BusinessDay 27 Jul 2018

Nigerian Ports Authority must take blame for gridlock in Apapa

H

adiza Bala Usman, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority has been variously described as an amazon, a reformer, a

miracle worker and a visionary leader who has succeeded, within a short time, in turning

the fortunes of the NPA around, improved its revenue profile and instituted a robust trans-

Editorial

news you can trust I **FRIDAY 27 JULY 2018 I vol. 15, no 105 I N300

@

parency and anti-corruption mechanism that is giving the organisation a positive image. This may well be true. But one of the glaring failures of the NPA is in not

developing other moribund ports across the country to reduce the stress on the ports in Apapa and decongest the gridlock in Lagos.

Continues on page 12

g

Nigerian passports now to have 10 years validity V T

Gridlock: Osinbajo promises approval to repair Mile 2 – Apapa road in 2 weeks JOSHUA BASSEY

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE, IFEOMA OKEKE, AGNES IBOROMA

Booklet to contain national ID

he Federal Government led by Muhammadu Buhari has approved the extension of validity of Nigeria’s international passport to 10 years from five years currently.

Also with the approval, the

ice President Yemi Osinbajo says the Federal Government will grant approval for the full rehabilitation of collapsed Continues on page 38

LCCI refutes FG claims of progress on 2013 auto policy

Continues on page 38

BUNMI BAILEY, SOBECHUKWU EZE & EMEKA UCHEAGA

T

he Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), a key part of the Nigerian private sector, has debunked claims by the Federal Government on the success of the 2013 auto policy.

Continues on page 38

L-R: Kola Oyeneyin, founder/CEO, Veina Group/creator, Coworking Conference; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and Omobola Johnson, former minister of communication and technology, during the 2018 Coworking conference in Lagos, yesterday. Pic by Olawale Amoo

Inside

Oando’s half-year jumps 86% to Intrigues as Police interrogate Saraki at N/Assembly, Melaye kidnapped by gunmen profit P. 37 N8.5bn written response to them on July OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja … whereabouts unknown 24, 2018 on why he could not see Special Assistant on New Media to them that day — today at about Nigerian export gets he Senate President, Bu- robbery in Offa, Kwara State.

The interrogation, according to the President of the Senate, Olu 1:40pm, the Senate President met kola Saraki, on Thursday confirmed that he has Saraki’s media office, took place Onemola, reads: “Further to the with a team of investigators on the boost with NEXIM’s been interrogated by the at the Senate President’s office at invitation to the Senate President, Offa Robbery case in his office.

P. 37 Abubakar Bukola Saraki, by the police over his alleged involve- 1.40pm on Thursday.

N25bn loan A short statement signed by the Police on July 23, 2018, and his Continues on page 38 ment in the April 5, 2018 bank see Inside

T

businessday market monitor Commodities

NSE

Bitcoin

Brent Oil

Biggest Gainer

Biggest Loser

$74.24

NESTLE N1,501.00

INTBREW N35.50

Cocoa

US $2,325.00

3.52pc 36,427.22

-5.33pc

₦2,900,243.91

Everdon Bureau De Change +0.01pc

Powered by

Buy

Sell

$-N 357.00 360.00 £-N 470.00 478.00 €-N 410.00 418.00

2 BUSINESS DAY NEWS

FMDQ Close Foreign Exchange Market I&E FX Window CBN Official Rate

Treasury Bills

Spot $/N 361.86 305.90 %

3M 0.23 11.20

6M 0.00 12.50

C002D5556

fgn bonds 5 Years

10 Years

20 Years

0.10% 14.00%

0.13% 14.32%

0.00% 14.16%

Friday 27 July 2018

Insurance industry recapitalisation Transaction timeline extended for 9mobile acquisition opens door for new investors Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson

…analysts see mergers, acquisition … Tony Elumelu Heirs Insurance likely Modestus Anaesoronye

L

ocal and foreign investors looking for opportunity to come into the Nigerian insurance industry, now have a window with the introduction of new Tier-Based Minimum Solvency Capital, announced Wednesday by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

The new capital requirement, which will commence 1st January 2018, will require insurance companies willing to play big in the market to either raise fresh capital, embark on mergers and acquisition for higher Tier-levels, or remain with low level capitals and underwrite small premium risks.

This development analysts say will open up the market for investors, as companies operating currently with low capitals will welcome new funds to remain relevant and underwrite big ticket risks in group life, annuity, oil, gas and aviation.

Mohammed Kari, commissioner for Insurance said the Nigeria development plan vision 2020 described the Nigeria insurance sector as a ‘gross untapped opportunity’ with low market penetration.

According to him, the foreign investors, having noted these great opportunities are attracted by the huge potential in the Nigerian insurance space.

“These investors are ready to position themselves for the future; hence the likes of Axa, Prudential, Liberty, Swiss RE, Sunu Group, Saham, and Allianz have taken position in the industry and in partnership with indigenous companies for development and growth,” Kari said.

Under the new capitalisation structure, life insurance firms need a capital level of N6 billion for Tier

1; N3 billion for Tier 2 and N2 billion for Tier 3: For non-life business, the requirement is N9 billion for Tier 1; N4.5 billion for Tier 2 and N3 billion for Tier 3. While for composite companies (combination of life and general business), the new capital requirement is N15 billion for Tier 1; N7.5 billion for Tier 2 and N5 billion for Tier 3.

According to an analyst who has been following developments in the industry, “The stage is set for the likes of Tony Elumelu Heirs Insurance to come in and play in the space.”

“You remember Heirs Insurance has long been registered as a company, equipped office, trained the staff and was ready to take-off , but could not get license, but with the current development I believe Heirs Insurance will come,” the analysts said.

The recapitalisation according to the Commission will also open doors for fresh licensing to investors willing to play in the higher Tier 1 capital levels. The last new license was issued eight years ago by the regulator to FBNinsurance.

The last recapitalisation in Nigeria took place in 2007 when the industry’s paid up capital was increased to N2 billion for life; N3 billion for nonlife; N5 billion for composite and N10 billion for reinsurance.

The nation’s insurance sector has over the last five years witnessed influx of global foreign players who are taking strategic position to tap from the huge market opportunity available in the country.

With the country’s huge population in excess of 170 million, high rate of urban population and emerging middle-class, and very low penetration at less than 0.4 percent to the GDP, the industry no doubt looks attractive.

Continues on wwwbusinessday online.com

T

he transaction timeline for 9mobile acquisition has been extended, as the telecoms regulator is yet to release an approval to close the deal.

Although the board of 9mobile refused to state how much more time has been granted to wrap up the transaction, Boye Olusanya, CEO of 9mobile confirmed that “the timeline extension was considered necessary to enable parties involved in the sale process to finalise the requisite transaction documentation to facilitate a smooth closure and transition to the new investor.”

Before this new development, the deal was supposed to have been concluded, and 9mobile handed to Teleology as the new owners, after the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) approves a balance payment of $251 million

on or before the Wednesday July 25 2018 deadline date.

Teleology holdings limited, the preferred bidder and new investor of 9mobile had before now, successfully raised and made ready its balance of $251 million which was paid into an escrow account about two weeks before the July 25, 2018 deadline date. This is in addition to the initial $50 million paid as a non-refundable deposit on March 21 2018, to show commitment on the sale of 9mobile.

The NCC had on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, met with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other stakeholders including 9mobile to discuss the sale of the telecoms company. However, there was no agreement to close the deal on the transaction and this gave rise to the decision to extend the timeline.

Olusanya said in a statement that “the board of 9mobile is pleased with the progress made thus far and expects the acquisition

process to be completed as soon as possible.”

After receipt of the deposited $50 million, NCC said it will carry out due diligence on Teleology Holdings Limited to ascertain the company’s technical capabilities and financial strength to take over operations of the debt ridden telecommunications company.

However, the regulator is yet to reveal findings of due diligence carried out and has not yet granted regulatory to close the transaction.

The sale process started late last year, after Etisalat, the fourth largest telecoms operator in Nigeria, missed loan repayments as a result of economic downturn in 2015/2016 and was taken over by the owed banks and forced to rebrand to form 9mobile.

The consortium of 13 Nigerian banks being owed $1.2 billion then appointed Barclays Africa as financial advisers to set up a fair bidding process for a new investor in the debt ridden telecoms company.

L-R: J.K Shinkaiye, non-executive director, United Capital plc; Jude Chiemeka, MD/ CEO, United Capital Securities; Oluwatoyin Sanni, outgoing group CEO, United Capital; Peter Ashade, incoming group CEO, United Capital; Tokunbo Ajayi, MD/ CEO, United Capital Trustees Limited; Babatunde Obaniyi, MD/ CEO, United Capital Investment Banking; Sunny Anene, MD/CEO, United Capital Asset Management, during the farewell for the outgoing group CEO and welcome ceremony for the incoming group CEO in Lagos, recently.

MARKETS

Security chiefs, govs siphon N250bn Could Niemeth’s stellar performance lift stock price? ...As firm records N31m PAT after a YoY loss annually - Transparency Int’l dipo oladehinde

T

ransparency International (TI) yesterday alleged that state governors and security chiefs annually siphon N250billion security votes.

Adeolu Kilanko of the Defence and Security Unit of the TI, in a report titled: “Camouflaged Cash - How Security Votes Fuel Corruption in Nigeria” presented at the zonal official launch of the security vote report in Nigeria organized by Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre ( CISLAC) in Ibadan on Wednesday, said average Nigerians see security vote as official corruption and abuse of power.

Asking for a legislation to abolish security vote, he said Transpar-

ency International estimated that the “unaccounted cash expenditures” add up over N241.2billion annually.

He said: “In just one year, these extra budgetary expenditures add up to over nine times the amount of US security assistance to Nigeria since 2012 ( $68.6m) and over twelve times the $53.5m (40million pounds) in counterterrorism support the UK promised Nigeria from 2016 to 2020 .

“Looking at it from another angle , security vote spending exceeds 70 percent of the annual budget of the Nigeria Police Force , more than the Nigerian Army’s annual budget , and more than the Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Air Force’s annual budget combined”.

Cynthia Ikwuetoghu, Michael Ani & Jonathan Aderoju oing by the outstanding performance that was recorded in both the top and bottom line of one of Nigeria’s leading players in the pharmaceutical and health care space, Neimeth International, questions are being raised on whether this could translate into increasing investors’ appetite for its shares.

The drug maker saw a positive growth trajectory, reporting a profit after Tax of N31.7 million in the third quarter of 2018 after it recorded a loss of N63.4 million in the same period last year, according to figures obtained from its nine month unaudited financial statement.

Revenue generated by the company also saw a 45.2 percent in-

G

crease from N314.9 million in 2017 to N457.4 million in 2018, with 99 percent of the revenue generated from pharmaceuticals, while 1 percent came from animal health. The finance cost also decreased by 45 percent to N18.9 million from as high as N35 million in 2017 Of this revenue figure, 98 percent came from its Nigeria arm, while 2 percent of the revenue generated was from the Ghana segment of the company Neimeth pharmaceutical starts a new financial year November of every year. Thus while other firms in the industry might be in their 2nd quarter or half year of operation, Neimeth books will be for a nine month or Q3 period.

The stock has a one year return of -51.14 percent, according to data compiled by BusinessDay, with

its share price touching its peak at N0.96 around 18th January 2018, but currently trading at its lowest price yesterday at N0.43.

Neimeth Int’l pharmaceutical share price has fallen -42.67 per cent this year, underperforming the NSE All share index at -4.96 percent.

It has a market capitalization of N742.398 million.

Analysts say the result posted by the firm might increase investors’ appetite for the firm’s shares thereby making the firm share price to rally.

On what could have triggered the company’s profit for the third quarter, Johnson Chukwu, the MD of Cowry Asset Limited said the fall in the company’s finance cost as well as administrative expenses aside from the growth in its turnover, brought about an improved performance for the company.

Continues on wwwbusinessday online.com

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

3

4

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

5

6

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

7

8 BUSINESS DAY NEWS

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

WISCAR moves to promote inclusive governance CHUKS OLUIGBO

W

omen in Successful Careers (WISCAR), a non-profit organisation focused on empowering and developing professional women to contribute to development and growth in Nigeria and Africa, will host its second quarter Meeta-WISCAR series on July 28, in Lagos.

The event, themed ‘Promoting Inclusive Governance,’ will feature speakers from the fields of governance, citizenship and advocacy, including a keynote address

by Hafsat Abiola-Costello, founder, Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) and president, Women in Africa.

“There is undoubtedly a dearth of women in governance and politics globally and right here in Nigeria and we want, through this event and beyond, to contribute

in our own small way to the conversation and actions that can frame change,” Amina Oyagbola, WISCAR founder and chairperson, said on the reason for the event.

Oyagbola said participants should expect to leave the event empowered and committed to the event’s call to action to stand and be counted.

“The theme of the event is in consonance with what we promote every day at WISCAR; that is, supporting and creating a network for women along their chosen career path,” Fabia Ogunmekan, executive secretary of WISCAR, said.

“This is even more so in the space of governance and politics where women must have the opportunity to promote gender causes ensuring that they translate into law and policy,” she said.

L-R: Mannir Yari, deputy comptroller of immigrations/passport control officer; Segun Agbaje, managing director, GTBank; Muhammed Babandede, comptroller general of Immigrations; Usman Kuso, managing director, New Works Limited, and Haruna Musa, executive director, GTBank, at the commissioning of the bank’s Payment Centre at the Ikoyi Immigration Office, yesterday in Lagos.

Total banks on $3.3bn Egina to boost production by 7% in 2018 ISAAC ANYAOGU

T

otal plc released its second quarter interim results yesterday, listing its Nigerian oil field Egina as one of the key projects that will help it achieve a 7 percent rise in revenues this year.

“The upstream is well positioned to take advantage of the increase in oil prices thanks to production growth which should be above seven percent in 2018. It will benefit in the coming months from the start-ups of Kaombo, Tempa Rossa,Ichtys and Egina, which are all strong cash flow generators..,.” Total stated in a press release announcing its second quarter interim results.

The Kaombo North project is located in Angola, Egina is in Nigeria, while the Ichthys LNG is located in Australia and Tempa Rossa is in Italy.

In the result announced Total said its adjusted net profit for the second quarter soared 44 percent to $3.6 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.4 billion.

Oil production rose by 8.7

percent to 2.717 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, driven by the early completion the Maersk Oil deal, and the ramp-up of several projects including Yamal LNG in Russia and Moho Nord in Congo.

It said cost savings measures were on track to surpass the $4 billion target for the year and reach $4.2 billion over the 2014-2018 period.

“Oil prices continued to increase, averaging $74 per barrel in the second quarter, supported by inventory reductions and geopolitical tensions,” Total’s Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement.

The company said it would continue to implement programmes to improve operational efficiency and reduce its breakeven so as to remain profitable, whatever the market context.

Egina is a flagship project of Total Nigeria Plc with a capacity to produce 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It is located about 130 km off the country’s coast at estimated water depths of more than

1,500 m. Total Nigeria says “the Egina oil field is one of our most ambitious ultra-deep offshore projects.”

Drilling for the project started in December 2014 and when completed, will have 57 subsea wells connected to an FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading vessel) designed to hold 2.3 million barrels of oil.

The FPSO, which arrived in Nigeria from South Korea in January has been undergoing a detailed engineering of its topside at LADOL by Samsung and a consortium of Nigerian engineering companies. The FPSO was billed to sail to the Egina field this week, which is located at OML 130.

Ahmadu-Kida Musa, deputy managing director for Deep Water at Total Exploration and Production Nigeria, disclosed this at the 2018 edition of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG) that Egina will achieve 77 percent of local content by the time it gets to production stage.

He also said “In addi-

Safetrust posts over N2bn in earnings … records 683% growth in PAT

S

afetrust Mortgage Bank Limited posted over N2 billion in gross earnings for the year 2017, representing 35 percent growth for the same period in 2016.

According to results recently published in the bank’s annual report and financial statements, the profit after tax (PAT) was N307 million, an increase of 683 percent above the 2016 PAT. Total assets stood at N13.5 billion compared with N8.1 billion in the previous year, while shareholders’ funds grew 100 percent from N2.77 billion to N5.54 billion due to increase in issued shares.

Presenting the results at the company’s just concluded 2018 annual general meeting held in Lagos, Ayodele Arogbo,

chairman, Board of Directors, attributed the bank’s financial performance in 2017 to improved service quality, robust corporate governance and excellent work ethics.

He said: “During the year under review, the Bank issued 2.5 billion fully paid ordinary shares of N1 each to Colebrook Investment Limited.

The new injection of funds enabled the bank to meet the minimum capital of N5 billion required for a national licence.

“At Safetrust Mortgage Bank, we will continue to focus on building key capabilities by actively supporting policies designed to build a sustainable Nigerian economy over the next decade and providing a wide-range of customer-focused services

especially in delivering affordable housing for Nigerians.”

While assuring stakeholders of the company’s commitment to running a credible, responsible and sustainable business positioned to enrich lives, the chairman said the Board fully supported the management’s drive to extensively incorporate environmental, social and governance considerations in the day-to-day operations.

Akintayo Oloko, managing director of the bank, thanked the customers whose relationship with the bank had enriched both parties with years of fruitful returns. He noted that Safetrust was going into 2018 with optimism based on the successes recorded in the macro environment in the preceding year.

tion to the oil, the Egina field will produce gas. Associated gas will be partly re-injected into the reservoir to maintain reservoir pressure, and partly channelled to supply the domestic gas market.”

Even though the FPSO has a daily production capacity of 200,000, initial production will be 100,000 barrels per day with peak production expected to be reached by 2020. Egina is expected to start full production in the fourth quarter of this year, though no specific date has been set.

The country’s current production capacity ranges between 1.7 million barrels per day to 2.0 million barrels per day often disrupted by vandalism of oil assets and the resultant shut in of production. The disruption on oil flow from Nigeria’s fields has tended to make buyers wary in demanding for the country’s crude oil. Expectations are high that Egina, because of its deep offshore location, will help create some level of certainty around the country’s oil flows.

INEC recognises Etim John-led APC executive in Cross River MIKE ABANG, Calabar

F

ranklandBriyai,theResident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Cross River State on Wednesday, cleared the air on who was the authentic chairman of Cross River State All Progressive Congress (APC).

Speaking in Calabar at a stakeholders’forumattheCommission headquarters, the INEC commissioner said from information available from INEC office Abuja to his office in Calabar, Godwin Etim John-led executive was the authentic party executive in the state.

He went further to state that the national secretariat of APC Abuja communicated to INEC office Abuja, and was transmitted to his office in Calabar that Etim John was the authentic chairman.

He explained that staff of the Commission including the securityagenciesinthestatewitnessed the last congress of the APC in the state held at the Cultural Centre.

When contacted, the state secretary of APC, Francis Ekpeyong, said the development had laid to rest speculation in the social media platform on who was the authentic chairman of the state APC. According to the APC scribe, today in a stakeholders’ forum where a factional chairman who was laying claim to the seat was told to his face and his sup-

porters that Godwin Etim John was the recognised chairman of APC in the state.

On the bye-election for the vacant Obudu State Constituency, Ekpeyong said the party was fully ready for the election and had commence the processes of selling intent and nominations forms to APC stalwarts in the area.

Briyai also promised that the Commission would provide a level playing ground for all and ensure the election was be free and fair.

He said the election would be held in 107 polling units in the 10 wards of Obudu Local Government Area.

The REC said only those who voted in the 2015 General Elections and those who collected their Permanent Voter Cards as of December 2017 were eligible to vote during the bye-election.

He said accreditation and voting during the election would be done simultaneously, as voters would be accredited and allowed to vote immediately.

Briyaisaid500ad-hocpersonnel would be required to conduct the bye-election.

The Obudu State Constituency seat in the House of Assembly became vacant following the death of the member representing the constituency, Ukpukpen Stephen Akomaye.

NLNG unveils long list of 11 for literature price

T

he struggle for political control and power play dominate the long list for the $100,000 The Nigeria Prize for Literature, announced yesterday by the Advisory Board for the Prize.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature is one of Africa’s most prestigious literary prizes sponsored

by Nigeria LNG Limited.

The 2018 longlist of 11 plays chosen from 89 entries was selected by a panel of three judges led by Matthew Umukoro, professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan.

Other members of the panel include Mohammed Inuwa Umar - Buratai, professor of Theatre and Performing Arts and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria; and Ngozi Udengwu, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theatre and

Film Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

The Umukoro-led panel was appointed in February 2018 by the Ayo Banjo-led, Advisory Board for the Nigeria Prize for Literature, which has been administering the prize on behalf of Nigeria LNG Limited since 2010. Entries for the 2018 Prize were received by the judges in April 2018.

The long list for this year’s Prize include August Inmates

by Chidubem Iweka; published

by Kraft Books, Death and The King’s Grey Hair by Denja Abdullahi; published by Kraft Books, Embers by Soji Cole; published by Emotion Press, Guerrilla Post by Obari Gomba; published by Narrative Landscape Press, Majestic Revolt

by Peter Omoko; published by Malthouse Press, Melancholia

by Dul Johnson; published by

Sevhage Publishers and No More the Taming Hawks by Diran Ademiju-Bepo; published

by Dynasty Tales.

Others include Once Upon an Elephant by Bosede Ademilua-Afolayan by Kraft Books, Sankara by Jude Idada; published by Parressia Publishing, The Rally by Akanji Nasiru; published by Kraft Books and Unstable by Dickson Ekhaguere; published by Tryspect Solutions Members of the Advisory Board for the Literature Prize, besides Professor Banjo, two-time Vice-Chancellor of Nigeria’s premier university, University of Ibadan, are Jerry Agada, former Minister of State for Education and Ben Elugbe, former President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and president of the West-African Linguistic Society (2004-2013).

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

9

10

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

comment is free COMMENT And papa Iroha died

Send 800word comments to comment@businessdayonline.com

EUGENIA ABU

H

e was a happy go lucky security man at the estate where I have lived for nearly eighteen years in Abuja. I knew he was old but did not know just how old. He would break into a dance, offer a salute and demand your ID card if someone he did not know was driving your car out of the premises. He certainly did not act his age and was always doing something interesting to draw attention.

A month ago my husband who was very fond of him – and it was mutual – stopped at the gate to hail Papa as he was fondly called. He responded by standing smack in front of our car making for us to hit him.

My husband surged forward and with my heart in my mouth, I gasped. I was mad with my husband but Papa ran off falling into a heap of laughter as did my husband. It was a very man thing to do. We women do not under-

stand it. “We were just playing” my husband said between giggles. I was not amused and I told him so. Suppose he fell or suffered a cardiac arrest, he is an old man. Don’t take these things too seriously my husband said and we both made our peace.

I had seen Papa when the world cup started and his usual bubbly self will salute me shouting Mama with a wave and a salute. I waved back and he ran after me outside the gate and brought me to a stop. I had been away and my husband told me that Papa had asked after me every so often and wanted to know when I would return. So, I was back ad he was now quite keen on seeing me.

I pulled up by the kerb and he stuck his head in the car’s now open window with a mischievous grin. “Wetin you bring for me from your journey?” he asked still grinning. I smiled my best smile and since I was running late for a function assured him I would get it for him during the week. Papa never got the gift. The week after, he passed from a cardiac arrest.

Papa, whom I now know had no children, loved children and was very child-like in all his dealings, passed peacefully in his living room chair while watching one of the world cup

Papa will be remembered by all of us in our estate as that security man who did not allow age to define him. He looked like he was only sixty years old and I truly could not have guessed his age because of how agile he was and how dedicated he was to his work matches. He had spent time playing with children in his neighborhood which was a habit he had before retiring early evening to watch the match. His wife had called out with no response and found him unresponsive in his favorite chair in their home. Who would have known that the man who kept busy at our security gate, who interrogated most visitors, laughed heartily and had a childlike quirky presence to him, who looked really strong and enjoyed his work was seventy-two

years old. I was heartbroken.

I had known him personally and his banters, occasionally off colour, were welcome in such a complicated unfriendly world. He was also a man of great intelligence information, knowing what was happening around the area, an important attribute for security work. He also seemed to act the father to the other younger security men who worked with him and a reference point for information around the zone.

I am saddened that the gift I promised was not delivered and I mourn with his wife and the rest of his family. The many lessons from Papa’s death are profound. Life is transient and is fleeting and can suddenly all go up in smoke. Give when you can and never delay. Be friendly and be a peacemaker.

Causing trouble should never be a profession, Life is too short.

Keep your mind alert and be at whatever form of work you enjoy. Smile like Papa, laugh heartily. Laughter is easily the best medicine. Be open, be honest with things and be aware of your surroundings.

Papa may not have had children of his own but he made it a duty to make children in his neighborhood very happy. Who have you made happy today?

Papa will be remembered

by all of us in our estate as that security man who did not allow age to define him. He looked like he was only sixty years old and I truly could not have guessed his age because of how agile he was and how dedicated he was to his work.

I will miss you Papa and I am sorry you did not get your gift as I promised soon enough. I have learnt that I could have turned right back to the house and given it to you, no matter how much in a hurry I was. I know you understand. Lessons have been learnt. You, sir have left a big gap at our gate; the bright quirky smiles are gone, the banters and the salute and your essential wave.

May the gentle soul of Mr Iroha popularly known as Papa rest in peace and may the good Lord grant you eternal repose, Amen.

POSTSCRIPT: Also passed as we mourned Papa is the wife of our ebullient Construction Engineer, Engineer Nduka Obi and she was so young. Our hearts go out to the family. Just an overnight illness. Beautiful mother of twins, so young. May God grant Nduka the fortitude to bear this loss and May her soul rest in Peace, Amen.

Send reactions to: comment@businessdayonline.

Is your organization’s strategic planning linked to your budget?

WITH

I

‘UJU ONWUZULIKE

Uju Onwuzulike is Nigeria’s leading authority on Systems Thinking and Strategic Management. He was a Steve Haines trained strategy and systems thinking expert and a former global partner of Haines Centre for Strategic Management, California, USA. He is the founder and Chief Results Officer of MCL – a strategy and outstanding performance specialist firm. He can be reached on 09091142093 or uju.onwuzulike@mclgroup.net.

n today’s business world, we can hardly see any organization that does not have a well outlined budget in place. Organizations often rely on their budgets to guide them. It is not out of place to have a budget, but it is not enough to rely only on budget in driving the vision of the entire organization.

Most organizations have missed it. How? They have allowed the budget to drive the organization’s vision. Such organizations have worked day and night to develop a well outline budget but may not have realized the need to develop a strategic plan first.

For the purpose of clarity, your organization’s vision and the strategic plan are what drive your budget, and not vice versa.

Organizations that are reactive in their operations have low level of planning effectiveness. They allow the budget alone to drive the plan for the entire organization. They also view planning as synonymous with financial objectives alone. Some other organizations are traditional in their planning effectiveness, and surprisingly are even better than the reactive organizations.

The proactive organiza-

tions have higher level of planning effectiveness, as they have a comprehensive strategic plan that is conducted for the entire organization. The proactive organizations also start out right at the beginning with a clearly – defined, organization-wide, shared, and integrated vision. Proactive organizations allow their strategic plan to drive the budget.

The budget must be seen as the means to securing the plan. If your plan exceeds your budget capabilities, then it will be necessary to find ways to secure additional funding or reallocate funds to carry out your plan. If this is not possible, then you will have to revisit, review, and recalibrate all of the initiatives planned for your next budget cycle and shift some initiatives to Year 2 of your planning cycle, if your Year 1 budget cannot provide the resources for your Year 1 plan.

This insight does not intend to downplay the importance of budgeting in organizations.

I am also in support of the fact that all organizations must be realistic about their financial limitations; it would be organizational suicide not to take financial resources into consideration. However, allowing your planning decisions to be dictated solely by budget may not be in best interest of the organization.

Points to ponder: • Organizations should prepare their budgets based on the strategic plan of the entire organization.

• The strategic plan should always drive the budget.

• The budget should not be a stand alone.

• Organizations should allocate appropriate amount of time for both the planning process and the integration of planning into budgeting.

ganization. Whenever I am presenting “Re-Inventing Strategic Planning” to organizations, a major question keeps coming. How can everybody understand the strategic plan? How can it make more sense to employees across the board? I think every CEO should also be asking the same question. Now, how to do it is for organizations to start encouraging units and departments to develop their departmental or unit plan (level 1) based on the Strategic Business Unit (SBU) business plan (level 2). The SBU business plan is based on the overall strategic plan (level 3) of the entire organization. When this is done, no one is left behind in the planning process, and with the right budget in place growth will be pursued. Having only strategic plan, without cascading it down to the division (SBUs) and to the department/units may not bring all hands on deck.

Final note: We must always be strategic in the way we run our organizations. The strategic plan (not just the budget) should Send reactions to: be a guide for the entire or- comment@businessdayonline.com

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

COMMENT A senate precedent?

SOJI APAMPA Olusoji Apampa is the CEO of The Convention on Business Integrity.

Twitter: @sojapa E-mail: aviga@ cbinigeria.com

S

o, the first time he was lucky, but doesn’t doing it a second time, in the same way, betray an unprecedented level of skill and/or capacity and/or organisation (in terms of contacts, networks and partnerships)? It now appears that anyone who underestimates the political savvy of the Senate President does so at their own peril! Now that a clear Senate Precedent has been set, can this be repeated a third time, perhaps carefully timed for effect within the electoral timetable?

What would the result of such a sleight-of-hand be?

Before getting ahead of ourselves thinking too far into the electoral future whilst still on the road to 2019, given that a day is a very long time in politics, what does the dramatic peeling away of 15 Senators and 37 Members of the House of Representatives portend for Nigeria? Is this some kind of bifurcation that will simply result in separation, division and further sub-division until

the parties are atomised? Does this suggest a crossroads and political leaders (ruling and opposition figures) feel there is a specific, important choice to make right now? Could it be a fork-in-the-road where a major choice of options is being generated? Or could we be witnessing a combination of all of the above? For whom and/ or for what has this drama been enacted and why?

Mr. President has said the aim is “not me personally,” then who was it aimed at? Could one possibly suggest this show, which was produced and staged by a good portion of the northern elite, has the southern elite as its target audience? When a new president emerged warning, “I belong to no one and I belong to everyone,” many Nigerians, especially the southern elite did not read too much meaning into it. When OBJ emerged in 1999, he sounded the warning that anyone who “invested” in his campaign seeking a “return” had just lost their investment or words to that effect, elements of the northern elite who “brought” him to power did eventually “lose” their “investment.” Our presidents appear not to speak idle words.

The emergence of Bukola Saraki as Senate President appeared to hurt more of ACN interests rather than CPC interests within the ruling APC and now the mass defections of the last few days would at first appear

With the Senate Precedent that has been set, what are we to expect? Can we expect impeachments and threats of impeachment at federal and state levels before December 2018 as the elites jostle for a reconfiguration of power? frightening for the interests of an APC president but if you have a CPC heart but an APC toga (which could be easily shed at any time since politicians seem to have an appetite and capacity for such intrigues), the ACN interests or ambitions are probably potentially worse hit than any CPC aspirations within the APC. Overall, the northern elite lose nothing, but the southern elite just might do. Hey, but then, who am I to make such an inference?

However, a sure sign that this kind of analysis is correct would be if on the road to 2019, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is dropped as running mate to President Buhari.

If we, for a second, continue to pretend like we know who might gain from these intrigues, what could it all be in aid of?

BUSINESS DAY

11

comment is free

Send 800word comments to comment@businessdayonline.com

To me, at the heart of the matter is the age-old question of resource control. This subject made southern elites frown at the amalgamation of northern and southern Nigeria in 1914; probably led to the setting up of the Kaduna mafia after the 1966 Coup (in which the Nigerian Prime Minister and the Premier of the northern region, both northerners were killed by southern elements in the army); possibly informed the massive rigging at the polls of 1983 elections which led to the coming to power of the Buhari-Idiagbon administration; the emergence of the PDP as a vehicle for accommodating elite interests in 1999; the ouster of Goodluck Jonathan after those interests were threatened and the return to power of a Buhari-led government. If this is the case, the atomisation of current political configurations is merely the tip of the iceberg betraying the real politics between blocs of northern and southern elites and the underlying issue of access to and control of the resources of the Nigerian state.

This perennial and continuous struggle can be seen even in Nigeria’s recent electoral maps: 1999, the country rallied behind a pro-people agenda of the elites and brought OBJ to power. By 2003, disagreements between the elites led to a fracturing of that support. In 2007, Shehu Musa Y’arAdua came to power again as the pro-people candidate and had national

support but the 2012 map shows a severe north-south fracture when the elites fell out again over Goodluck Jonathan. In 2015, enough elites once again rallied behind a pro-people candidate, President Buhari to protest the non-accommodation of their interests. Now, we are at a point in this recurring cycle where a falling out amongst the elites over who gained and who lost can be expected again.

With the Senate Precedent that has been set, what are we to expect? Can we expect impeachments and threats of impeachment at federal and state levels before December 2018 as the elites jostle for a reconfiguration of power? How will the anticorruption agenda be used? The people-centred reason why the northern elite will seek the upper hand is from a sense of the need for “survival” of northern peoples – avoiding southern domination whilst the southern elite will seek the upper hand to improve their share of “power” ostensibly for development. This dangerous game of elite accommodation is what leads to the political settlements that maintain the fragile peace in Nigeria.

How aware are the actors in this grand game of each other? How aligned are their strategies each to the “master plans” from their regions? We are still on the road to 2019, so I guess only time will tell.

school children to find their way to school via an express way?”

I questioned. A man in my vehicle replied “I am sure their parents gave them money for transport and the children want to save it”. So I asked everyone in the vehicle what they would have done if they were in the children’s shoes and most people agreed that it will be difficult for young children to reject an offer that could give them extra money for chocolates.

As the argument went on, the driver of the Nissan car slowed down and dropped four of the kids at Barracks bus-stop. At this point, the driver of the Nissan car seemed to have good intentions but we were not ready to stop trailing him until we were sure that all the kids were safe.

He finally dropped the last two kids at Stadium bus-stop. We were relieved and continued on our journey to work without the driver of the Nissan car even noticing that he was being followed.

So I am still wondering: How busy can parents be to drop their little children in school?

What happened to leaving the house earlier so that you can drop the child in school and still make it to work in good time? What about making a school bus arrangement with the school authorities or better still getting your child/ward to attend a school very close to your house or place of work? I think the government can step in to ensure that children do not school far from their residence.

In a society were even adults get missing, children should not be on the road by themselves for any reason. If we bring them into the world, then we have to shield them from the guile of this world. And even if we did not bring them into the world, as long as they are under our care, we need to consistently protect them until they come into maturity to decide what is right and wrong.

Children are our extension; our future and our hope for tomorrow. Only if we raise them right can we have a hope for a better tomorrow.

Send reactions to: comment@businessdayonline.com

Lifts are not for children

ROSELINE AMADI Amadi writes from Lagos via roselineamadi@gmail.com

I

t was a cool Wednesday morning and as I listened to paper review with Jimmy Disu on Classic FM, I was unperturbed about the traffic on Ikorodu road as my mind was filled with questions about the security issues in the country. As the car I was in tried to move out of the service lane, I could not help but notice a black Nissan Maxima right in front of us and obstructing our navigation into the express. The driver of this car had stopped

to give some people a lift and these people were not only minors, but children! Primary school pupils! It was obvious he was giving them a lift.

No, I shouted. He was not their dad picking them up on the express to take them to school nor was he their neighbor who saw them at the bus-stop and decided to be kind. This was a lift! The facial expressions of the kids and the way they rushed into the car, each one hustling to secure a space in this car made it so obvious that these six kids just saw a ride to school that they were not going to pay for and decided to enjoy the freebie.

“They are just children!” I exclaimed. “Who offers children lift? They are too young to know if they should accept or decline the offer” I explained. At this time, I had gotten the attention of everyone in the vehicle I was in. I was headed for work with some neighbors who work around my office, some of who are also parents. So they did not take what we just saw lightly.

The driver of our vehicle prom-

ised to trail that Nissan car until we can find security officials on the road to report him to.

The Nissan car was on top speed making it difficult for our driver to catch up. I got really worried so I picked up my phone to tweet about the incident hoping that I could get the attention of some Lagos state security services or maybe some members of the general public who may be able to help. As I started typing my tweet, I realized that the Nissan car did not even have a number plate so there was no way people could identify the car! “My goodness! This didn’t look good at all”, I thought.

How do we stop this man before he harms these innocent children? I wished I could speak to the parents/guardians of these children to find out why they thought it was okay for primary school pupils to be left to go to school by themselves. Lots of thoughts were running through my mind as our driver tried to catch up with the Nissan car.

“This is irresponsibility on the part of the parents. How are people comfortable leaving primary

Send reactions to: comment@businessdayonline.com

12

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Editorial PUBLISHER/CEO

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

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

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

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Friday 27 July 2018

Nigerian Ports Authority must take blame for the gridlock in Apapa Continued from page 1

The two railways line built from colonial times - the western line from Lagos to Nguru and eastern line from Portharcourt to Maiduguri - carried cargoes from the north to the ports in Lagos and Portharcourt for export.

These ports also handled imports for the flourishing trade and industrial complex across the east and west of the country. With the discovery of oil, two additional ports were developed in Calabar and Warri to support the export of crude oil.

However, post-independence Nigeria governments and subsequently government agencies discouraged the use of the eastern ports and concentrated virtually all shipments into and outside Nigeria at the Apapa port forcing all Nigerian importers and exporters into the Apapa port. When pressures began to build up at the Apapa ports, the government later developed the Tin Can Island port, still within the Apapa axis to cope with the pressure on Apapa.

Of course, the pressures increased and the Lagos ports could no longer cope.

To make matters worse, the eastern ports, due to abandonment, had silted and become shallow and unable to admit big ship increasing the dependency on the Apapa ports.

The result was that Apapa, that hitherto calm, serene port city where both residents and export and import trading find meaning and flourished, was turned into something unrecognisable: a decrepit wasteland where, although money is still being made, virtually all infrastructure have been allowed to decay and collapse due to pressure on the port facilities. Apapa sadly became a metaphor for stress, suffering and suffocation, devoid of any charm and consequently avoided like leprosy by those who do not have pressing need to go there. The environment has been degraded almost irredeemably by desperate merchants whose trucks and tank farms have overrun the city. Going to Apapa became synonymous with ‘journeying to hell.’ The amount of losses to both importers and exporters and the general public and the economy of the country as a whole is colossal.

What should be among the first action plans of a reform-

minde d NPA leadership?

Shouldn’t it be a robust plan to decongest the Apapa ports by investing in the dredging of the eastern ports to allow big ships berth? But no, the Hadiza Usman-led NPA had no such plans. Rather, the concern of the leadership is in erecting a seven billion naira (N7 billion) head office in Abuja while access to the ports are becoming impossible and the entire city including other roads serving the entire population of Lagos have been taken over by trucks and containers waiting to gain access to the ports.

While the leadership of the ports authority is being hailed, reports on port efficiency continue to list Nigeria as one of the most inefficient and most expensive ports operations globally. One of such reports is the moverdb. com 2018 Overseas Cargo and Freight Costs template that shows that freight costs from the United States (Los Angeles & New York) to different port destinations of the world. The rates shows that the Apapa port from New York is the most expensive destination among the countries included in the template. For instance, it costs about $4, 982 to ship

a 20 feet container from New York to Apapa, which is about twice the amount to ship a container of the same size to Cape Town, South Africa (at $2, 542). This is despite the fact that New York to Lagos is just 6,516 nautical miles and takes approximately 27 days for a ship to sail the distance while New York to Cape Town is 9,097 nautical miles and takes approximately 38 days to sail.

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

Truth is; the NPA leadership has yet to scratch the problems of the Nigerian ports and are yet to successfully turn around the moribund organisation into an efficient and service-oriented one. We urge the leadership, just like the Lagos state government has done recently, to begin to revive other ports in Nigeria to decongest the gridlock in Lagos. Once that is done, the leadership can now concentrate on efforts to streamline ports operations to drastically cut down turnaround time to position Nigeria as a global business destination.

Dick Kramer - Chairman Imo Itsueli Mohammed Hayatudeen Albert Alos Funke Osibodu Afolabi Oladele Dayo Lawuyi Vincent Maduka Maneesh Garg Keith Richards Opeyemi Agbaje Amina Oyagbola Bolanle Onagoruwa Fola Laoye Chuka Mordi Sim Shagaya Mezuo Nwuneli Emeka Emuwa Charles Anudu Tunji Adegbesan Eyo Ekpo

ENQUIRIES NEWS ROOM 08023165438 Lagos 08169609331 08033160837 Abuja

}

ADVERTISING 01-2799110 08034743892 08033225506 SUBSCRIPTIONS 01-2799101 07032496069 07054563299 www.businessdayonline.com The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria.

01-2799100 LEGAL ADVISERS The Law Union

MISSION STATEMENT To be a diversified provider of superior business, financial and management intelligence across platforms accessible to our customers anywhere in the world.

OUR CORE VALUES

BusinessDay avidly thrives on the mainstay of our core values of being The Fourth Estate, Credible, Independent, Entrepreneurial and Purpose-Driven.

• The Fourth Estate: We take pride in being guarantors of liberal economic thought • Credible: We believe in the principle of being objective, fair and fact-based • Independent: Our quest for liberal economic thought means that we are independent of private and public interests.

• Entrepreneurial: We constantly search for new opportunities, maintaining the highest ethical standards in all we do • Purpose-Driven: We are committed to assembling a team of highly talented and motivated people that share our vision, while treating them with respect and fairness. www.businessdayonline.com

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

COMPANIES & MARKETS

BUSINESS DAY

13

FirstBank moves to strengthen Nigeria, Chinese trade relations

Pg. 14

Co m pa n y n e w s a n a ly s i s a n d i n s i g h t

Royal Exchange returns to profit on increased premium income BALA AUGIE

R

oyal Exchange Nigeria Plc has returned to profit, thanks to improvement in premium incomes as the insurer’s innovative products continue to contribute to revenue.

For the first three months through March 2018, Royal Exchange recorded profit after tax of N389.91 million from a loss of N237.37 million the previous year when economic downturns undermine earnings.

The growth at the bottom line (profit) was largely driven by an increase in premium income.

Gross premium written (GPW) increased by 10 percent to N7.67 billion in March 2018 from N6.97 billion the previous year. Gross premium income increased by 13.33 percent to N3.51 billion in the period under review as

against N3.40 billion the previous year.

Net premium written (NPI) was up 34.80 percent to N2.44 billion in March 2018 compared to N1.81 billion recorded the previous year.

The Nigerian insurer recorded a positive real underwriting performance of N933.10 million in the period under review while underwriting profit increased by 63.42 percent to N1.23 billion in March 2018 from N752.66 million the previous year.

The real underwriting profit is calculated by subtracting 1 from combined ratios and multiplying the result by 100 while underwriting profit is arrived at by deducting net premium income from claims.

However, Royal Exchange’s investment income, which comprise of income from short term government securities, bonds, and real estate, was down by 50.80 percent to N195.12 million from N384.71

million the previous year.

Insurance firms in Africa’s largest economy are not taking advantage of the high yields environment.

A

ir Peace has announced plans to commence flight services from Lagos and Abuja to Roberts International Airport, Monrovia and from Abuja to Kotoka International Airport, Accra on August 6.

The development is coming days after the airline secured the renewal of its International Air Transport Association Operation Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate.

A statement issued by Chris Iwarah, the airline’s Corporate Communications Manager, said the new routes were part of the third phase of the carrier’s network expansion project on the West Coast of Africa.

Air Peace launched its first regional flight out of Lagos to Accra on February 16, 2017.

About exactly a year later on February 19, 2018, the airline added Freetown (Sierra Leone), Banjul (The Gambia) and Dakar (Senegal) to its route map.

The new routes, Iwarah confirmed, would also connect Accra and Monrovia. The carrier added that many domestic

routes, including Makurdi, Warri, Port Harcourt NAF Base and Kaduna, would soon join its network under its no-cityleft-behind project. Air Peace also confirmed that it would shortly reopen its Asaba and Sokoto operations.

“We are pleased to announce that Monrovia, Liberia and Abuja-Accra will be joining our route network on Monday, August 6, 2018. We will also be inaugurating our Abuja-Accra service, besides connecting Accra and Monrovia on the same date. This is our way of expressing our sincere gratitude to members of the flying public who have continued to support and endorse the Air Peace brand.

The launch of the new services will afford air travellers on the Lagos-Monrovia, AbujaMonrovia, Accra-Monrovia and Abuja-Accra routes the option of a truly efficient, customer-centric and exceptional alternative.

“Since the launch of the first and second phases of our regional flight operations to Accra (Ghana), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Banjul (The Gambia) as well as Dakar (Senegal) on

low performance compared to other sectors.

They however added that an efficient investment man-

L-R: Femi Odugbemi, director, MultiChoice Talent Factory; Mildred Okwo, Nigeria Film director and producer; John Ugbe, managing director, MultiChoice Nigeria and Yinka Oduniyi, president, Independent Television Producer Association of Nigeria (ITPAN) during the regional interviews Pic by Pius Okeosis for the MultiChoice Talent Factory in Lagos .

Air Peace begins Monrovia, Abuja-Accra services August 6 IFEOMA OKEKE

Experts are of the view that poor investment portfolio management is responsible for the insurance industry’s

February 16, 2017 and February 19, 2018 respectively, we have received pieces of positive feedback confirming how our operations have transformed air travel and eliminated the challenges of connectivity on the West Cost of Africa,” he said.

He said the airline is determined to offer its valued guests an even greater experience in safe, on-time and efficient flight services, adding that the inauguration of the Monrovia routes would bring the airline’s regional network to five important destinations. Lome, Abidjan, Niamey, Douala, among other cities, will also come on board soon.

“On the domestic side of its operations, unserved and underserved destinations, including Makurdi, Warri, Kaduna, Port Harcourt NAF Base and Bauchi are in line to experience our spectacular flight services. We are also going to restart our flight operations to Asaba and Sokoto. Preparations for our long-haul flights to London, Houston, Dubai, Sharjah, Mumbai, Guangzhou and Johannesburg are nearing completion and we will be announcing launch dates soon.

agement strategy will bolster insurer’s margins in the short term since an unpredictable and tough macroeconomic environment has undermined underwriting business.

Agusto & Co estimated that the insurance industry’s investment portfolio grew by eight per cent to N762 billion in 2017 (approximately 75 percent of total assets).

A breakdown of the industry’s investment portfolio showed a 44 per cent allocation to government securities, 18 per cent in bank placements & deposits, 16 per cent in real estate, seven per cent in subsidiaries and six per cent each in quoted and unquoted investments.

“Despite growth in the industry’s investment portfolio, a rise in yields and significant investments in treasury bills, the average returns on investments remained below 10 per cent,” said analysts at Augusto and Co.

Mahindra unveils three -wheeler motorcycles Josephine Okojie

M

ahindra &Mahindra Limited, world largest tractor maker, along with its channel partner VIP Merchandise Enterprise have launched its three wheeler range of motorcycles in Nigeria.

The launch which took place in Lagos recently was attended by Mahindra top officials and captains of the industries.

For years, Mahindra has been partnering in the growth story of Africa, offering its range of products across automotive and farm equipment subsectors as well as delivering global business insights and solutions.

Arvind Mathew, head-international operations (AFS), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, said “we have been working steadfastly with VIP Merchandise to ensure that we deliver innovative mobility solutions to meet the needs of the com-

munity in Nigeria.”

“The Alfa P400 is a testimony to our intent. We are launching this product across the countr y with due support on warranty, after-sales service, spare parts availability and local mechanic training. We will continue to up the ante on technology and innovation to offer solutions in Nigeria that will drive positive change,” Mathew said.

The Alfa P400 is the latest offering by Mahindra in the mobility solution space for Nigeria and it aims to deliver ‘Plenty Space Plenty Profit’ to its consumers. The Alfa P400 is powered by a 400cc gasoline engine and comes in both passenger and cargo variants.

The product comes with best-in-class features like longest wheelbase, multireflector headlamps, battery lock, powerful 1KW starter motor, large windshield, mobile charger, bottle holder.

Owing to its superior en-

gine, Alfa P400 offers increased seating and cargo capacity and lower cost of maintenance that is unmatched in the market in turn providing improved earning potential to its consumers.

“We have been working closely with Mahindra to provide customized mobility solutions for Nigeria. Our Two-Wheeler – Arro – has been successfully running in the Okada segment across Nigeria. With Alfa P400, we are now bringing a differentiated and specially designed Three-Wheeler for the market that provides improved capacity, be it for carrying Passengers or Cargo, for the customers,” said Prakash Vaswani, chairman, Geepee Group said.

“With our products, Arro and Alfa, we not only offer customized and unique mobility solutions for the market, but also deliver employment and entrepreneurial platforms to empower the community to Rise,” Vaswani said.

14

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

COMPANIES & MARKETS FirstBank moves to strengthen Nigeria, Chinese trade relations

A

s part of its strategic dr ive to strengthen business partnerships between Nigeria and China, First Bank of Nigeria Limited recently organised the FirstBank-Chinese Business forum with the theme ‘Deepening Sino-Nigerian Cooperation’.

The FirstBank Chinese Business Forum was part of the strategies by the Bank to drive business conversations and the promotion of business and economic partnerships between Nigeria and China.

Only recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria reached a currency swap agreement with the Peoples Bank of China in order to ease the burden of the liquidity issues faced by Nigerian business owners and Chinese manufacturers. Notably, FirstBank is among the four banks appointed as settlement banks in the deal.

Chief Diana Chen, group chairman, CIG Motors was among the panelists at the plenary session and discussed the recently signed currency swap deal between the Chinese and the Nigeria governments, Lekki free trade zone and other collaboration between Nigeria and China.

FirstBank’s group executive, Treasury & Financial Institutions, Ini Ebong; head, Foreign Banking Services, Ayotunde Fanimokun and group head, Products & Marketing Support, Abiodun Famuyiwa joined in the plenary session with the Chinese industrialist. Ebong led the FirstBank’s team.

Speaking at the event, Adesola Adeduntan, the MD/ CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited & Subsidiaries said; “The business relationship between China and Nigeria is of great importance to us hence the establishment of our Represen-

tative Office in Beijing, China in 2010, to cater to the growing needs of Sino-Nigeria businesses, and to provide support in channeling trade flows between the two countries. Our promise is that we will always deliver the ultimate gold standard of value and financial excellence as we put customers at the heart of our business.”

With the establishment of its representative office in China, FirstBank became the first Nigerian bank to record its presence in the Asian country and has since been a financial gateway in promoting business between China and Nigeria, a recognition that earned the Bank an invitation as a member of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to promote the strategic advancement of the China Belt and Road Initiative, the United Nations 2030 agenda and the African Union 2063 development strategies for African economies.

L-R: Samagbeyi Temitope, Tax Partner, EY Nigeria; Ife Oyediji, Group Tax Manager, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc; Gaetani Claudia, Country Manager, Salini Nigeria Limited and Temitope Oni, Tax Manager, EY Nigeria at the Country-by Country Knowledge sharing session organized by EY Nigeria in Lagos

The $250m International Breweries plant in Ogun for inauguration

Ecobank offers cash back to customers on “Xpress Account Give Away” promotion

...brews of Hero, Trophy, Budweiser, Caste Lite, Eagle beers; Pabod, Beta malt

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta

G

overnor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state has confirmed the inauguration of $250 million International Breweries plant located at Sagamu interchange in ObafemiOwode local government area of the state by President Muhammadu Buhari next month.

The plant, which will be the largest brewery plant of International Breweries PLC in West and East Africa, having merged three existing breweries in Nigeria - International Breweries, Ilesa, Osun state; Intafact Beverages, Onitsha, Anambra state and Pabod Breweries, Port Harcourt, Rivers state, is a subsidiary of Belgian-Brazilian Breweries - AB InBev.

Speaking during International Breweries PLC management’s courtesy visit to the Governor’s Office recently, Amosun noted the actualization and inauguration of manufacturing plants such as International Breweries plant in Ogun state was borne out of tireless efforts of government to make the state conducive for investments and entrepreneurship.

While commending International Breweries PLC for locating its biggest plant in West and East Africa to Ogun state, the governor requested the company to source a larger percentage of its Rae materials locally and offer employment opportunities to indigenes, saying concerted effort should also be made to engage in corporate social responsibility.

Responding, Annabelle

Degroot, managing director of International Breweries PLC, declared huge economic opportunities would be offered not only for Ogun state and its people but the Nigerians at large as a larger percentage of brewing raw materials such as maize, sorghum, cassava, bottles, packaging, and labelling materials, among others, would be sourced locally.

BusinessDay reports that operations and brewing of lager beers such as Hero, Trophy, Castle Lite, Hero, Eagle, Budweiser as well as Pabod and Beta malt, among other drinks have begun ahead of the inauguration of the plant

by President Buhari in August as efforts are ongoing to have clusters of farmers that supply major raw materials for the brewery.

NECA names Olawale DG designate, Yinusa president JOSHUA BASSEY

N

igeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), a member of the Organised Private Sector (OPS), has named Timothy Olawale as Director-General designate.

Olawale, who is currently NECA’s director of membership services, will be stepping into the shoe of Olusegun Oshinowo, who is due for retirement in January 2019, after 19 years of meritorious service to the

employers’ body.

Before joining NECA in 2011, Olawale had served as the Executive Secretary of Hotel and Personal Services Employers Association for five years.

This is also as Mohammed Yinusa, managing director of DN Tyre & Rubber Plc, has been elected the new president of NECA during the association’s 61st annual general meeting held July 17, in Lagos.

Yinusa replaces Larry Ettah, who had served two terms (four years) as president. Also elected to run the affairs of the

association for the next two years are Taiwo Adeniyi, group managing director of Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, (1st vice president); Mauricio Alarcon, managing director and CEO of Nestle Nigeria Plc, (2nd vice president) and Vassily Oye Barberopoulos of Metec West Africa Limited, as honourable treasurer.

Meanwhile, Yinusa has expressed appreciation to members of the NECa for the confidence reposed in them, and promised his team would do the best to keep the tradition of the employers’ body.

E

cobank Nigeria has flagged off ‘Xpress Account Giveaway promotion offering mouthwatering cash back to customers as reward for onboarding and using its Xpress account and instant gifts for transacting at any of Ecobank Xpress point across Nigeria.

The promo tagged “Xpress Account Giveaway” is expected to run for three months.

Announcing the commencement of the promotion in Lagos, Philip Sonibare, head of direct banking, said the campaign provides incentives for all customers that have Xpress account, opened via Ecobank mobile App for customers by smartphones or USSD (*326#) by customers with feature phones. According to him to qualify, the customer simply needs

to transact with Xpress Account - the more a customer transacts, the higher his / her chances of winning.

Further Sonibare said, “the reward is in two categories.

Cash back and instant prizes at Xpress points. To be eligible for the cash back, customers need to make 3 transactions a week (cumulative minimum of N3, 000) to get cash back of N500 at the start of the following week. Customers who visit any of our Xpress points to make transactions (or open an account) will receive an instant free gift for a minimum transaction of N2, 000 at the Xpress point”.

He explained that customers could win as often as they transact as long as they meet the minimum requirements to qualify, as there is no limit to how many times they can win, urging those that are yet to open Xpress account to do so quickly so they can partici-

pate in this promotion as well as begin to enjoy the benefits of owning an account with Ecobank.

Ecobank Xpress Account is a digital Account that is mobile based. It is simple and does not require any form of documentation for opening, therefore making it easy and convenient for all, while affording the customers the same services available to regular account holders.

The Ecobank Xpress Account can be opened on the Ecobank Mobile App by smartphone users and or via USSD for feature phone users.

With the Xpress account, customers can buy airtime, transfer money to any bank account in the country; deposit and withdraw cash at any Xpress point (Agent), do cardless withdraws (XpressCash) at either an Ecobank ATM or Xpress point location, as well as pay regular bills via your mobile phone.

Emefiele to deliver keynote speech at 2018 LAPO Institute conference IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin

T

he management of LAPO Institute says the Central of Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele will deliver a keynote address in her 2018 Conference on Microfinance and Enterprise Development (CMED).

The conference which is the 4th in the series is slated to hold in Benin-City from August 7-8, 2018.

The conference , with the theme, “Indigenous Technology Value and Chain Development”, will be chaired by

Mike Obadan, non-executive director, CBN and member, monetary policy committee while Betsy Bene Obaseki, first lady of Edo State will be Special Guest of Honour.

A statement by Christian Okojie, chairperson, Conference Planning Committee said the conference “is a unique platform for technologists, academia, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, regulators among others”.

Okojie, said this year’s conference will primarily focus on harnessing indigenous technology in value chain development as a way to boost do-

mestic production and reduce import dependency in Nigeria.

She listed the lead paper presenters to include Akii . O. Ibhadode, Vice- Chancellor, Federal University of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Effurun, Delta State, Valentine Aletor, Ag Vice-Chancellor of Africa, Toru-Orua, Bayelsa state and John Igene, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin-City.

Others are Peter Egbon, Department of Economics, Delta State University, Abraka and Oluwayomi David Atte, Participatory Development Consult. Abuja.

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

15

COMPANIES & MARKETS Infrastructure gap fuels expansion in cement industry ODINAKA ANUDU

H

uge infrastructure gap in Nigeria has provided opportunity for local cement makers, fuelling expansion in capacity and operations.

Nigeria has a population of 198 million growing at 2.6 percent, but the infrastructure stock does not grow to match this rising population.

According to the National Infrastructure Master Plan, Nigeria needs to spend $3 trillion and five percent of GDP annually to bridge the infrastructure gap.

To tap into this gap, Dangote Cement commenced, in 2016, the construction of a $1 billion investment in cement plants in Okpella, Edo State, with potential for 6,000 new jobs.

The 6 million mtpa capacity cement plant in Okpella came on the heels of a similar arrangement for another 6 million mtpa cement plant in Itori, in Ogun State, where the company is currently running a 12million mtpa cement plants at Ibese, in Yewa division of the state.

Dangote’s current capacity is estimated at 29.4 million metric tonnes per annum (mtpa). But by the time the investment is completed, Dangote’s production capacity will hit 41 million mtpa in Nigeria alone.

Dangote Cement already has a strong presence in many African countries. While reviewing the company’s operations in the second quarter of 2018 on July 22, Joe Makoju, group chief executive officer of Dangote Cement, said Dangote has invested $3b in building

manufacturing plants and import/grinding terminals across Africa.

Makoju stated that the investments were located in Cameroon (1.5 million mtpa clinker grinding), Congo (1.5 million mtpa), Ghana (1.5 million mtpa import), Ethiopia (2.5 million mtpa), Senegal (1.5 million mtpa), Sierra Leone (0.7 million mtpa import), South Africa (2.8 million mtpa), Tanzania (3.0 million mtpa), and Zambia (1.5 million mtpa).

“In all, the company, which employed 27, 952 workers in Nigeria as at 2017, had its revenue increased by 16.9 percent and earning per share increased by 3 percent to N6.60 kobo per share for the second quarter, which ended June 30, 2018.”

Dangote Cement Plc recorded a rise in its profit before tax to N155.6bn for the half-year of 2017, compared with N124.9bn posted in the corresponding period of 2016.

Gross revenue was N412.7bn as against N292.2bn reported in June 2016.

Last week, BUA Group commissioned 1.5 million mtpa Kalambaina cement plant in Sokoto State, which cost $350 million to build.

The ultramodern cement plant has a 32 megawatts multifuel captive power plant and a coal mill, blessed with huge limestone deposits.

One significant thing about the plant is that it increases cement production in Nigeria and BUA’s capacity in particular.

BUA is building a $1 billion Obu Cement Complex in Okpella, Edo State. The plant, commissioned in August 2017, will be completed by end of this year.

By the time the Okpella

plant is completed by end of the year, BUA’s total production capacity will hit eight million MT and would give 35 percent of the entire volumes produced in Nigeria.

Another critical aspect of this plant is proximity to Niger Republic, which enhances its export potential. The cement plant started three years ago when BUA engaged Sinoma at the height of foreign exchange crisis and began production in March this year.

“Nigeria now produces over 40 million MT of cement, more cement than any other country in Africa. Nigeria’s huge market size, low per capita cement consumption of 125kg and estimated housing deficit of 17 million are key drivers,” Yemi Osinbajo, vice president, said at the commissioning.

“We can revolutionalise road construction by simply deciding that we can build roads with concretes. I have no doubt that this will boost employment generation and economic growth,” he stated, adding that a road has been completed in Ogun with concretes, while the Apapa road is being rehabilitated with concretes.

Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman and CEO of BUA Group, said the new plant will be generating more power than is currently generated by the entire Sokoto State.

According to Rabiu, the plant will run on coal, heavy oils or a mixture of both, and the use of coal is expected to save over 70 percent of energy costs compared with 15 million litres of fuel oil per month or 40 tonnes or even 20 trucks of fuel that could have been used per day.

Business Event

L-R: Simbo Olatoregun, Google product marketing manager SSA, Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, general manager, marketing, enterprise business unit, MTN Nigeria and Bridget Onuoha, manager, business performance, MTN Nigeria at the MTN Google training for SMEs in Lagos recently.

Photo shows one of the Dealers, Suraju Bukoye, chairman of Easy GSM Global, Kaduna, one N1m winner in the raffle draw for dealers present at the event held in Abuja being presented with the dummy cheque by MC Tagwaye popularly known as “Mr. President,” while Globacom brand specialists, Roemary Clement (left) and Judith Bawa (right) look in admiration.

Konga to re-launch payment on delivery option for e-commerce Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson

S

everal months after putting a stop to its Pay on Delivery (POD) option as a result of lack of confidence in the system, Konga, one of Nigeria’s largest e-commerce platforms has revealed plans to re-launch PoD on the 1st of August 2018.

At the time of POD suspension by Konga, other e-commerce platforms in Nigeria also either stopped or limited transactions that can be carried out online with the payment on delivery option. The company revealed that the payment option will first be made available to its Lagos based shoppers before extending the service to other states from the 1st of September 2018.

This development is coming after Konga reportedly achieved same day delivery of approximately 97 percent of product

orders in major cities in the last 30 days.

Confirming the development, Nick Imudia, CEO Konga Online, disclosed that Payment On Delivery was suspended when erstwhile owners – Naspers and AB Kinnevik were in discussions before the acquisition of the business by the Zinox Group.

‘We have taken our time to restructure, improve our technology and capacity in terms of our own staff and logistics to meet customers’ expectations.

We have invested substantially in our logistics arm, K-Express culminating in the acquisition of new line-haul trucks, delivery vans and motor bikes to meet the commitments of not just POD, but also achieve a minimum of 85 percent same day delivery of major products categories by July 2019 across the nation as mandated by the Board of Konga.

‘Someone must make it hap-

pen, and we have decided to take the bull by the horns with new mega warehousing and storage facilities being opened across the country with best in class technologies,’ he affirmed.

Industry watchers say this is a step in the right direction, as payment on delivery remains a favourable option for most Nigerian consumers, and accounts for over 70 percent of online sales in the country.

Imudia also stated that Konga is expanding its retail network as promised by the company’s management, with a target of 100 stores before the end of 2019 but with a long-term ambition of achieving 774 stores by 2022.

‘Considering Nigeria’s deficient payment system, Konga customers have several payment and delivery options. This will go a long way to excite our customers and expand the numerous order fulfillment channels available to our customers.

L-R: Wale Olaoye, group managing director, Halogen Security Company Limited; Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu, commandant general, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and Davidson Akhimien, national president of the Association of Licensed Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria (ALPSPN), during the official visit of the Commandant General and his team to Halogen Security Company Headquarters in Lagos.

L:R: Brewery Manager, (BM) Ama Breweries, Peter Ani and Winner Star United We Shine Millionaires Promo Ibara Akanimore at a Regional Presentation in Aba .

16

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

17

18 BUSINESS DAY Policy

Investments

Market

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

Insight

Influencers

INSIGHT

Different campaigns across geographies are uniting COMPANY NEWS Asteven Group launches $1m fund for sustainable to support a renewable energy future -Boeve development projects in tertiary institutions

N

ot long ago, the idea of a 100 percent renewable energy future felt mostly aspirational. I remember an early 350. org office with a Clean Energy Jobs! poster out front, which frequently attracted passers-by to come in and ask for a job application. I felt sheepish when this happened, really hoping that this future would manifest but, quite honestly, doubting it. There is, after all, so much bad news on the climate front.

The good news consistently comes from the solutions. Like the fact that the cost of a solar panel dropped 90% in a decade.

Or that projections for solar added to the grid each year beat the forecasts every single time. And that these advancements can help become drivers of reducing inequality; those who need these resources the most can and should be the first to receive them. Thanks to groups like Power for All, Solutions Project and the 100% Percent Network, there is an abundance of evidence, tools and resources to keep this good news going.

Now, numerous people around the world are connecting to the electrical grid for the first time - and they are leapfrogging fossil fuels entirely. For this generation, electricity and solar and other renewable power go hand in hand. Goodbye to the outmoded model of digging up dead dinosaurs and burning them in polluting power stations.

For instance in Africa, Ghanaian campaigners G-ROC (Ghana Reducing Our Carbon) celebrated the temporary halt of plans for a proposed Volta River Authority coal-fired power plant in the Ekumfi region, following three years of campaigning against it.

They are still campaigning for its permanent cancellation, but with one in every three Ghana citizens lacking access to electricity, the team are now also pushing for energy solutions, including solar home systems and renewable mini-grids, that can transform the country.

Stories by ISAAC ANYAOGU

A

steven Group, a renewable energy company with along with First Bank Nigeria, and Federal Ministry of Environment have launched the Nigeria Green Campus Initiative (NGCI), a scheme that would see over $1million funding to scale up innovative projects focused on entrepreneurship and empowerment.

“Our Children go to schools and are at the mercy of unreliable power systems. With this initiative, we shall be able to deploy portable lighting systems to campuses and students in our tertiary in-

stitutions; and at the same time, contribute towards helping entrepreneurs start up their businesses in the industr y” Sunny Akpoyibo, the company’s founder said The NGCI according to the organisers, is the deployment of low cost green solar products that are lighting global certified to replace kerosene lamps, paraffin candles, as well as provision of charging ports for students laptops and phones in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions at low interest rate. It has been endorsed by the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) AND Green Climate Fund (GCF).

The NGCI is in partner-

ship with the Federal Ministry of Environment, Green Economics Institute of Nigeria, First Bank and other partners. It was launched at the 3rd Green Economy Lecture/Awards hosted by the Kwara State Government on July 16.

Supported by the Sustainable Energy Practitioners Association of Nigeria (SEPAN), West African Green Economic Development Institute(WAGEDI) Gregory University, Uturu Abia State, Green Economic Initiative of Nigeria(GEIN), GLOBE Nigeria and other relevant civil society organizations(CSOs) These institutions have relevant functions in the advocacy stream.

May Boeve of 350.org

Chibeze Ezekiel, Ghana campaigner, said, “The benefits of renewable energy are massive - for our environment, health and wealth”.

As part of 350 Africa’s DeCOA L o nis e camp a ig n , G-ROC has launched the Renewable Energy for Communities campaign (#RE4C) to bring evidence-based, action-focused solutions to the Ghanaian government to embrace the use of renewable energy in its development agenda.

A winning formula is emerging around the world: Grassroots communities are regularly defeating dirty energy projects, whether it’s pipelines, fracking wells or new coal mines, through a handful of tools.

At 350.org we’re uniting many different campaigns across geographies under the banner of Fossil Free, aiming to attract more and more cities into this growing movement. This isn’t a new demand, and our partners, particularly locally, have led the way. We hope to create much more momentum behind the demands, attract more commitments, and in so doing help bring about a Fossil Free world.

A lot of this change is possible because of changing models of activism, which are decentralized and can spread to more

people more quickly. Part of the inspiration for the creation of 350.org was the very fact of the internet itself; that digital tools could help unite groups of activists who might never meet each other face to face, but who could find common links in their campaigns. We see this happening every day, when an idea in one corner of the globe (like ‘kayaktivism’, where kayakers block ports that are attempting to move fossil fuels) spreads to another through a compelling photo in a tweet.

The campaigns to move communities off dirty energy work symbiotically with those seeking to build decentralized renewable energy. It’s supply and demand in action. That’s why we’re so excited about the Power for All network, and why we’re eager to create more linkages in countries that are facing pressure to build coal plants, but know that they deserve solar instead.

Much of this will come to a head during the RISE for climate action mobilization on September 8 later this year, when communities will gather to make Fossil Free commitments, including 100% Renewables, just in time for the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.

L-R: Tony Nyong, director, Green Growth and Climate Change, AFDB; Magnus Onuoha, president, Sustainable Energy Practitioners Association of Nigeria, SEPAN/Coordinator, Green Economy Lecture/Awards Series, Peter Tarfa, director, Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment; Sunny Akpoyibo, president, West African Emissions Trading Association/Initiator, National Green Campus Initiative; Yomi Ogunsola, DG, Kwara State Public Private Partnership Office (KP3); Chukwumerije Okereke, Keynote Speaker/Member, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC and Chinedu Nwajiuba, Vice Chancellor, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ebonyi State

$10,000 up for grabs in All On/Co Creation Hub clean energy challenge

I

f you have an idea that delivers clean energy to Nigerians in a new way, then you can be among the four people whose projects could get $10,000 in funding as All On, an impact investment firm in the offgrid space is partnering with the Co-Creation Hub for the Clean Energy Innovation Challenge The challenge which aims to unearth and support energy innovators across Nigeria who have solutions on the nexus of renewable

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

energy and technology will be held today in Lagos.

The project will facilitate increased access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy sources for low income households, small and medium scale enterprises, and communities.

All On works with partners to increase access to commercial energy products and services for under-served and un-served off-grid energy markets in Nigeria, with a special focus on the Niger Delta.

The Clean Energy Innovation Challenge aims to unearth and support energy innovators across Nigeria who may have solutions that: deliver affordable, reliable and sustainable energy through new sources, use innovative business models to improve access to clean energy, use creative financing models to increase access to clean energy, reduce energy wastage across the value chain, and save cost for producers, distributors or consumers of energy.

Graphics: Joel Samson

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

19

MoneyInsight Personal Finance: Investing Retirement

Taxes

Credit Cards

Home Buying

Small Business Shopping

Financing

Global bitcoin bull rubs off positively on Nigerian market in July WhatsApp fights fake news with new updates

Stories by FRANK ELEANYA

P

ositivity in global cryptocurrency market that saw price of bitcoin crossing the $8,000 mark for the first time in two months has rubbed off on the market in Nigeria. Data on the LocalBitcoin showed that transactions have picked up since the beginning of July.

For the first week of July, volume surged over N1.7 billion before dropping slightly in the second week to N1.4 billion. The third week has seen transaction volumes rise to over N1.6 billion.

Price of bitcoin in Nigeria on the Luno exchange was at N2,910,233 as at the time of writing this article.

Trading activity on bitcoin across many exchanges dipped over the first and second quarter.

Coindesk new report on second quarter activities showed that weighted combination of cryptcrypto volumes, fiat-to-crypto volumes and total trade pairs went down 26 per cent. The use of bitcoin’s blockchain to transact on-chain also saw less interest in the second three months of the year, declining 28 per cent.

Bitcoin miner revenues dropped -22 per cent and fees charged tanked -19 per cent as well.

The cryptocurrency is up roughly 15 per cent in the past week, mostly boosted by reports of institutional investor interest according to analysts that spoke to CNBC. Back in Nigeria, transactions on exchanges like Luno have

W

seen increases mainly due to the price of bitcoin. Nigerian investors are attracted to opportunities that offer bigger returns not necessarily because of deep interest in cryptocurrencies.

A source at the company told BusinessDay that major sentiment is that with the global market witnessing positive growth and likely to stay that way in the meantime, it is the right time to buy bitcoin.

“From Luno’s perspective we try not to tell customers that this is the right time to buy but we try to focus on the underlying value which is sending money and financial freedom,” the source said. “You can send bitcoin to

anybody in the world within minutes. What is even more interesting is that where we have presence like in the UK, Europe and South East Asia and Africa as long as you are registered on Luno we can actually send money to them free of charge.”

Global prices is being pushed upward by reports that financial giants like the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering an ETF approval which was filed through the Chicago Board of Exchange (CBOE)

by SolidX a New York-based blockchain platform.

Analysts explain that if the bitcoin ETF application is approved, it will enable people to buy into bitcoin without having

to deal directly with exchanges.

Another report that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager is keen on bitcoin and cryptocurrency has also contributed to increased activities. The Forbes also point to the news of the appointment of David Solomon as the new CEO of Goldman Sachs in July. The new CEO had in June hinted that Goldman is planning to add bitcoin and cryptocurrency services to its portfolio.

Solomon recently admitted that Goldman Sachs is already offering clients publicly-traded derivatives tied to bitcoin as part of initiatives to “evolve its business and adapt to the environment.”

hatsApp is taking the fight against fake news to a whole new level with an update that limits how many times a single message can be forwarded.

The company is owned by Facebook which is also battling with fake new epidemic on its Messaging App that has allegedly incited violence including lynching in countries like India.

“Today, we are launching a test to limit forwarding that will apply to everyone using WhatsApp,” the messaging platform wrote in a statement.

User in India will only be able to send their messages to five chats. For the rest of the world, users can send to 20 chats. Forwarded messages will have a small “forwarded” label, similar to forwarded email messages, indicating the note was originally written by someone other than the sender.

WhatsApp is doing away with the “quick forward” option that appears alongside media messages.

It also added new admin controls for group messages, as well as bigger initiative to study fake news.

The company said the objective for the new updates was to “help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app.

“We are deeply committed to your safety and privacy which is why WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, and we will continue to improve our app with features like this one.”

Transsion aims for Africa’s payment space with PalmPay

T

ranssion, the owners of mobile phone brands Tecno, Infinix, and itel, is gunning for share of Africa’s bludgeoning e-payment space.

Early this year, BusinessDay disclosed that the company could become one of the major players in the payment space alongside Google and WhatsApp, Techweez, a tech media outfit, recently has reported that it is possession of evidence which shows that Transsion through a joint venture with NetEase – a Chinese In-

ternet technology company, is planning to launch a payment service called PalmPay. The service will be launched under a newly registered company, Transsnet Payment Limited.

The new company, Transsnet is describing itself as a company that develops financial services for the mobile generation in Africa and aim to reach 100 million users within the next three years.

Experts who have reacted to the report said the move could be very significant.

“As the largest OEM (Original

Equipment Manufacturer) in Africa, this could be significant.

This could be a huge competition from the flanks of some fintech firms,” Ndubuisi Ekekwe, chairman, Fasmicro Group and technology scholar wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “If you have Tecno with a native (good) payment system, you may not bother to install a new payment application.”

Transsion’s dominance of the smartphone market goes beyond Africa. A report of the first quarter smartphone shipments globally released

by Canalys, a leading technol-

ogy market analyst showed that Tecno, one of Transsion’s brands shipped a total of 2.8 million smartphones in the first three months of 2018, while iTel and Infinix shipped 2.0 million and 1.0 million smartphones respectively. The total combined shipment for Transsion Holdings currently stands at 5.8 million against 3.4 million for Samsung.

Collectively, Tecno, iTel and Infinix which are all subbrands of Transsion Holdings, controls over 38 per cent smartphone market share in

Q1 2018, compared to 23 per cent of Samsung. Africa receives a signficant amount of the shipment given that the company prioritises affordability over luxury features.

PalmPay when launched will offer ser vices such as mobile loans as well as payment platform that allows users to send money to each other, pay for bills and buy airtime. The ser vice could also include PalmPoint – a form of loyalty program to keep the customers engaged with the product.

20

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 27 July 2018

CityFile

Plateau set up committee to resettle IDPs

P

lateau Government has constituted an 8-man committee to return Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the recent herders/farmers clashes to their original homes.

Rufus Bature, secretary to the state government, said in Jos, the state capital, said the committee is charged with identifying the areas affected by the crises, those displaced and areas they were displaced from and ascertaining the number of people affected and displaced.

The committee is also to identify those who have annexed and destroyed villages, work out modalities for effective return of the affected persons to their original homes.

They are also to make

any other recommendations that would facilitate the return of the IDPs to their original places.

Bature listed areas with cases of annexation to include Jos North, Jos South, Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Mangu, Bokkos and Bassa local governments, saying that the government obser ved with dismay the indiscriminate annexation land crises in the affected areas.

He said that the incidence of annexation was either as a result of fear of being attacked or being chased away by adversaries.

He announced the appointment of Bala Danbaba, a retired AVM as the chairman of the committee, which is expected to submit its report in four weeks.

FCT residents advised to leave flood-prone houses

J

ulius Opetunsin, assistant controllergeneral, Federal C a p i t a l Te r r i t o r y (FCT) Fire Service, has advised residents living in houses prone to flooding to move out of such structures to avoid loss of lives and property.

Opetunsin further advised the residents to avoid building houses in areas prone to flooding.

In an interview with the media, he said: “We have lost lives recently due to floods and we don’t want that to reoccur.

“When it is raining and you see signs of flooding, it is better to move out of that house immediately.”

He said that the fire prevention and protection units in functional fire stations in the FCT area councils would move to the satellite areas of the territory to sensititise residents on how to avoid flooding. “They will move to the interior areas to sensitise people especially those in the flood-prone areas.”

He called on the residents to avoid disposing wastes into the drains as this could obstruct the flow of water in the system.

“When water stays still and cannot find its way, it could become disastrous,” he warned.

Officials of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), attending to some pensioners at the ongoing weekly in-house civil service pension verification exercise in Abuja. NAN

S/E governors, monarchs shun coalition force against Osu caste system EMMANUEL NDUKUBA

G

overnors of the five south-east states, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu, as well as traditional rulers in the region, on Wednesday, failed to turn up in Awka, capital of Anambra State for a meeting of coalition force against the Osu caste system in Igboland.

The conveners of the meeting; Samuel Chukuka, emeritus bishop of Isiukwuator; Tony Nkwoka, a professor and emeritus bishop of Niger west; Ralph Okafor, emeritus bishop of Ihiala Diocese; Manassas Okere, bishop of Isiukwuator and Henry Okeke, bishop of Niger west, all spoke against Osu caste system in Igboland.

They were worried that

the obnoxious system has persisted despite the strong footing of Christianity Igboland and the weaning influence of Igbo traditional gods, some of which have already gone into oblivion.

“It is an open secret that many Igbo communities have either renounced or abandoned the particular idols that their forefathers worshiped. There are many towns today where no one can boldly come out and declare, ‘I am a heathen or idol worshiper,” the conveners stated.

Chukuka, the chief convener of the meeting, said letters were dispatched to all ecclesiastics, seasoned politicians, including governors, primate, cardinal, general overseers, senators, professors, chief judges and professional bodies, inviting them to discuss the issue.

According to him, he

personally visited the traditional rulers in Anambra to invite them to the function, but none came except the traditional ruler of Ukpo community who was out of the country and sent representative.

Chukuka said that he had personally visited the speaker, Anambra House of Assembly, produced bill boards for the “abrogation of this obnoxious and wicked Osu caste system” but the bill boards were destroyed by government agents.

Speaking also, Nkwoka who is also the director of Institute of Theology, Paul University, Awka queried “why is Osu caste continuing in Igboland 160 years after Christianity has battled idolatry from which Osu caste originated.

He said that Christianity did not just come as an alternative religion but a

civilising force of human development, progress and peace.

The cleric added that Osu caste was abolished some 56 years ago on May 19, 1962 by the then Eastern Region of Nigeria government.

“Is it an oversight, neglect or repudiation that none of the five Igbo state government of Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi has revalidated this law? We can say without fear of contradiction that all our Igbo legislators are Christians even if only nominally,’’ Nkwoka said.

Okere added that “the problem and solution is within us. We must stand out for this battle as the whites fought to free our people from slavery. We can motivate and mobilise our people to positive actions,” the reverend father said.

Oyo partners UN to translate SDGs into Yoruba ‘No automatic promotion in Ondo’ YOMI AYELESO, Akure

O

ndo State Head of Service (HOS), Toyin Akinkuotu has urgedcivil servants in the state to be more dedicated in the discharge of their duties, saying promotion entails hard work and not an automatic reward.

Akinkuotu stated this during the state’s 2018 promotion exercise. According to him, civil servants have a very big role to play in achieving good governance in every state.

He said some states in

the federation still owe arrears of promotion of between five to eight years to their workers due to the poor economic situation.

He described civil servants as the link between government and the general public by assisting government to collect and collate data about public needs that will assist government to formulate policies and programmes.

Akinkuotu tasked civil servants to be more productive while expressing his displeasure about how some workers have turned their offices to prayer centers.

AKINREMI FEYISIPO

O

yo State government has translated the 17 goals of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into Yoruba language.

The translation of the SDGs goals into the indigenous Yoruba language is meant to penetrate the grassroots for better understanding, better appreciation as well as buy-in and cooperation in terms of achieving the goals.

The translated version was unveiled at the ancient Mapo hall, andwitnessed by culture enthusiasts, tra-

ditional rulers, diplomats, socio-cultural groups, market men and women, traders and government officials.

Among the organisers of the event were the United Nations Information Centre, Lagos (UNIC), United Nations Association of Nigeria (UNAN), Initiative for Information, Arts and Culture Development in Nigeria (IACD) and Development Agenda of Western Nigeria (DAWN).

Abiola Ajimobi, the state governor who described the gathering described the launch as historic. Ajimobi, represented by Toye Arulogun, the commissioner for information, culture and tourism, said that the translation would resonate with the

people at the grassroots who are the targets of the SDGs in the pro poor projects.

According the governor, “today’s event is significant because here in Oyo State, Yoruba is the language and the United Nations thought that for the goals to be understood by the people, we need to translate it to the local languages.

“Today is also historic because this is the first time that it is being launched in Nigeria, and it is starting from Oyo State. We ensured that the southwest launch, which is the first in Nigeria, was done in Oyo State, the cradle of Yoruba race and the epicenter of the southwest,” he said.

Abimbola Adekanmbi, chairman, State Implementation Committee of the SDGs, said that the government recently provided 15 motorised boreholes for markets across the state, noting that school facilities like structures and teaching aids, health facilities as well as empowerment programmes for the youths and women have also been executed.

Ronald Kayanja, director, UNIC, Lagos and representative of UN at the event, appreciated the Oyo State government for the launch of Yoruba version of the SDGs, saying that the effort was important to make positive impact on the people.

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 27 July 2018

Harvard Business Review

ManagementDigest

21

How to make sure good ideas don’t get lost in the Shuffle Ella Miron-Spektor

I

n 2007 Joseph Golan, a division leader at Elop, an Israeli electro-optics company, faced a challenge.

As an experienced manager, he knew that his manufacturing and operation division’s success depended on getting creative ideas from his employees. He also realized the existing system was not working as needed. Only a relatively small group of employees submitted ideas through the system, which required them to prove the economic advantage of their ideas through a lengthy and complicated process. Over time, employees had learned that developing and submitting new ideas was not worth the effort.

Over the past three decades, we have researched how leaders motivate their employees to come up with creative solutions to organizational problems. We’ve studied stereotypically “creative” firms, like design, R&D, and information technology companies, but we’ve also researched stereotypically “uncreative” environments, like Golan’s manufacturing plant at Elop (which is part of Elbit ISTAR). As you might expect, our studies have revealed that encouraging creativity can backfire if employees lack the resources, support or mechanisms to develop and implement their ideas. Indeed, when managers urge employees to invest extra effort in creativity, but then reject their ideas (often because they are single-mindedly focused on productivity and efficiency), employees become frustrated and their creativity wanes. As a result, innovation can stall.

As part of our quest to discover how employee creativity can be unleashed and sustained, we analyzed data collected over nine years on the management system for creativity that Golan

developed to address the problem he saw at Elop, a company where the average employee age is 48, the average employee tenure is more than 20 years and many employees are immigrants.

Unlike traditional suggestion systems, the Elop system is a holistic process for managing the full life cycle of creativity, designed to ensure that ideas don’t get lost and that employee motivation to offer ideas is encouraged, not dampened. It begins with idea generation but doesn’t stop there. It also includes help with idea development; substantive, fair idea evaluation that is transparent to everyone; public recognition; and implementation of the most promising ideas.

Since Golan implemented the new system, the number of ideas submitted and implemented has soared.

REMOVING THE BARRIERS TO CREATIVITY Golan focused on removing organizational and psychological barriers such as fear of making mistakes, poor management attitude, lack of relevant resources and a stifling bureaucracy. Even though many employees had good ideas, they were sometimes afraid to speak up because of their status in the organization and because they believed that their ideas were not mature enough to be implemented.

When they did, they often failed

to explain the potential value of those ideas to their managers.

And they were understandably reluctant to invest the extra time and effort needed for developing ideas in their after-work hours. In the old suggestion system, there was also uncertainty about the processes and many employees suspected that their ideas were not seriously considered and that their managers wouldn’t make sufficient effort to find the necessary resources. Further, some employees were concerned that others would take credit for their ideas, or blame them for an idea’s failure.

Golan developed an intranet platform on which employees would submit their ideas by filling out a simple form; all information on the platform would be visible to everyone in the organization. The transparency of the system enables a fair assessment of ideas, based on defined, known and shared sets of parameters.

Midlevel managers, who receive all forms from their direct reports, are responsible for presenting their employees’ ideas to senior management and gaining the necessary resources for developing the accepted ones.

Employees don’t have to worry about selling their ideas, yet they get credit, and the necessary support and resources, for ideas that are accepted. Just as important, managers are motivated to seri-

ously consider the ideas, working with employees to refine and improve them before presenting them upward, because managers are evaluated based on their ability to do so fairly. One of the most important aspects of the system is that employees receive feedback on every submitted idea.

In most organizational suggestion systems, employees are rewarded solely based on the quality of their creative ideas. The holistic approach at Elop recognizes employees for their level of effort, not just the outcome, and thus promotes learning. Every submitted idea earns the employee “creativity points,” awarded by an expert panel. The panel grants more points for original ideas that pushed employees out of their comfort zones and ideas that can benefit many people in the organization. Everyone who submits receives small symbolic rewards such as a certificate or a pen, with a personal note from the manager. Employees say the feedback and recognition builds their confidence and motivates them. As one interviewee told us, “I was one of those people that never won anything. When I showed the certificate I received for my creative contributions to my family, my family celebrated my achievements. Seeing how my grandchildren admired me meant the world to me and gave me a boost of energy to continue to generate additional creative ideas.”

Of course, not all ideas are worthy of awards and implementation. However, if managers communicate their decisions regarding ideas in a way that allows employees to see that evaluations are fair, people can stay motivated even when their ideas don’t go very far. In fact, the perceived fairness of the process is crucial for its long-term success.

We found that Elops’s employees feel the process is fair when their managers do three things:

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

We have you covered through CBN’s special intervention for specified retail invisible transactions.

Are you travelling abroad for vacation

Visit any of our designated branches nationwide for your following invisible trade transactions: School Fees Pilgrimage & Other Travel Allowances (PTA and BTA) Medical Allowances

or studying abroad?

We are here to serve you. *Terms and conditions apply

www.firstbanknigeria.com

FirstBankofNigeria

@FirstBankngr

Firstbankngr

FirstBankofNigeriaLtd

@firstbanknigeria

+FirstBankNigeria

(1) gain accurate and complete information from the employee beforemaking a decision; (2) use clear and unbiased criteria for evaluating ideas; and (3) clearly explain their decisions. When the process seems fair, employees remain engaged and use the feedback they receive to improve their ideas.

IMPRESSIVE RESULTS The results at Elop are nothing short of astonishing. From 2007 to 2014, Golan’s employees generated over 5,000 ideas, with an exceptional implementation rate of more than 70%. Simple ideas were implemented at a much higher rate than complex ideas.

These results are even more impressive when you consider that Golan’s division had about 430 employees, 81% of whom submitted ideas; that’s an average of more than 14 per participant. The new system doubled the number of suggested ideas and participating employees; in the old system only 37% of employees submitted ideas, with an average of fewer than six per participant. By 2015 the ideas generated through this system had saved the company millions of dollars, improved efficiency and dramatically changed the organizational culture.

(Ella Miron-Spektor is an associate professor of organizational psychology at the Technion— Israel Institute of Technology, and a visiting Professor at Cass Business School, London.

Dana R. Vashdi is an assistant professor at the Division of Public Administration and Policy, The University of Haifa.Teresa Amabile is a professor at Harvard Business School. Vered Holzmann is a senior lecturer at the School of Economics and Management in the Academic College of Tel Aviv Yaffo and a visiting Professor at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy.)

22

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 27 July 2018

AgriBusinessInsight Market Insights

Analysis

Commentaries

Experts/Industry Views

Commodities watch

Policy Reviews

Send in Commentaries to caleb.ojewale@businessdayonline.com

Dutch poultry expertise holds solutions for Nigeria CALEB OJEWALE Twiiter: @calebtinolu

U

sually, people think dairy, vegetables (such as tomato), greenhouse, and agric technologies in general are all the Netherlands can offer Nigeria; in skills, knowledge, and technology transfer.

However, there is more Nigeria can benefit, and poultry is one of such. Nigeria’s poultry industry has a lot it can learn from the Netherlands, and doing this becomes important in the quest to achieve food security, and challenges of the local poultry industry.

On a visit to the poultry expertise centre, located in Barneveld during a tour of what is called the Food Valley in the Netherlands, personnel conducting the facility tour stated that from different parts of the world, thousands of trainees come to the centre every year. People come individually, or as representatives of companies or governments.

Making the decision to learn best practices in poultry production from the Netherlands becomes ‘more of a good idea’, when the numbers are considered. The Dutch Poultry Sector accounts for an annual turnover of 5.4 billion Euros, producing 11 billion eggs, and one million tonnes of chicken

Layer hens in a PEC model poultry farm, owned by Jan Noorlander meat every year.

Output from the Netherlands resonates further when the country’s 41.543 km² is considered.

Within this relatively small landmass that also produces a lot of food items, the Dutch Poultry Centre also notes that there are 2000 farms active in the poultry sector; 900 laying hens farms;

650 broiler farms; 200 hatching egg farms and; 250 other related farms.

Nigeria on the other hand, is battling insufficient local poultry supply, with the Agriculture Promotion Policy showing a 60 million birds deficit that is filled by illegal imports (i.e smuggling), that enter the market at lower

price point than domestic producers. There is a need to boost local poultry production, and equally important, significantly lowering production costs while delivering poultry products of international standards.

The Poultry Expertise Centre is a partnership of companies, government and knowledge insti-

tutes that work in or are involved in the poultry sector. Within the Centre, expertise from education, research and the business community is combined and used to train entrepreneurs and employees working in the poultry sector (national and international), as well as in further training and retraining.

The retention of knowledge advantage is described as an important objective of PEC, and it is said that is why a ‘Healthy Poultry Farming’ research group has also been set up. Within this, sustainable poultry concepts are developed where the sector must remain healthy and meaningful.

Much attention is paid to developments such as sustainability.

The central question is constantly how the welfare of the animals can be further increased and the developments regarding food security are closely monitored.

Interactions with some of the personnel at PEC, indicated custom training can be offered for participants from different countries; depending on their knowledge needs and required competencies. This centre along with poultry technology companies and scores of model farms in the Netherlands, will offer resources, technology, and knowledge for Nigerian poultry producers interested in ramping up their production.

How FG’s proposed cattle ranching can be successful

By Onu Ekpa (PhD Food Quality and Design Group, WUR).

Reviewed by IbrahimJibrila(PhD Animal Breeding and Genomics, WUR) and Jeleel Agboola(PhD Aquaculture and Fisheries, WUR).

A

brief interaction with Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, during his visit to Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) in the Netherlands, was very insightful and helped to understand the commitment of the government in finding a lasting solution to the recurrent farmers-herders crisis in Nigeria.

The Nigerian postgraduate students at WUR fully agree with the minister that nomadic herding is no longer feasible and Nigeria needs to adopt a self-sustaining ranching model, based on publicprivate partnerships and free of regular government expenses.

The newly developed National Livestock Transformation Plan can benefit immensely from the success achieved in the Dutch dairy sector. The globally envied Dutch dairy sector started its development when individual farmers came together over a century ago to form cooperatives.

Through the cooperatives, the farmers have succeeded in creating

one of the world’s largest dairy processing companies –the Friesland Campina. They also have the Rabobank (a top-ranked bank with 723,445 Million US$ assets), and the cattle breeding company/ cooperative ‘CRV’.

FrieslandCampina is 100% owned by member dairy farmers (about 19,000dairy farmers in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium), with each member ser ving as an independent entrepreneur. This form of selfsustaining business model is what the Nigerian postgraduate students at WUR propose as a sustainable ranching model. A model that can operate solely on the corporative strength of the dairy farmers and other relevant stakeholders, with support from the government. In general, we are confident that the new FG policy can learn a lot from 140 years of vast experience in dairy farming coordination in the Netherlands.

Universities in the Netherlands such as WUR can contribute in the aspect of knowledge transfer by providing opportunities for herders and other stakeholders in the Nigerian livestock sector to visit for short courses and onsite visits of livestock establishments such as dairy farms, milk processing factories, etc. There are already short courses in these areas for

developing countries, sponsored by the Dutch Government.

Another idea that may boost knowledge and technology transfer to Nigeria for the benefit of the 94 proposed cattle ranches is what we termed “Shonga farm model”. In 2004, the Kwara state government under the leadership of Dr.Bukola Saraki came up with initiatives to make land available to 13 highly experienced white Zimbabwean farmers who were evicted from Zimbabwe during Robert Mugabe’s reign due to political reasons.

With the acceptance of the local community leaders, the people of Kwara state, and a public private partnership business model, the Zimbabwean farmers settled down and established commercial farms. Now Shonga farm has one of the largest farm lands in Nigeria - 17,000 hectares - with record breaking farm yields. Forty percent of the farm is owned by the Zimbabwean farmers.

Regarding dairy development in Nigeria, the farmers flew in 170 Jersey cows in 2005 and now they have close to 1000 cows. The farm is still thriving strong after 13 years of establishment, producing more than 3,000 litres of milk per day and having factories for dairy processing. Interestingly, the farmers are currently crossbreeding the imported Jersey breed with the local

White-Fulani breed to produce cows that are strong enough to cope with the environment and produce large quantities of milk. Their improved cows produce at least 15 litres of milk per cow, which is one of the highest in the country. The model brought an impressive transformation in crop and dairy production, created employment opportunities, and most importantly, knowledge transfer to the local communities in Kwara where the foreign farmers were received.

This model can be replicated in the Nigerian dairy sector in partnership with European dairy farmers, especially the Dutch farmers. Why these group of farmers? Milk in Europe has become so cheap (25 Euro cents per litre at farm gate, which is below the cost of production) that an average farmer can’t cope, even with EU subsidy. Stiff regulations, automation (robots) and the massive milk production volume (oversupply) have left many dairy farmers in EU struggling to survive competition. Now farmers sell off livestock and facilities - more than 40,000 dairy farmers have sold off in the last 10 years. Many farmers are still on the brink of bankruptcy and looking for opportunities abroad. For instance, in the Netherlands, the number of dairy farmers has reduced by about 90% since 1960; there used to be

180,000 farmers in the 60s, 50,000 farmers in the 80s and now less than 18,000 farmers are operative in the Netherlands. Farmers are increasingly moving abroad for farming and they take their technology and skills with them.

This serves as an opportunity to replicate the shonga farm model, using these highly skilled and passionate dairy farmers from the Netherlands and EU for scale enlargement of the Nigerian dairy sector. Using this model, frugal and innovative solutions in feed, water, breed (genetics) etc are possible.

Lastly, to ensure dair y development, government policy must encourage local milk production and discourage dumping of milk powder in Nigeria

by EU countries. Milk powder definitely has unfair competition with local production, hence, local milk production will never thrive unless there is a favourable policy against the tough competition from the European market.

Policies on market protection, price regulation, easy access to finance, subsidy, extension services, animal breeding and diseasecontrol will help a great deal. Policies that support local production such as seen in Nigerian rice sector, can greatly help the dairy sector to thrive as a self-sustaining business.

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

Absence of proper business structure bane of Nigeria’s healthcare sector ANTHONIA OBOKOH

N

igeria has ambition to put its estimated 180 million populations under the universal health coverage, a target that has eluded the nation but that is hardly the country’s only challenge.

The health care workforce is facing a critical shortfall of health professionals over the next decade as the brain drain in the sector has reached alarming proportions. Patients are facing increasing wait times, limited access to providers, reduced time with caregivers, and decreased satisfaction.

Worse still, many of the private hospitals functioning are not sustainable as they lack the proper structure to run profitable healthcare businesses.

“A better model for private healthcare delivery is the ‘Healthcare as a business’ model. In this model, the practice of medicine is just a component part of the healthcare delivery model,” said Richardson Ajayi, a gynaecologist and the executive vice chairman of Bridge Clinic.

According to Ajayi, “In this model other professionals are embedded in the healthcare ecosystem: financiers, equipment suppliers, diagnostic ser-

vice providers, insurance providers, etc. This is better achieved when the business of healthcare is modelled as a partnership or as a limited liability company with proper governance and other nonmedical shareholders.

“The problem with Nigeria is that, we combine practicing medicine with the business of healthcare because nobody is looking at the business of healthcare.

“If you decide to focus on the profession of medicine, focus on your core competence by being the best doctor and by outsources your complexity (operations). If you want to focus on the business of

healthcare, build an ecosystem that is sustainable and ranges beyond your skills and experience, and see yourself primarily as a business manager”, said Ajayi.

Experts say the health care workforce is facing increased stress and instability, and a major restructure of the professionalism is needed to extend care to millions of Nigerians “In developed economies, we allow people who know about business to manage healthcare while doctors fit into the system to provide healthcare but that does not happen in Nigeria yet and until we start to create separation

where people who are managing healthcare are expert, then doctors can now be the best they can be. It is a conversation we need to have because it happens in all other developed countries and by having the conversation we can move in that direction.

“We need to create primary and secondary healthcare chains, hospital groups, there are opportunities for consolidations because our healthcare in Nigeria is fragmented.

The model will consolidate economy of scales and also get distribution by allowing more access to healthcare at lower cost,” added Ajayi.

BUSINESS DAY

23

Unsafe water, dirty environment fuelling cholera outbreak - NCDC ANTHONIA OBOKOH

A

new report by the Ni g e r i a C e n t re for Disease Control (NCDC) says unsafe water sources and dirty environment accounts for 16,008 suspected cases of cholera leading to 186 deaths reported from sixteen states since the beginning of the year.

This has contributed to the spread of the disease and yearly outbreaks in many states in Nigeria, says the agency while calling for better hygienic conditions.

“States are encouraged to prevent cholera outbreaks by improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH); this remains the best way to prevent cholera”, says a report by the organisation.

Chikwe Ihekweazu, chief executive officer, NCDC said, “Cholera cases are being treated at designated treatment centres in affected States. We are working with the State Ministries of Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Medecin Sans Frontiers (MSF) and other partners to support the response. However, the primary problem and solution lies not in health, but in improving water and sanitation.”

Ihekweazu further said that the Federal Government of Nigeria and partners will continue to work to reduce the impact of the current outbreak on

affected communities and ensure that the outbreak is fully controlled.

“Planning has already started to prevent future outbreaks and ensure better preparedness,” he said.

However, over the last few months, the agency has been supporting many states in the country to respond to outbreaks of cholera. The primary focus of the response has been to improve access to water and sanitation in these states.

In addition, vaccination campaigns led by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) have been carried out in the most affected Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Adamawa and Yobe states.

Although cholera cases are still being reported from eight states including Adamawa, Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Kogi, Plateau and Kaduna, there has been a general decline in the number of new cases.

“In the last four weeks, no cases have been reported from Anambra, Nassarawa and Yobe States”, says the report.

O l a d oy i n O d u b a n j o chair, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (APHPN), Lagos Chapter said “All we need to do is to practise more universal care precautions at all times generally and avoid reverting to old habits. People need to practice more hygiene, which is very important and the environment needs to be cleaner.”

Cooking with firewood, kerosene, causes Drugs Abuse: Expert warns against AKINREMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan non- prescribed drugs

A

doctor of Energy Economics has disclosed that the use of firewood and kerosene for cooking is associated with negative health outcomes such as asthma, respirator y ill-health, and tear-in-the-eyes.

Toluwalope Ogunro, a doctor of energy economics at the University of Ibadan said that the use of firewood for cooking is likely to cause increase in blood pressure, advocated the use of modern energy for cooking and adoption of better cooking practices for positive health outcomes.

This ass er tion was made in a paper entitled “Fuel Choice and Health

Outcomes in Ogun State, Nigeria” delivered at the Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (CPEEL) University of Ibadan at the weekend.

Ogunro revealed that the use of firewood for cooking is likely to cause increase in High blood pressure. She however advocated the use of modern energy for cooking and adoption of better cooking practices for positive health outcomes.

“An analysis of five models of health outcomes shows that kerosene and firewood are likely causes of tear in the eyes and respiratory ill-health ; firewood is a likely cause of blood pressure and Asthma while a comparison of rural and urban health

outcomes due to fuel use reveal that kerosene relative to LPG use for cooking and firewood relative to LPG use for cooking are likely causes of respiratory ill-health in rural and urban areas of the study.

“Firewood is a likely cause of tear in the eyes in rural and urban areas though urban health outcomes for tear in the eyes and respiratory ill-health have higher magnitude of health outcomes than rural areas,” she said.

However, Ogunro then called for energy choice enlightenment by Ogun state government in particular and Nigeria in general on the negative long term effect of firewood use for cooking to discourage its use.

SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

A

lfred Makanjuola, consultant behavioural scientist, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital has warned that abuse of nonprescription drugs is becoming endemic among youths calling for concerted efforts to check the menace.

Makanjuola who spoke at 2018 annual general meeting and scientific conference of Nigerian medical association, Kwara State branch on the theme, “Drug Abuse in Nigeria: Rolling Back The Woes, Shame and Sorrows”, described the use of such drugs like codeine, cannabis and others without a doctor’s prescription amounts to drug abuse.

The pre-disposing factors and genetic problem in the society he said can lead someone to use sub-

stance. Other factors include; problems with family, employment, social problems, school, divorce among others.

According to him, most of people who engaged in substance abuse now are from age 18 and adult. People ran in to it because of life problems, job lost, frustration, divorce, who are in areas of war and displaced environment.

“No wonder that drug abuse is common in the north now because of killings and war going on and people are displaced from their homes, just sitting down in IDP camp doing nothing from morning till night so, they tend to use drugs as survival or getting out of depression.

He said: “There are also activities going on in the brain that makes someone to take drugs specially, things at the “Reward Centre” of the brain.

“Neurochemical mecha-

nism comes first, followed

by Norepinephrine and Dopamine are all natural factors in the brain that keep increasing and make us happy, as a result, it will set serotonin to about 150 for normal being while drugs will increase it to about 1500 of a fake type of sense of well-being and that is what people who experienced it would want to go back to boost their mood.”

“When you ask they replied “it makes high and makes me forget my worries.”

Speaking on repercussion on the patient who is dependent to substance, he stated mental illness, significant destruction, depression, environmental hazards, biological challenges, rap, and psychological problems. Adding that if the patient stops taking substance, “the problems of drugs withdrawal would be vomiting, body pain, yawning, excessive sweating, tears coming out from the eyes.

24

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

INSIGHTS FROM LEADING HMOs IN NIGERIA

Nigeria’s health insurance sector should brace for consolidation, competition from foreign markets – Awosika Total Health Trust (THT) a leading Health Maintenance Organisations in Nigeria and a subsidiary of the Liberty Group of South Africa, has been connecting its members to healthcare providers since its founding in 1998. THT won the HMO of the Year 2016 Award at the Nigeria Healthcare Excellence Awards. Ladi Awosika, a general medical practitioner and the chairman of the company, in this interview with BusinessDay’s Anthonia Obokoh and Omosomi Omomia, speaks on what needs to be done to deepen access to health insurance in Nigeria.

F

rom your view as a leading player, give us an overview of how your company meets the challenges in the Health Insurance sector in terms of competition, industry structure, industry value (revenue/turnover) and volumes (of enrollees and health service providers)?

THT is unique because we go beyond just connecting our clients with healthcare to providing industry leadership through a combination of innovative product design, efficient operations and a focused customer service orientation. We deliver value added services as an integral component of our plans which cut across Maternal and Child care, Chronic Disease Management and other Wellness initiatives. Our experience, integrity and longevity in the HMO industry is what our partners have come to rely on and this has informed the versatility of the healthcare products we offer. These range from traditional managed care products to innovative fee for service products suited to corporate, SME and individual clients looking for comprehensive health cover and flexibility in accessing care.

In addition THT places value of conducting business within strict good corporate guidelines with strict focus on credibility and integrity. THT operates in a highly sensitive industry; as such it is imperative that we strive to maintain optimum levels of quality across our service areas.

We are very keen on ensuring that all our Providers meet the varied needs of our enrollees, thus we have steps in place to continually ensure that excellent service is delivered. Providers are our strategic partners in the HMO business so it is very important to us that we work hand in hand always to ensure that the enrollee’s needs are met.

At THT, we have a strong Provider Accreditation team made up of doctors and nurses who visit a hos-

HBL Team

Awosika

pital prior to them joining our network. This is part of a wider accreditation process that inculcates ongoing periodic visitation of hospitals to review their processes and staff. All these are done to ensure that all hospitals on our network are capable of providing our enrollees with quality healthcare.

From over 70 health maintenance organisations in 2015, there are currently 60 HMOs spread across the country in 2017. How do you see this number evolving in the future?

Based on increasingly stringent operating requirements from the regulatory perspective, I envision a more consolidated industry with fewer but tried, trusted and stronger players with the capabilities required to drive the Universal Health Coverage agenda. Already, we see that some States which are rolling out mandatory health insurance are limiting the number of players for effectiveness. I therefore see an

industry where consolidation through mergers and or acquisitions will occur as well as increasing dominance/competition from foreign/newer entrants with formidable health insurance administration expertise and technology from well-developed international markets A s a p layer in the Health Insurance Industry, what are the peculiar issues you encounter in successfully operating and providing quality healthcare to your enrollees, clients and customers?

The major challenge we face, just like other HMOs in Nigeria would be the low penetration of health insurance. This has been linked to the understanding of the populace about insurance in general of which health insurance is a part of. Culturally as well, the average Nigerian would not invest in health insurance as they believe this is an invitation to ill health.

Another challenge we

face is in the issue of public health insurance. Nigeria is a federal state with different tiers of government maintaining reserved powers.

While the federal government has moved to insure federal public servants, many States are yet to do same at the State level. It should be mandatory at all levels of government so that everybody can be captured under one umbrella.

The recession and the rising costs of healthcare is also a challenge that cannot be ignored.

Overall, what are your plans in the near future to take advantage of the gaps and opportunities in the Health Insurance sector in the Nigeria?

THT’s strategic objective is to continue to be the Number 1 preferred and trusted Health Insurance partner in Nigeria, contributing sustainable growth of the industry. Over the next few years, we are going to dedicate time and effort into ensuring that we

ANTHONIA OBOKOH and ANI MICHAEL / Reporters I Sam Iduh, Graphics

maintain this position by providing the best possible service to our existing clients, while simultaneously attracting new clients with our innovative product offerings and excellent service delivery.

What is your assessment of the Health Insurance segment of the Health Industry today?

The health insurance industry is supposed to be pivotal in addressing the demand side of the poor health financing status of the country. The NHIS law enacted in 1999 was to provide regulation and direction towards attainment of Universal Health Coverage within 10 years after commencement in 2004. However poor implementation and professional leadership coupled with lack of political will and direction in our supposed federal system have stifled the attainment of the mission and vision of the industry. The important element of mandate for every Nigerian to belong to a prepaid health scheme (private or public) has unfortunately not garnered the necessary political will.

The health insurance industry has the capacity and human resources to scale up to expand the scope and breath of coverage when that mandate becomes law.

We are all aware that even with the mandate, we shall still be decades away from 100% universal coverage, however where there is political will, sustainable solutions will be forthcoming.

Health insurance practitioners have over the years been developing the knowledge base and operational capacity to scale up.

The NHIS has covered less than 5% of Nigeria’s population. What, in your opinion, are possible strategies and initiatives that can result in the expansion and growth of the Scheme in Nigeria?

The health Insurance Law should make it mandatory that all Nigerians contribute into pre-paid health schemes. At this time and by the nature of our country, we need several pools that shall be under

the oversight of a capably led Regulator. Thus private and public, commercial and not-for-profit pools are all required to address the needs of all segments of the population. National, State and Local governments must be ready and willing to contribute into pools on behalf of the poor and lessprivileged in society.

There is also a need enact a new Bill to mandate health insurance membership, a bill that transforms the NHIS into a full regulator with appointment of capable leadership with cognate financial and insurance management experience, a bill that separates the Contributed Funds from the regulator, ensure that Boards are properly constituted and empowered with knowledgeable patriots. There is also a need for proactive regulation such as obtains in PENCOM, NAICOM and NCC and properly regulated broker channel.

Overall, what are your plans in the near future to take advantage of the gaps and opportunities in the Health Insurance sector in the Nigeria?

The gaps and opportunities in the Health insurance sector present viable commercial attraction for deployment of sustainable solutions once the enabling operating environment as per the ambiguities in the governing laws are addressed. THT will scale up with the other practitioners in the industry. Proper progressive regulation is essential to grow the industry.

In regards to the supply chain and the formulation of business partnerships, how much of a local emphasis is there?

Most of our most strategic partnerships (providers and vendors) are with local businesses here in Nigeria.

For one, all our Providers are grounded Nigerian businesses and we go to great lengths to grow and nurture these partnerships.

With our clients however, we have a more diverse set as our products are favoured by multinational companies, local corporates and SMEs.

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

FINTECH News

Products Review

Technology Review

Personality Review

BUSINESS DAY

25

Company Review

COMPANY REVIEW

CowryWise joins league of Y Combinator backed startups in Africa FRANK ELEANYA & OLUWATOSIN DOKUNMU

C

owryWise is the latest of innovative tech startups in Africa to be admitted by US-based seed accelerator Y Combinator (YC) into its three month programme.

The company will also have access to $120,000 in funding.

At the end of the programme, the wealth management firm that helps Nigerians save and invest easily irrespective of their income level, joins the league of YCbacked startups such as Paystack (Nigeria), Tress (Ghana), Aella Credit, Flutterwave, Kudi.ai, Releaf, Buypower, Helium Health, Kangpe and Tizeti among others on the

African continent.

“This acceptance into YC is a validation of our commitment to our customers while we focus on our goal of bringing wealth management services to young Africans

irrespective of their income level,” Razaq Ahmed, cofounder of CowryWise said in a statement sent to BusinessDay. CowryWise which has made savings more attrac-

tive by paying out 10 per cent interest over a period of time, prides itself as a company that is “democratising access to wealth management for Africans.”

Since it was established

in 2017, the company has processed over $1.5 million in savings for its customers.

Its mobile application which was launched only recently already has a new feature product called Life Goal.

Life Goal allows users to commit to long term saving goals ranging from vacation, education, home, family to retirement.

With YC investment in the bag, CowryWise plans to expand its resources to serve customers.

“These resources will be channelled to building more tools and resources that will help our customers plan, save and invest to reach their financial goals,” Ahmed said.

Established in 2005, Y Combinator is one of the world’s most valuable accelerators having invested in

top startups across the world including Dropbox, AirBnB, Stripe, Zenefit, Quora among others. It was designated the World’s Most Powerful startup incubator by Fast Company.

The accelerator bi-annually invests in a number of startups and has funded over 1,900 startups since 2005.

YC interviews and selects two batches of companies per year. The companies receive seed money, advice, and connections in exchange for seven percent equity. Part of the program is “office hours”, where startup founders meet individually and in groups with Y Combinator partners for advice. Founders also participate in weekly dinners where guests from Silicon Valley ecosystem speak to the founders.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

Three Nigerian startups shortlisted for Startupbootcamp AfriTech FRANK ELEANYA

N

i g e r i a n f i nt e c h startups CredPal, Bankly Technologies and Kudimoney made the list of ten startups that were shortlisted for Startupbootcamp (SCB) AfriTech 2018 cohort.

The SBC AfriTech is an accelerator focused on highgrowth startups in blockchain, connected devices, payment solutions, capital markets and asset management, integrated supply chain and many others. The name which used to be Startupbootcamp was only lately changed to Startupbootcamp AfriTech to reflect the focus on African tech.

The Startupbootcamp AfriTech 2018 cohort was selected after a three month global

scouting tour, across 15 countries, 19 FastTrack events and 220 face-to-face engagements with startups. Overall, 1004 applications were submitted by startups from across 73 countries, which is double what was received in the maiden edition in 2017.

The SBC team later pruned the number to 22 startups and finally ten were shortlisted for the three month programme.

At the announcement, Philip Kiracofe, CEO of the accelerator noted that 2018 cohort had market ready solutions that SBC’s sponsors were eager to work with. The sponsors include RCS, BNP Paribas, Nedbank and Old Mutual.

The ten startups will each be provided with €15,000, office space, access to over 100

mentors and a network of industry partners, investors and venture capital firms. In return, each of the benefiting startups will give up an eight per cent equity stake in return for taking part in the programme.

“The ten companies taking the stage have showcased some of the most innovative technologies in artificial intelligence, fintech, insurtech, cross-border payments, social impact and more,” SBC AfriTech said in a statement.

The ten startups include: Akiba Digital (South Africa): A financial savings platform that also acts as a personal savings coach that leverages artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and gamification to democratise wealth in Africa.

Bankly Technologies (Ni-

geria): A goal-based savings product that digitises cash and enables in-country, peer-topeer transfer services through the use of vouchers.

Brandbook Analytics (South Africa): A mobile application providing users free gift-card coupons for completed purchases with the ability to harvest vast amounts of consumer data and improved forecasting and analytics.

CredPal (Nigeria): An innovative solution that uses deep data which provides individuals with instant access to credit at the point of chechout for various online and offline merchants.

Digitech Group (Ivory Coast): A startup that provides incum-

bent insurance companies with a cloud-based digital platform to sell insurance products through mobile and web.

Inclusive Financial Technologies (Ghana): This startup’s API helps digital financial services reach the most remote customers across Africa by enabling them to on-board, verify and monitor them via digital channels.

Kudimoney Bank (Nigeria): A no-charge, full-service, onlineonly bank making banking services more affordable and more accessible by offering an interest-earning spending account with zero charges, a savings account with aboveaverage interest rates and access to low interest instant loans.

Lüla (South Africa): A platform that connects stakeholders to improve mobility by providing transport that is convenient, accessible and safe and enabling operators, cities and passengers to a better understanding of transport.

MPost (Kenya): A patented solution that provides legally recognised physical addresses for the estimated 95% of the African population that does not have a postal address.

Prospa (South Africa): A micro-savings solution for low-income earning South Africans which allows users to purchase savings vouchers that entitle the user to a set amount of savings which are deposited into a mobi-savings account.

26

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

Cape Town International Film Market and Festival set for a focused 2018 edition …announces initial market programme, call for entries OBINNA EMELIKE

R

iding on the success of the previous editions, organisers of the Cape Town International Film Market and Festival (CTIFMF) are once again putting finishing touches to their preparation for a fantastic outing this year. The 2018 edition, which is led by Elias Ribeiro, the recently appointed market director, will feature an expanded and content focused market.

The festival will take place from October 9 – 19, 2018 at venues across the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa.

The CTIFMF has reached out to various industry stakeholders in a collaborative effort in keeping with its theme, of Create, Collaborate, Celebrate, to develop a programme with tangible outcomes and a view to the long term growth of the industry both regionally and across the continent.

According to Ribeiro, a number of key programmes have been finalized, all designed to maximize opportunities for emerging talents and to establish long term inclusive programmes.

“As the CTIFMF, learning from many who have paved the way, we have taken great care in crafting an offering that is complementary to current industry offerings. We hope to strengthen our bonds with partners such as the Durban Film Mart and together foster a dynamic and vibrant ecosystem that will contribute to assertive impact in film projects, our financial instruments and funders, policy designers and audiovisual makers at large. We also have prioritised an Audience De-

Cape Town Film Festival

velopment program called Engage, with the faith we will in the long term make local films more sustainable in the domestic market”, Ribeiro explains further.

As well, Jehad Kasu, marketing director of the CTIFMF, assures on the vision of the CTIFMF to reposition South Africa’s film industry offering through meaningful industry collaboration. “If we harness our collective resources we can achieve an infinite amount of collective growth and success. This will, of course, take a reasonable amount of time and commitment to achieve. So, we implore all film industry stakeholders new, established, private and state owned to support one another and become active participants in elevating the presence and contribution of the South African film industry within the global ecosystem”.

According Kasu, as the most important element of a market is its content, the CTIFMF has developed a programme that aims to elevate the bar for African content in terms of quality and innovation. A maximum of six works in progress will be selected from the African continent

to show to international industry experts. High calibre decision makers and experts will be hand-picked to view the selected films and then give detailed feedback, with the goal of increasing the artistic quality and challenging the core creative teams to think about audiences beyond their own territories.

This initial viewing will be followed by a screening of a segment of the same works to a wider audience of invited industry stakeholders comprising of festival programmers, sales companies, distributors and post production financiers. The Work In Progress programme will disburse finishing awards to the most promising projects: grading, final sound mix, VFX, online editing, subtitling and DCPs, with the generous support of South African post production facilities such as Priest Post, Rhapsody, The Refinery and The Work Room Audio Post.

“We have confirmed attendance from Berlinale’s European Film Market and Berlinale Africa Hub, Tribeca, TIFF, London BFI; international sales companies such as Pyramide International, Flourishing Films, Talent Agents Casarotto and Curtis

Brown, Mnet, Indigenous Films, Ster Kinekor, and Post Production South Africa”, the marketing director says.

Considering that one of the most challenging and pressing issues for local films is to earn the trust of local audiences that then translates into box office success, the CTIFMF will have a special focus on audience design and development.

A group of marketing and industry experts with an understanding of these challenges will be convened for a three-day workshop under the guidance of Valeria Richter. This outcome based workshop will equip these professionals with the most current and powerful tools designed to assist films in finding their target market and core following.

At the end of the workshop, each participant will be assigned a project from the WIP and will be expected to deliver an Audience Design Strategy, with a cash prize awarded to the most prolific two of the lot to craft an Audience Design Strategy in collaboration with the Festival Board for CTIFMF 2019.

Aimed at publicists, marketing and sales professionals, distributors and others within the field, applica-

tions are open until August 17, 2018.

More details on the programme, outcomes and prize can be found at www.filmfest.capetown, or email zahrah@filmfest.capetown.

CTIFMF’s Adapt programme will bring together creatives, producers, and rights holders from the publishing and film industries to explore the possibilities of cinematic book adaptations as well as to develop an economic model and business practice around this that accounts for our African realities.

A number of toolbox sessions and workshops will be led by Selina Ukwuoma on translating from book to screen. She is no newcomer to South Africa as she has been working closely with Realness as well as Talents Durban over the past three years.

Selina is a freelance script consultant who began her career at literary agency Curtis Brown working on a number of adaptations including 2008 BAFTA winner BOY A. She has since gone on to advise on awardwinning indie films such as 2014 Teddy winner THE WAY HE LOOKS and this year’s Goyas triumph Summer 1993, both Foreign Language Oscars entries from their respective countries.

The industry programme of the CTIFMF will see four days of panel discussions, keynote speeches and workshops with participation from experts from South Africa, the rest of Africa, and across the globe. There will be a variety of relevant topics covered, all aimed at inclusive and constructive dialogues that foster the development of a cohesive and continually developing film industry.

These topics include mentorship, financing, AR/VR, animation, blockchain and crypto currency.

New generation artistes prefer money to grooming - Tunde and Wunmi Obe

T

he duo of Tunde and Wunmi Obe, popularly known as T.W.O have attributed the reason for the many squabbles in the music industry today to the preference for money to grooming or mentorship by the new generation artistes.

Speaking at a press conference held recently at Protea Hotel, Lagos, they decried the fact that many young and talented artistes in Nigeria do not want to learn under established ones, but just want to be famous without going through the rudiments of being famous.

“We have always supported young talents and we will continue to do so. We give free studio sessions, help with music videos, pay for promotions and even feature some on our albums. The challenge is that those little efforts are usually not enough to make an artiste ‘blow’ but that is what most new generation artistes want.

They just want quick fix believing

that they will ‘blow’ afterwards.

There is a place for grooming and mentorship, serving and paying your dues. In doing this, you get to learn the rope of the business and industry while also attracting all the support you need”, Tunde said.

He further explained that when you eventually help some of them, they respect you for only a period of time, after then, they begin to misbehave and that is why there is the issue of record labels and artistes having bad blood.

T.W.O has been on stage as a music group for over 30 years. In many quarters, they are regarded as Nigeria’s longest standing music group.

The press conference was in celebration of the achievements of the legendary couple and music group. The 50th birthday celebration of Tunde Obe, the group’s 30 years on stage and 20 years as a happily married couple.

The couple regards the major

Tunde and Wunmi

milestones in their life as a blessing.

The highlight of the press conference was when the couple premiered the remix of their hit single “without your love”.

Gbenga Adebija, chairman of the occasion, who is also the president of Nigerian German Business Association, assured on a major event in September to properly celebrate the couple.

“This press conference is the beginning of series of events lined up to celebrate Tunde and Wunmi Obe. We had initially planned over three major events but the demise of Wunmi Obe’s brother, Aboderin of Punch Newspapers made us cancelled all the plans. However, we have been encouraged to go ahead with the final event, the Grand Ball which is set to hold on September 1, 2018. It will be a celebration of the three major milestones in the lives of the couple and music group”, Gbenga said.

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

27

Business Etiquette

Movie Review - ANT–MAN AND THE WASP

T

his week we would be reviewing an exciting movie called “AntMan and the Wasp” well for the records “Ant-Man” is one of the new super hero’s from the marvel group. He had his first debut in 201 5 with the same cast, where he displayed his super powers of shrinking and increasing in size, it was really nice to see an addition to the Marvel group, they just have to be extremely creative and innovative in keeping us entertained.

Although they were some mixed feeling then with his unique powers, I guess we have gotten so used to him now, hence the huge expectations from cinema lovers in going all out to see this new edition. Most people had mixed feeling about them not surpassing the expectations of the first one, but then I would give it to them for putting out a nice movie, and sincerely it wasn’t bad after all. Seeing it a few weeks after and we still have the cinema halls filled, which for me is a good sign that they would be making some good money back.

The movie was produced by the Walt Disney Pictures and was written by the famous Gabriel Ferrari, Andrew Barrer and Erik Sommers, who are well known for their lovely skills in movie script writing. This movie was directed by Peyton Reed and they sure did have a good number of popular cast. The production was good, the storyline was beautiful and the costumes were also on point. there was also nice blend with the new casts that were added they the story quiet exciting.

I kind of also like the swift process between moving from a normal person to a tiny being, the switch was so fast and funny.

Ant-Man started out calmly then moved straight into the action scenes. They started off with showing us the lead actor Paul Rudd who was called Scott Lang “Ant-Man” in the movie, being guarded at home, as he was placed on a 3year term house arrest. Scott was banned from going out, he could only move within the house till the investigation concerning the havoc he caused in Germany in the first edition of the movie was over. He was

with Janet Adetu

Being Time Conscious -Part 2 Are you time conscious?

Do you struggle with keeping to time?

How valuable is your time? s a follow-up of being time conscious part 1 last week read on to learn more etiquette strategies:

A

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Walton Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, T.I, David Dastmalchain and Hannah John-Kamen Genre: Action & Adventure, Comedy, Science, Fiction & Fantasy Director: Peyton Reed Ratings: PG 13 (for Comic Sci-Fri action violence) Written by: Gabriel Ferrari, Andrew Barrer, Erik Sommers Runtime: 118 mins Studio: Walt Disney Pictures allowed to have his family and friends come over but just couldn’t leave, until Evangeline Lilly known as “Hope Van Dyne/ The Wasp” came around to seek his help in assisting her and her dad in setting her mother free. Hope’s mother had being trapped in time during a past experiment that went bad.

Hope and her dad Hank were willing to do anything to go back to time to bring her back to life, and they needed the message from Scott’s head to assist them in finding the exact spot where she was lost.

Ant-Man was willing to risk his freedom to assist Hank and Hope find their mother, in order to remedy the problems he got them into initially in Ant-Man 1.

He went back got his suit and assisted them in their mobile lab, till the ghost came around to distort the whole plan, she needed their time machine to stay alive and they needed it to get their mum back, it was exciting seeing the chase

back and forth with all the bad guys who also needed this mobile lab, that could expand and reduce to a portable suitcase, nice concept and twist I must confess. It was good to see how it ended with all parties leaving happy.

To my verdict I would award Ant-Man and the Wasp an 8/10. They did have a very nice movie, from production, to crew, to cast and storyline also. It had a good blend of action, comedy and adventure.

They did keep us all entertained and also expectant of the next Ant-Man to come. For the action and Marvel lovers this is a sure recommendation from me, I am certain that you would have a good laugh too.

Feel free to review any movie of your choice in not more than 200 words, please send us a mail to linda@businessdayonline. com and stand a chance to win a free movie ticket Linda Ochugbua @lindaochugbua

4. Time Wasting.

Have you structured your daily and weekly activities in such a way that you maximize the use of time well? If you were to check is there anything you are doing that clearly takes up a lot of you time. Even when you strategically planned your day with a detailed to do list. It is very easy to get carried away spending more time on that thing that gives you less result, follow the 80 – 20 rule. Spending 20% of time on that thing that will yield 80% of your daily result, avoid doing the reverse.

5. Planning Many times you may have a well-planned out ‘to do’ list but certain circumstances evolve in the cause of the day whereby if you do not watch well your whole day will just pass by without you realizing it. Personally I have discovered that if I engage in meetings without locking in time to the meeting it tends to prolong and eat well into my assignments of the day. I aklso realized that this also happens even when I have planned for the meeting ahead. There should be a plan B for anything you wish to do, it may involve making up for lost time by spending longer at work, rescheduling an appointment you could not make at a more convenient date and time and also limiting your ‘to do’ list to make it realistically achievable.

6. Procrastination Do you like leaving things to it is more convenient? When is that convenient time? Have you planned for that golden opportunity?

As much as some things require the appropriate time many activities of life go with the flow. Time waits for nobody as often heard again and again. There are moments when you will need to bite the bullet and start the decluttering exercise, have that dreaded meeting, visit that VVIP client, submit that important report, visit the doctor, talk to that difficult colleague and much more. Try not to leave what you know is important for another hour, day, week or month, chances are you will forget about it and simply never get the right time to start.

I remember enrolling for an

online course which was time bound. I started but found myself not touching it for weeks.

I simply did not consciously set an assigned timing when I would cover a chapter or two a day or in a week. I kept saying I still have time until I saw how fast time was truly spent. Avoid procrastination and start at least and go with the flow with determination.

7. Delegation It is not mandatory you do all things by yourself. There is the perception by some that it will be done faster if you do it alone.

I have news for you that you already know, two heads and hands are better, faster and more effective. Do not wait until you are overwhelmed before you realize the need to delegate. If the job will get done faster then assign roles and duties immediately, and free your time for other things also pressing and time demand-

ing. If you delegate more your life balance will fall into place.

One thing you must remember though and that is delegate to competent hands only.

8. Interruption As you plan your time daily it is important to leave room for contingencies and unexpectancies. Interruptions will come from within and externally, knowing how to manage them is what is key. The ability to be assertive and know what you want and when you want it, will provide the main strategy to employ to avoid unnecessary distractions that may arise.

Many things like an incoming call involving long conversations, or a call made by you, an email, SMS message, subordinates requiring approval, your boss, or your customer/client can interrupt your planned out schedule. With a fixed deadline you have created this can guide your time management. Determine what is most important

and learn to say NO. Time Wasting Activities 1. Whats App message reading and responding 2. Reading emails that are chain mails.

3. Choosing an outfit to wear and changing it.

4. Gossiping and rumor mongering.

5. Telephone conversation that is not formal.

6. Dinning out for lunch after long hours.

7. Watching TV longer than necessary.

8. 30 minutes meeting taking two hours to conclude.

9. Over staying your welcome at events.

10. Setting out for journey during rush hour.

11. Trying on clothing items you do not intend buying.

12. Handling technological gadget all day long.

Time Conscious Tips.

1. Be time conscious for meeting and appointment.

2. Be time conscious for health appointment.

3. Be time conscious when invited to close selected events.

4. Be time conscious when you are doing things in a group.

5. Be time conscious when the journey is far and you cannot predict it.

6. Be time conscious during events that will last the whole day.

7. Be time conscious if others rely on your arrival before starting.

8. Be time conscious when your reputation is at stake.

9. Be time conscious when you are leading by example.

10. Be time conscious for both formal and informal setting occasions.

11. Let time be your most valuable asset.

Good luck!!!!!!!

Janet.adetu@JSKetiquetteconsortium.com

28

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

Hotels Top BusinessDay Partner Hotels

Four Point Hotels (Oniru Chiefatancy Estate,Lekki)

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

It’s tropical leisure at Ife Grand Resort & Leisure OBINNA EMELIKE

F

or years now, the ancient town of Ile-Ife has been drawing visitors from across the world, especially African Diaspora, to its rich cultural heritage.

The town, which is highly acclaimed as the cradle of the Yoruba race and city of knowledge for the many universities within its environs, is offering visitors even more reasons to visit yet again.

Of course, the Ife Grand Resort & Leisure is another reason to visit. Set on 250 acres of land on Kilometre 4, Ibadan Road, Ile-Ife, Osun State, the new resort is a tropical paradise for leisure seek-

ers and discerning guests who cherish tranquility and communion with nature amid personalised services without watching their back.

The resort, which is promoted by Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, the Ooni of Ife, is set to rival offerings at Inagbe Grand Resort, in-between Lagos Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean; also the brainchild of the Ooni.

From the entrance, fresh air greets you while the warmth at the concierge sets you in the mood for indulgence. For lovers of aesthetics, the locally crafted concierge table, the bespoke furniture decorated with local fabrics such as Adire and Ankara, the centre tables made from timber cuttings, and the walls dotted with beautiful artworks, combine to delight the five senses, especially sight.

On offer at the resort are 68 rooms comprising 6, 8 and 10 room chalets and also single room option. The intrigue is that the furnishings are sourced locally and you do not need to probe to discover that the doors are made from local wood variants such as bamboo.

For the culture enthusiasts, the resort hosts an African Village with 51 stylish huts named after the past Ooni’s (paramount rulers of Ile-Ife).

The huts come in one-room in-suite amid world class facilities.

Besides the huts, the African Village hosts Bamboo Restaurant and a local kitchen where guests can visit to witness how local food menus are prepared and also served to them on local pots; an offering said to interest African Diasporas most.

Whilst in the village,

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

Tel: 01 277 3560

guests have access to a standard swimming pool and children pool.

However, the resort hosts a big restaurant and a stylish open bar, a replica of the floating bar on the Lagoon at Inagbe Grand Resort.

While enjoying a lavish stay at the resort, guests who gain weight can also lose it by engaging in one of the numerous sports and fitness offerings including; lawn tennis, basketball, football at the mini stadium, which also hosts concerts, while children get busy as well at the well-equipped children playground.

As patronage swells, the resort has some pipeline projects to carter to the growing demands. Work is ongoing at the 6,000 guests capacity civic centre, the Olympic size swimming pool is nearing completion, while works is also ongoing at the indoor spa centre offering service including manicure and pedicure.

It is exciting moving around the resort vicinity and walking across streets named after some Yoruba towns such as Abeokuta, Ijebu, among others.

For Fadekemi Adenipekun, an Ife princess and director of the resort, the management is committed to offering world class services, facilities and memorable experiences alongside exposure to the rich cultural heritage of Ife people and the entire Yoruba race.

Beyond upholding high quality hospitality culture, she noted that the promoters of the resort seek to boost the economy of Ile-Ife, empower the people and use the resort to spotlight the ancient town on the world map by luring global tourists to the many allures of the town.

Moreover, before leaving the resort after a memorable stay, the princess urges guests to play with the monkeys, see the alligators or play local games at the African Village.

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

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

InterContinental Lagos 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

Best Western Hotel Hotels 12, Allen Avenue C/O Funmi (Front Office Manager)

Protea Hotel (GRA Ikeja) GRA Ikeja

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

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

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

IMPACT INVESTING

BUSINESS DAY

29

In Association With

Expanding access to healthcare in Nigeria: Impact Investing as a strategic model Innocent Unah & Abisinuola David-Olusa

“

H

alf of the global population lack access to basic health services and based on this, many families are continuously pushed into poverty because they have to personally foot their health bills. As at December 2017, 800 million people spent at least 10 per cent of their budgets on health expenses and for almost 25 per cent of these people, these costs are high enough to drive them below the poverty line.”

These statistics was published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its 2017 Global Monitoring Report.

In developed countries, health expenditure account for the secondlargest category of government spending. Also, developing countries like China and India are set to increase healthcare spending significantly so as to meet the growing demand. This goes to show the level of importance placed on healthcare services in other countries but this has not been the case in Nigeria, as it was recorded that in 2017, South Africa spent 5 times as much on healthcare services per capita compared to Nigeria. Also, in 2015, the total expenditure spent on healthcare in Nigeria amounted to 3.56 percent of GDP, which was lower than the continent’s average spending of 5.95 per cent.

In 2001, Nigeria was a signatory to the Abuja declaration, of which the Country and other African nations pledged to commit 15 per cent of their federal budgets toward health needs. Out of this total spending, 75 per cent was traced to out-ofthe-pocket spending i.e. spent by individuals, and this goes to show that the proportion of funds spent on healthcare through public sources is inadequate and minimal. Studies also show that public health services are inefficient and provide inconsistent quality, which has greatly contributed to the search of many individuals at the Base of the emerging markets’ population Pyramid (BOP) to go in search of private healthcare.

BOP is the largest but poorest socioeconomic group of 7 billion people in the world.

Impact investing is a concept that debunks the idea that either financial or social returns take precedence in investment decisions. It advocates for the fact that sustainable financial returns can be made, while ensuring

social and environmental returns from investments made into the society. Guaranteeing that both financial and social returns will be made in the healthcare sector can be a very daunting task because of the following reasons: Healthcare services are generally considered public goods and as such it would be difficult for investors to take a business approach relying on market-driven solutions alone.

This is why government regulations and subsidies are necessary in this sector as those at the BOP in emerging markets are price sensitive and have the limited capacity to pay for healthcare services. In this regard, blended strategies have been adopted on how impact investors can key into the healthcare sector. Some of these include investments that support microfinance organizations that provide primary healthcare services such as cancer screening.

Global Partnerships has pursued this model successfully over years.

Another strategy is funding low-cost healthcare clinic chains that have a network hub of service points which provide basic healthcare services at minimal cost and can reach people at the BOP. Dalberg has pioneered such investment strategy.

With a blended value approach,

impact investing has a role to play in ensuring the benefits of healthcare services reach the people who need them. Impact investors can take the lead in bringing affordable, accessible and quality healthcare to a Nigeria that needs it. On the part of the government, major initiatives have been proposed while some are in the early roll-out phase that could dramatically reshape health regulations and re-designate roles and responsibilities for more effective outcomes.

Some of these were the recently signed National Health Bill (NHB) that was aimed at expanding private sector participation; and the framework for drug distribution that is set to reduce the sale of counterfeit and sub-standard drugs in the local market. Although, implementation and execution of these reforms will form a critical part of the policy success.

WHO stated that Universal Health Coverage (UHC) can significantly reduce the number of people who lack access to healthcare service.

UHC is a healthcare system which means that all communities can use the preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need while ensuring that they are not exposed to financial hardships. UHC ensures that everyone

Also, in 2015, the total expenditure spent on healthcare in Nigeria amounted to 3.56 per cent of GDP, which was lower than the continent’s average spending of 5.95 percent obtains the essential health service they need, when and wherever they need it. The private sector accounts for around two-thirds of health care spending, of which 95 per cent is

paid for out of pocket. Only around 4 per cent of the population, most of whom are government and parastatals employees, have formal health insurance. With a per capita income of around $2,700, private care and comprehensive medical insurance are beyond the means of the average Nigerian. As such, for universal coverage to be achieved, it would need to come via a more comprehensive and widespread roll-out of the NHIS. Impact Investors in the healthcare sector Flint Atlantic Capital Flint Atlantic is an impact investment firm and is continually in search of innovative solutions to improving the access and quality of healthcare services in Africa that also has the potential for financial returns. They make investments through equity, quasi-equity and debt instruments in companies across the healthcare value chain.

One of their investments is in Africa Healthcare Network.

Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PHN) PHN seeks to transform the Nigerian healthcare sector by facilitating impact investments and market shaping engagements in critical segments of the healthcare value chain that reach the BOP.

30

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 27 July 2018

FEATURE

Securing Nigeria’s payment systems Efforts to stem the growing tide of electronic fraud in Nigeria are beginning to yield positive results. The Nigeria InterBank Settlement System, NIBSS reported a 24 percent decline in losses to fraud in 2017. This decrease, which it says is occurring for the third year in succession, also salvaged about N2.4billion. In this report, CHINWE AGBEZE looks at the efforts by financial institutions to safeguard the integrity of e-payment channels.

O

n Wednesday, June 7, 2017, Idongesit Umoh, an entrepreneur in Lagos, said she moved N1.5million from one of her business bank accounts to another.

According to her, she had requested for PTA from her bank for a trip to the United States, and the money she transferred was for that purpose.

The next day, Umoh said she tried to carry out a transaction, but got a message saying the credentials she had put in, were invalid. She typed in her mobile bank app a second time and got the same message before notifying her bank. The woman who picked the call told her to re-activate the call told her to re-activate her app.

She did and typed in her PIN, but it said it was invalid again.

Umoh was told to visit the bank, but she resolved to do so the next day since it was almost 4pm and she was not close to the bank. Few minutes after she hung up, Umoh said she received debit alert messages with strange names. At that point, it dawned on her that her account had been hacked.

While hurrying to the bank, she instructed her bank through the customer service to block her account.

Sadly, Umoh said her account was cleared of N2.1million with thirty minutes. After frequently the bank for a month, they refunded N668,000 and closed the case.

Umoh is just one out of the many victims of e-fraud in Nigeria. Available statistics by FITC puts the number of reported electronic fraud cases between 2001 and 2015 at 39,714.

Available data from NIBSS revealed that e-fraud accounted for more than 60percent in value and 90 percent in volume of total fraud loss between 2015 and 2016.

To curtail the high incidence of e-fraud in the country, Nigeria electronic Fraud Forum, NeFF was created to actively and proactively react to the challenge to protect the e-payment channels.

Before the introduction of electronic banking, traditional payment systems using cheques and bank orders were the predominant means of payment in Nigeria. With the ad-

vent of E-banking, Nigerians swiftly embraced e-payment channels in carrying out their financial transactions.

The reason for the adoption is not farfetched. The thought of performing transactions round-the-clock without having to visit the banking hall was enough attraction.

With increased acceptance, the e-payment systems grew and this was captured in NIBSS E-payment Fact Sheet for 2017. According to Fact Sheet, the total value of transactions from NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP), NIBSS Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), Points-of Sale (PoS) and Mobile transactions grew by 37.1 percent to reach N70.63trillion in 2017 compared to transactions value of N51.52 trillion in 2016.

The electronic payment system has continued to grow within the Nigerian payments industry. This exponential growth has been supported

by CBN’s cashless policy initiative in 2012, to create an enabling environment for the paradigm shift within the Nigerian financial industry. The effective implementation of this policy created a ripple effect, with the increase in e-commerce businesses, innovative payment methods, rise of FinTech companies and mobile payment products.

As e-payment systems continue to grow with continuous adoption and

various electronic payment technology and solutions, electronic fraud has also seen some growth. The advancement in technology, Fintech and payment systems to automate processes has shown that financial transactions have become increasingly vulnerable to hackers and cyber-criminals.

In NeFF’s 2016 annual report, 77 percent of the 19,531 fraud volumes reported in 2016 were related to electronic fraud. The growth in e-fraud keeps increasing, such that NeFF stated that, ‘‘It is evident that fraudsters still leverage more on the electronic platform to carry out their illicit acts.’.’

In addition, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies estimated that cybercrime alone cost the global economy $445 billion in 2015.

However, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement system (NIBSS) has cheery news for bank customers. NIBSS reported a 24 percent decline in losses to fraud in 2017. This decrease, which NIBSS says is occurring for the third year in succession, also salvaged about N2.4billion, which would have been lost over the same period. ‘‘No testament can be stronger than the indices rolled out by NIBSS than their acknowledgement that the industry was able to salvage much more than last year through its counteractive and collaborative approach,’’ said Dipo Fatokun, chairman, NeFF.

As part of the strategy of fashioning out new measures for protecting Nigeria’s payment system, Fatokun, who is also the director, banking and payment system, CBN, said the Forum held the 3rd in the series of annual retreats with the theme, ‘‘Operationalizing a four sided Approach to preventing Fraud’’, with special focus on Banking, Ecosystem, Law Enforcement and Telecommunication.

He said the ensuing engagement led the Forum to reach a resolution on how to battle e-fraud in 2018.

According to him, the Forum considered the speedy extension of the BVN to Other Financial Institution (OFIs) important to stem fraud in the industry, and the need to encourage the inclusion of e-payments as a course in the curriculum of the Law enforcement agencies.

Other resolutions include the need to fast track the initiatives with the Telco regulator (NCC), to find a lasting solution to SIM Swap and SIM recycle issues, establishment of coordinated Bank-Telco fraud desks to strengthen the handshake between financial and telecommunication industry, and the need for the CBN to encourage payments insurance as a way of enhancing customer fund protection and trust in the system.

Fatokun stressed the need for collaborative efforts to reduce electronic

fraud in the banking industry. ‘‘We must all work together in ensuring that the payments environment remains strong and safe, by taking every reasonable step in ensuring that payment services are delivered not only fairly and transparently, but also safety,’’ the NeFF chairman said. ‘‘We are aware of the negative impact fraud has on consumer trust, which is an essential ingredient in building a sustainable payments system. We remain committed in ensuring that the Nigerian payments system is not only easy to use, but also reliable and trustworthy,’’ he added.

Adebayo Adelabu, deputy governor, operations, CBN stressed the essence of collaboration and how it has brought critical players in the payments system (banks, consumers, telecom operators and law enforcement) together under one umbrella objective, which is to fight electronic fraud. ‘‘This collaboration will no doubt bring to bear, increased knowledge and information sharing and deepen the payments industry’s capacity to succeed in this fight against e-fraud,’’ Adelabu said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria in collaboration with banks, NIBSS and other stakeholders have made giant strands in combating electronic fraud.

However, there is need for improvement as fraudsters are getting wiser by the day.

Despite the anti-fraud efforts to subdue its monstrous growth, fraud is still pervasive. The positive impact of developments and improvements in technology on banking business is constantly being threatened by the activities of fraudsters, who daily evolve new devices to circumvent banks’ internal control systems. There is therefore need for collective industry effort to tame e-fraud.

Banks should not relent in enlightening customers on the changing tactics of scammers in electronic transactions. Anti-fraud education campaigns must use indigenous languages and also take into consideration the fact that some bank customers are not literate. Banks must show their customers how their cards work and how to get help when in trouble. Security officers who are not bank staff should not be allowed to deal with customers.

Automatic Teller Machine, ATM users should be taught to change their passwords sometimes. They must also be cautious about when and where they withdraw money to reduce the risk of attacks.

Despite the surge in fraud volume, the significant fall in actual los value established the fact that Nigeria is gradually winning the fight against electronic fraudsters.

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

31

FEATURE

Child marriage and the Vaginal Fistula Disease MICHEAL ANI

T

he consequences of child marriages are issues that cannot be relegated to the background, especially in an era where some parts of Nigeria believe that women belong to the “other room” or must end up in the kitchen.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, Child marriage which is defined as a formal or informal union below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority is a reality for both boys and girls, although girls are disproportionately the most affected.

Section 23 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says “a person under the age of 18 is incapable of contracting a valid marriage and if such a marriage does take place, it should be declared null and void and of no effect.” Contradictorily, Section 29(4b) of the same constitution technically approves child marriage It says: “This is by its provision that any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.”

Apart from the fact that child marriage decreases a girl’s development by resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, it also exposes them to key ailment among others called the Vesico-vaginal Fistula popularly called VVF. Fistula is reportedly one of the worst epidemics that are predominantly caused by child marriages.

According to the international fistula foundation, an obstetric fistula is a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder that is caused by prolonged obstructed labour, leaving a woman incontinent of urine or faeces or both.

Over time, it leads to chronic medical problems like frequent infections, kidney disease and infertility. Medically, when an under-aged girl has sex, gets pregnant and goes through childbirth, because her body is not developed enough for child bearing, she is highly exposed to a fistula.

Other dark sides of child marriage is evident in the fact that it interrupts a child’s education, limiting her of opportunities for career and vocational advancement, placing her at increased risk of domestic violence, and exposing her to life threatening illnesses such as Anaemia, High Blood Pressure (HBP), Humane Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV), Premature Birth, Malnutrition, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), Postpartum depression (PPD), and even suicide to mention but a few.

Businessday has a peculiar story to tell about a young beautiful Hausa girl who shared her ordeal in an experience on the said ailment.

She tried to keep the tears from coming out, but they rolled out uncontrollably as she was severely in pains. Please tell my story the little girl said.

My name is Hadija bida(names of victim has been changed to protect her image), i was married off on my 13th birthday to Alhaji Aminu, i soon became pregnant because sex was the only thing Alhaji cares about.

I heard about VVF when I was eight months pregnant, which I prayed to have a different story but my case was different, rather it was worse.

I had prolonged labour for three days but was not taken to the hospital to get proper care rather; i was left to the care of local midwives.

I begged Alhaji to take me to the hospital but he refused “You are just being too lazy, what is there in giving birth at home,” that is the reply I get whenever I complain to Alhaji.

“My own mother gave birth to nine children at home, so why is your own different or do you have a crown in your vagina that should warrant treating you specially.

Besides, I do not have that kind of money to waste”.I soon accepted my fate.

“The baby’s head came out and got stuck but the remaining body won’t even in that life threatening state my husband and his parents did not see reasons to take me to the hospital” “A good Samaritan from my community secretly went to my parents who lives in another community and told them about it, which they came immediately to take me to the hospital as Alhaji disagreed but they insisted and took me to one health centre close by,” “It was there the doctor forcefully pulled the baby out as the baby had

already started decaying. To cut the long story short, I lost the baby but the most painful of the whole thing was that I got VVF (Vesico Vagina Fistula) and RVF (Recto-Vagina Fistula),” the little girl said with intense pain in her heart.

While at the health centre, Alhaji sent a divorce letter because I was taken to the hospital without his consent. I felt a lot of pain in my heart, i got VVF and RVF, Alhaji divorced me and left the problems for my parents i have resigned myself to pain and I accept it as the will of God VVF occurs when the blood supply to the tissues between the vagina and bladder is restricted due to prolonged obstructed labour, leading the tissues to necrotize and then forming holes which urine passes uncontrollably ....some patients develop RVF where the holes form between the tissues of the vagina and recturn leading to the uncontrollable leaking of faeces In a press release issued by international female rights advocacy platform, Girls not Brides, it was revealed that 65 percent of all cases of obstetric fistula occur in girls

My own mother gave birth to nine children at home, so why is your own different or do you have a crown in your vagina that should warrant treating you specially

under the age of 18. The report also revealed that ‘girls who give birth before the age of 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than girls in their 20s.

Of the top 20 countries with the highest rates of child marriage across the globe, 17 are African countries, and Nigeria ranks at number 11. In neighbouring West African country, Niger, 76 percent of girls are married before the age of 18, while in Central African Republic the figure stands at 68 percent.

In Nigeria, child marriage has ancient cultural, religious and economic ties. It is believed that girls who marry after the age of 18 can become promiscuous, while other families give out their daughters to ‘escape poverty’.

Recently, a Maternal Birth Injury hospital in Itu, Akwa Ibom State said it records an average of 200 Visco-Vaginal Fistula (VVF) cases annually.

The UNICEF in its 2017 report said that 43 percent of Nigerian girls are married off before their 18th birthday, while 17 percent are married before they turn 15. The prevalence of child marriage in Nigeria varies from region to region, with figures as high as 76 percent in the North Western region and as low as 10 percent in the South Eastern region.

In recent years, the Nigerian Government has awakened to the reality that VVF has become an embarrassing condition, not only for those living with it and those that would develop it, but also for the government which is confronted with these damning statistics That is why under previous administrations there were attempts to address the problem. There was a National Strategic Framework for the Elimination of Obstetric Fistula

in Nigeria 2011- 2015. It was the first real coordinated attempt to tackle the problem. But it turned out there was nothing strategic about it as new cases continue to emerge.

The current administration under President Muhammadu Buhari appeared to have set a 10-year target for the elimination of the VVF. Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health, said the federal government was determined to eradicate obstetric fistula from Nigeria in the next 10 years.

But this target, as ICIR investigations revealed, is unrealistic and unattainable as things stand now in the country’s health sector.

The government has focused more on building fistula centres and offering free surgeries to victims than attacking the factors responsible for this condition for majority of girls and women in the country.

Another issue of concern is that of insurgency and the incessant kidnapping targeted at adolescent female folks in the Northern part of the country, scaring them away from school, causing their parents to remain in abject poverty thereby increasing the case of syndrome.

Recently, the country has been hammered by several insurgent attacks like a case study on the 1st of April 2014, when the said Islamist group (Bokoharm) kidnapped some 276 girls within the ages of 15-17 years in Chibok.

Also mentioning, the February 19th Dapchi attack in Yobe state where some 110 school girls were kidnapped. All this if not checked will spur recorded cases of this ailment.

The current population of Nigeria is 194,488,523 as at Thursday, March 22, 2018, which is equivalent to 2.57 per cent of the total world population of 7.6 billion making the Africa most populous nation maintain the 7th spot in the list of countries based on the latest United Nations estimates.

The United Nation further stated that in 2050, Nigeria would be the most populous nation in the world with a population of over 250 million. Questions were raised concerning this figure.

The UN also reported that the number of children that were born on the first of January was 20,210. If this figure is multiplied by 365 days, it therefore means that the population would increase by 7,376,650.

The interval between 2018 and 2050 is 33 years, multiplied by 7,376,650 gives 243,429,450 and when added to the current population gives a value of 444 million people.

Inspight of this increase in population, the rate of unemployment also increased from 14.2 percent in Q4 2016 to 16.2 percent in Q2 2017 and 18.8 percent in the third quarter of 2017.

32

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 27 July 2018

INTERVIEW

Nigeria could become first African country to adopt open banking - Carlos Carlos Figueredo, founder and CEO of Open Vector, was in Nigeria in June as part of the delegation led by Lord Mayor of London. He spoke to BusinessDay’s Frank Eleanya on his partnership with Open Banking Nigeria and the potential for financial inclusion, fintech and banks in the country.

What are you are doing in Nigeria, and why is it important? am part of the Lord Mayor delegation. It’s a diplomatic delegation to Nigeria, primarily to bring the concept of open banking, speak to various government officials and regulators, CEOs of banks and Fintechs about open banking. Open banking has already been established in Nigeria, through the Open Banking Nigeria and this team. They have realized what open banking can do for Nigeria. They have started it from the fintechs and going upwards instead of waiting for regulations to tell them to do it. So it is a fantastic way of initiating open banking different from the model that we did in the UK. What I am here to do is to strengthen what has already kick started. But I have done it from top down by meeting with your vice president, key governors, ministers, CEOs in the Fintech community.

I have brought that credibility, by bringing my own experience, my teams’ experience to explain what we can do. This is why it is so important for Nigeria. If this initiative gets the support, Nigeria will become the first African country to embrace open banking.

important component that we will also introduce here in Nigeria. The benefit that you have is that you already have some component of biometrics like your BVN and other elements that will certainly help us to integrate this GDPR element very nicely

I

In a layman’s term, what is open banking?

Open banking is about giving the consumer power to be able to use his data to further enhance his search for new products and services. That is on the consumer side.

On the Fintech and banking side, what it does is to allow them to work together to create those new products and services in a way that we never would have seen before. Today the banks and the Fintechs have to work somewhat independently; they interact to create products and services. What open banking does is it allows for a much standardized way of working together to create products and services.

If we look at it in layman’s terms it means that banks will have to share data, in a standardized format, and then Fintechs of all sizes can come in and look at that data.

Based on that data, they create new products and services to benefit the consumer. For the consumer it means that they have the power of how that data is used. So we are the ones that provide consent as to how fintechs or banks use that data.

This could potentially lower prices on existing products on services,

Carlos Figueredo

because now there is competition between the banks. The data is now available, it is standardized, and it is free to see. But it means that because of that relationship, new product and services will come out that otherwise consumers would have never seen. It also it means that the people who otherwise will be seen as unbanked would potentially be banked through those new products and services.

Tell us about Open Vector, what you are doing and how it relates to financial inclusion Open Vector was born from the open banking implementation entity in the UK, which was the first open banking initiative globally. Open Vector comprise of all of the key senior members that was part of the open banking initiative. So we bring their experience and their credibility into Open Vector which is a commercial entity. We then take it to other countries and regions to help the governments, banks and fintechs to embrace open banking globally.

What is the relationship between open banking and EU GDPR? Open banking, GDPR and PSD2 are closely linked. GDPR is the initia-

tive that was adopted in the EU. It is the consent mechanism used to allow the consumer gain control of his data. It is a data protection component of security. So when a consumer says “wait a minute, you have been telling me for years not to give out my data and all of a sudden you are asking me to give my data, how am I going to protect myself?”

GDPR is the technical component that gives the person the consent on how that information is going to be used. It is also an incredibly

The difference is other countries have been able to analyze and see open banking, and the potential. So they are buying into open banking becomes much greater.

In Nigeria open banking is already being embraced and looked at

What are the major flash points that you identified for the UK market and how can we implement that here in Nigeria, knowing that these are two separate markets?

One thing that we are very humble about in Open Vector is that we are not here to tell you that we did it the best way and everything has to be done how we did it in the UK. The reason we are so passionate about what we are doing is that we want to help countries embrace open banking and avoid the mistakes and the issues we had in the UK. We have realized a much bigger social and financial inclusion opportunities for other countries that weren’t in the original plan in the UK. The key aspects of this is to show that this initiative is done in a collaborative way between the government regulators, the banks and the fintechs and its done in a timely manner that is not rushed and is not driven necessarily by regulations, but it is done in a collaborative way, I think that is the key aspect of the lesson learn from the UK. The financial inclusion numbers in Nigeria is not so impressive.

How far reaching is open banking for Nigerians beyond Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja?

The opportunity of open banking is a mythology, and what it does is that because of a regulatory framework and through standardization it will allow for the fintechs and banks to work together to find much more creative innovation to reach the north for example, in ways that we don’t know yet. If you look back at cell phones, did we ever think that we would go from old Nokia or Blackberries to what we do today with our apps?

That’s because the likes of Apple realized that they needed to open up the app platforms for creative people to create new products and services, which we never would have thought of. We have all of our world on our phone, so if you think about the same thing through this legal frame work that you can have banks and fintechs working in ways that we have never thought of to reach people that we otherwise

wouldn’t have thought of, we have some theoretical business cases of what we that could look like.

You have spoken to some Nigerian banks. Knowing they are going to be important in the implementation of open banking, what’s their disposition?

Surprisingly, I think Nigeria is going to run a lot faster than the UK. The lesson learnt from the UK then again was, this was driven by the regulators of the banking sector in the UK. So there wasn’t a template.

There was never a mention of open banking globally. We were the first.

So suddenly the banks by the market authority that open banking would be created, that they would have to comply, to standardize, that they would have to pay for it. It was a lot of telling the sector what to do and forcing the sector in a particular direction. Of course, you are going to get push backs from the banks, there wasn’t a model, there wasn’t anything to compare it to, you wouldn’t immediately see the opportunity of what open banking meant. The difference is other countries have been able to analyze and see open banking, and the potential. So they are buying into open banking becomes much greater. In Nigeria open banking is already being embraced and looked at. What is important is that the banks here in Nigeria are much more innovative. I was incredibly surprised at how the banks are already thinking in an innovative way, working with fintechs on innovation. So I think the open banking piece is welcomed because what it means to them is - and this is a word that kept repeating itself - if we could only get standardized, if we could only have the legal and regulatory frame work to support this.

What are the low hanging feet that you have identified in Nigeria that needs to be worked on immediately?

I think the relationship that Open Vector have with Open Banking Nigeria is exciting because it is being driven by the fintech community.

The open banking team in Nigeria has already addressed and looked at the low hanging fruits like payments, cards, elements that can be immediately implemented through open banking. I think it’s now for us to come in and help guide the open banking initiative to come down from the top to the bottom and ensure that we have that legal frame work to support it.

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

BUSINESS DAY

Live @ The Stock Exchange Top Gainers/Losers as at Thursday 26 July 2018 GAINERS Company NESTLE CCNN NASCON ZENITHBANK CUTIX

Market Statistics as at Thursday 26 July 2018

LOSERS Opening

Closing

Change

Company

Opening

Closing

Change

N1450

N1501

51

INTBREW

N37.5

N35.5

-2

N26.2

N28.5

2.3

FLOURMILL

N28.7

N27.2

-1.5

N20

N20.5

0.5

DANGCEM

N235

N234

-1

N23.25

N23.7

0.45

CUSTODIAN

N6.1

N5.56

-0.54

N3.99

N4.38

0.39

DANGSUGAR

N15.5

N15

-0.5

ASI (Points)

Stories by Iheanyi Nwachukwu

T

he shareholders of Presco Plc on Wednesday July 25, 2018 approved the payment of 200kobo dividend, amounting to N2billion for the year ended December 31, 2017.

While endorsing the dividend payment during the 25th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company held at its premises along Benin-Sapele road, Edo State, the shareholders also commended the Board, Management and Staff for remaining on the path of profitability despite challenges.

Addressing the shareholders, Pierre Vandebeeck, chairman of the Board of Director informed shareholders that the company witnessed another year of significant revenue growth from N15billion in 2016 to N22.3billion in 2017, representing 42.3 percent growth.

Also within the period under review, profit after tax was N25.40billion as against N21.74billion in 2016 while turnover stood at N22.3billion as against 15.7billion in the previous year.

The chairman explained that Fresh Fruit bunches harvested in 2017 was 169,325 tons compared with 164,313

tons in 2016.

According to the chairman, Crude Palm Oil produced was 37, 637 tons as against 35,555 tons while, “Refined, Bleached and Deodorized oil 23,330btons (2016:28,505 tons) and clean produced was 37,637 tons”.

Making reference to future plans, the chairman said: “We have put our hands to the plough and cannot go back. We achieved achieve a record oil palm planting of 3,600 ha in 2017 and are focused to continue the increase in our palm plantation with the plan to plant an additional minimum 3,500 ha in 2018.

“Work on the new refinery and fractional plant,

palm kernel crushing plant and increase in installed capacity of the palm oil mill are expected to near completion by the end of 2018.

“Our RSPO certification audit will also take place in 2018. Management is paying attention to instituting the appropriate structure that supports the growth in our business in the medium and long term”.

Speaking during an interactive session with Journalists in Benin City, Edo State,recently, Managing Director of the company, Mr. Felix Nwabuko explained that with the cultivation of over 8,000 hectares in two years, it will take just another year to get the full plantation

VOLUME (Numbers)

readiness to wield the axe on any dealing member that falls short on any of its rules.

“I am confident that I will not get a negative re-

port concerning any of you”, Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange told the 20 newly inducted dealing clerks.

While promising to support the new stockbrokers in developing their capacity and businesses, the NSE CEO welcomed the new stockbrokers to a new relationship as faces centered around professionalism, integrity, transparency, reliability, excellent service “to our investor and issuer communities.”

“As we continue to work on our goal of becoming a more agile and demutualized Exchange, the importance of your role cannot be over emphasized. It goes without

3,595.00 171,220,087.00

VALUE (N billion) MARKET CAP (N Trn

ready.

According to the Managing Director, the company has cultivated its new 3600 hectares in Orhionmwon Local Government, adding that “this year we intend to plant on 4000 hectares. If we can do 100, 000 hectares in Edo State, we will do it.”

Nwabuko explained that the company’s 15,000 hectares expansion project is as a result of the far-reaching reforms being implemented by the Edo State Government in the agriculture sector.

Nwabuko said: “The deliberate effort and reforms initiated by the Godwin Obaseki led-administration and the Federal Government, to prioritise agriculture as an alternative means to derive economic growth, are highly commendable.”

He lauded Governor Obaseki’s initiative to make land available for investors, who are ready to invest in the people and other resources in Edo State. He noted, “I am excited that the state government is mapping out land through the Geographic Information Service (GIS) initiative, for allocation of land for investors who mean business in the state. We expect that state government would speed up the process.”

NSE reiterates ‘zero tolerance’ policy on market infractions he Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has echoed its zero tolerance policy on all market infractions noting its

36,427.22

DEALS (Numbers)

Presco rewards shareholders with N2bn dividend

T

33

saying that the investing community will know and judge the Nigerian capital market through your character and service innovation. The manner in which you engage and render your professional duties to your clients will go a long way in shaping the perception of our market,” Onyema added at the induction ceremony which held in Lagos on Tuesday July 24, 2018.

With the extremely thorough and strict process leading to their qualification, Onyema made bold to say that they are worthy to be practicing stockbrokers enabled to trade on any floor of The Nigerian Stock Exchange in Nigeria.

2.978 13.195

Union Bank reports 23% rise in half-year PBT

U

nion Bank of Nigeria Plc unaudited financial statements for the half-year (H1) period ended June 30, 2018 showed profit before tax (PBT) increased by 23percent to N11.7billion (N9.5billion in H1 2017).

Gross earnings increased by 16percent to N83.3billion (N72.1billion in H1 2017), driven by a 10percent increase in interest income and 37percent increase in non-interest income.

Interest income went up by 10percent to N62.2billion (N56.6billion in H1 2017); net interest income (NII) before impairment increased by 14percent to N34.4billion (N30.1billion in H1 2017); driven by an improvement in net interest margins from 7.9percent to 8.2percent on the back of lower cost of funds.

Non-interest income also increased by 37percent to N21.1billion (N15.4billion in H1 2017); driven by enhanced treasury trading income, recoveries and 311percent growth in alternate channel revenues.

Net operating income was up 22percent to N50.9billion (N41.9billion in H1 2017). Operating expenses increased by 21percent to N39.2billion (N32.4billion in H1 2017);

largely due to a 25percent increase in regulatory levies from the NDIC and AMCON as well as some oneoff items.

Gross loans declined by 9percent to N508.5billion (N560.7billion December 2017) due to successful recovery/collection efforts and the write-off of some fully provisioned non-performing loans.

Customer deposits increased by 3percent to N826.7billion (N802.4billion December 2017); reflects 66percent increase in foreign currency deposits and the optimization of our local currency deposit book towards low-cost deposits.

Commenting on the results, Emeka Emuwa, CEO, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc said: “In the first half of the year, we have continued to see positive results from our efficiency and productivity drive. Across all our business lines, we witnessed strong underlying performance, translating into improved earnings. We continue to focus on the recovery of non-performing loans. With the resolution in Q2 2018 of the large real estate exposure which was impaired in December 2017, the Group NPL ratio is down to 10.8percent from 14.9percent at 31 March 2018 and 19.8percent at 31 December 2017.

IOSCO to promote investor education at 2018 ‘World Investor Week’

T

he International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is preparing to launch its second annual World Investor Week (WIW) from October 1-7, 2018, following the success of last year´s event in promoting investor education and protection and highlighting the various initiatives of securities regulators in those two areas around the globe.

The 2018 WIW involves a week of activities carried out by participating IOSCO member jurisdictions. A key objective of the WIW is to highlight the importance of investor education and protection, and to foster

learning opportunities for investors, given today´s rapidly changing environment of online and technological innovations. Many members leverage the event to organize further investor education activities throughout the year.

In last year’s WIW, IOSCO members and stakeholders from some 80 jurisdictions on six continents engaged in a range of activities, offering investor-focused information and services, staging contests to increase awareness of the importance of investor education, organizing workshops and conferences, and conducting local/ national campaigns in their jurisdictions.

34

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 27 July 2018

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 27 July 2018

Live @ the Stock exchange

35

Prices for Securities Traded as of Thursday 26 July 2018 Company

Market cap(nm)

PRICES FOR MAIN BOARD SECURITIES (Equities)

Price (N)

Change

Trades

Volume

Company

Market cap(nm)

Price (N)

Change

Trades

Volume

36

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

Sports

Star Lager’s support for Nigerian football gets accolades Stories by Anthony Nlebem

S

tar Lager Beer was the first indigenous beer to be brewed in Nigeria more than 60 years ago, and through the decades, the flagship brand of Nigerian Breweries Plc, a Heineken company has also held an enviable position of being a strong supporter of football in the country.

In 2016, the premium brand signed landmark deals with European football giants Chelsea, Barcelona, Arsenal, Juventus, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.

The brand also became the first official beer partner of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

The big beer brand signed a deal with the Nigeria Football Federation as the official beer of the Super Eagles to provide support to players and the coaching crew, as well as offering premium satisfaction to over 180 million passionate fans that will be cheering the Super Eagles in the ‘Nigeria United We Shine’ campaign before, during and after their international matches.

The Super Eagles qualified for

their sixth mundial after going past the qualification phase that had Algeria, Cameroon and Zambia – all former African champions.

The Super Eagles were pitted against Argentina, Croatia and Iceland in Group D of the mundial in Russia and even though they could not make it out of the group, they put in a spirited performance that still left Nigerian fans both home and abroad believing in their abilities and confident that the future is bright and

just as a star shines brightly to bring hope, Star Lager Beer is here to stick with the Super Eagles.

In an effort to ensure the partnership between Star Lager Beer and the Super Eagles is a fruitful one, the pioneer beer brand in Nigeria has carried out some activities that has engaged supporters.

The premium brand revved up its consumer engagement activities; sending five passionate fans with a trip to Russia to cheer the Super

Football talents emerge in Rexona Street to Stamford Africa XI Competition

R

exona, Nigeria’s leading deodorant and antiperspirant brand recently hosted the final 22 players from the Rexona Street to Stamford competition at an exclusive dinner event.

Ayobami Adekunle, Ebuka Anumba and Ayobami Jegede were selected as the top three winners to represent Nigeria and join the Africa XI to train at London in September 2018.

The Rexona “Street to Stamford” competition, which commenced in May 2018, saw the participation of young football enthusiasts across the country make entries with their preferred position of play both on and off the field for an opportunity to train at London.

Following the digital draws which was witnessed by representatives from the Consumer Protection Council, National Lottery Board and Lagos State Lottery Board, a short list of 100 players were invited to the Rexona Street to Stamford Africa XI camp at the National Stadium, Surulere to showcase

their skills, talents and compete for a spot amongst the top three.

Speaking on the competition, Head local coach, Rexona XI Street to Stamford Academy, Kennedy Boboye said “I am impressed by the talents on display at the academy and it is a pleasure to work with such determined group of young players.”

He added that the few days spent training the players; selection of the final twenty-two and down to the final three was intense, as it shows the potential of growth in football development within the country. He however urged the players to use the opportunity afforded them to “grow and follow their dreams.”

Head International coach, Chelsea FC Rexona Academy, Laurence Griffin said despite being his first experience in Africa, he was impressed by the passionate football tradition of Nigerians and the level of commitment by players in the Rexona Academy. He further stated that “the opportunity afforded the players by Rexona and Chelsea FC is once in a

lifetime. It is our hope that the experience and training exposure, would help develop and shape these players to leaders who can also pass on such experiences to their local communities in improving them.”

Laurence added that the selection of the final three was a decision that wasn’t easy due to the enormous talents in the academy but with the support of the local coaches, they were able to select the final three who would represent Nigeria in London.

Toun Adegbite, Category Manager, Skin Care and Deodorants, Unilever Nigeria, congratulated all the players for their commitment and level of determination throughout the trials at the academy. She added “that Rexona as a brand promises not to let people down by building the confidence of consumers in their daily routines, hence, the campaign which is aimed at helping young talents in football build their confidence in achieving their dreams of training at the highest level.”

She further stated that the Rexona Street to Stamford platform is “aimed at inspiring youths across the country to dream, work hard, and be prepared at all times as opportunity always meets those who are ready”.

Rexona Ambassador and former international football star, Austin Jay Jay Okocha thanked Rexona for such a platform created for young vibrant footballers to aspire for greatness and urged other corporate organizations to take initiative in ensuring the growth of football talents within the country. He also advised the players to be resilient and focused on the game as they have the spotlight on them from prospective scouts who aim to make them better.

Eagles live.

Part of this landmark partnership has also seen Star redesign its bottle label to reflect the spirit of the games in Russia. The new look has a resemblance to the globally acclaimed national team jersey.

The label carries green and white stripes which represent Nigeria as a country and the national team. At the back are three unique numbers: “1”, “11” and “12”.

1 represents the Star brand as the pioneer beer in the country while 11 represents the Nigerian players who take to the field at every game.

The fans form an integral part of the game as their energy and enthusiasm behind the team is always crucial to getting desired results. For this they are considered the 12th player on the pitch and this number is reflected on the rebranded Star bottles.

These bottles do not just carry the colours of the Super Eagles but also unique codes under the crown corks, which if dialed using any mobile device with any network provider could make fans become winners of instant prizes that can be redeemed in various parts of the country.

Star also set up a state of the art viewing centre called ‘Super Eagles

Dome.’ This is a relaxing venue where fans watched the games while enjoying Nigeria’s premier beer. It is indeed one of the most exhilarating viewing experiences in the country with supporters treated to 360 degrees viewing of live football action using high-end multimedia technology. Football legends such as Okechukwu Uche, Ben Iroha, Ike Shorunmu and Tijani Babangida have made appearances at the Super Eagles Dome while music artistes such as Ice Prince, DJ Neptune, Skales and Slimcase have lit up the iconic venue.

Star’s most recent effort has seen the premium brand launch its biggest ever giveaway a staggering 400 million Naira worth of cash and prizes in the Star Larger Millionaires Promo.

Millions of Football lovers across Nigeria stand a chance to win instant cash, free airtime, free drinks and awesome cash prizes of 1 million, 2 million, 5 million and ultimately N10 million Naira between June 15 and August 15, 2018.

Football is the number one sport in Nigeria and as such, consumer brands like Star Lager that identify with the game at all levels and support the fans cheering behind the stars, will continue to reap the benefits and huge rewards the game has to offer.

Tickets sold out in Whyte vs Parker heavyweight bout … Kwesé TV to exclusively air clash live

T

ickets are almost sold out for Saturday’s O2 clash between Dillian Whyte vs Joseph Parker.

Over 12,000 tickets have been sold for the crunch heavyweight clash at the 20,000-seater O2 Arena in London on July 28.

Tickets sale flew out on general sale after venue and Matchroom Fight Pass pre-sales sold-out with fans flocking to witness the heavyweight tussle supported by a bumper bill.

Parker’s promoter David Higgins confirmed all but a handful of tickets had now been sold for a fight that will be broadcast on pay-perview in the UK and New Zealand.

Dillian Whyte or Joseph Parker will be in “world title action very soon” if they win their sold-out heavyweight showdown, says promoter Eddie Hearn.

“This is a hugely important clash for the heavyweight division that has captured the imagination of the public,” said Hearn.

“Dillian Whyte’s career is on a ferocious upward curve right now and his popularity is continuing to grow.

“Dillian’s brutal KO of Australian Lucas Browne at The O2 in March underlined that prowess at the top level and now another visitor from Down Under is here to try to halt Dillian’s rise to the top.

“Joseph Parker is a softly spoken and likeable man - but make no mistake that in the ring, he’s all business and has bad intentions for Dillian.

“This is a real 50-50 contest and

I’ve no doubt that the winner will be in world title action very soon.”

Satellite pay-TV network, Kwesé TV, will on exclusively air two massive international heavyweight encounter on its premium sports channel, Kwesé Sports 1.

Kwesé Sports 1, the home of international heavyweight boxing, which has delivered world class boxing action including Anthony Joshua’s victorious fights against Wladimir Klitschko, Carlos Takam and Joseph Parker, Amir Khan vs Lo Greco and David Haye vs Tony Bellew rematch, will once more captivate boxing fans with the bout between Dillian Whyte and Joseph Parker.

On the same night, Dereck Chisora, a former WBA and WBO international heavyweight champion, will battle Carlos Takam in another 12-round mouth-watering heavyweight contest leading up to the main fight.

Takam’s bout with Chisora will be his first since losing to Joshua in the tenth round of a rather controversial technical knock-out back in October 2017.

Die-hard boxing fans who are unable to catch Whyte vs Parker live on Kwesé Sports 1, ch 300, can catch a re-run on Kwesé Free Sports, channel 285, on Sunday 29 July.

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

37

NEWS Oando’s half-year profit jumps 86% to N8.5bn

N

igeria’sleadingindependent explorationandproduction group, Oando Plc yesterday released 2018 half year results showing group profit after tax rose by 86 percent to N8.5 billion when comparedthesameperiodof2017.

AnanalysisofOando’sfinancials shows that the group’s turnover grew by 11 percent to N297.3 billion from N267 billion (H1 2017); gross profit increased by 53 percent to N51 billion compared to N33.4 billion (H1 2017); and profit-aftertax increased by 86 percent to N8.5 billion compared to N4.6 billion (H12017).Initsupstreambusiness, OandorecordedanetprofitofN27.1 billion ($75.2 million) compared with N16.3 billion ($53.2 million) in the comparative period of H1 2017.

According to the Oando’s statement, the increase in net income betweenthequarterswasprimarily due to higher revenues as a result of a general increase in the price of oil and gas commodities. Oando picked up on the industry recovery witnessed in 2017. Brent prices averaged$69.87perbarrel,resulting in a 38 percent increase in realized crude selling price compared to the same period in 2017. Oando’s performance was further buoyed by sale price increases of 19 percent for NGL and 13 percent for natural gas deliveries.

Commenting on the results Wale Tinubu, Group Chief Executive, Oando PLC said that “Oando PLC has made significant progress in2018,evidencedbyoursubstantial free cash flow generation and profitability. Oil prices have rallied over the last year, a direct conse-

quence of increasing demand and reduced supply. Higher oil prices, and the resolution of Joint Venture funding challenges with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has driven increased investmentintheupstreamsector.

Thisstableoperatingenvironment, coupled with our fiscal prudence, has reinforced our solid financial footing as we continue to build on themomentumgarneredin2017.”

The company’s performance in the first half of 2018 is a continuation of the strong financial performance delivered last year and in the first quarter of 2018.

Oando continues to increase its market share in the downstream sector through its trading business, Oando Trading (OTD). OTD recorded average trading volumes of 8.1 million bbl in the six months ended June 30, 2018 with a total of 6.6m barrels of crude oil and 195,497MTofpetroleumproducts traded in the first half of the year.

Thecompanyisstillthemiddle of an indirect shareholder dispute, which has led to a yet to be concluded SEC forensic audit. However, that has not affected Oando’s capacity to attract new businesses.

Recently, Oando, Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and other indigenous and internationaloilcompaniesinpartnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) signed anagreementtoimplement Gas Projects worth $3.7 billion.

The gas projects tagged ‘Seven Critical Gas Development Projects (7CGDP)’ is set to bridge the gas

supply shortfall in the country.

In April, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced that a consortium consisting of Oando PLC, through its Midstream affiliate Axxela, and OilServe Limited were awarded the Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) mandate for the construction of gas pipelines stretching from Ajaokuta to Abuja as part of the Ajaokuta-KadunaKano Pipeline. The pipeline is a section of the Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline under the gas infrastructure blueprint designed to enable the industrialisation of the Eastern and Northern parts of Nigeria and will also enable connectivity between the East, West and North, which is currently non-existent.

Axxela continues to grow its customer base and is now delivering natural gas to over 175 industrial and commercial customers via its gas network infrastructure.

Speakingontheoutlookforthe remainder of the year, Oando in a pressstatementsaiditwillcontinue todrivegrowthandprofitabilityvia its dollar earning portfolios. “Our plansintheupstreaminvolvesproduction growth via investment in targeted profitable projects whilst maintaining fiscal prudence, to ensure we remain less sensitive to short-term price fluctuations.

In our Trading business, current plans for growth include expansion of our trading structures in Africa, capitalizing on expanding scope in Southern and East Africa, as well as developing key supply mechanisms into the Middle East and North Africa.”

Edo goes tough on illegal logging, forest annexation

W

orried by the alarming rate at which forest resources are being depleted in Edo State, Governor GodwinObasekihasapprovedthe constitutionofahigh-poweredtask teammadeupoftopofficialsofthe state to halt the destruction of the forest reserves and come up with tested solutions that will preserve the public wealth.

According to Obaseki, “the integrity of the Edo’s forests has been compromised, people are tying downpublicwealth,illegallogging is rife and much of it takes place at night and the biodiversity is being destroyed.Thesepracticeshaveexposed us to harsh effects of climate change and global warming.”

The task-team headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, also has the commissioner for justice/ attorney general of the state, Yinka Omorogbe; commissioner for agriculture and natural resources, Monday Osaigbovo; commissionerforwealthcreation,cooperativesandemployment,Emmanuel Usoh; commissioner for physical planningandurbandevelopment, Edorodion Oye Erimona; Special adviser to the governor on political matters, Osaro Idah; commissioner for environment, Omoua Alonge Oni-Okpaku; commissioner for local government and community affairs, Jimoh Ijegbai, and the managing director of Edo Geographic Information Service Agency, Frank Evbuomwan.

Nigerian export gets boost with NEXIM’s N25bn loan ONYINYE NWACHUKWU, Abuja

N

igerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) has approved the disbursement of N25 billion worth of loans to support various projects in the nonoil export sector.

The bank’s Board of Directors gave the approval following review of applications under the bank’s Export Development Fund (EDF) at their meeting held on Thursday.

Beneficiaries include exporters of agricultural and value-added products, who submitted applications for stocking facilities and working capital to enable them execute their export contracts.

Abba Bello, NEXIM Bank managing director/chief executive, said these projects, which are distributed across the countr y with nation-wide impact, cut across various sectors/industries including Cocoa, Cashew, Sesame Seed, Gum Arabic and Leather products.

“It is expected that disbursement will commence immediately to maximise the benefits of the export season towards achieving the economic diversification objectives of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari under

the Economic Recover y & Growth Plan (ERGP),” Bello said According to him, the total amount approved is expected to support about 15,000 direct and indirect jobs and facilitate foreign exchange inflow of about $100million from non-oil exports, Bello said.

It would be recalled that earlier in the year, the CBN established the N50bn Export Development Fund, to be disbursed at single digit, which is currently being managed by NEXIM. Following the inauguration of the new Board in March, 2018, the Minister of Finance charged the Board to hit the ground running to ensure that the institution achieves its mandate of diversifying the foreign exchange earnings of the Nigerian economy.

NEXIM presently provides short and medium term loans to Nigerian exporters. It also provides short-term guarantees for loans granted by Nigerian Banks to exporters as well as credit insurance against political and commercial risks in the event of nonpayment by foreign buyers.

The Bank is also the government’s National Guarantor under the ECOWAS Inter-state Road Transit programme.

38 BUSINESS DAY NEWS

C002D5556

Nigeria passports now to have 10 years validity Continued from page 1

Federal Government can now en-

ter bilateral agreement with other countries for 10 years visa.

Muhammed Babandede, Comptroller-General Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), said on Thursday that this would mean less work for the service and that the people will have to pay more.

“President has approved a lot of reforms, one of the reforms is 10 years validity for the passport for adults from the age of 18 upward, this is great news for Nigerians in the diaspora, because they have been yearning for this, the national assembly has submitted it several times that the passport be 10 years like other parts of the world, the president has approved that,” Babandede said.

“I know that in the past month we had issues with shortage of the booklet, but that has been sorted out, the best solution is to produce the passport here in the country and we are doing the process, passport has to be produced in Nigeria, there will be a passport factory in Nigeria,” Babandede added.

This development is coming at a time when Nigeria through the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) is paying over N24billion to firms in Malaysia, Netherlands and South Africa for production of its international passports.

The passport booklets are cur-

rently being produced by Iris Smart Technology Nigeria (ISTL) through its parent company, Iris Corporation, based in Malaysia.

BusinessDay investigations revealed that a company in Netherlands is responsible for the biometrics and security details inserted into the passports, while a South African based firm provides the ink used for the printings done in the passports. BusinessDay’s checks show that in a year, passport offices across Nigeria issue out 1.248 million passports.

“This is a good development especially for individuals who do not travel very often and therefore only renew their passports due to expiry of validity,” Taiwo Oyedele, head, Tax and Regulatory Services, PWC, said. A more impactful reform Oyedele added would be to simplify the process of application, issuance and renewal of passports.

In particular, government should reduce the number of processes involved, limit human intervention which encourages extortion of applicants. Rather government should use technology for most of the procedures including application, payment, appointment for biometric data capture, complaint management and online tracking.

As a matter of necessity, some of the activities can be outsourced to private organisations to promote efficiency similar to what obtains for visa applications for some coun-

tries, Oyedele added.

Travellers and tourist are anticipating the new reform, as this will aid tourism in Nigeria, thereby impacting in the country’s direct investments.

Ikechi Uko, the founder of AKWAABA Travel Tourism Market told BusinessDay that he renews his passport every other year and same with many travellers and tourists.

“Luckily for me, I have a 64page passport which last longer but it still has to be renewed. I have three passports that have visa on them that have finished.

“So, the longer the passport validity, the better for everyone. Without documents, you cannot travel.

Passport booklets are not enough now and this alone is a limitation.”

Nigeria is following in the footsteps of some other countries like the Philippines, whose President Duterte in August 2017 signed into law Republic Act No. 10928 which extended the valid ity of Philippine passports from five years to 10 years.

Johnson Chukwu, managing director/CEO, Cowry Asset Management Limited told BusinessDay by phone that the development would mean more confidence as the slow process of getting a passport might reduce.

Chukwu said this give the FG opportunity to enter into bilateral agreement with other countries for 10 years visa which would help improve bilateral business.

Continues on wwwbusinessday online.com

Friday 27 July 2018

LCCI refutes FG claims of progress on 2013...

Continued from page 1

Bambo Adebowale, chairman, Auto & Allied Sector , LCCI, told BusinessDay that, “ Despite the introduction of the auto policy, we still do not manufacture vehicles and we barely assemble, with most of the finance and technology for assembling still remaining foreign.”

The National Automobile Design and Development Council (NADDC) issued over 50 auto assembly licenses for a total installed capacity of 410,000 vehicles. Yet LCCI estimates the production capacity of these assembly plants to be less than 3 percent.

Morocco has about 3 assembly plants with an installed capacity of 400,000 and is planning to raise production to 1million units by 2020 which shows a higher level of efficiency in the country.

“Although there are a number of operating assembly plants functioning, only 10,673 vehicles were assembled by the end of 2016 and fewer in 2017. Local assembly is unlikely to improve in the near future because support is unstructured or difficult, but some of the policy analysis is incomplete,” Adebowale said.

The 2013 new national automotive policy is an amended version of the previous one introduced in August 1993. Its major thrust is to encourage local manufacturing of automobiles by offering protection or incentives to potential and existing local investors.

Adebowale buttressed that the policy which was developed in 2013 could now be outdated and not in sync with economic reality today.

The policy was meant to, amongst other things; address the nation’s appetite for self-inflicted pain - spending N6.3trillion between 2010 and 2015 importing vehicles yet it is far from being off the vehicle import mania

according to Adebowale.

He said, “When the CBN announced the fiscal policy measures for the auto industry, a key point was an increase on many HS code 87.03 items. Duty on fully built cars became 70 percent (35 percent duty plus 35 percent levy) unless you operated an assembly plant - 24 hours prior, the duty was 22 percent.”

“There was however, no comprehensive plan for auto finance and no plan to ease out used cars then out-selling new cars 10:1 in fact, duty on used cars is 35 percent and I read a few weeks ago that the used car dealers were lobbying the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) for a waiver of duties on imported cars,” he explained.

According to Nigerian Ports Statistics (NPA) 2012 to 2017 report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 269,386 vehicles were imported in 2012, while 280,226 came into the country in 2013 and 247,932 in 2014. Also, in 2015, import collapsed to a mere 131,994 vehicles was reportedly received at various terminals and just 105,189 in 2016.

“Falling import numbers are no surprise. A weaker Naira, a contracted GDP, limited access to forex and the need to refocus after the recession were going to impact purchases. Unfortunately, the government has chosen not to revisit the very macroeconomics in place when the policy was drawn up and introduced in 2013 (5 years ago!),” Adebowale stressed.

He advised that in order to improve the auto policy, the FG needs to put the duty on cars back to status quo ante, but ensure that importation is only by distributors/registered dealers.

Continues on wwwbusinessday online.com

Gridlock: Osinbajo promises approval ...

Continued from page 1

sections of Oshodi-Mile2-Apapa expressway within the next two weeks, as part of urgent measures to decongest Lagos.

Osinbajo gave the promise at a stakeholders’ meeting convened at the NNS Beecroft in Apapa,

L-R: Godwin Enefiele, governor, CBN; Joseph Nnanna, deputy governor, Economic Policy, and Aisha Ahmad, deputy governor, Financial System Stability, during a press briefing on the outcome of the Monitoring Policy Committee meeting (MPC) in Abuja.

Pic by TUNDE ADENIYI.

Intrigues as Police interrogate Saraki...

Continued from page 1

“Saraki, used the opportunity to reiterate the fact that he has nothing to do with either the robbery incident on April 5, 2018, or any other criminal activity.”

Thursday’s interrogation of Saraki in his office by the Police came as a direct fall out of the Senate President’s earlier request to that effect.

Meanwhile the Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory, Dino Melaye has reportedly been kidnapped by unknown gunmen on his way to Kogi from Abuja. The development comes less than forty-eight hours after his defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Ben Murray-Bruce, who chairs the Senate Committee on Privati-

zation confirmed the lawmaker’s abduction on his Twitter handle on Thursday.

He disclosed that Melaye’s brother made the revelation to him as he was on his way from Abuja to his home state, Kogi.

“I have just been informed by Moses Melaye, @dino_melaye’s brother, that Dino has been abducted by unknown persons in a Toyota Sienna that blocked their car and overpowered them on their way to Kogi to answer to Dino’s court case. Let’s be on the watch out. Will keep you updated,” he tweeted via his Twitter handle @benmurraybruce.

It would be recalled that Melaye alongside 13 other senators defected from APC to PDP on Tuesday on the floor of the upper legislative chamber.

Responding to the second invi-

tation of the Police to appear at its station on Monday, Saraki had on Tuesday written to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to send a team of investigators to his office to carry out the investigation. The letter read: “I wish to acknowledge your letter, ref CR: 3000/IGPSEC/ABJ/VOL.,131/707, dated 23rd of July 2018.

“For the record, I should mention that received your letter at 8:30pm on Monday 23rd July, inviting me for the next day at 8am. The two lawyers whose advice I needed were in Calabar and Lagos and had to travel to Abuja today. As you are aware, the Deputy President of the Senate was unable to leave his residence this morning to preside over the senate having being prevented from doing so by security agents.

If he had been able to preside over the senate, I would have honoured your invitation”.

Continues on wwwbusinessday online.com

Thursday, to find an enduring solution to the gridlock and sundry other challenges within Apapa and its environs arising from absence of infrastructure, years of neglect, and perhaps more troubling, the continued occupation of the roads and bridges leading in and out of Apapa by thousands of petroleum tankers, containerised trucks and other articulated vehicles.

The VP’s assurance comes as Akinwunmi Ambode, the Lagos State says whatever responsibility assigned to Lagos, in the quest to resolve the crisis in Apapa will be adequately handled by the state government, just as he restated the need to decentralise port operations in the country so that shipping activities are not concentrated in Lagos alone.

Ambode said the gridlock was taking a toll on the economy of Lagos, and indeed the country, and therefore requires collaborative efforts.

This is as Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation says he will be making a case for the review of the concession agreement between the Federal Government and the port concessionaires due to the alleged failure of the terminal operators to abide by the spirit of the agreement.

Amaechi did not specify the areas of violation of the agreement by the concessionaires, but said he would be making his recommendation to this effect to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

Meanwhile, Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has accused shipping companies of continued violation of operational guidelines requiring them to have holding bays for empty containers as part of the operations, insisting this can no longer be tolerated.

The visit yesterday was the second within one week by Vice President Osinbajo having visited last Friday, during which he handed down a 72-hour ultimatum to the truck drivers to vacate the roads. This was not heeded, as the trucks are still on the roads. However, driving into Apapa via Western Avenue-Ijora was a pleasantly experience yesterday, as security personnel cleared the access road ostensibly to allow the vice president free entry and exit.

Osinbajo, who noted that the Federal Government has no excuse not to resolve the Apapa traffic debacle, and bring relief to residents and businesses which are currently suffocating, said that the federal authorities were working to secure another concessionaire that will rehabilitate the narrow gauge rail track inward the ports to facilitate the evacuation of goods including petroleum products as against Continues on wwwbusinessday online.com

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

39 NEWS

BUSINESS DAY

Promasidor secures N5.6bn from BoI loan to fund expansion HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

P

romasidor Nigeria Limited has secured a N5.6 billion credit from the Bank of Industry (BoI) to support its expansion programmes.

Per Kristensen, PNL finance director, said the facility would be used for additional machinery, factory expansion and value chain development, which would create jobs for Nigerians and increase the company’s capacity to support the country’s economy.

Disclosing this in Lagos, Kristensen said repayment of the loan was structured over a seven-year tenure, including a 12-month moratorium. He said the facility was a vote of confidence on the company’s untainted financial integrity, high credit rating and exceptional corporate governance practice.

He said: “The near single digit interest loan is guaranteed

by First City Monument Bank Limited. You cannot compare this with any other commercial loans in the country. What this means is that Promasidor has the needed funds to pursue its growth in machinery, backward integration, production plants and create more jobs.

“The loan comes with comfort because it is denominated in local currency. For the period of seven years, the only risk is the interest rate, which is minimal. We are going to repay in Naira and the process is very transparent. We are excited about the development. It will give us additional opportunity to contribute to the growth of the country’s economy.

“The business is expanding

and we need a lot of capital to support that. The injection of the BoI facility gives the management the needed stability and relief to continue to pursue the expansion plans. A lot of expansion activities are ongoing at the factory, and we will continue to see more of that in the next 24 months.”

Andrew Enahoro, Promasidor head of legal and corporate communications, said the company and BoI had shared passion and interest in supporting job creation and the economic growth of the country.

He pointed out: “BoI’s interest is to support business expansion, stimulate jobs and create social values. These are fundamental to BoI’s support for any organisation. Promasidor, on its part, has plans to expand its different plants and develop other exciting products. These will create jobs.

“If we employ additional 500 people as a result of the credit, it is just the beginning of the impact it will create.”

He added that the company would have to look at other multiplier effects of its spending and that of the employees that would come on board on the economy as well as other indirect jobs that would be created.

“Nigeria’s economy will gain. We should not forget that lower interest rate translates to lower cost of production, higher profits and more taxes.

Essentially, both Nigerians and the national economy will benefit immensely from this partnership. BoI is ready to work with us to grow the economy because it has confidence in our processes and corporate governance culture,” Enahoro said.

On learning to read Continued from back page

made nonsense of the entire intellectual culture of books.

Anyone can put together a mountain of trash and hand it over to a printer to print and they will call it a “book”. They hardly go through the rigours of editing, quality control, external referees and peer reviews. It’s a numbers’ game that most people play just to make it through the greasy pole of academe. There is a lot of trash being churned out, most of it written in poor English and with hardly any pretence to academic rigour or standards. Before you know it they all call themselves professors!

These factors have discouraged genuine authors as well as publishers and the reading public. We have become a nation of illiterates who believe only in superstition and juju. Pastors, prophets and shamans abound, but there is little or no spirituality; a dystopian anti-civilisation that worships only money and power.

We were not always like that. The great men and women who founded Nigeria were intellectual giants.

Herbert Macaulay was an engineer, architect, journal-

ist and nationalist patriot.

Nnamdi Azikiwe was a political scientist, philosopher and orator of no mean repute.

Our first Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was an educator and novelist. His novella, Shehu Umar, is one of the most deeply moving stories in Nigerian literature of the early years. Obafemi Awolowo was the greatest of them all; economist, philosopher, jurist and statesman of the highest order. He wrote and taught voluminously – a deep thinker and original thinker -- a consummate man of action. The political jobbers of today are miserable Lilliputians by comparison.

Remembering how some of us grew up, it is paradise lost. We were compulsive readers as children. This was partly because it was the only real form of entertainment in the primeval rural savannah Middle Belt missionary village where I grew up. For one thing, we had no access to television. The highest form of entertainment was the Grundig gramophone, His Master’s Voice. And there was radio where we eagerly listened to BBC World Service and Billy Graham’s bully pul-

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (3rd l); Akinwunmi Ambode (2nd l), Lagos State governor; Okon Edet (l), commander, NNS Beecroft Apapa; Hadiza Bala Usman (3rd r), managing director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Rotimi Amaechi (2nd r), minister of transportation, and rear admiral Sylvanus Abah (r), flag officer commanding Western Naval Command, during an inspection on the state of Apapa shortly after a meeting with Maritime Unions and stakeholders, yesterday.

Shoprite announces Chef Eros brand ambassador

Continued from back page

… opens 25th store in Abuja

I

A service (mostly) for...

f you want to cook like a chef, shop like a chef, according to ToluErogbogbo,betterknown asChefEros,ShopriteNigeria’s first ever brand ambassador.

This self-taught chef started selling chicken seasoned with spices to his fellow students while studying towards a BSc degree in International Business Management and has been on a culinary journey ever since.

His creativity, originality and attention to detail are what truly set Chef Eros apart. “Part of being achefisknowinghowtoentertain, that’swhyIchooseShoprite,”Chef Eros says.

Shoprite Nigeria recently opened its 25th store in Novare Central,thenewlylaunchedshopping mall in Wuse, Abuja.

Shoprite says its Wuse outlet will continue to be a destination

of choice for shoppers in Abuja.

In addition to offering consumers the lowest prices on everyday grocery items, the new store also has an extensive range of quality productsandanumberofin-store fresh food departments including a meat market, bakery and fresh fruit and vegetables.

With a total of 25 stores, Shopriteoffersconsumersaworld-class shopping experience through its corebusinesspromiseofeveryday low prices.

The supermarket chain’s extensive range includes restaurant qualityproductssuchasextra-matured Steakhouse Classic steaks, wine sourced from the top-wine producing countries around the world, freshly baked breads and so much more.

Through this new partnership with Shoprite Nigeria, Chef Eros

now aims to put Nigerian food on the world map: “Our country has much to offer in terms of tastes and variety. It’s up to us to let the rest of the world know this.”

Customers can save time by making use of the wide range of services available at the in-store kiosk, including settling monthly payments with Quickteller.

Branch manager, Musa Usman, invites the local community to visit Shoprite Wuse for a pleasant and hassle-free shopping experience.

Shoprite launched in Nigeria just a little over 10 years ago with the opening of its first store in Lagos in December 2005. The retailer is committed to supporting local enterprise, and as a result more than 80% of products sold are procured locally.

pits on Sunday afternoons.

And so during the long summer holidays we did nothing but read and read: the novels of Enid Blyton, Children of the New Forest, Tom Brown’s School Days, Camara Laye, Achebe and all manner of cheap English romantic fiction. A few daredevils delved into Lobsang Rampa, Erich von Daniken and the occult.

At the beginning of every new term in our missionary boarding school we compared notes as to how many novels and books we had devoured during vacation.

You didn’t impress anyone if you hadn’t gone the whole hog through more than three.

The same trend continued at university. The university bookstore at Ahmadu Bello University was always a beehive of activity. You could order any book of your choice from London or New York and you were guaranteed to receive it max in a fortnight. And the prices were reasonable because the exchange rate was two dollars to a naira. Ditto for the great Sir Kashim Ibrahim Library.

Supported by Ford Foundation, Sir Kashim was, in a manner of speaking, a global depository library. Opening hours from Monday to Saturday were from 8.00 am to 11pm. The reading cubicles

were quite comfortable, a home away from home. For a good number of us, the library opened and closed with us. As a 17-year old prelim student, two post-graduate students were a permanent fixture on the cubicles to my left and my right. Both looked skinny and underfed: Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, a chemist, to my left; and on my right the Marxist historian Mahmud Tukur. May Allah be merciful to their souls! When, in the course of time, I had the great good fortune to study in France and England, I felt like fish in water.

Today’s university libraries are hardly worthy of the name. The public libraries have disappeared. In the Kaduna of my teenage years, the British Council, the State, and the American Consulate libraries were well stocked and easily accessible. They have all disappeared. The National Library in Abuja exists all but in name. During our youthful days, the thought of spending an entire summer vacation without visiting a library would have been unendurable.

A major factor in the erosion of our reading culture is simple economics. Books have become expensive.

With an exchange rate of US$1:N360, buying foreign books is beyond the reach of

the middle classes, not to talk of the poor.

If I may quote the celebrated novelist Ben Okri, “Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the mind and builds castles of possibilities.” We cannot achieve greatness as a people if we are not a reading nation.

Government must therefore take bold measures to invest in a network of well-functioning public libraries while making books more accessible and more affordable to students, universities and the reading public. Agreements can be reached with foreign publishers to make books in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and other disciplines more affordable in the Nigerian market.

I have often quoted the wartime British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill who prophesied that “the empires of the future will be the empires of the mind”.

Our country is in dire need of new avant-garde leaders who will build a forward-looking knowledge society anchored on excellence, enlightenment and civilisation; a society based on democracy, the rule of law, social justice and humane values. This is the mandate of heaven itself.

own life and personal development, talking about how even now she uses the services of a Life Coach to stay on her appointed trajectory and be the best she can be.

Hadiza Bala Usman, daughter of the leftist historian and firebrand of yore – Mallam Yusufu Bala Usman, is the government appointed Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, a hard-to-tame parastatal that she seems to have been specially chosen to put to rights.

She is represented by one of her officers. In her speech she reflects on how women are good at multi-tasking, and how their contributions can be vital to the optimal performance of the organization.

There are questions and answers. There is a high degree of audience engagement.

Women, and men, in the room, have been stimulated.

At the end of it all, the brain behind the whole project, who turns out to be a man – Dr Tunde Okewale, Gynecologist, Obstetrician, Fertility Specialist, and the Chairman of WFM 91.7fm, is invited to say a few words. He is a soft spoken, self-effacing high-achiever who has built a blue-chip hospital chain – the St Ives Group, from relatively humble beginnings. He is a regular voice on WFM91.7, delivering his weekly program on women’s health.

He is obviously very committed to the social and occupational progress of the gender he has served all the years of his professional calling. He thanks the people who have spoken, and the people who have come. He reaffirms his solidarity with the cause of women’s empowerment.

The towering figure of his younger sister – Toun Okewale Sonaiya, takes the microphone from him to wrap up the proceedings, which are, of course, being carried live on their Women’s Radio.

A1 BUSINESS DAY NEWS Caverton records PBT of N1.56bn for 2018 half-year

C

averton Offshore Support Group plc (COSG), provider of marine, aviation and logistics services to local and international oil and gas companies in Nigeria, has released its unaudited half-year results for the period ended June 30, 2018.

The results show a very significant increase in the Profit-BeforeTax; Profit After-Tax; Revenue, and earnings-per-share, respectively.

TheProfit-before-taxfortheperiod is N1.56Billion, (representing a 65.95%increasewhencomparedto H1of2017),whiletheAfter-TaxProfit is N962.45million, (representing an increaseof61.87%whencompared to H1 of 2017). Revenue increased by40.64%,(supportingtheincrease in Earnings-Per-Share by about 61%), when compared to H1 2017.

Commenting on the results, Bode Makanjuola, the chief executive officer of COSG, reiterated his previous statement that “the successes recorded are as a result of the continued professionalism and support of the staff, management and directors of the Group.

As we move into the second half of 2018, we are confident that we will continuetodeliverhighqualityservicesourclientsareaccustomedto, while delivering profitable returns for our shareholders.

“In addition, COSG continues to explore other innovative solutions in support of deep and shallow water operations in both marineandaviationbusinesswhile exploringopportunitiestodiversify revenue streams.”

The group’s financial highlights include revenue for June 2018 at N14.22bn, (N10.11bn June 2017), operatingprofit,(excludingotherincome), forJune2018isN2.77bn(N1.55bnJune, 2017),EBITDAforJune2018isN3.6bn, (N2.2bnJune,2017).

Profit before tax for June, 2018 is N1.56bn, (N938.03mJune 2017), EPS for June, 2018 is 29 kobo, (18 kobo June, 2017).

Profitability ratios: Gross Margin for June, 2018 is 38% (35% June 2017), EBITDA margin for June, 2018is25.29%(21.31%June,2017), net profit margin for June, 2018 is 7% (6%, June, 2017) and EBIT/ Interest expense of 2.23x, (2.24x June, 2017) Capital Structure ratios: Net debt/EBITDAforJune,2018is4.27x (6.60x June, 2017), net debt/equityforJune,20180.95x(0.90xJune, 2017),totaldebt/totalcapitalization for June, 2018 is 50.9% (51.3% June, 2017) and asset turnover for June, 2018 is 28.7% (21.9% June, 2017).

COSG is one of Nigeria’s leading oil services companies providingsolutionsforarangeofmultinational companies across aviation and marine services. Caverton Marine Limited, one of the fastest growingindigenousshippingcompanies,commencedoperationsin 1999; while Caverton Helicopters Limited is a helicopter charter, sales and Maintenance Company established in 2002.

Both companies were consolidated to form Caverton Offshore Support Group on 2ndJune 2008.

The Group’s focus and primary business is to provide logistics and environmental support services to oil and gas fields with broader planstosupportenergyoperations alongtheWestAfricanshelf,aswell as other ancillary support services.

Caverton has a young and growingfleetofvesselsandaircrafts operatingoutofninelocations.The companyhasanimpressiveoiland gasclientbase,whichincludeShell, Total, ExxonMobil, NNPC, AMNI, and Chevron, among others.

C002D5556

Expectations as CBN leads initiatives, partnerships to ease mortgage access CHUKA UROKO

A

t both demand and supply side of the property market in Nigeria, expectations are high that the ongoing initiatives and partnerships being championed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ease access to mortgage as a preferred housing finance option will lead to increased home-ownership level.

In the last couple of years, the apex bank has fashioned initiatives and also entered into partnerships with relevant stakeholders in the mortgage industry with the aim of making mortgage loan to home seekers, especially low income earners, not only available and accessible, but also affordable through reduced rates.

Lack of access to mortgage is the reason for low homeownership level in Nigeria, which experts say is less than 5 percent of the country’s population that is well in excess of 170 million people.

Homeownership is largely funded from household income or personal savings because the near-impossible requirements for mortgage, especially the high interest rate which is no different from the rate charged on commercial loans, impede both access and affordability.

Paul Onwuanibe, CEO, Landmark Group, affirms, saying, “There are two basic problems with mortgage. One is accessibility and the second one is clarity.

When you approach a mortgage bank for loan, they will begin to ask you for things that you cannot provide in life. So, mortgage is not accessible.

“In terms of clarity, there is no unified system. There is nowhere government has published a mortgage rate which the mortgage banks have to buy into or a mortgage standard or process which the banks have to fit into.

So, it is obvious that there is no clarity in the mortgage system here.”

But with initiatives such as the mortgage guarantee programme (MGP), Nigeria Housing Finance Programme (NHFP) and the Model Mortgage and Foreclosure Law (MMFL), it is expected that access to mortgage will increase and, with that, the housing market will grow.

Besides these initiatives, the CBN is partnering with the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), which spearheaded the drafting of a MMFL, Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria (MBAN) and other strategic partners to address all issues that hamper access to mortgage,

especially land administration processes.

The MMFL is designed to make delinquency in mortgage repayment unattractive to mortgagors and reduce losses from mortgage loans. It is expected to create a more attractive and vibrant environment, thereby attracting investors providing long term, low cost and more available capital to the market.

The MGP is mortgage given to a borrower by a lender where an identified third party will take responsibility for the loan if the borrower defaults. “A quality mortgage guarantee programme is used to provide credit loss protection to lenders in case of borrower default,” explained Tokunbo Martins, director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department (OFISD), CBN, who spoke at a forum in Abuja.

Part of the benefits of the mortgage guarantee products is that they incentivise lenders to accept loans with lower downpayments, thus increasing affordability and the implication is that borrowers who, ordinarily, would not have qualified for mortgage loan by reason of their low income, can now obtain loans which enhances their affordability.

Friday 27 July 2018

Reps begin probe of $21bn debts owed indigenous firms, revenue leakages KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja

M

inister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, and CEOs of all oil companies operating in Nigeria are expected to appear before an Ad-hoc Committee investigating the huge debts owed indigenous companies by international oil companies (IOCs) over loss of $21 billion.

Daniel Reyenieju, chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee who gave update on the workings of the committee at the National Assembly, expressed concerns over the failure of relevant regulatory agencies to take necessary actions toward recovering the debts from the OICs. Reyenieju noted that the Adhoc Committee was mandated to investigate two resolutions of the House, on January 18 and 25, 2018, respectively.

“The Ad-hoc Committee is to investigate the operations of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contractors Act (PSC) as it concerns the NNPC and IOCs, towards determining the reasons for the loss of $21 billion; enquire why appropriate steps were not taken, promptly and over an inordinately long period, to remedy the situation, which led to the loss and possibly recover the revenue lost.

“Accordingly, the House requires the minister of state for petroleum resources to provide it with details of financial transactions between the NPC and IOCs during the period.

“Review the PSC, the Joint Operating Agreement and other relevant agreements,

with a view to regularising all the anomalies that might have led to the loss of revenue. Investigate the huge debts being owed local companies and indigenous contractors by international oil and gas companies with a view to ensuring that such debts are recovered and paid promptly.

“In addition, the House on Thursday, 19th July, 2018 mandated the Ad-hoc Committee to further investigate the processes of Marginal Oil Fields acquisition; the financial proceeds from successful bids, remittance and non-remittance of revenues by the licensed operators into the Federation Account; the operations of licensed marginal fields operators; and the strategic alliance agreements between IOCs, investors and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company in the operations of divested oil and gas interest and marginal fields,” Reyenieju said.

To this end, the Ad-hoc Committee beckoned on all IOCs, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the NNPC to furnish the House with records and all related documents in respect of the processes that transpired in the acquisition of marginal oil fields and the financial proceeds from the bids; details of operations of licensed marginal fields operators, the status of the strategic alliance with investors and local companies being owed, to furnish the committee with details of their respective transactions or contracts.

MTN, Microsoft partner to create scalable opportunities for SMEs DANIEL OBI

M L-R: Tope Dare, executive director, Inlaks; Adesemoye Adedeji, deputy director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision (OFIS) Department, Central Bank of Nigeria; Ondrej Valent, senior sales manager, Financial Services EMEA, HID; Nehal Batavia, head of sales, Microfinance and Saas (Africa), Temenos, and Kingsley Oseghale, general manager, enterprise business, Inlaks, at the Banking in Digital Forum organised by Inlaks, Temenos and HID, in Lagos.

SON raises alarm over influx of substandard lubricants in Nigerian market EMMANUEL NDUKUBA, Awka

S

tandards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) says about 64 percent of lubricant products imported into the Nigerian market were below the approved standards.

The standards agency raised the alarm at a day Sensitisation Workshop on Reduction of Substandard Engine Lubricant in the Market held in Awka, the Anambra State capital, Thursday.

The theme of the workshop is ‘Imbibing Quality Culture in made in Nigeria Product.’

Gabriel Abah, desk officer, base oil and lubricants at SON, said statistics showed that 30 percent of these substandard products found their way into the country’s lubricant market.

Abah said market intelligence from across the country portrayed an adulteration dimension of epidemic proportion.

In the local scene, guest

speaker who addressed the “Dangers of Manufacturing, Dealing, Using Substandard Lubricants, said adulterators put additives condemned oil while other just import base oil and bottle directly.

He said SON was doing everything possible to protect the lubricant sub-sector, which contributed about 8 percent to Gross Domestic Product in 2017.

He recommended increase of import duty on lubricants from 10 to 30 percent and reduction of same on base oil, a major input in production of lubricant as possible solution.

“Some of the consequences of substandard lubricants include, loss of integrity, low return on investment, facility loss, knocking of engines, low engine performance, low fuel economy and environmental pollution.

“Concerned efforts and collective resolve from both public, private institutions, sectoral stakeholders in enforcing compliance with codes of practices

would constitute formidable arsenal fight the menace,” he said.

In his keynote address, Osita Aboloma, director-general of SON, said the organisation had been mounting campaign against the influx of substandard products into the country.

Aboloma said the workshop in Anambra was in view of the relevant role its residents play in contributing to the economy of Nigeria in manufacturing, importation and market for engine lubricants.

The DG, who was represented by David Obi, Enugu regional coordinator, said as the world’s large importer of generators, industrial and vehicle lubes, the market for lubricants in Nigeria was high.

“The purpose of this workshop is to reduce the influx of substandard and adulterated lubricants in Nigerian by creating awareness amongst stakeholders and letting them know the consequences of involving”.

TN Nigeria and Microsoft Nigeria have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the creation of sustainable and scalable initiatives aimed at driving growth within the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment of the Enterprise Business in Nigeria.

The partnership will leverage Microsoft’s technologies and MTN’s innovative expertise to create strong value propositions for the SMEs segment. These propositions will speak to the needs of SMEs around capability development, access to markets and business networks across Africa, and address some of their challenges through the creation of innovative solutions.

The MoU signing ceremony, according to a statement, which took place recently in Microsoft’s office in Lagos, had top executives from both Microsoft and MTN in attendance.

Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, general manager, enterprise marketing, MTN, according to the statement, expressed the company’s unwavering commitment to the success of businesses, be they SMEs, Large Enterprises or in the Public sector.

Recognising the significant contributions of SMEs

to the country’s economy, Ikenna-Emeka conveyed MTN’s strategic position of collaborating with SMEs to create bespoke solutions specially designed to help grow and sustain other SMEs in the country.

Speaking further on MTN’s support of SMEs in Nigeria, Ikenna-Emeka said, “We launched the MTN Man-InThe-Box Initiative to further demonstrate our commitment to the development of businesses and ensure their sustained business growth.”

She stated that the initiative was designed to create and sustain awareness for MTN’s Enterprise Business and its focus to provide and facilitate access to technology, new markets, information and finance for SMEs. In his remark, Akin Banuso, country general manager, Microsoft Nigeria, stated: “Our approach at Microsoft has been one of empowerment and collaboration. We work with SMEs and as we learn from them, this makes us poised to provide tailormade solutions to the challenges they face on a daily basis.

“We are excited about this partnership and looking forward to provide support to the SMEs through the Microsoft 4Afrika initiative.

This means that we are able to empower them to digitally transform their businesses and be more productive and competitive.”

A2 BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

NEWS

Land Use Act, finance, quackery hurting Nigeria’s housing sector ODINAKA ANUDU

N

igeria’s capacity to deliver housing to its 198 million people is hampered by an obsolete Land Use Act, high cost of funding and quackery among housing sector players, experts say.

The Land Use Act of 1978 vested land ownership in the hands of state governments, which dictate the use and allotment of titles. Experts say this Act is hampering investments in many states and is increasingly creating a lot of ownership crises, making it counterproductive.

“We should bur y this Act and make sure it does not resurrect,” Mustapha Njie, chairman/CEO of TAF Holding Company, said at the July Breakfast Meeting of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce in Lagos.

“If I buy a property, the time and cost it takes to perfect my title will be so much. I stand the risk of losing my property, especially here in Lagos where there is multiple selling,” Njie, who was represented by Lucky Kawekwune, said.

According to him, many players in the Nigeria’s built sector are quacks, stating that they often compromise the integrity of buildings.

“If someone cannot do a staircase, what then hap-

pens to other areas? We often times have to put in our quality assurance team to do ‘snagging’,” he stated.

He suggested that government should be more involved in building mass housing, ensure people are not compelled to pay for houses at once and provide long-term loans.

“We must stop this ‘cash and carry mentality’ in the housing sector,” he added.

Nigeria has a population growing at 2.6 percent annually, with an increasing need for shelter, but houses are expensive especially in urban areas. It is estimated that the country has 17 million housing gap, even though experts believe it is over 20 million. Funds for mortgages are limited and often attract 20 to 35 percent interest rate annually, which scares investors and people willing to build.

“It is regrettable that despite great policies, institutions and regulations which various governments have put in place since Independence, the task of instituting efficient, effective, affordable and sustainable housing delivery processes continues to challenge policy makers even as the problems of the housing sector worsens,” Oluwatoyin Akomolafe, national president, Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce.

“The challenge of gov-

ernment residential layouts, including that developed by the corporations, is a general lack of infrastr uctural facilities like roads, drains, electricity, and water, among others.

The absence of infrastruct u ra l f a c i l i t i e s i n t h e s e layouts has in no small measure compounded the problem of housing shortages in the nation,” Akomolafe said.

According to Demola Adetola, CEO of Demola Adetola & Co, there is a need for the government to provide good infrastructure to reduce the expenditure housing developers bear.

“We need to look in wardly. Eighty percent of construction materials are often imported. The exchange rate is high and the cost of housing is consequently high,” Adetola said.

However, Gbolahan Lawal, commissioner for h o u s i n g i n L a g o s, s a i d there is a need to do thorough research before buying land anywhere.

“If you want to buy land, you have to do a lot of investigations and research.

We should not depend on what we hear but rather on documents,” Lawal, who was represented by Babatunde Oyekpola, director at the Ministry of Housing, said.

Obaseki accuses BEDC of frustrating power purchase deal for Edo, decries poor service, over-billing

E

do State governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Thursday accused the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) of frustrating a power deal with Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure Company Limited, to supply electricity to government offices in the state capital.

Obaseki who disclosed this at the fourth National Council on Power event, holding in the state, decried the poor supply of electricity to the state, the company’s resolve not to supply pre-paid meters to electricity consumers and its culture of over-billing its clients.

According to the governor, BEDC in the last 12 months has been writing petitions against the deal sealed between Edo State Government and Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure Company Limited, for the purchase of five megawatts of electricity to light up government offices in Benin City, and stressed that the petitions have hindered the success of the purchase agreement.

He explained that no community in the state enjoys more than eight hours of electricity supply daily despite her status as the power hub of the country.

“195 communities have never seen electricity as BEDC is not ready to extend electricity to these communities. 128 communities have issues of collapse of infrastructure, which BEDC is not prepared to fix. 219 transformers purchasedbythestategovernment and the former Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) as

replacements for faulty transformersareyettobeinstalledbyBEDC,” Obaseki said.

He informed that the electricity distribution company has continued to deliver poor services to Edo people and maintained that evidence abound of deliberate attempt on the part of BEDC not to sell or distribute meters to customers.

Headdedthatasagovernment “we have extended our cooperation to resolve some of these problems, but the company has remained uncooperative.

“The people are over-billed withtheestimatedbillingsystemof BEDC. We lost a student due to the negligenceofBEDC,forrefusingto fix a pole that was knocked down afterreceivingmoneytofixit.Ihave instructed the Attorney General of Edo State to file charges of criminal negligenceagainsttheseniormanagement of BEDC,” he said.

Earlier, the Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Louis Edozien, expressed his appreciation to the people of Edo State for the hospitality extended to the power conference participants.

HelaudedObaseki’sapproach to governance as attested to by Edo people and residents, and explained that the country currently produces 7,000mw of electricity, but regretted that it is only able to distribute 5,000mw, leaving the country with unused 2,000mw, due to transmission challenges.

Ikeja gets Dreamworks’ new tech store

D

reamworks Integrated Systems, a retailer and distributor of laptops, smart phones, accessories and a wide range of office, home, and kitchen appliances, recently opened another tech shop at Ikeja, the Lagos State capital.

The new tech shop, which hostsvariousbrandslikeHP,Lenovo, Apple, Infinix, Tecno, Binatone, LG, and many more, is located at D’Podium Events Centre, 31B Aromire Street, off Adeniyi Jones.

Keeping to our commitment of going the extra mile for our valuable customers, the new tech shop brings Dreamworks’ number of storesinIkejatotwoandfourstores in Lagos.

According to Franklin Okere, business manager, “By intensely focusing on consumer expectations both in store and online, we decided to open this store in Ikeja.

“In addition, we improved our website for seamless e-commerce as well as a portal for our esteemed distributors and interested partners. These initiatives ensure we are always accessible to our growing customers.

“We are well positioned to dominate the brick-and-mortar space while also offering a range of alternative choices and affordable pricesthatconsumersexpectfrom us. We have also strengthened the after sales service team to better leverage on our expertise in stores and one-on-one calls to help customers understand, install and betterusethevastnumbersoftech products we offer.”

Friday 27 July 2018

FT

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

A3

FINANCIAL TIMES WeWork China unit value jumps fivefold to $5bn after $500m round

Imran Khan declares victory in historic Pakistan election

Page A5

Page A4

World Business Newspaper

China’s suffocation of QualcommNXP merger signals new era Rebuff to US semiconductor company seen as collateral damage of trade tension Tom Mitchell, Tim Bradshaw & Don Weinland

I

n late May, a team of Qualcomm lawyers arrived in Beijing to seal a deal with Chinese competition regulators, optimistic that they would soon clear the last hurdle in the US semiconductor company’s proposed $44bn acquisition of the Dutch-owned NXP. “All the technical issues had been resolved,” said one person briefed on Qualcomm’s discussions in Beijing. “From Qualcomm’s perspective everything that needed to be done was done.”

But three days later Donald Trump dropped a bombshell. Despite earlier assertions

by Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese vicepremier Liu He that the world’s two largest economies would step back from the brink of a trade war, the US president announced that his administration would proceed with punitive tariffs on $50bn worth of Chinese exports.

“The regulators started to say things along the lines of ‘your president embarrassed Liu He’, ‘he offended the Chinese people’, and all that,” said the person briefed on Qualcomm’s interactions.

At midnight on Wednesday New York time, the San Diegobased company bowed to the inevitable. With Chinese clearance still pending, Qualcomm announced it would not proceed with the NXP deal. “We obviously got caught up in something that was above us,” said Steve Mollenkopf, chief executive, hours before his company’s deadline for the transaction.

The Chinese government’s decision to let the clock run out has not only killed what would have been a transformative deal for Qualcomm — it also threatens to change the mergers and acquisitions landscape for US technology companies.

National antitrust regulators around the world are able to review M&A transactions if those

companies have significant businesses in the country, but only in recent years has China exercised that right.

Since July 6, when the US imposed a first tranche of tariffs on imports from China worth $34bn a year, the US president has reiterated his intention to assess punitive tariffs on all Chinese exports to America — worth more than $500bn last year. In the event of total trade war, China, which could not respond in kind as it does not import nearly as much from the US, would have to consider other forms of retaliation. Playing the regulatory spoiler in large, strategic US deals such as Qualcomm’s is one option.

Steven Mnuchin, US Treasury secretary, told CNBC on Thursday that he did not know why China refused to clear the deal, saying it was “unfortunate” for Qualcomm.

“I’m very disappointed that they didn’t get regulatory approval. I specifically had conversations…We’re just looking for US companies to be treated fairly.”

China’s refusal to approve the deal puts a “big red light on any big M&A in the semiconductor industry in the short term”, said Geoff Blaber, an analyst at CCS Insight. “The stakes in technology are obviously very very high, particularly given that semiconductors are a huge strategic priority for China,” he added.

“That, combined with . . . the whole trade war, really means Qualcomm has become an unfortunate victim of the broader climate.”

More than $200bn worth of M&A deals were announced in the semiconductor industry in 2015 and 2016, including Qualcomm and NXP’s, as smaller chipmakers sought the safety of scale, larger players diversified amid slowdowns in the PC and smartphone sectors, and all tried to position themselves for the advent of 5G, the nextgeneration wireless technology that will begin to be rolled out this year.

Interval funds boom as investors eye fire-sale risk A niche investment vehicle is growing in popularity as the Federal Reserve raises rates Alexandra Scaggs & Joe Rennison

A

s the US markets face increasing headwinds and the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, a type of fund designed to offer investors protection against a fire-sale is growing in

popularity.

Interval funds, which were pioneered in the 1990s, have increased their assets by 50 per cent to $25bn over the past year, according to Interval Fund Tracker. Unlike mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, inContinues on page A4

Efforts by Chinese vice-premier Liu He, left, and US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin to broker a detente on a possible trade war were in vain

Germany welcomes ‘breakthrough’ US-EU trade accord France seeks clarification and warns on environmental and food standards Jim Brunsden & Guy Chazan

E

uropean capitals have welcomed the agreement reached by the US and the EU on defusing trade tensions, with Berlin hailing it as a “breakthrough”.

However, Paris was more cautious, saying it was seeking “clarifications” on what the pact entailed and that European standards on food and the environment must be safeguarded.

There was huge relief in Germany, where concern had been mounting over the potential damage vehicle tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump might inflict on its car industry. Peter Altmaier, Germany’s economy minister, said the accord was a breakthrough that “can avoid trade war and save millions of jobs”.

“We have never been so close

to a deal between the EU and the US,” he told German TV. “If we manage to reduce industrial tariffs to zero per cent, German industry can only gain from that.”

Under the agreement, reached on Wednesday after talks between Mr Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, the EU and US proclaimed a “new phase” in relations. The two sides said they had agreed to work together to try to eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers related to all industrial goods other than cars and to reform the World Trade Organization.

They also agreed to put on hold any new tariffs, including duties Mr Trump had threatened to impose on vehicle imports, while discussions proceeded. The EU, meanwhile, agreed to boost imports of US liquefied natural gas and soyabeans.

Angela Merkel, German chancellor, said through her spokeswoman that she welcomed the deal and that the commission could “count on our continuing support” in its trade negotiations with the US. Dieter Kempf, head of the BDI, the main German business lobby group, said the agreement “sends out an important signal for the easing of tensions” between the EU and US. “The tariff spiral in transatlantic trade seems to have been stopped,” he said.

Heiko Maas, German foreign minister, said Europe had proved “it will not allow itself to be divided . . . And we saw that when the EU stands united, our words carry weight.”

Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, said it was “very important” that the EU and US co-operated on trade and did not “oppose each other”.

Insead suspends MBA welcome week after initiation complaints Two students at French business school complain about being tricked into humiliating acts Jonathan Moules

F

rench business school Insead has suspended its MBA welcome week for the first time in the event’s 35-year history after two students complained to authorities about being tricked into taking part in humiliating initiation ceremonies.

An investigation has been launched by the Comité National Contre le Bizutage (the French National Committee Against Hazing) together with the ministry of education, although the details of the complaints have not been made public.

The probe has raised concerns at Insead that the school’s academic accreditation, which is up for renewal, could be jeop-

ardised.

So-called hazing is a longstanding a tradition on US campuses, where it increasingly involves dangerous or anti-social behaviour and has raised concerns over bullying and harassment.

The humiliation of new students arriving on the Fontainebleau campus near Paris has long been a feature of welcome week, introduced as a part of student induction with the first dual intake of MBA classes in 1983. The original idea was to puncture the inflated egos of new arrivals who were joining one of the most elite postgraduate business schools in the world.

A common ruse is tricking new students to join a fake sports club, from which they are threat-

ened with expulsion if they do not participate in extreme challenges.

Reshma Sohoni, who graduated in 2003 before going on to co-found early stage start-up fund Seedcamp, recalls students being put through a 24-hour exercise session to join an adventure club that turned out not to exist.

“There are always one or two people who get upset about being humiliated but I think it builds character.” she said. “It is about not taking yourself too seriously.”

Another student, who declined to be named, recalled a timed trial in which participants were told to run “until you puke your guts up” by the club captain.

A4

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

NATIONAL NEWS

FT Interval funds boom as investors eye...

ECB keeps interest rate and QE policy on hold

Continued from page A3 terval funds only allow investors to pull their money on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Although they remain niche, US regulators have received 14 registrations for new funds this year, already exceeding last year’s total. For financial advisers steering their clients towards such funds, the sales pitch is that a smart money manager will not be forced to sell assets at potentially knockdown prices if there is a crash and investors will be shielded from the daily fluctuations of public markets.

“When equity markets are up for so long, people start looking around, saying ‘this has been a great ride, but maybe we should be thinking about diversification, because it’s not going to go up forever,” said Nicole Simon, an attorney with Stradley Ronon.

“But it may be for investors who are slightly more sophisticated, because they need to be fine with not getting their money out at a single day’s notice.”

February’s burst of volatility in US stocks and losses in the investment grade corporate bond market have driven the appeal of interval funds, as has the steady series of rate rises from the Federal Reserve.

That, in turn, has prompted investors to pour money into leveraged corporate loans, which pay a floating rate of interest and help minimise the effect of the Fed’s interest-rate increases. Of the 52 active interval funds today,16 invest in loans, more than any other asset class, according to Interval Fund Tracker.

Loans are a good fit for interval funds because they trade primarily over the counter, fund managers say, and according to data from the Loan Syndications and Trading Association from earlier this year, the average syndicated leveraged-loan trade took 21 days to complete.

Exchange traded funds and mutual funds generally have to honour investor redemptions within three days at most.

Investors can buy leveraged loans using mutual funds and exchange-traded funds for lower fees, but analysts say interval funds have benefited from the rising popularity of leveraged loans among retail investors. Leveraged loan funds that market to retail investors purchased nearly one quarter of the $274bn new loans issued in the first half of 2018.

Indeed, the asset class has been a rare bright spot for fund managers: while investors have withdrawn nearly $18bn from intermediate- and long-term corporate bond funds in 2018, leveraged loan funds have attracted $8.6bn through July 18, according to EPFR. The largest leveraged-loan ETF is run by Invesco, and manages $7.9bn of assets for an annual expense ratio of just 0.65 per cent. But many of those funds do not offer in-kind redemption, and instead only offer cash, which means they need to raise cash when faced with redemptions.

Friday 27 July 2018

Draghi delivers confident assessment of the eurozone recovery Claire Jones

T

Imran Khan makes an address on Pakistan TV after declaring victory in elections © AP

Imran Khan declares victory in historic Pakistan election Former cricketer pledges to remake country with less inequality and stronger state Kiran Stacey & Farhan Bokhari

I

mran Khan has claimed victory in Pakistan’s general election, a historic win that upends decades of dominance by the country’s two most-established political dynasties.

The former cricket captain on Thursday looked set to become prime minister within days following 24 hours of vote counting that put his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party ahead in more than 110 seats — within touching distance of an unexpected majority.

In doing so, he beat the incumbent Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz, led by Shehbaz Sharif, brother of the jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, as well as the Pakistan People’s Party, headed

by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

But he faces the possibility of an immediate legal challenge following an election that his opponents say was marred by widespread manipulation by the country’s powerful security services on his behalf.

In a televised speech, Mr Khan promised to remake Pakistan as an “ideal state”, saying he would reduce inequality and strengthen state institutions.

“I have been given an opportunity to finally implement my manifesto which I have carried for 22 years since I entered politics,” he said.

“I entered politics because I believed that the potential of our country has been lost over the years. I want to make Pakistan an ideal state in line with the vision of Mr Jinnah,” he added, referring to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the country’s founder.

Mr Khan set up the PTI in 1996, four years after retiring from international cricket, on a platform of eradicating what he said was endemic corruption within Pakistani elites.

He looked set to take power in 2013 after a campaign that saw him greeted by crowds of tens of thousands of people. But his electrifying campaign on that occasion was followed by a disappointing thirdplace finish, which analysts said reflected the difficulties of breaking through in Pakistani politics, where votes are often decided by long-

held family and tribal loyalties.

His victory this time comes weeks after his long-time opponent Nawaz Sharif was jailed on corruption charges initially brought to the courts by Mr Khan himself. But opponents also claim it was boosted by support from the army — something he and the army deny.

Listen: Imran Khan’s challenges as Pakistan’s prime minister Both the PML-N and the PPP, as well as three smaller parties, have said their election agents were kept out of some polling booths during the count. They have also alleged their candidates were harassed during the campaign in an effort to make them switch allegiances to Mr Khan’s party.

Shehbaz Sharif rejected the results on Thursday, saying there had been “massive rigging” of the polls.

He said his party would decide how to challenge the outcome in the coming days.

Mr Khan denied Mr Sharif’s accusation, calling the election “the most transparent and cleanest in Pakistan’s history”. He added that his government would help investigate any specific claims of malpractice.

Cost impact of tariffs laid bare in corporate earnings From toys to tools and trucks, manufacturers tweak supply chains and plan price rises Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson

D

onald Trump’s multifront trade battles are prompting warnings from some of the largest US companies that higher tariffs will squeeze their profit margins, force them to pass on the pain to suppliers and push prices up for consumers.

An analysis of executives’ comments since the start of the second quarter reporting season shows that most US companies see little immediate impact from the trade actions announced by the Trump administration, most of which have yet to take effect, but makers of toys, tools and trucks have begun to take steps to respond.

“This is a very dynamic situation that changes by the day . . . and we’re giving it substantial focus,”

Honeywell chairman and chief executive Greg Lewis told analysts. With inflation accelerating in transportation, logistics and metals, the industrial conglomerate was adjusting its pricing “as necessary”, he said, and had begun evaluating “more structural solutions” to weather the tariffs over the longer term, including finding new suppliers.

“I think it’s going to be one of those things that goes through into consumer pricing,” cautioned James Quincey, chief executive of Coca-Cola, after the soft drinks group increased prices in response to increases in an array of costs, from freight to the metal used in Coke cans.

Whirlpool also told investors it had raised its pricing in response to the “significant headwind” of steel and aluminium tariffs pushing up the cost of raw materials for

its washing machines, and companies from Danaher to United Technologies said they were eyeing similar price increases.

Stanley Black & Decker said higher prices had so far helped the tool maker fend off the effect of tariffs and unfavourable currency movements, but executives said they may still have to make changes to its supply chain should higher tariffs stay in place for the long term.

Companies from 3M to General Electric expressed confidence in their ability to change their sourcing if needed, citing their diversified global supply chains.

“Sometimes the hardest part is figuring out what the rules are. But once it’s communicated, we can adapt pretty quickly,” said Scott Roe, chief financial officer of VF, the owner of clothing brands from Vans to The North Face.

he European Central Bank has kept interest rates on hold and confirmed plans to halt bond purchases in December.

The bank’s governing council opted to leave the main refinancing rate at zero at one of its regular meetings in Frankfurt on Thursday morning. The 25 rate-setters also said the levy charged on a portion of private lenders’ deposits parked at central banks around the region would remain at 0.4 per cent.

ECB policymakers reiterated that they expected to keep rates on hold at record low levels “at least through the summer of 2019”. The ECB would also continue to reinvest the proceeds of securities bought under its €2.5tn quantitative easing programme but which have now matured “for an extended period of time” after the bank stops expanding QE at the end this year.

Markets barely reacted to the ECB decision that matched the expectations of most economists.

The euro remained broadly flat against the dollar, hovering around $1.17, down just over 0.3 per cent on the day as Mr Draghi wrapped up the press conference.

The meeting is the first since last month when the ECB moved to end quantitative easing by halving the amount of new bonds it buys each month from €30bn to €15bn in September before ending the purchases in December.

The move to wind up the bondbuying programme comes at a time when the eurozone is in the throes of an economic slowdown after a bumper 2017. Growth fell from 0.7 per cent in the final quarter of last year to 0.4 per cent in the opening three months of 2018.

A closely watched poll of purchasing managers for July indicated the economy was set to remain sluggish in the third quarter — though growth is unlikely to be weak enough for policymakers to change tack and announce plans to restart asset purchases.

Mr Draghi delivered a confident assessment of the recovery of the eurozone on Thursday. “While uncertainties, notably related to the global trade environment, remain prominent, the information available since our last monetary policy meeting indicates that the euro area economy is proceeding along a solid and broad-based growth path,” he said.

He also sought to clear up confusion over how committed the ECB was to low rates after doubts emerged following the June meeting. At the time, the council said rates would remain on hold at least “through the summer” of next year, which had led investors to change their bets on when the ECB would raise rates from around the middle to the end of 2019.

But the day after that meeting, the official translation from the English text agreed by the council was changed in several languages — including French and Spanish — to imply there was still a possibility of a rate rise as early as June 2019.

Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

FINANCIAL TIMES

A5

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

WeWork China unit value jumps fivefold to $5bn after $500m round Office space provider draws new backing from SoftBank, its Vision Fund and Temasek

Eric Platt

J

apan’s SoftBank, its Saudibacked Vision Fund and the Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek are ploughing money into a WeWork subsidiary in China, lifting its value fivefold to $5bn.

The $500m investment round also drew the backing of private equity firms Trustbridge Partners and Hony Capital, according to people with knowledge of the deal.

A year ago a similar $500m funding round, led by SoftBank and Hony Capital valued the China subsidiary at $1bn.

The shared office space provider has become a giant in the global property market, buying or leasing iconic buildings including the Lord & Taylor department store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and One Poultry in the City of London. It is also seeking to lease the centuryold Flatiron Building in New York.

“This investment will help WeWork fuel our mission to support creators, small businesses and large companies across China,” said WeWork co-founder and chief executive Adam Neumann.

The company’s rapid growth has propelled it to a $20bn valuation, and a long-mooted fundraising backed by the Vision Fund could lift it further to $35bn, an executive of one major investor has said. If it is able to clinch a valuation that high, the company would rank among the most valuable US startups, surpassing other privately held groups such as Airbnb and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The Chinese subsidiary has been seen by its backers as the next area of growth for WeWork as its business in the US matures.

WeWork will continue to own the majority of the Chinese division, where it already counts technology companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Didi as tenants.

WeWork is expected to use the money to expand its real estate portfolio within the three major Chinese cities in which it already operates, as well as open new co-working spaces in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, two people with knowledge of the plans said.

“Adam Neumann’s vision has always been for WeWork to be a global company with a local playbook, and nowhere is that more clear than in China,” said Ronald Fisher, the vice-chairman of SoftBank. “WeWork has demonstrated that it understands what businesses in China need to succeed.”

WeWork typically signs longterm leases on buildings, renovates them with modern art and coffee bars, then rents out the space to freelancers or large companies.

The company’s fundraising spree has captivated investors. In April the parent company raised $702m by tapping US corporate debt market for the first time.

But its losses have raised concerns. The group reported a net loss of $884m last year on sales of $886m, according to documents previously obtained by the Financial Times. Bondholders have said they anticipate the company will need further capital injections to fund its expansion.

Mystery banker’s wife challenges UK unexplained wealth order She spent £150,000 on jewellery in Harrods in a single day, court hears Barney Thompson

A

mystery banker’s wife who is facing action by the UK National Crime Agency spent more than £150,000 on jewellery in Harrods in a single day as part of a lifestyle that involved luxury property, fine wines and a private jet, a court has heard.

Details of the spending came on the last day of the London High Court hearing in which the wife of a “fat cat international banker” challenged an NCA demand to explain how she was able to afford two British properties worth a combined £22m.

The NCA alleges that the woman, who can only be identified as Mrs A, bought the properties using funds embezzled by her husband when he was employed at a state bank in their home country. The country, located outside the European Economic Area, also cannot be

identified.

The case relates to the first unexplained wealth order, or UWO, issued in February by the NCA against Mrs A. UWOs are a new measure requiring the owners of assets worth £50,000 or more to explain how they were able to afford them when their declared income seems to be too low.

As well as targeting those suspected of serious criminal activity in the UK and abroad, UWOs can also be issued against “politically exposed persons” such as politicians or civil servants, plus their family members or other people close to them, provided they are not citizens of EEA states.

The NCA is treating Mr and Mrs A as politically exposed persons in this case.

Mrs A is applying to have the UWOs dismissed, saying her husband was not a state employee carrying out public functions and that his wealth came from his legitimate work as a commercial banker.

Adam Neumann, co-founder and chief executive of WeWork

Facebook shares open 20% lower after growth warning Two ‘bombshells’ wipe $120bn off market cap of one of Wall Street’s biggest companies Mamta Badkar & Chloe Cornish

F

acebook shares dropped 20 per cent at Thursday’s open after the socialnetworking site shocked investors by warning of lowerthan-expected growth, triggering a reassessment of the prospects of the tech giant after a series of controversies.

The plunge reduced Facebook’s market capitalisation by $120bn — one of the biggest one-day falls in the value of a company. It came after the tech giant unveiled disappointing quarterly results on Wednesday and finance chief David Wehner warned of a slowdown in sales growth in the second half of this year.

“Facebook dropped two ‘bombshells’ on the secondquarter earnings call, a significant slowdown in revenue growth for the third and fourth quarters, followed by operating margin

declines over the next three-plus years,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Baird.

Facebook shares had been on a tear before Thursday amid a sharp rally across the technology sector. Even after Thursday’s fall, the shares are still up 8.5 per cent over the past 12 months.

Thursday’s drop dragged on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index, leaving it down 0.86 per cent on the day. Other members in the so-called Faangs group — Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (part of Alphabet) — were also under pressure.

Amazon, which will report its results after the market closes on Thursday, slipped 1.4 per cent, while Netflix dropped 1.3 per cent. Alphabet posted a slimmer decline of 0.2 per cent.

Facebook’s shares took a pounding in March, when the company became embroiled in the Cambridge Analytica controversy, resulting in chief executive Mark Zuckerberg facing ques-

tions from lawmakers, from the US Congress to the European Parliament. Yet Facebook stock recovered and climbed to new highs, hitting $218 last week.

Wesley Lebeau, a Paris-based investor at CPR Asset Management who manages its techfocused disruption fund, argued that Facebook was a relatively undervalued stock, with an enterprise value to earnings multiple below the tech sector average.

However, he said: “If Facebook is the only one [of the Faangs] who misses out on earnings, then you could start to see it underperform its book.”

Facebook and the other Faang stocks had been one of the most popular trades with investors this year, helping to boost the S&P 500 index to an all-time high in January. The S&P’s information technology sector has been the index’s best performer this year, rising 18 per cent — far ahead of the wider index, which is up 6.5 per cent on the year.

Spotify gains 8m paid subscribers aided by Latin America growth Music streaming service hits 83m paying customers despite pressure in US from Apple Anna Nicolaou

S

potify is still adding customers at a fast pace, boosted by growth in Latin America, as it battles with Apple for command of music streaming across the globe.

Promotions helped Spotify add 8m paying subscribers in the three months to the end of June, the company reported in its second earnings filing since debuting on the stock market in April.

This was on the high end of Spotify’s guidance and met Wall Street’s expectations, lifting shares more than 1 per cent in early trading on Thursday.

Spotify’s stock has climbed 26 per cent since listing on the New York Stock Exchange, as investors express optimism about a budding recovery in the music business and a potentially huge pool of new customers in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

However in the US, where more people use iPhones, Apple has been catching up with Spotify — adding pressure on the company to find subscribers in new countries. Spotify confirmed on Thursday that growth in Latin America and the “rest of the world” had outpaced its “more established markets”.

Spotify reported 83m paid subscribers for the three months ending in June, up from 75m last quarter. Total monthly users jumped 30 per cent to 180m in the quarter.

Spotify pays the majority of its revenues back out in royalties to the big music companies and does not make a profit, opting instead to focus on adding subscribers. The company posted an operating loss of €90m on sales of €1.27bn, in line with analyst estimates.

One roadblock in its quest for growth outside its historic markets

is that Spotify does not own its content, and must negotiate with the large record labels to license their music in new territories. The music labels have yet not given Spotify permission to launch in India, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Spotify has been bypassing the labels to license songs directly from artists in some cases, straining relations.

Addressing the Financial Times report on a call with analysts, Daniel Ek, chief executive, said that licensing negotiations were “always a complicated manoeuvre” and that he could not “accurately estimate” when Spotify would launch in India.

Wall Street has baked lofty expectations for this region into its forecasts for Spotify’s future growth. Morgan Stanley predicted the company would have 53m paid subscribers in Asia, the Middle East and Africa by 2023, from just 11m this year.

A6

BUSINESS DAY

FT

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

ANALYSIS Can factor investing kill off the hedge fund?

Data-driven funds that systematically exploit human weaknesses are disrupting traditional asset management n 2001 Clifford Asness, a cerebral but fiery-tempered hedge fund manager with a penchant for comic book memorabilia, penned a paper arguing that his industry’s skills were “overstated”. Understandably, it went down like a lead balloon.

Mr Asness was inundated with irate calls from some of the industry’s biggest names, and even got the occasional glower at school events attended by other hedge fund fathers. “I got yelled at by a lot of famous people,” he recalls.

He survived the opprobrium.

Mr Asness’s company AQR is today a major player in the hedge fund industry. Its $226bn of assets under management outstrip even Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates. But rather than a hedge fund, AQR could now arguably be better described as a hedge fund killer.

AQR is at the vanguard of a revolution quietly sweeping through

fering a mediocre or dismal 2018.

But many pension funds, endowments and even retail investors are still embracing this new approach. BlackRock estimates that there are $1.9tn of assets in dedicated factor strategies, and predicts this will swell to $3.4tn by 2022.

Some have even gone so far as to call AQR the “Vanguard of hedge funds”, a reference to the passive investing group founded

by Jack Bogle that has helped popularise cheap, index-tracking funds for the masses and unsettled the mutual fund industry in the process.

That may be a step too far to describe an investment group that still boasts plenty of expensive hedge fund strategies, some of which have also struggled in 2018.

But it is “what we want to be. It’s aspirational,” Mr Asness admits.

It is a description tacitly endorsed

by Mr Bogle himself, who has said that among hedge funds AQR “is the one I hate the least”.

In 1992 Eugene Fama and Ken-

the asset management industry: “ Factor investing”, which in theory breaks down market returns into their basic components, researching what drives them and trying to systematically exploit their characteristics.

Factor investing is part of the broader world of computer-powered “quantitative” finance. But rather than scour markets and oceans of data for fleeting signals, factors are the big, persistent market drivers that in theory exploit timeless human foibles, such as our tendency to favour glamorous stocks over solid ones. Financial academics argue that a lot of what asset managers do is take advantage of these well-known patterns, anomalies and inefficiencies. But if one can do so systematically and cheaply, why pay for an expensive fund manager?

“Before, market drivers were like gods in the sky — mysterious and often unfathomable. But with factors we can now understand what actually drives performance,” says Marko Kolanovic, head of quantitative research at JPMorgan.

Think of factors as the basic ingredients of a solid meal. By deconstructing and finding the healthiest components, fans say they can be reassembled into a better-balanced, tastier diet. In other words, a more diversified, robust and cheaper investment portfolio than one built with traditional, blunt asset classes like stocks and bonds.

Recent results have been mixed, with many factor-focused funds — including AQR’s — suf-

neth French, two professors at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, published a paper that showed how investors could beat the stock market’s returns — the “beta” in finance jargon — by taking advantage of two simple factors: the tendency of small or cheap companies to outperform over time.

Factors are often called risk premia because they represent the extra compensation investors receive for taking on some specific risk. Many factors have been known for decades. Some pioneering “quant” investors influenced by academic research started to exploit factors in the 1970s. But the Fama-French paper was a bombshell, largely because Prof Fama is the father of the “efficient markets hypothesis”, which argues that investors cannot consistently beat the market.

“The king of EMH said that there were factors that had positive outperformance,” says Rob Arnott, head of Research Affiliates, a factor-focused investment group. “It blew people away.”

In 1989, Prof Fama took on a precocious PhD student as an assistant. Under his tutelage, Mr Asness wrote his thesis on a new factor, momentum, on how stocks that have gone up tend to continue to rise, and falling stocks tend to keep sliding. Given how it went against Prof Fama’s thesis it was “nerve-racking” telling him the dissertation, recalls Mr Asness. But Prof Fama says he was more upset that his protégé later chose the grubby world of investing over academia.

Robin Wigglesworth

I

Draghi awaits data on ECB’s bet on eurozone strength Central bank’s move to call time on bond buying spree will be questioned if growth slows Claire Jones

W

hen the European Central Bank decided last month to call time on the €2.5tn bond buying spree that has provided the core of its crisis response, Mario Draghi, president, and his team knew they were taking a risk. Now they are waiting for the data that will show whether the ECB was reckless at a time when threats to the economy are mounting.

After a surprisingly strong 2017, the eurozone economy has begun to sputter. Amid signs of a slowdown, tensions between the US and the rest of the world threaten to turn into a full-blown trade war that would prove especially damaging for the eurozone, a region that depends heavily on exports for growth.

Relations with the UK are also uncertain. Business is uneasy.

“There is the risk of a hard Brexit and the threat of a global trade war. Any kind of distortion will disturb our business,” said Henrik Meincke, chief economist at the VCI, the trade body for the German chemicals industry, who emphasises the importance of open markets for his sector.

The question hanging over the ECB is whether the eurozone’s rocky first quarter was a blip or a harbinger of a more serious downturn.

The bank’s decision last month to halve the size of its bond purchases to €15bn a month in September and phase them out entirely after December indicates that it takes a relatively sanguine view of the first-quarter data.

But by the time the bank’s governing council starts its deliberations on Thursday — its last monetary policy meeting before the autumn — two pieces of data will have given further indication about the extent of the region’s economic problems.

A poll of purchasing managers, the PMI, seen as a bellwether for the pace of economic activity, is out on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Ifo, an influential Munich-based think-tank, will publish its index of the German business climate, which has fallen in recent months on the back of concerns over trade: few places are more at risk from a trade war than the region’s economic powerhouse.

A further key piece of data will come at the end of the month, with confirmation of whether the slowdown in growth from 0.7 per cent in the final three months of 2017 to 0.4 per cent at the opening of this year continued over the spring.

If growth remains lacklustre, the ECB will face questions on whether it was wise to declare an end to a policy that is

widely credited with reviving the region’s economic fortunes, before being able to make a proper call on how severe the slowdown will be.

Most economists nevertheless believe that the ECB’s bet will pay off and that growth will have recovered in the second quarter.

The Bundesbank, Germany’s powerful central bank, said on Monday that the German economy was likely to have improved in the three months to the end of June.

The monthly Nowcast index, which estimates the pace of growth in the eurozone, has indicated that there has been some pick-up in recent months — even if 2018 is set to bring slower growth than in 2017.

Lucrezia Reichlin, a professor at London Business School who helps put the index together, said: “The Nowcast suggests that the recent improvements in conditions is broad and should continue. Although recent data have corrected the negative signal of the beginning of the year, 2018 will have lower growth than 2017 — the recovery has peaked.”

She added that, despite the risks to growth, the ECB was right to change tack on its quantitative easing asset purchase programme. “It is fair to say that [QE] can distort conditions in financial markets, and given the health of the economy the ECB can probably go back to using interest rates as the primary policy tool.”

Peter Bofinger, an economics professor at the University of Würzburg and a member of German chancellor Angela Merkel’s council of economic experts, said: “Monetary policy is still loose across much of the world, austerity is a thing of the past in most places, and there are few signs of imminent danger in financial markets.

Politics & Policy Friday 27 July 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

A7

Lagos APC crisis: Faction accuses Tinubu of working against Banire’s Senate confirmation …Allegation baseless, unsubstantiated – Lagos APC INIOBONG IWOK

A

faction of the A l l P ro g re s sives Congress (APC) in Lagos State has accused the National Leader of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of attempting to frustrate the Senate confirmation of Muiz Banire as the Chairman, Board of Directors of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).

Banire served as a commissioner of transportation under the Tinubu’s administration and also a commissioner of Environment in the Raji Babatunde Fashola administration.

He is also the immediate past National Legal Adviser of the APC but has, in recent times, been at loggerheads with his presumed godfather, Bola Tinubu, over the

control of the party’s structure in Lagos State.

But in a release to the media last night and signed by the faction’s leader, Foaud Oki, it accused Tinubu of working with the three senators from the state and his close allies in the Senate to derail the confirmation of Banire as the Chairman, Board of Directors of AMCON, while further accusing him of personalising the party in Lagos State and meddling in its activities.

“Our attention has been drawn to the above action purportedly planned and orchestrated by Mr. Bola Tinubu and his puppets in their bid to stop the Senate confirmation of Muiz Banire. The journey to bring Banire down actually started in 2017 with allegations and suspension which the National Working Committee dismissed.

Tinubu

“Much has already been written about Bola Tinubu and his determination to appropriate Lagos State

INEC recognises Godwin Etim John-led APC executive in Cross River MIKE ABANG, Calabar

F

rankland Briyai, resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Cross River State has cleared the air on who the Authentic Chairman of Cross River State All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state is.

Speaking in Calabar in a stakeholders’ forum at the Commission headquarters, the INEC Commissioner said from the information available from INEC office Abuja to his office in Calabar, Godwin Etim John-led executive is the authentic party executive in the state.

He went further to state that the National Secretariat of APC Abuja communicated to INEC office Abuja which was transmitted to his office

in Calabar that Godwin Etim John is the authentic chairman of the party in the state.

He explained that the last congresses of APC in the state held at the Cultural Centre was witnessed by staff of the Commission, including the security agencies in the state When contacted in his office, the state Secretary of APC, Francis Ekpeyong said the development has laid to rest speculations in the social media platform on who the authentic Chairman of the state APC is.

According to the APC scribe, “today in a stakeholders forum, a factional chairman who was laying claim to the seat, was told to his face and his supporters that Godwin Etim John is the recognised chairman of APC

the state.”

On the bye election for the vacant Obudu State constituency, Ekpeyong said the party was fully ready for the election and has commenced the process of selling intent and nomination forms to APC stalwarts in the area.

Briyai also promised that the Commission would provide a level playing ground for all and ensure that the election would be free and fair.

He said the election would be held in 107 polling units in the 10 wards of Obudu Local Government Area.

The REC said only those who voted in the 2015 General Elections and those who collected their Permanent Voter Cards as at December 2017 are eligible to vote during the bye-election.

APC as his personal property as he did with the Action Congress (AC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

“ Tinubu’s continued meddlesomeness in the affairs of the party is very worrisome and should be checked by all men of good conscience. We can unequivocally say that only one thing will come out of his shenanigans this time, it is failure”.

“We have it on good authority that all the efforts to thwart the confirmation were orchestrated by Bola Tinubu including directives late Monday, 23rd July 2018 which was conveyed by Senator Solomon Olamilekan (aka Yayi) to his colleagues in a desperate attempt to sway the Senate President and other Senators into his unholy attempts.”

“Tinubu’s actions were clearly a manifestation of an act of self-interest and personal pursuit of power, wealth and influence at the expense of the Lagos

people, to the detriment of Indigenes in particular. And this indeed, is injurious to the party; we can only hope that APC will not pay dearly for this at the polls in the coming elections.”

But reacting to the allegation, Deputy Spokesman of the Lagos APC, Biodun Salami, urged the faction to substantiate its claim, stressing that it was the right of the senators to clear who occupies a public office in the country, which Tinubu was involved in.

“The senators have a right to clear who they want. Let him substantiate his allegation, it is baseless; he should not bring the national leader of the party into this issue; if Banire has failed Senate screening how does that concern Tinubu? They were saying they are in control of Lagos APC where are they?”

Salami said.

Quit APC now - Kwara groups tell Gov. Ahmed SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

F

ollowing calls from various stakeholders in Kwara State, the State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed has hinted that he might be quitting the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The governor insisted that the party has not met the expectations of the people of Kwara State.

Governor Ahmed made this known on Thursday at State Banquet Hall, Ilorin, while reacting to the requests of various stakeholders in Kwara Central Senatorial District, prevailing on him and the Senate President, Bukola Saraki to immediately dump the APC. The governor recalled how key stakeholders in the ruling APC in the state built the party in 2014 alongside other notable Nigerians with high expecta-

tions but were disappointed about the failure of the government at the national level to address insecurity, economy and unemployment challenges confronting the nation.

According to the governor, “We formed APC together in 2014 with the hope to meet the needs and aspirations of the people in critical areas of our national life”.

He said the leadership of the APC had failed to intervene on critical issues affecting the party and its members, pointing out that injustice within the party is unbearable.

Ahmed, who thanked the people of the state for their support, assured the stakeholders that he would consider their pleas and make public the new platform that would meet the aspirations of the people of the state.

He also promised that the administration would continue

to run an all-inclusive process that would take care of all interests.

Various stakeholders who spoke at the Town Hall meeting called on the governor to take the state to another political party where their welfare would be guaranteed and expectations would be met.

In his remarks, the State President of Kwara State Artisans Group, Saad Alawaye who commended Gov. Ahmed for his numerous empowerment programmes to the informal sector, promised continuous support in moving the state forward.

The State Chairman, Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Joshua Adekanye who spoke on behalf of all the 16 local government chairmen, their vice chairmen and 193 councillors, expressed readiness to dump the All Progressives Congress in the interest of the people.

said a total of 111 delegates from Lokoja and Kogi Local Government Areas took part in the exercise.

Speaking after his election, Jonathan lauded the peaceful conduct of the primaries and promised not to let the people down if he eventually got the mandate

to represent the people in the forthcoming election.

He equally pledged that he would ensure effective representation and attraction of the needed social amenities and infrastructural development to his constituency when he gets there.

Lokoja/Kogi by-election: ADC picks Zacheaus Jonathan as candidate VICTORIA NNAKAIKE, Lokoja

T

he African Democratic Congress (ADC) Kogi State chapter has elected Zacheaus Jonathan as its candidate, while the immediate past speaker of the state House of Assem-

bly, Ahmed Umar, is the flag bearer for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the election coming up on August 11, 2018.

Speaking during stakeholders’ meeting at the commission’s headquarters in Lokoja, the state capital, Resident Electoral Commis-

sioner (REC), Kogi State, Prof. James Apam, said the by-election would be free and fair.

According to him, the commission was ready to improve on the achievements already recorded in election organisation. He however, solicited the sup-

port of the stakeholders to make the election a success.

However, the ADC candidate for the election emerged through an affirmation by delegates at the party’s primaries held in Lokoja.

Returning Officer for the primaries, Zainab Usman

A8

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

Friday 27 July 2018

BUSINESS DAY Highlight of the news reports on our digital platforms this week

Best five stories this week Defections: Buhari summons Oshiomhole, IGP Idris President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday summoned the All Progressive Congress ( APC) National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, as well as the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, over defection of some APC lawmakers.

Update 2: PDP clinches majority in Senate with 58 senators, APC 48 The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is now in the majority with the defection of 15 senators from All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday.

Nigeria banks engage in Twitter war

Defection: Fear grips Buhari ministers as FEC approves N1.320bn contracts Ministers in President Muhamamdu Buhari’s cabinet are currently jittery following uneasy calm that trailed the defection of some All Progressive Congress (APC) lawmakers to the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday.

Sterling Bank has started a tweeter conflict with other Nigeria’s commercial banks as each banks are now taking turns to swipe at each other on Twitter with many Nigerians enjoying the fun side of the chit chat.

For more visit our website at businessdayonline.com to catch up on full news stories.

POLL RESULTS: In your opinion, what does Nigeria need more? Out of Nigeria Air, Infrastructure, Manufacturing companies and Start-ups’, 61% chose Infrastructure, while 24% chose Manufacturing Companies and 9% chose Start-ups’ while 6% chose Nigeria Air. Write us with your opinion at digital@ businessdayonline.com to let us know what your preference is.

Poll of the week

UPDATED: How Saraki outsmarted security operatives to preside over Senate After months of intrigues, suspense, horse trading and speculation, 14 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) finally defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday.

Cartoon of the week

Tweet of the week

Video of the week

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I FRIDAY 27 JULY 2018

Opinion On learning to read

I

have always been a keen student of humanisticexistential psychology for as long as I can remember. One of the thinkers in that field who has impacted my life and thinking the most has been the Austrian-Jewish neuro-psychiatrist Viktor Frankl through his famous book, Man’s Search for Meaning (Boston, Mass: Beacon Books, 1992). Others in that mould include the psychotherapist Rollo May, Harvard child psychiatrist Robert Coles and the educational psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, who co-authored the prize-winning book, On Learning to Read (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1982). It centres on the psychological foundations of how to successfully teach children to read, particularly children with disability.

Reading is not only therapeutic for children; it enlightens the soul and opens new horizons for adults. The Christian writer C. S. Lewis memorably noted that “one must read every good book at least once every ten years.”

The American lawyer and billionaire investor Charlie Munger, like his friend and collaborator Warren Buffett, is known to be a compulsive reader: “In my whole life, I have known no wise people…

who didn’t read all the time…

You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads--and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”

The well-worn cliché, “readers are leaders”, makes a lot of sense. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was known to be an obsessive book-lover who could speed-read through a massive tome in a single day. His compatriot Abraham Lincoln who was also a great reader wisely counselled that the “capacity, and taste, for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others”.

Throughout the long history of humanity, the African race has been stereotyped as people who do not think, never plan against tomorrow and never read anything. An American comedian once quipped that if you needed to hide money from a black man all you had to do is place it inside a book. They will never open it.

When you look at a country like ours, the so-called “giant of Africa”, with its nearly 200 million people, you ask yourself: where are the libraries and bookstores? When I want to buy books I go to Accra or Johannesburg. It is

THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS an astonishing fact that Accra has more quality bookstores than Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna or Port Harcourt. One of the prominent bookstores we had in Abuja, located at a mall called Ceddi Plaza in the Central Business District, closed down several years ago. I was told it was owned

by South Africans.

I was recently in Ibadan for a conference at the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP). I had opportunity to sit down for a coffee with an old friend who works in the publishing trade.

He was full of woes about how difficult it has become to survive in that industry. A graduate of modern languages (French and Portuguese) from Ile-Ife, my friend was of the old school. He regaled me with anecdotes about some of the movers and shakers in Nigerian letters – men such as Wole Soyinka, J. P. Clark Bekederemo, Abiola Irele – the lot. Conversing with him was like meeting a long-lost twin brother after 20 years of separation. Like me, one of his hobbies is visiting great London bookstores such as Waterstone’s and simply spending hours flipping through some of the pages of their vast collection, coffee in hand.

I recall my days as a gradu-

HumanAngle FEMI OLUGBILE Physician, psycho-profiler and essayist

I

t is a day in June 2018, and a gathering, described as the first installment in a ‘Women Engagement Series’, is underway in Ikeja.

The organizer is the radio station - Women’s FM 91.7 – tagged ‘The Voice of Women’.

WFM91.7 has brought something new into the broadcasting space in Nigeria. It broadcasts from the outskirts of Lagos. In the short period of its existence, it has garnered a loyal and everexpanding audience. There is a focus on music, interactive talk shows and health in its programming. The emphasis on health, especially women’s health, is reflected in programs in which doctors talk on various health issues, and also offer consultation on air. People are encouraged to call in to discuss their problems, and they do, often making for a lively engagement. The audience, of course, are not all female!

But you can sense in the

ate student at Oxford, where you could walk into Blackwell’s Bookshop with its four flours all stacked up with books. We were free to spend a whole day there browsing through to our hearts’ content. I remember a Saturday in winter when I came in at 9.00 am and by 5pm had gone through an entire 300-page volume. The bookshop managers did not mind. As a student you could also purchase books on credit. The doyen of Nigerian economics, Pius Nwagbufo Okigbo, once confessed to us in the eighties that he was able to buy books on credit from Blackwell’s simply on the basis of an old account which he had opened as far back as the sixties. They trusted us to be honourable people who would under no circumstances betray their trust. Blackwell’s was a meeting place for lovers as well as loafers – a heaven for booklovers.

At Ibadan airport I also bumped into the indefatigable Chief Joop Berkhout, the Dutch chairman of Safari Books Ltd who recently celebrated his 50 years of sojourn in Nigeria. Berkhout came to our country in his early 30s to do research and study. He liked it so much that he stayed back for good. Now in his eighties, the sprightly

grand old man is widely respected as “the publisher of publishers” in Nigeria. I remember meeting him several years ago at an event at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja in company of the poet Odia Ofeimun. I half-seriously proposed to him a book project with the naïve title, “To Make Nigeria Great”. He dismissed the idea by saying that the country “is already great”.

This time around he was peddling giant-sized glossy side table volumes about tourism.

The sad fact is that Nigerians hardly read these days.

I have never found more than four or five customers at a typical bookshop, as contrasted with the crowds you might find in a shopping mall such as Shoprite in Lekki or Abuja. For many young people, bookshops seem to be no-go areas.

Another problem is piracy. It is the norm in many of our city streets for motorists to be harangued by book vendors selling all manner of pirated books. You know the books are pirated because of the poor quality of print and paper. Most of the pictures have no colour. In fact, I am told it’s gotten so bad that new titles are taken wholesale to Hong Kong or China where they are printed and shipped back to our country.

voice on the network of Ray Power, one of the early brands in FM radio broadcasting in the country. She is passionate about women’s causes, and her thinking has been influential in the design of the whole women’s broadcasting agenda. She is also intent

agenda. Her sights, and the sights of the organization she leads, are set very high, with an intention to provide a platform for the advancement of women in general, especially women in the workplace. There are challenges pertaining to the work itself. A glass ceiling persists, limiting the ability of women in many organizations to rise to the top, no matter how talented and well-equipped they are for the job. The other dimension of the problem has to do with the intricacies of combining the responsibilities of a competitive career with the demands of marriage, home-making and motherhood.

There is no doubt in her mind that a society in which women are able to achieve their career ambitions and contribute meaningfully to the wealth and industry of the nation is ideally poised to thrive. Achieving this would require the concerted efforts of both male and female members of the society, since everyone had something to gain from it.

Bringing a group of highachieving women to speak to the audience on the theme of ‘gender and productivity’ is only a first step

A service (mostly) for the women The other dimension of the problem has to do with the intricacies of combining the responsibilities of a competitive career with the demands of marriage, home-making and motherhood enthusiastic participation of the female contributors - a certain pride and ownership, as if they are saying – ‘This is our own platform’.

On this day, invited speakers are lined up to address the topic of ‘Gender diversity and women productivity’. They are all female, and they have each achieved a measure of success in the Nigerian work-space.

The list includes Mrs. Am-

ina Oyagbola, Ibiyemi Odusi, and Hadiza Bala-Usman.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Radio Station – Toun Okewale-Sonaiya, is something of a veteran in the radio medium in Nigeria. For several years, long ago, she was a recognizable name and

on pushing the boundaries beyond broadcasting to further advance the course of equity, progress and welfare for the working female population of Nigeria.

After a welcome address, she proceeds to give an outline of the ‘WFM’

OBADIAH MAILAFIA Dr. Mailafia is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a development economist and public finance expert with a DPhil from Oxford obmailafia@gmail.com; 08036590990 (text messages only)

You can never tell the pirated copy from the original. For most authors and publishers the best bet is what they are able to raise on the day of a book launch. Thereafter it’s downhill all the way. Lots of efforts have been made to get the relevant agencies to check the problem, but it has been well-nigh impossible.

It’s like ploughing the sea.

Academics have also Continues on page 39

in a plan of social engagements that would ultimately reach out to all sectors in the Nigerian work space, including banking and politics, according to her.

Mrs. Amina Oyagbola was the first woman to be appointed as a minister of the federal republic. She later served as an ambassador. She is the President of the Nigerian chapter of Attitudinal Healing International, and the founder and CEO of Women in Successful Careers (WISCA). Well along in years now, she carries her age gracefully, and her elocution is fluent.

The well-dressed, mostly youthful audience listen to her inspirational delivery with rapt attention.

The second speaker is Ibiyemi Odusi. A young, vibrant and engaging conversationalist, she is the country manager of RwandAir. The airline, like the country Rwanda itself, is a reflection of what self-belief and new ways of thinking can do in Africa.Ms. Odusi in her comportment is the embodiment of the same can-do spirit.

According to her, having men and women in the workplace enhances organizational innovation and high performance.

She gives examples from her Continues on page 39

Published by BusinessDAY Media Ltd., The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos. Ghana Office: Business Day Ghana Ltd; ABC Junction, near Guinness Ghana Limited, Achimota – Accra, Ghana.

Tel: +233243226596: email: mail@businessdayonline.com Advert Hotline: 08034743892, 08033225506. Subscriptions 01-2950687, 07045792677. Newsroom: 08169609331 Editor: Anthony Osae-Brown. All correspondence to BusinessDAY Media Ltd., Box 1002, Festac Lagos. ISSN 1595 - 8590.

Women’s Hub Friday 27 July 2018

BUSINESS DAY

Nigeria’s former finance minister, Okonjo-Iweala joins Twitter’s board

Masculine fragrance that SHE can wear

NYSC certificate scandal: Nigerians poke as Adeosun maintains silence

The ladies behind the scenes of

LASGIDI COPS

Editor’s note

BUSINESS DAY

W

The ladies behind the scenes of LASGIDI COPS

elcome to another edition of Women’s Hub for this week.

In this edition, we celebrate the women behind the scenes and this time, it is the women behind the scenes of Lasgidi Cops. Their stories will inspire you.

O

luchi Afurobi is a producer and director who has played significant roles in the movie industry in Nigeria.

Born on 23rd October 1986 in Imo State, Nigeria, Oluchi has had a flare for feature directing and production. She started her movie career in 2010 at Metfilm School, United Kingdom where she studied directing and producing.

Her feature credits include director of Untwisted (2011), producer of in the music (2012) which made it to the Nigerian cinema, producer of Rule No 1 (2017). She has also produced a couple of short films like Vex (Affrif selection), Forgone, The package, Stalker and many others.

In addition to film making, Oluchi is co- founder of the Rising Phoenix, an entertainment production company that has managed a number of Nigerian Artists and actors. She is also fully involved in script writing, set designs and props.

Oluchi is director of programming for women in film and television in Nigeria (wiftin)

We share with you Masculine fragrance that SHE can wear; we also share on the NYSC certificate scandal with Kemi Adeosun even as she maintains silence on the matter.

WARIF has gotten USAID grant to strengthen response to gender based violence in Nigeria. This makes an interesting read.

Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, Okonjo-Iweala joins Twitter’s board, the responses have been intriguing. We bring to fore these opinions.

For Chinyere Okeke, she advises that you know your worth.

These are highlights of our stories for this week.

Enjoy!

Oluyemisi Wada Kemi Ajumobi

Y

emisi Wada is a Lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1990, a Child’s rights advocate and she has been on the Child’s Rights Implementation Committee of Lagos State since its inception in 2010 and now an Executive producer. In running her NGO ‘Haven for the Nigerian Child Foundation’ where the focus is on Street Children Early Years Growing up for me was very memorable. Life was much easier than it is now in every way. Our infrastructure worked, our s schools were the best and we had everything as our Naira had value.Our holidays then comprised of long car journeys traveling within Nigeria. Both my parents were civil servants and the essence of dignity in labour was instilled in us greatly. In my journey to date, I have been involved in a lot of businesses and now I’ve had the grace to do what I enjoy doing, advocacy through telling stories.

Kemi Ajumobi kemi@businessdayonline.com

Graphics by David Ogar

Early Years Growing up for me was quite interesting seeing that we were just two kids, my brother and I. My parents made a point never to divide chores according to gender. By the time I was 10 years old I already able to change tyres of a car, strip wire coating to the get to the naked wire, dismantle anything and put it back together. These skills help me everyday in the job I do. For my film, I do the Production Design which includes building sets, designing set and generally putting together the look and feel of the film.

Haven for the Nigerian Child Foundation I realised that children on our streets were not all touts and vagabonds but many had found themselves there trying to survive, when I turned 40 and it just made me so sad. I also realised after speaking to many of them that but for the grace of God that could be my children. Haven was birthed then. To date we don’t have any corporate sponsorship

but thanks to some very generous and dedicated supporters we have been able to successfully take off a lot of boys off the streets and almost every month we celebrate a new success story.

Lasgidi Cops Advocacy was my initial reason for creating Lasgidi Cops. No one voluntarily walks into a Police Station here without expecting some stress. I decided that it would be good to portray the Police force in the way it ought to be. In getting this idea out many people thought the idea was too far fetched and it also sounded like a campaign for State Police as I wanted to base it on Lagos State as that’s where I live and where I know. To address these misconceptions we decided to change it thus that the Nigerian Police exists but in Lagos a special unit has been formed and funded due to a rise in crimes by some criminal elements that want to seize control of the states.

This unit is called the special crimes unit hence the title ‘Lasgidi Cops Special Crimes Unit’. I also love reading and watching television. I particularly enjoy crime series so I was fed up of watching mediocre productions and decided to put my money where my mouth was.

I am humbled by the way it has been received. The year it was released, it was nominated by the AMVCA’s for best edit. The year after it won the ‘Best TV series’ award at the ‘Best of Nollywood awards, and since it started showing on Iroko TV. Last year it has been voted one of the best 3 online series. We have had reviews and clamour for more seasons from Nigerians in diaspora and in fact it’s been dubbed into French to be aired in French speaking territories now. This popular demand is why we are now shooting Seasons 2 and 3 together now so we don’t leave our fans hanging for so long anymore. Now it’s showing

on ONTV, Wazobia TV and it started showing on AIT on Sundays at 7pm.

Rising Phoenix Entertainment Rising Phoenix Entertainment is a Film Production company I started a couple of years ago with my elder brother. We do everything visual

Women’s Hub

ranging from Film to Commercials to Documentaries to Music Videos.

We have produced three feature length films including Rule Number One(which is still in the cinemas now), a TV Series and a couple of short films. We are currently working on our fourth feature length film.

Love for investigative production I watch a lot of crime series and documentaries; I read a lot of crime books too. When I heard about a Nigerian crime series I was intrigued.

After I saw it, I told a friend that if I ever get the chance to work on it I will jump at it. When the call came it was a no brainer.

Working on an all female team Usually working on an all female team can be stressful, but not with this crew. I have worked with Lyndsey for a while now so we have a groove already. Working with Mrs Wada is like working with your really cool aunt who watches more movies than you.

Hope in Nollywood Nollywood is an industry that is growing fast. I see us becoming as big as any movie industry in world, if only we can get out of our own way.

We haven’t started working with the actors yet. I believe we have chosen the best cast for this production and we will have a great time with it.

Is it coincidence or deliberate that you have an all female core crew?

Yes it was, at least this particular core crew. I funded Season 1 personally and that caused us some problems as the funds were limited and staggered as I earned hence things were not done as efficiently as they ought. It was also a first outing for me hence I paid dearly for my novelty. With seasons 2 and 3 I had to be super efficient in the production hence I was introduced to Lulu and Lyndsey as they had just produced their own film ‘Rule no 1’ on a very tight budget by doing a lot of things themselves with proper planning.

Together already we’ve been able to save so much money in pre production doing a lot of things ourselves.

Lyndsey Femi Efejuku

L

yndsey Femi Efejuku is a Director and Producer, she studied Televison and documentary at Richmond college UK, Directing at Metfilm School, worked with Ginger Productions and Metfilm productions in the UK. Lyndsey has worked on several films ranging from short film: 2days to Christmas, Too Late (Mogson Production). Feature Length: Rule Number1 with cinema showings through June/July 2018, Beautiful Escape currently airing on African Magic Cable (DSTV), Series: Castle & Castle, On The Real, Tiannah’s Empire (Ebony Live TV), and a pilot for a teenage series called CLIQE. Presently producing the famous series Lasgidi Cops Season 2 whilst directing a couple of episodes.

Early Years My childhood was amazing with a lot of love and laughs, we were taught to be there for each and to always have kindness for the people around us. The biggest impact of my upbringing is being able to work with all type of personalities because growing up we had a lot family members come to live with us and nobody asked how you felt about it but we had to live together and love each other.

Growing up, I wanted a career in law and I did legal studies with business, but I was that child that loved movies a lot, the one that always came back to school after the holidays and told my friends about all the movies I watched over the holidays and I loved telling those stories, I didn’t think of making films just telling stories, it was by chance that I found the Television and documentary course that I did and realized that I could tell my own stories the way that I wanted with film.

Nollywood, future and present I am very proud of what Nollywood has achieved I must say. Over the years I celebrate the veterans that have stuck by it and now made it attractive and open to people like me to live my dream. A lot still needs to be done for the Industry. If we are more authentic with our acting and our story lines we too will attract more audiences like our Music Industry.

Challenges on set of production The problems we have are our Nigerian problems that affect everyday life. Poor infrastructure hence planning is difficult and expensive. You cannot film most times with generators because of the noise. Unprofessionalism has huge costs. We have the area boys’ palaver in some areas of Lagos. The biggest though is funding.

Friday 27 July 2018

Oluchi Afurobi

Joining the Lasgidi Cops team I joined the Lasgidi cops crew in feb 2018, I had worked with Yemi Olowoshaba the DOP and Editor of Lasgidi Cops season 1 on my own film and we spoke about gidi

cops and how much I liked the idea of it and I will really like to be part of the next one if possible. Mrs Yemisi Wada was looking for new producers for the show and he recommended me and as the say the rest is history. One of the reasons I wanted to be part of it is that it’s a genre that has not really been done in Nigeria at the time it came out and telling a story that shows how the police force is suppose to be is a story worth telling, films have a way of shaping how society should be.

Working with the crew Working with a crew of women is not a new experience for me, most of the productions I have worked on has been with women producers and I have worked with Lulu Afurobi for years on a lot of productions and we work very well together, we understand each, listen to each other’s idea and basically have the same work ethics.

Working with Mrs Yemisi Wada who is the creator of Lasgidi Cops has been great, she has a very strong idea of where she is taking the show and at the same time listens to the ideas that we come up with.

View on Nollywood Nollywood can be as good as any other industry as long as our work ethic is right, we know that making film is like any other job out there and we must do it with passion which a lot of filmmakers are doing right, Nollywood has a great future.

Choosing casts We were looking for people that are willing and ready to put the time and effort into doing the work with passion and the right attitude.

Worthy of mention Lasgidi Cops is telling the story of how the police system should be not necessarily how it is at present. I know a lot of people will watch it and say that doesn’t happen in Nigeria, the point is that it should happen in Nigeria and we hope that people can watch it and change the way things are in the system.

3

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 27 July 2018

Women’s Hub

Nigeria’s former finance minister, Okonjo-Iweala joins Twitter’s board Desmond Okon

T

witter has appointed Nigeria’s former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to its board of directors, as Marjorie Scardino steps down, the social media company announced Thursday, 19th of July, 2018.

The former senior World Bank official was appointed alongside an American lawyer Robert Zoellick to the social media platform’s board.

“We’re adding Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Robert Zoellick to the Twitter board. Welcome! Sadly we’re also saying farewell to our friend Marjorie Scardino. She’s been an amazing advocate for journalists everywhere, and pushed us constantly to better inform people. Thank you Marjorie” said co-founder, Jack Dorsey.

Commenting on the appointment, Twitter’s Executive Chairman Omid Kordestani said, “We are confident

they will be incredible assets to Twitter as we continue to focus on driving transparency and making Twitter a safer, healthier place for everyone who uses our service”.

On her part, Okonjo-Iweala welcomed the appointment and said she looked forward to leveraging the platform to drive conversations on global issues.

“Excited to work with Jack and an incredible team on the Board of Twitter, a global platform that is such a strong connector of people and ideas. Look forward to contributing to the strong and visionary future for Twitter. As we strive to build a better world for tomorrow, Twitter can amplify messages and drive critical conversations around

today’s most important issues,” she said in a statement.

Okonjo-Iweala also reacted to the felicitations spewing out of Nigeria and Africa. “Grateful for the outpouring of commendation, love and support from all parts of the world on the Twitter Board appointment, including from our past leaders. I am especially thankful for the love and support of my compatriots, Nigerians and Africans. I feel humble but excited and will do my very best by God’s grace,” she tweeted.

However, some users criticized the company’s decision to choose board members that were not active on the platform. “Does Robert Zoellick know how to use twitter?” a user queried.

But the company’s co-founder Jack Dorsey defended the decision saying while many use the platform to drive conversations, the company was open to fresh perspectives from new users.

“We get critiques about how active board members look on Twitter. Lots of ways to use the service effectively.

Some folks use it only to see what’s happening!? On us to make it valuable to join the conversation. But we also benefit from folks new to Twitter: fresh perspectives,” Dorsey said in a tweet.

Twitter has over 336 million users and is gaining widespread popularity among Africans who use it to amplify their concerns and create online communities.

NYSC certificate scandal: Nigerians poke as Adeosun maintains silence

W

hile OkonjoIweala is still being showered with praises, some are yet to forget Adeosun’s certificate saga. It’s been twenty-one days since the news of the alleged forgery of her NYSC certificate made headlines, and raised dust from all nooks of Nigeria, yet, Kemi Adeosun, the minister of finance has remained resolute and steadfast in her unwavering silence.

Since Nigerians got a hint of the authenticity status of the minister’s certificate which is a paramount document for any public and private employment, there has been a heightened eagerness to hear from her, either giving reasons as to why she skipped the mandatory one year national youth service, or at least, defend herself by refuting the allegations made against her.

But Adesoun may have flared up hearts who find her silence irritating. And they cannot bear it anymore.

Chukwunonso-Shalom who describes himself as a customer servant, entrepreneur said; “I can assure you that the Government will soon come out with an explanation or possibly more killings will occur in Benue to divert attention.

Let us keep asking her and the Government of Muhammadu

Buhari till they respond”.

“Kemi Adeosun ought to speak or resign. Really. The silence is disgusting,” Japhet Omojuwa,” chief strategist, Alpha Reach.

Commenting in both English and Pidgin English, Lekan said, “there is no NYSC certificate because she no get. She told them initially but the boys said she shouldn’t worry that they were going to take care of it. Even NASS and DSS know say she no get, And since NASS money dey complete, there is no problem”.

Adetunji Adeniran, a consultant said, “I suggest Premium Times takes a more civil approach. Rather than media trial. What about they get a court injunction if they’re sure?

If she responds to every media house, what time does she have to do her work?”

For Samson Oloyede, a promoter of urban and rural development, what “…NYSC already said she applied for an exemption certificate. Therefore, she needs to reply only to NYSC. That’s why a good leader should have a thick skin

not to respond to any unnecessary allegations which are not based on fact. Am sure she will respond if NYSC or court summons her. But for now, anyone with their false allegations are irrelevant”.

According to Christopher Ogirri‫“ ‏‬She is deceitful psychopath working for a government that is filled with deranged and deceitful people.

She is doing the needful. She is doing the expected.”

Igbokwe Ikechukwu says “Forget these people. When the president hasn’t got a school

cert, what do you expect? Birds of same feather, they flock together.

In the words of Edward Obi-Akpere, “This silence suggests that the Buhari camp and NYSC camp are working on an alternate NYSC discharge certificate for Kemi Adeosun.”

While Buhari is yet to comment on the scandal, the police has said that it can neither arrest nor investigate the minister’s alleged forgery because there is no formal complaint against her.

CMYK

Imposition Studio 5.1.1

6

Friday 27 July 2018

BUSINESS DAY

Masculine fragrance that SHE can wear

It is without a doubt, that in perfumery, women are synonymous with floral scents – sweet, subtle and elegant but some women like it to be fresh, strong and regal. Scents that match their amazing,confident and bold spirit. If you are one of these women, we have some fine choices for you, exclusively available on Montaigne Place!

T

Heroes – Franck Boclet

his ideal and contemporary oriental fragrance’s trail is as elegant as it is powerful. Both leathery and smoky, it is a highly recognisable signature scent that is exclusively for strong personalities, men and women, confident of who they are in all circumstances.

T

his fragrance is a musical orchestral harmony, combining a cocktail of hesperid, aromatic, woody, floral and oriental notes. At the top, bergamot, mugwort and coconut bring a sweet and sparkling start. The gourmand and oriental notes of vanilla and tonka bean finally bring to Heroes sweetness and sensuality.

Private Label – Jovoy

Hora Fugit – Atelier Flou

A

poem to time passing by, HORA FUGIT is a hymn to life, harmoniously blending in yesterday, tomorrow and today. A woody spicy fragrance with notes of bergamot and patchouli, Hora Fugit is the first edition of a brand new collection by ATELIER-FLOU: clad in charcoal grey from top to toe, smartly crowded by a flat round top, this elegant fragrance will appeal to men and women alike.

WARIF gets USAID grant to strengthen response to gender based violence in Nigeria

A

Woody Spicy fragrance that is Fresh, sweet, smoky, warm with top notes of incense and cinnamon; middle notes are cloves, rum and exotic spices; base notes are driftwood and patchouli.

Noir d’Orient was constructed around India’s olfactory richness.

T

his fragrance is a combination of notes and accords that taunt and jostle one another with an irreverence flaunting LavenderOud. A sweet freshness of Bergamot, Elemi and Lavender, clash vigorously with a balm of Styrax and Oud, wanting to indulge themselves in Patchouli’s impertinence and Sandalwood’s gushing insouciance.

Dom Rosa – Liquides Imaginaires

T

he scent of a rose sacrificed for the beauty of wine; an age-old Champagne ritual. Flower of passion, its excitement gives way to a romantic and mysterious charm.

Noir d’Orient – Evody

Desmond Okon

W

Irreverent - Histoires de Parfums

omen at Risk International Foundation, WARIF, has been named one of the recipients to be receive a grant by the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, in Nigeria.

This grant will be awarded through the Pathfinder platform, a global non-profit organisation that focuses on reproductive health, family planning, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and maternal health.

The foundation’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre, SARC, run by the organisation, is the only private NGO SARC selected

amongst the list that has been recognized and provided with the grant to cater for sexual abuse related cases in Lagos.

The grant will be implemented, through the WARIF SARC, as well as the other initiatives executed by organization -the WARIF Educational School Programme and the WARIF Know Your Community initiative.

The objective of this grantor alliance by the USAID is to ensure that improved medical services, psychosocial counseling, associated services, and referrals to survivors of sexual assault are provided by the SARCs. It also aims to Increase awareness of sexual and gender based violence through community-based interven-

tion, contribute to breaking the culture of silence, and reduce the overall incidence of sexual assault in the country.

“We are very proud to receive this grant from the USAID in recognition of our work in making a positive impact in the lives of the many brave survivors we have been able to reach.

This funding will ensure that we continue the good work so that more survivors of rape and sexual violence are able to have access to first respondent services, which we provide at the Centre. In addition, we will be better equipped in managing cases of sexual assault, create greater awareness and train and educate more individuals on these issues and improve

the reporting rate of Gender Based Violence in Lagos State.”

Kemi DaSilva- Ibru, Founder of WARIF, commenting on this recognition.

WARIF started its operations in 2016 and have since executed several initiatives some of which include; the WARIF Educational School program, WARIF through the Arts, the WARIF Gatekeepers initiatives amongst others.

Through the Pathfinder platform, the USAID grant will be implemented by WARIF through July to October 2018.

The execution of this grant is expected to deliver primary healthcare assistance to victims of gender and sexual

8

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 27 July 2018

Women’s Hub

KNOW YOUR WORTH Chinyere Okeke

R

ecently, I ran into one of my lecturers back then when I was running my national diploma programme, in the polytechnic Ibadan. He was thrilled to see me, I didn’t know if I was too. He tried to know what I was up to by asking, “how are you? What do you do now? Did you go for an HND or a BSC? While he asked those questions my mind trailed off to some years ago, standing in his office he offered me a seat with the look of lust in his eyes. Yes I know that look of lust, I know it when I see it. He weighed and sized me with his eyes from head to toe. I felt really uncomfortable. But I tried not to show it.

He said, “I have seen your results so far, you are one of the department’s best. But then, you can do better. I can help you achieve even more. Let’s rub each other’s back.” I already knew where he was going. But I feigned ignorance. “Rub each other’s back? How?” I stuttered. “You know what I mean” he said, coming close. I could feel my heart beat race as he placed his hands on my shoulders. I stared at the hands with disgust. My belly churned at the sight of the wrinkled withering hands. This man was old enough to be my dad. “How dare him! How dare he touch me?

The nerve he had to ask me to rub his back.” I thought silently. I was raging inside. I wanted to spank his hands off my shoulders. I wanted to hurl insults at him. But then, I remembered that I had to graduate with my peers. I didn’t want any carry over or reruns, I didn’t want him to fail me.

So instead, I said calmly, “I can’t sir. I’m born again. I can’t do such.” He laughed instead and said, “We hear that all the time. Even pastors do it. So who are you not to? Besides is it not better with me, than with those small boys who have nothing to offer you?” I was this close to hissing and walking out of his office. But instead I said, “I’m born again sir, I have no boyfriend.” His reply shocked me. He replied, “You can start with me.” “What?” I exclaimed. “I can be your first.” I

was irritated to the depth of my stomach. If only it wasn’t a school setting, I would have insulted the hell out of him. But I couldn’t. I said instead, “give me some time.” I sought for counsels here and there. I prayed. I read harder than before. I avoided him and his office as best as I could. Anything at all, I did to prevent him from failing me. One thing was sure. I couldn’t rub his back. It was my final exams and I didn’t want to have any reason to carry any course over. The final exams were over, I checked the results, I didn’t fail, but he made sure I dropped from a distinction to a second class upper. I was pained, but then, there was little I could do about it. Many female students in universities and polytechnics still go through similar problems.

I knew of some girls who asked some lecturers out and readily gave their bodies for marks and an upgrade in results. Some others gave their bodies and still ended up failing. Few others were cajoled like I was and out of fear gave in.

Most times, it all boils down to knowing who

Orange juice ot only is this juice high in vitamin C and folic acid, it’s also a good source of potassium, which has been shown to help lower high blood pressure, a particular danger during pregnancy

N

Yogurt A good source of protein, yogurt has more calcium than milk and also contains active cultures that reduce the risk of yeast infections, which are more common while you’re expecting. Also, some people who are lactose intolerant can tolerate yogurt.

Broccoli Known for being a good source of calcium, this veggie is also packed with vitamin C, folate, and vitamin B6.

Lentils Like beans, lentils are a great

you are, knowing your worth and not swaying no matter what. I knew I couldn’t fail. I knew my worth and I knew I couldn’t settle for less.

Most girls do not know their worth that is why they can fall for any threat by a lecturer. Most girls do not know their worth that is why they can sleep with guy with a promise of cash in return or an iphone? But the big question is, what is your worth? Is your worth #5,000. Is your worth an iphone? Is your worth Brazilian hair? How can you place your worth to material things? This question baffles me. My lecturer realized I wasn’t particularly excited at seeing him. So he said, “Hope you are still born again” that cracked me up, because I knew what he was talking about. He said, “most times, we realize only too late that we are worth more than we know.” He walked off leaving me staring at his back. Truly most times, we end up settling for glitters when we can actually have gold, because we do not know what we are worth.

Yogurt

orange juice

5 foods for pregnant women

Lentils

source of folate and are rich in iron and protein. They’re also full of fiber, which can help prevent constipation and subsequent hemorrhoids.

Figs Fresh or dried, figs have more fiber than any typical fruit or vegetable, more potassium than bananas, and plenty of calcium and iron.

Figs

Broccoli