financial vanguard february 18th edition

FEBRUARY 18, 2013 document was not available. The court officials kept telling me to check back subsequently.

“The most terrible thing is that any person you meet, he or she will demand for money from you. This, I did for over seven months without success. So, I was eventually frustrated when at a time I was asked to produce four persons that are related to me as witnesses. So I left pursuing the case in July 2009 till date. My sister’s children are still very young and are in school, all I wanted to do was get the money and use it to assist them, but that has not worked out. My younger ones and I are the ones taking care of my sister ’s children up till now.”

Many other victims who did not want their names mentioned have narrated similar pains they go through in securing letters of administration.

In his own experience, Mr. Francis Iwuchukwu, who lost his father sometime ago, said; “Shortly after the demise of my father, as the first child, I did approach my father’s bank to inform them that their customer who coincidentally is my father had died.

The bank empathised with me and asked me to put it into writing, which I did. Thereafter, I was told to approach a Lagos High Court to get a Continues on page 18

Letter of Administration:

Banks, cour ts frus trat e beneficiaries courts frustrat trate of dead account holders

BY PETER EGWUATU, ROSEMARY ONUOHA, & ONOZURE DANIA

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he next of kin of deceased bank account holders have continued to lament the ordeals they go through in accessing money left behind by their departed loved ones. These, according to them, have brought untold hardsip to them and are becoming disincentives to save with banks.

Vanguard’s investigation revealed that next of kin of account holders (who died without a Will go through terrible situations when they visit

banks to collect the money left behind by deceased persons. This has left a huge amount of money running into billions in bank vaults as dormant accounts. They have, therefore, called for the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other regulatory agencies of government in the ever incresing amount of money in dormant account leaving beneficiaries in penury while the banks continued to trade with the money that is now above N100billion.

For instance, one, Mr. Eroms Adigwe, who narrated his ordeal to Vanguard, said; “I have a sister who

died on 11th November, 2008 and when I went to her bankers, First Bank of Nigeria, to claim the N120,000 she had in her account as her next of kin, they told me to produce a letter of administration before I can have access to the money. I went to Lagos State Secretariat at Alausa, Ikeja to seek for the document and I was asked to pay N24,000 and I complied. I took the receipt to the High Court in Ikeja so as to obtain the letter of Administration.

“When I got to the court, a file was opened for me and they said I needed to see some officials to sign the document and they kept tossing me from one person to another, and sometimes they will inform me that the person to sign the

136.55

-1.45

2,170.00

+41.00

18.0

0.06

117.38 -0.62 95.67

-1.64

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL DOLLAR 154.74 POUNDS 239.7232 EURO 206.1137 FRANC 167.5038 YEN 1.6691 CFA 0.2954 WAUA 235.315 RENMINBI 24.8262 RIYA 41.2607 KRONA 27.6341 SDR 236.0713

155.24 240.4978 206.7797 168.045 1.6745 0.3054 236.0753 24.9069 41.394 27.7234 236.8341

SELLING 155.74 241.2724 207.4457 168.5863 1.6799 0.3154 236.8357 24.9876 41.5273 27.8127 237.5969

CBN Exchange rate as at 15/02/2013 C M Y K

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Cover Story

Education for enterprise development and revolution (part 2) he following are some of the biggest problems facing Nigerian education:

L-R: Managing Director, DHL Express, Mr. Randy Buday; Ex- Super Eagles coach, chief Adegboye Onigbinde; Manchester United Legend, Mr. Quinton Fortune; and Commercial Manager, DHL Express, Mr. Chrysanthus Okereke during the cocktail event organized by DHL as part of Quinton Fortunes' visit to Nigeria.

Banks, cour ts frus trat e beneficiaries courts frustrat trate of dead account holders letter of administration before my father’s money can be released to me since my father did not write a will, despite the bank’s confirmation that I was his next of kin.

It took the probate section of the court over one year to issue the letter of administration that will enable me collect the money, because of the long procedure involved in getting all the necessary documents, before the money can be released since there was no written will.”

Iwuchukwu said that after the probate section of the court had taken a long time to issue the letter of administration, the banks also took their own turn in ensuring that he went through another round of procedures before he eventually got the money.

When Vanguard sought the opinions of banks regarding the trauma the next of kin of account holders face in claiming money left behind by the deceased customers, they said it is a regulatory requirement that next of kin must produce letter of administration.

According to most of the officials of the banks who spoke on condition of anonymity; “It is not the banks’ fault that the next of kin should go through this stress. The next of kin that customers fill in the form when opening an account does not guarantee the person access to the customer ’s account, it is C M Y K

only an indication that the person whose name appears as next of kin can only come openly to begin the process of having access to the customer’s account. And that process is to produce a will and letter of administration as demanded by law.”

Meanwhile, in another development, as the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, of the Pension Reform Act, 2004, gradually gathers momentum, beneficiaries of some bereaved contributors, who have had to make claims for their entitlements have been frustrated by the cumbersome process of getting Letter of Administration. Due to the prolonged delays being experienced by such beneficiaries, the Pension Fund Operators, PenOp, have decided to pay beneficiaries the initial lump sum from the Retirement Savings Account, RSA, of their deceased benefactor, to

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Continued from page 17

It is not the banks’ fault that the next of kin should go through this stress

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pay the balance pending when they bring the Letter of Administration.

Despite the gesture of PenOp, some beneficiaries are still not happy with the delay in getting Letter of Administration because sometimes, the initial lump sum might not be enough for them to start life again, after their bread winner must have passed on.

Since getting a Letter of Administration can take up to six months, a lot of beneficiaries have had to go borrowing while others have been forced to live from hand to mouth.

Vanguard investigation revealed that the bureaucracy of Nigerian courts is one of the reasons why beneficiaries have not been finding it easy to get the Letters of Administration.

Besides, the fee to be paid to lawyers to get a Letter of Administration is about 10 per cent of what the contributor left behind for the beneficiary.

The Dana example : It will be recalled that families of victims of the Dana Airplane that crashed on June 3rd, 2012, were promised that they would get compensation after 30 days of the accident, but seven months later, most of them are still battling to get Letters of Administration without which they will not be paid compensation. It was only after the Lagos State Government waded into the matter and asked the courts to soften the processes and cut down on some strenuous requirements that some were able to get theirs.

Continues on page 19

1.Inadequate infrastructure, manpower and equipment across all levels of Education, from primary to tertiary.

2.Under-funding from government, which continues to shrivel resources and stunt growth in the sector.

3.Restrained private participation and almost exclusive dependence on government aid.

4.Issues of responsibility and control due to overlapping federal, state and local government jurisdiction.

5.Insufficient use of information and communication technologies, modern equipment and innovative methods of teaching.

6.Reliance on expatriate faculty in higher educational institutes due to lack of local manpower.

7.Absence of curricula relevant to national manpower requirements and human development goals.

Advisory commissions set up by colonial governments in the early 20th Century were among the first to report basic deficiencies in educational systems across Africa. They noted that the quality of education provided in the continent was singularly detached from the needs and aspiration of local populations. Sadly, that continues to be the problem in Nigeria at least, where the government has been hard to revamp the education system in line with the MDG and 2020 goals. Because of the time-bound nature of these programmes, Nigeria needs to deliver fast on several counts.

•The government must design broad strategies to receive and develop the education system in tune with socio-economic realities and the country’s long-term growth targets. ·Investment in education has to be substantially enhanced; expenditure models need to be reworked to allow for universal basic education together with

effective vocational training.

•A substantial portion on the investment must go for infrastructure development and training and orientation programmes for teachers at all levels.

•Radical transformation of higher education must be achieved with the aim of providing socially relevant skills to unemployed youths in both rural and urban regions.

•Development of sound tertiary institutions to provide quality skills education and training to internationally acceptable standards is vital.

•Government must create conditions for increased participation by the private sector and civil-

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Underfunding from government, which continues to shrivel resources and stunt growth in the sector.

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society organisations in educational reform and execution. ·Effective monitoring and supervision of budgetary to ensure accountable utilisation of resources.

In August 2009, late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua announced that it would declare a state of emergency against unemployment and joblessness by extensively using IT systems and operations to train unemployed Nigerians.

Although the assurance of rapid improvement in the employment scenario is spirited, whether Abuja approached the challenges holistically remains to be seen.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 19

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Nigeria, a nation under siege of looters naira of the nation’s money if he has no political and strong social backing.

The funny thing is that the government playing to the gallery, always wants the citizenry to believe it is doing something about this social ill but nothing is eventually done so others waiting in the wings are emboldened to follow the example of others.

These civil servants on annual basis pad up recurrent budgets in order to make room for stealing. This is why the recurrent expenditure of the Federal Government is always higher than the capital expenditure outlay. If the Federal Government of Nigeria is to reduce its recurrent expenditure drastically, it must make salary administration very efficient and employ the most modern technology in doing so. To deal effectively with these financial criminals on government pay roll, the detailed biometrics of every staff must be in place and payment should match each bio data with an audi-

These civil servants on annual basis pad up recurrent budget in order to make room for stealing; this is why the recurrent expenditure of the federal government is always higher than the capital expenditure outlay

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ast week, the Minister of State for Finance disclosed that the Federal Government uncovered 45,000 ghost workers from 215 Ministries, Departments and Agencies under the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS). Dr Yerima Ngama, the Minister of State for Finance made the disclosure while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House.

Ngama said the discovery of the ghost workers had resulted in the reduction of the wage bill by about N100 billion. It means that on the average, some faceless individuals in the corridors of power were making away with about N100 billion for doing nothing. The rate of looting of the nation’s treasury is fast becoming alarming. It was shocking that all the minister told the media was the discovery.

Nothing was said about those involved and what the government intend to do to them. There is absolute collusion between the political class and the civil servants to steal the nation blind.

Still fresh in our minds is how a civil servant on his own, stole about N32 billion from the police pension fund as if the money were kept in his drawer for him to steal. There is a syndicate in the presidency ripping off the nation. It is not possible for an individual to mindlessly steal billions of

tor verifying.

There are 321 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government.

So far, out of these, 215 have been found to have 45,000 ghost workers drawing salaries. By the time all the 321 units are covered, the number and the amount the government is defrauded of will rise further. Treasury looting has become a fashionable thing and it is carried out without fear of any consequences. The Federal Government has never come out with severe punishment for treasury looters. So it has become a business. The question is;

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where is the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation? Is it not supposed to ensure that government payments are in order? Has the civil service rules crippled the office of the Auditor-General and made it ineffective? Is the Ministry of Finance not in a position to ensure that the office of the Auditor-General functions properly or is it now an act of compromise on the part of the Auditor-General’s office that it can not detect fake payment in the service?

The Minister did not disclose in which of the MDAs these ghost workers were found. What was the action taken against those charged with the dayto-day running of these units to serve as deterrent to others? Who are the major beneficiaries of these crooked acts of financial crime against the na-

tion? Have they been investigated or is the matter being covered up? Some of these civil servants have become so daring that they have the moral courage to declare in the open what they have been able to steal from public treasury. If the political office holders can steal, why not the civil servants?

That is why it was interesting to see one of the looters arraigned at Code of Conduct Tribunal for declaring N421m assets.

Rabiu Aliyu appeared before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja for allegedly declaring assets worth N421 million that cannot be attributed to his emoluments.

Aliyu, a deputy director in the Kano State Audit Department, is also accused of engaging in the management and running of a private consultancy firm and owning a fleet of properties. According to the tribunal, the alleged offences are punishable under the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. This happened at the state level but at the federal level, it is business as usual. ‘It is oil money, so steal as much as you can but do not get caught’ is the language at the federal level. Who will save Nigeria from these looters in agbada and; suit and tie?

Cover Story Continued from page 18 Process of getting Letter of Administration: To get a Letter of Administration from any High Court in the country, a beneficiary will proceed to the court with the death certificate of the deceased. Next, a form for Letter of Administration will be given to the beneficiary to be filled. The beneficiary is then required to place an advertorial in any national newspaper to declare that the deceased is actually dead. An interval of 21 working days will be observed to see if anybody will come forward to counter the advertorial. If nobody comes forward to counter the advertorial, the beneficiary will then proceed to the court with the newspaper bearing the advertorial. Then, the beneficiary will pay the lawyer an amount equal to 10 per cent of the total contribution

Banks, cour ts frus trat e beneficiaries of dead account holder s courts frustrat trate holders in the RSA, which is the standard charge for getting a Letter of Administration in any High Court in Nigeria.

After all these processes, the beneficiary will now wait until the court issues him the Letter of Administration. However, investigations revealed that due to the extended family culture in Nigeria, two or more Letters of Administration may spring up from one family which could halt or delay payment of benefits to next-ofkins.

Need for Will: Due to the prolonged delay in getting a Letter of Administration and the unnecessary inconveniences which it can cause beneficiaries of contributors of the CPS, experts have advised the contributors to prepare a Will to forestall such

occurrences.

According to Mr. Rotimi Edu, a Lagos lawyer and insurance practitioner, the situation whereby only one per cent of urban literate Nigerians write Will, out of which 90 per cent of them are over 60 years, is not ideal. Edu noted that writing of Will was needed for the peaceful transfer of wealth from parents to wards or children and other beneficiaries, but had been grossly under utilised due to some obnoxious traditional beliefs that must be discarded.

He said that transference of wealth had generally been a problematic issue in the African society, due to the reticence of many towards writing of Will and its administration. Edu disagreed with the popularly held notion that only the affluent needed

to write Will, stressing that anyone above the age of 40 years must accord the posthumous instrument premium attention.

Edu said; “It is always advisable not to die intestate, given the fact that obtaining a probate document for such individuals are quite cumbersome with its attendant discomforts and delays.”

On her part, President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, NCRIB, Mrs. Laide Osijo said that Nigerians should imbibe property perpetration culture in order to reduce friction and misery of their dependents after their exit in death.

While proffering solution to overcome the cumbersome process of obtaining letter of administration, a bank official, said; “I think to get rid of all these trauma and challenges, customers need to write to their banks stating categorically that in the event of death, a named person should be given access to their account with or without a will or letter of administration. In that case, the bank

would have evidence to produce in case some other person comes to claim the same money in future.”

Meanwhile, one of the old generation banks told Vanguard, that filling next of kin when opening an account does not matter any longer.

According to the Front Desk official of the bank who does not want her name mentioned, “What we require in our bank is for customers to produce a Will when they are alive, a letter of administration is only required after the death of a customer. So to avoid the bank demanding for a letter of administration from the next of kin, it is advisable for the customer while alive to prepare a Will. But if he or she does not do so and dies, then a letter of administration would be required.”

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20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

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Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 21

Business & Economy BRIEF NACCIMA applauds FG’s new policy thrust on private sector driven economy

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irector-General, N i g e r i a n Association of Chambers of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) Dr John Osemede has commended Federal Government’s decision to put the private sector in the forefront of economic rebirth.

Osemede, at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum in Lagos, said the Federal Government had announced to make private sector driven economy a policy thrust at the flag-off of activities for the centenary celebration. Nigeria is celebrating the centenary anniversary of the amalgamation of its Northern and Southern Protectorates by the British colonisers in 1914.

The Federal Government has commenced activities to mark the amalgamation exercise which happened 100 years ago. The celebration will culminate in 2014. The NACCIMA boss lauded the Federal Government’s decision, saying that it was a proactive attempt to bring about sustainable development in the economy.

“We had a meeting with Mr President and he disclosed the decision to relax and allow the private sector take over the key sectors of the economy,” he said.

Osemede said that a private sector-led economy would accelerate improvement in key areas of the economy with the “ c o n s t r u c t i v e engagement“ of the Federal Government.

“We have challenged the Federal Government to allow us to be in the forefront of improving on our power generation, revival of refineries and infrastructural development.

The private sector can adequately address unemployment, pipeline vandalism and other economic plagues confronting us as a nation.

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BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

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RGANISED Labour in the nation’s Oil and Gas Industry has called on the National Assembly to ensure that Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, before it comes out in a way it will be mutually beneficial to Nigeria and the International Oil Companies, IOCs, operating in Nigeria.

Under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, organised labour insisted that the PIB should ensure a win, win situation for all concerned including the host communities and the workers besides the government and IOCs. President of PENGASSAN, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, who spoke on behalf of the two unions, said: “Presently, Nigeria depends on oil and gas to survive and unless the oil and gas industry survives, the survival of Nigeria is also in jeopardy, because the sector is the mainstay of our economy. As much as we want more income for the country, as workers and major stakeholders in the oil and gas industry as well as in the Nigerian nation, we believe that a just and equitable balance needs to be struck between increasing government take and the oil companies’ profitability so that they can continue to make more investments which invariably will also

L-R: Emmanuel Ibeziako, publisher/Editor-in-chief, the Businessmen Journal presenting the corporate press 20th Annual Men of Achievement Award plaque to Mr. Marcel E. Nwosu, Chairman/CEO, Marcels Limited at the Sheraton Lagos Hotel &Towers, Ikeja on thursday.

Labour demands mutually beneficial PIB translate to more money for government. Oil is being discovered almost on a daily basis in other countries and there are prospects for more as many countries are intensifing their search for petroleum. Nigeria should not do anything that will price it out of the competitive global oil market by putting in place an unfriendly fiscal regime that will put off investors. The PIB should have a fiscal

regime that will be favourable to both existing oil companies and potential investors that may want to come into the country.”

He argued that PIB should target increased production of oil and gas resources in the country, while also focusing on replenishing and increasing reserves and improving on health, safety and environmental performances in the industry.

Non-oil sector drives Nigeria’s GDP growth in Q4 — CBN

BY WILLIAM JIMOH

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he Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has attributed the growth in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP) from 6.9 per cent in third quarter 2012 to 7.1per cent fourth-quarter of the year to the increase in the contribution of the non-oil sectors, particularly the industrial sector, as shown by the available data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

According to the bank in a report tagged “Economic Report Fourth-Quarter 2012” non-oil receipts, at N589.98 billion (24.4 per cent of the total), was below the budget estimate and receipts in the

preceding quarter by 22.8 and 30.3 per cent, respectively.

The report added that decline in non-oil revenue relative to the preceding quarter ’s level, reflected largely the fall in corporate tax, Federal Government independent revenue, as well as customs and excise duties during the review period.

Provisional data on Non-oil export earnings by Nigerian exporters, at US$987.10 million, rose by 72.9 and 65.6 per cent above the levels in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2011,respectively.

On the other hand, Nigeria’s crude oil production, including condensates and natural gas liquids, was estimated at 2.00

million barrels per day (mbd) or 184.00 million barrels for the quarter. Crude oil export stood at 1.55 mbd142.60 million barrels for the quarter, while deliveries to the refineries for domestic consumption remained at 0.45 mbd or 41.40 million barrels.

The increase in oil receipts relative to the budget estimate was also attributed, largely, to the rise in the receipts from petroleum profit tax, royalties and domestic crude oil and gas sales during the period just as average price of Nigeria’s reference crude, the Bonny Light (370 API), which was estimated at US$112.73 per barrel, rose by 1.5 per cent over the level in the preceding quarter.

According to Ogun PIB should ensure that “IOCs contribute to the overall social and economic development of the country, and make government to also leverage on oil and gas resources to expand and diversify the economy, maximise the creation of economic value and employment opportunities in the sector. To achieve these objectives, the unions recommended that the PIB should clearly spell out the administration processes of relinquishment of unutilized portions of OMLs from IOCs as proposed in the PIB to marginal fields to be operated mostly by local oil and gas companies based on the principle of “Right of First Refusal.”

Other recommendations of both NUPENG and PENGASSAN contained in their position paper on PIB include: That bureaucratic bottlenecks inherent in the current contracting process should be reviewed with a view to reducing the lead time of an average contract to a maximum of 6 months (for example, under the current arrangement it takes an average of 18-24 months to complete contracting processes with NNPC/ NAPIMS) .That royalties should be clearly spelt out in the PIB, based on parameters of price and production, as it is too fundamental to be left to regulation or ministerial discretion.

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Banking & Finance BRIEF UBA Foundation donates security vehicles to Ebonyi State Government

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n furtherance of its objectives and commitment to improving level of security in Nigeria and Ebonyi State in particular, UBA Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has donated five security vehicles to the state government.

Presenting the vehicles which include four Toyota Hilux jeeps and a van at the Government House premises in Abakaliki, Executive Director East and Abuja, UBA Plc, Mr. Dan Okeke said the donation is the bank’s contribution to improving the security situation in Ebonyi State.

“We at UBA have appraised the security situation in Ebonyi State and decided to make a commitment of support by donating these security vehicles to boost government’s effort at creating a safe and secure environment for residents and businesses in the state.

This is also in appreciation of the partnership that exists between UBA and Ebonyi State Government,” he said.

Okeke who led a team of top management staff of the bank to make the presentation including MD of UBA Foundation, Ijeoma Aso, Regional Bank Head, East Bank, Casmir Molokwu and Branch Manager of Abakaliki branch, Sam Agbo thanked the state government for providing a conducive atmosphere for the bank to carry out its operations in the state.

Responding, the Governor, Martin Elechi thanked UBA for the donation adding that the bank has been a reliable partner in developing the state. Elechi who was represented by his deputy, Eng. Dave Umahi assured that the vehicles would be used judiciously even as he urged other organisations to emulate the UBA arguing that the issue of security is everybody ’s business and hence should not be left in the hands of government alone.

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African countries need Diaspora Bonds-ADB

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

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iaspora Bond issuance is an effective alternative source of funding that can be used by African countries to fund development projects, said Africa Development

Bank (ADB). ”The Bank recognizes that by default and by design, traditional methods of raising finance domestically are losing influence. We have to conceive of new ways of financing development, and can no longer depend on a limited envelope. Given the shifting patterns in

development finance and traditional donor funding, domestic resource mobilization efforts are getting renewed focus. There is a need to develop new instruments to ensure financing for growth enhancing projects on the continent. Diaspora bonds are one way in which this can

*Deputy Brand Manager, Honeywell Superfine Foods Limited (HSFL), Mrs. Ebele Oluwalana (left), Director, SOS Children’s Village, Isolo, Lagos, Mr. Benjamin Buraimoh, Marketing Manager (HSFL), Mr. Sola Abati and Nike Adedeji, at the Honeywell Noodles Valentine's day outing at the SOS Children’s Village in Isolo, Lagos. Photo by Lamidi Bamidele

ForexTime debuts, now accepts clients N

ew forex broker, ForexTime Ltd (FXTM), has officially started operations with the activation of its Cyprus Investment Firm(CIF)licence and the launch of its website w w w. f o r e x t i m e . c o m .

Established by Andrey Dashin, Alpari co-founder and shareholder, ForexTime is led by an executive team of experts who share the cumulative experience of several decades.

Andrey Dashin says; “My 15 years of experience in the forex industry have helped me recognise what forex traders want and I have established ForexTime to challenge trader expectations. With ForexTime, you get the advantage of trading with sophisticated, reliable and industry-leading

technology, partnered with support from a team handpicked because of their experience and knowledge of the industry.”

ForexTime gives its clients access to the global currency market and offers trading in forex, precious metals, commodities, shares and indices. The company is registered as a Cyprus Investment Firm under registration number HE310361 and is licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under licence number 185/12.

Aside from offering traditional instruments such as forex, gold, silver and CFDs, the company is also introducing solutions tailored specifically to different regions, including Shariahcompliant account services.

ForexTime intends on expanding this list by releasing new products and services throughout the year.

Ensuring that the client experience is at the centre of ForexTime’s offering, the services provided are tailored to the individual needs and ambitions of each customer – novice, intermediate or experienced.

“Our mission at ForexTime is to maximize the value our clients derive from their most precious commodity, time.

The executive team’s cumulative experience means we have an in-depth knowledge of the forex industry and we are committed to pushing the boundaries of this sector with the client experience in mind,” says Olga Rybalkina, CEO of ForexTime.

be achieved. In particular, these bonds can be used to underwrite infrastructure projects which will have the greatest transformational impact to the continent”, the Bank said a paper titled “Diaspora Bonds: Some Lessons for African Countries.

“The experience of the major Diaspora bond issuers, namely Israel, India and Ethiopia provide many lessons to be learnt, some of which are applicable to African countries and some which instruct potential issuers on challenges to avoid. It is clear that African countries will need robust analytics on their Diaspora members, credit enhancements to entice overseas nationals to invest and trustworthy government institutions which protect the interest of the bondholders,” the Bank said.

The paper written by Seliatou Kayode-Anglade and Nana Spio-Garbrah, staff of the Financial Technical Services Division, highlighted five lessons from Diaspora Bonds issued by of Isreal, India and Ethiopia. The lessons according to the authors are: “ Diaspora bonds are a trustworthy source of finance for countries undergoing difficulty. Israel, India and Ethiopia’s experiences show that the Diaspora is often called upon when countries are having difficulty borrowing from other sources.

Although Israel has been issuing Diaspora bonds regularly since 1951, it is noted that sales peak in difficult times. “ Open the sale to all, but market strategically to the few. One of the key takeaways from Diaspora issuances is the benefit from not restricting its access to specific categories of investors. Although this has been done, most successful Diaspora bonds are open to various investor classes.

“Emotional affiliation does not eliminate the need to make a financial return. The Ethiopian experience in issuing Diaspora bonds is very instructive with regard to the concept of a patriotic discount – a benefit to the issuer. This term refers to a Diaspora bond coupon level that is lower than the benchmark, typically the 10-year US Treasury bond or other bonds floated by the same or comparable issuer".

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 23

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24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Corporate Finance

Chellarams’ profitability slumps by 35% as cost rises

WEEKLY TOP TEN GAINERS OPEN CLOSE

•NPF Microfinance records mixed profitability

BY BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

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hellarams PLC have posted a 35 per decline in profitability for its nine months operating period ending December 31st 2012 due to rising operating cost.

NPF Microfinance Bank however recorded mixed profitability for its nine month operating period ending December 31st.

The unaudited result of the Chellarams submitted to the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) show that profit before tax (PBT) dropped to N173.87 million from N271.32 million in the comparable period in 2011. Profit after tax (PAT) also fell by 43 per cent to N119.04 million from N212.49 million.

During the period the Chellarams recorded 9.3 per cent decline in turnover which fell to N17.41 billion from N19.194 billion.

The sharp fall in the company’s profitability was caused by rising operating cost as reflected by the figures for distribution/admin expenses, and finance cost.

Distribution/Admin expenses rose by 10 per cent to N2.01 billion from N1.89 billion.

Finance cost also shot up by 33 per cent to N475.36

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million from N357.25 million.

The share price of Chellarams opened the year at N5.71 per share but it had dropped to N5.43 per share as at last week.Its audited full year result ending March 2012 results show Turnover of N25 billion, PBT of N360.9 million and PAT of 231.6 million, while it paid dividend of 10 kobo per share.

On its part, NPF Microfinance Bank recorded mixed profitability result.

Unaudited nine month results of the bank released to the NSE show a 11.9 per cent decline in profit before tax (PBT) to N497.98 million from N565.69 million while Profit After Tax (PAT) rose slightly by 13 Per cent to

N487.91 million from N424.27.

The Bank’s grow earnings rose by 36.7 per cent to N1.236 billion from N903.7 million, while Net Assets also rose marginally to N3.754 billion.

The Bank’s operating result for full year ending March 31 st 2012 show that it recorded N1.235 billion gross earnings, PBT of N176.8 million and PAT of N113.7 million.

The Share price of the bank has however been on the downward trend, falling from N1.18 per share as at December 28th 2012 to 99 kobo as at the close of trading last week.

WEEKLY TOP LOSERS CLOSE

OPEN

FGN bonds trading rises by 287% in one week …as profit taking depreciates NSE value by N16bn

By CHINEDU IBEABUCHI

T

rading activities in Federal Government Bonds listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange increased by 286.8 per cent last.

Specifically, 6460 units of FGN bonds valued at N7.97 million were traded in 21

deals in contrast to 1,670 units of FGN bonds valued at N2.087 million traded in 41 deals the preceding week.

Also traded during the week were 339 units of NewGold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) valued at N854,813 exchanged hands in six deals in contrast to a

total of 539 units valued at N1.382 million transacted last week in four deals.

However, there were no transactions in the State/ Local Government Bonds and Corporate Bonds/ Debentures sectors since they had been listed on the secondary market three weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the total value of equities (market capitalisation) listed on the Exchange depreciated by N16.07 billion last week due to investors taking profit from the upward trend recorded in previous weeks.

The market capitalisation depreciated marginally by 0.15 per cent to close at N10.64 trillion from N10.65 trillion; also, the All-Share Index declined marginally by 55.04 points or 0.17 per cent to close at 33,258.45 points down from 33,313.49 points the previous week.

Forty-two (42) stocks recorded price decline in the week under review compared to eighteen (18) stocks that recorded price decline in the previous week. Livestock Plc topped the losers chart with 17.44 per cent depreciation to close at N2.13 per share from N2.58 per share. This was followed by Ikeja Hotel Plc which lost 15.04 per cent to close at N0.96 per share and Forte Oil Plc which also lost 14.46 per cent to close at N14.26 per share, among others.

On the contrary, the numbers of gainers last week dropped to fifty-one (51) from seventy-one (71) previous week. Royal Exchange Plc topped the gainers chart with 29.03 per cent appreciation to close at N1.20 per share from N0.27 per share. This was followed by Wapic Insurance Plc, which gained 24.78 per cent to close at N1.41 per share, and Cornerstone Insurance Plc, which also rose by 24.14 per cent to close at N0.72 per share.

A review of market activities for the week revealed that equities experienced continued moderate bargain position on Monday, extending uptrend by 0.59 per cent to open the week on positive note as investors remained optimistic.

However, the key benchmark indices slipped on Tuesday by 0.07 per cent on the back of increased speculative trading. ASI fell further on Wednesday as investors increased pessimistic trading, plunging by 0.40 per cent while the profiteering continued on Thursday to close market with a margin loss of 0.04 per cent as Dangote Cement cushioned the sell pressure.

Subsequently, equities lost breadth on Friday as market succumbed to increased volatility to end the week with aggregate loss of 0.17 per cent.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 25

C M Y K

C M Y K

C M Y K

2.24

2.00 1.21 5.42 1.94 5.81 50.52

66.40 10.07

Livestock/Animal Specialities Livestock Feeds Plc

CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries A.G. Levents Nigeria Plc John Holt Plc SCOA Nigeria Plc Transnational Corporation Chellarams Plc UACN Plc

CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Non-Building/Heavy Construction Julius Berger Nig Plc Roads Nigeria Plc

47.55

9.06 8.59 77.00 3.38 9.78 0.89

40.60 814.96

33.96 4.26 2.88

43.10 52.00

12.05 7.66 13.80 3.39 5.01 25.21 6.13 2.94 7.89 10.10 1.10 1.77 21.30

0.50 1.42 0.89 0.60 0.52 2.35 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.60 0.50 2.87 0.63 0.97 0.60 0.52 1.24 0.52 0.57 0.51 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.23

0.99

Beverages-Non-Alcoholic 7-UP Bottling Company Plc

Food Products Dangote Flour Mills Plc Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc Flour Mills Nigeria Plc Honeywell Flour Mill Plc National Salt Co. Nig Plc UTC Nigeria Plc

Food Products-- Diversified Cadbury Nigeria Plc Nestle Nigeria Plc

Household Durables Nigerian Enamelware Plc Vitafoam Nig. Plc Vono Products Plc

Personal/Household Products PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc Unilever Nigeria Plc

FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking Access Bank Plc Diamond Bank Nigeria Plc Ecobank TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATION Fidelity Bank Plc First City Monument Bank Plc Guaranty Trust Bank Plc Skye Bank Plc Sterling Bank Plc UBA Plc Union Bank Nig. Plc Unity Bank Plc Wema Bank Plc Zenith Bank Plc

Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Sector African Alliance Insurance AIICO Insurance Plc Continental Reinsurance Plc Cornerstone Insurance Company Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc Equity Assurance Plc Goldlink Insurance Plc Great (Nig) Insurance Plc Guinea Insurance Plc International Energy Insurance Plc Investment and Allied Assurance LASACO Assurance Plc Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc Linkage Assurance Plc Mansard Insurance Plc Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc NEM Insurance Co. (Nig) Ltd Niger Insurance Co. Plc OASIS Insurance Plc. Prestige Assurance Co. Plc Regency Alliance Insurance Sovereign Trust Insurance Staco Insurance Plc Standard Alliance Insurance UNIC Insurance Plc Unity Kapital Plc Universal Insurance Plc Wapic Insurance Plc

Microfinance Banks Fortis Micro-Finance Bank Plc NPF Micro-Finance Bank Plc

Other Financial Institutions Africa Prudential Plc Crusader (Nigeria) Plc Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc FBN Holdings Plc Nigeria Energy Sector Fund Royal Exchange Assurance Sim Capital Alliance Plc Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc UBA Capital Plc

2.10 0.50 2.02 20.04 552.20 1.12 103.50 16.00 1.70

0.50 0.50

4.15 290.00 23.99 164.01 0.89

Mortgage Carrier, Broker and Sector Abbey Building SOC Aso Savings and Loans Plc Resort Savings & Loans Plc Union Homes Savings Plc

0.50

Beverages-Brewers/Distillers Champion Breweries Plc Guinness Nigeria Plc International Breweries Plc Nigerian Brew Plc Premier Breweries Plc

100.00

Real Estate Investment Trusts Skye Shelter Funds CONSUMER GOODS Automobile/Auto Parts DN Tyres & Rubber Plc

16.35

0.54 61.63 27.00

1st fTier Securities AGRICULTURE Crop Production FTN Cocoa Processors Plc Okomu Oil Palm Plc Presco Plc

Real Estate Development UACN Property Development

0.50

Oil and Gas and Products Petroleum Prod ucts Capital Oil Plc

Company

Opening Price (N)

Capital Market

1.86 0.50 2.02 19.71 552.20 1.20 103.50 15.00 1.52

0.50 0.50 0.50

0.99

0.50 1.05 0.95 0.72 0.50 2.35 0.50 0.54 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.60 0.50 2.60 0.55 0.95 0.53 0.50 0.91 0.50 0.55 0.50 0.50 0.50 `0.50 0.50 1.41

11.70 7.21 13.82 3.20 5.08 25.00 6.13 2.80 7.69 9.39 0.95 1.53 21.00

40.25 49.50

33.96 4.10 2.88

37.28 823.23

9.01 8.41 77.74 3.09 9.60 0.85

47.50

4.35 296.46 23.75 163.99 0.81

0.50

100.00

16.35

66.00 10.07

2.00 1.27 5.42 1.95 5.71 50.00

2.13

0.56 61.63 26.93

0.50

Closing Price (N)

656,744 4,288,694

4,770,464

1,415,457 1,289,796 160,000 12,702,043

10,000 43,000,000

477,283

1,200,000 20,939,870 2,017,500 4,489,268 507,000 4,926,127 4,758 62,500 16,050,000 20,000 8,115,248 1,670,890 2,632,800 1,261,000 926,254 42,200 1,261,000 21,035,498 1,600,912 100,000 1,810,158 2,925,000 10,620,754 48,000 133,000 80,000 50,000 120,000 662,508

22,677,437 10,057,746 4,172,137 12,797,850 6,791,106 62,583,688 5,687,379 10,003,225 34,740,601 2,277,356 19,403,098 19,896,237 17,215,150

171,661 635,590

1,730 132,365 100,000

1,312,303 146,510

396,757 6,651,864 368,150 6,524,725 814,182 306,102

11,269

58,800 221,519 311,310 1,490,848 50,253

16,500,000

2,000,000

344,806

280,731 240

16,050 338,435 540 27,080,317 50 809,083

2,131,700

3,190,000 150,296 532,850

100

Quantity Traded

0.75 0.50 2.02 20.00 552.20 0.78 103.50 15.69 1.41

1.57 0.50 0.50 0.50

6.00 1.18

0.50 1.11 1.03 0.54 0.50 2.44 0.50 0.68 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.60 0.50 2.59 0.54 0.81 0.61 0.50 1.01 0.50 0.56 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.08

12.39 7.51 14.04 3.47 5.70 26.09 6.50 3.05 7.69 10.60 0.86 1.22 21.49

41.02 47.39

36.19 5.54 2.88

37.27 840.10

19.90 16.20 95.00 6.60 6.70 0.88

51.49

255.00 7.10 100.00 1.01

4.63

0.50

100.00

20.15

62.26 8.28

2.54 8.82 8.28 1.82 7.60 42.50

0.66

0.50 24.58 8.30

0.50

Year High

0.00 0.50 2.02 8.57 552.20 0.50 103.50 10.64 0.03

1.37 0.50 0.50 0.50

0.00 0.92

0.50 0.50 0.58 0.50 0.50 1.08 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.06 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50

4.70 1.92 9.90 1.13 2.90 13.02 2.65 0.80 1.64 2.34 0.50 0.50 11.96

21.02 27.60

33.96 2.91 2.88

8.33 400.00

4.31 4.02 57.00 2.31 3.80 0.50

,39.00

186.00 5.23 72.50 0.93

2.23

0.50

97.00

11.59

32.96 3.01

1.45 5.89 5.52 0.50 6.43 28.70

0.48

0.50 14.53 6.40

0.50

Year Low

0.19 0.00 0.00 2.03 12.68 0.13 10.56 0.87 0.21

0.19 0.02 0.00 0.00

0.04 0.92

0.00 0.50 0.14 0.02 0.50 0.28 0.01 0.00 0.03 0.01 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.16 0.00 0.37 0.02 0.03 0.06 0.04 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.07

1.42 0.90 2.81 0.43 0.00 2.10 0.71 0.54 0.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.09

0.82 1.44

13.89 0.61 0.00

1.35 25.43

0.00 0.91 4.09 0.39 1.01 1.13

2.69

9.95 0.41 5.08 0.00

0.00

0.00

11.75

1.69

4.11 4.73

0.16 0.00 0.35 0.24 0.26 6.89

0.11

0.10 7.33 2.75

0.09

E.P.S.

9.16 0.00 0.00 9.85 43.55 6.00 9.71 18.03 6.71

47.6 7 25.00 0.00 0.00

150.00 10.56

0.00 22.20 6.79 27.30 10.00 7.43 50.00 0.00 16.67 50.00 0.00 25.00 0.00 0.00 16.67 16.19 0.00 2.19 26.00 16.67 15.50 12.50 5.65 0.00 0.00 0.00 25.00 0.00 15.43

8.73 8.34 5.00 7.93 0.00 12.39 9.15 5.43 11.19 0.00 0.00 0.00 10.24

4.39 32.91

2.44 7.07 0.00

27.61 32.84

16.91 14.38 16.89 16.92 5.75 8.83

13.92

19.98 16.29 22.22 0.00

0.00

0.00

8.51

7.33

10.11 2.26

5.18 0.00 15.77 3.64 20.74 4.14

15.00

50.00 2.77 4.37

P.E. Ratio

1.56 0.50

Petroleum and Petroleum Products African Petroleum Plc Beco Petroleum Plc Conoil Eterna Oil and Gas Plc Forte Oil Nig Plc Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc MRS Oil Nigeria Plc Total Nigeria Plc

0.50

5.75 8.25

Transport-Related Services Airline Services and Logistics Plc Nigerian Aviation Handling Company

0.58 4.90

Speciality Interlinked Technologies Plc

Road Transportation Associated Bus Company Plc

2.82 2.48 4.96

0.50

6.27 1.11

0.50

3.90

2.20

Printing & Publishing.

Academy Press Plc Learn Africa Plc Studio Press Nig. Plc University Press

Media/Entertainment Daar Communications Plc

Hotels/Lodging Capital Hotel Ikeja Hotel Plc

Employment Solutions C & I LEASING PLC

Courier/Freight/Delivery Red Star Express Plc Trans-National

Automobile/Auto Part Retailers RT Briscoe Plc

Afromedia Plc

SERVICES

0.50

20.50 0.50 22.00 4.58 16.63 125.97 29.00 143.00

Intergrated Oil and Gas Services Oando Plc

Hospitality Tantalisers Plc

0.85 13.65

OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services Japaul Oil & Maritime Service

3.98 10.00 13.28 4.30 1.05 2.92 0.66

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Packaging/Containers Abplast Products Plc Beta Glass Co. Plc Greif Nigeria Plc Nampak Nigeria Plc Poly Products (Nig) Plc Studio Press (Nig) Plc W.A. Glass Ind. Plc

1.44 0.50

1.32

Electronic and Electrical Products Cutix Plc Nigerian Wire & Cable Plc Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Se Abbey Building Society Plc Union Homes Savings and Loans

0.50

Non-Metalic Mineral Mining Multiverse Plc

Paper/Forest Products Thomas Wyatt Nig. Plc

6.55 10.55

Metals Aluminium Extrusion Ind Plc

7.85

1.99 2.80

25.30 11.65 35.72 12.00 141.00 0.50 1.36 70.50 5.00 1.81 10.93

NATURAL RESOURCES Chemicals BOC Gases Plc

Tools and Machinery Nigerian Ropes Plc

Packaging/Containers Avon Crowncaps & Container Nigerian Bags Manufacturing Company

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials Ashaka Cement Plc Berger Paints Plc CAP Plc Cement Co. of Northern Nig. Plc Dangote Cement Plc First Aluminium Nigeria Plc DN Meyer Plc Lafarge WAPCO Plc Portland Paints & Products Nig Plc Paints & Coatings Manufacturers Premier Paints Plc

0.50

15.96 2.41

IT Services NCR (Nig) Plc Tripple Gee and Company Plc ICT Telecommunications Starcomms Plc

0.50

0.50

5.05 1.22 1.95 49.48 2.44 1.08 8.17 2.30

0.50

2.46

Computers and Peripherals Omatek Ventures Plc

ICT Computer Based Systems108 Courteville Investment Plc

Pharmaceuticals Ekocorp Plc Evans Medical Plc Fidson Healthcare Plc Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nig May & Baker Nigeria Plc Neimeth International Pharm Nigeria-German Chemicals Plc Pharma-Deko Plc

HEALTHCARE Medical Supplies Morison Industries Plc Healthcare Providers Union Diagnostics & Clinicals Services

Opening Price N

5.76 8.10

4.90

0.63

2.56 2.25 2.65 4.96

0.50

6.27 0.96

0.56

3.54 2.78

2.30

0.50

0.50

20.50 0.50 23.10 4.49 14.26 125.97 29.00 137.01

14.00

0.89

3.98 9.50 12.98 4.30 1.05 2.78 0.66

1.44 0.50

1.67 0.50

1.32

0.50

10.55

6.55

7.85

1.99 2.55

24.42 11.90 36.10 11.85 145.00 0.50 1.63 69.00 4.75 1.90 10.93

0.50

16.75 2.29

0.50

0.50

5.05 1.70 1.70 55.09 2.32 1.25 8.17 2.30

0.50

2.34

Closing Price N

201,260 1,097,099

20

336,709

256,520

240,000 356,205

28,000

10,000 1,688,409

1,456,127

280,078

300,606

10,000

22,000

82,191 29,764 1,713 447,591 411,044 50,297 10,551 1,639,112

3,645,416

10,728,8761

6,888 61,433 300 29,198 200 84,311 2,749,340

2,000 1,000

385,000 2,000

38

400,000

30,150

22,408

40

2,000 22,408

2,768,115 138,218 256,896 1,022,136 869,966 541,000 37,662 383,970 359,063 221,000 1,000

2,307,692

51,750 800

200

2,000

1,000 3,952,872 3,952,872 127,728 1,921,000 3,331,460 1,200 1,000

21,000

157,327

Quantity Traded

Daily Stock Market Report

2.78 11.75

5.15

0.80

2.78 6.82

3.68

0.50

400 2.07

1.64

3.67 3.45

3.65

0.72

1.57 6.50

4.90

0.50

2.65 3.60

3.17

0.48

3.00 1.33

0.90

2.65 2.78

1.30

0.51

141.00 63.86 195.50

163.50 2,100 240.00 200

0.50 0.50 5.71 3.89

27.99

0.87

3.98 12.71 13.97 3.60 1.05 2.92 0.63

1.33 0.50

1.62 2.58

1.38

0.50

10.70

6.80

8.26

5.94 1.47

12.00 8.10 15.16 4.16 95.00 0.50 1.02 36.58 5.11 0.51 10.93

0.50

3.25 3.25

0.50

0.50

5.31 0.70 0.83 2.58 3.61 0.95 0.95 4.28

0.50

9.52

Year Low

37.10 0.70 32.60 5.59

78.97

0.97

3.98 15.58 15.03 4.30 1.86 2.92 0.63

1.51 0.99

2.50 2.58

1.38

0.50

12.39

9.20

8.69

6.91 3.60

30.00 12.57 43.98 15.49 132.51 0.75 3.51 48.05 5.28 3.36 13.40

1.47

9.31 3.59

0.50

0.52

5.31 1.45 3.20 23.11 5.61 1.96 12.91 200

0.50

10.54

Year High

0.60 12.53

0.00

0.00

0.25 0.30 0.00 0.54

0.00

0.34 0.92

0.04

0.60 0.25

0.21

0.00

0.01

6.11 2.98 14.63

4.93 0.00 4.25 0.61

1.73

0.19

0.00 3.90 0.90 1.22 0.30 0.07 0.00

0.03 0.00

0.11 0.00

0.00

0.01

0.13

0.78

0.00

0.5 0.25

2.14 1.09 2.28 1.47 7.56 0.00 0.00 4.10 0.44 0.23 0.00

0.00

0.00 0.01

0.00

0.10

0.19 0.44 2.62 0.20 0.09 0.00 0.00

0.00

0.00

E.P.S

4.22 8.75

0.00

0.00

0.00 27.69

12.19

0.00

34.09 2.12

11.25

4.91 11.12

8.19

12.75

11.11 19.23 17.07

6.99

7.40 0.00

4.17

6.06

0.00 3.26 0.00 3.52 6.18 41.71 0.00

28.80 0.00

13.15 0.00

0.00

0.00

85.77

7.37

0.00

39.60 9.16

7.86 4.97 8.88 2.31 13.17 0.00 0.00 42.86 14.19 2.89 0.00

0.00

1.43 0.00

12.50

10.00

9.05 14.13 0.00 0.00

88.50 0.00 3.07

0.00

0.00

P.E Ratio

as at Friday, February 15, 2013

26 —Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 27

C M Y K

28— Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Interview

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

T

HERE is a general consensus that last year was very difficult for businesses in Nigeria arising from government policies among others. DirectorGeneral of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA, Mr. Olusegun Osinowo, in this interview with Financial Vanguard, said in the past four years, the same trend has been responsible for this business operating environment in Nigeria and declared among others, that the diminishing access to government has been the greatest challenge facing businesses in Nigeria. Excerpts.

Mr. Olusegun Osinowo ...for us in 2012, our bigges

Non-access to governmen facing business — NECA D things we should really be looking at.

What can you say was the single major challenge you encountered in 2012?

As the voice of business, access to the government is very important and even the International Labour Organisation, ILO,

We should not hide behind the generic GDP growth rate of 7 per cent. Because when we talk about the GDP growth rate of 7 per cent, what about the poverty index in this country

of 7 per cent, what about the poverty index in this country, what of the unemployment rate in the country, how do we explain that?

So, honestly speaking, we are just celebrating little successes. We need real and big successes that would generate jobs; that would lead to the emergence of new entrepreneurs, new micro businesses and small scale businesses that are striving. These are the

,

has recognised this in its decent work country programme. If you take time to look at the ILO decent work country programme, you will find out that the ILO has actually identified social dialogue as one of the pillars of decent work and sustainable enterprises. I think we are beginning to find a situation where the gap between business and the government is widening by the day.

What the government has

been identifying as the voice of business is not necessarily the voice of business.

So, for us in 2012, our biggest challenge really was the diminishing access to government. And with the diminishing access to government, it will be extremely difficult to put across to the government the key challenges that your members and the enterprise are having. The government will rather listen to some other voices.

For us as a business member organisation, that is very important and you connect that now to the various challenges that businesses are experiencing. If we that are recognised as their voice cannot have access to the government, it means that we will not be able to convey their challenges and complaints to the government on an on-going basis and to be part of the government policies and formulation processes.

Let me say that identifying one Business Member Organisation, BMO, in Nigeria or one key personality that has made a success of their enterprise as part of

government committee is not what we are talking of. Again, the problem we are facing in this environment is that we do not have custodians of institutional memory as to how the organised private sector had related with government over time, which has been to the benefit of this economy. What we have now really is a situation where probably people look to the private sector and can only identify one or two successful businessmen, get them into key committees and assume that they are talking to the private sector.

We need to go back to the dispensation where representative organisations of businesses are involved in their entirety in the process of policy formation and articulation. So for us, the biggest challenge facing us as at today is the diminishing gap of dialogue platform between us and the government. If you recognise the

,

I did not see that carrying us forward significantly in our quest to be one of the 20 top economies in 2020 because these little successes will not really take us there.

What we should really be asking ourselves now is how many new businesses were created in 2012 and how many new jobs? When the Americans are talking about their progress and successes, they come out with statistics that are empirically based to justify what they are saying. They go beyond the standard measurement of their GDP growth rate. When Obama gets on the TV to talk; he talks about the number of jobs that have been created in the last quarter, not even in the last one year.

He talks about new businesses that have come on stream in the American economy. If we are to be among those top economies, we should adopt the same standard in trying to measure our successes. We should not hide behind the generic GDP growth rate of 7 per cent. Because when we talk about the GDP growth rate

,

A lot of employers complained of harsh operating environment and other challenges in 2012. As someone who speaks for the employers, how bad was 2012?

Well the situation of things now as far as the economy is concerned, most importantly, over the past three to four years now, is such that the complaints of employers, the agony of employers, have become repetitive.

When you talk to most operators in this environment, whether entrepreneurs or organisations like ours created to speak on their behalf, you will find the common trend and this is the trend of poor state of infrastructure in this environment, the difficulties in accessing credit and wrong regulatory policies. If you take time to go back into the past three to four years, you will find out that those things I have mentioned have been coming up in most comments.

So for us, 2012 was not in any way different in terms of the hardship most businesses went through when compared to previous years. In that case, whatever improvement anybody might really want to claim, that this economy has experienced from statistical perspective, it cannot be actually justified on the basis of the reality and facts on the streets and as it relates to both businesses and individuals in this country.

For us, we are still not out of the woods and we have to be careful in celebrating what I will call little successes that are not too impactful on the business environment.

There is a lot to be done, whatever improvement that must have occurred in terms of the infrastructural base for this country, whether from the perspective of power supply, I just want to believe that we are just celebrating little successes.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 29

Interview

biggest challenge really was the diminishing access to government

ent, greatest challenge A DG

,

Beyond looking at the budget and the size, somewhere down the line, there should be a kind of reviewing or auditing

,

,

fact that institutions and right policies are keys to the development of any economy, and the involvement of the stakeholders in trying to make sure that they have their own input to building pillars for those institutions and the outcome of those policies, the government has not actually done pretty well in carrying along the key stakeholders which is the organised private sector in this environment.

From what you have seen in the 2013 federal budget, do you think there are better days ahead for businesses in Nigeria?

Let us backtrack and look at the budget 2012, and the question we should be asking ourselves is, what practical impact can we actually identify in the economy on the account of the 2012 budget when compared with 2011? The whole essence of resource utilisation is to promote meaningful growth and development, inclusive growth and development.

Now we are talking about a trillion size budget, just like we had last year and when you move around on our roads for which budgetary provisions were made, you cannot actually feel the reality of the money that actually have been spent on those roads. How do we explain that? I am just using that as an example that probably we need to start looking at the efficiency and the effectiveness of the money which we budget for projects.

That is one. Two, are we actually getting utility for the size of the budget we are articulating? So, beyond looking at the budget and the size, somewhere down the line, there should be a kind of reviewer or auditing. If this much have been spent or budgeted for these, what kind of utility have come out of such actions? We need a different approach to that. I think we also need to look at the profile of the budget itself in terms of the percentage of the funds going into capital expenditure and that of the recurrent expenditure and ask ourselves whether that profile is a profile that will promote the development of the economy.

If you are spending the lager part of your resources on recurrent issues, there is

If the challenge we are having has to do with the climatic region we belong to, then in constructing the road, why don’t we look for those who actually have the knowledge in building roads?

,

no way you can move forward. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying there

might not be some justifications for that size of fund provided for the recurrent expenditure. But anyone that has slightest knowledge of economics will know that in a situation where the chunk of the money you have is going into transactional issues, that takes us to the theory of money where at any point in time, the money you have on hand is spent on transactional issues, speculative issues or contingent issues. In fact, as an individual, the chunk of money you collect on a regular basis is going into buying food, paying your house rent and paying school fees and things like that.

Those things are needful, you have to pay for them. Things like settling hospital bills and sending money to your aged parents and you don’t have anything left to invest, then, you are compromising your future.

You are living from hand to mouth and if for any reason you go through a major crisis

in life, let us say you lose your job, I am just using that as an example to point out the folly in the kind of budget we have. So, somehow you lose your job, where will you get the fallback to see you through the raining days or the crisis period?

Which is why in spite of the dispositions of the governors, one should praise the Federal Government for creating the sovereign wealth fund because the ideal is that we are not going to always have the oil windfall. In fact, based on the cyclical nature of the world economy, hard times will surely come. So, we need something to fall back on.

But in terms of development, just like an individual who has used part of his capital to build his own house, or to provide for extra income, he can fall back on it in the time of crisis. We need to look at the profile of our budget again completely and make sure that the chunk of the money is actually meant for capital expenditure.

Beyond the issue of capital expenditure, the efficiency and effectiveness of utilising the amount that have been so budgeted to ensure that we derive utility from it, that is extremely important. I can give you example on that.

Take the Benin-Ore road, for goodness sake, how many times are we going to repair the Lagos-Benin-Ore road?

If the challenge we are having has to do with the climatic region we belong to, then in constructing the road, why don’t we look for those who actually have the knowledge in building roods that will be durable and tap into their technology in trying to build ours so that this will not become a perennial issue?

This year, the government is spending billions of naira to repair the road and two years after, they are going back to it. I think there is something simply wrong somewhere.

For some of us that we have the privilege to be on ground for this while even before the present dispensation, I could remember the old LagosIkorodu-Ijebu-Ode road which we used to ply when I was in the secondary school in the then South-West.

The old Lagos-Ikorodu before the Expressway was constructed, which was constructed by the Obafemi Awolowo regime. That road, the basic foundation is still there up till today. Forget about whether there are now port-holes or that. But in terms of the foundation, that road is as solid as it used to be. Of course, it may not be in the same climatic region as the Benin-Ore road.

30 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Homes & Housing Finance BRIEF FCTA plans 1,500 houses for Centenary Village

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ederal Capital T e r r i t o r y Administration (FCTA) has earmarked a parcel of land to build 1,500 houses for the Abuja Centenary Village as part of its Social Housing Scheme.

Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, said this while receiving the Polish Deputy Marshal, Region of Wielkopolska, Poland, Mr. Leszek Wojtasiak, who led a business delegation to his office. He said the houses would be built to commemorate 100 years of the amalgamation of Nigeria’s Northern and Southern Protectorates by British colonialists, and would reduce the housing needs of FCT residents.

Mohammed said his administration had unbundled land administration in the FCT by opening it for full participation by the Organised Private Sector, consortiums and foreign investors. According to him, the unbundling of land has culminated in the Abuja Land Swap Model initiative, in which about 13 investors are already working with the FCT Administration to open up 10 new districts by providing infrastructure and recouping their investments from the sales of plots of land.

He called for closer collaboration with the Polish government and businessmen through the Abuja Investment Company Limited and the Abuja Infrastructure Investment Centre for the mutual benefit of both nations. “The FCT Administration has opened its doors to all genuine investors in consonance with the vision of President Goodluck Jonathan and his Transformation Agenda, which has been rewarded with direct foreign investment of over $6.6bn (N1.086tn) into the Federal Capital Territory, including the sum of $2.6bn foreign direct investment for the Abuja Town Centre Development and over $1bn now being expended on the ongoing construction work at the Abuja World Trade Centre,” Mohammed said.

Crowded high-end housing estate

Nigerian Mor tgage Compan Mortgage Companyy to ttak ak e-of ake-of e-offf with N20bn in Q3 STORIES BY YINKA KOLAWOLE

A

liquidity facility vehicle aimed at injecting funds into the Nigerian mortgage sector is expected to become operational in the third quarter of this year, with an initial capital of N20 billion.

President of Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria (MBAN), Mr. Abimbola Olayinka, said the primary aim of establishing the firm - Nigerian Mortgage Company (NMC) - which is an initiative of MBAN, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Finance, is to create liquidity for the mortgage sector. “The initiative came from MBAN and that vehicle should become operational by the third quarter of this year.

Initially, the statutory plan is to start with about N20 billion and then it will grow. It’s going to be far more than that, on a yearly basis it will grow,” he remarked.

Speaking recently at an interactive session, in Lagos, Olayinka said stakeholders came up with the idea of starting the company after identifying paucity of longterm funds as a major problem inhibiting the growth of the mortgage sector in the country. “The mortgage sector has some peculiar problems.

One of them is long term

funds, another one is liquidity, interest rate, foreclosure laws, land use act, so many. But we in the mortgage sector decided that let’s take one and deal with it. One of the key problems, one of the major problems is liquidity. If I have N5 billion and book mortgages of N5 million, if I give out 1000 mortgages, N5 billion is gone.

And when I spend everything

on mortgage, what happens after that?

“So, we said that liquidity is the key thing, we need to create a vehicle which after creating a primary mortgage, we can now offload those mortgages onto that vehicle and the vehicle will create liquidity, inject funds back, either by buying the mortgages off me or taking the mortgages off me in form of

recount back with me and then they can now pull the mortgages back together in terms of mortgage-backed securities or mortgage bonds and offer it to the capital market so investors can also invest in it. That is the primary aim of that company, to create liquidity. We are collaborating with IFC, World Bank, Federal Ministry of Finance, and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).”

Olayinka, who is also the Managing Director/CEO of Resort Savings & Loans Plc, asserted that the mortgage sector is the future of Nigerian economy. “The mortgage sector is the future, whether we like it or not, it’s the future.

It’s just that we have a lopsided policy in place here.

Out there in Europe and the US, mortgage banks are the biggest banks. Because everybody needs a roof over his head and mortgages are the in-thing over there. The mortgage sector is a place to invest in. It’s a long-term investment but I can guarantee you that there is a steady, stable stream of income coming from the mortgage sector, because there is nothing you can get wrong in bricks and mortar.

Once the house is there, even if the houses are not being lived in by you, you can rent it out. There will be a stream of income,” he declared.

The MBAN president noted that without such a liquidity facility vehicle in place, it will be almost impossible to bridge the current huge housing deficit in Nigeria, estimated at about 16 million units.

FEPAR faults overlapping functions in housing ministry

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he Federal Public Administration Reform (FEPAR) programme has condemned the duplication of responsibilities in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.

According to FEPAR, the development has made the current structure of the ministry dysfunctional, stressing that its management practice was based on outdated public service system. FEPAR is a joint initiative of the Federal Government and DFID aimed at strengthening core systems of the government and fostering its capacity to deliver public services efficiently.

National Programme Manager, FEPAR, Ms. Nellie Mayshak, at a strategic planning workshop organised

by the ministry in partnership with the Department for International Development in Abuja, frowned at what she described as unproductive overlapping responsibilities in the ministry.

“The current structure of the ministry is dysfunctional such that there is divisiveness along professional lines, and problems of dislocation in functional alignment vis-à-vis mandate and duplications of efforts. There are also poor organisational techniques, particularly in critical areas like human resource management, supervision, communication and decision making. Poor practice in these key areas compounds institutional inefficiency.”

Mayshak said there was the need for clarity of purpose in policy, standard settings,

monitoring and evaluation as well as evaluation relative to land, housing and urban development.

Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Amal Pepple, said the ministry did a review, which revealed various elements of institutional decay within the organisation. According to her, a team drawn from the ministry, office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Federal Civil Service Commission and the Bureau of Public Service Reforms was saddled with the responsibility of initiating and implementing a programme to reposition the ministry.

“This workshop is a critical step that the ministry has taken to reinvent itself under the Institutional Strengthening and Change Programme,” she said.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 31

32 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

C M Y K

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 33

Insurance

Pension industry is better off with recapitalisation – PenOp W

State of the pension industry after recapitalisation Dave Uduanu, Chairman, PenOp: Regarding recapitalisation, you will notice that a lot of the ‘medium to big’ PFAs already had close to N1billion before the recapitalisation programme was announced.

They didn’t need to bring in a whole lot of money, which is why you don’t see that a lot of things have changed; even though the law and the guideline stipulated N150 million, a lot of PFAs were already capitalised to over N800 million or N1 billion or more and they anticipated that there will be increase in capital. So the PFAs that control at least 90 per cent of the market did not see material inflow by way of new share capital. Now the pension business is not about brick and mortar, unlike banks where everyday people go and withdraw money. The more electronic payment channels are developing, the fewer branches we are going to have because pension is not money that you need for day to day living. So, the transactional aspect of the business is much lower than in banking, therefore the need for brick and mortar is not as high as banking.

The pension funds also have distribution network through the custodians. So if you are with First Bank or with UBA or with Zenith, you have opportunity to have your pension desk in these branches. However, PFAs are putting brick and mortar in some of the more remote locations. In Nigeria, there are six geo political zones and most people look at it and say ‘ok we are really sure of this geo political zone where the commercial capital is or where we have the most customers, so I will put in a location.’ Pension funds that are owned by banks ride on their parent company

The pension funds also have distribution network through the custodians.

So if you are with First Bank or with UBA or with Zenith, you have opportunity to have your pension desk in these branches

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network. So don’t look for the brick and mortar, look for quality of service, customer contact point, it could be call centres, cell phones, or emails that will resolve problems. Even the banking industry is moving from brick and mortar, the world is moving away from brick and mortar to electronic payment channels. What I believe will drive employment level in the PFAs is when the informal sector opens up. You can’t say, ‘now I have N1 billion, let me go and hire people.’

Employment is driven by business needs and business needs is driven by the opening up of the market and the size of the market. So I think that the recapitalisation has made PFAs to be stronger entities, it has also made them to invest in the things that you don’t see like risk management systems, and quality of people. Overall, the industry is better off because of the recapitalisation.

Misibau Yola, MD, Legacy Pensions: Whenever branches are mentioned in the financial services industry, it’s the banking perspective that is usually on our minds. For pension, remittances are made by employers; they are not even by individuals. What you find is that as the number of retirees’ increases, you are going to have the likelihood of more physical branches opening. Now what we have is 5.2 million registered RSA holders or probably less than 200,000 retirees. It is a small number because it is the retirees that you actually sit with a lot of the time. I believe that as the number of retirees increases we will see more branches. But as it is now, I for example, I have UBA, as my custodian, all over Nigeria, in any UBA office; people will sit there and

• Dave Uduanu interact with customers. So you will see the number of branches increase as the size of RSA grows.

Idu Okwuosa, Stanbic/IBTC Pensions: There is also a guideline from PenCom based on the number of RSAs you have, you must have an office in the state. So if you have a certain number of RSAs you have to have an office in that state.

When the transfer window will become operational Ronke Adedeji, Leadway Pensions: On the issue of transfer window, a lot of work is being done to date. The transfer window is quite a complex exercise, on the face, it always appears very simple. People always say, ‘I want to change my PFA and move from A to B,’ but its complex from the perspective that when you are moving an account from one PFA to another certain processes need to take place and the major one is the identification process. We want to make sure that when you are transferring account from one entity to the other, you are transferring correctly and that you are not transferring

,

By ROSEMARY ONUOHA

,

ith over 5.2 million r e g i s t e r e d Retirement Savings Account, RSA, holders and 200,000 retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, Pension Fund Operators, PenOp, in this interview, are of the opinion that the recapitalisation exercise that ended last year has strengthened the industry.

somebody else’s account simply because they have common names. So the issue of biometrics is very key. As such, the identification process to ensure that the transfer is secure and correct has to take place. In Nigeria, we really haven’t sorted out identification, but in more developed parts of the world, identification is quite simple and straightforward. So a major criterion for us is biometrics. There are various initiatives going on regarding biometrics. The federal government has an initiative, the banking sector has an initiative, and we are also looking at it and at the end of the day, we want to come out with a process that will ensure that it is comprehensive, effective and cost effective. So it’s a large exercise in terms of getting the biometrics right, but that is even a part of the whole thing. There is also the software and the data bank process from the National Pension Commission, PenCom’s perspective. So there are still a lot of issues that we are trying to sort out.

We are working hard on the biometrics, to sort out software, databank issues. We may end up doing collaboration between the PFAs; we may look at other stakeholders such as federal government and the banks to work with so that the process can be complete and effective.

Accessing 25 per cent of retirement contribution Yola: As a contributor to the CPS, be reminded that it is six months after you had lost your job that you can access 25 per cent of your pension contribution. If you resigned by yourself, the law does not allow you to have access to that 25 per cent. The objective

If you resigned by yourself, the law does not allow you to have access to that 25 per cent

,

•Misibau Yola

is to make it look like some insurance benefit if you lose your job. The truth is that you didn’t plan to lose your job, so the 25 per cent payment will help you until you get another job. If you resigned on your own, presumable, you had other plans like going to self-employment, or you want to set up your own newspaper, there wont be any 25 per cent initial payment for you. The law states that it is only when you lose your job and you have stayed out of employment for six months, then you can take 25 per cent while you are looking for another job. So when you get another job, you continue with your pension contribution.

Appointing a substantive board for PenCom Uduanu: It is the duty of the federal government to appoint a substantive board for PenCom. Clearly you don’t want a vacuum in any organisation whether it is a regulator, parastatal or even government itself. The government has not appointed a permanent board for PenCom, however, there is an acting Director General and I will say that there is high level of continuity in PenCom because of the way PenCom is run. It is very consultative giving that everything and anything that is done, the regulators deliberate with the operators.

So they just don’t wake up and issue guideline or make amendments to regulation without carrying the operators along.

PenOp is also strong and is getting stronger and is the voice of the industry and serves as a bridge between the regulator and the industry.

Whilst we have desired that there will be no vacuum anywhere, we are mindful of the fact that government is always government and I believe that they will appoint a substantive board for PenCom very soon. We are working with the acting DG and they are people we are very familiar with and there is a high level of continuity.

Substantially, it is not affecting the management of pension funds or what we plan to do with the funds. If there is a new leadership in PenCom, as with all new leaderships, they will take the plans and all the guidelines and bring their own experiences and views to the table and we discuss. If their views are consistent with the progress that is being chart for the industry, they will be implemented, otherwise, it will be difficult for somebody to come to PenCom today and change things completely.

34 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

People in Business

BY EBELE ORAKPO

M

r.

Olufemi Durojaye is the Chief Executive Officer of Femmirate Global Ventures Limited, an outfit with many subsidiaries. In this chat with Financial Vanguard in his Ikorodu, Lagos office, Durojaye speaks on why he ventured into business, the challenges and his dream for the company; advising the youth to look inwards and see what they can do for themselves.

Excerpts:

Every determined businessman can make it in Nigeria — Olufemi Durojaye

necessary training internally and externally, this makes it easier for them to cope with the dynamisms of the business,” he said.

According to Durojaye, he had his secondary school education and part of his tertiary education in the northern part of Nigeria and later went for a Certificate in Computer Technology in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Thereafter, he sat for the Business Education Examination Council exams (BEEC). He is an Amadeus certified agent.

*Mr. Olufemi Durojaye...Challenges are meant to come and if you are determined, one way or the other, you will scale through the challenges

Department (supplies laptops, Ipads etc.); Courier Services Department (renders courier services in partnership with Courier Plus); Femmirate Furniture (deals with supplying office equipment tables, executive chairs, desks for pupils, computer desks, etc, everything about furniture.)

On why he went into travels, Durojaye said the travelling industry is an interesting one and travelling is one of his hobbies.

“When I saw the large number of people that travel out of the country all the time, whether for leisure or study or for whatever purpose, I know the demand is quite high and a lot of the time, people have problems with ticketing and all sorts of issues and so I developed a lot of interest in travels.”

He underwent some training in the Aviation sector to be able to give the best to the travelling public.

Challenges and how they are surviving: “It is generally believed that it is not easy doing business in Nigeria. I quite agree but at the same time, challenges are

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Motivation: Durojaye who noted that he had always wanted to be selfreliant and a job creator said; “I realised that in Nigeria today, everybody wants to rely on government to do everything for them.

Everybody wants to be a civil servant, nobody wants to be self-reliant, or productive so as to help the economy of the country. They just go about complaining and these complaints have not brought any solution, rather, they have made things worse. I believe so much in myself, my abilities and my goals. I believe that I do not have to depend on government to help me or rely on government to get a job. Right from time, I have never believed I was going to work for government or go around searching for job. I know the statistics of unemployment in the country. I have an idea about how many students graduate from the universities every year and how many of them are absorbed in the civil service.

So I believe in what I can do.

I have business ideas, all I had to do was equip myself with the right tools and techniques and here we are.”

Speaking on the subsidiaries, he said; “Femmirate Global Ventures Limited has various subsidiaries which include the following; Femmirate Travels (handles ticketing, reservations, tours, holidays, hotel reservations, airport transportation, everything about travels);Femmirate Electronics (deals on gadgets); Femmirate I n f o r m a t i o n Te c h n o l o g y

Do not depend on government for everything, start with what you have passion for, in no time you will gain mastery of your chosen vocation

meant to come and if you are determined, one way or the other, you will scale through those challenges.

What I do know is that my business is surviving those challenges and I know that every businessman that is determined to do business in Nigeria can still scale through and make their business grow despite all the challenges. Of course, some of the challenges are unfavourable government policies, lots of other challenges that come up in businesses day in day out.

This happens in every country but I think the determination of business owners to overcome those challenges is what will make them succeed in business rather than focusing on the challenges.

“We pay so much attention on keeping our overhead

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cost very low and this has helped us remain in business.

Femmirate staff are very dedicated and committed to work. They are happy doing what they do, so, getting results hasn’t been a p r o b l e m . We p r o v i d e

Asked if Nigeria's educational system is really tailored towards preparing the youth to be self-reliant, Durojaye said; “I understand why you are asking the question. I schooled in Nigeria and I am self-reliant, same educational system. I think this has to do with individuals. Of course, I am not denying the fact that there are still a lot of work to be done when it comes to our curriculum and the way we go about teaching. But at the same time, this really has more to do with individuals. The youth have to realise that they are the hope of this nation, they have to realise that it is all about them, not about the government, not about government jobs, they have to take the challenge upon themselves irrespective of all the odds and unpalatable situations.” He advised the youth not to sit down to complain about unemployment situation in t h e c o u n t r y. “D o n o t depend on the government for everything, take a bold step today, start with what you have passion for, in no time you will gain mastery of your chosen vocation.

Remember that intelligence is never a substitute for experience.”

Future of Femmirates: “We want to bring our business closer to our clients so that they don’t have to complain about location.

We are commissioning another office in Akure later this month and another one in Ibadan next month. We are trying to make our presence felt everywhere. The closer we are, the easier it will be for us to satisfy the clients’ needs.”

NDIC to participate in Kaduna trade fair

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igeria Deposit I n s u r a n c e Corporation (NDIC) is to participate in this year ’s 34th Kaduna International Trade Fair as part of the initiatives to enhance public awareness on the mandate and activities of the corporation.

At the trade fair which has been scheduled to take place between February 22 and March 3, 2013, the NDIC will showcase the production/ transmission of its radio and television jingles, display and distribute the corporation’s inhouse research publications with branded souvenirs on the NDIC Special Day.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 35

Agric

Cocoa: Nigeria to benefit from ICCO’s $3.2m initiative N

igeria is one of the West African countries to benefit from a US$3.2 million initiative tagged The “Integrated Management of Cocoa Pests and Pathogens in Africa” project of the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO).

The new initiative is to tackle cocoa pests and diseases in West Africa, in partnership with the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), the European Cocoa Association (ECA), the world’s two leading chocolate manufacturers, Mars and Mondelez International.

The project, which will be launched in April, aims to tackle the cocoa pests and diseases that are the main challenges to sustainable cocoa economy. Together, they account for more than 40% of global crop losses in cocoa production, and result in reduced income for cocoa farmers.

The “Integrated Management of Cocoa Pests and Pathogens in Africa” project is a US$3.2 million initiative that will address this issue in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, the source of 70% (about 2.8 million tonnes) of

global cocoa production.

With the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) coordinating activities on the ground, the project aims to gather forces and expertise in this region, building on past and existing initiatives in these countries, with the active support of the cocoa and chocolate industry, in order to improve the

productivity on cocoa farms by reducing losses to indigenous cocoa pests and diseases.

In addition, the project will strengthen in country and regional capacity for improved pest surveillance for prevention of spread, early detection, eradication and continued management of existing and invasive pests and pathogens.

Among the major indigenous cocoa pests and diseases to be targeted by the project are those that cause significant crop losses in Africa: Mirids; Sting bugs; Stem borers; Black pod and Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus (CSSV). Also to be addressed is the recent emergence of parasitic plants such as mistletoes and epiphytes, which also threaten West African cocoa production.

•Cocoa farm

AGRA launches $5m project targeting smallholder farmers

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he Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has launched a new US$ 5 million project aimed at doubling agricultural production by smallholder farmers in the next five years with the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture. The project, which will target over 90,000 smallholder farmers in six regional states, will among other things co-finance the procurement of three lime crushers to deal with high levels of acidity in soils in various states. Targeted Regional states include Oromia, Amhara, SNNPRS, Tigray, Gambela and Benshangul Gumuz. ‘’The current project that we are launching with AGRA is one among several initiatives that the Ministry of Agriculture has prioritized to tackle key agricultural productivity constraints in the country,’’ says Prof.

Tekalign Mamo, State Minister and Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture. ‘ ‘There are already encouraging achievements being made in this regard,

and in the next three years, our plan is to scale out improved soil fertility management packages to a minimum of ninety thousand farmers’ households’’. ‘’Recently, the Ethiopian Government has launched two important programs, the National Soil Fertility

Mapping, and the Fertilizer Blending Program. While the first one will help identify key nutrients that are in short supply in the soil and thus limit yield, hence, what types of fertilizers to use, the second program is about manufacturing the required fertilizers in-country and

distributing to farmers.

The project with AGRA and the ongoing soil fertility initiatives, have direct linkage since AGRA is partnering to realize the desired increase in agricultural productivity using existing packages and new information being generated from the two new programs.

Ministry targets registration of 5m farmers in 2013 GES scheme – Director The director said that the

T

he Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development plans to register five million farmers for the second phase of the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme this year.

Mr Olumuyiwa Azeez, the Director, Federal Department of Rural Development in the ministry, disclosed this in Abuja during the week The GES scheme is a Federal Government initiative under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA).It is a major pillar of the ATA, through which subsidised

agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and seed are made available to farmers.

Under the initiative, farmers access inputs through an electronic distribution channel known as the ewallet. The conditions of the e-wallet scheme stipulate that a registered farmer under the scheme pays 50 per cent of the cost of farm inputs while the federal and state governments pay 25 per cent each on his behalf.

One of the requirements of the scheme is the registration of farmers nationwide by capturing their data into the ministry’s central data bank.

ministry had introduced “mark-reading forms” commonly used for national examinations and selected 300 unemployed graduates to compute all the data gathered from the forms into the data bank.

“We brought in new innovations to tackle some of the challenges we experienced last year. With the mark-reading forms, it will be easier to send data to the computers.

“We have also devised a uniform means of identification. Each farmer will be given an identification card at the point of redemption.”

BRIEF Commission disburses N14m microcredit loan to farmers

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he Justice, Development and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of IjebuOde, Ogun, disbursed N14 million micro-credit loans to farmers in the state in the last one year, an official said.

Mrs Cordelia Obi, the Assistant Coordinator, the Diocesan Agricultural Development Programme of the commission disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ijebu-Ode. Obi said that the loan was given to the farmers to promote sustainable and improved agricultural development in the area.

She said that the loan was disbursed to 35 farmer groups in Ogun East senatorial district, adding that the department had 60 farmer groups. “ We have the mission to promote sustainable and improved agricultural development among farmers to enhance food security.

That is why we are empowering farmers in all ways.”

Obi said that farmers were also trained on the control of bush burning and farm management practices under the d e p a r t m e n t ’ s institutional and capacity d e v e l o p m e n t programme.

She said that the training was aimed at helping farmers to be upto-date in farming practices.

“These farmer groups were trained on agricultural techniques because we believe that knowledge is power. We believe that if they are not informed, they might be doing the wrong thing and this might not be good for food production,” she said.

Obi, however, said that the commission would not relent in partnering with farmers towards achieving food security in the state and the country at large.

36 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

F

irst it was the cancellation of the badly written and mutually illexecuted contract with BiCourtney to re-build the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The contract was unilaterally terminated by the Federal government of Nigeria – without going through due process. Nigerians heard on the airwaves, from the Minister of Works, that the contract had been reawarded to Julius Berger, JB. Like a lot of statements from Jonathan’s administration, it turned out that there is no signed agreement with JB. Having got itself into a tight corner and facing a multi-billion naira law suit from Bi-Courtney, the Federal government had done what governments in Banana Republics do – it has gone on the offensive in a bid to intimidate Dr Wale Babalakin, SAN. In Nigeria, where someone who, by his own admission, embezzled N23 billion from the Pension Fund, and was almost allowed to go free, a man who had attracted billions into the Nigerian economy is being hounded like a wild animal.

Even any 100 level student knows that the government’s action regarding the Expressway contract was faulty procedurally. The delay in the execution of the contract was as much the fault of governments (federal and states) as well as that of Bi-Courtney.

Who wants Wale Babalakin “Dead”?

But, the Federal government in a bid to shift the blame to the victim, Bi-Courtney, had attempted to use propaganda to gain cheap popularity on the matter.

Apart from the obvious lie told when the award of a new contract to JB was announced, few people seem to remember that the temporary rehabilitation of the road was supposed to have been completed before Christmas. But, today, work is still going on. Our private investigation reveals that the Federal government had been delaying in paying for services rendered – as usual.

To intimidate Babalakin, the Federal government, using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as a fence, had arraigned Babalakin, at the Lagos High Court, Ikeja, on January 17, 2013, together with one Alex Okoh and some

,

“The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria is set to take possession of properties belonging to the Chairman, Bi-Courtney Group of Companies, Dr Wale Babalakin, over a N13.4bn debt…But, for “clerical errors”, one of the properties in Lagos would have been taken over on Friday”. PUNCH, Monday, February 11, 2013, p 30.

Even any 100 level student knows that the government’s action regarding the Expressway contract was faulty procedurally

companies for allegedly helping Chief Ibori to launder N4.7 billion.

Ordinarily, there would have been no cause for alarm if the EFCC had acted months before the mistake by the Federal government regarding the road contract. But, coming a few weeks after the, perhaps, illegal termination of contract, the measure was suspicious. The doubt in people’s mind was heightened by the unnecessary drama, orchestrated by the EFCC, once the announcement was first made of Babalakin’s

,

arrest. It was a familiar tale of “giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it”. Newspapers were told that Babalakin had been declared wanted; even when he had not received the summons to appear at EFCC office. Again, any level I00 student of law, in a democracy, knows that allegation is not sufficient proof of guilt.

Furthermore, a person accused by the EFCC, the Police, the NDLEA, or any other security agency, for serious crimes, must protect himself by procuring the services of a lawyer

before appearing before them for questioning. It will be the height of folly for anyone to be called and for the person to march straight to EFCC office without taking this precaution.

And, there is nothing in the EFCC Act which stipulates the time available to the accused before showing up at the EFCC office. Despite knowing these facts, the EFCC was all over the media “searching for Babalakin”.

Meanwhile, pension fraudsters were receiving lenient treatment and one just got a slap on the wrist – thanks to EFCC mishandling the case.

The truth is, the EFCC cannot, and should not, prevent anyone from taking shelter under the provisions of the law which favour them in their defence. In more civilized countries, an accused person is allowed to remain silent if being interrogated without his legal counsel present. In the USA, that is called the Mirinda Amendment. Here in Nigeria, millions of innocent people are railroaded into jail by being asked, or forced or intimidated, by law enforcement agents to write statements, which are later submitted as evidence, without a lawyer within ten kilometers of the interrogation room. Why should Babalakin, a lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, subject himself to that sort of travesty of justice – just to please the EFCC? As for those who would wonder why Babalakin, as a SAN, cannot handle his own case,

Micro-Finance

IPMAN MfB seeks policy against loan defaulters Stories by PROVIDENCE OBUH

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pman Satellite Microfinance Bank has urged the regulators of the sub-sector to enact a law to serve as a deterrent to loan defaulters, even as it stated that Microfinance Banks (MfBs) are suffering due to bad debt.

The bank is of the view that Nigerians find it difficult to pay back loans, given that they consider it as a national cake.

Managing Director of the bank, Mr. George Adetokunbo made the statement in a telephone conversation with Financial Vanguard.

Adetokunbo said, “An average Nigerian don’t pay back loan, whether to microfinance banks or to the bigger banks, they see it as a national cake.

There must be a policy to punish people who borrow and fail to pay back.”

He said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not doing much, urging them to do more to ensure that MfBs are not seen as a bank where people come in and pick money and go back and relax, “make them realize

…say MfBs suffer due to bad debt

that if you borrow, you must pay for it,” he said.

According to him, “In 2012 a legal action was filed against someone who borrowed some amount in 2007 from one of the MfB and have refused to pay back, do you know that the same person went back to sue the bank for human right.

He added that cases filed in the court are been delayed from six months to one year and adjourned until the bank gets fed up. Speaking on recapitalization, he said it would bring back sanity into the subsector, however, he lamented, “ you recapitalize and people borrow without paying and you are left with nothing. Some MfB have

over N120 million out-side, in the name of loan, if they can get such money I don’t think we would be talking about recapitalization. MfBs are affected by bad loan. “CBN should not rush, recapitalisation is a good course, is just the situation of the country, there is no money. MfBs have lots of capital, but they are tied by borrowers,” he said.

Valentine: OEF donates 5,000 books, computers to students

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ver 5,000 note books, set of computers and a Television set, among others have been donated to about five schools in various Districts in Lagos State.

As part of the Valetine celebration, the donation was made, weekend, by the Olumide Emmanuel Foundation (OEF) in an effort to support government at all levels of the Federation in its campaign for free education.

A breakdown of the donation include: 2,000 note books and a computer to the State Senior High School Badagry and its counterpart State Junior High School Badagry, 1,000 note book and a computer

was given to Government Junior Comprehensive College Agege, a thousand note book and a television set goes to Iponri Estate Junior High School and Amuwo Odofin Community Senior Secondary School Mile-2 received a thousand notes books.

Speaking at the occasion of the presentation, Founder, OEF, Mr. Emmanuel Olumide advised the Students to take their academics more seriously.

Olumide said, “Your background is not a hindrance to your higher ground, whether you go to a private or public school you have a destiny, make a difference in your generation.

Meanwhile, he stated that the Foundation was established to eradicate poverty and not to alleviate poverty, which is, eradicating poverty and establishing a positive legacy.

Accordingly, the Coordinator, OEF, Mr. Oluseyi Emmanuel said, “ we realise that Valentine celebration goes beyond having extramarital affair, drinking and getting drunk, but a time to share love by giving gifts to these schools. We have been doing it in our vicinity, but we decided to extend it to other locality in the state.“ In addition, he revealed that the foundation has a school in the pipeline, the refugee project, a rehabilitation centre where people can be taught skill acquisition.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 37

38 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Aviation Stories by LAWANI MIKAIRU & DANIEL ETEGHE

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viation Unions under the auspices of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the National Union of Air Transport Employees ,NUATE, have given a 14 days ultimatum to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency ,NAMA, to fully implement the reviewed salary structure agreed upon by both the management of the agency and the unions saying if that was not done, the unions will embark on an indefinite strike at the end of the ultimatum.

In a swift reaction, the management of NAMA said a committee has been set up by the management to look into the grey areas of the new condition of service.

A statement jointly signed by the Acting General Secretary of NUATE, Comrade Abdul Kareem Motajo and the Acting General Secretary of ATSSSAN, Comrade Olayinka Abioye urged

Aviation unions give 14 days ultimatum to NAMA management workers in NAMA to be on red alert saying that the union has given the management a fourteen days ultimatum to fully implement the adjusted salary structure.

According to the unions , NAMA had continued to blackmail the union leaders and have often threatened the members of staffs for

demanding the full implementation of the reviewed salary structure.“By this general bulletin, all NAMA workers are hereby placed on red alert as we can authoritatively state that NAMA management has persistently continued to blackmail union leaders and threaten our members directly

One of the planes that will be provided by Voyageur Airways for JedAir to operate in Nigeria. A Bombardier Dash 8 Series 300/400. Both airlines signed a JV Agreement recently

or indirectly” “You may please recall our letter to the management of NAMA on the implementation of the

approved reviewed/Adjusted salary structure within fourteen days”“On full implementation as approved, we stand” the circular read.

SAHCOL MD gets award T he Managing Director of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited, SAHCOL Mr Oluropo Owolabi , has been honoured with “Fellow ”, and “Distinguished Merit Award in Transport”. by the Institute of Transport Administration, Nigeria (IOTA), “in recognition of his immense contribution to the growth and development of the transport industry in Nigeria over the years.”

According to a statement by Mr Basil Agboarumi, Head, Corporate Communication of SAHCOL, the award ceremony was graced by Crème de la Crème in the Government, Private and

Transport industry in Nigeria.

Mr Owolabi was presented with a Certificate and Plague.

Mr Owolabi has in the past received honours and awards for his sheer resilience, astute business acumen, innovative skills, corporate excellence and innovative approach to corporate turnaround.

Since the present leadership of Oluropo Owolabi, as Managing Director of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited over a year ago, business modules has been developed, which has ushered into the performance of the company efficient and speedy service delivery.

Advertising, Media & Marketing

Challenges of using cassava flour for biscuit not insurmountable — Haansbro manufacturers

BY PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU Overtime, the biscuit, sweet and chewing gum market has remained unexplored, but recently companies with insight on what is obtainable in the market have been operating silently and secretly reaping its dividend.

The companies include A&P Foods, makers of Haansbro biscuits, sweets and gums, Deli Foods, Ok Foods, Natex Nigeria Limited, Pardee Foods Nigeria and a host of others. However, there have been challenges in the industry, no doubt, these companies, particularly A&P Foods has been able to grow

From Left: Mrs. Busola Tejumola, Consumer Insight Manager; Mr.Mayo Okunola, General Manager, DStv Nigeria; Mr. Ayo Osunbunmi, winner of a Renault Duster SUV won in the DStv Mega Promo and his wife Olufunmilayo Osunbunmi; during the prize presentation held at the MultiChoice head office, in Lagos

the market to its present level despite the challenges expressed its readiness to do more to grow the market further. Like Sameer Vaswani, Managing Director, A&P Foods put it while celebrating th the 10 anniversary of its company, agreed it’s not been an easy task growing the market from its varied challenges thus able to meander through the years.

When the company in Lagos recently invited stakeholders including its distributors to celebrate the milestones, the managing director observed that when the company first started business in 2002 the market was a N5 market, which he described as very uncreative and un-innovative, “there were few types of products available in the market, but we have developed this business and taken the business from N5 to N10. We are now taking it from N10 to N20. We have increased the choice and variety. We have also introduced new products from around the world and

made them available in the local market.

Invariably three main raw materials are required for biscuit production; flour, sugar and palm oil of which these main ingredients, flour, sugar are purchased locally, packaging is also done locally, but palm oil and some flavours are imported from abroad. “The particular type of palm oil we need for biscuits is not produced locally, however this will change in 2013. There is a new company that is supplying the type of facts we need for biscuits and we will start purchasing from them this year.”

Using cassava as an alternative to wheat flour remains one of the challenges biscuit manufacturers will face when eventually government makes a policy statement on it, the manufacturers of Haansbro bisacuits were quick to say that it is a huge challenge, but that cassava flour has been tried and tested in small quantities using bread.

However, for the use in biscuits, Vaswani said it is still an ongoing experiment.

“It is not easy to combine cassava flour with regular wheat flour and produce a good quality biscuit. There are a lot of challenges in the technical side of it especially in the baking, in ensuring that the biscuit rises to the right level. All that research and development is still going on to try and use cassava flour. We have not given up but a solution has not been found yet. We are working on it.”

On whether switching from wheat flour to cassava flour a policy from government, the managing Director said; “Any policy that encourages local agriculture and local growth and sectors of the economy is always a good policy. We just have to be patient and I only urge the government to be patient and give it the necessary time it requires to develop the use of Cassava flour. We cannot rush things and we cannot run before we can walk. While it is a good policy it needs time to develop and local manufacturers need the time to embark on research and development because the use of Cassava flour in biscuits is not done anywhere in the world.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 — 39

International Business News

*Donation to Ebonyi State; Managing Director, UBA Foundation, Ijeoma Aso; Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Eng. Dave Umahi; and Executive Direcror, UBA Plc, Mr. Dan Okeke, during the presentation of four security vehicles and a van donated by UBA Foundation to Ebonyi State at the Government House, Abakaliki.

American Airlines, US Airways unveil $11bn merger

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merican Airlines and U.S. Airways Group said they plan to merge to form the world’s biggest airline with a combined equity value of 11 billion dollars. The widely expected merger caps a wave of consolidation that has helped put U.S. airlines on more solid financial footing.

The merged airline will be majority owned by creditors, unions and employees of American parent, AMR Corp, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2011. The airline which is to carry the American Airlines name would be two per cent larger than current No. 1, United Continental Holdings Inc in traffic, as measured by the number of nautical miles flown by paying passengers worldwide. “By utilising American’s connecting network with penetration into smaller markets, and global alliance revenues, the new company could more effectively raise revenues and reduce costs, while addressing labour integration and capital problems,” Sterne Agee & Leach analyst Jeffrey Kauffman said in a note before the deal was announced on Thursday.

The new American will be based in Dallas-Fort Worth and will be headed by U.S. Airways Chief Executive, Doug Parker, who has long advocated industry consolidation. U.S. Airways began its pursuit of a merger in early 2012. Tom Horton, who became AMR’s CEO

when it filed for bankruptcy, will serve as chairman through its first annual meeting of shareholders, after which Parker will take over.

Horton’s role had been one of the last sticking points for a deal, people familiar with the situation have said, with AMR’s board pushing for a bigger role on his behalf. The merger, subject to approvals from regulators and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, could help speed up the recovery of the U.S. airline industry as carriers will get more room to boost fares. Passengers of U.S.

Airways and American would gain access to new destinations. The tie-up is the fourth major merger in the U.S. airline industry since 2008, when Delta Air Lines bought northwest. United and Continental merged in 2010 and Southwest Airlines bought discount rival AirTran Holdings in 2011. The new, larger American Airlines would return to the leadership position among U.S. carriers that it ceded in recent years as high labour costs made it difficult to compete with restructured

rivals.

The standalone American is currently third in terms of traffic behind United and Delta, both of which used Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to cut costs and find merger partners. A combined American-U.S. Airways would have revenue of about 39 billion dollars based on 2012 figures, ahead of United Continental which had revenue of about 37 billion dollars. U.S. Airways stockholders will receive one share of common stock of the combined airline for each U.S. Airways share, the companies said in a statement. U.S. Airways shareholders will get 28 per cent of the equity of the combined airline. The remaining 72 per cent will be issuable to stakeholders of AMR and its debtor subsidiaries, American’s labour unions and current AMR employees.

“American work groups may be taking a little bit of a pay cut while U.S. Airways work groups on the other hand will probably get a pay raise,” Avondale Partners analyst Fred Lowrance said. Unions representing the carriers’ pilots, flight attendants, and ground service workers said they support the deal, while the machinists union said its renewed contracts must be completed before it supports the merger. The transaction is expected by the two companies to generate more than one billion dollars in annual net synergies in 2015.

The companies said they expect 1.2 billion dollars in one-time transition costs spread over the next three years.

G-20 seeks common ground on currencies after Yen split

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uropean Central Bank President Mario Draghi speaks at a news conference in Moscow about the ECB’s mandate and the usefulness of the exchange rate in assessing the economic outlook. Japan is in the spotlight after the yen tumbled about 12 percent in the past three months on the bet that new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will pursue a campaign commitment to demand more aggressive monetary policy.

That has led to concern elsewhere he’s chasing a cheaper yen, potentially triggering a so-called currency war if others do the same.

Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers begin

talks in Moscow today with investors seeking clarity on how comfortable they are with a sliding yen. Questions are being asked after the Group of Seven united around a pledge not to target exchange rates only to divide over its meaning for Japan.

“We have to get to the bottom of this, of course, listen to our Japanese colleagues and how they explain this and what decisions they will take and what exchange-rate policy they will follow,” Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview yesterday before hosting the meeting. He said the G-20 should adopt more “specific” language opposing exchange-rate interference in a statement to be released tomorrow.

At stake is how much to endorse Japan’s use of fresh monetary stimulus to propel its economy from 15 years of deflation without signaling support for a weaker yen, which may hurt exporters elsewhere and prompt retaliation.

The yen strengthened for a fourth day today against the dollar.

Japan is in the spotlight after the yen tumbled about 12 percent in the past three months on the bet that new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will pursue a campaign commitment to demand more aggressive monetary policy.

That has led to concern elsewhere he’s chasing a cheaper yen, potentially triggering a so-called currency war if others do the same.

BRIEFS Traders send SOS to Jonathan, ECOWAS

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he National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANT) has appealed President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of ECOWAS to intervene in the renewed hostility against Nigerian traders in Ghana. Mr Ken Ukoaha, president of the association, described the development as unfortunate. He called on the governments of Ghana and Nigeria to address the problem so that it would not escalate.

NACCIMA wants FG to de-emphasise inflow of FDI

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he Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) on Thursday suggested that Nigeria should deemphasise inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Dr John Osemede, the Director-General of NACCIMA, made the call in Lagos. He said that rather the Federal Government should introduce policies to encourage the growth of local industries.

Osemede said that most of the foreign companies in the country were not operating to the advantage of the country as they were not listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

FG promises to address challenges facing Nigeria-Ghana trade relations

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he Federal Government has pledged to address challenges arising from trade activities between Nigeria and Ghana. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Olugbenga Ashiru, made the pledge in Abuja. Ashiru refuted allegations that fresh disputes had emerged between both countries. “ There is no dispute; it was resolved and Ghana has suspended that action because we told them that it was not in conformity with the protocol that encourages free trading among ECOWAS countries.

40 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Email:lesleba@lesleba.com, lesleba@gmail.com Blog page:www.lesleba.com/blog2 Website: www.lesleba.com

Tel:0817 002 3569

SUPER EAGLES AS THE OTHER NIGERIAN instructions. Indeed, Keshi, himself maintained that individual skills alone do not win such tournaments, and despite intense pressure, he remained undaunted and unapologetic for leaving out some star players; for Keshi, merit without consideration of ethnic affiliations or federal character was the benchmark for team selection!

The Coach consistently took full responsibility for his team’s shortcomings, without overtly apportioning blame to anyone! Consequently, he earned the respect of his players and their resolve to give 101% in every match.

Keshi, in return, showed genuine fatherly concern and respect for his players.

Keshi ignored the deprivations and disrespect from the Football Federation, but instead encouraged Nigerians to have faith in the team’s ability to deliver; he remained upbeat about fulfilling his contract terms to take the Super Eagles to the semi-finals of AFCON 2013!

Curiously, also, the Football Federation had threatened to summarily sack Coach Keshi midway in the tournament, if he refused to accept a foreign technical adviser as his boss; Keshi in turn offered to resign his position immediately after the Eagles unexpectedly beat favourites, Ivory Coast! Interestingly, despite these distractions, the camp remained unusually convivial

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ur governments have spent billions of naira over time to promote a positive image for Nigerians everywhere.

Regrettably, the popular perception of the Nigerian character remains that of greed, self-interest and other such ingenious criminal escapades. The promoted brand of “Good People, Great Nation” never really took off, and it has become clear that neither catchy slogans nor sexy packaging can change public perception of what is intrinsically a bad product!

The question then is, how did the Super Eagles against all odds win the coveted elusive ‘Africa Nation’s Cup’, with qualities supposedly alien to the Nigerian character? With our tradition of tardy preparations, inadequate funding and poor team selection, how did the shrubs we sowed transform into sweet-smelling roses?

Undoubtedly, unity, cohesive teamwork, strong determination to succeed, utmost self-belief, and a driving hunger for personal glory and honour to the fatherland brought unexpected success!

Keshi’s leadership was certainly a major factor in the AFCON victory; his team list was based on the perceived fighting and winning mentality of each player and the readiness of his selection to play according to

Keshi’s effortless response to questions in both English and French must have endeared him not only to French speaking Africans, but also to those Nigerians, who cringe at the poor performance of our national leaders in front of international media.

and harmonious! The excellent team spirit was no doubt a testimony of the matured leadership skills of Coach Keshi, an attribute that has unfortunately been absent in the affairs of our nation for a very long time!

Keshi’s effortless response to questions in both English and French must have endeared him not only to French speaking Africans, but also to those Nigerians, who cringe at the poor performance of our national leaders in front of international media.

In similar vein, Nigerians witnessed the amazing exploits of Sunday Mba, one of six domestic players in Keshi’s 23-man team. The unusually high quota of local content was justified by the excellent performances of Mba and other homegrown

imported quality is inferior can still be observed in all facets of governance and corporate management in our country!

Finally, we cannot comment on the apparent total commitment of Victor Moses to the success of the national team without a twitch of guilt or at best some embarrassment. Despite the threatening injury he sustained in the earlier match against Mali, Moses went on to give a superlative account of himself also in the finals.

Surprisingly, Victor had a choice to play for England and ultimately enjoy the same cult status of key players in the English team, but it is to his credit and his sense of loyalty that he chose, instead, to play for his fatherland. Unknown to most Nigerians, the parents of this young man had been mindlessly murdered in the mayhem that followed the aborted Abuja Miss World Beauty Contest in 2002!

Painfully, the perpetrators of that heinous act remain free; Victor may never forget the brutal separation from his parents, but for him to have given so much of himself to Nigeria in the AFCON 2013 tournament, the young man must have found it in his heart to forgive his countrymen!

SAVE THE NAIRA, SAVE NIGERIANS!!

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players. Mba certainly lifted the spirits of most Nigerians with his two mesmerizing winning goals against Ivory Coast in the quarterfinals and Burkina Faso in the finals respectively.

Despite technical and capacity limitations, there are undoubtedly many more Mbas waiting to explode in the service of our country in various fields of endeavour whenever the enabling environment presents itself.

Mba’s electric performance and Keshi’s success sent out a strong message that the object of our expensive foreign travails may actually have remained idle in the pockets of our ‘shokoto’.

This same syndrome of lack of belief in ourselves and the cringing adoration for everything foreign, even when the

Business & Economy standard of living,” she said.

Coker-Afolayan said that the LIRS would continue to sanction tax defaulters.

She advised companies to remit taxes promptly to avoid embarrassment and stressed that it was a criminal offence to break government’s seals on sealed companies.

Lagos shuts 15 firms over tax default T

he Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has sealed 15 companies in the last one month for failure to remit N47.4 million personal income taxes of workers. Mrs Folasade Coker-Afolayan, the Head of its Distrain Unit, made the disclosure in Lagos.

She said that the companies were sealed between Jan. 9 and Feb. 6.

According to her, five of the defaulting firms were shut in January over tax liabilities of N25.2 million. She said the other 10 companies were sealed in February over tax debt of N22.2 million.

“The enforcement happened between Jan. 9 and Feb.6,” she said. Coker-Afolayan said that these taxes were for a period of one year to six years.

She reiterated that tax payment was a civic C M Y K

responsibility of everyone, explaining that the proceeds were being used by the

government to provide infrastructure. Tax is a major source of government

revenue. It enables it to provide infrastructure and improve the citizens’

Legal framework for ICD operation ready soon

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he federal government is working out the legal frame work that will make the operation of Inland Container Depots (ICDs) across the country effectively operational.

Disclosing this to Vanguard in an exclusive interview in Lagos, Executive Secretary/ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Hassan Bello, said that the federal ministry of transport is working at issuing the appropriate legal framework for the operations of these ICDs. As a result, the Shippers’Council boss noted that ICDs will soon become

operational. He pointed out that the ICDs are supposed to solve once and for all the perennial issue of port congestions.

Bello said government intention is to “place Nigeria strategically as not only a partner but an important and serious member of the world economy as far as transportation is concerned.

This is because things are being done in according to accepted practices and international standards.

Secondly, what is happening in the transportation industry is the diversification of the economy from oil to other sources.

Omoh Gabriel Babajide Komolafe Clara Nwachukwu Peter Egwuatu Yinka Kolawole Favour Nnabugwu Godwin Oritse Godfrey Bivbere Michael Eboh Oscarline Onwuemenyi Franklin Alli Amaka Abayomi Ebele Orakpo Ifeyinwa Obi

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Group Business Editor Acting Finance Editor Energy Editor Head, Capital Market Snr Bus. Correspondent Insurance Correspondent Maritime Correspondent Maritime Correspondent Capital Market Reporter Energy Reporter Industry/Agric. Reporter Money market Reporter Energy Reporter Maritime Reporter

CONTRIBUTORS Princewill Ekwujuru Naomi Uzor Providence Obuh LAYOUT

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Media/Marketing Industry Micro Finance Graphics Department