BUSINESS IIS
11fEGUARDWl, TlIursda)(April 19,2012
Bllisiness Appointments P27 Still on wage issues: NUT threatens showdown Reps investigate firins over unclaimed dividends FI'OIII AzInw:I Momoh Jlmoh Ind TwtIemba Daka, Abuja
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House or has ma.nIts Standing Committee on Capital Market and InStitutions to Invesdgalr me high volume of unclaimed dlVide:nds In Nigeria's quoted companies. It gave me: committee two ..veeks to conclude me InY($tlgatlons and tum In Its
1 Re:prcse:ntatfves
dat~d
~~mmilleeWilSmandat
ed to investigate the companies during the: House' plena. ry session yesterday, whe:n Akpan Micah Umoh,alanncd that unc1aime:d dividends were mounting up and nad risen to N40 billion. Umoh furthe:r nor.ed tnal th~ dividend che:ques from majority of quote:d compa· nies In Nigeria often get to sha.Rholders days after they
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Ul de ~Ipria'1 CounlfY Malll g~ r, HafYeS1 Plus, Paul Ilona (\eft):ElMuwa 01 Eruwa, Adeblyo AdegboIa; and Dlnltlor-(ieneral, Harvest Plut, Uniled Slales of America, Dr. Howlrlll BouIs, during a risiT 10 la(ayoe CommuniTy. t:'elicilf)' 01 rilam ln Aeas:s&VJ Ylrielles in Nigeria. in !)yo Slare, yal.uay
-Accorning [0 me Se:curity and Exchange Commission, SEC, there are still some controversies surrounding the: payment or dividends Into th~ savings account of the: CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
Telecoms operators seek bailout I~'~I as 1.43m lines go inactive
Forklift
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-IlLE som~ sec len of the counrry's [eI~O'Tlmunlcations sector a~ experie:nc· ingboom, others,uebelievM lobr:goinginlowm:tion,as ove:r 1.-43 million {elephone lines beame: lna~....' within me: last six mont This has ~ntJII(ersdown 'spmesof the Opeldtol"5, wh ) OlR now calling for hlnoU(. The in~ Iin~ I owe-ver. dfeCl~ only l)le Code DIvision Multipte Access am'g fixed (COMA) wlred(wIRIe:ss 0 r.ltors In the: bourge:onm ,., tge:ria's teiecommllnlcar::io IS sector. H~. me co ur.uy WilS record~d within ~he same period In meGSM b-seaor, whe:re operators mcludlng MIN, Globacom, IIT~I anil
COMA operators, including Starcomms, Visafone, Reltel, Multilinks, ZoomMobile and Fixed line players such as Intercellular, MTS 1st, 21st Century Technolodies, Witel, D'Net, among others, have 6' consistently maintained a declining profile in the last one year, Ell5.1lat are enlovlng growth In subscribel"5 b.ise.Tfiey col· Iectlvely recorded 9] mlllion a~ hnes with a 69 perce:m teJedensitywithin me: period. The Gwidian investigations revealf'd that COMA ope ... · tors, Including Starcomms, Vlsafone, Rehel, Mullllinks, ZoomMoblle .-md Fixed line: pIaytrs such as Intercellular, MIS 1St, lISt Century TechnologIes, Witel, O'Net, among omers, have consls tentJy maintained a declining
prom~ in the last one year. these opcr.uors are under distress In me voice se.rvices and havecal~ forbaiiouL Statistics obtIfned hum the Nigerian Communlca[lons Commission (N'CC) Indicated that rnMA operdfors, whk:h had active subscriptions of ;.22 million by Se:prembe:r 2011, declined to ~.O] million as February 2012. The Fbted wired/wireless lines which stood at 828,797InSeptemi:ler lOll, went down by 250,645
lines to 578.152 by February 2012 In me vola segmenL
Within the last six·month of operations In the country, the COMA operators have: losl lIS million active: lines, while Fb:w wired/wireless operators lost 250,645 lines.. The (WO losseJi a.mounted to 1.43 million lines that are Inanlve within the last six months of oper.a.r::ions. In financial te:mlS, me ope:r· ators may have record~ a total loss of about NI.43 blllion ,,",sed on the Aveldge Revenue Per User (AAPU) put at NIOOO In thecounuy. A telecommunication anaIyn and a Hxed tde:phony operator; who spoke on the conditlonofanonymitywim The Guardian ye:sterday, lame:med the dKlinlng for· CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
PetroletIm marketers deny receiving unmerited N241bn subsidy fund \ ays.u..nS*v 1)ETROLBJM martl.~el"5 ha~
rHouse reaaedtothm;rtOfthe of RqJ t.M:s Ad-
hocCommittft'on I~ Subsidy. which en-d m~m to refund N241ll biJlJon
wrongly coUected to governmentcoffers.. They said the commlutoe's condusion was bias, as itdoes not refiKi. the true picture of wna.l transpired In the process of subsidy refund to me marketers.
lh~ House commluet' had alleged that ov~r 69 marketers coUeaed the subsidy they did nO{ merit But me compa.nies,lnaswift reaction, ~re:rday, said me: process of redeeming what they got assubsidyWilS lUll of
transpaRncy and account!· blilty. Those ol{fmcd by lhe ordu spoke with The CwrrlJaIf, in lagos, )tmma.~ where they dIsregarded the report, lUSt CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
RANGE 1-S0lonnes
• Warehousing • Electric Forklifts
• LPG Forklift
Dktsel Foritllft Reach Slackers Container handlers
Malenal handlinl! m .ldl,: easy o,-c-. _ _