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Business booms for domestic airlines as AirFrance, Ethiopian suspend PH, Kaduna routes ... AirPeace in talks with foreign carriers on codeshare agreements IFEOMA OKEKE

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omestic airlines operating in Nigeria are currently experiencing more patronage on local routes as a result of the suspension of flight operations by some foreign carriers on some selected local routes.

BusinessDay’s checks show that Ethiopian Airlines has suspended its operations to Kaduna and AirFrance also suspended operations to Port Harcourt, giving opportunity for local airline operations to soar on these routes.

Abigail Okenwa, a travel agent, told BusinessDay on Wednesday that AirFrance is currently facing

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Car prices to fall 20% as FG considers tariff review Govt revenue to increase from reduced smuggling

ISAAC ANYAOGU

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igeria recorded only 11,000 new car sales in 2017 because a bruising 70 percent tariff imposed by former President

Goodluck Jonathan and continued by the present administration of Muhammadu Buhari turned cars into luxury items.

There are indications that President Buhari will review this policy in 2019 and analysts say this could lead to a 20 percent

drop in car prices.

Bismarck Rewane, CEO of Financial Derivatives, a Lagosbased consultancy, forecasts a 20 percent drop in car prices if the vehicle tariff is reviewed.

The Ministry of Trade and Investment is currently reviewing

the policy.

Hadiza Usman, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), said this week there are discussions with the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment regarding the operaContinues on page 38

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Inside 16 public officers set for honour as ‘BusinessDay Public Service Awards’ holds today P. 2 Atiku, Obi pledge to fight corruption with technology P. 39

Civil society groups in a peaceful protest against the plan to impeach Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode by the State House of Assembly at the Assembly complex in Lagos, yesterday.

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16 public officers set for honour as ‘BusinessDay Public Service Awards’ holds today JOHN OSADOLOR, Abuja

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he crème de la crème of the nation’s public service will this evening gather at the exquisite Shehu Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, as 16 public and civil servants who have distinguished themselves in the performance of their duties will be honoured at the prestigious annual BusinessDay Excellence in Public Service Awards.

Umaru Kwairanga Sarkin Fulanin Gombe will chair the annual awards/dinner which is the second in the series of the awards aimed at recognising ministers and heads of government departments and agencies in Nigeria who have recorded remarkable achievements in executing the mandate of their individual institutions. Red carpet starts at 6pm.

This year, BusinessDay Awards Committee has extended the awards to members of the National Assembly who have also excelled in their duties both as lawmakers and representatives of their individual constituencies.

The 2018 awards ceremony, which was earlier scheduled for December 10, 2018, was postponed to today “due to unavoidable circumstances”, according to the Awards Committee.

The 16 awardees’ emergence followed a painstaking selection process involving over 100 top public servants.

The Awards Committee which is made up of eminent Nigerians reviewed the performance and the commitment the awardees brought into the management and execution of the mandate of their respective institutions backed by a well-researched report prepared by BusinessDay Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU).

On November 30, 2017, 19 public officeholders including six ministers and 13 heads of federal parastatals received similar awards at a grand dinner chaired by Abdulsalami

Abubakar, a former head of state and retired army general.

The 2017 awardees were Kayode Fayemi, former minister of mines and steel development and now governor of Ekiti State; Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources; Audu Innocent Ogbeh, minister of agriculture and rural development; Enyinnaya Okechukwu Enelamah, minister of industry, trade and investment; Babatunde Raji Fashola, minister of power, works and housing; and Adebayo Shittu, minister of communications technology.

Also, Godwin Emefiele, governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Aliyu Abdulhameed, managing director, NIRSAL; Maikanti Baru, group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Uche Orji, managing director, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA); Yemi Kale, statistician-general of the federation; and Patience Oniha, director-general, Debt Management Office (DMO), bagged the awards for their exceptional performance.

Other awardees included Sharon Ikeazor, executive secretary, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), and Yewande Sadiku, executive secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).

The annual Excellence in Public Service Awards was staged by BusinessDay Conferences, an arm of BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay and BDSunday newspapers, as part of its leadership thought initiative and commitment to the development of the nation to recognise, reward and encourage some distinguished ministers, heads of departments and agencies for their selfless services to the nation. This year, members of the National Assembly were added to the list.

The management and staff of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), led

by Hadiza Bala Usman, also won the excellence award.

What FG, states are doing to ease access to land, increase housing stock CHUKA UROKO

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igeria’s federal and state governments are increasingly stepping up efforts to improve on the ease of doing business in the country’s real estate and other sectors of the economy by creating environments that enable access to land for increased

Before now, Nigeria ranked poorly in ease of doing business in virtually all sectors of the economy. In real estate, registering property was a huge challenge. At a time, the country was ranked 185th out of 189 economies in ease of registering property by the World Bank Group. The country was also ranked 129th out of 189 economies in ease of starting a business, af-

ANALYSIS

housing stock.

Over the past three years, Nigeria has implemented more than 140 reforms and moved up 24 places in the World Bank Doing Business Index (DBI) rankings, according to records by the Enabling Business Environment Secretariat of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

In the 2018 Global Competitiveness Report, the secretariat recalls, the World Economic Forum (WEF) recognised Nigeria’s business environment as one of the most entrepreneurial in the world and highlighted the country’s improved competitiveness in enabling business environment.

firming its earlier ranking at 96 out of 97 – just a step above Sudan – in Jones Lang Lassalle (JLL) global real estate transparency index.

Nigeria was also ranked 171, 62, 140 and 187 out of 189 economies in ease of dealing with construction permit, protecting minority investors, enforcing contracts and getting electricity respectively, making it the 170th economy out of 189 in the overall ranking indices.

But with the ongoing reform efforts being championed by PEBEC, the country’s business environment has improved significantly.

Jumoke Oduwole, a senior spe-

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L-R: Muda Yusuf, director-general, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI); Biodun Adedipe, CEO, BAA Consult; Bamidele Daramola, treasurer, LCCI; Babatunde Ruwase, president, LCCI; Bimbo Olashore, CEO, Lead Capital Advisory, and Cyril Azobu, partner/advisory leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers Nigeria, during a seminar on Emerging Risk and Opportunities in 2019 organised by LCCI in Lagos, yesterday.

Nigeria loses out on $62bn global annual palm oil market BALA AUGIE

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yriads of downturns have hindered Nigeria from gaining a substantial share of the global oil palm industry now worth $62 billion annually, casting doubts on government’s ability to grow non-oil revenue.

Nigeria’s oil palm industry’s contribution to global market share is a meagre 1.40 percent as of 2018, according to data from United State Department of Agriculture (USAD), as against 45 percent in 1960. If the country had maintained its 45 percent market share today, it would have been earning $27.9 billion from this crop alone.

Oil palm refers to palm tree or the palm that produces oil. Crude palm oil (CPO) is the edible palm oil.

“The country’s production has been stagnant,” said Steven Babajide, country representative, Solidaridad’s Network, in an emailed response to questions.

“Even though big plantations are coming up, smallholder production which constitutes over 80 percent of the total palm oil output in Nigeria has continued to drop due to ageing trees and poor management,” he said.

“The problem is further compounded by the inefficient processing technologies leading to 25-50 percent loss of crude palm oil,” said Babajide.

Igwe Uche, national president, Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN), in a response to BusinessDay questions, said the production of smallholder farmers who produce the bulk of what the country consumes have been stagnated over

the last five years.

“Demand for crude palm oil is increasing because our population is fast rising and industrial need for it is also on the increase,” Uche said.

Analysts at Afrinvest Research Ltd, in their 2018 outlook for the oil palm industry, attributed the production downturn that damped market share to traditional and crude production methods by smallholder famers that account for 80 percent of the industry supply.

The report also identified other stumbling blocks to include the country’s focus on exploration and export of crude product, persistent low yields per hectare, and the impact of the civil war on oil palm producing communities.

“This culminated in the country becoming a net importer of the product in the 1980s as rising domestic consumption could not match sluggish growth in production,” said Afrinvest Research analysts.

Nigeria’s share of global production oil palm, which moved to 73.30 million metric tonnes in 2018 from 1.20 million metric tonnes in 1964, is abysmally poor.

Indonesia produces 41.50 million metric tonnes (MT), as against Malaysia’s 39.50 million MT. Both accounted for 80.10 percent of global production between 2016 and 2018.

This compares with Thailand (2.90 million metric tonnes), Columbia (1.50 million metric tonnes), and Nigeria (1.0 million metric tonnes), according to USAD. Experts have identified the root cause of the problems bedevilling the industry and have also proffered solutions to the downturn as the country seeks to diversify the economy away from black gold known as crude oil.

“Nigeria will need to plant at least 300,000 hectares in the near future, which is an investment of over N700 billion and it will take us several years,” Santosh Pillai, managing director of PZ Wilmar, said in an interview with BusinessDay. “The industry requires massive investments and the government has to come with policies which will support development of the oil palm industry in a holistic manner,” he added.

In 2017, total industry production settled at 970,000 metric tonnes while consumption was 1,355,000 million MT, leaving a deficit of 290,000 metric tonnes.

Crude oil palm was among the 41 items excluded from foreign exchange market by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2016.

The policy, in addition to growing population, added impetus to the earnings of the two dominant producers – Okomu Nigeria Plc and Presco Nigeria Plc – as local demand spiked without corresponding increase in supply. But the situation is gradually changing owing to smuggling of CPO from Malaysia to Ghana, and then to Kano into Nigeria.

“We must do something about smuggling,” Felix Nwabuko, managing director of Presco, told BusinessDay. “It discourages further investment and creates unhealthy competition in the market,” Nwabuko said.

Analysts at Afrinvest see a downside risk for companies if the Federal Government assents to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement as the country’s participation means CBN will have to de-list some restricted items while open borders will pave the way for influx of cheap product from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Atiku promises to revitalise private sector with $25bn investment fund DIPO OLADEHINDE & INIOBONG IWOK

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residential candidate of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 16 election, Atiku Abubakar, has said he would create a $25 billion fund to support private sector investments in infrastructure if elected president.

Atiku, a former vice president

of Nigeria under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, said in a lecture at the Island Club in Lagos, Wednesday, that he would restore investor confidence and reduce infrastructure deficit that will unleash growth and wealth creation.

“We will create an Economic Stimulus Fund with an initial investment capacity of approximately $25 billion to support private sector investments in infrastruc-

ture. Power sector reform will be a critical policy priority,” Atiku said.

Nigeria’s main opposition leader pledged to use some of the money for power sector reforms and also increase infrastructure stock to 50 percent of Gross Domestic Product by 2025 and 70 percent by 2030.

He noted that Nigeria has a modern, dynamic and competitive econ-

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Venezuelan sanctions edge up oil prices but economic outlook remains gloomy STEPHEN ONYEKWELU, with agency report

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S’ sanctions on Venezuela have edged up oil prices by a percent but weakening Asian demand for oil due to slower economic growth in China has sent out signals of uncertainty across energy markets.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $54.03 per barrel by 1450 GMT, up 72 cents or 1.35 percent. International Brent crude oil futures were at $61.96 per barrel, up 64 cents or a little over 1 percent, on Wednesday.

This is due to concerns over supply disruptions in Venezuela as the South American oil industry comes under the United States of America’s sanctions, following growing civil unrest in the country. This is worsened by a heavy dark cloud hanging over the global economy.

On Monday, Washington announced export sanctions against state-owned oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), limiting transactions between US companies that do business with Venezuela’s state-

TSA commences assessment of Lagos airport IFEOMA OKEKE

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t h re e - m a n United States T ra n s p o r t a t i o n Security Administration (TSA) team has commenced a routine assessment of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

Sam Adurogboye, general manager, public relation, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), explained in a statement that the purpose of the team’s visit was to observe the implementation of Aviation Security (AVSEC) measures and also conduct inspection on recommended TSA security procedures for its air carriers (Delta Airlines).

The TSA’s Annual Airport Assessment visit began on January 28 and will end February 1, 2019.

Members of the TSA team are Laura Loya (team lead), Edward Cloniger and Mitch Mankowski.

It would be recalled that the team came on similar assessment visit last year.

As a matter of policy, the Transportation Security Administration of United States of America on an annual basis visits countries where American airlines operate.

owned oil firm PDVSA. “The sanctions so far have been mostly disruptive for refiners on the US Gulf Coast, who are being forced to seek alternative heavy crude supplies, and have stepped up purchases from Canada,” Vandana Hari of Vanda Insights, an energy consultancy, said.

The sanctions aim to freeze sale proceeds from PDVSA’s exports of roughly 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to the US. Although the move pushed up oil prices, markets appeared relatively relaxed as the sanctions only affected Venezuelan supply to the US. “The (Venezuelan) export volumes will not be eliminated from the market, but rather rerouted to other countries,” Paola RodriguezMasiu, an analyst at consultancy Rystad Energy, said.

With the United States dropping out as a customer for Venezuelan oil, she added, “China and India … will be able to pick up these oil volumes at great discounts.”

Despite this, some analysts said non-US oil trading firms with operations in the US might still avoid dealing with Venezuelan oil.

The Schork Report, a daily oil trading publication, said on Wednesday that many “international oil traders have significant trading operations in the US. At least in the short-term, these traders will undoubtedly quit buying from Venezuela until such a time that they are assured that they are not running afoul of US sanctions.”

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told Russian state news agency, RIA, on Wednesday he was ready for talks with the opposition with the participation of international mediators, although he ruled out snap elections the opposition is demanding.

Even before the latest sanctions, Venezuela’s economic turmoil had pulled down its crude oil production from a peak of around 2.5 million bpd before 2016 to little more than one million bpd now.

US crude oil output, by contrast, jumped by more than two million bpd in 2018 alone to a record 11.9 million bpd.

Beyond Venezuela, analysts pointed to economic weakness as countering supply-side troubles.

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Ole Gunner Solskjaer and the result-oriented leadership Positive Growth with Babs

Babs Olugbemi

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s you read my column today, one thing I intend to do is to link two of my previous articles using the stream of the recent result achieved by Ole Gunner Solskjaer, the interim manager of the Manchester United football club. When Jose Mourinho was sacked, I wrote on the result-oriented leadership highlighting how Manchester United FC share dropped under Mourinho and increased to £14.51 from £13.65 on the NYSE at the close of trading on 18th December 2018, the day he was sacked.

Mourinho is a leader with a focus on the result at the detriment of other things that matter between the leader and the team. His weakness in level one leadership- the ability to manage his personality and lead others without ego reflected in his time at Man U as it was in all the club he had managed.

Last week, I wrote on how a leader taking a new position or beginning a new project must exude the four elements of leadership effectiveness which are an adaptation, innovation, change and growth. I suggested leaders should measure their direct reports using these elements without losing focus on the key performance indicators of the different departments at the operational levels to guarantee market share growth and other key success indicators.

A result-oriented leader is a leader that achieve result with and through his or her team. The platform for measuring other leaders’ effort in ensuring that the

results are sustainable is by assessing if the leaders within the teams encourage innovation, adapt to social and economic events, change to meet the reality of the business and the market, and ultimately grow the company as expected by the stakeholders. Jose lost his role in the Man U dressing room principally for not creating an atmosphere of cordiality where the four elements for sustainable results can be guaranteed. He allowed his ego to kill the emotions of the goose that should be laying the golden eggs for him. His exit was premised on the result, but more to it is the lack of a positive relationship that should exist between the leaders and the followers.

Ole Gunner Solskjaer failed in his previous role at Cardiff FC when he led the team to relegation in 2014 and was sacked due to the poor result at the start of the 2015 championship season. He had, however, had a stint of successes at Molde FK in Norway, a club he had been appointed as a manager in 2011, 2015 and 2019. His success at Molde FK at each of his appointments show the importance of creating an enabling environment premised on the adaptation, innovation, change and growth supported by Ole Gunner’s personality to subjugate his ego even as the number one person in the team to a positive and result oriented relationship in the workplace.

The Baby-faced assassin (as Ole Gunner Solskjaer was nicknamed after his famous winning goal against Bayern FC in the champion league final in 1999) has proved through his success at Molde KF that environment is one of the important platforms for achieving a sustainable result. Ole must have met, understood or established a fruitful work atmosphere at Molde FK to have made the club his success fortress. This might have been what was lacking at Cardiff or his inability to adapt to the Cardiff’s environment. Leaders who are determined to achieve sustainable

result must be ready to adapt to the relevant workplace culture and create a performance enabling atmosphere that motivates their team members to be at their best and to focus on the outcome.

No doubt Solskjear understood the workplace culture and environment in Man U, having been part of the team for many years. This has helped his quick adaptation to the demands of his role as the interim manager.

No Man U manager had win eight games in a roll except the Baby-faced assassin. What made Ole Gunner different is his ability to develop a mutually beneficial and respect-focused relationship with his players. Paul Pogba who had scored four goals in three appearances for Ole was quoted to have said the players are now playing football with a smile on their face. This is an attestation that the predecessor of the interim coach was a sage on the stage whose word was law. The type of cordial relationship and the team spirit the players are displaying in the recent games shows people who have been given the free will to innovate, change based on reality and growth as evidenced by the result so far. This was the type of relationship that made Sir Alex Ferguson a legend though, with few exceptions which are understandable (David Beckham’s sage and his eventual transfer to Real Madrid).

You may want to argue that Ole’s result is not proven or well tested with just eight games. The fact that the team which was struggling before can defeat the likes of Tottenham and Arsenal football clubs shows the missing part of the machine has been repaired and replaced effectively. With what the interim coach has done for so and the way he had achieved results, the club is in a positive dilemma. The club will have to decide the Baby-faced assassin’s future with the result, a close-knit management team and a pool of enthusiastic players who are happy to play for the manager and the team as points for him

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The relationship you build with your team counts ahead of the environment, your leadership style and experience

ahead of any other manager for the job.

Phil McNulty, the British Broadcasting Corporation Chief football writer put the positive dilemma in a better way. He said the discussion about the appointment of a new coach for the team has travelled from “can United really give it to Solskjaer?” into the direction of “can United actually give it to anyone else other than Solskjaer?” The 45years old interim coach has taken his destiny into his hand, thanks to his understanding of the environment, immediate adaptation to the culture of the club, the demands of the role and most important is having result-oriented and positive relationships with his work tools- the players.

This is a call for the business and workplace leaders who want to deliver the 2019 budget to learn from the above football epistolary. You are a workman that must give adequate attention to your tools. Your staff are not machines and the use of verbal, physical and emotional abusive languages cannot produce the desired sustainable results.

The relationship you build with your team counts ahead of the environment, your leadership style and experience.

Some leaders will claim to have 20years experience in management and treat their staff with disdain while expecting growth. The problem with leaders who are violent and abusive in the workplace is that they don’t have 20 years experience in leadership or management as claimed but merely repeat themselves every year for 20years and will end up damaging the people and the business they want to grow.

Therefore, for you to achieve a sustainable result in 2019 and beyond, give priority to your team members above your position and ego.

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

Nigerian VAT Act, non-resident companies (NRCs) and multiple location entities (MLEs): The unsettled matter of imported services (Part 1)

Glenn Ubohmhe

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othing in this world can be said to be certain except death and taxes”, Benjamin Franklin was reputed to have said. To this I should quickly add that though taxes may be certain, the interpretation of tax laws is sometimes less certain. It is therefore not uncommon for tax laws to suffer lack of clarity and yield to multiple interpretations even when we all agree that the essential principles of a good tax policy include certainty and simplicity.

It is against this background that this article seeks to examine the Nigerian VAT Act in view of the ruling of the Federal High Court in the case between Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Gazprom Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited on the VATability of imported services supplied by non-resident companies, interrogating the likely implications of Section 10 of the Act on services acquired by an establishment of Multiple Location Entity (MLE) in Nigeria for use wholly or partially by other members of the MLE in other taxing jurisdiction(s). In my view, Section 10 (3) as framed and if interpreted in its strict sense, poses potential double taxation risk to MLEs that have centralized function(s) in Nigeria with internal recharge arrangement, especially in view of the limitations on input VAT credit in Nigeria. On

the other hand, it could also create unintended non-taxation risk with consequential revenue loss to the Revenue authorities.

By way of brief background, Value Added Tax (VAT) (or goods and services tax (GST), as it is sometimes called) is a form of indirect tax imposed and payable on the consumption of goods and services. The incidence of VAT is on the consumer or user of such goods or services.

The obligation to deduct and/or remit the tax depends largely on whether the parties to the VATable transaction are within the same fiscal frontiers.

The supplier is traditionally responsible for VAT deduction and remittance on transactions within a defined jurisdiction, but for imports of goods, and, in all instances for companies operating in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, the duty is that of the buyer or customer under the reverse charge/self-assessment system as contained in the Guideline on the Implementation of VAT Deduction (Reverse Charge) and New Payment Arrangement with Respect to Fees, Levies, and other Charges Payable by Companies in the Oil and Gas Industry issued by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) pursuant to S10A (2) of the VAT Act, as amended.

In designing VAT systems, from the perspective of the International VAT/GST guideline, the place of business use should be the ideal place of taxation for business-to-business supplies.

Under the general rule for single location entities, the place of business location as determined by reference to the relevant business agreement is a good proxy for place of business use. It bears emphasizing that based on the principles as outlined in the guideline, the determination of the place of taxation for VAT purposes is not affected by onward supply, direct provision of the

service to a third-party business other than the customer of the supply indicated in the business agreement. The place of taxation is equally not affected by direction of payment flows, identity and location of the entity making the payment.

The issue of VAT on cross-border services has become particularly contentious in Nigeria despite the ample clarity on the principles provided in the international VAT guideline. The contention is due, in part, to inelegant construction of some of the provisions of the Nigerian VAT Act as well as the increasing complexity in international trade which has rendered some of the provisions obsolete. Strictly from the perspective of the International VAT/GST guideline, the issues in contest are less controversial and not as unsettled as they seem but the guideline has no force of law in Nigeria.

Notwithstanding, the FIRS has not failed to reference the principles contained in the guideline to buttress its position on tax disputes. In like manner, the revenue authority has, at different times and sometimes in the same case, urged the court to adopt both the strict constructionist and purposive approaches in the interpretation of revenue statutes – the Gazprom case is no exemption. Highlighting the issues, without belabouring the facts of the case between FIRS and Gazprom Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited, the crux of the argument centred on the following; 1. What does it mean for a non-resident to carry on business in Nigeria?

2. Is a company in Nigeria which has business agreement for the supply of service with a nonresident company under obligation to ensure that the non-resident company is registered for the purpose of VAT in Nigeria?

3. Is VAT invoice from a foreign supplier a necessary condition for a Nigerian entity to

deduct and remit VAT to the revenue authorities in Nigeria?

To start with, on the question whether payment for services supplied by a non-resident company is chargeable to VAT in the light of the provisions of the VAT Act, the FIRS took the view that section 2 which says that “VAT shall be imposed on the supply of all goods and services other than those goods and services listed in the First Schedule to the Act” be interpreted in its strict sense and therefore submitted that VAT is chargeable on all transactions that are not expressly exempted or zero rated as contained in the First Schedule to the Act. Please note FIRS’ argument from a strict constructionist perspective with regard to section 2 and the deviation from this canon in subsequent arguments on section 10(1)(3). Section 10(1) reads; for the purpose of this Act, a non-resident company that carries on business in Nigeria shall register for the tax with the Board, using the address of the person with whom it has subsisting contract, as its address for purposes of correspondence relating to the tax On the issues raised, the first and crucial point is what does it mean to “carry on business in Nigeria” as stated in section 10 (1) above. Does “carry on business in Nigeria” mean to have a fixed base in Nigeria? If the answer is in the affirmative, it therefore means that non-resident companies with no fixed base in Nigeria have no obligation with respect to VAT in Nigeria. To be sure, the Act refers here to “a non-resident company that carries on business in Nigeria” and not “a non-resident company that carries on business with a Nigerian company”. They are two different things Glenn is a tax practitioner

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few days ago, the Central Bank of Nigeria unveiled a revised National Financial Inclusion Strategy with emphasis on best practices in financial inclusion. Having joined member-countries that formed the Alliance for Financial Inclusion Initiative (AFI) to encourage national commitments to financial inclusion following the signing of the Maya Declaration in 2011 at the Global Policy Forum (GPF) in Maya Mexico, Nigeria had adopted, the following year, a National Financial Inclusion Strategy which spelt out objectives, priorities and principles for achieving financial inclusion in the country with the CBN on the driving seat. The revised edition, which is consistent with the Maya Declaration, became necessary owing to the fact that a lot of changes have taken place in the Nigerian socio-economic and technological space since 2012 when the CBN first put together a strategy for improved access, by a significant percentage of adult Nigerians, to a broad range of financial services at affordable costs be they payments, savings, loans, insurance, pension and capital market products.

Indeed, the benefits of financial inclusion cannot be overstressed.

Empirical studies have shown strong correlation between financial inclusion

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Dealing with barriers to financial inclusion

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and poverty reduction. There is also research evidence to show that countries with high rate of financial inclusion experienced higher macroeconomic stability since monetary policies tend to be more responsive. In fact, access to appropriate financial services at affordable costs can spur aggregate demand, improve household welfare, boost enterprise activity and promote economic growth and development.

Regrettably, these upsides have eluded Nigeria due chiefly to low level of financial inclusion. An analysis of financial inclusion status as at 2016, contained in the revised NFIS report, showed that a total of 40.1 million of Nigeria’s 96.4 million adult population were financially excluded. Whereas about 55 per cent of the excluded population were women, over 80 per cent resided in rural areas. Again, while the South West Geopolitical zone had the least exclusion rate of 18 per cent, financial exclusion rates were highest in North East and North West regions at 62 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.

Another interesting demographic is the age dimension to financial inclusion in the country which indicates that ‘’the most banked brackets are ages 26 to 35 and 36 to 45 as the percentage of banked stood at 44.2 per cent and 45.6 per cent respectively. Conversely, the least banked age bracket were 18 to 25 years followed by 56 years and above as they recorded 27.5 per cent and 34.2 per cent banked rate respectively’’. The major goal of the revised NFIS is ‘’to reduce the proportion of adult Nigerians that are financially excluded to 20 per cent in the year 2020 from its baseline figure of 46.3 per cent in 2010’’.

In order to achieve this target, key barriers to financial inclusion, also identified in the report, must be dealt

with. These include challenging macroeconomic environment characterized by poor infrastructure that makes the provision of financial services very costly and unprofitable to financial service providers, the insecurity situation in some parts of the country especially in the North East which has adversely affected livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the region who constitute the majority of the population, low or nonpatronage of financial products owing to cultural and religious factors, limited agent networks insufficient to allow for expansion of financial services especially in rural areas as well as the slow off-take of Digital Financial Services as most Micro Finance Banks lack the funds to execute a DFS infrastructure.

Other constraints include insufficient national identity cards making it difficult for many adult Nigerians to access a full range of financial services, inadequate products which are tailored to key excluded groups such as women and micro enterprises, low financial literacy which constrain the ability of MSMEs to make bankable proposal and access finance on favourable terms as well as high unemployment rate of youths which explains, in part, their high rate of financial exclusion.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics labour report, 53.3 per cent of the youthful population (ages 15 - 35) are unemployed in Nigeria.

As a key stakeholder, it behoves the government to invest in creating an enabling environment for the expansion of Digital Fianacial Services which have proven to be a low-cost approach to reaching the unserved and underserved population, strengthen digital infrastructure to reduce network challenges especially in rural communities as well as massively deploy resources

‘

As a key stakeholder, it behoves the government to invest in creating an enabling environment for the expansion of Digital Fianacial Services which have proven to be a low-cost approach to reaching the unserved and underserved population

to tackle the security challenges in the country. The importance of the adoption of cashless payment channels, particularly in government-to-person and person-to-government payments cannot be overstressed.

On its part, the CBN should champion the promotion of branchless banking including through enabling the rapid growth of agent networks (the use of business correspondents to reach customers in rural and remote areas) with nationwide reach. It is gratifying to note that the CBN, in collaboration with Deposit Money Banks, Mobile Money Operators and Super-Agents have designed, according to recent reports, a programme for aggressive rollout of a network of 500,000 Agents (about 476 Agents per 100,000 adults) by 2020 who will offer basic financial services including cash-in/cash-out, funds transfer, bill payments, airtime sales among others.

Equally heartening is the improvement in the regulatory environment with the CBN making available guidelines for agent banking and mobile money operations in the country. Efforts should also be geared towards reducing the Know Your Customer hurdle to financial inclusion by simplifying KYC requirements for opening and operating accounts/ mobile wallets on all financial services platforms. Effective implementation of the three- tiered KYC guideline issued by the CBN will be a step in the right direction.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https://businessday.ng Uche Uwaleke of Nasarawa State University Keffi is Nigeria’s first Professor of Capital Market and the President of the Association of Capital Market Academics of Nigeria

Why some organizations would self-destruct

Jude Adigwe

T

his article is a sequel to one of my earlier published articles titled ‘Building a strong organization’. This sequel looks at factors or organizational dynamics that will make organizations self-destruct. Collins Dictionary defines selfdestruct as ‘to destroy itself automatically’ or ‘to greatly harm oneself or itself, specifically as a result of inherent fundamental flaws’. Succinctly, certain people and things are bound to be destroyed owing to the way they are programmed. Organizations are not excluded.

The operational dynamics and templates of organizations determine how far they make it as entities. Organizations just like humans have life spans, some live longer than others.

Research has it that the life span of organizations is decreasing. At this point, I would offer my opinions on why some organizations would self-destruct.

First, poor leadership is a factor that can make an organization self-destruct. That we have a leadership crisis in many organizations (private and public) is no news. The fact that people exist at the helm of affairs of different organizations does not imply leadership.

Leadership is not about the position rather it is about the coordinated and strategic deci-

sions and actions that guide organizations on a clearly defined path – a path that leads to the realization of set objectives. Organizations that have individuals (occupying leadership positions) without foresight and practical strategies are bound to self-destruct in no distant time. The quality of leadership of an organization is an indicator of where that organization is headed.

Second, poor management of brands (corporate and product/service) is capable of making organizations self-destruct. Ensuring always that corporate and product/service brands meet expectations of the target market is very important. The reverse would have negative financial implications for organizations. Another angle to having a strong corporate brand (that is mostly neglected by some organizations) is the effective management of employees’ perceptions. Employees are brand ambassadors of their respective organizations hence the narratives they weave matter.

To manage the perceptions of clients and disregard those of employees implies deception – deception is not a value that guarantees organizational longevity.

Third, a lack of solid structures and processes will have an adverse effect on the longevity of an organization. As organizations expand, the need for structures and processes become inevitable. Solid structures and processes reduce the suffocating grip that an individual or individuals have on organizations which usually prevent them from functioning optimally. A true organization has authority properly distributed – no individual holds the organization hostage. Solid structures and processes ensure that organizations still function in the absence of an individual or a

few individuals. It is also important to mention that it is not only the absence of structures and processes that could make organizations self-destruct, a total disregard for structures and processes could too.

Fourth, lack of a robust competitive strategy is certain to make an organization self-destruct. Organizations operate within different industrial spaces and the competition therein is usually stiff. This is expected because survival depends on outsmarting competition and engaging customers with a view to eliciting continued patronage. Having a competitive strategy transcends a pricing strategy, it entails effective positioning, promotion et cetera. Importantly, it also entails a solid human resource management strategy.

The human capital of any organization represents its most inimitable and vital resource (many employers are yet to fully understand this). All these must be combined to form a robust competitive strategy. Like all sound strategies, they must be constantly reviewed to meet the ever changing needs of the industry and target market.

Fifth, change insensitivity is bound to make organizations self-destruct. The rate at which different industries are evolving owing to technological advancements, economic changes, political uncertainties et cetera is very fast.

These changes are inevitable. Lest I forget, changes that take place in organizations need not be always triggered from without, it could be triggered from within. Organizations must position themselves to embrace change(s) and adapt accordingly in order to survive and remain relevant in the industrial space which they operate in. To be sensitive to change requires proactive and periodic assessments

of happenings (in and out) of organizations and to take strategic steps in line with results obtained. If change happens unexpectedly, there should be a swift but tactical response.

Being sensitive to change means to stay open to evolution. To resist or ignore change is to tread on a guaranteed path to extinction.

Sixth, consistent poor financial performance is bound to make any organization self-destruct. When the revenue of a company is on a steady decline, it becomes clear that the end is near except there is a timely intervention. More often than not, poor financial performance is as a result of weak financial management and control systems.

Strong organizations strengthen revenue drive and minimize cost. Financial resources saved as a result of increased revenue drive and minimized cost yield nothing if they are simply saved. There should be consideration of a diverse investment portfolio. Guarding against poor financial performance requires a great deal of foresight and discipline. A total disregard for these will surely make an organization self-destruct.

In conclusion, organizations must endeavour to pay close attention to these factors especially as they expand operations. With growth comes more responsibilities, challenges and susceptibilities. These would have to be addressed proactively in order to survive and compete effectively. A consistent reactive approach is just as destructive as being negligent or ignorant.

Adigwe is a certified Human Resource Management (HRM) professional and an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist. He offers consultancy services on OB and HRM issues. More details can be found on his website: www.adigwejude.com

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Thursday 31 January 2019

Starting anew in the Congo

F

elix Tshisekedi took the oath as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo Thursday, 24 January 2019, signalling a fresh start for the country. He is the fifth president. The country’s Supreme Court had earlier certified him as the winner of the controversial elections on Sunday, January 20. The judicial victory was critical given sustained doubts about Tshisekedi’s victory.

Congratulations to Tshisekedi and the people of the DRC, formally known as Zaire.

Election monitors criticised the DRC poll. They cited vote tampering and alteration of results. The Catholic Church in DRC deployed 40, 000 monitors; they concluded that the person the electoral body declared as runner-up, Martin Fayulu, was the real winner of the poll by a landslide.

The election featured three main contestants.

Tshisekedi, Fayulu and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, originally favoured by outgoing president Joseph Kabila.

Shadary stood no chance with the electorate, so Kabila struck a deal with Tshisekedi.

Ahead of the oath of office, Tshisekedi received valuable international endorsements.

Many countries from Europe through America and back home in Africa contested his election victory. Even the usually reticent African Un-

ion spoke against the election, calling for better handling. The United States of America led this condemnation. It changed its tune Wednesday 19 January.

“The US welcomes the Congolese Constitutional Court’s certification of Felix Tshisekedi as the next president”, in the words of Robert Palladino, spokesman of the US State Department. “We are committed to working with the new DRC government. We encourage the government to include a broad representation of Congo’s political stakeholders and to address reports of electoral irregularities”.

Angola and Congo Republic also gave thumbs up to Tshisekedi. Relations between Angola and DRC strained due to the two-year delay in holding the elections by former president Joseph Kabila. He was due to exit in 2016 but kept postponing the poll. He was looking for someone who would compromise and cooperate with the outgoing government. They found Tshisekedi and did the African routine with the election result.

Even so, foreign leaders stayed away from Tshisekedi’s inauguration. Only Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta was present.

Interestingly, two years before, Kabila’s central government bombed the offices of Tshisekedi’s the Union for Democracy and Social Progress.

Many lives perished in that attack on the opposition party.

Joseph Kabila is stepping down after 18 years in office.

The reasons include internal and external pressure to abide by his admission to comply with term limits. He is determined however to be the backseat driver of the DRC vehicle.

While the Union for Democracy and Social Progress ostensibly won the presidential vote, Kabila’s People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy won three-quarters of the Senate vote. Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala of the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy under Congo’s constitution appoints cabinet members and thus may wield more power.

Tshisekedi was born into the politics of the DRC. His father, Etienne Tshisekedi, founded Congo’s longestrunning opposition party, and was alternately jailed and given official positions by the three leaders Congo has had over the past halfcentury. He got involved in the politics of his country as a young man and abandoned school at a time because of his political involvement. It would seem to have paid off nicely now.

Tshisekedi has some obvious tasks on his plate. The primacy is reducing poverty.

DRC exemplifies the African dilemma. It is resourcerich yet poor. The second largest country in Africa by land mass, DRC measures 905,365 s quare miles (2,344,855 square kilometres). It shares borders with nine countries of

Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

DRC has over 200 ethnic groups, with nearly 250 languages and dialects spoken throughout the country. Kinshasa, the capital, is the second largest French-speaking city in the world. Before and after its independence in the 1960s, war has been a recurrent feature of this country. It has lost over 5.4 million people to war and is reputed to have suffered the deadliest conflict since World War 2.

At the centre of the Rift Valley, DRC has enormous mineral wealth in the south and east of the Congo River.

These include cobalt, copper, cadmium, and diamonds.

Others include gold, silver and zinc. Then there is manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite. It also has iron ore and coal in plentiful supply.

Gold, tantalum, tungsten and tin available in DRC are minerals used in electronics such as cell phones and laptops. However, Congo only exports the raw minerals and does not derive the wealth in the processing and beneficiation. Rather, they have become “conflict minerals” and source of pain to its citizens from wars and struggles for their control.

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

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Absa stocks rally, as Group’s Chief Ramos Maria sets to retire in February

Pg. 15

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

APPOINTMENT

Neimeth’s new CEO faces task to offset revenue challenges after N139m loss …stock records biggest daily loss in more than three (3) months.

OLUWASEGUN OLAKOYENIKAN

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reoccurrence of 2015 spray of losses may just be imminent for Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc if its newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pharm. Matthew Azoji, fails to tackle the company’s revenue challenges on his assumption of office come Feb. 1.

Azoji holds a first-class honours degree in Pharmacy from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), an MBA (Marketing) from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology and an Advanced Management Programme (AMP) from the Lagos Business School; Pan Atlantic University, Lagos.

Besides, he obtained certificates in Pharmaceutical Policy & Pharmacoeconomics from Utrecht University in the Netherlands (a WHO Collaborating centre) and went on to get his M.Sc. in Public health from the University of London, International Programmes. He obtained his M.Phil in Pharmacy Administration from OAU and he currently runs a Ph.D. programme in Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice from the University of Jos. But what appears to be of topmost priority to the company is having it bounced back from its losses as that would go a long way in boosting investor confidence

which is gradually waning.

The amount Neimeth generated from the sale of goods and services to customers fell significantly despite the company spending more to market and distribute its products, slipping the drug manufacturer back into losses which it recently emerged from.

The company had recorded losses of N64.2 million and N152.1 million in the last two quarters of 2017 before stepping into the path of profitability which saw it recording four unbroken quarters of gains in 2018 financial year.

Results for the first quarter (Q1) of 2019 financial year ending December 2018 filed at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Tuesday by the pharmaceutical company reveal that Neimeth’s revenue was down some 42.4 percent to N227.07 million, its lowest quarterly turnover in 2 years, from N394.3 million, recorded a year earlier.

BusinessDay analysis shows that the revenue shortfall, which largely eroded the company’s profits in the review period, is its biggest since Q1 2017 and was triggered by the decline in the company’s revenue from pharmaceuticals.

This greatly pushed the firm’s gross profit down by 72.6 percent, causing its gross margin to wane considerably to 23.6 percent from 43.6 per-

cent in the previous year.

Due to the revenue shortage and over 27 percent increase in marketing and distribution expenses, Neimeth posted an operating loss for the review period, amounting to N119.3 million from an operating profit of N29.96 million, this is in spite of cutting administrative spending slightly by 9.4 percent to N93.45 million.

The company recorded losses of N139.16 million within the last three months

of 2018 down from N13.55 profits achieved in the corresponding period of 2017.

The appointment of Azoji, who holds a first-class honours degree in Pharmacy from Obafemi Awolowo University, was contained in a separate notice sent to the NSE. Shortly after the disclosure of the company’s Q1 financials and notification of Azoji’s appointment, shares of Neimeth plummeted to 63 kobo after losing the daily maximum decrease of 10

percent to emerge the biggest loser alongside Academy Press Plc at the sound of the closing gong at the Lagos bourse Tuesday.

The drop in Neimeth’s market value is its biggest daily loss since October 22, 2018, indicating investors’ reaction to the poor performance which resurfaced in the review quarter after a year.

Over 2.65 million units of the stock valued at N1.74 billion were traded in 50 deals on Tuesday, this represents about

199 percent and 178 percent leap from 886,380 units worth N626,250 traded in the previous session respectively.

Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals is a Lagosbased company founded in 1997. The firm focuses on manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, animal health products, and general healthcare products. It was incorporated on August 30, 1957, as a limited liability company and listed on the NSE on September 21, 1979.

injecting N520 million in the entity while the Federal Government is to have 49%. And as at the 2017 financial year, the Company has only injected a 44% of the total investment cost due from them into the company. It also recently signed an agreement with the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Development (NIPRD) for the commercial production of NAPRISAN, an anti-sickle cell medication.

For major players in the Healthcare sector, it has been a tough operating environment. Factors such as the low purchasing power of Nigerians means many could not afford the drugs from these companies and now prefer to patronize cheaper traditional drugs, the porous nature of the nation’s border has made smuggling of unregistered drugs a thriving business, and in some situations counterfeiting locally. Drug

makers are also finding difficult to move goods to the northern part of the country as activities of insurgents in that region heightens.

Interestingly despite all these challenges, players in Healthcare had an impressive outing last year.

A look at May & Baker’s Q3 result for the period ended 31 September 2018 shows revenue declined marginally by 5% from N6.9 billion in 2017 to N6.5 billion in 2018. Profit Before Tax grew by 89% from N322 million in 2017 to N609 million in 2018. The result from its revenue segment also shows that revenue from its Pharmaceutical segment surged by 8% from N5.8 billion in Q3 2017 to N6.3 billion in 2018, Revenue from its Beverages segment- This segment is involved in the production of bottled water (Lilly),

HEALTHCARE

May & Baker after a rights issue OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

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he Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has listed an additional 745 million units ordinary shares of Drug Maker, May & Baker Nigeria Plc issued by way of a Rights Issue.

The additional shares arose from company’s Rights Issue of 980 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N2.50 per share on the basis of one new ordinary share for every one share ordinary shares held as at 4 September 2018.

Managing Director/ CEO of May & Baker, Mr. Nnamdi Okafor, said the rights issue would further help to reduce finance costs, increase capacity and bring greater returns to shareholders.

Okafor noted that the net proceeds of the rights issue will be invested in some key projects including N400 million to finance part of the company’s equity in Biovaccines Nigeria

Limited, the joint venture company for local vaccine production and over N500 million on capacity expansion for one of its cash cow products, paracetamol for which it is building a dedicated plant.

He added that the com-

pany will also use N400 million to offset part of its current loan portfolio of N950 million while N500 million will be invested in marketing and brand building.

It would be recalled that the company in April

2007, had entered into a Joint Venture with the Federal Government to engage in the business of production, sale, and distribution of human vaccines. Under the arrangement, May & Baker is to have 51% interest in the Company by

Edited by LOLADE AKINMURELE (loladeakinmurele@gmail.com) Graphics: CHINEDUM ONYEMA

Continues on page 14

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Thursday 31 January 2019

COMPANIES & MARKETS AWARDS

AITEO founder, Benedict Peters awarded FIN African Icon of the Year, 2018 FRANK UZUEGBUNAM

I

nternational business leader and founder of Aiteo Group, Benedict Pe te r s wa s awa rd e d African Icon of the Year at the Foreign Investment Network (FIN) and Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources Honorary Patrons Dinner and Awards Night which held at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), Abuja on January 28, 2019.

The award is an acknowledgement of Peters’ significant contribution to oil and gas development in Africa, his visionar y leadership, distinguished service and transformational disruption of a sector dominated by International Oil Companies.

The Aiteo Group’s 20 year evolution through Africa’s Oil and Gas sector has been exemplary as well as revolutionary – going from a downstream start-up to becoming a leading integrated energy conglomerate with strategic investments in hydrocarbon (or commodities) exploration and production.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Michael Dragoyevich, Chief Executive Officer of Foreign Investment Network remarked, “Peters has earned a unique honour to stand out among his peers as winner of the coveted FIN African Icon of the Year Award.”

Dedicating the award to all Aiteo employees world-

wide, Peters said “The award

by FIN as its African Icon of the Year is awe-inspiring.

It’s an honour to receive this type of recognition. Our modest efforts to provide Africa’s market places with top-quality energy solutions while being a reference point for indigenous capacity in oil and gas have clearly paid off, and we are proud of the fact that we continue to receive such prestigious distinction.”

Peters ventured into the oil and gas sector as an entrepreneur in 1999 and initially traded mainly in the downstream sector. In 2015, his company, Aiteo won the bid for the largest onshore oil block in sub-Saharan Africa.

Beyond oil, Peter’s group has investments in mining, agriculture, infrastructure development, electricity generation and distribution, with a fast-developing retail distribution network.

It is focused on serving the needs of communities across the continent, by leveraging a unique combination of a strategic asset base, technology, innovation, and some of the best technical and business minds across the industries it serves. The group has been expanding rapidly, extending its transformational operations to different countries across Africa and Europe.

Peters is passionate about youth empowerment and has donated generously to support football on the African continent. Through Aiteo, he sponsors the Nigerian Football Federation,

L-R: Nonny Ugboma, executive secretary, MTN Foundation; Olufemi Akinyaju, chairman, Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria; Julius Adebisi-Adeluyi, chairman, MTN Foundation; Annette Akinsele, CEO, Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria, and Dennis Okoro, director, MTN Foundation, cutting the ribbon during the handover ceremony of the upgraded MTN Foundation DNA Laboratory to the Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria at the National Sickle Cell Centre, Idi-Araba, Lagos.

Aiteo CAF Awards, Aiteo Cup (The Federation’s foremost Cup in Nigeria) and a team in his company’s host community. He has also assisted thousands of internally displaced persons in northern Nigeria while also supporting clean water sanitation initiatives in Africa in partnership with Face Africa, improving the lives of over 25,000 people in rural

Liberia and more. Peters has a keen interest in social and environmental issues in the agricultural sector. He chairs the Joseph Agro Foundation, which seeks to tackle high levels of unemployment and water shortage by creating job opportunities for farmers in Africa.

In re co g nition of his ground-breaking contribution to development, Peters

May & Baker after a rights issue grew by 11% from 46.5 million in Q3 2017 to 52.02 million in 2018.

Retreat on its Food segment When May & Baker decided in 2006 to expand into the manufacturing of consumer foods away from its norm of drug manufacturing, many industry watchers see it as a perfect move. Moreso, the decision came at a time when the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market in Nigerian was full of opportunities and every player wanted a ‘share in the largess’. Companies already in the FMCG expanded their product lines to accommodate more products.

Interestingly May & Baker was not the only drug manufacturer that deviated into the consumer foods manufacturing, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), another player in the drug manufacturing business was successfully combining its booming beverages lines with an equally successful pharmaceutical production outfit.

ans in 2017’ by BusinessDay. Furthermore, he won ‘Oil and Gas Man of the Year’ at the prestigious Guardian Awards in 2018 as well as the prestigious Forbes Magazine Oil & Gas Leader of the year. In January 2019, The Vanguard Media Limited honoured him with the Businessman of the year award at a gala in Lagos.

BANKING

HEALTHCARE

Continued from page 13

was one of four recipients of the Marquee Award for Global Business Excellence at the Africa-US Leadership Awards in 2014. In the same year, he won the “Leadership CEO of the Year” award. In 2015, Peters received the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award in the “Economic Empowerment” category.

He was listed as one of the ‘50 Most Influential Nigeri-

But the business clime has changed a lot since then. The fall in oil prices and the ensuing economic contraction that hit Nigeria ravaged the economy in ways not seen since the eighties. Manufacturers have to scramble for scarce foreign exchange and consumers, whom consumer food players had targeted, changed their consumption patterns. Everyone was left with no other choice than to make a retreat.

May & Baker decided to sell off its food line (Production of Noodles) to Dufil Nigeria Limited for 775m.

The 100% acquisition was finalised on April 26th following the fulfillment of all necessary conditions, which include gaining the approval of both companies’ Boards of Directors, their respective shareholders, and the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Also, GSK, makers of the popular Lucozade and Ribena was sold off to Japanese maker Suntory in 2016.

May &Baker’s Mimee Noodles brand could not compete with Dufil’s Indomie which controls more

than 50% of the market share. The intense ‘battle’ in the market segment affected the brand’s ability to generate enough revenue in order to supplement the parent company’s annual profits. This is despite the huge capital that had been invested in it.

In the company’s 2017 financial year report, the food arm contributed 1.3 billion to a full year revenue of 9.35 billion. This is less than the 2.11 billion that was realised in 2016. Prior to that, the company generated 2.03 billion from the subsidiary in 2015.

Going Forward The company realised about N1.86 billion from the just concluded rights issue as it was 76.04 percent successful. With the rights issue, May & Baker now has another round of capital for its expansion projects and that would, in turn, boost its revenue base. Hopefully, it will continue to receive patronage from Government agencies. Also, the impact of the Chairman, a Former Minister of Defence Lt.Gen T.Y. Danjuma (rtd) cannot be overemphasized. Sharehold-

ers and industry watchers are hoping that the Nnamdi Okafor led management team will continue to drive the drug company on the path of profitability.

May & Baker Nigeria Plc was incorporated in 1944 as Nigeria’s first pharmaceutical company. It has its origin in England, the United Kingdom in 1834, three chemists founded Grimwade, May & Pickett, a firm for manufacturing chemicals for pharmaceutical products.

Formerly known as May & Baker (West Africa) Limited, the company was a trading outpost to serve the West Coast of Africa. In 1976, it built its factory at Ikeja where it began local manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. That same year it changed from May & Baker (West Africa) Limited to May & Baker Nigeria Limited.

May & Baker Nigeria Limited became a publicly quoted company following its listing by introduction on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on November 10, 1994, and became May & Baker Nigeria Plc.

Kobo360 expands operations to Togo ISRAEL ODUBOLA

K

ola Jamodu, a nonexecutive director, has retired from the Board of United Bank for Africa Plc, effective from Monday, January 28, 2019, following the expiration of his tenure.

This was disclosed in the notification letter the Tier-1 lender filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Kola Jamodu joined the UBA Group in January 2007 and served on the Board of the Bank for twelve years, successfully completing three terms of four years each.

He has also served as the Chairman of the Board Risk Management Committee among other roles.

“The Board of United Bank for Africa would like to express its appreciation to Kola Jamodu for his commitment, leadership and extensive contributions to the UBA Group.

The Board wishes him the very best in all his future endeavors”, the letter reads.

According to the interim Consolidated Financial Statements for the period ended 30 September 2018, the group’s profit before tax grew marginally by 1 percent to 79.1 billion from N78.3 billion recorded a year earlier.

Post-tax profit inched up slimly by 1.28 percent to N61.7 billion in the first nine months of 2018 as compared to N60.9 billion in the corresponding period of 2017.

Basic and diluted earnings per share declined by 2kobo to N1.72 for nine months ended in 2018 as against N1.74 in the similar period a year ago.

Its Share price depreciated by 0.68 percent or 5 kobo to N7.30 at the close of trade on Tuesday, Jan 29, compared to N7.35 recorded a day earlier.

UBA Plc is one of Africa’s largest financial institutions with operations in 20 African countries and offices three global financial centers – London, Paris and New York.

UBA Plc was listed on the local bourse on March 31st, 1970.

Thursday 31 January 2019

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BANKING

Absa stocks rally, as Group’s Chief Ramos Maria sets to retire in February SEGUN ADAMS

S

hares of South African Financial Services Group, Absa Group Limited, rallied the most among its peers Tuesday in the wake of Maria Ramos’ announcement on retiring in February, after a decade of service as Chief.

Absa shares gained 6.08 percent to close at 18,628 rand at the close of trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Tuesday, January 29.

According to Bloomberg, the share which has jumped 11 percent this year, outperforming the six-member FTSE/JSE Africa Banks Index, climbed as much as 3.9 percent to 182.39 rand, the highest since May 2018, before paring gains to trade 2.5 percent up at 180.02 rand as of 1:50 p.m. in Johannesburg.

Absa, once-upon-a-time the largest mortgage lender in South Africa lost significant retail market share in the aftermath of an alliance which gave Britain’s Barclays control in 2005.

Following Barclay’s decision to leave the African market in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, Absa has made regaining its previous status a top priority.

In 2013, the Group acquired eight of Barclays African units for a record 18.3 billion rand ($1.3 billion).

Ramos restructured the retail and business banking unit as she brought in the new management team to revitalize the Absa brand in a bid to stage a comeback of South Africa’s third-biggest lender. ‘’The groundwork laid in the past year by Ramos removed uncertainty around Absa’s future and made the CEO post more attractive to potential successors,’’ Chairperson of Absa Group, LucasBull told Bloomberg. ‘’Ramos’ successor should be announced by the time Absa publishes its first-half earnings in about six months from now, Lucas-Bull said, with the person expected to take office in the new financial year,’’ Lucas added.

Ramos, who would turn 60 when she retires in February, explained that her retirement was to allow for new leadership to take the group through its next phase. ‘’It had never been my intention to stay this long, as I have always believed that a CEO’s tenure should allow for a regular refresh,” Ramos said in a media release.

“My earlier intentions to step down were curtailed by Barclays’s 2016 decision to sell down their controlling stake, a unique set of circumstances that required continuity. So with my coming 60th birth-

day, I have made the decision to leave the position open for a new CE to lead the group on the next leg of its exciting journey,” she further stated.

In Ramos’ stead, René van Wyk, Reserve Bank’s former registrar of banks and a member of the Absa Board since February 2017, would serve as interim CEO from March 1 until a permanent appointment is announced.

Reacting to the announcement, Absa group acknowledged Ramos’ long service in ‘’leading the group through significant milestones, including the aftermath of the global financial crisis and acquiring the Barclays Africa subsidiary banks in 2013.”

The group further explained that the timing of her retirement was belated, as the Barclay take-over required her leadership to ensure it was successful adding that the confidence in the progress made so far, informed Ramos’ decision to call it quits.

“She had indicated a desire to step down earlier, but agreed to see the group through the separation negotiations with Barclays, the ensuing sell-down and key separation milestones, including Barclays achieving regulatory deconsolidation and refreshing Absa’s brand identity,’’ Absa added.

L-R Toheeb Azeez, media manager, NB Plc.; Sarah Agha, portfolio manager, National Premium Brands NB Plc.; Kolawole Akintimehin, senior brand manager Gulder, NB Plc., and Freya Doessel, brand manager, Support Gulder, NB Plc. at the Unveil of Gulder’s New Brand Positioning – “Own Your Journey”.

Pic by Pius Okeosisi

Babajide Sanwo-Olu (2nd l) governorship candidate of All Progressive Congress (APC) Lagos State; Leemon Ikpea (l), chairman/CEO, Lee Engineering and Construction Company, Augusta Ikpea-Enaholo, (2nd r), CEO, Royal OAKS Event Centre, Lekki, and Damian Enaholo, (r), chairman, Royal OAKS Event Centre, at the opening ceremony of Royal OAKS Event Centre Lekki recently in Lagos.

INSURANCE

Axa Mansard Board set to meet ahead of Full Year result disclosure and dividend declaration SEGUN ADAMS

A

xa Mansard, a member of Axa Group and a leading player in the Insurance and Asset management industry, in line with the regulatory requirement, has advised the exchange ahead of its board’s meeting to consider the full year audited financials among other issues. ‘’AXA Mansard Insurance Plc hereby informs The Exchange, esteemed shareholders and stakeholders that the Board of Directors of AXA Mansard Insurance Plc. is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, 13th of February, 2019 to consider the Audited Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2018.’’

In the notice dated January 25, the insurer also stated that ’’ Issues relating to Dividend, the hospital project, and other agenda items may also be discussed at the meeting’’ Consequent upon the scheduled Board meeting, Axa Mansard informed the investment community of its closed period for trading in the company’s shares in which insiders are prohibited from dealing with AXA Mansard

securities.

The close period as stated in the notice would extend from January 29 till the release of the Audited Financial Statements on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The Audited Accounts is expected to be forwarded to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for approval, following the endorsement of the Board, before the release of the results on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

At the close of trading on Monday, January 28, shares of Axa Mansard remained flat at N1.95 per share although it traded at N2.00 on the 24th, near its highest of N2.02 since share price fell to a more than five-year low on December 13 of last year, when Frederic Flejou a Non-executive Director retired from the Board of the insurance firm.

Businessday analysis of the insurance company’s results for nine months to September 30, 2018, show that the group’s gross premium written grew by 28.09 percent to N28.95 billion as against N22.60 billion recorded in 2017.

Similarly, its net premium income surged by 40.66 per-

cent to N14.52 billion, on the back of a 25.75 percent growth in the firm’s gross premium income to hit N24.71 billion from N16.65 billion in the corresponding period of 2017 offsetting increase in re-insurance expense which grew by 9.33 percent in the period under review.

The profit before tax of the insurance firm also surged between January and September 2018 to reach N3.36 billion; this is 18.20 percent higher than N2.84 billion achieved in the same period of 2017.

However, increase in tax up to 238.4 percent over the 2017 tax expense of N209 million, pared profit after tax to N2.64 billion, a paltry improvement of 0.61 from the post-tax figures in nine months 2017.

Earnings Per Share (basics) grew 18.22 percent in nine months 2018 to N23.23 per share as against N19.65 in 2017.

AXA Mansard Insurance Plc offers insurance, financial advisory, portfolio and risk management, and investment consulting services. The company was incorporated on June 23, 1989, while it got listed on the NSE on November 19, 2009.

L-R: Kadiri, representative, chief of naval staff; Musa Sani Yusuf, general officer commanding 81 Division; Babatunde Ruwase, president, LCCI; Peter Onaji, representative, chief of defense staff; Shade Caiaphas, rear admiral and representative, secretary to the government of federation, at the 2019 LCCI security meets business dialogue in Lagos.

L-R: Igho Okor, former secretary-general, Lagos Country Club; Tajudeen Akande, president, Lagos Country Club and Kola Oyefeso, trustee, when Igho was presented with an award during the club’s New Year Party in Ikeja, Lagos.

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In association with

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

Market capitalisation

NSE Premium Index

The NSE-Main Board

NSE ASeM Index

2,165.23

399.27

793.81

Week open 18 – 01–19)

31,070.0 31,005.17

N11.721 trillion

N11.562 trillion

2,166.93

1,419.50

792.45

Week close (25 – 01–19)

31,426.63

N11.719 trillion

2,192.43

1,440.86

791.08

Year Open

Percentage change (WoW)

1.36

Percentage change (YTD)

-0.01

1.18 -0.12

NSE Lotus II

NSE Ind. Goods Index

NSE Pension Index

300.24

2,218.37

1,222.99

1,201.80

723.87

282.68

2,289.62

1,346.18

1,194.83

720.88

278.95

2,275.78

1,318.97

1,212.84

NSE Banking Index

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

1,399.64

399.27

124.82

1,378.95 1,402.97

379.51.

122.36

406.64

124.75

NSE 30 Index

1.50

-0.17

1.74

0.07

-0.34

-1.00

7.15 1.93

1.95 -1.37

731.57

-0.41 -3.73

-1.32 -7.70

-0.60 1.87

-2.02

1.51

6.55

0.45

Zenith, UBA, Access, other banks results await CBN approvals HEANYI NWACHUKWU

T

he full year 2018 s c o re ca rd s o f ma ny banks are now w ith the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) awaiting approvals, thereafter they will b e r t h a t t h e Ni g e r i a n St o c k Exchange (NSE) for the investing public.

Banks are required to forward their audited accounts to the C e n t ra l B a n k o f Ni g e r i a f o r approval, prior to the release of the results on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Top on the list of lenders whose results are awaiting CBN approvals are Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc and Access Bank Plc. Zenith Bank Plc may be the earliest birds to release its full year results because the company’s Board of Directors at its meeting of January 18, 2019 approved among other things; the audited accounts of the bank for the financial year ended December 31, 2018 for onward delivery to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for approval.

The Board of United Bank for Africa Plc at its meeting of Mo n d ay , Ja nu a r y 2 8 , 2 0 1 9 approved its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018 and payment of dividend to shareholders, subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

UBA in a notice signed by its Group Secretary, Bili A. Odum said it shall be providing the details of the results and dividend payments as well as related corporate actions to the Exchange upon the approval of the accounts by the CBN. Als o, s e quel to its earlier announcement on December 31, 2018, Access Bank Plc notified the NSE that its Board met on January 28 and approved among

other things the Group’s audited f i na n c i a l s t at e m e nt s f o r t h e financial year ended December 31, 2018. “Following the Board approval, the said audited financial statements will be forwarded to the Central Bank of Nigeria for approval after which the Exchange will be notified of the results”, Access Bank said in a notice signed by its secretary, Sunday Ekwochi.

Going by the notice GTBank issued on January 4 at the NSE, the Board of Directors of GTBank Plc met yesterday Wednesday January 30. The Board was expected to consider the audited financial statements of the bank for the year ended December 31, 2018. Issues relating to full year dividend were also meant to be discussed at the yesterday meeting.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc said that the meeting of its Board of

Directors will hold today Thursday January 31, 2019. “The meeting will discuss amongst other items, the Company’s Consolidated and Separate Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2018”. Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc on November 19, 2018 issued a statement on the commencement of its closed period with effect from December 1, 2018, until the Company’s full year 2018 Audited Financial Statements are released.

Renaissance Capital research analysts in their report titled “Nigerian banks: 2019 outlook – slow and steady?” who are mindful of weaker earnings growth prospects, and the rise in policy uncertainty, still believe that the Nigerian banks are attractively valued, “and a share-price rerating is merited.”

“We make relatively minor changes to our target price (TPs) across the board. We upgrade FBN Holdings (FBNH) to BUY (from Hold) on what we see as a share-price over-correction, and downgrade Access to HOLD (from Buy) on concerns about its proposed merger with Diamond.

Our top picks in the sector remain Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), Zenith and United Bank for Africa (UBA),” RenCap noted.

“We believe 2019 will be a c h a l l e n g i n g y e a r, e s p e c i a l l y with the tailwinds from lower impairments all but over ; we do not see further asset quality improvement beyond what has already been achieved. We still do not argue a growth story for the Nigerian banks, and see no meaningful trigger for the sector in the short term. Higher interest

rates are positive for earnings, but it is unlikely that the banks will achieve substantial growth, in our view. That said, we still believe share prices have declined ahead of current market fundamentals and we see varying degrees of value among the banks”, RenCap stated.

A look at the performance of some of the banking counters show that as at January 28, 2019 the share price of Access Bank Plc stood at N6.35kobo representing a year-to-date (ytd) decline of 6.6percent. Diamond Bank Plc stood at N2.10, down 3.7percent ytd; ETI Plc was up by 0.7percent this year to N 14.10. FBN Holdings lost 4.4percent of its year-open price to close at N7.60. FCBM Group Plc share price has gained 3.7percent this year to N1.96.

Fidelity Bank Plc has advanced this year by 12.8percent to N2.29.

A l s o a s at t h e re v i e w d ay (January 28, 2019) GTBank Plc share price lost 2.5percent this year to N33.60. Jaizbank Plc has gained 6percent this year to 53kobo.

Sterling Bank Plc has gained 13.7percent this year to N2.16.

UBA Plc lost 5.8percent of its share price to N7.25 Union Bank Plc has increased by 9.8percent this year to N6.15.

At 90kobo per share, Unity Bank Plc has lost 15.9percent of its yearopen share price. Wema Bank Plc share price has gained 1.6percent year to 64kobo; while Zenith Bank Plc at N22.15 lost 3.9percent of its year-open price.

Some analysts are still cautiously optimistic despite that positive investor sentiments are returning to the market. “Whilst we expect buying momentum to fizzle out on cement stocks, we foresee some buy interest in depressed Tier-1 banking stocks”, Lagosbased Vetiva Capital Research said in their January 21 note to investors.

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United Capital Investment Views

Persistent bullish trend in NSEASI erases year-to-date loss

F

or the second consecutive week, the domestic bourse sustained a bullish close, after recording gains in four out of the five trading sessions last week, underpinning a +1.4percent week-on-week (w/w) increase in the NSE-ASI to close at 31,426.6 points while year-todate (YtD) return massively improved to 0.0percent.

Notably, the +1.4percent gain recorded in the last trading day of the week, massively contributed to the bullish close recorded w/w.

Drilling down to sector performances, the Banking (+7.1percent) sector drove gains for the week, on the backdrop of buying interests in GTBank (+7.9percent) and Zenith (+7percent).

The Insurance (+2percent) sector also gained w/w, buoyed by price appreciation in Linkage Assurance (+12.5percent) and AIICO (+12.7). On the flip side, the Consumer Goods (-0.4percent), Oil and Gas (-1.3percent) and Industrial Goods (-2percent) sectors were the week’s laggards, dragged by price declines in SEPL AT (-6.3percent) DANGCEM (-0.5percent) and Nig e r ia n B re w e r i e s (-1.4percent).

I n v e s t o r s’ s e n t i m e n t remained upbeat as market breadth closed the week at 1.8x; 39 stocks advanced w/w against 22 decliners. This week, we expect the outcome o f t h e U S Fe d m e e t i n g holding on Wednesday, as well as reactions to political events that have recently materialised, to guide market performance.

Money Market: Players react positively to MPC decision to maintain status quo In the week to 25th January, the CBN continued its FX intervention across various segments and maintained OMO mop-ups. Notably, the Apex bank conducted OMO auctions on all 5 trading days of the week, successfully mopping up a total N786.5bn against N381.5bn that matured.

Accordingly, money m a rk e t ra t e s ( O B B a n d O ve r n ig ht rat e s ) s t aye d elevated, averaging 17percent.

On the side, stop rates at the primary OMO auction remained unchanged; 91day: 11.9percent, 182-day: 13.5percent, and 364-day: 15percent.

In the secondary treasury bills market, sentiments were bullish as players reacted positively t o t h e M P C ’s d e c i s i o n to keep key polic y rates unchanged. Consequently, average Treasury bills yield moderated by 43bps to settle at 14.4percent.

More specifically, the 27-day bill closed 182bps lower to end at 12.1percent; the 91-day bill closed 105bps higher to end at 12.9percent; the 182-day bill and 364-day bill closed 7bps and 3bps lower to finish at 14.2percent and 17.2percent respectively.

We e x p e c t t h e C B N

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

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t o c o n t i n u e t o m o p - u p defend the naira through its excess liquidity as FAAC interventions at the NAFEX allocations, as well as PMA window. Hence, we expect and OMO maturities hit the the naira to trade within the system. Additionally, the band of N360-N365/$ at the Debt Management Office NAFEX window as oil trades at a modestREPORT level above $60/b (DMO) will be conducting WEEKLY i t s b i - w e e k l y T r e a s u r y range.

Global Market Review bills PMA auction, where MARKET REPORT FOR and JANUARY 25TH 2019 Outlook its plansSTOCK on rolling over all Echoes of slowdown from maturing T-bills, totalling PRODUCTS N254.6billion. Overall, we Davos ripples across global EQUITY believe the CBN ’s mop- equities A total turnover of 1.807 billion shares worth N17.232 During billion in 18,332 were traded this week thedeals week to end up actions will continue f some people were to ask by investors on the floor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 1.270 billion shares valued at January 2019, the IMF to fuel sell side activities, N13.463 billion that exchanged hands last week in 25th 16,476 deals. what a corporate treasurer while gradually improving revised its forecasts for 2019 was back in 1970s, most The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.625 billion shares and be yond, reiterating institutional interests will valued at N14.696 billion traded in 11,778 deals; thus contributing 89.93% and 85.28% to the total people would not have an concerns surrounding provide support forvalue buy-side equity turnover volume and respectively. The Conglomerates Industry followed with 83.560answer. Fast forward today, the a The slowdown the global players. million shares worth N138.309 million in 951 deals. third place wasin Consumer Goods Industry economy. the Corporate Treasury has evolved with aBond turnover ofMarket 36.251 million shares worth N1.002 billion in 2,224Specifically, deals. : Release global growth forecast for 2019 and has taken on a life of its o f Q 1 1 9 b o n d a u c t i o n Trading in the Top Three Equities namely, Diamond Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and Guaranty Trustown. From banks to institutions and million 2020shares wasworth marked down calendar leads the hunt forfor 871.524 Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted N8.488 billion in 3,305 3.5percent and 3.6percent bargains deals, contributing 48.23% and 49.25% to the totalto equity turnover volume and value respectively. to corporations, it is almost InTurnover the bonds space, the respe ctively, w ith trade quintessential to find a Treasury Equity - Last 5 days DMO published its long- tensions and tighter financial department in these setups now Traded Advanced Declined Unchanged highlighted as riskStocks as compared to during the 1990s. aw a i t eDeals d b o Turnover nVolume d a u c t iTurnover o n (N) conditions Date Value Stocks Stocks Stocks points. calendar for Q1-19.

According 21-Jan-19 3,874 499,211,855 5,531,472,396.41 100 13 18 69 Post the Great Financial Crisis in the US market, investors 22-Jan-19 3,320 245,987,455 2,443,102,335.82 In90 26 10 54 2008, today Corporate Treasurers to the calendar, the Federal to 21 digest the 376,262,017 2,967,608,880.72 103 10 influx 72 are gaining more importance and 23-Jan-19 3,409 Government (FG) plans to continued 24-Jan-19 268,255,609 3,145,694,750.34 20 51 visibility in the Boardrooms. of Q4 98 earnings27amid continued raise an 3,756 average of N400.0bn 96 32 7 shutdown and 57 (25-Jan-19 r a n g e3,973 : N 3417,179,919 6 0 b i l l i3,144,146,291.81 o n - government What is a Corporate erratic reports on the progress Treasury?

N440billion) in Q1-19.

It is relatively easy to identify the Human Resource (HR) Department and define its roles and responsibilities to matters related to HR. And usually, the definition does not change much from organization to organization.

However, for the Corporate Treasury, sometimes it might not be that straightforward – the roles and responsibilities of one Treasury department might differ from another setup in a T h e n e w s p r o v i d e d of trade talks. Consequently, different organization. In general, some repr ieve for some the S&P 500(-1.1percent), DJIA the Corporate Treasury manages players as they hunted for (-0.6percent) and NASDAQ the organization’s liquidity quick gains. Consequently, (-1.2percent) indices trended risks, financial risks, banking average FGN bonds yields southwards w/w. relationships, working capital t rFurther e n dInquiries e d sContact: o u t hMarket w aOperations r d s t Department o I n E u r o p e , t h e E C BPage 1and supporting management For close at 15.2percent (versus maintained status quo on and business units. In some 15.3percent in the preceding policy rates as Draghi harped organizations, the Treasury week). Similarly, the average on the possibility of a further department might also include yield for FGN Eurobond s l ow d ow n i n t h e b l o c ’s the mergers and acquisitions e dg e d low er by 8bps to economy due to uncertainties 7.26percent while average re l a t i n g t o g e o p o l i t i c s, team, corporate finance, yield in corporate Eurobonds protectionism, emerging decreased to 9.2percent from markets vulnerabilities, and 9.4percent. financial market volatility. This Early this week, we expect has softened the possibility the market to remain slightly of an aggressive tightening bearish, as market players’ by the ECB as previously position for renewed supply indicated. Overall, the UK’s of bonds at the forthcoming FTSE shed 2percent w/w while Ja n u a r y b o n d a u c t i o n , France’s CAC (+1percent), where the FG is offering to Germany’s DAX (+0.9percent) raise N50.0bn each across and the Pan-European STOXX its 5-year, 7-year, and 10- (+0.4percent) stood resilient. year bills. Overall, we expect Across Emerging Markets, the tempo of this event to only the Indian SENSEX drive the direction of average (-1percent) index dipped bond yields in the secondary w/w while Brazil’s IBOV market, later in the week. ( + 1 . 6 p e r c e n t ) , R u s s i a’s Foreign Exchange: NGN/ RTSI (+0.9percent), South corporate planning, pension fund USD rate depreciates at the Africa’s JALSH (+0.3percent) management, economic analysis parallel market a n d C h i n a’s S C H O M P and fintech.

In the Foreign exchange (+0.2percent) all trended What is the Typical Setup market, the naira depreciated northwards. In Venezuela, of a Corporate Treasury?The against the greenback at the the opposition leader, Juan Corporate Treasury department parallel market by 0.6percent Guaido, declared himself the can cover a large area of to settle at N362.5/$. However, interim president with the responsibilities and arguably a marginal appreciation backing of the US government is becoming an important part was seen at the official and among others. of any organisation. In current NAFEX windows; 2bps and A c c o r d i n g l y , t h e years, the Treasurer is gaining 0.1percent respectively, which incumbent government has more recognition in the board culminated to N306.8/$1 and ordered the deportation of N362.5/$1. Notably, the CBN US diplomats. Nevertheless, rooms with Treasury advice governor hinted on increasing crude prices shed 2.4percent being more sought after by the number of items on the w/w but stayed above the senior management. Treasury CBN ’s foreign exchange $60/b threshold. Reports of topics ranging from standard restriction list to 50. a slowdown in the global issues in Working Capital, In t h e c o m i n g w e e k , economy raised concerns FX risks, Funding costs to despite the pressure that may on the outlook for demand complex issues in Tax, Banking ensue from the run-up to growth, as well as a spike in relationships, Fintech are now the elections, we expect the US crude oil inventory data, gaining notice from senior CBN to maintain its resolve to which dampened sentiments. management.Depending on

Corporate Treasury Series

The Basics: About Corporate Treasury

I

the level of requirements and needs of each organization, the sophistication and size of the Treasury department can vary. There are many articles written on the different stages of a Treasury setup in relation to its roles, organization, growth path, value. In our opinion, we can classify the stages as follows, Standard – Transactional focused with Basic Coverage in Products and Geography.

Advanced – Strategic thinking with Regional Coverage staffed with Treasury specialists.

Leader – Sophisticated management with Global Coverage and Well Developed Teams in different functions that can rival the Banks.

Below is a good summary that shows the different stages of the Treasury, and how corporate treasuries at different stages can add value to organizations.

Stage 1: Shorten working capital cycle, optimizing cost of borrowing, ensuring liquidity across business value chain.

Stage 2: Improve business margins, risk management and mitigation through hedgingStage 3: Unlock liquidity from idle cash, reduce cost of financing across value chain, i.e. channels and vendors, structuring M&A transactionsStage 4: Enhance shareholder value through dividend and share buy backs, manage cost of capital through banking and credit rating

relationships What are the Main Functions of the Treasury Department?Most Treasury setups will cover the following functions, Cash and Liquidity Management Financial Risks Management (FX, Interest Rates, Commodities, etc) Working Capital Management Long Term Funding Bank Relationship Management and Business Units Support Tax and Treasury Accounting Company Credit Rating Management Company Capital Structure Based on a 2014 survey done by PWC, the functions of financial risk management,

cash and liquidity management and funding rank as the most important roles of a corporate treasury in large organisations.

For small organisations, supporting management and business units, maintaining bank relationships and financial risk management rank as the most important for a corporate treasury. Where is the Corporate Treasury usually Located?It is common to find the Corporate Treasury located at the Head Office of the organization.And, depending on their size and geographical presence, corporate treasuries may also locate their regional or country Treasury offices around different parts of the world. Usually, these regional or country offices will be responsible for Treasury issues in their geographical areas. It is possible to find certain setups performing specific functions regardless of geographical boundaries.There are many reasons and considerations when choosing the location to setup a Corporate Treasury office. The notable factors are, Geographical proximity to operations Tax incentives and benefits Maturity of financial and capital markets Availability of skilled treasury staff Regulatory environment and Political stability Increasingly, on top of business related concerns, factors like quality of life, healthy living conditions and even clean air are some of the reasons affecting the choice of the location in setting up Corporate Treasury offices.There are a couple of wellknown cities that are attracting Corporate Treasury offices, Asia – Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai Europe–London, Amsterdam,Dublin, Luxembourg Corporate Treasurers Should Have Mandates from Senior Management on Treasury MattersIn most setups, the Corporate Treasury falls under the Finance Group in the organization with the Treasurer reporting to the CFO. The organizational structure does vary in some setups but usually the Corporate Treasury is closely related to the Finance arm.Most Treasurers have mandates from their senior management and for treasury specific matters: Culled from TFA Geeks. TFA Geeks aims to help professionals succeed in their fields or recent finance graduates who are curious about the Treasury, Finance and Accounting (TFA) industry by sharing real-life industry experiences and imparting relevant knowledge.

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Market review:

Fidelity, Caverton, FCMB top advancers’ league as Resort Savings, Sovereign Trust, Medview decline most Airline Plc was also down from N2.05 to N1.85, losing 20kobo or 9.76percent.

Mcnichols Plc stock was also down from 43kobo to 39kobo, losing 4kobo or 9.30percent. Union Bank Nigeria Plc stock price was up, from N6.75 to N6.15, adding 60kobo or 8.89percent.

E-Tranzact International Plc dipped from N3.56 to N3.25, losing 31kobo or 8.71percent.

Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc declined from 38kobo to 35kobo, down by 3kobo or 7.89percent. Seplat

HEANYI NWACHUKWU

I

n stock trading week ended Januar y 25, 2019 investors shows increased interest in the shares of tier-2 lender Fidelity Bank Plc which made the stock price to garner highest value compared to other stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

In the period under review, the Nigerian Stock Exchange A l l -S h a r e I n d e x ( A S I ) increased by 1.36percent to 31,426.63 points as against 31,005.17 points recorded the preceding trading week. Forty (40) equities appreciated in price during the review week, more than 38 in the preceding week.

Fidelity Bank led the basket of advancers after its share price increased from N2.01 to N2.50, gaining 49kobo or 24.38percent.

In the same vein, the share price of Caverton Offshore

Support Group Plc rallied, from N1.90 to N2.33, adding 43kobo or 22.63percent ; while FCMB Group Plc stock price increased from N1.76 to

N2.15, after adding 39kobo or 22.16percent.

Also, Access Bank Plc increased from N5.60 to N6.50, adding 90kobo or 16.07percent; Royal Exchange Plc increased from 27kobo to 31kobo, adding 4kobo or 14.81percent. Red Star Express Plc made the top gainers list after its share price increased from N4.40 to N5, adding 60kobo or 13.64percent.

Wema Bank Plc rallied

from 62kobo to 70kobo, adding 8kobo or 12.90percent.

First Aluminium Nigeria Plc stock price moved up from 31kobo to 35kobo, adding

4kobo or 12.90percent. Aiico Insurance Plc increased from 63kobo to 71kobo, up 8kobo or 12.70percent; followed by Linkage Assurance Plc which

gained 7kobo, from 56kobo to 63kobo, adding 7kobo or 12.50percent.

Twenty-five (25) equities depreciated in price, lower than 29 in the preceding week, while 103 equities remained unchanged higher than 102 equities that remained unchanged in the preceding week.

Resort Savings & Loans Plc recorded the highest decline, from 26kobo to 20kobo, losing 6kobo or 23.08percent.

Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc followed after its share price decreased from 26kobo to 21kobo, down by 5kobo or 19.23percent; while Medview

Petroleum Development Company Plc lost N36 or 6.25percent, from N576 to N540.

Fidson Healthcare Plc stock price decreased from N4.95 to N4.70, after losing 25kobo or 5.05percent ; while that of Mutual Benefit Insurance Plc lost 1kobo or 4.76percent, from 21kobo to 20kobo.

The value of stocks listed on the Nigerian Bourse increased by about N157 billion in the trading week under review as investors realised the need to buy low priced stocks. The market capitalisation which opened at N11.562 trillion

closed the review week at N11.719 trillion. The year-todate negative return stood at 0.01percent.

All other indices finished higher with the exception of the NSE ASeM, NSE Consumer Goods, NSE Oil/ Gas, NSE Lotus II and NSE Industrial Goods Indices that depreciated by 0.17percent, 0.41percent, 1.32percent, 0.60percent and 2.02percent respectively.

The market recorded total turnover of 1.807 billion shares worth N17.232 billion in 18,332 deals in contrast to a total of 1.270 billion shares valued at N13.463 billion that exchanged hands the preceding week in 16,476 deals.

The Financial Services Industr y (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.625 billion shares valued at N14.696 billion traded in 11,778 deals; thus contributing 89.93percent and 85.28percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Conglomerates Industr y followed with 83.560 million shares worth N138.309 million in 951 deals; followed by Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 36.251 million shares worth N1.002 billion in 2,224 deals.

Trading in the Top Three Equities –Diamond Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 871.524 million shares worth N8.488 billion in 3,305 deals, contributing 48.23percent and 49.25percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Cordros Asset Management targets wider market with online challenge

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ordros Asset Management Limited (CAML) has launched the ‘Cordros 10k Challenge’, as part of measures to reintroduce the Mutual Funds products of the company. Deployed through the social media platform to engage potential clients through a video contest, Morenike Da-Silva, acting managing director, Cordros Asset Management explained that the campaign is targeted at a wider market which includes the younger demographic, to engage them on the importance of investing in general and Mutual Funds specifically.

“Our Mutual Funds products include the Cordros Money Market Fund and Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 and Cordros Milestone Fund 2028” said Da-Silva.

The Cordros Money Market Fund is an openended fund that seeks to provide safety, liquidity, diversification and competitive return. The Fund offers investors the opportunity to preserve their capital and earn returns from investments in short term money market securities such as treasury bills, commercial papers, banker’s acceptance, certificate of deposits and other eligible money market instruments

with financial institutions in Nigeria recognized by the Securities & Exchange Commission.

The Money Market Fund has grown in the excess of 5 billion naira and continues to grow. The minimum initial investment for the Fund is N10,000 for 100 units while additional investments is N5,000.

Our other products, Cordros Milestone Funds 2023 and Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 are target-dated mutual funds which pursues a long-term investment strategy. The Milestone Funds are balanced funds and have a mix of Equities, Fixed Income and Money

Market instruments.

The funds will start out seeking capital appreciation and will become more conservative by seeking capital preservation towards their target dates 2023 & 2028.

“This Fund is the first set of target-dated mutual funds to be launched in Nigeria although it is a popular Fund with over $1.1 trillion in investment globally. The Funds which are initiatives of our asset management subsidiary is a strategic move aimed at providing products which cater to the retail segment of the economy.

These are specially designed to provide for individuals and corporations saving

towards a ‘target’. The minimum amount required to subscribe to the fund is N2,500 and investors can make an additional investment of 10 units or more for N1,000”, she added.

The Cordros 10k Challenge is currently ongoing on all the social media pages of the company and people with the highest number of likes from the video contest will win funded Mutual Funds Accounts from Cordros Asset Management.

Cordros Asset Management Limited is a subsidiary of Cordros Capital Limited licensed by the Securities & Exchange

Commission as a fund/ portfolio management company. Cordros Asset Management Limited offers services in Portfolio Management, Wealth Management, College and Education Planning, Wills and Estate Planning and Mutual Funds. They aim to attain leadership position in the industry through delivery of extensive products targeted at the retail segment. With a team drawn from a wide range of professional backgrounds, our comprehensive expertise allows us to develop portfolio structures that enable clients achieve their overall investment objectives.

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Financial Inclusion: so far, not so good Amamchukwu Okafor

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ian government also promoted financial literacy and adapted regulation of financial services to the needs of the underserved low-income groups. In Chile, it was a sincere commitment to the Maya Declaration in 2011 – to which Nigeria is a signatory. The Chilean government introduced electronic payment system for transfers of state benefits, launched extensive financial education program for beneficiaries of state transfers and developed a complementary financial inclusion survey.

A state bank, Banco Estado, was established with defined financial inclusion strategy to drive efforts on achieving financial inclusion.

All that notwithstanding, some progress have been made by both policy makers and stakeholders to improve access

to financial services in Nigeria.

The Brazilian correspondent banking is similar to the Agent banking in its early stages in urban centres across the country; while the Bolsa Família is to the National Social Investment program (NSIP).

More so, The CBN and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) signed a memorandum of understanding in other to facilitate mobile money operations on the premise that more adults in Nigeria owned phones than bank accounts. This initiative has given birth to a synergy between commercial banks and telecoms operators as well as enabling the development of financial technology (FinTech) operators such as Paga, Quickteller, Paydirect, Alert and eTransact. The col-

laborative effort between the CBN and the NIBSS to create a regulatory sandbox which allows FinTech start-ups to test solutions under controlled environment has enabled a start-hub conducive for creating sustainable businesses and expansion of the FinTech space to reach the last mile. The agent banking model that incorporates trading businesses as transactional outlets of banks and the most resent Payment Service Banks, model of the Non-Bank led financial inclusion strategy.

The direction of policy strategies seem to be towards leveraging ownership of mobile phones and access to internet which happens to be the strongest improvement area for African countries according to the Global Findex report,

2017. Therefore, a combination of policies that encourage participation within the mobile money space and an expansion of the agent banking model into other states of the federation would go a long away, noting that most of these models are still being piloted in urban centres where the incidence of financial exclusion is less critical. The electronic payment method should be deployed in conditional cash transfer scheme of the NSIP which is still done in cash at some local levels. Effective financial education for the most vulnerable cannot be overemphasized.

Since the drive on financial inclusion in 2008, only about 10% declined has been achieved, amounting to 1% per annum on average. There is still a long way to go; all hands must be on deck.

12734BDN

n 2008, Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Access (EFInA) conducted a survey that revealed that 52.5% of adult population in Nigeria were excluded from financial services. It called attention to level of financial exclusion in the country. The Global Financial inclusion index was later developed in 2011 to track global efforts towards financial inclusion. Following the wind, the CBN developed a National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) in 2012 with the ambitious goals of achieving 80% total financial inclusion and 70% formal financial inclusion by 2020.

The NFIS specifically aims to increase by 2020, the number of adults with access to payment services to 70% (from 21.6% in 2010), access to savings accounts to increase from 24.0% to 60%, and credit from 2 to 40%, Insurance from 1 to 40% and pensions from 5 to 40%, all within the same period. The targets were benchmarked around peer countries as well as other growth factors in the domestic environment. Nigeria is not on track to meet the 2020 targets which is less than 2 years away.

The Global Findex report 2017 show that with an estimate of 100 million unbanked adults, Nigeria joins six other countries including Bangladesh, China and India as the top contributors to the global financially excluded of 1.7 billion. The number of adult with formal bank account fell from 44% to 39.7% between 2014 and 2017. The number of adults with financial institution account fell to 39.4% from 44%, with a gender disparity of 51% and 27% for male and female respectively. The percentage of adults who saved money in a financial institution and those who borrowed with a credit card were 20.6% and 5.3% re-

spectively. The number of those with mobile money account is still incredibly low at 5.6%, below the Sub-Saharan African average of 20.9%. According to EFInA, the total financially excluded is as high as 41.6% in 2016. It is therefore pertinent to draw lessons from successful countries with similar conditions in Latin America.

Latin American Countries such as Brazil, Panama and Peru have made significant and consistent improvements in financial inclusion through the years from 2011 to 2017. In the period, Peru recorded an astronomic rise in the number of adults with accounts, from 20.5% (2011) to 42.6% (2017); whereas Panama recorded 24.9% and 46.5% in the same period. In the lead on adults with accounts in financial institutions, Chile (73.8%) and Brazil (70%) surpassed the Latin American average (54.4%) in 2017. For both countries, the gender and educational disparity in accounts-ownership show impressive records. The percentage of adults saving at a financial institution in Brazil and Chile was 14.5% and 21.1% above the regional average of 12.2%; and on access to credit via credit card in the last year, both countries recorded 26.3% and 30.9% - against a regional average of 20.8%.

In Brazil, the progress has been attributed to the expansion of the national correspondent banking networks, growth in microfinance and cooperatives as well as targeted conditional transfers to increase the income levels of the low-income workers under the Bolsa Família program.

The correspondent banking model permits accessible retailers such as food vendors, gas stations and drug stores to act as intermediaries for basic financial transactions, thereby bridging the gap between formal and informal financial structures. The Brazil-

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‘We can provide food but if you have education, you grow a nation’ Eat ‘N’ Go Limited has experienced more than average growth in Nigeria’s quick service restaurant industry. PATRICK McMICHAEL, CEO of Eat ‘N’ Go, highlights some of the factors responsible for this phenomenal success and a new partnership with Slum2School to give back to host communities. He spoke to STEPHEN ONYEKWELU. Excerpts: Less than 12 months as CEO of Eat ‘N’ Go in Nigeria, what are some of your first impressions of Nigeria? y impressions vary on different levels. On the business side it is the sheer scale of the business opportunity in Nigeria, an infrastructure heavy opportunity.

When you go to many mature markets around the world, you find yourself competing with 30 other similar businesses but in Nigeria it is not like that. It is really exciting. It is also exciting to be part of the fabric of Nigerian society and to develop a formidable team. We have 2000 people working for us and we promote from within.

It is exciting to see people’s faces, when you give them a promotion. The other fabric we are going to talk about today is the Slum2School partnership.

I have been part of the business for 30 years and this is the first opportunity I have to give back to the community where we operate. Even in developed markets everyone talks about it

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the country.

Trial and error are the power to success. Fail once, not twice. Every bit of learning for us along the way has been one of correcting our course; we keep what works and throw out what does not.

We are conservative but aggressive at the same time.

We push forward on all fronts.

On the outside everyone sees growth. But it is more like a duck swimming in the pond. It seems to move effortlessly but underneath you bet the duck is paddling aggressively.

To setup a shop there is a lot that goes into it; from assessing the site, to building budget for the site, to costing to build on the site and to getting the entire infrastructure in place.

This also means developing menus that will be in line with the customer expectations in Nigeria across three brands.

It implies hiring enough staff; providing enough education for staff and working with banks on providing funding into the business.

Our shops are fully selfsufficient; we can run off-grid

Patrick McMichael

but very few do it in a meaningful way. You cannot not only take, you need to give back.

Eat ‘N’ Go has been quite successful in the Nigerian market, what is the secret, given that it is a tough business landscape to navigate?

Everybody wants to know the secret. Look, you have to fall down and fail to become successful. This business had to learn how to get power, how to get water into the business and how to get each of these business units up and running and how to get the product into

for over a week. We control our supply chain from our own warehouse, to our factories and shops.

We are in control of the chain all the way to the customer’s front door. There is no one reason for the success.

There are 2000 people across Nigeria working tirelessly to keep us going. We work really hard. Some people sleep in the office sometimes. We have delivered pizzas in conditions you cannot imagine. We place no limits to ambition of staff members, who have brilliant

ideas to grow the company.

I have been in the pizza business for 29 years and I tell you, this is the hardest market to sell pizzas. I do not mean demand because demand is strong. But to get that pizza to the counter or to that front door is an amazing amount of work and infrastructure, the most in the entire world.

You recently partnered with Slum2School, why?

Our partnership with Slum2School is strategic given Nigeria’s growing and eventual ageing of the population.

If education is not taken seriously right now, when Nigeria becomes the largest population in the world, it is going to be a struggle. This is why we have decided to get involved in education. The way Slum2School works fits our DNA. It is understandable that you chose education, but why did you choose Slum2School as partner charity organisation?

You could have as well adopted a public school.

There are two reasons for Slum2School. One, we have a working relationship with them already to see they were actually putting children in school.

Secondly, we wanted something that had reach across everywhere that we operate.

We want to give back to the communities where we actually operate. If money is coming to you from a community, then money has to be given back to that community. If I adopt a school in Lagos, whereas the money is coming from PortHarcourt, that does not work.

We want to create a system the enables people in a market fund a charity that is giving back to their community.

Slum2School interestingly has some really big vision, similar to ours. They were really ambitious in growing their model and in less than six years actually outsourcing it to other countries; and other countries want to use their model. What is beautiful about their model is that they use a lot of volunteers.

The partnership entails sending 1000 pupils to school, what is its value in monetary terms, how sustainable is it?

The value of the sponsorship is N50 million this year and next year we hope to grow it again.

Sustainability comes in two levels. We are raising the funds off of deserts and for as long as we continue to grow as a company; we will continue to support this charity. We also want to be seen as a company that gives back to society and if

this drives more business to us, then we will continue to give, of course.

The more people come to us as we grow this partnership, the more we will give back to the community. It is important for the community that we are helping educate young children, who otherwise would not have a chance to go to school.

What is the duration of Eat ‘N’ Go’s partnership with Slum2School?

There is no end in my mind.

We have setup the Eat ‘N’ Go Foundation, through which we are funding the partnership. It has lain dormant for five years since we set it up.

Since the company was setup there has been desire to get involved with the community.

But as the company grew, all the intensity of attention was focused on growth but this time for us to look around and give back to society.

When I came to the business I thought we now have size and scale and it is time to get the foundation working, giving back to the society. We cannot just be experiencing all this growth and have the communities we operate in untouched.

For as long as we are successful and the customers are still coming to us, then we will be giving back. As long as Slum2School follows through on the agreement, then there is no reason for us to move away from it. I will like to see it grow in scale over the next five years.

How have your customers been reacting to this partnership?

There some initial reactions online. We posted this in December and in January; we have had 200,000 views so far. We are tying it to waffles for Cold Stone.

Every waffle a customer buys with Cold Stone, we give N100 back to the community.

People have responded with comments “such as we are buying more waffles this year, Nigerian kids must be educated. We are really proud, let us eat more ice-cream.”

These are early reactions and what people say on socials is good gauge. The most exciting day will probably be the day we hand over the check to Slum2School.

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We’re entering Nigeria’s retail market with high quality, affordable devices - LAVA Stories by Bunmi Bailey

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AVA , I n d i a n phone maker has launched its brand of slick new phones targeted at both high end and low income earners, saying it plans to deliver valuable, reliable yet affordable mobile technology to the Nigerian market.

Rohit Singh, the company’s executive director, business and development in West Africa, at the launch of the phones in Lagos on January 28, said the company’s strategy is to make luxury mobile phones affordable to retail customers in Nigeria.

“There are many phone brands in Nigeria but what we are bringing to customers in the Nigerian market is quality yet affordable phones,” said Rohit.

With smart phones complete with similar features such as high quality camera, over 4G RAM and huge storage space, the company is pricing them between N42,000 and N50,000 for the high end phones, which is lower than similar phones in the market with the same capacity.

Sushi Segal, Lava country manager for Nigeria said the Indian phone maker seeks to build bridges between retail and service as the company is also coming with fully equipped customer service

center to resolve customer’s complaints.

Lava manufactures and assembles its own phones with two factories in India and one in China. “Unlike many manufacturers who outsource the production of their products, Lava has research and development centres and manufacturing units based in India, that produces highly reliable products and services,” said Singh.

The company started out in 2009 and has grown to be among the fourth largest mobile phone brand in India with established operations in major emerging markets including India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Russia, Indonesia and Mexico. In Africa, it is established in Egypt, Ghana, Sudan and Kenya.

The company said it has sold over 85 million handsets globally and currently sells over 30 million handsets every year.

Singh said the company is pushing to get into Tanzania,

Niger, Algeria among other countries in Africa.

“For now, we are unable to manufacture in Nigeria, but that is an option we are open to in the future,” Singh said.

LAVA announced that it has appointed Raya as distributors of the product in Nigeria. Raya is a highly diversified company with interests in the oil and gas sector, telecoms, water and transport and mines. In Nigeria, the company is also the distributors of mobile phone brands including Lenovo, Nokia and others.

Vikram Singh Parmar, CEO of Lava Africa says, “The vision is to make valuable technology accessible to people and empower them to do more and be more. In the past 9 years, we have travelled this journey of making this possible and today, we can promise the most trustworthy products and the most reliable user experience to our customers.”

Lava phone speaks to India’s growing prowess in the field of technology in the last two decades. It is the second largest source of computer software in the world after the United States. About 40%t of the software used today in mobile phones are developed in India. With over 300,000 engineers India outsources engineers even to Silicon Valley in the US. The company says it seeks to bring this expertise into the Nigerian market.

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Darling Nigeria rewards distributors with cars, other prizes

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arling Nigeria, leading manufacturers of hair extensions rewarded several distributors as part of their loyalty sales scheme at the Darling distributors reward event which held in December 2018 in Owerri, Imo State.

Recognizing their hard work over the past year, three lucky winners, Rainbow Hair Onitsha, Sunny Peace Hair Onitsha and Amcally Global Link Aba were awarded brand new JAC SUV’S while other distributors received fridges, generators, solar inverters, washing machines, air conditioners and televisions.

The reward was as a result a three-month loyalty sales scheme that ran from September through November 2018;

winners were selected based on an average three months individual sales target.

A representative of Rainbow Hair Onitsha expressed his excitement saying, “Working with Darling Nigeria has been a great experience for me, they always find a way to encourage us, I am glad I was to be part of the winners of the SUV and I feel very motivated to continue to meet and surpass our sales target every month”.

“At Darling, we pride ourselves in creating an enabling atmosphere for our team and partners, which includes incentivizing them to achieve their targets. We believe we have the best team working for us and it is important they feel valued” said Ayodele Ojuntirin

Marketing Manager, Godrej Nigeria.

Darling is a product of Lorna Nigeria which after partnering with Godrej Nigeria in 2011, re-launched in the Nigerian market August, 2018. Darling has revamped with new innovations, better product texture and richer colors and is known to stand for beauty and Transformation of the African woman through quality hair extensions.

itel Mobile’s exciting journey into Africa

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tel Mobile is a household name known all around Africa, but only a few of its users that enjoy the reliability, trendiness, and affordability of the devices made by this Hi-innovative brand, have heard of the marketing tricks, inspiring brand campaigns, meticulously researched consumer culture, business plots and resilient characters that transformed the Chinese manufacturer into a global brand.

From its humble beginnings to its spectacular takeovers and accomplishments, indeed, the itel brand has come a long way since it was founded in 2007 and this is the gripping tale that unravels the heart of the story from which an iconic phone brand emerged.

A group of visionaries recognised the need to create a technological system that provided smartphone for everyone for people at a cost-effective price without compromising on the quality of the products.

They set up $10million valuable testing labs with 200plus tests for material, 27 tests for assembly process and 300plus special tests to stimulate all kinds of climates,

usage scenario and habits of their main focus which is AFRICA. With a driving ambition to get close to consumers and understand their needs and expectations in various ways, they birthed itel Mobile in 2007, with a mantra to join and enjoy the best of mobile communication services.

From its inception, itel mobile started spreading its presence in over 45 countries across the globe. In 2016, itel sold a landmark of 50 million devices, placing them among the top3 mobile brands in Africa. Every itel handset comes with 12 months of reliable after-sales service; with 1800 plus service centers and 2,100plus professionals to adequately cater to the mobile phone needs of the people.

Living under poverty line

How Nigerians are struggling to survive

If you want to contact the writer of this story call: +234(0) 8030814083

Bailey.oluwabunmi@businessdayonline.com

17 months old baby with multiple holes in heart needs help

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enaiah Agoboye, is a 17 months old baby boy who is diagnosed with a terminal heart condition known as multiple holes in his heart. His father narrates how it started and pleads for donations towards saving his child.

How and when did it start?

When he was two months, my wife took him to the hospital for anti-natal care. While at work, my wife called me to come to the hospital that the doctor wants to see us for something important. It was there that the doctor told us that

my baby’s heart is swollen and has a hole in it.

His heart is incomplete and some of the sides that blood is meant to be passing is blocked , it is enlarging and u8uii there is a big hole in the centre of the heart and that hole is abnormal but is that hole that his making him to be alive now.

“Other doctors corroborated the results we got from the first doctor who we met.

They said that the child has two months left to live.”

“I am a furniture maker and my wife stays at home. I have four kids including him.

I have done everything and have gone to many places but

Analyst: Bunmi Bailey Graphics: Fifen Eyemisanre Famous

I will not give up. As part of effort to raise money for the surgery, I have had to stop paying my other children’s school fees. I have equally not been able to go to work,” Agoboye, who is the baby’s father, said.

Way forward The family is soliciting for a total sum of N15 million which is the amount needed for a heart surgery for baby Agoboye.

“Doctors said that we need N15 million for a heart surgery for him. He will have to travel abroad. I am begging Nigerians to help my baby through their donations,” Agoboye pleaded.

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What happens if Facebook merge WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger?

FRANK ELEANYA

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ark Zucke r b e r g ’s dream of uniting communities may soon make a major leap forward with the plan to merge underlying technical infrastructure of Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.

Experts say the move, which is likely to go live before the end of 2019 or early 2020, could trigger a fresh round of scrutiny on the social media giant.

The New York Times citing four sources close to the plan, reports that the Facebook CEO who has faced backlash from regulators and the public over alleged data privacy breaches, wants to bring together three of the world’s largest messaging platforms, allowing people to communicate across the platforms for the first time.

Monthly active users on WhatsApp grew by 1.5 billion as of December 2017; Insta-

gram hit 1 billion monthly active users in June 2018 while Facebook had 2.27 billion monthly active users as of the last quarter of December, making the three largest messaging networks in the world.

According to the Times report, the services will continue to operate as standalone apps, but their under-

lying technical infrastructure will be unified. This requires thousands of Facebook employees to reconfigure how the three messaging platforms function at their most basic. Zuckerberg also wants the apps to incorporate endto-end encryption in order to protect messages from being viewed by anyone except the

participants in a conversation.

The goal for Facebook is to make it easier for people to communicate across its “ecosystem” of app.

It should also be noted that moving to a unified structure gives Facebook enormous leverage to gather more data on their users as they browse

through the various apps. In one sense it is a win for Facebook and its advertisers who allocate billions of advertising money to the company.

This will rejig the revenue of the social network which has been buffeted by negative investors’ sentiments.

In another sense it could give competition and privacy regulators one more arsenal to come after the big social network. European regulators for instance could begin to ask Facebook tougher questions regarding privacy. The company has been hacked before, hence, will the new platform impose default endto-end encryption for all users regardless of which service they are using? This will at least require the re-engineering completely all three messaging services from the ground up.

An analyst at Bloomberg has also suggested it could be an inconvenience for users. The argument is that Facebook requires people to use their real names in their

social-network profiles, but Instagram does not. Users on WhatsApp sign up using their phone numbers rather than names.

“It isn’t trivial to connect a single person and her Facebook account to an Instagram profile under a pseudonym, and a WhatsApp account with just a phone number,” the analyst noted. “But unifying people’s identities online and in the real world is a big help to Facebook’s advertising business at a time when it needs a lift.”

It is not clear whether WhatsApp will ultimately require users to part with their real identities. Should it be the case, it could be a major turn off for millions of users on the app. Recall that the founders of WhatsApp and Instagram quit the company over their objections to tighter centralised control.

However, with the planned merger, it becomes very unlikely to attempt a spinoff of the three entities at least for the nearest future.

Finally, Nigeria emerges from South Africa’s Dell’s new interactive monitor, PCs designed to improve students’ education shadows to lead tech funding in Africa FRANK ELEANYA

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ech startups in Nigeria have finally ditched the shadows of their South African counterparts to emerge as hottest investors’ toast in Africa, according to Disrupt Africa’s latest report.

The African Tech Startups Funding Report released on Monday, 28 January, shows that 58 startups in Nigeria raised a total of $94,912,000 (Ninety four million, nine hundred and twelve thousand dollars) to take the top spot from South Africa which has 40 businesses raising $59,971,000 (Fifty nine million, nine hundred and seventy one thousand dollars). Kenya maintained its third position.

2018 in total outshined previous years as 210 startups brought in $334.5 million worth of investments into Africa.

Nigeria came out tops on number of funding recipients and total amount of funding making, 2018 the biggest year on record.

“The findings of the report show that investor appetite

is growing year on year, with more funding going to startups spread continent-wide,” Gabriella Mulligan, co-founder, Disrupt Africa told BusinessDay via mail. “Investors are becoming ever more confident participating in deals in Africa – and are seeing real opportunities in the innovative solutions and solid businesses offered up by Africa’s entrepreneurs.”

She further noted that investments are spreading to more countries in Africa with tickets over the $1 million mark rising as well. The report showed that 16 African countries secured investments. The growth is expected to continue in 2019.

Prior to 2018, the three of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya accounted for more than 80 per cent of total funding raised. This dropped in 2018 to 61.8 per cent driven by the rise of Egypt as a destination for funding. The country’s startups raised $58.9 million in 2018. Interestingly, the biggest round went to Cairo-based transportation startup Swvl.

Swvl, in November 2018, raised an undisclosed amount in a Series-B funding round

led by Dubai-based venture capital (VC) firm BECO Capital. The Forbes later reported that the funding was in “tens of millions of dollars”. Other investors that participated in the round include Raed Ventures, Arzan VC, Sawari Ventures, Oman Technology Fund, Dash Ventures, Esther Dyson, chairman of EDVentures Holdings and Emilian Popa.

The fintech segment continued to dominate as investors poured in $132.75 million into startups within the space, representing 39.7 per cent of total funds raised.

“This was an increase on previous years, but nonetheless there are strong signs of progress in other sectors, with multiple ed-tech, e-commerce, e-health, transport, logistics and agri-tech startups raising funding as investors saw opportunities in a large number of areas,” wrote Tom Jackson, co-founder of Disrupt Africa in a blog post.

Jackson acknowledges that inasmuch as investment levels are not the only way of gauging the health of local ecosystems, they are a valuable way of following the sector’s progress.

CALEB OJEWALE

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ew additions have been announced in the Dell Technologies portfolio of purpose-built technology designed to challenge, engage and inspire educators and students below tertiary level.

Dell says the new products will help educators integrate technology with new teaching and learning practices, while encouraging students to follow their own path of discovery.

“Recent Dell Technologies research on Generation Z – those born in the mid-1990s and later – confirms our belief that for students to be successful now and in the future, educators must empower them to drive their own success and support them with tools and resources that ignite students’ natural curiosities,” said Adam Garry, director of education strategy at Dell. “These new devices enable both educators and students to inquire, create and collaborate seamlessly, wherever learning takes place.”

According to the Dell Technologies study, 80 percent of Gen Zers want to work with cutting-edge technology, yet only 57 percent rate their

schools as good or excellent in preparing them for future careers. The company says its new education devices are designed to help prepare students for the evolving workforce, while providing the flexibility and choice that schools need today.

As the first digital-native generation, Gen Z has strong opinions about their technology. More than 98 percent of those surveyed have used technology as part of their formal education, and 91 percent said the type of technology offered by a future employer would influence their choice among similar job offers. Dell says its new education PCs combine the attractive design and top performance that students demand with the durability and reliability necessary in the learning environment.

The new large-format Dell 75-inch 4K Interactive Touch Monitor (C7520QT), available later this year, is ideally suited as a primary classroom display or for group collaboration.

It features vivid 4K resolution and 20-point multi-touch InGlass™ capability allowing multiple users to interact with the screen simultaneously. Using their fingers, or passive sty-

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

luses (two included), students can write or draw with virtually zero lag and can easily erase written content with the palm of their hands. The natural and intuitive touch functionality is compatible with virtually all industry-standard software, says Dell.

Other features Dell says will make the 75-inch monitor ideally suited for classroom use include: • The wide viewing angle enabled by IPS technology allows for vivid and consistent colours across the screen to be seen from virtually anywhere in the room.

• Dell monitor technology optimises fonts and ensures visuals appear sharp while operating everyday programs like Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel.

• Anti-glare and antismudge coatings reduce distracting reflections and fingerprints while Dell ComfortView reduces blue light emission to optimise eye comfort.

• The unique design supports seamless integration of an optional Dell OptiPlex Micro PC into the display for an all-in-one solution that lowers operating costs over the life of the monitor.

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Markets + Finance ‘Providing proprietary research, commentary, analysis and financial news coverage unmatched in today’s market. Published weekly, Markets & Finance provides all the key intelligence you need.’

Foreign investors show interest in C and L leasing amid economic lethargy BALA AUGIE

I

t was a torrid 2018 for companies quoted on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as there were massive sell off by investors as they fret over the uncertainties surrounding the forthcoming election and the vagaries of global macroeconomic environment brought on by the United States Spate with China, and continuous rate hike by the United States Federal Reserve that damped foreign investor appetite for Naira assets.

Of course of great concern was a slow growing economy as GDP expanded by 1.80 percent, lower than the 2.10 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Amid these monumental challenges undermining the growth of the country, some foreign investors are increasing their stakes in companies in which they have seen good prospects.

Abraaj, managers of Aureos Africa Fund, is among investors who have seen value in Nigerian stock market and are consolidating their investment instead of withdrawing. Consequently, Abraaj has decided to convert $10 million (N3.6 billion).

The Aureos Africa Fund had advanced the $10 million unsecured, redeemable, convertible loans stock to C & I Leasing. The loan matured at the end of 2018. However, instead of asking for the repayment of the loan stock, Abraaj said it would be converted to equity in the C & I Leasing, a development financial analysts said is a show of confidence in the company and Nigerian economy.

Commenting decision by convert the loan to equity, the Managing Director/CEO of C & I Leasing, Mr. Andrew Otike-Odibi said: “This development is positive for our business as it improves the capital structure of the company and helps position it favorably for additional capital raise from the market in first quarter of 2019.”

Market analysts said the foreign investors must have seen the positive trend the company has recorded in

the recent times and bright future prospects.

Boosting marine business In an apparent move to boost its marine business, C & I Leasing bought out the 27.5 per cent stake in C & I Petrotech Marine Limited (CPML).

As a result of the transaction CMPL became fully owned subsidiary of C & I Leasing Plc. Otike-Odibi had said the firm’s journey into marine sector as a service provider for the oil and gas sector actually started through CPML joint venture in 2010 and has over the years culminated in the ownership of over 20 vessels consisting of crew boats, pilot boats, patrol boats, and platform support vessels for providing services such as line and hose handling, berthing and escort services, mooring support, fire-fighting, pollution control, security and floating and self-elevating platforms.

“This is clearly reiterate our commitment to growing our marine services business and gaining leadership in the field. It is hoped that this buyout will further the company’s drive to restructuring and repositioning our marine business for enhanced profitability,” he added.

Following the increase in stake in CPML, the company acquired two new Tugboats to its fleet. They are: ‘MV Chidiebube’ and ‘MV Folashade’, both vessels are owned by the company in joint venture agreement with SIFAX Marine Limited and are to be deployed immediately for a long term assignment with Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).

According to the company, it is committed to becoming the most preferred marine partner for the international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria.

“We will continue to follow through on all that needs to be done to meet their needs. These new vessels have been built to specification for the assignment ahead and we are confident they will deliver even beyond expectation. With every new contract and acquisition, we are careful to take the learnings from the past

Andrew Otike Odibi, managing director/CEO, C and I Leasing

and improve continuously to serve our clients better. We are sure they will be very pleased with MV Chidiebube and MV Folashade, “it said.

Bright future prospects The company successfully raised N7 billion bonds earlier in 2018 as part of activities aimed at enhancing its overall competitive positioning.

The positioning is to take advantage of the growth the leasing industry is expected to witness.

As a popular financing tool, leasing provides an important leverage in modern business. Its flexible nature allows it to compete favourably against traditional finance sources such as bank loans, bonds among others. And the leasing industry is still expected to blossom further owing to various Government initiatives aimed at re-inflating the economy and the increasing relevance of leasing to capital formation.

Also the increasing relevance of leasing to capital formation and focus on agriculture will create an extensive market for the leasing business, as a whole range of equipment would be required across the Agric value chain, from planting, harvesting, processing and storage to distribution.

Analysts said an experienced company such as C & I Leasing will benefit significantly from these business opportunities. According to them, focus on agriculture will create an extensive market for the leasing business, as a whole range of equipment would be required across the “Agric value chain, from planting, harvesting, processing and storage to distribution. Special focus on infrastructure will unlock business opportunities for the leasing industry as specialised and general equipment would be needed to support the massive construction expected to take

place in the rail, roads, power, and housing among others.

The manufacturing sector including the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) presents significant opportunities for leasing, as the demand for assets for productive ventures is expected to continue to increase,” they said.

Another emerging business opportunity lies in the healthcare and education sectors with appreciable inroads already being made at C & I Leasing with contracts to provide school buses as well as ambulance services for clients in education and health sectors.

Demand for the Fleet and Marine Services drive top line growth Gross earnings for the first nine months through September 2018 increased by 15.6 percent to N19.9 billion from N17.2 billion as at September 2017; driven by the growth in lease rental income by 17.5 percent y-o-y-on the back of volume increase in the fleet and marine business.

Rise in revenue from the fleet and personnel businesses was mainly due to the expansion in existing and new contracts following continuous demand for our services.

Lease rental income was up 10.40 percent to N4.95 billion in the period under review as against N4.49 billion the previous year.

Net operating income followed the same growth trajectory as it increased by 8.6 percent t0 N5.67 billion in September 2018 from N5.22 billion as at September 2017, thanks t0 improvements in all segments.

Increase efficiency and contribution from marine underpins profit Profit after tax for the first nine months through September 2018 increased by 25 percent to N1.18 billion

BD MARKETS + FINANCE Analysts: BALA AUGIE

from N950.02 million as at September 2017.

The growth at the bottom line was due to increased efficiency from all the business units as well as improvement in capacity utilisation of both marine and non-marine assets.

Profit before tax (PBT) increased by 11.4 percent to N1.28 billion in September 2018 from N1.15 billion the previous year; due to strong operating performance across the business segments, effective cost management initiatives and improvement in capacity utilisation of both marine and non-marine assets Notable improvement in operational efficiency across the Group C and l Leasing is efficient in reducing costs while contemporaneously magnifying profit as evidence in a reduction in cost to income ratio.

Investors crave for stocks of firms that minimize costs and maximize the profit amid the vagaries of macroeconomic environment.

C and l Leasing operating expenses (excluding foreign exchange loss) dropped by 31.5 percent y-o-y in September 2018 as a results of efficiency in maintenance and fueling cost of our fleet.

Indirect operating expenses were down by 1 percent to N1.85 billion in September 2018 N1.87 billion as at September 2017, thanks to efficiency in fuel and maintenance cost and personnel re-organization.

As a result of the drop in costs, cost to income ratio improved to 27 percent n the period under review from 47 percent the previous year.

Balance sheet growth in line with business expansion For the first nine months through September 2018, C and l Leasing’s total assets grew by 52.63 percent to N58 billion from N38 billion as of December 2017; largely due to the growth in operating lease assets, proceeds from Bond issuance, trade, and finance leases, as well as other receivables and prepayments Operating lease asset increased by N35.59 billion in September 2018 from N27.16 billion as at September 2017, due to acquisition of new vehicles and vessels.

Total shareholders’ funds was up by 9.9 percent to N10.01 billion in September 2018 from N9.10 billion as at September 2017, as retained earnings increased.

Total debt grew by 33 percent out of which Interest bearing liabilities grew by a total of 21.1 percent to N35.0 billion in the period und review from N28.90 billion as at December 2017; the growth was largely due to the issuance of the N7 billion Bond and inflow from CP notes. N4 billion of the existing expensive debts has been replaced with a portion of bond proceeds.

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Onuwa Lucky Joseph (08023314782) Editor.

The 2019 Hult Prize is about Jobs: 10,000 Jobs

Multinationals Commit $1Billion to Fighting Plastic Waste

W

hile announcing the 2019 Hult Prize Challenge at the United Nations, President Bill Clinton said “We want you, the youth to take on and act to develop a venture that will create 10,000 meaningful jobs for the youth within the next decade – with no restrictions of where these jobs come from”.

Marching orders, that : strong, forthright and on the mark.

If there’s one globally extensive social scourge today, it is unemployment amongst young people.

It is worse in some countries than in others but it is one issue young people everywhere can relate to and that everyone agrees cannot continue if the equilibrium of peace and stability is to be maintained.

It has become a Hult Prize tradition that President Clinton picks a pressing social challenge every year for which contestants vie to create viable solutions around.

The submission adjudged the most effective (in view of the metrics employed) wins the Prize.

The idea for the Prize came about in 2009 when Ahmad Ashkar, then an MBA student at Hult International School came up with the idea of leveraging the crowd to generate start up ideas from young people to sustainably solve the world’s most pressing social challenges. What started ten years ago has today grown into the world’s biggest engine for social enterprise ideas emanating from tertiary institutions, mainly universities.

It’s a testimony to the belief in the potential of young people for helping galvanize change with some help from, if you like, adults. The Hult Prize is about unlocking the desire of young people to change the world, and to

Stories ny Onuwa Lucky Joseph

give power to that desire by funding implementation of their business ideas.

When you think about it, most of today’s global business behemoths were launched when their founders were still young and brimming with energy and stamina to keep going until the status quo is upended. Rather than enter the corporate world with its well defined culture of corporate ladder climbing, they instead came up with groundbreaking ideas that are today employing hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

Bill Gates wrote his first software programme at the age of 13, went into business with the late Paul Allen at the age of 15, and cofounded Microsoft at the age of 20.

Steve Jobs was 21 when he and Steve Wozniak started Apple Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he started Facebook Larry Page was 24 and Sergey Brin 23, when they founded Google Jeff Bezos was all of 30 when he started Amazon Richard Branson started his first business venture, the magazine, Student, at age 16.

Students all over the world are ensuring they are part of the annual challenge so they can breathe life into their ideal of how life should be.

It is noteworthy that Nigerian universities are big participants in the annual challenge. These trans-border innovation incubators can be the trigger for getting dormant ideas moving and solving the problems they should be solving. Even better, our young and women can set their migratory tendencies aside as the Prize helps persuade them to stay here to create that desired better life for themselves, their country and the world.

P

lastics are becoming a massive problem in Nigeria. They are everywhere. On the roads, in schools, at beaches, places of worship, everywhere you turn. It’s a menace getting uglier by the day but treated by the vast majority like it’s no big deal.

And it was such a good thing when plastics debuted. Instead of the heavy metal buckets that we used in school back then, light weight plastic buckets were a lot easier to carry. Same can be said for the portmanteau and metal boxes which we logged, sometimes long distance. Plastic boxes saved the day. Much lighter, much trendier, helped us keep our overpriced dignity.

Like most developments that improve life and living in the short term, they looked and felt like the long awaited salvation from stress of all kinds, especially that type that comes with repeat cleaning of stuff for re-use.

Disposables, how sweet the song!

You didn’t need to keep anything. Once you were done with it, you tossed it and got something new. Over in Nigeria, we are still there, largely, happy that we’re not stuck with cloth baby nappies that you wash every day or glass bottles that you have to ensure aren’t broken so you can return them for a fresh supply of soft drinks. And seems no one is happier than the women whose pads are tossed and forgotten until the next cycle of toss and forget.

At Owambe or regular birthday parties, we eat from disposable plates, eat with disposable spoons and forks, and drink from disposable cups or disposable bottles. Go to the coffee or ice cream shop, most cups are disposable paper and will biodegrade in time.

However, the straw is still largely plastic and will be here with us since their DNA does not permit them the luxury of going the way of all flesh! They simply refuse to blend with the earth and over time become an inescapable eyesore.

That’s the growing problem with our environment. The thing that makes our life easy and comfortable is making the environment highly uncomfortable. And it’s only a matter of time before the environment’s discomfort translates to a dire discomfort for humanity. Visit our beaches and you’ll see how littered they are with all things plastic: soft drink bottles, and disposable food packs all bobbing up and

down the waters or creating an ugly scene at the seashores. We’re not even talking about the ubiquitous polythene bags and wraps. Pure water sachets are a big part of the mix nowadays.

Alongside bottles, they clog drainages, and form a significant part of every garbage dump.

While the science is on to help find ways to break down plastics quicker and ensure they are not as damaging to the environment as they currently are, it’s heartening to see a slew of multinationals from the plastics and consumer goods value chain coming together to form a global coalition committed to the fight against plastics. The

The thing that makes our life easy and comfortable is making the environment highly uncomfortable. And it’s only a matter of time before the environment’s discomfort translates to a dire discomfort for humanity Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) as it is named is made up of nearly thirty members who have pledged to put together about $1billion and with a plan to increase it to $1.5billion dollars over the next five years. The objective is to ensure an end to plastic waste in the environment.

These companies fear that too much plastic is ending up in the oceans and are distorting the genetic make-up of marine life, making fish, for instance, dangerous for human consumption. A 2015 study reported in the Journal of Science discovered that an average of 8million metric tonnes of plastic enters the ocean from land every year.

According to David Taylor, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Proctor and Gamble who is also chairman

of the AEPW, “Everyone agrees that plastic waste does not belong in our oceans or anywhere in the environment. This is a serious and complex global challenge that calls for swift action and strong leadership”. He went on to say that the alliance is “the most comprehensive effort to date to end plastic waste in the environment”.

Although the Alliance membership cuts across companies doing business in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, South East Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Corporate Social Impact (CSI) shall be monitoring to ensure that Africa does not get the short end of the stick as is usually the case. Being that the regulatory regime in Sub-Saharan Africa is far from being as thorough as is found in other climes, we shall be following from the corporates end to ensure that they do right by their stakeholders over here, particularly in Nigeria.

By tracking activities embarked upon to ensure environmental cleanup of plastics in the other locations mentioned, we would be able to show if Africa is being served by this project and its alliance members.

Some critics totally doubt the integrity of the alliance, arguing, that being the biggest global producers of plastic who make tons of money off of plastic production, the effort cannot be pursued to the stated desired conclusion. Maybe this is nothing more than an attempt to stem the growing uproar.

The alliance members say they do not see an immediate environmentally friendly alternative for plastics. So the ding dong will go on for quite a while.

Founding members of the Alliance are: Founding members of the AEPW include BASF, Berry Global, Braskem, Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LLC, Clariant, Covestro, Dow, DSM, ExxonMobil, Formosa Plastics Corp. USA, Henkel, LyondellBasell, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, Nova Chemicals, OxyChem, PolyOne, Procter & Gamble, Reliance Industries, SABIC, Sasol, Suez, Shell, SCG Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemical, Total, Veolia and Versalis (Eni).

The thing that makes our life easy and comfortable is making the environment highly uncomfortable. And it’s only a matter of time before the environment’s discomfort translates to a dire discomfort for humanity.

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Armed forces remembrance day and the missing corporate sector support

T

he Armed Forces Remembrance Day holds every January 15th all over Nigeria.

It’s done complete with all the appurtenances of a traditional military ceremony.

This particular one tends to be solemn for the most part but also boisterous in parts as signpost to the no-holds-barred energy that the fallen heroes expended in fighting for the security and territorial integrity of their fatherland.

The highpoint is the release of the doves, gunshot salute, and laying of wreathe at the grave of the unknown soldier, this soldier representative of all the soldiers who ever donned the uniform and fought for Nigeria or represented Nigeria in other lands where they went to keep the peace.

The lot of the bulk of members of the Armed Forces after retirement is, sad to say, a sorry one. For men and women who spent their youth defending their nation under the most dire and dangerous of circumstances, retirement ought to be something to look forward to, as a fresh phase of life which they can enjoy without the overhang of desperation.

Government, as governments go, has a sprawling facility for making promises. The problem is with making a reality of those promises. makes promises unending but does little by way of morale boosting.

Take for instance, the troops fighting Boko Haram in the North East of the country. We all have seen them bewailing their lack of adequate weaponry for the challenge they are up against and for which they signed up to confront. While what were once termed rag tag insurgents come armed with sophisticated weapons, soldiers wearing the uniform of the Nigerian nation are forced to discard their courage as the unending shelling leaves our soldiers mortally exposed.

Can The Corporate Sector Help Give Our Soldiers A Fighting Chance?

Without a doubt, the Nigerian corporate sector can help make life easier for our serving and ex-servicemen. Kudos, we must give, to Peace Airlines, one of the few corporate players alive to the plight of our soldiers.

Peace Airlines ensures that

serving or retired members of Nigeria’s armed forces pay no more than N10,000 per one way local destination. This is commendable and worthy of emulation by others who can find creative ways to be supportive of our Armed Forces in their own different areas of operation.

Corporate organisations operating from out of Nigeria can put policies in place that show to these serving and exservice people that the country appreciates the sacrifices they made and make to keep Nigeria safe and secure. With concerted effort at appreciation for their services, the Nigerian Armed Forces can be counted on to deliver even better.

The question is, what can banks do for them?

What can the oil industry do for them? How about Telecoms?

Insurance? Science and Technology? The Arts, Etc. Usually the ‘old soldiers’ as they are fondly called are absorbed into the security sector as security men, but more by Federal Agencies than by corporates. Most definitely, some retirees can and do distinguish themselves by becoming either private security consultants

or consulting for big firms or established security concerns.

The bulk of ex-servicemen, however do not know their way around the civilian setup having devoted the bulk of their adult years to the military pursuit and a life that’s not quite integrated with unregimented civilian life.

The job of integration therefore is one that more corporates can get into for the sake of our veterans. These hardy (and sometimes hardened)chaps

who have been actors in conflict theatres like North East Nigeria and who have witnessed or even been part of dastardly acts against others, need a soft landing regarding reintegration to civilian life.

Corporates can make clear, for instance, that some jobs are reserved exclusively for ex-service men and women who meet the prescribed requirements.

That way, more veterans will be keen to develop themselves in those particular areas so that

life after service will be one of further service but under better conditions.

As well, the corporate sector can partner with NGOs specialized in psychological adjustment matters to help our old troops settle in properly.

We call them heroes, and we even sing with gusto in our national anthem that ‘the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain’. It is high time we began to do the needful with regards to these lofty sentiments.

Doer Businessman donates N20m medical equipment to Enugu

R

ather than bemoan the parlous state of affairs in Enugu State, Mr. Okwudiri Ani decided and went ahead to donate N20m worth of medical equipment to the state.

Some of the equipment he gave include oxygen cylinders, wheel chairs, artery forceps, beds, theatre gowns, electronic suction machines, big oxygen carriers, etc. Ani, who is MD.CEO of Omed Sur-

gicals said he was of the conviction that “health is wealth and that is my greatest motivation in doing this”. He also said it was his own way of supporting Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in fixing the health sector.

Be like Okwudiri Ani. Do something about something that needs doing, rather than merely talk about it.

(Enquiries to csrmomentum@ gmail.com /08023314782)

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Energy Report Oil & Gas

Power

Renewables

Environment

Africa oil, gas stakeholders say collaboration, partnership key to success Olusola Bello

C

ollaboration, co-operation and partnership are now the watchword of stakeholders in oil and gas industry in the sub Saharan Africa.

The stakeholders who assembled at the West Africa International Conference and Exhibition in Lagos said there was no better time for them to come together than now.

There was a general consensus that sub-Saharan African operators in oil and gas cannot work individually and therefore need to collaborate to take advantage of their different experiences in terms of exploration and production of hydrocarbon resource endowments.

The essence of this new line of thought is to find ways to optimise the full value of the hydrocarbon resources which is abundant in the region.

About 130 billion barrels of hydrocarbon resources are said to exist in the subSaharan Africa region. This is very huge amount of resources which needed to be

exploited to the advantage of our people.

This requires a huge amount of investments especially if it has to be produced for the benefit of the people of the sub region.

The area is believed to be producing about five million barrels per day but there are concerns that this fall to three million barrels per day by year 2030.

Some countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region have made significant efforts in terms of exploration and discoveries. Mozambique, for instance, has in the last

10 years discovered close to four billion barrels of oil equivalent but the region still needs to do more by making a lot of investments in exploration and production.

To maintain the five million barrels per day level, stakeholders in the industry across the sub region have suggested a number of steps that must be taken.

In case of Nigeria the drive for exploration and production is towards the deep water as there are still huge resources there, just as the country has made a lot of

Investment in Refinery, Petrochemicals is driven by innovation, efficiency, says Dangote

T

he on-going investment in refining, petrochemicals, fertilizer and gas by the Dangote Group is driven by the desire to bring innovation and efficiency into all aspects of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, the President/Chief Executive, Aliko Dangote has said.

Dangote, who made this disclosure yesterday at the on-going Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja, said the company was committed to the concept of energy efficiency and innovation in the oil and gas sector.

The business mogul, whose 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity refinery is the largest in Africa, was represented by the Group Executive Director, Government and Strategic Relations, Dangote Industries Limited, Engr. Ahmed Mansur.

Addressing participants at the forum, Mansur said the theme of the conference, “Shaping the Future through Efficiency and Innovation,”

was quite apt, given Nigeria’s quest for economic transformation.

According to him, Aliko Dangote is passionate about efficiency and innovation in the oil and gas sector through adding value to the hydrocarbon process. Mansur said the company’s passion and drive was seen in the building of the project, which will become the world largest single-train refinery on completion and therefore a boost to the Nigerian economy.

“The Refinery can meet 100% of the domestic requirement of all liquid petroleum products (Gasoline, Diesel, Kerosene and Aviation Jet), leaving the surplus for export,” he said.

“This high volume of PMS output from the Dangote Refinery will transform Nigeria from a petrol import-dependent country to an exporter of refined petroleum products. The refinery is designed to accommodate multiple

ment from anywhere and therefore needs to make the investment convenient for the would-be investors. To achieve this, the Corporation is doing everything possible to make sure it attracts foreign and local investors to invest in Nigeria to support government’s aspiration and make sure that oil production is sustained. It is also aimed at ensuring that gas is available for both local and international obligations.

Kweku Awotwi, managing director, Tullow Ghana Limited, said there is need for operators in the sub-region to work together because they are competing in the global capital market.

He however stated the conditions that would make such capital come the way of the African countries. These he said, include sanctity of contracts, good tax system, transparency of governance and stability of regulations.

Ibrahim Dlaby, chief executive officer of the Societe National d’Operations Petroliers de la Cote de la Cote d’Ivoire, said for proper integration and synergy among the oil operators, they would always be the need to stakeholders to cooperate among each other.

System collapse: Transmission lines far from helping to stabilise electricity systems

grades of domestic and foreign crude and process these into high-quality gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuels that meet Euro V emissions specifications, plus polypropylene”, he said.

Mansur disclosed that Dangote is also constructing the largest fertiliser Plant in West Africa with capacity to produce 3.0 million tonnes of Urea per year as part of the gigantic economic transformation project. He explained that the Dangote Fertiliser complex consists of Ammonia and Urea plants with associated facilities and infrastructure.

Through the project, he said Nigeria would be able to save $0.5 billion from import substitution and provide $0.4 billion from exports of products from the fertiliser plant. “Thus, supply of fertiliser from the plant, which is set for commissioning before the second quarter of 2019, will be enough for the Nigerian market and neighbouring countries,” he added.

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

discoveries as well.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which is the custodian of the nation’s hydrocarbon resources, intends to adopt a strategy to explore hydrocarbon in line with government aspirations.

The agenda of the government which are security and war against corruption will form the cardinal focus of the operations of the corporation.

NNPC is also working with its partners to exit from the Cash Call funding arrangement which is like a

trap hindering its planned exploratory and production activities.

Bello Rabiu, chief operating officer upstream, says that NNPC intends to stick strictly to the gas master plan to make sure it is implemented.

“A lot of institution and organizations have been established to ensure that the gas market gets attractive to gas suppliers, hence the establishment of gas aggregation companies,” he said.

The local industries are going to be supported to make sure that local demands is met with supply obligations which will ensure that every supplier meets up with what is required of them. This is because it is important to support the nation’s industrial development.

“There are many other things that the organization and the government are doing to encourage both foreign and local investments in the industry,” he pointed out.

Th e lo ca l indu str ia l growth is also being supported and also abides by its obligations in accordance with its international status”.

This requires huge investments. NNPC needs invest-

I

t is unfortunate that Nigerians in recent times have been faced with the sad news of system collapse which people thought had become a thing of the past. There is doubt that this situation has improved greatly than what it used to be three or four years ago.

This situation has further worsened the electricity situation in the country as many places were thrown into prolong darkness. It has therefore cast doubts on the claims made by the government that the transmission lines have been strengthened and now have the capacity to wheel 7,000 megawatts. It does appear that the transmission lines may not be able to evacuate 5000 megawatts.

The first collapse of the Grid in 2019 occurred on January 2, 2019 .After that, there have been other incidences. This does not give

consumers any confidence.

A statement by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing which supervises the Transmission Company of Nigeria, blamed the outage on a fire incident on the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System of the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Limited.

The fire incident was reported near Okada in Edo State with widespread blackout across the country as the pipeline which supplies gas to six thermal power plants was shutdown Meanwhile, the Grid had also collapsed on December 21, 2018. The incident which was captured in data from the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing showed that it was the first incident on the Grid in about three months. There were a total of 12 incidents of Grid collapses in 2018.

These were the five incidents in January of that year, one

each in February, June, July and December. Two were reported in September while the only partial collapse was recorded in April From all these, it means the transmission lines are still very weak and the government needs to double its efforts to ensure that the subsector is stabilised; if not it would have a devastating effect on the entire power value chain.

The current power outages experienced across the country has been attributed to increasing waves of Power System Collapses and System Disturbances across the transmission value chain.

The country’s National Transmission Grid was alleged to have collapsed completely last weekend.

The system which has been experiencing challenges was said to have collapsed completely with no allocation to the distribution companies for supply to customers.

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Thursday 31 January 2019

Energy Report

Only Meter Asset Providers with sufficient capacity to perform would get NERC approval The Meter Asset Provider Regulations offers some measure of solution to the lingering metering crisis, and should have been rolled out earlier than now. Nathan Rogers Shatti a commissioner in charge of Finance and Management Services at the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission,NERC spoke to BusinessDay’s Harrison Edeh,as he gives updates on the take off time for millions of unmetered Nigerians.

What is actually causing the delay in the official roll out of meters so that unmetered Nigerians could heave a sigh of relief? he Meter Asset provider Regulations became effective on April 3, 2018 with a 120 day window for DisCos to complete the procurement process of Meter Asset Providers. Upon completion of the procurement, the DisCo would thereafter seek the consent of the Commission to proceed with the contracting. However, in response to the tremendous interest shown by potential MAPs and to engender more competition, the deadline for the completion of the procurement was extended to allow for the participation of the latest entrants.

The Commission is currently reviewing the reports of the Tender Auditors to ensure that the procurement process was on the basis of transparent and open competitive bids thus ensuring that customers get value for money in the provision of end-use meters. The Commission is working on closing on the procurement process in Q1/2019

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It is rumoured that Discos are kicking against this and has pushed for its frustration, can this be true?

The Commission is not aware of any effort by DisCos to frustrate the MAP initiative.

What is NERC doing to influence financial sector to back the scheme?

The evaluation of proposals

submitted by MAP applicants include an evaluation of Technical and Financial capacity to handle the rollout of the meter. Only investors that have demonstrated sufficient capacity to perform would be approved by the Commission.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria Plc are about to complete their medium term expansion and the detailed cost would be available after the plan is reviewed and approved by the Commission.

Do you think government would revisit the privatisation exercise?

The Performance Agreement signed between the investors and BPE is underpinning the obligations of both parties.

The BPE have already announced that a review will be conducted in November 2019. It would be appropriate to await the review by the party privy to the contract.

What is the metering requirement of Nigeria as at today?

The latest information submitted by all the DisCos indicates a metering gap of about 55% (that is about 4,950,000 customers are unmetered) but the statistic is changing as more consumers are enumerated and brought on to the billing platform as customers.

How much in relative terms is needed to fill this gap?

As you can imagine, customers would be provided with appropriation meters taking into consideration the consumption. The amount required to fill in the metering gap depends on the type of meters being rolled by individual DisCos. Have you carried out audit of local meter assembly plant to determine they have capacity to meet 30% local supply content as contained in the MAP? The Commission has confirmed that the several local meter manufacturers have an installed capacity well in excess of the prescribed 30% local content. The minimum local content threshold will be revised upwards to encourage local manufacture and job creation as soon as there is verifiable performance by the

Nathan Rogers Shatti

local manufacturers.

Discos are clamouring for cost effective tariff outside which they cannot guarantee effective service delivery, in your views what represents cost effective tariff and how did you arrive at current tariff template Section 76(2)(a) of the EPSR Act provides that prices subject to tariff regulation shall be regulated according to one or more methodologies adopted by the Commission and such tariff methodologies shall allow a licensee that operates efficiently to recover the full cost of its business activities including a reasonable return on the capital invested in the business. All providers of services in the electricity industry are, by law, entitled to cost-reflective tariffs. The detailed method-

OGTAN harps on importance of human capital development in oil, gas

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n the absence of substantial investment in the development of human capital in the oil and gas industry, sustained economic growth and development would only be a mere wish.

Human capital development is a key prerequisite for a country’s socio-economic and political transformation, says Mayowa Afe, President, Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) Afe who spoke at a pre -conference briefing said: “Among the generally agreed causal factors responsible for impressive performance of the economy of most developed countries is commitment to human capital development.”

He said that lack of adequate human capital development in the sector ne-

cessitated the theme of the forthcoming OGTAN Annual International Conference entitled: “Human Capital Development as a Driver for National Transformation.”

The president of the association said that human capital development was undoubtedly the pivot for any meaningful programme of economic development of Nigeria and indeed of any country.

Afe said that practitioners and social researchers understood the essence of human capital development in the achievement of significant and sustainable economic growth and development.

“Petroleum sector contributes the highest revenue to Nigeria’s GDP, but suffers a dearth of skilled personnel for sophisticated roles as the traditional educational cur-

riculum has not sufficiently accommodated demands of the highly-skilled industry,’’ he said.

He said that part of the objectives of OGTAN was to identify ways by which Nigeria’s human capital could be improved via training and retraining to significantly contribute to the growth of in-country value retention in the oil and gas sector.

He noted that training enhancing peoples’ livelihoods and overall quality of life, pointing out that these indicators translate to positive impacts on nation building and development.

The association president called for more collaboration between the academia and the oil and gas industry on research, to attract investments into the country.

ology for tariff determination is available on the website of the Commission.

Most stakeholders feel government has failed in its post privatisation obligation thus causing distortion in the system, what are these obligations and why is government failing?

We advise that you refer the question to the Bureau of Public Enterprises Infrastructure decay is a major challenge to the industry, how much do you think Nigeria requires to fix the power sector?

The DisCos under the Performance Agreement signed with the BPE have committed to a capital expenditure plan and this is taken into consideration in determining their respective tariffs.

Gas pricing has created much problem along generation chain, what is your advise to government in this regard?

The concern of the Commission is currently more of “gas availability” supported by payments as and when due in line with executed Gas Supply Agreements and less of gas tariffs.

What is the situation with your el ig ible customer policy, this seems to have pitched government against Discos, and the clamour seem to have fizzled, what is your opinion?

The eligible customer regulation is about customers purchasing energy directly from parties other than DisCos (that is GenCos and Traders). There is no basis for pitching government against DisCos as the FGN is neither a GenCo nor an electricity trader.

Consumers are fed up with your pronouncement and threat on estimated billing and mass disconnection by Discos, when are we going to see you sanction erring operators The Commission, through the Forum Offices, has addressed thousands of cases involving estimated billing.

As an interim measure to address the concern of consumers, public consultation on an Order capping the practice of estimated billing will commence in January 2019 thus steering the DisCos to meter all customers under the provisions of the MAP Regulations.

Many people say they are not seeing impact of government policy on alternative energy sources, are we really getting it right?

Please contact the Federal Ministry of Power Works & Housing on issues relating to government policy.

However, we are very much aware that many investors have taken up the opportunity created by the Mini Grid Regulation for the provision of electricity to unserved communities using renewables.

Manufacturers are clamouring for licence to build IPP, have you granted it, and how much work has gone into it?

We are aware that several manufacturers are taking advantage of the Eligible Customer Regulations as a means of securing enhanced quality of supply. We have not received any license application by manufacturers as a group.

Oando employees reach out to flood victims

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ouched by the plights of it host communities in Bayelsa State because of the devastating effect of 2018 flood, employees of Oando PLC have decide to put smiles on the faces of thousands of people that suffer losses on account of the tragic incident.

The employee led initiative is grounded in their realisation and acceptance that the government cannot achieve an inclusive and sustainable society alone. Citizens and organisations must work alongside governments to support the building of the society we all desire.

The initiative is further rooted in the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility strategy that builds upon the collective strengths of its people and partners as good corporate citizens to power prosperity and long term growth within its host

communities.

Oando employees donated food and non-perishable items such as bags of rice; cartons of noodles; disinfectant; mosquito treated nets; clothing to over 2,000 displaced families in some communities as well as those in government-approved camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in their host communities of Rivers and Bayelsa state.

Speaking on the initiative, an Oando employee, Olayemi Olomo, said, “I believe strongly in helping people in need. Initiatives of this nature have been my passion for over 5 years, and that’s part of the culture here at Oando.”

Inikpi Okutachi, another employee of the company said: “I appreciate how Oando encourages and stands behind its communities, it’s inspiring.

I couldn’t help but follow in the steps of the company by

making a donation when the need arose.”

Akinbambo Ibidapo-Obe, general manager commercial, Oando Energy Resources said: “It’s not very often that you find yourself in a company with people who share the same values as you do. I’ve participated in every single employee philanthropy that the company has embarked on and I pledge to continue to do so. Natural disasters do not discriminate; any one of us…our family, our friends could be in the same situation one day and I hope people will rally to support me or them, the same way the Oando team is doing today.”

Last year, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed that flooding across 16 States and 87 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Central and Southern Nigeria caused 199 deaths and 1,036 injuries.

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InterVIEW Cjn suspension: upshots of the week!

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he National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Nigerian Bar association (NBA) at an emergency meeting on Monday January 28, resolved and directed all members of the NBA to boycott the courts from Tuesday January 29, 2019.

2. Agbakoba asked the NBA to strip CCT chairman of legal license, Refers Petition written against CCT Chairman, Danladi Yakubu Umar to Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) 3. The NJC at its meeting on Tuesday January 29, 2019 resolved to give Hon. Justices Walter Onnoghen, GCON and Tanko Muhammad seven (7) working days to respond to petitions written against them, reconvenes on February 11th, 2019.

4. Senate asked the Supreme Court to decide constitutionality of Onnoghen’s suspension 5. Onnoghen Appealed CCT Ruling Ordering His Suspension 6. Femi Falana, SAN defied NBA resolutions.

7. Hon Justice Walter Onnoghen Appeals CCT Ruling Ordering His Suspension 8. International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Nigeria condemned suspension of the CJN 9. Rivers lawyers boycott courts, protest at the Federal High Court.

10. Lagos Lawyers divide over NBA resolution regarding court boycott 11. All NBA branches in Cross River State boycotted the courts as lawyers protest Justice Onnoghen’s suspension.

12. Lawyers boycott courts in Rivers state, Edo State, Kaduna, Plateau and others.

13 CJN: Ondo lawyers divided over court boycott directive.

14 Partial compliance of court boycott in Kwara State.

52-Year old SAN embarks on a 42km race for justice

In the face of the ongoing crisis in the judiciary, which has led to the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the appointment of a new one, some lawyers are taking a stand for integrity and making moves to restore confidence in Nigeria’s administration of justice system. In this interview with BusinessDay Law Editor, THEODORA KIO-LAWSON, Osaro Eghobamien, SAN, founding partner, Perchstone & Graeys, who will be #RunningForJustice at the Lagos Marathon come Saturday, speaks about the failings of the judicial system and reforms to restore confidence in the system. EXCERPTS…

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efore we go on to “Running”, let’s talk about Maladministration of Justice in Nigeria, How bad is the situation?

I think that if you want to understand the level of degradation, you only need to ask people who have come in contact with the court system in Nigeria, particularly the litigants, then you would have a full appreciation of the failings in the system. To the extent that, those who use the court system, though constrained to do so, have exhibited a total lack of confidence in Nigeria’s justice system.

What is the role of the lawyer in all of this?

We have a duty to determine how we are perceived and I believe presently, the administration of justice system in Nigeria, is poorly perceived not just in Nigeria but globally. Investors express reservations as it pertains to getting justice in Nigeria. And so, we delude ourselves, when we display an arrogance of how good our system is internationally. All we need to do is pay attention to our reputation internationally to see the truth.

We are getting to the point, where as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), you are seen as inferior to a Queen’s Counsel. Whereas, the true position is that a Senior Advocate of Nigeria is equivalent to a Queen’s Counsel in England. So increasingly, the Nigerian jurisdiction is seen as inferior to juris-

Osaro Eghobamien, SAN

dictions outside.

To save this institution, we must begin to take some critical steps towards reform.

Digging deep…how did we get here? How did the justice system lose the confidence of court users?

ANS: I think what the judiciary is facing today is only a symptom of a more fundamental and deep-rooted problem.

This is the consequence of the absence of a mechanism to resolve complaints

Osaro eghobamien, SAN during the health session at the 11th Annual Business law Conference in Lagos.

against judges. We must have a mechanism that is independent; transparent and one that is accessible to the public.

The perception around here is that presently, there’s no respect for the rule of law. Most people don’t believe that they will get justice fairly from a Nigerian court. Similarly, a lot of practitioners are not totally certain we would get fair judgments or results based on the workings of the system. As simple as resolving conflicts or getting judgments at the Supreme Court may seem, it has thrown up several situations, which do

not inspire confidence in the system.

The number of conflicting cases at the Supreme Court alone alarming!

I’ll simply say that he purpose for which the Supreme Court was set up is one we all have to begin to question. There are several things within the system that we as practitioners at the Supreme Court cannot expose, but they give us real cause for concern. A colleague put in perspective recently when he Continues on page 30

Onnoghen’s suspension: as Buhari goes for broke . . .

Newly appointed CJN, Hon. Justice Tanko Mohammed

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he widespread negative public reaction to the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari has predictably crowded out any rational discussion of its validity or otherwise, under relevant laws, not least of which is the 1999 Constitution. The perceptible motivation behind a lot of the condemnation of the admittedly shocking - albeit not altogether unexpected – development is an admixture of primordial sentiments (ethnicity, religion) and political opportunism by the President’s

President Mohammed Buhari

political enemies, particularly the opposition People’s Democratic Party.

This is unfortunate, of course, because, as ever, the truth is the first casualty. So what, precisely, is the truth? At the risk of flouting the rule against public commentary on pending litigations (reiterated, ironically, by Justice Onnoghen himself just over a year ago), here is a personal opinion.

Isn’t it is said that facts are sacred, and opinion is free?

First things first . . .

While announcing the suspension,

Suspended CJN, Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen

President Buhari was clear that Justice Onnoghen had only been interdicted and that his replacement, Hon. Justice Tanko, is merely a stand-in, serving in an acting capacity. To that extent, the provisions of Section 292(1)(a)(i) of the Constitution which prescribe the modalities for the removal of the CJN are inapplicable and have been wrongly cited by some as having been violated. They have not. The same Constitution (in Section 231(1)) stipulates the circumstances under Continues on page 30

Babatunde Irukera, director general, Consumer Protection Council (L) with Jordi Borrut-Bel, managing director/CEO, Nigerian Breweries Plc who was on a courtesy visit to the CPC.

Mails to the Law Editor: theodora@businessdayonline.com

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52-Year old SAN embarks on a 42km...

Continued from page 29 pointed out that our problem started when the Supreme Court assumed jurisdiction over political cases. This is where corruption at that level was birthed.

Do you think the process of appointing judges has also contributed to the current state of the judicial system?

Indeed it has. The method and process of appointing judges in Nigeria is less than satisfactory. While it may seem perfect on paper, in substance there is a problem. There is no reason why we can’t appoint Supreme Court justices from the bar. We must begin to rethink this now. What we need is a mechanism that is efficient, transparent In the appointment of Supreme Court justices, if you do not get the best brains into the Supreme Court, then it cannot perform its function as a policy court. It is not a court for the average practitioner. It is for the most intelligent practitioners. If you look at the background and pedigree of many of the judges outside our jurisdiction (this country), you would find that they were first in other disciplines before moving on to law.

Those who are elevated to the position of leadership, either at the bar or in the judiciary must be above board. They must not be seen to have character defects. We cannot appoint judges who are only too willing to breach their oath of office. We must begin to pay critical attention to the procedure for elevation.

While the challenges with the administration of justice in Nigeria, impacts almost everyone, if not all of us, not a lot of stakeholders rise to the occasion to

do something about it. How and when did you make the decision to not only “Stand Up” for it, but to go the extra mile and “RUN FOR IT”?

these values (laughs).

In the last two years, the Judiciary and even the bar has been in the limelight for reasons that border on integrity and now, the head of the judiciary has come under scrutiny for the same reasons, how easy would it be to sell “Confidence in the Nigerian Justice system?

I have always been community-spirited. When I got into practice, I found out that some of us who are making a headway in the profession continue to criticize the profession, without actually doing anything about improving it. In fact, in some cases, those who are actually the problem were the most critical.

I’d say, what I am trying to achieve with this run is to direct the exhibition of passion to many who are sitting on the fence regarding the issue of integrity at the bar. There lots of good practitioners with integrity and good values, perhaps higher than I exhibit, but who would rather not get into what they may consider the hassles of ‘fighting’ for what they believe in. So this is to inspire and spur them into action – no matter how little.

Many would say, that corruption has become endemic and malignant in the system, growing uncontrollably and eating deep into the justice sector. Do you think it can simply be “RUN OUT”?

Yes it can and this is why running is symbolical. It is to demonstrate the arduous task it would take to make a change in the administration. That notwithstanding, it must be done.

I would be embarking on a 42KM run and a 42KM run for a 52-year old man is no small task, but the message I am trying to pass is that “It Can be done” and this is why I am determined to finish the race. The change and reforms we are looking to make in the justice sector is a journey and not a destina-

It couldn’t have been a better time.

The way to build confidence is to make deliberate effort towards change.

From here on, we’re looking to se up a research centre for policy that would drive the needed reforms.

The journey of a thousand miles they say, begins with a “step” and you are about to take “55,000” steps in a 42km race.

How far are we taking these steps to justice reform?

tion, so these steps are a start towards the journey to reform.

It is an encouragement to many who hold the same values, but need a slight push to take that first step towards doing something about it Some of them can even do better than I’m doing right now. So I’m saying to them “let us begin together.” I’m saying to them that silence and inaction is how we got here in the first place.

As trustees, people trust us with their assets, their businesses, and their day-to-day concerns. Therefore, there is a certain level of value that we must always exhibit - a much higher level than others.

Speaking of the profession,

values and good lawyers, can we attempt some statistics?

Well, I have been very fortunate to work with some of the best practitioners in the profession. Each of my former bosses, Sofunde Osakwe Ogundipe and Belgore (SOOB) posses some very high qualities I admire a lot. Ebun Sofunde, SAN is one whom I have the greatest respect for, not only because he is an exceptionally good lawyer but he exhibits the character anyone would want to see in a practicing lawyer. Yemi Candide-Johnson and a few others I know hold some of the highest standards of ethics in the legal profession. Of course you do not expect me to mention those who do not share

The marathon is the longest race in a sports competition and to embark on a marathon, some of the qualities that must be exhibited include: respect for the rules, fairness, determination, amongst other things.

All of these are the same qualities required to build confidence in the system. I could have chosen the 10km race but I did not. I have chosen the most arduous race, which demonstrates endurance and symbolizes the qualities we must posses to bring about the needed change and how far we must go to make a success of it.

All I’m asking of practitioners, is to commit a number of hours to rebuild the structures that are necessary for an effective administration of justice system in Nigeria. Note that my 83-year old father will be joining me to finish this race.

Onnoghen’s suspension: as Buhari goes for broke . . .

Continued from page 29 which the CJN may be appointed (on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, subject to confirmation by the Senate). Thus, it is clear that President Buhari did not purport to appoint Justice Tanko as the substantive CJN. In other words, Justice Onnoghen remains the nation’s substantive CJN, albeit until further notice.

Does any law support the president’s action?

This is the million- dollar question.

If such a law exists, why the fuss? If it doesn’t, then the President has goofed, either in good faith or otherwise. To the best of my knowledge, apart from the Interpretation Act, no statutory provision justifies the suspension by the President (or a State Governor) of a judicial officer whose appointment and outright removal are provided for under the Constitution. The provisions of Section 11(1) (c)(ii) of the Interpretation Act seem to confer a qualified mandate of sorts in this regard. They provide that “where an enactment confers a power to appoint a person either to an office or to exercise any functions, whether for a specific purpose or not, the power includes power, exercisable in the manner and subject to the limitations and conditions (if any) applicable to the power to appoint, to appoint a person to act in his place . . . during such a time as is considered expedient by the authority in whom the power of appointment is question is vested”.

The limitation of the provisions are self-evident: the power to suspend a

CJN and appoint an acting one are subject to the very provisions of the Constitution (Section 231(1)) which deal with his or her appointment in the first place. Even though by virtue of Section 318(4) of the Constitution, the Interpretation Act “shall be used in interpreting the provisions of the Constitution”, however, this can only arise, in the event of any ambiguity, as is arguably the case, in relation to the constitutional provisions dealing with the disciplinary control of judicial officers, including the Honourable CJN. In this regard, Paragraph 21(b) of the Third Schedule to the Constitution provides, inter alia, that “the National Judicial Council shall have power to exercise disciplinary control over” the CJN, amongst other Judicial officers. Does this include suspension?

A liberal construction of that phrase would seem to give that impression.

Precedent certainly suggests that it does, because when President Jonathan suspended Hon. Justice Salami as the President of the Court of Appeal a few years ago, he did so on the recommendation of the NJC. Is Justice Onnoghen’s case different, and, if so how and why?

Only President Buhari can answer that question. Hence the title of this piece. His real motives for moving against Justice Onnoghen - whatever they might be - are outside the scope of this intervention. The stated reason – an order purportedly issued by the Code of Conduct Tribunal just a day before the Court of Appeal restrained it from further proceeding with Justice

Onnoghen’s trial - is suspect, to say the least. In other words, whether the CCT possess that power in the circumstances is doubtful. However, whether valid or not, that order remains binding until it is set aside. I suspect that is precisely what Justice Onnoghen’s advisers would try to do in the coming days and weeks.

Should Justice Onnoghen have recused himself pending the resolution of the charges?

This is the moral, if not legal, question behind the CJN’s travails. What does the law say about a public officer (such as His Lordship) who is on trial for alleged malfeasance? It appears that under the Public Service Rules 2009, such an officer is obliged to step aside (i.e., proceed on suspension, usually with half-pay) until he or she is cleared of the charges. Those Rules do not, however, apply to judicial officers, who have their own separate conditions of service under the Judicial Discipline Regulations 2017, the Revised Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers 2016 and the NJC’s Revised Guidelines and Procedural Rules for Appointment of Judicial Officers 2014. See the Court of Appeal’s decision in NGANJIWA vs FRN (2017) LPELR – 43391.

If (as seems to be the case) judicial officers are exempt from the said provisions of the Public Service Rules which , require the suspension of a public officer who is on trial for committing a crime or violating any extant statute (like the Code of Conduct), then such a privilege would be a clear violation of the right to equal protection of the law under

Article 3(2) of the African Charter on Human and People Rights, as well as the right to freedom from discrimination under Section 42(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

Accordingly, such a provision would be invalid, null and void and unconstitutional. This is because the Supreme Court itself has made it clear that, beyond the literal meaning of its letters, “the principles upon which the Constitution was established, measure the purpose and scope of its operations”: ATTGEN. OF THE BENDEL STATE. vs.

ATT-GEN. OF THE FED (1981) 10 S.C. 131. In this case, the Preamble to the Constitution clearly states that its purpose is the promotion of good governance on the basis of freedom, equality and justice.

Conclusion It is a cliché that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.

The apparent face-off between President Buhari and Justice Onnoghen can have no winners. The former has merely emboldened his numerous critics to be more vociferous in their charge that he is undemocratic and anti-Constitution/the rule of law.

With all due respect, the Honourable CJN is no better as, either way, his reputation is already tarnished by the revelations of the humongous, unexplained, amounts of money reportedly traced to him. What is the end-game for both? It remains to be seen.

In the meantime, everyone seems fixated on, and indeed, agitated by, this duel between two constitutional

titans, supported by a motley crew of hirelings and cheerleaders. Everyone seems to be ready with an opinion on the saga, either informed or not, no matter how banal or trivial. As a result, national interest and patriotism have taken a back seat, and it is seemingly a case of ‘To your tents, O Israel’. Needless to say, it doesn’t have to be this way. Beyond the actual dramatis personae, both the elite and the hoi polloi alike ought to realize that it is in their joint interest to preserve this democracy which, with all its imperfections (and they are many) is still preferable, by far, to the most benevolent autocracy.

Our unhappy national history in this regard is not that distant for us to be unable to recall.

Accordingly, going forward, what the situation calls for, in my view, is not so much a legal solution, as an elite consensus for resolving what is clearly a battle for the soul of the nation. Nigeria is at a crossroads.

At the risk of being perceived as proselytizing or presumptuous, I counsel that we should all strive to cultivate and imbibe the spirit of promoting the common good over narrow, selfish, parochial interests and sentiments. We must insist that our public officials exhibit a set of values which are marked by a moral bar that transcends their petty egos and personal aspirations. That is certainly the norm in advanced democracies.

Nigeria cannot be different.

Abubakar D. Sani, Esq.

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Networking your professional community as a young lawyer

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or many young lawyers, professional life revolves around the office desk. We live our lives and work out our career like it begins with what we are told to do at work and ends at our office desk. We forget that the practice of law is fused into the very fabric of our personality and life. For any lawyer who wants to optimise opportunity and grow quickly, understanding that job descriptions transcend the office desk is one of the most important great lessons to learn and act on. While it is important to focus on building technical skills, which pave a path for your credibility within your office and with clients, it is important to note that they are not your only audience. Often, there is someone who needs a legal/business service which your organisation can offer around you and you improve your opportunities when you begin to attract them to you and consequently, to your work.

Are you a desk potato?

Ever heard the phrase, “couch potato”?

Probably yes; how about “desk potato”?

Maybe not. How much of your time share involves learning or meeting people outside the forum of your office? The Urban dictionary describes a “Desk Potato” as “someone who sits at the desk busy and not accomplishing much”. I will tweak this slightly and say, “not operating at full potential”. Building your technical skills is important but building a professional community that you can leverage on is also critical.

So, even when you are first year postcall, you need to think beyond your desk and start working your way up using a multi-pronged arsenal of both technical expertise and connections with the people in your market.

One major obstacle young lawyers encounter in this regard is that attendance at such events is not expedient due to the pressure of work. Granted, these concerns are germane but it is not good enough for work to start and end at your desk; search out event, which would enhance your work, join online communities and begin to forge solid professional connections.

LinkedIn is a very useful tool and it aids easy connection with professionals in other jurisdictions. In good time, the effect would show in the quality of work you churn out and you will find that more often than not, your employer would endorse these engagements.

Networking starts with you The currency of networking is value.

What value can you portray as a young lawyer, you may ask? A lot! Your knowledge of the law, commerce, matters relevant to the sector within which the business event is being held, the people you know, your presentation

to say the least. It is important to portray yourself properly within any professional setting and to commit to increasing your capacity. The end goal is to develop relationships through which you can transfer/derive value.

It starts with doing work so well that you are considered suitable to represent your organisation at formal gatherings. It is enhanced when you take responsibility to improve yourself, research to build broad and deep knowledge of the law and business in general.

When you go out, do not be perturbed by the pomp and status of older lawyers, work to improve yourself so that you are able to intelligently contribute to conversations. Starting a conversation is easy, holding a conversation and making a good impression is easier when you have good knowledge on the subjects that come up.

Even where the forum is electronic, you must be conscious to develop yourself to make valuable contributions.

Also, your etiquette at such fora is critical. A few tips: hesitate to speak about subjects that you are not versed in; instead, listen and take notes which you can use for further learning.

Do not stalk persons you seek to meet, be tactful in working the room.

Your card is not the most important tool for networking, showing interest/ pleasure in meeting the person is more important; so hold back on sharing the card until it is right.

Shunting queues, insufficient personal grooming, loud chatter in solemn moments are negative spotlights that you need to avoid.

There are many books on professional etiquette, read and digest such content, you would find the knowledge

invaluable.

Networking happens everywhere and is multi-directional For most of us, when we think about networking, we think it is linked to specific locations or events such as conferences and meetings. This is not totally correct. While I admit that networking should be purpose driven and it is easier to network within an environment which has a selection of people who have similar interests, I believe that we are presented with myriad opportunities which we hardly harness because we only wait for the “networking construct” and are not deliberate about this.

Whether or not you are in a store or a fuel station, having your cards at hand is an advantage. Transactions begin and end at parties. Dress appropriately, be prepared; lace yourself with conduct that is “fit and proper”. Be ready to introduce yourself. The proverbial “elevator pitch” should be rehearsed and revised from time to time.

Also, many young lawyers focus on meeting older lawyers at events. It is the view that the more obvious you are to them, the better your opportunity. That is not totally correct. Your networking should be multi-directional, focused on senior professionals, peers and younger professionals. The image of the spider’s web is the best depiction of a network. The silk threads are so intertwined and spread wide to increase its opportunity at catching prey. Network in all directions. A relationship with a court clerk or the gateman at a client’s office may be the seal on a potential transaction or promotion. Be civil and professional at all times.

Do you have a strategy or sched-

ule for networking?

It is reported that American president, George H.W. Bush, wrote personal letters to all his contacts during festive seasons to give a personal touch to the celebration and through this, he sustained a large network of loyal colleagues and friends. What is your strategy? A call a month to a colleague in another firm, periodic lunches with professional colleagues? You have to be intentional about networking as well.

Share your time to include mandatory networking and connections with professional colleagues both formally and informally. This helps you stay abreast of developments in the market and keeps you top of mind when opportunities arise. Have a networking plan, it makes it easy to execute.

Lastly, networking in the professional community should be done within the context of your work responsibilities. Truancy at work cannot be justified by a networking excuse, neither is laxity with your work. Get necessary approvals, carry your organisation along where necessary. Do not forget, it is not only about you. What you do does impact the organisation you work for as well.

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

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

LEGALINSIGHT

Company’s registered office and registers

OSEROGHO & ASSOCIATES

A

n important requirement for every Incorporated or Registered Company is the mandatory disclosure of the Company’s Registered Office Address.

Other than just being a mandatory incorporation requirement, the purpose and significance of a Registered Limited Liability Company’s registered or head office is often lost to a larger portion of the business community mostly due to the lack of an appreciation of the role that a Limited Liability Company’s Registered Office plays in the ultimate Corporate Governance Structure of the Company.

Some of the minimum information regarding what the purpose or essence of a Company’s Registered or Head Office is for, with the various mandatory Registers to be kept and maintained at such an office, are provided below.

Registered Office Every Incorporated Company must have a Registered Office to which all communication including correspondence and notices addressed to the incorporated company, are delivered. A Post Office Box (“P. O. Box”) and a Private Mail Bag (“P. M. B”) are not however allowed to be used as a Registered Office Address for a Company.

Key documents and processes, including Court processes, are also more commonly required to be served on a Company at the Company’s Registered Address.

Publication of Registered Name by a Company In addition to a Registered Office serving as the place from which a Limited Liability Company receives various kinds of correspondence, every Registered or Head Office of a Company must have printed and affixed on a conspicuous part of its Registered and other key business offices, in easily, very legible letters, the Company’s Incorporation Name and Registration Number (“RC”). The latter is usually at the main entrance or main reception area into such a Company’s business premises.

The Company’s incorporation name and registration number are also required to be engraved in very legible letters, on the Company’s Seals, business stationaries like its letter headed papers and complimentary cards, invoices, receipts, bills of exchange, letters of credit, etc.

Fines, albeit nominal, and depending on the size of the Company, with some imposed on a daily basis, will be imposed on both the Company and the principal members of the Company’s management team who knowingly and willfully allow non-compliance with any of the above statutory provisions, to fester and persist.

Company’s Mandatory Registers Every Registered or Incorporated Company must keep and maintain various Statutory Registers. Registers are records in writing kept in a Book or other stored

the Corporate Affairs Commission (“CAC”) within Ninety (90) days of its creation. Where such an Instrument is not registered at CAC, the Charge will be deemed void and of no effect whatsoever. The latter is without prejudice to the Company’s obligations to repay the debt, as this obligation becomes due immediately where the Charge Instrument is not registered with CAC within the timeline provided for by Law.

form; commonly electronically.

Some of the Statutory Registers that an Incorporated Company must keep and maintain are highlighted in this paper starting with a Company’s Register of its Members or Shareholders.

This Register of a Company’s Members or Shareholders must disclose important information like the names and addresses of the Shareholders, the Share Capital of the Company, the number of Shares held by each Shareholder, the date on which each Shareholder became a Member of the Company, the date any Shareholder ceased to be a Shareholder of the Company, etc.

The second major Register that every Incorporated Company must keep is the Register of its Directors, the Directors’ proprietary interest in the Company and who its Company Secretary is. Key information to be found in these Registers include any former and present forename(s) and surname of

each Director, their residential addresses, their nationalities, business occupation, particulars of any other Company in which any Director of the Company is also a Director of that other Company, any direct or indirect proprietary business interest in the Company, etc.

The next important Register that must be highlighted is the Register of Charges like Mortgages, Debentures and Debenture Holders. This Register must contain the names and addresses of the parties to the Debenture or any other kind of Charge, the nature of the Charge, the redemption and extinguishing criteria of the Charge, etc. The ordinary meaning of a Charge is that a Charge is a kind of lien, encumbrance or claim on any property of a Company to secure the repayment of a debt owed by the Company.

Any Instrument that creates any kind of charge on any of the assets of a Company must be registered with

Company’s Registers’ Storage All Registers, other Records, Minutes Book, Books of Account, etc. of every Company may be kept in bounded books, or in loose sheets, or electronically.

In whatever form the above information are kept, adequate precaution must be taken by the Company to guard against the falsification of any part of the information in its various Registers.

Also, protocols to facilitate the recovery of any loss of the data of the Company must always be in place and maintained by the Company.

Conclusion Though there are fines for any noncompliance with any of the above statutory provisions, many Companies have continued to disregard compliance with these legal requirements, due in part to poor regulatory oversights.

Futuristically, a well-managed risk adverse Company must ensure that it has and maintains the above minimum Registers.

32

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Grey Matter

Thursday 31 January 2019

BDLegalBusiness

Reforming the business climate in Nigeria: critical changes introduced by the companies and allied matters bill, 2018

O

n Tuesday, January 22, 2018, the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, at plenary, considered and adopted all the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2018 (the “CAM Bill”). By this development, the CAM Bill has received concurrent passage by the two chambers of the National Assembly; having been earlier passed by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 15, 2018. It is expected that in the coming weeks, the CAM Bill would be transmitted to the President for assent after which it will become the new governing regime for setting up and running business entities in Nigeria.

The CAM Bill is a watershed in the Nigerian business and economic landscape and a big boost to the Ease-of-Doing-Business (“EoDB”) campaign of the Government. By repealing and replacing the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990 (“1990 Act”), the CAM Bill seeks to promote reform of the onerous legal and regulatory framework as well as administrative bottlenecks which, for close to three decades, have made doing business in Nigeria substantially difficult – particularly for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (“MSMEs”) – and had made the economy less attractive to investments hence less competitive.

This piece highlights some of the critical changes which the CAM Bill has introduced to the principal framework regulating the business climate in Nigeria.

(A) Starting and running a business to become more seamless and less expensive: The following alterations have been made to the extant regime by the CAM Bill for the purpose of improving ease of registering and running business entities in Nigeria: • Provision for Single Member/Shareholder Companies The minimum number of members/shareholders required to form and incorporate a company under the 1990 Act is two (2). The CAM Bill in section 18(2) has amended this provision by allowing a promoter to establish a private company with only one (1) member/shareholder.

• Declaration of Compliance no longer required to be made by a Legal Practitioner The documents required for submission at the Corporate Affairs Commission (“CAC”) in relation to the incorporation of companies under the 1990 Act include a statutory Declaration of Compliance by a Legal Practitioner. This requirement has been replaced in section 40(1) of the CAM Bill with a Statement of Compliance which can be signed by an applicant or his agent, confirming therein that the requirements of law as to registration have been duly complied with.

• Replacement of Author-

nual General Meeting

ised Share Capital with Minimum Issued Share Capital Under the 1990 Act, the limit on the maximum amount of shares a company can allot is specified by the Authorised Share Capital. In practice, shareholders sometimes agree to raise this limit above the capital requirements of the company at any point in time, so as to avoid the cost and time involved in raising additional capital where the need arises in the future. Since the amount of stamp duty and filling fees payable for company incorporation are based on the Authorised Share Capital, this leads to front-loading of costs thereby making it a more expensive venture. The CAM Bill in section 27 has eliminated the concept of an Authorised Share Capital and replaced same with Minimum Issued Share Capital for companies.

• Incorporation of a Private Company Limited by Guarantee – Consent of AGF no longer required Incorporation of a company limited by guarantee is subject to the authority of the Attorney‐ General of the Federation (“AGF”) under the 1990 Act and as such, no memorandum of a company limited by guarantee is registrable by the CAC except the consent of the AGF is sought and obtained.

The CAM Bill in section 26 has dispensed with the requirement for the approval of the AGF and has instead provided that where the CAC is satisfied with contents of the Memorandum and Articles of Association submitted by the promoters, it shall cause the application for registration of a company limited by guarantee to be advertised in a prescribed form in three (3) national daily newspapers, inviting possible objections from the public.

the original documents.

In a similar vein, the CAM Bill provides in section 176(1) that instruments of transfer of shares shall include electronic instruments of transfer.

In addition to the foregoing, a private company is permitted to hold its general meetings remotely, provided that such meetings are conducted in accordance with the Articles of the company. This will facilitate participation at such meetings from any location in the world at a cheaper cost.

Exemption from Audit & An-

Every company, without qualification, is required under the 1990 Act to appoint an auditor or auditors at its Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) to audit the financial records of the company.

This mandatory provision has now been modified, in section 403 of the CAM Bill, to exempt a set of companies from the requirements of the law relating to the audit of accounts in respect of a financial year.

Hence, a company (other than an insurance company or a bank or any other company as may be prescribed by the CAC) shall be exempted from appointing auditors to audit its annual accounting records if; (1) it has not carried on any business since its incorporation; or (2) it is a small company as defined under the CAM Bill.

In like manner, a small com-

Appointment of a Company Secretary – Optional for Private Companies Under the 1990 Act, every company is mandatorily required to have a Secretary. This requirement has changed under the CAM Bill, which in section 331, has restricted the appointment of a Secretary to only public companies. Appointment of a Company Secretary is henceforth not mandatory but optional for private companies.

This is expected to lessen the regulatory burden of MSMEs and Single Member Companies.

To be continued next week

photofile

Perchstone & Graeys Partner, Tolu Aderemi (middle) in company of Life Bencher, Hairat Balogun (R) and Olaogun at a valedictory session at the Lagos high court in honour of Late Hon. Justice Oguntoye.

Aluko & Oyebode Partner, Oghogho Makinde (left) with Johann Rieger of European Technologies for Africa (ETEFA) at a business networking conference hosted in Lagos by the Austrian Embassy in partnership with Powergas and ETEFA. Powergas, ETEFA projects to save Nigeria $2.5b yearly through gas-fired city buses.

• Common Seal no longer mandatory for companies Every company is required, under the 1990 Act, to have a Common Seal, the use of which is to be regulated by the Articles of Association. The CAM Bill in section 98 has removed the mandatory requirement for a Common Seal and made its possession and use optional for a company.

pany and/or any company having a single shareholder (Single Member Company) is exempted, in section 238(1) of the CAM Bill, from the requirement of holding AGM.

Photo of B&I Managing Partner, Ken Etim (R) and Senior Associate, Tunji Adeyemi, at the commencement of negotiations with the Preferred Bidder, Bollore-Power China Consortium for the concession of the Ibom Deep Seaport. The firm was a part of the Transaction Advisory Team.

Panelists at the Business of Law Conference hosted by StrictlyLawBiz in Lagos.

Provisions for electronic filing & issue of documents, electronic Share Transfer and e-Meetings for private companies Documents required to be filed with the CAC for registration can now be filed electronically through a e-portal deployed for the process. As provided in section 861 of the CAM Bill, certified true copies of such electronically filed documents are admissible in evidence; with equal validity with

Aluko & Oyebode Partner, Reginald Udom speaking on Olaniwun Ajayi’s Tominiyi Owolabi, was a panelist at the just “Taking Security” at the 2019 Entry Level Associate Training concluded Nigeria International Petroleum Summit, where Exercise. he spoke on policy, regulation and investments in the oil and gas industry.

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BUSINESS DAY

33

Shaping people into a team

People use less energy when they think their neighbors care about the environment Jon M. Jachimowicz, Oliver Hauser, Julie O’Brien, Erin Sherman and Adam Galinsky

L

ast November the U.S. government released a report detailing the devastating impact of global warming for the U.S. economy: They predicted that gross domestic product would shrink by more than 10% by the end of the century if nothing was done to reduce rising temperatures.

The report makes clear that a significant reduction in energy consumption is needed to help meet critical temperature thresholds.

New research we conducted points to a way to help consumers work toward this goal — one that doesn’t rest on changing people’s personal beliefs about climate change. It turns out that something else matters even more. Our research suggests that whether you believe your neighbors care about energy conservation is an important motivator for how you consume energy.

We partnered with the utility provider Opower, acquired by Oracle in 2016, to find out what predicts whether someone will or will not reduce their energy consumption. Opower’s flagship product is their Home Energy Report, or HER, which tells residential energy customers not just how much energy they use, but also how much energy their neighbors consume.

Prior research finds that this singlepage document helps customers reduce their energy use, on average about 1-2% per year.

But averages don’t tell the whole story. Every time Opower implements their intervention in a new region or with a new utility company, they conduct a randomized controlled trial, comparing a treatment group that receives the HER with a group that does not.

We received access to the 211 randomized controlled trials Opower conducted over the past decade, which included over 16 million households in 27 states.

Puzzlingly, we found that the aver-

age reduction in energy usage by households that received the HER varies: In some cases, households achieved a 2.55% reduction in energy consumption, whereas others reached only 0.81%. Why is the impact so inconsistent? The answer has to do with the core principle and motivator baked into every HER: social norms.

The HER is essentially a simple three-bar graph called the neighbor comparison. It shows recipients how much energy they’re consuming, how much energy “efficient neighbors” consume and how much “all neighbors” consume. It also rates them on how they’re doing in terms of energy reduction.

The graph depicts a “social norm” by communicating how others like them behave — and challenges them to do better if they’re falling short of the neighbors.

Opower expected that the HER would influence consumers equally. After all, decades of social science research show that people generally want to be like their peers (or better), and no one wants to be seen as caring less about the environment than their neighbors. Yet

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some people seemed to be less motivated by the report than others.

To find out what drove this difference, we surveyed individuals in the 27 states that Opower’s randomized controlled trials were in, asking them two questions: whether they themselves believe that energy conservation helps save the environment, and whether they believe that the majority of their neighbors believe that saving energy helps save the environment.

We then explored whether the effectiveness of Opower’s randomized controlled trials was associated with participants’ responses within those same states.

Surprisingly, what matters more than one’s own attitudes and beliefs — how concerned we are with our own energy use and the environment — is whether we believe our neighbors view saving energy as important to saving the environment. Receiving the HER with information about your neighbors’ energy consumption has a stronger influence on your own energy use when you believe that your neighbors care about saving energy as an issue.

Imagine receiving this report stating that you consume more energy than your neighbors. You may wonder: “What are my efficient neighbors doing?” And, a beat after, you may think, “Haven’t they been on vacation?” “Aren’t their kids already in college?” “Are they even doing it on purpose?” “They were surely just lucky this month!”

If your neighbors are using less energy than you by accident, rather than out of concern for the environment, then perhaps their efficient energy use is hardly a valid basis for you to change light bulbs and turn off the AC. However, if you believe that your neighbors do deeply care about reducing their energy usage, then you may view your own consumption of more energy through a different lens, asking yourself: “What steps are they taking to conserve energy?” “Perhaps I could ask them for help?” or even, “They seem to be taking this seriously.” In other words, the more you think that your neighbors actually care about saving energy to help the environment, the more you will engage in energy-reducing behaviors.

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The suggestion here is that the stories we tell ourselves about why others behave the way they do drive our own behavior, as much as our personal attitudes and beliefs and what we observe others doing. The implications of this perspective go beyond energy consumption.

Imagine that you’re a manager, seeking to improve your employees’ work-life balance. As a student of successful management practices and behavioral science, you look at the data and decide to employ a social norm message, such as: “70% of your colleagues don’t check email on nights and weekends” or “85% of your colleagues use all their vacation days by the end of each year.” Our results imply that you might want to go one step further: You need to help your employees understand that others in the firm not only engage in these behaviors, but also deeply care about them. So you might be better off writing, “We all value time with our families, and so does our firm. That’s why 85% of your colleagues use all their vacation days by the end of each year.”

Above all, our results remind us that whenever we attempt to change human behavior, we must go one step beyond seeking to change what a person believes, and instead also pay attention to what they think others believe. We are social beings and care deeply about not just what our neighbors and co-workers do but also what they think.

Jon M. Jachimowicz is a doctoral student at Columbia Business School. Oliver Hauser is a doctoral student at Harvard University. Julie O’Brien is a behavioral scientist and principal at Duke University’s Center for Advanced Hindsight.

Erin Sherman is a vice president at ideas42. Adam Galinsky is the chair of the management division at Columbia Business School.

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BUSINESSTRAVEL

New airport terminals are changing Nigeria’s travel narrative IFEOMA OKEKE

W

hen her Cronos flight landed in the newly rebuilt, Port Harcourt International Airport, a Ghanaian passenger was the last to get off the plane. Even then, she had to be persuaded.

Long used to airport terminals in Nigeria that are barely functional, she refused to believe that the swanky airport was in Nigeria.

The flight crew had to reassure her that this indeed is, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

All around the world, Airport terminals are no longer just buildings with long chairs where passengers wait to board airplanes, people now require they have a personality. They want it to create an ambience where people are happy to shop without guilt, to feel at home while being away.

Nigeria has been unable to achieve this with its airports for a long time but that is changing.

Two airports terminals: the Port Harcourt International airport and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airports with better facilities have been opened to the public.

The projects were started in February 2014 with $500million loan from China Exim Bank and $100million matching fund from the Federal Government. Other airports slated to be rehabilitated include the two in Lagos, and the Kano airport.

Air travellers will heave a sigh of relief as these terminals are now working when there is high demand for the facilities.

Abuja Airport Terminal President-Mohammadu Bu-

Abuja Airport Terminal

hari opened the newly rebuilt Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport terminal on Thursday 20th Dec 2018 and Asky airline operated the inaugural flight to the new terminal seventeen days later. Thereafter, Ethiopia Airlines began daily flight operations from the terminal on Jan 24.

Asky Airlines has commended the Government of Nigeria for the newly inaugurated international terminal at Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport expressing its commitment to the route by being the first to land at the brand new ultra-modern terminal.

The crew and passengers were warmly welcomed in the modern setting of this new terminal and congratulated the local airport authorities on the quality of its infrastructure.

Asky reiterated its commitment to working with local authorities to ensure the successful implementation of these new opportunities, which will certainly improve the movement of goods and people in a region with undeniable growth potential.

BusinessDay’s checks show that other international airlines will commence their flight operations in due course.

Abuja airport terminal which is approximately 56,000sqm has the capacity to process 14million passengers per annum. The new terminal has 66 check-in counters, five baggage collection carousels, 16 immigration desks at arrival, 28 immigration desks at departure, eight security screening points, eight passenger boarding bridges and remote boarding and arrival however only two are currently installed.

Other facilities at the Abuja airport include two food courts,

Port Harcourt Airport Terminal

four premium lounges, 22 guest rooms and spa, 16 airline ticketing offices, visa on arrival and port health facilities as well as praying area, more than 3,000sqm of duty free space and more than 5,000sqm of lettable utility space.

Port Harcourt Airport Terminal The Port Harcourt International Airport became operational in the year 1979. The old terminal has been servicing the oil rich Niger Delta region that comprises Rivers State, Bayelsa state, Delta state, Cross Rivers and Akwa Ibom.

Other South East region States such as Abia and Imo States are equally benefiting from the services of this Airport. Few years ago the passenger traffic outgrew the old terminal which comprises both international and local operations, hence the need for expansion.

The Federal Government of Nigeria gave approval to FAAN for the construction of a new terminal. The foundation for the new terminal was laid on March 1, 2014. It was constructed over a period of 4years by the Chinese Construction Company.

The new terminal was commissioned on October 25, last year by President Mohammadu Buhari.

The terminal became fully operational on Friday 25th of January 2018.

Movement of agencies and installation of technical facilities and other sundry issues were concluded and the first flight operation took off on Friday 25th of January 2019, at about 1300hrs with the arrival of CRONOS airline from Accra Ghana This was followed by Lufthansa from Frankfurt Germany and Air-

France from Paris France, at about 1900hrs.

Facilities at the new PH terminal Port Harcourt Airport terminal which is approximately 27,000sqm is expected to process five million passengers annually. The airport has 24 check-in counters and 12 currently installed, three baggage collection carousels with one currently installed; 16 immigration desks at arrival, eight passport control desks at departure, four passenger boarding bridges plus remote boarding and arrival however only one is currently installed.

Other amenities at the new Port Harcourt terminal include two food courts, four premium lounges and spa, airline ticketing offices, duty free space and lettable utility space.

Economic implications No doubt the economic implications that will result from the use of these new terminals are enormous. Olaoye Oluwafemi, aviation consultant and executive director, Raziela Engineering services told BusinessDay that a bigger, modernized and improved capacity terminal opens up the potential for a regional travel hub, with immense spin off potentials.

“The more passengers can be processed and transferred to connecting flights, the more airlines look to such terminals for transition or connecting services.

I cannot over emphasize this as a perfect example is Frankfurt airport and it’s wide reach to Europe, DXB airport and it’s connectivity ability with the middle east and the rest of Asia.

“The next step for Nigeria, apart from opening more locations are to provide air maintenance ser-

vices or at least tanker services for refuelling, thus domesticating the financial implication of such transactions. This I believe will go a long way to reducing the cost of international air travel, as well as improving the connection of people for improved business partnerships,” Oluwafemi said.

He noted that the decision of the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to carry out these new terminal construction must be highlighted and commended as a master stroke, setting the pace for regional dominance in air travel.

John Ojikutu, member of aviation industry think tank, Aviation Round Table (ART) and chief executive of Centurion Securities told Businessday that the airport terminals main advantage is holding more passengers traffic than before and therefore would attract more air traffic or more airline flights frequencies and invariably increase in the aeronautical and none aeronautical Internally Generated Revenues.

Passenger Experience A passenger who simply identified himself as Joseph who recently used the new Abuja terminal said the experience was amazing.

According to him, “For the first time in Nigeria I felt an ambiance of comfort, hospitality and quality just using the new Abuja terminal.

The use of the new terminals is of great significance to air travel passengers, airlines and Nigeria Vis-à-vis terminal operations, increase in passenger traffic and ease of travel, for passengers who would have had to connect through Lagos or Abuja.

The new terminals opens up other geo-political zones to International travel via direct flights is always a win situation for Nigeria.

It opens up the potentials for tourism, business and the effective use of Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) within partnering countries.

“I have lived in Japan for a long time and I have seen good airports. This is a step in the right direction. We were cleared at the immigration in less than ten minutes and this is an improvement,” a passenger said upon arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport terminal.

An Ethiopian airline pilot also commended the state-of-art facilities at the Abuja new terminal.

“This terminal is very spacious and I hope to come back again.”

Several other passengers feel good and exited seeing this terminal come to full operational status. Such is the beautiful ambience this terminal creates that passengers mistook it as a foreign country.

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Feature How Sanwo-Olu lured foreign investors at Geneva, Davos HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

D

espite Nigeria’s unfr iendly business environment that is pushing foreign investors away to other African countries, Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, still holds huge opportunities for the savvy investor.

It is in this regard that Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Lagos State, desirous of making the state a 21st century economy, met and discussed with a number of top CEOs in Geneva and at Davos during the just-concluded World Economic Forum.

As part of his development agenda for the state ahead of the March 2 gubernatorial election, Sanwo-Olu plans to create a conducive business environment to attract investments and industries, support the growth of the local economy, empower the workforce using local talent to drive job and wealth creation, encourage youth development and provide support for key economic sectors like agriculture, housing and security.

And so, while Nigeria wallows in self-pity over the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report, which put Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow into the country at $2.2 billion in 2018, a 36 percent decline from $3.5 billion in 2017, Sanwo-Olu was in Geneva and at Davos meeting and discussing investment opportunities in Lagos State with the global community and international investors.

At an exclusive session with selected Swiss Investors in Geneva, Sanwo-Olu highlighted the enormous investment opportunities in Lagos State.

At the event held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the business interaction triggered commitments of $5 billion investment in infrastructure and capital projects in the state.

While the array of investors comprising commodity traders, equity managers, investment bankers, Fintech and IT experts, infrastructure builders, international donors, energy and power companies unanimously agreed that Lagos is fertile ground for investments, they cited political risk as a more disturbing consideration over economic risk.

In reassuring them, Sanwo-Olu told the investors that Nigeria is safe for investment and Lagos State, as the economic nerve-centre of the country, presents the best environment for global investments.

“There is progressive leadership and stability in the governance of Lagos State since 1999. The state has been under the administration of a party, my party, which is the All Progressives Congress, for more than 16 years. The state has remained a

Satyadeep Rajan, president/CEO, Swiss Learning Exchange, and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Lagos State, during a lunch-time conversation at the just-concluded World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

reference point for infrastructural development and economic prosperity in Nigeria and West Africa,” Sanwo-Olu said.

“On investors’ protection, I think that should be the least of your worries. Lagos has a comprehensive regulation that protects and shields investors. The scope of the regulation covers disputes resolution and commitment to ease of doing business,” he said.

Earlier, Sanwo-Olu informed the investors about his determination to transform Lagos into a 21st century economy. He said Lagos economy, though adjudged to be the 5th largest in Africa, is not yet a 24-hour economy where you can do every transaction round-the-clock.

Sanwo-Olu also leveraged his presence at the WEF to unveil before the foreign investors his five pillars of development agenda tagged project THEME, which was welcomed by some of the investors who indicated interest in the growth plan.

“Do you think we have really maximised the potentials of that economy? We are saying it is a large and growing economy, and you are not playing in it yet. This THEME agenda, beyond being the focus areas of our government, is also indicative of areas of possible collaboration between you and our government,” Sanwo-Olu said.

“Like I said, Transportation and Traffic Management, Health and Environment, Education and Technology, Making Lagos a 21st century economy and Entertainment and Tourism are the topline agenda our government will pursue upon election in 2019,” he said.

While assuring Sanwo-Olu of investors’ and multilateral institutions’ commitment to Lagos and Nigeria, Ibrahim Faria, Country Portfolio Manager, High Impact Africa 1 Grant

Management Division of Global Fund, pledged to support health system in Lagos State if Sanwo-Olu wins the election.

“I am happy to know your THEME priority areas that cover education, health, infrastructure and strengthening private sector investments in your state. We will work with you if you win your election. We have particular interest to support health system in Lagos. Global Fund is an important partner of the Nigerian government where we are funding support for HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases,” Faria said.

Some of the multilateral institutions and private organisations that attended the session are Global Fund, Ford Foundation, HSBC, GENII Capital, International Trade Centre, Actis/CDC, among others.

In Geneva, Arancha González, executive secretary, International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint agency of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United Nations, promised that the agency would support the growth agenda of Lagos State during an interaction with Sanwo-Olu. The engagement was an extension of the gubernatorial candidate’s consultations with critical stakeholders and international organisations that could support the attainment of his vision for a greater Lagos.

“We have a vision to make Lagos a 21st century economy. This is an exciting aspiration targeted at transforming every aspect of Lagos life. We know that beyond the huge infrastructural requirements and regulatory framework revision, there are also significant human capital development needs that will support the success of this goal. Hence, our call for support by notable global organizations like the International Trade Centre with impressive trackrecord of helping growing econo-

mies,” Sanwo-Olu said.

In response, González said the ITC’s goal is to help developing and transition countries achieve sustainable human development through exports, adding that it is also a development partner for small business export success.

“Lagos is an important city in the world, and because of our commitment to economic development and wellbeing of mankind, we are always inclined to support humancentered programmes. It is pleasing that health, environment, education and technology are some of the focal areas of your agenda because these elements are major items of discussion in the modern world,” said González.

In Bern, the Swiss capital, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) said it would continue to work with developing nations and sub-national governments like Lagos State to reduce poverty and increase standard of living through support for education, climate change, health and skill development.

During a visit to the SDC headquarters, where he held talks with Ambassador Ralph Friedlander to promote his THEME development agenda for a greater Lagos, SanwoOlu noted that as the 5th largest economy in Africa, Lagos needs partnerships with multilateral institutions, global companies and other private investors at home and abroad to expand the current size of the state economy put at $136 billion in GDP. “We are here to solicit your support for our state to grow and create more opportunities for our people to grow socially and economically.

Our THEME agenda has the people at the centre of it. We are focused on education, health, environ-

35

ment and making our state a 21st century economy with world-class infrastructure in transportation, power, security, industrialisation and technology,” Sanwo-Olu said.

“We are hopeful to win the election and we are already planning to hit the ground running from our first day in office. This visit to SDC is to prepare the ground for working with you. We shall knock on your door when the time comes because we believe our people will vote for us to implement our agenda for a greater Lagos,” he said.

In his response, Ambassador Friedlander said Switzerland is a leading country in promoting small businesses through skill acquisition and vocational trainings and will be ready to work with Lagos State to help develop the right skills for young people to acquire right skills for economic productivity.

“I have seen your areas of focus in your development agenda.

Education, health and economic opportunities to lift the poor out of poverty through skill development are areas where we have expertise. We will work with you.

Nigeria and Switzerland have solid relationship and we will continue to strengthen that through our work with the central government and we will work with state Lagos State,” he said.

Only recently, Sanwo-Olu and his running mate, Obafemi Hamzat, jointly spoke to a cross-section of audience at a private event centre in the capital of the state. Unfolding their plans, they said project THEME as a strategy was conceived after wide consultations with all stakeholders on the challenges and the future Lagos State.

“We didn’t just prepare the THEME documents in our bedrooms or in one hotel or inside a boardroom. The documents came from our numerous engagements with the people of Lagos State, telling us what their needs are and the immediate intervention they require on any challenge,” SanwoOlu said.

At the unveiling of “A Vision for a Greater Lagos”, which was attended by the party leaders, captains of industry, artisans and supporters, Sanwo-Olu further stated that he and his deputy are convinced that in spite of many achievements in governance of Lagos since 1999, there is still much to be done to fully realise the potentials of the state.

Caption: Satyadeep Rajan, president/CEO, Swiss Learning Exchange, and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Lagos State, during a lunch-time conversation at the justconcluded World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

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Thursday 31 January 2019

Feature

FCMB: Focusing on specifics to extend the frontiers of financial services BUNMI BAILEY

O

ver the years, the financial services industry in Nigeria has undergone various forms of transformation in terms of operations, service delivery and other indices of performance. Increased sophistication in the lifestyle of people, changing tastes, demanding schedules, technological savviness, amongst other modern trends, have seen operators in the sector constantly reinventing the wheel to meet and satisfy the needs of the ever-dynamic environment as well as the populace.

These days, the assessment of financial institutions, particularly Banks, is largely measured by their level of connection with their stakeholders and the customer-centric solutions they offer. This fact was succinctly captured by Roy Spence, co-founder of GSD&M, a leading advertising firm in the United States, who declared that, ‘’every business needs to be in the business of improving customers’ lives”.

For FCMB Group Plc, a foremost holding company in Nigeria, its nine subsidiaries which are leaders in their respective segments, this declaration underlies the philosophy; serving as a roadmap in the firms’ drive to attain the highest levels of customer advocacy as well as experience. This is while also adding significant value to stakeholders.

The operating companies of FCMB Group, with Mr. Ladi Balogun as the Group Chief Executive, are divided along three business groups – Commercial and Retail Banking (First City Monument Bank Limited, Credit Direct Limited, FCMB (UK) Limited and FCMB Microfinance Bank Limited); Investment Banking (FCMB Capital Markets Limited and CSL Stockbrokers Limited); and Asset & Wealth Management (FCMB Pensions Limited, First City Asset Management Limited and CSL Trustees Limited).

Having witnessed low and high moments in its many years of operation, the Group has continuously turned challenges to opportunities over the years to emerge as one of the leading institutions in corporate Nigeria. This underpins the resilience, endurance, robustness and viability of the brand to sustainably deliver exceptional financial services to individuals, groups and organisations across segments. Indeed, the performance of FCMB has been on the uptick. And there is no gainsaying the fact FCMB has proved its mettle as an inclusive lender by being a big player in all sectors of the Nigerian economy. The enduring establishments are transferring prosperity by impacting on businesses and individual aspirations The Group successfully acquired Legacy Pension Managers Limited (now known as FCMB Pensions Limited) by increasing its stake in

Ladi Balogun, Group Chief Executive of FCMB

the company from 28.3% to 91.6%.

The development is engendering sustainable and diversified low-risk growth momentum as the pensions firm is leveraging FCMB’s extensive distribution network, alternate channels, digital innovation and investment research to rapidly expand its customer base.

Speaking on the acquisition, Chairman of the Board of FCMB Pensions Limited and the Group Chief Executive of FCMB Group Plc, Ladi Balogun said, “having distinguished ourselves in consumer finance over the years and gaining greater market share in retail payments solutions and savings accounts, a comprehensive suite of asset and wealth management propositions, is a natural addition to our growing base of 5 million customers. We have now harmonised the brand. This will enable us create greater marketing synergies alongside other initiatives and accelerate the growth of our pensions business. The change of the company’s name will also entrench a single brand identity across our pensions and retail banking businesses”.

Meanwhile the financial results of FCMB Group for the nine months ended September 2018 showed a significant increase in profit before tax to N14.77 billion, as against N6.84 billion recorded for the same period in 2017. Also, gross revenue rose by 11% to N132.9 billion from N118.8 billion. Net interest income witnessed a 7% Year-on-Year (YoY) upsurge from N49.9billion to N53.2

billion, just as non-interest income grew by 77% (YoY) to N33.0 billion from N18.6 billion for the same period in the previous year.

Customer confidence in FCMB Group remained strong, as deposits were up 5% Quarter-on Quarter (QoQ) to N756 billion in September 2018, compared to N721.3 billion as the end of June 2018. In addition, the nine months financial results saw a surge in Loans and advances by 3% QoQ to N601.9 billion in September 2018 as against N586.0 billion in June 2018, which is an indication of the Group’s aggressive focus on financial intermediation and support for economic growth of the public and private sectors. The impact of the subsidiaries on the overall performance of FCMB Group has been profound as evidenced by their solid performance.

First City Monument Bank (FCMB), the retail and commercial banking-led subsidiary of FCMB Group Plc, has consolidated its position as a dominant brand by growing in leaps and bounds. The Bank has continued to boost its customers acquisition drive in the retail segment of the Banking industry. It has also sustained the tempo of becoming a more convenient and accessible Bank in alternate channels, with more than 800 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) spread across Nigeria as at the end of 2018 and over 15,000 Point of Sale (PoS) terminals deployed nationwide, while onboarding almost 2 million customers

on its electronic banking platforms.

Added to these, is the strategic location of the Bank’s business outlets (branches and alternate channels) nationwide; providing prompt and convenient banking solutions as well as promoting financial inclusion in line with its values as a simple, reliable and helpful entity. So far, FCMB has 216 branches and cash centres in Nigeria The Bank has sustained the empowerment of customers through its reward scheme tagged, ‘’FCMB Millionaire Promo’’. Almost 50,000 customers have benefitted from the promo by winning cars, cash rewards of between N1 million and N2 million as well as gifts like television sets, power generating sets and phones, among others.

In business banking, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), FCMB recorded a significant improvement in net revenue as at the end of 2018. FCMB offers several cutting-edge products, services and solutions to meet and satisfy the needs of businesses in this segment.

The lender has recently disbursed over N3.17billion to SMEs across the country under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention programme. The Bank also offers free banking transactions for a period of three months to new to FCMB SME customers as well as free training and other capacity training programmes for businesses operating in this segment in partnership with private and public sector organisations, including the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

Plans are also underway by FCMB to launch a proposition that offers zero-interest rate on loans to women-owned SMEs. Between June and October last year, the lender organised a promotion tagged, ‘’FCMB SME Race to China Promo’’ for customers.

Three winners of the star prize of an all-expense paid trip (return flight ticket to Guangzhou, China and hotel accommodation for 7 nights), 8 winners of $500 preloaded shopping cards and 36 winners of consolation gifts have emerged and have been rewarded.

In agribusiness, FCMB recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) in a move that would substantially increase the Bank’s support to agribusiness, its value chain and overall growth of the Nigerian economy. The memorandum outlines a framework to deepen agency banking, financial inclusion and savings culture in the informal and agribusiness sectors.

The project involves FCMB rolling out an integrated savings account – named ‘Kampe Account’ – to offer financial services under phase one of its plan to 150,000 unbanked and under-banked farmers across five states through agricultural agents operating under the bank’s agency

banking proposition. The first set of states to benefit in this first phase are Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa, Ogun and Oyo. The plan is to reach 2 million farmers across the entire nation by year 2023.

In addition to the financial support to farmers, it is understood, FCMB is deploying its state-of-the art technology and mobilising banking solutions to drive the project mainly in the rural and sub-urban farm settlements where most farmers are based. The bank is organising capacity-building programmes for farmers, aimed at facilitating their understanding of the sector and promoting innovative ideas to make the sector more attractive, thereby facilitating job creation and in turn, impacting on productivity and income generation.

With regards to corporate banking business, the renewed liability and transaction driven approach of FCMB has seen the lender fund several projects aimed at growing the Nigerian economy. In the oil and gas sector, the Bank was the major financier of the 300 million litres tank farm of Petrolex Oil and Gas Limited, located at Ibefun town in Ogun state, which was commissioned in December 2017. The lender also provided the funds for the construction of the 66,000 metric tonnes capacity petroleum products tank farm of Menj Oil Limited in Ijegun, Lagos. Moreover, FCMB wholly financed the construction of the new 155-room Radisson Blu Hotel at Ikeja GRA in Lagos. The Radisson Blu Hotel in Lagos, which is the third in Nigeria and second in Lagos, was opened in 2018.

Speaking on these developments and the outlook for the year 2019, the Managing Director of FCMB, Adam Nuru says, the Bank has a great foundation to continue to build on and being confident of its strategy, will achieve the necessary resilience. ‘’We know we will need constant change, innovation capability and high productivity to thrive in a progressively fierce competitive environment. Based on this, we have a renewed strong commitment to our digital transformation journey with aggressive investments in putting the right structures in place. This is expected to facilitate efficiency in our operations and fuel our efforts to create the right momentum; expand our share of the market and increase our wallet-share of existing customers.

We will leverage our digital capabilities to reduce our cost-to-serve; grow non-interest income; and improve our agility as a bank to deepen intimacy with our customers’’, he stated.

With this outstanding moves and achievements, coupled with the Bank’s niche for excellence and a clear understanding of its market and the environment, analysts are of the view that the FCMB brand is well positioned to create more value for its growing customer base and other stakeholders in Nigeria.

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DAVOSNOTEBOOK

Adesina of AfDB in Davos

BUSINESS DAY

37

Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia in Davos

The reporter as an impostor FRANK AIGBOGUN

E

ach time I go to Davos for the annual gathering of the global elite, the welcome is to a world that works, from the well-run bus transit out of the airport in Zurich to the alpine mountains blanketed in snow.

The snow-cutting and -packing men and their vehicles ensure they are where they must be and on time, ensuring that movement in this mainly single street city is unhindered. I have come to know a bit more of the city and how it works since the first time I was invited to Davos more than ten years ago.

Curiously, this time, I had the fortune of staying in the same hotel room that we stayed last year. You quickly find that in Davos things do not change much, only the meeting participants come and go.

As I arrived in Davos, I was wondering how the sessions would go this time, what should be the passion or causes that I should pursue while here, and who I should look forward to running into for a chat. I had been told before leaving Lagos that Africa’s star of the moment and the youthful Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, would be attending, so I did not have difficulty signing up for his sessions.

This year, there were a little over 500 different meetings

holding at venues scattered around town and virtually all day long and requiring that you plan your days very well, especially given that some sessions can quickly be oversold.

It is the case that every participant attending WEF carries the same conference bag and different colours of badges, so you must beware for the man or woman sitting beside you could well be a billionaire and yet as a journalist, your access is unhindered. As a reporter from Nigeria, I had questions asked of me this time.

The journalist always wants to be the one asking the questions. So I was not prepared when a global CEO asked me pointedly, “How does your government pursue a major investor like MTN with every force at its disposal and then come around to say it has absolved the same company of any and all wrongdoing?”

In Davos, the MTN fiasco just wouldn’t go away and it is now clear to me that Nigeria will pay a hefty price for this indiscretion, whether you love or hate MTN. In the course of the annual meetings, you are likely to find more limos in Davos than people. It would seem carmakers choose to test their latest models in Davos.

While nations use Davos to sell their potential to the world,

Nigeria appears to dig its head in the sand. I spent time watching our own Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who presides over the African Development Bank, and somehow joined in a meeting he was having with a government delegation from Tunisia at which he spoke flawless French from the beginning of the meeting to the end. He has surely grown into the role and I was proud to be a Nigerian.

On our way to Davos last year, I had shared the same

It was my encounter with Prime Minister Abiy that provided me the greatest inspiration flight to Zurich with the AfDB president and as we picked up our luggage, he was besieged by delegates that wanted to have a word or two before he was rushed away in a limousine.

Like last year, I ran into our own Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as she moved briskly from one meeting room to another to satisfy the

high demand on her time. The former finance minister is still in demand among the global elite even if her worth and her work are not fully appreciated by some in her homeland.

But it was my encounter with Prime Minister Abiy that provided me the greatest inspiration. Catching up with him as the Prime Minister made his way from the formal opening of this year’s meeting, one of his two minders attempted to stop me until he said, pointedly, “He is from Nigeria and I want to listen to him.”

Abiy, 42, is a calm, humble leader, revolutionary in his ideas and impatient to bring about desired change in his country of more than a hundred million people.

Abiy’s speaking engagements were sold out. In every sense, he was the one the world wanted to listen to and be with in Davos.

Despite the great strides he has made in less than a year in office, Abiy sees no place for applause.

His is a duty driven by his love for his people and for Africa and he does not enjoy the limelight.

“What we did,” he says, “was to bring about a change of government but, more importantly, a change of direction for our country.”

A request for a selfie with him, and Abiy does not hesitate on this very busy day for the young leader flying the flag of Africa in

Davos.

In-between mixing with the high and mighty including Abiy, the young refugee from a camp in Kenya, the Swiss President, the president of the Swiss national bank, a Swiss female parliamentarian, global CEOs driving the direction of capital flows globally, two Nigerian bank CEOs, and senior journalists from around the world plus Oxford-trained civil society leaders and writers, you are wondering if you have not been an impostor in Davos.

As I made the nearly threehour train journey from Davos to the airport in Zurich after declining a taxi option that would have cost me almost $700, I was taken by the beauty of the snow blanket that covered the countryside. And as my flight took off for home, I was awakened to the reality that at home, the executive is hounding a sitting Chief Justice, suspending him without recourse to the legislature as the Nigerian constitution prescribes, and then seeking to defend this heinous action. Suddenly, I remembered that I had watched helplessly as a young reporter at the Guardian in Nigeria when our senior colleagues, Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor, were sent to jail by this same Muhammadu Buhari, for writing the truth. Bye bye, Davos, with all its inspiration for a future, for in Nigeria, it is the ugly past that beckons.

38 BUSINESS DAY NEWS Car prices to fall 20% as FG considers tariff...

Continued from page 1 tion of the automotive policy and

the need for a review to raise government revenue.

Many Nigerians have called for a review of the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) on which the 2013 tariff hike was based, which was ostensibly created to encourage local manufacturing of vehicles.

Lucky Amiwero, president, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), said the policy, in its current state, will never bring about changes in the automotive industry in Nigeria.

“The policy was faulty in the beginning, because it was driven to protect a few interests. It was designed just to make some few people rich,” said Amiwero.

Amiwero said the objective of the policy is not to assemble cars, adding, “If you cannot move from assembling to manufacturing, you are still transferring jobs to foreign countries.”

Muda Yusuf, director-general, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in a recent release said the automotive policy, in its current form, is not sustainable.

Five years after the policy came into effect, only a handful of the 30 licensed plants are in operation.

“Although the levy was introduced in a bid to ensure development in the Nigerian automobile industry, not much has been achieved in terms of car manufacturing except for Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, which has not really caught the eyes of Nigerians,” said analysts at Investment One research.

Investment One research analysts said the reduction in the additional levy to 10 percent will bear benefits for the Nigeria Customs Services in terms of revenue generation, as it will effectively reduce the incidence of vehicle smuggling.

Since the policy was enacted, car priceshavejumpedover100percentand cleansedmiddle-incomeNigeriansofall indignities associated with buying used vehicles.NewcarsthatcostN4millionin 2012 now cost over N20 million.

The policy also offers a 30 percent rebate on ‘accidented vehicles’,hence over 70 percent of vehicles now imported into Nigeria look like they were taken from a scrap-yard.

To worsen the situation, even the government does not have enough faith in its own policies to buy locallyassembled vehicles.

In addition to NAIDP, the Federal Government also approved that all machinery and equipment for tyre production and vehicle assembly are now duty-free. It also granted pioneer status to tyre plants.

C002D5556

These fiscal incentives have not spurred local manufacturing in a country where 40 percent of manufacturing cost goes to paying for power.

The policy, along with Buhari’s directive closing land borders to car imports, ended up achieving unintended results – fuelling car smuggling across Nigeria’s porous borders and pushing importers to neighbouring countries.

“Based on statistics, we discovered that this duty has now driven most of our importers to our neighbouring ports and also it has increased the rate of smuggling into this country of new vehicles,” Hameed Ali, Comptroller-General of Customs, said Monday in Abuja.

Car importers have condemned the tariff several times, saying it set in a lull in their business. Nigeria’s automotive policy differs from that of its neighbours in that while theirs are aimed at curbing imports of used vehicles by offering cheap tariff of 5 percent for new cars, Nigeria seeks to shut out all imported vehicles to encourage local manufacture even though it lacks the ability to manufacture all the cars.

The automotive policy can make sense for Nigeria in the 21st century if it is complemented by appropriately targeted initiatives to expand available transportation options in intrastate and interstate rail and waterways as well as stimulate revival of associated industries, like petrochemical and steel industries, as critical imperatives, analysts at Deloitte said in their review.

Thursday 31 January 2019

What FG, states are doing to ease access to ...

Continued from page 2

cial assistant to the Vice President on Industry, Trade and Investment, disclosed at a real estate forum in Lagos recently that there was an ambitious effort towards achieving sub-100 ranking in ease of doing business by 2020.

As a result of the ongoing reforms, dealing with construction permits and registering property have become a lot easier and cheaper in places like Lagos and Kano where, before now, the cost was outrageous and punitive, while the process was cumbersome and tortuous. Anambra, Enugu, Edo, Ondo and Ogun are also states where approvals and access to title documents have improved.

“Nigerians can now access accurate information on all fees, procedures, requirements and laws from the Lagos State Physical Planning and Permit Authority (LASPPPA) website,” Boladele Dapo-Thomas, permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, confirmed.

Generally, there is access to statistical information on land disputes, infrastructure development charge (IDC), soil test and environmental impact assessment (EIA), certified true copy (CTC) of title document and survey plan, and reduced costs for permits due to the elimination of some requirements. Developers now enjoy an improved planning permit application process via an e-planning platform.

In Kano, Nigerians can now appoint private professional firms to carry out inspections before, during and after construction. They can also expect to receive building plans within 14 days and request the issuance of a Certificate of Habitation without physical inspection.

Those seeking approvals can now submit an application and make e-payments for building plans simultaneously at the Kano Urban Planning and Development Authority (KNUPDA), just as they can expect water connection in seven days of payment to the Kano State Water Board.

The GIS technology in Edo State has reduced the cost of obtaining Certificates of Occupancy by over 80 percent, while the Enugu State government has approved a 50 percent discount on accrued land use charges.

The Homeowners Charter in Ogun State has continued to ease issuance of land titles to beneficiaries. Ondo State has launched an automated Land Use Charge Payment System, while Anambra has embarked on a revalidation exercise culminating in the issuance of digital titles to landowners.

All these are opening up investment opportunities in these states. It is hoped that as access to land continues to be easy, more investment will be made in housing development, thereby increasing the stock and ultimately reducing the deficit which is estimated at 17 million units.

Lagos has also embarked on public private partnership initiatives to increase its housing stock and close its housing demand-supply gap estimated at 3 million units. Dapo-Thomas cited the Lagos Affordable Public Housing (LAPH), which aims to deliver 20,000 housing units in four years.

The state is in partnership with Echo Stone which will deliver 2,000 units by the end of this year. It is also in partnership with Gravitas Investment which is building a city called Gracefield Island in Lekki, while Rendeavour, another partner, is developing the Alaro City in the Epe axis of Lekki Free Trade Zone.

Atiku promises to revitalise private sector...

Continued from page 2 L-R: Ofure Akinsanmi, communication officer, Dansol Christain Mission; Ijeoma Ude, advert manager, BusinessDay Media; Margaret Okooboh, vice principal, Dansol High School (DHS); Patrick Atuanya, editor, BusinessDay Media; Adeola Ajewole, general manager, advert, BusinessDay Media; Mary Famokunwa, administrator, DHS; Austin Godwin, advert executive, BusinessDay Media, and Linda Ochugbua, digital sales manager, BusinessDay Media, during the courtesy visit by BusinessDay management team to Dansol High School in Lagos, yesterday.

Pic by David Apara

Business booms for domestic airlines as...

Continued from page 1

a structural shortage of aircraft

and crews.Thishascreatedoperational difficulties with its fleet leading to lastminute flight cancellations or delays.

“In order to avoid service failure, Port Harcourt flights have been suspended to take effect from 31st March, 2019. AirFrance is still flying Lagos and Abuja, and hence there will be need for more aircraft on the route to fill this gap. Lagos flights remains daily while Abuja remains four times a week,” Okenwa said.

Ikechi Uko, travel expert and consultanttoEthiopianAirlines,whoconfirmed suspensionofEthiopianAirlinesflightsto Kaduna, told BusinessDay that from the onset he knew the Kaduna route wasn’t going to be viable for the airlines.

“Abuja and Kano are few nautical milesawayfromKadunaandEthiopian Airlines still flies to Kano. Ethiopian AirlinesoperatedtheKadunarouteforone year and stopped. The airline is willing to suffer loss just to provide the services for the people. They did all they could to sustain the route but by October last year, they quietly withdrew,” Uko said.

On the other hand, domestic

airlines are currently experiencing influx of passengers on these suspended routes.

BusinessDay’s checks show that Dana Airlines, which carried about 70 percent load factor on Port Harcourt route, is currently experiencing almost a 100 percent load factor on the route. AirPeace has increased its Port Harcourt operations to three times daily as against twice daily. AirPeace has also begun operations to Kaduna and is operating the route once daily.

Medview, which experienced shortage of aircraft, has also risen to the challenge by getting a leased aircraft to feed some routes including Kaduna.

Azman Air also plies the Kaduna route.

Max Air, a domestic carrier which began operations few months ago, is also experiencing passenger surge on the Port Harcourt route.

Chris Iwarah, corporate communications manager, AirPeace Limited, disclosed that four routes that have continued to be profitable for the airline are Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Owerri.

Iwarah said AirPeace is currently in talkswithdifferentforeignairlines,espe-

cially for its international flight services.

“The airlines we are looking at partnering with are still confidential. When we conclude the plans, we are going to issue a statement on which airlines we are partnering with and what the partnerships looks like. We want to make the travel experience as seamless as possible for passengers. For instance, if we fly to China, someone should be able to take over from there in a seamless manner,” Iwarah said.

This is as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) yesterday collapsed the makeshift tent at the Port Harcourt airport and moved all domestic arrivals to the old international terminal so as to accommodate more domestic airlines to land and take off in Port Harcourt airport.

HenriettaYakubu,generalmanager, corporate affairs of FAAN, said in addition to this, the former local departure lounge will henceforth serve as local arrival hall, while the erstwhile international departure lounge has now been converted to local departure lounge.

This is following the recent commissioning and movement of international operations to the new international terminal at the Port Harcourt International Airport.

omy that has the potential to double its GDP by 2025 and is capable of taking its rightful place among the top 20 economies of the world.

The PDP candidate said he would liberalise the economic space and privatise all the ailing public enterprises, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

“The #AtikuPlan will undertake a deregulation of the downstream sector of the economy, review the PIB and privatise all four state refineries that operate less than 10 percent of their installed capacities. We shall channel the proceeds from the privatisation into a special fund for the development of education and health,” he said.

Speaking further, Atiku pledged to tackle the rising unemployment in the country by growing the economy and promoting innovative job creation programmes, stressing that his administration would seek to train 1,000 apprentices every year through the national innovation fund that will provide funds to aspiring entrepreneurs.

He added that his administration would restructure the country to aid the management of the nation’s resources, while raising additional revenue by blocking leakages from exchange rate adjustment.

Atiku further promised to institute strong service delivery mecha-

nism to coordinate government programmes, while the public sector would be reengineered to become performance-driven. He promised to initiate political reforms, restructure the country into federating unit, which would make government more responsive and accountable to Nigerians “We shall, through constitutional means, achieve a new political structure that guarantees freedoms and ensure government accountability at all levels. Our political reform shall reinforce the country’s concept of true federalism by conceding unfettered autonomy to the subordinating units, states and local governments,” he said.

Speaking on the recent suspension of the former Chief Justice of the Federation, Walter Onnoghen, Atiku described the Federal Government’s action as wrongheaded.

He said the constitution already spelt out the rules for the suspension and removal of the CJN, pointing out that due process was not followed in Onnoghen’s suspension.

Important dignitaries at the lecture include former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Senate President Bukola Saraki, PDP National Chairman Uche Secondus, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, Bode George, a PDP chieftain, Jimi Agbaje, PDP governorship candidate in Lagos, and Gbenga Daniel, former governor of Ogun State.

Thursday 31 January 2019

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Onnoghen: I’ve been vindicated - Obasanjo OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja

… insists Atiku’s regime won’t be hijacked by cabal

ormer President Olusegun Obasanjo says he has been vindicated following President Muhammadu Buhari’s suspension of Walter Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

This is even as he described his former Vice President and PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as a team leader who will not allow his government to be hijacked by a cabal if elected as President in next month’s general election.

The elder statesman spoke in Lagos on Wednesday at the Lagos Island Club Quarterly Business Lecture.

According to Obasanjo, unlike Buhari, Atiku never claimed to be a saint.

In reference to his state of the nation address recently when he lamented that the Buhari administration had taken Nigeria back to the Abacha era, Obasanjo said the President’s sack of Onnoghen

and his swearing in of Tanko Mohammad in acting capacity, smacked a totalitarian regime.

“Only two Sundays ago, I said what I believe I understood as to the way the Buhari administration is going about the coming election.

And within less than a week, things started to show itself.

But let us leave that because Nigerians are rising up to defend our fledging democracy and to defend our future progress. Nobody else will do it for us. We have to do it for ourselves.

“I believe that we have no better man to lead us out of the morass that we are, morass in the economic term, security, even in international affairs. Atiku has done things which are absolutely imperative for a leader to be followed and to be believed,” he said.

Obasanjo, who was Nigeria’s President from 1999 to 2003, also debunked rumours that he never allowed Atiku to

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preside over the Federal Executive Council whenever he travelled out of the country.

He taunted Buhari for staying out of the country on medical vacation for 104 days.

He said: “One of the most ridiculous claims I have heard on this issues is that I did not give Atiku chance to preside over the Federal Executive Council meeting because I did not trust him. That is not true. That was not correct because he had occasion to preside on a few times that I was out of the country on duty.

“On those occasions, he was in charge of FEC meetings and no Nigerian Chief Executive had devolved to his deputy as much as I did to Atiku. I did not need to designate him acting president because the Constitution is clear. Once the president is not available, the Vice President automatically acts with full powers and he consults when he considers it necessary.

“But since I was not ab-

sent from home for 104 days at a time, people may know that Atiku actually stood in for me whenever I was out. Atiku has what it takes in experience, exposure, in that he has learnt and he has learnt his lessons. I tried to teach him a few of them”.

Earlier in his lecture, Atiku, the guest lecturer at the event, promised to create an Economic Stimulus Fund with initial investment capacity of approximately $25 billion to support private sector investments in infrastructure.

The PDP Presidential candidate also said he would improve liquidity by undertaking fiscal restructuring and improving the management of fiscal resources by improving spending efficiency by reducing the share of recurrent expenditure and increasing the share of capital expenditure in budget, raising additional revenue by blocking leakages from exchange rate adjustment as well as review of fuel subsidy payments.

L-R: Folake Adams, principal, Estate Senior Grammar School; Seyi Soetan, senior coverage executive, Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria, and Mathew Adesanya, vice principal, academics, at the Estate Senior Grammar School 36th annual inter-house sport competition sponsored by Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria.

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Atiku, Obi pledge to fight corruption with technology MICHEAL ANI

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tiku Abubakar, a businessman and presidential aspirant of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), alongside his running mate, Peter Obi, have cleared the air, debunking claims of corruption allegations on them, instead pledging to fight corruption with technology.

The 72-year-old businessman has also vowed to deploy advanced technological tools by automating the public service to reduce the incidences of corruption, as that is the only way that Africa’s most populous nation can reduce corruption.

“We will deploy technology in our public and private sectors to prevent any form of direct contact that can cause corruption,” Atiku said on Wednesday evening at The Candidate, NTA’s political platform where he and his vice presidential running mate, Peter Obi, were engaged in a question and answer session.

Nigeria’s incumbent, President Mohammadu Buhari came into power vowing to fight corruption to stand still, yet Africa’s largest economy maintained a score of 27 points despite moving four places up the ladder, according to data from Transparency International Index, an international non-governmental agency that tracks corruption cases across countries in the world.

Atiku, who is a Muslim, said fighting corruption was never an economic policy, but pledged to create jobs and strengthen government institutions as part of ways of tackling corruption.

The presidential hopeful who served as vice president under a two time former Nigerian president, Olusegun obasanjo, said he gave a whooping N300 million from the proceeds of privatisation

for the take-off the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). “I personally brought the draft piece of legislation from Brazil that created what we now know as the EFCC,” he said.

Atiku, while speaking on corruption allegations against his wife, said, “What I can tell you is that my wife has never been charged or indicted of any corruption case.”

Nigerians will be matching to the poll come February 16 to vote its president and its representative into the National Assembly.

President Buhari, who has sought re-election to get the country to the Next Level by diversifying the economy after the country entered a recession due to a collapse in global oil prices.

Buhari’s major contender, Atiku, on the other hand said he would get the economy working again by reducing unemployment, attracting investment, putting Africa’s most populous nation on a $900 billion GDP by 2030.

To achieve this, he pledged to cut tax, as this would increase foreign investor’s appetite to invest in the country, and in turn tackle the issue of unemployment currently standing at 23.1 percent as of Q3 2018, according to the NBS data.

“I’m the most experienced out of every candidate, I am the candidate of the future and I try to bridge the current generation with the future generation,” he said, throwing shots at Buhari for crumbling the country’s GDP growth from 6% in 2014 to less than 1 percent in full year 2017.

Peter Obi, on the other hand in showing how efficient his experience is in running the affairs of Anambra State, said, “I invested $30 million state money in the International Brewery business and today it is worth over $100 million, no state has ever done that.”

Pay Kogi levies, seek legal redress afterwards – ALTON tells MTN Minimum wage: Reps’ position rekindles labour’s hope on N30,000 JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON

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ssociation of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has advised MTN Nigeria to pay the revised N50,000,000 Social Services Contribution Levy (SSCL) demanded by the Kogi State revenue agency in order to immediately restore its network, and then seek legal redress in court afterwards.

Gbenga Adebayo, president, ALTON, gave this advice Tuesday in response to recent complaints by MTN about the unlawful shut down of its base sites in Kogi State.

In a statement, Adebayo asked both parties to prioritise national interest and always explore dialogue or seek legal resolution of contentious matters. He also stated

that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had similarly advised MTN Nigeria to pay the revised sum and seek legal redress.

Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KGIRS) sealed MTN sites in the state capital and other locations again Tuesday last week over claims that MTN had refused to pay the N120,000,000 SSCL due to the state in 2017 and 2018.

The state government had further reviewed the total figure down to N50 million during the course of discussions with MTN. MTN complained that the state government was demanding for immediate payment of the levy, Employee Development levy and annual rent for Right-of-Way on fibre optics cable, which they said were all illegal taxes because it was arbitrarily fixed

by the state government even though the powers to determine such rates reside with the Minister of Finance, as contained in the Taxes and Levies Act. ALTON chairman has called on both parties to remain law abiding and always consider the security and socio-political stability of the country.

“We would like to remind all stakeholders that telecommunications facilities play very important roles in security and economy, hence their classification as, Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).

“As the general elections approach the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will rely on telecommunications facilities of all GSM Operators to transmit election results across the country for collation.”

JOSHUA BASSEY

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rganised labour believes that the N30,000 recommended by the National Minimum Wage Tripartite Committee will eventually pass as Nigeria’s new minimum wage, as the Senate is not likely to differ from the House of Representatives in their passage of the minimum wage law.

The House of Representatives during plenary on Tuesday approved and passed N30,000 as minimum wage as against N27,000 sent to the National Assembly by the executive arm of the government. The National Council of State in their meeting last week had recommended the N27,000, which is N3,000 short from the N30,000 earlier recommended by the tripar-

tite minimum wage committee to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Trade Union of Nigeria (TUC) and Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) said on Wednesday they were not expecting the Senate to go against the popular position of the House on the issue.

“As far as welfare is concerned, the position of the lawmakers has given workers a sense of belonging.

“To us it means we still have men and women with milk of kindness. While we thank them for the brave move, we also urge them to follow the bill through until the Senate and the Federal Government give a go-ahead to effect payment,” the TUC said in a statement signed by Bobboi Kaigama.

On its part, the ASCSN

commended the House for approving the N30,000 earlier recommended and also urged the Senate to follow suit. The union in a statement

by Alade Lawal, its secretary general, stated that by approving the N30,000 the lawmakers had renewed hope that as representatives of the people they were committed to promoting the welfare of Nigerians.

“The decision has equally helped to restore Nigeria’s image as a country which does not know the meaning of a national minimum wage because that was the impression created before the international community by the National Council of State (NCS) when it recommended N30,000 for federal workers and N27,000 for state governments and private sector employees,“ the union stated.

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Positive signs in tax revenue generation in Nigeria ...as VAT increases by 13 percent in 2018 OMOBOLA ADU

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h e Mo n e t a r y Policy Committee (MPC) met on Tuesday last week and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s governor (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, acknowledged the recent attempts made so far by the Federal Government to broaden the tax base of the Value Added Tax (VAT) and also called for more action to be taken in order to improve the level of tax collection in the country.

Emefiele asserted that the efforts will reduce the pressure on government expenditure and create the necessary fiscal buffers to improve macroeconomic management and allow the economy to thrive in the months to come.

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursement to the Federal Government showed that the Value Added Tax (VAT) in 2018 amounted to N156.98 billion, representing a 13 percent increase from the N139.34 billion recorded in 2017 according to the data compiled from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Further analyses show that in 2018, the lowest VAT revenue was N11.40 billion in the month of October compared to the highest VAT revenue of about N16.49 billion in the previous month representing a difference of N5.09 billion.

On the average, VAT revenue in 2018 amounted to N13.08 billion.

On the other hand, in 2017, VAT revenue in November was the highest amounting to N12.92 billion compared to the lowest VAT revenue of N9.97 billion recorded in March. On the average, VAT revenue in 2017 amounted to just N11.61 billion representing a difference of about N1.47 billion to the average VAT revenue in 2018.

Examining the Year-onYear change in the VAT

revenue on a monthly basis, it can be seen that there has largely been a significant improvement in the level of tax collection in Nigeria.

Specifically, in February 2018 VAT revenue increased by 31 percent as against the February VAT in 2017. Like-

wise, the VAT surged by 32 percent in September 2018 from the VAT revenue in September 2017 and that of March rose by 29 percent on a Year-on-Year basis.

Although there was a significant improvement in the VAT revenue over the

year, August and October were the months in which there were reductions in the level of the VAT revenue. In particular, on a Year-on-Year basis, August’s VAT revenue declined by 1 percent and that of September dropped by 5 percent.

Table 2: Value Added Tax Revenue by Month However, despite the improvement in the VAT revenue, tax collection has been a major issue in Nigeria, thereby leading to low levels of tax revenue-to-gross domestic product (GDP) over the years. The lack of attention to solving the tax collection and compliance challenges in Nigeria has largely been attributed to the over-reliance on crude oil revenue as a financial instrument for government fiscal activities.

The tax-to-GDP ratio is used to measure the size of the tax revenue in comparison to the overall economy.

In the event that the tax revenue grows at a lower rate than the GDP, then there is the tendency for the tax-to-GDP ratio to reduce.

This implies an inequitable distribution of national income. On the other hand, when the tax revenue grows faster than the GDP, the tax-to-GDP ratio rises. This could mean a low output base or a slowing economy.

It could also have a socialist/ egalitarian interpretations.

World Bank data shows that from 2003 to 2013, tax revenue as a percentage of GDP (tax-to-GDP) in Nigeria averaged just around 2.670 percent. This reflects that the contribution of tax revenue to GDP in Nigeria has been relatively low.

When comparing Nigeria with other West African countries during the same reference period, the data shows stark differences indicating the poor tax compliance level in the economy

despite the huge size of the economy. Ghana’s tax-toGDP ratio averaged about 16.15 percent and that of Cote d’Ivoire averaged around 14.08 percent.

In order to boost tax revenue in Nigeria, efforts have been put in place to broaden the tax base and ensure compliance of tax laws, such as the waiver of penalty for undeclared incomes by organisations since 2012.

The introduction of the waiver of penalty coincided with the increase in tax revenue acquired from company income tax. Data from NBS revealed that tax revenue from company income tax doubled from N856 billion to about N1.206 trillion on a year-to-year basis from 2016 to 2017 Also, The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) have taken steps to enforce compliance through with the Stamp Duties Act. The FIRS have been proactive to send letters outward to tax payers requestin evidence of payment of duties on relevant transactions. Also, the FIRS have moved forward to ensure that there is full payment of the 30 percent income tax on interim dividends.

Going forward, with a stronger enforcement of tax laws, tax collection will improve, thereby leading to increased revenue generation to fund government spending towards ensuring sustainable economic development. The focus of the government should also be on simplifying the tax system.

Thursday 31 January 2019

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Impeachment threat: Pro-Ambode protest rocks Alausa JOSHUA BASSEY

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undreds of pro-Ambode placards carrying protesters on Wednesday thronged Alausa seat of government to voice their opposition against the threat to impeach Governor Akinwunmi Ambode by the Lagos State House of Assembly, describing the lawmakers’ move as a threat to political tranquillity in the state.

Under the aegis of ‘Lagos People Assembly,’ the placards carrying protesters led

by Declan Ihekaire, their coordinator, demanded that Ambode, whom they referred to as the ‘best governor of Lagos’ should be left alone to finish some of his ongoing projects.

There has been allegation that the power brokers in Nigeria’s most economi-

cally viable state had directed Ambode since losing the party’s governorship ticket in October, to stop work on ongoing projects.

A reliable source informed BusinessDay that the outgoing governor was specifically told to stay action on these projects, including the Lagos Airport Road expansion, in order to allow his successor (they believe would be SanwoOlu) to complete them; a directive Ambode is said to be uncomfortable with given his strong desire to deliver the signature project before leaving office in May. Asides the stop-work directive, the source said the governor was also being restrained from putting to work a Paris Club refund from the Federal Government, all of which was to ensure that the money was spent by Ambode’s successor. The airport road is

being handled by Hitech Construction Company Limited.

Recall that members of the state House of Assembly on Monday, threatened Ambode with impeachment after accusing him of some atrocities including ‘spending money not appropriated for or approved’ by the lawmakers. The House also gave the governor a one-week ultimatum to appear before the lawmakers to present the 2019 budget.

The protesters said any impeachment would disrupt the forthcoming elections, adding that the governor should be allowed to complete his tenure.

They also said Ambode did not deserve the treatment he was getting from his party, APC. The protesters said as a critical civil society stakeholder in the Lagos

project, they were gravely concerned with the unfolding political drama in the state, which might degenerate to a logjam if not handled with the best of statesmanship kits.

“We are fully conscious of the historical truism that under a constitutional democracy, the executive and legislative arms of government must seamlessly work in harmony to deliver the dividends of democracy for the people. Both arms are equal partners in the business of constitutional, democratic governance,” Ihekaire said.

The protesters were received by leader, Lagos State House of Assembly, Sanai Agunbiade, who promised that the House would read through the contents and take action that would be in the collective interest of the people of the state.

L-R: Chris Chidume, chairman, corporate affairs strategic planning committee; Mansur Ahmed, president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), and Segun Ajayi-Kadir, director-general, during the MAN media luncheon with the President in Lagos, yesterday.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

Lessons Nigeria can learn from India in poverty fight BUNMI BAILEY

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igeria, the largest economy in Africa and the world’s poverty capital can learn a lot from India, the second most populated country in the world.

The number of people living in extreme poverty in India is falling while the opposite is true in Nigeria, where the population is growing faster than its economy.

Extreme poverty rises in Nigeria by six people each minute, according to calculations by the World Poverty Clock, a tool to monitor progress against poverty globally developed by the World Data Lab, and regionally.

Meanwhile, the number of extreme poor in India drops by 44 people a minute.

Economists define ex-

treme poverty, also known as absolute poverty, as a condition where an individual lives on less than $1.90 a day. It is also referred to a situation where people lack access to the basic needs of life such as shelter, food, and sanitation.

Last year, Washingtonbased Brookings Institute said Nigeria had overtaken India as the country with the largest number of people living in extreme poverty. According to the institute, about 87 million Nigerians or 44 percent of estimated population of 198 million people fell into this category.

Nigeria and India share a common similarity in terms of population. Nigeria’s estimated 198 million population is the largest in Africa, while India is the second-

highest in the world with a 1.3 billion population.

The poverty reduction polices used by the Indian government seem to be having a positive impact on its citizens according to a recent report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). The report showed that India nearly halved its poverty rate between 2005/06 and 2015/16, from 55 percent to 28 percent.

Integrated Rural Development Programme is one of such policies that the government introduced.

The aim of the policy is to provide assets, generated by the dint of income, to the poorest people in India, according to Samudranil Chatterjee, an educator.

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2019 polls: PDP, APC, others sign peace accord in Anambra EMMANUEL NDUKUBA, Awka

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he Anambra State Police Command has entered into peace accord with the leadership of various political parties in the state, including the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress, to ensure peaceful elections without confrontation and violence during 2019 polls.

The peace accord-signing ceremony was held on Wednesday at the Police Headquarters in Awka, the State capital.

The state Commissioner of Police Garuba Umar, said the agreement was at ensuring peace before, during, and after the elections in the state.

He said the command would maintain absolute neutrality and professionalism in line with internationally acceptable best practices as well as to provide a level playing ground for all political parties.

“The command will not leave any stone unturned in order to ensure the success of this election,” Umar said.

He said that the command had initiated strategic action plan in accordance with the vision and mission of the Inspector General of Police IGP, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu.

He advised the leadership of the various political parties in the state to call their supporters to order and be of good behaviour during the voting exercise.

The police commissioner assured them that the command was already putting necessary measures in place to ensure the success of the polls.

Thursday 31 January 2019

NAICOM bars Guinea Insurance from taking new businesses MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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nsurance regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), has stopped Guinea Insurance plc from taking new businesses into its portfolio pending when it appoints a substantive managing director as well as secures relevant reinsurance treaties to back its risk underwriting.

This development, BusinessDay can authoritatively say, took effect from Tuesday, January 1, 2019.

An industry source, who prefers anonymity, says NAICOM may have taken the decision to forestall negative reputational risks over inability to meet claims obligations, a challenge the regulator is bent on fighting headlong.

Guinea had in April 2018 announced the appointment of Babatunde Oshadiya as the managing director with effect from February 15, 2018. The appointment was yet to get NAICOM’s approval.

Guinea Insurance Company Limited was established on December 3, 1958.

The overseas shareholders held 51 percent majority shares before the Indigenisation Decree of 1976 reversed the holding to 60 percent Nigerian interest, 40 percent overseas.

The overseas shareholders divested their 40 percent holding to existing Nigerian shareholders in 1988, thereby making the company 100 percent Nigerian. The company was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on January 17, 1991.

Chrome Oil Services Limited owns 45 percent of the company’s issued share capital.

REA to provide constant power to 500,000 small businesses in 5yrs’ GODFREY OFURUM, Aba

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he Rural Electrification Agency (REA), under the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, says it plans to provide constant electricity to about 500,000 small businesses within 350 economic clusters in the country in the next five years.

Damilola Ogunbiyi, managing director, REA, who made this known Tuesday, in Aba, Abia State, at the commissioning of Ariaria Market Independent Power Project, said the effort is aimed at empowering small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), which are at the centre of Nigeria’s economy.

According to Ogunbiyi, the Energising Economies Initiative (EEI) seeks to address any power deficiencies

experienced, by economic clusters, such as markets, industrial clusters and shopping complexes, through off-grid solutions.

She explained that the first phase of the Ariaria Market Independent Power Project had energised 4,000 shops, noting that the shops are presently receiving constant, cleaned metered electricity with the remaining shops expected to be connected this year.

The project is in fulfilment of a commitment made by the present administration in the country to increase energy access, through sustainable and renewable energy solutions, she said.

In her words, “To date almost 10,000 shops have been electrified as part of the initiative within Ariaira Market, Sabon Gari Market in Kano, Sura Market complex, Iponri

market in Lagos and Isikan market, in Ondo.

“The Ariaria Market Independent Power Project is funded, constructed and operated, by Ariaria Market Energy Solutions Limited (AMES) and consists of an independent gas-fired power plant, extensive distribution network and metering systems for each shop.

“The pre-paid meters mean that there is no more estimated billing and the traders only pay for what they consume, therefore we encourage energy conservation and payment of power supply.

“It is therefore very clear that, this administration is committed to ensuring that, Nigerian businesses are given the ability to thrive and thus boost economic activity in a conducive and healthy environment.

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PFAs face another transfer pressure over NUPEMCO licence MODESTUSANAESORONYE

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ith the granting of operational licence Monday to the Nigerian University Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO) as a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), pressure will now be on existing PFAs that had been managing the institution’s employee contributions to transfer them to the new owner managers.

PFAs had in the past been given time frame within which to transfer managed funds on their coffers to new PFAs that was granted licence, following pressure for independence.

Such pressure had come from NSITF legacy funds, military pension funds, police pension fund, now NUPEMCO, among others.

Though transferring the funds is not going to deplete the total pension funds assets under management by the

industry, but it is going to affect the size of affected PFAs, while also resulting to extra management cost.

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) on Monday announced the issuance of a licence to the NUPEMCO to carry out the business of a PFA. According to the commission, the approval is consequent upon a detailed evaluation of NUPEMCO’s compliance with the requirements, terms and conditions stipulated by the Commission.

BusinessDay had on November 7, 2018, published an exclusive story that PenCom was on the verge of granting a PFA licence to Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for independence.

The story also stated that beyond transition challenges that go with establishing a new PFA and moving existing managed funds to the new PFA, as well as consequent administrative bottlenecks, there is the problem of confidence erosion.

According to the report then, the decision for licensing was an agreement reached with the Federal Government during one of the strike actions embarked on by ASUU few years ago.

Longe Eguarekhide, managing director/CEO, AIICO Pensions Limited, had commented on the development, saying, “I think that, as a licensed operator, we have to simply focus on doing our job the best and most efficient way we can.

“There will always be competitive pressures. These pressures should only help us deepen our capacity and spread our reach to better sustain our businesses.”

A pension investment expert in one of the top PFAs in Abuja said, “The pension industry faces a long-term threat over quest to pull out,” stating that it was not in the best interest of the growing industry.

The military, it would also be recalled, had pull out of the CPS, while some other paramilitary agencies had also

pushed to operate outside the CPS before it was resisted by government and other stakeholders.

As of the end of November 2018, total pension fund assets under management by the PFAs stood N8.499 trillion, while the total number of registered contributors stood at 8.381 million. Out of the registered contributors males are 5.918 million while females are 2.463 million.

The key objectives of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) are to ensure that every person who has worked in either the public or private sector receives his retirement benefits as and when due; assist improvident individuals by ensuring that they save to cater for their livelihood during old age; establish a uniform set of rules and regulations for the administration and payment of retirement benefits in both the public and private sectors, and stem the growth of outstanding pension liabilities.

Bismarck Rewane, CEO, Financial Derivatives (r) and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, All Progressives Congress Party governorship candidate in Lagos State at a Lagos Business School Breakfast Club session at Oriental Hotel on Wednessday, where the APC candidate shared his development agenda.

Nigerian students make Ireland study destination to advance economic turnaround KELECHI EWUZIE

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igerian students are turning to Ireland to benefit from the advanced education that catalysed the Irish economic turnaround.

Thousands of Nigerians study overseas each year. Some seek a better life abroad, others simply wish to gain the skills to build a strong career in Nigeria and contribute to this country’s prosperity. For all, Ireland appears a great destination for their educational growth.

Thessa Bagu, country representative, Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government trade agency, observes that in the past three years, the number of Nigerians studying in Ireland has increased more than fivefold.

“It is not difficult to see why

Ireland is increasingly popular. Don’t forget it is the only English-speaking country in the Eurozone and one of its strongest economies. The quality of its education institutions is undisputed while the cost of tuition and living cost tends to be lower than in countries such as the UK,” Bagu says.

She further says that the safe and welcoming environment makes Nigerians feel at home in Ireland.

According to Bagu, “There are currently 35,000 international students from 161 countries enjoying Ireland’s vibrant culture and excellent higher education. Students going abroad to Ireland have also reported the highest satisfaction with their international study experience, followed by Scandinavia.”

Ireland offers a two-year

stay back visa for post-graduate students so they can gain valuable experience working for leading companies. She comments: “Ireland is the largest pharmaceutical exporter in the world, the world’s 2nd largest software exporter as well as a key player in agritech and financial services.”

Companies like Google and Apple have significant operations in Ireland and are looking to attract skilled labour.

“Nigeria is currently aiming to become an innovative, IT-driven economy. The country needs highly educated people who have also worked for some of the world’s leading companies and who can transfer those skills to other Nigerians,” says Bagu, “Nigerians who have studied in Ireland will have the skills required to build a stronger base at home.

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NB names Sade Morgan as new corporate affairs director KELECHI EWUZIE

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igerian Breweries (NB) plc has announced the appointment of Sade Morgan as its corporate affairs director and member of the Nigerian Breweries Executive Committee (EXCO). She will report in this capacity to its managing director/CEO, Jordi Borrut Bel. The company disclosed this in a statement Tuesday, saying in her role as corporate affairs director, Morgan will strengthen the company’s non-crisis stakeholder relations and drive a strategy led relationship with government, regulatory organisations, host communities, the media and non-governmental organisations to reinforce the company’s philosophy of ‘Winning with Nigeria.’

According to the statement, “Morgan started her career in 1993 in legal practice and subsequently worked across several industries and markets in Africa, Middle East, the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe. Joining British American Tobacco (BAT) in 2003, she worked over a period of 11 years in various management roles and jurisdictions with the multinational organisation.”

She was seconded to BAT Middle East and North Africa in 2006, sharing EXCO responsibility for the strategic management of the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) business unit. In 2008, she was appointed Legal Director to the BAT Nigeria leadership team in which capacity she drove the regulatory

and legal risk management agenda for the business unit’s 26 West Africa area markets.

Morgan was assigned in 2013 to the BAT company headquarters in the UK with Regulatory and Marketing counselling and engagement oversight of the BAT group’s 86 Eastern Europe, Middle East and African (EEMEA) region country markets.

She moved in 2014 to the Nigerian Bottling Company, a member of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company group where she held the role of public affairs and communications director and successfully drove a broad stakeholder management, business sustainability and CSR agenda.

She is a graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, a Prince II certified project manager with a certificate in executive management from the Institute of Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland. She is a member of the Institute of Directors, the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and chairman of the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (Nigeria).

Air Peace flight returns to Abuja over hoax bomb threat IFEOMA OKEKE

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ir Peace flight P4 7121 on Wednesday returned to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after receiving information that there was an explosive on board the aircraft.

A statement issued by Chris Iwarah, corporate communications manager of the carrier, confirmed the incident, saying the operating crew acted professionally and took the decision to return as a precaution.

He attributed the false information to an intending passenger who was denied boarding after the crew suspected that he might be mentally challenged.

“We confirm that Air Peace Flight P4 7121, AbujaLagos on Wednesday, January 30, 2019 returned to the

Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after the crew received information that there was a dangerous item on board.

“In line with procedures and our high safety standards, the captain-in-command acted professionally, briefed passengers on board and took the decision to return as a precaution. The aircraft landed in Abuja without any incident and passengers disembarked normally to enable security personnel conduct a check.

“Passengers on board the flight were screened a second time and the aircraft thoroughly checked. At the end of the exercise, the information was found to be a hoax as nothing was found on the aircraft. The aircraft was subsequently cleared to depart for Lagos and safely landed at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, at

about 11.44 am.

“The passenger who gave the information has since been taken into custody by security operatives for exhaustive investigation into the incident.

“We commend our valued customers on board the flight for their calm and cooperation while the checks lasted. The safety, security and wellbeing of our customers and crew will continue to be our priority at all times,” Air Peace said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) described the incident as false alarm.

Henrietta Yakubu, general manager, corporate affairs of FAAN, made the rebuttal in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, saying the passenger, who allegedly raised the alarm, was said to have a history of mental illness.

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BUSINESS DAY

NATIONAL DISCOURSE

OSA VICTOR OBAYAGBONA

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s the next general elections count down, many Nigerians are fearful of some of the possible outcomes. History has shown that air ticket sales typically shoot up in this season because those Nigerians that have the financial muscle to take flight with their families during crises have already worked out where to go until the elections and the outcomes subside.

Furthermore, fears concerning the threat of under-age voters and foreigners from neighbouring nations coming in to vote illegally have never been so pronounced as they are for the next elections.

According to a submission by a retired senior immigration officer, in a letter dated December 14, 2014, and titled ‘Citizenship GBEMI FAMINU

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o business can thrive without adequate security. Firms spend 100 percent more money today on security and logistics than they did eight years ago, experts say.

Business leaders in Nigeria worry that logistic cost ranks after power expenditure, taking up 20 to 30 percent chunk of the expenditure budget.

Worse still, a number of firms have left insecure areas for safe places.

In the wake of Boko Haram insurgency in 2011 in North-East Nigeria, for example, firms, including Flour Mills of Nigeria, relocated from Borno and Yobe to North-Western states. Companies withdrew their representatives and shut down operations as insecurity worsened in these states.

Telecoms masts were destroyed by insurgents, making communications difficult in these areas.

Farmers left their farms, leading to high rate of wastes and losses.

Herdsmen attacks on farms have not helped matters, as it has done more harm than good.

The army and private individuals have cooperated in many ways to stem the tide of insecurity in these hot spots. Soldiers work with armed civilians to identify and ar-

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and embarrassment in Nigeria.

From the submission of the retired officer, “It is therefore time to get the Nigerian citizenship laws correct and pay more attention to the borders, creating the consciousness of being a Nigerian citizen in the body, soul and spirit of Nigerian settlers at the border towns, making them feel that they are part of Nigeria as a whole. This way, they can get involved to contribute meaningfully to the peace, progress and general well being of Nigeria.

“It is also time for the fortification of Nigeria’s citizenship acquisition and identification scheme through proper legal framework, reducing excessive discretionary powers of security agencies within the border towns.

“We equally need to have a proper legal framework for our security agencies, especially at the border posts whereby the provision for excessive discretion in the enabling legal provision is replaced with a clear concise regulation standardising and having a uniform functions or duty regulations around the country in line with the constitutional regulations and global best practice.

This area of law needs to be fortified before we can effectively harvest citizenship data for identity card management scheme as being done by the National Identity Card Management Commission now.”

This national discussion is necessary because Nigeria must protect its sovereignty against domestic, foreign terrorist and criminal entities and further protect it jealously against those who wish or are intent on breaching its border laws out of envy which is a common attitude of insurgents, sometimes promoted by some nations or their nationals towards Nigeria, especially in these border communities.

The failure to create a full proof Nigerian national identification scheme that can clearly tell and identify a Nigerian easily has the consequence in the low rating for the fight against insurgents.

The officer, however, argued that “whoever that wants to be a citizen of Nigeria should only be accepted on the basis of proven loyalty to the country, as the present constitutional provision for citizenship is totally faulty.”

@

Foggy borders and the threat of alien voters Acquisition and Identification,’ addressed to the Presidency and others, “The failure to create a full proof Nigerian National Identification Scheme that can clearly tell and identify a Nigerian easily has the consequence in the low rating for our fight against insurgents, terrorising Nigeria today.”

This was sequel to issues raised November 27, 2014, at the National Press Centre, Radio House Abuja, where Abdu Bulama, a former minister of science and technology, had a ministerial briefing on the activities of his ministry with the title: Contribution of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in achieving the Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

To Bulama, “As it is today, our constitutional provision on who is a Nigerian citizen is foggy. We need to properly define who is a Nigerian citizen in a very clear and definite manner. Until we are able to solve the legal riddle of who a Nigerian citizen is, harvesting individual data I think is a mirage and a colossal waste of the scarce national resources.”

The infiltration of non-Nigeri-

an terrorists is aided by the homogeneous nature of our border communities around the whole of Nigeria, and the near total neglect in infrastructural provision for border settlements, which demoralises many members of the border communities into developing some soft spot for viral elements in their settlements.

To him, these issues, along with the extreme discretion without clear cut uniform criteria given to security agencies at the border posts, who are saddled with the responsibility of securing Nigeria’s territorial integrity but with flawed citizenship laws, create a monumental problem for national security in Nigeria.

In most cases, criminals incubate at the borders, which seem to be a haven for antisocial activities, many of these persons operate from these places conveniently against the rest of Nigerians. These account for the terrorist camps around the border areas. They attack and retreat or slide across the borders unnoticed to their homes living behind pain, shock and national anguish.

This cycle is repeated often today, resulting in national distress

How insecurity impacts business rest security threats in these places.

Security agents and experts believe that now is time for private organisations and the citizens to step in the fight against insecurity and threats to life, as well as business and economic survival of the country.

Abayomi Olonisakin , Nigerian chief of defence staff, while speaking at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)’s Security Meets Business, said governance, business and other human activity thrive in the atmosphere of peace and security.

“Nigeria is faced with myriad challenges militating against governance, economic development and social well-being and these security-related challenges range from economic sabotage, communal/tribal clashes, cultism, armed robbery, herdsmen clashes, and kidnapping, among others, which have led to loss of lives and properties and also discouraged local and foreign investments.”

Olonisakin, represented by Peter Onaji, chief of Naval safety and standard, Naval Headquarters, implored the private sector, as a partner and beneficiary of the dividends of security, to support government efforts in tackling

SECURITY the menace of insecurity while he declared that the armed forces is dedicated to combating all sources of threats to Nigeria’s business environment and economic development.

Nigeria is facing increased security crisis laced with terrorism disguised in the form of armed banditry, herdsmen/farmer clashes and insurgency. Amnesty International (AI) said last year that no fewer than 375 civilians were killed between January and November 2017 in various attacks carried out by members of the Boko Haram sect.

“Peace and security is determined by good governance, which is a function of effective visionary transparent and trust worthy and credible political leadership which the incumbent administration is providing,” said Boss Mustapha, secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

Mustapha, who was represented by Sade Caiafas, director, Lagos Liaison Office, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), further said that “Organisations and the citizenry should actively play roles

towards tackling various menaces like militancy, kidnapping, armed herdsmen, robbery and many other as well as enhancing security and safety in the country.”

Abdulrasaq Balogun, secretary, Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), agreed that without adequate security, businesses will not thrive.

“Lagos needs to have robust security architecture in order to allow businesses to thrive, because if businesses thrive there will be more revenue, increased employment and improved infrastructure,” he said.

He further stated that with the Lagos population growing every day, there is a need to develop and maintain a well secured environment, which will require extra efforts and tools.

He called on organisations to channel their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the LSSTF and aid security in the state.

Edgal Imohimi, Lagos State commissioner of police, stated that it is essential to fight crime strategically along with science.

He mentioned that in an effort to seriously combat crime, 26,456 officers have been deployed from the

Nigerian police force to fight crime in Lagos with18, 692 as general duty policemen and 7,764 officers as support groups, with many more across the country. He further said that the Nigerian police force will collaborate with all other security agencies and also the para-military agencies to ensure the provision of tight security in the state.

In his address of welcome, Babtunde Ruwase, LCCI president, said the impact of these security challenges on business and investors’ confidence is profound.

“For instance, there is no significant private investment in the North-East region for now. The same is true, perhaps, to a lesser degree, in some other parts of the country.

Our global security perception is very worrisome, Nigeria was ranked 148th of 163 countries by the global peace index (GPI) 2018.”

He further stated that as a business community, there is a need to devise new methods to combat security issues and aid the government in getting rid of threats to security, lives, properties and the business environment.

Experts believe that Nigeria of the 21st century must adopt technology to achieve security efficiency. They say the country, at this point, must invest in CCTVs, intelligence and have a biometric data on all citizens.

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APC blames PDP thugs for violence at Federal Appeal Court in PH Ignatius Chukwu

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he Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) says it is shocked how two Rivers State Governmentappointed lawyers allegedly led thugs from the ruling party in the state to assault innocent witnesses in the Appeal Court of Justice Ali Gumel in Port Harcourt today.

According to Chris Finebone, publicity secretary of the Rivers APC, trouble started after the two PDP lawyers presented their matter before the Justice Gumel appeal panel. “Later, the court called the matter between the Rivers State Chapter of APC and the Senator, Magnus Abe. As counsels to parties announced their presence and presentations commenced, two barristers, Chris Itamunala and Osima Ginah led a group of PDP thugs into the courtroom and they started attacking lawyers and witnesses claiming that the court should not sit in compliance with the ongoing NBA court boycott.”

Chris Finebone

The statement said: “Our party members, who were eager to have our matter heard by the Appeal Panel, were not spared by the hoodlums. Apart from the Justices, the PDP thugs led by Itamunala and Ginah assaulted everyone in the courtroom. All appeals by

Gumel to his colleagues fell on deaf ears as the thugs kept shouting that the sitting must not hold even as they continued the physical attack.

“We recall that the previous day, the same thugs had invaded the court claiming to enforce the NBA court boycott. That fracas elicited

Imo: House of Reps’ candidate promises infrastructural development SABY ELEMBA, Owerri

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an Chibuzor Nwoerie, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Mbaitoli/ Ikeduru Federal Constituency, says that his major goal for seeking to represent the constituency at the National Assembly, is to influence massive infrastructural development of his constituency if elected on the February 16 elections.

Speaking at his country home Mbaitoli, Iwuorie expressed worry that over 80 percent of the rural roads in the constituency area had remained in very deplorable condition and needed urgent attention.

He said that on his own account if voted in to represent the federal constituency, he would procure

earth-moving equipment for the purpose of carrying out massive repairs of the rural roads, noting that good road network was very important to the development of any area.

According to him, he would apart from carrying out the road works himself, carry out also the development of the area through increased federal appropriation on roads, electricity and water supply to the people.

He further said, to enable him achieve his heart desire; he would as soon as he is elected set up various committees to manage and implement all his programmes of action for the people and assure that he has designed a package for rural empowerment programme through women and youth re-

volving loan facilities and credit schemes, adding that in the programme there was provision for skills acquisition centres and information technology training for the youths.

He decried the level of poverty in the constituency; Iwuorie said if voted in he would initiate self-empowerment programmes through agricultural development as implementation of small and medium scale industrialisation in the areas.

He promised that while at the national assembly, he would endeavor the secure job placement for the unemployed youths of the constituency both at the federal and state levels, while scholarship scheme will be in place for the youths who secured admissions in the tertiary institutions of learning.

Lanlehin, Akanbi, others cannot revive their political career with ADC - Oyo APC Akinremi Feyisipo, Ibadan

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he Oyo State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that the defectors from the party to African Democratic Congress (ADC) and other political parties cannot revive their political fortunes by joining new parties.

The party in a statement by the Publicity Secretary, AbdulAzeez Olatunde stated that the gubernatorial candidate of ADC, Senator

Olufemi Lanlehin, the Oyo South Senatorial Candidate, Senator Soji Akanbi and other candidates entered political wilderness and lost their political bearing and relevance the moment they left APC which is the party with the best people-oriented programmes.

Olatunde explained that Senator Lanlehin went to the Senate under the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before it metamorphosed into the APC and left with another serving Senator but the

duo lost their quest to return to the upper chamber of the National Assembly as they were floored at the polls by the candidates of the APC. The Publicity Secretary stressed that Senator Lanlehin and the other Senator are in a better position to really explain their travails to the people, but there is no doubt that they lost political relevance and they have gotten themselves in different political squabbles since their departure from APC, the political party with the best internal democracy.

strong words of condemnation from Justice Gumel. “Lawyers are supposed to be keepers and protectors of laws but it is shameful that those who should protect the law and act as stakeholders in the quest for justice chose to desecrate the sanctity of the very temple of justice they are supposed to protect. It is sad.”

As a political party, the APC stated, “We condemn this assault on the judiciary as seen today. We believe that members of the press who witnessed the unfortunate incident will not be deterred in bringing it to the public space for the benefit of Nigerians. Equally we believe that well-meaning Nigerians will condemn this act of wanton assault and desecration of the judiciary by agents of Rivers State Government under the guise of enforcing NBA court boycott. We know that the main purpose of the assault was to cause an indefinite postponement of the hearing of APC matters by the Appeal Court with a view to scuttling APC presence on INEC ballot for the forthcoming elections.

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2019 Poll: INEC to engage 3,933 Corps members in Ondo YOMI AYELESO, Akure

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he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that 3, 933 corps members serving under the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) would be deployed as adhoc staff for the forthcoming elections in ondo state.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Ondo state , Rufus Akeju disclosed this in Akure when he received the management team of NYSC in the State led by the Coordinator Mrs. Grace Akpabio.

Akeju explained that the number of corps members made the final selection based on ‘competence and available space at the Local Government of jurisdiction’.

“All trained and deployed corps members and NYSC officials will be given training, meal and transportation allowance at the Registration Area Centres while election duties honorarium would be paid directly to their banks upon submission of necessary details to the Commission through their Electoral Officers respectively.”

He restated the commitment of the Commission to providing adequate security to all corps members and other personnel that will participate in the forthcoming 2019 general election.

Onnoghen: Ortom commends Saraki, Dogara over Supreme Court suit …Says he will not betray the electorate BENJAMIN AGESAN, Makurdi

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enue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has commended Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, as well as the entire leadership of the National Assembly for approaching the Supreme Court over Justice Walter Onnoghen’s suspension.

Governor Ortom says Senator Saraki and Dogara have demonstrated true patriotism by leading the National Assembly to seek interpretation of the Apex Court to the Presidency’s unfortunate sacking of the CJN. He says Nigerians are patiently waiting to know the court’s verdict, whether or not the decision of the Presidency to suspend the CJN amounts to usurpation of the powers of Senate as provided for in Section 292 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The governor stressed that it is only when due process, the rule of law and separation of powers are respected by the three arms of government that the country’s democracy can grow.

He called on all Nigerians to reject impunity and high-handedness in any disguise and be prepared to vote without the fear of intimidation during the coming elections.

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom on a different platform while in-

teracting with leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), at the NKST Church, Low Level, in Makurdi assured the people of the state that candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) will not betray their trust if voted in the next elections.

Governor Ortom said it was unfortunate that some of the leaders elected to champion the interests of Benue people have betrayed the trust and taken sides with those he described as enemies of the people.

According to him, all the PDP candidates from Atiku Abubakar for President, Emmanuel Orker Jev, Benjamin Mzondu, and Ikper, for National and States Assembly as well as himself for governor will not betray the trust but always stand with the people.

He said he encountered major difficulties which include financial difficulties, social vices and insecurity during his first tenure and has tackled them headlong adding that if given a second tenure he would do better.

Ortom stated that he embarked on several projects and the completion of inherited ones but had to prioritise the payment of salaries in accordance with the advice of all major stakeholders in the state.

He expressed appreciation to the Christian community for their support and prayers which he said have helped him immensely and urged them to sustain both.

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BUSINESS DAY

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Live @ The Exchanges Top Gainers/Losers as at Wednesday 30 January 2019 GAINERS Company

LOSERS Opening

Closing

Change

N520

N535

15

BETAGLAS

N55.65

N60

4.35

GUARANTY

N33.8

N34

0.2

SEPLAT

Market Statistics as at Wednesday 30 January 2019

Company

Opening

Closing

Change

N1450

N1440

-10

GUINNESS

N71

N65

-6

AIRSERVICE

N7.15

N6.45

-0.7

NESTLE

UACN

N8.5

N8.6

0.1

FLOURMILL

N19.4

N19

-0.4

CUSTODIAN

N6.5

N6.6

0.1

FBNH

N7.55

N7.4

-0.15

ASI (Points)

31,145.34

DEALS (Numbers)

4,018.00

VOLUME (Numbers)

249,537,151.00

VALUE (N billion)

3.122

MARKET CAP (N Trn

11.614

Guinness grows half-year profit to N2.57bn amid subdued revenue …share price declines by 1.4% year-to-date period of 2017.

The company closed the H1’18 period with revenue of N67.79billion which represents a decline of about 3.91percent when compared to N70.55billion in H1’2017.

Guinness Nigeria Plc profit before tax (PBT) of N3.79billion in H1’18 as against N3.54billion in H1’18 implies an increase of 7.06percent in the review period.

Its gross profit in the H1’18 period at N20.49percent against

Stories by Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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uinness Nigeria Plc has released its half year (H1) unaudited financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2018.

The brewer reported N2.57billion in profit after tax (PAT), representing an increase of about 20.65percent when compared to N2.13billion profit in same

CEAT offers better returns on investment

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he fund manager of CEAT Fixed Income Fund has reiterated its commitment to helping investors and stakeholders boost returns on their investment.

Tadeni Balogun, chairman/representative of United Capital Trustees Limited said this during the second general meeting of CEAT, while presenting its IFRS reports and financial statement for the year ended 30 June, 2017 in Lagos.

She said, “The fund was established to provide investors and/or their beneficiaries and dependants with income (dividend), as well as an attractive total returns in the medium to long term period while safeguarding capital.”

The company, which was formerly BGL Sapphire Fund, she recalled, is an actively managed open-ended collective fund, whose main objective is to provide investors with consistent income as well as an attractive total returns in the medium to long term through investment in a variety of fixed income securities.

She noted that the Sapphire Fund was launched in October 2010, registered

with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria and commenced investment activities in April 2011 under the management of BGL Asset Management Limited.

The fund’s management was subsequently transferred to Capital Express Asset & Trust Limited in February 2016, she noted.

United Capital Trustees Limited is trustees to the Fund and UBA Plc (Global Investor Services) is custodian.

Babatunde Tinubu, managing director, CEAT, said, “We promise to continually strive to meet and surpass your investment objectives.”

He said that CEAT had ensured consistent annual dividend payment, by paying N15kobo for the year 2016 which was the year of takeover, and five Kobo distribution for year 2017 in line with consistent income objective.

A five kobo distribution

was tabled for approval at this meeting for the year 2018, which was confirmed and moved for immediate payment.

“I can also strongly assure you of the distribution of dividend to unit holding for the 2019 year, sometimes in October this year has already reflected in the performance of the fund for the year,” he said.

According to the report presented at the meeting, the fund’s total gross investment income increased by 143 per cent as of the end of 2017 from the corresponding period of 2016.

The fund opened its unit holding fund at the beginning of the year with N317million (191 million units).

Approximately N38million was received as additional subscription (creating 23 million units), while N12million redemption was recorded (seven million units) during the year.

N23.99billion implies a decline of about 14.58percent. Operating profit of N4.63billion in H1’18 as against N6.64billion in H1’17 represents 30.27percent decline.

Basic Earnings Per Share (EPS) stood at 118kobo as against 141kobo in H1’17.

As at Tuesday January 29, 2019 Guinness share price at N71 represents a decline of 1.4percent this year. The company’s share price had reached a 52-week high of N114 and a 52-week low of N63.

Seven Scottish companies join LSEG’s ELITE

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LITE, London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) international business support and capital raising initiative, on Tuesday welcomed seven Scottish companies in the first exclusively Scottish cohort, as part of the launch of ELITE Scotland.

ELITE Scotland is the first initiative of its kind for ELITE in the UK. It builds up on the existing strong contingent of Scottish companies in the global ELITE community, including M Squared Lasers, Skyscanner and BrewDog, as well as the vibrant entrepreneurial community in Scotland.

ELITE Scotland is being launched in collaboration with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to support the growth of Scotland’s most ambitious companies.

To celebrate the launch of ELITE Scotland, David Schwimmer, CEO, LSEG, Luca Peyrano, CEO of ELITE and the Right Honourable Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, welcomed the seven Scottish company CEOs to open trading in

London this morning.

The seven new Scottish companies represent a diverse set of businesses providing products and services from enterprise technology solutions to industrial engineering.

Scottish companies will benefit from the core ELITE offering to help companies reach their next stage of growth.

ELITE provides education, business support and mentoring, networking, access to our community of Scottish and global investors, as well as ELITE’s own funding platform.

ELITE Scotland will feature tailored events, training and a mentorship network in Scotland. ELITE companies become part of the global community of over 1000 companies and more than 400 advisers and investors, remaining members for the long term.

David Schwimmer, CEO, LSEG said: “London Stock Exchange Group is pleased to be supporting ambitious entrepreneurial Scottish businesses through ELITE. By providing these high-growth companies with the skills, networks and access to capital, ELITE helps com-

panies reach their next stage of growth and compete on a global stage.

ELITE Scotland builds on the Group’s commitment to Scotland’s businesses and the immense talent and potential they offer to provide the innovation, jobs and economy of the future.”

The Right Honourable Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland said: “Scotland’s business community is dynamic and innovative, and the Scottish Government will continue to play our part in supporting its long-term success, including helping it to address the challenges posed by Brexit.

“London Stock Exchange Group’s global ELITE programme has helped many companies around the world to secure funding, succeed and grow – including some from Scotland such as BrewDog and Skyscanner.

“I’m very pleased there is now a dedicated Scottish programme – ELITE Scotland – bringing together investors, public sector agencies and some of Scotland’s best and most ambitious companies.

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47

BUSINESS DAY

EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC SERVICE aWARDS 2018 Awardees

Mary Uduk Acting Director General Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

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s. Mary Uduk was appointed as Acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April, 2018. She joined (SEC) in 1986 as an assistant financial analyst.

Her career as a regulator has spanned many functions and departments in the Commission, from corporate finance, administration, to providing structural, policy and due diligence.

She has also been responsible for managing several landmark capital market projects,

including the registration of Capital Operators, articulating rules for bonds and equities; Mergers, acquisitions and Takeovers, and managing the banking and insurance industry consolidations that took place between 2005 and 2007.

Uduk served as the pioneer Head of the Operations Division in the Lagos Zonal Office, and has headed the following Departments in the Commission: Internal Control, Investment Management, Financial Standards and Corporate Governance and Securities, and Investment Services Department, among others.

She was a founding member of the Rules and Regulations Committee of the Commission and played an active role in developing new rules and amending existing ones for the guidance of the market. She regularly represents the Commission at various capital market conferences.

She was appointed Acting Director General of SEC ON April 13, 2018.

The Ag. DG holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Business Administration from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Business School, Netherlands. She is a 2009 Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

Under her visionary leadership, the SEC has launched extensive initiatives that are advancing the Nigerian capital market, one of which is the evaluation tool for assessing public companies’ level of compliance with the Corporate Governance Code. There is also the SEC Corporate Governance Scorecard, which was developed in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC). It is a systematic and quantitative evaluation tool for assessing public companies’ level of compliance with the Corporate Governance Code.

Usman Gur Mohammed Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)

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r. Usman Gur Mohammed is the Managing Director /Chief Executive Officer of TCN. Before his secondment to TCN, Mr. U. G. Mohammed was the Principal Power Utility Transformation Specialist in the African Development Bank (AfDB)’s Nigeria Country Department. He joined the service of the AfDB in 2009 and worked at various senior level management roles, including financial control and power utility policy and transformation.

Prior to his employment in AfDB, the new MD/CEO worked as head of financial management for TCN’s Project Management Unit (PMU), and served as the lead member of the institutional reform team that completed vari-

ous studies which prepared TCN for the current reforms being implemented in Nigeria’s power sector.

Mr. Mohammed also served as the Secretary of Revenue Cycle Management project which was NEPA’s first Public Private Partnership initiative.

He holds a B.Sc. in Accountancy from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and an MSC in Business Administration (Management) from the Bayero University, Kano.

U.G. Mohammed is a Chartered Accountant and member of various professional bodies related to his field.

He has a clear mandate to review, validate and implement the best management structure, strategy, business plan and processes to take TCN to the next level of operational effectiveness.

Mr. Mohammed assumed office in TCN on the 1st of February, 2017 for a one year tenure before President Muhammadu Buhari approved a four year tenure for him in February,2018 Since his appointment on February 1, 2017, he has successfully implemented a change agenda at the Transmission Company of Nigeria.

Some milestones include the: Championing of a massive increase of investment in the country’s transmission infrastructure, thereby leading to a boost in delivery of generated power Unveiling of a 20-year Transmission Expansion Plan Development under the Power System Master Plan that would see increased wheeling capacity of 10,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020 Prompt management of grid collapse by giving regular updates on restoration work in any part of the country using appropriate technology.

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EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC SERVICE aWARDS 2018 Awardees

Ahmed Bobboi Executive Secretary Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF)

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hmed Bobboi is the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board. He is great manager of human and material resources, and has brought integrity into the management of the Fund.

The Fund which was established by Decree No. 9 of 1975 (as amended by Decree No. 32 of 1989) was charged with the primary responsibility of reimbursing petroleum marketing companies for any losses suffered by them, solely and exclusive, as a result of sale of petroleum products at uniform prices throughout the nation.

The legislative Charter of the Board as pro-

Ahmed Lawan Kuru Managing Director / CEO Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON)

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hmed Lawan Kuru (ALK) is a career banker with professional experience spanning over three decades across Investment Banking, Risk Management, Operations, Human Capital Management and Marketing amongst others. Prior to his appointment as the Chief Executive of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) by the Presidency on August of 2015, Kuru served as the Managing Director/CEO of the erstwhile Enterprise Bank Limited. His ingenuity at turning the then beleaguered bank around and returning it to profitability earned him the famous name in the financial sector as the turn-around-agent.

He has made some far-reaching changes at the Corporation, increased the tempo of

vided by Decree No9 of 1975 as amended by Decree No. 32 of 1989 (now Chapter 352 of the Laws of the federation 1990) are:To ensure that the Uniform Pricing Mechanism works effectively throughout the country.

To apply the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as they affect the Uniform Pricing System, vis-a-vis degree No. 9 of 1975 (as amended by Decree No. 32 of 1989), establishing the Fund and the Board, in ensuring that each existing marketing company complies with the laws regarding the management of the transportation equalisation process. To equalise the transportation differentials in the white product marketing.

Prudential financial management has become the watchword at PEF since Ahmed Bobboi resumed in his role in October 2016. His interventions in IT have saved at least N150 million annually. Previously, the federal government spent over N300 million each year on IT vendors and support.

A fair deployment policy has been put in place, the first of its kind in the history of PEF. The policy which is structured in such a way that no employee serves in one department for more than four years.

Timely and efficient payment of marketers and vendors backed by a credible internal controls systemhas been instituted at PEF under his leadership, leading to a reduction in leakages and over-invoicing.

A world-class IT system has been deployed across all the 130 locations where the PEF has operations. This has enhanced coordination, monitoring and planning nationwide.

Most remarkably his war against corruption never shied away from wielding the big stick on erring staff.

recoveries and strategically refocused AMCON on value enhanced exit of its portfolios, which encompasses continued negotiations and resolution of loans through cash recoveries, asset forfeitures via negotiation or enforcement; capital restructuring for short to mid-term exits as well as joint venture arrangements for asset operations and land development.

His creative leadership methodology at the government agency has led to the repositioning of AMCON’s debt recovery approach as he has strengthened the legal and credit restructuring units to collaborate and perform more efficiently with asset tracing engagements to enable AMCON recover much more. As a result of this, AMCON was able to successfully divest 100 per cent of its equity holding in Keystone Bank Limited, the last of the bridge banks in the book of AMCON. The Corporation also saved Arik Airlines (the largest local carrier) and Aero Contractors (the oldest carrier) from shutting down operations. Irrespective of the economic challenges of last year when the country experienced recession, AMCON still recovered over N134billion in 2016 alone.

Under his leadership, the Corporation is exploring the creation of robust Real Estate Investment Trust Scheme (REITS) that would provide market driven exit for AMCON’s real estate assets as well as additional capital market instruments for institutional investors such as the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and other interested parties. AMCON is engaging with financial advisers, private equity and mezzanine Funds as potential partners for joint venture and other capital restructuring arrangements.

Before Kuru arrived AMCON, he previously served as Managing Director/CEO of erstwhile Enterprise Bank Limited; Executive Vice Chairman, Emeritus Capital Limited; Executive Director of the old Bank PHB Plc, and held very senior management roles at Habib Bank of Nigeria.

ngr. Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna holds a PhD and Masters of engineering degree in electrical Engineering from Bayero University, Kano. He was trained earlier at Plateau and Kaduna Polytechnics for National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) respectively. He obtained a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Education and a PGD (Electrical Engineering) from The Federal University of Technology, Akure. He also obtained masters of Philosophy degree in Entrepreneurship and a second PhD in Entrepreneurship from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Nairobi – Kenya.

Prof. Haruna has diverse working experiences which cuts cross industries, academic and government institutions. He worked previously as a Technician, Supervisor, Engineer, Maintenance and Services Manager and Technical Manager with many firms including NASCO Group of Companies, Ikara Food Processing Company, Mainsys Technical, Controlled Plastics Limited, Kano and New Nigerian Printing and Packaging Plc. Haruna was also Managing Director of Central Support Engineering Limited from 1995 to 2009. He was one time Head of Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Kaduna Polytechnic, a visiting Lecturer to Bayero University Kano, one time Director/Chief Executive Officer of Power Equipment and Electrical Machin-

ery Development Institute (PEEMADI) Okene and was also Director Engineering Infrastructure at the Headquarters of National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).

Before his current appointment as Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of NASENI, he was Acting Director General/Chief Executive of the Agency. He is currently a Professor to Nigerian Turkish Nile University (NTNU).

He is a Registered Chartered Engineer with the United Kingdom Engineering Council (U.K), is COREN registered; a Fellow of the UK based Institution of Electrical Engineers (FIEE) now the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), a Fellow of Nigerian Academy of Engineering (FAEng),a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) and Solar Energy Society of Nigeria (FSESN), he is also a fellow of the Nigerian Association of Technologists in Engineering (FNATE)among others.

He has received several meritorious awards.

He was a governing council member of Nasarawa State vocational and Relevant Technology Skill Acquisition Board and many times board member of Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC).

He is currently a board member of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulation Authority (NNRA), a board of trustee member (Incorporated Trustees) of High Voltage Technology Centre of Nigeria (HIVOTEC) University Of Lagos, a board of trustees member of Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, former team leader of the Presidential Standing Committee on Inventions and Innovations, a member of presidential task team on development of industrial, Science and Technology Park, and a member task force on implementation of National Science and technology policy and programs of Federal Ministry of Science and Technology among others. He has attended several notable assemblies and forums such as the 68th Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2013 as a member of the disarmament committee and the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg 2015.

Prof. Haruna is the incumbent Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure. (NASENI) During his tenure, NASENI has recorded a number of technological breakthroughs including the Establishment of a 7.5MW per annum capacity solar panel manufacturing plant at Kashi, in Abuja Production of a made-in-Nigeria executive tricycle using 65% local content Invention of a solar-powered electronic voting machine which ‎would facilitate conduct of polls in the country Launch of a locally developed unmanned aerial vehicle for surveillance and mapping of agriculture locations

Mr. Kuru attended the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria where he obtained degrees in Business Administration as well as MBA. He has attended various international programmes including IMB, Switzerland, the London Business School, Columbia Business School, New York, as well as Harvard Business School.

The dedicated corporate player has served on the Board of over 30 organizations and is currently playing key roles in a number of them. He is an outstanding and experienced corporate executive with proven leadership attributes; a community builder, motivational speaker and a mentor. Kuru is also a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Credit Administration, the Chartered Institute of Bankers Nigeria (CIBN) and Institute

of Directors (IoD), just to mention a few.

He is married with children.

Under his leadership AMCON has sharpened its focus on recovery of debts, while keeping a disciplined check on operating expenses.

Using firmer resolution strategies as well as the special enforcement powers vested in it by the AMCON Act, AMCON has recorded impressive successes in compelling recalcitrant debtors, especially those that are politically exposed and business heavyweights, to meet their obligations.

In addition to its resolution mandate, AMCON through its interventions has saved several tens of thousands of jobs of Nigerians, who would have lost their livelihoods if their employers had been forced to close down.

Dr. Mohammed Sani Haruna Executive Vice Chairman / Chief Executive Officer National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI)

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EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC SERVICE aWARDS 2018 Awardees

Yusuf Kazaure Managing Director/CEO Galaxy Backbone

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r Yusuf Z. Kazaure serves as the Chief of Business Operations, Education Development and States at Galaxy Backbone Plc. Mr. Kazaure has 21 years cumulative working experience spanning both the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy. He started his career as an Architect with Ministry of Works and Housing, Kano State. He worked in Bank of the North and then Tropical Commercial Bank, where he served as a Principal Manager In charge of Admin and Premises from 1989 to 1999.

Alhaji Mohammed Kari, ACII, AIIN Commissioner for Insurance & Chief Executive Officer, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM)

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lhaji Mohammed Kari is the Commissioner for Insurance, Nigeria and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), the insurance supervisory and regulatory authority in Nigeria. He is a Chartered Insurance Practitioner with over 36 years of experience in Insurance and Management, stretching from the private to the public sectors where he has managed some of the biggest insurance entities in Nigeria.

Prior to his appointment on July 31, 2015 as Nigeria’s Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) , Alhaji Kari was the Deputy Commissioner for Insurance (Technical) where he was saddled with the responsibility of superintending over technical issues in the Commission.

He started his career with Royal Exchange Assurance Nigeria, Kano Branch, in 1979 upon completion of a Diploma in Insurance program at the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Two years later, he proceeded to the Caledonian University Glasgow, Scotland to study on full time basis. On his return in 1984, he joined Yankari Insurance Company where he worked until 1989, when he was appointed as an Executive Director in Niger Insurance Plc.

He later served as a Permanent Secretary in Jigawa State Ministry of Commerce. He also served as Director General (International and Intergovernmental Affairs) in the Executive Governor’s Office, Jigawa State. In 2002, he became the pioneer Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Information Technology and Telecommunication Ltd. He played a pioneering role in the establishment of Galaxy Backbone Plc in 2006. He serves on a number of governing boards, government committees and professional bodies. He has attended several courses and seminars within and outside Nigeria. He has B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in Architecture from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1984 and 1986, respectively. He also holds a Post Diploma in Management (PGDM), and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Bayero University Kano in 1990 and 1994, as well as a Diploma in Computing from Oxford University, England 2004.

During his tenure at the helm of Galaxy Backbone, the organization has: Made significant progress in the execution of its mandate as the provider of shared ICT infrastructure, applications and services to all Federal Government MDAs and institutions.

Built and operated a single nation-wide IP broadband network to provide network services to all federal government MDAs and institutions.

Set standards and guidelines for the support of government MDAs in the acquisition and acceptable usage of ICT infrastructure, applications and services across different agencies and government institutions.

In January 1992, he was appointed as Managing Director/Chief Executive of Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, a position he held until March 1993 when he was moved to the National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria (NICON) as the Managing Director/Chief Executive, a then leading company in the financial sector and the Insurance industry.

He served in that capacity until January 2000 when he resigned his appointment to set-up Arit Solutions Limited, an Information and Communications Solutions Company as the Lead Consultant. In September 2001, he proceeded to the University of Central England in Birmingham, United Kingdom to undertake an MBA program and graduated with a Masters Degree in Information Management. He returned to Insurance management in 2007 as the Managing Director/Chief Executive of Unity Kapital Assurance Plc after the acquisition and merger of three companies that formed the entity.

He was also a member of the Nigerian Vision 2010, a member of the Vision 20:2020 Committee and a recipient of the much-coveted African Insurance Organisation’s gold medal for excellence.

With nearly four decades of experience in the insurance industry, Alhaji Kari’s appointment as the Commissioner for Insurance, Nigeria and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) was welcomed by stakeholders as the placement of a square peg in a square hole.

Some initiatives that have been launched since he assumed the helm include the: Establishment of the Insurers’ Committee. The committee’s membership comprises the management of NAICOM, chief executives of insurance &reinsurance companies, and leaders of insurance trade associations. It is tasked with enabling regular interactions between the regulator and the regulated entities to discuss challenges and proffer solutions Enforcement of the Corporate Governance Codes in the sector Development and issuance of a Road map for transition to a Risk-based Solvency Regime (RBSR) as well as a framework for Tier-based Minimum Solvency Capital, which was released in July 2018 Rebranding drive of the insurance sector, which was launched in June, 2018 The steady increase in the sector’s Gross Written Premium which stood at N371 billion at end of 2017, while total assets totaled N992billion

Barr. Adebayo Somefun Managing Director/ Chief Executive Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF)

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seasoned career civil servant with proven experience spanning thirty-four years in the Federal Civil Service, Barr. Adebayo Kolawole Somefun is an exemplary leader with a passion for excellence, good governance, transparency and accountability.

With a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English, LL.B and B.L, he started his career with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) where he served as Head of the Legal Unit of the Lagos State.

With a track record of setting clear directions for overall organizational effectiveness, he successfully ensured that pensioners were paid their pension and gratuity promptly when he served as Head of Pension and Gratuity Branch of the NYSC, Directorate Headquarters, Abuja and proceeded to head the Planning Division.

Barrister Somefun successfully monitored and evaluated all programmes and projects of the NYSC nationwide while ensuring adherence to policy programme implementation when he served as Head of Monitoring and Evaluation Division. He later became the Chairman, AntiCorruption and Transparent Unit (ACTU) and Chairman, Election Monitoring Committee (2014

Barr. Abdullahi M. Mukhtar, MON, FCIA Chairman/CEO Nigeria Hajj Commission (NAHCON)

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e was educated at Yusuf Dantsoho Primary School, Anguwar Rimi and Rimi College before going for his Diploma in Chemical Engineering at the Kaduna Polytechnic. He obtained an advanced Diploma in Business Management at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi.

He also has a Bachelor of Law degree from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, a post graduate diploma in International Law and Diplomacy, a Masters Degree in International Affairs and

– 2017). He was also State Coordinator/Chief Executive of NYSC Kano, Kaduna and Edo States.

Somefun also served as Head Reforms, effectively coordinating all reform programmes within the NYSC Scheme; he was also Acting Director, Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development, where he empowered Youths to be self-reliant; and a top management member involved in formulating policies and strategies for the Scheme.

Upon his appointment as Managing Director/ Chief Executive of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund on the 14th of April 2017, Barrister Somefun after a deep appraisal of the policies of the NSITF, and the compelling implementation of the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS) embodied in an Act of the National Assembly, came up with a four-point agenda which he is pursuing with uncommon zeal for the good of the organisation and the Nigerian worker.

Somefun initiated a silent, deliberate anticorruption crusade through the successful introduction and implementation of a procurement policy hitherto unknown at the NSITF since 2012.

The policy, which aims at practically promoting transparency and accountability in the procurement process, has received endorsement from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Commission (ICPC).

For being a highly motivated and resultdriven leader with excellent interpersonal and decision-making skills, Somefun’s dexterity has been crowned with several honors.

Under his leadership, NSITF has made giant strides in a number of vital areas such as: The execution of the mandate of NSITF including the payment of 21,819 claims as at September, 2018 Achievement of 76% increase in Employers Record on Database (18,300 to 92,804) Migration of about 22,400 active and contributing employers from the Industrial Training Fund into the NSITF Abuja Region and the set up of a taskforce to accelerate adoption, enforcement and payment. When concluded this will be the largest single enforcement exercise in the history of the Fund.

Diplomacy and was called to the bar in February, 2013.

His working experience and capacity transcends the aviation industry, diplomatic and government organizations. Notable among them are Kaduna State Water Works, Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims’ Welfare Board as director of operations, consultant to Chanchangi Airlines in 1998 Hajj operations, officer of Pilgrims’ Affairs Abuja, as a consultant for the Hajj 1999 operations, Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board as Executive Secretary and as commissioner in charge of Operations in the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).

On 25th May, 2015, he became the Chairman/CEO of the commission to date. He has been involved in various community development programmes and is a member of various non-governmental organizations.

His achievements in Hajj management at the state level include the expansion of Hajj awareness to the general public in Kaduna State, the professionalization of Hajj by initiating IATA/ UFTAA training and certification of his staff; instilling and maintaining discipline in pilgrims.

He championed better accommodation for pilgrims under states, computerized the pilgrims’ registration system in Kaduna which eliminated Hajj slots hoarding and abuse. He also eliminated the abscondment of pilgrims by introducing guarantors during Hajj registration, ensured early remittance of Hajj fares to Continues on page A10

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NAHCON and secured a gradual increase in the allocation of Kaduna State which has become the state of the federation with the highest number of pilgrims.

His achievements in Hajj management earned him recognition by President Umaru Yar’adua who bestowed on him Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) in 2010. This is in addition to other recognitions in terms of awards and honors locally and internationally.

At the national level, he championed the direct landing of Nigerian pilgrims under the boards into Madinah during Hajj. Other changes he effected are elimination of waiting days by Nigerian pilgrims at Nigerian and Saudi airports

Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, mni Managing Director/ CEO Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC)

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lhaji Ibrahim graduated from the famous Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1974. Three years later, in 1977, he added a Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) to his academic laurels from the same University. In 2001, still in quest for further knowledge, he attended the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru where he graduated in November of the same year.

Ibrahim has had an enviable work experience since he joined the Kano State Public Service in 1975 after compulsory one-year National Service. From a relatively junior position of an Administrative Officer in the Cabinet Office of the Kano State Government, he rose to the post of Permanent Secretary within a period of ten years due to hard work and diligence.

He served in several Ministries and Depart-

during outbound and inbound airlifts, improvement in standards of pilgrims’ accommodation for Nigerians in Makkah and Madinah through stringent inspectorate regulations, introduction of luggage and zamzam management system for Nigerian pilgrims, streamlining and sanitization of private Hajj and Umrah operators and operations and elimination of the sharp practices by briefcase companies in Nigeria and in Saudi Arabia.

He strives to enhance the legacies of Hajj through forging socio-economic ties with other countries and to boost the unity of the Nigerian Muslim Ummah irrespective of ideological differences. His introduction of nationalism in all teams that participate in Hajj has been wonderful.

Ensuring smooth Hajj operation and performance by Nigerian pilgrims in Mecca Winning the approval of Saudi authorities for the direct landing of Nigerian pilgrims under the boards into Madinah during Hajj Elimination of waiting days by Nigerian pilgrims at Nigerian and Saudi airports during outbound and inbound airlifts Improvement in standards of pilgrims’ accommodation for Nigerians in Makkah and Madinah through stringent inspectorate regulations Elimination of the sharp practices by unscrupulous agencies in Nigeria and in Saudi Arabia

ments until 1989 when he joined the NDIC. He joined the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation in May, 1989 as a Deputy Director and a Departmental Head in charge of Financial and Technical Support, one of the key operational departments of the Corporation then. In 1991, he became a full Director in charge of the Administration Department of the Corporation. Between 1992 and 2007, he headed several other departments amongst which were the Human Resource and Corporate Development Departments.

Between September, 1995 and September, 1996, he was appointed an Executive Director (Finance and Administration) in the defunct First African Trust Bank and was involved in the restructuring and sale of the bank. In August, 2007, Alhaji Umaru was appointed the Executive Director of the Corporation in charge of Corporate Services. His responsibilities included General Administration, Human Resource Management, Information Technology and Finance functions. In December, 2009, he was appointed the Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation following the expiration of the term of the erstwhile MD/CEO. He was appointed Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer on the 8th of December, 2010.

Over the years, he has attended several technical and management courses from some prestigious institutions both at the national and international levels. Amongst the main ones are the ESSEC Graduate Business School, France, Templeton College of Oxford University, U.K. and International Centre for Banking and Financial Services, Manchester University. Others include Royal Institute of Public Administration, London; International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland; INSEAD France, ROSS School of Business, University of Michigan USA, University of Cranfield UK and the highly prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.

Under his leadership, NDIC has remained committed to the protection of depositors’ fund through effective supervision of banks in conjunction with the Central Bank of Nigeria, and prompt payment of insured funds to the depositors of closed banks.

Dr. Yemi Kale, Statistician General of the Federation National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)

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emi Kale graduated with a first class degree in economics from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, and a distinction in his master’s programme at the same university.

Kale went for a PhD in economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), expanding his horizon and excellence.

As a golden fish has no hiding place, the brilliant economist was soon found out by Goldman Sachs, a global finance company listed by Fortune 500 as one of the best companies to work, for 18 years running. Here, he worked as an equity analyst.

He also worked for several years as a quantitative analyst at Merrill Lynch Financial Services, from where he was made Group Head of Research

Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami Director General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)

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r Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, is a Professor of Computer Information System at the Islamic University of Madinah, is also a renowned Islamic scholar. He would be the first Nigerian Citizen ever to teach in the University of Medinah in more than 63 years of existence.

and Investment Strategy at Investment Banking and Trust Company Plc. (now Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc).

He serves as a non-executive member on the boards of both Skye Financial Services Limited and SFS Capital Nigeria Limited.

He was also appointed technical adviser to the minister of national planning on macroeconomic policy, infrastructure development and trade policy and regional integration.

By 2011, Kale was appointed statisticiangeneral, and he served the country till August 2016, changing the face of the agency and driving databased decisions in Nigeria’s public and private life.

Upon the expiry of his first tenure in August 2016, Udo Udoma, minister of budget and national planning, issued a circular extending his stay in office beyond his tenure, with no specific date of completion.

The World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations, the European Union, and many development partners across the world have continued to hail the work being done at NBS, and credible and timely data being churned out.

Consistent, timely release of credible and reliable statistics Successfully rebasing Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014, during which Nigeria emerged Africa’s largest economy Unveiled the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which would help Nigeria attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the country Accolades and international recognition from global institutions like the International Monetary Fund, and World Bank Most importantly, under the watch of Dr. Kale the National Bureau of Statistics has been able to make this giant stride despite poor budget funding and amid immense pressure and wild expectations.

Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami was born and grew up in Gombe State, Nigeria. He completed his first degree in Computer Science in 2002 at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi, MSC Computer Science 2008, Master of Business Admin. (Technology) in 2010 in the same University and he obtained his PhD in the United Kingdom.

He has authored many books on religion, technology, politics and community reconciliations. Dr Pantami has received a lot of awards and appreciation from many individuals and organizations which include those from President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, 2006; the Muslim Corpers’ Association of Nigeria on the 19th January, 2004, Alhaji Ahmad Sani (Yariman Bakura) Executive Governor of Zamfara State on 4th April, 2006. The awards recognized his effort in teaching morality or sincerity and dedication towards his work. He was also honored by the chief Imam of New RGU Mosque in the U.K for his personal interest and devoting time in spreading knowledge and spending time researching, writing, teaching and giving legal rulings.

Dr Isa has successfully participated in several Seminars, International & Local Conference and Workshops as Resource person, Speaker, Presenter, Discussant. He is a Member Shurah, Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria from 2004 till date. Dr Isa Pantami has many lectures on YouTube and was Chief Imam at ATBU for seven years from 2002-2009.

He has presented talks and lectures as a presenter on Islamic Lessons/Lectures on radio and Television.

Role played in the amendment of the NITDA Act in 2017 Close collaboration with relevant MDAs to ensure compliance on local content promotion and technology transfers by indigenous ICT companies.

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ing in both legal and administrative matters including policy implementation; defending and representing the Presidency on judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, as well as attending Joint Intelligence Board (JIB) and other security meetings. After this tour of duty, Jalal Arabi was deployed to the Federal Ministry of Transport in December 2000 and for the next two years served dutifully as Assistant Director (Rail).

He was also the Assistant Secretary of the Panel on Review of Judiciary and Police 1994; Member of Nigerian Legal Team on Bakassi – 1994 to 2002; member of the Sub-Committee on International Criminal Court (ICC) – 1996 to 2000; member of Nigerian Delegation to the UN Human Rights Committee, Geneva – 1996 to 2000; and also member of the Ministerial

Committee on Re-assessment of the Nigerian Railway and Repositioning of the Rail Transport Project – 2001. That’s in addition to being member of the Ministerial Committee on the Reorganization of the Military Pension Board – 2003; member of Ministerial Committee on the Re-evaluation and Re-assessment of Bilateral Military Assistance to Defense Personnel -2003; Member of Inter-Agency Panel on the Clash between Nigeria Air Force and Nigerian Police Personnel – 2003; chairman of Ministry of Defence Anti-Corruption Unit 2003; member of Presidential Committee on Financial Action Task Force from 2009 to date: and member of Presidential Committee on Inter-Professional Relationship in the Health Sector.

In November, 2015, he was appointed by President Muhammad Buhari to the position of Permanent Secretary.

Under his watch, he brought the transformation of medical facilities at the State House Medical Center which was hitherto reduced to a mere consulting clinic under the previous administrations.

He restored order in the management of human and material resources through pragmatic engagements with staff seconded to the State watch, you have seen to House and raised administrative bar to make Civil Servants at the State House, the real elite corps of the Nigeria Civil Service system through your concerted efforts leading to a more result oriented government program under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Most remarkably, He reduced corruption in the handling and management of budgetary allocations to achieve greater efficiency, under the current administration.

he had to move over to the Headquarters of the 7 Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Nigerian Army, Sokoto, to complete his NYSC scheme.

Following the completion of his NYSC programme, Sani-Omolori had a brief stint in private legal practice from 1983 to 1984 before moving to Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited where he worked as legal officer for the next five years.

He moved on to the National Electric Power Authority in 1990 as legal officer,

spent a year there before gravitating to the National Assembly in 1992 as legislative counsel. In 2002, he was appointed Acting Director of Legal Services Department.

In 2007, he was confirmed substantive Director of Legal Services Department.

Sani-Omolori stepped in the saddle as Clerk to the House of Representatives in February 2010 and, for the next six years, provided, among others things, administrative and legislative support to members of the House as well as superintending over the affairs of the House services.

On May 13, 2016, following the retirement of Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa as the CNA, the lot fell on Sani-Omolori to step into the office in acting capacity. And on August 15 of the same year, the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) confirmed him as the substantive Clerk of the National Assembly.

There are so many achievements that he has garnered on his way to the top including measures that he has put in place in the 13 months he has been in office as CNA to drive the administrative infrastructure, operation and functionality of the National Assembly bureaucracy.

The National Assembly Under his watch is being upgraded in terms of provision of infrastructure, renovation and technology.

He has worked assiduously to make the operations of the Legislative arm of government seamless, and technology-based.

His sterling performance in human capital development at the National Assembly.

Alhaji Jalal Arabi, (OON) Permanent Secretary, State House, Presidential Villa.

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fter obtaining his First School Leaving Certificate in 1973, Jalal proceeded to Government Secondary School Gombe that same year, rounding off college in 1978 with an enviable performance in the West African School Certificate (WASC) exam with his eyes and heart fixed on attaining higher academic laurels, the youngster spent the next two years (1978 to 1980) at the College of Arts and Science, Bauchi, where he obtained his IJMB Certificate before berthing at the prestigious University of Jos in 1980.

By 1983, Jalal had done enough to earn his Law degree, LLB (Hons) following which he moved to the Council of Legal Education, Lagos, where he bagged his B.L in 1984. Armed with his sparkling academic credentials, he turned to the labour market in the quest for a job.

Within another one year, specifically from 1987 to December 1989, the fast-rising lawyer held fort at Manto Processing Ltd, Bauchi as

Secretary/Legal Adviser and Head of Administration, a position he retained at Bauchi State Water Board from 1989 to August 1990.

In August 1990, he joined the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources as Legal Officer and Personal Assistant to the Honorable Minster. And thus he kick-started a career adventure that would see him rising in leaps and bounds, in the intervening years, from one office and ministry to the other, charming everybody with his high level of competence, dedication to duty and passion for excellence.

In May 1993, Jalal Arabi was moved to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) as Legal Adviser to Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). This entailed advising and participat-

Alhaji Mohammed Ataba Sani - Omolori Clerk of the National Assembly, National Assembly Complex,

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University Law graduate, he started out as a teacher with the Local School Management Board, Okene, after he passed his West African School Certificate in 1976.

As a prince of the royalty of the Okene kingdom, he offered his services in 1982, after the completion of his law programme and before he proceeded to the Law School, in the capacity of private secretary in the office of the chairman of Ebira Traditional Council.

After graduating from the Law School, he was posted to Sokoto State for his compulsory one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, where he served as Legal Draftsman/Adviser in the Sokoto State House of Assembly from September to December 1983.

Following the overthrow of the democratically-elected administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari by the General Muhammadu Buhari-led military junta, and the consequent collapse of democratic institutions,

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William Babatunde Fowler Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)

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illiam Babatunde Fowler is a seasoned tax administrator. He studied in the United States of America at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, where he obtained his first Degree with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a minor in Political Science in 1978. He completed a second Bachelors’ Degree in Business Administration at California State University, Los Angeles and also a Master of Business Administration degree program at California State University, Dominguez Hills both in 1981.

His working career started in the United States with Avon Products Inc in New York and thereafter Johnson and Johnson in New Jersey from where he transferred to Johnson and Johnson Nigeria. He made a career change from International Finance and Marketing to Banking where he had a distinguished banking career of over 20 years, first with Commercial Bank (Credit Lyonnais Nigeria Limited) and thereafter with Chartered Bank, where he rose to the position of General Manager before resigning in 2004 to take up his first public sector appointment as the pioneer Permanent Secretary/Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS).

Mr. Fowler reformed the LIRS and led it to achieve an increase in internally generated revenue from an average of N3.6 Billion monthly as at January 2006 to an average of N23 Billion monthly as at June, 2015 (the highest by any State in the country). In recognition of his impressive performance as Executive Chairman, LIRS, he was appointed Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service and Chairman Joint Tax Board by His

Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR on 18th August, 2015 to drive the change agenda of the new administration in the tax sector. Since his appointment as the Executive Chairman, his leadership of the FIRS has begun to show positive results with an increase of over 800,000 new registered (corporate) taxpayers, and as Chairman of the Joint Tax Board, he has increased the number of tax payers in the States of the federation by 4,000,000 from 10,000,000 to 14,000,000 in 12 months.

Mr. Fowler amongst many other new initiatives, has introduced and deployed several ICT driven initiatives which is revolutionizing tax administration in Nigeria and serving to ease taxpayers compliance, such as the Integrated Tax Administration System (enables on-line filing of tax returns), VAT-Collect system (automation of collection and remittance to government coffers of VAT due from Airlines), e-Stamp Duty (on-line stamping of documents and stamp duty payments), e-Tax receipt (enables instantaneous issuance of receipts for taxes paid), e-Tax Clearance Certificate system (on-line issuance and verification of TCC), etc.

In spite of the economic challenges during the year 2016, Mr. Fowler mobilised the FIRS work force to collect N3.3 trillion in 2016 (taxes collectible at the Federal level only). In 2017,FIRS under Fowler collected N4.03 trillion, the first time in the last three years and in a year when oil sold at an average of about $50 dollars. In 2018, Fowler led FIRS to collect N5.3 trillion, the highest in the history of the FIRS, when oil sold at $70 dollars. The highest collection in the history of the FIRS was N5.07 trillion in 2012, when oil sold at an average of $100-120 per barrel.

In recognition of his exemplary performance as a Tax administrator, the Heads of Revenue Authorities in Africa, voted overwhelmingly at the 4th ATAF General Assembly in Durban, South Africa in October 2016, to elect him as the Chairman of the African Tax Administration Forum. He is the first Nigerian to lead ATAF, -which comprises Revenue Authorities from 38 African countries. He was re-elected for a second term as Chairman, ATAF, at the organisation’s General Assembly, in Botswana in October 2018.

Mr. Fowler is a recipient of several awards and recognitions, which include Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and a Fellowship ‘Honoris Causa’ by the Certified Board of Administrators of Nigeria. He is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Ghana. He also holds a Fellowship of the Business Management Association of the United Kingdom.

Due to his commitment and performance in tax administration, the United Nations appointed him as one of the 25 members of the International Experts Committee on Tax Matters on the 10th August, 2017. He was elected the 2nd Vice Chairman of the International Tax Experts Committee on 17th October, 2017.

Under the exceptional leadership of Mr Fowler, FIRS management up scaled it performance in the management and execution of the mandate of the Service including championing the diversification of tax base and net, transparency in tax collection and remittance of same to TSA, enlightenment campaign and enforcement of tax compliance with human face as well as compliance with the principles of the Federal Government’s Ease of Doing Business in tax collection.

Engr Chidi Izuwah Director General/ CEO Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC)

E

ngr. Chidi K.C. Izuwah is currently the Director General of ICRC. Before his appointment, he was the Executive Director, Support Services Department where his immediate responsibilities included providing leadership and coordinating the activities of the various units in his directorate including Finance & Accounts; Human Resources and Administration; Procurement; and Information & Communications Technology (ICT).

Izuwah is a seasoned and professional Oil,

Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria

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rchitect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa is a consummate, fascinating, inspirational, innovative and resilient architect with over 30 years of Real Estate, Infrastructure Development, Banking and Management experience spanning private and public practices as well as in academia.

Prior to his appointment as the Managing Director/Chief Executive officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Arc. Dangiwa held sway as the Managing Partner of AM Design Consults since 1996, an architectural and real estate development consultancy firm, and Jarlo International Nig. Ltd, a Construction Company, where he supervised the delivery of several outstanding projects in diverse areas and sectors across the country, mainly in real estate development.

Arc. Dangiwa excelled as a mortgage finance practitioner, rising through the ranks in Sahel Mortgage Finance Limited from a Property Manager to Head of Credit Control to becoming the Manager, Mortgage Banking Division. In this capacity, he was involved in the design and delivery of wide variety of mortgage products and real estate projects, especially social mass housing.

Gas, Civil and Hydraulic Engineer who started his career as a lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt.

Thereafter, he held several senior oil & gas asset management positions in a career spanning over 21 years with SPDC (Shell Nigeria). He was at various times Project Manager and Contract Manager for the Deepwater Bonga Mooring and Installation Contract. Chidi also held the position of Corporate Pipelines Asset Manager responsible for Shell´s entire crude oil evacuation network in Nigeria.

He started his career in ICRC in 2009 as the pioneer Executive Director of the PPP Resource Department (EDP3RD) where he set up the Department from scratch and divided them into workable and manageable PPP Project Delivery Units each covering various sectors of the economy.

He has seen to the execution of the mandate of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) including the launch of the first ever PPP Contracts Information Disclosure Web Portal, which promotes accountability, integrity and transparency in PPP transactions in Nigeria; and championing the formation and establishment of the Nigerian Public Private Partnership Network (NPPPN), a collaborative platform for knowledge and experience sharing amongst PPP agencies at the Federal and sub-national level.

Under his watch, ICRC currently has over 51 PPP projects under post contract custody and constantly monitoring of these projects to ensure efficient execution.

Mr. Dangiwa is a professional architect, a member of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (MNIA), a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Executives of Nigeria (FICEN) and an Associate Member of American Institute of Architects (AAIA). He is also a member of other professional bodies such as: a Senior Associate Member of Risk Managers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN); a Fellow of both the Institute of Credit Administration (ICA) and Institute of Strategic Customer Service & Trade Management (ICSTM); an Honorary Fellow of Chartered Institute of Loan & Risk Management of Nigeria (CILRM) and an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

He holds an Masters in Science degree (Arc) and MBA both from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in addition to a Bachelor’s Honours degree in Architecture from the same Institution. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Wharton University Pennsylvania and has attended numerous training courses (local and international) on Housing Finance, Computer Aided Designs, Design and Build Workshops and Project Management, as well as several other professional and leadership training programmes.

Arc. Dangiwa loves travelling, intellectual engagements and photography. He is happily married with children.

He has seen to the execution of the mandate of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), particularly cost management, resource optimization and waste reduction.

Under his watch, FMBN has been undergoing drastic and rapid changes in its task to rebrand and reposition the bank for effective service delivery. The FMBN is giving contributors to the National Housing Funds reasons for hope as the management is making remarkable improvement in the promotion of innovative housing reforms. This is as a result of the Business Process Automation, whereby technologies are used as an end-to-end business process within the institution, by the adoption of core banking applications, wide area network that includes mobile and internet solutions that will allow key banking processes seamless link to primary mortgage banks and customers.

Thursday 31 January 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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GARDEN CITY BUSINESS DIGEST Oil magnet, Dumo Lulu-Briggs, wants to create jobs, liberate Rivers IGNATIUS CHUKWU

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alabari-born oil magnet and governorship hopeful Dumo LuluBriggs, unveiled his blueprint to restore prosperity to Rivers State through massive job creation as well as liberate the state from oppression.

The long time financial backbone in the All Progressives Congress (APC) who migrated to pick the ticket in the Accord Party (AP) after the APC primaries few months ago said he comes with a strong agenda to correct 20 years of decline, a remark that looked like a swipe at Peter Odili, Chibuike Amaechi and now Nyesom Wike, all of them upland men who have governed the state since 2019.

D u m o, w h o i s a t o p member of the famous Lulu-Briggs family in Kalabari, served as General Manager, Pioneer Executive Director

and Chief Operating Officer of Moni Pulo Limited from 1995 to 2002 as well as Managing Director of DLB Concerns Ltd., since 2002. He also serves as the chairman of the Board at Platform Petroleum Limited and also served as its vice chairman. He was in private legal practice from 1988 to 1994.

Speaking at the flag-off of his governorship campaigns (in the face of doubts over an APC governorship slot due to several court o rd e rs ) , Lu l u - B r ig g s lamented that a society as endowed with human and natural resources and massive industrialisation as Rivers State could have its people so marginalised and pauperized.

He said: “Rivers State is today a shadow of its glorious past. From being the treasure base of the nation, it has emerged to be the troubled base of the nation. From be-

Dumo Lulu-Briggs,

ing the employers’ hub, it has become the unemployment capital of the country. Rivers State that was once the most hospitable state is now the hotbed of violence in Nigeria marred by insecurity, impunity and outright disrespect for the people by the political leadership.”

He said the state had been on the decline while others were growing. “Rivers State is marked by a decline that started about 20 years ago with return of the country to democracy, and serves as a sad testimonial to the vision and enterprise of the founding fathers. The average Rivers person has b e e n i mp ov e r i s h e d a n d traumatized, and has lost self-esteem. The happiness and economic wellbeing of the individual Rivers person has taken a back seat in governance. Our people are poor and homeless; the elderly are abandoned; our youths are jobless and our

children are out of school.

“For 20 years, Rivers State has had governors and leaders who use our people as ladders to power and dump them afterwards as worthless observers. It is therefore undisputable that the problem of Rivers State is essentially that of political leadership.”

He said his mission is to bring in a leadership that would turn the fortune of the state and its people around through the effective application of three key values: sincerity of purpose, clarity of goal, and dedication to duty.

“Our past neglected these values, our present must learn from these, because our future is dependent on them,” he said.

He also pledged to make every Rivers man, woman and all other residents of the state the focus of all policies, strategies and action and “never forget to care for those who live in the shadows of life”.

it, they would say; ah, you are lucky to come out. Sorry oh, sorry. Those boys eh, hmm!

You may want to be angry with the police but listen to stories of woes on them on that route that has created many police widows. The boys attack them from the bush, kill some and collect their guns. That is how they build their initial armoury.

They do not buy guns which range from N500,000 to N1.5m for new ones.

There are communities along the East West Road especially at Ahoada, Elele-Alimini, and closer to Bayelsa that are totally deserted. The few persons left are kidnap operatives. The farms are deserted too because they have turned into warehouses.

They have thatched houses there where they sleep and organise and flee if there is the need. In the lower forest zones or farms, women going to the farms usually meet different groups of kidnap

victims huddled in bundles.

The women greet them and encourage them and go their way. The numbers get thinner probably due to deaths and ‘bail’.

This is how sad the tale of parts of the South-South/ East has become, and how the PH-Warri Road has become. This is a road that ought to promote trade and commerce. School leavers and graduates are being encouraged into farming and SMEs but the roads and forests are infested with kidnappers and ritual killers.

Goodluck Jonathan, weak as he was deemed, took the war to the Evil Forest of Obingwa in Aba where Osisikankwu reigned. The forest spewed kidnappers onto Aba-PH and Aba-Ikot Ekpene Roads. They even hijacked school buses with entire pupils and the forests swallowed them all.

They now attempted to swallow NUJ executives and Jonathan sent the army who combed the entire area, freed many captives in the various forests, and killed off many boys including the boss. Peace returned. The Army now located a military base there. This treatment is needed on East-West Road especially between PH and Warri. In the Aba area case, the army stormed all village heads, youth leaders, monarchs, etc to extract names of killers and kidnappers they knew. The families of those mentioned called their brothers and sons that held the journalists to please release their victims so they too could be freed. That was what led to the freeing of the journalists.

Pastor! I am a thief, see my AK47

Port Harcourt by Boat With

IGNATIUS CHUKWU

T

he young man knelt before a pastor he just met and shocked the upcoming man of God thus; Pastor!

I am a thief. As if that was not enough, he added, its not just ordinary thief oh, I mean armed robber.

Those of us who carelessly castigate churches as if all of them were enemies of Christ should watch their tongues. Things are happening. Those who thoughtlessly say churches are everywhere but evil grows steadily do not know how much blasphemy they heap on their heads.

Those very close to church leadership will hardly reveal what they see everyday. Men and women are standing in the gap for humanity.

The bubble is threatening to burst.

Pastor said to the young man, why are you telling me this? The young man was no member of that parish of the RCCG (White House) mega parish near Tank in PH. It was just a Tuesday Digging Deep evening. It is usually scanty. It was not even the pastor that was teaching or his able assistants but a new teacher being groomed in Sunday school teaching. He

had taught and mentioned a quote against stealing. Quick, the young man stood up and began pacing round the hall.

Next, he asked to meet the pastor and was obliged. Pastor went into his office and waved him in. Inside, the young man crashed unto his knees and declared; Pastor, I am a thief. He concluded by saying, if you want, I can go and bring my gun. Few moments later, he arrived with a bag. First, he brought out AK47, next a sharp cutlass, then an axe. Shock was in the air. These were disposed off. Next, the young man was standing before the class repeating the confessions with details of heists and highway robberies.

The next week, he stood before a judge in Owerri over highway car snatching case with some blood to it. The judge looked hard at him and said; I have a heavy urge to forgive you. Go and sin no more. That was how the young man secured judicial reprieve, much to his surprise. Much later, his victim, a man, called him and said, i have forgiven you, too. This opened a door for the young man to return to school, a federal tertiary institution in Owerri. He left PH to be away from bad company.

Today, he has graduated and is now a great Tiler doing jobs for Pastor and other church leaders. He is known for humility, honest work compassion, and cheap rates. One more hitman is off the streets due to one evening teaching in a small church.

Breaking; driver killed, 12 passegers abducted As this writer was penning down this piece (do we still

pen things?), a disturbing whatsapp message came and the police later confirmed that a commercial bus driver with Agofure Transport Company was shot dead at about 9am (Monday). His 12 passengers were kidnapped, all at Elele-Alimini. The Don Wani effect!

The FG has gradually ceded the PH-Warri Highway to gangsters and would-be terrorists. The kidnapping of travellers used to be at night; now it is day and night. Travellers are usually endangered species who need the government of the land to create passageway. Days of the jungle are over in civilised countries but in the Niger Delta, parts of the North and some other failed states in Africa, travelling is now a bad risk. This kills businesses.

For the East-West Road, it started with Emuohua areas during the Ogbakiri wars when there was no law or order in Ogbakari over 15 years ago. Arms proliferation in the area left behind a lawless and vicious youth body that did same harm as the Okrika wars that later created cultism and militancy. When they grow, they claim to be freedom fighters for Niger Delta, but they start as common criminals.

The lose boys of Ogbakiri soon spread to the highways and began to feed from it through waylays and stickups. When kidnapping became a commercial venture, the boys began to abduct people going to Abuloma through Ogbakiri and later spilled unto the East-West Highway. Now, the whole of PH to Warri is a kidnap route.

The forests that yielded fruits,

food and timber now yield pain, blood and horror.

The boys boldly block the road at day, harvest all passengers into the bushes, process them into those to rape, those to kill for human parts to various native doctors and yahoo customers, and those to pay ransom. It is your luck that decides where you fall into. A victim once told me how it is done. The boys lie in wait in the bush, as soon as the blockade stops your car, as you attempt to reverse, they swoop on you. If the driver shows stubbornness as I believe the Agofure one must have done, they shoot him. They now march the rest into the forest where they will meet horror; raped women, butchered persons, and persons tied to trees on their last stages of existence. These days, they operate between two security checkpoints. If you manage to escape and run to tell those police men, according to those who made

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Investing in Rivers State Boon to Niger Deltans in modular refinery business as $500m from BoI/Exim Bank beckons – Suleman • First modular refinery to start test-run in Q1-2019 • 44 modular refineries coming, 10 set to start construction • How FG mobilizes militants in the creeks into petro-investment teams Stories by Ignatius Chukwu

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he senior technical adviser in the Ministry of Petroleum, an engineer, RABIU SULEMAN, was in Port Harcourt on November 15, 2018, as part of the team from the office of the Vice President to mobilize the people of the oil region to tone down on violence so as to open the doors to investments and boost the economy of the region. After his presentations, he took time outside the halls at Golden Tulip in GRA 2 to explain the funding arrangement, licensing processes, mobilisation of ex-militants into investment teams, and how soon the refineries will start operations.

44 Licenses So far we have many applications but 44 of them have been processed and given licenses to establish, and 10 of them have gone to the next stage which is ‘authority to construct’. This means they are ready to go to site.

We have approved the land, design, etc. Two are already in construction mode and by end of December 2018, they would get to technical completion which means they could testrun, getting to commissioning which makes flare to go up and it will run.

This is coming in first quarter of 2019.

The third one is the one in Imo State we have gone for groundbreaking ceremony. The owner has one oil block and he is building a modular refinery also to supply to the immediate community. FG has through the Local Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) taken up 40 per cent equity in it. When they pay back, FG will withdraw and allow them to own it. It will be mere five per cent interest. That is the model.

There are many others at different stages. We have one in Lagos. As we speak, about 13 investors from China are meeting in Lagos with the Lagos modular owners. They are coming to Abuja tomorrow to see me to see how we can bring money to support that investment. $500m from China through Exim Bank

When President Buhari visited China, we were able to syndicate a relationship between the Nigeria’s Bank of Industry (BoI) and Exim Bank of China to make $500m available to BoI to support more modular refineries, especially the 44 licensed ones looking for funding. They will borrow to add to their own. It is credit line.

We on our own mandated the NCDMB to set aside some money to support modular refinery system, not as a gift but as loans. What has been missing in project execution in the modular refinery scheme is counterpart funding. The highest laon condition you can get from foreign fanciers is 80 per cent funding and even the remaining 20 per cent is not easy to get. So, we now ask the NCDMB to bring the 20 per cent to help build modular refineries. It is available to anybody who wants it and who qualifies. The guidelines are there to borrow funds. It is very clear and transparent.

Modular refineries versus illegal refineries It is wrong to speculate that the modular refining license system has

failed just because they think that people doing bunkering do not seem to be the ones getting the licenses and loans because the bunkerers do not have the structure to transform to licensees. I can say you journalists are the ones to create awareness. That is why we are crying about Ogoni clean up. They are throwing everything into the creeks through illegal refining.

They are destroying the environment.

It is not true that illegal refining cannot be stopped by modular refinery system. We are taking modular refining to where the oil exists. It is not a gift, else it will fail. If you empty your account to a child and he goes partying and comes back for more. If you keep doing it, a time comes when he will go after your life.

The boys can come together and invest So, if we locate the refineries around the oil fields and communities, these boys can invest in them because they are richer than those of you talking on their behalf. If they buy equity into the modular refineries they will run it together. You can come together as cooperatives and get a license. They can run single

nozzles and sell LPG, kero, etc in the villages. We will no longer supply from PH or Warri. You make money from the sales. You are in business.

That is one way to mop up these boys.

Those who have technical skills, we send them to the Petroleum Training Institute (PT) in Warri and brush them up so they can do all kinds of things. It is a long term process.

When you have the first 44 in different locations, it will help to hire people and create businesses. You can organize them in the creeks into cooperatives. I was the one that brought together the Itsekiri/Urhobo/Ijaw ethnic nationalities around the Warri Refinery into a cooperative society and opened a bank account for them; the chiefs, the youths, all of them into it. This Society is registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and can apply for oil bloc, can run filling station, refinery, get loans from China Exim Bank and do legitimate business. What else can government do for you? So, elites of the oil region should educate their people on how to exploit opportunities available.

Government can go into the creeks and arrest and kill but they are not doing that. Talk to your people. The office of the vice President is doing that, educating the people.

Inviting the militants I invited the militants to Abuja in the boardroom of the Petroleum Minister in 2017 when we started the modular refinery system. We told them, go and organize yourselves. We did not arrest them. Feel free to apply for licenses. This is how they started but whether they are coming through these applicants or not, we do not know. We told them, do not come here and say we should pay for your transport. Stop this free lunch; drinks, wine, hotel, girls. That is nonsense.

This is business; let us see how you will become responsible citizens.

If you have one or two million dollars, come, we will link you to where you will buy refinery equity. Even the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), we sat down with them and said, look, this money you get, this 13 per cent the governors get, can’t you set up modular refineries

from there for groups of boys? They have started moving into action. The NDDC today is sitting with us on how to buy the Amakpe Refinery in Akwa Ibom State. They are also collaborating with Edo State to do a 1000 barrel refinery and they were in my office two days ago. That is why the Minister (Dr Ibe Kachikwu) is going round the Niger Delta telling the people to please come forward and participate in the modular refinery project. That is why we are here today talking to the people. We not want to know who is a killer, who is a militant, just come forward.

You journalists are more than you think in resolving this matter because whatever you say is source of reference to somebody else. The vice president has gone round, the minister is going round, telling the people to come forward and participate. I went into the creeks and met the militant heads one by one.

Today, we can see some readiness to participate. The contract to maintain the pipelines is with the militants, along Okrika, Bonny, PH Refinery pipelines. These lines are working today. I am the one who negotiated that contrary; Excravos to Warri pipeline is also working. Why do you think they have not blown up that line? We are engaging them and talking. There is no arrest.

Timelines for Modular Fuels Two modular refineries will go up in Q1 2019: Opakiri in Kwale, Delta State, Niger Delta Exploration in PH, Okeuna in Akwa Ibom plus Amakpe Refinery. Amakpe has been fabricated and is ready for shipment from Houston in Texas in the US to Nigeria.

It was mired in politics in the previous regime. The man behind it was not part of the political leadership in Akwa Ibom and the party. They scuttled it. Today, we have revved up the matter. AMCON (Asset Management Company of Nigeria) took over the asset. Today, investors have come in. One female investor is speaking with AMCON to see how to buy over the assets and revive it. There are lots of efforts in making Nigeria a refining hub. So, this awareness campaign is important.

chiefs of Ejama Ebubu community of Ogoni in Rivers State.

In a ruling on Friday, the justice, Kumai Bayang Akaahs, said the notice of appeal filed by the oil giant was incompetent and struck it out based on Order 8 Rule 7 of the court’s rules. Akaahs also said motion filed by Shell on July 16, 2018 had no leg to stand on as it ought not to have been filed.

The suit began in 1991 before a Rivers State High Court sitting at Nchia Division in Eleme for spills in 1970 and the chief won the N6Bn it asked for. The case was later refilled for N17Bn at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt in 2001 when it was declared that state high courts had no jurisdiction over oil related matters.

The chiefs won again with 25 per cent interest per year on the N17Bn. SPDC then appealed against the judgment and applied for a stay of execution of the judgment pending the appeal. As a condition for granting the stay of execution, the court required Shell’s bankers, FirstBank, to provide a guarantee of the judgment sum plus interest, according to media reports.

Lawyers now argue that since Shell’s appeal has been rejected by the apex court, the interest stands, but SPDC says it is rather ready to continue with its appeal since its request to file amendments to the appeal have been rejected.

More legal fireworks may lie ahead as it may not be easy to pick up N134Bn.

N134Bn Supreme Court verdict:

Shell denies liability, ready to go ahead with appeal

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he Supreme Court on Friday, January 11, 2019, dismissed an appeal filed by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) trying to stop a judgment debt to an Ogoni community and awarded N500,000 against the oil giant for allegedly filing an incompetent appeal.

Shell on Sunday, January 13, 2019, however, kicked out, denying any liability in the matter and said it was rather ready to go ahead with the appeal. Lawyers for the respondents however said there was no appeal anymore at the apex court based on the Friday verdict.

The position of Shell brings another twist in the windy case that began in an Eleme High Court at a

mere N6Bn only to grow to a federal High Court case at N17Bn. In each case, Shell lost to the community people over oil spills in Ejama Ebubu in 1971. Experts say two major issues tick out in the deepening case; is there still an appeal before the Supreme Court; and is Shell owing N17Bn as it claims or N134Bn as the Ebubu community claims to be the case in the Supreme Court?

A Shell spokesperson said on Sunday, “SPDC is aware of the Supreme Court’s order on our notice of appeal.

We are seeking to obtain a copy of this and will respond appropriately once we have reviewed the detail. SPDC denies any liability in this matter and we remain ready to defend this case based on the available facts.”

On what the ruling means for the substantive case and whether SPDC now needs to pay the N17Bn original sum in the 2010 judgment, Shell said: “We are yet to obtain a copy of the ruling to ascertain the basis of the conclusion of the court to enable us respond appropriately.” Shell did not mention that the First Bank guarantee in the judgment of N17Bn also included the 25 per cent interest awarded to the community people on the principal.

The Supreme Court had on Friday dismissed the appeal filed by SPDC which prevented First Bank of Nigeria Limited from paying the plaintiffs community a judgment debt said to now total N134Bn to the plaintiff community represented by 10 Ogoni

Thursday 31 January 2019

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Parliamentary backing sets May on Brexit collision course with EU Prime minister’s U-turn persuades Eurosceptics to support her move to renegotiate deal George Parker, Laura Hughes and Alex Barker

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heresa May faces a clash with Brussels after the Ho u s e o f C o m m o n s backed her efforts to rewrite her own draft Brexit treaty, an attempt to break the deadlock at Westminster.

The prime minister said she would “never stop battling for Britain”, but while her move rallied Brexiter Conservatives it has been rejected by Brussels that has repeatedly stated the withdrawal agreement cannot be reopened.

Two weeks after her Brexit deal was overwhelmingly rejected by parliament, Mrs May bowed to intense pressure from Eurosceptic Conservatives by agreeing to seek its dismantling. She urged MPs to give her “a mandate” to return to the fray in Brussels with only two months to go until Britain’s scheduled exit.

Her tough Brexit line helped to secure a Commons victory on Tuesday night when MPs voted by 317 to 301 to endorse a governmentbacked amendment, proposed by the senior Tory backbencher Graham Brady, to replace the Irish backstop in her withdrawal agreement with “alternative arrangements”.

The backstop is meant to prevent the return of a hard Irish border, but is strongly opposed

by Eurosceptic Tories who fear it would bind the UK in close ties with the EU in perpetuity.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, and Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, are expected to make clear their objections to reopening

the withdrawal treaty at a European Parliament debate on Wednesday afternoon.

Donald Tusk, the European Council president, flatly rejected Mrs May’s gambit on Tuesday. He said EU leaders remained committed to the existing Brexit agreement painstakingly negotiated over the course of nearly two years.

“The backstop is part of the withdrawal agreement, and the withdrawal agreement is not open for re-negotiation,” said Mr Tusk’s spokesman. The Irish government issued a nearly identical statement.

Mrs May told MPs after the vote that a basis for a “secure and stable majority” had been established in the Commons for a Brexit deal that would include changes to the backstop and new guarantees to maintain workers’ rights.

The prime minister admitted — to mocking Labour laughter — to only “limited appetite” in Brussels for rewriting the deal. She added: “Negotiating it will not be easy.” But she said MPs had expressed clearly what they needed to approve a deal.

She told MPs that she would seek either a unilateral exit mechanism or a time limit for the backstop.

Both have already been rejected by the EU. Despite the apparent collision course between Brussels and London, an effort by a cross-party group of MPs to delay the date of Brexit failed. An amendment put forward by Labour’s Yvette Cooper that sought to give parliament the power to legislate a delay in leaving the EU was rejected by 321 to 298.

Sterling, which recently hit a 10-week high against the dollar on

Democrats look to turn up heat after US’s Russia sanctions move Lawmakers respond to removal of three Deripaska groups from list Courtney Weaver

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emocratic lawmakers are examining new ways to exert pressure on Donald Trump’s administration over Russia following a controversial US Treasury move to lift sanctions on three companies owned by oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Days after the US Treasury formally lifted sanctions against Mr Deripaska’s En+, Rusal and EuroSibEnergo in return for the billionaire reducing his influence on the groups, four Democratic House chairs have announced they are considering “additional legislative actions” to ensure Mr Deripaska does not continue to exert power over the companies.

In a letter to Steven Mnuchin, Treasury secretary, the Democratic chairs of the House financial services, intelligence, and foreign affairs committees have demanded records of all of the Treasury’s communications relating to the removal of Rusal from a list of sanctioned companies, which was formalised on Sunday despite fierce resistance from Congress.

Separately, Jackie Speier, another House Democrat, has raised concerns about links between Mr Mnuchin and Len Blavatnik, the Soviet-born US billionaire and prominent political donor who has also been a business associate of Mr Deripaska.

In a letter sent to Mr Mnuchin, Ms Speier argued that Mr Mnuchin’s oversight of the sanctions decision represented a “conflict of interest”.

Mr Blavatnik’s Access Industries had acquired a stake in Mr Mnuchin’s entertainment company RatPac-Dune in 2017, not long after Mr Mnuchin was confirmed as Treasury secretary.

According to Ms Speier, Mr Blavatnik is a partner in the group Sual, which is a stakeholder in Mr Deripaska’s Rusal.

Tony Sayegh, a spokesperson for the US Treasury, said Ms Speier’s concerns were “premised on false information”. He added: “As our response to her letter will make clear, [Mr Mnuchin] had no direct business relationship with Mr Blavatnik and any suggestion of a conflict of interest is baseless.”

A spokesman for Mr Blavatnik said the businessman had never had any communication with Mr Mnuchin about the RatPac-Dune deal.

In the Senate, Democrats and a small band of Republicans narrowly failed to secure the three-fifths majority needed to block the removal of Mr Deripaska’s three companies from a US sanctions list this month. However, many in both chambers have continued to speak out against the deal, which they fear could be a boon for the Kremlin and Mr Deripaska.

Mr Deripaska was sanctioned in April last year in an effort to punish Russia for “malign activities”. Rusal is the world’s second-largest aluminium producer and the move to sanction the company sparked fears of supply constraints in metals markets and prompted heavy lobbying of the US by European companies that rely on the company’s products.

Theresa May responds after the amendment votes in the House of Commons © Parliamentlive.tv

hopes that a no-deal Brexit would be avoided, fell 0.55 per cent to $1.31 after the Cooper amendment was rejected. On Wednesday morning the pound was steady at just below the $1.31 mark.

“An optimist would look at the silver lining — we finally have a plan,” noted foreign exchange analysts at RBC Capital. “A pessimist would expect the inevitable clash with the EU.” Mr Tusk’s spokesman said the EU was ready to consider delaying the divorce process beyond March 29. “Should there be a UK reasoned request for an extension, the EU27 would stand ready to consider it and decide by unanimity,” the spokesman said.

A separate amendment by the former Tory minister Dominic Grieve, designed to give MPs the opportunity to back different Brexit options, was rejected by 321

votes to 301. However, another amendment by former Conservative minister Caroline Spelman criticising a no-deal Brexit was approved by 318 votes to 310.

Although MPs voted symbolically against a no-deal Brexit on Tuesday, they did not impose a legal obligation on Mrs May. Asked whether the government’s policy was still to take the UK out of the EU without a deal, if none could be agreed by March 29, the Brexit secretary Steve Barclay on Wednesday told the BBC, “yes, it is”.

If the EU continues to hold out against reopening the 585-page treaty, Mrs May will come under pressure from pro-EU MPs in midFebruary to stop the clock and seek an extension to the Article 50 divorce process.

Mrs May announced that if she could not reach a deal with the EU

by February 13 — an extremely

ambitious timetable — she would allow MPs another vote on the Brexit progress. That is seen as “high noon” for those Tories who want to rule out a no-deal exit.

Despite the EU’s reluctance to reopen the treaty, it has indicated greater appetite to discuss the accompanying political declaration between the two sides on future relations or issue clarification letters.

“If the UK’s intentions for the future partnership were to evolve, the EU would be prepared to reconsider its offer and adjust the content and the level of ambition of the political declaration,” said Mr Tusk’s spokesman.

But Mrs May told MPs she was seeking “not a further exchange of letters but a significant and legally binding change to the withdrawal agreement” that she negotiated with the EU over two years.

Apple’s Tim Cook maintains optimism despite iPhone sales slide Shares rally after quarterly revenues come in better than feared but demand remains weak Tim Bradshaw

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im Cook, Apple chief executive, struck a confident note on Tuesday, insisting that the iPhone’s future remained bright despite forecasting that its slide in sales would continue in the short term.

“Macroeconomic factors will come and go. We see great upside by continuing to focus on the things that we can control,” Mr Cook told investors, after Apple reported a 5 per cent drop in revenues for the three months ending in December to $84.3bn. “We wouldn’t change our position for anyone’s.”

Apple shares rallied by more than 5 per cent in after-hours trading, as net income fell 0.5 per cent to $20bn for its fiscal first quarter.

Those figures came in better than Wall Street had feared after a shock warning earlier this month that a downturn in Chinese consumer spending and a slower pace of iPhone upgrades around the world meant Apple would miss its own estimates for the first time in more than 15 years.

Still, in its outlook, Apple said it expected revenues for its fiscal second quarter ending in March to range between $55bn and $59bn, or a decline of 3-10 per cent from the same period a year earlier. That compares with Wall

Street’s previous expectations of revenues of about $59bn.

“We expect the fundamental factors that affected the iPhone’s performance in Q1 will also have an effect in the second quarter,” Luca Maestri, Apple’s finance chief, said in an interview. Foreign exchange movements would account for up to 200 basis points of the percentage decline, he added.

“We expect a weaker macroeconomic environment on a year over year basis, especially in emerging markets, including China,” he told the Financial Times.

“On the other side, we expect that we will continue to increase revenue nicely from the rest of the business, outside of iPhone.”

Apple said that iPhone revenues for the December quarter fell by 15 per cent to $52bn, while the rest of its business — including online services such as iCloud and the App Store, as well as iPads, Apple Watches and Macs — increased by 19 per cent.

On a conference call with analysts, Mr Cook stressed the strong prospects for Apple’s services business in helping to offset the iPhone’s sales decline.

A total of more than 900m iPhones were in active use at the end of 2018, Apple revealed on Tuesday, up 75m or 9 per cent

over the past year. Ben Bajarin, analyst at Creative Strategies, said that the statistic — which Apple has never disclosed before — was “much bigger than most people thought”.

That underpinned Mr Cook’s insistence that digital services could pick up some of the slack from iPhone device sales. Revenues over the past year from Apple’s services division — which includes Apple Pay and Apple Care as well as payments from Google to remain the iPhone’s default search engine — are now larger than those of blue-chip companies including Oracle, Nike and Coca-Cola, and are approaching Facebook’s sales.

“Not only is our large and growing installed base a powerful testament to the satisfaction and loyalty of our customers, it is also fuelling our fast-growing services business,” he said, pointing to a 19 per cent increase in services revenues. “We are very happy not only with the growth but also the breadth of our services portfolio . . . Our ecosystem is stronger than ever before.”

Services are also more profitable than device sales. Apple generates a 63 per cent gross profit margin on services, compared with 34 per cent for its hardware products.

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NATIONAL NEWS

FT Facebook pulls app that collected data from users’ iPhones

China to rush through new foreign investment law

‘Research’ program paid people $20 a month to see which other apps they were using

Beijing hopes move to ban ‘forced’ technology transfers will help smooth trade talks

Hannah Murphy

Tom Mitchell

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acebook is shutting down an app that paid $20 a month to people aged between 13 and 35 for allowing it to collect data on their iPhones.

The “Facebook Research” app enabled the social network to monitor a user’s web and phone activity, including how they used other apps, according to an article published on Tuesday by TechCrunch.

The news comes six months after Facebook pulled another security app, Onavo Protect, from Apple’s app store, after Apple decided to bar apps that monitored which other apps were installed on a phone.

Onavo had allowed Facebook to collect this type of information, raising concerns that the company was monitoring rivals’ success and gaining a competitive advantage.

There were also reports that the app helped the social network identify potential targets for acquisition.

TechCrunch suggested that the Research app shared similar code with the Onavo app — and may have also been in violation of Apple policy. The Research app was available through a policy that allowed companies to offer tester apps to their employees only, the report said.

In response, Facebook said on Wednesday that it would remove the market research app from Apple’s operating systems.

A Facebook spokesperson said: “Despite early reports, there was nothing ‘secret’ about this; it was literally called the Facebook Research App. It wasn’t ‘spying’ as all of the people who signed up to participate went through a clear onboarding process asking for their permission and were paid to participate.”

Facebook said the Research app was not built to replace Onavo and had in fact been set up in 2016.

It is unclear whether the app will continue to be available on Android devices.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

The news came after rising tensions between two of the world’s largest technology companies following Apple’s critical stance towards privacy at Facebook in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, last year said there should be regulation that limited the use of customer data, and that companies such as Facebook used customers as a product to sell to advertisers. By contrast, Apple’s business model was centred around selling products to customers, he said.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, dismissed the criticism as “extremely glib” and “not at all aligned with the truth”.

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in November © Reuters

Trump sat down with Putin at G20 without US note-taker Leaders spoke for several minutes accompanied by Melania Trump and Russian translator James Politi, Demetri Sevastopulo and Henry Foy

D

onald Trump sat down with Vladimir Putin for several minutes of conversation at the end of an evening event at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in November, with no translator or note-taker from the US side to record the dialogue between the leaders, according to people who had direct knowledge of the encounter or were briefed on it.

The discussions between the US and Russian presidents occurred at the 19th-century Colón theatre in the Argentine capital, as world leaders and their spouses or guests were streaming out of the building.

Mr Trump was accompanied

by Melania Trump, his wife, but no staff, while Mr Putin was flanked by his translator. The four of them sat at a table and were among the last to leave.

The White House has acknowledged the two leaders met in Buenos Aires, after Mr Trump cancelled formal bilateral talks following Russia’s November attack on three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Azov Sea. Mr Trump’s aides characterised the Putin encounter as one of several “informal” conversations that Mr Trump had with his counterparts that evening. The accounts of people familiar with the conversation said it appeared longer and more substantive than the

White House has acknowledged.

According to a Russian government official’s account, the two leaders spoke for about 15 minutes about a number of foreign policy issues, including the Azov Sea incident, and the conflict in Syria.

They also discussed when they could have a formal meeting, the official said.

Mr Trump explained that a full meeting with Mr Putin was impossible at the time, and the Russian leader responded by saying he “was not in a hurry” and remained ready to meet when it suited Mr Trump best, the Russian official said.

The US state department declined to discuss any details of the meeting, referring questions to the White House. A White House spokesman declined to comment beyond previous acknowledgments that a brief encounter occurred.

The decision to meet Mr Putin and potentially discuss sensitive matters without advisers or a White House translator just two months ago could trigger new alarm bells about Mr Trump and his relationship with the Kremlin at a time when Robert Mueller, the special counsel, is still investigating his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia.

This month, The Washington Post reported that Mr Trump had sought to hide details of previous conversations with Mr Putin, including at the G20 summit in Hamburg in 2017, frustrating some top officials.

Mr Trump denied he tried to conceal details of the talks, saying informal chats at major summits were commonplace. “We have those meetings all the time, no big deal,” he said this month.

The issue surfaced in a congressional hearing on Tuesday when Gina Haspel, CIA head, and Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, were asked if US efforts to understand Russian activities would be harmed by their lack of information about what Mr Trump had discussed with Mr Putin.

“Clearly this is a sensitive issue and it’s an issue that we ought to talk about this afternoon,” Mr Coats told the Senate intelligence committee in a reference to a closed-door hearing that was scheduled to follow the open hearing in the morning.

The meeting in Buenos Aires — which took place on the eve of Mr Trump’s working dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping at which they struck a temporary ceasefire in their trade war — came as Mr Putin faced international condemnation for his seizure of the Ukrainian sailors in the Azov Sea. Mr Trump had cancelled plans for a formal bilateral meeting because of those tensions, but still decided to talk with Mr Putin in a more informal setting. Clarín, the Argentine newspaper, reported in early December that Mr Putin and Mr Trump had spoken for 10 minutes at the Colón theatre, citing diplomatic sources who called it “more than a brief greeting”.

Malpass emerges as leading contender to head World Bank US Treasury undersecretary has struck a sceptical tone on multilateral institutions Sam Fleming

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he US is narrowing its list of potential nominees to lead the World Bank, with David Malpass, a senior Treasury official, emerging as one of its finalists, people familiar with the matter said.

Among the other possible contenders is Ray Washburne, the head of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Mr Malpass, who currently serves as the Treasury’s undersecretary for international affairs, would be a controversial nominee among some US allies given the sceptical tone he has struck on multilateral institutions. In December, he complained in a congressional hearing that China

had made “substantial inroads” into the multilateral development banks.

Jim Yong Kim this month triggered a succession race at the helm of the World Bank when he abruptly announced he would be leaving his post as president on February 1, three years earlier than planned.

The Trump administration’s views will be pivotal in determining the outcome of the contest.

Since the World Bank was established in the aftermath of the second world war, it has always been led by an American, while the International Monetar y Fund, its sister organisation, has been led by a European.

In recent decades, that informal arrangement has come un-

der increasing strain as a result of the growth in influence and size of developing economies, but the Trump administration appears determined to maintain its sway over the nomination process.

The board has said nominations to replace Mr Kim could be submitted between February 7 and March 14, which it would then evaluate. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, has been spearheading the US search for Mr Kim’s replacement, assisted

by Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter.

Mr Malpass’s position on the final shortlist was first reported

by Bloomberg. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

he Chinese government will rush a new foreign investment law through its rubber-stamp parliament in March, in a move that Beijing hopes will help smooth over trade talks scheduled to open later today in Washington.

The official Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday that the National People’s Congress would vote on the new law, which will supersede existing legislation governing foreign investments in China, when it convenes for its annual session in early March.

The new law, which was first reviewed by the NPC’s Standing Committee in December, formally bans “forced” technology transfers and other illegal interference by government officials in the operations of foreign-invested enterprises.

The report came just hours before vice premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer were due to begin two days of possibly make-or-break talks to avert an escalation in the two countries’ trade war.

If the negotiations do not go well, the two sides will struggle to reach an agreement by a March 1 deadline, after which President Donald Trump has said he will more than double the punitive tariff rate currently assessed on about half of all Chinese exports to the US. The talks have also been complicated by the US government’s revelation on Monday of criminal charges against Huawei and its former chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, which has enraged Chinese officials.

But Beijing has not said whether US pressure on Huawei will negatively affect prospects for a trade agreement, which it wants in order to reduce growing uncertainties over China’s near term economic outlook.

Earlier this month the Chinese government said that economic output expanded at its slowest annual rate in almost three decades.

“China wants a deal and always has,” said Trey McArver at Trivium China, a Beijing-based consultancy. “They also don’t want to be cut off from US technology critical to upgrading China’s economy and ensuring long-term sustainable growth.”

Xinhua quoted China’s justice minister, Fu Zhenghua, as saying that the new law was needed “urgently” as President Xi Jinping follows through on earlier promises to raise caps on foreign investment in selected sectors, such as finance and autos.

In a similar move earlier this week, China’s central bank approved a longstanding application

by Standard & Poor’s to issue ratings for local debt offerings. Other US companies, including Fitch, Moody’s, Visa and Mastercard are waiting for approval to enter China’s financial services market.

Thursday 31 January 2019

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@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

Vladimir Putin maintains grip on spending despite Russian anger Kremlin builds budget surplus to counter downturn and sanctions as living standards Henry Foy

T

eachers wanted? A school in Barnaul, in Russia’s eastern province of Siberia, is advertising positions for Rbs12,000 ($181) a month. A school in Rostov, in the country’s south, will pay Rbs16,000 ($242).

Those salaries are far below the Rbs26,000 that official data suggest teachers in those districts should receive for their labour. Yet Russia, where real incomes have fallen for a fifth straight year and many struggle to make ends meet, is not short of funds.

The country has banked a budget surplus of $41bn for 2018, the fruit of ultra-conservative economic policies by an administration fearful of western sanctions and nervous about global markets.

That this buffer is piling up, when the Kremlin has also pushed up taxes and is forcing people to work longer, is casting gloom over Russia. It is dragging Mr Putin’s approval ratings to record lows — and making the allpowerful president worried about the consequences.

At a meeting this week with the governor of Tambov, a rural region 400km south of Moscow, Mr Putin betrayed the Kremlin’s concern by demanding his guest push up wages.

“Are you maintaining teachers’ salaries?,” he asked governor Alexander Nikitin. “You don’t cut them?”

“We don’t cut. Next year it should be higher,” Mr Nikitin replied. “Up to Rbs28,000.”

Last autumn Mr Putin pushed through a pension reform that will see Russians work for five years longer, provoking nationwide protests. Then, on January 1, VAT was raised to 20 per

cent, pushing up living costs.

Real incomes fell 0.2 per cent last year and the government expects another slide this year. Average Russians already have 13 per cent less to spend than in 2013.

At the same time, retail loans grew 22.8 per cent in 2018, and the ministry of finance expects the country’s total mortgage debt to double in the next six years to Rbs6.2tn.

The economic anxiety has dented Mr Putin’s standing. Trust in the president fell to 33.4 per cent in January, according to a state-run pollster, the lowest level on record, and down from 57.2 per cent a year ago as Mr Putin launched his fourth re-election campaign.

“It is a reason for concern, of course,” a Kremlin official said. “We do worry about it. But we expected it . . . We knew pretty well that after unpopular measures, we would not be able to shift attention to the government. It all hit him.”

At his annual press conference in December, Mr Putin admitted that “improvements” were necessary, but defended government statistics that he said showed “life has become more fun”.

In theory, Russia has the money to ease some of the burden on its citizens. Last year’s $41bn surplus amounted to 2.7 per cent of gross domestic product, and reserves stood at $468bn at the end of 2018.

Despite the strain on wallets and signs of cracks appearing in its economic foundations, Moscow’s macroeconomic management is likely to remain hawkish. The Kremlin is fearful of more western sanctions, which could tighten Moscow’s access to foreign capital, or other external shocks such as a global slowdown or a commodity market slump.

Stocks gyrate ahead of Fed meeting and trade talks Investors await the meeting of the Federal Reserve of 2019

Alice Woodhouse Overview uropean stocks were in a holding pattern on Wednesday ahead of the first meeting this year of Federal Reserve policymakers, who will assess the health of the American economy just as US and Chinese government officials hold the first high-level trade talks since December.

Hot topic The US and China are holding two days of trade talks, their first face-toface cabinet-level discussions since a three-month truce was forged in December. President Donald Trump will meet Liu He, the China vice-premier, at the end of the discussions.

In Europe, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 was little changed in late morning trading. Trade tensions between the US and China have been a headwind for European stocks. Earlier in Asia, China’s benchmark CSI 300 index finished down 0.8 per cent.

Strong gains for iron ore miners helped Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 amid concerns over the impact of a dam failure in Brazil on supply. The ASX 300 Metals and Mining finished up 2.7 per cent, with Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton gaining 4.5 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively.

Iron ore futures for May delivery jumped as much as 5.9 per cent to

E

Rmb589 a tonne on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, a 16-month high.

Forex The pound was 0.2 per cent stronger at $1.3095 after the House of Commons late on Tuesday backed Theresa May’s bid to return to Brussels to re-open negotiations over the Brexit treaty her government has agreed with the EU. Donald Tusk, the European Council president, said the agreement was not open for re-negotiation.

“All eyes will turn to the EU as the question now becomes what is achievable in new negotiations. As things stand, an extension is not entirely unthinkable,” said Geoffrey Yu, head of UK investment office, UBS Global Wealth Management, referring to the timeline for Britain’s exit from the EU. Meanwhile, the dollar index — a measure of the greenback against a basket of peers — was little changed.

Yields on the 10-year US Treasury rose 1 basis point to 2.72 per cent as investors awaited clues on the central bank’s next moves from Jay Powell, the Fed chairman.

Commodities Oil prices rose as Brent crude climbed 0.8 per cent to $61.82 a barrel; West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, strengthened 0.8 per cent to $53.72.

Gold was up 0.2 per cent at $1,313.56 an ounce, its highest in more than eight months.

Demonstrators vent their fury over Vladimir Putin’s pension reforms at a rally in St Petersburg, Russia, last September © AP

Farmers hope to break Argentina’s economic drought Signs of bumper crop raise prospects of end to recession in election year Benedict Mander

T

he huddle of weather-beaten farmers gathered at the bustling El Tokio bar in San Antonio de Areco, the cradle of Argentina’s gaucho, or cowboy, culture, agree on one thing — this year’s harvest could be as good as last year’s was bad.

After suffering the worst drought in half a century last year, favourable weather conditions since the end of 2018 in the fertile Pampas plains have led many to predict that 2019 will be a bumper year. That would be good news for President Mauricio Macri, who is seeking re-election in October polls.

“This year is exceptional. It has been raining about once a week. That never happens,” said Diego Kelly, a veteran farmer from the picturesque town. “If this rain continues and they manage to harvest everything, farmers will be rolling in it.”

Mr Macri is relying on Argentina’s pivotal agricultural sector — which accounts for about half of the country’s exports — to hoist the country out of recession just in time to boost his chances of staying in power, after the economy shrank by more than 2 per cent last year.

Gustavo López, director of Agritrend, a consultancy in Buenos Aires,

expects Argentina’s grain production this year to reach 128m-133m tonnes and exports to reach a “historic record” of about 93m tonnes. That would mean export revenues of about $28bn, of which some $17bn is accounted for by soya products.

That would be about $5bn more in export revenues than last year, helping the government to balance the country’s trade deficit. Tax income from farmers would almost double to $5.7bn after the government increased export taxes last year as part of its effort, backed by the International Monetary Fund, to eliminate the 2019 fiscal deficit.

The fortunes of Argentina’s farmers will partly depend on how trade tensions between the US and China play out. Argentina is by far the world’s largest exporter of soyabean meal and oil, and the trade war could increase Chinese demand for its crop. But China also has a large soya processing industry and is only interested in buying lower-value unprocessed beans.

“If the US-China conflict continues, what worries us is that we will be forced to export more raw materials than refined products, which means lower revenues as there is less added value,” Mr López said. In contrast, the benefits for Brazil, the second-largest exporter of raw soyabeans after the US, are clear.

But if the trade war dissipates, it could present a different challenge for Argentina. The country would be forced to compete with Brazil for other markets where prices are lower, warned Dan Basse, president of AgResource, a commodity research company in Chicago.

“It is [going to be] a fist fight between Argentina and Brazil for other markets,” said Mr Basse, who believes there is a 70-75 per cent chance of a deal between the US and China by April. “That’s why you see the price of Brazilian beans falling dramatically, as they are looking for other markets outside China,” he adds.

Whatever happens between the US and China, the impact of the new rightwing government of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil — Argentina’s greatest competitor — will be crucial.

New markets for Argentina’s beef farmers, which account for about 3 per cent of the country’s exports, worth around $2bn, could open up if relations worsen between Brazil and Arab countries after Mr Bolsonaro promised to move his country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. They have already benefited from the reopening of the US market after being shut out for 17 years due American concerns about an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

US squeezes Venezuela: what now for oil?

Gregory Meyer, David Sheppard and Anjli Raval

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he US this week placed sanctions on Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The US Treasury prohibited US individuals and companies from transacting with the state-owned oil company, while all of the company’s property was blocked.

The aim is to cut off revenues to PDVSA to put pressure on President Nicolás Maduro, leader of Venezuela since 2013, who the US no longer recognises as the country’s premier.

How will sanctions hit oil supplies?

The sanctions are likely to mean more of a disruption to crude flows than a loss of supply to world markets. Venezuela’s oil industry has been under-funded and mismanaged for a long time. Output was slightly more than 1.1m barrels per day in December, according to Opec, sharply down from 2.4m b/d earlier in the decade. It accounts for a little over 1 per cent of world oil supply.

The sanctions are aimed at blocking the flow of about 500,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude to the US, by preventing any American companies or

individuals paying money to PDVSA. The result is expected to be a reordering of Venezuela’s exports.

Barrels rejected by US buyers would probably find homes in markets such as India and China, and US refiners would be forced to turn to other suppliers to replace Venezuelan crude.

The extra transport costs, and the surplus of Venezuelan crude looking for buyers, may drive down the prices the country receives. Energy Aspects, a consultancy, estimates some 200,000-300,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude may struggle to find buyers, especially as those outside the US wait to see Europe’s response.

It is difficult to make oil sanctions watertight, however, and some Venezuelan crude may still make its way into the US after being rerouted through intermediaries.

How will this affect refiners and refined fuels?

Any US-based refiner buying Venezuelan crude must deposit the payment in escrow accounts which are off-limits to the Maduro government.

This includes Citgo, a subsidiary of PDVSA with two refineries in Louisiana and Texas, and other traditional US buyers of Venezuelan crude such

as Chevron, PBF Energy and Valero Energy. “We plan to comply with the sanctions and will re-optimise our crude supply to minimise any resulting impacts,” Valero says.

Alternative sources include Mexico’s heavy Maya grade and oil from Canada’s oil sands. But Maya supplies are slim and Canada has limited pipeline capacity to send barrels to the Gulf coast, according to Paul Horsnell, head of commodities research at Standard Chartered.

As refiners are forced to pay more for heavy crude supplies they could reduce operating rates to account for lower profit margins, says JBC Energy, a consultancy. That could curtail output of refined fuels such as diesel and petrol, depleting record stocks of petrol in the US. Will this lead to higher oil prices?

West Texas Intermediate, the main US oil benchmark, has risen about 1 per cent since the Trump administration last week recognised opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president. That suggests that the turmoil in the country is not looming large for traders, or that any interruption to supplies was already priced in.

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ANALYSIS

Volkswagen’s plan to kill off Tesla World’s biggest carmaker puts faith in €30bn ‘skateboard’ to win electric race Patrick McGee

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How Joseph Kabila lost then won Congo’s election

Despite first change of leader via polls since independence, ex-president holds many cards

Tom Wilson and David Pilling

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or the first time in more than two decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the largest country by landmass in sub-Saharan Africa and a repository of some of the world’s richest mineral reserves, is no longer run by a member of the Kabila family.

At a grand inauguration ceremony in Kinshasa last Thursday before a huge crowd of supporters, many of them dressed in white to denote change, Joseph Kabila stepped down as president — as he was constitutionally obliged to do more than two years ago.

That brought to an end, at least theoretically, the Kabila dynasty, which began when his father, Laurent-Désiré, seized power in 1997 from longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Since the assassination of his father in 2001, Joseph, still only 47, has run the country.

During that time, he has clawed Congo back from outright civil war and attracted billions of dollars in mining investment from western and Chinese companies. But he has failed to bring about genuine stability or to convert income from cobalt, copper, diamonds and other minerals into higher living standards for Congo’s 80m people. Corruption is rife. Annual income per capita, at $785 in purchasing power parity terms, is among the lowest in Africa.

The man replacing Mr Kabila is Felix Tshisekedi, the son of an opposition veteran and the supposed winner of highly contested December elections. Though huge doubts linger over the legitimacy of his victory, many of his supporters — and even some of those who did not vote for him — welcome the fact that an opposition leader has finally broken Mr Kabila’s stranglehold on power.

“We are just happy to see change and peace,” says Jose Mokemba, a trumpeter at the inauguration, where a military band, dressed in eye-catching red and gold jackets, beat out martial music.

Thousands of Mr Tshisekedi’s supporters, together with Congolese officials and a smattering of foreign dignitaries — only one foreign president, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, attended — squeezed into the presidential palace to watch the historic transfer of power. So symbolic was the moment in a country that has not seen a change of leader through the ballot box since independence in 1960 that Mr Kabila shaved off his beard to mark the occasion.

“One of the critical things that’s happened over the past few months is that Kabila has lost,” says Anneke Van Woudenberg, executive direc-

tor of Rights and Accountability in Development. “He tried by hook or by crook to cling on to power, but it didn’t work because of the opposition of civil society, the Catholic Church and popular mobilisation.

It is a significant moment and we mustn’t underestimate that.”

But has anything really changed?

Behind the scenes, there appears to have been what amounts to a backroom deal that will preserve Mr Kabila’s grip on some of the levers of power. More significantly, the election outcome gives little ground for hope that Congo can escape the failures of its previous government — and the risk of it sliding backwards remains strong.

“Kabila will no longer be visible as head of state, but he and his party will still be in power,” says Samy Badibanga, prime minister from 2016 to 2017.

The transfer of authority from one president to another is tainted by one glaring problem. The results of the election were almost certainly rigged. Mr Tshisekedi did not win at all, according to most impartial analysis. Instead, he came a distant second.

The real winner, according to data analysed by the Financial Times, was Martin Fayulu, an unassuming, Paris-educated former ExxonMobil executive, whose campaign captured the country’s anti-Kabila mood. Mr Fayulu was backed by two powerful opposition figures, Jean-Pierre Bemba and Moïse Katumbi, both potential challengers to Mr Kabila who had been excluded from running by legal manoeuvres.

According to the FT’s analysis of data leaked from the electoral commission’s servers, which received results transmitted from tens of thousands voting machines around the country, Mr Fayulu won the contest easily with 59 per cent of the vote. The FT cross-checked the data against another set of results collected by hand by 40,000 election-day observers employed by the Catholic Church. The set of near-complete results obtained from the electoral commission, as well as being internally consistent, correlated with the Church’s data almost perfectly.

“The message this sends is that elections don’t count for anything,” a downbeat Mr Fayulu tells the FT. “There is no evidence that the electoral commission has even counted the votes,” he says, referring to the fact that it provided no breakdown of the supposed result on election night — or since.

Mr Fayulu challenged the outcome in the constitutional court, but to no avail. The judges, many of them handpicked by Mr Kabila, confirmed

Mr Tshisekedi’s victory.

Mr Kabila had not intended Mr Tshisekedi to win. Instead, he had picked Emmanuel Shadary, a former interior minister, to succeed him.

That plan went awry when it became clear that Mr Shadary’s campaign — notwithstanding state largesse ranging from planes to bussed-in crowds — was falling flat. The danger for Mr Kabila was that, if the electoral commission declared Mr Shadary the winner, no one would have believed it. That could have sparked huge street protests of the sort that had forced Mr Kabila to hold elections in the first place.

Mr Kabila switched to plan B: divide and rule. Victory was bestowed instead on Mr Tshisekedi, whose party, already in opposition for more than 30 years, was hungry for power and ready to compromise. In the days that followed, Mr Tshisekedi proved far more amenable to a power-sharing deal with Mr Kabila than Mr Fayulu, who had, perhaps recklessly, promised to root out corruption and deal with past offenders.

Still, few are under any illusion about the process that has just unfolded. One former minister, familiar with the backroom machinations, says it was logical for Mr Kabila to switch to Mr Tshisekedi. “There is nothing magical,” he adds. “It was the obvious calculation.”

Mr Fayulu’s fate was sealed when foreign governments, originally supportive of his cause, deserted him in favour of what they portrayed as Congo’s stability. After initially expressing doubts over the validity of the outcome and calling for a recount, almost every government backed down. Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, called on “all stakeholders” to accept the constitutional court’s verdict. The US went from threatening to sanction Congolese officials to welcoming Mr Tshisekedi’s election as “democratic”.

Diplomats in Kinshasa say there was little that could be done after the constitutional court ratified the results. A recount or a rerun could have plunged the country into violence. Unlike in Venezuela, where the international community has largely backed a self-proclaimed president, in Congo they have quietly ditched Mr Fayulu, leaving his supporters wondering whether change can ever be delivered through the ballot box.

Carine Tshibuabua, a mother of five in Delvaux, a buzzing commercial district in the capital, says she voted for Mr Bemba in2006 and for Mr Fayulu this time round. On both occasions, she says, the vote was stolen. “I will not vote any more, never again,” she adds. “I will not vote a third time.”

henever a new electric car is unveiled, someone asks whether it is a “Tesla killer” as the Silicon Valley pioneer is still the company to beat on price, styling and battery power, despite the latest investor worries on sales.

Volkswagen has been working on its Tesla killer since late 2015.

But its proposed killer is not an electric car. It is the underlying chassis or platform, called MEB — the basic building block for 50 different models VW promises by 2025.

Some investors and analysts think the VW chassis, which will be used for the majority of its electric vehicles, may give the German company a vital edge in the new era of battery-powered cars.

“This platform is the heart and soul of everything Volkswagen is doing in the future for passenger cars,” said Johannes Buchmann, manager at FEV Consulting, an advisory group that focuses on cars.

“It’s not just a design principle, a template for their new cars. It has an impact on the whole organisation, supply chain and manufacturing quality — pretty much everything.”

their rivals by developing their own powertrains, which comprises the engine, transmission and driveshafts of a vehicle.

But in the emerging era of electric, internet-connected cars, batteries are expected to be commodified — the way they are for mobile phones — with the motorist likely to be more interested in a car’s electronic and infotainment features than its horsepower.

“If you don’t have to spend so much money on architecture [the chassis], you could refocus your efforts on electronics, user experiences, and autonomous systems,” said Chris Borroni-Bird, a former GM and Waymo executive.

Mr Borroni-Bird is credited with having invented the “skateboard chassis” in the early 2000s. It is what enabled Tesla, the Californian electric car pioneer, to house massive batteries weighing up to 600kg that provide more than 500km of driving range.

The risks for VW of stacking so many chips on this one bet are legion. If the electric car does not become mainstream, VW will be sitting on billions in losses. If VW makes an error requiring a fix, the

VW’s electric car chassis will be the building block for 50 different models

Of all the traditional car groups, VW is taking the boldest gamble by spending €30bn on electric cars in the next five years alone.

The crux of the investment is MEB, a “skateboard chassis” designed solely for electric vehicles, rather than a combustion engine platform modified to fit batteries.

It is a make-or-break event meant to transform it into the world’s largest maker of electric cars as it aims to repeat its success in the combustion engine market, where it has sold more vehicles globally than any other company for four straight years.

VW has built more than 50m cars since 2012 through its 12 brands, including Audi, Skoda and Seat, using its MQB combustion engine chassis.

The company’s ambitions for its electric platform, however, are even greater. It hopes this chassis will become the industry standard in the way VHS once was for videotapes, according to two people familiar with the plan.

The company is in talks over supplying the chassis with multiple carmakers. One is Ford, which confirmed this when it announced its “global alliance” with VW at the Detroit car show this month.

For now, this partnership is centred on light commercial vehicles.

But analysts at Barclays said it is “obvious” and would offer “substantial benefits” if the partnership extended to Ford building electric cars on VW’s chassis.

This potentially represents a mould-breaking move as, until this decade, car producers sought to distinguish themselves from

number of car recalls could be massive.

Licensing the electric chassis to other carmakers is a way to mitigate the risks. If VW succeeds in this, the impact could be huge.

One person familiar with the plan said VW could dominate the after-market for maintenance as its dealerships would control the market for spare parts and services if the electric chassis became the industry standard.

Moreover, the electric chassis will connect to an electronic control unit that connects the car to VW’s Automotive Cloud, built in partnership with Microsoft, which enables its cars to “speak” to each other and download over-the-air services.

This new IT infrastructure will be open to third-party apps, much like the Apple Store or Google Play, creating a ‘Shopping Mall’ for new digital services, according to VW chief operating officer Ralf Brandstätter.

Tara Prakriya, general manager in Microsoft’s connected vehicles division, said: “MEB is a full-fledged platform, it’s not just hardware . . . nothing is just hardware any more.”

So far, making the electric chassis ready for the market launch has been a slow-and-steady process.

But once it is up and running this year, VW plans to ramp up production at a fast pace.

Eight factories on three continents are scheduled to use the platform by 2022. The 12-brand group sold a paltry 40,000 electric cars in 2018, but by 2025 it aims to be selling as many as 3m — a quarter of its projected global production.

Thursday 31 January 2019

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Opinion Atiku & The Igbo wars 2: Ohanaeze’s endorsement of Obi THE PUBLIC SPHERE

CHIDO NWAKANMA

Y

our Excellency Gov Obiano, I was surprised to receive a call from you a few minutes ago in which you said the following words “Nnia, I didn’t know that you were so idiotic.”

I am shocked that you can be so insolent.

I am sure that I was not so idiotic when I addressed your State Assembly asking Ndi Anambra to disregard the IPOB boycott of your election nor was I idiotic when I pleaded with the Commander in Chief to restore your security details.

History will judge who amongst us is idiotic. If standing with the popular wish of Ndigbo makes me idiotic, I am happy to be called an idiot.

I will make this communication public so that Igbos will know who is idiotic amongst both of us.”

This column called attention to the Igbo Wars on Politics and Culture on 17 January. It stated, “Full-Scale war has

broken out in the South East as Nigeria prepares for General Elections 2019.

It is not a physical battle, mind you, at least not yet. On the surface, the war is about political choice. Deeper analyses, however, reveals a more nuanced struggle around issues of direction and the soul of a people.” (https://businessday.ng/columnist/chido-nwankanwa/ article/the-igbo-wars-on-politics-andculture/) The gloves went off Thursday, January 24, 2019, as OhanaezeNdigbo President NniaNwodo signed the organisation’s endorsement of the presidential quest of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi as his running mate. The Anambra State Government of Chief Willie Obiano immediately challenged the endorsement. Speaking through the Secretary to the Anambra State Government, who arrived at the venue of the meeting after the decision, Anambra State Government charged Ohanaeze with taking a wrong decision.

Deploying state resources, the Anambra State Government has since embarked on a nationwide drive to claim that the Ohaneze position does not respect the principle of choice. Even the Secretary General of Ohanaeze, Barrister Uche Okwukwu, joined in disowning the declaration. In his case, however, he could not hide the fact of his interest is the promotion of the candidacy of PMB amongst the Igbo.

“When we meet at the Ime-Obi meet-

ing, we shall choose a candidate,and you know that we have Igbo sons and daughters from Igbo land who are contesting the election and we are not limiting it to Igbo candidates.But in the interest of Ndigbo, we should support President Muhammadu Buhari for the second term,and that is the only way to get to our promise Land.”

Please hold on to Okwukwu’s statement. Ndigbo should thank him for his candour in admitting that his objection is because it did not favour his preference for PMB. Note also that NniaNwodo was a politician of the PDP bent. Since he was elected president of Ohanaeze in 2017, he should be above the fray.

Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, the President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Enugu State, confirms that the National Executive Committee of Ohanaeze discussed the matter and voted for Atiku because of support for restructuring and having Peter Obi as running mate. “Truth must be said that only the SG, Uche Okwukwu from Ikwerre, Rivers State differed but in the spirit of collective responsibility, he remarked that he needed to be heard. Second, the decision of NEC was taken to the Imeobi, the highest decision-making organ of OhanaezeNdigbo. The Imeobi held at the Nike Lake Resort, Enugu. Motion for the adoption of the NEC resolution was moved and formally seconded. To my greatest surprise, there was no dissenting voice.

For the avoidance of doubt, there was

‘

Make no mistake about it though: the Ohanaeze decision is popular across Igboland. It is also in line with history and the collective decision of the Igbo

no division in OhanaezeNdigbo.”

Dispassionate analysis is the call to unravel the many issues arising from the declaration and the reactions. We shall draw on very recent history. Culture will feature in this analysis.

As noted earlier, (Businessday, January 19) culture is a major issue here. So is a determination of direction. The Igbo counsel that we should at least know where the rain started to beat us.

It is an assault on Igbo culture to disrespect the head of the Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation. The office deserves respect as does the holder of the office. It is our tradition. Governor Willie Obiano is a gentleman brought up in the best traditions of our people. He is also a representative of Igbo culture as a titled man. He should do the needful.

If the Ohanaeze decision was not one of the Ime Obi, then it is wrong.

Ohanaeze should respect its procedures in arriving at decisions, no matter how pleasant or unpleasant they are. Lack of due process robs such decisions of the dignity and force they should have.

Despite this caveat, others confirm that the decision was one of both the NEC and the Imeobi.

Nwakanma is a Visiting Member of the BusinessDay Editorial Board and serves on the Adjunct Faculty at the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos. Email chidonwakanma@ gmail.com. see conclusion online: www.businessday.ng

This shall also come to pass!

I

IK MUO

want to start on a philosophical note today and this philosophical mood will be underpinned by three voices, whom I have contracted to help me out because even though I am a philosopher( Ph.D, Doctor of Philosophy)I am actually not a philosopher. The title of the piece, which I have used sometimes (about 25 years) ago appears about 120 times in the King James version of the Bible but in this worldly divide, it is credited to Jeanette Coron, who advises us not to give up in difficult times because ‘this too shall pass’ This is close to the Indian Proverb which declares that ‘life is a cycle, always in motion and if good times have moved on, so will times of trouble’. I will cap these sayings through the voice of Victor Hugo who declared with a spirit of optimism and confidence that ‘even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise’. I am not very happy with the recent happenings in our polity and I have examined these developments with the eyes of an elder and a spirit and I am afraid that if we do not ply a break on some of our thoughtless actions, disregard for peoples sensibilities, acting with ‘in your face’ arrogance or the mentality of ‘I can and will do whatever I like and there is nothing you can do about it’ while we are managing collective affairs and resources, then the future is bleak. But two things give me confidence. First: God is a Nigerian and that is why all these times we have foolishly plunged ourselves into avoidable crises, He always comes to our rescue, though he allows us to see the folly of our actions.

Second: as sure as day follows the night:

This too shall come to pass, though I don’t know where we would be as a nation and as nationals after it has passed.

After independence, our first set of politicians forgot why they were in power, forgot the one-Nigeria philosophy that underpinned their struggle, became highhanded and corruption started walking on all fours (though it was only 10%). It came to pass when the soldiers struck. A lot of actions and mis-actions, including a what can you do mentality led to a one-week police action. It lasted three years and those in Biafra thought we would never see the end of hunger-induced deaths, wicked air-raids that targeted everything including chickens mating by the roadsides, and several helpless Kwashiorkor victims, it ended and came to pass one morning, just like that!

We entered the era of Go On With One Nigeria and the yet to be completed 3Rs. But Gowon overstayed his welcome and his era came to pass. We witnessed two brief military interregnums and from thence, the era of Shagari. Shagari was a gentleman and appeared harmless but corruption and scandalous profligacy was the order of theday.by the politicians, who celebrated birthdays with customized Champaign and had private jets, even when they were ministers. One early morning, it came to pass. Buhari had been here before; an era of unparalleled highhandedness, retroactive decrees, assault on the judiciary, and parochial tendencies. And then, it came to pass because as Sanober Khan reminded us, ‘nothing remains, nothing lasts’’ IBB (I didn’t call him the evil genius)did his maradonic dribbles, endless transition programme( a little to the left and a little to the right) and democratized corruption while the taciturn and murderous Abacha was adopted as the sole candidate by all the 5 parties (the five fingers of a leprous hand), with one-million marchers in support. They though it would last forever. But their eras came to pass.

Gradually, we landed on the democratic plain with Obasanjo, who moved from prison to presidency. His was the height of

‘

God is a Nigerian and that is why all these times we have foolishly plunged ourselves into avoidable crises, He always comes to our rescue, though he allows us to see the folly of our actions

impunity in a democratic realm and he felt he was so good that the constitution had to be amended for him to do it a life time.

He swaggered like one who was so sure of tomorrow and one whom nothing could stop. It was the do-or-die era. And yet, one morning, it came to pass, despite the unalloyed support of coercive instruments of state with several armed and verbal attack-dogs! YarÁdua promised a breath of fresh air as he agreed that the election that brought him to power was flawed but was quickly succeeded by Jonathan who went to school with no shoes practiced a politics of appeasement. He played the gentleman, allowed the various arms of government to do their own thing and ended his era on the right side of history when he conceded defeat. But it came to pass and he left with the PDP, the largest party in Africa that planned to rule for 60years.

Then emerged President Buhari, the saintly poor man who could not afford the cost of his nomination form; who promised CHANGE; who waited for six months to appoint fellow saints as ministers, who believed in body language, who belonged to everyone and no one, and who converted sinners to saints by mere association The two major recent- and worrisome- happenings are the appointment of a new IGP and the never-seenbefore suspension of the CJN, whom PMB was very reluctant to appoint in the first instance. The retirement of the previous IGP was an opportunity to minimally dilute the absolute nothernisation of our security apparatus but for the current government, inclusiveness is an alien concept. And then came the appointment of Mr Tanko as the acting CJN under very strange circumstances. Onoghen was alleged to have failed to declare his assets and engaged in shady deals and was suspended based an order by Danladi Umar who is facing corruption charges. The timing of the petition, the arraignment, the exparte order and the suspension evidence a higher-order plot to achieve some predetermined goals. According to the learned ones, this

was based on an application that was not moved, a petition that was not investigated and a charge that was not prosecuted and in spite of Appeal Court orders. Even our own Nollywood could not have coupled a more high-wire plot. Beyond the legal knots on Tanko’s appointment, I don’t know whether he was appointed based on merit or because he is among those he could trust.. The wife of the CJN is alleged to be an APC senatorial candidate in Bauchi while the husband of the President of the Court of Appeal is an APC Senatorial Candidate in the same Bauchi and with the way Onoghen was dealt with, we are surely in a buying or bullying era ( Kole Omotsho Guardian, 27/1/19, p11). It appears both tactics have been effectively deployed!

Now, a President that spent three years hounding the head of the legislature, who escaped because of his smartness and street-wise traits has succeeded in removing the head of the judiciary in a democracy characterized by division of power. By the CJN removal and replacement he has scandalized and bastardised the judiciary (as in the case of Jinadu, during Buhari’s first time out) and in the process attempted to ‘climb the moral high ground using a ladder of illegality’(Guardian editorial).

There is collective angst in the land. The NBA has ordered a court-boycott( some lawyers ignored the order); the supreme court judges boycotted the swearing in of the new CJN and has ordered both the old and the new to respond to petitions within 7 days. It appears the FGN got the NJC involved as an after thought; the CCT has adjourned Onoghens trial indefinitely, after the goal has been scored, a thousand and one cases and petitions are flying around and the CJNs office has been sealed by the hyper-active police. As at now, the symbol of justice is in a make-shift life support.

Ik Muo, PhD. Department of Business administration, OOU, Ago_Iwoye 08033026625, muoigbo@yahoo.com, muo.ik@oouagoiweye.edu.ng see conclusion online: www.businessday.ng

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