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news you can trust I **FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER 2019 I vol. 19, no 421

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NGUS DEC 24 2019 362.68

L-R: Emeka Emuwa, CEO, Union Bank; Aishah Ahmad, deputy governor, financial systems stability, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Chukwuemeka Nwaijuba, minister of state for education, at the inauguration of Edu360 in Lagos, yesterday. Pic by Pius Okeosisi

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Frequent tanker accidents fuel calls for haulage alternative

Local, foreign investors shun cheap Nigerian stocks as outlook worsens H

...rail, waterways, pipelines top picks

CALEB OJEWALE & STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

OLUWASEGUN OLAKOYENIKAN & SEGUN ADAMS

igerian stocks are getting cheaper but nobody is buying, as hopes of a rebound in the mar-

CBN extends OMO ban to secondary market

ket now falter on higher yields on fixed income securities and declining interest of foreigners in Nigerian assets.

Foreigners have been dumping stocks for the most of the year in the market now trading at its lowest valuation ever, but

big domestic investors who are mostly pension fund managers are unmoved even by a pos-

Continues on page 34

aulage of petroleum products with tankers by road remains the predominant mode of moving the products across Nigeria. Every year 458,075 trucks move 1.46 billion litres of petroleum products to filling stations across the country, according to data from the Nigerian National Petroleum

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Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

news Improved access to power, contracts enforcement, others lift Nigeria’s doing business ranking – World Bank …moves 15 places up to 131st position …beats Ghana, SA, others to rank among top 10 improvers BUNMI BAILEY & MICHAEL ANI

L-R: Pabina Yinkere, head investment, Sigma Pensions Limited; Adawari Pepple, chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Rivers/Bayelsa State; Ophelia Alex-Iwuanyanwu, head relationship manager, business development department East, Sigma Pensions, and Chukwuma Amaonwu, head, business development, East, Sigma Pensions Limited, at the 1st CEO business luncheon of Rivers/Bayelsa branch of MAN, organised by Sigma Pensions Limited in Port Harcourt.

Apapa: Presidential team/truck drivers’ clash a wake-up call on FG, Lagos …highlights urgent need for permanent, sustainable solution CHUKA UROKO & TEMITAYO AYETOTO

he chaotic situation in Apapa, Nigeria’s premier port city, was further compounded on Thursday when policemen from the Presidential Task Team (PTT) charged with the responsibility of easing the movement of trucks in and out of the ports clashed with truck drivers, leaving at least one person dead and property, including vehicles, burnt. The unfortunate incident serves as a wake-up call on both the federal and Lagos State governments on the need to evolve a more pragmatic, permanent and sustainable solution to the problems bedevilling the port city. “Presidential orders cannot solve the Apapa problem,” said Remi Ogungbemi, chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owners.

Apapa, a N20-billion-aday economy, is arguably a goldmine, being the most viable source of non-oil revenue to the Federal Government and even Lagos State where it is domiciled. Apapa accounts for about 75 percent of all import and export activities in the country. It is what makes Nigerian Customs tick in terms of revenue generation. But Apapa is a very challenging environment where traffic congestion and uncontrolled activities of truck drivers and other unregulated marine activities have not only degraded the environment and killed businesses, but also made access to homes by residents and offices by business owners pretty difficult. One task force after another had been set up by government as response to

the challenges in the port city. All had failed until the present Presidential Task Team which has Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as the chairman. The task team has recorded some degree of success in its assignment but not without confrontation by vested interests who benefit from the mess the port city has become. But Ogungbemi faulted the various moves so far made by the government to solve the Apapa problem, saying that in addition to creating enough space (holding bay) for the trucks, the Federal Government should also revisit the action it took during the ports concessioning programme. He said that the trucks did not enjoy parking along the roadside or on the bridges because it is not to their advantage, but “they are doing that because the structure of

the port operations has been tampered with”. “When the por t was built, a dedicated place was also built as a truck park, but for reasons best known to the government, they removed all those places and instead utilised them for other activities,” he said. Corroborating Ogungbemi, Emmanuel Ameke, a port worker, said for as long as the government fails to introduce a dedicated rail system into port operations in the country, for so long will the event of Thursday afternoon continue to occur, frustrating government’s efforts and inflicting pain on businesses. The event of Thursday left one truck driver dead. The dead truck driver was allegedly shot or stabbed by

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Frequent tanker accidents fuel calls for haulage alternative Continued from page 1 mother and child, and a Corporation (NNPC). But this practice continues to endanger the lives and property of Nigerians as oil tanker accidents have become a frequent occurrence, heightening calls for new, innovative ways to move the highly inflammable cargo. “We have urgent needs to exploit the transport, logistic and haulage opportunities in the modern rail system, inland waterways and pipeline transport,” former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said in a statement following a tanker explosion in Onitsha, Anambra State, last week. The fuel tanker inferno that engulfed the highly populated Ochanja market in Onitsha consumed at least three persons, including a

trader. Parts of Ochanja market stalls, about 13 houses, including three four-storey buildings, about 15 vehicles, and goods estimated at over N500 million were also burnt. “Nigerian roads carr y more than 80 percent of freight and persons. This has put more burden on the roads than they can carry,” said Ode Ojewu, a Nigerian professor of economics and a former chief executive officer of the National Planning Commission. “Besides, the trucks used in conveying these petroleum products are often poorly maintained. Rail is the best way to transport petroleum products,” Odewu said. www.businessday.ng

The Onitsha tanker fire incident is not a one-off. Every month, there is a reported incident of tanker accident, and chances are many go unnoticed, implying the tally could be much higher than estimated. Apart from loss of lives, scores of vehicles, buildings, businesses and other valuables are lost within the immediate vicinity of such incidents. According to Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), 282 truck crashes were recorded in 2016, 270 in 2017, and 196 as of October 2018. Estimating the cost of the 196 crashes of 2018, Boboye Oyeyemi, FRSC corps marshal, said the economic value was “about N9.8 billion loss,

involving the cost of other vehicles, lives, damage to the environment and to the roads”. In one instance in Anambra State in February 2019, a petrol tanker exploded at Amawbia Roundabout and petrol flowed through drainages till it got to a suya spot where the victims, oblivious of what was happening and well-detached from the actual scene, met their death. Media reports indicated the state’s police command confirmed seven persons dead in the incident. Earlier on January 12, many were reported to have died in a Cross River petrol tanker blast, with

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igeria within the last one year has shown improvements in six key economic indicators out of 10, according to the World Bank Doing Business Report 2020. The country moved 15 places up the ladder to sit at the 131st spot, from 146th, on the ease of doing business ranking, thanks to major reforms enacted by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in areas of electricity, enforcement of contracts, registration of properties and enhancement of trade across countries, the report said. According to the World Bank annual report which tracked business environment across 190 countries of the world from May 2018 to May 2019, Nigeria made tremendous improvement in ensuring that starting a business was easier. The country reduced the time needed to register companies through the adoption of improved online platforms as starting a business in the country needs not require on-site inspections for business premises registration.

Nigeria also made dealing with construction permits less costly by eliminating the Infrastructure Development Charge (IDC) on warehouses as well as made getting electricity easier by allowing certified engineers to conduct inspections for new connections. “This is an indication that if Nigeria executes social and economic reforms, it would see positive results that would be acknowledged globally, as evident in the 2020 Doing Business Report,” Ibrahim Tajudeem, head of research, Chapel Hill Denham, said. There were also improvements seen in areas of land administration system after the government implemented the geographic information system; reduction in the time it takes to export and import by further upgrading its electronic system and by launching e-payment of fees; and easier enforcement of contracts by introducing a pre-trial conference as part of the case management techniques used in court, the World Bank noted in the report.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

Data wars: Airtel takes on MTN, others on internet revenue ENDURANCE OKAFOR

irtel Nigeria is taking on other mobile network providers in the country in its push to gain dominance in internet subscription. The telco continued to maintain its position as the internet provider with the second-largest subscribers in August 2019, the latest data by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) show. The stiff competition Airtel Nigeria is bringing to the data market is already taking a toll. While Airtel Nigeria reported 32.75 million data subscribers, a 14.97 percent increase from the 32.40 million subscribers posted in July this year, more than half a million of MTN Nigeria’s internet subscribers ditched the network in August 2019 while the telecom’s 40 percent market share also dropped to 37.2 percent in the same period. According to industry sources, Airtel’s high quality of data and consumerfriendly prices are the reasons Nigerians are in the rush to have a SIM card from the service provider. Ayorinde Akinloye, research analyst at Lagosbased CSL, said this, in the long run, should be a signifi-

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cant win for Airtel as it has spent heavily on advertisement and offering innovative bulk products to the market. “Coming in with lower price points seems to be the final peg in their strategy to fight for market share and future growth. From recent porting data from the NBS, they are well on course,” Akinloye told BusinessDay. According to data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the month ended June 2019, Glo witnessed the highest number of subscribers that ported out of the network at 3,887. This was followed by 9mobile (1,200), MTN followed closely with 1,178 customers porting out of the network, while Airtel recorded the least number (73) of subscribers that exited the network in the review month. Checks by BusinessDay revealed that Airtel has been investing a lot of resources in advertisement coupled with cheap products which seem to have attracted a lot of Nigerians whose purchasing power has been dampened by the country’s fragile economy. Just like the MTN Startpack, Glo Talk Special, and 9mobile’s 9X, Airtel recently launched its smartCONNECT 5.0 product.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

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Regionalism, security, and development THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

OBADIAH MAILAFIA

ood morning! It is always a joy to be in Ouagadougou. Each time I am here, I’m struck by the warmth and friendliness of the people. I find in most Burkinabe the warmth and conviviality of the ancient savannah of our beloved West Africa. Sadly, I have also noticed, since my arrival here, that something has changed in the atmosphere. There is tension in the air. And it all has to do with the new terrorist onslaught against an unarmed and defenceless people. The killings and mayhem are pushing the people to breaking point. Regional Economic Communities (RECs) dominate the contemporary landscape of African development. At the apex we have the African Union (AU), comprising 1.2 billion people and 54 member countries, with a total GDP of $2.33 trillion. It is generally agreed that ECOWAS has been the most successful of the lot, followed by Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC). The East African Community (EAC) has made remarkable progress in recent years. Economic theory establishes several rationales for regional economic communities. They range from scale economies and regional public goods to promotion of intra-regional trade to the theory of Optimum Currency Areas underpinning monetary integration. Regional communities promote regional public goods while pooling the sovereignties of relatively small nations into an economic space that promotes trade, economic development and regional harmony. Our countries emerged as accidents of colonial history; described by one Western jurist as “fictitious states” that could hardly survive on their own in our cruel and divided world.

There is nothing sacrosanct about regional economic communities. According to the jurist and philosopher of history Ibn Khaldun, states and human institutions are born, and they grow, reach maturity and they eventually decline and die. When leaders tread the path of folly, RECs can atrophy and die; but when they follow the path of wisdom, they continue to grow and to flourish. For example, the EAC was born in 1967 but lasted only a decade, having been wound down in 1977. Many factors contributed to its demise: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda shared very different economic and social systems; there were strong feelings that the benefits accrued disproportionately to Kenya at the expense of the others; and General Idi of Uganda became a thorn in the flesh of the others. His foolish military misadventures into Tanzania forced Mwalimu J. K. Nyerere to invade the country to get rid of a nuisance. I fear that ECOWAS today is facing onerous challenges. The organisation has become virtually irrelevant in relation to the ongoing crisis in the Sahel. The organisation is today facing the classic game-theoretic free-rider problem which often afflicts international organisations. The secretariat is owed arrears to the tune of $700 million. Many of the member states are not paying up their dues. It is rather anomalous that Nigeria single-handedly underwrites 70 percent of the annual operating budget. And for that we get nothing but barely concealed contempt. Many Nigerian nationals at the Commission complain of marginalisation and mistreatment. It is inconceivable that a world power such as the United States could financially underwrite an entire international organisation without insisting on a minimum veto power or other form of influence commensurate with its contributions. I am persuaded that our manifold security challenges in Nigeria today have much to do with the failures of ECOWAS. Under cover of the regional protocols on the free movements of goods and people, all sorts of gangsters have infiltrated into our territory, bearing arms. Boko Haram may have started off innocuously enough as a bunch of local thugs based in Maiduguri. But it has metamorphosed into an international terrorist organisation

with links as far afield as Libya, Somalia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. About 90 percent of the insurgents are foreigners from neighbouring countries. After receiving training in military camps at the border, they infiltrate our country bearing sophisticated arms, including rocket launchers, drones and satellite-guided navigation systems. When they kill, maim and exert maximum havoc, they always dash back across the border to reload and re-arm. Same is true of their doppelganger, the so-called “herdsmen” militias; a murderous horde that are even more genocidal in their methods and intent. It is a sophisticated international war being waged against our country and people. The strategic intent is to bring our country to its knees while ensuring its eventual dismemberment. The decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to close down our borders has obviously not gone down well with some of our neighbours. But it has been a welcome boon for us. It has been the best antidote to the menace of smuggling – including smuggling of arms and other dangerous products. It has also seemingly weakened the operational capabilities of the insurgents. I would insist that the borders be kept firmly close until such a time as we have cast-iron guarantees from our neighbours that their frontiers will not be used as launch pads against our country in any way. I am also intrigued by the recent report of a fleet of top-range armoured tanks emanating from Cameroon and intercepted by customs and immigration authorities in our territory. Only a few days ago, we are told, an order came down from our national security services ordering the immediate release of those armoured tanks. We were given the opaque statement that they were American weapons headed for neighbouring Niger Republic. The enemies of our country and their local agents are having a field day! No regional community can long endure if it is not anchored on trust and reciprocity. It also requires at least two or more regional hegemons working together to ensure the sustainability of the organisation in the same way as the Franco-German axis has worked as the engine and locomotive of the New Europe. Our dilemmas are compounded by the dark, Satanic forces of informal empire. Every

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I would insist that the borders be kept firmly close until such a time as we have cast-iron guarantees from our neighbours that their frontiers will not be used as launch pads against our country in any way

schoolboy knows that France calls the ultimate shots throughout “Francophone” Africa, with the exception of Guinea. When they realised, they could not stop the emergence of ECOWAS, they stampeded the creation of Union Monétaires des États de l’Afrique d’Ouest (UMEOA) as a counterforce to slowdown progress in regional integration in West Africa. The French are bitterly opposed to the idea of a single West African currency. These days we hear that they are creating chaos in the Sahel as a ruse to help themselves to the untold mineral wealth that has recently been discovered in the area. They are even prepared to redraw the map of the Sahel and to create a fictitious “Bantustan” that will enable them untrammelled access to our natural resources and patrimony. It is a shame that France has reinvented herself as a parasite and devourer in our continent. But they are not alone to blame. The foreign-inspired wars that brought such untold suffering to the people of Sierra Leone and Liberia were brought to an end, thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices in blood and treasure by Nigeria, with assistance of our ECOMOG brethren. But I make bold to say that these horrendous wars were inflicted upon our region indirectly by France and Muammar Gadaffi’s Libya. Felix Houghouet-Boigny of Côte d’Ivoire was the primary agent acting on behalf of the French. He on his part aided his son-in-law Blaise Campaore to assassinate Thomas Sankara in 1987 and aborting the pan-African revolution in Burkina Faso. Campaore as an agent working for foreign powers wrecked such unbelievable carnage in West Africa, including orchestrating civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. They and their foreign masters deserve all the Jewish curses in the Book of Leviticus. (Being the text of a paper presented at the conference on regional organisations and economic development organised by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 16-17 October, 2019). Dr. Mailafia is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a development economist and public finance expert with a DPhil from Oxford obmailafia@gmail.com; 08036590990 (text messages only)

Managing legal compliance in business

egal compliance has been defined as the process or procedure ensuring that an organisation follows relevant laws, regulations and business rules. It has also been observed that the definition of legal compliance, especially in the context of corporate legal departments, has recently been expanded to include understanding and adhering to ethical codes within entire professions, as well. It can also be seen as ensuring that a business complies with and honours its contractual obligations. Every business has the objective to make money and not to lose money. If a business fails to manage its legal compliance properly, chances are that it would be open to lose money and precious productive man hours. The importance of effective Legal compliance in business cannot be overemphasised as it is one of the key components to building sustainable enterprises. It can save a business a lot of money it would have paid as penalties for failure to observe the relevant laws. Lost business time and disruptions can also be prevented as organisations stand the risk of being shut down if they fail to comply with applicable laws. It can also save a business a

barrage of legal actions. There is therefore a need to manage legal compliance effectively and proactively instead of waiting for regulators to clamp down on the business for non-compliance. Using a “knee jerk” approach would only make the business incur unnecessary expenses that should have gone to its bottom line. The following steps are some basic steps that a Business can take towards managing legal compliance effectively. The steps mentioned below are not exhaustive but are only guides. Understand the business environment: It is important to understand your business environment and the sector you play in to manage legal compliance effectively. It is the very first step to managing legal compliance. Identify key contractual obligations, applicable laws and regulations: After you have understood your environment, the next step is to identify contractual obligations, which laws and regulations apply to a business generally and the sector specific ones e.g. Value Added Tax Act, Companies Income Tax Act are generally applicable to businesses. A sector specific Act like the NAFDAC Act would be applicable to businesses that play in the Food and drug

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sector. Identify the risks that apply to your business: If a business can effectively identify its risks from a legal perspective, then it would be easier to know what to protect the business from and how to do it. Develop and regularly update a compliance rulebook and communicate same to relevant job function holders: There is a need to come up with a Compliance rulebook which sets out the relevant applicable laws and regulations as well as timelines within which to comply with them. Once the rulebook is put in place communicate same to relevant staff to enable them have this constantly on their dashboards in running the day to day affairs of the business. It is worthy to note that there is a need to constantly update the rulebook as laws and regulations emerge and evolve. Conduct regular periodic audits to assess /monitor legal compliance: Regular periodic audits should be carried out to test how well the business is doing in terms of legal compliance. Areas of strengths and weaknesses will be identified through this process and relevant recommendations will be made to further strengthen legal compliance within

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ULOAKU EKWEGH a business. Set a strong tone at the top: There must be a show of strong support for Legal compliance by top management and the board. If this is evident, then it would be easier for employees who are involved in the day to day affairs of the business to take legal compliance seriously. Advocacy and engagement with regulators: There’s a need to be vigilant in order to know when new laws that affect a business are about to be made. When these laws are in the pipeline, it is also necessary to engage with the Regulators to ensure that provisions which might not augur well with a business are not passed. It has already been stated that the above steps are not exhaustive but are guides. Management of Legal compliance should be innovative to adapt to evolving business environments and ensure that its benefits are fully reaped. Ekwegh is a private legal practitioner with over 15 years legal experience in law firms and as In-house counsel.

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Dateline Lagos 25th February 1884: A matter of law and order HUMANANGLE

FEMI OLUGBILE

randford Griffiths sat at his writing table. It was early in the morning, just a few minutes after five o’clock. It was a time that he favoured for contemplation, especially when his soul was troubled, as it was at this moment. He loved the soft play of the breeze from the Marina as it wafted in through the window of his study. From here, he could feel the life and energy of Lagos around him. Sometimes he would sit at the little table for hours, composing his despatches, or doing nothing in particular. He had been Lieutenant Governor of the Gold Coast, with responsibility the Lagos Colony for almost four years now. With a rueful smile, he reminded himself he had even been acting governor of the Gold Coast and the Colonies, including Lagos, for a spell. He had counted himself exceptionally lucky to be given the top post so early and had looked forward to being confirmed in the substantive position, with all the perquisites that would follow, including a Knighthood. But Her Majesty’s Colonial Service had other ideas. Samuel Rowe was brought in as Governor in March 1881. That was when he was shoved downstairs – to Lagos, as Lieutenant Governor.

His time would come, assuredly, he told himself, sighing, as the breeze from the lagoon played on his face. He turned up the wick of the lamp on the table, adjusted the writing paper before him, and dipped his pen in the inkpot. He was composing a letter to the people of Ikorodu. It was his way to bring closure to the most troubling crisis he had faced since his tenure in Government House in Lagos. “To Apena and other Chiefs of Ikorodu” he wrote, at the top of the page. “Government House, Lagos, 25th February 1884” “Apena, Kasimawo, Balogun, Seriki and other Chiefs of Ikorodu I received your letter of 16th February 1884 and read it with attention…” He paused as he reflected. He loved Lagos, loved the sheer exuberance of the people, for good or for ill. But just like the tropical weather, trouble – whenever it came, did not drizzle, it poured. Two weeks ago, in the dead of night, on Saturday the 11th of February 1884, a group of men had set off in canoes from Oke Popo, Lagos Island, heading to Ikorodu. They were armed to the teeth and driven by one objective – to wreak havoc and carnage. There were about sixty of them, from all credible accounts. They were led by a man named Ilo. It would emerge later that he, and several of the men who followed him, were originally inhabitants of Ikorodu, who had left the town under a cloud. A major diplomatic incident was in the offing, as Ikorodu – though a place of regular interchange for trade, was technically outside the purview of the colonial authority of Her Majesty’s

government. Disruption of a trade route to the interior, perhaps even war, was imminent, if he – Brandford, did not handle the matter with the delicacy it deserved. He smiled grimly, recalling the strident tone of the letter fired to him by the Apena and other Ikorodu notables on February 16th. “…invaders under British Protection landed at 3am Sunday while (we were) fast asleep with our families… Balogun’s house… surrounded and set on fire…200 other houses burnt… firing guns…killing 10…wounding some…” Though Ilo and a number of his men had lost their lives in the assault when the Ikorodu people rallied and fought back, the Apena and other Chiefs demanded “severe punishment” for the surviving offenders who had escaped back to Lagos, and their suspected backers, including some prominent Lagos Chiefs. The sun was beginning to rise as Brandford composed his missive, trying to strike a balance between firmness and compassion. “…I have already expressed to you my regret at the suffering you have met with by the hand of the band of ruffians you defeated…they (the attackers) like all other people in Lagos, enjoy the protection of her laws…as in all civilised communities…government cannot tell all the people who are constantly coming and going from Lagos…26 of them have been committed for trial at the next Assizes…the utmost powers of the law will be put in force to punish offenders…” Indeed, a few days after the incident, he had personally travelled to Ikorodu on the government steamer “Gertrude”

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He really hoped the matter would go away, he decided, concluding his letter now by assuring the Ikorodu chiefs that the severity of the punishment to be meted out to the captured men would deter other people from contemplating such dastardly adventures in the future

on a mission of condolence. He had gone with Inspector Forbes and a force of 20 Houssa Constabulary. Of course, he had taken the precaution of issuing 20 rounds of ammunition to each of the men. Docking at the quay, they fired a gun to announce their arrival and proceeded into Ikorodu town with a marching band, drums rolling. There, he had held a “palaver” with the Balogun and his chiefs. They had exchanged gifts, and he had left Ikorodu as evening fell. It was already dark when he returned to Lagos, and he had had to wait until the moon rose before the steamer could berth safely. His visit alone should have been enough to calm Ikorodu nerves, he reasoned. He really hoped the matter would go away, he decided, concluding his letter now by assuring the Ikorodu chiefs that the severity of the punishment to be meted out to the captured men would deter other people from contemplating such dastardly adventures in the future. “…Your sincere friend W. Brandford Griffith Lieutenant Governor of the Gold Coast Colony” He appended his signature with a flourish. It was already morning. He walked to the window and surveyed the bright Lagos skyline. A quick bath, a cup of tea, and then the office. Some day he would be Governor. He would be made a Knight of St George by Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. But that was still in the future. Meanwhile, there was all this work to be done – in Lagos. Olugbile is a writer and psychiatrist. synthesiz@gmail.com

Nature and nurture, why we act the way we do

ut of the 107 billion people that have died since the existence of humans and the 7 billion people alive, there are only 16 categories of people in all so far. This is according to The Myer Briggs theory. There have been different theories on why we all act individually the way we act. Some blame it on nurture, others on nature. By nature, many contemporary personality psychologists believe that there are five basic dimensions of natural personality we exhibit, often referred to as the “Big 5” personality traits. The five broad personality traits described by the theory are extraversion (also often spelled extroversion), agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. In all of these, what we see is that human behaviour is quite predictable. The more we know the trends triggered by nature and nurture, the better for us, for transactions and business. We assume to know people by our interactions with them. This can be limiting. Really, there is more. The illusion of asymmetric insight is a cognitive bias whereby people perceive their knowledge of others to surpass other people’s knowledge of them. This article explores a more scientific and structured way to analyse and predict people. People are products of their nurture and nature. Nurture refers to how we grew up, our influences through environment, exposure types and social interactions. We see nurture even in nature. Take for example, the tallest tree didn’t just grow to become that. It grew that way because there was no other tree drastically blocking its sunlight, no one came across its path to cut it down and that the surrounding soil was more fertile and it understood how to leverage it for extraordinary growth. Most people arrive at their dispositions in life based on nurture, and the rest nature. Nature is their personality type. And for the sake of this article, I will refer to The Myer Briggs Theory and test. This theory should be accepted by everyone. A few years ago, I did, and realised that I am an

extrovert, intuitive, thinking and judging type of person! The MBTI tests. The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introspective self-report questionnaire designed to indicate psychological preferences in how people perceive the world around them and make decisions. The more you know yours and that of those around you, the more likely you’d be more successful. The Myer Briggs Personality Model looks at 4 different parameters (and each parameter you can either be one of the two letters that represents their opposites). Extroversion –This refers to how we focus our energy. We can either be an Extrovert or Introvert. Extroverted people are characterised by excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness. Being around other people helps them feel energised and excited. Introverts are opposites. Which one are you? Extraverted – are action-oriented, while introverted are thought-oriented. Extraverted seek breadth of knowledge and influence, while introverted seek depth of knowledge and influence. Gather information: are you Sensing or Intuitive? – Intuitive people make better entrepreneurs. This is so because real entrepreneurs can look aggressive and noisy, but they have a secret chamber, and in it, a voice comes, cutting in at times without their permission, it says sometimes, “go”, or “stop”, or “peace be still message” during the storm. But in the outside, it manifests as what we call gut feelings. It’s that eureka mindset. It’s that point when logic is defiled by something deeper, they can’t explain. They just obey. Make judgment: do you make decisions by Thinking or Feelings? Thinking and feeling are the decision-making functions. The thinking and feeling functions are both used to make rational decisions, based on the data received from their information-gathering functions (sensing or

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intuition). Those who prefer thinking tend to decide things from a more detached standpoint, measuring the decision by what seems reasonable, logical, causal, consistent, and matching a given set of rules. Organise Life: are you Judging or Perceiving? This refers to how we organise thoughts for decisions. You can either be a judger or a perceiver as a dominant trait. Judgers approach life in a structured way, creating plans and organising their world to achieve their goals and desired results in a predictable way. They get their sense of control by taking charge of their environment and making choices early. Judgers are self-disciplined and decisive, and seek closure in decisions. When they ask for things, they are specific and expect others to do as they say. They enjoy being experts. At work, they decide quickly and clearly and work to get the job done. Perceivers may see them as rigid and opinionated. Perceivers perceive structure as being more limiting than enabling. They prefer to keep their choices open so they can cope with many problems that the know life will put in their way. They get their sense of control by keeping their options open and making choices only when they are necessary. They are generally curious and like to expand their knowledge, which they will freely acknowledge as being incomplete. They are tolerant of other people’s differences and will adapt to fit into whatever the situation requires. While this conversation is much more about nature, lets also not forget that arguably what is most important is nurture. Nurture is how you got here. In other words, our present is a cumulative trend of our past; where you currently stand and with who you are standing is one of the greatest predictions of where you are going to. And it’s not an individual story, it’s how the universe creates its own story on the move. If we put examples to this article, it becomes clearer. For example, can we say that Bill Gate became successful by nature

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EIZU UWAOMA or by nurture? What if Bill Gate’s house as a child wasn’t a walk able distance from Washington University, where the first mainframe computer was first accessible? He went to Lakeside high school where he met Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen, then Harvard. They were among the first 100 kids to have access to a computer in the world. With that nurture, it was easier to set up Microsoft. We can site more examples, from music to arts to business. The truth about success is often rewarded with leadership roles and enriched learning opportunities, leading to future advantages that are magnified throughout life. In sociology, it is called Cumulative Advantage. At a CBN retreat we facilitated we had an argument about nature and nurture in relation to how people become good writers. Our thoughts converged when we realised that one of the assistant directors had mutual connections with Chimamanda Adichie who happens to be the daughter of her lecturer in Nsukka in the same house where Chinua Achebe lived. Wait a second; Adichie lived in the same house as Chinua Achebe? Chinua Achebe by the way was friends with Prof ChinwEizu, a deep mind, a writer and facilitator, the person my father named me after. Nurture and nature brought me here too. Uwaoma is a start-up, corporate restructuring and strategy consultant. contacteizu@gmail.com

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Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

EDITORIAL PUBLISHER/CEO

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

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

Our refineries are scraps, discard them

espite the four Nigerian refineries producing nothing, they are said to have gulped N90.07 billion of public funds in the first seven months of 2019 according to data from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Like we have advocated severally in the past, the refineries are scraps and should be discarded. What is more, the government really has no business running the refineries. It is a disconnect that the Nigerian government is more preoccupied doing what it shouldn’t do while neglecting what it is set up to do. The huge operating deficit of N90.07 by these refineries is almost double the capital expenditure allocation in the 2020 proposed budget to the ministry of Education (N48 billion) and Health (N46 billion). Most of the deficit went

into personnel cost. The refineries, despite not producing a single drop of fuel, maintains a retinue of full staff who receive full salaries and even go for refresher courses and trainings abroad. In 2007, just before leaving office, former president Olusegun Obasanjo sold equity stake in the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries to a consortium – Bluestar Consortium Limited for a sum of $721 million. However, the Nigerian Labour Congress, NUPENG, PENGASSAN, and the NNPC strongly opposed the deal and forced the late President Yar’Adua to cancel the sale. Since then, the government has poured in money to turn around the refineries to no avail. The losses have continued to mount. In 2017, the NNPC sustained a loss of N32.84 billion in running the refineries. In 2018, it sustained further a loss of N131.27

billion, representing a 300 percent surge in operating deficit year on year. Meanwhile, new refineries are being built at a fraction of that amount. For instance, in 2013, Comico Oil built a 100,000 barrel per day refining capacity refinery for $250 million in Serbia. This is besides the fact that the refineries are old and obsolete and it will take less to build new ones than to make them operate optimally. The Port Harcourt refinery was built in 1965 and upgraded in 1989. The Warri refinery was built in 1978, while the Kaduna refinery was finished in 1980. Our refineries have an average age of over 30 years. Since they were built, new technology has been introduced making almost obsolete their operating systems. The decision to pump more money into turning around the refineries rather than selling or discarding them, as aptly described by

the common sense advocate, Ben Murray Bruce, is akin to taking for servicing a Mercedes Benz 450SEL 6.9 in the year 2019. The cost of the service will be more than the car’s worth b ecaus e Mercedes B enz stopped making the 450SEL in 1981. Any part required for the service would have to be custom made from Germany or cannibalised from another Merc e des B enz 450SEL. The repairer, if he were to be honest, will advise the person to buy a new Mercedes because there is nothing as expensive as an old Mercedes. Other nations are building brand new refineries for less the price we are devoting to servicing our old and dilapidated ones that never seem to work. Nigerians must at all cost prevent the wastage of public funds in the name of operating dead refineries. We need to sell-off these refineries or better still discard them as scraps.

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Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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Why airport officials and traffic officers need customer service training desperately TALES FROM THE MAIN ROAD

EUGENIA ABU

s it is with me, I travel a great deal and was on one of those trips last week from Abuja to Lagos. My preferred flight is usually the first one. This is because my family does not own an airline and more often than not, the delays on our domestic routes can be insane. Routine checks done, I was at that point where they check your boarding pass and bus you to the aircraft. There was a final security check with that long intrusive instrument that looks like a bat. I noticed that the queue was gender neutral and the checker was a man. I generally hate anything invasive or intrusive and was neither about to be frisked by a man nor bat checked by him. I watched as three young ladies allowed him bat check them. They seemed helpless. When it got to my turn, I asked him where the women were. It was not the fact that I chose not to be checked by a man that intrigued the congregation of fellow travellers. It was the reply of the scallywag trusted with our collective security. “If you do not want me to check you,” he said, “you can step aside”. It was the most bizarre thing I had ever heard. Please people, should such a person be speaking to customers?

Since he is so self-entitled, why could he not just opt to be MD of the airline? I was gobsmacked. It was 6am in the morning and we were off to board a flight. Whoever gave this guy a job did not checked his foul manners. Everyone agreed with me that a security woman be produced including the said ladies ahead of me. But they had not said a word when the character was giddily checking them. Those of us with voices should help young people amplify theirs in a decent, non-confrontational, nonthreatening manner. They were all smiles to see someone stand up for them and they learnt. In the end, a woman checked me. And I got Mr round head to apologise because he has no one’s permission to speak to a customer like that. He dropped a cold sorry which did neither him nor me any good. When a big beverage company, the biggest in the world invests in a two-week customer service training for whoever joins their company, they know what they are doing. Go ahead and hire your brother, cousin’s sister, girlfriend’s etcetera but ensure as an organisation that your customer service is great. From the security man to the CEO. The customer is King. We pay many charges at the airport which contributes to the nation’s economy. No airport staff should ever be rude. Just when I thought I had had enough from last week’s incidence then I run into a traffic officer who chose to pick on me. Driving oneself can be frustrating on our roads especially because of mad driving, bad driving, motorcycles, tricycles and people who believe that pedestrians should practice “Harakiri” when a car is coming because as we have now discovered through native

intelligence, cars no longer kill Nigerians, so they are now free to wander before an oncoming car with much confidence. Anyways, driving for me except at weekends is stressful and annoying because generally we have no road manners. So, I am in traffic and I am suddenly jumped by two traffic officers from one of our agencies. They made a sign that I should open my door so one of them can join me. They had no name tags on them. With recent cases of kidnappings, I was weary of letting a stranger in my car so I brought my glass down. And tried to reason with them. The most senior of the two told me he had caught me using my phone and therefore I was guilty. I explained that it was on speaker and advised that we go across the road for this conversation so we do not block other traffic users. He then proceeded to tell me how he could deflate my tyre and have his patrol car chase me if I chose to run away. It was an unbelievable language from – I presume – a trained officer. I told him I would park ahead but I took exception to being treated like an armed robber. He was incensed and repeatedly told me after I parked that I am a woman and he was unhappy with the way I had addressed him. I reminded him that I am a citizen and gender was irrelevant to the issue at hand and that I had deferred to their authority. When I became exasperated, I urged him to take me wherever we needed to go as I had a patient in hospital and the Doctors required my urgent attention. That also offended him and he took my papers and sat in his patrol car urging me to do whatever I liked. In fact, he was angrier now and ordered the other

‘

All I am asking is decency, decorum and language. The British police arrests you and addresses you as “Sir/ Madam” while handcuffing you. Lessons? All these persons who interface with the public should receive customer service training. We will all be better for it

guy to join me in my car. To cut a long story short, our men on our roads ought to have some discretion, decent language is important and this gun totting, aggressive behaviour towards traffic users is not the right way to treat citizens. I would expect that there would be levels of customer service and a taxi driver permanently evading the law would be treated differently from a simple citizen driving on our roads. At some point I tried to introduce myself to let him understand that I was not a tout. He was even angrier. He made all kinds of allusions including “I saw you, are you going to deny?” I had already explained that I had an emergency but the phone was on speaker. He swore by his faith, made all kinds of comments and was proud of himself when he finally let me go. By this time the Doctors had called me five times. This did not matter to him. I am a public figure so I try to live by rules and regulations wherever I go. But this fellow had plans to drive me over board. Where was his name tag? Why was he not wearing one? He wanted me to stop in the middle of traffic, did that make sense? He was offended that as a woman, I ought not to have a reply when he was talking to me. Perhaps, I should have said Yes sir and all would have been done. All I am asking is decency, decorum and language. The British police arrests you and addresses you as “Sir/Madam” while handcuffing you. Lessons? All these persons who interface with the public should receive customer service training. We will all be better for it. Abu is a broadcaster, writer, trainer, brand and multimedia strategy expert and media consultant. abu_eugenia@yahoo.com

The impediments and issues affecting our educational growth

e have two types of education, to wit formal education and the informal one. Before the white imperialists came to Africa, and colonised it, Africans had their own systems of doing things, including their traditional systems of education. In the pre-colonial African states, informal education had existed there before the white people brought western education to the people. In most traditional African societies, young people were taught how to do domestic chores, hunt animals for food, build houses and roads, and engage in the practice of agriculture. And they’re socialised into the mores, cultures, and conventions of their people(s), which would qualify them to become acceptable members of their societies, and not non-conformists and social misfits. But the White came primarily to dominate it in order to guarantee a steady supply of raw materials for their industries in Europe, brought democracy and western education to African peoples. They subjugated us, and tried, though unsuccessfully, to obliterate our cultural practices, including our traditional type of education, which is rooted in our cultures. Nobody, however, can contest the fact that formal or western education is the light that illuminates nation-states, and sets them on the path of economic and technological development. Subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Geography, Biology, and Mathematics, which originated in the west and are taught in our schools are the springboards for many countries’ technological advancement. And languages like English and French, which are the native languages of our colonizers, are

the foundational bases for the acquisition of western education in Nigeria and other African countries. They’re international languages of instruction used in schools in many African countries. In the first republic, our learned political leaders, who were imbued with nationalistic fervour, probity, and leadership qualities, placed much premium on education because they knew that only highly educated Nigerians could drive the developmental initiatives of Nigeria. Then, products of our universities competed favourably with those who graduated from Oxford University, Yale University, and other world-class universities. The quality of education obtainable in our primary and post-primary schools was higher than that, which pupils receive in our public primary and post-primary schools, today. Now, the quality of education obtainable in our primary and post-primary schools and tertiary institutions has nose-dived to an abysmally low level. The rot in our educational system is traced to the military incursion into our politics and the political maladministration of Nigeria by successive political leaders in the country. Our political leaders have neglected the issues hindering the growth of education in Nigeria because their children and relatives attend good secondary schools and Ivyleague Universities in Europe and America. Other well-heeled Nigerians do send their children and relatives to Ghana and other neighbouring countries for schooling. So, we cannot gainsay the fact that our educational sector is dysfunctional and utterly neglected. www.businessday.ng

So, has Nigeria been abiding by the United Nations stipulation that 26 percent of each country’s budgetary allocation be set aside for educational matters? Today, our public schools are afflicted with the dearth of infrastructure. In some northern states, public primary schools have buildings whose roofs are blown off, and pupils sit on the floor to learn as their classrooms are without pieces of furniture. Can there be effective impartation of knowledge to pupils by teachers in such school buildings that are not salubrious? The answer is a categorical no. But more worrisome is the stark fact that most primary and post-primary school teachers are ill-motivated, which causes them to moonlight during school hours. Aren’t we au fait with this saying regarding teachers’ welfare? The teachers’ rewards are in heaven. So, most teachers in public schools, who do not want to receive their wages in heaven, have prioritised their private businesses, which yield money to them, over their teaching jobs. But that is an ill-wind that blows us no good. These teachers’ disposition to their teaching jobs imperils the culture of learning and teaching in our primary and post-primary schools. And it’s the moonlighting teachers, who have no moral scruples that do collude with SSCE and NECO examination officers to perpetrate examination malpractice in favour of examination candidates when their palms are greased by the examination candidates’ parents. Also, most rich and seemingly educated parents will circumvent the rules to secure university admissions for their children to

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CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE study courses like Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Accountancy, and Engineering Consequently, now, we have university undergraduates who cannot withstand the academic rigours in our universities. So, they join cult groups to brow-beat their lecturers into awarding them undeserved high grades in their courses. Others exchange money for high grades. And there are campus temptresses in décolletage and skimpy skirts who seduce male lecturers so as to achieve their academic goals. But I will not discount the fact that some university lecturers are lechers who sexually harass vulnerable young ladies on our campuses. They’ve brought discredit and dishonour to our universities. And they are the chief reason why some chaste ladies had abandoned their university education for other vocations. The menace of male lecturers’ sex predation in our citadels of learning should be uprooted so as to restore sanity to them and create conducive atmosphere for the impartation of knowledge to students. Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https://businessday.ng Okoye writes from Uruowulu –Obosi, Anambra State

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Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

MONEYINSIGHT

Why outsourcing IT support could save your company more money FRANK ELEANYA

hen a company is at an early stage of its life, the founder usually thinks it will make some sense - from a cost-saving standpoint - to be hands-on in managing the office servers, computers, and other hardware. The concern usually is that engaging professionals to keep the IT tools in top condition will be more expensive than engaging an in-house IT staff. So the company decides on an in-house staff, only to discover that it still needs to invest money to engage a professional to get the job done properly. No matter the efforts put in, an in-house team of experts will never be sufficiently able to fulfill the demands of the organisation. To be sure, a professional IT support provider helps manage the network, users, services, and devices that are integral to a company’s operations. It helps guarantee that the organisation’s network is current and that its technology provides seamless operations across all departments, hierarchies, and roles within the company. In many parts of the world, outsourcing a range of business functions has become common practice for enterprises. According to data from Statista, the global market size of outsourced services in 2017 was valued at $88.9 billion, representing a $12 billion rise from the previous year. Businesses are opting for outsourcing for the many benefits that come with it. While outsourcing may not be as pervasive in Nigeria as it is elsewhere in the world, it is not a new space. Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited, founded by Lare Ayoola, recently celebrated its 15 years serving many of the big banks and organisations in Nigeria.

“Many people thought it was not possible to be outsourcing business in a country like Nigeria when we were starting. Even the banks will not give us their business,” Ayoola told BusinessDay in an interview. To get the banks to change their minds about Tranter IT, he recalled asking one of the banks to engage three of his engineers for 6 months free and return them if they did not meet the expectations. “Five months to working with them, the bank MD called me and said, “We want to engage your engineers permanently,” we were in business,” he said. Tranter’s business has since grown to cover nearly all the banks and major corporations in the country. Six years ago, the com-

Luno takes cryptocurrency literacy tour to University of Benin FRANK ELEANYA

uno, a global cryptocurrency company, said its next literacy tour will be the University of Benin. The visit is part of the company’s efforts in helping educate Nigerians about the blockchain and cryptocurrency market. The event will take place on Saturday, 26, October 2019 at the main campus. Since coming to limelight in 2009, cryptocurrencies have gained global attention as not only a viable alternative to fiat currencies but also faster, cheaper and more convenient for making an online payment. Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency in the world, is widely used for online transactions. Luno operates in 40 markets across Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa and has seen over 3 million people registered on its platform. “Education is what we love

to do at Luno, because it makes it easier for users coming to our platform for the first time and it also keeps our mind at rest knowing that our customers have all the information they require to keep them safe on the web,” Owenize Odia, Country Manager, Luno Nigeria said. The literacy tour for universities was kicked off earlier in the year in Lagos at the University of Lagos which had over 300 students in attendance. Beyond visits to parts of the country, Luno is constantly educating its users through the Luno Learning Portal platform. The portal provides access to different learning materials about the various aspects of the cryptocurrency market. “For us at Luno, learning is not negotiable because the growth of business and the entire market depends on people feeding on the right information,” Odia said. www.businessday.ng

pany secured a partnership with ManageEngine as its principal distributor in Nigeria. The company is constantly exposing its engineers to different training programs to keep them ahead. “I don’t know why a company would not outsource its IT sup-

port. It makes no sense from a cost perspective,” Ayoola said. Aside from cost reduction, other benefits of outsourcing the IT unit is the capacity to free up internal resources. By outsourcing the IT support to a third-party provider, a company can channel its internal

resources to new areas that could bring growth to the business. Since the quality of support and management, the IT resources from professionals is usually the same with global standards, it gives a company the leverage to go for bigger business opportunities.

What you need to know about financial risk-takers STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

rowing up, nine year old Bimbo always heard his enterprising father say ‘qui ne risque rien, n’a rien et qui n’a rien n’est rien (this could be translated as, ‘to take no risks is to have nothing, and to have nothing is to be nothing’). Bimbo did not quite get the point at the time, because he was still dependent on the weekly allowances his dutiful father gave to him. Yes, Bimbo was quite aware that his father, a serial entrepreneur often got very pensive, especially when he needs to take a major decision destined to change the trajectory of his business. For instance, each time his father wanted to introduce a new product into an already existing market or when he perceives the possibility of creating a new market altogether he became quiet and thought creatively. Financial risks come in different shapes, sizes and shades and seasoned risk-takers seem to do things differently from the rest of the pack. Financial risks induce fears and worries, making a great majority to avoid them. It is probably time to have a look at what risk-takers do differently from risk-avoiders, which in turn makes the former category of individuals much more economically productive and successful. Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D., in his fact-based book ‘The Millionaire Mind’ analysed the responses from a sample 1, 001 respondent, of which 733 were millionaires. The balance

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was high-income-producing people who were not millionaires. These high-income, lower net worth respondents were the most risk averse – in general terms, they were spenders, not investors. They believed that having a high income earned them the title of ‘economically successful.’ These people were more likely to state that it was their superior IQ and intellect that accounts for their economic success, rather than financial risk taking and the courage that accompanies it. Stanley’s studies found that “overall, there is an inverse relationship between taking financial risks and various measures of analytical intelligence such as SAT scores” he wrote. While others talked about their superior intellect, the typical financial risk taker has significant amounts of practical and creative intellect. This corroborates Robert Sternberg’s study on the mix of wisdom, intelligence and creativity. Stenberg is IBM Professor of Psychology and Education and Director of the Centre for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and Expertise at Yale University. What risk takers lack on the analytical side, they compensate for by hiring high-grade advisers, by studying and analysing a great deal of financial literature, and by recognising opportunities that others ignore. These skills are the product of creative intellect, coupled with a practical mind-set and common sense. Some of the techniques used by seasoned risk-takers are described below. @Businessdayng

They share concerns with spouse: seventy-one percent of risk-takers shared concerns with their spouses as opposed to 59 percent of riskavoiders. Statistically, risk-takers were significantly more sensitive to certain qualities when selecting their mates: compassion, wisdom, acceptance, self-discipline, and security, even temper, virtue, reliability, and down-to-earth temperament. The risk takers were significantly more likely than risk avoiders to indicate that successful marriage is a function of having a mate who is respectful, patient, cheerful, and unselfish. Other dimensions of financial risk-takers and risk-avoiders worth noting are: regular exercise (64 percent of risk-takers versus 53 percent of risk-avoiders exercised regularly); and use of mental toughness developed in sports (55 percent of risk-takers versus 43 percent of risk-avoiders). Fear and panic are the products of an unconditioned body, mind, and spirit. A few more angles from which to view these two categories of individuals are: defeating fear by attacking it (74 percent of risk-takers versus 51 percent of risk-avoiders) and visualising success (76 percent of risk-takers versus 57 percent of risk-avoiders). Risk takers are what Stanley called ‘pen and pad’ people. They list all the pluses of a venture on one side of the page and the negatives on the other. In order to do this balancing act of pros and cons, the risk taker must be able to visualise success – all the benefits of the venture.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES & MARKETS

COMPANY NEWS ANALYSIS INSIGHT

Oil and Gas

Total Nigeria posts second quarterly loss in 2019 as costs weigh on earnings OLUWASEGUN OLAKOYENIKAN

h e s e a re n o t the best of times for Total Nigeria Plc, one of the major players in the downstream sector of Nigeria’s oil & gas industry, as an upsurge in administrative expenses, as well as finance costs, have pulled the oil firm back into losses. Despite a marginal increase in sales between in the third quarter of 2019, the company posted an aftertax loss of N281.86 million in the period compared with N1.99 billion profit recorded in the comparative period a year earlier. This followed an unprecedented quarterly loss of N474 million in the first quarter of this year, and N734 million profit recorded in the second quarter of 2019. Consequently, Total Nigeria recorded a cumulative loss of N204 million for the first nine months of the year as against a net profit of N7.66 billion realised in the same period

last year, according to its nine-month 2019 financial results filed Wednesday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). A breakdown of the figures shows the losses were largely driven by administrative expenses which grew by almost a quarter January and September this year to N17.5 billion coupled with finance costs which rose by more than double to N6.14 billion. The increase in administrative expenses was triggered by a fresh N2.06 billion incurred as technical assistance and management fees in the third quarter of 2019, while the company’s continuous dependence on bank overdrafts heightened its finance costs. Furthermore, as a result of the increased operating activities, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin, a measure of a firm’s profitability calculated without taking into account the effect of interest and taxes, slumped by 3.6 percent on a year-on-year basis to 2.6 percent in the nine-month period.

Total Nigeria witnessed a marginal drop in sales in the fuel segment, while the lubricant arm of the business survived a 4 percent growth in the third quarter from the same period last year.

Shares of Total remained flat at N123.2 per share at the close of trade on Wednesday, bring year’s return to negative 39.31 percent as bearish sentiments in the broad market weigh on

stocks. Information from Bloomberg however shows that the company’s stock has a dividend yield of 13.8 percent and earnings per share (EPS) of N7.5.

Total Nigeria Plc distributes and markets refined petroleum products and fuels. The company further sells LPG and operates lubricant blending plants in Nigeria.

L-R: Nozipho Sibanda, chairperson, ICT Group, Lagos Chabmer of Commerce and Industry (LCCI); Ernest Akintola, managing director, Instinct Ltd / guest speaker; Babatunde Ruwase, president, LCCI, and Agnes Shobayo, vice president, LCCI, at the LCCI 2019 ICT Group’s symposium on cyber security in Lagos.

ENERGY

Discos say N8.7bn required to meet NERC’s remittance order …Say over N100bn MDAS debt spiking liquidity concerns HARRISON EDEH, Abuja

he Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) have implored the National Assembly to intervene in the current liquidity crisis in the power sector, saying they will need N8.7 billion to comply with the remittance order set by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). A statement issued on Wednesday by the Executive Director, Research and Advocacy at the Association of Nigeria Electricity Distributor (ANED), Sunday Oduntan, in a breakdown of the required amount, said the DisCos will require a monthly amount of N725 million to meet the threshold of 35 percent remittance level set by NERC in the

meantime. “To meet the new remittance expectations, DisCos will have to finance an average gap of N725 million per month (estimated at N8.7 billion per year), until increased collections bridge the gap,” the DisCos noted. ANED in the statement said while the DisCos were expected to do a minimum remittance of N12.69bn (about 35 percent) for the July 2019 billing cycle from a total N35.79bn invoice from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), the DisCos actually remitted N8.06bn. The outstanding was N4.63bn as the DisCos group said the eight DisCos performed up to 23 percent of the 35 percent required of them for the month. The inability of the Dis-

Cos to meet the 35 percent threshold specified by NERC is a direct result of the liquidity crisis in the power sector. It said the Average Technical Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses have remained high due to lack of liquidity, unattractive investment terrain and customer apathy to pay bills – a product of suspicion based on estimated billing and electricity theft. This situation is further complicated by three (3) years of delayed Minor Reviews and non-payment of electricity bills by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Additionally, with over five decades of significant neglect of the sector, the massive investment that is required for the injection of efficiency that Nigerians

desire continues to be undermined by inconsistent and uncertain policy and regulatory changes and undelivered privatisation commitments, the aforementioned representing strong disincentives to investors. “The establishment of remittance threshold is good for NESI. However, realistic levels and timelines for DisCos to ramp up is key for sustainable compliance.” While the DisCos said they await a-cost reflective tariff from NERC, they however said it takes time to increase collection level. Explaining the implication of injecting N725m monthly to NERC’s expected remittance order, ANED stated that, with the DisCos’ required revenue, in terms of operational and capital expenses already significantly

far short of what is required, that the amount represents the DisCos’ average monthly salaries. “Compliance with NERC Order will impair this critical obligation to DisCos staff, which will create labour unrest and reduce overall performance,” the statement said. Potentially, the results would be a need for significant staff reduction and associated operational failure, compromising the DisCos’ ability to distribute electricity to their customers. The Association recalled that there was such protest at Kaduna DisCo last week, by its staff, for its inability to meet its salary and pension payment obligations. ANED appealed to the Committee to intervene so that the current N600bn federal government power

sector intervention goes beyond year 2020 . According to him, the intervention should be able “to cushion the effects of tariff hikes, allow investments to be injected by both TCN and DisCos, and to mitigate shortfalls to the Generation Companies (GenCos) and gas suppliers”. ANED also requested that NERC amend the Remittance Order to ensure compliance and that electricity debts owed by MDAs, currently, in excess of N100 billion, be taken off or be discounted off the energy bills NBET provides to the DisCos, to minimize the difference between current DisCo remittances and the NERC specified threshold. The MDA debts constitute a leakage from DisCo remittance.

Editor: LOLADE AKINMURELE (lolade.akinmurele@businessdayonline.com) Graphics: Samuel Iduh

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS

Business Event

TECHNOLOGY

Ebeosi launches e-commerce platform to connect Nigerian consumers, vendors to global market ENDURANCE OKAFOR

beosi, an e-commerce marketplace that allows customers to shop for products from different parts of the world has been launched in Nigeria. The Utah-based e-commerce platform will be allowing Nigerian consumers to decide which country to shop from, thereby getting full value for their money. Joshua Izugbo, the CEO of Ebeosi, advised that Nigerians should take full advantage of what the company has to offer. “We are committed to helping vendors in Nigeria become profitable by buying products at cheaper prices from Nigerian manufacturers and designers. We will also bridge the gap for those who want to buy from different countries across the world,” Izugbo said. According to the com-

pany, Ebeosi is an online marketplace with a difference because is matches sellers with buyers, facilitating and carrying out business for corporate workers who want to have an additional stream of income. “Nigerian vendors can also sell their products in the US, Europe, and other African countries. It’s time to reposition Nigerian businesses to benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement as well as other programs of the US, and EU government like AGOA and Prosper Africa,” Izugbo said. In his remarks, the CEO said he frowns at the fact that during his last visit to US in September 2019, he noticed that a lot of big chain stores were now stocking African prints style, casual wears, etc, “all made in China, when Africans are supposed to seize the great opportunity of this fashion trend to make real

money and create jobs.” He reckons that with Ebeosi, consumers can decide where the products they are buying are actually made, how it’s made and even down to the details of who made it. Ebeosi offers credit lines to qualifying businesses to enable them to stock up. Headquartered in the US, at the heart of Silicon Slopes, Ebeosi promises to bring new experiences to both businesses and consumers in Nigeria, with quality and authentic product offerings. For businesses wanting to register and benefit from Ebeosi’s B2B (Business to Business) package, an annual membership fee of N70,000 is charged. However, vendor registration to sell products on the marketplace is free. The marketplace is open for seller’s registration only for now and will be open to the public on 1st of November, 2019.

TECHNOLOGY

Terragon partners Microsoft, Carbon, others on efficiency in Cloud Computing for businesses in Africa DANIEL OBI

o ensure that Nigerian technology players are efficiently scaling and optimising Cloud solutions for growth, Terragon, Africa’s fast-growing marketing technology company last weekend brought technology experts together at a free workshop to discuss the utilization of cloud solutions in driving innovation and growth for businesses in Nigeria and Africa. Cloud Computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. At the workshop themed, Building to Scale: Cloud Wars, Terragon convened experts from renowned technology companies such as Terragon, Microsoft, Carbon and Max. ng to share best practices, techniques and tips for leveraging cloud solutions in achieving their growth agenda. Further explaining why the workshop is important, Victor Ichofu, Technical program manager at Terragon said “Local Host is a platform for technology experts to drive thought leadership, industry

knowledge and networking. At Terragon, we understand the importance of leading our industry and sharing knowledge in a technology driven environment.” “Today, we are discussing how Cloud can be leveraged and optimized to save costs, drive efficiencies and scale. Businesses typically want to scale, adhere to best practices and make the right decisions when it comes to efficiently deploying their cloud infrastructure. Many organisations utilize cloud solutions, but may not be fully adept at optimizing the infrastructure or taking full advantage of the benefits for their business. “At Terragon, our solutions are battle tested and developed cloud first, we deploy our Machine Learning and Data Engineering processes and scale up our marketing platforms in the cloud, while still complying to all applicable regulation. We have been doing amazing stuff in the cloud, ensuring data security and scalability at the same time, so you can say we have mastered the science of working in the cloud. This is one of the reasons why we decided to collaborate with Microsoft and others to share knowledge. We decided to bring in

industry experts to mentor and train on techniques and best practices in using cloud solutions like, Azure, GCP and AWS”, Victor said. A knowledge sharing platform such as this becomes more important as globally, Africa is seen as not being at the forefront of technology in terms of software and technology talent. The responsibility therefore is on industry leaders, to always drive thought leadership, impact knowledge and lead the way, Ichofu said. Terragon which started 10 years ago has offices in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa and India with more offices being planned in other continents; Terragon has invested millions of dollars in marketing cloud and data analytics technologies to lead innovation in enterprise marketing and cloud solutions in Africa. “In a continent of about 1.2 billion people across a landscape that may be larger than all other continents put together, it is often quite difficult to identify and reach people in Africa. Our goal is to use data and technology to simplify this process of connecting brands to the African consumer through innovation on the mobile device”.

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L-R: Michael Anusa, GM; Shigeyo Nishizawa, trade commissioner/MD, and Chiharu Yamamura, deputy trade commissioner, all of Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), at the pre-Lagos International Trade Fair press conference in Lagos. Pic by Pius Okeosisi

L-R: Ashim Egunjobi, acting country manager, Tek Experts Nigeria; Bharathi Naga, Global career development manager, Tek Experts and Susan Stocker, Global education and learning manager, Tek Experts at the official launch of the Microsoft LEAP Initiative in partnership with Tek Experts in Lagos recently.

L-R: Olukemi Onabanjo, group head, human resources and admin, OVH Energy; Lilian Ikokwu, acting chief marketing officer, OVH Energy; Onyedikachi Ezeani, grand prize winner ( Car ) Of Oleum Awoof Promo; Huub Stokman, CEO, OVH Energy, and Adaeze Nwakoby, company secretary & group head, legal, OVH Energy, During The Grand Prize Presentation Of The Oleum Awoof Promo, Lagos.

L-R: Vaibhav Mathur, head of marketing, Dufil Prima Foods Plc; Karishma Rustagi, head of Indomie fan club; Gaurav Dwivedi, GM, Indomie; Faith Joshua, Indomie fan club co-ordinator, and group public relations and Tope Ashiwaju, event manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, at the Indomie Team Yourself Up Exhibition in Lagos.

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Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

cityfile Court jails 29-yr-old for defrauding American citizen REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan

Scene of an accident at Orile Iganmu in Lagos on Wednesday.

Flood kills 18, displaces 41,000 in Niger communities

iger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) says no fewer than 18 persons died and 41, 959 persons displaced by flood disaster in communities around the state. Ahmed Inga, the director general of NSEMA said in a statement in Minna after the agency conducted a rapid assessment of the 2019 flood disaster in the state. NSEMA conducted the assessment in conjunction with the Local

Emergency Management Committee (LEMC). He said that the flood disaster affected 20 local government areas, 516 communities and submerg e d 152 communities, while 2,714 houses were destroyed and 41,959 persons were displaced. Inga listed the affected areas to include: Mokwa, Lapai, Lavun, Borgu, Shiroro, Katcha, Kotangora, Mashegu, Gurara, Suleja, Gbako, Chanchaga, Bosso, Agaie, Agwara, Rafi, Munya, Edati, Paikoro and Wushishi local gov-

ernment areas. He explained that the flood, which began in August as a result of a localised high intensity rainfall accompanied by torrential winds, triggered massive run off activities in streams, rivers and drainage in urban and rural areas. “The flood killed five people in Ketso community, a child in Kontagora town and a 7-year Khadijat Aliyu in Fadipe areas of the state. “Also, a father and his three sons lost their lives in Edati, three primary

pupils in Gurara, three children in Yuna village of Borgu local government areas of the state,” he said. The director general added that farmlands were destroyed as well as roads, bridges and culverts during the flood disaster. He said that the combine effect of the micro climate trend and sever rainfall regime upstream of river Niger and Kaduna increased inflow in the basin, which resulted in the spillage of the water from the three hydro power dams.

Edo sets up c’ttee of inquiry on Santana Market inferno IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin

d o St a t e g overnment has set up a committee of inquiry to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the inferno. Commissioner for cooperatives and wealth creation, Felix Akhabue, said this during an onthe-spot assessment of the scene of the incident, noting that the government delegation was at the Santana marke t o n a f a c t- f i n d i ng

mission to ascertain what caused last weekend’s the inferno. He said the state government was concerned about the welfare of every citizen of the state, including the traders affected by the fire incident. Akhabue explained that the findings of the committee upon concluding its investigations would be communicated to the state governor for the necessary line of action within record time. www.businessday.ng

The women leader of the market, Giegbefumwen Patient, said the damage caused by the fire incident was heartb re a k i n g . S h e a d d e d that the inferno which occurred between 9pm and 10 pm, was allegedly caused by electrical surge based on information from the security guard on duty. She decried the role of criminals, who took advantage of the incident to break into stores and loot goods. Patient appealed to the state

government and other well-meaning Nigerians to assist the affe cte d traders, as most of victims were trading with loans they borrowed to expand their businesses. One of the affected traders, simply identified L ouis, urged the state government to help the traders in reviving their businesses, even as the panel of enquiry commences its work, to cushion the effect of the incident, as two traders have already lost their lives as a result of the fire.

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2 9 - ye a r- o l d , Wright Shola John has been sentenced to one year imprisonment for defrauding an American citizen, Erica Hegge, of the sum of $1,450. Justice Bayo Taiwo of the Oyo State High Court jailed John, who duped his victim, using a pseudo name as David Riger. He was found guilty on a one-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibadan zonal office. The offence runs contrary to section 419 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Laws of Oyo State, 2000. He pleaded guilty to the charge when read to him. The plea was consequent upon a plea bargain agreement between

him and the anti-graft agency. While relating with his victim, John had falsely presented himself as a white man to gain access and subsequently preyed on her. Due to the ‘guilty’ plea, the EFCC counsel, Abdulrasheed Lanre Su l e ma n , p ray e d t h e court to adopt the conditions of the plea bargain agreement which included restitution of the sum in question to the owner and forfeiture of items recovered from him. Justice Taiwo granted the prayers as he ordered that the convict to pay back the $1,450 to the owner through the EFCC. He also held that the Tecno phone recovered from him in the course of investigation be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria. His conviction takes effect from his day of arrest.

Court stops demolishing hotel belonging to Oshiomhole’s aide IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

Benin High Cour t has re strained Edo s t a t e g ov e r n ment and its agents from demolishing T. Latifah Hotel and Suites belonging to Tony Adun, a former aide to Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Recall that the Edo State government had through the ministry of urban planning issued a seven-day notice to Adun to remove the hotel located at Ugbor, Benin or risk demolition. The ministry alleged that the property was situated on government land. Justice D. I. Okungbowa gave the restraining order in an ex-parte motion with suit no B/151/05/2019 filed by Adun. Okungbowa averred that more justice will be served if the defendants are temporarily restrained from carrying out their threat of demolishing the structure. “It seems to me @Businessdayng

that more justice will be served if the defendants are temporarily restrained from carrying out their threat of demolishing the structure than allowing them to demolish same pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction already filed. “Accordingly, the motion succeeds subject to the applicant entering into an undertaking to pay damages to the defendants in the event that it turns out that this court ought not to make this restraining order. “The defendants, particularly the 1st defendant, are hereby res t ra i n e d t e m p o ra r i l y from carrying out and or demolishing, removing, pulling down or altering the claimant/applicant’s buildings known as T. Latifah Hotel and Suites, pending the determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction. The presiding judge however adjourned the case to October 30, 2019 for hearing.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Harvard Business Review

MANAGEMENTDIGEST

Case study: Your star salesperson lied. Should he get a second chance? — The experts respond (1) FAIZA HUGHELL Question: Should Siddhant fire Uday? nfortunately, leaders must sometimes fire employees who cheat. In my 24 years of leading sales teams, I’ve seen plenty of people cheat to meet their targets. And I’ve had to fire people — even top performers like Uday — who were behaving dishonestly. In this case, Siddhant and Shraddha appear to have fallen into a common trap: When someone is performing well, you don’t always look under the hood. I tell my sales managers that they need to “trust but verify.” This means double-checking reports and looking into any outliers. In a previous company I worked at, I had a sales rep who was knocking it out of the park. He was compensated on “meaningful interactions” with customers, which meant long calls. His phone log showed steady activity, but I noticed that he’d been taking a lot of breaks. I went by his desk to check in with him. He wasn’t there, but his phone was off the hook, and when I picked

it up, I realized he had called roadside assistance and been on hold for close to two hours to boost his talk time. I let him go immediately even though it was hard to lose a high performer. That kind of blatant dishonesty

can’t be tolerated. Siddhant’s dilemma is complicated by Uday’s family situation, but it shouldn’t be a consideration in his decision. I’m a mom, and my heart goes out to Uday, but a CEO’s job is

to protect the company. Siddhant can’t let his emotions prevent him from doing his duty. That said, I would urge him to take a tempered approach and issue a formal written warning — not because it’s

best for Uday but because it’s best for Novacib. There are two key factors he should take into account. First, Uday’s lie didn’t affect his compensation. Had he earned a commission or bonus based on the false report, that would warrant termination. That is not the case here. Second, if Siddhant were to fire Uday, he might put the company at risk. Uday could pursue legal action, claiming that the company invaded his privacy by checking his social media accounts. A wrongful-termination lawsuit would damage the company’s brand more than Uday’s infraction could. In my current role at RingCentral, I focus on building trust with our people. They know we have their backs, and we trust that they’ll do what’s in the best interest of the company. But I also do my homework. Even at my level, I block out an hour a week to look at the numbers, and if something stands out, I dig deeper. Siddhant and Shraddha need to take a lesson from this as much as Uday does. You want to trust people and hope they’ll do the right thing, but hope is not a management strategy.

Case study: Your star salesperson lied. Should he get a second chance? — The experts respond 2 MOHAMMED ISAQUDDIN KURESHI Question: Should Siddhant fire Uday? day does deserve a second chance. Siddhant shouldn’t tolerate unethical behavior, but because Uday has acknowledged his wrongdoing and is an excellent performer, I think there is room for a compromise: a strong warning and the understanding that any more missteps — even minor ones — will be cause for dismissal. This case is based on my experience at Maha Research Labs, where an employee deliberately included misinformation on a sales report. At the time, I was torn about how to handle the situation. He was one of our top performers and was about to have his first child. I knew firing him would have a devastating effect on his personal life. To better inform my decision, I called a meeting with seven regional managers and two managers from human resources. I presented the case as a hypothetical and asked them what they would do. Four of the nine said that they would sack the person with three months’ severance. They felt it was essential to demonstrate that the company took ethical viola-

tions seriously. They worried that keeping the person despite the infraction would set the wrong precedent and leave the door open for this salesperson — or others — to behave unethically. The other five managers were concerned about the impact on the company of losing a top performer. They thought the best course of action would be to give

him a warning and cancel his sales incentives for six months as a punishment. They suggested crafting a legal agreement stating that if he had any further infractions, he’d lose his job, his bonus, and his retirement benefits. They also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to ask him to sign a two-year employment contract against the risk that he might join

a competitor, taking his customer relationships with him. In the end, I went with the majority, and we issued a punishment and a written warning. In a different situation, I might have fired the person, but here I followed my heart, and I think I made the right decision. He was very grateful for the second chance and appreciated our not

making an example of him. He assured me that he would be loyal to Maha Research Labs and promised to repay our faith in him during this crucial time in his life. And his performance over the past year has proved his commitment. He achieved 107% of his targets — a growth of 19% over the previous year. He has consistently ranked among the top 10 performers, and I’m planning to promote him in January. That was not an easy decision to make, and I feel for Siddhant. He should consider consulting with other managers in the company, without divulging details about the situation. They might bring new insights to bear, and when he makes a decision — in this or future cases — he’ll have their buy-in. Perhaps more important, Siddhant should reflect on whether he’s doing all he can to encourage ethical behavior. Does he include an ethics statement in job offer letters and in the employee handbook? Could he hold further trainings on ethical sales practices? And could he ask Uday to lead those? There is no doubt that Uday violated trust here, and he has to take responsibility for his actions. But Siddhant also needs to do better at setting a high ethical standard and holding people to it.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE Brain drain, burnout impede quality delivery by Nigeria doctor’s ANTHONIA OBOKOH

he threat of brain drain and burnout continues to impede quality of service delivery in Nigeria’s health sector as medical experts have expressed concern about the future of the professionals and how the continuous mass departure is exposing increase of burnout and poor service performance among workers. The government doing little to curtail the menace of migration of these professionals, hence these medical professionals say that the rates at which doctors are complaining shows many of them are suffering over the course of their careers due to overwork or administrative pressure among other reasons. These experts therefore say awareness needs to start at student level, calling for medical education to put more emphasis on

doctors realising their limitations and recognising their humanity and fallibility. “Burnout amongst health workers is a real thing. Firstly we health workers are also human and so in addition to life’s challenges; we get to share in that of others. You have to be rock hard not let in some of these emotions,” said Chioma Nwakanma a public health advocate and digital media strategist. Nwakanma said that these sense of denial and false sense of immunity is why most break down and burnout at some point. “The work of a doctor is stressful and somehow unpredictable and this is worse off in a Nation like ours where workers are overused and underpaid. The country is struggling with shortage of staff and even lack of proper health insurance coverage for the doctors.” The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), a professional association of Nigerian doctors and dentists Nigeria has about 72,000

medical doctors on its registry with only about 35,000 practicing in Nigeria. More than 20,000 medical doctors are currently working outside the country and recent survey shows that 9 in 10 of doctors practising in Nigeria are looking to leave the country for greener pastures abroad. The unfriendly work environment has implied that health workers in Nigeria continually find every possible way to exit the country, leaving behind a health system which many say is simply not working; not for the patients and not for the medical practitioners. “Nigeria will continue to incur losses for every doctor that emigrates, as the country is been deprived of billions of dollars’ worth of invaluable investments embodied in their human resources” Larne Yusuf, a medical practitioner based in Lagos said. Yusuf also said that the continually ignored current trend of

scarce human resources for health professionals from Nigeria is not been curtailed which does not bode well for the country. “Continued lack of investments in human resources contributes to further underdevelopment of the country and will keep her people in the vicious of poverty,” Yusuf said. Human resources management in the healthcare sector is constrained by inadequate infrastructure, poor human resources planning and management practices and structures; unsatisfactory working conditions characterised by heavy workloads, lack of professional autonomy, poor supervision and support, long working hours, unsafe workplaces, inadequate career structures poor working conditions and poor compensation packages have contributed to the emigration from the country of a sizeable number of surgeons, physicians, nurses and other medical professionals.

“with healthcare professionals already insufficient in the world, the situation across Nigeria is no better as trends in human resources for the health sector has been a barrier to effective planning in Nigeria’s healthcare system,” said Ademola Aina, chairman Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria (HCPAN) The implication of the continuous migration is that there will not be enough doctor to service the ever growing population, as it will further worsened the physician-patient ratio in Nigeria from 1:4,000 to 1:5,000, contrary to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended 1:600. Nwakanma advised that the Government treat your workers and doctors right, pay worthy salaries and on time. She therefore calling on personal decision and goal oriented public private partnership in all aspects that concern the wellbeing of the doctors will go a long way in dealing with this.

Unilorin discovers potentials to cure cancer, vesicovaginal fistula SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

From left, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Ayoola Adebisi; Consultant to State Government on Health, Dr Funmi Salami and Commissioner for Health, Dr Bashir Bello during the inspection of the governor to State Hospital, Jericho, Ibadan.

Rotary Club partners Chike Okoli foundation on eye screening

otar y club of Lekki phase 1, District 9110, in conjunction with Chike Okoli foundation recently converged in Ogombo community to administer free general health and eye screening to the residents of the community at Okun Ajah, Lagos. According to Rotary Club, the general health check and eye screening exercise is an annual event that the Club makes available for remote communities in their environment. The Club noted that over 200 residents of the community benefitted from the kind gesture, adding that among the conditions screened were hypertension, diabetes, cataract, pyterigium, among others. “Free anti-helmentics, antimalarial, anti-diabetic, antihypertensive, amongst other medications, were offered to affected people in the community, the Club said. It further stated that details of those with Pyterigium and

Cataract were gotten in preparation for the free Cataract and Pyterigium surgeries to be offered by Rotary International District, 9110, come year January 2020. Meanwhile, Rotary club of Lekki Phase 1, has commended the collaborative efforts of the Chike www.businessday.ng

Okoli foundation and residents of Ogombo Community for the large turnout. The Club reiterated the need for residents of the communities to follow up their medical conditions and medication refill at the community health centre provided by the government.

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he University of Ilorin, through its research and intervention on health and socio-economic development has discovered a potential cure for cancer. Sulyman Age Abdulkareem, a professor of Chemical Engineering and the Vice Chancellor of the University disclosed this on Wednesday at the 35th convocation ceremony of the institution. The discovery according to him was made by Joseph Obaleye, a professor at the department of Chemistry. The Vice Chancellor says: “Our desire to make the University an academic hub of discovery, learning and innovation is being manifested in the myriad of concrete and notable innovations, inventions and breakthroughs emanating from the various research efforts of many of our dedicated scholars. “Many of the innovations had been patented for commercial values that will soon put the name of the University on the zenith of fame and recognition. “Such inventions, which are meant to solve some of our national and global critical problems, include the discovery that could be developed further as a potential cure for cancer.” Abdulkareem, also said that the breakthrough in Genomics/ Biotechnology by Mo Kolawole, a professor at Department of Microbiology and the Director of the Institute of Molecular Science and Biotechnology, would facilitate the much-needed portability, affordability, low voltage consumption, on-site view of standard DNA marker and two sources of illumination for better result presentations and record@Businessdayng

ing with a third battery-operated LED light that will help in improving health-care delivery. Similarly, the invention of a Teacher Led Vision Screener (TELVIS) device for the detection of sight challenges in children by Dupe Ademola-Popoola, a medical Doctor at the College of Health Sciences; he says has been patented. “More interestingly, our health experts led by Munirudeen Ijaiya, a professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology developed a new vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) treatment in the late 2018. “This, indeed, is a breakthrough, which is a further revalidation of what we stand for and the height we aspire to reach.” The VC says the report explained that the technique was predicated by the growing cases of female reproductive health challenges as a result of the appalling and increasing incident of VVF which particularly prevented in third world countries. Stating that, the prevalence of VVF among women of different ages has become a clear reflection of the poor obstetric initiative and general backward health-care culture among the people of various developing countries including Nigeria. Abdulkareem said that the University’s Institute of Molecular Science and Biotechnology is making waves in collaborative research, saying “It is currently supporting research on the optimisation of the bio-floaculants for water treatment interventions via studying the synergistic and antagonistic effect of the producers, especially in particular relation to Oyun, Asa and Agba Rivers in Ilorin.”

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE

Africa Independent healthcare targets $1bn revenue in 5years post consolidation ANTHONIA OBOKOH

f r i ca In d e p e n d e nt HealthCare Implementation and Development Limited, owners of Africa Medicine Development Industry Authority (AFRIMEDDEV) and Ochidicare Health Mission and makers of ‘Up Africana’ are pushing to consolidate its operations to give a boost to the healthcare delivery in Nigeria and the African Continent. The company said its building a structure across Africa and abroad for the development of African medicines, food and drinks locally for the prevention of diseases in the continent in line with the African union Mission (AUM) priority on healthcare. To achieve this, the company is seeking to partner with investors for the establishment of its mission goals starting with the local production of UP AFRICANA, a healthy and tasty alternative” herbal energy soft drinks that give power and prevent illnesses. “It is our vision and projections to grow the business massively into a world class conglomerate through branding, franchising, Partnerships, public investments, promotion and distribution within Africa and overseas to a modest gross revenue of $1 Billion in 5 years.” the company said. The strategy to start with the

Dr. Ochidi Ihemeje, MD/CEO, Africa Independent Healthcare Implementation & Development Limited.

local production of UP AFRICANA will afford us the needed funds to finance our main mission goal and objectives thus, the company noted. It has a vision to reverse recurring unexpected deaths in Africa arising from pandemics and preventable diseases to the barest

minimum; promote productivity and longevity via a strategy tripod of food, health & awareness on African medicines. We intend to reverse the wealth drain arising from medical tourism by Africans and the economic results on African countries, the

promoters said. Chidi and Ijeoma Ihemeje, pioneer entrepreneurs and promoters of the brand came with this initiative following deep concern about the causes and lasting solution to unexpected deaths due to preventable diseases, medical Tourism abroad by Africans with its economic tolls or wealth drain and also concern for the vulnerable and the less privileged who can’t afford the high cost of medical treatment both home and abroad. Their desire is to promote a health synergy, where all levels of healthcare practice cooperate in harmony for the benefit of the sick or health seeker, contrary to what it is hitherto. The true position is that Africa cannot achieve health independence and progress without the synergies of all branches of health practice especially African traditional medicine with biomedicals, they said. The company has registered numerous verifiable evidences and discoveries with Africa Medicines having provided simplest and costless remedy to stubborn illnesses that defies regular drugs especially on those whose body no longer respond to prescription drugs and also those who are very sick yet diagnostic result insists nothing is wrong with them and to those who wish to bypass surgical operations.

Chronic Pain- Natural remedies to get pain relief CONTRIBUTOR

TOBI AYODELE KEENEY

e all get some type of pain from time to time. It can range from a headache, to menstrual cramps, to general body aches. We can get acute pain from an actual injury such as a bruise, a cut or back pain from an accident, pain from surgical operations and so on. Most of the time, such pain has an expiration date and disappears within a few days to a month depending on the cause and severity of the injury. However in some instances, the pain can linger for months or years even after the original source of injury seems to have disappeared. That is what is defined as chronic pain. Chronic pain can range from being mild to severe. The pain may take on several characteristics such as burning, shooting,

HBL TEAM

dull ache, stinging and throbbing. For some people it can affect their quality of life to the point that they cannot function as normal people. Chronic pain can also be different in men and women. In addition to having chronic back and joint pain, women can also get chronic pelvic pain. Chronic pelvic pain in women can be caused by gynecological conditions such as fibroids, endometriosis, scar tissues, pelvic and abdominal adhesions from fibroid surgery and cesarean sections. Chronic pain can also be caused by cancers, tumors of the abdominal organs or tumors in the brain giving rise to chronic headache. If you are experiencing chronic pain which is pain that has is lasting for more than 3 months, it is imperative that you first seek the advice of a medical doctor in order to rule out any serious or emergency health issues such as those that were mentioned above. If the cause of your pain is idiopathic or caused by a nonemergency issue or a chronic condition, it means the pain has to be managed on a long term basis. In conventional medi-

cine, chronic pain management involves using pain medication, physical therapy and possible surgery where it is deemed necessary. These types of interventions may be useful and might help the patient find relief; however, they also come with side effects, some of them often serious and can cause further illnesses. For this reason, it is advisable to also explore natural pain killers that have little to no side effects. Turmeric is a simple root herb with very powerful antiinflammatory properties which is useful in fighting pain. In fact studies show that 500mg of curcumin (the active ingredient found in turmeric) twice a day was as effective in pain relief as NSAIDS such as ibuprofen, diclofenac and naproxen. Turmeric also showed efficacy in improving the symptoms of type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol. Pineapples are also very good in reducing inflammation and pain. This is due to the enzyme bromelain found in the fruit. 300mg of bromelain three times a day has been shown to be more effective than NSAIDs for treating pain and bringing down inflammation.

A great way to incorporate these herbs and fruits into your diet is to mix a teaspoon of turmeric in a glass of warm water and drink it morning and night as tea. Also rather than add curry to season your foods, add turmeric powder to your soups, stews and stir fries. To get a good amount of bromelain from pineapples, cut the entire pineapple into cubes most especially the core, serve into small bowls, chill it in the refrigerator and eat a bowl of it three times a day with light meals or as a meal on its own. Alternatively, or in addition, you can purchase curcumin and bromelain capsules at your local health shop. These herbs are food products, so they are safe to consume in large amounts so don’t worry about overdosing on them. Additionally, eat a diet that is low in inflammatory ingredients which includes eliminating refined sugars, diary and gluten. Finally keep hydrated by drinking a lot of water. I wish you all a happy and healthy week! • Tobi Keeney, managing Director Quincy Herbals Email: tobi@quincyherbals. com

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

Nigeria pledges $12m to global fund to combat HIV, tuberculosis, malaria GODSGIFT ONYEDINEFU, Abuja

he Nigerian government has pledged $12 million to global fund for the next three years to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. A total $ 14.02 billion was pledged at the Sixth Replenishment Conference of the Global Fund held in Lyon, France, on 9 and 10 October. Toyin Aderigbigbe, head of press and publicity, National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) who made this known in a statement said Nigeria’s pledge indicates a 20 percent increase as the country expressed commitment to increasing domestic resources for health and disease programmes. According to the statement, the Global Fund investment case projected that the fund will help to save 16 million lives by 2030 through health system strengthening, reinforcing health security via disease surveillance and tackling health inequities, including human rights and gender barriers and spur a massive growth in domestic investment in health. The statement added that an unprecedented 23 implementing countries from Africa made pledges to the Global Fund. “With the incredible support of partners and donors around the world, we succeeded in reaching over US$ 14 billion to help save 16 million lives,” Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund was quoted saying. “Every Nigerian has a right to good health. We have a responsibility to ensure that this basic right is available to all Nigerians. The government is committed to enhancing ownership and sustainability of the HIV/AIDS response,” said Osagie Ehanire honourable Minister of Health. “Nigeria bears a huge burden of the global TB, malaria and HIV epidemics so it is imperative that both domestic and international investments are urgently scaled up,” said Gunilla Carlsson UNAIDS executive director. “The continued Government of Nigeria funding for growing the National Treatment and Prevention Programmes is vital for the sustainability of the AIDS response. I appeal to all governors to equally commit to investing to end AIDS in Nigeria as a public health threat by 2030,” said Gambo Aliyu, director General, NACA. HIV, tuberculosis and malaria are preventable and treatable diseases, yet globally they kill more than 2.6 million people each year.

I Samuel Iduh, Graphics

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

LEADINGWOMAN Nwakego Boyo, still winning our hearts in Nollywood 20 years after

KEMI AJUMOBI

wakaego Boyo studied Theatre Arts at the University of Benin and has worked extensively in the creative art industries in Nigeria for over 20 years. She made her professional debut as Anne Haastrope in the soap opera ‘Checkmate’ which ran for five years on the NTA Network Service. She is the Managing Director/ CEO of Temple Productions Limited and has worked on various video film productions, corporate promotional film making, documentaries and television Series. Her feature film credits include Producer on Violated, Keeping Faith, 30 Days, A Hotel Called Memory and her recent project – The Ghost And The House Of Truth. In addition, she has made advocacy films, Short films, Documentaries and TV adverts for various clients. Boyo has an interest in telling historical stories; she’s presently working on a number of projects to actualize her ideas. She is a Director at the Lagos Preparatory and Secondary School Ikoyi, which offers the highest quality British preparatory education in Nigeria. She is a member of the International Women’s Society (IWS) an organization aimed at fostering international understanding and supporting the less privileged children, youth and women in the society. She is a past president of the International Women’s Society (IWS), founder of Tempio Media Advocacy Foundation and on the Advisory board of Oando Foundation. Boyo is a proud member of the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) and was appointed as its cultural ambassador 2013. She is also a member of the Nollywood Entertainment Business Group NEBG. Ego grew up in Enugu for three years and then moved to Lagos in the late 70’s. For her, it was a wonderful idyllic childhood. “My parents were very wonderful, loving, protective and firm but we had the best childhood.” She says. As children, they were exposed to great music, art, films, reading extensively, and travel. Ego’s father loved engaging the children in great dinner conversations so from an early age, their opinions and having their point of view as children was encouraged. Her memory of Lagos in her early years was captured in her words when she says “Lagos was

a safe place then for a child. I rode my bike to my friends’ homes without any fear whatsoever. My parents were also professionals who instilled in us a strong work ethic, good Christian morals.” Much of what Ego was exposed to and learned from her parents is how she has lived, and has shaped every aspect of her life, and that has also helped her in her business and professional life. Being in the industry for 20 years and counting, Ego surely had her experiences. She tells me that those experiences have included ups and downs but it inspired major growth for her both personally and professionally. In her words, “it has taught me a great deal about working with all kinds of people, working through challenges, having a clear focus and drive, being clear on my vision and always striving to do better, and of course evolving as the industry has itself evolved.” Says Ego. On her professional and personal challenges, hear what she has to say. “Professionally, my challenge is ensuring that individuals, organizations and government start to really take the creative industries and its professionals seriously. A lot simply pay lip service to it and do not try to understand our challenges, offer or create tailor made products, www.businessday.ng

services or policies to assist us in growing our businesses.” She says As such, Boyo says it is incredibly frustrating that the environment is so hard to operate a business successfully regardless of drive or focus. According to her, “The cost of making films in Nigeria is high in terms of cost, but also because of the challenges one faces. Professionalism within the industry is also a huge challenge.” Boyo explains. Sharing on Temple productions, she says “We do Feature films, advocacy films, documentaries and advertisements. We produced Keeping faith, 30 days, A Hotel Called Memory and our latest one called The Ghost and the house of truth.” Ego narrates. The Ghost And The House Of Truth (TGTHT) is Temple Productions’ latest Film, a highly anticipated Drama set in Lagos, Nigeria. The Film, which had its World Premiere in New York as part of the Urban World Film Festival, on the 20th of September 2019, won the award for Best Narrative Feature World Cinema. Directed by the award winning Akin Omotoso and produced by Ego Boyo. TGTHT is a second collaboration for the two, after the success of their award winning experimental film A Hotel Called Memory.

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It solidifies their intent on making films with a purpose and a message. Films which delve into the socio cultural issues plaguing society and creating opportunities for continued dialogue and reform. This Film highlights our society’s basic requirement for more effective law enforcement, judicial profiling, and compiling data that can be shared across agencies and institutions. TGHT is set to Premiere in Lagos at the 9th Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) on the 15th of November 2019 as the closing Film of the acclaimed festival. It tells a story of the streets and the working class. Bola Ogun is a single mother of a ten year old (Nike) and a counsellor, Bola Ogun’s child goes missing. In her desperate search for her daughter, Bola’s belief in forgiveness and redemption is tested. Then, the police gets involved and a dedicated police woman who understands the many challenges of the police force takes on the case personally. Through the eyes of these women, the film highlights child endangerment, sexual violence against children, lack of adequate data and resources, disenfranchisement, and the repercussions of frustrations borne out of mistrust of law enforcement, injustice @Businessdayng

and violence. Bola’s narrative is that of an ordinary Nigerian, a real woman with different phases to her character and an end that leaves one torn between empathy and justice. It stars Susan Wokoma (BAFTA breakthrough Brit winner), Kate Henshaw (multiple award-winning actress), Kemi ‘Lala’ Akindoju (Africa Magic trailblazer award winner) and Fabian Lojede. Supporting actors include Uzo Ozimkpa, Toyin Oshinaike, Seun Ajayi, Tope Tedela, Chioma ‘Chigurl’ Omeruah, Keira Heywatch, Oludara Egerton - Shyngle and an outstanding cast of child actors. Sharing on the way forward in Nollywood, Ego says “Nollywood is one of the major producers of films in the world however, the films are usually mass produced films with questionable production values. In the last few years, a lot more effort has been made to ensure the production values are high. We are getting there but in my opinion, we need to hone our skills and make films with depth, choose themes that resonate but have a message, and stop focusRead more about Nwakego’s inspiring story on our website www. businessday.ng as she graces our Women’s Hub cover for this week. You are just a click away!

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

AGRIBUSINESSINSIGHT Market Insights

Analysis

Commentaries

Experts/Industry Views

Commodities watch

Policy Reviews

Send in Commentaries to caleb.ojewale@businessdayonline.com

Nigerian cassava growers restate ambitious plan to curb trillions on imported products Stories by CALEB OJEWALE Twiiter: @calebtinolu

igeria’s cassava is the costliest to produce in the world, a statement also alluded to by the Nigeria Cassava Growers Association (NCGA) in its plans to maximise the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme to reduce the country’s import of cassava derivatives by as much as N1.2 trillion. “Nigerian cassava is the costliest in the world. For example, while Cassava chips is sold for between $200 to $250/ton in China, it costs $400 to produce a ton (of cassava chips) in Nigeria,” reads part of a document sent to Agribusiness Insight by Segun Adewumi, NCGA’s National President. The Nigerian cassava growers have an ambitious plan to radically increase production, and drive import substitution across a wide range of products. The document highlighted some prominent Cassava derivatives like Ethanol, Industrial Starch, Cassava Flour, Sweetener/ Glucose Syrup, which are raw materials to numerous utility items with domestic and export market potentials. “Doubtlessly, Cassava can trigger massive Industrial Revolution in Nigeria,” it reads. Facts and Figures, according to NCGA 1. Nigeria uses 400 million litres of Ethanol sold at N400 per litre - N160 billion 2. Nigeria uses 1.7million MT

of Industrial Starch sold at about N200,000 per ton - N340 billion 3. If wheat bread is substituted with 20 percent Cassava flour, import Bill on wheat will reduce by - N200 billion 4. Other Cassava derivatives like Sweetener used in Beverage Companies, Glucose Syrup etc have estimated value of - N350 billion 5. 10 percent substitution of Petrol with fuel grade Ethanol is 1,266,521,642 litres at N145 per litre - N183 billion TOTAL = N1.2 trillion Export Market Potentials 1. According to NCGA, worldwide, the pharmaceutical Industry prefers Cassava Industrial Starch to the cornstarch widely used. The association says it is in talks with a leading pharmaceutical company

(name withheld) in Nigeria, and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria on the production of Cassava Industrial Starch to replace what it describes as “the GMO corn starch imported to the Country for pharmaceutical use.” 2. Nigeria has the capacity to produce over 10 trillion litres of Ethanol at a competitive price and earn trillions of Naira exporting Ethanol. The 400 million litres of Ethanol currently used requires only 100,000 hectares of farmland from the estimated 84 million hectares arable land in Nigeria, half of it is currently in use. This, according to NCGA, implies Nigeria can reduce her import bill on the listed utility items by 1.2 trillion Naira. At the same time, the country can earn several trillions of Naira in foreign exchange from cassava products.

Major Challenges NCGA notes that although Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava, Nigerian cassava is the costliest in the world. For example Cassava chips is sold for between $200 to $250/ton in China, it costs $400 to produce a ton in Nigeria. For the above reasons cassava derivatives from Nigeria cannot compete in the international market. The reason is the high cost of producing cassava. On the average a ton of cassava cost as much as N20,000 to produce, Cassava for Industrial use must cost bellow N10,000 per ton. Adewumi however thinks this can be achieved if certain strategies are adopted: (i) Cassava for food security (ii) Cassava for Industrial use. The smallholder farmers’ cassava for food security

The cassava of the smallholder Farmers, which according to NCGA must not be “underpriced” because of non-availability of the necessary incentives for Commercial Production, can be harnessed and devoted to food security. Apart from ‘untractorable’ land and lack of mechanization facilities the smallholder cassava has two other major challenges: (i) Lack of immediate and rewarding market for their products (ii) Cost of transportation of their cassava to the milling centres. According to NCGA, these two challenges can be met with the following actions: 1. Take the cassava milling centres to Cassava farmers in the Rural Areas. Let the cassava be processed at the farms under the supervision of quality control experts and to the standard of NAFDAC and SON. 2. Provide Silos and Stores at the Local Government Headquarters to store and to preserve the cassava product. Fortunately, cassava products can be preserved for a long time, NCGA asserts. 3. Ensure rewarding market for cassava products. Arrangements should be made to buy up all such food to prevent a glut. There are ready outlets for the food in the various IDP camps in Nigeria and other parts of the world, the School feeding program can also use more of cassava products.

Continues online at www.businessday.ng

For insights on farm productivity, technology use, new big-data platform offers solution

ecently, a new big-data platform was unveiled, offering 75,000 data points offering from about 1,400 studies covering indicators such as yield, soil carbon, and resource efficiency use. Named Evidence for Resilient Agriculture (ERA), the platform delivers data and tools designed to pinpoint what agricultural technologies work where. Developed by a consortium of international bodies, it is built on the last 30-plus years of agriculture research, providing comprehensive synthesis of the effects of shifting from one technology to another on key indicators of productivity, system resilience and climate change mitigation. As indicated on the platform’s website, ERA is a meta-dataset and analytical engine built to explore questions on the performance of agricultural technologies. ERA enables users to ask and answer questions about the effects of shifting from one technology to another on indicators of productivity, resilience and climate change mitigation outcomes. It was specifically created to uncover what the data reveal regarding

what works where and for whom. Currently ERA contains about 75,000 observations from about 1,400 agricultural studies that have taken place in Africa. Data have been compiled on more than 250 agricultural products. Management practices, outcomes and products are nested within respective hierarchies, allowing ERA to aggregate and disaggregate information. These data are linked to detailed covariates such as climate, soil and socioeconomics based on geographical coordinates reported in the studies and seasons reported or inferred from www.businessday.ng

remote sensing. The beta version of ERA (currently online) contains information from the core agricultural dataset only; the environmental variables and analysis will be online in early 2020. The analysis ERA supports capacities to analyze the database in many ways. The fundamental analysis follows standard meta-analysis procedures. Meta-analysis is a statistical way to combine research results across studies. Meta-analysis was first designed in medicine, then adopted in ecology, and more recently has been used in agricul-

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tural studies. Specifically, ERA calculates response ratios and effect size statistics. The response ratio is calculated as the log ratio of the mean effect of the treatment (i.e., improved practice) against the mean effect of the control practice. These response ratios can then be combined to generate an ‘effect size’ for the relationship, which provides an overall estimate of the magnitude and variability of the relationship. When calculating effect sizes, results from different studies are weighted to reduce bias from any given study (e.g., one that had hundreds of observations). ERA weights the results of studies based on their level of precision. Because historical agricultural studies rarely report variance at the level necessary, ERA weighs results positively based on the number of replications and negatively based on the number of observations. ERA uses the meta-analysis and ancillary data to compute additional types of analysis. These include but are not limited to costs, benefits and risks of changing @Businessdayng

practices; spatial scaling domains for agricultural technologies; the value (positive or negative) of bundling technology; resilience and resistance value of agricultural technologies for variable weather; and more. Innovations Meta-analysis is a powerful tool to support decision-making in agriculture. There have been more than 650 meta-analyses conducted in agriculture since 2012. There have been so many meta-analyses that there are now meta-analyses of meta-analyses. Despite the intended purpose of informing decisions, these evaluations rarely provide targeted information for specific uses. This is in part due to the resolution, scope, access and one-off (static) nature of results. ERA changes that situation. Through three innovations, ERA makes data and tools on the performance of agricultural technologies under climate change available on demand. For more information and access to the ERA platform, users can log on to https://era.ccafs. cgiar.org/ This article was reproduced from literature available on the ERA website.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Hotels

Radisson Hotel Group repositions for Nigerian market …refreshes offerings, outlets across the country

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

OBINNA EMELIKE

n June 2011, the Nigerian hotel market welcomed a new entrant into its burgeoning offerings. That month witnessed the berthing of Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel, in Victoria Island, Lagos; a 170room hotel. Since the opening of the aptly flagship hotel about eight years ago, the Radisson Hotel Group is expanding fast, growing more hotels with many in the pipeline across the country today. At present, Nigeria hosts three of the key brands of Radisson Hotel Group; Radisson Blu, Radisson and Park Inn By Radisson with presence in Lagos and Abeokuta and also looks to adding three other exciting brands in its Nigerian portfolio in 3-5 years in places like Abuja and Port Harcourt, Kano among others. Some of the brands expected to berth in the country include; Radisson Collection, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson. Lagos, which is the flagship city, hosts most of the Radisson Group Hotel outlets in Nigeria, with Abeokuta, a secondary city, exciting guests with Park Inn By Radisson. However, the berthing of the brand in Nigeria has been a boost to the quality and quantity of hospitality offerings and the workforce, which are now in line with global best practice. But the group is not resting on its oars. There have been continued efforts at repositioning and refreshing the brands to further excite, retain and grow guests across Nigeria. Recently, all the hotels in the group’s operation in Nigeria engaged the travel media in a breakfast meeting to unveil developments across the hotels in the country. Kevin Kamau, district director, Nigeria, Radisson Hotel Group and general manager, Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel, Lagos, Victoria Island, Lagos, led the team of hospitality experts including; Jaco Prinsloo,

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

The Wheatbaker #4 Onitolo(Lawrence Road), Ikoyi, Lagos. Tel: 01 277 3560

Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Abuja 1 Uke St, Garki, Abuja. Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

L-R: Ahmed Raza, Kevin Kamau, Esther Ukandu, Rita Opiah, Jaco Prinsloo and Wellington Mpofu, representatives of Radisson Hotel Group Nigeria at the breakfast meeting.

cluster general manager, Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja and Radisson Hotel Ikeja and Rita Opiah, general manager, Park Inn by Radisson Serviced Apartments, Victoria Island, Lagos, at the interactive session. At the breakfast, which held at Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel, Lagos, Victoria Island, Lagos, all the managers expressed how ready they were at pushing the brand further in Nigeria, and in line with the ‘Yes I Can’ attitude of the brand. The commitment to push the brand is complemented by the ongoing renovations and upgrades across the hotels in order to refresh the brand. For Kamau, who is supervising a growing brand in Nigeria, it was not easy pushing the brand initially, but with the sustained quality assurance and improvement, personalized services, world-class facility offerings, strict maintenance culture, among others, the brand has performed beyond guests’ expectations and is wooing unprecedented patronage despite competition. But the most important factors for the rapid growth of the brand in Nigeria, according to Kamau, are the confidence the Nigerian owners and investors have reposed in the brand and believe in the competency of the managers of www.businessday.ng

the brand here to deliver on their jobs. Going specific, Kamau said Radisson Blu Hotel Anchorage is upgrading its facilities in phases, starting with the room offering. At present, the Premium Room category is being upgraded with new look and feel. The walls now have contemporary and Scandinavian designs instead of the old tiles. The bathroom amenities are upgraded as well to offer guests more relaxing options while in the bathroom, while more room facility offerings are added. Also, the lounge is being upgraded to offer more excitement and access to all guests in the room categories on same floor where it is located. For Jaco Prinsloo, cluster general manager, Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja and Radisson Hotel Ikeja, it is all good on his side as the hotels are also having facility upgrade with some mock-up rooms to show how the entire room offerings will look like after the upgrades. But he is delighted that guests are having fun across the two brands in Ikeja due to the worldclass facilities and service offerings. He insisted that Radisson Blu Ikeja offers the best of spa experience in Lagos at the Amani Spa, which has the first floatation chamber in Lagos. As well, the hotels of-

fer the best of facilities for corporate engagements, private outings and personalized experience. R i t a O p i a h, g e n e ral manager, Park Inn by Radisson Serviced Apartments, Victoria Island, Lagos, is excited with the upgrade in her hotel. Already, the restaurant is wearing new look, as well as, the menu offering. The lounge is also touched, while quality amenities are getting into the right places in the hotel. She insisted that quality speaks for itself at Park In By Radisson and guests can always attest to that. The upgrades, according to her, are necessary as the 57-room hotel changes from boutique style to service apartment for long staying guests. The group has also relaunched its loyalty programmes, offering guests benefits and value for money across its global outlets. Concluding, Kamua, said Radisson Hotel Group is impacting the Nigerian economy positively with 12,000 employees across its hotels in Nigeria, and has also engaged in corporate social responsibilities such as the support for cancer awareness. In line with that, the hotel dedicated a room to supporting cancer awareness and whatever revenue generated from the room is donated to the cause.

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

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

206 Exclusive Hotel Plot 206 Oladipo Diya Road Opposite Olympia Estate By Games Village Second Gate Durumi2 Abuja

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

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

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

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

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Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FINTECH News

Products Review

In association with

Technology Review

Personality Review

Company Review

Financial inclusion sails as high cost of internet keeps 42% Nigerians offline ...subscribers spend 1.7% of monthly income on 1GB FRANK ELEANYA

n many street corners, inside Africa’s largest economy, you find vendors with umbrellas and colorful kiosks advertising a wide array of data packages from different operators. Faced with diminishing income and widespread poverty mobile network operators (MNOs) are seizing the opportunity to woo existing and new subscribers with “cheap” data plans. MTN, the largest network in Africa, now sends unsolicited SMS adverts informing its more than 51 million active subscribers that they can now buy 1GB for as low as N200 for seven days. It is the cheapest and lowest by any telco. To further set the bar higher, the network also promises 4GB at N1,000 (30days). Even Globacom that describes itself as the “Grandmasters of data” and employs a legion of Nigeria’s top movie actors just to sell its data packages, knows it can’t compete below N200. Airtel which many says has the most engaging advertisements and is hot on the heels of MTN, also has some attractive data packages, like its Double Data promo in which it offers subscribers 100 percent return on each data purchase. It is perhaps for these reasons that the latest report from the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) found that Nigeria has one of the most competitive broad-

band markets in Africa. The country is in good company with Somalia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Madagascar. Nigeria’s competitive broadband market and cheap data plans notwithstanding, 42 percent of the country’s entire population are still offline compared with less than 25 percent in Africa as a continent. Many people offline cite mobile data affordability as one of the reasons they do not go online and it is critical to an efficient and sustainable financial inclusion drive. “Internet access gives people the tools to earn a living and start a busi-

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ness. It offers them ways to build skills and achieve their ambitions. And it provides them access to information to support their families and be active citizens in their communities. The billions of people still unconnected are missing these opportunities and so are societies where digital exclusion remains the norm,” Sonia Jorge, executive director at Alliance for Affordable Internet said in a statement sent to BusinessDay. “ In August, MTN lost over 660,000 subscribers. While the majority of them could have moved on to rival networks like Airtel which

recorded an unprecedented 8-month growth streak, over 100,000 subscribers went offline entirely. It should be said that for both existing and migrating subscribers, the challenge is not necessarily the unit cost of data as per the frequency of data exhaustion. “On the 5th of January 2019. I borrowed a 2GB data from MTN because the one I subscribed got exhausted within a week. Before I could turn on my data. MTN sent me a text that I have exhausted the data I just borrowed,” Adaeze Chalene a Twitter user said. MTN has explained that quick data exhaustion is sometimes a

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factor of the speed of its 3G and 4G technology. Regardless, the cost of data is still a major problem for many people as the A4AI report also showed. According to the report, 1GB of data costs Nigerians 1.7 percent of their monthly income, on average, compared with 7.1 percent for Africa and 2 percent average for the rest of the world. As far as cheap data goes, another data from Howmuch.net found that Nigeria’s average price of $2.22 for 1 GB is still way behind countries like Egypt ($1.49); Ghana ($1.56); Morocco ($1.66); Western Sahara ($1.66); Cameroon ($1.71); Guinea ($1:94); and Burundi ($2). The country falls further in the pecking order with countries like Sudan ($0.68) Rwanda ($0.54) and DR Congo (0.88). Apart from individual subscribers, small businesses including startups are the most affected. At a recent World Bank conference, Odunaya Eweniyi, cofounder and COO of fintech firm, Piggyvest listed high cost of data as one of the factors affecting the profitability of startups in Africa. “This situation, where entrepreneurs and small businesses struggle to get an affordable and reliable connection, is a huge problem,” Callum Cameron, communications manager at A4AI told BusinessDay in an email response. “It is so important that policymakers act quickly to get this issue right so that these business-

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es and the larger emerging digital economy in Nigeria are able to flourish.” The A4AI report explains how the pricing for data works. A user usually pays an internet service provider (ISP) for their connection. The ISP, in turn, pays other network operators interconnection fees to plug into the domestic network. A network operator then pays a fee to a submarine cable company for international connectivity. If a user pays $2 for 1GB of mobile broadband, fractions of that retail price are used to settle the various interconnection fees across layers of the internet. The amount of competition at each of these levels affects the price that a user pays. A high fee at the first mile, for example, can trickle down to increase the price an individual user pays. Unfortunately, investment in internet infrastructure in Nigeria has not kept pace with demand. Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed that the growth of fixed wireless and wired technology remained at 0.08 percent as of August 2019. This is unlike mobile technology (GSM) which has grown by 99.58 percent in the same period. “The evidence is clear that fixed broadband has greater economic benefits than mobile. But b oth are important and both have to be prioritised at the same time to support Nigeria’s digital economy,” Cameron said.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

ENTERTAINMENT

Farming premieres in Lagos amid fun …Autobiography story unearths decades-old real life mystery OBINNA EMELIKE

t was a homecoming experience for Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, a British-Nigerian actor, at Filmhouse Cinemas Lekki, Lagos, on October 19, 2019. The actor was generously welcomed home and appreciated by movie lovers and select guests at the exclusive screening and premiere of Farming, the highly anticipated movie, written and directed by the actor. Farming tells the tale of his traumatic early life turned into a drama for his directorial debut. The movie premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival and won the Michael Powell Award at the 2019 Edinburgh Film Festival. The movie had been in the works for nearly two decades and explores a real-life mystery. It is the incredible story of how Akinnuoye-Agbaje, a young Nigerian boy raised by white foster parents in 1970s Tilbury, Essex, had forged an identity for himself in a violently racist local skinhead gang, and lived to tell the tale. It both dramatises a brutal and moving coming-of-age and shines a light on a little-known chapter in the story of race relations in Britain: the practice that led to thousands of Nigerian children like Akinnuoye-Agbaje being ‘farmed out’ to British families in that period. He was given away at birth to white parents, which were common practice in those times; tens of thousands of Nigerians would give away their children, this was some sort of social experience. It is a story of a young

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Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje at the Nigerian premiere of Farming

man displaced from his cultural heritage and trying to find his identity. In directing the film Akinnuoye-Agbaje had to go through all the nightmarish boyhood trauma and violence in details for a second time he said: “A production designer rebuilt the house to perfection and I was not prepared for the well of emotions that it would evoke as I was immediately reduced to the 8 years old boy that used to hide behind the sofa”. He also had to step into the shoes of his father by playing the role of his father and see himself through the eyes of his father. “It is a project I could not live without telling and this is what

really motivated me to tell it. It was surreal to stand in my father’s shoes and look at myself from his perspective, and that was both healing and painful and enlightening ”, Akinnuoye-Agbaje said further. Describing the movie earlier, Kate Beckinsale, who plays Ingrid, the illiterate, emotionally abusive, and racially insensitive Essex foster mother of nine, said, “This is an incredibly fractured love story between mother and adopted son. It was very different from anything

else I’ve ever done because you were always aware that this was Ade’s story and some of it was incredibly upsetting. You felt very privileged to be in this incredibly vulnerable space.”

The movie also stars Nigerian, Damson Idris who plays Enitan, a central character in the film, which hits on sensitive issues like racism, discrimination and touches slightly on modern-day slavery. A part of the cast is Genevieve Nnaji, Nollywood veteran, who plays Agbaje’s real-life mother. The premiere had in attendance some celebrities including; Beverly Naya, Adunni Ade, Latasha Lagos, Eku Edewor, Ifan Micheals, Mimi Onlaja, Akah Nnani among others. The premiere kicked off with an evening of drinks at the Filmhouse Signature Lounge, where guests were treated to cocktails and then moved to the cinema hall for the exclusive screening. Media and guests present were overwhelmed with emotions after the screening and an insightful question and answer session followed. “There was this theme of abandonment in my life, and subsequently you make sure you reject before you get rejected, you put a wall up.”, Akinnuoye-Agbaje said in answer to a question from a journalist at the premiere. The movie will be out in cinemas across the country on October 25, 2019, and is a must-watch. It is a story about triumph over adversity, challenges and obstacles, finding a sense of belonging, finding self-worth, learning how to love one’s self and these are things everyone can relate to. The premiere evening in Lagos was powered by FilmOne, Filmhouse Cinemas, Accelerate TV, Access Bank and Stunt Group.

Living In Bondage: Breaking Free to go dark on its November premiere

f you have not heard of Living in Bondage, you were either born yesterday or have been living under a very large rock. Virtually everyone who grew up in the 90s in Nigeria remembers the iconic Andy Okeke character, his thirst for the good life, and how a chance meeting with an old friend led him into chains of a sinister brotherhood who asked him to do the unthinkable; kill Merit, his wife and the one he loves the most. About 27 years later, the sequel of Living In Bondage, which has now become a legendary Nollywood film, is finally here. On November 2, 2019, Filmhouse Cinemas will host an exclusive invite only event to screen the highly an-

ticipated premiere of Living in Bondage: Breaking Free. The www.businessday.ng

movie promises to stir up nostalgia as some of the original

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cast members like Kenneth O konkw o and Bob Manuel Udoku are set to feature in the film. The fresh new storyline picks up decades later with the son of Andy Okeke, Nnamdi who has seemingly picked up his father’s taste for fast money and a high-flying lifestyle. Joining the sequel are Nollywood darlings; Munachi Abii, Enyinna Nwigwe and Ramsey Noah, who will also be making his directorial debut with this sequel. The movie premiere will see some of Africa’s brightest stars on the red carpet. To suit the lavish, wicked taste of the plot, Demons In Diamonds is the theme for the night. It is an invitation, to walk on the dark side of glamour, excess and opulence. @Businessdayng

Think blood artwork on couture gowns. Spiked halos and jewel encrusted garments. Just like the extreme choices the characters in the movies face, guests are expected to channel their outfits to the edge of extreme. With this daringly bold theme - the Lagos premiere is set to be the talk of the country. Charles Okpaleke, founder, Play Network, is the executive producer of the movie. The movie is Okpaleke’s major debut in the Nollywood movie industry. Speaking on the movie, he said, “This is a film that means so much to a lot of people. We hope we have made it into a better story.” Living In Bondage: Breaking Free will hit cinemas on November 8, 2019.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

ENTERTAINMENT

Reinforcing your presence

BUSINESS ETIQUETTE

JANET ADETU Top tips for mingling with ease and reinforcing your presence

Visualize your actions: efore you attend a networking gathering, prepare yourself for the event. If it is a company that regularly has such gatherings, research about them, you may be able to see the kind of attendants, the magnitude of the event and have an idea of what to expect. Visualize how you will behave in the presence by strangers, colleagues and client. You may decide to practice speaking in front of a mirror to give you a boost of confidence. Your verbal business card: Your verbal business card is your elevator pitch basically a verbal version of your original business card. It is a short version of everything about you that you will say to someone in a space of 30 seconds. The focus is on who you are, what you do, where you do it? This is the easiest way to introduce yourself, develop and establish rapport in a networking gathering. Make a meaningful entrance: The front door or entrance is the centre of attention at all networking events. People tend to look towards the door either to identify who has just come in or know who and who was at the event. This is your time to walk in graciously with elegance or charm. Ensure you are comfortable with what you are wearing; that you look good and are appropriately dressed. Smile as you enter the room walking tall with confidence.

Speak loud body language: On entering the room and while you begin your circulation, you will need to speak positive body language, your eye contact should be direct. Be assertive giving off an approachable and authoritative look with that added smile. Your body language will say a lot for you, speaking out loud without saying a single word. Avoid appearing stand offish, negative signs like crossing your arms, eye contact in the air and lack of attentiveness. Watch your poise, posture and positioning: Your poise, posture and positioning is very important when trying to reinforce your presence. This will show clearly your level of confidence. It will enable you stand out from the crowd. You need to stand balanced without leaning to one side, keep your back upright, your shoulders balanced, your chin and head up. The placing of your feet and hands also will indicate your level of assertiveness. Quick scan and circulate: The moment you enter a room, you may see a sea of heads or a group of people sparingly if you have arrived on time. Quickly scan the room for anyone or group you recognize, this will form your first port of call to begin your circulation. Look out for approachable: As you make a quick scan and you do not recognize any faces simply look for people who also look approachable or who also seem to be looking for someone to talk to. You will see pockets of people standing alone who you may stand with when it comes to introducing yourself. Blend in a group: Likewise you may decide to join a group

of people already engaged in a topic of discussion that you are interested in. Don’t just badge in rudely, stand and engage yourself first, speak only when the opportunity arises. When you have joined the group smile, appear attentive and participate where you can. Introduce with a contagious smile: The way you introduce yourself at networking events makes all the difference. This is the time to sell your services, what you do, who you work for, and what you possibly offer to the person you are talking with. As earlier mentioned having your verbal business card Is the best resource here, short, crisp and interesting, your smile is the added ingredient that should come from within and radiate through your eyes. At such networking events you should always come with your physical business card, you may exchange cards if you are interested in the people you are with.

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The correct handshake is always with just one hand, the right hand

Proximity: Whether the occasion is for business or social, it is rude to step into the personal space of an individual; at this point you will appear uncomfortably too close and pose a nuisance. Three feet away from the person you are speaking with is ideal, up to six feet away will suggest you are in the audience zone and you are being spoken to amongst a crowd. Conversations: The trick to starting a conversation is not how you engage in business talks immediately. If you are shy to start a conversation just start with a decent compliment, one that is true and said genuinely. You may ask simple basic questions about the event, the ambience or the host of the event; start your conversation naturally with small talk. If you are both in the same profession then already you have a common interest, take it up from there, avoid any form of rambling or name dropping, this is instant image saboteur. Listen, listen, listen: In mingling proficiently, you will learn a lot, acquire new knowledge and broaden your horizon if you take your time to master your listening skills. Speak and be spoken to, generate an interest, maintain your composure and professionalism.

The bar, the buffet: Moving to the bar or cocktail buffet can form as an ice breaker if you are not quick to notice anyone you know, or as a means of settling into the crowd. It is not a good idea to hang around this area as it will defeat your purpose of attending the event. Your intention is to mingle, get to know potential clients, develop relationships and enhance your professional presence. Remember to keep your right hand free at all times.

Finally Mingling is fun and interesting if you go with a purpose. Your intention is to be able to have the contact of at least 2-3 good prospects you intend following up on. Be conversant with current events, news, movies or sporting events. This will make you appear relevant. Think and act like an ambassador for yourself. Good luck

Perfect handshake: Your introduction will be incomplete without a handshake; your handshake says a lot about you as an individual and as a professional. A proper handshake will determine how confident you are. The correct handshake is always with just one hand, the right hand. Control any form of sweaty palms with your handkerchief, and avoid constantly carrying a glass to avoid handshakes.

Janet.adetu@gmail,com quetteconsortium.com @janetadetu

janet.adetu@jsketi-

Happy Reading!

Carnival Calabar flags off with first dry run OBINNA EMELIKE

he 2019 edition of the annual Carnival Calabar, the biggest street party in Africa, has commenced with the flag off of the first dry run, in preparation for the main carnival event in December, which holds on the theme ‘Humanity’. The event, which happened on October 20, 2019 in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, saw top government officials, diplomats, some members of the five competing bands and the general public on the streets, practicing ahead of the main carnival. At the flag off, Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River State, called on nations of the world to put an to wars, crisis and embrace peace. Ayade, who spoke through Ivara Esu, his deputy, said that the theme of the carnival “Humanity” was chosen to draw the attention of the world to be humane and

to live in peace with one another. “As we flag off the 2019 Calabar carnival, the theme has been designed to see people as human beings and not as robots. We call for an end to wars and crisis all over the globe irrespective of religious, tribe or ethnic group. A human being is a human being irrespective of status in the society. “We should be kind to one another, that is the focus of this year’s carnival and we hope that the bands will try to interpret the theme in their colourful display,” the governor said. For Gabe Onah, chairman, Calabar Carnival Commission, the 2019 edition marks another circle in the annals of the history of Calabar carnival. Onah said that before the flag off, the commission had taken the carnival to Accra in Ghana and other parts of the world. “We have received two foreign embassies that are here to partner with us on the www.businessday.ng

Some of the dignitaries at the flag off ceremony

business side of the carnival. “For the first time, we will be having three Asian countries at the carnival village; Bangladesh, Vietnam and United Arab Emirates-Dubai. They have arrived at the camp and have also visited some tourists’ sites in the state. “As we continue to improve on our efforts to create livelihood for our children and unborn generation, we believe that by the time this embassies continue to show-

case and partner with us, they will further take us to the world,” he said. Speaking at the dry run, Shammed Ahsan, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Nigeria, said he was happy to be invited to the carnival, and to be in Calabar, a city he described as an accommodating and friendly. He c o m m e n d e d t h e theme of the carnival, saying that irrespective of race, religion, tribe or culture, citizens

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of all countries were still human beings. “Humanity should be something that should prevail among us as a rallying factor. Bangladesh will be attending the carnival in December for the first time,” he said. Meanwhile, as part of the strategic measures to ensure safety of lives and property during emergencies at the 2019 Carnival Calabar, Cross River State government has introduced fire fighting mechanism and strategic partnership in preparation for the global event. Ikechi Uko, the international consultant to the Carnival Calabar, disclosed the safety measures during stakeholders’ event to wrap up the carnival routes inspections in Calabar. Uko who cited recent fire disaster in Lagos and Onitsha, said there is need for preparedness for control and prevention for unexpected fire outbreak, hence the partnership with Fire Service on safety becomes strategic. @Businessdayng

“Carnival Calabar has become a household name globally and our desire to introduce fire service is not restricted to fires in buildings alone, it includes safety to incidences, flood disasters, as well as, other natural and man-made disasters. “Again, including fire service in Carnival Calabar safety apparatus shows that we are complying with the international best practices on safety and disaster management” he said. However, Gabe Onah, chairman, Cross River State Carnival Commission, called on the Fire Service to partner the Commission on awareness campaigns to buttress fire safety measures before, during and after the carnival event. Don Ugbe, director, Cross River State Fire Service, who was part of the stakeholders meeting, assured the readiness of his officers and men on enforcement, public enlightenment programmes and impact reduction during the exercise.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

INTERVIEW

We are driven by commitment to create value, tapping into human capital available in Nigeria – Suleiman SEUN SULEIMAN, vice president, service and digital, Siemens, in this interview with IFEOMA OKEKE, speaks about what Siemens is doing differently in power services.

s the vice president, services and digital, at Siemens, what would you say Siemens is doing differently in power services? At Siemens, we take pride in our local capabilities. We are a local company with global expertise. In our line of business and competitive market, we have the best local human capital, so this makes our services affordable. Also, with our Port Harcourt workshop, our turnaround time is quicker. This cannot be taken for granted, especially with our kind of customers who require their machines to be up and running 24 hours a day and seven days a week. What is the vision behind the establishment of the Port Harcourt service workshop? The Port Harcourt service workshop was borne out of our desire to ensure compliance with the Nigerian Content Act, in terms of material and manpower. For us, it was about how much value we could create in Nigeria in terms of localisation. We were driven by our commitment to create value, tapping into the human capital available in Nigeria and how we can do our engineering locally in Nigeria. Since we set up the workshop we have discovered how much work can be done locally without having to ship outside the country. We’re also in close proximity to our customers in the oil and gas sector, meaning we’re very accessible, although our workshop serves clients in other sectors besides oil and gas. You mentioned that Siemens provides servicing to other customers beyond the oil and gas sector. What other customers can contact Siemens for their servicing needs? Our work at Siemens is not limited to servicing customers in oil and gas sector. We also provide power generation services, non-original equipment manufacturing servicing to FMCGs, EPCs and utility companies. What do customers who want to do business with Siemens at the Port Harcourt workshop stand to benefit? We recently helped a customer that experienced a compressor breakdown on site on an oil rig. After we looked at the level of work that had to be done, we discovered that we needed to import some vital machine parts to restore the equipment. Rather than having this faulty compressor shipped abroad for repairs, we moved it to our Port Harcourt workshop and with our in-house capabilities, we manufactured these vital machine parts, which would otherwise have been shipped into the country. As you can imagine, this customer was losing oil production with every second that the machine was down. By manufacturing the vital part and repairing in the country, we essentially saved the client time and money. Our operations currently have 24 field service engineers who are all Nigerians, knowledgeable and skilled in different areas of specialisation. We also have five highly qualified and experienced technicians, who provide support to the field service representatives both in the workshop and on site. Our line of business servicing these cus-

Essentially, the Port Harcourt workshop has experienced talents and modern technology and we have also expanded the fleet and the use of the workshop beyond what it used to be. With our stateof-the-art equipment, we are pushing local content and creating value for the Nigerian economy by eliminating capital flight through our local production and capacity. Our workshop also creates an avenue for us to train our talents in-house and we can proudly say that we have 100 percent Nigerian expertise and management in the workshop. Nigeria faces a problem of infrastructural degeneration. How does this service workshop help address this issue? Siemens is stepping further and going beyond providing repairs and servicing. Last year we set up an engineering department with an engineering manager whose job is to proactively think up solutions to address the root cause of equipment breakdown and provide preventive solutions beyond just repairs. This is a right step in developing local R&D knowledge in country.

have a turbine or compressor to service, we can also provide auxiliary services for that equipment. The workshop contains state-of-the-art machinery for rotating equipment (gas turbines, compressors and pumps) repairs and overhauls; reciprocating equipment repairs and overhauls; inspection, disassembly, reassembly, and balancing of all kinds of rotors; valve repairs, testing, and certification; shot blasting and general machining and fabrication. We have different equipment in the workshop which from general engineering standpoint provides any kind of machining for equipment beyond the oil and gas sector.

What future development plan should we expect from Siemens’ service centres? The future is now, in my view, and we are kicking off a graduate scheme. We believe that successful companies need to replenish their talents and create a succession plan. From January 2020, we are bringing in five graduates who will be posted to various departments within Siemens in Nigeria to receive world-class training and learn about the business. Siemens is focused on creating a sustainable business and we are also preparing for the changes in the power generation sector. The fossil market is changing to alternative energy sources like wind, solar, and as the market experiences these changes, we also innovate and make changes to our business model here in Nigeria.

We understand that Siemens acquired Dresser-Rand, a global supplier of equipment solutions to the oil, gas, petrochemical, power, and process industries. In what way does this impact Siemens’ capability? Dresser-Rand had been in Port Harcourt for about 25 years before it was acquired by Siemens in May 2015. They had strong capabilities in the non-OEM industry, operations and maintenance and compression service and executing full-scale operations and maintenance contracts for customers across the oil and gas sector. They also focused on servicing not just their own equipment but extending their services to the equipment of other third-party OEMs. In 2016, Siemens had the vision to build a workshop in Port Harcourt to be more accessible to our customers. What we did was to bring the best of both worlds into one Siemens workshop. We also bought more machines to upgrade the capacity of the workshop. The shop is well equipped creating more value for our expanded fleet in Nigeria after the acquisition of Dresser-Rand.

Could you tell us a bit about your background? I got my first degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ilorin and went on to do a Master’s degree in Oil and Gas Engineering from the University of Aberdeen. My professional career started in 2003 when I joined the WRPC as an intern. After that, I worked briefly with NLNG as a mechanical technician. I moved on to join ABB Oil and Gas Service in the UK starting off as a controls systems engineer and took on various roles within the company. In 2010, I came back to Nigeria to join ABB Nigeria as an oil and gas sales manager. I later joined Schneider Electric Nigeria as vice president of the End User Business covering different segments of the business. In 2014, I joined Dresser-Rand Nigeria as regional sales director for West Africa, covering 22 countries within the region for the rotating equipment service market. My journey at Siemens Ltd Nigeria started in 2018 as the sales director for West Africa and in 2019 I was appointed vice president, services and digital.

Seun Suleiman

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Siemens is focused on creating a sustainable business and we are also preparing for the changes in the power generation sector tomers is real time business, every second counts. Therefore, being close to our customers is a huge advantage that we have. In terms of value, besides saving the client money by having a good turn-around time for the client, we’re also able to address and access the root cause, by providing preventative services to ensure that our clients don’t find themselves repairing their equipment all the time. Can you run us through some of the key services provided at the service workshop? The workshop specifically is designed to support customers in power generation, oil and gas, and also in the utilities industry. The way we set up the shop is to be useful to customers in a general manufacturing environment. In our business, we offer gas turbines and compressor services, we also operate in the original equipment manufacturing business whereby if we

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Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

CONVERSATIONS

with ADE ADEFEKO

The economics of the rice conversation: Between a rock and a hard place

ollowing the closure of the Nigerian land borders by the Federal Government in a bid to curb excessive smuggling into the country, its apex bank; the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a recent statement urged the Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) and other players in the rice value chain to refrain from ‘inordinate’ hiking of rice price. Since the shutdown of the border in August, the cost of a 50kg bag of rice in the retail consumer segment has skyrocketed by over 40%, from N15,000 to N22,000. A key component of the bank’s statement as rendered by its governor; Godwin Emefiele was that the border closure policy was implemented to enhance the developmental process of the Nigerian economy – a critical piece being Nigeria’s self-sufficiency in rice production. The afore mentioned signifies that Nigeria would be able to cater for current rice demands by bridging production deficits and improving the overall growth trajectory of the sector. It is pertinent to note that rice is the most consumed food staple in the country and is somewhat a ‘political crop. Though rice consumers remain skeptical at the level of supply from Nigerian Rice millers, the RIPAN chairman, Hon. Abubakar Maifata has assured the stakeholders of the Industry that all members of the association are doing their absolute best to make sure production of rice is maximized and supply to the various markets of the country is maintained to the best of their abilities. Beaming a searchlight on the practicality of accession, the realities of the sector are such that rice producers and processors will keep falling short should they attempt to rein in their cost of production for ‘affordable’ pricing. For one, the current ban on NPK 15-15-15 is impacting not only farm yields but also costs. Blended fertilizers are more costly and those that use DAP/ MAP increase the iron content in the already high iron toxic soils, a development that adversely impacts farm performance and yields over a long period. As things stand, NPK prices have increased from N6000 per bag to N8500 per bag. The CEO of Fullmark Group, Mr. Sriram Venkateswaran while speaking at the recently concluded Feed Nigeria Summit also revealed that Nigeria’s paddy (unprocessed rice) is the most

expensive in the world, another indication that without a level playing field, price equity is at best an illusion. The current price of Paddy that a Nigerian Rice Miller has to buy is at best between N 135-140k which is about 70% higher than the major rice producing countries in the world. In order to be competitive with the top rice producing countries, our Millers need to be able to buy paddy in the range of N 100 - 105k maximum and have same delivered to their Mills. An often ignored fact and one that barely gets put in the paddy and rice conversation is as follows. One ton of paddy gives you the following-Packed rice 60%,mix brokens,6.5%,Rejects 2.5%,Bran 7% and Husk 24%.. The paddy comes with 6-8% impurities like chaff, stones, sands and other particles and what this means invariably is that paddy you buy from the market is always 6-8% more costly than the price quoted as you buy these impurities as well. Every sector has its economics be it Aviation, Telecoms, Power and as such those realities must be factored in to get the appropriate pricing. Another area of concern is the production capacity of the sector. Between 2015 and 2019, Nigeria’s rice production increased from 3.9million metric tonnes to 4.9million. Demand however still outweighs supply as Nigeria currently consumes almost 7 million metric tonnes of rice per year. If the law of

demand and supply which is a fundamental economic principle holds any water, it then becomes natural to expect an increase in price, where demand exceeds supply. While it is tempting to view re-opening of the borders as a viable means of escaping this quagmire, we would only have succeeded in trading more holistic solutions for temporary succour, particularly now that alternative smuggling routes are being discovered. As a result of the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration’s 70% tariffs and levies on rice importation also aimed at boosting production and consumption of local rice, would-be importers with access to cheap paddy have taken to massive smuggling of rice into the country -all thanks to our porous borders. Nigeria’s rice deficit of about 2.1million MT up until the border closure directive was steadily augmented by smuggling, translating again to the fact that local producers can simply not compete with their foreign counterparts. Data out recently revealed that the Republic of Benin, Nigeria’s closest neighbor with a population of 11 million, barely 5% of Nigeria’s is the biggest buyer of the grain from Thailand; the world’s second-largest exporter. Yet, official shipments from Thailand to Nigeria have dwindled to almost nothing from more than 1.2 million tons in 2014 and ‘incidentally’, the largest tonnes of smuggled price in

Nigeria are illegally transferred through the porous NigeriaBenin border – indeed the facts speak for themselves. Way Forward According to the National President, Rice Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Aminu Goronyo, the rice industry has gained over N52.21bn since the border closure as recently disclosed by the CBN Governor, the onslaught is total and his statement is re-echoed by the Customs head honcho Rtd Col Hameed Ali Evidently, enforcing a steep drop in rice price will not augur well for operators in the value chain. As things stand, rice milling is already very expensive and further reduction in sales prices will impact negatively on cash flows and Return on Investments (ROI). A recent released report by a big time player in Nigeria and unarguably the largest player in the rice value chain-(they should know with a 160 million dollar investment in the sector) indicated a strong improvement in Nigeria’s domestic rice milling capacity which further proves that the sector needs protection from cheap smuggled rice. The fact is that the domestic Rice Industry has bridged the consumption gap in the country at a rate of about 0.2 million metric tonnes per year for the last 3 years and will likely do so at about 0.4 million metric tonnes per year over the next 3 years if investments in the industry grow at the current rate

This will in turn reduce the rice consumption gap in the country to a minimum. Hence, it is imperative that the rice policy in the country supports the investors in this domestic value chain to maximize their investments in this crucial three year period till the end of 2022. Most importantly, as Dr Debisi Araba, Regional Director at the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) posited that the Nigerian rice ecosystem needs to expand beyond more than what is currently obtainable. “Agriculture is really sophisticated, and you can’t reduce it to distributing blended fertilizers to farmers alone. It has to be an all-inclusive rounded approach that addresses concerns of all critical stakeholders in the value chain”, he said. Another convener of Rice Conversations in the last four years Richard Mbaram of Agro -Nigeria believes this is the time to convene another dialogue of sorts for Grains, Cereals, Tubers and other commodities that examines the inherent weaknesses and the apparent lack of linkages in the entire ecosystem and I couldn’t agree more. Corroborating the statement of the CIAT researcher, independent studies conducted have shown that a turnaround in Nigeria’s rice production landscape without improved infrastructure, production and milling activities self-sufficiency will remain a mirage and as I am wont to say , you can only be competitive where you have comparative advantage. Let the conversations continue as I rest my case for now.

Ade Adefeko, Vice President Corporate and Government Relations Olam InternationalNigeria is a member Technical steering Committee of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

POLITICS & POLICY Makinde’s govt moving Oyo from poverty to prosperity - Oyo SSG REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan

he Secretary to the State Government (SSG) of Oyo State, Olubamiwo Adeosun, has said that the government of Governor Seyi Makinde was moving the state from poverty to prosperity within a short while. The SSG, who stated this during a meeting with the Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development Goals, held in Ibadan, added that the government has kick started efforts aimed at ensuring the success of its policies. A statement by the State Coordinator of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Kunle Yusuff, quoted the SSG as declaring that the priorities of the Governor Seyi Makinde administration were tied to the SDGs. She pointed out that the government’s policies on free qualitative education, improvement of the health sector and economic expansion were in sync with some of the universal goals. She assured that the Oyo State would work together with the civil societies to achieve its priorities of developing the state. Similarly, Yusuff, who

Governor Seyi Makinde

is also the Senior Special Assistant on SDG to Governor Makinde, expressed the readiness of the state to collaborate with the civil society coalition on SDGs, saying: “Civil society plays an important role in the of democratic society in the areas of economic development, policy re-evaluation and protection of the underprivileged and vulnerable. Civil Society Organisation is an agent of

development and there should be a collaboration between them and the government.” In her speech, Adeosun said: “I am humbled by the number of civil societies present here. This is a platform for collaboration and partnership to develop the state and as an administration, we are clear on our priorities. Most of those priorities are tied to the SDG goals. “We are revamping in-

frastructure and while at it, we are looking at putting infrastructure in the health sector. We are doing free and qualitative education and we are looking for development partners to work with. I can also tell you that Oyo State w i l l s o o n m ov e f ro m poverty to prosperity, because we are creating investments. “So, we will surely collaborate with you. Thank God, we have someone who is passionate about the SDG goals on all-inclusion and not leaving anyone behind. With all the fantastic works you are doing in the civil societies, I am sure we can work together.” Earlier, the leaders of the delegation, Hamzat Kolawole and Tola Winjobi, national coordinator of the Civil Societies on SDGs, said that the CSOs could collaborate with the Makinde administration, having seen what it has been doing. Winjobi promised the civil societies’ readiness to support the Oyo State government, while commending the governor for his efforts on education and health. He equally advised the governor to provide more manpower to drive the developments in the health sector

Bayelsa guber: Diri’s kinsmen endorse APC’s Lyon SAMUEL ESE, Yenagoa

he people of Kolokuma/ Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have thrown their weight behind the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, David Lyon, in the November 16 election. At an APC governorship campaign rally at Sabagreia in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area, they said their son, Douye Diri, governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), was elected without any form of consultation with them. A statement by the APC governorship campaign media and publicity committee stated that Alternate Director-General of the APC Bayelsa State 2019 Governorship Campaign Council, Seiyefa Brisibe, said the PDP deceived the people during its last primary election that produced Diri. Brisibe pointed out that the area had an illustrious son they wanted as gov-

Douye Diri

ernorship candidate, but Governor Henry Seriake Dickson, gave the PDP ticket to Diri without consulting with people of the area. He said that Diri does not protect the interest of the people of the area and therefore, cannot attract any form of development to the area just as they did not benefit from the Dickson’s eight-year administration. His words: “They claim we should support them because they have given us a governorship candidate. But did they consult us before

giving us the governorship candidate? I urge you to vote for APC because we are sure of empowerment and development when David Lyon is in power.” In his address, the APC governorship candidate, Lyon, promised to complete the Sabageria/Polako bridge project that has been abandoned for eight years if voted into power on November 16. Lyon also promised to provide soft loans and grants for small and medium scale business women from the area, in a bid to move the

people above the poverty line, saying: “I am an Ijaw man like you, and I know your problems because they are the same problems I face every day as a person. When I become governor, I assure you that I would work hard to solve your problems.” He further promised to build befitting schools, sand fill parts of Okoloba Community to address annual flooding that renders the people homeless and jobless as well as providing farm tools for farmers in the area Also speaking, Ndutimi Komonibo, APC campaign coordinator for Kolokuma/ Opokuma Local Government Council reiterated the fact that the PDP has tempted the people of Kolga to their limits to the point that the only option is to vote for the APC. The APC campaign train later went to Opukuma, Odi and Kaiama where Lyon was also endorsed as the campaign team preached the message of a better Bayelsa for all.

Lagos lawmaker denies calling Nigerian politicians fetish INIOBONG IWOK

oshood Oshun, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, has denied media reports that he called Nigerian politicians fetish. Making clarification before members of the Lagos State House of Assembly Correspondents Association (LAHACA) Oshun, said that it would be wrong for him to insinuate that his colleagues were patronising traditionalists, adding that tradition should be separated from religion, denying that he never insinuated that. The lawmaker, while clearing the air on the matter in an interaction with journalists, noted that he was misquoted in the newspaper report on the issue. According to him, “I want to correct a report that is flying; on Thursday, 17th October, 2019 during the Yoruba sitting in the House, a motion was moved by Setonji David from Badagry 2 on Isese Day and why the traditionalists should be granted a day for their celebration. “In the cause of my contribution, I said that it was something we should all embrace because religion, tradition and culture go together. “I now went ahead to talk about the fact that we have lost our culture and our tradition. I said that we don’t even speak Yoruba Language anymore and that our children don’t understand Yoruba Language anymore other than English Language. “I said that in the chamber that day that if you look at the civil servants, the doctors, the lawyers and politicians there was the tendency that some of them had traditional medicine on them,” Oshun said. Oshun stated that his views was misinterpreted, stressing that he was shock to see media report contrary to what he had said. “But after that day, I saw a newspaper report indicating that I said that all Nigerian politicians tie charms on their waists, on their hands and the rest of it, which was erroneous. “I never said its only politicians that carry charms. Politicians are humans and just like I said that day; doctors, lawyers, civil servants and others had a choice to practise any religion. You don’t have to be a politician to practise a particular religion,” he said. Oshun, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts (State), added that he felt that there was a kind of misunderstand-

ing in the report and that he spoke to the newspaper concerned and that they pulled it out of their website immediately. He, however, said that the report had gone viral, and that people were asking him if he actually said what was reported in the media. The politician insisted that having spent 12 years in the House, he couldn’t have said that on the floor of the House, which he said was an open place. “You must say what you mean and something you can defend on the floor of the House. I cannot defend that. I don’t even know all the politicians in Lagos State alone not to talk of the whole Nigeria. “So, I cannot assume that all politicians do charms. I cannot even assume that all the politicians in my local government do charms not to talk of Nigeria. “But the good thing about it is that the newspaper concerned has pulled it out of their website, but it had gone viral and everybody has been calling me about it till today. I just felt we should correct that because it was not what I said and I will never say that,” he added. The lawmaker maintained that there was need to differentiate between religion and culture. He added that culture was the way we dress, the way we speak our language and that it involved some other things. He insisted that he spoke about culture, and about language and that he went further to say that the Yoruba’s should not wait till white men from the United Kingdom and the United States of America would start teaching their children the Yoruba Language. “We need to teach our children our language. To say politicians are fetish is very wrong. Politicians are humans; they are part of the society. “The same way you have politicians who believe in charms, you have doctors, lawyers, economists and others who believe in it. It is a matter of choice. If a politician or lawyer believes in it, it is a matter of choice. “If you say a politician is afraid that someone might take his seat and he goes fetish, what of civil servants, and even footballers.” “When we were younger, we felt that Indians used charms to play football. Are you saying that lawyers don’t believe in charms or doctors don’t want a very good hospital, it is a matter of choice,” he added.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

CULINARY DELIGHTS

Tarragon - Dining experience not a restaurant

eaving one’s house to go out to eat should be an experience. The way I see it, dining out should feel different than eating at home. For months now, I have wondered if there are any culinary experiences or restaurants that I have yet to experience in Lagos, and it turns out that the answer is yes. This city is full of wondeful culinary experiences. I had heard of Tarragon from several friends and it is one of the restaurants that I really wanted to check out before the end of the year. I had the opportunity to go to Tarragon a few weeks ago, for a belated birthday dinner celebration with a friend. I must say I was really excited, because I had only heard good things about the place. Firstly, Tarragon Culinary Academy is a consultancy, lifestyle, recreational and academic organization that offers first-class culinary and pastry arts training, hospitality service training, hospitality service consultancy operations and management. They embrace global and ethnic techniques while encouraging their students to express their artistic personalities through culinary art. Tarragon is founded and led by Chef Patron - Tiyan Alile and is the creative Dining Space and Culinary Academy. The restaurant insists on not being called a restaurant but a dining experience and I now understand why. Tarragon offers an exquisite a la Carte Menu and a Chef’s Tasting Menu designed by Chef Tiyan’s team as well as a live demonstration cooking. The menu exemplifies fundamental French and Nigerian techniques which have been redefined to suit modern palates and epitomizes the creativity which Chef Tiyan encourages her students to assume. The Tarragon brand is replicated in the restaurants which is operated and managed as a means to raise the dining standards in Nigeria. What I find cool is that the food in the restaurant is cooked by the culinary students led by head chef Paul Dylan Pieterse which gives a whole new meaning to putting work into practice. Essentially the restaurant serves as a hands-on training facility for aspiring chefs, waiters and service staff. Tarragon offers an unmatched fine dining experience. As opposed to casual eateries, cafes or family-style restaurants, fine dining caters to an upscale clientele and provides the highest quality of food. A fine dining restaurant has a formal atmosphere, is almost always a sit-down restaurant, and has a fancier menu than most restaurants. Located in Ikoyi, Lagos Tarragon is known amongst Lagosians and Nigerians at large, as one of the top restaurants in Nigeria. As we drove onto Awolowo road into 50 Raymond Njoku Street I kept hoping that the experience would surpass my expectations, because in my mind I had already put Tarragon on a pedestal due to all the good reviews I had gotten from friends. As we pulled into the parking space, we were warmly greeted by the security guard who said: “Welcome to Tarragon”. I found this endearing because I believe that hospitality should start as soon as you arrive on the premises. One word to describe the decor at Tarragon would be stun-

Lehle Balde (@lehlelalumiere) is a senior associate at BsuinessDay in the department of Strategy Innovation and Partnerships, she is also a financial inclusion advocate and radio anchor. Originally from Senegal Lehle has a passion for culinary experiences and enjoys discovering new restaurants in Lagos. Follow @bdculinarydelights on Instagram for more.

avoid any disappointment. I recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants to experience out of this world service and hospitality, those that see value in fine dining experiences and want a very intimate and exclusive place to dine. The food and drinks are of very high quality and the service is the best service I have experienced in a Lagos restaurant. They have monthly themed events like Jazz night. Just call to make an inquiry. The restaurant even sent us a thank you email after we left. I found that to be a great finishing touch. I will definitely be back and encourage you all to experience this fine dining experience. ning. The décor is intentional and classy. The lights were dimly lit and the atmosphere, very inviting. We were seated and a waiter came over with a menu. There’s genuine warmth to this opulent-looking restaurant, and the Haute cuisine-style menus are even more impressive to taste than they are to look at. I was really hungry, so I was worried about actually getting full because often the assumption is that fine dining equals small portions. As I pondered over the menu I decided to have the smoked potato and cheddar soup, croutons. This soup was really delicious, just creamy enough yet had accents of flavor that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, nevertheless the combination was simply divine. As my main meal, I had the chef composition: chicken confit potato, sauteed sweet corn, with sauce supreme. It is a breaded chicken that is carefully cooked and plated to perfection. For dessert, I opted with the apricot pudding which is an apricot based pudding with apple salsa. The apricot was the icing on top of the meal, it was rich yet not too sweet and each bite was heavenly. My guest had the Esacbeche of red snapper, celery, and apple to start and the pumpkin risotto, crispy sage as their main and the dark chocolate for dessert which is dark chocolate, hazelnut cream, salted caramel, and chocolate nest. I had the opportunity to meet the new head chef whose name is Paul Dylan Pieterse. A chef who says he found his love and talent

for food and cuisine at the age of 26. One day he decided to make food for his family ,who really enjoyed it which encouraged him to later get experience at a country lodge which led him to get qualified at Warwick chef school in Cape Town. His love for travel and food has enabled him to cook in different parts of the world such as Mauritius, South Africa, and as of two months ago Nigeria, where he is now the head chef at Tarragon. He specializes in French cuisine and slowcooked food and is also the instructor at the Culinary Academy. I asked him what people can expect at Tarragon in the coming months and he said: “Tarragon aims to be the best restaurant in Nigeria, we want people to expect change and experience an unmatched fine dining experience, we want people to forget everything and come have a good time”. To my surprise, while the portions are smaller fine dining portions the food is very filling. I was very full after leaving the restaurant which is an indication that the ingredients. I almost did not want to take out my phone to take pictures because I just wanted to live in the moment and enjoy the experience. The dining area is visionary and it is obvious that they were trying to achieve a certain look and feel with the décor and ambiance of the restaurant. The restaurant seats exactly 22 people on the table and chairs and also has space for about 6 at the bar. Recommendations are a necessity in order to

CHEF PAUL

RATING 5

Total

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Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

news

AXA Mansard bags Most Innovative Insurance Company of the Year, Insurance CEO of the Year

XA Mansard, a member of AXA, a leader in Insurance and Asset management, has received the 2019 Nigerian Finance Innovation Award for the Most innovative Insurance company of the Year. The Company’s CEO, Kunle Ahmed, also emerged as the Insurance CEO of the year. The Nigeria Finance Innovation Awards, now in its fifth year, recognizes the accomplishments of financial executives and organisations for their financial leadership and contributions to their companies’ and industry growth. The event which held on Saturday, October 12, 2019 at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island Lagos had in attendance dignitaries from the financial and other sectors in the country. In a statement released by the company to mark this achievement, Kunle Ahmed, CEO at AXA Mansard Insurance plc stated, “AXA Mansard remains committed to empowering people live better lives. Our deep yearnings to continuously find solutions for our customers’ pain points led to the need for innovation in the products and services we offer to our custom-

ers and the way these services are delivered. It is therefore very rewarding to be the recipient of this award”. The annual awards rewards success, growth and innovations of finance executives and their team’s efforts towards its organisations sustainability while showcasing excellent work that has been rendered by firms that provided them with the services, support and technology that enabled their success. Chief customer and marketing officer, Jumoke Odunlami, also noted that the company is very privileged to have visionary leaders, the receipt of the Insurance CEO of the year award is a testament to this. We are excited and we celebrate with our CEO, Kunle Ahmed. AXA Mansard offers Life as well as Property & Casualty insurance products and services to individuals and institutions across Nigeria. The Company also offers asset/investment management services, health insurance solutions and pension fund administration through its three subsidiaries - AXA Mansard Investments Limited, AXA Mansard Health Limited and AXA Mansard Pensions Limited, respectively.

Unilever announces new commitments for a waste-free world TEMITAYO AYETOTO

nilever, owner of brands including Dove, Ben & Jerry’s, Lipton and Omo, has announced ambitious new commitments to reduce its plastic waste and help create a circular economy for plastics. The company has confirmed that by 2025 it will halve its use of virgin plastic by reducing its absolute use of plastic packaging by more than 100,000 tonnes and accelerating its use of recycled plastic, as well as help collect and process more plastic packaging than it sells. This commitment makes Unilever the first major global consumer goods company to commit to an absolute plastics reduction across its portfolio. Unilever is already on track to achieve its existing commitments to ensure all of its plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, and to use at least 25 percent recycled plastic in its packaging, also by 2025. “Plastic has its place, but that placeisnotintheenvironment.We can only eliminate plastic waste by actingfastandtakingradicalaction at all points in the plastic cycle,” Alan Jope, Unilever CEO, said. “Our starting point has to be design, reducing the amount of plastic we use, and then making sure that what we do use increasingly comes from recycled sources. We are also committed to ensuring all our plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable,” Jope said. “This demands a fundamental rethink in our approach to our packaging and products. It requires us to introduce new and innovative packaging materials and scale up new business models, like re-use and

re-fill formats, at an unprecedented speed and intensity,” he said. Unilever’s commitment will require the business to help collect and process around 600,000 tonnes of plastic annually by 2025. This will be delivered through investment and partnerships which improve waste management infrastructure in many of the countries in which Unilever operates. “Our vision is a world in which everyone works together to ensure that plastic stays in the economy and out of the environment. Our plastic is our responsibility and so we are committed to collecting back more than we sell, as part of our drive towards a circular economy. This is a daunting but exciting task which will help drive global demand for recycled plastic,” Jope said. Ellen MacArthur, founder, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, described the announcement by Unilever as a significant step in creating a circular economy for plastic. “By eliminating unnecessary packaging through innovations such as refill, reuse, and concentrates, while increasing their use of recycled plastic, Unilever is demonstrating how businesses can move away from virgin plastics,” MacArthur said. “We urge others to follow their lead, so collectively we can eliminate the plastic we don’t need, innovate, so what we do need is circulated, and ultimately build an economic system where plastic packaging never becomes waste,” he said. Since 2017, Unilever has been transforming its approach to plastic packaging through its ‘Less, Better, No’ plastic framework.

L-R: Babs Olugbemi, founder; Taiwo Osho, president, and Sola Adenusi, vice president, Olabisi Onabanjo University chapter, all of Great Achievers’ Club, at a leadership summit to mark the club’s 20th anniversary.

Students, others suggest ways to curb sexual harassment in high schools VICTORY IZUCHUKWU

lthough the University of Lagos has since dismissed the lecturers, Boniface Igbeneghu and Samuel Oladipo implicated in the sex-for-grades scandal by the BBC Eye investigation, but a cross-section of Nigerians say more needs to be done to check the menace. A BusinessDay WhatsApp survey finds that more adoption of technology, establishing efficient complaints board, enacting sexual harassment bill, encouraging more enrolment and separating the functions of lecturers who teach from those who administer examinations will help to curb the growing trend of sexual harassment of students in Nigerian higher institutions. Ola Andrew, a media professional, says there must first be a law in our institutions to check the ugly trend, saying, “Having

done that, there is a need for a system where there’s no direct contact between lecturers and students, a situation where exams are written, marked and graded electronically. In this way, changes can be tracked and reviewed for whatever reason.” Andrew also calls an independent body outside the school system (or governmentbacked body such as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) could be set up and through this body victims can report cases and have them followed up based on the law of the land and of the institution. Some of the students who spoke with BusinessDay prefer different lecturers grade their examination, different from lecturers who conduct lectures, while others call for an automated system to mark their grades. “The grading system for students should be 100 percent

automated, especially in an era such as we have now, in that the examinations should be set in an objective format where the grading will require very low human input. This will ensure transparency,” Collins Omeruo, a student at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, says. Omeruo also calls for an active complaints committee to handle complaints from students and staff alike, noting, “I think if their employers (the government, especially) will set up and make effective and ethics committee to handle complaints from students and staff alike, and place a very serious penalty for such that’s a huge step.” “When exams are conducted electronically no student would visit the lecturer to see how he or she did before the score sheet is sent to the School Senate for approval,” notes Shedrack Peter Ebebe, a registrar’s representative at Capital Trust

Broker Limited. Many Nigerians have expressed outrage over the scandal, and while many call for prosecution of lecturers involved, some offer practical suggestions. Abubakar Suleiman, on his social media post, says, “Let’s separate the evaluation process so those who teach don’t grade (or degrade) our children.” Some respondents to BusinessDay’s questions call for improved security on university campuses. “In my opinion, action should be taken in order to ensure the protection of students no matter their age or class, and in a case in which a student’s security is violated, measures must be taken (such as increased protection and security by installing cameras all over the school area or by disciplining the person guilty of the deed),” says Glory Frank Onyehara, a student at Virgen de la Vega, Spain.

Kano, Lagos airports’ terminals to be completed December - minister Solomon Ayado, Abuja

inister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, says Kano and Lagos airports’ terminals will be completed by December and April next year, respectively. Sirika rsaid this in Abuja on Thursday, when he appeared before Senate Committee on Aviation for the 2020 budget defence, saying in the fiscal year 2020, the sum of N41.878 billion was being proposed as capital expenditure for the aviation ministry. The minister explained that the budgetary provision would focus on sustaining the infrastructural renewal at the airports as well as upgrading and providing necessary air navigating equipment and that of weather forecast. Also, he said the budget would give priority attention to safety and security infrastructure.

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According to Sirika, the airport terminals including the Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt, which, he said some were already completed, were all built with the $500 million loan from the China Exam Bank. “We have completed the Abuja and Port Harcourt terminals and the Kano terminal will be completed in December and Lagos in April next year, I am sure,” he said. Pointing out the challenges with the new terminals, the minister mentioned changes in structural design of the airports, foundation footing and escalators. Also, he said provisions for the biggest modern aircrafts, change in departure and arrival floors to conform with the Railway Station, power supply and relocation of the control tower and fire station, were among the many problem confronting

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the completion of the terminals. “These challenges have resulted in the need for variation and additional works to the tune of $461,795,551.02, which has been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC). “The China Exim Bank has indicated willingness to consider funding the above additional works, and we have written to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning to provide for the sum of $73,887,288.16 N22,535,622,888.00 at N305/$) as counterpart fund in 2019 outside the Ministry’s proposed FGN budget. “The President has graciously approved 50% of the sum and in three months we are expecting the balance of the remaining 50% of the money. “For the 2020 budget proposal, we have also approached the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to @Businessdayng

provide from the service-wide vote the following counterpart funding for remedial/additional works and completion of four Chinese terminals at Kano, Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt ($51,800,266.99) (N15,850,881,698.94)) has been approved by Mr President,” he stated. He further said the ministry had developed a road map for aviation sector to be implemented through public private partnership (PPP). The partnership, he said, will see to the establishment of national carrier, maintenance, repair and overhaul facility, develop agro-allied cargo structures and establish aviation leasing company, as well as search and rescue system and establishment of aerospace university with the support of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

news Local, foreign investors shun cheap Nigerian ... Continued from page 1

sible earnings recovery in the near-term. Analysts at Cariobased EFG Hermes forecast a 14 percent earnings growth between 2019 and 2021, w ith non-banks’ earnings expected to recover strongly in 2020 a f t e r a n e x p e c t e d d i fficult 2019, and a 2019 dividend yield forecast of 10 percent (11.2 percent for banks). “Despite this, policy uncertainty makes it very difficult to become bullish,” the analysts said. “ These factors keep us underweighted on Nigeria relative to frontier and emerging market peers.” The policies include moves by the government to close its land borders to all trade and the Cent r a l B a n k o f Ni g e r i a’s increase in minimum loan to deposit ratio to 65 percent by the end of 2019. “The latter policy may support earnings growth for stronger banks, but i t i s ha rd t o re c o n c i l e policies that force private-sector lending with those that severely restrict trade,” the analysts said in a recent note to clients. With foreign inflows of N34.92 billion in August 2019, foreign portfolio investment (FPIs) into equities outweighed outflows of N28.98 billion for the first in one year before the period, according to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The trend shows the disinterest that has trailed the market so far in the year. On the other hand, Nigerian pension funds have seen growth in their asset under management up to a compounded annual grow th rate of 16 percent as at August from about N4.5 trillion in August 2014 to more than N9 trillion in August 2019. However, their exposure to stocks has re d u c e d c o n s i d e rab ly , no thanks to high-yield on OMO bills. In re c e nt ye a r s, t h e OMO window has become an avenue for local investors including nonbanks as well as foreign investors to benefit from the attractive rates offered by an aggressive CBN which has attracted hot money into Nigeria but has seen a rotation of funds from stocks to the money market. Portfolio inflows into equity and bond markets tanked in the second

quarter of 2019 to $496.84 million and $316.28 million from N1 billion and $400 million in the same period a year earlier. However, inflows to money market recorded a 30 percent surge to $3.5 billion within the period. Similarly, OMO issuances by the CBN have surged from $600 million in 2016 to $2.4 billion in 2018, according to US-based Citigroup Inc., while total issuance up to August 2019 is around $1.4 billion. This is despite the continuous depreciation of equities on the Nigerian market. Nigeria’s equity market is down 16.14 percent since the start of the year and is below its December 2010 levels. The market, how ever, currently has a 4.8x 12-month forward Price to Earnings but a rally in the stock market is near impossible, if history is any guide, following the persistent decline in net f o re i g n a s s e t s. A n i n crease in the nation’s net foreign assets has always cor related w ith recent stock market rallies. The bullish trend of stocks between August and December 2015 was accompanied with corresponding growth in net foreign assets. A similar trend was always obser ved between April and August 2017 as well as the first three months of 2018. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria said it has barred local corp o ra t e s a n d i n d i v i d u als from participating in both primar y and secondary activities of OMO market, as it makes extra e f f o r t s t o b o o st c re d i t flow to the real sector of the Nigerian economy. In a circular released T h u r s d a y t i t l e d “ L E TTER TO ALL BANKS, RE: OPEN MARKET OPERATIONS AUCTIONS”, the CBN said: “Please note that the restr iction on Open Market Operations Bill purchase by DOMESTIC corporates (inclusive of non-bank financial institutions) and individuals applies to both primary and secondary market activities.” The directive restricting participants that can buy the high-yielding central bank bonds does not include foreign portfolio investors, as they cur rent ly hol d a round $18 billion worth of outstanding OMO bills and their carry-trade activities support the naira. www.businessday.ng

L-R: Joseph Osodi, head, brand marketing, Credit Direct Limited; Chukwuma Nwanze, executive director, Credit Direct Limited, and Emeka Ucheaga, technical assistant to the ED, at the 2019 BusinessDay Banks’ and other Financial Institutions Award where Credit Direct Limited won 2 awards including Consumer Finance CEO award for Akinwande Ademosu and Consumer Finance Company of the Year.

Frequent tanker accidents fuel calls for haulage... Continued from page 2

an eyewitness claiming to have seen up to 20 bodies being taken from the scene, while another publication put the toll at 60. On April 18, the police in Oyo confirmed two persons dead in a petrol tanker explosion at Sawmill/Onipepeye area of the LagosIbadan Expressway. The tanker, which was reportedly trying to avoid collision with a car, ended up having an accident, but the fire outbreak that followed was, according to eyewitness accounts, due to those who were trying to scoop fuel. Its worsening was attributed to failure of the fire service to arrive the scene early enough. Also in July, 60 lives were lost, including two officials of the Benue State Fire Service, when a petrol-laden tanker fell and exploded at Ahumbe village on the Otukpo/Makurdi Road. Samuel Gbadegbo, a professor and dean of the School of Transportation, Lagos State University, summed up the three major causes of recurring tanker accidents thus: the roads are not good, the pipelines are underutilised particularly because of vandalism, and

tanker drivers are abusing substances that impair their judgment. “We have a lot of pipeline networks but they are not being used because they are being vandalised,” said Gbadebo. This, according to him, is a resource that could have been transferring petroleum products “in a jiffy without all these tankers rolling over the place”. But “all the investment in doing pipelines all over, they’ve gone to waste because the minute you pump one gallon of petrol into the pipeline, the vandals are waiting”. Regarding the roads which he said “are evil”, Gbadebo said, “We don’t even have potholes now, we have ‘drumholes’. We have roads that are just not tanker- or trailer-worthy almost throughout the country.” Nigeria is the world’s sixth largest exporter of crude oil, but the country imports virtually all its petroleum products because its refineries are not working due to years of mismanagement. The Lagos port remains the main entry for the fuel that serves Nigeria’s almost 200 million people. Analysts say it is a disaster always waiting to happen in a country where fuel

Apapa: Presidential team/truck drivers’ clash... Continued from page 2

street urchins (Area Boys) who were said to have been hired by the task team to face protesting truck drivers. The truck drivers were reportedly demanding an end to extortion by the team. The death of the driver infuriated one group of Area Boys, who set ablaze Lilypond Transit Truck Park, which serves as a holding bay for trucks coming into Apapa to pick goods from the ports. BusinessDay reporter who stumbled on the scene of the incident gathered that chaos

broke out after truck drivers got fed up with being charged illegal fees by the task team officials without being transferred promptly to the central port in Apapa. Part of the presidential task team’s job is to coordinate the movement of the trucks into Lilypond Transit Truck Park, from where they are allowed to access the ports on a firstcome, first-served basis. A logistics company’s truck supervisor who confided in BusinessDay explained that rather than approving the transfer of the trucks who use

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distribution is in the hands of often reckless oil tanker drivers and city planning fails to catch up with urban population growth. Last year, there was the widely reported Otedola Bridge fire accident in Lagos, where a tanker fully loaded with 33,000 litres of petrol fell, leaked and exploded. The explosion on that busy stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is said to have claimed 12 lives, and at least 54 vehicles burnt. Clement Isong, chief executive officer (executive secretary), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), told BusinessDay that following the Otedola Bridge incident, measures were put in place to have both short- and long-term goals. In the short term, there is a programme called the Safe to Load under which driver behaviour is critical. This comprises driver training and health checks too. Drunkenness and recklessness are also checked under this programme. The state of the equipment is examined: tyres, fire extinguishers and others. The long-term objectives include a renewal of Nigerian Road Tankers Fleet. “There are modern road tankers. Some of the fleets in Nigeria are well over 30

years old. It is like using a 406 Peugeot of the 1960s and expecting to get top service similar to a modern Peugeot car,” Isong said. Even after the tragic incident of 2018 on the Otedola Bridge, there have been other near-mishaps on the same axis, involving tankers conveying petroleum products. One of such was on September 20, 2019, involving a diesel tanker that fell off. On October 10, a tanker carrying 33,000 litres of fuel driving towards Berger had an accident resulting in fuel spillage on the road. Four victims were said to have sustained injuries due to the accident, according to Lagos State Emergency Management Agency. On October 12, 2019, another tanker, reportedly of 45,000-litre capacity, fell at the Otedola Bridge. The situation was managed by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency to avoid explosion, although causing a major traffic. According to Isong, modern tankers have satellite tracking, anti-rollover in case a tanker falls. They also have anti-skid, anti-theft and anti-spill technologies. They are already in use in parts of Africa, and introducing them in Nigeria will help to curb the menace of recurring accidents.

the Lilypond Park, the task team gives access to other truck drivers who can pay N30,000 illegal fee or more. “The task team gave a rule that all vehicles must park in the Lilypond Transit Park before they are approved to go to the main port. But at night, they pass the vehicles whose owners have paid well for direct access to Wharf, abandoning others in the park like prisoners,” the truck driver said. “They spend about 10 to 15 days in the park without being passed. That was why the truck drivers protested today (Thursday), insisting that no

vehicle will be passed on to Wharf unless they are also passed. In retaliation, the task team brought touts to face the drivers. One of the drivers was stabbed to death and his body is currently with the DPO. This was what angered local Area Boys, who then started setting things ablaze in the park,” he said. But when contacted, Kayode Opeifa, executive vice chairman of the task team, said the clash did not have anything to do with the task team’s activities in Apapa.

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•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Sports RFEF confirms December 18 date for El Clasico as LaLiga chief kicks Anthony Nlebem

he Spanish Football Federation’s (RFEF) Competition Committee has confirmed that El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid that was initially postponed due to political unrest in Catalonia will be played on 18 December at Camp Nou, as the clubs had requested, thwarting LaLiga chief Javier Tebas request to move the match to either 4 or 7 December. Tebas presented fresh arguments in favour of LaLiga’s preferred dates. However, the proposal was given

short shrift by the panel, who voted two-to-one in favour of the date Barce-

lona and Real Madrid had already agreed to. The game was moved

Hemery and Bhatia win big at Lagos Open with Heineken Anthony Nlebem

wo top tennis players have emerged champions at the just concluded Lagos Open tournament with the world’s most international premium beer brand, Heineken. French star Calvin Hemery won in the men’s singles category after defeating Aldin Setkic in a keenly contested matchup on Monday. In the women’s category India’s Riya Bhatia, who made the semifinals in the first leg,

went a step higher to reach the final of the second leg, where she defeated Nastja Kolar of Slovenia 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 to secure her first ITF title in two years and 3rd overall on the ITF Tour. Both winners will now walk home with the grand sum of $25,000 as well as the prestigious ITF trophy. In attendance were brand representatives from headline sponsors; Heineken, who congratulated all the winners and expressed delight over this year’s tournament. The Heineken brand Manager, Olaoluwa Baba-

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lola said, - “We take great pride in sponsoring events such as these. Over the years, Heineken has always been a big player in the global sports scene. The Lagos Open offered us the opportunity to be a part of this iconic Tennis tournament and we have enjoyed every minute of the competition.” Heineken’s involvement in this year’s edition of Lagos Open has made the iconic tournament even more special. The beer brand, which is one of the most international in the world has been an avid supporter of sports across the world. From the Rugby World Cup to Formula 1, and even the biggest sporting spectacle in the world; the UEFA Champions League, the brand’s influence in the sports scene is quite laudable. Following up on the brand’s involvement at the Lagos Open, Heineken is set to continue its support for the 2019/2020 Champions League season with select viewing experiences hosted across the country. The fashion season will also see Heineken host the 5th edition of the Lagos Fashion Week from the 24th - 26th of October. With a presence in over 192 countries, Heineken remains one of the most international brands on the planet. The brand prides itself on delivering premium experiences across various touchpoints such as fashion, sports, and music to its millions of consumers across the world.

to due to civil unrest in the Catalonia region after the Spanish Supreme Court

jailed prominent Catalan political figures for their part in a referendum and subsequent unilateral declaration of independence in 2017. After nights of rioting and clashes with security forces, it was decided the game should be rearranged. LaLiga had originally proposed moving the 26 October fixture to the Bernabéu, but neither club was happy with that arrangement and asked instead for a change of date. That was the main reasoning behind the RFEF’s ruling, with Liga sources pointing out that although Tebas later suggested moving the match to 4 December, he had previously “only

asked the competition committee for a change of venue, not a change of date.” The tug-of-war may yet have another round to go with LaLiga expected to appeal to the higher authority of the Superior Sports Council and more than ready to drag the matter though the courts. Tebas argues that 18 December already has Copa del Rey fixtures scheduled – as well as European champion Liverpool’s Club World Cup semifinal – and that staging the game on that date will not only devalue the domestic cup but could also negatively impact on the overall economic value of the El Clasico.

WABU lauds sponsors for introducing GOtv Boxing Night Mini Anthony Nlebem

re s i d e nt o f t h e West African Boxing Union (WABU), Remi Aboderin, has commended GOtv for introducing GOtv Boxing Night Mini, a smaller version of the popular GOtv Boxing Night. Speaking in Lagos on Sunday, Aboderin, who is also the SecretaryGeneral of the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C), said GOtv Boxing Night Mini has the potential to take the sport to the next level. The WABU President stated that GOtv Boxing Night Mini, which is conceived to hold more regularly, will offer many more Nigerian boxers the opportunity for fights that will help boost their fight records that will enhance their chances of being ranked for titles by international boxing bodies. He explained that the infrequency of boxing promotions locally has reduced the chances of boxers getting fights, thereby robbing them of the opportunity to have the number of fights required to take shots at continental, Commonwealth and world titles. “It is undisputable that GOtv Boxing Night is the most regular platform on

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which our professional boxers get to fight because it holds every three months or thereabouts. There are other promotions, but they’re not of the same regularity, meaning that it is one for which most boxers aim. But with GOtv Boxing Night Mini, additional fight opportunities have been presented and many more boxers can benefit,” he said. The inaugural edition of GOtv Boxing Night Mini will hold on 16 November at the Rowe Park Sports Complex in Lagos. It will feature big-name boxers such as Rilwan “Real One” Oladosu, WABU lightweight champion; Rilwan “Baby Face” Babatunde, WABU welterweight champion; Waidi “Skoro” Usman, former African B oxing Union featherweight champion and Kabiru “KB Godson @Businessdayng

Towolawi. The WABU boss noted that Ghanaian boxers, who usually have higher number of fights than their Nigerian counterparts of the same age and profile, have been benefiting from the regularity of promotions in their country. He noted that the sponsors deserve commendation for introducing GOtv Boxing Night Mini, which increases their support for boxing in Nigeria. “They have been spending a lot of money on GOtv Boxing Night and GOtv Boxing NextGen Search and have added GOtv Boxing Night Mini. They are probably the biggest supporters of the sport in Africa. I want to use this opportunity to call on other corporate bodies to join GOtv in their bid to move Nigerian boxing to higher heights,” he said.

36 BUSINESS DAY

Friday 25 October 2019

news Airtel Africa, Finablr announce global partnership to facilitate inbound, outbound cross-border payments BALA AUGIE

irtel Africa, a telecoms service provider, and Finablr, a platform for payment and foreign exchange solutions, have entered into an extensive global partnership that will see the two companies bringing together their complementary capabilities. As an outcome of the arrangement, Airtel Africa mobile money operations will be integrated with Finablr’s technology platform and global network to facilitate seamless inward and outbound crossborder payments. The arrangement will allow customers leverage Finablr’s global network to send money from over 100 countries into Airtel Money mobile wallets across Africa, in a convenient, secure and cost-effective manner. Additionally, Airtel Africa will leverage Finablr’s technology capabilities to develop and deploy digital solutions, enabling African expatriates to settle payments into Airtel Money wallets in real time through the Airtel Money mobile app and the Airtel Africa online portal. The services are expected to be launched market-by-market in a phased manner, with the first country to go live by year-end. The launch will be supported by a comprehensive worldwide marketing programme to introduce the new services to African communities overseas and to receivers in Africa. Through this partnership, Airtel benefits from gaining

access to Finablr’s global payments connectivity, technology platform and its omnichannel sourcing and distribution capabilities spanning 170 countries. For Finablr, the partnership with Airtel Africa will help accelerate its expansion across the continent with potential access to Airtel’s 100 million+ subscriber base. The partnership is viewed by both parties as long term with significant potential to grow. Following the launch, the partners will explore additional opportunities including intra-Africa payments and other value-added services. Raghunath Mandava, CEO of Airtel Africa, said, “We are excited that Airtel Money will collaborate with Finablr to introduce global payments services, enabling customers to make cross-border remittances, pay bills, make purchases and withdraw cash from our outlets and agents across the continent. This is another important example of how mobile technology will play a key role in changing the way people connect with their homes in Africa.” Promoth Manghat, Group CEO of Finablr, commented, “We are delighted to partner with Airtel Africa, and join hands to deliver affordable and reliable payments services to customers. Together, building on the strength of our technology platform, we are delivering fintech at scale thereby empowering consumers and businesses across the continent.”

Women empowerment key to 2019 Arise Women’s conference ENDURANCE OKAFOR

he 2019 edition of Arise Women’s Conference will focus on empowerment, especially as it affects women, organisers of the annual event say. The annual gathering, which is strategically designed to educate, empower members of the society, is scheduled to hold October 26, 2019. Put together by Siju Iluyomade, convener/founder of Arise Women Initiative, a faith-based non-governmental organisation, this 11th edition will be held inside the RCCG, City of David, in Victoria Island, Lagos. The theme of this year’s conference is: ‘Bloom,’ a word usually used to refer to a flower, especially one cultivated for its beauty. “Now is the time for women to bloom, and flourish like the full flower at the height of her glory,” Iluyomade said. With huge momentum and great anticipation already gathering ahead of this year’s conference, the organisers led by Iluyomade, wife of Shepherd in the Lord at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, City of David Parish, Idowu Iluyomade, has invited top female dignitaries across Nigeria as speakers and spe-

cial guests to grace this year’s edition. Leading the pack of dignitaries is the first lady of host state, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, the wife of Governor of Lagos State Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Others include the first lady of Ekiti State, Bisi AdeleyeFayemi, her Edo State counterpart, Besty Obaseki, and that of Ogun State, Bamdele Abiodun. Also on the list are present and former first ladies of Kwara State Olufolake Abdulrasaq and Omolara Omolewa Ahmed. Minister of women affairs, Pauline Tallen, Salamotu Gbajabiamila, wife of speaker of House of Representative, will also be joined by distinguished businesswomen and boardroom gurus, Ibukun Awosika, chairman of FirstBank, Stella Okoli of Emzor Pharmaceutical Limited, among others. This year’s conference is coming after the successful empowerment programme for over 1000 individuals. Arise Women Health walk by the NGO will also attract thousands of participants, with free shuttle buses provided in a strategic location in the state as well as free medical check-ups. Arise Women is committed to accelerating nation building through the empowerment of women in the society, the NGO said on its website. www.businessday.ng

L-R: Patrick Tamba Musa, senior transport engineer, African Development Bank (AfDB); Nnolim Nnaji, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation; Simon Tumba, CEO/publisher, NigerianTravelsmart (NTM); Dapo Olumide, CEO, Ropeways Transport Limited, and Ali Magashi, CEO, Kitari Consult Limited, at the 2019 NigerianTravelsmart (NTM) colloquium in Lagos.

Migration: Edo seeks closure of 1,490 illegal entry points into Nigeria IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

do State governor, Godwin Obaseki, has called for closure of illegal entry points into Nigeria to curb nefarious activities of some illegal migrants. The governor made the call while declaring open the 2019 Comptroller-General of Immigration’s Annual Conference in Benin City, the Edo State capital. Obaseki said Nigeria must join other countries in tightening their porous borders to prevent illegal migration, saying, “There are about 1,490 illegal entering points into the country and this is encouraging illegal migration into the country. Some of these illegal migrants commit crimes in the country and even have the Nigeria Voters Card. It is worthwhile for any country to

… as 27,046 migrants capture on database - Babandede develop a policy on migration as it is necessary to manage a country’s economy.” On the other hand, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says it has so far registered a total of 27,046 migrants into its e-migrant registration database. Muhammad Babandede, comptroller-general of Immigration, made the disclosure at the ongoing 2019 annual conference of the service with the theme, “Migration Management in a Developing Economy: The Role of Nigeria Immigration Service” in Benin City. Babandede, who said the service rolled out the migrants’ e-registration centres in 22 states of the federation, noted that of the registered figures 17,875 were irregular migrants representing 66 percent, while 9,170 were regular migrants, representing

34 percent. Obaseki, however, commended the NIS for the introduction of the National Biometric Identity Card for Intra-ECOWAS Travel and Biometric Registration of Foreign Nationals as a new security measure in the country. He said the theme of the conference was apt as it would afford stakeholders the opportunity to evaluate their roles in combating illegal migration and deliberate a way forward. Delivering a paper presentation at the conference, entitled ‘Government’s Effort at Curtailing Irregular Migration: The Edo Experience,’ the governor said the state was committed to supporting policies aimed at reducing illegal migration. He listed four modalities put in place by the state to combat

illegal migration to Europe, to include Returnees Management; Resettlement and Reintegration; Advocacy and Awareness Promotion; Promotion of Human Rights and Development of the state’s economy. The governor said youths in the state were being trained and empowered with vocational skills and linked to jobs, while the basic education sector has been reformed to discourage citizens from embarking on illegal migration. Earlier, Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said the Federal Government was working towards the introduction of a better technology for the issuance of the Nigerian passport such that there would not be physical contact between the passport seeker and passport provider.

NASS, Executive agree on N10trn Agency launches brands basecamp Africa to boost product marketability Bond to fund 540 roads Solomon Ayado, Abuja

ue to serious road infrastructuredeficitinNigeria, the Federal Government and National Assembly have resolved to launch a N10-trillion bond to raise adequate funds to rehabilitate and ensure completion of 540 road projects. The deplorable state of roads across the country has become a matter of concern to all Nigerians, as the ugly situation has caused deaths and heightened crime. Although the Federal Government has consistently said it lacked the resources to fix the roads and close the infrastructure gap. To salvage the situation, the National Assembly has opined that the bad situation can be tackledonlyifthegovernmentappropriates adequate funds in the 2020 budget to fix the bad roads. It says the executive needs up to N10 trillion, in the 2020 appropriation to finance rehabilitation, completion and maintenance of the roads. This is as the minister of works

andhousing,BabatundeFashiola, agreed with NASS on the need for the nation to urgently close gaps of fund releases and yearly deficitcapitalbudgetfinancing,by launching a national N10 trillion infrastructure bond. The bond, Fashola explains, will be launched in such a way that people, state and federal ministries, as well as relevant government agencies would inject their money to fund road projects. Also,hepositsthebondcanbe realised only if it is backed by legislation from NASS, and adds that it would be with a very competitive coupon rate. This was the outcome of an interface between the works minister, Fashola, and members of the Joint Committee of Senate and House of Representatives, at the 2020 budget defence of the ministry of works on Thursday in Abuja. In the 2020 budget of N10.33 trillion presented to NASS by President Muhammadu Buhari, the works ministry received highest sectoral allocation of N287.2 billion with N197.0 billion proposed for capital projects.

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Iniobong Iwok

mbidextrous, a capability and training specialist agency, is set to launch brands basecamp Africa in Nigeria. This would be facilitated by threewomenprofessionalleaders, Folusho Olaniyan, Allisyn James and Ruth Williams. Theeventisexpectedtoexpose Africa’s marketing professionals and business leaders to modern techniques in product marketing strategies. The London-based agency has a passion for training business professionals to unlock their potentials,andhelptheirbusiness grow. Allisyn James, founder of Ambidextrous, said the brands basecampwouldexposebusiness and marketing leaders to best practices to enable companies in Africa meet local challenges, ineffective and uneconomical product brand that reduce profit. Allisyn spoke Thursday at a networking reception and taster event organised for marketing and business leaders, held at the @Businessdayng

Deputy British High Commissioner’s Residence, Ikoyi. She noted that marketing was becoming more competitive and required more innovative ways of meeting consumer needs. “I think some products may not get the required patronage or profitabilitybecausetheydon’tget fundamentals right. “We believe the brands basecamp would expose business leaders to the modern technique and strategies tohelptheirbrandsandcompany grow,” Allisyn said. Ruth William, partner at Ambidextrous, said the partners understand the business terrain and the intricacies associated with product failure, stressing that having conducted the training in several countries it was equipped and experienced enough for the task. “Wehavetrainedthousandsof people internationally. We have all the experience and we know what people are facing. A lot of products in Nigeria, perhaps, need innovative ways that it can use to grow profit. A lot of innovative ways to overcomethisarethingsthecourse aimed to deal with,” she said.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

news

NDDC contractors get three-week ultimatum to return to sites Cynthia Egboboh, Abuja

he Federal Government on Thursday handed down a three-week ultimatum to all mobilised contractors of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) who have not completed their projects to report back to site. Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta Affairs, in a statement signed by Patricia Deworitse, director of press, on Thursday, said Federal Government cannot change the region unless it ensured that money meant for the region was spent judiciously on the development. The minister, while receiving the delegates from Niger Delta Agitators Network (NDAN) in Abuja, noted that the efforts were ongoing begin work with International Partners to make the Niger Delta Region a theatre of development through the Post Amnesty Initiative (PAI) adding that there is need for deepened partnership with the Group to create economic activities for export and local consumption. “The Ministry is planning to train 18,000 youths in different vocational skills with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) as well as partner with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Entrepreneur-

ship Programs and NDE to train at least 27,000 people in the region”. Speaking further, Akpabio directed the NDDC to move to their permanent site by next year stressing that the government is prepared to work with all stakeholders in the Niger Delta Region to ensure that there is sustainable peace and development. Omotayo Alaosadura, Minister of State, in his remark charged the group to work with the federal government for an all-inclusive development of the region stressing that the group is one of the saviours of the Niger Delta region as they have brought peace to the region. Earlier the leader of the Group, Safety Braye Samuel Numonde, said that the Group is ready to partner with the Ministry in Community Sensitization on the need for systematic sustainable development and bridge the gap between the Federal Government and the Niger Delta people. “Group is prepared to work collectively with the Government to actualize the vision of President Muhammdu Buhari’s Administration. He expressed confidence in both Ministers on Human Capital Development and youth empowerment.”

Nigeria, Russia firms sign MoU on refinery, rail projects Stella Enenche, Abuja

igeria and Russia firms on Thursday in Sochi, Russia, signed various memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will enable both countries’ oil giants, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Russia’s Lukeoil to elevate commercial relationship to a governmentto-government backed partnership. This is as another MoU was signed with Russia for modernisation, rehabilitation of existing Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) rolling stock-fleet and upgrading of workshops across the country. With signing of the MoU, NNPC and Lukeoil will work together in upstream operations and revamp Nigeria’s refineries. Group managing director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, and Vagit Alekperov, president of Lukeoil, signed the MoU, which entails cooperation in deep offshore exploration of oil in Nigeria, production, trading and refining. The signing ceremony, which took place on the side lines of the Russia-Africa Summit, was witnessed by the minister of state for petroleum, Timipre Sylva. Earlier in his remarks at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Lenin, President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria was prepared and willing to work with Russian businesses “to improve the efficiency of our oil and gas sector which provides us with the

much-needed capital to invest in our security, infrastructure and economic diversification programmes.” While taking note of the agreement between NNPC and Lukeoil, President Buhari gave an assurance that his administration would “ensure this initiative is implemented within the shortest possible time.” The second MoU, also involves two Russian firms: Russian Joint Stock Company Russian Railway (JSCRR) and Transmash Holding, a private rolling stock manufacturing company. The minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, while signing the agreement on behalf of the government at the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi said this would boost and fastrack the construction of the rail manufacturing company in Nigeria. It would be recalled that the Nigerian government gave the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) the nod to establish a rail manufacturing plant in the country. The minister reiterated that the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari was determined to ensure the development of a standard rail infrastructure in line with best practices. Amaechi also noted that before the end of December, Nigeria will receive 20 locomotives and wagons to be used for the railway service on LagosIbadan, Abuja-Kaduna and Itakpe-Warri rail line. www.businessday.ng

L-R: Ajibola Ponnla, Lagos State commissioner for establishment and pension; Babatunde Adeniran, immediate past president, National Industrial Court; Olawale Adediran, president/chairman of council, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria; Adeniyi Oyebade, commandant, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, and Titi Akisanya, vice president, CIPM, at the opening ceremony of the 51th Annual National Conference of CIPM in International Conference Centre Abuja.

Dangote flags off micro-grant scheme in Sokoto, empowers 358,490 women in 10 states SEGUN ADAMS

hairman of Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF), Aliko Dangote, on Wednesday, flagged off a micro-grant scheme in Sokoto aimed at economic empowerment and poverty reduction, following similar moves that have now benefitted more than 300,000 women across Nigeria. The micro-grant scheme is aimed at lifting 23,990 poor and vulnerable women out of poverty across the 23 local government areas in Sokoto State. Dangote, fresh from a recent donation of two student hostels to the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, kicked off the Sokoto phase of a scheme targeted at empowering 774,000 women (1,000 women from each

of the 774 LGAs across Nigeria), at a whopping cost of N10 billion. So far, the sum of N3.345 billion has been disbursed by the ADF to 334,500 women across Kano, Jigawa, Kogi, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Lagos, Niger and Nasarawa states. The President/CE of Dangote Industries Limited, ranked the 6th most charitable person in the world in 2018, was accompanied by the Executive Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, representatives of the Sultan of Sokoto, executive management of the Dangote Group, top dignitaries and traditional rulers in the State. “In Sokoto, we are empowering 23,990 women, including those in the IDP camps in Rabah LGA. 1,000 vulnerable women were selected in each of your 23

LGAs,” said Dangote. “However due to the displacement of the community in Rabah, we have also included all eligible women in the IDP camp, totalling 1,990 women for Rabah LGA.” Dangote also said ADF will provide the 23,990 vulnerable women identified by the state’s selection committee, with a oneoff, unconditional N10,000 cash grant to boost their household income and help to reduce the women’s vulnerability. The micro-grants programme which is one component of the Economic Empowerment pillar of the Aliko Dangote Foundation and was launched in 2012. Since inception, 334,500 women, representing over 40 percent of the target beneficiaries have benefitted from the

programme from across Kano, Lagos, Jigawa, Kogi, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Niger and Nasarawa states, DAF said. Plans are to proceed to Katsina and then Kebbi and Zamfara which would result in 55 percent coverage. “To ensure inclusivity, the programme is implemented in partnership with the respective state governments. We are partnering Access Bank to open bank accounts for all the beneficiaries and issue them with customized debit cards that will be loaded with the NGN 10,000,” Dangote said. Some of the beneficiaries, including 41-year-old Ramatu Isiaka, a provisions seller; 30-yearold Lateefat Bello, who sells soft drinks at the Sokoto Market, and 30-year-old Sadiat Aminu, who fries soya-bean cakes.

Alleged N2bn fraud: More witnesses Reps query $470m China loan for CCTV cameras in major cities testify against Oronsanye the Yuan-Naira exchange proInnocent Odoh, Abuja

he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday presented the 14th prosecution witness 14 (PW14), a Union Bank branch manager, Adesegun Timothy, against the former Head of Service (HoS), Stephen Oronsanye and three others in the alleged N2 billion fraud levelled against them by the Commission. According to a statement issued on Wednesday by the head of media and publicity of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, the Commission is prosecuting Oronsanye alongside Osarenkhoe Afe, managing director, Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited, the company and one other before Justice I E Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja for their alleged complicity in several contract award scams during Oronsanye’s tenure as HoS. Led in evidence at the resumed sitting, by prosecution counsel, O. A. Atolagbe, Timothy,

whose job schedule as the bank manager included overseeing all banking activities on a dayto-day basis stated that “In 2016, the bank provided statement of accounts, mandates, certificate of verification to the EFCC and this was duly stamped by the bank in respect to the pension payment account of the Office of the Head of Service.” Earlier on Tuesday, Atolagbe presented the prosecution witness 13 (PW13), Eric Chukwu Emeka, a retired director in the Audit Department of the Office of the Head of Service, who narrated how the then Auditor General of the Federation mandated his department to carry out an investigative audit report from 2005 to 2010, which unearthed a can of worms against the Office of the HoS. The witness told the court that while performing the exercise on the pension payment accounts, he discovered several irregularities, including multiple beneficiaries, without cash books, nor payment narrative on bank transfers disbursed to beneficiaries.

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James Kwen, Abuja

ouse of Representatives Committee on Finance has queried the Ministry of Finance on the status of the $470 million loan from China for the installation of Close Circuit Cameras in major cities across the country. James Faleke, chairman of the Committee who handed this query at the budget defence of the Ministry on Thursday, noted that in most cases when the Chinese loan was granted, it was tied to a proviso that the project and personnel for any given loan was for the Chinese people. A member of the House Committee, Herman Hembe, also queried the Ministry on the rationale behind government Ministries, Departments and Agencies budgeting millions of naira annually for telephone services, saying the money was neither utilised nor returned. The minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed, in her defence said Nigeria was to deposit N1 billion to the Chinese Central Bank for the smooth take off of @Businessdayng

gramme initiated by the Nigerian monetary authorities for a cordial Nigeria-China relations. The minister, responding to questions from members of the Committee on why Nigerians are being paid in local currencies at commercial banks when money are sent to them on foreign currencies, said the currency exchange programme was to smoothen trade and other relationship between the two countries. She told the lawmakers that there was need to entrench practices that would enhance the economy and that a bill had been forwarded to the Senate for this to take effect. On the bailout funds given to some state governments by the Federal Government for settlement of backlog of salary arrears, she said many of them have started paying back the funds to the treasury. She said the Ministry usually deduct the bailout fund from states that have consistently failed to pay back the bailout fund from their monthly allocations.

38 BUSINESS DAY

Friday 25 October 2019

news At least N80bn is required for optimal healthcare in Lagos - Abayomi ANTHONIA OBOKOH

ommissioner for Health, Lagos State, Akin Abayomi, says despite the Abuja Declaration of 15 percent budget allocation to health, the state is performing at 8 percent of its budget allocated to healthcare with plans to achieve more than the target. Abayomi, who spoke on Wednesday at a press parley with journalists organised by the state Ministry of Health, said it was necessary that government subsidised healthcare as billions of dollar were needed for the sector to advance, and this could not make the state key into the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund that provided N1 billion funding for each state in the country to address healthcare needs. “We are talking about billions of dollar investment in healthcare. If we want our health system to grow, we need to invest more. We need

at least N80 billion for healthcare in Lagos State,” he said. However, the parley at the state ministry of health was on government’s plan towards the health sector, as the Commissioner said the government was putting in place strategies to meet the dynamic health needs of the state, being a fast growing city with over 24 million people. According to Abayomi, the success of the Lagos State Health Insurance Scheme is largely dependent on the functionality of the primary health care system in its drive to achieve universal health care coverage. “The effectiveness of the primary health care would go a long way in reducing the pressures on the secondary and tertiary health care facilities; the government would not relent on putting in place necessary measures in enhancing best practices in the healthcare system,” he said.

NJC sets up committee to try 8 judges, recommends 4 for appointment to Supreme Court Felix Omohomhion, Abuja

ational Judicial Council (NJC) has set up committee to investigate eight judges. The NJC is chaired by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad. In a statement signed by Soji Oye, director of information of NJC on Thursday said the decision to set up the panel to investigate the judges was taken at the council’s meeting on October 22 and 23, 2019. The statement said the “meeting deliberated on the report of its preliminary complaints Assessment Committee and decided to empanel eight Committees to investigate eight Judicial Officers from amongst the 35 petitions written against 37 Judges of the Federal and State High Courts.” The judges to be investigated were not named and their offences were not disclosed. Meanwhile, other “petitions were summarily dismissed for obvious and manifest lack of merit, being subjudice, concerning administrative matters, or that such petitions were matters for appeal.” The dismissed petitions were against Justice Adamu

Abdu-Kafarati, the immediate past Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justices Anduwi Chikere, H. I. O. Oshoma, Ayo Emmanuel, all of the Federal High Court, Justice J. D. Peters, National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Justice S. E. Aladetoyinbo (rtd) of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Opeyemi Oke (rtd), Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justices K. A. Jose, S. S. Ogunsanya, T. A. Oyekan-Abdullahi, O. O. FemiAdeniyi and D. T. Okuwobi, all of the Lagos State High Court of Justice. Others are Justice Mojisola Idayat Sule, Oyo State High Court, Justices R. D. Harriman, A. O. Omamogbo, Michael Nduka Obi, High Court of Justice, Delta State, Justice E. N. Thompson, Rivers State High Court, Justice Inaikende Eradiri, High Court, Bayelsa State, Justices N. B. Ukoha and B. C. Iheka of High Court of Justice, Imo State, Justices F. I. N. Ngwu, R. O. Odugu, Enugu State High Court, Justice Abdulkadir H. Suleiman, Bauchi State High Court and Hon. Justice Garba Abdulkadir of the Katsina State High Court of Justice.

American International School sells Lekki campus property to James Hope College

merican International School of Lagos, a 55-yearold educational institution offering an American and International Baccalaureate curriculum from preschool to grade 12 students, recently completed the sale of its property in Lekki to the James Hope College Foundation, a co-educational initiative of the Jim Ovia Foundation, which offers a combination of British and Nigerian curricula. The Lekki Campus land was previously scheduled to serve as a campus for high school students of the American International School of Lagos. Due to the new strategic and action plan developed for the school in 2015, it was

decided that the expansion plans for the American International School of Lagos would continue on the existing campus on Victoria Island, for which renovations have already commenced. This strategic directive would necessitate the sale of the Lekki Campus land. The American International School of Lagos board members remained committed to the idea that the Lekki land would only be used for educational purposes and directed its efforts towards ensuring that the land would be put to use by an organisation that was committed to excellence in growing the educational landscape in Nigeria. www.businessday.ng

L-R: Femi Adebayo, vice chairman, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Nigeria branch committee; Seyi Olanrewaju, chairman, CIMA Nigeria branch committee; Rabiu Olowo, Lagos State commissioner for finance, and Stephanie Beuvelet, CEO, 9mobile Nigeria, at the 2019 CIMA Nigeria branch committee discuss titled, ‘finance agility in the digital age’ in Lagos.

Kennedy Uzoka is 2019 BusinessDay’s Bank CEO

roup Managing Director/CEO of United Bank for Africa (UBA) plc, Kennedy Uzoka, has won the much coveted ‘BusinessDay’s Bank CEO’ of the year 2019 award. Uz o k a e m e r g e d t o p s based on his sterling achievements since he assumed the position of Group CEO at UBA three years ago. Uzoka has been successful in pulling increased financial performances and appreciation of shareholders’ investment, ensuring massive investment in the digitalisation of the bank’s activities and processes, particularly the introduction of UBA’s chatbot, LEO, which is the first of its kind by any financial institutions in Africa. Uzoka has also focused on the consistent expansion of UBA’s activities and services across and beyond the African continent. While presenting this award to the GMD, the man-

agement of BusinessDay Newspapers was quoted as saying, “The visionary leadership of the bank spearheaded by Uzoka has earned UBA the digital bank of the year consistently. The launch of LEO, an artificial intelligence chatbot in January of 2018 has witnessed UBA become the leader in artificial intelligence. Leo is available on different platforms including Whatsapp, Facebook and more recently on IOS, the mobile operating system of Apple Inc.” Following Uzoka’s appointment on August 1, 2016, UBA’s customer deposit has grown by 19.4% to N2.49tn away from the 4 percent crunch, which had been recorded the previous year, while net loans improved from a 3.3 percent loss position recorded in 2015, to N1.51 trillion, representing a huge incline by 45.2 percent. The strong growth trajectory has continued, three years after Uzoka’s appointment, as seen by the 43 per

cent growth in the bank’s shareholding fund to N5.01tn in the three –year period, as the bank has been enjoying excellent ratings from credible international financial rating agencies such as Fitch and Agusto and Co. Uzoka, who received and acknowledged the award with a keen sense of humility and responsibility, said the bank has been focused on putting the customer first in all its activities, adding that this has been the focal point and driving force of the bank in the past three years. “Our commitment to customer service excellence is translating to strong, operational and financial efficiency,” Uzoka said. He reiterated the bank’s commitment to continue to put customers at the forefront of its activities, adding, “We are focused on adding value to the customers as we strive to give them an excellent experience at all times. We do this by having a vivid understanding of our customers

and their specific needs, and by effectively monitoring their satisfaction through the feedback mechanism, and more importantly, making valuable improvements from their feedback. I am pleased to see we are increasingly becoming the bank of choice for individuals and businesses across Africa.” UBA is a leading financial services group in sub-Saharan Africa, with presence in 20 African countries, as well as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and France. From a single country operation founded in 1949 in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, UBA has emerged as a pan-African provider of banking and other financial services, to 17 million customers globally, through one of the most diverse service channels in sub-Sahara Africa; 632 business offices, 1,750 ATMs, some 13,500 PoS, and a robust online and mobile banking platform.

OVH Energy partners Oando Foundation in push for quality education GBEMI FAMINU

VH Energy, a Nigeria’s downstream marketing firm and licensee of Oandoretailbrand,haspartnered Oando Foundation in the global push for quality education. These organisations recently embarked on the upgrade of a Model Primary School in Onne, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, a beneficiary school undertheOandoAdopt-A-School Programme and is within OVH Energy’s host community. The partnership comes on the heels of OVH Energy’s efforts to foster the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal Four (4) on Basic Education, aimed at holistic improvement of public primary schools to improve access to qualitative education and impact positively on learning outcomes while reinforcing the company’s commitment to improving access to basic education. Speaking about the initiative, Huub Stokman, CEO, OVH En-

ergy Marketing Limited, reiterated OVH Energy’s commitment to enabling a serene and conducive learning environment in its host communities. He said, “Education is a basic requirement for every child and the primary level is especially important as it lays the foundation for growth that is why we decided to embark on this project alongside Oando Foundation. This initiative brings us closer to our aim of delivering social value, building cordial and sustainable relationships within our areas of business operations. “We are thankful to Oando Foundation for the opportunity to leverageitsplatformandpedigree as an independent charity with a mission to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Nigerian public primary schools. We hope to continue more of these initiatives, confident that together with the government and other corporates, quality education will be achievable in Nigeria.” The Foundation leverages

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strategic partnerships with various local/international organisations to mobilise resources to its adopted school communities, head of Oando Foundation, Adekanla Adegoke, said. She reiterated the Foundation’s commitment to providing a conducive learning environment for every child. “Model Primary School, Onne is a beneficiary of the Foundation’s Adopt-a-school initiative which is ultimately aimed at improving learning outcomes. Since adoption in 2008, we have renovated of a block of six classrooms, supplied teaching and learning materials, strengthened capacity of 15 in-school teachers on innovative teaching methods, awarded scholarship to 16 pupils, 7 of which have graduated from secondary school, and strengthened the capacity of Education Management Information System (EMIS) officials from Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and Ekara @Businessdayng

Onne Local Government on data management for quality education delivery. We utilize an integrated approach to school improvement which is exactly what we have done with this school”. She said thatOandoFoundationpartnered with OVH Energy to upgrade the school and has been equipped with several new units of furniture for pupils and teachers, provision ofteachingandlearningmaterials, renovation of a block of classroom and general repairs.” She further stated that to provide infrastructural upgrade and donate furniture for both pupils and teachers is a testament of the Foundation’s obligation as an SDG 4 (Basic Education) champion. “OVH Energy had supported our work through the years and we believe that partnership is key to scaling education in Nigeria and we request all stakeholders - Government, businesses, communities and innovators to join us to transform lives through education,” she said.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FINANCIAL TIMES

World Business Newspaper

MARTIN ARNOLD IN FRANKFURT

ario Draghi wrapped up his final monetary policy meeting at the European Central Bank by leaving interest rates unchanged and sticking to the existing package of loosening measures he announced last month. The outgoing ECB president said he was proud of pursuing the central bank’s mandate and that policymakers should “never give up”. The ECB had been widely expected to leave policy unchanged after it triggered a fierce debate last month by cutting interest rates to minus 0.5 per cent and restarting its quantitative easing programme to purchase bonds following a 10-month hiatus. The central bank’s governing council said in a statement: “The governing council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it has seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2 per cent within its projection horizon, and such convergence has been consistently reflected in underlying inflation dynamics.” In a press conference after the announcement, Mr Draghi called on eurozone governments to enact reforms to improve productivity and labour markets, and to use fiscal policy to further stimulate the bloc’s economy. “All countries should intensify their efforts to achieve a more growth-friendly composition of public finances,” he said.

ECB renews vow to hold rates at historic low until inflation picks up Mario Draghi marks last policy meeting by saying ‘never give up’

Outgoing ECB president Mario Draghi, right, with vice-president Luis de Guindos after Thursday’s policy meeting in Frankfurt © EPA/Shutterstock

Mr Draghi added that the global economic paradigm had recently changed and policymakers at the IMF and elsewhere now accepted that interest rates would remain low for a long time to come. Frederik Ducrozet at Pictet Wealth Management said Mr

Draghi had become “the first president to leave the ECB without ever having raised interest rates”, adding that he had cut rates eight times, never increased them, and doubled the size of the ECB’s balance sheet by buying bonds. Mr Draghi’s successor Christine

Lagarde attended the meeting, although she did not participate in the discussions. Mr Draghi said she “needs no advice” on how to do the job. The central bank’s decision to hold fire in the final meeting of its governing council before Mr Draghi

hands over to Ms Lagarde late next week came amid more gloomy signs for the eurozone economy. The latest eurozone business sentiment survey, published earlier on Thursday, showed a slight month-on-month rise in October but remained only just above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction. Eurozone inflation last month fell to a three-year low of 0.8 per cent, well below the ECB’s target of below but close to 2 per cent, and was likely to fall further in the final quarter of the year, Mr Draghi said. Earlier this week, the Bundesbank warned that a slide in German manufacturing and exports may have dragged the country into recession in the third quarter. Recent data reinforced the ECB’s assessment of the economic risks as trade-related woes had damped investment growth, said Mr Draghi, although areas such as the services sector and wage growth continued to underpin the eurozone economy. He defended the ECB’s recent loosening measures, saying they were needed in response to a sharp drop in economic growth that had caused inflation to fall even further below the central bank’s core objective.

Chile’s reform pledge to quell protests Spain exhumes Franco’s body ending months-long legal battle questioned by economists Transfer of ex-dictator’s remains hailed ‘victory for democracy’ but rightwing critics slam decision President urged to spend more on planned package to restore confidence BENEDICT MANDER IN SANTIAGO

nalysts in protest-hit Chile have questioned whether reforms announced by President Sebastián Piñera will be enough to quell the outbreak of unrest as looting and vandalism continued for a sixth day. Mr Piñera this week offered an increase in wages, social payments and subsidies on energy and medicine as he apologised to Chileans for a “lack of vision” in tackling pent-up frustration. Local economists said the concessions by the billionaire former businessman, estimated to cost about $1.2bn a year, risked being insufficient. “The package goes in the right direction, but it is still small,” said José de Gregorio, a former central bank governor. “We are living through a social earthquake so it should be treated as such. Reconstruction, bringing back confidence and harmony — that’s costly.” He estimated that rather than the roughly 0.4 per cent of gross domestic product that Mr Piñera’s package represents, the situation merited spending closer to 1 per

DANIEL DOMBEY IN MADRID

cent of Chile’s $300bn economy. Eduardo Engel, an economist ranked in 2016 as the country’s most admired public figure, acknowledged Mr Piñera’s “change of tone and acknowledgment of major shortcomings in public policies” but also said the scale of the package fell short. With a manageable budget deficit of just 2 per cent of GDP, and a relatively low public debt-to-GDP ratio of about 25 per cent, economists argue that Chile has room to satisfy many of the protesters’ demands. Such a stimulus could help to offset any hit to economic activity if there were further strikes after the stoppages called by unions on Wednesday at some of Chile’s biggest copper mines. At the moment GDP growth is expected to rebound from about 2 per cent this year, having hit by lower copper prices, to as much as 3.5 per cent in 2020. One question is over how costly the consequences might be if the government is unable to defuse the public unrest and investor concerns grow that a centre-right coalition could be replaced by a populist administration in the next presidential elections in 2021. www.businessday.ng

pain has exhumed the remains of Francisco Franco, the dictator who overshadowed much of the country’s 20th-century history, capping years of political debate and a months-long legal battle. The coffin — the same in which Franco was buried in 1975 — was flown to Madrid by helicopter, as Spanish television covered the events live, interspersed with footage from half a century ago. The government on Thursday hailed the transfer of the former leader’s body from the stateowned monumental site just north of Madrid to a much lower profile cemetery as a “victory for democracy.” But shouts of “Long live Franco” could be heard as family members bore the body out of the basilica. Franco, who governed Spain for 36 years until his death, ordered the construction of the huge Valley of the Fallen basilica soon after prevailing in the bloody 1936-1939 civil war, which began after his nationalist forces launched a coup against the country’s second republic. The monument — dug into

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the mountain and marked by an 150-metre-tall stone cross — was largely built by Republican prisoners and is the burial place for more than 33,000 war dead from both sides, many of whom are unidentified. Spain’s caretaker Socialist government has long argued that, more than 40 years since the end of the dictatorship, it was wrong to keep the remains of an enemy of democracy in such surroundings. But its opponents on the right have accused it of seeking to stir up old tensions to win votes. “The basic objective of taking the dictator away from where his victims were buried was very important and today we are accomplishing it,” said Carmen Calvo, deputy prime minister in Spain’s caretaker Socialist government. The removal of Franco’s body — in the presence of his grandchildren, Spain’s justice minister and hundreds of journalists — is a fillip for prime minister Pedro Sánchez, who faces new elections on November 10 and has been contending with a slowing economy and the fallout of large-scale separatist protests in Catalonia. Despite focusing on Franco’s exhumation as a priority soon after @Businessdayng

taking office last year and winning the overwhelming backing of parliament in September 2018, Mr Sánchez had to wait until a Supreme Court ruling last month dismissed Franco’s grandchildren’s objections to the transfer of the body. The dictator’s remains were later due to be buried next to his wife in a private crypt in a cemetery on the outskirts of Madrid. Pablo Casado, leader of the centre-right People’s party, which abstained in last year’s vote on moving the body, suggested that the government had timed the exhumation to distract attention from lacklustre unemployment figures released on Thursday, which showed the smallest fall in the number of jobless in seven years. “On November 10, we will not vote on what is past — thankfully past,” Mr Casado added. “We will vote on the future.” Javier Cercas, author of Soldiers of Salamis, a novel addressing the legacy of the civil war, said he disagreed with rightwing claims that Franco’s exhumation would reignite old divisions. “Something has been done that should have been done long ago,” he said.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

NATIONAL NEWS

Donald Trump and Republicans fear revamped Nafta will be stalled Tensions with Democrats rise over USMCA trade deal’s ratification in Congress JAMES POLITI IN WASHINGTON

onald Trump’s administration and its Republican allies in Congress are becoming increasingly anxious that USMCA, the revision of Nafta signed by the US president with Canada and Mexico, could fail to gain congressional approval, amid rising tensions on Capitol Hill over the trade deal’s ratification. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa senator and chairman of the Senate finance committee, said on the floor of the upper chamber on Wednesday that he had a “growing worry” about the prospects for one of Mr Trump’s top legislative goals, and attacked Democrats for using “stalling tactics” to stop the deal. “House Democrats seem to have no sense of urgency,” Mr Grassley said. “The new Congress has been seated for more than 10 months now. How long is it going to take?” he asked, adding that Democrats would “pay a price” at the ballot box in 2020 if the agreement faltered on Capitol Hill. Mr Grassley’s admonition highlighted the high stakes for Mr Trump in securing congressional passage of USMCA, which would allow him to claim one significant accomplishment in trade policy heading into his re-election campaign, since bluster and tariffs against China and the EU have yielded few concrete results beyond economic disruption and uncertainty. The delay over USMCA has also unnerved officials in Ottawa and Mexico City, who spent months negotiating the deal with Mr Trump before it was finally signed on the sidelines of the G20 summit in November last year. On Wednesday, Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, was on Capitol Hill for a meeting with Richard Neal, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the House of Representatives ways and means committee and is in charge of the negotiations regarding USMCA. Democrats have been seeking changes to the agreement in areas ranging from labour and environment standards to enforcement, but a deal has so far been elusive. While business groups and Republicans have been aiming for a vote on the deal by the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November, supporters fear that timeline is in jeopardy, as the available legislative days are dwindling and passing trade deals during presidential election years is notoriously difficult. “This is going to be a real turkey if Nancy blows this. And I — I worry about that,” Peter Navarro, the White House manufacturing and trade adviser, told Fox Business Network television, referring to Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic speaker. Mr Neal and Mr Lighthizer appear to have a good working relationship and claimed progress

in their talks. One person familiar with the discussions also said Wednesday’s meeting went well. Mr Neal said he was “not discouraged” by the state of the talks in remarks reported by Politico. But the fear is that the tense atmosphere on Capitol Hill due to the impeachment inquiry against Mr Trump, and the approaching presidential election, with leading Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren attacking USMCA, could make it harder for both sides to compromise in the final stretch. Top D emocrats cer tainly did not seem ready to bring up USMCA for a vote in short order this week. Ron Wyden, the senator from Oregon and top Democrat on the Senate finance committee, said he had “real concerns” with the implementation of what he called “Nafta 2.0”. “American workers and farmers have already been hurt by the president’s impulses. More will get hurt if Trump’s threats and chaos cause the Congress to accept a bad deal on Nafta,” he said. Labour unions — an important constituency for Democrats — have been less adamantly opposed to USMCA compared with previous trade deals, but have still resisted giving the agreement their blessing. Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO trade union federation, told The Washington Post this month that it would be a “colossal mistake” for the deal to be voted on before Thanksgiving, arguing it would be “defeated” if so, but he has not entirely shut the door on the deal either. Corporate America is watching the developments on Capitol Hill with trepidation, and using its lobbying power to try to nudge the two sides towards a deal. Most business groups were lukewarm on the substance of the deal, which updates the terms of trade in North America by adding a key digital chapter, but also risks restricting trade in the car sector by setting stringent rule-of-origin and wage requirements. However, there is widespread concern that if the deal were blocked in Congress, Mr Trump could resort to the hugely destabilising step of attempting — or at least threatening — to withdraw the US entirely from the current Nafta, a 1994 pact he heavily criticised during his 2016 election campaign. Heidi Heitkamp, the former Democratic senator from North Dakota and co-chair of the Trade Works For America coalition, remained optimistic, seeing a “real desire” and “pressure” on both sides for a deal to come together. “I think Bob Lighthizer is a rational guy who can rise above politics and come to some accommodation,” Ms Heitkamp said. “I’m encouraged every time Speaker Pelosi says she wants to get it done — and I think she means it.” www.businessday.ng

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (C) with heads of countries taking part in the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit © SERGEI CHIRIKOV/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Russia turns on the charm at first Africa summit

Kremlin says $12.5bn worth of ‘deals’ were struck during the trade gathering HENRY FOY IN SOCHI

ussia offered nuclear power plants, fighter jets and missile defence systems to African countries in a charm offensive designed to win back influence on the continent, at a summit low on concrete trade and investment deals but high on congeniality. The Kremlin says $12.5bn worth of deals were struck during the first ever Russia-Africa Summit, however the majority were memorandums of understandings that may not result in any investment. “Let’s drink to the success of our joint efforts to develop full-scale mutually beneficial co-operation, wellbeing, peaceful future and prosperity of our countries and people,” Russian president Vladimir Putin said in a toast at the formal summit dinner in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. For all the warm rhetoric, however, the lack of fully formed deals underscored the gulf in financial firepower

between Moscow and Beijing, which last year offered $60bn in financing to African states to fund trade. The bulk of the agreements discussed revolved around expanding already existing arms deals, a factor that has meant the bilateral trade relationship is heavily unbalanced in favour of Russian exports to Africa. In a symbolic gesture, Moscow flew two Tupolev Tu-160 nuclear bombers to South Africa as the summit opened, the first time the aircraft had landed on African soil. At a business forum attached to the summit, African leaders picked up assault rifles from a stand managed by Russia’s defence export agency, while others lingered near racks of grenade launchers. “The number one [issue] is defence and security,” Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni told Mr Putin at their bilateral meeting. “We have been co-operating very well, we have supported the building of our army by buying good Russian equipment, aircraft, tanks, and so on. We want to buy more,” he said, sug-

gesting that Moscow provide loans to speed up arms purchases. Russia has defence orders worth $14bn from African countries, its state-run arms export agency said at the summit, and sales to the continent account for around a third of Moscow’s military exports. Mr Putin said Russia had agreed “military technical co-operation agreements” with more than 30 African states, to supply weapons. “Some of these deliveries are free of charge,” he added. Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, described Russia’s offerings as “no strings attached . . . especially now compared to the EU, which is refocusing all its engagement with Africa on preventing migration and that could potentially create bad will”. The event drew 43 heads of state and government in a geopolitical coup for Mr Putin, as Moscow seeks to rebuild ties with the continent amid souring relations with the west.

Uber’s quest to become the west’s first super-app Ride-hailing app seeks to follow the example of WeChat and Gojek by spreading its tentacles PATRICK MCGEE

n 2015, Gojek launched its motorcycle taxi app with hopes of being the Uber of Indonesia. Now, the tables have turned: Uber is betting it can become a Gojek of the west. The US group has long seen itself as more than just a ridehailing app. Four years ago it launched Uber Eats to connect customers with on-demand takeaway food in cities across the United States. In 2018, it acquired Jump, and bright red e-bikes proliferated around Europe. But now, having posted a $5.2bn loss last quarter and with its mainstay business coming under threat from regulatory burdens, it is looking to expand its vision even further. “We want

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Uber to be the operating system for your everyday life,” said chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi in September. This month, Uber purchased Cornershop as part of a push into delivering groceries. In Mexico, it offers bank cards. In San Diego, it is testing food delivery by drone. In Chicago, it is connecting people with temporary shift work. In lower Manhattan, it offers $200 helicopter rides to JFK airport. Even snuggling-as-a-service has emerged in dozens of cities via Uber Kittens, letting users book 15-minute “play dates with adorable kittens at the tap of a button.” The idea is for Uber to provide, within a single app, access to transport, groceries, hot meals, banking and more. In short, it wants to be a “super-app” mod@Businessdayng

elled on apps like Gojek, whose food and payments features have already overtaken its transport business by revenue. It’s an ambition that Jason Davis, professor of entrepreneurship at Singapore-based business school Insead, describes as “a product diversification strategy on steroids”. The ‘operating system for everyday life’ Uber’s rivals in Asia have already provided a path to follow. Gojek — partly funded by Visa, Google and Tencent — now offers 20 services to its 25m users, including video streaming and digital payments. Grab, a Malaysian competitor with investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund, has expanded into business loans and insurance.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FINANCIAL TIMES

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

Twitter revenues hit by privacy bugs Shares tumble 20% as ad-targeting glitches at company remain unresolved TIM BRADSHAW IN LONDON

witter said on Thursday that “bugs” in its ad-targeting system would wipe tens of millions of dollars from its revenues this year, after admitting that it shared some users’ data with advertisers without their consent. The San Francisco-based company’s shares fell sharply in early trading, down 18 per cent to $31.93 — a move that threatened to reverse most of the stock’s gains so far this year. Twitter’s third-quarter revenues rose 9 per cent year on year to $824m, $50m short of Wall Street’s forecasts. Net income also took a hit, falling to $36.5m. After adjusting for a large tax benefit in the same quarter a year ago, its profits plunged more than 50 per cent. “Despite its challenges, this quarter validates our strategy of investing to drive long-term growth,” said Ned Segal, Twitter’s chief financial officer. “More work remains to deliver improved revenue products.” In its quarterly letter to investors, Twitter set out a series of problems affecting its ad business. It said that since the end of June, it had discovered “bugs that primarily affected our legacy Mobile Application Promotion (MAP) product, impacting our ability to target ads and share data with measurement and ad partners”. MAP is a tool that advertisers use to promote their smartphone apps. It also suffered a glitch with its personalisation technology, which it said was “not operating as expected”. Without these setbacks, Twitter’s revenue growth rate would have been 3 percentage points higher, it said. Both bugs relate to an issue first disclosed in August, when Twitter admitted that it had failed to obtain consent from some us-

ers to share “certain data” with “advertising partners” and other third parties. The problem with users’ privacy settings emerged in May 2018 and was fixed in August 2019. Twitter also said that it had shown some users personalised ads without their permission for almost a year. Addressing these mistakes meant that Twitter had less data available to target ads, which brought down the prices it was able to charge to advertisers. “You trust us to follow your choices and we failed here,” Twitter said in August. A spokesperson added on Thursday: “We’ve notified those impacted, and the appropriate regulators.” It was not just the two technical mis-steps that affected advertising revenues in recent months. Twitter said that it also faced “greaterthan-expected seasonality in our advertising business that began in July and continued into August”. However, the ad-targeting problems have not been resolved. Twitter said that could mean sales in the fourth quarter would be as much as $100m less than investors had hoped for. It now forecasts revenues of $940m to $1.01bn for the current quarter, which is typically the most important time of the year for advertisers. Mr Segal added on a conference call on Thursday that there would be “some continued impact” from the advertising issues into next year. Despite the problems in its advertising business, Twitter has sustained its recent recovery in audience growth. Total average monetisable daily active users rose 17 per cent year on year to 145m. Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief executive, said its users had responded well to its efforts to crack down on bullying and other abusive content, as well as making it easier for people to “find what they are looking for on Twitter”.

Elon Musk, chief executive, says he expects Tesla’s Model Y sport utility vehicle ‘will outsell the X, S, and 3’ © Bloomberg

Tesla beats forecasts with quarterly net profit Shares up nearly 20% at Wall Street open after electric car maker gives bullish outlook PATRICK MCGEE IN SAN FRANCISCO

esla shares soared nearly 20 per cent in opening Wall Street trading after the electric car pioneer posted a net quarterly profit, issued a bullish outlook and said its Model Y sport utility vehicle was “ahead of schedule” and would launch next summer. The Fremont, Californiabased group’s net profit in the third quarter was $143m, providing relief to investors following a cumulative loss of $1.1bn in the first half of the year. Tesla posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.86, better than even the most bullish of Wall Street analysts’ forecasts, which ranged from a loss of $1.25 a share to a gain of $0.34. Third-quarter revenues, however, were $6.3bn, below expectations of $6.5bn and down from the $6.8bn it recorded a year ago.

Tesla said “the majority” of this decrease reflects how the “percentage of leased vehicles has tripled” from a year ago. The earnings indicate that the company is maturing, shifting focus to cost controls after a big spending phase to roll out the Model 3. “Operating expenses are at the lowest level since Model 3 production started,” the group said. “As a result, we returned to GAAP profitability in Q3 while generating positive free cash flow. This was possible by removing substantial cost from our business.” Tesla said it was now preparing for its next growth phase, adding that its “gigafactory” assembling the Model 3 in Shanghai “was built in 10 months and is ready for production”, at a cost that was 65 per cent less expensive than its production system for the vehicle in the US. “Continued volume growth

and cost control are an important combination for achieving sustained, industry-leading profitability,” Tesla said. Chief executive Elon Musk said on a conference call that he expects the Model Y SUV “will outsell the X, S, and 3” — all the other models in Tesla’s current line-up — “combined”. Tesla added that small batch production of the Tesla Semi, its electric heavy-duty truck, will begin next year. The following year it hopes to begin production of a third “gigafactory” that would be located in Europe. Mr Musk also said its cash on hand was now $5.3bn, versus $5bn three months earlier, thanks to positive free cash flow of $371m. Earlier this month Tesla said it delivered “approximately 97,000” cars in the quarter, setting a new record but missing its own hope of reaching the 100,000 car milestone.

Comcast profits boosted by broadband subscriber additions Short-sellers sink teeth into Beyond Meat Growth in high speed-internet users helps offset decline in television business ANNA NICOLAOU IN NEW YORK

omcast eclipsed forecasts for profits in the third quarter, helped by blistering additions in broadband internet customers that offset an accelerating decline in its traditional television business. The Philadelphia-based US cable giant reported adjusted earnings of 79 cents a share on sales of $26.8bn for the quarter. Analysts were looking for 75 cents on $27bn. Comcast has relied on highspeed internet growth as it loses more cable television customers every quarter. In the three months ending in

September, the company added 379,000 broadband subscribers, higher than the 330,000 analysts expected. But the company bled 238,000 video subscribers — more than double the 106,000 video subscribers that had defected in the same period a year ago. Sales at NBCUniversal slipped to $8.3bn, down 3.5 per cent from a year ago, weighed by declines across cable and broadcast television as well as Universal’s film studio. Comcast is joining the streaming wars with an upcoming service, named Peacock, set to debut early next year featuring NBC hits such as The Office and Parks & Recreation. www.businessday.ng

After a well-received IPO, bearish bets are mounting ahead of the lock-up expiry

EMIKO TERAZONO IN LONDON

hares in Beyond Meat have lost their sizzle, with investors placing increasingly bearish bets on the company that launched one of the most successful public offerings in the US this year. Equity analysts have been cautioning against an overheated share price since the plant-based meat substitute group’s stock soared after its initial public offering in May. Short-sellers now account for 47.2 per cent of Beyond Meat’s freely traded shares — the second highest ratio in the Russell 1000 index of the biggest US-listed companies, according to Bloomberg data.

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Beyond Meat’s flotation coincided with rising consumer enthusiasm over plant-based protein alternatives. After a market debut at $25 a share in early May, the stock hit an intraday peak above $230 in July. But it has been downhill since. On Wednesday the stock slipped 8 per cent, dipping below $100 for the first time since June, and opened weaker on Thursday. “We really think sentiment has been driving the share price rather than fundamentals,” said Arun Sundaram, analyst at CFRA. The independent research firm began covering the stock earlier this month with a “sell” rating. Short sales of the stock have ballooned ahead of the expiry of the company’s so-called “lock-up @Businessdayng

period” on October 29, which will allow company insiders and preIPO investors to start cashing out of their holdings for the first time. The El Segundo, California-based company is due to report third-quarter earnings a day earlier, after the bell. Up to 48m shares, or about 80 per cent of the outstanding stock, are set to become eligible to be freely traded in the public market. Given the still-dramatic price rise since the IPO, many insiders and venture capital funds are expected to sell their shares, putting further downward pressure on the stock, said Mr Sundaram. The increased availability of shares in the market in turn is expected to make it easier for short-sellers to borrow the stock, he added.

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 25 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

INTERVIEW

‘Determination to succeed against all odds plays a great role in our success story’ As Air Peace celebrates its fifth anniversary October 24, OLUWATOYIN OLAJIDE, Chief Operating Officer, Air Peace Limited, in this interview with GBEMI FAMINU, says over more than 800 flights of Air Peace depart to our various destinations per week, but it has not been an easy ride as determination to succeed against all odds has played a great role in the airline’s success story. Excerpt:

warding, this is because one of the motives behind the establishment of Air Peace is to provide jobs for teeming Nigerians and it is so rewarding to see that the Company has grown so much and employs thousands of Nigerians, thus providing a means of livelihood for them and their dependants. Air Peace has created thousands of direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians and expatriates without any form of discrimination. We are doing a lot in unifying Nigeria through air transport, and the airline has positively contributed to the economy of Nigeria, and those of her regional and international counterparts. What informed the choice of the theme of this anniversary, “Growth Sustained by Commitment?” Our greatest asset is our integ-

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The flying public should know that Air Peace is not shaken by any existing airline or new ones coming up because we have our standard

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As Air Peace marks its 5th anniversary, how would you describe the Journey so far? n October 24, 2014, Air Peace commenced her schedu l e d c o m m e rc i a l flight operations with a fleet of 7 aircraft (4 Boeing 737300/500 and 3 Do 328 jets). On that day, history was made. We operated 13 flights to five destinations within the country. Our goal then and even now was providing quality service and seamless flight connections for our esteemed customers. And in the last five years since taking those first steps onto the domestic travel scene, we have evolved into an International airline; the biggest African carrier in Nigeria and West Africa. With a fleet of more than 25 aircraft excluding the 10 brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 30 Embraer 195-E2 aircraft it recently ordered, we currently fly to over 22 destinations in seven countries. Over more than 800 flights of Air Peace depart to our various destinations per week. We thank God Almighty for the heights we have attained so far. It has not been an easy ride but determination to succeed against all odds has played a great role in our success story. These past 5 years can be defined as a kaleidoscope of happy memories. Over the last five years, we have undergone massive growth/expansion but our company has become stronger and more efficient than ever before. We aim to create the best customer experience for our customers through offering an excellent product, excellent operational performance and by taking care of their needs. Accomplishing this mission has been increasingly challenging because we operate in an extremely complex environment. We are a multi-country airline in a highly regulated industry with each country and passenger having different needs. We are managing a tough business and our aim is to create seamless experience with Air Peace in all interactions with our esteemed passengers. We recognize that we serve pragmatic, empowered digital customers that want superior service. We are continuously striving to give them the great experience they deserve. This is our promise. It is a matter of great pride to see our company growing, embracing good value system and achieving more than what we have ever thought of within the shortest possible time. We keep surpassing our short term goals and we have God, Nigerians who have shown us so much support and our loyal employees to thank for that. The journey so far has been re-

rity and our greatest goal is safety coupled with on-time departure. These have greatly contributed to our growth in the aviation sector making us a force to be reckoned with in Nigeria and West-Africa. The choice of this theme at this time reflects our commitment to the need of our esteemed customers and the determination to succeed in this industry despite the challenging operating environment. This is further embodied in our vision statement which is to be dependable through the creation of seamless connections and network options for our domestic, regional and international markets and our mission statement which is to expand our locations both domestic and beyond, as the largest and most profitable airline to achieve safe, efficient and affordable short and long haul flight services. Our vision and mission is centred on growth and being able to provide superior quality services to our customers. We are determined and committed to achieving this goal. It is non-negotiable for us. We prize feedbacks from our cuswww.businessday.ng

tomers as we realise that we are in business because of them and we ensure that no stone is left unturned in our dealings with them. Air Peace has grown in leaps and bounds as a result of the commitment of the management and employees and we have been able to sustain this growth by always putting the customer first because at Air Peace, CUSTOMER IS KING. The airline has experienced a rapid growth in the aviation industry, how are you tackling these challenges? The aviation industry in Nigeria is very challenging and difficult to operate in. Air Peace has had to deal with a lot of challenges, a lot of which are crippling. One of such is the hostile operating environment and inadequate/poor airport infrastructure. Most of the airports in Nigeria don’t have facilities for night flights and are shut by 6pm instead of at least 12 midnight. This ultimately limits the number of hours the airplane can fly in a day, thereby affecting the airline’s productivity causing huge revenue loss for the airline. There is also the issue of multiple taxation and charges. These multiple charges on the ticket sold reduce the percentage that goes to the airline to less than 40% of the ticket value. How then do one expect the airlines to pay her bills, fulfil all her obligations and ensure the airplanes go for scheduled maintenance as at when due? This is a huge burden on the airlines and government need to look into these multiple charges and taxation issues to avoid crippling the airlines and enable them find their feet and start being profitable. The profit margin in airline operation is very slim. Airlines creating jobs for people that otherwise would have been jobless is already a huge contribution to the economy and therefore should be supported by the government by giving them a chance to find their feet in the first few years before they are slammed with all these multiple charges and taxation. A cursory look at the regulatory agencies will reveal that most of the taxes collected by each of the bodies are essentially the same. There is also the challenge of high import duties on spare parts even though there is a government waiver on import duties on aircraft parts. Some aircraft parts are still classified as dutiable with custom duties as high as 20% to be paid by the airline. These duties are crippling and they contribute in making the operating environment harsh and largely unprofitable. High cost of fuel is also a major challenge faced by airline operators in Nigeria. The airlines suffer for the high cost of importing the

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an airport with the right infrastructure, landing haze, conducive environment of operating and this issue of multiple taxation, which will not help the airlines. The airlines must compete favourably with their international counterparts. Enabling environment is key to the industry; it is needed to achieve the best.

Oluwatoyin Olajide

aviation fuel. Two-thirds of the costs of flying an airplane are fixed, so changes in fuel costs can swing a flight from profit to loss depending on how many people are on the flight. Lack of maintenance facility in Nigeria is gradually crippling the finances of the airline operators because several millions of dollars are spent abroad in foreign maintenance repair organization (MROs) to maintenance these airplanes during heavy maintenance input. These are funds that can be retained in the economy if the government provide the enabling environment for private investors to build an MRO in Nigeria. This will also create employment opportunities for Nigerians, thereby boosting economic growth and development. Finance is also another major challenge faced by Nigerian airlines. Although Air Peace is not facing this difficulty because we have the huge support of our bank, @Businessdayng

it is not the same success story for most airlines in Nigeria. Air Peace has however demonstrated and shown a lot of integrity in our financial management and discharge of our obligations to our lenders. We understand that aviation is a turbulent sector, what should the government and other regulatory bodies should start doing differently? The aviation sector is unlike other sectors, it is highly regulated and sometimes this causes bottle necks. As earlier mentioned, the government should encourage indigenous airlines to enable them succeed. A good way to do this is to create an enabling environment. The onus is on government to put in place facilities and equipment as well as good infrastructure to ensure smooth conduct of air travel services. The airlines should be given some incentives and reduce all these multiple charges and taxation. Government needs to stop multiple designations to foreign carriers. Foreign carriers should not be allowed to conduct domestic operations within Nigeria. This is suicidal and injurious to the survival of domestic operators

in Nigeria. Government should withhold permits from foreign carrier in any route that an indigenous carrier is ready to commence flight operations or already operating on. The government and regulatory bodies should see airlines as being their partners in progress. Once this is done, conducting business will be significantly easier and it will go a long way in developing the sector. We have a whole lot of improvement that still needs to happen in the industry that would help airlines to survive. And once we can have all that in place in the areas of airport infrastructure, right landing haze, right operating environment, then this country will have a very viable aviation sector. It is possible and doable because this is one industry that generates huge revenue for the economy of this country. It is one industry that the government needs to pay attention to. We don’t want to destroy it. What exactly do you mean by enabling environment? It is a whole lot; the airports are not up to the desirable standards. We need to have

Has government attention be drawn to these challenges? Yes of course, they are aware. But I must tell you that the government has actually tried. Give it to our Minister. The government is doing the very best to give the industry a much conducive environment for the operators. We have the issue of the zero waivers on aircraft space, which the Minister had made happen; that is a huge relief on the operators; the issue of the VAT which is being removed from transport, these are things they are doing to make life easier for the operators. But then, there are still other areas to look into. Not many of our airports are open 24hours in Nigeria. If you have airports in the country that you cannot fly to after 5-6:00pm, how do you break even? When you have issues with the weather in the morning hours and have delays in the departures, as a result, flights are being pushed to later in the day, by the time it is 6:00pm and you cannot accommodate some of these flights anymore, it results to cancellation of flights and that is a huge loss in the process. Planes are not supposed to sit on the ground, they should be flying. You cannot possibly have just one screening point at the airport to facilitate over 2000 passengers within three hours. How possible is that? Passengers do not understand all these challenges. If these things are looked into, the industry will be a more favourable place for all. Your customers usually complain of delays associated with your flights; what factors do you think are responsible for this and what are you doing to reduce this? Air Peace prides itself on safe and on-time departures but sometimes circumstances arise that makes it impossible for on-time departures due to force majeure i.é circumstances we have no control over such as poor airport infrastructure, bad weather which is very dangerous, especially during the raining season and harmattan season or other operational reasons. Passengers always blame the airline for flight delays, what they do not know is that so many factors can cause delays. Safety is our watchword and therefore when any circumstance arises where a 100% safety cannot be guaranteed, we prefer to delay the flight until the issue is www.businessday.ng

resolved. Delaying a flight is even more detrimental to us as it makes us lose revenue as fees and charges would have been paid already but we prefer to lose revenue than to compromise the safety of our customers. The airline is not the only reason flights are delayed at the airport. Poor Infrastructure, inadequacy or gaps can lead to avoidable delays. Lack of night landing lights on the runways and navigational equipment at most of our airports restrict flight operations to day time. Any disruption in flight schedule due inclement weather conditions or airport closure most times lead to flight delays and eventual cancellation. This is a huge financial loss to the airline as it’s unacceptable and impossible to operate in such adverse weather conditions or even fly into the airfield after sunset. Our airports need to be well equipped with adequate and functional ground navigational equipment/landing aids. This is not the responsibility of the airline but that of the government. Air Peace has risen to an enviable position in the industry and the expectations of the flying public and other stakeholders have also heightened. How do you intend to sustain this tempo and meet these high expectations? At Air Peace, we understand that in order to sustain the momentum, we must continuously improve on our flight operations and customer service. Also very important to us is improving our operational efficiency. We are sensitive to the needs of our customers. We value the feedback from our customers, because they are the reason we have attained this enviable position. One of our core values is dependability. We continuously aim to create the best customer experience for our customers through offering an excellent service, a first class flying experience that is safe, on time and cost effective. We are overwhelmed with the love and goodwill Nigerians keep bringing our way and we do not take it for granted as we daily strive to be better and improve our services. The flying public should expect more from us as we are working on improving our services. Already we have made firm orders for 30 brand new airplanes and we shall be taking their delivery in less than 7 months from now. All this is geared towards giving our customers an unforgettable flight experience. In July, you commenced flight operations to Dubai via Sharjah, what other international routes are you looking at? We thank God for the successful launch of the Dubai-Sharjah route.

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We are definitely commencing flight operations on other international routes soon. We have gotten the necessary permits and very soon we shall be unveiling some new international routes. Nigerians are well travelled and can be found all over the globe and at Air Peace we are poised to making sure that our customers have us at their beck and call to all their destinations.

After five years, what does it mean to be the very first female COO of an airline? I feel humbled and very grateful

that nothing can stop anyone. If you set your mind to achieve something, it is possible and doable. If I can be the COO of this airline today, anybody, any woman, any female, any lady or any young girl out there can also be a COO of any airline or industry in the world; it is achievable with a lot of determination and God on one’s side. That I believe strongly. However, the flying public should know that Air Peace is not shaken by any existing airline or new ones coming up because we have our standard. We have our target. Air Peace is a focused airline. We know our vision. We try as much as possible to put policies, processes and procedure in place and to have the right team around us that would help drive the vision. We are a multi-country airline, that has experienced five years of steady progress, and our vision of creating seamless connections and network options for the domestic, regional and international markets, is being achieved. However, let me use this opportunity to thank every stakeholder that has supported the airline since inception. We recognise that our customers are the reason for our existence. In fact, that without them, there will be no Air Peace. Our passengers are a key part of our success story, and must be celebrated. We could not have

to God. It is quite exciting and at the same time it is a whole lot of responsibilities because you have a whole lot of people looking up to you who could not be let down. It is challenging actually but at the same time, you know a lot of people are looking up to you, you want to continue to give it your very best, especially for the young females out there, You want them to know

achieved all the feats we have to our name without the consistent support of our valued customers. I urge the flying public to continue to fly Air Peace, because we are committed to giving them best-in-class flight experience. We assure the flying public of better days ahead, as we also promise to continue improving our delivery of safe and comfortable flights.

What is your message to the flying public as Air Peace turns 5? We sincerely want to appreciate Nigerian for their support over the past five years. We thank Nigerians for choosing Air Peace. They have supported us from our maiden flight and have continued to be supportive. We appreciate this kind gesture and we will never take for granted. They should expect improved flight operations that are on- time, cost effective and safe. They should also expect more destinations as we are going to launch new routes very soon. We want to assure them that we are committed to providing Nigerians with superior quality services and getting them to their destinations safe.

@Businessdayng

Women in Business

Nneka Abulokwe OBE by HM Queen Elizabeth II Founder/CEO of MicroMax Consulting r Abulokwe is a highly qualified technologist, senior executive and board director. She is one of the first Afro-Caribbean professionals in the UK to sit on the board of a top European digital transformation organisation. Her corporate career spans over 25 years, culminating in a return to independent consulting with MicroMax since 2017. Nneka is a tech, digital governance and delivery execution specialist who is passionate about the intelligent use of technology and governance to foster organisational cohesion and drive positive digital cultures. She has delivered large-scale, high-profile projects for governments and private institutions in the UK, Europe, Asia, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and America. While still pursuing her career full-time, Nneka undertook pioneering research in people-centric agile governance in tech and earned a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from Cranfield University School of Management, and is now one of the most accomplished Afro-Caribbean business professionals in the UK. In 2013, Nneka joined the board/exec committee of Sopra Steria, a €3.7bn digital transformation organisation, as Executive Director Governance, Risk & Assurance UK & Asia, where she was responsible for six corporate functions: ICT; Governance & Enterprise Risk; Information & Cyber Security; Business Assurance, Certifications & Standards; and Business Continuity Management. There, her leadership and evidence-based philosophies challenged the frontiers of conventional governance, helping to positively redefine many group-wide Sopra Steria digital practices. Nneka’s approach is to make corporate and operational governance a strategic enabler, with simplified, easy-toimplement working practices that empower the workforce to take greater ownership of governance, creating an agile digital culture. In 2017, Nneka was appointed to Chair the Board Nominations Committee for ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association). In this role, she has been responsible for the successful composition of a diverse 2018/19 board. She successfully overhauled the board nomination process in harmony with related corporate governance

activity. She is passionate about diverse and inclusive representation within the leadership and management of responsible organisations. Nneka recently shared her perspectives on diversity in a Forbes article “Why Diversity Is Too Important for CEOs to Ignore”. Throughout her career, Nneka has built a powerful network and significant standing within tech, governance and related spheres. Her academic endeavours and professional commitments ensure that she’s well known in both private and public-sector organisations, which in turn means that she is called upon to advise, liaise or provide direction on programme, project and governance matters across many industries both in the UK and internationally. Nneka was awarded Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Queens Birthday Honours for Services to Business. Other recent highlights include being appointed to the Board of The IT Institute (BCS), where she has been responsible for enhancing skills development across the technology industry, and being a founding member of The Normal Chaos Group, a think tank that seeks to provide thought leadership on crisis management, operational governance and cybersecurity. Regarded in the field of tech enablement and governance, she was recently ranked #4 of the Inclusive Boards Financial Times Top 100 BAME (Black, Asian, Minority, Ethnic) Tech Leaders 2018; named as finalist for the “Governance Professional of the Year 2018” Award - The Governance Institute, UK; named in the 2019 Powerlist 100 most influential black business leaders. Nneka is both a Freeman of the City of London and the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT). As a board-level advisor, Chair and Non-Executive Director, Nneka’s fine-tuned techniques continue to garner staff commitment and create agile and responsive businesses. Elsewhere, she recognises the importance of bolstering the confidence and prospects of our younger generation, and is a very proud mentor and role model for a diverse group of young millennials who are just starting out in corporate world. Her aim is to help them enrich their lives and to inspire their imaginations.

BUSINESS DAY Friday 25 October 2019 www.businessday.ng

By Kemi Ajumobi

Luvvie Ajayi Award-winning author, speaker and digital strategist

uvvie Ajayi is an award-winning author, speaker and digital strategist who thrives at the intersection of comedy, technology and activism. She is a Nigerian author, speaker, and digital strategist. Her first book, I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual, was a New York Times best-seller. Luvvie Ajayi was born in Nigeria; she moved to Chicago with her family when she was nine. She attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in Chicago, then the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, studying psychology. Ajayi began her career in marketing and digital strategy, and started blogging in 2003. Her site AwesomelyLuvvie. com amassed a following, particularly for Ajayi’s recaps of television shows like Scandal, drawing the attention of Scandal showrunner Shonda Rhimes. In 2016, The New York Times reported that Ajayi had an audience of approximately 500,000 between her personal Twitter feed and the Awesomely Luvvie website. Her debut book, I’M JUDGING YOU: The Do-Better Manual, was released to critical acclaim and became an instant New York Times best-seller. It’s a collection of essays that critiques our fame-obsessed, social media-centric lives, while encouraging us to do better. The book is the good, yet snarky, angel on your shoulder, in word form. Luvvie’s ability to create content that make people laugh heartily while thinking critically has been honed after 15 years of blogging. AwesomelyLuvvie.com is the site where she covers all things pop culture, from TV and movies to race, politics and life’s random adventures. Luvvie recently launched Rants and Randomness, a podcast where she covers her most pressing rants, raves and faves from life. Set in the same honest and funny perspective Luvvie is known for, the podcast also features interviews with some amazing guests. The podcast was chosen as “New & Noteworthy” by Apple Podcasts and is featured under their “Bold Women” banner. She was voted as the Influencer of the Year at the Iris Awards and was chosen as a

Black Innovator by XFINITY Comcast. She is a past winner of the Women’s Media Center’s Social Media Award for using her voice and humour to amplify issues surrounding gender, racial and social justice. She’s been on the cover of ESSENCE Magazine and has been featured by The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Forbes, Fortune, Inc., NPR, Marie Claire, Chicago Sun-Times, Black Enterprise, The Root and more. As a writer and columnist, Luvvie has contributed to Vulture, EBONY and Uptown Magazine. She has interviewed bosses like Oprah Winfrey, Geena Davis, Gloria Steinem and Shonda Rhimes. She has spoken on numerous notable stages in the U.S. and abroad, including The Obama White House, MAKERS Conference, Pennsylvania Conference for Women, SXSW, Social Media Week (Nigeria, South Africa), Her TEDWomen opening talk, “Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable” got 1 million views in less than a month. One of her gifts is her ability to communicate grand ideas in small bytes. With her background and love for marketing, communications and new media, Luvvie created Awesomely Techie. It’s a resource site for entrepreneurs, small business owners and everyday people who want to use technology to make their work and personal lives more efficient. The drive to leave the world better than she found it is the foundation of her work with The Red Pump Project, a nonprofit she co-founded with Karyn Brianne Lee. From March 2009 to 2018, Red Pump empowered and educated women and girls of colour about HIV/AIDS. As Executive Director, Luvvie leads the national organisation’s work in driving conversation to decrease stigma associated with the HIV epidemic. Red Pump’s work earned them a Congressional Record from the U.S. House of Representatives and Resolutions by the Illinois State Senate as well as the City Council of Chicago. A proud Chicago girl, Luvvie enjoys laying around in her plush robe, eating a warm bowl of jollof rice in her free time.

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