MONDAY, JU'lE 20. 2011
HOMES & PROPf:RTY UN climate talks make scant progress to save Kyoto
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. PfIOlO: Segun Bakare
'Low insurance awareness impeding housing sector growth' T S tan lev Opara
HE low level of Insurance penellation and awareness in the coun try IS hav10g a negauve effea on the growth of the housing sector, which is cUlTendy facmg huge financaal chAllengn. The Managing o.redor. Union Assurance Company Umi ted, Mr Godwin Odah, said th is in a slalemem made available to OU I correspondent by the company on Fnday. He said no economy could 5ucce5Sfully thrive without a vibrant Ulsurance sector, which would breed enlreplt!l'Irru",hip thai would lift the housing seclor Odah deSCl'ibed insullmce as a mechamsm for mobilising funds , saying Iha l hOUSing remamed scarce because Ihele we re no funds. ~We llO!eO long. term funds. \~'hlch IS Whlll life insulance prOVides, - he ~,d
Insumnce Companies, he noted , owned banks and o ther insti tutions in other parts of the woOd because they had access 10 long-Ienn funds, adding lhat in Nigeria, things were chang1Og, as the era when cLail1l5 were unpaid WillS almost gone He said the insurance sector could mobilise long, term funds for infraslluctul'2 developmen t, wrth life insurance playing a prominem lole because of the long gestation period of life funds "These funds are made avarlable to the blinking system to be able to lend to en trepreneurs at affordable rll ies and the housing sector can be a huge beneficiary, ~
Odah $aid. T he Union Assurance ~ said Ihal, al the momenl, Ihel'2 was acu te dlortage o f long-term funds. which should ordinanly be available to en trepreneurs to grow the economy because Nigenans had .,.e11O buy into li fe insurance as a n<!ltural Willy of savmg for their long. term needs. · u fe insurance comes in the category of five, 10 and 15--~ar plans and so on. If a slldbie number of Nigerians, with the country's huge populallon, inveslSjust a !>maU proportion of their Income in insurance, the economy wil! expand be~use Ihe money wi ll be m<lde available to Investors who can then grow
their businesses on 1000g. lefm basis." Odah stressed. He said funds al the disposal of banks were shorl-lerm in nature and had a maximu m tenor of 90 days before the owners would come calling, lidding thai "'wIth tl'lls condition, they can only lend short <!It hrgh inter-est rates th<!ll alt' !afgellt e disincen tive 10 the entrepreneur in the re41 ewllie business But the si tuation wiD be bene r if banks had Insurcmce hfe funds.~ ~h said II was not possible toachievesustainable expansion in the housing seclor Without mortgages, which ht:! explained, would be easier if Ihe Insu rance component was aV<!lUable to
make the dri!ilffi of hOUSing fOT <!I II <!I re4liiy. He said, -The insurance component takes care of the Iniha l deposit required by the mortgage frrms But because insuf3nce companies are backward in terms of patronage of life products, these long-term funds are not <!IvaiUrble for deveiopmenl -PeIlSIOOS funds, which <!Ire another component of insurance, have generated within a s hort period about N2tn Talks are ongoing to develop <!I framework for investment of the money lor infra5tl\lctural development <!Ind in o ther settors. This is a demollSlIO.tion o f what life insurance funds can do fo r national developmenl. ~
EGOTIATORS made scant progri!!iS toward salvagmg the UntIed Nations' Kyoto PrOiocol for fighting cIimale change beyond 2012 at t~\I() ,veeks of tlliks ending on Friday. delegates said "When you look a\ the progress 1\ Is very uneven. · ReUlers quoled Adrian Macey of New Zeal<!lnd. as saying. Developing n<!lUons accused nch nations of reneging on promises to extend K\.'OIo, v,lhlm now binds almost 40 n<!lU0n5 10 cu t emiSSIOns until 2012. Kyoto's fu lu l'2 has become the main focus after a UN su mmll in 2009 f<!llled to <!Igree on a new treaty. wProgres5 in Bonn his · been hampered by palties wit h the btggest hi stonc<!ll responsibilIty for i!ml5Sion$,~ the Alliance of Small Island States said of nch nalions thai have burned cal bonemitting fossil fu els since the 18th cenrury Induslrial Revolution. The alllance says it5 members are on Ihe front line o f climate chan~. Including more powerful storms, droughts, floods and nsing sea levels. D;tveIoping n<!ltlons say Ih<!ltthe rich must t<!lke the lead and extend Kyoto to unlock achon by the poor. Japan, Canada and Russi<!l have said they ulill 1'1 01 make cuts in an exlended Kyoto and are instead demanding a new glob<!Il deal With greenhouse gas culbs to be observed by all. including big emerging !'IaHom. led by China and India And Kyoto backel$ led by the European Union say they ate unwilling to go it <!Ilone and will extt!nd the pact on ly if all m<!lJor emine rs sign up for curbs.
Expulsion: I remain committed to NIESV -Okoli Stanl ey O para
year$ back. Al the institution's last President and Annual General Meeting Managing P<!Irtner. 05ita and conference in Kadunll Okoh & Company. Mr. In March, members present Osita Okoli, hilS $<!lid he is voted to expel him <!Ind Mr. committed to the Nigerian OIUloye DMamola from the InSlitution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers despite his body oveT whal they aUeged alleged suspension by lhe to be gloss misconduct o n body. lheir part. Okoli, who omdRSSed The National Secretary. Journalists In Lagos, 011 NtESV. Mr Rowland Abonta, had f:!Xplained then, "The Thursday. said that in o rdetto retain the conndence of above named members of <!I.ll members, the inslltulion the institution were expelled mustensureth<!ltany d ecision from the membership o f lhe WilS taken in <!Iccordance mstitution as a result of their <!lets of gross misconduct with the ru les a nd regula lion governing rhe body and liS inimical to the SUrviVal and members. p rogress of the profes5ion<!l.l Okoli. IIIho was the se<:ond QoQy. " vice· president of NJESV, had . .. . HQ!oN.ev~I, Okoli said engaged in <!I running baltle ..~.... o f .Indlvldu<!l.l wi th the leadership of the ~. ~L~!!r and dtfferences, institution si nce he lost out ~~~ bound to be to the incumbent presiden t in • 'd isagieements between his bid to reru m to the council members o f the institu tion in llfl eledion cond ucted in on some issues, hut noted ~~, Anambra State, some that such should be settled
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amiCAbly <!Ind not al lo\\"ed to ~vate.
He poinled out that the institutron's interest surp;lS$l!d 1""'1of any member and muSl be allowed to prevall even if e;:ertain !iirualions d id 1'101 favour some members. MMembers shoukl sacrifice Iheir personal interests for the lake of peace, bu t they should ensure that they don't sacrifice their integnty. This is because if a mlln loses his integnty. he loses he said. He said that the insHtution had II lot of work 10 be done and the earlier the members un ited to take Ihe rea l esta te se<:lor to the next level, the better !t would be for them, Ihe institution and the nation a l large. A former Secretary o f lhe Arbitration, Concili<llion lind Expert Wi tness Commi ttee and member of the Research Commin!e of the institu tion,
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Mr. Bode Ar<!lba who lVas also present al Ihe press conference. said. -Arople liTe bound 10 disagree over some issues. If IInyone does Ih<!lt. he should nol be victrmrsed He said the personi.\l deCISIOn of members should be respected by ihe Insmullon, as they could belong to any association lhey deemed fll Responding to the <!IlIegation of victlmisatlon in lhe PIOCess that led 10 Okoli's suspension. the PTe$ident of lhe Institution, Mr. Bode Mediji. told ou r correspondent on the telephone tha t th e issue had become <!I99ravated and had been cha ll enged in court. He declined making furthe r commenls on the ffi~ tter, but said Ihat NIESV WilS commi tted to juslice and fair play. and 'OiOuld ClIT/y all members aJong In its bid 10 develop the country's real estate sedor M
Further compUcauTlf fale . thi! Uniled S lates never ratified th" 1997 UN de<!ll, <!Irgulng thai rt unfairly omitted target! by major emerging emitter!' such as China and Indi<!l Md '.llould cost United Stale! jobs. WlI5h ington 5il.Y'> it WIU not join. Advances in Bonn IlIel" Iar9'!I~' on {echnrcal issues such as v,:olking out nev. ways o f shal1ng clean ener~ technologie<!; or seiling up oil green fund to aid develoPITlf nauons. unle headw<!ly WII! made on broader issues 01 emlUio ns cuts or cash. In t.alks aOOUi sJOlllln!; deforeiti'lllon. fOI inSf;ance the text <!Igreed 10 ask fOl new tdeas by II Seplemoo 19 de<!ldline. wThat's a 5leJ= fOF\\I&d. w $<!l Id Donald Lehl of ,he Ecosys"!m5 O lrnatE AJlillnce, who added, VButit'! not enough It's tOO slow." K\.'010' $
Japan plant starts clean-up of radioactive water HE operato r of J<!Ipim'~ crlsls·hlt nuclellr pOWe! piai'll said il sl<>rted an opera lion to dean Ul= radioactive water on FrkI<!Iy aher several glitches thai delayed the plan Laage lind growing pooh of radioactive Wilter were Ir dllflger of spilling In to the sei' withm a week unless the plar 90' under ~Y, offic:ials had SO!Iid'earlier this \I'leek. Tokyo fleclric Powel Company, known as Tepro has pumped ~M amounts of W<lter Ie;: cool thlee re<!lctO(5 a t tilt fuku5hima Dalichi plant Ih.lrl wen! InlO meltdown <lfter l Ma rch 11 earthquake <!Inc tsunami diiabled coolin~ systems. Reurers reported or Fnday BUI m<!lnaging thf radioactive waler hai 1J.ec0m' a m<!ljor heodache as the pilii'll rum; OU I of plac;:!S 10 keel= it Around 110000 tOl1ne; of highly radioactive waler enough 10 fl U40 Olympic·SiZC sWimming pools. is stored at Ihe plan t. Tepco, With help from French nuclear group Areva. United S\alf$ fum. Kurion. and other compames, ha! been test-running <!I sysrem in which rCidioacl:ivt" waler i! decontamll'laled <!Ind re-usee 10 cool the r'ellctors. But in a ~tb.ack Ih.lrt dela~d the ptan by about a week, it 5aid "Iatel hllCi lellked from a facility used IC absorb on Thursd<lY. Jun ichl
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whkh would not require thE pumping in 01 fresh W<!lter.