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Nigerhm Ttibune Mandby. 8 August, 2011
IN":DUSTRY •
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US-based firm in Nigeria to regulate car prices Ayo mide Owonibi. L Ag OS
A
Uni ted Stal('s based au to a u eli on firm, Insur;mce Au to Auctio", says it is in Niger ia 10 redefi ne the lucrative
across the United States. " Lo"' p rices fo r th is Iy pe o f v ehi cles m a ke them attractive to buyers who want to repa ir and use or resell in the loca l
It is an m arke t . oppo rt u nit y to buy and save a lot of mo ney," he sa id Osca rson said .he com pa ny was in .he
coun try to sensitise the genera l public on the abWldant opportunities in the initiative. Accord ing 10 hi m, Nigerians who visit the lAA
website ha ve increased by over 100 per cent with over 50 pet cent purchase. Oscal"SOn s,1id that the initiati ve would eliminate the situation where mos t
second- hand ca r better known as Tokunbo.
According to Mr Da n Osci'lrson, Vice Presiden t of the fi rm, the fi rm would pro\'ide buyers the
(' pportunily to import \'ehicles at ex ...eptiolla )
prices . According
to
Oscim:on, buyers can illso
impo rt den t cars and re paIr them. w hen necessary in N ige ria w he re Co sl of labour is 11lIY.
OSCMso n said th at from the Am"s evaluation of the second -hand ca r marke t in Nigeria, ca rs we~
over-priced as some
dealers made over 50 per cen l of the cost price as profit. " With g rowi ng demand for a ffo rdable transportation around the world, the opportunity to p rofit h om buying a nd da m aged re pairing ve hicles h ad beco me retev;! nt." he said . He said tha t the finn prov ided li v e ~o nlin e a u ct ions t h a i wo ul d enable buye rs get excep ti onal ret u rn s in their choice. "American s pec cars a re very desirab le i n Wes t Aftica n m ar ke ts beca use of their specia l features . Ou r com pany sells salvaged veh icles via live-on line a u ct ion ilt over 155 tocillio n s
- From left, Technlcal Director. Lafara e Cemen t WAPCO Nig eria Pic, Mr Paul Rogers; Minis ter of Trade and Investm en t; Mr O/uwas egun Agang8 and th e Managing Director and Chie f Executive Officer, Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nig·eria Pic, Mr Sa my Abdelk lfder, during the minister 's visit to tJl e company's plant In Ewekoro. recently.
F arlTlers get N131bn agric fund Odidho n Omankhanlen, La gos
T
H E Cl'nlral Ba nk of N igeri a (CBN) has so far paid out a tol1l1 of N13 1.49 bllliun 10 148 fa rmers under its Commercial Ag ricultu ral Cred it Scheme (CACS) as at June 201lo A report on theaclivity
Pirates attack: Ayo mid e Owon ibi, L Agos ISH ING tra w ler owne rs in t h e co ull t ry h ave raised the il la rm over the recurri ng hi ja ck o f fis hi ng vl!5se ls w it hin Nigeria n wa te rs by p ira tes and Ihe attack o f (!the r ves~els operating (>ff neighboring Wes t African ((Iu ntries coast. Accord ing to Mr John Overo, Preside nt o f Own e rs Associ a tion o f Nige ri a (NTOA), th e developme.n was capable of dege nerati ng into d iplomatic rows between N igeria and her wes tcoast neighbors. Overo ca lled on the Fl'de ra l Governme nt to
F
Nigerians wcre defrauded in an effort to procure cars through frie nds abroad. "Buyers can access our website and coIlabor.Jte with the compa ny th rough licensed deale rs 10 faSItrack shipment and payment logistics." he said. " We have discovered tha t purdHlse of salvaged caTS is mo re efficien t when compared to over aged cars. It's a good offcr to people that cannot really afford a ne\\" cars. '"The company has the most sa lvllged auct ion facilitie s in North American selling well over 1.3 million sah·aged veh icles annually. ~Wi t h more than 26 yea rs experience. from local togloballevel, \\·coffer <In experience adva ntage tha t demonstra tes ihc ability to prepare and sell your ifl\'entory quickly for great ,·atuc~, ~ he said. He said tha t the ini ti <l tive wo uld lead to wea lth crea ti on , e mp loymen t generation and technology transfer fo r ar ti sa ns d u e ·to m aintena nce of the vehicles.
of Ule CACS for the month of June. made available in CBN's website, indicaled thai a to ta l of 148 bcneliciaries, made up of 122 in d iv id u a ls and private p romoters, and 26 s ta te gove rnme nt s accessed N I billion each. It a lso s la ted th a t the ba lance of the N200 billion CACS funds stood
at N68.507 billion as a t
June. Accord ing to the report, "the month unde r review showed that a total of 26 state governments a re curre ntl y p a rtici pa ting u nd e r the sc he me . Tile s ta tes arc Ad a m awa, A nambra, Bau chi, En ug u, Gombe, Kebbi, Kogi, Imo, Kwara,
Nasarawa, Niger, Dndo, Sokoto, Taraba, Z1m fara, FCT, Akwa lbom, Rivers, Pl atea u. Edo, Ka no, Ben ue. Bayelsa, Ogu n , C ross River a nd Osun . The s tate governme nts requested tile CACS funds for on-lending to farmers' unions and co-operati\"cs and 10 finance other areas agric u ltu ral of
Fish trawler owners send 50S to FG
rise up to the challenge and stem the tide. He ci ted two recent cases w hich occu res p n April i 9, and Augu st I, 20 11 , respecti vely, when the 5()a pirates struck o ff the Bonny O il Te rminal, assil ulting seven vessels a nd su bseq u e n tly tak ing th em to an un k n own d est in ation nn d va nda lised th e sesse ls. "The p ira te rem oved a ll the e lec tro n ic gadge ts o n board , Incl ud ing th e SS 8 Radio, V H F Ra di o. Rada r a nd Ech o So unde r . The p a th e ti c repo rt revea led b y the ca plain is that the pi rates co mmand e d th em to
s team to wa ters off Benin Re p ub li c wh e re aHempts were made to il ttack o il tanke rs a nd oth er vessels usi ng these vessels as p latfo nns," he s aid H e noted th a t Ih e s ituation could resul t in di plo matic row behveen Nige ri an and the Re p ublic o f Ben in if it continued . Overo, d escribing Ihe si tu a ti on as serio us, urged th e Federa l Gove rn ment to p ut in p lace, measures aimed at ch eck m a tin g the sea p irates before it escalated. -Th is further unde rsco res the call by NITOA for the provision of adequa te security in
Nige ria's territo ria l waters to e ns ure sa fe operat io ns fo r fish ing vessels a nd ot he r la w abidi ng ma ri time users". Acco rdin g to the NTOA p res ide nt, the Fede rAl Gove rnme n t should provide effective· secu ri ty in N ige ria'S Ma ri t ime envi ron me n t in the overa ll interest of the nation . 1·le no ted th a t the associalinn had w rit ten a letter to th e Na ti o n a l Security Ad viser, N igeria Navy o r th l' in cessa nt a tt ac ks th at h ad ta ke n new d imension. H e sa id th a t the associati o n m e mbers los t a bo ut N53 mi llio n prod ucts and equipment
to the vand als The N ITOA president also ap p ea led to t h e Federal GOVl'rn ment to save th e scctor fro m im m inent co ll apse d u e to huge overhead cos ts, inclu d ing h ig h cost or d iesel. "T hese precario u s situ a tions wo u ld likely m ake th e sec to r to go under. O ur p roductivity ha d n ose di ved as a resu lt o f hi g h cos t o r d iesel used in operating the trawlers." Overo said tha t 85 per cent of the sec to r o p era tion s d epen ded solely on diesel. adding th ... t the o pen to rs we re hu ge inc urring overhead costs.
interventio ns within thei r various stalcs." It stated th.1I as at June, 2011. 14 b;mks, na mely, Aa.-es Bank Pic, Fidelity Ba n k. First Bank of N igeria, GUll rant y Trust Bank, Oceanic Bank Pic, Skye Bank, Sto'1nbic IBTC, Un ion Bank o f Nigeria, United Bank for A frica, Uni ty Bank PIc, Zenith Bank Pic, Ci tibank, Diamond Bilnk Pic a nd Ste rling Bank Pic pa rticipa ted u nd e r th e scheme. Establ is hed in 2009, the CACS lVas created to commercial p romote agri ru l\ural enterprises in Nigeri a. rund wmplements other special initiatives or tile apel' bank in pro\,;ding conccssioll;"\ry fundi ng (or agriculture. The scheme is fi nanced from the p~s of a N200 billion that was rai sed b)' the Debt Managemel1tOffice(DMO). Th e objective o r the scheme, among others, i~ to fast-track development of the ag ricu ltura l sector of the N igerian economy by provid il1g cred it fa ci li ties to com me rcial agricullural enterprises at a single d igit interest rate.
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