Financial vanguard

NOVEMBER 18,

104.65

2.05

2,665.00

+4.00

17.55

-0.09

108.16

2013

-0.12

94.09 +0.33 CURRENCY DOLLAR STERLING EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL KRONA SDR

BUYING

SELLING

154.7 155.2 248.6803 249.484 208.0251 208.6974 168.4635 169.0079 1.5408 1.5458 0.2979 0.3079 235.4791 236.2402 25.3914 25.4739 41.2478 41.3811 27.8799 27.97 236.2424 237.0059

155.7 250.2878 209.3698 169.5524 1.5508 0.3179 237.0013 25.5564 41.5145 28.0601 237.7695

CBN Exchange rate as at 15/11/2013

By PETER EGWUATU

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he Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria, ICAN, has charged both quoted and unquoted companies to adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS, in order to help the nation attract foreign direct investment.

While fielding questions during IFRS training session for journalists in Lagos,Registrar/Chief Executive, ICAN, Mr. Rotimi Omotoso, said that the wholesale adoption of IFRS is both expedient and strategic to Nigeria’s quest for foreign direct investment and accelerated economic development process.

Omotoso, who was represented by Olusoji Odukoya, Deputy Registrar in charge of Corporate Services, said the propensity to attract foreign direct investments will increase with more reliable and credible financial statements as the nation’s risk profile would be known and predictable.

“Investors are attracted to environments where the rewards are high relative to risks; availability of reliable information contributes to the lowering of the risk”, he said.

On what the companies stand to

Seminar on Electricity Distribution : From left: Mr Dairaj Punj from Technical Mahindra Company; Mr Erabor Okogun of Signal Alliance and; Director Planning , Research and Statistics of Ministry of Power, Nuhu Sulieman during Seminar on shaping the future of the Power Sector held in Abuja. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan.

Adoption of IFRS will attract foreign direct investment — ICAN gain from the exercise, Omotoso assured them that the adoption would push down their cost of raising funds, saying that the local stock exchange will become busier and more active as entities with IFRS-based financial reports continue to attract FDIs. His words: “The cost of raising funds depends significantly on the quality of information available to potential and existing investors, as well as the basis of accounting policies applied.

Indeed, lack of knowledge of the basis of accounting implies higher risks and higher cost of raising funds.

Accordingly, the cost of raising funds

will be much lower with IFRS statements. Indeed, the use of IFRS will reduce cost of raising funds.

Inevitably, local stock exchange will become busier and more active as entities with IFRS-based financial reports continue to attract FDIs.” The ICAN registrar explained that the desire of Nigeria to achieve Vision 20: 2020 goals has made it mandatory for it and over 122 other countries to adopt IFRS standards, which unambiguously define the treatment of various accounting issues and have started to significantly impact the process, quality and reliability of

financial statements globally.

“Given the nation’s drive towards achieving its Vision 20: 2020 goals, it is expedient and in the best interest of the nation to raise and benchmark of the quality of its financial reporting on current global best practices by adopting IFRS. Today, global commerce is increasingly polarised and into multinational corporations (MNCs) and national companies.

Clearly, financial reporting is responding to this business dynamic by following in this direction.

Continues on page 18 C M Y K

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Cover Story Adoption of IFRS will attract foreign direct investment — ICAN Continues from page 17 “As it is common knowledge, most national companies do not have foreign subsidiaries while their financial statements are mainly for tax assessment purposes and possibly to provide information to local banks in order to secure

credit facilities; whereas, MNCs play in different jurisdictions through their subsidiaries, which prepare financial report in compliance with various local GAAPs. This entails huge conversion cost of their financial statements during consolidation. Since these MNCs often seek financing

from various capital markets. Comparability of financial reports was huge problem leading, in many cases, to inefficient and sub-optimal investment decisions. Thus, the adoption of IFRS will help to obviate these encumbrances in addition to other benefits,” he stated.

From left: Chairman Dozzy Group, Daniel Chukwudozie; Managing Director of Dozzy Group, Lady Ada Chukwudozie and; Director General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr Joseph Odumodu, during the factory tour by the SON DG to Dozzy group in Owerri, Imo State.

AfDB approves $25m investment in Africa’s renewal energy fund A

frican Development Bank, AfDB, weekend, said it has approved an equity investment of $25 million into the continent’s renewable Energy Fund to fast track energy development. In a statement in Addis Ababa, the bank said the approval for the investment was given by the bank’s Board of Directors during the week.

“The AfDB approved a $25 million equity investment in the Africa Renewable Energy Fund (AREF) and acknowledged the mobilisation of $39.5 million from other partners.

“The Energy Fund is a private equity fund that will invest in small to mediumsized renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, with a targeted fund size of $150 million to 200 million,“ it stated.

The bank also said that Africa needed to adapt to climate change and embark on lowcarbon growth paths, adding that estimated cost of such adaptation ranged from $2 C M Y K

billion to $31 billion per annum between now and 2015.

According to the bank, only few pan-African infrastructure funds have scope to make clean technology investments.

It noted that there is a dearth of funds that are dedicated to renewable energy investment or has an investment focus targeting sub-Saharan Africa.

The bank said that AREF would have a significant impact in facilitating greater private capital inflows into clean energy technology industries across Africa.

“By investing in clean

technology solutions, AREF will assist governments in meeting their renewable energy and carbon emission targets, while contributing to job creation, income generation, increased services delivery and government revenues,“ it explained.

AREF was set up to contribute to the investment needs of sub-Saharan Africa and to build sustainable renewable energy industries across the region.

Power shor tage: Hydrogen phone chargers to Nigerians’ rescue

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igerian smart-phone users will soon have an alternative means to get round the power shortages afflicting much of the towns as a portable charger that relies on hydrogen fuel cells is underway. British company, Intelligent Energy, plans to roll out one million of the new chargers in mid-December,

mainly in Nigeria and South Africa, after successfully testing them in Nigeria over the last five months, its consumer electronics managing director, Amar Samra, said.

“In emerging markets where the grids are not

Continues on page 19

Entrepreneurial Education Revolution:

An Imperative for Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Part 3

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HE findings of a recent study showed that 66% of the undergraduates wanted to be self reliant after graduation.

This means that undergraduates in Nigerian universities have high propensity for entrepreneurship skills. The results also showed that 32% of the factors that motivated the respondents to want to go into entrepreneurship were the needs to be self reliant while 68% of the factors were due to the fear unemployment and poverty. It was also found that 62% of the respondents wanted to be a sole proprietor, while 38% wanted to go into partnership. In assessing the level at which undergraduates have been equipped with entrepreneurial skills and knowledge, 82% of the respondents indicated that they had taken some courses in entrepreneurship in their respective institutions and that about 78% observed that the programme was adequate to equip them to manage a business after graduation.

However, 18% of the respondents observed that the programme was adequate. It was inadequate because it was too theoretical, while there were inadequate facilities and no artisans for handling the practical.

On eradication of poverty in Nigeria, 82% of the respondents indicated that entrepreneurship could eradicate poverty and unemployment in the country.

There is no gainsaying the fact that entrepreneurship is the solution to unemployment and poverty among Nigerian youths and graduates. The Federal Government of Nigeria has taken the bull by the horn in establishing the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), initiating the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), and recently the Entrepreneurship Education in the Nigerian Universities. These are all targeted at reducing extreme hunger and poverty by 50 percent by the year 2015 FRN (2008). These are all steps in the right direction. The Nigerian government and all those concerned with implementation need to take closer look at all these programmes so that maximum benefit can be realized from the huge amount invested on them by the government.

The Entrepreneurship Education in Nigerian Universities is a little over one year, and so would not give premature assessment but right from the onset of the programme, the Federal Government should have set aside adequate funds to make the programme realizable, centres for acquiring the skills and activities started in the course synopsis should be built and equipped. Artisans who are educated and capable of handling these skills should be employed. Undergraduates should not see the Course (GSE 301) on Graduate Self Employment as a mere theoretical course like other courses. They should be prepared to graduate from the universities with at least two skills as contained in the Course Synopsis.

There is need to counsel undergraduates for possible attitudinal re-orientation towards self-employment and self-reliance. Many graduates have not come to terms with the reality of non-existence of white collar jobs. This counselling and reorientation should be incorporated along with the Entrepreneurship Education. Posters and Slogans about self-reliance should be pasted in conspicuous places in the universities. This will constantly remind the prospective graduates that time after graduation should not be wasted to endless seeking for jobs that are not available. NDE is doing a lot of enlightenment programmes on the Nigerian media such as the Television; more can still be done until the idea is imbibed.

National Directorate of Employment (NDE) needs to be overhauled. Majority of the staff also need to catch the wind of change. The Directorate should find a way of attracting more graduates into the entrepreneurship scheme. Many school leavers that are attracted cannot create jobs. The Scheme needs to be taken to a higher level that is emphasis to be shifted to graduate entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs should be able to secure financial assistance for their small scale industries. The Federal Government should increase its financial participation and also facilitate and attract loans for the entrepreneurs. These loans can be taken from the Commercial Banks with minimal interest. At present, some commercial banks are financiers to small scale industries but more banks should participate. There should be no unnecessary bottlenecks in the process of taking loans for entrepreneurship.

In the development of entrepreneurship, the Federal, State and Local Governments should jointly develop rural areas. These are the places where land is available, cost of production and labour are cheap. The rural areas must have such social amenities as drinkable water, uninterrupted electricity, and good roads. If these facilities are available in the rural areas, productions can be done there and products brought to the urban areas for consumption.

Vanguard, MONDAY,NOVEMBER 18, 2013 — 19

Reactions to views raised in this column. ield_Marshal wrote and said: There will be no Nigeria without oil. Before oil, north never wanted the amalgamation but soft pedaled when oil revenue started greasing the desert and became hardcore Nigerians as soon as they saw oil well with their eyes. Should the oil dry up today, they will become hardcore Islamic republic. For now they are first and foremost Nigerians before Islamists because of oil. What to test their ‘’nigerianness’’ now?

Bluebird 28 said: Oil money has blinded our politicians and shut down their brains.

They chase after allocations like bitches in heat without control. Truly oil has been more of a curse than a blessing to this nation. All that money being shared at the top and none of it gets to the masses at the bottom. The other day I heard GEJ say during an interview that the income earned by Nigeria is not enough to take care of its 170 million population.

That money is sufficient to pay every single Nigerian to the the last child N1M as salary monthly and there will still be enough to build much needed infrastructure plus savings. "One day na one day, these thieving politicians will answer to God all might for their crimes".

Ndidi in his view said Yes, Nigeria can certainly survive without oil. But what will be the death of us is Corruption & Impunity. Even if we depended on Agriculture for

On Nigeria will survive without oil revenue if the taxes from that gets stolen by the rulers we will still not have development.

Nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING will work for us if we do not get rid of Corruption & Impunity.

But I believe that corruption will be less in the case of Agriculture because land is in abundance and all one needs to do is to work hard. In the case of Agriculture and Manufacturing the law “You reap whatever you sow ” applies Okpo wrote in and said: Talking about Nigeria without oil, that will certainly be the end of Northern Nigeria. All the states in the South and part of middle belt can survive without oil due to the enterprising and competitive nature of their citizens but not so among the Hausa/ Fulanis who depend on others. So up there it can trigger the worst social crisis in the globe. This people believe begging and dependency is a virtue and blessing from God. Its only up north you can see a grown up man refusing to work or do any thing apart from parasiting on others to maintain himself and about three wives and children , their state goverment do not help matters, Here Govt is still marrying wives for its citizen

it is as bad as that. Please show me a single state in the North that generate up to 1m naira as IGR not even Kano which pride itself as the most populous state today, Ekiti and Ebonyi states IGR is 100% more than that of Kano, Katsina, Yigawa and Zamfara combine.

Akara Okpo: Confirmed.

That is why we need to restructure the country. Else Nigerians can never learn, and they will prefer to continue

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graduates are living as destitutes and doing menial jobs just to survive, in the north 17 students out of 18,000 passed WAEC in Gombe state in 2012. Northerners are the problem in Nigeria because of their attitude to western education, religious overzealousness and political domination via their “born to rule” deceit. You should translate your article to Nigerian languages and republish it . It is either we restructure the country or split it into autonomous zones.

Oil money has blinded our politicians and shut down their brains. They chase after allocations like bitches in heat without control. Truly oil has been more of a curse than a blessing to this nation

in the present manner.

Nigerians must join hands to demand the restructing of this country . This is just too much, for several decades now. While cowards in the south become kidnappers, armed robbers and ritualists because of the associated poverty and underdevelopment.. Enough is enough...

Akara: While in the south

Facebook, email, on a bus, taxi etc.

,

Logical_truth Ndidi The states structure as presently constituted are not viable but if we have six Zones, each developing at its own pace, each Zone can be viable and generate its own revenue. We can have this when the MAJORITY of us want it and push for it. So there is work for us all in telling everybody we know: in church, mosque, at work,

U Okwunna: Mr Omoh, thanks for your concern but sincerely speaking there will be no Nigeria with the present territorial jurisdiction without oil. Sule Lamido wants to be our next president.

Please visit Jigawa state and you will found out that the state internal revenue generation is less than none and penury is written every where, Niger and Adamawa are the same, Borno was a little bit virile due to inter-border trade but it is history now because of the activities of Boko Haram.

The south are a little bit better-off because of the independent and enterprising nature of it’s citizens.

Nigerians are very poor now irrespective of billions of petrol-dollar accruing everyday why?, Our leaders are devoid of leadership qualities, they are noting but touts, asshole, nincompoops, dreamers etc.

Bluebird 28 u Okwunna: My dear, that is because Nigeria doesn’t have leaders, we have rulers.

John Dangote : You have said it all. Fantastic article. A more reason for a SNC. But TINUBU is going against it.

Peter2000: That’s why, we must have a national conference.

Takerslove : Lazy politicians. All waiting for free money especially Boko Haram politicians in the north.

Business & Economy Continues from page 18 reliable and people are using (mobile phones) as a primary device, it is mission critical; if you’re out, you’re out,” Samra said on the sidelines of a telecoms conference in Cape Town.

The chargers are designed to back up the spread of smartphones and tablets across countries where cellphones have already helped to transform lives and businesses. Industry body GSMA, which represents about 800 of the world’s mobile operators, said in its latest report that smartphones were key to boosting mobile Internet access in sub-Saharan Africa where current penetration of four percent of the population lags the global

Power shortage: Hydrogen phone chargers to Nigerians’ rescue average of 17 percent.

Ericsson predicts that smartphone traffic in Africa will increase tenfold between 2013 and 2019, when around 476 million devices will be in use.

“Alternative sources of power are very important, because smartphones and other devices need lots of power and you need to charge up every four hours; so for a businessman it is crucial,” said Melvin Angula, an engineer attending the conference. The hydrogen chargers, which fit easily into a handbag, consist of a fuel cell and a non-disposable cartridge that can be detached when exhausted. Samra said consumers could expect to

pay less than $5 dollars to “refuel” a cartridge of the charger. This would translate to a cost of less than $1 to charge a phone, he said, adding that final cost would ultimately depend on how telecoms companies marketed and sold the product. Samra said that if bought over the counter, the entire device will cost under $200, although options being considered include $10 a month for a two-year contract or getting it for free. “We always have problems with cell batteries, so everybody will be keen for portable energy. But, it has to be the right price for it to fly in our markets,” said businessman Thabo Magagula,

who also attended the conference. Besides Intelligent Energy, Japan’s Aquafairy has also been developing fuel cell chargers," he said. Other companies, such as Dubaibased developer, Solarway,

has launched solar powered kiosks designed for communities that are not linked to a power grid, each capable of charging up to 40 cell phones a day.

Nigeria yet to benefit from AGOA — US envoy

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igerian ConsularGeneral to Atlanta, U.S. Mr Geoffery Teneilabe, said that Nigeria has not benefited enough from the African Growth and Opportunities Act, AGOA, programme.

Teneilabe stated this in an

interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Lagos. He said that contrary to the spirit of the programme, the U.S. government has not been encouraging import of non-oil commodities from Continues on page 34 C M Y K

20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Business & Economy BRIEF National Salaries, Income & Wages Commission works on salary parity

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he National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, NSIWC, said it is working out modalities to ensure salary parity across board.

Chief Richard Egbule, NSIWC Chairman, made the disclosure in Abuja when the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service visited the commission as part of its oversight function.

Egbule, who described the process as a comprehensive job evaluation and pay comparability, said the system would ensure equal salaries across board.

He said the computation would take about two to three years to be completed, adding that the salary harmonisation would engender respect and productivity.

According to him, the salary harmonisation would start with the health and education sectors, which he described as the most sensitive sectors in Nigeria.

“We need job evaluation to get a salary structure that somebody can now say if I am on this grade level and any other person on same level should be on that amount, which is our target. At the moment, we are working on the strategic document, we intend to start with the health and education sectors, which are the most turbulent sectors in the country,” he said. The chairman identified one of the challenges of the commission as lack of office accommodation, pleading with the legislative arm to assist them in acquiring a more befitting office accommodation.

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RESIDENT of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, Mr Goodie Ibru, has said that the Business Confidence Index, BCI, in Nigeria has declined by 17.6 percent in the fourth quarter of the year.

Ibru made the declaration at the LCCI quarterly press briefing on the state of the economy in Lagos.

According to him, the BCI fell to 17.6 percent in the fourth quarter from 24 percent in the third quarter, attributing it to pessimism among industry operators and challenges confronting the sector.

“Manufacturing enterprises in the economy are still grappling with the problem of unbridled importation of consumer products into the

National business confidence index dips to 17.6% in Q4 country. Generally, these products are cheaper and sometimes sub-standard. The high cost of doing business, coupled with the inhibitive activities of government regulation and monitoring agencies at both federal and state levels have not created room for the survival of the sector,” he said.

Ibru said that there is an urgent need to regulate the charges imposed by certain regulatory agencies on businesses, adding that some of them have become burden on businesses.

From left: Vice Chancellor of Babcock University, Prof James Mankinde, exchanging pleasantries with ICAN President, Alh Kabir Mohammed, while ICAN Vice President, Mr. Chidi Ajaegbu looks on during ICAN visit to the University.

lobacom is said to be amongst the top five most valuable brands, MVB, in Africa. The latest survey conducted by Brand Africa and published in African Business magazine, confirmed this to journalists. The report said that Globacom made the list because it has “won the hearts of the communities where it operates.”

The report, which listed other leading African conglomerates, stated that Globacom got an impressive brand value of 655 to rank among the Top 5 brands in the continent in a list of the Top 10 C M Y K

manufacturers currently pegged at 30 percent in order to sustain the sector and to create jobs for the unemployed.

“Import duty on raw materials, machineries and other vital inputs for manufacturing; Value Added Tax on raw materials and machinery should be scrapped. There should be generous tax allowances on infrastructure related expenditures,” he said.

He commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for stabilising the price and exchange rates, adding that they have helped to reduce inflation rate to a single digit.

The LCCI president, however, said that the increase of the Cash Reserve Rate (CRR) on public sector deposits from 12 percent to 50 percent has impacted negatively on the economy, stressing that, “There is heightened pressure on interest rates as a result of tighter liquidity conditions.

Many banks have come under severe pressure because of the shock of this policy, resulting in a risk of another round of banking sector distress if the situation persists.”

“There is a real threat to financial systems stability, as evidenced by the recent suspension of licences of some discount houses,” Ibru added.

He warned that the nation’s current debt stock was unsustainable because of resources being committed to debt servicing.

Mixed reactions trail FG’s planned re-introduction of toll plazas

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OAD users in Lagos are divided over the plan by the Federal Government to re-introduce toll plazas on highways in the country.

In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria,

NAN, some of the road users approved the plan, while others described the plan as unnecessary. A dispatch rider, Peter John, told NAN that re-introduction of toll gates is good and would help

Glo amongst top 5 Most Valuable Brands in Africa

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“Some of these agencies come across more as revenue generating outfits than regulatory agencies.

Government should ensure adequate funding of these agencies so that they do not constitute more burdens to the private sector. The purpose of tax paid by the private sector is to run the administration of government and its agencies.

We also call for a streamlining of some of these agencies whose activities are overlapping,” he said.

Ibru suggested a reduction in corporate tax paid by

Most Valuable Brands in Africa.

In just 10 years of operation, Glo has built a reputation as an authentic African brand with its extensive network across several African countries where it operates such as Nigeria, Ghana and Benin Republic.

Since inception, the company has established a strong pedigree as a pan-Africa brand with phenomenal equity. In addition to delivering premium telecommunication services to consumers in markets where it operates, Globacom has gained top of mind awareness

and strong recall in Africa and beyond due to its strategic sponsorship of the annual Glo CAF Awards, a celebration of Africa’s best footballers; the CNN African Voices, which celebrates heroic Africans in different fields of human endeavour; the X Factor, the world’s biggest music reality TV show; Manchester United, live telecast of English Premier League on DSTV, the league and national teams in Nigeria and Ghana among others.

Glo is also renowned for its investments in telecom infrastructure in Africa.

solve the problem of insecurity in the country. “It is because there are no toll gates that a lot of bad things are happening now. If there are toll gates and there are security men at such points, it will help reduce insecurity.”

According to him, it is not only good roads that matter but also safety.

A Civil Servant, Mrs Angela Olarenwaju, said the proposed plan should be left for the private sector, for better management. “Tolling should be a private initiative, with the government only as regulator,” she said, noting that such an arrangement would give the toll gates better chances of survival.

A businessman, Mr Jide Taiwo, said that if the tolling was properly managed, it would speed up development of road infrastructure.

“It is only when they remit the money to the appropriate quarters that the aim of tolling can be realised. If they arrange it in a proper way that would

not be fraudulent, it would be good. I love tolling, it brings development,” he said.

A Welder, Mr Abdulkareem Abdulrahaman, said that erecting toll plazas could be okay if the proceeds would be invested on roads.

However, a Banker, Mrs Chrity Katung, said that reintroducing toll gates would be mere waste of time. “What happened to the old toll gates?” she asked, arguing that the proposed plazas have tendency of going the way of the previous ones, except there is new approach to managing the plazas.

The Minister of State for Works, Amb. Bashir Yuguda, had said on Nov. 7 that the planned re-introduction of toll plazas was meant to make additional funds available for road management. Yuguda said that the tolling policy was being re-introduced to open up the sector to local and international investors and to make more funds available for road maintenance.

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 — 21

Business & Economy

Fashola decries poor technical capacity in PPP implementation

BY JONAH NWOKPOKU

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HE Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, has decried the poor level of technical expertise required for successful execution of Public Private Partnership, PPP projects in the country.

He made this known while speaking as a guest at a stakeholders’ forum organised

by Bank Directors Association of Nigeria, BDAN, in Lagos.

Speaking through his Commissioner for finance, Ayodele Gbeleyi, Fashola said there is an acute paucity of the needed expertise for PPP markets, thereby leaving governments most of the time to resort to foreign expertise in all its PPP projects.

According to him, “When we talk about PPP, it is an evolving phenomenon in this part of the world. So first and foremost, what we need is capacity building. All market players, whether you are government or individual, whether you are a regulator, a lender or a developer or a concessionaire, as well as advisors, you must farmiliarise yourself with the concept, project structuring and global best practices.”

He said that the Lagos State government’s experience in its light rail project has revealed a serious dearth of local capacity as far as PPP projects are concerned.

“The Lagos State government has been doing some novel transaction in this environment. I will give you an example; the blue line light metro rail, the first rail project that has been negotiated in this

part of the world in rail concession.

“So, we are in search of advisors, we need lawyers, technical advisers and even bankers to advise on this project, but where do we turn to often times, we turn abroad, more often than not, we find ourselves in the city of London, New York or Johannesburg, attracting quality expertise in terms of advisory capability to advise government in navigating through these transactions.

“So we must look inwards, we mut scale up the ante. Also, what we are also doing as government is that in most of those transactions, we also ensure that there is a local

partner, a local bank or local law firm working with offshore advisers that is leading the project, so that we can transfer skills. So, I needed to put in perspective, it’s not about what the government can do; it’s also about the market that needs to evolve,” he explained.

He, therefore, called for real capacity building in areas of PPP projects in order to understand its workings and optimise the potentials of the financing model, especially in infrastructure development.

Fashola, however, said the banks have not been doing enough in terms of providing facilities most suitable for PPP projects financing.

“Today even when we talk

about banking in Nigeria, I am sorry to say, we are still likely playing vanilla. How many banks are offering exotic products, derivatives and the rest of them? How many transactions are closed with adequate lending instruments?

As basic as even long term financing is, we struggle. PPP projects are long term in nature, in some jurisdictions; they extend as long as 75 years, but who in Nigeria is lending for twenty years, or who is lending for 30 years on projects? In LCC projects, the longest tenure we have achieved is fifteen years in foreign loan and twelve years on the local loan,” he said.

He added that, “In the PPP market today, we need capacity for risks management and capacity for long term financing. We also need credit rating because it is quite fundamental when it comes to PPP project financing.”

Minister of State for Works, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda (c) flanked by Director General of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dr. John Isemede (l) and President of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Engr. Emeka Unachukwu at the Nigerian-Belgian Trade & Investment Forum held in Brussels, Belgium.

RCN projects increase in retail market contribution to GDP

By PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

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HE contribution of retail market to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, is expected to rise if the informal retail sector becomes organised following the launch of Retail Council of Nigeria, RCN, in collaboration with other stakeholders.

The launch, which comes up today (November 18, 2013) in Abuja will see former president and chairman, board of trustees of RCN, Olusegun Obasanjo, as chief host, while Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, will be the guest of honour.

Speaking to reporters on the importance of organised retail market in Lagos ahead of the

RCN launch, Haresh Keswani, member of Board of Trustees of RCN, said organised retail has a direct relationship to economic growth. He cited United States and Britain where organised retail contributes about 80 percent each to economic growth, while in Japan and India, the organised retail market contributes about 66 percent and 10 percent to economic growth respectively, but Nigeria receives only three percent due to unorganised retail market.

According to Keswani, 27 percent of the global GDP is contributed by organised retail market, even as he stated that across the globe, retail employs 17.1 percent of the workable population and in the US, it accounts for 14 percent.

Organised retail supports the

development of various sectors of the country and assists to conserve foreign exchange, he said, adding that organised retail would increase the revenue base for the government.

He also said the need to organise retail in Nigeria as in other economies is to ensure compliance to international standards and generation of employment. He explained that retail market does not concern shop owners only, but every company that has relationship with consumers, including banks, telecommunication, manufacturing, and tourism and consultancy sectors.

Assessing retail and the technology industry, he said the boom in the retail market would give an impetus to the IT industry, tourism and banking.

Keswani was also hopeful that the organised retail market would assist government to increase its tax revenue. In the past, government at federal and state levels has had challenges collecting tax from unorganised retail market, but Keswani believed that the organised retail market would facilitate the easy collection of taxes.

Also speaking, Asiwaju Onafowokan, member of trustees of RCN, said the body has the target to formulate, facilitate, and propagate practices and processes in line with international best practices. This, he believed, will lead to increased consumption, a boost in production, employment generation, and ultimately, the growth of the economy.

BRIEF Lagos generates N1bn from 2012 Lagos countdown festival

By PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

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HE Managing Director of Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, LASAA, Mr. George Noah, said the yearly Lagos countdown festival instituted by the State Governor Babatunde Fashola, in 2012 generated about N1billion, as it plans to increase the revenue in 2013.

Noah who spoke to newsmen on the preparedness of the state to host the 2013 edition, said plans have been concluded for the event, which holds in Lagos from December 7, 2013 through January 1, 2014, with plans to increase its 2013 income. The Lagos countdown was conceived by the governor to put the state on the global map in the league of cities like New York, Dubai, London, and other major destinations that commemorate the cross-over into the New Year.

Speaking on the event, Noah said that the event is about instituting an enduring crossover tradition, commerce, employment generation, leisure, entertainment and tourism. “Last year, about N1 billion was pumped into the Lagos State economy as a result of the countdown.

About 1,000 people were employed including caterers, retailers, entertainers and security personnel. In addition, the Bar Beach stretch attracted over 200,000 people in ten days. What LASAA is doing on behalf of the state government is leveraging the proposition of Lagos as a premium destination for business and leisure,” said Noah.

The Lagos countdown is perceived to be the biggest New Year Eve celebration in Africa. The programme of the Lagos countdown officially begins when governor Fashola “switches on” the Lagos Festival of Lights, heralding the holiday season which includes musical performances, games and family funfair. The event comes to a climax with a thrilling display of spectacular fireworks and laser beam. In December 2012, the Lagos countdown had a 45 minute display of fireworks.

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Banking & Finance BRIEFS WAIFEM DG addresses FICAN conference

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irector-General West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Professor Akpan H. Ekpo will address the annual conference of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) holding this week.

He will deliver the keynote address of the conference which is “Economic reforms in Nigeria and Financial Journalists” FICAN is the umbrella body of journalists reporting the financial sector and its annual conference is a platform for extensive discussions on major development in the economy and role of financial journalists. This year ’s conference holds from November 23 to 24 at the prestigious Gateway Hotel, Ijebu Ode and will attract key policy makers, leaders in the financial and civil rights groups as well as corporate affairs managers in banks, among others.

Ecobank promo rewards more winners

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ore winners have emerged in the Ecobank Giant Giveaway Promo, as part of efforts by the bank to reward customer loyalty.

The draw took place in the city of Port Harcourt and seven lucky winners emerged, they are: Akangbou Amamah, Aghedo Patience, Emeka Udeogu, Onyedikachi Geoffery, Obiakoizu Placid, Onyeiwu Pauline, and Madubuko Jane; they won air conditioner, Blackberry phone, deep freezer, Gen set, home theatre, LED TV and washing machine respectively.

Speaking at the occasion, Regional Head, South South Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Chinedu Ibe, said the PanAfrican banking network is the one bank that is committed to the African dream. “We integrate, support the economic growth of Africa, we started in west Africa, then spread to the east and now we are in 33 countries and still counting.” The promo was launched in September witnessed winners in the first draw of Ecobank Nigeria Giant Prize Give Away Promotion to reward existing and new customers who actively operate their Ecobank current and savings accounts.

Left; former petroleum minister, Phillip Asiodu, president, Chartered Institute of Taxation, Mark Dike and Managing Partner, Peak Professional Services, Andrew Uviase during the taxation and maritime workshop which took place on Tuesday Lagos.

We must protect e-payment platform from scammers — Akpabio Stories by BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

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overnor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio has called for measures to protect electronic payment platform from activities of fraudsters.

He made this call in a keynote address delivered at the 3rd annual conference of Committee of E-Banking Industry Heads (CeBIH) held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom.

The theme of the conference was E-payment System: Harnessing Opportunities for Growth and Profitability,” and it was attended by e-payment experts from across the world.

Represented by the Deputy Governor, Lady Valerie Ebe, Akpabio noted that the American Federal Bureau of Statistics refers to 419 as the “Nigerian crime”, and profiles it as scam emails emanating mostly from Nigeria. This profiling the Governor said “has greatly affected and dented our image”, and hence has become an urgent issue of concern to all Nigerians.

He told the gathering of electronic payment experts, “Since these scam artists use electronic payment platforms to defraud their victims, I urge you to think of a way to stop this and salvage our image as a nation. I urge you to do this as a patriotic duty.

Commending the Central Bank of Nigeria and CeBIH for the implementation of the

cashless policy, Akpabio said, “The introduction of the cashless policy in Nigeria is already a treat boom and has eased transactions for our countrymen. The Chairman of CeBIH and his team has done a difficult job pretty well. They have ensured that the banking industry in Nigeria

adopts best global practices in terms of techniques and reforms. We appreciate and commend them”.

The Governor noted that despite the huge advantages offered by e-payment, Nigerians have not yet realised, and are yet to explore the full benefits of the

technological advancement in the banking industry.

Consequently, he tasked the conference, “to explore the best avenues of ensuring that Nigerians take full benefits of numerous opportunities that e-payment system offer to enhance their mode of transactions.”

Earlier in his opening remarks, Chairman of CeBIH, Mr. Chuks Iku said that the focus of the conference is to look at how the payment systems industry can experience growth in user base by way of introducing elements like mobile money and agent banking, while remaining profitable in the medium and long term.

He expressed appreciation to the Akwa Ibom state for hosting the conference. “We are aware of the great job you are doing in Akwa Ibom state.

More importantly we know that you are one of the biggest champions of the cashless initiatives and the drive to provide financial inclusion to the millions of unbanked Nigeria. Akwa Ibom has a digitised library and currently automates its salary payments and carries out successful biometric capture of its citizens. We assure as a group that we are collectively working to make life easier, convenient and more secure for all Nigerians by implementing various secure electronic payment channels in our different banks, in the interest of the citizens of our great nation Nigeria.”

CBN will retain benchmark interest rate at 12% — FDC F inancial Derivatives Company has predicted that the monetary policy committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) meeting this week will retain its benchmark interest rate at 12 per cent.

Responding to the inflation figures for October released last week by the National Bureau of Statistics, the company said that the rise in core inflation rate and drop in oil revenues will influence members of the monetary policy committee (MPC) to maintain the MPR at 12 per cent. “The outcome of next week’s MPC meeting would largely be a function of how members react to the need for a continuous coordinated policy actions to back the CBN’s currency stability drive. With October headline inflation rate at 7.8%, inflation has maintained a downward YTD trend at an average of 8.6%. Nonetheless, members will put into consideration the rising core index and oil revenue shortfalls amongst other indicators. Consequently, we believe the MPC will maintain status quo”, they said.

FDC however predicted the inflation rate would drop further to 7.59 per cent in November due to influence of good harvest.

In a report titled, FDC Economic Bulletin for November, the company said, “According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS),

the national headline inflation rate fell to 7.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in October 2013, its lowest level since March 2008. This is in line with our forecast of 7.79 per cent for October and represents 0.2 per cent decline from the 8.0 per cent y-o-y recorded in September. Furthermore, the current inflation rate supports the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) expectation of low inflation rates for the rest of 2013 and the new target band of 6 -9 per cent for 2014.

“According to the NBS, the food inflation index declined for the third consecutive month to 9.2% from 9.4% in September due to the positive harvest season be- tween July and October. On the con- trary, the core index rose by 0.2% to 7.6% for the third month running after it declined in the first half of the year.

“Our preliminary estimate for November’s inflation is 7.59%. Sufficient supply of food items in addition to base effects is expected to influence our prediction of a further moderation in inflation. In addition, threats from increasing pressure on the naira which may result in increased prices of imported food. However, any increase in the prices imported food may be subdued by the global decline in food prices.

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Banking & Finance

Bank directors tasked on risk management in PPP financing

By JONAH NWOKPOKU

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ANK Directors in the country have been urged to ensure effective risks management when undertaking funding for any Public Private Partnership project.

The Chief Executive Officer of Actis West Africa and Nigeria, Miss.

Ngozi Edozien, made the call while speaking at the Bank Directors

Association of Nigeria’s stakeholder forum which held in Lagos last week.

She said that bank directors as custodians of shareholders’ funds must understand the structure of any PPP project and their roles in the funding requirements to enable them manage risks appropriately.

According to her, “As bank directors, you are the custodians of shareholders’ funds and you share a duty to ensure that risks are

appropriately managed and focus on how the PPP is structured and financed. How they are structured is key and understanding the regulations around what you are supporting, and regulations around how the Central Bank looks at the financing is also very

important, including how the market treats them is very important.” In a paper entitled, ‘Public Private Partnership Innovations in Public Sector Funding,” she noted that the issue of recording public private partnership in infrastructure

development is critical because banks have a part to play in nation building and also have a part to play in managing operations and risks of the institutions that they represent.

“In supporting nation building and driving economic growth, banks

are at the middle working with the public and working with the private and I think we have a lot to share from both perspectives. Banks also have a say in influencing how we access the debts capital markets to what funds are used for.

Access Bank empowers employees for improved productivity

By PETER EGWUATU

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ccess Bank Plc has tasked companies

to set standards for sustainable business practices that would unleash the talents of

employees for higher productivity and returns to organisations.

Speaking at Access

Bank HR Business Forum for Human Resource (HR) executives of various organizations themed,” Optimizing Employee Engagement,” the Executive Director, Personal Banking Division, Victor Etuokwu said that the event was part of the Bank’s effort to equip employees to understand the nittygritty, pitfalls and become productive for the growth of their companies.

Giving reasons for partnering HR executives, Etuokwu stated that human resource managers are critical to the success of every organization. “ As people are the most important assets, they facilitate employee engagement in order to improve productivity minimize attrition, and reduce cost of operations” he stated.

According to Etuokwu, HR Managers support a variety of welfare programmes, financial support systems that help to motivate and inspire employees. He noted that Access Bank is positioned to deliver superior value to customers; seek total partnership through its v a l u e - c h a i n management model and via its various products support and empower employees of other organizations, which would result to higher returns to their shareholders.

The Executive Director revealed that Access Bank had designed a bundle of product to meet the banking needs of Nigeria workforce, such as to meet their safety of funds, seamless service, competitive bank charges, high yield on investments, bridge finance for personal needs and conveniences.

24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Corporate Finance BRIEFS Tantalizers re-strategises, pushes for global look

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ANTALIZERS Plc, the only quoted quickservice restaurant, QSR chain in the Nigerian Stock Exchange has started a process of giving its restaurants a global look.

Explaining the rationale behind this, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Tantalizers, Mrs Bose Ayeni, said that it was in line with the company ’s focus of always benchmarking itself against the best in the world.

“On a continuous basis, we want to keep re-inventing ourselves to satisfy the customer. Nigerians are well travelled, discerning and quality-conscious. So merely giving them what is obtainable here does not make them feel excited. We watch what global brands in other countries do to make their customers happier and we strive to replicate same here and even surpass such,” Ayeni stated.

FBN Capital set to raise funds for companies — Akinkugbe Stories by PETER EGWUATU

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BN Capital said it is ready to raise funds for companies across the various sectors of the economy that would require capital to boost their businesses in the coming year 2014.

Managing Director/CEO, FBN Capital, Mr. Kayode Akinkugbe disclosed this at a media parley held in Lagos at the weekend. According to him, FBN would be ready to raise fund both in foreign and local currencies for its clients that would require capital in 2014 given the successful

privatization of the PHCN successor companies which is expected to impact on the various sectors of the economy.

Speaking on the 3rd Annual FBN Capital Investor Conference scheduled to hold from 19-20 November 2013, he said that the previous conferences had been useful to the economy in general as stakeholders in various sectors deliberated on key issues and proffered solutions to tackling challenges facing the economy.

Continuing, he highlighted some of the landmark investment banking transactions that FBN Capital recorded in the last nine months. In his words,” FBN Capital emerged as the first

financial institution to have achieved loan signing ( in March 2013) for the federal government’s power sector privatization. In the last nine months we have assisted various clients in structuring and arranging over US$2.4 billion ($723m power sector + $1.7bn from other sectors) of debt finance. Notable transactions include: US$303 million for Kepco Energy Resource Limited , US$315 million for NG Power – HPS Limited, US$225 million for Accugas Ltd (Gas pipeline infrastructure), US$1.2bn refinancing and expansion debt for EMTS, US$200 million for a major rig services provider.”

Euro zone recovery comes to near halt

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HE euro zone economy all but stagnated in the third quarter of the year with France’s recovery fizzling out and growth in Germany slowing.

The 9.5 trillion euro economy pulled out of its longest recession in the previous quarter but record unemployment, lack of consumer confidence and anaemic bank lending continue to prevent a more solid rebound.

In the three months to September, the combined economy of the 17 countries sharing the euro grew by a slower than expected 0.1 percent. In the previous quarter it rose 0.3 percent - the first expansion in 18 months.

The French economy contracted by 0.1 percent, snuffing out signs of revival in the previous three months. It had been expected to post quarterly growth of 0.1 percent and has now shrunk in three of the last four quarters.

German growth slowed to 0.3 percent, from a robust 0.7 in the second quarter, but Europe’s largest economy clearly remains in much better shape.

From left: Dexter Adeola, Brand Manager Close Up; Oiza Gyang, Category Manager, Oral Care and; Grace Imaga, Asst. Category Manager, Oral Care, Unilever Nig Plc displaying the awards plaque won by Unilever Nigeria Plc’s Close Up toothpaste in Lagos.

Commenting on the objective of the forthcoming conference, Akinkugbe said that the forum will enable local and international institutional investors to interact with key policy makers, regulators and management teams of leading corporate institutions in Nigeria.

“It will also encourage interactive dialogue between attendees and speakers on how best to realise existing and potential opportunities in the economy; To discuss the challenges of growing the economy whilst pursuing fiscal restraint, what measures are being taken to enhance Nigeria’s competitiveness on the global stage, and a framework with which to project Nigeria’s development from a frontier to a growth market; To focus the spotlight on the investment community in Nigeria, draw on the experiences of other emerging markets and explore ways to harness the potential of the industry in Nigeria and to enable participants engage in discussions on how best to develop the Nigerian capital markets into a leading destination for investment in sub-Sahara Africa and beyond” he added.

In his comment on the future outlook, he said, “ Looking ahead, we expect ongoing activities in the oil and gas , power , financial services sectors and AMCON divestment of the bridge banks to continue to drive market activities.”

NSE, 8 stock broking firms train on FIX protocol trading T

HE Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and eight stockbroking firms joined other African market operators to participate in the 2013 African Financial Information Exchange (FIX) Protocol trading holding in Cape town, South Africa.

Speaking on the initiative, the Executive Director Market Operations and Technology of the exchange, Mr. Ade Bajomo said as part of efforts of reinforcing its commitment to service excellence through automation and the provision of a first rate Capital Market experience for market participants, the NSE partnered with Calm Global IT, CardinalStone Securities, Chapel Hill Denham, Greenwich Trust, Meristem Securities, Partnership

Investment Company, Valueline Securities and WSTC Securities Limited to cosponsor this dynamic event.

According to Bajomo, “The NSE seeks to transform its electronic trading environment through the use of innovative trading technologies. With the launch of our new trading platform, the X-GEN and market data initiative, the adoption of the FIX Protocol has become necessary to position the Nigerian bourse favourably within the financial global village.”

Bajomo highlighted that FIX was an essential tool that will facilitate the growth of online trading for retail investors using their smartphones and any other computing device to trade transparently and easily from anywhere and anytime,

thereby improving their experience of doing business in the Nigerian Capital Market and supporting the financial sector’s social inclusiveness programme for the capital market.

This global event, which is being hosted by the FIX Trading Community for the second time in South Africa, provided an opportunity for Market participants within the African Trading community to reposition their strategy by coming together to discuss the issues, challenges and opportunities likely to impact their businesses in the coming year.

The representatives of The Exchange at the event were Mr Adeolu Bajomo, Executive Director – Market Operations & Technology, as a panellist to

discuss the ‘Challenges Facing the Market: A Pan-African View ’; Mr Ade Ewuosho, Project Director – New Trading Platform, presenting a case study on ‘The Adoption of FIX in Nigeria: A Game Changer for Africa’s Largest Retail Capital Market’ and Mr Olumide Lala - Head of Transformation & Change, an Executive Board Member of the EMEA FIX Trading Community. The FIX trading community is a non-profit industry standards organization for global electronic trading and is dedicated to the development of standards that address the real business and regulatory issues impacting multi-asset trading in markets globally.

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 — 25

Corporate Finance

FSDH projects 20.24% debt-to-GDP ratio in 2013

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

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igeria’s public debt stock as a proportion of the gross domestic product, GDP, is expected to stand at 20.24 percent by the year 2013, said FSDH Merchant Bank Limited.

In its third quarter report titled, ‘Economic Watch: Debt’, the company said that the present position of country’s debt-to-GDP ratio is acceptable as it is below the applicable critical limit of 56 percent for countries in Nigeria’s economic peer group.

“This means that Nigeria’s debt portfolio has wide fiscal sustainability space. There is a commitment by the Federal Government to ensure that the total debt stock does not exceed 40 percent of GDP. Meanwhile, if we added the Asset Management Company of Nigeria’s (AMCON) bonds to

the outstanding total debt, the debt-to-GDP will amount to about 34.04 percent which is still below the FGN commitment of debt-to-GDP not exceeding 40 percent. We note that the CBN has indicated its commitment to assume the contingent liability of the AMCON bonds,” FSDH said in the report.

According to the company, the crowding out effect from government borrowing is expected to abate within the period, while interest rate is also expected to trend down on account of declining inflation rate. “Our forecast GDP and debt stock for Nigeria in the next three years shows that the debt position is sustainable. In 2013, we expect the total debt to amount to about N8.42trillion, with domestic debt accounting for 84.32 percent at N7.10 trillion and external debt accounting for 15.68 percent at N1.32 trillion, it added.

According to data released recently by the Debt

Management Office, DMO, Nigeria’s total debt stock (addition of external and domestic debts) as at September 30, 2013 stood at N8.32 trillion representing an increase of 10.20 percent from the December 31, 2012 figure of N7.55 trillion. A breakdown of the public debt shows that the external debt (Federal Government and States) accounted for 15.50 percent of the total debt stock at N1.29 trillion (US$8.26billion at exchange rate of 155.75/US$1), while the domestic debt stock accounted for 84.50 percent of the total debt stock at N7.03 trillion. The external debt contributed about 13.59 percent to the total debt as at Q2 2013.

The increase in the contribution of external debt to the total debt stock in Q3 2013, compared to Q2 2013 was due to the benign interest rate environment in the international financial system, which the federal and state governments

utilised to their advantage, FSDH said, adding that the National Debt Management Framework (2013-2017) prepared by the Debt Management Office (DMO) indicated that the acceptable optimal ratio of domestic debt to external debt by the Federal Government should be 60:40, as opposed to the current distribution of about 84:16 as at Q3 2013.

Further analysis shows that Nigeria’s total external debt stock as at September 30, 2013 stood at US$8.26billion, representing an increase of 19.36 percent from US$6.92bilion as at June 30, 2012. The breakdown of the external debt as at endSeptember 2013 showed that 71.23 percent was owed to Multilaterals, which includes the World Bank Group, International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, African Development Bank Group, ADB, Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, ABEDA, International Development Bank, IDB, and Economic Development Fund (EDF); 10.29 percent was owed to Bilateral Parties and 18.47 percent was owed to others.

BRIEF Goldman Sachs’ Cohen sees value in record-high stocks

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ALUE remains in the U.S. stock market even after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) surged 25 percent this year to a record, according to Abby Joseph Cohen, a senior investment strategist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Price-earnings ratios are lower now than the last time stocks were near these levels, Cohen said in a Bloomberg Radio interview with Tom Keene. Janet Yellen is one of the finest policy analysts in the U.S. and deserves to be confirmed as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, said Cohen. She forecasts the S&P 500 will reach 1,900 by the end of 2014, a 6.6 percent gain from today ’s close. “Companies right now are increasingly enthusiastic about the dynamism in the economy,” said Cohen. “There’s value in the market right now.

The U.S. economy will likely grow faster next year.”

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Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 — 27

E-Commerce

Commodity Index Nov. 8 - Nov. 14, 2013

Africa loses N2trn yearly to gender gap in phone ownership Stories by JONAH NWOKPOKU

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FRICA is losing $13 billion (about N2 trillion) annually to gender gap in mobile phone ownership, according Robert Bole Director of Innovation, Broadcasting Board of Governors, Voice of America. In a speech ‘Opportunities for mobile innovation and growth in Africa’, delivered during the inaugural edition of Nigeria Apps Summit held in Lagos, he said that one of the most important opportunities for the mobile industry is the potential for expanding the number of women who own and use mobile devices.

He said that recent reports by ‘Women and Mobile a Global opportunity’, has shown that a woman is still less likely by 21 per cent to own a mobile phone than a man. This figure increases to 23 per cent if she was in Africa. Closing this gender gap represents a 13 billion dollar revenue opportunity.

“There are myriads of factors militating against mobile phone ownership in Africa such as affordability and education level but also a critical factor is the fact that these women are saying, ‘I don’t think you are making a product that is relevant to my life.’ And that is the market opportunity. Like in many

places around the world, many women, mothers, sisters, daughters, wives provide the glue that keep families together and communities thriving.

“While men still earn more income for the family, it is women that on the average still take more responsibilities in managing the family finances. Women often times are the family leaders for shopping, paying bills, sending remittances and saving.

Beyond fiscal management, women are also the leaders in managing the family’s healthcare, getting and keeping the children in school, and ensuring family participation in community events,” he said.

WSI-Axon advocates digital marketing for online business optimisation

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hief Executive Officer, WSIAxon West Africa, Edirin Abamwa has charged business owners to enhance their online presence for better performance and customer participation through digital marketing.

Abamwa stated this while speaking at a recent national seminar organised by the firm in Lagos. He said that though businesses were

gradually taking up digital marketing initiatives because of the huge benefits inherent in it, having ubiquitous ICT infrastructure would further fuel digital marketing growth.

Speaking on the theme: ‘Propel your Brand!

Harnessing Digital Media Marketing Technologies: From Prospects to Profits,’ he said it was to equip participants with knowledge of global changes and

advancements within the digital marketing industry.

“We want companies to optimise their web presence on the World Wide Web, thereby providing marketing opportunities for them and revenues to manage their reputation online.

We own the Nigerianwest African franchise of WSI, which is the world leading digital marketing company,” he said.

Expert calls for alternative billing channels for monetisation

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hief

Executive

Officer of Beyondbranches Limited, Simon Aderinlola, has called for adoption of alternative billing channels by ecommerce operators in order to make money from mobile services.

Commenting on the challenges mobile apps service providers are facing in monetising their services through telecommunication operators, Simon said, operators must explore alternative billing channels like e-payment, m-payment, vouchers, and mobile apps connected to local/ international billers.

He noted that for operators to tackle the challenge of high Value Added Service billings, they must ask themselves relevant questions that would lead to identifying workable alternatives.

“Competing providers must get together, identify a common pain and start asking questions. What are the business cases for these alternative billing channels and how do they stack up versus standard operator billing

channels? How can we catalyze the uptake of these alternative billing channels by giving off something as a promotion to incentive the transition to this new eco-system?

Can we not blacklist a wily operator?

From left: Executive Director, Women in Management & Business (WIMBIZ), Mosun Layode; CEO, Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA), Modupe Ladipo; Chairman, Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA), Yemi Cardozo and; Manager, Savings, Women’s World Banking, Jennifer McDonald during the Women’s Financial Inclusion Forum held in Lagos. PHOTO: AKEEM SALAU

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30 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Homes & Housing Finance BRIEFS Firms commence construction of Jabi Lake mall

BY PROVIDENCE OBUH

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ctis and Duval Properties have announced the commencement of construction work on Jabi Lake Mall in Abuja.

A statement by Actis noted that the mall will be Abuja’s one-stop leisure, restaurant and retail destination, offering the first destination shopping experience for both residents and visitors to the country’s capital territory. “The new $100 million retail centre will be opening in late 2015 and offering 30,000 square metres of grade-A shopping space.

The two storey mall will feature contemporary architecture and a lakeside boardwalk with views over the water, cinemas, restaurants, cafes and children arcade.

Flagship stores Shoprite and Game, Walmart subsidiary, have already signed up as anchor tenants for 10,000 square metres space,” the statement added.

Director of Real Estate, Actis, Ms. Amanda Jean-Baptiste said: “Actis is thrilled to reach this key milestone in delivering a unique shopping experience in Abuja.

Senate seeks fine-tuning of social housing bill Stories by YINKA KOLAWOLE

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EMBERS of the Senate have tasked the Committee on Housing and Urban Development of the upper legislative chamber to re-work the Social Housing Bill in a bid to make it implementable after passage into law.

The senators gave the charge during the presentation of the Committee’s report recently on the floor of the Senate. They stepped down the bill citing faulty procedures and legal technicalities capable of hampering its implementation if eventually passed into law, while giving members of the Committee more time to do a thorough job.

The Social Housing Bill is

meant to facilitate the development of mass housing for the poor and low income earners.

In his presentation, Chairman, Senate Committee on Housing and Urban Development, Sen. Bukar Ibrahim, emphasized the importance of passing the bill, noting that it would afford lowincome earners in the country the opportunity of owning their houses without too much difficulty. He said the Committee identified various sources of funding from the private sector to ensure smooth take off and sustenance of the scheme, such as unclaimed dividends, deposits of deceased people without next of kin, dormant account balance in banks, five percent of Ecological Fund and two percent of oil and gas proceeds.

Members of the Senate acknowledged that the concept of the bill is good but questioned the legality of its implementation if passed as presented. They noted that its passage in its current form is likely to create legal and procedural problems that could affect its implementation.

In her contribution, Sen. Nkechi Nwaogu, noted for instance that some of the recommendations on sources of funds contained in the report may be unconstitutional. According to her, it would be difficult recovering people’s personal money either in form of dividends or from dormant bank accounts to fund the housing scheme because there is no law that forecloses access to personal funds in banks after a period of time.

Others advised the

Committee to go back to the drawing board and liaise with the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, and other relevant agencies on how best to implement the scheme. The Committee was also counseled examine practices in other countries with similar socioeconomic environment to that of Nigeria with a view to adopting their social housing scheme.

Senate President David Mark, on his part, called for the creation of a special fund for the development of the scheme in Nigeria. He urged the senators to make every effort to save the bill in a way to ensure sustainable social housing in the country. He challenged the Committee members to come up with guidelines to save the important bill, urging them to identify where the funds would be warehoused, the sources of funds, legal issues that could arise over unclaimed dividends and see how to “marry the bill with the Federal Housing Authority Act.”

Mortgage insurance costs make FHA loans unattractive

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he skyrocketing cost of mortgage insurance is making mortgage loans from Federal Housing Administration (FHA) unattractive.

Borrowers can save between $1,740 and $12,026 over five years by taking a conventional loan with private mortgage insurance over a FHA, according to a new report from WalletHub, a financial information and networking site. Any time a homebuyer is short on the standard 20 percent down payment, lenders take out mortgage insurance, which protects them in case the borrower defaults.

Borrowers, in turn, pay a mortgage insurance premium that benefits the lender as part of their monthly payments.

After the housing market crashed, private mortgage insurance dried up and FHA loans became the go-to mortgages for borrowers who couldn’t afford 20 percent down. FHA loan volume skyrocketed 330 percent from 2007 to 2009.

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•Social housing development

Jonathan commissions Police housing estate in Abuja P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has commissioned yet another housing estate for the Nigeria Police in Abuja, developed through a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement, few months after a similar project was inaugurated in Lagos for officers and men of the Police.

Speaking at the inauguration of the estate comprising 80 units of 4-bedroom flats built at Lugbe, Abuja, the President, who was represented by VicePresident Namadi Sambo, said the federal government would continue to provide necessary support for improved efficiency and welfare of the Nigeria

Police. He said the project signifies government’s determination to provide an environment conducive for officers and men of the Police.

“This event is significant in several ways. It showcases the resolve of government to provide an environment conducive for officers and men of the Police to feel comfortable and relaxed in performing their statutory duty of safeguarding the lives and property of Nigerians. We shall continue to provide necessary support infrastructure aimed at improving efficiency and welfare of the Police Force,” he said.

The President commended

the Nigeria Police for its giant strides in addressing the deficit in the nation’s housing sector in line with the Transformation Agenda of the present administration.

He also commended the Inspector-General of Police and his team for the successful completion of the project, adding that the development goes a long way to demonstrate the resolve and desire of the Inspector-General of Police for a modern and well-motivated Police. “This laudable achievement would go a long way in not only motivating the personnel to put in their best but will also make them more effective and proactive in tackling crime and criminality.”

He noted with delight that the housing units were built through a public-private partnership, adding that “this is indeed noteworthy and a demonstration of a strong bond of partnership existing between the police, the public and the private sector.” Jonathan reiterated the need for proper maintenance of the estate and advised that regular and proper sanitation be carried out for cleanliness and healthiness of the environment.

Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar, in his welcome address, said the Nigeria Police would allocate Police estates being developed across the country to interested personnel on an owner-occupier basis. “This initiative is capitalised principally by the Nigeria Police Cooperative Society in conjunction with our development partners.

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Micro - Finance Stories by PROVIDENCE OBUH

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ot less than N1.2 billion is given out monthly, to small businesses, shop owners, market women, as well as low income earners in the country via AB Microfinance Bank Nigeria, celebrating five years of operation.

While offering the full range of banking products, including SMS Alert and National Funds Transfers, the loan amount ranges from as low as N 15,000 to N20 million with no mandatory cash deposits and flexible collateral agreements.

Speaking at the five years anniversary celebration for customers at its Oke Arin Branch, Lagos, Managing

AB MfB gives out N1.2bn loan monthly Director/CEO AB MfB, Dr. Mattias Grammling, said that the bank boasts of 28,000 borrowers with an outstanding loan portfolio of N6.2 billion.

“We give out 4700 loans worth N1.2 billion every single month with an increasing trend; Our long term international shareholders such as the IFC (USA), the German Development Bank and the African Development Bank have invested N2.1 billion paid up capital and we expect it to be more than that in the future, we have been

granted the National Microfinance Bank License for Nigeria,” Grammling noted, adding that that the bank currently operates 13 branches in Lagos state and plans to expand to Ibadan by 2014. He said that there are a lot of market potentials for the bank in Lagos state, saying, “We give loan to individuals, you don’t need to form a group to get a loan and they are extremely accessible, you want to start a business and you come for a loan, within a few days, one, two weeks you go with the money, no need

Bakers generate 2.3m jobs nationwide as Honeywell graduates 23rd set

BY PROVIDENCE OBUH & WINIFRED AMAGWULA

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HE baking industry in the country has so far generated 2 .3 million jobs, with potential to further absorb 1,000,000 Nigerians.

This was disclosed by Honeywell Flourmills Plc Baking School during its 23rd graduation ceremony in Lagos. Production Director, Honeywell Flourmills Plc, Mr. Nino Ozara, said that with the over 450,000 bakeries in Nigeria, at least one million youths without a job can be employed into the business.

Ozara said, “In Nigeria today, we have a lot of teaming youths who are jobless and the potentials are there to get them engaged, the baking industry can do a lot, right now we have over 450,000 bakeries with an average of at least five workers in each. If the business is good and these bakeries are taking more employees, we can easily absorb probably a million people into the baking business alone,” Production Manager, Honeywell Flourmills Plc, Mr. Nino Ozara, said.

Ozara said, “Honeywell Baking School is a way of giving back to the society because consumers are always a priority and if they progress, we progresses too, that explains why we have grown from 200 metric tons per day mill in 1998 to 2,600 metric tons today and we are still growing.

“These bakers are now better positioned to engage themselves and to be more profitable in their businesses,

they’ve been baking for years but there are certain things they were not doing right.

“When they go back, they will begin to see change and begin

to make more profit and be able to expand their businesses and engage more hands, thereby providing employment, this is what the country needs now.”

to deposit money months in advance or have savings first.

“We do not encourage group lending because you form the group and guarantee people that you don’t even know by name, aside from the market, if one defaults, you have to pay for a member you don’t know, we don’t think this is a good approach.

“Also in a group you have different amounts, and the one with smaller amount guarantees those with bigger amount, is not fair as everyone does not get the same amount.”

On ATM cards and Mobile Banking, he added, “We are working on ATM cards, we do not want to roll out something that is not ready, soon, this will be ready, it is in the pipeline.”

Meanwhile, the fifth anniversary celebration at the bank’s Oke Arin branch was part of its opening ceremony, as customers went away with gift items ranging from generator set souvenirs, among others.

BRIEFS Sanusi to speak at WISCAR’s 5th anniv er sar anniver ersar saryy

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he Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, will be the keynote speaker at the fifth anniversary of Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR), a network for career women.

The event scheduled to hold on November 30th at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, is themed: “Unlocking the Full Potential of Women in the Nigerian Economy,’ and captures the essence of WISCAR’s vision and mission, marking the graduation of WISCAR’s fourth stream of successful Mentees and the induction of the fifth stream.

Speaking on the rationale behind the establishment of WISCAR, founder, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, also the Human Resources Executive of MTN, said: “WISCAR is an NGO, the seed of which was sown by my participation in the Aspen Global Leadership Network (West Africa) programme, ALIWA.

JP Morgan agrees $4.5bn mortgage settlement

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From left: Brand Manager Heineken, Yusuf Murtala, Senior Brand Manager Heineken, Jacquelin Van Faasen, and the International Draught Master, Franck Evers at the Served Extra Cold programme in Lagos.

IFAC elects Owuama board member

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rstwhile President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Major General Sebastian Achulike Owuama (Rtd.), has been elected to serve on the Board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).

His election was confirmed at the IFAC Council meeting held in Seoul, South Korea on November 13 and 14, 2013, following the approval of his recommendation by the IFAC board and Public Interest Oversight Board.

ICAN President, Alhaji Kabir

Mohammed, explained that Owuama’s election to the membership of IFAC board came as a result of hard work, dedication, integrity and level of experience; “qualities he exhibited during his tenure as the President of ICAN in 2009/ 2010.” Mohammed disclosed that Owuama was also the first president of the Pan African Federation of Accountants, the umbrella body for accountants in Africa from May 2011 to May 2013.

In addition, he was widely acclaimed as the first retired Army General to lead a

professional accountancy body.

ICAN is one of the founding members of IFAC, the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprises 173 members and associates in 129 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in practice, education, government service, industry and commerce.

S investment bank JP Morgan has agreed to pay $4.5 billion to investors who lost money on mortgage-related securities during the financial crisis.

The settlement is with 21 major institutional investors.

Mortgage-related investments were a major factor in the crisis, which began in 2007 with the collapse of the US housing market.

Last month JP Morgan agreed a separate, preliminary $13bn deal with the US government over mortgage securities. As part of that deal $5.1bn would go to settle charges that the bank misled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing boom.

That settlement was the biggest ever by a US bank.

Now, 21 institutional investors that put money into more than 300 residential mortgagebacked securities are to be reimbursed by the bank.

The securities in question were issued between 2005 and 2008 by JP Morgan and Bear Stearns - a bank which it took over during the financial crisis.

34 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

SURE-P: Okonjo-iweala’s waterloo “Every great enterprise starts off with enthusiasm for an exalted aim and ends up bogged down in petty politics”, Charles Peguy, 1873-1914.

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•Minister of Finance, Dr Okonjo-Iweala

Now SURE-P is in a mess and that is putting it mildly.

Before proceeding, kindly let me remind the reader that as far back as 2011 when SURE-P was announced by a confident, or was it over-confident, Minister of Finance, I had made the following observations; after providing a small catalogue of grandiose government programmes which had failed in the past.

Writing under the title: SUREP: SURELY A DEFECTIVE PROGRAMME, I made the following observations.

“Dr Okonjo-Iweala was also the Minister of Finance in 2004; when the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategies, NEEDS, was launched filled with promises – very few of which were redeemed. One cardinal un-

discharged promise related to the launching of NEEDS II. Nobody in government discusses NEEDS I anymore; certainly NEEDS II has been consigned to the dustbin. She was the lead economic manager then as well. She should go and read again what she said in 2004. It might be

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UT in Nigeria, it almost invariably ends up getting bogged down in colossal corruption. The minute government embarks on a multi-billion naira enterprise the sharp guys devise the plans to subvert it by robbing the programme blind. SURE-P is going the way of National ID Card Scheme, Obasanjo’s $1316 billion IPP for which we had nothing to show until PHCN was privatized and the National Water Rehabilitation Scheme of another regime.

However, SURE-P is different in one respect – it was so hastily cobbled together, by the Finance Minister, and full of unattainable goals that the original document was ordered withdrawn by President Jonathan in less than six months. That was after millions of naira had been wasted printing the pamphlets and a multi-media campaign was underway to promote the illusion of progress. It was not Okonjo-Iweala’s finest hour.

The decision to junk the original SURE-P programme was one of the most courageous decisions of the President – given the global profile of the Federal Minister of Finance, Dr Okonjo-Iweala. Unfortunately, for the President and, more so, for the Minister, even what was left was bound to fail to meet the objectives set for it – even if no kobo was stolen. But, unknown amounts of the funds have been stolen already and the Senate might have discovered another whopping misappropriation of SURE-P funds. Corruption being so endemic in the Nigerian system, expecting a multibillion naira scheme to be corruption free represented the triumph of wishful thinking over historical experience.

embarrassing but it would be illuminating – to her. We have learnt our lessons.

Those are actually minor reasons for being skeptical about the new programme, titled, SUBSIDY REINVESTMENT AND E M P O W E R M E N T PROGRAMME (SURE PROGRAMME). The new skepticism is fuelled by SURE itself. The 17-page document, providing the justification for subsidy removal, would be graded D by the most generous Professor of Economics at either Harvard or MIT for several glaring reasons. It contains unpardonable omissions; deliberate or inadvertent and, worst of all, THE FIGURES DON’T ADD UP. In their eagerness to convince Nigerians to swallow the bitter pill of subsidy removal, the Ministers of government and Special Advisers, have sugar-coated the pill beyond reason; it might end up giving us diabetes. It is difficult to believe that they believe those figures themselves. If they do, their individual and collective grasp of figures is not as good as it should be. If they don’t, then, they have demonstrated why Nigerians should continue to distrust government.”

Now, the SURE-P programme is under attack on all fronts.

While most Nigerians cannot feel its impact, it is now

To save that reputation, it will not be bad idea if SURE-P is scrapped and replaced with a carefully crafted programme which promises less but delivers most of what is promised.

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enmeshed in a looming scandal in connection with what Senators regard as N500 billion missing SURE-P funds.

Top officials of the CBN and the NNPC, which were also fingered as accomplices in this latest national probe were summoned to a Senate Committee hearing but failed to appear prompting Senator Abdul Ningi, one of the longest serving senators to lament that: “Today, again, we sat here glued to our seats for over one hour, awaiting the arrival of the officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation or their agents and the Central Bank or their agents”. He went on to add that I have been a member of the National Assembly right from inception in 1999 and I have never seen this kind of impunity and disregard for constituted authority”.

The NNPC, meanwhile, had washed its hands of the missing funds claiming every kobo was paid to the Federation Account, as and when due. That shifts the focus back to the CBN and the Ministry of Finance.

Granted the Minister is not involved in any shady deals.

In fact, she is probably one of the few top level officials of this government with personal sound integrity. But, she created SURE-P, very hastily, without adequate controls to minimize the massive embezzlement that follows any major project or programme in Nigeria.

Already, the programme is generally perceived as a failure and with its decline in popularity the Minister ’s once towering reputation takes a dive also.

To save that reputation, it will not be bad idea if SURE-P is scrapped and replaced with a carefully crafted programme which promises less but delivers most of what is promised. A little success is always preferable to a major failure anytime.

Visit: www.delesobowale.com

Business & Economy Continues from page 19 Nigeria.

AGOA was enacted to encourage countries in subSaharan Africa to export garments and other non-oil

Nigeria yet to benefit from AGOA — US envoy products to the U.S. Teneilabe said that the AGOA would be extended to 2015, but expressed regret that Nigeria has not enjoyed

its benefits like other African countries.

According to him, Ghana, Mauritania and Gambia have immensely enjoyed the

liberalised tariffs and duties on their exports to the U.S. “The only export product from Nigeria that the U.S has largely encouraged is crude

Heritage Bank, RSL Derivates set up Paris Club for SMEs

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eritage Bank Limited has announced the establishment of an initiative to support small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in the country. Specifically, Heritage Bank in conjunction with the RSL Derivatives recently set up a club called the Paris Club

SMEs whereby customers that qualify are given a certificate of membership and with which they would be able to approach the bank to finance their business.

Speaking on the initiative, the Group Head, Heritage Bank Limited, Mr. Bayo Ogunnusi

said the major reason why banks were not funding SMEs was because of risk.

Ogunnusi added: “What we have done is to bring up an innovative idea of how to finance SMEs without collateral. We are partnering with some organisations like RSL

Derivatives and what we are doing is to identify the SMEs. We offer advisory services to them, we help them structure their business and also with their cashflows. “Now, if you qualify, you are given a certificate of membership and with that, you can approach Heritage Bank and we finance your business.

oil. This is not in line with the advocacy of the Nigerian government to focus on the non- oil sector, especially agriculture.

Nigerian exporters currently transport their goods to neighbouring countries in order to transmit them to the U.S. because restrictions are less strict in those countries.”

Teneilabe appealed to developed nations to desist from formulating policies that could hamper global trade relations. “They set some values that are not widely acceptable and they follow them strictly."

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 — 35

Appointment and Promotions vicahiyoung@yahoo.com 08033348923

Kakulu heads Keystone Bank’s Uganda subsidiary K

EYSTONE Bank has confirmed the appointment of Mrs. Yetunde Kakulu as the Managing Director of its Uganda Subsidiary.

Until her posting to manage Keystone Bank interests in the East African region, she was a Divisional Head in the Bank’s Northern Division.

Divisional Head, Marketing and Corporate Communication, Keystone Bank Limited, Mohammed Ciroma, made this known in a statement.

An old girl of Federal Government College, New Bussa, Mohammed said she also possesses a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Ilorin as well as

a Masters Degree in Banking and Finance from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

She has also recently attended the leadership course at Wharton Executive Education College, University

of Pennsylvania.

Kakulu has been in banking for over 20 years garnering experience as operations manager and business manager with some of the leading banks in Nigeria before joining Keystone Bank to be part of the change management team.

She has been majorly in retail, commercial and public sector banking in Keystone Bank where she rose to become an Assistant General Manager making her eligible for her new assignment as Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Keystone Bank’s subsidiary in Uganda.

Kakulu, whose appointment is to be ratified soon by the apex bank of Uganda, enjoys reading, sports and music.

She is married with children.

NOA bags peace award

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ational Orientation Agency, NOA, has been honoured with an International Award for promoting peace and good governance in the country.

The award was given to NOA by the Youth for Peace and Good leadership Initiative International, a nongovernmental organization.

The award came at the 2013 Peace and Leadership Award and Launching of Centre for Peace, Conflict Resolution and Youth leadership Development in recognition of the Agency’s consistent programmes and events that promote peace and good governance in Nigeria.

Presenting the award, President of the NGO, Dr. Simon Dolly, said the activities of the agency caught the group’s attention as a promoter of peace and good leadership.

He said NOA and the NGO shared the same vision, and are on the same page on the “onerous task” of ensuring that peace remains a reference point in our country.

• Omeri

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, presenting certificate of handing over of Transcorp Ugheli Plc. to the Chairman of Transnational Corporation (TRANSCORP), Mr. Tony Elumelu, in Abuja.

NAPTIN graduates 243 electric engineers

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OT less than 243 engineers have graduated from the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria NAPTIN. They are the first trained power engineers from the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria NAPTIN Speaking at their graduation, Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, said the successful graduation of the engineers by the Institute was a big milestone on the nation’s road to achieving efficient and reliable local content in the unfolding revolution in the new power sector. According to him, there was no fear of redundancy for the high caliber of engineers being produced under NAPTIN’s Graduate Skills Development Programme, as there was great need of them in the now privatized generation and distribution companies especially the 10 National Independent Power Project, NIPP, facilities currently being commissioned in turns, as well as at the Transmission Company of Nigeria where some of the young engineers had already been engaged.

Nebo said the products of the Institute were the critical mass of skilled manpower needed to take Nigeria to her envisaged

place among the 20 most developed nations by the year 2020.

Earlier, the Director-General, DG, of National Power Training Institute of Nigeria, NAPTIN, Reuben Okeke explained that the graduate progamme was

•Minister of Power, Prof.

Chinedu Nebo

designed to act as a systematic interventionist approach to the plan of meeting the nation’s manpower needs in the energy sector.

Okeke commended the Minister of Power for intervening to secure appropriate job placements for some of the graduands.

He noted that following the launch of the programme in September 2012, over 1,530 applications were received nationwide with a total about 243 graduate trainees eventually admitted and enrolled.

The DG explained that while some were under their state government’s sponsorship, a good number also came on private or self sponsorship.

PathCare Nigeria gets award for customer care PathCare Nigeria has received an award for “Excellence in Customer Service” in the healthcare sector in Nigeria.

The award was given to it by the Nigerian Customer Service Award, NCSA, at the Excellence in Customer Service Award ceremony held in Abuja.

Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of NCSA, Mr. Aliyu Ilias, at the ceremony, said the objective of the Award was to recognize companies that had raised the standard of customer service in all sectors of the Nigerian economy.

According to him, nominations for the awards were based purely on independent customer nominations.

Dr. Emmanuel Shobowale, Consultant Pathologist who received the award on behalf of PathCare said “We sincerely thank our valued clients for nominating us for this award. We see it as a call to greater service. PathCare brought world class standards in diagnostic services to the region and we appreciate the fact that our service to humanity is being recognised. At PathCare, we realise that behind every test sample is a person who needs special attention and care.”

Medical tourism has been estimated to cost Nigeria about N250 billion annually, a cost that could be saved if more international standard medical care were available locally.

PathCare Nigeria hopes to significantly reduce this through its modern, computerized state-of-theart laboratories and team of highly dedicated professionals.

The Organizers of the NCSA annual event disclosed further that the awards are given based on feedback from customers through independent assessment of the quality services they have received using customer survey tools.

…As Mbisiogu receives excellence award

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HIEF Executive Officer, CEO, Blue Diamond Logistics China/Shanghai Construction Company, Imo State, Mr. Festus Uzoma Mbisiogu, has been honoured with the South East Youths Forum’s, SEYF, Award for Excellence in the development of youths in the Geo-political Zone.

Mbisiogu, based in China, was honoured for his

entrepreneurial and philanthropic activities said to have positively affected the youths.

The award was said to be as a result of his efforts at championing the Igbo course.

Presenting the award, National Coordinator, SEYF, Uche Alisigwe who lamented the disparity in employment between youths in the South East and other Geo-political

Zones, commended Mr. Mbisiogu for his investment in the Zone had provided employment opportunities for the youths in the area.

He said Mbisiogu was chosen among other Igbos in the Diaspora because of his remarkable achievements as an industrialist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and advocate of good governance.

36 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2013 — 37

38 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

People in Business

You can create a niche for yourself even in hard times — Igwe Chidubem Iweka

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gwe Chidubem Iweka, Eze Iweka III, is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Onitsha-based Alby Jones and Company, a multi-faceted outfit that is into real estate, advertising and various forms of entertainment.

The singer, instrumentalist, writer and actor is also the traditional ruler of Obosi Kingdom in Anambra State. In this chat with Financial Vanguard, her speaks on his business, the early days and the challenges of leadership, and says that poverty or hardship is a very poor excuse for going into crime. Excerpts:

By EBELE ORAKPO HRM Igwe Chidubem Iweka… When I found out that my area of specialization was not lucrative, I created something for myself.

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C M Y K

war at such a tender age, having witnessed what boys my age never did, I think the wind of that war blew me all over the place and I ended up attending a total of 11 secondary schools before I finished but by the grace of God, I still finished with my peers,” Iweka noted.

Further studies: After obtaining his school certificate, his parents sent him to the US for further studies as many parents were wont to do in those days.

Said he: “In the US, I enrolled in Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill in Contra Costa County, California, for a two-year course. From there, I went on to California State University, Hayward where I graduated in Drama, Theatre Arts and other major courses like psychology. ”In the US, I worked for a production company called Creative Associates, producing different musicians. After school, I taught drama in EGYPT (Experimental Group Young People’s Theatre), a school of creative arts in Oakland, California. Then I worked as a paid actor for about three – four years for the Black Repertory Theatre in Oakland under Nora Vaughn. I did different sales jobs and so on.

But my field of specialization was theatre arts - teaching and performing. I played with several bands, including a Jazz Quartet where I was the only African. We got a contract to tour all the primary schools in

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Early days: n completion of his kindergarten and primary school education at the All Saints Cathedral School, GRA, Onitsha, young Iweka went on to Government Secondary School Owerri for his secondary education.

Unfortunately, in his first year in school, the Nigerian civil war broke out and so his education, like that of most children, was disrupted.

“We were living in Onitsha and when Onitsha fell into the hands of the federal troops, we moved to Nnobi, a neighbouring town and became refugees. During the war, there was no food to eat; everybody was starving so I became a wheelbarrow pusher at a tender age and that continued until I started school again during the war,” he said.

Joining the Army: “I eventually joined the army at the age of 12, not as a Boys’ company. There were little kids called Boys Company those days who were recruited and wore mufti. They would go behind enemy lines, gather information and all that. But due to my height, (I was already about 5 feet, seven inches tall at the age of 12) the first army selection I went to, they drove me away with whips, along with my friend. But as the war progressed, they needed more soldiers so younger people were inducted into the army and that was when I joined. I was in the army until the end of the war. I then went back to school. Due to the ups and downs and the trauma of

If you are into crime, you are attracting darkness to yourself; even when you seem to succeed, you have succeeded physically but spiritually, you have gone backwards, you have attracted more darkness to yourself and all that accumulated darkness will manifest in the physical eventually

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the Bay Area performing and teaching them about Africa and African art forms.”

Return to Nigeria and going into business: According to Iweka, upon his return to Nigeria, he went into different businesses, trying his hands on so many because theatre arts was not very lucrative back then. So as the Igbos say, you do not stand in one place to watch the masquerade, you should move about. Any wonder then that he decided to use his natural talents to create a niche for himself.

He said: “Because I am an accomplished musician having made my first record when I was 16 with my co-students at Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS) Onitsha and also a guitarist with the band of the International School Ibadan within the University of Ibadan campus. I am also an

accomplished saxophonist, percussionist and producer.

So when I came back to Nigeria, the entertainment industry was not as lucrative as it is now, so with my musical skills and skills as a writer (I have been writing short stories and poetry since I was 14 years although a lot of them got lost after the war), I created a niche for myself. That is to say that if you look hard enough and work hard enough, you can create something for yourself. I created something for myself.”

What we do: As it is said, if Mohammed will not go to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed and that was what Iweka did. He did not allow the fact that his area of specialization was not yet lucrative to dampen his spirits, he looked hard and discovered a problem he could solve in the advertising sector. ”I used to pick up a transistor radio, listen to jingles and I felt that so many of them were mediocre so what I did was to pick those mediocre jingles, both on radio and television, then I will compose good jingles for those companies and use my own money and go to the studios to do demos for several companies. I could do demos for about 10 companies and distribute them. Out of 10, I could get up to seven contracts from different companies and from there, I started doing political, imagemaking jingles and jingles for corporate bodies and the

business grew. He then started his company, Alby Jones and Company with three offices in Onitsha and a number of employees. Some of the contracts we executed were the Obasanjo/Atiku 2003 jingles.

We worked for Buhari, Mike Ajegbo for Senate and so many others. We had good accounts.

We also had our hands in trading. I used to buy and sell property and then we went into movies production. I had my hands in acting also because I majored in theatre arts. I have featured in about five movies.

I had featured in two in the US and many plays. So while I was doing other things to put food on the table, I was always pursuing my natural vocation with my God-given talent which is creative art forms – writing books, songs, screen plays, movies etc.

I have about eight ready books and have published only one (The Ancient Curse) but by early 2014, I will have three more books in the market, book on poetry, prose and stage play that I wrote in 1987 but it got lost but was recently found.

My copies were destroyed by flood but a friend whom I had given a copy to proofread many years ago, heard me lamenting and told me he has a copy. That was how I got it back. It is called Coup d’état .The novel is called So Bright a Darkness.

Recently, my book, The Ancient Curse, won another award at the Nigerian Book Foundation in conjunction with the Anambra State Government.”

The amiable Igwe who noted that leadership is not easy says despite his very tight schedule, he still finds time to write although he no longer has time to produce movies or go away for two weeks on location but he still writes after midnight when everybody is asleep. “It’s tough. I’d be kidding you if I say it is easy. They say uneasy lies the head that wears the crown and it is very much so here. But God has been making it light, lighter than it would have been. I believe and trust in God and He has been very faithful.”

Advice to youths: “I think that anyone caught stealing or kidnapping and says he is doing it because he is hungry, is a poor excuse. I told you that during the war, we were very hungry. I became a wheel barrow pusher before I joined the army so nobody should say he is robbing or kidnapping people because of hunger. On every level, you can create something for yourself. I remember when I went to the US for the first time, my parents paid for me and I started school but one year after, the military regime stopped foreign exchange transaction so my parents could not send me money any more but that did not make me steal.

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 — 39

Advertising, Media & Marketing

Empowerment, challenges in disability & LG’s economic impact Stories by PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

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HE economic growth of any nation cannot be achieved without putting together a well articulated programme to reduce poverty and increase people’s access to factors of production, particularly finance.

And with the global quest to end poverty and create a platform for the physically challenged, moved LG Electronics to initiate an empowerment programme which benefited 15 disabled persons who were offered employment at the company’s facility in Apapa recently.

The empowerment initiative put together in response to the large-scale call for the engagement of people with disabilities. Government as well as corporate organisations in recent times, had frowned at discrimination against persons with disabilities, particularly when it relates to employment.

Before now, the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) had estimated that there are over 30 million Nigerians who have one form of disability or the other. This implies that this group of people on the basis of their disability cannot do things

that their contemporaries do.

As the disability law in Nigeria is expected to ensure the full integration of persons with disability into the society and eliminate all forms of discrimination against them; this includes the right to opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open.

LG Electronics through its empowerment initiative demonstrated that corporate organisations can be more responsive, work with government in the quest to actively engage and empower

the physically challenged, giving them a voice in the society so that they can contribute their quota to nation building.

Speaking on the initiative, General Manager, LG Electronics West Africa Operations, Mr. Deog Jun Kim said: “over the years society has relegated to the background the physically challenged; they are most times regarded as second class citizens.

This is why we have taken it upon ourselves at LG to give this people a new lease of life and thereby contribute to the development of the communities we do business in”.

From Left: Chairman, Universal Furniture Limited, Mr. Antoine Moudaber; Head of Sales, Mr. Yusuf Lasisi and Director Universal Furniture Limited, Mr. Walid Farah, during a media briefing on the inauguration of Universal Furniture to Nigerian Retail Market in Lagos.

Unilever increases Lipton profile with 6 variants B ASED on consumer research, Unilever Nigeria Plc has increased its Lipton brand profile with six new variants.

The new variants are, Vanilla Tea, Hisbiscus, Lemon Tea, Green Tchae Mint, Forest Fruit and Clear Green Tea. The company said the idea of introducing the variants in over 100 years of the Lipton brand is a marketing strategy skewed to maintain the various taste bud of Lipton consumers and to ensure consumer loyalty.

Speaking on the introduction of the new variants at a tea party recently to herald the arrival of the variants , David Okeme, Brand Building Director of Unilever Nigeria said the company has been able to establish that within Nigeria there are seven classes of consumers.

This includes young consumers who are coming into tea drinking and they desire the experience of different flavor options. “This is why we set out to develop

tea brands that will meet their expectations.”

For consumers who are health conscious, they will express preference for the green variant and “as foremost tea manufacturer, our job is to provide for such needs”

He said that Lipton tea flavor is unique and the golden colour defines the brand. “The variants have been carefully chosen, for instance the Hisbicus variant is made from a special type of flower which tastes good. We have moved tea from just the beverage that is not very exciting to tea that offers variety, excitement”

Dance competition heralds Panasonic Max 700

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n a bid to be different in the market, Panaserv, sole franchise distributor of Panasonic brands in Nigeria has adopted unconventional platform-dance competition to introduce to the market Panasonic Max 700, its latest home theatre system.

The use of the dance contest to herald the product is to emphasis the important of the sound and its affinity with Disc Jokers popularly called DJs. The product was showcase at the Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island with customers from all walks of life viewing in amusement. However, the competition, which also kicked

off the same day will climax at the Panasonic Convention in Lagos in November 26 this year where the winner will win Panasonic Max 700 and other consolation prizes.

Speaking on the product, the Media Consultant to Panasonic and CEO Omeba Associates, John Woma said the distinctive features of MAX 700 include 4way giant speaker box with 38cm, Seper woofer, full digital triple-amp, prism colour illumination with Maximum DJ effect, 1000 songs internal memory with 6 direct playlist key and output power is 2500w (pmpo) and 2300 (rms).

Customer Avoidance:

Do you do it?

Y

OU are in a tight corner. Or so it seems. You couldn’t deliver the goods on schedule. You couldn’t fix the customer ’s problem when you promised you would. Or you couldn’t meet some other deadlines you agreed with the customer. So what do you do?

If you love (what appears to be) the easy way out, you may refuse to visit the customer, at least for now.

Or even refuse to pick her calls. After all, there is simply nothing else to tell her. You have already used every excuse (read lie) you can think of – port congestion, server downtime, missing cargo, problems with documentation, unavailability of the delivery truck, your urgent trip to the sun (although you were in Lagos all the while) and all what not.

So, the best thing to do is to avoid the customer until, somehow, Providence decides to help you out of the mess. In this situation, it is also risky to take calls from unknown callers because you may unwittingly pick the call of the angry customer you wish to avoid.

The danger, however, is that if you refuse to take calls from unknown callers, you may miss out on good business leads too.

Well, no cause for alarm (hopefully). You are not alone. In fact, you are in good company because a lot of sales people do the same thing. The only problem is that it is a dangerous kind of company to keep!

Let’s tell ourselves some truths. Whatever makes a salesman or other frontline employee avoid a customer and her calls is indeed awful. Interestingly, sales people sometimes talk themselves into this kind of hypertension-friendly situation. In a bid to make a sale, they promise heaven and earth. They can promise to deliver next week even when they are yet to place the order for a product with an eightweek lead time. Such people see selling as a game of football in which you keep dribbling the customer until somebody scores. Unfortunately, they can only score own goals for as long as they fail to see the connection between keeping promises and customer loyalty. Playing hide-and-seek with customers not only hurts the reputation of the individual salesman, but also that of the organisation. And we all know what the results for the business are likely to be.

Interestingly, some top executives actively use their secretaries or personal assistants to shield themselves from customers. A participant at a workshop shared her frustration about a boss who would always claim to be in a meeting whenever she didn’t want to see a customer. On a particular occasion, a customer insisted he would wait until the end of the meeting.

Well, the “big boss” eventually came out to see the customer. And, guess what? She was grinning from ear to ear as if she was not the same person that had tried to avoid the customer!

If you ask me, I’ll advise that under no circumstance should you avoid seeing a customer or picking her calls. Indeed, the best time to respond to customer calls promptly is when you know things are not working as planned – if for nothing else, to reassure the customer that you haven’t abandoned her. You need to keep the customer regularly informed of the efforts you are making to resolve her challenges.

The challenge I see is that many of us find it difficult to tell customers the truth. But we need to tell them the truth, in an agreeable manner. Don’t let a customer pressure you into agreeing to a deadline you know you can’t meet. There is some sense in telling a customer. “I sincerely wouldn’t like to disappoint you. Your trust is important to me. That’s why I have offered to deliver on Thursday rather than Tuesday.”

Ordinarily, most customers will understand when things don’t work as planned so long as they notice a sincere attempt to do the right thing. It is the shenanigans of frontline people (and their bosses) that irritate them. It is bad enough that someone couldn’t fulfil their own side of the deal (as a service provider). Avoiding the customer at such times amounts to adding insult to injury.

C M Y K

40 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Email:lesleba@lesleba.com, lesleba@gmail.com Blog page:www.lesleba.com/blog2 Website: www.lesleba.com Tel:0805 220 1997

The avoidable oppressive burden of fuel subsidy below the estimated 2013 burden of about N2tn. In other words, Nigerians may not witness any significant improvement in capital and infrastructure enhancement in the next three years.

In reality, the choices we make individually or collectively ultimately determine what we become; the question, therefore, is, how far and how fast can we grow if we continuously devote over 40% of our annual budget to fuel subsidy payments? There is, therefore, an urgent need to re-examine our fiscal and monetary strategy and evolve much more responsible ways of dealing with the issue of wasteful subsidy payment, and its impact on critical infrastructural deprivation and deepening poverty nationwide. Regrettably, in spite of public resistance to any fuel price hike, the government’s management team seems incapable of formulating a policy that would eliminate fuel subsidy.

For the rest of this article, we will consider alternative strategies for removing the oppressive burden of subsidy in our fiscal strategy.

Let’s first take a look at the issue of kerosene usage and pricing. In the belief that higher kerosene prices impact adversely on the income of the masses, government subsidy on kerosene is considerably higher than PMS. Regrettably, however, government’s expectation seems to have been misplaced as kerosene sells in

the open market at over N120 per litre in place of the subsidized price of N50 per litre.

W

orse still, it is worrisome that government’s attention appears rivetted in promoting kerosene as a source of domestic fuel, when, in fact, our relatively cheap and extensive gas reserves are recklessly flared off with damaging consequences on climate, and severe health hazards for host communities of gas reserves.

,

T

he social trauma induced by the unexpected fuel price hike of January 1, 2012 seems to have put further discussions on appropriate pricing of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the cooler.

Meanwhile, government’s attempt to cleanse the Augean stable of fuel subsidy scams seems to have had little or no effect on the humongous value of subsidy paid to oil marketers.

Incidentally, at a recent hearing of the Senate Joint Committee on Appropriation, the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, reported that about N1.4tn had been expended on subsidy payments this year.

According to the minister, this amount excludes subsidies paid for kerosene imports, which Mr. Dakuku Peterside, the Chairman Committee on Petroleum, also recently confirmed to be in excess of N634bn for the last three years.

Furthermore, tens of billions of naira still remain outstanding to oil marketers, while the subsidy claims for October to December are also not yet accounted for. In other words, ultimately, about N2tn may be expended as fuel subsidy in 2013. The dismal comparison is that inexplicably, only about N1.5tn was allocated for infrastructure and capital development in the 2013 budget.

Meanwhile, the 2014/2016 Medium Term Expenditure framework is not quite explicit on the projected subsidy payments in government’s fiscal strategy for the next three years. In any event, there is nothing to suggest that fuel subsidy payments would fall

manufacture of cheap and durable gas stoves for possibly free distribution to as many households as possible. Such a strategy would help to conserve our forests, and also reduce the horrendous accidents from the use of adulterated kerosene. This would appear to be a more sensible approach to supporting the needs of the poor than the disenabling challenges of kerosene subsidy, and the minimal impact on the lives of the poor.

Let’s first take a look at the issue of kerosene usage and pricing, in the belief that higher kerosene prices impact adversely on the income of the masses, government subsidy on kerosene is considerably higher than PMS

The amount of N634bn apparently spent on kerosene subsidy in the last three years, would most certainly have funded gas pipelines to some, if not all of our major urban areas. Furthermore, existing petrol stations could be configured to also dispense gas for domestic use; ultimately, as is the case in industrialized countries, all homes can be connected to enjoy the supply of clean and cheap gas for domestic use.

Indeed, government needs to urgently partner or encourage private investment in the domestic

,

Indeed, it would not be out of place, if government took the bold step of insisting that every vehicle imported into Nigeria henceforth should also be compatible for gas application. In similar vein, gas supply could also be rapidly made accessible for use in power plant nationwide.

In this manner, our erstwhile largely wasted and hazardous gas reserves will be productively harnessed.

The alternative strategy for the abolition of subsidy

Business & Economy Global LNG: Asian premium draws in Atlantic production

A

sian liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices surpassed long-term, oillinked prices this week as low nuclear availability and China’s switch from coal drove LNG demand, reopening trade routes between Europe and Asia.

Prices rose to around $18.30 per million British thermal units for January delivery compared with $17.75/ mmBtu last week.

Buyers in Asia are increasingly leaning on longterm supplies to avoid paying high spot LNG prices, but the scale of demand has nevertheless necessitated spot purchases.

“Supplies are very tight at the moment - there’s a lot of demand to be filled in Japan, China and Taiwan, to name a few,” one European LNG trade source said. Chinese C M Y K

and Japanese buyers have bought a handful of cargoes delivering in January to supplement baseload, longterm supplies.

Long-term LNG supplies to Asia tend to be priced at 14.50/mmBtu when crude oil costs $100 a barrel, plus a fixed premium of between $0.50-$1.0/mmBtu. With Brent crude trading at $108/ barrel, the price of long-term LNG comes in well below the current spot price of $18.30/ mmBtu. The surge in Asian spot prices has established a $7/mmBtu premium over deal levels in north-west Europe, pushing Middle East and increasingly Atlantic Basin production to Asia.

Re-exports from underutilised northwest European terminals to Asia are gathering pace with Swisstrader Vitol at the forefront

of some recent activity. The Vitol-chartered Excel tanker, which picked up a cargo out of the Gate terminal in the Netherlands, is heading through Suez Canal on its way to China’s Dalian terminal to unload, according to Thomson Reuters data. Statoil is said to be interested in selling a November cargo from its Snoehvit liquefaction plant in Norway to Asia.

Although Asia’s premium over Europe may grow as prices there rise, the number of cargoes available for reexport from European terminals over the next month remains uncertain, although Atlantic output should continue flowing to Asia given current strong demand.

Diversions of Atlanticproduced cargoes to Asia

have slowed this year compared with 2012 due to a variety of reasons including lower output from plants in Egypt,

on petrol is probably much simpler. I have maintained for several years that fuel subsidy payments are induced by a misguided exchange rate mechanism. For example, the weaker the naira rate of exchange, the greater will be subsidy payments annually. Thus, if international FOB market price of PMS is, for example, $1, then, by extension, this would be equivalent to N160 per litre! On the other hand, if the naira exchange rate falls to N200 per dollar, while official pump price remains at N97, this would imply that, the naira subsidy component will increase.

Conversely, if the naira exchange rate strengthens to N80 per dollar, for example, this implies that PMS would similarly sell at N80 per litre plus freight and clearing charges; i.e. well below the current official price of N97 per litre. Thus, the government may earn close to N14 per litre as a sales tax, rather than pay subsidy of about N40 per litre.

However, the obvious question would be, how do we strengthen the value of the naira, when we do not produce anything other than oil?

The answer, of course, is that an export-oriented multicultural economy will bring in the same foreign exchange that a thriving, very successful monocultural economy will provide. The problem with dollar revenue derived from crude oil is the unfortunate manipulation of exchange rate in favour of the dollar by the CBN’s misguided substitution of naira allocations for dollar-derived revenue; this is the albatross in our economic system, as the ensuing excess naira liquidity places the naira at a disadvantage in the foreign exchange market, in which the same CBN rations dollar supply.

Nigeria and Norway. The pull from Latin American buyers including Mexico, Argentina and, Brazil where gas demand has surged, saw more Atlantic production consumed within the region.

OUR TEAM Omoh Gabriel Babajide Komolafe Clara Nwachukwu Peter Egwuatu Yinka Kolawole Favour Nnabugwu Godwin Oritse Godfrey Bivbere Michael Eboh Franklin Alli Ebele Orakpo Ifeyinwa Obi Rosemary Onuoha

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CONTRIBUTORS Princewill Ekwujuru Naomi Uzor Providence Obuh LAYOUT

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