BusinessDay 26 Jun 2020

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news you can trust I ** friDAY 26 june 2020 I vol. 19, no 593

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Investors post N558bn unsuccessful bids in T-bills, FGN bonds … Here are 3 alternative investment options ENDURANCE OKAFOR

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ot only have the yields on both Treasury-bills and FGN bonds hit a bottom record from a double interest rate enjoyed some four years ago, fixed-income investors seeking to put funds in the Federal Government short-term debt instruments have recorded N558.61 billion lost bids in one month.

More than N78.36 billion worth of failed transactions were recorded at the Nigerian Treasury Bills auction conducted on June 17, 2020 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on behalf of the Federal Government (FGN) due to the excess liquidity in Continues on page 30

Inside

Rich Nigerians eye dual citizenship as escape route from worsening social infrastructure P. 2 Nigerian banks face higher risk as recession beckons, says World P. 2 Bank

L-R: Abubakar Aliyu, minister of state for works and housing; Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, and Muhammed Buka, permanent secretary of the ministry, during a virtual stakeholders meeting on highway development and management initiative in Abuja yesterday.

Here are 10 insights from World Bank’s latest report on Nigeria T

LOLADE AKINMURELE

he World Bank on Thursday published the Nigeria Development Update (NDU), a keenly anticipated report series that assesses recent economic and social developments and prospects in Nigeria.

The report provides an in-depth examination of selected economic and policy issues and an analysis of Nigeria’s medium-

term development challenges.

Its content is useful for policy makers, business leaders, financial market participants, and the community of analysts and professionals engaged in Nigeria’s evolving economy.

Here are some of the key points from the report, most of which BusinessDay had earlier forecast.

Economic recession to be twice as deep as 2016 In the baseline scenario, the

World Bank projects the Nigerian economy would contract by 3.2 percent this year. This assumes an annual average oil price of $30 a barrel. It also assumes that the spread of COVID-19 eases by the end of the second quarter and is contained in Nigeria by the third quarter of 2020. This revised growth projection is over 5 percentage points below the pre-COVID-19 forecast of 2.1 percent. This will make the predicted 2020 reces-

sion at least twice as deep as that of 2015/16 and the deepest since the 1980s. In this scenario, real GDP growth would recover gradually and by 2022 would converge with the population growth rate of 2.6 percent.

The country’s growth outlook is highly uncertain, however, the World Bank said, because it depends on how the world economy and oil prices Continues on page 30

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news Rich Nigerians eye dual citizenship as escape route from worsening social infrastructure LOLADE AKINMURELE

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igeria’s crumbling education and healthcare s y s t e m s a re i n c rea si ngly pushing rich nationals to seek dual citizenship in other countries so much so that the world’s largest citizenship advisory and residency firm, Henley & Partners Group, is now considering setting up shop in the country after seeing a big jump in Nigerian clients.

Henley, which is setting up in the country’s commercial capital, Lagos, supports those with deep pockets to secure citizenship of various Caribbean countries, including St. Kitts and Nevis, that allow more widespread visa-free travel, as well as a select few

European Union members such as Cyprus and Malta.

Costs range from less than $200,000 for Caribbean passports to a contribution of more than $1 million for European nations. Other clients opt for residency-by-investment programmes offered by countries including the US, the UK and Portugal.

Expressions of interest in either passports or residency rights from Africans have jumped in recent years to more than 1,000 in the first quarter of this year from about 750 a year earlier, according to Henley, with South Africa and Nigeria alone accounting for 85 percent of total interests in 2019.

In explaining the motivation behind opening an office in Nigeria, Dominic Volek, Henley’s head of sales, said

the Zurich-based firm had been engaging with Nigerian and West African clients for over three years and has seen constant growth.

“The trend of rich Nigerians seeking opportunities outside Nigeria to gain access to better quality education and healthcare is on the rise and the entry of Henley probably underscores that,” one wealth manager said.

“It’s not a new trend at all. It has, however, been intensified by the coronavirus pandemic which has further exposed Nigeria’s failing social infrastructure,” the person said.

Nigerians spent over $4.55 billion on education tourism alone in 2019, according to CBN data, while health tourism topped $1.9 billion, as Nigerians continue to rely heavily on foreign education

and medical tourism amid poor local substitutes.

Nigeria’s educational system is faced with a myriad of challenges that include infrastructural decay, government neglect, waste of resources and ignoble conditions of service. The country has about 13 million outof-school children. That’s the highest in the world.

Another 27 million children in school are performing very poorly. Millions of Nigerians are half-educated, and over 60 million – or 30 percent – are illiterate.

The healthcare system is no better. Bedevilled by a lack of investments, the state of Nigerian health care is so deplorable that even President Muhammadu Buhari travelled to a UK hospital for an ear infection in 2018.

Increased awareness, tech adoption drive insurers’ premium up 15.5% to N490bn in 2019

… as NIA gets new chairman, deputy Modestus Anaesoronye

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igerian insurance industry premium grew by 15.5 percent to N490 billion in 2019, from N413.8 billion in 2018, according to figures released by the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) at its virtual Annual General Meeting held Thursday. The growth was driven by increased awareness about the benefits of insurance, adoption of technology for product distribution, and other market development initiatives.

Premium is the amount of business generated by insurance companies from the insured public for covering their risk during the year.

The meeting saw the appointment of Ganiyu Musa, group managing director of Cornerstone Insurance plc, as the new chairman of NIA, having served as deputy in the last two years, and Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, managing director, NSIA Insurance Company Limited, as deputy chairman, as well as the election of other council members.

Announcing the performance of the industry in 2019, Tope Smart, immediate past chairman of the NIA, said insurance being part of the larger financial sector had its fair share of the challenges that confronted the economy

in the course of the year.

Smart, who is also group managing director, NEM Insurance plc, said with epileptic power supply and crash in price of crude oil, insurance companies had to contend with the lingering energy crisis leading to increase in the cost of operation.

“Dilapidated infrastructure such as roads, railways and other public facilities coupled with a suffocating tax regime as well as the persistent conflicts in the North East and the growing incidents of kidnapping all contributed to affect the bottom line of insurance companies,” Smart said.

He said it was expected that the various initiatives embarked on by the association in conjunction with other stakeholders, coupled with other strategic efforts by the regulator, would further deepen insurance penetration and encourage insurance uptake by the public. Such initiatives include financial inclusion, micro insurance, rebranding project, USSD initiative and the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) platform for sale of Third Party Motor Insurance.

On the outbreak of coronavirus which has become a global cause for concern, Smart said the pandemic has posed a serious challenge to the association and the entire Nigerian insurance industry.

ACT Foundation launches new COVID-19 response initiative L-R: Abosede Lewu, executive director, Girslaide Initiative; Bruno Akpaibor, cluster head, ethics risk and compliance, Novartis; Osayi Alile, chief executive officer, ACT Foundation; Ogonna Oraegbunam, cluster head, patient access and public affairs, English West Africa, Novartis, and Ndifreke Okwuegbunam, director of grants and programmes, ACT Foundation, at the launch of the Novartis-ACT Foundation COVID-19 response initiative at the ACT Foundation Office in Lagos.

… to provide PPE to frontline medical workers in Nigeria

A Nigerian banks face higher risk as recession beckons, says World Bank SEGUN ADAMS

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igeria’s banking system is at risk of being destabilised as the coronavirus pandemic triggers what might be the worst recession in four decades for Africa’s largest economy, according to the World Bank.

If the spread of the virus eases and oil prices remain stable, the economy could contract 3.2 percent this year and face a slow recovery afterward, the lender said in a report on Nigeria released Thursday.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the worst-case scenario could see the economy shrinking 7.4 percent and the recession extending well into 2021.

The downturn will likely increase non-performing loans, especially in credit

extended to the oil industry, while dollar-denominated exposures will exert further pressure on local banks.

Though Nigeria normally relies on crude exports for about 50 percent of government revenue and 90 percent of foreign receipts, the government expects oil revenue to fall by 80 percent this year due to the plunge in demand as much of the world shuttered to contain the virus.

The central bank had responded by devaluing the naira by 15 percent to ease the strain on the exchange rate.

“Pressures in the external sector and the stress COVID-19 caused in global financial markets could destabilise Nigeria’s financial sector,” the World Bank said. “The gradual lifting of restrictions may reveal a need for further market adjustment.”

Nigerian banks have already applied to the country’s www.businessday.ng

central bank for permission to restructure one third of their loan book as the pandemic hurt their businesses.

Aisha Ahmad, deputy governor of CBN, in a note said 17 banks submitted requests to restructure over 32,000 loans for individuals and businesses impacted by the pandemic.

This represents 32.94 percent of the total industry loan portfolio, with the manufacturing and general commerce sectors constituting the bulk of the restructured facilities.

“There are a number of pressure points for banks in 2020,” said Gbolahan Ologunro, banking analyst at CSL Stockbrokers Ltd. “In terms of profitability, low yield environment, subdued, growth in loan book due to poor macro outlook and tendency for customers to miss interest payment on loans as at when due.”

Banks are expected to

make higher provisions for loan losses which would weigh on profitability despite regulatory forbearance.

With profit to come under pressure, capital buffers would be negatively affecting Tier-2 banks worse due to their lower capital buffers compared to the big lenders.

Nonetheless, the impact of the virus will not be felt in the short term till around the fourth quarter due to lag effect, Ologunro said.

The negative outlook for banks had forced downgrade on Nigerian banks by Moody’s and Fitch earlier in the year.

Banks, which lent out 65 percent of their deposits as loans by the end of 2019, helping to boost economic output, will be less inclined to extend credit to the shrinking economy with businesses and consumers at the shorter end of the stick.

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CT Foundation, a non-profit, grantmaking organisation that supports local, national and regional nonprofit organisations working to address challenges and associated vulnerabilities across Africa, has launched a new COVID-19 response initiative to provide PPE to frontline medical workers in Nigeria.

This was made possible with the financial support provided

by Novartis through its Nigeria office.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has highlighted the inadequacies of health care systems around the world.

Countries have been faced with a shortage of necessary protective equipment, putting an additional toll on healthcare workers at the frontlines, and increasing their risk of contracting the virus. In developing countries where there is insufficient health infrastructure, healthcare workers are at an even higher risk. Unfortunately, these shortages in protection for medical personnel adversely affect patients as well.

In Nigeria, due to the in@Businessdayng

creasing rates of infection amongst healthcare workers, many are hesitant to meet with patients, leading to lower diagnosis and testing rates, and ultimately more lives lost.

This means that the provision of PPE to healthcare workers in Nigeria is paramount for the successful fight against COVID-19.

The ACT Foundation’s intervention is a direct response to the lack of access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for frontline workers.

The response intervention, which is made possible with the support of Novartis through its Nigeria office, aims to provide support for the various emergency activities in Nigeria against the spread of COVID-19 pandemic through distribution of face masks, face shields and latex disposable gloves; collaboration with medical personnel in beneficiary states; a training documentary to be made available for distribution to beneficiary centres; and information pamphlets to provide information on prevention of spread of the COVID19.

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news

Covid-19:17 banks request to restructure 32,000 loans - CBN ... NPLs rise marginally to 6.6% ...MPC members advocate special incentive for companies that retain staff Hope Moses-Ashike

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entral Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday disclosed that as at the end of May 2020, 17 banks submitted requests to restructure over 32,000 for individuals and businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This, according to the CBN staff report, represents 32.94 percent of total industry loan portfolio, with the manufacturing and general commerce sectors constituting the bulk of the restructured facilities.

Aishah Ahmad, deputy governor, Financial Systems Stability Directorate, said this in her statement at the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting released on Wednesday.

She said results from impact assessment of Covid-19 effects on impairment by banks indicated modest impact given regulatory policy measures already implemented. These, coupled with close monitoring by authorities and enhanced risk management practices by financial institutions, will help to mitigate the emerging risks and preserve financial system stability.

Asogwa Robert Chikwendu, MPC member, said threats to

domestic bank stability remain minimal as at now, just as in the last MPC meeting.

CBN staff report showed a marginal increase in the non-performing loans ratio in April, as compared to February 2020. Also, there were modest declines in key profitability indicators (ROE and ROA), but increase in industry size at May 2020 still depicts a robust banking system. Even though on average, the banks still have strong capital and liquidity positions despite the threat of COVID-19, it is important that greater supervisory scrutiny is applied to avoid any deterioration should the health crisis deepen any further.

If more firms become distressed despite government’s support for revival and the default rates on loans increases, the credit market may be jolted significantly. An arsenal of macro prudential support policies is therefore necessary to maintain banking sector resilience as they embark on aggressive economic recovery lending.

In his personal statement, Shonubi Folashodun, CBN’s deputy governor and a member of the MPC, noted that amid the general lull in the business environment, the banking system continued to show endur-

www.businessday.ng

ing resilience. In terms of size, industry total asset and deposit base rose further at end-April 2020, maintaining the upward trend since the beginning of 2020.

Though industry liquidity ratio declined to 38.4 percent, due mainly to the LDR policy, which continued to promote increased credit, the ratio remained above the regulatory threshold of 30.0 percent. Industry capital adequacy ratio moderated to 14.9 percent, as a result of increased risk weighted asset, which more than offset the marginal rise in qualifying capital, while the non-performing loan ratio rose marginally to 6.6 percent. Returns on asset and investment were at levels that compare favourably with levels in similar jurisdictions.

A member of the MPC has advocated that special incentives be given to companies that do not lay off their employees as a result of Covid-19.

Adenikinju Adeola Festus, member of the MPC who said this in his personal statement, also wanted the CBN to give priority to the employment generation sectors and the Small and Medium Enterprises in the implementation of the relief programmes.

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IMPACT INVESTING

In Association With

Recent developments in impact investing space in Africa TELIAT SULE IFC provides $100m loan to Zenith Bank to Support SMEs FC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced a loan of up to $100m in Nigeria’s Zenith Bank Plc to help it increase support to clients and companies whose cash flows have been disrupted by challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank is one of the leading financial institutions in Nigeria having special desk dedicated to the promotion of small medium enterprises in the country.

IFC’s loan to Zenith Bank is its first investment in Africa through its COVID-19 fast-track financing support package. The funding will help Zenith, an existing IFC client and Africa’s sixth-largest bank, overcome challenges resulting from on-going, limited access to foreign currency, working capital, and trade funding.

Zenith will support dozens of businesses in Nigeria’s health, pharmaceuticals, food, and trading sectors, allowing them to strengthen operations, maintain employment and access critical imports of goods, commodities, and raw materials during these challenging economic times.

Ebenezer Onyeagwu, Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank, said, “IFC’s support is essential and will help us respond to challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. It will allow us to support compelling export initiatives and trade financing for critical goods and materials, especially for the medical and pharmaceuticals sectors. Our partnership with IFC is strong and we are committed to its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) requirements.”

IFC’s loan to Zenith is part of its $8bn global fast-track financing package, announced in March to support business activity and preserve jobs in the face of COVID-19.

Close to 300 clients have requested support globally.

The closure of borders, shutting of businesses, and reduced global trade related to COVID-19 are affecting Nigeria’s economy and others across Africa, with the World Bank predicting Africa’s first recession in 25 years.

Eme Essien Lore, IFC Country Manager in Nigeria, said, “IFC’s support for Nigeria’s banking sector will help keep the wheels of

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with their business and investment activities.

Although a different approach to pre-investment intentionality, measuring and reporting impact may be adopted compared to their peers in more developed economies, sustainable, responsible and impact (SRI) investing is more mainstreamed in Nigeria than any available data shows.

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Zenith will support dozens of businesses in Nigeria’s health, pharmaceuticals, food, and trading sectors, allowing them to strengthen operations, maintain employment and access critical imports of goods, commodities, and raw materials during these challenging economic times

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Nigeria’s economy turning at a time when it is facing a major challenge from COVID-19. Our experience from past shocks, including the global financial crisis in 2008, has taught us that keeping companies solvent is key to saving jobs and limiting economic damage.”

Zenith has more than 400 branches in Nigeria and serves over 9 million corporate and individual clients within its global footprint. IFC’s overall portfolio in Nigeria stands at $1.3 billion, in sectors including manufacturing, financial services, infrastructure, and technology.

Investing Impact Capital in Nigeria holds in July 2020 Investing Impact Capital Series in Nigeria will hold in Lagos from 16 to 17 July 2020. The second edition which is meant to harness practitioners’ perspectives on sustainable and impact investing has as speakers Mary Uduk, the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC); Oscar Onyema, CEO, The Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE); Eric Fajemisin, MD, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers; Adeniyi Falade, MD, Crusader Sterling Pension; Tokunboh Ishmael, MD and CoFounder, Alitheia Capital, and Solomon Quaynor, Rothschild Global Advisory.

In an innately Nigerian way, asset owners, traditional/alternative asset managers manager, credit enhancement companies, investment guarantee agencies and corporates are delivering significant impact

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However, more could be done to ensure a sustainable future for the Nigerian economy and citizens.

This 2nd edition of this series will place more emphasis on enabling transactions with strategies that use non-traditional methods to gain exposure to traditional assets and vehicles that invest in nontraditional assets..

The program is being coordinated by Investing Capital for Sustainable Impact which is a content-led ecosystem committed to addressing the key issues facing emerging and frontier markets asset owners, asset consultants and investment managers with the appetite to allocate capital to traditional and alternative asset classes that deliver sustainable impact without compromising financial performance.

Through well-curated multimedia content, events, immersions, masterclasses and a proprietary transaction marketplace, the platform seeks to harness the collective power of the industry to asset owners and managers to understand the sources of risk and return in sustainable and impact investments across traditional and alternative asset classes. ESG and Impact Investing is now among the top two items on the agenda of Long-term investors and asset managers IFC Invests in Globaltronics to Help Expand, Improve Energy Efficiency in Egypt @Businessdayng

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will be investing up to $10m in a local Egyptian company to help it expand installation of digital prepaid and smart electricity meters in Egyptian homes. The investment will support government energy reforms to improve accuracy in billing, give consumers more payment options and provide consumers with better information about their energy use in order to encourage savings.

IFC’s financing will enable Globaltronics SAE, which manufactures electricity measurement solutions, to support government plans to replace outdated meters with prepaid and smart digital meters as part of on-21`going energy reforms. Prepaid digital meters improve billing accuracy and offer more convenient payment options.

Prepaid meters also contribute to overall reduced energy consumption by making it easier for consumers to track their energy use.

The investment will help Globaltronics set up a new manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia and increase its investment in research and development to grow exports and develop new products.

Hany Assal, founder and chairman of Globaltronics said: “We are glad to have the IFC as a partner in Globaltronics. We look forward to investing and growing our business in Egypt and to continue expanding in the Middle East and Africa.”

As well as supporting manufacturing, the project is part of the World Bank Group’s strategy to help Egypt optimize its overall domestic electricity consumption, which in turn will help the government reduce subsidies to the energy sector.

Walid Labadi, IFC’s Country Manager for Egypt, Yemen and Libya, said: “Egypt’s electricity consumption has witnessed an increase in growth in recent years and is likely to accelerate further.

This project is part of IFC’s strategy to support the government in its reforms of the sector and boost energy efficiency, while also helping a local company expand in the region and diversify its offering.”

Egypt is a priority country for IFC in the region. IFC’s commitments in Egypt total over US$4bn since 2005, including financing mobilized from other investors.

The above information was sourced from the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA).

Friday 26 June 2020

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My childhood scents Tales from the main road

Eugenia Abu

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y Father, the most distinguished Alfred Amodu, was a man of exquisite taste. This man who rose to the top of his career in the Benue state civil service as Permanent Secretary and before then had taught at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in the Institute of Education as a lecturer in Curriculum and Guidance and counselling, was a man very much after my heart. A graduate of Ohio state university and Cambridge University, my father was a well-travelled man. Add this to his impeccable spoken English and his good looks and there you have my father. But it was his relationship with his children that blew my sock off. He will take time to guide you through your homework, drive you patiently to school and then sit in the car waiting for you to conclude your silly pranks with your friends and then drive you home from a non-existent party. I love my Dad to the moon and back. And you could never hear him raise his voice.

My Dad’s many travels yielded many gifts and my favourite would be the perfume troves. Little boxes of some of the most well-known designer perfumes will be sticking out of his travel boxes once he opens them.

I will be sitting on his bed wide-eyed waiting for my treat. I was only 11 years old when I began to wear designer perfumes. Not in big bottles but the miniature sets of all the designer scents whose big bottles were owned by adults. My father had no idea that while he was giving me a treat and encouraging me to be hygienic, be a lady and smell nice wherever I went, he was training my olfactory senses for something that will become a part

of my wardrobe.

So, at a very young age, I knew what perfume someone was wearing when they walked into a room and if I could not tell the brand name, I could at least tell what the ingredients were that went into the perfume. I could tell if it was musk which was my favourite at the time or jasmine or frangipani.

I was adept at telling if it was a floral perfume or a woody smell. I was even able to tell which two perfumes had been spritzed on or if it was a medley of scents. At the height of my scent savvy, I could easily pass for a nose.

These are the experts at perfume houses whose jobs were to smell the various mixes and determine whether the perfumes would work or not or if one particular ingredient needed to be increased or reduced to make a perfect blend. They are paid thousands of dollars by design houses to stay. Their job is full of a collection of aromas and determiners. What a way to earn a living in pure perfume joy.

My adventures at a local family and friends level made me a mini-nose and made me feel extremely powerful.

Let me guess what you are wearing. I would say to an older family member who because I was only sixteen will dare me and I will be spot on. I earned many prizes preferably perfumes and magazines whenever they had to travel anywhere in the world.

The scent purveyor that I had become also gave excellent openers for when I was meeting strangers or when I needed an icebreaker. As I grew older, I began to follow the trends of the different designer perfumes, who was promoting what and who their noses were. I had samples from shops whenever I travelled and although I would buy only one perfume, I would get samples of all the others and decide which one I wanted the next time I was ready. I scratched through advertisements of International magazines and would sniff to see what new collection a designer had introduced. I travelled through pictures whenever there was the launch of a new perfume in as faraway places as New York or Spain. I knew every member of the cognoscenti

who attended and which music and film star was in attendance. I knew these things including what hors d’oeuvres were served at the event. I had truly become a master at the perfume business. In fact, I began to think I might one day open a perfume line.

Still on the cards. Who knows?

On one of my many travels as an adult, I had six hours before my connecting flight. I was flying through Cairo to Jerusalem. The airline had arranged a sightseeing tour. I picked the tour with a visit to a museum of pyramids and a trip to a farm of perfume oil leaves. I was told by the guide that the leaves were picked by children between the ages of seven and ten as older hands could destroy their essence and therefore ruin the purpose of the farms. I bought at least three perfume oils, any of which could be a base for another layer of eau de toilette, a light scent to give you an amazing product dedicated only to you. As I flew out of Cairo I wondered if what I had in my carry- all were products from child labour. I still think about it from time to time.

I am known to linger longer in a perfumery with strips of testing paper to elevate my senses and allow me partake of nature’s scents combined by perfumers, accentuated by noses from across the world and worn by the most exquisite men and women who know their perfumes.

In 2011, I presented my 2nd book to the public, a collection of Poems, Don’t look at me like that. At the public presentation where former first lady Ajoke Murtala Muhammed was a special guest of honour, I had a special package with branded perfume oils in it. I felt that poetry, especially love poems, went side by side with perfumes and other such ethereal things. It was a beautiful basket package with the book, a loofah, perfume oils, scented bath soaps and a face towel, well apportioned with wrapped nets and ribbons. Nothing says love at all times like a perfume. I thought it was a beauty and so did my guests.

The event itself I daresay was magical with grapes and apples and pears at

‘

In this Pandemic, we need to do those things that make us happy that can stabilise our mental health and elevate us in joy and happiness. In this pandemic going back to our childhood and igniting our childhood memories can keep us in a spirited place for days

Eugenia Abu is a broadcaster, writer, trainer, brand and multimedia strategy expert and media consultant. Contact. abu_eugenia@yahoo.com

Grammar in religious discourse

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hristianity and Islam are the two Abrahamic religions that have been well consolidated in Nigeria. In that connection, no fewer than seventy per cent of the country’s population practise either of the two religions or openly declare so. As a country which conducts most of its life affairs in a foreign language, we have an observable number of grammatical-cum-lexical inconsistencies that characterise our choice of language within the ambit of religious discourse. First off, the general readership should note that letter “i” precedes the letter “a” in the spelling of Christian and Christianity. This is akin to a name like Michael which has letter “a” as a precursor to letter “e”. On top of that, it is deserving of mention that adherents to a particular religion are collectively called “the faithful” (don’t omit “the,” as obtainable in “the rich” and “the underprivileged”) of such a religion; not “faithfuls.” In accordance with the foregoing, the onus is on you to desist from mentioning the Christian or Muslim faithfuls.

Instead, you are duty bound to talk about the Christian or Muslim faithful. More than that, did you take cognisance of the deliberate capitalisation of the initial letters of “Christian” and “Muslim” in the last sentence, despite the

fact that they preceded the noun, faithful? They are treated as proper nouns and should have their initial letters capitalised notwithstanding their position in any sentence. Other classical examples of proper nouns in this regard are the Qur’an (or Koran) and the Bible.

Along the same lines, it behoves Christians to keep in mind that there is a substantial distinction between “the Scriptures” and “scriptures.” While the former with upper case “S” is synonymous with the Bible, the latter with lower case “s” pertains to the holy books of other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. For correctness’ sake, too, the Christian faithful should commit it to memory that the apostrophe ( ’ ) is crucial to the prayer charge: “in Jesus’ name.”

Inasmuch as we would never say that we pray in our father name but in our “father’s name,” the apostrophe is equally important when we pray in Jesus’ name. Moreover, it is noteworthy that “clergy” is a collective name for priests and, consequentially, it will be erroneous to refer to priests as “clergies” — even though we can refer to them as clergymen or clergywomen.

With that being said, suffice it to mention that the act of speaking in an unknown language during religious worship incontrovertibly features the plural noun “tongues” (and not www.businessday.ng

the welcome entrance.

My team had overreached themselves. But talking about fruits, new thoughts and fruity scents have returned to the front burner in my space and my favourite perfumes right now are from a private collection. I am loving blackberry and bay and it does not matter who the perfume maker is, I am also loving anything that has citrus in it, lemon oranges and Pear. I am also loving some intense aroma.

I have fallen in love with bourbon and vanilla. I am also returning to my childhood scents and scouting for anything that is musky or woody, anything with jasmine or Neroli in it, anything with Tuberose and frangipani in it. I am also currently mixing cocktails of lemon and Neroli and Pomegranate noir and pear. I am in the middle of exploring some male perfumes, they are intense and if not too strong they can be layered with a light floral perfume.

In this Pandemic, we need to do those things that make us happy that can stabilise our mental health and elevate us in joy and happiness. In this pandemic going back to our childhood and igniting our childhood memories can keep us in a spirited place for days.

Although we are no longer going to social events or even going out much, we can mix our perfumes and experiment and return to our childhood scents. I am there right now and nothing could be more exciting.

What are you wearing says someone visiting my office after three months of lockdown as we ease open slowly and keep our social distances.

My cocktail of perfumes has wafted towards her at the door and my happiness is now infectious. Blackberry and bay I say to her and a layer of lemon and orange. It’s a happy scent. Her smile from her social distance position is infectious. It’s a great combo she says. I am modest and don’t take the credit for my childhood scents. That credit is my Father’s.

The Gift of Gab tongue). By the same token, the vast majority of Christians speak in tongues. Meanwhile, I presume that you are not in the category of individuals who affix “h” to the spelling of “Ramadan,” thereby generating the nonstandard variant, “Ramadhan.” Additionally, the act of washing oneself as a religious rite is called ablutions. By implication, the inclusion of the plural indicator “s” is grammatically sacrosanct.

In similar style, prayers and other related religious activities are designated as “devotions;” not devotion. As a corollary, “Johnson didn’t partake in today’s morning ‘devotions.’” What is more, a prayer we offer to God to appreciate Him for the meals we eat is grace; it is “said” not “shared.” As such, “Mother has taught us how to ‘say’ (not ‘share’) grace.” Again, it won’t slip my mind to affirm that a supplication to the “ominiscience” and “ominipotent” God to send you a “godsent” is the embodiment of fallacy.

The words in quote should respectively read “omniscient,” “omnipotent” and “godsend.”

Besides, pay heed to the fact that the word “godsent” is not incorrect outright. Nonetheless, it should only be deployed as an adjective, while the nominal variant is “godsend.” In view of this, your benefactor is a godsend (noun) who should be regarded as godsent (adjective). Let

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Ganiu Bamgbose

me also add that we serve a covenant-keeping God (not “convenant-keeping”) who is “beneficent” (not “beneficient”).

In conclusion, be mindful of the grammatical reality that what is observed in honour of the deceased is a one-minute, two-minute, etc. silence, and an occasion when the bereaved meet in order to watch over the dead the night before or after his/her remains are interred is simply a “wake,” and not a “wake-keeping” or a “Christian wake.”

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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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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When government goes broke THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

Obadiah Mailafia

O

ur government is broke.

And it’s official. It has recently been revealed that during Q1, revenues stood at N950 billion while debtservicing obligations stood at the staggering magnitude of N943.12 billion.

This means that 99 percent of revenue is being committed to debt-servicing alone.

Economic science as we know it today began among the ancient Greek Athenians as the practical art of Oeconomicus. This referred to how a housewife managed the revenues of her household. The Athenians apparently trusted the matriarch of the household to prudently manage all domestic incomes and outflows in a way that will ensure that the family is well fed while order and equilibrium prevail at the home front.

The greatest of the Athenian sages, Socrates, once opined that if you are lucky to marry a good wife, you will live a happy and blissful life. However, if you are unlucky to marry a bad wife, you will become a philosopher. He himself was not quite lucky. His wife Xanthipe was infamously a pestiferous and nasty bitch. It was no surprise that Socrates became the greatest of all the philosophers.

Practical economics is not as complicated as the economists make it out to be. Its core principles are as simple and down to earth as the way a housewife manages her household.

We have a large piece of land in the outskirts of Abuja. To save it from encroachers, my wife decided to fence up the place. She also started cultivating some crops. It all started as a mere hobby that has now grown into an im-

portant activity.

I was very unsupportive at the beginning. I was alarmed when she came back one evening and told me how a Fulani herdsman scaled the fence with a dagger and boldly demanded to know why she would not open the gates so that his cattle can come in and graze on the land. Fortunately, there were enough farmworkers around to wrestle down the trespasser and to send him off with a stern warning.

Last year she made a bountiful harvest of considerable bags of rice, beans and yams. She also has free-range chickens and turkeys. Buyers are scrambling for her eggs. Someone has suggested that she could make a fortune from snails. But she is unfortunately allergic to the slimy creatures.

At a time when hunger is biting hard across the land, she has been sharing foodstuffs to widows, orphans and the needy. Her staff appear better fed than your average civil servant. It reminds me of a passage in the Book of Proverbs: “Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord”.

A good leader must think, act and behave like a housewife that is deftly able to steer her own domestic affairs.

Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign was anchored on the famous banner, “It’s the economy, stupid”. A leader in our twenty-first century must think deeply about revenue, income and outflows. Above all, a leader must invest wisely to ensure that the collective welfare is not only promoted but also guaranteed and safeguarded. A leader who goes a-borrowing to buy palm wine to impress the neighbours like the never-do-well Unoka in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, will sooner or later end up biting the dust.

Sadly, over the last 5 years, we have behaved exactly like Unoka. When people were busy at the farmsteads during the rainy season, he would be busy snoring in bed till noonday. To impress the neighbours, he would borrow to buy palm wine and invite his friends to get drunk with him.

The current administration has been cursed with the Unoka spirit. The chickens have come home to roost.

Our government is broke. We heard the alarming rumours several weeks ago that the NNPC was having difficulty paying the salaries of its employees for the month of April. It is a serious when the goose that lays the golden eggs is reportedly incapacitated. This is precisely where we are today.

How did we get into these dire straits?

There are several factors. The first and most immediate, is, of course, the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown. The pandemic is one of those rare Black Swan events that occur once in a century. Nobody could have anticipated it and nobody could have imagined that it would impact the world economy on such an intergalactic scale. We therefore cannot blame General Muhammadu Buhari or the federal government for the pandemic and its devastating economic fallouts.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has wiped off more than $3.4 trillion from the world economy. Global GDP is expected to slow down from a forecasted 3 percent growth to 2.4 percent in 2020. Parallels are being drawn with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 which metamorphosed into the Great Depression. Among the worst hit are the oil-exporting nations. Oil prices went down to as low as $12 per barrel to an unprecedented – $20 per barrel.

This means that sellers were having to pay buyers to take the liability off their hands. We had the nightmarish scenario of hundreds of oil tankers wandering in the high seas with nowhere to go and nowhere to offload their cargo.

That was the scenario during Q1 of 2020 when Nigeria experienced the extraordinary situation where its revenues virtually equalised with its debtrepayment obligations. Ever since then, oil prices have gradually been inching upwards. Brent crude today stands at $42.19 per barrel. As the lockdown is gradually eased up in Europe, North America and the rest of the world, we should expect oil prices to rally further.

Futures prices for crude in 2021 are even forecasted between $80 and $95 per barrel. But none of these guarantees anything.

The big lesson here is that it does

‘

The most important lesson by far is that we must be more prudent in the management of our public finances. One of the biggest failings of this government is that it knows next to nothing about economic management.

It is astonishing that there is really no single economist in the entire cabinet

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)

Internet and social media marketing – winning war against fraudsters

I

guess, you have received and possibly, still receive telephone calls, texts and emails from known and unknown senders, promoting certain brands or asking you to try certain online or telephone businesses. I receive such messages, almost on a daily basis.

The senders possibly knew that I have legitimate personal and family needs to urgently address.

They possibly knew that I equally need cars, houses and other luxury goods that would paint the image of someone who has really hit a big spot in the business world. I am therefore certain that no one would expect me to underestimate or fail to seize an online or phone business opportunity that promises to transform me into one of the richest men, within a few seconds. It however turned out that most the businesses were actually created by online marketing scammers to rip off unsuspecting individuals and business owners.

Internet and social media fraud are clearly a global problem. A recent media statement credited to Action Fraud, UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, indicates, “Over €2 million has been lost to coronavirusthemed scams, phishing emails and other fraud in the UK alone.” Some experts also agreed that Nigeria is one of the countries where the highly disgraceful issue is becoming more prevalent.

“Unlike China which has largely shrugged off the reputation of being the producer of substandard goods, Nigeria has gained a reputation for being the haven of online fraudsters or what are colloquially known as Yahoo boys,” said Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiatives Nigeria.

The phony activities of fraudsters are equally mainly linked to Nigeria’s promising but largely untapped youth population. Fadeyi Elizabeth, a student in one of the nation’s higher institutions, reportedly observes, “after seemingly endless search for white collar jobs, they become fed up and cease seeking legal means of livelihood. Hence, they resort to swindling people through the internet.” Gabriel Ogunjobi, a journalist, further agrees, “the increasing rate of unemployment and under-employment among more than 50 percent of the entire population is one reason the country is poverty-driven. Many have resorted to internet fraud for financial survival.”

It is equally clear that scammers, within and outside the country have become so sophisticated that their brand promotion strategies are capable of defrauding even those considered to be wisest investors or regulators. In fact, it is becoming clearer that the government is part of their biggest potential targets. Tolu Ogunlesi,

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Special Assistant to President Buhari on Digital and New Media, recently, tweets, “someone created a fake letter purporting to be from @ FinMinNigeria, tallying donations from Nigerians. It’s a FAKE letter.”

From the foregoing, one could be tempted to underrate the potentials or completely lose sight of the immeasurable career and life-changing opportunities in internet and social media businesses. It is however certain that such negative perception would be completely changed, if one considers the increasing successes recorded by several respected online marketing and sales firms. Credible reports affirmed that Amazon reported $75.5billion revenue in first quarter of 2020. Daniel Zhang, Chair and CEO of Alibaba Group, also reportedly attest, “Alibaba achieved the historic milestone of $1 trillion in GMV across our digital economy this fiscal year.”

It could then be argued that Amazon, Alibaba and other internet marketing and sales platforms are recording resounding successes, even in the face of the ravaging pandemic, because they are timely making products and services very accessible to consumers. Some experts also attributed the successes of the firms to the adoption of Artificial Intelligence; AI which they noted is clearly shaping human lives. It is however emerging that their feats are strongly

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not behove well for the national psyche to always be dancing at the brink of national economic collapse as we have done for years. It is also dangerous to put our eggs in one basket or even to rely on one sole golden goose to lay the proverbial golden eggs.

The most important lesson by far is that we must be more prudent in the management of our public finances. One of the biggest failings of this government is that it knows next to nothing about economic management. It is astonishing that there is really no single economist in the entire cabinet.

When former Chief of Staff Abba Kyari went the way of all flesh, somebody mentioned the fact that he sought advice from the Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on how to manage our economy.

Coincidentally, the policy centre I once founded in Abuja, CEPER, in cooperation with Abuja Investments Ltd, once invited Professor Sen to give a public lecture in Abuja. We had put aside a first class return ticket and a substantial lecture fee. I even followed up with a phone call to his office at Harvard. He did not do us the courtesy of even responding.

Before moving to Harvard, Amartya Sen was the exalted Drummond Professor of Political Economy at All Souls College, Oxford. Legend has it that students as well as professors used to attend his lectures. A brilliant man, indeed. But that does not mean he fully understood Nigeria, its macroeconomy and its public institutions. Abba Kyari was seeking advice from the wrong place. He himself was a sociologist and lawyer who treated the economists in the newly created Presidential Economic Advisory Council with barely concealed contempt.

The ancient Chinese sages always taught that glory and wealth are the two purposes for which the state exists. It calls for the highest wisdom in statecraft.

Any leader who entrusts economic management to charlatans can only bring ruin to himself and his country.

Sunday Odiaka

tied to rich creative works directly produced by human beings. Christina Lu, GM of Alimama, Alibaba’s marketing arm reportedly states, “all the content produced by the AI Copywriter is the result of applying deep learning models, trained with large volumes of quality content created by humans.”

It then stands that while some experts are advocating for AI to be adopted across all life cycles of the customers, others are most convinced that the greatest and most meaningful attention must be devoted to human content creators. Will Shaw, a producer, recently, told chiefmarketer.com, “I am a fan of how Alexa can request an Uber or how Netflix provides recommendations by learning what I like to watch.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https:// businessday.ng Sunday Odiaka is a result-driven media content analyst, helping forward-thinking individuals and organisations maximise potentials and increase return on investments.

He can be reached through: shorikwueodiaka@gmail. com

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Dateline Lagos 1918-1924 – Herbert Macaulay and Henry Carr – a tale of two Lagos boys HumanAngle

Femi olugbile

T

hey were contemporaries – scions of important “returnee” families who made good.

In their early professional lives, they were friends, and moved in the same social circles. The circle of educated and dynamic “Saro” Lagosians who formed the elite was not a very large one. As the first Civil Engineer and registered Surveyor in Nigeria, Herbert Macaulay was the designer of Henry Carr’s dream house. They were both upwardly mobile young men, living in colonial Lagos. Carr was an intellectual, a teacher and a civil servant.

Macaulay was of a restless temperament, and after only a few years working for government as a Surveyor of Crown Lands, he was eager to get out into the turbulent waters of private practice and prove himself. He also discovered early a passion for cultivating not just the people of his educational and social status but also the common people on the streets – the market women, the unlettered hoi polloi of Lagos.

As they grew, each to his full stature and began to achieve success and public recognition, they began to hate each other with a passion. It was a most

peculiar development.

Both men were Christians, although Macaulay combined his Christianity with Ifa and the secretive knowledge of a “Babalawo” in an unapologetic syncretism.

Each man would rise to become a major figure in Nigerian history. Each would carry a burning hatred of the other to his grave.

“Among all human monsters with whom we have been brought into contact none has displayed the devilish ingenuity of this man,” wrote Henry Carr of Herbert Macaulay. He was “a dangerous mind”. He lacked integrity and was exploiting the Lagos Royal House, the House of Dosunmu, and its principal figure of their times – Eshugbayi Eleko, for his own ends. A crook, a jailbird, and nobody’s hero, according to Carr.

Unfortunately, very few people in the indigenous population of Lagos, their common stock, found themselves able to agree with Carr in his assessment of his erstwhile friend.

Macaulay, known fondly as “Ejo Igboro” (green snake on the loose) for the underhanded ways in which he was able to ferret out secret information from his adversaries in government, tore into Carr, using the ready medium of his newspaper, “The Lagos Report”.

“Henry Carr must go” Macaulay screamed, in banner headlines. He filled the air with salacious, unsubstantiated stories about how Carr’s father had deserted his wife in Lagos to settle in Abeokuta with another wife.

Henry Rawlingson Carr, despite his rather odd name, was born in Lagos in 1863 to Amuwo and Rebecca Carr. His parents were returnee Saro immigrants of Yoruba extraction. His father died when he was aged seven. Brought up by his mother, he attended Wesley

School Olowogbowo for his primary education, and Wesleyan Highs School in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Later he went to Fourah Bay College, where he received an Honours Degree, becoming the first graduate of the college to achieve this feat. He travelled to the United Kingdom and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physical Science from Durham University in 1882.

Returning to Nigeria in 1885, he taught at CMS Grammar School until 1889 when he joined the Colonial Civil Service as chief clerk and sub-inspector of schools. He rose quickly and in 1900 he became Assistant Colonial Secretary for Native Affairs.

Along the way, he obtained a Law degree at Lincoln’s Inn in 1906.

He was very active on the Board of Education and was Director of education from1906 to 1918. In 1918 he was appointed as Commissioner – later renamed “Resident”, of the Colony of Nigeria, the highest position any black man had ever attained under British Colonial administration. He occupied the position till 1924.

He was on the Board of Advisers of Queens College Yaba and would receive permanent recognition as a major force in the advancement of girlchild education in Nigeria. He was the “architect” of King’s College Lagos and was also on the Board of Igbobi College. Orator, musician, book collector, peerless educationist, distinguished civil servant who attained the greatest height possible in a Civil service career, Henry was a man of many parts. In the Church he was also Chancellor of the Diocese of Western Equatorial Africa, and later became the first Chancellor of the Diocese of Lagos.

Olayinka Herbert Samuel Heelas

‘

Olayinka Herbert Samuel Heelas Badmus Macaulay, his rival, was no slacker himself.

He was born in November 1864 on Broad Street, Lagos.

His mother was the daughter of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther.

His father founded the first secondary school in Nigeria, CMS Grammar School, and was its first principal

Badmus Macaulay, his rival, was no slacker himself. He was born in November 1864 on Broad Street, Lagos.

His mother was the daughter of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther. His father founded the first secondary school in Nigeria, CMS Grammar School, and was its first principal. Trained in Civil Engineering and Survey in the UK, Macaulay returned to Lagos in 1893 and worked for a few years in the colonial service. He left after five years to embark on a career in private surveying practice and anti-colonial agitation.

He would go to prison, on the same Broad Street where he was born, on two occasions, sentenced for perjury and sedition. On that basis, he was disqualified from holding political office, and could only be a “godfather”.

He would be painted as a liar, a thief, a cheat and an agent provocateur by the colonial authorities. He would, on the other hand, be wildly adulated by the citizens of Lagos and hailed as the avatar of Nigerian politics and the first Chairman of the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC), a party that would be a major player in Nigeria’s independence.

So – who was Henry Carr, the highachieving man of many parts who broke the glass ceiling in Colonial Civil Service, or the colonial stooge much despised and disparaged by Macaulay?

And who was Herbert Macaulay – the father of Nigerian nationalism, or a “monster of devilish ingenuity” as described by Carr?

Why did the two “Lagos boys” hate each other with such passion? Was that the beginning of the war between Politicians and Civil Servants in Nigeria?

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

Leadership and workplace conflict

C

onflict is an inevitable occurrence in every workplace because where two or more people are congregated; a skirmish will surely erupt, either subtly or conspicuously. According to Okoro, et al., (2018 pp 82), “Conflict is unavoidable and often threatens the peace, progress and productivity of a workplace.” However, how conflict is handled by leadership can either propel or disrupt the momentum in getting things done efficiently and on time (Llopis, 2014). This can be due to a clash of interest, disagreement based on differing opinions, and many other reasons. No matter what the reasons may be, it is important to note that conflict shouldn’t be a long-term affair to avoid overwhelmingly negative consequences.

Conflict doesn’t have to be a cringe-worthy incident; in fact, it could be the bonding factor that further cements a healthy working relationship when resolved. Therefore, it is the duty of every leader to detect conflicts on time and proffer long-lasting solutions before such disagreements get out of hand.

What are the common causes of conflict in the workplace?

Assumptions: when communication is lacking within a workplace, this results in employees making unnecessary assumptions towards themselves or the leader. This is further complicated when there is no room to air their views or opinions in the workplace. Everyone then goes about with made-up notions in their heads about others and this further increases tension and makes the workplace less conducive to work in.

Overwhelming workload: this can occur between the team leader of a department and the members of the team or between the boss and employees. When an employee is choked with excessive responsibilities beyond what they can handle, grumbling and resentment can trail such actions. No one likes to be saddled

with neck-breaking duties especially when swift measures can be taken by the leadership team to salvage the situation and relieve such employees of such workload. In most cases, such employees do a half-baked job or quit the job altogether.

According to Radzali, when the workload is too much, inhumane, or overwhelming, they can become a job or task-related stressors that could end up leading to employees exhibiting deviant workplace behaviours.

Personality differences: this is common with people who find it hard to blend with those with contrasting personalities. When a sanguine employee works with a phlegmatic person who is bent on having his or her ways, problems are bound to occur especially when one of them is trying to enforce opinions on another. Or when there is a perfectionist in a team who loves doing a thorough job at the expense of others who do not see the need to go the extra mile in every task assigned to them. According to Virga, personality does influence the way people react to conflict and this can affect the quality of work when team collaboration is required.

Unhealthy workplace competition: the quest to be outstanding at work and be recognised by the management is one of the goals of every employee. But when this quest is fueled by a selfish motive to downplay the efforts of others and outshine them in a cruel way, the time bomb of conflict starts ticking. Competition is a natural factor in every organisation, and it spurs employees to give their best efforts, however it must be a healthy one. The writer Okoro believes competition is not a new phenomenon or occurrence, as life is all about the survival of the fittest as we all exist in a competitive world.

Poor working conditions: when the workplace is not conducive enough for employees to execute their duties and rise to their full potential, issues may arise. They will feel held back

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from giving their best. If these poor conditions are not addressed, complaints will be the order of the day in such an organisation and eventual staff will begin to leave.

Can conflicts be avoided?

No, but they can be managed and eventually resolved. Conflicts are an indicator that you are dealing with humans, but when it starts tending towards toxicity, verbal assault and in rare cases, physical assault, it is nothing short of disaster.

A leader must not let it advance to this stage by constantly addressing every trace of disagreement within the team, especially at its early stage.

Effects of unresolved conflict at the workplace Work disruption: conflicts can blow out of proportion when it is not resolved on time.

When left unchecked, it can tamper with the company time and disrupt the natural order of activities at the workplace. Deadlines won’t be met and there will be a setback in the targeted deliverables that the organisation is aiming at.

Productivity time will be replaced with gossip and banter. The workplace becomes divided with employees taking sides. Enemies are gained and negative energy is transmitted across the various departments. The overall goal of the company becomes defeated and all that is left will be vengeful employees seeking the hurt and downfall of their colleagues.

Decrease in productivity: when two or more employees paired on a project do not see eye to eye, they tend to project their unresolved differences on the assigned tasks that they are handling. Instead of working together harmoniously to produce a synchronised result that will benefit the organisation, such employees would rather carry out their tasks haphazardly to avoid interacting with their colleagues. In the long run, the company suffers from the unpleasantly done projects and may lose credibility in the process.

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Toye Sobande Increased tension: this can lead to emotional stress and frustration. When employees are going about their businesses with lingering issues that should have been resolved, it affects their emotional wellbeing, inadvertently affecting their workflow. And when employees are not in the right frame of mind, they become depressed and delay in executing their projects. The tension that stems from conflicts takes its toll on them and they become easily worn out while discharging their duties.

The company loses money: apparently, when productivity declines and the company does not function at an optimal level, this will be projected on the services rendered to clients.

When clients are displeased and withdraw their patronage and support, revenue is lost, expenses are incurred, and profits dwindle drastically.

Potential investors will be scared off and the organisation will record extreme losses that may lead to a fold-up if swift measures are not affected to rectify the fundamental problem.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https:// businessday.ng 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 reached through Email: contactme@toyesobande.com

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Editorial Frank Aigbogun

Saving Nigerian youths from the scourge of drugs

editor Patrick Atuanya

Ignorance and neglect threaten promising futures

Publisher/Editor-in-chief

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

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

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

N

either oil nor agriculture is the greatest asset of Nigeria.

Oil, for instance, a non-renewable commodity vulnerable to vagaries beyond anyone’s control, throws the economy into a miserable state when prices plunge. Agriculture, a major focus of the Buhari administration diversification plan is nothing compared to the bulging youth population. Yes, the youth are the leaders of tomorrow, but a future threatened by drug abuse is gloomy. Youth are vulnerable to vices that may make many the miscreants of tomorrow; hence, the need to save our youths from the scourge of drugs.

One of such vices is drug or substance abuse. While the COVID-19 pandemic has remained at the forefront of discussions, we recognise that substance abuse is still a significant adversary in the health and empowerment of youths, and the fight against illicit drug use, is equally necessary, and just as urgent.

The world has lost great potentials – some known, some unknown – to the excessive use of substances. Whitney Houston, more lovingly referred to as “The Voice” was found dead in her bath

at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on the eve of the Grammy Awards after a cocaine overdose. She was just 48 years old. Her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, just 22, died a few months later while in hospice care. She too was found unresponsive in a bathtub in her Georgia home after a drug overdose.

Recently, Majek Fashek, Nigerian reggae legend, died in his sleep in New York City. He was 57 and was battling oesophageal cancer, while also known to be suffering from drug addiction. In our neighbourhoods also, we hear of death cases from drug abuse.

Drugs such as tramadol, legally and legitimately prescribed by doctors for pain relief, are abused by millions in search of a fix or a release from poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunity.

According to a survey in 2018 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA) with technical support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the prevalence of any drug use in Nigeria is estimated at 14.4 percent , corresponding to 14.3 million people aged 15-64 years who had used a psychoactive substance in the past year for non-medical purposes. The highest levels of drug use were among those aged 25-39 years which we can regard as youths.

Also, up to 67 percent of adolescents in urban Nigeria have used substances. Factors including experimental curiosity, peer pressure, poor socio-economic conditions at homes and the need for extra energy for daily activities have been identified as contributors to illicit drug use. These are precursors that are being magnified

by COVID-19, with an increasing number of the Nigerian youth at risk of turning to substance abuse.

In a world drug report by the UNODC in 2019, people worldwide who had used opioids – a class of drugs naturally found in the opium poppy plant – had surged by 56 percent and this was attributed to improved knowledge of the extent of drug use from new surveys conducted in two highly populated countries, namely India and Nigeria.

Millennials – people born in the 1980s, 1990s or early 2000s – the architects of the Nigerian future are full of adventure and willing to try new things, however, this same fearless adventurism makes them the perfect target for hard drug experimentation and eventual dependency. Aggravating the situation are the manners and genres of music that influence the young, and have a negative effect on their behaviour, schoolwork, social interactions, and mood. Music lyrics that glorify drugs, sex, and violence

have become the order of the day.

The perceptions and effects of music-video messages are important as exposure to violence, sexual messages and stereotypes, and use of substances of abuse in music videos might produce significant changes in behaviours and attitudes of young viewers.

The low investment in treatment and care for people with drug use disorders complicates matters for those carried away by this perception.

Furthermore, there is a strong correlation between drug addiction, rape and crime. Combating drug addiction and trafficking in Nigeria is a good first step to ending the menace of rapes and crimes in the country.

Preventive measures such as awareness and advocacy programmes can go a long way to stem the tide.

We thus commend the initiatives of the MTN Foundation to contribute to the reduction in use of narcotic substances in persons aged 10-25.

It is apt that the Foundation with its focus on youth empowerment and the achievement of the UN sustainable development goal three: good health and wellbeing, should be at the helm and is bringing attention to the importance of Better knowledge for better care, the theme of the UN’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Imo Itsueli Mohammed Hayatudeen Afolabi Oladele Vincent Maduka Opeyemi Agbaje Amina Oyagbola Bolanle Onagoruwa Fola Laoye Chuka Mordi Mezuo Nwuneli Charles Anudu Tunji Adegbesan Eyo Ekpo Wiebe Boer Paul Arinze Boye Olusanya Ayo Gbeleyi Haruna Jalo-Waziri Clement Isong

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

13

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The changing face of workplace With Coronavirus and the accompanying global lockdown, the workplace is no longer what it was pre-lockdown.

SIAKA MOMOH went to town and today, brings you the story of the new face of the workplace.

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hoever thought the world could be shut down – the entire world – all continents – the remotest parts of the globe inclusive – no exemption? It is lockdown all over – business, and all. No talk of unfettered freedom anymore; it is no longer business as usual. All these, courtesy of COVID-19 scourge.

In several workplaces, structure of work has changed. Banks, manufacturing companies, service companies, public market places, public service, etc, have drawn up new work schedules, done to comply with the social distancing rule that COVID-19 demands. For banks for instance, it is work at the office this week and work at home another week.

It is staggered work-weeks, workdays in several other workplaces.

What staffers are saying How are the staffers in these workplaces faring with the new work structure? For Yomade Ayanda, a banker, “Working from home has been challenging because it is not easy juggling to do @work and also doing homeschool online training with a young child and also taking care of the house and cook meal in between”. “It is mentally draining.” For her, women are the most hit negatively because they have to multi-task during this period.

For Omowunmi Oderinde, also a banker, it was difficult for her at the beginning because she had to coordinate her children’s online learning too. “I just knew I have to put a structure in place.

Things became easier after that.

Now that there is ease in the lockdown, I got a private tutor for my kids and I am more productive”.

Omowunmi goes to work three times a week now and works from home two days. “I have come to realize I am more productive now at work and at home compared to when I

worked five times a week at the bank. Even though I want the pandemic to end, I wish the workfrom-home rule stays,” she says.

Doyin Mfon, a banker and engineer, says “Work from home is not as convenient as work from the conventional office”. “Also contributing to this is the absence of a nanny to help with the children and this leaves me to manage the house chores alongside my children and office duties. But the ease comes with the presence of a supportive husband.”

For John Mfon, an engineer, “Work from home doesn’t have the same tempo as working from the office. This is good because tasks are now devoid of the usual office pressures, but it is bad because morale/motivation/ excitement is lower.”

Adesola Momoh is a graduate of English from University of Lagos who worked as On-AirPersonality at UNILAG FM for over four years while at school in UNILAG. Out of school, she has decided to be self-employed,

working from home. Adesola Momoh is a content creator and vlogger. She vlogs about love, relationships, and lifestyle to thousands of her Instagram followers. Over the years, she has helped hundreds of romantic partners stir the course of their relationships in the right tracks.

Olisa Ebigwe, founder and CEO S.O.E. Properties spoke about how virtual offices have come in handy during this lockdown season. For him, with lockdown which has called for

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working from home by several working class Nigerians and business persons, these classes of people who may not have office facilities in their homes, will need virtual offices that are available in cities across the country. A virtual office is a company that operates as one unit and has a physical mailing address, but does not exist in one specific location. The development of tools such as videoconferencing and messaging services has led to the increased usage of the virtual office. It is a service that enables employees and business owners to work remotely by providing a range of business functions accessible through the internet.

It also enables organisations to create and maintain a presence in a desirable location without the need to pay rent for an actual space.

Interestingly, churches are holding virtual services, conferences and conventions nationally and globally. Educational institutions are also holding virtual learning. The nation is also being run through virtual administration.

Adeola Momoh who does fitness business, hitherto, woke up 4.30 am daily to render his service to clients across cosmopolitan Lagos with Lekki, Ikoyi and Victoria Island as core areas.

With Coronavirus, he needs to maintain social distance. This spelt the doom of the business.

What should he do? The business model had to change. Technology came in handy. The fitness exercise business is via online now. That is business from home for you.

Mile12vegiessupply, Lagos is on Instagram offering an array of food items that can be delivered at your doorstep on order. These include vegetables of all types, yams, fish, snails, etc. There is also Mile12tou doing your food Continues on page 14

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Workplace With Shuaibu Idris

Covid Secured Work Place: Preparing for the New Normal I

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lagues, epidemics, pandemics, etc have been a part of human history from time immemorial.

They have existed long before these modern times, and have devastating effects, leading to multiple loss of lives. In several parts of the world, indeed with the fact that the world has now become a “global village,” disaster will more easily affect the world in several ways and relatively quickly and there will be attendant merits and demerits of this development arising from globalization.

A quick reflection on current situation of the world today where there’s a population explosion in the world, there is a resultant effect of people growing disproportionately to static land mass. In addition, these people migrate to some economic zones to enable them live a better standard/quality of life. These economic zones become choked with mankind and animals with fewer green areas; thus creating an atmosphere where infections and diseases, thrive.

We shall review the current situation starting with a brief background on history of pandemic, the need for personal hygiene in order to stay safe and would conclude with steps needed to be taken by organisations and families in order that our houses and work places could be secured and adapt to the new normal environment and life style.

The Antonine Plague (AD 165180), Justinian Plague (AD 541 – 542), Japanese Smallpox Pandemic (AD 735-737), Black Death Epidemic (1346 – 1353), New World Smallpox (1520-onwards), Great Plague of London (1665 – 1666), The Cholera Pandemic (1817-1923), Flu Pandemic (1889 – 1890), Russian Flu (1889-1890), Yellow Fever 1800s, Asian Flu (1957-1958), Hong Kong Flu (1968-1970), Spanish Flu

(1918 – 1920), AIDS Pandemic (1981 – to date), Swine Flu (2009 – 2010), SARS (2002-2003), Ebola Epidemic (2014 – 2016), MERS (2015-date), COVID – 19 (2019 – to date), are all diseases that have plagued mankind over the course of time. Some of the constant characteristics of these diseases are: Transmitted from animals to humans; The causative bacteria / virus thrive where there are large numbers of people, Travel of humans from location to location increases the spread of the virus and thus cause Loss of lives in multitudes. Quarantine/Isolation is usually required to limit the spread of the virus. Indeed, most of the diseases are contagious, that is, easily transmitted via contacts hence the need for isolation, social distancing and use of personal protective equipment.

In some of these cases, scientists and medical experts have been able to research and develop preventive vaccines or treatment drugs that have successfully eradicated or greatly reduced the effect and spread of some of these diseases like cholera, polio, small pox and flu. However, there are some which have no preventive vaccine yet; they include, Ebola and COVID – 19.

Essentially, the COVID-19 is believed to be spread through viruses that are in droplets of cough and sneeze. Thus, an individual can contact it if in close contact with an infected person or if an individual touches an infected surface (from droplets of cough and sneeze).

Further, this pandemic plaguing the world is so infectious, lethal and fatal, such that countries have had to issue stay at home orders and close their borders in order to limit the spread, reduce loss of human lives and prevent the collapse of health care system. The ripple effect of the stay at home order is that businesses/industries have had to shut down; economies are declining

in terms of productivity and growth; citizens are not working and thus, majority are not earning income to sustain themselves, and have used up their savings, if any. Indeed, a hunger virus is beginning to be imminent!

The healthcare sector is not the only sector that faces challenges in this period. The challenges of earning a living, the challenges of transportation, and the challenges of provision of decent and secured work environment are a few other challenges occasioned by the pandemic.

With the stay at home order imposed by the Federal Government of Nigeria, and indeed, quite a number of other countries, employees are faced with a complex set of challenges. These includes: Striking a balance between work and parenting: Where an employee has to Work From Home (WFH), one should be able to achieve that with minimal disturbance from the kids (if any) or other members of the family. If you have older kids, this may not create a major problem, but with younger kids, one would have a situation where both the work and the kids are clamouring for attention. It is good for the employee to determine how best this will work within typical office hours, and communicate availability to the employer.

Job Loss: According to Director General of International Labour Organization (ILO), Guy Ryder, global employment as at early April 2020 (circa 8th April), stood at 190 million, from a global workforce of over 2.7 billion.

To be continued.

“Good things never come from comfort zone. If we want success, we must get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

The changing face of workplace Continued from page 13 items shopping for you. It is not that this food supply stuff didn’t exist before now; the fact is that the lockdown which has brought pains to many across the country, residents in the metropolis in particular, is a blessing in disguise for small business players in Nigeria’s business space.

Tract Stapp on home-based business Tract Stapp of Entrepreneur tells the story of Coffee News owner and CEO Bill Buckley, who left the financial industry to start a Coffee News franchise out of his home: “I really didn’t want a ‘real job.’ I wanted to work for myself,” Bill Buckley recalls. “And I loved working from home.”

That was 1995, after Buckley had spent 25 years in the banking industry. He did a 180 to be-

come the first U.S. franchisee of Coffee News, working out of two rooms in his home in Bangor, Maine, to produce free weekly newspapers for local restaurants.

A lot has changed in 16 years.

Buckley went from franchisee to U.S. sub-franchisor in 1996, and to owner and CEO of the entire company in 2008. But one thing hasn’t changed: He’s still working from home.

“It gives me the flexibility to do all the other things I want to do in my life,” Buckley says.

“I work whenever I have things to do, and when I don’t, it’s all free time.”

Being able to skip the commute and make his own schedule means more time playing tennis, golfing and going to car shows with his wife, Coffee News vice president Sue-Ann Buckley.

But that doesn’t mean being a home-based franchisor is all play and no work. “I work just as hard-

-if not harder and longer--here at home than I would if I were in an office,” Buckley says. “We have close to 400 franchisees around the world, so I have 400 bosses. When they call, I sit up at attention. You have to be responsive.”

Buckley makes sure his 400 “bosses” get all the same support a non-home-based franchisor would provide. Every eight weeks he takes over a local hotel to offer new franchisees a three-day training session. After that they’re assigned a mentor and given a free website, software package and access to an online chat group so they’re never on their own.

“It’s all perception. My office tower today is my web page,” Buckley says. “When you call, you don’t know whether you’re calling an office building in New York City or a farm in the middle of nowhere. That’s the new normal.”

Become a publisher Google can make you one. I stumbled into the success story of Upper Access and feel I should share it with those that may be interested in this line of business.

Upper Access, Inc. ocated in Hinesburg, Vermont, Upper Access, Inc. is a small, independent publisher of non-fiction books, focusing specifically on books designed to improve the quality of life. So far, it has published 30 titles, covering topics ranging from herbal remedies to dealing with personal loss.

A supporter of independent publishing, Upper Access also provides consulting services and business software for other publishers.

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Challenge As a small publisher with limited funds for marketing, Upper Access, Inc.’s biggest challenge is spreading the word about its books. “The more people know about my books, the more likely they are to buy them,” says Steve Carlson, Publisher of Upper Access. “Like many independent publishers, Upper Access is basically a one-person operation. I do everything I can to increase the amount of information people have.”

Since Upper Access typically publishes one to three new titles per year, a second critical challenge is spurring interest in its older titles. “For a small press our size, it’s wonderful just to make a living publishing books that help people. We take the time to be sure that each title is the best in its field or subject area,” says Carlson. “But when you publish only a few books a year, most of your revenue comes from the backlist. A topic that was hot when a book was first published may no longer have the same broad appeal, so it’s essential to keep these books visible to people who are interested.”

Solution Carlson heard about Google Book Search in 2004 through a marketing newsletter for authors and publishers, and joined the Partner Program to increase exposure and jumpstart sales.

Carlson closely tracks how customers discover Upper Access books, and after analyzing customer feedback, website visits and sales figures over a 10-month period, he was able to identify a pattern.

“I can trace sales of 244 books directly to Google, all sold from our site in the last 10 months,” reports Carlson. “So far, we’ve

seen 53 unique customers who say they found us through Google, so we’re averaging 5.3 new customers a month. While these numbers may seem small, for a small publisher they’re significant, especially since many of these orders come from organizations that buy multiple copies of a particular book. They represent continuing sales for the backlist.

“For instance, we have a book to help doctors notify people about the death of a patient. It was published back in 1994, but a medical conference organizer found it this year, and every few months we see another order for 12-24 copies. Another example is a local history museum in Massachusetts that’s been buying one of our books – it was never one of our bestsellers, but the information it contains fits perfectly for them. And we have a customer who’s very interested in memory recovery – a hot topic in the mid-1990s – who found a book we published on the subject and now buys 10 copies at a time for her friends.

“My sense is that these are people who are looking for the best information on a topic, not for books necessarily – otherwise, they’d probably go to Amazon or their local bookstore. They may have just been searching on Google and happened upon a book. That’s the value Google brings.”

Upper Access has benefited not only from increased exposure and sales, but also a better return on investment.

“For all practical purposes, I consider it free publicity,” says Carlson. “And the best part is that a significant percentage of the sales are through my website, so they’re at full retail price. With Amazon Advantage, you get less than 55 percent; with distributors, it’s an even smaller cut. And with bookstore sales, you’ll often see a 10-30 percent return rate.

But when people order directly, they don’t return books. So these are ideal sales.”

Upper Access has included its entire active catalog in Google Book Search, and plans to expand the partnership by submitting each new title upon publication.

You can replicate Upper Access. You can even do better.

For advert placements, call Siaka: 08061396410 or email siakamomoh@ yahoo.com.

Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Live @ The Exchanges Nigeria stocks shed over N290bn in four days Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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igerian stock market looks good to close this week on a negative note following a record loss of N292billion in four days as soaring coronavirus cases continue to pressure market rally.

With no much improvement on the demand side of the Bourse, amid sell pressure on the supply side, market watchers expect no deviation on Friday from Thursday’s trading pattern.

This week, the market has decreased by -0.81percent after Thursday’s -0.12percent dip. This month, the stock market has declined by -2.54 percent while this year, the market has decreased by -8.26percent.

Thursday’s dip was driven majorly by sell decisions on stocks like MTNN Plc and Zenith Bank Plc. MTNN Plc led the laggards after its share price decreased from N118 to N117.5, losing 50kobo or 0.42percent; while Zenith Bank Plc followed after its share price decreased from N16.4 to

N16.15, down by 25kobo or 1.52percent. In 3,413 deals, investors exchanged 130,279,680 units valued at N1.624billion.

Though, there is still the possibility of bargain hunting after record dip which put many value counters at new lows.

The value of listed stocks which opened this week at a high of N13.137 trillion decreased to N12.845trillion as at Thursday June 25, while the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) decreased from week open high of 25,182.67 points to 24,625.17 points.

Securities Dealers say N150bn sukuk confirms NSE’s absorptive capacity Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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tockbrokers on the Nigerian Stock Exchange have advocated more issuance of fixed income securities by the government to finance infrastructure deficit, describing the recent over-subscription of Sukuk Ijarah, issued by the Federal Government as a clear demonstration of the market’s absorptive capacity.

Recently Federal Government floated a N150 billion Sukuk Ijarah, a financial instrument for ethical investors that provides regular biannual tax-free payment with seven-year maturity and it was oversubscribed in excess of 400percent.

Market watchers described the over- subscription of the N150 billion Sukuk Ijirah offer as a double-edged sword as the offer which snapped up over N600 billion from the market has largely contributed to the current bearish

trend amid other perceived variables.

Appraising the historic subscription of the instrument despite the inclement operating environment, Securities Dealers on the Exchange ascribed the success to factors such as investor confidence as the instrument is project-tied and assurance of ease of redemption being backed by full weight of the government. They urged the fe government to leverage such an instrument to mobilize fund to revive Nigeria’s ailing industrial base. “ Federal Government should increase the pace of issuance of such an instrument as the market has demonstrated its absorptive capacity given the over 400percent over subscription letter of the last Sukuk.”, the President, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, Olatunde Amolegbe said.

Corroborating him, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Global Asset Management, Babatunde

Sobamowo noted that Sukuk was becoming famous of its structure as an Investment vehicle being used by the Federal Government. According to him, the instrument can boost implementation of the government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). “ Sukuk confers on the subscribers, ownership of the assets being financed which in most cases are for ethical purposes. In recent times, they are used to finance roads ,railways and other infrastructure which are lacking in the country.

They will serve as catalyst to the much needed development to boost our industrial and agricultural growth which will impact positively on our GDP as clearly spelt out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) “ In order to ensure probity in the management of these underlying assets. It is advisable that Project Management Offices ( PMOS) are opened in all the sites where these funds are being deployed.

Nigerian Breweries pays N16.1bn as dividend for 2019 Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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igerian Breweries Plc got shareholders’ approval to pay total dividend of N16.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020. Approval to pay the total dividend which translates to N2.01 per share was received at the Company’s 74th Annual General Meeting (AGM) which held in Lagos on Tuesday June 23, 2020.

Speaking at the AGM, the Chairman of the Company, Kola Jamodu disclosed that the Company had earlier paid an interim dividend of N3.99 billion, that is, 50 kobo per share, in December 2019, and that the

final dividend will therefore be N12.1 billion, which comes to N1.51 per share which would become payable on June 24, 2020.

A breakdown of the Company’s results for the period revealed that it recorded a net revenue of N323 billion as against N324.4 billion recorded in 2018.

Jamodu explained that some of the factors that impacted on the Company’s performance in 2019 were inflation at double-digit rate, increase in input cost and further rise in the Excise Duty rate which could not be passed to the consumer due to continued pressure on purchasing power. The business was nevertheless able to post a positive Profit After

Tax of N16 billion for the year due to series of innovations and implementation of cost efficiencies.

Shareholders present commended the Board and Management of the Company for being resilient in the face of the challenging operating environment and appreciated the dividend payment which was coming at the right time in view of current economic realities.

The Shareholders further commended the Board for ensuring that investors continued to get returns on their investment in the Company. They equally urged the Company not to relent in looking at innovative ways to improve on its performance thereby ensuring that it remains ahead of the pack.

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

COVID-19:

17

FOREIGNERS LEAVING NIGERIA & NIGERIANS COMING HOME BED SPACES FOR MANDATORY QUARANTINE

In the last month, countries like the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) have evacuated their citizens from Nigeria. Nigerians living in China, India, the UK, the US, and other countries have also registered to be evacuated home due to the Coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world.

Over 4,000

Over 800 UK citizens evacuated from Nigeria so far.

Nigerians to be evacuated .

1,300

1,000

300

in Abuja

in Lagos

About 1,000 US citizens evacuated from Nigeria so far.

REQUIREMENTS FOR CITIZENS TO BE EVACUATED All evacuees are now to undergo supervised 14-days self-isolation and observe strict physical distancing. Earlier evacuees were placed on a 14-day mandatory quarantine in a facility provided by the Nigeria Centre 1 for Disease Control (NCDC) in Abuja and Lagos upon arrival.

All evacuees are to pay in full for a one-way ight ticket to Nigeria.

All evacuees will be tested for COVID-19 before and on arrival in Nigeria. The monitoring team would conduct phone exit interviews on the 14th day.

Evacuees who are unable to self-isolate in Lagos or Abuja may return to their states of residence only after they have been tested for COVID-19 and their details have been taken by public health o cials.

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Evacuees were initially paying for their own feeding & accommodation until Monday, May 18, 2020, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the cost will be covered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Evacuation was suspended on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 but resumed on Monday, June 8, 2020.

EVACUEES & COUNTRIES THEY ARRIVED FROM* Saudi Arabia

United Kingdom

Cote d'ivoire

292 253 67 NIGERIANS

India

NIGERIANS

United States

NIGERIANS

Ghana

269 160 39 NIGERIANS

China

NIGERIANS

Egypt

NIGERIANS

Some West African Countries

*As of Sunday, June 14, 2020

www.businessday.ng

268 102 12 NIGERIANS

United Arab Emirates

NIGERIANS

Lebanon

256 69 NIGERIANS

NIGERIANS

NIGERIANS

Source: EiE Research

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Business SOUTH-SOUTH

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF SOUTH-SOUTH / SOUTH-EAST

Miners’ union seeks collaboration with FG to improve solid minerals sector EFEGADIRIM MADU, Port Harcourt

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h e Mi n e r s A s s o ciation of Nigeria (MAN ), says it is seeking collaboration with Federal Government’s relevant agencies to improve the solid minerals sector, considering its potentials to boost the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Kabiru Mohammed, the national president of Miners Association of Nigeria has therefore, tasked operators of the mining sector on commitment as well be guided by the ideals of the association, which is to reposition the sector to more profitability.

Mohammed, while commissioning the Etche unit of the association at Chokocho in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State last week, reminded mining operators in the area to brace up for better work.

The MAN national president, who spoke through the 2nd national president of the union, Kennedy Enebeli, therefore, assured the opera-

GODFREY OFURUM, Aba

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The minners tors to get set for the union’s collaboration with the relevant agencies and Federal Government in order to harness some issues in the solid mineral industry.

In what he described as incentivizing funds, he said they would be followed to its logical conclusion for the betterment of the operators. He was of the view that the time for members to benefit from the association has come and

added that all hands must be on deck in an attempt to actualize the new vision.

In their reactions, the Rivers State chapter chairman of Miners Association of Nigeria, Andrew Akpoguma and his secretary, Ike Obidike, said that harmonized pricing should be considered for smooth operation of miners in the state.

They reasoned that, if miners operate at different pricing rates, it would not

encourage a uniform performance among operators.

The duo further hammered on the need for a state wide sensitization of members, and the general public, on the environmental impact of mining activities; and the need for the government to key in and do the needful.

One of the members of the union, Pepsi EzeOrgu, who spoke with BusinessDay, urged members to take

the issue of registration seriously. He pointed out that registration was the major factor to determine who was a member of any association; and without such, one may not lay proper claim of his/ her membership to any group.

He further explained that such was also a vital tool towards raising of funds for the association; adding that no union or group without funds could function better.

Meanwhile, one of the m e mb e r s, D e l e Sa l a m i , thanked the operators for their large turnout, and also tasked them on the need to regularize their membership. He reassured of the committee’s commitment to openness, transparency and good counsel.

Abia mourns passage of Tonimas Group chairman, Anthony Enukeme …describes him as champion of industrialization GODFREY OFURUM, Aba

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bia State government has expressed deep grief and sadness at the news of the death o f A n t h o n y E n u k e m e, the chairman of Tonimas Nigeria Limited, a foremost Nigerian company in the oil and gas industry.

Enukeme’s Tonimas Group is the largest privately owned business conglomerate in Abia and other parts of the south-east and south-south regions, with interests in oil and gas, real estate, insurance and manufacturing.

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in a statement, signed

by Onyebuchi Ememanka, his chief press secretary and made available to BusinessDay, recalled with gratitude, the countless jobs created for the people of Abia State through the entrepreneurial versatility of the late Enukeme.

Abia Assembly speaker distributes 100 transformers to constituents

The Governor described late Enukeme as an outstanding and committed entrepreneur, who made solid contributions to the economic development of Aba, a commercial hub and Abia State as a whole through his numerous business concerns scattered across the State.

I kp e az u f u r t h e r d e scribed the Tonimas Group chairman as a most worthy partner of the state government in the quest for the development of the state’s economy.

“The late Enukeme was not just an ordinary businessman, who was content with buying and selling. He was more than that. He was a committed and passionate believer in the power of industrialization as a key enabler in economic development. He invested heavily in the establishment of industries, which produced top quality products in the area of oil and gas, and created a sustainable platform

for job creation for our people,” the governor said.

He said though Enukem e w a s f ro m Ne n i i n Anambra State, he found a home in Aba, Abia State.

He believed in Aba and Abia State, and deliberately chose the Enyimba City as the headquarters and epicentre of his sprawling business empire, from where he branched out to other parts of the country.

“From a humble beginning in Aba several years ago, Enukeme, by a dint of honesty, hard work, perseverance, diligence and the fear of God, successfully built the Tonimas Group, which today is clearly the largest privately owned business conglomerate in our space with sprawling interests in oil and gas, real estate, insurance and manufacturing,” Governor Ikpeazu said.

Through the efforts of To n i ma s, Aba b e ca m e counted as the home of top-quality lubricants and engine oil. Today, the busi-

ness landscape in Aba and Abia is dotted with positive evidences of the sagacity and entrepreneurial acumen of the late Enukeme.

A principal member of the Aba business community, Enukeme had in the past served as president of the Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA).

The governor said that one special attribute that stood out the late Enukeme was his personal belief in the philosophy of corporate social responsibility. He saw communities where his businesses are located as critical stakeholders in his business; and took measured steps to give back to such communities.

Ikpeazu recalled how the Enukeme contributed immensely to the development of the Umuarakpa community and its environs in Osisioma Ngwa LGA where his industry is located by constructing access roads and assisting in other areas of community

development, as well as ensuring that indigenes of the community were employed by the company.

He also built and donated to the host community, a most befitting Catholic church.

The death of Enukeme, many say, has robbed Abia State of one of its most important, passionate, committed, and successful and consistent entrepreneurs and eminent philanthropists. He was a worthy recipient of the title of Enyi Abia, conferred on him by the state government.

Governor Ikpeazu challenged the children of the late chief to take up the mantle and keep the flag flying. He expressed confidence that Enukeme, while alive, groomed his children well and made them key parts of his business empire; noting that they would accept the challenge and build on the powerful legacies of their very illustrious father.

hinedum Orji, speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly has distributed over 100 electricity transformers to his constituents of Umuahia Central State constituenc y, as well as other Abians in general. The gesture was through his “direct touch” programme, geared towards ensuring that the people feel the presence of government around them.

This is as he has also built and renovated over 30 classrooms, equipped them with facilities for a comfortable environment for pupils and students to learn.

He has also provided clean running water in all the corners of Umuahia Central Constituenc y, which he represents at the state house.

Orji in an interaction with BusinessDay in Umuahia, explained that his wish is to make life more meaningful to his constituents and Abians at large.

According to him, the 7th Abia House of Assembly, which I lead at the moment, will continue to support the executive arm with good laws that would bring development faster to the state.

He obser ved that infrastructural development is key to economic growth and promised that the current administration in the state would address infrastructural decay in the state, especially in Aba, the stat’s commercial hub.

In effort to meet the needs of his people, the Speaker adopted a brand which is known as “direct touch”, a programme, which he initiated to make sure that his constituents and followers are positively impacted by government.

Tuesday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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FEATURE World Drug Day: Multi-sectoral approach key in battling drug abuse, illicit trafficking DESMOND OKON

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or some, it was peer pressure and poverty.

For others, it was out of sheer curiosity. But Ngozi’s (surname withheld), relapse into drug addiction which lasted for five years was due to something every woman craves for—marriage.

Barely 24 hours after her wedding, Ngozi, a nurse, and social media influencer began to experience physical abuse from the man with whom she exchanged marital vows.

Her husband started beating and verbally assaulting her after rumours spread that she is incapable of conceiving and did not stop even after she later conceived.

Coupled with her inability to land a job due to her sickle cell status, Ngozi, also a freelance writer, sank into depression and as the abuse persisted with a lot of pains, she sought “companionship and friendship” from a narcotic known as pentazocine.

“Pentazocine was my best friend, my companion, my inspiration. It consumes my money, my parents’ money but I loved it...I used it in treating pains, from there, I used it as my comforter. From injecting ten bottles a day to one box which was sold N6, 000.

“I started with 2ml syringe to 5ml syringe then to 10 ml syringe.

I injected from my buttocks to laps from there to my hands intravenously,” she recounts her addiction days.

Pentazocine is an opioid pain medication. It belongs to the group of medicines called narcotic analgesics. It acts on the central nervous system (CNS) and used to treat moderate to severe pain in adults and children who are at least 12 years old.

Findings reveal that when a narcotic medicine is used for a long time, it may become habit-forming, causing mental or physical dependence.

Medics warn that pentazocine can slow or stop your breathing, and its misuse can cause addiction, overdose, or death, especially in a child or other person using the medicine without a prescription.

In addition, using the medication during pregnancy may cause life-threatening withdrawal symptoms in the newborn.

During Ngozi’s peak days in drug addiction, she would inject herself with the substance nearly every hour of every day. Even at midnights.

She said injecting made her very happy, hardworking and helped her sleep well.

“I injected madly. If I woke up, I’d inject, through midnights, I’d inject. If I woke up to pee, I’d inject. If I didn’t inject, I wouldn’t sleep. If I didn’t inject, I would start shaking as if I was dying. I became normal when injected,” she narrates.

As a result, she developed lots of necrosis (death of cells or tissue through disease or injury), stating that she could have up to three, very-deep wounds that smell in

Pictures showing Ngozi’s scars from the necrosis while injecting herself.

Weed: It cost only N50 get access to weed in Lagos.

one lap. She told this reporter that she prohibited people from visiting because of the smell of the wounds.

The wounds, however, did not stop her from getting high on the opioid, and neither did her type SC sickle cell disorder. “I dress my wound and inject,” she said.

“I was using sterile cotton wool, eusol, and savlon, artery forceps in dressing it myself.”

Pentazocine is putatively available only with a doctor’s prescription. A doctor who spoke to our correspondent confirmed that by professional standards, pentazocine is a prescription injection.

But conversely, Ngozi got the injection cheaply and easily for five and a half years of addiction from a pharmacist in Anambra with the aid of her father who gave her N12, 000 weekly, and her mother who contributed N100, 000 weekly as well for supplies.

The ugly stats Although, Ngozi, who started substance abuse while in her twenties, has survived drug addiction, she epitomizes the millions of Nigerians who were and are currently hooked on one psychoactive substance or another, and also underscores the need for swift action to curb the menace.

In Nigeria, one in seven persons aged 15 to 64 years had used a drug (other than tobacco and alcohol) in the past year. The past year prevalence of any drug use is estimated at 14.4 percent (range 14.0 percent to 14.8 percent), corresponding to 14.3 million people aged 15 to 64 years who had used a psychoactive substance in the past year for non-medical purposes, according to data obtained from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Cannabis is the most commonly www.businessday.ng

used drug. This journalist bought weed for as low as N50 and another known as ‘SK’ for N100, meaning that anyone can have access to cannabis easily. This also means that the problem will likely persist.

An estimated 10.8 percent of the population or 10.6 million people, had used cannabis in the past year.

The average age of initiation of cannabis use among the general population was 19 years, NBS noted.

NBS also reported that an estimated 4.7 percent of the population, that is, 4.6 million people had used opioids such as tramadol, codeine, or morphine, for non-medical purposes in the past year.

The prevalence of substance use is such that youth reportedly took to sniffing pit toilets and petrol to satisfy their hunger to get high after the government restricted access to codeine following a BBC investigation on drug abuse in 2018.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report states that in 2017, an estimated 271 million people, representing 5.5 percent of the world’s population aged 15 to 64, had used drugs in the previous year, while 35 million people are estimated to be suffering from drug use disorders.

The report found that opioids continue to cause the most harm, and accounts for two-thirds of the deaths attributed to drug use disorders. It added that people who inject drugs — some 11 million worldwide in 2017 — endure the greatest health risks. More than half of them live with hepatitis C and approximately one in eight live with HIV. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 estimated that, globally, in 2017, there were 585,000 deaths and 42 million years of “healthy” life lost as a result of the use of drugs.

Stakeholders’ response

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Several factors including experimental curiosity, peer pressure, poor socio-economic conditions at homes and the need for extra energy for daily activities, and others, have been identified as contributors to illicit drug use. With COVID-19 still unleashing hard times, the Nigerian youth population is at risk of turning to substance abuse.

While UNODC’s report (cited above) says that only one in seven people with drug use disorders receive treatment each year due to limited availability of and access to treatment services, Nigeria’s response, with low investment in care facilities, is as poor.

Last year, at the 4th Biennial National Symposium on “Drugs and Drug Policy in Nigeria” in Abuja, Buba Marwa, the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA), said that government was coming up with a new coordinating mechanism like the national drug control commission, which would go through legislation and help in the fight against drug abuse.

He also said the commission would come up with strategies for drug, while existing institutions would be strengthened and empowered.

“There will be mass advocacy across the board, from families to religious leaders, and traditional leaders down to community levels and up to civil society organisations.

New rehabilitation centres for treatment and after-care will be available; these are some of the plans the federal government is coming up with to tackle drug-related issues,” he said.

Apart from work done by PACEDA, the government has taken several steps to fight the abuse of substances, especially in the area of tightening the supply chain of harmful substances through the (NDLEA). Regulatory agencies such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) have done a lot of commendable work in regulating and controlling the distribution, sale, and use of drugs.

Still, with the number of youths who ‘brush their teeth’ with weed every morning at CMS under the bridge, and also in places like Oshodi, it is hard to say the extent of impact the measures have had in the fight against drug abuse and trafficking.

Therefore, in order to find concrete solutions and improve on old strategies, there is a need for private sector organisations to join the fight, and MTN Foundation, through its ASAP (Anti-Substance Abuse Programme) initiative, is proving to be socially responsible in this regard.

Though Odunayo Sanya, acting executive secretary, MTN Foundation, acknowledges that selfmedication and easy access to drugs over the counter is rife and tends to compound the substance abuse problem, she believes a potent solution to fight the scourge is a collaboration amongst various agencies of government and non-governmental institutions “This is why we launched the Anti-Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP) to provide a platform for @Businessdayng

all stakeholders to collaborate in the fight.”

Through ASAP, from 2018 to 2019, MTN Foundation has implemented a multi-sectoral, multistakeholder focus interventions with the aim to contribute to a significant reduction in the rate of first-time and habitual use of drugs and narcotic substances amongst youths in Nigeria specifically, those within 10-25 years.

Awareness, engagement and information sessions; workout session and 1km-4km health walk across the city centres during which short talks were delivered on the subject matter; interactive sessions with students of public primary and secondary schools are few of a series of activities were carried out in six states in Nigeria including Abuja, Bauchi, Kano, Imo, Lagos and Rivers States, during the period.

The foundation also trained a selected number of influencers with the necessary information on substance abuse to enable them to educate people effectively, and created a microsite for the accentuation of messages against drugs abuse.

In addition to an integrated media campaign implemented with extensive use of media platforms including social media, print and electronic media, MTN Foundation has been consistent in organising events coinciding with the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (World Drug Day) to draw attention to the scourge and find concrete and lasting remedies.

The theme “Better Knowledge for Better Care” presents another opportunity for stakeholders to engage creatively and come up with fresh ideas around the mitigation of substance use and trafficking, while it is also expected that stakeholders will review old strategies in this year’s commemoration of World Drug Day. Odunayo said addressing problems resulting from the abuse of drugs requires a holistic approach which involves a strategic collaboration of the arms of government, ministries, and agencies of health, educational, religious institutions and parental involvement.

“A policy approach should also be adopted. Where the drug laws are reviewed to enable the judiciary to apply penalties that are commensurate to the offences. Other approaches include the provision of more rehabilitation centres.

Sustaining interventions that are preventive in nature will go a long way to address the situation as well creating awareness of the menace at every opportunity,” she adds, on the way forward.

Ngozi told Businessday that she has lived without drugs for six years [‘miraculously’]. Having been sober for that long with scars covered up in tattoos as evidence, her message now is simple: “Drug abuse should be stopped.

It kills faster than anything. The doctors showed [me] pictures of previous doctors who never made it alive. God rescue me and he can rescue you. Go to rehab and be free from addiction if you are into it. If you are not please don’t even take paracetamol without your doctor’s prescription.”

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

LEADINGWOMAN Abimbola Fashola, deliberate about teaching morals, upholding the value of education KEMI AJUMOBI Dame Abimbola Emmanuella Fashola was born into the Ojo Ibadan family of Ibadan, Oyo State. She is a Secretary and Administrator by profession. She is a passionate, caring and purpose- driven woman who champions issues relating to education, HIV/AIDS discrimination, poverty eradication, parenting and skills acquisition as well as preservation of the environment.

She has worked in various positions at the British Council for 19 years but eventually resigned to support her husband’s aspiration in 2006.

As the wife of the former Governor of Lagos State; she built 4 recreation centres and the first retirement recreation centre in Lekki, Lagos/ Nigeria.

She is the founder of LEARN (Leadership Empowerment and Resource Network) a Non- Governmental Organisation established to groom the youth to be self-confident and socially responsible.

Her NGO helps the youth, while still in college, to develop a passion and obtain the necessary skills for vocational and entrepreneurial training. She also runs a parenting seminar on sustaining family values and morals in children for a better society.

Her quest for acquiring knowledge, capacity building and personal development has led her to attend various conferences and seminars within the country and outside the country.

In recognition of her contributions to humanity, she was honoured

by His Holiness, Pope Benedict the XVI. She is also a recipient of several other local and international awards.

Emmanuella Fashola is a devoted wife and mother.

She recently came on my Instagram Live show called Inspiring Woman Series With Kemi Ajumobi, and in this edition of Leading Woman, I will be sharing some responses from her with you. The entire interview is available on our website www.businessday.ng where she graces our cover for Women’s Hub Magazine for this week.

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Childhood memories e began the interview with her sharing on her childhood, which she described as loving and caring.

Growing up with her mum initially was the best life she could ever wish for and then, after a while, they moved to her dad’s place. “But with my mum, I got everything I needed. I got the father’s love, the mother love and the sister’s love. I remember my younger days, when it rains, my mum will say, ‘what are you people doing in school?

Just sit down”. She would butter bread for us, gave us tea and let us sleep. I still do it up till now. Once it starts to rain and I’m getting ready to go out, I just remember my mum and say “where am I even going?

It’s already wet, outside is wet.

Just sit down and rest, another day, you can always pick it up.”

Abimbola grew up being pampered both by her mother and father and everyone around. She describes it as “ever ybody letting you be yourself. There wasn’t any air around us and not that we had everything we wanted, but we were contented. We never lacked anything when we were growing up. It was all very peaceful and there was no cause for complaints from the parents’ side.”

It was a matter of knowing what your parents want and you just behave yourself. She recalls it has been a beautiful journey when she remembers and she tries as much as possible to be that girl in her womanhood.

Meeting Babatunde Raji Fashola My late husband’s father introduced me to my husband. My best friend then was having her engagement party and I was there doing my normal bit which is ensuring that everybody is comfortable, everything is okay and things are moving the way they should be. He just looked at me, and he said “oh, well done my dear. You’re doing very well, what’s your name?”. And he told me “I have a son, I would want you to meet him”. He said I should not go home yet that his son will be coming for that party as well.

So, when the son came in, he looked for me and called me, and then introduced us and that’s how it kicked off.

His involvement in politics and your experience I never saw my husband going into politics because to become a governor, you must go into politics. My husband loves going to court. There is no day he comes back, even before we got married, he would be asking me to come to court and watch him and see what’s happening there. And before I took on another job, I was interested in journalism, so I was working back then with Sketch and I used to cover court cases.

I told him I wasn’t interested in courts, and that I’ve been to courts before and I don’t think I like the business of going to court.

But you could see the joy in him anytime he comes back and he’s got a case, fought and won or they are still battling it in court and all.

So, I know that his interest had www.businessday.ng

always been in going to court, defending people and all.

So, when it came to him working for Lagos state, you know he started off as a Chief of Staff to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I remember him supporting everyone who came out aspiring to be governor of Lagos State back then. So, when the table turned (I was not even around, we were away for a vacation) he called me and said Asiwaju has never asked for anything like this from him before. Asiwaju could not even ask my husband directly, he had to send so many people to speak to him because he knew he was going to refuse totally. It was clear my husband would not be interested in it but Asiwaju believed that he could do it. Prominent Lagosians spoke to him. So, he called me and said this is what they have asked him to do. And I said I didn’t see this coming and I don’t understand where this is going to go. As chief of staff, I had to go to functions, representing her distinguished senator, Yeeye Asiwaju. I wasn’t really keen on it. I’m from a background that is very quiet; you just mind your business, help those within the community, be relevant around everyone who needs it and do things for people.

To now see him going into politics, the first thing I told him was, I am not so sure that’s what God has called you for, but we’ll put it in prayers. I’ll keep praying and when I return, we’ll revisit it. He said he has not told them any answer because he needs to speak to his wife and family first before he gives his answer. So,

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when I returned, we prayed about it. Then he said, “Abimbola, this is to help my state, this is to help my country. I want to show them that this is possible. We can do well in our country, in our State, we can make things work for us. It is only believing in ourselves and getting it right and everyone coming on board”. And so, I just felt, okay, if that’s the way you see it.

I didn’t have any ‘No’ from God; neither did I have any ‘Yes’.

Maybe I heard ‘Yes,’ and I didn’t want to accept it. I remember back then, Asiwaju used to tell me, “Abimbola, if you do not accept, I will look for another wife for your husband because you are the one not allowing him to accept.” And we would laugh about it. I said God will make a way, and that was it. That’s how he joined and they did the primaries.

Pressures being former First Lady of Lagos State The pressure you usually have is people believing that you have everything. That you have money, you have the influence to speak to anybody. But from the background I came from, my father would always assist the children of his friends or those he doesn’t even know, to get jobs, but he won’t help his own children. So, coming from such a background, when it becomes personal, it’s always very difficult for me to ask anybody to help me. I just turn to God. And then when people now put pressure on you, wanting you to do this, to do that for them saying “you can speak to a commissioner or a bank manager”, I tell them “No”, I wasn’t brought up like that. I can’t speak to anybody. @Businessdayng

This position I am in, I came in through my husband and if I can’t tell my husband and if he can’t assist me, then so be it.

On recent cases of rape, especially with children My take on rape is that it is not right and I do not support anyone who is a rapist. I do not support anyone who is a pedophile. We have to be very careful as parents.

We need to pay attention to our children more than we are doing right now. I always say, one interesting thing about COVID-19 season for most parents, is that, you get to know what your children are up to. You get to know your children more. The things we have learnt sitting together as a family in this pandemic season are more than the things we have learnt while we were up and down making ends meet and leaving our children at the mercy of our helps. You have gardeners and all sorts of people around.

For the young ones who are not as enlightened, when somebody is inviting you to ‘play’, genuinely, some may be thinking it is actual play, but the person who wants to harm you knows what he’s aiming at. So, we need to be very careful. We need to educate our children more and the young ones around us. Rape is not just for the young ones.

Then, for those ones who are in the university and somebody will lure you, it is important to live a contented life. Don’t fall victim to these people who really don’t mean well. You have to speak out as well whenever anything happens to you.

Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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MONEYINSIGHT Digital money channels can address high cost of remittances for African families FRANK ELEANYA

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s the United Nations commemorate the 2020 International Day of Family Remittances (IDFR), experts say reducing the cost of remittances would go a long way to cushion the losses many families have suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IDFR, according to the UN was an opportunity to reflect on the plight of millions of migrant workers globally who play a vital role in global economies.

The enforcement of strict lockdown measures to curb the spread of the virus has directly impacted the more than 200 million migrant workers who support their 800 million family members back in their home countries, data from the UN showed.

The impact was evidenced by the sharpest decline in recent history in April predicted by the World Bank. Global remittances were projected to decline sharply by about 20 percent in 2020 due to the economic crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown. This decline, from a high of $714 billion in 2019 to an estimated $572 billion in 2020, comes as the world’s largest remittance-sending nations have experienced stringent lockdowns.

Remittance flows to sub-Saharan Africa are expected to decline by 23.1 percent to reach $37 billion in 2020, while the recovery of 4 percent is expected in 2021.

For families depending on remittances to fund their basic living expenses, the risk of falling below the poverty line has increased substantially.

“With the pandemic forcing people to socially distance themselves from others, the adoption of DFS (Digital Financial Services) has been increasing across

countries like Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. In Kenya where mobile money has already made great inroads, the government has actively promoted cashless transactions as a means to limit contact spread of the virus,” says Edison Xie, Director of Media Affairs, Huawei Southern Africa Region.

I n Ni g e r i a, a n a ccountbased, online-real-time interbank payment solution known as the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Instant Payment

(NIP) has grown to become the preferred payment option for banks and currently drives several e-payment channels such as internet banking, USSD, and others. From about 4.4 million in 2012, NIP transactions rose to 803.1 million in 2019 and recorded 366 million transactions in the first quarter of 2020.

Adoption of DFS in the rest of the world is projected as high as 67 percent post-pandemic adjusted 5-10 percent upwards from pre-pandemic estimates of

57 percent. Nevertheless, there are barriers that prevent widespread adoption and use of DFS for remittances.

The World Bank estimated a cost of around 6.7 percent on a remittance value of $200 but for Sub Saharan Africa, this cost rose to 9 percent even though intraregional migrants in Sub-Saharan Africa comprised over two-thirds of all international migration from the region. The United Nations estimated that between US$200-300 was spent on the costs of transfers. Banks are the costliest channel for transferring remittances, at 10.9 percent. In sub-Saharan Africa, the cost of sending money is higher than the average at 9.3 percent.

“Reducing the reliance on cash transfers and currency exchanges is thus an important way to reduce remittance costs for those sending money to Sub Saharan countries. Digital money transfer options become essential to facilitating lower costs remittances for migrant workers,” said Xie. As DFS adoption increases and the ecosystem expands to bring in more services suited to the market it serves, the evolution of the platforms coupled with increased support from the government in the form of consumer protection, costs of remittances can be expected to gradually reduce.

CRC Credit Bureau’s new API enables instant access to customers’ profile STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

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RC Credit Bureau has launched its Data Submission Application Programming Interface (API) that enables institutions to access and submit data on their credit customers online real-time.

The first of its kind in the industry, it is an automated medium that enables institutions to provide CRC with information on credits immediately they are booked on the system and update existing credit records as soon as repayments have been made by their customers. The API also enables them to access relevant information about their customers through live connections.

Traditionally, lenders submit credit data once or twice a month which leaves some

customers who have paid, in between this cycle, either waiting for an update to be done, while others are not able to build a credit history especially if they have taken and repaid the loan before the information is provided to the credit bureau.

Examples of these are shorttenured facilities such as 24 hours, 7-day facilities et cetera.

The traditional reporting often causes a delay for borrowers who want to access new loans immediately after they pay off outstanding facilities or for those who want to build credible profiles to access loans/ postpaid products thereby improving their standard of living.

On the lenders’ side, they spend additional man-hours updating information manually thereby increasing their operational cost and negatively impacting efficiency. www.businessday.ng

By adopting this technological advancement in data reporting, institutions can eradicate these challenges, as their customers begin to build credible profiles and histories immediately facilities are taken.

Instant updates are conducted on loans and postpaid products as repayments happen and are fully made.

Therefore, by taking advantage of this API, lenders assist all their customers to continuously build accurate and reliable credit profiles that enable them to enjoy additional opportunities.

This solution completes the operational reporting cycle for lenders to CRC Credit Bureau, as now they can automate both the generation of credit information for decision making and the submission of data on their credit customers.

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Lenders can reduce their loan processing costs and increase efficiency emanating from the challenges associated with the manual reporting of credit files, ultimately scaling up their business and increasing profitability.

Even though the Federal Government of Nigeria has eased the lockdown significantly in order to kick-start economic activities, the use of online mediums or electronic channels for digital lending will continue to be the most favourable method of initiating credit requests.

Tunde Popoola, managing director and chief executive officer of CRC Credit Bureau Limited said “We are always listening to our customers, individuals and institutions alike, and during the restriction of movement, one overarching challenge was the @Businessdayng

need to have an automated means of accessing and submitting data 24/7.” “Timely data reporting is essential to the quality of data which ultimately increases access to finance and postpaid products for consumers and businesses.”

Lenders can have access to CRC’s API solutions in four quick steps: Request for the API Integration Kit, Implement API, Test and Go Live.

CRC Credit Bureau provides a nationwide repository on credit profiles of corporate entities as well as consumers, thus improving the ability of credit providers and borrowers to make informed lending and borrowing decisions. The bureau’s database covers the credit industry which includes commercial banks, non-bank institutions, retailers, utility service providers and fintech.

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE Nigeria Health Watch partners Meedan to counter misinformation on COVID-19 in Nigeria

How to travel with medications Executive Travel Health

ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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oncerned by the rapid spread of misinformation around the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Nigeria Health Watch has entered into a partnership to counter misinformation around the virus and other public health challenges.

Through the partnership, information related to COVID-19 in Nigeria will be monitored to identify false claims, which can lead to significant consequences for individual and public health.

The spread of misinformation during disease outbreaks is a global issue and has been identified as such by the World Health Organisation.

False or misleading information around preventions, treatments and cures can be dangerous for the public’s health, and can cause confusion and panic, experts say.

Thus, there is an urgent need for collaboration to address widespread misinformation, as governments are tackling the double epidemic of misinformation and COVID-19.

“Misinformation poses a threat to the public response to outbreaks, eroding the public’s trust, and their willingness and ability to take preventative measures,” said Vivianne Ihekweazu, managing

Adeniyi Bukola Q-life Family Clinic

lifeadvisoryservices@outlook.com

director at Nigeria Health Watch in a statement.

“Nigeria Health Watch uses informed advocacy and communication to influence health policy and seek better health and access to healthcare in Nigeria. We seek to amplify some of the great work happening in the health sector, challenge the bad, and create a space for positive ideas and action,” she said.

According to her, the project will apply insights from collated data to create evidence-based media campaigns to counter COVID-19 misinformation.

“Through its various platforms, Nigeria Health Watch is a trusted source that provides informed commentary and in-depth analysis of health issues in Nigeria, always in good conscience,” said Ihekweazu.

Nigeria Health Watch will leverage Meedan’s team of experts to produce multimedia messages that debunk misinformation around COVID-19. The messages will include context and background information that is key to safely communicating debunks to

misinformation.

Also speaking during the partnership agreement, Nat Gyenes, Meedan Digital Health Lab lead, said that as we are learning each day, information and misinformations about the COVID-19 pandemic are spreading in online ecosystems as rapidly as the virus itself is spreading around the world.

He emphasizes that as the county witness strained access to health experts during emergencies, such as the one we are experiencing, can quickly lead to poor health outcomes, as low-quality information exacerbates the real-world spread of disease.

“Meedan is a technology not-for-profit that builds software and designs human-powered initiatives for newsrooms, NGOs and academic institutions. The Digital Health Lab is our initiative that focuses on improving the quality and equity of online health information.

“We are researching, designing and testing a digital response framework for addressing health misinformation,” Gyenes explained.

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echnological advances offer significant opportunities to improve health care but the practice of providing managed care to enrollees goes beyond access to premium health services.

Patients are embracing new technology and increasingly expect their care to be supported by it. For Hygeia HealthCare Management Organisation (HMO), it involves active surveillance of health trends to ensure that our services are not only geared towards access to curation, but also offers information to prevent serious illness. A key part of preventive healthcare is the identification of health trends amongst our enrollees.

To be able to do this, we have built up our own technology stack to digitize the entire process of buying a plan, registering your details and syncing with the providers who give care by telemedicine or in-person at their facilities.

The data obtained from these interactions with provid-

ers and in the course of approving access to health services is anonymized, collated and analysed. The analysis often helps us pick up developments and isolate them to clusters such as companies or communities. From this, we can tell if a particular disease is prevalent within a client company’s staff for example, and then provide guidance to the management and employees on how to take better care of their health. Our clients love this because it goes a long way to maintaining the quality of life of their team & also ensure productivity does not decline due to poor health.

“The ability to generate meaningful data and to quickly analyse it for insights is fast becoming the most important competitive edge for businesses and the leading factor responsible for rapid business transformation in today’s world.” This comment from Omoshola Yusuf who heads our Medical & Technology division captures the importance of data and our growing capacity to harness and deploy it for the benefit of our members.

We do this by implementwww.businessday.ng

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ing well planned intervention measures recommended by our in-house experts. This process begins with an in-depth evaluation of the problem.

Then our team puts together a plan to nip the trend in the bud. We implement this plan through a variety of channels such as targeted emails and newsletters, health talks, training and health checks depending on the context.

Ubong Nkanta, Head of Customer Experience says, “Data has become a valuable commodity that all organizations must master. Every interaction our members have creates data, which when properly analyzed can reveal insights that not only improve decision accuracy but also enhance customer experience” According to the HMO, with our members and providers spread across the country, we are in a good position to track health trends all over the country, particularly for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This data can be useful in formulating health policies locally, and in planning public health measures.

buy your medicines at your destination. They may not be available, and if they are, they may not be of good quality and standards.

In many countries, counterfeit drugs are a big problem. If you must buy drugs during your trip in an emergency, there are ways to reduce your chances of buying counterfeit drugs: Contact the nearest Embassy or Consulate of your native country. They should be able to connect you with doctors and pharmacies that can help you find reliable, quality medicines. Buy medicines only from licensed pharmacies and get a receipt. Do not buy medicines from open markets.

Ask the pharmacist whether the drug has the same active ingredient as the one you were taking. Make sure the medicine is in its original packaging. Look closely at the packaging. Sometimes poor-quality printing or otherwise strange-looking packaging will indicate a counterfeit product.

Make an appointment with a travel medicine specialist or your health care provider to get needed vaccines and medicines at least 4 to 6 weeks before you leave.

If you plan to be gone for more than 30 days, talk to your doctor about how you can get enough medicine for your trip.

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

Adeniyi Bukola, Consultant Family Physician and Travel Medicine Physician Q –Life Family Clinic qlifeadvisory@outlook.com.

ARD-UITH canvases for improved welfare for medical practitioners SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

What will new technology mean for Hygeia HMO, its enrollees?

ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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any travellers carry their medications while moving across international borders to treat chronic or serious health problems. However, each country has its own guidelines about which medicine is legal.

Medicines that are commonly prescribed or available over the counter in some countries could be considered illegal or controlled in other countries. For example, in Japan, drugs containing Codeine are not allowed. Some inhalers and certain allergy and sinus medications are also illegal such ones containing pseudoephedrine as found in Actifed, Sudafed and Vicks inhalers.

Adderall is a drug containing stimulants and used in treatment of attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Though it is widely prescribed in the US, it cannot be imported into Japan, even when accompanied by customs declaration and a copy of the prescription. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has strict narcotics laws that have landed many travellers in prison. While rules vary from country to country, there can be serious consequences if you violate the laws of the country you are visiting.

The consequences can range from confiscation of your medications, which could harm your treatment, to stiff penalties, including imprisonment on charges for drug trafficking. To avoid medicine-related problems during travel, follow these tips: Before You Go: Check with the Embassy of the country you will be visiting or passing through to make sure your medicines are permitted in that country. Be aware that many countries only allow taking a 30-day supply of certain medications and require the traveller to carry a prescription or a medical certificate.

If your medicine is banned at your destination, talk with your health care provider about alternative medicine or destination options, and have your doctor write a letter describing your condition and the treatment plan. The International Narcotics Board (INCB) provides general information about country regulations for travellers carrying medicines that are made with controlled substances. It’s important to note that INCB may not have information from all countries or territories.

Review the State Department’s Country Specific Information for your destination and contact the Embassy to ensure your medications are not considered illegal under local laws.

For more specifics about your destination, read the “Traveller’s Health Information available on the Centre for Disease Control website. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes has the “Guidelines for National Regulations Concerning Travelers under Treatment with Internationally Controlled Drugs”.

Buy your medicine before you travel. Don’t plan on being able to

aving suspended the indefinite strike action on Monday, the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Chapter has implored the Federal and State government to fulfill their promises to prevent resumption of the strike in July, 2020.

The association equally urged Nigeria Governors Forum to do the needful and ensure the same is done in all the states.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Monday, Lanre Olosunde, president of ARD-UITH Chapter explained that they have joined the National body, under the aegies of National Association of Resident Doctors

(NARD) to suspend the indefinite strike action.

According to him, the strike action started on June 15 was as a result of the government’s failure to meet their demands which included provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for members.

Others, he listed, included intervention of the government on salary shortfall for 2014-2016, and commitment to procure group life insurance for health workers, among others.

According to him, the Federal Government has fairly addressed some of their agitation including, the provision of Personal Protective Equipment to some hospitals.

He says: “The good citizens of Nigeria should also help put pressure on the Federal and

State governments to make good on their promises to NARD in order to prevent another strike action being called from our upcoming July NEC meeting.”

Quoting the resolution from the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of NARD, Olosunde informed that the Medical residency training funding has been included in the revised 2020 budget and will be implemented as soon as the budget is assigned to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He notes that the suspension of the strike was done in good faith by NARD considering the hardship Nigerians are going through and to give room for further negotiations and tangible actions on the promises made by the government as regards all demands.

Expert highlights treatment for frontal hair loss ANTHONIA OBOKOH

F

ront hair loss can be quite embarrassing for women, oftentimes making some women hide behind wigs, weaves and other hair covers, said Ayo Otubanjo, a senior consultant with Vinci Hair Clinic.

The expert says that Iya Eko is a colloquial term for Traction Alopecia or front hair loss in Nigeria noting that there are several factors that may influence front hair loss “There are different types

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of hair loss with a variety of potential underlying causes. It could be stress, nutritional factors, genetics or an underlying medical condition. In addition to these causes, front hair loss is often caused by certain hair styling; pulling and tugging, tight plaits, tight buns, use of hot styling tools,” said Otubanjo.

Otubanjo explained that solutions to treating front hair loss can be through surgical treatments “Hair transplant is a surgical method for hair loss treatment.

It comprises two types namely @Businessdayng

Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE),” he said.

According to the expert, explaining Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), in order to achieve a natural-looking result, FUT still remains the most common procedure used in correcting hair loss.

“Hair is removed from the back of the head (donor) which has not been affected by balding or thinning, dissected into grafts under a microscope and prepared to be inserted into the recipient site.

Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

23

FEATURE FITC Enterprise Risk Management Series: Taking proactive steps in tackling business risks Businesses that institute risk control structures ahead of disaster will identify and respond effectively and promptly to strategic business risk, and unlikely disruptions to their operations even in the post-Covid-19 era. Adopting well-suited Enterprise Risk Management and Business Continuity Management structures has become a necessity for business sustainability. These were some of the discussions at the Summit organized by FITC to help organisations prepare and tackle the business risks and uncertainties thrown up by the Covid-19 pandemic, writes Gbemi Faminu.

T

he event brought to bear the need for organisations to integrate comprehensive, systematic, disciplined and proactive processes into their operations. It was also an opportunity for FITC to reinforce its global status, as an innovative organisation leveraging on technology and rich faculty to bring about learning transformation in a highly competitive business world.

The Covid-19 pandemic took many organisations by surprise, but the smarter ones are finding quicker recovery paths.

Still, recovery time for each organisation differs and is dependent on several factors. First is the enterprise risk management and business continuity planning they had instituted prior to the unpredictable crisis. The second is the digital structures instituted by the organisation.

These were highlights of the discussions at a Summit on Enterprise Risk Management, and Business Continuity Planning organized by FITC, an organization renowned for its innovative and high-impact learning programmes and advisory services.

The FITC Enterprise Risk management Series was attended by over 1,000 participants from five continents, cutting across several industries - manufacturing, banking and finance, insurance, oil and gas, IT – and comprising business leaders and thought leaders.

All the speakers and attendees agreed that the Covid-19 pandemic had driven organisations to consider risk from new perspectives. The experience has also triggered the acceleration of digital transformation initiatives and the need for businesses to reshape their organisations to meet the challenges in the emerging future of work.

The speakers at the event were the CEO, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and keynote speaker, Oscar Onyema; director, Google Nigeria, Juliet Ehimaun-Chiazo; managing director/CEO, Rack Centre Limited, yotunde Coker; managing director/ CEO, Digital Jewels Limited, Adedoyin Odunfa, and head of operational risk, Rest of Africa & India FirstRand Group, William Wilson.

In her opening remarks, managing director/CEO, FITC, Chizor Malize, said the Summit was an opportunity for organisations to see risk management as a crucial part of the business, and pro-activeness as essential in overcoming business contingencies.

Malize said organisations should prioritize digitization, which has come to stay in the new normal. She stated that FITC is a leading technologydriven learning organisation that helps to bridge the knowledge gap in workplaces and businesses.

FITC’s learning programmes cut across leadership, talent management, capacity building for board of directors, and risk management among others, and have in no small measure strengthened the capacity of business

Chizor Malize

leaders to drive their organisations and workforce to achieve or even surpass set targets.

She harped on the importance of the workforce to business successes insisting that employees’ health should be a priority for organisations seeking higher returns and sectoral leadership in the new normal.

According to Malize, FITC is a world-class innovation-led organisation, committed to building individual and organizational capabilities through knowledge sharing, research, insight and advisory services.

The well curated knowledge summit brought together thought leaders to deliberate on the topic: Enterprise Risk Management and Business Continuity Planning. The speakers, are best of the world and people who are passionate about knowledge sharing.

As an innovative organization, FITC has brought about learning transformation leveraging technology to bring the best of the world in terms of content, faculty and participants.

As a world-class organisation with global reach and inspiration, FITC has peers throughout the world, delivering knowledge solutions, and its management is very proud of that accomplishment. It has a very rich and robust faculty, making its programmes engaging and exciting. It’s global reach and excellent faculty has helped FITC become disruptors in the knowledge space through innovation and technology.

The Enterprise Risk Management and Business Continuity Planning summit attracted over 1,200 participants, not only because technology and enterprise risk management and business continuity is important, but also as a testament of the far -reaching impact that FITC makes to the business world.

The participants who are top level professionals cut across CEOs, Realtors, Executives, Risk Officers, Techwww.businessday.ng

nologists, among others; an indication that the programme is not only diverse, but consolidated across industries. The industries represented were the financial services sector which had over 22 per cent of the participants. If added, participants from the banking services and Insurance moves the percentage of the participants at the event from the sector to up to 50 per cent.

Aside these sectors, participants at the event also included agriculturalists, real estate developers, software developers, energy experts, entrepreneurs and professional service providers, among others, who are conscious of the positive difference that Enterprise Risk Management and Business Continuity Planning will make in their businesses and other endeavours.

The participants were from four continents, registered from six African countries, and eight additional countries outside Africa and throughout the world, including Nigeria, United States of America, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Nigeria, Ghana, to mention but a few.

Continuing, FITC CEO said the Enterprise Risk Management and Business Continuity Planning is quite a topical matter. Hence, the FITC Management and Board is glad about the distinguished and highly effective faulty that dealt with the subject.

“The speakers are not just the best of the world, but people that participants can network with even after the programs and they cut across diverse industries. We also thanked all organizations that supported the realization of this programme, and we assure them of our continued commitment to learning transformation leveraging on technology,” she said.

Oscar Onyema lauded FITC for its consistency in building capacity and expanding the frontiers of professional knowledge in the Nigerian financial system.

“FITC has shown great institutional

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resilience over the years by assessing the evolving challenges of the Nigerian Financial System and re-inventing its knowledge dissemination models to equip the industry effectively,” he said.

A large part of his presentation focused on enterprise risk management and business continuity planning experience at the NSE during the pandemic.

There were several highlights and demonstrations of how prepared the Exchange was for the pandemic, including the deployment of technology at the trading floors, which adopted digital trading since March 25, 2020.

Another speaker, Juliet EhimaunChiazor spoke on risk management in the Post-Covid-19 era. She brought to the limelight, the inevitable reality in business, which entails planning for many risks – unseen hackers, regulatory changes to finical risks, refinancing risks, revenue and even exchange rate risks to mention but a few.

Risk is inherent in business. Enterprise risk management she said, has to do with all the methods and processes used by organisations to identify, assess, and prepare for any dangers, hazards, and other potentials for disaster that may interfere with an organisation’s operations and activities.

The success of risk management determines the health and success of a business enterprise. Should an organisation fail to identify the risks that can threaten its existence, then it will be ill-prepared to face any risk event.

Ehimaun-Chiazor then explained that business continuity planning is the process of creating a system of prevention and recovery to deal with potential threats to a company to ensure that ongoing operations can continue during and after the disaster recovery process. People and assets must be protected and able to function during the disaster period.

Ayotunde Coker spoke on infrastructure in the enterprise risk management. He also emphasized on business continuity planning and IT disaster recovery frameworks, which should be a way of life for businesses.

These three controls work in synergy and when effectively applied, boost organizational sustainability and help companies meet business goals.

Coker said, “Enterprise Risk Management identifies, tracks and minimizes organizational risks while Business Continuity Plan helps organisations prevent and recover from potential threats, and organisations that fail to realize these plan will pay for such negligence.”

The trio, also works better with effective deployment of technology, as organisations are expected to put in place an IT disaster recovery plan to ensure swift recovery of data and operations to an acceptable degree to restore normalcy of operations.

The IT disaster recovery cut a balance between the proactive and reactive outlook for organisations.

On her part, Adedoyin Odunfa said the world has passed the worst stage of @Businessdayng

the pandemic but has not overcome it. As the Covid-19 epidemic continues, cyber-attacks, loss of lives, loss of livelihoods and financial losses will be prevalent.

That opens up a choice for businesses to decide how they want to run after the Covid-19 dust settles and technology is at the centre of how this happens.

With the rising cases of cyberattacks, organisations need to adopt Information Management System, Business Continuity Management System and IT Service Management System to ensure their operations are safe and secured.

“Organisations need a holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organisation, provides a framework for building resilience and the capability for an effective response, safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities,” she said.

Head of Operational Risk, Rest of Africa & India FirstRand Group, William Wilson, spoke on Safeguarding Business Operations under a New Normal. According to him, the operating environment is changing with a wave of digital disruptions, increased disintermediation, increasing dependency on a broader ecosystem and business integration.

The risk expert said that the reality is that change is here to stay, but most risk tools are static and do not get updated as fast as the business is changing.

For him, risk must be an enabler now more than ever with risk managers expected to be agile while calling for digital skills for effective risk management – data mining, analytics, and dash-boarding, among others.

Wilson wants companies to adopt proactive/forward-looking risk management approach to issues, increase automation of manual processes – including controls, and increase integration with third parties. He alluded to the fact that FirstRand Merchant Bank had set its operations in a way that takes advantage of gleaned understandings of its business processes, critical risks and controls, among other issues. This has enabled the bank to stay ahead of the competition amid challenges faced by businesses.

Speaking on the quality of the panellists and Summit, Lateef Bakare, Director at First Bank of Nigeria stated that the webinar was a great outing for FITC. In his words, “The panellists were all on top of their game and we look forward to more of this impactful learning programmes.”

Director of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Department, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr. Umar Maitambari, commended FITC for the excellent content and delivery at the summit.

“Another great one from FITC. Brilliant knowledge dissemination by the well-rounded speakers. It was worth my time,” Maitambari said.

24

Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Hotels

We aim to create a cluster of hotels to translate synergies and operational efficiencies in specific geographies’ Ramsay Rankoussi is the new head of development for Africa, Radisson Hotel Group.

While his recent appointment reinforces confidence that Africa is a region of growth, Rankoussi unveils to Obinna Emelike, in this interview, his strategies for leading the growth on the continent, the 2025 target, among other related issues.

Congratulations on your new appointment. No doubt, Radisson Hotel Group is one of the largest hotel groups in Africa, but why the interest in Africa and do you think the brand is well-received in Africa? frica has always been at the centre of our growth strategy and we now wish to further accelerate our presence across the continent and across all our brands as the region evolves and diversifies itself. We have succeeded in having a flagship hotel under our Radisson Blu brand in most of the key capital cities across Africa and we now seek to leverage on this success with the introduction of newer brands from Radisson RED to Radisson but also Park Inn by Radisson and Radisson Collection.

We have been one of the fastest organically growing hotel companies in the region and as such we have been affiliated to most of the recent openings, which has often translated in higher brand recognition, as well as, demonstration of our active role in providing employment and local support. In addition, most of the larger African forums and conventions have often occured in one of our properties, showing the strength and expertise of our brand across the continent.

What are your strategies for further expansion of the brand in Africa in the face of the fierce scramble for the share of the African hotel market by major brands?

We have established a clear strategy around creating scale in focus countries, namely Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa but also in neighbouring countries where we aim to create a cluster of hotels to translate synergies and operational efficiencies in specific geographies.

We also want to accelerate our growth through the take-overs of existing hotels and through our compelling offering and solutions for the investment community given our pragmatic approach in both design and operation, as well as, our transparency in our discussions and our ability to take decisions faster than most.

Finally, our expansion strategy is driven by a team of individuals who make up our winning team, all experts within their respective subregion and mandate but also

A

Ramsay Rankoussi

bringing complementary skills from feasibility to capital markets, as well as, multilinguistic representing the diversity of the continent.

Considering the impact of Covid-19 on the global hospitality industry including Africa, how realistic is your ambition of 150 hotels in Africa by 2025?

The objective we have set represents over 150 hotels in operation and under development. Today we are almost at the first milestone of 100 hotels, which would then represent an annual objective of 10 additional hotels per year.

This represents an adequate target given the size of the region but also demonstrates our focus in quality and in securing the right opportunities in the right location and with the right partner.

We have noticed a race in growing across the continent by many other hotel chains but most have done so by acquisitions as they failed in growing organically. Our recognition in the market coupled with the tailored strategy for Africa will continue to demonstrate our strength in growing through relationships and partnerships and we will continue to focus on remaining relevant to our owners as we move forward.

Of course, growth in Africa will be difficult without credible partners. How has it been with your African partners/investors?

It remains a positive story as our growth demonstrates the quality and trust of our partners. It has been a mix of private and public investwww.businessday.ng

ments. We expect to foresee further activity from the private sector as the industry has shown positive potential – not only in terms of returns but also the impact it brings on society, employment and the overall economy.

The role of financial institutions remains key to the success of any deal structuring in Africa and we hope to witness further participation from regional and local banks, as well as, other development institutions.

While working to accelerate your presence in all key cities in Africa, which countries and cities have been good in terms of easy entry, favourable regulations/environment and good investments?

Every country has its own specificity and challenges. I think a role model and best in class in terms of regulations and transparency would be Rwanda where we are pleased by the constant efforts done by the public sector to support the growth of the country with very friendly legislation and ease of doing business.

Our priorities remain in focus countries as defined earlier,howver some of those have their local restrictions and challenges too. Nigeria has limitations in terms of ease of moving capital out of the country, which remains a risk but also the cost of construction is one of the highest across Africa.

Morocco is accelerating its vision towards tourism but the red tape in terms of obtention of license and permits can at times delay projects. South Africa is one

of the most mature countries across the continent but has also suffered from some setbacks due to some decline in its economy.

Finally, Egypt has always been one of the biggest tourism destinations, often for leisure but now also growing its importance on major business trade but the political instability and security threats have created a volatile environment.

You have almost 100 hotels in operation across Africa, how many are in the pipeline and do you think Covid-19 will delay the opening of the hotels as planned?

The 100 milestone represents both hotels in operation and under development with circa 50 percent for each category. We have witnessed some delays due to the lack of movement of people and goods during the various lockdowns and travel restrictions, however we are now witnessing a return to activity with a delay not exceeding 6 to 9 months in average.

It is also one of our priorities to open each hotel in a positive environment and some delays might be mutually provoked so each hotel benefits from the recovery.

What if your African partners are cash trapped and cannot continue with the pipeline projects, do you have plans of supporting or buying over such projects to complete them?

We will certainly assess how we can best help them by either delaying or phasing out the development timeline. We will certainly maximize all opportunities by leveraging our network of financial institutions and others.

We believe in long term relationships and have always demonstrated the best efforts in supporting our partners in difficult times with flexible solutions and commercial common-sense.

Do you think that the growth projections for the African hotel industry this year would not be realized amid the impact of coronavirus, and what path do you suggest the continent should follow for sustained recovery?

We expect a period of 24 months in terms of recovery before reaching our performance achieved last year.

The priority will be on the infrastructure and the ease of movement from airlines to other means of transportation.

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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 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 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

25

ARTS & LIFE

Making space for Playfulness: Connection in the time of COVID Polly Alakija

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ight now, in communities all over the world the common theme is connection.

Ironically, we are all being connected by the very thing that is disconnecting us from our loved ones and from activities that once gave our lives a sense of purpose. With communication and human interaction at the very core of our socialization, we have attempted to find solace in technology. While the marvels of technology in bridging distance cannot be overstated, I cannot help but wonder how our growing reliance on technology might be affecting education and creativity.

This concern grows particularly in societies like Nigeria where very many people, even before the COVID-19 disruptions, lacked access to Internet connectivity. Inequality has reared its ugly again and has made it that in this time of connected disconnection the majority of Nigerian children are still systematically behind. For the ones able to plug into distance learning platforms, their learning experience is being altered and a fundamental aspect of learning which is, community, is no longer possible.

Teaching is nurturing, it is building trust and enabling care, it is about personal response and the individual, attitudes that cannot be effectively administered virtually. Practicing distance learning at this time is revealing that on its own, distance learning is not always the most effective learning approach and in focusing on this alone are we not missing this golden opportunity to leapfrog to the 22nd Century skills of care, community, culture, and connection, the very skills and attributes that the current crisis has projected to the fore of who we are.

One of the solutions to the challenges posed by the current disruption in education is a revision of the role of ‘teacher’.

Westernization and to a large extent modernization has over time changed and redefined the persona of an educator. The coronavirus pandemic presents a very unique opportunity to reclaim the fundamentals of education. Since the community is at the heart of education, recentering com-

munity around women enables mothers, aunties, and grandmothers to play crucial roles in educating the children in their communities. An unexpected bonus from the pandemic has been the widespread introduction of working from home and as such, working parents now have more flexibility regarding childcare.

Despite this, research has shown that the brunt of these childcare and learning responsibilities still falls disproportionately on women, even though both parents are able to work from home.

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To deconstruct patriarchal narratives, a community approach to education can be prioritized.

In this scenario, both mothers and fathers, aunties and uncles, grandmothers, and grandfathers are crucial in the materialization of non-conventional education.

In Nigeria, it is normal for many generations to share a living space, and now, with increasing directives restricting movements there is more intergenerational exchange in homes.

We can leverage this to share the responsibility of education. At the

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same time, there is no age limit on learning. Intergenerational learning is a two-way street with the old and the young, in this case, the teacher and the student benefit equally and learning from each other. Intergenerational collective no-how brings collaboration and communication skills to another level. Children are able to learn more authentically and older people are able to experience a sense of joy and relevance as they pass down knowledge.

While the traditional brick and mortar approach to education is more convenient and manageable, it is not entirely effective in enabling children to learn through risk-taking and experimentation. The disruption from the pandemic is enabling us to rethink education and to integrate outdoor learning approaches already present in the early year’s sector. Through learning in nature children are able to develop imagination through play. Education and playfulness are not often two things we group together, however, playfulness is crucial in fostering creativity in children. The rigid structure of traditional classrooms does not necessarily promote freedom of thought and expression. With strict time frames for lessons and specific subject order, there @Businessdayng

is very little room for fruitful learning experiences which undoubtedly involve experimentation. If learning involves mastering skills, then indeed any effective teaching must give ample time to the mastering of these skills.

The coronavirus pandemic has us all stuck to our screens. At a time where we have more time than we have ever collectively had there is a tangible lack of motivation. Yet, research supports this: too much screen time reduces our self-motivation, and children are victims of this too.

How then can we teach children, when they lack the motivation to learn? By breaking down the barriers society has put in place we can nurture playfulness in children and, in turn, this inspires motivation. The solitary nature of online learning eradicates motivation that comes from socialization. There is no space within digital classrooms to allow for playfulness. At Five Cowries Arts Education Initiative, we have developed Home Learning Kits that use arts to maintain our children’s educational standards, keeping them motivated and positively occupied while schools remain closed. Through these kits, we are able to provide structured learning for children across several learning platforms that still encourages playfulness and aids creativity.

I mentioned in my last column that many city governments are using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to reconsider and restructure and perhaps find a way to leapfrog to the 22nd Century attitudes. There is ample room for growth and evolution in the education sector and we have an opportunity to scrutinise mainstream teaching methods.

Social distancing, a phrase that many of us had never heard or used a year ago is now a mainstay in much of our social settings. Outdoor learning presents a great opportunity to educate children and still maintain social distancing. This example is one of several that show us that the tools to navigate this new world we find ourselves are non-conventional.

Let us expose ourselves to fresh challenges; let us treasure this opportunity to assess how and who can guide this process. And, let all of us, young and old be a part of the collective educational process.

26

Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

entertainment ‘I keep learning the business of music to know the sounds to create, the right artistes, target audience’

Ifiok Effanga, who stages as Fiokee, is a Nigerian ace guitarist. The Akwa Ibom State-born entertainer, is known for his treble guitar solos infused with highlife steeped guitar lines. In two decades as a guitarist, he has contributed to over 70 percent of hit songs in Afrobeats with his guitar sounds. In this interview, he tells Obinna Emelike what endears him to artistes and fans, his inspiration and plans.

Congratulations on your many feats. But why being a guitarist? uitar has always been my strength because of my foundation. I started playing in a band where we had singers, drummers, bassists and others. So, there was division of labour, though I used to backup the singers then. It means I can still sing today.

But for over my 10 years playing in a repertoire band, It has always been like that. So, I just decided to focus on the guitar more. I plan to add singing to my guitar career. I have already done that with my track Very Connected, which featured Flavour. I sang the hook.

you have been associated with many artistes, some as their official guitarist,

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What do you think endears you to the many artistes/clients?

I was Dbanj’s official performing guitarist for four years. After recording on his track Scape Goat, I joined Flavour in August 2014, also as his performing/studio guitarist.

The reason I work with so many artistes on their recordings is that they trust my delivery. I understand what they called ‘market’ in my choice of sound, good business relationship and I protect their sounds. Most importantly, I have always been consistent in my delivery over the years.

You are acclaimed Africa’s No. 1 guitarist, do you truly live up to that billing?

All I can say is that I have been able to put a structure around my brand, which is helping me achieve that.

How has it been for two decades as a guitarist and 10 years as Afrobeats recording guitarist and what is the difference between the two roles?

The 20 years a guitarist is my whole experience from the grass-

Ifiok Effanga

roots and my whole guitar journey from learning process, playing for different bands, jazz group, Church instrumentalist, and studio recordings.

But the 10 years is my experience in the mainstream platform as a recording guitarist and also a performing guitarist on both studio and stage. Over the years,

What inspires your great sounds and recently, your music?

Music is spiritual. You have to be in the right state of mind to create a good sound. So, my inspiration comes from God first, then pure heart, peaceful mind, and a very good atmosphere that do not need distraction. Most importantly, I have been through a lot in life.

I pour all my emotions and struggles into my creativity.These are my inspirations.

Why did you switch from offering music artistes hit sounds to releasing your own singles?

Over the years, I have given so much to the artistes. So, I feel that I deserve the same energy too.

Looking at ‘Independent Woman’, your first singles and ‘Osan’, your latest, has there been improvements and what are you doing to ensure such feats?

There have been a massive improvement. I keep learning the business part of the music and that helped me a lot to know the direction of sound to create, the right artistes that will deliver the sound and also my target audience to channel my music to.

How easy do you get top music artistes to feature in your music?

It is not easy. I appreciate each and everyone one of them that has responded so far. I am truly grateful.

Over 500 songs in 20 years is a big feat, what more do fans and the music industry expect from you?

I am dropping a new track in early July and then possibly an EP will follow up in August.

Netflix joins forces with Nigerian talent to showcase its creative wealth to the world Obinna Emelike

N

ollywood has been at the epicentre of the African entertainment industry, creating stars and producing content that is resonated with fans across the continent. This year, Netflix joins hands with some of Nigeria’s most talented creatives to bring their unique stories to the world.

With this newfound access to the global stage, the powerful stories crafted by Nigerian creatives will now enjoy a worldwide audience.

Ben Amadasun, Netflix’s director of content acquisition and co-production in Africa, who hails from Nigeria explains: “Great stories come from anywhere in the world, and Africa is full of incredible stories that we finally get to share with the world. We have a wealth of fables that have been passed down from generations, and Netflix has a great opportunity to bring those stories to the forefront, which will resonate all over the world.’’

According to Genevieve Nnaji (Lionheart), actress and director,

“We have amazing talent and we have not had an adequate platform to showcase our talent across the board. It is a good thing, especially for upcoming artists who want a chance. We have so many more stories to tell.”

In the pipeline is the Nigerian Netflix Original, Untitled Akin Omotoso, directed by accomplished filmmaker Akin Omotoso, starring Kate Henshaw, Ade Layoe, Richard MofeDamijo and Joke Silva among others.

This six-part series, announced in February 2020, is set in contemporary Nigeria and shot in Lagos. There is little doubt that the upcoming projects will find a welcoming audience on the service as Kate says: “African content will resonate around the world because there are Africans all over the world, not just in Africa. ” Acclaimed filmmaker Akin Omotoso adds, “It is my firm belief that a great story will always find a receptive audience, regardless of where it is from, or how different the world is from their own reality. Ultimately, people want great entertainment, compelling storylines and powerful acting. www.businessday.ng

Netflix represents an incredible opportunity to get Nigerian stories to 190 countries - it’s an indescribable moment for the Nigerian production industry, and we’re thrilled to share our stories with the world.”

“For so long I’ve been fortunate enough to experience how African content can, in fact, travel and this investment by Netflix is going to help grow the African industry and get our stories out there,” says Mo Abudu, CEO of EbonyLife, which has several licensed titles including; The Wedding Party, Castle & Castle and Fifty on the service and

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recently signed a groundbreaking partnership with Netflix to create multiple titles including the on-screen adaptations of literary works by two critically-acclaimed Nigerian authors: a series based on contemporary author, Lola Shoneyin’s best-selling debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives and a film adaptation of Death And The King’s Horseman, a play by 1986 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature, author, poet & playwright, Wole Soyinka.

“The stories that come from Nollywood are stories of the Ni-

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gerian people. These stories are uniquely African and they are told by creatives who live, breathe and are born from African culture”.

Celebrated filmmaker and actor Kunle Afolayan (Mokalik, The CEO, The Figurine) further adds, “I believe so much in my culture and I’ll do everything possible to use audiovisual to project, preach, educate and also preserve the same culture. Aside from entertainment, you can educate, and you can inform.’’

Kenyan-born, Dorothy Ghettuba who leads African Originals for Netflix explains that “our continent has a wealth of diversity, multiplicity, and beauty in stories that have yet to be told and we want to be top of mind for creators in Nigeria, especially when it comes to stories they haven’t had a chance to tell yet.”

On recognising the significance of African stories on a global platform like Netflix, Abudu adds, “We can only continue to rise and do better with how we tell our stories to those who are receiving it. This step that Netflix is taking is going to help grow the African industry and get our stories out there”.

Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Live @ The Exchanges Nigeria stocks shed over N290bn in four days Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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igerian stock market looks good to close this week on a negative note following a record loss of N292billion in four days as soaring coronavirus cases continue to pressure market rally.

With no much improvement on the demand side of the Bourse, amid sell pressure on the supply side, market watchers expect no deviation on Friday from Thursday’s trading pattern.

This week, the market has decreased by -0.81percent after Thursday’s -0.12percent dip. This month, the stock market has declined by -2.54 percent while this year, the market has decreased by -8.26percent.

Thursday’s dip was driven majorly by sell decisions on stocks like MTNN Plc and Zenith Bank Plc. MTNN Plc led the laggards after its share price decreased from N118 to N117.5, losing 50kobo or 0.42percent; while Zenith Bank Plc followed after its share price decreased from N16.4 to

N16.15, down by 25kobo or 1.52percent. In 3,413 deals, investors exchanged 130,279,680 units valued at N1.624billion.

Though, there is still the possibility of bargain hunting after record dip which put many value counters at new lows.

The value of listed stocks which opened this week at a high of N13.137 trillion decreased to N12.845trillion as at Thursday June 25, while the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) decreased from week open high of 25,182.67 points to 24,625.17 points.

Securities Dealers say N150bn sukuk confirms NSE’s absorptive capacity Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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tockbrokers on the Nigerian Stock Exchange have advocated more issuance of fixed income securities by the government to finance infrastructure deficit, describing the recent over-subscription of Sukuk Ijarah, issued by the Federal Government as a clear demonstration of the market’s absorptive capacity.

Recently Federal Government floated a N150 billion Sukuk Ijarah, a financial instrument for ethical investors that provides regular biannual tax-free payment with seven-year maturity and it was oversubscribed in excess of 400percent.

Market watchers described the over- subscription of the N150 billion Sukuk Ijirah offer as a double-edged sword as the offer which snapped up over N600 billion from the market has largely contributed to the current bearish

trend amid other perceived variables.

Appraising the historic subscription of the instrument despite the inclement operating environment, Securities Dealers on the Exchange ascribed the success to factors such as investor confidence as the instrument is project-tied and assurance of ease of redemption being backed by full weight of the government. They urged the fe government to leverage such an instrument to mobilize fund to revive Nigeria’s ailing industrial base. “ Federal Government should increase the pace of issuance of such an instrument as the market has demonstrated its absorptive capacity given the over 400percent over subscription letter of the last Sukuk.”, the President, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, Olatunde Amolegbe said.

Corroborating him, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Global Asset Management, Babatunde

Sobamowo noted that Sukuk was becoming famous of its structure as an Investment vehicle being used by the Federal Government. According to him, the instrument can boost implementation of the government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). “ Sukuk confers on the subscribers, ownership of the assets being financed which in most cases are for ethical purposes. In recent times, they are used to finance roads ,railways and other infrastructure which are lacking in the country.

They will serve as catalyst to the much needed development to boost our industrial and agricultural growth which will impact positively on our GDP as clearly spelt out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) “ In order to ensure probity in the management of these underlying assets. It is advisable that Project Management Offices ( PMOS) are opened in all the sites where these funds are being deployed.

Nigerian Breweries pays N16.1bn as dividend for 2019 Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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igerian Breweries Plc got shareholders’ approval to pay total dividend of N16.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020. Approval to pay the total dividend which translates to N2.01 per share was received at the Company’s 74th Annual General Meeting (AGM) which held in Lagos on Tuesday June 23, 2020.

Speaking at the AGM, the Chairman of the Company, Kola Jamodu disclosed that the Company had earlier paid an interim dividend of N3.99 billion, that is, 50 kobo per share, in December 2019, and that the

final dividend will therefore be N12.1 billion, which comes to N1.51 per share which would become payable on June 24, 2020.

A breakdown of the Company’s results for the period revealed that it recorded a net revenue of N323 billion as against N324.4 billion recorded in 2018.

Jamodu explained that some of the factors that impacted on the Company’s performance in 2019 were inflation at double-digit rate, increase in input cost and further rise in the Excise Duty rate which could not be passed to the consumer due to continued pressure on purchasing power. The business was nevertheless able to post a positive Profit After

Tax of N16 billion for the year due to series of innovations and implementation of cost efficiencies.

Shareholders present commended the Board and Management of the Company for being resilient in the face of the challenging operating environment and appreciated the dividend payment which was coming at the right time in view of current economic realities.

The Shareholders further commended the Board for ensuring that investors continued to get returns on their investment in the Company. They equally urged the Company not to relent in looking at innovative ways to improve on its performance thereby ensuring that it remains ahead of the pack.

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news Here are 10 insights from World Bank...

Continued from page 1

recover.

Weakening global demand for oil, compounded by the unpredictable policy

decisions of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major oil producers, are serious threats to Nigeria’s economic outlook. A more severe domestic outbreak and/or a more protracted decline in oil prices relative to the World Bank’s baseline scenario would further deepen Nigeria’s recession. In a high-risk scenario – one that assumes a severe outbreak of COVID-19 and a slower recovery in oil prices – Nigeria could experience negative growth of -7.4 percent in 2020, and the recession would extend into 2021. According to the Washington-based bank, failure to contain COVID-19 domestically would not only deepen the recession, but also impose a major burden on the already strained healthcare system. It, in turn, could cause a spike in morbidity and mortality rates, especially for low-income households and vulnerable communities.

Bold reforms seen as only way out of the woods The current unprecedented crisis facing Nigeria will require an equally unprecedented response from the entire Nigerian public sector, together with the private sector, to contain the outbreak and protect lives and livelihoods of lowincome and vulnerable Nigerians, according to the World Bank.

The trajectory of the global pandemic and its longterm economic impact are subject to an extraordinary degree of uncertainty. Even so, the government is in a strong position to determine the speed, quality, and sustainability of Nigeria’s economic recovery. Much

will depend on how the government’s clear initial response to this unexpected turbulence evolves going forward. In the near term, the next three to six months, coordinated fiscal and monetary policy actions will be necessary to ease the human and economic costs of COVID-19. In the medium term, the next six to 12 months, a series of bold reforms represents the best opportunity for ensuring a robust and sustainable recovery. While dealing with the disruption of the pandemic, a postCOVID-19 reform package would be needed to overcome some of Nigeria’s more persistent macroeconomic challenges, including its low level of economic productivity.

Banks’ NPLs to jump as oil rout, pandemic bite The economic downturn and the collapse of global oil prices will likely reverse the declining trend in banking sector NPLs, starting with loans to the oil sector, which represent almost 30 percent of private-sector credit, and progressing through the remaining sectors as demand weakens.

On-balance-sheet dollardenominated exposures, which represented 38 percent of banks’ loan portfolio and 55 percent of their liabilities at end-2019, will also be a source of strain.

Over the past five years, oil has represented more than 80 percent of exports, 30 percent of banking-sector credit, and 50 percent of general government revenues. A large share of the country’s non-oil industrial and service sectors also relies on foreign-exchange in inflows generated by the oil industry.

Nigerian banks already applied to the CBN to restructure 33 percent of their loan books as they struggle with the downturn in oil prices and the economic

Investors post N558bn unsuccessful bids...

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the financial system.

While the CBN raised N10.64 billion at the last T-bills auction, investors were willing to invest more than eight times the amount offered at N89 billion. Investors’ high demand for the instruments drove stop rates to dip further across all tenors at 1.8 percent, 2.0 percent and 3.75 percent on the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day bills, respectively.

Investors also jostled for the N100 billion the Debt Management Office (DMO) sought to raise at the FGN bond auction with N445.16 billion for the 12.75 percent FGN April 2023 (reopening 5-year bond), 12.50 percent FGN March 2035 (re-opening

15-year bond) and 12.98 percent FGN March 2050 (reopening 30-year bond).

According to the auction result seen by BusinessDay, investors oversubscribed for the June FGN bond by more than four times the amount that was offered.

Yinka Ademuwagun, research analyst at United Capital, linked the reason for the lost bids to the efforts by the government and the CBN to maintain low rates environment across the fixed income market.

“Most of the lost bids were partly due to investors asking for relatively high yields, but the government and the CBN are notwillingtodancetotheirtune.

So for those kinds of investors, they would have to look at other www.businessday.ng

L-R: Ovie Omo-Agege, deputy senate president; Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker, House of Representatives; Ahmad Lawan, senate president; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and President Muhammadu Buhari, during an emergency virtual meeting of the national executive committee of All Progressives Congress (APC), at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, yesterday.

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implication of the pandemic.

Credit to private sector declines by 65.7% Another casualty of the oil price downturn and the pandemic-induced economic lockdown is credit to the private sector. Private sector credit severely declined in April 2020 due to constrained economic activity during the lockdown, as it sharply dropped by 65.7 percent, according to the World Bank’s data. Meanwhile, credit to the government grew by 7.2 percent, rebounding from a 53 percent decline in January 2020.

Nigeria’s external position exposed by falling FPI flows A persistent current-account deficit and falling FPI inflows are exacerbating the deterioration of Nigeria’s external position. In 2019, the current-account deficit was mainly financed by net FPI inflows of US$9 billion, which were attracted by a stable exchange rate and high returns on fixedincome securities (especially OMO bills) early in the year.

However, due to increasing risk aversion in global capital markets, total FPI flows into Nigeria declined

by 54 percent during Q1 2020. Meanwhile, in a context of pervasive policy and regulatory uncertainty, weakening demand, and r ising macroeconomic headwinds, net FDI inflows fell in 2019 by 8 percent from their already low level of less than US$2 billion, or 0.5 percent of GDP. While FPI and FDI both declined, FDI fell faster, causing the share of FPI in total capital inflows to rise to over 50 percent in 2019. The shift from FDI to FPI represents an increase in Nigeria’s reliance on “hot money” to finance the BoP, which exacerbates the vulnerability of the current account. Finally, net external reserves fell from US$42.1 billion in 2018 to US$37.8 billion by end-2019, equivalent to 4.6 months of imports, and intensifying pressures on the naira exchange rate. These variables are all markedly worse than on the eve of the 2015/16 shock.

Government revenue as percentage of GDP to fall to 5% The protracted slump in global oil prices has reduced Nigeria’s general government revenue from

an already low 8 percent of GDP in 2019 to a projected 5 percent in 2020. This sudden drop in revenue comes just when fiscal resources are urgently needed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak and stimulate the economy, creating a financing gap that threatens to destabilise the government’s fiscal position.

Lower government revenues cast doubt over the feasibility of implementing the N2.3 trillion stimulus lined up by the government to soften the blow of the pandemic on the economy.

Crisis provides opportunity for Nigeria to leverage diaspora The World Bank urged the government to find ways of better leveraging the strength of its diaspora.

Diaspora remittances in Nigeria are larger than both foreign direct investment (FDI) and official development assistance.

Thus, leveraging the diaspora more effectively in support of the country’s sustainable growth and development is now more important than ever. Remittances help many Nigerians meet their health needs, not only in a pandemic like CO-

VID-19 but throughout their lives, the bank noted.

Recipient households are also shown to be more likely to increase their investments in education and entrepreneurship, thus helping put Nigeria on a firm footing for the future. Nigerian emigrants dispersed across Africa, Europe, and North America are also well positioned to catalyse development through trade, investments, technology transfer, and knowledge exchange. At present, intense migratory pressures have overwhelmed the capacity of established systems to deliver safe, regular, and organised migration. In response to COVID-19, the Nigerian authorities now have a timely opportunity to strengthen these systems by actively collaborating with counterparts in destination countries. In the short to medium term, policy reforms could also encourage skilled emigrants to return and also attract foreign workers with valuable knowledge and advanced skills. The total effect would be to maximise the developmental impact of Nigeria’s widespread diaspora.

investment outlets with attractive yields,” Ademuwagun said.

For other alternative investment instruments that have the potential for good returns, industry analysts pointed at the equities market, corporate bond and the longterm private equity and joint venture capital industry.

Meanwhile, Kalu Aja, CEO of the Abuja-based AfriSwiss Capital Assets Management Ltd, cautioned that investment should match risk profile and objectives, adding that it might be difficult to “really tell people where to invest if I don’t know their risk profile”.

Equities market While the excess liquidity condition in Nigeria’s financial system is expected to be further exacerbated by maturing OMO bills in Q3 and Q4, industry analysts recommend the Ni-

gerian equities market as an investment option that holds opportunity for good returns.

“Other investment alternatives apart from T-bills would naturally be the equities market,” Ayorinde Akinloye, a research analyst at CSL Stockbrokers, said.

Market analysts explained that they are already seeing investors taking positions to tap from the equities market.

“Some of these investors are damming the negative impact COVID-19 will have on corporate performance in 2020 as they force on the potential for double-digit capital appreciation as well as high single-digit dividend yields,” Ademuwagun said.

Corporate bond Aside from the equities market, the other investment option investors could tap

from is the bond issued by corporates as they have higher returns than the FGN bond.

“So the other option on the table is corporate bonds, and commercial papers,” a Lagos-based analyst said on the condition of anonymity.

A corporate bond is a type of debt security that is issued by a firm and sold to investors.

The company gets the capital it needs and inreturn,the investor is paid a pre-established numberofinterestpaymentsateither a fixed or variable interest rate.

Private equity/joint venture Long-term investors who are not risk-averse can consider putting their funds in private equity and joint venture industry as there are a lot of Nigerian start-ups who are in dire need of growth capital, according to market analysts.

Akinloye recommended that long-term-focused investors should begin to tap into the growing PE and VC industry.

“I believe institutional investors (particularly PFAs) would have to take more risk on longer-term investments. This would involve finance startups and companies that require growth capital,” Akinloye said.

Venture capital is financing given to start-up companies and small businesses with the potential to break out while private equity, at its most basic, is equity-shares representing ownership of, or an interest in, an entity that is not publicly listed or traded.

“Nevertheless, I expect these funds to trickle into the equities market which represents an easier alternative relative to long term PE or VC funding,” Ademuwagun said.

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Sports Concerns mount over U.S. and French Opens as Djokovic, others test positive for coronavirus Stories by Anthony Nlebem

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he excitement of the return of sports might soon fade away as more athletes test positive for coronavirus.

On Tuesday, World number one Novak Djokovic became the latest tennis player to test positive for COVID-19.

Djokovic announced he and his wife have COVID-19 after he played in a series of exhibition matches he organised in Serbia and Croatia with zero social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Djokovic becomes the fourth player to test positive for COVID-19 after participating in the matches held in Belgrade and Zadar, Croatia.

Others were three-time Grand Slam semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki.

This has raised questions about the full-fledged return of tennis, including the U.S. Open, planned for August.

“Unfortunately, this virus is still present, and it is a new

reality that we are still learning to cope and live with. I am hoping things will ease with time so we can all resume lives the way they were,” Djokovic said.

“I am extremely sorry for each individual case of infection. I hope that it will not complicate anyone’s health situation and that everyone will be fine.”

Djokovic has been in the news frequently in connection to the COVID-19 outbreak, which led to the suspension of the ATP and WTA professional tennis tours in March. Plans were announced last week for the sport’s sanctioned events to return in August.

In April, Djokovic was criticized for saying he would not

want to take a vaccine for the virus in order to be able to compete, even if it were mandatory for travel.

In May, when he was staying in Spain, Djokovic broke local lockdown rules by practicing at a tennis club about a week before it was allowed.

More recently, Djokovic complained about the U.S.

Tennis Association’s plans to try to protect people from the virus during the U.S. Open with such measures as limiting the size of players’ entourages, going so far as to say he didn’t know whether he would go to the tournament in New York.

The U.S. Open is scheduled to begin August 31 without spectators, and the French Open — postponed from May — is supposed to start Sept. 27.

Djokovic found himself defending the lax arrangements of his Adria Tour exhibitions, which were meant to raise money to help those affected by the pandemic but where the stands were packed and players casually interacted with fans and each other off the court. Djokovic and other players were seen hugging each other and partying in night clubs and restaurants.

After Dimitrov said he tested positive over the weekend, the final of the competition in Croatia — in which Djokovic was supposed to play — was canceled. Next week’s tour stop in Bosnia has been called off, too.

Croatia has 2,336 registered cases of the virus, with 107 deaths. Serbia has recorded about 13,000 cases and 263 deaths.

“It was all born with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds towards people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this,” Djokovic said. “We organized the tournament at the moment when the virus has weakened, believing that the conditions for hosting the Tour had been met.”

Both Serbia and Croatia lifted most of the lockdowns and other restrictions ahead of the elections held in Serbia last Sunday and to be held in Croatia on July 5.

Opposition in Croatia has questioned whether the vote in Croatia should go ahead and whether Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and his government should self-isolate after he briefly met with Djokovic in Zadar during the tournament.

Djokovic, who is not showing symptoms of COVID-19, said he will remain in selfisolation for 14 days.

CAF releases fresh guidelines for return of football

More excitement as major football leagues continue this weekend

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ollowing developments in the spread and control of COVID-19 across the continent and the rest of the world, series of meetings has been held regarding the future of competitions.

It is in this regard that the CAF Medical Committee in collaboration with the Technical & Development Department and a team of experts has put together a comprehensive plan to guide the Member Associations (MA’s) on the restart of football activities on the continent.

The 27-page document titled “CAF Guidelines to Resume Football in Africa” emphasizes on the health of the major stakeholders (Players, Officials, Fans, Partners) as the essential element, which should constitute the basis of all decisions regarding the reintroduction of football activities across the continent supported by the authorization of relevant State Authorities.

The plan also highlights on effective and continuous medical assessment (testing) of players and officials, guidelines for training sessions, disinfection of sporting

facilities, as well as strict adherence to the global preventive protocols.

“This comprehensive document is major step towards resuming football on the continent. Based on recent developments, it is important we have a plan in place to guide our stakeholders on the return of continental and domestic competitions, and the need for an all hands on deck approach.

“Many considerations were factored into the putting together of the document by our team of experts notably the specificities of the continent.

Together with strategies established by local authorities, it provides the MA’s with adequate information to resume

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operations upon receiving the green light,” said CAF Acting General Secretary Abdelmounaim Bah. Meanwhile, the Organising Committee for Interclubs Competitions & Management of Club Licensing, and the Organising Committee for Women’s Football held meetings via video-conference last week on the future on the various competitions.

The CAF Executive Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, 30 June 2020 via video-conference will make pronouncements on the recommendations by the respective Standing Committees. Details of the Executive Committee meeting to be announced in due course.

ootball fans will witness the continued return of live sport across the globe, with the Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, FA Cup, EFL Championship.

The weekend games start on Friday with action from England’s second tier, the EFL Championship, with Brentford and West Bromwich Albion battling it out.

Defending Serie A champions, Juventus will also be in action at home to Lecce at. Also, Sevilla and Real Valladolid will face-off in La Liga at 9pm..

Football fans will be in for further action on Saturday with the resumption of the FA Cup. Norwich City host Manchester United at Carrow Road for the first three quarterfinal clashes this weekend.

Other matches schedules for the day include a crunch match for promotion hopefuls, Leeds United against Fulham in the EFL Championship. There is also a Midlands derby between Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier

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League.

Celta Vigo host LaLiga title contenders, Barcelona at 4pm.

Serie A title hopefuls, Lazio host Fiorentina.

The FA Cup completes its quarterfinal stage with three matches on Sunday. Sheffield United and Arsenal battle it out, Leicester City versus Chelsea and Newcastle United @Businessdayng

versus Manchester City.

Other games on Sunday include an EFL Championship match between Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town; a Premier League clash between Watford and Southampton; Parma v Inter Milan in Serie A ; and a key LaLiga clash between Espanyol and Real Madrid at 9pm.

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news

COVID-19 realities: EY, Indian professionals forum, NICCI partner to promote organisational transformation GBEMI FAMINU

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s the impact of COVID-19 crisis takes its toll on organisational culture and structure with the attendant disruption of businesses across the world, EY Nigeria, in collaboration with the Indian Professionals Forum (IPF) and Nigeria-Indian Chambers of CommerceandIndustries(NICCI), is hosting a virtual discussion to address new ways organisations can address the current challenges within the world of work.

The panel session, which has as the theme ‘Driving Organisational Transformation in the new normal’ holds this Saturday, June 27, 2020, with special focus on how to explore what Next and Beyond look like; emerging risks for businesses, effective supply change management and workforce resilience, among other relevant issues.

The panel discussion will attract prominent business professionals drawn from within the Indian Professionals in Nigeria and EY network, and promises to be very engaging, informative and insightful. Panelists will include, Atul Kshetry, President, India Professionals Forum; Sachin Ganglani, Managing Director, Sacvin Nigeria, Ajay Vaswani, Group Director, Veevee Group of industries and Siddhartha Khandelwal, Chief

Finance Officer, Tolaram-Arla (Dano). From EY network, we have Ashish Bakhshi, Partner and Head of Markets (West Africa); Ben Afudego, Advisory Leader, EY West Africa, Bunmi Kuku, Partner, Performance Improvement Leader and Lola Esan, People Advisory Services Leader. The Panel session will be moderated by Benson Uwheru, a Partner in EY, expert in governance and risk issues.

Speaking on the reasons behind this special session, Ashish Bakhshi, Partner and Head of Markets, EY West Africa, says there is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally and drastically changed the way businesses operate across the world. Therefore, changes have automatically become inevitable; a greater number of employees will work from home more frequently, supply chains will be reorganized to maximize agility and flexibility, and technology will feature more prominently. Firms must think through how they are going to run business in future and continue being relevant and productive and transition smoothly to this new normal”. EY through its knowledge of different markets and sectors keeps educating and supporting businesses so that they can be relevant and be ready to adopt the change.

UI, UNN slide on world varsity ranking, as ASUU says ranking vindicates current strike REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan

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niversity of Ibadan and University of Nigeria, Nsukka, are the only two Nigerian citadel of learning that made the world’s best 2,000 Universities in the 2020/2021 ranking released by the Centre for World University Ranking.

Both universities, who presently hold national rankings of first and second in Nigeria, could not make top 1,000 as the UI, the premier university, is ranked 1,163 while University of Nigeria, Nsukka, returned as 1,882 in the world.

Unlike Nigerian universities, the first 13 universities in South Africa made the best 2,000 universities while seven of them made the best 1000 varsities in the world.

These are University of Cape Town (268), University of Witwatersrand (275), Stellenbosch University (429), University of Kwazulu-natal (477), University of Pretoria (578), University of Johannesburg (706), North-west University (922) By this ranking, University of Ibadan is 8th in Africa followed by University of Western Cape, South Africa (1,158) that is ranked 9th on the continent.

The Centre for World University ranking utilised quality of education, which is measured by the number of a university’s alumni who have won a major academic distinctions relative to the university’s size, alumni employment (number of alumni who have held top executive position at world’s largest economy), quality of faculty (number of a university faculty who have won major academic distinctions), and research performance ( measured by the total number of research paper, high quality publications in top-tier journals, influence and citations) to arrive at the latest ranking.

Reacting to the ranking, chairman, University of Ibadan chapter of the Academic Staff Union of

Universities (ASUU), Ayo Akinwole, stated that the ranking vindicated the struggle by ASUU to make government commit not less than 26 percent of her national budget to education, lamenting that the best the Muhammadu Buhari government had done was to reduce the budget yearly to about 6 percent at present.

According to Akinwole, ASUU has been drawing government and Nigerians’ attention to the rot in the tertiary education system and was proven right by the 2012 Needs Assessment conducted by the Federal Government.

As revealed in the ranking, it has taken personal dogged efforts of research output of academics in the University of Ibadan and University of Nigeria to position Nigeria on the global Map. He noted that the only variable that made two Nigerian universities to be ranked among the best 2000 universities is in relation to the research performance where the University of Ibadan had 1,101 with a total score of 69.4, while Nsukka had 1805 and a total score of 66.2.

According to Akinwole, Nigerian academics are among the best in the world but are faced with poor working conditions including poor salaries and lack of the appropriate tools and clement environment to make them compete globally.

ASUU has been on strike to make government address issues of revitalisation fund, Earned academic allowances, visitation panel to universities, proliferation of state varsities and issues of governance in them and speedy conclusion of the renegotiation of 2009 agreement.

He admonished Nigerians to join ASUU in ensuring that Federal Government injects more funds for the revitalisation of public varsities so that Nigerian universities will be able to compete effectively globally and their graduates will be respected across the world with their certificates. www.businessday.ng

L-R: Raymond Ihyembe, independent director, Caverton Offshore Support Group plc; Amaka Obiora, company secretary; Aderemi Makanjuola, chairman, and Titilola Adigun, chief financial officer, at the 11th annual general meetings of Caverton Offshore Support Group, held at Caverton Helipad, Lagos.

Nigeria’s rating at risk as debt, financing gap rise – Fitch

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sharp rise in Nigeria’s sovereign debt and a ballooning financing gap could trigger a rating downgrade as policymakers in Africa’s biggest economy struggle to deal with the fallout from a coronavirus-induced oil price crash, a director at Fitch said.

The global ratings agency downgraded Nigeria to “B” in April with a negative outlook from “B+”, citing aggravation of pressure on external finances.

Moody’s said in April it would likely downgrade the country if the government was unable to alleviate the damage to its revenue and balance sheet. S&P

cut Nigeria’s rating in March on weakening external finances.

Nigeria – also Africa’s top oil exporter – is under increasing pressure to stimulate growth and cut debt after its first quarter current account turned negative, overvaluing its naira currency.

The oil price slump has slashed government revenues.

“We have two elements that could lead us to take a negative rating action/downgrade on Nigeria. Aggravation of external liquidity pressures and a sharp rise in government debt to revenues ratio,” Mahmoud Harb, sovereign ratings director at Fitch, told Reuters.

The debt to revenue ratio for Nigeria is set to worsen to 538 percent by the end of 2020, from 348 percent a year earlier, before improving slightly next year, Harb said. The medium debt ratio for “B” rated countries is 350 percent, he said.

Nigeria will need $23 billion to meet its external financing needs this year, Fitch estimates, noting that the country only has few options, including running down its reserves, after shelving plans to issue Eurobonds.

Abuja’s foreign currency reserves could fall to $23.3 billion this year if foreign exchange access is normalised, Harb said,

from around $36 billion.

Nigeria has been restricting access since the pandemic to boost the naira, similar to a step it took when oil prices crashed in 2015, which worsened a 2016 recession.

The central bank is yet to provide currency to investors that need to leave Nigeria, weakening sentiment. Analysts estimate that around $2 billion needs to exit Nigeria.

Nigeria could avoid a ratings downgrade if it strengthens its finances, reforms its forex policy and shows a path to reducing its deficit by boosting non-oil revenues, Fitch’s Harb said.

NDELA seeks support to dismantle drug Winners emerge in SystemSpecs Children’s Day essay competition smuggling networks in Nigeria AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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ational Drug Law Enforcement Agenc y (NDLEA) has solicited for the support of the maritime industry stakeholders in the area of intelligence and information sharing to enable it dismantle drug smuggling networks across West African region.

Speaking in a message to mark 2020 International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Omolade Faboyede, director in charge of seaport operations, said since mid-2000, West Africa has emerged as a transit point for trafficking of cocaine from South America to Europe such that United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) estimated that $1.25 billion worth of cocaine passed the region in 2010 alone.

She raised alarm that there had been massive movement of Cannabis Sativa from Ghana to Nigerian waters, adding that there are 200 million illicit drug users worldwide.

On behalf of Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah, chairman/ chief executive of NDLEA, she noted that maritime stakeholders support has become very crucial because drugs are usually concealed in bulk cargoes, containers, cars, freight vehicles, trailers or coaches, ship hull and speed boats in connivance with

port staff.

While stating that drug trafficking tarnishes the image of a country, impact negatively on the security, andeconomy, Faboyede said that Nigeria must have the political will to tackle drug trafficking by strengthening and funding agencies like NDLEA. According to her, about 190,000 people die yearly to illicit drugs, which shows that drug trafficking, is a threat to human live, national development and security.

Faboyede listed the commonly trafficked drugs to include cocaine, heroin, morphine, cannabis sativa and crystal methamphetamine, and that they could be trafficked by air, land and sea.

“Drug trafficking through the sea has been a security problem for all countries of the region because it involves the movement of large quantity drugs. The trafficking of narcotic drugs by sea has virtually become an industry comprised of many individual and enterprises of varying sizes. It is an attraction for major international criminal organisations and terrorist,” she said.

Faboyede said this year’s theme, ‘Better Knowledge for Better Care’ depicts the need for improved understanding of the world drug problem and foster greater international cooperation for countering its impact.

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SEGUN ADAMS

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ystemSpecs, financial and human capital technology firm, has announced winners of the 2020 edition of its Children’s Day Essay Competition. The competition was organised to create opportunities for children from ages nine to 16 to share innovative ideas capable of driving the attainment of a sustainable, technology-driven economy in Nigeria which would be the pride of Africa and the envy of the world.

Of the about 2000 entries received within two weeks from over 500 public and private secondary schools across 29 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, 11-year-old Onuoha-Okoro N. David of St Anthony Grammar School (Private) in Esure, Ijebu Imushin, Ogun State, emerged winner in the junior category, while 15-yearold Kalu Derrick Ugochukwu of Fosla Academy, Karshi, Abuja, emerged in the senior category.

Toluwalase Aremu (10) of Blooming Lights Montessori School, Lagos, and 12-year-old Akorede Otufowora of Corona Secondary School, Agbara, Ogun State emerged first and second runners-up, respectively, in the junior category.

While Aisha Folashade Adebayo @Businessdayng

(14) of Aflon Digital Academy, Abuja, and 14-year-old Shoniran Toluwase Oluwasemilore of Baptist Academy, Obanikoro, Lagos, emerged first and second runners-up, respectively, in the senior category.

The winners in the first position for both categories each receive a high-performance laptop and headphone. The first runners-up receive tablet and a headphone while the second runners-up receive a tablet.

In its first year and themed “Nigeria of my Dream: Making it Happen with Technology”, the entries espoused brilliant ideas detailed in 1ooo and 1500 words for the junior and senior categories respectively of how Nigeria can swiftly transition from its current state to emerge as a fully technology-led prosperous nation which all would be proud to call home.

“We believe that the development of the country lies not only in the hands of our leaders, but also in those of our children. This competition is one step towards helping our youngsters express qualitative thoughts that would enhance life as a Nigerian”.

And as technology remains a potent tool to hasten development, we are convinced that their dreams would become a reality,” said Akor Akpenyi, SystemSpecs’ CSR programme administrator.

Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

33

news

Caverton posts N4.4bn profit, pays dividend to shareholders MICHAEL ANI

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averton Offshore Support Group plc, indigenous offshore logistics services provider, increased its net profit by 14 percent from N3.8 billion to about N4.35 billion in the financial year ended December 31, 2019.

The firm whose shares are listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in the review financial year also declared a dividend of 20kobo per share for shareholders out of its 128kobo Earnings per Share (EPS) portfolio.

The Group’s Earnings per Share moved up by 14.3 percent from 112kobo per share in 2018 to 128kobo per share in 2019.

It would appear that Caverton Group is prepared for the current economic situation as the Board of Directors has taken a proactive decision to shore-up its revenue reserves.

In the financial year ended December 31, 2019, the group’s revenue reserves increased by 37 percent from N9.49 billion in 2018 to N12.96 billion. Shareholders’ fund also witnessed

an increase of 20 percent, from N17.94 billion in 2018 to N21.45 billion in the review period.

Analysts say the decision of the firm to reduce its exposure to banks in terms of borrowing in the review financial year was commendable, especially as it continues to plough-back profit to fund its operations in the years ahead.

Chairman, Caverton Offshore Support Group plc, Aderemi Makanjuola, speaking about the result at the virtual 11th annual general meeting of the group held on Thursday, June 25, 2020 in Lagos, said, “Despite the onerous challenges we faced due to the changing economic environment, 2019 was indeed a good year for our company as we showed improved performance in most financial indices.”

Makanjuola said the performance reflected continued effective execution of the group’s bold strategy as it continues to innovate and break barriers to boost bottom line in building a customer-centric group ready to generate sustainable long term value to its shareholders.

US pilots union asks government to subsidise empty seats on planes … as Air Peace test runs with shakedown flights IFEOMA OKEKE & Reuters’ report

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major US pilots union said on Wednesday it had begun discussing with key lawmakers a plan for the government to purchase seats on each flight to prevent passengers from having to sit next to strangers.

The idea, launched by the Allied Pilots Association (APA) representing American Airlines’ 15,000 pilots, is aimed at easing a return to pre-pandemic passenger levels while creating a level playing field across the airline industry.

As of now, some but not all US airlines are blocking middle seats or capping the number of seats they are selling on each flight in order to allow for more space between passengers.

Air travel has dropped dramatically in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, APA president Eric Ferguson said uniform

social distancing would encourage passengers to fly more and airlines to operate more flights, thus preserving more jobs in the critical aviation industry.

Under the plan, the price of empty seats would be based on industry average costs for 2019, and as immunity to COVID-19 rose, the number of empty seats bought by the government would fall.

Stakeholders in the Nigerian aviation sector have said the campaign to remove middle seats is uneconomical to airlines, would make passengers pay way more and is totally unnecessary since aircraft come fitted with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter, which sanitises air in the cabin of aircraft.

This is just as only six Nigerian airlines are said have passed the air worthiness threshold while only three others have submitted their financial health status, according to officials of

the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Stakeholders in the industry recently in a virtual meeting titled Nigerian Aviation Stakeholders Rub Minds on ‘Status of Industry Restart’ sought the best way to restart the industry with various players providing their ideas.

CEO of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, while making an argument against the removal of middle seats, reasoned that purchasing power of average Nigerian was low, giving a scenario where the airlines would need to transfer the fares on the middle seats on passenger tickets.

He submitted that the move would discourage people from flying, against the idea of the restart in the first place, stating that if people do not fly, airlines would die.

In a similar note, as the resumption of domestic flight operations is drawing near, Air

Peace, on Wednesday, in a show of strength and readiness to resume operations, littered the Nigerian airspace with several of its airplanes in shakedown flights.

It should be recalled that the airline has a mixed fleet of 25 aircraft, which includes three wide body aircraft, the Boeing 777s. All the aircraft took to the skies flying to Abuja, Port Harcourt and back to Lagos without passengers.

These flights are aimed at ensuring that the aircraft are in tip-top condition, having been grounded for close to three months, though they have been under very strict storage maintenance.

The spokesperson of the airline, Stanley Olisa, who revealed this in a statement, said the shakedown flights were part of measures the airline had developed to guarantee the safety of both passengers and crew when operations resume.

No division in ECOWAS over ECO single currency - Onyeama Innocent Odoh, Abuja

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inister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has debunked the notion of division in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) between the Anglophone and Francophone countries within the regional bloc in its bid to bring about a single currency for the region.

The minister said this after a meeting with the minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, and the president of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou in Abuja on Thursday, saying ECOWAS would convene a larger meeting of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government to ensure that all the member

states of ECOWAS were on the same page.

He said: “That is a whole point of organising this meeting very quickly so that we can dispel that notion that there is a division.

“So, the sooner a meeting can be organised of all the heads of state, then we will be in a better position to dispel this notion that somehow, there is this division between the various groups.

ECOWAS is one.”

Also speaking, the ECOWAS Commission president said the regional bloc would continue to work together on single currency issue in order to achieve the objective.

“I think we made very good progress in recent months and we continue to work collectively all together so that we can achieve what our principals have set,” Brou said.

Goodlife Magik fruit drink encourages children to stay healthy

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n a bid to further contribute towards health fortification of children in Lagos State, the recently launched healthy fruit drink - GoodLife Magik - from the staple of Tolaram Group, has extended a kind gesture to the children by way of a generous donation of products.

A donation of 1,000 cartons of GoodLife Magik was made to Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) and the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation with the objective of ensuring that the children of Lagos State continue to stay healthy during the stay-home period while enjoying the delicious real fruit taste of this immunity-boosting drink.

Hakeem Alawiye-King, chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education, confirmed that there was no better time to offer this kind of gesture when everyone must endeavour to boost their immunity, especially the children and elders, to fortify against infections and other diseases.

“The timing of this donation

could not be better as we continue to incentivise children through our ongoing educational radio programmes that are designed to prevent children from academic regression and stagnation while they remain at home. It is of great belief that this act will further sustain and encourage more participation,” Alawiye-King said.

While on the ministry front, the commissioner, Lagos State Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Bolaji Dada, expressed unreserved gratitude to the maker of GoodLife Magik fruit drink while stating that the product would be justly shared among the women of Lagos State to offer to their children.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that our children require essential nutrition to stay healthy and strong, part of which are Vitamin C and Glucose contained in GoodLife Magik drink, and I must say this goodwill towards the children of Lagos State through our Ministry is well appreciated,” the commissioner said. www.businessday.ng

L-R: Jordi Borrut Bel, managing director, Nigerian Breweries plc; Kola Jamodu, chairman, and Uaboi Agbebaku, company secretary/legal director, during Nigerian Brewerie’s 74th annual general meeting in Lagos, yesterday.

Kano to reduce 2020 annual budget by 30% Adeola Ajakaiye, Kano

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n a bid to address the revenue shortfall being experienced by the state, which is attributed chiefly to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kano State government says it is set to cut the size of the state’s 2020 annual budget by 30 percent.

To this end, a request for a reduction in the size of the budget is to be tabled before the Kano State House of Assembly by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, any moment from now.

Governor Ganduje, who disclosed this, says the need for a reduction in the size of the budget has become imperative in the face of the current downward movement in revenue accruable to the state from the federal accounts, as well as the internally generated revenue (IGR) sources.

Facts gathered by BusinessDay on the current revenue position of the state suggest that incomes accruable to the state from both the Federal Allocation Accounts and the IGR

sources have nosedived by as much about 50 percent.

Kano State government’s 2020 budget being implemented before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has a total size of N206 billion, with education sector having the largest vote.

The budget has a capital projection of about of N125.174 billion, representing 61 percent of the total amount, and a recurrent vote of N81.033 billion, which amounts to about 39 percent of the budget.

Secretary to the state government, Usman Alhaji, confirmed to participants at oneday stakeholders consultation meeting on the revision of the budget, held on Wednesday that a draft copy of a new budget that would contain the adjustment would be delivered to the state legislators for considerations, latest by next week.

Giving insight into what is expected in the reduction, Alhaji disclosed that the new draft would be realistic and it would focus on helping the residents of the state to fend for themselves by empowering them.

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United Capital hosts pan-African e-Conference

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n furtherance to its organisational objectives to expand its pan-African footprint, United Capital plc will on Friday, June 26, 2020, organise its first Pan African e-conference aptly titled “Fostering Innovative Cross-Border Financing Solutions in Africa.“ The session, which will hold via Zoom and streamed on the company’s YouTube channel, is billed to discuss the financing solutions across sub-Saharan Africa needed to close the massive funding gaps in key sectors across the continent.

With economies battling to overcome the effects of a global pandemic like COVID-19, the economic vulnerabilities of the continent have been further exposed as we continue to witness capital flight to safer havens. This has led to the need for innovative and home-grown financing solutions that can propel the continent to the next stage of growth.

The e-conference, which will feature thought leaders, and leading minds in Africa’s financial and investment landscape such as Wale Shonibare, @Businessdayng

director, Africa Development Bank (AfDB); Gbenga Makinde: CEO, UBA Benin Republic; Yofi Grant, CEO, Ghana Investment Promotional Center and Fola Fagbule; Senior Vice President, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) will be hosted by the Group CEO, United Capital, Peter Ashade.

According to Ashade, “As an industry leader, we are charged to be at the forefront of creating platforms where great minds converge to deliberate on how to change Africa’s economic narrative. At United Capital, this is in line with our goal to be the financial and investment role model across Africa, deploying innovation, technology, and specialist skills to exceed client expectations, whilst creating superior value for all stakeholders.

“We are definitely excited about the solutions that would arise from this session and we look forward to inculcating and imbibing them in our organisation to the benefit of the continent at large.” The econference will be available via Zoom and YouTube. To register, please flow this link – https:// bit.ly/313e0QO

Friday 26 June 2020

FT

BUSINESS DAY

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FINANCIAL TIMES

World Business Newspaper

Pace of US jobless claims continues to slow

1.48m applied for benefits last week as economies reopened despite coronavirus spikes MATTHEW ROCCO

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he pace of new applications for US unemployment benefits continued to ease last week, falling to 1.48m as businesses emerged from coronavirus shutdowns.

Jobless claims were down from 1.54m in the previous week, according to seasonally adjusted figures released on Thursday by the US labour department. Economists anticipated a bigger drop to 1.3m.

While jobless claims have slowed in each of the past 12 weeks, the number of unemployed workers has remained near 20m. Continuing claims — the number of people actively collecting benefits — edged down again to 19.5m in the week to June 13, equivalent to 13.4 per cent of the workforce. The so-called insured unemployment rate, which was 13.9 per cent the week before, is considered an alternative measure of joblessness to the federal government’s monthly survey.

The new data comes as several southern and western states are grappling with record increases in new coronavirus cases, which threaten to slow or even reverse the reopening of their economies.

Continuing claims have only gradually receded in recent weeks,

Employment has rebounded as businesses have gradually reopened from coronavirus lockdowns © Getty Images

from a tally of 20.6m at the end of May and a revised 20.3m after the first week in June.

Latest Coronavirus news Follow FT’s live coverage and analysis of the global pandemic and the rapidly-evolving economic crisis here.

Weekly first-time jobless claims have fallen from a peak of 6.9m in late March, far exceeding previous highs after the sudden shutdown of businesses due to the pandemic.

More than 47m Americans have

sought unemployment benefits since the beginning of the crisis.

The federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance programme, which extended aid to the selfemployed or other individuals who would not qualify for regular unemployment compensation, tallied 728,120 new claims on an unadjusted basis last week. That was down from 770,920 a week earlier.

US Treasuries edged higher only slightly, having rallied ahead of the announcement. The benchmark 10-

year note was lower by roughly 0.02 percentage points, at 0.661 per cent, while the two-year Treasury yield steadied at 0.18 per cent. Yields fall when prices rise.

The US equity market also opened lower, with the S&P 500 extending Wednesday’s 2.6 per cent drop.

“The latest initial jobless claims data paint a picture of a job market in turmoil,” said Gregory Daco, chief US economist at Oxford Economics.

“While the number of continuing

claims declined suggesting some workers may be getting rehired, the recovery in the labour market will be slow and fitful.”

The labour market benefited from an unexpected surge of 2.5m jobs in May, rebounding after the unprecedented loss of 20.7m jobs a month earlier. Economists project that non-farm payrolls will rise by a further 3m in June.

Other US economic reports this week have supported hopes for an economic recovery. IHS Markit’s flash composite index of the manufacturing and services sectors showed a smaller contraction in June, while business optimism for the year ahead reached its highest level in four months.

Sales of new single-family homes rose more than forecast in May, reflecting a pick-up in demand and mortgage rates that are near record lows.

And on Thursday, data on orders for durable goods, such as washing machines and cars, showed the strongest growth in May since July 2014 — up 15.8 per cent, following an 18.1 per cent drop in April.

Economists had forecast a smaller gain of 10.9 per cent last month.

Core capital goods orders, a closely watched gauge of business investment that excludes defence and aircraft equipment, were up 2.3 per cent, also beating the consensus estimate of 1 per cent.

ECB seeks to defuse row with German court over bond-buying Policymakers agreed that positive effects outweighed ‘negative side effects’, minutes show MARTIN ARNOLD

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he European Central Bank has sought to resolve its stand-off with Germany’s highest court by publishing details of the debate its governing council held on whether its bond-buying excessively impinged on economic and financial policy.

Minutes of this month’s ECB meeting were published on Thursday and showed that its council members debated the pros and cons of its monetary policy. The ECB said there was “broad agreement” that the “negative side effects had so far been clearly outweighed by the positive effects of asset purchases on the economy in the pursuit of price stability”.

But it said that “it could not be ruled out that unintended effects could increase over time and outweigh the overall positive effects”, adding that it was “important to continuously assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the monetary policy measures, their transmission channels and their benefits and costs”.

The move could help to defuse a legal impasse with Germany’s constitutional court, which shocked much of Europe by ruling last month that Berlin officials and the EU’s top judges had not done enough to properly scrutinise the

The court ordered the German government and parliament to ensure the ECB provided a ‘proportionality assessment’ of its bond-buying © AP

eurozone’s flagship bond-buying programme.

The court ordered the German government and parliament to ensure that the ECB provided a “proportionality assessment” of its €2.2tn sovereign bond-buying scheme.

In response, the ECB plans to provide some unpublished documents to the Bundesbank so it can pass them to the German government and parliament, which could hold a debate on the issue as early as next week. The documents will include minutes of past meetings at which the ECB discussed buying www.businessday.ng

sovereign bonds before it launched the policy in March 2015 and before it started publishing official accounts of its meetings that year.

The ECB has for years published an official account of its council’s discussion three weeks after every monetary policy meeting but this month’s event was unusual because the council spent a significant chunk of the meeting discussing the benefits and pitfalls of its policies.

Morgan Stanley analysts said: “We now see a reduced risk of the German constitutional court ruling constraining the ECB’s ability to

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buy government bonds when the inflation target is not met.”

At this month’s meeting, which did not specifically mention the German court ruling, ECB chief economist Philip Lane told his fellow council members that its bond-buying programme was “an effective tool for delivering on the treaty-assigned price stability objective in the current environment”.

As for the risk that monetary policy impinges excessively on economic and fiscal policy, the ECB said it guarded against this with its self-imposed limits on bond purchases, including a commitment not to buy more than a third of a country’s eligible debt and to only buy sovereign bonds in proportion to an economy’s size.

In recent months the central bank has vastly expanded its quantitative easing programme of bondbuying with a new €750bn emergency asset-purchase scheme, which it recently expanded to €1.35tn, to combat the economic impact of the pandemic.

Critics complain that this emergency bond-buying programme is not bound by the same limits as its earlier ones. But the ECB argues that it has more flexibility because it is a temporary crisis-fighting scheme.

Some members of the ECB council argued that “the com@Businessdayng

bination of a very expansionary monetary policy with potentially unsound or unsustainable fiscal policies could undermine the foundation of a credible monetary policy”, the minutes showed.

The critics — who people briefed on the matter said included Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann — argued the ECB should “embed safeguards” in all its asset purchases, including its new scheme, to avoid these risks.

There was also a debate between council members over the size of the expansion to its emergency bond-buying programme.

Should there be “significant upside surprises” in the economic outlook, the full €1.35tn would not be spent, the ECB said.

The central bank acknowledged that low interest rates could incentivise excessive risk-taking, damage the profitability of banks, reduce earnings on deposits for savers and lead to misallocation of resources to “inefficient firms”. But it said these “challenges” were caused by the “structural factors driving the decline of interest rates” and while its monetary policy contributed, it was “clearly not the main factor”. It added that “there was no convincing evidence that the low interest rates had contributed to so-called zombie lending”.

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Friday 26 June 2020

BUSINESS DAY

FINANCIAL TIMES

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

Sichuan protest raises fears for China’s $3tn trust sector ‘We are seeing the bursting of a bubble that has been under pressure for many years’ SUN YU

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trains are emerging across China’s Rmb21tn ($3tn) trust industry, which has lured millions of ordinary investors seeking more profitable — but riskier — places to park their cash.

Dozens of disgruntled Chinese investors protested this week in Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, after Sichuan Trust, based in the city, said the firm would struggle to make principal and interest payments on at least Rmb13bn worth of “trust of trust” vehicles due by the end of the year.

The incident highlights growing stresses faced by China’s financial system as the coronavirus crisis exposes weak points in the world’s second-largest economy.

Trust products have become a key part of the shadow banking industry, supplying funds for companies and projects that find it hard to get bank loans, while offering investors returns that stand well above rates available on regular bank deposits.

The Sichuan incident points “to systemic risks down the road,” said Zhuang Bo, an analyst at TS Lombard. Yu Zhi, an analyst at consultancy Yanglee, said: “We are seeing the bursting of a bubble that has been under pressure for many years.”

A trust of trust is a pooled investment fund that holds multiple single-purpose trusts, each channelling money to a variety

A ‘trust of trust’ holds multiple single-purpose trusts, each channelling money to a variety of projects in sectors such as real estate, infrastructure and manufacturing © FT montage

of projects in sectors such as real estate, infrastructure and manufacturing. Sales of such products are generally limited to wealthy individuals: minimum investments tend to start at Rmb1m, though Sichuan Trust lowered the bar to Rmb300,000.

But thanks to thin disclosure requirements on the vehicles’ underlying assets, trust companies are often able to issue new products to offset losses incurred by old ones, said Mr Yu of Yanglee. As such, he said, the arrangement “works on the belief that new investors will bail out the old ones.”

Trust of trusts have performed well in recent years: multiple Sichuan Trust investors told the Financial Times that they had no trouble getting their principal and as much as 10 per cent interest back. But things turned around in April, when the provincial banking and insurance regulator restricted new sales of trusts of trusts, saying it suspected misuse of funds. That made it hard for Sichuan Trust to maintain payouts and meet redemption requests.

In a June 12 meeting with investors, Kong Weiwen, a director at Sichuan Trust, said that

the main reason for the firm’s financial trouble was the regulatory crackdown, according to a recording of the meeting seen by the FT. That has wrongfooted investors, some of whom told the FT that they had expected that Sichuan Trust would continue to make investors whole. Liu Canglong, the majority shareholder of Sichuan Trust, is a former deputy chairman of the AllChina Federation of Industry and Commerce, a government-backed body, and a former member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Both titles give

him access to senior officials in Sichuan province and the central government.

“There is a belief that politically well-connected Sichuan Trust has provided an implicit guarantee for their products — even though the prospectus mentioned investment risks,” said one investor.

Zhou Shan, a director at Sichuan Provincial Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, said that Sichuan Trust had “kept the use of trust proceeds a secret through complex insider transactions,” according to a video of a recent meeting with investors seen by the FT. Sichuan Trust declined to comment for this article. It issued a statement on Wednesday saying the April suspension had put “unprecedented pressure on every member of the firm.” It promised to “make utmost efforts to make sure clients have a satisfactory result within a year”.

The crackdown has led to a “liquidity crisis” at Sichuan Trust, Liu Jingfeng, the firm’s president, told the investor meeting last week. He blamed a plunge in the value of the products’ underlying assets amid the economic downturn.

Analysts say there is no easy fix.

While management told investors that the firm planned to sell its office building and equity stakes to raise capital, some are not convinced. Frank Wu, a Chengdubased investor who holds more than Rmb10m worth of troubled trust of trust products, said the firm’s building was worth a fraction of its debt obligation.

Pension funds set to dump stocks after epic rally JPMorgan estimates global institutions will offload as much as $170bn in quarterly reset ROBIN WIGGLESWORTH

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tock markets will be hit by a wave of selling from pension funds rebalancing their investments in coming weeks, analysts predict, following a fierce rally that has left these investors uncomfortably exposed to equities.

Pension funds aim to have a diversified portfolio of bonds, stocks and other assets, such as private equity, and periodically reshuffle their holdings to keep their weightings roughly constant. This usually happens around the end of the quarter.

After March’s deep sell-off, which threw those weightings out of kilter, many pension funds started buying stocks again. In the retail sector, balanced mutual funds, which typically seek to have a 60-40 split between stocks and bonds, also needed to rebalance their holdings.

However, the rally since late March — which has seen global

After March’s deep sell-off, many pension funds started buying stocks again © Getty Images

equities rise by more than a third — means that many pension funds will now be holding too much stock relative to their target allocations as the second quarter ends, forcing them to scale back their exposure. JPMorgan analysts estimate that this could lead to as much as $170bn of selling globally.

Robert Buckland, chief global equity strategist at Citi, said the firstquarter plunge and subsequent rewww.businessday.ng

balancing arguably “helped trigger the rally”. On that basis “we might see a blip” as a result of pension funds ratcheting back their stock holdings, he added.

The universe of so-called defined benefit pension funds, which promise retirees a regular pension payment, balanced mutual funds and other investment funds that periodically rejig their portfolios is large, with JPMorgan estimating their over-

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all assets under management at more than $13tn, even at the March lows.

The question is whether this rebalancing could imperil stocks’ recent bull run, given that analysts and investors say liquidity — the ease of buying and selling — remains poor. That means even modest sales could have a noticeable effect on prices.

Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, an analyst at JPMorgan, said in a note that the bank still believed that the rally would continue. It estimated the coming rebalancing would only take 0.7 to 1.9 percentage points off the performance of the S&P 500, the US benchmark index.

“While we acknowledge the risk of a small correction in equity markets over the coming two weeks as a result of this negative equity rebalancing flow, we continue to believe that we are in a strong bull market in equities and any dip would represent a buying opportunity,” he added.

Goldman Sachs’s estimate for @Businessdayng

the scale of pension fund selling triggered by the rebalancing is smaller at $76bn. But the bank is more cautious on the outlook for the stock market, and forecasts that pension funds will sell a cumulative $200bn this year.

While it predicts that overseas investors and the emergence of a sudden US retail trading frenzy will buttress demand, Goldman warns that an 80 per cent collapse in corporate share buybacks risks kicking away one of the support pillars for the stock market since the crisis.

David Kostin, the investment bank’s chief US equity strategist, said in a note that there was still room for investors’ equity allocations to rise, and cash holdings to decline, until they reached pre-crisis levels.

“However, we expect the potential risk of a ‘second wave’ [of Covid-19 infections] and the fast-approaching US presidential election will limit a significant increase in equity exposures,” he added.

leaderSHIP

BUSINESS DAY Friday 26 June 2020 www.businessday.ng

Sanwo-Olu at 55: The simple man in the service of Lagosians

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Olusegun Fafore

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ithout purpose, life is meaningless. With insight, our path is illuminated.

When purpose and insight are embedded attributes of anyone’s life, such an individual will not only inspire others, but serve God through humanity.

In the race of life and our quest to own the world we did not create, only few mortals remain led by insight and driven by purpose. While many see their time on earth as a race in the service of mankind, and others carried away by life’s privileges, especially the temporary opportunities that come their way.

Thus, they miss their paths and wander on the highway of vainglory. It is not unnatural for humankind to get missing in the pursuit of phantasm. Therefore, this failing does not constitute a reason for judging anyone. However, we are compelled to reflect deeply when certain individuals with privileges, influence and power deliberately understate them to remain humans. Their ways compel us to ask the question, ‘what life is really about?’.

The outlook of the limited individuals in this category contradicts the reasons why we crave power, pursue outstanding success or exceptional wealth. It is indeed paradoxical that after acquiring ‘temporal omnipotence’, these people are still extremely humble, empathetic and authentic. These dispositions are a rarity after ‘conquering the world’, but when you find them at the foundation of the heart of a leader, then there is something really exceptional about him or her.

It is Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu’s 55th birthday on this earthly plane, having been born on Friday, June 25, 1965. This occasion presents a veritable opportunity to discuss and present the ‘limited in circulation’ aspect of an outstanding and purposeful leader.

The governor belongs to the small class of people who deliberately understate their privileges, influence and power to remain connected to the society and their friends. Consistently, he shows introspection in his conducts and engagements with people of different categories, which gives hope and encouragement about the beauty ahead of them.

With the office he occupies, there is no gainsaying that life has been kind to him. But instead of getting lost in the oblivion of self-importance, Sanwo-Olu

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor, Lagos State.

remains awake to the impermanence of the exalted seat that has increased his endearment to humans, with a fixed gaze on God for wisdom and continuous guidance on his assigned responsibility leading Lagos to greatness.

It may be briefly, but I have seen the governor in two different roles. Initially as an aspirant to the exalted office of the Governor of Lagos State, when his passion for service took him to every nook and cranny of the State, canvassing for votes and engaging people with solutions to some of the challenges facing the State.

Even though Lagos was an All Progressives Congress (APC) dominated-State, he left no stone unturned in chasing his vision and constantly sought the face of God. He demonstrated that faith without work is dead, just as he proved that vision is more important than sight in achieving aspirations. Day and night, he worked really hard to convince Lagosians about his seriousness and readiness for the office.

Subsequently, he was elected the 15th Governor of Lagos State.

The ceremony that ushered him into office signalled the responsibilities of the life ahead of him as the Governor of Africa’s most populous city and 5th largest economy. On that glorious day, it rained heavily, which affirmed that God is with him on the journey of leading Lagos to greatness.

Undeniably, the occasion was so beautiful that it could stoke the embers of envy and inadvertently attire him in conceit, if temperance was dead. But none of these will happen because Sanwo-Olu has made himself everybody’s Governor, willing to listen and ready to act.

Since his inauguration a year ago, the governor has become the model for how to control power and make it subservient to the people. We all know that power can be likened to a rabid dog, imbued with riotous energy to shield their owners from the truth and isolate them from humanity, but Sanwo-Olu has remained accessible and connected.

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We all know that power can be likened to a rabid dog, imbued with riotous energy to shield their owners from the truth and isolate them from humanity, but Sanwo-Olu has remained accessible and connected

You people need to understand that position is a privilege and power is temporary. How well you impact humanity with the opportunity fate has bestowed upon you is what is actually important and that should drive every leader As governor, he dropped the title of ‘Your Excellency’ and chose to be addressed as ‘Mr. Governor’ because he reflected that no man is excellent, no matter his status in the society and enormity of his wealth, except God. On that subject, he once jokingly said “Let us agree that it is true that the red ink that flows from the pen of a Governor is powerful enough to sign ‘life to death’, but have you people also thought about the power in the blood that has been signing ‘death to life’ from the beginning of the world? The power in that blood can also take life from the living, but the ink from a Governor’s pen cannot bring the dead to life”.

“You people need to understand that position is a privilege and power is temporary. How well you impact humanity with the opportunity fate has bestowed upon you is what is actually important and that should drive every leader. Let us not encourage a culture of executive arrogance and mislead people into thinking that they are semigods. Well, for me; only God, the Almighty, is excellent”.

The exchange was not strange because that is how he engages freely with everyone. However, his words were heavy and intriguing. While the conversation provided reliable avenues for peeping into the workings of his gracious mind, it also forced every participant in the conversation into moments of deep reflection.

Clearly, he has had his own contemplations decades before this great moment. Otherwise, he would not have been able to effortlessly arrest power with his uncommon humility. The manner he judiciously dispenses power and asserts his authority with consideration, further proved that he came prepared for this office. He masterfully de-emphasises ‘You’ and emphasises ‘We’ in his dealings because he is a fervent believer in the impressive outputs of synergy.

I may not have noticed his shortcomings, but he alerts us to his own imperfections each time he says “You guys should work on yourselves. You need to aspire to get better. I am also working on myself. I want to be better every day”. This is candour.

This is humanity. The essential Governor Sanwo-Olu. I want to say to Mr. Governor, this is the leadership that inspires us and motivates us to surpass ourselves. So that he knows, that conversation is like an adrenaline booster, it keeps us awake and alert for weeks.

Everyone knows that perfection is not a human attribute, but that is a daily journey for Sanwo-Olu is quite inspiring.

This is also evident in the way he handles awkward moments.

Not out of weakness, but as an expression of a mastered temperament to keep power under control, he intentionally mortifies himself.

As a leader, through his deeds and actions, Sanwo-Olu has shown that power is not actually dangerous, it is human beings that get dangerous with power, because they tend to lose self and sense of empathy as a result of its intoxicating influence.

With Governor Sanwo-Olu, it is obvious that good people make good places. Therefore, Lagos will certainly become better and greater under his leadership.

His sense of purpose is steadfast enough to bring alive the vision of a greater Lagos. His efforts thus far are masterstrokes and suggestive of the masterpiece Lagos will become as envisioned in the THEMES Agenda.

As Mr. Governor marks his 55th birthday today, I wish him long life and prosperity. I pray that God will continue to grant him wisdom and uphold His covenant of excellence with him. Always remember that “The highway of the upright leads away from evil; he who guards his way protects his life”, Proverb 16:17.

Olusegun Fafore is the Executive Assistant on Public Relations and New Media to the Lagos State Governor

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