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Friday09-SUndayJI March 2q12
AMCON seeks advisors to determine fate of nationalised banks he Asset Man agemen t Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) says it Is searching for advisors to determine the fate the three nationalised banks. lhe managfngdlrectorof AMeON, Muslapha Chlke· ObI. told the News Agency of Nigeria (NA{Ioi) on Thursda y In !..agos that reports tha t M1CONhad putupthe banks for sale was 110t true. ~We are only looking fo r competent hands who will advise us on what 10 do as regards the banks. · We have been mlsllllerpreted :rond misunderstood with our statements., but we have not said that we will scllthe banks.. · So there is n othing lilee proposed sale or ule three banks," Obi said. B esald tha i th e corpora · tlu n could 1I0t determinl: whether the bimkswould be w id, adding that itwllS only the advisors 10 the corpora· tion that could do thaL
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L·R: IbidunOl Itueh Ighodalo. founderlCEO. Elizabelh R; l;eoma Onwu. partner. Akintola Williams Deloitle: Fota Laoye. chairman. HygeiG Nigeria Umited, and Maria Gorelti Idigo. diamond manager, Forever living Producls. during theAkintoia WiHiams ~tte 20t 2 internatiooaJ Women's Day celebration In Lagos yest9lday PIc by Francis Ablagam
(ri piing oil, gas industry operotio ns, NNP( boss warns
Tilj~ves
OlUSOLA BelLO hl" i@l'rianNa tlon. al I'e trole um Cor· poratlon (NNPC) ha!> ralSl'd the red flag on whm It {cnned Sll!l· tained n d nnu u! activities of oil pipelin r I laraudcrs whose aCl i\ities Ire posing a p<uellt tineal n the successful operation .Jflloth the up5lrearn arK! dnvnslream !lec tors o f Ih r 0 I and gas industry. lhe organisation said 111 the lase few mo nths we ha\'!! lost mHliuns o f do llars In shut-in aU weill u a result orthe activllies or aU thieves who lHeach 0111" (rude lines 10 steal oil. So far the TransForcado!l and the TransNiger Trunk lines have been shut·in due to aU I<:lton the fadlitiC!l by thle ..... ,5pe'aklng at an lnternctive forum between to.J management or the NNPC and the board and commissioners orthe Revenue M" bllisatiOl1 <\J.location and A.scal Commission (RMAFC). group managil1g direcu r (GMD) of the curpornllon, Austen Oniwon, dedan.-d that pipeline vandalism tH escnts the single biggest thleat to the smooth opera li:»n of the pctmleum LlduSl:Y today In die country, nOlln jthat inert unchecked Nigeri I will walee up one day 10 d bCO\'e:r that pipeline thJ~-es have taicen (Mer the countrv. The NNPC-h elmsman
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"Ialcd tha t the a ctivities of the all thieves are also a menace to the dO\,.'T1stream secto r wh e re In c reased \'andalisalio ll o f pe uo leum I'rodU01 pipot"lines has made It almost im poo;slbleto pump ,KoduI1Sto IIIL' depotsaa0s5 the c{,ulllry thro ugh the pil>ctir es IhCf"by depending all bridgi ng with IrucU. "u · us take tillS mcnace a bit (unher br lookingal tile daJlgCl it IJOSeS10 ourcoUec· tive existence: as a nation. If WI: (alilu curb this trend we an! inadvenClltly empowering these criminals to take over our local government areas and by tht: lime they do that they 'oIo-ou.ld move on to taU chaTge of the stales since they now have the resources to decide who get to pa'I''er and one day we may as well wakeup to disroverthat they have talcen over the entire country," theGMD noted. Onlwon warned that the 5Itu31.lon, If left unchecked c uuld degenerate to Ihe scenario In cou nt ries like Mex.icoand Colombia Wll~ crimin als have empowered themsclves through nefari· ous activities and 110W call the shots because Ihey have 51 olen so muc h from Ih e s}'SIem through wlderworid operatio ns "These c riminals steal both crude and refined petro leum products and sell same to enridl theitpodeu. we m ust woritcollectlvdy 10 Slop them," Oniwon urp
ehlke-Obi said Ihal to achieve Ihe ninl. the corporation had starled placing adverts to ensure that the process would lead (0 hiring or competent advi50rs. He said that the final decision would be In the interest o f the depositors and inveslors. ehlke-Obi said that AMCON did 1101 ha"e the I>ower 10 detennlne the direcclon o f the outcome. bUI only had powers to engage the services of advisors who would dctennine the fate of thebanb.. lhe duee banks ale Key slone Bank (Cannerly Bank
PHB). Mainliueel Bank (Arribank). and Enterprise Dank (Spring nank). lhe banks were nallol1 alised In August last yearl>ecauseoCinabUitylo meellhe criteria for recapilallsalion. The apex bank has in !eclf.'d N679 hillion inlo the lhree banks to Improve theIr capita: base and meet obll· gatio,ls 10 depositors.
AGRICULTURE
Lagos creates 200 farms with N1bn loan for youths JOSHUA BASSEY a bid to colltinually increase emp40ymen t opportun ities in the Slale, the lago5 State government h;lls ad · vanced N I billion In loans to youths involved III agricultural ventures. The lo&ns.were sourced from micro-finance banks for the youths who successfuUy went through illlensive mining and internship on conunerdal famllng. unde r the state's AgrIc.Youth Em· IJOWerment Scheme, popularly known as "Agric.YES: Yakub Basorun, pennan ent secretary, Lagos Slate Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. spealdng ClI' dusively to Business Oay. dIsdosed that over 300 youths had so far benefitted from the Agric-YES programme. 1he scheme initiated by the state in 2009. also aims 10 re·caprure the dying Interest o f you ths In agriculture and aeate Jobs. in addition to making the benefldaries economically self· relIa.nt, as the state punues Its ta~ or food luffidClICY. 1he beneficiaries. who are mostly unemployed you ths between the atP ol20 and
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J5 yean. are selected annually from a list of thousands of applicants and are taken throug h siJ: months of intensive IraIn.ing and allother six montlls of intemshil) on fanns, after which they are empowered with financing to bqp.n conullerdal agrkuIrure on farm sellJemenLS In the Epe area ortht: Slate. BusinessDay was reliably informed that the youths have excelled in areas sudl as aup cultivation, fishery, bee keep ing. plggery and poultry, among others. According to Basorun , "So far 300 people have benefltled direcdy.lhe selection Is done annualJy. 100 per .set; the first batch o f 100 has fmlshcd alld they have been given theirNSOO million. The second set has finished. and they are accessing their own NSOO million. In faCl, we are having a meeting with the micro finance agellC)' to fl nal.l.se theprocess.1heyhave signed aU their fonns; their feasibility has been looked aL So thC)' are aarssing tileir own NSOO mIlUOII. "As we speak. the th ird sec is in the process of completing their Internship. You know the programme Is In phases. lhe flfS1 phase Is sa: ImXlthS of Intensive hainlng.
six month.s ofintemshlp. and then they are settled," the pe:rmaneni secretary .said. He added however, that Ihe monies ~ usually no( given to the benenciarles direct.ly In cash. but In kind. through their cooperadve sodeties byaoss-guaranteeing I!ach other. "So they Identify v.nat theywantto do. and we: pay direc<Jy to the ~ndorl who supply the goods: On the Impact of the scheme on the economy of Lagos Stale, Basorun said: "Three hundred people; youn g men and women have been taken off the streets. ThaI is to !lay we have re duced unemp loyment by thai much. Already, the fint batdl has been given NSOO million, the second batch I.s receiving another NsoO mUlion. This mearu tltat N i bil· lion worth of Investment
has ente red Lagos economy between that time and now. And this economy, I believe Is yielding more result. "Again if you go to the famlS of the 300 pcople that have been empowered. you will see that the y are 1101 doing it all alone. lhey ale engaging o ther hands. So they have helped to c re ate direct employment ror pc:uple work.ing with them In lhe farms and Indirect employment, by leeeping vendors s uppl ying goods to the farms in bu!ilness. So thereanmullipliCfeffectson theeoonomy,~ Basomn SiIIId. On how government monitors tile progress orthe scheme and proper utillsa· tion of the faclliey, Basomn said ClItenslon orncers as well as the representatives of the financial institutio ns work. with the youths on their farms. "We a1so have both 10011 and International consultants working with tl lenL Don' t forget that the p roject Is In collaboration with the Ilebrew Unive:rsity of Jerusalem. So, we: have: trainers from Israel cOlTling eve:ry montil to train them and oversee whal they are doing to ensure that the desired result is achieved; Ill! s.ald.