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APC clears way for Oyegun, Oshiomhole, Onuh, Ibiri

L-R: Kennedy Uzoka, group managing director/ CEO, United Bank for Africa (UBA) plc; Tony Elumelu, group chairman, UBA plc; Bili Odum, company secretary; Victor Osadolor, group deputy managing director, and Adekunle Olumide, director, at the 56th annual general meeting of UBA plc, held in Lagos, yesterday.

... Governor Badaru-led convention committee begins sale of forms Wednesday JAMES KWEN

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he ruling All Progressives Congress, APC has cleared the way for the current National Chairman of the Party, John Oyegun to seek re-election as his tenure expired in June.

Also, the party has opened Continues on page 34

Cashew exporters make $402m in 2017 as production jumps 29%

Oil revenues racing to 2014 highs N as Nigeria allows crisis go to waste

…value addition, increase in global acceptability responsible ODINAKA ANUDU & JOSEPHINE OKOJIE

igeria’s farmers and exporters earned $402 million from export of cashew nuts in the 2017 season, underlining opportunity

LOLADE AKINMURELE

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etrodollars are flocking back to Africa’s largest oil producer, but the disappointment is, having come through the worst, Nigeria may now go back to business as usual.

The Federal Government raked N3.69 trillion in gross oil revenues between January and November 2017, according to data compiled by BusinessDay

and sourced from the Central Bank.

Using a monthly average of N336 billion, gross oil revenues for the full-year period was probably N4.03 trillion, according to BusinessDay estimates. That is the highest value since 2014 when the federal government earned N6.79 trillion.

In 2015 and 2016, the federal government’s gross oil revenues were as low as N3.8 trillion and N2.7 trillion respectively, as a lengthy collapse in oil prices

that began mid-2014 slashed earnings by more than half and inflicted a painful recession, the first in 25 years, on the oildependent economy.

Nigerian oil’s benchmark grade, Brent crude, averaged about $55 per barrel in 2017 almost double the average price of $38 in 2016. Brent was up to $75 per barrel on Monday, according to Bloomberg data. The highest in four years.

Oil production hit 1.8 million barrels daily in April 2018, rep-

resenting a 50 percent increase from the 1.2 million barrels produced in the thick of militant attacks, according to the most recent OPEC data.

Nigeria’s improving oil fortunes frustrates because low oil prices were supposed to spark sweeping reforms to spur revenue diversification.

It never did.

President Muhammadu Buhari election bounce in 2015 has soon become bust, as promises Continues on page 4

Buhari’s withdrawal of $462m without approval is an impeachable offense but caution advised ...Page 33

Continues on page 34

Inside BusinessDay ‘top 100 companies in Nigeria’ set for release April 27 P. 4 Lafarge may witness further sell-off as Q1 results throw negative surprises P. 4

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Lafarge may witness further sell-off as Q1 results throw negative surprises IHEANYI NWACHUKWU

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nvestors may react further to the stock of Lafarge Africa Plc following the cement maker’s recently published first-quarter (Q1) 2018 results which shows negative surprises across key headline numbers.

The company’s first-quarter 2018 results released Monday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed revenue decreased by 0.8percent to N80.64billion, from N81.3billion in Q1’2017.

The decline in Lafarge revenue growth was accompanied by increases in input costs, operational expenses and a marked increase in finance costs.

Pre-tax losses of N2.9billion, represents a decline of 131.2percent from pre-tax profit of N9.4billion the company recorded in corresponding first-quarter period of 2017.

Lafarge Africa Plc also reported post-tax loss of N2billion in Q1’18 respectively, down by 138.8percent, from N5.16billion post-tax profit in Q1’17.

Investors reacted negatively to these results as sell orders pushed the stock price down to N43.6kobo, nearing a 52-week low of N43.20kobo. The stock price lost 85kobo or 1.91 percent on Monday.

“We expect to see marked

downward revision to consensus 2018E earnings forecast and a significant sell-off in the shares over the next few days,” said Tunde Abidoye-led team of research analysts at FBNQuest Capital Research in their April 23 note to investors.

“The weak earnings were driven by a combination of factors including a significant gross margin contraction of 338 basis points (bp) year-on-year (y/y) to 22.3percent, a 41percent y/y rise in operating expenditure (opex) and a 133percent y/y spike in net interest expense,” the analysts added.

The analysts recalled that on its Q4 2017 conference call, Lafarge Africa Plc management said it still expected more one-off expenses related to its SAP enterprise resource planning software to feature in its 2018 numbers.

“We believe that these related costs are likely responsible for the significant y/y contraction in gross margin. Lafarge’s 2017 financial statements showed an increase in debt of around N195billion due to the portion of shareholder loans (mainly dollar denominated) that were not converted to equity.

Consequently, we believe that this was primarily responsible for the sharp rise in interest expense,” said Lagos-based FBNQuest Capital Research.

“We note that the company reduced its borrowings during the

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BusinessDay ‘top 100 companies in Nigeria’ set for release April 27 …at annual Capital markets conference OMOSOMI OMOMIA

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quarter by N6.5 billion (-2.5percent YoY). Notwithstanding, finance costs remain elevated and paying down these debt will further exert pressure on cash flow, while putting into consideration the company’s current working capital challenges,” according to the research unit of CardinalStone Partners Limited in their Monday note.

According to Michel Puchercos, CEO of Lafarge Africa, “We continued to deliver strong margins in our Nigerian business as a result of our commercial and energy strategies.

At the same time, our results were affected by timing of inventory movements and performance in South Africa. Lafarge Africa’s commercial, logistic and industrial

operations in Q1 2018 continued to improve strongly despite inflation.”

The firm said, full-year outlook for the Nigerian cement market remains favourable with positive signs of recovery in March. The overall goal is to create value for shareholders through an attractive growth profile and good margins, Puchercos said.

Combining its operations in Nigeria - Ewekoro and Sagamu plants in Ogun State, Ashakacem in Gombe State, Mfamosing in Cross River State, Atlas Cement in Rivers State and Ready-Mix Nigeria with its varied operations in South Africa, Lafarge Africa has a current installed cement capacity of 14.1Mtpa.

he maiden edition of BusinessDay’s Top 100 Companies in Nigeria report is set for release this Thursday, April 26, and will be available at the annual Capital Markets Conference and Investors Forum holding at the prestigious Intercontinental Hotel, Lagos.

Anchored by BusinessDay Research & Intelligence Unit (BRIU), the report provides indepth analysis and assessment of the largest corporate entities in Nigeria, based on several parameters, including market value, as well as other indices such as liquidity, balance sheet size, average five-year growth rates in key financial figures, products and services offered and their contributions to the country’s GDP in the last five years.

The report is also a compendium of the “Who is Who of CorContinues on page 34

Oil revenues racing to 2014 highs as Nigeria...

Continued from page 1

to wean the economy off oil revenue have yielded little, a year before the country returns to the polls to elect a new president.

“The government is not ready to pay the political capital to drive the painful reforms that the economy needs,” a senior investment banking Vice President, told BusinessDay on condition of anonymity.

“The government is hesitant to reduce spending costs, formalise the informal sector to raise its (government) tax take, privatise redundant government assets and there is little appetite to reform public agencies,” the person said.

The government’s approach to dealing with lower revenues has been to raise its budget spend to record highs for three years straight.

But that has done little, as the record budgets are anywhere around 7 percent of GDP. Actual spend is much lower at about 4 percent.

That compares to SouthAfrica’s actual budget spend of 20 percent in the last three years and Ghana’s 15 percent, according to World Bank data.

“We must concern ourselves with boosting economic performance and curb unemployment,” Bismarck Rewane, MD of

Financial Derivatives said.

Oil is still king in Nigeria as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2017 shows, when the economy expanded 0.8 per cent after contracting 1.6 per cent in 2016.

“More robust growth can be achieved by courting private capital and funding specific infrastructural projects,” Rewane added.

“Tax incentives should also be used to lure private capital and banks should be encouraged to lend more to the private sector.”

Nigeria’s corporate tax of 32 percent (Company Income tax of 30 percent plus Education tax of 2 percent), is one of the highest in Africa.

Peer countries in Asia and indeed, Africa, are deliberately reducing corporate tax rates to lure investment.

Supporters of the Buhari administration point to achievements in the ease of doing business where Nigeria moved up 24 places to 145th in the latest World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ report, and for the first time, was recognized as one of the top 10 most improved economies in the world.

On the distance to frontier metric, Nigeria’s score went from 48.18 to 52.03 in 2018, us-

L-R: Devakumar V. G. Edwin, group executive director, strategy, portfolio development and capital projects, Dangote Industries Limited; Aliko Dangote, president/chief executive, Dangote Industries Limited; Klaus Helmrich, member of the managing board of Siemens AG, and Onyeche Tifase, managing director/CEO, Siemens Nigeria, at the Hannover Fair, Germany, the world’s leading trade fair for industrial technology, yesterday.

ing comparable methodology.

Nigeria implemented 5 reforms making it easier to do business in both Lagos and Kano over the course of last year in the areas of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, getting credit, and paying taxes.

The country made starting a business faster by allowing electronic sampling of registration documents, increased

transparency in obtaining a construction permit by publishing all relevant regulations, fee schedules and pre-application requirements online, made transferring property more transparent by removing sworn affidavit for certified copies of land ownership records, improved access to credit information by guaranteeing borrowers the legal right to inspect credit data from credit bureaus and

started to provide credit scores to banks, financial institutions and borrowers.

Despite all these and the country’s recent exit from recession, the population is growing at 2.5 per cent and in per capita terms, things are going nowhere.

They have gone nowhere since 2014 and a social crisis may now stare the country of 190 million people in the face.

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States’ pension compliance set to affect OPEC under threat as US oil floods Europe re-election of serving governors in 2019 DIPO OLADEHINDE

… as only Lagos, Niger, Rivers, Osun comply fully MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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tatistics from the nation’s pension industry show that out of the 36 states of the federation only four have fully complied with provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2014, questioning the country’s stand on workers welfare and social security.

From data obtained by BusinessDay, four states including Lagos, Niger, Rivers and Osun have fully complied, contributing to their employees’ Retirement Savings Account (RSA); payment of accrued rights and provision of group life insurance as provided in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

While another eight states including Anambra, Delta, Ogun, Kaduna, Zamfara, Edo, Ondo and Ekiti have complied half way, contributing to their employees’ RSA and payment of accrued rights, but yet to provide group life insurance.

While 17 other states, including Imo, Jigawa, Kogi, Oyo, Nasarawa, Taraba, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Sokoto, Benue, Kwara, Plateau, Cross River, Bayelsa, Abia, Ebonyi, and

Katsina have failed to provide these key welfare programmes to their employees, enjoying luxury of their offices, and want to continue or install their representatives in 2019 against the wishes of the citizens.

According to the Pension Reform Act 2014, the objective of the CPS, among others, is to ensure that every person who worked in either the Public Service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory, states and local governments or the private sector receives his retirement benefits as and when due.

Apart from that, it is also to assist improvident individuals by ensuring that they save in order to cater for their livelihood during old age.

This development, market analysts say, reveals how poorly some governments, like in Nigeria, are irresponsive to workers welfare and social security. If pension and insurance of their employees could be ignored while seek re-election into political offices, market analysts ask.

According to the analysts, while these kinds of social security services should form key planks of political promises and manifestos in seeking

UNN alumni chart way Economic growth: ICAN to restore generation set to honour Dangote, of globally competitive Adeosun, Sanusi, others graduates KELECHI EWUZIE

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s part of its drive to support the university in training and development of work ready and competitive graduates, the University of Nigeria Alumni Association (UNAA) Nigeria has put together a day lecture in Lagos.

The lecture is part of activities lined up to mark the association’s 97th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting scheduled for April 27-28, in Lagos.

Emeka Nwuzor, national publicity secretary of the Association, said the theme of the 97th NEC meeting was “The Role of the Alumni in the Alma Mater of the 21st Century,” which, “is meant to critically assess the current imperatives of the university education in today’s information technology-driven society and how Alumni Associations can help their alma mater produce graduates that would effectively key into this operating environment.”

Nwuzor said the meeting would provide an avenue for deliberations on strategies for continued alumni support for the University of Nigeria as well as other issues relating to the alumni body and Nigeria’s national development.

KELECHI EWUZIE

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n recognition of their contributions to development of the accountancy profession and the Nigerian economy, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) will honour Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group; minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, with prestigious Merit Award of the this year.

Other Nigerians to be honoured at the 2018 award ceremony billed for April 28, in Lagos include: Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II and chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Tunde Fowler.

Bunmi Owolabi, principal manager, corporate communications and marketing, in a release, says Aliko Dangote, Mohammad Sanusi and Tunde Fowler will receive the award in the Non-members’ Category for their contributions to nation building.

According to the release, “Kemi Adeosun, Akarigbo of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Ajayi, chief financial officer/ group executive director, NNPC Abdulrazak Isiaka, and executive secretary of Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA), Margaret Unubun, will receive the award in the Members’ Category for upholding the ICAN ideals of Accountability, Integrity, Exemplary Leadership and selfless service to the nation.”

for political position or reelection into political offices, as found in other jurisdictions, Nigerians are deceived with promises of good roads and electricity.

Longe Eguarekhide, managing director/CEO, AIICO Pension Managers Limited, who commended government of states that had complied, said, “It takes courage, compassion and interest in citizens welfare, for a sitting governor to provide these for its employees.”

While confirming that only four states in Nigeria are fully compliant with the CPS, he urged workers in other states to push for their rights to adequate pension arrangements.

“The savings culture thus introduced provides an autonomous pool of long-term capital that can be accessed to propel development in critical need areas. Successfully done, this can spark off a virtuous cycle of development,” Eguarekhide said.

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s the Organisation of petroleum Exporting countries (OPEC) and Russia allies are already yielding positive results from output cuts with oil price reaching a four year high, U.S shale oil producers are overflowing Europe with its highest amount of crude oil ever.

The end of a ban on U.S. exports in 2015 coupled with the rapid growth of shale production, has changed the flow of petroleum around the world often competing with traditional Middle East and Russian suppliers as U.S. supplies to Europe are set to reach an all-time high of roughly 550,000 bpd (around 2.2 million tonnes), according to the Thomson Reuters Eikon trade flows monitor.

“Shale is expensive, so it makes business sense to produce shale oil when price goes up, which is what we are currently witnessing,” Abayomi Fawehinmi, an energy analyst at a Lagos-based consulting firm said.

“This​current development

by US shale oil producers will

moderate price, however for OPEC they will need to further reduce production,” Fawehinmi told BusinessDay by Phone.

Europe consumed about 7 percent of U.S crude exports in 2017; however it has increased to about 12 percent this year, Reuters data showed.

Emmanuel Afimia, Energy Economist at Afimia Consulting Services said the flooding of European market with US crude poses a threat to the objective of the Output Cut Agreement signed by OPEC and non-OPEC members.

“If the US is allowed to continue flooding the market, the global price of oil may stagnate for a while, and then begin to fall,” Afimia said by mail.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said recent growth in U.S. crude production has come primarily from tight, light sweet oil from shale formations. It has accounted for almost 90 percent of the 3.1 million barrel per day (bpd) growth from 2010 to 2017.

In addition, shale oil represents 56 percent of total domestic crude production in 2017.

In its Annual Energy Outlook 2018, EIA forecasts that this share will grow to 60 percent by 2020 and 70 percent by 2050 as U.S. oil output is expected to hit 10.7 million bpd this year, rivaling that of top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia.

OPEC decided to cap the combined output of Nigeria and Libya at 2017 levels below 2.8 million bpd. Both countries had been exempt from cuts due to unrest and lower-thannormal production.

This brought positive sentiment in the market and while investors are assessing the political landscape, oil producers are persisting in their efforts to limit supplies.

“Despite the fact that US crude is cheaper and supply to Europe is on the rise, it doesn’t pose a risk to Nigeria’s supply market as crude oil grades are not easily substituted for one another because they pose different qualities,” Afimia told BusinessDay. Afimia added, “Refineries are designed to refine specific crude grades. Hence, I don’t think Nigeria will lose its market.”

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Nigeria: Waiting for the worst to happen?

MAZI SAM OHUABUNWA OFR sam@starteamconsult.com

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trange things are happening in Nigeria with such great rapidity and intensity that most normal people are asking questions in utter amazement. I was speaking to a group of young people last weekend in Enugu and many asked me very difficult questions about this country: Is this country cursed? What is happening? Is anybody running this country? Who is safe in Nigeria now?

Why are people like you not doing anything to change the dangerous course Nigeria is on? What else will happen in this country before people like you take action?

I could feel the anger and frustration in their looks and voices.

They had many things bothering them and I tried to find out the issues uppermost in their minds. I noticed that their anger and frustration seemed to have been accentuated by the recent statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari( PMB) at the Commonwealth meeting in London last week. He was reported to have categorized the Nigerian youth as lazy, expecting hand outs from a supposedly rich oil country. I found that many of the youths took serious offense on this unbecoming comment by PMB on the world stage and wondered if all was well. Beyond the anger related to

STRATEGY & POLICY

MA JOHNSON Johnson is a marine project management consultant and Chartered Engineer. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology, UK.

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his piece was inspired by the statement credited to Mr President at the just concluded Commonwealth Business Forum on 18 April 2018. His remarks that “More than 60 percent of the population is below 30. A lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil producing country, therefore they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, healthcare and education free,” is one of the generalizations of our times.

Mr President’s expression attracted spontaneous reactions from many youths across the country. This writer read quite a lot of negative and disappointing remarks from our youths on the twitter and other social platforms.

They claim among other reasons that a country which urgently needs to polish its reputation globally must not be

this statement, the youth pointed to me several other events happening in the country which frighten them.

First, they were amazed by the level of insecurity in the Nation.

They expressed alarm that Nigeria has become one large killing field where people are murdered daily in cold blood by Boko Haram insurgents and the militant Fulani cattle herdsmen. They were wandering why the government cannot stop the daily killing in Benue, Nassarawa, Taraba, and Plateau States by either militant Fulani herdsmen or the “marauders trained in Libya by Gaddafi”according to PMB. They are bothered by the daily killings in Zamfara and fear that soon, these killers may move South as the herdsmen have done severally, killing, maiming and confiscating farmlands in places in Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Delta, Edo, Ondo & Ekiti States. They cited the frustrations of the Governor of Edo who had done all to stop all clashes, to no avail and had to completely ban all forms of open grazing in Edo for a season. They are asking what our security agencies are doing and they feel that it looks like there is no government in Nigeria.

Secondly they argued that the primary activity of any government in the world is to protect lives and property of its citizens and visitors and since Nigerians are virtually left on their own to protect themselves from all kinds of miscreants bellowing for blood of citizens and the government seems helpless or unconcerned, then they could conclude that either there is no government or the government has become so incompetent that it cannot perform the most basic and primary role of government. Another youth

The mace was said to have been discovered under a bridge close to Abuja gate, but as for the mace thieves, nobody knows where they are, despite the fact that the faces of the thieves were seen on the television footage rose to ask me why the government has failed to discipline the security agencies for poor performance. He said that what was going on was pure failure of the security agencies to perform and wondered why PMB has not seen the need to discipline the leaders of the security forces, not even by a rebuke, not to talk of firing them. He wondered why the President had failed to take action against the Inspector General of Police (IGP) who had not only shown crass incompetence but even openly disobeyed the President. And what was worse, was that the President was not even aware that his order was not carried out by the IGP and yet nothing seems to have happened.

A female youth rose up to take over from the other guy and asked me to explain to her why there seems to be no coordination between the security agencies and wondered if that was not why we have the high level of insecurity in the country. She narrated her bewilderment in watching the dog fight between the DSS, EFCC, & NIA and asked me to explain the role of the office of the National Security Adviser ( NSA). She further queried: ‘are these agencies so independent that they report to nobody and nobody coordinates or controls them?’ She could never understand

why PMB presented Ibrahim Magu as the head of EFCC to the Nigerian Senate for confirmation twice and on both occasions, the DSS wrote adverse report opposing Magu’s confirmation and up till date Magu has not been confirmed three years down the line and has remained in acting position and everybody is fine? Why would the President not call DSS to order or if the DSS was right, not replace Magu with another nominee? It is like the case of a house divided against itself.

Recently the EFCC tried to arrest the former DGs of the DSS and NIA on corruption charges and they were resisted by the operatives of the other agencies leading to near gun- battle. And since then nobody has been rebuked. The former DGs have refused to report to EFCC and they are walking about free and the charges against them standing in abeyance and we tell the world that we are fighting corruption. Strange!

While I was making attempt to give some answers to the barrage of questions by these agitated but apparently knowledgeable group of youth, another young man asked me if I watched the drama- a kind of Holywood, robin-hood type of film that played out in the hallowed chambers of the Nigerian Senate during the week. One Senator, the son of Agege who was a member of the Senate privileges committee who had in the past participated in recommending disciplinary actions,including suspension from the Senate plenary sessions against erring senators, went against the rule of the senate by criticizing the decision of the Senate regarding the order of the elections, claiming it was aimed against PMB. Omo Agege formed a parliamentary group in support of Buhari. At first he apologized to his colleagues but later

decanted and took his colleagues to court. The privileges committee on which he served recommended his suspension for 181 days but the Senate in plenary reduced it to 90 days and also disbanded the socalled Buhari parliamentary support group. Omo Agege stuck to his gun, continued his case in Court. Last Tuesday, while the Senate was in session, he walked in majestically into the chambers flanked by some strange looking men, who turned out to be ruffians and mace-robbers.

These ragamuffins grabbed the mace and fought their way out of the senate bruising the sergeants-atarm on their way out. They went out of the Senate building as they came, ‘evading’ the normal many-layered security architecture, walked into their cars and drove away. When they could not exit through the normal gate due to last minute activation of the security at the main gate, they quietly drove through the AsoRock villa gate normally reserved for the Presidency and vanished into ‘safety’. And this whole episode was televised live to the entire nation and the world. The mace was said to have been discovered under a bridge close to Abuja gate, but as for the mace thieves, nobody knows where they are, despite the fact that the faces of the thieves were seen on the television footage. Neither the Police, nor the DSS nor the military has a clue where these men are. The young man ended this narrative with a poser to me: “where is this country headed, to total anarchy or have we become a banana Republic?”.I opened my mouth but could not utter a word.

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Leadership and power of the tongue de-marketed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian enterprise-Mr President.

There is power in the tongue. Our words are more powerful than we may realize. We must have heard, and perhaps, used an old saying that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” Words can be more destructive than sticks and bones, or even guns and knives. Words can have a lasting effect that is difficult to recover from. The scripture supports this that “the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Yes, there is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to our youths who are either jobless or underemployed may likely lift them up and help them weather the storm of life. Conversely, a destructive word to them could be what it takes to dampen their spirits.

So leaders are always encouraged to speak life to those they lead.

It was Mr President’s tongue that got him into this sensational hype across the country. This writer is sure that his ears would be burning uncomfortably after making some expressions at the Commonwealth Business Forum which he did not realize were harmful or hurtful until it was too late. That is why national leaders are encouraged to always tame their tongues. In our

environment politicians often times use foul and irrelevant remarks during political rallies. The tendency therefore, is for them to always think they are addressing a political rally anywhere you give them a microphone to speak.

But the Commonwealth Business Forum wasn’t a political rally. It was a platform for heads of Commonwealth governments to market their countries before foreign investors. Self-control and wisdom- key factors for a leader’s control of the tongue- would’ve played significant roles at such forums.

One has seen different types of leaders either in military uniform or in agbada/babanriga. It’s observed that an individual may have the best of training in the world and be analytical, coupled with seamless supply of smart and brilliant ideas but such a person may not be a great leader. A successful leader in my opinion will be an individual who understands himself or herself, the organization or nation being led, the environment-local and global, and the people he/she is privileged to lead. Leaders are always encouraged to open doors of opportunities for those they lead.

As far as one can recall, about 18 million youths were unemployed in Q3 2017, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Nigeria’s population of about 198 million, is growing at a rate of about 3.5 percent but the economic growth rate is about 0.8 percent in 2017.

As the youth population grows, so does

its unemployment rate. With these data, Nigerian youths will not get jobs as the country’s efforts to create employment is getting worse under increasing population growth and weak economic climate.

It is no news that about ten million children of school age are out of school and for anyone to say “they want to sit down and do nothing because of oil money,” is incorrect. Have we forgotten so soon that for several years, most of our youths have been hawking both smuggled and locally manufactured goods on the streets of Nigeria in any weather condition? The situation is so bad that hawking is becoming a way of life for many youths.

Nigerians still remember that the country was in recession from 2016 to sometime in Q2 2017. It was around mid-2017 that Nigeria barely came out of recession with 0.55 percent GDP growth, according to the NBS. Most Nigerian youths are frustrated because of the economic and security challenges in the country. They do not have access to quality education and healthcare facilities. These are children whose parents are indigent and circumstances beyond their control have changed their dreams to hawking on the streets for economic survival. When workers don’t receive salaries timely, and those paid earn minimum wage of N18000 (US$ 50)/ month, no one will expect children of

such workers to be enrolled in schools that are not free.

Deficient school curricular and poor teachers’ training are some of the factors that have contributed to failure of educational institutions. Schools in rural areas are disadvantaged in terms of infrastructure. Flawed and inconsistent government policies on employment has aggravated youth unemployment situation.

While many programs at states’ and federal government levels are targeted at creating youth employment, more needs to be done. These programs must be sustained. The business climate must be conducive for businesses to thrive so that our youths could be gainfully employed.

Nigeria needs a vibrant educational system to provide our youths with appropriate skills that are pro-industry.

It is time for both states’ and federal governments to start considering ways and means of controlling the nation’s population. If the nation continues on the path of increasing population without corresponding economic growth, there will be rising youth unemployment. This will spell doom for the nation. As time ticks, this occasion calls for a total overhaul of the nation’s infrastructure, education and healthcare facilities.

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Smart Lagos: Status, prospects & opportunities

RAFIQ RAJI “Dr Raji is chief economist at Macroafricaintel. He was previously an Africa Economist at Standard Chartered Bank, London, UK. (Twitter: @ DrRafiqRaji)”

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Introduction agos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, is a source of mixed emotions for its more than20 million inhabitants.

Many come to the city from the hinterland to pursue their dreams.

Some succeed, some do not. But all suffer one grief or another from the city’s punishing traffic jams, noise pollution from ubiquitous standby-generators, and so on.

Despite its shortcomings, Lagos is a city of great potential. With a gross domestic product (GDP) of about US$136 billion in 2017, the

MOHAMMED DAHIRU Mohammed Dahiru Aminu (mohd. aminu@gmail.com), writes from Cranfield, England.

I

can argue that the emergence of Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria’s president was one of the most calamitous episodes in modern Nigeria. The former President Jonathan was so effectively inept in the execution of his duties that an elder statesman and Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed—who was Jonathan’s boss when they both worked at the Oil and Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC)—declared that even if Jonathan’s father were tasked with the evaluation of his son’s stewardship of the nation Nigeria, the judgement would come back as disastrous. The failures of Jonathan were so obvious even from the perspective of a benevolent spectator; and it is safe to say that he failed in almost all sectors of the economy and left the country in a more horrid state than he met it.

To make sense of Jonathan’s failures is to even remember that he had at least two advantages: that, first, his predecessors themselves, at least since 1999, had not recorded any significant achievements enough to make him—as a successor—feel uncomfortable in a big man’s shoes; and, second, that Nigerians, very many of whom, were accustomed to bad governance, hardly could recognize the universal standards of outstanding leadership and thus, they could not make a demand for it. But with these to his advantage, Jonathan was sent packing from power by the same people on whose backs he enjoyed a very popular support that got him to power, plus a public goodwill in his

city is already acclaimed to have the 7thlargest GDP in Africa. (The state government believes it is the 5th largest in Africa and aspires to become the third largest by 2020, three years from now.

Additionally, the Lagos economy is estimated to constitute about a third of Nigeria’s output and certainly earns the highest annual tax revenue of all 36 federal states and the federal capital territory; which is in excess of US$1 billion. Lagos leads Nigeria on a number of other metrics. It has the highest literacy rate among 15-25 year olds. It has the homes with the most mobile phones in Nigeria. More homes have a car or a truck in Lagos than anywhere else in Nigeria. By 2023, Lagos could have uninterrupted power supply if current efforts by the state government continue and are successful. State governor Akinwumi Ambode has staked his reputation on bringing this about.

Private sector actors are being encouraged via a myriad of incentives to establish small power plants that need not plug into the national grid. This is no doubt helped by recent moves by the federal government to waive this necessity, particularly that of licensing to generate electricity. An individual or corporate body generating no more than 1 megawatt (1MW) of electricity does not need to get a license. Judging from these attributes, it is not an exaggeration at all to suppose the ambition of the government to make Lagos a smart city, is one that can be realised.

Organic tech The technology sector in Lagos is perhaps the one area where the city’s potential is writ large. With little or no government support, savvy entrepreneurs built the socalled “Computer Village” in the Ikeja capital district of Lagos, where there is hardly an information and communication technology (ICT) hardware that cannot be found. Today, Computer Village is adjudged the largest ICT accessory market in Africa. A planned relocation to a dedicated ICT park by the government has not been well-received.

But the city is also building capacity in software; organically at that. Lagos-based Andela trains programmers and facilitates their placement with software companies around the world. Such is Andela’s stellar reputation for excellence that American TV network CNN

in June 2015 called it “the startup that’s harder to get into than Harvard.” There is also a budding tech entrepreneurship boom in what is called the “Yabacon Valley” in a district of Lagos called Yaba, where techies have been aggregating to create innovative solutions; currently mostly in e-commerce and payment systems. Global tech executives got wind of these developments and started paying visits.

Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, stopped by in August 2016. So did Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichal in July 2017. But it was Microsoft that blazed the trail, with its chief operating officer Kevin Turner visiting Lagos in November 2010.

Now the Lagos State government takes the sector very seriously; albeit in some cases (like in the relocation of the computer village from Ikeja

to an ICT park elsewhere) not necessarily to the delight of operators in the sector. In January 2017, state governor Akinwunmi Ambode announced plans to transform Yaba into a major technology hub: “I decided to come here just for me to feel the state of things and to learn about your challenges. Our government is seriously committed to assisting entrepreneurs like the ones here to be able to be good startups.” Tech entrepreneurs in the Yaba cluster would be allowed access to the state’s 25 billion naira employment trust fund, for instance. Mr Ambode also announced plans to upgrade road and parking infrastructure in the area. Now the state government is working on initiatives to position the city as a place for technological innovation. Yabacon Valley has a robust broadband infrastructure, courtesy of the state government, for instance.

•

To be continued

The author, Dr Rafiq Raji, is an adjunct researcher of the NTUSBF Centre for African Studies, a trilateral platform for government, business and academia to promote knowledge and expertise on Africa, established by Nanyang Technological University and the Singapore Business Federation.

This article was specifically written for the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies]

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President Buhari’s third year scorecard early years.

At the time he presented himself for re-election, Jonathan’s failures could not distemper him from perceiving Nigerians as it was already too late for any amends to be made.

Together with the fact that the then presidential aspirant, Muhammadu Buhari, was a well-liked personality especially in the mainstream northern Nigeria, he easily was the candidate to defeat Jonathan, with dead certainty. And Buhari did just that and won the elections by a conspicuous triumph. Given Nigeria’s massive internal bleeding from the deep-seated corruption that was entrenched by the Jonathan administration, Buhari’s widely acclaimed and supposed personal integrity that bespoke honesty, truthfulness, reliability and uprightness were the key qualities which endeared him to Nigerians in which they saw a new government that would take a departure from the predecessor’s approach. But, however much we disagree about the details, the basic facts remain that the almost three years later, the Buhari presidency is functioning below the expectations of many Nigerians. The disappointments are too many; and to pick up the government on any of these regrets in exhaustive terms is quite a daunting exercise.

Take for instance. President Buhari’s ministerial list is hardly impressive judging from the personalities that populate it.It is not difficult to see that a better list could be made even by Jonathan himself who was supposedly clueless. This is not to forget that it took the president six months to come up with such a colorless cabinet. President Buhari’s ministers—according to Associate

Professor of Communication and Emerging Media at Kennesaw State University, Farooq Kperogi—are the most questionable and underwhelming cast of characters to ever be in the Federal Executive Council. Kperogi says that “among them is a minister of budget who doesn’t know Nigeria’s debt profile; a minister of agriculture (who, tellingly, is a former PDP chairman) who thinks the cost of rice is high because Nigerians consume too much rice; a minister of science and technology whose technological vision for the country is to start local pencil manufacturing in two years; a comically loud- and foul-mouthed minister of information who says dressing and undressing masquerades is a strategy of job creation; a minister of youth and sports who is so clueless he makes you want to cry; a backward, prehistoric minister of communication who wants to tax Nigerians for calls they make and texts they send; a minister of Niger Delta Affairs who was indicted for fraud by a government commission in the 1990s but still keeps his job even in the wake of this revelation; a minister of finance who hides her incompetence behind a Cockney accent.”

But the underwhelming nature of President Buhari’s ministerial cabinet is not the only shocker you will get from him. The disappointments are too many and hardly exhaustive. But it will not be out of place to hold Buhari to account on his campaign promises when he was seeking election to office.

President Buhari campaigned with a mandate to deliver, essentially, on three-pronged promises: on security of lives and properties; on fighting corruption by halting economic pillage by corrupt public officials; and on employment creation by providing opportunities for the youth.

About the security of lives and properties, it is important to highlight that although the Buhari administration has recorded a significant landmark in the fight against the dreadful Boko Haram insurgency that terrorized the north-eastern part of Nigeria, the general state of security in the country has not changed considerably in average terms. Nigerian citizens across the country are not safer today than they were during the Jonathan administration. Both the land and coastal borders are still poorly guarded, allowing high influx of arms. Armed robberies, killings and kidnappings still happen in broad day light with the Abuja-Kaduna axis being notoriously known for these. The Shiite crisis in Nigeria is still a fresh wound that has not healed since the aftermath of the Zaria massacre carried out by the Nigerian Army. The herdsmen-farmers clashes over land has intensified especially in Benue, Taraba and Kaduna states leaving hundreds of persons dead. With all these happenings, there is yet to be a thorough analysis of the issues to minimize the security challenges facing the nation.

On the fight against corruption, Nigeria’s position has only worsened—in the almost three years since Buhari came to power—if data from the 2017 Corruption Perception Index of the Transparency International is any indication of that reality. Corrupt Nigerian politicians are still a major impediment for international investors. The Buhari administration has claimed that looted funds have been recovered by the country’s anticorruption agency, yet the supposed looters could neither be prosecuted nor could they be jailed. In fact, a new evidentiary proof of Buhari’s insouci-

ance and patronage for corruption is perceptible in the way corrupt government officials in his administration enjoymatchless impunity. The former secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir David Lawal, is a case in point. Lawal was so corrupt that he was said to have made 270 million naira from a “grass-cutting” contract for internally displaced Boko Haram victims. Nicknamed “cash and carry” in government circles, the man had publicly bragged, without any feeling of shame, about receiving monetary gifts from the governor of Ebonyi state. But as far as Buhari was concerned, Lawal was fit to continue in office despite the entangling facts of corruption on him, until cries from both anti-corruption groups and the press succumbed the president to remove him. Lawal has not yet been prosecuted or jailed; he was simply allowed to go and sin no more.

Despite claims by the Nigerian minister of labor and productivity, Chris Ngige, that the Buhari administration has created up to seven million jobs as at November 2017, the soaring unemployment figures were contrary to that claim. In line withdata from Trading Economics, the unemployment figures in Nigeria have increased continuously from January 2015 to the present; and they are projected to go up even higher in 2018. In the wake of a piercing insecurity and an unrestrained corruption in Nigeria under the Buhari administration, it is hardly possible for any of the job creating sectors such as agriculture, mining, manufacturing, education, health, defense, utilities, etc., to flourish. It is high time Nigerians looked beyond Buhari.

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Editorial PUBLISHER/CEO

Frank Aigbogun EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Prof. Onwuchekwa Jemie EDITOR Anthony Osae-Brown DEPUTY EDITORS John Osadolor, Abuja Bill Okonedo NEWS EDITOR Patrick Atuanya EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SALES AND MARKETING Kola Garuba EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL SERVICES Oghenevwoke Ighure ADVERT MANAGER Adeola Ajewole MANAGER, SYSTEMS & CONTROL Emeka Ifeanyi HEAD OF SALES, CONFERENCES Rerhe Idonije SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Patrick Ijegbai CIRCULATION MANAGER John Okpaire GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (North)

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South) Ignatius Chukwu HEAD, HUMAN RESOURCES Adeola Obisesan

Tuesday 24 April 2018

Towards a greater financial inclusion

T

h e b en efits of the financial inclusion of all citizens can be phenomenal. It will create such a positive and unstoppable force that will propel a country’s economic growth. The tapping up of the huge and largely idle funds at the hands of the financially excluded would definitely promotes capital accumulation, credit creation, increased economic activity, and increased investment.

Research has shown that over two billion individuals and 200 million businesses in emerging economies today lack access to savings and credit, and even those with access can pay dearly for a limited range of product.

In Nigeria, it is estimated that about 40% of Nigerians are financially excluded.

These unbanked and under-banked Nigerians are predominantly women and youth between the ages of 18 and 35. Some estimates suggest that Nigeria could quadruple its growth if all

its citizens are financially included.

Since most of the financially excluded in Nigeria are the low income earners and those in rural settings, there is no greater or more effective and efficient tool of taking financial services to them than the use of digital technology or simply the mobile phone, which use has become quite pervasive. Indeed, research and experience has shown that through digital technology, financial services could reach billions of new customers quickly and efficiently.

The success of M-Pesa, a mobile payments app in Kenya with 17 million active users conducting more than $50 billion in cashless transactions yearly, is nothing short of phenomenal and demonstrates the benefits of bringing digital financial services to all regardless of status, education or income as well as the power of technology to provide solutions to hitherto intractable problems.

However, Nigeria, with a teledensity of over 108% and 21 licensed mobile money operators have been unable to

bring digital financial services to the 40% of Nigeria’s adult population excluded from financial services. This is a significant drawback.

To our mind, the main reason for this failure is the decision of the central bank of Nigeria to adopt a bank-led approach as against the telecom companies being the drivers.

The main reason for this, as the CBN later explained, was because, mobile money will still be provision of banking services and it was better banks that are specialists in that field provide the services so people do not lose their money. Meanwhile, the telecom companies will provide most, if not all, the infrastructure for the scheme. But banks are unable to effectively market digital financial services without the cooperation of the telecom companies. Therein lies the dilemma.

In contrast, Kenya that is the shining model of digital financial services, adopted a telecoms company driven model. But the M-PESA actually started as a product from a Micro-Finance bank, which was looking for a cheap

platform to reach out to its customers spread all over the country. It eventually struck a partnership with Safaricom and that led to the birth of M-PESA which is now widely used across Kenya by both the financially included and excluded.

In Ghana also, the Bank of Ghana allowed the telecom companies to set up subsidiaries with own boards separate from their parent companies to provide mobile banking services. This has led to the relative success of digital financial services in the country.

Clearly then, one of the reasons for the inability to scale lies with this approach. No matter how the CBN feel about it, the telcos and now fintech operators must be involved for digital financial services to work seamlessly and for the millions of financially excluded to be included.

This will be achievable by the various sectors complementing each other in the value chain, and not as competition or threat, as this will spur financial inclusion and further lead to rapid economic growth for the benefit of all.

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Tuesday 24 April 2018

DAY

BUSINESS

COMPANIES & MARKETS

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‘My goals is to redefine the industry’

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Co 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

Stanbic IBTC profit beats estimates as non-interest revenue jumps BALA AUGIE

S

tanbic IBTC Holdings Plc reported a higher than expected quarterly profit as the bank’s noninterest revenue was boosted by increase in asset management fees while the country’s economy continues to improve.

The Nigerian lender’s earnings also got a boost from foreign exchange margins from plain vanilla forward transactions and nonderivative forward trades.

For the first three months through March 2018, Stanbic IBTC’s net income surged by 43.94 percent to N23.06 billion from N16.07 billion the previous year.

Earnings per share were 223kobo, topping analysts’ average estimate of 198kobo, according to data compiled by BusinessDay. Gross Earnings were up 22.03 percent to N57.38 billion in March 2018 as against N47.02 billion the previous year.

The growth in gross earnings was largely driven by a 37.93 percent increase in noninterest income to N18.51 billion in the period under review as interest income was stable.

Fees and commission income, and trading revenue spiked by 35.25 percent and 43.75 percent to N17.84 billion and N9.56 billion respectively in the period under review.

Stanbic IBTC has turned each Naira invested in revenue in generating higher profit while contemporaneously deploying the resources of its owners in generating profit.

Net margin, a measure of efficiency, increased to 40.18 percent in the period under review from 34.17 percent as at March 2017.

Stanbic IBTC’s operating expenses spiked by 46.80 percent to N25 billion in March 2018, which reflects the effect of inflation on operating cost and upward adjustment made to staff cost compared to prior year.

Expectedly, cost to income ratio rose to 53.70 percent in March 2018 from 43.70 percent the previous year. A lower ratio means a lender is efficient in curtailing costs while growing profit.

Non-performing loans to total loans ratio increased to 9.9 percent In March 2018 from 7.90 percent as at December 2017. Nonperforming loans in absolute figures increased by

17 percent to N37.0 billion in the period under review from N31.70 billion as at December 2017.

The growth in NPLs can be attributed to exposure to the oil and gas sector as lenders increased lending to oil firms when commodity prices were high.

Analysts are of the view that the Tier 2 lender’s assets quality could improve on the back of a gradual economy recovery as evidenced in the country existing its first

recession in 25 years.

With the relative ease in the foreign exchange market and a rebound in crude oil production and price, customers are expected to start paying back interest on loans borrowed from banks Stanbic IBTC Holdings’ interest on loans and advances to customers increased by 10 percent to N29.52 billion in December 2017 from N26.84 billion as at March 2018.

Gross loans & advances

to customers decreased by 7 percent to N375.6 billion, due to net repayments and slowdown in demand for loans in line with the market.

Stanbic IBTC’s capital and liquidity positions remained solid as its capital is deemed adequate to drive business growth and support any contingencies.

The group’s liquidity ratio closed at 119.5 percent, while the bank’s liquidity ratio was at 107.3 percent at

the end of first quarter (Q1) 2018. This ratio is significantly higher than the 30% regulatory minimum.

Total capital adequacy ratio of the lender improved to 25.4 percent in the period under review from 23.50 percent as at December 2017; which is above the minimum statutory requirement.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings shares closed at N49 as of 2:00 pm close of trading on April 20, valuing it at N492.42 billion.

Risk asset creation to determine winners, losers among banks, say analysts at Coronation Research

T

he ability to support risk asset creation in the real sector will differentiate winners from losers in the Nigerian banking industry over the next three years.

This is according to a report from one of the leading research houses in Nigeria – Coronation Research (a part of Coronation Merchant Bank Group).

While the quality of asset in the industry is generally improving, the firm believes the best capitalized banks will move well ahead of their competitors.

According to the Head of

Research, Guy Czartoryski, “for two years, Nigerian banks have had an easy time, earning good income on risk-free government-backed, Nairadenominated securities. That era is drawing to a close as T-bill rates fall,” Asset yields are trending south, and it is almost impossible to re-price liabilities to match. So, banks must either find other sources of income or face an average 15% drop in their Profits Before Tax expectation for 2018. For the banks to replace the portion of income threatened by declining yields on securities, they must grow risk-weighted

assets. This means a 6-12% rise in customer loans in 2018,” said Czartoryski.

The report categorizes banks into three tiers; Group A, Group B and Group C. Banks in Group A, being the most well capitalized, have the biggest opportunity to increase consumer lending.

According to the report, Group A includes Zenith Bank, GT Bank and Stanbic IBTC, which have the ability to significantly expand their loan books by 69%, 82% and 182% respectively.

Group B, including UBA, Access Bank and Fidelity Bank, have moderate capital levels

and some ability to expand loans books but may also pursue tier II capital raise in the form of long-term subordinated debt.

Group C, including FBNH, Diamond Bank and Sterling Bank, in the short to medium term have limited ability to expand their loans books and will most likely focus on dealing with capital issues and might attempt to raise long term capital from the capital market.

According to Coronation Research, “if equity markets are sufficiently strong, some banks might attempt equity capital increases (Tier-I) this

year. However, currently we have market valuations so low as to make equity capital dilute the interest of existing shareholders. So, the preferred capital-raising route is likely to be long-term subordinated debt (Tier-II). We expect market share in customer lending to flow from banks in Group C towards those in Group A. With banks in Group B we see some, but perhaps not significant, market share gains.”

Leaving capital raising aside, 2018 presents a golden opportunity for the stronger banks to expand loan books and gain market share. Ni-

gerian banks are coming off a low base: lending (when adjusted for currency depreciation) has hardly grown over two years, but the economic conditions look good for renewed loan growth.

Loan growth, over the last two years, has been far from impressive and understandably so, since banks have remained cautious as they have grappled with the effects of oil price volatility and its impacts on their loan books.

Even though we believe the underlying pressure on loan assets is getting lighter, there is still IFRS 9 to contend with.

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Tuesday 24 April 2018

COMPANIES & MARKETS

‘My goals is to redefine the industry’ Oghogho Osula is the managing director, Coronation Trustees Limited. she speaks in this interview with Iheanyi Nwachukwu. Excerpts In specific terms, what are the roles of corporate trustees in business transactions? ur primary duty as trustees is to protect the interests of investors and beneficiaries. It is our fiduciary duty to ensure that we abide by the provisions of the trust deed, act in the best interest of parties, and uphold our duty of loyalty and accountability.

As you are aware, a trustee is a fiduciary who is appointed to be an impartial and independent entity that holds assets on behalf of others with a legal obligation to administer it solely for the purposes specified. The primary duty of a trustee is to protect the interest of its clients by managing trust assets, monitoring obligations of issuers, ensuring timely payments of agreed disbursements as well as compliance with the terms of the Trust deed. We should not forget that beyond corporate business transactions, trustees also provide an avenue for wealth transfer, providing privacy, protection and confidentiality.

Are you among those that believe that the business of trusteeship needs to be completely overhauled?

I do not believe that the business needs complete overhauling. I agree that some parts of what we currently do will become outdated, I also believe that how we do our business will change. I believe the sectors where we can create value will change. However, I do not expect the fundamental reasons as to why we exist to change. We exist to create, protect and preserve assets for posterity. How we do the business and the people who we serve will evolve. I see the use of technology can easily revolutionize how we operate.

What are the challenges facing your industry?

The key challenges today include issues like low confidence in the Industry, the degree of sophistication required by clients which many players are unable to provide.

The knowledge gap for people who need our services, and some client preference for foreign trust firms in certain transactions. Another major issue is the cultural/religious barriers, both in private and public trust,

O

Oghogho Osula

like Sharia practices, also many people hesitate at the prospect of preparing in the eventuality of their passing; cultural beliefs and superstition can bring restrictions to many Trust transactions.

However, with the introduction of non-interest, Sukuk bonds more opportunities have been created. There is need for capacity building for practitioners, regulators and the capital market community. We can solve this by partnering with agencies in jurisdictions where they are ahead, e.g London, Middle East, even locally getting a structured way of sharing knowledge. More publications required in this field.

When you compare Nigerian corporate trustees to other countries, where do you think we stand?

We are still developing the industry landscape in

this region so other countries are currently ahead. Countries like India, the United Kingdom, the United States, and even South Africa, all have better developed financial markets. However, we are actively taking steps to ensure that our innovative organization will be at the helm of this development process.

Succession planning is one of the main businesses of corporate trustees. How can corporate trustees help solve problems associated with succession planning?

The issue here is creating structures that enable seamless transfer of wealth from one generation to the next.

A plausible solution to this issue would be to educate people on the importance of consolidating their assets as a prelude to setting up a trust, through which they

My experiences in over 27 years in the financial sector- ranging from commercial banking to asset management and trusteeship has prepared me to deliver superior services to the investors and beneficiaries that we serve

can transfer said assets to the next generations. A trust is less challenged than a will and has the added benefit of incurring less tax (probate).

As the CEO of Coronation Trustees Limited, your primary duty as trustees is to protect the interests of investors and beneficiaries. How well have you played this role?

My experiences in over 27 years in the financial sector- ranging from commercial banking to asset management and trusteeship has prepared me to deliver superior services to the investors and beneficiaries that we serve. I have played the role of Coronation Trustees CEO effectively with the support of my team. This is reflected in the growth of our assets under custody in security arrangements as well as nominees, to N15.8billion as at end of 2017. Thus, showing the confidence reposed in us by our chosen clients.

At Coronation Trustees, we ensure best-in-class administration and protection of our clients’ assets.

The issue of fees is always reoccurring in dealing with trustees. Where do you place your pricing model? …Competitive, industry-driven or what?

I am surprised that people think fees are prohibitive in dealing with Trustees, Trustees are the least paid in terms of fees in the capital market. Also, most trustees charge less than lawyers

who are worth their salt. The most important thing clients should thing about is the value that they receive, the cost savings they can achieve, the benefits they derive far outweigh the fees. On the issue of pricing model, we do not intend to compete on the basis of price, we will focus on ensuring that we create benefits that will make the fees irrelevant, because the peace of mind we will create will compensate.

What factors make Coronation Trustees Limited stand out from others in the marketplace?

The key differentiator between Coronation Trustees and our competitors is that we possess extensive knowledge and experience as a result of direct engagement with individuals and corporate clients in a wide spectrum of industries which include oil and gas, manufacturing, real estate and the public sector. Our team has a wealth of knowledge and combined experience in law, finance and risk management, which enables us to deliver superior services in asset preservation, management, wealth creation and succession planning solutions to our diverse range of clients. We ensure bestin-class administration and protection of our clients’ assets at all times.

We understand that despite our in-house expertise to deliver premium, tailored solutions for our clients, it is essential to work with external parties from time to time. Therefore, we partner with businesses within the Coronation Merchant Bank Group, as well as other financial institutions, to develop synergies. We also possess a wide business network that covers the major cities of Nigeria, making us more accessible to our clients.

Can you tell us about your products and services? …If any, how do they align with the vision of Coronation Trustees Limited?

We act as trustees for a variety of transactions, both locally and offshore transactions. We are strategically positioned to offer public, corporate and private trust services. Our tailored products and services are classified into three broad categories: Estate Planning, Corporate Trust, and Public Trust.

The Estate planning category consists of services

rendered for managing and safekeeping the assets of stakeholders in wills, Private trusts, Living trusts, Family trusts, Education trusts and philanthropic ventures. Our estate planning services help our clients consolidate their assets and be better positioned to seamlessly pass on their wealth to their loved ones.

The corporate trust segment deals with protecting the assets of stakeholders exposed to corporate bonds, debentures, loan syndications and collective investment schemes.

Our corporate trust services are tailored to institutional clients Lastly, the public-trust category is tailored towards protecting the assets of government entities that often engage in the issue government bonds, public-private partnerships, and escrow services.

Our vision is to be Africa’s leading investment bank and our results-driven nature has made it possible for us to build and sustain a track record that will allow us to realize this vision. Within our first year of operation, we were appointed as joint trustees to the Lagos State (Series I) N500 billion Fixed Rate Bond Programme; the largest 2016 subnational bond transaction. We have also been appointed as joint Trustees to the proposed UACN Property Development Company Plc (UPDC Plc) up to N20billion Bond Issuance Programme. Our ability to match our products with the clients needs in these landmark transactions serve as an example of how we are taking the right steps to ensure that we realise our vision of becoming Africa’s premier Investment Bank.

What is your biggest goal in the corporate trustees in business?

One of my goals is to redefine the industry; I believe that there is so much that can be done in the industry than is currently being done. For instance, I would like to disrupt the status quo in regard to who the industry leaders are. I don’t want to give away too much of my plans.

I use the likes of GT Bank, Access bank as reference points who revolutionized the banking industry with unique value propositions and have thus captured a significant share of the market.

Tuesday 24 April 2018

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COMPANIES & MARKETS UBA celebrates Africa, honours staff at 2018 CEO awards

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t was a fun night of glamour and electrifying excitement as Pan African financial services group, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc once again gathered together a stunning audience from Across Africa at the 2018 edition of the UBA CEO Awards.

The event which was held at Eko Hotels and Suites in Lagos, Nigeria, was the talk of the town and trended all night as staff members, their clients and friends all let go and got totally immersed in the celebrations of the special evening.

The UBA CEO Awards remains one of the most sought after annual events in the Lagos entertainment calendar. in its 10th year since inception in 2008, the event keeps getting bigger and better.

The theme of the night, Celebrating Africa, celebration by the pan-African Bank, of the continents rich history and culture. UBA’s foot print in 20 African countries and in London, Paris and New York allowed a culturally diverse audience which was on display at the event. The Bank was also promoting its core value of Enterprise, Excellence and Execution as staff members who had performed extra ordinarily during the year, were rewarded and celebrated throughout the evening.

The Chairman, UBA Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu, who was at the event with his lovely wife Dr Awele, said as he was interviewed on the golden carpet, that the bank chose this day to reward staff who

had worked hard to ensure that the company remains a leading financial institution on the continent.

“It is a time to reward dignity, hard work, and excellence in execution, and to show our multitude of staff globally that they are very much appreciated for their contributions.’ said Elumelu.

The GMD/CEO, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, who congratulated the recipients of the various awards in different categories, charged them to continue to work hard and exhale the core values of UBA . He re -iterated that the Customer is the employer and all staff must focus on ensuring that they are given excellent services always.

He said, “Every year, it is our tradition to appreciate our people who have put in their very best and gone far and beyond the call of duty to deliver excellent services to the bank and the customers by extension. As you may well know, UBA has promoted about 47 per cent of its staff within the last twelve months, and this is something that is very rare in our industry. It is a statement about our commitment to the employees’.

Continuing, Uzoka said, “We know that when you have been rewarded, you will be motivated to do more, so I encourage you all to put in your best and remain focused on satisfying the customers, which is the reason why we are here.”

In attendance were captains of industries, media moguls, Nollywood stars,

Public servants and politicians including President of Dangote Industries, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Forte Oil, Femi Otedola, President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chief (Mrs) Nike Akande, Former Governor of Ekiti State, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and wife, Angela, Publisher of Ovation Magazine, Mr. Dele Momodu, Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, CEO, Ebony LifeTV Mrs Mo Abudu and some Nollywood stars, Richard Mofe Damijo, Omotola Jalade Ekehinde, Omoni Oboli.

Also present to honour UBA at the event were Former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, Wale Edun, CEO, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr, Bismarck Rewane, CEO, Airtel, Segun Ogunsanya, Directors of UBA Plc, Ambassador Joe Keshi, Chief Kola Jamodu, Ambassador Adekunle Olumide, Mrs Rose Okwechime, among many others Great performances by A-list artists such as ‘science students’ crooner, Olamide, Flavor, Kiss Daniels, Styl Plus and Falz the bad guy as well rib-cracking comedy from Basketmouth ensured that staff and guests alike were kept off their seats as they each performed to the massive enjoyment of those present.

Ace T V Presenter, IK Osakioduwa and Ayo, were the compere of the event led the guests through a night of fun and laughter and of course lots to eat and drink.

Business Event

L-R: Iyabo Phillips, director, Ministry of Environment, Lagos State, representing the commissioner of Environment; Paul Usoro, guest speaker; Olayinka Oladunjoye, commissioner for Commerce, Industry & Cooperative, Lagos State, and Francis Meshioye, chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Ikeja branch, at the association 10th edition breakfast meeting for MD’s/CEO’s titled: The Nigerian Manufacturing Sector: Current Issues and Options in Lagos

L-R: Dave Uduanu, MD/CEO, Sigma Pensions; Mark Collier, director; Fash Sawyerr, director of Business and Strategy of Actis, and Natalie Kolbe, non executive director, Sigma Pension, during retirement/send forth party for the outgoing chairman of Sigma Pensions, Rasaki Oladejo in Abuja.

L-R: Ladi Adekoya, Sales Operation Manager East 2 Intercontinental Distillers Limited IDl; Gbemileke Lawal, Brand Manager, Eagle Schnapps; Mobolaji Alalade, Head of Marketing Intercontinental Distillers Limited IDl, and Julius Nnaji ( OdezuluigboIII of Nike Kingdom, when Intercontinental Distillers Limited paid the Monarch a courtesy call on Enugu.

UBA CEO Awards L-R: Femi Otedola, chairman Forte Oil plc; Tony Elumelu, UBA plc and Aliko Dangote, president, Dangote Industries, at the 2018 UBA CEO Awards where deserving staff of the Bank were honoured in a night of fun and entertainment at Eko Hotel, Lagos.

L-R: Pascal Odibo; Gogo Karibi White; Denzel Kentebe, President, and Uche Okoroafor, some Excos of South East South South Professionals, at their Roundtable.

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APCON to take on unlicensed advertising agencies … To prosecute them after May 1, 2018 Stories by Daniel Obi Media Business Editor

L-R: Femi Awoyemi, CEO, Proshare Nigeria; Nduneche Ezurike, Convener, Employee Marketplace and head, brand and communication, Skye Bank Plc; Chris Acholonu, HR Strategist and Ikem Okuhu, lead director, analyst-in-chief, BRANDish, at the unveil of the Employee Marketplace Report at the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Victoria Island Lagos, recently

use of those that are duly and legally registered with APCON. The advertisers will be sanctioned if we find them wanting because it will be illegal business”, Iyoha said. Iyoha stepped in as Ag Registrar early this year following the retirement of former Registrar/ CEO, Bello Kankaroffi.

She encouraged all the agencies to come to APCON and check their corporate status for membership.

According to her, the aim of relicensing is to sanitise the industry going forward.

Also speaking, the Chairman of Corporate Licensing Committee, Lekan Fadalapo who is also the

Executive Director/CEO, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) said the committee has inspected about 200 agencies which is about 80 percent of all the agencies in the creative, media specialists and out of home business since April last year towards sensitising them on the need for re-licencing. So far, some have complied, he said.

He explained that the licensing is in two categories. There is Window A for agencies who are members of recognised sectoral group and Window B for those who are not members of any sectoral group.

Lekan who regretted that the

Aliko Dangote Foundation re-brands with new identity

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argest private foundation in Sub-Saharan Africa, Aliko Dangote Foundation with $1.25 billion endowment fund has created a separate identity for itself to differentiate from business side of Dangote group.

The foundation which has four strategic areas of focus - Health, Education, Economic empowerment and Disaster Relief was after the endowment in 2014 by its owner still seen as CSR arm of Aliko Dangote conglomerate.

The new brand recognition, according to its CEO, Zovera Youssoufou, makes the foundation stand alone.

She said the new brand recognition is important as the foundation is going from what was essentially a small to medium size organisation that was closely tied to the business side of Aliko Dangote to now a

Obaigbena, Olanipekun, Abati, to lead discussion on future of Media

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dvertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON has resolved to take on advertising agencies that are operating in Nigeria but are not licensed.

The council has therefore sent out a warning that agencies that are not re-licensed by Tuesday, next week will face the music.

APCON which is yet to have a board after three years due to the delay by the Presidency also warned that advertisers who patronise and engage un-licensed agencies for business are working against the law and will be prosecuted. To avoid confusion on licensed or un-licensed firms, the Council through its Ag Registrar/CEO Ijedi Iyoha promised to make the list public. She also assured that the council will inform Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, ADVAN and other relevant stakeholders on its resolve to prosecute un-licensed agencies after May 1, 2018.

“The question is for how long we will keep condoning those that are not willing to be licensed. We met as a committee and we agreed that come May 1, 2018, we will come up with publication of those that have been licensed and those that are yet to be licensed.

“We are saying that it is now illegal for advertisers to engage agencies that are not registered with APCON for any advertising business. We expect them to make

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global focus but more of Afro-centric personalised institution. “It is also important to get away from the perception that the foundation is the Group’s CSR organ” The new logo which played with expressive colours of orange, red, blue and green has all the sides in triangles which mean moving forward.

It also tried to depict the picture of Africa as its central focus.

Zovera explained that “In 2014 was when the actual change of the foundation happened when Dangote made endowment of N200 billion at that time to the foundation.

We went from being an organisation that is sometimes funded by Cement or Sugar companies of Dangote Group; sometimes we do CSR projects for the group to a full foundation “With that endowment it really becomes his foundation and

no longer money from Cement, sometimes donations from Sugar but his money he put into the course because he wants us to do charitable intervention. That endowment turned the foundation into the largest private foundation in SubSaharan Africa” For its empowerment programme, Zovera said the foundation has set aside N10 billion at N10,000 each for 1,000 women in each of the 774 local government areas. “Approximately we provided for one million Nigerian women and each is getting a grant of 10,000 Naira” She said the role of the states and local governments is to help identify the indigent women that need such grants “It is only when the states are ready that is when we come in as we don’t influence who gets the grants”, she said.

business of advertising has suffered unethical practices and there is need for sanity in the industry said the council has shifted the goal post for the implementation of this reform upto three times. “It was initially scheduled for October last year, but stakeholders appealed to APCON to give them three months.

In December, we had another meeting and they requested for another three months to regularise their registration”, he said.

He said if the reform of 2013, including the re-licensing is properly implemented, it has the potential to create over 200,000 jobs for Nigeria in the next one year.

HISDAY Publisher, Nduka Obaigbena; a former President of Nigerian Bar Association, Wole Olanipekun (SAN); and a former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reuben Abati are expected to lead discussion at the RightHand Media Roundtable Discussion, holding on Friday in Lagos, with the theme ‘Fake News and Future of the Media’.

The roundtable discussion also coincides with the public presentation of ‘Brands in the News’ - a compilation of articles written by Raheem Akingbolu, a reporter with ThisDay. The event which is the first leg of the agency’s annual Stakeholders Media Engagement, is organised to galvanise stakeholders towards the danger of citizen journalism to the future of the industry.

Media Relations Manager of the agency, Morounmubo Alabi, indicated in a statement that Abati, a respected scholar and media industry giant, was chosen as speaker for the day after a careful deliberation by the board.

A legal luminary, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, will chair the event, while a former Chairman, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON ), Lolu Akinwumi, will moderate the round-table session.

Virony broadens market, appoints Mercy Johnson - Okojie brand ambassador

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irony Nigeria Limited has appointed ace Nollywood actress, Mercy JohnsonOkojie as Brand Ambassador, in its bid to further deepen its market presence and share.

The foremost manufacturer of building materials, sanitary wares, daily necessities and household supplies noted that using the Nollywood actress as the face of its products was based on her personality, values and influence among young mothers.

President, Virony Nigeria Limited, Vicky Cao, while unveiling Mercy Johnson-Okorie in Lagos recently said “it is also a testimony to the fact that Mercy Johnson-Okojie is an exciting personality who embodies the strength of the African woman”. Also, being a celebrity, she said “Mercy Johnson-Okorie is a home-maker who recognizes the importance of the wellbeing of the family. Her ambassadorial role will see her become the face of Virony Diapers and Detergent for the next

Mercy Johnson-Okojie

two years”.

Describing the union as a great match between Virony and Mercy Johnson-Okorie, she said there are lots of good things in common, such as good reputation, special care to the society, respect every single works and products and positive influence in public.

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Market Research Academy berths in Lagos to equip researchers, consultants for industry challenges Daniel Obi

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arket Res e a r c h A c a d e my , a new initiative by industry experts led by qualified and experienced market leaders including Doyin Salami, an accomplished economist who is chairman of the Advisory board has been established in Lagos to bridge the knowledge gap in Nigeria’s consultancy business.

The Academy, established last year with base in Ikeja is also designed to technically equip and assist fresh graduates who find it difficult to fit into work places. The academy seen as an interventionist move to close the widening knowledge gap in Nigeria’s consultancy business will also upscale the skills of practitioners especially as the market becomes more dynamic.

“Market Research Academy Lagos is a professionally run academy by industry marketing practitioners for marketing researchers. From our state of the art purposely fitted training facilities within

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eLD Innovations Limited, cash reward as-a-service Company has launched a new product ‘Cash Token’, an electronic reward and celebratory gift commodity which has the objectives to drive customer loyalty, increase sales, increase revenue generation for government and assist in building relationships with customers.

Under the electronic product platform, once a customer makes a purchase or takes a service at any partner shop anywhere, the attendants will ask for the customer’s phone number which will be filled into an App provided for them.

After that, the customer receives SMS that he/she has been entered for a draw every Friday to win between N5,000 and N100 million. The cus-

a serene environment; we run ‘outcome’ oriented programs.

Our model is simple: we invite facilitators with hands on proven knowledge of different target topics to teach and we then leverage a central advisory board to censor and push the envelope via inclusion of new approaches and methodologies”, Seyi Adeoye, the programme director said.

Some of the programmes include Graduate Launch which is graduate level training programme.

According to Adeoye, this exciting program is for graduates looking to develop a career in marketing research, persons responsible for marketing research at different organizations, marketing managers with recently expanded portfolios which include marketing research and any person looking for solid foundation in marketing research.

Attendees will have ample opportunity to exchange views and experiences with each other and faculty members in the state of the art classroom facilities located within GRA- Ikeja, Lagos, he said.

Leading experts from industry and academy will share their knowledge and experience in designing, implementing, interpreting, and reporting quality marketing research that drives strategy and business growth. They will cover these topics using real case examples, hands-on experiences.

There is also a monthly session with an industry expert. “We hold monthly Friday evening session of rich intellectual conversation with leading minds within the industry to discuss new trends or issues as they affect both sides of the coin (clients and agencies).

This vigorous mental tasking evening is interspersed with jokes, music and networking opportunities”.

He also said that the Academy works with select partner agencies and companies to offer young marketing research consultants, a month internship opportunity during which they would be exposed to real business issues, garner hands-on experiences and understand practical applications of marketing research.

Another programme, according to Adeoye who is alumnus of Lagos Business School, a ISEB UK certified Business Analyst and member of NIMRA + ESOMAR is Master Classes for Mid/Senior Level Marketing Research Consultants. It is an intensive one to two day programmes aimed at up-skilling mid/senior level marketing research consultants.

The Academy’s flagship program is the 10 weeks intensive training program for experienced professionals.

This is for experienced professionals, persons responsible for marketing research at different organizations and marketing managers looking for solid foundation in marketing research.

Other members on the team include Michael Abhulimen, an experienced CPG innovations leader with diverse background and leadership roles within R&D, operations, brand management, strategic innovations and trade marketing functions. He is currently Executive Director, Wake Forest University – School of Business, North Carolina – USA and the immediate past Marketing Director for Lafarge Nigeria.

Ibukun Badejo – Consultant (Program Planner) who is passionate about helping businesses grow and has robust work consulting experience working with start-ups, financial institutions, NGOs and FMCGs with consistent delivery of value to stakeholders. Others on the advisory board are Lanre Fashakin, CEO of CMRG Ltd and Stella Okpalla, CEO Deepdive Ltd.

CeLD lists customer loyalty optimisation, winning prizes as objectives behind Cash Token product tomer also receives token in his/her insurance pension or savings account.

Further explaining the product, the CEO of CeLD, Lai Labode said businesses and government agencies that want to increase customer loyalty and optimise sales need to partner with his company and buy the Cash Token at N30 each before they could give it to customers who will stand the chance of winning cash prizes every weekend.

“We are signing on partners and any patronage with our partners is a life changing opportunity. We have signed on some small and big partners already including Keystone Bank and any transaction with

Keystone Bank is a life changing opportunity”.

It is believed that the Cash Token product will trigger more sales at agent partners as customers desire to win huge in the draws. Labode further expressed his delight that CeLD has come up with a product that can touch people across Africa.

The vision we have for Africa is a life changing opportunity because for every purchase there is a ‘gift’ reward.

According to him, the product is an outcome of a research designed to find out the most potent emotional disposition of a consumer, which will best trigger increased, repeat and sustainable patronage of

goods and services.

The Result: We found that ‘What the average consumer really wants is an opportunity for Life-Changing Cash reward at every point of patronage’ The Product: The CashToken is a proprietary electronic reward commodity that offers opportunity for Life-Changing Cash Reward and guaranteed cash for insurance and pension to customers of any business.

Also speaking, the CEO of Airtel, Segun Ogunsanya said as companies innovate, they need to focus on creating value for customers and maintaining their loyalty as this is the niche of international conglomerates who have retained a high global ranking.

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Marketing expert calls for review of engagement strategies with millennials in workplaces

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arketing Communication p ro f e s s i o na l and employee of Skye Bank, Nduneche Ezurike has cautioned that organizations seeking to create happy moments as a strategy for achieving improved productivity are in for hard times in the era of the millennials if they don’t pay greater attention to creating enabling environment which harnesses individual talents in the work place.

Speaking in Lagos recently while delivering his research report titled: ‘Employee MarketPlace’ a study on employee engagement and workplace innovation in the Millennial age, Ezurike undertook a review of the current practice of employee engagement and questioned the practical relevance of some of the existing theories on employee happiness, employee motivation and the Employee EngagementProfit- Chain.

The report showed how leaders can take advantage of the creative energies and talents of the millennials to achieve innovation within their organization.

“In the era of innovation, there is little correlation between organizations with the highest wage package and its net productivity’ he declared.

Speaking further on the Employee Marketplace, Nduneche revealed that the Employee Marketplace is an engagement design which seeks to harness employee self-interest to unlock organizational benefits of innovation and business growth.

Later in the presentation, stakeholders representing varied generations bared their minds on the workplace conflict created by intergenerational gaps.

BiodunAdedipe, the MD/ CEO of Abiodun Adedipe and Co commended as incisive effort to unravel the seeming mystery of the generation X and their work attitudes.

40 Artistes 12 drummers qualify for Goldberg Ariya Repete Talent hunt

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2 Winners have emerged in the Ariya Repete Traditional Music and Drums Talent Hunt, sponsored by Goldberg Lager Beer for Nigerian Breweries.

The talent hunt is aimed at developing drumming skills, juju and fuji music genres, while also rewarding up and coming acts in the music industry.

The audition and selection stage was held in eight cities including Sango Ota, Ogun State, Ado Ekiti, Akure, Lagos, Ilesha, Ilorin, Ibadan and Oyo where several contestants came to slug it out for a place in the quarter finals of the competition.

The Artistes and groups in the first and second round of auditions impressed the judges with their talents and crafts-

manship. The Panel of judges were then able to make the final selection of artistes who qualified for the quarterfinal.

The successful contestants will now go into the Ariya Repete Academy where they will go through mentorship and grooming from experienced musicians and managers.

According to the Portfolio Manager, Mainstream Lager and Stout brands, NBPlc, Emmanuel Agu, participants at this year’s edition of Ariya Repete are competing for a bigger prize money compared to the previous editions, with the overall winner in each category carting away a grand prize of N2 million.

He further reaffirmed Nigerian Breweries’ commitment to discovering new talents in the two indigenous Yoruba music genres as well as in drumming.

Adebola Williams, Toyosi AkereleOgunsiji, others to speak at 2nd edition of HandleItAfrica Conference

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he second edition of the Handle It Africa Conference, a platform birthed to share insightful knowledge on maximizing the benefits of social media, is scheduled to hold next week in Lagos. Themed Social Media: Expanding Influence, Broadening Thoughts, the conference will feature exciting panel sessions designed to enlighten participants on the effective use of social media.

According to a statement, the sessions will feature speak-

ers who have successfully built strong personal and corporate brands by leveraging the power of social media. The speakers for the 2018 edition include Adebola Williams, Co-Founder of RED; Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, Founder / CEO of RISE NETWORKS; Bolanle Olukanni, TV Presenter and Red Carpet Host; Adenike Oyetunde, Radio Personality; Bukunyi OlateruOlagbegi, Chairman, Modern Democratic Party; Comedians, Kenny Blaq and Lasisi Elenu, amongst others.

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Energy Report Oil & Gas

Power

Renewables

Environment

West African Ventures invests $550,000 reskilling young Nigerians in oil sector ISAAC ANYAOGU

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he West African Ventures (WAV), an engineering, procurement, installation and marine charter services provider for the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, says it has spent over $550,000 to train 26 young Nigerians.

According to the company the training is in partnership with Chevron and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, under the Sonam Development Project Pipeline and Okan Pig Receiver Platform Transport and installation contract (SONAM/NC HCD).

In a statement sent to BusinessDay, WAV said the training was an intensive 20 months activity, from August 2016 to 20th of April, 2018 and was designed to achieve competence building (Classroom Training) as well as onthe job training in order to raise the capacity of young Nigerian intending to work in the Oil and Gas industry.

Michael Amaeshike, (left), WAV DMD presenting a certificate to one of the trainees

“This tutelage plan was put in place to further ensure effective implementation of the National Content Development Monitoring Boards (NCDMB) Human Capacity Development plan in the course of executing the Sonam Development Project Pipeline and Okan Pig Receiver Platform

Transport and installation contract,” said the release.

Out of the 26 trainees, 18 were professionals with the breakdown thus; four trained in cost control, two in document control, four trained in HSE, two in Construction, two in Engineering and four in QAQC, with the remaining 8, trained

under the artisans’ category as welders.

Michael Amaeshike, WAV, deputy managing director while speaking at the close-out ceremony held in Lagos said the categories of professionals considered included graduates, artisans, and tutors selected in line with the requirement of

the NCDMB human capacity development guidelines.

Amaeshike further said the training was set up in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010, which demands provision of an additional human resources capacity development - for some categories of Nigeria citizenry outside the contractor personnel - in the course of executing a major project.

Recall that recently, the monitoring board observed in the course of its activities the disturbing trend which had stakeholders and their partners carry out activities in the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream sectors of the nation’s oil and gas industry in violation of the provisions of the NOGICD Act 2010 despite its notices and warning. The board warned that it won’t hesitate to apply appropriate sanctions against any erring stakeholder.

Simbi Wabote, executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and

Monitoring, represented

by Maurice Iwhiwhu, HCD manager, said the training marks a water-shed in the delivery of the mandate of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board and praised West African Ventures and Chevron for providing a platform for the training and development of young Nigerians, while noting that this will go a long way in creating a sustainable industry.

One of the trainees, Temilade Adeoye, who was trained on cost control, on her reflection about the human capacity development project, said it opened her to more knowledge acquisition that will be helpful to her in her future endeavours.

Stanley Onuosa, Company Secretary/Nigerian Content Development Manager of West African Ventures, said retaining local value informed the company’s decision to retain two out of the professionals who automatically gained full employment with WAV after their closeout ceremony.

Mba Sam also spoke on the issue of energy efficiency stating his association believes that energy conservation is a form of power

generation.

According to him, “It has put up a scheme that would ensure that members of MAN are audited. It is to see the type of boilers and chillers members are using and if they are obsolete there would be an arrangement to replace them with energy efficient equipment.

“Energy efficient is not just about using energy saving bulbs or turning off light when they are not needed it about what are the power consuming equipment that you have that can be changed to modern ones” He said following the recently government declaration that the grid can take 7000megawatts, there is move to encourage MAN members that are within the 500MVA threshold and who can come together as cluster they should keyin by signing a bilateral agreement with generation companies.

Man enumerates actions taken to enhance improve power supply … encourage members to go into bilateral agreement with Gencos OLUSOLA BELLO

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he Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has enumerated actions taken so far to enhance the power needs of its members in order that their productivity can improve.

This was disclosed by Frank Jacobs, president of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) at a panel of discussion titled, Nigerian Manufacturer’s Forum: Powering Nigeria’s industrial forum and organised by Siemens Nigeria limited The MAN president who was represented by Mba Sam stated that MAN took a critical assessment of the level of power needed by its members and came to the conclusion that, instead of waiting on government for the power its need, it decided to incorporated a joint venture company.

This company is mandated to look into the issues relating to the challenges posed by power supply to MAN members and how it can be resolved.

According to him, in the course of looking at the issue it was realised that some MAN members have over sized generating plants, which is an enormous source of waste.

To arrest this waste he stated that attempts are being made to shut down all private generators through the development of small scale projects that would serve the needs of group.

He explained that two pilot projects are being carried out simultaneously in Lagos.

One of the projects is located at Henry Car street by Berger Paint while the other one is at ACME in Ogba. The two pilot projects have had their Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed he said, The MAN boss while ex-

pressing appreciation to the government for bringing about the Eligible Customer policy said this would allow MAN to work with Ikeja

Olusola Bello, Team lead, Analysts: Kelechi Ewuzie, Isaac Anyaogu, Graphics: Joel Samson.

Electric. The two project have applied as an eligible customers so that they can begin to operate freely in the space that has been provided

Email: energyreport@businessdayonline.com, Tel: +234-8023020011; +234-7037817378; +234-8036534708

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‘Why digitalisation in operations will spur Nigeria’s gas sector growth’ KELECHI EWUZIE

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ndustry stakeholders in Nigeria’s gas sector have called for the prompt embrace of digitalisation by indigenous operators as this will enhance better use of data to manage and control multiple operations.

They said this has become necessary if the country hopes to meet global standard in the drive for efficiencies in management and automation systems seeing Nigeria is a leading province when it comes to gas reserves.

Wumi Iledare, an energy expert maintains that effective integration of digital technologies could reduce capital expenditure in gas sector by up to 20%, cut upstream operating costs by up to 5% and downstream costs by up to 2.5%.

He argue that Nigeria’s best approach will be a combination of local skills and knowledge, and the expertise and experience of a proven international part-

ner able to deliver digital technologies and automation, together with traditional instrumentation and controls, across the entire gas value chain.

According to him, “Technology is a significant part of the solution to the gas chal-

lenge that Nigeria face as it enables real-time monitoring of infrastructure and quicker incident responses.

“To boost productivity and returns, Indigenous gas sector operators should rapidly adopt and integrate digital technology that im-

proves efficiencies and up skills staff”.

On his part, Ayodele Oni, an energy expert observes that in not too distant time, Indigenous gas operations will have real-time access to data at the click of a button, from any location on earth.

This essentially connects a team of global experts collaborating in real-time to drive improvements in exploration and extraction, pipeline security, distribution, refining and transportation of the finished products.

And with a potential US$300 billion added to the African economy by 2026 through the adoption of digitalisation, Nigeria’s economy will receive a significant portion of that figure to advance its burgeoning gas market.

He opines that this in turn will address the triple threat of unemployment, inequality and poverty paving the way for a society where business success leads to socio-economic advancement, such as new business development and job creation, and essential new infrastructure projects that include schools, hospitals, transportation networks and housing.

Gas operators in Nigeria should be early adopters of technology, their employees should be proactively trained in the application of the new technology, and the industry should be supported by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) with proven global experience across the entire upstream, mid-stream and downstream value chain.

Access to finance, policy clarity hampers energy industry in Nigeria, Africa KELECHI EWUZIE

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ccess to finance, regulation and policy clarity, skills gap, red tape and economic slowdown have been identified as important hindrances that power professionals in Nigeria and the rest of Africa face in their industries. A recent African Utility Week industry survey has revealed.

Aside from these issues, the survey result also shows that Corruption has also play a bigger in the challenges slowing the development pace of the sector.

Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl, editor of the energy trade journal, ESI Africa observes that corruption is still perceived as a major obstacle and this goes along with respondents’ strong call for government commitment and transparency.

“It will take concerted leadership from all levels of government to rid the continent of this deeply entrenched challenge. The skills gap is also pinned as a high concern, putting development at risk – the loss of engineers, technicians and managers who are now retired or close to retirement age is a real factor; perhaps reviving apprenticeships along with attractive offers

would make inroads to solving this risk,” said Pombovan Zyl. Skills in finance, engineering/technical, people management and leadership all scored high (29%33%) in a question on what power professionals perceived to present the biggest skills deficit in their companies.

Asked what the most promising source of gen-

eration is for Africa, Solar PV scored more than 54% amongst the respondents while nuclear was second with 11%.

“The reason could be that rooftop PV, when measured against the other technologies, is easy to execute as a project and photovoltaic modules are becoming very affordable,” She adds: “it is also the most obvious technology

Power generation situation last week

Source: Power Advisary Team

to use in mini- and off-grid projects as well as for use in hybrid models. However, what is interesting but not surprising is that 11% of respondents feel that nuclear energy is the most promising generation source.

Nuclear has its merits.

What is disappointing is how few are in favour of biomass as a promising source of generation capacity, considering that this technology

offers a distributed model and a measure of reducing the mounds of waste that Africa’s cities are confronted with.

Another concern is the lack of interest in wind energy – only 8% of respondents felt this technology a worthy source; however, it does rank slightly higher than hydro where the continent’s impressive potential capacity is recorded. Wind

energy is likely to make tentative steps towards market growth now that South African, Kenyan and Moroccan wind farms are making good headwinds.”

When asked the question: “The future lies in:” and given four choices only, namely distributed generation, mini grids, utility scale grids and storage, distributed generation was a clear winner at 40% with storage second at 27%, then mini grids with 22% and utility scale grids scoring the lowest with 11%.

According to Pombovan Zyl, distributed energy resources (DER) are top of mind as an imminent risk to the traditional utility and municipality business model – and not just in Africa.

The ESI Africa editor’s take on these results: “it is a concern that there is a joint winner from this question: finance and engineering/ technical skills. Without these two significantly important skills being resident within the utility market it is no wonder that companies’ cash flow is untenable and technical losses along the value chain are present due to maintenance challenges.

A potential solution lies in leadership and people management, which also scored very high in this question.”

BDTECH

BUSINESS DAY

Tuesday 24 April 2018

In association with

Africa shows significant interest in spam detecting mobile app …As Truecaller records 100 million daily users

JUMOKE AKIYODE LAWANSON

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n less than a year, the Truecaller app has recorded a leapfrog in user number from 100 million monthly active users (MAUs) to 100 million daily active users (DAUs).

With more than 20 percent of its user base in Africa, Truecaller app service identifies more than half a billion calls a month in the region, and 50 percent of SMS received are spam. In Nigeria the application blocks and filters more than 13 million calls and 25 million spam SMSs per month.

Constantly evolving technology, lower cost of mobile phones, data and more connected devices has places an increased importance on smartphones, especially more in emerging markets where the primary gateway to the internet is through mobile broadband connectivity. This is a major reason why mobile phones need to be protected from spam calls and text messages and has led to the increased acceptance of the Truecaller app which ensures safe and efficient communication.

Alan Mamedi, CEO and cofounder of Truecaller, said: “Close

L-R: Matthew Maganda (Head, Human Capital), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Maryam Bayi (Director, Human Capital & Infrastructure Group – DHCIG), NCC; Usman M. Sani, Deputy Director/Area Manager, Abuja, Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and Evelyn Irabor, Asst. Director/Head of Training, ITF after presenting “Best Contributing Employer in Human Resource Development in 2017” Award to NCC at the NCC Corporate Headquarters in Abuja last week.

to a decade ago, we set out to solve what we thought was a simple problem – how do we figure out who these unknown numbers belong to that keeps calling us? Little did we know how big of a problem that actually was in all corners of the world.”

“It was so big, in fact, that Truecaller is pleased and excited to announce that we now have more

than 100 million daily active users using our app for their daily communication. There are only a handful of mobile-only services that impact as many users each and every day and we are humbled to be able to join this exclusive group,” says Mamedi.

The proliferation of new and advanced technologies that are ever evolving. From simple be-

ginnings as a Caller ID and spam blocking app, Truecaller has also evolved to a full fledge communications platform with calling, SMS’, Flash Messages and payment services.

“We could never have predicted that Truecaller would become an indispensable resource for women’s safety in many countries; or that it would be used for e-commerce and courier services around the globe to facilitate the difficult last mile of delivery; or allow more people to experience a data-only product in offline mode,” says Mamedi. “Truecaller is more than just an app on your phone, it has aided in bridging the digital divide between the urban and growing semi urban/rural markets in India; and has even enabled more African businesses to accept online payment.”

“We’re continuously working to make communications safer and efficient and the fact that we have so many users validates our mission. We’re excited to see what the next decade and 100 million users bring us. So to all millions of users who helped us get here we would like to say thank you,” Mamedi adds.

Osinbajo commends innovation at Africa Fintech Foundry JUMOKE AKIYODE LAWANSON

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emi Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria has commended the effort of Access Bank through its Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF) initiative to provide funding, mentorship and nurturing to financial technology (Fintech) startups.

Osinbajo who toured the AFF office in Victoria Island Lagos, alongside Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology on Tuesday April 17, 2018 said he was impressed to know that Access Bank is at the fore-front of creativity and innovation.

“Technology is the way to go. There

is no doubt that the future of our country will depend on the level of our innovation to solve our problems. I am extremely proud of what I have seen here today and the federal government will be working with you to build something similar to AFF in University of Lagos and six other universities across the country,” he said.

“A place like this where creative people can come and solve problems by creating disruptive technology is very impressive and there is no doubt that this will be the toast of our nation in the next few years,” Osinbajo added.

AFF is an initiative of Access Bank in collaboration with tech giants; Microsoft and IBM to provide a platform to foster innovation in the fintech ecosystem with the aim of nurturing

young talent for the future of financial services in Africa.

Mosun Belo Olusoga, Chairman, Access Bank Plc said that “access bank is leveraging technology to drive financial inclusion, as the bank aims to gain 35million new customers in the next five years with the use of technology.”

Speaking about disruption, Ade Bajomo, Executive Director, IT & Operations, Access Bank Plc said that banking is being disrupted by technology in the same way that retail has already been disrupted beyond any imagination.

“For a bank to grow from 1milion customers to 35million or more, it means that they have to embrace the right technology in ways that they have not done before. At Access Bank, we

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have developed ways to achieve this; one of this is the Tamara App feature with artificial intelligence so that anybody, anywhere in the world with a phone can access our services,” he said.

Banjomo who gave a brief presentation on the technology outlook and growth plans of the bank said that managing digital risk is top priority and this has helped the bank build an impressive data base to aid loan payment.

“We understand the risks in the digital world and we have taken significant steps to secure our processes,” he said.

Africa Fintech Foundry, as a growth stage accelerator for fintech startups in Nigeria and Africa at large, is big on creating an enabling environment for SMEs which are a vital part of any economy.

MTN, Twinpine partner on mobile advertising

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TN Nigeria has partnered with Twinpine, a Terragon company with specialties in mobile marketing, to launch an upgraded version of MTN’s Mobile Advertising.

The upgraded version of Mobile Advertising with self-service capability is a smart means of optimising advertising budget, allowing brands and businesses to reach their profiled target audiences with ease.

Speaking at the launch, Lynda Saint-Nwafor, chief enterprise business officer, MTN Nigeria, said that, “MTN as a brand aims to help its customers get the best of their business using the services that we provide. We’re particularly proud of our Mobile Advertising as it offers much more than receiving an SMS on your phone. MTN Mobile Advertising involves a wide array of channels like USSD, End-of-Call Notification, Balance Enquiry and Recharge Notification. With MTN Mobile Advertising, you have clear reach, targeting realtime engagement, real-time audience, permission marketing, lasting conversations and a door to a world of opportunities. We believe our customers will get the best of the platform and will be just as impressed as we are.”

MTN Mobile Ads is a complementary channel for advertising that makes integrated marketing communication plans more comprehensive and airtight. As with most digital platforms, MTN Mobile Ads is measurable and can be tracked and the reports developed from the platform will show trends and extensive dynamics of targeted consumers.

The platform prides itself in being overtly exact when targeting audiences along the lines of age, gender, location, spend, device type and operating system amongst other metrics to better the business’ Return on Investment (ROI). This solidifies the customers’ confidence in the fact that their actual target market, audience and group are being reached.

Commenting on how MTN Mobile Ads connects businesses with their target audiences, Elochukwu Umeh, chief executive officer, Terragon Group, said; “The new version of our Mobile Ads platform delivers superior results on mobile for consumer goods, financial services and SMEs. The direct channel offers participating customers and businesses an opportunity to connect with their target audience in their mobile journey from discovery to conversion. It is our hope that more businesses will take advantage of the performance this channel is able to deliver for them.”

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BUSINESS DAY

Tuesday 24 April 2018

BDTECH

E-mail: jumoke.akiyode@businessdayonline.com

Three myths Nigerian firms should bust to drive innovation in 2018 and beyond ing all kinds of businesses to put ideas into action, the market can be disrupted with little-to-no-warning by small digital startups or the biggest players keen on expanding into new verticals. In this constantly evolving competitive landscape, businesses must expect the unexpected and maintain a keen focus on advancing their agility from every angle.

ADEBAYO SANNI

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oday, every business knows that just keeping the lights on, is not enough. Companies should deliver innovation to remain competitive, which is easier said than done. Oracle’s recent You & IaaS research found that while 72 percent of businesses agree that migrating infrastructure to the cloud makes it easier to innovate, only 36 percent are actively doing so.

Nigeria has only recently emerged from its first economic recession in more than two decades, which has seen many organisations relook their IT spend and question what technology is right for their business, while reducing cost. This has allowed for improved cloud uptake and plenty of room for growth, with Nigeria now expected to surpass South Africa and Kenya in terms of cloud adoption this year.

Today, the Nigerian economy is bolstered by a thriving small to medium enterprise (SME) community that makes up over 90 percent of the market, with many engaging in business that can only be made possible through cloud technology.

Good news for entrepreneurs and post-startup companies is that Endeavor, the global startup organisation, launched an office in Nigeria in February. It selects, mentors and accelerates highimpact entrepreneurs that are poised to scale their businesses.

According to the Global Innovation Index 2017 Report, Nigeria ranks 119th place in terms of innovation and is performing below its level of development. However, the sub-Saharan Africa region is performing rather well when it comes to innovation and has had more countries among the group of innovation achievers than any other region. Nigeria is aiming for an economic recovery over the next few years and it will be important for the country to keep improving its innovation performance to maintain the region’s momentum.

Regardless of Nigeria’s ranking on the index, recent innovations coming out of the country are promising

and span sectors as diverse as energy, health, education, financial services and agriculture.

One of the main drivers of cloud adoption, besides benefits such as cost and speed to market, is the government’s vision to become one of the largest economies in the world by 2020. A bold goal, but one that’s being driven by a clear focus on digital adoption and the use of innovative, accessible and modern tools.

Here are three key myths that stand in the way of transformative innovation. Businesses must dispel them to become truly innovative: Myth #1: Short-term think-

ing is the enemy of innovation Business decision makers are often told to avoid narrowminded thinking, for example around quarterly targets, because short-termism is seen as an inhibitor to strategic, future-proofed IT systems. But while short-term thinking can slow progress, quick goals are the friend of innovation. Indeed, many of the world’s most successful innovators use the short sprint cycles of agile methodology to develop new applications and roll updates out at lightning speed. AI, blockchain and chatbots are swiftly integrating themselves into mainstream business functions and companies can use

short sprint cycles to rapidly trial these and see how to harness emerging technologies in the context of a broader IT strategy.

Myth #2: You know your competitive landscape While business decision makers work to keep close tabs on the market, today’s competitive landscape is constantly shifting. A big bank may believe its fiercest competitor sits within a crop of new fintech startups, but disruption could also emerge from a rival financial institution that’s quietly adopting cloud tools and using agile methodology to push out new offerings.With modern cloud services empower-

Myth #3: With innovation projects, you can “set it and forget it” There’s no shortcut to innovation, and companies must invest in their most important resource – human capital. Investing in the team’s knowledge and expertise to build up their own methods of cloud solution development is the most sustainable way of working. Often, people need to try things out in order to truly understand how they can be applied to the business. Upskilling the full team can be a multi-part process; from hiring new talent who are familiar with dev/ops and agile methodology, to training up the existing team so that they understand the new technology and are attuned to the agile, creative attitude through which innovation can be achieved. Businesses must remain relevant and competitive if they wish to participate on the global stage, and the adoption of cloud and the technologies that surround it will be instrumental in driving innovation.

Adebayo Sanni is Managing Director, Oracle Nigeria

Tecno mobile launches new range of smartphones into Nigerian market JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON

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ecno mobile has launched a range of new devices into the Nigerian market. The release of the latest Tecno Camon X, Camon X pro and the new F series smartphones powered by Google Android, all featuring cutting edge technology is said to revolutionise smartphone experience in Africa.

Speaking at the launch event in Lagos, Andy Yan, Vice President, Tecno, discussed the progressive thinking behind the brand’s innovative products and the resultant demise of several “once upon

a time”powerhouse competitors. He carried out an x-ray of the African business climes and shed some insights on the typical African consumer – their peculiarities and preferences.

“At TECNO, we do not adopt a one-size-fits-all approach in developing our products. We take insights from our consumers’ habits, preferences and needs to develop the next groundbreaking product that fits perfectly into their lifestyle and consequently displace the competition”.

The Camon X and Camon X Pro debuts a new Face ID technology that can be used to unlock the phone when

lighting up the screen. By grasping the face information, the Face ID has 50ms recognition rate and is more functional than the fingerprint identification feature.

Also, during hot weather, the HiOS UI identifies components causing heating in the background and quickly cools off the phone through a series of methods such as background cleaning and so on.

Also speaking at the event, Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communications congratulated Tecno for their accomplishments in Africa and appealed to them to setup a production line in Nigeria just as they have done in

Ethiopia in order to serve not only her almost 200million population but also the West Africa sub-region and consequently create jobs for her teeming youths.

“I want to appeal to Tecno mobile that we are ready to partner with you. We will assist you in every possible way to encourage you.” Shittu acknowledged government’s failings in the past and their inability to provide an enabling environment for investors to setup locally.

The new F-series midrange smartphones come with impressive processing memory and commendable cameras. The Tecno F series dons full display IPS Touch-

screen, 2MP front cameras for F1 and F2, and 5MP front cameras for POP1 (F3). All of them are with wide-degree selfie panorama which will enable users rotate the device from side-to-side and consequently enable them to take stunning wide-angle selfies.

Tecno F series are powered by Android™ Oreo™ (Go Edition) which is optimised to offer consumers lots of benefits including a smooth and fast experience for devices with 1GB of RAM or even less, and provide new and reimagined Google apps for entry-level smartphones including Google Go, YouTube Go, and the Google Assistant for Android (Go

edition) with enhanced data efficiency.

Tecno F1 comes with superb data offering for MTN subscribers. The subscribers will have access to enjoy 100 percent data bonus on every MTN data bundle purchased for 6-months.

In the same vein, 9Mobile has also partnered with Tecno mobile to extend offers to customers who purchase the Tecno F2. These customers will get 2GB instant bonus, plus 100 percent bonus on all data plans purchased for the first 6-months after purchase.

They will also get another 50 percent bonus on all data plans purchased for the subsequent 6-months.

BUSINESS DAY

Tuesday 24 April 2018

EDUCATION

Weekly insight on current and future trends in education

Primary/Secondary

Higher

23

Human Capital

Examination malpractices go digital in Nigeria, Ghana …As online platforms offer cheat services STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

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ola and Emeka are class mates and have both worked particularly hard during their Senior Secondary one to three (SS1 - 3), because their parents have not minced words in letting them understand there are neither connections nor money to get them into any tertiary institution of learning in Nigeria.

They must get in on merit.

Their parents, both graduates of first generation public universities in Nigeria made them see the need to work hard and excel at the West African Examination Council’s (WAEC) Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE).

Unfortunately, Lola and Emeka’s parents might be oblivious to the developing digital examination malpractice market across Nigeria and Ghana. Organisers of these rackets make use of Short Messaging System (SMS) and WhatsApp, a social media platform. They also make use of other online platforms.

Examination fraud sites have proliferated across Nigeria and Ghana, deploying the power of digital and mobile. For a little above one dollar, N400, the sites send answers to the

ongoing West African Examination Council Senior Secondary School examination questions for Physics and N300 for Geography.

The implication of this is that there will be students obtaining as much as eight distinctions in either WAEC or the National Examination Council (NECO) SSCE and 300 in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) through malpractice.

These ones would likely gain admissions into universities, blocking the chances of better qualified students who legitimately obtained five credits and scored probably 220 in the UTME getting in. A significant percentage of good students fail to gain admissions as a result annually.

These exam malpractice sites have all examination papers, probably a day or two before the exams.

They have the solutions too. There are several of them: Naijaclass.com, Examcrown.com, Exponet.com, Examsort.com and Gurus.com doing adverts, competing for patronage like legitimate businesses.

“It is really a sad development.

Recently, while I was away on vacation, I got an email from my office that needed immediate attention. The email said my office had just received information about five websites where students can access the WAEC

examination questions and answers, 24 hours before the time” Ronke Soyombo, Director General, Lagos State Office of Education Quality Assurance said during an education convention at the weekend in Lagos.

ExamPlaza.com, one of the most brazen sites, advertised its MTN line as 08167593558 for both Physics and Geography, papers scheduled for the week beginning April 23. It runs a bank account with Zenith Bank.

Patrons call for the account number.

ExamPlaza declares boldly: WAEC 2018 RUNS, Bank Payment option (preferred). To subscribe kindly follow these steps: 1. Pay to Account Name: xxxxxxxx, Account Number: 217xxxxxxxx Bank: Zenith Bank, (contact us for full bank details). 2. After payment send your details to 08138274394 as text message. Here are the details we need from you: Phone number, subjects and name of depositor.

Note: we Accept MTN Recharge card payment also. This is for those who cannot use bank option for some reasons. To subcribe with MTN Recharge card, send the card pins together with your subjects and phone number to 08138274394 as text message. 4. Once you have completed the above process. You will receive a confirmation message from us in

few minutes The cheat sites operate with bravado flaunting anti-examination malpractice policies laid down

by WAEC. They offer packages to schools. An Information Technology (IT) expert who has been involved in education reform projects across the country was shocked at the discovery. He said of ExamPlaza, “This site offers a fully-integrated customer-oriented service for leaked examinations that is as sophisticated as an airline booking platform. Complete with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and security provisions.”

BusinessDay’s interactions with school owners show that some WAEC invigilators approach schools volunteering to assist them carry out examination malpractices.

“I was shocked when WAEC invigilators approached me, because I was the head of the school and asked if we were ready, so that they could help our school cheat its way to success. I turned the offer down” a school head in Lagos said, on condition that she would not be identified.

Advertorials such as the ones below show how bold these online examination malpractice practitioners have become.

The 2018 WAEC subscritpion prices: Direct mobile/SMS package: Here you will receive all answers as text message direct to your phone; N10, 000 for seven and nine subjects with or without practicals, N800 per subject, N1000 for English and mathematics and N600.

Whatsapp package: Here you will receive all answers right on Whatsapp. You will need to provide us with your Whatsapp number N4000 for seven to nine subjects with or without practicals, N800 Per subject per subject and N600 for practical.

School package: With N20,000 we take charge of your school by making sure that we supply your school answers from 10 different trusted and verified sources.

All our answers come at least three hours to the exam. Note: any person telling you that he will give you WAEC answer a day before or midnight before is trying to scam you or deceive you. Try to be wise!”

IVTEC trains 25 kwarans on solar light, entrepreneurship SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

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wenty five selected Kwara State indigenes, are currently undergoing three weeks training on entrepreneurship & solar light, installation at the International Vocational Technical & Entrepreneurship College (IVTEC) in Ajase-Ipo. Addressing newsmen in his office, the Acting Rector of the college, Ade

Somide, said the training was powered the Riccortezza-Asteven Energy Limited, the company handling lightup kwara project in collaboration with the state government.

According to him, all necessary equipments has been provided by the IVTEC and the Energy company for the students, pointing out that, the trainees will be trained for two weeks in Kwara State before moving them to Ogun State for another week training

by the energy company.

He, however expressed gratitude to the state government for partnering with the energy company and described gestures as a way forward to reduced youth restiveness in the state.

Somide, also commended the company for been socially and environmentally responsible, adding that the company as put in place start up business package for the participants, worth

one million naira each at the end of the exercise.

Also Speaking, the Organizer of the training and the Managing Director, Riccortezza-Asteven Energy Limited, Dickson Aleroh, described the training as a way of giving back to the society and urged the participants to use full advantage of the training.

According to him, the programme was part of the companies cooperate social responsibility.

Wave Academy offers public free business communication training ISAAC ANYAOGU

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agos-based human capacity development firm, Wave Academy is organising a free training on effective communication for business growth and is calling on the public to participate.

According to the organisers, the training session will help business owners as well as their staff and it can encourage their staff/employees to be more productive at work.

“Do you struggle with getting your employees to more productive or getting them to do what you want them to do?

“Since we have observed that many employers lose employees sometimes and are unable to motivate them because they do not communicate effectively or speak their language (not literally), we decided to organise a session where some insights will be shared to help employers get the best from employees and generally interact better with their staff,” the organisers said in a release sent to BusinessDay. The company says it wants to help businesses do better through interventions such as talent training and policy/process development.

“Over the past 5 years, we have conversed with several employers and employees. In this time, we discovered that communication plays a highly significant role in business success especially when trying to move people to do what’s required of them.

“For people wondering how to effectively interact with employees, we shall be sharing our learning in, Yaba, Lagos.

It is asking those who are interested in participating to send an email with their name, business/ organisation name and biggest talent management challenge to the Wave Academy website to complete registration.

The company says these kinds of training have become important.

“In major West African economies, youth unemployment rates range from 40 to 85 percent and continues to worsen as the population increases. Education in the region is severely failing to provide young people with the skills needed to participate and compete in the job marketplace,” said the company.

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BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

EDUCATION

Tuesday 24 April 2018

HUMAN CAPITAL

Focus on Special Education: Autism awareness month

Isaac Osae-Brown

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he first National Autism Awareness Month was declared by the Autism Society in April 1970. The aim of this month is to educate the world about autism. Research reveals that Autism is a complex mental condition and developmental disability, characterized by difficulties in the way a person communicates and interacts with other people.

Autism can be present from birth or form during early childhood (typically within the first three years).

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability with no single known cause. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is

considered to be a severe disability due in part to the intense lifelong effects it has on the diagnosed individual and his or her family.

Common characteristic of Autism: Social Skills: Individuals with autism have problems interacting with others; autistic children do not have adequate skills to interact and play with peers. Behaviors displayed are clumsy and most times, out of sync with those around them.

Empathy: Empathy is the ability to recognize and understand the feelings of another person. Individuals with autism find it difficult to show empathy to others.

Physical Contact: Individuals with autism in some cases, do not like physical contact such as hugs, tickling or physical play with others.

Environmental Changes: Sudden changes in an environment may affect an individual with autism, for example; loud noise, a change in intensity of lighting and a change in smell.

Speech : Speech can be affected in individuals with autism. ‘Echolalia’ is a typical speech symptom in which words are repeated.

The speech tone of an individual with autism may be monotonous.

Family experiences with Autism: Parents of children with ASD have several experiences in common across ethnicities. Many parents find that caring for a child with autism reduces personal relationships with others and can impact finances to a great degree.

Specifically, many parents experience feelings of depression and despair upon learning of their child’s diagnosis.

Many parents describe the lack of understanding of Autism in the African community and the toll that those misunderstandings took on them and their families. Some mothers of children with autism are labelled in some communities as “witchcraft” possessed agents whose agenda is to plaque their communities with autistic children.

This negative and pervasive treatment of parents of children with autism have not only limited the aggressive support from family members and government agencies to search for di-

agnosis for their children but also triggered feelings of isolation from family and friends. There should be a need for absolute awareness of ASD to help all navigate through the myriad of educational, medical and behavioral services.

Services and Supports: Individuals with ASD need a number of interventions to improve their communication and social functioning in the academic environment. Research has demonstrated the efficacy of a variety of techniques which include social stories and comic strip conversations.

Advances in technology have created great opportunities for individuals with Autism. For example; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and other federal legislation have mandated the provision of reasonable accommodation, including assistive technology to all individuals who might benefit from them.

To integrate meaningfully into the community after postsecondary education, adolescents with autism will need appropriate training and education in assistive technology and work-based

Grow deep

experiences. The iPad and other computer interactive systems like the Smart Board are such technologies that enable young adult with autism who lack functional communication to initiate requests to describe what they want.

According to researchers, the interactive nature of computer assistive technologies offers many practical uses for providing social interaction and communication. As individuals with autism transition from school to the workplace, postsecondary and related support services may be needed to ameliorate language and social deficits and to facilitate personal and professional development.

In the United States, autism affects 1 in every 110 children. National Autism Awareness Month aims to make the public more aware about this widespread disability and the issues which arise in the autism community. About 1 in 150 people in America have autism.

Other parts of the African continent may record more cases.

A better-informed public will be more empathetic

Ngozi Adebiyi

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ike the Chinese who typically have an animal theme every New Year, we could say this is the season for the woman. It has been so for some time but its aura grows stronger with each passing quarter in the last couple of months.

Pressing for progress which was the theme for International women’s day this year speaks to many different things and this theme provides an opportunity for both men and women to internalize what this means for us individually. More importantly, what it would mean to us for the rest of the year.

Isaac Osae-Brown works for the Compton Unified School District in California as an Education Specialist and a beginning Teacher Mentor. He is an advocate and a speaker for Special Education services in the United States and abroad. www.facebook.com/ inclusivemindset/

Ogun old students’ group wants colleagues to help government finance education RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta

Growth and growing could be some sort of synonym to the phrase press for progress because it takes effort and consciousness to get things going whether it is to grow or to press on.

As 2018 powers on, how would you #pressforprogress going forward?

In your Career: Whether your career is powering on, tapering or stagnant, one major boost you can give it is you. Yes, the gift of you being more deliberate about it.

What would you do? How is it going to take shape?

Personal Development: What would you be adding to yourself this year? What skills or added knowledge or ability would you be garnering?

Leadership calls! We already take on leadership positions in groups, at work, social circles so what’s stopping you from taking it up a notch this season?

As You? – The most underestimated part of nurturing and pressing is in taking in your whole self and nurturing it consciously. What would you be doing for adventure this year? What have you always desired

and supportive towards people with autism. The month of April is backed by the Autism Society of America which undertake a number of activities to raise awareness about autism.

Autism support groups in Nigeria as well as the Autism Society of America have local chapters which hold special events throughout April. Increasing Autism awareness and information in the African communities will greatly help in developing culturally-responsive models of diagnosis and service delivery. Research should be undertaken to examine the best methods and channels of supplying information outreach that will effectively increase knowledge and ultimately, change attitudes towards Autism Spectrum Disorder in Nigeria.

to explore or achieve that you’ve been holding back on? What has been a childhood dream that could be achieved now if you let it?

What has been a dream to see, touch, be, do, explore?

Take a bold step this year and give yourself permission to achieve one. Just one in 2018!

Pressing for progress speaks to taking decisions and staying the course.

Pressing and progress requires stealth!

For some of us, you couldn’t care less about Pressing for Progress!

Which progress? When the tsunami you find yourself in your relationship or some challenge is drowning every ounce of energy you could have mustered and you’re exhausted from pressing for help and gasping for air.

The phrase “Still I rise” comes to mind because for every air you gasp for, there’s strength that comes from a deeper place within you.

We’ve got to know when to ask for help. We must not wallow in self-pity or powder our noses in a hurry to look like all is well with the

world. Raise the flag for help and raise your voice – find professional help if you’re unable to confide in one person.

You must nurture aright.

Growing healthy like a plant requires the right conditions which includes having an outlet – one sounding board of a person who you can tell all as woman. It’s called being human and also a form of self-preservation!

In spite of, despite all you go through, you’ve got to grow deep. It’s got to be beyond the surface. Pressing in any form or shape requires a certain type of energy and torque.

Grow deep in your anchors – who is in your corner and why? Be deliberate about nurturing relationships – not just when you need them.

Grow deep in spending your moments – attempt to be more ‘present”.

Grow! Sprout!! Blossom!!!

Ngozi Adebiyi is the Lead Consultant at OutsideIn HR; contact the author: Ngozi@ outsideinHRng.com

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oing by the current economic realities which prevent government at all levels, especially State government, to offer free and quality education to the pupils and students in the country, a congress of old students has requested colleagues across Ogun state to help government finance its free and quality education policy.

The passionate request directed to all old students across the State was made recently at the National Convention of Boys’ and Girls’ Association of a 59-year old public school in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital - Premier Grammar School, adding that it was high time old students of every school in the State came to the rescue of their Alma mater by providing scholarships for indigent students, renovating dilapidated structures as well as providing materials that aid teaching and learning.

Speaking in Abeokuta at the biennial convention of Premier Grammar School Old Students’ Association, both President and Vice President, Kayode Akinlawon and Sina Ajayi, declared

that the current economic realities had shown that government and even parents alone, cannot provide free and quality for all pupils and students, it is now the duty of all old students to come to the rescue of public schools across the State.

Akinlawon, who retired as Chief Medical Director of Lagos State General Hospital at Mushin in Lagos state, said many indigent students would be educated and better positioned academically, if old students if various schools are giving back to their Alma mater as a way of appreciating the schools, for whatever they might become today, started from the schools they attended.

But, Sina Ajayi, Director of State Security Service in one formations in Lagos state, who doubles as Vice President of Old Boys’ and Girls’ Association of the School, declared that it is high time old boys and girls of schools across Ogun state endeavoured to give back to the schools that produced them and help develop pupils in such schools academically and morally, saying the present crop of pupils and students in public primary and secondary schools require better attention.

Tuesday 24 April 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

25

In association with

Reduction in vacancy rate across cities underpins opportunities for investors …property conversion upbeat on rising demand for business premises Stories by CHUKA UROKO

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n the last 10 months, from mid-2017 to the last quarter of 2018, there has been a positive shift in the property market in Nigeria with marginal reduction in residential vacancy rates across the country’s major cities of Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, close market watchers have said.

The market watchers, however, add that the reduction applies to properties in the low to mid-income markets where supply is not only low, but also sparse, while demand is high and growing in multiples.

The upper-middle to the high end markets are still struggling with over supply, low demand, high vacancy rate, falling rents, high rents payment default rate, and falling investment projections.

Northcourt Real Estate in its half-year 2017 market report notes that as at the last quarter of that year, vacancy rates in Lagos averaged 11 percent, down from 15.5 percent in H1 2017 and 32.87 percent at the end of 2016.

In Abuja, it stood at a 7 percent average, down from mid-year’s 9.5 percent and 27.57 percent a year ago.

Analysts say that this reduction in vacancy rate can only explain the positive shift in the market, meaning that demand has moved from where it was 12 to 24 months ago and, by implication, underpins growing opportunities for investors, particularly for those playing at the mid-income market.

Tayo Odunsi, Northcourt CEO, points out in the report that, in a bid to maximize the value of their property, landowners looked more favourable to joint ventures with developers. He notes that Port Harcourt had the highest vacancy rates compared to Lagos and Abuja, averaging 12 percent.

Like Lagos and Abuja, this rate climbed down from 13.75 percent at mid-2017 and 13 percent at the end of 2016.

This reduction in the vacancy rate, the analysts point out, is not only a function of growing demand for residences, but also a result of rising cases of conversion of residential properties in

response to a growing demand for business promises and other commercial activities.

Ikeja GRA , a mid-income neighbourhood in Lagos, is a typical example of where the stock of residential houses has reduced due, in part, to conversions to office use while many others have either been sold or leased out.

Isaac John Street, in that neighbourhood, stands out as one location where businesses have pushed out residents and taken over their homes on rent or lease.

Many other locations have been similarly affected. Following Lagos State government’s directive to transport companies to vacate the Jibowu area of the state for what it termed unwholesome activities, including obstructing traffic flow, these companies have swooped on the suburbs including Okota, Isolo, Ojota and Ejigbo axis to continue their business.

“Many of the residential properties along the stretch of road from the popular Cele Bus Terminal to Ejigbo have been bought over and converted to bus terminals by these companies including big names like God is Good Motors, Libra Motors and GUO Motors which, ordinarily, would not have come there”, said Enyin-

naya Okezie, a resident whose house was converted to an office on Okota road.

According to him, this development has pushed many of the affected residents of these areas further down the suburbs such as Ikotun, Igando, Okokomaiko and Badagry, piling pressure on the existing inadequate infrastructure and pushing up house rents on otherwise uninhabitable houses.

“On daily basis, we get enquiries from prospective tenants who have been displaced by businesses that have taken over their residences. Empty houses are now hard to find and rents have gone up significantly. Right now, we demand N200, 000 to N250,000 per annum for 2-bedroom apartments and between N300,000 and N4500,000 per annum for a 3-bedroom apartment”, confirmed Yemi Madamidola, an estate manager in Ejigbo.

Before now, he continued, a 2-bedroom flat was going for between N150,000 and N180,000 per annum while 3-bedroom apartment was renting for between N250,000 and N350,000, depending on the age of the house and the facilities available. “More and more people are now moving into this side of town”, he said.

Many locations on the island have also been torched by this development. Lekki Phase 1 tops the list. Admiralty Way, a long stretch of road beginning from the first gate of that highbrow estate, could better be called ‘Commercial Avenue’ now with well over 90 percent of the houses used as offices or shops.

Though this is good for investors and landlords because of the opportunities it comes with, it has some drawback. This is worsening the country’s housing situation. Due to lack of dependable data and the opaque nature of the property market, it is difficult to say with certainty whether Nigeria’s housing stock has increased or decreased from the estimated 13 million units. But the rising cases of property conversion to office use indicate that residential housing stock is being depleted.

The conversion cuts across the major cities. Already, housing situation in these cities has been bad. Lagos alone has 3 million housing units deficit which authorities of the state say requires about N8 trillion to close. The ongoing conversion is making the situation worse as residents have to pay more on house rents with increased travel time.

Millennials may never own homes unless…

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ike Nigeria where young people, school leavers, find it pretty hard to buy or build their own homes, generations of young people also called millennials in the UK may never own homes unless there is radical reform in the country’s private rental sector to accommodate them.

A think tank report, which reveals this, argues that if this reform is not done, these millennials face never being able to own their own homes, but will be renting for the whole of their lives.

The report suggests the introduction of new tax reforms to discourage multiple home ownership and better support home ownership among the young, along with support for councils to get more affordable homes built.

Propertywire, an online residential real estate platform covering over 100 countries of the world, quotes the Foundation as saying that more should be done to build homes and support young people’s home ownership aspirations. However, the Foundation also warns that policy makers cannot afford to neglect a crucial part of the current situation relating to poor quality and insecurity in the private rented sector.

It sets out how private renting has grown rapidly in recent decades. At age 30, four in 10 millennials rent, double the rate for generation X and four times that for baby boomers at the same age. At the same time, access to social housing has fallen as fast as home ownership rates.

As more millennials reach their child rearing years, the Foundation notes that policy has failed to catch up with the fact that bringing up children in the private rented sector has now become mainstream. In 2003, the number of children in owner occupied housing outnumbered those in the private rental sector (PRS) by eight to one. That ratio has now fallen to two to one as a record 1.8 million families with children rent privately, up from just 600,000 15 years ago.

The Foundation described the PRS as the least secure and lowest quality tenure where two months notice periods are standard and one in four properties fail the decent homes standard.

The fact that many tenants are on six or 12-month fixed term contracts also means that the prospect of large rent rises at short notice are a big concern.

The report argues that the sector will continue to be a major feature of housing in Britain for many years to come. Even if home ownership accelerates rapidly, millennials will never experience levels the baby boomers have seen.

More pessimistically, if home ownership growth follows the weak pattern of the 2000s, up to half of millennials could be renting either privately or in the social rented sector in their 40s, and a third could still be renting by the time they claim their pensions.

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BUSINESS DAY

Tuesday 24 April 2018

Addressing housing deficit in economy will catalyse productive sectors—REDAN …commends WACL’s local content, backward integration efforts Stories by CHUKA UROKO

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hough it is difficult to determine the exact figure representing Nigeria’s housing deficit, real estate developers association of Nigeria (REDAN) says addressing the deficit even at the current 17 million units estimate will catalyze the productive sectors of the economy.

Building more houses to close the demand-supply gap would require an active manufacturing sector that will supply cement, roofing sheets, nails, iron, glasses for windows/doors, cladding materials; professional service providers, artisans, skilled and unskilled labour including bricklayers, carpenters, tilers and plumbers.

“Catalyzing this sector is imperative because the market is available”, said Ugochukwu Chime, REDAN president, who spoke at the opening of West African Ceramics Limited Royal Experience Centre in Lagos recently, insisting that effective demand needed to be enhanced and matched to off-taker affordability and supply.

Chime noted that Nigeria was yet to realize this potential and advised that the country should design an effective implementation guideline with the involvement of critical stakeholders in the value chain.

“Addressing the housing deficit will have a game-changing impact on our society and our communities”, he added, noting that globally, there is a strong consensus that the development of the housing sector is important for stimulating economic growth and job creation in any economy”, he said.

Cost of construction is a signifi-

cant component of housing and, according to a national housing board (NAHB) 2017 survey report, the cost is as high as 56 percent. This cost is determined by land, finance and cost of funds, labour and building materials.

Others are infrastructure including primary and secondary, cost of land titling and registering property, and affordability gap. “We realise that to attain affordability for all classes of prospective homeowners, we must isolate and attenuate the cost of these input factors. And this WACL has devoted their energy and talent to doing over the years”, Chime stated.

He reasoned that any effort to reduce the cost of housing was a tonic to availability and affordability of home ownership to Nigerians, adding that given the generally low

income level among off-takers for housing products, developers were keen on how cost of houses could be brought to minimal level.

Developers, he said, were interested in taking advantage of any opportunity, including uptake of new and emerging technologies to reduce the cost of construction and it was on that premise that we found Royal Ceramics’ efforts cardinal and imperative.

WACL’s production technology is one in which most of the raw materials used are locally sourced. This has assisted in reducing the cost of their products without reducing the quality. And with their very high quality products, they have demonstrated their contributions to not only national economic growth, but also helped to reduce cost of houses.

Expectation is that the new experience centre will help the

discerning customers, developers, professionals in the built industry and project owners to choose their tiles and marble/granite.

The centre which is a multifaceted showroom and hub will give the feel of ‘finish in S’tile’, thereby giving due value for money to the owner.

It will give the exact concept of how the design will align with the taste and aesthetics initially conceived by the homeowner.

The centre’s design and interior configuration will assist to bring product information, including sample, availability, brand and delivery closer to the end-users.

Being a one-stop shop solution for everything tiles, wall, flooring, roofing and allied products, this novel approach will help in upscaling WACL products’ market share and reach.

More transfer loading stations coming as Lagos tackles waste challenges … partners Visionscape on 57 centres for plastic collection

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he Lagos State government says it is building more waste transfer loading stations across the state as part of strategies for tackling the challenges posed by waste collection and disposal.

About eight months ago, the state government launched the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) and engaged Visionsacpe Sanitation Solution, an international waste management expert, to manage the over 20,000 metric tons of waste generated in the state on daily basis.

But the city has not been any better as a turn in every corner of the state confronts one with heaps of decaying

garbage that should, but have not been collected and disposed for weeks running into months.

Various explanations have been offered at any given opportunity by the authorities of both the state government and those of the waste management firm . Adebola Shabi, the special adviser to Akinwunmi Ambode, the state governor, on CLI, explained at the weekend that long distance and inadequate number of existing transfer loading stations had been a major challenge.

Shabi announced that the Olusosun dumpsite in Ojota had been shut down by the state government follow-

ing the fire incident at the dumpsite.

This has been a major environmental problem to people living in that part of town who have had to contend with the billowing smoke and putrid ordour.

He explained further that the state government decided to build more transfer loading stations because some of the trucks used by the waste collectors were too weak to travel longer distances to dispose waste, adding that there was also the traffic challenge which impacted on their turnaround time.

“This is the reason we have decided to build more transfer loading stations so that waste generated in Lagos Island, Surulere and Apapa, for instance, could be disposed at a place close to the three areas. The same for waste generated at Agege, Ifako and Ijaiye that could be collected and deposited at Agege loading station”, he assured.

The special adviser pointed out that the waste so collected were to be segregated such that 60 percent would go to the landfill while 40 percent would be recycled for other uses. He appealed to the residents of the state to bear with the government as it continued to work towards making sure that the heaps

of garbage that littered the state were evacuated “in the next few weeks”.

“We are all stakeholders in the Lagos project; let us join hands to ensure that we have a truly cleaner Lagos; people should not dump their waste in canals or drainages”, he appealed, assuring that the state government was determined to “create a clean, safe and mega-city”.

Shabi revealed that Visionscape would soon take delivery of more trucks to enhance its performance in refuse collection and disposal, recalling that the firm had distributed over eight million garbage bags and over 400,000 garbage bins and more would be distributed in due course.

In a related development, he announced plan by the state government in conjunction with Visionscape to set up 57 plastic collection centres in the 57 local government areas and local council Development Authorities of the state.

“These centre will serve two purposes. they will create jobs and also contribute to the environmental cleaning efforts of the state government”, he said, appealing to residents of the state not to through disused plastic containers into the canal or drainages anymore.

Event Diary Ilubirin scheme to reduce housing deficit by 472 units

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he three million housing demand-supply gap in Lagos will shrink by 472 units coming from the Ilubirin Housing Scheme where construction work is upbeat after 24 months of inactivity at the site.

Construction work on the housing scheme will be completed by the end of this year, according to the authorities of the state government and the units will in the market for sale from the first quarter of 2019.

Gbolahan Lawal, the state’s commissioner for housing, disclosed in a statement last week that the scheme would be developed in seven phases, starting with the completion of the existing structures which are already underway, while other phases of the project would be completed over a period of three years, terminating in 2022.

The Ilubirin Housing Scheme, initiated under the Lagos Home Ownership and Mortgage Scheme (LAGOSHOMS) in 2014 and conceived as a purely residential scheme, was redesigned to accommodate a live, work and play areas.

Lawal explained that due to ongoing massive housing projects across the state coupled with limited budgetary provision to complete them, the state government had to seek partnership with the private sector through a joint venture agreement.

“After a review of the proposals received from various companies for the completion of the project, First Investment Property Company (FIDC) was selected to partner with the state government to fulfill the vision of project. The company is expected to source fund for the completion of the project and also to provide technical expertise for its completion. The state’s equity contribution is the land and the development executed to date,” the commissioner disclosed.

Northcourt Real Estate launches Affordable

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n apparent determination to deepen discussion on affordable housing delivery in Nigeria, Northcourt Real Estate Limited, a young but ambition real estate advisory, consultancy and development firm, will be launching a book on this topical issue that has become a recurring decimal in any discourse on housing and mortgage market in Nigeria.

The book, simply known as Affordable, was written by Tayo Odunsi, the Northcourt CEO, and will be launched on May 1, 2018 at the Civic Centre, Lagos. As a book, AFFORDABLE, could be described as a ‘new normal’ in the housing lexicon in Nigeria. It is a passionate and painstaking effort by by the author at deconstructing the nebulous concept called affordable housing as it offers fresh insights into pathways to housing delivery.

It delineates the roles of the five essential participants in delivering affordable housing. These are government, the private sector, professionals, the community, and the individual. Each chapter describes what the particular participant needs to do, or to view differently, so that sustainable affordable housing can be achieved.

Tuesday 24 April 2018

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BUSINESS DAY

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FEATURE CBN, banks in pursuit of job creation, financial inclusion, growth In trying to close the huge unemployment gap while playing its role of maintaining price and monetary stability, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) collaborated with Bankers’ Committee to initiate the Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) targeted at creating jobs and diversifying the economy. HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE writes that this well-thought initiative is yielding the desired results.

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here is no doubt that diversification of the economy will enhance stable and viable economic growth. But achieving the desired economic diversification requires collaborative efforts of government agencies, private sector and other shareholders.

Nigeria, which runs a monoeconomy, was plunged into recession in the first quarter of 2016, largely due to significant fall in oil prices from an average of about US$110 per barrel to as low as US$28 per barrel, coupled with a drop in production.

Crude oil accounts for over 90 percent of Africa’s biggest oil producer’s exports and nearly 70 percent of its fiscal revenue.

Normalization of Monetary Policy by the United States’ Federal Reserve System, which led to a stoppage of an injection of about US$85 billion per month into the global economy, as well as geopolitical tensions amongst critical trading routes and partners around the world also contributed to Nigeria’s first recession in over 25 years.

These factors led to remarkable slowdown in economic growth, culminating in five consecutive quarters of GDP contraction bottoming at -2.3 percent in the third quarter of 2017, from a peak of nearly 7 percent in the previous years.

Inflation rate peaked at over 18 percent in January 2017, from as low as 9 percent in January 2016.

The exchange rate depreciated significantly, reaching N520/US$1 in February 2017, from as high as N155/US$1 in June 2014, while FX reserves also depleted, bottoming at about US$23.6 billion in October 2016, from as high as US$40 billion in January 2014.

The banking industry’s nonperforming loans (NPLs) deteriorated in line with the difficulties of the macroeconomy, and banking system’s exposure to foreign loans threatened to undermine the health of the banks.

On the unemployment front, Nigeria is faced with persistent increase in unemployment rate, reaching 16.2 percent in the second quarter of 2017, from 8.2 percent at the same period of 2015.

In the face of all this, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the banks have been up and doing in addressing these challenges.

Uche Uwaleke, professor of Finance and head of department, Banking and Finance, Nasarawa State University, opines that “the CBN contributed significantly to recession exit”.

“The demand management it took, especially the restriction of

Godwin Emefiele

foreign exchange access to 41 items, has helped to reduce pressure on forex. The introduction of investors and exporters (I&E) forex window has boosted confidence in the economy. Also its tight monetary policy has helped the economy,” Uwaleke said.

He admitted that CBN’s interventions in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), agriculture, particularly the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), and other sectors have helped to grow the economy and create a lot of jobs.

During the 2016 Bankers’ Committee Retreat, the CBN and banks agreed to design and fund a suitable scheme that will not only reduce the huge financing gap for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) but also fully committed to the pursuits of job creation, financial inclusion and inclusive growth for Nigerians, particularly the teeming youth population.

The Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS), an initiative to improve access to affordable financing for MSMEs, particularly those operating in the informal sector of the economy, and to support the Federal Government’s efforts and policy measures to promote sustainable economic development and employment generation, was agreed upon after the 331st meeting held on February 9, 2017.

As a commitment to the successful implementation of the scheme, all deposit money banks voluntarily agreed to set aside and contribute 5

percent of their Profit After Tax (PAT) annually to finance eligible projects under the scheme. As at today, the size of the fund stands at about N26 billion and this is expected to exceed N60 billion by June 2018.

In his remarks at the flag-off ceremony for the disbursement of funds under the AGSMEIS in Abuja, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, said he was “very delighted that we have come to this stage where we are ready to begin the disbursement of these funds to deserving beneficiaries”.

These beneficiaries, he ex-

CBN and banks agreed to design and fund a suitable scheme that will not only reduce the huge financing gap for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) but also fully committed to the pursuits of job creation, financial inclusion and inclusive growth for Nigerians, particularly the teeming youth population

plained, are youths who have been trained on various entrepreneurship, vocational and management skills across the country by entrepreneurship development institutions and centres, such as Fate Foundation, Lagos Business School, House of Tara and Thrive Agric.

Upon completion of their vocational training, the beneficiaries are equipped with specific implements needed to practice their vocations procured under the scheme. The beneficiaries’ details, including their Biometric Verification Numbers (BVN), are forwarded to the deposit money banks to confirm that they are their customers before accessing the fund.

“In Nigeria, the challenges of youth unemployment and restiveness must be confronted with strategic innovative thinking to provide sustainable solution. No matter how daunting the challenge might seem, I believe that with unity of purpose we can fight this scourge together,” Emefiele said.

“I must emphasize that the interest rate of 5 percent per annum being offered under the AGSMEIS further attests to the unflinching commitment of the deposit money banks to support entrepreneurs to actualize their dreams and ensure that the twin goals of increased employment and poverty reduction are attained,” he said.

Stella Ajige, one of the beneficiaries/newest Tara beauty entrepreneur from Nassarawa State, while commending the apex bank, said it was with lots of doubts and excitement that she made the long trip from Lafia in Nasarawa State to Abuja to be part of the amazing experience.

“With doubts because we had come to believe that in Nigeria you always give to receive. In this case, I never gave, so why was I receiving?

I got into Abuja and was offered the best hospitality from front desk smiles, lovely room and meals also taken care of by House of Tara and the CBN. I met a lot of lovely ladies whose friendship I would nurture till forever,” Ajige said.

“Every word the CBN governor said was an inspiration to pass this dream to yet more people and there I sat in the same room with him. Just when I thought I have had enough motivation in one day came an opportunity to see Tyler Perry’s Acrimony…Perfect finish to an already perfect day.

“Lesson! There is always acrimony, regret, strong anger in not pushing yourself hard enough to reach a dream you know was possible for you. People would try to slow you down, people would price you low.

But if you believe, you believe and

you push till you reach. Thanks a lot Tara and the CBN. I am keeping this experience for life,” she said.

On his assumption of office in June 2014, Emefiele’s resolve and vision was to create a professional and people-centred Central Bank with a focus on development financing.

Core of that vision was a CBN that will act as a financial catalyst by targeting predetermined sectors that can create jobs on a mass scale and significantly reduce import bills in the country. The disbursement of funds under the AGSMEIS is in line with that vision and a further testament of that resolve.

But analysts say CBN should improve on measuring the impact of intervention funds to avoid diversion.

“A lot of money has been released but I am not sure of how it has impacted on the people except that of rice farmers (Anchor Borrowers Programme),” Ayodeji Ebo, managing director, Afrinvest Securities Limited, said.

Aside from the initiatives of the Bankers’ Committee, the CBN has also in the past three years designed and implemented developmental initiatives, which include the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme launched in November 2015.

The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme has so far achieved tremendous success in terms of outreach and coverage, making it one of the most successful CBN development finance initiatives to date. Currently, about N80 billion has been disbursed to over 358,000 smallholder farmers in 34 states cultivating eight commodities. The success of the programme has culminated in wealth creation for the smallholder farmers, who hitherto had been crowded out of the formal financial system, deepening of markets and value addition along the value chain of the various commodities.

The apex bank also established the National Collateral Registry, which was introduced to unlock access to credit that had always been a major concern to MSMEs, particularly the micro enterprises which account for 99 percent of the 37.1 million MSMEs in the country.

Since commencement of live operations in May 2016, 410 financial institutions have registered 26,899 financing statements valued at over N540 billion on the platform.

“I am very optimistic that the Collateral Registry will have tremendous impacts on MSME lending in Nigeria in the foreseeable future, particularly in the implementation of the AGSMEIS, as all equipment financed under the scheme must be registered on the platform,” Emefiele said.

28 BUSINESS DAY

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Tuesday 24 April 2018

THE BIG HEART DIGEST In association with Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Developement Agency (DEMSMA)

‘Delta Garri’ soon in UK, US, etc •Garri centres now perfecting export quality •Machines for packaging arrive from India •Off-takers ready

•NAFDAC to give certification •Garri to be packaged in 1kg, 5kg, 25kg, etc •Govt to hands off after smooth take-off

Garri produced and packaged in Delta State will soon hit the international market through the efforts of the off-takers in the state. In this interview, the executive secretary, Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (DEMSMA), Shimite Bello tells with Mercy Enoch speaks on efforts on ground to achieve this feat. Excerpt: Despite the training and empowerment programmes going on in the Shoe and Leather-works as well as the Akwa-ocha segments of the Delta State entrepreneurial centre, Issele Uku, what is the state doing to make the other segments of the centre come alive? es, there are other departments at the centre but we are going to take them one after the other.

Handling the shoe-making and leather-works as well as the Akwaocha sections has been tough enough to get it right but we are now comfortable. I don’t want to do many things at once.

It doesn’t work. I don’t want to tell BusinessDay how many things we have to make work out – making sure that people get alert and all that.

So, when we put in 50 youths for training in Akwaocha this year, we can now look at the other parts. But for now, let’s do the shoes, let’s do the Akwaocha, and we take it easy. These are the ones we can do and do well. In other places like the job creation, vocational centres, etc, they are doing so many things. So, we are not in a hurry.

We are all working towards one state government.

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Any plan to include Akwaocha weaving in school curriclum?

It is something we have to discuss with the Ministry of Basic Education and Secondary Education and with His Excellency, the Governor. So, I have not thought about putting it in the school curriculum. That’s

not my portfolio. Mine is enterprise curriculum, to make sure entrepreneurs can use what we locally have. It is very important to us. But at that centre, we are going to be packing garri and other products shortly. You know, we have a place where they do palm wine there.

Yes, is that section working?

Yes, the first agro product we are going to do there is garri. We would take it one by one.

Basically, the Delta State Governor wants to look beyond oil and has formed a committee chaired by the Chief Job Creation Officer. We are like a six-man committee. The whole essence is to off-take products from Deltans for export.

Now, we identified different products and realized that the biggest product we farm in every local government is cassava. We wanted something that was inclusive for all. We’ve given them specifications as in how dry we want the garri and how we want it packaged. We have identified about five processing centres across the state where smaller producers can go to, to standardize the garri.

We have ordered a packaging equipment from India that can bag 2kg, 1kg, 5kg, up to 25kg of garri. One of the members of the committee has been able to get us buyers in the United Kingdom, who are willing to buy the garri that we are producing.

The essence of it is to facilitate local garri producers in Delta to enter into the international market, be it selling in the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) region or in

Shimite Bello

the United States or the United Kingdom. But we are starting with the United Kingdom and United States for this initiative.

The Delta State Government has been able to engage with the relevant bodies in the country including quite a number of the quarantine departments just to make sure that we touch every area with the hope that when we are through, it would not be so difficult for Deltans to export products, and it would not be rejected when it gets to the destinations as it has happened for some of our products.

So, we are working on it.

We have consultants with us.

We have different people with

different skills sense – from marketing to packaging, to labeling, to people that studied cassava as a root, to people that did Ph.Ds in garri, because the export market is more demanding than the local market where they can always consumer almost anything you provide for.

When is the off-take commencing?

We can’t do anything until we get National Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) number. We can’t get NAFDAC number until the garri processing centres are ready. The garri processing centres should be ready soonest. Once it is ready,

that is when NAFDAC will come in to give us the number. Until they do that inspection, we are not permitted to move any product. It’s from there that we can now say we are ready to go.

For over a year, we’ve been working on this and we’ve identified some processing centres.

It takes people a while because it is not government that would come and do it. It is the people that are doing garri en mass. So, we identified all those that are going to carry what we needed.

One processing centre won’t be enough for the entire state. Issele-Uku is not a processing centre but it’s for packaging. There are garri centres where they produce and maybe they would put the garri in 100kg bags. They will also do the garri flour there and send them maybe in big bags. We would pay them because we are off-takers. Then, we would now repackage into sizes to satisfy the needs of the people bringing Local Purchase Orders (IPOs). At the end of the exercise, some of these customers, we make them known to the processing centres, to continue with what we have started. So, as we are buying the garri, we would show them “you need to buy this and that”, so that you can stand on your own.” The whole essence of what the Governor wants is to have at least five to 10 garri processing centres that can export garri without government. We are just facilitating this, when we finish, we hand over all the customers we get to them and then we would focus on another product.

81 Brown STEP beneficiaries empowered as Delta kicks off 2017/2018 starter packs distribution

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ighty-one beneficiaries of Brown STEP beneficiaries of the 2017/2018 Job Creation Programme of the Delta State Government were last week empowered with starter packs to establish and run their own enterprises.

The exercise done at the end of their one month’s training, marked the flag-off of the distribution of starter packs to the 2017/2018 cycle of the programme and was in continuation of the state government’s commitment to providing employment for its teeming unemployed youths.

Speaking during the event which held in Asaba, the wife of the state governor, Edith Okowa, charged the beneficiaries to put their starter packs into good use with optimum dedication so as to grow their enterprises into enviable heights.

She commended them for acquiring vocational skills in spite of their academic qualifications, tasking them to uphold the tenets of the programme and to sustain their businesses to the point of training other unemployed youths.

While praying for their success, she enjoined them to commit their enterprises to God. On his part, the Chief Job Creation Officer, Eric Eboh, a professor, said “the job creation scheme through the Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) and the Youth Agricultural and Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP) has engaged Deltan 3,069 youths who were previously unemployed.”

Editorial coordinator’s corner:

Understanding Delta’s 2018 fiscal direction:

Sectoral Highlights

IGNATIUS CHUKWU

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will now briefly touch on some sectoral highlights of the proposals for capital projects as contained in the 2018 budget estimates.

Job Creation Scheme 59. In the 2018 fiscal year, we shall consolidate on the successes of the job creation programmes. A significant percentage of our funding, going forward,

will come from SEEFOR. While the programme implementation will be intensified and strengthened, attention will be given to the monitoring and mentorship of already established businesses to ensure their lasting success.

The sum of N1.2bn is provided to sustain the Scheme in the 2018 fiscal year.

Road Infrastructure: In line with our growth aspirations, the sum of N49.3b is earmarked in the proposed 2018 budget to sustain the current

momentum in road infrastructure (including drains).

Agriculture: 61. My statement on the day of my inauguration as Governor remains relevant today as we pursue economic diversification of our economy. On that day I said: “The need to diversify our economy and reduce undue dependence on the proceeds from oil has become quite urgent, and this is one agenda that this administration shall give great

attention to...We are committed to the building and consolidation of a state in which there shall be more employment opportunities, a flourishing agriculture and agribusiness sector.”

62. Approximately N1.66bn is provided in the budget in the 2018 fiscal year for the Ministry of Agriculture.

Education Delta State has 1,021 primary and 469 secondary schools with 443,813 pupils and 332,760

students respectively.

As indicated earlier, several of these schools have been renovated, furnished and new ones built. Between SUBEB and Ministry of Basic Education, Government has so far spent in excess of N16bn in this respect.

64. In the 2018 fiscal year, the sum N18.7bn is allocated to the education sub-sector for capital projects.

Health Our guiding philosophy for this

sector is the establishment of a qualitative, affordable and accessible health care delivery system in the State. Hence we are focusing on infrastructural development of our hospitals and primary healthcare centres, as well as the procurement of drugs and cutting edge medical equipment in major health care facilities across the three Senatorial Districts.

The sum of N6.6bn has been earmarked for the health sub-sector.

Tuesday 24 April 2018

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Tuesday 24 April 2018

Live @ The Stock Exchange Top Gainers/Losers as at Monday 23 April 2018 GAINERS Company

LOSERS Opening

Closing

NB

N126.1

N129.7

3.6

FO

N37.45

N39.3

1.85

N30.3

N32

1.7

N49

N50

1

N12.85

N13.45

0.6

GLAXOSMITH STANBIC FBNH

Market Statistics as at Monday 23 April 2018

Change

Company

Opening

Closing

Change

FLOURMILL

N35.2

N33.55

-1.65

DANGCEM

N249.5

N248

-1.5

GUARANTY

N44.85

N43.9

-0.95

VOLUME (Numbers)

WAPCO

N44.45

N43.6

-0.85

VALUE (N billion)

N21.4

N20.55

-0.85

MARKET CAP (N Trn

DANGSUGAR

ASI (Points) DEALS (Numbers)

Shareholders applaud UBA on impressive performance, higher dividend Stories by Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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hareholders of Pan-African Financial Institution, United Bank for Africa Plc have commended the bank’s management over the impressive performance achieved at the end of the 2017 financial year and particularly the remarkable achievements of its African subsidiaries whih contributed over 45 percent of the Group’s income The shareholders, who expressed their glowing tributes at the bank’s 56th Annual General Meeting in Lagos on Monday, especially praised the staff, management and the Board over the higher amount to be paid out as dividends following the impressive performance.

For the financial year ended December 2017, the Bank’s management proposed a total dividend per share of 85kobo comprising of 20kobo interim dividend which was already paid by mid-

Tony Elumelu, chairman, UBA plc

2017 and a final dividend of 65kobo which was ratified by shareholders during the just concluded Annual General Meeting.

The Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Boniface Okezie, praised the GMD for his hard work in ensuring that the bank recorded improved performance in the year under review.

He said, “I want to especially commend the management of UBA especially the Chairman, Tony Elumelu and GMD/ CEO, Kennedy Uzoka, who have been managing activities of this great institution for the past two years. We the shareholders are impressed at results that you have recorded so far and the achievements that the bank has recorded under

your leadership, especially the sterling contributions of our subsidiaries in Africa.

We are especially impressed about what the bank has been doing in Africa. It has gone a long way to show that good things can come from Africa. UBA has showcased a high level of ingenuity in the banking space, and we are glad for how this is translating into gains for our business.

Continuing he said, “And so, we the shareholders urge you to continue to do more and would advise Uzoka and his management team not to rest on their oars but to work harder in ensuring that this momentum is sustained and even surpassed in the coming year.”

Shareholders also praised the bank on its recent announcement of promoting over 47% of its workforce, within the last 12 months, adding that it remained a commendable feat at period where many banks and companies had let go of a lot of their staff owing to the recession that rocked the country about two years ago.

SEC extends forbearance Window for investors ... to encourage listing by multinationals

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he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has extended the forbearance window for investors with multiple accounts and subscriptions to September 2018.

The forbearance is to enable shareholders who bought shares with multiple names to consolidate such multiple identities with the registrars and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) into one that bears their official names.

Mary Uduk, Acting Director-General SEC stated this at the first 2018 postCapital Market Committee (CMC) press briefing in Lagos.

She noted that during the market boom, some in-

vestors bought shares with different names which they had forgotten hence could no longer access the benefits of such investments.

The Acting Director General called on the affected investors to take advantage of the forbearance window to ratify their accounts.

Uduk also expressed commitment to ensure listing of multinationals adding that de-listing by quoted companies posed a threat to the growth of the capital market.

“Increase in de-listing by public companies pose a threat to the market in view of the fact that quite a number of them are highly capitalised,” she said.

The acting director-gen-

eral said that the commission mandated the committee to come up with strategies aimed at tackling de-listing and boosting listing of more multinationals.

She said that some highly capitalised companies had delisted, thereby, affecting the growth of the market.

According to her, the committee will meet with stakeholders and find out why they are delisting as well as discuss with eligible ones why they are not listed.

Uduk said that some companies had complained of tax issues, and gave the assurance that the commission would engage the government to address the issue. She said that the committee would come up with

40,763.93

recommendations.

“If they are regulatory issues – more rule amendment – we are open to it, but our rules must be in line with international best practices,” Uduk said.

She gave the assurance that the apex capital market regulator would work in line with the committee’s recommendations.

4,567.00 530,221,079.00 7.770 14.724

FCAM’s Legacy USD Bond Fund listed on Nigerian Stock Exchange

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egacy USD Bond Fund, a mutual fund managed by First City Asset Management Limited (FCAM) and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is now listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The Fund, which recorded an impressive 244.44 percent subscription in its Initial Public Offering (IPO), raised over $6million. The IPO was, therefore, 144.44 percent oversubscribed.

FCAM is a member of FCMB Group Plc. The Legacy USD Bond Fund is an open-ended investment vehicle registered with the SEC and managed

by FCAM. It gives investors the opportunity to invest in US Dollar denominated fixed income securities on a continuous basis and aids currency diversification. It also provides flexibility with respect to the timing of investments in, and redemptions from the Fund. The objective of the Legacy USD Bond Fund is to generate stable income over the long-term.

The Fund is being managed as a unit trust scheme designed for investors seeking an efficient way to earn stable income in US Dollar, from investing in a portfolio comprising of high quality, registered, and tradeable US Dollar fixed income securities.

In his comments, James Ilori, Chief Executive Officer of FCAM said, “We thank the Nigerian Stock Exchange for working with us to list Legacy USD Bond Fund. We believe that the listing is another step towards making our mutual funds easily available to the investing public, irrespective of where they are based. We will continue to work with the NSE in creating opportunities for investors to efficiently access safe and value-adding investment products and services. Legacy USD Bond Fund has now re-opened to new and existing investors.”

FCAM, which also manages two of Nigeria’s leading mutual funds - Legacy Debt Fund and Legacy Equity Fund, provides services that cut-across collective investment schemes such as mutual funds, which are predominantly for retail investors, as well as specialised discretionary portfolio management, for ultra-high and high networth individuals and institutional investors. The company has consistently focused on delivering international standard wealth and investment management services, aimed at meeting investors’ desire for safety of investments, diversification and good returns.

Q1’18: Stanbic IBTC records 44% growth in profit

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tanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has released its three months unaudited results for the period ended March 31, 2018 recording a growth of 44 percent in post-tax profit.

The result, which was presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos on Friday, April 20, 2018, showed that profit after tax increased to N23.1 billion, from the N16.1 billion posted in the corresponding period of 2017. Profit before tax made a similar progression during the quarter, from N18.6 billion to N26.7 billion, an increase of 43 percent recorded in the comparable period of 2017.

At N57.4 billion, gross earnings during the period grew by 22 percent over the N47.0 billion recorded in the comparable period of last year. Total assets went up to

N1.41 trillion from N1.39 trillion in December 2017.

Speaking on the result, Yinka Sanni, Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc said the performance was an affirmation of the group’s growth aspirations as Nigeria’s economic environment continues to improve. “Stanbic IBTC delivered strong results in the first quarter of 2018 in demonstration of its growth aspirations as the country’s economic environment continues to improve. The 22 percent growth in gross earnings was driven by 38 percent increase in noninterest revenue while net interest income remained stable year-on-year. The growth in non-interest revenue was driven by a significant growth in trading income and fee and commission revenue.”

Tuesday 23 April 2018

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32 BUSINESS DAY NEWS

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Nigerians urged to grasp value in vaccination World Book and Copyright Day: Edo tasks ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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n expert in the health sector has called on Nigerians to see the importance in the ongoing vaccination, as Nigeria joins other Africa countries to begin immunisation to mark the 2018 Africa Vaccination Week.

The African Vaccination Week (AVW) is an annual event celebrated during the last week of April. It is an initiative of governments in the African region initiated in 2010. It is celebrated in synchronisation with other WHO Regions and the World Immunisation Week (WIW).

This year’s event started April 23 through 29, under the theme “Vaccines work, do your part.”

The AVW is aimed to strengthen immunisation programmes in the African region including Nigeria by raising awareness on the need and right of every person (particularly, every child and woman) to be protected from vaccinepreventable diseases.

Adeola Deborah, a Lagosbased medical practitioner, said vaccines help to prevent diseases, and looking at this year’s theme “Vaccines work, Do your part!” and for Nigeria, the theme is “Vaccines work, Be an immunisation champion,” saying Nigerians need to ensure they receive the optimal impact, as it would be vital that every child, adolescent and pregnant woman received the vaccines.

“I urge Nigerians as individuals, communities, and religious to see these vaccinations as a responsibility and value this opportunity to support universal immunisation coverage,” Deborah said.

She further stated that immunisation activities play an important role by reducing disease outbreaks of polio, measles and the other diseases.

“Nigeria needs about $2.7 billion (N824bn) to buy vaccines over the next 10 years to enable it achieve its target of 84 percent immunisation coverage by 2028,” the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) said.

“Nigeria will require about $2.72 billion to procure vaccines and devices from 2018 to 2028. While GAVI will support with $773.2 million, the government and other source, which include Basic Health Fund, loans and marching grants from donor agencies, will provide the balance,” Faisal Shuaib, executive director of NPHCDA, said.

The World Health Organisation country representative, Wondi Alemu, therefore called for increased domestic resources for immunisation programmes in the country.

“I call on governments, parliamentarians and policy makers, civil society organisations, the private sector, communities and all families to break down the barriers to immunisation and ensure all Nigerian children get the shot to life that they deserve.

youth on reading culture

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overnor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has tasked the youth to leverage on the transformational power of books in their quest to succeed in their chosen endeavour.

Obaseki made the call on the occasion of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’ World Book and Copyright Day, celebrated on April 23, each year.

According to UNESCO, the day is set aside “to pay a worldwide tribute to books and authors and encourage everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those, who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.”

The governor said: “The printing era disrupted the cultures that preceded it by increasing access to knowledge and wisdom on an unprecedented scale. Ever since, the pace of human advancement has been supersonic, thanks to the deluge of information contained in books.”

He urged the youth to “appreciate the wealth of knowledge contained in books, apply same and join the growing army of global youth in the knowledge economy, who are responsible for modern inventions.”

He assured that his administration “is set to commence the reconstruction of public schools across the state in the coming days, and on completion, the schools will have rich libraries where students can read and carry out research.”

He pledged to work with the relevant Federal Government agencies to protect intellectual property.

“All our books for our new libraries will be sourced directly from the publishers. We appreciate the enormous intellectual rigour and creativity that go into book making and writing, and as a government we are committed to rewarding such efforts. We place high premium on the Rule of Law and are ever ready to join forces with other agencies of the federal government to protect the works of authors and other creative people.”

Tuesday 24 April 2018

Myma Belo-Osagie elected AAAS honorary member LOLADE AKINMURELE

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yma Adwowa BeloOsagie, a senior partner at Lagos-based law firm, Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie (UUBO), has been elected as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ (AAAS) in its 2018 Class of new Fellows and Honorary Members.

Founded in 1780, the Academy is one of the country’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centres, conveningleadersfromtheacademic, business,andgovernmentsectors to respond to the challenges facing -and opportunities available to- the world.

Its projects and publications generate ideas and offer recommendations to advance the public good in the arts, citizenship, education, energy, government, thehumanities,internationalrelations, science and more.

The Academy is committed to recognising and celebrating excellence, and honours exceptionalscholars,leaders,artists,and innovators, and engages them in sharing knowledge and addressing challenges facing the world.

Belo-Osagie will join other

2018 honourees and fellows including Barack Obama and various civic, business, and philanthropicleaders,scholars,scientists, writers and artists who have been elected to the 238th class of the Academy.

Existing African members include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Wole Soyinka.

Belo-Osagie holds an LL.B (1975)fromtheUniversityofGhana, Legon, and an LL.M (1978) and SJD (1985) from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and is admitted to practice in Ghana, New York and Nigeria.

The mother of four serves as a Managing Partner in UUBO, where she heads its Telecommunications and Oil & Gas teams. Her areas of specialisation include corporate restructuring, acquisitions, foreign investment, regulatory communications, and equity finance and infrastructure projects, among many others.

ShehasbeentheChairmanof Africa Opportunity Fund Limited since February 28, 2014, and its Non-executive Director since June 2007 and served as a NonExecutive Director of FSDH Merchant Bank Limited during a stint that lasted until October 31, 2016.

Only restructuring can stop killings in Nigeria - Gani Adams YOMI AYELESO, AKURE

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he Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, says the only solution to challenges confronting Nigeria is restructuring.

Adams, an indigene of Arigidi-Akoko in Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State, said this at the occasion of grand reception ceremony for the 15th Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland held at the International Centre for Events and Culture (the Dome), Igbatoro Road, Akure.

The event was organised by friends and associates of Gani Adams, for being the first person from Ondo and Ekiti axis to become AareOnakakanfo of Yorubaland.

According to Adams, if Nigeria is restructured, the issue of crisis, wanton killings, and unnecessary arson in our society will be reduced drastically.

“Obviously, there is nothing impossible for the determined mind. One thing I am sure of is that the Yorubas, as a bloc in Nigeria, are determined to ensure that this country is equitably restructured.

“And there is no going back because that is the only way this country can survive. Nigeria is going

through various crises today because some leaders are stubbornly against restructuring.

“But, I want to assure this gathering that by God’s Grace, whether now or in the future, this country will be restructured. There is no way we can guarantee peace and security if this country is not restructured.

“If this country is restructured in a way that every locality controls the instrumentality of security, the wanton killings of Nigerians will stop automatically.

“If this country is restructured economically, no finance Commissioner will be going to Abuja every month to collect pittance in the name of monthly allocation,” he said.

According to Adams, “If this country is restructured equitably, the current revenue sharing formula in which the Federal Government collects 52.68% of centrally-collected revenues in the Federation Account, leaving states and local governments with 26.72% and 20.60%, respectively, will stop.”

He noted that the issue of independent candidate was very crucial for Nigerians to consider, “if it we want to develop politically, economically and ideologically.”

L-R: Segun Ogunsanya, MD/CEO, Airtel Nigeria; Obeahon Ohiwerei, MD/CEO, Keystone Bank, and Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman, Zinox Group, at the 500 CEOs Hyper Consumer Centricity Conference and official unveiling of The CashToken in Lagos.

Only 3.36m out of 8m billed electricity consumers have meters in Nigeria - NERC … says MAP regulations to enhance efficiency, attract investors HARRISON EDEH, Abuja

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igeria Electricity Regulatory Commission ( N E RC ) s ay s only 42 percent, translating to 3,360,000 out of 8 million billed electricity customers, have meters in the country.

Nathan Shatti, NERC commissioner in charge of finance and management services, gave this information at the monthly NEXIER Power dialogue for the month of April held in Abuja, recently.

Shatti said the figure was the latest as of December 2017, while speaking with BusinessDay on the sidelines

of the NEXIER Power dialogue.

The commissioner said NERC’s effort to ensure proper billing of the electricity sector was to address concerns of liquidity threatening the sector, while ensuring a more efficient and transparency collection system and billing of electricity consumers.

The NERC came up with the idea of Meter Asset Provider (MAP) regulation to ensure wider coverage of electricity consumers in the billing system, while removing the burden off the Discos who had also raised concern on lack of cost-reflective tariff to address the concerns of proper billing system, he said. ”The enumeration of cus-

tomer ensures customer satisfaction, ensures proper billing, and to ensure transparency.

We sat down and say a metering solution must be found to ensure customer satisfaction and address concerns of liquidity in the sector,” he said.

He pointed out that the Discos had been complaining of tariff shortfalls, and other issues that informed the idea of getting an independent party to address the concerns of the shortfalls, and take over the responsibility of metering.

“We believe that by working with the MAPs, issues bothering on estimated billing could be addressed adequately, and reducing it minimally is guaranteed,” he said.

Apart from ensuring customer satisfaction, the proper billing system would ensure revenue assurance for the Discos, while enhancing revenue spread in the power value chains.

“Today, there are so many people using the energy that the Disco doesn’t know.

Hence, if you are able to provide meters for those who don’t have, it creates healthier customer relationship with the Discos,” he said.

The commissioner also noted that investors’ confidence would soar on the heels of improved customer enumeration and billing of energy consumers, which is a key factor in attracting competitive investors.

Tuesday 24 April 2018

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Lagos saves N4.5bn from halting sponsorship of pilgrimages JOSHUA BASSEY

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agos State government says its decision to halt the sponsorship of pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Mecca has continued to pay off, as over N4.5 billion that could have been expended on the religious exercises in the last three years had been saved.

BusinessDay can confirm that about N1.5 billion was annually expended by the state government to sponsor people to Mecca and Jerusalem without any direct benefit to the government.

Notwithstanding the withdrawal of the state from direct sponsoring of pilgrims to these holy lands, Lagos, according to the government, remains the most peaceful in terms of religious tolerance in Nigeria.

Abdulhakeem AbdulLateef, commissioner for home affairs, who addressed journalists, on Monday, attributed the religious harmony to deliberate efforts by the government to promote peaceful co-existence among persons of various beliefs and tribes.

AbdulLateef also said within the last one year, the government released N25

million to the Lagos chapter of Nigerian Legion to strengthen its operations while 3,000 legionnaires were deployed to secure primary and secondary schools in the state.

“Governor Akinwunmi Ambode does not joke with the welfare of legionnaires as well as the orphans and other relations of our fallen heroes,” he said.

Speaking on religious tolerance, the commissioner said, “No one suffers religious discrimination in Lagos. Lagos residents enjoy the best of religious freedom, practice and fraternisation. It is the only state that gives effective operation to the tenets of the constitution on religious freedom, by fully implementing the relevant section 42 of Nigerian Constitution.

“It is only in Lagos that Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) is functioning. The governor has inaugurated 798 Christian and Muslim members of the body, in a bid to continuously improve the current level of peace and religious harmony being enjoyed in Lagos, while sustaining and deepening the ongoing development, modernisation and infrastructural expansion in the state.”

College of Agric Iguoriakhi: 50 students begin 3-month training at Okomo Oil ...Obaseki’s removal of red tape boosting private investment – Okomu MD

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s a follow up to Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State’s directive that students from the College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi, be posted to agricultural institutions in the state, about 50 of them have started a three-month internship at the facility of Okomu Oil Palm Company plc.

Managing director, Okomu Oil Palm Company plc, Graham Hefer, who disclosed this in an interview with journalists, said the training was in fulfilment of an agreement entered into with the state government on the training of students from the college.

“The students will be with us for a period of three months. The training commenced Monday, April 23.

They will be trained for three months in all aspects of agriculture available here,” Hefer said.

Noting that the training would afford the students the opportunity to learn about diverse areas of the company’s operations, he said, “We are happy to be opening our door to students to undertake their

Industrial Training here with us. Obviously, this step is good for us because, through the training, we can identify potential good students in our succession planning so that we will know who is coming through.

“The more these students learn from us the better for the company, as it would help us. With this, we don’t have to rescale them if we need people coming through. Before now, we had Industrial Training (IT) students from Colleges of Agriculture but the partnership for the training of these 50 students is the first on a large scale.”

According to Hefer, “At Okomo Oil, we have a close relationship with the state government. In fact, we interface with the state ministry of Agriculture and get along very well with the ministr y.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture has been very resourceful to us. We have very close ties with the Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, who has also been resourceful to us.”

L-R: Goodheart Ekwueme, pastor of the Pillar of House on the Rock; Gbolade Okenla, pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), City of David; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Shola Olowokere, pastor of the RCCG in USA, and Oluseyi Malomo, chaplain of the Aso Villa Chapel, during an *interdenominational prayer service for the nation organised by the RCCG City of David, in Abuja. NAN

African firms continue to grow despite difficult macro environment - PwC DANIEL OBI

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wC latest report has revealed that approximately $13.5 billion was raised in the equity capital markets in Africa or by African companies in nonAfrican capital markets last year.

This is 49 percent increase from 2016, according to PwC. Similarly, the consulting global company said $7.5 billion in non-local currency debt was raised by African companies in international debt capital markets, a 68 percent increase from 2016.

“Despite a challenging environment, with public debt

approaching critical levels in some countries and concerns over excessive reliance on oil, African businesses are expanding,” it said in the report.

PwC’s analysis of 75 companies featured in the inaugural Companies to Inspire Africa 2017 report, by London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in partnership with Africa Development Bank Group, CDC Group and PwC, provides clear evidence of significant investment and growth in African business.

Simon Venables, Deal origination leader, PwC Africa, said in a report: “The success of these businesses tells an

important story to the world: there is huge potential in Africa.

Companies are growing but they need external interest and investment for this to continue.

“While supportive governments, enabling environments and access to funding clearly play significant roles, business transparency and accountability are also essential ingredients to attract a wider audience and fuel the growth of African companies.”

Also commenting, Andrei Ugarov, corporate finance partner, PwC Nigeria, said, “For UK investors, Africa offers economic growth that continues to outpace established nations. A

swelling middle class, advances in technology and the rise of entrepreneurship have boosted the number of consumers, making the continent more appealing than ever.”

A number of the businesses featured in Companies to Inspire Africa 2017 have taken a lead in obtaining alternative sources of financing beyond traditional bank debt. Examples include issuing the first 10-year infrastructure corporate bond in Nigeria, raising finances through cooperative and social investment companies and numerous stock exchange listings including a record $600 million Eurobond.

33 NEWS

BUSINESS DAY

News Analysis

Buhari’s withdrawal of $462m without approval is an impeachable offense but caution advised INIOBONG IWOK

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he approval given by President Muhammadu Buhari for the withdrawal and payment of US$462 million from the excess crude account (ECA) without the approval of the National Assembly is an impeachable offence, some legal practitioners have told BuisnessDay. Even though the Senate which first made the allegation of the illegal withdrawal said the money was withdrawn to buy Helicopters, it is known that the Nigerian government has already paid for airplanes that the U.S government recently agreed to sell to the country to help prosecute the war against Boko Haram.

The Senate had on April 17 resolved to summon the central bank governor Godwin Emefiele and the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun as well as the Minister of Defence Mansur Dan Ali to explain the release of $462 million to ‘buy helicopters.’

It is not clear if this money that the Senate is alleging was released to buy helicopters is the same as the money released to buy 12 Super Tucano fighter jets and other weapons from the US government.

A senior U.S. Department of State official disclosed at a background briefing with selected journalists at the U.S. Consul General’s Residence on 22 April that the Nigerian government had paid for the war planes, which he said that the US would start delivering in 2020.

The war planes from the US is expected to cost the country US$600 million but Nigeria was expected to make an advance payment of about US$400 million which has been paid. There is no indication that president Buhari sought the approval of the National Assembly before making the payment to the US Company supplying the fighter jets to the country. Besides the fighter jets, Nigeria is also getting thousands of bombs and rockets from the US. A Super Tucano is estimated to costs more than $10 million each and the price can go much higher depending on the configuration. It is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT 6 engine. It is made by Brazil’s Embraer but a second production line is in Florida, US, in a partnership between Embraer and privately held Sierra Nevada Corp of Sparks, Nevada.

The withdrawal for the purchase of the fighter jets is said to have been made from the US$2.3 billion in the country’s excess crude account. On April 4, the Minister of Defence, Dan Ali had informed the media that Buhari has approved US$1 billion to be

withdrawn from the excess crude account to fight rising levels of insecurity in the country. On April 6, Garba Shehu Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity told the media that the president’s approval is not final and that it would go through the National Assembly first.

However, the senate raised alarm on April 17 that the money has already been withdrawn and paid without senate approval.

Raising a Point-of-Order raised by Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Senator Sam Anyanwu, drew attention of the senate to the illegal withdrawal.

Questioning the move of the president on the floor of the Senate, Anyanwu noted that section 80 (2) and (3) of the 1919 constitution prohibit anyone from withdrawing money from the federation account without the consent of the National Assembly.

“No money shall be withdrawn from the consolidated revenue of the federation or when the issues of those monies has been authorised by an appropriation act, supplementary appropriation act or an act passed in the pursuance of section 81 of the constitution.”

“No money shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the federation, other than the consolidated revenue fund of the federation or any other public fund of the federation except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly”.

Speaking on the issue, a Senior advocate of Nigeria, (SAN) Chibuike Ananaba, told BusinessDay that it was an offense for the president to make such withdrawal without the approval of the Senate.

“The constitution is clear on that matter. Without the appropriation of the Senate, such withdrawal cannot be made.”

However, he cautioned that those talking about impeachment should be “careful.”

“Impeachment is more serious action.”

But also speaking on the issue, an Ilorin based legal practitioner and Senior advocate of Nigeria, SAN, John Bayesha, stated that he does not believe the president would sanction such withdrawal without taking legal advice, adding that the president would not do anything that would undermine his presidency.

Bayesha, added that it was early to call for impeachment of the president, while advising national assembly members to be cautious and utilise the various constitutional process before impeachment was considered.

34 BUSINESS DAY NEWS APC Clears Way for Oyegun, Oshiomhole...

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the door for Adams Oshimole, immediate past Governor of Edo State, Clement Ibiri, Former Cross River State Governor and Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology to contest for the party’s National Chairman position.

This is as the party on Monday inaugurated the national convention committee headed

by Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jegawa State and the committee has announced that the sale of forms for all elective offices commences Wednesday.

APC had at it last National Executive Committee, NEC Meeting attended by President Muhammadu Buhari who is the leader of the party rescinded the earlier decision that extended the tenure of party officials at all levels and ordered for national convention, state, local government and ward congresses to conduct fresh election However, NEC granted waivers to the Oyegun led NWC and other executives of the party at all levels to re-contest their posi-

tion if they so wish at Congresses and convention.

Since then and even prior to the last NEC, Oyegun whom many accused of conniving with some governors to elongate his tenure has been interested in seeking a second term though he has not formally declared. This is the same for Oshimole, Onuh and Ibiri.

Speaking at the inauguration of the convention committee at APC Secretariat Abuja, Oyegun told members that they have, “the tough task within the shortest possible time of producing a convention that is free, fair, and one that provides a clean level playing ground for anyone that wants to aspire for any position.”

Oyegun recalled that despite induced controversies, APC has always conducted conventions and primaries that are model for political parties in Nigeria and beyond and charged members not only to repeat the same feat but consolidate on the set standard with view to harmonising discordant interests.

“Our last presidential primaries/ convention was by all ac-

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counts one of best ever held anywhere. You are supposed to repeat the feat. The other convention was watched worldwide and this one given the controversies that preceded it, it is also a must watch that is why I said you have a big task before you,” Oyegun affirmed.

Responding, the APC convention Chairman, Badaru promised on behalf of members to conduct a credible convention that would be accepted by all interests and make the party more united.

“I want to assure you on behalf of all members that we will not fail this party. We will do all it takes to come out stronger and united after the convention.

“God is with us and God will support us because of our clear vision and love for the nation.

Most of us you see in APC are moved by the desire to rescue Nigeria from total collapse,” Badaru stated.

Speaking with journalists shortly after the inauguration, Badaru announced that the convention will hold in Abuja and dispelled earlier rumours that it was going to be held in Lagos.

L-R: Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance and leader of Nigerian delegation to the 2018 IMF-World Bank Spring Meeting; Christine Lagarde, managing director, International Monetary Fund, and Godwin Emefiele, governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, after a meeting with the IMF boss during 2018 IMF-World Bank Spring Meeting in Washington DC, on Sunday.

Cashew exporters make $402m in 2017 as...

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in the crop.

Production was also in positive trajectory last year, Tola Faseru, president of the National Cashew Association (NCAN), told BusinessDay. “Despite the issues of climate change, our production increased to 220,000MT in 2017. A cashew farmer is richer today than he was a few years ago,” Faseru said.

“We have experienced higher trends in the acceptability and marketability of our cashew in the international market,” he said.

Exporters cite value addition, proper packaging of Nigerian cashews, global acceptability and marketability as some major drivers of Nigerian cashew nuts in the international market.

Faseru said Nigerian cashew brand is presently gaining traction and referred to as the best at the international market, noting

that the association is working with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to further boost farmers’ productivity.

Incomes of Nigerian cashew farmers have been on the rise since 2011 when earnings were $50 million.

Cashew farmers and exporters made $250 million in 2015 and $300 million in 2016, though the increase was purely tied to naira devaluation within the period.

Naira to dollar exchange rate, which was N199/$ in early 2015, more than doubled the following year owing to low oil prices.

With naira stable for the larger part of 2017, spike in farmers export earnings to $402 million in 2017 is tied to an increase in production.

A metric ton of cashew is currently sold for N400, 000 a ton at the local market, but its international price fluctuates between

$1,400 and $1,700 per ton as at Monday, April 23.

Cashew nuts are important to health, as they lower the risk of cardiovascular and blood diseases, protect the eye, facilitate weight loss, are sources of dietary fibres, and serve as animal feeds.

Selenium present in cashews helps in preventing cancer, health experts say.

Similarly, cashews are high in fat, rich in vitamin E and magnesium and zinc. Its oil helps in the treatment of diseases and production of skin-enhancing products.

Cashew has become a top-notch cash crop in Nigeria and is eaten and serves as industrial raw materials in firms producing chemicals, paints, varnishes, insecticides and fungicides, electrical conductress, and several types of oil.

It is exported to the United States, India, Spain and many parts of Europe, including the Netherlands and Spain.

Nigeria’s cashew is usually har-

Tuesday 24 April 2018

BusinessDay ‘top 100 companies in Nigeria...

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porate Boardrooms in Nigeria” containing the profiles of the Board of Directors tasked with the oversight of each Company’s financial and business activities, as well as the leadership of each of the top 100 Organisations on our list. Subsequently, each profile of the 100 Companies contains information on their respective Boards highlighting key qualifications, expertise and experience of each member.

In addition to the Board membership, the Report contains salient information on each Company including highlights on their financial figures and key ratios including profitability; the level of board diversity, shareholding structure, and the interests of the directors, among others.

It will interest you to know that the Top 25 percent of the Companies that made our 2017 list were collectively responsible for approximately 45 percent of the N4.36 trillion gained in Nigeria’s equity markets in the year under review.

In addition to listed Companies, the publication also covers unquoted companies including FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc and CHI Nigeria Limited. Other unquoted entities which fall into the category of the largest companies in Nigeria include MTN Nigeria Plc, NBC (Coca Cola), Seven Up Bottling Company, among others. BusinessDay Research relied on estimates to arrive at financial data for some of the abovementioned Companies.

Sources of data and information for the Report include in-house analysis via our Research & Intelligence Unit, news sources and trading updates from reliable channels including BusinessDay Newspaper; annual reports and financial statements, analysis of market capitalisation figures, company websites, unaudited quarterly

results, in addition to other trusted sources.

Overall, the 100 Companies in this publication have been segmented according to the sectors in which they operate.

Subsequently, the sectors covered in the top 100 report include Consumer Goods, Insurance, Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Energy, Technology, among others.

The information used in the report is gleaned from the above mentioned sources with the latest information derived as at March 30, 2018.

The importance of this report cannot be overemphasized. In 2016, the country’s economy plunged into its first recession in almost three decades. The recession was largely blamed on the sharp drop in crude oil prices and a poor policy response. However, the recovery from growth has also been largely linked to the recovery in crude oil prices as economic growth has remained anaemic in the non-oil sector due to a reluctance to push macroeconomic reforms.

Nigeria’s non-oil economy grew 1.5 percent year on year (YOY) in the fourth quarter of 2017, its strongest performance since 2015, according to GDP data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This is a reversal of the non-oil sector’s negative growth of -0.76 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2017 and more than twice the average growth rate recorded in the first and second quarter of 2017.

Overall economic growth for 2017 was 0.83 percent on account of the 8.68 percent growth in the oil sector. Even though the oil sector accounts for less than 10 percent of the country’s economic output, the non-oil sector remains highly dependent on the dollars earned from the sector, which contributes more than 90 percent of export revenue.

vested between February-June, though farmers stock the crop and export it all year round.

According to Faseru, farmers are now properly drying and packaging their cashew nuts, saying it has helped to keep quality and peelability of the Nigerian cashew nuts.

“The cashew industry is making a lot of progress and the crop has done impressively well in 2017 and would do much better in 2018,” Anga Sotonye, publicity secretary, National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), said in a telephone response to BusinessDay questions.

“We have put in place the structure that ensures quality. Farmers are now packaging their cashew nuts properly and using jute bags because they know that cashew farming is now a serious business,” Sotonye said.

“We are expecting to generate $480 million at the end of this year and also further increase our production,” he predicted.

Value addition is critical for agro

exports as it enhances the value of the crop and brings more revenue for farmers and middle-men.

“Basically, what Nigeria has been doing over the years is to send semi-processed crops out and what they do in those countries is to add value and then shoot up the prices.

So, if I am sending cashew nuts in a raw form, I get $800 per ton, but if it is processed, I get close to $2000 per ton. So the money-making thing here is value-addition. Why most people are not so interested in exporting value added products is that they are just satisfied with the little dollars they get from raw products,” Attah Anzaku, CEO of AgroEknor, an international commodity trading firm, told BusinessDay. According to Faseru, there is a need for government to provide cheap funds to processors, increase the processing of cashew nuts in the country, adding that only 10 percent of cashew produced in the country is processed while others are exported raw.

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35 NEWS

BUSINESS DAY

Danbatta presents Nigeria’s twin-candidature to ITU JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON

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xecutive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Umar Garba Danbatta, has formally presented Nigeria’s candidature for a re-election into the Administrative Council of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and William Ijeh’s bid for the position of director, Telecommunication Development Bureau of the ITU. The formal presentation was made in Geneva, Switzerland, at a dinner organised for Houlin Zhao, the ITU secretary-general, other elected officials of the global telecom regulatory body, ministers and chief regulators of member states from across the globe, among other dignitaries.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I now formally present to you Nigeria’s twin candidature for re-election into the ITU Administrative Council and William Ijeh for the position of director, Telecommunication Development Bureau of the ITU, for your support,” Danbatta said.

Speaking further, he noted that Nigeria had a long standing relationship with the ITU, and had been contributing in no small way to the activities of the union.

“Nigeria is one of the highest

financial contributors to ITU in the African region and also a major player in ITU Telecom World activities for many years.

I can assure you that Nigeria will continue to reinforce its cooperation with the ITU,” he said.

He expressed the country’s further commitment toward the development of telecommunication and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as well as making them readily available to its entire citizen at affordable rates.

On Ijeh’s candidature, he explained that his experience of working at the ITU for over 21 years in various strategic positions, including the BDT, the general secretariat, and the Radio-communication Bureau, should not be ignored.

He said the candidate had been instrumental to many decisions and developmental activities within the ITU. “Prior to joining the ITU, Ijeh worked for other inter-governmental organisations where he was primarily responsible for project development and management with emphasis on developing countries.

“He will apply his diplomatic skills in negotiations and be in a position to interact with government officials at the highest level,” he said.

Nigeria-China currency swap deal on course - Emefiele … as external reserves hit $47.93bn ONYINYE NWACHUKWU, Washington Dc

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overnor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, said at the weekend that the currency swap deal between Nigeria and China was still on course and would be concluded soon.

Emefiele gave the assurance at a joint press briefing with finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, on their participation at the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the US. Nigeria had initiated the two-fold currency swap deal since 2015, to help strengthen the naira since the country imports huge amount of products from China.

“The agreement has not failed. You must agree with me that transactions of this nature would usually involve very strenuous engagements between the countries and the central banks.

“I can assure you my words that we are expecting excellent results very soon.

I will leave at that for now and by the time the news comes out, Nigerians would be very happy,” Emefiele told reporters.

The CBN governor also reiterated Nigeria’s positive growth outlook, noting that the IMF and World Bank had projected a growth of 2.5 percent for Nigeria.

He disclosed that the country’s foreign reserves had risen to $47.93 billion, saying, “There is need to save for the raining day and also continue to grow the foreign reserves. If we had enough reserves, we wouldn’t have suffered the

recession shocks.”

He assured that concerted efforts were ongoing to realise the 80 percent target for financial inclusion by 2020.

On her part, Adeosun also affirmed that the country’s positive growth outlook would be sustained.

According to Adeosun, the present growth outlook contrasted with the outlook in 2015, and inflation rate was slowing down while the foreign reserves were rising.

Expressing optimistic on the Federal Government’s sustenance of the growth trajectory, the Minister however called for vigilance and focus for the country not to fall back into recession.

She said, “We are confident that if we diligently implement our economic plan, we will grow the economy. We have room to grow but other countries do not have rooms to grow.

“By 2019, the growth will be far more robust than the present level in 2018. We are therefore very optimistic in sustaining Nigeria’s economic growth. We are going to use this opportunity to grow our fiscal buffers, particularly aggressively growing our revenue base.

“The administration has succeeded in building macroeconomic resilience for Nigeria, particularly revising the funding mix, rebuilding fiscal buffers, enhancing foreign exchange reserves and focusing on import substitution strategies.”

On state-owned-enterprises such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, she said the government would continue to efficiently manage their costs and plug leakages.

L-R: Dakuku Peterside, director-general, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); Igochukwu Aguma, celebrant, and Emmanuel Deeyah, during the Aguma’s 50th birthday thanksgiving reception held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

NASS CSR Bill: OPS vows to resist 1% deduction from companies’ profits … says ease of doing business, MSMEs threatened KEHINDE AKINTOLA & HARRISON EDEH, Abuja

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embers of the organised private sector (OPS), including Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), have vowed to resist the passage of legislation in the House of Representatives aimed at compelling companies in Nigeria to pay 1 percent of their gross profits to fund projects under corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The OPS grouse with the Bill, which is going for second reading, is that the Federal Government is going to further overburden the companies.

The private member bill, currently in the House of Representatives, seeks to compel all incorporated indigenous and foreign companies to set aside 1 percent of their annual gross profit for implementation of CSR projects.

The bill, sponsored by Sunday Karimi, also seeks to ensure that companies operating across Nigeria are not only accountable to their shareholders, employees and trade unions but also to the consumers, host communities and wider environment.

Under the arrangement, the bill seeks to give additional power

to Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) saddled with the statutory responsibility of registering companies and various entities in Nigeria, to ensure compliance.

Some of the CSR projects listed in the bill include: eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, promotion of educational activities, gender equality, empowering women, establishment of centre for aged and catering for the aged in the society, reducing child mortality and maternal health, combating malaria, cancer, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and other related diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, development of vocational enhancing skills, among others.

The sponsor of the bill proposed the inclusion of new clause in Section 38a for the establishment of CSR Department in the Commission.

Part of the functions of the department include: ensure and enforce that all incorporated companies under Part A of the Principal Act, initiate, implement and enforce CSR to its stakeholders, especially the consumers and host communities.

“Ensure in cooperation with Federal Government Agencies, that Government at all levels, especially Federal Government fulfils its obligations of providing enabling environment for businesses and incorporated companies.

“Ensure that incorporated companies give back to their

stakeholders ad host communities; ensure that before incorporation, all incorporated companies have a commitment to corporate social responsibility in the object clause of the incorporated company and develop a corporate social responsibility framework that fosters national development without being distinctive to investments in Nigeria.”

Section 38(e) of the bill, also provides incentive of 2% company income tax relief for companies which embark on CSR in the succeeding financial year.

Section 386(d) of the bill, empowers the Commission to “shut down and suspend the operations of a organisation, corporation or company for a minimum of 30 working days as penalty for non-compliance with the provisions of the Act. But Frank Jacobs, president, MAN, while speaking with BusinessDay, on the issue, insisted that over 37 million Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating in Nigeria with its contribution of 48 percent to the Gross Domestic Product would be threatened if the bill eventually becomes a Law. Apart from the threat to the growth of the SMEs, members of the OPS said compelling them to pay 1 percent of their annual gross profit, which is huge, was already burdensome, as they were already battling with all manner of taxes they were already paying.

“We already have the Educa-

tion Tax that goes to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund and other agencies, we also contribute a certain percentage to the Industrial Training fund, and with all other manner of multiple taxation we are battling in the country. We are not obligatory to pay for CSR, and to state the least most of our members are doing it, why then now compel us with this legislation.”

Jacobs also informed that the 1 percent CSR was huge, stating that the organisation would resist the bill during Public Hearing section of its consideration.

“This is another indirect tax, and we are going to kick against it as we are already over burdened,” he adds further.

Also, Tony Ejinkonye, vice president of NACCIMA, in the same vein told BusinessDay that the 1% CRS fund under consideration was already overburdening the members of the OPS, as they were paying all manner of taxes already.

Ejinkonye pointed out that the implication of the 1 percent CSR annual gross profit was equivalent of 30% profit, because you were minusing turnover from purchases without factoring in other costs.

“It counters the ease of doing business which the present Administration has been priding on. The Legislature and the Executive seem to be working on discordant tune, and it is not healthy for our economy,” Ejinkonye said further.

South-South APC endorses Oshiomhole for position of national chairman

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ours after the Edo State caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) unanimously endorsed the candidacy of Adams Oshiomhole as chairmanship candidate for the position of the national chairman of the party, the South-South Zonal Executive Committee has equally thrown their weight behind him for the position.

National vice chairman, APC South-South Zone, Ntufam Eta, disclosed this to

journalists after a meeting of executive members of the party in the zone, held in Benin City.

Eta said the majority of South-South Zonal executive committee members present at the meeting decided on the Edo position, which is the adoption of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to carry the flag of the Party.

“The Edo State chapter, led by its Chairman, informed us that the decision was unanimously accepted by the Edo APC Caucus. During the de-

liberation, the delegation from Rivers State kicked against Oshiomhole’s candidacy but the voice vote of the zonal executive committee, defeated their position while that of Adams Oshiomhole prevailed and stands as the position of the zonal executive committee of the party.

“We have done our part. It’s now left for the membership of the National convention to do theirs and we pray that they follow our lead. This is our honest prayer.”

Speaking on the absence of the National Chairman of the Party, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, at the meeting, Eta said: “we were told that the National Chairman was duly invited for the meeting like every other person.”

Earlier, Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, welcomed the APC members from across the six states in the SouthSouth Zone of the party to the meeting and wished them happy deliberation

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Tips & Talking Points

Harvard Business Review TALKING POINTS

Can you explain why you deserve a promotion?

Income Decline 28%: The median income for men with a high-school diploma declined by about 28% between 1980 and 2007 in the U.S. + Beer Market 90%: While the number of craft breweries in the United States has increased in recent years, four large brewers still control almost 90% of the beer market in the U.S. + Trillions for Shareholders $7 trillion: Companies in the S&P 500 paid out about $7 trillion to shareholders between 2007-2016. + Rich Still Collecting Most of the Wealth 82%: The richest 1% of people in the world collected about 82% of the wealth created in 2017, according to a recent study from the charity Oxfam. + Cold Showers 29%: According to a recent study conducted in the Netherlands, people who finished their morning showers with a blast of cold water called in sick about 29% less than other workers.

Asking for a promotion can be nervewracking. But when you think you’re ready for the next step in your career, it’s important to say so.

— To prepare for the conversation with your boss, reflect on what you want. Would you like to move up, or might a lateral move interest you?

— Next, do some research. Find out how co-workers successfully pressed their cases for promotion, and ask mentors and trusted colleagues whether they think you’re ready.

— Then build a compelling case for why

Make a pact with your colleagues to stay focused If you’re surrounded by co-workers who get distracted easily, you’re likely to become distracted yourself.

Instead of letting them pull you away from your to-do list, set boundaries. You don’t have to be rude about it; you can say something simple like, “Can we continue this conversation later? I want to get this report done, and then I’d love to hear more about your weekend.” This assures your coworker that you value your relationship while reinforcing your need for uninterrupted work time.

You could also join forces with your colleagues to resist distractions together. Make a pact that during certain times — say, Thursday after-

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you deserve a promotion, listing your strengths, recent successes and metrics that demonstrate the impact you’ve had.

Keep in mind that asking for a promotion is rarely a one-and-done conversation; rather, it’s a series of ongoing discussions. Your objective is to make the request and then continue to do good work until your boss agrees that you’re ready to advance.

(Adapted from “How to Ask for a Promotion,” by Rebecca Knight.)

Make sure your work is aligned with your boss’s expectations

noons — you’ll work without interruptions: no email, social media, Slack, or chit-chatting.

Then hold each other accountable for respecting the boundaries. Research shows that when you tell someone else that you want to reform your ways, you’re more likely to follow through.

(Adapted from “What to Do When You’re Feeling Distracted at Work,” by Amy Gallo.)

Most people have had a boss they struggled to get along with. Maybe the manager didn’t seem to trust you or wasn’t impressed with your performance. While you may be tempted to blame the situation on your difficult boss, most often a mismatch like this happens when expectations aren’t aligned. For example, perhaps you handed in a 10-page report when your boss wanted a onepage summary, and they interpreted it as a sign that you didn’t listen. Get the relationship back on track by clarifying what your boss expects from you. Ask direct questions like, “What are your priorities for me?” and “What criteria should

I take into account when making decisions?” And find out how your boss prefers to work with you, including how often you two should meet and when they expect you to be reachable by email and phone. Knowing these expectations now could save you headaches in the future.

(Adapted from “How to Win Over a Boss Who Just Doesn’t Seem to Like You,”

by Jay A. Conger and Allan H. Church.)

Make treating people kindly a norm on your team We all want to work in a place where people treat each other with kindness and respect. But you can’t expect your team to behave that way without making it clear that you want them to. This process starts when you interview potential team members: Tell candidates that your team values civility, so they can opt in to working for an organization where those values are prized. Have discussions with team members about what civility means, and define the norms that you expect everyone to uphold on a daily basis. Compile those norms into a “civility code,” which your employees can use as a guide. Once the norms are established, reinforce them however you can — in team meetings, at important events, and through rewards. These conversations and efforts garner buy-in and empower employees to hold one another accountable for civil behavior.

(Adapted from “Make Civility the Norm on Your Team,” by Christine Porath.)

When a meeting gets tense, help it get back on track You know the feeling when things get tense in a meeting. People raise their voices, or your colleagues talk over each other — and you just want it to end. Instead of watching the clock, take action and help get the conversation back on track.

— First, point out what’s happening in a matter-of-fact way, without assigning blame. You might say, “We’ve been talking for 25 minutes, and we seem to be just repeating the same arguments. Do others agree?”

— Then offer a way forward that makes sure everyone is heard and will prevent emotional flare-ups. For example, you can

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

say, “Carmine, how about we hear you out, then we’ll summarize your position to make sure we understand it. Then we can do the same with Kay’s view. Will that work for everyone?”

— Once the whole group has agreed on a process, you can continue the conversation productively.

(Adapted from “How to Save a Meeting That’s Gotten Tense,” by Joseph Grenny.)

Tuesday 24 April 2018

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BUSINESS DAY

FINANCIAL TIMES

US shale groups reach self-financing milestone as oil price rises

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Interview: Cyril Ramaphosa on how to fix South Africa

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World Business Newspaper

European powers seek to sway Trump on Iran nuclear deal

Macron and Merkel will urge US president to stand by the accord MICHAEL PEEL AND KATRINA MANSON

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uropean leaders are exploring further sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile programme and regional meddling, as well as more extensive inspection of its atomic sites as they try to dissuade the US from abandoning a nuclear deal between world powers and Tehran.

Emmanuel Macron, French president, and Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, are expected to use separate official visits to Washington this week to urge President Donald Trump to stick with an accord he has threatened to withdraw from on May 12.

“This will be a chance to persuade Trump before May 12,” said one EU diplomat, hailing the “nice” coincidence of the sequential trips by the bloc’s two most influential leaders. “Iran will be a big point on the agenda.”

Concern is mounting in European capitals about the fate of the deal, but they have limited room for manoeuvre to meet Mr Trump’s demands while keeping Tehran on board.

France, Germany and the UK — the three European signatories to the 2015 nuclear accord, known as the JCPOA — are finalising their response to demands issued by Mr Trump in January.

They are looking into ways to toughen inspections of Iranian nuclear sites, such as military installations, universities and laboratories, as well as possible new sanctions because of Iran’s ballistic missile programme and its involvement in regional conflicts such as Syria and Yemen, diplomats say.

Steffen Seibert, Ms Merkel’s spokesman, said last week that Germany was “concerned about Iran’s ballistic missile programme and about Iran’s regional activities because those, too, touch on European security interests”.

European diplomats say they are

focused on winning Mr Trump over, rather than making contingency plans for how to work around the potential reimposition of US sanctions that have been lifted in exchange for Iran restricting its nuclear activities. The deal was also signed by China and Russia and endorsed by the UN Security Council.

“There is no plan B,” said one European official, pointing to the difficulty in shielding any European companies operating in Iran from the reach of restored US sanctions. “Without the US, there is no deal any more.”

Mr Macron’s three-day trip is the first state visit of the Trump administration and reflects the rapport between the two men. Ms Merkel is scheduled to visit on Friday for a working meeting at the White House.

A senior US administration official said Iran would be a “major” topic of conversation when Mr Macron arrives on Monday, although Mr Trump still planned to reserve his final decision on the deal until mid-May. European countries had been “working hard on trying to address some of our most important or prominent concerns “, the official said, although the work was “not quite done yet”.

The US is still looking for tougher measures on Iran’s ballistic missile programme and regional role, as well as an extension of so-called sunset clauses under which restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear activities start to fall way from 2025. “This is where we’re hoping for real contributions, and we’ll see if we get across the finish line right there,” the US official said.

The sunset clauses have become symbolic of European doubts over whether even their best efforts will satisfy Mr Trump and John Bolton, his new national security adviser and a long-time critic of the Iran deal.

European diplomats argue privately that a decision by western powers to extend the clauses unilaterally would scupper the deal.

Investment bank propels UBS to best quarterly result in 3 years Returns across all other divisions were ‘disappointing’ LAURA NOONAN AND RALPH ATKINS

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witzerland’s UBS kicked off the European banks results season by announcing its highest quarterly profit in three years, as outperformance from its investment bank helped offset weaker figures elsewhere.

The bank’s 17 per cent rise in group pre-tax profits to SFr1.97bn ($2bn) for the first quarter of 2018 comes after Wall Street’s big banks reported a bumper set of earnings

for the same period, although their profits and optimistic outlooks were driven mainly by consumer banking.

In UBS’s case, its investment bank, which had been sidelined since a 2012 restructuring, was the standout, with reported pre-tax profit of SFr589m versus SFr480m a year earlier and the SFr463m expected by analysts.

Both UBS group and the investment bank recorded their highest Continues on page A4

Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel will be making separate official visits to Washington this week © Bloomberg

Fund led by Sears CEO offers to buy assets from embattled retailer Lampert pushes embattled retailer to divest its Kenmore brand and other units PAN KWAN YUK

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he hedge fund led by Sears chief executive Eddie Lampert is offering to buy some of the troubled US retailer’s best assets, a break-up plan aimed at helping shore up its balance sheet.

Sears said on Monday that it has received a letter from ESL Investments suggesting the company divest all or a portion of its Kenmore brand, its Home Improvement (SHIP) business, and its PartsDirect appliance repair unit.

ESL’s letter said the fund would be interested in participating as a buyer if the company decides to go ahead with a sale.

“We continue to see value in Sears and its underlying assets and believe strongly that with an appropriate runway Sears will be able to complete its transformation to respond to the challenging retail environment,” ESL

said in a letter to Sears’ board of directors last Friday.

It is not clear how selling more Sears assets would help return the company back to sales growth and profitability.

Once one of the America’s largest and most storied retailers, Sears — which also owns Kmart — has been relentlessly pummeled by the evolving retail environment, as more consumers eschew traditional brick-andmortar retail to shop online. Its heavy debt burden and falling sales have left it in a precarious financial state.

Net loss has topped over $10bn over the past seven years while net debt stood at $3.2bn on February 3.

In an effort to stabilise its finances, the company has been selling assets, closing stores, cutting costs and has taken on loans from affiliates of ESL. But critics have charged that these steps amount to little more than kicking the can down the road. Ultimately Sears needs to turn around sales and

draw shoppers back into its stores and to do that it needs products, suppliers and revamped stores, analysts have said.

In its letter, ESL said its principal interest is to see Sears sell the assets in question “in the near term at a full and fair value . . . so that Sears is able to improve its debt profile and liquidity position.”

“We understand that Sears has marketed certain of these assets for nearly two years but, with the exception of the Craftsman divestiture, has been unable to reach agreement with potential purchasers on acceptable terms,” it said.

“If Sears believes it would be helpful, ESL would be prepared to submit a proposal for such a transaction and believes it would be able to close such a transaction within 90 days.”

Shares in Sears, which at their peak in 2007 were worth over $125, opened 2 per cent higher on Monday to $3.10.

EU budget revamp set to shift funds to southern states Warsaw and Budapest fear loss of support as future allocation to be linked to ‘values’ ALEX BARKER

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russels plans to shift tens of billions of euros in EU funding away from central and eastern Europe, diverting money from countries such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to those hit hard by the financial crisis such as Spain and Greece.

The reforms will be one of the most contentious parts of the European Commission’s draft 2021-2027 EU budget, which will be unveiled next month, and mark a dramatic redesign of the €350bn “cohesion policy” that aims to support less developed parts of the union.

Brussels wants to end the practice of distributing cohesion money almost exclusively on the basis of gross domestic product per head, replacing it with much broader criteria covering everything from youth unemployment, education and the environment to migration and innovation.

On top of revising the allocation of funds, the commission is reinforcing conditions on eligibility, including rule of law compliance, and applying more

restrictions on how the EU money can be used. A draft policy paper seen by the FT puts the programme under a new “cohesion and values” heading — a clear signal about the expectations that come with EU funding.

The overhaul will be particularly worrying for Warsaw and Budapest, two big beneficiaries of cohesion funds who have clashed with Brussels over the rule of law and democratic standards.

Poland has warned that tough conditions for EU funding linked to judicial independence would cause “enormous problems” and encroach on sovereign rights.

Precise details of the reforms are still being thrashed out behind the scenes.

But diplomats and officials expect the outcome to be a redirection of funds from Poland, the Czech Republic and Baltic states towards southern states such as Italy, Spain, Greece and even some regions of France.

“They are trying to fix it against us,” said one ambassador in Brussels from an EU member state set to lose out from the reforms. “It is another way we lose money.”

The changes to allocation terms would not just redraw the geography of EU funding, but would establish a new rationale for the bloc’s wealth redistribution policy.

Following the wave of EU enlargement after 2004, the EU’s so-called structural funds were heavily geared towards closing the economic gap between old and new member states.

Poland secured about €77bn from the cohesion policy in the 2014-2020 budget period, Hungary €22bn and Slovakia €14bn, from a total of €350bn.

The budget battle over reforms will be made harder by planned cuts to overall cohesion spending, partly to help fill the Brexit-related funding gap.

Günther Oettinger, the EU’s budget commissioner, has said reductions of “5 to 10 per cent” are “necessary”.

John Bachtler, an expert in cohesion policy at Strathclyde university, said the budget negotiation could be “the most difficult in 30 years”. He said: “All countries are likely to lose cohesion policy funding; the main question is how big the losses are for individual countries and regions.”

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Subsea 7 gatecrashes $6bn engineering merger Offshore engineering group makes proposal for McDermott contigent on halting CB&I ADAM SAMSON

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jolt of drama has struck the industry that provides engineering and construction services for the world’s energy sector.

Luxembourg’s Subsea 7 disclosed on Monday that it made a $2bn proposal for McDermott that is contigent on the US group dropping its planned tie-up with Chicago Bridge & Iron

Company.

Subsea 7 said it proposed to buy all of McDermott’s capital stock for $7 per share, payable either entirely in cash or up to 50 per cent in Subsea 7 stock and the rest in cash. The price represents a 15.7 premium to McDermott’s closing level on Friday.

The proposal would give Houstonbased McDermott an equity value of $2bn and an enterprise value of

$2.15bn, according to Financial Times calculations based on FactSet data.

Monday’s news sent shares in CB&I sinking 13 per cent in pre-market trading in New York. McDermott rallied 19 per cent, while Subsea 7 rose 2 per cent.

McDermott’s board rejected the proposal last Friday. The group’s board “carefully reviewed and considered the proposal”, but ultimately

conlcuded “that the proposal was not in the best interests of the company or its stockholders as it significantly undervalued McDermott and was not an attractive alternative to the proposed combination with CB&I,” McDermott said.

Subsea 7, which trades in Oslo, said it “will consider increasing its proposed price upon further assessment of McDermott’s business through discus-

US shale companies strike cash on higher crude prices

Investment bank propels UBS to best quarterly...

Continued from page A3 quarterly pre-tax profit since the first quarter of 2015.

Still, Kian Abouhossein, analyst at JPMorgan, said the results were “disappointing” across all divisions except the investment bank due to lower revenues in other divisions and higher costs.

UBS’s SFr2.3tn global wealth management business marginally missed expectations in the first quarter since its merged wealth management divisions, but still generated SFr1.13bn of the group’s first-quarter profit and 20 per cent more than the two old divisions a year earlier.

The Swiss lender announced plans in January to merge its international wealth management operation with its US one.

UBS said its global wealth management division had a “very strong quarter”. The division attracted SFr19bn net new money, below the combined SFr20.5bn of the two old units in the first quarter of 2017.

Wall Street banks also posted a strong quarter for wealth management, with net interest margins expanding on declining balances.

Sergio Ermotti, UBS chief executive, said the “excellent” results from the first quarter were “once again showing the power of our diversified business,” but he acknowledged it had been a “a tale of two halves” with an “exuberant start” to the three month period but a “more muted finish”.

Andreas Venditti, analyst at Vontobel, said UBS’s results were “solid”, with profits in the investment bank “clearly above expectations”.

In the investment bank, UBS’s equities revenues were up 17 per cent year on year, or 25 per cent in dollar terms, lagging behind the total 32 per cent increase across the big five Wall Street banks.

Fixed income, rates and credit were down 11 per cent, or 6 per cent in dollar terms, worse than the US banks’ total 1 per cent fall.

European banks were expected to underperform their US rivals, particularly Deutsche Bank and Barclays whose investment banks are more heavily skewed towards fixed income, currencies and commodities.

UBS is one of a handful of lenders that have yet to settle with the US Department of Justice over allegations of mortgage mis-selling in the US, negotiations that have cost other banks billions. UBS did not give any update on the process and made no material addition to the SFr2.3bn it has in reserve to deal with litigation matters.

The UBS share price was down 4.25 per cent.

sions with McDermott management.”

“Additionally, for any stock consideration, Subsea 7 is open to discussing listing options for the shares of the combined company,” it added.

McDermott and Netherlandsheadquarted CB&I had agreed a $6bn deal in December that will see shareholders of the former owning 53 per cent of the combined entity, with CB&I holders owning the rest.

Landmark moment as leading producers become self-financing and boost investor hopes

ED CROOKS AND NICOLE BULLOCK

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Some analysts say that Kim Jong Un (left) is willing to bargain away his country’s nuclear arsenal for security guarantees and economic aid © AFP

Kim Jong Un looks to secure North Korea regime and US talks Pyongyang to prioritise economic development over nuclear ambitions, experts say SONG JUNG-A

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yongyang’s sudden diplomatic outreach and symbolic concessions have heightened speculation over what North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un wants to gain from his looming summits with South Korea and the US. Tough international sanctions and a collapse in trade with China — North Korea’s main trading partner — have curtailed the country’s economy, with experts suggesting that the reclusive and secretive regime could soon run out of hard currency.

Some analysts say that Mr Kim is willing to bargain away his country’s nuclear arsenal for security guarantees and economic aid, in an effort to develop the North Korean economy and ensure his regime’s long-term survival.

“Mr Kim’s primary objective for the summits will be to get sanctions relief as the country is desperate for economic development,” said Bong Young-shik, a North Korea expert at Yonsei University. “The North Korean economy has become heavily

dependent on smuggling and limited market activities, which have been squeezed by international sanctions. Mr Kim must be sensing the looming economic crisis.”

In last Friday’s Communist party congress, Mr Kim effectively declared the country as a nuclear power and announced a “new strategic line” to focus the nation’s resources on rebuilding its economy, now that Pyongyang no longer needs to test long-range missiles or atomic bombs.

Mr Kim pledged to create an “international environment favourable to the socialist economic construction”, with the knowledge that sanctions relief and foreign investment are essential for the country’s economic development.

His apparent shift away from nuclear and missile tests comes days before Mr Kim’s highly anticipated meeting with South Korea’s leader Moon Jae-in on Friday and before his planned summit with US President Donald Trump in June.

However, the departure from his trademark byungjin policy — pursuing nuclear programmes and economic development simultane-

ously — has prompted analysts to question how serious Mr Kim is about economic reform, and how far he is willing to go in dismantling the country’s nuclear programmes in return for sanctions relief and economic aid.

“Resuming inter-Korean economic exchanges could be a soft spot for Mr Kim as Washington is unlikely to ease sanctions unless it sees real progress in de-nuclearisation,” said Mr Bong.

Optimism for a diplomatic breakthrough on North Korea’s de-nuclearisation is growing in Seoul after Mr Moon said last week that Pyongyang had set no terms for de-nuclearisation, and was no longer demanding the removal of US troops from South Korea for “complete de-nuclearisation”.

Over the weekend, Pyongyang also announced that it would shutter a nuclear site and halt missile testing — moves welcomed by Washington and Seoul, although Mr Trump later tempered his initial enthusiasm, saying that the US would not lift sanctions until North Korea had substantially dismantled its nuclear programmes.

Aluminium drops 10% after US hints at lighter Rusal sanctions Treasury pushes for Deripaska to step back from the company DAVID SHEPPARD

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luminium prices dropped 10 per cent in afternoon trading in London after the US Treasury said it was extending the time limit for winding up business with sanctioned Russian producer Rusal and hinted at easing restrictions on the company that have upended metals trading globally.

The US Treasury also said that if oligarch Oleg Deripaska sold the company, it could “provide sanctions relief”.

Aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange, which had been up

more than 3 per cent in morning trading, rapidly reversed course to trade down more than 6 per cent - a 10 per cent swing overall.

Prices of the metal have soared by more than 30 per cent since the US imposed sanctions on the company and Mr Deripaska earlier this month.

The FT reported on Friday that EU countries were planning to ask the US to consider the fallout created from the sanctions, which were threatening to hit automakers, aerospace and other industries as well as affecting non-Rusal aluminium producers.

“Rusal has felt the impact of US sanctions because of its entangle-

ment with Oleg Deripaska, but the US government is not targeting the hardworking people who depend on Rusal and its subsidiaries,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

“Rusal has approached us to petition for delisting. Given the impact on our partners and allies, we are issuing a general license extending the maintenance and wind-down period while we consider RUSAL’s petition.”

The Treasury said both US citizens and non-US citizens were now authorised to engage in “specified transactions related to winding down or maintaining business” with Rusal and its subsidiaries until October 23.

S shale oil companies have started to generate free cash thanks to the rise in crude prices, a landmark moment for an industry that has until now relied on an inflow of capital to support its growth.

Leading shale oil producers were able to cover their capital spending on new wells from their operating cash flows by the end of last year, and are generating significant free cash with oil prices at present levels, according to Wood Mackenzie, the research company.

The shift among leading shale producers to becoming self-financing is removing one of the key concerns for investors. US oil companies’ share prices for months lagged behind the crude price as it started to climb last year, but in April they have started to rise as investors have become more hopeful of improved returns.

Andrew McConn of Wood Mackenzie said the larger US shale oil companies needed a crude price of about $53 a barrel to generate free cash. Benchmark US crude was $68 a barrel on Friday.

“It’s quite a windfall for a lot of these companies,” Mr McConn said.

From the time the first shale oil test wells were drilled in the US in 2008-09, the industry’s capital expenditures have exceeded its cash from operations. Shale producers have been able to stay in business only by attracting hundreds of billions of dollars in financing from bond and share sales and bank loans. Over 2008-17, US exploration and production companies raised $293bn from bond sales, according to Dealogic.

Continued improvements in the techniques of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have brought costs down sharply, however.

Scott Sheffield, chairman of Pioneer Natural Resources, said its wells in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico were now 300 per cent more productive than four years ago, driving down the price needed for them to make a profit.

“In 2014, our break-even price in the Permian Basin was probably $55 or $60 a barrel,” he told the Columbia Global Energy Summit last week. “I would never have thought that the Permian Basin could drive down the break-even price to the low $20s. And we did it.”

As crude prices have climbed since June last year, US exploration and companies’ shares, which typically follow the commodity, have lagged behind. This month, however, they have started to rise.

Since the start of April, shares in EOG Resources and Continental Resources are up 11 per cent, and for Pioneer Natural Resources they are up 17 per cent.

Tuesday 24 April 2018

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BUSINESS DAY

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FINANCIAL TIMES

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

US shale groups reach self-financing milestone as oil price rises Sector’s top groups finally generate enough cash to cover cost of new wells ED CROOKS AND NICOLE BULLOCK

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he US shale oil revolution has reached a landmark moment, with the sector’s top companies for the first time earning enough cash to cover the cost of new wells.

Since the shale oil boom began a decade ago, exploration and production companies have needed a steady inflow of capital to pay for drilling and completing new wells but thanks to the rise in crude prices, many can now finance themselves.

The leading producers, which were just about covering their capital spending from their operating cash flows in the final quarter of last year, are now generating significant free cash, according to Wood Mackenzie, the research company.

“It’s quite a windfall for a lot of these companies,” said Andrew McConn, of Wood Mackenzie, who noted that the larger US shale oil companies needed a crude price of about $53 a barrel to generate free cash. Benchmark US crude was $68 a barrel on Friday.

The shift to self-sustainability is removing one of the key concerns for investors. As crude prices have climbed since June last year, US exploration and companies’ shares, which typically follow the commodity, have lagged behind.

This month, however, they have started to rise. Since the start of April, shares in EOG Resources and Continental Resources are up 11 per cent, and for Pioneer Natural Resources they are up 17 per cent.

From the time the first shale oil test wells were drilled in the US in 2008-09, the industry’s capital expenditure has exceeded its cash from operations, with producers only able to stay in business by attracting hundreds of billions of dollars in financing from bond and share sales and bank loans. From 2008 to 2017, US exploration and production companies raised $293bn from bond

sales, according to Dealogic.

Another factor that has helped producers turn the corner is the continued improvement in the techniques of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, which have brought costs down sharply.

Scott Sheffield, chairman of Pioneer Natural Resources, said its wells in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico were now 300 per cent more productive than four years ago, driving down the oil price needed for them to make a profit.

“In 2014 our break-even price in the Permian Basin was probably $55 or $60 a barrel,” he told the Columbia Global Energy Summit last week. “I would never have thought that the Permian Basin could drive down the break-even price to the low $20s. And we did it.”

Market valuations in the sector had been held back by concerns including the industry’s cash outflows and low returns on capital, and fears that surging US production might again create a glut in world markets and send prices tumbling as it did in 2014.

But in recent months many shale companies have been saying they will focus on improving returns rather than growth at all costs. Several have announced increased dividends and share buybacks, including Anadarko Petroleum, Devon Energy and Hess.

“Investors are becoming more confident that US shale isn’t going to be a runaway train,” said Trip Rodgers of BP Capital Fund Advisors, an energy investment management firm.

With growing threats to global oil supplies, including the crisis in Venezuela, fears of another slump in prices are also fading.

“A lot of investors are still scared from [the] oil collapse of 2014 and 2015,” said Max Gokhman, head of asset allocation at Pacific Life Fund Advisors. “They are starting to get over their fear and look at the fundamentals again, and the fundamentals are very supportive.”

Dollar pushed higher as Treasury yields near 3% Wall Street opens firmer but risk appetite remains muted despite improving geopolitical STEPHEN SMITH AND MICHAEL HUNTER

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hat you need to know • Dollar climbs to its strongest level for nearly two

months • Investors keep watch on US 10-year Treasury yield’s ascent towards 3% • Looming ECB and BoJ meetings put spotlight on relative rates outlook • US stocks trade cautiousely • Sterling below $1.40 and euro nearing $1.22 • Brent crude below $74 a barrel and gold at two-week low Leading quote “Rising [US bond] yields on the back of higher interest rates expectations continues to present risks to both equity valuations and those segments of the economy with too much debt,” says Andrew Lapthorne at Société Générale.

“The risk is that as bond yields head higher, the valuation headwind on expensive quality stocks overwhelms the cyclical earnings growth required to push value

factors forward.”

Hot topics Rising US government bond yields are supporting a jump for its currency, with the dollar index climbing 0.6 per cent to its highest level since the beginning of March.

Treasury yields are continuing to stand out as investors sell the government debt with their outlook for global monetary policy being refined ahead of two major central bank meetings this week.

The day’s action tis taking place against a backdrop of improving geopolitical outlook and precedes policy announcements from major central banks. The European Central Bank is due to make its announcement on Thursday with the Bank of Japan due on Friday.

“Earnings growth remains robust while geopolitical and trade tensions deescalate, keeping our tactical US dollar rally against much of the developed market FX space in place, particularly against the euro, yen and Swiss franc,” said Hans Redeker of Morgan Stanley. “The ECB presents an opportunity for President Mario Draghi to push back against euro strength.”

Google under fire over tactics for EU data regulation Plans to preserve business model do not match spirit of GDPR, critics say RICHARD WATERS

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oogle’s attempts to shield itself from the potential negative impact of new European data rules have drawn fire from publishers, who claim the world’s biggest internet company is trying to preserve a hugely profitable business model in ways that do not match the spirit of the new law.

The search giant has laid out a plan for dealing with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into force in May, that is designed to protect its current data-handling practices when it comes to user information it collects from advertisers and publishers — known as “third-party data”.

Google would, in this way, protect an estimated $20bn of its targeted advertising.

The search giant’s move is set to come under the spotlight on Monday as it discloses its latest quarterly earnings. Investors have been struggling to understand the impact of GDPR on Google, which uses third-party data on more than 1bn internet users.

“Google and Facebook are both taking a strategy where they are trying to protect the status

quo and doing what they’ve done historically,” said Jason Kint, chief executive officer of Digital Content Next, a US trade association for online publishers.

But he said the purpose of GDPR was to make sure “the bar is raised across the industry and everyone plays by the same rules”.

“Data protection and privacy regulation have always been one of the primary risks [for Google and Facebook],” he added. “If Google can’t take the data when you log in for Gmail and use it across the web, that’s a big risk.”

Analysts are expecting the regulation to hit current approaches to targeted advertising, although the search company has not spelt out the potential impact to the investment world.

“What it means is, generally less data — you’re not able to target as well,” said Youssef Squali, an internet analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. That would make datahandling a key topic when Google discusses its earnings on Monday, he added. “Wall Street will force them to speak to it.”

Google says it will act as a “controller” under GDPR as far as third-party data are concerned, the designation given to top-level

data-handlers, giving it considerable latitude in how it treats the information.

That has drawn fire from online publishers, who claim it does not match the intention of GDPR, which is designed to give internet users more control over their personal information. The conflict also highlights a business struggle between Google and publishers over who reaps most of the value from user data.

The dispute concerns the nonsearch part of Google’s business, which analysts estimate accounted for about $20bn of its $110bn in revenues last year.

People using Google’s search engine deal with the company directly, putting search advertising beyond the third-party data debate.

Google said it “already requires publishers and advertisers to get consent from their end-users for the use of our advertising services on their websites, as required under existing EU law”. It added that the new regulation “further refines this”.

Google has also said it will create a new advertising service not based on any personalised targeting.

Wall Street flat as 3% yield on 10-year Treasury remains in sight PETER WELLS

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tocks were flat and Treasury yields are higher on Monday morning as investors juggle corporate earnings, takeover activity and the outlook for inflation.

The yield on the benchmark 10year US Treasury was up 2.2 basis points to 2.9733 per cent, but had been as high as 2.9957 per cent. The yield, which moves in the opposite direction to price, has been marching towards 3 per cent — a level it has not been at since the start of 2014 — as investors priced in a firmer US inflation outlook, particularly as the price of oil has risen in recent weeks to multiyear highs.

The S&P 500 was flat, but had dipped into negative territory after being up as much as 0.3 per cent.

The utility sector, up by 0.3 per cent, was the top performer on the S&P 500. It was followed by the consumer staples and healthcare sectors - both up 0.3 per cent. However the gains were offset by losses in the energy sector, which feel 0.4 per cent. Materials fell 0.3 per cent while consumer staples dropped 0.2 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.1 per cent.

Propping up the utility sector was Vectren, up 5.7 per cent, after agreeing to be bought by rival CenterPoint Energy in a more than $8bn deal.

CenterPoint shares were down 2.5 per cent.

Oil and gas stocks were soft overall as the price of Brent dipped 0.5 per cent to $73.73 a barrel. Halliburton was down 1.2 per cent after

the oilfield services company announced the complete writedown of its Venezuela operations.

Weighing on materials stocks were names in the aluminium segment. The price of the metal fell 10 per cent in London trading after the US Treasury said it was extending the time limit for winding up business with sanctioned Russian producer Rusal and hinted at easing restrictions on the company that have upended metals trading globally.

Alcoa was down 12.7 per cent and Century Aluminum dropped 3.5 per cent.

The dollar index, measuring the US currency against a basket of global peers, was up 0.5 per cent. The gain marks a fifth-straight session of gains, the is gauge’s longest winning streak this year.

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Tuesday 24 April 2018

ANALYSIS FT Interview: Cyril Ramaphosa on how to fix South Africa ‘Something was wrong, horribly wrong,’ says the country’s president of the Zuma era. Now he must restore faith in the African powerhouse and its politics DAVID PILLING, LIONEL BARBER AND JOSEPH COTTERILL

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or the four years of his vice-presidency, Cyril Ramaphosa looked on with seeming impotence as his boss dragged South Africa closer to catastrophe. While Mr Ramaphosa stood silently, Jacob Zuma axed competent ministers and ransacked state institutions in the interests of his alleged paymasters, the Gupta family.

Little in Mr Ramaphosa’s reticence during that period could have prepared South Africans for what was to follow. In the three months since he was elected leader of the African National Congress, he has unleashed a political blitzkrieg, making a succession of decisions and deft manoeuvres that have bolstered investor confidence and lifted the national mood.

Why did he wait so long? “What did Shakespeare say?” he replies in an interview with the Financial Times in London, before quoting Brutus’s call to action in Julius Caesar.

Seemingly in his element at the start of what might be described as the third act of a career that has spanned ANC activist, businessman and now president of the nation, he adds: “‘There is a tide in the affairs of men.’

That quotation kept ringing in my

to Thabo Mbeki, in 1996 he turned to the private sector where he quickly amassed a fortune, benefiting from shareholdings and board positions bestowed as part of the black empowerment mechanism he had helped devise.

The country he has taken over is very different from the one that would have awaited him in 1999 on Mandela’s retirement. Then there was still a sense of optimism and a willingness by the black majority to wait for the ANC to right the wrongs of apartheid. Two decades later and after 10 years of Mr Zuma’s corrosive presidency, patience has run out.

“That’s the past. We must now look to the future,” says Mr Ramaphosa, acknowledging that he must both reassure investors that South Africa is open again for business as well as addressing those unhealed wounds.

During Mr Zuma’s term, the economy stalled, the rand slid and two rating agencies marked down the sovereign debt to junk. The once seemingly unassailable electoral majority of the mighty ANC evaporated as the party lost control of three big cities, including Johannesburg, in 2016 municipal elections.

Unemployment is chronic, especially among the young. The predations of apartheid are still there for all

class and greets ordinary voters on his morning run.

The sense of urgency owes largely to Mr Ramaphosa’s lack of time to turn sentiment around. In 2019, he must face the electorate as head of a divided party, one that elected him as its leader in December by the narrowest of margins. Zuma loyalists remain

,,

There’s a time when one needs to act and, when you do take action, it should be such that you do not fail to see, in the distribution of land and wealth and in the spatial segregation of cities. Julius Malema, who broke away from the ANC to form the radical Economic Freedom Fighters, has captured the mood of public anger among black voters fed up with the ANC’s seeming inability to create jobs, provide services or improve lives.

If the problems are enormous, Mr Ramaphosa has moved to address them with a speed belied by his earlier inaction. In the short time since he was elected leader of the ANC, he has shouldered Mr Zuma aside as state president; swept out the management of dysfunctional stateowned enterprises; purged a cabinet loaded with Gupta family acolytes; and emboldened a previously cowed law-enforcement apparatus.

Mr Zuma, who had resisted corruption charges for years, has been summoned to court. A probe has been launched against the Gupta family, who stand accused of influencing state appointments and government tenders through Mr Zuma. The Gupta family and Mr Zuma deny any wrongdoing.

Mr Ramaphosa has even transformed his own image, jettisoning the aloof lover of fine wines for the man of action who flies economy

in positions of power. David Mabuza, who as premier of Mpumalanga was accused of treating the province like a personal fiefdom, is deputy president.

outlook to stable. Now he wants to get investment, currently below 20 per cent of gross domestic product, flowing.

The president says he will approach the investment question like a businessman, “building a book” of at least $100bn in projects, both domestic and international. He wants firm pledges by the end of the year. The private sector has told him, “give us more confidence and we will invest”, he says. “Give us more reason why we should invest in various sectors of the economy and we will.”

Mr Ramaphosa insists he can provide the policy stability investors need. “We can explain where we are.

We can explain what we are seeking to do is to create a very good and solid and durable environment for investment,” he says.

Some of the money — as much as $40bn — will come, he says, from state-owned enterprises, an additional amount from Chinese investors and the rest from the private sector, both domestic and foreign. “I am truly excited about this,” he says of his “investment-hunting” strategy.

“I’m approaching this with a private sector lens,” he says, adding that

,,

head because many people kept asking: ‘Why are you not acting? Why are you not saying anything.’ And I kept saying: ‘There’s a time when one needs to act and, when you do take action, it should be such that you do not fail.’”

The tipping point, says Mr Ramaphosa, 65, came in March 2017 when Mr Zuma sacked Pravin Gordhan, a close associate whose history of activism and technical abilities command huge respect. Mr Gordhan, now restored to the cabinet to knock sense into the country’s corruption-riddled public enterprises, was fired after publication of a report cooked up to discredit him.

“We saw that something was wrong, horribly wrong,” Mr Ramaphosa says of that period. “When we were hitting rock bottom, we needed to say something so that we could begin to recover and claw our way back.”

Mr Ramaphosa has proved more patient than Brutus. His wait for the top job goes back to the mid-1990s when Nelson Mandela expressed his wish, soon after the end of apartheid, that the gifted lawyer should succeed him. But the ANC leadership thought otherwise. Mr Ramaphosa, the party’s chief negotiator with the Nationalist government at the end of apartheid, was overlooked.

After losing the leadership battle

allied provincial baron who is accused of massive graft. “People are going to start feeling betrayed” if such politicians are not removed — but neither can Mr Ramaphosa make too many enemies in the Zuma camp, says Ralph Mathekga, a political analyst.

Mr Ramaphosa has moved swiftly to consolidate power. He has made 21 changes to a cabinet of 36, and reappointed people sacked by Mr Zuma.

Asked how he will tackle corruption within the ANC, he lays emphasis on the courts and a commission of inquiry into the “state capture” through which Mr Zuma, in collaboration with the Guptas, is alleged to have compromised the country’s institutions.

“There will be leaders, people within the ANC who will be caught up in the web of state capture,” Mr Ramaphosa says. “And when they are, they must be accountable . . . It will ferret a lot of things out.”

Sithembile Mbete, a political analyst, says the president’s strategy is to leave much of the dirty work to the courts, which are reviewing the propriety of several of Mr Zuma’s top police and prosecutorial appointments.

That approach would help pre-empt any accusation that the president is

I’m approaching this with a private sector lens . . . Our industrial base has shrunk quite a lot, [but] we can boost that The ANC’s top six officials are divided between those seen as “constitutionalists” in the Ramaphosa mould and those, like Ace Magashule, secretarygeneral of the party, who advance a style of politics based on connections.

Few doubt there will be a showdown ahead.

As if to underline the looming battle, Mr Ramaphosa was forced to cut short his London trip to handle violent unrest triggered by party infighting in Mafikeng, a northwestern city, over the fate of another Zuma-

using investigations to rid himself of enemies and Zuma faithfuls.

“Ramaphosa does not want to be accused of that, especially by Zuma who is hoping to mobilise his victimhood as a political force,” Ms Mbete says.

He has two other monumental tasks. First is to get the economy moving again. His appointment halted the decline in the rand and persuaded Moody’s, the only big agency not to have downgraded South Africa’s sovereign debt to junk, to change its

he envisages investment in infrastructure, tourism — which “stands out as one of the bigger job creators in our economy” — and manufacturing. “Our industrial base has shrunk quite a lot over the years, [but] we can boost that.”

Rating agencies say the economy, buoyed by Mr Ramaphosa’s first three months, could grow 2 per cent this year, nearly double what had been expected. People around the president talk of lifting growth in GDP to 3 or 4 per cent by the end of his first term.

Tuesday 24 April 2018

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Policies • Issues • Debates

Imo guber: Araraume to Okorocha, ‘You are not God’ SABY ELEMBA, Owerri

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mo State governorship aspirant on the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a two-term senator who represented Okigwe senatorial zone, Ifeanyi Araraume says that the state governor, Rochas Okorocha has no powers to stop his ambition to be the next governor of the state, saying only God and Imo people can determine his political future.

“Governor Ethelbert Anayo Okorocha is not God and all powers belong to God,” Araraume said, adding that the decision of his becoming the next elected governor of the state rests in the hand of God. A document sent to BusinessDay by Araraume’s Special Adviser on Media, Ik Ogbonna, stated that the senator’s ambition, business, life and future rest in the hands of God, and that Araraume being a Christian is still mindful of the role God Almighty plays in

the affairs of men and therefore, in all his dealings, he acknowledges the pre-eminence and ultimate authority of God. The statement added that having made public his ambition, Araraume is now concerned about how to assist the party and its structures at all levels while the state governor is on the other hand allegedly hobnobbing with Social Democratic Party (SDP) and dishing out portfolios- himself as senator for Orlu, his in-law as governor, himself again as

BUSINESS DAY

POLITICS South West stakeholders renew call for restructuring at Famakinwa’s colloquium in Ibadan AKINREMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan

president in 2023.

According to the document, Governor Okorocha was declared winner of his last two elections after failing severally and only after supplementary or rerun elections were conducted. The election that gave him victory in 2015 was with the active support of Araraume.

Araraume said his political career would end at God’s appointed time after he must have accomplished all that God has in stock for him in Nigeria, politically.

Atiku to unveil agenda to get Nigeria working again

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ow to unlock the immeasurable potentials of Nigeria to the benefits of its people to deliver jobs, prosperity and security to all component units will take centre stage at the London Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), United Kingdom on Wednesday, April 25, when Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and presidential aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), will deliver a major economic speech.

The keynote speech entitled, ‘The Importance of Strengthening State Economic Management Systems’, will lay bare novel and real prescriptions that when implemented will help Nigerian states come out from their economic quagmire and ultimately get Nigeria working again.

The Chatham keynote speech is one in a series of engagements by the PDP presidential hopeful to showcase the possibilities that exist in Nigeria and how to unlock its huge potentials to the good of all Nigerians.

According to a statement from his media office, Atiku will also deliver another major keynote speech at the Invest Africa and British Council for Africa ‘Annual Debate’.

The former Vice President will be speaking alongside Liam Fox, International Trade Secretary of the United Kingdom Government, on the subject of “Building new trade partnerships in Africa.”

These engagements are a followup to Atiku Abubakar’s meeting in June of 2017 with Liam Fox and Prime Minister Theresa May where they discussed the UK’s plan for increased trade with Nigeria postBrexit.

The PDP presidential hopeful will also be the guest of honour at a lunch on Nigerian inward investment to be hosted by Lord Anthony St John (former UK Minister for Africa) and be a guest speaker at Round Table of key UK business leaders keen in investing in Nigeria at the Institute of Directors, Pall Mall.

The visit to the UK by Atiku, one of Nigeria’s most successful business leaders and foremost advocates for restructuring and free trade, is a continuation of his life-long commitment to find real solutions to help rescue Nigeria from its current economic crisis and set it on the path of economic growth and prosperity.

Okorocha

Ararume

PDP vows to capture Lagos ...Ogunsewe offers to spearhead campaigns INIOBONG IWOK

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he People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Lagos State chapter has vowed that it was prepared to capture the state in the 2019 general election.

Lagos State Chairman of the party, Moshood Salvador, stated this at the party’s General Assembly held at the Yard event centre in Oregun, Ikeja, noting that PDP in the state was now better repositioned, while the renewed unity among its members and the increasing membership strength would work in its favour.

Salvador accused the Akinwunmi Ambode administration and the All Progressives Congress (APC) government in the state of failing Lagosians, while implementing anti-people policies aimed to further impoverish the people.

Salvador, who was a former member of the House of Representatives, charged members of the party to acquire their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) to enable them vote out the

APC. The state chairman promised a level playing field for all aspirants in the 2019 general election, while adding that no candidate in the party would be extorted.

“You can see that the crowd here is not rented, it is the members of our party and it shows we are working.

Our membership form is there, more people are joining us and our members would keep increasing.

“We shall win the race, we shall win Lagos; because we are more prepared to do that now. I would never collect money from any aspirant, rather I would use my money to work for you, I have given you my words and make sure you work for our victory,” he said.

“Go and collect your PVC and let use it to remove this government that said outside that our people are lazy and that the killers of our people are Gaddaffi men; APC has failed Nigerians let vote them out.

“Look at Lagos with huge resources, what is Ambode doing with the money? Look at refuse everywhere, yet Ambode said they are spending

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70 million to clear refuse. Look at the Badagry road they have collected the money and refused to do the work.

For the land use charge; we would not allow them increase it by a kobo, these policies are meant to impoverished Lagosian,” Salvador said.

Also speaking at the event, former Minister of Works and Housing and a Chieftain of the party in the state, Adeseye Ogunlewe, said the party would do all it can to capture the state, while offering to spearhead the campaign for all candidates of the party in the state.

Former governorship candidate of the party, Jimi Agbaje, said Lagos PDP was ready and now better positioned to consolidate on its success in the state at the 2015 general election, adding that Lagosians,, especially at the grassroots were tired of the APC. A leader of the party in the state, Aduke Maina, reaffirmed the party’s confidence in the Moshood Salvadorled exco to lead the party to success at the next year’s general election, while boasting that the PDP would win Lagos State in the 2019 election.

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here was a renewed agitation for restructuring of the country to accelerate unprecedented development by stakeholders in the South West.

They were of the opinion that the country cannot make any progress under the present constitutional arrangement that makes the center to be too powerful and concentrate powers at the center.

According to them, “Nigeria has over 350 ethnic groups with diverse beliefs and ideologies and most of them are claiming to be marginalised and ready to go their separate ways, hence the country cannot make any progress under the present constitutional arrangement.”

The clamour by the west was expressed at the first edition of the Dipo Famakinwa Colloquium organised by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, in conjunction with the Yoruba Academy and Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), in Ibadan with the theme, ‘Restructuring: Ending the talk and starting the walk.’

The event held at the House of Chiefs had in attendance scholars, member of the academic community, government officials, students, community leaders, trade groups, Socio-culturally groups, clerics from both Christians and Muslims and artisans among others from the south West Zone.

In his address, Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State said there was need for restructuring of the country to develop.

Ajimobi, who was represented by the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Adeniyi Olowofela, said: “These values are non-negotiable and form the bedrock of nation-building. For these values to be given expression in the Nigerian nation, the structural defects and deficiencies of the construct of the nation must be addressed as expressed by popular consensus of the people through: renegotiation of Nigerian Federal nation; organising for regional actions; mobilisation of regional endowments and assets; optimising the space for development through the regions to achieving sustainable growth in Nigeria; fiscal federalism and decentralisation of Nigeria.”

He described the late Famakinwa’s contribution to the strategic and tactical rethink of Western Nigeria as instructive and pivotal, noting that paying tribute to and sustaining the memory and good work of such individual is fundamentally apt.

On his part, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Adeniyi Akintola lamented that if Nigeria is not restructured, the present federal structure cannot sustain the county for another 25 years.

“For those that still believe so much in the corporate existence of Nigeria, we should know that the present structure cannot sustain this country for another 25 years. It is totally impossible. The world is already becoming a neighbourhood and it is no more a global village.

“Nigeria is the only federation in the world with unitary police, even the State of Britain that is unitary in form has many formations and organisations. In the United States, as at the last count, they have more than 78,000 police formations, including universities.

Each higher institution in the United States has police formation, recognised by the state,” he added

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BUSINESS DAY

Tuesday 24 April 2018

STRATEGYBRIEFING IDEAS THAT POWER HIGH PERFORMANCE

How to command the respect of the market: And make more money!

Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself

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he quotation I inserted as an epigraph above was known to have come from the American steel magnet and billionaire, Andrew Carnegie. That quotation aptly reveals the secret of dominating any market - the ability to do your duty and a little more! The ‘...a little more’ is even more important than doing your duty because that’s what really gives you a competitive advantage. Its not just enough to do your duty, you’ll have to do it a little more if you want to defile the odds and dominate the market.

There was the story of executives at an American company trying to sell a certian machine to a company in Japan. After numerous emails and phone calls, it appeared that the American company had cut a deal.

But they will first have to ship one of the machines to Japan, where it would undergo a thorough inspection. If it could meet the Japanese buyer’s strict quality standards, which as it turned out were higher than those of the U.S. domestic market, then the American firm could close their sale.

As expected the machine arrived on time and the Japanese began immediately to test and inspect it. Then the machine was dismantled so that each component could be examined meticulously. At every step of the process, the laser passed inspection with flying colors.

The Japanese were happy and willing to go on with the deal. But suddenly one of the managers took a look at the packaging and caught a glimpse of something that didn’t look quite right. Peering into the

shipping carton to get a closer look, he found a shoe print left behind by one of the packagers at the American facility.

The buyer could find no reasonable explanation for the footprint besides sloppiness, because the inside of a box is never exposed from the time it is die-cut to when it is folded by machine into its boxy shape. There and then they decided to repackage the machine into its box along with the following message: “If you can manage to get a footprint in the box, I can’t imagine what you might have done to the product.” It took another two years for the American company to close that sale. Imagine the increased time, money, and resources that were expended within that span of time because the seller lost an opportunity through its back door. The case would have been different had the American company done their job and more.

Clearly all organisations that are high performing take excellence seriously. For them excellence is not just an act, it’s a culture, a way of thinking. Rather than a rigid company imposed procedure, it is a way they look at life. So this reflects in the attitude of the people towards their job and colleagues and customers.

The global leader in the automobile industry, Toyota takes going the extra mile very seriously. For them excellence is not a destination, it is a process. Going the extra mile for Toyota means continuous improvement. It is ensuring that their products meet the highest expectations of the market and even exceed it.

The Toyota Production System

strive for the absolute elimination of waste, overburden and imbalance in all areas to ensure smooth and efficient operations. Going the extra mile for them means providing customers with the highest quality vehicles, at lowest possible cost, in a timely manner with the shortest possible lead times. This the philosophy which enabled them to overtake giants like General Motors and Ford to become the ninth-largest company in the world by revenue and the world’s secondlargest automotive manufacturer behind German Volkswagen Group as at 2016.

The truth is any company can become excellent which by the way will necessarily precede market loyalty. Ever since Tom Peters introduced the word excellence into the business world, companies have been madly in search of how to become excellent.

But in the end, it turns out the quest for excellence is a little like making a new year resolution, it doesn’t work just because you want it to, an organisation becomes excellent when the leaders make the right moves and show true commitment to excellence.

According to research by IBM and others, between 60 and 90 percent of organizational change initiatives fall flat. Why is that? Because making the changes that lead to excellence is not an overnight pursuit--it’s a long process that often means rewiring a company’s value system. Making a one and final decision to be excellent first because that’s how you think life should be, not necessarily to get loyalty. The

bye-product of this is the market and employee loyalty others so desperately fight for.

I took a close look at Toyota, Amazon, Google and Facebook and at the most current research and thinking on corporate excellence. What I understand is that you can’t have an overnight success in creating an excellent organisation but I can assure you one thing: it is possible. You can have an excellent organisation anywhere no matter your business circumstances.

To begin with, you will need to have a new value orientation about financial profit in business and how to get it. No organization which puts money first before people can be excellent. In Fundamentals of Prosperity by Roger Babson, he ended his book by asking the President of the Argentine Republic why South America, with all of its natural resources and wonders, was so far behind North America in terms of progress and development. The President replied: “I have come to this conclusion. South America was settled by the Spanish who came to South America in search of gold, but North America was settled by the Pilgrim Fathers who went there in search of God.” It is your respect and value for the market, your recognition that it

is a previledge to be in business that will move you as a business leader to become extra mile minded and inspire your people to do the same.

When you think that human beings deserve first class treatment everywhere, when you think that all men has the right to be served right everywhere in the world, when your value for human beings supersedes your value for financial profit irrespective of how poor and ignorant they may be, then you will want to review how you serve them. If you think people are important, you will want to serve them excellently.

In his January, 1941 address, Eleanor D. Roosevelt presented the world with four fundamental freedom every man should enjoy.

He described the third as ‘the freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.’

When you desire and pursue to have have an organization which frees people from want-everywhere in the world, you will have flawless products and services, and help your people become same minded.

Then nothing will challenge your organisational excellence - and profitability.

Brian Reuben(@brianoreuben) is an advisor on strategy and leadership. He regularly conducts keynote presentations and senior executive workshops with companies around the world on strategy and leadership. He heads BusinessDay Training Was this article helpful? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook @bdtraininglive or email us on trainings@businessdayonline.com

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NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I TUESDAY 24 APRIL 2018

Insight Unending wait for Nigeria’s N100bn Cabotage Fund

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n 2003, the Federal Government through the National Assembly, enacted the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act, which reser ved the exclusive right of participating in t h e l o c a l l y g e n e rat e d seaborne trade vessels built, manned, crewed and owned by Nigerian ship owners.

When the implementation of the Cabotage Act took off, it was discovered that the inability of ship owners to have access to cheap funds for financing vessel acquisition, was one of the biggest limitations to the effectiveness of the Act. Shipping is capital intensive with long gestation period for investors to recoup their investments. This is partly due t o h i g h i nt e re s t rat e s charged by banks for the acquisition of vessels by ship owners.

For instance, for a ship owner to buy a small crude carrier, it is expected that the person would spend over N56 billion. This is why industry close watchers believe that the current debt financing regime in Nigeria cannot support ship financing in such way that would empower local ship owners to compete with their foreign counterparts.

In many other countries, ship owners get as low as 1 to 3 percent lending rate for ship acquisition, making it d i f f i c u l t f o r Ni g e r i a n ship owners that get same facility at 25 perc e nt t o c o mp e t e w i t h their foreign counterparts.

As a result, the law ma ke r s s e t u p a f u n d known as the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) with the sole aim of achieving the objectives of the Cabot a g e Ac t. To g e n e rat e funds into the CVFF purse, indigenous ship owners were mandated by law, to pay about 2 percent of every cargo carried with their ships into the fund as Cabotage levy, specifically for the development of local shipping business in Nigeria.

Also, to achieve ac-

Rotimi Amaechi

countability and transparency in the management of the sum accumulated in the f u n d , t h e l aw m a k e r s through the Act setting u p t h e f u n d , a l s o ap p o i n t e d t h e Ni g e r i a n Mar itime Administra tion and Safety Agency (NIMASA), to become the custodian of the fund.

The Act went further to appoint the Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs) that comprises of commercial banks that were given the responsibility of managing the funds on behalf of NIMASA and the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), which is the supervisory mini st r y o f N I M A SA . Th e four primary lending institutions include Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank, Skye Bank and Sterling Bank.

T h e A c t h o w e v e r, empowered NIMASA t o d i sbu r s e t h e a c c umulated sum in the fund, though not without the approval of the Minister of the Transportation.

Eighteen years into its existence, the CVFF has accumulated over $100 million of ship ow n e r s’ f u n d s, w h i c h does not belong to the government. The fund was originally handed over to NIMASA as a regulator to ensure that it was appropriately

Dakuku Peterside

utilised.

Regrettably, the fund is currently idling away at the banks without NIMASA, the custodian of the fund, maki n g c o n crete plans to disburse it to deserving ship owners. This was after about six Nigerian owned shipping compa-

have the needed facilities especially quality vessels to participate in the carriage of Nigerian seaborne trade.

Meanwhile, for Nigerian ship owners to fully par ticipate in dr iving t h e nat i o n ’s s h i p p i ng business, industry stakeholders have called on

We generate cargoes locally but our indigenous ship owners struggle to participate in the transportation of those locally generated cargoes due to their inability to buy quality vessels. Ship owners are losing jobs to their foreign counterparts while Nigerian seafarers are also losing job opportunities to foreign crew nies were selected and certified eligible to access a percentage of the fund for the purpose of buying new ships to grow their businesses.

Given the situation, the estimated annual N2 trillion Nigerian shipp i n g b u s i n e s s i s c u rrently dominated by foreign ship owners, who

the Federal Government to promote shipping development by facilitating the disbursement of Cabotage Fund and the establishment of Maritime Development Bank.

The Maritime Development Bank when established would special in funding ship acquisition and other mari-

time related projects, by providing cheap and affordable funds for Nigerian ship owners to acquire ships especially at the wake of high cost of servicing bank loans in Nigeria.

Ma r g re t O r a kw u s i , former president of Nigerian Fishing Trawlers Association said recently in a stakeholders’ forum held in Lagos that Niger ian ship ow ners were struggling to compete with their foreign counterparts, who get funding from banks from their countries of origin, at single digit while Niger ians get fund at double digit. “ We g e n e r a t e c a rgoes locally but our indigenous ship owners struggle to participate in the transportation of those locally generated cargoes due to their inability to buy quality vessels. Ship owners are losing jobs to their foreign counterparts while Nigerian seafarers are also losing job opportunities to foreign crew,” said Orakwusi.

Sh e su g g e st e d t hat the money that accumulated in the Cabotage fund can be used t o s e t u p a Ma r i t i m e Development Bank that would understand the intricacies of shipping business. “We need our own bank that would finance the development of ship building yards, ship acquisition and other maritime related projects.

Raymond Omatseye, a former director-general of NIMASA, said that Cabotage Act of 2003, states that CVFF should be establish specifically for the development of local shipping business.

He stated that the fund, according to law, must be disburs e d to ship owners in line with the established guideline, meaning that government can go ahead to disburse the fund in line with the guideline listed in the Act. However, the present management of NIMASA, led by Dakuku Peterside as the director general, who affirmed that the high lending rates of banks to ships owners for vessel acquisi-

tion, has been one of the problems of ship financing in Nigeria, promised NIMASA’s determination to disburse the Cabotage Fund, which has been in the agency’s custody since inception in 2003.

He said the industry has a big problem that must be tackled, which is to make Nigerian financial institutions u n d e r s t a n d t hat s h i p acquisition is a peculiar business. “We need partnership with the financial sector to create a competitive rate because the cost of ship is so high that someone cannot pick money off the shelf to finance it. We need to crash the rates right now.”

Listing the benefits of CVFF, which is now over $100 million and seating with the CBN under the treasury single account (TSA) arrangement, Peterside said that the fund would crash the rate of borrowing from the bank because it comes at almost nothing compared to that of banks.

For the nation’s shipping business to grow, create the needed jobs for both ship owners and seafarers, industry close watchers believed that time has come for government to reconsider its approach in managing the Cabotage Fund.

Therefore, instead of holding the fund in TSA while local shipping business continue to g o into extinction, the Ministry of Transportation can go ahead to disburse the fund to credible shipping companies in order to enable them build the needed capacity in the industry.

Aside from capacity building, it will also help to create opportunity for Nigerian cadets from the Mar itime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron to train cadets on their compulsor y sea-time programme that qualifies cadets to obtain certificate of competency (CoC).

It will also help to create reasonable employment opportunities to the new crop of Nigerian seafarers being trained by the NIMASA in its Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).

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