-- ~ - ~~- --~FRI['A\' ACUC GCUCST-,--,'oC'C'COC"=-~~~~~~~~~~~~_
busines~;c,~
eC On om~
-
Oflj=~: ~~ Telecoms: FG subsidises construction of 150 base stations land approvals Emma n uclAddr h . Wani
T
HE
Ddta
State
Goyemwf nt
Oil
Thursday lIoweol to prosecute any of its officials fOUlid \ (1 have been involved ;0 illegal appro~'a1 of b'illd iog plans in the state. nl~ gO"!!! nrn !!l t! said U,al the (lelhilk!; of the officials had COlllnbuled to the n o<x~ins in the stale any tin'e Ibe re was a downpour resulting in severe flooding. CommisSioner l or the Environment, Mr: Frank Omare, wbo ::pola! during an inspection \,f canals currently being de-silted in Sapele, 00;0 lu lt!d out com~DsatiOil fu~ tllOse whose stl"Ueulres would be demolisb~ui t.h!.! ~,rocess. "Nobodyshou1 :H ppro\'e any land 01' c.l~al, for anybodYrlO build bh or her hou.se 0 0 a' Canal because be has Polilkal po )Wet is highly u .D.aci..'t'9tallh ~. So we are going to demol ish any building] on the l"aIlals", Omare said. He ~dded ih It th e gove mment \~ already oollating the names of officials wh" issued land approvals Illegally and ther wculd t e tried accordi~ly,
1 has ~
Federal Grn'eJ1lffienl subsidised the building of 150 base stations in dilferelltnlralcommunities wilh the Ullhvsal Service Provision Fund. TIlls, it said, was aimed at boosting Infon nation a nd ColllmunicationsTechnology accl'SS in tile areas. The Feder.J! (kn"('mment hod set upthe USPFunderthe N<ltiollal COTlllllunications ht 2003 to pIUlide telecommunications and ICf sel"\ices to nlml areas, the underserv-ed and deprived g.roups in the country. TIll! fund comprised one per cent lei')' of an nual profit of telromlS operators in Nigeria. nle Secretary, USPF, Mr. Abdullahi Maikano, said, W Using the USPF fund, we are able 10 get about 150 base st.1tiOllS built and they are being opemtiollaJ in rural communities. WBut we are 1I0t the one that built them ; " "(' only prtl\ided subsidy grants for rompanies to build tllf~m so that Ulose com munities will hal"!! services. 1bis is actually whal \\'e look at when we talk about USPF. We don't talk about how much we hal"(' spen t but what we are able to achiel'e has alway~ been the foclls. He said Ulis on Ule sid~lines of Ule Consultative Stakeholders Foru m on the del路.!lopment of a Strategic M'I.IIa&emenl Plan (20132(1 17) for the USPF in Lagos on TItursday. Minister of Cumm u n i c ation s T~ dlllology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said tile essence of the fOlUm was to provide \.iUI all st.aheholders opportunity to make inputs Ulat would define the direction of the fund's activities in the next lh-evears. She . bemoa.ned the
Board. said, "'Ie Nigerian Communications Art 2003 places :;:ignifica nt the re5pOllSlbilities . 011 Univcrsal Scr.ice Provision Fund. TIle fund must not only facili tate Ilnil1!rsa.1 access to commun icatio n and applications sen;=. it must also promote grnlter social and culluml dl!\ elopmenl in Nigeria, "The USPF's rule has nel-er been nKl re cnlcial as Nigelia is poistcd on the cusp of an lnlemet and broadband rel"Ol Lltiun and the progr.lmmes considered by USPF could gil"e our country ilneeds toberomea.
TIle Partfler, KPr.IG, Mr. J oseph Tegbe, said theaim of UlI! USPF was to continue to stimulate creath"!'; use of TCf in tlle country. He said, ~ ln respon.se lo so me of the d1311enges faced by th e USl'Fin implementing the SMP 2007 - 20Ll, emphasis will be placed on canyi ng oul the follOlling key activities in the execution of the new SMP: holistic approach toproject.selection, Wgilgement of stakeholders, qualificatioll of minimum allowable subsidies, and subsidisa tion of operational cost, among otbe!" issues. ~ 1be Senior
Management Consulting, MIS.. Yetwlde Kll.nu, who corrobom ted Tegbe, said th e goals of the USPF based 011 the new SMP were to facilitate an enabling environment for ICf and promote wlh-ersal access and ser.; ce that would facilitate connectivity for delmpmenL Central to achieving tll ese goals, according to him, \~ill be to identify tile market efficiency and access gilPS as well as dE'Si&" incentives that would promote the rollou t of sustainable lCf services in rural, un-sel"l-ed and she wxlersel"l'ed areas.
Ille USPF would faci li!.a te tile availability of transmission infrastructureandconnection to tile national backbo ne ill all local governments. TIlis, she said, would dril-e an increasing access to C()m nlullity-based data and \"Oic:-e sernces on a shared basis a nd provide a pial/ami for unil-ersal senices. Generally, "iUI tile lIew SMP, Ille boarrl of USPF said tile fund would pIUlide subsidies or otller fonns of incenti\1!S to te!eroms C()mpanies and eliglble service providers to extend ICf penetration to lInderse r.-OO areas in
ANNUAL GE
M
'These
peopl., are making noise and we are oomin ~ for llui01 . They ha\'e acquin.'(1 go, rerwnent playgrouod..., a ~d. every othersp~celill thl tll'o'O for their printH: use, \':e hal'e the rccord..<:. n~ ' build underth~ high t~ u ion. 'Two lI"eek.~ ago I, we shut down a plaz.athat \\'lllfilthy and til e next d ay :h ~rewas a publication th It it was political. We wil oot be selecthoe,路 he nddpd . He posited liliat Ille govem men I had' l ! lrueted that gSp man houses should ~tm go O'm like what we did in E u run and Warri apd 1\'e ,ri路 going to put a -e on the ground that rvil~ amtain these draina ges and the water channels: ~ Ornare Slal.J>d that anyone \vbPI waiting to be t"Ompc.nsall>d should forget it, sayi ng ~al in faCl,
I
J
",al l
they be p~=",,,. Ishould am noqpol Ili:ki ng in thise.xe~.nd vi- are no! going tOfbe:ihili iJated by n close anybody. If r ve down Igbudu Darket, which is oDd of ~ major markets?n DcltaW ,te, that will tell you tllat are not going to C()mprolni;e", the CommLo:sioner s::Jid . He said I11tJU~ nodeath had e),.1"'...ri\' n,:cd due to flooding in h ' ~ state, the govemnlt.!ntJ\'~s being proactil'e 01, th:r 1ssue of de-flooding in til e itate to a''ert casual ties. '
itt
been
Dayo Okclola
oolLn lIy'slow lCI'penetration espedally in Ule rural areas, adding l1J.3t tllis justified the development of an SMP for Ule fu nd in the ne.,1 fi\"e)'earS "iUI the aim of ensuring tlmt leI access was ach.iel'ed in wlder-sen-ro areas. 11,e minister, who is also Ule ChaimJ.3n of Ule Universal Service Provision
oL-R: Compo II! Secl'etory/Legol Adviser, Valla Producls PIc, Mr. Lekall Salmi; Choirm an, M r. Bashiru Lasisi: Manag ing DirectlJ r, MI"~. Tifflolo Bakore, 0/ the 51St Annual General Meeting o/tlr e compony in Lagos ...on Wednesday . Photo: Odll fayo OausollYo
Domestic investment grew by 4 6 % in 2 011 - Aganga INISTER uf Trade and In vestnlent, Mr. Olusegun A;anga. said on Thursday Umt Nigeria's domestic inl"eslmo!nt grew by 46 pe r cent in 2011, .\ganga presented the national internal investment
Inl'estment Cl i mate,~ said that Nigeria remained Ul e preferred ill\'CStment destin ation in Africa. Hesaid, 11leperfonnance or Nigeria on th e recenl report issued by United NationsConferenceo n Trade
profile in Abllja at tl Ie inaugumtion of the Wo rl d Bank's Investment Climate Assessment report . He said tllat tile inl-estment dividends based on the lCA assessment of j","eslment climate in 26 states of Ule federation was through the Federal Government effort. Aganga, who spoke on "Refonn ing the Nigeria's
an d DeveIopment a bo ut the g.!obal investment now across the world indica ted Ulatinvestmentflowg.!obally has increased by 16 percenL "It said that the flow to Mrica has come down by one or two per cent because of the war in Egypt, Libya .and theothers.w ~ But what is important to us is I1mt tile investment flow to Nigeria has gOlll! up
M
hy 46 per cent to N8 .9bll,~ Ill! added. According to him, in spite of all tile challenges of doing business in Nigeria, Il,e country in the period und er Teliew, came tllird in temlS of the level of in\-estm ents a ttracted. Aga.ngasaid, ~ Ifyou lookat debt to GDP ratio, it's under 20 per cent, tile al-emge in Europe is 88 per cenl, th e average in the wor ld is 87.6 per cent, the United States and some others are more Ulan 100 per cent. -So for an eco nomy to attract investmen t, }"OU have to ha\'t~ an al'erage macroeconomic environment and
World food crisis looms - UN
T
HE \'"OrXI. might face a food crisis of tile kind seen in 2007/08 ifCOW\tries restrict expo rts on concerns about a droug.ht-fuened grain price rally, tile United Nations' food agency wanled 011 Thursday, after reporting a sur&e in gIOOal food prices in July. A mix of hig.!l oil prices, growing use of biofuels. bad weather, soaring srain futures markets and restricth-e e:qXlrt policies had l>USIled up prices of f,.xxi in 2007/08, sparlcing violent p rotests ill 1XIU1Itries
includillg Egypt, Cameroon and Haiti. Concern about c,-mmte hot and dry wmtlJerUl the United States Midwest sent corn and soybean prices to rewrd. highs last month, dri\ing o....erall food prices higher again and. reversing the Food and Agriculture Organisation's forecast for declines this yeaI'. '1bere is potential for a situation to de>.-elop like we had back in 2007/oa,ft the FAO's Senior F.rollOlllisl and groin analyst. .-\bdolreza
Abbassian, told Retlter:s. He said, Ibere is an expectation that this time around \\-e l\iJI not punroe bad policies and intem!fle in til e market by restrictions, and if tha t doesn't happen we will not see such a serious situation as 2007/08. But if those policies get repeated, anything is possible. ~ A number of major producers unposed \"llIiou.s restrictions on exports in an attempt to amtroi domestic prices in the 20U7/08 cisis,
induding outright bans as wen as quotas or higher tariffs on exports of foods inducling rice, com and wheat. TIle restrictions reduced supply on intenmtional markets, helping to dri\'e prioes eo.-en hig.her. markets ha'-e Grain been boosted rea!ntIy by speculation tIJ.3t Bladt Sea grain producers., particu1arI.y Russia , might inlpose export restrictions after a drought there hit crops.
Nigeria ill ol'erall has the al'erage macro-economic ell\irOIll\lent. ~
He assul"l.'d Nige ria ns of governmen t's oommitmenl to ensuring an enabling environment Ilmt \\'ould facilitate the infllL,( of inl1!Sl0rs into theoountry. Cou ntry E.lrlier, the Director of World Bank, Nigeria, Ms Francoise MarieNelly, said Ule lCA was one of the im portant areas 10 im prove on competitil-eness andjobcreatiolL She urged Ille Federal GoI.-e mment to address the ope mtional constraints affecting the.smooUl running of small and medium husin esses in the counu)'. Marie-Nelly identified the oonstrni nts as poor power sup ply, lack of access to credit and gender related issues. She said, wWe have the potential to impro,'e on the si tua tion; the ICA report is indeed looking at 26 states and focused on 10 critical ul(iicators. " 1lis presentation is not a n ordin ary presentation hilt just to see what we can do to address th e C()mpetim-e issues."