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Nigeria’s travellers pay 42% higher for COVID-19 test than peers Temitayo Ayetoto

Ticketing corruption by railway staff, soldiers, policemen derailing Abuja-Kaduna rail project hen I arrived at the Idu Railway Station in Abuja at exactly 6:17am and was quickly sold a ‘sitting’ ticket for an Abuja-Kaduna train trip, I immediately thought I had fallen for a hoax.

Over the preceding four months, five Abuja residents and another two from Kaduna had complained to me about how the common Nigerian could not access the ticket for an Abuja-

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L-R: Sam Okagbue, independent director; Aminu Babangida, chairman, board of directors; Tomi Somefun, managing director/ CEO, and Alaba Williams, company secretary, all of Unity Bank plc, at the 14th annual general meeting of the bank in Lagos, yesterday.

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Kaduna train trip, and vice versa, unless they queued up in the simmering sun for several hours or submitted themselves to extortion by railway officials, their proxies and their collaborators in Nigeria’s most powerful city.

But this wasn’t my experience. At exactly 6:25am, a darkcomplexioned lady sporting artificial eyelashes and a checkered T-shirt had sold me the Economy ticket without demanding a kobo more than the N1,300 it normally went for. I was still studying her shiny, silver necklace and bracelets when a thinly-built young

man walked in to request for two tickets; he got them too. I stood by to observe proceedings for the next 15 minutes and all was seamless. Someone was trying to

INVESTIGATION (1) ruin the Federal Government’s good works, I reasoned. A part of me wanted to hop on the next available flight to Lagos, but the other wanted to stay the entire day at the train station to gather more evidence about this grand anti-government gang-up.

Thankfully, I stayed put. It was

Friday December 13, 2019 and the ticket I purchased was for a 7am ride.

I watch the last passengers disappear into the boarding area and the officials recommence the sale of tickets for the 9:50am ride few minutes after. One, two, three…

I start to count as the passengers are let into the ticketing office. At the count of 15, at exactly 7:30am, the gates shut.

At this point, I count 49 people standing in the fast-building queue. The gates of the ticketContinues on page 30

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igeria’s travellers are facing a 42-percent higher charge for Covid-19 test than their peers in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal and even India, according to BusinessDay finding.

They do not just pay higher.

They wait longer to get their polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results.

Nigerian accredited laboratories charge $141, equivalent of N54,400, for a Covid-19 test, according to the Presidential TaskContinues on page 30

Inside

How Nigeria’s slow internet speed P. 2 undermines push for online learning adoption ICT experts identify untapped opportunities in sector P. 2

2

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news

MPR cut means interest on savings deposit shrinks to 1.15% per annum

L-R: Obafemi Hamzat, deputy governor, Lagos State; Herbert Wigwe, GMD/ CEO, Access Bank plc; Babajide SanwoOlu, governor, Lagos State; Abdulwasiu Lawal, Oniru of Iruland, and Aramide Adeoye, special adviser to the Lagos State governor on works and infrastructure, at the commissioning of Victoria Island-Lekki traffic circulation project sponsored by Access Bank in partnership with Lagos State, yesterday.

Pic Olawale Amoo

…8% decline from initial 1.25% Endurance Okafor

T

he Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) cut by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday from 12.5 percent to 11.5 percent does not hold good news for bank depositors as it slashes the minimum interest rate lenders pay on savings deposits to 1.15 percent.

This is an 8 percent decline from the initial annual interest of 1.25 percent. With the current annual return on savings deposits at 1.15 percent, customers of Nigerian banks are expected to receive 0.095 percent on a monthly basis Effective September 1, 2020, the CBN directed deposit money banks to offer a negotiable interest on local currency savings deposits that is subject to a minimum of 10 percent per annum of MPR. But, with the MPR cut by 100 basis points the negative interest earned on deposits

by Nigerian savers will widen to -12.07 percent from -11.5, when inflation rate of 13 percent is factored.

What this means is that if a depositor saves N1 million in a savings account, while the money would have appreciated in nominal terms

by N11,500 (1.15%) to N1.0115 million by the end of the year, the money would be worth 11 percent less in real terms.

“Savers who have to earn be-

low inflation rate return on their savings would see the value of their money eroded. Thus, by the time repayments are made, the purchasing power of the saved money would be lower, which implies lower income, lower demand and lower output,” according to Ayorinde Akinloye, a research analyst at CSL Stockbrokers Limited.

With the current realities in mind, Nigerian savers are perhaps better served to look for other ways to protect their savings from losing value. The problem with that however is the current subdued interest rate environment in the country.

While interest rates have always been high in Nigeria due to the monetary system in vogue since 2009, which sought to use FGN bonds/T-bills and OMO bills as means of attracting US dollar to stabilise the naira, the recent OMO policy by the CBN, which prevents domestic investors from participating in the auction has sent yields to its worst record.

The returns on government fixed-income instruments have plunged to their worst record as investors use more money to chase after limited investment options.

From a double-digit interest return on government securities like T-bills, yields on the short-term instruments crashed to 3 percent at the last auction on September 16, 2020.

How Nigeria’s slow internet speed undermines push for online learning adoption FRANK ELEANYA

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n the first week of June 2020, Andrew Oginyi, a 46-year-old hotel manager, received a mail from his daughter’s school informing him of plans to commence online classes.

Schools were not seen as essential service, hence, the Nigerian government during the Covid-19 lockdown ordered them to shut down until further notice. Thus, schools have been closed since March 2020, but the government has recently told administrators to begin the process of working towards potentially re-opening within this phase.

The online class was optional and the fee was going to be half of what Oginyi used to pay as tuition before the lockdown.

Oginyi, whose last salus which helped us win the ary was paid in March, dug election. We have moved around the sub-region to thank all the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governors for all their support.”

Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson He assured that the governors in the South-South nformation and Comregion would work together munications Technolin resuscitating the Southogy (ICT) stakeholdSouth regional integration ers and players in both bloc of Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa public and private sectors Ibom, Cross Rivers, Edo have unanimously agreed and Delta states (BRACED) that Nigeria’s ICT sector, commission, adding that the although experiencing some region can no longer accept sort of growth, still has a lot a situation where the Niger of untapped opportunities Delta Development Com- with regard to creating a mission (NDDC) was unable truly digital economy for the to play its role. nation.

He noted that it was time According to industry they came together as a sub- players present at the 2020 region to take their fate in virtual Information Comtheir hands and determine the munications Technology future for themselves, adding, “We can’t accept the situation and Telecommunications where our own NDDC is not (ICTEL) Expo, organised by playing its role as it should. the Lagos State Chamber It is so because we have not of Commerce and Industry come together as a region to (LCCI), held September 22 take our fate in our hands and - 23, 2020, there is no better time to explore the opportudetermine our future.”

Also, Matthew Urhoghide, nities provided by the digital senator representing Edo economy than now when South Senatorial District, every nation is seeking ways expressed appreciation to to overcome the restrictions the government and people imposed by the COVID-19 of Akwa-Ibom for their sup- pandemic. And as nations face dwindling growth, deport and prayers.

Edo election has re-united South South more – Obaseki IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO

E

do State Governor Godwin Obaseki has said his victory in the September 19, 2020, gubernatorial election has strengthened the unity among the states in the South-South geopolitical region of Nigeria.

He said this during his thank you visit to the AkwaIbom State governor, Udom Emmanuel, in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

“This election has united us in Edo State and has made us speak as one. With all the cash spent by the opposition party, look at the margin with which we defeated the opposition in the final election results. The election has further re-united us together.

“Edo is that thread linking the sub-region together, Edo is the glue that holds the subregion together,” Obaseki said.

According to Obaseki, Edo and Akwa-Ibom share similar experience and have learnt from it, which helped in the victory in the state, adding, “We owe a responsibility to our people in the region to continue to deepen cooperation.

“Thank you for the advice, support, sacrifices and assistance you rendered to

into his family emergency savings. On the recommendation of a class teacher, Oginyi bought the daughter a fairly UK-used Samsung tablet from a popular vendor on Instagram. Next, he went shopping for a good mobile network.

That was where the problem started.

“I have gone through three network operators and all can’t stream videos for 30 minutes without going off. One of the networks would not even connect at all. Someone recommended MTN. It is not perfect but it is definitely better because the quality is much improved.

But their data does not last,” Oginyi said.

His experience is not far removed from that of Octovia Onochi, a 28-year-old homemaker, who has to sit with her two children - ages 2 and 4 - from 10am to 12 noon for classes. She recalled how

frustrating it was because most of the time the teachers’ network went off and could take about 20 minutes to reconnect.

“Sometimes, you will discover that the children only spent 30 minutes out of the two hours they were supposed to use and learn,” she said, as “The teachers are always looking at a loss, not knowing how to remedy the situation. Several times the school’s website crashed. It was a struggle.”

According to Morayo (not real name), a student of the Redeemers University, adapting to online class may have been exaggerated. As of the few private institutions that adapted to online learning, Redeemers University resorted to giving out N1000 worth of data per month to their students to alleviate the burden on parents. The data, however, was not only enough for video streaming

classes let alone carry the students through the month, poor connection problems were widely reported by many students.

“We have our classes on WhatsApp, Learn Ap, and Zoom,” she said, saying, “They send us only 1 gigabyte for one month and it is not enough for all the voice notes of 58 minutes and large files.”

The school is currently conducting examinations and Morayo says the 1GB data is insufficient. Her parents now supplement with 10GB data. But that has not stopped the school’s website crashing to the point the examinations that usually take less than a month, have seen many more days added to it.

How internet speed works The quality of the internet is a function of the availability and proximity of enabling

Continues on page 30

ICT experts identify untapped opportunities in sector

I

www.businessday.ng

… discuss digital economy benefits with today’s new reality ployment of technology is key to economic recovery and sustainability.

Giving her opening remarks at the event, themed ‘Exploring opportunities in the digital economy: The new reality,’ Toki Mabogunje, president of LCCI, said as the foremost private sector body in Nigeria (since 1888), the LCCI was providing, through this Expo, a credible platform to advance the opportunities and linkages in the world of ICT. “Today, virtually all sectors leverage ICT for optimal performance. This is evident in the financial services sector, where almost all banking transactions are conducted through digital channels; the agricultural sector, where sophisticated technologies such as robots, temperature and moisture sensors, aerial images, and Global Position System (GPS) technology are largely deployed; the consumer goods sector

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where online stores and ecommerce has brought an incredible transformation to retail business; the medical sciences where ICT applications are now being widely used for telemedicine, more precise diagnostics, administrative efficiency and medical research.

“The fact is that ICT has become the backbone of business, government, and personal lives. This automation has made businesses to be more profitable, efficient, safer, and more environment friendly,” she said.

According to Mabogunje, the ICT sector remains one of the most resilient sectors of the Nigerian economy even in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, “but there are still enormous potentials yet untapped. This Expo is one of the major platforms that offer opportunities to unlock these potentials.”

Speaking on ways Nigeria can tap into opportuni@Businessdayng

ties yet unexplored, Funke Opeke, managing director, MainOne Cable and chairman, presidential committee on National Broadband Plan, mentioned three areas that need more activity and participation.

“First is connectivity, which is what enables the digital economy in the first place. A device and then connectedness to be able to engage with parties at the other end. With respect to Nigeria, some of our cities do have 4G services, but too often, those services are constrained.

“Just before the pandemic, I had the privilege of chairing a national broadband plan committee, where we set a goal of having 70 percent uptake of 4G services around the country, with download speeds of 25mbps (megabytes per second) in urban areas and at least 10mbps in in rural areas by 2025.

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Formative years of a child is important, don’t waste it Tales from the main road

Eugenia Abu

I

was nine years old when I arrived boarding school at the prestigious boarding secondary school for girls, Queen of Apostles College Kaduna run by white Reverend Sisters of the catholic mission. It was later to become Queen Amina College when the state government took it over a couple of years after I enrolled. I was young but ready to be independent even at that time. Thing is, my parents were only an hour away in Zaria and could come over to the school quickly even in an emergency.

In addition to everything else as will be captured in my upcoming memoir, “So, you want to be an MC, Tales and Tips of a veteran event compere”, my elder sister, and the lovely Eucharia Alozie two years older than me was also in the school at the time.

So, not only was I not too far from home but I also had a support system in school and was really well covered.

Those years were fun and unforgettable and I remember them almost as if it were yesterday.

My Father, an Educationist did not think it wise that I go to secondary school that early but I had passed the entrance exam and it was a trial. In the end, my primary school principal, the late Mrs Jarma, encouraged my parents to let me give it a shot since my sister would be there and if I did not do well could then repeat the class.

I considered it a challenge and went all the way through secondary school with very little distractions.

But the world has changed and many things therein. The distractions are now more enormous and some of the kids are in school more for the competition than anything else. We have pushier parents who want their kids to get into universities early to prove to their neighbours that there are geniuses in their families. Everything is now really more difficult, the images the kids have to deal with every week from television, to internet to bill boards to newspapers and magazines are insane. I only had black and white Television that closed at 10pm, a couple of newspapers and the radio.

There was no Pay TV, no other channels other than NTA, no internet and no 24-hour TV. We are in a different time now and a different world. I was vulnerable and naïve at nine, but today’s nine year olds with a lot more technological support are smarter than me but they are way more vulnerable and less wise.

They are also very sensitive and over process everything you say to them.

And everything that happens to them.

Too much TV and too much internet.

I, on the other hand, was a smart nine-

year-old with little cares in the world other than my books, my friends, new songs and a few TV programmes like Hawaii five o and Modsquad. I was not watching reality shows and listened to my father’s music machine to musicians, Ofege in Lagos and Jim reeves and Diana Ross whose music came from faraway lands. Nudity was not yet a thing and decent dressing was all the rave.

Anyone showing a flash of skin or always talking to boys was considered a bad girl. The reverend sisters taught us moral codes and we stayed within bounds. Today’s nine year olds need to be more grounded at home before they go off to secondary school especially boarding. Their emotions have to be managed and they need to be taught how to deal with significant others outside the home.

However, if they do go to boarding school that young, a gap year is appropriate, to help them recover before they move on to the university. In my case I spent two years for A-level at the Murtala Mohammed College of Arts and Science Makurdi which allowed me to mature before university. So I was hitting university as I was turning 17 years. Today, I meet Nigerian parents who are rushing their children through life, dropping them in universities at 14 and 15 years. Sorry guys, from a psychological point of view, it’s not wise. Some pick up and run with it but most are unable to rise and burn out very quickly. The academics are overwhelming and the social side of things are too heavy and confusing.

It is always better for the child to be

‘

Watch it. Let the kid grow in a more organic way so you do not inherit an emotional wreck going forward. We need to spend time with our children in their formative years.

Be their friend.

Please weigh your options!

Eugenia Abu is a broadcaster, writer, trainer, brand and multimedia strategy expert and media consultant.

Email: abu_eugenia@yahoo.com Phone number: 08033109820

James’ bag or James’s bag: Indicating ownership with the apostrophe

T

he punctuation mark called the apostrophe (’) is one of the most important symbols in English language. It performs three major functions, with the first bordering on pluralisation. For instance: 1. Underline the f’s and circle the q’s.

2. These are my do’s and don’ts.

Secondly, it functions as an indicator of an omission or a contraction (int’l and don’t). Its third and supremely important function is the depiction of ownership, which many users of English find difficult to grasp, especially in writing. Mercifully, this treatise will cast light on the rules governing the usages of the apostrophe to indicate ownership, alongside other core uses.

Fundamentally, the apostrophe is used when assigning possession to singular nouns that do not end in ‘s’, as seen in examples such as: Kunle’s book, Femi’s bag and Juliet’s bracelet. As a corollary to that, a singular noun that ends in ‘s’ could either attract the apostrophe alone or an apostrophe that is succeeded by ‘s’. This reinforces the appropriateness of: James’/James’s wallet, Julius’/Julius’s singlet and Thomas’/Thomas’s girlfriend. While the former option sounds more natural, especially in spoken English, the latter alternative reflects grammatical aesthetics. The choice is, therefore, an open one for language users. However, the nouns in this category should not be mistaken for those ones that contain two s’s — one in the middle and another at the end. Nouns in this category attract only the apostrophe without ‘s’.

Representative examples are ‘Jesus’ and ‘Moses’, and their usage is exemplified below: 3. Christians pray in Jesus name (incorrect).

Christians pray in Jesus’s name (incorrect).

Christians pray in Jesus’ name (correct).

4. Moses’ assets are worth 900 million dollars (correct).

Although some users have made a case for the correctness of Moses’s and Jesus’s, it is advisable to keep clear of these orthographic

representations because their pronunciations sound really awkward. Having considered singular nouns, it is essential to school you in the use of plural nouns with the apostrophe. When a plural noun ends in ‘s’, it takes the apostrophe alone to indicate ownership, as portrayed in the ensuing noun phrases: boys’ bags, ladies’ wear and firefighters’ hazmat suits.

In the case of plural nouns that do not end in ‘s’, an apostrophe and an ‘s’ are used to indicate possession. Quintessential examples include: Children’s Day, men’s shoes and women’s hats.

Remarkably, there are other peculiar usages of the apostrophe, such as ascribing ownership of a single item to a group of people. When this is the case, the last person to be mentioned reflects the apostrophe for collective ownership.

This is made abundantly clear in the example sentences below: 5. The company is Kunle’s, Femi’s and Tayo’s (incorrect).

The company is Kunle, Femi and Tayo’s (correct).

Contrariwise, if different persons own their entities severally, all of the names will reflect the ownership thus: 6. These manufacturing concerns are Kunle’s, Femi’s and Tayo’s (correct).

Furthermore, be mindful of the reality that ownership can exist within another ownership.

When this occurs, every instance of ownership is apostrophised, as illustrated below: 7. This is my father favourite worker child’s school (incorrect).

This is my father’s favourite worker’s child’s school (correct).

Interestingly, too, it is of critical importance to apostrophise any noun that precedes the noun ‘sake’.

8. This administration should prudently invest in human capital development, for posterity sake (incorrect).

This administration should prudently invest www.businessday.ng

in human capital development, for posterity’s sake (correct).

9. For goodness sake, stop spanking these children (incorrect)!

For goodness’ sake, stop spanking these children (correct)!

10. The class was split into four groups, for convenience sake (incorrect).

The class was split into four groups, for convenience’/convenience’s sake (correct).

11. For correctness’ sake, the apostrophe should be used with pinpoint accuracy (correct).

12) For God sake, stop prying into Hannah’s private affairs (incorrect).

For God’s sake, stop prying into Hannah’s private affairs (correct).

Additionally, the apostrophe will prove consequential when indicating the timescales of uncountable nouns. Classic examples are: 12. These vaccines are products of a sevenyear research (incorrect).

These vaccines are products of seven years’ research (correct).

13. Greg was sentenced to a nine-year imprisonment (incorrect).

Greg was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment (correct).

14. Mr. Davidson was given a one-month paternity leave (incorrect).

Mr. Davidson was given a/one week’s paternity leave (correct).

15. I have a nine-year experience in civil engineering (incorrect).

I have nine years’ experience in civil engineering (correct).

16. God willing, I shall be awarded a PhD in two years’ time (correct).

Other miscellaneous usages of the apostrophe include: 17. I bought three thousand naira worth of comestibles (incorrect).

I bought three thousand naira’s worth of

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able to deal with complex issues and take decisions on their own. And if they do not possess that capacity because you either did not spend enough time with them as parents or they are just too young to process these issues, then they get into trouble. This bothers me a lot so much so that I am setting up a boot camp next September God willing for kids preparing to go to the university. They are either too confused or too young. Let’s see if we can make an intervention.

Going to boarding school is generally a very emotional thing for most kids going to secondary school. If the child is too young, it’s doubly so. At nine, I had some support and coped well although I had to double down with working extra hard on some subjects and I also grew up very fast.

But can you imagine a nine-year-old in a boarding school away from their county and family and friends? Among total strangers, kids tend to re-enter themselves, become quieter and are generally not coping. Then they encounter bullying, racism and abuse.

There in a strange land where there is no one to talk to.

Watch it. Let the kid grow in a more organic way so you do not inherit an emotional wreck going forward. We need to spend time with our children in their formative years. Be their friend.

Please weigh your options!

The Gift of Gab

Ganiu Bamgbose

comestibles (correct).

18. The convalescent child had a good night sleep (incorrect).

The convalescent child had a good night’s sleep (correct).

To round off this treatise, some expositions will be made on the use of the apostrophe in idiomatic expressions. First off, a place that is in close proximity to somewhere else is said to be a ‘stone’s throw’; not ‘a stone throw’. Secondly, a very long period of time is idiomatically expressed as ‘donkey’s years’; not ‘donkey years’.

Achieving finesse in language use is a function of paying meticulous attention to the minutest grammatical detail. Hence, if well internalised, this piece will upscale your level of eloquence.

Dr Bamgbose (Dr GAB) has a PhD in English and lectures at the Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos. He is a social commentator who writes on different issues of national concern and the author of daily online English lessons titled “English for Today” with hundreds of lessons available on his website www.englishdietng.com.

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The organic intellectual in a free society THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

Obadiah Mailafia

O

urs has become a chronically anti-intellectual society. We have become a society that valorises illiteracy; where values and standards count for nothing – where excellence is viewed with barely concealed contempt.

It was not always like this. During the nationalist days, the people who led the struggle for independence were people of excellence. The father of Nigerian nationalism, Herbert Macaulay, was a qualified surveyor. His father, Thomas Babington Macaulay, was a priest and educator and founder of the first secondary school in our country, CMS Grammar School, Lagos.

Richard Akinwande Savage was a physician and journalist of distinction.

Christopher Sapara Williams was not only the first qualified lawyer in our country; he was a pioneer nationalist and a mathematician of note. Nnamdi Azikiwe was an erudite political scientist and an influential journalist and orator. Obafemi Awolowo was an economist, lawyer and philosopher. His influential Path to Nigerian Freedom (1947) was written when he was still a law student in London. The Foreword was written by the Oxford

authority on colonial administration, Dame Margery Perham, who described it as a “remarkable book”.

Our first and only Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was a science teacher, orator and novelist.

His semi-autobiographical Shehu Umar still brings tears of nostalgia to my eyes. His fellow Bauchi compatriot, Sa’adu Zungur, was a qualified pharmacist, poet and journalist. The women of that era also did not disappoint: Margaret Ekpo, Gambo Sawaba, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and others.

Beyond the rough and tumble of those years, the quality of public discourse was of a relatively higher order compared to what obtains today.

Ideas mattered. Excellence mattered.

The political space was not an arena for charlatans, drug-dealers, cultists and all manner of unlettered cretins.

Today, the glory has departed. Babylon the Great has fallen!

The role of intellectuals is best illustrated in the context of the nineteenth century intelligentsiya in Russian history. It referred to a class of people who dealt mainly in ideas. They were to be found within and outside the walls of the universities. They were not necessarily academicians.

Russian writer Pyotr Boborykin recently described them as, “the managers of a society and as the creators of high culture”. There were no prescribed qualifications. But they always knew themselves.

Russian thinker Vitaly Tepikin described them as a group united by certain key elements: commitment to advancing morals and public ethics; sensitivity to their neighbours and gentleness and kindness towards others; patriotism, faith in the people and inexhaustible love for the motherland; commitment to intellectual

creativity in all its forms; desire for independent self-expression and intellectual freedom; a critical attitude to the Establishment and commitment to the transformation of society and antipathy to all forms of social injustice; and loyalty to moral convictions based on conscience even under the most difficult of conditions requiring sacrifice and self-denial.

During the Soviet era, Russian intellectuals made heroic sacrifices in pursuit of freedom. Many paid for it with their dear lives. The Nobel laureate Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn recorded the deeds of these intellectual martyrs in his famous book, The Gulag Archipelago.

My Russian friend, who is currently a distinguished academic at a North American university, recalled an encounter with an ageing visitor to their home when he was barely ten. He somehow took a liking to the man and was jumping all over him.

After the man left, his father, who was a member of the elite Soviet Academy of Sciences, told him to bring out his diary and make a note of that fateful day. He revealed the name of the visitor as Andrei Sakharov.

Andrei Dimitrievich Sakharov (1921—1989) was a nuclear physicist and Nobel laureate who later became a human rights and peace advocate.

Sakharov was a legendary scientific prodigy and father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb. He later turned against the Evil Empire and its horrific human rights abuses. He would have been killed, but survived only because his Olympian scientific achievements gave him some form of immunity. He died on 14 December 1989, astonishingly, as the Soviet Empire itself was crumbling Organic intellectuals are men and

‘

The organic intellectuals are the true salt of the earth.

Without them, there can be no economic or social progress.

They are ultimately more powerful than moneybags, military arms and temporal political power.

Even if the wielder of the pen is killed, his ideas will never die

women of ideas committed to the transformation of society. The term was first coined by the Italian Marxist revolutionary intellectual Antonio Gramsci. He himself languished in prison for 11 years under Mussolini and the fascists, until his death in April 1937.

Among Nigeria’s organic intellectuals I would include: Tai Solarin, Mokwugo Okoye, Eskor Toyo, Claude Ake, Ikenna Nzimiro, Bade Onimade, Mahmud Tukur, Yusufu Bala Usman and Ayodele Awojobi. There are others in Africa and beyond that I greatly admire: Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, founder of the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) of South Africa; J. K. Nyerere of Tanzania; Eduardo Mondlane of Mozambique, Amilcar Cabral of GuineaBissau; Iranian revolutionary and sociologist, Ali Shariati Mazinani; and the Pakistani poet, philosopher and jurist Mohammed Iqbal.

The organic intellectuals are the true salt of the earth. Without them, there can be no economic or social progress. They are ultimately more powerful than moneybags, military arms and temporal political power.

Even if the wielder of the pen is killed, his ideas will never die.

In the memorable words of John Maynard Keynes: “Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.”

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)

Why Nigeria must learn to remember things and hold on to grudges

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few weeks ago, while on the set of an episode of “Patitos Gang,” a discussion topic was introduced: “2023 Igbo presidency - to be or not to be?” On the “to be” side was political firebrand Ifechi Ugwu who insisted that it was in the interest of national unity to maintain the rotational power sharing principle. On the “not to be” side were Eugene Uzor and Cheta Nwanze whose argument was that the current political system would only end up producing a Rochas Okorocha or an Orji Uzor Kalu over more qualified Igbo candidates with less baggage.

While I did not deem it appropriate to offer an opinion on the matter, the thought did strike me - why would the likes of Okorocha and Kalu be considered as electable frontline candidates in that scenario while your Soludos and Moghalus would not? What is it about the Nigerian political psyche that refuses to assign obsolescence to political actors where it would be assigned elsewhere?

Remember the past - so it stays in the past Mentally, I went through a list of prominent politicians from OECD countries who have held powerful offices and are still alive without being actively involved in frontline national politics.

Former British prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Theresa May are still alive and kicking. Former French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande are still about.

Former US presidents George Bush, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are very much alive.

None of the afore-mentioned people is planning a run for electoral office or setting themselves up as a ‘godfather’, or even particularly present in the public eye anymore.

Their time has passed and they know it. More importantly, the people know it. People in those

countries do not labour under the unfortunate idea that having held high political office at one point somehow qualifies or mandates one to do so again. The people and the media do not make constant reference to these people as though they are somehow granted lifelong relevance simply for having won an election before. The political culture there is to document everything that happens in the political space in real time so that afterward, there is no post-mortem beatification of leaders who are either past their sell-by date or were simply ineffective or unpopular.

Here on the other hand, decades after the ‘Class of 66’ should have been retired permanently from all facets of Nigeria’s public space, we not only find one of said men in Aso Rock, but we have also developed a bad habit of putting people on a lifetime pedestal - just because they once held political office. What achievement or legacy did the likes of Okorocha or Uzor-Kalu leave behind to put them into the conversation about a potential run for presidency? To the best of my knowledge, their entire legitimacy simply stems from the fact of their being “prominent.”

Apparently that is now a qualification to become president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria - just be “prominent.”

I believe that if Nigeria were to develop a political consciousness that centres on keeping records and maintaining historicity, a large number of the people who are still in and around political power would simply not be there. To this end, I believe that Nigeria’s political culture needs to build a habit of recording and maintaining grudges against individuals and political formations. This is not an outlandish suggestion by any means. In fact it is this ability to hold a deep-seated grudge that constitutes a large part of the partisan political divide in the

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OECD. You do not see Liberals “decamp” to join the Conservatives or vice-versa, because by and large, they genuinely do not like each other and they have far-reaching historical precedent for their mutual antipathy. I would argue in fact, that this ability to hold a political grudge over an extended period of time is a large contributor to the development of an ideology - the magic sauce that most Nigerian political formations lack.

Grudges would have prevented Buhari’s emergence The other thing about learning to hold a grudge reliably and consistently is that it prevents your Buharis and Babangidas from returning to haunt you in the future. Just like the apparently amnesiac political culture makes it such that the Okorochas and Uzor-Kalus are being mentioned in serious conversations about the presidency despite all the clear baggage they come with, it was that same cultural amnesia that led to the emergence of a thoroughly discredited and erstwhile disliked person as president in 2015 and 2019.

One of the key messages of 2015 was that Muhammadu Buhari was a “reformed democrat,” whatever that means. Nigerians were repeatedly told to ignore the evidence of history and their own lived experience to make a 3-time coup plotter the CEO of a $500 billion economy. The man whose signature economic policy in his prior iteration involved sending horse whip-wielding soldiers to flog traders into selling at governmentapproved prices was suddenly presented as an iPad-wielding funky granddad wearing a bowtie and playing with his grandson. Against their better judgement, Nigerians made the decision to put their grudges against Buhari Mark I aside and vote for Buhari Mark II. The outcome is clear for all to see now. Buhari

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David Hundeyin Mark II is only different from his prior iteration in the sense that it is still possible to write this article thanks to the 16 years of democratic reforms and opening of civil spaces that came before him. That hasn’t stopped him from going after media freedom with a zeal only matched by his eagerness to once again subsume the Nigerian economy into the state and parcel it out to his cronies and loyal subjects as the emperor he fancies himself to be. Nigerians put the lessons of history and their own personal dissatisfactions aside to vote for their own predator, and now said predator is doing the only things he knows how to do.

By the time he is done, my fervent hope is that Nigerians will finally learn to put their grudges front and centre of their political decisions. If the Sinn fein still regularly wins Northern Irish seats in the British Parliament because of what amounts to grudges over an armed conflict that ended decades ago, it is no outlandish postulation to suggest that Nigerians should also learn to structure their political decisions around their historical grudges.

That way, maybe we can all stop being the proverbial slugs who vote salt.

Hundeyin is a writer, travel addict and journalist majoring in politics, tech and finance. He tweets @DavidHundeyin.

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Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Tough talk at ‘come chop’ HumanAngle

Femi olugbile

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t is possible to get a sense of a time and a place through depictions of ordinary people carrying out the routines of normal life. Ernest Hemingway demonstrated this in a famous short story in “Men Without Women” where two friends take a brief car trip through Musollini’s Italy. They encounter no “men of power”, speak no “Politics”, but at the end of the “slice of history”, the reader gets an overpowering taste of the times.

At the turn of the century, the suburb of Lagos known as Apapa was still cosmopolitan and eminently livable. It had a “GRA”, comparable in every detail with Ikoyi and Victoria Island. One of the abiding memories of this writer was sitting with the renowned author TM Aluko in his library in an elegant spacious house close to Apapa Club for an hour as he painstakingly explained the details of an assignment. Another memory was the event in the following story, reproduced from a previous edition of this column.] Lagos. Saturday, June 18, 1988 They have called us together to hear them speak, two controversial men ready to address contentious issues.

Invitees have been exhorted to come armed with questions. Chinweizu and Naiwu Osahon would be battle ready.

It promises to be an afternoon of

bric a brac.

“Come Chop”, Naiwu Osahon’s restaurant and “talking shop”, is tucked away atop a furniture shop in a long building on Calcutta Crescent, Apapa.

The presentation has already commenced as you gain the entrance.

Chinweizu is reading from their joint document.

“- Let African culture be at the centre of our educational curriculum and foreign culture at the periphery-“, he quotes from Okot p’Bitek.

Afrocentrism is not advocating a wholesale return to the African past, he notes carefully. It merely asks that the past be rediscovered and the stillserviceable parts of it put to use in the present. Modernisation is not the same as Westernisation. Europeanisation and Arabisation are superfluous to the creation of an industrialised African civilisation.

“Africa know thyself, and let your charity begin at home, and not abroad” He quotes a long stretch from Nnamdi Azikiwe’s “Renascent Africa”, a book published in 1937.

- “Educate the renascent African.

Tell him he has made definite contributions to History- that Africa ruled the world from 763 to 713 BC- The renascent Africa will be better off with men and women who are trained to appreciate these facts – “ Strong words. Somehow it all does not sound like the latter-day Owelle of Onitsha– “the beautiful bride”.

The ancient Egyptians of Pharaohs’ times were black men, continues Chinweizu. Herodotus wrote about it. Cheikh Anta Diop tested for melanin pigment in the skins of Egyptian mummies. It was positive. The black man needs cultural confidence to progress. The achievements of the black Egyptians are definitive proof that he

is not inferior to anyone. The essence of African creativity has been invested in African languages since the times of the Pharaohs, since five thousand years. Europhone literature is a hybrid of relatively recent origin.

Naiwu Osahon takes over the narrative. His topic is “The so-called language problem in African Literature”.

The time will come to pass, he says, when an African writer will write in the indigenous language he is most fluent in and have his work translated into other African languages. By then nonAfrican languages will have ceased to be official languages in Africa.

Chinweizu proceeds to summarise.

He has strands of grey hair in his beard.

His igbo accent is thicker than you had thought and there is a slight whine to his voice.

It is now discussion time.

A light-complexioned young man who claims he is from Newbreed Magazine sets the ball rolling. He decries the predictability of this sort of gathering. He had not wanted to come, he says, but had been angered into doing so by certain remarks Naiwu Osahon made in an interview the other day.

Kanmi Ishola Osobu – Fela’s lawyer, “the people’s lawyer”, who is not one of the conveners (“I was not even invited”) decides to respond to the journalist. His voice quickly rises to a courtroom harangue.

“- My brother, you are angry. I am happy –“ Something is missing in the paper presented, he shouts. There is no talk of Ideology. This is crucial for Afrocentrism to thrive.

Nkrumah had it right, he continues, but party apparatchik isolated him from the masses.

He gets up to go after his rousing exhortation (‘I have a meeting in

‘

The time will come to pass, he says, when an African writer will write in the indigenous language he is most fluent in and have his work translated into other African languages. By then non-African languages will have ceased to be official languages in Africa

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

Narcissism and the death of leadership (4)

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any leaders today feel tremendous pressure to succeed, and as a result, create and accept a pseudo-self. This is a version of them that hides their warts and magnifies their best traits. Unfortunately, those who know us best and even those who work with us every day see right through this. They recognise our true selves and know we are not embracing that person. We won’t reach our full potential by investing energy into creating false versions of ourselves.

Narcissism goes beyond being concerned with oneself. It is more fitting to characterise the pathological narcissist as someone in love with an idealised self-image that they project to avoid being a subjugated or wounded person, says Preston Ni, a communications specialist.

People with narcissism are the most insecure individuals in the room, but they have learned how not to show it.

If a narcissist is someone with a false self-image, then they are not typically very self-conscious. They may think they are right and understand themselves, but the illusion that drives them is an unavoidable obstacle to any proper self-understanding. The narcissist is living in a dream without self-awareness, and those around them are often viewed as mere objects rather than actual individuals with real feelings. This makes it possible for the narcissist to take advantage of others by manipulating them.

The question then is, how do we deal with a narcissist?

Managing a person with narcissistic attitudes is very complicated, and not all nar-

cissists are alike, so you must deal with them according to your experiences. However, don’t think you are powerless. Here are strategies for handling a narcissist: First, you must get rid of your unrealistic expectation that they will change. Never expect a narcissist to realise their mistakes, or notice your pain, or commit to making changes; it is unrealistic. Often, narcissists believe they do no wrong and should be rewarded for how nice they are to others. Ask yourself some pertinent questions: Without this person, are you better off, or are there other ways of limiting the possible harm they could cause you? Come to terms with your emotions and needs because, rest assured, they’re not considered by a narcissist.

Your next strategy is to identify and set boundaries in relating to the narcissist. Think and determine what you will and won’t accept and what behavior you can limit. Is there anything you’ve tried before that seemed to help or didn’t? You need to weigh the balance of power between you and the narcissistic person and how it will affect your boundaries. This refers to a workplace setting, a family, and a relationship, where you now know that you have surrendered your self-worth to the narcissist to implement their self-belief of superiority. Once you’ve determined your boundaries and what needs to happen to feel safe, it’s important to stick to it. This may be difficult to do if you’re clawing back from trespassed boundaries in the past, but chances are a narcissist will test you, so keep those boundaries strong.

Also, you must be ready for a push back, psychologically, and emotionally, hence, the need to approach gently. If you try to say something

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The leadership factory with

to them, they may attack back. They will want to protect their fantasy image of themselves. It is challenging to address a narcissist’s conduct directly to their face knowing they may react and defend themselves, but it must be done. Just be gentle. Eventually, there will be fallout, and you must be prepared when it happens. They will be spiteful and vindictive, from silent treatment to malice, blackmail, bad-mouthing, ghosting, and every other level of pettiness in reaction to you.

Remember, it will pass.

Right after your fall out with a narcissist, they will come for your sense of identity and selfworth by spinning narratives about who you are that colours people’s perspective of you. Never accept their interpretation of who you are or allow them to reduce your self-worth. Engage the support of people who get you, who are genuine, and can remind you what a good friendship or relationship feels like in times of need.

Maintain your calm and don’t allow yourself to be derailed. Narcissists can be antagonistic; they get under your skin and always provoke others into emotional reactivity to control them, which is why maintaining one’s sense of calm is so important. You must not attend to everything they say or do to you.

Find the balance between moving ahead in the direction of your life pursuit and alleviating the insecurities of the narcissist.

Keep a positive outlook and don’t look ruffled. Even if you are feeling annoyed, never react; remember, the malicious behavior will diminish eventually. How do you keep a positive outlook? First, don’t lose your sense of purpose and goals. Second, maintain your sense of humour and never lose your source

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Ibadan’).

The journalist from Newbreed is not done.

“All these demands for ‘commitment’ are stifling our writers’ creativity” he declares. “And Osobu- I wanted to remind him he was in NPN!” Osahon is bristling and he tries to shut him up.

Chinweizu is more ready to listen, even where he disagrees.

Africans cannot afford to be too “liberal” while Africa is being taken over by Europeans and Arabs, he says.

From Mauritania, to Chad, to Sudan.

One chap queries how anyone can write about ‘love’ in Nigeria when there are so many pressing social issues.

Chinweizu quips mysteriously “Try leading a platoon of randy troops on a mission-“ Amman Ogan, editor of Sunday Guardian has come in somewhere along the line. She sits quietly through it all, looking dainty in blue.

Chinweizu is very quotable today.

“Part of our problem in Africa is that a man with only half of an idea in his head gets up and decides to shoot everybody in sight and take over the government. That is not Revolution.

That is Thuggery.”

And another gem.

“We may not be alive in fifty years’ time if we do not all become Afrocentric. What the Boers are trying to do in South Africa was what the Arabs did to the black Pharaohs”. Expropriation.

Extermination.

But could you expropriate a whole civilisation, and leave not a trace, asks a journalist from Daily Times.

“Yes”, replies Chinweizu firmly, soberly, rounding up. “Yes.”

Toye Sobande

of joy and fun when dealing with a narcissist.

Recognise that the narcissist may need professional intervention. The grandiose type of narcissist truly has low self-esteem and a profound feeling of inadequacy. They have a selfish, harsh me-orientation and an inability to imagine the perspective of others. They are also sensitive and reactive but usually highly intelligent, and tragically flawed by rigidity.

Bolstering their low self-esteem may not be something you can handle personally, but the narcissist will need professional help.

If someone in a leadership role is pathologically self-focused, typical motivations used to change behavior would be ineffective. If a person doesn’t care, or worse, is incapable of caring, such a person will continue to act in whatever way makes them feel good. Therefore, caution is urged for those in leadership lest they are caught up with the narcissism epidemic.

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

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Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Editorial Publisher/Editor-in-chief

Frank Aigbogun editor Patrick Atuanya

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

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COVID-19: Nigeria reopening but measures must be stricter

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Improve testing capacity and prioritise continuous sensitization

ontrary to the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 chairman, Boss Mustapha’s assumptions, it is, indeed, too early to say Nigeria is flattening the Covid-19 curve despite improvements in the number of cases recorded across Nigeria.

We must not be complacent but continue to enforce preventive measures against the deadly virus.

The devastating impact of the pandemic is obvious. It is the reason for the sharp contraction in the country’s GDP by -6.1 percent. The need to return to normalcy may have instigated some form of hastiness to fully resume activities in states like Lagos.

But, it is important we caution that people do not forget the COVID-19 induced lifestyles in a hurry, else, the country as a whole risks a second wave of the virus.

Countries like Israel and the United Kingdom have begun experiencing a second wave of the pandemic which is more

threatening. In response, these countries have imposed a second nationwide lockdown.

We must remember that the COVID-19 is a pandemic. Hence, a claim that Nigeria is flattening the incidence curve is laughable when the country just resumed international flights and reopened schools for students. From experience in other parts of the world, especially Europe, most countries come down with a second wave shortly after such a move.

Factors such as age demographics, pre-existing health conditions, and weather may have limited the spread and fatality of the pandemic in Africa, especially Nigeria.

However, if containment measures are not prioritised, intensified and enforced, these factors may also be the reason for a prolonged outbreak over a few years.

Also, we can’t be speaking of flattening the curve when it has been proven that most cases in Nigeria are asymptomatic and testing capacity is still very low.

According to data from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Nigeria has tested

484,051 samples. This represents a meagre 0.24 percent of an estimated population of 200 million.

It is impressive that so far, of 57,437 confirmed cases, 84.7 percent have recovered while 1.9 percent unfortunately lost their lives. However, these figures do not depict the true state of things and only through increased testing can we ascertain for sure how effectively the combat against COVID-19 has been.

It is evident that the compliance of Nigerians to safety measures against the virus is gradually waning and this signals a “red flag”, especially now that full reopening is kicking in. We should be concerned and shouldn’t be promoting the perception that the COVID-19 curve is flattening – which obviously isn’t the case. Doing so will only worsen the case.

Nigerians are of three categories. The few that know the virus exists and, therefore, religiously adhere to the safety guidelines are the first group. The second is the set of people who once believed its existence but now thinks it’s all over while the third category are

many others who never believed the COVID-19 virus ever existed in Nigeria due to lack of trust in government.

It is important that while we resume activities across states, we must prioritise sensitization of Nigerians, reiterating the need to abide by hygienic measures in the fight against COVID-19 virus. We must also improve testing capacity across states. Now, we need more tests than ever to guide government decisions on COVID-19 related issues.

Now that students are back in school, it is imperative that schools comply with measures aimed to ameliorate the spread of the virus.

Pupils may have strong immune systems to fight against the symptoms of the virus when contracted but they can be carriers.

This makes them a risk to their parents and aged family members at home who may not have a strong immune system to fight the virus.

With international flights open, we must ensure testing and isolation is carried out on travellers coming into the country to cancel the possibility of a second wave in Nigeria.

HEAD, HUMAN RESOURCES Adeola Obisesan

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Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

13

COMPANIES&MARKETS What Adron Homes 40% discount on properties, business startup kits offer means for home seekers CHUKA UROKO

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t various times and for various reasons, real estate firms enter the property market with programmes, products and services for existing and intending customers, especially first time home buyers.

The decision by Adron Homes and Properties to give 40 percent discount on properties sold and bought from any of their estates in different parts of Nigeria is aimed to increase opportunities for people looking to own homes to do so with minimum difficulty, the real estate firm has explained.

The company’s offer of business start-up kits to property buyers in its on-going promotional sales is intended to empower such buyers. All the items being given out have the potential to generate income when put into use, which means increased capacity and opportunity to buy and own

homes.

The items include grinding machine, sewing machine, tricycles, clippers, refrigerators, micro-wave oven, hairdriers, shaving clippers, smartphones, mini-bus, cars, etc which can be used for setting up small and medium scale businesses. The aim is to enable the users get money to pay for the property bought on installment basis.

These opportunities, the company explains further, are meant to encourage and empower young Nigerians not to wait until they are 60 years before owning homes, adding that the flexible payment plans which if offers is to enable subscribers to pay according to their income fow.

Added to these is the company’s skills acquisition programme which offers training opportunities in ICT, photography, food processing, fishery, catering, fashion designing, hair-dressing, titling, etc which, in their thinking, is another form of empowerment for Nigerians in their

homeownership journey.

The 40 percent discount on its properties is at the core of the company’s independence anniversary promo tagged ‘Adron 60-60 Empowering Everyonepromo’ and it cuts across their 34 estates in various parts of Nigeria including Lagos, Abuja, Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Nasarawa.

According to the company, besides celebrating Nigeria at 60, the promo is also aimed to cushion the impact of the global health emergency called Coronavirus has caused many households to lose jobs and some companies are now operating sub-optimally, laying off staff or cutting their salaries.

“We are giving back to loyal customers and rewarding new clients by supporting them in upping their business skills and setting them up with diverse small business startup kits. With our up to 40 percent discount on land and properties bought, customers can enjoy these benefits by subscribing to any of our prod-

ucts with initial deposits as low as N25,000 only,” explained Folashade Oloruntoba, the company’s Group Chief Responsibility Officer.

According to Oloruntoba, “you necessarily don’t have to choose one or the other. The ‘60-60 Empowering Everyone Promo’ presents a unique opportunity to start and grow your business whilst owning real estate at your own pace.”

Ayodeji Ojo-Omoniyi, Group Executive Secretary, added that “at Adron Homes & Properties, we are constantly offering value for money on all our properties. Now, with this promo for celebrating our dear nation, Nigeria, we are deepening impact of the highest level there is.”

He noted that, besides its passion for nation building, Adron Homes also believes that individual growth highly influences a nation’s development, adding, “it is in this light that the company is offering deep discounts combined with gift items to reward its customers.”

L-T; Kelechi Otuneme, Public Relations Officer, LUTH; Timothy Okwu, Public Relations Specialist MultiChoice Nigeria; Caroline Oghuma, Head, corporate affairs MultiChoice Nigeria Prof. Lanre Adeyemo, Chairman Medical Advisory committee, LUTHand Akaoma Onyeonoru CSI Executive MultiChoice Nigeria during the presentation of Protective Gear and face masks to Lagos University Teaching Hospital Idi Araba Lagos (LUTH)

Visa partners She leads Africa to connect female entrepreneurs BALA AUGIE

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isa is proud to announce its partnership with She Leads Africa - a leading platform that connects female entrepreneurs with the right information and tools that they need to create thriving businesses in their communities. This partnership forms part of Visa’s ‘Where you Shop Matters’ initiative which was launched in June. It is an initiative that aims to champion and enable entrepreneurs across Africa while encouraging consumers to support small businesses by shopping local.

Women are the backbone of African economies, and according to The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Women’s Entrepreneurship Report 2018/2019, the highest rates the total entrepreneurial activity for women are found in Sub-Saharan Africa (21.8%).

Although women are involved in entrepreneurial activity, women in Sub-Saharan Africa tend to face a much higher likelihood of business discontinuance than men.

Through the She Leads Africa Spotlight series, Visa will provide a platform for successful female entrepreneurs, with incredible stories, who will share their business journeys, especially by transitioning to digital channels, in a bid to inspire and help upcoming entrepreneurs spread across Africa. The partnership also includes a This is how I did it series which features digital marketing experts that will provide women with the tools to advance their digital businesses.

Visa’s initiative is helping to support small businesses through the Visa Small Business Hub, a merchant platform providing tools and information on how to start, run and grow small businesses. The

platform also features leading merchants who embody the passion and highlights the entrepreneurship journey of small businesses across the continent.

Kemi Okusanya, Vice President, Visa West Africa shares, “our partnership with She Leads Africa, will enable us to engage over 700,000 female entrepreneurs across Africa through digital channels and direct engagements with female owned businesses.” She also expresses Visa’s commitment towards supporting female entrepreneurs, especially with the current economic realities, and the need for more collaborations within the ecosystem to drive economic recovery.

Afua Osei, Co-Founder of She Leads Africa shares, “we are so grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Visa to support the incredible women in our community with learning and growth opportunities.

Our community is passionate and committed to making an impact with their businesses and partnering with Visa enables us to share resources that will help them take it to the next level.”

African women entrepreneurs continue to face a myriad of challenges ranging from cultural barriers that require overcoming the narrow classification of child-bearer and or home manager, to a shortage of role models, inadequate access to financial assistance and limited educational opportunities.

Kemi concludes, “There are too many reasons why female-led organisations fail to flourish and we as Visa are committed to addressing these challenges by partnering with organisations such as She Leads Africa so that we can empower the next generation of female African businesses owners.

EFG Hermes kicks off second virtual investor conference

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everaging the success of the first virtual conference, the 2nd EFG Hermes Virtual Investor Conference opens to an even greater and more diverse turnout, with 157 companies from 25 countries around the world holding direct meetings with more than 650 institutional investors from 240 global institutions managing assets in excess of USD 17 trillion EFG Hermes, the leading financial services corporation in Frontier Emerging Markets (FEM), inaugurated the 2nd Virtual Investor Conference today. Running through to 1 October 2020 on a digital

platform moderated by EFG Hermes, executives from 157 companies representing 25 countries will connect with more than 650 investors managing an aggregate USD 17 trillion in assets.

The conference builds on the success of the Firm’s first Virtual Investor Conference held in June, adding an even greater pool of institutional investors and a broader cross section of industries represented. EFG Hermes continues to hold leading FEM events despite prevailing global challenges, with the current turnout of attendees and presenting companies reflecting the

strength of FEM markets and investor sentiment regarding their resilience in the face of headwinds.

Karim Awad, Group Chief Executive Office of EFG Hermes Holding said, “This second iteration of our highly successful Virtual Investor Conference features an even larger and more diverse group of participants as FEM markets begin to open up after being roiled by the COVID-19 crisis. With access to some of the most attractive investment opportunities across vital sectors in FEM markets, institutional investors from around the world will participate in a platform where they’ll be

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gaining key macroeconomic and industry insights that will shape the way forward through the unprecedented circumstances global markets are facing.”

“Having ridden out the worst of the initial economic storm, investors are looking to us for insights on the way forward for FEMs. With equity and debt flows on their way to recovery, investor appetite for the markets remains. In saying this, stimulus measures that prevented financial meltdowns at the start of the crisis could set markets up to face debt-accumulation challenges. At the same time, they’re bracing for the ever-present threat of a second wave of a

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virus that saw governments and central banks up spending and slash interest rates in the face of throttled consumer demand and investment. Our aim with the Virtual Investor Conference is to provide participants with pertinent and first-hand insights from the international players moving markets and direct investment into these compelling FEM economies,” said Mohamed Ebeid, co-CEO of the Investment Bank at EFG Hermes.

EFG Her mes has organized industry-shaping conferences over nearly two decades to global acclaim irrespective of market or global challenges. In June, it hosted @Businessdayng

the first Virtual Investor Conference in light of having to cancel its flagship One on One Conference due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The first Virtual Investor Conference facilitated more than 6,500 meetings, bringing together executives from 72 companies from 14 countries with 480 institutional investors representing 160 institutions managing assets in excess of USD 15 trillion.

The 15th edition of the EFG Hermes One on One Conference 2019 was shortlisted at the ICE Awards alongside a list of global companies for ‘Best Motivational Event’ and ‘Best Logistical Challenge of the Year’.

14

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

AGRIBUSINESSINSIGHT Market Insights

Analysis

Commentaries

Experts/Industry Views

Commodities watch

Policy Reviews

Send in Commentaries to caleb.ojewale@businessdayonline.com

Post-COVID-19, data driven food systems to guarantee food security - WEF CALEB OJEWALE

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ata is a rarity in Nigeria, as it is across much of Africa and it even gets worse in agriculture. However, to meet food needs on the continent following the COVID-19 pandemic, a new paper by the World Economic Forum has indicated that data-driven food systems will be required to combat food insecurity.

Data-driven food systems – empowered by digital connectivity – is not a new concept ; however, the COVID-19 crisis has underscored the necessity of this approach and the urgent need to bring significant resources to bear as a central enabler for the food systems of tomorrow. The current crisis provides an opportunity to strategically rethink and retool the food systems to enable widespread digitalization and data-driven transformation along the agricultural value chain and beyond, resulting in a more integrated approach to uniquely identify long-term solutions that benefit the rural and economic development of entire countries, noted WEF. The paper, prepared by the World Economic Forum’s COVID Action for Food Systems – Africa: Data and Information Platforms

Working Group, is intended as a starting point to advance actionable understanding on an emerging set of approaches for data-driven food systems across stakeholders.

By utilizing emerging datadriven solutions for food and agriculture and viewing them as

part of a wider economic enabling framework, WEF says partnerships can be leveraged and scaled.

Data from across satellite and geospatial operators, ICT and telecommunications providers, e-commerce and logistics companies, and finance providers could all be brought to bear, alongside

data from other actors who intersect the food space, such as the mining sector’s land utilization patterns. These corresponding data sets, brought together in a joint ecosystem that informs the wider economic and societal development, can thereby create a much greater transformational

Poultry association urges involvement of stakeholders in policy formulation, lower interest rates

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he dearth of quality engagement between policy makers in government and leadership of agricultural commodity associations, is limiting growth across the agricultural sector, added to this, the recurring theme of difficulty in accessing credit and high interest rates. These were some of the highlights contained in a press statement of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, where pressing concerns regarding the industry’s growth where itemized with a view to achieving much needed growth to meet the country’s needs.

“There should be constant consultation between the various offices of the Government with all the commodity associations to ensure first hand and undiluted information to realising our common objectives,” noted Ezekiel Ibrahim, national president, Poultry Association of Nigeria, in a statement.

It was also noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria recently issued a statement that there were about 166 ongoing projects funded by the CBN across the country. The association , however, expressed curiosity in the identity of these projects and the location across the country in order to determine how the Association can work with these

projects that have correlation and benefit to the poultry industry in Nigeria.

“While we appreciate the Central Bank for their roles, the association will be more grateful if all stakeholders are carried along in most of the agricultural interventions so that collectively we shall have convergence of action plan to achieve meaningful developments since we have common goals and objectives,” said Ibrahim.

According to him, “The poultry industry in Nigeria is a major player in the agricultural value chain as we uptake about 40 percent of maize and 60 percent of soybeans produced in the country,” said Ibrahim. “We are also the major offtakers of rice bran, wheat offal, groundnut cake and others.” He explained that with the industry’s continued determination to create awareness and increase the per capita consumption of poultry products of 0Nigerians by 50 percent current consumption rate, it is set to create a new revolution in the entire agricultural value chains in Nigeria.

This, he says is predicated on serious consideration and specific attention being given to the poultry industry as the major supply source of cheap and quality protein products. www.businessday.ng

To achieve this, the PAN president urged the Government to create favorable and enabling policies to encourage agricultural production to match the President’s rhetoric. Other requests included deliberate policy formulation to encourage private sector investments in agriculture by pegging interest rates to this sector between 1 and 3 percent.

According to Ibrahim, there should be coordinated collaboration, synergy and interfacing among all the stakeholders in the agricultural value chains. This includes the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, States Ministry of Agriculture, Commodity Associations , CBN, Commercial banks State and local governments authorities, traditional rulers Agricultural research institutes and the National Orientation Agency.

Also, highlighted is the need to develop a reliable data collection method in order to build reliable and transparent database; increase the percentage and funding of ministries of agriculture at Federal State and local Governments, and ; increase the funding of agricultural research institutes and appoint monitoring and evaluation committees to ensure that targets are set up with

deliverables. The M&E should involve the local community, Commodity associations Manufacturers and relevant professional bodies.

Also included in the association’s requests to keep the sector thriving is a call for the Federal government to maintain total ban on the importation of frozen poultry products and ensuring that maximum sanctions and prosecution are meted to violators in order to deter others.

It was also stated that the Federal Government should allow free duty charge for the importation of poultry equipments and machines, agricultural machines that are not produced locally rather than the current practice of putting all agricultural equipment on 5 percent import duty against the previous zero duty for all agricultural equipment.

The security situation, which according to the statement has become overwhelming most especially in the northern part of the country where grains are largely produced, was as well highlighted.

The association appealing to government and all stakeholders to “ move fast to restore security for farmers as without the farmers life will be near impossible for people living in the towns and cities.”

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effect.

It also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the unique opportunity to be the necessary watershed moment for recognition and alignment around a transformation that is informed by data, to support agriculture and resiliency of food systems in times of crisis. Used with wisdom, a granular data-driven understanding of communities and individuals, of complex natural ecosystems, of value chains can open new possibilities for wellbeing and deliver unimaginable benefits.

While the timeline for African food systems to “bounce back” once a vaccine is widely available is unknown, stakeholders should prepare to bounce back smartly by leveraging data. In this regard, it is key for stakeholders to recognize that the use of data has now evolved from old, linear models with a focus on increased efficiency and better post-hoc decision-making. New models are highlighting ways to use data to generate topline value for all actors in the value chain, including farmers. Worldwide, today’s use cases frequently draw on data from multiple sources, generate value for multiple entities and embed both end user and partner interests.

Business failure in Nigeria due to unfriendly credit system: A farmer’s perspective KABIR IBRAHIM

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igh Interest rates, inadequate loan tenor, absence of feasible moratoria and general access to credit are the bane of the business climate in Nigeria.

I am not by any means an expert in finance or credit management but street smart, innovative and gently entrepreneurial.

The start-up or the creation of a small business may not be difficult with the ease in meeting statutory conditions today but expanding and sustaining it is quite difficult largely due to the cost of finance and credit administration in the overall economy.

Very often the business simply dies within a few months because the financial institutions are not attuned to the wealth or job creation principles in a third world growing economy.

The promoters of the financial institutions are often times more concerned about their profit rather than building the businesses they finance.

In many cases the financial institutions are not sympathetic to the difficulties being experienced by the small businesses but rather more concerned with loan @Businessdayng

repayments and the high interest rates accompanying the loans.

The business climate in Nigeria today is so turbulent that no business is really thriving. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, insecurity and the general low purchasing power of the average Nigerian all together lead to business failure.

Regardless of the CBN Governor’s open call to the banks and financial institutions to extend moratoria and reduce interest rates, the situation is still very dire for the small business in Nigeria. The Government has to intervene to really get the small businesses out of the woods to avert total National economic collapse.

As the Government is opening so many windows of support to Agricultural enterprises it is prudent to shore up the purchasing power of the average Nigerian as well as the financial institutions’ management apparatuses to make Agribusiness sustainable.

You must sympathize with the typical administrator when he or she posits that there is no hunger in Nigeria but a weak purchasing power of the average Nigerian!

Ibrahim is national president, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN)

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

FINTECH News

Products Review

Technology Review

Personality Review

15

Company Review

Nigerians still flock to Inksnation three months after scam warning from SEC ...It is a Ponzi scheme says SIBAN President ...More people report they’ve been scammed FRANK ELEANYA

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early 200,000 Nigerians with over 5000 people active daily, still claim membership of a Telegram group created by InksNation, a platform flagged in June by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria. iBSmartify Nigeria the promoter of InksNation claims it invented a philanthropic blockchain platform that can end poverty in any country in less than 9 months. Other claims include inventing the world’s first reserve cryptocurrency called PinKoin and Africa’s first QR debit card called Pinkard.

Earlier in 2020 when it unleashed a series of online campaigns to attract users to its platform, the SEC had to issue a statement warning Nigerians that the activities of iBSmarty were illegal.

“These activities are perpetrated by suspected promoters of Ponzi and other fraudulent schemes under the following identities : Loom Nigeria Money, Box Value Trading Company Ltd, Now-Now Alert, Flip Cash Investment, Result Investment Nigeria Limited, Helping Hand and Investment and No Failure Development and Empowerment Nig. Ltd.,” the SEC said.

While participants are not allowed to post on the Telegram group, many of them have taken to the platform’s social media handles to ex-

press their grievances many of which range from not being able to get registered after making payment to getting locked out of the platform for different reasons, a BusinessDay investigation found.

Does InksNation have red flags?

Apart from the several ambitious claims, the Whitepaper of InksNation makes many of which do not add up with the realities in the blockchain world, Paul Ezeafulukwe, President of Stakeholders in Blockchain Association of Nigeria (SiBAN) said the red flags are really fundamental.

To start with, while InksNation claims to be a project on a blockchain there is no evidence to show that it actually exists. The only explanation provided of the type of blockchain is that it is “backed by human asset”.

One of the easiest ways to understand the word blockchain is to separate them into “block” and “chain”. This simply refers to digital information (the block) stored in a public database (the chain). Blocks store information about transactions like the date, time, and naira amount of the most recent purchase from Jumia Nigeria.

A fundamental characteristic of a public blockchain is that it is open for anyone from any part of the world to view by harsh transaction or address or other means. This is why the blockchain is mostly described as transparent.

“Even if theirs is private like Monero, they should show us. What are they offering and what particularly are they talking about?” Ezeafulukwe said. “For us in SIBAN, we are not against people

exploring any particular option or anything concerning the blockchain. But what we are against is whereby your exploration is at the expense of gullible investors who do not understand what you are talking about.”

Another red flag for SiBAN is the promised salary for life.

According to InksNation, its reserve coin called PinKoin is capable of paying every single Nigerian, African and human on earth including babies born every day a minimum of N120,000 ($330) monthly for life universal child basic income (UCBI). There are different classification of investments that users can access. In one of the categories, a user with N1000 gets a salary for life.

This claim suggests InksNation would have to determine the price of its minted

tokens, therefore obstructing market forces.

While there are over 2500 cryptocurrencies listed on hundreds of digital exchanges, they all have limited or predetermined coin supply. Their value therefore is determined by supply and demand. For instance, when a coin’s supply is limited or highly restricted, like Bitcoin, and demand is increasing, the price of that coin goes up.

“In the blockchain, you do not determine the price of your minted tokens even if you predetermine it, the market forces are supposed to control. It is like coming out with a bank and I say buy my shares N10 and I tell you that every month the money you spent will give you N1000 for life. It is not possible. I do not control like itself and I do not control the economics of the business to give you a predetermined salary structure for life. That is what he has been able to do,” Ezeafulukwe said.

A third red flag is that the supposed blockchain is not tied to any product or service.

In other words, people on the platform are not paying money for any visible value.

Notable scams like MMM also attracted millions of Nigerians with similar mouthwatering promises and had them part with their money for no visible value or product only to crash later with people’s life savings.

Blockchain projects like Bitcoin were anchored on creating a seamless payment system that serves as an alternative for the world’s mon-

etary system.

Ezeafulukwe told BusinessDay about a meeting he had with the founder of InksNation, Amos Sewanu Omotade-Sparks, during which he interrogated the founder.

“We had a meeting and I asked him three questions and he failed them woefully. I asked him when people come in do you pay them and he said ‘Yes’. I asked ‘How do you get to pay them?’ He couldn’t answer. So I said ‘You pay old subscribers with the money that new subscribers enrolled with?” He said “Yes.” I said that is a practical example of a ‘Ponzi’ and the moment you begin to do that you are in trouble,” Ezeafulukwe recalled.

BusinessDay’s investigation in the activities of InksNation corraborates the Ponzi claim and also found that the rules keep changing without the knowledge of potential subscribers.

A certain exchanger by the name of Abubakar - he would not give out his surname - told BusinessDay that unlike what was advertised on InksNation website, it is not possible to withdraw the N120,000 at a go, rather you are only allowed to take out N12,000 if you paid N1000 as registration. Those who subscribed with N10 get to take out N18,000 and they are issued a PinKard which they can use to buy what they want from licenced vendors.

Subscribers who do not want to shop at the vendors are told to “buy and sell.”

90% institutional investors to increase bitcoin holdings in next five years FRANK ELEANYA

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survey of institutional investors that oversee some $78.4 billion worth of collective assets said they intend to expand their bitcoin holdings in the next five years.

The survey conducted by Evertas, a cryptocurrency insurance firm, noted that in-

stitutional investors include more than a quarter (26%) of pension funds, insurers, and family officers. Hedge funds are also expected to dramatically increase their holdings by 32 percent. A further 64 percent anticipate a “slight” rise in allocation.

84 percent of respondents based their decision on a likely improvement in reguwww.businessday.ng

latory infrastructure. Many countries including Nigeria are beginning to set up some form of regulation around the market. In September, the Securities and Exchange Commission in Nigeria released a regulatory document declaring crypto assets as securities. A similar number of respondents (80%) pointed to the growth of the crypto

market and an increase in liquidity, making it easier for investors to buy and sell their crypto holdings.

About 76 percent added that they believe there will be more mainstream financial services companies and fund managers getting into cryptocurrencies, and the same percentage said that they believe negative inter-

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est rates and yields on bonds will also push more into (or further into) crypto asset investments.

Raymond Zenkich, President of Evertas says the expected growth calls for adoption of specialist insurance policies designed for the crypto market.

“A lack of adequate insurance for the crypto-assets @Businessdayng

market is clearly top of the list of concerns for many institutional investors, which is perhaps not surprising when insurers are only providing capacity of around $2 billion for a market that is worth between $250 billion and $300 million,” said Zenkich.

“We are working closely with the insurance community to address this issue.”

16

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

17

AHMED TUNDE POPOOLA

CEOINTERVIEW

Managing Director/CEO of CRC Credit Bureau Limited

Interview with Private Sector Leaders

Existence of Credit Bureaus means better access to loans, fair cost of funds - Popoola

With Nigerian Banks asked to lend more, experts say the focus has shifted to Credit Bureaus. In an interview with BusinessDay, AHMED TUNDE POPOOLA, Managing Director/CEO of CRC Credit Bureau Limited explains how the presence of Credit Bureaus guarantees easy access to credit for individuals and businesses.

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iven your position in the industry, I would like to know if the Credit Bureau Industry in Nigeria has come of age?

I think 10 years down the line a lot has happened and I won’t say that we have come of age because there’s still a lot to be done but I will say we have recorded significant achievements when we put it side by side with what our objectives are, what we set out to do and how we wanted to impact the lending landscape in Nigeria.

As at 2009, when we came on board, the credit penetration was just around 4 percent and access to credit was extremely low with credit only going to high net worth individuals and very big corporations. SMEs that constitute over 90 percent of the totality of businesses in Nigeria, contributing over 80 percent of employment and over 40 percent of GDP did not have access to credit. Consumers also did not have access to credit but things are changing, as we speak today and that is mainly because of what we have been able to do as a credit bureau in Nigeria.

What are those areas we are meant to address? We are meant to address the information asymmetry between the lenders and borrowers, close that gap of “oh I don’t know you, is only you that knows who you are”. We are meant to address that by making sure that relevant information about borrowers are available to lenders so that they can then make informed decisions. We are meant to help them make these decisions on a loan application with confidence and then with that level of trust on the information that they have.

We are meant to help them share information of their customer-borrowers among themselves, help them reduce the risk by derisking the lending space completely by bringing down the level of non-performing loans and of course, give them all the tools that will help them to bring out a lot of products and services that can then help make loans or credit available to consumers and SMEs. So in all of this, the focus has been what are those things that we can do, to help them identify the people and the businesses they should be lending to. In other words, marketing tools that they can use to identify good customers.

We have products that help them to process and grant loans including products for monitoring loans that have been granted. Also, if any loans have gone bad, there are those products to help them in

the collection and management of defaults.

Today Credit Bureau penetration in Nigeria has moved to 14 percent from 4 percent. That is still a far cry when you compare to other economies and other countries, but it is not where we were eleven years ago when we started.

The levels of non-performing loans have gone down; in 2009 it was 32.8 percent today it is a single digit at about 6 per cent, courtesy of the fact that there is now information sharing among banks and other financial institutions in the country, and of course, there have been a lot of products that have come onboard from banks and non-banks generally.

In those days hardly do you have any bank offering credit cards, having a special SME desk or doing consumer loans. All of that today has changed as virtually all the banks now have SME desks that helps them to attend to the credit need of SMEs. Most of the banks have retail and consumer loans, even for small amount of loans, payday nano loans, and today you have quite a lot of other operators in the fintech space, money lenders who are also now in the market to be able to assist to get credit to individuals and to small businesses. All of that become possible because they now have a database which we have created to assist them get relevant data to be able to do that.

We also assisted the credit industry to change the lending models by de-personalizing credit processing. In those days you had to sit down with the bank manager or credit analyst or your banker to discuss writing an application, your collaterals, who you know and all of that, but not anymore. It is now live connections so that within a few seconds or few minutes you can get loans as individuals. These are part of the things we have assisted in bringing to this industry.

We assisted the banking industry to have a unique identifier because we were at the forefront of getting a unique identifier for the banking industry which is the BVN that everybody relates to. So, that this is also a major achievement through which we have been able to support lending in Nigeria and of course, we have assisted in the ease of doing business as well.

Nigeria moved almost twenty-four places from 169 to 145 in the ease of doing business ranking in 2017 and the significant factor that was responsible for that improvement was in access to credit, which was largely as a result of the presence

of credit bureaus and the fact that the credit bureaus now have credit scoring solutions for Nigerians.

We can say that we have been able to change the way lending is done, to excite the industry to change their business model in lending, de-risk the lending space, get other creditors into the lending space, force the financial institutions especially the banks into retail loans and consumer loans which they were not offering before and finally bring down the level of non-performing loans.

So overall our essence is to boost access to credit, and we think we are doing that significantly, but it can only get better.

This is where we are today, we know that with time and with the level of activity taking place in the lending space, in a few years to come we would have much more improvement in credit penetration in Nigeria.

I would also like to know from the consumer perspective what your assessment of the credit culture in Nigeria is like?

Nigerians generally, maybe from the part I come from, we don’t like loans people and don’t want to be stigmatized.

It is a stigma for a lot of people to borrow and they believe that they should live within their means and should be able to make their savings or approach people close for support whenever there is a need like for a project, business or even having some basic things at home.

But we know that nobody enjoys life through that because you will then be limited to only what you can raise and what you can afford.

We know that all over the world the people that are in prosperity and the economies that have significantly eliminated poverty or significantly reduced it also have been able to open up their people to embrace credit culture. If you want to wait to gather resources on your own, then you may never have the opportunity to achieve some life ambitions.

So it requires a lot of education because while there are bad sides to credit, the good side of it outweighs the bad side.

Today, we have seen significant migration, we have seen a significant change in the way people perceive credit, and quite a lot of people are embracing credit either to start a business and then get their working capital or to grow existing businesses, or have consumption of certain things so that they can live a better life and have the basic goods like television, car and air www.businessday.ng

conditioner. These are things that ordinarily you can buy and pay for over few months especially when you have regular means of income as the case may be.

We can say that things are changing and it will get better but it is changing far much more for salary earners than for non-salary earners. I think as we move on, and the creditors themselves are thinking of how to service nonsalary earners, which are normally the informal sector that will always need help the more..

The economy itself is about transactions. You transact in cash or credit so if you transact only in cash then it is limited. People should appreciate that you can always transact in credit.

That is the way an economy grows, that is the way to get people out of poverty and to empower people.

What factors can accelerate

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the transition from cash-based to credit-based economy for Nigeria?

Like I said earlier the credit bureaus penetration is about 14 percent and credit penetration is around 11 percent which is it still very low compared to even Ghana or Kenya as the case may be.

There are some basic things we do need to do to improve upon the transition. Government has done very well by licensing credit bureaus which is required so that creditors can have some good information about the people or businesses they want to lend to but what can help this process is a means of identification. We need a unique identifier, we need to be able to identify uniquely not by carrying I.D cards but by a number that is completely and permanently associated with someone and then with that, every lender and everybody who is engaged in a transaction in an economy knows who they are relating with and at a touch of a button they can identify who that @Businessdayng

person is, This will help a lot. There is no economy that is really successful that does not have a unique identification number for its citizens; it is either in form of social security number for a lot of countries especially those in Europe, America and other parts of the west or unique identification numbers as in Egypt, South Africa or India.

Nigeria has the National Identity Management Commission that has been entrusted to do this but I don’t think they have been given enough support to be able to make sure every Nigerian has a means of identification. If we can have that and it is robust enough and it is not compromised in any way then that would help because lending has gone to digitisation phase and we have quite a lot of lenders who rely on technology, machine learning, blockchain and artificial intelligence to be able to look for individuals who they want to do business with but if those individuals are unknown with no means of identification then they will try to look for surrogates or other means of identification which are less effective. So that is very important in driving access to credit for consumers.

For SMEs, they need to formalize as they are a lot of informalities in that sector. We have over 41 million MSMEs and the majority of them are micro or one-man businesses without offices, structures, financial records or bank accounts.

When your SME sector that is supposed to be contributing so much to employment is characterized by informality then it becomes difficult for them to access credit because it is difficult to document them and appreciate the enormity of the businesses they are doing.

Therefore, credit penetration is still low. The government, therefore, must design policies that would encourage small enterprises to register their businesses.

Also, we also need to encourage these small businesses to facilitate their transactions through the banking system as much as possible, have books of account and record keeping, do basic audits of their books which lenders would want to rely on as form of a thirdparty confirmation of transactions , and governance around the day-today running of the business.

This would naturally lead to more SMEs having access to credit.

The third has to do with the cost of business. Without electricity, it is very costly for businesses to even come up with products.

Finally, the judicial system is something we can improve upon; adjudication when it comes to commercial issues between vendors and buyers, borrowers and lenders take a lot of time.

Because lenders are parting with the cash and do not want to lose their money, they will be extra cautious in evaluating borrowers before granting loans because once the credit is approved and disbursed, the borrower becomes the king.

So lenders need to be more comfortable about the judicial system’s ability to help in the timely recovery of loan or collateral in cases of default.

On the issue of ID. Is the problem the unavailability of sufficient means of ID or lack of integration of the ID systems?

So the first question to answer is why do we have multiplicity of IDs? You have a driver’s license that’s a unique number to you, an international passport that allocates you a unique number; you go to your bank and open an account and you are given another unique number in form of BVN. These are three numbers. Then you pay your tax, you have another www.businessday.ng

number, you do pensions you have another number. So you have 5 different numbers of identity for one person. Why can’t we just have a single set of numbers at birth and that’s sufficient for anything and for everything and that person carries that number for life? For those who are already existing, give us one set of numbers and then collapse all these forms of identification into that set of numbers.

I know that’s what NIMC is trying to do but they have not been able to achieve that, so that’s the problem. There is no merit of any sort in having multiplicity of IDs, in fact, it is expensive because the government needs to have a budget for each of those agencies that have become silos and see themselves as providing identity in the economy; meanwhile, it is not necessary.

So the earlier one can collapse all of them into one, the better for us and then moving forward, make sure that when you have a number, that number is for your passport, your driver’s license, etc.

port that. I am aware that there have been some good responses to this call.

How accessible and affordable are credit bureau prodHow would the pandemic ucts? impact credit scores?

When we just started you had to It is a very serious issue and it is physically visit our office or write quite unfortunate that we have an application through an email to found ourselves in a natural disas- get your credit report, your credit ter; this is an infection and a pan- score and so on. demic so it is not anyone’s making.

Even for our customers who are I am happy that there has been banks and financial institutions, some significant responses by the a lot of their users had to log onto Nigeria government through the our website and use it to access ministry of health, the office of the information but we have gone far secretary of the government of the beyond that and we now have what federation and the CBN. is called a Live Connection that The CBN has issued a stimulus has been made possible through of 1.1 trillion Naira package, before Application Program Interface(s) then they said all interest rates on ( API) for our customers so they their intervention funds should can access data from our database be brought down from 9% to 5%, to process loan applications and so those are very good steps to update the credit information of cushion the effect. borrowers in real time.

The implication of the panThis enables them to do a high demic is that borrowers may be volume of transaction every day, unable to pay their loans and that 24/7 including Saturday, Sunday can have adverse consequences and public holidays so there is no for their credit score because inhibition for access and processcredit score talks about your abil- ing of loan transactions and data ity to honour your obligations but submissions. if you are unable to work and unFor individuals who may be inable to earn how do you service terested in their own credit score or your loans? credit report, CRC has developed I think the solution is in part of a mobile application called CRC what the Central Bank has done, Mobile. You can download the to allow restructuring of loans CRC Mobile app from the Google and that way they would not have and ApplePlaystores or so once a negative impact as it will not be you download it on your phone, recorded that they were unable to anywhere in the world, you can pay; rather, it will be recorded that register, request and pay for your the loan has been structured and Credit Score or Report through they’ll probably have a longer time your phone. to pay those loans.

There are so many products and CBN has appealed to all lenders services on the CRC Mobile app ; to go and look at their loan books we have the CRC Score if you want and see how they can help in this to check your credit score, we have situation and I completely sup- the CRC elf-enquiry Consumer https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

and Corporate if you want to know your credit report that can tell the history of your transactions for the last 24 or 36 months.

You can access all of these through the app and prices have been slashed or completely brought down by at least 50% to encourage everyone to carry out regular check-ups on their credit history before borrowing. They don’t need to get to the point of applying for a loan and then get told they have a bad credit history or their credit score is too low.

I would like to know what is your outlook for Credit Bureaus and the economy in 2020?

I think from what is happening, everybody will have to go back and rework their future.

When the federal government and companies were preparing their budget last year nobody foresaw COVID-19. The virus is now very rampant and the pandemic has significant implication for commerce .

All of this brings in a negative outlook for business generally, so I think we all have to go back and have some level of moderation of expectation. The bureaus are not excluded because really if people are unable to do business, it affects their ability to pay back their loans and it will have significant implications for credit bureaus as well.

I think what we should be working on, is to ensure that government prevents another recession.

A lot of countries in the world may go into recession and do not forget, we are just coming out of one and our economy has not even reached that pre-2016 recession level. The government must stimulate the economy.

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Thursday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

FEATURE

Assessing contributions of Bureau De Change in foreign exchange stability HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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he Bureaux De Change Operators (BDCs) sector has for decades, remained a critical component of the Nigerian financial market playing pivotal role in exchange rate stability and job creation. The BDCs have supported Nigeria’s growth agenda and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) commitment to exchange rate stability and regulation for the industry.

Erring BDC operators have severally been sanctioned by the Central Bank of Nigeria and Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria in line with the industry’s zero tolerance for regulatory abuse.

Corruption and illicit financial flows are twin evils that no right thinking individual, group or organisation should support.

The impact of this societal malaise transcends over $30.4 billion lost by African economies and businesses annually. It has led to poor infrastructure and rise in insecurity.

That explains why the over 5000 Bureaux De Change (BDCs) and their umbrella body, the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) rejected in totality, attempt by Punch Newspaper, through its editorial published on September 21, 2020 titled: CBN’s Poor Regulation of BDCs Hurting the Economy’ to label BDCs as economic saboteurs and illicit forex traders.

The fact remains that money laundering and illicit funds transfer are illegal practices that predate the coming of licensed BDCs. These illegal activities are so pervasive and widespread that every segment and all operators in the financial industry are vulnerable to their operations. That is why many prominent financial institutions including global banks, and investment firms have been found culpable in this respect.

ABCON leadership backs Central Bank of Nigeria’s on-going investigation of some corporate bodies and individuals. It also believes that money laundering through the BDCs or any other financial institutions are unacceptable and those found wanting should be punished based on the law.

ABCON believes and has supported the need to tighten and strictly enforce regulations in the foreign exchange market, and taken steps to punish erring members including recommending them to the CBN for sanctions.

Besides, the CBN has been effective in regulating the BDC sector; hence ABCON and all registered BDCs take exception to The Punch editorial for “its outright lies and ignorance of the working of the financial system”.

ABCON president, Aminu Gwadabe, said: “We also do not agree with the newspaper that the CBN has been “inexcusably weak in enforcing its own rules”, as the regulator has in the past, fined

YEAR

Official Forex Rate

2020 2016 2006 2009

N379/$1 N305$1 N148.5$1 N148.9$1

Parallel Market Rate Before BDCs Funding N475/$1 N352$1 N185/$1 N192/$1

Parallel Market Rate After BDCs Funding N435/$1 N310$1 N158$1 N151$1

BDCs Funding impact / Gains N40 N42 N27 N41

Historical gains by naira due to CBN’s funding of BDCs erring BDCs and in some extreme cases, withdrew their operating licenses”.

He said that contrary to the editorial, the resumption of dollar sales to BDCs has led to nearly N40 appreciation of the naira in the first week of the exercise, and saved the local currency from continued depreciation.

He said the CBN’s aim of easing pressure on supply and firming up the naira succeeded and will continue to be achieved with improved liquidity in the market.

“The N2 margin earned by BDCs from every dollar sold is barely enough to cover their operating costs and keep over 15,000 Nigerians employed by the sector, hence the assertion that BDCs business is one of the lucrative businesses in the country is wrong,” he stated.

Gwadabe also said that the newspaper’s call for a moratorium on licensing new BDCs is unacceptable as any new operator that meets the requirement for registration should be given the opportunity to operate.

The ABCON boss said that BDCs operate only within the allowable scope of transactions ie PTA, BTA, School fees, medicals, among others adding that BDCs all over the world are important retail sector of the foreign exchange market.

“The BDCs in Nigeria have over the years remained the most portent tool of exchange rate stability management of the CBN whenever the local currency suffers as seen in 2006, 2009, 2016 and 2020. The BDCs are not illegal operators but licensed with CAC and CBN and pay levies and taxes to the government. The over 5000 BDCs have created huge employment opportunities and remained a big threat to over one million unlicensed operators whose activities are usually misconstrued to represent the licensed players,” he said.

Understanding the Legitimate BDC Operators In a statement, ABCON executive council, said it considered the editorial which alleged weak regulation of the BDC sector, linking BDCs money laundering activities and illicit funds transfer; and condemned dollar sales to BDCs by the CBN as unfair, very biased.

It described the editorial as a product of ignorance of the role and contributions of the BDCs sector, as well as the various measures put in place by the Central www.businessday.ng

Bank of Nigeria and ABCON to ensure strict regulation of the sector as well as compliance with all regulatory requirements especially anti-money laundering measures. The editorial, it added failed to distinguish between licensed BDCs and illegal currency hawkers or money changers, as a licensed BDC is registered as a corporate body with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and is licensed by the CBN to provide retail forex services across the counter.

“The BDC sector is regulated by the CBN via its various enabling laws which applies to all financial institutions. This includes the CBN Act, BOFIA, Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing Terrorism guidelines, Know Your Customer (KYC) Requirements.

In addition to these is the CBN Guidelines on the Operations of BDCs, which is specific to the scope and operations of the BDCs. To ensure compliance, the CBN requires that each licensed BDC render returns on periodic basis (Daily, Weekly, Monthly and annually). Furthermore, BDCs are also required to render returns to the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), which plays a major role in the country’s Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorist Financing and Counter-Proliferation Financing (AML/CFT/CPF) efforts,” it said.

Furthermore, ABCON created an online platform, www. abconng.com, an online real time rendition of returns. The platform is presently used by over 4000 licensed BDCs to render returns to the CBN and NFIU. Also, to ensure compliance with the Know-Your Customer (KYC) requirement, a critical element of the anti-money laundering guidelines, ABCON p a r t n e re d w i t h t h e Ni g e r i a Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), to onboard BDCs on the NIBSS platform for verification of customer information.

In addition to the above, and also to ensure transparency, ABCON created naijabdcs.com, an online live exchange rate platform, which also contains the addresses and contacts of all licensed BDCs. The platform publishes the ruling exchange rate in the retail foreign exchange segment, so as to ensure, forex end have reliable information to guide them in their transactions with BDC operators.

Also speaking, former Executive Director at Keystone Bank,

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Richard Obire, said servicing the retail foreign exchange market through the BDCs is helping to stabilize the exchange rates.

“Generally, the supply and demand situation of forex shows that the forex rate set by the CBN doesn’t quite reflect demand and supply dynamics. Many who need forex can’t get it at the set rate and so are willing to get it elsewhere (possibly through BDCs) at higher rates,” he said.

ABCON’s role in BDCs compliance Gwadabe said ABCON is playing stronger role in the BDC industry by embracing effective self-regulation and ensuring compliance with extant Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws and regulations to mitigate the risks and vulnerabilities in the sub-sector.

He said that ABCON has also developed and implanting Code of Conduct for members to promote ethical practices and transparency in while also continually advising the apex bank on market intelligence on key industry issues.

He said that ABCON had consistently advised BDCs to put in place and implement, a system of internal policies, procedures and controls including Know Your Customer, Customer Due Diligence and reporting of all suspicious transactions to regulators.

According to Gwadabe, ABCON is also training BDCs on regular basis on the need to keep transaction records, and get a designated compliance officer that has day-today oversight over AML/ CFT programme. He said the Compliance Officers have been taught the rules in preparing Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs), and rendering STRs’ returns to the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

He said that BDCs have met and will continue to meet a number of compliance requirements specified by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and local regulators.

The ABCON boss said that the collation and reporting of foreign currency transactions and suspicious transactions by BDCs are now fully automated. ABCON had in 2019, launched its Live Run Automation Portal in Lagos. The technology automates all BDC Operations with those of Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), NFIU and the CBN to improve the level of compliance of the BDCs with set regulations. ABCON, severally, organised trainings for @Businessdayng

Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON president

its members, and at other times, partnered NFIU and the EFCC to build capacity for operators.

Report filling by BDCs ABCON has continued to ensure that BDCs file their reports as and at when due. The BDCs also do customers Know Your Customer (KYC) and due diligence reports.

Contrary to believe that BDCs are not well regulated, , Gwadabe said there are increasing difficulties arising from over regulation and complex documentation requirements that licensed BDC operators are facing in carrying out their daily legitimate operation remain worrisome.

For instance, he said six units within the CBN are involved with BDC regulations, supervision, licensing, monitoring, and saying this constitutes multiple regulation of a unit of the financial sub-sector that is only involved as a small market player”. He said a BDC operator render daily, monthly, quarterly, half yearly and annual returns to these various departments of the same corporate body, which could be very cumbersome, repetitive and time consuming for both the operator and the regulator.

BDCs’ contributions to Economic development ABCON executive council, said that while BDCs are licensed to offer retail, across the counter, foreign exchange transactions, they however play critical roles in the economy and have contributed to the economic development of the country like ensuring order and confidence in the forex market, providing data for monetary policy, channels for CBN Intervention in retail forex market and creation of over 15,000 jobs among others.

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

19

MONEYINSIGHT The United Kingdom offered me a fair playground for entrepreneurship - Moses DANIEL MOSES is a serial entrepreneur and founding director of a group of profitable real estate companies in the United Kingdom.

In this interview, he tells STEPHEN ONYEKWELU the story of his entrepreneurial journey into the properties market. Excerpts:

A

s a Nigerian based in the UK, how would you describe entrepreneurship?

Being an entrepreneur in the UK has been quite rewarding for me, even though it wasn’t easy at first, my joy today is the inspiration and motivation others draw from the initial challenges I encountered.

When I started in the UK, I thought I wasn’t good enough because of how I spoke and my African background.

But England has been wonderful; anyone can attain their legitimate ambition with the right drives and persistent passion. Indeed, the UK offered me a fair playing ground to strive as a leading industry expert in the property market outside my indigenous environment.

What are the challenges you face as an entrepreneur?

My foremost challenge was insufficient take-off capital and absence of basic mentorship at the initial period. I simply believe in myself, leveraging on personal development, which remains my intrinsic winning asset. Challenges optimise my strengths to subdue industrial threats for the attainment of set targets.

How has your business faired under the Covid-19 pandemic?

The global pandemic has been an unforeseen blow to businesses, industrialists and entrepreneurs.

It, however, provided me with the opportunity to make provision for contingencies; of course, the Zoom platform facilitated corporate operation, which helped to minimise the effects of the lockdown. It indeed improved my online activities, providing more detailed attention above routine standards.

How was your new beginning

strategies and estate management techniques. This strategy, I must say, rewardingly paved way for me in my attainment as a *Portfolio Millionaire within my less than four years as a property entrepreneur.

How did your background shape your career path as a successful entrepreneur?

Well, my family influenced me greatly on this. My two elder brothers Sunny and Julius are also astute entrepreneurs, who lived in Japan sending sometimes consignments for sale in Nigeria. Their commitments and entrepreneurial drives acted as inspiration, which propelled my dynamism, dedication and dexterity.

I take delight in being an experienced leader, leading from the front and impacting positively on my followers. It enables me to set the right targets, pursue the right motivations, and relentlessly focus on my goal notwithstanding any constraints and threats. The threats boost my strengths to capture inherent opportunities.

Daniel Moses in the UK? My first visited the United Kingdom in 2004 after my graduation from the University of Benin, the same year.

Social and economic challenges drove me back to Nigeria in 2012.

I started a logistics business in the oil and gas sector but lost it to a fire incidence.

In December 2015 I returned to the UK with little money and without a clear idea of where to start. I reluctantly picked a job as a delivery driver with a company called Yodel. I did that for a few months, and then a friend of mine told me about becoming an Uber driver. This entailed long hours but helped lift my earnings.

However, sometime in 2017, fortunes beckoned on me. I came across a Facebook advert about making money from properties you

don’t own. This was a golden opportunity. It opened a new vista for me, an inroad into the robust business of properties and estates ventures. It culminated in a high resource properties entrepreneur.

Today, I’m the founding director of multiple property companies, namely Property Wealth Estate, Property Wealth Capital and Property Wealth Education Whereas the Property Estate offers guaranteed rent to residential property owners as well as an alternative solution to both parties as a corporate let, the Property Wealth Capital acquires strategic properties for future capital appreciation.

Property Wealth Education provides valuable platforms of property education to new starters, guiding them on the basics of estates, rent

Ogun trains SMEs to boost chances of winning govt contracts CALEB OJEWALE

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he Ogun state government has released guidelines it hopes will increase the participation of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Public Procurements or contracts awarded by the State government, going further to organise a training to get them acquainted with it.

The state’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in collaboration with the Ministry of Budget and Planning recently held a training for SMEs in order to acquaint them with the modus operandi of bidding for government contracts and enhancing their chances of winning such contracts. The next training has been scheduled to hold today, Friday 25th September, 2020 at 10am.

Kikelomo Longe, commissioner for Industry, Trade and Investment, said during the previous virtual training that contrary to perception

among different small businesses that government contracts could only be won by large companies especially those with strong connections, they could indeed win contracts from the government if stipulated guidelines are followed.

She also assured SMEs that the training would enlighten them and address challenges hindering their ability to effectively bid and win government contracts.

“These guidelines seek to address the challenges inhibiting SMEs’ ability to take advantage of Government procurements/ contracts by providing solutions accordingly which will help guide SMEs to avoid common errors being made in bidding,” she said in a statement.

Longer called on the various Business Membership Organisations to continue to synergize with the present administration by organizing more trainings and workshops to educate their members on all aspects of the Ogun State Public Procurement Act, 2020. www.businessday.ng

Olaolu Olabimtan, commissioner for Budget and Planning, also reiterated that the present administration remains focused on ensuring government contracts are awarded based on global best practices assuring that successfully bidding for contracts is not based on party membership or any form of government patronage.

Some participants at the training were noted in a statement, to have lauded the present administration for the introduction of what they call a fair process in the award of public procurements and contracts stressing that government should continue to carry various Business Membership Organisations along to enable more SMEs benefit from the policy.

Olu-Ola Aikulola, permanent secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, encouraged SMEs to embrace the opportunity of improving their chances of winning government contracts by participating in the next training which holds today.

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Tell us about your brand.

Well, my brand is pretty simple. As mentioned earlier, I began as a Property Investor in the UK. Through hard work, in less than 4 years, my Estate Companies have become household names in the UK. We multi-let properties by providing houses of multiple occupations to professionals and the workforce, which has generated over £380,000 gross income.

Glad to mention that in 2019, many people inspired by our achievements started reaching out to us, to learn the secrets behind our successes. Initially, I provided the information freely to a few of them.

In September 2019, we hosted London’s first dedicated rent to Hmo property strategy networking event known as Rent to Rent Property Net-

work, in which I’m well specialised as an expert.

In February 2020, we launched the education segment, training others on how to succeed. Many of those people have become successful entrepreneurs on their own, generating a livelihood for themselves and for others Who motivates you?

Good question. Donald Trump motivates me; his business tactics and his power of negotiations.

I simply love grant cardone he teaches business obsession as a key to entrepreneurial success.

How would you describe your fashion style?

My fashion style is quite simple. I would hardly spend 350 pounds sterling on a pair of shoes, shirts or jeans as example, but prefer to spend on good Wristwatch because it doesn’t deprecate but rather appreciate in value. Clothes and shoes are quite desirable but not much should be invested in chattels of diminishing value.

What is your advice to those who look up to you?

Those who look up to me as a model, got to have a clear goal and remain focused with a feasible career road map, to attain their objectives. For those in the preliminary stage of their entrepreneurship, they need to invest in themselves, add new value to themselves with optimistic outlook. They need to imbibe the winning spirit.

Where can we find you online on social media?

I’m available on the following social media handle.

-Instagram : danielmosesdm; -Facebook: Daniel Moses PW; -LinkedIn : Daniel Moses -Office no : +4420711720621.

Traditional ruler of Ijesa Isu Ekiti celebrates Nigeria’s unity at 60

A

business magnate, Wale Onipetekun, and the traditional ruler of Ijesa Isu Ekiti, has said in his independence day message that Nigeria’s 60 years of nationhood is worth celebrating despite some of the factors that may have retarded the country’s growth.

Onipetekun said, “our unity is worthy of celebration.” According to him, Nigeria at 60 years of independence, is celebrating and will continue to celebrate, especially her oneness. He stated that Nigeria’s unity is its strength.

In his independent day message, he said Nigeria has in the past fought a devastating civil war and overcame it. He said that at 60, the country can look back at where it is coming from and where it is, and smile, saying “we have not done badly as a nation.” He held that there are several challenges, and at the same time, there are also things to celebrate.

According to the traditional ruler and chieftain, Nigeria is a great nation.

He said he believes Nigeria is blessed that is why it could weather most of @Businessdayng

the storms. Though he admitted that the country certainly has not achieved everything that it set out to achieve as a country, he said, he is confident and optimistic the country would achieve all of them, in no distant time.

In his final remark, he has called on all stakeholders, the government, (both at the federal, state and local level), the non-government organisations, public and private companies, and Nigerians in general, to work collectively as a nation, to support the agenda of the government of the day, in other, to achieve the Nigerian dream.

He seized the medium to wish President Muhammadu Buhari, Ahmed Lawal, the senate president, Femi Gbajabiamila the speaker of the House of Representatives, Kayode Fayemi the chairman governor’s forum, Abubakar Adamu, inspector general of police, the Ewi of Ado Ekiti (Rufus Adeyemo Adejugba Aladesanmi), and all traditional rulers, and Nigerians in general, Happy Independent Day Celebration.

20

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

LEADINGWOMAN

INMAGAZINE TODAY

WOMEN’S HUB

Visit www.businessday.ng to download today’s edition of the Magazine

www.businessday.ng

Olayemi .O. Dawodu, providing global perceptive in delivery of healthcare solutions in clinical, administrative roles KEMI AJUMOBI

Associate Editor, BusinessDay

D

r Olayemi O. Dawodu is an Anatomic Pathologist who holds an M.B.B.S from the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, as well as fellowships in Pathology (Anatomic Pathology) and Laboratory Medicine of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and West African College of Physicians respectively, which makes her eligible to practice as a consultant Pathologist in Nigeria and the West African region.

She also trained at the Department of Pathology, Indianapolis University and Purdue University, Indiana, USA as an International scholar.

She has 16years experience in clinical and administrative roles in the healthcare space. She has special interests in Gynaecologic pathology, Endocrine Pathology (thyroid gland pathologies) and Environmental Pathology. She works with a diverse population in the healthcare sector providing a global perceptive in the delivery of healthcare solutions both in clinical and administrative roles.

Olayemi Dawodu is the Managing Director/ CEO, Clina-lancet laboratories Nigeria, a household name in healthcare and affiliate of Cerba-Lancet Africa, a multinational clinical pathology giant with headquarters in Paris, France and operations in 15 countries across Africa. She commenced her career with the organisation in 2015 as the Country Histopathologist where she built the trust of fellow physicians and effectively managed the histopathology unit before being promoted to her current position of CEO in 2016.

In her role as the CEO, she is positioned at the forefront of the business where she provides strategic leadership, manages daily business operations and oversees the overall growth and development of the organisation through clockwork co-ordination of the company’s business activities across the country. She has grown the company business and increased footprint and visibility of the brand.

She facilitated the interna-

tional accreditation of the Laboratory to ISO 15189 within a year of assuming the helm of affairs, making it the only private accredited laboratory in Lagos by SANAS. She is an avid researcher with over 15 publications in local and international journals. She is a reviewer of peer academic articles for the foremost National Pathology journal in Nigeria– “Annals of Pathology”. She is also a member of the thematic group “Health as a Business” Committee of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group. She is a member of the Accreditation Advisory Committee for the Nigerian National Accreditation System (responsible for implementing Quality Management Systems across sectors e.g Healthcare, Manufacturing and so on). She is also an active member of the French- Nigerian Chamber of Com-

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merce and Industry. She is a pioneer member of Gaia club, a female C-suite membership club with diverse trailblazing entrepreneurs and executives from diverse walks of life.

Olayemi Dawodu has received notable awards such as; 1. Medical Personality Leadership Prize Winner 2016” organised by the African Prize for Leadership Excellence Awards” in conjunction with the African Union and 2.

ECOWAS, ‘Best Female CEO in the West African Region’ an Honorary Award at the 2017 ECOWAS Quality Awards organized by ECOWAS, Europ ean Union and UNIDO in recognition of the implementation of a successful and sustainable Quality Management System throughout the Organisation.

She fosters a teambased and capacity build@Businessdayng

ing approach to achieving organisational goals. She is keen on the provision of excellent healthcare delivery in pathology and diagnostic services to Nigeria and Africa. In honing her management and leadership skills, she has undertaken courses at prestigious international institutions. In her spare time, Olayemi Dawodu enjoys reading a variety of books which has helped her to remain focused and dedicated. She believes in “Dreaming Big” and putting your best foot forward all the time.

Read more on Olayemi Dawodu in this week’s edition of Women’s Hub as she graces the cover.

Please visit www.businessday.ng , once on the main page, scroll down to where our magazines are, click on the gorgeous cover, download this edition and enjoy!

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 25 September 2020

21

HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE Four lessons African countries learnt working together in fight against coronavirus ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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espite poor h e a l t h i n f ra structure, the African continent baring few countries has so far managed well in combating the coronavirus pandemic compared to other continents.

The 54 countries on the continent are tackling the coronavirus by working jointly and the continent’s successful policies have kept the death toll much lower than expected.

John Nkengasong, director, Africa Centre for Disease and Prevention said some of the early lessons that African governments have learned is confidence in the continent’s ability to take charge of its own future and respond in a coordinated manner to a common enemy.

Speaking during the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) Global Week of Dialogue held recently online with the theme “Science Advice & COVID-19: What are we learning?” He said Africa’s epidemic preparedness and response capacity highlight main lessons learnt as experience in controlling COVID-19.

“Lesson learnt includes connectivity, coordination, commitment has enhanced detection, prevention and management of the outbreak,” said Nkengasong.

The International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) is running the Global Week of Dialogue across time zones around the world to shed light on realtime lessons from the global pandemic that jurisdictions and the multilateral system can draw on to improve their potential for better outcomes in the immediate, medium and long term.

With the reported cases in the continent so far, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, and Senegal account for 89 percent of all reported cases.

According to the director of Africa Centre for Disease and Prevention, we have supported the continent with over 5 million Covid test kits supplied, deployed over 10,000 community workers across the continent supported many countries with about 250 responders, and we are now distributing a lot of that personal protective equipment (PPEs)

that are required.

“We are still early on this new virus, we are dealing with bears; there are four main things that are emerging from this already and these are the main lessons Africa have learned so far from this pandemic.

Firstly, is that we are more vulnerable, as the global community and as Africa than we thought we were, and especially for our continent.

“Secondly, this pandemic has further exposed the inequalities that exist across Africa, and across the world.

“Thirdly, Africans are more connected than we thought and have learned from this is that Africa can coordinate these efforts and can believe in self.

“D evelopment is the choice; I think we choose to coordinate our efforts,” Nkengasong said all ministers agreed that we should have a joint strategic plan that is underpinned by the ability to coordinate, communicate and collaborate

our efforts.

He continued: “I think we have since been doing that, we have a continental task force that brings everybody together.

It brought into focus the need to strengthen our institutions, and the value-added to fight in pandemics if those institutions are supported.

According to Nkengasong, a good example is the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control in Nigeria. NCDC is a relatively young organisation, less than five years but it has really shown tremendous leadership.

“It has become a model for our continent where and how the CDC, the ministry and national public health institutions could cooperate.”

People look at the numbers in Nigeria and see where we have worked less close to 60,000 cases but it could have been worse. We have seen how the numbers in India in Brazil and other places there make us believe that, without such concerted efforts, leadership and coordination, we would have been worse,” he said.

Lastly, Nkengasong said the commitment of Africa’s heads of states has been extraordinary.

“We carefully debate strategies and they carry that forward. So I think that teaches us that Africa can do it. We just have to believe in ourselves

S

ince Nigeria reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 in February 2020, the response has been led and driven by the government through the Presidential Task Force. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) coordinated the public health response through the activation of a multi-sectoral national emergency operation centre.

Similar structures were established to support the response in the states- setting up laboratories for the testing of COVID19 samples,trainingofrapidresponse teams and disseminating public

healthmessages.Theprivatesector supported the response through efforts like CACOVID, a private sector-led coalition established to support the government in combatting COVID-19.

As the outbreak took hold, Nigerians watched countries in Europe, Asia and the USA putting in place lockdown measures. It became very clear that the response had to be driven by all sections of the society and as the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus reiterated on several occasions, the response “requires a whole-of government and society response”. With the

initial closing of borders in May and lockdowns in Nigeria, the laboratory network across the country was scaled up to enable more testing. Public health messaging focused on reinforcing the public health measure that people needed to adhere to, in order to limit the spread of COVID-19. These included the washing of hands frequently, limiting physical contact with others, maintaining a physical distance and wearing a mask and other locally defined non-pharmaceutical interventions.

An all of society response referred to by the Director General of the WHO requires

K

wara State Government has restored the dispensary in Ubandawaki Ward of Ilorin West Local government to its old status amid ongoing efforts to rebuild and re-equip the facility for public use.

The dispensary was one of the health facilities that were constructed across the state by the late Admiral Muhammed Lawal in 2003.

However, it ceased to serve the purpose when the government of Senator Bukola Saraki

gifted it to the PDP as its secretariat as part of its anti-Lawal policy.

“Today, this facility has regained its status and the government has now directed that it should be renovated and be used for its original purpose.

“The whole world was shocked when politicians converted this health facility to their secretariat but nobody could challenge the impunity. We thank God for a new dawn,” Mohammed Ghali Alaya, who led a government team to inspect the facility, said.

Accompanied during the inspection by Abdulrasaq Jidwww.businessday.ng

dah, Ghali revealed that the government has also directed the conversion of the Pakata Primary Health Centre, which is an Outpatient Department (OPD) in Ipata-Oloje, to a standard cottage hospital with a maternity and children ward in line with the original plan that dated back to the 1970s.

The OPD had been conceived on 5th November 1971 under the late AGF AbdulRazaq SAN (father of the Governor) to metamorphose to a cottage hospital and serve as an alternative to the now congested Children Hospital in Centre Igboro (Ilorin) but the

ANTHONIA OBOKOH

T

of Business Day @https:// businessdayonline.com/ What determines your

using all the tools in our arsenal andensuring the involvement of all stakeholders in society in adhering and upholding the public health measures instituted by the government. No one should be a passenger in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown affected economic activity in the country and understandably, there was an eagerness to return to normal, or at least some semblance of normality.

However, COVID-19 has not gone away. It is a virus that is still with us and we just have to deal with it, working together in solidarity until a vaccine is found.

Kwara restores Ubandawaki dispensary, Pakata Cottage Hospital for upgrade SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

Executive Travel Health

raveller’s diarrhea is the commonest health challenge encountered by travellers during travels. It is popularity has earned it several names in different parts of the world which include “Montezuma’s Revenge,” the “Aztec Two Step,” “Turista” in Mexico, the “Delhi Belly” in India, and the “Hong Kong Dog” in the Far East.

Travellers’ diarrhoea (TD) has been defined as passing 3 or more loose/watery bowel motions in 24 hours.

It is hardly life threatening but can make your trip very uncomfortable.

Most cases occur in the first week of travel. On average, symptoms last for 3-5 days and most cases resolve without any specific treatment.

However, symptoms can be severe enough to force a change in travel plans and to result in confinement to bed or, rarely, hospitalization, especially when accompanied by fever, bloody/mucoid stool, tummy cramps, nausea or vomiting.

The impact of TD on your trip be it leisure, business, pilgrimage, schooling and other purposes can be reduced by your awareness about ways to prevent it. Similarly, the severity of this disease can Note: The rest of this article be minimized by prompt and continues in the online edition well-informed self-treatment.

What does “#TAKERESPONSIBILITY” mean for Institutions in the COVID-19 Response in Nigeria AUTHOR – VIVIANNE IHEKWEAZU

How to prevent travellers’ diarrhea on your next trip

idea was later abandoned.

The AGF SAN was at the time the Commissioner for Health under the late military Governor David Bamigboye.

Alaya explained further that “Because the facility is a propeople legacy of his father, it was an emotional scene when the government team announced the decision of the government under AGF’s son to restore the plan to upgrade the centre to the old plan.

The government is about to start working there very soon as part of its plans to deepen people’s access to basic health care.”

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risk for Traveller’s Diarrhea?

Poor food and water hygiene: This plays a significant role since ingestion of contaminated food or drink is the means of acquiring TD. Your risk varies according to the attention you pay to your diet.

Your destination: Different countries carry different risks for TD. High-risk regions include the developing coun-

Adeniyi Bukola Q-life Family Clinic

lifeadvisoryservices@outlook.com

tries of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and parts of the Middle East, which have attack rates for TD ranging between 20 and 75 percent. Areas of intermediate risk include China, southern Europe, Israel, South Africa, Russia, and several Caribbean islands (especially Haiti and the Dominican Republic); attack rates of 8 percent to 20 percent have been recorded among travellers to these regions. Low-risk (<5%) destinations include Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, northern European countries, and a few Caribbean islands.

Timing of your travel: Numerous studies have demonstrated that attack rates of TD are highest during the summer months and in rainy seasons and less at other times.

Location also modifies the level of risk, meals eaten in a private home carry lower risk than those eaten in a restaurant and the type of travel Travellers who participate in “adventure” travel or who go on hiking or camping trips are at increased risk, likely because of hygiene practices and choice of food. However, dining in expensive restaurants or luxury hotels does not reduce the risk of TD to zero; several outbreaks in such establishments have been reported.

Purchasing food from street vendors is especially risky.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https:// businessdayonline.com/

Pfizer Nigeria wins great place to work award ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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fizer is pleased to announce that it has won the ‘Great Place to Work Award 2020’ in Nigeria.

Pfizer has won the award in the category: Small Sized Organizations. The report from the survey shows we had a high trust index score and employee engagement score of very high compared to the market.

The Pfizer Nigeria report was benchmarked externally with Top 100 Best Pharmaceutical companies globally (They had over 23,000 entries). In comparison to the external benchmark, Pfizer Nigeria came out very strong in the work environment and processes; Strategy and Direction and Talent management.

Expressing gratitude for the recognition, Olayinka Subair, @Businessdayng

Pfizer Nigeria’s Country Manager and Cluster Lead, West Africa, said “Pfizer Nigeria is very pleased to win the Great Place to Work Award. This is an endorsement of our passion and commitment to creating an enabling work environment where our staff will continue to deliver excellence in bringing breakthroughs that change patients’ lives.

“It is inspiring to see the dedication of our colleagues and their commitment to Pfizer’s purpose as we continue to create a positive work environment,” he said.

According to Subair, Pfizer Nigeria participated in an employee survey conducted by the Great Place to Work Institute, an independent research organization, contracted for this purpose, as part of the Best Workplaces Programme.

22

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Hotels

How IHGA is leading growth of African hospitality OBINNA EMELIKE

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o doubt, Icon Hotel Group Africa (IHGA), a pan-African hospitality management company, has over the years established itself as a truly indigenous African brand.

In just nine years of existence, the hotel group has become an industry leader with demonstrable expertise in conceptualization, actualization and management of world class hospitality projects in Africa.

Reputed to be one of the fastest growing end-to-end hospitality service providers, the group offers high level consultancy on different aspects of hospitality management from foundation to completion.

A remarkable feature of the services provided by the group is the infusion of local culture to its operations to enable it to provide services that are distinctively African in places where it operates. This has enabled it to operate a truly African hospitality brand, able to go a notch higher than Western-owned hotel chains in the provision of bespoke services.

The basket of services provided by IHGA includes assisting African governments in the development of capacity in tourism. This is in line with its strategic goal of driving ambitious growth for the hospitality industry on the continent. Soon, Icon Hotel Group hopes to provide consultancy through advisory services on turnkey procurement of hotel equipment and

BWC Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos

supplies, as well as, leveraging its global network of financial development partners and institutions for funding viable hospitality projects.

The IHGA parades well trained and highly efficient consultants who have played key roles, and have been instrumental in the conceptualization and execution of unique and successful hospitality projects across Africa.

The group is well known for leading project fundraising efforts through partner banks for high profile hospitality projects. The financial partners and development institutions rely on the expertise and judgement of experts in the group in the execution of such projects.

Among some of the projects for which the group was able to secure funding from financial and development partners are Mount Meru Hotel, Arusha, $24 million; Palace Hotel, $10 million and Parrot Hotel, $15 million, all in Arusha, Tanzania. Others are Best Western Selian Hotel and Spa, 315 million Kenyan Shillings and Navisha Golf Resort and Spa, Navisha, all in Kenya.

At the moment, IHGA is involved in the design and construction of the following hotel projects, Best Western Premier BoduFinolhu Luxury Resort, Maldives; the proposed BWP Tumaini Hotel, Nairobi and Marriot Protea, Thika Road, Nairobi, all in Kenya. Others are Icon Premier Congo Brazzaville and Icon Premier DRC. The group has made inroads into the West African sub-region with involvement in the proposed Icon Premier Burkina Faso. In nearby Benin Republic, IHGA is currently involved in the development of Best Western Premier Breeze Hotel, a $30 million, five-star hospitality project in Cotonou. The group is financing the building and will handle its management upon completion and commissioning.

The IHGA hospitality ship has since berthed in Nigeria.

The group was responsible for the turnaround of Best Western Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The facility was rebranded as BWC Hotel after the exercise, and now offers services that compare with

the best in Lagos State.

The anticipated takeover of the management of Ibom Hotel and Golf Resorts in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, by the Icon Group is therefore seen in many quarters as fitting a round peg into a round hole – and at the right time. This is because with its expertise, experience and reputation in managing top-of-the-range hospitality projects around the continent – some from construction to completion and management – the group has what it takes to turnaround the fortunes of the hotel to make it the first port of call for visitors on business and leisure to the state.

The move is coming at a time the five-star tourism facility is in dire need of facelift, both in terms of facilities and in the area of service delivery.

The expertise of a group like IHGA is what is needed to make Ibom Hotel and Golf Resort the pride of a state that is noted for tourism.

Tourism experts and practitioners say the decision by the state government to draft the Icon Group into management of the beleaguered hotel is a strategic step that will reposition the state’s flagship tourism facility for optimal performance.

The IHGA has already served notice of its readiness to turn the fortunes of the hotel around by commencing the rehabilitation and upgrading of its facilities, even before formally taking over its management. The expectation is that involvement of the tourism group in the management of the tourism facility will augur well for the long term economic interest of the state.

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

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

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

Tel: 01 277 3560

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

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

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

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

206 Exclusive Hotel Plot 206 Oladipo Diya Road Opposite Olympia Estate

By Games Village Second Gate Durumi2 Abuja

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

Radisson Hotel Group launches hybrid solutions for rooms, meetings

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adisson Hotel Group is proud to announce the launch of its new hybrid solutions incorporating Hybrid Rooms and Hybrid Meetings.

Radisson Hotel Group’s Hybrid Meetings combine the best of meeting in person and virtually, offering a reliable image, sound and video conferencing system, dual screens, wireless presentation clicker, high-speed internet connection, and more. As the world continues to adapt to “new normals” and ongoing travel limitations, meeting and event organizers can now choose to offer virtual participation options and hybrid formats that allow for small local gatherings, while also broadcasting to remote attendees and satellite locations.

Tim Cordon, area senior vice president, Middle East & Africa, Radisson Hotel Group, said: “We are thrilled to an-

nounce the launch of our Hybrid Meeting Solutions, which directly addresses some of the meeting and event challenges the pandemic has created globally. With the various government imposed restrictions, travelling to meet in person has become somewhat impossible. However, as a hotel group with hospitality at its core, we certainly understand the importance of connections and the need to adapt and exercise flexibility, which has led to the creation and introduction of Hybrid Solutions.”

Radisson Hotel Group has partnered with Zoom, the leader in modern enterprise video communication, to provide a smooth experience for their clients’ virtual and hybrid meetings and events. Specialist in-house event teams will assist clients in delivering a range of events from hybrid multi-site meetings to broadcasting events, ensuring events www.businessday.ng

are efficient, effective, and engaging, with flawless execution and no audio / visual problems.

Hybrid Rooms perfectly combine the facilities of a state-of-the-art office with the comforts of a superior hotel room to create a productive, dedicated, and quiet

Tim Cordon, areasenior vice president, Middle East & Africa, Radisson Hotel Group

workspace for the business traveler, leisure guest, and local day-guest alike. Hybrid Rooms offer easy connectivity to second screen devices, video-conferencing facilities, wireless enabled keyboard, mouse and loudspeaker, printing services, stationery, unlimited coffee and tea, access to on-site wellness facilities, and many other benefits.

Radisson Hotel Group’s Hybrid Solutions are currently available across 50 select hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, to better meet the rapid lifestyle changes of today’s travelers and their evolving expectations when they stay, work and meet in our hotels. The roll-out will continue through 2020 and 2021.

The hotel group has also reassured guests on safety with its health and safety first strategy and protocol.

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

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

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

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

23

entertainment ‘Our TV show is about being creative with food, even with lean budget ’

In October, Sate Television Limited will be launching the fourth season of Urban Kitchen, a live food TV show that teaches viewers how to make meals on a budget. Ahead the debut on terrestrial TV platforms, Daodu Omoluku Felix, creator and producer of the show, speaks with Obinna Emelike on the food show, feats of the past seasons, expectations from the new one, among other issues. Excerpt: What is Urban Kitchen live show all about? rom the viewers’ perspective, Urban Kitchen is where to learn how to make meals on a budget, and that is for the Nigerian audience. For the international audience, it is a show where they see Nigeria from another perspective.

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Why urban, instead of a village kitchen?

Well, we saw the loss of food channel remote buttons from our people. People who watch food channels easily switch the channel from food because it lacks something exciting.

As much as you want to inform and educate, it penetrates easier and faster when it is done subtly with entertainment. We deliberately want to project Nigeria in a positive light with Urban Kitchen.

We choose the markets the chefs go to buy their ingredients. There are some markets we would not want to put on TV because the show is on flights, on VODs and we are deliberately being careful what we put out there for people to see about Nigeria.

So, who says our local food cannot go urban?

How many episodes do you produce per season?

We produce 26 episodes per season, which runs for six months. But in all, if we add the different shows that Sate TV has created on food, they are 89 shows. Moreover, we are preparing for the 90th show, and hopefully going to increase to 144 shows before we launch our platform. We

here was coming from the airline industry; we were licensing them per episode. Let us not forget that the pandemic hit the airlines first. The last time we got something from our airline licensing was last November.

So, we have been feeling the impact since November.

We have a longer relationship with Air Côte d’Ivoire, which is our major client. We also have other airlines like Lufthansa, which featured once.

When it comes to licensing on digital platforms, it was good in terms of viewership, but was not translating into money because a lot of these platforms could not get their money from their investors.

So, we were in the centre of the pandemic issue.

want to float a food channel in another seven to eight months.

What do you think have made your previous seasons successful?

We launched in 2017, and have produced three successful seasons, while this season is the fourth. The past seasons were successful because of the uniqueness of the show.

Our audiences are 70 percent female and 30 percent male as to 90 percent female and 10 percent male for the rest of other food shows we have and we know of. The reason is because the show cuts across both genders.

Men had reasons to watch.

There are exciting responses like in Bida, Niger State, where some men had to close early to watch a particular episode to know how much to give their wives to prepare food.

So, it is like the only food show men watch because they want to cut down their budget as much as possible.

Which platforms does the show air?

In 2017, we launched it on Ben TV in London, UK. It used to be on DStv and four terrestrial platforms in August 2017. In November that year, we got a sponsorship deal with Knorr, and following that deal, we increased our airing platforms to 13 terrestrial stations.

From November 2017, we aired on TVC Entertainment and 12 others like BCOS Ibadan, NTA AKure, Kaduna, Kano, PRTV Jos, EDS, among others.

We have been shuttling channels; we have moved from EDS to ITV Benin, from

Daodu Felix

TVC to STV. Currently, the show is on STV network. In this fourth session, we are bringing it back to TVC Entertainment.

What are the challenges of producing a food show?

The first challenge we have here is the fact that most Nigerians are not wired to visualize text; they cannot translate text into reality. If you give them business proposals, where they want to read through is where the loopholes are so that they can jump into it.

That has really shrunk the opportunities we have out there.

The industry is such a funny one; everything seems to be chaining us down from every angle. For instance, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has a grant programme for the creative industry; N30 million for content creators and N500 million for distributors.

Now, the CBN has a good

plan for us, but they want us to run it through our banks, so that the banks will guarantee the fund. But how many banks in Nigeria do not own a competing brand. Every bank has a TV station. So, how will they guarantee me N500 million to push my platform against theirs? The reality is that the banks will only collect my proposals and dump it somewhere.

Again, for the Bank of Industry (BOI), anything more than N10 million you will need collateral. It has been difficult because it is selffunding. But what has really helped me is brain currency.

I have people around me who know these things, how it should be done and they are ready to flow with me.

Has the pandemic also impacted the show?

Our major source of income for paying our local airtime

As you prepare for the fourth session, what safety protocols have you put in place in the studio?

We have taken our hygiene measures from 60 to 90 percent. We know what to do now and cannot do some of the things we used to do before the pandemic. The studio is small and naturally discourages crowding.

In the new season, we have put in place safety measures; from testing temperature, washing hands, wearing nose masks, and ensuring that any camera that does not need to be manned is not manned in order to further reduce the number of people in the studio.

The category of people we are bringing in are people who are very conscious of their health and safety.

What feedback are you get-

ting on the show generally?

The show format allows feedback because we cannot learn if we do not give people the opportunity to tell us their feelings about the show; whether the comments are good or not.

We have positive comments like people wanting to come to the set. For instance, the woman who cooked for 9ice in the show, fried her onions, but someone kicked against that method. All we need do is have a home play for everyone to replicate the meal the way it should be done and we put it on our social media. If people say this is truly the way it should be done, you win a prize. We appreciate them for the criticism. If you think the chef is wrong, help us do the right thing, and we will appreciate it.

What informs your choice of the chef?

The audience determines the chefs that feature in the show.

What the chiefs do is to make a one-minute video of themselves in any open market to show the viewers how much they can negotiate, then send it to us and it goes through our channel to be sure brands are not hijacking it. We opened the line on the 6th of September, and we have them in hundreds of numbers. The chiefs go to the market with their money and apparently, someone is telling them instead of using your money, we will give you the money. But we will correct that, we have told them, no brand naming and mentioning in the show.

If we need any branding we know what to do.

Netflix announces more content from Nigeria with new Nigerian original series, films

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etflix, the world’s leading internet entertainment service, has announced a brand new Nigerian original series in the pipeline, as well as, three new Nigerian branded films licensed to Netflix.

The new series and films, which are at different stages of production while others are ready to premiere, will join the growing slate of Nigerian content on the service and debut to 193 million members in 190 countries around the world. An untitled young adult drama series created and produced by Inkblot Productions and follows the story of ‘Ishaya’, a charismatic teenager and talented artist from

a poor family, whose dreams suddenly appear within reach when a prestigious scholarship to the most exclusive school in the country catapults him into the luxurious world of Nigeria’s 1% - all while a huge secret threatens his newfound status and, ultimately, his family’s safety.

Created by Chinaza Onuzo and Dami Elebe, who serve as executive producer and head writer respectively, the 6-episode series will be directed by Chinaza, Tope Oshin and Niyi Akinmolayan. Funke Akindele is confirmed to join as one of the lead characters with more details on casting to follow.

Zulumoke Oyibo and Damola Ademola will also serve as executive producers. www.businessday.ng

“Netflix is proud to continue to invest in more original content from Nigeria. We are also thrilled to grow our existing creative partnerships while forming new ones with Chinaza and the amazing Inkblot team who will now join the growing list of Nigerian partners including; Mo Abudu, Kemi Adetiba and Kunle Afolayan to bring more Nigerian stories onto the service,” says Dorothy Ghettuba, the lead for African Originals at Netflix.

Chinaza adds, “We are thrilled to be partnering with the Netflix team to tell the story of Nigerian youth on a global scale. We cannot wait to share with the world what it feels like to grow up in one

of the most dynamic countries on the planet.”

Three much-anticipated Nigerian films by some of Nigeria’s most prolific filmmakers; Mo Abudu, Kunle Afolayan and Kemi Adetiba, each featuring a star-studded cast, will premiere on Netflix.

They include: Òlòtūré, a story of a young female journalist who goes undercover as a prostitute to expose a human trafficking syndicate.

What she finds is a world of exploited women and ruthless violence. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, Òlòturé is a film that is part of Netflix’s partnership with Mo Abudu and her production company, Ebonylife.

The title will launch globally on October 2, 2020 and the

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trailer has been released. Òlòturé is directed by Kenneth Gyang and the cast of this crime drama includes; Sharon Ooja, Omowunmi Dada, Omoni Oboli, Blossom Chukwujekwu, Wofai Fada and more.

Citation, from director Kunle Afolayan and produced by Golden Effects Pictures, will also launch globally on November 6, 2020. Citation is a coming-ofage story of ‘Moremi’, a bright young university student who forms a bond with her charismatic and well-connected professor who subsequently sexually harasses her. The film follows Moremi’s quest for justice. Casting includes; Jimmy Jean Louis, Gabriel @Businessdayng

Afolayan, Ini Edo, Joke Silva, Adjetey Anang and introduces newcomer Temi Otedola.

King of Boys II is the sequel to director Kemi Adetiba’s 2018 crime thriller in which a businesswoman and crime boss is drawn into a power struggle that threatens all she holds dear. The film, which launches globally in the first half of 2021, begins with Eniola Salami’s triumphant return (after a five-year exile) to her beloved Lagos City. Not content with the prospect of a fresh start, she immediately resumes her quest to launder her underworld might into legitimate political power -- this time aiming even higher than before.

24

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

THE WEST Despite N215.8bn votes on construction, people say Gov Akeredolu failed as Ondo governor ...bad roads, dilapidated roads, poor infrastructure dot the state RAZAQ AYINLA, and KORETIMI AKINTUNDE, Akure.

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espite a whopping sum of N308.39 billion budgeted as the capital expenditure in the last four years of Ondo state fiscal estimates between 2017 and 2020 of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s administration, which represents about 70% to N215.873 billion, was spent on construction of roads and bridges across the three Senatorial districts of the state, the people of the state tagged his government as being a failure.

This is coming from the residents, motorists and commuters from various parts of Ondo state - in all the three Senatorial districts of the state, namely, Ondo South Ondo Central and Ondo North, where people have continued to lament the deplorable state of the roads, causing them untold hardships everyday, particularly in this rainy season as many roads in Ilaje, Ese-Odo, Ore, Ile-Oluji, Okitipupa, Akoko, Odigbo, among others are seriously suffering from non-passable roads and bridges.

Also, some residents of Akure, the state capital, who expressed great concerns about the deplorable condition of roads in the city, called on the Ondo state government to repair and complete these roads on time if they must vote for his re-election come October 10th, 2020 as the only thing that that can save Governor Akeredolu and All Progressives Congress (APC) not to be voted out like people did in Edo state last weekend, is to quickly hearken to the “voices of the people.”

According to most of the residents, that spoke with BusinessDay on Wednesday, the roads within the Akure city are dilapidated, abandoned shortly after awarded it for construction two-three years ago by Governor Oluwarotimi

Akeredolu-led government, just as roads and bridges mostly in riverine areas located in Ondo South Senatorial district of the state are non-passable.

John Ologbosere, a taxi driver, shuttling between popular Road-Block and OkeOdu, Ijare, said that this particular road had become so bad to the extent that motorists always avoid plying the area due to abandoned road projects which dot the whole places as people appeal to Governor ROTOMI Akeredolu to complete the roads before leaving the office.

Ologbosere said, “You can see the condition of this road from Road-Block down to Ijare; as a matter of fact, we are not happy at all with the State government, I think they started constructing this road two years ago and up till now they have not completed it, why delaying? And they are claiming that it has been done.

“Akeredolu-led government has failed us in this state, how would they be saying that they have completed this road, whereas, they have not.

Now who is fooling who? We are tired of this Akeredolu’s government of hardship, his administration is not transparent enough.

“See I’m a member of APC and because of this road, I have

made up my mind that I will not vote for APC come October 10 governorship election. This hardship is too much for us, I do pass this road everyday and I know the hardship I do confront with.”

Mary Ogunleye, another resident of Orita-Obele Estate, said the bad state of this road had forced many residents to relocate from the area.

“We need government intervention on this road because we voted for them and they must pay us back in good time for the fact that Governor Akeredolu has disappointed us.

Most of these street roads need rehabilitation,” Ogunleye said.

Sharing similar sentiments, Sarah Oladele, a trader, also expressed concern about the deplorable condition of OritaObele road, saying it needed serious attention.

According to her, the dilapidated state of the roads has brought disquiet among residents and motorists. They, however, pleaded with the State government to complete its ongoing roads project and fix the ones with pot holes as to alleviate the hardship people do confront with.

All these are coming against the backdrop of Ilaje Youths in the Ondo South Senatorial district under the auspices of Aje Advancement

Forum had commissioned a set of dilapidated roads in Ilaje, Ese-Odo, among places, on behalf of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, saying, in a viral video clip, that APC and Akeredolu government had failed the people of the state, especially in the Ondo South Senatorial district.

“The almighty God will reward you (Governor Akeredolu) according to your handwork. We hereby commission this beautiful project on behalf of the Ondo State Government, we, at the Aje Advancement Forum, we recognize the fact that the governor is very busy.

“He has been busy sending MOU. For that wise, we thought it necessary to commission this project for the use of mankind and the entire federation, in Jesus Name we commission”, the was statement made by the leader of the group at the mocking commissioning of roads in Ondo.

All efforts to speak with the State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Saka-Yusuf Ogunleye and Special Adviser to Governor Akeredolu on Lands, Works and Infrastructure, Raimi Olayiwola Aminu, proved abortive as they refused not to pick calls and reply text message put across to them.

14 communities get solar-powered water projects as FG partners Oyo on WASH scheme REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan

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ourteen communities across Oyo state have benefitted from water projects, sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Oyo State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) as new solar-powered boreholes were provided to some, while others have faulty boreholes rehabilitated and upgraded, BusinessDay has learnt.

Among the communities that benefitted from the project, which was a COVID-19 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) response project, include, Oke Ipin Community in Ibarapa East Local Government, Sango Community in Ibarapa East Local Government, Lanlate area in Ibarapa East Local Government and Ipapo in Itesiwaju Local Government.

Others are Ijio Community in Iwajowa Local Government, Igboburo Community in Atiba Local Government, Otefon Community in Atiba Local Government and also Ile Baago at Atiba Local Gov-

ernment.

In Ibadan, communities that the projects were sited, include Mokola in Ibadan North Local Government, Ajia Community at Ona Ara Local Government, Balogun Ogbori Efon Community at Ibadan North Local Government, Aba Alamu at Ibadan South-West Local Government, Monatan High School, Lagelu Local Government and Idunnu Alakuta at Ido Local Government.

The Chairman Oyo State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), Najeem Omirinde said, “This is part of the move to fulfill the promises made by the governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde to bring succor to the people, especially those at the grassroots.

“We all know the importance of water in all we do, it is important, especially now that we are campaigning for handwashing to fight infections like the dreaded COVID-19 among others. RUWASSA will reach all nooks and crannies of Oyo State to provide drinkable water for the people to help maintain good health and sanitation,” he promised.

International Breweries donates transformer, relief items to host community in Ogun

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he people of Bara community in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area Ogun state ushered in a new lease of life when foremost brewer, International Breweries Plc inaugurated an electrification project, comprising a 300KVA ONAN oil-immersed step-down transformer and 415 V overhead distribution line to address their power supply challenge.

International Breweries, producers of premium drinks: Hero Lager, Budweiser, Eagle Lager, Beta Malt, Grand Malt, and Castle Lite is a proud part of Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), the world’s largest brewer with more than 400 beer brands. The rural electrification project which is expected to have a positive multiplier impact on the lives of more than 1,000 inhabitants of households in and around

Bara, was declared ready for use in a commissioning and Covid-19 palliatives-donation ceremony attended by government officials, traditional rulers, company executives, journalists, community leaders, and representatives.

Legal and Corporate Affairs Director, International Breweries, Temitope Oguntokun noted that the N12.4 million electrification project was yet another testament to International Breweries’ commitment to an effective and efficient corporate social responsibility, and will boost the economic fortunes of Bara community and environs.

“Our dream of a better world drives our vision to support communities in Nigeria through our five CSR pillars of Empowerment, Education, Health, Infrastructural support, and Responsible drinking.

community, especially the youths who were expected to contribute to the economic growth and development of the community had fled to urban centres to seek better opportunities.

The Baale noted that the immediate past member of the House of Representatives

from Asa-llorin West Federal Constituency, Rasaq Atunwa, had provided a transformer for the community about five years ago, although without cables and all efforts by the community to bid goodbye to blackout had proved futile since the time the transformer was provided.

Kwara community decries lack of electricity for decades SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

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he Gbabu-Elega community in Asa Local Government area of Kwara state has cried out to the State government to rescue the community from lack of electricity since its exis-

tence over three centuries ago as state and privately-owned electricity companies had not connected the areas to the national grid in some decades.

Speaking to journalists in the area on Wednesday, Busari Ayinde, the Baale of the community appealed to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq

to assist the community with power supply, saying that the community has been without electricity since its existence, a situation which, he said, had hindered its socio-economic development.

Ayinde, lamented that non-provision of electricity has hampered the sit-

ing of industries and other economic ventures at Gbabu-Elega, adding that neighbouring communities like Ballah, Eiyenkorin and Alapa, among others, that had electricity were making progress in terms of development.

Several indigenes of the

Team: RAZAQ AYINLA, Head; Correspondents: REMI FEYISIPO, Oyo; SIKIRAT SHEHU, Kwara; KORETIMI AKINTUNDE, Ondo; OLA JOHN, Osun; Graphic: Fifen Famous www.businessday.ng

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@Businessdayng

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

25

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Thursday 24 September 2020

Top Gainers/Losers as at Thursday 24 September 2020 LOSERS

GAINERS Company

Opening

Closing

Change

N43.5

N47.85

4.35

NB

Company

ASI (Points)

Opening

Closing

Change

N11.4

N10.3

-1.1

DEALS (Numbers) VOLUME (Numbers)

ARDOVA

MOBIL

N193.1

N195.1

2

UNILEVER

N14.4

N13.6

-0.8

DANGCEM

N134.7

N135.9

1.2

REDSTAREX

N3.25

N3

-0.25

WAPCO

N13.2

N14.1

0.9

CAP

N17.1

N17

-0.1

GUARANTY

N25.5

N26

0.5

DAARCOMM

N0.33

N0.3

-0.03

25,987.14 3,576.00 359,307,226.00

VALUE (N billion) MARKET CAP (N Trn)

3.873 13.581

Nigeria stock investors gain N107bn following increased bargains

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L-R: Amos Azi, chairman, Investments and Securities Tribunal; Zainab Ahmed, minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning and director general, Securities and Lamido Yuguda, Exchange Commission during the Inauguration of the IST Board Members by the Minister of Finance in Abuja.

1.04percent.

Also, Dangote Cement rose from N134.7 to N135.9, adding N1.2 or 0.89percent.

Lafarge Africa increased from N13.2 to N14.1, adding 90kobo or 6.82percent.

Likewise, GTBank share price increased from N25.5 to N26, up by 50kobo or 1.96percent.

“As far as valuations go, sentiments around the Nigerian market have improved. However, the

market still trades at a significant discount to its peers. Although macroeconomic conditions remain fragile, we expect investor interests on fundamentally sound counters with significant upside potential to sustain the market performance,” Meristem research analysts had said.

The stock market’s negative return year-todate (YtD) decreased to

-3.19percent. The stock market capitalisation increased by N107billion to N13.581trillion as against preceding trading day low of N13.474trillion.

In 3,576 deals, investors exchanged 359,307,226 units valued at N3.873billion. Banking stocks were actively traded on the Bourse led by Sterling Bank, GTBank, Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank and that of Flour Mills.

Siemens celebrates five decades of innovation, growth, development in Nigeria Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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iemens Energy Limited, a leading global provider of solutions to increase access to reliable, safe and affordable energy, celebrates the 50th anniversary of Siemens in Nigeria.

Since entering the Nigerian market in 1970, Siemens Energy has been an integral part of the Nigerian economy, offering worldclass products and services which benefit millions of people throughout the country.

From supporting growth of power and intelligent infrastructure, to enhancing local capacity, Siemens Energy continues to develop innovative electrification, automation and digitaliza-

FTSE 100 Index 5,822.78GBP -76.48-1.30%

Nikkei 225 23,087.82JPY -258.67-1.11%

S&P 500 Index 3,259.25USD +22.33+0.69%

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 12,606.57EUR -36.40-0.29%

Generic 1st ‘DM’ Future 26,771.00USD +86.00+0.32%

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 3,223.18CNY -56.53-1.72%

Julius Berger says diversifying into Agro-processing Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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Iheanyi Nwachukwu igeria’s stock market continued its upward movement on Thursday September 24, gaining about N107billion as investors strengthened bargain activities around value counters.

At the close of trading session on the nation’s bourse, its benchmark performance indicator, the All Share Index (ASI) increased by 0.79percent to 25,986.20 points, from preceding trading day low of 25,783.02 points.

Stocks like Nigerian Breweries Plc , Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, GTBank Plc and others helped the market to close in green.

Nigerian Breweries stocks moved up most from N43.5 to N47.85, adding N4.35 or 10percent. Mobil Oil Nigeria rose from N193.1 to N195.1, up by N2 or

Global market indicators

tion products for the socioeconomic benefit of Nigeria.

“Siemens Energy is proud to have reached this landmark anniversary with Siemens Nigeria. Our success has been, and continues to be, driven by the commitment of our employees, our partners and our customers,” said Christian Bruch, President, and Global CEO Siemens Energy.

“As we chart our path over the next 50 years and beyond, we reaffirm our commitment to support Nigeria in achieving its potential. As an example of this commitment, we are currently working on the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), which will provide the people of Nigeria with reliable, affordwww.businessday.ng

able and more sustainable energy,” said Christian Bruch, President and Global CEO Siemens Energy.

“It has been a most fulfilling journey for us as a company and we are proud to be celebrating 50 years.

One of our focused objectives at Siemens was to ensure that Nigeria continues to maintain a leading position in Africa’s dynamic and knowledge-based economy.

“Fifty years down the line, this goal remains our top priority as demonstrated through our suite of offerings which have been well adapted for the modernization, construction, and financing of Nigeria’s critical infrastructure.

Leveraging our history of ingenuity and a passion for

engineering, we adopted our approach to the Nigerian market, working with various stakeholders to improve the lives of Nigerians today and in the future. As evidenced by our widely acclaimed track record in Nigeria, we have stood for innovation, growth and development,” said Onyeche Tifase, Siemens Energy Nigeria Managing Director, reflecting on the last five decades of the company in Nigeria.

Siemens Energy has been involved in several notable projects in Nigeria, successfully collaborating with local organizations to develop, operate, maintain and service high-tech equipment and solutions across Power, Oil & Gas, Construction, Manufacturing and other sectors.

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ulius Berger Nigeria Plc has notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the capital market community that the company’s Board at its meeting held on September 22, 2020 approved a diversification opportunity for the Company in Agro-processing.

Julius Berger has severally advised that it will be looking into diversification opportunities, based on the emerging developments - political, economical and structural - in Nigeria and the resultant reforms by the Governments.

The Board of Directors and the Executive Management of Julius Berger strongly believe that this diversification direction would support the contin-

ued success of the Group in the future and align with the strategic objective of the Government to stimulate value creation in Nigeria.

Julius Berger has a proven record of reliably delivering construction solutions to the highest standards for 50 years. The company’s success is founded on its leading technical expertise, innovation and partnership towards Nigeria’s development.

Julius Berger’s business is centered around a long term strategy. The goal of the Board of Directors and the Executive Management of Julius Berger is to deliver on that strategy by maintaining and strengthening the Company’s competitive advantages in the Construction sector, and Capital Market.

NSE hosts Dangote Cement to joint virtual Facts Behind the figures, sustainability report Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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he Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday September 23 hosted Dangote Cement Plc to a joint virtual Facts Behind the Figures and Sustainability Report. The event provided a platform for the Management of Dangote Cement Plc to present its financial performance, strategic and operational developments and sustainability initiatives to the capital market community.

Speaking at the virtual event, the Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Oscar N. Onyema, stated, “Given that the market is driven by timely, relevant and accurate information, we are pleased that Dangote Cement Plc has leveraged this platform to interact with the market. We must also commend the Board and Management of the company for their leadership in integrating sustainability into the core of their business operations evidenced by the fact that Dangote Cement Plc was the first to participate in the maiden edition of the Facts Behind the Sustainability Report (FBSR) series launched last year. At The Exchange, we will continue to highlight the importance of sus-

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tainable business practices in delivering value to our listed companies, the investing public and to support African economic growth” On his part, the Group Managing Director, Dangote Cement Plc, Michel Puchercos, noted, “It is always an honour to be invited by NSE and we are proud of our strong ties with The Exchange. We appreciate the opportunity to continue deepening public interest and knowledge about Dangote Cement, and we are grateful for the continued support of our business from the capital market community. As Africa’s largest cement manufacturer, the future certainly looks bright. We have established a strong platform for future growth and consolidation across Africa, and we are on track to be a global leader in cement production recognised for high quality products and services, and the way we conduct our business.”

The Facts Behind the Figures and Sustainability Report was presented by Dangote Cement Plc’s Acting Chief Financial Officer, Guillaume Moyen and the Head, Sustainability, Eunice Sampson.

26

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

27

Garden City Business Digest PH-based firm unveils non-contact system to save schools in Covid-19 era • Schools can now run online-offline methods • Cinfores says BrainFriend EduConnect guarantees 100 per cent chance of excellent grades Ignatius Chukwu

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chools anywhere in the world can now easily operate with little or no human contact with students still guaranteed 100 per cent chances of excellent grades, to the possible amazement of parents and teachers. The brains in Cinfores behind this discovery said in PH last week that this has solved one of the biggest challenges confronting humanity at large.

They noted at the unveiling of Cinfores BrainFriend that even before the advent of Covid-19, other problems had plagued the education system, and that this has simply just worsened.

BrainFriend which was unveiled in PH is said to be a digital technology that can perform take school to homes instead of waiting for homes (persons) to go to school. It was unveiled before a select-group top educationists, school owners and university administrators.

Cinfores officials said BrainFriend Edu-Connect now has 70,000 questions and answers with solving processes, animated videos to demonstrate to students, study groups, digital classrooms and many other offerings that most schools now rush for.

Already, previous versions of BrainFriend have sold to two million licenses for five million students, according to the director of administration and human resources, Ikechi Nwogu.

Nwogu revealed that the system has been deployed

Unveiling BrainFriend 2020 version to bring schools to homes: R-L: Ikechi Nwogu of Cinfores; Raymond Dokpesi Jr of AIT; Isaac Zeb-Opibi of Rivers State University; BB Fakae, former VC of Rivers State University, CEO of Cifores Ibifuro Asawo.

fully in some states and is now available nationwide with two million licenses for over five million students. Giving a background, he said: “BrainFriend was conceived 19 years ago (2002) and in April 2003, the first product was created. It is Nigeria’s foremost educational innovation.

“It began with being sold in compact discs (CDs) in the streets. The aim was to stop exam malpractice. It was a thinking born during strike in the universities. It was a task of converting books to digital form, from initial 300 questions to 3000 and later to 70,000 today.

“We moved from providing answers to showing the working. By 2005, the company was incorporated and other products followed.

There was a Rivers Science

and Tech exhibition and we got linked to top leaders in the academic world especially vice chancellors.

“Abuja launch took place in 2007 with 25,000 questions and in 2014, another launch took place in Port Harcourt.

Then, the volume increased to 30,000 questions and answers. We went from being a question bank to a virtual classroom system. Now we have teaching videos, then a virtual classroom.”

Ikechi said Cinfores has created school without walls; learning without limits. “We created scholarship and employment testing systems and developed questions in 47 subjects. Anambra State became the first state to achieve full deployment. From 2018 to 2019, we carried out national deployment.”

He said the system gives 100 per cent chance of excellent grade in exams from primary to tertiary institutions. He said; “Learn better, get better grades.. He said the system is now in Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba.

He went on; “Now, 70,000 questions have been solved, 25,000 definitions and formulae have been treated. It has games, notes, study groups, assignments, counseling session, videos for different classes for different subjects, entrepreneurial studies, animation, etc.

Every teacher and child has an account. Its amazing.”

He said most FG agencies have approved BrainFriend. “It is deployed in all 104 Unity Schools, over 1000 public and 500 private schools.

Now, the 2020 version called BrainFriend EduConnection

is here”.

One of their early motivators to the team, the professor of veterinary medicine and two-term vice chancellor of the then University of Science and Technology (now Rivers State University) is Bariname B. Fakae.

Fakae recounted how he met them at an exhibition in 2004 when he was Rector of the Polytechnic, Bori where he said the young men displayed CDs on the floor. ‘They explained how it worked and how it could provide some solutions in education. I decided to help and encourage them and so, asked them over to the poly to see how their work could help me stamp out exam malpractice there by having digital or online exams.

“They are exemplary militants and it was good to join them. I saw they were militants of goodwill.”

A school proprietress added a voice “We now have videos of classes in action, as a component. It now has A-Level questions in some subjects especially in the sciences.

School can set exams other than the ones set by Cinfores in the system. You can be stored in the teachers account. There is device for students to study at home.”

Welcoming the guests to what he called the Cinfores campus to unveil the latest version of Nigeria’s foremost e-learning and examination preparatory software – BrainFriend, the CEO, Ibifuro Asawo, said the long has brought forth innovations that have added value to the education sector and other sectors of the

economy.

He said; “Today, we have come to show the world what technology can do to improve teaching and learning in our schools in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. This solution is indigenous and tailored to handle most of the challenges faced in our education sector.

“Truth be told, only technology can give us the leverage we require as a country to provide access to quality education to over 40 million school-aged children in Nigeria. Cinfores BrainFriend has been playing this role of providing such quality education to Nigerians in the last decade and we have not rested on our oars. That is why today, we have invited you to join us as we unveil the future of education in Nigeria and Africa - post-pandemic.

“The presentation is not just a show of technology, innovation and creativity; it is also a show of the courage and resilience of Nigerian youths coming together to forge a cause – the cause of making Nigeria’s education world-class. The story behind the new product celebrates the Nigerian youth’s audacity to bring about a positive change.

I celebrate all Cinforesers and our partners for this feat.

“It is on this note, with pleasure that I unveil the 2020 version of BrainFriend e-learning and exam preparatory software known as BrainFriend EduConnect to the public for the use of all schools in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.“ He announced bonus and link to it by schools.

Court saves estate valuer from EFFC dungeon Port Harcourt

by Boat

IGNATIUS CHUKWU

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n Uyo high court in Akwa Ibom State has issued an interim injunction ordering the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the state not to further arrest and detain an estate valuer in the state capital.

Ubong William secured the order on Wednesday, September 16, 2020 against the Commission and two of its officers; the state head and the case officer whose names were not available in court documents.

The order is for the enforcement of William’s fundamental human rights as enshrined in sections 34 and 35 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. The

order is for the complaint not to be arrested or threatened until the substantive case is heard.

A team of three lawyers led by Andem Ndem led the case and obtained the order to protect William, said to be in hiding for fear of the EFFC in Uyo. It is basically “an order of interim injunction restraining the EFCC and its officers from taking any further action and to maintain the status quo.”

In the 13-point affidavit moved by Enoto Akpabio, one of the lawyers to William, the EFCC was said to have been inviting William since 2018 and even after the case was investigated and closed by two previous heads of the Commission in Uyo, the latest head had renewed the case in June 2020.

The lawyers deposed that William’s company, Arkway Project Ltd, was contracted to serve as payment consultant for Akwa Ibom State Government in respect of payment of compensation to owners of property and individuals that were affected as a result of demolition exercise during acquisition of right of way by the Government for overriding public interest of infrastructural development in the State.

The affidavit made available to BusinessDay stated that the consultant was entitled to 10 per cent of the valuation fee for property demolished by the state government but that this

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amount has so far not been paid by the government, but that some estate valuers petitioned and accused the Arkway CEO of diverting the money with the former commissioner of works, Ephraim Akparawa Inyang-Eyen, who has since written two letters to the EFCC explaining that the money has not been paid.

William, who claimed N20m from the EFCC obtained an order of court declaring that the arrest by 10 o’clock in the forenoon till 7:30 pm

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is a violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights guaranteed under sections 34 and 35 of the Constitution.

He sought further order declaring that the harassment, intimidation, psychological trauma and incessant invitations of the applicant by the EFCC in Uyo is an infringement of the William’s fundamental right of dignity of his person guaranteed under Section 34 of the Constitution.

The affidavit gave vivid account of alleged invasion and breaking of things in William’s home and arrest of his security guard who allegedly tried to prevent the invasion.

The applicant thus asked for a declaration that “The cutting of the electric fence wire, jumping over the fence, breaking the Security doors to gain access to the residential home of the Applicant by 3rd Respondent and other officers of the 1st Respondent is a breach of the Applicant’s Fundamental Right to private life as guaranteed under Section 37 of the Constitution.”

It was gathered that by the order granted on September 16, William is free to continue his businesses pending the determination of the case as the EFCC may no longer have the rights to further arrest him except the order is quashed by a superior court in the case that the lawyers said felt like using the anti-graft agency to do ‘debt collection’.

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28

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Sports

Arsenal face stiff Liverpool test as Barcelona tackle Villarreal Anthony Nlebem

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t’s another weekend of football actions and fans can look forward to the best football action from the Premier League, LaLiga and Serie A schedule for 25 to 28 September, 2020.

For the Premier League this weekend, Liverpool and Arsenal are scheduled to meet at Anfield on the evening of Monday 28 September. The Reds and the Gunners are set for an explosive encounter which will feature prolific African goal scorers such as Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Liverpool will be looking for revenge against Arsenal, given that the teams’ last two meetings have both gone the way of the London side: 2-1 in a Premier League clash in mid-July and a penalty shootout triumph in the Community Shield late last month.

Other picks for Premier League this weekend are Crystal Palace vs Everton, Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester United at, West Bromwich Albion v Chelsea and Burnley vs Southampton.

On Sunday 27 September EPL

includes; Sheffield United vs Leeds United, Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United, Manchester City vs Leicester City and West Ham United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The top clash for LaLiga sees champions Real Madrid head to Estadio Benito Villamarin to face Real Betis.

Los Verdiblancos have been a bogey team for the capital side in recent times, notably

defeating Zinedine Zidane’s side 2-1 in their last meeting in March (prior to the season suspension) to extend their unbeaten run in the rivalry to three matches.

Barcelona will face Villarreal while Sevilla battle Cadiz.

Barcelona and Villarreal are back after being given the first two match days off to have extra recuperation time from last season’s UEFA Cham-

Experts advocate boosting Nigeria’s sports industry for economic growth Gbemi Faminu

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conomic experts have called for the full optimization of Nigeria’s sports industry in stimulating economic growth, stating that the sector is capable of contributing N2 million in the country’s revenue profile.

Speaking at the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit presummit webinar themed “Recategorization of Sports as a Business Sector of the Economy: Partnership Imperatives” held recently, Sunday Dare, Minister for Youth and Sports Development, in his keynote address said the sports industry which is a labor-intensive growth industry is being re-categorized as a business venture beyond recreation based on its capacity to spur economic growth.

“This move prioritizes the industry and fosters its eligibility for incentives, development of metrics for impact measurement, consideration for special funding by the Central Bank of Nigeria, creation of jobs and tax rebate, the sports industry can deliver N2 trillion revenue

in the next 5 to 10 years for Nigeria and this can help to drive the largest real estate and infrastructure development in the country however it will require $500 million annual investment in sports infrastructure” he explained. Yemi Kale, Statistician-general of the federation, said that Sports is valued at $500 billion globally, however, the sector accounts for 0.005 percent of Nigeria’s GDP which is not good enough.

“Sports remains a small business in Nigeria but has the potential to be much bigger, we need to agree on what sporting activities should constitute and focus on data integrity, collaboration with relevant agencies and most importantly ensuring the steady funding for data computing as related to the sports industry.” Kale stated.

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Similarly, Hubu Gumel, President, Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) said that sports is a viable business and national federations need to work with others to take the game to the grassroots to drive mass participation.

Gumel who was represented

by Francis Orbih, President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) Francis Orbih said “if properly administered, the sports industry has a huge potential for youth employment, however, it requires proper governance structure that will attract the private sector” he added.

The pre-summit was held ahead of the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit themed “Building Partnerships for Resilience” scheduled to hold from October 26th – 27th, 2020 with discussions at hovering on three pillars – Collaboration, Execution and Impact – and dimensioned across five subthemes: mapping the future, new trends, new opportunities, new horizons, embracing technology and innovation; building resilience and charting the path to recovery.

pions League and Europa League campaigns.

The headline match from Serie A is the Sunday night clash of Roma and Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico in the ‘Eternal City’.

Elsewhere, Internazionale will have their first match of the season when they host Fiorentina at the San Siro in the late kick-off on Saturday evening.

Lewandowski, Neuer, De Bruyne nominated for UEFA Player Award

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obert Lewandowski and Manuel Neuer have been nominated alongside Kevin De Bruyne for the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award, UEFA announced on Wednesday.

Bayern Munich duo Lewandowski and Neuer starred as Bayern won the Champions League, beating Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the final in Lisbon in August.

Lewandowski scored an astonishing 55 goals in 47 games as Bayern won the treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup. He top-scored in the Champions League with 15 goals.

Fellow teammate, Neuer also played a key role in Bayern’s triumphant campaign, while Manchester City’s midfielder and Belgian playmaker De Bruyne set up 33 goals in the English Premier League and was nominated despite Man City finishing second to Liverpool on the table and exiting the Champions League in the quarterfinals to Lyon.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi just missed out on being shortlisted, coming fourth in the vote by a jury comprising the 80 coaches of the clubs that participated in the group stages of last season’s Champions League and Europa League, along with

55 selected journalists, one from each of UEFA’s member associations.

In the Women’s category, England star Lucy Bronze is a contender to win the women’s prize for the second year running after helping Lyon win the Champions League for the fifth season in a row before recently signing for Manchester City.

Her Lyon colleague, the France defender Wendie Renard, is also shortlisted alongside the Danish striker Pernille Harder, who recently joined Chelsea after helping Wolfsburg get to the Champions League final.

The winner will be announced –- along with the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year -- on October 1, when UEFA hold the draw for this season’s Champions League group stage at their headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

French government to allow more fans into stadiums Anthony Nlebem

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awmakers in France have agreed to allow larger crowds into stadiums in areas where the coronavirus is less prevalent and if venues are big enough.

Attendances at sports events are capped at 5,000, but are limited to 1,000 in areas where there are larger outbreaks of Covid-19, such as in the Mediterranean city of Marseille.

Currently, no allowances are made for the capacity of venues, and the existing rules meant no more than 1,000 spectators were able to attend Marseille’s Ligue 1 game against Lille last weekend, despite their Stade Velodrome home having a capacity of 67,000.

Sacha Houlie, an MP from the same La Republique en Marche party as President Emmanuel Macron, said before a com-

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mittee at France’s National Assembly that adapting the rules was a “common sense” move as he pointed out that currently 1,000 people could also pack into a smaller venue where “health guidelines cannot be respected”.

An amendment to the current law was put to a vote and passed, with lawmakers stressing the economic importance to clubs of having spectators in stadiums.

It means that crowds could be limited to 10 per-

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cent of capacity in “red zones” where the virus is more prevalent, but increased to 50 percent of capacity in “green zones”.

The measure must still be passed through the National Assembly on October 1, but comes in contrast to the situation in the UK, where plans to bring fans back into English sports venues on a socially distanced basis from next month have been scrapped because of fears over rising infection numbers.

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

29

INSIGHT

National identification as bedrock for sustainable development, economic inclusion TUNDE BELLO

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ver 100 million Nigerians have no identity.

They cannot be formally identified and are effectively ghosts.

These include the poorest and the most vulnerable groups – women and girls, the less-educated people, migrants, internally displaced persons, people with disabilities and many people living in rural and remote areas.

Understanding the poorest and most vulnerable groups is a hard enough task in any country, but our large, ethnically and regionally fragmented population makes it an even more onerous task. Compounding this task is the fact that we do not know exactly how many Nigerians there are. Understanding our population is critical to guiding the effective delivery of all government responsibilities to its citizens. And good quality data can take us a step forward. Unfortunately, the dearth of quality data especially on matters to do with national identification has held current and previous governments back from achieving many of the goals they set for the country.

As we grapple with the effects of a global pandemic, the importance of being able to identify our country’s most vulnerable is highlighted by concerns around the accuracy and efficiency of the current government’s conditional cash transfer programme, and whether support is reaching the right people.

This points to the foundational and more critical issue: Nigeria does not know who her citizens are.

The Nigerian reality In an ideal system like can be seen in the US, individuals are assigned numbers at birth, and their records are updated as they become adults and begin to access public or financial services. When people die, their numbers stay the same – even when their names change through marriage or other legal means, the numbers that are used to identify them remain unchanged.

In Nigeria, the reality is very different. There has been increasing discourse and emphasis on identifying Nigeria’s population over the last two decades. In fact, “biometrics” has become one of the most popular words in the vocabulary of more than 13 federal agencies and three state agencies offering ID services in Nigeria. But the Nigerian government manages more than 13 sets of identity systems – most of which do not communicate with each other, each achieved at a high cost.

Take Omolola Bello, for example.

Born in Lagos, Mrs Bello worked as a civil service employee. Between the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mrs Bello has likely turned up for her “biometric capturing” multiple times – in order to have a SIM card, bank account, driver’s licence and International passport, respectively. But people like Mrs Bello, who likely have some form of identification, account for only about

38 percent of the country’s approximately 200 million population; the remaining 62 percent of the country’s population remain under-identified.

Although ID cards are the most visible aspect of an identity management system, the real value lies in the supporting database. The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) was instituted to provide and maintain an interoperable National Identity Database (NIDB) system by assigning every Nigerian with a unique National Identification Number (NIN) that can be used for verification purposes throughout their lifetime. However, since its inception in 2007, the NIDB includes only 41 million Nigerians while other agencies continue collecting various data for different purposes such as International Passports, Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), etc.

Not only is this process fragmented and costly, it has proven inefficient at capturing the requisite information required to identify our country’s populace.

Changing the narrative What any fragmented system needs is coordination. In our case, it would have been useful to integrate the creation of each database with the national ID registration process; allowing communication and exchange of information between the different databases or agencies (e.g., INEC, CBN etc) in a timely and low-cost manner, subject to appropriate privacy and security safeguards. This would have allowed NIN to assume the role for which it was created – the foundational identity – with other forms of functional identity only requiring the additional metrics not already captured by NIN. The economies of scale, speed and efficiency benefits of this type of coordination would have removed the identification hurdle that prohibits many from being formally included and enabled the associated benefits that come with being identified.

It was the need for this type of coordination that triggered the 2015 harmonisation process spearheaded by the Vice President’s office – which looked at how we could harmonise all the existing ID processes and systems.

The outcome highlighted the synergy between NIN and BVN, two systems that already speak to each other and www.businessday.ng

could easily be coordinated. Not only was this harmonisation possible – it was also the sensible option. The possibilities of coordination were immense – efficiency, speed, more inclusion at a grassroots and bottom-ofthe-pyramid level and timely – as we package, coordinate and disseminate COVID-related stimulated packages – a better way to identify people.

Then, in December 2019, five years after BVN was introduced and only 41 million people registered, the CBN announced the launch of BVN Lite to fast-track registration for rural Nigeria. BVN had been unsuccessful in identifying this demographic for reasons which include unavailability of registration points and associated infrastructure (power, etc.), undetectable fingerprints or poor imaging – all things that made the cost of registration a disincentive. What would have been expected, following that harmonisation process, would have been the CBN making a clear statement that the NIN is acceptable for a Tier-1 account allowing for a consolidation of existing efforts and infrastructure rather than a reduplication of an already duplicated process. But this didn’t happen.

The bigger picture If we are to achieve the developmental benefits associated with accurate population data, we must overcome these and all the other challenges that inhibit success. One major challenge with rolling out national-level identification schemes is that they require important privacy and security safeguards, which often make them complex and expensive to implement. In Nigeria, there is the need for a central, easily accessible form of identification that serves as the foundation for other records to be built upon. In March 2020, the World Bank, in recognition of the impact of the successful identification of population on development, announced an IDA credit for the NIMC, to identify and include Nigeria’s poorest in its development plan and initiate the economic recovery of the country.

A month before this intervention, the president had inaugurated a Committee on Citizen Data Management and Harmonisation to resolve, among other things, the identification imbroglio, by harmonising citizens’ data held by the different government

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Ministries, Departments and Agencies with a view to ensuring a single database owned and managed by the Federal Government (FG) – thereby providing a foundational identification upon which all other sub-sectors can build. This Committee chaired by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, formed three sub-committees, one of which was to focus on the Harmonization of Public Data and is chaired by Dr Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. The CBN governor, chief executive officers of the NIMC and the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) were also named members.

Again in June, the FG announced a steering committee for the Nigeria Digital Identity for Development Ecosystem Project to “fast-track the implementation of the Strategic Roadmap for accelerating digital identity development for Nigeria” professing digital identification as central and critical to realising the government’s Economic and Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP). Among other briefs, the role of this ‘highest body’ is to review the legal and regulatory framework for digital identity development with a clear objective to accelerate a digital identification system that can grow the enrollment database by 187 million between 2023 and 2025.

Nigeria is said to have spent about N120 billion on identity management so far. With the World Bank 2020 intervention, the country appears to be redefining identity registration and operation processes in a way that moves identification away from the possession of a plastic card or slip to the NIN in itself – similar to the Social Security Number system used in the US. To show its determination perhaps, the Federal Government transferred the supervision of the NIMC from the Presidency to the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy (FMCDE) which is overseen by the chairman of the subcommittee for the Harmonisation of Public Data. The FMCDE is supervising ministry of the NCC which has access to data of over 96 percent (more than 191 million) of Nigeria’s mobile subscribers presenting a potentially huge leverage in terms of access to citizens’ database and possible harmonisation.

But still, Nigeria has much to learn from its developing peers.

The India example The Aadhaar system currently implemented in India offers a biometrically safe and unique identifier which makes it possible to provide essential development services like healthcare and financial services. India’s Identification System provides residents with a 12-digit unique number (Aadhaar) based on both biometric (facial image, 10 fingerprints, and iris scans of both eyes) and demographic data. Beyond being a robust, safe and secure system, the aadhaar system has been successful largely because of the scale of the government’s ambition to see it through to fruition.

When the biometric identifier is added to a bank account, individuals can receive welfare payments through direct deposit. They are also able to access food by performing an iris or fingerprint scan at welfare distribu@Businessdayng

tion points. Seeing the direct link between being identified and accessing welfare has provided an added layer of incentives for the Indian population and helped to ensure that funds and benefits earmarked for the poor reach them, thus making it much harder for bureaucrats to divert citizens’ benefits. This coupled with the government’s political will to deliver a fully identified India has resulted in the success we see today.

Beyond this, having multiple forms of biometric scanning (finger and iris scans), while more expensive, allows for more robust and accurate identification especially in rural areas where farming and other types of labour can make fingerprint capture harder to achieve.

To understand the impact of this system better, let’s take Kumar, a micro farmer who would usually need to go through a middleman agency to access his welfare benefits from the government. Now with Kumar’s aadhaar number his benefits are directly paid into his account without the extraneous influence of any middleman. The system empowers the Kumars and every single Indian with an efficient identification system that delivers a benefit.

Besides India, the wide success gap for developing countries served as the catalyst for a group of government and private institutions to collaborate with the World Bank in developing a set of principles that should be considered when developing Identity for Development (ID4D) systems. The Inclusion, Design and Governance principles serve as a blueprint for building a transferable model for researching, designing, executing and assessing guidelines for identification systems – all which must be employed if Nigeria is to successfully harmonise and better her current ID systems.

What’s the way forward for Nigeria?

Put simply, we need to prioritise data collection and coordination.

As paramount as data is in understanding the poor, a country that does not even have the data collection culture necessary to determine its population size accurately definitely has a long way to go in using identification for development. Identification has been recognised formally as a critical enabler of many other SDG targets – from implementing social protection systems to financial inclusion to women’s empowerment.

Understanding the World Bank principles for identification systems, and learning from the approach and challenges of success stories – like India’s Aadhaar system – is a good first step in improving the quality of our data collection in Nigeria, investing in the necessary execution and implementation is the next one.

This is arguably one of the most critical gateways we must resolve in order to understand the scope, scale and depth of many of the challenges we face. Without solving our identity conundrum, we will be stuck in a cycle of underperformance, inefficiency and slow growth.

Bello is an independent journalist based in Nigeria.

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Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news L-R: Haru Alhassan, director, new media and information security, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Istifanus Fuktar, permanent secretary, Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy; Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman/CEO, NCC, and Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi, director general, Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), during the first Virtual Nigerian Internet Governance forum 2020, yesterday, at the Communications and Digital Economy Complex, Abuja.

Ticketing corruption by railway staff, soldiers...

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ing office would not open until 8:15am — a clear 45

minutes after — and only for five seconds. Ten prospective passengers are allowed in and the gates shut again. I count 53 intending travellers now lined up, another 22 scattered under the shade. That’s 75 in all. Shortly before 9am, one passenger declares he has been told ‘sitting’ tickets are no longer available. Anyone wanting to get on that train must be prepared to stand throughout the two-hour journey.

I was personally shocked. I could swear on my life that no more than 25 passengers had bought tickets. Meanwhile, the train has 14 coaches, each of which can seat 88 passengers; that’s 1,232 seats! What, then, happened to the outstanding 1,207 tickets? As I would soon find out, such huge numbers of unaccounted-for tickets were lost to ticketing corruption involving railway officials, soldiers, senior military figures, politicians, senior civil servants and numerous cadres of people who qualify as ‘Abuja big men and women’.

Please place ‘One-Man Passenger’ Video here https://youtu.be/ZZjPpuFBRms From ‘holistic development’ to fatalistic corruption In October 2006, then President Olusegun Obasanjo set out his vision for the revitalisation of Nigeria’s 3,500km rail network knowing that “no nation has achieved holistic development without a coherent, integrated, efficient and reliable transportation system”.

The Council of State had recommended “complete reconstruction and conversion of the 1067mm gauge to standard”, at a cost of $8.3bn.

Work was to begin with the 1126km Lagos-Kano corridor, to be undertaken in five stages over four years for $1bn, funded by a $2.5bn soft loan from China. A new 100km line was to be built from Minna to Abuja, continuing for 205km beyond the federal capital to Kaduna. Phase II would see a reconstruction of the Port Harcourt-Jos route. It was an ambitious project.

In the final months of Obasanjo’s reign, Nigeria signed an agreement for the China Civil Engineering & Construction Company (CCECC) to build a doubletrack line from Lagos to Abuja and Kano. But the project was halted few months into the tenure of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, with Minister of Transport Diezani Alison-Maduekwe admitting the programme was “posing challenges to the current administration”. The intention to source funds from the country’s crude oil surplus had “constitutional

limitations”, she said, while an anticipated $1.28bn loan from China had “crashed for a number of reasons”.

The summary: there was no money.

This meant the project was subsequently re-scoped into different standalone segments and the existing 1,124km narrow-gauge Lagos-Kano line was rehabilitated. A second, the 312km-long Lagos-Ibadan double-track standard gauge line for which a $1.53bn contract was awarded to CCECC in August 2012, is scheduled for completion in 2020.

It wasn’t until 2009 that the Abuja-Kaduna project was eventually finalised, with the contract for building the new line awarded in December 2010. The construction of the single standard gauge line kicked off in February 2011, while track laying was officially launched in July 2013, with the construction finished in December 2014. In July 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari officially inaugurated the line for commercial services, prompting heated conversations about which administration exactly should be credited with the success.

‘Blood-stained’ naira notes When it started running, the Abuja-Kaduna rail line was an unpopular means of transport in those two states.

Understandably, therefore, its carrying capacity at takeoff was 1,000 passengers daily across two shifts. Nigerians, accustomed to road transport over short distances, stuck to their old ways.

Soon there was a problem: Commuting Abuja-Kaduna or vice versa by road was becoming unsafe. Bandits and kidnappers had started territorialising that highway and terrorising the people.

Within two years, crowds had started thronging the Idu and Kubwa train stations in Abuja and the Rigasa station in Kaduna.

Please place ‘Passengers Locked out of Ticketing Hall’ video https:// youtu.be/BGMhm-ik3Ko here By the time the train kicked off operations in 2016, the terror visited on commuters by bandits had become too frequent to track, the highest-profile of which was the abduction of Alfred Nelso, the Sierra Leonean High Commissioner to Nigeria. The year 2017 was deadlier. In November, Sheriff Yazid, son of prominent northern technocrat Abidu Yazid, was killed and his wife kidnapped, regaining freedom only after the payment of part of a N10million ransom.

I n Ap r i l 2 0 1 8 , g u n men abducted Shedrach

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Nigeria’s travellers pay 42% higher for COVID-19...

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Force (PTF) on Covid-19.

BusinessDay’s investigation reveals that the fee, which has forced some travellers to seek cheaper results through the backdoor, is 36 percent higher than what South African private laboratories charge; 23 percent more than what is paid in Kenya; 42 percent more than charges in Ghana; 42 percent higher than Senegal’s, and 74 percent more than India’s.

To undergo a coronavirus test at Lancet Laboratories, Johannesburg, for instance, a traveller pays R1400 ($83) or N31,872. At The Nairobi Hospital Laboratory or Aga Khan University Hospital Laboratory, Nairobi, $100 or N38,400 is sufficient.

Nyaho Medical Centre Laboratory Accra accepts between $75 or N28,800 and $100 or N38,400. In Senegal, it is $75 within the shortest turnaround time - 6 hours.

Indians pay the lowest, $33 or N12,672.

Emmanuel Amaechi, a manager at one of Nigeria’s accredited private labs, says some of the considerations sum up in the fee is the high cost of reagents and personal protective equipment required in the processing of samples.

He notes that these items require foreign exchange for import since the local capacity for manufacturing remains poor, explaining, “The price of everything has gone up. But having said that,

you need to remember it was the government that set the price.”

When Yisau Jacob, a molecular biologist at the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), was leaving Senegal last Friday after a four-month fellowship that the pandemic overshot to nine months, $75 was enough to get him tested and certified.

But to book for a postarrival test in his home country, Nigeria, he had to cough out $141. “I really don’t get why it is that costly,” he said, speaking with BusinessDay via phone.

The current guidelines developed by the PTF on Covid-19 for air travel mandate travellers to present a negative Covid-19 PCR result within 72 hours of boarding a flight heading into Nigeria.

Also, travellers must provide evidence of a pre-booked Covid-19 PCR test at an accredited private laboratory in Lagos before arriving in Nigeria, and must be tested seven days after home isolation.

Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos has 1,280 travellers daily who carry out Covid-19 tests at N50,400 each, amounting to a total N64.512 million. On the other hand, Nnanmdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja has 925 passengers daily paying N45,000 for Covid-19 test, amounting to N41.625 million.

In total, local private labs rake in an average N106.1 million daily, this is consid-

How Nigeria’s slow internet speed undermines...

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broadband infrastructure.

The network technologies include a 4G network that enables a high-speed connection in suitable circumstances; 3G network used in a wider area but with much lower maximum speed, and the GSM, which has the most extensive network, but the data transfer speed is very limited.

To get the networks working efficiently, you need base stations distributed widely

across the country. A mobile phone base station is a transmission and reception station in a fixed location, consisting of one or more receive and transmit antenna, microwave dish, and electronic circuitry used to handle cellular traffic.

According to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), as of December 2018, there were about 30,637 mobile telecom base stations in Nigeria, out of which Lagos alone accounts for 4,734 base stations. Just like in the states, the bases stations are

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ered a travel burden by many air travellers.

On social media platforms, especially Twitter, Nigerians have queried why travellers cannot obtain results from government labs that run the test without charge and why in some instances, private labs compel them to pay an extra charge for ‘mobilisation.’

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State governor, in a September 18 statement, stated that testing in Lagos would continue to be free for all persons who fit the case definition of the disease. This definition implies people showing symptoms or have had confirmed contact with positive cases.

“Fee-paying testing is only for people who want testing to fulfil a requirement such as for travel or work purposes,” he stated.

According to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the rationale behind that decision is to ensure public health response to the pandemic is not hampered by personal requests of travellers. In its reaction to claims that the scheme is entangled with fraud, the centre stood by the position that it has ensured prices indicated by these private labs are as subsidised as possible.

“This is similar to current practice in countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, United Arab Emirates and others,” it stated further.

But the move does not sit well with some travellers.

“I’m at NIMR Yaba at the

moment. Why do Nigerians have to go to private labs to spend at least N50,000 on Covid-19 test? Does it mean that public funds should only work for Nigerians that are not travelling?” a user tweeted under the handle, @ TheManCalled_OG. Another user, @hollarz, said, “Nigeria makes everything difficult for Nigerians, charging 50k for a test that is mostly free in other countries on arrival. Billions of naira were budgeted for this Covid-19 with no palliatives for the citizens but still subjecting people to more hardship.”

Narrating his experience, a particular traveller to Canada groused that after expending N50,400 on the test, he was surprised no one cared to know his status during his entire trip.

However, when BusinessDay visited Nigeria’s busiest airport in Lagos to get a grasp of the alternatives that Nigerians were exploring to escape the charge, it found out a secret scheme where travel agents and conniving doctors arranged a coronavirus test result was active.

BusinessDay correspondent struck a deal of N25,000 with an agent who promised getting the result out in 48 hours without an actual test.

Although the ports authorities have stiffened its scrutiny of travellers, there are clear indications that outbound travellers going on a long trip won’t stop seeking the backdoor for cheaper results, particularly when they know that some countries care less.

unevenly distributed among the network operators. As of 2018, MTN owned the highest number of base stations standing at 14,715; with others owning Airtel - 7,966; Glo 7,244; nTel - 562; EMTS – 148, and Smile - 2. To achieve some level of sufficiency, the NCC projects that Nigeria requires additional 41,000 base stations.

In its latest report, Cable, a UK-based price comparison website, found that it takes an average of over 7 hours (7.18) to download an HD movie of 5GB in Nigeria. The report placed Nigeria’s internet download speed at 176th of 207 countries

measured globally.

At that speed, it means students will find it extremely difficult to stream live videos for classes. Virtual classes have become the way many students stayed connected to learning opportunities while under lockdown.

A United Nations policy briefing in August 2020 noted that school closures and learning disruptions affected 94 percent of the world’s student population; in low and lower-middle-income countries like Nigeria, up to 99 percent of the student population has been affected.

@Businessdayng

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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News Ticketing corruption by railway staff, soldiers...

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Madlion, Managing Director of Kaduna-based Safari 54 Farms, and his son, demanding a ransom of N50million but eventually receiving N10million before freeing them. The following month, bandits attacked travellers on that highway, killing and injuring dozens, and abducting others. In July, more than 10 armed gunmen laid siege to the expressway, killing Halimatu Sadiya, a professor and former Katsina State commissioner for Education, as well as an army officer, his daughter and a police officer.

Later that year, a 42-year-old confessed to killing 10 people and rustling over 100,000 cattle in the preceding year.

In April 2019, Muhammed Mahmood, Chairman, Board of the Universal Basic Education Commissions (UBEC), and his daughter were travelling in their Land Cruiser SUV when they were intercepted by gunmen along the expressway. Their driver was shot dead and the rest abducted. That day’s raid also left several motorists and passengers unaccounted for. In August 2019, bandits killed three people and kidnapped several others on that expressway. The same month, seven persons, including three final-year Law students of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, were kidnapped on the notorious highway. In October, Musa Rabo, an Area Commander and Assistant Commissioner of Police, was abducted by kidnappers along the road but was eventually rescued by operatives. That happened days after troops of the Operation Thunder Strike rescued six students of Government Day Secondary School, Gwagwalada, who had been abducted along the highway.

“The expressway is like a death trap now, so nobody wants to risk being killed or kidnapped,” one highranking civil servant told TheGuardian at the Idu train station in 2018.

So, even though the 150km road trip between Abuja and Kaduna costs N1,500 and typically lasts 2hours 40minutes, much like rail travel, the train would eventually become the favourite means of journeying to one of the cities from the other. By October 2019, passenger volume on the railway had risen by 270%.

After he was abducted on the highway and held for five days, Mannir Awal Addo, an Abuja-based trader who visits his family in Kaduna every weekend, told the BBC in 2019 that having paid his abductors a ransom of $1,300, he resolved never to travel by road again. It is for the reason of the killings, maiming and abduction that the ticket racketeering

in Abuja and Kaduna is especially abominable.

“Blood-stained naira notes” was how Nike Ajulo, a passenger who had been stranded for five hours without getting a ticket, described the money the railway officials and soldiers fuelling the scarcity were raking in.

“They know that if we don’t get the tickets we will risk travelling by road, yet they do it,” she lamented.

“They’re sending us to our killers, to our early graves.

They’re heartless; the money they receive in exchange for this wickedness on the common man is blood-stained, I tell you.”

‘You people should respect us’ Please place ‘Angry Passengers Curse Railway Staff’ video here https:// youtu.be/o5v5Pu0FmDY Back at the Idu train station, just before 9am, a passenger decides to confront officials for abandoning the people in the sun. He had noticed the byway through which backdoor sale of tickets was ongoing.

“What rubbish is this?” he screams. “Don’t keep us standing. Are you doing us a favour? We’ve been standing all this while; nobody said anything. Are they going to sell tickets or not? You people should respect us.”

“We are sorry, sir,” a female official replies him.

“You ought to be sorry!” he blurts before storming back into the queue.

Despite the altercation, nothing changes — not until exactly 9:30am when a station official flings the gates open, waving in passengers willing to stand all through the journey. ‘Standing’ tickets only.

As anyone would imagine, the hall is quickly filled to the brim. A moment before 10am, the gates are locked once again. It’s about time the train moves; the next ride is for 2:20pm. Scores of passengers, including me, refrain from buying the ticket.

“I cannot stand in that train for two hours,” a lady explains to someone at the other end of a phone call.

“I’ve been ill for weeks; my condition only started improving this week and I’m not going to worsen it by settling for a standing ticket.”

No mercy for pregnant passengers Please add ‘Pregnant Woman asked to Queue for Tickets’ video https:// youtu.be/t0YOl-VeYYI here I ask an official for guidance on when ticket sales will commence for the 2:20pm ride. “Just a moment,” he tells me. “Once they finish mopping the floor, they’ll start selling.”

That was a lie. The gates remain locked for the next 1hour 45minutes, and when they open, less than 30 people www.businessday.ng

get the chance to be ticketed. Soon, a lady and her pregnant friend confront officials selling tickets underhand through the sideway.

The lady had attempted to purchase a ticket with her pregnant friend’s ID card but she was turned back. Seeing that others were getting the same tickets she was told she couldn’t have unless her pregnant friend personally queued up, she tells one of the train officials off. “Corruption for Nigeria, na train station e dey happen,” one female onlooker begins to sing.

Some minutes past noon, the crowd start to get impatient. The Abuja sun was scorching their heads and their feet were aching. Some of them bang the glass gates; and when nothing happens, they peek into the building to get a sense of what was going on. Seen through the class inside are a dozen people buying tickets, among whom are two train station security officers, a soldier and an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

N4,500 FOR A N1,300 TICKET Please add ‘Security Allowed To Buy Tickets’ video here https://youtu. be/kE5eOWoGpEE Soon, it becomes clear that the gates won’t be opened until all seat tickets are gone. I start to look for alternatives. Four of us, actually. Two of those women make calls that end up yielding no result; a third insists she will force her way through the side door; I spot a porter pottering about the

station in a manner suggesting he could have some control over tickets, so I approach him on how best to get a regular ticket.

“I’ll arrange a ticket for you but no be normal price.

It’s N4,000.” Biodun, the young man, tells me, although he would later demand an extra N500 as his own “personal gain”. That’s more than triple the original price of N1,300. But it’s 12:45pm and I know I must act fast if I indeed want to get to Kaduna that Friday, so I agree. Fifteen minutes later, Biodun returns to break a sad news to me: the tickets for seats have finished.

“They’re not going to open that gate again,” he says with considerable assurance. “They won’t open it until all the seat ticket holders have finished boarding.

To get one, he explains, I have to wait for the 6pm ride.

Well, I make him realise that for me to trust him enough to wait another four hours for the 6pm ride, he has to convince me that he has the wherewithal to indeed secure me a ticket.

“We work here as potters; we help people carry their bags, their luggage,” he explains. “That is our work and they [senior train officials] know that we have access to customers (sic).”

‘N24,000 for six economy tickets’ Please add ‘N4500 Paid For ‘Black Market’ Ticket’ video here https://youtu. be/0n7-QvSgO_Y After missing two rides while queuing up for tickets that never came, a lady

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travelling as part of a sevenmember entourage reveals the promise of an official to sell her tickets for N3,000 each. The prices are later reduced to N2,500 per ticket.

Disappointment was soon to come, though: only two tickets are available, meaning my emergency friend must now raise five tickets from nowhere. “I got only two tickets,” the woman, speaking in thick northern accent, tells me. “So, if your man can sell five tickets for N2,500 each, I will buy. Tell him. Even if it’s ‘standing’, I will buy.”

An extra man joins the travelling party, meaning a total of six tickets are now needed. “Number 1, I cannot get up to six tickets,” Biodun would eventually tell me.

“Then Number 2, N2,500 won’t work at all. The minimum I can do is N4,000.”

That’s N24,000 for tickets that should cost only N7,800!

‘They’re just like agents’ — ticketing corruption explained One frequent user of the Idu train station explains that the porter who sold me the ticket is one of several

friend all settle for ‘standing’ tickets. As the queue of the commoners files in to purchase those ‘standing’ tickets, I notice a haggard, grey-haired man who, alongside his last daughter, refuses to move.

“I am too old to stand for two hours, so I’ll wait for the 6pm train,” Babagana, the 73-year-old, tells me. “It’s such a shame that we ruin almost everything in this country with corruption… so bad that railway officials will see an old man like me standing for hours in the burning sun yet they they’d rather hoard the tickets.”

Knowing he surely wouldn’t get a ticket, I promise to hand him mine if he is able to secure a standing slot for his daughter. Unfortunately, shortly before 5pm when my driver arrived to pick me, Babagana was nowhere to be found. It was during the fruitless search for him that I noticed a lady who had refused to board the 9:50am ride because she couldn’t endure the torment of standing for hours.

She was there angling for a 6pm ticket she probably

“agents” who buy directly from source at inflated costs then resell to passengers at “re-inflated costs”.

“It’s a thriving business because the rail officials know that passengers aren’t going to buy directly from them at exorbitant prices,” he says. “Only the agents can buy at those prices — because they will resell.”

Biodun himself would later confirm this. In explaining why he is unable to go lower than N4,00, he says: “I get the tickets from insiders who have originally bought them, who then sell to me so I can resell. They themselves resell, too.

“There are people who have the access to buy the tickets from source. Actually, they don’t buy from the ticketing counter here; they buy in abundance from source.

Those ones resell to railway staff, then the staff resell to me so that I can also resell.”

Goodbye to idu… a septuagenarian in the burning sun As I had come to expect, the ticketing officers do not open the gates until exactly 1:47pm, some 33 minutes before the next ride. The six friends of my emergency

wouldn’t get.

I tap her and gift her the ticket. And before she can muster “thank you”, I vanish into the thin air.

Abuja to Kaduna Please place ‘The Long Ticket Queue At Rigasa Station’ video here https:// youtu.be/N5-u3vvvfQo Abuja being the laid-back ‘civil service city’ that it is, 7am tickets are readily available when I return on Sunday December 15; the tickets quite easily outnumber the passengers ready to travel at that hour. That there is no queue at all makes it unnecessary to hoard tickets.

I walk to the fourth paying point and pick up a ticket with such ease that belies the scramble for tickets two days earlier.

The ride to Kaduna was smooth. Shortly after 9am, we arrived at the Rigasa Railway Station from where I needed to find a ticket back to Abuja. It was already too late to meet the 6:40am trip, so the available ride times were 10am, 2pm and 6pm.

I would soon learn that the Abuja ticket hoarding was merely a tip of the iceberg.

@Businessdayng

Continues on Monday

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

TETFund urges FG to peg nation’s annual research funding at $1bn MARK MAYAH & GODSGIFT ONYEDINEFU

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he Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has asked the Federal Government to raise its yearly funding for Research and Development (R&D) to $1 billion.

It, however, praised President Muhammadu Buhari for his recent increase of the research grant from N5 billion to N7.5 billion.

The executive secretary of TETFund, Suleiman Bogoro, speaking at the inauguration of TETFund’s R&D standing committee in Abuja on Thursday, said massive investment in research would bring about the needed development in the country.

Bogoro also said it was time for the promulgation of a law that will bring into full place what he called “National R&D Foundation (NRDF)” to deepen research in the country.

“To galvanise our vision towards making R&D the ace and game changer in our national development

all-round development in the country.

“It is envisaged that the private sector of the economy should pick the gauntlet to steamroll the lofty initiative by taking ownership of it,” he said.

The TETFund boss lauded the recent performance of Nigerian universities in the world’s ranking, saying TETFund intervention projects have continued to encourage such feats.

Adamu Adamu, minister of education while speaking at the event, called on the committee members to put their best to the work which he described as ‘national assignment.’

Represented by Chukuemeka Nwajuiba, minister of state for education, Adamu said that continued investment in research would herald a rebirth of Nigeria.

“Nigeria voted us into power predicated on our being able to transform our national aspirations and make

agenda, the need for an appropriate law to support the establishment of a National R&D Foundation cannot be overstated. “We need a robust institutional framework and arrangement for the NRDF. I am recommending a minimum annual budgetary threshold of $1 billion as the funding portfolio for this foundation.

“When we consider the inevitable benefits of R&D and the inevitable benefits of R&D and the socio-economic challenges in Nigeria, this amount begins to look like a drop of water in the ocean-population of 200 million people in 2020 and projected to become double in 10 years for now.”

Bogoro, who said the TETFund R&D standing committee, was expected to come up with its own recommendation on the required amount that suitable for efficient research activities in the country, called for an effective collaboration between researchers and the private sector to bring about

them a national achievement.

“It is in recognition of this direction that the executive secretary of TETFund presented his vision of a research-driven nation and how to finance that ambition through the board of trustees.

“To a large extent, Nigeria’s future depends on you.

You have been summoned to a national service that is not available to the rest of the 200 million populations. It is a national calling that requires almost all of you,” he said.

Chairman, House of Representatives committee on tertiary education and services, Aminu Suleiman said the work of the committee would open the windows of opportunities to tackle various developmental challenges confronting the country.

Chairman of the 160-member TETFund R&D committee, Njidda Gadzama said the event would transform the socio-economic sector by ensuring the promotion of cutting-edge innovations.

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Nigeria to celebrate 60th independence anniversary low-key Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja

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igeria will keep its 60th independence anniversary celebration low-key on account of the Covid-19 global pandemic, which has forced some safety protocols globally, minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed reiterated on Thursday.

However, government has scheduled a public lecture, special Jumat prayers inter-denominational church service ahead of the formal celebrations on October1, 2020.

According to the minister, the Diamond Jubilee celebration - expected to run through a whole year, ending September 30, 2021 - is necessary despite the myriad of socio-economic challenges facing the country.

The minister was addressing a press conference to announce the activities lined up for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence, which President Buhari had already kick-started by launching the logo and the theme for the anniversary celebration.

“For a country that has gone through a bitter, internecine civil war, years of political crisis, daunting security challenges, including religious and ethnic crisis, etc, our unity and our resilience (which by the way is what diamond represents) are worth celebrating.

He further noted that “in certain cultures, the age of 60 is seen as the beginning of a new cycle of life, and is usually well marked. For Nigeria as a country, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari offers a new beginning.”

Mohammed assured that government is working assiduously to build a new Nigeria, laying the building blocks for industrial and technological development by building massive infrastructures in the areas of power, roads, bridges, rail etc. and by developing human capital.

“The administration is also fighting corruption, tackling insecurity and diversifying the economy by leveraging ICT, creative industry, agriculture and mining, among others.”

The theme of the anniversary is ‘Together’, which authorities say should remind citizens of unity and encourage them to forge ahead.

“Therefore, the pomp and pageantry that should have marked the celebration will be largely missing,” Mohammed stated.

But the activities slated to start this week and extend till next week, include; a Public Lecture on Friday September 25th 2020 at the National Mosque Abuja by 10.00am; Special Jumat Prayers on Friday September 25th 2020 also at the National Mosque, Abuja by 1pm; as well as an Inter-denominational Church Service on Sunday, September 27th 2020 at National Christian Centre, by 3pm, which members of the public can join virtually by logging on to the Youtube Channel of the OSGF at OFFICIALOSGFNG .”

Also as part of the activities, President Buhari will Launch the National Ethics and Integrity Policy as well as Integrity Award to commemorate the 20th anniversary of ICPC on Monday September 28th 2020 at the State House, Presidential Villa, Abuja by 10am.

COVID-19: Union urges FG to adopt strategies to revamp economy L-R: Rufai Mohammed, director; Sheila Ezeuko, company secretary; Hewett Benson, director, and Olawale Bonmore, group managing director, all of Royal Exchange plc, at the company’s 51st annual general meeting in Lagos yesterday.

Pic by Pius Okeosisi

FG unveils national policy to reposition science, technology education Godsgift Onyedinefu, Abuja

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he Federal Government on Thursday unveiled a national policy to reposition science and technology education, drive Nigeria’s technological growth and tackle the burden of unemployment.

The new policy which was launched by the minister of education, Adamu Adamu, seeks to improve the country’s manpower beyond paper qualifications and rebrand Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

The minister regretted that Nigeria has been without a national policy despite the

critical importance of science and the acquisition of technical and vocational skills as tools for driving national growth and development.

Adamu, who was represented by Emeka Nwajuiba, Minsiter of state for education, said the absence of a roadmap has slowed down the pace for Nigeria’s quest for technological achievement.

“It is therefore, heartwarming that this anomaly is being addressed with the approval granted by the National Council on Education (NCE). This development is not only significant, but also a landmark achievement by the Federal Government”, he said.

The minister, therefore,

charged all stakeholders in the science and technology sub-sector to adhere to the policy and implementation guidelines.

Sonny Echono, permanent secretary federal ministry of education in his welcome address, said TVET is the easiest way president Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty can be achieved.

Echono deplored Nigeria’s reliance on neighbouing countries for good quality work men and artisans despite the millions of people roaming the streets, some of which are engaging in deviant behaviour.

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“In a very short time frame we can teach them relevant skills. We need to promote TVET, at higher levels we must stimulate innovation and creativity”, he said.

The new policy harped on human resource, staff training, infrastructure standardisation. It stipulates that only professionals will lead the technical institution henceforth, among others.

On funding, the policy proposes the establishment of STVET and 0.5 percent of consolidated revenue fund.

It also seeks to harness international and development partners, organised private sector (OPS) funding, among others.

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he National Union of Chemical Footwear Rubber Leather and NonMetallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE) has urged the Federal Government to adopt value-adding strategies that would help revamp the economy post Covid-19.

Babatunde Olatunji, NUCFRLANMPE president made the call during the 6th quadrennial delegate conference held Thursday in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The conference has as its theme “Covid-19: issues, challenges and way forward in the industry” Olatunjj said that rather than export local commodities and resources in their raw forms, government should adopt method that would improve the economy and safe it from going into recession.

According to him, if government will adequately invest into mining, agriculture and manufacturing the sectors will improved the economy and create more employment.

“The monolithic nature of Nigeria economy for years has paved way for backwardness: petroleum is not enough, we urgently need diversification of the economy for growth and development,” he said. @Businessdayng

The union president further called on the Federal Government to upgrade the country’s health facilities to cater for the wellbeing of the people.

“If Covid-19 has not been a global challenge and international flights allowed to operate, many political leaders infected with the virus would have travelled abroad for medical attention.

“But they are compelled to use health facilities meant for commoners. Political leaders should have a rethink and upgrade the country’s health facilities to meet international standards”, Olatunji said.

He said it was regrettable that the poor economic situation was made worse by the advent of the coronavirus.

He appealed to the government to look into border closure which was negatively affecting exportation of local produce and also tackle insecurity to encourage investors.

Femi Oke , executive secretary, Chemical and NonMetallic Products Employers Federation (CANMPEF), in his goodwill message said that Covid-19 has affected all aspect of human lives ranging from loss of jobs to high cost of living.

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Friday 25 September 2020

NEWS

London protests: Verification details of NDDC foreign scholarships in UK emerge Ignatius Chukwu, Port Harcourt

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he game seems up for racketeers in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) foreign s cholarship s cheme for post graduate studies as the much-delayed verification got off in the UK with Coventry University.

BusinessDay gathered that three officials left Nigeria last week after months of obstacles put on the way as many interested persons were said to be eager to scuttle the verification exercise.

Eyebrows were raised when the NDDC said they released $5.9 million but still harvested crisis of non-payment whereas the commission paid a mere $900,000 some years back to sort out the entire bill. The bill later rose to $3 million and now almost $9 million. This prompted them to want to verify the scheme, but pressure and threats took over, the officials said.

BusinessDay gathered that at last, a team led by the executive director (proj-

ects), Cairo Ojougboh, including an assistant director in education, health and social Services, Idara Akpabio; and the managing director of Marg Education International Limited, the commission’s consultants, Godson Ideozu, left for London.

The team first invited all available scholars and claimants to the London office of Clearpoint Communications, the NDDC’s communications consulting firm, where a head count first took place and steps of the verifications made clear. This was after persons had daily protested at the Nigerian House in London, saying they were neglected and made destitute. All they wanted to hear was the sound of bank alerts for peace to reign.

The NDDC interim management committee led by a professor of virology, Daniel Pondei, and fired by the likes of Ojougboh, stuck to their guns, insisting on verification, suspecting that huge racket was going on.

Early check, it was gathered, indicated that at least 50 awardees from the last

batch, 2019 alone, did not even bother to leave Nigeria, but may be staying back in Nigeria waiting for alert in foreign currency to do other things with their collaborators. That alone could account for over $1.5 million.

Now, after the physical count at one place, the team has begun school by school visits to meet with each university’s authorities. The first so far is said to be Coventry University.

There, Ojougboh said that the visit was necessary to verify the number of scholars, examine their performance and check on their wellbeing, especially in the light of the corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic.

He explained that the NDDC needed to verify the scholarship awards because of discrepancies in the number of students and the fact that some of those awarded the scholarships in 2019 did not leave Nigeria for studies in the UK. Ojoughoh assured that the commission would pay all outstanding fees and claims once the verification exercise was concluded.

Delta Assembly approves Okowa’s N5bn loan request to pay contractors Francis Sadhere, Warri

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elta State House of Assembly has approved a N5 billion loan facility from deposit money bank to pay contractors handling major projects for the state government.

The approval was given as requested by the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, during a plenary on Thursday.

The request was contained in a letter by Okowa

to the legislature and read by the speaker, Sheriff Oborevwori.

Okowa said the loan was to reduce government’s commitment to contractors, adding that the state executive council had during a meeting on September 2, 2020 considered and approved the loan. The governor explained that the tenure of repayment of the loan would be 30 months, inclusive of six months moratorium on the payment of the principal amount only.

He noted further that the monthly interest of N62.5 million would be deducted between September 2020 and February 2021.

Okowa pointed out that the essence of the letter was to seek the authorisation of the House to guarantee the loan facility by issuing irrevocable standing order for the repayment.

Th e re q u e st wa s ap proved following a motion to that effect by the majority leader, Tim Owhefere and unanimously adopted.

Nigeria @ 60: Our unity worth celebrating- Ekiti monarch

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ale Onipetekun, a business mogul and traditional ruler in Ijesa Isu, Ekiti State, says Nigeria’s 60 years of existence in unity calls for celebration.

Africa’s biggest economy and most populous nation secured independence from the British colonialists on October 1, 1960, and is set to mark its 60 years as a sovereign nation on October 1, 2020.

Speaking in Ekiti ahead of the independence’s anniversary, Onipetekun said notwithstanding the challenges that have faced the country over the years, its continued existence as an indivisible entity is worthy of celebration.

“Despite those things that

have retarded the country’s growth, our unity is worthy of celebration,” the monarch said, adding that “our oneness calls for celebration and we will continue to celebrate as a mark of appreciation to God who has enabled us to come this far.”

The traditional ruler stated that Nigeria’s unity remains her strength. He further observed that the country has fought and survived a devastating civil war, and at 60, “we can look back at where we are coming from and where we are, and smile to ourselves because we have not done badly as a nation. “Yes there are several challenges but there are also things to celebrate about,” he added. www.businessday.ng

The monarch believed that the gods of the land love Nigeria and have guided the country to weather the storm; though he admitted the country was yet to achieve everything it set out to achieve as a nation.

He, therefore, called on all stakeholders - the government, (federal, state and local levels), private sector players, non-governmental organisations, and the citizens in general, to join forces with the government of the day, in order to achieve our dreamed Nigeria, just as the wished the federal and Ekiti state governments a worthwhile celebration of Nigeria @60. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Friday 25 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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news

MTN, 9Mobile are building chatbots: Why it matters

Rivers to arrest youths selling starter-packs as SMEDAN empowers 127 in Port Harcourt Ignatius Chukwu

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ivers State government has threatened to arrest youths that may sell their starter-packs in the National Skill Development Initiative (NSDI) that ended in 11 states last weekend.

Rivers’ commissioner for industry and commerce, Ifeyinwa Nwankpa, who represented the state government at the scheme powered by the Small Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) at the one-week conference held at the federal secretariat, in Port Harcourt, said the state was tired of youths selling their seeds an coming back to beg again.

She was reacting to questions by newsmen on the preponderance of sale of starter-packs in the Niger Delta especially in Rivers State.

The commissioner said: “We are happy that SMEDAN has committed to monitoring the programme so that people do not sell their starter-packs.

That is why we are happy with this scheme and this group.

They are going to monitor and I will be here to monitor. As long as I am commissioner, I will ensure they do not go to sell them. Oh God, I will arrest any person that does that and they will pay for it.”

She admonished the beneficiaries to go back and apply the book-keeping that they have been taught. We have a governor that is so passionate to help the people. You cannot jeopardise his work.

We as a government have an SME programme and we empowered over 3,000 earlier in the year.”

Earlier, she described the scheme as amazing because, as she said, the government is looking for how to cushion the effects of Covid-19 on SMEs which are the engine of the economy, the wheel on which the economy moves.

“Mitigating the effect of the pandemic is why SMEDAN is intervening in three areas.

They will do monitoring to ensure they do not go home and relax.”

Nwankpa went on: “This is not business as usual and that is why we are emphasizing. That is why we told the coordinator that if there is no monitoring mechanism, then there is no need. That is why cash is not good. That is why we have told them there must be effective monitoring and the beneficiaries must be followed bumper-to-bumper.

I would not want to be part of a scheme where beneficiaries will sell the kits and come back to zero. That is what is killing us today.

“The government will help but we the people are not helping. Covid-19 has brought many to the lowest and this is a way of uplifting the people. If you do not want, go home and sleep and cry, nobody will listen to you.

Heaven helps those who help themselves.

That is why the Rivers State government is fully participating in this. The report will come to us.”

FRANK ELEANYA

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hatbot market in Nigeria will soon get two new entrants, according to an industry source familiar with the matter.

The source told BusinessDay exclusively that two telcos, MTN Nigeria and 9Mobile, are on course to launch their chatbots soon.

In 2018, financial institutions in Nigeria like United Bank for Africa (UBA) and the defunct Diamond Bank led the way in the chatbot market. While Diamond Bank has been merged with Access Bank, UBA’s chatbot named Leo is still active.

Sources told BusinessDay that both MTN and 9Mobile are looking to deepen customer experience with chatbots.

For 9Mobile it may be part of

efforts to rebuild its voice and internet subscriber base which has been depleted in the past four years and only starting to recover in July. A source at 9Mobile said the chatbot is still in production and would be unveiled to the public once it is ready for launch.

However, a prototype seen by the source shows that it is a generic chatbot widget that will be resident on the telco’s website. It will be able to respond to basic customer requests.

BusinessDay can also report that some fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) in Nigeria are also working on chatbots which they plan to release as soon as possible.

Thus, the chatbot market in the country looks to be picking up.

The global chatbot market is projected to grow from $2.6 billion in 2019 to $9.6 billion by 2024. Analysts say the

global disruption brought about by the pandemic has forced many organisations to embrace automation systems to help save costs and respond to customer requests at scale and chatbots are one of the key technologies driving this change. A report in 2018 found that the number of chatbots on Facebook Messenger increased from 100,000 to 300,000. UBA’s Leo is part of this population.

But the market is still nascent in Nigeria and banks are already beginning to reduce the momentum they showed in 2018 when after UBA’s announcement of Leo, about four other banks followed in quick succession.

Over the months, indications have emerged that customers are not so in love with the chatbots as the banks’ had anticipated. Diamond Bank’s chatbot called Ada

was rested as soon as the merger with Access Bank was completed.

“The problem with Chatbots is that most of those at the forefront of the technology don’t understand its practical applications,” Muyiwa Ogundiya, a certified chatbot professional, said. “There is really no product person. Just developers, hence the user experience or in this case conversational experience ends up being very poor. This is not only in Nigeria but all around the world.”

He says for the new chatbots from MTN and 9Mobile to attract users, they have to be proactive and not reactive. Many of the chatbots launched by banks in 2018 merely reacted to questions customers asked and the responses to customers’ requests were done in a monologue fashion.

Stanbic IBTC, Standard Bank, listed among top African corporate brands Daniel Obi

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tanbic IBTC Holdings Plc and its parent company, Standard Bank, have emerged amongst the top winners of the 2020 Tech Times’ Africa LinkedIn Corporate Brand Awards.

The Stanbic IBTC Group emerged second position in the category, with total votes of 3,515, out of 24 firms nominated for the award. Standard Bank placed fourth with 2,494 votes.

Nominations for this award opened to the public on July 1, 2020 and closed on July 14. Shortlisted nominees were announced on August 24 while voting commenced immediately. Voting ended on September 8, 2020.

The corporate brand awards was instituted by Tech Times’ Africa, an online platform for leading technology, innovation and startup stories.

Expressing his delight on the awards, Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Demola Sogunle in a statement said that both Stan-

bic IBTC Holdings Plc and Standard Bank had been deliberate and consistent in making a remarkable impact in Africa’s financial sector.

“Our sincere appreciation goes to the organisers of the Africa Corporate Brands Awards and to every member of the public who voted. This is a reflection of the high level of trust and confidence that the public has reposed on us,” he added.

Sogunle further said that Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc would remain relentless in portraying the organisation as one of the most influential corporate brands in Africa.

He stated: “Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC and Standard Bank have relentlessly contributed to driving the growth and development of the African financial ecosystem.

These awards affirm our efforts, and we are encouraged to raise the bar continually.”

The Africa Corporate Brand Award is designed to identify and recognise outstanding companies. It also projects their achievements and impacts on African society and the world at large.

A scene of a gas tanker explosion along Ajuwon Road, Iju-Ishaga, Lagos, yesterday, in which 30 people were injured, houses and vehicles were destroyed. Pic by Olawale Amoo

Sanwo-Olu urges maritime operators to utilise waterway for inter-state transportation AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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ov e r n o r B a b a j i d e Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has called on stakeholders in the nation’s maritime industry to optimise the nation’s waterway for inter-state delivery of goods and services.

Sanwo-Olu spoke in Lagos on Thursday at an event to mark this year’s World Maritime Day, with theme ‘sustainable shipping for a sustainable planet: the Nigerian dimension.’ According to the governor, there is a need for the country to explore the potential of the maritime industry by utilising the waterway as an alternative transportation mode. Sanwo-Olu said Nigeria needed to begin to move

goods and services from one local destination to the other using the waters, and pledged his administration’s resolve to partner to relevant institutions to ensure a sustainable shipping business.

Sanwo-O lu, who was represented by his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, however, commended the Federal Government’s plans to begin transportation of containers from Lagos to Onitsha through barges and subsequently to other parts of the country.

He noted that the plan, when developed and implemented, would doubt reduce congestion and accidents on the road and also increase the maritime industry’s contribution to the nation’s GDP. Also, Lynda Ikpeazu, chairperson, House of Representa-

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tive committee on maritime safety, education and administration said the House would give the required legislative framework and measures to ensure sustainable maritime sector.

According to her, the theme cannot be more apt in this period as the world is experiencing the negative effects of climate change.

“It was our duty as member states of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to put things in place to ensure the sustainability of, not just our sector, but the planet and mankind in general,” she stated.

Bashir Jamoh, the director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), affirmed that maritime security @Businessdayng

remains the main focus of the agency, as the latest report of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) tagged the Nigerian maritime domain as the most dangerous water due to piracy and other crimes.

Meanwhile, Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s minister of transportation has frowned at the continuous patronage of Secure Anchorage Area (SAA) in the country.

According to Amaechi, SAA poses colossal fiscal losses for the shipping sector and the nation at large as ship owners pay over $1200 daily for secure anchorage in the country. Amaechi, who was speaking via a virtual platform during the event, admonished shipping stakeholders to kick against SAA.

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Friday 25 September 2020

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Embrace digital operations to remain competitive, Lagos tells MSMEs Seyi John Salau

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agos State government has encouraged owners and operators of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) to embrace technology and digital options to scale up their operations and remain competitive.

Speaking at the 2020 MSME fair and exhibitions, organised by state ministry of commerce, industry and cooperatives, with the theme, ‘’MSME in the time of Covid-19: survival strategies to beat the odds,” on Wednesday, the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said digital options have become even more compelling because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the secretary to the state government, Folasade Jaji, said that the global economy was facing a major crisis that projected to get deeper or persist longer than expected.

He said with social distancing and isolation as preventive measures to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of businesses were already facing difficulties with their survival and profitability under threat.

According to him, as entrepreneurs or business owners, innovation and creativity will play a key role in surviving the challenges posed

by Covid-19. ‘’Today, more than ever before, the business world is going digital and business owners who are leveraging digital presence to offer and deliver their services have a huge advantage. ‘’This is the perfect chance to make a transition into the digital space and get your business the support it needs.

‘’Customers are relying solely on online businesses to get the products and services they need, while at the same time trying to stay safe. This crisis has illustrated just how real disruption can be and has also highlighted the gaps in operations and technical investments,” he said.

The state commissioner for commerce, industry and cooperatives, Lola Akande in her address, said the annual fair was part of the current administration’s initiative at enhancing capacity building for MSMEs operators.

She added that the e-commerce hub would expose MSMEs to various market opportunities, financial linkages, and provide necessary advice on innovative approach for businesses.

Akande reiterated that the state government was sensitive and emphatic to the enormous unprecedented challenges faced by businesses in Nigeria.

“As such, it has become imperative for the state to continually provide support to entrepreneurs and business owners to mitigate the challenges through consistent marketing support activities such as this exclusive trade fair.

“The Lagos MSME fair is an undeniable evidence of the current administration’s unshaken dedication to the continuous growth of the MSME sector in Lagos State.

“According to statistics, the sector provides about 48 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)of the Nigeria and accounts for 96 per cent of businesses.

Lagos has the highest number of MSMEs (11,663) and 3,224,324 micro-enterprises,” she said.

L-R: Betsy Obaseki, Edo State First Lady; Godwin Obaseki, Edo State governor; Udom Emmanuel, governor , Akwa Ibom State, and his wife, Martha Udom Emmanuel, during a dinner, at Government House, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Nigeria not among Africa’s top 5 attractive countries for investment in 2020 BUNMI BAILEY

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frica’s business leaders have named their top 10 most attractive countries for investment in 2020, and Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy is not among the top five.

Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal and Rwanda are the top five most attractive countries in Africa for investment in 2020, according to the survey conducted by Deloitte and Africa CEOs Forum, while Nigeria comes in seventh, unchanged from last year’s ranking.

The survey index known as “The Africa Investment Attractiveness Index” is based on the responses of African business leaders

to the following question: “Which African countries do you find to be the most attractive for investment at the present time?”

The report states that its aim is “to provide an overview of the investment appetite of private sector leaders. It is not designed to analyse investment conditions or rank the ease of doing business in a given country”.

Ethiopia, Nigeria, Morocco, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa rank 6th to 10th in that order, according to the report.

According to Damilola Adewale, a Lagos-based economic analyst, Nigeria not being among the top five, indicates that global business leaders still sees Nigeria as a risky venture

“Not even factoring in the Covid-19 pandemic-effect, we have so many structural issues that turn investors off such as economic instability, lack of direction in the policy environment, poor infrastructure, tough regulatory framework and insecurity,” Adewale said.

But Adewale expects the country’s ranking to improve next year due to the reforms undertaken by government such as removal of subsidy on power and fuel, deregulation of the downstream sector and the expected signing of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

Apart from the survey on investment destinations, 95 percent of African companies say that the Covid-19 crisis has had a negative impact on their revenue,

although the extent of the damage varies from one industry to another. Leaders in the consumer business, financial services and energy sectors were the most optimistic prior to the crisis, but have since undergone the most drastic change in outlook and are now the most pessimistic.

By contrast, the food and health and education industries were the least impacted by Covid-19.

“Dropping from 80 percent to 25 percent, the optimistic outlook of African private sector leaders for 2020 was significantly impacted by the sudden onset of the Covid-19 crisis. Nevertheless, African business leaders are highly confident that the situation will return to normal by the end of 2021,” the report stated.

International Breweries donates Improve traffic expected as Sanwo-Olu commissions 7 roads on V/ Island transformer to Ogun community KELECHI EWUZIE

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etermined to address the power supply challenge in Bara community in Obafemi Owode local government area Ogun State, International Breweries Plc has inaugurated an electrification project comprising of a 300KVA ONAN oil-immersed stepdown transformer and 415 V overhead distribution line to the community.

The rural electrification project which is expected to have a positive multiplier impact on the lives of more than 1,000 inhabitants of households in and around Bara, was declared ready for use in a commissioning and Covid-19 palliatives-donation ceremony attended by government officials, traditional rulers, company executives, journalists, community leaders, and representatives.

Temitope Oguntokun, legal and corporate affairs director, International Brew-

eries, says the N12.4 million electrification project was yet another testament of the company’s commitment to an effective and efficient corporate social responsibility to boost the economic fortunes of Bara community and environs.

“Our dream of a better world drives our vision to support communities in Nigeria through our five CSR pillars of Empowerment, Education, Health, Infrastructural support, and Responsible drinking. This dream led to the vision to support the Ogun State Government to provide this power intervention to Bara community and its environs. With today’s project, we are also demonstrating our contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy; Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities; SGD 3 Good health and well-being; SDG 9: Industry, innovation & infrastructure,” she said. www.businessday.ng

...applauds Access Bank’s support to deliver project JOSHUA BASSEY

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relief is expected for residents, businesses and motorists within the Oniru axis on Victoria Island, as the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday, commissioned Victoria Island-Lekki Traffic Circulation Project in which seven gridlock-prone roads were re-designed and reconstructed with concrete slabs.

The Victoria Island-Lekki Traffic Circulation project was delivered through Public Infrastructure Improvement Partnership (PIIP) framework, under which the state government partnered Access Bank Plc and Planet Projects Limited.

The project spans a total length of 1.8 kilometres, starting from Muri Okunola Extension, to Ligali Ayorinde, Akin Olugbade, Elegba Festival Road and Yesufu Abiodun Oniru Road up to Four Points by Sheraton.

In December 2019, Sanwo-Olu flagged off the construction of the roads, which were notorious for traffic congestion that affected growth of businesses and reduced productivity.

Cutting the ribbon to officially declare the roads open for public use on Thursday, the governor said it was another promise fulfilled in traffic improvement programmes. He said the improvement and reconstruction work done on the roads had enhanced road connectivity and traffic

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flow on the axis.

Sanwo-Olu added that the project had also reduced travel time for commuters, eliminated perennial flooding hitherto experienced in the area, and boosted intermodal transportation.

“One of the critical challenges experienced by residents and road users along this axis was the heavy traffic congestion occasioned by the geometric increase in traffic volume, which led to a significant reduction in productivity and growth business activities in this highly commercial location. As a government, we resolved to work in partnership with public-spirited corporate organisations to embark on the road improvement project. This project was executed through the Pub@Businessdayng

lic Infrastructure Improvement Partnership (PIIP) arrangement, he said.

Group managing director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, applauded the state government for supporting the initiative conceived by the bank. He said the financial institution would be willing partner more with the government to deliver more projects.

The Oniru of Iru Kingdom, Omogbolahan Lawal, praised both the state government and Access Bank for bringing the circulation traffic project to reality. He called on other corporations that have offices on Victoria Island to embark on similar development projects for improved commercial activities on the axis.

BUSINESS DAY Friday 25 September 2020

By Kemi Ajumobi

Kemi@businessdayonline.com

www.businessday.ng

Women in Business O kaima Ohizua is the Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer of Transcorp Power Limited, a leading power generation company in Nigeria. In this role, Okaima is responsible for driving the non-technical operational transformation journey of Transcorp Power.

Her focus is on building the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation’s processes.

As an Executive Member of the Board of Directors of Transcorp Power Limited, she is directly involved in shaping the strategy of the company to attain its ambition of providing electricity for one out of every four Nigerians.

Prior to her appointment to Transcorp Power Limited, Okaima was Executive Director – Customer Service­­­­­­ of Transcorp Hotels Plc and was pivotal to the upward service transformation at the hotel since joining the Board and the Executive Management Team in 2013 as the first female Executive Board member of Transcorp Hotels Plc. She resigned in February 2020 from the Board of Transcorp Hotels Plc, with her appointment to the Board of Transcorp Power Limited.

Okaima served in 2013 as the Chief of Staff to Tony O. Elumelu, CON, Chairman of Heirs Holdings Limited, a family-owned investment company, and had also worked in reputable international organisations such as Citi Group and United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA). She served at Citibank, over a 15-year period, she served in senior management capacities in sectors as varied and strategic as Customer Service, Sales, Products; and left as Assistant Vice President and Head of Electronic Banking & Implementation. She also held a senior management position at UBA, as Director, Customer Service, spearheading the bank’s service transformation journey, as well as being an active member of the female leadership program. At Transcorp Hotels Plc, Okaima successfully drove the operational service excellence initiative at both Transcorp Hotels Plc Properties in Calabar and Abuja, with the application of the Kaizen Operation Excellence philosophy, leading to an award for the best Kaizen Case Study in Africa, as well as several other service excellence Awards won by the Properties e.g. the Pearl Award, World Travel Award, Seven Star Awards etc.

With over 28 years working experience, Okaima is a graduate of Law from the University of Benin and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1991 as an Advocate and Solicitor of

Okaima Ohizua

Marcia Ashong

the Supreme Court of Nigeria. She holds an Advanced Management Program Certificate from the Lagos Business School Pan-African University. She is an Associate member of WIMBIZ (Women in Management, Business and Public Service) and a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria. In 2019, Okaima was recognised as one of the top 50 Leading Ladies in Corporate Nigeria

by Leading Ladies Africa.

Okaima is a voracious reader who loves singing and walking marathons, especially to raise awareness against the scourge of cancer, having lost loved ones to this disease. As a mother to a teenaged son, Ehikhuae, she is equally passionate about raising strong men of character and integrity.

arcia Ashong is Founder and Executive Director of TheBoardroom Africa (TBR Africa), and Brace Energy. TBR Africa an initiative that champions women in executive leadership across Africa by working with venture capital and private equity investors, development finance institutions, companies and organisations to improve female representation in boardrooms and investment committees. Brace Energy is a nascent pan-African oil and gas service company and fully licensed to operate in Ghana and Uganda.

Marcia has a varied background in international energy, petroleum law, and extensive work experience in the upstream oil and gas service industry and has held leadership roles

Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer of Transcorp Power Limited

Founder/Executive Director of TheBoardroom Africa (TBR Africa), and Brace Energy

M

on four continents.

In 2010, Marcia founded the Ghana Oil Club (GOC), a professional organisation aimed at providing a forum for petroleum and energy professionals, as well as an avenue for active dialogue about Ghana’s petroleum and energy sectors. She also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the GOC. She was part of the implementation team of the World Bank’s ‘Extractive Industries Technical Advisory Facilities’ Sourcebook initiative (EI Sourcebook); a project to provide best practice policy frameworks for governments and stakeholders in the extractive industries; with specific emphasis on resource-rich developing nations. Soon after this, she advised on a project which sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the Norwegian Oil for Development Program in Ghana.

Marcia is published with the Oxford Journal of World Energy Law, where she made contributions on global trends in local content regulations in oil and gas. She was also awarded a research grant in 2014 from the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) on the same topic. She is part of the HATCH Global Network (which seeks to bring together change-leaders from across the globe by connecting people to resources to aid in accelerating ideas to action) and was invited as part of this network to host and speak at VivaTech, the world’s second largest technology conference, in 2018. She has been featured in publications including African Business Magazine, CNBC Africa, BBC Africa, Devex, and Stylist UK, among others.

Under her leadership at TBR Africa, the company has successfully created the largest network of board-ready women in Africa and has placed several women onto Boards. The company’s unique positioning in the market led it to securing a long-term partnership and a backing of $2m dollars in funding from CDC Group (the UK’s Development Finance Corporation, and largest Private Equity investor in Africa). She is passionate about the opportunity to impact policy in the natural resource space, and is an avid blogger, and speaker on gender equality and the impact of women in leadership.

She has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations & Political Science at the University of Minnesota, United States, LLB Hons. (Law) at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom and Master of Laws (LLM) in Energy Law and Policy at University of Dundee, United Kingdom.

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