Vang fin 06062016

JUNE 6, 2016

Seven banks earn N78bn from forex trading in 2015 Forex revaluation gain falls by 60%

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

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n spite of the scarcity and restrictions in the nation’s foreign exchange market, seven banks made N78 billion trading in foreign exchange in 2015.

Financial Vanguard investigations revealed that the income was 8.3 per cent lower than the N85.5 billion recorded in 2014. The banks are Access, UBA, FBN Holdings, Union Bank, Diamond Bank, Wema Bank and Sterling Bank.

Analysis of the audited financial statements of the banks showed that Access Bank and UBA accounted for 68 per cent of the total income with N53.8 billion, down from N67.2 billion recorded the previous year.

Access Bank led the pack with N36.9 billion, up by 103 per cent or N18.7 billion from N18.2 billion in 2014. UBA came second, with N16.9

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Speaking on condition of billion down by N7.6 billion or 31 anonymity, a research analyst in one per cent from N24.5 billion in 2014. of the top banks told Financial FBN Holdings came third earning Vanguard that banks make money N11 billion in 2015, down by 20 per from foreign exchange either by cent or N14.1 billion in 2014. Others using the capital to buy and sell are Diamond Bank, N6 billion, foreign exchange Sterling Bank, N5 in the inter-bank billion, Union Bank market or by ,N2.1 billion and In 2014, the helping their Wema N0.2 billion.

CBN was customers buy Analysis also foreign exchange revealed that of the reluctant to from the CBN. He five top banks, devalue the said that two Zenith recorded a naira, and factors occasioned loss of N1.96 billion resorted to the 8.3 per cent fall from foreign in the income exchange trading, defending the banks made from down by 113 per local currency foreign exchange cent from N14.1 by trying to trading last year. billion recorded in The first was the 2014. GTBank meet all various restrictions however did not demand for imposed by the disclose its foreign dollars CBN and general exchange trading scarcity of dollars for the year.

in the economy. The second factor was the decision of the apex bank not to defend the naira as it did for most part of 2014. “Remember that in 2014, the CBN was reluctant to devalue the naira, and resorted to defending the local currency by trying to meet all demand for dollars.

This coupled with demand for dollars from foreign investors exiting the Nigerian economy, provided opportunity for banks to buy cheap from CBN and sell high to desperate end users, and as a result made good money,” he said.

Income from forex revaluation falls by N32bn The decline in foreign exchange related income was however not limited to income from trading.

Analysis of the results of top ten banks shows that total income from foreign Continues on page 18

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016

Cover

How to become a successful entrepreneur and business owner Change your perception o you want to become selfemployed? Are you prepared for the challenges involved? Are you prepared to give your project all it requires to succeed? Are you mentally prepared to become your own boss? You might feel these are just casual questions but I want you to know that they are realistic questions. Most people quit their jobs and go solo without being mentally prepared for the process and that’s why they fail.

To become self- employed and succeed at what you do; you must change your perception.

You must transit from a mentality of dependency on your boss to being independent. You have to take control and be responsible for your actions. You must be accountable and most importantly; you must be prepared to face disappointments, you must be prepared to fail because failure is a pathway to success.

Identify your core skill What are you quitting your job on? What’s your leverage? What service can you offer in exchange for money that people are willing to pay for? What are your core skills, talent, hobby or passion? If you want to be a successful self- employed entrepreneur, then you must answer these questions.

Learn how to find opportunities that others miss “A good businessman must have nose for business the same way a journalist has nose for news. Once your eyes, ears, nose, heart and brain are trained on business, you sniff business opportunities everywhere. In places where people see a lot of obstacles, I see a lot of opportunities. At times, there is something instinctive in me that tell me a b u s i n e s s opportunity exist even at a place where others see nothing. That is what makes me different, maybe unique.The first key to becoming a successful business owner is finding the right opportunity; an opportunity that others fail to see. I use the word

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VISIT: From left, Managing Director, Lagos State Number Plate Production Authority (NPPA), Barr. Razaq Olaseni Tobun and Managing Director/CEO, Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, LASAA, Mr. Mobolaji Sanusi, when the latter visited in Lagos.

Seven banks earn N78bn from forex trading in 2015 Continued from page 17 exchange revaluation dropped by 61 per cent to N20.7 billion from N53.6 billion.

Foreign exchange revaluation (FXR) gain is recorded when value of foreign denominated assets rises due to exchange rate or interest rate movements.

While Zenith Bank and Sterling Bank recorded increases in income from FXR gain, five banks recorded decline. The five banks are UBA, GTB, FBN Holding, Union Bank and Fidelity Bank.

Access Bank however recorded FXR loss of N10.4

billion in 2015, down from loss of N17.6 billion recorded in 2014.

FBN Holding topped the chart with N10.9 billion, down by 65 per cent from N30.8 billion in 2014. Fidelity Bank came second with N6.2 billion, down by 52 per cent from N12.9 billion in 2014. GTBank came third with N5.2 billion, down by 68 percent from N16.2 billion. Others are UBA -N3.2 billion, down from N5.5 billion; and Union bank -N0.12 billion, down from N3.6 billion; Zenith Bank -N2.8, up from N2.2 billion, and Sterling Bank -2.7 billion, up from N0 in 2014.

According to a former CBN

Director, the FXR is determined by two factors mainly movement in exchange rate and the price/interest rate at which banks book dollar denominated loans either for themselves or on behalf of their customers. Speaking on condition of anonymity, she said, “When the naira depreciates, banks’ FXR gain will rise while an appreciation will lead to fall in FXR gain.

Also, if the interest rate for the loan, usually attached to movements in London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) falls, the FXR gain will reduce, even when the naira did not appreciate. That is what happened to the banks that experienced decline in their FXR gains.”

APRA charts new course for African growth

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frican Public Relations Association, APRA, an interest group set up to further the aims, goals and objectives of public relations practitioners on the African continent, has restated its commitment to creating an enabling environment for accurate, perception, goodwill and understanding of necessary and effective public relations practice in Africa.

The association also said that it is strongly committed to selling a positive image of Africa through the instrumentality of the public relations profession.

President Muhammadu Buhari's goodwill message, delivered by Mrs. Nkechi AlliBalogun, a former Chairperson of Lagos National Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, at the 28th edition of its annual conference tagged; APRA Calabar 2016 and themed: ‘Leapfrogging Africa: The role of Communication’ said Africa for long has been perceived

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as a continent of strife, war, pestilence, anarchy, corruption and massive poverty, by foreign media, but the truth is that there are also good stories about us (Africa) that can be projected.

He said: “For a new Africa to emerge, Africa and Africans must change the African narrative, her citizens have to embrace change.

We must modernise, by modernizing we must embrace knowledge. By knowledge I mean, education and technology.

“Across the globe, Africa and Africans are achieving phenomenal feats in their various endeavours, it is time for us to change the narrative, it is time for us to sell a positive Africa, one that is full of hope and a brighter tomorrow.”

Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, represented by Head of Communications of the Group, Tony Chiejina, on his part said, “Africa and its citizens have endured negative profiling by the international media and other

communication outlets, largely owned and controlled by the powerful advanced nations, as part of cultural imperialism. But it could not have been otherwise, given that the foreign media have their own agenda, which does not include the burnishing of Africa’s image.

“All too often, the foreign media have helped to reinforce negative stereotypes about Africans.”

He went further to say that the biased and stereotypical agenda, good news from Africa is either suppressed or slanted.

“This is not because the continent lacks the human capital to project its image, its largely because the political will and the relevant information communication and technology, ICT, tools and infrastructure are either nonexistent or cannot be portrayed in a bad light to strengthen the negative profiling and perpetrate the exploitation of the continent by the neo-colonial economic and political forces,” he asserted.

“learn” because entrepreneurship is a learning process; you must keep learning from the day you start a business till the day you quit the game.

“One of the most stupid things to do is to pretend you are smart. When you pretend to be smart, you are at the height of stupidity.” – Rich Dad I used the word “learn” because you can never become perfect at spotting good business opportunities; you just have to keep learning and improving your business skills or vision. Becoming a successful entrepreneur or building a successful business lies in your ability to spot business opportunities that others miss; you must be able to see opportunity in problems.

“Behind every adversity is an opportunity. If you lament over the adversity, you will miss the opportunity.” – Ajaero Tony Martins Learn how to raise money “Capital can do nothing without brains to direct it.” – J. Ogden Armour The second key to becoming a successful entrepreneur is to learn how to raise capital. I have said and written it countless times that one of the fundamental function of an entrepreneur is to raise capital; by any legal means necessary.

If you don’t know how to raise capital; forget about becoming an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, you must learn to raise capital internally; as well as externally. Cash flow is the life blood of a business and it’s your job to make sure that cash continuously flow into your business. Show me a successful entrepreneur and I will show you an individual that knows the intricacies of raising capital.

“There is one paradoxical characteristic every entrepreneur must possess to succeed.

An entrepreneur must be able to persuade his debtors to pay their debts promptly and at the same, must tactically delay payments to his creditors.”

– Ajaero Tony Martins.

The second key to becoming a successful entrepreneur is to learn how to raise capital.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 — 19

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t is no longer news that Nigerian economy is at a brink of recession.

The nation’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate declined to -0.36 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to 2.11 per cent in the last three months of 2015, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed recently.

This negative GDP growth apparently confirms an earlier statement by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed that the Federal Government was broke and making tough adjustments. He had said that the decision to increase the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from N86.50 to N145 per litre was one of those decisions to is facing stagflation. It is in a they are implemented. Over the free funds for government’s state where there is no growth years, the success of either other financial obligations. By but there is high inflation. This monetary or fiscal policy in this negative growth rate, the will be counter productive to the Nigeria depends on the country appears to be on a bid by the government to create imperative of their coordination. recessionary track as it requires jobs and reduce unemployment A careful observer will note that one more negative growth rate as the CBN mopping cash from it is only at the lower level of in the next quarter to enter into bank will constrain banks’ staff of the Ministry of Finance recession. ability to lend. and the CBN that you find some The 2016 budget was As it looks, while the Federal level of cooperation and designed to reflate the economy Government will be targeting coordination but when it comes in order to steer it out of the increased spending, the CBN to the key personnel, you find path of recession. To get this will be busy mopping up cash some discordance. done, there must be proper in the system in order to tame It is worrisome if the principal coordination of fiscal and the general rise in prices of actors in the monetary and fiscal monetary policies. This is not the goods and services. It appears arena are aware of what in time to claim superiority of one as if the CBN and the Ministry macro economics is referred to policy initiative over another as of Finance will be working at as the unholy trinity or the is always the case in Nigeria. It cross purposes. The Ministry of macro economic trinity. Under is in this regard that the Finance and the CBN need to this trinity, the argument is that Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi approach this issue with caution no central bank on earth Adeosun and Mr Godwin in order not to derail the 2016 manages the three key macro Emefiele, the CBN governor, budget plan of steering the economic aggregates. must of necessity, have to work economy away from the path of Central Bankers are quick to hand in hand. They must meet recession. The goals of any say that no central bank has regularly and possibly carry macro economic policy is to responsibility for managing other financial regulators along achieve full employment of inflation, at the same time in the bid to stabilise the resources, balance growth, delivering a fixed exchange economy.

The Federal stable prices of goods and rate or a definite level of the Government through the services, stable exchange rate Ministry of Finance intends to and balance of payment. In the reflate the economy but the real world, these policy ...if Nigeria has CBN believes that the banking objectives conflict with one and enduring system is already awash with another and require regular excess cash. The Federal harmonisation. institutions, Government's release of N350 In most other countries, there individuals will billion into the economy after is legislation that compels the come and go but the budget was passed has fiscal and monetary authorities institutions will further increased the cash in to sit on the same table to the system. What this means is harmonise their policies before always remain that inflationary pressure in the they are announced. In Nigeria, and that is what economy will be high this year there is no known legislation has guided other and the CBN will have to that compels the Ministry of countries deploy all arsenal at its disposal Finance and the CBN to to fight inflation as the economy harmonise their policies before

exchange rate and then deliver a regime of low interest rate in any economy. Bankers will always remind you that a central bank can only achieve two of the three and let the other go, it cannot control all three.

From recent history, the CBN has been having a curious eye on developments in the exchange rate; but for interest rate, it does not control interest rate as of today because of the deregulation of the economy in 1986.

Nigerians and government officials have been hampering on single digit interest rate, which has been a mirage due to high level of inflation in the country.

Nigerian economy can only experience a situation where interest rate is hovering around two percent, inflation is around two percent and a stable exchange rate, when the economy is developed. It will be possible also when Nigeria diversifies its economy not the present mono product economy that it is today. It will also be possible to have low interest rate if it is not an import dependent economy and the level of infrastructure is highly developed. The only countries that fall into this category are the US, UK, Japan, that is where you have low interest rate because the infrastructure is already there, the banks do not need to invest in any form of infrastructure. If the CBN tries to mange the three unholy trinity simultaneously, it cannot

Business & Economy Reps summon 1,319 firms over $10bn revenue leakages in NIMASA

Grand Oak partners regulatory agencies to fight counterfeiters relevant government agencies

What Emefiele, Adeosun must do for Nigeria

By GODWIN ORITSE

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N a bid to block revenue leakages at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) the House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration has summoned 1,319 companies to appear before it during a public hearing on operational deficiencies at the agency.

According to the Committee’s chairdman, Mr Mohammed

Umar Bago, the amount of money lost in the sector was about $10bn.

The Committee said that the affected companies would respond to questions relating to 3% freight levy, 2% Cabotage surcharge, sea protection levy, stevedoring, among others.

It said that the process that led to the revenue leakages were benchmark approach, as opposed to actual freight charges in the determination of the 3%, midstream clearance and discharge of cargo vessels, activities of foreign flag vessels

in coastal trade, ship-to-ship discharge of wet cargo, concealment of marine spread of oil and gas contract agreements and illegal Cabotage exemptions, dredging and reclamation activities within the Nigerian waterways.

Some of the companies summoned were drawn mainly from the oil and gas sector as well as private jetty owners and operators.

Confirming development, Spokesperson of the agency, Hajia Lami Tumaka told Vanguard NIMASA is collaborating withn the Committee on the matter.

Tumaka also said that the agency is making as much information as available to the Committee in order to help in the blocking such leakages.

By EFUGHI FAVOUR

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RAND Oak Limited has collaborated with National Agencies for Food and Drugs Administration Control, NAFDAC and the Consumer Protection Council, CPC,to fight counterfeiters of products in the industry.

The acting Managing Director of the company, Aare Fatai Osidele, disclosed this during the 2016 Distributors Conference in Lagos.

He stated that the company has concluded plans with NAFDAC, CPC and other

achieve success in any one of them, it will be a huge failure.

It is in shaping the direction of policy that the CBN governor and the minister of finance need to cooperate and work hand in hand to shape fiscal and monetary policies in a way to achieve the desirable result.

The two principal officers must meet on regular basis to review the economy and find out where each is missing it and fix the issue. It is in so doing that this government will achieve its economic objective of delivering dividend of democracy to the people of Nigeria.

In fact, the National Assembly should come up with a legislation that will compel the CBN management team and that of the Federal Ministry of Finance to meet and harmonise the nation’s economic and monetary policies before they are announced and implemented. The law should also compel them to meet quarterly to review policies and take corrective measures that will benefit the economy.

It is in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians for this government to create a stable polity. Nigeria as a country should create institutions because the President will use his tenure and go, the Governor of CBN will leave at the end of his tenure. If Nigeria has enduring institutions, individuals will come and go but institutions will always remain. That is what has guided other countries that have developed which some of us look up to and are running to because Nigerians think that they have done so well not minding that it is the effort of their citizens that brought them to where they are today.

to put a stop to the faking of wine products in the country.

Onthe company re-launchof Lord’s Dry Gin, Osidele explained that the continuous repackaging and innovation done is to educate consumers on ways of identifying the original products, adding: “The brand has been in market for 34 years and repackaging was necessary.”

He also stated that the product being faked is an acceptance that the brand is popular, as counterfeiters don’t fake failed products. However, steps have to be taken to put an end to it."

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20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016

Business & Economy

Jaiz Bank appoints Usman, MD

By EMMA UJAH, Abuja Bureau Chief

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new Managing Director has been appointed for Jaiz Bank Plc. He is Mr. Hassan Usman.

The Board of Directors of the bank appointed Usman substantive Managing Director to run the affairs of the Bank subject to the approval of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The decision was reached after a rigorous selection exercise where seasoned Islamic Bankers within and outside the country were screened and interviewed.

Mr. Usman takes over from Mahe Abubakar who has acted as MD since December 2015. Mr. Usman had previously acted as Managing Director in 2013.

Until the latest appointment, Mr. Usman was an Executive Director in charge of Operations and IT. He is a trained Accountant, having graduated with a First Class Degree in Accounting in 1985 from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and later became a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).

UBA offers customers Dubai trip,other prizes for using ATM

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holiday in Dubai, sight seeing its beautiful landscapes, shopping in its attractive shopping malls has been put on offer for loyal customers of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc. UBA is offering three lucky customers a chance to win an unforgettable holiday experience in Dubai. All a customer has to do to win this trip is withdraw cash from a UBA Automated Teller Macvhine, ATM with his or her UBA MasterCard, Visa or Verve card.

Tagged: 'The UBA Big Jolly Promo', it will run from now till June 30 this year and will give customers opportunity to win other prizes besides the three return tickets to Dubai for three lucky customers.

Other prizes on offer for lucky UBA customers include; 100 Infinix Hot Note smart phones, N5,000 worth of shopping vouchers for 100 customers, and N2,000 worth of airtime for 300 customers.

PROGRAMME: From left, Colligold Volunteer, Chinedu Okafor; Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Oyindamola Egbeyemi; Public Relations Manger, Jobberman Nigeria, Busola Babatunde; CoFounder, Colligold Resources, Tomide Awe and and another Colligold Volunteer, Patrick Oyekan, during the 2016 Edition of Colligold Employability Skills Programme held in Lagos.

Tax stakeholders meet on solutions to tax administration in ECOWAS T

he Director of Trade and Customs in ECOWAS Commission, Mr Salifou Tiemtore, has said that partnership between the Commission and WATAF is aimed at finding solutions for tax administration in West Africa. Tiemtore made the statement at the 10th General Meeting of West African Tax Administration Forum (WATAF) on “Tax Harmonisation within the ECOWAS Region” in Abuja last week.

He said WATAF was an important association that collaborated with ECOWAS to

effectively implement fiscal reforms and harmonisation programmes in the sub-region in line with regional integration policies. “The collaboration with your forum

We have to undertake prudent tax reforms without any delay to adequately prepare and enhance the domestic revenue mobilisation

from the onset is an indication of our continuous desire to work with you to find common solutions to tax administration within and for the benefit of our West African region.

“We have to undertake prudent tax reforms without any delay to adequately prepare and enhance the domestic revenue mobilisation of our respective countries to mitigate the likely dwindling customs revenues,” Tiemtore

said.

He said studies had shown that both External Trade Liberation Scheme (ETLS) and Common External Tariff (CET) had negative impacts on African international trade revenue and would subsequently exert pressure on governments to fund their activities.

He added that the dwindling international trade revenues were likely to continue as Africa pursued and concluded further regional and international agreements to comply with international standards.

Tiemtore recalled that ETLS and CET were implemented for the harmonisation of customs duties and came into effect on Jan. 1, 2015. He said that the fiscal transition programme to support the effective operation of CET and minimise potential revenue loss was also adopted in Dec. 2013.

According to him,“ the programme is designed to implement institutional reforms within both customs and tax departments to harmonise the domestic legislations on Valued Added Tax and excise duties, including taxation on tobacco and its products.

Tiemtore said that ECOWAS had identified staff training as a key component of enhancing efficiency in the institutions, adding that an award of consultancy for the design and delivery of appropriate training was in an advance stage. He added that an award of a consultancy to design an ECOWAS Tax Treaty Model was being pursued.

Importers flooding Nigeria with substandard goods, SON alerts

By FAVOUR NNABUGWU

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he Director-General of Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr Paul Angya, has alerted the federal government of massive importation of substandard goods into the country. This, he said, has forced the SON to shutdown the Electronic Provisional Clearance Certificate (ePCC) platform after the 90 days expiration elapsed this year.

In an interview with Vanguard in Abuja, the acting SON DG, Angya said that the agency has been having a running battle with importers who have refused to align themselves with the legal platform to process their Soncap. Angya who was obviously taken aback by the allegations against the agency he heads stated, “We have a problem with importers of goods because they are cheating. They are manipulating the importation regime of goods to the country with the import of their goods.”

The Soncap process is done online without the intervention of any

member of staff of the organisation, following the scrapping of hard copy papers for effective and better service.

Nigerian Customs Service has established a digital platform, an online platform through which products coming into Nigeria can been seen and where people are supposed to register their import, all manifest of all consignments coming into Nigeria can been seen there.

He said, “On that platform, if you are bringing in any product without SON certificate of compliance which is called Soncap, you will not be cleared to bring in those goods because the CBN will not issue you Form M through which you can import."

He continued, “So that platform enabled us to see almost everybody who is importing which was not the case before. Today those who were beating the system are having challenges.

“The importers are avoiding the quality verification process that was established by the government to verify the quality of goods they import into

Nigeria which has resulted in the complete overrunning of the country."

The DG explained that the ePCC platform which has a self-service window, was meant to open to clients’ need only for three months but SON at a meeting with stakeholders extended the platform for another three months after the stakeholders pleaded for further extension, a move Angya said, was the last after which the importers would have to strictly follow the legal process of Soncap .

Meanwhile, some groups of importers in a statement , alleged that the government agency had not approved their Soncap which they claimed was heaped up in the organisation.

“We have over the last few months evaluated the system and discovered that the substandard products are majorly from China and other Asian countries," he noted. The clarification from the SON came on the heels of some group of importers, alleging that the SON DG had refused to approve their Soncap.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 — 21

Banking & Finance

Government securities record 156% over-subscription *As excess liquidity hits N408bn *CBN spends $700m to defend Naira

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

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HE volume of idle cash in the interbank money market rose last week to N408 billion, triggering 156 percent excess demand for government securities.

Financial Vanguard investigations revealed that the volume of idle cash (excess liquidity) in the interbank money market rose by 32 per cent from N277 billion the previous week, to close at N408.3 billion last week. The sharp increase was driven by fresh inflow of N141 billion from statutory allocation funds, and N144 billion from payment of matured treasury bills.

Consequently, investors demanded for N498 billion worth of government securities (treasury bills), representing 156 per cent higher than the N194 billion offered for sale by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). At the secondary market where existing bills are traded, investors demanded for N394 billion worth of bills while the apex bank offered N50 billion, but did not sell any bill. At the Primary market, where fresh bills are sold, investors demanded N394 billion worth of bills, while the apex bank

offered and sold N144 billion.

Also reflecting the impact of the improved liquidity, cost of funds remained relatively stable during the week between 2.0 and 2.5 per cent.

Meanwhile the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spent about $700 million to defend the naira in May. However, the naira depreciated last week to N355 per dollar in the parallel market, due to increased speculation, occasioned by anxiety over the delay in the release of the guidelines for the ‘flexible exchange rate policy’, of the CBN. According to analysts at Afrinvest Plc, the naira might depreciate further in the

parallel market this week, should the apex bank continue to delay the release of the guidelines for the new policy.

In the company’s review of developments in the foreign exchange market last week, they stated: “The market had expected that the guidelines for the new flexible exchange rate regime would be communicated early enough to restore normalcy to the foreign exchange market. But the delay by the CBN on the specifics of the new foreign exchange (FX) policy further fuelled speculation within the BDC/ parallel segment of the FX market as the naira depreciated by 1.4 percent against the dollar to close at N355.00/$1 relative to previous week’s close of N350.00/$1 “At the official/interbank segment however, the Naira

remained stable for the week as the CBN again intervened at the official rate of N197.50/ $1. This makes the third consecutive auction the CBN conducted at the rate of N197/ $1 or N197.50/$1 after the market had anticipated that the Apex Bank would adjust its intervention rate (in order to save the external reserves) subsequent to NNPC’s announcement of a guided deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector that pegged the FX rate for petroleum importers at N285/ $1.

“We analyzed the movement in foreign exchange reserves for the month of May-2016 and found out that it closed 2.6 percent ($26.4bn) lower relative to the level ($27.1bn) in April-2016, implying that an approximate average of $0.7bn was used in defending the currency in May. In the interim, pending the clarity on the new FX policy, we opine that the pressure at the parallel segment will persist.”

ACCA advocates blend of skills, experience, for accountants A

research study by the global accounting body, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, ACCA, has emphasised the need for professional accountants to develop blend of skills, experience and intelligence in order to meet with the demands of the modern day business world.

Speaking at the launch of the report, ACCA Nigeria’s Country Head, Toyin Ademola, said, “The accountant’s role has been revolutionised over the past decade, with finance professionals becoming leaders, trusted expert counsel and key strategic advisers to organisations whether in the public or private sectors.

“With this metamorphosis comes a requirement for a whole new set of skills. On top of technical excellence, professional accountants now require creativity, emotional intelligence and the vision to lead.”

With input and insight from C M Y K

over 2,000 business and finance professionals around the world, Professional Accountants – the Future is the most indepth analysis of the profession – and where it is headed – ever conducted, said Toyin Ademola She said, “We discovered a brave new world of more regulation, greater globalisation, ever increasing risk, and of course, massive technological advancement.

The accountancy profession has to be ahead of the curve on all fronts - trained to the highest of professional standards, looking beyond the numbers and with a global mind set.”

To define what the 2016 finance professional must look like, ACCA has developed a set of seven Professional Quotients – a mix of technical knowledge, skills and abilities formed with interpersonal behaviours and qualities.

These are: “Technical and ethical competencies (TQ)”.

These are skills and abilities to perform activities

consistently to a defined standard. They are Often based on a professional qualification; Intelligence (IQ): The ability to acquire and use knowledge: thinking, reasoning and solving problems; Creative intelligence (CQ): The ability to use existing knowledge in a new situation, to make connections, explore potential outcomes, and generate new ideas; Digital quotient (DQ): The awareness and application of existing and emerging digital technologies, capabilities, practices, strategies and culture; Emotional intelligence(EQ): The ability to identify your own emotions and those of others, harness and apply them to tasks, and regulate and manage them; Vision(VQ): The ability to predict future trends accurately by extrapolating existing trends and facts, and filling the gaps by thinking innovatively; Experience (XQ): The ability and skills to understand

customer expectations, meet desired outcomes and create value.

According to Toyin Ademola, her message to current and aspiring accountants is that a blend of all these attributes makes the perfect finance professional, ready for the global business challenges they will face.

“These ‘magnificent seven’ strengths show the way ahead. They are the means by which accountants use their technical knowledge, skills and abilities blended with the interpersonal behaviours and qualities to put them to use.

“Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.

The key is to recognise where you excel and where you need to work to build your competency through the continuous professional development which professional accountants already know so well”, she said.

Sterling Bank, Leap Africa empower SMEs

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TERLING Bank and LEAP Africa have pledged to continue to work together to empower Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs).

Speaking at a press conference on the 11th edition of the CEOs Forum organised

by LEAP Africa, Executive Director, Finance and Strategy at Sterling Bank, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, said the bank's decision to partner with LEAP Africa is based on its passion for SMEs. He said Sterling Bank will continue to partner with LEAP Africa as long as it continues to make impact in the development of SMEs. The purpose of the 11th edition CEO’s Forum, according to Executive Director, LEAP Africa, Mrs. Iyadunni Olubode is to empower entrepreneurs by opening up to them alternative sources of funding She said that the forum is aimed at discussing how small businesses can attract funding for sustainable growth and it will focus on alternative funding models such as angel investors, venture capital, private equity and challenge funds amongst others.

She noted that “a lot of entrepreneurs we interact with are looking for opportunities to grow and expand their businesses, and if any business is to be sustainable, it needs to be infused with capital from time to time.

“So we are bringing together, a team of experts, a team of entrepreneurs who themselves have been able to expand their businesses to come and share the wealth of knowledge with the audience. They would share their experiences, failures and were they succeeded with raising capital.”

Suleiman stated that the importance of the SME industry to the growth of the nation has made it imperative to open up alternative sources of funding to the sector.

SMEs in Nigeria need more than loans, he said, adding, there is need for ample education on positioning a business to attract the right level of funding it needs.

Reiterating the bank’s commitment to driving economic growth through capacity building for SMEs, Suleiman noted that “many entrepreneurs are not getting the capital they need because they have a wrong approach to sourcing capital."

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016

Corporate Finance

FCMB takes financial literacy to children

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irst City Monument Bank's (FCMB) women staff have taken financial literary to children as part of its commitment to educating them on the importance of savings.

The women, through FCMB across the country, hosted pupils from various schools, under the theme, ’Kids Banking Excursion Programme”, where they were exposed to the general dynamics of banking, financial literacy and how to cultivate savings habit from an early age. More so, an essay writing initiative, with the topic, ‘’Why I Love Nigeria”, was organised by the Bank for children of its employees and customers. At the end of the exercise, so many kids participated and displayed great writing skills, creativity, and passion for the country going by the entries.

FCMB also went a step further by donating a 40KVA power generating set to Federal Government Girls College, Akure,Ondo state. This was in fulfilment of the pledge made by the Bank during the mentoring session it organised for the students in March this year under the financial literacy programme.

According to a statement from the bank, “ A total of 1,000 underprivileged kids in primary schools in Lagos, Kano and Delta states had cause to rejoice during this year ’s Children’s Day celebration as FCMB Women donated school bags filled with educational materials to each of the school children. The materials include notebooks, biros, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, crayons, among others. Dictionaries were also distributed to help with language usage and grammar. The three schools that benefited from the gesture are, Alaba Primary School, Mushin in Lagos; Ugbolokoso Primary School and Ijakpa Primary School, both in Warri Delta state as well as Zango Primary School, Kano state.”

Speaking during the presentation of the school bags and educational materials to the pupils, FCMB’s Vice President, Human Resources & Strategy, Felicia Obozuwa, restated the Bank’s commitment to the educational development and welfare of children. ‘’Beyond celebrating the Children’s Day, this gesture on the part of FCMB Women and indeed the Bank is aimed at inspiring our young ones to become great men and women.

C M Y K

Capital market slumps below 3-yr lows in 2015 — CSCS boss Stories by PETER EGWUATU

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he Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc has stated that the Nigerian capital market slumped below its three-year low in 2015 due to dwindling crude oil price, foreign exchange problems and exodus of foreign portfolio investors.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of CSCS Plc, who stated this, while x-raying the company’s performance in 2015 said “The market was negatively affected by the unstable naira exchange rate which discouraged foreign investors from the market.”

He also disclosed that CSCS has introduced an Electronic Annual General Meeting, AGM, the first of its kind in the country. Commenting on the performance of the company in 2015, Kyari said “These outcomes were unfavourable to our financial performance and led to a decline in our income by 7.77 per cent in 2015 with total earnings of ¦ 7.6 Billion as against ¦ 8.2 Billion in 2014.

Our operating expenses stood at ¦ 2.58 billion in 2015 as against ¦ 2.48 billion in 2014.

This indicates an increase of 4.19% from the previous year.

The year ended on a profitable note with our Profit After Tax at ¦ 4.46 billion, although this is a tail off by 3.50 per cent from preceding year’s figures of ¦ 4.62 billion due to huge investments made towards our new CSD infrastructure”.

While speaking on the company ’s notable achievements during the financial year, Kyari announced that the company has been awarded ISO

27001:2013 certificate.

In the same vein, the Electronic Annual General Meeting (EAGM), a groundbreaking initiative designed to promote financial inclusion and improve market integration across.

Africa by allowing

shareholders to attend and participate in general meetings electronically was demonstrated.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of CSCS, Mr. Oscar Onyema had disclosed at the company’s 22nd AGM that a 26 kobo dividend has been declared

SESSION - From left: Group Head, Sales, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Mr. Sola Owoade; Group Managing Director, Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi; and Group Head, Admin and Legal Services, Mr. Lekan Sanni, during an interactive session on the company’s development plans in Lagos.

GSK allays fear of job cuts after divestment of drink business

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he management of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria, GSK Plc has allayed fears of job cuts after its planned divestment of its drinks business later in the year.

The Legal Director/ Company Secretary, GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Nigeria Plc, Mr. Uchenna Uwechia, who disclosed this to select journalists in Lagos stated

that the Board of Directors of GSK Plc has accepted Suntory Beverage & Food Limited offer for the divestment of its drinks bottling and distribution Business.

H e said that the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE has been notified of its proposed plan to divest from its drinks business as part the post listing requirement of the

CIS inaugurates 148-member technical committee to drive market activities

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for the financial year 2015.

In his words “The company recorded remarkable gains and this led to 26 kobo dividend pay-out which is in line with the company’s dividend policy which provides that 30 per cent of the company’s Profit After Tax recorded in a year be paid as dividend.

n pursuit of its determination to strengthen the operations of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), the Governing Council of the Institute has inaugurated 12 committees with 148 members.

The Committees which have been specifically set up to drive the activities of the Institute are: Education Committee, Research and Technical Committee, Membership Committee, Finance Committee, Programmes Committee, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Committee, Board of Fellows, Investigating Panel, Supporting Member Investigators, Disciplinar y Tribunal, Nominating Committee, and Presidential Nominating Committee. The Committees have a two-year tenure.

Addressing the Committee members at the inauguration ceremony at the Institute’s Council Chambers recently, the President, Mr. Oluwaseyi Abe explained that their appointment was the outcome of a careful due diligence conducted by the Council to ensure that people who are fit and proper are given an opportunity to serve the Institute.

Abe noted that the Institute had many talents that were willingly ready to drive its array of activities.

According to him, the Committees’ performance shall be based on the quarterly implementation of their terms of reference which form the deliverables. “The Council is of the strong view that the Institute must be developed in order to adequately meet the expectations of its stakeholders in line with the global best practices,” Abe said.

exchange.

According to him, “The Board of GSK has accepted and is recommending for approval by shareholders, a binding offer from Suntory Beverage & Food Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Suntory Beverage and Food Limited for the divestment of its drinks bottling and distribution business.”

Uwechia , disclosed that the principal terms of the offer will be set out in a circular to the shareholders.

According to a statement from the company, “If the shareholders and regulators were to approve the sale , the retained business of GSK Nigeria would include its wellness, Oral Healthcare, Nutrition and Pharmaceutical/ Vaccines businesses, and the company would remain listed on the NSE.” Commenting on the any job cut after the divestment, he said: “Part of the terms of the offer was that Suntory Beverages will retain the staff in the drinks business. So, there is no need to fear, we will disclose further details of the offer once we get all the regulatory a[approvals.

Even Suntory Beverages has stated that more people will be employed once it takes over the drinks business as the capacity of its plants in Nigeria is higher than what we currently have. “

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 — 23

Corporate Finance Banking stocks record worst performance, as NSE sheds N435bn Stories By NKIRUKA NNOROM

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NVESTORS on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, lost a total of N435 billion from their investment last week as optimism that greeted the announcement of adoption of flexible foreign exchange policy from the federal government waned.

At the close of trading, the market capitalisation that measures performance of equities in the market fell to N9.49 trillion as against N9.93 trillion in the previous week, representing 4.4 per cent decline. The All Share Index, ASI, dropped by the same margin, declining to 27,634.42 points from 28,902.26 points.

Activity was weak across the entire market as all the sectorial indices took a downward trend.

The banking sector impacted by massive sell off on the shares of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Zenith International Bank Plc and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, ETI, recorded the worst performance, sheding 7.7 per cent to settle at 276.96 points from 302.24 points. The NSE Oil and Gas Index fuelled by 17.87 per cent loss on the shares of Oando Plc closed as the second

worst performing sector, depreciating by 5.3 per cent to 326.05 points. The NSE 30 Index was down 4.9 per cent to settle at 1,229.26 points, while NSE Insurance Index went down by 4.01 per cent to 130.12 point. The Consumer Goods sector lost 3.01 per cent, while Industrial sector slipped by 3.35 per cent.

Analysts at United Capital Plc attributed the weak performance

to delay by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to provide clear guidelines on the new forex policy, “Recent market momentum from FX related pronouncement by the MPC appears to have waned as investors demand further clarity.

We expect the equities market will remain within its current range until there is a much clearer signal especially around FX, the analysts said.

Analysis of the price movement chart, showed that for every five losers during the week, there was one gainer, as 60 losers emerged versus 12 gainers in the week.

StanChart launches extensive mobile, online banking

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TANDARD Chartered Bank has announced plans to launch its newest mobile and online banking platform to one million clients across eight African markets.

After the roll out to Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the first half of 2016, the bank will launch fingerprint recognition technology in Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and

Nestle signs MoU with IFDC to support smallholder farmers He noted that the partnership underpinned the company’s believe in Nigerian farmers and rural estle Nigeria Plc has signed a Memorandum saying: “To produce our foods and N of Understanding, MoU, with International communities, beverages, we rely on secure, long term supplies of Fertilizer Development Centre, IFDC, to support the local farmers and facilitate government’s economic diversification agenda.

The partnership, a two-year pilot project, aims to help smallholder farmers, of whom 40 per cent are women, in Sahel and Sudan Savanna areas of the country to develop farming as a business and improve the quality and yields of millet and sorghum, which are popular staple crop ingredients in West African nation.

Under the arrangement, 1,000 framers in Northern Nigeria will be trained on good agricultural practices and entrepreneurial skills.

Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony in Lagos, the Managing Director/CEO, Nestle, Chief Dharnesh Gordon, said the partnership is in line with the company’s approach to business tagged Creating Shared Value, which is based on the firm believe that for a company to prosper over the long terms and create value for its shareholders, it must also create value for the society.

raw materials of the highest quality. To this end, we, together with our partners, have been training farmers in the northern part of Nigeria to produce good quality grains since 2010. This has been part of our Grains Quality Improvement project, GQIP, implemented in collaboration with suppliers.”

“Our new collaboration with IFDC, together with farmer groups and supplier partners, looks to support farmers in northern Nigeria by providing them with the tools and capabilities to produce high quality, disease-resistant crops for future food security,” Gordon said.

“We are looking forward to our new collaboration with Nestle Nigeria. The company is a fitting private partner because of its strength, professionalism and high standards that it instils to produce quality products for local consumers, and also because of the close and fair relations it wants to build and maintain with smallholder farmers,”said Dr. Amo Maatman, “SCALE Chief of Party of IFDC.

Zimbabwe for the firs time later in the year, giving clients a more secure and convenient way to log in to their accounts. In Nigeria and Ghana, mobile banking clients will move to the bank’s standard global platform Supported by the bank’s globalstandard technology, clients will enjoy a consistent online experience across laptops, tablets or mobile phones, and the convenience of banking from the location of their choice. Clients will be able to check balances, transfer money and pay bills securely, all through their smartphones using the mobile banking app.

“We’re bringing the best in mobile banking to Africa; consumers across the continent are increasingly affluent and tech-savvy and they want convenient access to their bank, wherever thy happen to be,” said Karen Fawcett, Standard Chartered’s CEO for Retail Banking.

“We are committed to making banking easier, faster and safer for our more than one million retail clients across Africa,” commented Jaydeep Gupta, Standard Chartered’s regional head of Retail Banking for Africa and the Middle East.

Commenting, Bola Adesola, Standard Chartered’s CEO for Nigeria and West Africa 1, added, ‘We are reiterating our commitment to our clients to provide the best in-class services and solutions for their banking needs.

C M Y K

24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016

Interview

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R. Paul Angya is the Acting Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON. He was heavily involved in the development of the National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) policy as Chairman of the Technical Committee. The NQI policy which encompasses standardisation, metrology, accreditation, testing and certification was introduced by the Federal Government to ensure that products coming out of Nigerian industries conform to international requirements. In this interview with VANGUARD, Dr. Angya talks about recent developments at SON since he took over few months ago, how they are building the capacities of local industries to produce good quality products for exports and how its metrology institute will transform the country. Excerpts:

By EMEKA ANAETO, Economy Editor & FRANKLIN ALLI

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hat are the new things that you have been doing at SON since you came on board as Acting Director General?

We have a lot of new things happening at SON. What we have been doing is to try to communicate the benefits of standardisation which translates to quality for Nigerians. We have devised innovative ways of communicating to people to buy the culture of standardisation. The major mandates of SON has not changedelaboration of standards and quality assurance, the regular inspections of factories and production lines of products; audit of companies and advising industries to improve on their products.

Basically, we have been doing this for a long time but standardisation is a voluntary concept; it is not a compulsory thing and it is not conscription so to say.

All over the world, people voluntarily embrace standardisation. So when a standard body like SON issues standards and publishes them; the society ordinarily should embrace them and that translate to quality.

However, the problem which we have in Nigeria to a large extent is that people don’t immediately embrace issues of regulation and that is why there are unlawful behaviours in the society. And so, it now becomes the duty of the

standards body to enforce standards rather than compliment society by way of standardisations. And so, what we have done in my time is to try and communicate to the people to imbibe the benefits of voluntary standardisations and where the information and education does not seem to work, we apply the big stick but mainly, majorly, our focus is on enlightenment and education .

Since I came into office over three months ago, I have engaged critical sectors in production and commercial industries in Nigeria. I identified critical sectors from which there are most complaints of circulation of substandard products and the impacts of substandard products on lives, investments and the economy.

Unfortunately, contrary to your view, this sector is not confined to local productions; most of the substandard products are from the imported products.

We have since March instituted Standards Clubs in secondary schools.

My predecessors preached it and I have been preaching it. We recorded a large number of successes but sometimes, when you talk about standardisation, people think it is alien concept and they don’t apply it in their ways of life and way of doing things. It sounds abstract.

Perhaps; it is because standardisation didn’t come to us early. So, perhaps, if we introduce it to people at the youngest stage, it will become part of their lives and so when they grow up, they will see it as a given and demand from their parents that they are entitled to quality and if you don’t give it they won’t accept. Nigerians are not committed enough to their own personal welfare by insisting or using only products that have quality assurance.

It may be a lack of commitment and sometimes, it may be due to issue of economics. No Nigerian will spend 1030 minutes at the SON Office to make a complaint and to police. He goes to buy a product for N500 in the market, probably at Ikeja, and he drives back to Egbeda in Lagos and finds that the product doesn’t work to his expectation, he would check the cost of going back to Ikeja which might be N750 and he has N1000. So he throws it away and picks another equally substandard product and it continues like that; he loses his money and dignity and sometimes it

•Dr. Paul Angya C M Y K

What Nigeria's trading partners are looking for in export products ... Builds capacity, quality products in SME sector

Dr. Paul Angya , Acting Director-General,Standard affect his health.

He also encourages those dealing in the sales of substandard products because he continues to buy them. But if he had gone back to the shop even at the cost of N1000 and said 'I’m not going to accept this, give me a good product or give me back my money or else I am going to report you to SON. If two , three, four Nigerians make similar complaint, he won’t continue in that business.

In the advance societies which we are copying, government is not an enforcer of consumer interests. What government does is to make a policy, consumer policy, standards and quality control policy and then there are consumer advocates whose duty is to take up consumer advocacies. In that society, they respect people and people there insist you give them value for their money.

So education is the key and that is why we have set up Standards Club in schools and we are hoping that we are working with other institutions like education authorities in primary and secondary schools, National Universities Commission, NUC, and National Board for Technical Education to introduce standardisation curriculum in schools.

Also, we are encouraging people to write books on Standardisations. I personally have written a book on Standardisations. So, we expect that by the time we encourage intellectuals to

write books and to teach the subjects, it will be a part of our culture for people to demand and insist for quality products.

How are you carrying those who are educated and knowledgeable along in the enforcement of standards?

Unfortunately for us, like I told you, we have not arrived at a point where people adopted those issues as their own, as personal to them, even for those who are knowledgeable and involved because they reason that somebody else is responsible for it. Like they say in my community, the community goat usually starves because nobody owns it, and nobody is feeding it.

People need to buy into the concept, own it and adopt it. Another new thing that we have introduced is to open up the process of standardisation to people so that they could get involved.

Hence, all the people who are using the products or services will make input into that standard. The standard will have the benefits of wider participation and when we have finally collated it into a draft, we also publish it and invite comments from informed sectors. And when that is done, we know the standard has input from all stakeholders and it is what they want. So, they will willingly apply that standard; it becomes a public ownership; the standard will have wider acceptability and application; and the impact will be felt on the community.

What is SON doing to make Nigerian products exportable and earning foreign exchange?

In Nigeria, long before President Muhammadu Buhari came on board and

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 — 25

Interview The Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, was adopted for implementation. Under the NIRP, which is to grow alternative sectors to oil, SON has specific assignments. Number one is to build a national quality infrastructure for Nigeria people, by the government, industries and everyone in Nigeria, it will culminate into delivering quality to Nigerians and quality to Nigerian products and they can compete anywhere in the world.

In fact, the main focus of the national quality policy is to examine the environment and see what are those necessary facilities that a nation should have.

First of all, we surveyed why is China producing and able to produce so massively. We made a survey on how modern nations are delivering on quality and we found that in the current practices, the critical ingredients that enable a country develop economically is what we call quality infrastructure.

And every nation requires quality infrastructure to develop its economy, develop its industry and to protect its people.

ds Organisation of Nigeria, SON

There are basic standards for products all over the world. But then some products have additional requirements.

That is why you hear about American spec, European spec; Japanese spec and so on, they are additional safety requirements in those countries instituted his programme of finding alternatives to oil, SON, had started the programme of encouraging local production and we introduced MANCAP certification.

MANCAP means Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme. The certification is aimed at ensuring that all locally manufactured products conform to relevant Nigeria Industrial Standards, NIS, before they are presented to the consumers. Every manufacturer in Nigeria is expected to get the certification before you push your

products into the market and there are sanctions for defaulters.

There are basic standards for products all over the world. But then some products have additional requirements.

That is why you hear about American spec, European spec; Japanese spec and so on, they are additional safety requirements in those countries.

Meeting global standards We insist that products manufactured in Nigeria must meet acceptable global standards. It is part of what we have been doing and we are still doing itbuilding the capacity of operators in our local industries. We have identified small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the engine room of economic development. So, we have structured projects of offering technical assistance and certification to SMEs. Most times, we offer these services free for them to know how to meet the standard, know how to process, package and label their products. Since President Buhari came on stream, the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, was adopted for implementation. Under the NIRP, which is to grow alternative sectors to oil, SON is given specific assignments. Number one is to build a national quality infrastructure for Nigeria and all these I have been telling you about standardisation and quality issue is built into it. It prescribes the basic minimum precepts that if imbibed by

Developing quality infrastructure When a country develops the quality infrastructure, it becomes a national treasure. So those are the components that are aggregated together to deliver quality to a nation. Fortunately, in Nigeria, that project was anchored on SON, and, I personally was the chairman of the Technical Committee that developed the National Quality Infrastructure. Standards itself is a quality infrastructure because it is the basis on which production, industry and quality are grounded.

And then we look at the issue of Metrology, which is the science of accurate measurement. We have legal metrology that goes into the public and interfaces with services delivered to make sure that the delivery to the public is the exact nature of the prescription.

For instance, if you go to filling station to buy fuel, it is priced at N145/litre now, and the guy at the station fix the pump into your car and he keeps pumping and said he has delivered 50 litres but when you switch on you ignition key, you discovered it was 25 litres and you have been cheated. So, it is metrology that will ensure the pump deliver the exact 50 litres, it is not pumping air into your car. To be able to deliver the exact quantity with the price, those machines need to be calibrated and the authorised institution that does the calibration is the Institute of Metrology.

This is a very relevant quality infrastructure. Any nation that doesn’t have it can’t progress. In fact, the success story of Germany as the most technologically developed economy is driven by its national metrology institute. It is called German National Metrology Institute (PTB). They are so rich and they are the one funding developments around the world, even in Nigeria.

We just finished a programme which they sponsored for us, building our capacity of improving our agro-allied exports.

And then we have another one called laboratory institute. Without laboratories, your products can’t sell outside your country because what your trading partners are looking for is evidence that your products can sell outside your country and where do you get the evidence, if not from laboratories. So, we produce agricultural products in Nigeria and we take them to sell abroad and they are rejected not because they don’t meet the required standards but because they lack certificate of evidence and why don’t they have certificate of evidence is because there is no accredited laboratories in Nigeria that can test those products and certify that they meet that standards. There are laboratories in Nigeria but they are not accredited laboratories because there are no accreditation institutions in Nigeria.

This is a relevant quality infrastructure that will evaluate laboratories from the premises where they are to the equipment in the laboratories to the personnel who are running the laboratories and issue certificates that the environment is conducive for this kind of test, that the equipment is sophisticated and sufficiently provided to run this kind of tests; that the personnel are sufficiently skilled to run this kind of test. When all these are put together and they get pass mark, then the accredited service will give you an accreditation that you have competence to run this test. When they give you the certificate, then, the lab can now run the test; for instance, Nigerian beans that were rejected in Europe didn’t get certificate from an accredited lab showing the beans met the requirement of the EU market. The market may require that the moisture content of the beans shouldn’t be more than 12 percent and the residue of the pesticide that was used in storing the bean should be of such a level that it should not harm humans when it is bought and consumed. And so, EU market will insist that the certificate accompanying this product must specify the moisture content, the chemical residue and even the soil content of the farm where the bean was planted and harvested.

So all these are what is called quality infrastructure and all these have been prescribed in the National Quality Infrastructure policy – standardisation, metrology, accreditation, testing and certification and that is what we called conformity assessment, the capacity to be able to determine that products coming out of this industry meets standards specification. So, a nation must have capacity to do conformity assessments to assure international community that the products coming from this country conform to international requirements.

We did that for Nigeria, but unfortunately it has not been promulgated into law by the Federal Government. We are still trying to get the present government to accept the document and to pass it into law so that it will begin to operate in Nigeria.

Already, the components of the quality infrastructure are being addressed at SON as part of our responsibility under the NIRP, we are building a gargantuan headquarters of National Metrology Institute in Enugu State. It’s 100 percent funded by SON and it’s over N1 billion.

When the institute is completed and functioning, the issue of testing and calibrations will be solved and it will save costs in hard currency.

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26 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016

Homes & Housing Finance

Ogun to construct 550 housing units

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gun State Government plans to construct 550 gated housing project at IdiAba in Abeokuta, the state capital in its bid to provide shelter for residents in the state.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing Development and General Manager of the State Housing Corporation, Jumoke Akinwunmi, disclose this in Abeokuta. She added that the housing units would be built on 26 hectares of land along Ajebo Estate.

Akinwunmi explained that the Corporation would harness the topographical feature of the site, with its high, medium and low densities to keep the concept of environmental sustainability for the benefits of the residents.

The General Manager said the project would be designed as two and three bedroom flats, terraces, semi-detached and fully detached bungalows, adding that there would also be site and services model to enable prospective homeowners build on serviced plots. “This scheme is designed to set a new benchmark in the local real estate market, create competitiveness and ease demand for residential and commercial space for physical developments,” she said.

BoE triggers mortgage rates slide

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omeowners are being offered the cheapest mortgage deals on record as the Bank of England has helped trigger another price war between lenders.

Latest figures from the Bank show the average mortgage rate fell sharply to 2.41 per cent in April from 2.49 per cent in March. Experts said lenders are battling it out to offer the best deals, meaning there has never been a better time to get a mortgage.

Mortgage rates had started to creep up at the beginning of the year as markets braced for a rise in interest rates.

But Bank of England governor Mark Carney ’s admission in February that interest rates could be cut even further from record lows appears to have been a turning point. Having risen between January and February, mortgage rates have started to fall again – with lenders rushing out cheap deals.

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FG earmarks N40bn for affordable homes as housing crisis looms 1m houses needed annually to avert crisis

By YINKA KOLAWOLE

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he Federal Government has earmarked N40 billion in the 2016 budget to implement a comprehensive housing development plan for Nigeria to avert a housing crisis in the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed this last week, in Abuja, at the 35th Annual General Meeting and international symposium of Shelter Afrique, a pan-African real estate finance institution.

Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammed Bello, said for Nigeria to adequately avert a housing crisis in the next four years, it must consciously build one million housing units annually to reduce the current national housing deficit estimated at about 17 million units.

“Nigeria, with a population of about 170 million people and an annual population growth rate of 3.5 percent, requires a minimum of additional one million housing units per annum to reduce the much acclaimed national deficit of about 17 million housing units in order to avert a housing crisis by the year 2020.

“The problem of housing the urban poor is not entirely new and I believe that different efforts must have been

MoU - From left: Sampson AHI, Deputy Minister for water Resources & Housing, Ghana; James Murgerwa, MD Shleter Afrique; Francis Onwuemele, COO Afro-Asia Shelters; Mr. Babatunde Fahola, Minister of Power, Works & Housing; Harford Udochukwu, Deputy General Manager, Afro-Asia Shelters, at the signing of MoU between Shelter Afrique and Afro-Asia Shelters International in Abuja. deployed in the past to confront it. But, even today, the problem is still with us. Such reality

Government intends to directly supply housing stocks in urban areas across all the geopolitical zones

challenges us to re-assess our methodologies and evolve fresh strategies to meet the exigencies of these times. We are very much convinced of the catalytic development potential of the housing sector and have accordingly earmarked about N40 billion in the 2016 capital budget to implement a comprehensive programme for housing development in Nigeria,” he stated.

Chicason, Shelter Afrique seal N44bn housing deal A

Nigerian real estate development firm, Afro-Asia Shelters International, a subsidiary of Chicason Group has signed a real estate development funding agreement worth N44 billion with Shelter Afrique, Africa’s premier real estate development funding institution.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed last week in Abuja during the 35th Annual General Meeting and Symposium of Shelter Afrique, a pan-African finance institution created to exclusively support the development of African real estate and housing sector.

The agreement is for the funding of the phase one of the 3,000 housing-unit Rock City 2, Jibi in the Greater Abuja area. The whole projected is estimated to cost N44 billion. The phase one will however cost about N5.2 billion with Shelter Afrique contributing 59 percent while Chicason Group will contribute 41 percent of the development cost. The Rock City 2 project is coming on the heels of a N110 billion Rock City 1 in Lugbe currently under construction

by Rock of Ages properties Ltd, another subsidiary of Chicason Group.

At the signing ceremony, Managing Director of Shelter Afrique, James Mugerwa, noted

that the organisation remains committed to the shared vision of its founding fathers which is to tackle the ever growing housing deficit in Africa. He said, “The objective of providing affordable and quality housing to all is at the very heart of our mandate - it is the core of our operations. I am happy to inform you that as we continue in our quest to deliver on that objective, we have created new systems and drafted and put into operation a new strategy.”

In his remarks, Chief Operating Officer of Rock of Ages Properties Limited, Mr. Francis Onwuemele, who signed on behalf of Chicason Group, noted that Shelter Afrique agreed to provide the required funds at a friendly rate to his organisation, in recognition of its contributions to the development of the housing sector in Nigeria. According to him, Chicason Group has acquired 443 hectares of land at Lugbe, Abuja from the Federal Government for the expansion of its mass housing scheme.

He disclosed that the funds coming from Shelter Afrique will go a long way in helping the organisation to fast-track the partnership it has with the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) to provide affordable housing to Nigeria workers.

According to the president, “The government intends to directly supply housing stocks in urban areas across all the geopolitical zones under its comprehensive housing programme. The Federal Government would also continue to prosecute overall housing policy stand which recognizes the government as active facilitator of private sector-driven housing sector.”

The President said the new national housing development programme would address shortage through direct housing supply. According to the president, “the government intends to directly supply housing stocks in urban areas across all the geo-political zones under its comprehensive housing programme. The Federal Government would also continue to prosecute overall housing policy stand which recognises the government as active facilitator of private sector-driven housing sector.”

In his remarks, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, lamented that series of housing initiatives embarked upon by the country over the years had not been pursued with consistency or any measure of sustainability. He explained that Shelter Afrique had financed 23 housing initiatives with N10.435 billion between 2005 and 2010. He disclosed that twelve States of the federation have offered to key-in into the Federal Government’s planned housing model for low- and middleincome earners.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 — 27

Insurance

FG yet to implement 18% pension contribution policy Stories by ROSEMARY ONUOHA

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HE Federal Government is yet to commence the implementation of the revised 18 per cent minimum pension contributions for its employees as stipulated under Section 4 of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014.

Recall that the PRA 2014 stipulates thus, “The contribution for any employee to which this Act applies shall be made in the following rates relating to his monthly emoluments: a minimum of ten per cent by the employer; and a minimum of eight per cent by the employee.”

The figure was revised upward from the PRA 2004 where both the employer and employee contribute seven per cent each to add up to 15 per cent monthly.

However since the PRA 2014 became law, the federal government is yet to comply and is still contributing 15 per cent monthly.

The National Pension Commission (PenCom), in its website, stated that 73,403 companies have so far

embraced the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), and that 43,918 of them have largely complied with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act (PRA).

PenCom noted that about seven million employees working with public/private sector employers have registered with Pension Fund

Administrators (PFAs) for the management of their pension contributions.

“The number of companies whose employees have so far registered is 73,403. Of this number, 43,918 employers with more than three employees have largely complied with the provisions of the PRA.

“The remaining 29,485 with less than three employees are mostly the non-compliant organisations. These categories of employers are usually more of portfolio companies and in some cases are companies that had either been liquidated or ceased to exist,” it said.

It maintained the sum of N79.16 billion has been computed as the arrears of 15 per cent pension increase owed to 79,961 Federal Government retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as at December, 2014.

CELEBRATION: From left, Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Asiwaju Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Khamis Olatunde Badmus; and the Deputy Speaker Federal House of Representatives, Honourable Lasun Yussuf during the 70th birthday celebration of the Chairman, TunsFarm, Alhaji Olatunde Badmus.

Over 70% of Nigerians are financial illiterates — Ogubunka

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HAIRMAN of Bank Customers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Uju Ogubunka, has said that over 70 per cent of Nigerians are financial illiterates.

Ogubunka noted that everyone needed financial inclusion irrespective of gender, age or profession.

Ogubunka stated this at the Financial Literacy Excellence Award (FiLEX), in Lagos last week.

He said that for a secured future and one that would guarantee some level of financial freedom, understanding management of finances is the way to go.

Accordingly, the Development Initiative Network (DIN) instituted the annual award to encourage corporate and individuals, working hard to promote financial literacy across the country.

Executive Director of DIN, Dr. Bola Fajemirokun, said the award is a new recognition platform for those working in the financial literacy space in Nigeria. “It’s purpose is to honour and celebrate the achievements of those individuals and organisations whose activities or initiatives have delivered results and impact in the important work of ensuring that everyone in Nigeria, has the knowledge and

confidence to make sound financial decision and engage effectively with financial institutions.

Fajemirokun said this year’s theme “Footprint of Distinction” is in recognition of the trailblazing efforts of those who have been honoured.

The award for Corporate Achievement Award for financial institution went to the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It was honoured for its annual

essay competition for secondary school students. More than 3,500 students take part in this exercise annually and it has helped in financial literacy among young people.

The second award being the corporate achievement award for non-financial institution went to ‘Financial Literacy for All’ for its savings education programmes for children and the hearing and sight impaired.

Innovation award went to the

Enterprise Development Centre of the Pan-Atlantic University for the customised content on its online portal as the SME toolkit.

While the Customer Champion Award went to Sola Salako, founder of the Consumer Advocacy Foundation (CAFON) in recognition of her pioneering role in enlightening financial consumers on their rights and responsibilities.

There is need for increased awareness on CPS – Ideva M anaging Director/Chief Executive of Premium Pension Limited Mr. Wilson Ideva has said that there is need for increased public awareness of the workings, benefits and imperative of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) especially in the face of the current economic uncertainties.

Ideva stated this while reacting to the award won recently as the pension company of the year

by Businesstoday, an online news outfit in Lagos last week.

Ideva said, “The CPS is the only sure way to guaranteeing your future.”

Mr. Paddy Ezeala, Head of Corporate Communication, who represented Ideva described the award as the reward for commitment, dedication and tenacity of purpose.

He said that the award also underlines the solid and fecund relationship between the company and the media in the area of awareness generation on the workings and benefits of the

pension industry.

Speaking on the awards, the MD/CEO of BusinessToday Online, Ms. Nkechi Naeche said the award which is in its third edition seeks out exceptional individuals, companies and states that have been outstanding in advancing the insurance and pension industries within a particular year.

She said Premium Pension was picked from the votes cast by the public and other considerations made by the award’s panel of judges. Naeche noted that as stipulated in the voting rules this year, 80 per cent of the votes were assigned to the public while a panel of judges made of experts possessed 20 per cent of the voting rights.

She added that Premium Pension won 2015 awards following its efficient services to Nigerian retirees and their families, adding that the Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) provides an impressive range of pension products and services to its client-base across the length and breadth of the country.

Inspenonline unveils nominees for award

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HE management of Inspenonline, an insurance and pension online news channel, has unveiled the nominees for 2015 Nigerian insurance and pension awards.

A statement by the Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief, Chuks Okonta, said 18 firms drawn from the insurance and pension sectors have been selected for various categories and will be voted for by the public.

He noted that the award which is the fourth in its series was designed to recognise the stride made by firms and individuals, adding that firms and individuals that distinguished themselves will be celebrated at the award ceremony scheduled for the month of August 2016.

Okonta said the Managing Director FBNInsurance Limited, Val Ojumah; Managing Director Leadway Assurance Limited, Hassan Oye-Odukale and the Chief Executive Officer Axa Mansard Insurance Plc, Mrs Yetunde Ilori, were nominated for the Insurance Man of the year category.

According to him, FBNInsurance Limited; Leadway Assurance Limited; Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc and Axa Mansard Insurance Plc, were nominated for Insurance Company of the year.

Leadway Assurance Limited; Axa Mansard Insurance Plc; FBNInsurance Limited and Sovereign Trust Insurance were nominated for Corporate Brand Category.

Stanbic IBTC Pension Limited; AIICO Pension Limited and Premium Pension limited were nominated for Pension Fund Administrators of the year.

Leverage Insurance Brokers Limited, YOA Insurance Brokers Limited; Standard Insurance Consultant Limited and Plum Insurance Brokers were nominated for Insurance broking category.

Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers; Nigerian Insurers Association; Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria and Association of Registered Insurance Agents of Nigeria were nominated for best professional group category.

Okonta noted that individuals and state governments that have help promote insurance and pension developments will also be honoured with an excellence awards.

He called on the public to cast their votes for firms and persons that have distinguished themselves through, email: inspenonline@gmail.com.

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28 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016

Aviation

NAMA demonstrates Aircraft e-clearance module, assures Airspace safety

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he Nigerian Airspace Management Agency,NAMA, has assured stakeholders that the nation’s airspace remains one of the safest on the continent of Africa for air navigation. This was disclosed by the Acting Managing Director of NAMA, Engr. Emma Anasi while declaring open the demonstration of Aircraft eClearance User Acceptance Test Module to National Air Defence Corp, Security Agencies and other stakeholders in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Engr. Emma Anasi noted that the agency in the recent past has deployed sophisticated technology and navigational infrastructure intended to enhance efficiency in its operations as well as safety of air travel in the country. He stressed that the deployment of Aircraft eClearance Solution was another innovation by NAMA to automate its operations and also ease the process of aircraft flight clearances which used to be very tedious and cumbersome in the past. Engr.

Anasi who was represented on the occasion by the Port Harcourt Airspace Manager, Mr Gabriel Akpen explained that the huge investment NAMA was making in automating its processes is in line with global best practices.

He therefore assured that the agency was ready to accommodate all the views and suggestions from stakeholders on how the system could be made to function better.

Earlier in his address, the Deputy General Manager, Aircraft Clearance Office, Mr Patrick Nebe recalled that apart from its inherent vulnerability to manipulations detrimental to national security, the old system of manually granting aircraft clearances was fraught with other challenges such as unnecessary bureaucracy leading to loss of valuable time, stressing that the urgency with which some flights operate necessitated a quicker system of processing flight clearances for them.

Nebe also explained that the Aircraft e-Clearance Solution has inbuilt security and tracking device which helps users to keep track of their request for flight permit as well as the general aircraft movement within the nation’s airports. The demonstration of Aircraft e-Clearance software to stakeholders which had earlier held in Lagos, Abuja and Kano centres has been lauded by stakeholders including Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, as a timesaving innovation.

IATA urges Nigeria to facilitate repatriation of foreign airlines' funds Stories By LAWANI MIKAIRU

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HE International Air Transport Association, IATA , has called on the Nigerian government to ease and facilitate the repatriation of funds by foreign airlines. It said this is in keeping with international agreements obliging countries to ensure airlines are able to repatriate their revenues.

This plea was made by Mr Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO. He also pleaded with the Venezuela government and other oil producing countries who have been badly affected by the sudden drop in the prize of oil which has necessitated these countries coming up with stringent foreign exchange policy.

It will be recalled that foreign airlines have been having difficulties repatriating their earnings due to the new forex regime of the federal

government. This has led to speculations that most of the airlines are considering closing their Nigeria routes.

According to Tyler “Air connectivity is vital to all economies. The airline

industry is a competitive business operating on thin margins. So the efficient repatriation of revenues is critical for airlines to be able to play their role as a catalyst for economic activity. It is not

Mr Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General & CEO

Sirika calls for enhanced air connectivity among African countries T

HE Minister for State, Aviation, Sen. Hadi Abubakar Sirika has called on African countries to encourage Air Transport Connectivity among each other in order to enhance the growth of civil aviation in the continent. This is just as the International Air Transport Association,IATA, called on African governments to prioritize the development of aviation nationally and at a pan-Africa level to boost economic growth and development.

The Minister and Mr Hussein Dabbas, IATA Regional Vice President Africa & Middle East respectively made the calls while addressing the IATA African

Aviation Day in Abuja, Nigeria. The event had as its theme: ‘Driving African Economies through the Power of Aviation’.

According to Sirika, “Enhanced Air Transport Connectivity is unarguably the key condition for any State’s progress and transformation.

Studies have shown that there is clear correlation between connectivity and economic performance. In addition, improved connectivity attracts inward investment, which enables access to export markets and opens countries up to competitive forces. “ He added that “Air transport is a facilitator of international business and trade. Improved

connectivity means more access to cities, markets, business and people as well as the integration into global supply chains, an important factor to attracting inward investment into any country” In his own remark, Mr Hussein Dabbas said Africa is set to be one of the fastestgrowing aviation regions over the next 20 years, with annual expansion averaging nearly 5%. “This opens up incredible economic opportunities for the continents 54 nations. By transporting some 70 million passengers annually, aviation already supports some 6.9 million jobs and $80 billion of economic activity on the African continent.”

reasonable to expect airlines to invest and operate in nations where they cannot efficiently collect payment for their services.”

IATA monitors blocked funds globally, the sum of which exceeds $5 billion. According to reports, the top two countries blocking the repatriation of airline funds are Venezuela and Nigeria. Last week, the British Airways had to deny considering an exit from Nigeria due to the harsh operating environment. There had been reports quoting Mr Kola Olayinka, Country Manager for British Airways’ as saying that the “UK. carrier is struggling to repatriate its share of the $575 million that Nigeria currently owes to airlines globally from tickets sold in Nigeria.”

An official statement from the airline however said: “ Our attention has been called to reports in several newspapers yesterday (Sunday) that British Airways is considering an exit from Nigeria. “ British Airways has a long history in Nigeria, having begun operations in the country 80 years ago as Imperial Airways. Nigeria remains a strategic market for BA and our operations locally are very strong. We have not issued any statements at any time indicating that we are on the verge of terminating operations in the country. We will continue to operate to Nigeria.”

IAG Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh was also quoted as saying last month that “ Iberia would stop serving Lagos after the low price of oil caused Nigeria’s economy to contract for the first time since 2004 in the first quarter. Limits on dollar repatriation have been imposed by the Nigerian Central Bank as reserves slip to $26.5 billion, the lowest in more than a decade, from more than $30 billion in early 2015.”

Etihad Airways appoints new General Manager in Nigeria E

TIHAD Airways has appointed George Mawadri as its new General Manager in Nigeria. He will be responsible for growing Etihad Airways’ relationships with its travel trade and corporate customers while furthering the development of the airline’s commercial strategy in Nigeria.

Speaking on his appointment, Mr George Mawadri said: “I am excited to take on this new role with Etihad Airways in one of the airline’s most dynamic markets. I look forward to working with the team to find new and innovative ways of expanding our strategic corporate and trade partnerships, strengthening our commercial ties and providing our guests with Etihad Airways’ world-class service, comfort, and hospitality.”

Speaking also, Mr Danny Barranger, Etihad

Airways’ Senior Vice President, Global Sales, said: “I am delighted that George will be leading our team in Nigeria to grow our business there. His extensive commercial experience and successful track record in the African aviation industry will be invaluable as he continues to develop awareness of Etihad Airways, making him the ideal candidate for this important position.”

George brings a vast amount of airline experience and knowledge to the position having served with British Airways for 19 years in Uganda, Kenya and Zambia in the East and Central Africa region, as well as the surrounding feeder markets of Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan and South Sudan.

•George Mawadri

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 — 29

People in Business

My passion for mental health started in the university

health stigma through effective knowledge media design strategies; improving the quality and accessibility of mental health services in the Caribbean; organising educative seminars and workshops; supporting mental health research, and founding a trans-Caribbean mental health network.

Our target group is primarily the Caribbean community both local and abroad, but includes the global community as a stretch goal. While we focus on impacting community health, we ultimately wish to impact global health: reducing stigma and improving access on an international scale."

—NZUBE EKPUNOBI Nzube Ekpunobi is the Founder/Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Mental Health Initiative, CarMHI, based in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, a small island nation in the Caribbeans. In this chat with Vanguard, Nzube speaks on his passion for mental health, why he founded CarMHI and the challenges. Excerpts:

By EBELE ORAKPO Early days lthough he was born in Lagos, Nigeria, Nzube has lived in various parts of the world. As an Igbo adage says; A welltravelled child exceeds a gray-haired person in knowledge, Nzube believes that living in different parts of the world has helped to give him a unique perspective on life generally.

"Life has placed me in very different environments around the world since I was a toddler. I’ve lived in England, Canada, the US, the Caribbean, and of course Nigeria. I think it has armed me with a wealth of experience and a unique perspective on globalism, international relations and issues that plague different communities and cultures.

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Education "My secondary schooling was between boarding school in Abuja and public school in Toronto, Canada. I spent most of that time living away from family, which instilled in me a sense of independence and resourcefulness from an early age. My most transformative years followed shortly after, when I was accepted to the prestigious University of Toronto (U of T) to pursue an Honours Bachelor of Science in Health and Disease," he said.

Discovering his passion Unlike so many students, Nzube did not just pass through the university, he allowed the university to pass through him.

He thus emerged a better person with a clearer vision.

"My Specialist program explored human health from not just a physical and biological perspective, but from an emotional, psychological, societal and legal perspective.

It was a very well rounded education, albeit incredibly demanding. It really helped turn me into the person I am today! It was there I saw my passion for mental health! I began working for the University of Toronto Students’ Union as Associate President, and was thrown into the world of advocacy, policy and justice."

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Marginalised groups "I worked intimately with marginalised groups to craft policy, critique systems and, within the mental health board there, draft recommendations that would later prove immensely helpful for not only the university but the Toronto community for years to come.

"Shortly after graduating from the university, I spoke to my mother, Tessy, about my best options moving forward. I knew I wanted to practice medicine, but I also wanted to remain involved in advocacy, especially in the area of community and mental health.

Since she works closely with the government of St. Kitts and Nevis as their Honorary Consul-General, she highly recommended I consider a school down there named the University of Medicine and Health Sciences, St. Kitts (UMHS). She visited the campus and was blown away by the state-of-the-art facilities, and insisted that on St. Kitts I could reach an underserved demographic.

*Nzube Ekpunobi....CarMHI is dedicated to fighting local and professional mental health stigma through effective knowledge media design strategies

Moving to St Kitts "I was excited at the opportunity and applied to study medicine there. It ended up being the only school I applied for, and I was excited to receive my letter of acceptance into their accelerated MD program. Now, I’m half way done and I’m in the US for the remainder of my schooling, doing clinical rotations and clinical skills training. I hope to pursue a Master’s degree in Business or Public Policy after I graduate from medical school, so I can explore that side of academia a little bit further, and learn to improve upon my areas of expertise."

apartment that I would regularly try to keep in touch with and work with, and that was huge for me.

"One thing I noted was a significant stigma regarding mental health in the black community – even if their own family members have clear need for accessing such services. The issue is global, but very pronounced within our communities, whether it be in Black America, the Caribbean, and even Nigeria. It really boiled down to education and attitudes surrounding holistic health, and while physical health is something taken seriously, mental health is a lot less tangible and therefore a lot harder to promote.

Equipped with the knowledge

Why I founded CarMHI "As mentioned earlier, I really took a liking to mental health and advocacy while doing my undergraduate degree. Living in Downtown Toronto also had its benefits, in that it exposed me to a vast array of cultures and communities in a very short time. There were homeless shelters, women’s shelters and mental health research centers within walking distance of my

One thing I noted was a significant stigma regarding mental health in the black community

and resources I had access to, I took it upon myself to at least try to make a difference. That’s when I began thinking about starting up an organisation dedicated to just that, and that’s what motivated me further to study in the Caribbean: killing two birds with one stone.

"Once I got to St. Kitts, I made a few friends and discussed my ideas with them. I was blessed to have colleagues that shared the same passion and zeal to help bring it to life, thus CarMHI was born. We launched it at UMHS a couple months later, and it has been growing strong ever since! So far, we’ve launched an effective poster campaign, targeting mental health in men, raised a ton of money supporting mental health resources on St. Kitts as well as supporting Children’s Home for troubled and disabled youth that we sponsor on the island. We’ve also organised art therapy sessions, educational seminars, charity runs, awareness campaigns and more! We’re currently in the works of expanding further.

Target group We are dedicated to fighting local and professional mental

Challenges "We’re all fairly young folks at CarMHI, in our 20s and early 30s. This makes it difficult to be taken seriously in some circles.

It is sometimes a challenge when pitching our ideas, but once we show clear and solid plans, our growth, and some of the victories we’ve achieved, we tend to sway some people our way. The ideas, after all, are independent of age. Being based out of St. Kitts is also a little bit of an issue since shipping policies and geographical considerations limit the ease of access to goods and services on the island.

However, we are blessed to have contacts on the island, the US and in Puerto Rico who often help us out with such issues, and get supplies to us if we need them.

"Lastly, being in the US presents a challenge when trying to help with organisation at CarMHI, since there’s only so much you can do when you’re not on-ground. However, I have a very dedicated team on St. Kitts that are doing an awesome job putting together workshops, events and activities in my absence, as well as progressing with some of our more stretchgoals like posturing campaigns, expansion into neighbouring islands and more.

Mohit Mahalan, Jareliz Caldas-Diaz, Samantha Johnson, Micah Mathai, Mark Illes, James Riddle, Christine Sheeler, Darron Lewis, Sana Aman, Gina Allen and Dinorah Gomez are just some of the names of the dedicated staff and medical students that have continued to work hard to make sure that CarMHI is making a difference, and I couldn’t be more blessed to have such an exceptional group of people.

Since leaving St. Kitts several months ago, I continue to correspond with them often over instant messenger services or Skype, just for direction and policy advice.

Everything else, however, they pretty much have under control. There certainly are a lot more challenges we face, like any start-up organisation, but I’m confident that we’re equal to the task!"

30 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 “We can’t fund every project in the 2016" – Adeosun.

VANGUARD, May 27, 2016, p 8. he 2016 budget should be thrown into the waste paper basket. It can no longer serve as a guide to what citizens can expect of the Federal, States and Local Governments this year. The Finance Minister’s admission, two days before the President addressed the world on his first year in office could not have come as a surprise to economists, finance experts, accountants and even those who have a good grasp of simple arithmetic and can think deeply. If ever there was a budget that was doomed even before it was written, the 2016 budget was it.

First, it started far later than any other budget in living memory. The budget that was to be laid before the National Assembly, before December of 2015, was not even started until November by a new set of economic managers with no offenders. We are in June and the year, the country is already months. Otherwise a lot of previous experience at the top no single person had been experiencing N665bn shortfall abandoned projects would occur. of the Federal government. identified as the one responsible in revenue or 34 per cent of what Now, let us return to the There is no need to recall how for padding. Yet, precious time, was budgeted. To catch up for figure above to illustrate how that occurred. Even the honest which was not at the country’s the rest of the year, revenue for financial forecasting can help members of this administration disposal, was wasted on the each month must reach at least governments to avoid getting must admit it was rush work and matter.

N521.25bn. That is where the into trouble in the rest of 2016. the repercussions were soon to However, all those pale into role of honest forecasting, Earlier in the year, the Minister be felt. insignificance when compared instead of mere book-keeping is had disclosed that the Federal Second, there was even no with the failure of the President’s essential. Forecasting forces government’s wage bill is unanimity about the method to Economic Management Team, economic managers to ask the N166bn. In March 2016, the be adopted. The Vice President PEMT, to undertake, at least questions: in N521bn per month Federal government would have announced Zero Based monthly, a review of the forecasts possible? And, if not, what received N155.48bn, and in April Budgeting to a Federal civil for the economy which is likely should we plan to do?

N140.92bn; meaning that service that had never practiced to go into recession. Even before Mrs Adeosun in that report government would have had to it and expected great results. In the National Assembly ’s had made it clear that borrow N11bn and N26bn in the end, a mixture of methods approval of the budget, prioritization was important. those two months just to pay were used and the mess created elementary arithmetic points to When she said “So what we are salaries. Where then are the by that was shown at the the fact that a proposed N6.0trn doing is project first”, she is only funds for projects coming from?

National Assembly hearings as budget meant revenue addressing half of the problems As if that is not depressing Ministers and Agency heads generation of N500bn per that arise when actual revenue enough, the news from the embarrassed themselves and month. Using the monthly falls far short of the budgeted Ministry of Petroleum adds government by disclaiming federally distributed revenue as revenue. Even prioritization of another tranquillizer effect to the entries in their budgets. guide, the following picture projects requires a fairly good outlook for the balance of 2016.

Third, there were charges emerges. idea of what revenue might be The budget called for oil exports regarding padding of budget.

With only four months gone in available in the next eight of 2.2 million barrels per day. At The Minister of Finance had earlier bragged that there was FEDERALLY ALLOCATED REVENUE 2016 (BN) no way the budget could be padded. The Minister of Jan Feb Mar Apr Total Information pronounced that Budget 500 500 500 500 2000 there was no padding. The President went all over the world Actual 387 378 299 271 1335 lamenting padding and Deficit 113 122 201 229 665 promising to punish the

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Forget the 2016 budget; it's no longer realistic

the moment, at least 800,000 barrels per day is lost on account of militants’ action. That is 36 per cent of projected oil revenue which the country might not receive in May, June or even until December unless a truce is negotiated. Furthermore, there are signs that our failure to export might result in permanent patronage by some customers to other countries. The current rise in the price of crude globally might reduce the loss we suffer, but it cannot totally reverse the trend downwards.

Obviously, the forecast for revenue allocation for May would be for a figure lower than N271bn for April which is the lowest so far in more than twelve years.

With so much deficit racked up in the first five months, what are the prospects for the rest of the year? The brief answer is: very bleak. To start with, all the talk about diversification of the economy and return to agriculture as the basis of our economy will remain nothing but shadows of words. In fact, this might also be the worst year for agricultural production in a long time. Mrs Adeosun pointed to the late delivery of fertilizers to farmers this year as a result of N60bn owed to suppliers by Jonathan’s administration. By the time the fertilizer arrives, it will be almost useless to the farmers…

Micro-Finance

LAPO deepens economic empowerment with SID account Stories by PROVIDENCE OBUH

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APO Microfinance Bank (MfB) has unveiled Social Impact Deposit (SID) Account to further deepen economic empowerment.

SID account is a deposit product designed to empower the vulnerable and the economically active poor in the society. It is an innovative deposit and investment platform that provides individuals with the opportunity to make deposit with LAPO MfB that can be used to improve on the social needs of low-income individuals.

Speaking at the Product Launch in Lagos, Managing Director, LAPO MfB, Mr. Godwin Ehigiamusoe, said that the limited access to financial services particularly credit, remains the toughest challenge which owners of micro and small businesses contend with.

To this end, he described the SID account as a unique financial product developed to liberalise access to financial services to the people and an C M Y K

instrument for collective engagement of people in social and economic empowerment of low-income Nigerians.

According to Ehigiamusoe, “Many women and young people desire to start or expand their business but cannot because they lack access to affordable credit. After several years of supporting micro and small businesses owned by lowincome women, we have come to realise that they have the

capacity to actively participate in the economic space if sufficiently empowered.”

He pointed out that the rationale for SID is because the bank currently provide financial services to over 2.2 million lowincome people and owners of micro and small businesses in Nigeria and Sierra Leone, yet this is a small proportion of a large number of low income people who desperately need finance.

“Several individuals often express appreciation for LAPO’s commitment to the empowerment of low-income people particularly women, SID was developed to provide an ample opportunity for such socially minded men and women to be engaged in our efforts at economic empowerment. SID presents a win win proposition to depositors, LAPO MfB and clients; the depositors are doing

Honeywell harps on youth entrepreneurship, rewards whiz kids

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oneywell Flour Mills Plc has reiterated its continued support for the Nigerian youths in self discovery to be more useful to the society through talent development and skills acquisition.

Speaking at the 2016 Edition of Vision of the Child (VoTC) Literary and Arts competition Prize Presentation co-sponsored

by Honeywell, Managing Director, Mr. Lanre Jaiyeola, said that it is essential for parents to help bring out the unique talents in their children with a view to equipping them to be able to take advantage of opportunities, being the leaders of tomorrow.

Jaiyeola who was represented by the Executive Director, Supply Chain, Mr Rotimi

Fadipe, stated, “At Honeywell, we have a number of programs aimed at developing children and young adults especially in the areas of education, skills acquisition, talent development and sports. Not only do we have a brand that is targeted at children (Honeywell Noodles), we also believe there is never a prize that is too much to pay to see children succeed. “Working with children is amazing, it is amazing to know the kind of thought that pass through their minds, it is amazing to know that children sometimes know so much. So, for us at Honeywell, there cannot be a better time than now to work with these set of young and upcoming children who are leaders of tomorrow”, he said.

good and at the same time earn interest, Lapo MfB has access to deposits to replenish its loan fund; while our clients have access to more credit.

“The SID account will be targeted specifically at economically active poor individuals in Nigeria. With a minimum deposit of N200,000 and a minimum tenor of six months, savers in return are rewarded with attractive interest that comes with the account.

Other than the attractive interest on deposits, depositor with N10 million and above for a period of two years is also entitled to nominate a child from a low-income household for LAPO Scholarship award,” he said.

Chairman, Board of Directors of Wapic Insurance Plc, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said that the innovation show LAPO’s intent to improve the life of the community.

Aig-Imoukhuede who was represented by Executive Director, WAPIC, Mr. Bode Ojeniyi, added, “SID is an innovation that LAPO is spear heading to improve the life of the poor.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 — 31

Advertising & Media

Appointment of foreign agency jolts outdoor practitioners Stories by PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

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hallenges facing outdoor practitioners in Lagos seems not to have abated, as the state government has concluded plans to handover the state’s out-of-home business to Jean Claude Decaux; a foreign agency, to manage.

Outdoor practitioners in Nigeria have over time complained of strangling regulations and high rates by states', signage and advertising agencies.

The incumbent president of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, OAAN, Mr. Babatunde Adedoyin did not have an inkling of what may be lurking around the corner for the outdoor subsector in the shortest time when recently he declared that Out-of-Home advertising has become an endangered specie in Nigeria.

During an interactive session with journalists in Lagos,

Adedoyin had taken reporters through the various challenges facing the industry. Specifically, he mentioned among other things; the issue of N1billion owed his members by Lagos State Government, multiple taxation and the outrageous payment on vacant boards in some States, especially Lagos.

“Outdoor sector has become endangered species in the country as practitioners contend with regulatory bottlenecks and harsh economy. From left, right and center, we are being bashed.

Government cares less about our challenges and keep putting pressures on us, not minding the challenges we are facing as

businessmen.

Outdoor practitioners are not operating in isolation but within the same harsh economic environment, but government appears not to be concerned about our plight,” Adedoyin declared during the interactive session.

To add insult to injury, a reliable source close to Lagos State Government recently confirmed that the State has concluded plans to bring in a foreign agency, Jean Claude Decaux, to take over outdoor activities in Lagos. On further findings, it has been revealed that the agency will not come in just as a practitioner like Scan Group, an advertising

agency owned by Bharat Thakrar, a Kenyan-born Indian, three years ago. Jean Claude Decaux, the source revealed would be a repository for the outdoor advertising business in Nigeria. What this implies is that the agency will serve as both a regulator and practitioner as it will be in charge of site allocation to other practitioners.

The question many observers are asking include: What has become of the industry reform which was rolled out three years ago to spell out the percentage of ownership that can be accrued to a foreigner who intends to invest in the industry? What is the fate of local practitioners and thousands of Nigerians who are employed by the industry?

Is APCON concerned only about creative agencies or has the regulatory body gone to slumber?

Red Media to manage Facebook PR account

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ed Media Africa, a Nigeria Public Relations, PR and Communication agency has been appointed to manage the PR account of Facebook in Nigeria.

With its headquarters at Menlo Park, California, Facebook continues to drive its mission to

give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected, connecting over 1.04 billion daily active users worldwide and 7.2 million daily visitors from Nigeria.

Red Media Africa will lead on Facebook’s communication,

relationships and activations across the country with its teams from policy to developer relations and will also provide secondary support in markets across West Africa.

‘Mr Ibu’ becomes Kingdom lottery brand ambassador

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ollywood veteran actor John Okafor, popularly called ‘Mr. Ibu’ has been unveiled as the brand ambassador for Kingdon lottery.

Speaking to news men shortly after the paper signing exercise in Lagos, the Company Director, Mr. Yalon Zerberkwit, explained that apart from the instant scratch and win system, the company said that both losers and winners stand a chance of winning the grand prize of over N1 million every month in a grand draw when all returned scratched cards have been collated into a pull and randomly selected by the brand ambassador, ‘Mr Ibu’.

Speaking, Mr Ibu’s Manager, Mr. Okechukwu Nwuzor, stressed the need for entertainers to put in their best in their chosen vocation as this is the only prerequisite for sound carrier record achievements.

He noted that Kingdom lottery ambassadorial deal is the fourth ambassadorial endorsement in a row for his star brand, Mr. Ibu in the last four years.

E-Commerce

Company Review: Driving productivity through employee assessment STORIES BY JONAH NWOKPOKU

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ECENTLY, online job portal, Careers24 introduced an online solution, a feedback mechanism that provides unfettered access to employees to rate their employers.

Called the Company Review, the new solution democratises employer performance assessment, thereby providing a two way seamless communication pathway for both the employee and the employer to make informed decisions.

Head of Marketing, Careers24, Temitope Niyi, told Vanguard that “As a feature on the careers24 website, the Company Review provides an opportunity for employees to give completely anonymous feedback to their former or current employers.”

“The platform also provides potential employees or candidates with reliable information and gives them valuable insights while researching potential employers,” he added.

How it works To review a company, all a potential reviewer has to do is visit

the website and click on Companies. One can pick either Company Reviews or Company Directory. Next, you search for the company you would like to review and then click on Add review and follow the step-by-step guide. A reviewer can review former employers or current employers.

Already, the platform boasts about 5,000 registered companies which are available for review with over 500 reviews for different companies. Companies such as Guinness Nigeria Plc, Unity Bank Plc and Nigerian Bottling Company Plc have already garnered several reviews based on information given by their employees.

Solution to drive competition among employers Speaking on the solution, Careers24’s Business Development Manager, Adegbite Oreoluwa, said that the most significant role the solution will play in the job market will be driving healthy competition, especially for quality talents among employers.

He said: “Employers will have to review their management of talents and ensure they create a lively, work environment. This will

also make employers competitive in their hire and management of talent. Let me use this analogy.

Lets say we have two companies in the same sector competing for the same talent. Let’s call them company A and company B. Company A has received 80 per cent positive reviews and Company B has received 80% negative reviews. Automatically Company A would gain more candidates for hire than company B. Company B might even lose quality staff to Company A. You will discover that over time, because of the negative reviews received by Company B from careers24; it would begin to work on their overall relationship with their employees to ensure they receive positive reviews and improve their chances of hiring the best available talents.”

According Oreoluwa, “Job candidates in Nigeria have never been in a better position to research potential employers, and employees have never been more empowered to spill it all when it comes to reviewing their current workplace. This feedback will ultimately affect the future of recruitment and business growth.”

Improving quality of business

services On her part, Head of Client Relations and Business Services, Careers24, Francesca Oghide said: “Company Review is the voice of employees and it provides employers with insight into areas of employee’s dissatisfaction, which can be treated urgently to make current employees happy and to attract the right potential employees. I strongly believe Company Review is a right step to redefining the way employers handles employee relationship in Nigeria.”

She added: “From the candidates’ perspective, it is no longer about finding the right job but also about looking for the right company. This is why Careers24 has created a place where you can find and share honest and trusted information about companies/organisations in Nigeria, written anonymously by current and previous employees of these companies.

When I talk with Human Resources managers, they talk consistently about employee retention issues. Therefore feedback is very important; companies can make informed decisions from the reviews gotten to reposition their organisation.

If your employees love their work and the environment you have created, they will treat your customers better, innovate, and continuously improve your business instead of looking for the next available job opportunity.”

Value4naira.com unveils free delivery service

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alue4naira, an online superstore has launched a free delivery services for customers in Lagos.

In a statement, Value4Naira said the free delivery service was created to appreciate their customers while offering them free delivery services on items purchased within the promo period.

Speaking on the free delivery service, “Chief Operating Officer, Value4naira.com, Ernest Umeike, said: “As part of our desire to constantly engage our customers, Value4naira.Com is offering free delivery within Lagos to all our customers from the 25th of May till the 15th of June. This offer will we hope will be a further incentive to our customers to shop onvalue4naira.com”.

He also explained further, “The free delivery has no conditions attached to it, thus irrespective of what you buy or how much you spend the goods will be delivered free of charge to all who buy on Value4naira.Com between 25th May and 15th June. This way the customer can relieve themselves of the additional cost and have their shopping done conveniently.

32 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016

(08052201997)

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n popular Greek mythology, “Pandora’s Box was actually a large jar given to Pandora by the gods, the box contained all the evils of the World, and when Pandora

opened the box, all the evils flew out, leaving only hope inside when she closed it again” (paraphrased from Wikipedia).

“Poverty will clearly deepen nationwide and severe level of unemployment will persist with serious social consequences, if the preferred strategy for rescuing our economy implies further Naira devaluation and outright deregulation of fuel price, as recommended by the IMF and other likeminded experts. (see “Devalue Naira, Remove Subsidy and Kill Nigerians” Rational perspectives: 02/11/2015 www.lesleba.com).

Incidentally, the dreaded twin evils of Naira devaluation and deregulated fuel price are presently widely celebrated as right steps towards economic restoration and diversification; thus, with the evolving policy thrusts, Nigeria moved closer to IMF’s recommendations.

However, international financial media and Banking moguls, and their Nigerian associates and partners, still insist on a steeper slide in the Naira exchange rate and a further hike also in fuel price to reflect market forces of demand and supply. The advocates of these harsh policy thrusts, often boisterously warn of dire social and economic consequences, if we do not fast track bastardization of the Naira and further pump up fuel price.

Unfortunately, the unfolding trends instigated by government’s concessions on Naira and fuel prices, do not auger well, as rising prices for food, transport and other basic needs have begun to stoke inflation beyond the already, very disenabling rate of about 13%, to deplete purchasing power of all income earners. Nonetheless, despite the inevitably, reduced consumer demand and industrial contraction, employers of Labour are persistently confronted with demands for higher wages to

cushion the harsh economic realities. It would, however, be clearly unconscionable, to defend N18,000 ($65) as an appropriate minimum wage, if Naira exchange rate hovers between N280-300/$, as currently speculated, under CBN’s proposed flexible exchange rate model.

Conversely, there is an orchestrated call for patience, with ceaseless assurances from advocates of a weaker Naira and fuel price deregulation, that progressive change will come.

Nigerians, recall that similar soothing calls and assurances preceded the suicidal IMF inspired SAP devaluations, which devastated our industrial landscape; we also bear witness to devaluation’s instigation of higher fuel prices which decimated our lifestyles and values and ultimately induced the horrendous brain drain.

Understandably, industrial production and the Nigerian economy, as a whole, have never recovered from the devastation SAP caused.

Unfortunately, the relationship between Naira Exchange rate and fuel price seem to have surprisingly eluded Nigeria’s policy makers. However, ‘perverse’ critics may suggest that the mute official denial of this relationship is deliberate and actually sets the stage for state condoned corruption and liberal rent seeking opportunities. However, it cannot be denied that vast fortunes have been made by bankers and their associates in the public and private sectors, from a price mechanism and forex market that discourages inclusive growth, but aggressively, conversely promotes the interest of a small rentier class. The result is clearly evident in our country, as liberal forex supply and inappropriately contrived regular CBN dollar auctions actively promote currency racketeering, round tripping, money laundering and also fund most of the smuggled imports, which cause considerable damage to the growth of Nigeria’s industrial base and significant revenue loss also to

recent suggestion that, henceforth, funds for fuel import would be sourced at N280/$1, may imply that fuel price will invariably rapidly approach N200/litre, and trigger serious inflationary consequences.

Furthermore, with the present collateral spike from about N125/litre to about N180/litre for diesel (AGO), the heavy cost burden of internal power generation borne by industrialists, may exceed 20% of total production cost, and invariably subdue competitiveness of Nigerian products.

It is not yet clear what concessions will accrue to manufacturers with the proposed flexible exchange system, but it is possible that any such gain would be consumed by the higher cost of diesel for powering our factories and commercial establishments. Thus, if N280/$ is designated for very critical imports like fuel, it is unlikely that industrial raw material imports will be supported with cheaper dollar rates.

Consequently, the early impact of a weaker Naira and deregulated fuel price do not suggest that there is any opportunity for the Nigerian economy to turn the corner soon, despite passionate calls for more patience from advocates of the twin evils of devaluation and subsidy removal.

Surely, so long as CBN continues its auctions of dollar rations in a market which is undeniably awash with Naira liquidity, the parallel market exchange rate will not collapse nearer the official rate as expected, anytime soon. In this event, parallel market exchange rates will remain as the tail wagging the official rate, as perennially surplus Naira will further dispel confidence in holding Naira, and reduce its market patronage as a safe store of value. Ultimately, the odious, regressive impulsive cycle of further devaluation and higher fuel prices will persist to finally lay the economy and its people prostrate, while we wait endlessly on hope.

The economy and Pandora’s Box

•Pandora’s Box government from duty and tax evasion.

The fuel subsidy policy, evidently led to serious malpractices and huge leakages from the Treasury for several years, but this programme was sustained without remedial modification until subsidy values rose astronomically beyond 20% of federal budgets between 20112012! Clearly, government cannot still be in denial that lower Naira exchange rates will invariably instigate higher fuel prices and provoke public demand for some relief.

Historically, government would

Ultimately, the odious, regressive impulsive cycle of further devaluation and higher fuel prices will persist to finally lay the economy and its people prostrate

first devalue the Naira, and then belatedly recognize the adverse impact on fuel price! For example, the most recent increase in pump price to N145/ litre was certainly not caused by prevailing depressed crude oil prices below $50/barrel! Indeed, it is rather surreal that while Nigerians currently groan under the burden of higher fuel prices, motorists abroad happily enjoy up to 50% drop in the pump price of fuel, because of low crude oil prices!

It is similarly inexplicable, that higher crude prices and the related increasing dollar revenue should challenge the Naira exchange rate, and also pump up fuel prices; sadly, this is an unusual case of heads they win and tails we lose! The question, is whether or not the economy is gradually been primed to take off as we are encouraged to believe by financial experts and bankers by the hike in petrol prices to N145/litre and the concurrent notice of a flexible exchange rate model which would further devalue the Naira.

Nonetheless, the N145/litre fuel price may have been designed to take advantage of low crude prices and wipe out fuel subsidy, with Naira exchange rate of N197/$.

However, the NNPC GMD’s

Business & Economy ‘Why Nigeria must explore non-oil options to boost economy’ markets for exports. Diversifica-

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By JONAH NWOKPOKU

hief Executive Offic erof Ed Theo Energy Limited, Fola Aguda has said Nigeria should urgently begin to explore non-oil options available for it, in order to remedy the current economic challenges occasioned by fall in crude oil prices.

Aguda made this statement while addressing newsmen ahead of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, FGBMFI annual seminar scheduled for Friday June, 10th and 11th in Lagos.

C M Y K

According to him, “Nigeria’s failure to diversify its economy from over dependence on easy money from the oil sector has exposed the national economy to extreme vulnerabilities in the face of declining oil prices. The neglect of development of other critical sectors of the economy has turned the oil boom to an oil doom.

“Economic diversification is a structured process of growing a range of and a number of outputs; either by way of diversifying products and/or practices within an economy, diversifying income sources beyond domestic economic activities, or diversifying local

tion improves microeconomic performance, faster economic growth. The plummeting global oil prices and serious revenue decline has exposed our folly as a nation and accentuated the urgent need to examine the non oil options within the Nigerian economy.”

The seminar which will take place in two stages will at separate sessions will address ‘the non-essentials for modern enterprises’ which is targeted at building capacities for SMEs and the ‘the non-oil options in the Nigerian economy ’ which is targeted at big and established corporations."

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