BusinessDay 31 Jul 2020

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news you can trust I ** FRIDAY 31 july 2020 I vol. 19, no 618

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Ghana’s N2.85bn COVID-19 hospital dwarfs Nigeria’s N32bn isolation tents Hope Moses-Ashike, Anthonia Obokoh & ENDURANCE OKAFOR

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Nigerian hospitality industry records worst half year in history

he once-thriving Nigerian hospitality industry has recorded the worst half-year performance in a long while. In the half year (H1) of 2020, the industry recorded the worst decline in occupancy and revenue.

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Dapo Abiodun (r), governor, Ogun State, receives in his office Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker, House of Representatives, who was on a courtesy visit to Ogun.

OBINNA EMELIKE

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With over N50bn losses

While occupancy rate hovered between 30 percent and 40 percent in the first quarter due to the traditional lull in business associated with the New Year period, it declined from 30 percent in early March to zero occupancy during the five-week lockdown imposed by the Federal Gov-

ernment to curb the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Sadly, the industr y lost around N2 billion daily during the five-week lockdown, according to data from the Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN), and more afterwards.

Meanwhile, hoteliers, brand and franchise owners, and destinations managers decry that the industry has lost over N50 billion in the first half of 2020, with many projects under construction at the risk of abandonment.

Moreover, some industry experts laments that the sector lost

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hana’s organised private sector spent $7.5 million (N2.85bn) within 10 weeks to build an ultra-modern facility in fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, while their Nigerian counterpart used N32 billion to construct tents for the same purpose.

The 100-bed Ghana Infectious Disease Centre (GIDC), comprising a level three Biomedical laboratory, a 21-bed Intensive Care Unit, a dispensary, a triage unit, waiting areas, nurses’ station, VIP and general wards and a medical gas house, was constructed through the collaboration of civilian and military engineers, planners and architects within three months.

The donors include: Bank of Ghana, Association of Bankers GNPC, Fidelity Bank, Ecobank, Ghana National Gas Company,

Continues on page 30

Inside

Beleaguered Nigeria could take 3yrs to return to pre-COVID economic growth - IMF P. 29

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news Nigeria to get more internet from China’s $400m loan for fibre FRANK ELEANYA

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hen fully utilised, the $400 million credit facility from China Exim Bank for laying of fibre infrastructure across states in Nigeria would enable pervasive broadband penetration and also a possible foreign dominance of technology assets in the country.

The loan is primarily to support Nigeria’s National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone Phase 11 (NICTIB II) between Galaxy Backbone Limited and Huawei Technologies.

On the back of recent reports that some conditions in the loan could undermine the sovereignty of Nigeria, Galaxy Backbone (GBB) explained that “the NICTIB phase II is a sovereign loan of national scope and for national infrastructural development in the area of ICT national broadband between Nigeria (through the federal ministry of finance, budget, and national planning) and China Exim Bank, representing China.”

Galaxy Backbone is sup-

posed to be an implementing agency under the supervision of the federal ministry of communications and digital economy to oversee the full implementation. At completion, GBB expects the project will deepen the broadband penetration in Nigeria and improve the internet and network communications experiences of not just agencies of government, but of the entire country.

Following the recent decision by a few Nigerian states to either eliminate or adopt the National Executive Council (NEC) approved N145 fee for the right of way (RoW), there has been increased drive by operators to lay cables across the different states. MTN, the largest mobile network in the country has requested approval to lay 160 kilometres of fibre in Ekiti, the first state to adopt the N145 fee.

The state has also signed a MoU with O’odua InfraCo to lay 606 kilometres of fibre.

As significant as the renewed interest are, they are only a drop in the ocean of what is needed to improve broadband penetration in the country which is curwww.businessday.ng

rently at 41 percent. Nigeria has only deployed 38,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables. The country requires an additional 120,000 kilometres of fibre network to achieve wider broadband coverage.

Armed with the $400 million loan, experts expect to cover a sizeable portion of the country’s landmass.

Olusola Teniola, president of Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and a member of the steering implementation committee for the National Broadband Plan 2020-2025, told BusinessDay that the project plans to coordinate efforts of other stakeholders in the private sector to ensure that the country reduces the deficit of 120,000 kilometres by 2023.

“The aim of this project is to ensure that there is a backbone for the Federal Government of Nigeria and it would also be available on an open-access phase which aligns with the Nigerian broadband plan of 2020-2025. Why is it an Open Access model? It is because we want to avoid duplication,” he said.

NIRSAL facilitates N105bn across Nigeria’s agricultural value chain Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja

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igeria IncentiveBased Risk Sharing System’s (NIRSAL), has since inception, facilitated over N105 billion financing across the pre-upstream, upstream, midstream and downstream segments of Nigeria’s agricultural value chain from public and private sources.

The funding, according to NIRSAL, which was created by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to connect agriculture and financing, has had a positive socio-economic impact, resulting in the creation of over 400,000 jobs and impacting 2 million lives positively.

The latest of such impact was acknowledged by the rice, maize, cassava, sesame and soybean farmers in Nasarawa, Niger, Kogi and Benue States, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who say they are now positioned for increased yields and improved livelihoods following NIRSAL support for their 2020 wet season farming activities under the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

The development comes

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following NIRSAL’s structuring of farmers in the FCT into 16 established agro geo-cooperatives (AGCs), 12 of which are included in the ABP for wet season 2020.

The AGC formation process is at the forefront of NIRSAL’s finance facilitation drive through which it is structuring farmers by creating 16,000 AGCs made up of 8 million farmers cultivating 4 million hectares of farmland.

To date, over 452 AGCs covering over 270,000 hectares of land have benefitted from the process through the ABP, according to available information.

“As more AGCs develop around the territory and beyond, NIRSAL continues to provide trainings on bookkeeping and modern farming practices, mechanisation for pre-planting, planting and harvesting activities and distribution of improved, high-yielding seed varieties,” NIRSAL noted in a statement released to the media in Abuja, Wednesday.

“NIRSAL has also linked the 926 FCT farmers cultivating 1,140 hectares of land with guaranteed off take markets thereby protecting them from price fluctuations and the ex@Businessdayng

ploitative tendencies of some middlemen.

“Other forms of support include the provision of fertiliser, crop protection products and round-the-clock technologydriven project monitoring services.”

At a recent symbolic input distribution across the northcentral region, some farmers in Dobi area of the FCT received further support for their ongoing farming activities from NIRSAL. Ayo Olaleye, head of NIRSAL’s project monitoring, reporting and remediation office (PMRO) in the FCT, at a meeting at Passo assured the farmers of the Federal Government’s willingness to continue to prioritise their needs, not just in the implementation of the CBN’s ABP, but also in the development and delivery of frameworks that will further open the banking sector to agriculture, particularly the agro geo-cooperative model.

He also assured the farmers of commitment by NIRSAL’s managing director, Aliyu Abdulhameed, to continue to ensure that farmers get the best of inputs at the right times and locations for their production purposes.

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news

Nigeria struggles to provide reliable electricity as electric vehicles’ market expands STEPHEN ONYKEWELU

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lectric vehicles sales have been forecast to make up a third of new cars sold globally in the next ten years as Nigeria struggles to provide reliable electricity for its exploding population.

The world is on course to reach annual electric vehicles sales of 31.1 million by 2030, 10 million more than previously forecast, due to changing consumer sentiment and weakening adoption barriers, according to a new analysis by Deloitte, a multinational professional services network.

In spite of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, it still expected total global EV sales to reach 2.5 million in 2020 and, based on a compound annual growth rate of 29 percent, Deloitte estimated that the volume would grow to above 11.2 million in 2025 and 31.1 million by 2030.

“At this milestone, fully electric vehicles will account for 81% of all new EVs sold according to the research, outperforming their plug-in hybrid peers,” it said.

EVs, also known as plug-in electric vehicles derive their power from electricity supplied the electric grid. They receive electricity by plugging into the grid and store it in batteries.

However, Nigeria seems to

have other pressing issues to attend to than join in the race to adopt electric cars. On April 10, 2019, Ben Murray-Bruce, a Nigerian senator representing Bayelsa East tweeted “today, I presented two important bills on the floor of the @NGRSenate.” One of the bills was Electric Cars (Introduction) Bill, 2019 (SB.726) – First Reading.

The bill aimed to phase out petrol and diesel-fired vehicles by 2035 and replaced by electric vehicles. A corollary objective of the bill was to drive the use of modern technology, de-emphasise dependence on crude oil and reduce air pollution.

Murray-Bruce lost the argument despite attempting to show it was cheaper to maintain electric cars. The Senate rejected the Electric Car bill days after, at a plenary session, describing it as irrelevant.

Nigerians did not spare Murray-Bruce either. In response to his tweet on the matter, Twitter handle, Etukudo Emmanuel said the senator is out of touch with Nigerian realities and probably more attuned to developments in the developed countries. “How on earth can he be talking about electric cars in a country without electricity? Maybe he is doing it for himself because he wants to drive an electric car.”

Adebayo Samuel, also a Twitter handle said it does make any sense at all to talk about “electric cars in a country producing less than 10, 000 megawatts of elec-

tricity.”

There are massive electricity deficits in Nigeria. Africa’s biggest economy has a peak of 5, 500 megawatts of electricity, daily.

This is a far cry from the 20, 000 megawatts needed to drive the economy forward, according to people with a deep understanding of Nigeria’s energy sector and needs.

“The public perception is that Nigeria needs about 60, 000 megawatts of electricity to have a thriving economy. For 200 million people, Nigeria should be targeting 200, 000 megawatts of electricity,” Onyeche Tifase, managing director and CEO, Siemens Nigeria said at BusinessDay’s Digital Dialogue in June.

Onyeche outlined some of the challenges facing Nigeria’s Electricity Supply Industry to include an obsolete infrastructure, which needs to be rehabilitated and expanded, poor payment culture and commercial framework.

“But we are starting to see efforts from the government to resolve these issues. Our collaboration with the government on the presidential power initiative will start to close the infrastructure gap and meet customer demands,” she said.

Despite these electricity challenges, JET Motor Company, a Nigerian-based automobile manufacturer has raised $9 million from foreign investors as it intensifies efforts at delivering electric vehicles in Nigeria.

Glo rejoices with Muslims on Eid el-Kabir HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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iger ia’s national telecoms firm, Globacom, has congratulated Nigerian Muslims on this year ’s celebration of the festival of Eid-el-Kabir.

In a press statement released in Lagos on Thursday, Globacom urged the Muslim Ummah to use the opportunity of this year’s celebration to pray for the unity, peace and development of Nigeria as well as the restoration of normalcy

to the entire world currently being ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We rejoice with the Muslim Ummah as they celebrate the Eid-El-Kabir festival. We call on them to use the occasion to continue to live up to the tenets of their faith through acts of charity, peaceful coexistence with their neighbours and obedience to the injunctions of the Holy Quoran,” Globacom said.

The company urged the faithful to make moderation their watchword

as they celebrate and ensure strict compliance with the Covid-19 safety precautions of staying at home, observing social distancing, washing hands regularly and using hand sanitisers.

It urged Muslims to be mindful of the lessons of dedication and obedience to higher authorities as demonstrated by Prophet Ibraheem’s willingness to sacrifice his son in deference to the will of God, a supreme act of faith which Eid-El-Kabir glorifies.

COVID 19: The LearnDeck to enable education despite pandemic BUNMI BAILEY

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n a bid to enable seamless virtual learning and ensure the continuation of education, The LearnDeck, a learning management system, has launched into the Nigerian market.

The platform, which provides a virtual structure for primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, also enables educators/entrepreneurs create, market and sell their online courses.

The launch was announced in a press statement by the founders of the platform recently in Lagos, Nigeria.

The restriction of movement and shutdown of schools that resulted due to the global pandemic has

led most educators across educational institutions, training institutions to halt the teaching and learning process in Nigeria and most parts of the world. Some educators are struggling to adapt to this new reality, using available instant messaging and video conferencing applications to teach their students. This has had numerous limitations as it has proven difficult for the students to follow and has made tracking progress and carrying out assessments strenuous.

The newly launched platform, The LearnDeck, seems to have erased all these limitations as it allows educators to customise, deploy and track curricuwww.businessday.ng

lum, assess their students learning and monitor their development, it also allows for multimedia content including video, text, mp3 and other learning content format, all without geographical limitations.

In an interview, The LearnDeck product manager, Emmanuella Ladipo, said the platform was aimed at “Changing the idea that learning and teaching must be in a classroom setting, held at a particular time frame, requiring physical presence, tedious routines, and easily truncated by lack of infrastructures like school buildings, desks, crowd and a pandemic or otherwise, that hinders physical gatherings. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

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news

Eid-el-Kabir: Sanwo-Olu calls for moderate celebrations SEYI JOHN SALAU

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agos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has urged Muslims in the state to celebrate the Eidel-Kabir moderately in the wake of the rise in cases of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The governor also advised Nigerians in general to imbibe the lessons of sacrifice made by Prophet Ibrahim and work for the unity and progress of the nation.

Sanwo-Olu, in his Eidel-Kabir message released on Thursday, congratulated Muslims in Lagos and advised them to continue on the path of spirituality and peaceful co-existence.

He said Eid al-Adha became a symbolic event in the history of mankind, given the bountiful rewards that followed the patience and perseverance of Prophet Ibrahim, who held on tenaciously to his faith in God despite being afflicted.

Sanwo-Olu urged Lagosians to draw lessons from the prophet’s example by eschewing tendencies that could severe the unity and stability in the country.

“Today, I join millions of people around the world, to

wish our Muslim brothers and sisters in Lagos State and in Nigeria happy Eid-elKabir, which comes with significant lessons for mankind.

For the Muslims, today’s celebration is very unique.

“This symbolic Islamic festival is a reminder to us that, there will always be great rewards when we have abiding faith and patience in trying periods; persistence in prayers and tenacity in our belief.

“It also reminds us of the sacrifice we are expected to make not only for the purpose of spiritual fulfilment, but also for the progress of mankind and development of our society.

The governor also reminded Nigerians of the need to reflect on the new reality caused by the global coronavirus pandemic, saying it has altered the way we live, work and celebrate. “ Traditionally, Eid-elKabir is marked with fanfare, where thousands of worshippers head to various designated praying grounds in their localities for special Eid prayer, followed by festive gatherings, visits to families and friends, gift exchanges, feasts among friends, neighbours and relations.

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NDDC keeps mum as court orders stop-work anywhere in Rivers Ignatius Chukwu

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fficials of the embattled Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) have not bothered to respond since a high court in Port Harcourt ordered it not to execute any project in Rivers State except with the consent of the state governor, Nyesom Wike.

A judge, Adolphus Enebeli while delivering judgment, granted a declaration sought by the government that under Rivers State Land Law, and Urban Development Law, the NDDC or its agent have no power to claim any land or execute any project in any part of Rivers State without the consent of the government.

Fe w y e a r s b a c k , t h e NDDC and the Wike administration had cause to disagree over right to execute a road in Etche area of the state. The state government also pushed the commission out of a partnership project, accusing the NDDC of stalling in paying their part. The state’s revenue board also sealed the gates of the commission twice.

The relationship continued on a sad note, and

now, the high court judgment. This is in reference to 60 planned projects by the NDDC which resulted in the suit.

Governor Wike had in 2017 through the sttorneygeneral and commissioner of justice of the state, sued the NDDC, its former managing director, Nsima Ekere, and former executive director and former executive director, finance and administration, Derek Mene, to court for carrying out activities in the state without the consent of the government.

Most NDDC top leaders are believed to sympathisers or outright members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) while the Rivers State government is controlled by the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

No response has emanated from the commission’s media unit. Inquiries sent Thursday afternoon also failed to attract any response.

Sources however hinted that the verdict may only hurt the host state, and not the commission as over 60 projects would have to wait.

It is not clear if the funds for them would have to wait too.

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MTN Foundation donates digital library to OAU KELECHI EWUZIE

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TN foundation, the corporate social intervention arm of MTN Nigeria in honour of Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, chairman of the foundation has handed over a state-of-theart digital library to Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Osun State as part of activity to mark his 80th birthday celebration.

The foundation which focuses on implementing projects in education, economic empowerment and health also announced that in honour of the chairman, MTN Nigeria is instituting a three year scholarships for eight scholars across universities in Nigeria.

Speaking during the virtual handover ceremony , Thu r s d ay , O d u nayo Sanya, acting exe cutive secretar y, MTN foundation said the upgrade of the Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi library to an e-library is a critical project for the MTN foundation, adding that the foundation places a premium on empowerment through access to information as evidence in

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the other libraries established in four universities across the country.

Sanya opines that this particular library is however special because it is tied to the legacy of a man that MTN foundation and MTN Nigeria hold in very high esteem, a man dedicated to the welfare and development of generations of Nigeria.

According to Sanya, “the library has been upgrade to ensure it delivers more value for the students of this great institution. We trust that the symbolism of an inspirational leader whose name this library is named after is not lost on those who use it”.

Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, chairman MTN foundation and a member of the pioneer graduating set of the department of Pharmacy at the Obafemi Awolowo in 1965 lauded MTN Nigeria for supporting his vision by giving eight scholarships to indigent yet gifted students.

Adelusi-Adeluyi, a pharmacist, lawyer and industrialist observes that Nigeria’s plethora of problems from rulership to followership will be reduced drastically, if we have educated people of character.

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comment CNN’s Richard Quest and the ghost of coronavirus

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Tales from the main road

Eugenia Abu

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t is no longer news that the quirky presenter of “Quest means business” on CNN tested positive to COVID-19 a couple of months ago.

Ditto the CNN reporter, Cuomo.

They have made their Coronavirus journeys pretty public. Just as Cuomo has been reporting the long term after effects of Coronavirus, long after you have conquered it, so has Quest. But Quest has been particularly forthcoming and I would like to share.

Many persons after testing positive are released from a controlled isolation after they test negative.

Some in fact self-isolate and this is quite possible if you are disciplined and not putting it up for show. You stay in your home; people deliver

your food at the door and you stay out of contact with your family members. It can be traumatising for a lot of people but hey, this thing is not even a joke. It’s the difference between life and death.

And according to billionaire/Entrepreneur Jack Ma, your profit as an entrepreneur in these uncertain times is staying alive.

So back to Richard Quest.

In April, Richard Quest tested positive for COVID-19. After doing the needful, he tested negative but his writing on the matter this month indicated that he is having to face the consequences of even having it at all and believes that it will be with him for a long time to come. Quest’s post-COVID feelings are well documented in his CNN Health article, I got COVID two months ago. I’m still discovering new areas of damage. He starts the article by saying “The cough has come back, without warning and seemingly for no reason. So has the fatigue. True neither one was as debilitating as when I had the actual virus but they are back.”

It is truly traumatic when people have been told that they are now COVID negative and they still have to deal with symptoms like feelings which they now cannot explain to anyone. Quest says his Doctors

say it will all wear off but cannot tell him when. He adds for good measure “I am also discovering new areas of damage: I have now become incredibly clumsy. I was never the most lissom person, no one ever called me graceful, but my clumsiness is off the chart. If I reach for a glass, or take something out of a cupboard, I will knock it, or drop it on the floor. I have tripped over the curb and gone flying. I fall over furniture. It is as if that part of my brain, which subconsciously adjusts hand and movement to obstacles it sees, isn’t working.

At times there’s a sense of mild confusion. The micro delay in a thought, the hesitation with a word.

Nobody would notice but me.”

This is truly hard and can be pretty unnerving. People are going through stuff in this pandemic.

Many are just not sharing.

During the week, I spoke to a dear friend and brother, Akin Oke. He told me he had made up his mind that this Coronavirus business is a long haul. It will take a while before we return to normalcy.

Maybe late next year if we are lucky.

He says he had been reading about the 1918 virus and is making comparative analysis. A truly wise thing to do. Then he told me of a friend who informed him that he would

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We all must find ways of staying safe knowing what we now know. High risk behaviour like going to a crowded place without masks is not on. Also remember it’s not just about you, it’s about your family, children, parents, uncles.

It’s true we are all tired but we must trudge on

stop talking to friends who do not take the virus seriously, who trivialise it and make it sound like it’s nothing. Because his friend says, such people are extremely dangerous and can harm themselves and put you at risk. True that!

We all must find ways of staying safe knowing what we now know.

High risk behaviour like going to a crowded place without masks is not on. Also remember it’s not just about you, it’s about your family, children, parents, uncles. It’s true we are all tired but we must trudge on. This business still has some way to go.

Staying alive should be your ambition, your ultimate goal. No matter how tiring and inconveniencing it gets, don’t expose yourself to the virus. It’s not worth it. And in concluding let me again quote Quest “Like many others, I am now coming to realise that I am living and suffering from the long tail of COVID-19…For those who have not had it or witnessed the mess it leaves behind, I urge you do whatever you can to avoid this tornado.”

Word!

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

Email: abu_eugenia@yahoo.com Phone number: 08033109820

Using ‘LY’ in English grammar

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n times past, formalists or early grammarians described word classes or parts of speech with regard to forms. Considering these somewhat inadequate generalisations, nouns are said to end in -ion (correction), verbs in -ise/ize (penalise), adjectives in -ive (instructive) and adverbs in -ly (gently).

Observably, such generalisations have resulted in the erroneous use of some words. Upon taking that into substantial consideration, I have penned this treatise to shed light on errors that are associated with the use of some -ly words by Nigerians.

First up, the commonest of the widespread misrepresentations is the word “severally”, which is often used to mean “several times”. For exactitude’s sake, this word primarily means “separately”, “independently”, “individually” or “one by one”. Someone can, for instance, say that, “People are severally liable for fraud”.

This denotes that they are individually liable for their misconduct. Although the Oxford English Dictionary (online) has extended the meaning to include “several times”, it is pertinent to note that the foregoing is specifically designated as Nigerian English. By implication, inasmuch as we cannot say the usage is downright inappropriate, it is advisable to steer clear of it when engaging the global audience. Besides, the general reader should endeavour to deploy “severally” according to its original and globally recognised meaning, in consonance with its usage among legal practitioners in Nigeria.

What is more, while sitting standard examinations of local, regional, national or international repute, it is better to write, “I warned Johnson ‘several times’ to quit his riotous lifestyle”, than pen, “I warned Johnson ‘severally’ to quit his riotous lifestyle”. As an aside, it is pertinent to mention that the word “several” is not synonymous with “many”. Therefore, to visit a place several times infers visiting there more than a few times — but not many times. In point of fact, the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary describes several as being more than two but not very many.

Another -ly word that is commonly used by Nigerians, which is literally non-existent in standard English, is “installmentally”. This word is often used in place of the standard phrase, “in/by instalments”. On that score, you are supposed to pay a loan by/in instalments — not installmentally. Along these lines, it is equally paramount to note that the use of ‘outrightly’ and “downrightly” are totally inconsistent with the provisions of standard English. Either as adverbs or adjectives, “outright” and “downright” remain unalterable.

For this very reason, it behoves you to say: “My car was sold (verb) outright (adverb) to Demola” — not “My car was sold outrightly to Demola”. In the same sense, we have: “This comment of yours is downright rude” — not “This comment of yours is downrightly rude”.

As often as not, too, the word “conclusively” is misinterpreted by many www.businessday.ng

second-language users of English to mean “in conclusion”. To set the record straight, “conclusively” is used in standard English to mean “without any doubt” (convincingly) or “once and for all” (decisively).

Hence, one can say that, “It is impossible for anyone to conclusively (without any doubt) prove that his or her religion is the best” and “The issue was resolved conclusively (once and for all)”. On the other hand, “in conclusion” is synonymous with “finally”, “lastly” or “to sum up”. Specifically, it is used to introduce the last item in a speech or a treatise.

By reason of this, an individual who is on the verge of rounding off his vote of thanks is supposed to say, “In conclusion, I appreciate everyone that graced today’s occasion”.

The second part of this article seeks to holistically examine -ly words that belong to other word classes and are erroneously adjudged as adverbs, given the generalisation of forms. Just like nouns such as family and homily end in -ly, so do adjectives such as rascally, cowardly, motherly, fatherly and so on. Based on this irrevocable submission, such words should be applied to describe naming words (nouns and pronouns); not action words (verbs). Illustratively, therefore, users of English should desist from the use of expressions such as: 1) He behaves cowardly.

2) He talks rascally.

3) My sister cares so motherly.

In the above-mentioned example

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The Gift of Gab

Ganiu Bamgbose

sentences, the adjectives (cowardly, rascally and motherly) are erroneously made to describe the verbs, behave, talks and cares, respectively. By aptly using these words as adjectives, the ideas in the sentences above can be expressed thus: 1) He is cowardly (Like adjectives do, cowardly is correctly deployed herein to describe a person; not an action).

2) He has a rascally attitude (In this context, rascally is deployed in qualifying the noun, attitude; not a verb).

3) My sister has a motherly behaviour (In this circumstance, motherly describes the noun, behaviour).

In conclusion, I can conclusively affirm that my avid readers have severally learnt the appropriate usages of several words in this article, without having to read it several times.

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

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Ngozi as the best candidate for WTO THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

Obadiah Mailafia

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n May 14 this year, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, Roberto Carvalho de Azevedo of Brazil, announced that he will be stepping down by 31 August, a year before his mandate is due to end. A distinguished diplomat, he was elected to the post in May 2013.

Mechanisms have been set in motion to find a successor. Eight candidates have been shortlisted: Jesús Seade Kuri of Mexico; Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh of Egypt; Tudor Ulianovschi of Moldova; Yoo Myung-hee of Korea; Amina Mohammed of Kenya; Mohammed Maziad Al-Tuwaijri of Saudi Arabia; and Liam Fox of Britain.

We were somewhat confused when the Nigerian candidate was first announced as Yonov Frederick Agah, only to be substituted for Ngozi OkonjoIweala. Agah is a seasoned trade diplomat with a doctorate in international trade economics. He was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Geneva, with multiple accreditations to the UN and WTO. He was appointed Deputy DirectorGeneral of the WTO in October 2013, where he has served with distinction.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a renowned international development expert with a first degree from Harvard and a doctorate from MIT. She was Nigeria’s famous Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy.

She joined the World Bank as a Young Professional and rose, over a 25-year career, to be de facto Number 2, as Managing Director, Operations. She is a globally recognised brand. She has moved among the movers and shakers

from the UN to the World Economic Forum, WEF. She is currently Board Chair of Gavi, the global Vaccine Alliance. She has been a Senior Advisor to the prestigious French investment bankers Lazard Frères. She is also a member of the AU committee mobilising international financial resources for the novel coronavirus pandemic. She was recently appointed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as Chair of the country’s influential Economic Advisory Council. She is also on the External Advisory Board of the IMF. She is a fluent French speaker, with working knowledge of Spanish.

The WTO is the world’s foremost international trade organisation. It was officially created in January 1995 as successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, GATT. Many of my gentle readers may not realise that the liberal open international trading regime that we enjoy today is not a product of chance, but of painstaking negotiations. In hard times, most countries would rather close their doors to their neighbours. The fact that they don’t is largely because of the rules-based global trading regime that was hammered out over decades of multilateral negotiations.

During the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, the world powers led by the United States and Britain began negotiations on the post-war international economic order. The two principal negotiators were John Montgomery White of America and John Maynard Keynes for Britain. Keynes, the most outstanding economist of the century, irritated the Americans by insinuating that “they have the money, but we have the ideas”. His ideas were influential in the birth of the IMF and the World Bank and in constructing the gold-dollar international monetary order that prevailed until its repudiation by President Richard Nixon in 1972.

The negotiations to create an International Trade Organisation unfortunately fell through. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, GATT, emerged as a compromise.

From Adam Smith to David Ricardo

and Jagdish Bhagwati, the greatest economists have taught that an open international trading system provides the best guarantee for universal prosperity. World conflicts have emerged because of financial collapse and hyper-inflation stemming from beggarthy-neighbour trade wars.

Early industrialisers such as Britain and France were always in favour of free trade while late-comers such as Germany and the young American Republic were opposed to it. In the nineteenth century the German economist Frederick List and Alexander Hamilton, Treasury Secretary and one of the American Founding Fathers, both cited the “infant industry” argument as justification for their vehement commitment to protectionism.

Today, the advanced industrial economies of North America and Europe are ironically the ones at the forefront of international free trade. There is evidence in economic science that free trade will always disproportionately benefit the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor. The impoverished countries of Africa, Latin America and South Asia are among those demanding more fairness in the global trading system. Organisations such as the UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, and the International Trade Centre, ITC, both in Geneva, are among the principal agencies working to promote equity and fairer participation of developing countries in international trade.

The WTO currently has 164 member countries. Its protocols cover Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods; General Agreement on Trade and Services; Review of Governments’ Trade Policies; Dispute Settlement; and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

The WTO operates on the basis of the Most Favoured Nation treatment, MFN, non-discrimination, reciprocity, binding and enforceable commitments, transparency and judicial settlement of trade disputes.

As far back as 2001, the Doha Round was launched to ensure that the benefits of globalisation extend

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I earnestly hope that the Nigerian government will put everything at her disposal to ensure that she clinches this job. She will be a great ambassador for our country

to the poorest nations of the world.

Unfortunately, not much progress has been made in that sector. The WTO sadly remains dominated by the most powerful countries. Certain decisions are made in the so-called “Green Room meetings” that exclude low-income developing countries.

At a time of populism and seeming retreat from multilateralism, it seems to me evident that the quality of leadership at the WTO matters profoundly for our common future.

The 8 candidates are all outstanding and highly accomplished leaders on their own right. But, with all respect, I believe Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala towers above the others in the breadth of her experience and her depth of exposure as an economist and international civil servant. Her reputation as a reformer and international civil servant will speak for her. Her cosmopolitan outlook will obviously help in bridging the gulf between North and South.

It is rather regrettable that the African Union could not collectively present one single candidate as we would have expected. Instead, we have three.

That is likely to spread the odds against our continent. Our African brethren may be feeling that they have already given enough concessions to Nigeria.

There is Akinwumi Adesina at the African Development Bank; Amina Mohammed as Deputy Secretary-General at the UN; and Benedict Oramah as President of Afrexim Bank. My response would be that Ngozi is Ngozi – a class act. She is a world citizen and a proud symbol of African personality. She once ran for the Presidency of the World Bank. She missed only because it was an election year and Barrack could not risk losing American votes.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https://businessday.ng Dr. Mailafia is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a development economist and public finance expert with a DPhil from Oxford obmailafia@gmail.com; 08036590990 (text messages only)

Oh! my word, am I a failure?

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elcome to this weekend. As an HR person I am very concerned about people and these times have brought out the best and worst of people. I want to speak to the individual today from my blog (written in 2016), just to address the million feelings of inadequacy that millions of people are going through.

I like to start off with definitions. Failure is the absence of success. So, what is success? The dictionary says it is the victory or triumph of a thing. The good outcome of a thing. This reminds me of a fact about New York crime fighters.

Apparently, when the anti- drug enforcement team are celebrating a huge drug burst, the anti-vice squad have increased work, keeping all the druggies who need a fix and are going crazy committing all kinds of crimes because the cost of drugs has gone up as a result of the drug burst.

This means that success may not be a universal word because what is recognised as success here may be the opposite in other quarters. So, for example, social media is good on some fronts but terrible on some others. Sometimes what was initially celebrated as a success may end up being referred to as a failure in the long run.

I remember when social media brought down a government, many hailed social media. However, the said country has become war torn and the jury is still out as to the success of the role of

social media in the preceding anti-government attack via social media.

There is the example of marriages that go south soon after wedding ceremonies. Before the ceremonies, the families think they have been successful but when they go south, they think they are failures. However, in the cases of domestic violence even upon separation ,some families think they have been successful because at least their family member came out of the situation alive and not dead or maimed.

I don’t know if you can tell that this was not the way I expected this blog post to go. I was feeling a little down in the dumps because I don’t yet have a break through on one or two of my projects and was going to have a public pity party. Also, it is almost the end of the year and we tend to make all kinds of assessments at this time.

I am now seeing however that success has many shades and sides to it. So, I am not a failure depending on which side of the coin you are looking at. I can comfort myself by saying that I at least started a project. Many are locked in a comfort zone with golden handcuffs and they cannot see they are prisoners. (Again if this describes the always smiling lady at the check- out in your favourite store , then I hope she stays there because her smile is what people need sometimes).

I may comfort myself by saying the snail

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speed of the project does not mean failure as a turnaround may just be round the next bend in the road. I may comfort myself by saying that tomorrow morning is another day for me to change things and turn them around.

There was a king called David many years ago who experienced what he and the people at the time called failure. He committed adultery with the wife of one of his soldiers who was fighting at the war front. When the lady got pregnant, King David tried to cover up by giving the soldier an exeat from the war front to visit his wife.

Even though the soldier came home he refused (from a sense of duty and team spirit with his fellow soldiers still at the war front) , to sleep with his wife thereby defeating the whole purpose of his been brought back home. This meant that the lady could not pass off her pregnancy as her husband’s. To further cover up King David sent the soldier back to the most heated part of the battle and engineered his death.

He married this lady and she had a baby. The baby eventually died and King David became depressed. He wrote a popular verse asking himself why he was so unhappy.

A few pointers here. When you are feeling like a failure you need to acknowledge that feeling and ask yourself why you are feeling that way.

When you think deeply (again, thinking is a dying but essential art) you will get answers that will help you move forward. Do not get stuck.

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Olamide Balogun Try to retrace your steps so as to see where you went wrong. The mind is powerful and can play games on you. (This is true, go and read about the right brain and the left brain).

This project or whatever, may not even be for you. You may need to take another path that you can use your same skills and passion for, but just not this particular thing. Be careful not to be too all over the place. You may be trying to do too much. When I was younger , you got points for “multi-tasking”, now we know that even though you may do two things at the same time, you are not likely to do them both at the same level of quality. You may also be killing yourself with stress and cortisol.

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

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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The psychology of slavery HumanAngle

Femi olugbile

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here is a video circulating on social media. Two nubile young women, stark naked, are shown, with a naked young man in the ambience of a family that is clearly well to do. The girls look to be between the ages of fifteen and twenty. In the background is an elaborate ornamental balustrade, with tiled steps leading upstairs.

One of the young women is holding a bundle of well-used one thousand-naira notes that could be the takings of a day’s commerce in a high-end wholesale or retail store.

The scene opens with one of the naked girls, “Janet”, on her knees.

“Get up” she is commanded. “Put up your hands.”

The kneeling girl gets to her feet, the evidence of her crime held guiltily before her.

“How did you steal the money?”

Janet recounts how Tope, the other girl, put her up to a scheme whereby they would steal money from Mummy’s bag, with the assurance that she, Tope, had “medicine” which would cover their tracks.

“How much did you steal?”

“Five hundred thousand” – apparently the amount in the bundle she is

holding. “…I will destroy your life if you don’t confess…” comes a shrill, high-pitched voice, apparently that of “Mummy”, from the background.

“I never stole before this…”

“Look at their faces…” says another voice, addressing the camera audience. “They may give themselves false names…”

“Don’t hire them as house help…

They always steal from their masters…” says “Mummy”.

She is convinced she is doing public good.

It is an ugly, despicable scenario, on several levels.

“Mummy” is sore at her stolen, now recovered, money and is intent on “disgracing” her erring staff. In doing so, she is unmindful that her own anatomy is not very different from the adult females she is “shaming” before the camera.

Five hundred thousand naira is a large amount of money, and it is abominable for workers to steal from their employers. But it is not likely that a worker who steals five hundred thousand naira from Zenith Bank, or “Mummy’s” daughter, if she were to do a similar thing, would be “paraded” naked in a video clip on WhatsApp. The reality is that the scene depicted is not the story of an employer and her rogue employees.

“Mummy” owns Janet and Tope.

They are not “workers” in the conventional sense.

“Omo odo” are usually sourced through a nation-wide network of human trafficking. Many are from neighbouring countries such as Togo and Benin Republic. They are without passports or other immigration documents, and so are totally vulnerable.

They are transported across interna-

tional borders in seasonal consignments and given out to “masters”. Although they are paid a “salary”, it is invariably a pittance, below the national minimum wage. Much, if not all, of the salary is appropriated by the “Uncle” or “Aunt” who trafficked them in. They have no rights. They are visited with sometimes unimaginable cruelty in some households. They are a lower form of life, not entitled to the hopes and aspirations of the children of the house. In all but name, they are slaves.

It is an attitude of mind that many Nigerians, even those who consider themselves humane and enlightened, hold towards their domestic workers, who they also use as labour in their small and medium scale enterprises. It has led some Nigerians into perdition, because, while it is regarded with a wink and a nod even by law enforcement agencies and religious authorities here, it is a crime in other countries, where all human beings are, at least technically, equal under the law.

Some time ago, a Nigerian doctor and his wife were arraigned before a court in the UK for their cruelty to a young lady they had brought over as domestic help. The lady’s passport was kept from her and she was locked up in the house. One day she raised a cry that attracted neighbours, who called the police. She then recounted tales of beatings and humiliation she had received over the years. The couple were both sentenced to prison. The husband’s name was struck off the practice register by the General Medical Council.

Slavery is not just about chains but about servitude. In reality, a domestic help is a worker just like a bank employee.

There is a sordid, criminal element about the underground system of traf-

‘

It is an attitude of mind that many Nigerians, even those who consider themselves humane and enlightened, hold towards their domestic workers, who they also use as labour in their small and medium scale enterprises

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

Strategic methods for measuring effective leadership

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any organisations have difficulty assessing the effectiveness of a leader, which is because organisational politics prejudice most assessment measures, coupled with the absence of any verifiable standard. Also, the criteria for assessing a leader are sometimes undefined or unrealistic. This article presents strategic methods and approaches for measuring effective leadership.

The Essential Behavioural Leadership Qualities (EBLQ) approach We have the “Essential Behavioural Leadership Qualities” (EBLQ) approach for assessing leadership effectiveness. This approach focuses on two things: the principles of leader behaviour theories and the competence model. Both elements indicate that a leader needs to excel at certain specific behaviours for leadership to be effective. Here there are 18 items for evaluating a leader, namely; excellent listening skills, good presentation skills, participative decision-making style, Motivation, honest and ethical, organisational knowledge, excellent interpersonal skills, fiscal efficiency, knowledge of policies, the vision of the future, delegating authority, providing support, fairness, courage and firmness, creativity, hardworking, good prioritizing skill, problemsolving skill.

Develop questionnaires based on employee participation Creating a questionnaire based on the employees’ participation is a sound idea because frequently, employees have a lot of information and ideas that are beneficial at their disposal. As outsiders, so to speak, they often see things from a different angle from the leadership. They also get to observe the administration and have more ground-level insight into how the leaders are performing

on many levels.

Use of leadership simulation tools.

Simulation tools offer organisations a quick, cost-effective, and risk-free way to train leaders. Leaders learn how to think and how to act when certain situations arise on the job.

There are different types of simulation tools out there available to organisations. Like with every strategy and instrument, it is up to the organisation to choose the right fit for them and help their talents be productive. There are concept simulations that are appropriate for research-based organisations. There are also management game simulators that are perfect for senior management, and there are functional game simulators for line managers.

When it comes to using simulators, for it to be a useful tool, organisations can adopt a few strategies. These include focusing on the outcomes and not just the process, making the simulation exercise a group activity, and integrating the simulation exercises with the organisation’s core leadership training. To further ensure that you get most of the simulations, organisations need to make sure that the case studies used are grounded in reallife situations. The scenarios used during the simulations require a continuous upgrade as the organisations evolve. Lastly, the organisation must conduct formal review sessions after each simulation.

Leadership personality tests There are many leadership tests out there, the top five, according to (Reynolds, 2017) are: The Dominance Influence Steadiness Conscientiousness (DISC) Assessment. This tool is a self-assessment based on the four different personality types. It also provides a framework of understanding yourself as an individual (and as a leader) and understanding others.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This tool

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measures psychological preference in terms of how individuals view the world around them and take in information and then make decisions. This test gives the users an understanding of the different ways people behave.

While it is like the DISC assessment, it is a lot more complex to administer.

Multi-Source Assessment (360 Degree Feedback). Here, the leader’s colleagues, subordinates, and supervisors provide feedback alongside the leader’s self-evaluation. Giving the leader a more nuanced perspective of how they are performing in their job or role as a leader. This feedback is confidential and anonymous so that respondents can freely give their opinions. However, if you plan on using this tool, make sure you follow through and ensure it is carefully executed.

The StrengthFinders. This tool helps users figure out, identify, understand, and maximize their unique combinations of skills, knowledge, and talents. For them to do their work, achieve their goals, and interact successfully with others.

The Thomas- Kilman Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI). The TKI is a tool specifically designed for managing and building teamwork, and it deals with conflict.

Skill gap analysis.

On leadership effectiveness, the truth is that there is no company or organisation with perfect leaders. There is always going to be a gap between the ideal vision, skills you need to run an organisation, and the reality that’s on the ground. However, being an effective leader means taking steps to close those gaps in order to be more effective and efficient in leading the organisation so that it, with each member of staff, can successfully meet various goals and thrive.

The first step then is to carry out a skill gap

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ficking that is the “supply-side” which makes domestic workers vulnerable and brings out the worst in their employers.

That they often steal and lie, as “owners” such as “Mummy” would be quick to point out, cannot be strange to anyone who understands work psychology and the fact that employees in a system where they have no stake or future and are treated as chattels would predictably behave like predatory animals, out for the kill.

There is nothing wrong with Nigerians or other nationals, registering with employment agencies and working legitimately and freely as domestic help, as many Filipinos do in Europe and America, and as many Nigerians do in the lower rungs of the Care system in the UK. But it is bizarre to have Nigerians who support “Black Lives Matter” in other countries stand by while their spouses’ assault and humiliate domestic staff.

It is the same disingenuous logic that allows people who support the toppling of statues of white slave traders to balk at acknowledging the guilt of their own slave trading forebears, or to support the preservation of anachronistic discriminatory cultural practices, such as the Osu caste system.

The proper recourse for anyone who has been the victim of stealing from an employee is to report to the Police. The Nigerian Police is imperfect, but it is what we have.

The litmus test for the modernity of any society is the recognition of the entitlement of even its lowliest members to human dignity and respect. There cannot be any exceptions to the rule.

The leadership factory with

Toye Sobande analysis to find out what those gaps are. This analysis can be done on two levels: at the individual or team/organisational levels. Once you have decided which level to analyse, the next thing to do is identify the particular skills you desire and want your leadership team to possess. As an organisation, you need to ask two questions: what skills do we value as a company, and what skills do our leaders need to do their jobs currently and in the future?

The answers to these questions are in the organisation’s values, the organisation’s objectives, the job descriptions of your leaders, and the growth trend for the future. Another place to get insight into your organisation’s skills might need soon is to ask the leaders themselves and those they lead. Next, list all these skills and prioritize them in terms of importance and skill level required by using a scaling system. This scale, however, must be well defined. Once you have determined the ranges and dimensions and listed out the skills you want to test, you can measure and do the testing.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https:// businessday.ng Sobande is a Lawyer and Leadership Consultant. He is a Doctoral Candidate at Regent University, Virginia Beach, USA, for a Ph.D. in Strategic Leadership. He can be contacted by Email: contactme@toyesobande.com

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Editorial Publisher/Editor-in-chief

Frank Aigbogun editor Patrick Atuanya

Nigeria needs economic not political restructuring Nigeria’s future is hinged on reform

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

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South) Ignatius Chukwu

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overnments, citizens and businesses across the world wish COVID-19 pandemic ends today and normalcy returns. This same prayer is offered in Nigeria.

But would Nigeria return to an economy that is characterised by underperformance, unemployment, poverty and hardship?

In Nigeria, COVID-19 pandemic didn’t necessarily usher in new challenges and economic struggles, but rather amplified existing ones the country had been battling with. Since 2015, the economy has been suffering from a snail-paced growth, with GDP growth averaging 0.94 percent compared to the country’s boom periods between 2010 and 2014 when the economy grew by an average of 6 percent.

Clearly, these periods have been determined by swings in crude oil prices given Nigeria’s heavy dependence on the oil market.

Periods with higher GDP growth have been associated with higher oil prices in the same period while lower growth periods are linked to lower oil prices.

Because Nigeria’s economic growth is strongly correlated with

the highly volatile global oil market, any major shock such as the COVID-19 pandemic automatically throws the country into a miserable state. We cannot, therefore, over-emphasise the importance of economic restructuring.

We believe restructuring the Nigerian economy should take precedence over political restructuring being canvassed across the country. Last week, Thursday, the Yoruba Submit Group (YSG) threatened that Nigeria must restructure before the next election in 2023 or face doom.

This, in our thinking, is a misplaced priority. We expect that the clamour for diversification, boosting investments in various sectors, closing infrastructure gaps, eradicating poverty, ensuring businesses thrive and make Nigeria truly the largest economy in Africa among others, should be the fulcrum around which all advocacy for restructuring should revolve.

The federal government must find ways to position the country away from oil so as to be able to compete and win in an increasingly complex world for the benefit of over 200 million Nigerians. This does not, however, mean that oil should be totally done away with. Of course not. We are rather of the opinion that While it

lasts, efforts must be made to focus on growing other sectors of the economy.

In this case, diversification should be non-negotiable; it is mandatory.

However, we cannot be talking about growing other sectors without investment. Making other sectors attractive to private and foreign investors would require the FG churning out market-friendly policies and regulations while acknowledging the role of the private sector in economic development.

Without equivocation, we believe that COVID-19 pandemic provides Nigeria a chance to re-imagine and reawaken its strategies for growth.

The country is starved of good policies and the economy is largely government-driven. Regulations that stifle sectoral operations, performance and investment opportunities are still prevalent.

For this reason, we have seen Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in Nigeria which promise growth for any economy dwindle sharply to levels below peers in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the same story with Foreign Portfolio Investors.

The Nigeria stock market which is their main destination remains bearish as foreign investors stay away from the market despite low valuations of

fundamentally strong stocks following CBN’s dollar demand management strategy to protect the Naira.

We believe that economic restructuring has the capacity for building strength and buffers on a number of viable sectors in the economy. It only involves diversifying the economy and improving sectoral contributions to GDP growth.

To achieve this, the government must be ready to build a private sectordriven economy while creating a business and policy-friendly environment.

This is why we re-emphasise that the government has no business doing business. The private sector of any economy has the potential and ability to grow and develop such economy.

As a country, Nigeria has seen the benefits of this in some sectors like telecommunications, pensions and cement in the past. All that is required is to replicate these successes in other sectors of the economy.

COVID-19 may have affected many economies but the effects differ in degrees. For those with no diversified buffer like Nigeria, the effects are severer. Hence economic restructuring is not just an option but also a must-do because we see the future of Nigeria hinged on this singular reform.

HEAD, HUMAN RESOURCES Adeola Obisesan

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

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS Okomu H1 ’20 profit surged 58% amid pandemic slowdown OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

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e sp i t e c o ronavirus impact and slowdown in economic activities, Okomu oil posted a surge in profit during the first half of the year for the period ended 30th June.

Analysis of the its financial result for show that net profit increased 58.73percent to N4.00billion in H1 2020 from N2.52 billion posted by the firm during the corresponding period of 2019. With total turnover of N13.527 billion, a 57.94percent surge when compared with the same period in 2019 at N8.56billion.

Okomu Oil sells two main products, crude oil palm and rubber, while it exports rubber, crude oil palm is mainly

sold locally. Sales to foreign markets however declined from N1.451 billion in H1 2019 to N1.104 the same period of 2020.

The company’s cost of sales reduced slightly in H1 2020 to N1.08billion from N1.69billion. Specifically, the market cost for oil palm stood at N996.342 million as against N1.405 million in 2019, while that of Rubber stood at N86.63million from N286.5million in corresponding period in 2019. Finance cost stood at N310.6million from N101.1million in first six months of 2019.

The company’s operating expense increased 67.44percent year on year from N3.962 billion in H12019 to N6.634 billion H12020.

O k o m u ’s f i x e d a s s e t surged to N33.606 billion as at June from their aggregate

valuation at N32.124 billion in December last year, and that of current assets standing at N15.885 billion relative to N11.472 billion in December last year; the company’s net assets value is put at N31.279 billion compared to N29.180 billion Okomu Oil’s stock has recorded impressive returns to its investors, especially in 2020. The share price is currently trading at N74.95, close to its 52 weeks high of N77.40. Its market capitalization at the time this report was drafted stood at N71.496 billion. Also, the stock’s present dividend yield stands at 2.75% and earnings per share at 7.33.

A final dividend of N2 per 50 kobo share was recently approved for its audited financial result for the period that ended December 31,

2019. Its share price has risen more than 170percent in the last 5 years and seems not slowing down on capital gains.

Okomu is majorly owned

by SOCFINAF SA, a Belgian company with 62.69% controlling stake in the company’s 953.9 million ordinary shares. No Other shareholder owns more than 5percent of the company. SOCFINAF also owns several oil palm plantations across Africa especially in countries like Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

It also has business interest in Indonesia and in Europe.

To export rubber Okomu Oil relies heavily on its related company, SOGESCOL FR SA. It sells all of its rubber to SOGESCOL FR SA who then goes on to sell to buyers in the world market

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FoodCo expands apparel and personal Care business to support local industries DANIEL OBI

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n a bid to support local industries, FoodCo Nigeria Limited, a diversified consumer goods company with interests in retail, quick service restaurants, manufacturing and entertainment, has announced the expansion of its personal care and apparel lines with new products from leading Nigerian and global brands.

Ayotunde Azeez Ositunga, Senior Manager, Business Development, FoodCo Nigerian Limited, stated in a statement that the expansion is in line with FoodCo’s vision to be the retailer of choice in Nigeria which offers top quality products across categories as well as supporting local industry such as manufacturing and the small business community.

He said: “we are happy to announce the expansion of our apparel and personal care lines with over 500 exciting new products from leading Nigerian and global brands. This is in line with our vision to become the preferred retailer for Nigerians, offering a diverse range of top-quality products at affordable prices as well as forging impactful partnerships that grow our communities.

“As a proudly Nigerian

brand, FoodCo has always pursued initiatives that add value to stakeholder communities in Nigeria. The expansion will deepen our investments within the small and medium-scale enterprise sector to increase access-tomarket opportunities for a talented pool of businesses in the clothing, fashion design and personal care space.”

“Furthermore, FoodCo will be stocking a select line of notable global brands, such as Swedish clothing-retail giant, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), to expand the options available to our customers. The stock line covers a wide range of items including casuals, corporate clothing for both men and women which will be available across our outlets in Lagos, Ibadan and the online store.

“Coming on the heels of recent brand extensions that include the FoodCo online supermarket and home delivery service, the upgrade to our apparel division with an expanded line of top-quality local and international labels underlie our focus to continually set standards for retail excellence in Nigeria,” he added.

Established in 1982, FoodCo is a foremost retailer and one of the pioneers of the organized retail sector in Nigeria..

SixthSense Leadership launches books on business sustainability for entrepreneurs GBEMI FAMINU

L-R: Olusesan Ogunyooye, Head Marketing & Corporate Communications, Alpha Mead Group; Morenike Azeez, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Vocational & Technical Education Board (LASVEB); and Olumide Orojimi, Head Corporate Communications, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) during the presentation of Face Masks donated by Alpha Mead Group to LASVEB, under the ‘Masks for All Nigerians’ initiative of the NSE in Lagos.

Union Bank H1’20 earnings hit N79.7bn as non-internet income jump 22% OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

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nion Bank has released its financial performance for the first six months of the year. Analysis show that gross earnings was up 10percent on the back of an increase in earning assets to N79.9bn from N72.4bn in H1 2019 The bank’s interest income increased 6percent to N57.2bn from N53.8bn in H1 2019 driven by increase in earning assets, Net interest income before impairment: up 21% to N28.0bn from N23.2bn in H1 2019, this was largely driven by a reduction in interest expense.

Non-interest income increased 22percent to N22.7bn from N18.6bn in H1 2019, thanks to an impressive growth in e-business and revaluation

gains. Gross loans up 6% to N630.5bn from N595.3bn Dec 2019; reflecting the opportunities for risk asset creation given economic realities. Customer deposits grew 12% to N995.2bn from N886.3bn Dec 2019.

Profit before tax was sustained at N11.3bn at N11.2bn in H1 2019.

Reacting to the bank’s Half year performance, Emeka Emuwa, CEO Union Bank said the impact of COVID-19 and associated movement restrictions on the Bank and the wider economy has been broad.

“Notwithstanding these significant headwinds, the Bank delivered a 10% increase in its top line revenue of N79.9bn for H1 2020. In addition, net interest income before impairments is up 21%

to N28.0bn and non-interest income up 22% to N22.7bn,” he said.

“The slowdown limited growth in key income lines including fees and commissions and cash recoveries. However, we continue to reinforce the use of our digital channels with 90% of transactions completed digitally in H1 2020 (vs. 57% in H1 2019), which translated to a 42% growth in e-business fees from N2.5bn in H1 2019 to N3.6bn in H1 2020. We deliberately grew our loan portfolio both in the retail and commercial/corporate banking space resulting in a 6% growth in interest income,” he added.

Chief Financial Officer, Joe Mbulu noted that notwithstanding increasing inflation and unexpected costs related to the changes to our operating

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structures during COVID-19 lockdown, the bank has been able to keep operating expenses under control during H1 2020.

“We also grew customer deposits by 12% to N995.2bn from N886.4bn in December 2019 as a result of increased customer demand for our banking products and the continued positive perception of our brand. We continue to deliberately expand our loan book with a focus on key industry segments. As impairments began to rise as a result of COVID-19 disruptions, the NPL ratio ticked up marginally to 6.3%, compared to 5.8% in December 2019, while our Capital Adequacy Ratio is at 19.2%, remaining well above the regulatory threshold,” he said.

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n Nigeria, research and surveys from diverse organisations has shown that access to finance and business management skills are major problems that affect the Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSME) and it has also discouraged the setting up of business ventures by potential entrepreneurs.

Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging economies across the world has exposed most entrepreneurs to the risk of losing their businesses due to negative demand shocks and disruptions in business activities. Helping small and medium scale enterprises navigate through the raging storms of the global pandemic has become very important due to the contributions of the sector’s activities to Nigeria’s GDP. In view of this, SixthSense Leadership, a training and consulting company, launched its books over the weekend titled, “Wealth Without Capital, Capital Beyond Money: The sixth sense guide to creating wealth out of nothing” and “Sixth Sense Lead@Businessdayng

ership: Practical insights for getting more out of life and leadership.” The launch was aimed at steering people to paths that will result into profitable ventures even amid a pandemic such as the COVID-19.

The event which was themed “Wealth Without Capital: The Sixth Sense Advantage” took place via the Zoom Video Conferencing, due to the restriction on public gatherings in the state on Saturday 25th of July by 11am.

In addition to this, Sixth Sense formally commissioned its corporate office to improve its services and carry out more physical activities.

Bright Ukwenga, CEO, SixthSense said the books are a must have for entrepreneurs and potential business owners as well as people who require a form of motivation to become a better person. Looking at the way things are going now and the increasing job loss, prospects of entrepreneurship will continue to increase and it goes beyond making profit, people need to equip themselves with the right knowledge and tools before owning businesses.

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS

Business Event

Netcom Africa partners global IT companies to provide best digital security solutions in Nigeria JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON

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n today’s changing business environment, the need to have robust virtual security architecture has become imperative. Hence, Netcom Africa, Nigeria’s foremost managed IT service provider and outsourcing firm has partnered with Shelt from Europe, FirstWave from Australia and others to bring to the fore, a bouquet of information technology ( IT ) security solutions for businesses in Nigeria.

With the high rising incidents of breaches in various organisations today, investing in IT security becomes more imperative in order to secure critical assets and information. According to reports, over N127 billion is lost annually as a result of security breaches in the country, and USD $2.1 Trillion worldwide. Over 60 percent of small and medium sized businesses that suffer a cyber security breach will go out of business within 6 months of the breach due to reputation damage, customer and financial loss, and legal actions.

Netcom Africa has introduced top-notch security solutions that would address the issue of breaches. Over the years, Netcom has solidified

its footprint in Nigeria’s tech market with the deployment of robust cyber security services targeting Nigerian corporate where high-end tech services are steadily on the rise.

“Security is best when it’s silent, our solutions feature both cloud and on-premise SSO, multi-factor authentication, user provisioning with self-service and access governance, password synchronisation, self-service password reset and even AD & NTFS auditing tools,” Harrington Charles, vice president, corporate development and marketing, Netcom Africa, said.

According to Netcom Africa, its security information and event management (SIEM) service collects and analyses security information in real time from across any organisation. A combination of powerful proprietary technologies and human intelligence helps to prevent attacks on networks, and protects commercially sensitive information.

Netcom Africa has identified that cybersecurity training for employees is essential, as too many users don’t know the basic practices such as updating software, recognising a phishing email, and use of strong passwords. The company therefore designed several trainings and has partnered

with global reputable brands for the best cyber security solutions.

“We’ve partnered with Shelt, the European managed security service provider (MSSP), to offer the first cloudbased cybersecurity platform in Nigeria, FirstWave cloud content security platform (CCSP). The email security, web security, and firewall security suite is based on the most robust enterprise solutions of Cisco, Palo Alto and Fortinet and does away with the need to have an on premise appliance,” Charles said.

“The suite is available on per user model and can be easily scaled for any size business and gives small and medium sized companies access to high end solutions that would normally be suited for Fortune 500 companies with 1000+ users. In addition, we also have partnerships with Microsoft, Kaspersky, Tata Communications, and Sophos, the global leaders in Cynbersecurity including Endpoint protection, Firewall, DDoS Detection and Mitigation, UTM (Unified Threat Management), and Penetration testing, to complete our suite of security solutions allowing us to give your company the right balance between value and cost to meet your objectives,” he said.

L-R: Akeem Ojora, Bashorun of Ijora and Iganmu Kingdom; Joy Egolum, corporate affairs manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc; Utibe-Abasi Utuk, Lagos brewery manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc; Abdul Fatai Aremu Oyeyinka Aromire, Ojora of Ijora, and Iganmu Kingdom and Amuda Yusuf Ojora, Ashoju, Oba of Ijora and Iganmu Kingdom, at the presentation of food items and relief materials to indigenes of Iganmu and Ijora communities at the Oba of Ijora’s Palace, Ijora, Lagos.

L-R: Happiness Alabi, admin executive, ADVAN; Ediri Ose-Ediale, executive secretary ADVAN; Ademola Akinlabi, outgoing chairman, Photojournalist Association of Nigeria (PJAN), and Kehinde Shonola secretary electoral committee, PJAN, at the ‘Advertiser community support Initiative’ to specific associations affected by covid 19 hosted by Advertisers Association of Nigerian in Lagos.

TurrisFortissima new luxury Hallmark Estate to be ready Q1 2022 MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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urrisFortissima Limited, a trusted real estate firm known for constructing state-of-theart facilities, has introduced yet another exceptional housing facility, called The Hallmark.

The Hallmark is part of TurrisFortissima’s commitment to providing affordable, yet luxurious housing to discerning investors and home seekers within and outside Nigeria.

The Hallmark Estate is nestled in the effervescent vicinity of Lekki in Lagos State – on Admiralty Way. The estate holds the promise of luxury and elegance. The best part of Hallmark Estate for many lies in its location and proximity to lifestyle centres which makes it ideal for investors and families looking for homes in the heart of Lagos.

Speaking during a press briefing, Tunji Aiku, principal partner, TurrisFortissima Limited explained the unique features of The Hallmark Estate. According to him, The Hallmark Estate ticks all the marks of quality and caters to

the need of luxury home seekers in Lagos.

“What we aim to achieve with The Hallmark Estate like all our projects is to provide elegant and distinct real estate with convenient payment plans. The Hallmark Estate is second to none in all ramifications of affordable luxury,” he said.

He further stated that the estate has been carefully planned and comes with lush gardens, trees amidst green areas, extensive walkways and timeless architecture.

In the same vein, Tobi Ogunrombi, non executive director, TurrisFortissima also affirmed the company’s commitment to bridging the deficit for luxurious yet affordable housing in Lagos, stressing that the estate is a perfect balance of urban living and classy abode for homeowners who desire luxurious and affordable homes at the same time.

“It is of paramount importance to us at TurrisFortissima to meet the needs of Lagosians who do not have the time to build their desired homes www.businessday.ng

from start to finish. We take the stress off them by providing well finished houses that meet international real estate standards using quality building materials,” she added.

She assured that the delivery of The Hallmark would be in Q1 2022 and by then all home owners would be able to live in their dream houses in the heart of Lekki, Lagos with 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply.

Tunji revealed that apart from its good serenity, adequate security and space, the estate is “a perfect place for that city homewith a touch of nature as the design seeks to preserve most of nature’s gifts within its beautiful landscape and breathtaking scenery,” he said.

The Hallmark is designed to be an elegant and impressive custom-built estate structured to compliment the taste and lifestyle of every home seeker with a flair for sophisticated and elegant real estate. A 2bedroom in Hallmark Estate goes for 75 Million Naira while the 3bedrooms go for 85 Million Naira. The two flat types come with maid’s room.

R-L- Motunrayo Fasasi; Rasaaq Adebayo, Region 9 chairperson, District 404B2 Nigeria; Adepeju Eluyemi; Abiodun Eluyemi, president; Morufat Adebayo, secretary; Ayoola Aransi, president-elect, and Suraj Ogunyemi, Zone 9A chairperson, at the directional signage commissioning held in Ile-Ife, Osun State recently.

R-L: Nnaji Eneh Helen, matron, Enugu Isolation Centre; Chikezie Obasi, head, Diagnostics Isolation Centre, Enugu; Chinyere Ezeudu(East), Enugu State epidemiologist; Isaac Nwabuzor, corporate affairs manager, (East), Nigerian Breweries Plc, and others during the donation of drinks to Diagnostics Isolation Centre in Enugu recently.

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@Businessdayng

Friday 31 July 2020

News

BUSINESS DAY

Products Review

Technology Review

Personality Review

Company Review

15

FINTECH

Nigerian fintech TeamApt says ‘no data’ leaked in source code breach FRANK ELEANYA

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e a m Ap t, a Ni gerian payment company has said that no data nor configuration was leaked in a recent source code leak involving dozens of companies across industries like technology, finance, retail, food, ecommerce, and manufacturing which source codes following a misconfiguration in their software.

Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO of TeamApt said the breach was discovered on 26 July after a thorough investigation, we found that only snapshots of codes resident on our static code analysis tool were exposed.

“This tool is used by the engineering team to scan for vulnerabilities and bugs in our source codes before shipping them. As the tool also keeps a snapshot of the most recently scanned lines of codes, the attackers exploited a vulnerability in this tool

which allows users with unauthorised access to scrape recently scanned lines of codes. These code snapshots were what the attackers were able to access,” Eniolorunda told BusinessDay. Till Kottman, a Swissbased IT consultant posted

a list of about 50 companies that at some point had their source code exposed.

Source code, also referred simply as the ‘source’ of a program, describes a computer program written in a high-level language that is converted into object code

or machine code by a compiler. Source code is the stage where a programmer can read and modify a computer program. It contains variable declarations, instructions, functions, loops, and other statements that tell the program how to function.

A leak could expose critical information belonging to an organisation and customers. The affected companies in the latest hack include Microsoft, Adobe, Johnson Controls; GE; AMD; Lenovo; Motorola, Qualcomm; Mediatek; Disney; Daimler; Roblox, Nintendo; TeamApt; and various organisations in software, hardware, healthcare, finance, automotive, travel, and industrial sectors.

“The leak was caused by an internal static code analysis tool used to scan for application vulnerabilities,” Eniolorunda said. “No data nor configuration was leaked. We have also gotten the hackers to delete the source codes with no prejudice. We have now patched the Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tool vulnerability and put more security measures in place.”

Kottman said that the source code that was made public mostly proprietarily, comes from exposed DevOps infrastructure. He assured

that data with the potential to put people in danger were not released. There was also an effort to censor any credentials they found before making the code public.

“There are multiple aspects to this. It will hopefully show some companies that their own infrastructure also needs to be protected,” Kottman said. “I am also very curious and so are many other people, and this gives an interesting inside view into how (unfortunately often badly) proprietary projects are built.”

Although TeamApt says no harm was done to its data, an analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity, told BusinessDay that companies don’t need data to be breached to be in trouble.

“Once someone sees your code, they know exactly how your app works and they can plot how to break into it.

Thieves always seek the house plan or map before they come to rob,” the analyst said.

Nigerian fintech firms in search of new revenue sources as funding drags FRANK ELEANYA

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inancial technology (fintech) firms in Nigeria are diversifying their efforts in a bid to shore up revenue during the pandemic which has seen investors writing fewer cheques than they were used to.

Paystack, Flutterwave, Carbon, Piggyvest, and a few others have been on a spree adding new features to their platforms.

The last time a core fintech business in Nigeria closed funding was in June above $1 million was in April 2020 when Okra raised $3 million from TLcom.

Wallets, a platform that allows people and companies to send and receive money, and makes payments, using their phone numbers, made a funding announcement in June. The funding was not disclosed, which often happens when the amount wasn’t so significant and investors want it to remain anonymous.

TradeDepot also announced $10 million Series A funding which it plans to also deploy

into its new fintech segment.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has seen significant lag in investors’ activities across different sectors, tech firms in Africa continue to attract investment but not at the level they did in 2019.

According to data from Maxime Bayen while more startups have secured investments above $1 million in the second quarter of 2020, the average deal size has been almost half less than what they were in 2019.

In Nigeria, firms like Flutterwave which has received the largest investment ($35 million Series B in January) of any tech firm in Nigeria in 2020 has unveiled a series

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of new features aimed at encouraging more user adop-

tion. One of the features is the Flutterwave Store that

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allows small businesses to launch and manage an ecommerce business that accepts payments from anywhere in the world without creating a website, knowing how to code, etc. Flutterwave provides $15,000 in Amazon Web Services credit to tech-enabled businesses that need cloud storage. On its part, Flutterwave benefits by gaining access to tons of data about consumer behaviour through its merchants.

Flutterwave is also the @Businessdayng

official payment provider for the ongoing reality popular TV-show Big Brother Naija (BBNaija).

Paystack also made similar moves in June when it partnered with Visa for the Small Business Hub, a platform that offers an ecommerce starter package that comes with enrollment for small businesses to create their own online store and begin accepting online payments via Visa’s fintech partners. The initiative is known as ‘where you shop initiative’ connects customers and small businesses, by providing entrepreneurs with a platform to showcase their businesses before a variety of customers via two distinct options.

Paystack also released a new feature known as Pay with Transfer to allow foreign businesses using its platform to receive payments from Nigerian customers through bank transfers. With the feature, users can accept payments however they chose to pay. The new payment channel works in partnership with Zenith and Providus Bank.

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Harvard Business Review

ManagementDigest

A new prescription for power Elizabeth Long Lingo and Kathleen L. McGinn

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PEND LESS TIME EXERTING CONTROL AND MORE TIME MOBILIZING ENERGY AND COMMIT-

MENT. As most leaders discover sooner or later, effectively wielding power is rarely straightforward.

Simply exercising control over others — the traditional concept of power — is often not the best strategy; it may not even be an option. When the path ahead or the very need for change is in dispute, when looking to seize an opportunity rather than put out a fire, when working across silos where claims to authority may be ambiguous and contested, leaders should take a different approach.

Based on decades of research and consulting with executives and managers, we have developed an approach to power that goes beyond exerting control and mobilizes others’ energy and commitment. Our model of power focuses on its three core dimensions: situational, relational and dynamic. The degree to which you draw on all three will determine how effectively you get things done.

POWER IS SITUATIONAL Leaders often view power as a purely personal quality, derived from their formal roles and titles, accreditations, skills and experience; from the information they control and the reputation they’ve built; and from their charisma, resilience and energy. But power also arises from and depends on situational factors such as your objectives, the environment and bases of power. Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer has observed that one of the primary ways leaders limit their own power is by failing to search for and cultivate sources of influence beyond formal authority and personal charisma.

THINK EXPANSIVELY ABOUT THE CHANGE YOU SEEK. Begin by considering the nature of your goal. Then think about how you might engage others’ energy and commitment to achieve that goal. Ask yourself not just why the goal is important to you but also why it might be important to your colleagues, your company and society. By drilling down into these questions, you can capture the emotions needed to win the hearts and minds of

others while accumulating resilience and energy for the work ahead.

IDENTIFY HIDDEN ROADBLOCKS AND TURN THEM TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. Most people believe in a just world — one in which credit and rewards accrue in accordance with performance. But Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Emilio Castilla’s research on the so-called meritocracy paradox finds that bias is higher in contexts that focus exclusively on who is most deserving. Situational power, then, starts with the recognition that working harder and smarter often fails to achieve the “earned” outcome. To get results, leaders should instead work with trusted colleagues and stakeholders to assess the lay of the land and identify blind spots.

LOOK BEYOND TITLES AND CREDENTIALS. Titles and credentials can secure a place at the table — but they are not always sufficient for the effective exercise of power. When considering a new position, leaders should think not only about what titles and resources the job confers but also about whether the culture is one in which they can thrive.

POWER IS RELATIONAL Beyond your personal attributes and the situational factors in your organization, your power is also enabled and constrained by your interactions with others. The relationships and coalitions you forge can be a major source of support, advice, information and resourcwww.businessday.ng

es; those you overlook or ignore can loom as potential points of resistance.

SCOPE OUT THE LANDSCAPE. Consider who could help you advance your ideas and then map the array of allies, resisters and others who might affect your efforts. This will help you understand people’s positions and priorities, actual and possible points of resistance and potential blocking and supporting coalitions. Then ask yourself, What sources of influence can I deploy to engage others?

ELICIT INSIGHTS FROM KEY PARTIES AND INVITE THEM TO CO-CREATE SOLUTIONS. A pediatrician at a large New England hospital learned the value of this approach.

“Usually I would develop what I thought was a good idea and then worry about getting others to adopt it,” she says. “But nothing would happen: People resisted, either openly or passively. Finally, I began to take time upfront — engaging in empathic inquiry and inviting others to co-create a solution with me — and the results have been incredible.”

ATTEND TO RECIPROCITY AND DEPENDENCY. When assessing their power, Pfeffer says, leaders need to map their dependencies. Your position in the flow of resources may be as important as your formal title; you can accrue power by controlling and creating resources that others need. The fewer substitutes for the resources you command, the more power

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you have.

LEVERAGE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG OTHERS. As the sociologist Ron Burt has noted, relational power often comes from brokering connections among others — which may require some finesse. While leaders can often extract information and value by keeping people strategically isolated, that approach may undermine trust and commitment.

MAKE SMART TRADEOFFS. Because relationships require investment and nurturing, you need to make choices about whom you will interact with, how often and on what terms.

POWER IS DYNAMIC Our research suggests that to maintain power, leaders must continually adapt to changes in organizational and social systems.

PAUSE, REFLECT AND PIVOT. As entrepreneurs and innovators know, bringing a product or service to market is rarely a linear process. The same is true of the exercise of power: At points it is best to defer decisions, reflect on new information or how your efforts fit within a changing context and revise the path ahead. Other times it is wise to step away and recharge.

In such instances, it’s important to think creatively about new ways to engage your target.

USE EXPERIMENTS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. Each new stage in a career, each new assignment, brings a new power @Businessdayng

landscape and the opportunity to design a new influence approach. Many of the successful leaders we’ve studied engage in formal and informal experimentation, trying different approaches in similar settings and observing others’ approaches.

GIVE RESISTERS TIME TO COME ON BOARD. People grow accustomed to the way power is distributed in their organizations, and they are more comfortable lending energy and commitment to those they know. Those dynamics can fuel resistance to new leaders. It can help to examine how others before you have fared. New leaders should understand that it may take time for people to transfer their allegiance.

THE APPROPRIATE USE of power is one of the most fundamental and contentious questions of the human condition.

Leaders can mobilize energy for personal gain or for collective interests; to enhance potential or destroy it. A thoughtful approach to power requires a nuanced analysis of the intended and unintended effects of influence and close attention to the means as well as the ends.

Elizabeth Long Lingo is an assistant professor of innovative leadership and creative enterprise at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Kathleen L. McGinn is the Cahners-Rabb professor of business administration and the senior associate dean for faculty strategy and recruiting at Harvard Business School.

Friday 31 August 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Harvard Business Review

17

ManagementDigest

How spotify and TikTok beat their Copycats ason Davis and Vikas A. Aggarwal

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n the digital economy, the race is often won by imitators who turn out to be more agile and creative than even the most successful first movers. Take the case of Snapchat. Created in 2011, it quickly reeled in millions of teenagers and young adults with a standout app on which shared photos disappear after 24 hours.

Facebook reportedly tried, but failed, to buy Snapchat. So it did the next best thing: Copy.

Instagram, which is owned

by Facebook, simply replicated the main features of Snapchat Stories, rolling out Instagram Stories in 2016.

Within a year, Instagram had crossed Snapchat’s daily active user numbers — and then some — while the latter faltered. Although Snapchat has since regained some of its early influence, its experience shows that barriers to entry in the digital realm are low, even for established platforms that have already captured a significant user base.

The usual approach taken by first movers to protect their lead involves heavy investment in deploying their innovative know-how through in-house knowledge transfer and collaboration, the idea being that the company with the idea can stay ahead if it leverages its knowledge more quickly across employees and encourages teamwork. The problem, as we’ve argued in a recent paper, is that companies that invest in leveraging their knowledge internally can actually end up benefiting the competition as much as themselves, particularly when the knowledge is easy to copy and can be shared among many rivals. We call this the knowledge-spillover sharing effect.

Given this, is there any hope for an innovator to succeed in the face of copycats?

The right formula, as we demonstrate in our paper, is one of complex continuous innovation, where individuals in the firm use recombination to repeatedly reconfigure elements of their existing knowledge, fusing this together to deliver new product solutions. While such a strategy can overcome the innovator’s imitation dilemma by thwarting rivals’ knowledge-spill-

over sharing effects, we also show that it can do so only if innovators tackle complex opportunities that are composed of many interdependent features. Let’s look at a couple of case studies demonstrating the approach in action.

HOW TIKTOK OUTSMARTED FACEBOOK The meteoric rise of TikTok, the short-form video sharing service owned by Beijingbased ByteDance, is instructive. Created in 2017, TikTok has reached 1 billion users faster than any other platform, and is consistently one of the most-downloaded apps. According to Mark Zuckerberg, it is “the first consumer internet product built by one of the Chinese tech giants that is doing quite well around the world.”

TikTok’s growth and (nearterm) sustainable competitive advantage comes from its ability to combine and recombine products and services from different categories. On the consumer side, TikTok’s algorithms quickly learn individual preferences by capturing users’ likes, comments and time spent on each video. On the producer side, AI simplifies video editing and suggests music, hashtags, filters and other enhancements that are trending or have been proven popular. Essentially, TikTok has recombined elements of www.businessday.ng

these different technologies and applications to create a new category of bite-sized amateur entertainment, distinct from the chronicling of real life offered by Facebook.

Facebook’s efforts to replicate its triumph over Snapchat through imitation have thus far come to nothing. The social-media giant’s nixing of Lasso, the TikTok clone, in July speaks to the difficulty of emulating the Chinese app.

OUTRACING IMITATORS THE SPOTIFY WAY Another good example of using complex continuous innovation to stave off copycats is Spotify. Its seemingly simple music-streaming service is in fact a complex combination of a dynamically changing user-interface, behavioral prediction algorithms and an ever-expanding catalog of music. Spotify learns a customer’s preferences and uses population-level predictions to suggest content that will ensure stickiness.

So successful is Spotify at innovating in a complex opportunity space that it has kept mighty Apple at bay. Despite extensive promotion of its service, Apple Music has not been able to capture a significant share of the music streaming market. Spotify meanwhile has continued to innovate via recombination, adding new features and cat-

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egories that marry technology with content. The most recent example is its foray into podcasting, hitherto Apple’s domain, with a $100-million exclusive deal with popular podcaster Joe Rogan.

GANGING UP ON THE INNOVATOR: UBER’S TROUBLES We’ve also found an interesting competitive dynamic working against the first mover. Copycats are willing to learn from one another — probably more so than the original innovator. This makes it easier for them to catch up and overtake the first mover.

Look at what happened to Uber. Although the ride-sharing platform the company pioneered in 2010 was unique, it was relatively simple to replicate. Before long, rivals like Lyft in the U.S. and Didi, Gojek and Grab in Asia offered similar services and siphoned Uber’s market share. These companies learned by copying not only Uber but also one another, effectively ganging up on the more established innovator, whose early market dominance may have made it complacent.

Grab, Gojek and Didi quickly adapted Uber’s map function to their own product, which they then adjusted based on one another’s modifications. There is some evidence Grab adapted Uber’s @Businessdayng

rider promotions and driver incentives, only to see Gojek use the same ideas. Copying continued to heat up as all three Asian players then pursued a hyper-diversified “super app” strategy. Grab appeared to copy Gojek’s proliferation of services in Indonesia, such as insurance, with their own offerings. And some believe Gojek entered Singapore with data it scraped from Grab’s maps. The result was a highly competitive marketplace that led to Uber’s exit from the region.

Given the knowledgespillover sharing effects of the sort we’ve described, firms grappling with the imitation dilemma need to be careful about just how they mobilize their in-house knowledge resources. Trying to be faster than copycats, or focusing only on in-house knowledge transfer and collaboration, won’t be a sustainable strategy. Rather, they should focus on thwarting potential imitators by recombining knowledge in novel ways to tackle complex opportunities.

Jason Davis and Vikas A. Aggarwal are associate professors of entrepreneurship and family enterprise at Insead.

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

MoneyInsight Bitcoin bulls return as prices soar above $10,000 FRANK ELEANYA

he second edition of Wimbart Office Hours starting in August will have 30 startups as participants, 8 more than the maiden edition in March.

The Wimbart Office Hours, a partnership between public relations agency, Wimbart, panAfrica early-stage fund, Ventures Platform, and Techpoint Africa, equips early-stage technology startups with the PR and communications tools they need to scale their businesses.

The three-month

senior members of the Wimbart team, that covered deep dives into how PR ould support their specific business goals.

The startups also learnt from wide-ranging topics including the power of storytelling, the anatomy of a solid press release, and the art of pitching to journalists.

As a result of the programme, participants reported some milestones, including coverage in top tier international and pan-African media outlets, increased customer traction, and interest from investors, as some of the early outcomes.

programme targets tech startups building solutions for Africans on the continent or in the diaspora. The startups must be less than two years old, have a minimum viable product, and be pre-Series A, a statement from Wimbart noted.

“Hot on the heels of closing out our first Wimbart Office Hours, and having worked with an amazing first cohort, we’ve taken on board some great feedback and are really excited to continue the momentum as we start our search for new startups from across the continent to join us in August,” Jessica Hope, managing director of Wimbart said.

The maiden edition of Wimbart Office Hours saw participation from 22 startups including Crop2Cash, Ecodudu, and Wellahealth which were selected from a pool of 80 applicants from across Africa, Europe, and the US. The selected startups were engaged in an in-depth PR webinar facilitated

by Jessica Hope, oneon-one sessions with

Wimbart said it plans to continue the spirit and practical nature of the programme with the launch of its online alumni network. This will ensure continued support for early-stage startups and allow peerto-peer collaborations.

“We hope that with the launch of the Wimbart Alumni Network, we will build a dynamic community of startups who share knowledge and opportunities and also foster cross-border cross-sector collaboration,” Hope said.

Kola Aina, founder of Ventures Platform said that investing in startups is more than writing cheques. Startups need to learn effective communication, hence the need to partner with Wimbart for the programme.

“Startups need the right strategies to best communicate their value proposition, and it will be an eye-opener for them in terms of brand awareness to help achieve scalable growth,” said Adewale Yusuf, founder and CEO of Techpoint Africa.

FRANK ELEANYA

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F

or the first time since June, the price of bitcoin has breached the $10,000 ceiling recording $1,268 gains in the early hours of Tuesday from about $9,100 a week ago.

The last time bitcoin crossed $10,000 was June 2.

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency by market value is trading at $10,851.98 as at press time, representing a 6.74 percent gain on a 24hour basis on Coinmarketcap.

The surge, according to analysts, is a sign that investors’ confidence in the cryptocurrency’s long term prospects is starting to return plus the increased attention from institutional investors. Investors are also believed to be reaping

Wimbart Office Hours 2.0 kicks off in August with 30 startup participants

huge profits from obscure digital currencies on decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms.

DeFI refers to the platforms that promote the use of decentralised networks and open-source software to create multiple types of financial services and prod-

ucts. The three most important functions of DeFi platforms include creating monetary banking services like issuance of stablecoins; providing peer-to-peer or pooled lending and borrowing platforms; enabling advanced financial instruments such as DEX, tokeni-

sation platforms, derivatives, and predictions markets.

Anticipation over the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade expected to take place later in the year led to a surge in the ether token, the secondlargest cryptocurrency and this is likely to have spilled over into the bitcoin market.

Before starting that business, consider these five things STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

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oving a business idea from concept to commercialisation can be daunting in some instances. Here are five things a budding business owner needs to bear in mind.

Understand the risks involved The first thing that strikes you about the glamour of entrepreneurship is the overwhelming focus on the rewards. We are hardly told the backstory of the pains and risks that came before the rewards.

We are constantly fed tales of heroic people who started a business from their parent’s garage and built it into a multi-million dollar company. We are regaled with stories of employees who quit their jobs to take on entrepreneurial pursuits.

The truth is, if we really knew just how much risk entrepreneurs expose themselves to, we would admire their guts more than we envy their success. Entrepreneurs often take risks that do not make any sense at the time, and that is how they are able to reap the big rewards.

The rewards of entrepreneurship are only half the story. The pains, frustrations, risks and challenges are actually the most important parts of the story.

If you want to be on the

cover of Forbes Magazine, you need to have the balls to take risks. The bigger the risks you can take, the bigger the rewards you can make.

Self-doubt will haunt you Entrepreneurs often come across as visionaries; people who see and act on things that others do not. What we often do not realise is that visions are not certainties.

And things can go wrong as we try to bring a vision into reality.

Self-doubt is one of the most common demons that haunt entrepreneurs. Whenever we take risks or take on challenges that do not have an assured outcome, it is human nature for doubt to creep in at every turn.

This is why most successful entrepreneurs are big believers and perennial optimists. It is this unconditional belief in their vision that propels them to conquer their doubts and achieve success, in spite of the odds.

Things will happen that will test your confidence and make you doubt your vision sometimes. Disappointments and frustration could push you to the brink of despair. But because they’re big believers, entrepreneurs usually recover from these setbacks.

It is a lonely journey until you make it This is a fact: nobody www.businessday.ng

cares about you until you make it.

Many people just do not realise how lonely entrepreneurship can be. Especially in the early days and years, you are in the driving seat of the business and the burden rests squarely on your shoulders.

Except you have a supportive business partner, co-founder or mentor, the journey is usually a very lonely experience for many entrepreneurs. Worse still, in spite of everything you are going through you still have to be your own therapist. People are drawn to success. But until success comes, you are largely invisible.

Success usually comes with a heavy dose of distractions. Press interviews, invitations to speak at local and international conferences, mentorship and coaching requests, and the pressures of managing your rising public profile are just some of the distractions success will bring into your life.

It is not just about the money While money is certainly a strong motivator for entrepreneurs, to make it through the dark and lonely days of building a business, you will need something more than just the “love of money” to keep you going. Some entrepreneurs do it for the passion, fun and excitement. Others do it to con-

tribute something valuable to the world, and to make an impact.

In the end, money is just one of the rewards for the risks entrepreneurs take, but it’s not the ultimate reward. It’s just a way to keep score. Recognition, impact and self-actualization are actually far stronger motivators than money.

You will be broke sometimes Many people become entrepreneurs because they want to make money. The reality is, you may have to ‘lose’ money first before you make any money. Anybody who’s bootstrapped a business before would know what I’m talking about.

When you are really committed to building a business, it is natural to give it everything. To pay salaries, keep the lights on and meet all the other obligations of your business, the entrepreneur often has very little left to live on. But as long as their vision is alive, most entrepreneurs know that being broke is only a temporary condition.

Entrepreneurs are like farmers; they always look forward to the harvest. But until harvest time comes, they will do everything they can to keep their crops alive, even if it means staying hungry and broke. By the time the harvest comes, all the pain, suffering and sacrifice will be long forgotten

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

19

tax issues The role of banks in tax administration … How far is too far?

Opeyemi Osunsan, Adeniyi Adeyemi and Olufisayo Akinloye

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Introduction he increased volatility and steady dip in crude oil prices, which is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, and the resultant adverse impact on government revenue has increased the focus on taxation as an alternative source to raising the finance required to meet government expenditure.

Yet, despite the government’s effort to ramp up internally generated revenue, tax collection has continued to fall below budgeted revenue and Nigeria’s tax to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio still hovers around 6 percent - one of the lowest in the world and far below the African average of 17.2 percent. To reverse this trend, the Federal Government has developed revenue generating initiatives to fund the national budget.

One of such initiatives that has been adopted by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the primary body responsible for tax administration and collection of federal taxes, is the involvement of commercial banks in tax administration.

In 2018 and 2019, the FIRS issued letters to Nigerian banks, appointing them as agents of collection of taxes due from alleged tax defaulters. The FIRS also directed the banks to set aside the tax amount due from the bank accounts of the alleged defaulting taxpayers and remit same to the accounts of the FIRS in full or partial settlement of the tax debts. Despite the controversies that this initiative generated, some state governments, through their respective State Internal Revenue Services (SIRS), adopted similar approach to enforce tax collection and have amended state laws to legitimize this initiative in their respective states.

The involvement of banks in tax recovery cast doubts on the credibility of the Nigerian tax system and negatively impacted the Federal Government’s drive to improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria. As such, the FIRS has recently modified this initiative to align with the provisions of the tax laws.

However, the SIRS have continued to make incessant demands on Nigerian banks for information and recovery of taxes. For example, one of the SIRS appointed banks, operating in its state, as agents for collection of capital gains tax (CGT) and requested the banks to deduct and remit capital gains tax on capital payments made through them.

This article examines the role of banks in tax administration, as defined by relevant laws. The article also emphasizes the need to define limits to banks’ involvement in the tax affairs of their customers and highlights the downside of this trend, while offering workable recommendations to improve tax administration in Nigeria.

The role of commercial banks in tax administration in Nigeria as provided by the Nigerian tax laws a.

Banks as information providers According to the provisions of Section 61 of the Companies Income Tax

Act, Cap C21, LFN 2004 (as amended in 2007) (CITA). , Section 49 of the Personal Income Tax Act, CAP P8, LFN 2004 (as amended in 2011) (PITA) and Section 28 of the FIRS Establishment Act, banks are required to render returns on their customers to the tax authorities on a periodic basis. The information required to be submitted is limited to the names and addresses of their customers. However, the tax laws empower the executive chairman of the relevant tax authority to request for additional disclosures on banks customers for the purpose of obtaining information relative to taxation.

Similarly, banks are also required to submit, to the FIRS, certain information on their customers who are resident in reportable jurisdictions.

This requirement is based on the provisions of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) Regulations enacted as a result of Nigeria becoming a signatory to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for the automatic exchange of information. The information to be reported under the CRS Regulations is also limited to names and addresses of affected customers resident in reportable jurisdictions, tax identification number (TIN) in the jurisdiction of residence, amount of interest earned in a tax year and other similar information. b. Banks as tax debt recovery agents Banks may be required by tax authorities to act as tax debt recovery agents of taxable persons. Specifically, Section 31 of the FIRS (Establishment) Act (FIRSEA), Section 49 of the CITA and Section 50 of the PITA empower tax authorities to appoint any person to be the agent of a taxable person for the purpose of recovering tax debts or tax payable from such taxable person.

The agent appointed may be required to pay any tax payable by the taxable person from any money held by the agent on behalf of the taxable person.

This is referred to as the “power of substitution” and the exercise of this power is subject to the objection and appeal process established under the various tax laws. c. Banks as gatekeepers for tax registration Banks are now required by law to obtain the tax identification numbers of customers using their bank accounts for the purpose of business activities; ensuring that businesses are registered with the tax authorities before operating or opening bank accounts. This requirement is codified in the Finance Act, 2019. d. Banks as agents for revenue (including tax) collection Commercial banks also act as www.businessday.ng

agents of collection for tax revenue and levies, such as income tax, value added tax and other statutory remittances, paid by third parties to Federal and State Government agencies/parastatals. This role was delegated by the Central Bank of Nigeria to commercial banks in 1999.

As collection agents, they are required to remit the funds collected to the appropriate government agency account within 24 hours of collection Key issues arising from the increasing involvement of banks in tax administration The provisions of the tax laws on the role of banks in tax administration are unambiguous. Based on the tax laws, banks do not, and should not be involved in the process of tax dispute resolution between their customers and the tax authorities. Also, information required to be submitted by banks to tax authorities should be limited to those specified in the tax laws or requested by the tax authorities in connection with taxation of their customers.

However, in recent times, the heavy reliance on banks by revenue authorities to drive tax collection may have caused the banks to breach their fiduciary duty to their customers and incur significant litigation costs, as well as damages to their reputation - the cost of which may be unquantifiable. For example, in the case between GTB/ FIRS and Ama Etuwawe, the Federal High Court (FHC) awarded damages against Guaranty Trust Bank for honouring the FIRS’ demand to freeze the customer’s account. The FHC ruled that it is unlawful for the FIRS to appoint the Bank as its collecting agent to recover alleged Companies Income Tax (CIT) liability from the Plaintiff when the taxes are not proven to be due. The court affirmed that such a move is premature and exposes the banks to risks, if such taxes are not actually due or are less than the sum actually paid to the FIRS. The ruling in this case clarifies the limit of banks’ involvement in tax assessments and provides guidance to tax authorities in exercising their power of substitution.

Furthermore, the increasing reliance on banks to obtain information on taxpayers creates a disproportionate administrative burden on the banks. For example, a bank operating in all the thirty-six (36) states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory will have to respond to the various information requests of the state tax authorities and the FIRS as well as manage its own tax obligations to the local, state and federal governments.

There is also added responsibility for the banks to ensure that customer

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information provided to the tax authorities is transmitted securely to avoid breaching data privacy and confidentiality rules.

In addition, the responsibility placed on banks as agents of collection for tax revenues has also placed a disproportionate burden of tax compliance on commercial banks. As collection agents, banks are subject to multi-agency audits and verification exercises, examples of such include the stamp duties investigation exercise by the National Assembly and the verification exercise on collections carried out by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission. As a result of these multiple audits, banks invest significant resources in managing the compliance demands of being a taxpayer and a collecting agent.

The effect of the issues discussed above is creation of hostile business environment for banks in Nigeria and there is no doubt that fulfilling this administrative obligation is a major source of distraction from core banking activities. Failure of the government to address the issues noted above may undermine the drive towards improving the ease of doing business in Nigeria, diminish the credibility of the Nigerian tax system, and ultimately erode investors’ confidence in the Nigerian economy.

Involvement of Banks in tax administration – Lessons from other jurisdictions We have examined the practices of tax authorities in other jurisdictions who, to some degree, rely on banks in collect information and back duty taxes from taxpayers: United Kingdom Her Majesty Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is the sole agency charged with the function of administering and collecting taxes in the United Kingdom. To verify the accuracy of a taxpayer’s tax returns/remittances, the UK laws give the HMRC powers to obtain information from third parties, including banks and other financial institutions. To obtain such information, the law requires the HMRC to issue a ‘third party notice’ to the bank or financial institution, as data security and other rules may prevent them voluntarily supplying such information. However, HMRC cannot issue such third-party notice without first obtaining the approval of the taxpayer or the tribunal.

The HMRC also has the power to recover taxes owed by a taxpayer, directly from their bank accounts, subject to fulfilling certain conditions which include repeated refusal by the taxpayer to pay the established liability; face-to-face visit from the HMRC to discuss the debt; among others.

South Africa The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has a formal process for recovering taxpayer debts through banks. The legislation guiding the SARS requires that a final demand for payment is to be delivered to the taxpayer at least 10 business days before a request is made to the bank for collection of the tax due. The tax laws also give the taxpayer some time to approach SARS prior to the issuance of a recovery to negotiate repayment options; in which case, an agency appointment may no longer be required. @Businessdayng

This simple process achieves the same revenue objective without creating unintended consequences.

United States of America The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a formal process for the involvement of third parties, including banks in the recovery of tax debts by a taxpayer.

The IRS is allowed, under the law, to issue a tax levy on the property of a tax defaulter that is held by a third party to satisfy or use as a security for a tax debt.

However, a tax levy can only be issued by the IRS when a tax assessment is raised and a notice and demand for payment has been issued to the taxpayer; the taxpayer refuses to pay the tax assessed; and the IRS has sent a ‘Final Notice of Intent to Levy’ to the taxpayer. The law also requires that a ‘Notice of Right to A Hearing’ is sent to the taxpayer at least 30 days before the tax levy is raised or sent to a third party.

The common thread that runs through the countries examined above is the exhaustive engagement with taxpayers on their tax position before a third party is involved in the collection of information or recovery of tax debts. Also, it is evident from the above that the approach adopted by the tax authorities in Nigeria falls short of global best practices and therefore remains an area that should be addressed in order to improve collaboration between tax authorities and other relevant stakeholders Concluding thoughts The tax landscape is changing rapidly due to the increased drive to ramp up government revenue and tax authorities must rise to this challenge.

While the power of substitution is a particularly useful tool for the tax authorities in recovering unpaid taxes, this power must be exercised with caution and in accordance with the provisions of the law to avoid a backlash on banks.

It is, therefore, imperative that the FIRS and other state tax agencies review existing practices by taking a cue from other jurisdictions with similar but well-developed tax systems, in order to achieve a coherent balance between the right of the tax authorities to obtain information/recover debts and the protection of taxpayers and commercial banks against unwarranted intrusion.

There may also be a need to amend existing laws to define limits to information that may be provided by banks to ensure alignment between tax laws and data privacy law; as well as provide a clear structure for the application of the power of substitution - for instance, when the power of substitution can be evoked, the process of objection to the discharge of such powers, the right of taxpayers and the banks when such powers are evoked; among others.

Furthermore, as part of the ongoing digitization of tax administration by various tax authorities in Nigeria, the government should put in place a technology-based platform that allows seamless transmission and secure exchange of taxpayers’ information amongst local, state and federal tax authorities. This will reduce the incidence of multiple requests for similar information by various tax authorities from banks and ultimately improve the relationship between the tax authorities, taxpayers and commercial banks in Nigeria.

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

LEADINGWOMAN

H.E Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, the social entrepreneur and gender development specialist, positively influencing humanity Kemi Ajumobi Her Excellency, Erelu Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is the First Lady of Ekiti state. She is a feminist activist, gender and development specialist, social entrepreneur, policy advocate, trainer and writer. She has a BA (1984) and MA (1988) in History from the University of Ife, Nigeria (now Obafemi Awolowo University). She also received an MA in Gender and Society (1992) from Middlesex University, UK. She has a PhD (Honoris Causa) in Sociology from the Tai Solarin University of Education (2014).

She served as the Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), an international development organisation for African women based in London, UK, with an Africa regional office in Kampala, Uganda, from 1991-2001. While she was the director of AMwA, she established the African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI), a training and networking forum for young African women.

The leadership institute she developed has become such a powerful legacy that today, the AWLI has trained over 6,000 women across Africa, and most of these women are now in senior decision-making positions as Vice-President, Ministers, Members of Parliaments, academics, civil society leaders and employees of international organisations.

She co-founded the African Women’s Development Fund, (AWDF) - the first Africa-wide grant-making foundation for women’s organisations based in Ghana, and served as the first CEO from 2001-2010. She is currently CEO Above Whispers Media Group specialising in leadership development for women, and she runs an online community called Abovewhispers.com. She was until recently, a UN Women Nigeria Senior Advisor, and is currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Africa Leadership Center, King’s College, London.

Erelu Fayemi led the campaign in Ekiti State to enact a Gender Based Violence Prohibition Law (GBV Law 2011, revised in October 2019) an Equal Opportunities Bill (2013) and a HIV Anti-Stigma Bill (2014).

She serves on the Executive Board of the African Women’s Development Fund, and also on the Governing Council of Elizade University, Nigeria. She is currently the Chair of the GBV Management Committee for the implementation of the GBV Law in Ekiti State as well as Chair of the Ekiti State AIDS Control Agency. She is Chair, Nigerian Governors Wives against Gender Based Violence (NGWA-GBV) Bisi is the author of ‘Speaking for Myself’: Perspectives on Social, Political and Feminist Activism in Africa (2013), ‘Speaking above a Whisper’, (2013) an autobiography and ‘Loud Whispers’ (2017). She also co-edited ‘Voice, Power and Soul’, with Jessica Horn (2008) a compilation of images and stories of African Feminists.

H

ow are you a Feminist activist? Address the misconceptions about feminism I am a Feminist Activist because I believe that our society is shaped by patriarchal norms, beliefs and practices which devalue women and girls throughout their life-cycle.

Patriarchy works through all the political, economic, social, educational, religious and technological systems that we have to create a world in which women are perceived and treated as second-class citizens. Feminism is a global struggle against all forms of patriarchal oppression, a resistance to systems and institutions, not individual men. Anyone who hates the oppression of women, who believes women should have a voice and who believes that women are entitled to control over their bodies and choices is a Feminist. Feminism is not about hating men, misandry (the hatred of men) is not part of the feminist agenda, at least not for most feminists I know. What feminists hate is not individual men, but the things that men do to violate the bodies, minds and spirits of women, and the belief systems that enable them to do this with impunity.

How did you develop your career path around being a gender specialist, development practitioner and social entrepreneur?

After my first Masters Degree at University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1988, I went back to England. I worked in the civil service for a short while and then I went to work for an African Women’s organisation based in London called Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) in 1991.

I also did another Masters Degree in Gender and Society at Middlesex University. In 1996, AMwA opened

up an office in Kampala, Uganda to run the African Women’s Leadership Institute, a training, networking and information forum for young African women aged 25-40 which I established with some other young African women. Since 1996, the AWLI has produced over 6,000 women leaders who are in prominent positions across the continent. The current Vice-President of the Gambia, Madam Issatou Tourray, is an alumnus of the AWLI, we also have many here in Nigeria. My work with the AWLI is what led me down the path of social change philanthropy. Many of the women who passed through the AWLI training programs needed access to funding to enable them start new initiatives and things they were passionate about.

Funding for new ideas or smallmedium sized organisations that could not access grants from large donor agencies was a huge gap. That is how I teamed up with the late Joanna Foster of Ghana and Hilda Tadria from Uganda to start the African Women’s Development Fund based in Accra, Ghana. AWDF is a pan-African grant making foundation for African women’s organisations. The motivation behind AWDF was the need to provide African women’s movements an opportunity to engage in initiatives that would raise the status of women, with needs and priorities determined by them. We wanted to fund initiatives that would transform women’s lives and not simply uphold the status quo. We also wanted to complement the work of larger donors who were either unwilling or unable to make what they termed to be small grants.

The experience of co-founding AWDF and leading it for the first ten years has been one of the most fulfilling of my life. AWDF has grown into one of the largest Women’s Funds in the world with a large network of institutional, corporate and individual donors, and millions of dollars in grants made to at www.businessday.ng

least 2,000 women’s organisations in 42 African countries.

25 years after the Beijing Conference for women, are your expectations for the advancement of African women and girls met?

It is a case of five steps forward and ten back. African women have come a long way. A lot of progress has been made in terms of recognising the need to have gender mainstreaming policies and practices in place. The are several regional and national legal and policy frameworks meant to guarantee the promotion of gender equality such as the Protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa, the AU Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality as well as Agenda 2030 for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More girls are enrolled in schools these days than ever before, and women are in leadership positions in the public, private and social sectors. However, due to the pervasive nature of patriarchal power, attitudes and behaviours towards the empowerment of women and girls continues to work against the vast majority of women on the continent.

Most women live in poor, rural areas where resources are scarce and decisions have to be made by families on who gets what. Under these circumstances, boys tend to be favoured over girls in terms of educational opportunities. A lack of education and training opportunities means a life of dependence and poor choices, making women vulnerable to trafficking, commercial sex work, exposure to HIV/AIDS and violent marriages.

Negative cultural practices continue to place women at a disadvantage for example lack of inheritance rights, widowhood practices, female genital mutilation and so on. Other factors such as violent conflict and displacement, lack of political will to implement laws and policies, lack of financial, material and technical resources and others have meant that the gains that African women have made over the years continue to be eroded.

Women empowerment and girl child education, why the importance?

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Women’s empowerment is important because without it, none of our development goals will be met. Women contribute significantly to national development, and to the informal economy which keeps us afloat.

Women give birth, nurture and care for everyone in the community. If women do not have access to education, a means of livelihood, health, adequate nutrition and decent shelter, they will never be able to fulfill their potential and society suffers. A nonliterate woman has less affirming choices than a literate one, and she is unable to secure a better future for herself or her children. The more we educate our children, girls in particular, the more empowered they will be, the more opportunities they will have to escape a life of drudgery, poverty and churning out children they cannot afford to care for. If we invest in women and girls, we will break the cycle of generational poverty.

Being First Lady twice, running many life-changing empowerment programs in Ekiti State, what are your aspirations for the people of Ekiti State?

I want the women and children of Ekiti State to have all the opportunities available to live prosperous, productive, healthy and peaceful lives. These are some programs I am involved in: Gender Based Violence: I am Chair, Ekiti State GBV Management Committee, responsible for coordinating responses to GBV, Anti-Female Genital Mutilation: I am currently involved in activities to remove Ekiti State from the list of States with a high prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation. Last year I launched ‘Drop the blades’ a campaign that uses a combination of community sensitisation, awareness raising and economic empowerment activities.

The campaign saw up to 120 women from six local governments literally dropping their blades and knives in exchange for an alternative means of livelihood. Keep Girls in School Campaign: This is a new advocacy initiative aimed at creating awareness and mobilizing resources to ensure that indigent girls stay in school for as long as possible. Cancer Prevention and Healthy Living: I am a passion@Businessdayng

ate advocate for cancer prevention and healthy living, using my various networks and platforms to promote these issues wherever I go as well as organizing regular screenings for women. In October 2013, the Ekiti Development Foundation worked with the Ekiti State Government to establish the Funmilayo Olayinka Diagnostic and Well-Being Center at the Ekiti State Teaching Hospital. I am also part of a network of Nigerian First Ladies known as First Ladies against Cancer (FLAC). HIV/AIDS Awareness: As Chair of the Ekiti State AIDS Control Agency (EKSACA) I lend my voice to HIV Awareness, prevention and treatment efforts in Ekiti State.

Multiple Births Trust Fund: This is a project in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development which I established in 2011. It provides financial and product support to poor families with multiple births and long-term investments for families with triplets and above.

Elderly Outreach Program: I have an elderly outreach initiative which involves paying occasional visits to elderly citizens across the State. I also run a Food Bank initiative for the elderly known as Ounje Arugbo which distributes food packages to elderly people in need across the State. We recently added an Oral History Project to the work we do with the elderly, to record the stories of the very old people in our communities before they pass on. Arts and Culture: I am strong supporter of the Arts and Culture community. I work closely with the Ekiti State Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism. I am also Global Ambassador for Africa Fashion Week London. I am committed to promoting the mat weaving and pottery industries in Ekiti State, as well as reviving the indigenous cloth weaving industry, all these industries are led by women. I have also recently facilitated the establishment of a FADAN-Ekiti chapter, a network of local Ekiti Fashion designers, who showcased their work at Africa Fashion Week Lagos last December.

Ekiti is at the forefront of the fight against sexual abuse.

How are you championing the cause?

As Chair of the Management Committee responsible for the implementation of the Ekiti GBV Law, I am dedicated to ensuring that this very important legislation continues to protect vulnerable citizens from all forms of violence. The GBV Committee is an inter-agency body made up of key Ministries such as Women Affairs, Justice, Health, Education, Information and Local Government, as well as civil society organisations.

Some of our achievements include a Gender and Vulnerable Persons Unit, which is a collaboration between my office and the Ministry of Justice, a State shelter run by the Ministry of Women Affairs, as well as a Survivors Fund which has helped many women rebuild their lives after surviving various forms of GBV. Recently, Ekiti State opened the Moremi Clinic, a Sexual Assault Referral Center for survivors of SGBV. The GBV Committee has developed a broad range of support with religious, traditional, community and political leaders in the State, and we have paid many advocacy visits to these key stakeholders over the past few months. We are in the process of setting up a GBV Monitoring Committee and shelter for women in every local government with the support of the local government Chairs.

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 31 July 2020

21

Health Business&Life Nigeria’s healthcare sector can attract more revenue …Here’s the who, what and how Anthonia Obokoh

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t’s no secret that Nigeria’s health sector is struggling to attract investors and better service delivery. Healthcare continues to fluctuate and the drive backdrop is evolving.

The sector, over the last five years has consistently lagged behind with the minimum requirement of allocating 15 percent of the total annual budget to improve the health sector, despite being a signatory to the 2001 African Union Abuja Declaration.

Health professionals and industry analysts revealed that both groups recognize attracting investors will be a challenge going forward. Many are taking steps to do something about it—but others aren’t as far along. To recover investor confidence and capital, Nigeria’s health sector oil should continue looking for new ways to change their game.

Who are your investors, and who are your peers?

Investing in the health system not only saves lives, it is also a crucial investment in the wider economy.

Healthcare investing requires a multifaceted approach to understand the underlying drivers. Investors can profit from investments in both the overall sector and/or its industries.

Who are the investors? The unfortunate reality is that those

who have historically invested in Nigeria’s health, such as growth investors, are no longer interested in the industry.

Meanwhile, investors see Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria as a necessary medium for deals in hospitals and clinics to enhance treatment abilities, improve in medical technologies advancement are a booming development and boost the healthcare services in Nigeria.

The value investor. This fundamental shift highlights an obvious connect, to provide clarity for a path forward. It may also help to redefine your peers group in broader health financing and market.

What matters to the value investor?

The value investor cares most about dividend-steady yields without risk. With pools of capital, loans from banks, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, the providers of this capital primarily aim to maintain the value of the funds and stay ahead of inflation. This is a significant risk/reward equation to manage, and as a result, value

investors are geared to seek minimal volatility and steady returns.

Reshape the healthcare sector to ensure earnings through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Combining public private partnership (PPP), to enhance market space.

The sector needs to find ways to consistently generate remittances from the diaspora and public private partnership harness in healthcare investment opportunities in Physiotherapy Centre, Ambulance Service, Chest Medicine, Molecular Laboratory, Intensive care unit, Oncology center, Medical and nursing school.

This will enable healthcare investors and providers to deliver the type of results which analysts believe are required to attract investment and improve service delivery.

How to attract value investors Fitch Solutions report revealed that Nigeria’s medical device market will record double-digit growth in local currency and will grow at a 2017-2022 CAGR

of 9 percent to reach $184.4 million by 2022 and predicts healthcare expenditure to reach N5, 762.061bn by 2021 at CAGR of 8.35%.

“The Nigerian medical device market will witness a strong growth rate in the medium to long-term future driven by improved economic conditions and the introduction of a foray of new companies with technological advancements,” Research and Markets also predicts.

Nigeria is expected to grow more in the share medical device market. This is owing to rising intravenous usage of technology in the state and the rising cost of healthcare, which stimulated the development of innovative connected products.

How investors can gain a level and complete understanding of revenue and costs To deliver competitive earnings regardless of cost of device swings, the industry needs to look deeply at real costs and revenue at the most smooth level, in ways few in the industry have done previously.

According to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, a myriad of investment opportunities exist across the healthcare value chain in Nigeria and investors interested in taking advantage of these opportunities will benefit from taking a long-term view of the market and keeping in consideration the dynamics of healthcare investment in developing nations.

Expert cautions women on need to take stringent measures in curbing Covid-19 SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

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ishatu Gobir, professor of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Ilorin, has advised Nigerian women to take the ongoing fight against the dreaded Covid-19 disease seriously.

According to her, women should and must be ready to offer some immediate libations to ensure that they themselves and their husbands, children and wards as well as their associates are protected against the spread of the disease and the evidential damages it is capable of leaving behind.

Gobir, who spoke on the “Roles of Women in Curbing the Spread of Coronavirus in

our Societies”, said that the rate at which more individuals are being infected in Nigeria, most especially in Kwara State in recent time, called for serious concerns from stakeholders.

She pointed out that all hands must be on deck towards ensuring that the pandemic does not get out of hand stressing that, “the issue of COVID-19, as it is now, is a matter of life and death.”

Gobir, who is one of the prime movers of the Ilorin Emirate Medical Doctors Association (IEMDA), explained that women, being the most potent protectors and enduring supporters of their various families, have a lot of roles to play in halting the transmission of the highly contagious disease,

which, she says at present, has no cure but can only be effectively prevented.

She added that the protective roles and services women offer children and the society at large informed the reason why they are called “Abiyamo tooto” by the Yoruba, meaning “Mother in deed” Gobir noted that women, being “the bedrocks of any society”, must ensure closer “monitoring of actions and inactions of their children and wards” to ensure that they do not go to any place or involved in any activity that would make them the purveyors and sufferers of the infectious disease, which can put the entire family and their various communities in unimaginable troubles.

The University don informed that findings have strongly supported the fact that the disease spreads more easily in crowded environment, charged women to deploy their roles as “main drivers and organisers of social gatherings” to impress it upon other members of our society the need to postpone social functions to a much later time so as to reduce the possibility of the spread of the dreaded virus.

She says that most of the social functions, which draw large numbers of people, are neither spiritually mandatory nor religiously time-bound but mere ways of expressing our cultural nuances and which can be suspended without much ado and to keep us safe.

Coca-Cola, others urge US Congress to sustain healthcare funding for Africa

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s the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unravel healthcare systems and economies across the world, The Coca-Cola Company and fourteen other global corporations have urged US Congressional leaders to continue to provide healthcare funding support to sub-Saharan African countries so that the pandemic and its consequences do not result in an increase in deaths from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which are among the top 5 killer diseases on the continent.

The companies, acting on the platform of the Friends of the Global Fund, recently sent a joint letter to the US Sen-

ate Majority Leader, Honorable Mitch McConnell; House Speaker, Honorable Nancy Pelosi; and the Senate and the House Minority Leaders, advocating for the COVID supplemental funding legislation to include increased investments to support subSaharan healthcare systems and workers.

“In sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 threatens fragile health systems and the virus has the potential to infect nearly a quarter of a billion people over the next year...

COVID-19 also risks undermining decades of progress against epidemics that kill millions of people every year: AIDS, tuberculosis and malarwww.businessday.ng

ia”, the companies noted in the letter which was signed by The Coca-Cola Company’s CEO, James Quincey, along with the CEOs of Abbott, Cepheid, Johnson & Johnson, Mylan, Sanofi, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Vestergaard, Zenysis, Aegon-Transamerica, MTV Staying Alive Foundation, Novartis, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, UPS and ViiV Healthcare.

With over 90 years of extensive presence across Africa through its subsidiaries and bottling partners, The CocaCola Company has witnessed the great strides the continent has made and the enormous challenges it continues to grapple with in building ef-

fective health systems. Along with its bottling partners and the Coca-Cola Foundation, the company has invested over the years in these efforts and are partners with the Global Fund which leverages US Government funding to scale strategic healthcare interventions in Africa such as Project Last Mile.

Launched in 2009, Project Last Mile models Coca-Cola’s expertise in distribution efficiency and marketing impact to help build capacity and capability in African ministries of health for improved availability of life-saving medicines and demand for health services for millions of people in hard-to-reach parts of Africa.

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Travel health tips before going to school abroad Executive Travel Health

Adeniyi Bukola Q-life Family Clinic

lifeadvisoryservices@outlook.com

S

tudying abroad can be fun and fulfilling. To have an opportunity to gaze into another environment and culture can be exciting but on top of that, going to a new country regardless of the country’s sophistication, are many associated health risks. It is important that you are aware and adequately prepared from such risks. The health risks may range from infectious, injuries, allergies, outbreaks, and the not so common ones.

Before You Go: Learn about the country’s health and safety concerns including other countries you may like to visit while you are there.

Visit https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/ travel/destinations/list.

Make an appointment with your travel medicine physician to get the needed vaccines and medications at least a month before you travel. CDC recommends all travellers be up to date on routine vaccines, such as influenza and measlesmumps-rubella (MMR). There are measles outbreaks in many popular destinations. Make sure you have received 2 doses of the MMR vaccine prior to travel. Don’t go unprotected!

Discuss your itinerary with your health care provider to make sure you get any destination-specific vaccines and medicines, such as yellow fever vaccine or medicine to prevent malaria.

Get all your routine health check-ups, such as seeing your dentist, before you leave, because the quality of dental and medical care may be different in host countries or more expensive than in your native country.

Monitor travel and warning alerts at your destination(s) through the CDC website.

Prepare for the unexpected.

Leave copies of your itinerary, contact information, credit cards, passport, and proof of school enrolment with someone at home, in case you lose them during travel. Find out if your health insurance covers medical care abroad—many plans don’t! Consider buying additional insurance that covers health care and emergency evacuation. Studying and longterm travel abroad may result in culture shock, loneliness, or stress.

Discuss coping mechanisms, plan for who to contact if issues arise while abroad and tell your health care provider and your study abroad program about any existing mental health issues. @Businessdayng

During Your Trip: Follow security and safety guidelines. Follow all local laws and social customs (including standards of dress and cultural norms). Remember, while in your host country, you are subject to its laws. Be familiar with and follow your educational institution’s study abroad code of conduct.

Do not wear expensive clothing or jewelry, to avoid the risk of theft or loss. Don’t travel alone at night, travel with a companion if possible. Avoid dark alleys or other questionable areas. Carry a photocopy of your passport and entry stamp; leave the actual passport in a secure place, such as a safe at your accommodation.

Carry the contact information for the nearest consulate with you.

Always wear seat belts and choose safe transportation.

Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death among healthy US citizens in foreign countries. Use marked taxis or ride-sharing vehicles.

Be alert when crossing the street, especially in countries where people drive on the left. Avoid overcrowded, overweight, or top-heavy buses or vans.

Prevent insect bites. Using insect repellent can protect you from serious diseases spread by insects in many destinations, such as Zika, dengue, and malaria. Use an insect repellent with one of the following ingredients: DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthanediol, or 2-undecanone. Apply sunscreen first, then insect repellent. Be sure to follow instructions on the label and reapply as directed.

Be careful when indulging in local cuisine. Eat only food that has been fully cooked and served hot. Do not eat fresh vegetables or fruits unless you can peel them yourself. Drink only bottled, sealed beverages, and avoid ice—it was likely made with tap water.

Use condoms every time you have vaginal, oral, or anal sex to reduce your risks of sexually transmitted infections.

Don’t misuse alcohol or other drugs. Misuse may increase your risk of accidents or injuries, which have serious health consequences. It can also make you a target for crime.

Use a reputable travel guide or tour company if you plan on doing any adventure travel activities like reef diving, surfing, or zip-lining.

Seek health care immediately if you feel sick or get injured during your trip.

After You Come Home: If you are not feeling well after you come home, you may need to see a doctor. Some travel-related illnesses may not cause symptoms until after you get home. Be sure to tell your doctor about your travel, including where you went and what you did on your trip. This information will help your doctor consider infections that are rare or not found in your home country.

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Hotels

It’s time for Africans to explore African hospitality Stories by Obinna Emelike

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t is obvious that the African domestic travel market will be at the forefront driving recovery of the sector post COVID-19, and it is up to the leisure and business accommodation industry to get behind what these markets will demand as doors open once again.

The above are the views of Mark Havercroft, regional director for Africa, Minor Hotels.

Havercroft thinks that there are potential ways in which the hospitality industry in Africa can capitalise on the new and willing domestic travel market.

It would be recalled that two years ago, a PwC report identified the importance of local markets for the African travel sector, and the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic make these more relevant than ever. In its PwC Hotels outlook: 2018-2022 Positioning for future growth, the company predicted the steady growth of the domestic tourism market across the continent, noting the principal role this market plays in a number of African countries where strong economies support and drive domestic tourism.

According to Havercroft, it was primarily the appeal of the local market, and what the hotel group could offer African travellers, that attracted Minor Hotels to the continent in the first place.

Today, the hotel group operates in Zambia, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Seychelles, Tanzania and Kenya.

He further noted that Africa has also been identified

by McKinsey & Company as the world’s youngest and fastest-urbanising continent, with predictions that it will have a larger working population than either China or India by 2034. There is already evidence of a significant rise of a strong middle class, and it stands to reason, therefore, that this will be followed by an increased demand in terms of both the business travel and tourism leisure markets.

However, while recovery post COVID-19 will indeed mean that local travellers will first look to what is available within their own borders as countries begin to reopen, it will be critical to find ways to retain these markets into the future. At each step of the way, it will be critical that the offerings reflect the fact that very close attention has been paid to what African travellers both need and desire and, in both instances, what they can afford to spend.

In certain respects, there will need to be a tailoring

away from the price tags that international markets have been prepared to pay, while still offering domestic travellers the same opportunities within their own countries.

It goes without saying that personal safety from a Covid-19 perspective and quality must be the top priority across all aspects, from the location of hotels, the servicing of rooms and the technology available on site, to the package deals hotels offer in partnership with other service providers in the vicinity.

This speaks especially to the growing development in recent years of consumers choosing memorable experiences over and above a demand for material possessions. In a more recent PwC report (PwC Hotels outlook: 2019-2023), it was noted that 50 percent of travellers would rather spend money on an experience than a shopping spree.

Returning to the issue of price, the same PwC report also noted the necessity for a supply of affordable hotels

to specifically accommodate domestic travellers. To this end, we anticipate that accommodation in offerings such as our own Avani Nairobi Suites serviced apartments in Kenya, set to open later this year, will prove to be a popular choice for both the mid-scale and extended-stay markets.

It’s likely to also prove popular with “bleisure” travellers – another local market expected to burgeon as business travellers extend their stays and travel in family groups.

“That’s not to say, of course, that there will be no demand for luxury offerings, and we anticipate that as travellers begin to explore their own countries, albeit tentatively at first, they’ll increasingly look towards attractive higher-end options.

“It’s for that reason that Minor Hotels brought the full range of our brands to the African continent; our luxury Anantara brand in Mauritius, Zambia and Mozambique, our Elewana safari experiences in Kenya and Tanzania, and our Avani city and resort brand in Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Seychelles and Zambia”, he said.

The bottom line is that as the world begins to emerge from international lockdown, it is time for Africans to explore Africa and for those who are preparing to welcome this market to their establishments, the key to catering for them is wisdom, insight and understanding ensuring they will keep returning long into the future.

Minor Hotels is an international hotel owner, operator and investor, currently with a portfolio of over 565 properties.

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

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

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

Tel: 01 277 3560

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

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

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

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By Games Village Second Gate Durumi2 Abuja

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

Radisson Blu Anchorage reopens amid compliance to safety protocols

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adisson Blu Anchorage Hotel, Victoria Island has reopened its doors once again to the public. The hospitality outfit, which is the flagship hotel of Radisson Hotel Group in Nigeria, is reopening after months of shutdown in line with the directive of the federal government as part of the efforts at curbing the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19).

Bearing in mind health and safety concerns, which are key considerations for would-be guests now, the hotel has also rolled out comprehensive safety protocols to ensure the safety of guests and employees alike. The protocols cut across accommodation, meetings, events and other offerings at the hotel.

Priorto the reopening, Wellington Mpofu, the hotel’s

director of sales & marketing, noted that, “Lagos State government did a robust inspection of the facility to assess the hotel’s compliance to the health and safety requirements as spelt out by the health department and was approved to reopen”.

Aside that, the hotel, according to Mpofu, has further received certification from SGS, which is a global safety company that assesses how well the hotel is implementing the essential protocols.

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Assuring further on guests safety, he disclosed that Radison Blu Anchorage, would continue to work with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Lagos State government to ensure there is proper surveillance to detect and prevent any incident of the virus at the hotel.

However, guests are going to experience exciting moments at the hotel due to the facelift being given to its facilities and service offerings

during the lockdown.

The facilities upgrades include the pool, gym and guest rooms, though the gym and pool will be completed by the middle of August to ensure that patrons are given refreshing experiences once the restrictions are lifted.

As well, the room renovation, which is done in phases, is projected to be completed before the end of the year as world’s best interior designers were brought together to give the product a contemporary feel and a sense of luxury punctuated by sophisticated simplicity.

With safety protocols in place and strict adherence to the measures, the hotel’s director of sales & marketing urged discerning public to visit, while assuring that the hotel is an ideal place for “staying home in safety” over this period.

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

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

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

Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

23

entertainment African Giant, the incredible, most streamed African album Obinna Emelike

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hile journey to stardom has always been a difficult one for many music artistes in Nigeria, there seems to be an exception.

Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, who stages as Burna Boy is that exception.

If you trail the success story of Burna Boy in the global music scene, you will be amazed by his great achievements in less than a decade. Not many musicians are that lucky nowadays where stiff competition rules the industry.

Already, the Afro-fusion musician has four great studio albums to his credit ; L.I.F.E (2013), On a Spaceship (2015), Outside (2018) and African Giant (2019).

However, African Giant stands out as his most successful album, especially with the incredible success it has achieved within one year of its released.

Released on July 26, 2019 as Burna Boy’s fourth studio

album, the African Giant is simply a phenomenal African album.

The album has over the last year, garnered wide acclaim and appreciation for its dexterity, adroitness, and most especially, its indigenous nature.

In one year, the African Giant album has made landmark achievements including: over 300 million streams on Spotify, 200 million streams on Apple Music and 300 million streams on YouTube.

Moreover, the African

Giant album is the first album from Africa to surpass over 200 million streams on Spotify in less than a year and with almost 1 billion streams on all platforms, it is the most streamed African album ever.

As well, the incredible album topped global music charts.

Songs from the album were #1 on Afrobeats, Hot Hits UK, New Music Now, and Afropop Charts, #2Atlantic as the 18 Best Albums of 2019, and it peaked #104 on Billboard 200 as the

highest-peaking Afrofusion album.

The album also peaked #99 on Billboard Current Album Sales, #6 on World Albums chart and spent a whopping 33 weeks on the charts.

Within one year of release, it went viral in over 23 countries outside Africa including; France, the US, UK, Canada, Hong Kong among others.

Of course, Burna Boy has held several sold out shows since the release of the album. The remarkable

‘Ogelle will bridge creative industry divide between Africans at home, in diaspora’ Desmond Okon

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endell Vincent Carlton De Landro, the High Commissioner of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, has commended the founders of Ogelle, Africa’s first user generated content platform with 100 percent focus on African content, saying the platform will bridge the creative industry divide between Africans in Africa and those in diaspora.

He gave this commendation when the Ogelle team, led by its founder, Osita Oparaugo, paid him a visit at the High Commission of the Trinidad & Tobago in Abuja recently.

“As the High Commissioner and on behalf of the good people of Trinidad & Tobago, I want to thank you for finding time to come for this wonderful meeting that will open massive doors for the creative industry in Trinidad & Tobago and by extension the entire Carribean countries. I invite you as a company to take part in the next carnival in Trinidad & Tobago,” De Landro said.

“From the day we spoke on the phone and what I gathered before now and your formal introduction of Ogelle today, I have no doubt that finally, a platform that will bridge the creative industry divide between Africans in Africa

and those of us (diaspora) on the other side is birthed. We are the same people,” he said.

He described the creative industry as a powerful sector, adding that an indigenous user generated video content distribution platform like Ogelle is what Africans, no matter their geographical location, need today.

The High Commissioner said he had met with Aliko Dangote, president, Dangote Group, a leader in industrialisation and Africa’s richest man, and had told him to come to Trinidad & Tobago and use the country as a hub for the region.

“Same message I shared

with the owner of Air Peace to commence a direct flight from Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago, and the same message I give you today,” the High Commissioner said.

“My supervising minister, my Prime Minister and President will be happy to see a production and distribution of entertainment content cooperation between your platform and indeed African creatives and those of them in my country and region,” he said.

In his response, Osita Oparaugo, CEO, Reddot Television Network and founder of Ogelle, thanked the High Commissioner for receiving

Wendell Vincent Carlton De Landro (l), High Commissioner of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, and Osita Oparaugo, founder, Ogelle, when the Ogelle team paid the High Commissioner a visit in his office in Abuja. www.businessday.ng

him and his team and expressed willingness to partner with the government of Trinidad & Tobago in fostering a vibrant entertainment industry between Africa and the entire Carribean countries.

He said the time to unite Africa, promote and preserve the cultural heritage and value is now and that the platform to do that is Ogelle.

He said Africans in Africa mostly and those in the diaspora must embrace the creative industry to change the negative narrative about Africa.

“In 13 months of operation and with over 13,000 videos and 32,000 registered content creators, over 50,000 app downloads and a database of 10.6m across Africa and counting, we have no doubt that Africa’s time has come,” Oparaugo said.

“Our message is simple and it’s consistent. Africa is culture. Ogelle is African, by Africans, and for Africans in Africa and in the diaspora.

Let us build our community now,” he said.

Designed to promote and facilitate the development of African creative industry, Ogelle integrates User Generated Content (UGC) and exclusive original production subscription video on demand (SVOD) delivered as a free and subscription-based service.

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shows include; sold out 14 out of 15 shows on North American tour, sold out 16 out of 24 shows in the United Kingdom, sold out 6 out of 9 shows in America and sold out all shows in Nigeria.

Yet, the album is incredible judging by the number of records it has broken since release.

With the album, Burna Boy became the first African artiste to sell out the Revention Center, first African artiste to sell out the Fillmore Maryland two days in a row, first African artiste to sell out the Fillmore Maryland three times in a row, first African artiste to sell out the Fillmore San Francisco two days in a row and first African artiste to sell out the SSE Wembley Arena, London.

Again, the feats were recognized globally with nominations, awards and, especially growing fan base.

The album was nominated at the 62nd Grammy Award in the Best World Music Album category, an incredible achievement for an artiste who is less than a decade in his career. It was also nominated at the 40th

BRIT Awards 2020 in the International Male Category, while it won Album of the Year at the All Africa Music Awards last year.

These are truly phenomenal feats for the widely acclaimed African Giant album in just one year and also reason music promoters and fans are celebrating the incredible album and the gifted artiste behind it.

As expected, sharing his joy about the trailblazing achievements of the album, Burna Boy said: “African Giant is 1 year since release.

A few streams off a billion across all platforms. The journey has been crazy. You have all become family and we have made history together”.

He also appreciated his global fans for the sold out shows worldwide, awards, and most importantly, the lives that have been impacted by the music.

But Burna Boy is not relaxing yet, he is promising even more enthralling albums in the nearest future.

“I do not get comfortable though. I am coming back twice as tall”, he assured.

Binging with GameChangers returns for season three

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hanging the game two years in a row, Binging with GameChangers is back for its 3rd season and it promises to be the best one yet.

Bi n g i n g w i t h GameChangers is a Nigerian talk show that inspires individuals through interviews with exceptional business minds who are making a remarkable difference in their various areas of expertise.

The show focuses on encouraging its viewers to pursue their passions regardless of evident limitations hence harnessing the potential of Nigeria whilst starting/ growing businesses thereby boosting economic growth in the country.

Since its inception in 2018, Binging with GameChangers has provided inspirational, educational, and enjoyable television entertainment nationwide. The episodes, which consist of life-changing discussions with the show host and creator, Seyi Banigbe, are nothing short of exhilarating. Beyond the one-on-one interviews, the episodes also incorporate a lighthearted game segment that a lot of the viewers eagerly look forward to.

This year, the bar has been set higher as the show promises to bring on more astounding individuals across the entrepreneurial and corporate sectors who @Businessdayng

have chosen success as their watchword regardless of prevalent hindrances. In addition, this season will recognize Nigerians who may not be making a difference on a large scale but are impacting lives and community successfully in smaller ways.

Entertainment on the show has been kicked up a notch with an in-studio audience, more fun games, and exciting culture-based activities. Not to give too much away, episodes on Season 3 are curated to celebrate and spotlight various Nigerian ethnicities providing even more education and entertainment for viewers.

Season 3 of Binging with GameChangers is set to inspire Nigerians with a oneof-a-kind entertainment experience whilst enabling viewers to uncover their love for Nigeria. Episodes will air nationwide for 26 weeks from July18, 2020. The teaser for episode 1 just dropped and it features the one and only Ramsey Nouah, a Nollywood veteran actor and film producer, amongst other exciting features.

Bi n g i n g w i t h GameChangers will be airing on select TV stations nationwide including; NTA Network on Saturdays by 10am, Africa Magic Family on Sundays by 5.30pm; and repeat on Wednesdays at 2pm and on TVC on Saturdays by 6.30pm.

24

Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

LIFESTYLE MEETS BUSINESS

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26

Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

FT

FINANCIAL TIMES

World Business Newspaper

US economy suffers sharpest postwar contraction in second quarter

GDP shrinks at 33% annualised rate as latest weekly jobless claims rise to 1.42m Matthew Rocco in New York and James Politi in Washington

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he US economy contracted by the most in postwar history in the second quarter as unprecedented shutdowns closed businesses and left millions of Americans out of work during the pandemic.

Gross domestic product, or the value of all goods and services produced by the economy, shrank at an annualised rate of 32.9 per cent, according to a preliminary estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday.

That was smaller than economists’ forecast for a 34.1 per cent decline. The economy contracted 9.5 per cent compared with the preceding three months, which is the metric used by other major economies. The data landed just a day before the expiry of supplemental jobless aid for the total 17m unemployed.

The heavy damage inflicted by the pandemic on US output has dashed President Donald Trump’s hopes of campaigning for his reelection on his economic record ahead of the November election.

Soon after the GDP data were released, Mr Trump questioned whether the vote should be postponed due to the coronavirus crisis, even though the White House has no authority to make such a decision.

“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most

The data landed just a day before the expiry of supplemental jobless aid for the total 17m unemployed © Getty Images

INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???,” he wrote on Twitter in a message that he “pinned” at the top of his account.

11.6% Proportion of the workforce receiving continuing unemployment benefits The BEA said the decline in GDP reflected a slump in personal spending, exports and business investment. The imposition and subsequent lifting of stay-at-home orders “led to rapid shifts in activity”, the BEA added, “as businesses and schools continued remote work

and consumers and businesses cancelled, restricted, or redirected their spending”.

The sudden drop in economic activity last quarter exceeded the previous record of a 10 per cent contraction in the first quarter of 1958, according to figures dating back to 1947. GDP contracted by an annualised 5 per cent in the first quarter, as the lockdowns imposed in response to the pandemic brought an end to the longest expansion in history.

US stocks held on to losses of about 1 per cent as investors took in the economic damage. Global markets fell earlier on Thursday after Germany reported that its economy contracted 10 per cent in

the second quarter compared with the previous one.

As attempts are made gradually to reopen the economy, recent data pointed to improving trends late in the second quarter. Employers added a combined 7.3m jobs in May and June, following a record loss of 20.5m payrolls in April. Consumer spending also picked up, while pent-up demand and record-low mortgage rates helped drive home sales sharply higher last month.

But flare-ups in coronavirus cases have raised concerns of a rockier recovery than hoped. Some economists believe the labour market’s recovery may have stalled, with parts of the US south and west renewing

curbs on business and consumer activity in hopes of stomping out outbreaks of Covid-19. The Federal Reserve warned on Wednesday the fate of the world’s largest economy would “depend significantly on the course of the virus”.

Figures released on Thursday showed that initial applications for unemployment benefits totalled 1.43m on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, slightly higher than the 1.42m claims the previous week.

Economists had expected the new claims to level off at 1.42m for the week, according to FactSet. Lawmakers in Washington remain locked in negotiations over whether to extend supplemental jobless aid beyond July. Republicans have proposed reducing the amount of extra benefits to $200 weekly from the $600 that was included as part of a $2.2tn stimulus package passed in March. Democrats put forward a bill that would keep those payments the same.

The number of Americans actively collecting unemployment cheques rose to 17m from 16.2m in the week that ended on July 18.

Continuing claims, which peaked at 24.9m in May, equalled 11.6 per cent of the workforce. The insured unemployment rate was 11.1 per cent a week earlier.

Initial claims in the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance programme, which extended aid to the self-employed or other individuals who would not qualify for regular unemployment compensation, were down last week to 829,697 from 936,073 on an unadjusted basis.

Rise in coastal flooding poses threat to global economy Study warns expected 50% increase over next the 80 years could hit assets worth 20% of world’s GDP Anna Gross in London

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oastal flooding is set to rise by about 50 per cent over the next 80 years and could threaten assets worth 20 per cent of global GDP, according to a study that heightens concerns about the social and financial impact of climate change.

There could be a ten-fold increase in extreme weather events that cause floods, such as storms and tsunamis — from once every 100 years to once a decade by 2100 — according to research by the University of Melbourne and the University of East Anglia, published in Springer Nature on Thursday.

The world has been battered by extreme weather over the past year, from heatwaves in Europe to floods in South America and wildfires in Australia. Climate scientists have warned that existing temperature rises mean that some future events can no longer be prevented, and that the best defence is to try to

A flooded street in Dhaka, Bangladesh. As well as Bangladesh, other countries vulnerable to rising flood risk include China, India and south-east Africa © Monirul Alam/EPA

limit their severity.

“The sea-level rise is now already baked in, the glaciers are melting and they aren’t going to stop melting for hundreds of years. Even if we reduce our greenhouses gases today we’ll still have significant flooding by 2100,” said Professor Ian Young, infrastructure engineer at the University of Melbourne and co-author of the www.businessday.ng

report. “We’ve got to start looking at adaptation measures,” he added, pointing to engineering structures already being developed in Holland and the relocation of at-risk populations, such as in Papua New Guinea and Alaska.

Land exposed to extreme floods will rise by 250,000 sq km — an area the size of the UK — by 2100, if climate change climbs by the

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high emissions scenario outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the new report found. This would take the total land exposed to 819,000 sq km — an area greater than Turkey.

More than 225m people — equivalent to the population of Brazil — will be at risk of flooding by the end of the century, the study found — an increase of 77m from 2020 levels. This would threaten an area with an economy worth up to $14.2tn, according to the estimates, or 20 per cent of global GDP. North-west Europe is particularly vulnerable to rising flood risk, while other hotspots include Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Bangladesh, south-east Africa and North America.

“What this study shows is that the impacts of future sea level rises . . . will affect nations across the globe, some that will have the resources to adapt to the threats posed, like north-west Europe, but many that will not, such as Bangladesh and Pacific island states,” said Jonathan Bamber, professor @Businessdayng

of glaciology at the University of Bristol.

In the high emissions scenario of global warming, 0.7 per cent of the world’s land area faces potential episodic coastal flooding by 2100, impacting up to 4 per cent of the world’s population.

Counter to common conceptions of the causes of widespread inundation, the report found that close to 68 per cent of the coastal area likely to be flooded will be caused by tide and storm events, while only 32 per cent will be caused by regional sea level rises.

In a more moderate climate change scenario, as outlined by the IPCC, 740,000 sq km of land and roughly 200m people, will be at risk of flooding by 2100, the report found, putting up to $12.7tn of assets at risk.

The analysis does not take into account existing flood defences in places such as Rotterdam and Shanghai, “hence these estimates need to be seen as illustrations of the scale of adaptation needed to offset risk”, the report cautions.

Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

27

FINANCIAL TIMES

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

ConocoPhillips sinks to $1bn loss on weak oil price

Shares fall sharply despite news group is gradually restoring US oil production Myles McCormick

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S oil producer ConocoPhillips has begun to bring production back online after curtailments in the wake of the price crash pushed it to a $1bn loss in the second quarter.

The company — the US’s largest independent producer by market capitalisation — was one of the first to cut back on output as crude prices crashed earlier this year, shutting production across its operations in Canada and the US. Conoco blamed the production cuts and weak prices for its heavy loss in the three months to June. But with oil prices having now bounced back, it is joining other producers in gradually turning the taps back on. It said it had already restored output in Alaska and expected to fully bring back production in the rest of the US by September.

“We are monitoring the market closely to develop a view around the timing and path of

The dollar fell as much as 0.3 per cent earlier on Wednesday, setting a new two-year low, while the euro and pound advanced against the greenback © Financial Times

price recovery and to guide our corresponding actions,” said Ryan Lance, Conoco chief executive. “As the market strengthened late in the second quarter, we began reversing our secondquarter curtailments and ramping up production across the Lower 48, Alaska and Canada.”

The company reported a

quarterly loss of $944m, excluding exceptional items. The figure compared with a $1.1bn profit in the same period last year and was worse than the $610m loss analysts had pencilled in. Total revenues of about $4bn were down by half on last year.

Shares fell more than 7 per cent in early trading on Thursday

to about $37.

The grim results underlined the malaise in the sector, which has been ravaged by a collapse in prices triggered by a Saudi-Russia price war, which sent supply surging, and by the coronavirus pandemic, which slashed global demand by a third.

US oil prices plunged into

negative territory for the first time ever in April. But they have now bounced back to about $40 a barrel.

American oil output collapsed at the peak of the crisis from more than 13m barrels a day to less than 10m b/d, but it has recovered to about 11m b/d, where analysts expect it to remain for the rest of the year.

On a visit to Texas, the most prolific US oil producing state, on Wednesday President Donald Trump heralded the recovery of activity in the industry. “We’re OK now. We’re back,” he said.

But few now expect the country to return to its previous levels of production.

Conoco produced 981,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the second quarter, excluding Libyan production, after a cut of 225,000 barrels. That left it down by more than 300,000 boe/d compared to the same period last year.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2020 © 2020 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. Please do not copy and paste FT articles and redistribute by email or post to the web.

Stocks drop and bonds rally as GDP data unnerve investors Gloomy reports from US and Germany lay bare economic damage from coronavirus Naomi Rovnick, Philip Stafford and Philip Georgiadis in London and Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong

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tock and crude oil markets dropped on Thursday after data laid bare the enormous damage the coronavirus pandemic has wrought on the US and German economies, and raised fears that a recovery may be stalling.

The dollar fell and demand for havens such as US and UK government debt rose after the American economy recorded its largest contraction in postwar history. Gross domestic product shrank at an annualised rate of 32.9 per cent in the second quarter, or 9.5 per cent quarteron-quarter.

A separate report showed the number of Americans filing for first-time jobless benefits rose for the second week in a row.

The jobs data are “likely to add to concerns in markets about the potential for a double dip”, said Jim O’Sullivan, a strategist at TD Securities, although he cautioned that seasonal adjustments may have exaggerated the increase in unemployment claims.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P

© AFP via Getty Images

500 index was down 0.5 per cent at lunchtime in New York. Bourses across Europe sustained heavier selling, with the composite Stoxx 600 index down 2.2 per cent.

Germany’s Dax was the continent’s worst performer, down 3.5 per cent, after data revealed its economy contracted by a sharper than forecast 10.1 per cent in the second quarter. France’s CAC 40 was down 2.1 per cent while the UK FTSE 100 was off 2.3 per cent.

The stock market has to look forward and most economic data looks backwards David Bahnsen, Bahnsen www.businessday.ng

Group European equities were also hit by a run of downbeat corporate earnings. Volkswagen cut its final dividend by more than a third and the UK’s Lloyds Banking Group put aside a further £2.4bn to deal with expected customer defaults and said the lockdown had hit the British economy much more than it had expected.

Some investors cautioned against reading too much into historic data. David Bahnsen, chief investment officer at Bahnsen Group, which has over $2.25bn in assets under man-

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agement, said the rise in jobless claims showed the continued fragility of the US economy but he did not expect the number to rise again.

“The stock market has to look forward and most economic data looks backwards. Investors should be prepared for a choppy process of data digestion, but not be surprised that the market feels the future is better than the present and that unprecedented stimulus and liquidity exist to drive valuations,” he said.

Crude oil fell on renewed fears of weak demand. Brent, the international benchmark, slid 2.5 per cent to $42.64 while WTI, the US benchmark, fell 3.3 per cent to $39.90.

The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against half a dozen peers, fell 0.1 per cent. The pound rose above $1.30 against the greenback for the first extended period since March’s market turmoil.

Global bond markets rallied as investors sought safe assets.

Gains for highly rated government debt pulled UK 10-year borrowing costs to an all-time low of 0.07 per cent. The US 10year yield fell to 0.54 per cent, the lowest since the record trough @Businessdayng

reached in March’s market chaos. Yields fall when prices rise.

Beyond corporate and economic reports, investors were on edge, fearing a second wave of coronavirus sweeping Europe, said Anna Stupnytska, head of global macro and investment at fund manager Fidelity.

A continuing stalemate between the White House and Congress over new stimulus measures to prop up the struggling US economy, as Washington heads into its summer recess, was also a major concern.

“The next few days are going to be very worrying for the markets,” Ms Stupnytska said.

Gold, which has rallied to all-time highs in recent sessions, fell 1.3 per cent to $1,945 a troy ounce. The precious metal frequently serves as a haven in times of uncertainty, but its decline left even some experienced market watchers perplexed.

“Stocks opening lower, bond yields keep falling, dollar and gold falling. I’m sure this all makes sense somehow,” said Kathy Jones, strategist at Charles Schwab.

Additional reporting by Tommy Stubbington in London

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news

How Nigeria can play key role in Africa’s energy transition IHEANYI NWACHUKWU, DIPO OLADEHINDE & FIKAYO OWOEYE

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Ram displayed for sale at Balogun market, Iju road, Ishaga, Lagos, yesterday, to celebrate Eid el-Kabir.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

Lagos moves to bridge electricity metering gap, unveils ‘smart meter initiative’ JOSHUA BASSEY & Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson

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n furtherance of efforts at addressing the electricity metering gap, Lagos State government, in collaboration with Eko Innovation Centre, has unveiled a smart meter initiative tagged “Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon 2020” The initiative targets the involvement of local tech hardware, software innovators towards the production of smart meters which will help to bridge existing 60 percent metering gap in the country, especially Lagos, which population is estimated at over 20 million people.

The initiative was unveiled by the Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu alongside Goddy Jedy-Agba, minister of state for power, at a virtual press conference on Thursday, July 30.

The government is seeking to leverage the availability of local talents in the country to

develop and produce affordable smart electricity meters for consumers. The initiative is expected to significantly reduce the revenue leakages in the power sector and ultimately improve electricity supply.

Speaking at the launch, Sanwo-Olu said this “marks a significant milestone in the implementation plan of the state government towards improving access to electricity in Lagos and in line with the sustainable development goal 7 (SDG) of the United Nations which aspires to drive universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030.”

The governor observed that increased electricity access “is one of the priority mandates of his administration given its significance in ultimately driving the economic development of Nigeria’s largest commercial city.

“The Lagos smart meter initiative is an important way for the Lagos government to demonstrate its commitment to improving electricity access

Okowa lauds PENGASSAN’s contributions to oil industry Francis Sadhere, Warri

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elta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa has praised the role of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) in ensuring peaceful operations in the oil and gas sector of the economy.

Okowa gave the commendation at the 6th triennial delegates’ conference of the oil union, held recently in Warri, noting that the body has continued to play a critical role in stabilising the sector.

The governor, who was represented by his commissioner for oil and gas, Emmanuel Amgbaduba, said that his administration was establishing a modular refinery at Okpai to generate revenue for the state and create job opportunities for the people.

Okowa said that the state

government would continue to synergise with the union in solving the contending issues confronting the oil industry.

“As a government, we have always supported International Oil Companies (IOCs) and their host communities in terms of ensuring peaceful relations which has resulted in the high quality of services provided by the oil and gas sector.

“Let me encourage you to remain in your very best elements in terms of the quality services you render to the oil and gas industry. We will continue to partner with you to ensure that the prevailing peace in the industry continues.

“Where there are disputes and differences as a government we are always available to intervene.

“Let me also encourage the outgoing executive to support the incoming one to ensure continuity in leadership. www.businessday.ng

and reliability for Lagosians.

We believe that adequate metering of Lagosians and in turn Nigerians would increase willingness to pay for electricity, improve productivity, and more importantly, continue to improve the living conditions of our people,” said Sanwo-Olu. The governor, therefore, called on relevant stakeholders – electricity sector players, technology experts, investors, and regulators to support “this worthy cause” as his administration strives to ensure sustainable electricity for all in Lagos.

Minister of the state for power, Jedy-Agba, explained that local design and production of affordable meters would be transformational for the industry and the economy at large, urging all to support it.

He stated further that Lagos “is an important state in Nigeria in terms of size, economy, and resources. With a population of over 20 million and the 5th highest GDP in Africa, Lagos is by far the biggest economy in Nigeria. Therefore,

getting access to electricity right in Lagos is critical for access to electricity in the entire country.”

The minister, who described electricity as an essential service, said there was a need to ensure that the benefits of smart meters flow to everyone.

I call on all relevant stakeholders in the sector to support the innovative and impactful initiative– industry regulators, electricity sector players, technology experts, and fund providers,” the minister said.

Lagos State commissioner for energy and mineral resources, Olalere Odusote said that the initiative would enable access to affordable smart meters for Lagosians to improve electricity supply, monitoring, and trust between electricity providers and endusers while preventing revenue leakage.

He believed that the initiative would also drive innovation and creativity while generating new interest in young people for the sector.

JAIZ Bank’s half-year profit soars 44% to N1.171bn Cynthia Egboboh, Abuja

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aiz Bank Plc, a non-interest (Islamic) bank has recorded a 44 percent growth in its first-half profit margin to N1.171 billion amid Covid-19 lockdown as it continues to improve cost efficiency and risk management.

As contained in the bank’s half-year results submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), profits for the period increased from N814.3 million in half-year 2019 to N1.171 billion in June 30, 2020, signifying 43.87 percent increase.

Similarly, the bank’s balance sheet size increased by 11.57 percent from N167.273 billion as of December 31, 2019 to N186.625 billion at the end of June 30, 2020.

The total income for the period grew by 29.3 percent from N4.82 billion as of June 2019 to N6.23 billion at the end of June 2020, while earning per share rose by 174.48 percent from N1.45 in the first half of 2019 to N3.98 in the first half of 2020.

Commenting on the bank’s performance, its managing director, Hassan Usman said the half-year results demonstrated the bank’s capacity to grow sustainably as a large number of people were interested in it due to its ethical requirements.

He further assured that while maintaining a steady focus on elements that contributed to improved performance thus far, he was hopeful that the bank will end the year compared to the feat attained in 2019.

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ocal and international experts from diverse sectors and government officials, on Thursday pointed to how Nigeria can play a critical role in the transition to sustainable energy system in Africa.

The discussion was at the Seplat Energy Summit 2020 with the theme “Business Sustainability and Strategic Leadership in Africa” which provided valuable insights on the challenges and role of energy systems to build sustainable Africa economies.

“We need to leverage on Africa over 527 TCF proven natural gas reserves and use that side by side complementary to building up our renewables profile as well which Nigeria should be championing,” Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, president, Nigerian Gas Association said at the event.

Over time, Africa is faced with enormous challenges of meeting its vision of accelerated economic and industrial development with limited access to energy for its growing population.

Roger Brown, incoming CEO of Seplat said Africa as a continent needed to develop that base load from which it can build from and drive its gas agenda which Nigeria can lead through renewable energy.

On expectation from the government which will allow Nigeria play a leading role, Brown said the government should support oil firms

through partnerships in joint venture agreement, more support in competing transactions and approvals and clearer legislature.

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, chairman, Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, SEPLAT board said African energy was caught in two overlapping revolutions which include shifting from being a supplier to the global markets to a supplier to a pan African regional market and the dramatic potential change in the energy mix as it shifts from fossil fuels to renewables.

“Africa is right up there as one of the most dynamic growing markets, also the continent has some of the most important potential renewable assets in the world,” MallochBrown said.

Most stakeholders have said lack of access to power constrains new economic growth and negatively affects life expectancy and quality of life.

On how to finance the energy sector in African, former director-general of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Arunma Oteh asked energy companies to not only rigorously optimise cash flow by rigorous cost-cutting but also rationalisation asset portfolio.

“They should try and divest non-performing assets, optimise investments in merge and acquisitions and explore other financial structures,” Oteh said.

Businesses confidence on macro economy downbeat at 7.9 index Hope Moses-Ashike

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igerian businesses overall confidence on macroeconomy at -7.9 index points was bearish in July 2020 according to the Business Expectations Survey (BES) report released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday.

In addition to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, firms identified insufficient power supply, competition, unfavourable economic climate, financial problems, high interest rate, unclear economic laws, unfavourable political climate, insufficient demand, access to credit and lack of equipment as major factors constraining business activity.

The survey was conducted by the CBN from July 13-17, 2020 with a sample size of 1050 businesses nationwide.

A response rate of 95.9 percent was achieved, and the sample covered the agric/ services, manufacturing, wholesale/retail trade, and construction sectors.

The respondent firms were made up of small, medium and large corporations covering both import-oriented and export-oriented businesses The pessimism on the macroeconomy in July was @Businessdayng

driven by the opinion of respondents from agric/services (-4.8 points), manufacturing (-2.9 points) and the construction sector (-0.5 point).

Further analysis showed that businesses that are neither import nor export-oriented (-5.6 points), importoriented (-1.8 point), exportoriented (-0.4 point), and both import-export-oriented (-0.2 point) drove the negative business outlook in July 2020.

However, the respondent firms expressed optimism in the overall business outlook in September, 2020 and January 2021 as shown in greater confidence of the economy, at 45.5 and 62.4 index points, respectively.

The major dr ivers of optimism for next month were agric/services (20.1 p o i nt s ) , ma nu f a c t u r i n g (10.0 points), wholesale/ Retail (2.4 points) and construction (1.2 point).

Respondents’ outlook on access to credit, financial conditions (working capital) and the volume of total order remained negative, at -8.1, -4.1, and -0.1, index points, respectively while their outlook on average capacity utilisation was positive at 4.0 points.

Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

MTN Nigeria sees 16% dip in Q2 profit as COVID-19 takes toll Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson

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TN Nigeria recorded a 16-percent decline in profit in the second quarter of 2020 as the telecoms giant reeled from the COVID-19 induced economic shock.

Although revenue increased by 8.4 percent to N308 billion in the second quarter of 2020 from N284 billion a year ago led by a surge in data and voice revenues, the telco’s operating costs jumped by 35.6 percent to N80 billion in the period from N59 billion a year ago, which ultimately led to the 16 percent decline in profit after tax to N42 billion, according to the company’s financial report published Thursday.

The telco’s half year results also showed a reduction in profit after the Q2 performance dragged earnings.

“Following a strong first quarter, we experienced a challenging operating environment in the second quarter characterised by COVID-19 induced lockdowns and the broader macro-economic impact it has had,” said Ferdi Moolman, the company’s CEO. “4G network service was expanded at a much slower pace because of lockdown constraints,” Moolman said.

“In addition to this, the combined effect of Nigeria’s foreign exchange rate adjustments, the 2.5% increase in value-added tax and the associated costs of COVID-19 initiatives have impacted margins,” Moolman said.

As a result, growth in EBITDA was 8.2 percent in H1, while EBITDA margin declined by 2.0 percentage points to 51.3% and profit before tax and EPS

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News Beleaguered Nigeria could take 3yrs to return to pre-COVID economic growth - IMF LOLADE AKINMURELE

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t may take till 2023 before the Nigerian economy grows at the modest 2 percent rate recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, according to Jesmin Rahman, International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) mission chief to Nigeria.

“In our baseline projection for GDP levels, it will take three years for the Nigerian economy to come back to the 2019 level,” Rahman says at a webinar hosted by the American Business Council and Citi Bank.

“This is in line with what happened during the last crisis,” Rahman states, referring to how it took Nigeria until 2019 to recover to 2015 level of 2

percent following an economic contraction in 2016.

The dim projection means “we are going to see the contraction in real Per capita GDP to even pick up in the next five years,” Rahman says.

Per capita GDP, which is a measure of the living standards in a country, breaks down economic output per person and is calculated by dividing the GDP of a country by its population. Per capita GDP growth is positive when economic growth is higher than population growth and negative when the population is growing faster than the economy.

A high per capita GDP indicates a high standard of living while a low one indicates that a country is struggling to supply its inhabitants with everything

they need. Luxembourg, a small European country surrounded by Belgium, France and Germany, has the highest GDP per capita globally with $113,196 as at 2019, according to IMF data.

Switzerland ($83,716) and Norway ($77,975) make up the top three countries with the highest GDP per capita.

On the flip side, war-torn South Sudan ($275), Burundi ($309) and Eritrea ($342) make up countries with the lowest per capita GDP in the world. Nigeria ranks 138th with $2,222, behind Ghana with $2223.

Nigeria has recorded five straight years of real GDP per capita contraction, the longest run since the turn of democratic rule in the country in 1999.

Nigeria had reported 42,208 cases of the coronavirus as at July 29, 4.7 percent of the total 896,202 cases in Africa, but the country’s low testing rate could be masking a higher infection rate.

Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, which has worsened Nigeria’s economic prospects, the IMF had forecast the trend of negative per capita GDP growth to last eight years.

The last time Nigeria had a positive per capita GDP was in 2014, as the economy has struggled since then to shakeoff a lengthy collapse in global oil prices that started mid-2014 and bottomed in 2016.

When not contracting, the economy has grown at a tepid

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Notore records 6% growth, as operating income rises to N3.8bn Segun Adams

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eading fertilizer and agro-allied company in Africa, Notore Chemical Industries plc, has posted a 6 percent revenue growth, showing gross revenue of N17.4 billion and operating income of N3.8 billion for the nine months ended June 30, 2020.

The company disclosed this in its unaudited Q3 2020 Financial Results.

In a statement, it said, “There has been good progress with the ongoing Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) programme on the existing plant. Significant increases in production outputs and revenues are projected after TAM is completed at the end of December 2020 as expected.”

Giving further breakdown of its results, the company said, “The gross revenue stands at N17.42 billion, compared to N16.49 billion in Q3 2019 (6% YoY growth), representing a modest increase in production output and sales, while operating income is N3.79 billion, compared to N3.34 billion in Q3 2019 (an increase by 13% YoY) driven largely by increases in other income.”

It noted that its debt service cost stood at N11.89 billion, compared to N10.45 billion in Q3 2019 (14% YoY growth), due to additional term borrowing to finance the TAM programme and the impact of Naira devaluation on foreign currency denominated loans.

“Notore’s gradual revenue growth is attributable to some improvements in Plant reliability derived from the ongoing Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM) pro-

gramme, which has begun to impact positively on Plant operations, resulting in some modest increases in production volumes and production on-stream days during the period.

“Operating expenses increased by 22% to N16.24 billion during the period from N13.23 billion for the corresponding period of Q3 2019 due mainly to a combination of increases in production activities, Plant repair and maintenance expenses exacerbated by Naira devaluation,” according to the statement.

On the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on its operations, the company said it had continued to weather the storm during the period and recorded impressive sales during its 2020 financial year, noting, “For the period under review, Notore sold all the urea that it produced in both domestic and international fertilizer markets.”

Onajite Okoloko, Notore’s group managing director, said, “Having installed and commissioned a brand new 2,000 metric tons per day NPK Blending Plant with capacity to produce various crop specialty blends of NPK fertilizer, the company is consolidating customer loyalty by expanding its product offerings.

“The NPK Plant has now commenced commercial production and sale of bulk dry blended NPK fertilizer varieties. Additionally, the company entered into partnership with the NAIC-NPK LIMITED during the period for the blending, packaging, sale and distribution of NPK fertilizer for the year 2020 farming season under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative.” www.businessday.ng

Seyi Makinde (2nd r), governor, Oyo State, signing the year 2020 reviewed appropriation bill into law. With him from left are, Akinola Ojo, commissioner for finance; Olubamiwo Adeosun, secretary to the state government; Rauf Olaniyan, deputy governor; Adeniyi Farinto, commissioner for budget and planning, and Debo Ogundoyin, speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly.

Reasons Nigerians eagerly await international flights resumption

… as survey shows many won’t mind travelling through Cotonou IFEOMA OKEKE & Endurance Okafor

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usiness and migration purposes are top on the reasons m o s t Ni g e r i a n s are eagerly awaiting the reopening of the country’s international airspace, a survey by BusinessDay shows.

Amid economic downturn worsened by the impact of COVID-19, BusinessDay’s checks show many Nigerians looking to seek greener pastures outside the country have got their passports and other documents ready awaiting the commencement of international flights.

A visit to Ikoyi passport office, the centre that processes over 40 percent of international passports in Lagos, shows a large number of people waiting to get new international passports or

renew their expired ones.

“People troop in here every day to either apply for passports or renew their passports. People are just eagerly waiting for the Federal Government to open the airports for international flights,” a passport official who craved anonymity informs BusinessDay. The official observes that people who apply for these passports are either going for business trips, health reasons or studies, which are very essential needs.

However, Susan Akporaiye, national president, National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), says Nigerians are so eager to travel just to seek greener pastures.

Akporaiye says the economic situation in the country has become even worse as

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a result of COVID-19, which has made several companies lay off staff, so these people are looking for a fresh start in different countries.

“Some people are fed up and disappointed with the situation of the country.

People are really having a change of mind and therefore they are risking their lives to pass through borders of neighbouring countries,” she states. Travelling for business purposes is another reason cited by some Nigerians for wanting to leave the country.

A Lagos-based importer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says he would not mind using the Cotonou airport because he needs to be physically present in Europe to close a deal with his business partners.

“I have been shifting my plans to meet with my @Businessdayng

business partners as we are about to close a deal. There is a need for me to be there in person to establish that trust, so I wouldn’t mind using an alternative route,” the businessman who does not want to quoted, says.

A recent survey conducted by BusinessDay online, which was viewed by over 6,600 people, shows that if given an option to travel, 58 percent of Nigerians would travel through Cotonou airport, 31 percent would wait till Nigeria’s airspace reopens, and 11 percent says they do not know.

Experts say this survey shows that Nigerians need to travel and therefore they are finding other alternatives to travel pending when the Federal Government re-opens the airports to international flights.

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Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

news Ghana’s N2.85bn COVID-19 hospital...

Continued from page 1

CH Group, Legend and Glass Aluminium Systems, and Tropical Cable and Conductors.

“Building a real hospital initially seemed like an outrageous idea, because we all thought we were just going to put some tent together and increase the facility in case our numbers went up,” Edward Effah, CEO, Fidelity Bank GH said.

But, through the persistent drive of Justice Yankson, the general secretary of the Ghana Medical Association, Effah said Ghana decided to use the resources that were donated by the private sector professionals to build an actual hospital.

“We were lucky to have Yankson as he was very empathic that Ghana needed a permanent infectious disease treatment centre,” Effah said. Ten weeks later, Ghana was able to build a fully equipped hospital ready for use.

H o w e v e r, N i g e r i a n banks in collaboration with the Central Bank of Niger ia (CBN ) and the private sector have focused on sustaining livelihoods impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic through Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID).

CACOVID is a CBN-led private sector initiative that has contributed over N32 billion to fight Covid-19.

Access Bank is at the centre of the project, helping to improve the livelihood of people badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

On March 26, 2020, the CBN on behalf of the Bankers’ Committee and in partnership with the private sector-led by Aliko Dangote Foundation and Access Bank came together to form the CACOVID. Industry watchers are

concerned about how banks in Ghana built a real hospital, Nigeria constructed tents that are being blown away by wind. There has been rising call by Nigerians for full accountability of the private sector COVID donations. They want to know how procurement was handled and why no tenders were published for procurement.

Mahamudu Bawumia, Ghana’s vice president, who commissioned the facility last Friday, said with the sacrifices, dedication and ingenuity exhibited

by Ghanaians, the government had decided to award the 88 district hospitals, six regional hospitals in newly created regions and a psychiatric hospital to local contractors.

Sp e a k i ng w i t h Bu s i nessDay, the private sector leaders say they want an open and publicised bid process for all procurement linked to the fund.

“There is so much opaqueness, no one knows total collected and spent so far,” one source claims, wondering why the CBN should be leading a private initiative such as this.

The calls for transparency and accountability around the monies donated by private individuals and companies have prompted groups like the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) to demand donations details from the CBN. Since early 2020, when the coronavirus became a global pandemic, countries around the world have been battling to contain the challenges of keeping people alive and safe, and also preserving livelihoods.

Beleaguered Nigeria could take 3yrs to return...

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2 percent rate compared to average population growth rate of 2.6 percent.

The economy grew 2.5 percent in 2015 before contracting by 1.6 percent in 2016. The economy turned the corner on its first recession in a quarter of a century by growing 0.8 percent in 2017 and a 1.9 percent growth in 2018. In 2019, the economy grew 2.27 percent, capping five years of an economy that didn’t grow fast enough to create new opportunities for a rapidly growing population.

With the COVID-19 pandemic set to take a toll on an economy that was already on slipperyground,theIMFexpects

the economy to contract 5.4 percent this year, the worst contraction since 1987. That prediction means per capita GDP will contract even further, a painful squeeze for a country with per capita GDP of around $2,222.

It means Nigerians will get even poorer than they are now for another five years, as their incomes continue to shrink and the economy bleeds.

It also means more Nigerians will fall into a poverty pit that has already swallowed some 87 million people, and fewer people will be able to afford quality education and healthcare.

It could also expose more companies, especially small businesses, to the risk of failing, as falling consumer purchaswww.businessday.ng

Nasir el-Rufai (l), governor, Kaduna State, welcoming Tanko al-Makura, former governor of Nasarawa State, to Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna.

Nigerian hospitality industry records worst ...

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over N10 billion in the first quarter of 2020 from low sales and even more in the second quarter, especially with the no sales for the Easter period across major brands, which was unprecedented in the history of the industry.

According to Simon Ntuli, a general manager of an Abuja-based boutique hotel, the loss is huge across the two quarters as an average hotel in Abuja would have made at least N10 million sales from the botched Easter promotions this year, while the likes of Hilton and Sheraton could make from N50 million.

Comparing the first half of 2019 and 2020, Ntuli notes that occupancy averaged 70 percent this time last year, with most hotels meeting their half-year revenue target despite that it was an election year.

For Shola Adeyemo, former sales and public relations manager at Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja, the low sales during the Easter period and the second quarter of 2020 were unprecedented in

ing power fuels a reduction in sales and profitability.

Economists say Nigeria needs to grow its economy by between 4 percent and 6 percent annually to reverse the tide of negative per capita GDP. But Nigeria cannot match the 4-6 percent per capita GDP growth of industrialising countries because adult literacy at 60 percent is too low and electricity consumption is under half the minimum required level for sustained industrialisation, according to Charles Robertson, the chief economist at Rennaisance Capital.

“To push headline GDP growth to 6.5-8.5 percent would require an adult literacy campaign, a trebling of electricity consumption and a doubling of investment to GDP,” Roberston says.

his over two decades in the hospitality industry, amid huge losses.

Adeyemo notes that the decline was historic because the industry has never gone down the level it went in the first half of 2020, saying, “During Ebola and economic recession, the industry was hard hit as well, we managed to stay afloat.

“But coronavirus took the industry unaware with the travel restrictions and lockdown that resulted in no travel, no guest, zero occupancy and shutting down operations for the first time in the industry history. We can only experience total shutdown during war.”

Trevor Ward, CEO, W Hospitality, foremost hospitality consultancy company, blames the huge decline in the first half of 2020 on the impact of coronavirus on hospitality business in Nigeria, especially as government ordered hotels to close, domestic and international flights stopped operating, as well as, no inter-state road travel.

Though the impact of the pandemic differs from

country to country, Ward notes that Africa and Nigeria have fared much worse than the USA, but about the same as Europe at the peak of the lockdown. “STR Global released some statistics weeks ago that said that whilst in the USA 17 percent of hotels had closed, and the balance were achieving 37 percent room occupancy, in Africa 80 percent were closed and those still trading were achieving 14 percent occupancy – a huge difference,” he says.

Looking forward to the second half of the year, most hoteliers think that the performance would be slightly above the first half as recovery is very slow. At present, the industry occupancy is averaging 10 percent, a very poor performance that is forcing many hotels that are opened to reconsider closing down again due to the high cost of operation for servicing few guests.

According to the W Hospitality CEO, it is going to be a slow recovery for the industry, starting from the second half of the year. “It could take as much as 4 to 6 years to get back to 2019 levels of business, but in reality

MTN Nigeria sees 16% dip in Q2 profit...

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declined by 2.0% and 4.7%, respectively.

MTN joins a long list of Nigerian companies to have taken a hit ninth second quarter of the year from the adverse fall-out of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic activity.

“Our response to the global pandemic and its impact was focused in four broad areas, namely social, commercial, network and supply chain as well as funding and liquidity considerations.

In terms of the social impact, health concerns, along with the restriction on movement and lockdown of certain parts of the economy, impacted our peoples’ working routine,

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“MTN Nigeria said in a statement sent to BusinessDay. To address this, the telco implemented work from home initiatives and intensified health and safety measures, made various contributions through initiatives including support for the Federal Inland Revenue Services’ (FIRS) revenue acceleration efforts with an early payment of its taxes ahead of established deadlines. Despite the challenges year so far, MTN results show that the telco has managed to maintain double-digit service revenue growth of 12.6% for H1, driven by strong growth in key revenue lines.

Data revenue rose by 57.6% supported by an increase in @Businessdayng

we do not know, we have never been in this situation before. There will be really tough times for the staff no longer required and for their families,” he states.

In the same vein, Peter Idoko, general manager, Legend Hotel Lagos Airport Curio Collection by Hilton, thinks recovery would be slow because hotels depend on travel, particularly air travel, for their customers, and international flights are yet to resume in Nigeria.

Beyond delayed international flights resumption, Idoko thinks that potential guests may drag their feet to travel soon over health and safety concerns, except some wanderlust among them, who are willing to take risk based on safety assurances from the hotels.

Brain Efe, general manager, Ibom Hotel and Golf Resort, decries that patronage has not been good in a long while, especially as meetings incentives conferences and events (MICE), which is the mainstay of the resort scarcely happen now due to social distancing and other safety protocols aimed at curtailing the spread of the pandemic. data users and traffic. Revenue from digital and fintech services rose by 121.8% and 29.6% respectively, while voice revenue growth was 2.8% amidst a change in traffic pattern following the lockdowns.

However, costs also increased leading to an overall decline in profit before tax and earnings per share.

In the first half of the year, MTN also achieved 6.8 million in net additions, to connect over 71.1 million customers to its network in Nigeria. The telco also connected 3.8 million new users to the internet, bringing our active data subscribers to 29 million. Its mobile money service (MoMo) subscribers increased by 1.6 million to 2.2 million, the majority of which were in Q2.

Friday 31 July 2020

BUSINESS DAY

31

POLITICS & POLICY Edo 2020: Obaseki’s re-election will guarantee Edo Central 2024 governorship position - Aguele IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

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eter Aguele, chairman of Esan South East Local Government Area, has said that the re-election of Governor Godwin Obaseki will guarantee Edo Central Senatorial district governorship position in 2024.

Aguele made the remark in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay in Benin City.

The council boss, who expressed the optimism that Godwin Obaseki would win the September 19 governorship election massively, said that the governor’s re-election

would clear the way for the Esan people to produce the next governor of the state in 2024.

He further said that the governor’s sterling performance in all sectors of the economy and visible across the state would earn him a second term in office.

According to him, “Our people in Edo Central senatorial district are predominantly PDP. It is worthy to note that the Esan people are pleased with this government in terms of what it has done for the Esan people.

“We are going to support the governor to be able to continue in his good work, and I know his style of good governance is one of the

Peter Aguele

best things that have ever happened to Edo people.

“I can assure you that

Immortalisation of Rewane, Enahoro, Osoba, Tinubu, others commendable – Adegbenro

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n international entrepreneur, Adejare Adegbenro has commended President Muhammadu Buhari over immortalisation of his late grandfather, Pa Alfred Rewane, through naming of a popular Railway Station (Ujevuwu), after him.

The late Financier of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Pa Alfred Rewane, was the maternal grandfather of Adegbenro, who is also the grandson of former Premier of the defunct Western Region.

In a statement in Lagos, the businessman cum philanthropist, Adegbenro also commended the President for according same honour to other patriotic Nigerians and true democrats like Anthony Enahoro, Olusegun Osoba, Bola Tinubu, Alex Ekwueme, Alex Ibru, Balarabe Musa, Wole Soyinka, among others, saying through that, the President has shown that his administration is all-inclusive devoid of discrimination and

marginalisation across the country.

According to him, Mr. President has further confirmed that his is a listening and compassionate administration that takes interest of his people into consideration when making policies for the country, describing the latest development as heart-warning, commendable and praise worthy.

The well-deserved honours, Adegbenro pointed out, would go a long way in encouraging other patriots to put in their very best in serving their fatherland, stating that, the latest development would go down in history as a commendable right step in the right direction.

Recall that Adegbenro, in a widely reported statement recently has called on the government and all lovers of democracy worldwide to accord his maternal grandfather, the late Alfred Rewane and other symbols of democracy, both alive and dead constant recognition through prayers, honour and

immortalisation for their roles and sacrifices that led to the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria.

It was during the process of attempts at actualising the unjustly annulled June 12, 1993 Presidential election by retired General Ibrahim Babangida that a lot of pro-democracy activists were either eliminated, detained or haunted into exile.

The late Pa Alfred Rewane, the financier of NADECO, that fought the military to a standstill was gruesomely assassinated by unknown gunmen suspected to be agents of the state.

The younger Adegbenro, who reminded that his maternal grandfather, Rewane, and others like him paid supreme prices for their love for a self-rule, asserted that, “nothing can be too much to be done for their remembrance as heroes and martyrs of democracy in this country,” expressing the delight that their memories, luckily still remains evergreen in people’s mind.

because of what the governor represents, the Esan people are going to vote

massively for him. We have a good product to sell and we are going to sell it.”

“Everybody knows that politics is turn by turn. In fairness, it has gone round.

Edo North has completed eight years while Edo South which the governor represents has done four years, and constitutionally it is two-tenure of four years and the governor will complete it,” he said.

Aguele added, “Once he completes in 2024, it is not going anywhere and it cannot be retained in Edo South, in fairness. So, it will naturally move to Edo Central which is our district, and at that point the average Esan man will enter government house after 24 years of supporting

the other two senatorial districts.

“No Esan man has been there. By law, Oserhiemen Osunbor was never a governor; he was removed by the court and wasn’t recognised as a governor.

So, we cannot use that to count for Esan people. So, technically in 24 years the Esan man has not seen Osadebe Avenue”.

The local government chairman, who however, condemned the last Saturday’s clash between supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), noted that the governorship election would be one of the most peaceful governorship elections in the state.

Covid-19: Lawmakers deny plot to probe, impeach Nasarawa deputy governor Solomon Attah, Lafia

T

he leadership of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly has explained why it has constituted a 6-man committee to oversee the activities of the State Taskforce on Covid-19, saying that the committee in place was not to probe and impeach the State Deputy Governor, Emmanuel Akabe.

It rather said that the committee was set up in the overall interest of the state, and on the advice of the State Deputy Governor to boost the confidence of the people on their activities.

The State Taskforce on Covid-19 had in June, 2020 revealed that it has so far spent over N536, 156,000 million in fighting the novel coronavirus pandemic in the state.

The Assembly however, denied media report making the round in some national dailies, not BusinessDay, that the Akabe-led taskforce was under close watch by the lawmakers for spending a whopping sum of N536,

156.000 million on the fight against the pandemic in the last four months.

According to the report, the assembly committee was to checkmate the reckless expenditure of the state taskforce on Covid-19 as well as to have first hand information on the activities of the taskforce.

It added that Akabe “will henceforth be monitored by the state House of Assembly having spent half a billion naira so far from the funds raised through donations by various individuals, and organisations to assist the state in its fight against the novel coronavirus”.

Recall that the speaker of the House, Ibrahim BalarabeAbdullahi had on Monday, 27 July, 2020 announced the ad-hoc committee simply to monitor the committee’s activities for fairness in their dealings, after Daniel Ogazi moved a motion under matters of public importance on the need for a committee to monitor the activities of the state task force.

The Chairman, House Committee on Information, Mohammed Adamu-Omadefu while reacting to the news

report with newsmen in Lafia, exonerated the assembly from the report.

Adamu-Omadefu said that the constitution of the committee was not meant to probe the state deputy governor, who is the state chairman of the Task Force on Covid-19.

According to him, “We need to correct the impression in some national dailies and online medium that the Ad-hoc committee was set up to probe the state deputy governor, this is not true; hence, the need to clear the air.

“The Ad-hoc committee was set up to monitor the activities of the state Task Force on Covid-19 towards fighting the pandemic in the state.

“It was set up in the best interest of the state as it was even the state deputy governor that has advised the House to set up the Ad-hoc Committee on Covid-19 in order to monitor their activities.

“We woke up this morning reading and seeing some reports in some national dailies and online that the House has set up the Ad-hoc Committee on Covid-19 to probe and to impeach the deputy governor.

ing to the killing of innocent people.

He lamented the persistent violence which resulted in killing of innocent people, describing it as unfortunate and disheartening.

“I call on government at all levels to set up a committee

to investigate the killing of innocent persons, including children, women, men and the aged,” he said.

He expressed his sympathy for the families of those who had lost loved ones, and said he prayed God would comfort them.

Middle Belt leader urges FG, governors to end killings BENJAMIN AGESAN, Makurdi

W

orried by the recent incessant killings in some parts of middle belt, the national leader of Middle Belt Forum, Ben Akarka has urged both

the Federal and state government within the region to put a stop to the needless killings.

The national treasurer Middle Belt Forum particularly condemned the crisis on the Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa, Benue, Taraba www.businessday.ng

and Nasarawa states where innocent people are killed by the day.

Akaaka, who is also the chairman Bristow Secondary School Alumni Association (BAA), an institution situated in Benue State, made the call recently at the burial

ceremony of the chairman, board of trustees of BAA, Professor Steven Aondona Ikyuior in Benue State.

Akarka expressed concern that people who had lived together peacefully in the region had taken up arms against one another, lead-

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@Businessdayng

Women in Business

Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu CEO, Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF)

I

feyinwa Ugochukwu is a Lawyer and a passionate advocate of the transformative power of entrepreneurship as the key to the economic development of Africa.

Appointed in April 2019 as the third Chief Executive Officer of The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Africa’s leading philanthropy, Ifeyinwa holds the distinction of being the first African to hold this position.

Ifeyinwa joined the Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2017 as the Director of Partnerships & Evaluations, a role she held for two years. In this position, she developed the Foundation’s institutional framework for financial and value-add partnerships to scale the impact of the US$100m TEF Entrepreneurship programme beyond its initial target to empower 10,000 entrepreneurs. The resulting strategic partnerships with governments, development finance institutions, multilaterals and private organisations led to a record-breaking selection of 3,050 entrepreneurs in 2019.

As CEO, Ugochukwu is responsible for the overall development and implementation of the Foundation’s initiatives, overseeing its dayto-day operations including the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, TEFConnect, the digital networking platform for African entrepreneurs, monitoring and evaluation, research, and alumni engagement. She also steers the Foundation’s positioning, partnership and engagement with the wider development ecosystem as TEF launches into its next stage of scale, expanded impact, and intelligent mining of its proprietary data on African entrepreneurship.

Ifeyinwa is a proven leader with business vision and the ability to bring people together, leveraging her insights and global perspective as the Foundation executes its strategy to transform Africa through entrepreneurship while delivering value for Africa and Africans through the thousands of entrepreneurs it has already empowered and the many more thousands to come.

Being an entrepreneur, Ugochukwu always says that the only better thing to do, as an entrepreneur, is to help others to make a success of their businesses. So, having spent

BUSINESS DAY Friday 31 July 2020 www.businessday.ng

By Kemi Ajumobi

Maya Horgan-Famodu Founder & Partner at Ingressive Capital

time not just in Nigeria but in Cape Town, South Africa, she knew that the only way that Africa can find its way out of poverty is to go the entrepreneurship route.

And so, having successfully run a business in Nigeria, she understood the trials of running a business in Africa and her time in Cape Town now led her into development where she started the Women Economic Empowerment Development Initiative, working with governments across Africa.

It just became clearer with each passing day, that entrepreneurship was the way to go.

“Concerning impact, no one in Africa has had much impact as the Tony Elumelu Foundation. That’s why, when I was approached by the Foundation to join the team, to catalyze the growth of the Foundation across Africa, it was a no brainer for me.” She said.

Ifeyinwa says there are statistics that show that women in Africa make up 60-70 percent of the work force in Africa, especially in the rural areas and you find that they spend 10percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property.

So, in terms of inequality, she insists that with such statistics, it is indeed mind boggling.

According to her, what we find in Africa is that, there are religious and cultural barriers to women empowerment and till today, there still exists laws.

“Some customary laws, some statutory laws, that bar women from being able to own properties or inherit properties from their husbands or from their fathers, and all sort of obstacles to women’s freedom to undertake commercial activities. It is a mindset thing; we need to work not just at the macro level but at the micro level as well.” She stated.

Ugochukwu believes that the changing of mindset is not just with the women but with the men as well because, for her, it will take collaboration, working with governments, private sectors, working with development financial institutions, to ensure that an enabling environment is created for women entrepreneurs, to get the training and capacity building that they need, to understand that if you can conceive it, you can achieve it.

M

aya Horgan-Famodu is committed to ensuring brilliant people, wherever they are located, have access to the resources they need to build wildly scalable businesses.

Maya is a venture capital investor and entrepreneur. She founded Ingressive Capital, a $10 Million venture fund focused on early stage African tech; Ingressive for Good, a nonprofit providing micro-scholarships, technical skills training, and talent placement; as well as Ingressive, an advisory firm providing market entry, market ops services and tech research for corporates and investors.

Ingressive Capital portfolio companies include Paystack, Tizeti, Ogavenue, Jetstream, 54gene, and OZÉ among many others.

Ingressive LLC has worked with over 50 venture firms and tech companies seeking to enter and operate in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Their annual conference, Tech Meets Entertainment Summit, is an invite-only convening of top influencers across West Africa with innovative tech solutions to achieve mutually beneficial partnerships where entertainers can monetize their fan bases, and tech companies can directly access millions of potential users.

Maya is from a Nigerian father and an American mother. She spent most of her youth in Minnesota, United States. She attended Pomona College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental sciences and completed a Prelaw Program at Cornell University. She worked within the banking sector for JPMorgan Chase.

Before starting Ingressive, Maya conducted emerging market economic research in Southern Africa and Latin America, taking students with her to explore keys to sustainable economic development. She also worked in private equity research, consulting with businesses looking to enter the West African market.

In her spare time, Maya loves to exercise, ride her motorcycle, and travel. She also dances, choreographs, and contributes to the Huffington Post.

Advising new founders, she says, firstly,

never build alone. You cannot play all roles.

Identify your skills and find people who are smarter and better than you at the other stuff to make a team and eventually, a successful company.

Secondly, she says, always talk about your idea so you can find and inspire prospective team members, and also because great advice and serendipitous links to business, advisors, and so on, come at the most random of times.

Thirdly, she says, be careful about sharing your secret sauce. Don’t freely do that, but if a basic description of your startup is that easy to steal, you’re not the best person to be making it, and it’s probably not defensible.

Fourthly, she says, take care of your mental health. Building a startup is a marathon, not a sprint. The state of your business is a direct reflection of your emotional, spiritual, mental state. If you want to build a great business, build a great mind, soul, and body.

On her fifth point, she says, commit to the problem, not your idea. “Too many times, I’ve come across founders who think they have the coolest app, the coolest product or service and want with all their might to sell me and potential users on the idea, without really understanding the problem they’re trying to solve and also, for whom.”

On her sixth advice for founders, she says, if you’re building a product, you’re literally getting into the head of a consumer to understand what they want and most importantly need, and then trying to create the perfect solution. You must be able to empathise and deeply understand the experience of your target consumer in order to effectively do that.

In sourcing finance for local entrepreneurs, she says “we acknowledge that SubSaharan startups don’t just need capital, they need technical support, as many are pioneering their respective industries, and the entrepreneurial infrastructure we take for granted here has not yet developed there, leaving founders totally underserved. Under that premise, we ensure we only match our vetted startups with ‘smart capital’: Investors who have relevant networks and expertise.”

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