Financial Vanguard

APRIL 1, 2013 2.35

136.1 2,164.00

-2.00

18.77

-0.07

109.98 +0.15 18.17

-0.04

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA

154.76 235.2816 200.4142 163.9928 1.6318 0.2856 231.7002 RENMINBI 24.9106 RIYA 41.266 KRONA 26.8895 SDR 232.7745

155.26 236.0418 201.0617 164.5226 1.6371 0.2956 232.4488 24.9915 41.3994 26.9764 233.5266

SELLING 155.76 236.8019 201.7092 165.0525 1.6423 0.3056 233.1974 25.0724 41.5327 27.0633 234.2786

CBN Exchange rate as at 29/03/2013

*From Left; Xan Smiley, Middle East and Africa Editor of The Economist and Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Chairman, Etisalat Nigeria at The Economist Conference themed 'Nigeria Summit 2013, Enabling and Implementing Change', sponsored by Etisalat and held in Lagos.

CBN dismisses banks’ claim on submission of financial statement

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE & NKIRUKA NNOROM

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has dismissed claims by some banks that it was responsible for the late release of their financial statements to the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE).

Tuesday last week, over 160 representatives of different quoted companies, including chief finance officers,

company secretaries and managing directors, that converged at the launch of NSE Issuer Portal - X-Issuer, blamed the CBN, National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, Financial Reporting Council of Nigerian, FRCN and other primary regulators for the delay in the submission of their financial statements.

They noted that it was important that the NSE review upward the 90 days deadline required for companies to submit their financial statement at

the end of each accounting year, while also saying that there is need to waive sanctions for defaulters in view of the negative role played by CBN and others.

According to them, the time lag between review of submitted results to the various primary regulators of quoted companies and subsequent release to the NSE should be taken into consideration.

Director of Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Ugochukwu Okoroa-

for, however told Vanguard that this is not true as the apex bank attends to the financial statements of banks once they submit. He said that while the CBN did not fix any deadline for banks to submit their financial statement, the apex bank, however, encourages them to submit as soon as possible.

A representative of one of the banks present at the launch of the NSE's portal complained that, “In my bank, we held our Board meeting since January this year, and submitted our result to the CBN for review and approval. As I speak now, the CBN is yet to complete the audit so that we can submit to the NSE and we cannot submit it without approval from the CBN." Okoroafor said this cannot be true.

He said; “We have approved the results of most of the banks, and those that have not been approved must have submitted theirs late.

Meanwhile, an official of the apex bank who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak on the issue, told Vanguard that about 10 banks submitted their results late, and they only want to use the CBN as excuse for not meeting the 90

Continues on page 18

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

Cover Story

The Basic Guide to Starting Your Business -Part 4

CBN dismisses banks’ claim on submission of financial statement Continued from page 17 days deadline of the Exchange.

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ut in response to the widespread complaints, the NSE on Thursday extended the deadline for submission of financial statement by quoted companies.

Head, Corporate Communications, NSE, Dante Martins, announced the extension in a statement issued on Thursday. He said; "In response to the challenges being experienced by listed entities in meeting their regulatory periodic filing obligations with the Exchange for fiscal year 2012 Audited Accounts and 2013 Interim Accounts, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has confirmed (on Thursday, March 28, 2013), that it will exercise discretion by granting all listed entities an extended filing date from the due date of the required financial periodic submissions. This is coming as an intervention by the Exchange to ensure listed companies present this statutory requirement accurately."

The new announcement offers a fresh assurance to businesses and advisors affected by the early adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and levels of regulatory approvals which now includes Financial Reporting Council (FRC).

The General Manager, Legal and Regulation Division of the NSE, Ms. Tinu Awe,

stated that the Exchange is in consultation with FRC and other primary regulators.

"While we believe that the timely disclosure of financial information is critical to stakeholders in the capital market as well as investors, the challenges which the entities are facing are germane.”

Awe further explained that during this period, the NSE will not apply the tag, Below Listings Standard (BLS), beside the names of entities on the X-Compliance Report, which is published on the website.

She mentioned that the Exchange will also forbear from imposing sanctions in terms of financial penalties.

It will be recalled that the

Nigerian bourse introduced the X-Compliance Report in mid-2011 as a transparency initiative of the Exchange designed to maintain market integrity and protect the investors by providing compliancerelated information on all listed companies.

Companies listed on the Exchange are required to adhere to high disclosure standards, which are prescribed in the Listing Rules of the NSE. Financial information, which is periodic disclosure and ongoing material events disclosure are also to be released to the Exchange in a timely manner to enable it efficiently perform its function of maintaining an orderly market.

*From left; Mr. Jeff Immelt, President for Africa, General Electric, Mr Jubob Global, Technical Director , General Electric Ventures, Mr Robert Lee Huggins; former Minister for Energy in charge of gas, Hon. Tunde Odusina and Chairman, Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria at the Engineering Fair organised by General Electric for suppliers and power industry stakeholders held at Radisson Blu Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos recently.

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*From left; Managing Director, SIBS International, Mr. Pedro Hipolito; Executive Director and Group Chief Operating Officer, UBA Plc, Mr. Femi Olaloku; Executive Director, Business Development, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc, Mrs Christabel Onyejekwe; and Director of Strategy and Business Transformation, UBA Plc, Mr. Ayodeji Adigun,during the business visit of NIBSS to UBA House in Lagos.

Daring A successful business man has a mindset that is willing to take risks and tread on places people would not ordinarily want to tread. He would not chicken out at the slightest threat, so if you intend to start and own your business, you must have a die-hard mentality, otherwise you would quit before you even get started.

It is also very important to consider the risks involved and your ability to handle them properly, since every business involves risks. Most business people are very comfortable with modest risk but quite uncomfortable with big risks. Although they are unwilling to gamble on long shots, they are more willing to take chances if their individual skills can affect the probability of success. Then will they have the courage to step out into the unknown and pursue their personal dreams.

Goal getter A successful business man has the mindset of not just setting goals but also achieving the desired result. He does not settle for less but always has his eyes on the prize. To him there are no impossibilities and failure is just part of the game. He does not believe in half measures but believes that he can go all the way and this mentality inspires a lot of confidence in clients and customers and will keep them coming. A high level of energy also keeps the businessman trudging through road blocks because he has his eyes fixed on long term goals. It is important you are very energetic and vibrant as it will ensure that your business is up and running. You need to have a motivation from within and from those around you. The man who invented electricity, tried ninety-nine times and failed; he got it right the 100th time! I dare say, that is the spirit you must possess, no matter how many times you fail, you keep trying it out until you get it right….bottom line you must delete the word IMPOSSIBLE from your dictionary. Period!

It’s very important you move with the right people and read books and materials that will prepare your mind and reposition your mindset towards positivity, because “if you can think it then you can be it”. Never forget “you are a product of your thoughts.” This reminds me of a Nigerian drama series that aired on the Nigerian national television network (NTA) in the early 90s, BASSEY& COMPANY. The lead act was fond of saying “if you want to be a millionaire, think like a millionaire”! As funny as it sounded then, it is still very true and applies to business. So permit me to say if you want to be a successful business man, then think like one!

If you are going to run a business of your own, you should find something that makes you really happy. This should be at the core of why you are even looking at going into business of your own, because if you try and make something work and you have no passion for it, it probably won’t work out. If you have passion for the industry that you are working in, you will have a good chance of making it work out.

What make a business great are the people that run it and the passion that they have for it. Keep this in mind when you are thinking of starting a business of your own.

From experience, many just jump into business because they are excited about an idea and haven’t really thought about the ‘whys and wherefores’. Taking a moment to reflect on your motivations and defining your purpose will be time well spent.

A lot of people go into business for the sole reason of making money; this is not a good idea. It’s not a good idea because the main ingredient for success is missing. The main ingredient for success is passion, and it’s virtually impossible to maintain high-levels of energy when you’re doing something you don’t love. There will always be challenges in owning a business. Your love and passion is what takes you through those challenges. Without that passion, you probably won’t make it.

If you are going to run a business of your own, you should find something that makes you really happy.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 19

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wo weeks ago on this column, I wrote on why Nigerians should not blame the colonial masters for the problems facing the nation, but Nigerian leaders, who have failed the nation because of their class interest. Up till last week, readers were still sending their reactions. One of such is this article below.

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N 1914 when Lord Lugard amalgamated the Northern and Southern Protectorates to form what is known today as Nigeria, he was under no illusions what his real motives were.

Faced with the increasing cost of administering the vast lands of Northern Protectorate, it was to the purse strings of South that he looked to bell the cat. Lord Lewis Harcourt was reported to have declared that; “We have released Northern Nigeria from the lending strings of the treasury. The promising and well conducted youth is now on an allowance on his own and is about to affect an alliance with a southern lady of means. I have issued the special licence and Sir Fredrick Lugard will perform the ceremony. May the union be fruitful and the couple constant.”

According to F. Nicholson: “Instead of developing things and administering service, Lugard had been preoccupied with the wide spread extension of rule over people, an undertaking so unprofitable that it made the amalgamation of the viable South and the bankrupt North both far more urgent from the point of view of the home government and far more difficult than the joining of two viable administrations would have been. The immediate task was to free the home government from the expensive millstones, which Lugard had fastened round its neck and to transfer the whole burden to a new amalgamated Nigeria."

“As soon as the 1914 Amalgamation came into force, the British government enacted the Minerals Ordinance, 1914, in-

The Structure of Nigeria vesting all the minerals including oil and gas in Nigeria in the British Crown. This was not amended until 1958 - two years to our 1960 independence.” (Richard Akinjide). At independence in October 1960, the Federal Government took the place of the British Crown and that structure is intact today under our various Petroleum enactments. From regional governments to the formation of states by the military government in 1967, the central government has retained control of mineral and oil resources.

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nder the brief period of civilian rule between 1979 and 1983, this structure was preserved but was now backed by the constitution and a revenue sharing enactment.

The parties to the revenue sharing were the Federal Government, State Governments and Local Governments, which the military had introduced as the third tier of government.

The situation has not changed much since the return to civilian rule again in 1999, the only slight alteration being in tinkering with the revenue sharing formula. Additional provision has now been made for states from which the bulk of oil and gas resources are derived.

Even at that, these allocations do not go directly to the people in the communities where there is oil and gas but to their state governments and other statutory formulations.

Copying from the British Crown, successive administra-

tions have perfected the act of forming artificial entities for handling allocations of revenue. These are the 596 ministries, departments and agencies of governments including committees, commissions, and task forces both statutory and non-statutory.

Yearly, they formulate budgets on our behalf but without inputs from Nigerians which they

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By KINGSLEY OMOSE

dure for budgeting and approval is pretentiously long but at the end of the day, everyone in the set-up gets compensated. Knowing that all that stands between them and direct access to what now runs into trillions of Naira yearly are elections that they have to plan, organise and conduct, our political rulers see no reason why they should

Of all government ministries, agencies and departments, the Revenue Sharing and Allocation Commission is the most efficient

submit to their relevant legislatures which when approved have the force of law.

In military governments, the soldiers were both the requesting and approving authorities and even the executive and legislatures in a democratic government usually belong to the same political party. Of all government ministries, agencies and departments, the Revenue Sharing and Allocation Commission is the most efficient. It ensures that the Federal, States and Local Governments get their share of revenue allocation on or before the 26th of each month. Having legitimised access to revenues, being part of government became the easiest means of having direct access to these revenues and how they were disbursed. Under the civilian governments, the proce-

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not manipulate the electoral process to ensure their perpetual reign. We have men and women, who under some altruistic purpose, are actually helping themselves to the resources of the state like the British and the military before them. To these people, the issue has never been and will probably never be about the Nigerian people but about the sustenance of a structure which dutifully served the British and the military.

Talk of rotation of power among the geopolitical zones and of power shift between the North and the South are but mere variants of the same structure. Now, it is the turn of politicians who claim that they represent the interest of the Hausa-Fulani and before that, it was the turn of politi-

cians who claimed to represent the interest of the Yorubas. Next will be the mother of all battles between politicians who claim to represent the interest of the Ibos and those who claim to represent the interest of the Ijaws and other tribes of the South-South. In the midst of all these alignments and repositioning, the mass of Nigerians have remained poor, unhealthy, uneducated, unemployed, homeless, hungry, destitute and abandoned. But at the first hint of trouble, those with direct access to state resources and those who want direct access will play the ethnic, religious or gender card to achieve the desired result.

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his is what the structure of Nigeria is all about, not people but access to state resources as it was under the British colonialists and the military oligarchies. Meanwhile, the mass of Nigerians across all geo-political zones, religions and ethnic considerations are suffering from the same basic problems.

We gained true independence from the British after the Nigerian civil war while we gained independence from the military after the June 12 elections and the death of MKO Abiola. But we are yet to gain independence from our political overlords who presently rule Nigeria and are prepared to do so in perpetuity. I cannot pretend to know at what cost that independence will be obtained from the political ruling class, but the price will be steep. If any blood must be spilled, then it has to be the blood of Nigerians so that evil men will not seize that opportunity to unleash the forces of hell in their attempt to preserve their unhindered access to state resources.

Business & Economy

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HE Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (GMD/CEO) of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc, Mr. Ladi Balogun, has reiterated the need for the introduction of measures that would ensure the well-being of Nigerian children and the youth from cradle to adulthood. He made this submission at an event to celebrate the 12th anniversary of Bethesda Child Support Agency in Lagos.

FCMB is a major sponsor of the agency, which is a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that has been providing free and qualitative education to orphans and vulner-

FCMB renews commitment to children, youth able children in four communities across Lagos and Ogun states.

Mr. Balogun, who presented a book titled, Bethesda: An Evolution!, stressed that as an integral segment of the society, the educational, socio-economic and other welfare needs of children and the youth, “should be accorded priority in all facets of our national life. It is imperative that we provide the right en-

vironment, skills and attitude to realise their potentials so that they can contribute meaningfully to national development.”

The FCMB helmsman explained that the bank’s support for the agency derives from, “Our commitment to actively invest in different communities, institutions and causes that would impact positively on not just individuals, but the society as a whole”. While de-

scribing the evolution and success story of Bethesda as "amazing, Balogun commended the agency and its parent arm - Freedom Foundation - for sustaining their objectives of discovering and restoring hope to children.

He assured that the bank will continue to offer its support towards actualising these objectives.

The Project Coordinator of the Bethesda Child Support

Agency, Mrs. Nkoyo Rapu, stated that “Our success is directly linked to the support system of a vibrant, committed and active group of people who play different roles in sustaining the project", adding; “We are happy to see that our efforts are yielding appreciable results; transforming lives and improving the wellbeing of our children.” Mrs. Rapu expressed gratitude to FCMB for "staying the course and always being there for us.” She informed that plans are ongoing to build permanent school structures in the four communities where the agency has presence.

20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

Business & Economy BRIEF Access Bank promotes gender empowerment

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CCESS Bank has de clared its commitment to issue of gender empowerment and equality.

The bank’s Head, Group Human Resources, Bolaji Agbede, made this disclosure at the International Women’s Day commemorative event organised by the Women Empowerment Principles Leadership Group, WEPLG, held in New York.

The group’s meeting which th coincided with the 5 edition of the Equality Means Business meeting is part of the United Nation's efforts on women empowerment.

Agbede says the bank is implementing several initiatives to boost women empowerment and gender equality within the organisation and Nigerian society at large.

In her presentation during the feedback session to the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, on the 2013 WEPs, Agbede listed the creation of Access Women Network as one of the organisational initiatives created to support and encourage women in the employment of the bank.

“Outside Access Bank’s strong intermediation role in providing funding and training for women entrepreneurs through our partnership with the International Finance Corporation, we are equally aware of the challenges of career women and growing women, and consequently created the Access Women Network platform for women within our organisation to help them attain their personal goals and aspirations through mentoring and support”.

She said that Access Bank has remained the only bank in Nigeria in the Women Empowerment Principles and had continued to implement initiatives to sustain these initiatives. “We are the only Nigerian bank that has signed on to the Women Empowerment Principles launched in 2009.

Access Bank has continued to demonstrate leadership in the area of Women Empowerment. We have adopted the principles in the development of our Sustainability Report and developed gender focused community initiatives and would continue to support the WEPs Leadership Group as a signatory to the Principles by encouraging other organisations in Nigeria to sign on to the principles,” she said.

By OMOH GABRIEL

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HE International Mone tary Fund, IMF, has appraised the positive developments in the member countries of the West Africa EconomicMonetary Union, WAEMU. In its evaluation of the economies of the group, the IMF Executive said it welcomed the maintenance of macroeconomic stability in the region and the prospects for continued robust growth with moderate inflation. The IMF board members said that “Given the continuing challenging environment and downside risks, it will however be important to reconstitute policy buffers and to ensure the full implementation of growth-enhancing policies, as well as promote fi-

IMF urges WAEMU to promote regional integration nancial deepening and regional integration”.

IMF report on the region said “Directors considered the current macroeconomic policy mix appropriate and welcomed the planned fiscal consolidation in the countries with higher deficits. They called for additional efforts to raise revenue and improve the quality of public spending. Directors emphasised the need to strengthen debt management at the country level, paying close attention to domestic debt levels, given less favorable terms. In light of the

outlook for inflation, Directors viewed the recent easing of monetary policy as appropriate. They noted that official reserves remain adequate but stressed that their recent decline requires close monitoring”.

The report further said “Directors stressed the importance of better coordination of fiscal policies to help preserve debt sustainability and the stability of the Union in the medium term. They welcomed the intention to conduct a comprehensive review of the regional surveillance frame-

From left Dr Herbert Ajayi, National President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture NACCIMA; H E Mustafa Sever, Vice Minister of Economy, Turkey; Mr Mustafa Pulat, Turkish Ambassador in Nigeria; Mr Disun Holloway, hon Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-Governmental Relation representing Governor Raji Fashola of Lagos State and Chief John Odeyemi, former President of NACCIMA at the opening ceremony of ECOWAS-Turkish Export Products fair in Lagos on Tuesday.

CBN reviews bank charges

*Introduces N200 per leaflet fee for cheques

By MICHAEL EBOH

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has announced a review of bank charges designed to come into effect, April 1, 2013, increasing the amount charged for counter cheques to N200 per leaflet.

In a circular to all banks and discount houses, titled, ‘Revised Guide to Bank Charges,’ signed by Mr. I.T. Nwaoha, Acting Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, CBN, the CBN also announced a total removal of Commission on Turnover, COT, by 2016.

According to Nwaoha, overtime, it was observed that the various charges in the ‘Guide to Bank Charges,’ first issued in 2004, had become out of tune with current realities in the market and some provisions/ term in it allowed room for ambiguity and conflict.

He said, “In order to reflect current developments in the market and provide clarity on banking terms, the CBN recently conducted a review of the Guide in consultation with all the banks and discount houses, Bankers’ Committee, financial experts/consultants and also considered inputs received from other stakeholders..”

With the new N200 charge per leaflet for counter cheques, a fifty-leaflet cheque book, which is the minimum issued in Nigeria, will cost N10,000.

In the area of COT, the CBN said it will be negotiable up to a maximum of N3 per mille in 2013; N2 per mille in 2014; N1 per mille in 2015 and COT free from 2016.

The CBN said COT applies to customerinduced debit transactions on current accounts, adding that banks should not charge COT on returned outward clearing cheques, reversal of transactions and all bank induced debits.

work. They supported a reconsideration of the convergence criteria on public debt and the fiscal deficit and a strengthening of the institutional framework to increase adherence and traction”.

Continuing it said “Directors encouraged further measures to develop the financial system to help raise growth, mitigate the impact of volatility, increase inclusion and improve the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies. The completion of ongoing reforms to develop the inter-bank and secondary government debt markets will be critical. Directors noted that banks are on average relatively well capitalised and liquid, although there is substantial heterogeneity among them. Risks arise from high lending concentration and uneven asset quality and from banks’ increasing exposure to sovereigns in the region and the emergence of regional groups. In this context, Directors urged the acceleration of ongoing work to strengthen bank supervision and regulation, notably to improve observance of prudential rules while bringing some of these rules closer to international standards. They also welcomed efforts to strengthen the crisis prevention and resolution framework.

“Directors noted that the areawide real exchange rate appears to be in line with fundamentals. To improve non-price competitiveness and growth prospects, the Directors called for concerted regional and national efforts to strengthen institutions, governance, infrastructure, and trade integration. They also encouraged continued efforts to enhance the quality, coverage, and timeliness of data, as well as the sharing of data widely at the national and regional levels”.

It will be recalled that WAEMU faced new political and security challenges in 2012.

Military coups occurred in Guinea-Bissau and Mali and caused economic disruption in these countries.

The northern part of Mali was taken over by terrorist groups, which led to large refugee flows to neighboring countries and triggered a military intervention to restore territorial integrity. On the upside, the socio-political situation in Côte d’Ivoire improved significantly, and a peaceful and democratic changeover took place in Senegal.

Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 21

Business & Economy

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USINESSMEN in Niger ia, Ghana, Senegal and Ivory Coast are not favouravly disposed to discussing business at coffee shops and do not favour allocating space for such outfit. A research published last week by Regus disclosed that business men have spilled the beans on their attitude to coffee shop working.

It said that the bottom line for the average West African business man is that business and beverages don’t mix. Executives and business-owners in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Ivory Coast gave their views in a global study by Regus, the world’s largest provider of flexible workspace.

The office solutions company surveyed 26.000 businesses in more than 90 countries, including East, West, North and South Africa.

According to Regus “The small sample size in West Africa did not permit a definitive breakdown of regional attitudes. However, local reaction to study questionnaires from individual respondents was in line with the international response that laptops and lattes are unlikely to foster professionalism and productivity, said Joanne Bushell, VP Africa for Regus. Scepticism around the suitability of coffee shops as work places is in stark contrast to the endorsement given to professional business centres in earlier Regus research. That survey found 64 percent of business people turn to professional business centres when looking for a business-like, productive environment.

Bushell noted: “Some international pundits claim there’s a trend to coffee shop working, but West African business-

BRIEF Oil theft drops to 23,000 barrels per day – official

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Access Bank was at the just concluded United Nations Annual Women’s Empowerment Principles Event in New York. From left Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan Head, Corporate Communications Access Bank Plc, George Kell, Executive Director, United Nations Global Compact with Bolaji Agbede, Head, Group HR, Access Bank Plc at the 5th Annual Women’s Empowerment Principles Event in New York.

West Africa do not support coffee shop in work place By OMOH GABRIEL people are not sweet on the idea.” African respondents side with their global peers by highlighting big drawbacks, including. Privacy of documents and conversations might be compromised (mentioned by 78 percent of international respondents) having to look after belongings at all times (74 percent) Noisy customers disturb you and impact productivity (67 percent)

Background chatter disturbs phone calls (65 percent) Lack of office facilities is a disadvantage (63 percent What’s more, 54 percent of respondents said coffees shops were a no-go area for client meetings. Regus has a high profile in West Africa thanks to the world-class facilities provided by its office centres in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Ivory Coast.

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n Nigeria, the office solu tions company operates business centres in Abuja’s

Lagos tourist boat operators seek government support

By JONAH NWOKPOKU & WILLIAM JIMOH

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SSOCIATION of Tourist Boat Opera tors and Water Transportation of Nigeria (NATBOWAN), Igbologun Lagos, has called on the Lagos State government to support them in the procurement of speed boats to make transportation to the island comfortable and safe. Speaking to Vanguard at Snake Island recently, the chairman of the association, Mr. Razaq Olukolu, represented by one of his officers ,Mr. Jubril Aina, noted that the association is doing all within its capacity to ensure safety of lives of every passenger crossing the water on daily basis.

“We are hoping that one day, we are going to change from the usage of wooden boats to modern boats because we believe that they are safer, comfortable but very costly, that is why we are calling on the government to help us,” he said. However, some of the sailors who spoke to Vanguard revealed that the boat

business remains a huge source of employment to the youth of the area, saying that although they need government assistance, they are scared that government may take over the business if they bring modern boats and leave them unemployed.

“The state government has visited this place, and they have built a jetty but if we allow them to provide boats, that means we will be left with no jobs,” Ahmed, a sailor said. A passenger, Mr. Friday Okoli, who spoke to Vanguard said the people are aware of the dangers of ferrying passengers across the water with wooden boats, but they have no other options, saying it would be good if the state government makes good its promise by providing them with modern ferries.

“You need not be told before you know that moving through this water with these type of wooden boats is very risky, but we have no option. And if the Lagos State Government can fulfill its promise of providing the community with modern boats, then the journey across to the island will be a lot safer,” he said.

central business district, the NNPC Mulliner Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos and in Portharcort, Trans Amadi. In Ghana, Regus has facilities at the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel Accra on Independence Avenue, Accra, and at the Accra Roman Ridge business centre. In Ivory Coast, Regus has a business centre in Abidjan, Lagune and in Senegal its offices are in Dakar. “A further concern in Africa like in other countries of the world,” said Bushell, “is the high level of data security demanded not only by multinationals but by local businesses as well.

“Multinational business accounts for about 60 percent of our African client-base. Coffee shop working is not an option when strict data security protocols must be observed.

“Regus business centres are served by sophisticated computer systems with advanced security features to ensure data integrity.” Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are also strongly represented in Regus’ African client mix.

African research by Regus highlights the importance of image to these companies.

Bushell added: “A professional setting with access to modern office technology is vital, as is high productivity. Downtime caused by a coffee shop power failure can be a big problem.” For this reason, Regus invests in power generators that operate off the local electricity grid. This commitment to 24/7 uptime is a standard feature of Regus service across Africa.

EFENCE Headquarters has said taht crude oil theft has dropped from 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 23,000. The Chief of Training and Operations, Maj.-Gen. Lawrence Ngubane, announced this in Bile, Okirika Local Government Area of Rivers, during a tour to some operational bases of the Joint Task Force (JTF). Ngubane, who held a closed-door meeting with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), said the decline was due to the JTF's renewed strategy and commitment to the fight against illegal oil bunkering.

“The level of oil theft has come down drastically; SPDC informed me that oil theft has reduced from 60,000 bpd to 23, 000 bpd.

Our desire is that we should go below that. The Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs are doing everything possible to ensure that oil theft is reduced to the barest minimum in the interest of the country.

So, the purpose of my visit is to go round and see the areas of operations within the country and also to see the troops helping us to conduct our operations in the Niger Delta.”

Ngubane said the soldiers were contributing their quota for the progress of the nation’s economy through their commitment in eliminating illegal oil bunkering in the area. According to him, if Nigerians must get quality social services such as healthcare, electricity, roads and education, soldiers must protect pipelines from vandals and not involve themselves in corruption. He said any soldier found involved in corrupt practice would be sanctioned in accordance with the Army Code of Conduct.

“Nigerian Army is known and respected globally for its professionalism and as such, would strive to sustain our positive rating,” he said.

Ngubane said more gunboats, kit and other equipment would be provided to intensify the fight against illegal oil bunkering and sundry crimes in the region.

The SPDC had on March 4th, claimed that the company was losing about 60,000 barrels of crude oil to criminals daily.

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

Banking & Finance BRIEF Stanbic IBTC unveils new campaign to reconnect customers By PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

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Lincoln Mboweni (eTranzact Global South Africa (Pty) Ltd South Africa),Rotimi Adebanjo (Regional Director, eTranzact Global South Africa (Pty) Ltd South Africa) receiving the award for Best Mobile Payment Initiative of the Year from Obinna Ekezie (Managing Director, Wakanow, Nigeria) at the just concluded Card and ePayment Africa Awards organised by Intermarc Consulting Nigeria in Johannesburg.

Recognising innovation critical to growth of e-payment — Experts T By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

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LECTRONIC payment experts have said that recognising innovation is critical to enhancing the investment and growth of the electronic payment industry in Africa.

They spoke at the 2013 edition of the Card and e-Payment Africa Awards (CePAA) held in Johannesburg, South Africa, They said that the Award will encourage e-payment operators to increase investment in research and development of more innovative e-payment products According to Mr. Adeyinka Adeyemi, Managing Consultant, Intermac Consulting, the rapid growth of electronic payment across the continent is driven by innovative products occasioned by huge investments in research and development.

He said, “There is just nobody noticing the huge investments going into research and development to bring about new technologies and new solutions. Sometimes, these solutions succeed, sometimes, they fail and when they fail, what most stakeholders tend to do is go back to the drawing board, spending double and sometimes triple until they get to the market.

Now, once they get to the market with a fantastic product like Mpesa for instance, nobody recognises that effort, even though they are making money, they are selling services

,

TANBIC IBTC Bank, a member of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, has deployed a new integrated brand repositioning campaign through which it seeks to showcase how its existing and potential customers can benefit from a new world of opportunities.

The campaign which employs the Integrated Marketing Communications, IMC, tools has its central theme anchored on a promise by the institution to help individuals and businesses achieve their goals via actions, products and services that deliver exceptional value. The campaign, which breaks on April 2, will run for six months.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony in Lagos, Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Mrs. Sola David-Borha, said the campaign seeks to deepen the bank’s presence in the market place by reinforcing its availability to even a greater number of people, and providing them with products and services that impact positively on their lives and businesses.

She said a few months after the Stanbic IBTC Group consummated a holding company structure; the bank delivered a memorable customer experience that is consistent, deliberate and differentiated, one that both delights and surprises. Recognising that the quality of customer service is a function of the quality of the people who provide it, she emphasised that the group has put in place a highly talented and motivated workforce, which ensures that the right people are at the right place and at the right time to connect personally and attend to customers’ needs.

“This repositioning campaign reflects our group’s vision, strategy and values, which are underpinned by the unique ability to connect with our customers who would appreciate our uncommon commitment to moving them forward, whatever may be their goals,” says David-Borha.

have come at a better time as the African continent is experiencing a huge appreciation of technology in the day to day activity of the average citizen”.

Receiving the Best Card Benefit Programme of the Year award on behalf of Absa Bank South Africa, Juanita Matelakengisa, the Chief of Staff - Card and Consumer Finance , noted that since similar awards are being held in Europe, Asia and America for those continents, developments in the card space across Africa need to be recognised and success stories celebrated.

On his part, Lincoln Boweni, a director with eTranzact Global South Africa (Pty) Limited, who received the Best Mobile Payment Initiative of the Year on behalf of his company, praised the organizers for a successful event and encouraged key stakeholders in the epayment industry across Africa to celebrate success stories as the African electronic transaction industry has come of age.

Card usage and acceptance in Africa has become phenomenal especially given the volume and value of transactions recorded on a daily basis for e-commerce

,

and we believe that we must come to terms with the fact that there are people that are doing a lot of work to get the products to the shelves, to get technologies that will work to the table and to the shelves.

And that is why we came up with the concept of Cards and E-payment Africa Awards (CePAA).”

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orroborating Adeyemi's v i e w , Charlton Goredema, the Vice President and Area Business Head for Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Islands of Mastercard Worldwide, in his address while receiving the award for Best Security and Authentication Programme said that card usage and acceptance in Africa has become phenomenal especially given the volume and value of transactions recorded on a daily basis for ecommerce. Financial institutions and payment system providers who are making this convenience and security happen should be recognised for their efforts and investment in

innovative products and services therefore the organizers of these awards should be encouraged to keep the flag flying.

The event featured 12 categories of awards with Nigeria’s Diamond Bank, and the Congo subsidiary of Access Bank, emerging among the winners. Diamond Bank won the Best Credit Card Product of the Year and the Best Cobranded Card Programme, while Access Bank Congo won the Best Debit Card Product of the Year award.

The Best Mobile Payment Product award was won by Fundamo (PTY) South Africa, while DrawCard, South Africa won the Best Alternative Payments Programme award.

Master Card emerged as the winner of the Best Security and Authentication Programme, while the Best Card Benefits Programme of the Year award went to Absa Bank of South Africa. Other awards were: Best Card Processor of the Year won by HPS Worldwide, Morocco; Best POS Integrator of the Year won by Transaction Payment System (TPS) Zimbabwe; and Industry Personality of the Year won by Mr. Jose G. Matos, Chief Executive Officer, Emis Angola. Speaking while receiving the Personality of the Year award, Angola, Jose de Matos, Managing Director of Empresa Interbancaria de Servicos(EMIS), commended Intermarc Consulting for its leadership, passion and commitment in organizing this prestigious award. He stated that “the initiative could not

he Executive Director, Diamond Bank Nigeria Plc, Uzoma Dozie, while receiving the Best Credit Card Product of the Year and Best Co-Branded Card Product of the Year said that Diamond Bank is happy to receive the awards, which will further encourage the bank to focus on providing excellent customer experience across all electronic channels. He posited that the banking industry in Africa must come together to embrace initiatives like this so that together they will make the continent the pride of all.

The 12 award winners emerged through an online voting system on the Card and ePayment Africa Awards website. The voting was supervised by a panel of Judges comprising six industry experts from the card and epayment sector across Africa with experience within the industry brought together for the selection of winners.

The judges were Samer Soliman, Senior Vice President for Sales and Client Management (Financial Services) at Network International, Hannes Van Rensburg, Chief Executive and Founder of Fundamo and Gansirey Seck, Country General Manager of Ingenico Nigeria.

Others were Mrs. Hoda Shoukry, Managing Director, Mediterranean Smart Cards Company (MSCC), Samir Younes, Regional Director, Morocco and Africa, Hightech Payment Systems (HPS), Omokehinde Ojomuyide, Vice President, Business Development, West Africa, Mastercard and Rodger Meterlerkamp, an independent ‘card consultant’ with 26 years successful career in the South African card industry.

Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 23

Banking & Finance

NEXIM seeks equity investors for N9.3bn regional sealink project By FRANKLIN ALLI

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HE Nigerian Export-Im port Bank (NEXIM) has called on the private sector in the county and ECOWAS to come in as equity investors in the $60 million (N9.3 billion) regional sealink project being facilitated by the bank.

It is envisaged that the freight and passenger project, when completed would, have the following ports of call: Freetown-Conakry- Bissau-Banjul-Dakar; Cotonou- Calabar-DoualaLibreville and LibrevilleDakar Explaining how the project will benefit Nigeria, at the NACCIMA House, in Lagos, NEXIM Managing Director/ CEO, Mr. Robert Orya, said that the Federal Government of Nigeria and the ECOWAS Commission have already endorsed the project and the funding requirement is US$60 million.

He explained that of this figure, US$36 million (or N5.6 billion) will be used to buy vessels, equipment, office space and other infrastructure, while US$24 million about (N3.7 billion) is projected for working capital to cover general administrative cost.

He said that NEXIM is spear heading the project because Nigeria is a dominant player in the region and controlling 70 percent of the 300 million markets.

According to him, the proposed establishment of the regional sealink project has some inherent accruable national benefits such as: “Stimulating maritime- related employment, as well as minimising the incidence of freight rate payment capital flight of an average of US$5billion annually from import/export tonnages; Facilitating the realisation of the various maritime-related laws like the Cabotage and NIMASA Acts and the implementation of the national shipping policy; Providing immediate impact to the amelioration basic road /rail infrastructural deficit challenges that affect regional integration and a major cause for the muted growth of the intra African and ECOWAS trade levels of about 10 percent and 12 percent respectively; enhancing competitiveness of Nigerian exports,

thereby improving the contribution of manufactured exports from the current level of under six percent to a minimum of 15 percent annually,facilitating the making of Nigeria as a maritime hub for west and central Africa with attendant benefits of facilitating Atlantic short see trade and development of pool of man power for the in-

dustry.

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ACCIMA President, Ademola Ajayi, lauded the bank for believing in the regional sealink project and pursuing it with all necessary vigour that it requires.

“As you may be aware, travelling by road or connecting flights among the ECOWAS

states had always been a nightmare to private sector operators considering the challenges of road blocks by security agencies and the law enforcement agencies on the road and connection of flight from one West African State to the other,” he said.

From left: Feyikemi Kusoro, Project Manager, Legal Blitz; Mr Lere Fashola, CEO, Legal Blitz and Publisher, ESQ Legal Practice Magazine and Mrs Abimbola Onarinde, Chief Operating Officer, Legal Blitz at the ESQ Energy/Oil and Gas Summit 2013 press conference in Lagos.

FBN Holdings commends resolution of tax issues for Holdco companies

By PETER EGWUATU

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HE management of FBN Holdings Plc has expressed delight at the timely resolution of tax issues which has engendered an equitable taxation regime for Bank Holding (Holdco) companies in the country.

The Bank Holding Companies emerged in compliance with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s regulation on the Scope of Banking Activities & Ancillary Matters, No. 3, 2010 requiring the separation of commercial banking business from other financial services businesses. They include FBN Holdings Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, UBA Holding, and FCMB. Speaking on the issue, the CEO of FBN Holdings Plc, Mr. Bello Maccido, said the holding companies at inception faced a major concern over possible interpretation of existing tax statutes that would lead to the double taxation of dividends. There was also concern about the magnitude of transaction costs that would be incurred by the banks in responding to the change in regulations. “It was therefore necessary for bank holding companies to seek mitigation of some of these costs through waivers and

concessions from the regulatory authorities.

It was very clear that without government’s intervention, the companies would have faced possible challenges in this regard,” he said.

The Financial Services Regulation Coordinating Committee (FSRCC) is reported to have created the platform for the Bank Holding Companies to table their tax and transaction costs issues to regulators and supported the idea of creating an industry working group.

Maccido said the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in concert with the Federal Inland Revenue Service team was very instrumental to ensuring that the tax issues were heard and resolved in good time to meet the CBN deadline.

He noted that the Securities & Exchange Commission,SEC, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) were equally very receptive to discussions on reduction of transaction costs for Bank Holding companies.

According to Maccido, the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Finance and the FIRS had through the resolution of the tax issues demonstrated their commitment to ensuring greater good of the economy and stimulation of economic activity.

BRIEF CSR: UBA committed to raising awareness on cancer — MD

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S part of its social respon sibility programme, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vehicle, UBA Foundation, has restated its commitment to raising awareness on the scourge of Prostate Cancer among men.

The Group Managing Director/CEO of UBA Plc, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, disclosed this while flagging off the UBA Foundation Mini-Marathon for Prostate Cancer Awareness held in Lagos at the weekend. He said that “The bank, through the UBA Foundation is encouraged to propagate this crusade and we are also committed to raising awareness of the disease.” He also noted that despite the deadly nature of Prostate Cancer, it can be cured when detected and treated at its early stage. Continuing, he said that the Mini-Marathon, which is in continuation of the Foundation’s annual prostate cancer awareness initiative, commenced from the UBA Headquarters on Marina, Lagos via Western Avenue and terminated at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos.

Other health and fitness activities including free screening for Prostate Cancer was held at the stadium.

Speaking at the National Stadium in Lagos, the bank’s Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, advised men aged 40 and above not to be afraid of getting tested for prostate cancer. He said: “In UBA, we believe in catching them young and developing talents from the cradle.”

The event came on the heels of ‘Walk, Cycle and Jog for Prostate Cancer’ programme organised by the Foundation in 2011, as well as ‘Play Soccer for Prostate Cancer’ held in 2012, where the Foundation brought out ex-Nigerian international soccer stars to play soccer as part of creating awareness for Prostate Cancer.

Participation cut across all cadre of the society including women, family groups, corporate executives, professional athletes and even the kids were not left out as 8 year old Anthonia Oluwaseyi, who despite her age completed the marathon, far ahead of so many other participants.

At end of the marathon event, Mr. Edatanlen Moses won the coveted cash prize of N500, 000.

24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

Corporate Finance BRIEFS TRANSCORP to raise N15bn for expansion

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

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ransnational Corporation of Nigeria, TRANSCORP, has revealed plans to raise N15 billion to refinance a power project and expand investments in oil

exploration and hotels.

Speaking at the Extra-Ordinary General Meeting in Lagos at the weekend, the Chairman, Mr. Tony Elumelu disclosed that the money, which will be raised by sale of shares to existing investors, will be combined with loans from banks to seek a lower interest rate for its Ughelli Power unit.

He added that some of the funds will be employed to develop an oil concession and build more hotels.

TRANSCORP currently has interests in power, hotels, agriculture and oil.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government signed deals to sell 15 state-owned power companies to buyers including Transnational Corp. of Nigeria Plc, which bought the Ughelli Power Plant, the Bureau of Public Enterprise had said on Feb. 22.

TRANSCORP jointly owns an oil lease with Johannesburg-based SacOil Holding Ltd. (SCL) and London-based Energy Equity Resources Ltd. in the oil-rich Niger River, Delta.

Sterling Bank’s staff embarks on cleanup exercise

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TERLING Bank at the weekend, mobilised over 500 of its workforce for a routine environmental cleanup exercise executed at Ikeja roundabout and its environs. The staff, led by the lender ’s Group Head, Collections, Jide Sonoiki, were joined by over 50 support staff from the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA).

He said the exercise shows the lender ’s support for the state government’s drive to keep the environment clean. “This is our way of showing that we are part of the environment. And the turnout this morning is impressive and indicative that our staff have bought into this vision of a clean and healthy environment,” he said.

Also the bank’s Business Manager, Iyana Ipaja branch, Mr. Jolly Enabulele, said that besides identifying with the initiative of the state government, it was part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), which every staff of the bank has keyed into. He said the cleanup exercise is not restricted to Lagos State alone, but is being replicated in several other states across the country where the lender operates.

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

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HE Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) have soft-pedal on the recent ban on distribution of its data by capital market operators.

Investigation revealed that following widespread complaints by operators and discussions at the Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting last week, the Exchange decided not to commence the ban to allow time to for proper communication of the new policy on data dissemination.

Two weeks ago, the Exchange directed operators in the Nigerian Capital Market to stop daily distribution of capital market information to clients and investors. The Exchange insisted that capital market operators should pay for such data as it is being done in other stock markets.

Addressing journalists at the end of the CMC meeting on Thursday, Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that the ban was discussed at the meeting. She said that while operators expressed concern over the ban, the Exchange explained its rationale for introducing the ban. She said that the position of SEC as apex regulatory body is that a lot of communication works needs to be done to ensure proper understanding among market operators and participants. She said for now, the opinion of the Commission is that there should be time for communication of the policy, adding that the Commission is yet to take a position on the matter, and it would require some time before it can do so.

It would be recalled that last week, Financial Vanguard reported that the ban was a

NSE soft-pedals on enforcement of data distribution ban unilateral decision by the management of the Exchange, as Council members expressed surprise at the introduction of the ban. Market operators also said that the Exchange did not consult the broking community, who are actually the owners of the Exchange, on the matted.

Investigation revealed that following the tone of discussion at the CMC meeting, the Council of the Exchange met on Friday, and it was decided that ban should not be enforced for now. Though Council members believe that the new policy of the Exchange is in

line with global trend, they were of the opinion that given the discussions about the policy at the CMC meeting and especially the body language of the SEC, it is better to delay enforcement of the ban for now, and allow time for communication and consultation to gain understanding of the brokers community.

In statement signed by the Head Corporate of Communications, NSE, Dante Martins, the management of the Exchange justified its action saying, “It is normal practice for global Stock

Exchanges to charge for this type of market data use to cover some of the huge cost incurred in generating, storing and disseminating the data, which incidentally is also a key element of their intellectual property rights. Indeed, market data sales account for a sizeable portion of the income of many global Exchanges. We have however offered a discounted fee for our broker/ dealer firms and the domestic professional end of the market to facilitate improved access and priced the service competitively in comparison to other stock exchanges.

L-r Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh, SEC Executive Commissioner, Finance and Admin, Rt. Hon. Garuba Zakawanu, CEO Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Oscar Onyema and Hon. Chairman, Investment Security Tribunal, Dr. Ngozi Chianakwalam during the 2013 first quarter Capital Market Committee meeting held in Lagos

Dangote Sugar to benefit from price drop in raw sugar

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

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NALYSTS at FSDH Securities have said that the share price of Dangote Sugar Refinery, DSR, will hit N12.22 by the time the current financial year comes to end.

The price target, according to the company’s latest report on DSR, ‘Equity Research Report,’ will be driven by drop in international price of raw sugar and some other strategic investments made by the company over the previous year.

The projected price represents 32.52 percent increase on the current market price, which stands at N8.49 per share as at close of trading on Thursday, March 28, 2013.

Other factors the research firm considered in arriving at the price target include recent

effort to repackage the product in order to capture additional market, as well as the acquisition of Savannah Sugar Plant in Adamawa State by DSR. The analysts also said that they arrived at the price using the Discounted Free Cash Flow (DCF) valuation method, even as it encouraged willing investors to stake in the shares.

A peep into DSR’s third quarter financial statement for period ended 30th September, 2012, showed that it achieved 85.2 percent increase in profit after tax with the figure rising to N8.170 billion from N4.412 billion in 2011.

Profit before tax (PBT) grew by the same margin, rising to N12.015 billion from N6.489 billion in corresponding period of 2011, while revenue for the period also increased slightly

from N79.612 billion to N8181.311 billion, representing an increase of 2.1 percent.

Basic Earnings per Share Annualised (EPS) appreciated from 49 Kobo in 2011 to 91 Kobo; showing an appreciation of 85.7 percent. Gross profit for the period rose to gross profit of N15.56 billion, an increase of N5.19 billion over the figure achieved in 2011.

It would be recalled that DSR recently announced the acquisition of Savannah Sugar Company Ltd (SCC) as part of its backward integration strategy. The focus of the company is to become a global, integrated, low cost sugar producer focused on maximizing long term shareholders’ returns while establishing a leading presence in domestic and

regional African markets, with increasing international focus.

As the second largest sugar refiner in the world with new Ion Exchange Raising (IER) technology and efficient 18MW power supply system generated in-house, Dangote Sugar controls over 70 percent of the domestic sugar market share.

In order to meet the changing needs of the retail consumers, capture additional market, stay ahead of competitors in the immediate markets and enhance the value for the company and all stakeholders, Dangote Sugar recently concluded its retail package project, which has led to the launching of its new customer friendly packages of Vitamin A fortified refined sugar, which is available in 1kg, 250g and 500g.

Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 25

Corporate Finance

Equities' transactions upbeat, as market capitalisation rises to N10.73trn

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

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NVESTORS’ appetite for investment in the Nigerian capital market took a turn for the better last week as all the measurement parameters in the market witnessed some degree of growth.

Besides increase in both the market capitalisation and All Share Index, ASI, the volume and value of equities traded also went up marginally.

Specifically, the market capitalisation of all equities on the main board went up to N10.73 trillion, representing 0.11 percent increment over the figure posted the preceding week.

Also, the NSE All-Share Index appreciated by 29.37 points or 0.09 percent to close on Thursday at 33,536.25 points. Also, the Bloomberg NSE 30 Index appreciated by 5.53 points or 0.35 percent to close at 1,602.88.

All the NSE sectoral indices appreciated during the week; Bloomberg NSE Consumer Goods, Bloomberg NSE Banking, Bloomberg NSE Insurance, Bloomberg NSE Oil and Gas and NSE-Lotus II advanced by 1.98 percent, 1.58 percent, 0.63 percent, 1.18 percent and 1.69 percent respectively.

Further analysis showed that 34 stocks appreciated in prices during the week higher than 22 in the preceding week, while 37 others depreciated in price lower than 45 equities of the preceding week.

Nestle Nigeria plc led on the gainers chart with N90.00 gain to close at N950.00 per share, followed

by Okomuoil Plc which gained N11.50 to close at N72.50.

Others on the top five categories include Total Nigeria Plc, N85.50; UACN N1.95 and 7-Up Bottling Co N1.50.

On the other hand, Dangote Cement Co lost N6.50 to lead losers, while it closed the market at N148.50. PZ Cusson followed with loss of N2.79 to close at N36.71, Nigeria Enamelware, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria Flour Mill followed on the top five losers’ chart with N1.69, N1.65 and N0.80 losses in that order.

A turnover of 1.612 billion

shares worth of N13.542 billion in 23,021 deals were transacted in contrast to a total of 1.561 billion shares valued at N16.636 billion that exchanged hands last week in

25,255 deals. The Financial Services sector accounted for 1.347 billion shares valued at N8.138 billion exchanged hands by investors in 15,076 deals, while the Consumer

Goods sector (measured by turnover volume) followed in the activity chart with 76.335 million shares valued at N3.518 billion traded in 3,337 deals.

BRIEFS CBN extends recapitalisation deadline for MFBs

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entral Bank of Nigeria has extended the deadline for microfinance banks (MFBs) in the country.

Director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department (OFSID) CBN. Mr. Olufemi Fabamwo disclosed this in a circular posted on its website.

Fabamwo pointed out that the decision was to allow more time for capital raising and business combination options towards meeting the capital requirements for each category of MFB and for rationalizing the existing branches/cash centres, among others, where necessary.

According to him, “all directors and shareholders of MFBs are therefore strongly advised to ensure compliance on or before the new deadline of 31st December, 2013.”

However, it would be recalled that the CBN in a previous circular stipulated that all MFBS that have elected to remain Unit MFBs, as indicated in the compliance plans earlier submitted to the CBN, are required to close any existing branches/cash centres, etc, subject to prior approval of the CBN in writing and adequate notification to existing customers, who should advised to migrate their accounts to the MFB’s Head office, while dissenting customers should be sewed.

IMF, World Bank team in Cote d’Ivoire

Lafarge Wapco proposes N1.20 dividend for 2012

By PETER EGWUATU

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AFARGE Wapco Plc has proposed a dividend of N1.20 per share to its shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2012.

According to analysts from FBN Capital, ‘This implies a dividend yield of 1.7 percent and a payout ratio of 24.5 percent. Both the Dividend per share, DPS and payout ratios were below our estimates of N2.1, 40 percent, but broadly in line with consensus expectations. With earnings and DPS in line with market expectations, the market’s muted response to the results is not

surprising.”

The analysts also stated that Lafarge Wapco quarter four, 2012 sales of N18.1 billion came in flattish year-on-year, y/y, and was below the average run rate of N23.3billion delivered by the company for the first three quarters of 2012.

According to FBN, “Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N4.9billion was up 177 percent y/y, largely on the back of a gross margin expansion of 718bps and a 35 percent y/y decline in Operating expenses, ( Opex).

PAT increased 140 percent y/y, while weaker comparables for Q4 2011 also helped the strong y/y growth in WAPCO’s earnings

reflect strong operating leverage as the company ramped up 2.5 million metric tonnes of recently added capacity. On a sequential basis, although sales were down 23 percent quarter-to-quarters, q/q, a gross margin expansion of 1,359bps q/q drove an 18 percent q/q growth in PBT. WAPCO’s earnings were more or less in line with consensus expectations.”

Continuing, the FBN analysts, said, “Our estimates were on the aggressive side. On a full year basis, WAPCO’s 2012 sales grew 40.7 percent y/y to N88 billion, while PBT and PAT were up by 105 percent and 70 percent respectively.

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team of economic experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank said that cocoa farming contributed to the reduction of rural poverty in Cote d’Ivoire in 2012. The Chief of IMF/World Bank Joint Mission in Cote d’Ivoire, Mr Michel Lazare, said this in Abidjan while briefing newsmen at the end of the team’s two weeks mission in the country. He said that the positive effect of cocoa farming on the rural population should be a ‘wake-up’ call for more investment in Agriculture. The IMF chief said that Cote d’Ivoire witnessed 9.8 per cent economic growth in 2012 with 8 per cent growth expectation in 2013. “The macro-economic performance in 2012 was better than expected, with a growth rate of 9.8 per cent in GDP while inflation stood at 1.3 per cent,” he said.

26 —Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 27

28 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

Interview

The Managing Director/CEO, Heritage Bank, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, in an interview with selected media last week, highlighted the bank’s vision and target in the banking industry. He also spoke on how the bank came into existence after recapitalising the defunct , Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN)to the tune of N12 billion to operate as a regional bank.

W

hat is the history of Heritage Bank, vision and your

target?

The history of the bank is public knowledge. Heritage Bank is like any other bank. Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria, SGBN, as we all known had some challenges with capitalisation as a result of the capital review by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2006/2007.

Before then, they have had some challenges with clearing and so on.

We came in as core investor when all attempt to capitalise the bank failed.

We made a bid like every other person to see if we can recapitalise it and on that basis, we were able to win that bid. We had negotiation with the legacy investor or former investor of the bank and came up with an agreement. We recapitalised to the tune of N12 billion, take up all liabilities and assets of the bank and found some form of accommodation for depositors whose money has been trapped for 10 years. In a nutshell, that is the bank transiting from SGBN to Heritage Bank. Our vision is simple and clear; today, we might look quite new in the market, but our idea of what this bank should be is clear from day one. We want to be a bank that people will believe and know that generation banking is the way to go. When we say generation banking, we are basically saying it is not enough to amass wealth and when you die, you write a Will and somebody carries the Will and walk away. They fight over your Will or whatever, lawyer spends some part of the Will money and we don’t know what is up. We want a situation where your life is a continuum of what legacy you left behind. At the end of the day, the true wealth we have is our name. So, we are trying to see if we can re-focus our clients to begin to think of it in that line; to say if I have to leave a name, what kind of name will I leave behind? That name should be the legacy. If it is the wealth I left behind, what is that wealth? It does not have to be cash, it could be industry, that wealth could be an art gallery, that wealth could be a big factory, that wealth could be an invention, but I have to leave it for those people I work for and bear my children, my family, which is why we call it generation banking. Our objective to achieve that is to be about the best

We intend to support and nurture SMEs to growth — Heritage Bank’s boss knowledge driven organisation technologically. And above all, being able to show the customer that in truth, service is what will make it possible. We don’t say we know what the customer wants, we can’t claim. We can’t serve what we think is best for him, rather we would like the customer to tell us what he or she wants us to do for him or her.

We would serve the customer better when they tell us what they want.

G

iven the competition in the banking industry, how will you break through?

It is not impossible for us to break through. We have to get a customer to begin to believe in themselves; that if you say you can do water, then we as a bank will want to know whether you will be able to do it. If you have what it takes to do that, then we as a bank will help you with other things that would assist you make the water. Some time people think money is the main thing to get business right; money is not the main thing to get business right.

The partners have to put other things right. Most banks would be ready to help you if you are prepaid to do things right. If you tell a bank that you have partners that have enough skills to do the business, then better. You need people that will help you market the product, accountant or cashier, engineers etc.

Another thing is ownership structure; you should not allow your relation to do everything in the business. What is lacking in the Nigeria banking state seems to be that we are not willing to own up.

We want to be everything such as managing director, chairman, accountant and so on. Many at times, one person, who wants to be

,

BY PETER EGWUATU

We issued less than 10 cheques. Mo people declined to collect their cheques saying they are not going anywhere and that showed the confidence they have in us.

do everything and in fact do not qualify to have access to banks’credit. So, if you put appropriate structure in place, it will work. In fact, your family can be board members with other skilled people working together, pay yourself salary and discipline yourself. The Dangote that we are seeing today did not start big, but started somewhere because he disciplined himself. The people he brought in to assist him were not blood brothers. It will pay us if we do business by sharing responsibility. Our children will enjoy, our grandchildren will enjoy

and the entire country will enjoy if the business grows.

What is the bank’s unique selling point in ter niche?

I don’t want to tie myself as a niche banker. I w to take people from ordinary banking to real ban If I can achieve that in five years, it is okay. The a lot of value and opportunities in the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). Most banks have the skill to mentor this scale of business. M is not the first thing to get business right; there things that must be put in place first before mon So, we intend to work with the SMEs and nurtu them so that as they grow, we also grow with the We would like to see the SMEs grow and becom household name like the Dangote, Femi Otedol

Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 29

Interview

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D

o you have any plan to expand beyond the three branches you started with?

Heritage Bank is expected to grow by 13 more branches by June 2013 from three branches it started with.

We are targeting to have 16 branches by June and from there, we will grow further. Although, having many branches is not the ultimate because we are going to use technology to drive our business.

There is mobile money, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and online banking transaction, all driven by technology. We will deploy adequate technology as point of presence matters a lot. We would show point of presence rather than building many branches. If you can transact your business seamlessly without difficulty, it is better. You can get a loan from the comfort of your home by asking for it. If I want N10 loan as a small business to start a trade of pure water, should I go and do documentation for trading and go and bring my grandfather’s land because I want to take small loan?

No, there are other alternate channels of delivery.

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We want to be a bank that people will believe and know that generation banking is the way to go.

,

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want nking. ere are d s don’t Money are ney. ure em. me la etc.

When we created International Energy Insurance (IEI) Company, there was no known energy insurance company in this country.

People thought it won’t be possible.

We took engineers who are petroleum engineers and taught them insurance and grew that market size .It looked impossible, but it worked out. There are ordinary people like us who can strive to be better off tomorrow; that is one niche. We might be small today, but if we have 20 people like us growing gradually, then tomorrow, we will grow to become big companies and that is what we are saying, that we are ready to work with enterprises that are ready to grow with us.

W

hat is the ownership structure of the bank like?

Heritage Bank is owned by many people, but before we came in, it was owned by 19 people. Our shareholding structure is 80 percent core investor, nine percent legacy bank, that is, the former core investor and 11 percent depositors who converted their deposit to owning stakes in the bank.

How do you intend to play in the SMEs sector?

The SME is a sector we believe can grow this economy and it has been a philosophy that we believe in; philosophy of possibility, philosophy of tenacity, philosophy of hardworking and so on. For instance, as a journalist, if you need a recorder to do your work efficiently and you come to us a bank to assists you get it. We should be able to help you get it. We would start by asking you why you need it and how you intend to use it do your job. So, you get value for using tape recorder.

Our job is to help people actualise their dream in life by supporting them not only financially but in other ways. Though it could take you five, 10 years to get exactly where you want to be, but you have to start somewhere. So, our job is to assist entrepreneurs grow and by so doing, the entrepreneur will trust us as a partner. If we are able to do this, then we would have done our job as a bank.

Your background is in insurance sector, how equipped are you to work in the banking sector?

No, my background is not in insurance, but I happened to work in the sector in the past. I am an accountant by training. May be, that is when the financial industry noticed me, when I came to limelight in International Energy Insurance, IEI, as an insurance company. They saw IEI when I

IFIE SEKIBO... Money is not the main thing to get business right. The partners have to put other things right. grew the company within three and five years. I am an investment banker. I was not the Managing Director (MD) of IE1; I was the Group MD of the whole Group of IEI. I had an MD of IEI Insurance Limited. There was an MD of IEI Assets Limited, there was an IEI Pension Limited, there was an MD of the PMC, the mortgage bank, I was just the Group MD. The reason I was able to play that part was because of my financial background.

I had no training in insurance, but I saw a big opportunity of buying global Assurance at that time in 2004. I said to my people that with N15 million to buy 70 percent stake, it was very cheap. How can such a big business with such a big stake be this cheap, yet people are not seeing the opportunity. So, in two years, we were able to restructure the company, a company that has no office, the office building that has no windows and doors but only chairs and tables. So, we looked at ourselves and believed in ourselves that we can push it forward. We hired professionals, and in fact, we were assisted by Linkage Assurance which gave us money for leasing, I don’t hide it. Trade Bank gave us initial money to pay our staff.

W

hat are the modalities for account verification and for customers to collect their money?

On the modality for account validation, savings account holders are expected to come with means of identification such as driver’s licence, passport or National Identity card, as well as their cash withdrawal forms and deposit slips.

For current and corporate accounts, account holders are expected to present their cheque books or cheque stumps.

The process is simple, hassle-free and technology-driven to ensure that customers that turn up do not have to wait endlessly. We just call up the customer’s number from our server base at the head office. Once this appears, the customer ’s picture is taken and stored and the form is passed on to the validation officer through the control officer for the

account to be verified, including the balance in such account. Once this is done, the customer is referred to the cashiers who instantly write cheques for those that want their account balance paid.

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id you make any effort to retain majority of the customers of the defunct SGBN? Yes we did. The aim of the revalidation exercise was to possibly pay all customers of SGBN who came to participate in exercise through issuance of cheques to them at the validation centres immediately their accounts were successfully validated from day one of the exercise. Like I said, the exercise was in two parts, namely verification of accounts and instant issuance of payment cheques for those who prefer to collect the balances in their accounts. Owners of successfully validated accounts also have the option of retaining such with the new Heritage Bank. So, we hired four banks thinking that people will turn up in large number, we had instructed the banks to please pay people that will come to collect their money, not because we don’t have cash but because we had not taken off then. But to our surprise, not much people turned up to pick their money and many of the people who turned up refused to collect their cheques. We issued less than 10 cheques. Most people declined to collect their cheques saying they are not going anywhere and that showed the confidence they have in us. Even, there was a man that said he wants to be an ambassador of the bank. When he came in, we gave him the cheque and he left and later on, he came back saying we should take our cheque that he never believed this will happen and instructed us to bank the money for him. We ended up where 95 percent or more said they are not collecting their cheques. There are some old people we identified and we went to them to give them their money but they refused, but we advised them that because of their age, we will look for a closer bank near them to bank the money for them.

30 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

Homes & Housing Finance BRIEF Pentagon gives allocation papers to Mainland Park subscribers …To inaugurate residents association

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ubscribers to Mainland Park Estate situated along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, near Redemption Camp, last week, received their allocation papers on site, from Pentagon Real Estate Investment Ltd, the promoters of the estate, four years after allocation was suspended.

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Mr. Kennedy Okoruwa, speaking during the allocation ceremony, noted that over 2,000 people have so far being allotted their plots, and urged subscribers to make efforts to start development immediately. He said ten families are already living in the estate, with over 100 houses in various stages of development, adding that a Residents Association will soon be inaugurated for the estate.

“Today, we are giving out titles, and in the next few days, we will be inaugurating the Residents Association of this Mainland Park City. We have taken our time to wait for a number of people to come in before we start that and we believe that whether you have started work or not, we are going to be informing everybody so that a lot of you can be part of the inaugural meeting.”

A subscriber, Mr. Segun Abraham, commended Pentagon for being able to get their acts together eventually. “The atmosphere is now conducive, unlike before when Policemen had to be drafted in during a meeting to diffuse tension.

Now that you’ve got your acts together, there must be no room for suspicions anymore.”

•Simple but elegant bungalow

FG restates plans for one million houses annually

*As FMBN facilitates N3.3bn projects in Adamawa Stories by YINKA KOLAWOLE

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HE Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to providing one million houses for Nigerians across the country on a yearly basis.

Minister of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Ama Pepple, reaffirmed the government’s plan recently, Yola, Adamawa State, at the launching of 400 housing units built by the state government through a N1.3 billion facility obtained from the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), with an additional N2 billion set to be released for other housing projects in the state.

The minister, who was represented by Permanent Secre-

tary in the Housing Ministry, Alh. Ibrahim Mahe, commended the Adamawa State government for embarking on the project, which she noted was in line with the National Housing Policy. “This is in line with the goal of National Housing Policy to aggressively tackle the huge national

housing deficit by delivering one million housing units per annum,” she declared.

Pepple expatiated on how government intends to achieve the goal of delivering the one million housing units every year. According to her, the houses would be delivered through various approaches,

such as partnership between public and private sectors as well as collaboration among agencies of government at various levels. She added that state governments have been recognised as significant partners in housing delivery and as such urged them to help facilitate the realisation of the vision by expediting action on the provision of land and necessary infrastructure for developers.

Managing Director, FMBN, Mr Gimba Ya’u Kumo, in his remarks at the occasion, said apart from the 400 housing units, the bank was also financing two other housing projects, comprising 95 units and 240 units, in the state capital. He noted that Adamawa State is an active contributor to the National Housing Fund (NHF), and gave an assurance that FMBN is set to provide an additional N2 billion loan to the state government for construction of more houses.

Also speaking at the event, Chairman of Adasolid Properties Limited, the developers, Mallam Lawal Abubakar, said the project comprised of 120 three-bedroom bungalows, 244 two-bedroom bungalows and 12 semi-detached one bedrooms.

In his speech while inaugurating the estate, Governor Murtala Nyako, renewed his administration’s commitment to execute people-oriented projects and called for support and cooperation from the people to achieve his transformation agenda.

NDIC begins liquidation of failed mortgage institutions T HE Nigeria Deposit In surance corporation (NDIC) said on Thursday it had liquidated the assets of seven Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMI) considered

From left: Mr. Cosmos Ogiri, HOD Marketing, Pentagon Real Estate Investment Ltd; Mrs. Anietie Mbosowo; Mr. Kenedy Okoruwa. Chairman/CEO; Mr. Abraham Olusegun; Mrs.Chukwudi Okere Nympha during the plots allocation exercise to another batch of subscribers of Mainland Park Estate, Mowe.

not viable. Its Managing Director, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim announced this at a meeting with the board and management staff of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), led by Mr Bisi Ogunjobi in Abuja.

According to him, though the liquidation directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was on 25 PMIs, the corporation could only identify seven at the moment. He, however, did not list the companies liquidated. In 2012, the CBN directed the NDIC to liquidate the assets of 25 PMIs considered not viable. The managing director said the corporation had begun the liquidation process of those it could trace.

He stressed that the corporation had to do a lot of search at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to determine the ownership structure of

some “invisible PMIs”.

“A couple of months ago, the CBN had cause to revoke the licences of 25 PMIs and naturally asked us to liquidate whatever remains of them.

Interestingly, we were able to trace only seven of them. The rest I believe were paper institutions; we are carrying out a lot of search at the CAC to determine the management, board, shareholders and other details of those invisible institutions. Having identified the seven of them, we are in the process of commencing liquidation such that the established depositors would be compensated. That, again, has proved to be a very difficult exercise because most of them were not rendering returns to the CBN or NIDC; therefore, determining the deposit liabilities of those identified institutions is a Herculean task,” he said.

Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 31

Homes & Housing Finance

Brick Matters: Nigeria’s chance to improve housing, industry (I)

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Walk through Some of the World’s Best Neighbourhoods Imagine taking an autumn stroll along the canals of old Amsterdam, one of Europe’s loveliest cities. The historic streets are lined with row upon row of beautiful houses, many dating back to the th 17 century, when Amsterdam was at the centre of the world economy. Look up at the facades, and many of the well-cared-for houses still show their date of construction – 1636, 1657, 1705…

These historic canal houses, despite their age, sell in the millions of dollars. And they all have one thing in common – they are all constructed from red brick.

Transition 350 kilometres to the west, and you arrive in London. Walk through any upscale neighbourhood, such as Chelsea, and you will notice the same thing: most of the stately homes are built from red brick.

Next, cross the Atlantic Ocean to the east coast city of Boston, America’s most European city. The Beacon Hill neighbourhood is home to generations of old-money families whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower.

And once again, nearly all of these mansions are made with red brick.

Now let’s fly back to Nigeria and visit bustling, rapidly urbanising Lagos, a beehive of construction activity. Oxford Economics reports that the growth of construction output in Nigeria is the highest in all of Africa. The Lekki corridor alone is the site of thousands of new upscale homes. But something is amiss. There is hardly a brick house in sight. Nearly all of the houses in Lagos, and in most of Nigeria, are built from concrete block. A 2012 monograph estimates that 90% of physical infrastructure in Nigeria is built from concrete block.

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he question to ask is why? Brick has been available in Nigeria long before concrete block ever made its appearance; brick construction has been uncovered by archaeologists studying Nigeria’s proto-historic period, and brick was widely used during colonial times. As the walk through some of the

worlds’ posh neighbourhoods shows, brick is not only acceptable in housing construction elsewhere in the world – it is actually preferred. Outside of Nigeria, homes are built with red brick, and concrete block is used primarily as an industrial or commercial building material.

Brick Costs Less than Block, Creates More Affordable Housing Brick is strong, durable, and aesthetically pleasing; it can be made from materials found widely across Nigeria. To add to the mystery of its lack of uptake in the market, it actually costs less to build with

struction, leading to lower prices. Any solution that drives down the cost of housing will expand the market from the bottom, putting entry level homes into the reach of more first-time buyers.

There are two different types of brick available in Nigeria. The first type is the compressed laterite brick, which is manufactured by pressure on a type of red soil found in abundance across 80 percent of Nigeria. Laterite bricks may be produced on a small scale, or even onsite, and require very little energy input in a nation where shortage of industri-

sity of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State.

Building with baked clay bricks costs 19 percent less, per square meter, than building with concrete blocks. This study included not only the cost of the materials, but also mortar and labour, in the calculation. Considering that structural elements constitute about 50 percent of the material cost of a new home, using bricks instead of blocks to construct the walls results in significant overall cost savings to the home buyer. Furthermore, bricks in Nigeria are made from indigenous materials which support the local economy all the way up

•Building cheaper houses with earth bricks

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By RON ASHKIN

“The cost difference between brick and block is substantial, it costs between 30 percent and 47 percent less to build with compressed laterite bricks than with blocks”

brick than with block.

Brick, as a lower-cost alternative to block for housing construction, is interesting in Nigeria’s voracious housing market, where there is a need for an estimated 12 to16 million new homes. Prospective buyers have repeatedly cited high cost of materials and out-ofreach home prices as the primary obstacle to home ownership in Nigeria. Simply put, less costly building materials mean less costly home con-

,

al energy is a major concern.

The second type of brick is the baked clay brick, which is kiln-fired and requires greater investment and energy input.

To the homeowner, however, the cost difference between brick and block is substantial. It costs between 30 percent and 47 percent LESS to build with compressed laterite bricks than with blocks, according to a 2012 study from scholars at the Univer-

the supply chain; concrete blocks use cement as the major cost input, a material that is customarily expensive in Nigeria by world standards and of which a large proportion is imported, mainly from China.

Despite all of these advantages – delivering technical durability, superior appearance, and better cost – brick is used in only about 10 percent of housing construction in Nigeria. Bricks provide serious room for market expansion, and the dearth of brick homes is a dilemma. Let us examine some of the market myths surrounding bricks. *Mr. Ashkin, Technical Director, GEMS2 Programme supported by UKaid, is a private sector development consultant and manager with professional experience in 60 countries around the globe, on enterprise development, competitiveness, strategy, and international trade.

BRIEF UAE central bank approves new mortgage cap

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AE Central Bank has ap proved new caps on mortgage credit proposed by the country’s banks but warned them against providing excessive loans to individuals to ensure safety of the banking sector in the second largest Arab economy.

The Central Bank endorsed the new caps during talks with representatives of the country’s 23 national banks and 28 foreign units in Abu Dhabi last week, the Sharjahbased Arabic language daily Alkhaleej said.

The paper quoted what it described as a senior banking source as saying it was a “heated” meeting, during which some banks traded accusations and the Central Bank issued warnings against over-lending and a delay in issuing debt clearance certificates to clients seeking to switch to other banks.

At the Central Bank’s request, the Emirates Bankers Federation (EBF) submitted proposals on new mortgage caps last month, setting the maximum real estate loan to an Emirati individual at 80 per cent for the first property purchased and 65 per cent for second and subsequent properties. For an expatriate individual, it suggested 75 per cent for the first property purchased and 60 per cent for the remaining properties. “During the talks yesterday, the Central Bank approved the new mortgage caps which it believes will serve the public interest...the Central Bank said it was working on the new mortgage cap law and it would issue it soon after it is circulated to all banks operating in the country,” Alklhaleej quoted the source as saying.

The source said the Central Bank also warned banks against “flooding” Emiratis with loans that exceed their financial resources and stretch as long as 300 months. “The Central Bank told banks this is unacceptable and warned it would take stringent measures against banks violating those rules.”

The paper said the meeting was attended by Central Bank governor Sultan bin Nassir Al Suwaidi and senior representatives of the 51 banks.

Unlike Saudi Arabia, the UAE has no mortgage law but has spoken of plans to issue such a legislation to prevent a US-style Subprime crisis caused by a rush by banks to provide mortgage loans.

32 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

Insurance BRIEF SA trains key staff on IFRS, ERM

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HE Management of Standard Alliance Insurance Plc and its sister company, Standard Alliance Life Assurance Limited have concluded an International Financial Reporting Standard and Enterprise Risk Management training for their directors, audit committee members and key management staff in a two-day session held in Lagos.

In a statement signed by the Group Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Nelson Egboboh, the company said the move is in line with their culture of regularly updating their key officers on best industry practices.

“The training was important to make our directors, audit committee members and key management staff conversant with the International Financial Reporting Standards and risk management practices,” the statement said.

Egboboh said that the twoday training session was very strategic, especially as the participants were the brain behind the success stories of the organisations, adding “With this training, we are sure of raising and making our standard of handling financial reporting and risk management issues a template for the insurance industry in Nigeria.”

It will be recalled that the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, make it mandatory for companies to train their directors and other key management staff to enhance their knowledge about international best practices.

Stories by ROSEMARY ONUOHA

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ATIONAL Insurance C o m m i s s i o n , NAICOM, said a total of N1.2 billion claims were settled through its intervention in 2012.

NAICOM’s Assistant Director of Corporate Affairs Mr. Lucky Fiakpa said the claims were settled from 52 cases brought to the Commission.

He noted that the claims dispute resolution related to motor, marine and life

N1.2bn claims paid through NAICOM’s intervention in 2012 insurances as well as bond issues and pension matters, adding that the complaints were received from individual policyholders, beneficiaries, government agencies, SERVICOM, Legal Aid Council and Public Complaints Commission.

He said, “During the year, the

L-R: Senior Broker, Afro-Asian Insurance Services Limited, Mr. Peter De Kersaint Giraudeau; Chief Executive Officer, Shepherds Insurance Brokers, Chief Oladipo Bailey; Chairman, SIB, Chief Pis Akinyelure; and Account Officer, AAISL, Mr. Chris Davies during a press briefing on Reinsurance Treaty in Lagos

ENIOR Broker and Account Executive, AfroAsian Insurance Services Limited, International Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers, Mr. Chris Davies, has said that the firm was partnering with Shepherds Insurance Brokers to provide covers for special risks in the country.

He said this during a press briefing on its insurance treaties business in the country last week.

Davies said, “We will support Shepherd Insurance Brokers with capacity from London, middle east and the international market to develop the local market and provide

made members of the public and, in particular, policyholders to be more informed of the Commission’s window of dispute resolution, which is not only effective but timely.

The Complaints Bureau discharges its responsibilities either through correspondences with the insurance companies’ involved or through adjudication.

During the year under review, a total of nine adjudication meetings were held while majority of the disputes resolved were through correspondences.”

He noted that it is noteworthy that the response and cooperation of insurance companies involved in any dispute with policyholders has been very encouraging, stressing that during the year, not less than 85 per cent of the insurance institutions responded to queries or directives issued by the Commission for claims settlement.

He said the Complaints Bureau is the unit solely responsible for receiving and processing complaints against insurance companies for non settlement claims in the Commission.

AIICO Pensions disburses over N1bn A

IICO Pension Managers Limited, one of the Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs, licensed by the National Pension Commission, PenCom, to manage pension funds in the country, has

disbursed over N1.1 billion to retirees as pensions.

Chairman of the company, Mr. Rasheed Gbadamosi, who disclosed this at the 2013 retirees’ forum in Lagos last week, said that an average of

Shepherds Insurance Brokers partners Afro-Asian

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Complaints Bureau handled a total of 349 cases, 86 of which were fresh complaints with the remaining 263 being ongoing cases.

The increase in the number of complaints received was as a result of the various publicity campaigns embarked upon by the Commission which has

cover for some special risks.”

He explained that Afro-Asian has insurance treaties in 26 countries in Africa, and that it was in the country to seek business partnership with other local insurance and reinsurance firms.

The insurer noted that the local environment was developing adding that there were opportunities in the oil and gas sector, as well as some other political risks that may also need some covers.

Also, Senior Broker and Account Executive, Afro-Asia, Mr. Peter Giraudeau, said the firm plans to develop some relevant insurance products in the country which had not been

developed. He said that it would also develop good relationships with the insurance firms because it has lots of experience which they can benefit from.

Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Shepherds Insurance Brokers, Chief Oladipo Bailey, said the firm had always nurtured plans to have ties with reinsurance outfits in United Kingdom.

Last year, he said, Shepherds signed an agreement with AfroAsian Insurance, with the major objective to developing the insurance market in Nigeria in terms of opening new doors particularly in providing covers for current and emerging risks.

N12 million is being disbursed as monthly payout.

The Chairman also disclosed that the retirees of the company are growing stating, “I recall that in 2009 when the first forum was held for South-West retirees including Lagos, we had less than fifty retirees. Today, the story is different as we have well over two hundred retirees in Lagos alone.”

While informing the retirees that the company ’s capital base has been strengthened, the Chairman said “As a pension fund administrator, the totality of our activities is geared towards providing comfort to our retirees. This indeed is our main reason for being in business. In order to serve you better and to also strengthen our financial base, I am pleased to inform you that in 2012, our capital base was increased to meet the minimum prescribed capital base of N1 billion (unimpaired by losses).

He said that the forum is

Aiico’s family gathering where retirees are expected to felicitate with one another in an atmosphere of conviviality as invited experts take them through some health business tips that will add more value to their lives in retirement.

Accordingly, Deputy General Manager (Technical & Support Services), Mr. Patrick Onos, said that the gathering is geared towards creating a forum where the company will exchange ideas with their retirees while enhancing bonding between them.

Onos said, “We regard them as members of our family, they are so special to us because they are the essence of our being in business. We are in business to actually cater for the retirees. It is sacrosanct to us in Aiico Pensions that a retiree lives in comfort after his active working life and we intend to do everything possible to make sure that our retirees live well in retirement.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 33

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WO mobs are engaged in a face-off on PIB: those for and those against. Those in support stand to lose if the lack of leadership continues on both sides.

PIB 1 died with the last National Assembly, despite the efforts of the International Oil Companies, IOCs, the President of Nigeria (President Jonathan) and the Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke. If you don’t mind my saying so, I was one of those who sent PIB 1 to the graveyard of history. For instance, a few days after Jonathan paid an official visit to Turkey, where he announced that PIB 1 would be signed into law before end of May 2011, I declared in my SUNDAY VANGUARD column that it would not happen. And when a few weeks after the President, Mrs AlisonMadueke was echoing her boss about the passage of PIB 1 in 2011, I again told her, it would not happen. History will one day record that one penpusher, writing for VANGUARD Newspapers, made the President and the minister to eat their words.

However, it was not only Jonathan and the Minister who were dusted in 2011; the other real losers were the Governors and the people of the Niger Delta, who stood to benefit most especially from the passage of the bill. It is not for

PIB 2: A tale of two mobs me to fully disclose here how, and why, the bill was defeated in 2011. But, let me state one important reason. In 2011, PIB1 was leaderless crusade.

The major beneficiaries of PIB 1 failed to realize that they were involved in a battle to change entrenched interests and replace them with other interests. PIB represents a revolutionary change from the past; and like all revolutions, it entails its own groups of winners and losers. What was, and is still, at stake runs into trillions of naira.

The existing structures, in the petroleum sector, grew out of Decree 33; signed into law on 21 April 1977, by LtGeneral Olusegun Obasanjo.

The Decree created the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which replaced the Nigerian National Oil Corporation, NNOC. According to the preamble to the said Decree 33, “The new corporation is empowered to engage in all [emphasis mine] commercial activities relating to the petroleum industry..”. The Decree we must realize was promulgated by a centralist military government under which there was little or no debate about matters, irrespective of how vital, once the top brass has taken a position.

The Decree

expectedly gave broad powers to the military Head of State. The switch from dictatorship to 1uasidemocracy, such as we now have has altered very little in the way NNPC operates – it is still operated according to the whims and caprices of the President of Nigeria.

Unfortunately for the oil producing areas of Nigeria, the NNPC, for 33 years (1977-2010), was under the control of Obasanjo, Shagari, Buhari, Babangida, Abacha, Abubakar, Obasanjo and Yar’Adua – none of them from an oil producing state. Thus all the inequities that were perpetrated during those years have produced the cumulative effect we observe today. Senator Enang of Akwa Ibom might have been too flippant when he announced

,

“A group without a leader is a mob”. Dele Sobowale.

Elected presidents cannot give away the people’s properties, anyhow, without risking majour political and social upheavals.

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without proof that 83% of oil blocks were owned by Northerners. But, broadly speaking, he was correct that the presence of northerners in the sector was overwhelmingly higher than that of people from the Niger Delta. Dr Lukman Rilwan was the longest serving Minister of Petroleum, in addition to serving Nigeria’s turn at OPEC. Buhari and Professor Aminu join the list of Northern Ministers of Petroleum. Even when someone from the Niger Delta was Minister – Etiebet and Etete – he served only at the pleasure of the Northern Head of State – Babangida and Abacha – among the longest military rulers. Perhaps, we will one day know the complete list of recipients of oil blocks which the rulers were “dashing out” as if it was their personal inheritance – instead of the commonwealth of millions of fellow Nigerians — dead and alive.

The underlying intention of PIB 1 and 2 remains the same – to introduce more equity into the system and remove the practice of “monkey owns the food, but baboon chop”. Unfortunately, the framers of PIB, being the “oppressed” or “victimized”, have made the mistake of

thinking that “the facts speak for themselves”, namely, that everybody can see that the Decree 33 of 1977 was a statute which ultimately would promote large corruption resulting in a few people amassing “ wealth without work” – because that is what has happened in the case of General T.Y. Danjuma (rtd) and the favoured few. Despite the highly publicized philanthropic projects people like that engage in, it still amounts to giving back pittance from the bounties Decree 33 of 1977 provides daily. The mention of Danjuma is deliberate. He was the “power behind the throne of the Obasanjo regime at the time as the Chief of Army Staff.

It was not a coincidence that he ended up with a gusher on his hands.

But, now things have changed, or are supposed to change. Elected presidents cannot give away the people’s properties, anyhow, without risking majour political and social upheavals. Second, the oil-producing areas, thanks to Obong Victor Attah’s Resource Control, have woken up to the injustice embedded in the present system. Somehow, it must have occurred to Jonathan and his close associates, as well as other stakeholders in the Niger Delta, that, even if he serves two terms, Jonathan will one day go home and the power might switch to the north again.

Micro-Finance

SMEs to key in to IFRS by 2014 Stories by PROVIDENCE OBUH

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MALL and Mediumsized Enterprises (SMEs) are expected to key into the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) initiative by January 1, 2014 Meanwhile, entities that do not meet the IFRS criteria for SMEs will prepare and issue their reports using SMEs Guidelines on Accounting (i.e.

Tier 3 or Micro-GAAP) issued by the Geneva-based United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr. Adedoyin Owolabi, said this during the 2nd induction ceremony for the award of IFRS proficiency certificate held at the institute's secretariat annex in Lagos.

“As approved by the government, all listed companies and significant public interest entities in Nigeria must adopt IFRS by January 1, 2012. All other public interest entities were

required to adopt IFRS by January 1, 2013,” Owolabi recalled.

Accordingly, he said, “The year 2012 marked a significant watershed in Nigeria’s financial reporting as the country wholly adopted the principles-based International Financial Reporting Standards

(IFRS) as its financial reporting framework with effect from January 1, 2012. This was in line with the recommendations of the Committee on the Roadmap for the Adoption of IFRS in Nigeria which were accepted by the government.

“This wholesale adoption of IFRS by Nigeria, no doubt, has

profound implications for financial reporting practices in the country. The people, financial and operating systems and processes including accounting policies will be impacted in varying degrees. As we key into this global framework, transparency and full disclosures of accounting and related practices will be the rule rather than exception.

Elance launches online work in Nigeria

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LANCE, the world’s leading platform for online work has launched its online work in Nigeria, where people are hired on freelance.

Elance is a place where businesses can find hire and manage online freelancers around the world, while businesses post a job for free, freelancers around the world submit their qualifications and prices for businesses to choose a freelancer and agree to pricing and schedule.

Speaking at a brief announcing Elance, Chief Marketing Officer, Mr. Rich Pearson said that Nigeria is the

fastest growing country in Africa for independent professionals, with a 35 per cent increase in earnings over the last quarter on Elance and over 500,000 businesses seeking freelance talent, adding that online work represents a substantial opportunity for students and professionals in Nigeria to increase their income and gain valuable work experience.

Pearson said, ”We predict that one out of every three workers around the world will be hired online by 2020, making the future of freelance work virtually unlimited, we are committed to develop the online work market in Nigeria and

provide freelancers with the tools and training they need to succeed on Elance.”

He said that Nigeria trails only South Africa and Kenya on the continent in freelancer earnings, noting that the average hourly wage for Nigerians on Elance is over $15 per hour, an increase of 36 per cent over the last 12 months.

According to him, “Nigerians with skills in Programming, Graphic Design and Writing are the highest earners, and the top five countries hiring Nigerians on Elance are the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore.”

S&P 500 index reaches record high

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he S&P 500 index closed on Thursday night at a record high of 1,569, up 6 points or 0.4 percent. The last time it broke into new territory was on 9 October 2007 when it closed at 1,565.

The Dow Jones index was also up 0.4 percent, with a rise of 52 points taking it to a record 14,578.

The Nasdaq joined in the upbeat mood created by the smooth reopening of banks in Cyprus and generally positive economic news. It rose 11 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 3,268.

The S&P has been near its record high for several weeks, despite the still sluggish performance of the US economy. This means it finishes the quarter 10 percent higher than its level at the beginning of the year and more than double its low point during the financial crisis.

34 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

People in Business

I didn't learn bag-making from anywhere – Victoria Odeyemi Miss Victoria Yetunde Odeyemi, is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Ibadan-based Ovy ‘n’ Freddies, an outfit that is into manufacturing of shoes and bags with locally sourced materials. In this interview with Vanguard, Odeyemi tells the story of how she ventured into a terrain seen as the exclusive preserve of men and the challenges. Excerpts:

•Miss Victoria Yetunde Odeyemi

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n completion of her secondary school education, Victoria Odeyemi, discovered her talent and decided to use it to make a living for herself and for others.

According to Odeyemi, she never learnt bag-making from anywhere. She simply followed her heart and developed what God deposited in her. Although she started with bag-making but before she knew it, people were asking for shoes to go with the bags.

“It was when I started making bags that people who buy the bags ask me for matching shoes. Initially, I was giving it to a cobbler to make for me but I later discovered that the finishing was not up to the standard I really wanted so I said to myself that if I could learn this

thing, I will do it better.”

That was how she went into shoe-making. “In 2007, I went to learn shoe-making,” she said.

Motivation: “One thing with me is that anytime I see a good work, I will be so determined to know more about it so when I see slippers and shoes on people, I begin to imagine how they were made. You know, when I started, if I am walking on the street and I see a spoilt shoe, I will look round and if nobody was looking, I will quickly pick it up and when I get home, I pull it apart to see how it was made. When I started learning to make shoes, my boss, the person that taught me, usually took me to the market to purchase materials for the shoes. I was not comfortable with the type of materials he was using.

When we go to the market together, he will be picking

•Some of Odeyemi's product

,

By EBELE ORAKPO

One thing with me is that anytime I see a good work, I will be so determined to know more about it so when I see slippers and shoes on people, I begin to imagine how they were made.

,

low quality materials and I will ask him why he prefers such low quality materials instead of going for better materials and he will say that people will not buy, but I later discovered that when you make something of good quality with very good

finishing, people will definitely buy. At a point, I advised him to buy quality material and then we can sell the slippers for N3,000. He said to me that nobody will buy. But since I started my own, I have not sold my slippers anything less than

N1,500. Now, I don’t sell less than N3,000 and people are really patronising me. They like good quality things,” she stated.

When asked how much she started the business with, she replied; “I cannot say precisely. There is no amount you cannot start with, even N1,000. Just buy few materials. I started by making souvenir bags. With N1, 000, you can start once you have a sewing machine. Then, one yard of the material was going for between N180 and N200. So if you can buy half a yard of the material and you have your sewing machine, you can make the bag you want.”

Odeyemi who has five people in her employ, said she has trained so many people, mostly graduates, who are today self-employed and also trains youth corpers.

Challenges; n the challenges, she said the major challenge is funds.

“The only challenge I can say I am facing right now is funds because I need to expand the business. I need more machines and a very big place so I can accommodate more trainees and workers.

I started very little and to the glory of God, He has been helping me.

I don’t like going to people for help but there are people that God has been laying it in their hearts to do one or two things for me. I get a lot of encouragement from people.

Some will see the shoes and bags and say ‘ wow, are you the one making these?’ Are you sure you are really the one making them? They are lovely,’ and I will say yes.

Sometimes when I go to the market to buy my materials, I see cobblers and they ask if I am a cobbler, I tell them ‘no, I am not a cobbler but a designer.’ They say whether designer or cobbler, it is still the same, and the next question is; ‘are you sure you are the one doing these and I say yes, I do them myself and they ask me to show them my hands and when they see that the back of my hand is like theirs, they go; “Ah it is true, you are the one making the shoes.” The back of the hands of all the people that do this type of job is rough.”

Odeyemi strongly believes that she will get to the top one day. “I will get to the top where God really destined this business to be. I know He has a very good plan for the business. He has been helping me. It is a God-given business and I know that He who has given it to me will surely take it to where He wants to take it,” she said.

O

Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 35

Agric

By JIMOH BABATUNDE

BRIEF

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IGERIA’s rice consumption is projected to reach 35 million tonnes by 2050, from five million tonnes currently, rising at the rate of 7 per cent yearly, due to population growth.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, last year said the country’s rice consumption was projected to reach 35 million tonnes by 2050, from five million tonnes as at that time, rising at the rate of 7 per cent yearly, due to population growth.

The minister added then that 500,000 tonnes of rice were being imported into the country annually and that conscientious efforts were being made under the Agricultural Transformation Action plan (ATAP) to reduce rice importation to zero by 2013 and achieve 2.1 million tonnes local production over the next 12 months.

“Now our plan is by 2013 to reduce that down to zero; which means the 500,000 metric tonnes of rice would be produced by Nigeria.

This is the first quarter of 2013, how far that promised has been met is yet to be known, but one good news coming from the sector in this direction is the effort of Olam Agro Technical Processing Company, which has made huge investment in local rice production.

Olam’s investment in rice farming in Nigeria comes at a time when the government has pledged to raise rice production to be among the world’s largest producers of rice.

The farm which covers 6,000 hectares of irrigated farmland in Nasarawa state, one of Nigeria’s main rice growing belts, is expected to yield 36,000 tones of milled rice annually at its peak.

The effort of Olam in making Nigeria rice sufficient was recently commended by the Federal Government inter-ministerial committee on rice price benchmarking led by Dhiru Ado-Kurawa, during a visit to the farm.

Speaking after the tour, the committee, which has the general responsibility of monitoring rice in the country and regulating the price for rice imports, heaped praises on the company for truly championing local cultivation of the staple on a highly mechanised large scale, Expressing satisfaction over Olam’s effort, he said, “I am

Group tackles insecurity with agriculture

I

•Rice farm

Government reiterates plans for local rice production … commends Olam’s investment very impressed by what I have seen here at Olam’s farm, especially because Nigeria consumes 5.2mmt of rice yearly and if we are serious and really mean business we can cultivate all the rice we need here in the country and have the surplus to export.”

He explained that almost 90 per cent of rice grown in the world is grown by small-scale farmers who share the same profile as local farmers in terms of size of cultivated area and manual labour by family holding, stressing that it is only in America and Japan that one will find mostly mechanised rice farmers.

“And from what we have gathered , I can assure Nigerians that by the end of this farming season, we are going to see more rice than we have ever seen in the history of this country because of government’s policy to encourage local production,” he said.

He said a lot of business people import rice because it is very easy to get banks to support them with letters of credit while they just sit back in their air-conditioned offices and place orders.

The committee, the chairman said, has decided to grow and support those in the business of cultivating rice having realised that importation will not do Nigeria any good.

He added “I am very pleased that Olam is part and

parcel of the government’s effort to make sure that we eradicate the import of rice.

We spend hundred trillions of naira importing rice into this country, imagine for a moment what that kind of money will do for this country if it is retained here”.

For Mallam Dhiru AdoKurawa., Chairman, Presidential Committee on Benchmark On Rice, it is regrettable that the country was toying with poverty when it could actually trigger employment on a massive scale, especially in the rural areas with encouraging agriculture generally and rice cultivation particularly.

“This is one effort of the current government which has potential of yielding positive dividend for this country. This is because no government before this one since the independence has

made this kind of effort in arresting the huge import of food.

“I pray that within the life of this administration, Nigerians will realise its benefits and that the wealth that is being transferred to other countries will be returned because we need it more than those other countries given our teeming population”.

According to him, the government is 100 per cent behind Olam to ensure that the company, in partnership with government to reduce the huge import of rice, and given the magnitude of its investment in the country, is supported to thrive. He bemoaned the fact that Nigeria spends trillions of Naira to import rice annually and has the dishonourable tag of the second largest importer of rice in the world.

N its efforts to tackle the increasing unemployment rate and security challenges facing the nation, Nehemiah Youth Empowerment Initiative (NYEI), a non-profit, nongovernmental organization, has put up an Agriculture Empowerment Scheme, which it said was aimed at meaningfully empowering and engaging youths across the country to stay away from crime.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos recently Chairperson of NYEI, Ms Emilomo Unuigbe, averred that the initiative has become necessary due to the urgent need to tackle the increasing youth unemployment rate, which has in turn contributed largely to the insecurity situation rocking the country.

She said: “In light of the recent insecurity situation, especially in the Northern Nigeria, we felt the need to empathize with the Northern youths. As such, we agreed that we could reach these young adults via the platform of Agriculture.

“300 potential farmers attended the event in Gujeni district in Kaduna. 50 of which were shortlisted based on their ability to display keen interest in becoming Agroentrepreneurs. The first 25 of these 50 wrote the Leventis Foundation Agriculture exams and 13 of them were successful. The NYEI sponsored and enrolled these 13 candidates in the Leventis Agriculture Program”, Unuigbe disclosed.

According to her, NYEI commenced the first phase of its project tagged ‘I am Nigeria’ in 2012, stressing that the theme of the current project was essentially to reiterate “our oneness as Nigerians despite our diversity.

“We are about to commence Phase 3 of the ‘I am Nigeria project wherein the successful 50 ‘Community Champions’ as we like to call them, will be given parcels of land and equipped with the resources required to farm over the next three years.

“Our vision is to empower young adults between ages 18-30 to pursue careers based on their innate God-given talents, hoping that they in turn will be able to replicate same within the society”, she explained.

36 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 vicahiyoung@yahoo.com 08033348923

Appointment&Promotions BRIEFS Aero Contractors to recall 655 sacked workers

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ANAGEMENT of Aero Contractors has given indication of its of its readiness to recall 655 staff reportedly relieved of their duties recently. This development came as Senate Committee on Aviation last week wadded into the crisis between the staff and management of the company with a view to permanently resolving the contentious industrial crisis.

At a marathon meeting in Abuja, between the committee and the management and staff of Aero Contractors, the management yielded to an appeal by the committee to reconsider its position on the affected workers.

During the meeting which was well attended by both the management staff and the representatives of the sacked workers, the Aero Contractors management agreed to recall all sacked staff but not without conduct of appraisal within two to three week before.

Berger Paints names Nygard Managing Director B

ERGER Paints Nigeria Plc, Nigeria’s leading paints and allied products manufacturing company, has announced the appointment of Mr. Tor Nygard as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MD/CEO. The appointment which has been confirmed by the Board, took effect from January 2013.

Prior to his confirmation as the chief executive of the company, he had been the acting Managing Director of the company since July 2012. He was appointed executive director of the company on December 14, 2010.

Nygard, a Norwegian, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and MBA from University of South Dakota, USA. He has more than 30 years work experience in the manufacturing and oil and gas sectors, with

•Tor Nygard considerable international exposure in US, Europe and Africa.

In a bid to reposition the company for sustainable growth and profitability, Berger Paints has also put in place a new management team as well as strengthened its board with two new non- executive

directors in the persons of Messrs Dr. Alo Olademiji Israel, a management expert and Mr. Nelson Chidozie Nweke, a seasoned financial guru.

Besides this, the company has also introduced new policies, which include zero tolerance on fraud and whistle blowing in accordance with the code of corporate governance.

The company has also embarked on the construction of an ultra-modern commercial complex in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in a bid to diversify its revenue base.

Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, which engages in the manufacture of decorative and industrial paints, marine and protective coatings, automotive /vehicle refinishes and allied products, was incorporated in Nigeria on January 9, 1959 as British Paints (W.A.) Limited.

Lagos NDE, SUREP launch CSWYE, target 3000 jobs

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ATIONAL Directorate of Employment, NDE, Lagos State, in collaboration with the Lagos State Implementation Committee of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, has launched a Community Services for Women and Youth Employment, CSWYE, projects as part of efforts towards SURE-P in the state The project is expected to generate about 3000 jobs for youths and women across the 245 wards in the state.

Addressing participants at the Lagos NDE office in Lagos, Chairman, State Coordination and Implementation Committee SCIC of SURE-P, Alhaji Bode Oyedele, said the project was in line with other Federal Government policy “because it is the pivot for the economic transformation agenda as it relates to bringing relief and higher standard of livelihood to millions of Nigerians threatened by unemployment and poverty.”

According to Oyedele, the 300 identified youths from the various local governments in Lagos were engaged to render sanitation services in their wards with a stipend of N10,000 monthly basis.

• President of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, Peter Esele, and President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Abdulwaheed Omar, congratulating the Chairman Board of Directors of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF/ TrustFund Pensions Plc, Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Olejeme, (middle), after receiving the “Champion of Workers’ Welfare” award in Lagos, at a merit award ceremony organized by Labour Writers Association of Nigeria, LAWAN.

Oshiomhole gets pride of modern trade unionism award

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OVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, has been honoured with the Pride of Modern Trade Union award.

The award was given to him by the Labour Writers Association of Nigeria, LAWAN, at its maiden merit award held Lagos, to honour individuals and organizations in the labour sector for outstanding achievements Governor Oshiomhole received the award for his achievements as Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and his transformational agenda in Edo State which has seen the state witnessed massive infrastructural development in

the past four years.

Speaking, Comrade Oshiomhole through his representative, commended LAWAN for the honour and noted that real people were never celebrated in Nigeria, saying “we celebrate those who are not worthy to be celebrated.

But I salute LAWAN for honouring those who have toiled for Nigerians.”

Similarly, President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, congratulated individuals and organizations that were singled out for the award and called on others to work hard in their various capacities.

In the same vein, President

of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, commended LAWAN for the award and advised winners and those who did not get to see the award as a call to duty.

Among other recipients of awards were Alhaji Aliko Dangote as Outstanding Employers of Labour, Ondo state Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko (Labour Touch Bearer), Chairman Board of Directors of Nigeria Social Insurance TrustFund, NSITF, TrustFund Pensions Plc, , Dr. Mrs ) Ngozi Olejeme (Champion of Workers Welfare) and President-General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, President, Emmanuel Nted, (Icon of Leaders Reform)

It commenced business in 1961 by importing paints from its principal partner in the United Kingdom in March 1962. It commissioned its factory in Lagos, which was the first paint factory in the country.

The company was the first paints manufacturing company quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Famuyibo emerges CIPM President

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ICTOR Oluropo Famuyibo, has emerged as the 16thPresident/Chairman of Council of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria, CIPM. He was elected President at an election held at the 44thAnnual General Meeting, AGM, of the Institute in Lagos.

He took over from Mr. Abiola Popoola, whose three year tenure ended at the AGM. CIPM is the Nigeria’s apex institute chartered with the responsibility of regulating the practice of human resource management in the country.

Famuyibo, who has over three decades Human Resource, HR, experience, is currently the HR Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc. Prior to his election, he was the Chairman, Strategic Planning Implementation Committee, SPIC, of the Institute and has contributed immensely to its growth through involvement in different Committees of Council.

In his acceptance speech, the 1979 graduate of University of Ibadan, said he intended to build on the transformation drive of his predecessor and make the Institute more globally-aligned through collaboration with other global HR bodies.

He also spoke of his readiness to encourage the youth to take to HR to build a ready resource that would replace the older generation of HR Practitioners.

•Victor Famuyibo

Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 37

Aviation

Boeing did not rebuff Aviation Ministry on safety — Oduah

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From left, Modupe Ladipo, CEO, EFInA; Olayemi Cardoso, Chairman, EFInA; Frederik Eijkman, founding director, PEP intermedius, Kenya, and Dipo Fatokun, director, banking and payment services, CBN, at the EFInA innovation forum, "titled; Deeping financial inclusion through agent banking" in Lagos. Photo;Akeem Salau.

Safety ) and the Federal Ministry of Aviation bear testimony to this.’’

Mr Obi further clarify that what the Honourable Minister requested, and which Boeing has acceded to doing whenever their ‘’ proposal is approved is an “airworthiness assessment” of all the Nigerian Registered aircraft manufactured by Boeing, and not “re-certification” ‘’ He also said with regard to the Dana crash and airworthiness assessment of the MD83s in Dana’s fleet. ,

Boeing, being a subject of investigation excused themselves from the airworthiness assessment to avoid any conflict of interest charge. ‘’ Boeing however recommended a Third party, ALM to conduct an airworthiness assessment of the MD83s in Dana’s fleet.

The assessment by ALM has been conducted and reports submitted to the relevant authorities.’’ ’’But following the battery issues with one of Dana’s aircraft recently, the

Our IGR will soon be enough to sustain us — FAAN T

HE Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Managing Director, Mr George Uriesi, has disclosed that the agency Internally Generated Revenue ,IGR, will soon be enough to sustain the agency without waiting annually for Federal government subvention.

Mr Uriesi made this disclosure when the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation paid a visit to the agency during a facility tour of the Murtala Muhammed Airport , in Lagos . The committee members were also at the airport to assess the 2012 budget performances of the various government agencies under the Ministry of Aviation.

He further said that the newly commissioned General

House committee commends Aviation Minister

By DANIEL ETEGHE

Stories by LAWANI MIKAIRU EDERAL Ministry of Aviation has debunked newspaper report that Boeing Corporation of the US, a foremost and major aircraft manufacturer in the world, may have rebuffed overtures from the Nigerian government to assist it in carrying out an airworthiness/ re-certification of aircraft in the fleet of domestic airlines in the country.

A statement by Mr Joe Obi, Special Assistant ,Media, to the Honourable Minister of Aviation said ‘’ In fact, Boeing, on the invitation of the Honourable Minister of Aviation, not only agreed to partner with the Ministry on safety and other related issues, but has indeed submitted a Proposal to the ministry to conduct an “airworthiness assessment” of all it’s Nigerian Registered aircraft in the fleet of domestic airlines in the country. These discussions started since June/July 2012 after the Dana crash and Boeing’s proposal in this regard is currently receiving attention from the ministry of Aviation.

Correspondences between Ken Sain , Managing Director of Boeing Professional Services (BPS), Chamson Andjorin, Director for Africa and Middle East (Aviation

BRIEF

Aviation Terminal (GAT) has already made over N100 million even while operating on less than full capacity. It will be recalled that the terminal was commissioned last October 2012. He added that the agency is currently implementing 73 projects and on completion of the projects, the IGR that would be realised would be enough to run its operations.

For non aeronautical services, Mr Uriesi said that FAAN projected 14.2b in 2012 but generated 5.7bn and collected N5.1 due to the on-going remodeling at the various airports stating further that,” we collected less aeronautical largely owed to the ongoing remodelling that is why we performed at 38% of the budget but once we are done, it would

quadruple at what we had before we shut them down.”

He said that FAAN had projected N30.4bn in 2012 for aeronautical services but could only generate N29.8b and collected N21.3b and was not able to get N8.9.

Honourable Minister still requested Boeing to provide some details on the state of the Dana fleet. Again, Boeing reiterated that since they are a party to the investigation of the crash, they do not want to appear compromised. But the aircraft manufacturer did volunteer to provide a “Technical Opinion” on the report by ALM.’’ ’’To finally put a lie to insinuations that Boeing “may have rebuffed FG’s” overtures, we make haste to state that Boeing still plans to conduct the airworthiness assessment of its Nigerian Registered aircraft once it’s proposal, which is currently receiving attention is approved and the modalities for the exercise finalised and agreed by both parties. At no time, therefore did Boeing rebuff the FG’s overtures. In fact, the aircraft manufacturer is desirous of consummating a business relationship with the Nigerian authorities as soon as possible.’’

HE Chairman, House of Representative Committee on Aviation, Hon,Nkeiruka Onyejeocha has commended the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ,FAAN, over the quality of facilities at the commissioned remodeled airport terminals under the Airport Remodelling Project. Hon Onyejiocha said the quality surpasses the minimum international standard prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for such t e r m i n a l s .

She made this remark last week at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja during the committee’s oversight inspection of projects under the Federal Ministry of Aviation in Lagos.

The oversight inspection first took members of the committee to the Domestic Terminal 1 of MMA where members of the committee expressed satisfaction with the quality of remodelling done and services being provided at the terminal.

The committee was also shown the on-going project aimed at linking the two modules at the terminal.

The committee later inspected work being done at the ‘D’ and ‘E’ wings of the international terminal of the airport where the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FAAN, Mr. George Uriesi told members of the committee that, on completion of the expansion project, the terminal will have a total of 24 immigration counters and 20 security screening points which would enhance passenger facilitation at the terminal. The new figures more than double the existing immigration counters and screening points at the terminal.

NAMA denies breaching federal character principle

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HE Nigerian Airspace Management Agency ,NAMA, has said the agency did not breach the federal character principle in its employment policy. The Managing Director of NAMA, Engr Nnamdi Udoh made this known while speaking during a visit of the House Committee on Aviation to the agency on the spot assessment of performance of the 2012 budget.

Engr Udoh ,explained that out of about 797 people employed in the agency between 2009 and 2013 only 32 are from Abia . He said that the agency has been invited by both

Code of Conduct Bureau and the Federal Character Commission and that the agency has explained to the two agencies.

On what the agency is doing about collecting the debt owed NAMA by airlines ,the Managing Director explained to the committee members that the affected airlines took the case to court and that has to a large extent made it difficult for the agency to collect the debts from airlines. He informed the Committee that to stop the debts from increasing further, the agency has introduced Pay As You Go system of payment.

38 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

ICT

By PRINCE OSUAGWU

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HEN Sony Mobile bought off Ericsson’s shares from the Sony Ericsson joint venture last year, not many people believed that the mobile device division would breathe so freely in the ever growing and competitive mobile world.

At least Sony has been in the mobile device market before.

While why it went under may remain history, some felt that DNA may still be lurking somewhere.

But where such analysts may have got it wrong was forgetting that as an Electronic and house-hold appliances manufacturer, Sony still leads the way. That DNA seems stronger than what had caused upset to its first missionary journey in mobile devices.

But just a few days ago it actually showed that stuff, throwing into the Nigerian market its flagship Android smartphone, the Xperia Z

BRIEF Ericsson grabs Etisalat Group’s Africa mobile network outsourcing deal

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TLANTIQUE Telecom, part of Etisalat Group, last week announced a five year multi-country managed services agreement with Ericsson to manage its entire mobile networks.

During the past decade, the number of mobile connections in Africa has grown an average of 30% per year and the growth pace is not slowing down.

Atlantique Telecom said it aimed to develop offerings based on value-added services to its growing subscriber base, taking into account the specific requirements of each consumer and providing solutions tailored to their expectations.

So this agreement enables Etisalat to focus even more on their core business - delivering innovative offerings to their customers.

CEO of Atlantique Telecom, Nagi Abboud, said that “with the evolution of the competitive landscape in our markets, we need to adapt our operating model to provide a better service to our end users.

Adopting this business outsourcing model is therefore an important step in our group strategy execution that will be for the benefit of our subscribers, who remain our top priority, and this will, as well, open new growth opportunities to our employees.”

Sony moves to capture African mobile market through Nigeria The multi-faceted phone was unveiled at Lagos Oriental Hotel, in the presence of top officials from Sony Mobile. The Nigerian launch is the second after the Dubai launch of the products last month.

The reason according to Sony Mobile officials was to underscore the importance that the new company attached to the Nigerian market as a hub of its mobile activities in Africa.

The new Xperia Z boasts a range of unparalleled features, including a 5” Full HD 1080p Reality Display, Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, the Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 and a 13 megapixel fast-capture camera. Offering the ‘best of Sony in a smartphone’, the device uses advanced technology from Sony’s entire range of multimedia products.

The company’s Marketing Manager Africa, Younes Cherkaoui, at the launch declared that “the XperiaZ is a game-changer in smartphone technology. It has generated a great deal of excitement internationally since its official launch at the CES in Las Vegas. We anticipate the ultimate range of rich user

experiences offered on this stellar model from the Xperia to increase the momentum several times over in key African markets and Nigeria is one of these key markets.”

Xperia Z’s razor sharp Reality Display, powered by Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2, brings Sony ’s long-standing TV

expertise to the smartphone and delivers an immersive viewing experience with super brightness and clarity. The smartphone shares capabilities with Sony digital cameras and features Exmor RS for mobile, the world’s first image sensor with HDR (High Dynamic Range) video recording for

From Left, Izzat Kittaneh,Director Business Management &Pricing Customer Unit Middle East & Africa Sony,Mrs Joe Okuna,Head Enforcement & Compliance,National Lottry Regulatory Commission With Younes Cherkaoui,Marketing Manager Africa Sony And Fidelis Ajibogun,Ag.Assitance Director/Coordinator National Lottry Regulatoy Commission.At the Launch New Sony Flagship Android Smartphone -Xperia At Oriental Hotel Lagos.Photo,Joe Akintola Photo Editor.

Norton roots for child online safety … lists ten precautionary measures

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HERE is growing concerns over the safety of children on the net as online activities among youths increase on daily basis.

However, American global computer security software corporation, Symantec is using its internet security and anti virus software, Norton, is spearheading a campaign aimed at encouraging individuals to manage their children’s growing online independence by educating them on the many serious dangers of the Internet.

The crusade also will help ensure that the children can surf the web knowing they are protected from the threats out in cyberspace today.

At the recent Safer Internet Day celebration in Lagos, Norton’s Internet Safety Advocate, Ms. Marian Merritt, noted that “the increasing accessibility of the internet on mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, mostly amongst the younger generations across the world calls for safer and more responsible use of online technology,” According to her, cyberbullying has been identified as one of the main issues of online safety which is increasingly becoming a

smartphones.

Xperia Z also includes Battery STAMINA Mode that can improve standby duration by four times or more by automatically shutting down battery-draining apps whenever the screen is off and restoring them when the screen is on.

serious concern and happens online or on mobile phones.

She stressed the importance for adults to educate their children on online etiquette, adding that “this includes cautioning them to avoid talking to strangers or accepting friend requests from people they do not know, limiting their time allowed online or by restricting the apps they download on their mobile phones.”

She however, provided top 10 tips that can help parents ensure that their young people remain protected online: First among the tips is that parents should tell their wards not to give out personal information. “Don’t put personal details such as your home address, telephone

numbers or parent’s work address online as cybercriminals can use this information to create a fake profile with your details” What goes online, stays online – Use privacy settings to make sure only your friends and family can see photos you post. Avoid posting holiday plans as criminals have been known to track your movements Check your security and privacy settings – Make sure your social network privacy settings are secured so only your friends can see your personal information and use your privacy settings to restrict who can see your posts, videos and photos Password safety – Sharing your password with your

•They’re at it!…. but are they aware of the dangers?

parents is a sensible idea, but avoid sharing your password with your friends, even if they promise they won’t tell anyone!

Always protect your mobile device – Make sure your mobile phone is pin-protected so all your personal information stored on it is safe. Download a security app which allows you to remotely wipe any personal data, should your mobile be lost or stolen Don’t talk to strangers online or offline – Don’t meet up with strangers and let your parents know if a stranger has tried to get in contact with you online.

Listen to the adults who know – Adults will always be worried about you. Help set their mind at rest by using the internet so long you neglect your real world activities.

Be wary of unsecured or unknown websites – When shopping online, use reputable and known retailers. Make sure any transactions you make only take place across secure web pages which you can identify from the padlock sign in your browser address bar Be careful what links you click on – Avoid clicking links in an email, Instant Message or on your social network unless you are sure the message is from someone you know.

Make sure your security software is up to date – Security software is now available on all types of devices; mobile phones, tablets and PCs. Make sure you have the latest security software on your devices to stay protected at all times.

Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 — 39

Advertising, Media & Marketing

Why brands tie visibility to sponsorship Stories by PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

From Left: Executive Director, Euro Global Foods and Distilleries Limited, Mr. Arjan Mirchandani receives the award for top position on the Nigeria Fast Growth 50 Companies from Mr. Tony Elumelu,founder of the Elumelu Foundation while the Minister Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga looks on at the ceremony held in Lagos recently. football competitions to mention a few to drive their brand visibility because of the inherent benefits behind such.

That is the reason students of University of Lagos, UNILAG, will not forget in a hurry the immense contribution of Life is Good, LG, to raising the standard of Education in Nigeria,

particularly in their school with the award of scholarship to 400 and 500 students of the faculty of Engineering who performed meritoriously in their academics.

By this gesture, LG Electronics consumer electronics and mobile communications has kept it’s promise by awarding

StarTimes reinstates commitment to digital migration ...depolys 3 packages

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OLLOWING NTA/ StarTimes commitment to champion the smooth process of digital migration in Nigeria, the company said in this Easter season its offering its subscribers three family packages.

The Digital Terrestrial Television pay TV provider packages include more channels for same price, and a price slash on its M35 Mobile phone Television.

Speaking, Rete Anetor, Public Relations manager of StarTimes said that the company is commited to championing the smooth process of digital migration in Nigeria, and that the upgrading of its bouquet with new channels shows its company devotion to offer its subscribers ‘More Entertaining channels at the same price , and it the desire of StarTimes to provide quality and affordable digital entertainment at no extra cost.

CFAO Equip now markets DOOSAN,CULLIGAN brands

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OR a brand to reach a predestined target audience and to carve a niche for itself it has to cling to a marketing tool to achieve it’s goal. Brands support various activities to help develop a particular sector.

Today, brands have become major actors in modern society. They penetrate all spheres of life; Education, economics, social, cultural,sporting and even religion.

As a result of this pervasiveness brands have come under growing criticism and as major symbols of the economic and postmodern societies, they are analysed through a number of p e r s p e c t i v e s : macroeconomics, microeconomics, sociology, psychology, anthropology etc.

In this context however brands have become credible only through the persistence and repetition of their value proposition. No wonder brands like MTN, Coca Cola, Etisalat, Airtel queue behind sponsorship, scholarship awards as Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, to support cultural activities, festivals, music concerts and

BRIEFS

Anetor went on to say that championing of the digital migration process, alongside the campaign is to ensure that its new and existing subscribers enjoy quality and affordable digital entertainment with upgrades of its various bouquets which are: the Basic bouquet with 35 channels from its initial 32, the

Classic bouquet now has 55 channels to its former 45 and its Unique Bouquet with 70 plus channels.

“The upgrade and unification of the bouquets is to afford every one of its subscribers great entertainment in digital broadcasting.

scholarships to new set of students.

This sponsorship conducted annually is part of the company ’s CSR activities which primary aim is empowering young people as well as developing the educational sector, ensuring that youths who are the future leaders are adequately empowered and given financial support in order to enable them achieve their dreams and aspirations.

At the award ceremony, the Managing Director, LG Electronics West Africa Operations, Mr. Deog Jun Kim said, “This scholarship is being awarded to 10 students of 400 and 500 levels from the Faculty of Engineering who emerged as best students after a careful selection by both the university authority and LG Electronics based on their Grade Points of 4.0 to 5.0, which made them stand out from their colleagues.”

Unilever’s Close-Up partners NDA on WOHD I

N commemoration of the World Oral Health Day, WOHD, Unilever Nigeria Plc brand owners of Close-Up toothpaste in the town of Gbongan in Osun-State played host to members of Nigerian Dental Association (NDA). The activity of the day was centered on oral health where the host community had their dentures examined, as part of the ongoing oral health campaign.

In his welcome, His Royal Highness Oba Adetoyese oyeniyi expressed his gratitude to Unilever for choosing his town as the destination for the celebration of this year ’s World Oral Health Day. “ I really commend Unilever for sponsoring this program in my

town, the Close Up toothpaste is not new to us, in fact it remains almost the only paste we are using in this town and we shall continue to associate with the brand,” The royal father said.

On the motive behind coming to Gbongan, The NDA President, Dr. Olurotimi Olojede stated that the association chose to come to Gbongan this year so as to bring the Oral health campaign closer to the people at the grass root and to give them a sense of belonging as they constitute the larger part of the Nigerian society and also constitute a larger percentage of people who are in dire need of oral health awareness.

FAO Equipment Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of CFAO Group has announced the marketing of DOOSAN and CULLIGAN brands in Nigeria.

DOOSAN is a heavy equipment line in which CFAO Equip is already a distributor.

This completes the company’s offer with earth moving quarry and mining equipment.

The other, CULLIGAN, is a water treatment solution with which it aims to play a major role in the Nigerian water sector with an all-inclusive offer from pumping, storage to treatment.

Speaking at the press briefing introducing the product to the media, Mr. Francois Saget, Managing Director of CFAO Equipment, said that with the introduction, the company is addressing local and international stakeholders involved in construction, agriculture, energy and logistics and transportation activities.

Noah’s Ark holds creative safari

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creative Advertising agencies, Noah’s Ark Communications Limited recently engaged the creative industries including Advertising, Photography, Films, Art as well as Literature in a workshop on the state of creativity and the future of the industries in Nigeria with the theme ’The Business of Creativity, What’s next?’

The workshop tagged ‘Creative Safari’ held penultimate week in Lagos was moderated by the poet and writer, Toni Kan. It witnessed two sessions of discussions by invited guest speakers including Jumoke Verissimo, Winner of Carlos Idize Ahmad Prize, Itah Hozaife CEO, Ink Marks Limited (Literature) , Ace Photographer, Kelechi AmadiObi (Photography), Biola Aloba, CEO comedy factory (Comedy), Tosin Martins, popular musician and olo mi crooner(Music), Nnamdi Ndu, Chiny Productions (Advertising)

and Sesan Adedeji, Publisher of Bubbles Magazine (Entertainment) Managing Director and Executive Creative Director, Noah’s Ark Communications, Lanre Adisa, explained that the Agency decided to set the place by creating a melting pot for practitioners in the different fields of creativity including but not limited to Advertising but also Music, Literature, Photography, Comedy & Entertainment to meet and deliberate on issues affecting the industries with a view to creating a better future.

40 — Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013

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

Tel:0817 002 3569

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subsidy as a function of illegal exchange rate manipulation

demn Plans to Increase Fuel Price” in Punch edition of 21/ 3/2013, challenged the validity of fuel subsidy and has consequently, asked a Federal High Court to compel President Jonathan to totally withdraw subsidy on fuel.

now become available for positive infrastructural revitalisation.

Conversely, if the international price of PMS remains unchanged at $1/litre while naira exchange rate falls to N200=$1, our domestic price of fuel will rise to N200/litre and subsidy payments may deepen beyond N4tn if current price of N97/litre is unchanged.

The relevant question therefore is, how then can we make naira stronger, so that domestic fuel prices will fall and make subsidy unnecessary? The answer to this question has been provided in this column in several articles; naira exchange rate mechanism is driven by monopolistic posturing of CBN in the forex market!

CBN’s unconstitutional tradition of capturing distributable dollar revenue and substituting same with naira allocations gives the apex bank control of over 80% of the dollars traded in the foreign exchange market, and creates those economic distortions peculiar to monopolists everywhere. The weaker naira that evolves from this system also precipitates higher fuel prices and the related inevitable humongous subsidy values.

Nonetheless, there are convincing reasons to believe that if distributable dollar revenue is paid to constitutional beneficiaries with dollar certificates (rather than bloated naira allocations), naira exchange rate will consequently become stronger and drive down domestic price of fuel below levels, which will ultimately eliminate any form of subsidy, and open the door to establishment of private refineries.

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owever, public reac tions gleaned from social media network is equally indicative that low income earners strongly oppose any hike in fuel prices beyond the present N97/litre, which they already decry as severely oppressive. In the Punch report under reference, one Mr. Sunday Njokede warned that “Jonathan can remove subsidy while Nigerians will remove him from Aso Rock in 2015”.

Some Nigerians have similarly queried the benefits of the partial removal of fuel subsidy, and claim that the impact of the SURE-P programme remains to be felt in the critical areas of health, education and transportation.

In view of the pervasive impact of fuel prices on the general price level, the purchasing power of all income earners, particularly the poor, will be severely eroded, if Nigerians pay over N140/litre, without subsidy. Besides, Nigerians are unhappy and feel insulted by the snail-pace of the prosecution of bogus fuel marketers, who defrauded the Federal Government with their subsidy claims.

Other Nigerians also bemoan the low output from our four refineries, and wonder why government appears uninterested in building additional refineries. Regrettably, also, there are no reports on the M.O.U. signed in May last year with an American corporation to build and operate six

modular refineries within 12 months!

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edia reports also sug gest that representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress have also warned against any further rise in fuel price.

The above narrative suggests that there is no imminent solution to the fuel subsidy im-

al commodity price of, say, $1/ litre, this would translate to about N160/litre with current exchange rate; if however, naira exchanges for N80=$1 , then the price equation will become 1litre=$1=N80, which is a price well below the current tolerated price of N97/ litre! In other words, petrol can consequently sell at the agreed price of N97/litre with

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T a recent forum in La gos, on Tuesday, 19/3/ 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan insisted that “we cannot continue to waste resources meant for a greater number of Nigerians to subsidize the affluent middle class, who are the main beneficiaries (of fuel subsidies)”.

A day later, the Minister for Information, Mr. Labara Maku, also observed that “if we insist that government will be the one refining products for the Nigerian market, we will remain truncated…. The government money that should have been used for development is paid to marketers, who turn around to get more money from Nigerians. So, in the end, government and Nigerians are losing; the sector is also losing”.

Incidentally, on the same day Mr. President was extolling the virtues of deregulation in Lagos, an Abuja Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Adamu Bello, granted all the release sought by the Plaintiff, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, a Human Rights Lawyer, and consequently made a declaration that “the federal government’s decision to deregulate the downstream sector of the petroleum industry by not fixing the prices at which petroleum products might be sold in Nigeria was unlawful, illegal, null and void, and of no effect whatsoever, as deregulation was in flagrant violation of the mandatory provision of Section Four of the Price Control Act, and also in conflict with Section 16(1)(b)of the 1999 Constitution, which provides that “the government shall control the national economy in such manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity”.

Conversely, however, a PDP stalwart from Anambra State, one Chief Stanley Okeke, has recently also, according to a report titled “Nigerians Con-

Some Nigerians have similarly queried the benefits of the partial removal of fuel subsidy, and claim that the impact of the SURE-P programme remains to be felt in the critical areas of health, education and transportation.

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broglio; however, such conclusion can only be correct if the issue of naira exchange rate is excluded from the permutations of the solution. We will explain this observation with a simple example, thus; if petrol (PMS) sells at the internation-

N17/litre as sales tax.

Incidentally, with estimated consumption rate of 35m litres daily, this would translate to revenue of almost N60m/day or N20bn/year in place of current subsidy payments of over N2tn, which will

Business & Economy Enterprise Bank is committed to the support of SMEs – Kuru

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he Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Bank Limited, Mallam Ahmed Kuru has reiterated the bank’s commitment towards the support of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country, describing that sector of the economy as ‘critical’ to the development of Nigeria. Kuru, who spoke in Lagos while receiving the leadership of the

Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), led by Dr. (Mrs.) Lizzy Okereke, the association’s Deputy President, Finance and Administration, maintained that Enterprise Bank realized the strategic importance of SMEs in fast tracking the growth of the Nigerian economy and has since thrown its support to SMEs as well as organizations like NASME that champion the course of SMEs in Nigeria.

To show how important the sector is to the financial sector as partners in progress, the Enterprise Bank boss said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has worked out a blue print that supports SME growth in the country and encouraged all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria to support the sector. He however regretted the fact that entrepreneurs were not taking the full advantage of the support that banks were willing to give. He said, “There is need for knowledge sharing and capacity building among those that are interested in benefiting from the support that the banks are giving to the sector.

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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