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Contrary to Buhari’s directive, Malami proceeds with Trobell contract against IOCs T D

Forex turnover at NAFEX window hits $105.9bn …as FPI inflows turn CBN regular buyer than supplier of FX

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

ISAAC ANYAOGU & DIPO OLADEHINDE espite a directive

by President Muhammadu Buhari to Abubakar Malami, the attorney general of the federation, to terminate the contract the Ministry of Justice signed with Trobell International Limited to recover $43.747 billion from Interna-

Firm not registered as debt recovery agent

tional Oil Companies (IOCs) after a Supreme Court judgment, BusinessDay gathers that this has not been enforced.

Garba Lawal, chairman of Trobell International Limited, in a phone conversation with BusinessDay on Wednesday, said the

company was yet to receive any notice from the attorney general directing it to back down.

“As I speak to you, we have not received any instruction to terminate the contract,” Lawal said.

Malami had in an 8-page memo dated January 7, 2019

emanating from the minister of justice, drawn the attention of the president to an October 17, 2018 judgment of the Supreme Court in suit number SC.964/2016 brought by the atContinues on page 38

he foreign exchange turnover at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing (NAFEX) has totalled $105.9 billion from inception in late April 2017 through March 26, 2019, and $9.7 billion since February 27 alone.

The surge over the past month is attributable to foreign portfolio investor (FPI) inflows to the fixed-income market, according to FBNQuest, as investors are comfortable with their ability to exit the market at will.

Meanwhile, the outcome of the concluded general elections further gave the foreign investors comfort that the current foreignexchange policies are likely to Continues on page 38

Inside Experts seek to unlock value in Nigeria’s beleaguered healthcare sector P. 2

L-R: Yomi Jemibewon, director; Michael Nzewi, MD/CEO; Fola Adeola, chairman; Femi Ogunjimi, director, and Mohammed Garuba, director, all of CardinalStone Partners Limited, at the company’s annual general meeting cocktail in Lagos.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

2 BUSINESS DAY NEWS

Thursday 28 March 2019

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The other side of Chinese investment in Nigeria EMILY FENG in Igbesa & DAVID PILLING, FT

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ilson Wu has big plans for the free trade zone he manages in Igbesa, a scruffy town in Ogun State, some 60km from the frenzy of Lagos, Nigeria’s huge commercial capital. Casting his gaze over what is today a small cluster of in-

dustrial warehouses surrounded by mud roads and bush, Mr Wu can see an altogether brighter future. “We will have a five-star hotel, a golf club, a Walmart,” he says in a well-rehearsed pitch. “It will be like Dubai.” An electrical engineer by profession, Mr Wu’s journey to west Africa followed an assignment as a young man to Myanmar, where he worked for Power Construction Corporation of China, a state-owned group, upgrading the electricity grid.

In 2011, hungry for more adventure, he packed his bags and headed for Nigeria, where, still barely 30 years old, he was tapped up to manage the Ogun State free trade zone, a privatepublic project in which the local government provides the land and Chinese enterprise the capital. Mr Wu is one of hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens — a common estimate is about 1m — who have ventured to Africa over the past two decades to seek their fortune. Like many who have ended up there, he sees in Africa’s raw energy and ambition an echo of the forces that were unleashed by Deng Xiaoping’s reforms of 1978.

“It is like the China of the 1970s and 1980s when you could open

a business and maybe earn a fortune,” he enthuses. “Those kind of fortunes are not possible in China today.” People like Mr Wu have been persuaded to test their ambition in far-flung corners of the world by tougher business conditions in China, where rising labour costs, industrial overcapacity and more stringent environmental standards are taking their toll. While many entrepreneurs have looked closer to home, to countries such as Cambodia, others have struck out to Africa. It is China’s massive infrastructure projects, including dams, railways, ports and telecommunications networks, that capture most attention.

Between 2000 and 2014, the stock of Chinese investment in Africa went from 2 per cent of US levels to 55 per cent. McKinsey estimates that, at the current breakneck pace, China will surpass US levels within a decade.

Washington has belatedly woken up to China’s growing presence which is transforming both the physical and diplomatic landscape of Africa.

In December John Bolton, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, accused China of using “bribes, opaque agreements and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands”.

Yet large companies such as Huawei, and big state-affiliated companies, such as China Bridge and Road, are not the only Chinese actors reshaping the continent. What officials in Washington may not fully understand is that thousands of hardscrabble entrepreneurs like

ANALYSIS

L-R: Emmanuel Nnorom and Peter Ashade, both directors; Obong Idiong, MD/CEO, and Eniola Fadayomi, chairman, all of Africa Prudential plc, at the 6th Annual General Meeting of the company in Lagos.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

Experts seek to unlock value in Nigeria’s beleaguered healthcare sector KEMI AJUMOBI

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edical experts in Nigeria have expressed dissatisfactionwiththe state of healthcare in the country, listing the challenges to include lack of infrastructure,inadequatemedicalprofessionals, exodus of medical practitioners, lack of enforcement of regulations, medical tourism, among others.

Burdened with these countless challenges in the sector, the experts expressed their displeasure and proffered solution at a recently held roundtable organised by Ernst & Young.

They also identified business opportunities in the healthcare sector as well as made projections on the future of health care in Nigeria, with many of them coming to a consensus that there is an urgent need for immediate overhaul of the health sector.

“When you look at the healthcare

space and all the challenges experienced, people are really deterred from making investments in the sector,” said Olayinka Oyetunji, manager, transaction advisory service, Ernst & Young.

“The sector is fragmented and challenged with regulations that should make it work. A lot is being done that is below world best practice, hence the reason for the roundtable to help highlight the issues and through the medical experts present, proffer solutions that will work,” Oyetunji said.

Ola Brown, founder, The Flying Doctors, said it was essential for medical practitioners need to be influence drivers.

“The importance of driving influence in the health sector of Nigeria as medical practitioners is key. Bankers drive influence, cement companies drive influence. The question is, how are doctors driving influence?”

Brown asked.

Richard Ajayi, CEO, The Bridge Clinic, said Nigerian medical practitioners have moved from focusing on treating patients to searching for money to run their clinics/hospitals.

He blamed the situation on the Nigerian environment, arguing that the case was different in developed countries.

“In the process of looking for funds, we become business-inclined because we need funds to work. It is a problem because it shouldn’t be so because there is a difference between the practice of medicine and the business of healthcare. This practice is done by doctors who are distracted. If funds are available, doctors can focus on their work,” he said.

The poor quality of health-care services delivered to Nigerians has been a major concern over the years and is partly responsible for the surge in medical tourism. Many outbound medical tourists from

Continues on page 38

Concerns as new Act seeks to whittle down SEC powers on mergers IHEANYI NWACHUKWU

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f not properly scrutinised and regulatory roles duly outlined, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018 will only succeed in cutting down the powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on mergers of businesses, a copy of the Act seen by BusinessDay shows.

The Act which is now a public document seeks to establish the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal.

Though the explanatory memorandum of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018 claims it is for the promotion of competition in the Nigerian markets at all levels “by eliminating monopolies, prohibiting abuse of a dominant market position and penalising other restrictive trade and business practices”, the power to approve mergers is now granted to the new commission, instead of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A merger occurs when one or

more undertakings directly or indirectly acquire or establish direct or indirect control over the whole or part of the business of another undertaking, according to the Act in section 92(1)(a) of Part XII – Mergers, for the purposes of this Act. It adds that a merger contemplated in paragraph (a) of this subsection may be achieved in any manner, including through (i) the purchase or lease of the shares, an interest or assets of the other undertaking in question, (ii) the amalgamation or other combination with the other undertaking in question, or (iii) a joint venture.

Analysts at KPMG Nigeria said as hitherto applicable, the participants to a small merger do not need to notify the Commission unless the Commission specifically requests that they do so within six months of deal close.

“The Act also prescribes rules for large mergers as the only other type of mergers. The definition of mergers under the Act is all-encompassing, and includes acquisitions. Consequently, although the Act did not independently define ‘acquisitions’, it seems to have extended the term ‘merger’ to include ‘acquisitions,” the

analysts said.

“Disappointingly, the Act does not go far enough to cover the current gap in the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) and SEC Rules around de-mergers, spin-offs, deconsolidations, etc. Consequently, there are still no provisions governing such transactions. Mergers under the Act are still regulated, using the size designation thresholds. However, the Commission has yet to issue guidelines to delimit the threshold.

We envisage that the threshold under the ISA will be modified,” they said.

Section 92 (2) notes that for the purposes of subsection (1) of the Act, an undertaking has control over the business of another undertaking if it - (a) beneficially owns more than one half of the issued share capital or assets of the undertaking; and (b) is entitled to cast a majority of the votes that may be cast at a general meeting of the undertaking or has the ability to control the voting of a majority of those votes, either directly or through a controlled entity of that undertaking.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

Continues on page 38

What 400,000ha of forests loss yearly means to Nigeria’s economy, food security CHUKA UROKO

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ue to pressures arising from large scale deforestation and degradation in order to make land available for competing needs, especially real estate activities, forests in Nigeria are under intense pressures, leading to loss of between 350,000 hectares and 400,000 hectares of forest landscapes every year.

Conservationists note that this rate of loss is among the highest in the world and therefore needs to be reduced, reversed and ultimately halted because, in their view, it has grave implications, not only for the ecosystem and the entire environment, but also for the country’s economy and food security.

Phillip Asiodu, a foremost conservationist who is the president of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), recalls that at independence, Nigeria had about 30 percent forest cover but due to human activities, the forests have depleted to about 4 percent.

“At the moment, less than 5 percent of the total land area in Nigeria is afforested, and even the sparse forest remainders are under threat with land use pressures from agriculture, infrastructure, housing and resources-harvesting,” he said.

What this means is that, as humans, Nigerians are at great risk because they also depend on forests

for survival. Forests are believed to be the lungs of the earth as they provide the oxygen man breathes. When forests are destroyed, thereby depleting the oxygen available for breathing, man is finished.

Beyond providing livelihoods for humans and habitats for animals, forests also offer watershed protection and ecosystem services, prevent soil erosion, enhance global food security and mitigate climate change, meaning that Nigeria is already at risk of food insecurity and hunger is imminent unless something is done urgently to halt what could be termed impending disaster.

Deforestation, which is a big threat to the ecosystem, is a global problem. Globally, forests are estimated to cover 31 percent of the world’s land surface but have been grossly depleted. A recent Global Forest Resources Assessment report reveals that more than 80 percent of the natural forests with their associated resources have been destroyed at an estimated rate of 20,000 hectares per day.

In the same vein, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in its 2018 report, estimated that about 15 billion trees are cut down every year while the global tree count has fallen by 46 percent since the beginning of human civilisation. Likewise, an estimated 7.3 million hectares of forests are lost every year.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

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Thursday 28 March 2019

FG concludes process on concession Housing reforms: EDPA, Iron Projects seal deal for Osinbajo to chart path for Nigeria’s economic of abandoned Independence Building 18-unit luxury housing development in Benin prosperity at Unilag 50th convocation IFEOMA OKEKE

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he Federal Government through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement has advanced to concluding stage to redevelop and concession the abandoned Independence Building currently managed by Tafawa Balewa Square Management Board (TBSMB), Lagos.

Also, Chidi Izuwah, director-general, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), said this move was in line with the Presidency’s drive towards creating a private sector-led development economy and would also berth the establishment of the National Trade and International Business Centre.

Izuwah said this Wednesday on the sidelines after an inspection of the structure in Lagos.

The building is 25-storey structure situated in the Lagos Central Business District and occupies a land area of 8,100 square meters, with a large separate parking lot of 2,650 square meters and has

been idle for 25 years.

He said: “This Independence Building is a national asset that was built 1961, and the ICRC has a mandate for pre-contract and post-contract compliance monitoring, and this building has not been yielding an economic value to the government and it is in strategic place, in the centre of Lagos.

“The intention of government is to concession this asset for it to become the national trade and international business centre that would drive value to Nigeria. So, we are here to understand the challenges of the transaction and what would be the regulatory requirements to reap its full potential.”

He further said, “The idea is to make sure that everything that belongs to Nigerians held in trust is put into the best use through partnering with the private sector, because his Excellency the President believes in a private sector-led economic growth. We are not doing this with government funding so we are going to select a competent private partner who has the technical and financial capacity.”

E

do State government has sealed a deal with Iron Projects Limited (IPL) for the development of high-end apartments in Benin City, in a renewed effort to deliver luxury housing in the state.

Speaking at the signing of an agreement between the Edo Development and Property Agency (EDPA) and IPL on the project, at Government House in Benin City, Edo State, acting governor, Philip Shaibu, said the housing sector remained a very critical sector to the Governor Obaseki-led administration.

Shaibu said: “We are happy to partner with Iron Capital Partners, the parent company of Iron Capital Limited, like we did with Mixta Africa.

This is a way of helping us actualise our dream of delivering a mix of housing options to the people. This particular project will provide decent accommodation, especially for businessmen operating in Edo State.

“In another 12 months, we will be handing over more keys to a new set of house owners. This is in line with the developmental strides of the governor.

Beyond providing housing, we are also creating opportunities and employment because we are very clear about creating jobs, as that is the only way to keep Edo State secure.”

The new deal is in line with the state’s vision to create new cities and urban areas, he said, noting, “We are doing everything within our reach with legislations and other instruments to create a conducive environment for development of more housing options for low, medium and high income earners.”

On his part, Jubril Enakele, director, Iron Projects Limited, said, “What we have conceived is to build a New York standard accommodation in Benin City. This is because there is the confidence across the Southern region that Edo State is open for business. So, even if you are in New York and you want to come to invest or live in Benin, you don’t need to cut your expectations and lifestyle because you are coming to Benin.”

Enakele said, “We will start small and then build from there. We will have a fully serviced gymnasium and swimming pool.

KELECHI EWUZIE

V

ice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, will outline critical steps Nigeria needs to take towards achieving all-round prosperity at the pre-convocation lecture of University of Lagos Akoka.

Osinbajo will be delivering the convocation lecture titled “Nigeria Rising: The Path to Prosperity,” Monday, April 1, 2019, at the Ade-Ajayi auditorium of the university.

Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, vice chancellor of the university, while speaking at the pre-convocation press conference held at the Senator Building Wednesday, said under his watch, the university had pursued an uncompromising academic standard; local and global networks; innovative fund raising mechanism, among others, on the path to making the school greater than the best.

Ogundipe said in the last one year, Unilag had expanded the mandate of the entrepreneurship and skills development centre to engage in critical activities to promote entrepreneurship training for

both staff and students of the university.

The 12th vice chancellor of Unilag said the University of Lagos Business School would soon take off while the university was set to start a microfinance bank that would serve as additional source of revenue for the university He said apart from research and teaching, community service was an essential part of the reasons universities were established, adding that the institution was set to train young girls in secondary schools around the community in web programming, robotics and artificial intelligence.

Aside the convocation lecture, other activities for the four-day programme between April 1 and 5, include honorary doctorate degree to be conferred on Jim Ovia, founder, Zenith Bank; Lateef Okunnu, former pro chancellor, University of Agriculture Makurdi, Benue State, and Daniel Olukoya, general overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries.

Others are conferment of emeritus professorship on Sulaiman Adekola, former deputy vice chancellor (administration), Unilag.

Thursday 28 March 2019

TCN raises concern over six towers vandalised in Delta … wants community to keep watch on government infrastructure HARRISON EDEH, Abuja

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ransmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has raised concern over the six power transmission towers along the Delta - Benin and Delta – Sapele - Benin 330kV transmission line routes that was vandalised and some tower members removed.

As contained in a statement issued by Ndidi Mbah, general manager, TCN, public affairs, on Tuesday TCN noted that as soon as the transmission line tripped, a lines’ patrol team was dispatched to investigate the cause and investigations revealed that tower No 61 had collapsed and aluminium conductors from the tower were on the ground.

“The patrol team also discovered that tower members of five other towers including the tower directly opposite tower 61 on the Ughelli – Benin line route were missing.”

The statement shows that with the collapse of tower No 61 on Delta-Benin line, TCN is now evacuating the power through Delta – Sapele- Benin 330kV transmission line alone adding that the collapsed tower has not affected power evacuation, transmission lines redundancy is effected until the second line is restored.

“We have been facing the challenge of repeated attacks by vandals on this axis since December 2018, made formal reports to security operatives and to traditional rulers in the area, including the King of Okpeland and the Ovie of Oghara, who have equally held meetings with their subjects to address the menace but to no avail”.

“The company has already mobilised its quick response engineering team to the site of the incident and they have cataloged requirements that would enable them commence repair works on the affected towers. Repair works would be completed in four weeks”.

TCN reiterated the need for host communities to watch over electricity installations in their domain, to forestall the destructive activities of vandals and also urge electricity customers nationwide to report any unusual activities around electrical installations to appropriate authorities adding that this incident would cost TCN millions of naira to rebuild the collapsed tower.

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NNPC restates commitment to gas development HARRISON EDEH, Abuja

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roup Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, has expressed the corporation’s commitment to support any project that would encourage production and utilization of natural gas for the benefit of the nation.

Disclosing this recently at the signing ceremony of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) Train 7, Nigerian Content

Plan, in Abuja, Baru, who was represented at the occasion by Chief Operating Officer (COO), Gas and Power, Saidu Mohammed, said the signing ceremony was important as one of the major processes to bring the Train 7 project on board.

He noted that the project had a lot of potentials that would benefit the nation, but called on the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to ensure that Train 8 and any other LNG projects in the future should be designed to accommo-

date more local content in the fabrication of facilities.

Commenting on the corporation’s interest in the signing agreement, he said that the Train 7 project was in line with NNPC’s vision of prioritising the use of natural gas to the greater benefit of Nigerians.

“Apart from being 49 percent share holder in NLNG, we are more interested because it will enhance the development of gas in the country. Bringing the gas to this Train 7 would involve a robust gathering system that will connect trunk lines from

offshore to the hinterland, looking beyond NLNG to domestic market, which will open up a flexible system that allows us to swing gas either way, depending on need.

“This implies that if NLNG is not running, the gas meant for it can be sent to the local market, and when the local market has difficulty in getting the gas consumed, same can be sent back to NLNG.” Baru stated that NNPC’s 49 percent share in the NLNG meant more dividends to the corporation, even as he advised NCDB to make room for more Nigerian Content in

subsequent LNG projects.

The GMD called on other partners in the project to obey the rules of engagement.

“My fellow shareholders, please let us continue to provide the necessary support that NLNG as a company requires and always remain compliant with what we are signing today.”

Earlier in his address, NLNG Managing Director/ CEO, Tony Attah, expressed gratitude to the management of the NNPC for its roles in seeing the project to this critical stage.

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Shaping Nigeria’s digital future through positive legislation

Gbenga Sesan & Mark Stephens

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igeria stands at the cusp of great progress in the infor mation and communication technology (ICT) sector, owing to diverse efforts by mostly youth-led entrepreneurs and collaborations. In recent years, policymakers and economic experts alike have come to appreciate this reality, looking beyond an annual budget built around oil barrels to better measure the country’s diverse economic potential. Start-up hubs are sprouting up across the nation; huge investments are being made in capacity building; a critical mass of Nigerians now have access to telecommunications services; and the government is finally exploring the economic potential of the ICT sector.

These indicators position Nigeria as

a possible leader in Africa’s emerging digital economy.

Nevertheless, a major obstacle remains. Around the world, the global digital economy is built upon the foundation of strong legal and policy frameworks, often grounded in international human rights law, which protect the actors within it.

Individuals and organisations only thrive and invest in the digital sector when there is legal certainty, regulatory trust, and rule of law that ensures that the rights of users are respected, and that the interests of citizens, businesses, and the government in the digital age are protected.

This is not yet the case in Nigeria.

Although the country’s constitution mentions certain rights, there are many laws — nominally in place to protect against legitimate concerns over cybercrime and terrorism — that are ripe for manipulation, leading to clampdowns and digital rights violations. Experience shows that the resulting uncertainty, abuses, and lack of trust will hinder innovation and experimentation by entrepreneurs, chill the critical work of journalists and advocates who use the Internet to improve government services and foster accountability, and limit investment by technology

platforms. The collective pushback against the proposed “Frivolous Petitions Bill” demonstrates Nigerian citizens’ recognition of such risks.

The Digital Rights and Freedom Bill, which was developed through deliberate, multi-stakeholder consultations, provides a comprehensive legislative framework that describes and clarifies relevant obligations and responsibilities for human rights online. Making it law, in spite of the present delay, will boost Nigeria’s burgeoning Internet economy, improve governance, and further Nigeria’s position as a regional and global leader on information, communications, and technology issues.

The Digital Rights and Freedom Bill addresses a range of critical digital policy issues and provides for the protection of citizens from errant behaviour such as hate speech and misinformation, as defined by a competent court of law. Overall, the bill addresses key challenges, provides regulatory clarity, and safeguards users rights, all while maintaining a preference for “openness”, which the OECD and many others have noted is vital for boosting trade, enabling innovation and entrepreneurship, fostering new, creative

‘

The Bill presents Nigeria with the opportunity to build an effective digital economy with a robust policy framework that protects businesses and secures human rights

and cost-saving business models, and enriching social well-being.

The Bill presents Nigeria with the opportunity to build an effective digital economy with a robust policy framework that protects businesses and secures human rights, complementing ongoing efforts by citizens, civil society, private sector, government and other actors.

The Digital Rights and Freedom Bill will further cement Nigeria’s reputation as a pioneer in progressive, positive legislation in a world where repression, clampdowns, violations and dangerous laws are on the rise.

Even though the fact that the President withheld assent is a setback, we urge the National Assembly to work with stakeholders and do the hard work of attending to questions raised by the President in his letter to the Senate. The revised bill, which should not lose the essence of the original draft, should be transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent before the end of the 8th National Assembly.

Mark Stephens, CBE has served as the Independent Board Chair of Global Network Initiative (www.globalnetworkinitiative.org) since 2014.

‘Gbenga Sesan is the Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative (www.paradigmhq.org).

Time to abolish child labour

OSA VICTOR OBAYAGBONA

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major way the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government can re-write the age-long narrative of child labour is to abolish the practice now.

Going through major roads across the nation, especially wherever there is always gridlock in the states’ capitals, the sight of poorly dressed teenagers and young adults, male and female, hawking varied items – from perishables to household, even vehicular items - on the streets when others are in school, brings to mind the most awful possible image of Nigeria.

According to Jamie Onwuchekwa, the 3Rs (reading, writing, arithmetic), which constitute the traditional building blocks for both personal and national progress in the modern industrial world, are denied to children who didn’t go to school. Look ahead 20 or more years into the future and you find a huge gap between the lives of those children who went to school and those who didn’t—and a huge and ever-widening gap between their children and children’s children.

The socio-economic consequences of this gap are enormous. It connects with health, crime and general security for both rich and poor down to third or fourth generations. This is why the advanced nations long ago abolished child labour, and replaced it with compulsory school education, which they cruelly tax themselves to provide free of charge.

The preamble of the Convention of Rights of the Child states: “In the universal declaration of human rights, the United Nations has proclaimed that childhood is entitled to a special care and assistance. The child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding.”

It is concludes that the child, irrespective of sex, must not be exploited mentally, physically, or even sexually. But our today society is far from the ideal.

The International Labour Organisation says the number of working children between five and 14 years of age in developing nations is estimated to be about 250 million. With this number, 61 percent of them are in Asia, 32 percent in Africa, while 7 percent in South America.

The fall of communism increased the number of child labour in the whole of Europe. The official number of child labourers was 5.5 million in the USA (a 1999 figure). The number is on the increase all over due to the negative effects of globalisation.

According to Chira Hongladarom, director, Human Right Institute, Thailand, “Children, now part of the proactive process, are treated as economic goods rather than society future.”

Few years ago, the Lagos State government shown on TV children picked up from various streets, and were kept at various orphanages in anticipation that their relations would come to pick them up. It was learnt that most of them stayed at the orphanages for months without anybody coming for them. These are the children selling sachet water (pure water) and various articles on Lagos roads at traffic.

Was it not people that sent them to sell?

Where are these people?

The truth is, these children are not staying with their parents. To be straight about it, they are all house-helps devoid of love from their guardians. If they were really loved, the guardians would have looked for them.

Consider a case that was reported at the State of the World’s Children 1997: “I am seven years old. Sometime ago, my poor parents handed me over to a rich family living in the city.

Today, like every day, I got up at five o’clock in the morning. I fetch water from a nearby well.

Then I prepare breakfast and serve it to the family. I was a little late in serving breakfast, so the master beat me with a leather strap… I was giving leftovers to eat – at least they were better than the cornmeal I ate yesterday.”

“My clothes are ragged, and I have no shoes.

My owner has never allowed me to bathe with the water I bring to the family. Last night, I slept outside; sometime, they let me sleep on the floor.

Too bad I could not write this myself. I am not

allowed to go to school.”

If you feel this is not possible in our society, then try Okota and Festac areas of Lagos State, where you see children running errands from sunrise to sunset, without hope of seeing the four walls of a school. Before these children were released by their parents, there was this ‘gentleman agreement’ that they would be sent to school.

Awake magazine of February 8, 2003, also reported some cases that were most pathetic.

Maria became a child prostitute when she was 14 years old. She adopted this life-style at the wish of her mother, who often told her she was beautiful and that men would like her. And as much, she would make a lot of money. In the evening, Maria’s mother took her to a motel where they made contacts. The mother remained nearby to receive the payments. Each night, Maria had sex with three or four men.

If you think this story is exaggerated, go through Isolo, Agege, Mushin, Ajegunle, Mafolukun/Oshodi areas of Lagos. From Benin City to Kano, from Sokoto to Maiduguri, they are all there. At about 9pm to midnight, go through the brothels and make-shift night clubs and guesthouses, all you will see are innocent looking children in tight jeans and extra-short bikinis, most of whom, hardly have breast to show maturity, winking their eyes to lure men passing by for patronage. The most painful thing is some do this to make extra money to augment what their parents make.

Unfortunately, these children are forced to maturity over-night, by creating a forceful illiterate sub generation. What a life?

Yet, some parents who are desperate for the money argue that unemployment and underemployment in the society are mostly responsible for this; that the small contribution the child brings, from hawking or otherwise, to the entire family income will be the difference between hunger and homelessness.

Some of these children are brought to the city by an uncle or a family relation who collects money for their services without remitting same to the parents. These same contractor uncles or relations can move a 10-year-old child between six families in four years. They tell lies to get them away from their present household promising to bring them back as soon as possible. Immediately they are released, onward to another that is ready

to pay higher for their service. Several of the girls involved have suffered uncountable rape incidents without anybody seeking redress for them because the acts are not reported.

Most employers prefer child labour because they are less paid. They don’t strike back in the face of oppression, even when they work long hours for less pay, often under conditions harmful to their health. They cannot join organised labour when their services will be guaranteed.

Above all, they cannot fight back even when they are physically abused. Check out some of them in factories around the Lagos international airport, Ajao Estate, Ikeja, and its environs.

In spite of this harsh reality, some of these children are no longer mindful of their acts. Right there on the streets, some are introduced to drugs; under the influence of drugs, a child prostitute or child armed robber may be subjected to situation he/she normally would never agree to. No wonder when armed robbers strike, they leave behind them throes that are beyond human comprehension.

In order to stop parents in the rural area from releasing their wards, there is need for government and private organisations to invest in rural communities to make it more attractive.

Government, irrespective of the political party, should reintroduce the free and compulsory education at all levels. When parents know they need not bother about buying books and paying school fees, they will rather want to keep their child than sending him to unknown cities. If these are not considered, the inevitable conclusion by some psychologist will become consequential.

Psychologists say, “An increasing number of people are being driven to commit suicide as society is failing to give them any hope to overcome their difficulties.”

The issue of child labour/prostitution should concern everybody. President Buhari should make a deliberate move to stop it now, because the acts described above are different forms of corruption that should be easier to stop or reduced. And if we must have an ideal society in the future devoid of fear of criminality, then the child must be taken care of now.

Osa Victor Obayagbona is assistant News Editor, BusinessDay

Thursday 28 March 2019

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comment Every little appreciation Positive Growth with Babs

Babs OlugbemI

O

ne of the questions I have been asking business leaders and managers in my engagements is how they intend to transform their organisations into sustainable institutions. I do clarify organisations and institutions.

In institutions, people live by the core values in their behaviour and interaction genuinely and not as slogans or well-crafted words.

I do tell leaders to reward the behaviour they want to see repeated and part way with people who are discontent with their business core values. Any behaviour rewarded in any sphere of life tends to be repeated.

That’s human nature.

It won’t be surprising to see new videos of school girls or boys as we saw in the video of Success Adegor, a Warri girl that got sent out of school for not paying her school fees or dues. A lady named Stephanie posted a video where Success Adegor, a seven years old girl was lamenting the delays in her school fee payment and that she would prefer spanking for delayed payment rather than being sent home from school. Her eloquence and passion for education were rewarded by Nigerians to the tune of N5million in

cash donation and scholarship for her up to the university level.

A few days after the success of the video, Stephanie who posted the video was demanding for a minimum of N1m as a token in appreciation of her effort. I read it online that she had been paid half her request by a politician in delta state. Her behaviour was rewarded. I’m sure there will be a flood of similar video in the social media space soon. Any behaviour rewarded will be massively repeated.

The question is if it is right for Stephanie to have demanded a reward. To the people who had donated to change the situation of Success Adegor, I want to say thank you for heeding the clarion call of a brave young Nigerian. There are many of her type around the country with no Stephanie to record and share their videos. The efforts in helping someone in need should not wait until it gets to the public space. Around everyone is someone vulnerable or in need. As Nigerians, we should identify people who require support that can advance their lives around us and make society better by helping them. We should help people to move forward in life and be of help to others as a return to our investment in them.

Stephanie has received her reward whether she posted the video with or without the intention of making money out of it. Our society would be better if we help people who are not in the position to ask us for it or we appreciate every little effort of kindness without the need for them to demand it.

I remember an event that would show why leaders and people, in general, need to appreciate every little act

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of kindness or behaviour. I was in the Railway Compound in Ebute Metta to see a friend last September. In the process of walking along one of the streets within the compound, my phone fell off me. I discovered I had lost my phone after some minutes and had to call the telephone line severally in attempts to trace it or recover it from whosoever had found it. I was ready to pay any ransom given the contacts and other records on my phone. After few calls to the line, a young man picked the phone and agreed to meet with me on the same street where he found my phone.

I met with Emmanuel Taiwo Akinbo, a staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) who returned my lost phone to me. He resisted my attempts to reward him for his excellent gesture and only agree to exchange his contact with me. I got wondering and appreciating the young man who is in his first career year for his value and honesty. I want his behaviour to be recognised and repeated. I wrote to the Managing Director of the NRC, Engineer Freeborn Okhiria on my experience with one of his staff telling him I caught one of his team members doing the right thing.

A few days later, I received an acknowledgement of my letter and a call from Emmanuel’s supervisor. I know he would have been recognised and commended for making the NRC proud. I went the extra mile as a show of little appreciation and to ensure such behaviour is repeated and entrenched among people.

For us as Nigerians, we need to appreciate efforts that are selfless whether they are with or without any intention to benefit from it. Appreciating every little effort will ensure people

‘

Any behaviour rewarded will be massively repeated

do things that are in the interest of others with or without the expectation of reward to them. A certificate of recognition, special announcement or report to the employers or associations of the person could go a long way in ensuring such kind behaviour is appreciated.

For leaders in the business or political sphere of life, being in the position of authority is a call to shape behaviour and entrench the desired culture. We know about Kaizen, a Japanese word for a change for better which seek little and continuous improvement in business or manufacturing processes. We should adopt the Kaizen principle in appreciating unusual behaviour or development in our followers in the workplace or within the society.

In the workplace, if you want unruly behaviour like the use of abusive languages, intimidation and harassment of staff, you only need to condone such action in the name of performance and the multitude of what you don’t resist become the culture of your organisation.

Every little appreciation of decisive action among people develops into a right attitude and way of life. If we value right gestures as shown to Success Adegor, every little effort of Stephanie should be appreciated not necessary in cash reward. I know there are many Success Adegor and Stephanie around us to show little appreciation to in order see more of positive behaviours in our society.

Olugbemi FCCA, the Chief Responsibility Officer at Mentoras Leadership Limited and Founder, the Positive Growth Africa. He can be reached on babs@babsolugbemi.org or 08025489396.

ERP systems and its relevance to modern day transportation

Festus Okotie

E

nterprise resource planning (ERP) is a business process management software that allows an organisation to use a system of integrated applications to manage the business and automate all back office functions related to technology, services and human resources.

It basically integrates all facets of an operation such as product planning, development, manufacturing, sales and marketing in a single database, application user interface.

It is a software considered to be a type of enterprise application designed to be used by large organisations and businesses. It requires dedicated teams to customize and analyse the data. It also handles upgrades and development. The need for businesses to strengthen its transportation systems calls for urgent attention and necessity for the use ERP systems in the entire transportation network.

The Nigerian transportation network suffers from several inadequacies especially the little capacity to handle unforeseen demands.

Transportation is largely influenced by information and communication technologies with focus being on knowledge of customers’ demands and value added services.

The transportation sector today needs to evolve constantly to meet up with global trend and therefore all modes has to be efficient and reliable. It must have the capacity to deal with the increasing demands of customers, suppliers and all stakeholders operating within the transportation space, while simultaneously trying to optimise and maximise the entire business operations at minimum cost.

In order to keep pace with modern trend of globalization within the sector, Nigeria transport sector needs more than ever to use information technology to drive the needed growth, not just as an enabler of operations but as strategic vehicle and critical business tool to optimize efficiency within the sector.

The benefits of using ERP for the transport sector are enormous. It helps in the facilitation of door-to-door delivery, overcoming unnecessary delays. It helps in streamlining the processes and for successful implementation of the ERP system. There is need to make sure all information are stored properly in line to make the process swift and efficient.

ERP helps provide with the right system and performance that is needed. It helps an organisation reduce operating cost and it is very beneficial when running business analytics. It improves the coordination of processes into one streamline process where everything can be accessed through one enterprise wide information network.

Additionally, operating costs are reduced by being able to control inventory costs,

lower production, marketing costs and it helps decrease the overhead of help desk support service. ERP systems can also benefit organisations by facilitating day-to-day management activities,It encourages the establishment of backbone data warehouses and allows employees to access the information in real time. This helps with research, decision making and managerial control. It tracks actual cost of the daily activities and can perform activity based costing functions.

Strategic planning is also benefited in such a way that the ERP system is designed to support resource planning in the strategic planning process.The reports and functions that ERP provides can help employees work through the strategic planning sessions and develop a comprehensive feedback that will help in the company’s processes and procedure.

ERP programs are being developed and updated all the time. With so many different types in the market,organisations should ensure they do due diligence and try out different packages before choosing one to use.

Some of the programs even offer mobile capabilities so that you can always have a finger on the pulse of your business activities. With real time capabilities and the ability to be able to see what is going on in your organisation as it happens, ERP systems are handy when you deal with high volume. With an ERP system, your organisation will never have inventory shortages or idle time spent transferring files.

You can test out an ERP system before buying it and see how it can work with your business.

ERP for Transport can provide solution for vehicle operations, ports, jetties,trucks, cars or any other commercial activity. ERP

for transport industry can drive the provision of unique door-to-door services and also will help to prevent costly, unexpected break-fix scenarios and downtime due to neglected fleet vehicles and equipment. It serves as a ready resource for fleet maintenance history, fuel usage, and driver details.

ERP helps the transportation, maritime, railway, pipeline, consumer travel industries, freight & logistics Industries stay ahead.It helps transform rigid or underperforming legacy systems into efficient, integrated environments that give an added advantage by boosting productivity, efficiency, optimization, addressing security requirements and controlling costs.

ERP for fleet management serves as a ready resource for fleet maintenance history, fuel usage, driver details and can easily manage areas like insurance, asset management,equipment management, inventory management,human resources management as well as all expenses associated with operating fleet assets and financial assets.

The importance of ERP to modern day businesses operating within the transport space cannot be over emphasised and this article is intended to create the necessary awareness and encourage players within the transportation sector to upgrade their businesses by investing in viable ERP tools to maximise profit and drive down operational cost for the needed growth and targets organisations desires to achieve.

Okotie, a maritime transport specialist, writes via fokotie. bernardhall@gmail.com, Fokotie@bernardhallgroup. com

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Thursday 28 March 2019

Need to reduce number of political parties

W

hen, in 2002, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi successfully challenged the decision of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) at the time to refuse registration to his political party, the National Conscience Party (NCP) and many others on the grounds that they did not meet the pre-requisite set by the electoral body to be licensed as political parties, we all rejoiced that the decision of the courts to throw open the door for anyone or any group to register political parties to contest elections as a big victory for democracy and the freedom of association.

It did not occur to us that multi-party systems work best in a parliamentary system with proportional representation in place and is not particularly suited to presidential systems, with an inbuilt winner-takes-all arrangement.

Regardless, and as a consequence of the ruling, INEC, on December 3, 2002, registered twenty-two (22) new political parties, prominent among which are the National Conscience Party (NCP) of Gani Fawehimni, Movement for Democracy

and Justice (MDJ) led by former Inspector General of Police, M.D. Yusuf, the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) led by former Kaduna state governor, Balarebe Musa and the Green Party led by human rights activists, Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) to contest the 2003 general elections.

One of the consequences of the ruling was that the door was thrown open to just anyone to register a political parties to contest elections without meeting any set threshold. But just like the opponents of the decision had argued then, none of the twenty-two registered political parties had grown or evolved into a national party. In fact, less than three of the 22 political parties still exist today, and even then, as shells rather than vibrant political parties truly fulfilling the functions of a political party to aggregate interests, educate the populace politically and serve as a veritable vehicle for capturing power.

The unintended consequences of having an unregulated space for political parties is that there are, at present, over 91 political parties dotting the landscape of the country, majority of which, it is clear, were set up mainly for transactional purposes, for selling endorsements, and for hobnobbing with politi-

cians of the main parties in search of connections and filthy lucre. Sadly, this figure may even rise to 131 if INEC were to register the over 40 so-called political parties who have submitted applications seeking registration.

Ta ke f o r i n s ta n c e t h e last presidential election.

As much as 71 presidential candidates contested the elections but it was clear only two candidates stood any realistic chances of winning.

The others were in it not to win but may even have been formed as shells of the major parties to confuse, distract and even balkanise votes of either of the major parties.

First, many of them have just a single office or a few offices and branches and do not boast of branches and structures around the country – a prerequisite for any party that is serious and desirous of winning a national election. Secondly, many of them just sprang up so close to the elections and had not mobilised across all nooks and crannies of the country.

Unsurprisingly, they began revealing their true intent so close to the elections as they jettisoned their pretentious candidates and began adopting or selling their endorsements for either the candidates of the APC and the PDP. Thirdly, on the day

of the presidential elections, none of the parties deployed agents to the over 120, 000 polling booths except the two dominant parties, an indication they were not really contesting to win.

However, INEC was bound, by law, to take them seriously, increasing the logistic difficulties and the costs of the elections. Most voters didn’t find the long and unwieldy ballot paper funny as they had to search on end for the parties of their choice and run the risk of their votes being voided because the space allowed for thumb-printing had shrunk significantly.

It got so bad that international media made fun of Nigeria’s motley of candidates contesting the presidential election, comparing them to the sizes of the entire parliament of some countries.

Clearly the courts did not foresee the abuse that the opening up of the political space will engender. We have a responsibility to clean up the political space and prevent mercantilist and transactional parties as we have them today. We expect the incoming National Assembly to make a law to limit registration of political parties and set real criteria or thresholds for intending political parties to meet before registration.

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Access Bank guides Diamond’s shareholders ahead implementation of scheme consideration

Pg. 15

C O M PA N Y N E W S A N A LY S I S A N D I N S I G H T

MARKETS

NSE in need of boost as market underperforms sub-Saharan Africa markets DAVID IBIDAPO

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h e N i g e r i a’s stock market would require more than the earnings season to spur a boost in its performance as the market currently underperforms its peers in the Sub-Saharan African market.

Against expectation of a market pick up on the back of a clear political atmosphere, the market has trended downwards back into a negative zone as bears entered into the market.

Year-to-date analysis of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All share index (ASI) has shown negative performance as market was down by 1.25 percent as at Tuesday, having descended into negative territory in the past two weeks.

The Johannesburg ASI currently records a year-to-date return of 5.06 percent at an index point of 55,332.89 ZAR against 52,736.86 ZAR as at 31 December 2018.

According to a report by FBNQuest, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange is the most developed and liquid of the three sub-Saharan markets. Also, the market has benefited the most

from the signals that the normalization of United States monetary policy has slowed, if not stalled.

Meanwhile on the other hand, the Nairobi Stock Exchange delivered a yearto-date return of 12.06 percent as at the close of trading on Tuesday.

Also in the last one year, the NSE currently stands as the worst performer amongst these markets with a return of -21.23 percent against 2.28 percent return from the JSE and -14.03 percent return from the Nairobi stock market.

According to the NSE’s domestic and foreign portfolio investment report data, foreign investors share of turnover in February at 53 percent but show that their trading over the month amounted to a net outflow of N11bn.

There was a significant increase by 97.80 percent in foreign outflows from N27.81 billion in January to N55.01 billion in February. Meanwhile foreign inflows increased by 91.24 percent from N22.97 billion to N43.93 billion during the same period.

This shows an increasing outflow pace compared to inflow by foreign investors.

Daily turnover ytd on the two more ‘frontier’

exchanges has disappointed, averaging US$9.4m in Lagos and US$6.9m in Nairobi.

According to FBNQuest analysts, “The postelection rally was negligible, unlike in March 2015. Many equity investors may have hoped for an Atiku victory on the

grounds that his campaign stressed his private-sector credentials and insisted that he would somehow “get things done”. In stark contrast, fixed-income players responded very positively with a surge in buying, as we have previously noted.”

While some external

factors capable of triggering sizeable new flows into the Nigerian equity market may seem in favour of Nigeria, analysts insists boosting the domestic economy is a major catalyst for achieving this.

Gbolahan Ologunro, research analyst at CSL securities explained that,

“foreign investors are interested in good policy pronouncement from the fiscal authorities and attending to issues that have been long attended to.”

Listing but a few, Ologunro highlighted factors like; Nigeria structural issues in the oil and power sector, issues on unemployment and slow economic growth, debt level sustainability etc.

Meanwhile FBNQuest in its report explained that, “The first would be an oil price at a higher and sustainable level. This is indicated by the well-known linkages between the price and the non-oil economy, which was demonstrated by the healthy GDP growth posted in 2010-14.”

Secondly, they pointed evidence that the banks are achieving the loan book growth of around 10% for the year, which has been their guidance, would be helpful.

On the impact of MTN’s listing in the Nigerian market, analysts have divergent views on whether or not the listing will boost market performance.

“The MTN is a major catalyst to spur performance in the market when brought into limelight,” Ologunro concluded.

BANKING

Nigeria’s tier-1 lenders more socially responsible as donations rise 11% in 2018 ISRAEL ODUBOLA

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ier-1 lenders in Africa’s most populous nation, are putting in more efforts towards improving their host communities as the cumulative donations of four big banks that have released their financial scorecards for the period ended December 31, 2018, grew 11 percent.

The aggregate donations made by Access Bank, United Bank for Africa, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank in FY 2018 stood at N5.42 billion, N540 million or 11 percent higher than N4.88 billion reported in the previous year.

Corporate social re-

sponsibility or corporate citizenship is one of the key elements in business as it describes companies’ efforts towards improving their operating environment socially, economically and environmentally.

Efforts can range from donating money to nonprofit making organizations

to implementing environmentally-friendly policies in their respective work place.

UBA, Zenith and GTB reported year-on-year increase in their donations to community development in FY 2018 except Access that posted 34 percent decline.

Donations made by UBA, Zenith and GTB notched up

by 26 percent, 17 percent and 7 percent respectively in FY 2018.

Nigeria’s biggest lender by asset, Zenith Bank up donations and charitable gifts to the society to N3.06 billion in FY 2018, representing N454 million or 26 percent increase over N2.61 billion reported the year before.

Majority of Zenith’s donation, which is about 51 percent, were dissipated to States’ Security Trust Fund, while Nigerian Academy of Neurological Surgeons received the least donation of N10 million from the bank.

GTB raised its donations

by N61 million or 7.04 percent to N928 million in FY 2018 compared with N867 million in the prior year. The

bank directed its donations across four sectors namely arts, community development, education and environment.

A large chunk of the bank’s donations were directed to Financial Inclusion (N295m), Principals’ Cup (N130m) and Africa Centre Development (N75m).

Pan-African financial institution, UBA, up its donations by 26 percent or N261 million to N1.03 billion in FY 2018 compared with N832 million reported in the previous year.

About 99 percent of the bank’s donations in the review period were directed to developmental projects in Nigeria, with Financial

Edited by LOLADE AKINMURELE (loladeakinmurele@gmail.com) Graphics: David Ogar

Inclusion and Public Enlightenment project receiving the largest share of N400 million. The remaining 1 percent was committed to other projects in Africa.

Access Bank, which in no time will become Africa’s largest lender by customer base, lessen its donations by N191 million or 34 percent to N376 million in FY 2018 compared with N567 million posted in FY 2017.

About 53 percent of Access’s donations went to Financial Inclusion Project (N100m) and Lagos State Security Trust Fund (N100m), while contribution to Womanpreneur Business Workshop got the least share of N619, 500 in the review period.

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COMPANIES & MARKETS TECHNOLOGY

Samsung laments drop in chip prices will hit Q1 earnings JONATHAN ADEROJU

S

amsung Electronics said its first-quarter profit would likely miss market expectations due to falls in chip prices and slowing demand for display panels, in an unprecedented statement ahead of its earnings guidance.

The announcement came after the Apple supplier and rival told shareholders last week that slack global economic growth and softer demand for memory chips, its core business, would weigh on operations in 2019.

According to Samsung in a regulatory filing pre-empting its earnings guidance “The Company expects the scope of price declines in main memory chip products to be larger than expected,” Samsung did not elaborate on the purpose of its filing. A company official confirmed the global leader in smartphones, televisions and computer chips had not previously provided comment before its official earnings estimate.

The firm was forecast to post a KRW 7.2 trillion (N 23trillion) operating profit for the January-March period, according to Refinitiv SmartEstimate, more than 50

percent below the KRW 15.6 trillion recorded in the same period a year ago.

Its sales were expected to fall to KRW 53.7 trillion (N17 trillion) from KRW 60.6 trillion (N19 trillion) a year ago, Refinitiv shows.

Lee Won-sik, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities said “Inventories piling up on its memory chip side and the weak performance of its display panels business due to bad sales of Apple’s iPhones are hurting profitability for Samsung,” said DRAM chip prices fell more than 20 percent on average in the first quarter, according to DRAMeXchange, a unit of Trendforce that traces memory chip prices.

Daiwa Securities forecast Samsung’s display panel division to swing to an operating loss of KRW 620 billion (N196 billion) in the first quarter, while the semiconductor business’s operating profit would shrink.

Uncertainties over USChina trade tensions and China’s sluggish economy are clouding the outlook for global electronics makers, analysts say.

Chipmakers in particular have been hit hard by a glut in the global semiconductor industry triggered by weakening smartphone sales and

falling investment from data centre companies.

Samsung told shareholders at its annual general meeting last week that sales of memory products would likely revive in the second half of the year after a tough first half.

Investors also took heart when US chipmaker Micron Technology forecast a recovery in the memory chip market around the middle of the year.

Daiwa Securities on Tuesday reaffirmed a buy rating on Samsung, saying it expected demand for memory chips and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels to improve from the second half of 2019.

Samsung E le ctronics shares were down 0.2 percent while the broader market was 0.3 percent higher.

According to Park Junghoon, a fund manager at HDC Asset Management that owns Samsung Elec shares.”Samsung is giving a signal to the market so that investors can be prepared and there will be no surprise when Samsung posts its firstquarter earnings guidance next week,” “Its shares are not reacting a lot, though, as concerns over its first quarter have been reflected

Business Event

L-R: Pamela Shodipo; Aderenle Edwards; Rita Unuigboje of UBA, and Teni Giwa Osagie, at the launch of NZURI, a Health and wellness facility (SPA & Salon) in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

L-R Abayomi Awobokun, CEO, Enyo Retail and Supply Limited; Tunde Folawiyo, chairman, Enyo Retail and Supply Limited; Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos, and Oba Saheed Elegushi, at the official opening of the Enyo Olowo Eko Filling Station in Lekki. Pic by Pius Okeosisi

MARITIME

Dutch multinationals partner Maersk Line to achieve maritime bio-fuel pilot solution AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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ix Dutch multinationals including FrieslandCampina, Heineken, Philips, DSM, Shell and Unilever, have agreed to join forces with A.P. Moller Maersk to take a decisive step towards the decarbonisation of ocean shipping with aim of preserving the climate.

The six Dutch multinationals, which forms the membership of the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition (DSGC), agreed with Maersk that tackling harmful emissions related to shipping is urgently needed, and that cross-industry collaboration is required to develop, test and implement new solutions.

According to the agreement, DSGC members, many of which are customers to Maersk, played critical role in initiating and sponsoring the pilot solution, which Shell, acted as the fuel supplier, and Maersk played role of an operating partner.

A pilot, using up to 20 percent sustainable secondgeneration bio-fuels on a large triple-E ocean vessel, will sail 25.000 nautical miles from Rotterdam to Shanghai and back on bio-fuel blends alone (a world’s first at this

scale),thereby, saving 1.5 million kilograms CO2 and 20.000 kilograms of sulphur.

Experts believed that sustainably sourced secondgeneration bio-fuels are just one possible solution for the decarbonisation of ocean shipping. Also, longer term, breakthroughs in fuel and technical development (efuels) and the investment into commercial supply chains are needed to achieve significant emissions reductions.

“DSGC companies join in action to contribute to the United Nations Social Development Goals (SDGs). With this initiative, we focus on Climate Action (SDG13). We have taken the initiative to partner with A.P. Moller-Maersk on this important effort,” says Jan Peter Balkenende, chair of the DSGC. He states: “This pilot testing bio-fuel on a cross ocean shipping lane, marks an important step. However, many more innovations are urgently needed. These can only be successfully developed, tested and implemented in industry collaborations like this.”

Søren Toft, chief operating officer of A.P. Moller – Maersk said there is need for big breakthroughs in the next 10 years in order to reach net

zero CO2 target by 2050.

“Maersk cannot do this alone. That is why this collaboration with DSGC and its members is such an important step in identifying and bringing low carbon solutions to life. It laid the foundation for how cross-industry partners can work together to take steps towards a more sustainable future. We welcome others to join in our efforts, as this journey is just beginning,” Toft said.

Toft added “Bio-fuels are one of the viable solutions that can be implemented in the short and medium term.

Through this pilot, we aim to learn more about using bio-fuels in general, and to understand the possibilities around increasing its usage in a sustainable and economical way.”

Shipping accounts for 90 percent of transported goods and 3 percent of total global CO2-emissions, and is set to rise to 15 percent by 2050 if left unchecked. The CO2 savings of this journey alone equates to the annual CO2 emitted by over 200 households in a year or 12 mill km travelled in an average car which is 300 times around the world. The voyage will take place between March and June 2019.

L-R: Thelma Okoh, general secretary, Lagos NIPR; Olusegun McMedal, chairman, Lagos NIPR, Doris Uza, representative, Home of Prayer (HOP); Nkechi Ali-Balogun, member of council, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), and Kayode Yeku, acting registrar, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, at the presentation of relieve materials donated by the Institute for the victims of the Ita Faji Building Collapse in Lagos

L-R: Iyadunni Gbadebo, director, sales & marketing, Eko Hotel and Suites; Intiteme Adukeh, MD, Hospitality Ground Works; Edache Obe, founder/CEO, Dacheo Media & Branding; Bukky Akomolafe, commercial manager, Travel start, and Emike, the moderator, all Speakers at the HospitliTea, powered By Women in Hospitality Nigeria (WIHN)in Lagos.

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15

COMPANIES & MARKETS BANKING

Access Bank guides Diamond’s shareholders ahead implementation of scheme consideration SEGUN ADAMS

T

ier 1 lender, Access Bank, has advised shareholders of the recently merged Diamond Bank ahead of the implementation of scheme of merger consideration.

In a statement filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday, the bank said that shareholders of Diamond Bank are required to take the necessary steps to ensure the accuracy of their personal details including full name, address, email address, mobile number and bank verification number with the registrars of Access Bank.

Consequently, the Tierone lender requested that the shareholders download and complete the ‘’Diamond Bank Shareholder Mandate Form”, available from the “Downloads” tab on the website of United Securities Limited.

The completed Shareholder Mandate Forms, according

to the release, may be returned online or directly to the offices of United Securities Limited.

Since Wednesday last week, trading in the shares of Diamond Bank has been placed on full suspension by the NSE in order to determine the bank’s shareholders eligible to receive the scheme consideration.

Based on the agreement reached by the Boards of Access Bank and Diamond Bank as contained in the scheme of merger, shareholders of Diamond Bank will be receiving a consideration of N3.13 per share, comprising of N1.00 per share in cash and the allotment of two new Access Bank ordinary shares for every seven Diamond Bank ordinary shares held as at the implementation date.

The cash and share consideration of the scheme would see Diamond shares converted to Access as the former which was listed on the domestic bourse on May 27th 2005 is delisted from the Exchange.

What remains following the court sanction that completed the merger is the brand refresh and unveiling of the new logo.

Access Bank has marked April 2019 to integrate both organisations and processes while it is optimistic of realising efficiency and positioning for growth before the year runs out.

At the close of trading on Tuesday, shares of Access bank rose 0.78 per cent to N6.45 bringing the bank’s valuation to N185.14 billion.

Financials of the bank for the 2018 full year show that profit rose by 58 per cent on the back of gains in investment securities and supported by lower income tax expense.

The bank recorded an after-tax profit of N94.98 billion in 2018 compared with N60.09 billion in the corresponding period of 2017.

Year on Year, pre-tax profit increased by 32 per cent to N103.19 billion from N78.17 billion posted for 2017 full year.

L–R: Dr Abuo Kingsley, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital; Dr Udeme Asibong, Chief Medical Director, Calabar Hospital; Barrister Onari Duke, Former First Lady of Cross River State; and Dr Tolulope Adewole, Executive Director, Operations SYNLAB, during the launch of a new SYNLAB facility in Calabar

Access Bank’s impairment charges dropped 57 per cent to N14.66 billion from N34.47 billion, and total assets rose 21

per cent to N4.95 billion, while customer deposits increased by 14 per cent to N2.57 billion.

Meanwhile, as at the close

of trading on Monday, Diamond Bank was yet to release its results for the 2018 financial year.

COMPANY RELEASE

TECHNOLOGY

DANAG table water debuts with promise of healthier drinking experience

CWG boss sees a fast growing digital economy impacting African commerce

ANAG table water, a new entrant into the Nigerian table water industry have made its debut in the Garden City Port Harcourt with a promise of providing quality and safe drinking water to support healthy hydration and making it easier for families to improve their health.

The water which comes in various bottle sizes including, 5ocl, 75cl, 150clc and sachet pure water sizes is approved by NAFDAC with good pH, reverse osmosis filtration and is ionized.

According to a statement signed by Daniel Chimezie Okeke, Chairman/CEO

MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

D

Swiss Spirit Danag, parent company of DANAG Table Water, the most distinguishable feature of the DANAG premium water brand is its entirely new look, taste free and with a mission to championing quality water for healthier generations’ “For this purpose, the introduction of DANAG premium table water is rooted in the belief that ‘water’ is the essence of life and should be valued, not taken for granted”, he said.

He said that, DANAG table water is also committed to responsible water stewardship by providing quality safe drinking water for

the sustenance of healthier lifestyles, especially among the trendy in society.

Okeke said that in line with the demands of his organization’s corporate social responsibility for cleaner environment, DANAG Table water will also focus on caring for the environment through water education, as well as the development of recycling initiatives.

DANAG Table Water is a subsidiary of Swiss Spirit Hotel & Suites DANAG, a global standard luxury room’s hotel with state of the art facilities located in the heart of the Garden City, Port Harcourt.

E

fforts towards building a more viable digital economy that would transform African commerce and industry is getting rapid attention, Adewale Adeyipo, acting managing director/CEO CWG Plc made the remark at the recently held Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.

Adeyipo, who lent his voice to the clarion call, while participating at the 7th edition of the Africa CEOs Forum advocated for an inclusive ecosystem that can aid technological development on the continent. Adeyipo argues that Africa’s labour market is currently being disrupted as over 65 percent of primary school children today are likely to work, in the next few years, in jobs or

fields that do not presently exist.

“Africa is rapidly becoming consumer of digital services rather than creators in today’s digital economy and to change this scenario, we need to rethink the existing model and build a sustainable digital ecosystem and as well create more digital champions for our children of today,” he suggested, while sharing few points on building an ecosystem for digital technologies in Africa.

Speaking further, Adeyipo advised that the continent should create broader awareness and the deployment of a digital economy that can follow the ‘Integrated design approach’ Africa will bring together specialisms usually considered separately.

A report by the GSMA Intelligence Report, 2018, shows that the mobile economy in Africa will generate more than $150

billion (or 7.9 percent of GDP) of economic value while 300 million people are expected to come online by 2025.

“The question then is; would all these be enough for Africa to be ready?” he asked rhetorically.

The Africa CEO Forum is the leading International Conference dedicated to the Private Sector in Africa and hosts the continent’s Top CEOs, International Investors, Experts and high-level Policymakers every year.

It has an unparalleled ability to mobilize, offer cutting-edge content and is committed to unlocking Africa’s economic potential by championing private sector-led growth, leading discussions around innovative public policies and sustainable business.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

RIMAN partners AMCON to advance best practices in risk management HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

R

isk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) is collaborating with Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to advance best practices in risk management.

This is coming as AMCON has applauded RIMAN for the consistent efforts in promoting risk management capacity building in Nigeria.

Ahmed Kuru, managing director/Chief Executive Offi-

cer of AMCON gave this commendation when he played host to the Leadership Team of RIMAN in a stakeholder’s interaction at AMCON’s office in Marina, Lagos recently.

He pointed out that the activities of RIMAN are essential to the operations of AMCON, especially as it relates to credit risks. He re-instated the importance of risk management and noted that of at least 14,000 bad credits that were transferred to AMCON

at inception about 70 percent of them went bad at the various banks because of lack of adherence to laid down credit process and policies, which was a reflection of poor risk management.

The remaining 30 percent he noted could be related to other reasons like macroeconomic issues and environmental factors.

Kuru also stated that the country as a whole has lost more money in bad credits

than people stealing money.

He recommended that a stick and carrot approach should be adopted in dealing with these issues, while Operators should be held accountable.

He emphasized that it is necessary to re-visit the failed bank Act as part of instilling consequence management practices. He reiterated that it is imperative to do this because abuse of internal credit policies for self-interest is indeed another form of cor-

ruption and must be treated as such. Credit policy documents must not just be seen as a routine document for compliance purposes only, but must be seen for what it truly is, Kuru said.

The President of RIMAN, Magnus Nnoka, (CRM) also noted that RIMAN as the umbrella body of risk management professionals in Nigeria has over the years collaborated with institutions like CBN and NDIC and will in the same

way collaborate with AMCON to enthrone strong risk culture and corporate governance in both private and public institutions. Nnoka went on to say that collaboration with AMCON is desirable to enable the two bodies work together in promoting risk management advocacy, capacity building and best practice risk management in the country required to stem events that led to creation of AMCON about a decade ago.

16

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In association with

Helping you to build wealth & make wise decisions NSE All Share Index

Market capitalisation

NSE Premium Index

The NSE-Main Board

NSE ASeM Index

2,241.37

1,456.29

801.09

Week open 15 – 03–19)

31,924.51 31,142.72

N11.721 trillion

11.905 trillion

2,194.44

1,433.41

802.79

Week close (22 – 03–19)

31,139.35

11.612 trillion

2,200.40

1,430.08

807.22

Year Open

Percentage change (WoW)

-0.01

Percentage change (YTD)

-0.93

0.27 0.24

-0.23

0.55

-0.68

1.69

NSE Lotus II

NSE Ind. Goods Index

NSE Pension Index

291.84

2,272.45

1,254.54

1,212.79

720.32

292.09

2,261.12

1,240.46

1,193.08

703.73

280.54

2,244.77

1,270.51

1,201.54

NSE Banking Index

NSE Insurance Index NSE Consumer Goods Index NSE Oil/Gas Index

1,438.19

426.64

130.95

1,401.60 1,398.78

400.48

129.91

415.77

128.50

NSE 30 Index

-0.20 -1.30

3.82 4.22

-1.09 1.60

723.46

-2.30 -6.02

0.09 -7.18

-0.72 0.48

2.42 2.64

0.71 -0.49

Weak sentiment trails Nigeria stocks Iheanyi Nwachukwu

U

nless more investors decide to shift from their cautious approaches to buying stocks at the Nigerian Bourse, the equity market will still wrap-up this month on a negative note.

The chances that stock market will close in the green zone this month becomes slimmer now that the earnings season which hitherto enticed stock buyers has now entered its final week.

As at the beginning of this final trading week in the month of March, the stock market monthto-date (MtD) return was -2.15 percent (Tuesday March 26). Also as at Tuesday the market yielded -1.25 percent returns year-to-date (ytd).

At the end of its 2-day policy meeting held this week, in a vote of 6 to 5 members, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to cut the monetary policy rate (MPR) by 50 basis points (bps) to 13.5percent.

The Committee also decided to: maintain the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +200/-500bps; hold Cash Reserves Ratio (CRR) at 22.5percent; and keep liquidity ratio at 30percent.

After recording four negative sessions, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) gained 82basis points (bps) on the last trading day of last week (Friday March 22), erasing last week’s losses to a mere 1basis point (bp).

Despite that the stock market advanced by 0.82percent at the close of trading on Friday March 22, a lingered six (6) days of bear

L–R: Valentine Ozigbo, president/CEO, TRANSCORP Oscar N. Onyema, chief executive officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Owen Omogiafo, managing director/CEO, Transcorp Hotel Plc during the Facts Behind the Figures presentation at the Exchange held in Lagos.

run on Custom Street became a major drag on the performance of the domestic equities market.

A na ly s t s a re c a u t i o u s ly optimistic “Despite the positive close on Friday, we highlight that the sentiment in the market still remains weak. On the back of this, we expect seesaw trading this week, as the interplay between bargain hunting and sell-offs continues”, Vetiva research analysts said March 25 note to investors.

Also in their views, Afrinvest Research analysts expect bargain hunting activities seen on the last day of trading (March 22), largely supported by improving investor sentiment to extend to early trades in subsequent sessions, adding that “This could potentially drive positive returns for the week in the

domestic bourse”.

T h e A f r i n v e s t a n a l y s t s’ expectation has not manifested as the market kicked off the week on a negative note.

In i t s Ma rc h 2 2 n o t e t o investors, FBN Quest research analysts expect the market to find support at current levels this week.

“In the absence of a positive catalyst, we guide investors to trade cautiously in the short term.

However, stable macroeconomic fundamentals and compelling valuation remain supportive of recovery in the mid-to-long term”, said CordrosResearch analysts in their March 22 note.

“We expect two major factors to guide investors’ sentiment; mispricing in the market in the wake of the bearish trend seen post-election, and earnings

results-being the final week for companies to file their earnings with the Nigerian Stock Exchange”, according to United Capital research analysts.

Market review Week-on-week (wow), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation depreciated by 0.01percent to close the week ended March 22 at 31,139.35 p o i nt s a n d N 1 1 . 6 1 2 t r i l l i o n respectively.

Summar y of share price changes The summary of price changes showed 32 equities appreciated in price during the review week, higher than 18 in the preceding week. Thirty-eight (38) equities depreciated in price, lower than 45 equities recorded in the preceding

week, while 98 equities remained unchanged lower than 105 equities recorded in the preceding week.

Turnover, major drivers and top trades The market recorded total turnover of 1.198 billion shares worth N12.273 billion in 18,293 deals in contrast to a total of 1.113 billion shares valued at N13.465 billion that exchanged hands the preceding week in 15,036 deals.

The Financial Ser vices Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.014 billion shares valued at N9.693 billion traded in 12,165 deals; thus contributing 84.63percent and 78.98percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 58.049million shares worth N1.398 billion in 2,689 deals. The third place was Conglomerates Industry with a turnover of 46.272 million shares worth N103.316 million in 626 deals.

Trading in top three equities namely, Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 651.600 million shares worth N6.294 billion in 6,505 deals, contributing 54.39percent and 51.28percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

All other indices finished lower with the exception of the NSE CG, NSE Premium, NSE ASeM, NSE Banking, NSE-AFR Bank Value, NSE AFR Div Yield, NSE Industrial Goods and NSE Pension indices which appreciated by 0.66percent, 0.27percent, 0.55percent, 3.82percent, 4.76percent, 2.97percent, 2.42percent and 0.71percent respectively.

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United Capital Investment View

A tussle of bulls and bears …NSEASI down 1basis point week-on-week

T

he local bourse drew the curtain for last week on a bearish note owing to consistent losses recorded on almost all the trading sessions in the review week, save for Friday, where the market recorded a 0.8percent gain. Overall, the NSEASI declined by paltry 1basis points (bp) to settle at 31,139.4 points.

Consequently, investors’ wealth suffered further loss as market capitalisation shed a whopping N291.5billion to finish at N11.6trillion while year-to-date (YTD) return worsened to -0.2percent.

Performance across sectors was broadly bearish as four of the six sectors under our coverage closed negative for the week. The Agricultural (-5.1percent) sector index led laggards as sell-off in PRESCO (-9.3percent) and OKOMUOIL (-1.3percent) majorly dragged the index.

The Oil & Gas (-4percent), Consumer Goods (-2.3percent), and Insurance (-1.1percent) sector indices also trended southwards largely owing to price declines in SEPLAT (-7.9percent), NESTLE (-2.9percent) and NEM (-6.4percent). On the bright side, the Banking (+3.8percent) and Industrial Goods (+2.4percent) sector indices were the gainers for the week, buoyed by price gains in GUARANTY (+5.9percent) and CCNN (+10percent).

In the week under review, the NSE suspended trading in the shares of Diamond bank Plc following a court sanction of the scheme of merger between the bank and Access bank Plc. The scheme of merger is expected to be completed by

April 1, 2019.

Market breadth - a proxy for investors sentiment - was underwhelming as it closed just below the market threshold of 1.0x at 0.9x; 30 stocks advanced over the week against 34 decliners.

Looking ahead into the new week, we expect two major factors to guide investors’ sentiment ; mispricing in the market in the wake of the bearish trend seen post-election, and earnings results -being the final week for companies to file their earnings with the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Money Market: The CBN re-introduces its 1-year OMO bill Overall system liquidity weakened when compared to the preceding week, as liquidity injections were outweighed by outflows amid the CBN’s sustained liquidity tightening stance. The primary inflow into

the system was from 2027 bond coupon payment, OMO and Treasury bills (NTB) maturity (worth N255billion). However, the Apex bank maintained its $210million weekly wholesale and retail FX intervention sales while also mopping up liquidity via OMO auctions, worth N409.7bn Thus, average money market rates (Open Buy Back and Overnight rates) trended higher for the week to 14.5percent from 11.4percent in the preceding week.

No t a b l y , d u r i n g t h e Thursday OMO auction, the CBN surprised investors as it re-introduced its 1-year tenor bill in addition to its short and mid tenor offerings.

Also, the monetary authority took advantage of the buoyant demand (total bid-to-cover:

2.3x) to cut OMO rates; 91day from 11.84percent to 11.80percent, mid-tenor bill from 13.20percent to 12.98percent and long-tenor bill from 14.3percent to 13.04percent.

On another note, the bank conducted its bi-monthly NTB auction, wherein it successfully re-financed total maturing bills, worth N48.6billion.

Similar to the last auction, demand was intense as bids worth 5.3x (last auction 6.7x) of the offer amount turned up, and most of the demand was concentrated at the 364-day paper which saw bids worth 5.9x of the offer.

Expectedly, the huge demand gave room for the fiscal authority to roll over the auction at relatively lower stop rates (91-day (10.30percent v e r s u s 1 0 . 7 5 p e rc e n t a t t h e l a st au c t i o n ) , 1 8 2 day (12.20percent versus 12.50percent at the last auction) and 364-day (12.35percent versus 14.85percent at the last auction).

In the secondary market, NTB yields tracked higher by an average of 35basis points (bps) to close at 13.7percent, as investors sold down secondary market investments to participate in the primary OMO and NTB auctions.

This week, we expect the CBN to maintain its liquidity tightening stance as we see the MPC possibly maintaining its current status quo on policy rates in a bid to continue to attract foreign portfolio inflows.

Additionally, we expect funding rates (Open Buy Back and Overnight rates) to stay elevated, especially if the CBN dial up its pace of OMO auction.

Bond Market: Investors dump Diamond Bank dollar note while buying ACCESS In the Bonds space, the Debt Management Office (DMO) released its bond offer circular for Mar-19, wherein it plans to raise N100.0bn across 5-year, 7-year and 10year maturities on the 27th of March. Consequently, due to the expectations of renewed supply of bonds ahead of the auction, sentiments turned bearish as average FGN bond yields at the secondary market inched higher by 28bps to close at 14.2percent.

Investor’s Square •Have you been shabbily treated by your registrar, stockbroke r or other capital market operators?

Let us know and investor will help you investigate and report back.

E-mail: iheanyi.nwachukwu@businessdayonline.com

Corporate Treasury Series

How treasury makes a difference

B

rexit, Trump and China, rising global inflation are today’s hot issues.

But what will tomorrows be?

The role of the treasurer will always be important and make a difference, writes Peter Child, a Corporate Treasurer It is remarkable to see the strides taken by treasury since 1980. In those days, the treasury function was regarded very much as the back-office accountants who dealt with investing la rg e su m s o r ma ki ng borrowing arrangements.

In the eighties there was a certain mystery behind the really big “treasury” departments. In practice, big or small, these departments, and the people who ran them, had a significant role to play. Here are three key areas we’ve looked at and how they’ve developed over the last 40 years.

Financial transactions A major part of treasury has been the placing of deposits and the arrangement of loans. Cash management, liquidity, working capital control, credit control, fundraising and financial reporting have been standard day to day parts of the treasurer’s role. Interest rates, loan periods, security, conditions and covenants together w ith foreign exchange transactions have always been essential items of difference to gain the best deal and a competitive advantage.

Over the years these have become increasingly complex and sophisticated as new markets and new territories have opened up. A myriad of banks and financial institutions are now available, and the growth of hedge funds and other financial intermediaries has enabled the treasurer to explore new ideas. The use of Hire Purchase and leasing arrangements has also added to the many financing options now available to a treasurer.

Financial transactions

lead to balance sheet review and the treasurer has always s p e nt s i g n i f i ca nt t i m e assessing the value of assets and understanding liabilities (sometimes contingent).

Similarly, an understanding of pensions, particularly final salary schemes with their large deficits has increasingly featured as an area of risk for the treasurer.

The treasurer has often worked with the auditor (either external or internal) to ensure best practice, good governance and appropriate policies.

Risk Hand-in-hand with financial transactions and funding arrangements went the assessment of risk and a deep understanding of the trading areas across the globe. Short-term and long-term finance, together with different industr y requirements (construction vs food retailing for example), became watch words for the treasurer.

Add to this the growth in technology which has increased financial options, especially within developing countr ies. A review of fundamental economic conditions together with the constant threat of boom and bust from emerging territories has meant that risk assessment forms a major part of the treasurer’s responsibilities – this is as

true now as it was in the past.

In turn, I have found that the treasurer needs to spend more time reviewing insurance options to mitigate such risk and to take responsibility for the risk/reward of such cover.

Qualitative as well as quantitative assessment of risk has become important and boards are increasingly looking to the treasurer for answers.

Strategy The role of the treasurer now effectively combines the two areas above and, in all companies (even small ones) the “treasurer” has become a key member of the executive team, often working with the CEO on new projects.

Whether in large multinationals or a small charity, the attention to detail, common sense and level headedness required of the treasurer will make a fundamental difference to success or failure. Some aspects of treasury will inevitably blur with the finance department, for example budget setting and investor relations but benchmarking and ratio analysis are natural measuring tools for the treasurer.

In partnership with the Association of Corporate Tre a surers o f Nig eri a (ACTN)

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Investor

Helping you to build wealth & make wise decisions

Global IPO momentum slows The NSE in need of a sizeable boost – FBNQuest Insight

…Q2’19 set to rebound Iheanyi Nwachukwu

D

espite positive performance of main stock indices and a decrease of volatility in many markets, ongoing geopolitical uncertainties and trade issues continue to dampen investor enthusiasm, resulting in the number of IPOs in the first three months of 2019 falling to 199 globally and $13.1billion in proceeds. This is a 41percent decrease in deals and a 74percent decrease in proceeds from same period in 2018.

The technology, health care and industrials sectors w e re t h e m o s t p ro l i f i c producers of IPOs globally in year-to-date (YtD) 2019, together accounting for 101 IPOs (51percent of global IPO by deal numbers) and raising $5.4billion altogether (42percent of global proceeds).

By proceeds, technology was the strongest sector with $2.1billion raised (16percent of global proceeds). These and

other findings were published in the EY quarterly report, Global IPO trends: Q1 2019.

“While first-quarter (Q1) is usually a quiet IPO quarter across regions, in 2019 we have seen IPO markets sent into a cautious wait-and-see mode as a number of factors collide. The dense fog of ongoing geopolitical tensions, trade issues among the US, China and Europe, as well as uncertainty as to how the UK will leave the European Union, slowed down IPO activity in all regions.

“As we look to Q2 2019, we only need a successful mega IPO or unicorn from the robust IPO pipeline for the fog of uncertainty to clear and global IPO markets to spring into bloom toward the second half of 2019,”said Martin Steinbach, EY Global and EY EMEIA IPO Leader.

Americas IPO activity fell sharply in YTD 2019, with deal proceeds decreasing 83percent to $3.3billion and deal numbers falling by 44percent to 31 IPOs, compared with Q1 2018.

The US accounted for

65percent of Americas’ IPOs (20) and 92percent by proceeds ($3billion). However, in the US, market volatility caused foreign issuers to choose to postpone their listings. Only four crossborder IPOs listed in the US in Q1 2019, in comparison with 15 companies in Q1 2018.

The NASDAQ ranked s e cond among the top exchange by proceeds globally in YTD 2019, raising $2.5billion or 19.1percent of global proceeds, while Canada’s Toronto Main Market and Venture Exchange saw 5 IPOs, which raised $188million in Q1 2019, and Chile raised $69m via a real estate IPO. A lull in IPO activity also spread across the Asia-Pacific region in Q1 2019 as global economic uncertainty and geopolitical issues prevailed.

Ongoing trade tensions between China and the US in particular weighed heavily on market sentiment and the region saw a decline of 24percent by deal numbers (126) and 30percent by proceeds ($8.4billion) versus Q1 2018.

L

agos is the weakest p e r f o r m e r ye a rt o - d at e ( y t d ) o f the three stock markets we track in subS a h a ra n A f r i c a ( S S A ) , having descended into negative territory in the past two weeks. Nairobi ( N S E 2 0 ) i s i n re t re a t .

Jo’burg (all-share), being the most developed and liquid of the three markets, appears to have benefited the most from the signals that the normalization of US monetary policy has slowed, if not stalled. Daily turnover ytd on the two more ‘frontier’ exchanges has disappointed, averaging $9.4million in Lagos and $6.9million in Nairobi.

Data from the Nigerian Stock Exchange put the

Afriland Properties shareholders approve N68.70mn dividend payment

T

he shareholders of Afriland Properties Plc at the company’s 6th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos on Tuesday March 26 approved the Board’s proposal to pay N68.70million as dividend, translating to 5 kobo per ordinary share.

Afriland Properties Plc recorded total revenue of N1.30 billion for the year ended December 31, 2018, representing a marginal increase compared with N1.28 billion in the corresponding period of 2017.

Afriland Properties Plc is a property management, investment and development company, offering end-to-end services along the real estate value chain, from management to joint-venture investments.

With a portfolio size of over

N10 billion and one of the largest land banks in Nigeria, Afriland is pioneering the opportunities presented by an institutional approach to real estate, serving niche markets throughout Africa.

The Company posted a profit before tax (PBT) and profit after tax (PAT) of N915million and N682 million respectively.

A total asset of N24.9billion was recorded, representing 26percent increase compared with N19.8billion in the corresponding period of 2017.

While addressing the shareholders, Uzo Oshogwe, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Afriland Properties Plc stated,” after the recession, the halt in economic recovery negatively impacted the real estate industry.

However, our revenue increased to N1.30 billion for the year

ended December 31, 2018.

The Board will continue to execute on its key strategies and initiatives to deliver our intent and yield better results in the years ahead. We recognize the need to foster innovation and respond quickly to opportunities in the real estate industry and have taken appropriate measures. We will also invest in new processes and technology in line with our purpose of improving lives.”

In his remarks, Emmanuel N. Nnorom, Chairman of Afriland Properties Plc said “The 26percent increase in our assets is attributable to the upgrade of our investment properties.

Increasing shareholder value and boosting returns remain top priorities for Afriland Properties Plc and we are committed to this cause.

thereby counter the removal of the minimum equity holding for PFAs as well as a generally uninspiring set of Q1 2019 results (other than two or three banks).

The first would be an oil price at a higher and sustainable level. This is indicated by the well-known linkages between the price and the non-oil economy, which was demonstrated by the healthy GDP growth posted in 2010-14.

Second, evidence that the banks are achieving the loan book growth of around 10percent for the year, which has been their guidance would be helpful. Further, we add surprises on the upside in the FGN’s reform agenda and sizeable new listings (such as MTN Nigeria)

Meristem Securities Insight

Strategies to build and grow wealth for retirement

M

L-R: Daron Acemoglu, Professor of Economics at MIT, Boston, USA and author of “Why Nations Fail”, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, minister of finance (middle), and Eme Essien, country managing director, International Finance Corporation, at the First Bank of Nigeria Plc’s 125th anniversary lecture at Eko Hotels & Suites, Lagos.

foreign investor share of turnover in February at 53percent but show that their trading over the month amounted to a net outflow of N11billion.

The post-election rally was negligible, unlike in March 2015. Many equity investors may have hoped for an Atiku victory on the grounds that his campaign stressed his private-sector credentials and insisted that he would somehow “get things done”. In stark contrast, fixed-income players responded very positively with a surge in buying, as w e have previously noted. he question then becomes what would act as a trigger for sizeable new flows into the Lagos market, and

ost people are interested in financial c o m f o r t particularly at the time of retirement. This is achievable but depends on a combination of your circumstances and approach to managing your finances.

Undoubtedly, some life c i rc u m s t a n c e s may b e beyond your control but how you manage your finances is not. Managing one’s finances to build wealth for retirement requires planning, commitment and conscious attention to a lifestyle in line with the strategies below: Have a plan “If you don’t plan for yourself, you will be part of someone else’s.”

Many individuals make the mistake of not having a written plan to build financial security. A written plan with goals provides a road map and is a necessary first step. It provides the necessary context to focus each and every decision in your life with purpose.

Time spent writing goals and building a step-by-step plan to achieve those goals is an investment in your future. It reduces wasted effort, increases efficiency, produces amazing results, and best of all, costs you nothing. Your plan

should be based on the following three separate financial stages: aggressive accumulation during the career; continued growth o f a ss e t s d u r i ng s e m i retirement; and spending down accumulated assets during final retirement when all earned income ceases.

How you manage your income and assets will vary with each financial stage of life thus requiring a different plan. The overall objective of your plan is to utilize your career and semi-retired years to build residual income in business, real estate, and investment securities so that your passive income exceeds your living expenses. Once you have decided on your plan, stick to it.

Spend less than you earn To really build wealth, you need to live below your means. Wealth cannot be created by spending money. You must control you r s p e n d i ng s o t hat your lifestyle is below your income. This will create available capital for your investment activities.

Start investing early O n e ke y va r iable i n wealth accumulation is the amount of time your money compounds and grows. The power of compounding is an invaluable wealth-building tool because money grows

geometrically instead of arithmetically — but only when you give it time to work. Similarly, investing is often a learned behaviour thus making it important that you start early to invest.

Procrastination kills time, and as a result, it kills more plans for retirement security than all other culpr its combined. Every day you delay is another day where opportunity is thrown away.

Start now!

Get help from a financial planner A financial planner can help you to understand the different products available and the risks associated with each one. Higher return generally means that there is more risk involved. When you are in your twenties, you can choose products with a higher rate of return because you have the opportunity to wait for the market to recover. As you grow closer to retirement, you may want to switch to more conservative investments to protect your money. Your financial planner can help you better understand your options at any time. Essentially, f i na n c i a l p l a n n i n g f o r retirement may be simple to understand but hard to live.

It all comes down to prudent, routine management of your investments and personal finances

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Founder Institute targets pre-funded startups as it launches in Nigeria Stories by FRANK ELEANYA

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ounder Institute (FI) launched its office in Nigeria last week with a mission to help start-ups that are yet to receive funding but require guidance, invaluable feedback process and access to global investors network to scale.

More than 80 per cent of startups do not make the 5th birthdays. In recent times in Nigeria, quite a number of startups have exited because they could not cope with the pressure and harsh business environment.

Located in over 175 cities across more than 60 countries, Founder Institute has a long history of ensuring that startups under its four months program do not sink. To be sure, the company was launched in 2009 as a semester-based startup camp for very, very earlystage entrepreneurs who have basic ideas for poten-

tial startups or have already founded the startup but are yet to receive funding.

One notable example of companies that have passed through the program include world’s largest online courses platform, Udemy which has gone on to secure over $173

million in funding. Since it was founded, over 3,500 companies have been created by students of the program.

Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata (CFA), Founder Institute’s Lagos director said FI owes its success stories to the rigorous nature of

YTF partners GE, Belgian government to drive youth-led tech startups in Nigeria

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outh for Technology Foundation ( Y TF ), a global non-profit organisation and the initiator of the 3D African program has partnered with GE Lagos Garage and the Belgian government to boost the business activities of tech startups that are led by young people.

At an event with the theme ‘Building a Viable Hardware Ecosystem in Nigeria’, selected youthled tech startups faced off before judges and potential investors including the Belgian Minister of Digital Agenda, Phillippe De Backer and his Silicon Lagoon Mission delegation as well as the local investment community.

“It is about empowering the next generation of leaders to enter the workforce with the skills they need to access employment of create their entrepreneurial opportunities in the fourth industrial revolution,” says Njideka Harry, CEO of YTF.

“Our programs utilise technology to inspire youth and women in developing nations to create innovative solutions to the challenges they encounter and we are pleased to have been able to collaborate with GE Garage for this initiative.”

Apart from pitch presentations, the Solvay Business School of Belgium also showcased entrepreneurial projects related to student trade missions and internships and participants had opportunities to network with players in youth-led startups and scale-ups in the tech space.

De Backer explained that the Belgian delegation was in Nigeria to connect with the country’s vibrant tech community in Lagos, explore partnership potentials, and raise awareness about Digital for Development (D4D) opportunities.

Harry reiterated 3D Africa’s mission to change the narrative in Africa from dependence on foreign technology to being self-

sustaining through “meeting the increased global demand for emerging and disruptive technologies, like 3D Printing.”

Patricia Obozuwa, director, Communications and Public Affairs, GE Africa said there was an alignment of vision between the foundation and the company.

“This is what we have been doing through GE Lagos Garage and we are happy for this opportunity to work with Youth for Technology’s 3D Africa,” she said.

“We are happy to say that as critical stakeholders, we have made our contributions to Lagos and Nigeria’s vibrant technology startup communities.

The Belgian Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Daniel Dargent, Director of International Relations, Startup.be, Frederik Tibau, and founder and CEO, Close-the-Gap, Olivier Vanden Eynde were also among the Belgian delegation at the pitching and networking session.

the program and the commitment of the facilitators, mentors and students because failure means everyone loses.

The Founder Institute is a novel model somewhere between a crash-course in executive education and a

proper incubator.

“We are not an accelerator or incubator,” says Ayowande Adelemo, another director at Lagos FI. FI does not fund its graduates rather it provides them with unlimited access to investors around the world.

Prior to coming to Nigeria, six Nigerian startups had already gone through the FI program in New York.

The organisation is built on five principles. Its equity collective principle ensures that all participants in a program cohort (including graduates) receive financial upside in the companies formed.

How it works is that each Founder Institute graduate contributes 4 per cent of their company equity in warrants to a fifteen-year bonus pool, and when a liquidity event occurs the pool’s financial returns are then distributed equally across the cohort.

Startups in Nigeria that want to participate in the

program will need to pay a $50 application fee. This allows the startups to sit for the test; once they pass they are expected to pay for course fee of $500.

“Founder Institute is hard,” Adelemo said referring to the enter program.

Only 25 per cent of the candidates make it to graduation. The rating system is structured from 1-5 (1 being the ‘Very Bad’ and 5 ‘Excellent’) in such a way that the judges are not allowed to rate any one with 3.

Already 49 entrepreneurs from Nigeria have sat for the test out of which only 20 passed.

Agbata said the benefit of such an intense process is to ensure that those who make it to the finished line have everything they need to succeed with their idea.

“We need more entrepreneurs to solve real problems,” he said.

There are three Founder Institute centres spread across Lagos.

Report shows mobile broadband costs in Africa is not slowing down …Average price of a 1GB now costs 9.2% average monthly income

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espite growth in the number of people on the internet in countries like Nigeria, the cost of accessing mobile broadband in many parts of Africa still remains prohibitive.

A report released by Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) studied the cost of mobile broadband in 99 countries and found that 1GB costs 6.31 per cent of the monthly income on average, well above the ‘1 for 2’ affordability threshold, where 1GB of mobile data is priced at no more than 2 per cent of the average income.

The ‘1 for 2’ threshold for affordable internet was adopted as the new affordability target by the United Nations in January, 2018. Nigeria, Ghana and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were among the early endorsers of the threshold.

According to A4AI, only 30 of the countries surveyed have affordable mobile broadband, suggesting that at least 1.3 billion people live in a country where an entry level plan of 1GB of mobile data is not affordable. Billions of others live in countries that meet the ‘1 for 2’ threshold but because they have a lower than average income, they nonetheless struggle to pay for basic mobile data packages.

The price of 1GB of mobile data for millions of people living in sub-Saharan Africa is well beyond what is considered affordable and in sixteen countries across Africa, 1GB costs more than 10 per cent of the monthly average income.

“Worryingly, we’ve seen a slowdown in mobile broadband affordability for people in lowincome countries (as defined by the World Bank), over the last four years,” authors of the report noted. “In fact, this year’s projected broadband cost (relative to 2017 income data) has actually increased by nearly 16 per cent in low-income countries since last year’s snapshot.”

The implication is significant. Many countries are investing heavily in the new digital economy which is widely seen as the future. The World Bank projects that one major source of new jobs will be the digital economy and is expected to account for 25 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) in less than a decade, eclipsing the momentum of the traditional economy.

Kristilina Georgieva, CEO of World Bank and interim president of the World Bank Group describes the a flourishing digital economy as one in which people have digital skills, a digital ID and access to financial services and ecommerce.

Team: Frank Eleanya, frank.eleanya@businessdayonline.com; Caleb Ojewale, caleb.ojewale@businessdayonline.com

High cost of mobile broadband means that Africa accounts for 20 of the 25 least connected countries in the world. Only 22 per cent of homes have access to the internet, while 24 per cent of people use it. It also means that too few Africans have digital IDs or mobile wallets – locking them out of access to critical services and ecommerce.

Earlier this week the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) disclosed that broadband penetration has reached 33 per cent. Although this looks like progress, it is still far behind countries like Japan, Finland, Estonia, and the United States with subscriptions per 100 inhabitants at 168%, 155%, 146% and 137%.

“Without action from policymakers, this two-speed trend for internet affordability will grow the digital divide and deprive low-income countries of valuable opportunities for revenue and development. As the rest of the world continues to develop and embrace new internet technologies, users in low-income countries that remain unconnected will face growing digital deprivation.

Countries that fail to address affordability today will see unaffordable mobile broadband costs create deeper social and economic divides in the future,” the A4AI report authors noted.

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Converting NPDC and NNPC Unincorporated Joint Ventures to Incorporated Joint Ventures- Issues Worth Considering

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he Federal Government of Nigeria (the “FGN”), through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (the “NNPC”) and or the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited (“NPDC”), holds majority of the participating interests in those arrangements referred to, as the traditional joint ventures. These traditional joint ventures are unincorporated (contractual) joint ventures. Specifically, under these unincorporated joint ventures (“UJVs”), the NNPC and NPDC enter into Joint Operating Agreements (“JOAs”) with other oil and gas producing companies, which serve as the key governing documents for each JOAs (in practice, many of the terms of these JOAs mirror one another).

Under the UJV arrangements, interests in oil & gas assets are jointly owned by NNPC/ NPDC and its partners, in proportions represented by their respective participating interests. NNPC together with the NPDC and its joint venture partners, through the mechanism of cash calls, share the financing of the costs of working these assets. They also contribute to such other costs, including capital expenditure, in connection with these assets usually in accordance

with their respective participating interests.

Funding of oil and gas operations under the UJV arrangements remains difficult, for various reasons, including the competing needs for the dwindling federal revenues. Thus, it has remained increasingly difficult for the NNPC and NPDC to fulfil their cash call obligations as and when due.

Additionally, Paragraph 29 of the NPDC’s Articles of Association provides that “in no circumstance shall the company undertake any external borrowing of money for whatever cause.” Therefore, the NPDC is also precluded from obtaining loans externally notwithstanding the purpose of such loan. The NPDC resolves this by entering into Carry Arrangements (“CA”) with its joint venture partners. Typical security arrangements associated with CAs include transfer of Carry Project Assets to the Carrying UJV partners during the pendency of the CA and payment of proceeds from sale of NPDC’s share of crude oil into escrow accounts for the account of the Carrying UJV partners.

Furthermore, there was the landmark decision of the Nigerian Supreme Court in April 2002. The effect of the judgement was that funds for the FGN’s share of cash calls, which used to be first line

charge from the budget could no longer be such and had to come from the FGN’s share of the budget upon the apportionment of the FGN’s share of the budgetary allocation. In very clear terms, the Supreme Court held that it was

unconstitutional for the FGN, to finance certain expenditures, including its cash call obligations under its UJV arrangements from the budget (mostly consisting of oil revenue) before distribution to the three (3) tiers of government. Prior

to this Supreme Court decision, the FGN funded cash call obligations as a first line budgetary item.

The foregoing being the case, the FGN can no longer shy away from the need to address the funding problems that plague the UJVs, since NNPC and the NPDC together with their joint venture partners carry out a substantial volume of the petroleum activities/operations, in Nigeria.

The foregoing challenges and limitations often result in the shortage of funds available to the NNPC and the NPDC to meet their participating interests share of operating costs and expenditure, through their cash call payments. This results in reduced exploration projects and negative impact on reserves replacement.

These challenges have also affected new production projects which have proceeded very slowly and have had to be financed, through alternative funding solutions proffered by NNPC and NPDC’s partners. It has been reported that NNPC’s indebtedness under the UJV arrangement is on a continuous rise.

As a step towards resolving the foregoing challenges and other

Continues on page 23

NBA-SBL launches banking & finance academy for lawyers with help of ILFA THEODORA KIO-LAWSON

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he Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL), in partnership with International Lawyers For Africa (ILFA), on Monday launched the Banking & Finance Academy - a programme designed to help young lawyers hone their skills and expertise in the field of banking and finance.

Speaking at this event which took place at the Four Points by Sheraton, Victoria Island, Lagos, the Chairman of the NBA Section on Business Law, Seni Adio, SAN informed guests at the opening ceremony that the initiative was in line with the Section’s objectives to build capacity for Nigerian lawyers across various specialisations and sectors of the economy.

He said, “The programme is made up of practical and interactive modules, with a comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals of banking and finance law and will thus keep young lawyers in tune with the modern practice of law as it relates to banking and finance.

“As business lawyers, it is im-

Seni Adio, SAN, Chairman NBA Cynthia Lareine, Executive Director, ILFA Dr Tominiyi Owolabi Section on Business Law (SBL)

Efeomo Olotu, Partner GE&P and Victor Nwakasi, Partner OAL, flanked by other participants

portant to enhance the capacity of our young lawyers in the area of commercial law practice, to ensure they become specialists and not just generalists,” the NBA-SBL Chairman said.

The academy opened with a three-day specialised training for over a hundred (100) young

L-R, Bisi Akodu, Managing Partner, Olisa Agbakogba Legal, Folashade Olusanya, Head Commercial Dept, JEE and Seni Adio, SAN, Chairman, NBA-SBL

Nigerian lawyers with interests in banking and finance practice.

In his opening remarks, the Chairman of the NBA-SBL Banking & Finance committee, Dr Tominiyi Owolabi, made a case for legal expertise in banking and financing processes, stating that, there was need to ensure the

Dr Adeoye Adefulu, Secretary, NBA-SBL.

L-R: Justina Lewa of Sterling Bank, Chief Legal Counsel, Deputy General Manager and Company Secretary at Sterling Bank plc

younger generation of lawyers in Nigeria were equipped with the requisite skills for purposes of financing.

“The market involves massive structuring skills, and the panacea for these projects are foreign lenders. We do recognise the gaps in our training system

and note that the average young lawyer does not having the key exposure or the sophistication in financing which the “market” requires,” he said.

In her remarks, ILFA’s executive director, Cynthia Lareine exContinues on page 22

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MTN lawyers say AGF’s legal arguments unacceptable and unknown to law

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ireworks continued today as MTN Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice continued their legal battle over the appropriateness of the latter’s demand for $2 billion in back taxes. While MTN maintained that the AGF was beyond his remit, the AGF sought to justify his demands.

At a hearing in the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Justice C J Aneke heard arguments relating to the substance of the AGF’s preliminary objection (from November 2018), the detail of which was only filed in court by the Attorney General late on March 25th, and which has yet to be served on MTN. The arguments did not focus on the substance of MTN’s suit, as the AGF’s preliminary objection that MTN did not commence legal proceedings within 3 months of the cause of action arising must first be addressed.

MTN’s team of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanipekun maintained that the AGF’s contentions were unacceptable and unknown to law. They argued that the cause of action actually crystalised when the AGF made a demand of MTN and threat-

ened the company with court action on August 20th. Previous correspondence from the AGF was acted upon in good faith by the company, he continued.

He revealed that the previous correspondence had requested a self-assessment.

He posited that the organization not only undertook the self-assessment but went ahead to submit the result of that process to the AGF’s office. The

assessment was undertaken by KPMG and showed clearly that no back taxes were owed to the Country. Despite this, the letter of August was still written. That letter heightened issues and led to the company seeking to protect itself from the unlawful actions of the AGF. The learned SAN further argued that to the extent that the letter has not been withdrawn, the cause of action continues to

exist. Therefore MTN remains within its rights to approach the courts. Counsel to AGF was asked directly whether the cause of action had been withdrawn (and so the demand itself withdrawn) but declined to respond.

The Chief further posited that from the AGF’s pleadings his office had admitted the submission of MTN in so far as his main argument is not in response to the core issues raised by MTN, but to whether or not the AGF is protected in law from the consequences of his actions. The Chief argued that it is implicit in the AGF’s failure to address the substance of MTN’s case, that the AGF is aware it does not have the legal authority to take the action it has taken.

Justice Aneke, after hearing the submissions of learned counsel to both parties, reserved ruling on the preliminary objection until May 7th.

MTN Nigeria instituted the suit by a writ dated September 10, challenging the legality of the AGF’s assessment of its import duties, withholding of tax and value-added tax in the sums of N242 billion and 1.3 billion dollars. In the suit,

MTN claims that a revenue assets investigation allegedly carried out by the Federal Government on MTN over the period from 2007–2017 violates Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It also claims that the government’s August 20 letter stating the tax demand to the company contravenes the provisions of the section.

The telecoms company seeks a declaration that the defendant (AGF) acted in excess of his powers by demanding an assessment, which MTN claims, usurped the powers of the Nigerian Customs Service to demand import duties and the powers of the Federal Inland Revenue Service to audit and demand remittance of withholding tax and valueadded tax.

Over-reach by the AGF has been a consistent theme recently, with President Muhammadu Buhari already having ordered him to terminate a separate agreement through which he sought to collect supposedly ‘additional recoverable revenue’ from the International Oil Companies.

NBA-SBL launches banking & finance academy...

Continued from page 21 pressed excitement at the collaboration with the NBA-SBL, stating that both organisations have had a long and rich history of partnerships, with Nigerian lawyers being the largest beneficiaries of all ILFA programmes within African jurisdictions. According to her, these benefits, include, internships and programmes for secondment.

She said, “When my predecessor sought to launch the Intra Africa secondment programme in 2016, it was to Nigeria that she initially looked and we had six Nigerian law firms hosting lawyers from various West Africa jurisdictions. We have hopes of replicating this programme in future.

“I am personally very excited about the Academy and about our blossoming relationship with the NBA-SBL which also extends to our online legal education platform called Angaza Africa law training. The partnership model we have with the NBA-SBL is a template for what we want to achieve in other parts of Africa. I believe that through relationships like this one ILFA

L-R, NBA-SBL Council Members, Chinyere Okorocha, Justina Lewa and Priscilla Ogwemoh, Chair, Media & Communication, Theodora Kio-Lawson, NBA-SBL Chairman, Seni Adio, SAN and ILFA Executive Director, Cynthia Lareine during the launch of the NBA-SBL/ILFA Banking & Finance Academy.

really is well positioned to build legal excellence & strengthen the rule of law and across Africa,” Lareine added.

In closing, the ILFA director described Nigeria as a fantastic place with some of the most established and sophisticated law firms across Africa, which according to her has continued to attract international interest.

Speaking exclusively to BusinessDay, the Secretary of the NBA-SBL and Chairman of its training committee, Dr Adeoye Adefulu, disclosed that the Banking & Finance Academy would amongst other things, enable participants understand the structures of corporate borrowing, and how lenders raise money.

“They would also understand the general structure of a loan facility agreement and its key clauses; the reasons for and methods of transfers of loans by banks; an appreciation of the concepts of taking and perfecting security; as well as the reasons and methods of subordination; a fair knowledge of capital markets and types of

debt security; form and nature of a bond; tax matters relevant to banking lawyers, and a good understanding of the nature of derivatives and how the market in derivatives works after this training,” he said.

The NBA Section on Business Law (SBL) is an arm of the Nigerian Bar Association, which engenders the development of commercial law and specialised commercial law practice in Nigeria. The Section currently has 20 committees focused on different sectors of the economy.

Through its committees and strategic partnerships with government parastatals, legislative bodies, and private organisations, the section organises regular workshops, seminars and training programmes for its members, particularly young lawyers, with a view to promoting commercial and business interests in Nigeria.

This is one of the primary objectives of the NBA Section on Business Law. As business advisors, the SBL Council and its members are committed to the well being of businesses and investments in Nigeria.

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You Smell Nice! – Professional etiquette for young lawyers (1)

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rofessional circles and social media in Nigeria went agog with the above captioned phrase for different reasons some weeks ago. If there ever was a case study for interview protocol, it would be this set of facts. Following the conclusion of an interview, both interviewer and interviewee post a snippet of the proceedings on social media. As reported, the interviewee had shared a supposed compliment with the interviewer and the recipient found the comment rude and shared sentiments on the phrase, “You smell nice”.

For many, it became a gender argument and several diatribes were served on both men and women creating blurred lines as to what really was in issue.

The primary question was and remains the propriety or otherwise of the “compliment” made by a candidate following a job interview. Social media has democratised access and, in

many cases, it may be difficult to discern what is right to do. More so, there are several unwritten rules and protocol which are no longer taught and especially in professional settings, people often learn by winging it or after many blunders. As a young lawyer, the concept of ethics is not strange. A significant part of our curriculum in law school speaks to rules of professional conduct and what is considered fit and proper behaviour. Nonetheless, when many young lawyers get into the world of work, they are often confused and at loss as to the protocol for engagement in such spaces. I make a few points in the following paragraphs and I hope that they provide reasonable guidance on some of this elephant in the room called professional etiquette.

Using social media I will like to start with the issue of the use of social media; social media is a very excellent tool for personal enhancement, but it

is to be properly managed. The lines are often unclear because of the interweave of our basic activities with social media.

Notwithstanding this, there are unwritten rules about the kind of information that is to be shared about professional activities. Interviews or the outcomes of these and similar activities relating to employment relations are best kept discreet.

There are several examples of candidates and employees who have lost jobs or opportunities just because of an indiscreet post or share on social media.

Your digital track is very critical, and you have to intentionally curate the content you share, endorse or publish.

Interviews: Job interviews are mostly feared because candidates do not often get insight into what the details of the interview could be and, in many cases, the perforContinues on page 32

Converting NPDC and NNPC Unincorporated...

Continued from page 21 issues, the FGN is considering the conversion of the UJV arrangements with its joint venture partners to limited liability companies which will have NNPC or NPDC and their relevant joint venture partners as shareholders (the “IJVs”). It has been predicted that the IJV model will aid the financing of joint venture projects. The benefits of incorporation of a company include, having a separate legal personality from its owners and the ability of the IJVs to independently raise finance for funding petroleum operations without reliance on, and/or recourse to, its shareholders.

The IJV as a company, is expected to run as a purely commercial enterprise. As a company incorporated under the Nigerian Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), it can raise financing in the normal course of its business, thereby eliminating the challenges associated with cash call obligations. In addition to the taxes, levies, rents, royalties and bonuses that are usually imposed on companies operating in the oil and gas sector, the FGN stands to gain from dividends that will be distributed to shareholders by each IJV. As suitable as the proposed IJV model is to the NNPC and the NPDC and their joint venture partners, the IJV also has its own potential challenges that need to be addressed, mitigated or guarded against. Some of the key potential challenges and hurdles which may affect proper implementation of the IJV model are discussed in the paragraphs below, as well as recommendations for overcoming same.

Since raising finance is crucial to the success of the IJV model, crit-

ical consideration must be given to the asset transfer issues, funding and future financial requirements of the incorporated companies, amongst others. Upon incorporation, the IJV will be responsible for its own financial obligations and for obtaining capital for its operations. As a limited liability company incorporated under the CAMA, the provisions of the CAMA will apply to the IJV upon incorporation. Ways by which the IJV may receive funding may be through equity or debt.

The IJV can raise finance through rights issue and private placement, private placement only where it is a private limited company and could have broader options, where it is a public company. Equity financing is usually expensive and because of this, most companies prefer debt financing. section 38 of the CAMA confers incorporated companies (to the extent permitted by their articles of association) with all the powers of a natural person of full legal capacity. Further, section 166 of the CAMA provides that “a company may borrow money for the purpose of its business or objects and may mortgage or charge its undertaking, property and uncalled capital, or any part thereof, and issue debentures, debenture stock and other securities whether outright or as security for any debt, liability or obligation of the company or of any third party”.

A combined reading of sections 38 and 166 of the CAMA is to the effect that the IJV will, subject to the terms of (or restriction in) its memorandum and articles of association and shareholders or other internal agreements, be free to raise financing for its operational and investment activities and to assign revenues from the sale of

production to lenders. Debt financing as well as retained earnings can also be used for specific items or for operations generally.

A large number of the subsisting UJVs have peculiar financing structures which may preclude the possibility of a simple transfer of UJV assets to the IJVs. UJV co-venturers typically consummate major transactions in the upstream sector through reserve based lending and other project finance structures which are collateralized by the cash flows from each co-venturer’s participating interest share of petroleum.

A plausible concern for lenders may well be that security created over the participating interest and the borrower’s (JV Partner) participating interest share of

hydrocarbon proceeds will be affected because the participating interest will be transferred to the IJV company in exchange for shares in the IJV company. Furthermore, lenders are likely to be concerned that the offtake arrangements will subsequently be undertaken by the IJV company. The effect of the foregoing, therefore, is that it becomes pertinent to engage lenders relatively early in connection with the IJV structure to better understand the nature/extent of existing liabilities of the UJV partners and the terms upon which such lenders are amenable to providing consent for the transfer of loan liabilities and charged assets to the IJV company.

One option in connection with existing debts is for same to continue to remain on the books of the borrower JV Partner even after the transition to an IJV. In exchange, the lenders may consider swapping the security taken over the Party’s participating interest with security over the shares of the borrower JV Partner. In negotiating this, it is pertinent to look at issues such as economic interest versus participating interest, existing carry arrangements, other corollary arrangements, benefits which other non-borrower JV Partners may have derived; amongst other issues which may not be necessarily straightforward but are germane to achieving a successful transaction.

Under an IJV regime, the shareholders will typically get returns on their investments by way of dividend, measured by each shareholder’s equity interests. All companies incorporated under the CAMA are by section 379 authorized (but not compelled) to declare dividends upon the recommendation of the company’s directors.

Thus, it is recommended that a robust dividend policy consisting

of a set of guidelines to be adopted in determining how much of the IJV’s earnings will be paid out to shareholders be also prepared as part of the entire corporate governance rules/documentation. It is pertinent to have a robust and well considered dividend policy as a residual dividend policy whereby the IJV chooses to rely on retained earnings to finance projects and pay dividend from leftover earnings may be unacceptable to existing lenders and the UJV partners (now shareholders).

In addition, the CA method of financing is expected to cease upon commencement of the IJV regime. It is pertinent that the IJV Shareholders’ Agreement makes provisions to the effect that during the subsistence of the carry, the coventurers take more of dividend/ equity lifting. The CAs can also be restructured as shareholder loans, by the co-venturers to the IJV, with specified terms for repayment.

Such shareholder loans can then be subordinated to any new thirdparty loans procured by the IJV. There are several other issues worth considering and this paper cannot in one part dela with all such issues.

The foregoing are some of the issues we consider germane as the NNPC and NPDC together with their joint venture partners, look to convert the existing tradition joint ventures, which are unincorporated, to incorporated joint venture companies. We do hope that the transition is seamless and the expected gains are indeed achieved.

Ayodele Oni (ayodele.oni@bloomfield-law.com), a Partner with Bloomfield Law Practice, specializes in international energy investment law and policy.

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Thursday 21 March 2019

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BDLegalBusiness

NBA Lagos Partners MTN to host Corporate Counsel Masterclass

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s part of its efforts to support increased capacity building in the legal profession, the Lagos branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in collaboration with the Commercial Legal Department of MTN Nigeria organised a Masterclass for lawyers on best corporate legal practices.

The event, which featured a broad cross-section of senior as well as young lawyers, was hosted by MTN Nigeria at its Ikoyi, Lagos corporate headquarters in support of the NBA’s efforts at deepening industry knowledge spearheaded by its Continuing Legal Education and Mentorship Committee.

Utilising a variety of in-house case studies and sharing from her wide experience as one of the country’s foremost corporate lawyers, Commercial Legal General Manager at MTN Nigeria, Ifeoma Utah walked attendees through the rudiments of being a great corporate lawyer including building critical skill sets in risk management, crisis management, negotiation, matching the right case to the right law firm and being emotionally intelligent.

She also highlighted the increasingly important role of the corporate lawyer, saying that “there is more to being a lawyer than just drafting documents and going to court. You have to be a coach, a financial expert, a business analyst and a star negotiator, among others.”

Speaking about the intent of the event, Corporate Relations Executive at MTN Nigeria, Tobechukwu Okigbo said the Master-

class “is a strong example of how in-house teams can share best practices with external counsel and we are grateful that we are doing this.”

The company’s Chief Operating Officer, Mazen Mroue in sharing the same sentiment, added that the event was yet another example of the ICT company’s long term’s commitment to investing in building the country’s human development capacity.

In his remarks, Tobenna Erojikwe, Chairman of the Continuous Legal Education Committee, Nigerian Bar Association, Lagos Branch and Partner at Law Crest LLP thanked MTN Nigeria for showing its commitment to the NBA Lagos Branch by supporting its objectives, calling the company its largest corporate supporter.

WORDS ON MARBLE

L-R: Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos Branch and Partner at Aluko & Oyebode, Chukwuka Ikwuazom; Corporate Relations Executive, MTN Nigeria, Tobechukwu Okigbo; Commercial Legal General Manager, MTN Nigeria, Ifeoma Utah and Chairman, Continuous Legal Education Committee, Nigerian Bar Association, Lagos Branch and Partner at Law Crest LLP, Tobenna Erojikwe during the Mastervlass organised by the NBA Lagos branch in partnership with MTN Nigeria Legal Team at the MTN Nigeria Corporate Headquarters, Ikoyi, Lagos on Friday, March 22, 2019.

customs of geographic regions where your company operates.”

From the Commercial Legal General Manager, MTN

IN-HOUSE TEAMS “There is more to being a lawyer than just drafting documents and going to court. You have to be a coach, a financial expert, a business analyst and a star negotiator, among others.

“An in-house counsel is a bit of a generalist - you must know a bit of everything because the company that you serve will require you to give advice on a diverse range of issues.

“You must be knowledgeable about the industry, about your company’s products and services, about the culture and the

RISK MANAGEMENT “A good in-house counsel must build her capacity for risk management. MTN Nigeria runs a risks-based legal services approach. Our belief is that we do not wait for the shoe to drop before we move in. We make sure the shoe does not drop.

“Plan, plan, plan for every contingency. Have a Plan A, B, C and D, just in case. Envisage every possibility. It is hard work but the watchword of a smart lawyer is to plan.”

CRISIS MANAGEMENT “Crisis Management is indispensable to big business.

Research shows that 59% of businesses have experienced a crisis, but only 54% of businesses have a plan in place to deal with them. Responsible companies do not relegate their lawyers to the background. They bring them to the table. We are not an afterthought.”

that will distinguish you. Always strive to know how to connect with people.”

now commonplace. The use of slangs and nicknames in formal correspondence is also inappropriate. It is important to be professional and cautious and err on the side of caution than be caught in weird situations because the subject or recipient takes exception to the speech.

Again, who your subject is, is as important as what you are saying. The rule of thumb is to stay conservative and respectful. This would create a safety net and prevent verbal gaffes at work.

While the lines seem to be slightly blurred, being professional in communication is criti-

cal to personal growth and perception and should not be taken lightly. Even with the familiar, it is important to be tactful in speech and communication.

ABOUT HARDWORK “As the country’s biggest Telco and a key lynchpin of Africa’s largest telecommunications group - serving almost 66 million customers - MTN Nigeria is a EMOTIONAL INTELLI- very large operation. The 22-man GENCE in-house counsel team reviewed “Emotional Intelligence is over a thousand contracts in critical to success as a lawyer. 2018 alone, with the average You need to understand the vi- contract being 60-70 pages long. cissitudes of the people you’re Undoubtedly, that’s a lot to rote negotiating with. Emotional work, which could easily lead to intelligence is the key differ- boredom. The solution is quite entiator between two highly simple - You have to automate, qualified people. When you have innovate and have a keen eye of the technical competence pats detail in order to deliver superior down, it will be your soft skills work.”

You Smell Nice! – Professional etiquette...

Continued from page 31 mance pressure on candidates makes them flustered or flippant. Some in trying to cover fear up share compliments, speak about unnecessary points and are generally intrusive and patronising because they are trying to compensate for the apprehension felt. Like with any other professional forum, first impressions matter and you should come off as confident and comfortable, but a line is always to be drawn between confidence and intrusion and it truly can be confusing. For instance, when you walk into

an office (especially that of a superior), it is not appropriate to take a seat without being invited to do so. This is not indicative of a lack of confidence or weakness, it is one of those unwritten rules. Also, avoid personal comments like a plague; “you smell nice” may be a compliment but where you are not aware of the emotional disposition of your subject, it may be the gateway to trouble. Keep it strictly formal, if per chance, the conversation is largely convivial, it is still not a licence to make personal comments. Relationships are organic, and they naturally evolve in the work space as well.

It is important to keep it formal until it is clear that there is a mutually acceptance of the nature and extent of the relationship.

The rule of thumb is to keep it formal until there is a mutual acknowledgement of a relationship. It is better to err on the side of caution than to be caught in an inappropriate situation.

Speak right With the advent of several social media platforms, speech in the workplace could be conflated with a group of friends chatting.

The use of “hi guys” addressing formal colleagues is not ordinarily not appropriate but is

OYEYEMI ADERIBIGBE is a Senior Associate at Templars. She is also the current Vice-Chairman of the Young Lawyers’ Forum of the Nigerian Bar Association -Section on Business Law and the Young Lawyers’ Committee Liaison Officer of the African Regional Forum of the International Bar Association.

Feedback – Oyeyemi.aderibigbe@templars-law.com; yemiimmanuel@yahoo.com.

Thursday 28 March 2019

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Onuwa Lucky Joseph (08023314782) Editor.

Volunteerism vs Voluntourism: Why the flak?

ONUWA LUCKY JOSEPH

someoneelse’saffection.Thatisnotsomething that happens to them every day. And for the volunteer, sometimes it helps them feel good about themselves, to remember, even if they are regular bums, that at some point in their lives they did some good. And if this is memorialized on social media, so much the better for both parties.

The problem now is that the Race seems denigrated by the preponderance of such images.

The really major question is, why are more Africans not coming to the aid of Africa?

Why aren’t we seeing more ‘black saviours’?

One would expect a far higher ratio of African Americans who consider Africa the mother continent to be invested here as businesspeople, as partners, as supporters. There isn’t a lot by way of documentary evidence to support this. African Americans are largely as ignorant about Africa even more so than their White folk. There aren’t many instances when BlackshavecometoAfricatohelpgivesuccour to their less privileged kith and kin.

One could say the same about Blacks in Europe. But then again, most Black folks there havesomedirectrelationshipwithsomecountry on this side of the divide. However, aside the help they render their immediate families

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ew English words are springing up faster than people can think them up. They are just sprouting from everywhere. And it’s nothing but a byproduct of the jaw-jaw culture. Too much talk. Too much criticizing. Little doing. And the criticism seems specially reserved for the doers.

It is not contestable that Black people have a good, sunny spirit. We are good at knowing what is wrong and talking up a storm about what is wrong. What we do about what is wrong is usually where our Achilles heel starts acting up.

It is to our collective shame that our countries are run aground while our intellectuals and professionals flee abroad. They flee from all parts of sub-Saharan Africa because it’s usually difficult to safely mount any opposition from over here. Should they go ahead, say in Nigeria, the EFCC and sundry other government setups will quickly get on their case, exhuming bank transactions done 20 years ago and unerringly unearthing transactional irregularities. Tax receipts will be checked. As will every other thing that can be unraveled to open up a can of worms to help legitimise the incarceration of the ‘dissident’.

It is also to our collective shame that not less than 50 years on the average after independence, Africa is still wholly Europe and Western-looking. To be sure, we now have some ocular diversion with the emergence of China. But the romance with China, at least as it currently stands, does not look much different from the way Africa schmoozed with Russia in the heydays of the Independence movement. Russia was the counterforce to the West and so, attractive as partner, to countries that wanted none of the Western imperialistic baggage.

But because this was done on a country by country basis, the West quickly snuffed out the rising flames of real independence, taking out those revolutionary figures and making sure they were replaced by puppets who were at the beck and call of the West. And the West, maybe because they colonized us, have been so successful at disuniting us that aside the 70s when Nigeria’s Murtala Muhammad called their bluff, for the most part, Africa has been a pliant satellite of the West, useful for supply of cheap raw materials and the waging of proxy wars with those not aligned with NATO. Little wonder, our economy as a continent is still largely tied to that of the West. We have for too long been incoherent whenever our interests as Africans is the subject. Then we become Francophone or Anglophone or iPhone. Anything but African. A few pan Africanists like Prof Patrick Otieno Lumumba and the late Prof Pius Adesanmi, amongst a few, raise their voice here and there to rouse some modicum of self-respect, to get Africans fighting for what’s important to Africans. They come up with nothing because our mind is largely made up about what’s ours not being important and how unless we are validated by the West we are going nowhere.

Discussing race against the background of White and Black is a difficult enterprise.

Until it is discussed as a systemic construct, it does injury to either side. What is clear is that the West has a well-articulated policy of keeping the rest of the world subservient to its interest and its culture. However, as individuals, Westerners, by which I mean Caucasians, largely, are bewildered at the level of underdevelopment in Africa and Asia and many go out of their way to endeavor to lend a helping hand to help speed up the development process. They are also, as a race, more apt to act rather than watch. It is to this end that they put plans and other measures

in place to ensure achievement of objectives that are set down many years in advance of meeting the goal.

Once they do an objective assessment of a situation and deem it needful of action, they do not spend time overanalyzing. They simply do what needs be done. And so, when a hurricane happens in America, there are measures in place to take care of the situation.

Never mind the Costa Rica example. It’s an aberration brought on largely by Trump’s egotistic buffoonery. But even at that, it’s still light years better than what obtains over here.

Am I generalizing? Maybe I am.

But again, that is not to say that one is unaware of the systemic undertow whereby the West goes out of its way to put others under so that they will stay on top perpetually. But then again, we must ask the question: is that an inherently Western thing? I totally doubt it.

Over here in Nigeria, the different geopolitical zones are struggling for power and advantage with the North, since Independence, holding the long end of the stick and doing everything tofavourtheNorth.Whilethatdoesnotdiminish the poverty rate in the North, it keeps the Northern elite happy and plotting to never let go of power. Similarly, in virtually every state of the federation, some ethnic group or interest has hijacked power and won’t let go.

Democracy be damned! What has that got to do with the West?

Maybe we atomize unduly. So let’s go back to the larger picture. Until Africa looks after Africa, we should not disturb those who are trying to look after Africa, even if for their own ‘selfish’ reasons. At least, some people are saved and helped to see another day. If people

get relief from the efforts of organisations and individualsofWesternextraction,byallmeans let them flourish and do their work.

For too long have we known the virtues of volunteering. And good thing, more Nigerian corporates are infusing that into their corporate culture. However, it is still a narrow concept over here. What with our perennial preoccupation with survival (individual and corporate). Which is why voluntourism is trending nowadays. Smart play on words like we said at the beginning of this essay.

Voluntourismisdeployedinthesensethat people leave their country, usually in the West, forthepurposeoflookingfortough(readpoor, unhealthful) situations, in the 3rd World (typically Africa) that they can fix and get instant recognition, accolade and renown via their postsonsocialmedia.It’sahighthatpeopleare knowntocrave,andyes,someofthoseimages are downright nauseating.

But the ‘white saviour complex’ as it’s beingdubbedisnotthepreserveofvoluntourism. It is the Black experience as we know it.

Whenever things go askew, we go white. We seek help from Whiteland. Our leaders send their kids to Whiteland, they go to hospitals in Whiteland,stashourmoneyinWhiteland.AsI saidatthebeginning,ourintellectualsandprofessionals, finding no sense of fulfillment here, leaveforWhitelandfromwheretheycansafely fulminate against the misdeeds over here.

White saviour complex?! We should think again. Is that anything new? Aren’t we all complicit in the whole elevation of one race above the other? Are we doing enough to save ourselves? Shouldn’t the criticism be directed at us however high or lowly placed

we are? Shouldn’t our intellectuals, supposed moulders of our collective destinies be livid with themselves for falling short of their remit?

Images are powerful and that’s why the outcry against the do-good-and-show-it voluntourism. Images on social media that show a healthy white man or woman amidst an army of frail, impoverished Africans do not make us feel good. However, it’s nowhere near as pernicious as the insidious, mostly mental, instances of white leverage that we have allowed to flourish and become established.

But let’s even ask the primary question: Is it only white people that document their work with the less privileged and share same on social media? As someone who has been part of several interventions both from home and abroad, what I do know is that interventions must be documented.

When doctors come from North America or Europe on medical missions, even when they are ethnic Nigerians, they document their efforts. When relief efforts are conducted

by NGOs or Foundations, or other corporate organisations, they are documented. Lawyers whodoprobonoworkusuallydocumenttheir work with their clients. And the documentation, generally in the form of pictures and stats are distributed to their various stakeholders.

Someofthesehappentogetsplashedonsocial mediaforreasonsthatarenotalwaysaltruistic.

But so what?

To be sure, everyone takes photographs.

There’s a magnetic thing to a camera that just draws people in. Especially kids. It’s a bonding that’s, if you like, never dies. As long as that image exists, that moment exists when the kid was loved, when he/she was the centre of

(mostly by helping them escape the seeming solitary confinement in Africa), there are no systemic interventions geared towards giving Africa and Africans a leg up.

That is why we find ourselves having to fall back on the generosity of white folks who come as individuals, as groups, as interests, as curious learners to lend a hand. Think of it, Bill Gates has been here several times working on polio eradication, malaria vaccination, toilet democratization, etc. I don’t recall that Oprah has ever visited. And Barack Obama, while president of the US, never thought it worth his while to visit the most populous black nation on earth. That the symbolic significance of such a gesture would fail to register with someone otherwise so brilliant is, to say the least, confounding.

This is why the do-nothing critics of ‘voluntourism’ must stop the yammer and allow their poor kinfolk the pleasure of others’ generosity. They should not, in a bid to stay and sound relevant (or woke, as they say) shame well-meaning Westerners into looking elsewhere to express their generosity. If the critics mean well, they ought to start by shaming the governments of Africa from always being on the lookout for the next handout, a lot of which is now coming, with strings attached, from China.

In truth, no one will look out for Africa when Africans don’t consider Africa a priority.

The saviours are all here, Black like us, in private and corporate settings; in the NGOs and civil society. If we flood the internet with images of Black folks lifting up black folks, how is that a bad thing?

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Thursday 28 March 2019

Corporate Social Impact

Everyone should think of others, says Ebele the Flutist ONUWA LUCKY JOSEPH

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ore and more, the world seems to be outsourcing social responsibility to corporates celebrities and the superrich, the logic being that they have the wherewithal to do the needful.

Ebele the Flutist begs to disagree.

She believes we all, everyone, can and should pitch in in the business of lifting others who do not have what it takes to lift themselves from the depths thy find themselves in.

It is her belief that everything is not about money. Some of those who need support really have needs beyond food. They just want to know that someone cares enough to think about them, to visit them, and of course to give them a hand.

Over here, we think that’s all good and entirely in tune with what we preach.

Last year October, she was part of a benefit concert held at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital where she thrilled her audience with what was described as therapeutic music to ease the stress off of patients, caregivers and Healthcare providers. It’s her own way of giving out of what she has to help make the world a little easier for members of society who are in dire need of some perk up. “We did a free concert for the patients”, she says, “and we saw the response it brought to them. It was a success indeed”.

Another way she gives back is via teaching. According to her, these days you will find her “going from one location to another, teaching music and coaching youngsters on how to discover their passion”. That passion may or may not be music, but she is intent on helping people discover their passion early and to chase it with all they got. In doing this she’s consciously looking to get more people to be like her who started playing the flute at 14 and saw that “become a passion” that “never left me”.

Along the same lines, she’s also a personal development coach who accepts invites from organisations for pep talks and demonstrations.

As well as that being a give-out to society her businesswoman smarts is also using it to help her music school, which she says is in the pipeline.

That passion has since become a career, one she left a profitable job for. So, in a sense, she’s wedded to the flute. Why, we may not know.

Some things just click and never let go, and those things aren’t always open to the fulsome rationalization of logic.

The flute has taken her places.

The elevation Church medical outreach

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he Bible in Acts 10:38 reports “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil”.

Lately, most of the talk from the church has been about the rightfulness or otherwise of tithe and offering; the excesses of largeliving Pastors and Bishops; and the sexual abuse issues from the Catholic Church. People like Daddy Freeze are feeding fat on these issues and making a name for themselves via an endless bashing of church ministers.

It must be said however, that many churches have quietly kept at the ‘doing good’ part of their ministry, helping to rehabilitate the poor, the weak, drug addicts, prostitutes,

etc. They pay school fees, feed the hungry, and all to little or no acclaim. It was in that spirit that The Elevation Church recently had its medical outreach on Lagos Island.

Over 6,000 cases treated, more than 240 major and minor surgeries, babies delivered, dental surgeries, eye defects corrected with glasses and surgeries, many cases of fibroid removal including a case of a woman with 16kg fibroid.

It was cheering to see a systematic approach to the project. With lots of corporate bodies involved at different levels. That’s how it ought to be. Churches have too much fallow resource they can leverage on to help society. They should get on with it like The Elevation Church (TEC) just did.

Japan donates $2million to WFP for North East victims

T First, it enables her stand out seeing as there aren’t many women who have tapped into the flute as their particular instrument of musical expression. With regards to the controversy around her being the first female flutist, she doesn’t back down at all, insisting she is indeed the first but qualifying it with the word ’professional’. She is the first professional female flutist in the country and she’s mighty proud of that.

She acknowledges that “There are also many female flutists, but they play in the orchestra. There have also been others also whom she says “pulled out of the industry… never continued.

While there are other flutists who play, as flutists usually do, in an orchestra or chorale or setting, Ebele has used her melodious flute to interprete different other genres and she usually plays it as a lead instrument. Nigerians like to move to the beat, and since the flute is not exactly that kind of instrument she has had to improvise and stay versatile while not straying too far from the roots of the wind instrument.

So, rather than just tunes that make you reflect and relax, sometimes she also does tunes that make you move rather than merely sashay.

While her audience is generally the mature type, she finds a lot of young folks eating with elders, so to speak, at her events. Like every artiste, she finds this gratifying and hopes to further extend the fan base. “They

are always overwhelmed after seeing me play. This motivates me really each time I see how happy they are and how they are excited about my performance”.

Her hope is to grow the audience.

Already, she is getting some good offers for collaborations abroad and she’s hoping those would crystallize this year with full blown projects.

And unlike most artistes, she says she does not retain a manager because they are more stress than relief.

A major challenge she had was that “playing the flute in a country like Nigeria is not well appreciated”.

But she says that with patience, determination, consistency, Ebele the Flutist is becoming an established brand that more Nigerians are aware of and loving purely on the value it delivers.

The super hard working flutist is also hard at work on “my company called Ebele’s World, which involves a Talk Show, Health &Fitness, Beauty and Style. (IG: @ebelesworld). The way she relates it, “This establishment will also help to secure jobs for other entrepreneurs. These are the other things I do outside music. She hopes to get support from Governments, organisations, etc.

And whatever she does, she plans to never let go of her connection with the less privileged and the folks in society who need some cheering.

She will always be in their corner and will exert herself to ensure they are happier.

he government of Japan is donating two million dollars to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to support people and communities affected by insurgencies in the northeast.

The National Communications Officer of WFP, Kelechi Onyemaobi in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, said the contribution was for supporting more than 48,000 women and men who need to rebuild their livelihoods.

Onyemaobi said the fund would be used to provide food to people

growing crops, raising livestock and rehabilitating assets damaged during conflicts in the region.

He said the support from Japanese government would complement the lifesaving efforts of the WFP in Nigeria where over 700,000 people are provided cash or food assistance every month.

This is in addition to the over 250,000 women and children whom the WFP spokesman said also receive supplementary nutritional support from the organisation.

Corruption doesn’t stop business – Aliko Dangote

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ctually, there’s no country without corruption. Our own in Africa is well pronounced because we have very weak institutions.

You know, what you need are very big

institutions so that when you cross the line there’s somebody that will deal with you squarely. But be it in America, in Europe, or anywhere, these are countries that also have corruption”.

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27

Energy Report Oil & Gas

Power

Renewables

Environment

Govt officials advocate review of extant license, regulations governing Gencos and Discos .... as energy received by Discos rises by 7% Olusola Bello

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articipants at a retreat organised by the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing have advocated the review of Nigeria’s Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (NERC) extant licenses and regulations governing the operations of Generating Companies (GENCOs) and Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to accommodate new entrants to increase competiveness and performance in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

The retreat was attended by top federal civil servants who argued that increasing further participation by other stakeholders would engender better performance by operators in the sector.

The requirements for operators in the industry include, for instance, that companies planning to generate more than 500MW should pay a processing fee

of N500,000.00, a license fee of $140,000 or its naira equivalent. These are in addition to N250,000 processing fees for extension of tenure, and a 1.5 percent of licensee’s charges/Kw as annual operating fee.

There are currently 11 Discos, .. Gencos and one Transmission Company.

Meanwhile, despite the epileptic supply of electricity across the country

by electricity distribution companies, energy received by them rose from seven percent to 26,385 GWH in 2018, from 24,616 gigawatts hours (GWH) in 2017 to. One Gigawatt (GWH) of electricity is equivalent of 1000mw of electricity.

How e ver the energ y billed by the companies increased 10 percent to 20,852 GWH in 2018, from 18,882 GWH in 2017. This means

T

he Ministry of Petroleum Resources has called for the nomination and inauguration of the Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP) Proposal Evaluation Committee (PEC) and Independent observer Group (IOG).

The Proposal Evaluation Committee (PEC) is to evaluate the submission of Statements of Qualification (SOQs) to determine qualified applicants, and evaluate proposals submitted by the qualified applicants.

Co-ordinator of the programme, Justice Derefeka, minister of Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Ibe Kachukwu had also approved three nominees from the development partners advisory team, three nominees from NEITI, and two nominees from Oil Producing Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and industries (LCCI) as indepen-

dent observer Group (IOG) for the evaluation processes.

After the constitution of the of the Proposal Evaluating committee PEC there would be a two -day training for them and the Independent Observer Group (IOG) members by Messrs Gas Strategies under the US Power Africa Assistance between April 2nd and 3rd.

The commencement of the SOQ evaluation and qualification process is scheduled to start from Monday 15th April 2019 – Friday 24th May 2019.

It would be recalled that as part of the Federal Government’s strategy to reposition the oil and gas industry, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources began the implementation of initiatives to foster efficiency and attract investments into the oil and gas value chain as embedded in the “7 Big Wins - Short and Medium Term priorities to grow Nigeria’s Oil and Gas industry.”

The NGFCP is designed as the strategy to implement the policy objectives of the

FG for the elimination of gas flares from Nigeria’s oil and gas fields in the near term (2-3 years), with potentially enormous multiplier and development outcomes for Nigeria. It is also designed as the contribution of the petroleum sector to Nigeria’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) under the Paris Agreement (COP21).

At present, over 700 investors have registered to download the RfQ package to submit their statements of qualification (SOQs) for participation in the programme.

In terms of developmental impact, the NGFCP benefits range from an overall inward investment of around US $3 - 3.5 billion; a potential annual revenue/gross domestic product (GDP) impact around ~ US $ 1 billion/ annum. The NGFCP could also generate approximately 300,000 direct and indirect jobs and unlock and supply around 600,000 MT of liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) product to six million homes in Nigeria.

Olusola Bello, Team lead, Analysts: Isaac Anyaogu, Stephen Onyekwelu, Graphics: Joel Samson.

NERC to improve meter deployment rate in the country’s electricity sector using approved third-party operators.

“The failures of the legacy years caught up with us when we came on board and in trying to roll out meters, we need to do a lot more”, he said.

The Discos, he said, had done quite a lot in their performance agreements.

“There are a number of meters that we were required to provide within five years, and within the five-year period, we did 88 percent of that.”

“In summary, the MAP providers are essentially now in charge of metering and not the Discos. We are participants and have roles to play,” he added.

“We are playing along and doing what we are expected to do and asked to do as Discos, but we are not the ones that will now provide meters to Nigerians going forward and people should understand that.”

ENYO Retail launches ENYO Olowo-Eko in the Lekki axis of Lagos

FG calls for evaluation committee on gas flare commercialisation Olusola Bello

a 10 percent improvement in blocking power leakages.

Revenue collection also increased by 21 percent to N 438 billion in 2018, from N363 billion in 2017.

Increase in collection was as a result of the companies’ improved collection efficiency from 61 percent in 2017 to 66 percent in 2018; and a reduction in Average Technical Collection & Commercial losses from 53

percent in 2017 to 48 percent in 2018.

In a related development the distribution companies in Nigeria’s power sector have called on the Federal Government to brace up and holistically address the problems facing the power sector.

Sunday Oduntan, Executive Director for Research and Advocacy of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), an umbrella organisation of the Discos said the companies no longer had the responsibility of providing meters to customers as the Meter Assets Provider (MAP) programme of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had taken over the responsibility for the task.

He said NERC had approved 121 firms to participate in the scheme. The ANEND executive said that the Discos had therefore taken a backseat in the task, and would only support the MAP operators to do their jobs.

MAP was initiated by

FRANK UZUEGBUNAM

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nyo Retail & Supply (ERS), an indigenous oil, gas distribution and marketing company, recently launched its ultra-modern fuel station in the Lekki axis of Lagos State.

The elaborate ceremony was witnessed by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akinolu, alongside other dignitaries with the company’s chairman, Tunde Folawiyo and his management team, to unveil the retail facility which was christened ‘’Enyo Olowo Eko.’’ This station is in line with the company’s vision to in-

crease its investments in the fuel distribution space by further expanding its retail outlets and services across the country, whilst utilsing affordable technology to improve its business value chain. Enyo Olowo-Eko is designed to cater for over 4,000 customers per day.

The station is equipped with both primary and secondary sources of electricity, adequate fire-fighting as stipulated by the regulators, conveniences for public use and other amenities.

Enyo Retail’s signature vehicle diagnostics and maintenance service known as Vehicon is also available at

this fuel station with stateof-the-art equipment to carry out varying arrays of car maintenance services for vehicles of almost all ages and types. In addition to this, customers will also benefit from the availability of Enyo Retail’s brand of cooking gas known as Superior Liquified Gas “SL-GAS” available in 3 different sizes to suit the demands of the different categories of customers that visit the station.

“We are committed to being part of the positive stories being told about the Nigerian fuel distribution sector, we believe in the industry, in this country and we commend all stakeholders including the government for their efforts over the last few years to keep fuel supply levels as stable as they have been,” Abayomi Awobokun, CEO of Enyo Retail and Supply, stated, adding that the new station is inspired by the company’s commitment to providing efficient fuelling solutions for customers while integrating first class customer service.

Email: energyreport@businessdayonline.com, Tel: +234-8023020011; +234-7037817378

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Thursday 28 March 2019

Energy Report

NERC insists on ending estimated bill, dismisses Disco’s claims Olusola Bello

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he Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has again emphasised that it was desirous of ending estimated billings by the Discos, using the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) scheme, and urged the Discos to support the target.

The commission made this known while responding to the claims by the electricity distribution companies’ (Discos) that they were no longer responsible for providing meters to consumers under their networks, stating clearly that they had not been absolved of such responsibility.

NERC accused the Discos of failing to meet up with July 2018 timeline it approved for them to engage

third-party meter vendors under the new Meter Asset Providers (MAP) scheme, adding that it was reviewing such slippages with a view to taking enforcement actions against them.

According to a statement signed by Usman Arabi NERC’s general manager, Public Affairs, It said it was reviewing the MAP procurement report and would soon announce preferred bidders to participate in the scheme.

“The obligation to ensure that all electricity consumers are metered remains with the electricity distribution companies (Discos) under Meter Asset Provider (MAP) Regulations 2018.

This is consistent with their respective licensing terms and conditions and Section 4 (1) of the said regulations that provides that, inter alia, “Distribution licensee is responsible for the achieve-

ment of metering targets as specified by the commission from time to time.

“Furthermore, Section 4 (3) of the MAP Regulation requires that all distribution licensees shall engage the

services of a Meter Asset Provider(s) towards meeting the metering targets as specified by the commission and in accordance with the provisions of the MAP Regulations 2018. The

Discos were expected to engage MAP(s) within 120 days of coming into effect of the regulations,” said NERC in the statement.

It added: “The deadline was fixed for July 31, 2018 but

was extended to November 30, 2018 to engender more competition between potential MAPs thus providing better value for consumers.

“Several of the Discos experienced slippage in the timeline stipulated by the commission and this infraction is being handled in line with the enforcement regulations of the commission.”

The commission said it is currently reviewing the MAP procurement reports and successful Meter Asset Providers shall be announced after a meeting with the Discos and preferred bidders scheduled to hold next week.

“The commission wishes to reaffirm its commitment to expedite a closure of the current metering gap thus limiting the practice of estimated billing to very exceptional cases in line with the provisions of the MAP regulations,” it explained.

NNPC reiterates commitment to gas development

Ikeja Electric sets up panel to tackle ‘crazy’ bill-related issues

… Charges NCDMB to raise Nigerian Content

orried by the outcries over the ‘crazy’ bills it issues to its customers every month, Ikeja Electric has set up a “Bill Dispute Resolution Panel” (BDRP) across its Undertaking offices to help expedite cases of disputed bills.

The panel, which comprises selected staff with expertise in the business operations and customer services, will meet with customers once in every month across its six Business Units to resolve persistent complaints arising from estimated billing.

The panel will be empowered to resolve these cases expeditiously relying on company processes and regulatory requirements.

Felix Ofulue, the com-

T

he Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, has expressed the corporation’s commitment to support any project that would encourage production and utilization of natural gas for the benefit of the nation.

Disclosing this recently at the signing ceremony of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) Train 7, Nigerian Content Plan, in Abuja, Maikanti Baru, who was represented at the occasion by Chief Operating Officer (COO), Gas and Power, Engr. Saidu Mohammed, said the signing ceremony was important as one of the major processes to bring the Train 7 project on board.

He noted that the project had a lot of potentials that would benefit the nation, but called on the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to ensure that Train 8 and any other LNG projects in the future should be designed to

accommodate more local content in the fabrication of facilities.

Commenting on the corporation’s interest in the signing agreement, he said that the Train 7 project was in line with NNPC’s vision of prioritizing the use of natural gas to the greater benefit of Nigerians.

“Apart from being 49 per cent share holder in NLNG, we are more interested because it will enhance the development of gas in the country. Bringing the gas to this Train 7 would involve a robust gathering system that will connect trunk lines from offshore to the hinterland, looking beyond NLNG to domestic market, which will open up a flexible system that allows us to swing gas either way, depending on need.

This implies that if NLNG is not running, the gas meant for it can be sent to the local market, and when the local market has difficulty in getting the gas consumed, same can be sent back to NLNG. Baru stated that NNPC’s

49 per cent share in the NLNG meant more dividends to the corporation, even as he advised NCDB to make room for more Nigerian Content in subsequent LNG projects The NNPC boss called on other partners in the project to obey the rules of engagement.

“My fellow shareholders, please let us continue to provide the necessary support that NLNG as a company requires and always remain compliant with what we are signing today”.

Earlier in his address, Tony Attah, NLNG Managing Director/CEO, expressed gratitude to the management of the NNPC for its roles in seeing the project to this critical stage.

Speaking in the same vein, Simi Wabote, NCDMB Executive Secretary, said that NNPC’s presence at the signing ceremony was an indication of the corporation’s commitment to ensuring that the Train 7 project gets to Final Investment Destination (FID) this year as projected.

BEDC connects Omozogie - Uteh community to national grid

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EDC Electricity Plc (BEDC) has connected Omozogie in Uteh Community, Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State to the national grid after years of being without electricity supply.

Addressing a town hall meeting, the Head, Community Relations for BEDC, Virginia Osineme, said: “The protection of the substation is everybody’s business. If there is no light, you know who to meet and talk to. If you see anybody in the substation that is not authorised by BEDC and the electricity committee, he or

she is a vandal and should be apprehended.”

Osineme also seized the opportunity to educate the people of Uteh Omozogie community on basic safety tips on the need for proper earthing of their premises, the importance of engaging licensed electricians to wire their houses and the need to avoid substandard electrical accessories.

She pleaded with the community leaders to work with BEDC to educate the children, youths and their wives on the importance of electricity safety and also help disseminate the safety tips.

Ekaete Ntukidem, Ikpoba Hill Business Manager, commended the community members for their patience throughout the process of connecting them to the national grid.

According to the Business Manager, meters had been properly installed and were functional to provide the customers with fair and transparent billing. “Please, ensure no new wire is connected illegally to the network, we will know because of the check meter attached to the transformer, vend as at when due and don’t allow electricians to tamper with the transformer,” she said.

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pany’s Head of Corporate Communications, said the idea of setting up the Dispute Resolution Panel is to quickly and amicably resolve lingering service issues raised by customers.

He admitted that “in a service industry like the power sector, disputes occurring as a result of dissatisfaction from a customer are inevitable,” but noted that if such disputes are inadequately managed, they could be bad for business “and even go as far as negatively impacting on the customer’s loyalty and business brand respectively. So, we understand that fact and we are doing the best within our control to manage our customer’s expectations.”

“In line with our business objectives, we seek to be the provider of choice. Our

customers need to be satisfied for us to be in business,” he noted. He added that the BDRP also enables customers plan their visits according to their itinerary since the panel sits for resolution once every month. This initiative is in addition to the daily attendance to customer complaints through the Customer Service channels and the IE offices across the network, he said.

He also pointed out that in addition to the newly introduced initiative, the company also recently launched the E-billing of Maximum Demand (MD)customers, a paperless and seamless billing technology aimed at providing MD customers an easier option of receiving their monthly bills via sms, email and subsequently the use of USSD and IE Website”.

Nation wide Power outage imminent as TCN losses six critical power transmission towers

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he country may experience serious power outage as the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has had six of its power transmission towers along the Delta-Benin and Delta – Sapele - Benin 330kV transmission line routes vandalized and some of their tower members removed.

This, coupled with the heavy rainfall of March 17th caused the collapse of tower No 61 alone.

In a statement signed by the General Manager, (Public Affairs) Ndidi Mbah, The TCN said it noted that as soon as the transmission line tripped, a lines’ patrol team was dispatched to investigate the cause and investigations revealed that tower

No 61 had collapsed and aluminum conductors from the tower were on the ground.

The patrol team also discovered that tower members of five other towers including the tower directly opposite tower 61on the Ughelli – Benin line route were missing.

The Delta-Benin and Delta-Sapele-Benin 330kV transmission lines evacuate power from Transcorp Power Limited,Ughelli into the national grid. With the collapse of tower No 61 on Delta-Benin line however, TCN is now evacuating the power through Delta – SapeleBenin 330kV transmission line alone. Although the collapsed tower has not affected power evacuation, transmission lines redundancy is effected until

the second line is restored.

TCN has been facing the challenge of repeated attacks by vandals on this axis since December 2018. The company said it had also made formal reports to security operatives and to traditional rulers in the area, including the King of Okpeland and the Ovie of Oghara, who have equally held meetings with their subjects to address the menace but to no avail.

Meanwhile, the company has already mobilized its quick response engineering team to the site of the incident and they have cataloged requirementsthat would enable them commence repair works on the affected towers.

Repair works,TCN said would becompleted in four weeks.

Thursday 28 March 2019

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Luxury

Malls

BUSINESS DAY

Companies

Deals

29

Spending Trends

Malls

Tenants desert Apapa Mall as decrepit infrastructure, unstable macroeconomic conditions bite BALA AUGIE

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mbattled retailers at the Apapa shopping mall have refused to open their stores while tenants are shrinking their foot sprints more quietly by choosing not to renew the expiring lease.

A total of 22 out of the 36 outlets of the two storey malls are empty, and perhaps more worrisome is that only one tenant- Spectranet- occupies a tranquil and deserted top floor that house 15 shops, while 7 have no occupants downstairs.

Ruff N Tumble- baby cloth merchant-, Cash and Carry-a luxury, clothes, and accessory firm- existed the building two years ago while Ren Money- a loan and investment firms- left last year.

Other retailers that had exited Apapa malls are Samsung/Sports, Bheergz Café, Sunta- a first-class clothing firm- and Homely.

Temitope Johnson, 34, a grocery seller said the reasons retailers and ten-

ants are leaving in droves is because of the bad roads in Apapa that makes it difficult for businesses to thrive.

The menacing gridlock at the Port city has resulted in many companies shutting down while residential apartments have been deserted by wealthy owners who have migrated to other parts of the city. This means that the city is losing higher earned spenders.

In 2018, companies operating under the Dangote Group may have lost over N15 billion as profit foregone, to the Apapa gridlock.

Analysts say seller at malls are beset by low consumer purchasing power and unstable macroeconomic conditions as Nigerians are getting poor in every six minutes.

According to a recent World Bank data, 92.10 percent of Nigerians live at below $5.50 a day. The reality is that most people cannot afford to buy a packet of Spaghetti or proteins.

Nigeria with a population of 180 million people has 87 million people, nearly half its population, in extreme poverty; as

high inflation environment continues to erode discretionary income.

The unemployment rate is at an all-time high of 23.80 percent as at the third quarter of 2018, while a lot of high ends earners are leaving the country in droves to seek greener pastures in Abroad, leaving the low-end earners who go to malls and buy basic food items. A decade ago, investors were attracted to the Nigerian

retail market because of the country’s rising middle class and young population that craved for consumption.

The envisaged economic boom resulted in the construction of the first malls in 2004.

Between 2009 and 2015, Nigeria’s retail industry grew rapidly at 40% per year. In that period, a total of 199,600 square meters was added to Nigeria’s retail space—more than

64% of the current total formal retail space. Even though foreign investors backed the first few major mall projects in Nigeria, the boom between 2009 and 2015 was largely powered by local capital, Estate Intel’s report shows. Indigenous investors, including Persianas Investment and UACN Property Development Company (UPDC), have now developed 63% of Nigeria’s existing modern

centers.

However, the precipitous drop in the drop crude price in mid-2014 that tipped the country in its first recession in 25 years left Nigeria’s biggest malls sitting half empty as they were unable to access dollars to import goods.

While the adoption of a new foreign exchange policy by the central bank and a rebound in crude price and production helped the country exist a recession in the third quarter of 2017, the economic expansion is lower than a decade ago.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded to 2.38 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, but the growth rate of the economy at 7.60 percent.

Nigeria’s inflation rate dropped to 11.31% in February 2019 from 11.37% recorded in January 2019, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

“If the government can speed up road construction in Apapa, commercial activities will pick up and more shoppers will patronize the malls,”said Temitope Johnson.

Consumer Spending

Small manufacturers capitalize on Value for Money opportunities to increase market share OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

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mall manufacturers in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) subsector are taking advantage of the high level of fragmentation as they capitalize on Value for Money Opportunities (VFM) to increase their share of the Nigerian market.

According to a recent Data by Diageo, one of the largest brewers in the world, the top 5 players in the manufacturing industry that control 22.30 percent of the market saw market share fall by 3.50 percent.

On the other hand, firms that rank between 6 and 10 that control 5.50 percent of the market saw share increase by 8.10 percent

while those firms that fall within the range of 31-100 saw market share increase by 6.30 percent. Speaking at the monthly Lagos Business School Breakfast Club, Managing Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Baker Magunda said the Nigerian consumer industry is highly fragmented with small and local manufacturers’ leveraging on value for money opportunities in the market segments. This has seen local and smaller manufacturers capture part of the market segment which was tilled now dominated by the big players.

According to Magunda, business priorities are changing because of local manufacturer influence in the highly competitive consumer market noting that manufacturers are now

adapting to consumer’s needs with innovation, availability and right pricing.

The concept of value for money implies consumers are not willing to pay more

for a good or service than its quality or availability.

He further noted that consumers are now redefining “value” in the market space using the “3S” which trans-

lates to Switch (to a more affordable brand), Swap (choice of different package alternatives and packaging) and Squeeze (rationalize quantity and frequency of

consumption).

Magunda, however, noted that despite the seemingly competitive consumer market space, companies with flexible and smart options are likely to win the heart of consumers in 2019.

A survey by BusinessDay shows that due to the rapidly worsening economic fortunes most households in the country have been forced to dump costly, premium brands in the country to cheaper and newer brands. The reduced purchasing power among consumers which is further pressurized by rising unemployment has left most household with no choice than cut spending. In response to this, manufacturers are also re-strategizing by churning out smaller sachet packaging alternatives.

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Thursday 28 March 2019

DEALS

Uber expands operation, acquires Careem, ahead of planned IPO OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

I

n its bid to expand its operations, Uber has announced the acquisition of Careem, a major player in the ride-hailing space across the Middle East, for $3.1 billion in cash and convertible notes. According to Uber, it would pay $1.4 billion in cash and $1.7 billion in convertible notes in a deal that gives it full ownership of Careem.

This is coming ahead of its IPO scheduled for April this year. Uber, the car-hailing company that was recently valued at $76 billion in the private market, is seeking a valuation as high as $120 billion, although some analysts have pegged its value closer to $100 billion based on selected financial figures it has disclosed.

The new acquisition is coming days after rival, Tax-

ify, announced a changed in name to Bolt and also disclosed plans to roll out its new brand focused on electric vehicles. Bolt raised money in May 2018 when it closed a $175 million round at a $1billion valuation.

It has expanded in recent times and currently has 25 million users in 30 countries compared to 10 million users in 25 countries a few years ago.

Globally, the number of ride-hailing platforms is on the increase and Nigeria is not an exception. In a city like Lagos, gone are the days when the only option for public transportation was either hopping on rusty and dirty Danfo buses or hailing taxis from the roadsides.

Interestingly, things have changed with the arrival of global ride-hailing companies such as Uber, Taxify (now Bolt), and many more into the country.

The first of these ridesharing platforms, Uber,

made its entry into the Nigerian market in July 2014.

Since its arrival, when it comes to getting comfortable rides across the city of Lagos, Uber was the go-to

platform.

Since then, several ridesharing platforms have made their way into the country these include: Oga Taxi, GoMyWay, Alakowe,

Smart Cab, PamDrive, Jekalo, and Ridebliss) sadly, few have shut down operations majorly due to faulty business models.

Since its arrival in 2016,

Estonian-founded, Taxify seems to be the only real competitor able to challenge the dominance of Uber in the e-taxi sector of the country.

CONSUMER SPENDING

Health, wellness trend threatens growth of carbonated drinks BUNMI BAILEY

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roducers of carbonated drinks may be challenged by the emerging health and wellness trend of consumers as they may shift to low sugar juice as an apparent healthier alternative, according to a report by Euromonitor International.

Euromonitor International is the world’s leading independent provider of global strategic intelligence on industries, countries, and consumers.

The report also stated that juice manufacturers are set to derive further benefit from this trend over the forecast period and this development is supported by growing concerns over the health risks associated with high sugar consumption.

Nigeria has various kinds

of fruits such as oranges, guava, pineapples, avocado, pears, and pawpaw among

others which could easily be juiced.

Each year, millions of

tonnes of these fruits are harvested in Nigeria but much of the harvest goes

Analyst: Bunmi Bailey Graphics: Fifen Eyemisanre Famous

down the drain as wastages, due to poor market access and poor storage facilities, among others.

Most of the fruits in the country are farmed in the middle belt region, with traders buying and conveying them across the country, especially to areas with of high demand.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in 2016 moved against importers and retailers of fruit juices in what the agency called a “mop-up” exercise of foreign banned juices in the country.

“There is an import prohibition list that bans the importation of fruit juices in the retail pack into the country and Kaduna State is inclusive,” NAFDAC said.

Muyiwa Kayode, a Lagos state based brand expert said that there are better,

organic and fresher ingredients from the farm in Nigeria than the ones in the U.S or Europe.

This year, there is likely going to be a gradual shift from the use of imported juice concentrates to local fruit juices. This move is being driven by growing government pressure on fruit juice manufacturers to support local fruit farmers.

In 2002, the Federal Government banned the importation of fruit juices into the country, which gave farmers hope for a prosperous time in the farming and marketing of fruits in the country.

“We import lots of fruits f ro m B e n i n R e p u b l i c , Burkina Faso, Ghana, and a few other West African countries when fruits are out of season in Nigeria,” said AfricaFarmer Mogaji, chief executive officer, X-ray Farms Consulting Limited.

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31

BUSINESSTRAVEL We employ Nigerian pilots but not at the expense of safety - Air Peace CEO Allen Onyema is the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Nigeria’s largest domestic airline. In this interview with IFEOMA OKEKE, he speaks on the airline’s plans to do international operations next month and steps it has taken to actualise this plan.

How do you feel about the entry of the Boeing 777 into Nigeria and how do you intend to deploy this aircraft to get maximum result? feel good and I am thankful to God almighty that this is the third Boeing 777 we are bringing in out of the four we acquired. We are going to start international operations soon, starting with Dubai and Sharjah, then we will face Johannesburg and India, then China, followed by the United Kingdom and Houston. Air Peace is not packing aircraft for fun. We brought in these aircraft to use them and we are ready to use them. We want to make every Nigerian proud. The government and people of Nigeria have been complaining that there have never been any successful Nigerian airlines and this is one airline out of Africa that is trying to do something different. All we need is the support of government and the people of Nigeria.

How many employment opportunities will you create with your new B777 aircraft?

I set up Air Peace in order to create jobs in a country with so much population. This aircraft will create 1,500 jobs and I want people to look at the potentials and number of families that feeds from this airline. If I am going to employ 1,500 because of the entrance of this aircraft it means 1,500 multiplied by 12 people who are nuclear and extended families financially dependent on those who will directly and indirectly benefit from this new aircraft. People should look at the thousands of lives the airline is feeding in this country.

They should look at the thousands of lives I have taken away from the streets. They should not look at the man behind the airline but the legacies I am leaving behind. If Air Peace shuts down tomorrow, it doesn’t affect me. They should look at the thousands of people the airline is feeding. The airline is respected worldwide but I am not receiving the same kind of acknowledgement in my country and it is so hurtful. I want to dwell on the positives. In Air Peace, we have over 3,000 workers and we have created about 9,000 ancillary jobs outside Air Peace in less than four years of our operations. We deserve to be appreci-

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Allen Onyema

ated and supported.

What plans does Air Peace have to sustain these prospective routes?

I am a lawyer by profession and a businessman. I did not come here to make money but to give back to society and this is evident in how we are running the airline.

Air Peace has integrity and all the banks want to work with us because of this. Banks outside Nigeria see Air Peace as an emerging force in Africa. The only support we lack is within. We have our business plan and blue print and we will follow it to the end. When we started, we told ourselves that in our fourth year, we will go international. We have been buying airplanes. Some airlines that have gone international used only one aircraft and when the aircraft develops fault, they disappoint the passengers.

We have four new planes for our international routes already.

So, at any point in time, we have a back-up. Most Nigerian airlines do point to point operations. What Air Peace has done is to sign interline agreements with airlines outside the country, so that we can sell tickets for people going to about 23 cities in India and all Gulf regions. Some other airlines failed because they lack integrity. A lot of Nigerians borrow money without any intent to pay back, so how will

they succeed? Whatever we make is used to develop Air Peace and that is why we see the tremendous growth from seven airplanes four years ago to about 25 planes in operation and 20 other planes on order, bringing it to almost 50 planes in the next two years.

How do you maintain these new aircraft you bring in?

Right from day one, I didn’t want to cut corners and that was why I didn’t want to employ individual engineers to run Air Peace. I decided to outsource our maintenance. Our Boeing 737s are being maintained by a British company. Our maintenance is top-notch and zero tolerance to

“

unsafe practices. The Boeing 777s are being maintained by Israel Aerospace Industries of Israel, one of the biggest and best maintenance organisations in the world.

They are always here maintaining our Boeing 777. We are in good hands. We always go for the best.

We spend a lot of money to do this because it gives us confidence. We have the desire to make Nigerians feel safe when they are flying us.

What is your response to the recent controversies over the Boeing 737 Max aircraft and reactions of Nigerians to the aircraft orders you made last year?

I want Nigeria to give us a chance. It hurts when Ethiopia had the unfortunate incident that happened and it is Air Peace that is suffering the brunt here in Nigeria.

Another airline had an incident outside Nigeria, Nigerians started attacking Air Peace as if it was Air Peace that was involved. This is because we ordered ten brand new Max 737 last year. As at the time we ordered these planes, there was no accident.

When we ordered the plane, it was the pride of the aviation world because every airline wanted to own a 737. When we made this order, no one praised us for making that bold step. At that time, Nigerians were saying Nigerian airlines are using old planes but we went ahead to order brand new planes. Unfortunately, Ethiopian Airline had an incident with that plane; they resurrected from their slumber and started attacking Air Peace. These planes are not even coming to Nigeria till 2023 but some people posted that Air Peace had about four flying which is a lie. When the Federal Govern-

I believe in local content but don’t deceive yourself, when you talk about safety, we won’t compromise on this. We don’t have enough captains for the Boeing 737s. Having 1,000 pilots who just passed out of school is not enough to qualify us as having enough pilots in Nigeria

ment came out to say no Nigerian airline has the plane for now, they changed and started accusing Air Peace of daring the world by insisting on bringing in the new aircraft. There are people out there trying to bring us down but one message I have for them is that it is only a fruitful tree that people throw stones at. It energises me and tells me that we in Air Peace are doing something right.

In terms of local content, do you have plans on training Nigerian pilots to become type-rated on these new aircraft?

I believe in local content but don’t deceive yourself, when you talk about safety, we won’t compromise on this. We don’t have enough captains for the Boeing 737s. Having 1,000 pilots who just passed out of school is not enough to qualify us as having enough pilots in Nigeria.

The question is can they go into a commercial aircraft and lift it up?

We tried some of them and they couldn’t even move the plane. We should balance the act.

Air Peace is for local content but it is a gradual thing. We must have expatriates who will help us bring up our own. In aviation, anywhere you go, when it comes to cockpit crew, they are not bent on nationalism. As long as you can fly the aircraft well, any country can employ you. We have trained over 100 pilots, some of them passed and we took them. I have sent some local pilots to get trained on Boeing 777 and about six of them will be leaving next week. They have been flying for over 30years and will be type-rated on Boeing 777. It is not just about entering the planes and flying but when there is emergency, what will they do? That is the difference between a new pilot and an experienced pilot. I have employed a lot of pilots. For my ERJ aircraft, I have employed more than I needed. I could not sack them. I don’t want anyone to loss his or her job. I got more second officers than we needed. When they came, we wanted to reduce the numbers.

I looked at their faces and some were crying. The parents of some of them sold their lands to send them to school. So, I had to take them, that is the spirit in Air Peace. I just pray to God to give me money to get more ERJ aircraft. So, we support local content but not at the expense of the lives of the flying public.

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INTERVIEW Patients can now consult top Indian doctors via SeekMed App before traveling - Awasthi Alok Awasthi is the founder of SeekMed that developed an App that connects Nigerians with top Indian doctors concerning a medical condition before making a major travel decision. In this interview with Daniel Obi, he speaks about the App, a tele-medicine platform that allows patients from anywhere in the world to seek expert medical advice from India’s award-winning and top doctors via video consultation. Awasthi further talks how the App can enable patients anywhere in the world to take the most appropriate decision about their medical conditions before traveling and at the same time provide a fair idea of cost. Excerpts: What is SeekMed App all about? t’s a tele-medicine platform that allows patients from anywhere in the world to seek expert medical advice from India’s award winning and top doctors via video consultation.

With this app, we’re providing a reliable platform for patients and doctors to connect, to discuss their medical conditions, surgery options, about new or existing treatments with India’s best doctors and leaders in their fields. With SeekMed app, we’re providing a platform that patients can trust to seek expert, credible and ethical medical opinion.

When was the App developed and what was the motivation behind it?

The tele-medicine version was launched in Oct’2018. Motivation really came from a personal experience involving my son. When he was six months old, he was diagnosed with a condition called Craniosynostosis. Doctor advised us to go for surgery but we’re not sure.

We’re looking for a second opinion but couldn’t get hold of the right doctor. At the end, everything went well but that triggered a thought to create something that gives people a choice and allow them to take control of their medical decisions.

How long did you take you to develop the App? It took us almost two years to build and launch the app after carefully analysing opportunities to serve patients, performing stakeholder analysis, building a relationship with our medical advisor, identifying teams and partners and going through different stages of product development.

Is the App an indigenous thinking or was it developed in partnership with any foreign organisation?

No foreign organisation was involved in any partnership. It was essentially an indigenous thinking where original idea got refined based on valuable and timely feedback from thought leaders and advisors. Technology is the key enabler here and the product was designed with users in mind. We wanted to create an app that even our parents could easily use and that is reflected in our simple to use interface and navigation.

Kindly take us through the usage of the App and the cost of usage?

There’s no cost to install the app from Google Play Store. There’s absolutely no cost to register and

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Alok Awasthi

search doctor profiles on the app.

Getting video consultation involves few simple steps after the patient has successfully registered on the app. Patient searches for the doctor and sends appointment request → Doctor creates an appointment → Patient makes online payment using credit/debit card prior to appointment → Doctor initiates a video consultation → Doctor submits an online report. If for some reason, the doctor is not available for consultation, patients can ask for a refund. As part of the consultation, the doctor may ask the patient to get an X-ray, CT/MRI scan or blood work done and upload the digital file on the app. Patients can get these tests done locally. Doctor’s fee is typically in the range of $30 per consultation; however this has been reduced to $14 per consultation during the promo period that’s ending in April 5th 2019.

It is believed that the App will save Nigerians huge amounts of money, time and inconvenience before they embark on a medical trip amid lots of uncertainties in mind. How much do you estimate it will save Nigerians annually?

The saving depends upon a variety of factors, including travel costs, nature of disease, time and efforts, knowledge about the place of travel,

etc. A simple example is, if a patient needs to go for a cardiac surgery he can connect to multiple doctors on our platform for a fraction of the cost and understand the options available to the patient and cost involved in advance of travel planning. This exercise can enable patients to take the most appropriate decision about their medical conditions and at the same time provide a fair idea of costs. Patient can compare costs, look for doctors’ profiles and take the best decision.

Moreover, there is no mediator between doctor and patient (that is, agent), hence a significant amount

“

of commission is already saved. We do not charge anything for patients except doctors’ consultation fees.

Additionally, SeekMed platform can be very useful to understand whether surgery is really needed for the conditions or there are other alternatives available which are more reliable and cost effective. Further, once a patient returns after surgery or treatment, they can simply connect to their doctor using this app for follow-up and that saves a very significant cost. We understand that using our platform can result in significant cost saving and patients will be confident of their decision before making the trip.

How secure is the App against fraudulent people, especially from India who may pose as doctors?

Our process to onboard doctors is very rigorous. We add doctors only based on recommendation by our panel. The panel looks after doctors’ detailed profiles, background and affiliations through industry sources. Quality of doctors is our key value proposition. We’re committed to maintaining this focus by engaging a panel of doctors that’d take decision on whether to onboard a doctor to the platform.

Our doctors come from some of the most prestigious hospitals in India, such as AIIMS, Medanta, PSRI, Max, Sir Ganga Ram, Fortis, and others. Because of this commitment to quality, renowned doctors (some have served Presidents & Prime Ministers of India) have agreed to join our platform and we’re very proud of this association. Moreover, all our doctors are affiliated with most prestigious institutions across the world and their profiles can be searched on Google before patients take any decision.

How does the App protect people’s privacy on medical issues?

This exercise can enable patient to take the most appropriate decision about their medical condition and at the same time provide a fair idea of cost. Patient can compare cost, look for doctors profile and take the best decision

We take data privacy very seriously. Our technology provides end-to-end encryption of data and we’re HIPAA (US Healthcare Data Privacy Law)-compliant.

None of our data is shared with any third party. Doctor-Patient interactions, doctors’ reports, scans, test results, etc. are stored on secure AWS cloud and can be accessed by the user from anywhere in the world.

About how much do you think Nigerians spend on medical trip to India annually?

From one estimate, nearly 20,000 Nigerians travelled to India in 2018 for various medical procedures and treatments. Cost depends on multiple factors such as hospital, location, nature of medical procedure or treatment but average cost can easily be several thousand dollars.

How ready are the Indian doctors to collaborate with Nigerian medical seekers through this App? Doctors joining our platform have agreed to serve patients through our app. The patient could be in India, Nigeria or any other part of the world. In fact, there’s a large Indian diaspora that lives outside India, who could benefit from this. A doctor will create appointments subject to his/her availability.

Could you tell us more about the feedback from customers who have used the App? Feedback from our users (both doctors and patients) has been positive and encouraging. I’d like to share a testimonial from one of our patients in India - “We live on the outskirts of Jhansi. Thanks to SeekMed that my wife was able to consult with one of the country’s best Gastroenterologists from the comfort of our home and at a fraction of cost.”

What other value/ services does the App provide to its users apart from connecting them to Indian doctors?

In addition to providing access to quality doctors, SeekMed app really helps patients save a lot of time and money. Many times, the patient is not in a position to travel long distances or sit for long hours in the waiting room to see a good doctor. In another case, patient can get a second opinion and potentially avoid or postpone an expensive surgery. A patient can now independently consult with the trusted doctor from the comfort of his or her home.

Thursday 28 March 2019

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BUSINESS DAY

33

FEATURES Ajah-Ilaje borehole inauguration: How Airtel is deepening its CSR penetration across Nigeria Israel Odubola

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efore the popularisation of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the world today, society majorly benefited from established corporations through philanthropy. Famous economist Howard Bowen is often regarded as the father of CSR as he proliferated the concept of responsibility of corporations towards society in his book ‘Social Responsibilities of the Businessman.’

In the book, Howard encouraged organisations to adopt the ethical framework of social responsibility which involves responsiveness to societal stakeholders. CSR today has become incredibly consequential to the very existence and success of organisations across the world.

Often, many people innately perceive the concept of CSR as a means of subterfuge by established organisations to create a positive perception for their brands in the minds of the public. However, well-meaning organisations that view CSR as an investment and a major part of their operations go beyond brand perception to make it a genuine endeavour for impact on people, bringing about development on a general scale.

With an abundance of natural resources in Nigeria, Corporate Social Responsibility in the country started with the need for multinational corporations to reduce the impacts of their extraction activities in the local communities where they operated. In recent times, more organisations engage in CSR activities but only a few use it as a formidable tool to improve society.

One of such organizations that hold CSR as an obligation that should be pursued in a sustainable manner is Airtel Nigeria. The telecommunication giant is currently creating a paradigm shift in the world of CSR as we know it in Nigeria with the heightened commitment to bettering the lives of Nigerians, through its ‘Touching Lives Initiative.’

Established in 2014, the drive was birthed as a result of Airtel’s dedication to bringing restitution to Nigeria by providing succour to impoverished communities and rendering a helping hand to the underprivileged.

Hence, a national TV show tagged ‘Airtel Touching Lives,’ which showcases the CSR activities of the company as it impacts various individuals and communities across Nigeria was introduced.

So far, over 30, 000 individuals and communities have benefited from the continuous efforts of Airtel

Nigeria. One of such communities is Ajah-Ilaje, in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government of Lagos State.

Ajah-Ilaje had a heartrending story that started as far back as three decades ago. Life was anything but splendid in the community, owing to their embittering living conditions. With a population of about 10,000 people, Ajah-Ilaje had no access to safe and clean water, a situation that contributed to the low quality of life of the inhabitants. A majority of the community members, young and old, would often travel incredibly long distances to find drinking water, most of the time to no avail.

Left with no alternative, many had to settle for polluted water to survive, resulting in disease outbreaks, malnutrition of inhabitants and even deaths. The situation of the community also directly affected the education of the kids, especially the girl-child, whose poor health hindered attendance in school. UNICEF has identified lack of access to water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) among poorer children contributes to absenteeism in school and malnutrition in Nigeria, with many experiencing frequent episodes of WASH related ailments.

UNICEF also states that the use of contaminated drinking water results in increased vulnerability to a surfeit of water-borne diseases, including cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, salmonella, among others, which leads to the deaths of over 70,000 children under the age of five every year in Nigeria.

Records also have it that only 26.5 percent of the Nigerian population use improved drinking water sources and sanitation facilities, which means over 70 million Nigerians are exposed to non-potable water daily.

In 2018, Airtel intervened in the precarious situation in AjahIlaje community with the provision of an ultra-modern industrial borehole, giving the people access to hygienic drinking water for the first time in decades.

At the inauguration of the borehole, community members came out in large numbers to show immense gratitude for the gesture from Airtel, with the youths, women and children performing songs and dancing full-heartedly.

Speaking at the event, Olufunmi Olatunji, chairman, Eti- Osa East Local Council Development Area (LCDA), expressed gratitude on behalf of the government and the people to the telco, stating: “We deeply appreciate Airtel’s gesture in choosing to bring water to the people of Ajah-Ilaje in demonstration of your responsiveness to the yearnings of Nigerians.

“While urging other corporate

organizations to emulate this people-oriented undertaking, I would like to encourage Airtel to continue to partner with the Government as both the public and private sectors join hands to develop our communities” In his address at the occasion, Sunday Ogunkeyi, the Baale of the Ilaje-Ajah Community, also lauded Airtel for its contribution to the community. The Baale commented: “I am really delighted to see this day with the people of the Ajah-Ilaje community. We thank Airtel for this life-saving gift. I urge the company to continue to do more for the Ilaje community and I pray for the continued progress of Airtel and the staff.”

Responding on behalf of Airtel, Emeka Oparah, the company’s Corporate Communications Director, thanked the community people for receiving Airtel’s gesture with joy and appreciation. He urged them to make adequate use of the borehole and take utmost responsibility in its conservation for sustainability and enhanced reach to wider beneficiaries.

Today, the living standard of the Ajah-Ilaje people has significantly improved as they now have unfettered access to safe water.

The overall health condition of the people has also improved and the community children can now attend school without hindrance.

One of the integral purposes of

Airtel’s ‘Touching Lives’ initiative is to imbue Nigerians with the act of giving through the organisation’s Corporate Social Responsibility and acts of selflessness.

Airtel is undoubtedly impacting lives at an exemplary rate with sustainable CSR activities. The company has since become an emblem for positivity and development in Nigeria – a feat many other organizations in the country should emulate.

Segun Ogunsanya, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, as earlier re-affirmed Airtel’s commitment in the country’s education section.

“As an organization, we are very passionate about education, just as we believe that teachers are the real heroes of every modern society.

“At various stages in our lives, we all have been taught by teachers, and so we have utmost respect and admiration for individuals who have chosen this noble profession of teaching. We celebrate teachers who play a very important role in providing quality education at all levels,” he said.

He also added that “though it is said that a teacher’s reward is in Heaven, we believe that at Airtel we can support teachers in our own way. This we do through the robust implementation of our flagship CSR programme, Adopta-School.”

Airtel’s Adopt-a-School programme provides a solid a platform for the telco to empower underprivileged kids by adopting schools in rural areas on a long-term basis, rehabilitating the said schools, providing amenities and donating uniforms, writing materials and books to the children as well as providing regular, world-class training for the teachers.

Some of Airtel’s adopted schools include Oremeji Primary School, Ajegunle, Lagos State; Iyeru-Okin Primary School, Offa, Kwara State, Presbyterian Primary School, Ediba, Cross River State; St. John’s Primary School, Oke-Agbo, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State and Community Primary School, Amumara, Imo State.

In line with its commitment to developing the Nigerian educational sector, Airtel also announced the commissioning of one of its newly adopted schools, Yahaya Hamza LEA Primary School, Zaria, Kaduna State.

Other notable projects by the company include partnership with She Writes Woman; for the advocacy of mental health, provision of chemotherapy infusion pumps and other cutting-edge medical equipment and materials to St Cyril Cancer Treatment Foundation, construction of a clinic for the people of Agbede Omolaye Estate, and a host of others.

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Thursday 28 March 2019

GARDEN CITY BUSINESS DIGEST Meter Asset Provider scheme to boost revenue and investment in meters, create businesses – Energy strategist IGNATIUS CHUKWU

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wo key strategic policy directives that may make major impact in 2019 in the energy sector could be conclusion of the enumeration scheme and Meter Asset Provider (MAP) all being promoted by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). A power sector analyst and energy communications expert, Chinedu Amah, said in Port Harcourt at the weekend that the two policies look set to lift the power sector to higher levels before end of 2019.

Amah, the lead strategist at Spark Media online group said the two form the fulcrum of a push now about to happen in the energy sector. “In 2019, I think there are two look things to look forward to; the completion of the enumeration scheme by all the Discos and the consequent take-off of MAP (Meter Asset Provider) programme being promoted by NERC.” He said enumeration essentially is designed to ease distribution to identify and label all of its assets. “It is similar to taking stock and at the end of that stocktaking, the next policy to

PORT HARCOURT

BY BOAT

IGNATIUS CHUKWU

W

hen issues affect women, Chioma Sandra Okoro would take a bold, if not aggressive stance, almost to the point of advocacy.

Chioma as many call her is a graduate of International Relations and Strategic Studies from Igbinedion University, Okada. She has spent the last three years in media and communications; from handling social media and publicity for IT companies in Port Harcourt to being a radio personality (Cool FM) in the Garden City. She likes to see herself as simply as a woman in Nigeria trying to make a living.

So, Chioma may not found in the vanguard of fight for business share for women in Nigeria because to her, honestly, women in Nigeria are doing fine economically. She is rather developing a passion about the emancipation of women in the sociocultural sector. Her voice is rising high in the Ph firmament about what should and should not be acceptable as regards women in our society. As for women playing in the economy, she thinks they now can take care of themselves. “More and more women entrepreneurs are springing up everyday, even from before they graduate from the university, because just as often, they see.”

In a chat after the International Women’s Day, Chioma revealed thus:

...More smaller companies will emerge to manager meters and track bypass ...More consumers would be forced to study energy-efficient mechanisms ...FG must make strict laws on energy theft and import of high-energy gadgets follow is metering. The MAP scheme would essentially unlock, in my opinion, investments in meters. We know the power sector has been struggling with metering over the years. It will also improve customer confidence in the process due to metering and collection between the Discos and their customers. So, I think it is a robust year for the power sector, I think it is an interesting time to look forward to.”

Amah went on: “The other thing I think this will provide is access to funding which is essentially what MAP is all about. There is going to be a proliferation of smaller or support businesses that would have to manage these meters. I also see a huge opportunity for higher revenue projection, because with more meters, there will be need for a lot more organizations to engage in monitoring and tracking of issues like bypass. I think there is an expansion going on in the power sector and

Chinedu Amah

it is great. It is going to bring a lot to the table in the power sector.”

On what the consumers should expect in the coming months, the strategist said; “My advice to consumers all over the country is to start to

study how to get better management of electricity consumption. If you are buying new appliances, go out and look for energy-efficient ones because aside the consumers, even for service providers, the more customers who use energy-efficient equipment, the less stress you have on the networks and equipment. So, energy efficiency is good, it is coming to be the new norm. More people have to learn about managing their units efficiently.”

One thing that is key now that the elections are over, he said, and we know a new government is going to be sworn in, is that we need to close the gap in the laws that guide electricity usage, meter by-pass, theft, and vandalism. “The Nigerian laws must define how people who break those laws are treated, what the fines are for different levels of infraction, and how the security agencies can take charge.

This is because, if we have a 10 per cent

bypass ratio, that would be a big blow on the sector, not to talk of the prevalence of bypass that seems to be very huge, sometimes over 25 per cent. So, we need to pass laws that would guide the sector for prosecution of offenders.

It is a very important matter for the sustenance of the sector.”

He went on: “We also need to look at laws that would guide against and enforce our commercial sector especially in importation of products for end-users. We should begin to consider things like how do we regulate the importation of inefficient appliances? Are we going to pass laws against importation of fridges, freezers, television sets, and bulbs that run on more energy? These are areas I thing the stakeholders in the power sector need to look at. They may need to engage the national and state assemblies because it is a huge burden to the country.”

Honestly, women are doing fine in business – Chioma Sandra Okoro “My younger cousins; both girls 21 and 19, are in their second and final years in university and they are business women. They use their savings and pocket money to fuel their businesses.

They do it not because they need to make ends meet; they have a wealthy father, but if you ask them why, they’ll say, in very simple terms, they want financial freedom unlike their mum.

Their mother, my aunty, is a trained nurse who stopped work on her husband’s say so over 10 years now.”

She went on: “My younger cousins absolutely understand the importance of financial independence. More women of all ages, across socioeconomic strata, understand this. So, whether the government enables women or not, women will fight. Women will build.

Women will grow because we see.”

She delved into serious lines to show women are marching on economically, just as other women entrepreneurial coaches have affirmed.

“Quite frankly, a staggering percentage of benefactors of government empowerment initiatives are women.

We could do better but so far, so good.”

What concerns her for now is the social emancipation of women.

“When it comes to financial security for women (and men, too), society is gradually getting sick of women being completely dependent on men. So, economic emancipation is “demanded” in that same breathe. The FG has put several empowerment schemes in place but they still won’t address the domestic violence laws in Nigeria.

It’s just like telling a woman “you want money? Here it is. Now shut up”.

She thinks one major issue the FG should pay huge attention to is the one that has to do with persecution of perpetrators of domestic and sexual

violence which occur in varying degrees. The FG should pay attention to the penal code in northern Nigeria that actually encourages violence against women in the sanctimonious act of “correcting your spouse”.

According to Amnesty Int’l, only 10 percent of rape cases are prosecuted, she says. “Since 2013, the Bill to reduce gender-based violence is still waiting on the Senate table to be passed into law. Only less than a handful of states in Nigeria have domestic violence legislation and of that handful, only Lagos actually enforces the law. In 2010, a traditional ruler in Akure assaulted one of his wives and she died.

After the police “pressed charges”, the case was dismissed in 2012. In 2016, a true friend of mine died after her husband had beaten her silly one Sunday evening. She had a fractured skull and suffered severe internal bleeding. Now, we see the man sitting right there in bars having a swell time, from the look of things. Something the FG should take seriously is the menace of Yaba

Chioma Sandra Okoro

‘‘

More and more women entrepreneurs are springing up everyday, even from before they graduate from the university, because just as often, they see

men groping female passers-by. It confounds me that there are vibrant social media accounts that promote young men having sexual relations with women simply because they can afford it. The argument will be that it is consensual but let that account be by a woman. Or can we explain why sanitary pad is N500 and the condom is N50? I digress.”

To her, the FG is fixated on reviving or diversifying the economy; N-Power here, TraderMoni there; “It will all be for nothing if by 2023, Nigeria still won’t fathom the idea of a female President. It was already for nothing when our Commander-InChief, at a gathering of nations, told the world that his wife was only good for ‘the other room’, meaning sex and chores. “It shows that no matter how much money you have or how much education you’ve got, you’re still not worthy, you’re still not enough, you’re still not fit. “Senator Oluremi Tinubu is a three-time senator of the Federal Republic but all anyone wants to note is how her husband put her there.

Nnenna Elendu Ukeje, a three-time House of Reps member and chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, no one is paying attention to that illustrious career. The first thing you see when you look her up online, just after her wiki-page, is what she’s chosen to do in her private life but not too long ago her male counterparts were accused by the US Ambassador of soliciting prostitutes and attempted rape. Do you think it’s okay that out of 47, only seven women were posted as ambassadors from Nigeria in 2017?

Does that seem fair? What that says is, there aren’t enough women to fill the positions, which I think is a blatant lie.

If it is true, then political acceptance has not been in favour of women.

Thursday 28 March 2019

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BUSINESS DAY

35

Investing in Rivers State What investors gain by sponsoring Rivers guber debates – REIF President • Why debate was considered a huge success despite absence of PDP, APC •Why no kobo is ever accepted from politically exposed sources •How investors press their wishes through government policies

munity an opportunity to pick the best direction for our businesses.

We could also play with different scenarios and alternatives in terms of strategies. It has worked efficiently for us so far. We have been able to plan for scenario A or B and other unforeseen circumstances.

It has also helped to build investor confidence in the community.

When our foreign partners come into the country, they get a bird’s eye view of how to approach the economy. It is not a case of a black box where you don’t know what is inside. That is why we expanded the partnership base this time around to accommodate groups and nonprofit organizations such as SDN, EIE, ActionAid, and stakeholders like MAN, BusinessDay (very important), Silver Bird, Rhythm, CoolWazobiaNigeriaInfo, MAN, etc. They

were specifically selected for one important role or the other. Many did not understand these strategies.

Let’s look at BusinessDay partnership in particular. It is a leading newspaper outfit in Nigeria that is highly rated internationally. So, we picked them because we know that the partnership will boost our backend information which is key to business-related items around the country and beyond. BusinessDay is our partner for this edition and going forward, they would remain our partner. The confidence people seem to repose in the economy seems higher than that reposed in the electoral process. We have been able to reassure our partners about an all-inclusive platform to allow them the interface with the functionaries and candidates through the debate. That process has come to stay. There is huge confidence for the economy of Rivers State.

All funds came from the private sector Lots of funds were put together for this event, and interestingly, not a kobo was linked to politically exposed persons or government. All the funds came from the private sector. That had been our mantra, integrity; the mantra afforded us the opportunity to achieve these great feats as REIF and our development partners.

Many have wondered how we would act if any governor emerges that did not attend the debate, and what would be the position of REIF; whether we would host him, send the report to him, or whatever. We note that this is an interesting poser, but the way the debate is structured is such that we always come up with a communiqué that serves as the summary and blueprint of the expectations of the business community. The process goes beyond that day. The communiqué for 2019 has been done and kept.

would set up a neighbourhood watch scheme from day one.

It will interest you that the scenario changed; the ones in the state now became the new people at the centre and vice versa. So, the people who objected to neighbourhood watch now want it badly while ones that demanded for it do not want it anymore.

So, what has changed? Nothing, it’s only that the mindset of the politicians that has changed. That is why REIF strives to be apolitical. If we do not come together and fix security, regardless of whether it favours you today or not, our economy will keep taking a nosedive. For us as businesses, what comes first is security.

Immediately we fix security, we can cut down on hiring sophisticated gadgets and plough back the fund into job creation through expansion.

That is how important security is. That today is one sore-point of the 2015 communiqué that was not achieved.

To be fair to the governor, despite the scenario, he came round to neighbourhood watch and spent a lot of money to start the scheme. This same process is in Lagos, Kano, and other parts of the north. We do not know

why Rivers State is different. For us in the business sector, security must be fixed and everybody must come together to fix security in the state for our kids, our businesses and our associates.

Courts: The courts were closed and we as REIF said the courts must re-open to curb jungle justice. All the candidates agreed and on day one of his inauguration, Wike went and opened the courts.

I am just showing you the importance of the REIF’s community in the past four years. These are major milestones we were able to achieve with our strategy. We are locked in for another term and the moment anyone emerges, we will move in and see how to achieve these major issues.

It is a conscious process that we have put in place to drive development in Rivers State and Nigeria at large.

PH Airport We also mentioned the need for the FG and state government to form synergy and see that the PH International Airport is attended to.

You will see that today, it is being commissioned.

Ignatius Chukwu

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any in Nigeria especially in Rivers State have wondered why the organizers of the Rivers Debate project vehemently reject funds from most sources, especially from those they term politically exposed persons and political parties and the government. This is at a time most debate organizers go cap in hand begging for funds – both for organizing the debates and for profit.

BusinessDay gathered in Port Harcourt that the Rivers Entrepreneurs and Investors Forum (REIF), a body of close-knit and carefully selected investors with high pedigree in integrity and business status, which has captured the right and authority to bring together fiercely opposed political rivals to a debate every four years, has other things in mind for organizing the Garden City Debate Series for governorship candidates.

President of REIF, Ibifiri Bobmanuel, told BusinessDay in an exclusive interview in Port Harcourt at Polo Club in GRA-2 that top investors used the debate to read the body language of the next administration, create alternative scenarios for business strategy, convey the policies desired by the business community though carefully selected industry-based questions, develop a communiqué that would serve as monitoring template and thus set agenda, and most importantly help create a smooth transition every four years.

Excerpts….

Debate was a huge success Yes, the debate for 2019 has come and gone and we already have our takeaways and justifications. A lot of work went into the exercise though.

That is why we thank you for caring

L-R: Ibifiri Bobmanuel and Gov Nyesom Wike

to look at a post mortem. It has been a process that has been filled with lots of challenges, twists and turns, but we, the organizers led by the REIF team, were very resolute. We believed in the cause as the only way we can bequeath a better legacy to society.

We discover that whenever it comes to change of guards or elections in the state, tension rears its head. Because values have been eroded, a lot of people now see politics as do or die process.

So, with the amount of billions of Naira being pumped by the FG into the elections, we and our development partners at home and abroad decided to prod the political class to think in a particular direction in terms of agenda-setting. We did that very well. This is our second time. It was a huge success, well organized, and well planned, even if some persons

we expected were not able to make it for one legal obstacle or the other.

Eventually, we had 80 per cent of the key players expected. It was a very rewarding success.

What we gain from the debates Many persons ask us and also wonder what REIF gains from the expensive debate project since we strictly stay out of money from the public sector or from politicians. The reaons is simple. It is a conscious thing that we keep trying to do, to say, look, whenever it is time for an election, that is when most of our business slows down because of uncertainties that would becloud the transition period. So, we are trying to help make it as seamless as possible.

This is because through a debate, you give an opportunity to the candidates to come up with economic policy thrusts. This gives the business com-

Gov Wike’s scorecard in REIF’s eyes

O

ne group that may possess the best scorecard to objectively assess the past four years of Governor Nyesom Wike could perhaps be the Rivers Entrepreneurs and Investors Forum (REIF). This may be because they spend huge sums to organize a credible debate without seeking funds from the political groups and the government. They also research for questions from across the industry and business sectors. They submit an agenda based on all this and follow through for the four years. They also do not accept appoints to avoid compromise. At the end, REIF has their assessment of the first governor to come under this process.

The president, Ibifiri Bobmanuel, disclosed the scorecard to BusinessDay in an exclusive interview in Port Harcourt. “I have always said that based on our communiqué we can easily point at what Wike achieved, which is obvious. We do not say them publicly to avoid appearing like campaigning for the current administration but the tenure is completed.”

Roads I said during the debate that our

focus included roads leading to the seaports. We know that the roads to the ports are federal roads but we identified areas to achieve ease of doing business and we pointed at roads to seaports. If anybody remembers, those were the ones he started with. It’s because we put them in top priority.

Markets Most markets in PH were going down to infernos; Mile One, Mile Three, Town Market. Of recent, the Fruit Garden Market went down. At one point, we had to do rallies at the markets to draw attention to their plights. So, we pressed or it in that communiqué We said it helps you to develop your tax net and create new entrants in SMEs and companies. You now begin to factor them into another cadre of your tax base and grow with them. You can see that huge attention was given to new markets. The Mile One Market is now new and beautiful. Even the Fruit Garden Market that burnt recently has received instant attention. It is only Oil Mill Market that has not received attention. It is a big market that attracts people from even outside Nigeria. The Ikokwu Market is one huge potential that needs to be

fixed. Now, I know that the administration has tried twice to build a new market for them but the stakeholders have issues on both sides. There were those masquerading to represent the traders. I think that the matter has been sorted out and they are in the process of starting work. We work closely with these markets.

Trans-Amadi Also in the past communiqué is Trans-Amadi which plays a great role in the growth of Rivers economy.

Before this administration, we discovered that the roadnetwork through that hub was about 40 per cent done.

We pressed for continuity no matter the government that started it. That was accepted and today Trans-Amadi is a sweet business hub in terms of smooth roads.

Security: Neighbourhood Watch It will interest observers to note that during the 2015 debate, the present governor (then minister) was not disposed to having a neighbourhood watch; because he was then holding sway at the centre and anybody in that position would not be disposed to it.

Now, the other party (APC) which was controlling the state said they

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Thursday 28 March 2019

MADE IN ABA

How Aba leather makers thrive in the midst of adversity ODINAKA ANUDU layers in the leather industry are making steady progress in spite of peculiar challenges affecting them.

Challenges of poor infrastructure, near absence of funding, lack of sophisticated machines and poor electricity supply have not deterred them from making substantial contributions to the Aba and the Nigerian economies.

“We are making substantial progress, especially with the support of the state government,” said Chinatu Nwagbara, coordinator of Made-inAba Project, who produced shoes for Olusegun Obasanjo in 2016.

Aba leather makers are hard hit by poor roads and absence of good production machinery. A number of them are small scale in nature and cannot afford sophisticated machines.

“This is where the problem lies. We in Aba have no good machines,” Ken Anyanwu, secretary of the Association of Leather and Allied Industrialists of Nigeria (ALAN),said.

He said this is why the majority of Aba shoe makers are not meeting demands and are overworking themselves once

P

orders are placed.

“It is a problem already for us because if a customer comes and we can’t meet demand, he will go elsewhere. The industry needs retooling,” he said.

Poor power supply means that a number of shoe and bag makers use different sizes of generators. This increases their production cost and diminishes their competitiveness.

In spite of that, the industry is valued at N120 billion, according to BusinessDay calculations.

One million pairs of shoes are produced by more than 80,000 leather makers in Aba each week.

With 48 million pairs produced each year at an average price of N2,500 a pair, the industry is said to be worth up to N120 billion.

Traders from West African neighbours storm the industrial city every week to buy different product designs, just as Southern African schools are beginning to place orders directly from the shoe makers.

Canadians, Europeans and the Chinese are also in the party, placing orders themselves directly or through their Nigerian proxies, BusinessDay was told in Aba. “We are already struggling to meet demands,”

said Anyanwu.

The business is already online, with the likes, of Gada Africa, Jiji.ng and abanaijamade.com.ng, among others, handling marketing and distribution of those shoes, including belts and trunk boxes, after online orders are taken. Online shops take 20 to 50 percent cuts from sellers, BusinessDay gathered from the shoe makers.

The Abia leather indus-

try is made up of shoes, trunk boxes and belts. It provides employment for tens of thousands, with many specialising in different stages such as designing, patterning, cutting, skiving, stitching, peeling and finishing. It is made up of clusters such as Powerline, Imo Avenue, Bakassi, Aba North Shoe Plaza, Omemma Traders and Workers, ATE Bag, and Ochendo Industrial

Market, comprising input supplers, among others.

Aba shoe makers import animal skins from China and many parts of Africa and Europe.

“What happens is that the tanneries in Kano and Kaduna process animal skins and sell them as leather in the global market, earning foreign exchange,” said Nwagbara.

“So we go to China and other countries to buy.

Sometimes, we buy our products and re-import,” he added.

Nigeria and Ethiopia have things in common.

The East African country exported $33.7 million worth of footwear products, mainly to the United States in 2015, one million lower than the preceding year. Through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the US-Africa trade law that allows dutyfree and quota-free access into the US market, Ethiopia shoe exports jumped from $630,000 to nearly $7m between 2011 and 2012, a more than tenfold increase, according to statistics from USAID. The Abia State government said in 2016 that Huajian Group in Ethiopia, which made shoes for Ivanka Trump, United States president’s wife, would be coming to Aba. In September 2017, Sherry Zhang, general manager of Huajian Shoes in Addis Ababa, told BusinessDay in Addis that the company was still interested in setting up a shoe factory in Aba, southeast Nigeria. But this has not happened since. However, a new set of machines have been imported by a new investor in Aba, who plans to modernise the industry, BusinessDay was told.

Gada Africa opens marketing hub in Aba …to sell Aba-made products GODFREY OFURUM

G

a da A f r i ca, a wholly indige n ou s o n l i n e marketing and logistics firm, has opened an office in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, to strengthen its online shop for made-in-Aba goods, particularly, finished leather products of shoes, belts and bags, as well as garments, arts and craft.

The office located at Number 6, Aba-Owerri road, would serve as showroom and distribution point for finished goods for local consumption and export, said Ben Chiobi, chief operating officer (CEO) and founder of the firm.

Chiobi, a retired air vice marshal in the Nigerian Air force, revealed further

that Gada was collaborating with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to ensure that goods hosted on the platform met international standards.

To serves its customers well, the Gada Africa boss noted that his firm had built partnership with local and some international logistics handling companies to ensure that people got every product that they ordered from Aba. “If an order is placed on our site for a product that is made in Aba, all that the manufacturer needs to do is to drop it in our office and we will ensure that whoever placed the order

gets it and in good time.

“Overtime, we will be able to share with our customers the timings

for other destinations as we continue to build our structure.

“But what I am assur-

ing you now is that if you live in Abuja or Lagos and you place order for any product made-in-Aba on our site, give it a maximum of four days, you’ll get the product, “he assured.

Chiobi also stated that the firm intended to bring in people with different kinds of machines in shoe production to help automate shoemaking process in Aba, especially Korean firms interested in investing in Aba. In his words, “If Gada Africa is filling the ecommerce gap, we need someone who can fill the automation process gap.

Gada is also going to fill the packaging and logistics gaps, to ensure that products from Aba are shipped to customers within and outside the country.”

Apart from creating an

online platform for the goods, Gada also promised to provide logistics services to ensure that goods purchased on its site got to the customers on time.

According to Chiobi, “That is what we call logistics value chain services. It will not be enough for us, as an e-commerce company that is running an online-mall, to just sell without bothering about how the products would get to the end user.”

He stated that his firm would establish a logistics hub for made-in-Aba goods to be known as ‘Made in Aba Logistics Hub’ or ‘Gada Africa Hub’, which would serve as a showroom and distribution point for finished goods for local consumption and export.

Thursday 28 March 2019

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BUSINESS DAY

37

Politics & Policy

Ogunlewe fault APC over method of choosing Senate leadership Iniobong Iwok

F

ormer Minister of Works, Adeseye Ogunlewe, has faulte d the method adopted by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in choosing the leadership of the National Assembly, saying that it was capable of tearing the party apart.

The APC leadership, President Muhammadu Buhari and some state governors of the party, recently adopted Senator Ahmed Lawan as the next Senate president.

The APC said Lawan who is the current Majority Leader was chosen as the Senate President in the next dispensation because of his rich legislative experience and robust executive legislative relationship.

However, Senator Ali Ndume who is eyeing the position has protested the party’s decision, stressing that the party’s senators were not consulted.

But speaking in an interview with BusinessDay, Wednesday,

Ogunlewe , said such a matter should be discussed by the party’s

caucus, while all senators of the APC should have been carried

L-R: Olalekan Alli, secretary to Oyo State Government; Isaac Ayandele, special adviser on Efficiency to the governor; Kehinde Subair, majority leader of the House of Assembly; Bimbo Adekanmbi, commissioner for Finance; Abiola Ajimobi Governor of Oyo State; and Olagunju Ojo, speaker of the House of Assembly, during the signing of 2019 Appropriation Bill into Law, at the Governor’s Office, Ibadan... on Wednesday.

INEC presents certificate of return to Okowa, deputy, PDP House of Assembly members-elect Mercy Enoch, Asaba

T

he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has presented certificate of return to the governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State and his deputy, Kingsley Otuaro.

Otuaro was Okowa’s running mate in the March 9, 2019 governorship election.

The INEC also gave return tickets to the PDP assembly members elect but denied lawmakers elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Three APC and one PDP members elect for the Delta State House of Assembly were same day denied their certificate of return by the INEC. The affected APC members include, Anidi Innocent Emosivwe for Ethiope East, Oniyere Charles Whanoroho for Ughelli North 1 and Ughelli North 2, Egbo Jaro Movudu.

Also, Ochor Christopher, PDP member elect for Ukwani constitu-

along, stressing that such decision should not be for the party’s

ency, was among those denied the certificate.

The INEC, Mohammed Lecky, who presented certificate of return to Governor Okowa, PDP state chairman, Kingsley Esiso and other House of Assembly elect, at the INEC office, Asaba, Wednesday, revealed that the certificates were denied as a result of “pending legal issues”.

Receiving the certificate of return at INEC office in Asaba, Governor Okowa thanked Deltans, the INEC, security agencies and all those who played different roles during the elections. He observed that the election was adjudged as very peaceful in the state.

He called on all Deltans to actively participate in governance in the next four years starting from May 29. “We cannot do the job alone; with collaborative efforts, partnership, the job will be easier and to the satisfaction of all”, Okowa said.

“In the next four years, we will do much more than we have done in the last four years; in 2023, people will judge us based on our performance and we are committed to be

accountable to God and our people,” he said.

Governor Okowa who was accompanied to the INEC office by his wife, Edith and a retinue of political office holders, used the occasion to urge Nigerians to be committed to democracy, noting that Nigeria will be better when things are done right.

“There is room for growth in our democracy; we must conduct elections in such a manner that will be appreciated by the world as such will boost the confidence of the people and attract investors to our country; politicians should realise that election is noble and should go out and campaign for votes and ensure that elections are devoid of avoidable deaths,” he said.

INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Lecky who presented the certificate of returns to Governor Okowa and his deputy had in an address, congratulated the governor and all those who won in the elections, stating, “today’s event is the highpoint of one of the legal requirements on the journey to assumption of office, after being elected.”

National chairman or some individuals along.

According to him, “The method adopted by Oshiomhole is wrong; such decision should be a caucus thing. Where everyone is carried along, it is not for the party chairman or the president to be adopting candidate along, they are just playing to the gallery and you will see that it may consumed them.”

Ogunlewe who is a member of the Board of Trustees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and represented Lagos East in the Senate from 1999-2003, further stated that he does not expect the National Assembly to be a rubber stamp of the executives, adding that such was bad for the nation’s democracy.

“The APC appointing leadership of the National Assembly does not mean they will be hijacked, they are educated people, it depends on the topic; if the issue does not support their constituency they will not vote for it.

“We don’t expect the Senate or House of Representatives to be a rubber stamp; that will be bad for our democracy”, Ogunlewe said.

Ihedioha receives certificate of return, promises to run responsive government SABY ELEMBA, Owerri

E

meha Ihedioha, Imo State governor-elect, has promised to run a responsive and responsible government with an independent judiciary that would guarantee speedy, unbiased and quick dispensation of justice in the state.

This is as he has received his Certificate of Return along with his deputy, Gerald Irona and the 27 elected members of the state House of Assembly at the state secretariat of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Owerri.

Ihedioha, who extended his olive branch to all who ran the governorship election in the state with him to move the state forward, said he would take measures to improve the economy of the state, raise the revenue base while the local government system would be repositioned to once more become meaningful to the rural dwellers.

He said that a transition committee made up of reputable stakeholders would soon be put in place for the smooth take off of his administration.

The governor-elect commended the Imo electorate for the confidence reposed in him and his deputy through their election and promised not to let them down just as he hailed INEC for her courage and patriotism to organise a successful governorship/Assembly election in the state.

While advising members-elect of the state House of Assembly to justify the mandate of their constituencies, he charged all to ensure equity and fairness in all their actions and deeds, saying “It is a trust which they give all of us”.

Professor Okey Ibeanu, INEC, national commissioner for Imo/Abia, while presenting the certificates to the governor-elect and others congratulated them on their victory at the polls and wished them the best of luck.

He also congratulated the Imo electorate for electing their leaders, advising them to ensure integrity, honesty and dedication because “it is a trust which the people gave you.

Elections are divisive and that of Imo was hotly contested but to the glory of God, we were able to triumph,” he said.

To achieve justice, zone Deputy Senate President to the South-East, Kalu tells APC Ifeoma Okeke

T

he senatorial candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) for Abia North, Orji Uzor Kalu has called on the party to allow justice to prevail in the zoning of the Senate president and deputy Senate president positions, stating that the deputy Senate president should be zoned to the South-east.

Kalu, who stated this yesterday in Lagos during a media briefing at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos said the fight for the two prime positions, would be an open market affair

on the floor of the house, adding that he is capable of shopping “and I will shop back the deputy Senate president to the South-east.”

The former Abia State governor noted that since the party has zoned the Senate presidency to the Northeast, he would respect the party’s decision, adding that the second position would not leave the South-east.

“Therefore, as far as I am concerned in the South-east, I am going to run openly on the floor of the House for the Deputy Senate President. I am not going to listen to the party; neither will I listen to anybody. I have respect

for the party, I am going to be withdrawing from the Senate presidency to run for the deputy Senate president because the party is supreme; whether they zone it or to give it to another individual that is left for the party members and the National Assembly members to decide. But for the deputy Senate president, I will contest with any candidate who comes at the floor of the house,” he noted.

Kalu further said that he would fight on the floor of the Senate like no other person has done; stating that it does not amount to challenging the party, but looking for justice for all.

He remarked that President Muhammadu Buhari noted in the riot act he read that he would be addressing issues of injustice, noting that nobody given the position of Senate President would be loyal to the party, President and Nigerians.

He added: “The party is supreme and our chairman is a listening chairman and President Buhari is a man of justice. My own is article 50 and 1 of the constitution made it very clear on what will happen on the floor of the house, the party can make every decision, but the major decision will be taken on the floor of the House when all members

will be locked, there will be no party there. It will be PDP versus APC and anybody can shop, it is an open market.

“It is impossible to edge me or a whole zone out and say we are new comers, it is not possible. What I am fighting for is for justice and fair play and for Nigeria to continue to be one.

I have suffered to fight for the unity of the country; therefore, they cannot use National Assembly or petty house officers to divide the country. As long as Buhari and Osinbajo remain the President and Vice-President, we are going to be loyal to them and the constitution of Nigeria.”

38 BUSINESS DAY NEWS

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Contrary to Buhari’s directive, Malami...

Continued from page 1

torneys general of Rivers, Bayelsa

and Akwa Ibom States against the attorney general of the federation for failing to enforce provisions of section 16(1) & (1) of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts which states that the share of the Federal Government shall be adjusted under the production sharing contracts anytime the price of crude oil exceeds $20 per barrel.

Malami then gave Trobell the power to make the recovery using whatever means at its disposal including termination of contract and the exercise of the power of ‘shut-in’ and filing a complaint under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States of America and other related international protocols if the IOCs failed to pay.

In his response, the president rejected the prayers by the attorney general and also “directed (the) Honourable attorney general of the federation to terminate the recovery contract the Ministry of Justice has signed with Trobell International Limited” for the purpose of collecting as much as $43.747bn from the said oil companies.

The president further directed his economic management team (EMT) “to review the current state of affairs and harmonise a government position to resolve the issue including

setting aside the consent judgment on the basis of its violation of section 4 of the 1999 constitution as amended”.

The EMT was given until March 31, 2019 to “revert with concrete steps towards unwinding the issue”.

Buhari’s directives were contained in a one-page letter by the Chief of Staff to the president Abba Kyari to the attorney general as well as the secretary to the government of the federation. The letter is a response to an 8-page memo dated January 7, 2019 which had emanated from the minister of justice.

Trobell International Ltd with registered address at 14 Waziri Ibrahim Street, Victoria Island, Lagos was incorporated on June 17, 1987 with registration number 96185, BusinessDay investigations show.

The company was set up “to carry on petroleum business in all ramification including but not limited to pre-shipment and destination inspection of crude oil, crude products etc”, according to a search report from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

According to CAC records verified on May 26, 2016, the company has 25,000,000 ordinary shares of N1.00 each and filed annual returns in 1989-2013 and 2016. It has three current directors: Garba Hafsatu Lawal, Garba Lawal and Maidoki Tanimu.

Garba Lawal has 17.5m shares, while Garba Hafsatu Lawal, Garba Zainab Lawal and Garba Abubakar Lawal have 2.5m shares each.

Legal experts who spoke with BusinessDay said it was strange that a company so registered would embark on recoveries, a task clearly the remit of qualified accountants and legal experts.

They questioned the authority or capacity of Trobell to act as a “tax enforcer” on behalf of the Federal Government or the company’s capacity to act as a Federal Government consultant when its core vision is to be a professional independent crude oil pre-shipment inspection agent.

“We are one of the global leaders in the Crude Oil & Gas Pre-Shipment and Destination Inspection, Laboratory Testing, Engineering Design & Construction and Environmental Engineering/Management Services, with a strong bias towards oil & gasrelated activities in remote areas, Shallow Water and Field Location Base,” Trobell International Limited said in its 2017 corporate profile.

Joseph Onele, a Lagos-based energy lawyer and policy consultant, said under Nigerian law, a company duly registered with the CAC is precluded from carrying out any business not included in the object clause contained in its Memorandum of Association.

“My position stems from Section 39(1) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Cap. C21, Laws

L-R: Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN); Ibukun Awosika, chairman, FBN; Yemi Osinbajo, vice president, and Uk Eke, GMD, FBN Holdings plc, at the First Bank 125th anniversary gala night in Lagos.

Forex turnover at NAFEX window hits...

Continued from page 1

remain in place.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said at the BusinessDay Post-Election Outlook Conference last week that over $6 billion has been flown into the local bond market in one month, indicating confidence in the economy.

The FPI inflows have enabled the CBN to become a regular buyer of FX on NAFEX, such that gross official reserves have increased by $1.73 billion to $44.04 billion since the presidential election through to 25 March. Both oil price trends and the FPI surge into local money and debt markets provide a temporary floor to reserves.

In the event of an unanticipated exit of FPIs from the local markets, which would make the CBN a regular seller at NAFEX, there is still a healthy buffer against additional shocks, according to FBNQuest. Estimates on the high side put the stock of FPI monies in the market at $17 billion.

The CBN on Tuesday surprised Nigerian analysts, economists and investors with a 0.5 percent reduction in its benchmark interest rate to 13.5 percent, from 14 percent since July 2016.

“There are clear limits to the impact of this first change in the policy rate since July 2016. The impact would have been greater if the MPC had cut the cash reserve requirement (CRR) ratio,” FBNQuest analysts said on Wednesday.

The regulator retained asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +2%/-5%; Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) at 22.5 percent, and Liquidity Ratio at 30 percent.

Consequently, Nigerian bond yields fell slightly on Wednesday, dropping to around 13 percent across maturities on minor buying interest, traders said. They later recovered to 14.15 percent. The most liquid one-year treasury yield fell 15 basis points to 12.75 percent.

At the money market, the overnight inter-bank rate declined by

1.79 percentage point to 15.50 percent. Also, the Open-Buy-Back (OBB) dropped to 15.14 percent on Wednesday from 16.43 percent the previous day.

However, the local currency depreciated by 0.12 percent as it closed at N360.68k per dollar compared with N360.25k traded the previous day at the I&E forex window, data from FMDQ show.

Naira closed stable at the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment and the CBN official window closing at N360 and N306.95k per dollar respectively.

“There are several fx windows in operation. We draw a distinction between the subsidised rate (currently N306.95) for priority transactions such as petroleum product imports and external debt-service payments, and those that are not subsidised by the CBN,” FBNQuest said.

“Whatever the terminology, they have had some success. Manufacturers are enjoying much improved access to raw materials, which is evident from the national accounts and from anecdotal evidence,” FBNQuest said.

of the Federation of Nigeria which reads: ‘A company shall not carry on any business not authorized by its memorandum and shall not exceed the powers conferred upon it by its memorandum’,” Onele told BusinessDay by mail.

Onele cited a case between Continental Chemists and Ifekandu (1966) 1 AII NLR 1, in which the company’s main business was that of chemists but established a hospital. The Supreme Court held that “to enter into any business which the directors think will increase the profits of the company” did not give power to the company to run a hospital.

In his response, Lawal said, “We

Thursday 28 March 2019

are not a debt recovery agent but we have vast information regarding the issue.” Lawal further said, “We have a consortium of five Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) and have accountants under this project, expert accountants and one of them is the past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ismaila Zakaria & Co.” According to Lawal, the company has no relationship with Malami and first wrote a letter in January 2017 to the former Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun when Nigeria was still in recession suggesting that recovering this money will bail the country out of recession.

Experts seek to unlock value in Nigeria’s...

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Nigeria end up in India. In October 2015, India’s medical tourism sector was estimated to be worth $3 billion.

It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 200 percent by 2020, hitting $9 billion – thanks partly to medical tourists from Nigeria.

A large number of Nigeria’s Primary Health Care Centres (PHCs) are in a horrible state. The experts say government certainly has a lot to do.

“Primary health care takes care of 70-80 percent of medical needs of the citizenry. We have spoken with the state government to help provide primary health care over a long period of time. It is important that the government understands that the private sector can get things working,” Olamide Okulaja, director, PharmAccess, said.

“The biggest influence is advocacy. We must understand that there is a business side of healthcare.

Healthcare needs funding so we can, for instance, focus and deliver on disease burden among others.

Healthcare for Nigerians can only be solved by Nigerians,” Okulaja said.

Whereas Nigerians continue to seek medical attention elsewhere, India has moved ahead to become a haven for medical tourists, including Nigerians. Brown of The Flying Doctors said the turning point for India was specialisation.

“For instance, the number of heart surgeries an Indian doctor does for one month will take an American doctor a whole year to accomplish,” she said.

Blessing Chukwu, deputy chief medical officer, Eko Hospitals, said the government needs to take healthcare more seriously by putting in place policies and other support systems.

“In our teaching hospitals, things are not working, the equipment there are non-functional, they get destroyed due to misuse and those that are repaired are not maintained; some of these equipment given are done for political reasons without considering those who will use it,” Chukwu said.

“Doctors who treat people abroad are mostly Nigerians, be it in China, UK, America, and so on. Why can’t they feel good about rendering same services here?” she asked.

Chukwu said the NHIS, which is meant to relieve the populace of medical bills, is challenged with proper implementation. Nevertheless, she is optimistic that having just come out elections, the Nigerian government can begin to drive policies required to fully get the health sector off the ground.

Maneesh Garg, CEO, Afri Global Group, said the rate of medical tourism from Nigeria may have reduced marginally since 2015 following the foreign exchange crunch occasioned by low oil prices.

“In my experience, what happened in 2015 when the exchange rate went up sporadically, it became extremely imperative for a lot of people who used to just fly out easily for medical attention to look at local possibilities to seek alternatives because spending hard currency abroad isn’t financially convenient,” Garg said.

“We got a lot of people, very senior people in the private sector, politicians in high places seriously looking for alternatives here or less expensive and equally competent hospitals like in India,” he said.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

The other side of Chinese investment in...

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Mr Wu, involved in everything from retail and factories to farming, are having just as big an impact. Irene Yuan Sun, an associate partner at McKinsey and author of a book on Chinese investment in Africa, says the influence is particularly strong in manufacturing. “Chinese manufacturing investment is the best hope that Africa has to industrialise in this generation,” she says. “Chinese involvement in Africa is not just about state-driven efforts. A just as large, if not larger, component is these private enterprises, which are more job intensive, which localise quicker, and which have a much larger economic and social impact.”

When Mr Wu first came to Ogun, there was virtually nothing in place.

The state’s free trade zone he manages is majority-owned by Guangdong New South Group, a private Chinese conglomerate with interests in everything from medicine to coal mining.

Mr Wu’s team was given a 2.24 sq km patch of land and told to get on with it. Nigeria, like countries across Africa,

has a huge infrastructure deficit.

It lacks reliable power, water and all-weather roads. New South Group has had to build almost everything from scratch, including natural gaspowered generators and yet-to-be paved roads connecting the zone to Lagos and beyond. “It is like managing a country,” Mr Wu says of the zone, which is designed to be an enclave of efficiency and stability in Nigeria’s notoriously unpredictable business environment. “We have our own customs, our own police, our own operations.

The government of Nigeria provided the land. We used all our own money to build everything else.”

After seven years in operation, the free trade zone has 50 registered companies, including two ceramic manufacturers producing tiles and plates, a steel-pipe plant, and factories making everything from furniture to tomato sauce. There is a printing business, a plastic recycling company and another specialising in construction materials.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

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39 NEWS

BUSINESS DAY

Petition: Court orders substituted service on President Buhari FELIX OMOHOMHION, Abuja

T Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation; Yemi Osinbajo, vice president, and President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Federal Executive Council meeting, in Abuja, yesterday.

NAN

Old faces jostle for slots in Sanwo-Olu’s administration JOSHUA BASSEY

… as governance remains lull in Lagos

f the governor-elect of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) give in to pressure, the incoming administration in Lagos will sure be a convergence of old and familiar faces. Sanwo-Olu received a total of 739,445 votes to beat his closest rival, Jimi Agbaje, who secured 206,141 votes in the March 9, 2019 gubernatorial election.

Investigations by BusinessDay show that in a gale of desperation to secure slots in the yet to be formed government of Sanwo-Olu, old timers, many of whom have served in previous administrations in the state, are making overtures to the power brokers in Lagos to return to government.

Some of the old appointees, whom a source described as ‘as professionals in politics,’ have served at one time or the other either

in the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu (1999-2007) or that of Babatunde Fashola (2007-2015).

Checks reveal that the Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, campaign office of Sanwo-Olu and Bourdilon residence of Bola Tinubu, also in Ikoyi, have become a convergence point for the former appointees, who stick around most of the time to ensure nothing is left to chances.

The old appointees, according to a close source, are reaching out to persons they believe can influence their reappointments, including key members of the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), the highest decision making body of the ruling APC in Lagos.

The source further says that some of the politicians are also using Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s perceived ‘misstep’ to sell themselves, as they complained that Ambode shut them out for four

I

years, and that the incoming administration of Sanwo-Olu presents the opportunity to return to serve Lagos.

Among known faces regularly seen in the Ikoyi campaign office of Sanwo-Olu, are Ayo Gbeleyi and Jeje Bosun.

Both served as commissioners for finance and housing, respectively, under the administration of Babatunde Fashola.

Others are Wale Edun, a former commissioner for finance, Kaoli Olusanya, Oyinlomo Danmole, Kemi Nelson, and Musiliu Obanikoro, all former commissioners under the administration of Bola Tinubu.

Meanwhile, Sanwo-Olu is expected on May 29, to take over a state seriously plagued by absence of governance, resulting in high level indiscipline everywhere. The vibrancy associated with Lagos and which has been the attraction for other states of the federation has since taken a flight.

Infrastructure projects

including the ongoing expansion of Lagos-Badagry Expressway into 10 lanes, has been abandoned, as contractors had since left sites.

Checks also show that Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government are heavily impacted, as tons of files are said to be awaiting approval while many others approved have not translated to funds to enable the MDAs execute their programmes and projects, even as the state’s 2019 budget size of N852.317 billion remains with the House of Assembly without passage.

On the roads, traffic enforcement has been relaxed, as private and vehicles as well motorcycles and tricycles are seen driving against traffic flow in different parts of the state. Many of the roads in the metropolis are also riddled with potholes with no relevant agency of government attending to them.

Sanusi lights up FBN’s gala nite and then gets a standing ovation

T

he romance Emir of Kano Lamido Sanusi Lamido has with First Bank is an enduring one. Years after he quit his CEO position to become the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, he remains a worthy ambassador of the country’s oldest bank.

On Tuesday evening when the bank rounded off its 125th anniversary at a gala nite in Lagos, it was unsurprising that Sanusi was asked to give an after dinner response.

He emerged on to the podium led by two courtiers one of whom bore a wellembroidered umbrella. The fiery emir soon sought to dampen expectation by offering to steer away from politics since the elections were well and truly over.

He did not disappoint.

Choosing to dwell on the pervasive level of poverty in Nigeria and the (bad) choices its leaders make in allocating and managing the scarce resources of Africa’s most populous nation, he asked, despondently, “How does a nation spend N1.5 trillion to subsidise petrol while its women and children are dying in abject poverty and from diseases that should not be killing them?”

Echoing views that he has long been associated with, the former governor of the central bank said petrol subsidy favours the elite that filled the expansive roowm at Eko Hotel. Subsidies, he said, help the rich drive their many big cars by paying little or nothing for petrol while the “most important people” in the country fail in a helpless battle against disease and death.

Sanusi said he had a very early contact with poverty when he became emir. He said there was this particular day when he was holding court in his palace receiving petitions from his people.

As the day wore on, he suddenly heard a loud agonising cry of a woman. The palace staff who rushed out to find out what was happening met a heartbroken woman standing on the queue; she had just lost her sick daughter while waiting to beg for less than N2,000 to pay for drugs for her.

He was pained, he said, by unrelenting population explosion in a country of nearly 200 million people already, and especially in the northern parts of the country with attendant high levels of fertility in adults who do nothing else but make babies.

“Our men are marrying

more wives than they can care for and having children they cannot cater for,” he said.

Sanusi said it was the responsibility of the country’s leaders to reverse the misery by the choices they make, as it was no longer acceptable just to continue with business as usual.

He also had time for the less serious matter of advising any of the current managers at First Bank with his name to double down on his desk, for who knows, they could well end up as CEO or even go on to be governors of the central bank like himself and the other Sanusi before him who occupied the two revered positions.

As he made to retake his seat, the emir was received by a prolonged standing ovation by a delighted audience of some of the best endowed in society.

he People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the February 23 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, Wednesday, got a reprieve from the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting at the Appeal Court, Abuja, to serve the winner of the election, Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), by substituted means.

The petition and other processes are to be served on the President through the national secretariat of the APC at Wise 2, Abuja, the tribunal said.

Counsel to the PDP and Atiku, Chris Uche, while moving the ex-parte motion, prayed the tribunal to grant the request because the applicants found it impossible to effect personal service on the respondent, President Buhari.

Uche also informed the court that it was in the interest of justice that the request should be granted.

The ex-parte application was predicated on seven grounds and 17- paragraph affidavit as well as further affidavit of five paragraphs.

In his ruling, the lead judge of the three-man panel, Justice Abdul Aboki, said the court granted the request

of the petitioners in the interest of justice.

“After carefully reading the affidavit and the grounds upon which the ex-parte application was predicated, the court is convinced that it is in the interest of justice that the request of the two petitioners be granted,’’ Justice Aboki said. ‘’Consequently, the court orders that Buhari being the second respondent in the petition be served with the petition through any of the senior officials of the APC at its Abuja national secretariat.”

Atiku is asking the tribunal to declare him winner of the presidential election having scored majority of the lawful votes cast in the election.

Alternatively, he and his party are asking the tribunal to annul the election that returned President Buhari as President and order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election.

Atiku had earlier filed a petition challenging the declaration of President Buhari as the winner of the February 23 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the court held that as the respondent, President Buhari, has not been formally and personally served with the petition as required by law, it was improper to fix a date for hearing.

Delta ready for investors as Asaba Airport receives 2nd international flight MERCY ENOCH, Asaba

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elta State government, Wednesday, attained another milestone in its quest to develop the state’s economy, as it proved that the state is ready for investors and open for business. This followed the taking off and landing of another international flight at the Asaba International Airport.

Max Air from South Africa was the first international flight to the airport since the construction of the runway last year, and now Egypt Air. The Egypt Air, Boeing 737-800 category flight landed at the airport at 8am and airlifted the Pharaohs of Egypt back to Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

The Pharaohs’ departure Wednesday was after they had an international friendly match with the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, Monday evening.

The captain of the Egypt Air, Ramy Mansour, shortly after landing, narrated his experience to newsmen at the airport: “Driving into

Asaba was a very good experience. The controls were very professional and the landing was very good. The hills were nice to us and everything was okay,” he said, as he expressed hope of landing in the airport again.

Speaking with journalists also, the state’s commissioner for information, Patrick Ukah, said the feat was an attestation to the good work of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration.

“As you are aware, this is the second international flight that is landing and taking off from Asaba. I think that sends a very good message that we are ready for investors, and for those who want to just visit for tourism, it shows how peaceful the nature of Asaba and Delta State is. We can see the smiles on the face of the crew. Everybody is happy landing here,” Ukah said.

Continuing, he said, “We’ve just come out of elections, and just one week after, the state has moved on.

That sends a message to the world that we are very happy. We are happy that they have very good things to say about our airport and we look forward to having many good things to say about it.”

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How the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) fluctuates across the states the lowest in this category with its average PMS Price amounting to N143.18 with a YoY percentage decline of 2.72 per cent and 0.96 per cent MoM.

ISAAC ESOWE

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ata released by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that average price paid by consumers for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly referred to as petrol, decreased by 15.8 per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) and 0.3 per cent Month-onmonth (MoM) to N145.30 in February 2019 from N145.70 in January 2019. Similarly, the average price of crude oil dropped in December 2018 by 13.10 per cent from $8.26/ barrel (bbl) to $54.77/ bbl MoM which is the lowest since October 2017 according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) financial operation report 2018.

The fall in the price of PMS is a consequence of the fall in price of crude oil from $85/ bbl to $80/bbl. This drop in price could also be attributed to the apprehension over unpredicted rise in global oil supply.

ary 2019.

States with the lowest average price of PMS Conversely, the states with lowest average price in February 2019 are: Ekiti, Imo and Ogun state. The average PMS price of Ekiti amounted to N143.47 with percentage decrease of 20.81 and 0.37 per cent on YoY and MoM respectively. Imo state recorded an average PMS Price of N143.18 and percentage decline of 28.70 per cent YoY bases and a decrease of 1.67 per cent MoM. Ogun state is

Global trend in crude oil production

12734BDN

States with the highest average price of PMS According to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data on prices of PMS across the 36 States in Nigeria which was

carefully compile by BusinessDay Research and Intelligence unit (BRIU) result show that the top ten states with highest average of PMS price are: Taraba, Plateau, Oyo, Benue, Kaduna, Abia Borno, Osun, Ondo and Ebony state. Taraba state recorded the highest average price of N150.55 per litre which accounts for 25.21 per cent and 0.37 per cent decline on YoY and MoM respectively. In the preceding quarter, Taraba

state consistently had the highest average PMS Price, even as it was priced at an average N150.27 and N150.00 in December 2018 and January 2019 respectively.

On the other hand, Plateau state immediately trailed Taraba with an average PMS price of N146.55 with of 16.04 per cent decrease YoY and 0.09 per cent decrease MoM in February 2019. Closely followed is Oyo state with highest average PMS price of N146.50 with 11.21 per cent decrease YoY and 2.66 per cent decrease MoM in Febru-

Regional distribution of PMS prices In North West (NW), average price of PMS amounts to N145.41, while Kaduna state recorded the highest price of N146.08 while Kano and Katsina both had with the lowest price of N145.00.

In the North East (NE), Taraba had the highest price of PMS which amounted to N150.55 and Adamawa, N143.78 which accounted for the lowest in that region.

(NW) recorded an average price of N145.74 in February 2019.

North Central (NC) recorded an average price of N145.53, amid the seven states that make up the North Central. Plateau state paid more for PMS at N146.55 and Abuja paid N144.50 which is the lowest in that region. The average price of PMS in South West (SW), South - South (SS) and South East (SE) are N144.90, N145.09 and N144.98 respectively.

According to NNPC report on Monthly financial operation, the global oil demand forecast is extrapolated to grow at 1.50 million per barrel (mbbl/d) to an average 98.78 mbbl/d in 2018 and 1.29 mbbl/d to an average 100.08 mbbl/d in 2019.

In 2018, Non-OPEC oil supply growth is appraised at 2.61mbbl/d to average 62.06 mbbl/d. This is an upward revision of 0.05 mbbl/d from assessment in the previous month which was at an average of 60.03 mbbl/d. In 2019, Non-OPEC oil supply growth was revised down by 0.06 mbbl/d from 2.10 mbbl/d to an average 64.16 mbbl/d for the year. This was primarily due to a downward revision in Canada’s supply forecast.

Consequently, For Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the volume of crude oil production decreased by 751 trillion barrel per day (tbbl/d) to average 31.58 mbbl/d in December 2018. Globally, oil supply decreased by 0.35 mbbl/d to an average 100.02 mbbl/d in December 2018; translating to a total increase in global oil output of 2.83 mbbl/d YoY. The stake of OPEC crude oil in total global production had a declined from 0.6 per cent in November to a further 31.6 per cent in December.

Total production of crude oil in Nigeria in November 2018 dwindled by 8.17 mbbl which represent 13.12 per cent to average of 1.80 mbbl/d. This decline in the volume of production was as a result of a Bonny terminal which was shut down, leakages at the Odimodi area, on-going maintenance at Okoloma and Imor facilities.

Also activities in the following terminals (ABO, BRASS, AKPO, QUA IBOE, USAN, TULJA and ERHA) were disrupted due to maintenance and technical issues like: flooding, leakages and system upgrade.

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Regional presentation of mining sector data AMAMCHUKWU OKAFOR

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he mining sector is a critical sector of an economy. In Nigeria, the sector has witnessed increasing government attention following the herald of economic diversification and industry reforms since 2016. The 2018 State Disaggregated Mining and Quarrying report published by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics counted 43 different solid minerals across the states of the federation.

Still, mining sector contribution to GDP has been improving despite stagnating growth rate in the sector.

In 2018, the Mining and quarrying sector contribution to GDP was 8.74 per cent, a small decline from 8.80 per cent in 2017. The decline is largely due to the shortfall in the final quarter with a 7.23 per cent contribution to quarterly GDP, even though the negative growth trend within the mining sector was seen to be easing – from a -3.84 per cent in Q2 to -1.23 per cent in the final quarter. The average annual growth rate in 2018 was 1.27 per cent due entirely to the 14.85 per cent growth rate in Q1 2018. The chart below shows the contribution of the four broad activities to the growth rate of the sector in 2018.

The table below showed that crude oil and natural gas mining accounted for the most fractions in the mining sector GDP, followed by quarrying. Nonetheless, there has been significant uptick in the activities around metal ores and coal mining since the solid mineral roadmap in 2012 and 2016 – notwithstanding the seasonal deep in coal mining every Q3 and Q4 for metal ores activities since 2015.

Regional composition of minerals

The total output of solid minerals in Nigeria across states and regions in 2018 stood at 55.8 million tons compared to 45.8 million tons and 43.44 million tons in 2017 and 2016 respectively. South-west followed

by North-central tops the list with

a total output of 20 million tons and 18.21 million tons respectively – accounting for 35.82 per cent and 32.62 per cent respectively.

The data from NBS show that Limestone alone accounted for 48.7 per cent of the total production

of solid minerals in 2018. Granite (17.24 per cent), Laterite (9.08 per cent) and Clay (7.21 per cent) are among the largest solid mineral production. The laggards include Topaz, Ruby and Garnez.

Ogun state in the South-west Ni-

geria retains the largest solid mineral output across the country. It is the major bolster in the region in terms of solid mineral production.

Ogun state accounted for 29.53 per cent of the total output in 2018, a 41.95 per cent decrease from 2017.

In 2017, the state claimed 50.89 per cent of total national output.

The graphics below showed the declining output since 2017.

Kogi state is another top performer in terms of solid mineral production. Like Ogun in the South-west, it the major anchor in the North-central. It recorded significant output growth between 2017 and 2018. It recorded an output growth of 189.45 per cent between 2017 and 2018 contributing 27.1 per cent of total national output in 2018. Other top performers include Cross-River and FCT with 6.25 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively.

Plateau state – North-central – has the largest varieties of mineral deposit with a count of 19 different solid mineral endowments. It however accounts for only 0.16 per cent of national output. Nasarawa, another state in the North-central takes second position in the count of mineral deposits with a total count of 13 different solid mineral.

It suggests that the vast land in the regional is richly endowed with a variety of mineral resources.

The South-east is the least in terms of output with a total production of 2 million tons representing 3.69 per cent of the total national production. Whereas Ebonyi state is the lead performer in the region with significant production in granite and lead, Imo performed least with recorded production in Sand dredging alone.

The least performers across region include Borno, 8403.30 tons; Rivers, 19548.68 tons and Yobe, 41,591.49 tons. It is not clear whether the limitation in production in Borno and Yobe is due to insurgency in the region or the quantum of minerals available, but the overdependence in crude-oil exploration crowd-out interest in other sectors.

In conclusion, there is room for progressive investments across regions dwelling on the mineral demographics. The production output in Limestone, Granite and Clay suggests that explorations are lopsided towards cement and construction material components. It may be necessary now to look into other mineral endowments.

42 BUSINESS DAY NEWS

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How Nigeria can close social infrastructure gap through ‘endowment funding’ - PwC MICHEAL ANI

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he abysmal state of Nigeria’s social infrastructure (health, education and social security) could better be fixed by the adoption of endowment funds, according to a report by global consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Endowments are restricted funds that are essentially gotten from charitable donations, private investments, among other sources. This becomes the principal, which is then invested with a fund manager to earn income. The income earned is then used for very specific purposes that are articulated in a charter.

“Nigeria needs to find sustainable ways to fund its education and health sector and one of such sustainable strategies is through the adoption endowment funds, which have successfully established in the West and will take little or nothing to implement in Nigeria,” PWC said.

While Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to the education sector has declined over the

years, its peers have actively taken steps to increase their spending commitments in these sectors.

South Africa’s education budget as a total of the national budget in 2017 stood at 21 per cent while that of Ghana was 19 per cent. Similarly, Kenya’s budget to the educational sector stood at 16 per cent.

However, this could not be said of the continent’s most populous nation as the country only struggled with a 7.3 percent allocation within the period.

Aside from the fact that budgetary allocations to key sectors driving human capital development have headed southward, banks, on the other hand, have stifled lending to these sectors.

Bank loans to the education sector stood at N57.3 billion—the second-least, representing about 0.38 per cent of the total N15.13 trillion credits to the private sector as at Q4 2018, according to National Bureau of Statistics data.

According to the report, relying solely on the government to fund tertiary education is no longer adequate because of the growing gov-

ernment budget deficit and a need to focus on hard infrastructures such as transport network and power.

Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world. According to UNICEF, 10.5 million children are believed to be out of school, a figure that represents approximately 20 percent of the total statistic.

The national budgetary allocation to the Education sector in 2018 of 5.4 percent was way below the UNESCO benchmark of 25 per cent.

With an education funding of N498 billion (5.4% of the total) in 2018, Nigeria needs over N1 trillion to close its education funding gap.

“Most higher education institutions in Nigeria have significantly profound alumni members who make donations to their alma mater via registered or non-registered alumni associations. These donations can be structured into an endowment fund for better and sustainable outcomes. In return for their donations, the alumni members earn income in the form of return on investment on an annual basis or as predetermined in the endowment charter,” the report said.

Economic diversification necessary to control inflation - UNCTAD GBEMI FAMINU

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he World Economic Situation and Prospect report of 2019 released recently by the United Nation’s Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says economic diversification is key to controlling spiralling inflation.

The report says Nigeria has since 2016 experienced double-digit consumer price inflation, which has encouraged headline inflation over the last three years.

The increase in consumer price inflation has caused a decline in the purchasing power of consumers, which in turn affects manufactured products, according to the report.

It says in 2018 the consumer price index (CPI) was 16.2, but posits that this should reduce by 12.5 percent to 14.1 percent in 2019.

From the perspective of fast-moving consumer goods, Adesola Sotande-Peters, vice president of finance at Unilever Nigeria, says as Nigeria experienced recession in 2016, consumers’ sensitivity to product prices has increased, causing a decline in patronage as purchasing power dwindles.

Doyin Salami, economist and CEO of Kainos Edge Consulting, speaking recently, notes that the Nigerian economy is going through its recovery mode

from recession, although at a snail pace. He advises that government has to source for revenue aggressively and reduce dependence on oil as a major source of revenue.

He says following the economic diversification policy, adequate attention has to be given to other sectors of the economy, especially manufacturing and agriculture sectors because Nigeria needs international capital to survive.

For manufacturers, the purchasing managers index (PMI) is an indicator of how the sector fares in a month.

The PMI above 50 percent signifies faster growth.

Nigeria’s PMI stood at 58.5 and 57.1 points in January and February, respec-

tively, from the 61.1 percent recorded in December 2018.

Growth in December was attributed to increased activities in the festive season.

Sotande-Peters of Unilever says there is a need to increase the local sourcing of raw materials as well as establish more warehouses in a bid to reduce dependence on the foreign exchange and also cut cost of production.

Manufacturers say policies that support local input sourcing such as backward integration can raise the levels of PMI. Manufacturers source 57 percent of inputs locally and import 43 percent, according to data from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).

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Housing minister explains why Nigeria’s housing problem persists CHUKA UROKO

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igeria’s power, works and housing minister, Babatunde Fashola, has given reasons Nigeria’s housing problem has persisted for years after government whittled down its direct involvement in housing deliver in the country.

Besides the Land Use Act of 1978, the long and tortuous titling and documentation processes, which are major impediments to housing development, Fashola said there were also problems of knowing the number and type of houses that should be built, the places they were needed and the expectations of those who need housing.

Fashola, whose ministry has been criticised for not doing much in advancing the cause of housing in the last four years of the Buhari

administration, does not subscribe to the figure being bandied as the value of housing deficit in Nigeria.

Nigeria has a crippling housing deficit estimated at 17 million units. Roland Igbinoba, CEO, Pison Housing Company, noted in the State of Lagos Housing Market report compiled by the company, that the deficit is both quantitative and qualitative, meaning that apart from the deficit being large in number, many of the available houses are substandard.

The minister explained that Nigeria’s housing problem would persist for as long as an accurate number of houses needed in the country remained unknown, and the kind of houses to be built to suit different tastes, geographical locations, cultural biases and income levels were yet to be determined.

He added that housing industry stakeholders

needed to come together to determine what were really Nigeria’s housing problems and dimension them, as had been done in the power sector.

He argued that the country shouldn’t be talking about housing deficit when there were so many empty houses scattered all over the country looking for buyers or tenants. “People always talk of a particular figure as the value of the deficit in the housing sector; who did the counting; how did they arrive at the number?” asked Fashola who spoke at a real estate forum in Lagos recently.

The minister therefore tasked real estate professionals, especially estate surveyors and valuers, to come up with an accurate figure as regards housing deficit in Nigeria, noting, “a figure has been repeated and validated by estate surveyors and valuers without asking how it was

generated; as professionals they should assist government in carrying out audit of the empty and occupied houses as there is no city in the country without empty and unoccupied houses.”

Erejuwa Gbadebo, CEO, Alpha Mead Estate Services, had in an interview with BusinessDay, highlighted the need for housing data collection, pointing out that it would help both urban planners and housing developers to know what was available and what was not.

“One of the biggest problems that we have in the housing sector is lack of data. People still quote 17 million units because there is no other data to prove or disprove it. We talk of homes demolished, burnt or new ones built, but the question is who is taking record of the number of houses that are being built and the ones we are losing?

L-R: Ayo Teriba, CEO, Economic Associates; Anthony Enwereji, GM, Travelex Nigeria; Priscilla Eneje, representing CBN Governor; Aminu Gwadebe, president, Association of Bureau De Change Operation of Nigeria (ABCON), and Haliru Ibrahim, team leader, monitoring and analysis, Nigeria Financial Intelligent Unit (NFIU), at the sensitisation seminar for Bureau De Change Proprietors in Nigeria, theme “The BDC Industry in Nigeria: Retrospect and Prospects” in Abuja. Picture by Tunde Adeniyi.

Inflow of investment funds to Nigeria will increase with AfCFTA – Afreximbank President

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resident, African Export-Import Bank, Benedict Oramah, says the failure of Nigeria to sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) may cost her huge foreign direct investment funds.

Oramah stated this last Tuesday in Lagos at the 2019 Bullion Lecture organised

by Centre for Financial Journalism, a foremost media training and research centre in Nigeria. On the contrary, “Nigeria stands a great chance of enlarging FDI inflows through the AfCFTA. As the largest economy and the most populous in Africa, it presents an attractive do-

mestic market base for foreign investors interested in manufacturing for exports to the rest of Africa. Today, FDI inflows to Nigeria amount to about $3 billion, 90 percent of which goes to the oil sector.

This can change positively with the AfCFTA,” he noted.

The event, which attracted Nigerians from all walks of life, had as its theme: “Leveraging the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement to Boost Nigeria’s Economic Development.”

According to Oramah, while it is understandable that Nigeria has not yet made a decision to sign the AfCFTA, it is instructive to note that “69 percent of Nigerian businesses

believe AfCFTA would be advantageous to the country.

“The top three advantages identified are better business environment, promotion of local business and business growth and expansion. Overall, 78 percent of firms believe that AfCFTA will make a positive impact on local businesses.”

Even though he said 56 percent of the polled respondents believe the country does not have the infrastructure necessary to reap those benefits, “there is an understanding among business leaders that the country should not wait until the infrastructure gap is fully closed before participating in the AfCFTA.”

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BUSINESS DAY

Travelex to aid BDCs’ access to $20bn Diaspora remittances … as CBN restates support to operators HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE & HARRISON EDEH

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ravelex Nigeria and the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) have agreed to enter into strategic partnership that will enable Bureaux de Changes (BDCs) access over $20 billion annual Diaspora remittances into Nigeria.

ABCON president, Aminu Gwadabe, disclosed this at a day sensitisation programme organised for BDCs by Travelex Nigeria and Travelex UK, in Abuja. He said Travelex and ABCON are reviewing the possibility of ABCON riding on the Travelex high-tech for BDCs to become direct agents of International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs).

He said the digitisation of the BDCs operations through the launch of ABCON Live Run Automation Portal, which has the backing of the CBN, showed the BDCs’ readiness and commitment to full digitisation of their operations to provide seamless services to forex end-users and become direct agents of IMTOs. According to Gwadabe, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) captures only 6 percent of the Diaspora remittances and the rest goes under the counter without any tracing.

He said riding on the Travelex high-tech would enable the BDCs address the reoccurring complaints of poor infrastructure, which had kept the operators away from accessing the Diaspora remittances for years.

Gwadabe, who spoke on the theme: “ABCON’s Plans and Proposals for Strengthening and Improving the Foreign Exchange Market viz-a-viz the BDC Sub-sector in the Economy,” said the BDC operators were obligated by law to render daily, monthly and annual returns

to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He said the daily returns known as Daily Transaction Returns (DTR) gives details of the total sales made for the day by the BDC and comes in as DTR 202, DTR 217, DTR 305 and DTR 315.

At the event, the CBN pledged its support to the BDC operators through strengthening regulatory framework for their operations. Godwin Emefiele, governor of the apex bank represented by the Priscilia Eleje, director, Currency Operations (CBN), gave the assurance during the seminar.

According to the governor, the current policy of delivering forex through BDCs has largely achieved the apex bank’s reach of achieving a stable exchange rate in the long term.

Emefiele further assured, “The CBN would continue to strengthen the existing framework in encouraging modern technologies and systems so that the BDCs can function in line with international best practices. On our part, the CBN would continue to support efforts such as this towards enhancing the capacity of the BDC sector in delivering more efficient services to the public.”

Earlier, Anthony Enwereji, general manager, Travelex Nigeria, organisers of the programme, said the seminar was part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) designed to contribute to the general reforms in Nigeria’s financial system.

He lauded the efforts of the apex bank in ensuring stability in the nation’s foreign exchange market, while also expressing belief that the CBN’s policies would benefit Nigerians if BDCs were carried along because of their direct contact with the public as end users.

US commends Edo’s integrated anti-human trafficking framework JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON

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he United State’s chargé d’ affaires, David Young, has commended the Edo State government for its anti-trafficking model and has pledged the US mission’s commitment to expanding the scope of collaboration with Edo and other states that serve as a source or transit point for human trafficking.

Young visited Philip Shuaibu, deputy governor of Edo State on Tuesday and met with government leaders, traditional rulers and civil society representatives with a view to understanding the socio-economic factors that perpetuate trafficking in persons in the state and the mul-

ti-faceted efforts being used to eradicate it.

Speaking during the visit to the Government House in Benin City, Young said, “We are pleased with the important progress that has been made to combat trafficking persons in Edo State, through the Three Ps: Prevention, Protection and Prosecution of those individuals involved in human trafficking. This is one of the issues the U.S. government is focused on, as it is a horrific crime and we recognise its long-term effects on people who are trafficked to other countries.”

At the palace of the Oba of Benin, where he had an audience with Oba Ewuare II, Young emphasised the pivotal role of traditional in-

stitutions in eliminating the scourge of human smuggling, and lauded the monarch’s leadership and direct involvement in the crusade to end trafficking in the state.

“We note that the Benin monarchy has taken the lead in state-wide efforts to prevent young people from being trafficked. Survivors with whom we have interacted confirm that the King’s nullification last year of all oaths sworn by trafficking victims had a remarkable impact, by neutralising the psychological hold of the trafficking syndicates and encouraging survivors to return home. This, in addition to the laudable efforts of the Oba Ewuare II Foundation, continues to bring freedom to many,” he noted.

44 BUSINESS DAY NEWS Oradian’s Cloud solution aiding MFBs promote Financial Inclusion in Nigeria SEGUN ADAMS

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radian Software Company is promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria by providing cloud-based technology services for Microfinance Banks (MFBs) to reach more unbanked population.

In Nigeria, where the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is striving to reach 80 percent financial inclusion by 2020, MFBs are looking to implement cloud-based core banking systems that enable them to maximise operational efficiencies and extend their reach to unbanked communities.

To do so, MFBs must build and implement IT strategies that enable growth, sustainability, profitability and impact.

Oradian’s cloud-based banking platform offers enhanced security and enables growth without the burden of incremental costs associated with on-premise systems and positions banks to better serve their clients.

Instafin, Oradian’s cloud-based core banking platform, is software built specifically to cater to the everyday needs of financial institutions serving microfinance clients.

As a banking platform, Instafin offers automatic and continuous consolidation of all operations and branches. This means that financial institutions’ client data is available in real-time and enables constant monitoring of business performance. Real-time data consolidation from an MFB’s branches to the head office allows instant access to all data with one click.

Instafin’s uptime is constantly tracked and reached 99.97% in 2018, meaning less than 2 hours of downtime per year.

These downtimes are planned by Oradian and take place outside of financial institutions’ working hours. In case of unexpected issues, MFBs can continue operating and serving their clients by using the Instafin mobile app with offline capabilities.

This solution is improving the operations of many Nigerian MFBs in remote areas where challenges of weak connectivity and downtimes cause banks to struggle with system downtime, inefficiencies and delays.

These operational lags adversely affect End-of-Day (EOD) or End-of-Month (EOM) processing, when MFBs consolidate data from the day or the month into cohesive reports.

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Oil heads for its best first quarter since 2002 on Russia

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il was steady near a four-month high after Russia reaffirmed its commitment to production cuts by the OPEC+ coalition and disruptions in Venezuela added to signs of tightening supply.

Futures in New York were little changed after rising 1.9 percent in the previous session.

Russia, the world’s second-biggest crude producer, is on track to reach its pledged output cut of 228,000 barrels a day by the end of March, Energy Minis-

ter Alexander Novak said.

Venezuela’s main oil ports were said to remain shut on Tuesday after a power outage halted exports a day earlier.

Oil is poised for the best quarterly gain since 2009 as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies curbed production to clear excess inventories. Signs the US shale boom is running out of steam, power outages in Venezuela and American sanctions on Iran are also supporting prices, while the outlook for demand remains uncertain as investors wait to see if the US and

China can resolve their trade war. “Russia is making good on its promise,” said Takayuki Nogami, chief economist at Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. in Tokyo.

“Investors are becoming more confident they can trust Russia’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, and supply disruptions in Venezuela are raising concerns the market will tighten further.”

West Texas Intermediate for May delivery dropped 8 cents to $59.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 7:45 a.m. in London. The contract

climbed $1.12 to $59.94 on Tuesday. It has risen 32 percent so far this quarter.

Brent for May settlement rose 19 cents to $68.16 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract advanced 76 cents, or 1.1 percent, on Tuesday.

The global benchmark crude was at a premium of $8.29 to WTI. “We are going in this direction,” Novak said in Moscow, when asked if Russia has already reached the pledged 228,000 barrel-aday cuts from its October baseline. He said earlier this

month the nation is targeting cutting output to that level by the end of March.

In Venezuela, the ports of Jose and Puerto La Cruz – which account for about 89 percent of the country’s crude exports – remained shut Tuesday, according to a person with the knowledge of the situation.

The blackout, the second in less than three weeks, also disrupted production at state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s joint ventures with Chevron Corp., Rosneft PJSC, Equinor ASA and Total SA in the Orinoco Belt.

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William Barr’s backing of Donald Trump sets up showdown with Congress Democrats focus ire on attorney-general’s move to clear president of obstruction of justice KADHIM SHUBBER

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hen William Barr c l e a re d D o n a l d Trump on obstruction of justice on Su n d ay , t h e U S attorney-general held true to a long-held and expansive view of presidential authority — and set himself up for a showdown with Congress.

Mr Barr, a veteran Republican lawyer, oversaw the end of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion and possible obstruction of justice by Mr Trump.

On collusion, Mr Mueller said there was no case to be brought, according to Mr Barr’s summary of the special counsel’s final report that has not been published openly.

On obstruction, however, the special counsel declined to offer a definitive judgment. “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” Mr Mueller wrote.

Mr Barr stepped in and told Congress the president was in the clear, saying there was insufficient evidence to prove that obstruction had occurred.

“Barr went where Mueller decided not to go,” said David Kris, a former head of the justice department’s national security division.

That decision is now the subject of fierce controversy, as Democratic lawmakers focus their ire on Mr Barr in the absence of a finding of criminal conspiracy by Mr Mueller, who

spent almost two years investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 election.

Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives judiciary committee, has promised to haul Mr Barr in to testify about his declaration that Mr Trump did not obstruct justice.

“His conclusions raise more questions than they answer given the fact that Mueller uncovered evidence that in his own words does not exonerate the president,” he said at a press conference on Sunday.

Mr Barr returned to head up the Department of Justice in February after more than two decades in the private sector. His last stint in government culminated in him serving as attorney-general under George HW Bush in the early 1990s.

He was part of a wave of conservative lawyers who sought to bolster the power of the presidency, which had waned relative to Congress in the post-Watergate era.

The attorney-general’s views on presidential authority were on display in a 2018 memo he wrote about the Mueller investigation before rejoining government. Mr Barr shared it with the justice department and the president’s lawyers.

Mr Barr argued forcefully against prosecuting Mr Trump for obstruction in connection with acts authorised by the constitution, as opposed to actions such as destroying documents.

He said that the president, as head of the executive branch, had the right to ask James Comey, the then FBI director, to go easy on

US attorney-general William Barr, above, controversially ‘went where [Robert] Mueller decided not to go’ on the issue of obstruction of justice following the special counsel’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election © Getty

Michael Flynn, Mr Trump’s former national security adviser who lied about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, and to subsequently fire Mr Comey.

Even if a president terminated an investigation of himself, that would not be obstruction of justice, Mr Barr argued.

“There is no legal prohibition — as opposed [to] a political constraint — against the president acting on a matter in which he has a personal stake,” he wrote.

Mr Barr said in his letter on Sunday that Mr Mueller had de-

clined to come to a decision on obstruction and instead simply laid out “evidence on both sides of the question”.

In the letter, issued 48 hours after the special counsel filed his final report, the attorney-general gave his own rationale for clearing the president, a decision that included Rod Rosenstein, the outgoing deputy attorney-general.

Mr Rosenstein was the official who first appointed Mr Mueller after the firing of Mr Comey, and is credited with helping to protect the investigation. He also wrote the

memo the president used to justify Mr Comey’s dismissal.

A justice department official said the special counsel’s team had given Mr Barr and Mr Rosenstein an advance briefing on Mr Mueller’s report on March 5, and informed them that it would not include a conclusion on obstruction.

Mr Barr pointed to the absence of an underlying crime of collusion and said it undermined the idea that Mr Trump was engaged in a cover up of that crime, an argument he had referenced in his 2018 memo.

India touts military capability with launch US regulator starts probe into money laundering at Swedbank US companies struggle to pass on rising labour, transportation and raw materials costs of anti-satellite missile Move comes ahead of April elections and amid tensions with Pakistan AMY KAZMIN

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ndia successfully tested a new anti-satellite missile on Wednesday — a move that Prime Minister Narendra Modi said had catapulted the country into the space “super-league” but which analysts said risked drawing international opprobrium.

The test, which puts India into the small group of countries that could attack its enemies’ satellites in space, comes just weeks ahead of a general election that has been increasingly focused on national security following the worst military conflict with Pakistan in decades.

Until now, only the US, Russia and China have developed antisatellite weapons. New Delhi said the test used a ballistic missile defence interceptor, which is also part of India’s ongoing ballistic missile defence programme.

“India stands tall as a space power,” Mr Modi said in an unusual lunchtime television address in which he announced that New Delhi had carried out the test and destroyed an Indian satellite in low-earth orbit. “It will make India stronger, even more secure and will further peace and harmony.”

With voting in India’s general elections starting on April 11, some security analysts said the timing of the announcement suggested that

the main target was India’s domestic electorate, rather than any of New Delhi’s international strategic rivals such as Pakistan or China.

“This is more politics than strategic policy,” said Abhijit Singh, a security expert at the Observer Research Foundation. “Mr Modi’s supporters would want to see him project a strong image and this is exactly why he has done it. This is good theatre for the ruling party, and the government, which is why Modi announced it himself.”

Mr Singh said the decision to carry out the test was also “very risky. Modi knows for sure, as do many in India’s strategic establishment, that this is a test that is going to draw criticism from international observers”, who are likely to see it as a worrying escalation of an Asian arms race and the weaponisation of space.

Vipin Narang, a professor in nuclear strategy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the test was an important part of developing a missile shield that could help limit damage from a nuclear strike by a hostile neighbour such as Pakistan, a long-held goal of India’s nuclear strategists.

“This is a test of India’s ballistic missile defence system, which has all kinds of implications for nuclear strategy and damage limitation,” Mr Narang said. “If you are worried about Pakistan launching missiles out of the blue, this gives you a potential defence against it.”

RICHARD MILNE

U

S regulators are probing Swedbank over a series of money-laundering scandals in a dramatic escalation of the Swedish bank’s dirty-money problems.

The New York State Department of Financial Services wrote to Swedbank last month saying it was looking into seven separate matters involving the Swedish bank, according to a copy of the letter seen by the Financial Times.

News of the letter came on the same day that Swedish prosecutors raided Swedbank and only hours after it emerged that it handled €135bn of money from high-risk non-residents, mostly Russians, through its Estonian operation over the past decade.

The DFS letter, dated February 20, stated that New York was “currently undertaking several inquiries” related to Swedbank and its relationship to various other money-laundering scandals.

These involve lenders such as Danske Bank, Latvia’s ABLV, Cyprus’s FBME and Lithuania’s Ukio, as well as Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers.

The letter marks the first sign of interest by a US regulator in Swedbank’s actions following the announcement last month of a joint Swedish and Estonian supervisory probe into the largest bank in the Baltics.

The letter appears to have been

sparked by the DFS’s dissatisfaction with Swedbank’s responses to a previous enquiry on its links to Mossack Fonseca.

“From our review of the production it appears that this response may be incomplete, as it does not appear to apply to ‘the global operations of Swedbank,’ and instead excludes responsive information relating to parents, subsidiaries or other affiliates of Swedbank,” stated the letter, signed by DFS’s deputy superintendent for enforcement Megan Prendergast Millard.

New York’s DFS declined to comment on the letter. Swedbank said it was restricted by law to not commenting on communications with the DFS. But it added: “Swedbank co-operates fully and communicates clearly, truthfully and with good faith with all relevant authorities.”

The rapidly-expanding Swedbank scandal is only the latest in a series of dirty-money sagas ripping through Nordic banking. The US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission have already started investigations into Denmark’s Danske Bank while both Swedbank and Denmark’s Nordea are facing criminal complaints in the Nordic region over alleged money laundering.

The scandals at the three Scandinavian lenders amount to what could be the largest money-laundering operation in history, painting a picture of wealthy Russians and oligarchs from ex-Soviet states using

the Baltic outposts of well-known Nordic banks to move hundreds of billions into the western banking system over the course of a decade.

The Swedish Economic Crime Authority said on Wednesday it had begun a raid in connection with a probe into whether Swedbank broke insider information rules by disclosing to its largest shareholders in February that a television programme on money-laundering allegations against the bank was about to be broadcast.

Swedbank’s shares, already under pressure following a series of revelations about possible money laundering, were down more than 10 per cent at a new five-year low of SKr157.10 on Wednesday.

Prosecutors told the Financial Times they hoped to provide more information, including whether the investigation could be widened, later in the day when the raid was concluded.

Swedbank confirmed it had been raided in connection with an insider information investigation.

“At this point of time, no individual or legal entity has been served suspicion of a crime,” it said, adding that it would co-operate with the authorities.

Swedbank is facing several new allegations including that it had misled US regulators and that it handled payments that found their way from the former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich to Donald Trump’s ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort.

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FT Unions warn Deutsche Bank over planned Commerzbank merger

Ethiopian ethnic rivalries threaten Abiy Ahmed’s reform agenda Premier’s stellar reputation gets frosty reception among formerly dominant Tigrayans

Senior worker representatives threaten to scupper Postbank integration if deal goes ahead

DAVID PILLING

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OLAF STORBECK

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nion bosses have warned Deutsche Bank’s top management that they will scupper the integration of Postbank, which it bought nearly a decade ago, if a merger with Commerzbank goes ahead.

Deutsche and Commerzbank started formal talks this month over a deal that would create the eurozone’s second-largest bank, with €1.9tn in assets and more than 140,000 employees.

While the German finance ministry is in favour of the merger, analysts and most large shareholders are sceptical of a deal that faces a number of hurdles and may be hard to turn into a success. Worker representatives make up half the supervisory boards of both banks and have unanimously rejected the merger. A senior Deutsche manager said he could not imagine any scenario under which unions would agree.

In a meeting with Deutsche’s deputy chief executive Karl von Rohr and its top retail banker Frank Strauss last Friday, Frank Bsirske, boss of the Verdi union, and other senior worker representatives threatened to terminate the Postbank talks if the Deutsche-Commerzbank deal goes ahead, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Germany’s largest lender has so far spent more than €3bn on the integration of Postbank, which it acquired in several steps between 2008 and 2010.

By the end of the week, Verdi will also start limited walkouts at branches of both Deutsche and Postbank. Formally, the action is about demands for a 6 per cent pay rise and better working conditions. “But we can expect that the threat of a merger will motivate employees to protest,” said Jan Duscheck, another Verdi representative who sits on Deutsche’s supervisory board.

Deutsche declined to comment.

After abandoning a costly and protracted first attempt at integrating Postbank in 2015, Deutsche decided to carve out the retail bank and put it up for sale, only to backtrack on the decision in 2017.

The current plan is to fully merge Postbank and Deutsche’s retail banking operations and create a “bank for Germany” with joint assets of €275bn and more than 20m retail customers.

Deutsche wants to lower annual costs by €900m by 2022. The bank expects to spend €1.9bn to do this.

Last year, Deutsche finished the legal process of merging the two retail businesses and named the unit’s senior management.

However, less than a quarter of the targeted annual cost savings have been achieved so far.

Talks with unions about how to merge the day-to-day operations of the two retail banks started in January. Deutsche hopes to come to a conclusion over the integration of the head office functions by mid-2019 and wants to reach an agreement over operations and IT by the end of this year.

Thursday 28 March 2019

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Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika pictured in June 2012 with General Ahmed Gaed Salah © Reuters

Algerian opposition rejects military’s move to appease protesters Politicians say ditching Bouteflika and calling elections will not satisfy demonstrators HEBA SALEH

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pposition figures have rejected a move by Algeria’s military to have the country’s ailing president declared unfit for office, saying it had come too late and did not meet the demands of angry demonstrators hungry for change.

Under huge pressure after five weeks of demonstrations, Ahmed Gaid Salah, the army chief of staff and a pillar of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s regime, on Tuesday called on the country’s constitutional council to begin a process to declare the post of the president vacant so that new elections could be held within three months.

But opposition politicians argued that the move to jettison the incapacitated figurehead was part of a bid by the regime to ensure its own survival as it struggled to respond to the biggest street protests in decades.

Soufiane Djilali, who last year set up a movement to campaign against a fifth term for Mr Bouteflika, said in a video posted on Twitter that the military’s plan would bring “new dangers” because the process would be prepared by regime officials and institutions.

The transition period would be led by the Speaker of the upper chamber of parliament, Abdelkader Bensalah, a longstanding regime figure, while the prime minister appointed this month by Mr Bouteflika

and the insiders who until recently backed him would be likely to oversee the election arrangements.

“Neither the opposition nor the people will accept it,” Mr Djilali said of the military’s move. “There has to be a final end to this regime, and every official who was complicit with it should go so we can enter the new era we all demand.” He called for a short transition of “six months or a year led by faces trusted

by Algerians”.

Moustapha Bouchachi, a human rights lawyer who has been put forward by some in the protest movement as a possible future president, also doubted whether the army’s move would be enough.

“This is a way of manoeuvring round the demands of the protest movement,” he said. “I think we will see on Friday [the traditional day of protest] that the young people come out to demonstrate in great numbers to send a message voicing their rejection of this process.

“I hope the military . . . listen and realise that they [Algerians] do not want to build their future with officials from a corrupt regime.”

He also called for the appointment of a new unity government made up of respected non-partisan figures that would prepare the ground for fresh elections.

Mr Bouteflika, 82, was paralysed by a stroke six years ago which impaired his ability to speak. He has not spoken in public in that time and is rarely seen at official events.

His decision to seek a fifth term in

office sparked huge demonstrations across the North African country, a leading supplier of gas to Europe. A subsequent attempt to appease the protesters by postponing the April 18 presidential poll and a pledge that he would lead a transition period to introduce reforms also failed to calm public anger.

With further mass protests expected on Friday, analysts said that continued pressure by protesters could bring more concessions from a weakened regime.

“There is no military or political official who can now confront the street,” said Nacer Djabi, a professor of sociology in Algiers who described himself as “optimistic” of meaningful reform. “It is normal that the regime tries to skirt the demands of the people, but the balance of power has changed.”

He said the army was not the same as in the 1990s when it cancelled elections to prevent Islamists from winning, and that the current military leadership did not want to be involved in politics.

A new government, independent electoral commission, and free access to the media for all presidential candidates could still be wrested from the regime, he argued.

Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of Algerian life have joined the leaderless protest movement mobilised largely via social media. The demonstrations have remained peaceful, with both the protesters and the security services careful not to spark violence.

Barclays investment bank boss steps down in shake-up Tim Throsby to leave after barely two years as activist investor keeps up pressure STEPHEN MORRIS

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arclays said on Wednesday its investment bank head, Tim Throsby, has resigned after barely two years in charge of the closely watched division at the British lender.

Mr Throsby’s surprise departure comes alongside a host of other executive changes and a restructuring of the division in general, which has been under attack from an activist investor.

Chief executive Jes Staley was named head of the legal entity that houses Barclays’ investment bank and non-UK businesses. He also promoted chief operating officer Paul Compton, his right-hand man, to president of the same division “I believe we need a more granular execution focus on the

businesses within the [investment bank] if we are to drive those returns, in a reasonable timeframe, towards and above that cost of capital,” Mr Staley said in the statement.

“And so I have decided to change the leadership model for that business, de-layering the organisation in order to bring oversight and accountability for the performance . . . much closer to me as the Group CEO.” Under Mr Staley, Barclays has made a big bet on investment banking, bulking up whilst most European rivals cut back operations in the area.

However, the investment bank has been the target of an activist investor, Edward Bramson, who built up a 5.5 per cent stake in Barclays and wants to see the low-returning trading operations

radically cut back.

However, recently the unit has posted a series of better than expected performances and other large shareholders have expressed doubts about backing Mr Bramson’s campaign to get himself named to the board.

“Over the past two years [Tim Throsby] has made a significant contribution to the progress of Barclays International,” the bank said in a statement. “We are grateful to Tim for his stewardship . . . and for his service to the group more broadly. We wish him well for the future.”

Other changes include New York-based Joe McGrath being named global head of banking, running the bank’s M&A advisory, and debt and equity capital markets units. He will also join the bank’s top executive committee.

ver since Abiy Ahmed became prime minister of Ethiopia last April, Africa’s youngest leader has been hailed as one of the most progressive figures on the continent. A former army intelligence officer who has forged peace with Eritrea, packed his cabinet with women and overseen the mass release of political prisoners, he has been greeted as a national saviour by many of Ethiopia’s 105m people.

But enthusiasm for Mr Abiy, 42, stops in Tigray, Ethiopia’s northernmost state and a dominant force in national politics since a Tigrayan rebel army overthrew the hated Marxist Derg regime in 1991.

For many of the 5m-plus residents of Tigray, Mr Abiy is not so much saviour as threat. If the gloss eventually comes off the prime minister’s story, that process will have begun in Tigray.

To the region’s people, Mr Abiy’s shake-up of the Ethiopian state, which has targeted Tigrayans in top positions, is widely seen as biased and vindictive.

Even his rousing talk of national unity is viewed as an attack on the federal constitution, which devolves significant powers to nine ethnically defined territories, including Tigray.

“Concentrating on one ethnic group is dangerous,” said Debretsion Gebremichael, acting president of the Tigray region, who added that Mr Abiy’s crackdown on corruption had an anti-Tigrayan bias. Adding that he initially opposed Mr Abiy’s selection as chairman of the ruling coalition and hence prime minister last year, he said: “I told him: ‘You are immature. You are not the right candidate’.”

Mr Abiy’s frosty reception in Tigray has important implications for the prime minister’s ability to steer one of Africa’s most successful economic experiments through treacherous political waters.

Ethiopia’s economy has grown at 10 per cent a year for more than a decade, according to official figures, and recently surpassed Kenya’s as the biggest in east Africa. The government has been implementing a detailed plan modelled on the likes of South Korea and Taiwan to turn Africa’s second-most populous nation into a manufacturing hub and middle-income economy.

The antagonism Mr Abiy provokes in Tigray could portend broader troubles ahead for a leader whose reputation is being subtly recalibrated as the scale of his task becomes clearer in a country that is a mosaic of some 80 ethnic groups, many of them pushing for greater autonomy.

In Aksum, a former capital founded some 2,500 years ago and one of Tigray’s main tourist attractions, Eseyas Kesese, a guide, has nothing but contempt for the prime minister. “He’s talking love, love, love, but doing nothing,” he says. “I don’t even think of him as my leader.”

Thursday 28 March 2019

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US chipmakers slide after Germany’s Infineon issues profit warning Semiconductor producer cuts guidance on economic uncertainty and weaker demand PETER WELLS

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nfineon Technologies has cut its revenue and earnings guidance for 2019 owing to “continued global economic uncertainties and weaker end market demand”, dragging its own shares lower by more than 8 per cent and triggering declines for rival US-listed chipmakers.

The German semiconductor maker said business indicators pointed to a slower demand recovery than expected and also singled out that the declining trend of vehicle sales in China had sped up in February, which in turn pushed dealer inventories higher and blunted demand for the company’s chips that are used in vehicle electronic systems.

The profit warning creates a somewhat puzzling climate for investors, given less than a week ago a more upbeat outlook for the second half of this year from US group Micron Technology — as well as a dovish outlook from the US central bank — helped drive a benchmark of chipmakers to within points of a record high close on March 21.

Infineon said on Wednesday it expects revenue of €8bn in its 2019 fiscal year ending September 30, plus or minus 2 per cent, predicated on a euro at $1.15. Although that is up from €7.6bn in 2018, the new figure is nearly €300m below that implied by the company’s previous forecast for year-on-year sales growth of 9 per cent. It also falls short of the median forecast of €8.24bn among analysts in a Thomson Reuters survey.

The company’s segment result margin is now expected to be 16 per cent, down from the 17.5 per cent prediction issued at the company’s most recent results in early February.

Infineon shares were down as much as 8.6 per cent on Wednesday, before trimming the decline

to 4.4 per cent in afternoon trade on the German bourse.

That saw rival chipmakers hovering around the bottom of the ladder in the US indices. Western Digital, down 2.9 per cent, Advanced Micro Devices, down 2.5 per cent, Qualcomm, down 2.3 per cent and Seagate Technology, down 2.2 per cent, were among the bottom performers in the S&P 500. Among the big names, Intel was down 0.2 per cent while Nvidia was off 0.3 per cent.

The Philadelphia semiconductor index, which tracks 30 US-listed companies that design, distribute, make and sell chips, was down 1.3 per cent this morning at 1,378.89. The index, which trades under the ticker Sox, closed about 4 points from a record high last Thursday.

In 2018, chipmakers fell from their summer peak as many warned of slowing demand, particularly in China. They were given an additional knock from early October when Jay Powell gave a strong hint the Federal Reserve was set to keep raising interest rates this year. That triggered a broad sell-off in so-called growth stocks, particularly tech names.

In 2019, the Fed abruptly changed its tune and last week said it no longer expected to raise benchmark borrowing costs this year: the market thinks it may even be forced to cut rates. The European Central Bank has also pushed plans for interest rises far out, meaning global monetary policy settings now look decidedly dovish.

Fast-growing stocks like tech names are the ones to hold assuming a steady interest rate environment revives economic growth, and such optimism may have been a key reason why investors have been able to bid the semiconductor sector higher despite the varied outlook its companies have been painting.

Saudi Aramco set to buy majority stake in Sabic State oil company has been in talks for months to acquire holding in petrochemicals giant SIMEON KERR, ANJLI RAVAL AND ARASH MASSOUDI

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audi Aramco is set to sign a deal on Wednesday to acquire a majority stake in the kingdom’s petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, or Sabic.

The state oil company has been in talks for months to buy the kingdom’s sovereign Public Investment Fund stake in the Riyadh-listed petrochemicals firm.

“It’s imminent,” said one person briefed on the transaction.

“It is happening today.”

Saudi Aramco is due to announce an acquisition of the PIF’s full 70 per cent stake in Sabic for a price less than the rumoured $70bn, two people said.

The deal, first reported by Bloomberg, aims to transfer funds to the PIF, the preferred vehicle of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, to carry out economic reforms seeking to diversify the kingdom away from oil.

The kingdom is planning to issue a $10bn bond to partly fund the purchase of the PIF’s controlling stake.

Wall Street extends slide as investors flee for safety of bonds PAN KWAN YUK

U

S stocks took a sharp leg lower, extending their early morning declines, as investors ditched equities and fled to the safety of bonds amid mounting expectations that slowing global growth would force the world’s major central banks to kick start another round of monetary easing.

The S&P 500 was 1 per cent lower at 2,789 at midday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.9 per cent to 25,440.94, while the Nasdaq Composite — weighed down by losses in the semiconductor sector — shed 1.4 per cent to 7,584.

The selling was broad-based with defensive stocks like utilities being relegated alongside high growth technology stocks to the bottom of the S&P 500 on Wednesday.

The move away from equities comes as global government bonds resume their rally, with yields falling across a range of maturities following more dovish headlines on global monetary policy.

New Zealand’s central bank became the latest to echo concerns from policymakers overseas over the outlook for the world economy this week when it said it would likely cut interest rates this year.

This follows the US Federal

Reserve’s move this month to ditch further rate rises this year after it lowered its forecast for US economic growth in 2019.

The inversion of the threemonth and 10-year Treasury yield curve — which is seen as an indication of a coming recession — has prompted investors to price in an increasing possibility that the Fed will go even further and cut interest rates to keep the US economy humming.

Fed fund futures, derivatives contracts that investors use to wager on interest rates, are now pointing to a 75 per cent chance of a rate cut before the end of the year, up from 39 per cent a week ago.

Industry must turn words into action on superbugs, says Jim O’Neill Biotech companies need big pharma to bring innovative antibiotics to market CLIVE COOKSON

H

ealth experts have intensified criticism of the pharmaceutical industry for failing to respond to the rise of drug-resistant superbugs by developing new antibiotics, at a meeting called by Wellcome, the London-based medical research charity.

Jim O’Neill, author of a 2016 UK government review of antimicrobial resistance, accused pharma companies of “spewing out nonsense about their commitment to producing antibiotics”.

“If they produced one-tenth of the commitment in their words, we would be getting somewhere,” he said.

Lord O’Neill, chair of the Chatham House think-tank and a former Goldman Sachs chief economist, was supported by Tim Jinks, head of Wellcome’s drug-resistant infections programme, who said: “Science can’t solve this problem on its own. We need to overhaul the economics to fix the broken antibiotic market.”

“Small biotech companies are

becoming the innovation engine for antibiotics,” said Mr Jinks. But he said they needed the resources of big pharma companies to pick up promising new drugs and take them through clinical trials into the market.

Only three large pharma companies remained seriously engaged in antibiotic development, according to Wellcome, while in 1980 there were 25.

The fundamental problem is that companies do not expect the market to generate sales revenues from new antibiotics that would come close to recouping development costs and delivering a profit, because the drugs would be held in reserve to treat the sickest patients for short periods.

Lord O’Neill continues to advocate a “play or pay” mechanism to fix the market. An international body such as the World Health Organisation would levy a small charge, perhaps 2 per cent, on all drug sales by pharma companies that do not have antibiotic development programmes.

This would help to fund a market entry prize of $1bn to $1.5bn for each genuinely novel

antibiotic that meets a defined medical need. Lord O’Neill said that more than $10bn would be required to reward the developers of the range of new antibiotics required to combat different pathogens; some of the funding might come from governments as well as an industry levy.

The government’s first action in response to the O’Neill review came in January when it said that it would work with the industry to develop a new antibiotics payment model based on the value of the drugs to the National Health Service rather than on sales volume.

The industr y said at the scheme’s launch that it wanted the payment model to be operational by the end of this year.

Sheuli Porkess, deputy chief scientist at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said: “We have been working closely with the government for the last two years, and companies are ready and waiting to start testing [the] new model which will support antibiotics R&D this year. We shouldn’t write off this plan before we’ve tried it.”

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ANALYSIS How Facebook could target ads in age of encryption Zuckerberg promises privacy, but experts warn metadata can be mined to build behavioural profiles HANNAH MURPHY

M The other side of Chinese investment in Africa Beyond the Belt and Road infrastructure projects, thousands of entrepreneurs from China are also setting up on the continent

EMILY FENG AND DAVID PILLING

W

ilson Wu has big plans for the free trade zone he mana g e s i n Ig b e s a , a scruffy town in Ogun State, some 60km from the frenzy of Lagos, Nigeria’s huge commercial capital.

Casting his gaze over what is today a small cluster of industrial warehouses surrounded by mud roads and bush, Mr Wu can see an altogether brighter future. “We will have a five-star hotel, a golf club, a Walmart,” he says in a well-rehearsed pitch. “It will be like Dubai.”

An electrical engineer by profession, Mr Wu’s journey to west Africa followed an assignment as a young man in Myanmar, where he worked for Power Construction Corporation of China, a state-owned group, upgrading the electricity grid. In 2011, hungry for more adventure, he packed his bags and headed for Nigeria, where, still barely 30 years old, he was tapped up to manage the Ogun State free trade zone, a private-public project in which the local government provides the land and Chinese enterprise the capital.

Mr Wu is one of hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens — a common estimate is about 1m — who have ventured to Africa over the past two decades to seek their fortune. Like many who have ended up there, he sees in Africa’s raw energy and ambition an echo of the forces that were unleashed by Deng Xiaoping’s reforms of 1978.

“It is like the China of the 1970s and 1980s when you could open a business and maybe earn a fortune,” he enthuses. “Those kind of fortunes are not possible in China today.”

People like Mr Wu have been persuaded to test their ambition in far-flung corners of the world by tougher business conditions in China, where rising labour costs, industrial overcapacity and more stringent environmental standards are taking their toll. While many entrepreneurs have looked closer to home, to countries such as Cambodia, others have struck out to Africa.

It is China’s massive infrastructure projects, including dams, railways, ports and telecommunications networks, that capture most attention. Between 2000 and 2014, the stock of Chinese investment in Africa went from 2 per cent of US levels to 55 per cent.

McKinsey estimates that, at the current breakneck pace, China will surpass US levels within a decade.

Washington has belatedly woken up to China’s growing presence which is transforming both the physical and diplomatic landscape of Africa. In December John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, accused

China of using “bribes, opaque agreements and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands”.

Yet large companies such as Huawei, and big state-affiliated companies, such as China Bridge and Road, are not the only Chinese actors reshaping the continent. What officials in Washington may not fully understand is that thousands of hardscrabble entrepreneurs like Mr Wu, involved in everything from retail and factories to farming, are having just as big an impact.

Irene Yuan Sun, an associate partner at McKinsey and author of a book on Chinese investment in Africa, says the influence is particularly strong in manufacturing.

“Chinese manufacturing investment is the best hope that Africa has to industrialise in this generation,” she says. “Chinese involvement in Africa is not just about statedriven efforts. A just as large, if not larger, component is these private enterprises, which are more job-intensive, which localise quicker and which have a much larger economic and social impact.”

When Mr Wu first came to Ogun, there was virtually nothing in place.

The state’s free trade zone he manages is majority-owned by Guangdong New South Group, a private Chinese conglomerate with interests in everything from medicine to coal mining. Mr Wu’s team was given a 2.24 sq km patch of land and told to get on with it.

Nigeria, like countries across Africa, has a huge infrastructure deficit. It lacks reliable power, water and all-weather roads. New South Group has had to build almost everything from scratch, including natural gaspowered generators and yet-to-be paved roads connecting the zone to Lagos and beyond.

“It is like managing a country,” Mr Wu says of the zone, which is designed to be an enclave of efficiency and stability in Nigeria’s notoriously unpredictable business environment. “We have our own customs, our own police, our own operations.

The government of Nigeria provided the land. We used all our own money to build everything else.”

After seven years in operation, the free trade zone has 50 registered companies, including two ceramic manufacturers producing tiles and plates, a steel-pipe plant and factories making everything from furniture to tomato sauce. There is a printing business, a plastic recycling company and another specialising in construction materials.

For Mr Wu, the next 15 to 20 years will see a massive expansion to 10,000 companies, 200 times the number today. “We will have eight different industrial sectors,” he says.

“We will have different zones for electronics, for tiles, construction. In the future, we will have a university

for research and development.”

“Nigeria has the conditions to be a factory of the world,” says Zhou Pingjian, China’s ambassador to Nigeria. “It should become the factory of the world.”

If that is Nigeria’s putative future, for now, Mr Wu and thousands of Chinese entrepreneurs in the country like him have to contend with the present. Manufacturing made up just 9 per cent of gross domestic product in 2017, according to the World Bank, and President Muhammadu Buhari — who was re-elected in February — has complained that Nigeria imports everything from toothpicks to tomato purée.

Like other countries in Africa, Nigeria’s manufacturing ecosystem has withered since the 1980s, partly thanks to a poorly executed industrial policy that saw the state lavish billions on white elephant projects.

An irony of Chinese entrepreneurs setting up factories in the country — and in other parts of Africa, such as Ethiopia and Rwanda — is that the import of cheap Chinese goods was another factor in destroying local production. Nigeria has also been hit by the oil exporter curse, which pushed up the exchange rate, making it cheaper to import finished goods than produce them.

The country’s once thriving textile industry is today a pale shadow of itself.

Because of a shortage of all but the most basic raw materials, most Chinese factories in Nigeria are limited to final assembly. They rely on imported parts and inputs, which means they need to access scarce foreign currency and coax supplies past sometimes obstructive port officials.

“The currency volatility is just too high,” says Wing Liao, the founder of Winghan, a Chinese furniture brand with a factory in Ogun state.

“When there is profit, a fluctuation in currency exchange rates can wipe it all out.”

To get hold of foreign exchange, Chinese entrepreneurs have had to get creative. Many say they buy Nigerian raw materials, such as timber and marble, which they then export to buyers in China or Europe in exchange for Chinese renminbi.

Rings of Chinese money-changers specialise in matching those needing foreign currency with willing Chinese buyers of Nigerian imports.

“Once the ship leaves port and has its papers signed by the port authorities, you can collect your money,” says Ban Yushi, manager of a Beijing-based mining company.

Lack of inputs and scarcity of foreign exchange are just two of the obstacles faced by Chinese entrepreneurs. Rightly or wrongly, they complain about the skill levels of Nigerian workers, the product of a state education system that has deteriorated over recent decades.

ark Zuckerberg believes the future of social networking lies in private messaging.

His convictions are so strong that he plans to merge the messaging services of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram into one encrypted system, meaning only the people who send and receive messages can view them.

But the Facebook founder has yet to say how the world’s biggest social media network, which generated $16.9bn in revenues in the fourth quarter of last year — largely from advertising on its news feed — will make money from such a radical overhaul.

Experts say there is one obvious solution: metadata, the vast amount of context surrounding a message that can be viewed even when the content is encrypted.

Even though Mr Zuckerberg has cast the shake-up as a pivot towards privacy, Facebook could still mine and analyse users’ messaging metadata to help build detailed profiles for targeted advertising, in a move that could irk privacy activists and even

vide precise details of the messaging metadata it currently collects, but said it was largely used to rank people by how often they use Messenger, as well as monitor for abuse and spam. The company also said it was too early to comment on how much or how little metadata it will gather when its three apps are integrated, although Mr Zuckerberg has suggested limiting how long metadata is stored for. Facebook hopes to launch the combined platform next year.

Still, experts argue there are reams of this “data about data” that Facebook could potentially collect if user habits shift more towards walled-off messaging.

According to Jon Callas, a senior technology fellow with the American Civil Liberties Union and a former encryption expert at Apple, the information could include the host website of links that are shared, and picture or file names if they are shared between users. Metadata could also help to classify what was in a photo — for example, a dog or a house — without a third party viewing the photo itself, he said.

“There could be a lot of intru-

Mark Zuckerberg is planning to merge the messaging services of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram into one encrypted system

regulators.

“By abstracting out and looking at who’s talking to who, for how long, and when . . . you can build up a very statistical picture of people very quickly,” said Alan Woodward, encryption expert and professor at the University of Surrey.

“In many ways, it is the context of what you say in those messages that is more important than the messages themselves,” he added.

Facebook has faced mounting pressure to give users more clarity and control over how their information is handled in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, as well as reports that it allowed device makers to access users’ personal data through special deals.

Earlier this month, Mr Zuckerberg responded to those concerns by announcing dramatic plans to integrate the three messaging services and introduce end-to-end encryption. At present, only WhatsApp encrypts users’ messages.

But the chief executive did not outline the group’s policy around metadata, which was first thrust into the spotlight in 2013 after it emerged in the Edward Snowden leaks that the National Security Agency collected phone call metadata of US citizens on a mass scale.

Facebook has declined to pro-

sive scanning going on while only having metadata,” he added.

Research suggests that by analysing these patterns of communication, it is possible to make relatively accurate predictions about people’s personal lives, such as their age, gender, sexual preferences or personality traits.

Sophisticated machine learning technology, where algorithms learn from large data sets and improve over time, can provide further insights. One 2018 study

by University College London researchers analysed the metadata alone of 10,000 Twitter users and found that it could match this information to their identity with approximately 96.7 per cent accuracy.

In the case of Facebook, the platform could also combine messaging metadata with the other personal information that it holds on users, such as what they like and share in its news feed, in order to build a behavioural profile of an individual and their friends.

“Applying statistical analysis to the metadata from messages with other data harvested by Facebook can lead to all kinds of inferences about what you are interested in, and predict what you might be interested in if exposed to it,” said Mr Woodward.

Thursday 28 March 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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Thursday 28 March 2019

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Wednesday 27 March 2019

Top Gainers/Losers as at Wednesday 27 March 2019 LOSERS

GAINERS

Closing

Change

SEPLAT

N550

N540

-10

DEALS (Numbers)

0.35

STANBIC

N48.5

N46

-2.5

N22

0.3

PRESCO

N64.5

N62

-2.5

VOLUME (Numbers)

N6.9

N7.1

0.2

GUINNESS

N64

N62.45

-1.55

VALUE (N billion)

N1.85

N2.03

0.18

N37.4

N36

-1.4

MARKET CAP (N Trn

Opening

Closing

Change

OKOMUOIL

N79

N80

1

N10.85

N11.2

N21.7

UBN CUTIX

CADBURY ZENITHBANK

Company

ASI (Points)

Opening

Company

GUARANTY

30,829.45 2,786.00 131,430,329.00 1.403 11.592

Global market indicators FTSE 100 Index 7,171.51GBP -24.78-0.34% S&P 500 Index 2,790.65USD -27.81-0.99% Generic 1st ‘DM’ Future 25,516.00USD -160.00-0.62%

Investors lose additional N79bn as negative sentiment persists on Nigerian Bourse Stories by Iheanyi Nwachukwu

N

igeria’s equities market closed on Wednesday March 27 on a negative note. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) depreciated further by 0.67percent at the sound of closing gong on the 9th floor of the Exchange.

The NSE ASI closed at 30,829.45 points as against preceding day high of 31,038.86points. The value of listed stocks decreased from N11.671 trillion to N11.592trillion, implying value decline of N79billion. The stock market’s Year-to-Date (YtD) return currently stands at -1.91percent. Only eleven (11) stocks gained against 19 losers.

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc recorded the highest value decline after its share price declined from N550 to N540, down by N10 or 1.82percent. Presco Plc also declined from N64.5 to N62, losing N2.5 or 3.88percent. Stanbic IBTC Holdings

Plc lost N2.5 or 5.15percent, from N48.5 to N46.

Guinness Nigeria Plc dipped from N64 to N62.45, losing N1.55 or 2.42percent; while GTBank Plc declined from N37.4 to N36, down

by N1.4 or 3.74percent. On

the gainers table, Okomu Oil Palm Plc recorded the highest share price advance, from N79 to N80, adding N1 or 1.27percent. Cadbury Nigeria Plc moved up from N10.85 to N11.2, adding 35kobo or 3.23percent.

Zenith Bank Plc increased from N21.7 to N22, up by 30kobo or 1.38percent.

Union Bank Plc rose from N6.9 to N7.1, up 20kobo or 2.90percent; while Cutix Plc increased from N1.85 to N2.03, adding 18kobo or

9.73percent.

In 2,786 deals, investors exchanged 131,430,329 units valued at N1.403billion. Actively traded stocks include Zenith Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, UBA Plc, and FCMB Plc.

L-R: Abolaji Oyebo, head of technology services, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Temitayo Sanusi, director of operations, Eagle Global Markets (EGM); Nsikan John, head of enterprise innovation hub, NSE; and Uchenna Minnis, chief market analyst, EGM during the NSE courtesy visit to EGM office in Ikoyi Lagos.

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 11,388.52EUR -30.96-0.27% Nikkei 225 21,378.73JPY -49.66-0.23% Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 3,022.72CNY +25.62+0.85%

ASHON unveils new identity at awards summit

I

n pursuit of its members’ expanded scope of operations, the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) is set to unveil a new corporate identity even as it has concluded arrangements to host 2019 Capital Market Summit on Friday, March 29 at Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos.

One of the highlights of the annual event is confinement of awards to some distinguished professionals in the financial markets. Scheduled to hold at Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos, the Summit is expected to attract a cream of capital market experts, policy makers, regulators and operators in the Nigerian Financial industry, Ify Ifejeize, ASHON’s Public Relations Officer said the event is to deliberate on critical issues of how to develop and deepen the Capital Market and proffer solutions to knotty challenges facing the economy in general and the capital market in particular.

Commenting on new logo and corporate name, Patrick Ezeagu, chairman, ASHON explained that the new name, Association of Securities Dealing Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) would be unveiled at the Summit.

EGM fintech innovation excites market

A

n elevated innovation and financial technology (fintech) push by Eagle Global Markets (EGM) is a delightful development in a developing economy like Nigeria.

In today’s financial world, the advancement in technology has helped bridge international boundaries, making the whole world behave like a single market.

EGM, an award winning fintech firm through its next generation ‘Cloudtrade’ Platform and MT4 Terminal gives access to competitive prices on thousands of markets in UK, US, Australia, China and Europe and more using our local currency (Naira).

The firm which sees enormous amount of opportunities in investing in the global markets believes

investors and traders alike should understand the dynamics that drive the valuation of any global asset price.

The firm noted this recently when representatives from the Enterprise Innovation Hub and Technology Services units of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) paid courtesy visit to its office in Ikoyi Lagos.

“It was a pleasure having the NSE at our office in Ikoyi and they were highly delighted to have the opportunity to present EGM to other Indigenous Brokers as investing in the Global markets provides alternative viable options for Nigerians in general looking to diversify their investment portfolio,” said Temitayo Sanusi, Director of Operations EGM. Sanusi noted that, “The importance of innovation and technology in our in-

dustry cannot be stressed enough and we look forward to having a beneficial business relationship in the near future.”

“Trading the global markets in Naira is quite a cutting-edge innovation as it brings convenience, comfort, flexibility and reachability for investing Nigerians”, Abolaji Oyebo, Head of Technology Services, NSE said during the courtesy visit to EGM. “We are highly impressed with the innovative Cloudtrade Platform as it provides immense opportunities for the Nigerian clientele as they get to trade global financial instruments in their local currency, Naira”, according to Nsikan John, Head of Enterprise Innovation Hub, NSE. “We are quite aware that aside the enormous amount of opportunities in invest-

ing in the global markets, there is the mandatory essence for investors and traders alike to understand the dynamics that drive the valuation of asset price”, said Uchenna Minnis, chief market analyst, EGM. “EGM provides one of the Best Educational services in the industry with frequent in-depth market analysis and update for the provision of efficient and effective support services to interested clientele,” he added.

EGM is not only making trading global markets possible, they also enable clients to perform the following: place international trades in naira (N); manage their trading account online from anywhere with advance Apps; access real-time market data to trade around the world and around the clock; monitor

international stocks with timely pricing information, news, independent research, and advanced charting.

EGM clients can also speak with dedicated international trading specialists; in addition to getting free training and resources on how to become a successful in trading.

Its Cloud Trade platform gives you access to CFDs ‘Contract For Difference’ which enables you to speculate on the rising or falling prices of fast-moving global financial markets; futures (a contract to buy specific quantities of a commodity or financial instrument at a specified price with delivery set at a specified time in the future.) and stocks (E.g. Apple shares, Netflix, Amazon , Facebook, Nike …etc.), with markets available 24 hours 6 days a week using Naira.

EGM MT4 (Meta Trader 4); EGM MT4 terminal is the most popular trading platform specifically built for forex traders, With 40 FX pairs, 13 Indices and 13 Commodities as well as Global Equities ready to trade 24 hours 6 days a week. Both are available as a downloadable trading platform on your desktop as well as on Android and iOS devices for mobile.

EGM offers its clients trading platforms where they trade over 1,000’s of financial instruments in major markets globally, and earn passive income daily.

The CloudTrade platform earned it the prestigious award of best “Digital Financial Platform of the Year 2018” by BusinessDay. The company had before then earned Proshare Markets’ Best Foreign Exchange Trading Platform of 2018.

Thursday 28 March 2019

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Thursday 28 March 2019

Live @ the Stock exchange Prices for Securities Traded as of Wednesday 27 March 2019 Company

Market cap(nm)

Price (N)

Change

Trades

Volume

Company

Market cap(nm)

Price (N)

Change

Trades

Volume

PRICES FOR MAIN BOARD SECURITIES (Equities) BANKING ACCESS BANK PLC. 185,139.02 6.40 -0.78 183 16,191,138 UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC 265,045.52 7.75 0.65 214 11,402,637 690,722.86 22.00 1.38 284 27,925,522 ZENITH BANK PLC 681 55,519,297 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FBN HOLDINGS PLC 288,957.11 8.05 -2.42 200 5,787,255 200 5,787,255 881 61,306,552 BUILDING MATERIALS DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 3,237,696.41 190.00 - 62 94,424 208,595.95 12.95 - 52 580,661 LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. 114 675,085 114 675,085

EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC 317,760.06 540.00 -1.82 23 72,246 23 72,246 23 72,246 1,018 62,053,883 REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS (REITS) SKYE SHELTER FUND PLC 1,710.00 85.50 - 0 0 UNION HOMES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST (REIT) 11,300.89 45.20 - 0 0 14,408.66 5.40 - 0 0 UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST 0 0 0 0 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS NIGERIA ENERYGY SECTOR FUND 411.91 552.20 - 0 0 3,312.39 103.20 - 0 0 VALUEALLIANCE VALUE FUND 0 0 0 0 0 0 CROP PRODUCTION FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC 440.00 0.20 - 0 0 OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. 76,312.80 80.00 1.27 17 127,681 PRESCO PLC 62,000.00 62.00 -3.88 20 596,395 37 724,076 FISHING/HUNTING/TRAPPING ELLAH LAKES PLC. 511.20 4.26 - 0 0 0 0 LIVESTOCK/ANIMAL SPECIALTIES LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. 1,890.00 0.63 - 7 175,308 7 175,308 44 899,384

DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. 820.66 0.31 - 5 45,523 JOHN HOLT PLC. 202.36 0.52 - 0 0 1,903.99 2.93 - 0 0 S C O A NIG. PLC. 50,403.51 1.24 2.48 55 3,446,192 TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC. 22,474.11 7.80 -2.50 22 153,581 82 3,645,296 82 3,645,296

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION ARBICO PLC. 711.32 4.79 - 0 0 0 0 INFRASTRUCTURE/HEAVY CONSTRUCTION JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. 36,300.00 27.50 - 5 25,291 ROADS NIG PLC. 165.00 6.60 - 0 0 5 25,291 REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC 4,313.34 1.66 - 13 284,520 13 284,520 18 309,811 AUTOMOBILES/AUTO PARTS DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC 954.53 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 BEVERAGES--BREWERS/DISTILLERS CHAMPION BREW. PLC. 11,352.77 1.45 - 6 21,792 GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. 242.22 0.89 - 2 79,000 GUINNESS NIG PLC 136,789.41 62.45 -2.42 42 219,076 INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. 223,492.41 26.00 - 8 10,967 NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 535,792.44 67.00 - 146 2,255,514 204 2,586,349 FOOD PRODUCTS DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC 55,000.00 11.00 -3.93 54 797,277 DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC 170,400.00 14.20 0.71 33 302,433 FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. 73,806.83 18.00 -5.01 39 251,027 HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 9,516.24 1.20 - 16 889,635 MULTI-TREX INTEGRATED FOODS PLC 1,340.10 0.36 - 0 0 N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. 766.26 4.30 - 4 1,775 NASCON ALLIED INDUSTRIES PLC 48,219.78 18.20 -4.21 29 893,327 UNION DICON SALT PLC. 3,676.41 13.45 - 0 0 175 3,135,474 FOOD PRODUCTS--DIVERSIFIED CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 21,035.86 11.20 3.23 56 1,178,543 NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 1,187,319.80 1,497.90 - 39 9,414 95 1,187,957 HOUSEHOLD DURABLES NIGERIAN ENAMELWARE PLC. 1,680.31 22.10 - 0 0 VITAFOAM NIG PLC. 4,940.83 3.95 - 8 26,024 8 26,024 PERSONAL/HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. 39,704.77 10.00 -1.96 27 219,955 UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. 224,055.21 39.00 - 49 788,505 76 1,008,460 558 7,944,264

BANKING DIAMOND BANK PLC 56,048.14 2.42 - 0 0 ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED 239,461.64 13.05 - 36 195,181 FIDELITY BANK PLC 66,642.03 2.30 0.88 57 5,715,481 GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 1,059,522.45 36.00 -3.74 162 1,306,330 JAIZ BANK PLC 15,321.41 0.52 3.85 9 1,343,000 SKYE BANK PLC 10,687.83 0.77 - 0 0 STERLING BANK PLC. 68,809.10 2.39 -0.42 71 25,014,528 UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 206,757.34 7.10 2.90 42 1,001,902 UNITY BANK PLC 9,819.04 0.84 - 7 33,222 WEMA BANK PLC. 28,159.36 0.73 -2.67 43 1,724,725 427 36,334,369 INSURANCE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES AFRICAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC 4,117.00 0.20 - 0 0 AIICO INSURANCE PLC. 5,197.65 0.75 - 6 63,014 AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC 23,100.00 2.20 - 4 300 CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC 2,357.70 0.29 - 1 10,000 CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC 19,811.94 1.91 - 0 0 CORNERSTONE INSURANCE PLC 3,093.20 0.21 - 4 1,365,000 GOLDLINK INSURANCE PLC 2,001.98 0.44 - 0 0 GUINEA INSURANCE PLC. 1,228.00 0.20 - 0 0 INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INSURANCE PLC 487.95 0.38 - 0 0 LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. 2,197.03 0.30 -3.23 12 1,167,200 LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. 2,191.13 0.51 - 5 120,857 LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC 4,400.00 0.55 - 2 5,500 MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. 1,920.00 0.24 - 5 331,792 NEM INSURANCE PLC 11,722.72 2.22 -5.53 25 542,725 NIGER INSURANCE PLC 1,625.29 0.21 -4.55 5 400,777 PRESTIGE ASSURANCE PLC 2,960.40 0.55 - 3 50,918 REGENCY ASSURANCE PLC 1,600.50 0.24 - 1 10 SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC 1,834.98 0.22 - 1 25,000 STACO INSURANCE PLC 4,483.72 0.48 - 0 0 STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. 2,582.21 0.20 - 0 0 SUNU ASSURANCES NIGERIA PLC. 2,800.00 0.20 - 0 0 UNIC DIVERSIFIED HOLDINGS PLC. 516.46 0.20 - 0 0 UNIVERSAL INSURANCE PLC 3,200.00 0.20 - 0 0 VERITAS KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC 2,773.33 0.20 - 1 100,000 WAPIC INSURANCE PLC 5,219.27 0.39 -2.50 33 1,118,315 108 5,301,408

MICRO-FINANCE BANKS FORTIS MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 11,799.67 2.58 - 0 0 NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 3,384.22 1.48 - 9 81,432 9 81,432 MORTGAGE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES ABBEY MORTGAGE BANK PLC 3,780.00 0.90 - 0 0 ASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC 7,370.87 0.50 - 0 0 INFINITY TRUST MORTGAGE BANK PLC 5,922.05 1.42 - 0 0 2,265.95 0.20 - 1 53,000 RESORT SAVINGS & LOANS PLC UNION HOMES SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC. 2,949.22 3.02 - 0 0 1 53,000 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AFRICA PRUDENTIAL PLC 7,800.00 3.90 0.78 67 1,331,183 35,879.37 6.10 -3.17 3 138,878 CUSTODIAN INVESTMENT PLC DEAP CAPITAL MANAGEMENT & TRUST PLC 660.00 0.44 - 0 0 38,417.26 1.94 2.06 80 7,420,982 FCMB GROUP PLC. ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. 1,492.16 0.29 - 4 54,184 STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC 471,065.44 46.00 -5.15 10 94,323 17,100.00 2.85 - 45 688,602 UNITED CAPITAL PLC 209 9,728,152 754 51,498,361 HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS EKOCORP PLC. 1,680.29 3.37 - 0 0 1,172.54 0.33 10.00 5 336,787 UNION DIAGNOSTIC & CLINICAL SERVICES PLC 5 336,787 MEDICAL SUPPLIES MORISON INDUSTRIES PLC. 544.04 0.55 - 4 3,658 4 3,658 PHARMACEUTICALS EVANS MEDICAL PLC. 366.17 0.50 - 0 0 7,425.00 4.95 - 0 0 FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. 12,915.47 10.80 - 17 21,880 MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. 4,226.83 2.45 - 11 127,861 1,177.48 0.62 - 6 34,094 NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC NIGERIA-GERMAN CHEMICALS PLC. 556.71 3.62 - 0 0 325.23 1.50 - 0 0 PHARMA-DEKO PLC. 34 183,835 43 524,280 COMPUTER BASED SYSTEMS COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS PLC 710.40 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS OMATEK VENTURES PLC 1,470.89 0.50 - 0 0 0 0 IT SERVICES CWG PLC 6,413.06 2.54 - 0 0 NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. 648.00 6.00 - 0 0 TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. 381.11 0.77 - 0 0 0 0 PROCESSING SYSTEMS CHAMS PLC 939.21 0.20 - 4 49,750 E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC 11,088.00 2.64 - 0 0 4 49,750 4 49,750 BUILDING MATERIALS BERGER PAINTS PLC 2,391.04 8.25 - 2 459 CAP PLC 26,180.00 37.40 - 5 6,850 CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC 262,870.02 20.00 - 11 172,359 633.11 0.30 - 1 50 FIRST ALUMINIUM NIGERIA PLC MEYER PLC. 313.43 0.59 - 5 22,056 1,999.41 2.52 - 0 0 PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC 1,279.20 10.40 - 0 0 PREMIER PAINTS PLC. 24 201,774 ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS AUSTIN LAZ & COMPANY PLC 2,256.91 2.09 - 0 0 CUTIX PLC. 3,575.48 2.03 9.73 15 281,610 15 281,610 PACKAGING/CONTAINERS BETA GLASS PLC. 35,972.99 71.95 - 1 183 GREIF NIGERIA PLC 388.02 9.10 - 0 0 1 183 AGRO-ALLIED & CHEMICALS NOTORE CHEMICAL IND PLC 100,754.14 62.50 - 0 0 0 0 40 483,567 CHEMICALS B.O.C. GASES PLC. 1,577.57 3.79 - 1 3,000 1 3,000 METALS ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION IND. PLC. 1,803.64 8.20 - 2 25,000 2 25,000 MINING SERVICES MULTIVERSE MINING AND EXPLORATION PLC 852.39 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 PAPER/FOREST PRODUCTS THOMAS WYATT NIG. PLC. 50.60 0.23 - 0 0 0 0 3 28,000 ENERGY EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC 1,252.54 0.20 - 16 2,446,599 16 2,446,599 INTEGRATED OIL AND GAS SERVICES OANDO PLC 70,859.05 5.70 - 38 342,765 38 342,765 PETROLEUM AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTORS 11 PLC 61,301.19 170.00 - 11 11,296 15,960.90 23.00 - 7 14,254 CONOIL PLC ETERNA PLC. 6,129.48 4.70 - 13 135,810 FORTE OIL PLC. 36,078.73 27.70 - 22 84,578 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 6,354.80 20.85 - 11 35,223 TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 66,546.28 196.00 - 7 1,061 71 282,222 125 3,071,586 ADVERTISING AFROMEDIA PLC 2,219.52 0.50 - 0 0 0 0 AIRLINES MEDVIEW AIRLINE PLC 17,551.17 1.80 5.88 1 193,490 1 193,490 AUTOMOBILE/AUTO PART RETAILERS R T BRISCOE PLC. 411.72 0.35 - 1 100 1 100 COURIER/FREIGHT/DELIVERY RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 3,242.23 5.50 - 6 105,000 TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. 323.50 0.69 - 1 593 7 105,593 HOSPITALITY TANTALIZERS PLC 642.33 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 HOTELS/LODGING CAPITAL HOTEL PLC 4,801.22 3.10 - 0 0 IKEJA HOTEL PLC 3,554.74 1.71 - 8 144,740 TOURIST COMPANY OF NIGERIA PLC. 7,862.53 3.50 - 2 1,100 TRANSCORP HOTELS PLC 41,042.18 5.40 - 5 2,383 15 148,223 MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC 4,800.00 0.40 - 0 0 0 0 PRINTING/PUBLISHING ACADEMY PRESS PLC. 199.58 0.33 - 5 110,410 LEARN AFRICA PLC 1,026.03 1.33 - 5 40,025 STUDIO PRESS (NIG) PLC. 1,183.82 1.99 - 6 5,050 UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. 819.68 1.90 - 18 41,918 34 197,403 ROAD TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC 812.27 0.49 - 3 119,728

BUSINESS DAY

Thursday 28 March 2019

53

CITYFile

Ekiti targets 85% daily water supply to communities AKINREMI FEYISIPO kiti State government says it is targeting 85 percent daily supply of potable water to various towns and communities in the state.

The permanent secretary in the state ministry of infrastructure and public utilities, Olumide Ajayi stated this during the commissioning of water supply facilities under the phase three of the European Union Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme ((EU-WSSSRRPIII) and supported by United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF) as part of activities marking the 2019 world water day celebration.

Ajayi explained government hoped to attain the water supply target feat through the rehabilitation of Egbe dam in Gbonyin local government area, mini water schemes, and sinking of boreholes in seven towns and communities of Ekiti West local government area, which is being be co-financed by the EU. According to him, under the third National Urban Water Sector Reform Programme (NUWSRP-3) with the support of the World Bank, the state has started the rehabilitation of Ero water supply dam and repair of the main transmission pipeline between Ifaki and Ado-Ekiti, which, upon completion, will ensure steady supply to nine local government areas of the state.

On the theme of year’s world water day; “leaving no one behind”, Ajayi said the rehabilitation and turn around maintenance of water assets in the state will have a combined capacity to meet the supply requirements of the state and will drastically solve the problem of low access to safe water supply in urban, small towns and the rural communities.

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Scene of a collapsed building at Kakawa Street on Lagos Island, on Monday.

EFCC arrests `Yahoo’ boys, recovers exotic cars in Oyo

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peratives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibadan zonal office, Oyo State, have arrested six `Yahoo’ boys and recovered five different models of exotic cars, laptops.

The acting head, media and publicity of the commission, Tony Orilade, made the disclosed in Abuja on Tuesday.

Orilade said other items recovered from the suspects include mobile phones and several documents containing false pretenses from the suspects.

According to him, the suspects are Tella Ibrahim, Awoniyi Abiodun, Oladele Wasiu, Olabiti Ajibola, Akeredolu Temidayo and Oyaremi Olabode.

“The raid on apartments within the Kolapo Ishola Estate in Akobo area of

Ibadan led to the arrest of the six young men between the ages of 24 and 30.

“Series of intelligence gathered on them suggested that they are deeply involved in all manners of fraudulent activities, including love scam, through which they illegally obtain money from unsuspecting victims.

“They will be charged to court as soon as investigations are completed,’’ he said.

NSCDC sets to shut illegal security outfits in A’Ibom …arrests 8 suspects, seizes 142, 000 litres of fuel ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, UYO he Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Akwa Ibom command, says it is going all out against unregistered and illegal security companies operating in any part of the state beginning from April this year.

The state commander of the corps, Adeyinka Ayinla issued the threat against the background of growing number of such companies in the state, saying it will no longer be business as usual. Ayinla said all affected companies must formalise their registration or face the full weight of the law.

“On my assumption barely a month ago, I called on the head of the department of

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private guards companies and the chairman of private guards companies in the state. We had a meeting and I have warned them that we do not want any unregistered private guard company in the state.

“I can assure you that from April, we are going to close all unlicensed private security guard companies in the state. We should allow the registered private guard companies to work. Those that are licensed can be rest assured of NSCDC’s protection,” said Ayinla while speaking with newsmen in Uyo. Meanwhile, the command has arrested eight suspects, impounded five trucks and 142, 000 litres of illegally siphoned petroleum products this month. Ayinla said that the suspects were arrested in two different locations during

Man bags 1 year for stealing

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n Abeokuta Magistrate Court has sentenced 42-year man, Dele Daudu, to one year imprisonment for burglary and stealing.

The magistrate, Olalekan Oke, pronounced the sentence following the plea of guilt by Daudu to a seven-count charge

of burglary and stealing.

Oke sentenced the convict to one year imprisonment on each count respectively with no option of fine. He, however, said that the jail term would run concurrently.

The prosecutor, Olu Balogun, told the

routine patrol by operatives of the command.

According to him, the corps is also monitoring unlicensed petroleum stations, adding that “as stakeholders, we are going to partner with other sister security agencies to ensure that there are no adulterated petroleum products in the state.”

He said some of arrested eight suspects have been charged to court while others were still under investigation and will be charged to court when investigation is completed.

On protection of critical infrastructure in the state, Ayinla warned vandals to steer clear all government and public infrastructure as the command would deal decisively with anyone caught vandalising them. court on Tuesday that the convict committed the offences on March 19 at OkeEjigbo area of Abeokuta.

Balogun said that the convict unlawfully broke into four houses in Oke-Ejigbo and stole the total sum of N90, 000.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened sections 390 and 413 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun 2006.

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Amosun tasks social workers on contributions to society RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta

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overnor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State has urged 134 social workers who are graduates of the Social Development Institute (SDI), Shasha, Iperu, to unlock their potentials and contribute their quotas to the development of the sate and the country at large.

Governor Amosun, who was represented at the 26th combined convention ceremony of the school by Jide Ojuko, commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, said the graduating social workers needed to discover themselves and be outstanding, asking them to make use of the skills and training acquired in the institution to empower themselves and impact the society.

“Our administration is proud of the achievement recorded and the tremendous role the institution is playing in moulding quality leaders, who have distinguished themselves in the community and voluntary organisations in Ogun State,’’ he said.

The commissioner for community development and cooperatives, Gbenga Adenmosun, said the institute prepared the students for the socio-economic challenges through capacity building, training and manpower development.

Speaking on behalf of the graduands, Sotuga Kehinde, thanked the government for sustaining the institute’s legacy and contributing to the development of the education sector in Ogun.

About 134 graduating social workers underwent a two-year diploma programme in social work and relevant courses for which they are expected to make positive impact on the people of the state and beyond.

BUSINESS DAY

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Opinion

Convert this anger into engagement The Public Sphere

CHIDO NWAKANMA

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nger roils the land. There is a generalised lack of satisfaction and anger in the citizenry after the fifth general election in Nigeria’s 4th Republic.

It has taken the shape of a fought republic in all areas as disputation grows over choice, denied choice from shenanigans with the electoral process, representation, governance and its outcomes.

There is angst in the streets. A fitting response to the street, also from the street, is the one that states that no matter how hot your anger, it cannot boil yams or cook stew. Citizens need to move beyond anger and outbursts on social media, the current replacement for previous watering holes of drinking pubs, salons and talk shops. Citizens should turn this anger into engagement in the political and governance process.

Many things account for the anger.

Topmost is dissatisfaction with the elections. The local elections for Governorship and State House of Assembly representation worsened the situation caused by the Presidential and National Assembly polls. Then the crass ineptitude and impunity witnessed during the

rerun elections in a few states took it to the very top.

There was the descent of the military into partisan political roles during the elections. Rivers State was the new battlefield where our military displayed an evident lack of professionalism. They were men on a slave’s errand and carried it out as slaves.

Top on the list, of course, is the flip flop of the Independent National Electoral Commission. The Inconclusive Nigerian Electoral Conundrum would continue to dominate discussions on how to improve our electoral performance and thus our democracy. Nigeria must strengthen its institutions, to minimise if not eliminate outrightly the obstacles on the path of officials performing their duties. It should be such that INEC should decide and implement electronic voting, as it initially planned, without the Executive standing in the way because of the plans of politicians to game the system.

Strong institutions would empower the Army, the Police, INEC and everyone inbetween who failed in the 2019 elections.

There was no institutional security or fall back for brave men of conscience who wanted to play by the book.

One of the consequences of the postelection season is the heightened attention of citizens to matters of government performance. The story of Success Edegor is now a part of our national social narrative. It threw up the issue of the failure of governments in providing suitable infrastructural facilities for those at the foundation of our educational system.

We train them in pigsties yet complain about the failings. The outcry caused the immediate action of the Delta State

Our military has arrived!

ik MUO

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ur people say that for every bird dancing by the roadside, there must be somebody beating the drums for it somewhere close by.

Our military has come a long way; from the days of generals who saw war in the Congo et al, to those who saw the Biafran war, to coup plotters who later became militicians, and now those who involved in several internal operations, including the boko-haram onslaught and those strange ones in which the pythons danced and crocodiles smiled. I watch everything, including the military and I can say without equivocation that based on some recent developments, our military has surely arrived. They have been effectively performing their primary function of defending Nigeria and Nigerians from external aggression, deter would-be aggressors and preserve our territory, people, culture and national security. But they have also extended their tentacles and influences, consciously or unconsciously and here are my ‘witnesses’.

In December 2014, the Nigerian army suspended the operations of UNICEF in the North-East, accusing the multilateral agency of working for boko haram. After all, the friend of my enemy is my enemy! Onyema Nwachukwu of OLD (Operation Lafiya Dole) pointedly accused UNICEF of abandoning its ‘primary duty of catering for the wellbeing of children and the vulnerable … and engag-

ing in training selected persons for clandestine activities to continue sabotaging the counter terrorism and counter insurgency efforts of troops through spurious and unconfirmed allegations bothering on alleged violations of human rights by the military’.

Later, that same day, the military lifted the suspension, following ‘interventions by wellmeaning and concerned Nigerians’ A few days later, the Nigeria army called for the closure of Amnesty International’s operations in the country for trying to destablise the country with fictitious claims.

That was after AI had reported that at least 3,641 people had died in clashes between farmers and herders in Nigeria since 2016, with more than half in 2018, stating that These attacks were well planned and coordinated…”Yet, little has been done by the authorities in terms of prevention, arrests and prosecutions, even when information about the suspected perpetrators was available’. There were even some public altercations between the army and AI on the mater, with the army avowing not to be discouraged and the Amnesty calling on the army to ‘do their job of protecting Nigerians rather than threatening human rights organisations’ The presidency joined the fray when through Shehu Garba it declared that ‘while President Buhari cherishes and encourages the noble ideals on which institutions like AI were founded, the organisation’s operations in Nigeria seem geared towards damaging the morale of the Nigerian military.“It often appears as if the Nigerian government is fighting two wars on terror: against Boko Haram and against Amnesty International….

“There is a credible information that the Nigerian branch of the International Nongovernmental Organisation is determined to destabilise the Nigerian nation.” These two spats with UNICEF and Amnesty were in December 2018 Just the other day, the Nigerian army

Government.

There are many instances of the Okotie Eboh Primary School. They call for active and engaged citizens as well as media.

The Nigerian government and democracy need illumination, and the media need more than ever before to “show the light, so the people can find the way” as the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe defined the mission of The West African Pilot.

We often pass the buck to the politicians. However, Mr Citizen would make or mar Nigeria’s democracy. More pointedly, educated Middle-Class citizens need to engage Nigeria’s democracy to give it life and direction. Their peers as school mates, members of various associations from clubs to churches and mosques, are the officials running and ruining things. They have the social leverage to call them to order. Everywhere, democracy entails citizen involvement.

It goes beyond registering to get a PVC and voting. Citizen engagement means monitoring and raising issues with our representatives on an ongoing basis for the next four years. Thankfully, there are indicators that this is growing after the locust years of military rule.

One of the ways of active citizen engagement would be knowing when the Delta State Government budgeted funds to fix the Okotie Eboh Primary School, how much was in the budget and who won the contract as well as the expected duration of the job. I have experienced firsthand the effect of “darkness” or lack of information in the lives of citizens and how it sustains lack of accountability.

I lived pre-1999 on Solo Ogun Street in Aguda, Surulere, Lagos. The road was terrible and cut into two by the mere

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By suspending the operations of UNICEF...and publicly calling for the closure of Amnesty operations and warning Britain ... it appears that the military has usurped the roles of the Federal Government and specifically, those of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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For Democracy Nigeriana to take proper roots and grow, it needs the ray of light from active and engaged citizens as well as a press that leads the way

warned the UK against interfering in Nigerian elections, following the concerns expressed by the British High Commission in Nigeria over the military interference in River state elections, which made it difficult for INEC staff to perform their functions.

The Nigerian army warned foreign interests against inference, especially where there is no credible evidence, stating that the statement is totally baseless, untrue and therefore capable of misleading unsuspected members of the public…’ The army blamed it all on the mischievous activities of some selfish individuals who recruited thugs dressed in military uniform and armed to harass and intimidate their opponents…and snatch ballot boxes and other electoral materials.

Meanwhile, INEC has officially bemoaned the activities of the military and some armed gangs in the Rivers elections, stating that collation centres were invaded by some soldiers and armed gangs resulting in the intimidation and unlawful arrest of election officials thereby disrupting the collation process.”, to demand neutrality and professionalism from security agencies. The Military has also set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the allegations and counter allegations.

We may well have to interrogate the involvement of the military in the last elections, especially, in Rivers State but my concern here is that our military now takes foreign-affairs related actions and makes foreign-affairs related statements. By suspending the operations of UNICEF, even if for one second and publicly calling for the closure of Amnesty operations and warning Britain against interference in Nigerian affairs, it appears that the military has usurped the roles of the Federal Government and specifically, those of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And since the government does not see anything wrong at that, I believe that our military has indeed arrived!

absence of a culvert. The residents’ association sent representatives to the Alausa seat of government. They reported that the files at Alausa claimed that the Government awarded a contract for the tarring of the road, and it the contractor had executed the job. File closed!

Such brazen fiction in accounts of government expenditure is possible because of the darkness around the operations of government. As The Washington Post asserts in its pay off, “Democracy dies in darkness”. For Democracy Nigeriana to take proper roots and grow, it needs the ray of light from active and engaged citizens as well as a press that leads the way.

Citizens are now freely asking questions on social media and would be a great help to the press.

Please find out the address of your state assembly representative and that of your councillor. Engage them. What is in the budget of your state for health, education, environment, civil works, primarily, but other areas as well? You may find that the primary school in your immediate vicinity has a budget for items and this has been recurring in the last eight years. Whodunnit? The media need to go beyond the headlines of budgets to throwing light on actual projects “earmarked” until they become “eye marked.” Engagement is the call on us all as citizens if we are to enable our democracy to succeed.

Nwakanma is a Visiting Member of the BusinessDay Editorial Board and serves on the Adjunct Faculty at the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos. Email chidonwakanma@ gmail.com.

Other matters: Fake ballot papers, fake soldiers, fake guns and fake armoured vehicles The voter no longer occupies the centrepiece of elections. They were first harassed by hoodlums who were easily chased away by policemen. Then militias, with Ak-47 et al took over from hoodlums and common thugs. The militants took over from the militias and the military was sent in to stop the militants. The military came in full swing in 2019; they did not bother with ballots, ballot boxes or small results; they went for the RECs, the highest collation centres and it went from hijack to heists. The problem is that the military now has two versions: the fake and the originals.

Owners of the original military would blame the hijack on the fake military and owners of the fake military would blame the original.. in the two-dimensional world of Rivers politics, everything is two: real and fake. For everything that is real here, we have fakes: fake ballot papers, fake PVCs, fake result sheets, fake INEC officials; even the INEC REC is being dubbed by the APC as a PDP agent faking as REC… In Okirika, women laid ambush and when soldiers, real or fake attempted to jump in from the back-yard, the women captured them; in fact, derobed them… how do fake military dressed in fake uniforms carry fake military rifles and drive fake amoured vehicles and trucks? Even the political parties have original and fakes! In Rivers lost polity, the elections are about the military, the militants and the militias. Each type reports to some stakeholders and each stakeholder shouts loudly against the one they do not have but hide the ones they have( Of rivers elections: Military, Militants and militias: Ignatius Chukwu, Business Day, 14/3/19, p33)

Ik Muo, PhD. Department of Business Administration, OOU, Ago-Iwoye 08033026625; muoigbo@yahoo.com, muo. ik@oouagoiwoye.edu.ng

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