, president of Coca-Cola’s West Africa business, had said.

The planned full acquisition, when actualised, will enable CocaCola to reclaim leadership of the Nigerian juice market which it lost to Chi Ltd a couple of years ago and also build a strong capability to expand its West African portfolio of still beverages. The investment is aimed at consolidating Coca-Cola’s leadership of the Nigerian beverage market.

Juice sales form a central plank of the U.S. Company’s attempt to offer drinks at a range of prince points in Nigeria to improve affordability in a country where inflation has been a major concern, even for the monetary policy authorities.

According to sources, the parent company of the Lagos-based Chi Ltd, Tropical General Investments (TGI) Group which is owned by a European family, had been considering sale of the company for some time. Apart from Chi, TGI has interests in Agri business involving seed multiplication, fertilizer distribution, cotton, cocoa and vegetable oil milling as

well as health care with Chi Pharmaceutical which owns a World Health Organisation (WHO) approved plant. TGI is also into oil and gas, industrial chemicals manufacturing and real estate development. And it is currently building a seasoning cube facility in Shagamu, Ogun state.

The acquisition, according to sources is part of global strategy by Coca Cola, the US Company to diversify from its core business.

The Coca-Cola Company, whose flagship brand (Coca-Cola) is the world’s most recognised brand with a brand value of about $79.96 billion, is the largest player in the Nigerian beverage industry and its brands are present in almost every home.

It is not clear whether Coca Cola will rename Chi Ltd after the full acquisition or allow it to operate under the Chi brand name.

Nigeria with estimated population of about 190 million (comprising about 90 million youth population), high urbanisation and a growing middle class is a huge market that is hard to ignore, particularly for fast moving consumer goods companies.

Alleged corruption: Oshiomhole’s probe will be true test of Buhari’s anti-graft war – Saraki OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja

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he last may be yet to be heard about the allegations of bribery levelled against the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, over the conduct of the just concluded APC primary elections, as Senate President Bukola Saraki, has said the matter is a litmus test for President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade.

Specifically, the Senate President posited that Nigerians are eagerly awaiting how President Buhari will handle the issue.

In a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, on Thursday,

Saraki also described the threat by the former Edo State Governor to sue him over his statement that Oshiomhole ought to quit politics on moral grounds over the allegations against him, as an empty boast because he (Saraki) will be ready to meet him (Oshiomhole) in court.

“Nigerians are waiting to see how the President will handle the serious allegations against his party chairman. We expect the President with his anti-corruption campaign to institute thorough and transparent investigation into the allegations against his party chairman.

“The failure of the President to get to the root of the matter will finally destroy his ability and that of the party to continue to talk of

any anti-graft battle. The President should let the investigation be thorough, open and transparent.

This is no time for any cover-up,” he stated.

Saraki maintained that until the outcome of a thorough investigation is known to Nigerians and the APC chairman is cleared of the allegations against him, Oshiomhole is not on a firm ground to talk about morality or fight against corruption.

Both Saraki and Oshiomhole have been engaged in war of words over the latter’s recent calls for the former’s resignation on moral ground, even as the nation’s Number Three Citizen insisted that the APC National Chairman’s hands are soiled with corruption.

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BUSINESS DAY

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Reps quiz firms over $287m debt owed NIMASA, seek invocation of Executive Order 6 KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja

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ouse of Representatives on Thursday quizzed 12 shipping companies over $287 million debt owed Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) since 2004 till date.

Mohammed Bago, chairman, House Committee on Maritime and Safety Education, who queried the payments allegedly made by the companies, accused most of the shipping companies of changing names in bid to evade taxes.

According to a petition on the ‘ongoing massive revenue leakage at the SPL desk, which runs into millions of dollar being investigated by the Committee, “shipping agents, IOCs and other designated maritime operators are

colluding with dubious staff of the Agency to withhold remit-able revenue.

“This relatively unknown revenue source is one of the major conduits in settling DGs, EDs and their cronies at the expense of the Federal Government. Prominent culprits in this malfeasance are: GAC Shipping Nigeria Limited; Daddo Marine Limited; BlueSea Marine Services; Transocean Support Services Limited; who have so far amassed huge debts totalling about $260 million.

“Apart from attempt to cover up the massive revenue leakages and directive to pay 40 percent of the debts to highly placed officials of the Agency, the petitioner further alleged that 30 percent of the debt would go to the Agency’s coffers while the balance of 30 per-

cent would go to the affected companies.

“To facilitate this thievery, the companies will be invited for debt reconciliation after which they will be given 70 percent Credit Notes to wipe off such debts from NIMASA payment and collection systems called TRIM,” the petition read in part.

According to the document obtained by the Committee, GAC Shipping Nigeria Limited owes $172.345 million; Daddo Maritime Services owes $34.479 million; BlueSea Marine Services owes $31.147 million; Divine Marine Shipping Nigeria Limited owes $10.819 million; Transocean Support Services Limited owes $9.787 million, while Inchcape Shipping Services Nigeria Limited owes $6.382 million.

Others are: Maesk Nigeria

Limited owes $5.739 million; Al Raine Nigeria Limited owes $5.453 million; Hull Blyth Nigeria Limited owes $3.617 million; CMA CGM-Delmas Nigeria Limited owes $3.568 million; Joe-Eboje owes $3.497 million while Peak Shipping owes $2.600 million.

While responding to inquiry by the Committee on the $9.5 million debt, Bayo Odebunmi, manager, BlueSea Maritime Services, who affirmed that the company was indebted to NIMASA, however, explained that some payments had been made after reconciliation of accounts after 2016.

Worried by the development, the Chairman who described NIMASA as ‘irresponsible’ queried why the agency has failed to update its records with the view recover all the debts spanning two years.

Friday 16 November 2018

Atiku campaign group slams FG over refusal to fund NBS INIOBONG IWOK

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he Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation has lambasted the Muhammadu Buhari administration for allegedly deliberately starving the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of funds.

In a statement to the media yesterday, the Campaign Organisation, expressed dismay with recent revelation by the head of the agency, Yemi Kale, that the NBS was unable to release the annual unemployment report which was its statutory obligation because of lack of funds, stressing the move was an attempt by the Buhari administration to hide the high unemployment rate in the country from Nigerians.

The statement further said that such incident never occurred during the sixteen years the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ruled the country, wondering why attention is paid to lesser issues than issues that are of national importance.

“We notes with dismay the testimony of the Statistician General of the Federation, Yemi Kale, that the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, is unable to release the annual unemployment report that it is mandated by law to produce, because the Buhari administration has not provided the NBS with the funds it needs to perform

this essential service,” it said.

According to the organisation, “Throughout the 16 years that the People’s Democratic Party governed this nation, their various governments never took this route, but funded the NBS to perform its statutory duty.

“We know for a fact that the Muhammadu Buhari administration is in a state of panic because of the unprecedented unemployment numbers in Nigeria and is desperate to hide that information from the public.

“If the Buhari administration can afford N1.1 billion to fumigate the office of the National Security Adviser, if they can afford N3.5 million every month to feed Ibrahim El Zakzaky, then they can afford to release funds for the NBS to perform its statutory duty of releasing the nation’s job report.”

“President Buhari promised to create three million jobs per annum during the 2015 Presidential campaign season, but has ended up losing over three million jobs every year since he was sworn in on May 29, 2015,” it added.

According to the organisation, “Since the Buhari administration came on board, 11 million Nigerians have lost their jobs and in December of 2017, the NBS under Yemi Kale, announced that 7.9 million Nigerians lost their jobs in the 21 months period under review.

Team Banga emerges winner of Unilever Ideatrophy 7

L-R: Onome Asagbra, publicity secretary, Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN); Ediri Ose-Ediale, executive secretary; Wasiu Abiola, 1st vice president; Bola Adeeko, divisional head, shared service, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Folake Ani-Mumuney, president, ADVAN; Lampe Omoyele, trustee, and Abiona Babarinde, ex-officio, during the closing gong ceremony by the association at the exchange to celebrate their 25th years anniversary in Lagos, yesterday.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

Sell pressure: All-Share Index drops to 31,000 mark

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enewed sell pressure embarked by investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) took further toll on the market indices, with index dropping to 31,000 mark.

Specifically, the All-Share Index on Thursday nosedived by 244.12 points or 0.76 percent to close at 31,864.80 against 32,108.92 achieved on Wednesday.

Similarly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N11.722 trillion, shed N89 billion or 0.76 percent to close at N11.633 trillion against N11.722 trillion on Wednesday.

An analysis of the price movement indicated that International Breweries led the losers’ table, shedding N3.35 to close at N30.20 per share.

Guaranty Trust Bank trailed with a loss of N2.40 to close at N34, while Mobil Oil dipped N1 to close at N150 per share. Zenith Bank declined by 75k to close at N23.30, while UACN was down by 50k to close at N9.50 per share.

On the other hand, Nestle

led the gainers’ table, increasing by N50 to close at N1, 500 per share. Nigerian Breweries followed with a gain of 50k to close at N83, while Cement Company of Northern Nigeria added 50k to close at N18.50 per share, Union Bank grew by 20k to close at N5.05, while Eco Bank Transnational Incorporated advanced by 5k to close at N15.75 per share.

In spite of the drop in market indices, the volume of shares traded rose by 52.34 per cent as investors staked N2.45 billion on 349.25 million shares transacted in 2,595 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 229.26 million shares valued at N2.49 billion achieved in 2,726 deals on Wednesday.

Diamond Bank was the most active stock, exchanging 208.68 million shares worth N185.36 million.

FCMB Group followed with an account of 34.68 million shares valued at N53.83 million, while Stanbic IBTC exchanged 15.09 million shares worth N724.72 million.

‘Nigeria must adopt strategic integration of knowledge and faith to develop’ KELECHI EWUZIE

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professor of history at University of Texas, USA, Toyin Falola, will attempt to critically explain why the Nigerian society and indeed her education system need to be strategic in the integration of knowledge and faith in order to develop.

The professor will be speaking on the Integration of Knowledge and Faith at the third convocation lecture of McPherson University, Seriki Sotayo, Ogun State, on Saturday, November 17.

The lecture is one of the activities lined up to celebrate the citadel of learning third convocation ceremony and also six years of existence.

Adeniyi Agunbiade, vice chancellor of the university, while speaking at the preconvocation press conference, said the mission of the institution was to provide

qualitative, functional and sound education, with godly virtues that would prepare men and women for leadership and positive impact on the society.

Agunbiade said through its initiative tagged, “Brain Trust,” the university instituted a culture of celebrating excellence and creating an avenue for healthy rivalry, by recognising exceptional abilities in academic performance of students.

“The initiative focuses on students with Grade Point Average (GPA) of 4.5 and above at the end of each session. The sole aim is to stimulate the spirit of excellence and hard work among our students.”

He said the university had been impacting her host communities (numbering 14 villages initially) positively through enhanced medical services provided by the Health Centre.

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fter an interesting round of competition, Team Banga from Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) emerged winner of the seventh Unilever Nigeria Ideatrophy challenge.

This year’s competition themed, “Freedom to Explore, Freedom to Experience, Freedom to Grow” got entries from 2,100 number of teams across Nigeria.

The competition targets undergraduates across universities in Nigeria and challenged them to come up with unique ideas based on the years’ theme. Participants are provided opportunities to develop ideas on real-life business scenarios, which will be reviewed by a panel of judges. The exercise is aimed at achieving Unilever’s objective of grooming and developing young talents with great minds who are capable of moving the fortunes of the continent to the next level.

Speaking on this year’s event, Yaw Nsarkoh, managing director, Unilever Nigeria and Ghana, said the company was glad that the Ideatrophy contest had sustained its tempo of nurturing great minds. Congratulating the participants, Nsarkoh admonished both the winners

and runners-up to expand on their ideas and ensure that they utilise the knowledge gathered extensively in their future endeavours.

“This year’s theme for the Ideatrophy challenge Freedom to Explore, Freedom to Experience, Freedom to Grow reaffirms Unilever’s ambition for sustainable growth and our sense of social purpose. As our youths explore the opportunities, they have the potential of gaining the needed experience that will make them grow.

“Such growth can bring the desired change that will impact positively across our societies.

The world is interconnected and the symbiotic relationship that exist therein meant that our youths across Africa should not be left out,” he said.

In his reaction, the leader of the winning team, Ezeoguine Chuka, thanked Unilever for an opportunity to explore their talents on a global scale.

“This competition has been a life changing experience for Team Banga. It has enabled us to explore our innate business abilities and further exposed us to the realities of doing business. The competition has given each member of the team a leap to achieve greatness in life and we sincerely hope to take it further from here,” he said.

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Digital switchover: ICPC probes DG NBC, others over N2.5bn fraud FELIX OMOHOMHION, Abuja

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ndependent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is investigating the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) over the misapplication of N2.5 billion seed grant released to the agency by the Federal Government for its digital switchover programme.

The Commission has so far quizzed the director-general, Ishaq Moddibbo Kawu, and other top management staff of the agency over their alleged involvements in the misapplication of the fund.

The Presidency had in

FirstBank 57th Lagos Amateur Golf Open set to tee-off

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irst Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced its sponsorship of the 57th edition of the Lagos Amateur Golf Open Championship.

The 2018 edition is billed to tee-off today and run through Sunday at the lush greenery of the Ikoyi Club 1938 Golf Course in Lagos.

This is the 56th time the bank is sponsoring the elite event, since its inception.

FirstBank’s sponsorship of the Lagos Amateur Open Golf Championship has enhanced the bank’s signature hold of the competition, giving it a unique differentiation as the major driver of the oldest bank-owned sporting championship in Nigeria. The 2017 edition played host to over 260 elite golfers, while the 2018 edition will host over 280 golfers across the nook and cranny of the country.

This year, the three-day golf tournament will feature among others the “Professional Coaching Clinic” to nurture the skills of young and upcoming talents, and “Beat the Pro Skills competition”.

According to FirstBank’s group head, marketing and corporate communications, Folake Ani-Mumuney, “The Lagos Amateur Golf Championship is not just a competition but a tradition FirstBank is honoured to associate with for 56 years.

“Our identification with the competition is in line with our strategic objective of recognising activities that promote the socio-economic diversity and growth of the nation as well as the promotion of talents that fly the green and white colours of the Nigeria beyond the shores of the country.”

Ani-Mumuney elaborated “the Bank recently signed an endorsement deal with teenage golf sensation, Georgia Oboh, who at only 17 has set her sights on playing on the LPGA circuit which she has already been invited to participate in.

2016, released N10 billion to the Ministry of Information and Culture for the digital switchover programme, which entails migration of telephone lines from analogue to digital platforms and a White Paper was issued directing that the process be specifically handled by government-affiliated companies.

Based on the guidelines provided by the White Paper, two companies were nominated to handle the process, one of which was ITS, an affiliate of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). N1.7 billion was released to it as seed grant for the commencement of the switchover.

However, ICPC through investigation discovered that the process was fraught with alleged corrupt practices.

It was alleged that Kawu fraudulently recommended a private company called Pinnacle Communications Limited to the minister of information and culture, for the release of N2.5 billion against the guidelines contained in the White Paper.

The N2.5 billion was paid into the Zenith Bank account of Pinnacle Communications Limited in May/June, 2017 for the programme.

The DG NBC during interactions with the Commission could not justify why the gov-

ernment White Paper was flouted leading to the release of money to an unqualified company.

However, the managing director of Pinnacle, Dipo Onifade, during interrogation confirmed the release of the funds to the company, but could not justify that the money was used for the purpose of digital switchover.

The Commission through investigation discovered several suspicious transfers of large sums of funds from the account of the company into the bank accounts of several organisations and individuals.

It found out that N100 million of the fund was paid

into the personal bank account of Onifade in Zenith Bank, which he claimed was for legal services that he had rendered to the same Pinnacle Communications, where he was employed.

Also, investigation revealed that another N450 million was transferred into the account of Sabdat Investment Limited, a Bureau de Change, which then converted the money into dollars and handed it over to the chairman of Pinnacle Communications Limited, Lucky Omoluwa, in his Kaduna residence as he usually did with other funds.

Omoluwa had repeatedly failed to honour invitations

from the Commission to come and explain his role in the alleged fraud.

He had also sought the leave of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to stop the investigation as well as unfreeze the Zenith Bank account of the company that was frozen by ICPC, but was however ordered by the same court to appear before ICPC for interrogation before the next adjourned date of December 3, 2018 before his case would be heard.

In compliance with the court order, Omoluwa had appeared before the Commission where he made useful statements to investigators.

8 BUSINESS DAY NEWS

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Respite as Presidency directs Julius Berger to hasten work on Ijora Bridge Dijo Communications wins Best Marketing AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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ice President Yemi Osinbajo says he has directed Julius Berger, the contractor handling the repair work on Ijora Bridge, outbound Apapa area of Lagos State, to hasten work and reopen it for business in order to reduce the gridlock in the Apapa environment.

Recall that Vicky Haastrup, chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), recently alerted the nation that closure of a section of the Ijora Bridge was worsening the already chaotic traffic situation in the Lagos port community.

Speaking on Wazobia TV, a Lagos-based television station recently, Osinbajo affirmed that the reopening

of the bridge was vital to the free flow of traffic in Apapa and its environ.

“That bridge must be completed and opened. So, one of the things we have done was to tell Julius Berger about two weeks ago that they must complete and open up the bridge. Even when the construction of Wharf Road has been completed and the bridge has not been opened, we will still experience the same problem,” he said.

Osinbajo, who blamed congestion on the Lagos port access roads on bad roads and increased cargo volume, also accused past administrations of abandoning the roads to deteriorate to their present state.

The Apapa port, according to him, was built to handle 38 million metric tons of cargo, but now it is handling 84 million metric tons. “So,

the road and the port are now too small for the volume that is being handled today, and this has resulted in too many trucks going into the port.

“When we had the problem the first time and I came to Lagos, we noticed that all the roads around Apapa were bad and we agreed that we will fix the roads. We agreed to fix the Wharf Road down to Mile 2. We have almost completed the road around the port now; then move all the way to Mile 2. We must fix the roads, if those roads are not fixed, we will continue to have the problem,” Osinbajo noted.

He however identified road repair, revival of the rail network, and revival of ports outside the Lagos area as long-term solutions to the Apapa gridlock.

“But for long term solution; three things must be done. The first is that now

we are building Lagos-Kano Railway and the first phase is Lagos-Ibadan starting from Apapa Port so that many of the goods will be evacuated by rail. The Lagos-Ibadan phase should be completed

by January 2019 and hoping to finish construction to Kano in about two and a half years,” he said.

Continuing, Osinbajo said: “The second is that we have other ports. We have Calabar, which we are dredging to about 10 meters. We have to make sure we can divert some traffic there. If we can divert some traffic away from Lagos ports it will help but it will not solve the problem completely because 60 percent of business is being transacted in Lagos. So, when people import goods to Nigeria they will want to use it in Lagos, which is the problem we have.

L-R: Babatunde Paul Ruwase, president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI); Marc Lucassan, delegate, Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, and Muda Yusuf, directorgeneral, LCCI, during a courtesy visit of the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, in Lagos, yesterday.

Agency of the Year Award

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rand owners join to celebrate the management of Dijo Communications for receiving the “Best Marketing Agency of the Year” award on it work on Hero Lager on the “Brand Positioning Using the Rising Sun – leveraging culture and history of Nigeria to drive brand campaign.

The just concluded award event in Lagos, was organised by the Nigerian Brand Awards as part of its commitment to rewarding brands that have contributed in promoting not just the country’s national values but have also grown its economy.

The winning company’s CEO, Innocent Oboh, who received the Diamond Award of the year on behalf of the company, gave

a brief background of the journey so far for the company and the reason behind the many campaign successes attained over the years.

“Dijo Communications is a strategy communications company… we are not just a creative agency. We build creative contents that sell brands… we develop concepts built with strategies borne out of insights that eventually distinguish our brands and sell them.

“Now this is because, we know that at the end of each campaign, the board of directors of any brand are not only interested in creating value, they are most interested in making returns on their investments… and that is one thing we have ensured for Hero Lager,” he explained.

ICT labs donation to make students competitive globally – Lagos Tutor General FRANK ELEANYA

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he donation of fully equipped information and communication technology (ICT) laboratories to four secondary schools in Lagos State has the potential to transform the recipient students into global champions, Lagos State Tutor General and permanent secretary, Ministry of Education, Adebunmi Adekanye, says.

The Lagos State government official made the statement at the unveiling of the laboratories donated by automobile manufacturer, Hyundai Motors Nigeria Limited.

According to Adekanye, the ultramodern laboratories will not only aid effective teaching and learning of computer studies, it will also prepare the

students for participation in online competitions and examinations.

The labs beneficiaries include Vetland Senior Grammar School, Oko-Oba, Agege; Ipakodo Senior Grammar School, Ikorodu; Kuramo Senior College, Victoria Island, and Fazi-I-Omar High School.

Iwaya, Yaba.

A statement from Parvir Singh, managing director of Hyundai Motors to BusinessDay, disclosed that the company had donated the ICT laboratories to select public schools and colleges in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, which include supporting grassroots education and enhancing human resources development.

Edo Poly commissions Analytical Lab with only functional gas chromatography equipment in South-South

UN spends $70m for assistance in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe to boost humanitarian activities

he Edo State Polytechnic, formally known as Edo State Institute of Technology and Management (ESITM), Usen, has commissioned an Analytical Laboratory, equipped with state-ofthe-art equipment, including a gas chromatography equipment said to be the only functional one in the South-South region of Nigeria.

Rector of the institution, Abiodun Falodun, in an interview with journalists, said the laboratory was set up to provide for the needs of academic institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), private researchers, industries in different sectors in the state.

The commissioning will be followed by a two-day training workshop for academics, technologists and technicians in the school, to be led by Adisa Samuel and other experts

IFEOMA OKEKE

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from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), he said.

He said the project was completed with support from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), and would go a long way to position the institution as the hub for chemical analysis as well as training technicians, technologists and others in chemical and allied sciences, in the South-South region.

Some of the equipment in the laboratory include Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS), Gas Chromatography equipment (GC), UYVisible, Spectrophotometer, Flame Photometer, Freeze Dryers, Colorimeter, Polarimeter, among others.

He said the analytical laboratory has equipment to serve the food and agro-allied companies, including Okomu plc and Presco plc, water factories, pharmaceutical com-

panies and petrochemical companies, among others.

Meanwhile, the Edo State Ministry of Education has graduated 14 students from its Women Education unit for year 2018, with the graduands receiving training on different vocational skills such as hairdressing, fashion design, catering and interior decoration.

Commissioner for Education, Hon. Emmanuel Agbale, at the graduation ceremony, tasked the graduands to be industrious and aspire to greater achievements in life, using their new trade as a means to improve their livelihood.

He said the Ministry was pleased to have contributed to the economic liberation of the women, noting that the Women Education Unit is another channel of capacity building and human resources development for Edo Women.

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he United Nations have partnered Nigerian business leaders to launch the UN Nigeria Humanitarian Fund-Private Sector Initiative, (NHF-PSI) to boost humanitarian activities.

The platform is a first global stage that will serve as a blueprint for private sector engagement in humanitarian action around the world through a UN country-based pooled fund.

Jim Ovia, Zenith Bank founder, Wale Tinubu, Oando CEO, and Ibukun Awosika, chairman, First Bank of Nigeria, are among several of Nigeria’s top business leaders who pledged donations to the fund.

This is as the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (COHA) says it has spent $70 million

in providing humanitarian assistance in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

Samantha Newport, head of communications, OCHA, made the disclosure Thursday in Lagos, while briefing newsmen on UN’s humanitarian efforts in the North East.

Newport said the humanitarian crisis in North-East Nigeria that had spilled into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger, was one of the most severe in the world today, as “more than seven million people are affected in the three worst affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

“1.8 million people are displaced internally. With other global crises competing for scarce resources, the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF) – a funding mechanism, was set up in May 2017.

“The NHF is managed

by COHA under the leader-

ship of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon. The NHF has raised 70 million from 17-donor countries.”

According to Newport, the funds have been allocated to urgent life-saving needs, with emphasis this year in assisting new arrivals with food, shelter and safe water.

She said the NHF had continued to assist internally displaced people in crowded camps and host communities where services were stretched with new arrivals and hunger, malnutrition and sickness were rife.

In a statement by Amina Mohammed, deputy secretary-general of UN at the launch of NHF-PSI, said, “It is personal as someone who grew up in Maiduguri now affected by a crisis that has seen millions displaced and more than 27,000 killed in recent years.

Friday 16 November 2018

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Feeding El-Zakzaky and leadership as an exercise in morality FRANCIS IYOHA Professor Iyoha is of the Department of Accounting, Covenant University and Research Fellow, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). He wrote viafoiyoha@ican.org.ng

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ig e r i a c e l eb rat e d her 58th independence anniversary on Monday, October 1, 2018, and yet remain a toddler and immoral in leadership.

The question is: Why has Nigeria never been led aright in morality? If after 58 years of independence the necessary infrastructures to make life meaningful for the people are absent, we are being led amiss. If we earn so much from oil and other resources and our people have no food, no good schools, we are being led blindly. If the desire of our leaders is to stay in power unending, pretending to be blind while the citizens are being harassed home and abroad; are we actually being led morally? Until our leaders think less of themselves and more about the people, I am afraid we are not properly independent. If after 58 years someone is held in custody and he is said to be fed with N3.5m monthly, then we need a new conceptualization of the term “inde-

PHILLIP AKINWALE Akinwale is an environmentalist based in Lagos

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he spate of increasing global and national concern over the state of the environment has rapidly shifted the responsibility from government alone to a more consensus-based approach, where all stakeholders have a role to play in environmental protection. This ever-increasing awareness of the fragility of the biosphere in which we all live, coupled with a growing desire to get involved in its protection has given rise to the state of emergency recently declared, by Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari, “on Nigeria’s water supply, sanitation and hygiene”. The president’s declaration is in line with the UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene initiative generally known as WASH. The UNICEF WASH programme advocates for universal, affordable and sustainable approach to managing health issues whilst contributing to an improvement in the number of people benefitting from improved water and sanitation facilities. The world Health Organization, in 2015, estimated that “1 in 3 people, or 2.4 billion, are still without sanita-

pendence” to enable us to be led aright in morality and thus,be able to celebrate the real independence to the satisfaction and admiration of all and sundry.

I thank Alhaji Lai for the ‘classified’ information he released on the ‘feeding’ of El-Zakzaky. There is nothing transparent about the information because the truth about the transaction is yet to be known.

And it is not the responsibility of Alhaji Lai to give us such information but the ‘relevant government agencies’ charged with feeding the cleric. It is imperative that the relevant government agencies provide the cost elements of the N3.5million monthly feeding of one person. I am unable to wait for the details of the transaction but to conclude that it is odious and needs to be restrained. Bereft of power, leadership, and direction, many Nigerians are privately uneasy about the transaction, but who bells the cat? Anyway, let’s ask the Accountant General and the Auditor General of the federation whether the transaction will pass the test of ‘value for money’.

Let us also ask the Clergy men in government whether feeding one person with N3.5 million monthly is morally acceptable when a consensus on what the minimum wage should be is problematic. What of the EFCC and ICPC? I believe they are waiting for an official report to engage with the sordid transaction.

The citizens know and indica-

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I thank Alhaji Lai for the ‘classified’ information he released on the ‘feeding’ of ElZakzaky. There is nothing transparent about the information because the truth about the transaction is yet to be known

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tions are very clear that the country is yet to see the true meaning and impact of leadership. The leaders too, appreciate and secretly identify with the thoughts of the masses of this nation but hide such thoughts behind mealy mouths. The leaders also know that the citizens are suffering from indigestion arising from

inability to make their feelings known and explicit. The leaders in their wisdom or lack of it and based upon the complexity of sentiments and emotional misalignment would always damn the thoughts from the masses as emanating and spewing from lazy and mischievous minds.

Yes, we celebrate independence every year. This is cruel.

Nigeria is not the only country where cruel leaders have emerged in history. Many cruel leaders have walked across the pages of history with great sense of accomplishment.

For instance, Shih Huang Ti who lived circa (259-210) was said to be a cruel leader just like we have had and still do have in Nigeria. But in his cruelty, he was a man of contrast.

While the barbarians from Mongolia were invading Chinese territory, he successfully beat off the attack. He created unity in all the regions of China and built the Great Wall to keep the country from attack. The Great Wall was said to be about 2,240 kilometres long and also built roads, canals and made the living condition of his people worthy of commendation. Today, China is a destination for our leaders in search of what they left at home. Why are our leaders not able to take a cue from such feats and ward off attacks from Boko Haram and herdsmen?

The reason is simple. The leaders have their mental faculties abused and impaired by the luxuries and wealth pouring in from wages of unrighteousness and have become

insane pleasure-seekers and layabout desperadoes. God is wonderful! While He ensures that the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; He makes the abundance of the rich to permit him no sleep! It should always be remembered that great wealth brings one no happiness but the sorrow of heart.

For leadership to be an exercise in morality in Nigeria, politicians should possess spectacular characteristics- brilliant leaders of men, witty, forgiving, progressive and skillful negotiators, great personal courage and absence of hatred. Our leader and politicians have the opportunity and power to reform the country and cure the vices that daily haunt us but they have chosen to sustain the wretched and unworkable system. All they learn to do is campaign on bread-and-butter issues that lack substance. They see everything right in all that they do.

Nothing is ever wrong with their actions. What a sure sign of mediocrity and insanity! Luther Ingram had them in mind when he wrote the song: “If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right.” So, I write: ‘if feeding el-Zakzaky at N3.5million monthly is right, I don’t want to be wrong.’ The resilience of the people is at the ceiling and so, let’s lead this nation as an exclamation, not an explanation.

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WASH, Buhari and lessons from Visionscape tion facilities,” while 663 million people still lack access to safe and clean drinking water. Little wonder President Buhari’s declaration is coming on the heels of year of attacks leading to a waste crisis due to the beleaguered service contract Lagos signed with Visionscape Sanitation Solutions, which has been subject to alleged sabotage by ‘vested interests’.

The state of sanitation across the country necessitated the inauguration of the National Action Plan for Revitalization of Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene during the past week. In his resolution, President Buhari instructed “government at all levels to redouble efforts and work towards meeting the nation’s water supply and sanitation needs”. This development brings to the fore the need for a more sustainable approach in environmental protection.

18 months ago, the Lagos State Government developed a comprehensive ‘Cleaner Lagos Initiative’ (CLI) which was underpinned by an Environmental Law for the precise aim of opening up the sector to the desperately needed investment in infrastructure. Lofty aims which have since been truncated

by the local political machinery of the State which is controlled by a significant and vocal group within the well-established “Private Sector Participant PSP- waste management scheme”.

The advent of incumbent Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration recognized a need for a more sustainable system of waste management that transcended the mere collection and disposal services provided by the existing PSP operators. To this end, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions was contracted by the Lagos State Government to develop a world class waste management system under the CLI while also providing waste collection services, as well as the construction of the State’s waste management facilities, including the development of Nigeria’s first engineered landfill.

The scheme was to be scalable with a contract duration of ten years during which mobilization, augmentation, and stabilization periods were slated to span over two years while infrastructural upgrades, bin distribution, public awareness, assets and equipment acquisition, and other plans were gradually rolled out.

In a lengthy exposé via their official Twitter page, Visionscape Sanitation

Solutions explained the reason why none of these turned out as expected – a bitter court battle between PSPs and the new entrant, oft-repeated sabotage claims, and the infamous Olusosun fire in March 2018.

“So unlike other issues, we found out that tackling waste management required a significant amount of support in complicated political conditions’ reported a senior management member who spoke under the condition of anonymity” for example, what we were putting into the landfill was technology to minimise landfill usage – the plan was to introduce anaerobic digestion where organic waste would have been converted to much needed power to attempt to support the surrounding area. Environmental solutions must harness local realities and it has become evident that they will often require reverse engineering to suit and in fact, a key prong of our entrance was the gap we had identified between infrastructure provision and population growth.

The irony of course is that a multi-faceted environmental company that has already established a footprint and has also had a trial by fire in local politics may actually be in a position to work across the

country in developing solutions for wastewater treatment, in particular which tends to be nexus of challenges in potable water supply. One wonders whether the appetite is still there after being made a political football by Ambode’s detractors?

Against this political chicanery, the fact is that the Visionscape led Municipality Waste Management Company Limited (MWMCL) were successful in a green bond – the first time a bond is not being tied to the ever-fluctuating oil price, thus making it the single biggest investment in the environment ever made in Nigeria. Other States need to realize this is a pioneer move that Lagos State has embarked on, one which they equally need to emulate. It is hoped that they will leverage on the strengths of similar schemes will making allowances for their political realities to enable a solution that will benefit their citizens.

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en years in the life of an organisation is no doubt, a huge milestone.

It all started with fanfare, glitz and glam. Ten years down the line, nevertheless, it is still a huge success story – this is for an airline that has risen through the storms of life to surmount all encumbrances to make a name for itself among its contemporaries.

This is typical in an environment where the pervading operating scenario is such that is characterised with ups and downs.

As an organisation that was prepared to make an indelible mark in the aviation industry, Dana Air since inauguration took the bull by the horns. It has since its inception progressively evolved with customer-centric innovations and services combined with a network of routes thereby bringing succour and option to the flying public.

Notwithstanding the unfavourable economic conditions in the country, the airline has grown tall and steadily providing top services and innovations to the delight of the flying public. This it has followed systematically and with a view to safeguarding the integrity of the

DANIEL IGHAKPE Ighakpe writes from Festac Town, Lagos, via danighakpe@gmail.com, 0802 224 1155

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igeria is currently ranked the country with the highest number of extremely poor people. It is estimated that 87 million out of the estimated 180 million population of Nigeria, which represents 45% of Nigerians, are currently living in extreme poverty.

According to Nigeria poverty statistics, the poverty rate in Nigeria’s south-west of the country is 19.3 per cent; south-south, 25.2 per cent; south-east is about 27.4 per cent; north-central, 42.6 per cent; north-east, 76.8 percent while the poverty level in the north-west of Nigeria is 81.1 per cent.

The weak growth in the formal economy (0.8% in 2017) suggests that employment in this space will be relatively inadequate to reduce poverty. Also, the unstructured nature of the informal sector of the economy, coupled with harsh conditions, poor power supply and inadequate government interventions make the whole outlook bleak.

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DANA Air: Celebrating 10 years of doggedness, success story aviation industry in the country.

With superior performance, service and creativity, Dana Air is uncompromising in its commitment to excellence and safety as it relates to aviation in the West Africa sub-region and beyond. As widely known, transportation has played and continues to play a vital role in the socio-cultural, political and economic development of Nigerian. This has provided greater opportunity for the airline to leverage on the transformation of the transport sector as a backbone to industrialize and diversify the nation’s economy – for the common good.

While speaking on the feat the airline has achieved over the years, the Group Executive Director (GED), Resort Group, Mr. Rodger Whittle, said it is highly commendable seeing Dana Air coming all the way up to the level it is at the moment, saying it says a lot about the input individuals and the entire management team have been able to plough in to make the airline what it is today.

He lauded the visionary style of operation of the airline and the standing relationship that have existed within and among stakeholders in the industry over the years, noting that it has paid off going by the torrent of goodwill messages from far and near about the operations of the airline. Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) is a member of the Resort Group.

Similarly, the Group Head, HR, Resort Group, Mr. Ola Azeez, noted that quality service and good customer relations are necessary ingredients for any organisation to really make meaningful impact in the world today. This, he said the airline has been able to provide to really command fair share in the nation’s aviation sector, stressing the need to keep rolling out practical and workable innovations to truly gain more market shares in the coming years.

Also, the Head of Aeronautical Services at BASL, Mr. Ralph Uchegbu, commended the doggedness of the airline, saying their success story today could not have been possible if not by dint of hard work and sheer

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Notwithstanding the unfavourable economic conditions in the country, the airline has grown tall and steadily providing top services and innovations to the delight of the flying public

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determination to succeed.

At a short presentation of Commemorative Certificate, Mr Whittle maintained that Dana Air still has lot of prospects going for them, reiterating further that one can only wish them more success in the next decades.

In his response, Dana Air’s Chief Operating Officer, Obi Mbanuzuo, expressed his appreciation to BASL’s management for the recognition and support over the years. He stated that the mutual understanding the two organisations have built over the years have impacted their businesses positively, maintaining that the airline has since inception operated at MMA2.

This is a testimony to the seamless passenger facilitation and superior travel experience MMA2 is known for.

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Agriculture and its relevance to economic empowerment Nevertheless, agriculture can be used as an effective tool to fight poverty and combat unemployment. One way of achieving this is by making it attractive to young people. To achieve this, the practical aspect of agriculture in the school’s curriculum should be given equal attention as the theory. One way of doing this is by establishing viable school farms in both our private and public primary and secondary schools across the country. The idea behind this is to make agriculture an integral part of the school culture, so the pupils and students are well positioned to appreciate farming, and make it a lifestyle, even when they do not intend to specialise in it. The knowledge obtained from practical sessions on the school farm helps not only to re-enforce what is taught in the classrooms. It also equips the pupils/students with first-hand knowledge of how to run agribusinesses, which is very important in cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit in the students.

Our national policy on education lays considerable emphasis

on self-reliance. It is no secret these days that whereas many school leavers (including university graduates) are finding it increasingly difficult to secure paid employment, those of them with technical bias easily get employed

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Apart from the benefits to farmers, agriculture also supports the manufacturing industries. Agriculture provides raw materials for manufacturing industries without which the industries cannot produce

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as artisans.

Technical and pre-vocational subjects like Agricultural Science not only impart specialized skills, they also offer opportunities for future income generating activities and self-employment.

Therefore, the practical aspect of agriculture in the school’s curriculum should be given equal attention as the theory. One way of doing this is by establishing viable school farms in both our private and public primary and secondary schools across the country. The idea behind this is to make agriculture an integral part of the school culture, so the pupils and students are well positioned to appreciate farming, and make it a lifestyle, even when they do not intend to specialise in it. The knowledge obtained from practical sessions on the school farm helps not only to re-enforce what is taught in the classrooms. It also equips the pupils/students with first-hand knowledge of how to run agribusinesses, which is very important in cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit in the students.

Economic empowerment,

as it relates to agriculture, refers to the ability to improve one’s standard of living through the income generated from the sales of agricultural produce. This means that practicing agriculture enables farmers to do many things to improve their own lives and to make them happy.

Apart from the benefits to farmers, agriculture also supports the manufacturing industries.

Agriculture provides raw materials for manufacturing industries without which the industries cannot produce. They depend on agriculture for manufacturing their products which they sell to earn income. These industries also employ many workers in the factories and earn a lot of money and so they become economically empowered.

There are certainly many important benefits that agriculture can bring to the economy.

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Frank Aigbogun editor Anthony Osae-Brown DEPUTY EDITORS John Osadolor, Abuja Bill Okonedo NEWS EDITOR Patrick Atuanya EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL SERVICES Oghenevwoke Ighure GENERAL MANAGER, ADVERT Adeola Ajewole ADVERT MANAGER Ijeoma Ude FINANCE MANAGER Emeka Ifeanyi MANAGER, CONFERENCES & EVENTS Obiora Onyeaso SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Patrick Ijegbai CIRCULATION MANAGER John Okpaire DIGITAL SALES MANAGER Linda Ochugbua

Friday 16 November 2018

Apapa ports and economic carnage

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lthough the access roads to Apapa and Tin Can ports were originally projected to give access to 1,500 trucks, now about 5,000 trucks seek access to the ports every day, according to reports by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI). The report says Nigeria loses N600 billion in customs revenue, $10 billion (N3.6trn) in nonoil export sector and N2.5 trillion in corporate earnings across various sectors on annual basis due to the poor state of Nigerian ports.

The Nigerian ports are also being listed as one of the most inefficient and expensive ports in the world by global reports. One of such reports is the moverdb.com 2018 Overseas Cargo and Freight Costs template that shows that freight costs from the United States (Los Angeles & New York) to different port destinations of the world. The rates shows that the Apapa

port from New York is the most expensive destination among the countries included in the template. For instance, it costs about $4, 982 to ship a 20 feet container from New York to Apapa, which is about twice the amount to ship a container of the same size to Cape Town, South Africa (at $2, 542). This is despite the fact that New York to Lagos is just 6,516 nautical miles and takes approximately 27 days for a ship to sail the distance while New York to Cape Town is 9,097 nautical miles and takes approximately 38 days to sail.

Also, the average turnaround time for ships at Apapa is estimated in excess of 30 days as against just two days for the most efficient ports globally.

The LCCI report also reveals that 25 percent of cashew nuts exported from Lagos to Vietnam in 2017 either went bad or were downgraded because of delays at Lagos ports. From exporting up to 1,700 tons per day, an exporter now exports

between 100 to 250 tons.

On the import circle, only 10 percent of cargoes are cleared within the set timeline of 48 hours while the majority of cargoes take between five to 20 days to clear.

A clear sign of how inefficient and expensive the ports are, the number of government agencies at the ports has risen to twelve instead of eight, with each demanding inspection and associated fees.

Sadly the solution to the problem of inefficiency and congestion in the ports is well known – the complete revitalisation of the sea, air and land ports in eastern Nigeria.

These were viable ports in pre-independence Nigeria.

However, post-independence Nigeria governments and subsequently government agencies discouraged the use of the eastern ports and concentrated virtually all shipments into and outside Nigeria at the Apapa port forcing all Nigerian importers and exporters into the Apapa port. When pres-

sures began to build up at the Apapa ports, the government later developed the Tin Can Island port, still within the Apapa axis to cope with the pressure on Apapa.

Of course, the pressures increased and the Lagos ports could no longer cope. To make matters worse, the eastern ports, due to abandonment, had silted and become shallow and unable to admit big ship increasing the dependency on the Apapa ports.

Therefore, any solution to the ports that does not include the complete revitalisation and repositioning of the eastern ports will amount to shadow boxing.

Thankfully, the Lagos state government has also made this point to the federal government and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). Once that is done, the NPA and the federal government can now concentrate on efforts to streamline ports operations to drastically cut down turnaround time to position Nigeria as a global business destination.

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Corporate volunteering: Future of sustainability?

FRANK ELEANYA

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successful year for most corporate organizations is often underlined by how healthy the profit margin for the fiscal year was.

Make the shareholders very happy and everything is alright, but is it really?

How about a year in which employees feel like they are actually part of something meaningful, something life-changing; like their contributions were really making the dream impact in the lives of everyday people?

A survey conducted by Deloitte – Deloitte’s 2016 Impact Survey - found that prospective employees would be more inclined to join a company that are not just profit driven but seeks to change people’s lives positively.

Similarly, in the 2016 Cone Communications Employee Engagement Study, almost 75 per cent of employees said their jobs were fulfilling only when they were provided opportunities to make a positive impact at work.

51 per cent of employees said they would not work for a company that does not have strong commitment to creating positive social and environmental impact.

It is part of a growing trend, in which prospective employees seek more than a steady paycheck from their future employers. The job fulfilment determinant has gone beyond financially buoyancy to doing something seen as relevant and valuable to other people.

What is corporate volunteering?

It is primarily a simple and effective way for businesses to contribute to the community.

Usually, companies embarking on corporate volunteering give their employees an allowance of paid time off annually, which they use to volunteer at a charity of their choice.

For instance, employees of Access Bank Nigeria could be given a week day off their normal work that will be dedicated to giving back to communities of their choice in Lagos. They might decide to do it as a group or individually but each has to come back with evidence of having touched the life of a community or people they chose. This enables the employees to make a difference in as little as an afternoon, learn new skills and has incredible potential for community impact.

Corporate volunteering is not

the same as when employees in their spare take part in charitable activities. Corporate volunteering rather is a structured company policy that not only supports employee’s own efforts but gives them the time and opportunities to do so.

Suska Dreesbach, the CEO of Volunteer Vision and the author of CSR and Corporate Volunteering notes that for professional training purposes, is based on the expectation that volunteering provides employees with opportunities to practice business-related skills in real-life situations, to adapt to unfamiliar audiences, as well as to explore new sectors.

Deloitte’s survey also found that skills-based volunteering presents an opportunity for employees to develop their professional and leadership skills, and often results in increased productivity, and ultimately increased employee retention.

In other words, it could be a major contributor to company’s sustainability. Notwithstanding it being voluntary, a significant number of big organizations are introducing it and are reaping the beneficial impact on the behavior of their employees. Its growth in the United States for instance has led to the formation of the Civic 50 – the fifty most communityminded US companies. 46 per

cent of them has formally used community engagement activities for professional skill development purposes. Mars Incorporated, the company behind notable brands like Wrigley, M&M’s, and pet brand Pedigree, places high premium on volunteer programs for their associates. One of the programs they offer is the Mars Vounteer Program (MVP).

The European Community also promotes it with the Volunteering Awards which has clear guidelines for prospective recipients.

In Nigeria, a bank such as Access Bank Plc, a chief advocate of corporate volunteering, has gone as far as organizing an Employee Volunteering Awareness Day, which details all the community projects executed and completed by their employees.

How does corporate volunteering impact businesses?

One way corporate volunteering could impact a bank like Access Bank is increased collaboration among its employees.

By working together to execute a project, employees can improve collaboration in the work place.

This is quite unlike what an organization will get from having endless meetings. While volunteering the employees feel uninhibited to relate. At that point they are not

competing for a position or gain favors, they are simply working together to change the course of life for an underprivileged. In essence, they are connecting on a human level, an opportunity you do not find in the office environment.

Another benefit of corporate volunteering is potential to change negative narrative or press against the company.

Agreed, it may totally transform the company from a black to white, it does certainly help to give people a fresh perspective about an organization. According to the Pulse Survey, 40 per cent of a company’s reputation is determined by volunteering and corporate social responsibility.

Corporate volunteering also imbues a new sense of selfawareness in an employee that goes beyond just the volunteer experience. This awareness has an impact on decision making, the ability to coordinate and manage conflict. The awareness could come just from listening to a project recipient express their pains and tell their life stories.

Corporate volunteering is also becoming a major staple for attracting millennials for organizations. A Gallup report found that about half of millennials said they value things other than

a fat paycheck when searching for a new job. They prioritized opportunities for growth and development ahead of big salaries.

In other words, millennials are most likely to stay with an organization that has opportunities for development.

It is equally important to note that millennials are looking for opportunities to give back in tangible ways. The 2015 Millennial Impact report showed that 77 per cent of millennials want to donate skills rather than money.

According to an expert, millennials are altruistically motivated, “They want to leave their world better than they found it.”

PricewaterhouseCoopers also noted in a recent study that 88 per cent of millennials gravitate toward companies with proven corporate social responsibility programs.

Finally, corporate volunteering also offers an opportunity for networking for employees. Mick Yates, a HR expert wrote “Corporate volunteering should be done with networking in mind. The opportunity is too valuable to miss.

Naturally, volunteering provides so much more value than just adding contacts to the phone.

That being said, the chance for networking to add value is unprecedented.”

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Friday 16 November 2018

BUSINESS DAY

CityFile Abia community seeks protection against kidnappers, robbers GODFREY OFURUM, Aba

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A cross section of orphans and less privileged persons with officials of Kada Plaza Cinema & Entertainment, during the celebration of the company’s 5th anniversary, in Benin City, Edo State, recently. Pic by Idris Umar

Nigeria needs leaders with integrity to drive growth, says Ambode JOSHUA BASSEY

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agos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode says for Nigeria to develop and grow its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), people of good conscience and high integrity must be at the driver’s seat across sectors of the economy.

Ambode stated this when he received the leadership of Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International (Nigeria) at the Government House, on Wednesday, saying the economy will benefit more when good business practice is combined with excellent religious conscience.

According to Ambode, “it is not enough

to have resources; it is not enough to have people that can improve productivity.

There must be people who have to be the drivers to take the nation to where we want.”

The governor said his assumption in the last three and half years have made efforts in ensuring religious harmony and in creating the enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

He said: “One thing that I can assure of is our continuous support. Like you must have noticed in the last three years, we have encouraged religious harmony.

We have not had any incident of religious crisis.

“All we do as a government is to

create the enabling environment for people to practice their religion without interference and at the same time do their businesses. So, when we combine good business and good religious conscience, the nation will develop,” Ambode said.

Ifeanyi Odedo, national president of the fellowship, who led the delegation, said the team was at the Government House to inform the governor of the 87th national convention of the fellowship being held in Lagos, and also to explore partnership in key areas like housing, agro industry, and information communication technology among others, to grow the economy.

Non-indigene policy: Victims to sue Abia govt GODFREY OFURUM, Aba

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ivil servants in Abia State, who lost their jobs, because of the non-indigene policy of the immediate past administration in the state, under the aegis of Abia State Disengaged Non Indigene Workers (ADNIW) have threatened to drag Abia State government to court, if the state refuses to reinstate them.

The group in a letter to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, through the secretary to the State Government (SSG), titled “Pre action notice with respect to the transfer of non-indigenes in the Abia State public service”, stated that Abia State government, having issued a di-

rective transferring non-indigenes in the public service, has not provided the transferred workers with their new places of transfer.

The letter equally observed that neither has the government reinstated the said workers despite promises, nor have they been paid their entitlements after years of service with Abia state.

They sought for the reinstatement of those unlawfully transferred and be placed back to their respective positions and promote those due for promotion.

“The executive directive, which ordered the transfer of all non-indigenes working in the public service of Abia State (except those in the tertiary institutions) to their states of origin with

effect from 15 October, 2011, or howsoever such a policy is intended to be effected is in violation of section 42 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and therefore unconstitutional.

In the letter copied to the state attorney general and commissioner for justice, Abia State government was also asked to pay all the arrears of the salaries, entitlements and benefits of the transferred non indigenes in the Abia State public service on October 15, 2011.

ADNIW further asked Abia State government to reinstate them within the shortest possible date or their lawyer would proceed to seek legal redress in court of law.

muchima Amaato-Ukwu autonomous community in Osisioma Ngwa local government area, Abia State, has appealed to the police and other security agencies in the state to extend their services to the community, to check the menace of criminals.

Eze Okwuchi Jim, traditional ruler of the autonomous community, made the call during an interaction with select journalists in his palace, in Umuchima Amaato-Ukwu.

Eze Jim, a retired officer of the Directorate of State Security (DSS), said that crimes being committed in his community have overwhelmed its vigilante group, hence the need for government and security agencies to intervene to secure their lives and property.

“About three boys raped a girl with a pistol in my community. They claimed they were my vigilante group members, but by then I had no vigilante group.

“They were arrested and taken to the police, but eventually, they came out but the gun was not recovered from them by the police.

“The criminals operating in my community also cut down six high tension electric poles that supplyuspowerinthecommunity,wetriedreconnecting but they cut it and stole the cables again.

“If people want to come to Amaato-Ukwu from Aro-Ngwa junction, motorcyclists would refuse bringing them to our community, because the hoodlums rob them of their motorcycles in our community.

“I have been striving to stop all these crimes, including child trafficking, but to no avail.

The people doing child trafficking want me dead, the persons snatching machines want me dead, other criminals also want me dead, because I am telling them to stop.

“I discovered that it is not Amaato-Ukwu indigenes alone that are into these crimes.

Criminals from other places have made this community a meeting point and that is why we urgently need government’s help”, he said.

Kada Cinema fetes orphans IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin

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s part of its corporate social responsibility, the management of Kada Plaza Cinema and Entertainment Centre has celebrated its 5th anniversary with the less privileged.

The centre also provided free medical service to its customers. The customers were tested on blood pressure, blood sugar among others.

The managing director of the entertainment centre, Trevor Pillay, said a total of 120 orphans benefited from the gesture while over 100 others also benefited from the free health care.

Pillay, in an interview with newsmen, listed the orphanage homes that the centre celebrated with to include Project Charilove, Corner Stone, Orosanye and my Mummy orphanages.

He said the celebration was to afford the children in the orphanage homes the opportunity to socialise with other children and to enjoy the various entertainment packages available in the facility.

According to him, the orphans were treated to free games, ride at the Playtime Arcade section of the facility after which they settled down in the movie theatre to watch the title, “The Nut Craker And The Four Realms” and then taken on a guided tour of facilities.

He added that all the kids went home with educational materials and consumables among other gifts.

Pillay said it was the tradition of the Kada Plaza to always commemorate the anniversary with the less privileged in the society as a way of giving them a sense of belonging.

Some of the orphans and their care givers expressed gratitude to the management of Kada Plaza for always extending love to them.

They said that the November 11 of every year has become synonymous with celebrations in their various orphanages, as they always look forward to the date each year.

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FCMB’s partnership with WSBI is a boon for unbanked farmers

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C O M PA N Y N E W S A N A LY S I S A N D I N S I G H T

MARKETS

FBHN replaces Lafarge in MSCI Nigeria Index DAVID IBIDAPO & CYNTHIA IKWUETOGHU

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afarge Africa plc has been r e m o v e d from the M S C I ( M o rgan Stanley Capital In d e x ) Ni g e r i a I n d e x i n its 2018 semi-annual i n d e x re v i e w re l e a s e d Wednesday and rep l a c e d w i t h Fi r s t Ba n k o f Ni g e r i a h o l d i n g s.

The MSCI was des i g n e d t o m e a s u re t h e performance of the large and mid-cap segm e n t s o f t h e Ni g e r i a n market. With 12 constituents, the index covers approximately 85% of the Nigerian e q u i t y u n i v e r s e.

R e a s o n s f o r t h e a ct i o n w e re n ’ t s t a t e d i n the report, however recent financials of Lafarge Africa plc as w e l l a s s t o ck p e r f o rmance in 2018 could have contributed to its removal while a somewhat reverse in f o r tu n e s f o r Fi r s t b a n k may have facilitated t h e t i e r- o n e l e n d e r ’s inclusion.

In response to unf av o u r a b l e re s u l t s re l e a s e d by L a f a r g e, i n -

ve st o r s s o l d o f f st o ck s’ largely causing prices t o d e c l i n e s i g n i f i c a n tl y by 6 2 . 4 p e rc e n t y e a r t o d a t e . To t h i s e n d , L a f a rg e c u r re nt s t a n d s as the worst performing stock on the NSE. First bank on the other hand, has enjoyed a renaissance since stumbling in 2016 when stocks fell more than half to as low as N3.35 per share.

A f t e r t h e l e n d e r ’s market cap declined by 35 percent to N120.2 billion in 2016, it has re c ov e re d by 1 2 4 p e rcent to N269.21 billion in 2018.

F i r s t b a n k ’s s t o c k price closed at N7.50 Wednesday, even though it is dow n 14.67 p e rc e n t s i n c e t h e s t a r t of the year, a reflection o f t h e b ro a d e r m a r k e t which is down 15.8 p e rc e n t .

BusinessDay analysis of Lafarge Africa plc reveale d that while re ve nu e g re w 5 p e rcent to N234.3 billion f ro m N 2 2 3 . 6 b i l l i o n i n t h e p e r i o d o f 9 m o nt h s 2 0 1 8 , h ig h e r o p e rat i ng costs and a decline in other income saw the company rack up

l o s s e s.

During the period, Lafarge recorded a loss after tax of N10.4 billion after recording a profit after tax (PAT ) of N987.9 million in 2017 nine months ended.

T h e c o m p a n y ’s o p e ra t i n g c o s t i n c re a s e d by 15 percent from N32.16 billion in 2017 to N37.09 billion in

2018 largely boosted by a 49 percent increase in selling and m a r k e t i n g e x p e n s e s.

Als o, cost of finance i n c r e a s e d b y 2 8 p e rcent from N33.4 billion in 2017 to N27.58 billion which was l a r g e l y d r i v e n by p ay ment of bank charges a n d i n t e re s t o n b o rrowings which grew

by 4 2 9 p e rc e n t a n d 5 4 p e rc e n t re s p e c t i v e l y .

Pa u l Uz u m, a L a g o s b a s e d s t o c k b ro k e r o n the NSE told BusinessD ay , “ w e e x p e c t t o s e e massive s ell offs in the s h a re s o f L a f a r g e d u e to its removal from the MSCI Nigerian index as foreign portfolio i nv e s t o r s w i l l w a n t t o offload stocks before

p r i c e b e g i n d e c l i n e. ” “ We s h ou l d n ’ t e xpect any significant re s p o n s e t o t h e s h a re s o f Fi r s t b a n k a s f o reign portfolio investors already have thes e stocks in their portfolio, therefore pr ices may not really rally based on the inclusion i n t o t h e i n d e x .” Uz u m added.

INSURANCE

These five insurers control 71.6% of life premium market MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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ive insurance companies including Leadway Assurance Company Limited, AIICO Insurance Plc, African Alliance Insurance Plc, Custodian Life Insurance Limited and FBN Life Assurance Limited control 71.6 percent of the total life market share of gross premium income generated in the insurance industry in 2016.

The firms in the 2016 financial year generated N89.24 billion out of the total N124.57 billion gross premium of life busi-

ness during the period, with Leadway leading with N31.59 billion equal to 25.36 percent and AIICO contributing N22.17 billion, equal to 17.80 percent.

As contained in the insurance industry statistical report accessed

by Business Day, African Alliance followed with N13.42 billion gross premium, translating to 10.77 percent ; Custodian N12.15 billion translating to 9.75 percent ; While FBN Life generated N9.91 billion, equal to 7.96 percent.

Out of the total industry gross premium on life business,

N67.26 billion was paid out as claims, while they also achieved investment income of N20.15 billion during the review year.

Management expenses according to the data was N15.17 billion, while profit after tax from the total review of life business stood at N4.82 billion.

Growing interest of retirees in taking annuity option for retirement benefits, as well as increased compliance on group life insurance particularly Federal public service employers, big institutions as provided in the Pension Reform

Act 2014, is resulting in monumental growth in life insurance premium.

This development has led to increasing growth in performance of life companies offering annuity, now seen growing by 37 percent as at the end of 2015.

At the end of first quarter 2018, insurer has received cumulatively the sum of N259 billion from retirees who subscribe to annuities for their retirement payments.

According to the second quarter 2018 report of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), a total of

2,652 applications have applied for retirement under life annuity, bringing the total number of retirees receiving their retirement benefits through the annuity plan to 54,471.

Analysts say this is likely to grow over time given that a lot of the retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme were beginning to be more aware of the benefits of annuity, unlike at the beginning of the pension reform when they did not understand they had choice to make between the available options.

According to the African Insurance Barometer, launched recently by the African Insurance Organisation individual annuity business is the fastest growing personal line business particularly in the sub-Sahara Africa including Nigeria.

On group life insurance, the industry receive as much as N 10 billion annually from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for its employees, while the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pays on group life insurance premium as much as N2 billion annually.

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BANKING

FCMB’s partnership with WSBI is a boon for unbanked farmers LOLADE AKINMURELE

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i g e r i a n l e n d e r, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) Tuesday aimed at providing financial services to some two million farmers between now and 2023.

According to the memorandum seen by Business Day, the project involves FCMB rolling out an integrated savings account – named ‘Kampe Account’ – through a grant provided by WSBI. The Kampe Account will offer financial services, under phase one of its plan, to 150,000 unbanked and under-banked farmers across five states through agricul-

tural agents operating under the bank’s agency banking proposition.

The amount of the grant was not disclosed.

The first set of states to benefit in the first phase is Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa, Ogun and Oyo. FCMB stocks gained 1.3 percent to N1.6 per share Wednesday, according to NSE data.

Financial inclusion in Nigeria has gone from bad to worse after a World Bank report showed active bank accounts in Africa’s most populous nation fell to 41 percent in 2017 from 44 percent the previous year.

About 50 million of the unbanked in Nigeria, which despite having Africa’s largest mobile-phone market, is only just opening up to the technology to bring banking to its estimated 200 million

people.

Financial exclusion, which includes lack of access to finance, is prevalent in rural areas among farmers and mostly women according to a research done by development institution, Dalberg, and the Lagos Business School.

A d a m G u r u , F C M B’s managing director, said the “Kampe Account is built on a sustainable approach which ensures farmers can gain better access to finance and other resources needed to help them build successful businesses.”

Nigerian smallholder farmers have been at a disadvantage due to several factors including land fragmentation, inadequate farming equipment, broken value chains, poor access to finance and inadequate cash flow.

L-R Solomon Sonaiya, director, Livespot, Deola Art Alade, CEO, Livespot, Dare Art Alade, executive creative director, Livespot, Funmi Elliot, head of marketing and new business development, Livespot, Ladi Okuneye, director, Livespot during the media hangout which held at Livespot’s headquarters at Ikeja , Lagos. Pic by Pius Okeosisi

FINTECH

Cellulant makes KPMG 2018 Fintech 100 list IFEOMA OKEKE

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ellulant, a leading digital payments provider in Nigeria that reaches 40 million people across 11 African countries, has been named among the Top 50 emerging Fintech companies in the world in this year’s KPMG FinTech100 report.

Cellulant is among the only three African companies representing Africa from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa to be included in the list of leading global Fintech innovators that are transforming the financial services industry and have successfully raised venture capital.

The 2018 KPMG Fintech100 report highlights truly innovative companies creating products and services at the nexus of technology and financial services. Cellulant is among this year’s list of ‘Emerging 50’ firms – exciting new companies that are at the forefront of innovative technologies and practices and are often pursuing new business models.

The annual report now in its fifth edition has featured companies from 36 countries divided into two categories; The ‘Top 50’ - established Fintech firms around the globe, ranked based on innovation, capital raising activity, size and country.

“Being listed as one of the only 3 African new and exciting companies that is disrupting the financial services industry globally is a vindication of our vision to become the leading financial services and payments brand in Africa,” Cellulant’s Co-CEO Bolaji Akinboro said. “Our commitment is to continue scaling a payments infrastructure that can transform two thirds of Africans who do not have access to a bank account. We believe that building a connected payments infrastructure is the foundation of solving real challenges and accelerating Africa’s growth and development.”

L-R: Soromidayo Gorge, corporate affairs and sustainable business director, Unilever Ghana/Nigeria; Salawot Abiodun Fasasi, Wecyclers Nigeria controller; Jide Onayiga, assistant general manager, LAWMA, and Ramaswamy Siddharth, vice president, Unilever Supply Chain, West Africa.At the Official Launching Of Wecyclers Recycling Exchange Program held at Iyana Ipaja Lagos.

OIL AND GAS

Total trains 21 smallholder farmers in agribusiness GODFREY OFURUM

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bout 21 small holder farmers in Enugu State have benefited from the TOTALpreneur programme of the Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria.

The programme, which was also implemented in other States of the federation, was part of the company’s social responsibility initiative, to contribute to food security and attainment of the relevant Millennium Development Goals.

The beneficiaries were trained in technical, business, operational training, processing and packaging, branding/marketing, the use of ICT in agribusiness and leadership skills.

Vincent Nnadi, executive manager, Total Upstream Nigeria Limited, at the graduation

ceremony of the agribusiness sustenance and value chain addition for small holder farmers’ programme in Enugu, explained that the programme was an initiative of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Total Upstream Nigeria Limited and its partners.

Represented at the event, by Delight Sunday-Anecho, an executive manager with the firm, Nnadi, stated that the company was consistently committed to giving back to the communities, through human, social and economic development.

He explained that the programme was implemented in all states of the federation, irrespective of whether or not they are oil producing.

According to him, “A welldeveloped food chain is essential for the development and success of the Nigerian agribusiness sector.

“Lack of agricultural storage facilities and knowledge have made farming in Nigeria a less attractive venture for the small holder farmers.

“Hence, Total and her partners intervened in creating awareness and increasing capacity on the value addition that these farmers could leverage on to make a success of their farming business,” he said.

Nnadi, who encouraged the trainees to apply the knowledge they had got, noted that small holder farmers are key to achieving food sufficiency.

“Plant for subsistence and become a giant, if you apply the knowledge you have got here, because the ground is full of money.

“You are the key in the food chain and as young, proud farmers, I expect you to make the difference”, Nnadi stated.

L- R: Ayeni Adekunle, founder/CEO BHM Group, Ade Adenoma, director, i4nnova Limited, Adebayor Akinwunmi, director, i4nnova Limited; Kelechi Nwosu, director, i4nnova Limited, and Ibukun Olufun, SAP accounts executive West Africa, at the official launch of BHM on SAP in Lagos Pic by Pius Okeosisi

TECHNOLOGY

MTN, Sterling bank partnership will make it easy to buy phones BUNMI BAILEY

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TN Nigeria, Africa’s leading cellular telecommunications company has partnered with, Sterling Bank Plc , tier-2 lender and PayJoy on a project called Device Financing Scheme (DFS) which will make it easier for customers to acquire smartphones.

The scheme will enable MTN customers, who meet some specific conditions to buy their smart-

phones and pay over a six-month period, the telecommunication giant said.

Adekunle Adebiyi, sales and distribution executive at MTN Nigeria said, “It is the desire of the telecommunication companies to ensure that more people stay connected. MTN wants every customer to benefit from the modern, connected life, and it is through partnerships like this that we will see the change we want to see.”

“Smartphones that can be

purchased under this scheme ranges from the prices of N25, 000 to N400, 000 and participating customers would also receive some 20 percent interest,” Adebiyi also said in a speech during the launch event for the DFS initiative.

Recently this month, the chief executive officer of MTN, Rob Shuter, has said that despite the challenges the telecommunications firm is facing in Nigeria, it will, next month, apply for a mobile-money licence.

L-R: (Back): Faith Joshua, national coordinator, Indomie Fan Club (IFC); Winifred Adasagba, project coordinator, IFC Story Writing Competition; Omotola Edien, Indomie digital marketing manager, and Jide Olusanya, IFC story writing competition chief judge, with the winners of the IFC 2018 Story Writing Competition: Shepard Duru (1st Prize winner); Salako Oluwatimileyin (2nd Prize winner); Okafor Chiagoziem (3rd prize winner), and George Chukwukaima (Lagos region winner), at the cheque presentation to the winners of the competition in Lagos. Pic by Olawale Amoo

Friday 16 November 2018

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Investments

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Market

Insight

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Influencers

Why Green Village Electricity is blazing a trail in Nigeria’s mini grid market ISAAC ANYAOGU

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or many entrepreneurs, the biggest motivation is not always profit, it is a keen desire to make a difference in the lives of others. The story of what is now Nigeria’s biggest mini grid operators follows the same script.

While conducting oil field inspections during an internship, three Nigerian undergraduates of the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) observed how poorly electrified the surrounding communities were, they decided to do something about it.

Before long, they kick started an initiative to provide energy access solutions to small under-served communities. What began as a social project in one community quickly evolved into a viable business.

Backed by market research, GVE discovered that the rural dwellers were willing to pay for electricity – and more notably, GVE’s proposition could cut energy expenditure in the rural communities by 70%.

GVE’s pilot project, a 6kW solar mini-grid in Egbeke RiversState, was launched in 2013. Today, GVE is Nigeria’s largest minigrid provider and has

expanded into expanded to 12 locations across the country. The company has partnered with local and international organizations like the Bank of Industry (BOI),Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineering (IEEE) and the United States Africa Development Foundation (USADF).

GVE raised its first funding from angel investments, family and friends; it has since received grants and concessional debts from donors and DFIs. The company is now in advanced discussions with impact investors to raise capital for future expansion. The company plansto install 20MW of solar power to supply electricity to over 500 communities by2022.

Operating model GVE sells power to communities through a network of vendorswho purchase electricity in bulk and resell to consumers. The vendors act as GVE agents and facilitate access to payment in remote areas Residential consumers are required to pay a one-time connection fee of NGN6,000 (USD20). This fee covers installation of a prepaid meter and load limiter to track consumption.

Subsequent payments are based on applicable tariffs and depend on consumer type.

Wiebe Boer, CEO, All On, Babatunde Fashola, minister of Power, Works and Housing and Ifeanyi Orajaka, CEO, GVE in discussion following the Nigeria Power Sector Boardroom Session at the African Development Bank’s Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa

Discounted tariff for small to medium enterprises (SME)forms part of GVE’s strategic objective of stimulating growth of rural businesses, improving productivity and boosting profitability A recent study by PwC Nigeria found that the company’s success are the product of a vision and a plan.

“Prior to 2015, I powered my corner store via a 1Kv petrol generator which I

ran for a few hours each day. Since I subscribed to the GVE solar plant in 2015, my monthlyaverage energy spend has reduced by 70%.

My revenues have also increased by over 150% due to the influx of customers from nearby communities (seeking cold beverages etc), new migrants, and the improving incomes of localbusiness,” Ramatu Idris, Small Scale Entrepreneur, Bisanti, Niger State

According to the study, these are the company’s critical success factors: Community Engagement GVE projects are preceded by extensive community engagement to ensure full buy-in from all stakeholders, educate them onthe benefits of the solution, and to build a strong sense of ownership among locals.

The company also hires maintenance officers lo-

cally, thus ensuring community involvement in the day-to-day running of the projects.

OEM partnership Partnership arrangements with original equipment manufacturers allows GVE source its installation materials at low prices.

Tax breaks The company benefits from afive-year tax holiday owing to its pioneer status Good corporate governance From inception, the GVE team instituted good corporate governance structures aimed at increasing corporate accountability and mitigate the risk of corporate failure.

Continuous learning Improvement GVE has a strong learning and improvement culture. Deliberate efforts are made to transfer lessons from past projects to future ones. For example, while the first Egbeke plant was completed in 72 weeks, other plants subsequently installedby GVE were completed within an average time of4-6weeks.

Early stage Funding L ow- co st lo ng - te r m funding from development organizations and donor agencies enabled the company to make reasonable a profit during its formative years.

The battery boom will draw $1.2trn in investment by 2040

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he battery boom is coming to China, California and basically everywhere else—and it will be even bigger than previously thought.

The global energy-storage market will surge to a cumulative 942 gigawatts by 2040, according to a new forecast from Bloomberg NEF published Tuesday, and that growth will necessitate $1.2 trillion in investment. Sharply falling battery costs is a key driver of the boom. BNEF sees the capital cost of a utilityscale lithium-ion storage system falling another 52 percent by 2030.

But cost isn’t the only factor. Governments from China to California are spurring demand, as is the rise of electric vehicles and solar power. There’s also been a greater focus on storage for

electric-vehicle charging as well as energy access in remote areas.

“Costs have come down faster than we expected,” Yayoi Sekine, a New Yorkbased analyst at BNEF, said in an interview. “Batteries are going to permeate our lives.”

T h e i m p l i c at i o n s o f cheaper batteries are farreaching, upending multiple industries and helping spur technologies necessary to help fight climate change.

Batteries power the electric vehicles that are popping up on our freeways. They also unlock solar power from the exclusive confines of the sun.

Two important markets come into particular focus.

China, which is building up its battery-manufacturing capacity, will be a central player in the boom. California, meanwhile, has pushed

through a series of measures in recent years that will directly or indirectly spur more batteries, including legislation that would require all of the state’s electricity to come from carbon-free sources

by 2045.

“Storage is just so sensibly the next step in the evolution of renewable energy,” Edward Fenster, the executive chairman of San Franciscobased rooftop-solar com-

Analyst: Isaac Anyaogu, Email: isaac.anyaogu@businessdayonline.com, 07037817378,

pany Sunrun Inc., said in an interview. “If we’re going to get to 100 percent renewable energy, we’ll need storage.”

Here are six key takeaways from the latest BNEF battery forecast: 1. Annual energy-storage deployments are now forecast to exceed 50 gigawatthours by 2020. That’s three years earlier than BNEF’s outlook from just last year.

2. Energy storage may be equivalent to 7 percent of the world’s total installed power capacity by 2040.

3. The Asia-Pacific region will be home to 45 percent of total installations on a megawatt basis by 2040.

Another 29 percent will be spread across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The remainder will be in the Americas.

4. The majority of storage capacity will be utility-

scale until the mid-2030s.

But then so-called behindthe-meter projects— installations at businesses, industrial sites and residential properties—will overtake utility-scale.

5. A list of the leading battery countries is topped by who you would expect: China, U.S., India, Japan, Germany, France, Australia, South Korea and the U.K. South Korea today dominates the market but will be overtaken by the U.S. early in the 2020s—and both will later be eclipsed

by China.

6. Storage is coming to developing countries in Africa, too. BNEF explains it thusly: utilities will likely recognize that the combination of solar, diesel and batteries in “far-flung sites” is cheaper than extending the power grid or building a fossil-only generator.

Graphics: Fifen Eyemisanre Famous

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Can AI help Nigeria reduce agricultural losses during flooding, nip disease outbreaks?

Stories By CALEB OJEWALE Twiiter: @calebtinolu

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echnology adoption, particularly in Agriculture has often been slow in Nigeria, yet the potentials to make tremendous impact exists. The use of Artificial Intelligence in some parts of the world, may offer solutions to some of the problems confronting agricultural productivity in Nigeria, such as recurrent flooding and disease outbreaks.

The flooding this year across 12 states has been reported to have caused over 100 deaths, destroyed thousands of houses, as well as several thousands of hectares of farmland.

The ACAPS Flood Briefing Report in September, stated new estimates indicate that 122,653 hectares of agricultural land have been flooded across central and southern Nigeria. Crops were destroyed before the harvesting season begins in October. This makes the affected population more vulnerable to food insecurity, and negatively impacts the livelihoods of farmers.

Flooding is also likely to affect other livelihoods, such as fishers and petty traders.

The flooding of farmlands as recorded this year

is becoming a recurring, annual event, and this is putting food security at risk. It is also leaving already poor (smallholder) farmers further impoverished. However, if the use of Artificial Intelligence in India in a partnership led

by Google can be replicated in Nigeria, then managing the flood outbreaks may become easier to achieve.

Bridget Gosselink, head of Product Impact at Google. org, said in an interview during the Google Making AI event which took place in Amsterdam last week, that the way the current models are built, is best at forecasting river base flooding. “If flooding was caused by rivers, then great, because we are actually good at that,” said Gosselink.

The model works by combining data from stream

gauges; both current and historic data as provided by the water commissions. It then uses traditional models from existing work in modelling of floods, as well as information that can be extracted from terrain maps that provide information on elevation changes. This, combined with other data sets are put together, and using some predictive elements, makes it possible to get a much more granular forecast of flooding and how it will happen.

As Gosselink explained, the current way (flood forecasting) is done tends to be very broad, but this new method provides more accurate probabilities so that individuals can take action to save lives, properties, and salvage as much investments as possible; in this case agri-

cultural produce.

Yossi Matias, vice president of Engineering at Google, who leads efforts in Search, Research and Crisis Response explained that the Flood Focusing model has been deployed in India, and with lessons from its usage, can be scaled globally with time.

Matias who said he was in Lagos last year during the severe floods in some parts of the Lagos Island, is already familiar with the situation in Nigeria, even though the disaster caused in agricultural communities far exceed what he witnessed in Lagos.

He explained that the Flood Focusing initiative was set up a little over a year and half ago, to experiment how Machine learning and other technologies can be used for better forecasting of flood.

Activated for the first time in India this past September, Matias explained the project is a collaboration with the Indian government, which is providing the measurements for water levels in the river.

Google on its part then uses machine learning technologies and other simulations in the cloud of other hydraulic models in collaboration with some research groups in the academia, to help achieve floods forecasting with over 90 percent accuracy. The use of satellite imagery to analyse water levels instead of relying on measurements is also being explored.

All of this knowledge BusinessDay learnt, is transferrable, but the right partnerships are required to trigger the decision to setup in Nigeria.

Apart from flood prediction, Artificial Intelligence can also serve in early detection and treatment of crop diseases. This is at least going by the present use case in Tanzania where farmers can take photographs of disease-infected areas of Cassava crops, which is then analysed to indicate what particular disease it is, and how it can be treated.

Jeff Dean, head of Google’s AI division, in a video chat, explained that a research team at Pennsylvania State university in the United States and the Inter-

national Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Tanzania, worked together in developing this model. According to him, they worked together to create a machine learning model that used computer vision of pictures taken of a cassava plant and can detect what kind of disease that plant had, and how to treat it. It runs entirely on mobile phones without any network challenge, even on low-end android phones.

“So, in the middle of the field, a farmer can take a picture of a plant and get helpful advice on how best to treat the disease they are seeing their crops having.

This is an example where AI is helping ensure better food security,” Dean said.

There is also a collaboration on famine between Google, the World Bank, United Nations and some other organisations, to try and build models to identify famine situations. This will make it possible for governments, agribusinesses and even individuals to take action before crisis occurs. In all these use cases, Nigeria can benefit from the applications of AI to safeguard agricultural productivity. But, this is predicated on being positioned to attract the right partnerships into the country to deliver these technologies.

Agra Innovate to showcase Nigeria’s agric potentials in 5th annual expo

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his year’s Agra Innovate West Africa expo, which will host agribusiness leaders and stakeholders from within and outside Nigeria, has been scheduled to hold in about 2 weeks at the Landmark Centre in Lagos, from 27 to 28 November 2018.

The event as indicated in a press statement sent to BusinessDay has been themed - Food Security: The role of finance in the creation of commercial opportunities for agricultural value chain stake-

holder operations. Organised

by Informa and Contact Consulting Nigeria, The this year’s expo marks the fifth edition of the event, with growing emphasis on thematic conference and seminars on topical issues.

This year’s event, organisers say will serve as “a high level platform for product exhibition, business-to-business linkage, deal making, networking, technology transfer, knowledge exchange, public-private collaboration

and policy discourse among participants drawn from the agribusiness community, academia, advocacy groups, development practitioners, policy experts and high calibre government officials from within and outside Nigeria.”

Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti State, according to organisers has confirmed his attendance as the Special Guest of Honour, and is expected to lead a delegation from Ekiti State. He is expected to speak on how state govern-

ments can turn agricultural prospects into prosperity, as he addresses agribusiness stakeholders on potentials for agribusiness partnerships.

“After the success of last year’s Agra Innovate in Nigeria, we are ensuring that the upcoming exhibition will again have the great ambience all attendees have previously experienced. The seminars have consistently been the best in terms of layout, facilities and hospitality. It will be the one place this year

where the whole agriculture industry will come together to learn and do business,” said Folusho Olaniyan, programme director, Agra Innovate West Africa.

Speakers expected at the event are Michel Deelen, deputy head of mission, Royal Netherlands Embassy, who will deliver an address on emerging potential partnership opportunities between Nigeria and the Netherlands.

Others are Vanessa Adams, vice president, Country Sup-

port and Delivery, AGRA (Kenya); Alex Elphistone, programme director, Adam Smith International; Fatima Ali Mohammed, CEO, Brand Warrior; Ade Adefeko, VP OLAM (Nigeria); Nneka Eze, country director, Dalberg Global Advisors; and Olusegun Ojo, director general, National Agricultural Seeds Council (Abuja). Sarah Alade, a former deputy governor, Central Bank Nigeria, will deliver this year’s keynote address.

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Cancer can be avoided say specialists Chukwumere Nwogu, a Cancer Epidemiologist; Thoracic surgical oncologist and chief executive officer, Lakeshore Cancer Centre and Stephen Edge, a professor of Surgery and Oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Buffalo, New York, USA, recently spoke to BusinessDay’s Anthonia Obokoh, on cancer management, risk factors and cost effective ways of cancer control. Excerpts: Basic ways to avoid cancer

ment

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Chukwumere: It is difficult to say how much is spent on cancer treatment because every cancer is not the same and has different stages.

Typically for most cancers, they have four stages so it depends whether it is very early or it is at stage one or whether it began to spread a little bit of stage two or three or it has gone to a distance of the metastasis stage which is stage four.

Usually, it is a lot cheaper and easier to treat a patient at an early stage and it is more successful. When some have stage four cancers, it is very difficult to treat and sometimes impossible to cure, which is a lot more expensive.

For instance, when someone comes in with breast cancer very early that has not spread, the person can have a relatively cheap surgery, lumpectomy.

This is because it was presented at the early stage, but when presented late, a patient has to add treatment like radiation and chemo therapy, which can get very expensive.

There are so many factors that go into cancer treatment, but there are international agencies that are working with the federal government of Nigeria, and some private entities like Lakeshore cancer centre to also get some other companies to provide discounted chemotherapy.

Also, there are a lot of efforts now to bring new radiotherapy machines into Nigeria to help have treatment more available. This might be able to also reduce the cost.

Cervical cancer can be eliminated in Nigeria Edge: Cervical cancer is known to be caused in almost all cases by a virus called Human papilloma virus (HPV) and scientists have discovered vaccines against the virus.

If all young boys and girls actually get the HPV vaccine when they

‘

Nwogu

Edge

Acquiring the very expensive radiation machines are a major challenge. This is why there are not enough radiotherapy services in the country

‘

Chukwumere: void smoking, because smoking causes a lot of cancers. Fortunately, smoking has a low prevalence in Nigeria and that is great.

Vaccinations can also help. Like HPV which is the virus that causes cervical cancer. We can vaccinate young people to prevent them from the infection. Vaccines against hepatitis B for instance, which cause liver cancer.

Now there are some other cancers that you can detect before they become cancerous like cervical cancer. When there are some changes in the cervix, and they are detected early, one can treat it before it becomes cancerous, and that is a form of prevention.

Colon cancer, for example, if you are able to detect it at the early stage before they become cancerous, it be can be prevented.

There are also lifestyle changes that can help such as; a good diet, moderate alcohol consumption, and exercise can be beneficial.

There are several stages at the prevention level, but one of the biggest things that we can do is trying to detect cancers before they become advanced.

Screening can be very useful, and in Nigeria setting it up might be challenging, yet it is necessary to have mass screening available.

“Breast cancer is a big issue in Nigeria, It is important to teach all women from the very young age to practice self-breast examination, teaching all health workers to do what we call clinical breast exam once in a year to be able to examine their breast”.

So, if we can detect the cancer, when it is really small, we remove it and potentially cure the patient rather than waiting when it becomes advanced and might be very difficult to cure when it is too late.

are teenagers, 20 years from now, there will be probably almost no cervical cancer in Nigeria.

HPV vaccines are available in Nigeria and it is relatively inexpensive. I am sure that the Nigeria government is considering ways to make HPV vaccine available to all boys and girls.

What are the leading causes of cancer?

Chukwumere: The leading causes of cancer depend on where you are in the world. In Nigeria, the four most common cancers based on the data that was just released this year by the World Health Organization (WHO) are breast, cervical, prostate and colorectal cancers.

Cancers arise from almost any part of the body, so a lot of these cancers arise from no known cause.

However, there are some specific things like virus that can also cause cancers, smoking cigarettes, someone getting too exposed to large number of radiation like atomic bomb. These things can cause cancer.

Beyond Chemotherapy, what are the alternatives treatments for cancer?

Edge: It depends on how advanced the cancer is. For many women with breast cancer, if it is found when the tumour is very small, many of them do not need chemotherapy. We are also developing ways to find out who really needs chemotherapy and those that do not really need it. This will reduce people who get chemotherapy.

There have also been some exciting new findings based on the possibility of using the body’s immune system to fight cancers. They are very exciting changes and development in treatment particularly in lung cancer. Also, other things that we are able to do now are more and more person care system.

So, things are changing a lot and in a very quick way. Let us say in 20 years, cancer might have better treatment options than chemotherapy.

A big challenge is that the drugs (currently available) are quite expensive and there is a need for action to reduce the cost of the drugs.

Average cost of cancer treat-

How do we attract more investment into cancer treatment?

Edge: I think the international community recognises that cancer is becoming the leading cause of death in the world.

Forty years ago, cancer was not the leading cause of death or sixty years ago.

Some certain infectious diseases were much more common. Diseases such as yellow fever, cholera were the main causes of early death. But now people live longer and get cancer.

“Acquiring the very expensive radiation machines are a major challenge.

This is why there are not enough radiotherapy services in the country”.

The need for investments is clear, but economic development could drive the investment needed in these areas.

Experts advise Nigerians to cut intake of antibiotics ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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ntibiotics are used far more in treatments, as Nigeria joins the rest of the world to observe the World Antibiotic Awareness Week, medical experts’ advise that urgent action is needed for citizens to reduce excessive intake of the medicines.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to global public health today and also that the large difference in antibiotic use worldwide indicates that some countries are probably overusing antibiotics while other countries may

not have sufficient access to these lifesaving medicines.

World Antibiotic Awareness Week which starts from November 12 to 18, 2018. The overall theme is “Think Twice. Seek Advice.”

“We can measured down antibiotic intake in the country by only using antibiotics when they are really needed, because the more antibiotics are used, the more chances bacteria have to become resistant to them,” said Larne Yusuf a medical practitioner in Lagos.

Yusuf says more awareness needs to be created in Nigeria to help as part of solution on preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics.

“Like every other medicine, antibiotics have the potential to cause side effects and there are best way to take antibiotics, If you are prescribed antibiotics, it is important that you follow your doctor’s advice on when, how and for how long to take them.”

“Antibiotics do not work for all infections. Most coughs and colds will get better on their own without antibiotics”.

I urge us take your antibiotics at the right time, and for as long as directed and we should don’t keep unused antibiotics for another time,” he advised.

Similarly to graze the campaign clement peter, officer in-charge WHO

Nigeria country office says antibiotics are not always the answer.

“I urge all please stop the misuse of antibiotics, adding that this truly puts us all at risk of anti-microbial resistance” he said.

Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria (not humans or animals) become resistant to the active ingredients in these medicines. These resistant bacteria may infect humans and animals, making infections like pneumonia, tuberculosis and gonorrhoea hard to treat.

“The 2018 WAAW campaign seeks to provide greater flexibility to regions and countries to reflect their unique priorities, audiences, levels of aware-

How can government improve on cancer care in Nigeria?

Chukwumere: According to the latest estimate on the global burden of cancer, in September 2018, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), there will be an estimated 18.1million new cancer cases and 9.6 million cancer deaths in 2018. In Nigeria, 115,950 new cases and 70,327 deaths are predicted.

First of all, one of the most important things is to have the National Cancer Control Plan (NCCP). It will deal with all the different aspects of the prevention, early detection, acute diagnosis, treatment and palliative care that are important.

Yes, the federal government might be trying it’s best to increase the numbers of radiotherapy machines, but even at that it is inadequate.

It is estimated that every country or low middle income country like Nigeria, should have one radiotherapy machine for one hundred people. So there should be close to two million machines, since the country’s population is approaching 200 million people.

The machine itself might cost in the neighbourhood of about N3 million, but it is not just about the machine, we need to build special building or vault for the machine, which is also expensive.

Also another angle to be looked at is the cost-effective ways of dealing with cancer to reduce the burden of the disease, which constitutes the highest cause of medical tourism by Nigerians.

It has been documented that the burden of non- communicable diseases on the Nigerian population is growing at an alarming rate. Given the limited expenditure on healthcare in Nigeria, it is crucial to strive to maximize the impact of cancer control through less financially demanding alternatives that exist.

Lifestyle modifications, vaccination, screening, early/accurate diagnosis, appropriate treatment and palliative care are all critical components of effective cancer control.

There is a compelling opportunity to engage collaboratively with the public and private healthcare institutions.

Physicians, nurses, pharmacist, allied healthcare workers, researchers, nongovernmental organizations and the citizenry can work to stop the cancer challenge.

ness, and enabling environment for behaviour change towards handling antibiotics with care,” say WHO The WHO has repeatedly warned the world is running out of effective antibiotics and last year urged governments and big pharma to create a new generation of drugs to fight ultra-resistant super germs.

“Overuse and misuse of antibiotics are the leading causes of antimicrobial resistance,” Suzanne Hill, head of WHO’s essential medicines unit, said in a statement.

“Without effective antibiotics and other antimicrobials, we will lose our ability to treat common infections like pneumonia,” she warned.

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The Travel Clinic

General advice to business travellers Ade Alakija

Alakija, medical director Q-Life Family Clinic, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Continued from last week

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Vaccinations or most Nigerian business travellers you will need some off the regular travel vaccines, but first of all make sure your National Child hood vaccines are up to date.

Some vaccines you may need depending on your Destination are 1. Yellow Fever: This is mandatory for some countries so check before you travel. It may be advisable to take it especially if you are visiting certain rural areas in some countries 2. Meningococcal Type A, C, W135 & Y vaccine. (Quadrivalent Vaccine) 3. Hepatitis B Vaccine: Especially if sexual risk taking is anticipated or if possible contact with blood due to risky behaviour resulting in injury. 4. Japanese B encephalitis: sometimes advised for those travelling in Asia (India

and beyond) especially in rural areas. 5. Rabies vaccine: Especially in countries were Rabies is present and if you will be a day or two from medical facilities if a bite occurs.

(Rabies immunoglobulin is scarce and thus the vaccine may be a wise decision) 6. Influenza vaccine: especially in certain age groups and certain chest conditions is recommended. The winter season for the Northern hemisphere is Flu season and April to November is Flu season for the Southern hemisphere. 7. Other vaccines may be necessary depending on your destination, lifestyle, accommodation and transportation etc.

Insurance needs Hospitalisation can be costly so keep your health travel insurance up to date. If possible it should cover repatriation home (Though you may have a return ticket.) especially when visiting areas with inadequate medical facilities. You may need special cover for certain high risk activities.

Insect bite prevention These days it would seem, as the planet gets warmer insect born disease are on the increase and because insects cause all the types of diseases

Global agency partners population commission for birth registration of children Idris Umar Momoh, Benin

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he World Health Organization (WHO) says it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with States ministry of health to undertake birth registration of children nationwide.

Kate Ogieugo, Edo State, WHO representative gave the hint during one -day sensitization meeting and media orientation for the forthcoming week-long Maternal, Newborn and Child Health week campaign in Benin-City.

Ogieugo said the partnership was to ensure that children of between the ages of zero and 59 months that are yet to register their birth are registered.

The WHO representative who lamented the high cost of birth registration said the partnership will ensure that children that are yet to register are register free of charge.

She disclosed that ad-hoc personnel from the office of the Nigeria

Population Commission would be deployed to all venue for the forthcoming MNCHW) programme.

She however, appealed to parents to avail themselves with the opportunity to ensure that their children date of birth is register legally.

“The WHO’s MoU with the ministry of health nationwide is an opportunity for mothers to register their children birth to avoid the exorbitant cost parents have to pay to get their children birth registered. The registration is free.

“The birth registration will ensure us to plan and focus for the future.

With the birth registration data government will be able to plan ahead such as for education, health among others”, she said.

However, Ogieugo further said that the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health week campaign slated to commence next week Monday and end Friday was geared towards saving one million lives in the state.

Foundation holds schools’ health, safety summit on Friday Akinremi Feyisipo

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non-governmental organisation, Advocacy against Negligence in Schools (AANIS) will on Friday, November 16, 2018 hold its 9th summit on health and safety in schools.

The Summit titled 2018 AANIS Schools’ Health and Safety with the theme “Safety in Schools: Whose Responsibility?” will hold at the NECA Event Centre, Ikeja CBD, Alausa in Lagos State.

Idorenyin Toye-Arulogun, executive director of AANIS, said that the summit is a platform for schools heads, proprietors, regulatory bodies, parents and other stakeholders to expand the conversation on critical issues affecting Children’s Health and Safety in school.

HBL Team

Arulogun stressed that AANIS was set up primarily to raise awareness on children’s health as well as safety standards in Nigerian schools, adding that the organization is committed to championing the cause of safer environments, better health management systems and more sensitive care providers in schools for the benefit of our children and the nation’s future.

She noted that AANIS, which transmuted from MANIS (Movement Against Negligence In Schools), is a Child Health and Safety Advocacy Group set up in memory of the Late Morenike Toye - Arulogun, an eleven year old girl who passed on to glory on November 21, 2008 from an attack of malaria which degenerated to cerebral malaria, due to negligence and lack of duty of care while kept “In Loco Parentis” with one of the boarding schools in Nigeria.

like, Malaria, Dengue, various forms of encephalitis e.g. Japanese B encephalitis, Yellow Fever, Filariasis , plague insect bite avoidance should be practiced both day and night in certain destinations. Please consult your travel consultant.

You can use Insect repellents, Mosquito nets (Impregnated with insecticides), and air-conditioned rooms, knock down sprays, Long sleeved light coloured shirts/ blouses and long dresses/trousers protecting your body from bites especially at night. Besides, insect bites can result in unpleasant and occasionally serious local reactions. The bite can be sore, itchy or give nasty swellings, cellulitis and abscesses.

Malaria Prevention: Nigerians and long term expatriate residents may have variable levels of immunity to malaria, but it may still be advisable depending on your destination and type of activity you are going to do to take effective antimalarial therapy. A day or more lost due to illness may ruin your trip. Also practice mosquito bite prevention methods.

Repellents, clothing etc, this also help prevent other insect borne diseases.

First Aid Kits: It is wise to carry along a properly stocked first aid kit for small emergencies.

On Board: When on board the plane, try to avoid alcohol.

This can worsen dehydration in the already dry cabin air and increase your risk of DVT (deep vein thrombosis). Drink plenty of water and fruit juices. Still water is preferable to sparkling water.

(Carbonated water). Avoid stimulants like caffeine until you have had a full night’s sleep at your destination. Exercise regularly on long flights to help your blood circulation.(Airlines have useful information in their on board magazines) If you are on medication e.g. diabetic medication, maintain your departure time till you arrive your destination. Sleep and miss movies if you must. DVT is a popular topic and if you are at risk for it (Your doctor should let you know if you are at risk) take the necessary precautions. The risk applies to any form of travel where you are routed to one place for hours. Exercise at least every hour on long journeys, good measured fitting hosiery (in flight stockings and socks) will encourage circulation. Wear loose cloth-

ing. Consult your family doctor or travel consultant.

O n A r r i v a l : I f p o ssi ble schedule meetings so you can rest before the meeting so you can be at your best. Warm showers are helpful but avoid hot baths. Hot baths may relax the body making it hard to get going again. Expose yourself to bright light, adjust your watch to the local time, and try to adjust as soon as possible to local food and sleep patterns.

Returning Home: this also has its challenges but basically gives yourself time to rest and have quality time with the family.

Current outbreaks It is always good to be aware of the current outbreaks of disease (e.g.

Ebola in the Congo), violence, natural disasters or civil unrest at your destination. Also, like in the UAE (Dubai & Co) certain prescription drugs & over the counter drugs are not allowed into the country.

Make sure your Mobile phone is fully topped up and can roam at the destination country.

Future articles will be advisories on specific topics. The next being the – travelling with a Heart Condition.

More than 300 people benefit from Rotary’s free medical service in Ikorodu ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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ore than 300 people have benefited from the free medical care provided by Rotary clubs in Ikorodu, Lagos state under the aegis of Rotary family health day programme.

The one day event took place at Ipakodo primary healthcare center Ebute Ikorodu area which was meant to fill the yawning gap in healthcare delivery particularly for people in the rural areas.

The programme attracted a sizeable crowd consisting of young, old, women, men and the elderly saw the health facility filled to its capacity.

Taofeek Kolawole, president Rotary club Ikorodu said that level of poverty has made people forget that the primary thing they need to do is to take care of their health.

“What we are trying to do here is to create more awareness and it was not surprising that Rotary is providing free medical service to the people , the club has been at the forefront in the campaign for the eradication of many diseases including polio and has been supporting immunisation over the years.” “the government cannot be left alone to cater for the people in terms of health, that is the reason Rotary is standing for the needy, supporting the government and reaching out to the less privileged who forget to take care of their health while trying to

make ends meet,” Kolawole said.

Similarly, Ojo Dare, a medical doctor said the aim of the programme was to reach people in the rural areas who might not often have access to healthcare services.

Dare who is also a Rotarian say the choice of the health centre was because of its location which according to him is easily accessible by the people.

“We have discovered that our people are still far behind in the area of preventive health care especially when it comes to using mosquito nets, dental check-up and even visual health care. So, we are not practicing good medical service for ourselves in this part of the world’.

‘Therefore, we are creating enlightenment on the one-on-

one interaction with them to move away from the passive curative health practice to prevention health care which is the best. We are also admonishing them to desist from self-medication’, he said.

Among the ailments treated by the health workers such as doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists tackled who were mostly Rotarians included malaria, blood sugar level, hepatitis A&B, HIV screening, eye diseases and the provision of free eye glasses to those in need.

Commenting, one of the beneficiaries John Imelo thanked the Rotary Clubs for the medical assistance saying the organisation has a history of contributing to the development of the society.

ANTHONIA OBOKOH and ANI MICHAEL / Reporters. Email: obokoh.anthonia@businessdayonline.com I David Ogar, Graphics

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BUSINESS DAY

FinTech News

Products Review

Technology Review

Personality Review

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Friday 16 November 2018

Company Review

CBN’s new Fintech policy raises fresh barriers for startups Stories by FRANK ELEANYA

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) efforts to provide a level-playing field in digital banking and encourage innovations that have potential to boost its chances of achieving a cashless economy by 2020 have encountered a serious hurdle.

This barrier was erected, unfortunately, by none other than the apex bank itself, through its latest policy statement on the issue of fintech licensing.

The release of the Circular on the Exposure Draft of New CBN Licensing Regime has many fintech startups and investors at odds regarding CBN’s real aspirations. If the new guideline was truly intended to encourage fintech startups to participate in bringing about a cashless economy and spur financial inclusion, then it may deserve a second review.

Fintech companies may be in the business of banking; receiving deposits, paying checks, or lending money, but

the reality is they are not banks.

They are fundamentally technology companies leveraging their core competence to plug loopholes in financial services delivery. In that sense, it would be in order for the CBN take a different approach in regulating them.

“They have placed a significant barrier to innovation as it is only those with deep pockets that can now apply for services.

Another thing is, fintech is beyond just banking which they have no idea about,” an executive in one of the notable fintech companies who pleaded anonymity told BusinessDay. He echoes the sentiment of every fintech stakeholder who spoke to this writer.

The wording of the guideline from the beginning justifies their worry. It appears directed at mitigating perceived “risks” of fintech startups to banks, hence the “punitivelike” capital requirements for license acquisition.

Rahmon Ojukotola, an investment coach and director at Start Credit, told BusinessDay that it is likely the CBN did not meant for fintech startups to get Payment Service Provider

(PSP) license.

“It is targeted mainly at telcos,” he pointed out. “The capital requirement of N5 billion is a huge barrier to entry for most fintechs. They even raised the capital requirements for microfinance unit license from N20 million to N200 million. All these moves are intended to reduce the amount of firms operating.”

The PSP also has a provision for mandatory three years tax returns which effectively rules out new startups.

The first paragraph of

the guideline reads thus: “Financial Technology companies (Fintechs) have been evolving with innovative products which are gaining acceptance within the country and banks have been collaborating with these technology companies, in order to remain competitive…The emergence of FinTechs in the financial system accentuates the known risks within the financial system.

In particular, the operational risk dynamics within the financial system is fast evolv-

ing with an increasing reliance in FinTech platforms and the growing level of acceptability of their services by both traditional financial service providers (Banks) and consumers of financial services (the public).”

The emergence of fintechs may pose a threat to banks, but stakeholders – including bank executives like Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank – acknowledge that their existence is good for competition and innovation in the financial industry.

Aloy Chife, managing part-

ner and chief executive officer of a venture capital firm, Saana Capital, also highlighted the segmentation of PSP’s into three licensing categories, namely Switches, mobile money operators (MMOs) and Payment Solution Service Providers (PSSPs) and questioned why a PSP (Super licence holder) should be excluded from operating a Wallet, a functionality traditionally associated with retail payments switch operators.

“Are we saying that if PayPal, Stripe, etc were licensed

by CBN they would not be able to create value on their platforms? Can you imagine PayPal without a Wallet? But we expect our Switches to compete globally with PayPal, Stripe, and other international switches. Why then hobble them in the name of regulation?” Chife asked in a Twitter tread.

The CBN may have a longterm view of the market according to Ojukotola, “The reason is so you have stronger, more capitalised firms that can withstand economic shocks and recessions without affecting the customers.”

IMF boss wants central banks in on digital currencies

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hristine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that the active involvement of central banks in digital currencies could be a way for them to have surefooting in the evolving payments landscape.

The IMF boss disclosed this at the Singapore Fintech Festival on Wednesday, 14 November 2018. Lagarde noted during her speech that “wind of change” in payment

has become inevitable and requires immediate action from financial regulators.

“I believe we should consider the possibility to issue digital currency,” Lagarde said. “There may be a role for the state to supply money to the digital economy.”

She explained that a statebacked digital currency holds many possibilities like it could mean immediate payment, safe, cheap and potentially semi-anonymous.

In an IMF paper released

on the same day, Lagarde said that digital currencies has the potential to improve businesses conditions in remote regions where cash may no longer be an option, while adding that the banks shows little interest in helping marginalized communities. A state-backed digital currency, for her, could bring a balance with traditional companies that lean toward monopolies due to economies of scale.

“This currency could sat-

isfy public policy goals, such as (i) financial inclusion, and (ii) security and consumer protection; and to provide what the private sector can-

not: (iii) privacy in payments.

Momentum towards a state-backed digital currency is starting to build with the Bank of England publishing

a working paper on the effect of such a tool on balance sheets of both central banks and commercial banks. At the time the paper was published

the bank said it had no plan of issuing a digital coin anytime soon.

Bank of Canada’s senior e c o n o m i s t, Mo ha m m e d Davoodalhosseini, has also published a report that concluded a state-backed digital currency could push up consumption by 0.64 per cent in the country and 1.6 per cent in the United States.

Lagarde also revealed that Sweden and Uruguay were “seriously considering” digital currency proposals.

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often adopts the literal rule of interpretation of law i.e. giving the wordings of the contract its ordinary meanings.

Meaning and implication of stabilization clauses in oil and gas contracts

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il and gas contracts are usually long term agreements between a nation and an international oil company. Stabilization clauses are usually introduced in order to protect the interest of mostly the oil company in terms of the financial benefits that the company gets. This is because governments over time usually change policies with regards to taxation etc. These changes often impact negatively on the income of oil companies.

Another issue that warrants such protection is the fact that people at the helms of affairs in a country do change and change in policies usually accompany such transfer of power.

Stabilization clauses are targeted at managing what effect changes in law will have on contract signed by parties.

Because the contracts are long term contracts, change in the law tend to affect the finances of the oil company. It is aimed at guarding against serious financial loss as a result of such change.

In most cases, it is directed at neutralizing the effect of such changes that can affect the finances of oil companies negatively.

There are different types of stabilization clauses. The common types are- freezing clause, hybrid clause and economic equilibrium clause.

1. Freezing clause- Under

Meaning of adaptation clauses in oil and gas contract

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introduce new terms or read unnecessary meanings into the terms of the contract. The court in interpreting the terms

this type, the host country enters an agreement not to come up with laws or regulations that will change or have effect on the contract signed throughout the lifespan of the agreement. It is called freezing clause because it freezes the right of the host state.to make new laws and regulations that will affect the rights of parties under the contract.

The laws that will be reckoned with are the laws that were in existence at the time of signing the contract. Subsequent legislations and regulations are not to have effect on the contract.

It has been said that a freezing clause can be either full freezing clause or limited freezing clause. A full freezing clause is one that addresses both fiscal and non-fiscal aspects. It freezes all new obligations arising from a new law or regulation whether such obligation is fiscal or not. Example is new obligation arising as a result of new environmental laws and regulations. A limited freezing clause only address specified areas e.g. tax. Therefore, any new law raising the percentage of tax to be paid will not be applicable to the oil company.

2. Economic equilibrium clause-This does not freeze the law of a state. What it seeks to achieve is to maintain the economic equilibrium of the agreement entered into by the parties. New laws

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Odunayo Oyasiji

The principle of Pacta Sunt Servanda in commercial transactions acta Sunt Servanda means ‘agreements must be kept’.

Therefore, it deals with sanctity of contract. Whatever we agree upon must be followed by parties. Contractual obligations must be respected.

It must be noted that parties have the freedom to contract and agree as they wish.

The only exception is that they cannot contract to commit crime or illegalities. The freedom is limited to acting within the ambit of the law.

Therefore, if parties agrees on anything and reduce it into writing then the terms agreed upon automatically becomes binding on the parties.

In a situation where there is dispute between the parties the court’s duty is to interpret the terms agreed upon.

It is not the duty of court to

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are applicable to the oil and gas contract. However, the state is under an obligation to reward the international oil company for complying with the new law.

Economic equilibrium clauses can either be limited or full. Full economic equilibrium clauses address effect the change in law will have on the financial situation of the oil company- which will necessitate the state to compensate them. The limited economic equilibrium clause tends to limit when the oil company can claim for compensation. Example of such clause is when it is stated that the oil company must have incurred a certain amount of loss before complaining or asking for compensation.

3. Hybrid clause- This tends to blend both the qualities of economic equilibrium clause and freezing clause. It basically aims to return the international oil company to its financial state before the enactment of the new law or regulation. Just like the earlier two stabilization clauses discussed above, the hybrid clause can either be full or limited. It is full when it shield the oil company totally from financial losses caused by change in the law by ensuring that the company is compensated. It is limited when the clause only shields investors in limited situations i.e. with regards to some specified changes.

his is a different type of clause. It came up out of the need for the state to preserve its sovereignty and not just be tied down in an agreement in a way that renders its law useless. Also, the practicability of the stabilization clause seems to be in doubt as it is capable of creating enmity between the two parties to the agreement. Therefore, adaptation clauses aims at bringing the parties to the

renegotiation table so as to amicably resolve and agree on what will be the obligations of the parties under a new law. The renegotiation must be done in good faith and with the aim of creating a balance in the economic equilibrium of the parties.

In case of failure to agree through renegotiation, the matter will likely go through the process of arbitrationthis depends on what is in the agreement.

Difference between originating summons and Writ of summons

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hey are both means of commencing a civil action in court. Originating summons is mostly used in a situation where the matter boils down to the interpretation of law and it is not likely to be a contentious matter. In essence, you are presenting a provision of the law to a court and relating it to some facts and then asking the court for the interpretation of the provision as it applies to the facts presented.

This process is usually faster than the process under writs of summons.

Writ of summons on the other hand is used when a matter is contentious and there is need to go through

the process of trial. In this situation witnesses are called and parties tend to file and reply to many processes.

Since business disputes are mostly contentious matters, lawyers tend to use writ of summons when instituting an action bothering on business transactions.

Meaning of misrepresentation in contract 1

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isrepresentation can either be a statement in writing or oral. The statement that forms the basis of misrepresentation usually induces the party to whom it is directed to enter into a contract which ordinarily he might not have entered into. There are different types of misrepresentations- fraudulent misrepresentation, innocent misrepresentation and negligent misrepresentation.

Fraudulent misrepresentation is a misrepresentation that is fraudulently made. It’s a false statement that is made knowing same not to be the

truth or made carelessly without being concerned about whether it is true or not. In the case of Sule V Aromire 1951 20 NLR 20 – the defendant in an attempt to sell a property made reference to a court judgement that vests the ownership of the property in him. The judgement was actually in respect of adjoining property. After the plaintiff bought the property, he realized that the land actually belongs to another person.

Therefore, he instituted this action against the defendant and the court held in his favour that the representation is a fraudulent one.

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Hotels Hotel security for the traveler OBINNA EMELIKE

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

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he sad truth is that criminals target travelers, especially in and around hotels.

The abundance of literature on the topic of hotel security does not seem to have deterred criminals from using hotels as a target of their trade. An informal survey of hotel security staff reveals old patterns of crime repeated and new tricks (or new variations of old tricks) continue as before.

There are, however, some practices which can reduce your risk of being the target of crime or other hazards in a hotel.

The starting point The starting point for hotel security consideration begins well before you have checked into the hotel. If you drive to a hotel and park in their garage or parking lot, auto security, luggage protection, and personal safety will be your starting point. If you arrive by cab, your safety in the taxi and care of your luggage will be your starting point. In fact, unless you have visited a particular hotel fairly recently, your starting point should be a telephone call from home to ask a few questions. If the hotel is in a foreign country, the list of questions to ask in advance will be more extensive. Call to confirm your reserva-

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

Protea Hotel Apo Apartments Address: Ahmadu Bello Way, Apo, Abuja Tel: 09 480 1818

tions; get a fax of confirmation and note the name of the person you spoke to.

Questions to ask and where to ask them There are three questions to ask for selecting a secure hotel: Are there electronic door locks? Is there good key control? And is there a fire alarm and water sprinkler system? Generally, the only way to find this out is calling the hotel directly.

The number one security issue is controlling who has access to a guest’s hotel room. While we can install electronic locks and keep a closely controlled system of key control, it is the guests themselves who often let down their guard and fail to lock their door when they go out to get ice at the end of the hall, or open their door

to an uninvited intruder. It is important to remember that a hotel is a public place and criminals are attracted to places where outsiders are vulnerable.

What room to reserve?

If possible, avoid staying in a room located on the first floor of a hotel. Since first floor rooms often have sliding doors or windows that are accessible from ground level, they are a greater security risk than rooms on higher floors. Second floor to fifth floor rooms are usually good choice in the event of a fire, as they are more easily accessible for rescue purposes than rooms on higher levels. But rarely is room selection so simple. If you are attending a convention or visiting during the busy season, your choice of

rooms may be limited. And a more expensive room will not guarantee you greater fire security, since the most luxurious suites are usually located on the top floors, and can therefore be more difficult to escape in a fire.

Rooms away from the ice machine or utility area will minimize your exposure to the noise of hallway traffic, and a room near a stairwell will provide an alternative to endless waiting for crowded elevators.

However, women traveling alone may wish to choose a room near hall or stairwell surveillance cameras for added security. Before you get settled into your assigned room, verify that there is a reasonably quick access to a fire escape route by window or stairway.

Southern Sun takes hospitality to golf course today

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nce again, Southern Sun Ikoyi Hotel is taking its hospitality offering beyond the guest room and the tranquil hotel environment to a premium outdoor setting.

The hotel is wooing guests and especially lovers of golf to its 7th annual Corporate Golf Day, which holds today at the Lakowe Lakes Golf

Top BusinessDay Partner Hotels

Course, Km 35, Epe Expressway, Lekki, Lagos.

Like other of the event, this year’s edition is also noncommercial but a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of the hotel to contribute to charity.

Speaking at sponsors’ unveiling event, which held recently at the Ikoyi-based hotel, Mark Loxley, general manager of the hotel,

noted that, “This is a noncommercial event. It is a CSR event for Southern Sun Ikoyi Hotel and we support Arrow of God Orphanage with the proceeds. We are looking at Southern Sun Ikoyi Hotel’s corporate golfing to become the premier golfing event in Nigeria”.

He revealed that this year’s event will feature some repeat players, following

similar format like last year with both ladies and gentlemen playing and participating.

Commending the sponsors for their sustained support, the general manager, noted that some of the sponsors such as; Kenya Airways (which has been sponsoring for nine years), RwandAir, Air Namibia, Air France KLM and South African Air ways, would be giving away free airline tickets to winners.

Other companies partnering with the hotel on the CSR event include; Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Zenith Bank, Diamond Bank, DHL International, Redbull and Legacy Automobiles.

However, Udeme Ufot, group managing director, S O&U, maintained that Southern Sun Hotel’s corporate golfing event is like no other anywhere, especially because of its unique leisure offering and charity purpose.

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

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

Chida Hotel International Address: Plot 224, Solomon Lar Way, Utako, Abuja Tel: 0810 871 8882

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

206 Hotel Plot 206 Cadastral Zone B02 Opposite Kenuj 02 Mall, Oladipo Diya Road, Durumi District, Abuja Tel: 08119707993 Email: 206abuja@gmail.com

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

Protea Hotel (V/Island) Off Ajose Adeogun Street, V/ Island

Gombe Jewel Hotel, 22, Njamena Street, off Aminu Kano crescent Wuse 2, Abuja.

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

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Friday 16 November 2018

Harvard Business Review

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ManagementDigest

Containing the latest Ebola outbreak Ranu S. Dhillon

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ast month, a rebel attack in Beni, the epicenter of the ongoing Ebola outbreak near the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, once again halted the efforts of response teams working to contain the virus. With over 10 major episodes of violence since the outbreak was first declared in August, insecurity and community mistrust have made it difficult to gauge the true extent of Ebola’s spread. Though the outbreak could still be limited, cases appear to be increasing, especially in Beni, where they have doubled in recent weeks, with 80% of new infections arising among people with no link to any known “transmission chains” (in which everyone who is infected is known and it’s possible to track additional exposures with some accuracy).

This means that we might only be seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of hidden transmissions, and the outbreak could spiral out of control and spread into neighboring countries.

Given this danger, the current strategy for containing the disease requires some adjustment.

Eastern Congo has been home to one of the deadliest and most intractable conflicts in modern history, and over 50 armed groups are still active in the region. Originally formed to protect their communities, many of these rebel militias have become entangled in the messy web of politics, shifting allegiances and underhanded mining deals that fuel the conflict.

Against this backdrop, and the inability of the government or international agencies to assure basic safety much less basic needs, a distrust of formal institutions has become entrenched within the population.

These dynamics have been made more complicated by the fact that Congo is supposed to hold elections in December that have already been delayed twice since 2016.

Given that Ebola outbreaks can grow both quickly and exponentially, definitive action is needed now.

The current plan for stopping this outbreak is based on contact tracing (the identification and monitoring of people who were exposed to Ebolainfected individuals for 21 days, the period during which they may develop an infection) and ring vaccination (immunizing these contacts and those close to them with an experimental Ebola vaccine). This approach efficiently contained an Ebola outbreak in western Congo just a few months ago, but requires a comprehensive and precise understanding of who is infected and who their contacts are, which necessitates having unimpeded daily access to their communities for months.

That has not been possible this time around: Areas affected by violence have been inaccessible for days at a time. There-

fore, while contact tracing and ring vaccination should continue where transmissions can be tracked, mass vaccination of larger portions of populations should be considered in areas where that is not possible. One such place is Beni, which has a population of about 230,000.

Expanding vaccinations in this manner could immediately halt the spread of the disease.

While such a mass vaccination program sounds ambitious, the World Health Organization and others have executed much larger national campaigns in over 40 low-income countries, including Congo, where millions of children were immunized against polio or measles within a single week. These campaigns were also carried out successfully during conflicts in Somalia, Afghanistan and Liberia. Though a mass vaccination effort targets an entire population, it only has to reach the proportion required for “herd immunity” — that is, the campaign simply has to immunize enough people so that the virus can’t spread. Early studies of the Ebola vaccine found that it might be possible

to achieve herd immunity by vaccinating as little as 42% of the population.

To be successful, a mass vaccination effort would require the buy-in of the targeted communities and the ability of the Ebola response teams to securely gain access to the areas in question for the day or two it would take to immunize everyone. Promisingly, a recent study showed that even communities with high levels of distrust appear to be open to vaccination.

Anthropologists are already on the ground, working tirelessly to engage community leaders and armed groups. In areas not amenable to such outreach, a neutral “white helmet” security force, ideally drawn from the African Union or other countries without past involvement in the Congo conflict, should be deployed with the sole mission of securing vaccination efforts. It should be made abundantly clear to the population that this force has no allegiance to any political or institutional actors and is present only to deter violence against responders. At the end

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

of the day, neither communities nor militias want their loved ones to die from Ebola, and would respect such a presence if they were reassured that its mission was strictly medical.

Mass vaccinations will also require an adequate supply of the Ebola vaccine. The manufacturer, Merck, has committed to maintaining a supply of 300,000 doses at all times. Doing so could become difficult if vaccination efforts are expanded, but at the moment the number of people who would need to be vaccinated in order to stunt the outbreak still appears to be within the range of existing stockpiles. Nonetheless, production of the vaccine should be increased, and any bottlenecks in the process should be assessed and cleared to ensure an adequate supply.

It’s true that the Ebola vaccine is still experimental, and that its health risks are not yet fully known. However, for people living in areas where everyone infected is not necessarily known, the heightened risk of unknowingly contracting a fatal infection may, at this point, outweigh the potential danger posed by the vaccine.

After the 2014 West African Ebola epidemic spiraled out of control, many wondered why more aggressive measures were not taken sooner. We may be at a similar make-or-break point in this outbreak.

Ranu S. Dhillon is an instructor at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Devabhaktuni Srikrishna is the founder of Patient Knowhow, which curates patient educational content on YouTube.

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Niniola, the Afro house queen and her craft Stories by Obinna Emelike

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ince 2013 when she finished as third runner-up on the sixth season of MTN Project Fame West Africa, Niniola Apata has been on the rise. The biology graduate who hails from Ekiti State is looking forward to becoming the biggest female artiste in Nigeria with her unique delivery and style that are away from ‘the regular’.

The singer and songwriter with a vocal range that can break glass, has created a music genre for herself called AfroHouse, which is a blend of Afro beat and house music.

Nowadays, where lots of young female artistes are reluctant to release albums for the fear of negative reviews, Niniola has gone beyond releasing her debut album to more releases because of her believe that reviews and criticism are necessary for self development and honing of one’s skills.

When she released “Maradonna” and “Sicker”, her two-track album, it ruled the Nigerian airwaves and even beyond the shores of the country to excite fans in East Africa, Southern Africa, Europe and North America.

Not too long after the release of her two-track album, Niniola showed she knew her mettle with the release of a 13-track album titled ‘This is me’.

The album, which was released in November 2017 to critical acclaim and fan praises, opened with a melodic track, ’Moyo’ which means ‘rejoice or praise God’ in Yoruba and ends with a banging dancehall tune ‘Hold Me’ featuring the dancehall reggae king , Pa-

Niniola performing at ‘The Human Radio Concert’

toranking. It also featured songs such as Saro, Magun among others.

Speaking on the title of her album, Niniola said, “‘This is me’ is as honest as it can be vocally. I do not just have my genre afro-house but I also have Rhythm and Blues and other genres. This is me telling you that I can jump on any beat as long as I feel good about the beat.

So, this is just Niniola who loves to sing and dance.”

It was no surprise when Niniola made history in August this year with over 1million listeners on Spotify, making her the first female Nigerian artiste ever to cross the

1million mark.

To earn the accolade, Niniola’s ‘This is me’ recorded over 1.7 million streams on Spotify, the music streaming platform, which measures artiste popularity with listenership. That singular feat has solidified Niniola’s music as staple among music lovers, crowning her with the coveted title of the most popular Nigerian female artiste.

As well, her efforts so far have been rewarded with some awards; from BET Awards, AFRIMA winner, South Africa Music Awards Nominee among others.

Of course, going down the memory lane, those who remembered her as the shy contestant who was always in glasses on the MTN Project Fame season 6 in 2013 are amazed at her transformation and proud of the huge milestone today.

But she is not moved by all these. She is focused on becoming the biggest female artistes in Nigeria, West Africa and even Africa.

She is also working hard to achieve her towering ambitions with the knowledge that there is no easy way to stardom, especially now that the music scene is more

competitive than ever.

In recognition of that, Niniola has been innovative with her style and appeal to fans. Recently, the queen of Afro House thrilled fans with her headline concert tagged ‘The Human Radio Concert’.

The concert, a first of its kind, which held at the Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, witnessed the best of Niniola on stage with enthralling performances that featured other artistes such as; Reminisce, Aramide, Mayorkun, Mr. Real, Terry Apala, Slimcase, Immaculate, Johnny Drille,Teni, Oladips, Godwin Strings, Tyson Noir, and Soti.

As expected, the concert was like none before it, showcasing a powerful blend of music and stagecraft through a unique theme and special features inspired by the persona, charisma, and soul of Niniola, who is unarguably, one of Nigeria’s finest singer-songwriters and performers.

But the Afro house artiste was handy to explain the concept of The Human Radio.

“I was nicknamed “The Human Radio” while in secondary school. Then I had my own singing request show where I sang songs from various musicians as requested by my friends and classmates at the time to the amazement and cheering of listeners”, she explained.

In appreciative of her fans’ support, she assured them that more offerings are in the pipeline.

It is obvious she has just started, but she has through her fast-rising musical career, reinstated her ability, passion, and love for creating vocal art that is beyond both lingual and territorial differences, and yet embraces the one true global culture that music is.

Tunde Owolabi thrills art lovers with ‘This Is Me’

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his weekend promises to be an exciting one for art lovers in Lagos as Tunde Owolabi, a full time studio artist, photographer and designer, opens the exhibition of his recent works.

Titled “This Is Me”, the exhibition, which holds from November 18-25, 2018 at Miliki, at 7B Etim Inyang Crescent, Victoria island, Lagos, features various forms of art expressions by Owolabi including; oil paintings, photography, fashion, sculpture and installation.

As well, the artist uses the works to addresses subjects range from politics to reminiscence of growing up, dance, fashion, self-expression

and textile design.

As well, his passion for the African culture will be enormously present in the stories of his photography as he played with the elaborate traditional Nigerian female hairstyle and Aso Oke fabrics, laser cut into butterflies and flowers.

These were used to depict subjects of fragility of the female gender, migration, and the country - Nigeria as a whole, employing elements of fashion as a vehicle of expression.

Also, the artist forte on textile design have been used to create some limited edition fashion merchandises and the use of sculptures in depicting some of the subjects matters will gravitate

a three dimensional feel for its viewers.

The exhibition is excited to have art collectors, renowned artists, art gallerists, and art enthusiasts.

The artist is the founder and creative director of Tunde Owolabi Studios, which he opened in Lagos in 2011 to offer design and photographic services.

He studied Graphic Design from Yaba College of Technology.

After his degree, Tunde became a freelance artist, a journey that led him to develop a keen interest in photography, which stirred him to take a professional course in photography and photo retouching from the London College of fashion.

While in England, he worked as a designer at the research studios London, working on brands such as Nickelodeon, Somerset House, Sofitel among others.

On returning to Nigeria, he worked with Insight Communications, as an art director, working on notable brands such as Pepsi, Heineken, Mainstreet Bank, to mention a few.

As an artist, he has participated in a few group exhibitions and two solos.

In 2015, he created the brand Ethnik by Tunde Owolabi, an afrocentric brand, which specialises in the design of Aso Oke, a hand woven Nigerian fabric and creates fashion accessories with the fabric.

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Business Etiquette

Movie Review: HUNTER KILLER by Linda Ochugbua

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he movie was very exciting and interesting; if you enjoyed Birds Eye movie of a few years ago and the deliberation of what to do or not, then you will enjoy this one.

“Hunter Killer” was directed Donovan Marsh and written by Jamie Moss & Arne Schmidt. It had a very simple yet compelling storyline. To most of us we kept wondering if that could be something possible in the real world. How would the Russians and the Americans come work together as a team? - That was a big question most of us couldn’t wrap our heads around.

This movie started slowly and then progressed quickly into the action and suspense scenes. The storyline was centred on how it looked like there was an infringement in the Russian Army.

One of the men had

moved on to support the Chief Commander of the Army, who wanted to over throw the current Russian president and start a war between the Russians and the Americans. He felt by doing that he could become the world ruler and have everything to himself. One lucky thing was that the Ameri-

cans had picked up some information from their satellite and could suspect what he was up to. The Americans had to find a way of aborting his plan, by kidnapping the Russian president and keeping him alive, to avoid this scheduled fight the assistant was calling for.

The very interesting and intriguing aspect of this movie was the fact that they created a story where 2 enemies would have to work together. For most of the viewers it was quite strange to have the Americans and the Russians work together, what was more alarming was the fact that the American navy guys had to risk their life to save that of the Russian president – who would have thought of this?

We didn’t see that coming; what a nice twist to the story!

I loved how the story ended; the Americans were able to save the Russian Navy

captain and their president, with this they were able to abort the war that his second in command wanted to start between the Russians and the Americans.

My Verdict: This movie deserves a 7/10.

I enjoyed the suspense, action, and thrill. They had

a very good cast, production and crew; I did also learn a few lessons around how the navy war ships sail around the world under deep waters for months without seeing sunlight and how they operate.

If you love submarines and stories around the navy and the army, then you are sure to enjoy this movie.

Movie Credit: Cast: Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, Common, Michael Nyqvist, Linda Cardellini, Corey Johnson Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Mystery & Suspense Director: Donovan Marsh Ratings: R (for violence, action and some language) Written by: Jamie Moss & Arne Schmidt Runtime: 120 minutes Studio: Summit Premiere Feel free to review any movie of your choice in not more than 200 words and

send it via mail to linda@ businessdayonline.com Also stand a chance to win a free movie ticket when you answer correctly the questions shared on social media.

Facebook - Linda Ochugbua Twitter and Instagram @lindaochugbua

with Janet Adetu Tamper your tempera Hot tempered are you?

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few years ago I was at the airport waiting patiently for my turn to check in, the gentleman in front of the queue seemed to have some challenges, possibly with his passport and or with his luggage; so he was taking much longer than usual. Just as I was pondering on his time spent not up to five minutes later people behind began to blurt out cold remarks referring to the time he had spent and that obviously they were tired of waiting. At this point as tempers were rising and patience had already lost control, I expected the airline to take over and appease the passengers. Suddenly from out of the blues, the gentleman in front who was causing all the commotion turned around and blurted something so unexpectedly that suggested everybody keep quiet and wait until he had finished. It was not an apology, a plea for forgiveness or anything polite or courteous. All suited up and looking polished he took on the crowd in a battle of words. At this point I had to step aside for my safety and indeed as I looked at this gentlemen why he would stoop so low and pick a fight in such a public place. Immediately he sabotaged his image and all integrity, credibility, trustworthiness and personality he might have had prior to the commotion.

It is always easy to get annoyed and upset at the slightest thing. People can touch a sensitive nerve without knowing at all and this can spark a light in you. The onus is always on you to curtail your emotions, control your temperament and get on with life feeling good and happy. I am not saying do not react, but ensure that whatever you have to say is credible and lifts your person not undermines it.

Imagine being annoyed about anything and everything on a daily basis, that means you are living on the tantrum of sadness, being miserable, unproductive, un-impactful to yourself and those around you. As a leader it is imperative to be of good added value anywhere and everywhere. Whatever life throws at you, my philosophy is to learn from it, grow with it and advance on it.

There are some people that use words to touch a nerve, their poor use of words and lack of the ability to communicate can be knife cutting. At a certain level in

life it is imperative you chose the right words to say at the right time otherwise you may be deemed immature, unexposed and lack decorum regardless of age or status. A difficult boss from research has been known to use foul words or demeaning ways of addressing subordinates and colleagues without feeling the impact the words may have on others. It falls back on the great need to exercise emotional intelligence all the time with awareness and appropriate empathy to tamper your temper as it appears to rise. It does takes a reasonable amount of discipline and good character to overlook certain things or curtail situations that ordinarily could spiral the wrong way.

Managing your anger may be a thing that has not occurred to you as a noticeable flaw. Once you hear it said one too many times take a

the nature of some to come across hot headed, possible a little arrogant or undermining, once you can understand people’s character and personality avoid allowing it to get to you. Know that it is okay for people to express themselves so long as it does not affect you. If it does then deal with it sensibly.

Be Assertive Being assertive can help you tamper your temper, some people say something once and move away or move on. When it appears like an argument wants to erupt they back down. Assertiveness is your open gate to putting your confidence level in check. No one can say something to you haphazardly if you give the right impression of yourself. Yes we have seen that regardless certain personalities are made to stir commotion but know your worth a position yourself

back seat and reminisce on that possibility. Everybody cannot be wrong, it is time to check yourself and make amends. No business can thrive or survive if your temperament instils fear, anxiety, insecurity, unproductiveness and diminishing moral around them.

What to look out for to tamper your temper Hear Say Words are used as a weapon to spite people, but it is common knowledge that as rumour or information circulates it becomes diluted or unnecessarily escalated far from the truth. Be in control and avoid immediate reaction to what you hear, propose to investigate what you hear, try to ponder and verify information as a professional. Your every action counts do not sabotage your image.

Manage Others The action of others can also spur your reaction if you don’t manage their temperament before yours. It is

correctly. Perception is reality, even when you unconsciously do not send the right message, being assertive will help you go to many places.

Direct your Cause It is easy to get swayed out of and into what you did not plan for or desire. Have a direct plan for your cause in your life, your future and your career. Leadership and interpersonal skills will help you exhibit the correct traits to portray success. You may become angry at any time but you will not spiral out of control that will label you as one with temper tantrums. Have a fulfilling goal that makes you unstoppable when you come across obstacles.

If you recognise temper as a challenge for you intentionally work on it. It is time for you to transform your potential and discover the new you. All the best!

Please share your experience: Follow me on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter @JanetAdetu

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Interview ‘Our aim is to build a bridge between the classroom and the work place’ Niyi Yusuf is the Country director of Accenture and the board chairman of Junior Achievements Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation. He spoke to Harrison Edeh on one million targets of training young entrepreneurs and several initiatives being employed by the foundation to offer a platform for young Nigerians.

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s the board chairman of the Junior Achievements Nigeria, talk us through the 19 years journey on impacting on young Nigerian entrepreneurs?

Spending these 19 years is my own way of working with a trusted platform, the youths at their developmental stage, while guiding them for the world of tomorrow.

Also, one of our country’s programme which the ‘Girls Secondary School’ at the Federal Capital Territory focuses on how farmers could use digital platform to upscale their agribusiness. In 2015, the school was the National Champion and the African Champion for a company programme. That is among other things, one of the few things we are doing to ensure we build the culture of entrepreneurship among our youths.

How do you intend to reach the target of training one million entrepreneurs?

Our focus is one child at a time, one Nigerian youth at a time and our goal is to get one million students by 2019. As we speak, we have impacted 850 000 students‎ in the country. We are confident that we would get to the 900 000 mark by the end of the first term which is by December this year.

Hopefully, by May next year2019, we would be hitting a million mark targets with key supports from stakeholders.

Nigeria youths deserve much more than that.

What is the major motive of putting this initiative together which is almost getting to 20 years since the commencement?

Specifically, we work with the government and companies to improve their performance and make them more successful but you realise that ‎a successful company is the one that focuses on supporting multiple stakeholders.

On the other hand, we realise that success is not only linked to those who could afford our services, that informs the need to focus on multiple stakeholders and how our work is impacting the poor and the citizens of Nigeria.

Can you mention some of your programmes to impact citizenship?

So, part of our corporate citizenship is on ‘Skills to success’ that is focusing on how we could help people develop the skills that would ensure their success in the world of work .It is under that programme that we are working with the Junior Achievements of Nigeria to reach the youths be-

them are computer based, some are just bidding or art and craft, but we just encourage them by enlightening them on what the problems are within the community and how they can solve them.

Yusuf

tween the ages of five and 27 to improve their financial literacy, entrepreneurship skills and work readiness.

This is hinged on the fact that is the country is successful,‎ and the citizens are successful, then there would be overall better economy, consumers of tomorrow and workers of tomorrow.

So, the seeds that we sow today would enable them become successful business men and women to drive the country to greater heights.

Can you give a brief analogy of what Junior Achievement Nigeria has been doing in the last 20 years and how you have scaled through difficult moments?

Junior achievement, (JA) is a non-profit, economic education organisation, operating in 120 countries worldwide. In Nigeria we started operations in 1999.

So next year we will be 20 and since then we’ve reached over 850, 000 students in over 20 cities across Nigeria. JA’s aim is to build a bridge between the classroom and the work place. So basically what we do is to take programs into primary school and secondary schools. We have some programs running in some Tertiary institutions and National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) just to prepare young people to become business leaders.

We have three pillars that JA operates around the world which include financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness, to really develop people who are ready for the world of work by the time they graduate school. Our mission is to inspire and educate young people to become business leaders. All our programs have CSR component in them. So they are not just

learning but they are also learning social responsibility.

Do you partner with public and private sectors in achieving your goal?

We have partnership with private sectors, public sector and education sectors to really teach them personal success and responsibility. I can tell you that this works, because if you look at all the major non-profit organisations in Nigeria, at least 90% of them are run by JA alumnus faith foundation, leap Africa, Africa Initiative for governance, art foundation, paradigm initiative. I will talk about a few of them later because we are partnering with them. We know that we have alumni who have gone into business and we have alumni who are running social enterprises and alumni who combine both, they are within their companies and are also leading the CSR efforts of their companies. Our goals are to build a bridge between the classroom and workplace, contribute to the development of young Nigerians. Historically, we’ve tried to stay small because we wanted to be effective, with the students that we developed. In 2014, we turned 15. On our 15th anniversary, our board decided that 10 of our board members comprising of Accenture, Agile channels television, city bank, Exon Mobil, first bank, oracle and Stanbic IBTC will be involved.

They decided that this is a fantastic program and we need to take it all over Nigeria, not just in few schools. So, since then we’ve been investing in really expanding all of our programs especially the company program which teaches young people how to set up and run a business. So different people do different programs and some of

Can you mention examples of some of the programs they undertake?

Some of the girls are children of farmers and they saw that their fathers produce always waste away, meanwhile they go to school in town. They see that the produce are not fresh and expensive, so they developed an app to solve that problem. In solving the problem, they asked a question ‘how can we get our fathers produce to customers and website.’

These are part of the things we teach them, especially how they can solve a problem within their community, and make money doing it. So it’s not just an NGO, it is actually a business and you make money doing it.

And so, we want to take this program to all secondary schools across the nation and our first goal is to be in every capital city by 2025. We are currently in secondary schools and looking at reaching every capital city in Nigeria.

Can you mention some of the challenges you go through and how you think the situation can be made better?

We really need partnership with government and this is one of the major hurdles, because while we have some state governments working with us, there are some that are problematic.

Where the state government work with us, it’s very wonderful, they give us access to the schools we go to. We really want to be in the government schools and so we need the state government’s approval to go into those schools and some of them they recognize it, and they walk with us. However, some of them are sceptical and ask questions around who we are and what we want. We are not giving anybody money and so it becomes a hurdle, to even get access to the schools and then we have to go to the mission schools and private schools in that state, because the State government is not supporting us.

This is really the major hurdle.

For us to be in every secondary school in Nigeria, we need to have the backing of government.

Do you have a scheme for a higher education, people that have graduated and those still looking for something?

Yes, we do. We do this through

our “it’s time” program. When you have graduated from secondary school but couldn’t attend the university, this program will help these students acquire entrepreneurial skills. So if the university is not taking you or you don’t have a job but you want to learn entrepreneurship, you go through our “it’s time” program. This program is sponsored by Accenture and City bank. And really, this program will help create young people who can solve problems within their community, but this time not through secondary school, through the out of school use mechanism.

We also have our program for youth corps members which is the vim program, where they learn a one week mini MBA, what it means to be in management, so that when they actually start work, they start with the skills they need to succeed.

We have another one program called the career success, career program. This is for university students in their final year. For instance if you are preparing for the work place, what are the skills you need to acquire before you start work? So these are really the programs for those targets.

Since you have a tracking methodology, how do you utilise the resources of the alumni to boost your gains?

This is what we are using our 20th anniversary for next year.

So next year we will turn 20, and our board members drew our attention to the fact that we have been doing this for 20 years and we must have some alumni board members to tell their stories. So, we have been doing a call for alumni to tell us their success stories. They are coming back and telling us and actually implementing program, they are giving back and they are paying forward. So, yes, we definitely are tracking.

The reason we did ‘hacker turn’ is because we wanted young people to help us create a tracking system, they have run it and now they have started working on it. With this tracking system, you download an app. If you’re an alumni or a student of junior achievement, you update your information, if you’ve moved from one school to another or one job to another or one city to another, you update your information. We can stay in touch with you and say look we are bringing in this program to your state and we need you to volunteer, we need you or your company to donate money. So, this is how we intend to get our alumni to support what we are doing.

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BUSINESS SOUTH-SOUTH

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF SOUTH-SOUTH / SOUTH-EAST

Wider Perspectives endorse Enyimba Economic City …says it’ll deepen commerce in South-East/South-South

GODFREY OFURUM, Aba

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alada Apiafi, managing director of Wider Perspectives Limited, a management consulting firm, has observed that the proposed Enyimba Economic City, being promoted by the Abia State Government would deepen economic activities not only in Abia, but the entire South-East SouthSouth regions of Nigeria.

Apiafi, while addressing participants at the just concluded Aba Investment Summit, held in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, noted that the Enyimba Economic City would work, because of its location, which according to him, is at the heart of two regions.

Enyimba Economic City will be developed over an area of approximately 9,803ha, spanning three local government areas of Ukwa West, Ukwa East and Ugwunagbo in Abia State.

Abia intends to use the Enyimba Economic City to create an economic hub, central to the nine South-East and South-South states, linked with high grade access roads, rails, airport and seaports that would transform the region into a manufacturing and industrial powerhouse, with ancillary drivers of commerce, logistics, entertainment, education, health and lifestyle living.

The Wider Perspectives boss, also observed that Aba has enormous potentials and urged local and international investors to buy into

the project.

“We came to Abia, through the MSME Business Development Services (BDS) project, sponsored by the Federal government, through the Nigerian Investment Council.

During that project, we trained over 420 small and medium entrepreneurs. Some of them have become established organisations in Abia State. We saw the potentials in Abia State and so, decided to remain in the State. We are presently working for the State Government and the SEEDC project,” Apiafi stated.

He c o m m e n de d G overnor Okezie Ikpeazu for his initiatives and interventions towards the growth of MSMEs) in Abia State.

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ne of the challenges faced by greenhorns in business shortly afterestablishingtheirenterprises is how to develop and sustain the growth of their businesses. As a result, most of them suffer huge losses resulting to the collapse of such businesses.

In Delta State, thousands of youths who established their enterprises after they were trained and empowered with various skills and starter packs, may have noneedtofearbusinessfailureasthestate government says it has committed itself towards their mentorship.

The youths now the chief executive officers of their chosen enterprises courtesyofthestategovernment’sjobcreation programme, are seen to be embracing the state government’s mentorship programmeorganizedforthemtogrowtheir businesses. “We have been strengthened not to drop out of business,” said some of the beneficiaries interviewed by BusinessDay in Asaba after a business clinic.

Known as STEPreneurs and YAGEPreneurs, the business owners are beneficiaries of the state’s Skills Training Etreprenuership Programme (STEP) and Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP) of the state’s job creationprogrammeoftheIfeanyiOkowa administration.

The business clinic is part of the mentorship programme organized by the state’s directorate of youth monitoring and mentoring. The aim is to get the beneficiaries attached to mentors who

have done very well in their chosen skills so they could look up to them for advice and support.

The clinic also creates an interface between them and the relevant bodies that would assist them stay in business as well as help them cope with their various challenges.

At the event, the beneficiaries were asked to brace up to the vision of the state government in establishing the job creation programme by ensuring sustained and remarkable successes in business.

Key officials from selected financial institutionsinthestatetooktheirturnstohand out success tips at the event.

The chairman, job and wealth creation steering committee of the state, Kingsley Emu, enjoined the participants to cultivate and sustain some level of entrepreneurial spirit if they would remain relevant in business.

Emu, who is also, the state commissionerforeconomicplanning,advisedthe participants to, particularly exhibit high level of entrepreneurial discipline, prudence, commitment and dedication to theirchosenbusinessesjustashecharged them to cultivate positive attitude in their relationships with people, particularly customers.

Speaking also, the chairman, Delta State Investment Development Agency (DIDA), Afam Obiago, expressed delight at what he described as high level of commitment and enthusiasm by the beneficiaries. He assured that his office was ready to partner with them in order to enhance the growth and development of their businesses.

of Nigeria, is one of the approved Entrepreneurship Development Institutes, for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Agri-business small and medium enterprises investment scheme (AGSMEIS) fund, designed to help SMEs in the country.

The firm is also working with Abia State Government in the implementation of the State’s MSME Development Programme.

The programme involves sensitization and selection of suitable SMEs, using its selection criteria, capacity building, and access to finance, monitoring and evaluation.

This programme is in collaboration with the Abia State Ministry of Industry and Diamond Bank Plc.

Access Road, Onitsha Road Industrial Estate, Owerri

Nwabueze Anyanwu

Young entrepreneurs in Delta embrace mentorship for business growth MERCY ENOCH, Asaba

He lauded the governor’s support to SMEs global exposure and linkage through several interventions such as the 30 shoemakers sent to China to improve their skills, and putting together plans to ensure that the equipment they require to ensure seamless productions is provided.

Apiafi, explained that the annual Made-in-Aba exhibition in Abuja, the nation’s capital, which resulted in the order of military booths and uniforms for graduates on National Youth Service (NYSC), by the Federal Government, has increased the visibility of goods Made-in-Aba. Wider Perspectives Limited with presence in all the States in the South-East/South-South regions

Indigent students receive scholarship grant in A/Ibom ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo

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hirty five indigent students have received a scholarship grant of N130,000eachfromaphilanthropist under the Mkpisong Ememobong Essien scholarship scheme 2018.

The students drawn from tertiary institutions across the country were awarded the scholarship during the 35th birthday anniversary of Ini Emembong, the brain behind the fund held at Ibom Hall in Uyo, the state capital.

Ememobong who also the publicity secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state said the scholarship was tosupportandencouragethebeneficiaries to achieve their academic goals to make t contribute to the development of society.

He urged them to shun cultism and other social vices in order to achieve positivethingsinlivestressingthatcultismleads to destruction.

Speakingonbehalfofthebeneficiaries, the overall best student in the scholarship competition, Blessing Godwin lauded Ememobongforhisbenevolencedescribing it as gesture of love to the people.

Meanwhile,over200youthsandsmall business operators have benefitted from one-day training on Google marketing skills and technique.

The training was sponsored by Ini Ememobong foundation in collaboration with Regal Jurist meant to offer the youths and business owners the platform to bring innovations to their businesses.

According to him, it is important to equip youths with the skills needed to enhance their productivity in the society adding that youths in the state should be seen among their counterparts in the global community.

MAN laments deplorable state of Imo industrial estate …10,000 workers in the unemployment market …wants Imo govt to intervene

SABY ELEMBA, Owerri

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wabueze Jones Anyanwu, the chairman of the manufacturers association of Nigeria (MAN) Imo/Abia branch has lamented over the harsh manufacturing environment faced by members operating in the Onitisha-Road Industrial Estate, Owerri, saying that among the challenges are the deplorable road networks in the industrial estate.

He informed our correspondent in an exclusive interview that over 90 per cent of the investors have relocated their investments to other states, especially Ahoada and Omoko in Rivers State where the manufacturing environment is relatively healthier.

He has expressed his dismay over what is happening in the area that about 10,000 skilled and unskilled workers have lost their jobs due to successive governments’ neglect of the area, to have allowed the infrastructural facilities put by Sam Mbakwe administration to rot.

Nwabueze said that MAN as the umbrella body for manufacturers in the country has a duty to intervene on members’ problems, to ensure that members’ business interests are enhanced, ensure also that employment opportunities are created for the masses and foster the development of an economic environment.

He called on the Imo state govern-

ment to ease the harsh operating environment in Onitsha Road Industrial Estate especially the road networks which have led to members of MAN to relocate their investments to other states.

“Based on complaints from members at Onitsha Road industrial layout Owerri MAN wrote to the Imo House of Assembly on the menace of the burrow pit and the ugly activities of the truck loaders in the industrial estate, but there was no positive answer seen.

“We call on the Imo state government to please revisit the issue with a view to ameliorate the sufferings of the members who are still operating on the area”, Anyanwu said.

According to him, “MAN Imo/Abia branch is partnering with Independent Power Provider (IPP) with a view to supplying electricity to members at Owerri/ Onitsha Road Industrial cluster”, and that the IPP had visited in order to verify the suitability of the industrial estate for citing the project. Meanwhile MAN members who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of harassment by government agents said that heavy trucks and trailers plying the access road have done a lot of damage to the road.

“Before the arrival of those heavy trucks to the estate, industrialists in the layout maintained the road, we contributed money but the arrival of those heavy trucks carrying cement has done a lot of damage on the access road and have made it impassable for us and for

our customers who patronize us”, an affected investor said.

Another manufacturer said “the only staff in my factory is the security men and two persons that maintain the equipment in the factory and you can see that the factory is almost closed.”

Investigations by our Correspondent reveal that the companies badly affected as a result of the dilapidated road include LIS water LIS furniture, LIS toilet rolls, Snow white company Sky Aluminum, GMICORD roofing sheets and steel company, Tegee, RENCO Mills etc.

There are, however others which our checks reveal that work at less than half of their installed capacity because of bad roads, coupled with other harsh environmental factors. They include Bro kenn agro allied Industries ltd, Highest Investment and Marketing Company Nig Ltd., Akunez pipes, GINCOL pipes, DM Pharmaceutical, Oynxx oil, Leo 9 etc.

The industrial estate is now over taken by bushes; drainages constructed by the late Sam Mbakwe administration the former governor has been covered with sand and debris, dangerous reptiles, snakes and other carnivorous beings. Meanwhile, the only police post in the estate, along the roads where trailers and trucks berth to off-load cements has been over grown with weeds and grasses, the police who used to be there have been reposted to other areas.

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Sports

Super Eagles get dollar boost ahead of AFCON clash with South Africa …As Gov. Okowa motivates team with $25,000 for each goal scored Stories by Anthony Nlebem

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igeria senior football team, the Super Eagles are highly motivated for their Saturday’s crucial 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa as Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has pledged a whopping sum of $25,000, approximately nine million naira (N9million) for each goal scored.

The Super Eagles will tackle South Africa in their fifth group E game which qualification for the tournament scheduled for Cameroon in 2019.

The governor made the promise when he paid a visit to the Super Eagles camp at Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, where he charged the team to go for victory and secure Nigeria a ticket for next year’s AFCON. “I am pleased to have the Super Eagles here in Asaba. We hope you

make Asaba your home and as a people, we will begin to follow your progress even more closely.

“We appreciate the giant strides Nigerian football is making and commend the leadership of the NFF for making Delta State part of its success story.

“For every goal scored by the

Super Eagles in Johannesburg on Saturday, November 17, 2018, we pledge a reward of $25,000.

Please don’t put a limit to the number of goals you score on Saturday; try and score as many as possible.”

Super Eagles stand-in captain, Ahmed Musa thanked the gover-

nor for his gesture and promised the team will do its best in the encounter.

“We thank His Excellency, Governor Okowa, so much for the motivation to us to do well in Johannesburg on Saturday. We promise that we will return here on Sunday with victory.

“We will also do all we can to give the people of Asaba and the generality of Delta State and Nigerians a very good game against Uganda next Tuesday.”

In his remarks, Super Eagles technica adviser, Gernot Rohr expressed happiness for governor kind gesture.

“I thank the Delta State Government for their hospitality and for making us feel so comfortable. I am so happy because the pitch is in a much better state than the last time I was here.

“The Super Eagles will continue to work hard to make all those who have played one role or the other in its progress happy that their investment in the team is not a waste.”

The Super Eagles face South

Africa on Saturday, November, 17 before a friendly encounter against the Cranes of Uganda in Asaba on Tuesday, November 20.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has named Gambia’s Bakary Gassama as the centre referee for the game with his countrymen, Sulayman Sosseh and Omar Darboe as the first and second assistant referees respectively.

Nigeria top group E with 9 points from four games while South Africa are second with 8 points from the same number of games while Libya are third with four points.

However, the memory of that defeat has not gone away, which was why the Eagles have pulled no punches since the 2019 AFCON qualifiers resumed in September, winning all three matches to bounce to the top of the pool and standing at the door of qualification with a match to spare.

A win for Nigeria will seal their place for next year AFCON holding in Cameroon.

Top golfers set to compete at Southern Sun Ikoyi Golf Tournament

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n line with its tradition of fostering tourism through sports within its business community, Southern Sun Ikoyi is set to host the highly anticipated 7th edition of its annual Golf Tournament, scheduled to tee off on November 16th, 2018 at the lush grounds of Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate.

The keenly contested tournament will feature about 80 players nominated by corporate sponsors representing various sectors of the economy. It is considered to be one of the strategic plans developed by the luxury hotel to reinforce its commitment to the promotion of sporting activities, relaxation and networking within its community.

Speaking at a media briefing ahead of the tourney, Mark Loxley, General Manager, Southern Sun Ikoyi, used the opportunity to appreciate traditional sponsors for their support while recognising new partners. He reiterated that preparations are in top gear to ensure that partners

and stakeholders of the Southern Sun Ikoyi brand have a truly memorable and fun day at this year’s tournament.

Loxley said that in addition to the fantastic networking opportunities on offer to its sponsors and guests, “the 2018 Southern Sun Ikoyi Golf Tournament day, is one of the best ways that we can have our esteemed customers escape the daily chores of a hectic schedule and instead, do something healthy and socially worthy to strengthen the ties of our business community through sports and leisure” Reiterating the tournament’s objective, Ubong Nseobot, Sales and Marketing Manager, Southern Sun Ikoyi, stated that “the golf tournament is a significant event within the hotel’s calendar as it is not a commercial event, but a CSR activity in giving back to the community within which it operates. Proceeds from the tournament will be given to the Arrows of God Orphanage which has been the hotel’s adopted charity organization for the past nine years”

Participants at this year’s Southern Sun Ikoyi Golf tournament also stand a chance of winning exciting and mouthwatering prizes ranging from cash prizes, business and economy class tickets to various international travel destinations and other prizes courtesy of the tournament’s corporate sponsors.

The Southern Sun Ikoyi Golf has grown bigger in scope as well as preparation and in turn has attracted both traditional and new sponsors who are keen on partnering with the hotel to ensure a world class golfing experience. Some traditional sponsors include as EKEDC, Zenith Bank, Diamond Bank, DHL, amongst others, while new partners who have come on board include KLM, Air Namibia and Kenya Airways With the exclusive opportunity of relaxation and networking with top executives within the Lagos business community, the Southern Sun Ikoyi 7th annual Golf Tournament is a must attend.

L-R: Eyanimo Steven, Administration Manager, Distell Beverages Nigeria Limited; Mark Loxley, General Manager, Southern Sun Ikoyi; Hafeez Balagun, Country Manager, Kenya Airways; Remco Bohre, Commercial Director Nigeria & Ghana, KLM, and Stella Aghedo, Key Account Manager, South African Airways, at the Media Briefing ahead of the 7th Annual Southern Sun Ikoyi Tournament in Lagos

2019 AFCON: NB Plc charges Eagles to beat South Africa

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igerian Breweries Plc has urged the Super Eagles to extract their pound of flesh from the Bafana Bafana of South Africa when the two sides meet on Saturday in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations match day five game at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.

This motivational message was contained in a press statement issued by Emmanuel Oriakhi, the Marketing Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc on the AFCON qualifying game coming up this weekend in South Africa.

It would be recalled that South Africa defeated Nigeria 2-0 at the Godswill Akpabio stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state in the opening group E game of the qualifiers in June 2017, but Oriakhi believes coach Gernot Rohr and his Eagles are motivated to avenge that loss and confirm their ticket to the biennial African football fiesta in Cameroun next year.

“As an official partner of the Nigeria Football Federation, Nigerian Breweries Plc is solidly behind the Super Eagles to deliver the goals and the points to seal the very important

ticket that will guarantee Nigeria’s return to the Africa Cup of Nations after failing to qualify for the last two editions in 2015 in Equatorial Guinea and 2017 in Gabon,” Oriakhi stated.

Nigerian Breweries Plc brands, Star Lager beer and Amstel Malta are the Official Beer and Official Malt drinks of the Super Eagles respectively.“As the official beer and official malt drink of the Super Eagles, the two brands will be providing support to players and coaching crews, as well as premium satisfaction to millions of passionate fans that will be cheering the Super Eagles before, during and after Saturday’s game in Johannesburg to secure the ticket to participate in the 32nd edition of Africa’s premier football competition, Cameroun 2019, Oriakhi further said.

“Star Lager has always been a strong supporter of Nigerian Football and its fans, while Amstel Malta is well known for inspiring people to be the best they can be. We are dedicated to the growth of Nigerian Football at all levels,”- he further explained.

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Osinbajo calls for compliance with paradigm shift in politics due to advanced technology CONRAD OMODIAGBE

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ice President Yemi Osinbajo has reiterated the need for Nigerians to adapt to the global technological revolution, especially in the areas of marketing and electoral management processes.

In a keynote address presented at the opening of the maiden eCam Electronic Campaigns and Marketing Summit, which focuses on the role of information communication technology (ICT) in Nigeria’s electoral process, Osinbajo, represented by Adebayo Shittu, minister of communication, expressed urgency in the need for Nigeria to get on board with the utilisation of modern technologies in ensuring a seamless election.

“Today, with a digital revolution, the political and marketing landscape paradigm has shifted

with the advent of new media and ICT. We must adopt innovative and creative ways of using ICT in ensuring penetrative campaigns and efficient electoral processes,” he said.

The Vice President also explained that outside the electoral process, ICT played a vital role in not just the dissemination of information, but also in its contribution to the economy in terms of GDP and reduction of unemployment levels, stating that the government was committed to exploring the sector further.

“The sector currently contributes about 10 percent to the nation’s GDP and we are making conscious efforts to ensure its continuity over the next couple of years.

The government is ready to launch an aggressive intervention into the sector by investment in skills development to stimulate growth and calm the tides of unemployment,” he said.

On the upcoming 2019 elections and what Nigerians should expect, he said, “Government is working assiduously to ensure a free and fair election, free from suppression and intimidation.”

Senate president, Bukola Saraki, in his goodwill speech, noted that adopting ICT innovations in electioneering would ensure transparency and accountability, especially as we etch closer to the 2019 general election, which would help in returning lost confidence to the Nigerian people.

Saraki also appealed to election umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to listen and properly analyse the ideas and innovations shared at the summit to catch up with new methods of data management and coordination, which would ensure a seamless election process in not just 2019, but also in the years ahead.

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Labour warns against delay in implementation Reconstruction work begins on 109 roads in Edo of N30,000 new minimum wage do State governor, KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja

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rganised labour on Wednesday warned Federal Government against any attempt to delay or truncate the newlyagreed N30,000 national minimum wage.

Bobboi Kaigama, president, Trade Union Congress (TUC), gave the charge while addressing National Executive Council (NEC) of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) in Abuja.

Kaigama said: “It is apt to state that against all odds, the Tripartite Committee that negotiated the new Minimum Wage was able to scale all hurdles and agreed on N30,000 as the new minimum wage for the country.

“It is on this premise that I strongly want to appeal to the Federal Government to fast track the process of enacting the new National Minimum Wage into law.

“Our expectation is that the government should be able to complete the entire process before the end of this year so that workers who have waited for so long can begin to enjoy a new

lease of life provided by the new minimum wage.

“The Federal Government is advised to avoid any action that can delay or truncate the process of enacting the new Minimum Wage as the consequences of allowing that to happen can be very devastating.

“This situation has been made worse by the fact that since 2010 when salary review was carried out in the core civil service, no salary increment has been granted to civil servants except for the N900 monthly that was added to the emoluments of senior officers across board after N18,000 was approved as the National Minimum Wage in 2011.

“I must now dwell on the vexed issue of illegal recruitment and appointment of officers including Permanent Secretaries into the Civil Service which we have been battling over the years.

“The vexed issue of corruption still remains one of the major challenges facing us as a nation. This hydraheaded monster continues to loom large in our country in spite of the initial steps taken to address the menace by the present administration.

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Godwin Obaseki, has made true his promise to reconstruct failed roads across the state with the commencement of work on 109 roads in the three senatorial districts.

The contractors handling the projects were seen with their workers on site on Thursday when journalists went around Benin metropolis to inspect the road projects.

The workers were seen with their equipment on Ugbor-Amagba Road, which covers 13.8 kilometres, according to the contractor.

Major reconstruction work is ongoing in parts of Government Reservation Area (GRA) in Benin City, including Boundary Road, as residents expressed appreciation to the Governor Obasekiled administration for taking advantage of the dry days to fix the roads.

Speaking with journalists at Etete Junction on Adesuwa Road, assistant supervisor, Heartland Nigeria Limited, Charles Erua, said they were rehabilitating failed portions of Etete Road.

Erua explained, “After fixing this part of the road our men will move to 1st and 2nd Ugbor as well as other roads in the axis.”

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According to the World Bank’s Off-grid Solar Market Trends Report for 2017, Nigeria is the second largest market in the world for off-grid electricity with 8 percent of global off-grid households. The Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency (REA) says Nigeria’s mini-grid market is worth $9.2billion a year and solar home systems can save Nigerians $4.4bn a year in energy cost.

In the last three years, organisations like the United States Africa Development Foundation, (USADF) African Development Bank (AfDB), GIZ and Heinrich Boell Foundation, have ramped funding and advocacy about the prospect of off grid to deliver energy access for millions of Nigerians without power.

According to BusinessDay calculations, about $500 million worth of funding has come into the Nigerian off grid space in the past 2 years alone, backed by technical and governance support.

The World Bank has provided

the Nigerian government, a $350 million loan for the development of rural electrification projects in the country. In October, Shell-seeded, All On, announced partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB); the Nordic Development Fund (NDF); Global Environment Facility (GEF); and Calvert Impact Capital (CIC) towards a $58 million first close for the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (OGEF).

CD Glin, the CEO and President of USADF told BusinessDay that his organisation has provided about $10million dollars in funding to different activities in Nigeria including off grid energy sector.

In Nigeria, All On headed

by Wiebe Boer, is the only local investor focused solely on Nigeria’s off grid energy sector. All On has actively championed local investment through grants, seed funding and energy challenges where the most innovative ideas receive funding.

In July it gave four early stage energy companies $40,000 in

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funding for innovative renewable energy solutions ranging from a generator powered by water to an air conditioner that does not require electricity.

Last month, All On and USADF announced winners of another round of energy challenge, awarding $100,000 grant, half in the form of low interest loan between 7 and 10 percent over five years and half as grant to support 10 different companies providing energy solutions for productive use in agro processing to a solar power assembling plant.

“All On is working hard to encourage other local investors as well as local commercial banks to invest in the sector,” Boer, company CEO told BusinessDay. He further said, “However, as it is a nascent sector with mostly unproven businesses, off grid energy companies are beyond the risk of appetite of most local investors, We are confident though that as All On and other investors derisk off grid business and help them scale, we will see substantial local investment pouring in,” Boer said.

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Funding crisis hits Federal Government...

Continued from page 2

be funded.

“Considering how far the NBS has reformed, I think it is unfair for anyone to attribute late release of unemployment data to political pressure. There is no money anywhere despite improved revenues in terms of oil, tax and even collections from customs since this year,” Goodluck added.

In June, President Buhari finally signed the controversial N9.120 trillion, 2018 budget after six months appropriation delays by the National Assembly.

The federal government plans to borrow N1.643 trillion to fund the deficit embedded in the budget and equally hopes to raise N306 billion from privatisation and another N5 billion from the sale of government property. So far, none of those assets have been sold, BusinessDay can confirm.

Apart from borrowings, questions are being raised on how the government is deploying billions of naira it claims to have recovered from looters, collections from revenue generating agencies, as well as oil earnings especially as crude prices have well exceeded the $51 budget benchmark.

The Nigeria Custom service, NCS for instance said it has already made N784. 88billion between January and August 2018 and hopes to exceed its N1.3 trillion target for the year.

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), announced it recorded N4.3trillion between January and October, which translates to 64.2 percent of its N6.7 trillion targeted for the 2018 fiscal year.

Besides, Nigeria has reportedly recorded a significant increase in oil export revenue, earning an estimated $26bn in the first seven months of this year, following rally in global crude oil prices, according to the OPEC Revenues Fact Sheet released by the Energy Information Administration.

The 2018 appropriation bill, the largest in the nation’s history, was premised on key revenue assumptions of oil price benchmark of $51 and 2.3 million barrels per day.

Although average oil output for the year has not reached the target, average oil price at over $70 per barrel so far in the year has well exceeded the $51 benchmark.

“Authorities may need to tell us whether all these earnings since beginning of this year are just being used to fund recurrent expenditure,” Goodluck further noted.

Like Fashola, Ambode to go without...

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L-R: Bukola Smith, executive director, business development, First City Monument Bank (FCMB); Yinka Ayandele, tutor-general/permanent secretary, Lagos State Education District 1, and Charles Odii, executive director, SME100 Africa, during the Lagos Small Business Summit, organised by SME100 Africa and supported by FCMB, in Lagos.

Oil price decline adds to unease over...

Continued from page 1

are starting to weigh on equities as stocks closed the fourth trading session of the week negative, losing 0.76 percent, led by a selloff in large cap blue chip names like Guaranty Trust Bank (-6.5%), Zenith (-3.1%) and Lafarge Wapco (-1.8%).

Similarly, market breadth index was negative with 10 gainers against 21 stocks that declined.

“Nigeria should look at both sides of the balance sheet,” Adeola Adenikinju, energy economics professor at the University of Ibadan, and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria told BusinessDay by phone.

Adenikinju further said it is

important for Nigeria to both cut costs and expand its revenue base. He suggested widening the tax base and selling off public assets like the refineries that the country is not managing well and reducing the cost of governance by curtailing overhead costs.

But these are hardly new counsel. Nigeria’s three refineries have been performing at less than 10 percent of their installed output despite huge sums of money allocated to maintaining the refineries but the government is unwilling to sell them off.

“Another area of waste is the subsidy or underrecoveries, Nigeria has to make a decision on why it should keep them,” said Adenikinju.

The price of OPEC basket of fifteen crudes stood at $64.51 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with $67.01 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Oil futures are down about 20 percent after putting in a 52 week high early last month. The current dip is the longest falling streak since futures trading began in 1983.

Yet OPEC remained upbeat about its forecast for the oil market. In in its World Oil Outlook (WOO) 2018 released November 14, OPEC said that the world’s primary energy demand will surge by 33 percent from 2015 levels to 365 million barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed) in 2040, with developing economies accounting for nearly 95 percent of this growth.

April 18, 2018, had said: “We have received a number of proposals for the project.

As I speak, we’re at the last phase of selecting the preferred bidder. I believe this would be announced to the public by either May or June”.

The commissioner’s assurance had elicited expectation from Lagosians but all that is fading away, as request made to Akinsanya yesterday to give updates on the project was not responded to.

Under the previous contract cancelled in May 2017, the bridge would have cost about N844 billion to build.

The consortium included Visible Asset Limited, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Hi-tech Construction Limited, J.P. Morgan, Eldorado Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Westminster Dredging and Marine, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Access Bank. The government had cited delay in the commencement of work by the investors as reason for the termination of the contract.

The 4th Mainland Bridge was

It also said that India and China are forecast to be the most important contributors to energy demand growth.

“Despite relatively low demand growth rates (especially for coal and oil), fossil fuels are projected to remain the dominant component in the global energy mix, with a share of 75% in 2040, albeit a drop of 6 percentage points from 2015,” OPEC said.

Medium-term oil demand growth—that is through 2023—is expected to average 1.2 million bpd each year, OPEC said in its WOO. OPEC said energy demand in India and China is expected to jump by 22 million boed and 21 million boed, respectively, by 2040—accounting for more than 50 percent of energy de-

conceived by Tinubu who could not get it started. His predecessor, Fashola (2007 -2015) eventually drew up the design/alignment but failed to take it beyond that level.

The alignment is to pass through Lekki, Langbasa and Baiyeiku towns along the shoreline of the Lagos Lagoon estuaries, further running through Igbogbo River Basin and crossing the Lagos Lagoon estuaries to Itamaga Area in Ikorodu.

The alignment would further cross through the Itoikin road and the Ikorodu -Sagamu Road to connect Isawo inward Lagos Ibadan Expressway at Ojodu Berger axis.

Ambode made the first breakthrough in May 2016 when he signed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with a consortium of investors to fund the construction of the bridge at the cost of N844 billion. The investors were to Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT)theinfrastructurebacktothestate government after 40 years of recouping theirinvestment.However,oneyearafter inMay2017,theagreement,thegovernment terminated the contract.

mand growth in developing economies.

After plummeting more than 25 percent since Oct. 3, oil may however be ready for a rebound, multiple technical studies suggest.

Oil halted its longest losing streak on record in New York on Wednesday, gaining 56 cents amid technical support and news OPEC was discussing deeper-than-anticipated cuts in output. West Texas benchmark crude futures had dropped from a closing high of $76.41 a barrel on Oct. 3 to $55.69 on Nov. 13, on concern a supply glut was emerging.

One of the main theories in technical analysis is that prior resistance becomes new support, which may be emerging for oil prices.

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Mahathir Continued from back page

project that the controlling levers should be retained in the hands of the Malay majority, while at the same time the industry and economic dominance of the Chinese population should be cultivated for national prosperity. All of this was to be done while maintaining harmony and cooperation between the different ethnic groups. It was a tough task, but it mirrored pretty much the nation-building challenge faced by many post-colonial societies in the third world. Mahathir embarked on visionary projects, such as the building of a ‘Cyberjaya’ – a mini-city designed to serve as a hub for development of information technology long before many Asian countries awoke

to the possibilities of the technology.

Even when he urged the ‘bumiputra’ to pull themselves up by the bootstraps so that they could effectively compete with other racial groups, his statement was seen as no more than plain talk from a leader offering tough love to his people. The country waxed stronger.

But certain things did not match and tended to put a question mark on Mahathir’s squeaky-clean image. One of them was the sacking and jailing of his deputy and presumptive heir Anwar Ibrahim after what was obviously a falling out. Anwar was indicted, convicted, and sent to prison for ‘sodomy’.

It was a bizarre development that was never fully explained, since ‘sodomy’ was

only a crime in starkly religious societies and among such groups as confused Nigerian legislators noted for making absurd laws.

The same Anwar now became the power broker for Mahathir’s second incarnation. It was understood that a deal had been struck for him to hand over the office of Prime Minister to Anwar eventually, presumably after ‘stabilizing’ the polity to his satisfaction. And indeed, he moved swiftly to free Anwar from prison, granting him a full pardon.

Since coming back to power, Mahathir has moved swiftly to sanitize the system – again. He has created a Council of Eminent Persons to serve as government’s advisory board. He has made major changes to the structure of government. His predecessor as Prime Minister

has been questioned on corruption charges by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

What really are the lessons to be learned from Mahathir’s, and Malaysia’s current situation? What are the prospects that Mahathir will do in one or two years what he could not do in twenty-three years – build a sustainable system that is able to regulate itself and prevent outrage ous behavior? Is he truly going to hand over power to Anwar Ibrahim soon? If Anwar is guilty of ‘sodomy’, why has he been freed, and given the prospect of becoming Malaysia’s Prime Minister in short order? If he is not guilty, why was he charged In the first place? What are the prospects for Malaysia?

What are the lessons for other countries, especially those in the third world.

At the ver y least, the ‘strongmen’ who hold sway

In Africa must reflect on the Mahathir lesson – that having an ‘honest’ man rule a nation, even for decades is not enough guarantee of sustainable ‘change’, just as putting a ‘tough’ man at the helm of Customs does not guarantee the building of a good Customs service. Institutions need to be built, in place of personality promotion, grandstanding and sensational trials in the media.

To use a phrase that is getting increasingly shopworn, a countr y serious about sustainable development requires not strong men, but strong institutions.

How to create those strong institutions in countries riven with corruption and a lack of commonly agreed values remains the milliondollar question.

political masters were often second-rate people. They also provided continuity and institutional memory in a context of sudden and often violent changes in regimes that wrenched the collective psyche of state and society.

Of course, they made their own mistakes. The socalled “cement scandals” of the early seventies whereby an armada of ships turned up at our ports with cement that would ordinarily have taken several years to off-load.

Most had to be turned back while others were diverted to neighbouring countries. The Udoji salary bonanza was clearly an exercise in folly from a public finance viewpoint. So was the cultural jamboree that was known as “FESTAC 77”. They ought to have advised the government better on how to lay a solid foundation for Nigeria’s industrial and technological take-off.

Be that as it may, they represented, without a shadow of debt, the best that Nigeria had to offer. The public service of those days had giants that dwarf those of today. Men such as Simeon Adebo, Jerome Udoji, Taslim Olawale Elias, Leslie Harriman and others were men of supreme accomplishment that have left an illustrious heritage that we of today can only marvel at. The public service of today’s Nigeria is a morass of incompetence, grand larceny, intellectual laziness and abysmal standard. We are told, for example, that the majority of the permanent secretaries that were appointed by the current APC-led administration are dominated by former Directors of Finance of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government. The

reason is not far-fetched: They were apparently the people who could afford to buy those prebends of high office. Our civil service of today has fallen out of grace.

Nepotism and favouritism is the watchword. Graft is the norm. There is no esprit de corps to speak of. There are secret recruitments going on, in which merit has been thrown to the dogs. What counts is your connection and whether you are the son of an emir, chief, senator or some other powerful individual. This explains why children of peasants with first class honours are wandering the streets while children of the rich have cushy jobs in CBN, NCC, NNPC, Customs, Foreign Affairs and other well-paid government establishments.

The only way to redeem the situation is to set up a national commission to review the entire civil service with a view to restructuring it and ensuring it meets the imperatives of the twentyfirst century. We must create a merit-based civil service headed by an elite administrative service as obtains in countries such as China, Japan, India, South Korea and Singapore. I am unashamedly an elitist. I believe with the Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto that the world is governed by elites. But they must be elites of talent, not nepotism. We need a merit-based civil service in which the entry point and promotion are based on rigorous examinations. The Chinese have had such a tradition for centuries. This explains why its rulers are always people of the highest quality and intellect. No nation can prosper if it is ruled by inferior minds.

Allison Ayida and the golden years of Nigerian...

Continued from back page

of our First Economic Development Plan 1959-1968.

In his posthumous memoirs, Stolper waxed lyrical about some of the great Nigerians he met: Simeon Adebo, Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, Ojetunji Aboyade, Pius Okigbo, Ali Akilu, Philip Asiodu and Allison Ayida; royal princes who could hold their own in any court or chancellery in the world.

W h e n y o u n g Ya ku b u Gowon, age 31, was addressing his first cabinet meeting, he referred to Abdulazeez Attah as “my secretary”. Whether it was a slip of tongue or a deliberate put-down, we would probably never know. Suffice it to say that the Okene prince firmly corrected the Head of State: “No, I’m not your secretary; I’m the Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

Gone are the days!

Unlike us Lilliputians, they were bereft of ethnic or religious bigotry. His friend and colleague Ahmed Joda once wrote: “On my way to the Kaduna airport to fly to Lagos to take over as Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information, on 12 July 1967….Ali Akilu, Secretary to the Military Government of Northern Nigeria… drew me aside and advised me to as soon as possible after arriving in Lagos…call on two men – Allison Ayida and Philip Asiodu, both Permanent Secretaries….He advised that I should work closely with both men. They, he said, were good and loyal Nigerians and very intelligent.”

Ayida belonged to a generation that were wrongly referred to by journalists and even academics as “su-

per permanent-secretaries”.

They included the likes of Philip Asiodu, Allison Ayida, Ahmed Joda, Ime Ebong and Ibrahim Damchida. They were so-called because they exercised an influence in government that was far beyond what was expected of any civil servant in rich and poor countries alike. But it was not their fault. They were gifted young men with the best education anyone could hope for, then as now.

They were trained by the British, with their exacting standards and patrician selfconfidence. Many of their political masters - civilian and military - were not in their league, if truth be told.

But what stood them out was their sense of national mission and destiny. They were patriots to the core.

Following the revenge coup by Northern officers in July 1967, Yakubu Gowon gave a national broadcast in which he declared that there was no longer a basis for the continued existence of the Nigerian federation. Many northern civil servants and officers were getting ready to evacuate Lagos. It was SuperPermanent Secretaries like Asiodu who risked their lives by braving it into Dodan Barracks to prevail on Gowon to retract his disastrous announcement.

And following the Aburi Accord of August 1967 in which Gowon had literally acquiesced to Ojukwu’s demand for confederation, it was again the Super-Permanent Secretaries, aided by British Petroleum and Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who dissuaded him from that misguided course. Prince Solomon Akenzua, who had accompanied Gowon to the conference, did not sleep

upon return to Lagos. He spent the entire night writing a memo to persuade the Head of State to renege on an agreement that could have destroyed our federation.

Those who blame Gowon for reneging on Aburi are ignorant of international law which prescribes that treaties could only be binding after ratification by the parties concerned. Aburi was never ratified and so could never be regarded as a legally binding agreement under international law.

In his long years in retirement Ayida spent his time in charitable works and in supporting cultural groups such as his beloved Itsekiri people. He was a strong believer in the principle of self-determination for ethnic minorities throughout the Nigerian federation. He would have approved of our current commitment to restructuring for more effective nation building.

Unlike many of our plutocrats, he was more financially successful in private life than he was in government. He had wide ranging business interests from finance to oil and gas and real estate. He chaired the boards of several companies, among them Security, Printing and Minting Company Ltd, CFAO, CentrePoint Securities Ltd, Credit Lyonnais, and Berger Paints.

He was awarded an honorary LLD by the University of Benin and another LLD by Bayero University, Kano.

Like many of his generation of Nigeria’s golden years, he was saddened by the turn of events. At a Convocation Lecture at the University of Jos in January 1987, he lamented: “I stand before this audience as a sad Nigerian.

I feel sad because of the

sense of doom around the shadow of doubt hanging over us. There is too much human misery around”. This was as far back as 1987. It is no surprise that he took his exit in the dark night of a monstrous regime that has superintended such mindless killings and our descent into the status of the world capital of poverty.

The so-called super permanent-secretaries no doubt wielded considerable power well out of proportion with their mandate as civil servants. They came under severe criticism as usurpers who misled their military political masters on several occasion.

For example, my big egbon and pre-eminent public administration scholar Professor Ladipo Adamolekun had a running battle with the super permanent-secretaries whom he accused in one of his books of having misled General Yakubu Gowon to postpone return to civil rule.

It was a catastrophic decision that was to lead to the military coup that overthrew him in 1975. Some of them were also accused of enriching themselves from oil deals and from the Indigenisation Decrees that compelled foreign investors to sell off many of their assets to the Federal Government.

These accusations turned out to have been without foundation. With the benefit of hindsight, those were the golden years of Nigerian public administration. The civil servants of those days were people of distinction who could have served in the civil service of any advanced industrial democracy. What stood them out was that they were patriots. They appeared larger than life because they filled a vacuum where their

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Leadway, AIICO, African Alliance, two others control 71.6% market share of life premium MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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ive insurance companies, Leadway Assurance Company Limited, AIICO Insurance plc, African Alliance Insurance plc, Custodian Life Insurance Limited, and FBN Life Assurance Limited control 71.6 percent of the total life market share of gross premium income generated in the insurance industry in 2016.

The firms in the 2016 financial year generated N89.24 billion out of the total N124.57 billion gross premium of life business during the period, with Leadway leading with N31.59 billion equal to 25.36 percent and AIICO contributing N22.17 billion, equal to 17.80 percent.

As contained in the insurance industry statistical report accessed by BusinessDay, African Alliance followed with N13.42 billion gross premium, translating to 10.77 percent; Custodian N12.15 billion, translating to 9.75 percent; while FBN Life

generated N9.91 billion, equal to 7.96 percent.

Out of the total industry gross premium on life business, N67.26 billion was paid out as claims, while they also achieved investment income of N20.15 billion during the review year.

Management expenses, according to the data, were N15.17 billion, while profit after tax from the total review of life business stood at N4.82 billion.

Growing interest of retirees in taking annuity option for retirement benefits as well as increased compliance on group life insurance, particularly Federal Public Service employers, big institutions as provided in the Pension Reform Act 2014, is resulting in monumental growth in life insurance premium.

This development has led to increasing growth in performance of life companies offering annuity, now seen growing by 37 percent as at the end of 2015.

At the end of first quarter 2018, insurer has received

cumulatively the sum of N259 billion from retirees who subscribe to annuities for their retirement payments.

According to the second quarter 2018 report of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), a total of 2,652 applications have applied for retirement under life annuity, bringing the total number of retirees receiving their retirement benefits through the annuity plan to 54,471.

Analysts say this is likely to grow over time given that a lot of the retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme were beginning to be more aware of the benefits of annuity, unlike at the beginning of the pension reform when they did not understood they had choice to make between the available options.

According to the African Insurance Barometer, launched recently by the African Insurance Organisation, individual annuity business is the fastest growing personal line business, particularly in the sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria.

NERC grants UNIBEN licence for 15mw solar power IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin

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he authorities of the University of Benin on Tuesday said it had been granted licence by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to operate a 15-megawatts photo-voltaic solar power project.

Vice Chancellor of the institution, Faraday Orumwense, made the disclosure during a press conference to reel out the activities lined up for the 44th convocation/48th founder’s day ceremony of the university.

Orumwense said the project would be operated under a Public Private Partnership arrangement being driven by the United Kingdom branch of the University Alumni body.

He also said the institution was currently negotiating with various local and

international organisations in the area of hostel development and staff housing projects. He noted that when completed the hostel development would provide more opportunity in residency for staff and students for improve security.

The Vice Chancellor disclosed that a total of 11,832 graduands were to be awarded various diplomas and degrees during the convocation. He added that 134 students bagged First Class, 2,122 second class upper, 4,864 second class lower, 1,156 third class, while one student graduated with a pass.

He also added that 240 bagged Doctorate Degree (Ph.D), 2,207 masters degree, 559 with graduate diploma, 83 diploma, while 426 unclassified.

He further disclosed that

the Benin Monarch, Oba Ewuare II, would be conferred with the Honorary Doctor of Law (L.LD) Honoris Causa, while the university founder’s day lecture would be delivered by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the former managing director of Access Bank, an alumnus of the university.

Other to be conferred with honorary degrees of Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) Honoris Causa and Professor Emeritus by the university are Margaret Ekhoe Benson-Idahosa, Archbishop, Church of God Mission, who also doubled as the Chancellor, Benson Idahosa University, and Augustine Alenezela Enowoghomwenma Orhue, a senior professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, School of Medicine, College of Medical Sciences.

Tech revolution: 50 students complete first phase of EdoBits’ free digital skills training

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ot less than 50 young school leavers have graduated from Course One of Edobits ICT Academy, a free one-year programme run by the Edo State government through EdoJobs in collaboration with Edobits, Butterfly Works, Poise, and Wearebits.

The students were trained on advanced graphic design skills and performed freelance job for clients in Benin City and environs while on training.

Speaking with journalists at the graduation ceremony, project lead, Ekobits

and Edobits, Innih Ikhide, said the ceremony was for the course one of the programmes run by Edobits ICT Academy.

Ikhide said the Academy was set up this year by the state government through EdoJobs to train youths from less privileged communities and provide them with adequate knowledge of ICT to contribute to economic development.

He said course one lasted for eight weeks, as the students were equipped with the fundamentals of ICT, noting that the total duration of the course was 12 months.

According to Ikhide, “After course one, the students’ level of commitment will be reassessed because commitment is important.

After the reassessment, the students will continue with course two, which will last for six months after which they will move to course three. At the end of the one-year programme, the students will get a diploma certificate.”

He said the students are guaranteed to get jobs after the training, while those who want to toe the entrepreneurial path will be provided with the necessary support.

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US envoy bemoans Nigeria youths’ apathy toward politics …As Don urges carefulness in selection of leaders in 2019 Iniobong Iwok

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s the 2019 general election approaches, the United State (U.S) Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, has bemoaned the increasing apathy of Nigeria’s youths toward politics, stressing that the trend must be checked if the nation was to overcome its current challenges.

Symington made the observation yesterday, while speaking to journalists at the 2018 Humbert Humphery Alumni seminar with the theme, ‘The Youth and Transformational Leadership in Nigeria’, which was held at the BWC Hotels in Victoria Island, Lagos, noting that the greatest resources of the country was not its mineral deposits but the large number

of its youth population which largely remained untapped.

The Ambassador stressed that it was a disservice to the nation’s democracy that its large youth population was not being utilised, while charging the youths to be patriotic and seek ideas that would transform the country.

The envoy further urged the youth to take active part in next year’s general election, stressing that the future of the nation’s democracy was with them.

“The youths need to do more in terms of participation in politics in Nigeria; Nigeria’s democracy is growing but the youths are its greatest strength with resilient and hard work; I believe Nigeria’s democracy can move and overcome these challenges,” he said.

According to him, “The greatest asset of the country

is the youth population, it is not about your oil; Nigeria’s youths are a powerful force in the region of Africa. The challenge now how the youths can take their country and make it a good country; they have to think above themselves; think about the people in Niger State, Kwara, Kogi.”

In his lecture, guest speaker, Tunji Olopa, who is a professor of Public Administration and lecturer at the Lead University in Ibadan, urged the Federal Government to review the national youth’s policy, while charging the nation’s youths to be mindful of the kind of leaders they vote for in next year’s general election.

“The national youth policy needs to be reviewed; it was last reviewed in 2001 and much has changed since then, that should be a step forward,” Olopa said.

Friday 16 November 2018

N6.5bn A/Ibom funds: We are vindicated, says RBM

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President Muhammadu Buhari support group, Re– Elect Buhari Movement (RBM), has said that the discovery of an alleged withdrawal of N6.5 billion in cash from Akwa Ibom State coffers by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as a vindication of its stance on the state.

The cash was said to have been diverted from a derivation account to the impress account of the Ministry of Justice/Office of the Accountant–General in the state.

In a statement signed by Emmanuel Umohinyang, its convener, the group noted that the latest development may just be a tip of the iceberg “in the series of plundering of Akwa–Ibom State resources since 2015”.

The statement reads: “We

recall that we have been shouting on the top of our voices about the level of development of Akwa Ibom State since the present administration took over in 2015.“We did not just raise our voices because we hate the governor, but we did so, after comparing the quantum of resources that have accrued to the state and the level of work done so far.”

According to the group, “In the last three years, we make bold to say that the present administration has put Akwa Ibom State in a reverse gear as there is nothing on ground to justify the humongous resources so far received under Governor Udom Emmanuel.

“One cannot but be worried that the state by virtue of being an oil-producing state received far higher allocation than many of its counterparts across the country. In

neighboring states, of Abia, Rivers, Cross Rivers and others, we can see projects across the states, yet our people are yearning for theirs.”

It also claimed that “This is not the first time we are shouting corruption even before the EFCC first discovered N1.45billion was wired into slush accounts.”

“The RBM therefore, appeals to the EFFC to ensure that every kobo stolen from the state’s coffers till date be recovered forth with. And those indicted should also be arrested and prosecuted in the court of law to serve as a deterrent to others. This is in view of the fact that unlike the ‘uncommon transformation era’, Akwa Ibom people are seriously suffering under the government of ‘Mr. Integrity’ and cannot bear the pain any longer,” it further said.

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Brexit deal uncertainty hits trading in pound

Coca-Cola hit with $345m claim over ‘brain boost’ drink

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US criticises China’s ‘empire and aggression’ in Asia

Pence takes veiled swipe at Beijing’s regional ambitions ahead of Trump-Xi meeting at G20 Stefania Palma

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ike Pence, U S vice-president, has condemned “empire and aggression” in Asia in a veiled swipe at China’s growing influence across the region, fuelling tensions ahead of a meeting between the two countries’ leaders at the G20 summit later this month The rhetoric marks one of Washington’s strongest attacks on Beijing’s growing sway in the region, and comes amid a trade war that has seen the world’s two biggest economies slap duties on more than $350bn worth of trade, rattling global financial markets.

“We all agree that empire and aggression have no place in the IndoPacific,” Mr Pence told a gathering of Asian leaders at the Asean summit in Singapore. “In all that we do, the United States seeks collaboration, not control. And we are proud to call Asean our strategic partner.”

The US delegation has used the Singapore meetings to reassert its commitment to Asean — the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — from which the White House seeks support to push back against Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and to urge North Korea towards denuclearisation.

Mr Pence’s speech highlighted the tensions dominating Sino-US relations ahead of a key meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Xi in Buenos Aires later this month, the scheduling of which had signalled a potential breakthrough in the countries’ escalating trade dispute.

Wang Qishan, Chinese vicepresident and close confidant of Mr Xi, last week said that Beijing was ready to talk with Washington to resolve the trade dispute, while the US and China held high-level talks in Washington that included a meeting between John Bolton, Mr Trump’s national security adviser, and Yang Jiechi, a Chinese state councillor with responsibility for foreign affairs.

The stakes of the meeting in Argentina are high. These “significant” talks will cover a wide range of issues including trade and “will help give [the two presidents’] senior advisers guidance as to how to proceed going forward,” Mr Bolton told journalists at the Asean summit.

If no deal is reached, the most likely scenario is that the tariff rate on most of the $250bn of targeted Chinese exports to the US will rise from 10 per cent to 25 per cent in January. Mr Trump could then proceed to what US officials describe as phase three of the trade confrontation with Beijing, imposing tariffs on all US imports from China.

Theresa May fights to save Brexit deal as MPs plot leadership challenge Bid to secure support for EU divorce agreement rocked by ministerial resignations

Jim Pickard, Laura Hughes & Michael Peel

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heresa May was battling to save her deal take the UK out of the EU and her own position as prime minister as her government was rocked on Thursday by a series of ministerial resignations amid fierce backlash from Eurosceptics.

The prime minister was facing political attacks from multiple directions over a historic draft agreement struck with Brussels earlier this week that is intended to set the direction of the UK outside the EU. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the prominent pro-Brexit BP, has submitted a letter to the influential 1922 committee of backbench MPs seeking to force a leadership challenge to Mrs May. The committee needs letters from 48 MPs to call a vote on Mrs May’s position.

Mr Rees-Mogg, leader of the European Research Group of about 60 Tory MPs, said that the draft EU withdrawal bill had turned out to be worse than anticipated and failed to meet the promises given by Mrs May to the nation.

“What has been achieved to-

day is not Brexit,” he said on the steps of the St Stephen’s entrance to Parliament.

After months of wrangling with both Brussels and Eurosceptics, Mrs May managed to secure support for the deal from her cabinet after a fractious five-hour meeting on Wednesday. But on Thursday morning the cracks in her government’s unity quickly began to show with Brexiters claiming the deal ceded too much sovereignty to Brussels.

Dominic Raab quit as cabinet minister in charge of Brexit, saying in a letter that he could not support an arrangement “where the EU holds a veto over our ability to exit”. His resignation was quickly followed by that of work and pensions secretary Esther McVey. “The deal you put before the cabinet yesterday does not honour the result of the referendum,” the Brexiter minister said in a letter to the prime minister.

Brexiters argue that this week’s deal with the EU threatens the integrity of the UK by setting out a different regulatory regime for Northern Ireland from the rest Continues on page A6

Mike Pence: ‘Empire and aggression have no place in the Indo-Pacific’ © Reuters

Mr Pence on Thursday said that the US’s vision of the Indo-Pacific “excludes no nation. It only requires that every nation treat their neighbours with respect, that they respect the sovereignty of our nations and the international rules of order.”

Washington has accused China of military intimidation and economic coercion of other countries in the region. It argues that Beijing’s militarisation of the South China Sea has

effectively robbed rival claimants of fair access. Washington also says that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the foreign policy framework that builds Chinese influence through massive infrastructure projects, forces less powerful countries into dangerous dependence.

At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Papua New Guinea this weekend, Mr Pence is due to unveil details

of America’s Indo-Pacific strategy, aimed at providing an alternative to China’s BRI. The US plan “stands in sharp contrast to the dangerous debt diplomacy that China has been engaging in throughout the region and has led several countries . . . to have serious debt problems from accepting loans that are not transparent”, a senior US administration official told reporters in Singapore.

Saudi prosecutor distances crown prince from Khashoggi killing Authorities seek death penalty for 5 of 11 suspects charged in connection with journalist’s death Ahmed Al Omran, Andrew England & Ayla Jean Yackley

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audi Arabia has absolved Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of any blame in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi but admitted that the veteran journalist was drugged and his body dismembered.

As it struggles with its biggest diplomatic crisis in years, Riyadh said on Thursday that it was seeking the death penalty for five of 11 suspects charged in connection with the killing in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul last month.

The state prosecutor said a team of Saudi officials were sent to the diplomatic mission on October 2 with the goal of negotiating with Khashoggi and convincing him to return to the country.

But a fight broke out between the team and the journalist, who was injected with a sedative and given an overdose that caused his death.

Khashoggi’s body was then cut into pieces and moved outside the consulate with the help of a collaborator, said Sheikh Shalaan al-Shalaan, the deputy attorney-

general.

Western politicians and diplomats doubt that any operation against Khashoggi could have been authorised without the consent of Prince Mohammed, who is the kingdom’s de facto leader and has mounted a sweeping crackdown against critics and rivals.

Riyadh sacked two of the crown prince’s close confidantes — Ahmed Assiri, the deputy intelligence chief, and Saud al-Qahtani, a royal court adviser — last month in relation to the killing.

But Mr Shalaan said Prince Mohammed had no knowledge of the operation and was given a misleading report about what happened in the consulate.

The suspects charged with the killing were not named. The deputy attorney-general said a former royal adviser discussed Khashoggi with the team before it was deployed to Istanbul, briefed them about the journalist and said he had suspicions he had been in contact with hostile organisations and states.

When asked about Mr Qahtani, Mr Shalaan said the former adviser was banned from travel and

remained under investigation.

Mr Qahtani was one of Prince Mohammed’s most trusted loyalists and was widely viewed as the crown prince’s enforcer.

Mr Assiri was an adviser to the crown prince and, before being appointed deputy head of intelligence, served for two years as spokesman for the kingdom’s military intervention in Yemen, which has been spearheaded by Prince Mohammed.

When Riyadh finally admitted last month, after weeks of denials, that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, it sought to blame the murder on a “rogue” operation.

But its explanation was treated with widespread scepticism and western powers have increased pressure on the Saudi authorities to provide more details.

Turkey has insisted it was a premeditated murder carried out by a 15-man Saudi hit squad, and criticised Saudi Arabia for not co-operating with its investigation.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, said on Thursday that he did not find the Saudi statement “satisfactory”.

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NATIONAL NEWS

FT Theresa May fights to save Brexit deal as...

Facebook accused of smearing George Soros

Continued from page A5

Social media group also rebuked for allegedly adopting underhanded tactics against rivals

of the country, as well as giving Brussels extraordinary powers over Britain.

The deal includes a “backstop” plan for an all-UK customs union with the EU, which would maintain many existing EU rules, could prevent UK entering into trade deals with other countries and may prove impossible for Britain to exit without Brussels’ approval.

Mrs May defended her Brexit plan as she gave her statement in the House of Commons on Thursday morning, insisting that the alternatives were no Brexit or no deal.

“We can choose to leave with no deal, we can risk no Brexit at all, or we can choose to unite and support the best deal that can be negotiated,” she said.

Mrs May told MPs that she had never accepted the idea in some quarters that Brexit could not be done. She admitted it had been a frustrating process that had forced the UK to confront some “difficult issues”.

She insisted that the EU had offered some compromises, for example by dropping the plan for a Northern Ireland-only backstop and by holding out the idea of extending the two-year transition period instead.

Earlier, Julian Smith, the chief whip, told reporters outside Number 10 that “the prime minister will not be bullied and she will not change course”.

The first departure from Mrs May’s government on Thursday morning was Northern Ireland minister Shailesh Vara, who was later followed by junior Brexit minister Suella Braverman and parliamentary aides Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Ranil Jayawardena.

Their resignations are likely to embolden other Eurosceptic ministers to quit the government and makes it less likely that Mrs May can get her plan through parliament.

One Tory Brexiter MP said Ms McVey’s resignation “adds to the weight” of opposition against the deal. “Penny Mordaunt [international development secretary] presumably has to go now”,they added.

A Eurosceptic MP described Mr Raab’s resignation as the “end game” for Mrs May’s leadership. They added: “If the guy who was supposed to be leading it can’t support it, then how can MPs or the country. It’s a horror show. There’s no way back.

She has just got to go. This is an epic fail.”

Ministerial aides said that Michael Gove, the Eurosceptic UK environment minister, has been offered the role of Brexit Secretary vacated by Mr Raab.

The ministerial resignations triggered a sharp fall in the pound.

The currency was down 1.6 per cent at $1.2780, after Mrs May’s statement to MPs, off its lows for the session which took it down by as much as 1.9 per cent.

EU leaders are due to hold a special summit on November 25 aimed at signing off the proposed deal between the UK and the other 27 member states.

Hannah Kuchler

F Go Gaba contains an amino acid-based supplement that its proponents believe can alleviate stress and improve concentration

Coca-Cola hit with $345m claim over ‘brain boost’ drink Mexican entrepreneur files fraud and property theft charges against beverage maker Madison Marriage & Jude Webber

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Mexican entrepren e u r ha s f i l e d a criminal complaint against Coca-Cola and is seeking almost $345m in damages from the world’s largest beverage maker following a dispute over a new drink that aims to boost brain performance.

José Antonio del Valle has levelled allegations of corporate fraud and industrial property theft against Coca-Cola at a federal and local level in Mexico.

The Mexico City prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the complaint of corporate fraud, has found that the drinks manufacturer should pay Mr del Valle $344.5m in damages, according to official documents seen by the Financial Times. The local prosecutor is expected to serve subpoenas to Coca-Cola executives in Mexico in the coming weeks before a judge decides whether it can bring charges against the

company.

Federal prosecutors are separately investigating whether Coca-Cola committed industrial property theft. Both federal and local prosecutors declined to comment on their investigations.

Coca-Cola is an iconic brand in Mexico, where the former president Vicente Fox was chief executive of Coca-Cola Mexico in the 1970s. Its 75 brands across 11 categories contribute 1.4 per cent of Mexico’s gross domestic product.

The dispute centres on a new fizzy drink Mr del Valle developed after visiting Japan 10 years ago where he noticed the popularity of an amino acid-based supplement — Gaba — that is widely used in drinks and snacks in the country.

Academic studies into the effects of Gaba on the brain have yielded mixed results, although its proponents believe it alleviates stress, helps to address sleeping problems and improves concentration.

Mr del Valle launched an early version of a Gaba-based drink in 2012 in Mexico and the Netherlands, but halted production in 2016 while he undertook a rebranding exercise and revised the product’s formula.

After securing bank funding for an international relaunch, he entered talks with Coca-Cola Mexico in 2017 about the possibility of a commercial partnership involving his product, now named “Go Gaba”.

Both parties signed an agreement in December 2017, seen by the FT, that stated Coca-Cola and its subsidiaries would not participate in any other project that involved producing, distributing or selling any beverage similar to Go Gaba for at least 30 months after an initial exclusivity period had ended.

Less than six months after the agreement was signed, Mr del Valle was notified by employees at his company, Yaso, that CocaCola had launched a new product in Japan called “Fanta Gaba”.

Pound tumbles and gilts rally on fears for Brexit deal Resignation of Dominic Raab intensifies concerns over Theresa May’s deal Federica Cocco & Richard Blackden

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terling tumbled, the shares of companies exposed to the UK economy fell and government bonds rallied after Brexit secretary Dominic Raab’s resignation intensified concern over whether Theresa May will be able to steer her Brexit deal through parliament.

The reaction from financial markets has been subdued since Mrs May struck a Brexit deal with the EU earlier this week, because of fears that it would prove unacceptable to heavyweight pro-Brexit members of the cabinet, including Mr Raab, and ultimately jeopardise the agreement and the prime minister’s position.

Having been stuck in a tight range in early trading on Thursday, the pound tumbled 1.6 per cent to below the $1.27 mark after Mr Raab said he could not in “good conscience” support

the deal. UK government bonds rallied, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond falling 10 basis points to 1.4 per cent.

“It’s hard to be optimistic on the pound in the short term,” noted Jordan Rochester, a foreign-exchange analyst at Nomura following the exit of the Brexit secretary. “Theresa May has survived much worse. It’s whether we get a flood of resignations to follow.”

The pound has been the best barometer of the markets’ verdict on Brexit since the 2016 referendum and has remained stuck in a range of between $1.26 and $1.32 since August as investors try to filter out much of the noise ahead of the March deadline for the UK’s departure from the EU. However, any signs of a rising risk that Britain crashes out of the EU at the end of March without a deal is likely to hit sterling, which was trading above the $1.50 mark on the eve of the referendum, and buoy demand

for gilts as investors price in the risk of slower economic growth and lower UK interest rates for longer.

While the blue-chip FTSE 100 index was buoyed by the weakness in the pound, the slide in the shares of banks and housebuilders pointed to investors’ concern over the risks of the potential economic damage if a no deal were to happen.

UK housebuilders fell to the bottom of the FTSE 100, with shares of Persimmon falling 9.5 per cent and Barratt Developments sliding almost 8.3 per cent. Among the large UK banks, Royal Bank of Scotland dropped more than 8 per cent, while Lloyds and Barclays were both down about 5 per cent.

Foreign exchange strategists at Commerzbank said on Thursday that “we will only see a significantly positive reaction in the GBP exchange rates once an agreement has been accepted and signed by all sides”.

acebook has been accused by the Open Society Foundations of threatening the values of democracy, after a report said the social media company was involved in a smear campaign against the non-profit group’s founder George Soros.

Politicians and a large advertising agency were among those who condemned the social network on Wednesday after a New York Times article said Facebook adopted underhanded tactics after it came under political pressure because of Russian disinformation on the platform.

The story said Facebook used Definers Public Affairs, a Republican-leaning consultancy, to spread misinformation about its competitors and Mr Soros to reporters, as part of a strategy to distract from its own political problems.

Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations, said the strategy was “reprehensible”, “misguided” and “dangerous”.

In a letter to Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, that was also published on Twitter, Mr Gaspard wrote: “It is disappointing to see how you have failed to monitor hate and misinformation on Facebook’s platform. To now learn that you were active in promoting these distortions is beyond the pale.”

Facebook ended its contract with Definers on Wednesday night, after the New York Times article was published.

The company said in a statement on Thursday that it had never asked Definers “to pay for or write articles on Facebook’s behalf — or to spread misinformation”.

The company said Definers had encouraged journalists to look into the funding of an antiFacebook organisation called “Freedom for Facebook”.

“The intention was to demonstrate that it was not simply a spontaneous grassroots campaign, as it claimed, but supported by a well-known critic of our company,” Facebook said.

Facebook has been struggling with political problems ever since the extent of fake news on the platform was uncovered shortly after the 2016 presidential election. The company’s problems were compounded in March 2018, when a massive data leak to Cambridge Analytica, the data analytics company that worked with the Trump campaign, was exposed.

Facebook recently hired Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister, to head its global policy and communications teams, and tried to shift the focus away from its political challenges in its earnings call last month.

Definers Public Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.

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BUSINESS DAY

FINANCIAL TIMES

A7

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

Oil price rout buoys emerging market currencies Rupee and rupiah have strengthened 3% since crude fell from October high Emma Dunkley

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merging market currencies have been given a boost by the slide in oil price which has suffered its longest losing streak in more than three years.

Countries that are net oil importers, which includes most of Asia, have seen their currencies strengthen as the price of Brent crude heads towards its sixth successive week of declines.

The price of Brent is down a quarter since early October, trading at around $65 a barrel. The sell-off gathered pace this week following forecasts of reduced demand for oil and a warning from US president Donald Trump on Tuesday that the price of crude should be lower.

Since the start of October, India’s rupee and Indonesia’s rupiah have strengthened about 3 per cent.

The rupee jumped by as much as 0.9 per cent on Wednesday to Rs71.9912 per dollar, nearing its strongest level in two months, while Indonesia’s rupiah strengthened by as much as 0.45 per cent to Rp14,739 against the greenback.

“Both the rupee and rupiah are doing quite well in part because of the falling oil price,” said Sue Trinh, head of Asia FX strategy at Royal Bank of Canada. “The lower oil price takes the strain off the fiscal deficit,” she added, pointing to India’s recent move to cut retail fuel prices. “Generally, risk appetite remains buoyed by optimism over the widely anticipated

meeting at the G20 between the US and China.”

Asian currencies have broadly come under pressure this year from the oil price, which rose to a four-year high in early October. India, one of the world’s biggest net importers of oil, has seen the rupee fall to record lows over the past few months, heaping pressure on the country’s central bank to take action.

Kerry Craig, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, said oil prices had risen to October’s peak because of the assumption of dwindling supply at a time when demand was still robust.

“However, oil wasn’t immune to October’s risk-off stance and then fell further as supply was stronger than expected,” he added.

Manu George, a bond fund manager at Schroders, said the rupee and the Philippine peso have “without a doubt” been “huge beneficiaries of the falling oil price”.

“The yields in India are pretty high, at about 8 per cent on 10-year government bonds,” Mr George said.

“Some bond markets in Asia are too attractive to ignore, with the oil price coming down and the spectre of inflation is less prevalent.” Expectations of an interest rate increase in India have diminished slightly, he added, which has supported bond flows into the country.

But some countries that export oil have seen their currencies hit by the crude price slump.

Insurance reporting rule changes delayed by a year IFRS 17 will come into force in 2022 after intensive lobbying by the industry Oliver Ralph

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weeping reforms to how insurers report their profits have been delayed by a year after months of intensive lobbying by the industry.

The body that sets global accounting standards said on Wednesday that the new rules, known as IFRS 17, would now come into force in January 2022.

The delay will give insurance companies more time to adapt to the changes and to lobby against the parts of the rules that they do not like.

IFRS 17 aims to make it easier for investors and analysts to compare insurance companies. It is also designed to smooth out performance by forcing insurers to record profits from long-term policies over the life of the contract, rather than up front.

“People have argued that insurance company share prices have a discount [to other companies] because no one can understand their accounts,” said Alex Bertolotti from consultancy PwC. “The question is whether this will narrow that discount.”

Many insurers privately argue that the rules will fail to make accounts more comparable because insurance markets worldwide are fundamentally different. They say that the new standard simply imposes a huge burden on the industry in time, effort and expense, for little benefit.

Research conducted for consultancy Deloitte earlier this year found that one in three insurers globally was planning to spend more than €50m preparing for IFRS 17.

Last month, a group of eight industr y trade bodies from around the world wrote to the International Accounting Standards Board, the body that sets the IFRS rules, calling for a twoyear delay to implementation.

“There are serious operational constraints on insurers’ ability to successfully implement IFRS 17 on the current timelines,” they said.

Mr Bertolotti said that the one-year delay was good for the industry: “Insurance companies have a lot to do to implement IFRS 17 and time was running out. An extra year de-risks risky projects.”

Insurers themselves gave a more guarded welcome.

Olav Jones, deputy directorgeneral of trade body Insurance Europe, said: “While it is good that the IASB Board has — at last — recognised the need to consider improvements and a delay to IFRS 17 . . . one year is simply not enough time to both fix the problems with IFRS 17 and to give insurers enough time to implement the standard properly.”

The IASB is expected to give guidance next month on whether it intends to make changes to the rules themselves.

Brexit deal uncertainty hits trading in pound Markets anxious for conclusion of treaty talks to set long-term sterling direction Katie Martin

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resh flickers in sterling over recent days show traders and investors are anxious to see a Brexit deal that will determine the long-term direction of the currency, but are still in the dark on the nature of the impending divorce.

The currency leapt on Tuesday after it emerged that Theresa May and negotiators in Brussels had come to a draft agreement on the terms of the UK’s exit from the bloc next March. It gained some 1.4 per cent against the dollar to trade above $1.30.

The gains, however, proved limited. A day later, the pound was hovering just below that round number with no clear sign of direction: neither a rally to signal the market believes a constructive deal with the EU is in sight, nor a collapse that is seen as the inevitable consequence of dropping out with no deal.

The currency is as stuck now as it has been since March, trapped in a narrow band. Approval for the new proposed Brexit deal, first from Mrs May’s cabinet, then the EU, and finally parliament, will all be crucial, and investors in the mean time are not inclined to make assumptions.

“Unless you have to take a position on sterling, you don’t, unless you are foolish,” said Paul Lambert, a currencies investor at

Insight Investment in London.

“We have decided it is better to just watch.”

Like other investors, Mr Lambert thinks there is likely to be a 5 per cent gain in store for sterling in the event that the current deal progresses, with further gains ahead if the final outcome resembles membership of the European Economic Area and if the Bank of England takes that as a cue to raise interest rates, potentially multiple times.

Equally, however, he believes the currency could drop 5 per cent now if the deal fails to pass the first hurdles, and fall an additional 15 per cent in the event the UK leaves the EU with no deal at all.

“Speculators take risks when they have an edge, when they think they know the outcome,” he said. In this case, no one does, leaving the market in limbo.

David Bloom, chief currencies analyst at HSBC, said that is a common refrain among his clients. “People don’t make investment decisions based on a guess,” he said. “It doesn’t work like that. There’s ‘job risk’ in doing that if you are wrong.”

By some measures, market participants are now bracing for the worst — an outcome that some believe has the power to damage the pound as badly as the June 2016 vote to leave the EU, when the currency sank from

$1.50 to $1.32 over the course of just several hours.

Sterling options — instruments that allow investors and companies to either hedge against moves in the currency or take a bet on future direction — are close to their priciest point since the June 2016 referendum.

Even then, “it is not clear they have yet risen enough”, said Adam Cole, chief currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in London.

Even assuming the deal is passed by all sides, which is far from certain, “much of the longer-term uncertainty will remain unresolved and domestic political risk is arguably simply being pushed to the other side of the exit date”, he said in a note to clients.

Investors and analysts agree the risks for sterling are roughly equal in either direction, depending on the eventual outcome of talks.

“Sterling is the world’s most undervalued major currency,” said Salman Ahmed, chief investment strategist at Lombard Odier in London. Strip away Brexit, he said, and the pound should be trading at between $1.40 and $1.50 based on macroeconomic fundamentals.

“If we get a sensible Brexit for the economy, then sterling could rally a lot,” he said. “It could be a big winner in 2019.” For him, too, however, it is simply too soon to make that bet.

Deutsche Bank to speed up cost cutting, says finance chief Olaf Storbeck

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eutsche Bank has stepped up its medium term costcutting plans, chief financial officer James von Moltke said on Wednesday, adding that the previous 2021 target of bringing expenses down to €21bn was not ambitious enough.

“We need to do better than that,” Mr von Moltke told analysts at a UBS conference in London.

Over the summer, the lender stopped repeating its 2021 cost target of €21bn, triggering concerns among analysts it may be silently dropped.

In e a r l y 2 0 1 8 , D e u t s c h e spooked investors by admitting that this year’s costs would be €1bn higher than previously planned. This miss was one of the factors that led to chief executive John Cryan’s dismissal in April.

In October, Deutsche Bank confirmed it was on track to lower costs this year by €0.9bn, to €23bn, and to cut another €1bn next year.

Mr von Moltke on Wednesday told analysts that the bank’s internal forward-looking planning for 2021 implied that “expenses need to be lower, potentially substantially lower that €21bn.”

He clarified the reason for the

change was that, after next year, Deutsche wanted to focus more on its cost-income ratio rather than on absolute expenditure levels: “We think that this is more appropriate over the long term,” said Mr von Moltke.

“In the near term, we decided to stick with absolute [targets] because we want to be clear on what we are measured against,” said Mr von Moltke.

In the first nine months of 2018, Deutsche’s cost-income ratio was up 4.9 percentage points to 90.3 per cent. The lender has promised to bring it down to 70 per cent by 2020 and to 65 per cent a year later.

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BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 16 November 2018

Highlight of the news reports on our digital platforms this week

Best five stories this week Covenant, UNN, FUT Minna, Ilorin, UI top most preferred graduates by employers

banking institution where she has just been made a partner.

For more visit our website at businessdayonline.com to catch up on full news stories.

Graduates from Covenant University have come tops as the most preferred graduates in the Nigerian labour market, The Nigerian Graduate Report 2018, prepared by Stutern in partnership with budgiT and Jobberman has shown.

Weber’s puzzle: Why is Nigeria so religious, yet so poor?

A few months ago, the popular American preacher TD Jakes came to the church I attend in London. Preaching on leadership and wealth, he said prayer is not leadership and won’t make anyone rich. “If prayers were enough”, he said, “Nigeria would be one of the richest countries in the world”.

APC loses Imo, Zamfara as INEC publishes no guber candidates and dilapidated rail network and connect major economic hubs across the country has suffered a setback as GE has pulled out of the consortium that was going to invest $2.0 billion into the deal.

Nigeria’s Chinwe Anadu joins elite club of partners at Goldman Sachs It has been one incredible week for one Nigerian lady at the urban investment unit, UIG at Goldman Sachs, the global

POLL RESULTS: BusinessDay asked our digital audience this question: In terms of having a president younger than 50, who would you, be willing to vote for?

8% of Nigerians chose Thomas-Wilson Ikubese, 48% chose Fela Durotoye, 31% chose Omoyele and 13% chose Ahmed Buhari as their best under fifty choice of a president.

Poll of the week

Barring last minute change, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC will lose Imo and Zamfara States in the 2019 general elections.

Nigeria’s railway ambition suffers setback as GE pulls out of $2 bn deal Nigeria’s ambition to revamp its old

Video of the week

Tweet of the week

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BUSINESS DAY

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NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2018

Opinion Allison Ayida and the golden years of Nigerian public administration

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uintessential civil ser vant and technocrat Allison Ayida passed away quietly in a Lagos hospital on Friday 12 October, age 88. One of the privileges one had as a young researcher at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, in the eighties was that it availed one opportunity to meet some of the greatest Nigerians across different walks of life. Allison Ayida was one

of them. A brilliant mind and highly accomplished civil servant, he was often invited to the National Institute to give a lecture or to participate in one policy workshop or the other. He was an oracle of economics and a walking encyclopaedia of development policy management.

What I remember about him the most was his gentle and soft-spoken mien. He spoke in measured tones as if words should be carefully counted like money.

Allison Akene Ayida was born on 16 June 1930 in Gbelebu-Siliko in presentday Edo State, although both parents hailed from Ugbege in Delta State. He was the first and only son of his parents. His father, Jones Allison, was a schoolteacher who became a prosperous timber merchant, although the business later fell on hard times.

He attended local schools before moving to the prestigious Kings College Lagos from 1946 to 1952. He was

evidently a bright pupil, having achieved the rare feat of being given a double promotion to class III in 1947.

He caught up with the likes of Philip Asiodu who was to become a colleague and life-long friend. The principal of Kings at the time, accord-

‘

The so-called super permanentsecretaries no doubt wielded considerable power well out of proportion with their mandate as civil servants...They appeared larger than life because they filled a vacuum where their political masters were often second-rate people

,

HumanAngle FEMI OLUGBILE Physician, psycho-profiler and essayist

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ahathir Mohamad, the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, has recently been visiting Singapore, for a meeting of the ASEAN community.

Th e re lat i o n s h i p b etween Malaysia and Singapore has always been tetchy, at best. Singaporeans have a way of looking down their noses at their closest neighbours and supposed rivals. People, such as this writer, who have had the experience of crossing the land border from Singapore into Malaysia would find it hard to miss the patronizing tone with which the people of Singapore, refer to their Malaysian neighbours.

Singapore is one of the most developed nations in the world. Malaysia was doing well for a long time but is not exactly in the same league.

Singapore, a tiny agglomeration of ragged fishing, smuggling and trading communities rejected and cast off as worthless by mainland Malaysia, with whom it was previously in union, a mishmash of Chinese, Indians, Malays and other Asian stock without a common historical antecedent was

Mahathir

ing to my senior friend, J. K. Randle, was an Englishman by the name of J. R. Bunting. It was the latter who arranged for both Asiodu and Ayida to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at his own alma mater of Queen’s College Oxford on full scholarship from 1953 to 1956. He subsequently did post-graduate work at the London School of Economics and Political Science during 1956-1957.

Allison Ayida was among the first crop of civil servants recruited into the British Colonial Administration in the years leading up to independence. Among those pioneers were the likes of Philip Asiodu, Pius Okigbo and Solomon Akenzua, who was to become Omon’Oba n’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo Erediauwa I of Benin Kingdom.

He was appointed a federal permanent secretary at the uncommon age of 33.

He acquitted himself with distinction. He was that type of rare civil servant who was

at home in an academic seminar room as he was in council chambers and the corporate boardroom. As one of the principal architects of Nigeria’s first three e co n o mic de velo pment plans, he worked closely with colleagues at the University of Ibadan and at the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER).

He was later promoted to the exalted position of Secretary to the Federal Government and Head of the Civil Service (the office was to be split into 2 separate positions in later years). He took over from Abdulazeez Attah, another eminent Oxford PPE graduate, who had passed on suddenly, following a cardiac arrest. Ayida held the position from 1975 to 1977 before retiring from the civil service.

Allison Ayida was no doubt one of the architects of modern Nigeria. He served during the decades when our civil service was acclaimed to be among the best in the Commonwealth of Nations.

made into one of the model exemplars of human social and economic development by the vision and sheer force of personality of its founding Prime Minister, the late Lee Kuan Yu. It is one of the marvels of the age – a model of what is possible if a society is blessed with visionary and dedicated leadership.

The Singaporeans’ snootiness towards their neighbours is unkind, and not strictly based on fact.

Malaysia, while not enjoying the superstar status of Singapore, has earned within the world community the status of a model of posi-

tive, if less spectacular social and political development.

Much of that development took place during the ‘golden era’ of Malaysia, which occurred from 1981 to 2003.

It has, mostly rightly, been attributed to the work done

by Mahathir as Prime Minister. Having served as Prime Minister for twenty-three years already made him the longest serving leader in the nation’s history. Retiring at seventy-eight, it would be logically assumed that he would be embarking on a well-earned rest, and that he would feel entitled to devote the rest of his life to leisure and contemplation.

Seeing Mahathir, at 93, shaking hands in Singapore, diplomatically swatting at the snobbery of Singaporean neighbours, and again carrying the burden of the Malaysia project on his shoulders brings a certain disquiet to the observer’s mind. It leaves a sour taste in the mouth. To phrase it brutally, ‘Why has Malaysia done this to Mahathir?’

Or perhaps it should be the other way?

‘Why has Mahathir done this to Malaysia?’

The stor y is that Mahathir truly intended to put up his feet and bounce his grandchildren on his knees.

But developments in his country would not let him.

The system he thought he had developed and perfected quickly unraveled.

Malaysia became a centre for corruption and venality.

He had a falling out with two successive Prime Ministers

‘

At the very least, the ‘strongmen’ who hold sway In Africa must reflect on the Mahathir lesson – that having an ‘honest’ man rule a nation, even for decades is not enough guarantee of sustainable ‘change’, just as putting a ‘tough’ man at the helm of Customs does not guarantee the building of a good Customs service.

Institutions need to be built, in place of personality promotion, grandstanding and sensational trials in the media

,

THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

OBADIAH MAILAFIA 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)

I speak on the authority of none other than Wolfgang Stolper, the eminent American economist who served as adviser to the Federal Government on the design Continues on page 35

and was increasingly strident in his criticisms.

By 2017, fifteen years after he handed over, he was forming a new political party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) and throwing in his lot with the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan. He was proposed as a possible chairman and prime mistrial candidate of the coalition.

On 8th January 2018 Mahathir was announced as the opposition alliance’s prime ministerial candidate for the May 2018 election. To run as his deputy was Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of Anwar Ibrahim, his former political enemy.

Which brings the discussion to the story of Anwar Ibrahim.

W h e n Ma h a t h i r w a s Prime Minister, he cut a figure of a man who wanted to reach for the high ground, and to Malaysia in the ascendant. The economy was booming. The GDP grew at an impressive rate, among the best in all of Asia. Malaysia was a multi-religious, multi-ethnic nation. Of the thirty million population, fifty percent were ethnic Malays, who were mostly Muslims. The rest were Chinese, Indians, and other indigenous people. The rights of all religions were officially recognized by the state, but Islam was the principal religion of the state. Mahathir tried to parlay the diversity into strength for national development. It was an unwritten part of the Malaysian Continues on page 35

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