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Declining market turnover questions whereabouts of institutional investors … as average daily volume drops 33.92% to 290.77m Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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quity investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) exchanged only 17.16 billion units of listed stocks in the second quarter (Q2) to June 30, 2020, which represents 32.7 percent decline from 25.52 billion units exchanged in Q2’ 2019, the NSE Fact Sheet shows.

Also, average daily volume of traded stocks on the Nigerian Bourse in Q2’20 decreased by 33.92 percent to 290.77 million Continues on page 31

BusinessDay Jobs and Growth Series Beginning Monday, August 31, BusinessDay will be unveiling a series of groundbreaking reports on how Nigeria can grow its economy faster and create jobs for the millions of unemployed.

Book your copy or subscribe to read the Exclusive content.

Inside

Zainab Ahmed makes the ‘Minister of Finance of the P. 4 Year’ award

The rate investors now earn for lending money to Nigeria’s government by purchasing 12-month Treasury bills has dropped to a 10year low of 3.2%. On top of that holders of Nigerian bonds and equi ties may have as much as $2.5 billion trapped in the country, Simon Kitchen, an analyst with EFG Hermes, said in a note to investors last week.

Source: Bloomberg

Logistics firms squeezed by multiple taxes in Lagos State says taking steps to rid roads of touts

Odinaka Anudu & Bunmi Bailey

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ogistics and courier firms say they are extorted by touts who claim to represent local council development areas (LCDAs) in

Lagos State, alleging that this is squeezing an industry that is just beginning to gain an online traction.

According to logistics players who spoke with BusinessDay, their dispatch riders carry

up to 35 documents while on duty, with touts purporting to represent the LCDAs demanding ridiculous charges and fees ranging from mid-year paper tax to mobile permit fee.

Some of the documents re-

quested by the touts in Nigeria’s economic capital, according to these players, are: radio licence, mid-year paper, unified clearance, consolidate permit certifiContinues on page 31

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news

Zainab Ahmed makes the ‘Minister of Finance of the Year’ award

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t the African Bankers Awards 2020 edition announced yesterday at a virtual Awards ceremony, Zainab Ahmed, Nigeria’s minister of finance, budget and national planning, was awarded the Minister of the Year.

This was disclosed in a release signed by Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, special adviser, media and communications to the minister.

The organisers had noted that despite difficult circumstances, Ahmed had managed to push through a set of difficult reforms as well as successfully engaging international partners to help the country navigate an extremely challenging economic environment.

Commenting on this year’s awards, Omar Ben Yedder, publisher, African Banker, said: “It has been a momentous year in every sense. Banks will have to play a lead role in kick-starting post-COVID-19 growth and sustaining the real economy.

Governments and regulators have done an excellent job with limited means and both our winners Caroline Abel and Zainab Ahmed have demonstrated strong leadership there.”

The Awards, taken virtually on the side-lines of the African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meetings, are now officially opened.

The big winners this year were Nigerian-based group Access Bank and also women in the banking and finance sector. Following on from what was seen as a lack of inclusion last year, the organisers put an emphasis on rewarding insti-

tutions that ensured women and financial inclusion at the forefront of their agenda.

At the Awards, women really proved influencers and were also the big winners. While the Finance Minister of the Year went to Nigeria’s Ahmed, the Central Bank Governor of the Year went to Caroline Abel, from the Seychelles. African Banker Icon was given to Vivien Shobo, who was the CEO of ratings and advisory firm, Agusto & Co up until last December.

She was recognised for playing an instrumental role in developing Nigeria’s credit markets and also for helping grow a truly world-class organisation that is competing against much better resourced international players.

The Awards were pushed back to August to coincide with the AfDB annual meetings taking place this week, with the election of the new President. The Awards are considered the Oscars of the African banking community, and given the impartial selection and judging process, are the most respected in the field.

Inanotherdevelopment,the NigerianMinisterwasnamedin Avance Media’s list of 100 Most Influential African Women.

In the quest of inspiring the next generation of women in Africa who are passionate about leading change and challenging the status quo, Avance Media, through its girls’ empowerment project, ‘Be A Girl’, launches the annual publication to highlight and celebrate the accomplishments of 100 women from Africa dubbed: 100 Most Influential African Women.

Oando, BusinessDay hold webinar on rising inequality among nations DIPO OLADEHINDE

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frica’s indigenous energy company, Oando plc, in partnership with BusinessDay, is set to host a webinar predicated on rising inequality between and within countries, a resultant effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The webinar with the themed ‘The Inequality Virus: Revolution Based Change to Achieve Inclusive Growth’ is scheduled to hold September 2, 2020, with three panellists: Hafsat Abiola Costello, CEO of Women in Africa Initiative; Jason Hickel, economic anthropologist and senior lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Maimuna Maibe, country director Nigeria at Global Citizen.

The webinar aims to discuss alternative perspectives on the causes of inequality, the role of technology and various players (public and private) in preventing an increase in inequality gap as well as proffer actionable solutions, which can be implemented, to drive revolutionary, effective and immediate change

against existing injustices and inequalities.

According to a statement from Oando, the webinar will be addressing how the eventual economic recovery from the pandemic may have little to no impact on the poor and other marginalised groups, potentially leaving them worse off and facing greater inequality than ever before.

“Another outcome of the pandemic and this widening gulf between the rich and poor is an increase in social unrest,” Oando notes in the press statement.

COVID-19 has brought to the fore an increased appetite for information and the realisation that success can only be achieved if there is cooperation among people, businesses and countries.

Against this backdrop, Oando created a bespoke webinar series to serve as a platform for engaging discourse among thought leaders including public sector officials, senior decision-makers, business leaders, research analysts as well as subject matter experts from across the world. www.businessday.ng

L-R: President Muhammadu Buhari; Abubakar Malami, minister of justice; Ahmed Lawan, Senate president, and former President Goodluck Jonathan, during a virtual meeting of the National Council of State at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.

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How Nigeria’s low-interest-rate policy leaves economy with more losers Endurance Okafor & Mercy Ayodele

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par t from the double challenge of COVID-19 and lower oil prices, the Nigerian economy is faced with the impact of the financial repression policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as this has eroded the high returns on savings and investments.

Described by analysts to mean negative return on savings and investment in real terms, financial repression implies that Nigerians no longer have many choices when investing their savings, as yields on investment instruments are lower than the inflation rate.

While interest rates have always been high in Nigeria due to the monetary system in vogue since 2009, which sought to use FGN bonds/T-bills and OMO bills as means of attracting US dollar to stabilise the

naira, the recent OMO policy by the CBN, which prevents domestic investors from participating in the auction, has sent yields to its worst record.

Effect from October 23, 2019, the apex bank banned non-bank locals (individuals and corporates) from participation in its Open Market Operations (OMO) at both the primary and secondary markets. The CBN’s policy is largely in line with its drive to divert liquidity away from risk-free instruments to the real sector.

“Savers who have to earn below inflation rate return on their savings would see the value of their money eroded.

Thus, by the time repayments are made, the purchasing power of the saved money would be lower, which implies lower income, lower demand and lower output,” Ayorinde Akinloye, a research analyst at CSL Stockbrokers Limited, says.

From 2019 to date, the interest rate on government

short-term instrument has plunged by 8 percentage points from 12.27 percent in January 2019 to 3.45 percent in the same period of 2020.

Stop rate on the 364-day T-bill instrument stood at 3.34 percent, the highest rate across the three government instruments, as compiled from the auction results for the trading week to August 26, 2020.

“The government uses this policy as an opportunity to reduce borrowing cost, but the major risk of financial repression is that it discourages savings, which will have major consequences in terms of capital permission on the economy and could increase pressure on the exchange rate and external reserves,” Omotola Abimbola, a macro economist at Chapel Hill Denham, notes.

While the low-interest rate policy means cheap borrowing cost for both government and corporates, as they have both tapped into the domestic

market for capital, it does not translate into a low cost of credit for the ordinary Nigerians who are still accessing bank loans at a double-digit interest rate.

Data analysed from the Debt Management Office (DMO) show the Federal Government domestic debt has increased by 10 percent in one year, from N13.11 trillion in the first quarter of 2019 to N14.53 trillion in 2020.

Akinloye believes financial repression related policies in themselves are aimed at driving the cost of borrowing lower with the aim of driving investments via access to cheap debt capital, “however, in the case of Nigeria, most of this cheap capital goes to the public sector, which is grossly inefficient.

Thus, this misallocation of capital impedes growth.”

Meanwhile, Nigerian companies as at August 7,

Continues on page 31

Drug abuse thrives as narcotics seizures spike 274% Temitayo Ayetoto

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he business of selling illegal substances is thriving in Nigeria as security agencies arrest more illegal drug dealers and confiscate their wares, according to available data.

In 2019, there was 274 percent increase in narcotics seizures and arrests, according to data released Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This means that more Nigerians are using illegal substances as increased arrests indicate a growing market.

Nigeria’s demography constitutes 70-75 percent of youths under 30 years, and the data simply indicate a rise in the number of young people abusing dangerous drugs and substances.

Compared to 163,684kg of narcotics confiscated in 2018, 612,547.89kg were pulled out of the illicit drug market in 2019.

However, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) saw a 3-percent drop in the arrest of suspected players, driving the circulation of narcotics from 9,779 nabbed in 2018 to 9,479 in 2019.

Juliana Ugwu, a counsellor in the Drug Demand Reduction Unit of NDLEA, Lagos State Command, attributes the progress to efforts by officers and the unrelenting habit of the general public who abuse substances. She explains that the economic downturn has also been a factor encouraging people to seek illegal means of eking out income, despite the risk.

Following some of the seizures, destruction exercise was carried out in Borno, Plateau, Lagos commands.

“Our target is to channel our energies towards treatment and rehabilitation. We want to focus on demand reduction because we believe that when demand is reduced, supply will seize. When dealers do

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not get patronage, of course, they will go out of business,” Ugwu informs BusinessDay. “In terms of prosecution, 9,418 suspects were arraigned in 2019 as against 9,779 in 2018, while 1,120 were convicted in 2019 as against 1,220 in 2018.

The North-Central geopolitical zone led the highest number of drug cases with 517,711.69 cases recorded while the South-West and South-South zones followed with 44,744.13 and 28,885.85 cases, respectively. The NorthEast region recorded the least with 4,490.81 drug cases in 2019,” the report states.

A total of 397 counselling cases were reported in 2019 as against 730 in 2018, while 397 counselling were concluded in 2019 as against 440 in 2018.

Cocaine, Codeine, Rophypnol, Swinol, 502, and Shisha among others are narcotics mostly abused by Nigerians in the quest to heighten pleasure. @Businessdayng

The renewed focus, Ugwu says, is to intensify counselling, sensitisation, enlightenment campaigns, and offering of coping mechanisms to those struggling to get out of addiction. For instance, Swinol, another brand of Flunitrazepam, is a powerful hypnotic drug that depresses the central nervous system (CNS).

It naturally works as sedatives applied in the treatment of anxiety, insomnia, sleep disorders, or seizure ailments.

But when mixed with alcohol, another CNS depressant, it could result in suppression, stupor, respiratory depression, and even death.

Despite the ban on overthe-counter purchase of narcotics, drug dealers and abusers are unrelenting. A ‘National Survey on Drug Use in Nigeria’ shows that over 14 million Nigerians abused drugs between 2018 and 2019.

Abuse was most prevalent in the Southwest as 4.3 million people were engaged.

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NEWS

‘Nigeria needs free, vibrant media to be prosperous’ SEYI JOHN SALAU & BUNMI BAILEY

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or Nigeria to be successful economically prosperous, government and the business community must support the emergence of strong and vibrant media to effectively play their constitutional role.

This was a consensus standpoint of speakers and panellists at the August 2020 Breakfast Forum of the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce, tagged, ‘The Press and the Nigerian Economy’.

Frank Aigbogun, publisher/CEO of BusinessDay, who spoke at the virtual forum, said it was important for the media to exercise their constitutional mandate through their reportage. “I believe the justification for that mandate is largely because society expects and demands of the press to play a critical role in development,” he said.

According to him, there is a need for national economic consensus that should underpin Nigeria’s development policies. Aigbogun observed that Nigeria missed a

Group seeks revitalisation of moribund industries in South-East GODFREY OFURUM, Aba

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oalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), a sociopolitical youth organisation has appealed to governors of the five SouthEast states, to revitalise moribund industries in the region, to create jobs and boost the region’s economy.

The moribund industries include, Nigercem at Nkalagu, Enugu State, Aba Textile Mills, in Abia State, Standard Shoe Factory Owerri, Imo State, Nigergas, Nigersteel Company, Glass Industry, Aba, Imo Rubber Nigeria Limited, Resin and Paints Industry, Aboh Mbaise, Imo State, Avutu Poultry, Obowo, Imo State, Paper Packaging Industry in Owere–Ebiri, Orlu, Imo State and Modern Ceramics, Umuahia, Abia State.

The group in a statement, signed by Goodluck Egwu Ibem, presidentgeneral and Kanice Igwe, secretary-general, COSEYL, also urged the Imo State government to complete the industrial layout, along Owerri-Onitsha road.

According to the group, “this call is ideal, given the current economic realities, facing not just Nigeria, but the entire world, in a post

Covid-19 economic regime.

“We wish to remind the five governors that they are occupying a position, which the late Michael Iheonukara Okpara held, in addition to four states of Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River and Akwa Ibom and yet served creditably well, from 1959 to 1966.

“History remembers and recalls that by 1966 the South-East was referred to as the “fastest growing economy in Africa”.

“No economy can thrive without industrialisation.

Today, with macro and micro economic policies, the need has always been how best to grow industrially.

We remember that when as a premier, Michael Okpara, embarked on laudable projects, through Eastern Regional Development Corporation, to achieve huge industrial success, through agricultural revolution.

“We know there used to be industries most of which were built by Okpara, which, unfortunately, today are no longer standing.

The group decried that most of the revenue sources and employment generating facilities put in place by late Opara had long been abandoned and cast a picture of gloom and dilapidation. www.businessday.ng

Amotekun: Makinde directs council bosses to secure lives, properties REMI FEYISIPO, IBADAN & INIOBONG IWOK

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overnor Seyi Makinde has directed chairmen of local councils in Oyo State to join the task of protecting lives and properties in the state, following the launch into operation of the Southwest security outfit- Amotekun.

Makinde stated this at a meeting with chairmen of the 68 local government and local council development areas of the state, in Ibadan, insisting that the state security network, codenamed ‘Operation Amotekun’ has come to stay.

The governor also kicked against submitting outfit to the whims of the Federal Government, adding that without adequate security, it was impossible to achieve any meaningful development.

“We want our people to sleep with their two eyes closed. Of course, security is one of the pillars of this administration and we invest in the security of lives and property. In Okeho the other day, armed robbers went to rob and the community rose against them and apprehended them. They combed the forests and they got them.

“This is why I will continue to say it and I am saying it for the whole world to hear;

Amotekun is here to stay with us. And it will not be under the control of the federal establishment. It will be under our control,” he said.

Similarly, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere has faulted the Federal Government’s planned to bring the Amotekun under the control of the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

Recall that the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of research and planning, Adeleye Oyebade, had on Tuesday, said that all other security arrangements in the country would fall under the community policing set-up by the Federal Government. The Federal Government recently approved N13.3 billion for the take-off of the community policing initiative across the country.

In a statement issued on Thursday, and signed by the publicity secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, the group said that Amotekun was a function of law validly enacted by all state houses of assembly in the Southwest region. The group said that Southwest states would only collaborate with the Federal Government towards the success of Amotekun, adding that Amotekun would not be under the IGP.

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golden opportunity to build a national consensus with the vision 2020.

He stated further that the business society in Nigeria should see the media as a partner serving the course of the larger society, and must feel the need to invest in the media.

“Since the media is expected to help shape government policies. It should matter to the business community that the media understand the policy environment and the dynamics that drive economic growth,” Aigbogun said.

On the issue of reportage, Aigbogun said it was time for the media to embrace a more dynamic approach to reporting and professionalism. “If the government is determined to see more positive reporting in Nigeria, then it has the duty and responsibility to ensure that it has different outcomes to policies,” said Aigbogun stating that Nigeria must encourage the media to be strong, free and vibrant if it wants to be prosperous.

Wiebe Boer, CEO, All On, a Nigerian off-grid impact energy investing company said there was a need for col-

lective partnership between the private sector and the media to portray Nigeria as a land of opportunities to the investors, rather than a place with high risk assessment that disincentive investors.

According to Boer, the private sector needs to be more aggressive and strategic in partnering both local and international media to ensure Nigeria’s success stories are told while revealing the opportunities in the country.

“Most of the stories portrayed about the county’s economy and businesses are usually negative ones such as fraud, business that fail and about government overreach,” said Boer stating that such stories make investors and multinationals lose confidence in the economy even before they come.

Udeme Ufot, group MD, SO &U, said there was a need for better cooperation between the media, government and business community. Hence, the media should be seen as a worthy partner in changing the Nigerian narrative from an effective partnership standpoint.

How to build, sustain tech-driven business - First Bank MD DANIEL OBI

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anaging director/ CEO of First Bank of Nigeria, Adesola Adeduntan has taken a deep assessment of the changes and disruption foisted on industries by technology, a development exacerbated by Covid-19 pandemic.

He therefore asserted that professionals in any field that will remain relevant in this present business environment are those who are adaptable, resourceful and with innovative mind-sets.

Advising professionals who are still in business to brace up for the ‘new normal’ as more radical changes are expected going into the future, the banker reminded professionals across sectors that technology has caused some business that did not predict the future to fizzle out.

He spoke recently at a webinar organised by the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) titled ‘repositioning the young professionals for the new normal’.

Citing jobs like old telephone switch board op@Businessdayng

erators and renting of videos from cinema, which are no more in existence, Adeduntan said “we have seen radical changes that left a whole industry or sector completely changed but what we are witnessing and what we expect going into the future, will be more radically different, such that if any professional is not well equipped, if you are not prepared, you become a dinosaur”.

The banker, who is leading the 126-year-old First Bank into more strength with adoption of technology in line with the current time, said things that seem far off are today with us and they are leaving professionals and leaders across many sectors, scrambling to formulate new business models and approaches that are totally different from traditional approaches.

He challenged professionals to think without a box, have new attitude to work, and adopt continuous learning “because solutions that worked yesterday, may not work today.

Again if you don’t have innovative mindset and you are contented with present day realities, you may not have work tomorrow”.

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comment Let’s talk about those zoom meetings

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Tales from the main road

Eugenia Abu

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t’s that time in the world where we are overwhelmed with zoom meetings and all other virtual meetings in this pandemic era. A new normal some might term it but we all know that things are really not as they used to be. My kids are used to seeing me dress up fully as if I were on my way to work on a Saturday morning and ask the all-important question. “Are you going to work?” In the past in the early days, I was not quite sure how to answer but now I affirm that I am in fact going to work in my study but virtually. And therein lies the dilemma for a lot of people.

I go to my office space physically now at once a week, and not at all, if I do not have to leave my home. Most of my work is done on my computer and the other half virtually on my phone. Indeed, it is hard work, almost harder than when you are physically at work.

First, you have to encourage yourself not to crash into your very inviting bed if your study like mine is in your bedroom.

Secondly, if you are a writer like me or working late at night, then there is the late night fridge/ freezer tyranny where you tip toe to the fridge downstairs stocked with all manner of goodies by your young adult children which are not healthy for you at 2am. So the chunky chocolate cookie is giving you the eye, while the cheese is calling your name and even worse the pizza is winking at you. You had left your boring little fridge in the study

full of carrots and lentils and watermelon to check out the fridge downstairs. In between all of this, you have to deal with how many mouths you now feed who when they were in school did not snack as much and are not driving you mad with “Mum, it’s so boring.”

Be that as it may, it’s the zoom meetings that are now driving me insane. They are virtual meetings true, but what is the value you are bringing to the table both as a host, moderator, panellist or participant? The other day my sister, top level Human resource consultant Christie Adejo was discussing how we might just host a webinar on how to manage a zoom meeting. This is because we both share similar views on what a zoom meeting is not. Ahead of that webinar let me share some of my thoughts and observations.

1) What is your plan when you participate in a zoom meeting from your home, sitting on your couch as if you are about to take a snooze? I don’t get it when they slouch and are wearing something akin to their PJ’s. Please ma, please sir, this is a meeting and most of the people meeting you virtually have never met you before.

Please dress as appropriate and join the meeting as if it were physical.

2) I am at my wit’s end when I see people join as if they came undone from their beds. Bad hair day, rumpled clothes, uncombed hair for some men.

Please look your best. It might be an opportunity. No, please don’t overdo it.

Just be decent. I have seen women turn up with bags under their eyes looking unrecognisable. No, No. No one wants your sleepy eye. Get on with it. It’s a meeting. I am a less is more make up person myself so I am not asking you to doll up. Just look appropriate for the meeting. Thank you.

3) So what is this backdrop you have that makes you look like a ghost? Yes, the Abuja city gate you are insisting on

putting behind you that has turned you into a medley of yellow running into green, a dodgy shadow behind you and visual noise around your silhouette like when the TV stations shut down in the 70’s and you do not switch off your set.

Your skin is weird and when you move, it is slightly jerky. Except you get a really good IT professional, your backdrop will give you a funny output. A bookshelf or a roll up works.

4) Lighting is critical for your zoom meetings. The guy who can get you the correct lighting and place it appropriately is that young man or woman down the road whom you think is crazy. Our IT geeks are not conventional creatives but they get the job done. They may not be in our generation, may not speak our language, dress like us, but they get the job done. They are geniuses and have been making movies with their phones since they were thirteen. They know about angles and lighting and camera positioning. Find them.

5) Okay so, I am not an expert myself but like you I am learning on the run. I know that I need my desk cleared for a zoom meeting and I need to have good audio so I try to get people who know to help with all of this until I fully understand.

6) Please find a good way to get yourself well framed either by a stand-alone camera or your computer camera. It is a battle not to have your head cut off and sometimes not to be in an egg shell. I have been at some meetings where we see only half the face of the participant or something like the solar system where the person seems to be independently in Mars with dark rocks around them or in a very dark watery moon with blue specks around them. Let us try. I hope that I do not look like this one of these days but I want you all to know I am putting in the effort and calling for support. Do the

‘

Be that as it may, it’s the zoom meetings that are now driving me insane. They are virtual meetings true, but what is the value you are bringing to the table both as a host, moderator, panellist or participant?

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

Email: abu_eugenia@yahoo.com Phone number: 08033109820

Pluralisation of nouns in English

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haracteristically, nouns are pluralised by the addition of suffixes or plural markers like ‘s’, ‘es’ or ‘ies’ to their singular forms. In stark contrast, a handful of other nouns such as woman, child, ox and mouse are pluralised in unorthodox ways. More importantly, users of the English language should be mindful that some nouns do not change their forms even in the plural context. In the face of the foregoing, this week’s treatise will expound on how such nouns are pervasively misrepresented, especially by non-native speakers.

First of all, I shall cast the spotlight on nouns that are decidedly plural. As a consequence, these nouns should not be portrayed as singular in any circumstance. Classical examples are surroundings, premises, minutes (of a meeting) shenanigans, leftovers, remains (a corpse), sunglasses, scissors and pliers. Others are articles of clothing like trousers, knickers, pyjamas, boxers and shorts. Coincidentally, these nouns ought to be incorporated within expressions alongside plural determiners (these and those) plural pronouns (they and them), as well as plural verbs (have, cost and are). The aggregate of these justifications will, thus, leave us with.

1) These premises belong to Mr. Charles (correct).

This premises belongs to Mr Charles (incorrect).

2) Are those surroundings clean (correct)?

Is that surroundings clean (incorrect)?

3) The leftovers are in the sink (correct).

The leftover is in the sink (incorrect).

4) Bisi: Where are the remains of the cat?

Titi: They are at the backyard (correct).

Bisi: Where is the remains of the cat?

Titi: It is at the backyard (incorrect).

5) These sunglasses cost €10. I bet you would

love to try them on (correct).

This sunglasses costs €10. I bet you would love to try it on (incorrect).

As a follow-up to the aforesaid rationalisation, there are nouns that could either be decidedly singular or countable, on the one hand, and irreversibly plural on the other hand. This standpoint is essentially dependent upon how such nouns are deployed in varying contexts. For specifics, there is no gainsaying that the water we ingest and use in the course of a myriad of activities is uncountable. Nonetheless, when emphasis is made on the water contained in a particular ocean, sea, river or lake, it is designated as WATERS. Owing to that, ‘The WATERS of Lake Chad have shrunk dramatically in the last four years’.

Not only that, the farthest you can see where the sky purportedly meets the land or sea is called the HORIZON. Contrariwise, the limit of your interest, knowledge and orientation is called your HORIZONS. It, therefore, stands to reason that, ‘Reading educative books and interacting with progressive people will help to broaden your HORIZONS significantly’. What is more, misconduct that involves drug or sex (like rape, kidnapping, drug and human trafficking, banditry or terrorism) is called VICE, an uncount noun. Fascinatingly, though, bad habits like heavy smoking and binge drinking could be labelled VICES. Interestingly, that is not all: DAMAGE refers to the destruction, harm or injury caused to people and/or their properties. DAMAGES, on the contrary, border on the money that is paid to someone by a person or an organisation who has been responsible for causing the victim some injury or loss. Hence, for a DAMAGE caused, DAMAGES are paid. Next to that, the manner in which a phenomenon influences or affects www.businessday.ng

same and rehearse how you look ahead of the meeting. I usually plead with all the IT gurus in the house to help when I begin to look like a whimsical pussy cat.

7) Let us try to unmute when we are shouting at our house girls and switch off our cameras when we think we might get up. It can be very distractive. Don’t yawn over and over again; no one is forcing you to be at the webinar except you are the moderator or panellist. Use a quiet place please.

8) If you are moderating or hosting, please get a technical team behind you so you do not have to battle the chat room and worry about whose hand is up that you cannot see. Your technical team can inform you if you missed anything. Also remember you have to stay alert to still see some of those things sparingly from the corner of your eye to moderate efficiently.

9) As a host, you must look like you are on top of your game. Moderating zoom meetings is almost harder than physical moderation so balance everything from time to questions and comments and research your topic. Don’t look obviously overwhelmed. Be graceful and elegant without being cheesy and be firm without losing your sense of humour.

10) There are a lot of virtual meetings out there. Choose and pick what is good for you and where you can learn and also contribute your knowledge. Please don’t try to be Tarzan and be at every webinar while quarrelling through others complaining that your question was not taken.

Use the chat room. In zoom meetings, language matters. Don’t throw any sort of disrespect around.

The Gift of Gab another event is called a BEARING. Therefore, I could say: ‘Eating a healthy, balanced diet has a considerable bearing on our well-being’. For juxtaposition’s sake, your awareness of your position with regard to everything around you is called BEARINGS. Consequent upon this, ‘It is quite distressing that some people have lost their BEARINGS in life’.

With that being said, the third circumstance will reflect a sprinkling of uncountable nouns that should not be inflected with the plural markers ‘s’, ‘es’ and ‘ies’, despite the fact that they often comprise countable nouns. First up, the requisite tools for a particular task or activity are collectively known as equipment (not equipments).

Likewise, the entire workforce in an organisation are designated as personnel (not personnels), just as the facts told, heard or discovered about somebody or something are known as information — not informations. Strikingly, another word which is ubiquitously misrepresented is jewellery. It is a non-count noun that pertains to the collection of rings, necklaces and other clothing accessories. Be that as it may, note that the word portrays a spelling dichotomy. While JEWELLERY is permissible in British English, JEWELRY is the American variant. Having said that, ‘jewelleries’ is downright inconsistent with the provisions of standard English.

In equal measure, items such as pillowcases, sheets and blankets are aptly referred to as bedding — not beddings. To bring this section to an emphatic conclusion, other uncountable nouns like ammunition, cutlery, stationery, furniture, wear, attire and machinery collectively refer to the sub-items under them. In view of that, they should not be pluralised. In the same vein, people of a low social class in any society are also collectively referred to as RIFF-RAFF (not

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Ganiu Bamgbose riff-raffs). Moreover, the letters and parcels sent by post are MAIL; not mails. In other words, you can say, ‘The professor spent the morning reading and answering her mail’.

Graciously, I shall round off this piece by highlighting a few more examples of nouns that can attract different meanings when pluralised.

Now, keep in mind that the soft, edible and tasty parts of plants that contain seeds are called FRUIT. Thus, you can ask a friend if s/he would like some fruit for dessert. As an idiom, however, one could talk about the FRUITS of one’s labour.

In a similar scenario, the aquatic animals that breathe through their gills and possess fins are collectively called FISH, such that one could appropriately say, ‘Several large fish live in the Pacific Ocean’. The edible flesh that humans obtain from them is equally called FISH. However, multiple species of fish like salmon, tilapia, cod and herring are referred to as FISHES. Considering all of these standpoints, it goes without saying that numbers and how they manifest in nouns are integral components of language mastery.

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

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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The order of things THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

Obadiah Mailafia

T

his is primarily an economics Column. But I plead with my gentle readers to forebear with me as I go on a personal detour. There was, uhmm, a storm in a teacup the other day, involving, shall we say, yours sincerely. Life itself, I hope you would agree with me, is a risky venture. Once in a while you have to wager some big risks.

The philosopher Aristotle famously declared that, for you to have absolutely no enemies, you have to say nothing, do nothing and be nothing. I chose to say something. And for that, the bloodhounds are out for me. Some of the fascista who call themselves journalists were howling like wolves under the full moon. They ridiculed my testimony and poured scorn on my academic qualifications. “Obadiah Mailafia’s outrageous falsehood”; “With Oxford PhDs like Mailafia”; on and on they ranted. A small fortune has been paid for my head. I know the powerful forces behind the murder plot. I have even been told the vehicles they have been given for that diabolical mission. I have transmitted all that data to the right quarters.

I fear no man. I fear only God. They will fail woefully. Because I am not alone. Because the flaming swords are with me. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Jehovah El-Elyon is with me. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is my Redeemer and my Defender. I will not die; I shall live to glorify the Lord my God. Judged by the order of eternity, the fitful drama of our puny lives is but a paltry thing. Like the play of ants beside a giant oak tree. They will surely gather, but it shall not be for me. Those who live by the sword will perish by the sword.

They will drink their own blood and eat

their own flesh.

Our venerable ancestors taught us that there are certain trees in the forest that you do not dare to cut down. You will die in the process of trying. “Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm,” says the Lord!

Before heaven, I stand by my testimony; knowing, as the English playwright William Shakespeare declared long ago, that cowards die a thousand deaths before their time.

If I had desired the worldly preferment that our ruling elites would kill for, I would have kept my mouth shut.

But I dared to speak truth to power.

Because my conscience will not allow me to rest. Because of Joseph and Daniel anointing upon my life. Because of the heart-breaking suffering and the blood of the holy martyrs. The power, pomp and pageantry of this world leave me defiant and unbowed. I am, by nature, a very private person. My happiest life is to stay alone in my study, consorting with the ancient sages while listening to Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Vivaldi.

I have vowed to follow the path of all the Eastern Stars, until I die. A priest forever of the Order of Melchizedek!

There is, if truth be told, a great dis-order under heaven. Things are not right. The omens are looking very bad.

From Daura to Katsina; from Zamfara to Birnin Gwari; from Southern Kaduna to Plateau, Benue, Adamawa, Niger and Borno; thousands of innocent women, children and elderly are being killed by murderous insurgents, marauding bandits and genocidal herdsmen. The ogre is spreading across the Great River and threatening to engulf our entire country.

The other week, a woman from my homeland was on her way to her farm with her three children when the bandits set upon her. Her children were hacked to pieces before her very eyes.

She managed to escape by plunging into the nearby river. She has become a mental wreck. Last week, one of our chiefs was executed together with nine members of his family. The carnage goes on.

Some of my gentle readers may have seen the video-clip of the nearnaked young woman who was recently kidnapped by bandits and was being

subjected to savage beatings. Amidst her wailing, one of her captors brought out a dagger and sliced her scalp into two like watermelon. A great oceanic silence ensued. Heaven itself seemed to have stood still. This gory scene was not in Afghanistan or Somalia, but in 21st century Nigeria. What is being enacted before our very eyes is an incipient genocide. Government seems either unwilling and/or incapable of stopping the diabolical wickedness. They are trying, it would seem, to fill up the blood banks for insatiable demons.

Political philosophers from John Locke to Rousseau and Ibn Sinna have taught that men consent to be governed only because of a pre-existing social contract in which the state protects the people in exchange for their obedience. A government that fails in that elementary ontological duty is in breach of the sacred trust of civilisation.

Without moral or political legitimacy, it can no longer count on the loyalty of its citizenry.

The Russian-Jewish émigré and Israeli parliamentarian Natan Sharansky has written a splendid book, The Case for Democracy (New York: Public Affairs, 2004). In it he makes a distinction between “free societies” and “fear societies”. The state in a free society guarantees the life, liberties, livelihoods and security of all its citizens. Fear societies, on the other hand, are governed by fear, arbitrary highhandedness and repression. Nigeria has become a society governed by fear -- over which an ominous culture is gathering like a mushroom cloud.

Some of the neo fascists have cast aspersions on my family and origins.

I come from a long line of ancestral warrior-kings, among the ancient hills and warm springs of Sanga land. My late parents were evangelists. Our Sanga people number around 600,000. The Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that a population of 100,000 is the optimal for his ideal polis or political community. We outnumber not only ancient Athens; we are bigger than the rich Asian kingdom of Brunei (459,500); Samoa (202,506); Tonga (100,651); Seychelles (98,005); Dominica (71,808); Liechtenstein (38,749); Monaco (38,100); and Tuvalu (10,200).

‘

Judged by the order of eternity, the fitful drama of our puny lives is but a paltry thing.

Like the play of ants beside a giant oak tree.

They will surely gather, but it shall not be for me. Those who live by the sword will perish by the sword

We are part of the great Nok civilisation that traces its origins to the Egypt of the Pharaohs. We are inferior to nobody.

Our ancestors were never conquered by the Fulani Jihad. I know every single one of my forebears up to the seventh generation. And I know where their venerable bones are interred. I wish many of my traducers could say the same thing.

Most are, if truth be told, the progenies of alien bondswomen. This is why they are fighting to take over their ancestral homeland by force of arms -- and why they kill with such bitter and venomous hatred.

If left unchecked, the wicked political agenda which former President Olusegun Obasanjo referred to not too long ago, is capable of destroying our country.

We are no doubt heading towards an implosion. What I have done is simply to perform my duties as a watchman over the night. It was a clarion call for a moral rearmament – a wake-up call to those who love Nigeria and care for her future. For following the dictates of my conscience, they are now seeking to crucify me.

But I shall not deviate from my high calling. Millions may die if I keep quiet and do nothing. We are heading towards what the sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo once described as a “rock”.

From a rational-scientific systems viewpoint, no system could possibly endure the sorts of relentless pressures being exerted on it without something giving in: demographics, youth bulge, decaying infrastructures, dwindling revenue, genocide, lawlessness, anarchy, unemployment, skyrocketing conurbations, poor governance, mass alienation, deepening poverty, mounting indebtedness, ecological degradation, corruption and collapsing institutions.

Nigeria is dying and our ruling elites are carrying on like drunken sailors. It would be impossible for us to build a prosperous democracy in such a chaotic eco-system. Only a change of heart and drastic reforms will save our country.

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)

HRM sanctions

A

nother weekend!!! Is this me or does it seem the weeks are rolling by so quickly we may get whiplash by just watching them roll past. Indeed at breakneck speed. In our current realities many employers are very short fused and staff are walking around on eggshells. Today we will examine disciplinary rules, disciplinary sanctions, the use of warnings, the dismissal process. We will explain the need for disciplinary rules, how to draw them up and also give examples. This is to draw clear lines for both the employer and employee as to what can and cannot be done re discipline.

Successful management of sanctions starts with the identification of the employers’ duties. Employers should provide details of their disciplinary rules, procedures and sanctions in the Employee Handbook or HR Policies and Procedures Manual which should be given to the new employee upon resumption of employment. The employee must know what constitutes misconduct and unsatisfactory performance which may result in a warning, and the required improvement As an employer, you must ensure your line managers are trained in the type of behaviour that merits disciplinary action and the availability of disciplinary sanctions. The employee must be given a written statement of the reasons for

any decision to take disciplinary action including dismissal. I may have mentioned it before about the young man who was dismissed for watching pornography at work. This may sound laudable, but he was not told before that his behaviour would attract that disciplinary action. Therefore it should not.

On the other hand, the employee must follow any code of conduct and/or any disciplinary rules in their terms and conditions of employment (Handbook etc) and be aware that non-compliance is likely to result in a disciplinary procedure. They must know that noncompliance with the employer’s disciplinary rules is likely to result in disciplinary action taken against them and co-operate in any disciplinary proceedings.

Clearly stated Disciplinary rules and procedures set clear and consistent standards of behaviour for everyone. Employees understand what types of conduct or behaviour are unacceptable in the workplace and they have a framework for dealing fairly with employees who breach the rules.

Whatever the medium, the rules and procedure must be reasonably accessible to employees who, ideally, should each be given their own copy. Staff in the past has been awarded two to four weeks’ pay as compensation for the lack,

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incompleteness or inaccuracy of any written statement of particulars.

When devising disciplinary rules, the aim should be to specify those that are necessary for maintaining good employment relations and for ensuring a safe and efficient workplace.

Rules should be specific, clear and recorded in writing. HR Management should do all that it can to ensure that every employee knows and understands the rules, including those whose first language is not English, those who have difficulty reading and those with learning difficulties.

Rules and procedures should be kept under review to ensure that they are always relevant, up to date and effective. Best practice is for new or additional rules to be introduced only after reasonable notice has been given to employees or (where applicable) employee representatives have been consulted. The truth is that, need for sanctions keeps coming up and sanctions have to be drawn up according to the rules of the game.

Employers may choose to devise and implement rules covering many aspects of working life. Misconduct will arise where an employee fails to observe those rules without good reason.

Failure to observe those rules may result in disciplinary action.

Below are many examples of misconduct but not limited only to them.

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Olamide Balogun Rules commonly cover the following areas of misconduct: Poor time management; major and minor breaches of health and safety requirements; unauthorised absences like failure to properly report sickness absence; a dress code breach; failure to obey a lawful and reasonable instruction; breach of a smoking policy; misuse of office equipment including email and internet access; using the organisation’s time for personal purposes; using foul or threatening language in the office; any form of bullying and harassment; a laid back or negligent attitude to work; failure to take proper care of the organisation’s property and unsatisfactory job performance.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https:// businessday.ng Balogun is the founder of Box & Cedar Ltd a boutique Recruitment and HR Consulting firm Www.boxandcedar.com

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Kamala Harris and the psychology of black aspiration HumanAngle

Femi olugbile

I

t is no longer news that Kamala Harris, junior Senator from the state of California, has been chosen by the Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate for the November elections in the USA as his running mate and putative Vice President. The implications of that choice are enthralling and wide-ranging.

It is safe to say that the choice of Kamala to run on the Joe Biden presidential ticket is not likely to have occurred if a certain George Floyd had not died on a street in Minneapolis with the knee of a racist, psychopathic policeman on his neck, his dying agony and his killer’s bland indifference captured on camera for all the world to see.

The unique defining feature of the outrage following the Minnesota event has been not just how “international” it is – with street demonstrations in places as far away as Japan, Australia and the European mainland, but also the demographics of the “Black Lives Matter” protests; the protesters were mostly young men and women of all races.

There was a general sense that at last real change had to happen. Monuments to slavery and the oppression of black people in the Western world – including the icons of the Confederate

cause in the American Civil War and some of the pillars British imperialism were symbolically toppled from their public pedestals.

Some of the titans of corporate capitalism, such as Barclays Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland felt compelled to make public statements regretting their historical association with slavery and the oppression of black people.

Lloyds of London actually offered token reparations. Organisations acknowledged a need to deliberately create more space for black people in the Boardroom. Some major corporations announced they would be committing significant sums of money to boost black enterprise.

All of these provide the context in which the emergence of Kamala Harris needs to be seen.

Of course, Kamala has been many years in the making, and on the rise.

For several years, she has been referred to by many observers as ‘the female Obama’ as she streaked up the ladder of public recognition due to her brilliance, eloquence, and the causes she was seen to stand for.

Kamala Devi Harris was born on 20th October 1964 in Oakland, California. Her father, Donald J Harris is an Emeritus Professor of Economics at Stanford University. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was the daughter of a famous Indian family from Tamil Nadu who arrived in the US in 1959 to work as a graduate researcher on breast cancer at University of California, Berkeley. Her parents met as students in California while taking part in Civil Rights protests that were rife in the era.

They had two children – Kamala, and a younger sister, Maya.

Typifying her reality as a cross between Africa and Asia, made in the

USA, Kamala grew up attending a Black church and a Hindu temple.

When she was seven years old, her parents were divorced. When she was twelve, she moved with her mother to Montreal, Canada. After high school, she studied Political Science and Economics at Howard University. Then she studied Law at the University of California, where she served as President of local Black Law Students Association.

In 1990 she was hired as a Deputy District Attorney. In 2004, she was elected as District Attorney of California, a position she held until 2011, when she won election as Attorney General of California. In November 2016, Harris was elected as Junior Senator, representing California.

Some of what she stood for could be gleaned from her accomplishments in the various offices she held. As a prosecutor, she was strong on Law and Order, a rare attribute for a black activist, and one for which she has been repeatedly called out by the “left” of her party. She increased the rate of prosecution and conviction for violent crime and was especially hard on people who used assault weapons. She created a Hate Crime unit, focusing on hate crimes against children and teens for their sexual orientation in schools.

She was opposed to death penalty and pledged never to seek it. She created a ‘Back on Track’ initiative for the rehabilitation of first-time non-violent offenders. She favoured criminal penalties for parents whose children were repeatedly absent from school. As Attorney General, she tried to improve policing standards and their behaviour towards minorities by reviewing “implicit bias” and “use of deadly force”. She introduced Police training designed by a Stanford University

‘

Some of what she stood for could be gleaned from her accomplishments in the various offices she held.

As a prosecutor, she was strong on Law and Order, a rare attribute for a black activist, and one for which she has been repeated called out by the “left” of her party

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

Culturally intelligent leadership

T

o understand culturally intelligent leadership, we must begin by looking at leadership styles and how leaders communicate. Research studies have attempted to relate organisational performance, such as productivity and staff morale, to different leadership styles. The two dimensions that have shown up are a concern for tasks - getting things done and respect for relationships - getting along well with people.

Research indicates that relationship-oriented leaders tend to have more satisfied subordinates and that this is true across different cultures.

Leaders spend much of their time shaping messages that are presented to a variety of followers, subordinates, and stakeholder groups. It is also true that the more leadership responsibility you have, the more your job will focus on communication. Communication is a fundamental building block of social experience. Communication uses codes, systems of signs in which each sign signifies an idea, conventions, and norms. If people do not share the same codes and conventions, communication will be difficult, as cultures determine codes and conventions. Therefore, leaders need to give much consideration to how much is communicated without speaking. If a leader is going to do business with people from another culture, being unaware of non-verbal communication can put up barriers to a successful relationship. When a leader fails to understand this, he will mostly be ineffective and unable to influence others.

So, how much non-verbal communication accounts for cultural influences and a leader’s effectiveness? What happens when a leader fails to recognise and respond to the cultural

differences in his communication approach?

Let us consider a scenario involving non-verbal communication in a cross-cultural setting: The Gambian government appointed a 5-man delegation led by its Foreign Minister to inspect one of Europe’s biggest cocoa processing factories in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The delegation was scheduled to inspect the factory and understudy the company’s business processes and operations to build the same in the Gambia. On arrival, they were received by the Senior Managers in charge of Business Development and Factory Operations who are Polish and Brazilian, respectively. However, the Foreign Minister was disappointed they were not received by the Managing Director, whose office they were communicating with up until their arrival.

They were immediately led into the factory by the Brazilian overseeing the operations and dismissed quickly after the inspection without refreshment and drinks.

During the inspection, the Polish addressed the Minister by his first name and not his title; he also handed the Minister a construction hat using his left hand. The Minister proceeded to walk ahead of others and refused to make eye contact or shake hands with the Polish he considered disrespectful.

He was unresponsive and refused to answer any questions directly and deferred all responses to another team member. After the factory inspection, the Minister and his team were informed that the Managing Director of the company is waiting to receive them at his office for further discussion. On hearing this, the Minister said to the team that we are returning to the Gambia immediately.

In the above scenario, all these behaviors

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Psychologist to help rebuild relationship of trust with the community. Her Department of Justice was the first in the country to require all police officers to wear body cameras.

Kamala is passionate on Civil Rights, tough on Law and Order. “Too Establishment”, to “revolutionary” blacks.

“Not black enough” to Fox News.

As Senator she has been loud in her condemnation of Donald Trump and his functionaries.

Her enemies fear her and despise her, in equal measure. She not only embodies the ‘black replacer’ – the accomplished, all-American candidate who can sweep the middle ground away, like Obama, and even enjoy the empathy of poor whites, who want to be better Americans, again like Obama did. She has an additional advantage – her Indian heritage. Villagers in Tamil Nadu, her mother’s homeland, it is reported, have been holding vigils to pray for her success.

It is a unique heritage – to be black and Indian and American, all in one.

It may all yet come to naught – and the Trump animus-driven Reality Show may be extended for another four years of horror.

But if America succeeds in wrenching its destiny from the jaws of a virulent and divisive Populism, Kamala may truly become the first black female Vice President in history. She would be a 77-year-old-man’s ‘heartbeat away’ from being President of the USA. And even if that heart continues to beat strongly, she would be sitting pretty to succeed a President Biden after four years.

The leadership factory with

by the characters are examples of how we typically communicate non-verbally, and we rarely consider it at a conscious level. The characters failed to appreciate the codes and conventions of the other. If they had been more culturally intelligent and had acted accordingly, the bad feelings and unfavorable outcomes could have been averted.

From the above scenario, we can deduce threecomponents that indicate intercultural flexibility and competence for leaders. In brief, culturally intelligent leaders much have 1. the knowledge to understand crosscultural phenomena 2. the mindfulness to observe and interpret particular situations 3. the skills required to adapt behaviour to act appropriately in a range of situation Using the same above scenario here are five things leaders need to understand about non-verbal communication: Facial expressions: - indicates basic human emotions, joy, anger, disgust, and fear.

They are instinctive and universal. However, in some cultures, people disguise their emotions by adopting an expression that hides their true feelings. For example, the customer service personnel beaming with a smile may not necessarily be happy to meet new customers.

Eye contact: - most cultures have different conventions about eye contact depending on their status, age, and gender. Africans believe eye contact conveys either anger or insubordination. In Western countries, moderate eye contact in a conversation communicates interest and friendliness. However, excessive eye contact may be considered rude, and a lack of eye contact as hostile.

Gestures: - Hand and arm movements

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Toye Sobande

are often used as physical accompaniments to words, to supplement them, or to provide a visual illustration. Often gestures are meaningless without words, but other gestures have established meanings. While pointing may be to indicate direction, it may be an accusation or warning in some part of Africa.

Physical proximity or conversational distance: - This varies according to the gender, age, or authority level of the other person and, more importantly, the cultural inclination of the person. Greeks are known to be touchy and stand close in a conversation.

The tone of voice: - a tone of voice is an expression of a person’s values and way of thinking, and it cannot be considered lightly.

The tone of a leader’s voice when speaking can instigate hurt feelings, or even an argument, the wrong tone of voice can be a put-off.

In conclusion, in all non-verbal communication areas, a leader must have the ability to observe others’ behavior, be mindful of it, and be skilled at modifying his behavior to lead effectively and inspire people across cultures.

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

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Editorial Publisher/Editor-in-chief

Frank Aigbogun

Time to pluck low-hanging fruit to spur economic recovery in Nigeria

editor Patrick Atuanya

It is imperative to reopen land borders and support MSMEs

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

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South) Ignatius Chukwu

I

t is no more news that the Nigerian economy is on the brink of another recession in four years. The economic growth of Africa’s most populous nation contracted by 6.10 percent (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2020, ending a three-year trend of slow but positive real growth since the 2016/17 recession, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The raison d’etre for the crash is COVID-19, which, like wildfire, has spread across the world, carrying with it baggage laden with economic and health deactivatives.

Negative economic growth has hit many developed economies since COVID-19. The UK economy shrank by 20 percent in April due to lockdown measures, according to the UK Office of Statistics. The United States gross domestic product (GDP) dipped by 9.5 percent in the second quarter from the first. Jobless claims for the week ended August 18 surpassed 1 million in the US. Similarly, the eurozone economy slumped by 12.1 percent in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the previous one, said Eurostat, with hundreds of thousands out of work.

Indubitably, the virus has destroyed lives, disrupted global supply chains, eroded wealth and done incalculable damage to consumers and the poorest of the poor.

However, many of the countries mentioned have taken considerably significant measures to mitigate the impact of the virus.

From late March to April, the Federal Reserve of the US pumped $2.3 trillion into the economy.

President Donald Trump in late April signed a $484 billion package to help small businesses, hospitals and first responders. The UK, also, paid employers a £1,000 bonus for bringing back any employee furloughed, and provided a “Eat Out to Help Out” discount of 50 percent for meals eaten by citizens between Monday and Wednesday. This was meant to help the citizens, but more so to boost the recovery of restaurants hit by extended lockdowns.

The government removed stamp duty tax on transactions of less than £125,000 and created £2 billion pound Green Homes Grant. In July, the U.K. government announced $38 billion in fresh stimulus to boost the country’s economy as it gradually exited lockdown. The eurozone, on its part, began a bond-buying programme valued at €1.35tn. Countries within the bloc likewise came up

with tens of other measures to boost their economies.

Nigeria cannot afford the humongous amounts voted by advanced countries in a bid to steer recovery.

However, there are low-hanging fruit the country can pluck to steer recovery or exit the impending recession early enough.

First, the FG must open the Nigeria-Benin Republic border. Border closure has done incalculable damage to the economy—even though a few rice farmers may be smiling to the bank. In the first quarter of the year when COVID-19 had no impact on economic outcomes, for example, trade’s contribution to GDP was 16.87 percent, lower than the 17.07 percent it accounted for in the previous year. For manufacturing, real GDP growth in Q1 was 0.81 percent.

In terms of its contribution, the sector accounted for 9.80 percent of real GDP, lower than the 9.91 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2018. This was inevitable because a number of manufacturers could not import inputs from West and Central Africa after the border closure in August 2019, and many have not been able to export to the region. Many exporters who spoke with BusinessDay said they have shut down their export operations. This is bad for an FX-starved economy. Nigeria

earned $823.06 million (N296.3 billion) from export to ECOWAS countries and $2.72 billion (N978.21 billion) from shipping out products to Africa in the first quarter of 2020, according to the NBS. This is no longer possible as long as the busiest border remains closed.

More so, the Federal Government must provide support for MSMEs which make up over 95 percent of businesses in the country. MSMEs contribute 50 percent to Nigeria’s GDP and accounts for 86.3 percent of jobs (59.6 million jobs in 2017), according to a report by the NBS and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

This sector needs easy financial access, better infrastructure and good policies to thrive and create jobs amid the coming adversity.

Financial incentives and packages, as other nations have done, will help to prevent closures and further job losses. Again, there is a need for state governments to reduce multiple taxes and levies, while also making investment-friendly laws and policies. Furthermore, the Federal Government must also take steps to remove bottlenecks that cause delays at Lagos ports, while also addressing traffic gridlocks along the access roads.

HEAD, HUMAN RESOURCES Adeola Obisesan

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

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS Executive Intervention Consult set to drive business, investment growth in Nigeria AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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etermined to turnaround Medium and Large Scale Enterprises in Nigeria, the Executive Intervention Consult (EIC), a consulting firm, has launched into the intervention space of business consulting in Nigeria, with the aim of ending the high rate of business failure in Nigeria and the entire West African region.

Executive Intervention Consult, which aims to make underperforming businesses its primary focus, will also provide support for organisations interested in buying investment assets such as investment institutions, portfolio managers, asset, and fund managers among others.

EIC also aims at improving operational efficiency,

delivering profitability, sustainability and getting underperforming businesses back to their full potential.

Speaking at the media launch in Lagos on Wednesday, Leke Olufade, lead consultant of EIC, pointed out the need for executive competence in business, lack of which has been the bane of business sustainability.

According to him, businesses fail not due to lack of resources, market or innovative ideas but due to absence of managerial excellence at the top called executive skill.

“EIC is taking the bold step to reverse this narrative by providing executive management skills and competences to organisations and businesses by supporting them to achieve their objective and satisfy their stakeholders,” Olufade said.

Olufade listed the unique service offering of the firm to

include unlocking business potentials through executive leasing, executive manpower design and development, due diligence and execution roadmap, corporate business performance and other value added service offerings.

Earlier in his welcome, Joe Dada, principal consultant, reinstated the timeliness of the launch, stating that the firm was specially positioned to turnaround targeted businesses through direct professional and expert intervention.

“We are aware of the current economic challenges in Nigeria which has been further exacerbated by the outbreak of COVID -19 pandemic, and its unfolding negative impact on businesses. Therefore, there is no better time than now to support businesses to revive and reverse their losses with a view to delivering

operational efficiency, profitability and sustainability,” Dada said.

He stated that EIC is poised to providing effective executive support services leveraging on people, process and technology going by the cream of its experienced professionals, who have acquired executive competences through exposures in the leading corporate culture in Nigeria.

He added that EIC management team know what c o r p o rate p e r f o r ma n c e means and can therefore help to unlock it in any situation including those in troubled businesses having spent years in the corporate world.

He however expressed the firm’s readiness to interact with the business world in the next few months on this initiative through various platforms and planned activities in reaching out.

L-R: Joe Dada, principal consultant of Executive Intervention Consult; Leke Olufade, lead consultant, and Deji Alonge, associate consultant at the media launch of Executive Intervention Consult (EIC) in Lagos, Wednesday.

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Shell employees launch N82m free feeding programme at isolation centres OLUSOLA BELLO

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mployees of Shell companies in Niger ia have launched free f e e d i n g p ro g ra m m e i n COVID-19 isolation centres in seven states under the Shell Employee Care Programme, the General Manager External Relations of Shell Nigeria, Igo Weli, said in a statement issued on Sunday.

“The programme has kicked off in Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo, Lagos, Ogun and Rivers and it is a further demonstration of care to the people following the numerous intervention programmes by Shell companies in Nigeria particularly in support of government at all levels in the fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic,” Weli said.

The feeding programme, according to Weli, was being funded from personal donations by staff and contractors of the AngloDutch integrated energy giant, the total amount of which was matched by the companies to make up the N82.6million for the programme.

T h e p ro g ra m m e d e liver y strategy involves a collaboration with the state governments, nongovernment organisations and certified caterers to provide freshly cooked meals daily to patients and healthcare workers at the isolation centres.

Head of Clinical Servic-

es at the Bayelsa State Isolation Centre in Yenagoa, Dr James Omietimi, who oversees the distribution of the meals said, “I eat the lunch provided and the nutritional value is good because of the variety. I can tell you it’s tasty and meals have been coming in daily.”

So far, this intervention has provided over 31,000 meals to the isolation centres with plans to scale up to 54,000.

Shell companies in Nigeria had earlier donated ambulances, testing machines and kits, medical consumables and personal protection equipment to Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Rivers states to help in the fight against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2012 and 2018, staff and contractors of Shell companies in Nigeria had also made personal cash donation to provide succor to victims impacted by the unprecedented flood and Internally Displaced Persons humanitarian crises in the Niger Delta, Kogi and Anambra St at e s, a n d No r t h E a s t of Nigeria, as part of the Shell Employees Care scheme.

Shell companies in Nigeria comprise The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC); Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo); and Shell Nigeria Gas

Cornerstone Insurance capitalise’s share premium, give bonus to shareholders MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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n t h e b i d t o w a rd s meeting the recapitalization requirement for players in the nation’s insurance industry, Cornerstone Insurance Plc has capitalised the sum of N1.718 billion from its share premium account to give shareholders a bonus of 7 new shares for every 30 shares held in the Company.

This is as the Company has also increased its authorized share capital from N7.5 billion to N9.25 billion by the creation of additional 3.5 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to rank with existing shares of

the company.

These were some major approvals secured by the Board during its 28th Annual General Meeting held in Lagos, in compliance with Covid-19 specifications.

Segun Adebanji, group chairman of Cornerstone Insurance Plc said the above resolutions were in line with the Company’s roadmap to meeting the industry’s recapitalization requirement, as well as to position the firm for more competitiveness.

Looking at the Company’s financials for the year ended 31st December 2019; gross premium written grew by 13 percent from N11.57 billion in 2018 to

N13.058 billion in the review year.

Adebanji said premiums from life insurance accounted for 32.5 percent of Gross Premium Written, an increase from 25 percent in the previous year.

He said the largest contributors to General Business Gross Premium Written were Bond, Engineering & Accident (N2.12 billion), Oil & Gas (N2.04 billion) and Motor (N1.36 billion).

Cornerstone during the same period recorded a profit before tax of N4.o13 billion, a 22 percent increase from N3.284 billion in 2018, while profit after tax stood at 4.108 billion, a 36 percent increase from

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N3.017 billion.

According to him, investment portfolios yielded positive performance figures driven mainly by trading activities on the NSE, fixed income securities and the profit from continuing operation of a joint venture ar ising mainly from the gain on disposal of investment property.

Shareholders who spoke at the meeting including Timothy Adesiyan, president of the Nigerian Shareholders Solidarity Association, and Adeleke Oladimeji of Dedicated Shareholders Association commended the board and management for turning

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around the company on the path of growth.

They pleaded with the board to ensure the brand name ‘Cornerstone’ stands post recapitalization.

Adebanji also assured the shareholders, that the Board of Directors and Management of Cornerstone have taken a number of steps towards minimizing any adverse effects that may result from the slump in economic activity during to covid-19 and other factors.

“We have built extensive scenario planning models that ensure that our operating expense profile is aligned with revenue expectations, whatever the @Businessdayng

financial impact of the pandemic. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that shareholder value is not eroded.”

Ganiyu Musa, group managing director/CEO of the company explained that during the year, the Company received an approval in principle from NAICOM to start composite Takaful Insurance, stating that Cornerstone Takaful Insurance Company Limited will thus be a subsidiary focused on selling both family and general Takaful products in Nigeria.

He said this is expected will see an increased contribution to the Group’s revenue and profitability in the coming years.

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS The Companies and Allied Matters Act NEPZA commends LADOL for attracting agric, health firms to its free zone 2020 - what you need to know AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

Part 4 – share buy back and treasury shares UDO UDOMA & BELO-OSAGIE

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he Companies and Allied Matters Act (Chapter C20) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 (“CAMA 1990”) was initially made law in Nigeria in 1990 as a decree of the military government. For thirty years, there were no significant amendments to the CAMA 1990 and so Nigerian companies had to, essentially, rely on a 30-year old law to govern the way businesses operate in our dynamic and evolving global community.

However, this all changed on Friday the 7th of August 2020, when President Muhammadu Buhari gave his assent to the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 (“CAMA 2020”).

In the course of a 12-part series, Udo Udoma & BeloOsagie will provide a review of the provisions of the CAMA 2020, highlighting changes that have been introduced into the body of Nigerian company law by this groundbreaking legislation.

Share buy back A share buyback is a process by which a company acquires some of its issued shares from existing holders, thereby reducing the number of shares in issue and enhancing the value of the shares that remain outstanding after the share buyback process.

Under the CAMA 1990, companies were prohibited from acquiring their own shares, and were only permitted to do so in limited circumstances, such as eliminating fractional shares and complying with a court order.

The CAMA 2020 now permits a company to purchase its shares and sets out the requirements for doing so. The effect of this change is that public and private companies now have the option of repurchasing their issued shares provided certain conditions are fulfilled.

Conditions for a Share Buy-Back Sections 184 – 187 of the CAMA 2020 set out the law in relation to the purchase by a company of its own shares.

Under the CAMA 2020, a company can buy back its own shares provided that certain conditions are met: •The articles of the company must permit it; •The shareholders of the company must pass a special resolution authorising the share buy-back; •The shares to be purchased must be fully paid up; •The shares can only be paid for by the company from its distributable profits; •The company must publish the share buy back in two national newspapers within

seven days after passing the special resolution and creditors or aggrieved shareholders will be entitled to file an action in court to cancel the resolution within six weeks of the newspaper publications; •The directors must file a declaration of solvency at the CAC within 15 (fifteen) days of the newspaper publications; and •A company may not purchase its shares if as a result of the purchase, there would no longer be any issued shares of the company other than redeemable shares or treasury shares.

How to execute a share buy back Pursuant to section 186 of the CAMA 2020, a company may buy back its shares in a number of ways – (1) from shareholders or security holders (on a proportionate basis); (2) from shareholders pursuant to a scheme of arrangement that is sanctioned by the court; (3) from the open market; or (4) from its employee stock option scheme or any other similar scheme.

Treasury shares The CAMA 1990 did not specifically provide for treasury shares, except for a reference in the Second Schedule (Format of Balance Sheets).

The position of Nigerian company law regarding treasury shares, and the rules governing them, therefore, required greater clarity. Treasury shares are now recognised and provided for in the CAMA 2020.

What are they? Treasury shares are previously issued shares of the company that the company acquires.

A company may not hold more than 15% of its issued shares as treasury shares.

Where a company buys back more than 15% of its issued share capital, the company must, within 12 months, dispose of any shares above the 15% threshold. The company can achieve this by reissuing the shares, cancelling the shares or reissuing or cancelling such number of shares as would bring the company’s treasury shareholding to the 15% threshold.

What can the company do with Treasury Shares?

A company may: (a) sell its treasury shares www.businessday.ng

to any person for cash; (b) transfer them to its share option scheme; or (c) cancel the shares.

A cancellation of a company’s shares will result in a reduction in share capital of the company.

Features of Treasury Shares: •They are not entitled to dividends or any other distribution (whether in cash or otherwise) of the company’s assets (including any distribution of assets to members on a winding up); •They do not confer a right to attend general meetings; and •They do not confer a right to vote.

Where a company allots bonus shares to its members, however, treasury shares are also entitled to bonus shares.

Subsidiaries holding shares in parent company Section 190 of the CAMA permits subsidiaries to hold shares in parent companies.

In summary: •company which is a subsidiary may acquire shares in its holding company where the subsidiary company is concerned as personal representative or trustee; •a subsidiary may hold shares in a parent company but shall have no right to vote at meetings of the parent company and shall not acquire any future shares in it except on a rights issue; and •where a public company, or a nominee of a public company, acquires shares in the company, and those shares are shown in a balance sheet of the company as an asset, an amount equal to the value of the shares shall be transferred out of profits available for dividend to a reserve fund and shall not be available for distribution.

This series was produced

by Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice and does not purport to be fully comprehensive. If you have any questions or require any assistance or clarification on how the subject of this guidance note applies to your business, or require any company secretarial or business establishment services, please contact us at uubo@uubo.org

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desoji Adesugba, managing director of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), has commended the L ADOL Free Zone for attracting agricultural processing and healthcare companies into the Zone.

Speaking during an official tour of the zone recently with the top management team, Adesugba also expressed support for LADOL especially for its recent expansion as well as partnerships with international companies such as Mammoet.

He stated that LADOL’s development of infrastructure and facilities for logistics, now being expanded to support a wide range of industries, is both strategic for the company and for Nigeria.

“More than 1 billion dollar is spent by Nigerians going abroad for medical tourism every year and that is an opportunity for us to attract very good investment in this

sector and to get the hospital to come very close to us in Nigeria by using the Free Zone strategy. This is one area we would be very happy to work with LADOL in promoting. I am happy that you are thinking in the direction of attracting agriculture into the Free Zone,” he said.

He further explained that he assumed the leadership position of the agency at a time when COVID-19 pandemic was ravaging the world, necessitating a holistic strategy towards medical tourism.

In agriculture, Adesugba commended LADOL initiative in setting up more cold store facilities, which he suggested could also serve the fishing industry in Nigeria and create opportunity for private sector owing to the significant amount of fish Nigerians consume annually.

He reiterated the importance of maintaining a harmonious, seamless working relationship between NEPZA and its sister agencies in Free Zones, adding that such harmony will ensure that Free

Zones can contribute significantly to Nigeria’s economic growth and meet government objectives of encouraging industrialisation.

“Strengthening of the NEPZA Free Zone scheme will make Nigerian industries highly competitive, especially in the light of the recently signed Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement. Nigeria as country was committed to industrialisation and ensuring that finished goods are not dumped in the country.

Therefore, industrial and logistics developments such as LADOL are critical to this,” he said.

Amy Jadesimi, managing director of L ADOL, who noted that Adesugba was more than qualified to take NEPZA to the next level, expressed gratitude on behalf of the board, staff and management for the visit.

She assured that LADOL would continue the developments in the Free Zone in order to achieve the mission and vision of making Nigeria the industrial hub for Africa.

First Bank, Baba Ijebu others named sponsors of ‘The Voice Nigeria’ season 3 talent show MICHAEL ANI

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orld’s leading international talent show, The Voice Nigeria is back with its third instalment of the show. This season of the show is sponsored by First Bank, Baba Ijebu and many others.

The show will be fully produced in Nigeria and it promises to be bigger, better and even more authentic than ever before.

The show is expected to attract and help unleash the brightest of Nigerian musical talents for the global stage as the country’s music industry continues to enjoy international attention. This season of the show will be produced in partnership with television giant from the UK, ITV, international record label, Universal Music UK and in partnership with YouTube.

Speaking on the Sponsorship, the Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria, Adesola Adeduntan (FCA) noted that, “For over 126 years, First Bank of Nigeria has been at the forefront of nationbuilding, supplying through resourceful partnerships to build Nigeria’s creative industry value chain which has over the years played a critical role in influencing the growth

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of Africa’s art and culture and indeed a major contributor to Nigeria’s GDP,”.

“The creative industry contribution to GDP is put at 2.3 per cent, the Nigerian music industry’s significant part of art & entertainment and recreation grew by 9 per cent in 2016 to reach a value of $39 million and is projected to grow by 13.4 per cent by 2021.”

“First Bank support for The Voice Nigeria is a demonstration of the bank’s commitment to contributing to the projected revenue of $86 million by 2021 from the Nigerian music industry aimed at promoting a diversified economy in line with the federal government of Nigeria’s economic diversification policy,” Adeduntan said.

This year, contestants can look forward to big names as coaches who will help unleash the hidden talents in them. The coaches for this season’s The Voice includes the first time coaches Darey, and Falz, as well as return coaches, Waje, and Yemi Alade. Each of these award-winning artists boasts a successful music career across different genres, and they will be bringing to the table a wealth of experience in making excellent music, becoming a superb performing artist, and connecting with people, especially Nigerians, @Businessdayng

through art.

Commenting on the opportunities the show provides, the executive director in charge of operations, Premier Lotto, promoters of Baba Ijebu, Adebisi Adebutu said, as a brand that is committed to promoting a vibrant society, it is proud to be sponsoring The Voice, Season 3.

“We believe that music is an integral part of the African heritage and that is why we have partnered with the number one music reality TV show in the world to provide a platform for the best of talents in Nigeria to shine. For us, this is a unique opportunity to provide global exposure for the laudable achievements and tremendous potential in the Nigerian entertainment industry. We are, therefore, excited about this season of The Voice and our goal is to ensure that everyone is a champion. Talents, viewers, and game lovers are in for an amazing season with many opportunities to come out on top” Expressing his delight over the show, the Managing Director, Un1ty Limited and executive producer, The Voice Nigeria, Akin Salami stated, “We are excited to kick off The Voice, Season Three, especially at a time like this when there is a growing appreciation for African music.

Friday 28 August 2020

News

BUSINESS DAY

Products Review

Technology Review

Personality Review

Company Review

15

FINTECH

Three things we learnt from Flutterwave on card payment processing FRANK ELEANYA

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here is a whole lot more that goes on that is not seen by a shopper from the moment he or she authorises a payment using a Point of Sale (POS) or uses a card to pay online to a merchant. It is called the payment card process and over the weekend, Flutterwave, one of the major payment processing companies in Nigeria, attempted to clarify the process.

Flutterwave collects money from over 170,000 merchants many of which are in Nigeria.

And while it may not keep the collected monies because that is legally the exclusive reserve of financial institutions like banks, Flutterwave is an important player in the payment value chain.

Recently, clients on the company’s platform took to social media to complain that they were being debited multiple times. One client even threatened legal action.

In a later response, Flutterwave said the problem originated from the technology provider of one of its bank partners. Left unaddressed, clients started receiving multiple debit alerts for previous transactions. While some clients said it was not the first time the issue has happened, Flutterwave said it has resolved the multiple debit issue and its

bank partner has commenced the refund of funds.

In a post on its website, Flutterwave explained the multiple ways a payment could go wrong. Below are three things we learnt from the post.

Merchants don’t get it easy The majority of the POS transactions and online transactions often go smoothly for shoppers at least. For instance, data from the Nigerian Interbank Settlement Exchange (NIBSS) show that about 90 percent of POS transactions on a daily basis is without hitches.

But this is not often the case with merchants.

Flutterwave is primarily a business-to-business (B2B)

payment firm, which is why nearly all its clients are mainly merchants.

In its post, Flutterwave explains the two sides to every payment, the customers making payment and the merchants receiving the payment.

Every card issued to a customer is connected to a bank account. That makes the bank the card issuer. However, the bank got the card from a card scheme such as Mastercard, Visa, and Discover Global Network. Card schemes manage the cards issued on their network globally.

The merchants’ side of payment is actually the more complicated as it involves so many hoops that must be com-

pleted before the transaction is deemed successful and completed. The hoops ultimately end up with another bank. This could take more than 24 hours in many cases.

The middlemen The number of hoops to jump could range from the visible to the invisible players. For instance, while banks, card schemes and payment processors are visible on the chain, internet providers and technology providers are invisible but still a very important part of the chain.

The POS for instance is issued by banks but they need a technology provider to keep it working optimally, the same

goes with most of the infrastructure that ought to keep the process seamless.

Banks hold the ace in payment Every strand of the payment process ultimately requires a bank sign-off to be successful.

When a customer approves a payment at a retail shop, he or she is actually telling a bank - not Flutterwave, or any other fintech firm - to credit the retailer’s bank account. The retailer’s account is domiciled in a bank.

Anything can go wrong between both banks involved.

First approvals are still heavily dependent on bank staff -. As Flutterwave noted, if the pay-

ment processor’s bank partner (acquirer) fails to send the instruction to debit your account when they should, you might get a late debit.

Also if due to some technical error or some other reason, the payment processor’s bank partner (acquirer) sends the instruction to your bank to debit your account twice, you will get a double debit even though you only paid once.

Finally, Flutterwave also points out that the bank partner’s decision to outsource the process to a company that’s known for switching with a backlog of requests from other acquiring banks could lead to mistakes when you are trying to ask your bank to debit you and that can result in a double debit.

NIBSS daily monitoring of POS transactions shows that apart from customers’ error, acquirer bank error is the second most likely reason a transaction was not successful. Processor errors and issuer bank errors are the third and fourth most likely cause of the transaction failure.

“When we say the world of payments is built on partnerships, we really do mean it.

We, as a payment processing company, are able to plug into the different payment methods and wallets on behalf of our merchants, receive payments, send to our acquiring bank and then settle our merchants,” Flutterwave noted.

POS transaction volume hits seven months high as COVID-19 fear eases in Nigeria FRANK ELEANYA

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he volume of point of sale transactions rose to 53,904.36 in July to N416 billion in value, the first time since March when it recorded 52,249.019 (N368 billion in value) and January when it was at 41,305.04.

The data released by Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) in August also means more than 13,000 transactions gained between April, when it suddenly dropped to 40,859, and July.

The COVID-19 pandemic had contributed to the drop in volume as shown by the numbers in March. Although the volume dropped in January 2020, from a December peak of 46,138.23, the volume regained some of

the losses in February and March.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic was declared forcing the government to shut

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down economic activities and movement. As a result shops and malls were adversely affected as customers stayed home. Most of the

economic activities were conducted online. But they were not so significant as to sustain the growth momentum built from January

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to March. Hence, the transaction volume dropped by almost 12,000.

The month of May saw some gains made as the government indicated willingness to ease the lockdown it had imposed in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja. However, it was also in May that data from NIBSS showed that the rate of transaction failures were on a steady rise as pressure from online buyers overwhelmed the payment system. The data showed that transaction failures rose to 15.31 percent between 2 and 8 May the week COVID-19 lockdown was eased.

During the lockdown the Central Bank of Nigeria had urged the banking public to make use of digital payment channels such as mobile banking, internet banking, @Businessdayng

mobile money, POS, and USSD even as banks were expected to run skeletal services. The CBN governor had promised that efforts would be made to ensure seamless transactions throughout the lockdown, but this was not to be.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) in a statement it issued on 22 April, said it has received a lot of complaints from consumers on issues bordering on failed electronic banking transactions within the period of lockdown.

Apart from growth in volume of transactions, the number of POS terminals also grew to 548,592 registered representing over 23,000 terminals added from the previous month.

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

INTERVIEWs on COVID HEROES Covid Heroes is produced by BusinessDay in alliance with the African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) with a mission to increase the flow of private sector capital into social investments across Africa, in a move to quickly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In keeping with its mission, AVPA invited C-Suite leaders within the private sector, foundations and government to participate in sharing their efforts to contribute towards combating coronavirus and its impact. The following interviews are examples of social impact being done in Lagos and across Nigeria by organisations on the platform.

How we funded solar installations for emergency health facilities - CEO of All On Wiebe Boer is the CEO of All On, a Nigerian off-grid energy investment company seeded by Shell. He has served on a variety of corporate and public sector boards across Africa and is also a widely published author and speaker. Boer earned a PhD and two Masters’ degrees from Yale University and a Bachelor’s degree from Calvin University, all in history. In this interview, he explains how All On funded installation of solar systems, which guarantees a sense of relief for those operating health facilities. Excerpt:

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hat’s the detailed practicality of your service and what is your motivation for wanting to support COVID-19 relief efforts?

It was just a matter of time until COVID-19 would arrive in Nigeria and have detrimental consequences, so we realised that we needed to prepare for it and take action.

All On wanted to create an initiative that works effectively within our sector. We created a fund of N180 million to fund solar installations at emergency health facilities to ensure that they would have the steady power they need. This would also help our investees receive revenue and increase their profiles at a time when income might be drying up as a result of the dwindling of contracts, and ultimately, people would realise that solar is a very important product to use at a time like this, especially when you need business continuity and when supply chains are breaking down. We picked four of our companies to invest in: Arnergy, Auxano, GVE and Lumos. These companies have a large operational footprint and inventory of equipment that is already in the market and can be deployed quickly to different locations. All On went through a grant process and gave each of them grants for them to deploy their equipment. It is basically a grant process and it

is the investees that do all the operational work.

What is the scope of your overall solution?

Ultimately every initiative in the COVID-19 response is reaching the people who are ill and need treatment immediately in these specialised centres. Our investees are the ones who receive the money; the hospitals, isolation centres and the NGOs working with them receive the equipment and benefit from the solar power. In the end, power is to enable healthcare workers to treat and heal people.

Does the CSR Fund address the most vulnerable in our community?

The most vulnerable and at-risk people in our society are those living in high density, low-income areas in cities like Lagos. They work day-to-day for their daily income and sustenance. However, most of the early patients in Nigeria were those who had the means to travel or were connected to people who travelled abroad. These people are probably not the most vulnerable in terms of socioeconomic status; however, having COVID-19 is still a form of vulnerability.

The initiative we implemented is currently assisting in situations where people have tested positive for the virus, are currently ill and are being treated in health facilities.

The concern is that numbers will rise as the virus is now in the community. When it gets to low-income areas, it will become potentially explosive, these are the people who, if they become ill, will now be the beneficiaries.

Are your efforts scalable and replicable?

Definitely. By implementing the CSR Fund

initiative we were able to set up a model that is both practical and pragmatic. Several organisations have followed our lead: The USADF has launched the same initiative, which is funding the installation of solar on health facilities for their portfolio companies across Africa. The Rural Electrification Agency in Nigeria has also just commissioned four solar grid installations in medical care centres in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun States.

The World Bank sent out a survey for any solar operator who has inventory, operational capacities, etc., to register so that they can be picked to install solar panels on health facilities. Therefore, from small to large institutions, All On has set the pace for them; we acted quickly, created a name that could take-off, and used a practical approach that set in motion other initiatives.

The installation of solar systems guarantees a sense of relief for those operating these health facilities from relying on generators, especially during these times where diesel distribution could become problematic. Many of those doing this are already in the energy space, but external donors could also look at companies such as All On to give money to as a way to further the impact.

Our initiatives are scalable and replicable and the results are immediately observable.

Who are your key collaborators and how do they fit into your network and goals?

Our four main investees for these projects are Arnergy, Auxano, GVE and Lumos. We have a port-

We are aiming to provide one million meals for vulnerable Nigerians Kola Masha is the MD and co-founder of Babban Gona, a social enterprise that serves a network of smallholder farmers in Nigeria with a model created to attract youth. He is also the founder of GiveFood.ng, an emergency food relief coalition platform that is aiming to provide one million meals for vulnerable Nigerians every week. Masha holds an MBA from Harvard and Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this interview, he explains how GiveFood platform tracks and moves food to people at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid. Excerpt:

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hat’s the detailed practicality of your service and what was the motivation for wanting to support COVID-19 relief efforts?

Babban Gona has always focused on creating scalable and financially sustainable solutions that can rapidly impact those in need. We began with the singular goal of providing for about 10 million young people, predominantly at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid, with a viable economic opportunity by 2030. A few weeks after COVID-19 emerged, we recognized that there was an issue around access to food for millions of Nigerians who earn a daily wage. Therefore, we worked on solving this problem and within about 72 hours, we were able to go from a concept to the fully-functioning platform called GiveFood. They basically track and moves food to people at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid. We had an incredible group of partners that came on board right away to build a robust coalition and create an infrastructure that could move a million meals per week to thousands of individuals.

What is the scope of your overall solution?

We needed a solution that could operate at scale quickly in a financially sustainable manner using existing supply chains, and to have a large group of supporters financially chip in just a little bit but adding up to a significant amount. We also wanted a solution that would respect social distancing and ensure that both giving and receiving individuals, could do so safely and conveniently. We worked to create a system that is more efficient than cash, to ensure that givers could send money and recipients would receive the exact amount but would get more than the value in products.

Through Givefood.ng, you can easily log on and transfer money unto the account.

The money is credited as weeks of food packs and the giver can distribute the food packs safely and conveniently to those in need. The recipient can redeem the food packs, which are provided using a token number, by validating the token instantaneously at a supermarket or provision shop and collect the pre-packaged packs.

If you don’t have any beneficiaries to give to directly, you can give to various volunteer organisations by selecting a specific

communities and how do they learn more about GiveFood?

We cover about 80percent of all local governments in Lagos and well over 95% of the population, so we are in many of these communities that are struggling the most. We have a dedicated team of volunteers that go out, identify and screen these individuals and bring them on to the platform.

We have a network of about 150 supermarket partners that continues to grow. Our end goal is to have thousands of supermarkets as we expand across the country. We are also operating in small provision shops, which is how we expect to cover thousands of these places where there is a very high density of shops where people can go and redeem these tokens. According to our data, the vast majority of food that has been redistributed has been in these communities that are most at risk.

Are your efforts scalable and replicable?

Yes, they are. One of our coalition partners that work globally has expressed interest in scaling this across Africa. We have offered to open-source all the technology that we use, our systems and structures, how we built the coalition etc., and we would be more than happy to support a GiveFood in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda etc., and enable similar coalitions to do good in their respective contexts.

How do you reach individuals living There is a tremendous amount of need on the in very low-income, high-density continent and this model is exceptionally scalable. community that you care about or you can select a particular volunteer organisation you want to support. In our first 24 hours, we donated food of about 10,000 meals, in our first week over 100,000 meals, and we are on track to getting to about one million meals per week.

Friday 28 August 2020

folio of 21 investees but we had to limit those we could help fund, meaning that 17 companies are not part of this particular initiative. There was some disappointment, but they have been encouraged to seek out similar business opportunities with funding from other donors. The other partners of this initiative are the NGOs that each of our funded investees worked with to set up these facilities.

Auxano worked with Fate Foundation for the installation of the solar grid system at the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Igbobi-Lagos. Arnergy installed the second grid system in partnership with the Co-Creation Hub at a testing centre at the National Institute of Medical Research. Other organisations such as The Rotary Club and The Stakeholder Democracy Network are also partnering on this and are helping in various cities in the country. There are several NGOs that are intermediaries between these companies All On is funding and the institutions they are working with because most of these facilities are government facilities.

What kind of support do you need for your efforts?

Some of the key institutions working on solar projects are either following our lead or undertaking different variations of it. So, one of the things that partners of networks that have initiatives that are preparing medical facilities for COVID-19 response and are in need of power can do is reach out to us to connect them to our investee companies.

If we are unable to fund that specific initiative, we could connect them to others that are willing and able to fund those installations. Secondly, share the news on what our investees are doing because that helps build their business and keeps them operational during this difficult time. Thirdly, spread the word so that bigger companies can do more.

All On wants to show that this work is ready and instant. Hopefully this will get others to respond in a similar manner.

All On announced a moratorium on all Q2 2020 loan interest payments on current interest-bearing investments on the 15th of April. The beneficiaries of the postponement include All On investees across Nigeria. The AFDB President, Akinwumi Adesina, commented on the debt payment deferment: “I am pleased to see that All On is taking my recommendation to avoid fiscal distancing seriously and has deferred debt payments for its investees across Nigeria. This is an example for other impact investors across Africa to follow.”

BUSINESS DAY

We are providing 24hrs virtual services for people living with chronic disease - head of Programmes at mDoc Kendra Njoku is a medical doctor and public health professional with experience in global health both at the local and international frontiers.

She is the Quality Lead/Head of Programmes at mDoc, a digital health company focused on sub-Saharan Africa which provides people living with chronic disease with 24/7 access to integrated care support through a network of providers via mobile and web platforms. She has an MScPH from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is a Fellow of the International Society of Quality (ISQua) and serves as an Improvement Advisor/ Faculty for Institute for Healthcare Improvement. In this interview, she explains how her initiatives are providing virtual training and self-guidance to help safeguard patients who do not need to be physically present in the hospital.Excerpt:

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hat’s the detailed practicality of your service and what is your motivation for wanting to support COVID-19 relief efforts?

The motivation to respond to COVID-19 is rooted in the fact that our strategy is driven by meeting the needs of the population we serve. mDoc already has its roots and initiatives in the community but we amplified our services towards COVID-19 relief efforts.

Three of the services that we already offer are NaviHealth.ai, CompleteHealth and a Capacity Building Network. NaviHealth.ai is an online directory that assists individuals across the continent in accessing the nearest health facility or specialist closest to them after entering their location. CompleteHealth is a virtual platform that offers 24/7 access to health coaches and specialists that use a multi-disciplinary team approach to give self-care guidance and healthy lifestyle modifications. Capacity Building Network enables mDoc to conduct in-person and virtual training sessions.

We also use the Project ECHO platform to cut across the boundaries to provide capacity building across Africa from the comfort of our different locations. Project ECHO helps us train healthcare workers that are providing quality care to better manage their patients according to healthcare guidelines. The virtual training and selfguidance through this platform help keep

What kind of support do you need for your efforts?

We created a unique model where the everyday Nigerian can donate to somebody in a way that is more efficient than cash. The two biggest kinds of support we need and are receiving are building awareness and sponsorship. Our coalition

they can do to protect themselves and what to do if they do get the virus. With the advent of COVID-19, we have made our monthly ECHO sessions biweekly for healthcare workers to address COVID-19 related topics such as the impact COVID has on pregnancy, hypertension etc. We discuss the latest updates on the virus, burst all the myths and fake news and give relief efforts to healthcare workers.

patients who do not need to be physically in the hospital out and safe at home. All these services ensure that individuals are receiving the best kind of care from well-trained healthcare workers.

partners come and assist with building awareness. For them it is a non-financial commitment ; they are bringing their talent, resources, and digital media and marketing assets to drive awareness and traffic to Givefood.ng. We have built up a great group of sponsors such as innovative microfinance banks like FCMB, Stanbic IBTC and GB Foods. These sponsors bring financial and other resources to help create an incentive system for people to give on GiveFood. If you go online to GiveFood and donate N10,000, they will match your donation and give an extra 2,000 naira to your cause. It has been an exceptionally rewarding experience because it is one of the most efficient ways to give in this crisis.

What is the scope of your overall solution? mDoc responds to COVID-19 in a few different ways. Through our CompleteHealth Platform, we can cater to people that cannot get to their facility because of lockdown. For example, pregnant women that are unable to attend antenatal care or postnatal care can sign up for telecalls via Project ECHO sessions to speak to dedicated coaches.

COVID-19 is increasing the number of depressed or anxious people, so we also use our teleconsultation services to link individuals struggling with mental health issues with mental health specialists that can provide them with coping mechanisms. We have included COVID-19 specific information on NaviHealth.ai, providing individuals across the continent with details of hotlines to call. We have over 210 COVID-19 hotlines and over 400 testing and isolation centres spread across 39 African countries and this is updated daily by our tech team.

We are also raising funds to assist with the provision of PPEs as the global shortage is evidently exacerbated in Africa, which has caused dire issues for doctors and patients.

We started a fundraising drive called the Mama Delivery Kit. In each of these kits, there is PPE for two health care workers, facemasks for the women to wear during their hospital stay, hand sanitizer and a baby flannel. We are also providing cooked food and other groceries to healthcare workers working in isolation centres and to individuals in vulnerable neighbourhoods.

Once the pandemic gets better and hopefully comes to an end, do you plan on using GiveFood as a permanent coalition?

We built this platform as an emergency food relief system so it will be interesting to see how things evolve, but I do think that there is an opportunity. If there is one good thing about the coronavirus, it will be the recognition that people see the importance of their role in their community and supporting others in their community. On the back of that, there is tremendous opportunity to continue to scale the work of this great coalition.

Do your initiatives address the most vulnerable in our community?

Yes certainly. The focus is really on women and children but through our pan-African services, we are able to reach a wide array of vulnerable individuals. We directly work with vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, women with new-born babies, people living with hypertension, diabetes, cancer, obesity, mental health issues and people from very low socioeconomic backgrounds etc.

We hold teleconsultations and sessions for vulnerable groups and provide infographics and guidelines for them concerning what

every week - CEO of Babban Gona Who are your key collaborators and how do they fit into your network and goals?

All our collaborators play an exceptionally critical role. We have media partners that are dedicating a tremendous amount of time and resources to promote GiveFood. Our food company partners are opening up their entire digital communication and marketing infrastructure to promote GiveFood. They are committed to not only helping us build up the supply chain but ensure that the supply chain is protected if there is a shock in the supply of products. Our financial institution partners have opened up their customer books and have gone out to reach supermarkets across the country to enable us to build a network as far as we have. Our supermarket donors are investing in training their team to implement this initiative. Our generous supermarket partners have rolled out this initiative across every single supermarket they have in Lagos and are putting in more than the value of the package, so we have been able to create exceptional value. It has been a commitment of a robust coalition of partners that grows every single day.

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Are your efforts scalable and replicable?

Yes, they are. One of the gifts of technology is that you can scale it in one way or another.

If you start in Lagos you can scale it across Nigeria and eventually the rest of Africa.

Project ECHO is already being scaled up.

Our efforts are replicable but it is a lot of hard work to properly care for and give 24/7 access to people and also provide enough quality so that what you are doing doesn’t endanger more people.

Who are your key collaborators and how do they fit into your network and goals?

We have a couple of significant partners.

Merck for Mothers has funded several projects for the RICOM3 Project, which is reducing indirect causes of maternal mortality and mobility and some of the classes and coaching sessions that we hold for women has been funded and supported by Merck for Mothers. The University of New Mexico is a key televideo conferencing partner that provides the Project ECHO platform. We are also one of the three African companies selected

by Google to be part of their Start-ups Accelerator for SDGs They are helping us enhance and improve our technology platforms and the services we render while delivering care to the most vulnerable groups that we serve.

Ashoka’s Making More Health Accelerator initiative, an initiative that assembles the best experience in social innovation and global healthcare to improve health-care access for people, has helped us think critically about improving and scaling up our strategies and services. AACE Foods assists in delivering food items to vulnerable groups and health workers who are the frontline heroes of this COVID fight. USAID has also been working with us and providing technical assistance that is helping us optimise and improve our organisational capacity.

What kind of support do you need for your efforts?

The gap is huge so as much funding and crowdsourcing as we can get from the public would be appreciated. One way would be having organisations like AVPA help disseminate the guidelines of our infographics. This ensures that it is getting into the right hands and that all the myths and fake news can be busted. We want more people to sign up on our website as our free teleconsultations will help as many people as possible. Donating to our PPE and Mama Delivery Kit fund drives is also crucial. This all assists in reducing the impact and the spread of COVID-19. mDoc is a very accountable company, so every dollar we get we account for it. You will receive an email stating the amount that has been donated, where the funds are going to, etc., so you can see exactly where your money is going.

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

interview Due diligence and verification of domestic staff on ‘CheckMyPeople’ will assist families avert dangers With the increasing dangers of recruiting unknown people to carry out domestic task, CheckMyPeople, an online policing platform was created to assist in giving detailed and accurate information of persons being recruited. In this interview with Chudi Obiofuma, founder of the firm, he speaks to BusinessDay analyst, Michael Ani, on various ways the platform is helping families, employers and even employees in averting such dangers.

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indly speak briefly about what the CheckMyPeople online policing platform entails CheckMyPeople introduced the concept of Online Community Policing to mitigate this risk of hiring unknown and unverified people in our homes, as well as providing a means to document staff personal and professional conduct while working with their current employer. These records will constitute their work history and will be searchable by future employers as a means of learning where they have worked, what they have done, and how they conducted themselves with past employers.

The value proposition is that when every member of the community document their staff, the community gets to maintain a comprehensive employment history of all domestic employees.

Note that this is different from the government proposed Community Policing because this is purely meant for information gathering and reporting. This is not an enforcement community.

It is an online community that will share information about those we employ as domestic staff in our homes so that potential employers in the community can avoid those with criminal backgrounds. Online Community Policing has nothing to do with enforcement, but vigilance and Information gathering.

What was the motivation behind the creation of CheckMyPeople?

One of the greatest risks households in Nigeria face today is the dependence on unknown and unverified persons for domestic services. Some criminal elements have taken advantage of the unregulated industry to unleash mayhem upon Nigerian homes.

There have been many cases reported in the media where domestic staff engage in fraudulent activities and once discovered, disappear into thin air before they can be apprehended, then end up with another unsuspecting families who have no way of checking their employment history nor past infractions. They continue their criminal behaviour knowing they could continue to have access to unsuspecting families undetected due to the lax checks in the current unregulated and largely informal industry.

Our research shows that there is no independent way of verifying the accuracy and authenticity of “who domestic employees say they are” and the names under which they present themselves.

Name identification is ineffective because they go by various aliases and assume a name of choice when they apply for employment.

We explored ways to leverage technology to address this very dire

Chudi Obiofuma

social problem. But first, we had to get to the root of the problem.

Two main issues came to mind!

First, the way we recruit people is by word of mouth, and not based on any data or records. Secondly, we as employers do not communicate with each other. This “wall of silence” is the reason why these criminal elements can move from home to home, committing crimes because there are no records of these crimes available to prospective employers.

So with records maintained by current and past employers, communication is established with prospective employers, who can see the employment history of each applicant, and better assess the risk associated with hiring them, especially if they have a criminal record in their history.

We have seen increasing cases of kidnapping, theft, human trafficking, and child abuse amongst other crimes, caused not only by domestic workers but also by those whom they work for. How can your platform protect homes from criminal domestic staff?

First, we give you the employer an opportunity to register your staff on our database and provide assessments of their performances (good or bad), during the tenure of their employment with you. Once your staff know that a record of bad behaviour will be available to potential employers, it will serve as an effective deterrent from bad behaviour. It gives you leverage over the conduct and service provided by your domestic staff, knowing that a bad record prevents them from being employed in the future. On the other hand, an exemplary record will make an employee a great candidate for future employment.

Membership affords each emwww.businessday.ng

ployer the ability to search our database to view records of an employee or applicant’s prior employment history. The search capability enables you to search only individuals seeking employment with you (Applicant) or current staff. Data available in a search will include past jobs held, past assessments from past employers as well as an assessment of the person’s past conduct. Where a record of criminal behaviour is found, our database will include documentation of either a police report or a court ruling.

CheckMyPeople as an organization does not make recommendations. Employers are free to make their decisions based on information available from peers in the community who have had prior interactions with the employee/ applicant.

The CheckMyPeople platform leverages on data from the NIMC. At present, only about 19% of Nigerians have been registered to having their NIN. How does this affect your operations and how are you working to address the issue?

The National Identification Number (NIN) is critical to our use at CheckMyPeople for the following reasons: 1) Our Nigerian equivalent of a Social Security Number (SSN), the NIN uniquely identifies a person in Nigeria. 2) It is associated with stringent biometric data collected by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and can be verified against the NIMC database to ensure authenticity before it is used on our platform. 3) It discourages child labour, and CheckMyPeople does not support the use of child labour as domestic staff. Insisting on the use of NIN in our system ensures that only age-eligible candidates

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are registered on our system (18+).

The National Identity Management Commission has reaffirmed its commitment towards creating, managing, operating, and maintaining a secure National Identity Database and issuing the National Identification Number (NIN) to all Nigerians and legal Residents, in fulfilment of its mandate. Currently, 40 Million Nigerians have been enrolled. The Digital Identity Ecosystem approach adopted by NIMC would accelerate mass enrollment. This will exponentially increase the number of Nigerians and legal residents registered over the next 3 years.

We do not expect the current level of enrollment to impact us negatively. It may not cover the entire Nigerian population, but it is a very significant baseline.

How well are you collaborating with various security agencies, government agencies as well as non-governmental organizations that are also in the cause of seeing that various crimes and illegal activities in the country are reduced?

We have had conversations with NAPTIP, and we are hoping to interest them in exploring this platform to reduce the incidence of child labour in the country and especially child abuse. With our Identity Verification system, they can ensure that employers are aware of the age of potential domestic help before they hire them.

That way they avoid hiring minors in their homes.

We are also hoping to interest NSCDC to leverage this platform in keeping a record of all security guards employed at different homes in Nigeria. By mandating private security guard companies to document their staff on this platform, they get to keep information on the different homes where they are working as well as gather information on their conduct.

Finally, where a criminal case is brought up against a domestic employee and the employer takes action either with the police or court of law, our database will include documentation of either relevant police report or a court ruling associated with that employee.

Since launched in 2019, can you share to us some of the success stories?

Our Identity Verification Service launched in 2019 has been a tremendous success. Nigerians are using the service to verify the accuracy of their data held on the NIMC database. Significant numbers have found issues with their date of birth and in some cases misspelling or misplacement of their names.

This has enabled them to follow up with NIMC to make the corrections before presenting to the various institutions requiring the NIN as @Businessdayng

proof of Identity. This has saved valuable time and frustration of having their identification process disrupted either at the passport office or during the numerous government programs for which they require accurate NIN identification to apply.

We are seeing increased traffic from employers wanting to verify the Identity of their staff. This is happening across the different socio-economic spectrum, not just for domestic help but businesses who just want to be sure their employees, tenants, business associates, agents etc. are who they claim they are.

Kindly give us a step by step explanation on how users can better use your platform.

How secure is it and at what cost?

There are many ways people can engage with us. The primary way is through our Web App on https://www.checkmypeople. com. The first step is to register for free. By doing so you are given access to register your staff on the platform. However, each employee must have a National Identification Number (NIN), with which they will be uniquely identified in Nigeria and on our platform. NIN can be obtained by enrolling at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

You do not need a physical ID card to enrol your staff. NIMC assigns NIN after biometric data capture, so with that, you can register your staff. This is a required step of registration because only verified NIN can be used to register staff on our platform. CheckMyPeople has been issued a verification license that will enable you to verify a NIN presented to you based on stipulated business rules.

This service will display basic and relevant biometric data of the NIN owner with the person’s picture. You can then verify that the person presenting the NIN matches the official record kept on the NIMC database. You may then enter the current staff contact information, address, and guarantor. You should also upload the latest picture of the employee. We advise you always to keep an up to date picture of your staff.

Once you have the profile set up to your satisfaction, you get the consent of your employee, by downloading the consent form from our members’ page. Have them sign and upload the signed copy.

Is your platform open to only Nigerians? If yes, are there plans of scaling your operations into other countries.

For now, our platform is open to only employers’ resident in Nigeria.

However, employees may include legal residents from other countries as long as they have duly enrolled and been issued a NIN.

Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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feature How CBN’s interventions can help economic recovery post-Covid-19 Nigeria’s economy ended 2019 on a positive note with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growing at 2.55 percent in the fourth quarter of the year. This growth has been eroded by the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. But monetary and fiscal policy authorities are fighting back with various intervention measures, focusing particularly on critical sectors like manufacturing in order to boost the economy, writes HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE.

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igeria’s economy ended the year 2019 on positive note, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the monetary value of all finished goods and services of a country at a specific period, growing at 2.55 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The foreign exchange was stable across market segments, helped by policy interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The positive growth in GDP was driven by improvements in agriculture, oil and gas, manufacturing and ICT as well as the intervention programmes of the CBN, along with sustained supply of foreign exchange and stability of the naira.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, at the end of 2019 listed the bank’s priorities for 2020 to include support for greater economic growth, price stability, low inflation, and continued tight monetary policy stance.

The regulator during the period sustained its development financing to support growth in critical sectors of the economy such as agriculture and the manufacturing sectors, through programmes such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme and the Bankers’ Committee Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).

Consequently, the manufacturing sector closed the year 2019 on a faster growth with its Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) expanding at 60.8 points in December from 59.3 points in November 2019.

The expansion was driven by production level, new orders, supplier delivery time, employment level and raw materials inventories, which grew at a faster rate in December 2019.

Going into the year 2020 with a focus on strong sustainable growth for the Nigerian economy, which exited recession in the second quarter of 2017, suddenly, there was an outbreak of Coronavirus from Wuhan, China and has spread across the globe.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 has resulted in the weakening performance of global output growth since January 2020, reflected in losses in global stock values, declining primary commodity prices, disruptions to the global supply chain associated with large-scale global lockdown of mega metropolis and whole countries; and social distancing.

Also, there have been adverse shocks to global capital flows; vulnerabilities and uncertainties in major financial markets; as well as rising corporate debt

in the advanced economies and public debt in some Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDES).

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the near-term economic impact of COVID-19 is expected to be severe, while already high downside risks have increased.

The Washington based Fund said even before the COVID-19 outbreak, Nigeria’s economy was facing headwinds from rising external vulnerabilities and falling per capita GDP levels.

The pandemic—along with the sharp fall in oil prices—has magnified the vulnerabilities, leading to a historic decline in growth and large financing needs.

The CBN Staff projections indicate that real GDP in the first quarter (Q1) and Q2 2020 will slow because of the tepid global demand, resulting from the recent outbreak of COVID-19, depressed global aggregate demand and supply, and the oil price war which has resulted in supply glut and decline in crude oil prices. This muted outlook for the first half of the year may thus dampen overall growth prospects for 2020.

Already, there has been gradual, but persistent decline in the Manufacturing and non-Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Indices (PMI), below the benchmark. The Manufacturing PMI declined to 41.1 index points in June 2020 from 42.4 index points in May 2020.

Conversely though, the nonmanufacturing PMI improved to 35.7 index points in June 2020 from 25.3 index points in May 2020.

The trend in the manufacturing and non-Manufacturing PMI was attributed, largely, to: slower growth in production levels; new domestic orders; www.businessday.ng

employment rate; raw materials supply; and new export orders.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) noted at the last meeting in July, the staff forecast of 1.03 per cent contraction in growth in Q2 2020, on the back of the continued adverse impact of the pandemic on the economy.

However, all hope is not lost as the fiscal and monetary authorities are on top of the game through the stimulus packages rolled out since March 2020.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CBN has announced a number of measures to jump-start the economy, especially the industrial sector.

Among these are creation of N50 billion Target Credit Facility (TCF) for households and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), N100 billion intervention funds in healthcare loans to pharmaceutical companies, especially key local pharmaceutical companies that will be granted funding facilities to support the procurement of raw materials and equipment required to boost local drug production.

Others include N1 trillion in loans to boost local manufacturing and production across critical sectors, reservation of 60 percent of the CBN’s N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) for women entrepreneurs.

Also, there was the Real Sector Support Fund to boost local manufacturing comprising 44 Greenfield and Brownfield projects for which about N93.2 billion have already been disbursed.

“The CBN has done a lot but can still complement this effort by reducing the Cash Reserve Requirement from the current 27.5% considered high by the Banking sector to enable them

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make more credit facilities available to the real sector,” Uche Uwaleke, a professor of capital market at Nasarawa State University Keffi, said.

The MPC recognized the supportive developmental roles of the CBN towards addressing some of these structural issues.

The MPC specifically expressed optimism on the future impact of N50 billion Household and SME facility, out of which N49.195 billion has been disbursed, to over 92,000 beneficiaries.

It also noted the N100 billion healthcare and N1.0 trillion manufacturing and agricultural interventions to support the rebound in growth from the impacts of the pandemic on the economy. The Committee further commended the CBN coordinated CA-COVID - Private sector intervention scheme which had mobilized over N32 billion to support the economy, lives and livelihoods. The Committee noted that the CBN had disbursed over N152.9 billion to the manufacturing sector to finance 61 manufacturing projects and another N93.6 billion to the Healthcare sector, amongst many other sector-specific facilities.

The Committee was hopeful that upon further drawdown of these intervention facilities, the much needed reset and rebound of the Nigerian economy will become a reality.

Aishah Ahmad, CBN deputy governor in charge of financial system stability said in her personal statement that sustained credit to the real economy – particularly for SMEs and households - will be crucial to economic recovery. “Therefore maintaining banking industry liquidity will be paramount,” she said.

Rogers Nwoke, national president of National Association of @Businessdayng

Microfinance Banks (NAMB) said N50bn was too small for the huge funding gap in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) working capital needs.

Microfinance Banks (MFBs) he said disburse more than that in a month.

“You cannot get the needed traction by letting only one new MFB with limited spread to do these disbursements,” he said.

The CBN should make available another N50bn through qualifying MFBs and the funds will reach MSMEs in less than one month, Nwoke told BusinessDay. Mike Obadan, member of the MPC said in his personal statement that implementation of most of the CBN policies policies, measures and interventions have begun. In the case of the N50.0 billion Targeted Facility, he said it has been oversubscribed by households and SMEs. “This will need to be augmented by the Bank while implementation of all the policy measures should be vigorously pursued in order to realise the set objectives,” Obadan said.

Obiora Kingsley Isitua noted in his personal statement that 92,000 household and SME beneficiaries have received financial support to the tune of N49.2 billion and 61 manufacturing projects have been catalysed by injections of N152.9 billion, whilst the healthcare sector has been strengthened by support of N93.6 billion.

However, he said these disbursements are rapidly approaching the limits of these respective funds. “Whilst the impact of these policies on the economy is undeniable, even more action is required to truly match the scale of effect of the pandemic,” Isitua said.

Reports of the implementation of the CBN’s COVID-19 intervention shows significant progress in disbursements, according to Sanusi Aliyu Rafindadi, member of the MPC in his personal statment.

Over 152.9 billion (or 15.2%) of the N1 trillion targeted support for the Manufacturing sector has been disbursed. Out of the N100 billion Healthcare funds, N26.278 billion (or 26.3%) have been disbursed to fund 20 projects in the healthcare sector. Additional 16 applications totalling N67.413 billion were under processing.

Out of the N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility for Households and MSMEs, N49.195 billion have been disbursed to 91,736 beneficiaries, and N1.5 billion was disbursed to 169 beneficiaries under the Creative Industry Financing Initiative. Under Agri-Business/ Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS), N41.41billion has been disbursed to 11,613 beneficiaries.

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

LEADINGWOMAN

INMAGAZINE TODAY

WOMEN’S HUB

See the link

https://businessday.ng/download/451388/

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

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DUDU MSOMI, The strategic consultant facilitating the effectiveness of leaders to achieve their goals Kemi Ajumobi

Associate Editor, BusinessDay

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udu Msomi is the Founder and CEO of Busara Leadership Partners, a research-orientated strategic advisory and consulting company whose expertise is to facilitate the development and effectiveness of leaders to achieve their desired goals.

Busara Leadership Partners is a boutique firm of new generation individuals steeped in qualifications, experience and capabilities that are driven by performing and achieving measurable results and making a difference in everything they do operating virtually since their establishment in 2009.

Msomi labels herself an expert generalist which affords her the ability to strike the right balance between depth and breadth of knowledge to be an effective strategist and facilitator for clients to see the possibilities, have the courage and the knowledge to do the right things, the first time.

She has trans-disciplinary qualifications and multi-sectoral experience making her a sought-after and powerful Strategy Facilitator, Corporate Governance Expert, Leadership Coach, Diversity & Inclusion Strategist, Business Advisor, Keynote & Guest Speaker and Writer.

She designs and delivers bespoke leadership, board, and entrepreneurs development programmes. Msomi was recognised by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the Top 29 Influential South African Business Leaders in 2019. Dudu Msomi was selected by the US Consulate in South Africa as a mentee on the

FORTUNE/US State Department Global Women Leaders in 2010 and on the Cherie Blair Foundation in 2015.

Dudu also presents a series called Wisdom Personified Conversations with Dudu Msomi on the YouTube channel ‘Wisdom Personified’. She is also the founder of the Dudu Msomi Foundation which contributes and prepares young people and women for educational achievement, employment. Entrepreneurial success and leadership.

Dudu Msomi has a B.A. Hons. (University of Natal, Durban); Postgraduate Diploma in Advertising and Marketing (AAA School of Advertising); Postgrad-

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uate Diploma in Corporate Governance (RAU); Programme for Management Development (GIBS) and a Master’s in Business Administration (GIBS). Dudu Msomi is an Institute of Director’s (IOD) Fellow and is an independent non-executive on boards, one being the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). She is the Chairperson of the FSCA, OPFA and FAIS Ombud HR Committees and sits on their respective Remuneration Committees. Msomi is on the Vodacom Foundation Advisory Board and a Trustee on the Humulani Trust.

She was my guest recently on #InspiringwomanserieswithKemiAjumobi @Businessdayng

where she shared on advancing the involvement of women in leadership, being a strategy mentor and strategy coach, her selection by the US Consulate in South Africa to be part of the mentoring programme with Fortune/ US state department, being on the board of South African Reserve Bank and Vodacom Foundation Advisory board, the need for women to support each other among others.

Download this edition of Women’s Hub directly https://businessday. ng/download/451388/ or visit www.businessday.ng to get this edition.

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 28 August 2020

21

Health Business&Life ‘With telemedicine people with disability can easily access healthcare’

Effects of hair loss has psychological impact on sufferers says Experts

Ayo Shonibare is the chief medical director of Evercare Hospital Lekki and a consultant Urologist and Kidney Transplant Surgeon with over 30 years of experience. In this interview with ANTHONIA OBOKOH, he talked about Evercare Hospital entry into the Nigerian healthcare sector and its recently launched telemedicine platform.

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Y

ou recently just joined Evercare Hospital Lekki as the chief medical officer; can you tell us more about Evercare Hospital?

Evercare Group (‘Evercare’) is an integrated healthcare delivery platform operating in emerging markets across Africa and South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, and Nigeria. Evercare helps communities thrive by improving healthcare and leveraging technology & integration to increase the quality of care. Evercare’s portfolio includes 30 hospitals, 16 clinics, over 50 diagnostics centers, and two brownfield assets.

Evercare is wholly owned by the Evercare Health Fund, a US$ 1 billion emerging markets healthcare fund managed

by The Rise Fund -the impact investment platform of global alternative asset manager, TPG Capital.

Evercare has been operating in some other African countries, what informed your decision to make an entry into the Nigerian healthcare market?

With over 200 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the sixth most populous country in the world. Although progress has been made over the last few years, Nigeria’s healthcare system does not provide the level of service required to meet the needs of its population, which has led to the increasing population of Nigerians exiting the country to seek medical treatment abroad. It is estimated that Nigeria loses about $1.3 billion to medical tourism yearly, which has caused a huge burden on the nation’s economy and has become a matter of urgency to revamp the health sector to edge the medical tourism trend. This has created an opportunity for stakeholders like Evercare to

become more reluctant to visit hospitals due to the fear of exposure to the virus, Ecare is a strategic long term initiative that will continue to operate and provide services beyond the pandemic.

Our mission at Evercare Hospital Lekki is to constantly innovate to ensure delivery of best in class standards of patient safety, clinical excellence, and outstanding clinical outcomes and the launch of Ecare is a testament to this.

step in and bridge the gap in the healthcare industry with the right level of investment.

Nigeria is the second healthcare investment destination, after Kenya, for the Evercare Global Health Fund as our objective at Evercare is to provide much needed integrated healthcare services to markets that need it. Evercare Hospital Lekki is an example of that strategy put into practice, bringing a vital suite of services to patients across the region, and elevating the standard of healthcare.

Ahead of the hospital’s official unveiling in Nigeria, reports state that you have already launched your Telemedicine platform, ‘Ecare’, Can you tell us more about this service?

With the advent of new technologies, telemedicine has become increasingly popular — and increasingly important — in recent years. Telemedicine is the remote diagnosis and treatment of patients’ utilizing telecommunications technology and Ecare is our telemedicine platform that offers tele and video consultations with our general practitioners and Specialist Doctors in various fields of Medicine. This innovative

platform which is the first of its kind in Nigeria brings about a change in the Outpatient consultation model as it allows Clinicians to reach out to their patients remotely via a video conferencing model to be able to address their healthcare needs effectively. It allows the patient to book appointments and consults with doctors conveniently from the comfort of their homes.

What informed Evercare’s decision to provide Ecare to Nigerians?

Globally, telemedicine is not a new concept and it is one of the most powerful forces reshaping the healthcare and wellness industries today, both for patients and healthcare providers. Nigeria’s growing population and desire for accessible quality care have created a high demand for healthcare services and a huge market for telemedicine to thrive in.

Evercare Hospital Lekki recently adopted this telemedicine initiative out of the need to ensure that all Nigerians regardless of their physical location can have access to premium healthcare services.

Although the COVID-19 global pandemic has increased the need for telemedical intervention as patients have

What aspects of medicine are Ecare tailored to offer services?

Ecare provides access to a wide range of consultants in different areas of medicine such as General and Family Medicine, Neurology, Nephrology, Neonatology, Pediatrics, Urology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Radiology, Neurosurgery, Cardiology, Orthopedics, Pediatric Surgery, and General Surgery.

We want our patients to have access to specialists across all their needs, multi-disciplinary care, less than one platform.

In your opinion, what are the benefits of telemedicine?

The benefits of telemedicine are numerous for both patients and health providers. One of the most obvious and widespread benefits of telemedicine is that it greatly increases access to care. The increased accessibility afforded by telemedicine helps to level the playing field, allowing a greater number of people to have access to healthcare more frequently and comprehensively.

This is especially valuable in developing countries like Nigeria, as well as for patients who require specialized services.

The disabled, elderly, and other demographic groups who otherwise have difficulty in physically going to a doctor’s office, or in traffic/sitting around waiting for hours, can often be better served with telemedicine appointments in many cases.

Century Group headlines 2nd Health, Safety & Environment summit

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entur y Group, the headliners of the Health, Safety & Environment Summit in collaboration with Global Performance Index (GPI) partners with The Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Lagos State Ministry of Health and Combined Training Solutions (CTS) is poised to host the second edition virtually on Friday, September 4, 2020.

In line with the United Nations SDG 13 goal on climate change and ending plastic and other forms of waste, the organiser aims to enlighten people on revenue generating

and employment opportunities in HSE practice.

The Health, Safety & Environment Summit will bring together professionals in various fields across the continent and beyond to explore innovative ways to combat climate change and highlight the benefits that can accrue from recycling waste in Africa.

This year’s summit will have panelists and delegates from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, Federal Ministry of Health, Recyclers Association of Nigeria to emphasise the need to curb www.businessday.ng

harmful disposal of waste as well as create wealth through recycling.

The summit will equally sponsor selected entrepreneurs with innovative ideas in waste management, recycling, basic HSE training and discounted IOSH membership.

Notable speakers like Richard Orton, director of Strategy and Business Development (IOSH), Ejiro Daisy Ufondu Assistant Director (Environment) DPR, Tosin Faniro Dada Head of Strategy & Partnerships (LSETF) , Essein Nsuabia (LAWMA), Jackie Lwanga, Vice President East African Region (SOWSHE A) and several others will lead the

discussion and give insights on the wealth opportunities in standard HSE practice.

Century Group is one of the largest indigenous operators of FPSO in Sub-Saharan African. Through her subsidiaries, they are uniquely positioned to deliver optimal E&P services. The company leverages on her highly skilled local staff and intricate understanding of the African Oil & Gas market.

CG currently owns and operates two FPSOs. They undertake the operations and maintenance (O&M) of three FPSOs, four flow stations, one MOPU and one FSO on behalf of various operators in Nigeria.

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Anthonia Obokoh he devastating effects of hair loss on sufferers include psychological impact said Ayo OtubanjoAfrica Regional chief executive officer (CEO), Vinci Hair Clinic.

Otubanjo who spoke at Africa’s First ever Hair Loss Conference themed ‘Hair Restored, Confidence Secured’ said that hair loss sufferers often complain of low self-esteem, lack of career progression and even lack of intimacy with their spouses.

According to him, hair loss has a cure and treatment options are available locally, stating that it depends on race and heredity. “ A full head of human hair contains 100,000 to 150,000 hairs, however, at least 25 percent of men show signs of hair loss by the age of 30 and 40 percent of women will undergo hereditary hair loss by the time they reach menopause,” said Otubanjo.

The conference, which was held virtually in celebration of Hair Loss Awareness Month-was graced by top hair loss and hair care experts from home and abroad organized by Leading Hair Restoration Company, Vinci Hair Clinic.

Vinci Hair Clinic is a global hair restoration brand, comprising 40 clinics in 14 countries across 6 continents worldwide, with extensive experience in restoring hair loss.

However, it is estimated that both men and women

spend over $3.5billion yearly in an attempt to treat and restore their hair.

Speaking on hair transplants as a solution to hair loss, Tunde Adeife, Hair Transplant Surgeon, Vinci Hair Clinic Africa said there are different types of hair loss and treatment options noting that it is important to first be examined by an expert who will narrow down treatment options to produce desired results.

“A hair transplant surgery works by removing hair follicles from one part of the body, called the ‘donor site’, to a bald or balding part of the body known as the ‘recipient site’. Many believe it’s a scary procedure, while some say the surgery negatively impacts the brain. These are all false beliefs! Besides hair transplant surgery, other hair restoration options include medications, platelet rich plasma therapy, mesotherapy and micro scalp pigmentation,” he said.

Furthermore, Sabina Zel, Senior MSP Technician, Vinci UK educated attendees on Micro Scalp Pigmentation commonly referred to a ‘medical tattoo’ as a non-invasive treatment option for hair loss.

“The procedure uses micro-needles to deposit pigments into the scalp. The result creates the illusion of tiny hair follicles which restore the look of fuller hair.

It is best for individuals with thinning hair, a balding head or a receding hairline,” Zel explained.

Women groups mobilise religious leaders to increase awareness on gender-based violence ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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he Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) in partnership with the Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation is set to commence the third cycle of the WARIF Gatekeepers Project by including religious leaders of all faiths from the community to the task of increasing awareness of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) across the country.

The prevalence of GBV in Nigeria is becoming epidemic affecting an average of 1 in 4 girls before the age of 18. The impact of which is seen in almost every community across the country.

“The organisation is already achieving this through its various initiatives; however, aims to eradicate gender-based violence (GBV) through the training of gatekeepers across Local Government Areas in Lagos and these gatekeepers consist of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) and Law Enforcement Agents will now include Religious Leaders of all faiths from the community,” said Kemi Dasilva Ibru, the founder, WARIF. Dasilva Ibru, said that Cycle 3 of the Gatekeepers Project recognises the role and importance of religious leaders in rural communities across Nigeria, stating

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that it emphasizes the large circle of influencing these community leaders to hold in their respective places of worship and in their communities.

“We anticipate that the addition of religious leaders who are respected community mediators as our tertiary Gatekeepers in this project will lead to an increase in awareness, a change in the prevailing mindset of the community and a subsequent reduction in the number of cases of violence against women and girls reported.”

“WARIF believes this goal will be readily achieved with the inclusion of these new trustworthy and respected tertiary Gatekeepers and will make an impact on a wider reach of men and women in the society at large,” she said.

Meanwhile, the project was launched in 2017 with the successful training of 1000 traditional birth attendants across 15 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Lagos State who served as first responders to cases of rape and sexual violence. The second cycle the following year was an equal success with the inclusion of law enforcement agents as secondary gatekeepers; these officers were trained on the right protocols to address cases of sexual violence as well as the importance of sensitivity when addressing the affected survivors.

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Hotels

Hospitality sector struggles under unprecedented low patronage Obinna Emelike

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fter weeks of reopening doors to guests, the Nigerian hospitality sector is still struggling to remain open.

The sector, especially hotels in Lagos and Abuja, are faced with very low patronage; unprecedented in the history of hotel business, particularly in the second half of the year when business is expected to boom.

The sad development, which is blamed on the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, has discouraged some hotels, especially foreign brands from reopening as scanty occupancy hardly sustains business.

Currently, the average room occupancy rate is yet to hit 20 percent, the same level that made many hotels to shutdown even before the lockdown. Also, bookings and reservations have not been impressive since reopening as uncertainty trails the fight against the pandemic with people and even governments hoping for positive outcomes to plan ahead.

As well, many hotel managers had hoped at the reopening of their outfits weeks ago that occupancy would gradually improve from zero where it had been since the lockdown.

However, their hopes seemed dashed as the improvement has been too gradual.

Speaking on the development, Brian Efa, general manager, Ibom Hotel & Golf Resort, decried that the recovery has been very slow as his hotel cannot boast of 10 percent occupancy at the moment.

He noted further that meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE),

which the hotel depends on are not happening like before due to restrictions on international flights, hence the low patronage.

In the same vein, Mandas Ushe, general manager of an Abuja-based boutique hotel, noted that he barely sustains 15 percent occupancy because government and corporate activities, which come with huge patronage for hotels in Abuja, have not resumed fully.

“At the moment, we are barely open with half capacity. This comes with huge challenge as same operating cost is deployed in servicing few guests in our hotel now”, Ushe said.

This goes for most international brands, which are barely open, yet incurring huge operating cost as guests are still reluctant to visit.

The likes of Radisson brands, some Marriott hotels, Hilton among others are bracing the tide and opening amid unprecedented low patronage, while a few outlets of some branded hotels are yet to open. But most indigenous hotels are open, and they face same lull in business like their foreign counterparts.

Also speaking on the development,Trevor Ward, CEO, W Hospitality, noted that patronage might remain

low for sometime as the recovery of the Nigerian hospitality sector is expected to be very slow, unlike other countries where the government did not order the shutdown of hotels during the lockdown.

Meanwhile, hospitality stakeholders are blaming the low patronage on the low purchasing power and harsh economic realities occasioned by the impact of the pandemic.

The stakeholders also noted that even guests who can afford luxury now are held back because of health and safety concerns.

Ushe explained that hotel customers know that hotels are open for business but are still reluctant to visit because of health and safety concerns in respect of the pandemic.

“Government has issued safety protocols for the sector, and hotels are further assuring of health and safety measures they put in place to safeguard customers, but guests are still skeptical. You don’t blame them because compliance has often been the issue in Nigeria”, Ushe said.

As Paul Murray, general manger, Bristol Palace Hotel, Kano, rightly pointed out, “It is of foremost importance to follow the Covid-19 protocols”.

He stated that consistency and compliance with safety

measures would finally win the guests in great numbers.

Aside fear over health and safety concerns, would-be guests are also held back because international flights, which bring over 60 percent guests for international brands, are yet to resume.

The flights are imperative because they enable business travelers and other guests to travel, connect and carry out business activities and corporate responsibilities.

“In Nigeria, we rely on air travel for our domestic and international guests, so without flights, no guests”, Ward explained.

As well, Efa is looking forward to the resumption of international flights for MICE activities to pick up, noting that “if there are no travels, hotel cannot make business”.

But as international flights resume in Nigeria on August 29, 2020, Ushe thinks that occupancy will not pick as most passengers coming or leaving to meet their families are those stranded since the lockdown and restriction on flights.

“Rather than depend on international guests, we should grow our domestic tourism like Kenya, where over 70 percent patronage come from domestic front.

We should lower prices of domestic flights, encourage budget hotels, and discounts on star-rated ones to encourage more Nigerians to travel within and soar hotel occupancy by so doing”, Ademola Obembe, a tourism expert suggested.

But hospitality experts are warning hoteliers to brace up for tough time as recovery of the sector depends on the larger economy, which many fear may be heading for another recession if no proactive action is taking now by the government.

Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja visits frontline health workers at LASUTH

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o doubt, public health workers play key role in sustaining healthcare delivery, especially during crisis period such the current pandemic. They are often the first point of contact when medical emergencies arise.

Bearing this in mind, on August 24, 2020, Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja reached out to some front-

line health workers in Lagos with light breakfast to start off their day.

The gesture, according to the hotel, was in appreciation of the health workers for putting public health first before their lives.

At the event, which took place at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Ikeja (LASUTH), the medical team on ground showed their gratitude while receivwww.businessday.ng

ing palliatives from the hotel.

Explaining the rationale for the kind gesture, Elizabeth Adekunte-Akapo, human resource manager, Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja, stated that, “These health workers are as important as other frontline workers in other essential industries, but they are at a higher risk, so we decided to extend our gratitude to them”.

The hotel further noted that the frontline health workers sacrificially provide services where they are most needed, especially in this pandemic.

It also commended other health workers such as community health workers, midwives, local pharmacists, nurses and doctors who serve in community clinics near people in need and helping in saving lives.

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

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

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

Tel: 01 277 3560

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

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

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

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

206 Exclusive Hotel Plot 206 Oladipo Diya Road Opposite Olympia Estate

By Games Village Second Gate Durumi2 Abuja

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

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

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

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

Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

23

entertainment

It’s still strong contest in Biggie’s house Obinna Emelike

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t has been over 30 days since viewers were introduced to the new set of BBNaija housemates and a whole lot has happened since then.

There have been fights, endless drama, coupling ups, break ups, make ups, among other intrigues. If viewers and fans alike were not keeping tabs, they could have sworn that it has been way longer than one month since the season kicked off.

In the five weeks they have spent in the house, the housemates have shown viewers the different sides to them and with each passing day, they have won over many fans, as well as, “haters”.

Of the 20 housemates that made it into Biggie’s house, six have been evicted.

Ka3na, who walked into the house gun blazing and ready to serve it hot to anyone who stood in her way and the N85 million prize, was the first housemate to be evicted. She was followed

by Lilo who the housemates and viewers agreed spent the better part of her two weeks in the house bonding with her Eric, her lover, than the rest of the housemates. Eric and Tochi followed next, and after them Kaisha, the Northern belle whose quirkiness endeared her to quite a number of people, and Praise. Between Praise and Biggie’s morning alarm, it will be hard to pick a win-

A game scene in Biggie’s house

ner in the loudest contest.

You cannot possibly ignore Praise, even if you tried.

However, there are still 14 housemates in the house, who are strong contenders for this edition’s mouthwatering prize.

Of course, Dorathy is still in the game.

Her friendship with Ozo had put her in a triangle that she did not bargain for at the start of the season but she has since broken out from that and evolved into her own person. With her very cheerful demeanor and a wig game that would have Kylie Jenner green with envy, Dorathy has won herself loyal fan-base.

Ozo is also in. With Durag, booty shorts, a pair of nerdy glasses, you will have the Ozo starter pack. When the first-class Economics graduate is not shadowing Nengi around the house, he is trying to mend his friendship with Dorathy. As HoH, his affinity for assembling the housemates for family meetings was the subject of many social media memes and conversations.

Meanwhile, from winning the first HoH game to her relationship with the boys, fights with a few of the girls and her endless booty checks, Nengi has served viewers the entertainment they subscribed for this past

Nigerian music is receiving the deserved accolades globally, we can still do better – Vokalz IFEOMA OKEKE

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n Sunday, August16, 2020, Vocal Zoom debuted the first episode of its live virtual music show featuring African vocalists.

The show, powered by Smithworks Media was designed to celebrate the radiance of African vocals as guests resident in Africa, North America and Europe dialed in to participate in the debut episode of the highly entertaining show.

While speaking on the show as a guest, Dewunmi Vokalz, a Nigerian singer, nutritionist and language instructor based in Novosibirsk, Russia, acknowledged that the Nigerian music industry is making Nigerians across the world proud of the quality of the sounds being created regularly.

He claims that there is still room for change as he

encouraged singers to keep the bar high. “People here love to sing and dance to Nigerian songs; and when they ask me to show them some of our dance moves and lyrics, I feel proud as an African,” he added.

The show featured interesting segments such as the lifestyle gists of African celebrities, freestyle sessions, tips for vocal improvement,

Dewunmi Vokalz

www.businessday.ng

discussions around music business among other interest-sustaining elements.

It paraded highly talented vocalists like Nigeria’s JamieGold and Deji Sanusi, USA’s Kenny; and one of Russia’s most sought-after singer - Dewunmi Vokalz who all graced the show with their individual creative delights.

Sauti Sol from Kenya, South Africa’s The Joy Music Acapella crew, Zimbabwe’s Nobuntu Music, Ivory Coast’s Heaven Singers Acapella group and Uganda’s Harmonics are some of the African Vocal powerhouses listed to feature in subsequent episodes of the series.

Vocal Zoom aims to create an appreciation outlet for African voices by hosting African descent vocalists across various genres including Afrobeat, gospel music, R&B, AfroJazz, Afropop, reggae, Juju, Fuji, Afro soul among others.

month.

While Lucy might not be her fellow housemates’ favorite, her name has remained absent from the bottom four list since evictions kicked off. This may be an indication that viewers love the drama she has brought so far. But time will tell if she will continue to be in the good grace of the voting public.

For Neo and Vee, the duo are literally same people, having been joined at the hips since they came into the house. Though their ship continues to be hit by food-related rogue waves, the lovers seem to be bent on sailing to the finals together.

Erica, the aptly Igbo beauty, has danced her way into a lot of viewers’ hearts. She is the undisputed queen of the dance floor and highlight of Saturday night parties.

Her love triangle with Laycon and Kiddwaya has also meant that she is the subject of many conversations in and outside the house.

On the other hand, Kiddwaya is very much in the house.

While Erica knows how to rock a dance floor, Kiddwaya, her lover, cannot dance as much as her. This rich kid’s two feet never seem to be in tandem with each other or what he has in mind. But they have not stopped his fans from rooting for him.

Prince, a former Mr Nigeria, plays to win. His competitive nature has rubbed a few of the housemates the wrong way but everyone seems to agree that he is a nice guy as the official hairstylist in the house for both the guys and the girls. Sadly, there is no one in the house he can trust with his own hair.

Laycon’s relationship with Erica might not have gone the way he envisioned and he may still be nursing a heartbreak as a result but the rapper’s star has continued to rise.

Triky Tee is the resident funny guy, according to the ladies. His directorial debut in the BBNaija house also won the housemates their first wager.

When not bemoaning her boo-less status, Wathoni,

the Kenyan-Nigerian can be found with dark shades on, sitting by herself in Biggie’s garden. She has managed to get into fights with a few of the girls in the house over everything from bed space to man issues.

Brighto is the giver of unsolicited counsel, shaker of tables, the ultimate instigator and Lord Baelish of BBNaija Lockdown. You can only underestimate Brighto at your own peril.

Tolanibaj’s eyewear collection deserves a show of its own. She has shown that she is definitely not one to mess with and Ka3na can attest to that.

The 14 housemates have shown that they are out to win and would do anything to get the N85 million prize.

But who is your money on to win?

You can predict this season’s winner in the BBNaija Fave Lock-In competition for a chance to win N1 million.

To qualify for the competition, fans must be active DStv or GOtv customers and download the MyDStv or MyGOtv apps from their app stores to make their choice.

All correct lock-ins on the app will go through a raffle draw where 30 winners will emerge and win N1m each.

The competition is open to both new and returning customers and closes Monday, August 31, 2020.

Betway is the headline sponsor of BBNaija season 5, while Guinness is the gold sponsor.

Harry Song releases Right About Now EP Josephine Okojie

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arry Song, Nigeria popular singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, has released a new album titled, ‘Right About Now’ Extended Play (EP) at a house party recently in Lagos.

The nine-track album is produced by Dalorbeats with features from Davido, Stoneboy, Tufan, Hero, and Rudeboy.

Harry Song says the Right About Now EP is a bodywork from him, which he uses daily to encourage himself in achieving things.

Harry Song, who is now the brand ambassador for Popl Nigeria, a contact-sharing platform, stated that he was in the studio all through the lockdown working on Right About Now EP. The singer said he has been able to survive as an artiste amid the pandemic owing to his ability to monetize his contents online.

“I have made sure my contents are monetized online to

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Ayodeji Ajayi, brand manager, Popl Nigeria and Harry Song, during the release of the Right About Now EP in Lagos recently.

make money and sourcing for other little businesses,” he said.

He urged his fans to go online and download the Right About Now and tell him their favourite track in the EP while advising them to remain strong despite the difficult moment in the country.

“My fans should know they are not alone and that I understand that things are hard currently but they should try and stay strong because things are going to get better,” he said.

Speaking also during the @Businessdayng

release, Dalorbeats, producer of the album, said a lot went into the production of the album, adding that the songs would get global recognition owing to the choice of tone and pattern used in the production.

“When making music you need to check what is trending and try to create your style. My uniqueness is how I play my instruments from my baseline to the bounce of the music,” he said.

He added that the uniqueness of the EP is that Harry Song sang like never before.

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

MoneyInsight Cryptocurrency words you will meet as a new investor FRANK ELEANYA

May 2020.

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Wallet A wallet is a software with which you send and receive cryptocurrency. Remember, the coins are stored on the blockchain. The wallet contains the private keys that authorise the owner to send these coins to another wallet.

he cryptocurrency market is buzzing as prices continue to hold in the green territory and investors keep hopes alive for a rerun of 2017 all-time high. As of Tuesday, morning bitcoin has been profitable for 96.5 percent of all days since 28 April 2013.

In Africa, thousands of new investors are flocking to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Luno, one of Africa’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges with over 4 million users across 40 countries, says it has seen a 79 percent growth in new signups to bitcoin for the first time since March. In Nigeria, the exchange rate crisis is pushing businesses and even Bureau De Change (BDC) operators to adopt bitcoin as a means to pay for goods and services outside the country and make remittances.

Nigeria also has the largest number of bitcoin wallet downloads in the world as of August 2019. According to Bitcoin.com, of the 18,613 wallets downloaded globally between 16 and 10 August, about 3,473 were from Nigeria. The US had about 2,802 fewer wallets downloaded followed by India which had about 1,420 downloads.

As a new investor in the market, it is possible to get confused with the many new words and jargon that used to describe different aspects of the market. With the help of Marius Reitz, General Manager for Africa at Luno, we bring you some of the crypto-related you are bound to encounter in your journey in the cryptocurrency market.

HODL This is actually a misspelling of the word ‘hold’ and it means to buy and hold (not sell) your cryptocurrency. The term is believed to have

Exchange An exchange is an online trading platform where you can exchange one cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency or for fiat currency.

Bull run This describes a period when prices rise in the cryptocurrency market.

originated in 2013 when a post to the bitcointalk forum went viral.

The price of bitcoin had surged from under $15 in January 2013 to a high of over $1,100 at the beginning of December 2013. In the 24 hours to 10:00am, December 18 possibly in response to reports of a Chinese crackdown - the price of bitcoin fee 39 percent, for $716 to $438. 3 minutes later, a bitcoin investor made the now famous “I’m HODLING” post.

FOMO This refers to Fear of Missing Out. It is used in the crypto world when people see a coin doing very well and they are worried they may be missing out on an investment opportunity.

FUD ‘Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt’ is used to describe the bad news that sees to take hold when critics of crypto start talking. Reitz notes that although FUD could appear negative, it often becomes a boon

for traders when the dips come around as they can buy crypto cheaper. Olaleye Awe, a crypto trader once told BusinessDay that he makes all his crypto purchases during dips.

ATH One of the most anticipated ones in the crypto market, All-Time High refers to the highest historical price of a specific cryptocurrency. For example, the all-time high of 2017 when the price of bitcoin rose to $20,000.

currency, goods, or secure data.

Bear run Bear run - the opposite of a bull run - is a period when prices drop in the cryptocurrency market.

Pump and dump This is the recurring cycle of spikes in price which are then followed by a huge price crash. Traders who pump buy large volumes and when other investors buy more, they dump or sell their coins at a higher price.

Altcoins An altcoin is any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. These newer coins are called ‘alternative coins’ or ‘altcoins’ as they are alternatives to Bitcoin.

Whale Whale refers to a large cryptocurrency investor with a substantial amount of capital. Often, a movement from whales sends a wild ripple in the small coins’ market.

Mining Mining refers to the committing of computer hardware to process transactions on a blockchain (Bitcoin or otherwise). Miners do this to receive mining rewards paid in Bitcoin.

Blockchain This is the mothership of all cryptocurrency. The blockchain is a decentralised network that records transactions, much like a traditional ledger. These transactions can be any movement of

Fiat Fiat is conventional or governmentissued money (the Nigerian naira).

Halving The Bitcoin halving is a recurring event built into its protocol which halves the number of bitcoins awarded to miners. The most recent halving occurred on 11

Stablecoins Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to more stable assets such as fiat currencies (US dollars, Japanese yen, etc.) to reduce price volatility.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) CBDCs are cryptocurrencies that are created or backed by a country’s central bank. It is expected that most countries will digitise their national currencies in the future. For instance, the South African Reserve Bank is investigating the possibility of a digital currency backed by the rand.

Types of difficult customers, how to successfully handle, probably change them (1) STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

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he key to dealing with difficult customers is to first understand what type of difficult customer they are and then to use the right approach to handle them.

With the right approach, even the most frustrating customer can be served with a minimal amount of stress. This has been inspired by an article on smallstarter.com.

Let us meet our first two difficult customers.

The Bully This type of difficult customer is quick to anger, very aggressive, highly critical, impatient, rude, arrogant and often verbally abusive.

Bullies think their needs and demands are superior to everybody else’s. It is not a surprise they do not like to wait. They want to be served NOW!

The bully, whether male or female, uses intimidation tactics to get what they want. They scream, complain abuse and may often get physical to get what they want.

That petite lady in the bank is one clear example of a bully. She tried to use her voice and aggression to get her way over others.

She believed her needs were to be prioritized over the others, even those ahead of her in the queue.

How to handle the Bully It does not really matter whether you are right or wrong; bullies do not care about your explanations.

If you have any, please save it for your other customers. The bully’s impatient, rude and arrogant attitude makes it almost impossible for them to listen to any other voice other than theirs.

So, the best way to handle a bully, especially when he is the one on the wrong side, is to calmly and confidently apologise for www.businessday.ng

the ‘problem’ and tell him you’re willing to solve the problem if he calms down and tells you exactly how you can help.

Always maintain eye contact with the bully at all times. It shows him you are not giving in to his antics.

Do not ever join a bully in a shouting match or try to match her aggression. Respond politely to them without raising your voice and never take their insults and criticisms personally.

It’s your responsibility to remain calm and ‘sane’ while the bully is still in a fit.

If in the end, your attempts to handle him fail, cut him off. Some customers, especially bullies, are just bad for business. They don’t deserve your service.

But if the bully is a high value customer, you can reach out to him at another time, when she may have cooled off.

‘Converted bullies’ can become very loyal customers and

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ambassadors of your business.

ego problem.

Mr. Know-it-all I am sure you have met this kind of person before. They seem to know everything about everything, including your business, product or service.

In their bid to showcase their knowledge, they could be highly critical and rude. They also tend to talk a lot and always want to dominate the conversation.

This type of customer can be especially difficult to deal with because you can’t really tell what they want. In fact, sometimes, this attitude could just be a negotiation gambit intended to make your product or service seem inferior so they can get it at a cheaper price.

How to handle the Know-it-all Handling this type of difficult customer can be easy, if you know how to.

‘Know-it-alls’ repond quite well to an ego massage. Compliment their knowledge of your product or service and give them some good attention while you can. Make sure your compliments are sincere and not patronizing.

Never argue with this type of customer as you’ll end up having an extended argument. And worse still, you may hurt her ego.

Instead, if you need to correct him and provide some facts and information, you may use a line like: ‘You’re right, but I think the product is… (make your point).

As long as the ‘Know-it-all’ feels she got your attention, and leaves with her ego intact, this kind of customer can become loyal too.

Do not fall for it.

Know-it-alls like the sound of their own voice and love to be the centre of attention. They have an @Businessdayng

Friday 28 August 2020

Harvard Business Review

BUSINESS DAY

25

ManagementDigest

Feel like you’re falling behind your peers?

Nihar Chhaya

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WORK VS. LIFE t’s never pleasant to feel like you’re lagging behind your peers. With the rise of social media, it’s hard to avoid evidence of your colleagues’ accomplishments if you want to stay connected.

And in fact that evidence can have benefits. A recent study shows that it can become a source of inspiration in both work and life.

So how can you harness the positive benefits of competition without suffering from the insecurity it can breed? By employing these five strategies.

TRACK YOUR TRIGGERS: Does your boss’s support of others make you feel inferior?

Do specific friends’ accomplishments bring you down?

Do you find yourself regularly scrolling through LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram, feeling more insecure as you do? It’s vital to pay attention to the things that provoke moments of selfcomparison for you, because once you’re aware that these are your triggers, you can transform them into opportunities for more productive responses.

SHIFT FROM REACTIVE RUMINATION TO PURPOSEFUL REFRAMING: You might

think you should quit all activities that prompt feelings of insecurity, but that’s rarely a reasonable solution. If you cut off contact with your friends or stop using social media, your feelings of inadequacy may only increase with isolation.

A better approach is to be intentional: Deliberately engage with your feelings of insecurity.

For example, the next time you come across news of a peer’s success and find yourself feeling inadequate, step back and

observe your feelings without judgment. Then make a commitment to view your peer’s progress objectively, as if you were a journalist researching her story rather than someone competing with her.

EXHIBIT A PERSONAL STRENGTH TO REGAIN YOUR MOMENTUM: During an acute bout of insecurity, you may start to brood about how you need to catch up to others. At times like these, you can recapture your sense of self-efficacy by taking

small actions to achieve small wins. Double down on your core strengths, express them to the world and use the validation you receive to boost your resilience.

REDEFINE YOUR PEER SET AND CREATE A NEW FIELD OF PLAY: When you compare yourself to a fixed set of peers, you engage in a zero-sum game where you are either ahead or behind. By expanding your view to include new and diverse peer groups, you create less of a

binary evaluation of your success and find new domains to dominate.

SHAKE FREE OF INTERNALIZED EXPECTATIONS: It’s one thing to feel that you’re lagging behind your peers when you’re involved in an actual competition, such as vying for a promotion. But there’s an even more damaging mindset that can lead to perpetual insecurity: the belief that you should not only outperform your peers but also want all of what they are trying to achieve. This “tyranny of the should” creates a neverending race in which you can never enjoy what you already have. Your definition of success keep changing depending on what others desire.

Instead, consider the possibility that everything you’ve chosen to do until now has put you on the right path. Then commit to evaluating future decisions based on your values and whether they present opportunities for personal growth.

If you continue to change course based on what others want or have, you will never feel like you’ve caught up to your peers.

Nihar Chhaya is the president of PartnerExec. ; (Art note: A photo and an illustration accompany this article.)

Why do your employees resist new tech?

Frank-Jürgen Richter CONNECTING hile the use and application of technology has become near ubiquitous around the world, the actual adoption of new and emerging technologies across most organizations continues to be less than optimal. Due to several barriers, tech adoption at an organizational level is often slow or nonexistent. This keeps old legacy systems alive and prevents an organization from achieving its full potential efficiently. This lag in adoption has long been a concern for companies, but now, amid a pandemic, it’s a crisis.

As businesses are compelled to reevaluate their business models, many have adopted technology to counter difficult market conditions. They are revamping their online presence to stem slumps in revenue, automating payroll functions and using tools to keep tab of workflows. Despite this flurry of activity, we still find that technology adoption is often too slow and that its lasting ef-

W

fects are unclear. Why is true tech adoption so difficult to achieve?

While the coronavirus has changed a lot about business, research that preceded the virus can help shed some light on this question. A survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit published last fall identified some of the most important challenges to companies embracing new technologies, including employee skills, lack of senior management awareness, lack of remote working opportunities, organizational culture, issues of complexity, cost www.businessday.ng

and risk, and inadequate infrastructure. Older, larger companies are also often constrained by the presence of legacy systems and legacy approaches to innovation and problem-solving.

Costs, complexity and skills are all valid barriers, but without the right organizational culture supporting technology major investments in training or specific tools could wither on the vine. That’s why we see organizational culture as an area of particular focus for companies looking to adapt to new technologies in coming

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months.

Based on our experience working on these issues, we see four key levers to help business leaders create a culture that will help drive a more effective tech adoption: — INCENTIVIZE TECHNOLOGY USE: A time-tested strategy toward building a technologically driven culture is to incentivize technology use. Monetary benefits can usher in behavioral changes when managed properly. Employee reviews can be widened to include technology adoption scores.

— INVEST IN THE INFRASTRUCTURE: If the use of technology is going to be cumbersome, its uptake is going to be disappointing too. Make the infrastructure around it — information technology networks, software, processes and practices — supportive and easy to use. Without investment and a thoughtful execution plan for new technologies, it is difficult to convince employees of the benefits of adopting new technologies.

— MAKE LEARNING PART OF THE PLAN: Education and @Businessdayng

reskilling go a long way toward enabling the right kind of culture. Rather than thrusting new technologies upon employees, organizations should provide individuals with the right training and support to better use and adopt those tools.

— DON’T MAKE IT PIECEMEAL: Organizations must have a longterm strategy toward the creation of a culture that encourages and embraces technology adoption.

A piecemeal approach to tech adoption and implementation may feel like short-term progress, but will not lead to the creation of a digitally focused mindset.

Technology has the potential to build positive culture and purpose. It will, without doubt, enable the organization’s potential.

But technology, culture and purpose will need to become better integrated, if we want to build enduring and sustainable organizations and societies of the future.

Frank-Jürgen Richter is chairman of Horasis. Gunjan Sinha is chairman of MetricStream.; (Art note: A photo and an illustration accompany this article.)

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Retail &

consumer business Luxury

Malls

Companies

Deals

Spending Trends

COMPANY

COMPANY

Anti-counterfeit supplies: 97% of consumers feel secured with HP’s delivery inspections - Survey

Estol Africa expands operations with Fireboy vibe

Temitayo Ayetoto

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ver 97 percent of consumers have endorsed HP’s Customer Delivery Inspections (CDIs) as a valuable service, protecting them from falling prey of organised fraudulent tactics, a recent HP survey across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) has found.

The CDI is an Anti-Counterfeit and Fraud (ACF) programme that offers consumers an effective means of authenticating their stock.

It involves on-site checks of suspicious large or midsized cartridge deliveries in response to reports initiated

by HP customers. If fraudulent deliveries are found, the HP ACF team gets alerted for follow-up action.

Suanne Schoewitz-Franchi, HP’s Global Lead of Supplies Anti-Counterfeit and Fraud Programme expressed elation over the positive feedback of consumers in response to the CDI in a statement provided to BusinessDay. He reassured that the design will strictly uphold quality and reliability standards in the delivery of performance and consistent results.

“Our high standards go

beyond our products. With our survey finding that 91 per cent of surveyed customers believe counterfeits present a risk to their business, it is important that we continue to fight fraudulent activity and ensure our customers have access to a reliable source of information and advice so that they have a peace of mind when buying HP products,” he stated.

“With this in mind, HP maintains its commitment to protecting our customers through our Anti-Counterfeit and Fraud programme, as shown by our quick action to adapt CDIs in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.”

HP Inc. is a multinational company that creates improved technology through

a portfolio covering printers, personal computers, mobile devices, solutions, and services.

Amid the COVID-19 disruption, HP has initiated photo-based CDIs if circumstances do not allow for an onsite visit.

The findings equally revealed that 60 per cent of customers planned to take steps to purchase safely in the future, directly following the HP CDI guidance. About 98 per cent of customers surveyed agreed they would recommend the programme.

Between October 2019 and March 2020, HP, in collaboration with local authorities in Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania, obstructed a number of counterfeit trading programmes, removing

close to 200,000 illicit products from the African region, including fake HP printer cartridges and components to assemble further counterfeits.

The company further reaffirmed its dedication to empowering channel partners, customers, and enforcement authority representatives with the knowledge to identify fraudulent supplies and protect businesses. In EMEA, close to 7,000 stakeholders have attended HP’s activities dedicated to education and prevention.

The company also cooperates closely with local and global law enforcement authorities to detect and dismantle illegal operations that produce counterfeit HP printing components.

Fikayo Owoeye

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aving successfully amplified the shooting of YBNL star, Fireboy DML, into fame, Estol Africa is now spreading its tentacles across the continent’s music landscape.

Founded by Tosin Adekeye otherwise known as Cute Kimani, popular media personality, Estol Africa reaffirms commitment to record more successes as far

plishments with Fireboy DML, she said, “For an artist who released an album less than a year ago, it was a huge risk for him to tweak his sounds and still go ahead to gain so much traction in the African music space and beyond. But Estol Africa successfully amplified this and I’m happy about it.”

The release of Fireboy’s sophomore album, Apollo, has further cemented the impact of Estol Africa in the music industry.

With over 8 million streams in less than two

Tosin Adekeye

as public relations and talent management is concerned in Africa.

Speaking of the commitment, Cute Kimani spoke highly of her company’s portfolio, creativity, and recognition among entertainers in and beyond the shores of Nigeria.

On her fulfilling accom-

hours, being among the US iTunes top 10 albums, becoming number 1 album in Nigeria’s Apple music chart, all 17 songs being on the twitter trends table, and Number one on the trendsmap across regions, Africa and Europe inclusive, for Fireboy DML’s Apollo, Estol Africa is helping music stars live their dreams.

Spending Trends

Nigerian consumers pessimist about immediate recovery despite gradual reopening - McKinsey BUNMI BAILEY

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onsumers in Africa’s biggest economy are becoming less optimistic about the country’s recovery prospects than they were in March, despite relaxations in lockdown conditions and reopening of the economy.

A recent survey by McKinsey, a global consulting company titled “Nigerian consumer sentiment during the coronavirus crisis” showed that confidence rate dipped 800 basis points as the percentage

of respondents’ hopeful about an immediate rebound from COVID-19 induced economic crisis fell to 40 percent in June from 48 percent in March.

“A higher proportion of consumers witnessed a decrease in income, savings, and spending levels. They intend to be mindful of spending in the coming weeks and are on the lookout for savings, while increasing spending on essentials, entertainment, and fuel,” the survey stated.

The survey data collected from June 16–18, 2020, checks back for regular updates on consumer sentiments, behaviours, income, spending, and

expectations.

“The decreasing optimism among consumers is somewhat expected. At the peak of the pandemic, the expectation was that normality would be restored almost immediately and jobs will be recovered, and salary cuts will be reversed. However, the hope for a V - shape recovery is gradually being dashed,” Ayorinde Akinloye, a consumer analyst at CSL Stockbrokers said.

He further noted that the reasons for the less optimism from consumers are not farfetched as they are reluctant to spend as usual due to the severe uncertainty in the

economy, businesses in turn are careful in hiring, wage increases and capital spending due to the slow recovery in economic activities and the economy was already slowing before the pandemic hit due to long term bottlenecks.

“The existence of these bottlenecks or structural concerns makes it much more difficult for the Nigerian economy to stage a big rebound,” He said.

According to a maiden report of COVID-19 pandemic impact monitoring survey by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the impact of the pandemic on employment

and income of Nigerians have been widespread.

The survey which captured responses from 1,950 households showed that 42 percent of the respondents, who were working before the outbreak reported they were not working due to the pandemic.

While 79 percent of the respondents reported that their total income has decreased since mid-March, with many struggling to keep up with the purchase of staple food like yam, rice and beans.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that the Nigerian economy would witness a deeper contraction

Team Lead: Bala Augie, Bunmi Bailey; Graphics: Fifen Eyemisanre Famous www.businessday.ng

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@Businessdayng

of 5.4 percent in 2020, but expects the economy to rebound by 2.6 percent in 2021.

Further findings from the survey showed that for June, 43 percent of the respondents had mixed feelings that the economy will be impacted for six-12 months or longer and will stagnate or show slow growth thereafter, compared to the 39 percent of respondents for March.

While 17 percent of the respondents for June, said COVID-19 will have a lasting impact on the economy and show regression or fall into lengthy recession compared to the 13 percent for March.

Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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@Businessdayng

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Sports Messi to quit Barcelona after two decades Stories by Anthony Nlebem

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rgentina star, Lionel Messi, has informed Barcelona he wants to leave the club after spending almost two decades with the Spanish giants.

The club confirmed on Tuesday the Argentine sent a document expressing his desire to activate a release clause that would end his contract - which currently runs until next June - and allow him to leave for free this summer.

Messi signed a contract extension in 2017 that committed him to Camp Nou through the 2020-21 season—and made him the world’s highest-earning soccer player on the pitch—a new exit clause was added.

It allowed him to leave for nothing this summer as long as he communicated that decision before June 10, 2020.

Barcelona do not agree the clause is still active. It is said to have expired on June 10 - 10 days after the origi-

nal date of the Champions League final on May 30.

But Messi’s lawyers are arguing that - in the spirit of the deal and good faith the clause is still active after the rescheduled final on August 23, which was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement comes 11 days after Barce-

lona’s humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals, one of the worst defeats in the player’s career and in the club’s history.

The defeat capped a difficult season for Barcelona - the first without a trophy since 2007-08 - and ignited one of their worst crises ever.

The news of Messi re-

NFF sanctions 2019/2020 NPFL final table

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he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has endorsed the final table of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) for the 2019/2020 season as prepared and released by the League Management Company (LMC).

At its virtual meeting, held at the instance of the President of NFF, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, to deliberate on all the issues arising from the

forced ending to the season by the COVID-19, the agreement reached by all stakeholders to use the Points-PerGame (PPG) to determine the final table and the subsequent petition by Rivers United FC, the Committee unanimously recommended that the NFF Executive Committee endorse the LMC decision and the Final Table for the 2019/2020 season in line with the NFF Statutes. It

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also charged the LMC to work out its calendar to ensure that a very minimal number of matches are postponed for Clubs taking part in continental competitions.

As part of its consultations on the matter, the NFF reached out to both continental-governing body, CAF and world-governing body, FIFA, whose responses affirmed the position of the NFF Football Committee.

questing to leave comes as no surprise after a rocky season at Camp Nou that included a dust-up over the midseason appointment of manager Quique Setién that ended with his dismissal last week; a smear campaign against Messi and his wife, reportedly dialed up by the club itself; and the tipping point, an embarrassing 8-2

loss to Bayern Munich that put an early finish to Barçelona’s Champions League title hopes. It was the first season in 12 years that Messi failed to win a trophy, one for which he took a 70% cut in base pay—$11 million—after the coronavirus pandemic halted play for three months.

Barcelona is planning to pay Messi $92 million this upcoming season—an amount that would help make him the fourth athlete to earn more than $1 billion in career earnings, pre-tax.

About a third of his salary is in the form of performance incentives, which the star forward has been consistently earning, posting 12 consecutive seasons with at least 31 goals and hitting 700 career goals in June, joining Ronaldo as the only active players at that level.

Messi’s name is on top of every conceivable club scoring record and on 34 trophies in the team’s case, including six La Liga and two Champions League titles. He has won the Ballon d’Or a record six times.

Barçelona manager Ron-

ald Koeman hinted out he hopes Messi would stay, saying, “He is the best player in the world, and the best player in the world you want in your team; you don’t want him playing against you.”

Messi has won a record six Ballon d’Or awards during his time at Barcelona as the top player in the world, and has helped the club win 10 Spanish league titles and four Champions Leagues.

Forbes values Messi at $4.02 billion, and few other teams can afford Messi’s skyhigh wages, particularly as clubs face a revenue shortfall while returning to play without fans in the stands amid the pandemic. But Manchester City, and a reunion with manager Pep Guardiola, has emerged as the clear favorite to pry Messi away.

One hurdle: UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations, which were established in 2009 to prevent clubs from spending more than they earn and getting into financial problems by doing so.

Inter Milan, PSG and Manchester United are the main frontrunners in the 33-year-old player.

Football season kicks off as Arsenal battle Liverpool in Community Shield

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he 2020-21 Premier League season is just around the corner, with the battle set to begin in earnest on Saturday, 12 September for the Premier League and LaLiga and on Saturday, 19 September for Serie A. Arsenal and Liverpool will be raising the curtain on the highly anticipated season, with African superstars, Mohammed Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang going head to head when they meet in the FA Community Shield on Saturday, 29 August.

“In line with our mission to enrich the lives of our customers we felt it important to kick off this new football season with a wider broadcast of the anticipated clash and make it an inclusive experience for all our valued customers”, said John Ugbe, Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria.

Arsenal will be looking to make a big statement in the clash, with their FA Cup triumph at the end of the last season, signaling their

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intent to return to glory in what will be manager Mikel Arteta’s first full campaign in charge.

They also defeated Liverpool 2-1 when the teams last met – in a Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium in mid-July – thanks to goals from Alexandre Lacazete and Reiss Nelson, @Businessdayng

though it was a match in which the Gunners clung on for the three points.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are still basking in the glow of their first league title in 30 years, though manager Jurgen Klopp will want his side to quickly rediscover the hunger that drove them to glory through 2019-20.

Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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@Businessdayng

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Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

NEWS

Nigeria’s FX shortages may hamper economic recovery in H2 – FSDH Research ...Naira stable across markets as FX turnover declines by 62.92% HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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hortages of foreign exchange (FX) could work against Nigeria’s economic recovery in the second half (H2) of 2020, according to a report by FSDH Research, which sees the FX challenge playing a major role in shaping economic outcomes during the period.

Already, limited forex supply has resulted in the depreciation of the Nigerian currency (Naira) in the parallel market, popularly known as black market. Naira has lost N108 to the dollar since March 2020 when the dollar was sold at N368/$ to N476 as at Wednesday.

Naira was stable across market segments on Thursday as the dollar was trading at N476 and N477 on the black market and retail bureau. The foreign exchange

market at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, opened on Thursday morning with an indicative rate of N386.15k, which signaled a marginal appreciation of N0.05k compared with N386.20k on Wednesday, according to data from FMDQ. At the I&E FX window, relatively lower volumes passed through the market, as it remains affected by tightened system liquidity. Naira remained stable at N386.00 per dollar. Analysts at FSDH research said most participants maintained bids between N380.00 and N386.00 per dollar.

The foreign exchange daily turnover declined further by 62.92 percent to $14.47 million on Wednesday from $39.03 million recorded on Tuesday.

The total amount of forex sold by the Central Bank of

Nigeria (CBN) to authorised dealers decreased by 82.2 percent to $0.84 billion in April 2020 from $4.70 billion in March 2020, due to the low demand for foreign exchange as a result of the closure of factories and businesses occasioned by Covid-19 pandemic, the CBN’s economic report stated.

The FSDH report noted that more recently, the CBN has embarked on FX rationing and exchange rate adjustments, among other measures, to reduce pressure on the naira and maintain a stable exchange rate.

Drawing from experience during the last recession, limited availability of FX as well as FX rationing could have unintended consequences on broad economic aggregates such as GDP, inflation, external reserves and foreign investments.

Primero to recruit more female drivers for BRT buses DESMOND OKON

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anaging director of Primero Transport Services Limited, operators of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Fola Tinubu, says the company is considering recruiting more female drivers for its fleets.

He said this at an interview with BusinessDay in Lagos, while also talking about plans to improve on services being offered its patrons.

Primero has had female drivers for over three years now; however, with the recent commissioning of the Abule-Egba/ Oshodi axis, the company revealed that it is expecting an additional 400 recruits to join the team of workers on that BRT bus corridor.

This then presents an opportunity for women drivers looking for jobs in the public transport sector.

“We’re actively encouraging the recruitment of female drivers because they are patient and not as rough as men because when we’re driving as men, we always have this machismo attitude. But women are more calm,” Tinubu said.

Women have dealt with grave discrimination in career choices in the past as they were labelled incapable and unfit to take up certain types of jobs.

In 2018, the World Bank said there are 104 economies with labour laws that restrict the types of jobs women can undertake, and when and where they are permitted to work.

The global financial

watchdog estimated that such restrictions affect the employment choices of 2.7 billion women.

However, with the surging wave of advocacy for economic inclusion of women, global leaders and companies are waking up to the humongous cost of sidelining women, with Africa losing billions of dollars.

For instance, Nigeria’s Central Bank recently earmarked 60 percent of its SME funds to womenowned businesses.

Further justifying his resolve to bring in more women, Tinubu, a transporter with many years of experience said when you introduce women into the midst of men, the men tend to behave better and more civilised than when it’s just men alone.

CBN to resume dollar sales to BDCs LOLADE AKINMURELE

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria will resume what it called “gradual” sales of dollars to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators on Monday, August 31, according to a document seen by BusinessDay on Thursday.

The CBN will sell dollars to the BDCs at a rate of N384/$ while the BDCs are to sell to end-users at no more than N386/$, according to a separate document seen by BusinessDay. The naira exchanged for around N477 per US dol-

lar on the streets Thursday, with traders saying they expected rates to reduce when the CBN resumes dollar sales next week.

The CBN also said it will now sell $10,000 weekly to each BDC. That’s 86 percent lower than the $75,000 weekly sales that were done before a suspension due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown in the country.

In the same document, International Money Transfer Operators are to sell dollars to banks at N382/$, while the banks sell to the CBN at N383/$.

The CBN had earlier said www.businessday.ng

it will resume sales of dollars to the BDCs once international flights, which were also suspended amid the pandemic, resumed.

With the date for resumption of international flights initially fixed at August 29, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Thursday announced a new date of September 5.

Musa Shuaibu Nuhu, Director-General of the NCAA, said “non-aviation logistics” prompted the one-week extension, during a Presidential Task Force COVID-19 briefing in Abuja. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Friday 28 August 2020

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News Declining market turnover questions...

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as against 440.03 million

L-R: George Etomi, vice chairman, conference planning committee, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference (AGC) 2020; Paul Usoro, president, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA); Oluyemi Bamgbose, chairman, Nigeria Bar Association Women Forum (NBAWF); Oluseun Abimbola, chairman, Nigerian Bar Association-Section on Legal Practice, and Mfon Ekong Usoro, chairperson, technical sub-committee, Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP), NBA-AGC 2020, at the ongoing 60th NBA Annual General Conference in Lagos, yesterday.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

Logistics firms squeezed by multiple...

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cate, and vehicle road tax.

The logistics firms also say they are asked by the touts to present Ogun State paper, vehicle road tax for Zamfara State, mobile permit for Zamfara State, state carriage for Zamfara State even while in Lagos.

However, the legal documents logistics companies are expected to have in the state are insurance paper, road worthiness, vehicle licence, Ministry of Transport licence (state) and Lagos State carriage.

The main local governments/LCDAs flagged by logistics players are Alimosho, Mushin, Ikotun, Yaba, Eti-osa (Ajah), and Ikorodu.

“If a rider makes N10,500 in a day, he would have to settle the area boys with N5,000,” Benedict Philips, a logistics player and member of Association of Lagos State Carrier Operators, said.

“Two months ago, they came up with Mid-year Paper.

We went ahead to pay N3,000 for it. One month down the line, they told us that Mid-year Paper is now a scam because the government has not approved it. Over 500 companies with a minimum of two motorcycles have already registered for it. Then you go to another local government and they ask you about Media Paper. So, to be on a safe side, the riders are forced to just have it with them,” she explained.

She further said the number of logistics firms had risen by between 20-40 percent since COVID-19 pandemic in March, stressing that the tax enforcers expect them to have a document as soon as

it was announced.

The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) recently imposed N20 million for a new licence on international courier firms and N8millionannuallyforrenewal, and for the new local firms N10 million for licence and N4 million yearly for renewal.

But the ICT minister, Isa Pantami, cancelled it after public uproar. However, logistics and courier companies in Lagos say they are still asked to show proof of payment for the NIPOST fees even when it has been cancelled.

Bolaji Beckley, CEO of Agility Eko Logistics and Agility Express International, said he was at the Lagos State Ministry of Transport for three months to report the touts and was told to write a letter and petition all the local governments he encountered such.

“Everything looks like extortion. Even when we make that money, we will give most of it to the local governments,” he said.

Beckley explained that the number of logistics companies had increased by 40 percent since the start of the pandemic, but warned that the firms might be forced to shut down on the back of these extortions.

Logistics industry is gaining traction as COVID-19 pushes more clients online.

One Ken Research estimates that Nigeria’s logistics industry will reach $1.5 billion by 2025, basing its projection on Lekki Port, rail infrastructure and improved infrastructure.

Nigeria jumped to 131 from 146 in 2020 World Bank Doing Business Report, signalling an improved business environment, but the country is still

How Nigeria’s low-interest-rate policy...

Continued from page 4

2020, have raised more than N559.77 billion through commercial papers, 103 percent higher than the N275.37 billion raised in March 2019.

They issued the notes with an average interest rate of 7 percent, much better than the

average 15 percent offered by commercial banks.

“It is worth noting that the market forces that should eventually push up the rates in the fixed income space are not doing so. Institutional investors seeking to combat the subdued levels of busiwww.businessday.ng

saddled with multiple taxes and lack of accountability by governments at various levels.

Businesses are weary in Africa’s largest economy, with inflation rising to 12.82 percent in July, 2020, and poverty among the consumers reaching 44 percent in 2018, according to World Poverty Clock.

Unemployment rate has reached 27 percent in the second quarter of 2020 from 23 percent in the third quarter of 2018. The GDP contracted 6.1 percent in the second quarter of 2020, according to the NBS. The country is facing a worsening foreign exchange crisis, including low Foreign Direct Investment and Diaspora dollar inflows.

Wasin Adesina, chairman, Ikorodu Local Government, one of the local governments flagged by logistics players, said he did not ask the touts to collect levies or disturb businesses.

“Don’t you know the activities of the area boys? I don’t have any connection with them and I cannot be answerable to their actions,” he said.

“So, on their own, the delivery companies should ask them why they are doing that. That is not part of my business. Everybody knows the activities of the area boys; they are uncontrollable. They are everywhere. I don’t even know them,” he further said.

Rafiu Olufunmi, executive chairman, Eti-Osa East, another local government identified by logistics players, said he had asked the logistics firms to report any time they face harassment from touts.

“I have told the riders that every time they stop and extort them, they should report to the local government. And if they

don’t stop, they can get the area boys arrested. I have even had a meeting with the area boys to ask them to stop harassing the riders,” he told BusinessDay. “These boys have no approval from the government to be extorting them. These companies are allowed to go about their businesses since they have their permits,” he said.

The state frowns at touting and is taking steps to curb the malaise, Gbenga Omotosho, Lagos State commissioner for information and strategy, said, saying the issue of area boys will be escalated to the State Security Council.

He advised logistics companies to forge a common front and meet with Conference 57, which is a forum of all LG/LCDA chairmen, with law enforcement agencies in attendance, to discuss their grievances and clarify legitimate taxes and levies.

“Representatives of logistics companies should also exploit the internet in getting information about legal taxes payable to local governments rather than resort to hurriedly paying bribes anytime they are apprehended on roads,” he said.

The state government cannot dictate what levies local governments can collect in as much as they are legal, he further said, but the government will intervene and ensure normalcy is restored where there are illegalities.

“All local government officials are expected to be properly kitted and recognised.

Where some unscrupulous individuals take advantage of the system to commit crime, the law enforcement agencies are expected to arrest and prosecute them where such infractions are reported,” he said.

ness activities as a result of the pandemic are taking up government securities despite low-interest rates,” Desmond Abbey, research analyst at Arthur Stevens Asset Management, states.

A lower interest rate means Nigerians have no return on their savings and investment as the inflation rate has ac-

celerated to12.82 percent in July, the highest in 27 months.

“Nigeria needs Nigerians to save and invest in the economy, and this requires a positive rate of return. This is particularly critical for the BoP, as they have fewer options to save and invest,” Andrew S. Nevin, partner/chief economist at PwC, says.

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recorded in Q2’19.

Likewise, the average daily value traded across all products on the NSE saw a yearon-year (yoy) decline of 43.57 percent, from N5.70 billion ($15.70m) in Q2 2019 to N3.22 billion ($8.33m) in the period under review, the Fact Sheet further reveals.

While international participation in the Nigerian equity space has been understandably weak, as foreign investors seek safer investments in more stable economies and commodities such as Gold, this supposedly creates an entry opportunity for local investors with long-term views.

“From time to time we notice equity markets taking a pause, trading sideways for a month, before launching again upwards or downwards.

One of the ways to measure the health of an equity market is its turnover. The Nigerian equity market’s turnover has been trending downwards recently, prompting the question: ‘where is the institutional investor?” The answer might be: “presumably, buying longdated bonds, rather than equities,” Lagos-based research analysts at Coronation Asset Management, say.

The NSE services the largest economy in Africa and is championing the development of Africa’s financial markets. What could have been a flourishing year for the Nigerian economy was caught in the web of a global public health crisis, which grounded domestic and external economic activities. This is evident in record growth decline in domestic economy by -6.1 percent in Q2.

Following gradual easing of local and national lockdown measures in Nigeria and resumption of economic activities, stock market activity on the NSE in Q2 2020 waned slightly from Q1, but was characterised by comparatively lower sell pressures and a reduction in net outflows from the previous quarter.

The NSE All Share Index gained 14.92 percent to close the quarter at 24,479.22 points, from an opening level of 21,300.47 points. Despite this, the equity market returns did not preserved capital for many investors over the long term, even when adding back the generous dividends paid to investors. Consumer goods stocks were worst hit in Q2 as evidenced in the NSE Consumer Goods Index, which printed low at 441.71 points, a decline of 29.02 percent from 611.68 points in Q2’19.

It was followed by NSE Banking Index at 281.96 points at the end of Q2, down 21.26 percent from 358.09 points in Q2’19, and NSE Oil/Gas Index, which decreased by 22.44 percent to 196.47 points from 253.33 points in Q2’19.

At the end of the review quarter, the average price-toearnings (PE) ratio of The Ex@Businessdayng

change’s listed equities stood at 14.50, compared to 8.49 in the corresponding period of the previous year. The P/E ratio helps investors determine the market value of a stock as compared to the company’s earnings. In Q2’ 2020, the equity market turnover velocity declined to 5.69 percent, from 10 percent in Q2 2019.

The total value of stocks traded in Q2’ 20 at N189.93 billion ($491.43m) represents 42.59 percent decline from N329.95 billion ($907.9m) recorded in Q2’19. The dollar value was derived from exchange rate $1/N386.50 – NAFEX as of Jun 30, 2020.

“Despite the early optimism of the first month of 2020, a steep decline in crude prices caused by the spread of the coronavirus led to a generally bearish halfyear (H1). The sell-offs from international and local investors dragged the bourse to a low of -23 percent on April 7, before bargain hunting from mainly local investors pushed the ASI to single-digit losses by May. While we expected a more attractive market for investors in 2020, the poor macro environment, currency devaluation and general uncertainty over crude prices have dampened investors’ view oftheNigerianmarket,”research analysts at Lagos-based Vetiva Capital, note.

In this second half of the year, they expect the recovery in equity prices seen in Q2 to continue - albeit at a slower pace with local investors continuing to drive majority of the activity on the bourse. “We expect the market to close the year in mildly negative territory (-5%), driven by the current economic outlook,” the Vetiva analysts say.

Average daily transactions of 4,593.32 in Q2 represents an increase of 19.64 percent as against average daily transactions of 3,839.34 in Q2’19. The market’s snapshot at the end of Q2’20 shows the NSE closed the quarter with total market capitalisation of N28.62 trillion ($74.05bn), representing 11.23 percentincreasefromQ2’19level of N25.73 trillion ($70.79bn).

Equities market capitalisation of N12.78 trillion ($33.07bn) in Q2’20 implies a decline of 3.08 percent from N13.19 trillion ($36.28bn) in Q2’19. Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) market capitalisation increased to N14.07 billion ($36.40m), up by 157.20 percent from N5.47 billion ($15.05m) in Q2’19. The bonds market capitalisation increased by 17.96 percent to N14.75 trillion ($38.17bn) from Q2’19 low of N12.51 trillion ($34.41bn).

Following the steep decline in crude oil price, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) who feared an economic crash began exiting the Nigerian stock market, but domestic investors helped sustain the market. From January to June 2020, domestic investors accounted for 60.48 percent of the trading activities compared to 51.11 percent in 2019 and 49.30 percent in 2018.

32

Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

NEWS

World Bank approves N40bn education loan for Edo

L-R: Rukevwe Falana, company secretary; Obinna Ekezie, chairman, and Eddie Efekoha, group managing director/ CEO), at the 25th Annual General Meeting of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance plc, yesterday.

IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin

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Nigeria has made no progress in last 20 years, says Gbajabiamila MICHAEL ANI

I

n the past 20 years, Nigeria has made no meaningful progress on all fronts, according to Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House of Representatives.

This is as Africa’s largest economy, with a population of over 200 million people, is still bedevilled with the same problems and challenges, faced some two decades ago, “If you read the papers of 20 years ago, you will find out its same problem of corruption, epileptic power supply, poor health services, the country has been battling with, that same problem is still being discussed today,” the speaker said.

Gbajabiamila who spoke at the ongoing 60th annual general conference

of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), on the theme “step forward”, said until the government, private sector and policy makers understand that the country has been stagnant; no much progress will be made.

The speaker, who spoke in the virtual conference, alongside Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, said the coronavirus pandemic has, to a large extent, assisted in identifying these challenges, so that a workable solution can be administered.

On the path of the lower chamber of the house in which he is the speaker, Gbajabiamila explained that a number of works, including electoral, social and political reforms are in the works.

Among these reforms, the speaker noted is the Police reform Act, which he

Lagos records 81% half-year revenue performance SEYI JOHN SALAU

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he Lagos State government says it recorded 81 percent of projected internally generated revenue (IGR) first-half of 2020, despite the Covid-19 scourge and it negative effects on economies around the world.

The state commissioner for economic planning and budget, Sam Egube, disclosed this at the 2019/2020 annual press week lecture of the Lagos State Governor’s Office Correspondents (LAGOCO), themeed “rethinking Lagos in post Covid-19 Era.” Egube, guest speaker at the event, represented by the special adviser to governor on economic matters, Lekan Balogun, said that the 81 percent revenue performance for the period under review was at N432.6

billion.

The commissioner noted that against the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has re-strategised to conform to the demands of the present realities and focusing more on technology to drive governance in Nigeria’s biggest economy state.

“Lagos State economy remains the largest and arguably the fastest growing economy in Nigeria.

The state’s economy was projected to grow at four percent prior to Covid-19.

However, the Covid-19 has affected the possibilities of achieving such a prosperous target.

“Having looked at the half of the year budget performance, it showed that despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the total revenue recorded in performance is at 81 per cent of our initial target.” www.businessday.ng

said is now on the table of President Muhammadu Buhari, waiting assent.

The Police Reform Act, he said, was drafted to address the issue of community policing as well as scaling up remuneration for the police force.

He said in order for the issue surrounding community policing to be properly addressed, the National Assembly is working on amending the constitution.

This would help in properly outlining the roles of the federal, state and local government, Gbajabiamila said According to him, there has been too much concentration and burden on the Federal Government while the local government has remained moribund.

Reviewing the constitution will allow us to spell out the responsibility of each tiers of

government and hold them accountable where necessary.

“It is important to critically review our federal system by looking at the exclusive, concurrent and residual,” he said, noting that we cannot achieve the state of the nation we want if governments do not play their roles.

There is also a bill seeking alternative funding for the military, Gbajabiamila said.

According to him, this alternative funding will complement the defence budget that will assist in equipping the military in the fight against insecurity.

He noted that the world is being ruled by information technology hence, it is pertinent for the military to adopt technology in fighting the Boko Haram insurgency.

he World Bank has approved $75 million (about N40 billion) facility to support Edo State government’s at revamping the state’s education sector.

The state governor, Godwin Obaseki disclosed this on Thursday during his re-election campaign rally in Usen, Ovia South West local government area of the state.

The governor assured that the money which was approved by the World Bank board on Wednesday would be utilised to change the face of education in the state for the next three years.

He commended members of his cabinet for the successes recorded in the sector, stating that the intervention fund would help to expand the existing Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) programme from the basic education level to secondary level and reset state the state’s tertiary education system on the path of progress.

Obaseki said he was not afraid of signing Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) whenever the need arises considering the gains that have been recorded so far. “Education is very important and we have started working to reposition and reenact the sector in Edo State, particularly beginning with basic education.

“I am very glad to inform you that our efforts in revamping education in Edo State and Nigeria have now been richly rewarded. On Wednes-

day, the board of the World Bank approved a $75 million facility for the revamping of education in Edo State.

“What that means is that over the next three years, we will have about N40 billion to utilise in changing the face of education in Edo and Nigeria.

This is because of the fantastic work which members of our team have undertaken in the past few years to show the world what we can do with our educational system,” Obaseki said.

He continued: “It will interest you to know that this facility will help us at the secondary school level to do what we have started doing at the basic education level, so that by the time a child has gone through five years of learning, that child will be exposed not only to learning and literacy, but also to a vocation.”

Obaseki declared his support for the presidential probe panel on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), vowing to mobilise support of other governors in the Niger Delta region to demand the refund of the epic financial malfeasance in the board and return of the abandoned NDDC projects to the states.

According to him, “we are working with the presidency to clean up the NDDC so that we will ask them to handover to us, all the projects which they claimed they had undertaken in Edo State, in order to stop the massive corruption the commission is now witnessing, which the governments of the oil producing states are now complaining about.

NDDC: Forensic audit to be fast-tracked Philips Consulting predicts August 2021 as Presidency releases N722.3m normalcy for Nigerian businesses to have begun over the 2019 IGNATIUS CHUKWU, Port Harcourt

F

ollowing the release of N722.3 million by the Presidency for the much talked about forensic audit of projects in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from 2001 to 2019, the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the commission has hinted of super speed this time around.

President Muhammadu Buhari had just released the amount to make the audit a reality following apparent refusal of the National Assembly to approve the 2020 budget that would allow the auditor be paid. The NDDC management had frequently accused some leaders in two critical committees of the National Assembly to have sworn to forestall the audit in the face of hundreds of contracts allegedly collected by some members of NASS. The intrigues were said

budget which was approved in May 2020 without the provision for auditors. The next was said to be the threat to probe the interim management committee (IMC) headed by Daniel Pondei and thereby frustrate the forensic audit.

The National Assembly was said to have also written to funders of the commission to freeze further remittances.

These measures were expected to starve the commission and stop the audit.

The IMC said: “We are grateful to Mr. President for matching his words with action and approving the funding of the forensic exercise directly from the Presidency. We note that the President graciously approved this peculiar funding arrangement because he gave due consideration to the fact that the National Assembly has not passed the NDDC 2020 budget.

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F

ollowing the devastating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses globally and locally, the Philips Consulting CEO Report has forecasted August 2021 normalcy for business environment in the country to fully activate and operate optimally.

Phillips Consulting Limited recently engaged 100 Nigeria business leaders on the current economic landscape and presented the insights in its “CEO Report”, which stated that 57 per cent of CEOs expect that the earliest possible time for the business environment in Nigeria to normalize will be August 2021.

According to the report, CEOs are increasingly taking responsibility for their companies, and are not necessarily looking up to the government for solu@Businessdayng

tions to the problems occasioned by the pandemic.

For a greater awareness on political leadership in the country, the survey showed that as against the 79 percent CEOs who voted in the 2019 general elections, only 67 per cent CEOs have reported that the pandemic would make them more interested in the outcome of the 2023 election.

Speaking on the CEO report, Philips Consulting’s CEO, Rob Taiwo said, “results from our survey showed that the Nigerian government and business leaders should pay close attention to the post Covid-19 policies and strategies of the United Kingdom, China, and the United States of America as these will have the most profound impact on the Nigerian business environment.”

Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

33

NEWS

JAMB delists 22 centres for defrauding candidates N59m

-R: Yemi Adeola, former MD/CEO, Sterling Bank plc; Ken Opara, 1st vice president/ chairman, board of fellows/practice licence, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria; Fola Adeola, awardee/ founder and pioneer MD/CEO, GTBank Plc; Bayo Olugbemi, president/chairman of council; CIBN, and Seye Awojobi, registrar/ CEO, CIBN, during the conferment of honorary fellowship on Fola Adeola, at the Bankers House, Victoria Island, Lagos.

GODSGIFT ONYEDINEFU, Abuja

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AFDB: Adesina’s bumpy journey to second term re-election ENDURANCE OKAFOR

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kinwumi Adesina was on Thursday reelected to serve a second fiveyear term as President of the African Development Bank Group (AFDB) by the Board of Governors of the Bank.First elected as pesident of the bank on May 28, 2015, Adesina, a former Nigerian minister of agriculture will begin his new term on September 1, 2020.

But the journey to Adesina’s re-election is one that can be likened to a warrior who won an almost impossible battle as he was faced with a lot of issues which would have posed as threats for a second tenure.

Three months before he was expected to be reelected, the 60-year-old was questioned after a string of

corruption and abuse of office allegations from his own staff spilt into the open.

The “Group of Concerned Staff Members of the AfDB” claimed that Adesina has used the bank’s resources for self-promotion and personal gain while also paying out huge but underserved severance packages to staff who resigned mysteriously, and favouring his fellow Nigerians.

Due to the allegation on the first Nigerian to hold the position the US Government at the times called for an independent probe into accusations by the group of whistleblowers, thereby rejecting plans by the bank’s board to stop the investigation on the issue.

A letter dated May 22 was addressed to the Chairperson of the AfDB board of directors, Niale Kaba, stating that the US Treas-

ury Department disagreed with the findings by the bank’s ethics committee that cleared Adesina of any wrongdoing.

According to the US treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, “We have deep reservations about the integrity of the committee’s process. Instead, we urge you to initiate an in-depth investigation of the allegations using the services of an independent outside investigator of high professional standing.”

Chaired by former Irish President, Mary Robinson, a committee to probe the president was setup after much pressure from the US, a member of the bank who came on board in 1983.

In the aftermath, the Ivorian minister of development, Kaba Nialé, considered that the conclusions of the ethics committee

exonerated Adesina and proposed to the governors “to adopt the conclusions of the investigation by declaring the president completely exonerated of all allegations made against him”.

While the controversy around Adesina’s probe was seen as a potential to affect his chances of getting re-elected he enjoyed the support of a number of African countries after former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo rallied a host of former African heads of state to back the embattled bank chief.

The Nigerian government had thrown its weight behind Adesina. President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly flew with Adesina to Nigeria from the Ivory Coast to offer his support.

He has also promised to rally more support from other African countries for Adesina.

he Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has delisted over 22 ComputerBased Test (CBT) centres across nine states for allegedly defrauding 11,823 of its candidates to the tune of N59 million.

The registrar JAMB, Ishaq Oloyede, who made this known during a virtual meeting with representatives of the affected centres on Thursday, said the centres charged the candidates more than stipulated amount for effecting correction on profile as well as bypassing OneTime Password (OTP) required of candidates to initiate such changes.

Oloyede said the affected CBT centre owners would be prosecuted and any centre that shared the same ownership with the affected ones will be suspended from all JAMB activities.

“The purpose of calling this meeting is to interact with 22 of you (institutions) that have grossly violated the prescription of the board, particularly during Covid-19, and those who have done things not expected to do, thereby endangering the

lives of candidates that they were supposed to protect.

“Not only that, we have discovered that the 22 of you have also defrauded candidates by collecting from them more than you are expected to collect and doing certain things that would bypass the normal process and procedure. What you have collected is over N59 Million”, he said.

The JAMB boss said the centres charged candidates N3,000, N5,000 for an amount that supposed to be N200 as service charge for the centre.

He said JAMB has concrete proof of the infractions as the Board made undercover payments to the centres in order to actually detect the fraud that was being perpetrated by them.

The registrar, however, informed that the board has reversed the changes done illegally by affected candidates but the money paid to JAMB to effect the changes remain intact on their profiles.

He advised the candidates to change their passwords to avoid further damage following exposure of the secret code to operators of the now blacklisted CBT centres.

Respite for consumers as access to staple food improves Kano to sustain surveillance on polio despite BUNMI BAILEY

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he gradual reopening of the economy has brought reprieve for Nigerian households as difficulties encountered in purchasing basic food items has moderated considerably coupled with increasing the number of people back to work.

According to a recent July 2020, Covid-19 impact monitoring report survey by the National Bureau of statistics (NBS), the share of households who needed but were not able to purchase staple foods decreased between April/May and July for four out of the five major staple foods.

“The largest improvement was for cassava, for which the share of households who were not able to purchase it, decreased to 18 percent in July from 34 percent in April/ May,” the report stated.

The data bureau further said, however, that the share

of households unable to purchase some staple foods remained high in July as 62 percent of households who needed yams were unable to purchase them, while 37 percent of households who needed rice were unable to purchase it.

“Lack of money and an increase in prices were the predominant reasons why households were not able to purchase these staples, indicating the continued economic impacts of the Covid-19 crisis,” it said.

The monthly survey in its third round is a nationally representative survey of 1,950 respondents conducted between July 2 and July 16. It monitors the economic impact of the pandemic and other shocks on households across Nigeria.

Damilola Adewale, a Lagos-based economic analyst said that the reopening of the economy has to some considerable extent alleviated pressure on livelihoods caused by the pandemic. www.businessday.ng

“However, there are indications that consumer demand is still weak given the fact that consumer prices are rising and income is not rising proportionately,” Adewale further said.

Employment improved as the share of people who are working has continued to rise substantially towards pre-crisis levels.

The survey observed that “81 percent of respondents reported that they were working, close to the prepandemic level of 85 percent.

However, the recovery in urban areas is lagging, with the share of urban respondents working 11 percentage points lower than prior to the outbreak,” the report stated.

And even though the share of respondents working has recovered, there is some evidence of people moving in and out of work.

“This suggests that the new jobs gained may be precarious, and thus there is likely still instability in the job market,” the report said.

Nigeria`s new free status - Ganduje ADEOLA AJAKAIYE, Kano

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ano State government has expressed its determination to sustain surveillance on wild poliovirus, despite, the recent declaration of Nigeria by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a one of the polio virus-free countries in the world.

The state government said that the team of experts built for the purpose of polio eradication would intensify surveillance as specified by their rule of engagement and in line with WHO surveillance guidelines, so as to sustain the position.

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje stated this at during the state’s weekly executive council meeting on Wednesday, attributed the new polio status attained by the state to the

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collective actions of all stakeholders in tackling the disease.

“I could recall when I was the deputy governor; I chaired the committee against polio in Kano and know of the tremendous support rendered to the state by local and international groups which culminated in the victory over the disease that we are celebrating today.

“On behalf of the people and government of Kano State, I wish to commend those who contributed immensely in the fight against the disease. I must mention the Sarkin Yakin Kano, Wada Aliyu Gaya among other stakeholders who stood firmly by me in the fight. The role played by great people like Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Foundation and Bill Gates, of Bills and Melinda Gates Foundation @Businessdayng

is too much to be forgotten. There are others like the Rotary Club that spent millions of dollars. All these supporters deserved special recognition and appreciation”, the governor stated.

Ganduje noted that there are other stakeholders, like WHO, and other development partners that must be acknowledged and appreciated at all times.

He assured that his administration would do everything to sustain the new polio status of the state in order to continue to maintain the position.

Kano, one of the most populous states in the country was the epic centre of the disease, until the recent WHO declaration that the virus causing polio has been totally eliminated in Nigeria, one of the last three remaining countries where it was endemic.

34

Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

NBA 2020 CONFERENCE Nigeria has not made much progress in last 20yrs - Gbajabiamila MICHAEL ANI

N

igeria has made no meaningful progress on all fronts in the past 20 years, according to Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House of Representatives.

This is as Africa’s largest economy, with a population of over 200 million people, is still bedevilled with the same problems and challenges faced some two decades ago.

“If you read the papers of 20 years ago, you will find out its same problem of corruption, epileptic power supply, poor health services, the country has been battling with, that same problem is still being discussed today,” the speaker said.

Gbajabiamila, who spoke at the ongoing 60th Annual General Conference of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on the theme “Step Forward”, said until the government, private sector and policy makers understand that the country has been stagnant, no much progress will be made.

The speaker spoke in the virtual conference, along-

side Vice President Yemi Osibanjo.

He said the coronavirus pandemic has, to a large extent, assisted in identifying these challenges so that a workable solution can be administered.

On the path of the lower chamber of the house where he is the speaker, Gbajabiamila explained that a number of reforms, including electoral, social and political reforms are in the works.

Among these reforms, the speaker noted is the Police reform Act, which he said is now on the table of the President Muhammadu Buhari, waiting to be assented.

The Police Reform Act, he said, was drafted to address the issue of community policing as well as scaling up remuneration for the police force.

He said in order for the issue surrounding community policing to be properly addressed, the National Assembly is working on amending the constitution.

This would help in properly outlining the roles of the federal, state and local government, Gbajabiamila said According to him, there has been too much concentration and burden on the Federal government

while the Local government has remained moribond.

Reviewing the constitution will allow us to spell out the responsibility of each tiers of government and hold them accountable where necessary.

“It is important to critically review our federal system by looking at the exclusive, concurrent and residual,” he said, noting that we cannot achieve the state of the nation we want if governments do not play their roles.

There is also a bill seeking alternative fundings for the military, Gbajabiamila said.

According to him, this alternative funding will complement the defence budget, that will assist in equipping the military in the fight against insecurity.

He noted that the world is ruled by information technology hence, it is pertinent for the military to adopt technology in fighting the Boko Haram insurgency.

On electoral reforms, the speaker noted that nothing can be done in the country if leaders are not elected freely and fairly.

The admonished Nigerians to see the development of the country as a collective one as opposed to just the government.

Constitution promotes indigenous identity over national identity – Ezekwesili

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igeria has no social contract, Oby Ezekwesili, a former Nigerian minister of education, said speaking on the Nigerian identity at the 60th Virtual Nigerian Bar Association Annual Conference.

During a breakout session themed “Who is a Nigerian... A Debate on National Identity”, she said there was a failure to transit from a country that has been in political independence to one with an agreed set of common values, shared vision and ideals of a social contract that would bind Nigerians.

“So, we missed that opportunity,” she said.

Adding that in the aftermath of the civil war, the country lost another opportunity to negotiate and establish a common identity, the country forged around disparate purposes, these failures have produced a structural unfit nation, which requires deconstruction and reconstruction along values and ideals that lead to a common identity.

This panel, moderated by George Etomi, SAN

which included His Excellency Peter Obi, Wale Akoni, SAN, Salamatu Suleiman and Governor Nyesom Wike, who was represented – they all agreed on the fragmented Nigerian identity, albeit with different solutions.

“We are going into a second recession within 4 years.

There is no section of Nigeria that will not be affected.

Helping the SMEs will build an economy that will cut across every tribe. Indonesia has ethnic problems but has been able to build an economy. Ethiopia also has managed to triple their GDP. We are not the only multiethnic federation,” Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, said.

Suleiman said the country must focus on the things that pull the people together.

“Quality education for everyone in the country is something that will be an equalizer – when you have this you don’t have to worry about quota system because it does not exist. Educating women will take us farther than we can imagine,” she said.

Akoni said that the issue of indigenous identity is

purely political as there is no legal basis for the disparity because by the constitution all citizens should be able to live freely as a Nigerian anywhere in the country.

Speaking to how this affects women, he said, “The federal character provision…entitles women to continue to claim their state of origin even while married. This allows them to claim different states when a vacancy opens up in both states,” he said.

Wike said that to promote a sense of identity as a nation, residency not indigenous identity should be the premise for allocation of national resources, this will promote the ideal of equal opportunity across all ethnicities.

In conclusion, it was noted that the nation must agree that the sanctity of human life, is the basic point of consensus.

“We must understand that the office of the president is simply the highest political office. The most powerful is the office of the citizen. It is up to us to determine what values we would uphold,” Ezekwesili said.

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60th Nigeria Bar Association Annual General Conference in Lagos, yesterday.

Pictures by Olawale Amoo

Prof. Oluyemi Bamgbose (l), chairman, Nigeria Bar Association Women Forum (NBAWF), presenting award to Paul Usoro SAN, president, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).

George Etomi (l), vice chairman, conference planning committee, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) annual General Conference (AGC) 2020, with Olawale Akoni SAN, managing partner, Babalakin & Co.

Prof. Oluyemi Bamgbose (l), with Theodora Kia-Lawson, head, legal business, BusinessDay Media limited.

Oluseun Abimbola (l), chairman, Nigerian Bar Association-Section on Legal Practice, with Seni Adio, chairman, Nigerian Bar Association-Section on Business Law

L-R: Mfon Ekong Usoro, chairperson, technical sub-committee, Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP), NBA-AGC 2020; Efe Etomi, partner, Chief Rotimi Willians Chambers, and George Etomi

L-R: Alex Muoka, former chairman, NBA Lagos branch; Monda Ubani, former chairman, NBA Ikeja branch, and Chukwuka Ikwuazon, immediate past chairman, Lagos branch

L-R: Oluseun Abimbola, chairman, Nigerian Bar Association-Section on Legal Practice; George Etomi, vice chairman, conference planning committee, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) annual General Conference (AGC) 2020; Oluyemi Bamgbose, chairman, Nigeria Bar Association Women Forum (NBAWF); Olawale Akoni, managing partner, Babalakin & Co., and Kayinsola Ajayi, chairman, Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP), 2020 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)-Annual General Conference (AGC).

Virtual court hearings are here to stay – Legal experts OUR CORRESPONDENTS

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he adoption of virtual hearings in Nigeria has been fraught with constitutional and other challenges. While noting that states are working to implement the practice directions issued by the National Judicial Commission in this regard, the consensus among panellists at the NBA virtual conference session “Shifting the Paradigm: The Virtual Judiciary Age”, which held on the 27th of August, was that “virtual courts are here to stay.”

The Solicitor-General of the Federation, Adedayo Apata, SAN stated that the issue of virtual hearings are no more in contention, as “the Supreme Court has put the matter to rest”. He indicated that the government was using the opportunity afforded by virtual hearings, to focus on addressing the

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problems with correctional services in the country, particularly issues pertaining to “awaiting trial detainees”. He further stated that his office was “currently working with correctional service departments in the country” to determine the modalities that would be adopted to decongest the prisons.

However, Boma Ayomide Alabi, OON stated in another NBA conference session “The Equality Gap”, also held yesterday that “none of the matters” she prosecutes as well as defends on behalf of states “have been able to proceed since the onset of the COVID pandemic”.

Whilst all the Panellists in the session on “Shifting the Paradigm”, acknowledged the difficulties associated with adopting a virtual hearing system -particularly among litigants-, they stated that the benefits far outweighed the disadvantages.

Chief (Mrs.) A.J Offiah, SAN, @Businessdayng

stated that issues like “affordability should not deter us from taking on virtual hearings”.

She suggested that the NBA and the NJC jointly approach network providers with a view to reducing costs associated with accessing justice virtually.” She also noted the importance of training the judiciary and encouraged the NBA to take on that responsibility.

The Solicitor General, on the other hand stressed the “need to change our mindset”, if virtual hearings were to be truly successful. Although difficult to change old ways, Professor Githu Muigai indicated that “COVID-19 has done us a favour”, and “there must be no going back”.

Damola Solanke, a director at Microsoft stated that Microsoft would “support the country and the justice industry and empower the justice industry to do more”.

Friday 28 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

35

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Thursday 27 August 2020

Top Gainers/Losers as at Thursday 27 August 2020 LOSERS

GAINERS Company

Opening

Closing

Change

Company

Opening

Closing

Change

N36

N37

1

DANGCEM

N135

N134.2

-0.8

NB

ASI (Points) DEALS (Numbers)

MAYBAKER

N2.73

N3

0.27

FIDSON

N4

N3.71

-0.29

GUARANTY

N25.05

N25.2

0.15

WAPCO

N11.7

N11.55

-0.15

VOLUME (Numbers)

UPL

N1.49

N1.63

0.14

ACCESS

N6.4

N6.25

-0.15

VALUE (N billion)

MANSARD

N1.73

N1.84

0.11

ZENITHBANK

N16.95

N16.85

-0.1

MARKET CAP (N Trn)

25,304.25 2,954.00 251,295,735.00 1.579 13.200

Global market indicators FTSE 100 Index 5,999.99GBP -45.61-0.75%

Nikkei 225 23,208.86JPY -82.00-0.35%

S&P 500 Index 3,499.05USD +20.32+0.58%

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 13,096.36EUR -93.79-0.71%

Generic 1st ‘DM’ Future 28,537.00USD +225.00+0.79%

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 3,350.11CNY +20.37+0.61%

Stock market dips by 0.10% as investors take profit on recent gains

Fitch affirms Coronation Merchant Bank’s rating at B-

...Dangote Cement, Access Bank, Lafarge, Zenith lead laggards

igeria’s leading financial institution, Coronation Merchant Bank emerged the first and only internationally rated merchant bank in Nigeria as shown by the recently released Rating Report by Fitch, a global rating agency.

Fitch assigned the Bank a Long Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘B-’ with a Negative Outlook, a Viability Rating (VR) of ‘b-’ and a Long-Term Rating of ‘BBB (nga)’.

The Bank’s Long- and Short-Term IDRs are driven by its standalone credit profile as determined by its VR. Coronation Merchant Bank’s VR reflects the challenging and volatile operating environment in the country which was assigned a national rating of ‘B’/Negative by Fitch.

The Bank’s Long- and Short-Term Rating reflects its creditworthiness relative to other issuers in Nigeria.

The Negative Outlook on the Bank’s Long-Term IDR reflects the Agency’s view on prevailing operating conditions in

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Iheanyi Nwachukwu

N

igeria’s stock market on Thursday August 27 stopped its record rally seen since the beginning of this week as investors chose to take profit on large cap stocks following recent gains.

Top in the losers basket are stocks like Dangote Cement Plc, Access Bank Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, Fidson Healthcare Plc and Zenith Bank Plc. Cummulatively, equity investors lost N14billion at the close of trading which helped push the market’s year-to-date (ytd) negative return to -5.73 percent.

Dangote Cement decreased most from N135 to N134.2, losing 80kobo or 0.59 percent. Fidson

Healthcare dropped from N4 to N3.71, losing 29kobo or 7.25 percent.

Access Bank decreased from N6.4 to N6.25, down by 15kobo or 2.34 percent.

Lafarge Africa also dipped from N11.7 to N11.55, down by 15kobo or 1.28percent while Zenith Bank made

the top decliners list after its share price moved from N16.95 to N16.85, losing 10kobo or 0.59percent.

At the close of remote trading session, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation decreased from 25,330.10 points and

Investing in uncertain times; the value of credit ratings and secondary covers

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t has been a bumpy ride for global asset managers, as the pandemic exacerbates latent macroeconomic challenges. With rating agencies downgrading Sovereigns and some of the world’s renowned big corporates, there seems to be no “safe haven” any longer, as the hitherto “risk-free” instruments are increasingly being challenged by economic and market uncertainties.

Sovereigns are faced with the twin challenges of low fiscal revenue and the dire need to increase health and social security spending on the back of the pandemic, a double whammy which is aggravated in African countries, where latent socioeconomic challenges have heightened economic and market uncertainties.

Corporate earnings are projected to remain relatively weak due to the resurging stagflation para-

dox, especially in markets like Nigeria, where headline inflation has risen for nine consecutive months to 12.82percent in July, with notable upside risks in the months ahead.

Paradoxically, rising unemployment and waning purchasing power continue to weaken aggregate demand, a phenomenon which may undermine corporate earnings and cashflows over the near term. Proactively and reactively, rating agencies are expected to remain busy and bearish over the near term, as the agencies continue to reassess market conditions and unsystematic risks of each issuer to re-rate or issue downgrade warnings.

As of June, Fitch Ratings has placed more than 20percent of its coverage corporates on negative outlook or rating watch negative, a precursor to full rating www.businessday.ng

downgrade, as 50percent60percent of such rating action has historically resulted in full rating downgrade.

Interestingly, the rating action has been broad based, covering financials, energy, manufacturing and utilities amongst other sectors, a phenomenon reinforcing the wide-spread risk occasioned by the pandemic.

Unsurprisingly, most of the rating downgrades have been on non-investment grade corporates and instruments, with less than “BBB” credit rating.

In addition, a number of border-line investment grade corporates like British Airways Plc, Delta Air Lines, Renault SA and ArcelorMittal S.A amongst others, which hitherto had “BBB” ratings are now on speculative ratings of “BB+”, with negative outlook, which indicates potentials for further downgrade.

N13.214trillion to 25,304.25 points and N13.200trillion respectively.

UACN, UBA, FBN Holdings, Access Bank and Transcorp were actively traded stocks on the Bourse.

In 2,954 deals, investors exchanged 251,295,735 units valued at N1.579billion.

Capital Express grows income by 30%

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apital Express Assurance Limited’s gross written premium rose by 30 percent to N4.42billion as at the end of 2019 financial year.

The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Capital Express Assurance, Adebola Odukale, disclosed this during the company’s 19th and first virtual Annual General Meeting held at its head office in Lagos.

“In 2019, we grew the company’s gross written premium by 30percent to N4.42billion from N3.3billion in 2018,” the managing director said.

Giving more details about the company’s performance in the year under review, she said Capital Express paid N1.6billion claims in 2019. Fees and commission income grew by 68 percent from N35million in 2018 to N59million, which led to a 71 percent growth in underwriting profit from N1.16billion recorded prior year to N1.98billion in the year under review.

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the country.

According to the global rating agency, “management quality is a relative strength with the senior team demonstrating a high degree of credibility, experience and depth commensurate with the complexity of the business”.

Coronation Merchant Bank boasts of good assetquality, reporting a zero impaired loans (IFRS 9 Stage3)/ gross ratio as at 30 June 2020, which has also been the case since inception.

Commenting on the Report, Banjo Adegbohungbe, Managing Director/CEO of Coronation Merchant Bank stated that, “The Bank’s bold decision to proceed with an internationally accepted rating despite the challenging and uncertain operating environment is a testament to the Bank’s confidence, transparency and determination to continue to enhance its capacity to add value to its clients and stakeholders. We consider this to be a historic milestone on our journey to greatness”.

Stockbrokers’ Institute insures members against death

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he Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) has made history after over 27 years of existence by addressing the physical, mental and financial health of its members through purchase of group life assurance scheme and personal accident insurance cover for them.

Under the combined group life assurance scheme and group personal accident insurance cover, every member is immediately entitled to a sum of N1,000,000 compensation in the event of death or permanent inju-

Olatunde Amolegbe @Businessdayng

ry while there is a specified amount for medical bills for injury sustained.

Already, the policy, hailed by market watchers as a great succour to Stockbrokers with the rising death of its members, has become effective with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) yesterday by the Institute and a leading insurance firm, AfriGlobal Insurance Brokers.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Institute’s President, Olatunde Amolegbe explained that the group insurance scheme was part of the initiatives to create enabling environment for the members and would be extended to their families soon.

“One of our desires as an Institute is to continue to cater for the welfare of our members and their families.

The Institute has decided to put in place life insurance policy for its members such that the families can be taking care of in the event of inevitable.

Women in Business B

orn September 26, 1974, Dupe is a Nigerian business executive.

She is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria-based hospitality company, Transcorp Hotels plc, a subsidiary of the Nigerian conglomerate, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria.

Transcorp Hotels Plc, formerly Transnational Hospitality & Tourism Services Limited (THTSL), is the hospitality subsidiary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), a diversified conglomerate with interests in the power, hospitality, agriculture, and oil and gas sectors, headquartered in Lagos. It was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in January 2015.

Transcorp hotels has properties in Abuja; the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja, a destination hotel in Calabar; Transcorp Hotels Calabar, and planned properties in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

In 2005, the Federal Government of Nigeria privatised NIRMSCO Properties Limited, the then-owner of the Nicon Hilton Hotel, Abuja. As part of a consortium, Transcorp Plc purchased a proprietary stake in the company and became the core investor, while the federal government retained the remaining 49 per cent.

Hilton International LLC was engaged to manage the property.

In March 2020, Dupe was appointed to head Transcorp Hotels by existing board members, becoming the second woman to lead the organisation. Before joining Transcorp Hotels Plc, Dupe was Group Head of Marketing at United Bank for Africa (UBA) and was involved in leading all marketing efforts of UBA Group’s 23

countries of presence.

She had previously served as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria-based agricultural company, Teragro Commodities Limited, the agribusiness subsidiary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp Plc). She was appointed to the position in 2014.

In 2015 as CEO of Teragro, she was named on Ventures Africa’s 10 Most Influential Nigerian CEOs. Dupe attended Queen’s College, Lagos, where she obtained her GCE O-levels in 1991. After O-levels, she enrolled at University of Leicester, United Kingdom where graduating in 1996 and went on to obtain a Masters degree (MSc) in Development Economics from the University of Kent in 1997.

After her Masters, Dupe worked in different roles with Bloomberg and Northern Trust in the United Kingdom before moving back to Nigeria.

In Nigeria, she worked in SecTrust (now Afrinvest) and thereafter with Africa’s leading Private Equity Firm SME Manager/African Capital Alliance and joined the investor relations department of the UBA group in 2008 before a move to Transcorp as Director of Resources in January 2010.

In 2014, she was appointed to lead the now-defunct Agribusiness arm of Transcorp - Teragro Commodities Limited as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.

As CEO of Teragro Commodities, she was responsible for the acquisition of two farmlands measuring 10,000 hectares in Benue State for citrus farming and spear-

Nkiru Balonwu Founder/MD, RDF Strategies

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kiru is the Founder and Managing Director of RDF Strategies and responsible for setting the firm’s strategy and direction.

She provides expertise on organisational strategy, partnerships, social outreach, government relations, boards, reputation management and investor relations, to execute strategy through successful

communication. Within the first twelve months of forming RDF, Nkiru has already worked with more than a dozen entities including brands, state institutions, and C-Suite executives.

RDF is primed with its understanding of the multidisciplinary nature of strategic communication to provide clients from across sectors and speciality areas

BUSINESS DAY Friday 28 August 2020 www.businessday.ng

By Kemi Ajumobi

Dupe Olusola MD/CEO, Transcorp Hotels plc

headed a partnership with Coca Cola to produce Five Alive Pulpy Orange Juice making Teragro the sole local material source for the juice Dupe has been listed in the Leading Ladies Africa/ YNaija’s “100 Most Inspir-

ing Women in Nigeria” List for her passion in Women Affairs and Empowerment, Economic Development of under-developed countries and financial inclusion.

Dupe is married to life coach, Lanre Olusola and they have two children.

with the communication expertise and strategic partnerships they need to create value. Through rigorous strategies in internal communication, investor communications, strategic partnerships and government relations, they help their clients understand and proactively engage stakeholders’ interests and perspectives.

At RDF, they believe that the more individual women get to the top, the more power women have to change these attitudinal or organisational obstacles, overall. They provide consulting services to private and public-sector institutions committed to advancing gender equality in their organisations. They also offer ongoing effective communication advisory services to equip female leaders with the ability to interact more effectively with relevant stakeholders.

Prior to RDF, Nkiru was CEO of Spinlet, the leading digital music platform for African music across the continent and around the world. Before this, she held positions as a Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos and was a founding member of Ratio Consulting.

Nkiru is also creator of Bukkipa, a userfriendly mobile app that simplifies the accountancy and cash flow management processes for individuals and SMEs. Passionate about levelling the playing field for women in business and the democratising power of emerging communications technologies, Nkiru is a founding member and chair of AWB (African Women on Board) and currently sits on the boards of Rele Gallery (rele.co) and Girly Essentials.

She also regularly works with younger women wishing to enter executive-level roles. A firm believer in placing effective communications at the heart of successful business and social strategy, Nkiru

is an inspiring speaker and media commentator with a unique voice.

On 25 October 2019, Balonwu received the Powerlist 2020 International award.

The power list black excellence awards features 100 of the UK’s most influential black people. Balonwu was the recipient of the International Award, which is given to a person based outside of the UK, who is considered to have distinguished themselves as a change-maker, innovator, inspiration and person of considerable influence in recognition of her work at African Women on Board.

In 2018, Balonwu was appointed as a consultant by Nigeria’s leading opposition party, to engage women during the 2019 Presidential campaign of former vice president and opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar.

Balonwu’s consultancy RDF, was appointed to develop the concept for Lagos to the World (L2W), a global campaign in 2018 by the Lagos State government to drive foreign investment to the state.

In 2010, Balonwu was a recipient of the Founder Region Fellowship, a gift-giving body that focuses on improving the lives of women and girls locally and globally by giving fellowships to women who will truly make a difference in the world.

Balonwu won the prize under a Law and Social Science focus and a legal dissertation based on analysing the opportunities that the African film industry, Nollywood offers to women as a catalyst for economic development.

Nkiru holds a Doctorate Degree from the University of California, Berkeley, a Masters from University College London (UCL) and an undergraduate Degree from the University of Manchester. She has been called to the Bar in Nigeria, England & Wales and New York State.

For sponsorship and advert placement contact: kemi@businessdayonline.com Published by BusinessDAY Media Ltd., The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos. Advert Hotline: 08033225506. Subscriptions 01-2950687, 07045792677. Newsroom: 08169609331 Editor: Patrick Atuanya. All correspondence to BusinessDAY Media Ltd., Box 1002, Festac Lagos. ISSN 1595 - 8590.