Financial vanguard January 21st edition

JANUARY 21, 2013

Inflation: CBN should maintain tight monetary policy — Experts

BY BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

T

he inflation figures released last week by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, which show that prices of goods and services are still rising, indicate that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will maintain its tight monetary policy, when its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets today, said financial experts.

Inflation measures the rate of increase in the prices of goods and services people consume every day.

It is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The Inflation figures released by the NBS shows that while the general rate of increase in prices (headline inflation) declined to 12.0 per cent in December from 12.3 per cent in November, Core inflation, which is the rate of increase of goods and services excluding farm produce , rose to 13.7 per cent from 13.1 per cent. The increase was attributed to rising prices of essential goods and services like housing, electricity and gas.

According to the Bureau, “The increases in the Core (inflation) index were as a result of increases in the Housing, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels division, in particular liquid (kerosene) and solid fuels (firewood and charcoal), rental and imputed rent prices, clothing prices, garment prices, and air transport fares.”

Reviewing this development ahead of the MPC meeting today, financial experts said this implies that there are still inflationary threats in the economy, especially the huge budgetary spending planned for this year by the Federal Government hence they expect the CBN to maintain its tight monetary policy.

“In order to adjust monetary policy however, the MPC will need to be

*From left: Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, chief host, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos, and Mr. Abimbola Shodipo, Special Adviser to Governor Fashola on Taxation and Revenue, during the 6th Lagos State Taxation Stakeholders' conference, held in Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez more certain that lower inflation can be achieved on a sustainable basis.

With the threat of a higher benchmark crude price being adopted in the 2013 budget, we’re not certain that can be taken for granted for the moment. On this basis, we forecast unchanged monetary policy next week”, said Razia Khan, Head of Regional Research, Africa, Standard Chartered Bank.

Also commenting on the development, analysts at Afrinvest PLC said, “We however believe that the upward review of the oil price benchmark to $79 per barrel as contained in the recently passed 2013 budget, provides additional room for increased government spending and therefore poses a direct upside threat to inflation. We therefore expect the

CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee to keep the MPR on hold at its next committee meeting scheduled for early next week."

“Ahead of the meeting of the MPC next week and existing inflationary threats, we are conscious of the fact that rates might be held at current levels. However, we maintain our position on gradual reduction of the benchmark rate to single-digit levels even as we remain optimistic on the attainment of single digit rate in the current fiscal year," analysts at Proshare commented.

Since 2011, the CBN has been operating a tight money supply policy, so as to check the rate at which prices of goods and services rise in the

Continues on page 18

155.95

0.45

2,282.00

-18.00

18.4

-0.02

111.78 +0.68 95.55 +0.06 CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYA KRONA SDR

154.72 246.6392 206.6131 165.9196 1.7222 0.2963 237.2893 24.8913 41.2554 27.678 238.0522

155.22 247.4362 207.2808 166.4558 1.7277 0.3063 238.0562 24.9722 41.3887 27.7674 238.8215

SELLING 155.72 248.2333 207.9485 166.992 1.7333 0.3163 238.823 25.0531 41.522 27.8569 239.5908

CBN Exchange rate as at 18 /01/2013 C M Y K

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Cover Story

Youth restiveness and unemployment in Nigeria: The way out

*From left: Adeola Adetunji, Managing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, receiving an award on behalf of Coca-Cola Nigeria from His Excellency, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Governor of Lagos State for the Most Tax-Compliant Corporate Organisation at the 6th edition of the Lagos State Taxation Stakeholders' Conference held at Ikeja.

Inflation: CBN should maintain tight monet ar monetar aryy policy — Experts Continued from page 17 economy. Among other things, the apex bank raised the Monetary Policy Rate, which is the benchmark interest rate, six times from 6.0 per cent to 12 per cent. It also raised the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) for bank to 12 per cent from 4.0 per cent.

Despite these measures, the inflation brate though fell slightly last year, has remained in double digit due to impact of the fuel price increase and increased tariff on wheat and rice. From 12.6 per cent in January, inflation rose to 12.9 in June before dropping to 12.3 per cent in November.

The tight monetary policy meanwhile occasioned high interest rate, and made lending to the government more attractive to banks than lending to businesses. This prompted calls by real sector operators and economic experts for a review of the tight monetary policy of the CBN. Razia Khan, however, said that it is not economically expedient now for the CBN to change to a loose monetary policy.

She said, “I have picked up on some of that thinking, but my first response would be, is monetary policy actually tight in Nigeria? If we take the 12 months smoothed measure of headline inflation of 12.2 per cent in December and the MPR of 12 per cent, it still implies negative real interest rates – that suggests that policy is reasonably C M Y K

accommodative.

“When Nigerians complain about ‘tight monetary policy,’ they are typically complaining about high loan rates, which make it difficult to finance SMEs, and take away from growth. But the reasons behind those spreads have much more to do with fundamental structural factors, than they do with the current policy stance of the CBN. There is a key important distinction. Even if the CBN were to relax its monetary policy, (the naira might weaken, inflation would almost certainly be higher), it is not clear that loans would be any more affordable – those spreads might remain in place.

Greater macroeconomic volatility in that instance might even contribute to higher spreads!

The best thing that the CBN can do to contribute to more loan growth over time is to ensure macroeconomic stability to whatever extent possible.

“We should also not lose sight of the benefits of CBN ‘tightening’ – lower imports as policy was tightened in July (compare imports in third quarter with second quarter of 2012), higher external reserves. Nigeria has been able to attract more portfolio investor flows as a result. Its index inclusion and the heavy demand for FGN bonds have arguably made it cheaper to finance government spending. This helps in a small way to reduce vulnerability to the oil cycle – all because the central bank was brave enough to tighten

policy in the face of opposition. The benefits clearly outweigh any perceived costs. So to assume that there might have been a lot more loan growth if the MPR were 50 or 100 bps lower is missing the point somewhat.”

The NBS inflation report for December stated,” In December 2012, the composite Consumer Price Index which measures inflation rose to 12.0 per cent year-on-year (compared to 12.3 per cent in November). On a year-onyear basis, the relative increase in the headline index in December was as a result of higher prices in the Core Index. This is the second consecutive month where the Core index has deviated from the downward trend it exhibited since the month of July, increasing to 13.7 per cent (from 13.1 in November).

On the other hand, food prices moderated during December, giving temporary respite from the lagged effects of the floods which occurred from July to MidOctober, as well as other demand and supply conditions. The Food index increased year on year to 10.2 percent from 11.6 percent in November.

It should be noted that the Headline Index is made up of the Core Index and Farm Produce items. As Processed Foods are included in both the Core and Food sub-indices, this implies that these subindices are not mutuallyexclusive. In December, the

Continues on page 19

since according to them, the resources which is building the nation is flowing from their land so by virtue of that they should also be partakers of its benefits.

This strife led to a rise in kidnapping and vandalization of oil pipelines as well as other vices that were being perpetrated. After a period of years, the Nigerian government intervened and the Amnesty program was created to help deliver some of the promises which government had made to the youths in those areas.

The baton was soon handed over to the Eastern Nigeria. Increase in the rate of armed robbery attacks, kidnappings as well as unbridled thuggery became the order of the day.

Today the Northern part of Nigeria has literally erupted with unrivalled violence. Bomb blasts,

,

T

he words ‘ youth’ and ‘ restiveness’ have become so commonly used together in the last couple of years that it seems to have taken on a life of its own. In the last decade and more there has been a proliferation of cases all over the country and indeed the world, of youth agitations which have tons of people dead and valuable infrastructure as well as personal properties lost and destroyed.

A sustained protestation embarked upon to enforce a desired outcome from a constituted authority by an organised body of youths, fits the label of youth restiveness.

It is also a combination of any action or conduct that constitutes unwholesome, socially unacceptable activities engaged in by the youths in any community.

It is a phenomenon which in practice has led to a near breakdown of law and order, low productivity due to disruption of production activities, increasing crime rate, intra-ethnic hostilities, and harassment of prospective developers and other criminal tendencies.

This scourge has been around for a long time and it looks as though it is defying solutions. Maybe the question that needs to be asked is what is truly responsible for this expression of dissatisfaction by the youth? Have their complaints over the years not been heard or attended to? Is there more to the killings and destruction than just drawing attention to the needs they want met? Are the youths trying to draw society ’s attention to themselves more than the issues they appear to be fronting? These and more are the questions we would try to tackle head on today.

In Nigeria for instance, the Niger Delta region which is unarguably the bedrock of the oil industry in Nigeria permeated the news for a lengthy period of time as the youths of that region tried various means of getting government and oil companies to pay attention to their dire conditions of living and alleviate their sufferings

Maybe the question that needs to be asked is what is truly responsible for this expression of dissatisfaction by the youth?

,

kidnaps and killings of Nigerians and others have become the prevailing trend. Despite beefing up of security in these areas, the problems still looms.

This situation begs the questions, ‘’what is the government of the day willing to do to put a permanent end to these problems.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 19

carriage way both sides. But financials felt that the traffic from Lagos to the Shagamu exchange of the road was too heavy for a three-carriage way that it should have been five.

A five-carriage way will allow for the high volume of traffic, save the road from the wear and tear a three-way carriage will face and enable the company recoup its investment on time. But because the design has been put in place and the contract signed, changes were not immediately forth coming, so financials backed out.

It has become public knowledge that the Infrastructure Concession Commission which was set up by the government had advised against the concession but was ignored. This put a whole question mark on the sincerity of government in its desire to provide infrastructure to the Nigeria people.

Unfortunately, Nigerians do not hold government accountable for its action and inaction. While the deception on the reconstruction of Ibadan-Lagos road is on going, Nigerians are the ones suffering and some even die on the road on daily basis. The Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen was so arrogant about the whole exercise and with impunity told the nation that Julius Berger has been mobilized to site.

Onolememen, as usual, failed to tell the nation when the contract for the rehabilitation was awarded and how much it will cost to do so.

This government is pretending about the PublicPrivate Partnership. Public procurement is the favoured way of this government doing things. Because of the high level of corruption inherent in

Public-private partnership the new way to infrastructural provision public procurement, ministries, departments and agencies of government are favourably disposed to using it instead of PPP. Nigerians should ask the minister of works why he failed to allow the open tender for the LagosIbadan road rehabilitation on the one hand and the concession of the Lagos-Benin road which work has long been completed. Nigerians must ask this government to open up and direct all MDAs to send all commercially viable projects in their control to the Infrastructure Concession Commission.

Nigerians are prepared to pay for services provided it is available in qualitative terms.

The way the government is paying lip service to infrastructure provision, Nigerians may never get the required services. There is variety of concession and partnership arrangements.

Some of the most commonly used are Private Concessions, where the private party takes over all aspects of facility management and operation from the government, often on a long-term basis. The private party responsibilities include

,

R

ecently, the media was awash with the news of the revocation of the concession granted to Bi-Courtney to reconstruct the Lagos-Ibadan road which has been in a deplorable state. The decision to revoke the concession sparked off a lot of debate as to the seriousness of government to the whole idea of Public-Private Partnership.

The concession of LagosIbadan road cannot be truly described as a true publicprivate sector partnership. It does not pass the true test of a public-private sector partnership that could deliver service to the people of Nigeria and give value for money.

The concession did not follow the due process of competitive bidding, it had no adequate study of traffic flow on which to develop a bankable financial flow, and the parties to it did not resolve the right of way between the Federal Government, the three states of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo. It is not known that the company has undertaken a project of the magnitude anywhere before now. It had no experience on road issue.

The process that gave the company the concession was fraught with political patronage and the exercise was doomed to fail right from the word go. Bi-Courtney due to its inexperience in road matters and issues of PublicPrivate Partnership took a road design from the Federal Government that was defective and un-bankable so it could not source international financing for the construction of the road.

The Lagos-Ibadan express carriage was designed by government to be a three-

It has become public knowledge that the Infrastructure Concession Commission which was set up by the government had advised against the concession but was ignored.

,

maintenance and specified rehabilitation and capital investment in facility upgrades and enhancement.

The private party is fully responsible for raising the required capital. This may take the form of build-operatetransfer (BOT), Buildoperate-own (BOO) or buildown-operate-transfer

(BOOT), design-buildoperate-transfer (DBOT), design-build, finance and operate (DBFO). Other less common variants include BRT or BLT (build, rent/lease and transfer and (BTO) build transfer and operate.

PPP as it is popularly referred to, has become the most widely used vehicle for social economic transformation of society both in the developed and developing economies. In Britain, the system was introduced in 1992 and since then, several social infrastructure has been developed through it.

Incidentally, one of the chief success factors of the scheme in Britain is a Nigerian, Mr. Wale Shonibare Associate Director of KPMG in London.

He has travelled to almost all the continents of the world consulting for governments on PPP. Governments across the globe have come to terms with the fact that public sector alone cannot provide the needed infrastructure and have come to the conclusion that private sector participation in the provision of infrastructure is inevitable. Nigeria cannot be an exception

Business & Economy

Inflation: CBN should maint ain tight monet ar maintain monetar aryy policy — Experts Continued from page 18 composite CPI increased by 0.75 per cent month-on-month from index levels recorded in November 2012.

The Urban inflation rate was recorded at 14.5 percent yearon-year, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points from the 15.8 percent recorded in November, while the Rural index increased by 0.4 percentage points to 10.2 percent on a year-on-year basis.

On a month-on-month basis, the Urban All-item index increased by 0.8percent from levels recorded in

November, while the Rural All Items index increased by 0.7 percent between November and December. The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelvemonth period ending December 2012 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve-month period was recorded at 12.2 percent.

The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the Urban index was 14.6 percent while the corresponding Rural index remained unchanged at 10.5 per cent.

Food Inflation: In December, the composite Food Index

increased year-on-year by 10.2 per cent to 141.2 points. This was 1.4 percentage points higher than 11.6 per cent recorded in November.

On a month-on-month basis, the Food index increased by 1.0 per cent from November to December. The rise in the Food Index was as a result of higher food prices in various classes within the index led by bread and cereals, higher vegetable prices due to the dry season and higher prices of potato, yams, and other tubers. The higher food prices occurred largely as a result of increases in eight of the eleven food classes. On a year-on-year

basis, the moderation in food prices in December was the first in five months. The average annual rate of rise of the index for the twelvemonth period ending in December 2012 was 11.3 percent when compared to the same period in 2011.

Core Inflation: In December, the “All items less Farm Produce” index which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural products increased by 13.7 percent year-on-year. This was 0.6 percentage points higher than the 13.1 percent recorded in November. On month-on-month basis, the

Core index increased by 0.7 percent from levels recorded in November. The increases in the Core index was as a result of increases in the Housing, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels division, in particular liquid (kerosene) and solid fuels (firewood and charcoal), rental and imputed rent prices, clothing prices, garment prices, and air transport fares.

The average 12-month annual rate of rise of the index was recorded at 13.9 per cent (yearon-year) for the 12-month period ending December 2012, 0.3 percentage points from the 13.6 per cent recorded in November.”

C M Y K

20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Business & Economy

600m jobs needed to address global unemployment by 2020 — World Bank

BY PROVIDENCE OBUH

A

World Bank report said that about 600 million jobs are needed to address global unemployment by 2020.

The report was released last week as a companion report to the World Bank’s World Development Report 2013 on Jobs, released last October.

In a joint communiqué

C M Y K

issued at the launch of the report, 25 leading international finance institutions immediately pledged to work together to address job creation, and learn from each other ’s experience. Also the study found that 45 million people enter the workforce each year, yet more than a third of companies studied across the globe were unable to find employees with the skills that

they needed.

“About 200 million people are unemployed globally, especially in developing countries.”

The study, “assessing private sector contributions to job creation,” concludes that four obstacles pose a particular challenge to job creation in the private sector: a weak investment climate, inadequate infrastructure, limited access to finance for micro, small, and medium

enterprises; and insufficient training and skills.

“Removing these obstacles can significantly increase job creation.”

According to the World Bank, “The answer to unemployment lies with the private sector, which provides nine out of every 10 jobs in developing countries, and therefore plays a key role in creating the new jobs needed and fostering growth. It is crucial to understand the

constraints that prevent the private sector from growing and generating jobs.

“Certain stand-alone reforms, such as those affecting business entry, taxation, competition and secured transactions have demonstrated a positive impact on growth and jobs. A lower tax rate and investment promotion efforts can help attract foreign direct investments,” the World Bank explained.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 21

Business & Economy

Experts advocate strong stakeholders’ engagements for businesses

BY BOSE ADELAJA

H

communication with them about the organisation,’’ She stressed the need for effective communication in organisations as key to development, ‘’a key element of sustaining and embedding any innovation is to communicate with stakeholders effectively and engage them as early as possible.

Different stakeholders will have different needs and concerns- for instance, practitioners are more likely to want to know why they should adopt or design programmes and prioritise your needs as opposed to other innovations, the employees will want to know what is in for them while management will be interested in effectiveness of training interventions,’’ who all took their time to harp on the theme ‘ In his key note address which dwells on ‘the private sector experience’, Wale Adediran who said the manpower profession is a very crucial business in the day-to-day running of every organisation urged participants to develop ideas capable of giving them a competitive edge over other organisations.

Adediran noted that practitioners should not only send their workers for training but should

thrive to select the right vendor at every point in time, ‘’it is not enough to send workers on training, what matters is the ability to select the right vendor adding. ‘’As we all know, not everybody can deliver the value we are looking for in business but we must have a focus as well as the sensitivity of our manpower development,’’.

He urged the trainers not to take the commercial aspect of their organisations with levity, ‘’often times, we don’t understand how the commercial aspect of the business looks like and this is affecting our growth. For employees to be capable of doing their job, they need to be trained, we should see our human development as brands to be developed, also, we must ensure our trainees become good ambassadors in their r e s p e c t i v e organisations,’’ While ex raying ‘the public sector experience’, Abasikan Also contributing, Engineer Lawal who shared his view on statutes regarding ITF’s stake said the organisation which was established about 41 years ago, has operated as a specialist agency that promoted and encouraged the acquisition of industrial and commercial skills required for national economic development.

uman resource experts have advocated strong s t a k e h o l d e r engagement as a communication strategy for businesses.

They spoke at the 18th annual trainers’ clinic organised by a training institute Tom Associates, which took place in Lagos, last week.

The programme featured presentation by Human Resources Director Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, Miss Chizoba Mojekwu, Human Resources Director of Guinness Nigeria Limited Mr. Wale Adediran, Director/ Area Manager Lagos Island Area Office, Industrial Training Fund ITF, Engineer Ibrahim Lawal.

The presentations exrayed the theme, ‘’Effectiveness of M a n p o w e r D e v e l o p m e n t Professionals Engaging the Stakeholders’’, and stressed the need for effective communication in manpower development in various organisations.

Chizoba Mojekwu who was represented by the Assistant Director and Head of Learning and Evaluation Office, CBN Dr. Larry Abasiakan, said the employee engagement has become a hot topic in recent years among consulting firms and in the popular business literature saying this has rarely been studied in the academic literature and relatively little is known about its antecedents a n d consequences. ‘ ’ E a c h organisation s h o u l d identify those w i t h legitimate interest in its w o r k (stakeholders) *From left; CEO, TOM Associates, Mr. Abiodun Toki; Human and ensure that there is Resources Director, Guinness Nig Plc, Mr. Wale Adediran and regular and Chief Operating Officer, Tom Associates, Ms Olutoyin Osibogun e f f e c t i v e at the 18th Annual Trainers’ Clinic of Tom Associates in Lagos last Wednesday.

C M Y K

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Banking & Finance BRIEF Standard Char tered, Chartered, Ashmore invest in GZI

S

C M Y K

tandard Chartered Private Equity and Ashmore Investment Management have announced that they have invested in GZ Industries Limited ( GZI) , an aluminum can manufacturer based in Nigeria.

Yemi Osindero, Head of Standard Chartered Private Equity in West Africa, said “We are excited to have invested in a long-term Standard Chartered client that is building a world-class can manufacturing company.

From its initial production plant in Nigeria, GZI has followed a very profitable growth path, and established itself as an integral member of Nigeria’s beverage sector.

Working with our fellow shareholders, and bringing the global resources of Standard Chartered and Ashmore to bear, we look forward to growing GZI into a market-leading, panAfrican beverage-packaging company.”

Jan Dehn from Ashmore Group said “Over a short duration, GZI has established itself as a premier manufacturer of aluminium cans, providing a platform for tremendous future growth across Africa.

This investment offers an ideal opportunity for us to grow our alternatives investment footprint in Africa, and we look forward to working with GZI and our partners in achieving its full potential, creating value for all stakeholders. Founded in 2006, GZI opened West Africa’s first can manufacturing plant in Ogun State, Nigeria, with a capacity of 600 million cans per annum. Since launch, the plant has more than doubled its production levels and now produces more than 1.2 billion cans per year. GZI’s 150,000 square feet factory is world-class, with state-ofthe-art equipment sourced from Europe and the United States. The Company employs approximately 200 personnel, including Nigerian and expatriate staff.

The majority of the technical staff members have gained world-class skills from GZI’s training programme in Brazil, at a plant belonging to Rexam PLC - GZI’s technology provider and the world’s largest can manufacturer.

Motti Goldmintz, Managing Director of GZI, said, “The partnership with SCPE and Ashmore validates the first phase of our strategy, and will strengthen our ability to achieve GZI’s longer-term strategic aims.

We need involvement of banks, specialised fund for ICT — Seriki

BY PETER EGWUATU The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) operators have called on the Federal Government to create a special fund that will lend to the ICT sector at single digit interest rate.

The Managing Director, Omatek Ventures Plc and President of Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN) Engr.

(Mrs.) Florence Seriki, told newsmen on Monday that the sector has the capacity to create jobs if government can pattern the private sector and involve the banks to provide single interest rate for the ICT sector that has the potentials to drive the economy.

According to her, “Funding manufacturers is a totally different thing from funding traders or sellers. The banks need to be involved to know the kind of business we do. It is a long term projects that will require a single lending rate. We commend the Bank of Industry (BOI) who later knew why we needed huge fund with lower interest rate in our sector. The business of ICT requires volume and that is why we need funds. We want to see the ICT to drive the economy of Nigeria.

She further tasked the Federal Government to revive the local content policy in virtually all the sectors of the economy, saying there should be

tolerance of Nigerians in local content and policy. She commended the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson for listening to the plight of operators in the ICT sectors.

According to her, “ Our parley with the minister in recent time will yield fruits.

We want to continue to brainstorm with the government where we can share experience and allow local manufacturers to produce the things we need in Nigeria. This will go a long

way in providing jobs and also meeting the vision 2020 target of the Federal Government.

While commenting on Omatek Ventures’ effort to improve its bottom line, Seriki, said, “ We have restructured and overhauled the company and hope that this year our shareholders will reap from their investment. We have continued our e- learning scheme, consumer scheme, civil service scheme, National Identity scheme. We have put

a new face to the e-learning scheme as we want to change with time. Gone are the days that the student will use lanterns and candle to read.

For the consumer scheme, it slowed down when the banking crisis started but right now we intend to revive it.” She further stated that Omatek intend to improve on its distribution channel. “We want to engage more sellers from all the states. We have more volume, as turnover is very critical to our service.”

Omatek boss noted.

*From left: Mrs Funmi Akande, Chief Finance Officer, Siemens Ltd; Mr. Michael Lakota, MD/CEO and Mrs. Josephine Otigba, Head, Corporate Communications during the Introductory media briefing by the new MD in Lagos.

Bad loans in banking operations normal occurrence, says MD B

ad loans in banking operations is a normal occurrence, Mr Dele Oyekanmi, the Managing Director, MoneyWise Microfinance Bank, Lagos has said.

Oyekanmi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that no matter how performing a loan might be, at least one per cent of the total loans “must be bad”. He

attributed the situation to the high interest rates on lending. Oyekanmi said that interest on loans should be made affordable to customers to enable them to repay when due. “When loans are given out to customers at low interest rates, definitely it will be easier for them to pay back on time. “In credit policy, there is a general provision that even if all your loans are good, there must be one per

cent that will be bad. “That is the bad loan, so there must be a bad loan,” he said.

Oyekanmi, also the Chairman, Ikeja chapter, National Association of Microfinance Banks, said the business of microfinance started on a rough terrain way back in 2005. According to him, the sub-sector has improved with the various policy framework of the Central Bank of Nigeria

(CBN) and other regulatory bodies. He said both the operators and regulators were learning at the same pace, noting that with time, microfinance bank would be an institution to be reckoned with. “Where we get it wrong, we fine tune it. So we are getting better. “In the nearest future, microfinance institutions will dominate the financial sector of the economy,” he said.

1.64

1.41 5.42 1.17 5.81 47.40

38.72 10.07

Livestock/Animal Specialities Livestock Feeds Plc

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

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

10.03 34.39 4.10 2.88

30.93 43.55

10.65 0.64 0.57 6.40 11.98 3.35 0.50 15.05 4.90 24.97 1.07 0.70 1.15 5.64 0.88 7.30 2.57 6.15 7.70 0.50 0.57 20.60

0.80 0.89 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.55 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.55 0.50 0.61 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.61 0.50 0.50 0.51 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50

0.50 0.50

0.50 2.02 0.50

Household Durables Beta Glass Co Plc Nigerian Enamelware Plc Vitafoam Nig. Plc Vono Products Plc

Personal/Household Products PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc Unilever Nigeria Plc

FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking Access Bank Plc Afribank Nigeria Plc Bank PHB Plc Diamond Bank Nigeria Plc Ecobank TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATION Fidelity Bank Plc FinBank Plc First Bank of Nig. Plc First City Monument Bank Plc Guaranty Trust Bank Plc NPF Micro-Finance Bank Plc Intercontinental Bank Plc Oceanic Bank International Plc Skye Bank Plc Spring Bank Plc Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc Sterling Bank Plc UBA Plc Union Bank Nig. Plc Unity Bank Plc Wema Bank Plc Zenith Bank Plc

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

Mortgage Carrier, Broker and Sector Aso Savings and Loans Plc Resort Savings & Loans Plc

Other Financial Institutions Crusader (Nigeria) Plc Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc Royal Exchange Assurance

0.50 2.02 0.50

0.50 0.50

0.80 0.93 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.57 0.50 0.54 0.50 1.60 0.50 0.61 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.64 0.50 0.50 0.51 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50

10.75 0.64 0.55 6.41 12.30 3.45 0.50 15.08 5.00 24.87 1.07 0.70 1.15 5.65 0.88 7.30 2.82 6.28 7.91 0.52 0.59 20.66

30.93 43.99

10.03 34.39 4.15 2.88

33.00 740.00

0.50

31.45 740.00

Food Products-- Diversified Cadbury Nigeria Plc Nestle Nigeria Plc

8.79 7.42 70.00 2.52 9.70 0.80

0.50

8.60 7.43 70.00 2.41 9.70 0.80

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

45.00

0.50

45.00

Beverages-Non-Alcoholic 7-UP Bottling Company Plc

4.15 291.00 18.00 158.50 0.89

0.50

100.00

16.00

38.72 10.07

1.47 5.42 1.16 5.71 47.20

1.72

0.50 51.47 22.50

0.50

Closing Price (N)

4.70

4.15 291.00 16.99 151.00 0.89

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

0.50

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

100.00

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

15.15

0.50 49.02 22.46

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

Real Estate Development UACN Property Development

0.50

Oil and Gas and Products Petroleum Prod ucts Capital Oil Plc

Company

Opening Price (N)

Capital Market

5,000

102,000

22,000 5,000,000 1,141,103

9,850 240,000

6,994,642 880,000 500 284,067 200 3,249,173 100,000,000 62,500 3,200 1,698,475 2,093,500 1,172,778 1,164,122 1,670,890 500,000 20,000 352,000 647,000 20,298,301 196,460 2,000 25,000 100 150,000 309,020 154,000 30,806 1,034,800

15,526468 646,608 13,287,533 27,587,108 5,283,462 13,770,282 1,000 16,944,327 8,443,908 7,220,706 56,000 73,200 91,000 13,412,095 1,006,032 173,300 25,858,379 43,846,335 656,170 34,229,257 107,668,361 44,190,161

200,611 272,643

225 320 407,505 2,000

3,705,278 193,897

1,381,160 7,053,742 953,168 3,851,205 4,155,606 156,671

38,502

11,000 812,721 6,866,470 2,161,591 1,000

10,500

2,000,000

2,338,241

23,232 4,250

100,000 1,300 27,131,602 200 1,738,963

21,104,290

10,000 656,224 641,328

100

Quantity Traded

0.50

10.54

0.61 2.02 0.66

0.50 0.50

1.06 1.20 0.50 0.50 0.50 3.51 0.50 0.69 0.50 0.95 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.90 0.50 2.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50

11.10 3.39 2.30 9.27 4.30 3.20 9.50 16.12 8.30 20.50 1.78 1.78 13.50 10.17 2.18 11.38 2.91 11.70 5.38 1.92 1.75 16.70

43.50 31.25

15.58 42.66 6.75 3.67

29.20 470.00

19.90 16.20 95.00 6.60 6.70 0.88

51.49

255.00 7.10 100.00 1.01

4.63

0.50

100.00

20.15

62.26 8.28

2.54 8.28 1.82 7.60 42.50

0.66

0.50 24.58 8.30

0.50

Year High

0.50

9.52

0.50 2.02 0.50

0.50 0.50

0.50 0.85 0.50 0.50 0.50 2.00 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.95 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.90 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50

4.26 0.64 0.53 2.05 1.65 1.20 0.00 7.95 3.60 11.64 0.00 0.87 0.00 3.90 0.73 6.30 0.95 2.17 1.96 0.50 0.52 11.45

27.00 22.56

12.71 36.19 4.78 2.66

10.17 367.83

4.31 4.02 57.00 2.31 3.80 0.50

,39.00

186.00 5.23 72.50 0.93

2.23

0.50

97.00

11.59

32.96 3.01

1.45 5.52 0.50 6.43 28.70

0.48

0.50 14.53 6.40

0.50

Year Low

0.00

0.00

0.00 0.00 0.13

0.02 0.00

0.05 5.85 0.00 25.00 0.00 0.22 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.08 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.01 0.03 0.10 0.37 0.14 0.02 0.06 0.04 0.10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1.42 0.00 0.00 0.90 2.81 0.43 0.00 2.03 0.00 2.10 0.00 0.18 0.00 0.71 0.47 0.47 0.54 0.67 0.00 0.00 1.34 2.09

0.70 1.44

3.90 1.61 0.54 0.00

1.35 25.43

0.00 0.91 4.09 0.39 1.01 1.13

2.69

9.95 0.41 5.08 0.00

0.00

0.00

11.75

1.69

4.11 4.73

0.16 0.35 0.24 0.26 6.89

0.11

0.10 7.33 2.75

0.09

E.P.S.

0.00

0.00

0.00 0.00 16.67

0.00 0.00

5.56 10.20 0.00 0.00 8.33 4.88 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.25 0.00 0.00 0.00 25.00 8.33 5.00 0.00 1.39 1.39 50.00 50.00 6.43 16.67 7.14 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

5.83 0.00 0.00 0.00 25.91 6.68 0.00 6.96 6.20 8.74 0.00 5.44 0.00 5.07 5.44 14.81 4.68 19.23 0.28 4.82 0.43 7.83

20.93 20.46

3.26 22.48 7.34 0.00

37.57 27.96

16.91 14.38 16.89 16.92 5.75 8.83

13.92

19.98 16.29 22.22 0.00

0.00

0.00

8.51

7.33

10.11 2.26

5.18 15.77 3.64 20.74 4.14

15.00

50.00 2.77 4.37

P.E. Ratio

0.50

Processing Sysetms Chams Nigeria Plc

0.50

4.90 5.51 7.14

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

0.52

2.32 1.92 4.20 4.85 Road Transportation Associated Bus Company Plc

0.50 Printing & Publishing.

Academy Press Plc Learn Africa Plc Longman Nigeria Plc University Press

6.50 0.92

0.50

3.35

1.97 1.78

Media/Entertainment Daar Communications Plc

Hotels/Lodging Capital Hotel Ikeja Hotel Plc

Courier/Freight/Delivery Red Star Express Plc Employment Solutions C & I LEASING PLC

Automobile/Auto Part Retailers Incar Nig. Plc RT Briscoe Plc

Afromedia Plc

SERVICES

0.50

20.50 0.50 22.00 3.16 10.83 114.71 22.58 136.40

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

0.60 14.00

Intergrated Oil and Gas Services Oando Plc

3.98 10.47 13.28 4.30 1.05 2.92 0.66

INDUSTRIAL GOODS Packaging/Containers Abplast Products Plc Beta Glass Co. Plc Greif Nigeria Plc Nampak Nigeria Plc Poly Products (Nig) Plc Studio Press (Nig) Plc W.A. Glass Ind. Plc OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services Japaul Oil & Maritime Service

1.44 0.50

Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Se Abbey Building Society Plc Union Homes Savings and Loans

1.52 0.50

1.38

Paper/Forest Products Thomas Wyatt Nig. Plc

Electronic and Electrical Products Cutix Plc Nigerian Wire & Cable Plc

0.50

10.55

Non-Metalic Mineral Mining Multiverse Plc

6.25

Metals Aluminium Extrusion Ind Plc

7.85

1.99 2.40

20.79 9.88 30.45 7.65 135.00 0.50 1.55 61.00 4.10 1.89 10.93

NATURAL RESOURCES Chemicals BOC Gases Plc

Tools and Machinery Nigerian Ropes Plc

Packaging/Containers Avon Crowncaps & Container Nigerian Bags Manufacturing Company

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

0.50

15.20 2.41

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

0.50 0.50

Computers and Peripherals Omatek Ventures Plc

5.05 0.82 1.23 46.68 2.04 0.95 8.17 2.47

ICT Computer Based Systems108 Courteville Investment Plc

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

Opening Price N

5.50 7.35

4.90

0.50

2.55 1.92 4.20 4.85

0.50

6.27 0.91

0.50

3.31

1.97 1.76

0.50

0.50

20.50 0.50 22.00 3.31 11.37 120.44 22.58 136.40

14.90

0.60

3.98 10.50 12.98 4.30 1.05 2.78 0.66

1.44 0.50

1.52 2.40

0.50

1.32

0.50

10.55

6.24

7.85

1.99 2.40

21.79 9.90 30.45 8.03 140.00 0.50 1.26 61.00 4.30 1.96 10.93

0.50

15.20 2.29

0.50

0.50

5.05 0.86 1.24 46.68 1.94 0.99 8.17 2.24

Closing Price N

544,544 4,269,673

20

561,347

273,231 3,317 4,322 65,524

5,000

100 2,257,866

100,000

710,000

240 634,445

101,000

50

82,191 404,000 5,224 791,266 8,302,759 156,784 18,388 5,949

4,242,100

4,460,223

6,888 1,017,000 11,087 29,198 200 84,311 2,749,340

2,000 1,000

5,334 1,017,000

687,256

621

100

100

11,512

40

2,000 19,028,884

1,066,645 182,671 8,004 2,222,580 300,458 26,000 524,182 114,924 56,684 34,000 1,000

2,307,692

1,000 800

1,002,200

595,000

1,000 54,500 2,575,478 19,794 984,106 420,046 29,000 483,274

Quantity Traded

2.78 11.75

5.15

1.57 6.50

4.90

0.50

4.60 3.60

8.00 6.82 0.80

3.17

0.48

3.00 1.33

0.90

2.65

1.97 1.30

3.68

0.50

400 2.07

1.64

3.67

4.33 3.65

0.72

0.51

141.00 63.86 195.50

163.50 2,100 240.00 200

0.50 0.50 5.71 3.89

27.99

0.87

3.98 12.71 13.97 3.60 1.05 2.92 0.63

1.33 0.50

1.62 2.58

0.50

1.38

0.50

10.70

6.80

8.26

5.94 1.47

12.00 8.10 15.16 4.16 95.00 0.50 1.02 36.58 5.11 0.51 10.93

0.50

3.25 3.25

0.50

0.50

5.31 0.70 0.83 2.58 3.61 0.95 0.95 4.28

Year Low

0.60 12.53

0.00

0.00

0.25 0.30 0.00 0.54

0.00

0.34 0.92

0.04

0.60

0.00 0.21

0.00

0.01

6.11 2.98 14.63

4.93 0.00 4.25 0.61

1.73

0.19

0.00 3.90 0.90 1.22 0.30 0.07 0.00

0.03 0.00

0.11 0.00

0.00

0.00

0.01

0.13

0.78

0.00

0.5 0.25

2.14 1.09 2.28 1.47 7.56 0.00 0.00 4.10 0.44 0.23 0.00

0.00

0.00 0.01

0.00

0.10

0.19 0.44 2.62 0.20 0.09 0.00 0.00

E.P.S

4.22 8.75

0.00

0.00

0.00 27.69

12.19

0.00

34.09 2.12

11.25

4.91

0.00 8.19

12.75

11.11 19.23 17.07

6.99

7.40 0.00

4.17

6.06

0.00 3.26 0.00 3.52 6.18 41.71 0.00

28.80 0.00

13.15 0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

85.77

7.37

0.00

39.60 9.16

7.86 4.97 8.88 2.31 13.17 0.00 0.00 42.86 14.19 2.89 0.00

0.00

1.43 0.00

12.50

10.00

9.05 14.13 0.00 0.00

88.50 0.00 3.07

P.E Ratio

as at January 18, 2013

37.10 0.70 32.60 5.59

78.97

0.97

3.98 15.58 15.03 4.30 1.86 2.92 0.63

1.51 0.99

2.50 2.58

0.50

1.38

0.50

12.39

9.20

8.69

6.91 3.60

30.00 12.57 43.98 15.49 132.51 0.75 3.51 48.05 5.28 3.36 13.40

1.47

9.31 3.59

0.50

0.52

5.31 1.45 3.20 23.11 5.61 1.96 12.91 200

Year High

Daily Stock Market Report

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 23

C M Y K

24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Corporate Finance

Nestle, Dangote Cement, others boost NSE value by N553.23bn

By CHINEDU IBEABUCHI

P

rice gains on the equities of Nestle Nigeria Plc, Dangote Cement Plc and 66 others listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, led to N553.23 billion appreciations in total the market capitalisation last week.

Nestle Nigeria Plc recorded the highest share price gain, appreciating by N24 to close at N740 per share from N716

per share. This was followed

by Dangote Cement Plc that gained N14 to close at N140 per share and Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc rose by N11.19 to close at N120.44 per share, among others.

On the contrary, Unilever Nigeria Plc topped the losers’ chart, depreciating by N2.41 to close at N43.99 per share from N46.40 per share. This was followed by John Holt Plc that lost N0.64 to close at N2.28 per share and BOC Gases Plc dropped by N0.32 to close at N6.24 per share,

among others.

A review of the equity price movements indicated that sixty-eight (68) equities recorded appreciation while nine (9) equities recorded price depreciation and prices of one hundred and eighteen (118) equities remained constant. When compared with the preceding week, fifty-two (52) equities appreciated in share value while twenty (20) equities recorded price depreciation and prices of one hundred and twenty-three (123)

equities remained constant.

Consequently, the market capitalisation rose by 5.92 per cent to close at N9.89 trillion from N9.22 trillion. Another market indicator, the All Share Index appreciated by 5.91 per cent to close at 30,927.18 points from 29,202.01 points.

Meanwhile, a turnover of 3.259 billion shares valued at N21.636 billion in 34,651 deals was traded last week in contrast to a total of 2.160 billion shares valued at N16.998 billion that exchanged hands

penultimate week in 31,241 deals.

The Financial Services sector continued its vibrant dominance in the activity chart (measured by turnover volume) recording the highest trading volume of 2.477 billion shares valued at N15.399 billion exchanged hands by investors in 22,627 deals, representing 76.01 per cent, 71.17 per cent and 65.30 per cent of the volume, value and number of deals executed on the stock market respectively during the week.

Shareholders embrace Oando’s rights issue

BY NKIRUKA NNOROM

K

ey shareholders of Oando Plc have thrown their weight behind the ongoing Rights Issue and advised other investors to take advantage of the offer to increase their holdings so as to reap the benefits of the huge investments the integrated energy group has made over the years.

The company is shopping for N54.6 billion from existing shareholders through a rights issue of 4.548 billion ordinary shares at N12 per share. The offer opened December 28, 2012 and is expected to close on February 8, 2013.

Speaking on the issue, the National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu, called on other shareholders to take up their rights.“Shareholders should embrace the shares as a future stock. The company has made good investments in the energy sector and very soon the benefits will begin to manifest. The Right Issue, is therefore, an opportunity to buy more shares and wait for the returns that would come from those investments,” he said.

According to Nwosu, while the management of the company strives to make right investments, governments’ policies have not really helped in realising the benefits of some of those investments as quickly as expected.

“I believe that going C M Y K

forward, Oando’s performance will improve significantly. My plea to the Federal Government is that it should have the political will do take some decisions that would make investments in the oil sector profitable. The issue of subsidy removal, for instance, should be addressed once and for all,” he said.

Also speaking, the President of Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA), Chief Timothy Adesiyan, noted that the price of the issue is very attractive, considering the assets and future prospects of the company.

“As you are aware Oando Plc has huge assets in the energy sector. It operations were only affected by the challenges in the environment. But I believe the bad times are over. The company has a very bright future and I have so much confidence in the business they are into. The price of N12 for the offer is an opportunity no shareholders should miss.

The shareholders should take up their rights and increase their holdings,” Adesiyan said.Chief Adesiyan added that with the offer priced at N12, shareholders have an opportunity to average out their investments, and stand to benefit when the share appreciates.

According to the President, Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS), Dr. Faruk Umar, shareholders should take up their rights and wait for benefits the full deregulation of the downstream will bring to the company.

TOP TEN WEEKLY LOSERS

TOP TEN WEEKLY GAINERS OPEN CLOSE

BRIEF

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 25

Business Economy

C M Y K

C M Y K

26 —Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 27

C M Y K

28 —Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Interview

Flooding: Money alone can’t sol A

ir Vice marshal Mohammed Maigari Audu Bida (Retd), is a former Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. In this interview with DOTUN IBIWOYE, he spoke about food security in Nigeria following the flooding recorded last year which led to the loss of vast farmlands and farm produce.

He also spoke about Nigeria’s ability to manage disaster and the billions of naira doled out by both the government and the private sector in support of people affected by the flooding.

Excerpts…

What are you views on the BBC ’s feature story – 'Nigeria under water', which depicts the enormity of last year’s flood, the firecracker disaster during last Christmas season at a warehouse in Lagos and the rehabilitation efforts of the government?

But government in its own wisdom decided to handle it alone. So the truth is that when disasters happen that way, it takes years before people settle back to their normal lives.

,

,

C M Y K

**A flood disaster site

years back, but till today, people are still building and trying to settle down after the incident.

Like this one now, the first thing we could have done is mitigation and intervention when it happened and after this, we find out what led to the incident then we try to look for a way to rehabilitate them and with rehabilitation we will need to make some construction for them, because the water washed away all their structures.

After you have done the intervention, you do rehabilitation, you do reconstruction, then you reintegrate the affected people back into the society.

So, one can see that it is not an easy thing. We take it that when a disaster happened, we do the intervention and probably, do some rehabilitation by giving them some food stuff. It is much more than that; you have to know that disasters have to bring development to an area.

Like that area where disaster happened, where the flooding took place, if the government want to be fair to these people they will not take them back to those type of buildings they had before which flood washed away.

Government should provide stronger and more befitting structures, as this would make the people think they are enjoying the dividends of democracy. The government would have built stronger structure for them in areas where the flood will not be able to wash it away. This is a great thing because you will

have to put those things into Geographic Information System GIS and find out which area is safer for them to build now. This is what is called resettlement.

If you leave this people, they will go back to those areas, because that is where they met their forefathers and great grand fathers. They will

,

The flood that took place around September was a big one. We advocated then, that the government should declare it an emergency disaster area so that the international community will be aware and assist Nigeria in put things back in place.

But government in its own wisdom decided to handle it alone. So the truth is that when disasters happen that way, it takes years before people settle back to their normal lives.

For instance, in the case of Kaduna, it happened many

I spoke with some peop abroad and all they said was that Nigeria never declared an emergency, s their agencies are not aware. These are some o the things that happened though, there are some o them that gave one thing the other, but it could hav been much more than th

go back there and build again.

It is the responsibility of the government to move the people away from disaster-prone area.

It would have been better if government had allowed the international community to actually come in. I spoke with some people abroad and all they said was that Nigeria never declared an emergency, so their agencies are not aware. These are some of the things that happened, though, there are some of them that gave one thing or the other, but it could have been much more than that.

The fact remains that government has their own way of doing things and we cannot question them, they have more information than what we have so we have to respect that fact.

•AVM Mohammed Maigari Audu Bida (Retd)

In the last flooding, 2.1 million people were officially registered across the country as internally

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 29

Interview

lve ve victims’ plights — Former NEMA DG is the drive behind this?

We want to make a big impact in disaster management in the country and that is why we are working with NEMA and I am happy that they are aware and they are cooperating too.

It is not only NEMA we are going to work with, we are going to work with the other federal and state ministries, like the ministry of agriculture, ministry of science and technology, ministry of health to mention but a view, because for us to achieve our aims and objectives in all these things, we must work with them.

We also want to let people know that having started with NEMA; we are going to talk with all necessary ministries so that anything that has to do with disaster management in these areas we will be inculcated.

What are the proactive measures of reducing casualties and also the feasibility of including the international strategy for disaster reduction and management?

ple

so

f d, of g or ve hat

,

“My take on disaster management in Nigeria, before I left NEMA, still continues, and we are already into it. We are into Disaster Risk Reduction DRR, which is all about trying to recognize disasters before they happened. That is what DRR

is all about, most especially in disaster potential areas. These are what we are doing to ensure that we avert disasters from happening and if they must take place to some extent, you reduce the impact on the public. And just like I said, we are very much into it before I left NEMA and I am sure that the present NEMA management are very much aware and will also be give so much into it.

And in construction, when you come into these villages now, you have to design it at least to the minimum standard, they should have road, they should have clinic, they should have all these things. Something, people thought it is a lot of money as far as I am concern, it is not money, it cannot do anything.

The government set up a committee headed by Aliko Dangote, they got some billions or so, whatever it may be, I don’t know what they are going

•AVM Mohammed Maigari Audu Bida (Retd)

to do with that money, but if they are going to put it into this thing that had happened, it may not be enough. In fact it will take time because these people have to re-settle they have to go back to the means of their livelihood. So what do you do for them, knowing that most of them are farmers and fishermen, you therefore have to get equipment and facility for them so that they can go back into what they are doing before. It is not only about giving them food.

It is because not all these stages are provided for, that is why many of the flood victims are complaining that they have been abandoned.

The money that the government gave, I don’t know how much of it got to the flood victim. Whatever it is, I know it is not going to be enough for this entire thing, and the state governments are not having the capacity to handle them.

How do we prevent another flooding, baring in mind that the Camerounians dams will be reopen soon?

“We have to be very alert on the issue of River Niger, and the notification from the Cameroonian government.

Even though the notice was very short but they have always notify us whenever they Are about to open the dam.

We are suppose to have widen the passage of the water at the dam and around Kashibila area in Benue state.

We supposed to have built our own dam to make sure that we arrest the flow of the water whenever they open their dam.

We are still in the process of doing that and the government is aware because, before I left NEMA we had series of meetings even with the members of the House of Representative and also the senate invited us and when we talked on that dam, and they promise that they are going to release money for it, because the project already have started but if we have had that dam in place that disaster would have been greatly reduced if not completely prevented.

Your Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, the Community Intervention and Relief Initiative, which is striving to make communities resilient to disasters, is gaining momentum nationally. What

There are a number of factors that made us establish the Community Relief Intervention, among which is the lack of personnel to tackle issues of emergencies.

For example, the staff strength of NEMA is not more than 500, they are not up to 1,000. Because when I took over NEMA, we had only about 240 people, then we had to employ more people, which took our staff strength to between 300 and 400.

I don’t know precisely, what their staff strength is now, but I doubt if they are up to 700. I am looking at maybe 500. So they don’t have enough personnel which necessitated the fact that they have to partner with NGOs that are on ground and active so that when such things happen, it will not be only NEMA that will have to go and disseminate information.

The State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) and the Local Government emergency bodies, all have to come in when these things happens.

But most state government does not have strong emergency management agencies. So what we need is strong NGOs on the ground that could do these entire sensitization things.

When we decided to set up this NGO, our focus was mainly on disaster management and it is community-based, and that is why we call it ‘community intervention’. This is because disasters happens at the community level and what we are looking at is how to train people on disaster management. Just like we have discussed before, disasters happens at the community level and before these disasters happen, they give no warning, they just happen and unless you have people who are having informed knowledge about disaster, they may not know what to do and that is why we set up the NGO and our intention is to move to the communities across the country.

For instance what happened in Kaduna recently, we discovered that a lot of people were displaced and the Kaduna state government cannot do anything, the federal government cannot do anything if we have we have strong NGOs, this is where they could have come in to see what can be done to see that this people are resettled to give them certain training about

,

displaced persons, 7.7 million people were also as a affected and the destruction of hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland. What role do you think disaster managers would have played?

When we decided to set up this NGO, our focus was mainly on disaster management and it is communitybased, and that is why we call it ‘community intervention’.

,

how to get back to what they are doing before. These are the things that this NGO is set up to achieve and in other to guide against disaster reoccurrence.

Like when we have a lot of flood across most part of the country last year, we decided to go there and talk to them on what to do when such a situation arises and how to get out of the flooding as well as to resettle immediately after the flooding, so that they can start their livelihood again.

That is what we call community rebuilding and rehabilitation programmme.

That is what we are doing and that is all we stand for.

We have contacted NEMA, because one of the most difficult thing in this country is when you leave a place you always want to go back there.

Our intentions are genuine and good and that is why we are able to approach NEMA and we are happy that the management saw our intention and knowing the kind of experience we have, and the kind of people that make up our board and the kind of experiences they are also have in disaster management. We have media gurus that will ensure that we have a lot of information about what we are doing and to also give back the feedback and we also have a lot of other NGOs. These are all the people who are part of our team and we have people who are from the states’ emergency management agencies, we have a lot of them and we have about 300 volunteers on the ground now that we are working with” C M Y K

30 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Insurance BRIEF

Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers hits 1m customers

By RITA OBODOECHINA

S

tanbic IBTC Pension Managers, a subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc said it has hit a data base of one million customers in its retirement savings accounts.

At a forum to celebrate the achievement, the company described the achievement as an accomplishment in less than a decade of growth in the country, as a testament to its reputation as a trusted and accessible and safe investment climate, and as an institution that delivers exceptional service to its clients. Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, Dr. Demola Sogunle, said that the organization’s achievement of milestone demonstrates its leadership position in the industry, being the first pension fund administrator to reach and surpass the one million customer mark. “One million customers in less than a decade is an important achievement and reflects well on the solidity of Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers as Nigeria’s leading pension fund administrator.

We are very optimistic about the future and the assurance that we give our present and our future clients is that we will continue to manage their funds in a very responsible manner,” he said.

With the achievement of the milestone in June 2012, Sogunle added, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers now has over one million retirement savings account holders and assets under management of more than N865 billion, paying about N1.5 billion to over 23,000 retirees monthly.

Continuing he said, “Over N112 billion has been paid regularly to retirees since we commenced operations in 2005. Our aim is to continue to set ever higher standards of service delivery and ensure that our retirement savings account holders derive maximum value from their investment,” he explained. On her part, Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Mrs. Sola David-Borha, credited the organization’s success to its understanding of local needs, driven by a vast pool of sound and experienced personnel, coupled with its membership of Standard Bank Group.

C M Y K

Narrow distribution channel to hamper insurance growth in 2013 Stories by ROSEMARY ONUOHA

T

he insurance market may not r e c o r d significant expansion in 2013 unless operators embrace diverse distribution channels, an expert has warned.

Managing Director, Riskguard-Africa Nigeria Limited Mr. Yemi Soladoye, an insurance expert warned that the reliance on brokers alone to market insurance products on behalf of insurers could lead to market stagnation and unhealthy competition in the sector.

Soladoye said, “The issue of unhealthy competition will be getting worse, until insurance operators look for better, cost effective and non volatile distribution channel. Bancassurance which is having a collaboration with banks is a retail channel. It also means engaging in strategic alliances with organisations, like Shoprite, Megaplaza and others. Collaborating with

*Permanent Secretary, Common Services, office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji,(right) presenting a souvenir to the President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, Barrister Laide Osijo who led a delegation of the Council to office of Head of Service in Abuja, recently. cooporative societies and more. It is so wide and until they adopt it, the market cannot expand.”

Soladoye said that adoption of other distribution channels is not a matter of if they like but a matter of must saying that it is compulsory because they are already

feeling the bite of the narrow distribution outlet that they are using at the moment.

“Most of the problems they face - high cost of doing business, premium reduction, unhealthy competition, are all manifestation of the fact that they are using narrow distribution method. If you

NCAA, NAICOM collaborate on compensation for families of Dana crash victims

T

he Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has said that it is collaborating with the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, to ensure the payments of full compensation to families of the victims of the Dana Air crash.

NCAA also promised families of the ground victims of the crash their insurance compensation, saying it will do everything possible to ensure that the families of the ground victims are not left to their fate.

Mr. Harold Demuren, Director-General, NCAA while briefing journalists in Lagos said the compensation for families of the 153 passengers on board of the aircraft has been impressive.

He said the ground victims are of major concern, promising that

NCAA will exercise its power to ensure that families of ground victims are compensated.

Demuren who was represented by Mrs. Teresa Bassey, Head, Aeromedia, NCAA, said for now, they have not ascertained the number of people that died on the ground, but promised that they will do so in a shortwhile and commence the process of compensating the families of the victims, both of lives and property. “NCAA insists that all the ground victims should be compensated,” he said.

While giving update on the victims on board, he said of the 153, 131 victims’ families have so far submitted any documentation, while families of 12 victims are yet to submit any documentation. He added that families of 53 victims had gone to court, which included the families of 23 victims who had collected the initial payment of 30,000 dollars.

Stating that documentation for 24 victims is awaiting authentication by the insurers, he added that Letter of Administration (LOA) for families of 48 victims are still being awaited.

According to him, cheques of the initial payment of 30,000 dollar compensation have been paid to 85 victims.

However, for the families to collect the remaining $70,000 compensation, he said LOA is required by the Reinsurance Company.

“NCAA has held several meetings with some of the families of the victims and their lawyers, alongside NAICOM and sought the assistance of the Lagos State Government in order to fast track the process of the issuance of the LOA,” he said.

To this end, he said 14 victims have so far received the LOA and they have collected the remaining $70,000 which constitutes the full payment.

have an alternative, you would be able to do business on your own terms, but when you do not have alternative, you have to achieve what ever any body tells you. That is the problem with the operators for they are not creating alternative distribution outlets for themselves,” Soladoye stated.

According to Soladoye most problems in the insurance industry is a manifestation of the refusal by the operators to adopt retail as a business policy. He called on the boards of insurance companies, to as a matter of urgency, compel their management team to adopt retail marketing. He said the operators are into the problem of unhealthy competition because they boxed themselves into a very narrow distribution outlet, which is brokering market, adding that price becomes the only competitive strategy, when people are not adding value.

He noted that clients are asking for reduced price every year, because they are yet to see any competitive strategy from the operators, stressing that insurance companies, concentrate on premium growth, as against market expansion.

“The future and the solidity of the operators can only come from market expansion. All the operators want is to ensure that their premium for this year is higher than what it was last year, and they are ready to spend anything to achieve that.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 31

Micro Finance BRIEFS

Stories by PROVIDENCE OBUH

D

eveloping countries like Nigeria can use microfinance initiative to address poverty by widening people’s access to finance especially the active poor.

According to a study released by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), microfinance can reduce poverty because it decreases inequality and gives lowincome people access to basic financial services that may be difficult to get otherwise.

This means that there is the need to create more microfinance institutions in the rural villages where access to finance is critical in Nigeria.

Recent finding by the IFC shows that finance is a key constraint for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). For instance, IFC provides financing to a large network of financial intermediaries in emerging markets, which in 2011 financed 23 million MSMEs, which in turn employed over 100 million people.

Meanwhile, as the country’s population grows, the need to create more jobs intensifies, and developing countries may get to address this need, as well as that of poverty reduction by

Citi underwrites Rising Tide microfinance exchange

L

*Production of sachet water. Photo by Lamidi Bamidele

Microfinance instrumental to poverty eradication widening people’s access to finance and supporting selfemployment in low-income areas such as agricultural villages.

The corporation pointed out that the generate the most jobs in developing countries but they are also less productive, pay less, and do not offer as much training and

development opportunities for employees. “The largest numbers of jobs are created within companies’ supply and distribution chains. For example, an IFC loan to an Indian cement manufacturer helped the company expand and create more jobs. For every job created within the company, more than 20 were

created in the supply and distribution chains. “and youth face specific employment challenges.

Legal barriers, lack of access to finance, and cultural norms often force women to work in jobs that pay less and are less secure,” the Corporation said.

Stakeholders to brainstorm on African microfinance ….Conference holds in Ghana

S

takeholders in the Microfinance sector across Africa are set to meet to share experiences and deliberate on the challenges confronting microfinance on the continent.

This is the focus of a three day conference scheduled to hold in Accra, Ghana between March 26 to 28 2013. The Conference is put together by the West Africa Business School, a training centre that provides business and management education with headquarters in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the conference is in line with the on-going poverty alleviation and reduction crusade in Africa, and organized for stakeholders concerned about improving the lives of the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ population.

According to the conference highlight obtained by Financial Vanguard, The strategic intent of the conference is to share knowledge and learn from experiences in microfinance across the continents and to discuss current practices in the industry and how it can help Africa in fighting poverty. “Fighting poverty is one of the major challenges C M Y K

of the new millennium. Poor households are particularly vulnerable to man-made hazards and catastrophic financial ruin primarily due to their limited resources.

Industry experts increasingly believe that micro-financing can assist the poor.” Some of the high points to be

discussed at the conference include: Microfinance as a valuable tool for poverty alleviation in Africa; Deploying Islamic microfinance for poverty eradication in Africa; Microinsurance as a valuable tool for poverty alleviation in Africa; Developing

appropriate regulatory framework for supervision of microinsurance practitioners; MFIs as powerful distribution channel for microinsurance products and services to low income households and microbusinesses.

Ajagu urges telecom chiefs on brand image making

A

renowned Entrepreneur, Dr. Ausbeth Ajagu has called on the telecommunication leaders on the need for branding for effectiveness.

Ajagu made the call during a week-long retreat and refresher training programme in Cotonou, Benin Republic, with theme: “Building a Powerful Entrepreneurial Brand” and has in participation key players comprising of top executives of the MTN Communications brand.

Speaking as a key facilitator, he explained that Leadership is the ability to create rules and set goals, describing it as

the capacity to follow through and see that rules are followed and goals are accomplished.

“There is enough space for all products to sell, though depending on what your desire is. However, if your desire is to be the market leader, then you have to go the extra mile to subdue your competitors.

“Always remember that the market place is not meant for the chicken-hearted but the Lion-hearted, thus capitalism by default.”

He pointed out that a brand embodies one’s value, thus, a powerful assert that must be carefully developed and

managed.

His words, “there are numerous characteristics of a good brand and you must screen your potential brand against these characteristics.

Dr. Ausbeth Ajagu

everaging a $150,000 investment from Citi C o m m u n i t y Development Fund, Rising Tide Capital-the Jersey Citybased New Jersey microbusiness development nonprofit-is creating the Rising Tide Exchange 2.0, a new online platform to streamline the connection between underserved NJ entrepreneurs and appropriate micro-lenders.

The formal announcement of the innovation grant was made as 86 entrepreneurs graduated from Rising Tide Capital’s 12-week Community Business Academy. Robert A. (Bob) Annibale, Global Director Citi Microfinance and Community Development, delivered the keynote address.

Rising Tide Capital estimates that 75,000 men and women in New Jersey struggle with financial selfsufficiency because of unemployment, underemployment and the proliferation of low-wage jobs. An estimated 6,400 men and women have turned to entrepreneurship to supplement their incomes but many lack the skills and resources they need to be successful.

GAFSP, IFC invest $10m to support small farmers in Africa

T

he Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) will invest $10 million, $5 million each in Root Capital to help expand access to working capital and markets for 300,000 farmers over the next four years. Root Capital is a social investment fund that works with small- and medium enterprises and farmers’ cooperatives in over 30 low-income countries.

The $10 million investment from the Corporation and GAFSP will support Root Capital’s expansion into new commodities and new markets in Africa and lead to growth, which will further help the company achieve greater economies of scale and continue its progress toward becoming a selfsustaining financial institution.

32 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Housing Finance

Lagos to transform Iganmu with 1,008 housing units development L agos State government has unveiled plans to transform the Iganmu and Ijora axis of the metropolis with the construction of 1,008 housing units within the area, expected to commence this year.

Governor Babatunde Fashola made the disclosure recently

C M Y K

By YINKA KOLAWOLE

during a tour of ongoing projects across the state.

He reiterated his resolve to effectively tackle housing problems in the state. according to him, this informs the plan to build the biggest

housing estate yet in the state in the Iganmu area, where residents will be able to enjoy the state’s light rail transportation system which is expected to take off by the second half of this year.

“People should be able to live close to the train station and walk about a kilometre to their homes.

So it is a dream, it is beginning to come together. This is what we saw and we will deliver it,” he said.

Fashola faulted criticisms from some quarters that the state government is fixated on demolition of structures, especially media reports of plans by his administration to

demolish 50 distressed buildings in Jakande Estate, Isolo, in the wake of the recent case of building collapse in the area.

“All the sensationalism about demolition is not consistent with what we are doing. We are building over 400 housing units here in Igando, we are building

another 400 plus in Ogba, about 500 in Sangotedo and over 600 in Agbowa.

“We are starting Ajara in Badagry. I also told you about what we are going to do in Ijora from this year with about 1008 housing units. That is not consistent with a government that is demolishing. We are builders and not demolishers. We are focused; we know where the target is,” the governor stated.

He explained that demolition of distressed building by the government is mostly necessitated by the need to forestall avoidable loss of lives, assuring that government does not pull down structures for selfish reasons. He declared that for any structure demolished by government, there are plans of replacing it with even better and stronger ones, adding howevr that due process must be followed before any structure is pulled down.

The governor blamed the perceived slow pace of work on some of the ongoing projects on a variety of challenges.

These challenges, he noted, include paucity of fund, court litigations by some property owners and payment of compensation to some of the residents whose properties were affected in the course of executing the projects.

Project sites inspected by the governor include Lite Rail Stations at Iganmu, Alaba and Mile 2. He also visited the construction sites of Central library of the Lagos State University (LASU); Maternal and Child Care Centre in FESTAC; Okota-Ago Palace Road; EjigboAjao Link Bridge, Network of roads around Jimoh Ajao Street and Igando HOMS project site.

Other construction sites inspected by the governor are that of Resettlement Relief Camp, Igando, projects at Alimosho General Hospital (School of Nursing and Hostel among others) and Samuel Jinadu Street in Orile Agege, among others.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 33

Housing Finance BRIEFS

Stories by YINKA KOLAWOLE

I

n a bid to attract investors and tourists to the state with a view to increasing the revenue profile of the state, Delta State government has set a target of three weeks for the issuance of Certificate of Occupancy on government allocated land and two months for private land.

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan disclosed this recently in Asaba, during the the state’s Economjc Dashboard meeting - a peer review mechanism made for self evaluation of government performance, the deficiencies and how to overcome such deficiencies and improve on the areas of strength of ministries, departments and agencies of the state.

He said the measure became necessary to remove the clogs hindering economic growth and development of the state as well as enable government achieves its plan to build a state with less dependence on oil revenue.

“A target has been set that when an applicant puts up an application for a certificate of occupancy for a private land, that applicant having done everything correctly must get the certificate of occupancy within two months. For a government land, the certificate of occupancy must be obtained within three weeks,” he said.

A statement released at the end of the meeting, also noted that the governor directed that with effect from January 8, 2013, any building erected without a valid building permit will be pulled down without notice.

Uduaghan asserted that uncontrolled urbanisation,

City Mall: Broll Property reemphasises safety

By PROVIDENCE OBUH

F

* A state sponsored property development

Delta courts investors with 3 weeks C-of-O issuance flooding, sanitation challenges and other environmental problems faced in most towns and cities across the state could be traced to indiscriminate erection of buildings without valid permits.

“Beginning from Tuesday, January 8, 2013, if a building is started without a building approval or permit, the building will be pulled down.

An approval must be gotten from the Ministry of Lands before the construction of any

building is commenced,” he said.

The governor further warned that any official found issuing building permit when all necessary requirements for the issuance of such a permit are not met, would be sanctioned.

He also announced that laws establishing the state Waste Management Board and Direct Labour Agency would be reviewed to make the two bodies report directly to the Ministries of

Environment and Works respectively, so as to eliminate conflicts and ensure better service delivery. In, addition, he promised to reorganise the Delta State Environmental Protection Agency with a view to strengthening it for better service delivery, adding that a waste re-cycling plant would be installed in the next six and nine months in Asaba and Warri respectively.

Mortgage bank eases homeownership with new product A

primary mortgage bank (PMB), Abbey Building Society Plc, has unveiled a new mortgage product that is expected to facilitate ease of homeownership among Nigerians, especially the lowincome earners.

A statement from the bank noted that the product, Abbey Home Account, is intended to simplify homeownership and enable all classes of home seekers to buy or build their own homes without stress.

Head of Marketing, Abbey Building, Joy CokerAkpojaro, said that the product, christened Abbey Home Account, is intended to simplify homeownership and enable all classes of home seekers to buy or build their own homes without stress.

She said the product was

conceived in keeping with the bank’s mission to provide affordable housing finance to enable their customers to own their homes.

“Our mission in mortgage banking business is to provide homes to a vast number of Nigerians through well designed mortgage products and services that offer individuals, real estate promoters and housing cooperatives well-structured and competitively priced houses and mortgage products”, she said Coker-Akpojaro said that the mortgage bank’s understanding of the dire need for home ownership in Nigeria, and the recognition of housing as one of the basic needs of man, informed the design of the product through

which every working Nigerian, employed or self employed, can achieve their housing need.

She noted that the product comes in four different variants/categories including Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum with a view to service the interest of all classes of people, especially the low income group.

According to her, a subscriber in the Bronze category is expected to open an account with as low as N6,000; contribute consistently for six months and get a mortgage loan to buy or build a house; those in the Silver category are expected to open with a minimum balance of N10, 000 and save for six months; while subscribers in the Gold

category are to open an account with a minimum balance of N50, 000 and save for six months.

“We also expect a subscriber to save consecutively for six months without withdrawal (savings attracts 4 percent interest), and automatically, he or she qualifies for a mortgage at 19 percent interest rate for a tenor of 10 years”, she added.

Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the mortgage bank, Mrs. Rose Okwechime, said focuses on taking care of the low income and ordinary people including vulcanizers and women in the market.

ollowing the fire outbreak at the Ikeja City Mall in Lagos, penultimate week, Broll Services Nigeria, managers of the Mall has reiterated its commitment to safety in the various malls under its management.

Speaking after the incident at the Mr. Price Store, located within the Mall, Chief Executive Officer, Broll Property, Mrs. Erejuwa Gbadebo , “We always ensure that we adhere to global best practices in facility management and property services. This extends to cases of emergency management and fire outbreaks, and as evidenced by the control of the outbreak at Mr. Price, we always ensure that the best mechanisms are in place to prevent or control such scenarios.”

Although the cause of the fire is still being investigated, preliminary investigations point to a faulty power point as the source of the outbreak.

Mr. Steve Idornigie, Operations Manager of the Mall, assured that further assessment of the Mall’s process of fire detection, evacuation and control is being conducted.

BoA’s earnings shrink after mortgage settlements Bank of America says its fourth-quarter earnings shrank as it cleaned up old problems from its mortgage unit.

The bank made $367 million in the last three months of 2012 after paying preferred dividends, down from $1.6 billion in the same period a year ago. The earnings were equivalent to 3 cents per share. It took big charges related to a settlement with the government-backed mortgage lender Fannie Mae and a separate agreement in which it and other banks settled government accusations of wrongful foreclosure practices. The earnings were slightly better than the 2 cents per share estimate of financial analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue was dragged down by the Fannie Mae settlement. It fell to $19.6 billion after stripping out an accounting charge, down from $26.4 billion in the same period a year ago.

34 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

P

ROMISES MADE IN THE PAST “If a man deceives you once, shame on him; if twice; shame on you”. That was a lesson we learnt in our youth; and one which hopefully is still being passed to younger generations. Only by remembering what governments have promised and achieved can we avoid being deceived each and every time. With all due respects to Mrs Kuchi, she is restating a promise that had been made so many times in the last thirteen years and which had never been fulfilled. Because of that, the sane response to, what she believes is an astonishing announcement is to disbelieve it until it is achieved.

The Minister was also reported to have announced that the generation capacity stood at 6,442MW by the end of 2012.

Meanwhile Nigerians can recollect the President asking us to celebrate the achievement of 4,520MW in December of last year. The difference of 900MW actual and potential capacity has not been explained, an enduring characteristic of a government which does not believe in full disclosure.

That discrepancy between claimed 6,442MW and actual delivery of 4,520MW

Power, Promises and Performance should constitute the foundation for doubting the government once again.

What follows is brief historical review of what had been promised; what had been claimed and what had actually been achieved in the power sector since 1999. The President of Nigeria, who if he was a Managing Director reporting to the Annual General Meeting of a company, with perceptive investors, would have been laughed off the podium, as well as the Minister of State can benefit from reading this.

It would at least stop them from continuing to erode government’s credibility which it its main asset. (a) Obasanjo/Bola Ige in I999. In July of 1999, late Chief Bola Ige, then Minister of Power and Steel, and up to that time a highly credible individual, announced to Nigerians that by December of that year, 1999, “power fluctuation would be a thing of the past”. Slightly over a year after, power fluctuation remained with us; Ige’s credibility was dented; the Federal government was under pressure to deliver. The cabinet was reshuffled; out went Ige, in came Lyel Imoke as Minister. Imoke was the first to announce that by 2007 Nigeria would be generating 10,000MW of power. It remains elusive till today. (b) Jonathan/Nnaji in August 2011, freshly

,

“The Federal Government plans to achieve 10,000 Megawatts of electricity generation by December, the Minister of State for Power, Mrs Zainab Kuchi has said”.

PUNCH, January I0, 2012 p 23.

The difference of 900MW actual and potential capacity has not been explained, an enduring characteristic of a government which does not believe in full disclosure

appointed as Minister of Power, at the Conference of National Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria, NAEC, delivered a paper titled NIGERIA: A MIRACLE WAITING TO HAPPEN. In which he claimed the following: (i) Nigerian needs $100 billion investment in the power sector. (ii) With that level of investment Nigeria would generate 40,000MW of electricity by the year 2020. (iii) Although Nigeria lacks the capacity for the amount of investment, “This kind of money is available in the international money markets. Nigeria’s power sector can attract it”. (iv) He also said that the Federal Government is not resting on its oars to achieve 5,000MW by December [of 2011] and to grow same in subsequent years. (v) To demonstrate that the 40,000MW target claim in August was not a figment of

,

his imagination Professor Bart Nnaji, then Minister of Power repeated the claim in an article titled SHOW THE LIGHT AND THE PEOPLE WILL FIND THE WAY; which was published in all the leading newspapers in December 2011. (vi) In August 2012, the Special Assistant to the Minister of Power, on Media, Mr Ogbuagu Anikwe, said, “Public power supply in Nigeria reached a peak of 4,237MW”. (vii) Thus, by August of 20I2, we already had a shortfall of 763MW promised for December 2011 and 66% or 660MW of the promised annual increase for 20I2. Total shortfall by then was 1,423MW. (c) F e d e r a l Government’s Lies in August 2012. It was bad enough that government was falling behind in delivering its promises, what was worse was the lie that was officially published by the President’s

appointees. In an advertorial published in the PUNCH on Monday, August 13, 20I2, one Olusanya Awosan, Media Director, Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Public Affairs) in the Presidency, made this declaration. “Government has improved the power generation from under 3,000MW in 2011 to 4,300MW

by August 20I2”. Not contented with that false declaration, the same spokesman for the Presidency further made the following statement. “Therefore, when the I0NIPP projects are fully on stream, which will be within the next few months, the total national generation capacity will not be less than 9,000MW”.

Why a government which promised 5,000MW by December of 2011, and further annual increases, would ask us to clap for the delivery of 4,300MW by August 2012 is a mystery. More mysterious is the penchant for forgetfulness or deliberate misstatement of facts by Jonathan’s government. Mr Awosan, like virtually every official of this government naturally forgot that as early as 2010, Professor Nnaji had told Nigerians, in what was tagged the Road Map that “all the entire nation has today (as generation capacity) is 4,200MW”. More importantly, the former Minister of Power had assured the nation that, “In the period up to April 2011, it is expected that there will be enough gas supplied to power producers …to support the targeted increase to actual generation capacity to 7,000megawatts”.

Even a child knows that Mr Awosan and his boss, who must have approved the publication, were lying.

Business Economy

We want to boost Nigeria’s local furniture industry —Okobie

C

hairman of l e a d i n g furniture making company in Nigeria, Southwood Limited, formerly OfficeDepot, Mr Patrick Okobie has joined his voice to calls from the Manufactures Association of Nigeria, MAN, on the need for federal government to quickly address Nigeria’s fast dwindling local manufacturing sector, saying that his company ’s unwavering service would boost the nation’s local furniture making industry.

Mr Okobie made this call during the unveiling of his company ’s new name and logo in Lagos recently.

C M Y K

According to him, the company changed its name from OfficeDepot to Southwood, to reflect the transformation and expansion that has taken place in the organisation.

He described the furniture market as ‘very large and expandable’ but regretted that the potentials of the subsector were yet to be fully tapped due to lack of finance and government support.

He however called on the government to provide small and medium entrepreneurs, SME’s with single digit interest loans to enable them grow the furniture market.

According to him, local furniture makers cannot

survive without access to finance.

The Southwood boss noted that before now, people preferred imported pieces of furniture to locally made due to differences in quality and price. He however, expressed satisfaction that his company has been to provide quality and affordable furniture to individuals and organisations across the country.

“Actually, for years, individuals and businesses in search of affordable furniture had to sacrifice aesthetics and functionality to stay within budget; and we felt the need to offer a balance. Thus, Southwood was set up to

bridge the gap between quality and affordability.

“Our primary goal is t provide complete customer satisfaction, guaranteed comfort and quality at affordable prices, with immediate delivery of all instock items. The quality of our products is higher and better than most of the imported ones and they can stand out anywhere in the world in terms of quality, durability and affordability.”

Okobie who recalled that Southwood was established in 2002 mainly as an importing firm but transformed from a mere importing company to a formidable indigenous furniture manufacturer.

He said the reasons for the new name and logo was to reflect the expansion and growth recorded over the years, adding that retaining the former name(Office Depot) would give the public the impression that the company was still an importing outfit.

“However, it has become necessary to let the public know that this organisation has grown so big that it now produces world class furniture using best machinery available.

It is the same company, same people providing same quality and value-added services”, he noted.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 35

Appointments

vicahiyoung@yahoo.com 08033348923

UBA Capital Plc, Africa Prudential Registrars Plc, Afriland Properties Plc get new boards

*Peter O. Ashade, Managing Director/ CEO

N

EW board members have been announced for Africa Prudential Registrars Plc, UBA Capital Plc and Afriland Properties following the United Bank for Africa, UBA’s recent restructuring that spun off investment banking, insurance, registrar and

Rasheed Olaoluwa, Group CEO, UBA Capital real estate businesses.

The Board of Directors of UBA Capital Plc, the investment banking, insurance, trustees, stock broking and wealth management entity which is composed of highly experienced bankers and business leaders, include : Ms. Angela Aneke,

NECA names Oni Director of learning, development

M

ANAGEMENT of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, has approved the promotion of Mrs. Celine Oni to the position of the Director, Learning and Development, L&D. Before her promotion she was the Head, L&D. Oni held the position as the Head, L&D for five months before she was elevated to the Acting Director of the same department.

She joined NECA as a Senior Executive, L&D in December 2005 and has in the past 7years been in the Management Position of NECA.

Oni C M Y K

Oni has significantly contributed to the actualization of the strategic goals and objectives of NECA. Some of her contributions to NECA were She developed Training Programmes Modules to meet needs of NECA Companies, Representative of the organization on Council and Committees of Government Agencies, p a r a s t a t a l s , Departments, Training programme Facilitation on various topics in Human Resource and Communication Mrs Celine Oni has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Obafemi Awolowo University and a Masters Degree in Industrial & Labour Relations from the University Of Lagos and she is also an International Labour Organisation, ILO, Trained Trainer.

She has attended several Capacity building trainings and Meetings within and outside Nigeria. Amongst which are: 11 th African Regional Meeting, Addis Ababa – 2007.

(Chairperson) Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa (Managing Director/ CEO), Ambassador J.K. Shinkaiye, Mr. Chika Mordi, Mr. Yoro Diallo (Senegalese), Mrs. Stella Kilonzo (Kenyan) and Mr. Adim Jibunoh.

Rasheed Olaoluwa, Managing Director/CEO, a first class graduate in civil engineering, brings market leading experience as a banker, with more than two decades in retail and investment banking.

The Board appointments for Africa Prudential Registrars include: Mrs. Eniola F a d a y o m i (Chairperson), Peter Ashade (Managing Director/CEO), Mrs. Ammuna Lawan Ali, Mrs. Yinka Abiodun, Mr. Sam Nwanze.

Peter Ashade was Managing Director of UBA Registrars, the precursor of Africa Prudential Registrars.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in

Banking and Finance and an MBA from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. On the other hand, the Board of Afriland Properties Plc is composed of Erelu Angela Adebayo (Chairperson), Mr. Ike Ogbue, Ms. Yinka Ogunsilire, Mr. Sam Nwanze and Mrs. Uzoamaka Oshogwe.

Afriland Properties Plc (formerly UBA Properties) is a real estate company that

develops commercial and residential properties for sale and rental purposes.

Mrs. Oshogwe has been appointed the Managing Director/ CEO Afriland Properties Plc. She holds an M.Sc. Information Systems Design and has over 22 years experience, covering banking, real estate management and consulting, including working with Accenture in the United Kingdom.

36 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

People in Business

M

r. Uchenna Igwe is the Director, Uche Links Glass Fibre, a company that is into manufacturing of fibre frames, motorcycle parts and motor spare parts such as car bumpers. In this chat with Financial Vanguard in Nnewi recently. Igwe speaks on his work, noting that the major challenge is funds. Excerpts:

I can turn waste to wealth — Uchenna Igwe

According to Mr. Igwe, upon leaving St. Patrick’s College, Enugu where he had his secondary school education, he decided to go and learn a trade.

“I have always loved to create things so I can boldly say it is in the blood. Although I underwent some form of training, but you know how it is; you may not get all the knowledge you need from the classroom, the teacher will just give you the basic principle and it is left for you to build on it. You discover that sometimes, you do even better than your teacher at the end of the day because it is your talent.

I can take waste and turn it to wealth,” he said.

Area of specialisation: “Apart from bumpers, we also build bodies of vehicles like luxury buses, Mack trucks etc, as long as they are made of glass fibre. We repair broken down parts as well. A lot of cars are made of fibre. These modern luxury buses, hummer jeeps, modern gates, ceilings etc are made of fibre. We make the mould, build and then supply,” he said, adding; “For instance, I can turn a motor part that has been completely destroyed into a brand new one. There will not be any difference between it and a brand new one. They bring in vehicles that had accident for repairs and if the body of the vehicle is made of glass fibre, we repair it and it becomes as good as new. I also produce statues, moulds for balusters, and hangers with fibre which are then used to produce hand-rests.”

Apart from the five employees, he said he also assists final-year students from various tertiary institutions in their final year projects.

“I also train some young people who are interested in the business. Some students come here for their final year projects and we assist them.

I had some students from the Federal University of Technology Owerri recently who came for their project.

Anything you want to produce, just give us the sample, we use the sample and produce the mould. I can make any type of mould as long as C M Y K

•Mr. Igwe displaying some of the bumpers.

Inset is Igwe stressing a point.

it is to be made of glass fibre.

Startup capital; After he completed his training, Igwe said he had no money to set up his own outfit so he had to work for someone to be able to raise capital.

Said he; “I started with virtually nothing. Upon completion of my training, I had no money to start my own business so I started working for someone. From there; I began to pick up scraps. I would go to Onitsha, to mechanic workshops to pick up scraps, I work on the scraps and turn them to brand new products and then I sell to buyers. After sometime, I was able to raise some capital to buy 20 litres of resin from Lagos and began to work on my own. As time went on, I began to buy the chemical in drums and was able to employ workers. Now I have about five employees.”

Clients: “I supply customers in Benin, Enugu, Onitsha, Nnewi; these customers then sell to end-users, people who are into motor parts.

When a customer uses you product and it is good, he recommends it to friends and relations and he will keep coming back to you.

Like those I supply in Enugu, they supply Abakaliki market and other places. My Onitsha customers supply Cameroon

and other places so when your product is good, you cannot afford to sell another product in its place. For example, if you are in Onitsha and you buy from me and you sell to a customer from Cameroon, if the Cameroon guy calls you to get him the same product, you will look for me to buy the product but if you give him one from another place, he may reject it. Good name is better than silver and gold so we try to maintain our good name through high quality products without compromise.

Sourcing raw materials; On the source of raw materials, he noted that most of the

,

BY EBELE ORAKPO

You may not get all the knowledge you need from the classroom, the teacher will just give you the basic principle and it is left for you to build on it

,

raw materials can be sourced locally. “We source raw materials both from within and outside the country. We get raw materials like calcium powder and accelerator locally.

We can also get resin from within and outside the country but those of us that are into

production prefer the foreign resin although not all foreign resins are good but we use the good ones that give us exactly what we want.”

Challenges: peaking on the challeng es facing the business, Igwe said paucity of funds is the major challenge. “Lack of funds is our major problem.

The demand is so high and we cannot meet up because of lack of funds. You know, when we supply our customers, we wait for them to pay up before going to buy materials to produce more but if we have enough money, we will be able to meet up.”

S

Four millionaires emerge in Sterling Bank Saver's promo

BY JONAH NWOKPOKU

F

our customers of Sterling Bank have won N1 million each in the final draw of the saver ’s promo. A star prize of Toyota SUV jeep was also won.

The four customers are; Enilari Oladipupo Adeniyi of Nnewi Building branch, Anambra State, Musa Adamu of Murtala Mohammed Way (Kano) branch, Adeleke Olusegun Olorundare of IBD Secretariat-ETB branch, Ibadan and Nunu Janet Aduke of Effurum ETB branch in Detlta State.

The draw which was held at

the bank’s headquarters in Lagos also produced Amadi-Nna Homa from Trans-Amadi branch, Port Harcourt as the winner of the Toyota SUV jeep star prize, in the first prize category, while the second prize category, which had the N1 million prize, produced the millionaires. The third prize which was N500,000 for four customers went to Badmus Dauda Adegbenro of Aromire branch, Edo State, Danjuma Umar Ringim of Kofan Ruwa branch, Kano, Lawal Kadijat R & Maruf R of Dugbe branch and Nkiri Enyam

Denis, a local council chairman, of Calabar, Cross River State.

The 10 consolation prizes also went to the bank’s 10 customers across the country.

The winner of the Toyota SUV jeep star prize had to save and maintain a minimum account balance of N100,000 for three months; the four millionaires on the other hand had to maintain a minimum account balance of N50,000 each for three months while the N500,000 winners had to maintain a minimum account balance of N25,000 each, to qualify and be selected winners.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 37

Agric BRIEF

BY JIMOH BABATUNDE with agency reports

‘Agric sector has potential to attract huge financing’

W

C M Y K

T

*Rice farm

Nigeria can't afford to neglect biotechnology in agric —experts improve the quality of life of our farmers.

“So this is one of the reasons we need to drive it home to our government especially and other stakeholders that we need to harness science and technology in Africa development.”

Prof. Diran Makende added that Africa and Nigeria in particular, needs the new technology as it ensures food and environmental security.

“When you look at the population of Nigeria, if we can embrace the innovation, we can be assured of food security.

“We need this tool to actually make our food secure,” he said.

Prof. Eucharia Kenya, an expert in biotechnology and Science Communication, in an interview said “Biotechnology guarantees food security and allows us to develop new crops, new types of animals as well as prevent infectious insects in our environment.

“Most of our crops cannot survive due to some insects which are depending on these crops as their own food; with the application of this technology, crops and other organisms will survive.

“Due to the African environment, insects have overpowered crops and animals, but with the new technology, our environment, crops and other organisms are saved.”

Biotechnological intervention can help revamp

Biotechnology guarantees food security and allows us to develop new crops, new types of animals as well as prevent infectious insects in our environment

,

ith a growing population that is expected to hit 400million people by 2050, the question agitating the minds of people is how are we going to feed ourselves?

Some are of the opinion that except we use modern tools of science and technology to increase yield, increase resistance of crops to draught and to diseases and pests that we can not achieve food sufficiency.

But others are arguing that the traditional method of farming has not failed us but that the system has failed to make it workable by refusing to fund it and that technology will pollute the environment.

Despite the arguments for and against the introduction of biotechnology in Nigeria, the proponents for the adoption of technology are not relenting as they feel that it holds the ace to the country’s food problem.

One of the proponents said that genetically modified (GM) foods would boost agricultural productivity by assisting in the development of new crops and in combating insects that destroy plants and animals.

Genetically modified (GM) foods are produced, using the technology of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). GMOs are organisms whose genetic material (gene) has been altered, using genetic engineering techniques.

Dr. Abba Y. Abdullah, an Agricultural and Natural Resources Consultant once stated that, “Technologybased agriculture is the future of agriculture in West Africa.

We need to improve our productivity to ensure food security because food insecurity and concerns over livelihood and resources are behind many of the conflicts we are having in West Africa.

Without technological inputs and biotechnology, there is no way we can achieve food security in West Africa.”

Diran Makinde, Director of NEPAD agency of Africa Bio Safety Network of Expertise in an interview with this reporter in Arusha last year said the percentage of small scale farmers are actually very large as they range between 70 and 80 %.

“We know that these are the groups of farmers that are not exposed to any form of technology, they have been using the same form of practice for many years. And it is high time we developed the attitude of actually adopting technology to

,

and boost Nigeria’s cotton production, according to Prof.

Chris Echekwu, a plant scientist from the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU).

He said this in a paper presented on the prospects of enhanced cotton production with the use of biotechnology during the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in Katsina state last year.

But for Nigeria to adopt the use of modern biotechnology tools in agriculture there must be a biosafety law.

President Goodluck

Jonathan assenting the bill on biosafety as passed by the National Assembly will launch the country into the production and commercialization of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) with the capacity to increase crop production, ensure food security, and improve rural livelihoods.

The House of Representative passed the bill in 2010 and the Senate did same in 2011, but the President has not assented to it since then said a source “The passage of the bill will be great,” said Dr Oyekanmi Nash, Program Director, and West African Biotechnology Workshop Series. “Biotechnology holds the key to some of our problems in agriculture and health, and the earlier we tap into it, the better,” he added.

Prof. Bamidele Solomon, the Director-General, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), believes that the adoption of GMOs in Nigeria would increase the farmers’ yield and income as well as help in checking youth unemployment.

If the biosafety bill is assented to, Nigeria will join other African nations, such as Burkina Faso, Egypt, and South Africa in cultivating GMO crops.

he Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr,Akinwumi Adesina, has said that significant reforms have to be embarked upon in the agricultural sector to make it attractive to lending.

He disclosed this Abuja during the MoU signing ceremony on Nigerian Incentives-based Risk Sharing system for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) involving the ministry, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Dr. Adesina, who observed that the implementation of the MoU would address the issue of low lending rate to the agriculture sector, added that the effort would further get the banks to lend to the farmers as it would reduce the risk of lending. He said “NIRSAL can unlock about N300 billion into the sector but we have to embark on significant reforms that can make the sector attractive to lending.”

In a release signed by Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, Special Assistant Media to the Minister, the MoU was signed under the CBN’s NIRSAL, which provides risk mitigation, financing, trading, and other strategic assistance to agribusiness, a programme which was launched in July 2011 in Abuja.

The CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, at the occasion, said the MoU was a landmark achievement of the apex bank in its effort to ensure enhanced agricultural sector in the country. Sanusi said that commercial banks, with the recent development, would lend to farmers without much losses as the incentive would go a long way to reduce the risk in business.

“NIRSAL,: he said, “ will help the banks to diversify; and the banking industry cannot develop on a sustainable basis unless it locks itself into production. So we say let’s go to agriculture, manufacturing, SMEs and also into financial inclusion and development which is central to financial stability.”

The CBN governor went further, saying that the apex bank would meet with the managing directors of banks and the minister of agriculture to evaluate the implementation and the progress so far made.

38 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 39

Advertising, Media & Marketing

*From Left: Tony Usidamen, Head, Corporate Communications and Obi Mbanuzuo, Head Commercial of Dana Airline addressing newsmen on what the airline has done so far to restore respect and confidence in the Dana brand in Lagos.

Dana’s return: Customers' expectation Stories by PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

P

rior to Dana Air's crash of June 3, 2012 which claimed 153 lives on board, it’s vision was to be Nigeria’s most reliable and customer friendly airline.

It’s mission likewise was to earn the loyalty and respect of its customers by consistently demonstrating commitment to service and providing affordable regional air transport services.

These promises gradually fizzled out with the air crash.

Today, a new lease of life needs to be injected into the airline to once again restore trust and confidence to the brand. Presently insinuations in the sector is that Nigeria needs more Dana brands, even though its fares are relatively higher on its routes, which has been reduced, another tool deployed to get back at its customers.

This was why at a recent briefing to align the media with what it intends doing to win back customers' respect and confidence the airline listed steps already taken, aside marketing tools to be employed by the Airline to douse off tension which will encompass a 360 degree marketing strategy.

Some customers of the airline say they want the airline to carry out a total recertification of their airliners which is the norm when accidents happen, along with other steps required by Aviation authorities. All these, Tony Usidamen, Head, Corporate Communications, said has been followed to the C M Y K

latter, “a process of recertification by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has been taken, he enthused. Re-certification, he said, is a standard safety measure taken by Airline authorities to ensure that all the aircraft in its fleet are fully serviceable, and Dana Air has been cooperating fully in the exercise as if they we are starting all over again.” he

stated.

Continuing, he said, “We have to go through the five phases of re-certification. We had to do a 50 hours demonstration flight, the reason for this is to ensure that when we carry passengers we follow all the processes from ticketing to checking, to security, to boarding including the inflight services, the take off and

landing, that is what a demonstration flight is, that was successfully completed on Oct 2012 and we were issued our new air operator certificate on December 5, 2012.”

Of the five Aircraft in its fleet, three are currently on ground at MMA2 and have undergone thorough internal engine inspection and systems by NCAA, while the other two are undergoing scheduled CChecks in Istanbul, Turkey and Miami, Florida, as investigation depicts .

The airline has also organised an independent inspection of all its Aircraft

by Aircraft Leasing and Management (ALM) – an Aviation consulting firm based in the United Kingdom, enthused Obi Mbanuzuo, Head Commercial of Dana Airline.

A five-year contract has been signed with FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Limited for its flagship automated information reporting system (AFIRS) 228 at an estimated 1million USD. The contract requires the Canadian firm to install the AFIRS 228 on all the five (5) Boeing MD-83 aircraft in its fleet to provide realtime flight data monitoring and to assist in achieving maintenance and operational efficiencies.

Station inspections including operations offices, engineering stores and maintenance facilities have been completed.

StarTimes deploys M50 mobile phone TV ...offers ASS service

S

tartime, a digital pay TV provider said its introducing to market its n latest mobile phone; M50 Mobile TV phone and the launch of its free After Sales Service (ASS) as part of its new year incentive.

This new StarTimes M50 Mobile TV Phone according to the company has better features of 3.2 resistive touch screens, QVGA resolution that brings a distinctive visual experience. The pay Tv provider says the phone comes with dual Sim for easy communication with two Networks, whilst explaining its battery life is with ultra long standby time of 1400 mah battery and supports many exciting functions of MP3, FM radio, Multimedia, Bluetooth, Facebook, Opera mini and lots more with three months subscription.

You can also watch the African cup of nations and many more ultimate entertaining channels. The

clear vivid Images and amazing smooth visual experience will help you enjoy stunning 12 Digital TV Channels to its fullest which includes Eurosport news, Aljazeera, BBC News, FOX, NTA24 (News, sport), Kungfu etc. This Mobile service is only opened for those in Lagos and Abuja environs,assured the company.

Speaking, Anetor Nehemiah PR Manager of StarTimes at the briefing heralding the introduction of the new phone said that StarTimes as a caring brand with aspiration to ensuring quality digital TV experinece for its subscribers will accompany the introduction of the new product with door-todoor after sales service- this unveils the originality and selfless service of the brand as its major concern is not just to provide digital television experience, but also show care and give needed support

to its users.

The free door to door after sales duties include; outdoor antennal installation to subscribers on purchase of the decoder, product usage, technical assistance and other services required to be delivered. On purchase of the decoder, the business hall managers or sales rep at our business outlets will find out and inform you if your location needs an outdoor antenna and contact the nearest Door to Door service agent whose contact will be pasted on your decoder as a sticker to help you with the Installation at no extra cost at all. 72 hours after purchase of Startimes decoder, the call centre / customer care calls to get feedback from the subscriber to ensure good signal accpetance and maximum satisfaction of the subscriber.

BRIEFS City Mall Alausa not gutted by fire—ICM management

C

ontrary to reports in the dailies, the management of the Ikeja City Mall (ICM) has refuted reports by the media that the mall was gutted by fire.

The management of the Mall said the fire incident reported was occasioned by an electrical fault emanating from one of the stores in the building and not the building as reported in some media.

The fire, according to Mr. Steve Idornigie the Operations Manager of the ICM, said the Store Manager reported the incident to him and emergency staff responded immediately.

“The process of evacuation was swift,” he said. “The customers conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and allowed the emergency services people to do their work.”

On what caused the fire, Mr. Steve said from preliminary investigations, it seems the fire emanated from an electric power point.

However investigations, he said are ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fire.

NPC unveils Vision 20:2020 campaign

N

igeria Vision 20:2020 got a boost with the commencement of a sensitization campaign aimed at educating Nigerians on the broad goals and objectives of the Nigeria Vision 20:2020.

The radio campaign which is currently running across major radio stations, pan Nigeria is one in the many communication executions that have been outlined to enlighten Nigerians about the seriousness of the Federal Government through the Ministry of National Planning to ensure Nigeria becomes one of the top 20 economies of the world by year 2020.

Frontline, Multidisciplinary Marketing Communications firm, Verdant Zeal who got the nod of the NPC to act as its communications agency after a keenly contested pitch in 2010 created the jingles produced in Pidgin and English, with extensions to key local languages in order to address the ethno-cultural and religious demographics of the country.

40 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

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

Tel:0817 002 3569

THE PARADOX OF TOO MUCH MONEY AND DEEPENING POVERTY The source of these huge bailout funds including the N1bn donation to a particular university remains a mystery, while the subsector beneficiaries of these funds still remain comatose.

The CBN rejected responsibility for our nation’s poor infrastructural base, as well as blame for the inability to diversify production in our economy. Undoubtedly, however, the agricultural, aviation, textile,

,

T

he first anniversary of the 2012 “Occupy Nigeria” fuel subsidy protest was marked recently in Lagos by Pastor Bakare-led ‘Save Nigeria Group’ with a lecture titled “Nigeria’s Fiscal and Monetary Crisis: the Way Forward”. The occasion afforded Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) the opportunity to publicly defend its failure to create an enabling environment for industries and businesses to bloom, in consonance with its core mandate for price stability. The major indicators of price stability, of course, relate to conducive low single-digit interest rates for bank loans and an even lower rate of inflation.

CBN commended its own performance on these indices when compared with other economies in West Africa!

Why they chose to benchmark their performance against ducks, when indeed they should be aspiring to be eagles remains unclear; however, it is clear that no nation grows with interest and inflation rates at over 20% and 12% respectively, with inexplicable currency depreciation.

In order to compensate for its failure to enthrone an enabling monetary strategy, the CBN reported its involvement in several projects such as the cash-lite policy and various selective bailout packages involving hundreds of billions of naira.

fallacy of this argument was obviously ignored, as reckless depreciation of the naira from stronger than parity to about N160:$1 has obviously had a negative rather than a positive growth impact on exports and other sectors of our Nigerian economy. The CBN certainly misses the point that demand for oil, our major export, does not depend on naira exchange rate!

Indeed, CBN’s

The poison of excess liquidity is not administered by increased government spending, as often alleged, but by CBN’s capture of the nation’s dollar revenue and substitution with naira allocations to the three tiers of government.

transportation and other subsectors would certainly be much stronger if they had access to much cheaper funds. Indeed, Nigeria’s paltry annual capital budget of barely $9bn is a clear indication that our hope for rapid infrastructural enhancement is better placed on private sector funding.

Nonetheless, CBN boasted that only the uninformed would demand a stronger naira rate of exchange! The

,

understanding of its core mandate of price stability seems related primarily to modulation of excessive high and low cycles in the levels of interest and inflation rates rather than the promotion of enabling rates as in industrialized and successful economies elsewhere!

Sadly, the CBN also failed to justify why Nigeria’s economy has remained victim of surplus cash for decades, or indeed, why excess cash

naira’s exchange rate!

Incidentally, CBN’s alleged ‘unholy trinity ’ of interest, inflation and exchange rates have a common causative influence; i.e. the everpresent scourge of excess liquidity.

Instructively, massive reduction or total elimination of excess liquidity will actually create a ‘holy trinity’ of lower single digit interest and inflation rates and also engender a stronger naira, all of which constitute the requisite profile for an enabling economic environment for growth and development.

Furthermore, the poison of excess liquidity is not administered by increased government spending, as often alleged, but by CBN’s capture of the nation’s dollar revenue and substitution with naira allocations to the three tiers of government.

The CBN’s claim that they are compelled by the constitution to substitute naira allocation for dollar revenue is certainly not substantiated by Section 162 of the constitution, which really does not constrain the three tiers of government from maintaining domiciliary accounts just like any other citizen.

exists side by side with failure of the real sector to access adequate and cheap funds!

Besides, there was no satisfactory explanation why CBN combats inflation by borrowing back perceived excess cash in the economy from commercial banks at rates above 12%, only to warehouse the loans as idle funds. It is inexplicable that any commodity would become more expensive whenever the market is awash with a surplus of that item!

The apex bank obviously has no regrets that it crowds out the real sector by borrowing at outrageous levels of interest rate while such riskfree sovereign borrowings in successful economies elsewhere generally attract lower single-digit interest rates; rate levels, which CBN insisted were inapplicable in our state of development!!

Incidentally, the directors failed to fault my observation that CBN’s inability to achieve its core mandate of price stability is actually the product of its poor management of money supply! It is nonetheless, irrefutable that the everpresent burden of excess liquidity induces heavy government borrowings at high interest rates and also fuels inflation rate. The abiding cash surplus is regularly pitched against relatively paltry dollar auctions by CBN, and this ultimately also depreciates

SAVE THE NAIRA, SAVE NIGERIANS!!

Business & Economy

Interswitch partners merchants, rewards Verve cardholders E

ncourage by the need to foster better relationship between merchants and cardholders, Interswitch, Nigeria’s leading integrated payment and transaction processing company, has introduced the Reward Money loyalty programme in partnership with merchants to reward cardholders. Customers who make cashless payments with Verve cards are awarded Reward Money for purchases made at merchant locations.

According to the Director of Switching and Processing at Interswitch, Mr. Akeem Lawal at the official launch of trhe programme at merchant locations at Ikeja Shopping mall Reward Money is an innovative merchant loyalty scheme, which allows Verve cardholders to get instant rewards while using their C M Y K

cards at merchant locations.

“This is first of its kind loyalry programme in Nigeria as it allows customers to earn Reward Money based on each merchant’s pre-agreed Reward Money allocation.

The Reward Money earned is instantly converted to spendable money on the customer ’s card. The receipt obtained from the merchants POS shows the Reward Money earned and the total Reward Money balance accumulated”, he said.

He added that the solution has been designed to be “simple to use, simple to earn and simple to redeem” and it is also very easy to set up for the merchant. It is very easy for the merchant to use and operate as it is automated and requires minimal human interaction from the Merchant

and Cardholders.

The PoS terminal recognises the cardholder and automatically awards the merchant specified Reward Money to the cardholder based on the amount spent.

The more money the customer spends at the merchant using a Verve card, the more Reward Money earned.

The money earned can instantly be spent or “burned” to buy products or services from the merchant or it can be accumulated to be spent later at the same merchant or at any of the other Reward Money enabled locations.

He said Reward Money is specially designed to foster a better relationship between merchants and their customers. With Reward Money merchants would be able to reward customers based on the amount they

merchant determines the amount of Reward Money to be given, which can be as much as 20% of total purchase value to the cardholder.

spend and customers will be encouraged to spend more at the merchant’s location using their cards.

The Reward Money

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

-

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

CONTRIBUTORS Princewill Ekwujuru Naomi Uzor Providence Obuh LAYOUT

-

Media/Marketing Industry Micro Finance Graphics Department