BusinessDay 30 Aug 2018

Back-to-school spending to pressure Nigerian markets Iheanyi Nwachukwu & Gbemi Faminu

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igeria’s financial markets will next month witness more pressure, though it could be short-lived, as parents seek to raise cash for “Back-toSchool” expenses.

Schools resumption, also known as “Back-toSchool” in Nigeria is a

period (always in September) accompanied with pressure on parents but more of excitement on the side of pupils and students from long vacation to new academic sessions.

Particularly, banks will feel the heat on loans demand, while the fixed income (FI), equities, money market, and foreign exchange (FX) spaces will also be pressured as well,

analysts say.

In addition to tuitions, many parents will directly or indirectly be spending more in buying new books, school uniforms and many more items –all these come with costs, of which parents or guardians of pupils are pressurised to get regardless of the economic conditions they might be in for now.

This will result to par-

See BusinessDay Market Monitor on page 2

Continues on page 35

news you can trust I **THURSDAY 30 AUGUST 2018 I vol. 15, no 129 I N300

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L-R: Toyin Bello, Iya Loja, Oba Ewusi Modern Market; Ibukun Ipinmoye, factory manager; Victoria Uwadoka, corporate communications and public affairs manager; Olootu Omoba M.O Oyedele, chairman, RIDSCo; Chief Builder, Emmanuel Olu Shokoya, RIDSCo executive committee member, at the commissioning of water projects in Ishagamu, Ogun State.

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exporters Executive shakedown: Attorney General, How lose millions of dollars in global Malami resurrects MTN CCI allegations market insight

CBN slams N5.87bn sanction on 4 banks, MTN to refund $8bn Clouds outlook on IPO, investments into Nigeria Stocks expected to fall big

PATRICK ATUANYA

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ike a scene out of a low budget horror movie, where the villain refuses to go away quietly, Nigerian authorities yesterday resurrected allegations that MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile operator, illegally transferred about $8.1 billion out of Nigeria, with the aid of four banks.

Informed sources told Busi-

nessDay last night that Attorney General Abubakar Malami instigated the new investigation into the matter, when it commissioned an audit from a Lagos based law firm last year.

“The CCI issue was resurrected because Malami is determined to get cash from the companies through the fine,” one source familiar with the matter told BusinessDay yesterday.

“There is also the not so subtle situation that the law firm(s)

used to ‘investigate’ will clear a commission. That’s the racket playing out here, otherwise there is no reason to shake the entire confidence of the markets, banking system and foreign investors at a time the country is barely attracting offshore funds or growing its economy.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a press statement yesterday said it imposed heavy sanctions totalling N5.87 billion on four banks under its

regulatory purview for what it described as flagrant violation of extant laws and regulations of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, including the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1995 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Foreign Exchange Manual, 2006.

The four banks that have come under the sledge hammer of the CBN for the violations Continues on page 34

ODINAKA ANUDU

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Nigerian businessman exported cans of 35cl malt drink numbering into hundreds of thousands to Kenya. The products were on display in the East African country until they caught the attention of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), which subjected them to Continues on page 34

2019 elections will be free, fair: Buhari tells UK Prime Minister ... Sign agreements on security and economy Tony Ailemen, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari (standing r) and British Prime Minister Theresa May, witnessing as Babagana Monguno, Nigerian National Security Adviser (r), and Christian Turner, British Deputy National Security Adviser, sign Bilateral agreement on defence and security partnership, during the visit of the British Prime Minister to the Presidential Villa in Abuja, yesterday. NAN

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resident Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday assured the Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Theresa May of his commitment to conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2019.

The President stated this while hosting the visiting Prime Continues on page 34

Inside NAHCO, Sahcol see doubledigits cargo import growth in H1, 2018 P. 2

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Nigeria’s oil sector mismanagement now caution sign for African peers ISAAC ANYAOGU, reporting from Ghana

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ewer oil producers in Africa including Ghana, Mozambique and awaiting entrant Uganda are using Nigeria’s experience in mismanaging its oil resources for the past 60 years as a warning example of how not to manage a country’s extractive sector.

Over half a century after crude oil was first drilled, the commodity has translated into little value for Nigeria’s over 190million people beyond few

infrastructure projects and bloated government recurrent expenditure.

It has however, quickened value destruction in agriculture, encouraged corruption and degraded biodiversity in the Niger Delta.

These African countries with modest oil outputs are enacting better laws and regulations, including provisions that guarantee contract disclosures, equitable resource allocation and creating Sovereign Wealth Funds to invest savings with the goal of steer-

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Access Bank to pay N28.93bn interim dividend as H1 pre-tax profit moderates ... represents 25kobo per share Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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ccess Bank Plc on Wednesday August 29 released its consolidated and separate financial statements for the first-half (H1) period ended June 30, 2018 with a proposal to pay 25kobo dividend.

The group reported gross earnings of N253.024billion in H1’18

FMDQ Close

Everdon Bureau De Change

Bitcoin

as against N246.575billion in H1’2017. The bank’s profit before income tax (PBT) decreased to N45.842billion from a high of N52.048billion in H1’17. Profit for the period under review stood slightly higher at N39.625billion against N39.459billion in H1’17.

The proposed dividend amount-

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Sell

Foreign Exchange

$-N 357.00 360.00 Market Spot ($/N) £-N 459.00 467.00 I&E FX Window 363.06 €-N 406.00 414.00 CBN Official Rate 306.15

3M 6M -0.80 -0.03 10.35 13.00

Currency Futures ($/N)

fgn bonds

Treasury Bills -0.02

10 Y 20 Y 0.03 -0.02

14.56

14.91

5Y

14.89

NGUS OCT. NGUS JAN. NGUS JUL. 30, 2019 24, 2019 31, 2018 0.00 363.05

0.00 363.50

0.00 364.40

NAHCO, Sahcol see double-digits cargo import growth in H1, 2018 ... as exports lag IFEOMA OKEKE

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mportation of cargo (perishable and non-perishable products) from Europe, America and other parts of the world through the country’s airports is seeing a significant increase as a result of the relatively freer foreign exchange policy, BusinessDay’s findings show.

“Since the introduction of investors and exporters window last year,

there has been stability in foreign exchange rate,” a source at customs told BusinessDay. Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor earlier this year said that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) observed with satisfaction high level of activities in the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market which continued to supply liquidity in foreign exchange market, narrow exchange rate premium, and reduce specula-

tive activities in the market.

The total value traded at the I&E Window as at August 24, was $37.07 billion, according to FMDQ data.

Data issued by the Federal Airports of Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) to BusinessDay yesterday show that cargo imports spiked by 90.87 percent to 72,209,771.04kg in June 2018 from 37,837,875.51kg the previous year.

However, the volume of air cargo exported increased by 4.88 percent to 29,850,006.86kg in the period under review from 28,460,626.10kg as at

Continues on page 35

Lower transactions prevail as foreign outflows surge on NSE David Ibidapo

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he Nigeria stock exchange (NSE) has consistently witnessed persistent decline in foreign inflows of investments since the beginning of 2018.

Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the market has experienced more foreign outflows cumulatively this

year, than in the last four years.

Cumulative foreign outflows as at July 2018 surged by 84 percent from N236.32 billion in July 2017 to N435.41 billion. This is however higher than cumulative foreign outflows recorded in an entire year since 2015 which recorded foreign outflow of N554.24 billion.

Analyst believes that political uncertainties in the country are a

large contributory factor to foreign investor’s flight from the nation’s bourse. According to Wale Okunrinboye, Head of Research at Sigma Pension, “this is not the right time for foreign investors to come into the equity market because of political uncertainties they see in the country.

However, after election periods then

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COMMENT FELTED THOUGHTS

OLUGBENGA A. OLUFEAGBA Senior Consultant, Markets Practice, Kainos Edge Consulting Limited. gbengaolufeagba@kainosedge.com

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very electoral cycle in Nigeria, politicking takes over almost every medium of information dissemination, from print to electronic media, social media to places of worship. This is a ritual that must be performed without fail. At that point, the masses that have been oppressed over the previous three years, all of a sudden become the darlings of every politician. The people that would even refuse to appear in your dreams will swiftly become available in your locality, conducting town hall meetings where they pretend to listen and understand the

EDWARD AJAGBE Engr Ajagbe is a Power Systems Engineer/Consultant 08023140628

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n a recent interview organised by the BusinessDay, the new Vice President of the World Bank for Africa who just visited Nigeria made significant comments on Nigeria. He stated the obvious that the bank has interest in Nigeria because of its large population. He went further to emphasize the need to develop rural electrification projects in order to improve the quality of life of people in the rural areas and also alleviate poverty among others. He also mentioned the continuing interest in the power transmission system which in the view of this writer has met international quality and standards. What was missing in the submission is the state of decay in the power distribution component of the electricity chain. Even though the gentleman talked about the involvement of the private sector in the electricity business of today, we are yet to witness its positive impact in the distribution system.

Meanwhile various initiatives are taking place and continue to be deployed in order to meet the needs of various

Thursday 30 August 2018

comment is free

Send 800word comments to comment@businessdayonline.com

Sustaining political awareness among Nigerians yearnings of the common man on the street. It is during this period that we realize everybody is aware of the failings of government, and almost everybody supposedly has the magic wand to turn things around. It is also at this time that we see politicians obtaining sainthood, particularly those that move from the opposition to the ruling party.

This usually lasts for about twelve to fifteen months, and disappears as swiftly as it appeared once the votes have been cast, winners declared and portfolios shared. The louder the noise you make, the better the chances of being given a ‘juicy’ portfolio. The politicians resume their job of plundering the common wealth of the nation, unimpeded, while the electorate celebrate their oppressors and go back to sleep, only to wake up when bags of rice are being shared in another three years. This has been the trend since Nigeria returned to democratic dispensation in 1999, and it shows no sign of changing.

This is also when we realize

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If you are bothered about the current state of affairs in Nigeria, then it is time to get involved. We need our best brains steering the ship of this nation

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the people that actually vote, as the messages from the politicians are targeted at them. So, when you hear a spokesman crooning that his boss just walked 800 meters to show his fitness to rule, please, do not get offended, as the message is not for you. Most of those that realize the stupidity of these types of messages, and get offended by them are those that do not actually vote.

Do I blame the electorate for electing the types of

leaders that emerge? No. You can only vote for people that are on the ballot. The people that do not vote have also automatically abdicated their right to complain about the types of leaders we keep recycling. Most of the people that vote actually have poverty to contend with, and the leaders have also gifted them religion and ethnicity to bicker about. The recently released report by the World Bank shows that 92.1% of Nigerians live on less than $5.5 a day, while less than 8% earn above $165 a month.

In the midst of trying to earn enough for the next meal, chances are that you will easily be bought by the person that provides stomach infrastructure rather than the one speaking grammar to you on an empty stomach. It is actually instructive that Esau sold his birthright for a pot of porridge, and so deliberately keeping the electorate poor, misinformed and divided is the easiest strategy in the arsenal of the leaders.

If you are bothered about the current state of affairs in Nigeria, then it is time to get

involved. We need our best brains steering the ship of this nation. The secondary school certificate holders do not have what it takes to comprehend the challenges faced

by Nigeria in the 21st century, and they will not enact laws that will bar them from seeking political office with a certificate of attendance from a secondary school. There is a political awareness torch that gets lit every electoral cycle, and it is the best time to gain some easy traction and momentum. Unlike the career politicians, however, the work will need to be a continuous process. One can start by targeting a specific demographic, like students and the youth in general. Now is the time for the youths to have a say in the policies that will affect their future, but they need the reorientation from those ahead of them with that consciousness. We need to keep improving on the quality of leaders we elect till we get it right. We all need to get involved.

Send reactions to: comment@businessdayonline.com

Babatunde Raji Fashola must take note: Power distribution system in Nigeria is a disaster classes of people who deserve better treatment which the public electricity facilities have denied them. Many residential estates in high brow locations have set up their private generation, offices and commercial enterprises have also resorted to their own facility development.

Hospitals and other important establishment have taken some steps in that regard.

Residential homes are not left out in the search of alternative power sources. Lagos state government embarked on promoting and developing independent power to provide uninterrupted supply for their facilities.

Babatunde Raji Fashola needs to look at the issues in the short, medium and long term and begin a re-work of the power distribution network. The present one is no longer applicable in this modern age, many are more than seventy years. In doing this, it is suggested that the Hon. Minister gets together young and skilled personnel to begin to re-plan with the aid of Global Positioning System (GPS) a new system that is highly efficient. This proposal starts from the drawing board with computer simulation aid.

As this first phase progresses,

technical/engineering staff move to the field and do survey, pole and tower spotting to avoid the current unsightly works that we all witness daily.

This should be followed by construction and installation services, if the procurement of the materials is already in place.

It is assumed that the finances are properly structure and provided for. Last but not the least is commissioning which assumes that proper translation of the paper work has now been made on the field.

Still on efficiency enhancement methodologies, it is the duty of power providers to do house to house, door to door customer survey and ensure houses, shops, kiosks etc are registered and supplied with prepaid meters. The ongoing approach of getting customers to pay for meters before getting them is absurd and inefficient.

In the last couple of years when the private sector came into the industry, expectations of improved performance were high. Over time, it is now clear that the two critical factors for the success of the last wing of the chain, skilled engineering/ technical capability and substantial financials preferably in billions of US dollars, are lacking. The regulatory terms and conditions are well known and

already put in place in addition to other legal compliments.

Presently, the new owners and the current technical/ engineering personnel are still used to the old civil service structures they found on ground. Almost at all times, staff are waiting for customers to report local faults rather than the staff going from door to door to ensure that supply is available and fault clearing time is minimized. To great extent, this method also improves availability of supply. In many or most cases, even when faults are reported, the authorities do not have the materials to restore supply. Some faults take several days, months and in some cases that I am aware of years in the instance of broken down transformers to get replacement.

The second critical factor is availability of billions of dollars by foreign investors (not Nigerians) who are ready to invest and wait for twenty/ twenty five years for a good yield. Many Nigerian investors can not fit into this arrangement because they cannot wait for that long to get the yield.

It is suggested that the new investors promote, develop, operate and run the facilities for 20/25 years to recoup their interest and transfer the assets

to Nigeria. There are many customers who are engaged in bribing officials and not taking interest in paying to acquire the meters. To them it is more economical since they have been doing that for decades.

For efficiency improvement, it is the duty of the supplier to provide its clients with this important and critical arm of the business. Another reason is that only the supplier can vouch for the accuracy of what it is pushing to the public.

There have been calls for upward review of the current tariff. While this writer is not opposed to it, our interest is to be sure that the overall system performance is optimized. One other factor to be considered is the safety of residential, commercial, industrial concerns. It would be recalled that proper checks used to be done before supply was provided. It is also suggested that distribution companies take keen interest in this area in order to minimize electricity burn-down. There is no available data to show the level of electricity involvement in fire incidents due to leakages and others, but not withstanding safety should also be a priority.

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Clean energy for Africa: How PPP’s can fund the transition

CALEB ADEBAYO Caleb Adebayo is an Associate with the firm of S.P.A Ajibade & Co. His interests lie at the intersection of Energy, Finance and Environmental Law. He can be reached at calebadebayoc@gmail.com

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here is a litany of arguments in support of clean energy across the world, especially for the Global South, within which Africa finds itself.

Clean energy is expensive, and according to World Bank Data of 2015, the bulk of low income and underdeveloped economies find their cluster within the African continent, thus it is an uphill task for African countries to transition to clean energy while trying to feed their basic development needs. For many African countries, foreign aid has been the source of most of their development especially in terms of infrastructure. A BBC Report reveals that much of Africa relies on foreign aid, despite economic growth in parts of the continent significantly outpacing the global average. Thus, even with intent to promote clean energy infrastructure development, much of Africa is still dependent on the Global Environment Fund, the Green Climate Fund, World Bank and International Monetary Fund lendings and aid from Europe and

CHRIS EGBUNA Egbuna, a Development Analyst, wrote in from Nnewi

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s bargain hunters comb the length and breadth of the global financial market for fertile ground amid dynamics of competing economies, African countries continue to receive the attention due a region of strong potentials.

The trend has lifted some countries and their sub-nationals to a spotlight of accelerated economic growth as investors probe virtually all the sectors. One of these sub-nationals is Anambra State.

Anambra is ranked among Nigeria’s major foreign investment destinations according to report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The statistics bureau in its 2018 second quarter (Q2 2018) report released Tuesday, August 21, 2018, showed Anambra among top 10 Nigerian states, including Abuja, preferred by foreign investors during the review period. The others are Abuja, Lagos, Abia, Ogun, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Bauchi, Delta and Ogun states.

Anambra has increasingly attracted foreign investment since October 2017 when a total of $3,771,000 was recorded (in Q1 2017), which represented the total capital inflow

America.

The Minister of State for Environment for Nigeria, Mr Ibrahim Jibril, at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly quipped that financing climate action by developing countries would require financial support from developed countries which is hinged on the $100 billion by 2020 commitment at the 21st Conference of Parties.

It is this dependence on external solutions that has led critics to question the reality of clean energy and the transition from dirty fuels for a continent that is largely poor. Certainly, this concern is legitimate.

Financing has, especially in recent times, been at the forefront of the Climate Change Conference deliberations for countries in the Global South. The argument is valid; these countries contribute very little to global climate change, and yet are not allowed to go through the stages of dirty fuel development that their European and American counterparts experienced that formed the core of their current development levels.

There is an imminent need however for Africa to look inward for financing. Speaking at the opening of an Expert Group Meeting on Financing Infrastructure in Lusaka, NEPAD Chief Executive Officer Dr Ibrahim Mayaki said “If Africa is to effectively participate and reach its true economic potential, it will require a level of investment in infrastructure that goes beyond the capacity of governments or bilateral and multilateral donor money.” He added that one of the ways Africa can indigenously

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Public Private Partnerships has the potential to help Africa transition from an economy dependent on fossils for electricity, automobiles, agriculture and cooking to an economy with a balanced mix of various clean energy forms

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finance its clean energy transition is through Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Said Adejumobi , Subregional Director for UN Economic Commission for Africa had once expressed too “We are challenged to look inward in our development processes on how we use Africa’s own resources. This will deepen the private-public partnership which is

crucial to growing our economy,” Surely, there are already a number of PPP deals happening on the continent, however not enough to match the money in the hands of private investors and definitely not the infrastructural deficit in the energy sector. Energy needs are one of the most potent needs of any economy. According to a World Bank Report, Africa has about 0.04 megawatts of electricity per 1,000 people, a capacity that is less than one-third of that of South Asia, and less than one-tenth of that of Latin America and the Caribbean.

PPP’s in Africa account for a very small market, with the bulk of them happening in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. Together these account for 48% of the 335 total PPP infrastructure projects in the region in the past 25 years.

Interestingly, most of these PPPs are in the energy sector, particularly renewables, thus there is little doubt that PPPs can enable renewable energy projects. PPPs are simply projects where the government and private sector work hand in hand sharing risks and burdens to develop the project for the benefit of the society. Indeed, the need for private sector involvement in clean energy cannot be overemphasized as various governments on the continent either do not have the financial muscle or the corporate governance, efficiency and accountability to undertake such projects from start to finish.

Public Private Partnerships has the potential to help Africa transition from an economy dependent on fossils for electricity, automobiles, agriculture and cooking to

an economy with a balanced mix of various clean energy forms.

This is not to obviate the obvious challenges of clean energy projects through PPP arrangements, however, there has not existed a PPP without significant risk profile and risk allocation. Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, is famous for its PPPs in various types of infrastructure including the Island Power project, a PPP between the Lagos State Government and Negris Group which is a 9.7 megawatt Independent Power Plant project serving health and judicial facilities in the State. A leaf can be borrowed from its workings, amongst others on the continent.

Evidently, PPPs have had their challenges in Africa prior to this time. In many cases, governments do not honor contracts or keep to their end of the bargain. At other times, there is dramatic change in law that frustrates the investor eventually. Yet, if countries on the continent are willing to ensure this transition to clean energy, then there has to be a proper institutional and legal framework and sectoral reforms to enable investors to invest in PPPs. Unnecessary bureaucracy and administrative barriers should also be jettisoned.

While PPPs are not the singular solution to funding the energy transition, they are proven solutions that the continent has not tapped into extensively, and if indeed we want to indigenously finance our development sustainably in Africa, it is a viable tool.

Send reactions to: comment@businessdayonline.com

NBS report unveils Anambra Global Investment Spotlight for the year. Accelerated investment inflow was recorded in Q1 2018 when capital importation of $5,000,000 in March dimmed $4,975 that trickled in earlier in January, bringing the total inflow for Q1 2018 to $5,004,975.

In what appears investors’ increased confidence in Anambra, capital inflow amounting $5,000,000 was recorded in April 2018, bringing the total foreign investment in the state for 2018 to $10,004,975. Overall inflow for 18 months (January 2017 – June 2018) was $13,775,975.00, according to data mined from NBS website.

The increase in investment inflow to Anambra contradicts the trend in overall capital importation in Nigeria during the period.

The NBS report showed that Nigeria recorded a decline of $790 million in foreign investment in the second quarter of 2018 (Q2 2018) as a total of $5.51 billion was received during the period compared to $6.3 in the preceding quarter. This represents a drop of 12.5 per cent (quarter-on-quarter) against the preceding period (Q1 2018).

However, this represents a whopping 207.62 per cent increase compared to the corresponding quarter of 2017 (Q2 2017) when $1.79 billion was recorded. The NBS attributed the drop in investment inflow in Q2 2018 to decline in ‘Portfolio and Other Investment’

categories which dropped by 9.76 per cent and 24.07 per cent respectively.

Analysis of capital inflow received through Portfolio investment showed a total of $4.11 billion representing 74.7 per cent of total inflow during the period. (Q2 2017 was $770.51 million.) This is followed by $1.13 billion in the Other Investment category accounting for 20.5 per cent of total Q2 2018 capital inflow. ($747.47 million was received in Q2 2017.)

Inflow recorded in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) category (mainly equities, equipment, machinery) was $261.4 million or 4.7 per cent of total inflow for the quarter under review. (Q2 2017 figure was $274.37 million.)

“Capital Importation in the form of Money Market Instrument stood at $2,670.93 million in the second quarter, which was a 24.29% decrease over the previous quarter. Investments in both Equity and Bonds (under Portfolio Investments) reported steady quarter-on-quarter growth, with 49.43% and 19.13% respectively.

It is worth noting that investments in Bonds under this Capital Importation type has been steadily increasing since Q2, 2017, and in Q2 2018, it accounted for 9.71% of total Portfolio Investment,” the report explained.

Governor Willie Obiano has intensified industrialization and agricultural development in the state which attracts huge foreign investment inflow. Anambra has queued-

in into the Nigerian government diversification agenda by expanding the frontiers of non-oil sectors in the two areas thereby creating thousands of jobs in various capacities.

For instance the state’s agroallied export scheme initiated

by Gov. Obiano administration attracted foreign investors’ attention that moved in to participate in the project when it was launched in 2016. This led to the construction of a $150 million export processing facility in Ogidi – a suburb of Onitsha, the state’s commercial nerve centre, meant for conditioning and processing of export-oriented food items to Europe. When ABX World which had agreed to partner with Anambra in executing the project reneged, Obiano moved to seek a replacement immediately to avoid the initiative relapsing into oblivion.

“Anambra’s recent emergence among the league of topmost capital importation destinations in Nigeria is not a surprise because Gov. Obiano has maintained the tempo of industrialization and agricultural development in the state. The state’s agricultural development programme has resulted in Anambra being a net exporter of locally produced rice and expanding the frontier of economic diversification. Foreign investors know where to put their money; when it is right, they know

it. The National Bureau of Statistics report on capital investment that goes to Anambra is encouraging”, said Peter Obiefuna, a stockbroker.

Of particular notice is that Obiano is pursuing domestic-oriented development and emphasizing on efficient management of resources.

It is on record that Anambra, unlike most states, did not collect the bailout fund extended to states by the Federal Government in 2015 to enable them to pay salaries, a “gesture” that increased the debt profile of the recipient states. The debt has a repayment tenor of 20 years. “This is capable of crippling development efforts of the states, no matter the improvement in their revenue profile”, Obiefuna said.

Abia and Enugu states also increased their tempo in capital importation in Q2 2018, according to the NBS report. With recent developments in the state, Anambra will record significant investment inflow in 2018 to consolidate the giant stride in industrialization and agricultural development. “It is commendable that the state is not lagging behind in the rapid industrialization that will happen in the South-East soon because the signs are already here”, Kenneth Okoye, an Onitsha-based businessman said.

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Editorial PUBLISHER/CEO

Frank Aigbogun EDITOR Anthony Osae-Brown DEPUTY EDITORS John Osadolor, Abuja Bill Okonedo NEWS EDITOR Patrick Atuanya

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL SERVICES Oghenevwoke Ighure ADVERT MANAGER Adeola Ajewole FINANCE MANAGER Emeka Ifeanyi MANAGER, CONFERENCES & EVENTS Obiora Onyeaso SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Patrick Ijegbai CIRCULATION MANAGER John Okpaire GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (North)

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

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

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Thursday 30 August 2018

Kudos to the new team at The Punch

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s the clock ticks towards its 50th anniversary, The Punch newspaper strengthened its governance structures recently with the appointment of its first female chairman and another female director. Their elevation is significant both for the organisation, the media and the management of family businesses in the country.

It also marks a strong statement for continuity, family values and gender parity in corporate leadership.

Congratulations to Angela Olufunmilayo Emuwa, chairman, and Valerie Omowunmi Tunde-Obe, director. The siblings are children of the founder of Punch Nigeria Limited, the late Chief Olu Aboderin.

Genealogy counted, but the new chairman and director bring strengths in qualifications and experience to earn their deserved positions.

They continue a strong family tradition of focused control and ownership of one of Nigeria’s iconic organs of public information.

“Special needs advocate, autism Mom, dance fitness enthusiast, music lover, media executive”, by her Twitter handle, Mrs Angela Emuwa brings to the chair-

man’s position vast experience in the business side of media as well as corporate governance. She is a tried and tested media buyer and knowledgeable operations executive. Her 24 years on the Board of Punch Nigeria Limited means she is familiar with all the issues, moments and decisions that have defined the newspaper and the media in the last two decades.

Mrs Emuwa holds an MBA from the ESUT Business School, a postgraduate diploma in business administration and the CAM Foundation diploma in communications, advertising and marketing.

Her media experience includes serving in Newswatch at the height of its fame and influence, Africa Today and News Africa. She takes on many good causes, including autism and care of the indigent and persons with special needs.

Wunmi Tunde-Obe also brings relevant knowledge and experience. A communication professional, Mrs Tunde-Obe is renowned for her more recent engagement as a performing artist. She studied at the University of Lagos. Wunmi Tunde-Obeworked in advertising and has parlayed her interests in food and fashion into entrepreneurial ventures. She has also garnered experience on the

board of Punch Commercial Printing Limited, a subsidiary of Punch Nigeria Limited.

It is easy to see in their appointment vistas of the enthralling newspaper management example of Katharine Graham, daughter of the founder of The Washington Post, who successfully provided the steely nerves that enabled the paper to achieve acclaim and renown in the matter of the Watergate scandal. Sustained coverage of a small case of breaking into the offices of the Democratic Party in Washington snowballed into a major political crisis that forced the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

The appointment of the Aboderin sisters into essential positions on the board of The Punch counts for more than symbolism. The significance goes deeper into the matter of family businesses in Nigeria, media ownership and control as well as corporate governance.

Punch Nigeria Limited affirmed with the appointments its status and tradition as a family business, one in which multiple generations of family determine decision making.

Family businesses are the oldest and most common model of an economic organisation known to man. Years of corporate failures following

the demise of the founders had given a bad rap to family ownership.

The Aboderin family have successfully kept the controlling reins of the business founded by their father. Two uncles have steered the ship as chairmen, followed by the recently deceased Wale Aboderin and now the females in the family have taken charge.

It is commendable steadfastness and unity of purpose particularly given the allures and temptations of a business in the public eye.

There is a tendency even beyond our shores to minimise the influence of family businesses. Research, however, shows that such enterprises remain a pristine source of wealth creation, employment, and innovation. Family owned businesses account for over 30 percent of companies with sales over US$1billion. Famous examples include Walmart Corporation of the United States, Samsung Group in South Korea, and Tata Industries in India. Back home and in the media is the example of the Nigerian Tribune which has run steadily since 1949 with the Awolowo family in ownership and control.

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

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BUSINESSTRAVEL How Rovaty Aviation is improving Nigeria’s runway safety Stories by IFEOMA OKEKE

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ne of the major challenges in air transport is the safety of the aircraft on landing and take-off, which experts define as the most critical aspects of flight operations.

At landing, aircraft can overshoot or skid off the runway during the rains, so there are measures taken to ensure that at landing aircraft have grip on the runway.

These important safety checks may be taken for granted by passengers who are largely oblivious of efforts made to ensure their flights are safe, but these efforts are made by the airport management and specialists who train and are prepared to provide this unique service.

The aviation industry worldwide is highly regulated due to the probable or actual outcome in the event of an incidence or accident and as we all know, “there is no parking space in the sky”. The regulation under consideration is that of aircraft landing surface friction.

To ensure that the runway provides surface grip for aircraft tyres, Surface Friction Tests are carried out on a runway or a helideck to verify the value of friction on its surface. This frictional value informs the ability

of the aircraft or helicopter to safely land without exceeding the surface provided. In recent times an aviation company Rovaty Aviation Nigeria Limited has taken to providing surface friction test solutions and other aviation industry services. Rovaty Aviation Nigeria Limited is a service provider for bespoke aviation solutions. Years of experience from her involvements in this service have

made her the top provider of this service in the whole of West Africa.

Rovaty Aviation is currently the only Nigerian company that provides runway and helideck surface friction test service. Partnering with ASFT Industries of Sweden (for technical support) her services are multifaceted.

Rovaty Aviation is equipped with compliant vehicle integrated fric-

tion test equipment for runways and also equipped with T2GO test equipment for helidecks, both types of equipment being International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority Regulation (NCAA) compliant and manufactured by her partner ASFT Industries of Sweden. With this equipment, the company keeps building capacity to proffer more

AIB reviews existing regulations to conform to European standards

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he Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) is set to carry out a review of its existing regulations, which seek to accommodate latest changes in the global aviation industry.

This becomes necessary in a bid to further enhance its performance, especially in the area of incident and accident investigation.

Speaking at the end of a weeklong peer review exercise carried out with European consultants over the weekend at its headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, Akin Olateru, the AIB Commissioner, stated that the review exercise would take place before the end of the year.

Olateru said the bureau is determined to make its activities conform to European standards and continue to retain its position as the leader on the continent.

He noted that the management had already circulated information about its intent to review existing regulations to concerned stakeholders in the sector.

It would be recalled that the AIB had in February 2016 carried out a similar exercise in Lagos, which improved its activities and duties to the entire aviation industry, especially as it concerns accident and incident investigations.

According to the Commissioner, some of the existing regulations of AIB had since become outdated and needed to be changed as some of them cannot be accommodated

with the current regulations in use.

He also pointed out that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), recently reviewed its Annex 18 to accommodate new developments in the industry.

Olateru stressed that in order to remain relevant, an organisation like AIB would need to consistently look at its regulations.

He further said that some of the core mandates of AIB were to investigate accidents, recommend safety to prevent future occur-

rences and make aviation safer for business and air travellers, stressing that the planned review was one of such processes.

“The AIB came to bear in 2007 via the Civil Aviation Act 2006; our regulation was designed to guide how you do things. That regulation is outdated, it has to be reviewed.

Regulation basically is to guide the stakeholders and to let everybody know this is how reporting system is done.

“If you look at Annex 18, it has just

been reviewed by ICAO. We need to bring our regulations to speed to capture those new areas because you have to constantly review how you do things for you to stay relevant, if not, you will become outdated. It is easier to review regulations than to review the Act. Act is forever.

“More so, the need to review our regulations was part of ICAO findings the last time it audited us. ICAO observed that there were lots of gaps in the current regulations, which had called for this review.

Executive Director, Finance and Risk Management, Bank of Agriculture, Prince Niyi Akenzua (left); President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Babatunde Paul Ruwase and Director Research, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture NACCIMA, Rebecca Ajibade at the Media launch ahead of the 2018 Farmers Conference theme: the Future of Agribusiness in Lagos on Tuesday

solutions in this safety critical aspect of Aviation operation.

Frequency of assessment The interval for runway surface friction assessments in accordance with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority advisory circular NCAA-ACARD014 is based on the number of landings at the runway per day. The annual test is recommended for 0 to 15 landings per day.

Frictional values of new or repaired/maintained runway surface are required before commissioning or returning it to service.

Helideck surface friction assessment is carried out annually, before commissioning of a new build or following painting or repairs.

Regular or scheduled runway surface friction measurement/tests are critical as they provide the necessary data to maintain adequate frictional value to eliminate or reduce runway overshoot/excursion related incidents or accident and ultimately saves lives.

Rovaty Aviation says it appreciates the opportunity to partner with airport/aerodrome operators in Nigeria and West Africa to improve the overall safety of aviation operation.

The company uses this opportunity to encourage stakeholders to take advantage of their service to ensure regulatory compliance that will further enhance the safety of air operations in their facilities.

Ethiopian Airlines, Chad partner on national carrier

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thiopian Airlines, the largest aviation group in Africa and SKYTRAX a certified Four Star Global Airline have announced that they finalised agreements with the Government of Chad for the launch of Chad’s national carrier.

Ethiopian has 49 percent stake in the joint venture while the Government of Chad retains 51 percent.

The new Chad national carrier is planned to go into operation as of October 1, 2018.

Tewolde GebreMariam, group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines remarked: “The strategic equity partnership in the launching of the new Chad national carrier is part of our Vision 2025 multiple hub strategy in Africa.

The new Chad national carrier will serve as a strong hub in Central Africa, availing domestic, regional and eventually international air connectivity to the major destinations in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

“I wish to thank His Excellency President Idriss Deby Itno, the Government of Chad and the stakeholders in the aviation sector in Chad for their strong support to the project.”

Through its multiple hubs strategy in Africa, Ethiopian currently operates hubs in Lomé (Togo) with ASKY Airlines and Malawian in Lilongwe (Malawi), while having already acquired stakes in Zambia’s and Guinea’s national carriers and making preparations to launch Ethiopian Mozambique Airlines.

Thursday 29 August 2018

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Nigeria’s ranking drops on Global Financial Inclusion Index ...Now below average index for Sub-Saharan Africa OMOSOMI OMOMIA & KELVIN UMWENI

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Source: World Bank

Source: World Bank

inclusion and economic growth can better be understood via the amount of capital funds it helps to mobilise for investment purposes and the resulting savings culture it would create in large numbers of people who were hitherto excluded from formal financial services.

According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the number of mobile subscribers in Nigeria as at December 2017 was 145.1 million, with teledensity at 103.2 percent. Internet subscription within the same period accounted for 68 percent of the total mobile data with 98.4 million subscribers.

The rise in mobile and mobile internet subscription in Nigeria has meant that much of the growth in financial inclusion is expected to be driven by digital technology and mobile payments or banking channels.

The World Bank Findex shows that the use of the internet to pay bills or make purchases online rose slightly in the past year, driven pri-

marily by the male, educated and financially savvy population. Nigeria’s internet penetration is hinged entirely on mobile telephony services. Subsequently, excluding mobile telephony, internet penetration in Nigeria is still relatively low at 21 percent.

Furthermore, the cost and quality of internet data are also major challenges to the significant growth of digital payments and e-c0mmerce patronage with the increase largely concentrated in few major cities such as Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja. In addition, widespread adoption and active use of digital financial services requires some basic digital capabilities beyond the ability to make telephone calls.

Despite the contributory factors of financial regulation and technology, however, the country’s financial inclusion has encountered notable setback. This brings to question the effectiveness of the present drive by relevant stakeholders to bring

the employed and rising inflation negatively impacting the purchasing power of consumers, all contributed to the decline in Nigeria’s financial inclusion status.

The percentage of respondents who reported having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution dropped 5 percentage points, from 44 percent in 2016 to 39 percent in 2017.

Furthermore, high food inflation coupled with shrinking disposable incomes have impacted further on the savings culture in the country.

Despite the downturn, the country’s economy has somewhat turned the corner with recent rally in oil prices, growing production volumes, and exit from recession as at the end of 2017.Nigeria’s non-oil economy grew 1.5 percent year-on-year (YOY) in the fourth quarter of 2017, its strongest performance since 2015, according to GDP data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Overall, economic growth for 2017 came in at 0.83 percent, helped by an 8.68 percent growth in the oil sector.

Even though the oil sector accounts for less than 10 percent of the country’s economic output, the non-oil sector remains highly dependent on the dollars earned from the sector which accounts for more than 90 percent of export revenue. However, the nation’s economic growth and recovery remains fragile. Nevertheless, the economic outlook for Nigeria is optimistic with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasting 2.1 percent growth in 2018.

In that light, opportunities abound for financial institutions to improve upon Nigeria’s financial inclusion journey and timelines. For instance, there is need for the financial institutions to improve upon access to, mitigate the costs of financial services, and create products and services tailored to the needs and aspirations of the financially excluded. Also, they should invest in mobile banking services for the rural segment of the population, and provide agency banking services targeted at enhancing usage among the female segment of the population; data-driven knowledge-based analysis could be applied to achieve all of the above.

12734BDN

igeria’s drive towards attaining financial inclusivity for its entire adult population has slowed, as reflected by the latest database released by the World Bank on the progress of over 140 countries.

The number of adults having bank accounts in Africa’s largest economy declined to 40 percent in 2017 from 44 percent in 2014.

The 40 percent drop was also below the average bank account ownership of 43 percent for SubSaharan Africa and way below the 58 percent average index points for lower middle-income countries, an economic category that Nigeria belongs.

Half of the unbanked population in the world reside in China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico and Bangladesh.

Specifically, 4 percent of the financially excluded live in Nigeria. The country made significant progress between 2011 and 2014, recording impressive grow th from 30 to 44 percent over the three-year period. The regulatory institutions, especially the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), have been proactive in driving the growth in financial inclusion via policy development and execution. In addition, the increase in mobile internet penetration and emergence of fintech has also contributed to this growth.

In 2012, the CBN set out to formulate a Financial Inclusion Strategy for Nigeria, designed to be both executable and achievable. The plan outlined the framework for increasing the formal use of financial services to 70 percent by the year 2020. Part of the framework for the National Financial Inclusion Strategy included establishing a clear understanding of the current state of financial inclusion in Nigeria, including the status of on-going initiatives, quantifying the gap and identifying barriers to financial inclusion, developing targets for financial inclusion in 2020, and proposing business and operating models for achieving financial inclusion targets, among other objectives.

The linkage between financial

to the fold those outside the formal financial sector.

For instance, the number of people with bank accounts dropped from 44 per cent of the population to 40 per cent with the gap. In gender terms, it was even higher for women (34 per cent to 27 per cent) than men (54 per cent to 51 per cent). In Nigeria, there is an increasingly widening gap between the male and female adult population with respect to financial account and mobile phone ownership.

There was equally a decrease in the financial sentiment of rural dwellers as 33 per cent agreed to owning an account, compared to 39 per cent in 2016. Overall, there was a significant drop across all the indicators that constitute the level and depth of financial inclusion in Nigeria.

Access to financial service providers is a constraint to the growth of financial inclusion in the country.

The sparse distribution of financial access points, most pertinent amongst the majority of Nigerian rural dwellers, increases travel distance and ultimately, costs of accessing financial services.

One of the few areas where progress was recorded was in the mobile money account ownership spectrum, which experienced a 3 percent growth from 2 percent in 2014 to 6 percent in 2017. The increase in mobile money accounts was mostly driven by urban usage as the rural ownership only marginally increased to 3 percent in 2017 from 2 percent in 2014.

In 2016, the country’s economy plunged into its first recession in almost three decades of steady but relatively low economic growth.

The recession was largely blamed on the sharp drop in crude oil prices and a poor policy response.

The drop in crude oil prices and volumes resulted in significant decline in the country’s foreign currency reserves leading to devaluation of the naira and rise in inflatio nary growth, as the country is largely dependent on imports for consumption and production.

The resulting effect was downsizing in the private sector, which worsened the unemployment situation and led to the drop-in salary account holders, which accounts for a significant percentage of total accounts in the formal financial system. Furthermore, salary cuts for

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Is investor pressure stifling Africa tech startups’ creativity?

FRANK ELEANYA

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ech startups in Africa and investors dalliance have been off to a brilliant start in 2018 as most half year reports have shown.

Cellulant, Branch International, Mines and many other startups have jointly shattered funding ceilings set in previous years, signifying growing investors’ appetite for the about 442 incubators, accelerators and tech hubs dotted across the continent of Africa. 130 of these innovative hubs were opened in the last two years.

There has also been a new wave of big investors visiting and getting hooked on the potential of innovative startups.

Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba is the latest investor to fall for African tech startups’ allure. The e-commerce overlord was in South Africa in August to stake $10 million to be invested as grants in startups through the Netpreneur Prize for the period of ten years, starting from 2019.

Suffice to say, it has been a good year for a few tech entrepreneurs.

But why are some startups not finding it easy to swim after closing mouthwatering funding – it may be too early to question their lack of profitability? This appears the major focus of an opinion that appeared on Twitter recently that most tech entrepreneurs are belaboured by the pressure to make investors happy; they are distracted from attending to customers’ real need, hence some are dying while others are falling short in

creativity.

Razaq Ahmed, co-founder of CowryWise confirmed to BusinessDay that investors’ pressure is on “value creation” and could be justified.

“That said, it is important to maintain a good balance between satisfying customers and meeting shareholders objective,” Ahmed said.

Although majority of funding deals that has come to startups in 2018 and most of the previous years have

been through grants, equity investments is the largest in terms of value.

An equity investment is money that is invested in a firm by its owner(s) or holder (s) of common stock (ordinary shares) but which is returned in the normal course of the business. Investors recover it only when they sell their shareholdings to other investors, or when the assets of the firm are liquidated and proceeds distributed among them

after satisfying the firm’s obligations – also called equity distribution.

According to Weetracker’s African Startups & VC Ecosystem Report for the first half of the year, a total of $168.6 million spread across 120 disclosed deals was received by the African startup ecosystem. Equity investment accounted for a significant portion of the funding.

Despite getting more funding being positive for the ecosystem, could it also be an undue exposure for the young entrepreneurs whose first real-world adventure into business is often the ideas they have turned into potential money spinners?

“Investors get into startups mostly on the strength of the plans for the start-ups to grow their businesses,” Collins Onuegbu a serial angel investor and chairman of Signal Alliance told BusinessDay. “So long as the start-ups receive investor money and execute on these plans, there should not be any talk of one person putting the other under pressure.”

Although there will always be exceptions to the

rule, Onuegbu says that both the investor and startup have a mutual obligation to serve customers.

While in South Africa to launch the Netpreneur Prize, Jack Ma stressed the importance of the customer to the success of tech startups. According to him, startups that pay attention to the evolving needs of the customer will succeed.

“Of course funding is important, but the most important investor is still the customer, so that’s the priority,” Babtunde Babs Ogundeyi, CEO of Kudimoney, one of ten start-ups shortlisted for Startupbootcamp (SBC) Afritech 2018 cohort, told BusinessDay. “It’s great to have enough runway (money) to run and grow your business, but don’t take money that will make you lose sight of what you set out to achieve in the first place.”

Ahmed believes that satisfying customers creates long term value for shareholders.

“This is why it is important to have investors that understand the vision of the founders and is in sync with the founders’ strategy and long term play,” Ahmed said.

Four Nigerian startups join Google’s launchpad accelerator program CALEB OJEWALE

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oogle has announced the launch of its second Launchpad Accelerator Africa class, which it describes as part of ongoing efforts to support entrepreneurship on the continent. This second class has four Nigerian startups joining seven others from across the continent for mentorship and technical support to scale their businesses.

The first Launchpad Accelerator Africa class saw 12 startups graduate, with more than 20 teams from Google and 40 mentors from nine countries supporting them. The startups, according to Google, have directly created 132 jobs and, between them, have raised over US$7 million in funding. Their products are being used by approximately 4.5 million people.

For the second class launched this week, Google

extended applications to an additional 11 countries, saying competition for spots was even fiercer than the first time around.

The 11 finalists from six countries, in alphabetical order, are: AppZone (Nigeria): AppZone builds Software as a service (SaaS) fintech software ecosystems for digital banks, allowing them to reduce operational costs while improving service delivery.

Chalkboard Education (Ghana): Allows educational institutions to make their curricula available via mobile devices (USSD, SMS, and internet). It also lets those institutes gather insights about student learning patterns and helps them create and adapt curricula for the mobile space.

Cloud9xp (Kenya): Cloud9xp is an online marketplace and booking service that allows people to buy and sell experiences in various locations across Africa and the Middle East.

EzyAgric (Uganda): EzyAgric is an on-demand platform that provides inclusive and data-driven access to finance, production and marketing services for farmers and agribusinesses in Uganda. It does so through a network of youth agents equipped with smartphones and other forms of agricultural technology, providing employment and helping farmers improve yields and market access in one go.

Fo r mp l u s ( Nig e r i a ) : Formplus allows companies to collect online and offline data through the use of customisable digital forms. The startup also provides analytics based on form answers and allows for payment collection via PayPal, Stripe and Flutterwave Medsaf (Nigeria): Medsaf is a one-stop, curated medication marketplace for African hospitals and pharmacies.

Mintrics (Egypt): This social video intelligence platform helps brands and

agencies understand how people are interacting with their social videos, giving them insight into what is and isn’t working and thereby maximising their ROI. PayGo Energy (Kenya): PayGo’s smart meter and connected software service allows players in the LP gas (LPG) value chain to better service their customers, driving the adoption of clean cooking fuels.

Pineapple (South Africa): Pineapple’s unique machine learning technology allows users to easily insure individual items using just a mobile app.

Preeva (South Africa): Preeva is an online platform that connects students with young educators who provide tutoring help at school and university.

Thank U Cash (Nigeria): Thank U Cash is an online rewards platform that allows consumers to save and earn loyalty points that can be swapped for cash and merchants to benefit from

extra spend.

The finalists will each receive; 3 months intense mentorship and support from Google; Cloud and Firebase Credits; Three weeks all-expense-paid training at Launchpad Accelerator Africa (Lagos and Johannesburg); Access to Google engineers, resources, and mentors, during and after the programme; lastly, inclusion in the Launchpad Accelerator Global Community and network of alumni and mentors.

“The growth of entrepreneurship in Africa is critical to the survival of our continent,” said Fola Olatunji-David, head of Startup Success and Services, Launchpad Accelerator Africa. “We’re currently as a region creating about three million jobs per year, while more than 11 million job seekers are entering the market. Google believes that empowering entrepreneurs and startups is essential to drive employment growth, and enable both economic

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

and social development on the continent.”

O n h e r p a r t , Ju l i e t Ehimuan, Google Nigeria country director, said “We’ve been committed for years to helping local businesses thrive online, as they are meaningful and crucial partners in our ecosystem.

“Through our different initiatives, we’ve helped to get tens of thousands of small businesses online, and helped them succeed.

We’re incredibly proud of how Launchpad Accelerator Africa Class 1 contributed to that legacy and can’t wait to see how Class 2 further builds on it.”

Google’s global accelerator programme, Launchpad Accelerator, has already enrolled seven African startups (Twiga Foods, JUMO, Paystack, Delivery Science, Helium Health, Paylater and Aerobotics) and provided them with visibility, bestin-class mentorship and access to Google’s network in Silicon Valley.

Thursday 30 August 2018

BUSINESS

COMPANIES & MARKETS

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Linkage Assurance dividend payout excites shareholders …as firm records N2.89b PAT Modestus Anaesoronye

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t was commendation all through for the Board and Management of Linkage Assurance Plc, when shareholders of the company who had waited for so long for a dividend got 5 kobo per share pay out, at its 24th Annual General Meeting held in Lagos on Tuesday.

The shareholders who spoke glowingly on the achievements of the underwriting company in 2017 financial year called on the management and board to ensure sustenance of the growth.

“We urge you to reinforce your marketing team and distribution channels so that there will be more growth in premium and profitability for the company in the coming years”.

Joshua Bernard Fumudoh, chairman of the company who announced the result said the company in 2017 recorded a gross premium written of N4.10 billion as against N4.03 billion in 2016, while the gross premium income was 6 percent up to N4.186 billion in the review year as against N3.96 billion the past year.

Linkage Assurance Profit Before Tax rose by 218 percent from N942.68 million to N2.996 billion in 2017, while the Profit After Tax also appreciated significantly by 431 percent to close at N2.891 billion in 2017.

This is as total assets appreciated 15 percent to N23.3 billion in 2017, from N20.33 billion in the previous year.

Fumudoh also said the company paid out a total of N1.038 billion in claims in 2017 as against N613.2 million in 2016, underscoring its commitment to her policyholders.

He noted that the company was determined to take advantage of developments in the economy by developing strategic initiatives such as deployment of online portal for selling of motor insurance, as well as repositioning its bouquet of retail products like the Third Party Plus (a budget friendly motor insurance plan) to ensure sustainable growth for the company in 2018 and beyond.

“Continuous growth in customer satisfaction, productive sales in the market and impeccable underwriting and risk management practices will set us up for achievable greatness

in 2018, the chairman said.

“We are focused on sustaining and surpassing the gains of 2017 and enhancing reputation and performance. We will further develop our strategy to

deliver value to all our stakeholders within a governance framework of prudence and effective oversight as a board.”

Daniel Braie, acting managing director of the company

going into the future, the company will continue to refine its strategy in line with the political, economic, sociological and technological changes in the industry.

“Also we will continue to develop innovative products, alternative channels of distribution and strategic initiatives that will enable us achieve our corporate goals and objectives.

L-R: Oluwaseun Apata, product manager, managed investment, wealth management, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria (SCBN); Johannes Jacobi, product specialist, fundamental equities, Allianz Global Investors; Dienabou Keita, business development manager, Allianz Global Investors; Simpa Adaba, head, wealth management, (SCBN); and Lanre Olajide, head, investment strategy and advisory, wealth management, (SCBN), at the SCBN client event with one of its fund partners, Allianz Global Investors in Lagos.

AfDB, FAO collaborate on boosting FMBN, labour unions target workers in new affordable housing programme agriculture investments in Africa MIKE OCHONMA

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he African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have agreed to strengthen joint efforts aimed at growing agriculture sector investments in Africa.

Against this backdrop, the two organisations will raise up to $100-million over the next five years to support these activities, which are aimed at ending hunger and malnutrition on the continent.

The strategic alliance also seeks to enhance the quality and impact of investment in food security, social protection, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and rural development.

According to José Graziano da Silva, director-general of FAO; “Leveraging investments in agriculture, including from the private sector, is key to lifting millions of people from hunger and pov-

erty in Africa and to ensuring that enough food is produced and that enough rural jobs are created for the continent’s growing population,”.

For Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB president; “The signing of this supplementary agreement between AfDB and FAO signals the commitment to accelerate the deliver y of high-quality programmes and increased investment for public-private-partnerships in Africa’s agriculture sector. This will help us achieve the vision of making agriculture a business, as enshrined in AfDB’s Feed Africa strategy,”.

The Feed Africa strategy, launched in 2015, seeks to invest $24 billion into African agriculture over a ten-year period.

Recall that long-term collaboration between the AfDB and the FAO began in 1968.

Since then, the FAO has provided technical assistance to the formulation of 161 projects financed by the bank, valued at more than $3.7-bil-

lion and representing about 21% of the bank’s support to the agricultural sector.

Recent collaboration between the organisations include project formulation support in Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea; technical assistance for the development of blue economy programmes in Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco and Cape Verde, feasibility studies for agricultural transformation centres in Zambia, Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire; and participation in the African Leaders for Nutrition initiative.

The bank and the FAO have also contributed to a series of continental dialogues on post-harvest loss reduction, and the Great Green Wall of the Sahel and Sahara Initiative, which is aimed at growing an 8,000-km-long line of trees and plants across the Sahel to reverse land degradation and desertification in the region, boost food security and help local communities adapt to the impacts of climate change.

CHUKA UROKO

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orried by the ‘homelessness’ of Nigeria workers due to their inability to buy what is on offer on the housing market, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), in conjunction with leading labour unions—the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) have finalized plans to commence the implementation of a national affordable housing delivery programme for the workers.

The housing programme emphasizes affordability and focuses on low and middleincome classes of workers.

Planned house-types include fully finished semi-detached bungalows and blocks of 1-bedroom, 2-bedrooms, and 3-bedrooms apartments.

The design of the houses

are based on local and international social housing models that have been tested and proven to deliver housing units that are structurally strong, livable and at cost-effective rates that fit the income of the targeted beneficiaries.

To ensure successful execution of the programme, the design and implementation plan is based on extensive deliberations and recommendations of housing experts who drew from the theoretical and practical experiences of housing stakeholders, varied inputs, and consultations with developers, private sector players, research and analysis of housing projects locally and abroad.

A statement obtained by BusinessDay in Lagos notes that the housing programme, which is another landmark move by the apex mortgage bank to boost housing development in the country, is a product of a strategic move towards gradually address-

ing, in a structured and sustainable manner, the housing requirement of workers currently estimated at 3,750,000 housing units.

The programme encompasses fast-tracking the provision of safe, decent, quality and affordable housing to registered members of NLC, TUC, and NECA who contribute to the National Housing Fund (NHF), which the FMBN manages.

The pilot phase of the programme aims to deliver 2,800 housing units in 14 sites across the country. This includes 200 houses in each of the six zones in addition to Lagos and Abuja.

The groundbreaking for the project takes place in September at the 100-unit housing estate for Voice of Nigeria (VoN) in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. That is to be followed by successive launches of the program in two states: Yola, Adamawa and Umuahia in Abia.

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Thursday 30 August 2018

Business Event

Nosak Farm deepens vegetable oil market with certification OGHOGHO EDOSOMWAN

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subsidiary of Nosak Group, Nosak Farm Produce Limited, was recently presented a Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) product quality certificate by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) for its Nosak Famili Vegetable Oil. Representing the directorgeneral of SON, Osita Aboloma, the SON’s Lagos State office zone III coordinator, N.B. Ekwueme, made this known recently at the presentation of the certificate to the company in Festac, Lagos.

Started in 2006, the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) is a compulsory product certification scheme put in place by SON to ensure that all locally manufactured products conform to the relevant Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS) before such products are presented for

sale in the market or exported.

Speaking at the event, Ekwueme stated that Nosak Farm Produce Limited was awarded the SON prestigious quality mark because the company’s vegetable oil had constantly met the requirements of SON. After a series of MANCAP inspections to the company and corroborative and extensive analyses from in-house, third party and SON laboratories, the vegetable oil was adjudged to have met the requirements of NIS 230:2000 and therefore certified.

She also stated that Nosak Famili Vegetable Oil was well fortified with the necessary vitamin A, essential for good health of children, women and the general public.

She encouraged the management and staff of Nosak Farm to continue improving the quality of the vegetable oil, stating that the company should “continuously look inwards for local sourcing of raw materials to reduce the demand for forex and

support the Federal Government’s backward integration policy.”

While receiving the award from officials of SON, Robert Ogirri, managing director of the company, expressed gratitude to the regulating body for finding the company worthy for the award.

He also commended the hard work of his team and assured SON that the company would continually ensure the best quality vegetable oil towards building the nation’s economy and boosting the image of the manufacturing sector.

Nosak Farm Produce Limited is a 200-ton capacity fully automated vegetable oil refinery with 12 tanks measuring 2.7 million litres each. The company recently acquired an additional 16,500 hectares of land in Edo State for oil palm cultivation to increase local supply of raw materials to the refinery. The company is also fully involved in the ERGP programme of the Federal Government as a key stakeholder in the oil palm sector.

L-R: Adeyinka Amosu, zonal director, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria; Ayo Sotonwa, general manager, Eko Fm/Radio Lagos; Pastor William F. Kumuyi, general superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church (standing), Gbolahan Olalemi, chief operating officer, TV Continental and Adenike Ifabiyi, head of Sales and Marketing, Women Fm Radio, when Kumuyi met with an array of Broadcast Media Executives yesterday at the church’s headquarters at Gbagada, Lagos.

L-R: Charles Uwadia, MD/CEO, A & E Engineering and Marine Services Limited; Rotimi Morohunfola, country head, commercial banking, Ecobank Nigeria Limited; Mabrukat Nurudeen Daura, CEO, Bru’s Istra Fast Food; John Nwosu, CEO, Jetlink Limited, and Funmi Oyetunji, non excutive director, both of Ecobank Nigeria Limited, at the formal launch of The Emerald Business Club by Ecobank in Lagos.

Social good summit holds Sep 7 in Lagos

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he second edition of Social Good Summit Lagos holds on September 7, 2018 at the Muson Center, Lagos.

Social Good Summit Lagos is a platform that connects innovators, change-makers, Sustainable Development Goals SDGs leaders and advocates from corporations, non-profits, government, universities, industry bodies, social enterprises to unanimously discuss ideas, share stories and inspire others to take actions towards the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs in Lagos and Nigeria at large.

The summit with the theme: Bridging The Gap #2030NOW has curated sessions that will feature speakers and panelists who are successfully bridging the gap in their industries and are taking actions with the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs. They include Samuel Bwalya, UNDP country director, Orelope Adefulire, SA to President on Sustainable Development Goals SDGs, Gossy Ukanwoke Founder, BAU R&D and President, EduTech, Seun Onigbinde, Co-Founder, Budgit, Osayi Alile, CEO, ACT Foundation, Toyosi AkereleOgunsiji, Founder/CEO of

Rise Networks), Mories Atoki Senior Manager – Sustainability and Climate Change, PwC Nigeria, Oluseyi Ojurongbe, Manager Sahara Foundation and Babajide Duroshola, Community Manager Technical Talents at Andela.

The conference will give participants the opportunity to meet, network, and collaborate with young, upwardly mobile individuals who are leading the change and creating impact in diverse sustainable development goals and sectors.

Social Good Summit Lagos is powered by Plus Social Good and United Nations Foundation.

Community Partners include NG Youth SDGs, Susty Vibes and International Climate Change Development Initiative. Media Partners include Business Day and Connect Nigeria, and attendance is free!

Follow the conversation online #2030NOW #SGSLagos18, Twitter: @socialgoodlagos, Instagram: @socialgoodlagos, Facebook: Social Good Lagos, Website: summit.socialgoodlagos.org.

Choi Won Bae, Board of trustees of International Youth Fellowship IYF-Nigeria (r), present award of recognition of Leadership best mindset skills in honour of Oladapo Olanipekun, during 9th International Youth Fellowship IYF-Nigeria annual world camp 2018 in Lagos

L-R: N.B. Ekwueme, SON Lagos State Office Zone III Coordinator; Robert Ogirri, managing director, Nosak Farm Produce Limited, and Osagie Ogunbor, Group Executive Director, Nosak Group, during the presentation of MANCAP product quality certificate to Nosak Farm Produce in Lagos, recently.

Thursday 30 August 2018

BUSINESS DAY

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Investor

19

In association with

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

Year Open

38,243.19

Market capitalisation

N13.609 trillion

NSE Premium Index

The NSE-Main Board

NSE ASeM Index

2,564.13

1,713.69

1,087.32

Week open (17 – 08–18)

35,266.29

N12.941 trillion

2,527.30

1,572.19

809.92

Week close (24 – 08–18)

35,426.17

N12.933 trillion

2,527.30

1,544.54

809.92

Percentage change (WoW) Percentage change (YTD)

0.45 -­7.37

3.15 1.66

NSE Lotus II

NSE Ind. Goods Index

NSE Pension Index

330.69

2,560.39

1,975.59

1,379.74

835.80

296.07

2,428.66

1,716.66

1,314.12

817.57

295.38

2,455.40

1,750.30

1,288.23

NSE Banking Index

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

1,746.68

475.44

139.37

1,589.77 1,582.08

438.14

137.87

424.84

138.95

NSE 30 Index

-­1.76

0.00

-­0.48

-­9.87

-­25.51

-­9.42

-­3.04 -­10.64

0.78 -­0.30

976.10

-­2.18 -­16.24

-­0.23

1.10

1.96

-­1.97

-­10.68

-­4.10

-­11.40

-­6.63

Mixed sentiment as stock market shows signs of oversold position HEANYI NWACHUKWU

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he Nigerian stock market is awash with diverse feelings from many research analysts; most of them maintaining their bearish case scenario for the Lagos Bourse, while others foresee value for long-term investors despite weak performance.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) at 35,426.17 points implied year-to-date (ytd) negative return of 7.4percent as shown in trading week to August 24. Stock investors who also held equities till that date lost about N676billion.

In an August 27 note to investors, FSDH Research analysts said they still believes there are investment opportunities in the Nigerian equity market for long-term investors “despite its year till date weak performance so far in 2018.”

Their views come on the heels of the value of listed equities which appreciated by 0.45percent to N12.933trillion last week. Amid the increase, driven by spike in a few large cap stocks, the market sentiment remained broadly weak as evidenced in negative week-on-week (w-o-w) closes seen across three of four key sectors.

NSE Banking Index was down by 3.04percent; NSE Consumer Goods Index was also down by 2.18percent; while NSE Oil/Gas Index declined by 0.23percent.

In addition to the impact of heightening election risks on Customs Street trading, an aggressive policy stance by US Fed also makes analysts favour the bear case. Investors are favouring debt capital market (DCM) over equity capital market, driven by political uncertainty.

At the close of trading last week, 15 equities appreciated in price, lower than 16 in the preceding week. Fortyfive equities depreciated in price, lower than 56 equities of the preceding

week, while 109 equities remained unchanged higher than 97 equities recorded in the preceding week.

In their August 27 note, Afrinvest Research analysts said their weekly sentiment indicator weakened to 1.3 points from 2 points recorded the previous week. They expect the market to remain pressured “following the release of unimpressive Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in second-quarter (Q2) of 2018.

The rate at which Nigeria’s GDP grew in the second quarter of 2018 slowed to 1.50percent, from 1.95percent recorded in the first quarter (Q1) of the year. Many economy watchers had expected the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to release positive Q2 growth rate despite that the stock market has continued to turn a blind eye to improving macroeconomic variables.

“Further driven by the weaker than expected GDP figure, we expect sustained downbeat sentiment in

the capital markets this week”, Vetiva research analysts said in their August 27 equity research where they anticipated a cautious start to this week’s trading.

“The Nigerian equities market pared its gains from early 2018, reeling from profit-taking and interest rate hikes in the US. Recent developments in the political space bespeak uncertainty and this has cast a shadow on the overall mood in the equities market,” according to Omonegho Imoageneled team of research analysts at Lagosbased CardinalStone.

“The dividend yield in the market has increased due to the low prices.

These low prices are attractive for investors wanting to take positions in the market on a long-term basis.

During the holding period of stocks, investors will earn attractive dividend yield, bonus (where declared) and have the opportunity to receive the benefits of capital appreciation”, FSDH analysts added.

“The weak performance of the

equity market so far in 2018 can be attributed to two main factors: firstly, the pullback of some foreign investors from the market due to uncertainty ahead of next year’s general elections and secondly, the rising global yields which are leading to reallocation of portfolio funds away from the equity market”, FSDH research analysts further noted.

The analysts expect imminent reversal from the current negative trend noting that “the equity market is already showing signs of oversold position”.

“The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the equity market is showing signs of oversold position. The expectation of higher crude oil prices on the international market in the short-term and crude oil production in Nigeria are positive drivers of the equity market.

The average price of Bonny Light crude oil so far in 2018 is higher than the 2018 Budget benchmark of $51/barrel”, according to FSDH.

Stanbic IBTC assists Dangote Cement with benchmark size Commercial Paper offering

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tanbic IBTC Capital and Stanbic IBTC Bank, subsidiaries of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, have partnered with Dangote Cement Plc, Africa’s largest cement producer, to conclude yet another issuance of N50 billion Series 3 and 4 Notes, under the recently established Dangote Cement Plc N150billion Commercial Paper (CP) Programme. Issuance of the Series 3 and 4 Notes closed on Friday 17 August 2018.

Stanbic IBTC Capital is Sole Arranger of the CP Programme, and acted as Joint Dealer for the Series 3 and 4 Notes, whilst Stanbic IBTC Bank is the Issuing, CalculationandPayingAgentforallNotes issued under Programme. The Series 3 and 4 Notes will be listed on Nigeria’s FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange.

Reflective of Dangote Cement’s topnotchratings(Aaa/AA+byMoody’s/GCR), theSeries3(180-day)and4(270-day)notes priced at thin spreads of 25 and 50 basis points over the chosen primary market Sovereign benchmark (OMO rate), to achievediscountratesof12.40percentand 12.65percent respectively.

The N50 billon offering was 158percent subscribed, with a robust and high quality order book closing at N79 billion. The order book featured bids from a diversified pool of funds managed by Pension Fund Administrators, Asset Managers, Insurance Companies, Trustees, Registrars, Corporate Treasuries and Private Bank HNI clients.

Thus, the level of oversubscription generated from a high quality and diverse order book also validates DCP’s rich non-bank investor base, achieved through the Company’s strategic efforts to broaden and diversify its funding sources. Funds raised in the CP Programme are to be used for the Company’s working capital and general corporate purposes.

Speaking in relation to the highly successful offering, Kobby BentsiEnchill, the Executive Director and Head, Debt Capital Markets, Stanbic IBTC Capital, expressed delight that Dangote Cement was able to achieve yet another landmark CP issuance, within 6 weeks of its inaugural offering.

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Thursday 30 August 2018

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United Capital investment views

Investor’s Square

Dangote Cement saves the week …NSE-ASI up 0.5percent week-on-week

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he Nigerian bourse h a l t e d i t s re c e n t weekly bearish streak in the holidayshortened week, thanks to increased bargain hunting activity in Dangote Cement shares.

Thus, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) ended two of the week’s three trading days in green territory. The ASI was up by 0.5percent week-onweek (w/w) to end the week at 35,426.2 points, while yearto-date (YtD) return stood at -7.4percent.

Also, investors recovered N58.4billion in value as market capitalisation advanced to N12.9trillion.

Activity levels improved as average volume and value traded were up 40.8percent w/w and 36.1percent w/w to 323million units and N3.4billion respectively.

Sectoral performance was mixed with a bearish tilt as 3 of the 5 sectors we track, declined w/w. The Industrial Goods (+2percent) Index led the gainers camp, consequent on increased buying interest in DANGCEM (+6.8percent) during the last two trading days of the week.

The Insurance (+0.8percent) Index followed, on account of price appreciations in LASACO (+3.2percent), and AIICO (+2.9percent). On the flipside, the Banking (-3percent) Index bore the brunt of the sell-off during the week, owing to sustained w/w losses recorded in ACCESS (-6.3percent), UBA (-4.2percent), ZENITH (-3.9percent), and GUARANTY (-1.3percent).

Similarly, sell-off in NB (-2.9percent), UNILEVER ( - 4 . 6 p e r c e n t ) , T O TA L (-3percent) and FO (-0.7percent) dragged both the Consumer Goods (-2.2percent) and Oil & Gas (-0.2percent) Indices lower w/w.

I n v e s t o r s’ s e n t i m e n t remained underwhelming as market breadth closed the week at 0.3x (same as last Friday); 15 stocks advanced while 44 declined w/w.

Money Market : Rates hover around singledigit as CBN net-repays N266.4billion Markets remained sufficiently liquid as OBB and overnight rates averaged 7.9percent compared to an average of 9.7percent in the preceding week. Liquidity was braced by CBN’s net repayment of N266.4billion - selling only N97.9billion of OMO bills against N364.3billion maturities.

Elsewhere, inflows from OMO and NTB maturities (N521.7billion), as well as FAAC disbursements, are expected to hit the system and we expect the CBN to maintain a dovish posture in curbing any excesses.

What’s more, following the release of CBN’s guideline for accessing Real Sector S u p p l y Fa c i l i t y ( R S S F ) through CRR and corporate bonds, the market is likely to see more liquidity at the front end. Also, inflows from OMO and NTB maturities (N521.7bn), as well as FAAC disbursements, are expected to hit the system but we expect the CBN to maintain a dovish posture in curbing any excesses.

Yields : Lull theme dominates pro c e e dings amid a de c eleration of offshore sell-off A lull theme dominated sentiments in the T-Bills market, despite buoyant levels of system liquidity.

A v e r a g e T- b i l l y i e l d traded sideways to close the week at 12.8percent.

(91-day (down 19bps to 11.4percent), 182-day (unchanged at 13.3percent) and the 364-day (up 18bps

Investors & Exporters FX windows inched higher fractionally by 4bps to finish at N362.4/$1. Looking ahead, the outlook of the naira is expected to remain tied to the spate of CBN’s intervention in the spot and forward market, as well as the better price discovery in the I & E FX window.

Global Market Review and Outlook Bulls guide proceedings in the global economy In the week that ended 24th of August 2018, major global equity benchmark i n d i c e s e n d e d i n g re e n territory amid a relatively quiet trade war spat.

The US equity market was largely bullish as the Federal Reserve chairman during the annual gathering of central bankers at Jackson Hole - reiterated that gradual rate hikes remained appropriate, given that there were no clear signs that

RSA fund price of PFAs as at August 3, 2018 S/N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

PFAs CrusaderSterling Pensions Premium Pensions ARM Pension Mgrs.

Stanbic-IBTC Pensions Legacy PFA NLPC PFA PAL Pensions First Guarantee Pension Trustfund Pensions SigmaVaughn Pensions AIICO Pension Managers Leadway Pensure PFA APT Pensions Fidelity Pensions AXA Mansard Veritas Glanvlls Pensions OAK Pensions Investment One Pension Mgrs.

IEI Anchor Pension Managers Radix Pension NPF Pensions

to 13.6percent). Two themes shaped sentiments in the bond market ; a slowdown of offshore sell-off relative to the preceding week and pockets of demand as traditional buy-side players snatched up attractive yields across the curve. As such, average bonds yield edged higher fractionally by 5bps to end at 14.7percent.

Looking to the new week, we expect to see pockets of demand given that yields are relatively attractive – especially on the mid to long end of the curve. Also, the NTB is seeking to rollover N207.0bn, even as the NBS releases Nigeria’s GDP report for Q2-18. Thus, we expect sentiments to be guided accordingly.

Foreign Exchange: Movement across FX windows remain muted In the Foreign exchange market, the naira continued to experience stability as movements across FX windows remained soft. The parallel market and interbank naira market traded sideways to end the week at N358.5/$1 and N306.1/$1, while the

CURRENT PRICE 3.9820 3.9805 3.9034 3.7542 3.6384 3.4638 3.4618 3.3070 3.2793 3.1244 3.0571 3.0502 2.7911 2.7460 2.7331 2.6680 2.5785 2.4792 2.3461 2.0434 1.4670

inflation was accelerating above the target 2percent and an overheating economy s e e m e d u n l i k e l y . T h u s, the NASDAQ Composite, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Avg. Indexes all trended higher by 1.7percent, 0.9percent, and 0.5percent w/w respectively.

In Europe, the major equity benchmarks we track rebounded ahead of USChina trade discussions, as well as the stabilizing Turkish lira. Overall, France’s CAC (+1.6percent), Germany’s DAX (+1.5percent), Pan European STOXX (+0.7percent) and UK’s FTSE (+0.3percent), all ended the week in green territory.

Also, emerging market Indices ended the week, bullish as South Africa’s JALSH (+3.8percent), China’s S CHOMP (+2.3percent), Russia’s RTSI (+1.1percent), India’s SENSEX (+0.8percent) and Brazil’s IBOV (+0.3percent) all trended higher w/w.

This week, US economic data will be light with a revised Q2-18 GDP report on Wednesday and consumer sentiment report on Friday.

•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

Economy and Markets

Economic growth slows amid agriculture concerns MICHAEL FAMOROTI

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ompared to Vetiva and Consensus estimates of 1.6percent and 2percent respectively, Nigeria’s reported second-quarter (Q2) 2018 real GDP growth of 1.5percent is disappointing. Although our estimate was close to the reported figure, the composition of GDP growth in the period is somewhat surprising.

There was a more marked slowdown in agriculture and oil production than we had anticipated, growth in the services sector was robust and the pace of industrial activity slowed, even though we had expected Manufacturing GDP growth to outpace Services—like in quarter-one (Q1) 2018.

The general weakness and volatility of the numbers show the brittleness of the broader economy, and we note that economic growth is too negligible to impact living standards or inequality.

Middle Belt violence decimates agriculture At 1.2percent y/y, this period’s growth in agriculture output is abysmal (5-year Q2 average: 3.5percent y/y), and it is hard not to finger the herdsmen crisis as the culprit here. According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, 1,738 people have been killed during the violence so far in 2018, the highest number on record. Notably, we had already begun to see the effect of this crisis in food prices as monthly food inflation rose from 0.9percent in April 2018 to 1.6percent in June 2018 (highest in a year).

Even as all of this is problematic, we are more concerned that a resolution to the crisis would not ease the pressure on agriculture output given the number of people that have been displaced from their communities—a reported 300,000 people in Benue State alone, many of whom are farmers.

Thus, efforts to bring an end to the scourge must b e c o m p l e m e nt e d w i t h a comprehensive strategy to rehabilitate the Middle Belt region. The ERGP target of 6.9percent average agriculture growth between 2017 and 2020 looks unattainable and we project FY’18 agriculture growth as low as 1.9percent y/y (Q3’18: 1.8percent y/y), the weakest since the 1983 recession.

Oil sector slumps, but recovery lies ahead We had anticipated a slowdown in oil production given stoppages in Forcados loadings and Force Majeure on Bonny Light exports for most of Q2’18. However, recorded oil production of 1.84 mb/d still underperformed our 1.90 mb/d estimate, causing the sector to contract 3.8% y/y. Full production activities resumed in late-July, and initial estimates suggest production rose by nearly 0.1 mb/d in the month.

We estimate output of 1.95 mb/d and 2.10 mb/d for Q3 and Q4 respectively, bringing average FY’18 output to 1.97 mb/d, and reflecting a 3.7percent y/y growth in the oil sector.

Manufacturing output volatility underscores underlying weakness Growth in the manufacturing sector declined from 3.4percent y/y in Q1’18 to 0.7percent y/y in Q2’18, partly driven by a 21 percent y/y decline in oil refining, even though it accounts for just 2percent of total manufacturing output.

We note that oil refining output is very volatile due to the inconsistency of Nigeria’s refineries and Q2’17 was a relatively bumper quarter (making it a high base). In addition, we also observed a slowdown in the growth in cement production from 5.3percent y/y to 3.8percent y/y (9percent of sector) and food & beverage output from 5.5percent y/y to 1.2percent y/y (46percent of sector).

All of this indicates that the rebound in consumer demand is not resilient, although we expect it to be supported by pre-election spending in the latter part of the year. Overall, we downgrade our industrial growth forecast from

3.7percent y/y to 2.6percent y/y.

ICT drives services to threeyear high The services sector grew at 2.6percent y/y, the fastest since Q4’15, and rebounding from a contraction of 0.5percent y/y and 0.7percent y/y in Q1’18 and FY’17 respectively.

This growth was mostly spurred by a 12percent y/y expansion in ICT, driven by strong growth in both Telecoms and Broadcasting. The construction sector also turned positive to post growth of 8percent y/y, the highest since Q1’15, whilst Real Estate (-34percent) and Trade (-2percent) contracted once more but at a slower pace.

The growth in the services sector is a welcome surprise, but we highlight that it is not broadbased and there is still weakness in a number of critical subsectors. We have upgraded our Q3’18 and FY’18 projections from 0.5percent y/y and 0.3percent y/y to 1.2percent y/y in both cases.

Multiple revisions to forecasts Our near-term outlook for agriculture and oil production is more downbeat given the shocks suffered this year, though we are more optimistic about medium-term oil production.

We also have a more bearish outlook for the manufacturing sector and a more bullish outlook for services, in line with Q2’18 data. There are not many growth catalysts in 2018, and although election spending would support aggregate demand, rebounding inflation and the threat of insecurity are a worry.

Our forecasts for Q3’18 and FY’18 GDP growth are 1.2percent y/y and 1.7percent y/y respectively (previous: 1.7percent y/y and 1.9percent y/y), and we expect the underlying economy to remain weak going into 2019.

Thursday 30 August 2018

C002D5556

BUSINESS DAY

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As Lafarge seeks shareholders’ approval for N90bn Rights Issue

ACTN partners ACT UK

…Vetiva’s N39.16 target price spurs ‘hold’ rating

he Association of Corporate Treasurers of Nigeria (ACTN) is partnering the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT), United Kingdom (UK) in education, training and ACT treasury professional qualifications. The partnership is in response to the desire of the ACTN to affiliate/partner with international organisations and other established similar associations to ensure global standards and professionalism in the corporate treasury function.

The Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) is the leading global professional body for treasurers that offers internationally recognised benchmark qualifications for individuals who operate within the treasury function and those with treasury responsibilities in their roles. ACTN is a professional association of Corporate Treasurers of the buy side (Oil and Gas sector, Telecommunications, Trading and Manufacturing, Service, Food and Beverages, Hospitality among others of the Nigerian financial markets.

As the ACTN strives towards continuously providing the platform for policy advocacy, discussions on issues of mutual interest, education and standard development of the corporate treasury function, this partnership avails its members the opportunity of obtaining international recognised ACT qualifications (Certificate in Treasury Fundamentals, Certificate in Treasury, Diploma in Treasury Management, Award in Cash Management Fundamentals, Certificate in International Cash Management) at a reasonable discount. It is however worthy of note that the ACT for now is the only organisation offering the world’s only comprehensive suite of treasury qualifications.

IHEANYI NWACHUKWU

L

afarge Africa Plc will at its ExtraOrdinary General Meeting (EGM) holding in Lagos on Tuesday September 25, 2018 seek the consent of its shareholders to among others raise N90billion by way of Rights Issue. The Rights Issue and Debt-toEquity Conversion will be part of the ordinary purpose of the meeting.

The directors will be s e e k i n g s h a r e h o l d e r s’ approval to raise capital of N90billion by way of a Rights Issue of ordinary shares to its shareholders. The Rights Issue will be executed at price, time, period and on such other terms and conditions as the directors may deem fit.

Also subject to complying with applicable regulatory requirements, the directors of Lafarge Africa will be seeking shareholders’ approval to apply any convertible loan, shareholder loan or any other loan facility due to any person, from the Company, as may be agreed by the person and the Company, towards payment for any shares or rights subscribed for in the Rights Issue.

Lafarge Africa Plc is a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, a world leader in building materials. The company has operations in Nigeria Ewekoro and Sagamu plants in Ogun State, Ashakacem in Gombe State, Mfamosing in Cross Rivers State, Atlas cement in Rivers State and Ready-Mix Nigeria and varied operations in South Africa. Ownership structure shows Lafarge SA holds 76percent stake in Lafarge Africa Plc while others account for 24percent.

The Rights Issue is in line with the approval obtained at the 59th Annual General Meeting of the Company held on May 16, 2018 - by which the Company is duly authorized to raise additional capital of up to N100billion by way of equity and/or debt, subject to obtaining the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities.

Also as part of the special purpose of the meeting, the directors of Lafarge Africa Plc will be asking shareholders to approve

for the authorised share capital of the Company to be increased from N5billion to N10billion by the creation of N10billion additional ordinary shares of 50 kobo each, ranking pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinar y shares of the Company. The new shares that will be created will be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and consequently the Memorandum of Association of the Company will be amended accordingly.

Last month, Lafarge Africa Plc released its unaudited financial statements for the half-year (H1) period ended June 31, 2018. The results at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) show group earnings increased to N162.291billion against N154.839billiion revenue recorded in the corresponding half-year of 2017.

Onyeka Ijeoma, equity research analysts at Vetiva Capital Management Limited had on July 26 commentary on Lafarge Africa’s first-half 2018 results asked investors to “Hold” the stock saying that the proposed Rights Issue will provide reprieve.

Ve t i v a ‘ h o l d ’ r a t i n g is given to Lafarge Africa stocks because the analysts consider it correctly valued with little upside, and expected potential return between 5 percent and14.99percent realizable

between current price and analysts’ target price. The analysts target price for the stock is N39.16. At the close of trading on Monday August 27, the share price of Lafarge Africa gained 75kobo or 2.86 percent to N27. This is despite that the NSE ASI opened the week with a record dip of 0.32percent.

“We note that management remains optimistic about a turnaround in this business in the near t e r m . We u n d e r s t a n d that management has implemented strategies which include reducing operations in Readymix and Aggregates (both currently lossmaking), reviewing procurement contracts, and improving general business logistics. We are however more cautious and wait to see some traction on the proposed plans”, Vetiva said.

“Management has unveiled a two-pronged plan to reduce borrowings. Firstly, the board approved a plan to reduce existing shareholder loans (currently at $315 million) to $293million.

In addition, Lafarge Africa plans to issue a fresh N90 billion Rights issue in 2018 to refinance short term naira loans and improve working capital. We await further details on the programme from management before including the issue in our model”, Vetiva research analyst stated.

Following better-than expected volume turnout from the Nigerian business and in line with their positive outlook for the Nigerian cement sector, the Vetiva analysts raised their full year (FY) 2018 cement volume expectations modestly to 5 million metric tons (MT) against previous 4.9 million MT. “After accounting for higher prices in Q2, this t ra n slate s to a n F Y ’ 1 8 revenue of N228 billion (Previous: N216 billion).”

Michel Puchercos, CEO of Lafarge Africa Plc while commenting on the H1’18 results said, “Our company saw strong market growth in Nigeria reflecting the end of the recession in the cement market. Cement demand has been on the rise since the beginning of 2018. We saw a 22percent increase in volume, benefiting from export to Ghana which began in Q4 2017. EBITDA for our Nigeria operations was N19.1 billion and EBITDA margin of 32.2percent, thanks to robust operational performance and continuous effort to reduce cash costs,’’ Thanks to a stable pricing and a favorable economic environment, Lafarge reported a profit of N1.9 billion in its Nigeria operation for the second quarter of 2018. Strong market growth as well as operational stability, success of the turnaround plan

implementation indicated the end of the recession in the cement market.

Puchercos added that the lack of large infrastructural projects impacted volumes in the company’s South Africa operations, but revenues improved by 7.7percent on the back of price increase in all segments in Q1 and FX translational effect. ‘’Aggregates, however, turned positive in Q2 despite low infrastructure spending. Success in the Nigeria operations has been due to operational stability, success of the turnaround plan implementation and volume improvement,” he added.

Comparing overall results to the corresponding quarter in 2017, net sales increased by 11percent to N81.6 billion with Nigeria accounting for 73percent of total sales; Nigeria operations delivered net sales of N59.3billion and EBITDA of N19.1billion.

Strong sales in Nigeria increased volumes in Q2 2018 by 18.7percent (inclusive of export) and 9.6percent in ReadyMix. In total, 68 kilotons (kt) of cement have been exported to Ghana with 28kt shipped in Q2 2018.The building solutions provider expects the Individual Home Builder segment to remain resilient.

Speaking on its refinancing plan, Bruno Bayet, CFO of Lafarge Africa said, “It’s aimed at preparing for future development in Nigeria, improving the company’s leverage as well as strengthen its profitability.

The proposed refinancing plan includes an extension of existing shareholders dollardenominated loan of $315 million and a new right issue of N90billion.”

Looking forward, Puchercos expects, “New route-to-market initiatives to deliver and continuous focus on cash cost reduction will drive operational performance in H2. Our South Africa management is focused on executing the turnaround plan implemented in Q1; the target for H2 is to deliver volumes.

The focus is on growing the contribution margin.

Actions around efficiency and cost management are on track and will contribute to significant savings in production costs across all the segments in H2”.

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BUSINESS DAY

Luxury

Malls

Companies

Deals

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Thursday 30 August 2018

Spending Trends

U.S. consumer confidence races to near 18-year high

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.S. consumer confidence surged to near an 18-year high in August, as households remained upbeat on the labor market, pointing to strong consumer spending that should help to sustain the economy for the remainder of the year.

The bright economic outlook, however, was dimmed somewhat by other data on Tuesday showing the goods trade deficit widened sharply in July as exports of agricultural products tumbled, indicating trade could be a drag on growth in the third quarter.

The jump in confidence this month suggests consumers are little worried about the Trump administration’s protectionist trade policy, which has led to an escalation of a trade war between the United States and China as well as tit-for-tat tariffs with the European Union, Canada and Mexico.

Economists have warned that the duties on imports will raise prices for ordinary Americans as well as make raw materials more expensive for some manufacturers.

There have been reports of some companies either laying off workers or planning to as a result of the import tariffs.

“That suggests a degree of skepticism about trade, inflation, or anything else knocking the economy off

track,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors in Kalamazoo, Michigan. “For now, consumers remain resiliently positive, which bodes well for household spending in the coming months.”

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index jumped 5.5 points to 133.4 this month, the highest reading since October 2000.

Consumers’ assessment of both current business and labor market conditions improved further in August.

Many consumers said they planned to buy a house or other big-ticket items in the months ahead. The survey’s so-called labor market differential, derived from data about respondents who think jobs are hard to get and those who think jobs are plentiful, rose to 30.0 in August from 28.0 in the prior month.

That measure closely correlates to the unemployment rate in the Labor Department’s employment report. It is consistent with continued reduction in slack in the labor market, which is near full employment. Consumers’ near-term inflation expectations moderated this month from July.

The Conference Board survey’s findings are in stark contrast with a University of Michigan survey showing consumer sentiment falling to an 11-month low in early

August as households worried about rising inflation eating into their modest wage increases and eroding their purchasing power.

Economists attributed the divergence between the two surveys on their treatment of the labor market.

“The latest reading from the Conference Board index was one of the more upbeat measures, which could be related to the survey’s emphasis on the labor market, many other labor market indicators have been strong lately.”

Stocks on Wall Street were trading flat a day after the United States and Mexico reached an agreement on an overhaul of the North American Free Trade

Agreement (NAFTA). The dollar <.DXY> slipped to a four-week low against a basket of currencies. Prices for U.S. Treasuries fell.

Goods trade deficit widens Separately, the Commerce Department said in its advance economic indicators report that the goods trade gap surged 6.3 percent to $72.2 billion last month. Exports of goods dropped 1.7 percent to $140.0 billion, weighed down by a 6.7 percent plunge in shipments of food, feeds and beverages.

That likely reflected a continued reversal of soybean exports after farmers frontloaded shipments of the crop in April and May to China before Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs

came into effect in early July.

There were also decreases in exports of capital and consumer goods last month, though motor vehicle exports rose. Imports of goods rose 0.9 percent to $212.2 billion in July, boosted by imports of food, industrial supplies and capital goods.

There were also increases in motor vehicle imports, but imports of consumer goods fell.

The government reported last month that trade contributed 1.06 percentage points to the economy’s 4.1 percent annualized growth pace in the second quarter.

Despite the anticipated drag from trade, economic growth in the July-September

quarter is still likely to remain solid.

The Commerce Department also reported on Tuesday that wholesale inventories jumped 0.7 percent in July and stocks at retailers increased 0.4 percent, suggesting inventories could provide a boost to gross domestic product this quarter.

There was an outright inventory liquidation in the second quarter. As a result, inventories subtracted a full percentage point from GDP growth in the April-June quarter.

A third report showed the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas rose 6.3 percent in June on a year-over-year basis after increasing 6.5 percent in May. House prices are being driven by tight inventories.

The combination of higher house prices and rising mortgage rates is making the purchase of a home unaffordable for some Americans, especially as wage growth lags. That has hurt home sales, leading to a slowdown in the housing market.

“House prices will advance this year and next, albeit at a relatively modest pace compared with the last several years,” said Brent Campbell, an economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Culled from Reuters

lions to convert unprofitable hypermarkets into cash-andcarry stores, while US offprice department store chain Ross is set to accelerate its expansion plans, targeting to operate 3,000 locations instead of 2,500, as previously announced.

Delivery decisions Retailer Weis Markets plans to kick off online grocery deliverywith the rollout of Shipt’s same-day service in 11 markets in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware, while Texas grocer H-E-B wants to expand its partnership with Shipt to nine more communities.

Investors in India in

Asia, Australasia Berkshire Hathaway, led by tycoon Warren Buffett, is set to pick up a stake in Indian online payment service company Paytm. It is the American billionaire’s first investment in the fast-growing Indian market, where a number of US top players are already looking to make their mark.

Moving on Michael Hill posted an 86% annual profit plunge, however, analysts reckon it’s not as bad as it looks after the Brisbanebased jewellery chain has exited the US market. The retailer plans to open at least 10 new stores in the next year in Australia, New Zealand and

Canada.

Eyewear experience Premium sunglasses brand RayBan is opening its first Australian store in Melbourne in October. The outlet will hold a large selection, with over 650 styles, including limitededition models available for the first time in this market and exclusive to the store.

A votre santé Champagne wines are expected to see a sharp rise in production, up 56 % from last year to 3.5 million hectolitres, after several years of unsatisfying crops.

Winegrowers are celebrating an exceptional harvest that will enable them to offer amazing champagne in due course.

Spill the beans Californiabased start-up Bellwether Coffee is set to bring more transparency to the coffee industry. The company, which just raised USD 10 million, is leasing electric coffee roasters to its customers and offers them access to its online marketplace, where they can trace where their daily beans come from.

Thriving empire in Asia Alibaba reported a whopping 61% rise in revenue to USD 11.8 billion in its latest quarterly results, but investments such as USD 3 million

to merge local food delivery businesses Ele.me and Koubei weigh on profits. Meanwhile, Spanish label Uterqüe, a unit of fashion giant Inditex, has launched on Alibaba’s Tmall.

Chinese expansion Aldi Süd tightens its collaboration with Alibaba (paywall, in German). The discounter revealed that it will extend its product range on Tmall and also increase the number of its employees in China, fuelling speculation that the retailer soon could open a physical store in Shanghai.

Korean experiments Amazon has made its first venture into South Korea with ambitious plans to launch the world’s first checkoutfree department store. The American online leader has partnered with Hyundai Department store to create the futuristic outlet, using drone technology.

Securing growth Thai retail conglomerate Central Group plans to spend around USD 500 million to expand its retail network in Vietnam.

After posting disappointing results, Hong Kong-based manufacturer Li & Fung said that it will spin off its logistics businessin order to streamline operations.

Global retail update

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ajor investments dominate the retail headlines. Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský is interested to buy another stake in German retailer Metro and American business tycoon Warren Buffett invests in India’s Paytm.

On a lighter note, French Champagne winegrowers are celebrating an exceptional harvest and promise to offer an amazing bubbly soon. We raise our glasses.

All eyes are on Asia today, where e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba revealed its latest ventures after posting quarterly results. US rival Amazon joins forces with Hyundai to experiment with futuristic stores in South Korea and German discounter Aldi might open a store in China in the near future.

Below are the recent updates in the retail sectorShareholder shake-up in Europe German consumer electronics retailer Ceconomy is in talks to sell most of its 10% stake in Metro to Czech-Slovak investor group EP Investment, led by businessman Daniel Kretínský. The announcement comes after Metro’s major shareholder, family-owned

conglomerate Haniel, sold a stake to the same group.

Russian announcements Home appliance retailer M.Video, which bought Ceconomy’s Russian business in June, has raised its forecast after it reported an 88% jump in first-half net profit. Meanwhile, grocer O’Key Group has launched its compact hypermarket in Southern Russia.

Spanish expansions Department store chain El Corte Inglés has increased the size of its board of directors, as part of a strategic plan “to embrace differentiation”. Compatriot Mercadona has acquired another site in Portugal, fuelling speculations that the grocer might soon open its fifth store in the country.

Online and offline steps in America In a bid to win over shoppers from Amazon, outdoor retailer Moosejaw, purchased by Walmart in 2017, will be the first brand to launch its own digital store on website Walmart.com. Meanwhile, arch rival Amazon has opened a second cashier less ‘Go’ convenience store in Seattle.

Raising the bar Private equity firm Advent, which acquired 80% of Walmart Brazil, is going to invest mil-

Thursday 30 August 2018

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Darling re-brands, introduces three new hair extension types in Nigeria …launches #FindYourBeautiful campaign

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Advent to invest $485m in Walmart operations in Brazil dvent International, the private equity firm that acquired 80 percent of Walmart Inc (WMT.N) ‘s Brazilian operations, is going to invest 1.9 billion reais ($485.66 million) in the existing stores as part of an agreement with the world’s biggest retailer, according to a document published in Brazil’s official gazette.

In June, Walmart announced it sold an 80 percent stake in its Brazilian

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU orna Nigeria, maker and marketer of Darling hair extensions has embarked on significant rebranding and has introduced three new hair extension types to improve is value proposition to its 150 million strong market across Nigeria and Africa.

The SuperSoft braids, which are softer in texture and longer than any other braids in the market, the Natural Twist which can be braided or styled and Afro Kinky, which is a tribute to the natural hair movement that has picked up across the world are the new synthetic and human hair extension types have been introduced into the Nigerian market.

“Darling understands that today’s multi-dimensional woman wants more out of life and liberation from conventional hairstyles. We are passionate about hair and the transformative power it can have on a woman’s sense of being. Darling equips African women with an indispensable freedom to effortlessly channel any style, anytime with ease” Chitwan Singh, business head West Africa, said at a press conference.

Darling hair is perceived in the market as offering products that promote beauty and transforms the African

BUSINESS DAY

operations to Advent, partially exiting an underperforming business and taking a non-cash charge of roughly $4.5 billion.

Advent is deploying the money in three installments, the document released last week showed.

The first two capital raises will total 750 million reais each. The first was already completed and the second is expected for next year. The remaining amount will be invested by 2021, the document said.

Prashant Chacko, head of marketing, Africa; Chitwan Singh, business head, West Africa; Ayodele Otujinrin, marketing manager, Nigeria; Ruth Mwangangi , marketing head, hair care, Africa; Chukwuemeka Okeke, head of sales, Nigeria at the Darling Press Conference held at Intercontinental Hotel on Saturday 25th, August 2018

woman through quality hair extensions. The brand is coming back with innovative new hair styles, superior product benefits and richer colors.

Lorna Nigeria is one of the pioneers of the hair extension business in Nigeria, in partnership with Kaneka, Makers of Kanekalon quality fibers.

In September 2011, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. entered into a partnership with the Darling Group, using the best capabilities within both groups through brand building and distribution to expand its reach. Darling is present in 21 countries across Africa. Over 30 years of experience and expertise in the field of hair has offered Darling some degree of market leadership in most of

the countries that it operates in. With a vast catalogue of hair extension styles at a range of attractive prices, including braids, weaves and crochets, the brand caters to over 150 million women across the continent.

To reflect their desire to always help women transition easily between a number of trendy looks. Darling is currently running the #FindYourBeautiful campaign.

Ayodele Otujinrin, marketing manager, Godrej Nigeria said “#FindYourBeautiful is all about empowering the African woman to find what makes her feel her most beautiful, most confident, most herself; to match her aspiration as she transitions in her role,

her change in mood, or even change of preference.”

“Darling believes that every African woman should be the best that she can be. Looking like a fashionable trendsetter, while switching between so many roles should be made easy and great for an everyday woman” Otujinrin added.

Darling has far-reaching affinity with salons across its market and with the factory located here in Lagos Nigeria, Darling is keen on receiving regular feedback from and delivering the best styles for their consumers. Darling was re-introduced at a press in Intercontinental Hotel on Saturday, August 25th, 2017 after which a launch party was held at the same venue.

Living under poverty line How Nigerians are struggling to survive

If you want to contact the writer of this story call: +234(0) 803 889 1567, +234(0) 8155184838 chinwe.agbeze@businessdayonline.com

Job applicant needs help to fund Son’s surgery State of Origin:- Imo Age: 29 years Occupation:- Job Applicant.

I concluded my National Youth Service Corps in December, 2017. My husband was in the transportation business, but after his truck packed up last year, he became a Real Estate Agent.

I planned starting a petty trading business with the money I saved during my NYSC until I get a job, but my son’s illness gulped it all.

Nature of your son’s illness: It all started last year with convulsion and he

was treated, but after some months he fell sick. The sickness became frequent.

We took him to the hospital when we had money, and the times we didn’t, we opted for Chemist shops.

We kept treating him until he had another convulsion that led to his present condition.

We had to rush him down to Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owerri where MRI of the brain was conducted. We were told my son has a mass in his brain and needs urgent Neurosurgery. But due to financial constraint, the surgery wasn’t done.

We frequented chemists, private hospitals, FMC

Owerri and churches seeking for assistance but my son’s condition was not

getting any better. We rallied round and was able to raise some money for his

surgery which was done at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu.

Analysts: Chinwe Agbeze, Stephen Onyekwelu, David Ibemere, Graphics: Fifen Famous

After the first surgery, my son underwent a second surgery and a third surgery was supposed to be conducted on Monday, August 13, 2018, but we are yet to raise the N1.5million for the surgery.

Challenge: We have exhausted all our options.

Our friends and family members have assisted us in many ways, but we are yet to raise a third of the amount required for my son’s surgery.

All the money we received including my husband’s income goes for this cause and we are yet to raise it all. I appeal to everyone to help me in any way they can so my son can live.

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BUSINESS DAY

Thursday 30 August 2018

FEATURE

As $3.3bn Egina FPSO arrives offshore oilfield this week

The $3.3bn Egina FPSO arrived at the SHI-MCI FZE quayside in LADOL free zone in Lagos in January this year where it was integrated locally by Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria (SHIN) Limited. After the successful completion of the integration works, the FPSO sailed away in the early hours of Sunday, August 26, 2018 and will arrive at the oilfield located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130 later this week to commence production of 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day before end of this year writes FRANK UZUEGBUNAM from Lagos.

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he $3.3 billion Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) unit that sailed away in the early hours of Sunday, August 26, 2018 from Lagos to the 200,000 barrels per day Egina oilfield will arrive at the offshore field this week, Businessday investigation has revealed.

The Egina FPSO was built by Samsung Heavy Industries of Korea (SHI) for Egina oilfield being developed at a cost of $16 billion by the global oil giant, Total.

With the successful completion of the fabrication and integration works in Lagos, the FPSO will arrive at the Egina oilfield located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130.

The FPSO sailed away from the quayside at Samsung Yard in Geoje, South Korea on October 31, 2017 and arrived at the SHIMCI FZE quayside in LADOL free zone in Lagos in January, where it was integrated locally by Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria (SHIN) Limited.

The fabrication and integration of the Egina FPSO in Nigeria was the first time such complex tasks were executed in Africa as there is no other FPSO integration yard elsewhere in the continent.

These tasks were executed at the SHI-MCI FZE, a fabrication and integration yard, which is the only one of such facility that was built by SHI as part of the efforts to make Nigeria the hub of FPSO integration in Africa.

An official of SHI, who did not want to be quoted said that on arrival at the Egina field, “mooring, hook-up and offshore commissioning will proceed favourably offshore with the final completion expected before the end of the year” “The project cost management is proceeding as scheduled with thorough preparation. The only major balance work now is the remaining commissioning work in offshore and to make the FPSO ready for entry of hydrocarbons (oil and gas) within 2018,” he explained.

The Egina field will add 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil to Nigeria’s daily output when it comes on stream. This will amount to an increase of 10 per cent to Nigeria’s daily production at peak.

In line with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Development

Egina FPSO sailing away from SHI-MCI yard in Lagos to EGINA field

(NOGICD) Act of 2010, SHIN has successfully completed the Egina FPSO work in SHI-MCI yard under the stringent local content regulations with similar safety and quality standards applicable in the Geoje shipyard in Korea.

“This volume of onshore work was never before accomplished in Nigeria. Therefore, the major risky portion of Egina project has now been completed. This achievement has been followed by very good response from the authorities of the Nigerian government and international clients. This would lead SHI to gain a competitive edge in future offshore project orders to be placed in West Africa, of course including Nigeria. In terms of history, SHI won the order to build Egina FPSO in 2013,” the SHI official added.

The FPSO is 330 metres in length, 61 metres in breadth, and 34 metres in height, with capacity to produce 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day and storage capacity of 2.3 million barrels and

topsides weighing 60,000 tonnes.

The FPSO will be installed in Egina offshore field, located 200 kilometres from Nigerian shores.

SHI executed the entire engineering, design, procurement, construction, transportation, and commissioning.

The integration and fabrication yard, which was completed in October 2016, is 120,000 square meters and has world-class construction and painting facilities as well as a robust quay wall of 500 meters, which has the unique strength in West Africa for berthing of mega size FPSOs. “We are very proud to announce the successful completion of the first ever Nigerian onshore integration works for Egina FPSO with thorough preparation in compliance with Nigerian local content, both schedule and cost management have been proceeding as planned,” the SHI official said.

Egina FPSO is not the first FPSO to be deployed in Nigeria’s oil and

gas industry. Nigeria has five producing deepwater fields- Bonga, Agbami, Erha, Akpo, Usan, with world-class FPSOs. But Egina is first on many fronts.

Egina FPSO is unique in the sense that it is the largest FPSO in the country, and is also the first FPSO to be integrated locally in Nigeria, and indeed, Africa. Before the fabrication and integration yard was built by SHI, the existing fabrication yards in Nigeria, could only fabricate simple structures and platforms, and had no capacity to fabricate complex FPSO modules.

When the idea of building the SHI-MCI yard in Nigeria was mulled, many industry stakeholders who are familiar with the risks in Nigeria’s operating environment thought it would not happen. But SHI surmounted the risks and completed the fabrication workshop in June 2015, and the integration Quay wall in October 2016.

The yard, which can handle 10,000 metric tonnes fabrica-

tion yearly, was used to fabricate some of the modules of the Egina FPSO. The state-of-the art fabrication and integration facility was constructed and developed under the technical, managerial and operational expertise of SHI while LADOL, its local partner and logistic service company, provided the ferry and electricity service.

However, an official of SHI attributed the success of the Egina project to the supportive roles of other stakeholders, including SHI’s co-venturers and government agencies. He listed some of the stakeholders to include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); National Petroleum Management Services (NAPIMS); Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB); Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA); and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

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BUSINESS DAY

25

LegalBusiness BD Business Law Industry Report Practice Intelligence Partnerships

INSIDE Bank sued for forgery, fraudulent account opening and collusion with fraudsters

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L-R: His Royal Highness, Muhammadu Sanusi II, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana and Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, SAN, President if the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, President of the Nigerian Bar Association (R) with President Muhammadu Buhari who was at the event to declare the conference open.

Incoming President of the NBA, Paul Usoro, SAN (L) with George Etomi, Chairman, 2018 Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP).

Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (Retd,) GCFR, and a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Attahiru Jega.

Tales of a traveling lawyer

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Newly elected president receives Certificate of Return from ECNBA

Former Chair of the NBA Section On Business Law and wife of incoming NBA President, Mfon Usoro making a presentation to the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa AkufoAddo at the Annual General Conference.

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Highlights of the 2018 Annual General Conference of the NBA

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he Annual General Conference (AGC) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) was on Sunday August 26th 2018, declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The event, which took place at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja was attended by top dignitaries made up of government functionaries, policy makers, regulators, justice stakeholders and key players in various sectors of the economy.

Amongst these, were the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu On-

noghen, His Royal Highness, Muhammadu Sanusi II, NBA President-elect, Paul Usoro SAN, Speaking at the Opening Ceremony on the theme, “Transition, Transformation and Sustainable Institutions” president Buhari described the conference theme as apt in the light of contemporary domestic and global challenges.

He said, “I consider it significant in view of the fact that it demonstrates the willingness of the NBA to address issues, not only related to the immediate practice of law but more importantly, to solutions of wider society’s problems.

“Since the inauguration of this administration, I have had the privilege of observing at first hand how societies experience transition, attempt transformation and build or strengthen institutions to manage these processes.

“In the context of opinions and narratives about our past and present political and socioeconomic experience, you cannot afford to jettison rational and proper analysis of issues in a manner which builds, rather than destroys the nation.

The president thus urged lawyers to work to uphold and im-

prove the sanctity and integrity of judicial and electoral institutions which play a fundamental role in the sustenance and growth of our democracy.

On his part, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen urged politicians to play by the rules as the nation prepares for the next general elections.

He emphasized the need for the continued protection of the independence of the Judiciary to enable it function effectively, thereby safeguarding the nation’s democracy.

“Our politicians must conduct

themselves lawfully so as not to endanger the peace and stability of the country,” he said, adding that the Judiciary would be bold to play its role without fear or favour” if its independence was guaranteed.

Day two of the conference had in attendance, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana His Royal Highness; Muhammadu Sanusi II; former head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (Rtd,) GCFR, former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Attahiru Jega, amongst others.

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BUSINESS DAY

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DOCKET

BDLegalBusiness

Bank sued for forgery, fraudulent account opening and collusion with fraudsters

Overview of the bilateral currency swap agreement: Analysing implications and opportunities Continued from last week

b) Mitigating the adverse effects of Dollar Volatility Having transactions denominated in third party currencies can be quite volatile, as was the case in Nigeria during the recession period where dollar was at its most volatile level. The BCSA between CBN and People’s Bank of China will greatly mitigate the adverse effects of dollar volatility and hence our susceptibility to Naira fluctuations. The agreement allows the respective Central Banks to obtain each other’s currency at a pre-determined exchange rate which would not be susceptible to fluctuation of the currencies.

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businessman, Umegelo Emmanuel has asked a Lagos High Court in Igbosere to compel Zenith Bank Nigeria Plc. to pay him the sum of N177, 500, 000 (One Hundred and Seventy Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira) he lost through the bank’s alleged negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation and collusion with Chinese fraudsters.

But the bank asked the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that the defendant’s loss was the result of his own negligence.

In the suit marked LD/ ADR/1632/2018, the claimant through his statement of claim dated 23rd February, 2018, stated that he entered an agreement with one Ms. Muna, a Chinese with Nigerian business interests to purchase goods from China.

The claimant opined that owing to his longstanding banking relationship with Zenith Bank, he rejected other Bank’s accounts provided by Ms. Muna for payment and insisted that she must present a bank account maintained in Zenith Bank, which resulted in Ms. Muna presenting the Zenith Bank Account No: 1005689704 with the Account Name: Xian Fang Li. The claimant maintained that he confirmed that the account existed before transferring the sum of N177, 500, 000 into it.

But shortly after the money was paid into the account, Ms. Muna refused to deliver the goods and subsequently stopped picking his calls and blocked all his access to her contact.

The claimant stated that he had

visited China twice in search of Ms. Muna and had even reported the matter to the Chinese Police and Chinese Embassy but all his efforts to locate the said Ms. Muna has proved abortive.

According to him, investigation conducted by the Police in Nigeria showed that the Xiang Fang Li account was fraudulently opened by Zenith Bank without regard to the usual Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure for account opening.

The claimant alleged that police investigation reveals that “the utility bills presented in opening the Xiang Fang Li account were fictitious; and the signature of one of the purported referees to the Xiang Fang Li account, Mr. Kazeem Lawal, was conclusively found to be forged by the account officer, Mr. Muyiwa Onigbelusi who opened the Xiang Fang Li account.”

He averred, among others, that the defendant did not cross-check nor verify the true identity of the account holder, the true identity of the referees supplied during the account opening as well as the validity of the account opening documents.”

He further averred that “he was defrauded by virtue of the forgery, collusion and fraudulent practice of Zenith Bank and their staff. He asked the court to grant him the following reliefs among others: “A declaration that the defendant is negligent and reckless in her duties to the claimant and the public in general.

“An order mandating the defendant to refund the sum of N177, 000, 090 to the claimant being the

sum lost by the claimant due to the negligence of the defendant.

“An order for the payment of the sum of N10, 000, 000 as general damages against the defendant for breach of contract.

“An order of interest at the rate of 15 percent before judgment and 21 percent post-judgment.”

But in its statement of defence, Zenith Bank absolved itself of blame. It said the claimant failed to contact the Bank for possible advice on the alleged business transaction he had with Ms. Muna before paying the sum of N177, 500,000.00 into the said account.

It added: “The claimant failed to request a bank guarantee of the alleged sum from or requested that the defendant issued a confirmation or a letter of comfort before dealing with both Ms Muna and Xian Fang Li. It said it indeed crosschecked and also verified the true identity of the account holder and the customer supplied his International Passport and other sundry documents before the account was opened. The defendant crosschecked, verified and established the ‘identity of the referees supplied by the customer during the account opening.

“The defendant states that the referees exist and one of the referees by name Kazeem Lawal was arrested by the police. All the account opening documents filled and supplied by the customer were verified and cross-checked to be true.”

No date has been fixed for hearing.

DOA makes 2018 Law Digest Africa Awards shortlist

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he law firm of Duale, Ovia & Alex-Adedipe (DOA) is once again at the forefront of nominations for the prestigious Law Digest Africa Awards 2018 This year, DOA has been nominated in six categories, namely: Emerging Law Firm of the Year (1-3 Partners), Young Managing Partner of the Year, Managing Partner of the Year, Property, Infrastructure and Construction Team of the Year, IP and Technology Team of the

Thursday 30 August 2018

Year, Power, Energy and Natural Resources Team of the Year.

It would be recalled that last year, the firm won two awards as TMT (Telecommunication, Media & Technology) firm of the year and also Real Estate & Construction firm of the year at the Nigerian Legal Awards.

Other nominees in the Law Digest category for ‘Emerging Law Firm of the year are, Kieti Advocate LLP (Kenya), Bloomfield Law Prac-

tice (Nigeria), NFM (Ngassam, Fansi & Mouafo) (Cameroon), Stark Legal, (Nigeria), EnVantage Law (Kenya), T&A Legal (Nigeria) And AO2 LAW also from Nigeria.

DOA Managing Partner, Adeniyi Duale is also nominated as Young Managing Partner of the Year.

Speaking about this development, he said, “This recognition is a testament to the Firm’s team work and culture of excellence, which is always our watchword.”

c) Foreign Reserves Accretion Nigeria which is an import dependent economy has most of its import bill and international trade transactions settled in dollars. This practice has heavily impacted the foreign currency earnings and reserve of the country. With the operationalization of this BCSA, enormous pressure will be taken off the dollar, while allowing more dollar earnings to be retained in the foreign reserve. d) Provision of Renminbi denominated Loans It is envisioned that the People’s Bank of China will use the available Nigerian currency to advance loans to Chinese investors, who have secured investment opportunities or intending to do business in Nigeria. This creates a unique and cheaper window for investors to import capital for their business interests in Nigeria. e) Improve trade flow from china into Nigeria The Chinese public and private sector participation in the Nigerian Economy has continued to trend upwards. Footprint of Chinese investments in Nigeria can be found in the Telecommunication, construction, petroleum, mining, agricultural and manufacturing sectors. The availability of Nigerian Naira to Chinese businesses is expected to shore up the Foreign Direct and Portfolio Investment into Nigeria. The major attraction is not only the availability of liquidity to invest in the country, but the availability of the Renminbi for repatriation of profit and capital back to China. f) Multi-nation currency swap backed by Renminbi Also expected as a fall out of the currency swap agreements so far entered into between China and some African Governments such as, South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, is a boost of inter African trade that will be powered by the Renminbi currency. The apex banks of these African countries may be able to consummate

trade with other African nations based on the Renminbi rather than the United State Dollars.

Key issues arising from Swap Deal i. Triumph of consumerism over Creativity With Nigeria’s penchant for consumption of foreign goods, Experts have opined that the BCSA may be more favourable to Chinese businesses, which may flood the Nigerian market with Chinese products at a cheaper rate, thereby pushing the country to abandon its growing manufacturing sector and settle for a consumer nation status. ii. Dominance of Chinese Products Furthermore, the deal when fully operational will secure an increase in the availability of Chinese goods in the Nigerian market. When this occurs, competition between the imported goods and our locally manufactured product will be difficult to maintain, as our locally manufactured product will struggle with indices such as, price, availability and quality.

Invariably, this will lead to the dominance of Chinese goods in the Nigerian market. iii. Nigeria’s growing trade deficit with China It is feared that the BCSA may further impact the already lopsided balance of trade between Nigeria and China. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, between 2013 and 2016, Nigeria’s trade deficit with China was USD 16.9 billion, therefore any further increase on the import side of trade will worsen Nigeria’s position on the Trade Chart. iv. Round Tripping of the Renminbi Nigeria has had a tough time addressing the problem of round tripping especially with the USD. The regulation has been structured to eliminate round tripping by providing for payment directly to sellers operating in China. Despite the above, the CBN must set up efficient modalities to prevent round tripping by Authorised Dealers who will be allocated the Renminbi for disbursement to customers.

Conclusion Taking a cue from the positive reception of the BCSA by the public and private sector participants in the economy, we expect business operators to take advantage of the vast offerings of the deal to incentivize and improve their trading activities. Whether or not the BCSA will negatively impact or rather help build the Nigerian economy is a question that can only be answered in time.

Nonetheless, only a strategic and well-structured implementation will secure a favorable outcome for Nigeria.

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BDLegalBusiness

Hard Truth

I

t would seem that the NBA Annual General Conference was a fair ground for the government, regulators, leaders, others, to bare out their hearts and possibly throw a few shades where they found the opportunity.

The acting Chairman of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, was at the conference to accused lawyers, particularly Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) have been frustrating the anticorruption war by knowingly supplying the technical know-how and helping in the dispersal of the proceeds of crime.

Speaking on topic ‘Need for Ethical Reforms as NBA Conference Begins,’ he said, “A particular senior advocate received N1.7bn in legal fees from a corrupt politician without a qualm. The same senior advocate received N300m from a governor in the South-South as legal fees for an election petition case and failed to pay tax but quickly took advantage of the Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme when he realised he was under probe.”

He continued, “It is personally disheartening to see lawyers who invest their talents and expertise in advancing the cause of corrupt politicians and public officials.

It is amazing that a senior lawyer can accept professional fees of N1.7bn from a politician without scruples!

The same lawyer with a turno-

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TRAVEL DIARIES ver of N3, 765,414,995.24 only paid valued added tax of N7, 051,928.24. The N300m cash payment which the senior lawyer received from a SouthSouth state government in an election petition matter in 2016 was never captured in his tax submissions to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

“Another senior lawyer who is quick to advertise himself as the nemesis of the EFCC, has a turnover of over N5.1bn with an assessed total tax liability of over a billion naira between 2010 and 2017.

Sadly, he merely declared a meagre N8m as gross earnings for 2014 and 2015, and N10m for 2016,” Magu said.

He therefore appealed to lawyers to put the interest of Nigeria ahead of any other monetary consideration, stating that there was a need for lawyers to demand to know the sources of income of their clients before receiving any money.

Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega stated that one of the key obstacles of having electoral integrity is the mindset of the key stakeholders.

According to him, Nigeria needs competent and assertive leaders and not necessarily strong leaders. “An incompetent leader who is strong will end up destroying institutions,” Jega said.

In his welcome remarks, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association

(NBA), Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, SAN blamed the rising cases of insecurity on the failure of state institutions.

He said: “It appears to us that at the heart of these conflicts is a weakened state system. There appears to be systemic collapse of institutions of governance both at the local and state levels.”

The NBA President further blamed the nation’s inability to overcome its economic and developmental challenges on the absence of viable state institutions.

He said: “The NBA remains deeply concerned that our transformative journey to a stable prosperous country remains hampered by the absence of strong accountable and sustainable institutions.

“We are convinced that our huge potentials either as a country or as a continent, cannot not be unleashed until we overcome the challenge of institution building. Rule of law and democracy can only be guaranteed or anchored on strong institutions built on clear, fair and transparent processes with predictable outcomes,” he said.

Mahmoud noted that Ghana remained ahead of Nigeria on the ease of doing business index. “Ghana’s global ranking out of 190 Countries Ranked by the World Bank in Ease of Doing Business, Starting a Business and Getting Electricity is 120, 110 and 136 respectively compared to Nigeria’s rankings of 145, 130 and 172 respectively,” he said.

Tales of a traveling lawyer

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ost people say members of the Nigerian Police force are corrupt. Naaa! They are saints when compared to Kenyan Police.

So I took two pictures at the car ramp of the Kenyan Airport during my layover in Nairobi enroute Johannesburg, and about eight (8) policemen swooped on me and said it was illegal to take pictures and that I would be taken to court and arrested.

I thought this was a joke, so I courteously discussed with the officers and showed them I was a Nigerian tourist in transit. They harassed and pulled me roughly. One brought out handcuffs.

I insisted on making calls.

They refused and seized my phone. They demanded I pay a bribe of $500 (N180, 000 .00) before release. I said there was nowhere it was written that

DOA Team receiving awards for TMT law firm of the Year, as well as Real Estate & Construction Law Firm of the Year at the Nigerian Legal Awards

pictures were illegal.

Eventually, I had to beg them to accept $100. Was scared to be convicted in a foreign country, especially when I am a lawyer in Nigeria and also miss my flight to J’burg, South Africa - which was my final destination. (I was in Nairobi for only a day).

Never had I been so shaken and traumatised. That policemen in Kenya would treat a foreign national thus is shocking. Kenyan Police needs help and reformation.

This does no good to the image of Kenya particularly for a country known for tourism.

I made a formal complaint to Kenyan Airways and the Kenyan Police: weeks later, nothing has been done. The Government of Kenya needs to rid its police of these elements.

Definitely not going to Kenya in future!

– A. Ayoko.

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Newly elected president receives Certificate of Return from ECNBA ...As NEC ratifies elections

The newly elected President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Paul Usoro, SAN on Sunday August 26th received a certificate of Return from the Electoral Commuttee of the NBA (ECNBA).

The certificate was formally handed to him by the Chairman, Prof.

Auwalu Yadudu at the Pre-Conference National Executive Committee (NEC) Meeting of the NBA. At this pre-conference meeting, NEC also unanimously ratified the timing of the just concluded elections. The motion was moved by Solomon Umoh, SAN and seconded by Ferdinand Orbih, Esq. SEE PHOTOS

Newly elected President of the NBA, Paul Usoro, SAN (R) receiving the Certificate of Return from ECNBA Chairman, Prof Auwalu Yadudu

Paul Usoro, SAN (R) with Prof. Konyinsola Ajayi at the NEC meeting where the election was ratified.

Message from one President to another

…As Augustine Alegeh, SAN congratulates, Usoro, new ExCo

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L-R, Immediate Past President of the NBA Augustine Alegeh, SAN, Mfon Usoro and newly elected President of the NBA, Paul Usoro, SAN

Continued from last week

JEE hosts members of IP Law Club from OAU

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as members of the NBA must come together as one family to support the new administration and ensure it succeeds.

The NBA belongs to all of us and we all must work together as one big family to ensure its survival and sustenance as one indivisible unit.

The task of leading the Bar is enormous and the legitimate expectations of Lawyers, the Nigerian people and the international community are that the new Administration will lead the Bar to greater heights, constructively engage the Government on all issues pertaining to the sustenance of the rule of law and democracy as well as be the leading voice of the voiceless majority.

The new Administration must therefore hit the ground running and provide cutting edge leadership in dealing with all matters pertaining to Lawyers, the judiciary, rule of Law and democracy.

It is time to work!

It is my prayer and fervent hope that the Incoming Administration of the NBA will deliver excellently on the core mandate of the Bar. Congratulations.

CPC opens up on suit against multiChoice

INTRO

he Intellectual Property (IP) practice of Jackson Etti & Edu (JEE) recently hosted members of the IP Law Club of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).

The visiting team comprising of club executives and members shared their objectives, programmes and initiatives with the firm. They disclosed that the club had embarked on each programme in furtherance of its goals and to promote the awareness of intellectual property amongst students an millenials generally.

In turn, the firm’s IP team took the students through some mini lectures on topical issues relating

he Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has achieved yet another milestone following the successful conduct of its 2018 general elections with universal suffrage via electronic voting.

I most heartily congratulate my learned Brother Silk, Paul Usoro SAN on his election as the 29th President of the NBA. I also felicitate with the other elected National Officers on their victory at the polls, and I charge them to take the responsibility reposed in them

by Lawyers seriously and dedicate the next two years to leading the Bar to even greater heights.

I trust that the Incoming-President will be magnanimous in victory and work to unite the Bar after such hotly contested elections. I appeal to all those who were not successful at the elections to graciously accept the choice of the majority and to offer support, advice and encouragement to the elected National Officers.

I respectfully urge all our members to support the Incoming Administration. The elections are over and we all

to intellectual property. JEE partner, Chinyere Okorocha described

the exchange as “a truly inspiring event.”

Although these principles are better articulated in the context of a Competition or Antitrust legislation and regime, which Nigeria does not have, they are consumer protection principles that are generally express or sometimes derived from existing consumer protection legislation. In Nigeria, Section 2(i) CPCA expressly captures this.

In any inquiry under the CPCA, the question must be whether any entity or individual has engaged in conduct that constitutes an “obnoxious practice”, or “unscrupulous exploitation”. If any conduct is declared to be these, and such conduct has sufficiently distorted the market and redounded to the benefit of an entity or person at the expense of consumers, the objective, and or outcome of such conduct, is necessarily suspect and implicated under law whether it is price, market share, appearance, name or other features of a commodity or service. An

Inquiry in this respect does not question whether a price is acceptable or excessive. It simply really examines conduct.

The Council in addressing the entire scope of complaints and House of Representatives resolution, proceeded in the investigation. Multichoice initially adopted a sensible industry approach to regulatory oversight, which was to preserve regulatory and company resources by making admissions of its own in certain areas and welcoming additional regulatory initiatives to improve services and customer experience over a period of time, and supervision.

However, upon implementation, it made a turnaround, forcing the CPC to seek judicial intervention.

Council has thus said that with the Interim Injunctive Order of the Federal High Court, ‘It is a violation of the order of a court for Multichoice to require consumers to pay, or to receive any new rate for their services from consumers.

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GARDEN CITY BUSINESS DIGEST How TOTAL’s micro-credit scheme is restoring lost livelihoods in oil communities ttt JOUFSFTU MPBOT OPX CPPTU SVSBM FDPOPNZ JO &HJ IGNATIUS CHUKWU & INNOCENT ETENG

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ommunities in some parts of Rivers State are returning home to pick the pieces after months of violence and killings in the areas. The challenge however seemed to be the finance to start businesses afresh. TOTAL, an oil company, has come to their rescue.

The company has taken over the financing of their businesses. TOTAL says it commits to registering a minimum of 10 cooperative societies into which the company would push some funds. The trainees are to access these funds as registered members of the cooperatives, paying interests as low as one percent. That seems to create excitement in the oil communities.

For more than three years, many of the communities in Oba/Egbema/Ndoni local council area faced mindless killings and violence traced to cultism and armed banditry, leading to exodus to other states such as Delta and Bayelsa, abandoning their businesses and farms.

Egi community was one of the worst hit during the crisis with high devastation. Now, the story gradually changes as those that fled are returning.

Businesses are picking up.

Farm lands are being cultivated again. But for meaningful economic recovery to take place, small business owners need access to, at least, micro-credit loans.

According to a report by The Credit Crunch and approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria, more than 70 per cent of micro, small and medium

Patrick Pouyanne Total CEO

enterprises (MSMEs) lack access to loan across Nigeria.

But thanks to TOTAL (E&P) that has stepped in to remove that huddle for small business owners in Egi community and others through its “New MicroCredit Scheme” training and funding.

The scheme, initiated in February 2018, aimed to train small scale entrepreneurs and introduce new approaches to micro-credit access. The training was hosted in four of its host communities in Oba/ Egbema/Ndoni and focused on how to start a successful business, importance of record keeping, time manage-

ment, business sustainability, growth, expansion, and many more. Overall, about 200 small business owners have been trained.

According to Kesena Odogwa, the resource person and consultant for Total, the reason for introducing cooperative societies is for the people to get directly involved in the entire process.

“We have been using different procedures to see how we can get funds to finance the people in the communities. And then we had to sit down with Total staff and we came up with the idea that the moment we can set

up cooperative societies the indigenes would be directly involved in the management of this process. All we have to do is supervise them and then let them work. With that we are very sure that they would be able to get these funds and then manage it themselves.

“Total is going to bring in some money and give the cooperatives. Our responsibility is to go to those respective communities, check their businesses, look at the amount that they can actually carry, then we would disburse the funds to them. They would start paying gradually, and as

they grow, we would begin to increase the amount that is given to them as their businesses also grow,” Odogwa said.

But according to Total’s Business and Enterprise Manager, Port Harcourt district, Philippe Desriac, the primary purpose of the programme is to diversify the local economy - which for years has been oil-dependent - and help the people chart a new course.

“The training is a continuation of the company’s continued belief and commitment to the renewal and diversification of the Egi economy. This has become important because of the concerns that the greater part of the economic life within and around the Egi land has been focused on the oil and gas sector,” he stated.

Desriac told them: “This is to prepare you for the future and give you the skills required to grow your micro-enterprises and create sustainable wealth into the future.” He pleaded with the beneficiaries to put the skills to use so as to become successful businessmen and women.

Odogwa, the TOTAL consultant, and some observers believe that not only would the programme restore lost livelihoods in Egi and other communities, it would also impact on the generality of the Rivers State economy.

“You will discover that when those who fled due to restiveness heard about the training, they started coming back. This means they are coming back to set up their businesses here and the moment it begins to grow and people can see a positive turn out, we can replicate this in other TOTAL host communities. More so, they find it useful because one of the major is-

sues is that at the micro-credit level, they are being neglected,” Odogwa said.

Okirie Konye Braide is the director of Egi City Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (EGICCIMA).

He said the programme came at the time when it was most needed.

He said his people had been bedeviled with crisis that led to poverty. He said most of the businesses had collapsed because some were looted. “As a result we were no longer flourishing. So it is important that they get access to loans so they can establish their businesses.

Those who have stopped as a result of lack of finance have the opportunity to start again,” Braide said.

Some participants bared their minds on what they think the programme means for them as individuals and communities.

“I came because of the credit loan training. In fact, I am very, very excited. There are some things I came across here that I never even heard of in my university days. What I have learnt all through this training is going to change my economy and the economy of the entire society of Egi land because it has allayed fears in most of us,” Chika Major, a local farmer, said.

For Faith Chioma Eke who sews and sells wrappers, slippers and handbags: “I have got a lot of knowledge to add to my business; how to make savings, how to make records, how to wake up early and how to make sure that I meet up with daily targets and with customers in a way that would be wonderful. (For Total) in fact, I don’t know what to say now but to say ‘thank you for bringing this programme to us’.”

Terrorists everywhere around you

Port Harcourt by Boat With IGNATIUS CHUKWU

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s this column was about to be penned down, a loud exclamation rang out from a friend, Eke-Ejelam, who said his family almost perished in his speeding car in the Garden

City when a ‘suicide’ barrow pusher pushed his cart or wheelbarrow into the busy road uncaringly. He said he saw hell trying to swerve up and down, all in a twinkle of an eye. Christ did the rest. Today, he is alive for us.

This came this writer was assembling pieces of incidents in our midst in southern Nigeria to show that a kind of ‘terrorists’ not yet known to us or to the authorities are in circulation. They come in different names and menial trades, the deadliest of them being a new generation of wheelbarrow pushers.

The other day when we were driving in the evening rush hours in Diobu, Port Harcourt, a small hold up emerged. When we got to the spot, it happened that one

cart pusher (likely from the far north) left the cart on the car track to wage verbal war with a bus driver. He had no qualms standing up to the bus driver who looked like an easterner or ‘son of the soil’. The fierce looking cart pusher harried the bus driver, daring him to come down from the bus. One other cart pusher or ‘co-terrorist’ stood near to help out. Nobody came to help the easterner, even on eastern soil? Not even the ubiquitous bus drivers that used to terrorise the rest of us before?

Another day, a young but pregnant lady went to the famous Oil Mill market in Port Harcourt last week and before you knew it, one ‘suicide’ pusher mauled her to the ground.

There, for women, the fear of the new wheelbarrow pusher

is the beginning of market wisdom.

The new terrorists are everywhere; in the markets, on the roads, in office neighbourhoods. They have no remorse and no apology. They have hunger for a fight. Those of them who drive keke seem to be worse; they can ram it into you and hardly look back. If they ever spit ‘sorry’ at you or to you, it sounds pained, and if you dare go further instead of thanking God for that sorry, they could injure you, after raining abuses on you. One cab driver dropped me off at Education Bust Stop last week.

I was the last to alight. Just because one uniformed woman was heading his way, he ignored all risks and zoomed off, my one leg on the ground pulling me to harms’ way. People

screamed. He slowed down a bit and I used my acrobatic agility of primary school days to break my fall. The anger was that people did not allow me to teach him my own ‘terrorism’. So, just to escape a traffic penalty, he was ready to kill a senior man like me?

That is nature of the new terrorism around us these days. A bank at Emenike junction has acquired on old plant that now terrorizes us all. For the youth jobbers, most of them are on drugs or tramadol as we say these days. They have no respect for human life, whether yours or theirs. Police arrest means nothing to them, trouble has no definition for them.

The trouble is, these keke and wheelbarrow boys seem to be fertile ground for grooming

suicide bombers or terrorists.

Nobody seems to be monitoring them and screening them, or I may not know. It may not be too much for real terrorists to infiltrate them and give them suicide belts. We have always said it that ISWA uses whichever group and terrain that is part of a local habitat to create cover and launch their own unique operation. When they do, we start shouting, reacting too late. Why do we allow them to always be a step ahead?

We hear some screening of those young boys coming into the east or PH through lorries is being done, we thank the security outfits, if it’s true, but these boys we see in PH need closer attention. Their glassy eyes, their boldness, and their reckless effrontery speak volume, sir.

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Investing in Rivers State

Rivers is secure for investment – outgoing Onne Customs boss Ignatius Chukwu & Innocent Eteng

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f, before now, you had thought Rivers State was not a secure place to invest and do business, then you might need a rethink. At least the testimony of Abubakar Bashir, who - for a year and four months - was the Comptroller of Customs in charge of the Onne Area 11 Command, might give you a better insight.

Not only did Bashir have a hitchfree stay in Rivers, he also implied that Rivers indigenes and communities remained the kind of people one could maintain a healthy and cordial relationship with.

“Generally, my staying here has been very smooth, my relationship very very cordial. I am sure with the relationships I established with the local communities, one has achieved a lot,” Bashir told journalists during a press briefing where he announced his exit at the Customs House.

Following incidents of kidnapping and cult clashes that often resulted in the death of innocent citizens in the past, Rivers State became known to many as a dangerous business destination, but recent efforts by the state government seem to have contributed much to the restoration of peace that is now being enjoyed statewide. Many say it is time to drop the toga of an insecure entity.

For example, in May 2018, the state governor, Nyesom Wike, signed three bills into law - the Rivers State

Governor Nyesom Wike

Neighbourhood Safety Corps Law No.8 of 2018, Rivers State Secret Cult and Similar Activities (Prohibition) (Amendment) Law No.6 of 2018 and Rivers State Kidnap (Prohibition) (Amendment) Law of 2018.

The laws primarily aimed to tighten security and mete stiffer penalties for acts of criminality, especially those bordering on kidnapping, cultism and related activities.

“If you are a cultist and you are caught, it is life imprisonment. If you are a cultist and you kill during cult activities, you will face the death

Abubakar Bashir, outging Customs Comptroller

penalty. If you are convicted for kidnapping and the Supreme Court affirms your conviction, I will sign the death warrant without looking back,” the governor said, while signing the bills to law at the government house in Port Harcourt.

“If your hands are clean, you have nothing to fear about the three laws that I have given assent to. All criminals will face the full weight of the law. We will fight crime and ensure that the state is safe for investors,” the governor assured.

Since the three laws came to be-

ing, citizens in the state have enjoyed relative peace. Even Oba/Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government Area that used to be the hub of deaths through cultism has seen a sharp drop in restiveness as businesses are now gradually returning.

With these measures by the government, plus testimonies from the likes of Bashir, it might be considered out of place for potential investors to think the state was still not safe for business.

Even as Bashir proceeds to Apapa Area Command in Lagos for his new

Community agents train on how to monitor NDDC projects

By Ignatius Chukwu

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ollowing high incidence of project abandonment in the oil region, there is a new move to closely monitor projects embarked upon by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Now, the host community trainees where NDDC projects are supposed to be implemented have been charged to take it as a point of duty to monitor and evaluate projects to ensure proper delivery.

They were encouraged not to hesitate to draw attention of the commission and other stakeholders to projects suspected to have been abandoned or poorly implemented by contractors of the commission.

The charge was given during a training programme on NDDC project monitoring, reporting and effective advocacy and development of project monitoring and reporting tools suitable for the monitoring of NDDC projects organised recently in Delta state. At the training, communities were equipped with various skills on how to monitor, evaluate, and report objectively on status of the commission’s projects in their areas.

It was noted that rather than grumbling and lamenting over failures of the Commission, community members should begin to assist by monitoring the projects, pointing out irregularities and lapses, and demanding quality service deliveries.

Arinze Ojukwu, a program staff of Leadership Initiative for Transformation and Empowerment (LITEAfrica) who facilitated the training disclosed that the delivery gaps in the NDDC programme, which was set up for the development of the region, occur as a result of failure of communities to monitor the activities of the commission.

She noted that her organisation has been worried over reports of NDDC poor service delivery manifesting in forms of project abandonment, poor quality of implemented projects and non-implementation of approved projects among other issues, and has therefore embarked on a project aimed at monitoring and engagements of NDDC projects across the Niger Delta. The training was part of the activities of the project.

Tagged Strengthening the Capacity of Stakeholders for Effective Engagement of NDDC (SCOSEN), the project which is jointly imple-

mented by Lite Africa and Community Empowerment and Development Initiatives (CEDI), Is aimed at strengthening the capacity of stakeholders for effective advocacy, monitoring, reporting and ownership of NDDC projects in two local government areas (Uvwie and Warri South) and six communities (Ugbolokposo, Okuatata, Ebrumede, Edjeba, Ugbuwangue and Ugbori) in Delta state.

The project which is targeted at community leaders, men and women groups, Youth group, people with disability, NDDC management in Delta State, and the media, also seeks to facilitate coordination between community stakeholders and NDDC. This is expected to enhance service delivery of the commission’s mandate in targeted communities.

The intervention further seeks to promote community members participation in project selection, design and implementation, through assessments of NDDC projects.

As part of the efforts, series of townhall meeting were held with the leadership of the six project communities, according to Arinze Ojukwu, project staff of Lite Africa who facilitates the implementation of the project.

assignment, he remained confident that Saidu Galadima, his successor, would also enjoy peace and cooperation in the state. He nonetheless asked that indigenes and the media to accord Galadima even greater cordiality.

Also, Bashir said six months after resuming as the Comptroller in charge, he already achieved the goals he set for himself. He however said his success was partly based on his commitment to duty and ability to observed and be cautious when dealing with people.

“When I came here, I gave myself six months, that I just needed to stay here for six months. And within the six months, we were able to do a lot.

One, we organized the oil and gas free zone stakeholders forum, which resulted in some of the companies assisting the Command so immensely in bringing about a few structural changes in the administrative building of the command. Two, we have instilled discipline amongst our officers. Three, we have achieved a lot in terms of revenue generation and enforcement of compliance. These, I think, are written in gold in terms of rating.

“When you find yourself in this kind of job, first of all, everybody is a human being and everybody is innocent and everybody is a suspect. So it is left for you to weigh in-between.

If you go by human behaviour, you (should) give somebody opportunity to prove himself and from there you can give him a placement as to where he belongs. Like I said before, my stay here has really been smooth,” he said.

No new levies in Rivers schools – Education boss

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he Rivers State government says it has not introduced new levies in its schools. The Commissioner of Education, Tamunosisi Gogo-Jaja, stated that no arrangement to introduce any new levies was known to him as the moan in charge of education matters and planning in the state.

He told newsmen in an interview on Tuesday, August 28, 2018, that since Governor Wike took over the leadership of the state, the State Government has not introduced new levies.

He described as false, rumours that new levies have been introduced by the Wike administration in tertiary institutions.

“Since this administration came on board, we haven’t introduced any new levies in any of our schools, not just the tertiary institutions.

“Rather, we are struggling to check excess charges. If the governor didn’t impose any levy when he was upgrading facilities in our tertiary institutions that were abandoned by the former administration before our arrival, why would we introduce levies now?” Dr Tamunosisi Gogo-Jaja said . He added: “For the purpose of emphasis, there is no introduction of any levies in any of our schools “

Thursday 30 August 2018

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Live @ The Exchanges Fidson declares 20kobo final dividend, NSE halts uptrend as ASI dips by 0.44% Stories by Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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idson Healthcare Plc has proposed a final dividend of 20kobo per share payable to shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as the close of business on August 31.

This comes on the heels of the Nigerian bourse halting record uptrend as the All Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.44percent at the close of trading on Wednesday August 29. The NSE ASI closed at 35,358.94 points while the value of listed stocks declined to N12.908trillion.

The market’s Year-toDate (YtD) returns stood negative at 7.54percent as only 17 stocks gained as against 27 losers. Flour Mills Nigeria Plc led decliners while Total Nigeria Plc led advancers.

In 3,261 deals, stock traders exchanged 345,057,763 units valued at N2.267billion.

NEM Insurance Plc, UBA Plc, Transcorp Plc, ETI Plc, and FCMB Group Plc were

actively traded stocks at the close of trading on Customs Street.

While announcing the corporate action at the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Fidson Healthcare Plc said it will pay the final dividend on September 26. The company plans to hold its annual general meeting (AGM) on September 25 in Lagos. At its last annual general meeting in 2017, the shareholders of the company had authorised the board of directors of Fidson Healthcare to “raise further capital of up to N6 billion through an offer whether by way of public offering, rights issue, private and special placement of shares”.

The meeting also authorised the directors to absorb oversubscription and to convert existing loans due to any person from the company towards payment for any rights or shares subscribed for.

Shareholders also increased the authorised share capital of the company from N1.2 billion to N1.5 billion by the creation of additional 600 million shares of 50 kobo each. Recently, Fidson Healthcare Plc began the

journey to boost its working capital following regulatory approval on July 11, 2018 for its N4.5billion Rights Issue.

Fidson, one of the leading pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Nigeria, will be issuing to its existing shareholders a total of 900million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N5 per share. The stock is currently priced at N6.15kobo on Lagos Bourse.

The Rights Issue which is on the basis of 3 new ordinary shares for every 5 ordinary shares held as at July 5, 2018 will help Fidson cushion negative effect of a depreciated Naira on its working capital.

Meristem Stockbrokers Limited is the stockbrokers to the Rights Issue while CardinalStone Partners Limited; Financial Derivatives Company Limited and FSDH Merchant Bank Limited are issuing house(s)/ financial adviser(s).

The shareholders of Fidson had about a year ago approved a plan by the company to raise N6billion in new capital to boost its working capital and support its expansion plan.

Seplat lists $350mn Senior Notes on London Stock Exchange

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eplat said on Wednesday August 29 that its $350million 9.25% Senior Notes due 2023 were listed and admitted to trading on the International Securities Market of the London Stock Exchange. The Notes were issued on March 21, 2018 and listed on the Euro MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Seplat is leading Nigerian indigenous Oil and Gas Company listed on both the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE)

and London Stock Exchange (LSE). Recently, the company signed shareholder agreement and share subscription agreement with the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company (NGPTC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The unaudited half year (H1) financial results for Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc for the period ended June 30, 2018 as released by The Nigerian Stock Exchange

shows the company grew revenue by 160 percent to N104.794billion, from N40.317billion in the corresponding H1 period of 2017.

Gross Profit increased by 225percent to N53.307billion from N16.403billion. Profit Before Taxation (PBT) increase by 559pecent in H1’18 to N37.093billion from Loss Before Tax (LBT) of N8.090billion in H1’17. Profit for the period increased by 276percent to N14.844billion, from N8.432billion Loss After Tax in H1’17.

UK remains great ally for Nigeria capital market development – Onyema

O

scar N. Onyema, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has averred that the United Kingdom (UK) remains a key partner to Nigeria, particularly for its capital market development.

Onyema spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the business networking event hosted by the British High Commission and headlined by Theresa May, the Prime Minister of Great Britain.

According to Onyema “Both countries have a long history of trade and collabora-

tion which is evident in various aspects of our socio-economic sectors.

As you know, The Nigerian Stock Exchange has a capital market agreement with the London Stock Exchange aimed at promoting seamless cross-border access between Lagos and London markets to ultimately develop larger capital markets that enable capital formation for businesses and governments; create deeper liquidity pools and greater competitiveness for investors; as well as enhance capacity and promote diversity of investment products to

meet the needs of a wide range of investors and issuers”.

On the significance of the visit by the UK Prime Minister, Onyema stated that “the capital market is a major barometer of any economy. It was therefore not surprising that Prime Minister May allotted some time from her schedule to meet with capital market operators.

The networking event has also in attendance some UK companies that might be interested in our market. The visit was positive and a good recognition for the Nigerian capital market”.

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Harvard Business Review

Thursday 32 August 2018

Global Business Perspectives Connec ting

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How to get your side hustle off the ground Dorie Clark TIME

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early 40% of Americans now have a “side hustle,” or outside source of income beyond their day job, according to one recent survey, and many more are at least contemplating the possibility.

But there’s often a gap between ideation and action. Many professionals who are interested in developing a side income stream find themselves procrastinating.

If you’re interested in a side hustle but are finding it difficult to get started, you need to clarify the source of your hesitation. What is holding you back?

Four common challenges can derail you: — FOCUSING ON THE WRONG FIRST STEPS: Looking at the distance between your idea and the finished product can seem overwhelming. Aspiring side hustlers will often fret that they don’t have the money to design a fancy logo or website, or get hung up on whether to incorporate as an S-corporation or an LLC. In the early stages of your business, those are the wrong things to be worrying

about. You first need to determine whether you even have a business — meaning, do customers want what you’re offering? The first step should always be to run a small, inexpensive test to see if there’s preliminary inter-

est in what you want to offer.

— LACK OF CONFIDENCE: In the early stages of launching their nascent enterprises, aspiring side hustlers often have concerns about their qualifications — the so-called im-

postor syndrome. It can be useful to survey the marketplace. What skills and backgrounds do other people in the space have? If your qualifications are similar or better, odds are you have a solid base and will be able to pick up what you don’t already know.

If your experience level is markedly below others in the field, you could think about taking on a partner whose skills complement your own, or create your own professional development plan to get the training you need to succeed.

— DIMINISHING COMMITMENT: Many side hustlers start out strong, pursuing their projects with vigor, but find their resolve flagging over time, as they hit inevitable setbacks or discover that progress is slower than they had expected. If you know you fall into this category, you can outsmart your natural tendencies by identifying an accountability partner or mastermind group to ensure you stay on track, encourage you and harness your natural aversion to breaking your commitments to others.

— TIME MANAGEMENT ISSUES: Almost everyone with an incipient side hustle will cite lack of time as a key reason their venture hasn’t

gotten off the ground — though it’s rarely the real reason. “Lack of time” is a (relatively) societally acceptable excuse for not accomplishing one’s goals, and one that makes us feel validated in the process. But most professionals with only one day job actually have more time than they imagine. Instead, it’s more commonly a problem of managing the time we do have. It’s useful for professionals to experiment with a myriad time management strategies to discover their own optimal formula for accomplishing meaningful work: Some may flourish with longer stretches of uninterrupted time; others prefer to schedule a full day of meetings and phone calls, alternating with unscheduled “deep work” days.

For many professionals, a side hustle is the perfect way to develop new skills and income streams. If you’ve been considering starting your own side business, these strategies will help you take action.

Dorie Clark is a marketing strategist and professional speaker who teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

What would it take to get businesses to focus less on shareholder value?

Rebecca M. Henderson MONEY n the vast majority of our boardrooms and MBA classrooms, the idea that the first mission of a firm is to maximize shareholder value is regarded as self-evidently true.

But in its current incarnation, a focus on shareholder value maximization at the expense of everything else is an exceedingly dangerous idea. A single-minded focus on profit maximization would seem to require that firms not only drive down wages but also attempt to fix political processes in their own favor. This can’t be right. Markets only lead to prosperity and freedom when they are genuinely free and fair.

Why do businesses focus so much on shareholder value? My experience has been that managers don’t seek to maximize shareholder value because they believe they are legally required

I

to do so. In fact, directors are not legally required to maximize shareholder value. They have duties of care, candor and loyalty to their shareholders and to the firm, but the business judgment rule gives them very wide latitude as to what that means in practice.

Most public companies maximize shareholder value most of the time because they’re afraid they will be fired if they don’t and they believe they will get rich if they do. As long as firms are running scared of activist investors and CEO pay is tightly linked to the value of the firm, managers are going to seek to maximize the firm’s stock price.

Requiring firms to adopt a new charter with obligations to a broader set of stakeholders, including the firm’s employees, customers and communities, would have the great benefit of reminding business leaders that they have more discretion than they often think they have. Corre-

sponding shifts in how managers and investors think about their roles and the incentives that they face is also a must. For example, I would focus on increasing the information available to investors as they make their decisions.

Why not make it mandatory for firms to report against an appropriate set of nonfinancial metrics? There’s increasing evidence that, for many firms, focusing on the long term and on a broader range of stakeholders improves

performance. Let’s give investors the information they need to take this kind of information into account.

To make world-class corporate citizenship and profitability work in tandem, we need to change the rules so that racing to the bottom is no longer the most effective way to compete, and to ensure that treating people well is the profitable thing to do. This means continuing the push to raise the minimum wage and to make the provision of decent health and educational benefits mandatory — or at the very least, heavily taxadvantaged. It means grappling with the explosion of contract work, ensuring that employers can’t evade their responsibilities by simply relabeling employees as contractors.

It means giving employees a strong voice in their workplace that they are not afraid to exercise. “Unions” is a dirty word in many business circles, and I’m

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

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not a fan of old-style unionization, but there’s overwhelming evidence to suggest that wages rise when employees can organize collectively in productive ways. Let’s find a 21st-century way to make that happen.

Most important, it means investing in infrastructure and education. People stay in dead-end jobs they hate because they fear losing their health care. They underinvest in education because they fear struggling under student debt. Let’s build a workforce that is equipped to compete in today’s world — and then require firms to treat them as we would like to be treated.

Rebecca M. Henderson is Harvard’s John and Natty McArthur university professor, based at Harvard Business School, and a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Thursday 30 August 2018

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34 BUSINESS DAY NEWS 2019 elections will be free, fair: Buhari tells UK...

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Minister in bilateral talks, according to a statement signed by

the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

President Buhari who met in closed doors with the Prime Minister, welcomed UK’s support at strengthening democratic institutions in the country. ‘‘I assure you that I’m all out for free, fair and credible elections.

Nigeria has accepted multiparty democracy and that is putting politicians on their toes, forcing them to work harder,’’ he said.

On the anti-corruption campaign, the President applauded the British support for the country, noting that the success of the fight was very important to ordinary people.

“We had great opportunities and resources between 1999 and 2014, due to high oil prices. But when we came in 2015, oil prices plunged to as low as 37 dollars per barrel. ‘‘What we have been doing since 2015 is to focus on infrastructure development, despite low earnings. Work is ongoing in roads, rail, power, and many others.”

On Brexit, President Buhari noted that it provides an opportunity to strengthen the historic ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom. ‘‘We are nervously watching

the development about Brexit because we know that the relationship had been on for a long time.

I assure you that I am prepared to strengthen the relationship between our two countries.’’

The President also thanked the UK government for the support on security and the fight against insurgency in the North Eastern part of Nigeria, as well as the improved trade relations between both countries. ‘‘I am very grateful to the British government under your leadership for the help in security, particularly your training team that is in our institution in Kaduna,’’ he said.

In her remarks, Prime Minister May, who welcomed the assurance by the Nigerian government on credible elections in 2019, said she was pleased to be in Abuja to continue the ‘‘excellent discussions’’ she started with President Buhari in London in April, this year, particularly on security, trade, asset recovery and the fight against corruption. ‘‘Security and defence cooperation are very important steps to address Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa,’’ May said.

On asset recovery, the Prime Minister told President Buhari: ‘‘we do not want to hold anything that belongs to Nigeria people, but we follow the judicial process, which can be slow.’’

The Prime Minister appealed

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to President Buhari to use his position as ECOWAS Chair to keep the issue of human trafficking on the front burner in the sub-region.

President Buhari and Prime Minister May witnessed the signing of two agreements: Security and Defence Partnership and Economic Development Forum Agreement.

The agreements signing were part of the major highlights of the visit of the British Prime Minister, Theresa May to President Muhamamdu Buhari at the presidential Villa, Abuja.

May had arrived Presidential Villa at 1 Pm, Nigeria time in a visit expected to further consolidate relationships between Nigeria and Great Britain.

Speaking with State House Correspondents after the meeting, Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama and the Minister ofState, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar, revealed that the agreements were in the areas of “Defence and Security Partnership and Economic Development Forum.”

Onyeama revealed further that the security agreement which is a comprehensive agreement, covers training, Policing and Human rights aspect of security.

The Economic Development Forum on the other hand, aims at enhancing economic prosperity of the two countries.

He noted that the implementation will involve both private sector and government partnership.

L-R: Harriet Baldwin, United Kingdom’s minister for Africa; Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance; Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, during a meeting with a business delegation from the UK at the Venture Park in Abuja, yesterday.

How exporters lose millions of dollars in global...

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measurement tests. The products were subsequently found to be 32cl, rather than 35cl. The KEBS withdrew them from the Kenyan market, banning the malt drink—including its supplier—from the country for good.

Nigerian exporters lose millions of dollars every now and again at the global market, due to compromise to standards and quality, poor product packaging, engagement of fraudulent freight forwarders, inability to get certification on time from regulatory agencies and Apapa gridlock, experts say.

Some Nigerian exporters have been victims of fraudulent freight forwarders who inserted banned substances into their containers during product re-packaging process. Though this was without the knowledge of the exporters, the products were seized at the destina-

tion countries and burnt, with the exporters suffering the losses.

There have also been cases where products remained on containers for months because the exporter could not get certification from regulatory agencies, exporters say.

The state of Apapa roads and Nigerian ports are also big hiccups.

Exporters shipping 1,700 tons of commodities per day when Apapa road was in good condition now manage to only ship between 100 and 250 tons, Tola Faseru, president of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria said.

“Nigerian exporters thank God whenever they are paid at all for their products. This is because products from Nigeria are always downgraded,” Fred Uwheraka, CEO of Frijay Consult Limited, an export firm, said at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) symposium held in Lagos on Wednesday.

Uwheraka explained that exporters need to get proper information about the needs of each market, adding that value-addition has become imperative in today’s global market.

“You cannot export pork to the Arab world, for example. Israel is very sensitive because of terrorism, which is why you need to have good information before embarking on export,” he said, adding that issues such as shelf-life of a product, packaging and capacity to deliver matter in export business.

For full year 2017, total exports were N13.598 trillion, 59.47 percent higher than N8.52 trillion in 2016.

Out of N4.69 trillion export done in the first half of 2018, crude oil export stood at N3.58 trillion, accounting for 76.3 per cent of the total exports. Nonoil exports amounted to N1.1 trillion, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

•Continues online at www.businessdayonline.com

Thursday 30 August 2018

Executive shakedown: Attorney General...

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are Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic-IBTC, Citibank, and

Diamond Bank.

Announcing the decision in Abuja on Wednesday, August 29, 2018, CBNs Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said that the actions of the Bank became necessary following allegations of remittance of foreign exchange with irregular Certificates of Capital Importation (CCIs) issued on behalf of some offshore investors of MTN Nigeria Communications Limited and subsequent investigations carried out by the apex bank in March 2018.

The CBN also asked the managements of the banks and MTN Nigeria Communications Limited to immediately refund the sum of $8,134,312,397.63, which it said they illegally repatriated out of the country, to the coffers of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Figures obtained from the CBN on Wednesday, August 29, 2018, indicate that the highest fine of N2.47billion was slammed on Standard Chartered Bank, while Stanbic IBTC Nigeria was fined the sum of N1.88billion.

Citibank Nigeria was penalized in the sum of N1.26 billion, just as Diamond Bank was directed to pay the sum of N250 million for allegedly violating extant rules.

The new allegations come more than 2 years after MTN agreed to pay N330 billion to settle a fine imposed on the telecoms company by the Nigerian Communications Commissions (NCC) for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM cards.

In 2016, Dino Melaye, the Senator representing Kogi West, had accused Okechukwu Enelamah, the Minister of Trade and Investment, of colluding with MTN to illegally repatriate $13.92 billion through its bankers – Stanbic IBTC, Standard Chartered Bank, Citigroup and Diamond Bank.

“The allegations made against MTN are completely unfounded and without any merit,” Ferdi Moolman, MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement then.

MTN Nigeria’s spokesperson declined to comment on the issue yesterday when BusinessDay put a call through to the firm, only saying that MTN will issue a press statement on the matter today.

Bismark Rewane, CEO of economics consulting firm, Financial Derivatives Company told BusinessDay that the CBN action against the banks is rather suspicious and strange.

“The apex bank has been approving the accounts of these bank for over 10 years but is now claiming it didn’t know that money was being repatriated illegally by MTN through these banks?” Rewane said.

“I do not see any major market reaction as MTN will challenge claims by the CBN stating they complied with legal procedures.

Investors will be calm to allow facts speak before any significant reaction as these companies are seen as highly reputable.”

The CBN operates a capital control system, under which foreign investors can bring capital into the country via any authorised commercial bank.

The commercial banks are required under Nigerian law to check the inflow is legitimate before issuing the investor with a certificate of capital importation (CCI) showing the date and value of the conversion into naira.

By law, the banks must not only

issue the CCI within 24 hours of receipt of the foreign inflow, but also declare it to the Central Bank within 48 hours.

A validly issued CCI later acts as a pass for the investor to repatriate any profits and dividends, subject to paying tax.

By law, banks also have to declare all outgoing repatriations to the central bank.

Diamond bank’s fine of N0.25 billion represents 11.32 percent of profit after tax of N2.2 billion recorded in H1 2018. Meanwhile diamond bank made a loss of N9.01 billion in the 2017 final year.

Stanbic IBTC holdings fine of N1.8 billion represents 4 percent of PAT in H1 2018 which stood at N43.08 billion. Also it represent 3.7 percent of N48.3 billion recorded as PAT in FY 2017.

Moses Hammed a research analyst at investment one financial limited told BusinessDay that “for the affected banks that trade on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, it would not play well for them in the markets. Presently the market is on a bearish trend due to the political instability, any additional negative news could result to more reactions from investors.

Other sources tell BusinessDay that the action from the Attorney General and CBN will disrupt capital inflows both foreign direct investments (FDI) and portfolio investments FPI to sectors like insurance, and even the proposed MTN IPO. “MTN would want to deal with this as much as possible before going public. If banks don’t refund they may go after MTN to recoup. It is going to be ugly,” another source familiar with the matter told BusinessDay. A report released in March this year by Finance Uncovered a South African publication, said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa could also be drawn into the forensic probe into alleged foreign exchange violations by banks acting on behalf of MTN. Ramaphosa’s former investment holding company, Shanduka, is among previous and current shareholders in MTN Nigeria whose names have cropped up during the forensic audit of billions of dollars flowing in and out of the country.

The forensic probe is also said to flag SA’s Public Investment Corp (PIC) as having received an irregular forex clearance around the time it acquired its MTN Nigeria stake.

The PIC stake was bought from Shanduka in 2015. Ramaphosa’s family trust held a 29.6 percent stake in Shanduka but he eventually unbundled his shareholdings after he became deputy president in 2014.

Diamond bank stock is down 11.5 percent Year-to-date (YTD), while Stanbic IBTC, shares are up 18.6 percent in the same period.

MTN listed in Johannesburg is down 20.08 percent this year.

“It is expected that shareholders in these banks will start selling tomorrow,” Dolapo Ashiru, a Lagos based stockbroker told BusinessDay. “The CBN can fine banks but they should also fine themselves.

Some people in CBN should be held liable for allowing such transaction.

This kind of situation will scare foreign investors away. Citi bank and Standard Chartered are foreign banks and repaying $8.134 billion seems impossible and simply imposing these fines means they don’t want them to succeed in Nigeria,” Ashiru said.

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Back-to-School spending to pressure Nigeria’s...

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ents tinkering with their investments to raise cash; approaching banks for loans or to draw-down from their savings; and increasing the demandside of FX market all to foot the children’s education bills.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday August 28 injected $210 million into the interbank foreign exchange (FX) market, extending efforts to boost liquidity and alleviate dollar shortages.

The apex bank released $100 million earmarked for the wholesale market, $55 million for small businesses and individuals, and $55 million for certain dollar expenses such as school fees and medical bills.

The Naira’s outlook is expected to remain tied to the spate of CBN’s intervention in the spot and forward market, as well as the better price discovery in the I&E FX window, according to Lagos-based analysts at United Capital Plc. Despite the high cost of quality education, most parents are left to fulfil their expected “Back-to- School” obligations with limited resources.

The rate at which Nigeria’s GDP grew in the second quarter (Q2) of 2018 slowed to 1.50percent, from 1.95percent recorded in the first quarter (Q1) of the year, disappointing many economy watchers who had expected the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to release positive Q2 growth.

“The general weakness and volatility of the numbers show the brittleness of the broader economy, and we note that economic growth is too negligible to impact living standards or inequality,” said Michael Famoroti, analyst at Vetiva Capital in an August 27 note.

Parents are even worse-off as economic hardship seen in many homes makes it very difficult for some families to feed not to talk of parents easily funding bank accounts they had opened to facilitate their children’s education spending, according to BusinessDay investigations.

Banks that have products for children education include Access Bank (Early Savers Account), Diamond Bank (Cool-Teen Account), Fidelity Bank (SWEETA Account), First Bank (KidsFirst account and

MeFirst account), FCMB (FCMB Classic Savings Account), and GTBank (Smart Kids Save).

“We are increasingly receiving loan requests from our customers, most of which are for school fees,” a customer service staff of one of the tier-1 lenders told BusinessDay on the sideline of transaction in their Victoria Island branch. “Parents are not smiling…it is not easy,” she simply added.

Otherbankingproductsforchildren educationareHeritage Bank (Bud Mini account), Skye Bank (Rainbow Savings Account), UBA (U-Care Savings Account), and Unity Bank (Unity Kids Account), Wema Bank (Royal Kiddies Account), and Zenith Bank (Zenith Children’s Account). Most of these bank products guarantee parents access to education loans facilities.

Folashade Idowu, a teacher in a known private primary school situated in Ikeja, Lagos said parents of their returning students “can still leverage on old relationships with schools to manage the condition of payments unlike the parents of newintakes into new schools who have little or no leverage.”

According to her, “this (Back-toSchool) is the only period when a school proprietor or proprietress can realise reasonable proportion of funds for the administration of the school as well as service bank loans.”

Currently, healthy liquidity is encouraging buy-side trading in Fixed Income (FI) market space. “Investors continued to concentrate buying on short-term investments, with yields in the T-Bills market declining 17basis points (bps) on average. Once again, the shorter dated maturities were the target, with notable declines”, said Vetiva Capital research analysts in their Wednesday August 29 note.

Trading in the bond market also turned upbeat in early trading this week with renewed demand from clients witnessed on the mid-to-long end of the curve.

“We witnessed some client demand come in to take advantage of the relatively higher yields in the market, most notably on the 2026s and 2036s, which were hitherto the highest yielding maturities”, according to research analysts at Zedcrest Capital.

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ing to N28.927billion will be paid to shareholders of the bank whose names appear in the register of members as at the close of business on Thursday September 6, 2018.

The proposed interim dividend will be paid electronically to shareholders on Friday September 21, 2018, according to notice of the corporate action released at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The bank’s share price closed at N9.5 on Wednesday against preceding day level of N9.30 representing 20kobo or 2.15 percent gain at the NSE. Access Bank has the following in-

ternational banking subsidiaries: Access Bank (Gambia) Limited, Access Bank (Sierra Leone) Limited, Access Bank (Zambia) Limited, The Access Bank (UK) Limited, Access Bank (Ghana) Plc, Access Bank Rwanda and Access Bank (D.R. Congo). The bank also has Access Finance B.V, an offshore Special Purpose Vehicle used for the issuance of the $350million, 7.25 percent Guaranteed Notes which was due in 2017 guaranteed by the bank. This liability has long been fully redeemed. Access Finance B.V is currently undergoing a voluntary liquidation, following the redemption of the bond.

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ing their economies away from the mess Nigeria is making of managing its hydrocarbons resources.

“In Ghana we copied our sector laws from Nigeria and other countries, but we were wise to ‘paste special’ (a computer term for copying and pasting in a customised environment) to avoid the mistakes they made,” Daniel Domelevo, the country’s auditor general said in an opening address at the African Regional Extractive Industries Knowledge (REIK) Hub organised by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) in col-

laboration with German International Development Cooperation (GIZ), for mid to senior energy reporters, civil society and government officials in Accra, Ghana.

For much of the programme thus far, course facilitators held these other countries’ fiscal, governance and revenue management systems as better models and Nigeria’s experience dominated examples of weak systems.

“Ghana has really improved its licensing process with the publication of a register that covers timelines and process of licensing. With Nigeria, we have had licensing rounds where those awarded blocks lacked capac-

Taiwo Lawal, representing the commissioner of health, Lagos State (m), cutting the tape at the launch of the state-of-the-art Avon Dialysis Centre, Lagos, supported by Tony Elumelu, chairman, Heirs Holdings (2nd r); Emmanuel Nnorom, president, Heirs Holdings, and Awele Elumelu, CEO, Avon Medical Practise, and Lillian Ekpo, Medical Director, Avon Medicals, in Lagos, yesterday.

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June 2018.

BusinessDay also visited two air cargo handling companies, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company, Nahco Aviance (NAHCO), and SAHCOL, which together handle almost 90percent of all export and imports of cargoes going through Nigerian airports.

Data gathered from NAHCO show that air cargo imports soared by 31.48 percent to 23, 264,710.05kg in June 2018 from 17,692,072.82kg in 2017.

On the other hand, the volume of air cargo exports declined by 11.33 percent to 6,177,139.00kg in June 2018 from 6,827,887.00kg the previous year.

Similar data obtained from the other major ground handling company (SAHCOL) shows that air cargo imports increased by over 35 percent as at June 2017.

A source at customs who craved anonymity told BusinessDay that the customs at the airport is realising 93percent of its set revenue target as a result of the increase in importation.

“Our monthly target is N5.2billion but just last month, we generated N4.9billion, translating to 93percent of our target. We are seeing more people importing.

“More airlines are importing aircraft parts. Business people import phones, communication equipment, car spare parts, electronics and other things and they pay heavily for them,” the source disclosed.

The source further stated that the major exports done through the airport are very few agro allied products and repair and return; which means that people take out machine parts and return them after repairs are done on them.

Adekojo Ayobami, manager at

Lower transactions prevail as foreign outflows...

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we may see more foreign inflows.”

This view was also supported by Ayo Akinwunmi, Head of Research at FSDH Merchant Bank as he said “investors will not have interest in the markets of Africa’s largest economy due to the political instability recently experienced in the country.”

Dolapo Ashiru, a Lagos based stockbroker told BuisnessDay that, “Foreign investors are driven majorly by opportunities with potential higher returns”.

Year to date analysis of the market has shown that the nation’s bourse is down by about 7 percent. Also, BusinessDay analysis of domestic and foreign participation in equity trading has revealed that foreign participation have declined severely since the beginning of the year.

According to latest report by the NSE, foreign transaction in the equity market declined significantly by 64.68 percent in the month of July. This period recorded the lowest amount of transaction since January as total value of transaction amounted to N36.17 billion down from N102.41 billion recorded in June representing 24.76 percent of total transaction within the period.

Cumulative foreign transaction from January to July increased by 70 percent from N490.73 billion recorded in 2017 to N835.89 billion in 2018.

Total transaction on the NSE for the period amounted to N146.07 billion down 22 percent from N187.78 billion in June, however up 24.7 percent from N194.15 billion recorded in July 2017.

The cumulative transactions from January to July increased by 54.38 per-

ity to develop them,” said Nicola Woodroffe a senior legal analyst at NRGI during a presentation.

Nigeria ranked 55 among 89 countries with extractive sectors assessed

by NRGI in preparation of its 2017 index, a score that compares poorly with Ghana’s 13th and even Mozambique’s 41st. Other indicators show the country is failing remarkable even as it presents the illusion of reforms.

The organisation’s report on Nigeria reads: “Licensing is the weakest link in Nigeria’s oil and gas value realization component, with a score of 17 of 100, placing it 77th among 89 country licensing assessments.

“This score and ranking reflect high levels of opacity in key areas of

decision-making, including qualification of companies, process rules and disclosure of terms. The Nigerian government does not regularly publicly disclose government officials’ financial interests in the extractive sector or the identities of beneficial owners of extractive companies, though it has made some early commitments to do so with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

The government has committed to disclosing all oil, gas and mining contracts in its “seven big wins” policy strategy and as part of its OGP action plan, but thus far, it has not disclosed contracts,” says the report.

Hence, Nigeria is unable to trans-

Ink Business Designs and an aviation analyst told BusinessDay that while imports keep rising, Nigeria is still not exporting enough which explains why the FX rate is relatively high; it’s still a supply side issue as Nigeria does not earn enough FX. “There is too much bureaucracy involved in exporting goods in Nigeria as a result of multiple agencies that should have been collapsed into one,” Ayobami added.

Seyi Adewale, chief commercial officer, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc, told BusinessDay that some of the commodities being exported are palm oil, vegetables (fresh/dry), melon (egusi), ‘ogbono’ seeds, ‘cashew nut’, ginger and garlic.

Others include zobo leaves, yam, plantain, pepper, cocoa, bitter cola, cola nut, garri, dried fish, yam flour, cassava flour, plantain flour, cocoyam, vegetables and various kinds of fruit.

•Continues online at www.businessdayonline.com cent from N1.129 trillion recorded in 2017 to N1.743 trillion in 2018.

According to report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Nigerian money market has been more attractive to foreign investors than the equity market as figures in the NBS capital importation report showed more investments in money market instruments than other markets.

Capital importation report for Q2 2018 revealed about $2.7 billion of foreign portfolio investment flowed into money market instruments while $1 billion flowed into equity and $400 million flowed into bonds.

According to the NSE report, in the month of July, foreign investment inflow declined sharply by 58 percent from N47.96 billion in June to N19.83 billion.

•Continues online at www.businessdayonline.com late a vast 37 billion proven reserves, the highest in the Sub-Saharan African continent into value for its people leading to 87 million of its 190million people in extreme poverty – six people falling into extreme poverty every minute.

Nigeria’s 75 year-old president Muhammadu Buhar, who doubles as the minister of Petroleum is largely unaware of significant developments in the global oil market as he struggles with failing health while the petroleum ministry, the state-owned corporation, the NNPC and the national assembly work at cross purpose.

•Continues online at www.businessdayonline.com

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A2 BUSINESS DAY NEWS 2019: Buhari no longer has 12m votes in the North - Turaki OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja

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head of the 2019 general elections, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, says President Muhammadu Buhari can no longer garner 12 million votes in the North as obtained in previous elections.

The former minister of special duties and inter-governmental affairs, stated this on Wednesday when he picked his nomination and expression of interest forms at the party’s national secretariat to contest the October 6, 2018 PDP presidential primary.

Represented by Sola Atere, director-general, Kabiru Turaki Campaign Organisation, he accused the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) of claiming credit for projects almost completed by previ-

ous governments.

According to Turaki, the scenario from other previous general elections where Buhari polled 12 million ‘secured’ votes from the North, will not repeat itself in next year’s exercise.

He hinged his argument on what he called the poor performance of the present government, three years after assuming office.

He said, “What they are saying was way back in 2015. Things have changed.

When you have not been in power, you can make all sorts of forecasts. Now the scenario has changed. Nigerians have seen to what extent the APC government can perform.

“And if you look at a lot of the projects they are laying claim to, they were established by the PDP. Look at the railways for instance, the one from Abuja to Kaduna, they themselves reported at some point that the Jonathan administra-

tion had gone over 60 percent as far as that project is concerned.

“The so-called 12 million voters they are laying claim to would have been reduced. Because look at the economic situation.

Where people are complaining that they cannot even have one square meal, how do you expect them to come out and go and aggravate votes up to 12 million for somebody who has been the architect of their misfortune?”

On the Federal Government’s prevention of another presidential aspirant, Rabiu Kwankwaso from using the Eagle Square for the declaration of his presidential ambition, Turaki said this would negatively affect the electoral fortunes of the APC. This, he stressed, will translate to more sympathy votes in favour of PDP in APC strongholds.

“The injury that they

are inflicting on Kwankwaso, is one of the things Nigerians will see and will not vote for them. And that is part of the factors that will reduce the 12 million votes. Having said that, they are doing nothing new. Because since they have come there, they have been harassing people. You saw the Gestapo approach in arresting judges. People know that they are just abrasive.

“But I can assure you if we get the ticket, it is going to be a different ball game because we are not going to accept that. And of course, the international community is watching.

It is part of the game plan to harass people, intimidate people and possibly anybody that they see that has a strong potential to challenge their own candidate, they want to beat them down. So that at the end of the day, they want to have a semi-autocratic regime in place,” he said.

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Obaseki, Buratai chart new logistics support model for Army, recommend PPP to meet contemporary needs

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overnor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Yusuf Buratai, have called for the adoption of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in logistics support for the Nigerian Army to enable it tackle the nation’s security challenge.

Obaseki said for the nation’s fight against terrorism and other crimes to succeed, all hands must be on deck to support the Nigerian Army and related security agencies.

The governor, who spoke through the head of service of the state, Gladys Idahor, at the opening ceremony of the 20th Combat Service Support Training Week held at the Nigerian Army School of Supply and Transport in Benin City, emphasised that government alone cannot provide all the logistics need of the Nigerian Army especially in the face of new security challenges.

“The academia and organised private sector need to share ideas on ways of meeting the contemporary needs of the Nigerian Army,” Obaseki said.

He noted that the theme of the training: “Enhancing Combat Service Support capability through Public

Private Partnership to meet Nigerian Army’s Contemporary Challenge” is apt, and commended the security outfit for its planned medical outreach to people in selected communities in the state.

He said regular training of security officials is important in the face of new threats to national security and said Edo State’s current status as the most peaceful state in the country, is due in part, to the partnership with the Nigerian Army.

The Chief of Army Staff said tackling contemporary security challenges in the country requires a more robust logistics plan, noting that to a large extent, logistics determine the capability of any army to perform its duties.

Buratai, who was represented by Ademoh Salihu, a major general, explained that the need for a more efficient and effective logistics model for the Nigerian Army through public private partnership has become expedient.

He said the Army’s continued dependence on importation of military hard wares has had adverse effect on their operations especially in the fight against insurgency in the North East region.

Moderate freight growth continues in July, up 2.1% IFEOMA OKEKE

L-R: Linda Ochugbua, head, sales digital platforms, BusinessDay; Tunji Kazeem, head, enterprise, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Erute Joshua, member, Smart City Group; Yusuf Al-ameen, team leader; Ndukuba Akachukwu, member; Popoola Oluwadamilare James, member, and Chinomso Onuoha, sales associate digital platforms, BusinessDay, during the closing ceremony at the exchange by the Smart City Group the winner of 2018 BusinessDay CEO Apprentice in Lagos, yesterday.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

Edo hails Stella Anukam on new role as AU Court Ekiti election tribunal: APC hires 35 lawyers for defence He explained further that overnor-elect of judge, urges youths to emulate her Fayemi won fair and square Ekiti State, Kayode

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do State governor, Godwin Obaseki, has congratulated Justice Stella Isibhakhomen Anukam, on her new role as African Union Court judge, urging youths to emulate her exemplary strides and commitment to service.

The governor, in a statement, said Justice Anukam’s election as one of the judges of the AU Court on Human and People’s Rights deserved commendation, as she would serve as a beacon of hope to young Edo people, especially young girls who need credible mentors in the public space.

Justice Stella Isibhakhomen Anukam (nee Eremionkhale) was among the three new judges elected to the African Court in July and was sworn-in on August 27, in Arusha, Tanzania.

According to Obaseki, “On behalf of the government and people of Edo State, I congratulate Justice Anukam on her new role. She has shown

once again that we have many illustrious sons and daughters that have proved themselves in their various fields of endeavour.

“Her ascension to the role of a judge at the African Court is of immense benefit to us, as a people with a thriving youth population that is seeking role models across different career paths. While battling issues such as human trafficking and illegal migration and other social ills, icons such as Justice Anukam helps to point our young people, especially young girls, to the right path with the assurance that if they do work hard, they are sure to reach the peak of their careers.”

He hailed her contribution to upholding human rights and other engagements in Nigeria, and urged her to uphold human rights and rights of African peoples, charging her to leave an indelible mark at the African Court during her tenure as a judge.

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Fayemi, yesterday filed his defence to the petition by the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and outgoing deputy governor of Ekiti State, Kolapo Olusola Eleka.

In the 2,558-page defence with over 3,000 documents as exhibits, Fayemi averred that he won the gubernatorial election of July 14, 2018, and urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition of Eleka for lacking in merit.

The team of lawyers armed with 3,500 exhibits and three senior advocates of Nigeria, Hakeem AfoIabi, Yomi Aliyu, and Kayode Olatoke led 1,009 witnesses to the tribunal.

Addressing the press after filing the petition, Kayode Olatoke, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said Eleka’s petition was a waste of time as it lacked substance and was sure that the tribunal would dismiss the case.

in 12 out of the 16 local governments areas of the state, while Eleka won in four.

In his response to Eleka’s petition bordering on alleged over voting in some polling units, Olatoke dismissed this claim as frivolous and baseless.

He said Eleka’s first ground in his petition was based on Fayose’s phantom indictment, which had been nullified and set aside by a competent court, Olatoke said.

“The second ground of Eleka’s petition is alleged over voting, which is another false claim. In any case, the petition in itself is selfdefeating.

“The third ground is on deliberate voiding of votes as alleged by Eleka but in actual fact, majority of the voided ballots were votes meant for Fayemi, while the fourth ground is on vote buying which is baseless as it was, Eleka’s sponsor, Fayose that was guilty of this.

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nternational Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global airfreight markets showing that demand, measured in freight ton kilometres (FTKs), rose 2.1 percent in July 2018, compared with the same period the year before. This was the slowest pace of growth seen since May 2016 and well below the five-year average growth rate of 5.1 percent.

Freight capacity, measured in available freight ton kilometres (AFTKs), grew by 3.8 percent year-on-year in July 2018. This was the fourth time in five months that capacity growth outstripped demand growth.

While the temporary grounding of the Nippon Cargo Airlines fleet may have exaggerated a slowdown in growth at the beginning of July, there are three indications that slower growth will continue: The inventory re-stocking cycle, which requires quick delivery to meet customer needs, ended at the beginning of the year.

There has been a broadbased weakening in manufacturing firms’ export order books. Specifically, export order books in Europe started weakening in February and have fallen in

China and Japan in recent months.

Longer supplier delivery times are being reported by manufacturers in Asia and Europe, the top two global trading areas by volume.

This typically means that they have less need for the speed afforded by airfreight.

“July demand for air cargo grew at its slowest pace since 2016. We still expect four percent growth over the course of the year, however the downside risk has increased. The tariff war and increasingly volatile trade talks between the world’s two largest trading nations – China and the US - are rippling across the global economy putting a drag on both business and investor sentiment. Trade wars only produce losers,” Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director-general/CEO, said.

For regional performance, all regions reported year-on-year demand growth in July 2018, except Africa, which contracted.

All regions, except Africa and Latin America, reported that capacity growth exceeded growth in demand.

African carriers saw freight demand contract by 8.3 percent in July 2018, compared with the same month last year. This was the fourth time in five months that demand contracted.

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World Business Newspaper

Canada seeks deal as Republicans warn Trump on Nafta

Lawmakers say pact could restrict trade and object to exclusion of northern neighbour James Politi

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onald Trump’s deal with Mexico to rev a m p Na f t a h a s opened a new rift with Congress over trade after senior lawmakers reacted sceptically to parts of the agreement and urged the US administration to drop its threat to leave Canada out of the pact.

The scuffles between the White House and Capitol Hill came as Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign minister, flew to Washington from Europe for high-stakes talks to see if a trilateral deal could be rescued in the coming days.

“We will . . . stand up for the Canadian national interest, and for Canadian values, while looking for areas where we can find a compromise,” Ms Freeland said after a first meeting with Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative on Tuesday evening.

“This is going to be a full-steam ahead effort,” she added. The talks were scheduled to resume on Wednesday morning.

On Monday, Mr Trump had invited Canada to rejoin the talks but warned that the US was prepared to plough ahead with a bilateral deal with Mexico, ending the three-country structure of Nafta, if Ottawa did not sign on quickly.

US lawmakers, particularly free trade Republicans with close ties to US business groups, have not only objected to the substance of the deal reached with Mexico, fearing it might restrict trade compared with the status quo, but also balked at the possibility that Canada might be excluded.

In a statement on Tuesday, Pat Toomey, the Republican senator from Pennsylvania, warned that the Trump administration would not be able to use expedited procedures to get congressional

approval for a bilateral deal with Mexico.

“The administration . . . must reach an agreement with Canada.

Nafta was a tri-party agreement,” Mr Toomey said.

Mr Toomey said he had “serious concerns” about provisions requiring that a certain share of Mexican cars exported to the US be produced by workers earning more than $16 an hour, the “sunset” provision giving the deal a 16-year lifespan and the limiting of investor dispute settlement mechanisms.

The pushback from Congress triggered a mid-morning Twitter post from Mr Trump.

“I smile at Senators and others talking about how good free trade is for the US. What they don’t say is that we lose Jobs and over 800 Billion Dollars a year on really dumb Trade Deals . . . and these same countries Tariff us to death,” the president wrote.

Ben Sasse, the Republican senator from Nebraska, who said there was “reason to worry” that the deal with Mexico was “a step backward from Nafta for American families”, quickly fired back at the US president. “This is simply wrong. Trade creates American jobs, period. This is basic economics, and actual American experience for the last 75 years,” he said in a statement.

Members of Congress have also been frustrated by the lack of details on the agreement, since USTR did not formally consult lawmakers on its contents.

In the Oval Office on Monday, Mr Trump had been flippant about Canada’s return to the fold.

“If they’d like to negotiate fairly, we’ll do that,” he said, with the cameras rolling. “With Canada, frankly, the easiest thing we can do is to [impose a] tariff [on] their cars coming in,” he quipped.

Florida primaries set stage for bitter gubernatorial race Progressive Democrat and Trump-supporting Republican to compete in swing state Courtney Weaver

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lection primaries in the US state of Florida produced critical victories for a progressive Democrat and a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, paving the way for a bitter November gubernatorial race in one of the country’s closest swing states.

Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, seized the Democratic party’s nomination for Florida governor on Tuesday night. Mr Gillum campaigned on

a platform of Medicare for all and the impeachment of Mr Trump, garnering him the support of leftwing progressives, including Bernie Sanders.

In November’s midterm elections, he will battle against Republican Ron DeSantis, a member of the US House of Representatives.

Mr Trump had endorsed Mr DeSantis’s candidacy early on and campaigned for him in the state.

Should Mr Gillum win in November, it would mark the first time Democrats held the govContinues on page A6

Canada’s foreign minister Chrystia Freeland: ‘We will . . . stand up for the Canadian national interest, and for Canadian values, while looking for areas where we can find a compromise’ © AFP

US economy grew faster than expected in Q2

GDP rise of 4.2% keeps Fed on track to raise interest rates next month Peter Wells

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he US economy grew at a slightly faster pace than expected during the second quarter of this year, according to the second estimate of gross domestic product data.

Combined with data on Wednesday morning showing the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation rose in line with market estimates, that all keeps the US central bank on track to raise interest rates at its policy meeting next month.

Gross domestic product rose 4.2 per cent year-on-year in the three months ended June 30,

a 0.1 per cent upward revision from the preliminary estimate released a month ago. Today’s figure also came in ahead of the median 4 per cent from analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

This remains the fastest pace of growth since the September quarter of 2014.

The initial reading prompted Donald Trump to declare at the time “This is an economic turnround of historic importance.”

Economists had warned the pace could be hard to replicate in the months to come, although Mr Trump said at time the numbers “are very, very sustainable” and

that “This isn’t a one-time shot.”

He added: “I happen to think we are going to do very, very well in our next report.”

Meanwhile, the personal consumption expenditure price index rose 1.9 per cent year-onyear in the second quarter, up from 1.8 per cent in the first three months of the year and market expectations it would remain at that level.

The core PCE price index, which strips out volatile energy and food prices and is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, remained steady at 2 per cent in the second quarter, in line with expectations.

Federal Reserve debates banks’ capital buffers as markets surge Jay Powell faces calls for higher requirements even as Republicans push for deregulation Sam Fleming

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urging markets are stoking a debate in the Federal Reserve about whether the US central bank should fight the risk of financial instability by boosting big banks’ capital requirements — a move that would risk political blowback from Republicans eager to ease regulation.

Policymakers including Loretta Mester, the Cleveland Fed president, Eric Rosengren of the Boston Fed and Neel Kashkari of the Minneapolis Fed have advocated lifting the so-called countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB), a Fed measure aimed at bolstering global banks’ strength during periods when risks are rising in the financial system.

The buffer, which is part of the post-financial crisis regime and has never been imposed in the US, would require big banks to build an extra margin of capital over a period of up to 12 months — giving them extra scope to support lending in a downturn.

Speaking to the Financial Times last week, Robert Kaplan of the Dallas Fed and Raphael Bostic of the Atlanta Fed said they were analysing banks’ resilience and were open-minded about the debate.

Boosting the CCyB could propel

the Fed into further conflict with the White House and Republican lawmakers at a time when the central bank was already under political fire for lifting interest rates. “It is moving in precisely the opposite direction that the president and his administration, [and] the Republicans on Capitol Hill, have been signalling — which is a push towards deregulation and less burdens on the banks,” said Sarah Binder, a professor at George Washington University.

The Fed’s guidelines point to a move if financial vulnerabilities are meaningfully above normal.

The decision will ultimately be taken by the Fed’s board of governors, not the regional bank presidents such as Ms Mester and Mr Rosengren. Jay Powell, the Fed chair, in June suggested he did not believe such a move was necessary given financial sector risks were judged to be “moderate” by the Federal Reserve Board and banks were well-capitalised.

The American Bankers Association said in a June letter to the Fed that the CCyB should be scrapped because the Fed was already imposing a new capital buffer regime as part of reforms to its bank stress tests.

But the stress capital buffer is firmspecific, whereas the CCyB is meant to sit on top of the requirement, al-

lowing regulators to take additional action if they see system-wide risks.

Donald Kohn, former Fed vicechairman, said “spots of exuberance” were becoming visible in the US, including in commercial real estate, leveraged lending and in some asset values, meaning a move should be on the cards.

“You have to worry about things you can’t see, that tend to build up in good times when people get complacent and optimistic,” he said. “Building up the countercyclical capital buffer in good times will make them [banks] resilient in the bad times, and counter the natural human tendency to project that recent good times will continue.”

The Fed has reason to be wary of financial booms. Mr Powell observed in a speech in Jackson Hole last week that “destabilising excesses” appeared mainly in financial markets rather than in inflation in the run-up to the past two recessions.

Part of the question for central bankers is whether the Fed’s stresstesting regime, which gauges big banks’ ability to weather a downturn, was already ensuring sufficient resilience alongside existing capital standards. The most recent stress tests found that the biggest banks were well capitalised and able to lend even in a severe global recession.

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FT Florida primaries set stage for bitter gubernatorial...

Vladimir Putin softens Russia’s tough pension reforms

Continued from page A5

President offers concessions after protests and plummeting approval ratings

ernor’s mansion since 1999. Mr Gillum would also be the state’s first African-American governor.

Their race is one of several crucial Florida electoral contests, with the state likely to play a critical role in determining which party controls the US House of Representatives.

Democrats are hoping to overturn as many as six US House seats in the state. Meanwhile, Republicans have set their sights on the Florida Senate seat occupied by Democrat Bill Nelson.

The state’s current governor, Rick Scott, won his primary bid on Tuesday to challenge Mr Nelson in November, with the two sides set to compete in what could be one of the most expensive races of the midterm vote.

As the country heads into the final stretch before the midterms, Democrats are hoping the continued attention around Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation into Russian interference in US politics and the legal challenges of people close to Mr Trump will help the party’s general election chances.

The Democrats got another boost this week when a panel of federal judges found that North Carolina state legislators had violated the constitution when redrawing new electoral districts that dramatically favoured Republicans over Democrats — a practice known as gerrymandering.

That case is likely to go to the Supreme Court, which is down to eight members following the retirement of Anthony Kennedy.

If the eight members hear the case before the confirmation hearings of Mr Kennedy’s designated replacement, Brett Kavanaugh, and are deadlocked on a decision, the lower court’s decision would stand, potentially meaning that Democrats would have new district lines in the state come midterm elections, possibly giving them a better chance of winning back the House.

Republican leaders still believe they have a chance to hold on to the House and also keep, or even expand, their lead in the Senate.

The party’s leadership looked likely to score a victory in a separate primary in Arizona on Tuesday night. Martha McSally, a current US House member, was poised to defeat her two more hardline rivals: Kelli Ward and Joe Arpaio, both controversial candidates, in the state’s Republican Senate primary.

That Ms McSally was likely to prevail will be well received by the Republican establishment, which worried that Ms Ward and Mr Arpaio would struggle to win in a general election and push the party too far to the right.

Most Republican leaders believe that Mr Arpaio and Ms Ward’s supporters will coalesce around Ms McSally’s candidacy when she takes on Kyrsten Sinema — the expected Democratic winner and a fellow House member — in the autumn.

Kathrin Hille

V Theresa May meets South African president Cyril Ramaphosa © Stefan Rousseau/PA

Can UK trade with Africa start to fill gap left by Brexit?

Theresa May attempts to reverse Britain’s declining share of Africa trade in 3-day tour Valentina Romei and Federica Cocco

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heresa May is making a three day whistle-stop tour of subSaharan Africa on a mission to strengthen Britain’s post-Brexit trade and investment with a continent that hosts some of the fastest growing economies in the world.

The Federation of Small Businesses welcomed the prime minister’s initiative. “Africa is an important market for small firms, and as the continent continues to grow, business links will no doubt increase with it,” said Mike Cherry, FSB national chairman.

However, the entire African continent accounts for just 3 per cent of all UK goods and services exports. By contrast, Europe takes the lion’s share — 54 per cent — of UK trade.

Brussels is not the reason behind Britain’s weak trade links with Africa.

France, Germany and Italy — all EU members — export more than double the value of goods to the continent than the UK, according to the International Trade Centre. Even Spain, which has an economy half the size of the UK’s, exports more than Britain.

The UK’s trade presence in Africa was not always this small: until the late-1990s Britain accounted for nearly 7 per cent of the continent’s imports. Now that share has dropped to just over 2 per cent.

“The reasons for a decline in trade between the UK and Africa are complex,” said Peg Murray-Evans, an expert on EU-Africa trade relations at the University of York. “These include the lack of competitive exports from Africa and the rise of other competitive economies.”

The UK government appears optimistic that it can change this. “As the prime minister announced during her speech in South Africa, the UK’s ambition is to be the G7’s number one investor in Africa by 2022,” said George Hollingbery, international trade minister.

“A range of measures were announced to help to grow trade and achieve this ambition including the rollover of the UK-Southern African Economic Partnership Agreement on trade as soon as the EU deal no longer applies to the UK and the Africa Investment Summit to be held in the UK in 2019,” he added.

However, Britain faces strong competition, mainly from China which has increased its influence across the continent in recent decades.

Chinese goods exports to Africa are eight times larger than those of the UK and even bigger than the top three exporters — Germany, France and the US — combined.

Mrs May is visiting South Africa and Nigeria, the two African countries receiving the largest value of UK exports of goods and services. Yet their combined value is just £7.3bn a year — only about one-sixth of the £39bn worth of goods UK exports to the Netherlands annually. Later this week the prime minister will also go to Kenya, a smaller UK trading partner but a fast growing economy.

Imports from Africa form just 2 per cent of total UK imports, partially as a consequence of falling commodity prices. Fuel, precious stones and fresh fruit dominate the trade, according to the International Trade Centre.

By comparison, trade with the EU is dominated by machinery and vehicles, either as finished goods or as parts and components.

Uganda’s Bobi Wine embodies the rise of African youth Popular Kampala singer challenges his country’s ageing leader in song and parliament David Pilling

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hey call him the Ghetto President. The Ugandan singer and activist Bobi Wine, born in a Kampala slum and now a member of parliament, is facing charges of treason.

The accusation stems from an incident in which protesters allegedly threw stones at the motorcade of the actual president, Yoweri Museveni. But Mr Wine’s real crime is more simple: at 36 and in touch with Uganda’s youthful population, he is half the age and twice as popular as his 74-year-old nemesis.

There are Bobi Wines all over Africa. Rapid urbanisation and the spread of social media have enabled a generation of young people to express their frustrations and cross-fertilise ideas.

Whether they are bloggers or rappers or human rights activists, their concerns are similar. Young people are complaining about lack of jobs, about government corruption and about out-of-touch leaders.

Mr Wine, whose legal name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has been a

growing irritant to the Ugandan president. First it was his scathing lyrics and then, since his election to parliament last year, his legislative activity.

In song, he dared to spoof Mr Museveni, a former bush-war hero who toppled a dictator 32 years ago, only to become one himself.

In parliament, Mr Wine fought against a clampdown on social media and an amendment to the constitution to lift a 75-year-old age limit on presidential candidates. The amendment, which was eventually passed, effectively installs Mr Museveni as president for life.

Mr Wine has paid dearly for his popularity. After being arrested nearly two weeks ago, he was tortured so badly by Mr Museveni’s security forces — including beatings with a metal rod — he was unable to walk. He has now been released on bail.

The case has received international attention. Last week, 88 African and international celebrities, including Nigerian Nobel Prize-winning playwright Wole Soyinka and the British singer Peter Gabriel and music producer

Brian Eno, signed a petition.

Across the continent, Mr Wine’s spreading fame has put leaders on notice that they face a youthful rebellion. Africa has the youngest population in the world, with a median age of 19.5. Uganda’s is just 16. But the continent has the world’s oldest leaders, with an average age of 62. Incumbents are clinging on well past their sell-by date.

Take Paul Biya. Please. The 85-year-old president of Cameroon has been in power for 35 years.

Although he spends much of his time in a five-star hotel in Geneva and presides over a country spiralling into near civil war, like Mr Museveni he harbours delusions of his own popularity. In elections in October, he will be seeking yet another term. Given the powers of incumbency, you would not bet against him.

In 1986, Mr Museveni was celebrated as a new kind of leader.

“The government should not be the master, but the servant of the people,” he said in his inaugural speech. His idea of a servant, it turns out, is someone who hangs around for life.

ladimir Putin has intervened to water down Russia’s tough pension reform plans that have triggered huge protests across the country and dented his popularity as president.

On Wednesday Mr Putin said the draft bill, which proposed a steep rise in the pension age, would be amended before its planned parliamentary approval in October.

In a televised address he said the plan to raise the retirement age for women by eight years was “not right” and was “not going to work”.

A day after travelling to two Siberian cities that have seen a string of protests against the pension plans, Mr Putin said the retirement age for women should be raised from 55 to 60, instead of the 63 years originally envisaged. The plan to increase in men’s retirement age from 60 to 65 will remain unchanged.

Other sops to public opinion detailed by Mr Putin were guarantees of annual increases that would raise pension levels by more than 40 per cent by the end of his presidential term in 2024 and a smattering of extra social benefits for people due to retire in the next few years Analysts said Mr Putin’s intervention demonstrated his deft political skills. Yevgeny Minchenko, a Russian political consultant, said the president had “reinforced his image as the guy who understands the life of the people very well”.

But beyond Russia, the watering down of what had been seen as a crucial reform project is likely to further undermine investor confidence that Moscow can make meaningful structural changes to its economy in the years ahead.

Mr Putin’s move comes amid signs of a tectonic shift in Russian public opinion. After the government announced its pension reform plans in June the president’s approval rate plummeted from 79 per cent in May to 67 per cent in July, the lowest since January 2014, according to independent pollster Levada. At the same time, polls published last month showed a sharp rise in Russians’ willingness to protest and a marked fall in their approval for the direction of the country.

After the draft reform bill was unveiled in June, demonstrations erupted almost immediately in dozens of cities across Russia. While demonstrations against Kremlin policies over the past few years have been largely limited to the supporters of marginalised opposition politician Alexei Navalny, protests against raising the retirement age have been backed by an array of groups, including parties normally loyal to the Kremlin.

In his address on Wednesday the president defended the decision to raise the pension age in principle, warning that Russia’s shrinking population would not allow for further delays. But he said that beyond the objective economic necessities, the government had to take people’s feelings and fears into account.

“Doing nothing now would be irresponsible, both towards out children and our country. The situation in the country shows that delaying [the raise in the pension age] any longer is impossible,” Mr Putin said.

Wednesday 29 August 2018

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FINANCIAL TIMES

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COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

Wall St sets records despite trade uncertainty US tech stocks outperform; sterling lifted by Brexit optimism Michael Hunter i and Edward White

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S stock indices are trading around fresh record highs as this week’s trade agreement between the US and Mexico helped buoy sentiment, although uncertainty over whether Canada can reach a deal is keeping the mood reined in.

“Investors have important questions on their minds: How is the US growth picture? Are trade tensions escalating or easing?

Some light is being shed on the answers,” says Nandini Ramakrishnan, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.

“The preliminary trade deal between the US and Mexico is a step in the right direction for global trade resolution but details are still to be finalised.”

Equities On Wall Street, the S&P 500 is up a further 0.3 per cent at an all-time intraday high of 2,905.50, and is on track to set a record closing peak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is 0.4 per cent higher and also trading at record levels.

US growth data for the second quarter was revised higher to 4.2 per cent, from the first reading of 4 per cent. Core prices data for the same period — an inflation indicator closely watched by the Federal Reserve — rose in line with forecasts by 2 per cent.

The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 is up 0.2 per cent, as is Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax. London’s FTSE 100 is underperforming, hit by the stronger pound.

The FTSE All-World index is up 0.2 per cent. With global trade relations to the fore, Chinese stocks again felt pressure. The mainland’s CSI 300 index fell 0.4 per cent.

Forex Sterling is up 0.8 per cent against the dollar at $1.2981 — with the euro down 0.8 per cent at £0.9004 — after the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier indicated that he is close to offering the UK a deal.

Turkey’s lira is 2.7 per cent weaker at TL6.4130 per dollar after Moody’s cut its rating on a range of the country’s financial institutions.

The US dollar index is down 0.1 per cent, trading around a four-week low. The euro is flat at $1.1695, while the yen is 0.2 per cent softer at ¥111.44 per dollar.

Fixed income Benchmark 10-year US Treasury yields are up 1 basis point at 2.89 per cent. German Bund yields of the same maturity are 3bp higher at 0.41 per cent. UK gilt yields are 5bp higher at 1.50 per cent.

Commodities Brent crude is up 0.9 per cent at $76.62 a barrel, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.9 per cent at $69.05.

Duke of Westminster’s property group plans 30,000 homes Grosvenor will aim to act as ‘master builder’, orchestrating planning and design

Oliver Ralph

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he property company that owns swaths of central London’s wealthiest areas has unveiled plans to expand into largescale residential development.

The Duke of Westminster’s Grosvenor Group said on Wednesday that it wants to create a portfolio of 30,000 homes over the next five years, more than three times its current residential pipeline.

Grosvenor is best known as the major property owner in Belgravia and Mayfair and for big retail developments such as Liverpool One. But in recent years, it has taken a growing interest in residential property outside central London. Last year, it said it would invest £500m in a “build-to-rent” development in Bermondsey, in south-east London.

Grosvenor said on Wednesday that under its new plans, it will aim to work as “master developer”, orchestrating the planning, design and build of large housing schemes, typically of between 2,000 and 5,000 homes, along with associated infrastructure.

Alex Robinson, director of development at Grosvenor’s strategic land business, said: “We can deliver schools, public spaces and amenities to create places you would want to go and live in. It could be on the scale of a town, or a series of villages, not just a housing development.”

Grosvenor would identify the development sites on greenfield or brownfield land, shepherd them

through the design and planning process, and then pass individual parts of them on to housebuilders.

The land would not necessarily be owned by Grosvenor, although that could be the case.

Mr Robinson sees two schemes already under way in England as the model that Grosvenor will follow.

In Cambridgeshire, the company is developing a 1,200 home site at Trumpington Meadows alongside housebuilder Barratt and the Universities Superannuation Scheme — a pension fund for UK academics. In Oxfordshire, it is developing 900 homes at Barton Park in partnership with Oxford City Council and housebuilders Hill and Redrow.

Mr Robinson said that Grosvenor’s long time horizons should help it to win projects. “We can be on site for 15 to 20 years-plus, and we’re happy to take our profit towards the end of the period and invest up front in schools, parks and other infrastructure so it looks good before anyone moves in.”

The company is targeting sites in south-east England. “We are looking at locations where we see housing being in need, often around transport interchanges or employment hubs.”

Grosvenor said that a government report on housebuilding published in June backs the idea of splitting large developments into smaller ones that can be developed by different housebuilders. That could help big sites to be developed more quickly after planning permission has been granted.

© FT montage; EPA; Getty Images

Trio of lithium IPOs will test investors’ view of market Companies that have experience processing the material could have an advantage Ed Crooks

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he usage of lithium in electric car batteries has made the material one of the hottest commodities of the past few years. But after a heady run-up in 2017, investors have been burnt this year by a sell-off in lithium equities.

Shares in the largest producers as well as the smaller miners developing projects have been hit by a stampede for the exit.

One could have made a lot more money betting on oil or coal.

This makes it an interesting time for a trio of lithium initial public offerings scheduled to come to the market this year. US chemicals group FMC is set to spin-off its lithium business on the New York Stock Exchange, while China’s two largest producers — Tianqi Lithium and Ganfeng Lithium — are due to

list in Hong Kong.

The share sales will be a key test of investors’ views of the lithium market and the outlook for electric vehicles.

Picking winners during largescale industr y transitions is notoriously tricky. While sales of electric cars are growing rapidly, worries about an oversupply of lithium weigh on investors’ minds. The largest producers in Chile — Albemarle and SQM — have pledged to expand supply, while a host of new mines are being developed, spanning Canada to Australia.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley dubbed this dicey period “the long-term pain of new supply” in February, while Macquarie said this month that the industry was “sleepwalking into a tsunami of oversupply”.

But will it be so simple? Lithium projects are difficult to bring

to fruition and battery makers require long qualification periods for any new product because carmakers cannot afford to have any problems that may prompt a recall. Companies that have experience processing lithium to the exact specifications required by battery makers may have an advantage.

This is FMC’s bet. Its lithium spin-off Livent is aiming to gain a dominant position in processing lithium hydroxide for the next generation of electric car batteries. “Producers must prove that they can consistently supply product that meets the right physical and chemical properties required by customers,” it said in its prospectus filed this week.

Investors will have to decide how much such expertise is worth, and how easy it will be for others to catch up.

Tumble in Turkish lira rattles emerging markets Currency under renewed pressure as fears over Turkey’s economy and banking sector rise Adam Samson , Laura Pitel and Peter Wells

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urkey’s currency came under renewed pressure on Wednesday as concern over its economy and banking sector rippled out across emerging markets.

A more than 2 per cent drop in the lira, further declines for Turkish bank shares and a rise in bond yields followed a bout of gloomy news from a country whose president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been in a stand-off with investors since his re-election in June.

Fresh convulsions in Turkish markets bled into other emerging markets that are considered to be proxies of investor sentiment towards the asset class. South Africa’s rand dropped 1.2 per cent, while the Mexican peso surrendered gains to trade 0.4 per cent lower. An MSCI index tracking a broad basket of EM currencies was 0.5 per cent weaker, taking its drop this month to almost 2 per cent.

An official survey pointed to a tumble in the confidence of Turkish consumers and businesses in the economy. The index from the Turkish Statistical Institute skidded from 92.2 in July to 83.9 in August,

with drops registered across major industries from retail trade to construction.

The report is one of many recently released suggesting that the lira’s plunge and broader ructions in the financial markets have had serious ramifications for the economy.

“I think [this is] a pretty clear reading of a very hard landing,” said Tim Ash, a strategist at Londonbased asset manager BlueBay. The lira traded near its low for the day as Wall Street opened, leaving the currency off 2.4 per cent against the dollar and down 41 per cent in 2018. At TL6.4, it is moving back towards the historic low against the dollar of TL7.2149 that it reached this month.

In fixed income, prices on Turkey’s dollar-denominated bond were also weaker on Wednesday, echoing wobbles in recent weeks that have forced yields higher.

Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s finance minister, added to the sense of unease after he was quoted by Hurriyet newspaper on Wednesday as saying that there was no “big risk” to Turkey’s economy or financial system because it had strong fundamentals.

His comments follow a decision late on Tuesday by rating agency

Moody’s to downgrade its assessment on 18 Turkish banks and two finance companies. Moody’s warned that “Turkish banks are highly reliant on foreign currency funding”.

It said: “This makes the banking system particularly sensitive to potential shifts in investor sentiment, as these foreign currency liabilities must be refinanced on an ongoing basis.”

Over the next year, about $77bn in foreign currency wholesale bonds and syndicated loans, accounting for 41 per cent of total market funding, need to be refinanced, according to Moody’s.

Moody’s added: “In a downside scenario, where investor sentiment shifts, the risk of a prolonged closure of the wholesale market would lead most banks to materially deleverage, or to require external funding support from the government, or the central bank.”

Investors are also keenly awaiting the latest figures on Turkish inflation, which are due to be released next Monday. Economists reckon the weakening of the lira could have stoked an acceleration in price growth, which hit almost 16 per cent in July.

Politics & Policy

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BUSINESS DAY

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ment are the dominant factors hindering the growth and survival of our businesses in the country today.

Our focus shall be on sound economic policies that will ensure a new regime of exchange rate stability, low interest rates and reduction in the country’s rising burden of domestic and foreign loans.

“In the past three years, poverty and unemployment have become more visible and challenging to Nigeria’s economic prosperity. Existing policies and economic programmes for alleviating the poverty incidence in the country have obviously failed.

“Our non-negotiable goal will therefore be the eradication of poverty through sustainable wealth creation and a coordinated and effective micro small and medium enterprises development. We

shall promote policies that boost our foreign reserves and lower interest rate to ensure that the unsustainable debt treadmill profile is tamed.

“Locally, we shall diversify the economy through industrialisation and manufacturing, aggressive promotion of agribusiness, the mining sector and entrepreneurship to make us self sufficient and export oriented. The oil and gas sector must cease to be a verifiable source of corruption and inefficiency.”

Some of the dignitaries at the event were National Chairman, Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC), Buba Galadima; spokesperson Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) Ikenga Ugochinyere; former member of the House of Representatives, Lee Maeba.

2019: Kwankwaso prioritises security, economy, infrastructure

…Formally declares for presidency OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja

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he senator representing Kano Central Senatorial district in the National Assembly, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso on Wednesday declared his intention to contest the 2019 presidential election on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The immediate past governor of Kano State, stated this in Abuja when he formally declared his intention to run for the Presidency on the platform of the PDP. The serving senator made the declaration at an alternative venue in Chinda Hotel, Abuja after the Federal Government prevented him from using two different venues - Eagle Square and Old Parade Ground - for his declaration.

BusinessDay observed that despite the massive crowd, no policeman was on ground to prevent a possible breakdown of law and order.

However, Askarawan, the security arm of the Kwankwasiya Movement ensured that the regular police were not missed throughout the event.

He assured that if elected, his administration would prioritize national security, infrastructural development, revival of the economy, human capital development and a robust relationship with the international community.

Kwankwaso also promised to diversify the economy through industrialisation and manufacturing.

His words: “Nigeria in recent years has witnessed a weak economic performance due to tight economic

Kwankwaso

policies and failed institutional framework especially as it relates to growing small enterprises that should in

You defected to APC for your inordinate ambition - Lagos PDP tells ex-chairman

2019: Bafarawa kicks against consensus candidate for PDP OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja

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former governor of Sokoto State and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Attahiru Bafarawa has kicked against proposal for consensus candidate for the party.

He stated this in Abuja on Wednesday when he picked his nomination and expression of interest forms to contest the party’s presidential primary billed for October 5 and 6, 2018.

There are currently 12 PDP aspirants jostling for the party’s presidential ticket.

They include: Bafarawa; Senate President Bukola Saraki; former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso; Ibrahim Shekarau as well as ex-Chairman, PDP National Caretaker Committee, Ahmed Makarfi.

Others are: Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal; his Gombe State counterpart Ibrahim Dankwanbo; former Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido; Datti Baba-Ahmed; Kabiru Tanimu Turaki and Jonah Jang.

But speaking to newsmen after picking his forms, Bafarawa said consensus

the long run, result in larger ventures to anchor our economic prosperity.

“Inflation and unemploy-

candidate will lead to implosion of the party.

“The large number of aspirants is giving us encouragement. That shows that our party is a democratic party and is a popular party, acceptable by Nigerians.

That is why people are aspiring, more are interested in joining the party unlike other parties that are not democratic parties where they run a one-man show.

So, it’s very encouraging to all of us who are aspiring for this seat. We are brothers, we are families. Our ambition is to get rid of APC,” he said.

INIOBONG IWOK

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he Lagos state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as stated that the recent defection of its state chairman, Moshood Salvador, to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was because his aim to actualise his inordinate ambitions.

Salvador Monday defected to the APC, after falling out with his presumed political godfather and leader of the party in the state, Olabode George, who accused him of disregarding the agreed quota for sharing of positions in the state executive.

The disagreement between the duo degenerated recently

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The team of lawyers armed with 3,500 exhibits and 1,009 witnesses were led to the tribunal by three Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Hakeem AfoIabi, Yomi Aliyu and Kayode Olatoke.

Addressing the press after filing the petition, Kayode Olatoke (SAN), who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said Eleka’s petition was a waste of time as it lacked substance and was sure that the case would be dismissed by the tribunal.

He explained further that Fayemi won fair and square

in 12 out of the 16 local government areas of the state, while Eleka won in four.

In his response to Eleka’s petition bordering on alleged over-voting in some polling units, Olatoke dismissed this claim as frivolous and baseless.

He sa i d E l e ka’s f i r st ground in his petition is based on Fayose’s phantom indictment, which had been nullified and set aside by a competent court, Olatoke said.

“The second ground of Eleka’s petition is alleged

that the party was not bordered about the defection of Salvador to the APC, but would rather be bothered if some individuals who have been rumoured to be defecting with him also defect to the PDP. “Salvador is an unstable politician whose inordinate ambition and penchant for falsehood will soon be discovered by the APC,” he said.

Meanwhile, Salvado, is to be officially received into the party by the leadership of the APC in the state, in a ceremony expected to hold next Monday at the Agege stadium, which would be graced by the national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, and other party leaders.

Buhari’s refusal to sign PIGB irks Atiku

Ekiti Election Petition Tribunal: Fayemi, APC hire 35 lawyers for defence

he Governor-Elect of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, yesterday filed his defence to the petition by the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and outgoing Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Kolapo Olusola Eleka.

In the 2,558-page defence with over 3,000 documents as exhibits, Fayemi averred that he won the gubernatorial election of July 14, 2018 and urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition of Eleka for lacking in merit.

after the killing of the chairman of the party in Apapa Local Government Area, Adeniyi Aborishade.

But in statement yesterday to the media, and signed by the Publicity Secretary of the Party in the state, Taofik Gani, the party described Salvador as unstable politician whose inordinate ambition and penchant for falsehood will soon be made known to the APC. The party denied Salvador’s claim that he was driven out of the party by its leader George, stressing that Salvador should rather be grateful to George for making him the party’s state chairman and a former Senatorial candidate of the party.

The statement further said

over voting, which is another false claim. In any case, the petition in itself is self-defeating.

“The third ground is on deliberate voiding of votes as alleged by Eleka but in actual fact, majority of the voided ballots were votes meant for Fayemi, while the fourth ground is on vote buying which is baseless as it was, Eleka’s sponsor, Fayose that was guilty of this. Fayemi won convincingly based on his popularity,” Olatoke said.

No date has been fixed for hearing.

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tiku Abubakar, a former vice president and presidential aspirant on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has described as “unfortunate” the rejection by President Muhammadu Buhari of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) that the National Assembly in conjunction with the oil majors and host communities “put in so much work to come up with.”

He urged the President to have a rethink.

Atiku made the observation yesterday in a statement he personally signed, but released by Paul Ibe, director

of his media office.

The presidential aspirant said: “I am of the opinion that this is a monumental mistake.”

According to him, “The reason given by the President for rejecting the bill also betrays the fact that the current administration is out of tandem with global best practices.”

He also observed that the thinking that the Bill will “whittle down” the President’s powers is “most unfortunate”.

“A leader must be secure in himself before he can secure his or her people. A President is not powerful because he holds the Presidency.

Thursday 30 August 2018

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BUSINESS DAY

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BUSINESS DAY

Thursday 30 August 2018

Special Report

STL Trustees: Leading with values By staying true to its core values of integrity, innovation, professionalism and being customer-centric, STL Trustees has evolved to become the biggest success story in the Nigerian corporate trust industry, writes Alakofa Oluwatola

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stablished in May 1991 as EIB Trustees, a fully owned subsidiary of EIB bank, the firm is authorised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to carry out the dual functions of trusteeship and funds/portfolio management. In 2006, due to the consolidation exercise in the banking industry, EIB bank merged with Prudent Bank Plc, Bond Bank Plc, Reliance Bank and Co-operative Bank to form Skye Bank and of course, EIB Trustees, being a subsidiary to EIB Bank at that time, became known as Skye Trustees which later in 2015, metamorphosed into STL Trustees. The firm has therefore been in the business of trusteeship and funds/portfolio management for over two decades.

Today, the company’s financial position is in excess of N35billion and sits on business size of over N1 Trillion.

With its Headquarters in Marina, Lagos, and a northern regional office in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), STL Trustees Limited has achieved many firsts in the industry, including being a delegate trustee to the first Sukuk Issuance in Nigeria, the State of Osun Sukuk Al-Ijara which was issued by the government of the State of Osun to finance the construction of modern elementary, middle and High schools in the State.

STL was also a Delegate Trustee to the first sovereign Sukuk to be issued in Nigeria; the N100B FGN Road Sukuk 1 Plc. issued by the Federal Government to fund the construction and rehabilitation of some roads across the six geo-political zones in the country. The company also currently acts as trustees to 23 Sub-Sovereign Bonds in Nigeria and Sovereign-Backed Debt Issues, Corporate Bond Issues as well as several Mutual Funds and Ethical Funds.

Whilst STL’s footprints in Bond trusteeship are significant and noteworthy, the company is also highly rated in the offering of superior trusteeship services to corporate entities (As Security and Notes Trustees), trusts of real estate transactions, as well as private trust services to HNIs and individuals falling within different income brackets.

As trust transactions evolve ever so rapidly and constantly in terms of complexity and structuring, STL Trustees has kept pace in meeting its customers’ needs thus delivering lasting value to all counterparties and stakeholders.

Speaking on the company’s innovative operating culture, Funmi Ekundayo, the company’s CEO said: “The dynamics of a trust transaction of today might be different from the same type of transaction tomorrow, hence, we need to continuously innovate and rejig our business model to ensure we meet client’s needs.

Also, trust transactions involve a lot of documented provisions that you need to implement within stipulated timelines and on an ongoing basis. This makes training and retraining of our staff imperative in

Funmi Ekundayo, CEO, STL Trustees

order to always be on top of their game. Our major focus is to deliver not only quality service but quality service with the desired speed to excite our clients.”

A cursory look at some the firm’s on-going and recent debt issues presents a good indication of its stature in the industry ,some of which include: • Debut Sukuk Issue in Nigeria; • Debut FGN Sukuk Issue in Nigeria; • Debut Local Contractors Refinance Bond in Nigeria; • Debut Infrastructure and Ethical Funds in Nigeria; and • Many Project Finance Debt Issues for Sub-Sovereign and corporate bodies in Nigeria.

Furthermore, to help its clients navigate the complexities of today’s increased economic uncertainty, STL Trustees offers a number of customised retail products designed to meet a variety of investment goals and risk profiles. These products are: Controlling you Retirement Voluntarily (STL CRV), STL Child Education Trust (STL CET) and STL Target.

STL CRV is a savings product which has been designed for income earners who are mindful of preparing ahead for post-retirement from paid employment, in addition to the

mandatory Pension Contributions under the law, as well as self-employed individuals who want to secure their future, when they would be less active and earn lower incomes.

The product is targeted at the middle to lower income group and ensures that they are able to maintain a lifestyle akin to what they enjoyed while active. It is pertinent to also add that this product has an insurance benefit and the contributor gets a specified amount on the happening of certain events. The insurance premium is separate from the funds contributed and the income generated from the management of the funds as the premium for the insurance is paid

by STL Trustees.

There is also STL Target which is specifically designed for persons who would wish to set aside some funds to meet a particular need at some determinate time in the future. The advantage of this product is that it simplifies savings for events by the client and ensures that the funds are available for the required purpose.

As the name suggest, STL Child Education Trust (STL CET) is designed to enable you set up a Trust Fund for the education of your child or children. STL Trustees will hold such funds under a trust instrument

STL Trustees Limited has achieved many firsts in the industry, including being a delegate trustee to the first sovereign Sukuk to be issued in Nigeria; the N100B FGN Road Sukuk

as trustees to the named beneficiaries and preserve the funds, including all accumulated income therein, in trust for your named beneficiaries.

The contributions for this product are periodic and gradual, to enable one build up the fund to achieve the desired objective. One can also make lump sum payment if desired.

There is also STL Target, which is specifically designed for persons who would wish to set aside some funds to meet a particular need at some determinate time in the future.

The advantage of this product is that it simplifies savings for events by the client and ensures that the funds are available for the required purpose.

STL Trustees was in 2017 recognised as the “Non-Interest Trustees of the Year 2017” during the 3rd African International Conference on Islamic Finance organised by The Metropolitan Skills Limited in conjunction with the Islamic Finance Council and the Islamic Finance Institute of Southern Africa.

The company’s exceptional performance in the industry stems from its experienced leadership, professionalism and vision of the management and staff led by Funmi Ekundayo, the firm’s CEO. Funmi Ekundayo is a graduate of the Harvard Business School (General Management Programme). She holds a Bachelor of Law degree and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Lagos. She is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN).

Funmi began her career with the reputable Law Firm of Bentley Edu & Co (in association with IRVING & BONNAR), where she spent close to a decade in legal practice.

Thereafter she left legal practice for the financial sector when she joined Sterling Asset Management & Trustees Limited (formerly NAL Asset Management & Trustees Limited).

Funmi also worked in UBA Trustees Limited as Head, Business Development & Marketing, prior to joining Skye Trustees Limited as AGM, Business Development, from where she rose to become the MD/CEO of the Company. Funmi has distinguished herself in her area of core competence as a seasoned Trust Specialist engaging in the structuring of complex legal and Trust Instruments.

Funmi, an Alumnus of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators, United Kingdom, also served as the President of Association of Corporate Trustees of Nigeria and she is also a member of the Rules & Compliance SubCommittee of the Capital Market Committee of the Securities & Exchange Commission.

She is a member of the Board of Directors of Law Union & Rock Plc in a Non-Executive capacity where she acts as an Independent Director.

Funmi is a Member of the Institute of Directors and an Alumnus of the Chief Executive Programme of the Lagos Business School and the IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain.

She has attended several other courses locally and internationally.

Other members of management staff include: Akinwumi Oni, Head, Trust Services/Legal Akin holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B) from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. He obtained a Master of Laws degree (LL.M) from the same university, with specialty in Maritime, Banking and Corporate Finance. He has several years of experience in private legal practice and as in-house counsel to corporate organisations.

He worked with Standard Alliance Insurance Plc before joining STL Trustees Limited.

Akin heads the Trust Services/ Legal Department of the Company with exceptional flair for Securitisation, Project finance and structuring transactions.

Oko U. Mba, Chief Financial Officer Oko U. Mba (FCA) is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a member of the Nigeria Institute of Management (MNIM). He attended Yaba College of Technology, Yaba Lagos and graduated with HND Statistics in 1990, Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Finance and Banking from the Ondo State University and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Lagos State University, Ojo. Mba, has over 20 years working experience spanning various sectors of the economy and has held various leadership positions from his school days. Before joining STL Trustees Ltd in 2007, he worked with S.S Afemike & Co Chartered Accountants. He has attended several management and professional courses both locally and abroad and has received several awards and commendations.

Sade Ademokunwa, Head, Business Development Sade holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Lagos State University and HND Secretarial Studies from the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro. She is an Associate of the Association of Investment Advisers and Portfolio Managers (IAPM). She worked with Armour Savings and Loans Limited before joining STL Trustees Limited.

Jibril Yanda Mohammed, Regional Head Abuja Jibril Yanda Mohammed attended Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi where he obtained HND in Accountancy and Masters of Business Administration with specialty in Finance. He has over 25 years’ experience in the financial service Industry having worked with Union Bank of Nigeria Plc and Consolidated Discounts Limited.

Jibril is a member of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Management and an Associate of the Certified Pension Institute of Nigeria. He has been exposed to several trainings relevant to the Financial Service Industry, both locally and internationally.

Thursday 30 August 2018

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UBA grows earnings by 16% to N258bn

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nited Bank for Africa (UBA) plc has announced its audited 2018 half year financial results, showing strong growth across key performance metrics as well as a significant contribution from its African subsidiaries.

Despite declining yield environment in two core markets, Nigeria and Ghana, the pan Africa financial institution delivered double digit growth in gross earnings, as it recorded a 16 percent year-on-year rise in top-line to N258 billion, compared to N223 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.

This performance, according to analysts, underscores the capacity of the Group to deliver strong performance through economic cycles, even in a challenging business environment.

According to the report filed to the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday, UBA, reported strong growth in operating income at N168.5 billion, compared to N161.8 billion in the first half of 2017, an increase of 4.1 percent.

Notwithstanding the inflation-induced cost pressure in the period, UBA finished the first half of the year strongly, with a Profit Before Tax of N58.1 billion.

The Profit After Tax also improved to N43.8 billion, a 3.4 percent growth compared to N42.3 billion achieved in the corresponding period of 2017. The first half of the year profit, translated to pre-tax and post-tax return on average equity of 23% and 17%, respectively.

UBA’s foreign operations continue to grow in importance, contributing 40% of the Group’s profit, which according to analysts attests to the benefit of UBA’s pan-African strategy and reinforces the bank’s objec-

… to pay 20k interim dividend tive of achieving 50 percent earnings contribution from offshore subsidiaries.

In the first six months of the year, the Bank’s Total Assets grew 4.9% to N4.27 trillion and Customer Deposits rose by 6.1 percent to N2.90 trillion, compared to N2.73 trillion as at December 2017. This growth trajectory underlines UBA’s market share gain, as it increasingly wins customers through its re-engineered customer service and innovative digital offerings.

The Group’s Shareholders’ Funds remained strong at N496.3 billion, even as implementation of IFRS 9 impacted the total equity of the bank and its peers.

In line with its culture of paying both interim and fi-

nal cash dividend, the Board of Directors of UBA Plc declared an interim dividend of N0.20 per share for every ordinary share of N0.50 each held on the qualification date – Wednesday, September 5, 2018.

Commenting on the results, the group managing director/CEO, UBA, Kennedy Uzoka said: “Our performance in the first half the year reflects the resilience of our business model and strategies. Despite declining yields in two core markets, Nigeria and Ghana, we delivered double digit growth in gross earnings. Our performance demonstrates the success of our digital banking initiatives and broader Customer-First strategies.

“We are integrating bank-

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irector-general of Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN), Chiedu Osakwe, says the Federal Government is determined to improve growth in the services sector to ensure wealth creation and maximise economic impact for the nation’s economy.

Osakwe gave the information at the second meeting of the Nigerian Coalition of Service Industries (NCSI), held on Tuesday in Abuja, which had participants from Nigerian services regulators, services operators and competent authorities.

At the meeting, Osakwe, who convened the NCSI, stepped down as the chairman, underlining that “NCIS shall be private sector driven for its sustaina-

NLNG generates over $100bn revenue for Nigeria, equity holders – Attah KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja

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anaging director of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Tony Attah, on Wednesday said over $100 billion had so far been remitted to the Federal Government and other equity holders in Nigeria.

Attah said this at the investigative hearing into the ‘proposed sale of the ‘NLNG’; ‘Need to Investigate contract for modification of EGP3B production platform following the joint ventures agreement between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Chevron Nigeria Limited’, and ‘investigation of the contract for the upgrade of OML 58 Upgrade 1, the execution of Obote/Ubeta/Rumuji (OUR) pipeline.’

According to Attah, the Federal Government through NNPC, which owns 49 percent equity, got over $15 billion dividends and $6.5 billion tax, that positioned

the company as the singular highest tax paying company in Nigeria and Africa. Other shareholders - Shell Gasa BV owns $25.6%, Total owns 15%, while ENI International owns 10.4%.

On the company’s efforts towards reducing gas flaring in the country, he said, “Despite our contribution to the country a lot of it is monetary more than $100 billion revenue and about $15 billion dividend to the government directly, and also since we became taxpaying company in 2009, we have contributed more than $6.5 billion in taxes, helping to build a better Nigeria, but essentially, we do more than financial contribution.

“As a result of Nigeria LNG being in existence, we have helped reduced gas flaring by more than 65% and will continue to work with our upstream suppliers to mopup more because we produce the opportunity as the biggest gas sink for whatever gas is provided in the country.

Delta exco approves instruments for quick passage of 2019 budget MERCY ENOCH, Asaba

D Godwin Obaseki, governor, Edo State (l), with Justice Stella Isibhakhomen Anukam, African Union Court Judge, after her election at the 31st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

FG determined to improve economic growth via service sector HARRISON EDEH, Abuja

ing to our customers’ lifestyle, simplifying processes for routine transactions and driving financial inclusion by making banking services accessible and affordable.

We are creating opportunities for wealth creation and economic progress, as we empower our customers through innovative platforms and solutions that support their personal and business growth.

“Our commitment to delivering excellent service is paying-off, as we increasingly win a bigger share of customers’ wallet across our chosen markets. We won the highly coveted “Africa’s Best Digital Bank” Award by Euromoney, demonstrating our pioneering initiatives are being recognised with Leo, our digital banker having been name checked by Mark Zuckerberg.

A11 NEWS

BUSINESS DAY

bility. The NOTN shall continue to provide secretarial services,” he said.

He also informed NCSI participants that the “government is determined that the NCSI shall not fail. Services trade was critical to the growth and modernisation of the Nigerian economy, accounting for approximately 55 percent of the economy.”

Osakwe, while referring to the recent GDP Q2 2018 data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said the recorded growth in the services sector exposed it was key and underlining role in driving Nigeria’s economic diversification programme.

According to Osakwe, “The NBS report had made evident the vital importance of Services Sector to growth in the Nigerian economy.”

Pointing at the report, he noted, “The 2.05 percent

growth of the non-oil sector was driven by the services sectors of transportation, electricity, construction, telecommunication, water supply and sewage and broadcasting representing the strongest growth in non-oil GDP since Q4 2015.”

He charged the meeting on the pressing necessity for expedited action on a Services Schedule for Nigeria for growth, modernisation and job creation.

At the meeting, Irene Robson-Ayanwale and Seni Adio, from the Nigerian Stock Exchange and Nigeria Bar Association, were elected as co-chairpersons to drive the work of the NCSI for next year.

Further in their remarks, Ayanwale and Seni Adio, while accepting their roles as co-chairs, noted that it was important that NOTN remain as secretariat.

elta State executive council has approved the Delta State Economic and Fiscal Update, Fiscal Strategy Paper and Budget Policy Statement 2019-2021.

Following the approval, the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, can now present the 2019 budget to the state house of assembly next month (September) with a view to getting the budget passed by January 2019.

State commissioner for information, Patrick Ukah, made the revelation in Asaba, saying the approval was made at the exco meeting of Tues-

day, August 28.

Ukah also revealed that Asaba, the state capital, would soon get an Army Brigade as the exco approved the purchase of a landed property to fast track its establishment.

He said the decision to purchase an existing property as opposed to erecting a new structure was to make the establishment of the Brigade quicker.

He stated that with the coming of the army brigade, to be located at Kilometre 2, Anwai/Illah Road, opposite the Government House, security in Asaba and environs would be beefed up to ensure safety of lives and property.

Ebonyi closes Abakaliki rice mill JACOB OGODO, Abakaliki

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bonyi State government has sealed the popular Abakaliki Rice Mill due to alleged adulterated and poisonous rice being sold there.

Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the state executive council meeting, the special assistant internal security, Kenneth Ugbala, said government took the decision as a precautionary measure in order to save lives.

According to Ugbala, the decision to close down the rice mill followed intelligence report from the Ministry of Environment that adulterated and poisonous rice was discovered at the market, being sold to unsuspecting members of the public.

Ugbala said the rice was discovered to be poi-

sonous forcing the state government to close down the market temporary till further notice, saying the market would be reopened after investigations to discover and clear the market of such adulterated rice.

The state commissioner for commerce and industry, Ugo Nnachi, at the briefing, said the council also terminated the procedure for the disbursement of the SME loans, which was being handled by Bank of industry.

According to Nnachi, the state government ill now handle the procedure to ensure speedy disbursement to benefiting SMEs in the state.

The state government decided to take over the disbursement due to the delays and inability of the BoI to carry out the disbursement since the funds were raised and lodged

with the bank by the state government, she said.

Also, the commissioner for sports and youth development, said the Council approved N52 million for 2018 sporting year in the state.

Three sports competitions have been earmarked to take place before the end of the year in the state, he said.

These include the David Umahi Tertiary Institutions Games (DUMTIGA) 2018 for 10 tertiary institutions in the state.

He revealed that N500,000 had been disbursed to each of the participating institutions to enable them prepare and take part in the games.

Other sports competitions include the School Sports Competitions, which will hold in October, and the Divine Mandate Football Competition for all the 171 wards in the state.

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Thursday 30 August 2018

PIGB: Buhari refuses assent on account of 10% for regulatory commission LAPO MfB elects Ede Osayande OLUSOLA BELLO & TONY AILEMEN

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he much expected investment inflow into the oil and gas industry may be far from coming as President Muhammadu Buhari refused assent to the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) on account of the Bill permitting the Petroleum Regulatory Commission to retain as much as 10 percent of the revenue generated in the sector.

The bill unduly increases the funds accruing to the commission to the detriment of the revenue available to the federal, states, FCT and local governments in the country, President Buhari said.

Ita Enang, senior special assistant to the President on National Assembly matters, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.

Other reasons include expanding of the scope of Petroleum Equalisation Fund and some provisions in divergence from this administration’s policy, and indeed conflicting provi-

sions on independent petroleum equalisation fund.

Enang also stated that some legislative drafting concerns, which, if assented to in the form presented, would create ambiguity and conflict in interpretation.

He said: “By convention, it is inappropriate to speak on the content of executive communication addressed to the Legislature until same has been read on the floor in plenary.”

He said he had pleaded for the understanding of the legislature that due to the misrepresentations in the public domain and apparent deliberate blackmail, which if not promptly addressed might set both the executive and the legislature against the public and even the international investment community, this be excused.

He however dismissed earlier assumptions made in the media adduced as reasons for withholding assent by President Buhari.

Investment into the sector has not been forthcoming as it is expected because international investors are holding back their money due to the uncertainty sur-

rounding the Petroleum Industry Bill.

This action by President Buhari has consequently elicited barrage of reactions from the oil and gas industry stakeholders who expressed their disappointment over the issue.

This is a big drawback for the country and oil and gas industry in terms of investments, as expected investors would now be considering taking their money to other parts of the world, said one of the stakeholders.

According to Godswill Iheatu, immediate past president of Petroleum Club, I expected the action of the President given the fact that the bill, expected to be signed into law, it gives a lot of power to the directorgeneral of the Nigeria Petroleum Regulatory Commission, which will take over the functions of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

He however said it was better to have strong institutions as against an individual that was very powerful.

Dada Thomas, managing

director of Frontier Petroleum and current president of the Nigeria Gas Association, told BusinessDay that he was disappointed that the President had refused to assent to the bill.

He said: “We thought if the bill is assented to it would give the industry the lee way to operate transparently and also promote accountability in the oil and gas industry which is what this government has been championing. The eight assembly has lost the PIB again.”

Would it now take between 20 to 25 years to pass a single bill into law? he asked. For a country asking for foreign investment this is not the way we should behave, he said.

Abiodun Adesanya, managing director of Degeconek, said the action had stalled creation of jobs and increase unemployment, adding that valuable times and money spent on putting together the document had been wasted.

“It is not enough to say his power has been whittled down, asking what kind of power is the minister of petroleum looking for”.

as new board chairman HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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APO Microfinance Bank (MfB) has elected Ede Osayande as its new board chairman.

Osayande holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Benin (1979) and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos (1989).

He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), and an alumnus of several international training institutions.

Osayande has over 30 years’ experience in financial analysis, risk management, banking operations, people’s management and regulatory compliance. During his active banking years, he was the managing director/CEO of Cooperative Development Bank and Equatorial Trust Bank Limited. He also served on the boards of Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), Lagos, and Consolidated Discount House Limited.

He was appointed to the

Ondo traditional rulers seek revocation of BEDC’s licence YOMI AYELESO, Akure

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L-R: Funke Akindele Bello, Keystone Bank brand ambassador; Obeahon Ohiwerei, GMD/CEO, Keystone Bank Limited, and Michael Agamah, general counsel, Keystone Bank Limited, during the contract signing of Funke Akindele Bello as Keystone Bank Brand Ambassador, at Keystone Bank head office in Lagos.

Board of Directors of LAPO MfB in 2011. Prior to his election, he was the chairman of the Finance and General Purpose Board Committee, and a member of the Audit and Nomination/Remuneration Committees.

In 2010, LAPO MfB obtained the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to operate as a state microfinance bank and in 2012, it got an approval as a national microfinance bank.

Over the years, LAPO MfB has emerged as a leading institution delivering a range of financial services to over a million people in Nigeria.

ndo State Council of Obas has passed a vote of no confidence on the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) for poor service delivery and failure to distribute pre-paid metres to residents of the state.

The traditional rulers said years of inefficient and erratic power supply by BEDC to the people of Ondo North and Ondo Central senatorial districts, and total blackout in Ondo South district had negatively affected social, cultural and economic activities of the people.

The monarchs made their position known through a statement issued at the end of their monthly meeting

held in Akure, the state capital, and signed by the Council chairman, the Olukare of Ikare-Akoko, Oba Akadiri Momoh.

“The Ondo State Council of Obas called on the Federal Government to reject licence renewal bid of BEDC because the company has failed to provide pre-paid metres, instead, it embarks on arbitrary and over billing of customers or refuses to replace ageing electricity equipment and transformers across the state,” the statement read.

The monarchs said BEDC had in the last four years put majority of communities in northern and southern parts of Ondo State in perpetual blackout, yet it continued to make unrealistic demands from the people.

MAN to deepen support for equipment expo

NCS to investigate intercepted 4,400 sets of military camouflage uniforms

anufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has re-iterated the organisation’s commitment to support the manufacturing industry. This was made known

by Frank Jacobs, national president of MAN, at the recently held MAN annual general meeting, Abuja chapter.

The event, which had Muhammadu Musa Bello, minister of Federal Capital Territory; guest speaker, Oduwole Olajumoke, senior special adviser to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment in attendance, was done to positively engage heads of government, its agencies and parastatals on policies that have the potential to impact the manufacturing industry.

CYNTHIA EGBOBOH, Abuja

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Jacobs stated at the event that MAN would continually support the Nigeria Manufacturing and Equipment Expo, which he believes to be a credible initiative by Clarion Events West Africa, to further encourage investment and promote sustainable development within the manufacturing industry.

The Nigeria Manufacturing and Equipment Expo featuring mPAD and collocated with the Nigeria Raw Material Expo is a three-day annual event, an international end-of-line packaging and processing exhibition for the agro food, beverage, textiles, pharmaceuticals, industrial and non-food manufacturing industry.

Joseph Oru, event man-

ager, Nigeria Manufacturing and Equipment (NME) Expo, expressed his gratitude on behalf of Clarion Events West Africa (CEWA) to MAN for their support in ensuring a successful hosting of the third edition of the NME Expo.

According to Oru, CEWA will not relent in its effort to keep making relevant contribution to the industry, which was why he attended the annual general meeting, as he believed such gathering would further provide insights to issues in the industry to inform an all-inclusive Expo at the 2019 edition and also create an avenue to bridge the gap in terms Technological Know-How and improve best practices available around the world.

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igeria Custom Service (NCS) on Wednesday inaugurated a panel to investigate the intercepted containers containing a total set of 4,400 military camouflage uniforms.

According to a statement issued by the Service, Hameed Ibrahim Ali, comptroller-general of Customs, inaugurated the panel to conduct a thorough investigation with a view to fishing out all parties connected to the unholy importations, following seizures of military hard wares.

“It will be recalled that within the last one month, officers and men of the

NCS Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘C’ and Operatives of the One Area II Command Port Harcourt at different times, intercepted a (2X40ft) containers, MRSU 3040288 and MRKU 4909151 found to contain military camouflages and other items on the 27th July 2018 and 16th August 2018, respectively,” he said.

The statement reveals that while the first interception was found to contain 11 bales, each containing 400 pairs of new set of military camouflage uniform totalling 4400 sets, the second interception was found to contain 620 sets of completely sewn military camouflage uniform and caps, 10,100

pieces of inner military TShirts, 512 pairs of military jungle boots contrary to Schedule 4(13) of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff, which falls under Absolute Prohibition and Section 46(b) of Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA).

The comptroller-general, while inaugurating the committees, said, “Even though preliminary investigations have led to the arrest of five persons including the importer of both consignments, it is imperative that a painstaking investigation is conducted to unravel all those who are remotely connected to the criminal importations with a view to punishing offenders and preventing reoccurrence.”

BUSINESS DAY

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NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I THURSDAY 30 AUGUST 2018

Opinion

The dangers of repudiating history CHRISTOPHER AKOR Chris Akor, a First Class graduate of Political Science, holds an MSc in African Studies from the University of Oxford and is BusinessDay’s Op-Ed Editor christopher.akor@businessdayonline.com

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ollowing early signals that the Buhari administration was not totally committed to upholding the rule of law and due process, I started writing, since 2016, to warn about the administration’s gradual descent into autocracy/ dictatorship. Of course, not many people took me seriously either because they were blinded by their love and support for the president and his change agenda, or because they were oblivious of the reality at the time. Not all were unaware though. Some respected lawyers, academicians and thought leaders noticed the trend, but haven invested so much energy and reputation into the Buhari project, they could not turn their backs on him.

But much more dangerous was a belief, prevalent in Nige-

ria at the time, that corruption could not be effectively fought within the ambits of the rule of law. We were therefore willing to overlook the occasional disregard of the law and the judiciary and the employment of unconventional and unlawful methods in dealing with the hoard of corrupt officials in Nigeria.

However, with the recent happenings in the polity – the wilful disregard of the rule of law, wanton human rights abuses, the not-so-subtle attempts to silence all opposition and divergent voices, and to illegally remove and replace the leadership of the national assembly – Nigerians are beginning to see a pattern. And when the a democratically elected president looks all citizens in the eyes and tell them national security and public interests would come before individuals rights, then they know no one is really safe from the clutches of such a state, as the Senate President, Senators Shehu Sani, Dino Melaye and Isa Misau have discovered lately.

But Buhari didn’t just take us by surprise. He has a history which we all failed to take into account. In the run up to the 2015 general elections, I’d watched with shock and horror how we all repudiated our history – of events that happened between 1984 and 1985 - and proclaimed Buhari to be

the answer to all our national woes and the best person to fix our ailing economy. Being a keen student of Nigerian government and politics, I’d read virtually every available historical account of the Buhari military regime – and there was almost a universal consensus that the regime was a major economic disaster. Unable to convince multilateral agencies to advance lines of credit to Nigeria following the regime’s

‘

Just like 1984/85, we have had to endure the worst economic recession in Nigeria in almost 30 years, watched as hyper-inflation and rapid depreciation of the naira erode the

,

stubborn refusal to countenance even a partial devaluation of the country’s currency and due to the drying up of the country’s foreign reserves in the

face of declining oil prices, the regime choose rather to engage in counter-trading (or more appropriately trade by barter) where the country bartered its oil cheaply for spare parts and other raw materials to escape from its economic immobilism.

Expectedly, the measure only worsened the country’s dire economic situations.

Wages still went unpaid and there were general shortages of basic commodities like rice, milk, sugar, etc and the helpless masses had to queue endlessly to get to these items. Industries had to close shop and those that managed to remain open operated at very low capacity.

Confronted by the apparent failure of its policies to revamp the economy, the regime became even more oppressive and intolerant of criticism. As Adebayo Olukoshi and Tajudeen Abdulraheem rightly noted, “The Nigerian Security Organisation’s powers were significantly expanded. Then the state began to play the old card of blaming so-called illegal ECOWAS immigrants, especially from Ghana, for the continued shortage of commodities and jobs. But the diversion created by the second mass expulsion of aliens early in 1985 was only short-lived and was soon exhausted.”

As rational explanations ran dry, repression became the norm. The famous decree 4

that prohibited journalists from reporting anything that could embarrass the regime, even if it were true, was promulgated.

It did not take long before two journalists fell fowl of the law and were consequently locked up. Soldiers were sent out with whips to enforce order and discipline on the streets and ensure cleanliness in people’s homes. Special secret military tribunals were set up to try politicians accused of corruption despite protests and boycotts of the tribunals by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). The accused were all presumed guilty until they could prove their innocence, and few managed that task. Most were given ridiculously long sentences, some running into hundreds of years. Certain crimes like drug trafficking, smuggling, and oil bunkering were made to carry the death sentence and three Nigerians were retroactively executed under this law. The most sensational example of the regime’s recklessness was the botched attempted kidnap and forced repatriation of Nigeria’s former Transport Minister under the Shagari regime, Umaru Dikko, who was found drugged in a crate in a London airport that had been tagged as diplomatic baggage. This led to a break-up of diplomatic relations between Nigeria and the Britain.

Three years into Buhari’s

presidency, the history we all rejected and repudiated has come back to haunt us. Just like 1984/85, we have had to endure the worst economic recession in Nigeria in almost 30 years, watched as hyper-inflation and rapid depreciation of the naira erode the spending power of Nigerians and threw millions of Nigerians into extreme poverty.

Even, various attempts have been made to bring back the infamous “Decree 4” in form of the “Anti Social Media Bill”. With the president’s stand on the rule of law, Nigerians should be ready for a full blown dictatorship in his second term – and perhaps after.

There are feelers that some persons are working on a life presidency project for the president. Recently, the APC candidate for the Senatorial bye-election in Bauchi south, Lawal Yahaya-Gusau stated explicitly that he had only one agenda for seeking to go to the senate – to work towards a constitutional amendment to pave the way for Buhari to become president-for-life.

Yahaya-Gusau did win the election and there has been no word of caution or denunciation from either the party or the presidency. Considering how Obasanjo’s third-term project started, we will be foolish to dismiss Yahaya-Gusau’s campaign promise as wishful thinking.

Surviving as a youth in a Charley-Boy Republic! (2)

IK MUO Ik Muo, PhD, Department of Business Administration OOU, Ago-Iwoye muoigbo@yahoo.com; 08033026625

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n the first part of this article, we undertook some conceptual clarifications on the nature and scope of the Charley-Boy Republic. But there was a slip of hand; I went to UI in 1977, not 1987. Thanks to sharp-eyed Samuel Diala for drawing my attention to certain things that did not add up. I also appreciate the feedback from Nnaemeka Ezeh who lamented that the elders have woefully failed the youths. So, how do the youths survive in an environment where everything is possible; where everything goes?

Generally, as applicants, entrepreneurs or even as workers, the youths should acquire the competence to identify, evaluate and profitably exploit opportunities, and seek for new skills and knowledge because they may come in handy unexpectedly.

They should be resourceful and

prudent, refrain from living false lives, remember that money is not everything and do well in whatever their hands findeth to do. They should network purposefully, be determined and focused. Those in business should continuously monitor the environment, take note of government policies, which determine the boundaries for businesses, and from which good business ideas can flow.

They should play according to the rules because it is good to do so and because it is becoming very risky to do otherwise. They should refrain from joining the bandwagon, dare to be different, and flee from 419 tendencies!

Those who are applicants should make efforts to know what employers need, and position themselves as the solution, produce attractive and sincere resumes and manage the interview well. Managing the interview well involves among others, being truthful and refraining from obvious desperation. Starting an own business is also an option, but one should also have passion /interest for the business, have or acquire the expertise, and understand the requisite licensing or other legal formalities. Essential entrepreneurial traits, characteristics and orientations include creativity, human relations, communication and problem solving skills,

tenacity, versatility, flexibility, attention to details and optimal time management capabilities.

Some of these are follow-come (by nature) while others have to be acquired (by nurture).

They should also be ready to be mentored.

There is also a divine dimension to surviving in this environment. Originally, God empowered us limitlessly but when our forefathers ate the forbidden fruit, the Eden economy collapsed and work started; first as a punishment(Gen.3:17-19) and then as a necessity (2nd Thess.3:8-9). However God still left us with the ability to exploit all the resources of the earth for our benefit and His glory. For divine empowerment, we must trust in God and worry less; ask seek and knock; persevere, be courageous and always remember to be grateful. However, we must do our own bit first, before God blesses our efforts. People should not go about casting, binding and claiming without getting down to work because he who does not work should not eat!( 2nd Thess. 3:10).

To survive in these hard times, the youths should be BAHD (brilliant and highly distinct) and go for BHAG (big, hairy and audacious goals). The youths should also avoid the 7 social sins identified by Gandhi: wealth without work, pleasure

without conscience, knowledge without character, business without morality, science without humanity, politics without principle and religion without sacrifice. They should remember to obey and honour their parents because the parents started cooking before them and will surely have more broken pots (experiences). This is in addition to all the religious justifications for doing so. In addition to obeying and learning the positives from their parents, they should also remember God in the days of their youth (Ecclesiastes, 12.1) so that He will lengthen their days, grant them success (Prov, 3:1-8) and renew their strength (Isaiah, 40:30/31).

But beyond spiritual exhortations, we have to come down to earth. Youths are impatient and full of energy but they should abhor violence because, even when violence appears to be good, the evil it does is permanent (Gandhi) and Just as darkness cannot drive away darkness and fire cannot quench fire, violence can never bring peace! (Fr. Ehusani; Guardian, 9/1/11, p74 ). The youths should also remember that people who could not practice self-discipline have been disgraced by their weaknesses.

Just think of Moses and Suarez (bad temper). Furthermore, he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he who

rules his spirit than he who takes a city (Proverbs 16:32).

The youths should not make the mistake of thinking that they have all the time because, time is really short. Whenever I look back now, I wish I had run faster. They should not kill their time because time is life and so, whoever kills his/her time commits suicide! People should

‘

When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamt of changing the world.

As I grew old and wiser, I discovered the world would not change so, I shortened my sights and decided to change only my country

,

not leave for tomorrow what you should and can do today because tomorrow may never come! The future depends on what you know (reading) and who you know( networking) and of course, God. So read, network

and pray!

Listen to Fr Kukah : Today’s youths, especially those who are making money, must rise beyond the champagne bubbles, avoid the highway of the Ferraris, reduce the Dubai orgies and defer some pleasure till the vision is clear and they appreciate the fact that knowing life is more than just making money-( Keynote Address at PH Book Festival, 21/10/14). And then to this unknown author: When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamt of changing the world. As I grew old and wiser, I discovered the world would not change so, I shortened my sights and decided to change only my country. But it, too seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it. And now, as I lie on my death bed, I suddenly realised that if I had only changed myself, I would have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better and who knows, I would have even changed the world!

So, start with yourself!

Finally, how can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Gods wordsPs 119:9! There is nothing more to add!

Published by BusinessDAY Media Ltd., The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos. Ghana Office: Business Day Ghana Ltd; ABC Junction, near Guinness Ghana Limited, Achimota – Accra, Ghana.

Tel: +233243226596: email: mail@businessdayonline.com Advert Hotline: 08034743892. Subscriptions 01-2950687, 07045792677. Newsroom: 08169609331 Editor: Anthony Osae-Brown. All correspondence to BusinessDAY Media Ltd., Box 1002, Festac Lagos. ISSN 1595 - 8590.