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P. 22 

NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I * * FRIDAY 15 MAY 2015 I VOL. 13, NO 96 I NGN300 

Court stops further 

processes relating to 

FRC new draft code 

The Federal High Court, 

Ikoyi, on Thursday stopped 

further processes relating 

to the new draft code by the 

Financial Reporting Council of 

Nigeria (FRCN). 

FRCN had released a draft 

corporate governance code on 

April 15, 2015 with a 30-day 

window for stakeholders to 

comment on the 133-page document, 

ahead of a planned public 

hearing on May 19, 2015. 

Justice O.E Abang, the presiding 

judge, at the hearing of the ex 

parte application for injunction 

brought by Timothy Adesiyan 

and nine others against the 

minister of trade and investment 

and three others, granted the 

applicants’ ex parte application 

and ordered that the defendants 

should maintain status quo and 

suspend further deliberations, 

considerations, proceedings, 

processes and all actions relating 

to the draft/proposed National 

Code of Corporate Governance 

(NCCG) 2015, pending the hearing 

of the motion on notice for 

injunction. 

The judge heard the arguments 

of the plaintiffs’ counsel, 

Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) in favour 

of the ex parte application and 

thereafter gave a well-considered 

bench ruling wherein he 

granted the applicants’ ex parte 

application. 

Subsequently, the suit was 

adjourned to May 20, 2015, for 

hearing of the plaintiffs’ motion 

on notice for injunction. 

The originating processes 

were filed on Monday, May 11, 

Inside 

Continues on page 4 

News 6 

Comment 10 

Editorial 12 

Companies & Markets 13 

Entertainment 20 

Health Business 29 

Money 33 

City File 35 

CITN 38 

Nigeria to lead African hospitality 

market with 10.5% revenue gain 

As hotel investors go for cheap funds 

OBINNA EMELIKE 

The Nigerian hospitality 

market is set 

to overtake the rest 

of Africa as the fastest-growing 

over the 

next five years, with a projected 

compound annual gain in room 

revenue of 10.5 percent. 

This is despite the challenges 

faced in the past one year, resulting 

in declining revenue. 

Beyond the projected gain in 

room revenue, Pricewaterhouse- 

Coopers (PwC’s) Hospitality 

Outlook 2015 report, which forecast 

the revenue gain, also revealed 

that the number of hotel 

rooms in Nigeria is expected to 

more than double in the next five 

years, with much of the growth 

taking place in Lagos. 

Comparing the Nigerian hotel 

market and South Africa which 

has enjoyed its third consecutive 

year of strong revenue growth 

with a 9.1perecnt advance, following 

two years of double-digit 

L-R: Wole Soyinka, special guest; Bola Ahmed Tinubu, APC national leader; Adulphus Karibi-Whyte, chairman of the occasion; 

Judith Amechi, first lady, Rivers State, and Tonye Cole, book presenter, during the public presentation of the book, 

‘Dynamics of Change, the Amechi Years’, in Lagos, yesterday. 

Pic by Pius Okeosisi 

gains, the Hospitality Outlook 

2015 report (the 5th edition in 

this series), noted that virtually 

all of the gain forecast in the Nigerian 

hotel market is expected 

during the latter three years, 

between 2015-2019. 

In line with the projections, 

the hotel industry in Nigeria, 

which has attracted significant 

investment of over US$3 billion 

in the past five years, is getting 

stronger with the opening of 

more properties as indigenous 

investors, partnerships and 

foreign direct investments 

take advantage of the rebasing 

of the economy to grow their 

businesses. 

According to Nikki Forster, 

Hospitality Industry Leader for 

PwC, Southern Africa, increase 

in investments in the sector 

would continue on account of 

growth in travel and tourism. 

“Growth in travel and tourism 

is also expected to boost growth 

in the accommodation industry 

across the African continent 

during the next five years”, 

Forster says. 

The PwC’s Hospitality Outlook 

2015 report, which studied 

four key hospitality markets in 

Africa, comprising South Africa, 

Nigeria, Mauritius, and Kenya 

also revealed that within the 

Continues on page 4 

Sustained growth, returns position Nigeria 

as next frontier for institutional investments 

CHUKA UROKO 

Notwithstanding Nigeria’s 

very low ranking 

for ease of doing 

business, sustained 

growth and high return on investment 

have positioned the 

country as the next frontier for 

institutional investments. 

Nigeria’s institutional investment 

market, among the core 

asset classes like equities and 

fixed income, has been impressive 

in the last decade, with 

large domestic and international 

institutional investors making 

investments in different sectors 

of its economy. 

Notably, Actis, an international 

equity investment firm 

focused on emerging markets, 

and African Capital Alliance 

(ACA), also an international 

institutional equity investment 

firm, already have strong footholds 

in Nigeria, especially in the 

real estate space. 

“Strong demographic profile, 

an emerging middle class, high 

consumer spending power, are 

some of the market fundamentals 

that we as investors find 

compelling, explained Michael 

Chu’di Ejekam, Director, Real 

Estate at Actis, in an interview 

with BusinessDay in Lagos. 

Actis has made considerable 

investment in Nigeria, especially 

in retail and office space, such as 

the The Palms Shopping Mall in 

Lekki, Lagos which it has exited, 

the Ikeja City Mall, Abuja Jabi 

Lake Mall, still under construction, 

and The Heritage Place 

also under construction in Ikoyi, 

Lagos. 

ACA has similarly invested in 

different sectors of the economy 

and, in real estate, it has footprints 

in retail, office space 

Continues on page 4

2 

Friday 15 May 2015

Friday 15 May 2015 

3


4 BUSINESS DAY 

NEWS 

Court stops further processes relating to FRC... 

Continued from page 1 

2015 in respect of the above suit. 

BusinessDay had exclusively 

reported last week 

about the fears being expressed 

by business leaders 

and investors that the policy 

document could wield excessive 

powers over Nigeria’s 

already challenged private 

sector, following the deadline 

for public comments which 

expired yesterday. 

According to comments received 

exclusively by Business- 

Day on conditions of anonymity, 

the NCCG, according to 

them, may swing the country 

from one extreme of weak corporate 

governance to another 

extreme of excessive regulation. 

The NCCG is the government’s 

comprehensive response 

to the weak corporate 

governance environment in 

Africa’s largest economy, identified 

as a main cause of the 

2008/2009 banking sector crisis. 

The document promises to 

harmonise existing codes in 

the banking, pension, insurance 

and other sectors into a 

unified code of rules for board 

compositions, audit processes, 

and shareholder protection, 

among others, which will be 

regulated by the Financial 

Reporting Council of Nigeria 

(FRC). 

But the business leaders say 

the convergence of the codes 

into a one-size-fits-all would 

miss out on industry specific 

details or contradict existing 

industry policies. 

Babatunde Fashola (4th r), governor, Lagos State; Femi Okunnu (2nd l), the author and former federal commissioner for works and 

housing; his wife Lateefat Okunnu (3th l); Akinwunmi Ambode (2nd r), Lagos State governor elect; Ade Ipaye (r), attorney-general 

and commissioner for justice; Olu Akinkugbe (l) and Alaba Oniru (3rd r), during the public presentation of Contemporary State 

Land Matters in Nigeria: the Case of Lagos State by Femi Okunnu, at the Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island, Lagos, yesterday. 

For instance, the draft code 

prescribes a mandatory rotation 

for company external auditors 

every five years, which 

shortens the existing 10-year 

rule adopted by the Central 

Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the 

banking system. 

More so, the mandatory rule 

would diminish audit quality, 

make financial reporting less 

reliable, and add costs for investors 

arising from the loss at 

fixed intervals of an auditor’s 

cumulative knowledge of the 

companies they audit. 

On board compositions, 

investors and business leaders 

are of the view that a minimum 

eight-member board may be 

onerous, especially for smaller 

private companies who would 

find it difficult to comply. 

In addition, they further 

argue that the code may be 

impractical in its requirement 

for directors not to sit 

on boards of more than one 

company in the same industry, 

given the typical case of business 

groups having more than 

one operating company in the 

same industry. 

“This is unreflective of the 

business environment in Nigeria”, 

says the CEO of a business 

consultancy who declined to 

be named, suggesting that the 

draft NCCG largely mirrored 

after the UK’s FRC rules, did 

not fully capture the peculiarities 

of the Nigerian business 

environment. 

The NCCG also rules for 

joint audit of public listed 

companies, in a bid to enforce 

patronage of indigenous audit 

firms in line with Nigeria’s local 

content policy. 

But the big four audit firms 

in Nigeria say this is a “nonissue”, 

suggesting that the 

draft rule is an attempt to 

break an oligopoly that audits 

approximately 90 percent of 

listed companies in Nigeria – 

according to UK-based NEXUS 

Strategic Partnerships. 

“The big four audit firms in 

Nigeria are locally registered 

and are 100 percent owned 

and managed by Nigerians”, 

says a reliable audit industry 

source. 

“Due to the international 

nature of accounting, these 

firms are affiliated to international 

networks and bring this 

to bear for the benefit of the 

Nigerian economy.” 

However, stakeholders have 

said this is putting the cart 

before the horse, suggesting 

that the policy document is a 

unilateral product of the FRC, 

void of sufficient contributions 

and engagements with the 

business community. 

Furthermore, with the coming 

of a new government on 

May 29, 2015, it would appear 

that the FRC is seeking to hurriedly 

enact the regulation. 

Business leaders and other 

stakeholders are now seeking a 

six-month period for adequate 

engagement to “achieve the 

right level of discourse for 

such a far-reaching document.” 

Nigeria to lead African hospitality market... 


forecast period stay unit nights 

average (total available rooms 

for sale in a hotel per night) are 

projected to increase at a 6.6 

percent compound annual rate 

to 2.2 million in 2019 from 1.6 

million in 2014. 

While growth in available 

rooms is expected to continue 

rising by 10.2 percent in 2015 

and at a 20.7 percent compound 

annual rate through to 2019, 

hoteliers are making frantic 

efforts at taking advantage of 

these projections by looking 

for credible partnerships and, 

especially cheap funds to build 

more hotels. 

To partake in the projected 

growth, Magnus Okpeta, a hotelier, 

said that going by about 

23 percent bank interest rate, 

most hospitality investors are 

rather embracing cheap funds 

from equity firms and mutual 

partnership formula of some 

hospitality brands, especially 

Swiss International, African 

Sun and Golden Tulip to fund 

new hotel projects across the 

country. 

Okpeta however observed 

that the major brands are likely 

going to take advantage of the 

projected growth than indigenous 

hotels because of their 

strong brand appeal, ownership, 

and connections. 

“You need from N5 billion to 

build a three -star hotel. But the 

money does not come easy if you 

are borrowing from any Nigerian 

bank. The pressure to service 

and repay the loans at 23 percent 

interest rate is often difficult. 

Samuel Oloyede, a hotelier 

said, “The hospitality sector 

here needs intervention fund to 

enable indigenous investors to 

compete in delivering standard 

hotels that will impact room 

rates.” 

However, over 10 branded 

hotels are expected to open 

between 2015 and 2019 across 

the country, to increase the 

number of available rooms that 

is expected to impact PwC’s 

projected growth in compound 

annual gain in room revenue. 

Sustained growth, returns position Nigeria as... 


and hospitality. “We’ve seen 

opportunities in this market 

and we often deploy capital to 

leverage those opportunities 

for investment returns”, an official 

of the company told this 

reporter. 

In its Q1 report on the real 

estate market in Africa, Broll 

Property Services, noted that 

in recent periods, Nigeria 

has emerged as an appealing 

destination for institutional 

investors worldwide, explaining 

that this rising interest has 

been centred on the country’s 

strong demographic profile, 

impressive GDP growth rates 

and inherent opportunities, 

due to infrastructure deficits. 

Though Africa, especially 

Nigeria’s, infrastructure currently 

lags well behind that 

of the rest of the world, with 

some 30 percent in a dilapidated 

condition, it has vast 

business opportunities as a 

growing infrastructure consumer 

market. 

Bolaji Edun, Broll Nigeria 

CEO, recalls that institutional investment 

into the real estate sec- 

tor was initially sluggish, mainly 

because of the shortage of investment 

grade assets, meaning that 

investors needed to develop to 

make an entry into the market. 

According to Edun, it was 

not until 2004 when The Palms 

was developed at the cost 

of $40 million, that investor 

confidence and investment 

awareness gradually grew. He 

observed that the developer’s 

exiting of the investment in 

2007 demonstrated inherent 

opportunities and strong 

returns, thereby encouraging 

other investors to enter the 

market through their own 

developments. 

“From the initial investments 

in retail, the sector now 

boasts investments in hospitality 

and office properties 

from private equity, domestic 

institutional investors and 

Africa-focused property funds”, 

he said, adding, “as a result, the 

success of the primary market 

and a strong development 

pipeline has led to an influx 

of new global investors and 

has opened up the way for the 

secondary investment market, 

leading to what could be a 

potentially vibrant market for 

quality asset acquisitions”. 

Side by side with the inherent 

opportunities, are challenges 

which the Broll Report says 

lack of market data remains a 

major issue, as investors would 

need information about the 

market in general to guide their 

investment decision making. 

STANBIC IBTC MUTUAL FUNDS 

08/05/2015 

Stanbic IBTC Nigeria Equity Fund 

Offer price N8,957.42 

Bid price N 8,806.01 

Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 

Offer price N0.91 

Bid price N0.90 

Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed 

Investment Fund 



Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 

Offer price 

Bid price 

Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 

N1,764.05 

N1,748.80 



Annualized Return 9.99% 

Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 



Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 

Closing NAV Per Unit N106.71 

Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 

Yield 3.37% 06/05/15 

www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com 

“Past performance is not an 

Te1: +234 1 2801266 

indication of future performance”


5



NEWS 

Consumer abuse: FG intensifies 

efforts to check business’ impunity 

…as CPC inaugurates first audio-visual studio for consumers 

The Federal Government 

has 

moved a step 

further in its efforts 

to check the 

prevalent business practice 

of consumer abuse 

with impunity with the inauguration 

of the first inhouse 

audio-visual studio 

at the Consumer Protection 

Council (CPC). 

Olusegun Aganga, the 

minister of industry, trade 

and investment, who commissioned 

the studio in 

Abuja on Thursday, said 

apart from the fact that the 

project would help increase 

consumer awareness, business 

operators would also 

learn to respect consumer 

rights more since it would 

be easier for aggrieved 

consumers to name and 

shame fraudulent operators 

through the various CPC 

studios across the zonal offices 

in Nigeria. 

He noted that whilst the 

advent of industries in new 

2015 budget: NDDC spends N10.4bn on overhead 

Despite Nigeria’s 

dwindling monoeconomy, 

occasioned 

by fall in 

global oil prices and further 

devaluation of the Nigerian 

currency, the Niger Delta 

Development Commission 

(NDDC) has budgeted N10.4 

billion on overheads for the 

2015 budget. 

This was contained in the 

report of the Senate Committee 

on Niger Delta, chaired by 

James Manager on Thursday 

and approved by the upper 

areas like telecommunications, 

information technology 

and online sales had 

brought new challenges 

for consumers as regards 

getting full value for their 

money, the current management 

of CPC was resolute 

in its drive towards 

addressing critical issues of 

abuses across all sectors of 

the Nigerian economy. 

Aganga said: “The Nigerian 

market, like all other 

markets in the world, is not 

perfect. I am aware that 

consumers contend on a 

daily basis with issues arising 

from sharp practices of 

dubious businesses and the 

abuse of consumer rights 

by producers and service 

providers. The advent of 

industries in new areas like 

telecommunication, information 

technology and online 

sales poses entirely new 

concerns for consumers. 

“Economies are dynamic, 

and when they grow 

and add new sectors and 

legislative chamber during 

plenary. 

The Senate approved a 

budget of N299.5 billion for 

the commission. 

Recall that at the 2015 

induction for lawmakers of 

the 8th National Assembly, 

president-elect, Muhammadu 

Buhari, decried the 

overhead cost in this year’s 

national budget and solicited 

the cooperation of legislators 

in checkmating the trend. 

While personnel and 

overhead expenditure represent 

8.9 percent of the total 

expenditure in the NDDC 

budget, capital expenditure 

technologies like we have 

seen in the last couple of 

years, the need for change 

in people’s behavioural 

patterns becomes imperative. 

This underscores the 

important role of CPC in 

enforcing compliance of 

businesses with consumer 

protection laws and educating 

consumers to be assertive 

in the marketplace. It is, 

therefore, gratifying that the 

current administration in 

CPC is resolute in its determination 

to drastically increase 

the level of consumer 

awareness in the country 

and check the impunity of 

businesses.” 

Speaking during the 

event, Dupe Atoki, the director-general, 

CPC, said 

that consumer education 

was a core mandate of the 

council, adding that the 

CPC had already developed 

innovative awareness strategies 

towards addressing 

the problem of consumer 

ignorance and apathy. 

President Goodluck Jonathan (l) receiving visiting President Boni Yayi of Benin Republic at the Presidential Villa in 

Abuja on Thursday. 

NAN 

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja 

represents 0.6 percent. 

Breakdown of the N299.5 

billion indicates that while 

N16,133,377,133 (representing 

5.4 percent) is for 

personnel expenditure; 

overhead expenditure gets 


3.5 percent); projects 

(development) expenditure 

takes N271,089,998,023 

(representing 90.5 percent), 

just as N1,879,769,000 (0.6 

percent) is for capital expenditure. 

Highlights of the N10.4 

billion overhead cost shows 

that the NDDC headquarters 

will get N3.6 billion, chair- 

FG sells N60bn 

bonds, yields dip 

across all tenors 


sold bonds 

worth a total of N60 

billion ($302 million) at lower 

yields on all tenors at an auction 

on Wednesday, the Debt 

Management Office said on 

Thursday, reports Reuters. 

The debt office said 

in a statement that investors 

submitted total bids of 

N183.34 billion compared 

with N184.72 billion at the 

last auction. 

The lower yields reflected 

the trend in the secondary 

market, which remain at 

below 14 percent following a 

sharp rise immediately after 

the country’s peaceful elections 

in March. The 5-year, 

10-year and 20-year tenors 

each received a total of N20 

billion, the debt office said. 

The 5-year paper was 

sold at 13.84 percent, lower 

than 14.44 percent the debt 

attracted at the last month’s 

auction. 

The 10-year bond fetched 

a yield of 13.48 percent 

against 14.22 percent last 

month, while the 20-year 

debt attracted a yield of 13.88 

percent compared with 14.45 

percent last month. 

man’s and managing director’s 

offices are to spend 

N227 million and N457 million, 

respectively, for the 

same purpose. 

In the same token, overhead 

for office of executive 

director, finance and administration 

is N252 million; 

Abuja Liaison Office (N133 

million); executive director, 

project (N252 million). 

Also, the liaison offices of 

the nine oil-producing states 

of Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, 

Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, 

Ondo and Rivers are to spend 

N766,122,097 as overhead for 

this year. 

Nigerian prisons to be decongested as 

Jonathan signs criminal justice bill into law 

ELIZABETH ARCHIBONG 

Nigerian prisons 

will now be easily 

decongested as 

President Goodluck 

Jonathan has signed the 

Administration of Criminal 

Justice Bill 2015 into law. 

A persistent clog in the 

wheel of the nation’s criminal 

justice system has been 

protracted delay in trial. It 

has been noticed that sometimes 

it takes as long as 10 

years for trial in a criminal 

case to be concluded, resulting 

in prison congestion, 

with about 70 percent of 

inmates awaiting trial. 

The president’s assent to 

the bill was confirmed by his 

special adviser on media and 

publicity, Reuben Abati, in 

an interview with journalists 

on Thursday, stating that the 

president signed the document 

on Wednesday, same 

day he received the bill from 

the National Assembly. 

“The president has 

signed the Administration 

of Criminal Justice Bill 2015. 

He signed it the same day he 

received it from the National 

Assembly. With that development, 

the bill is now an 

Act,” he said. 

The bill, which was 

passed by the Senate on 

May 5, 2015, aims to abolish 

the dichotomy that presently 

exists between the Criminal 

Procedure Code (in opera- 

Skye Bank revs up retained 

earnings to scale up investments 

Skye Bank yesterday 

submitted its full 

year 2014 results to 

the Nigerian Stock 

Exchange (NSE) showing a 

significant appropriation to 

retained earnings, demonstrating 

the banks ambition 

to play and dominate the tier 

1 retail banking space. 

Retained earnings, which 

are an indicator of a company’s 

plans for growth in 

the future, was grown 70.6 

percent from N19.73 billion 

in the 2013 financial year to 

N33.7 billion in 2014. The 

numbers helped swell the 

bank’s total equity level to 

N132.26 billion from N121.4 

billion, a 9 percent rise. 

The IFRS compliant results 

show operating income 

was up marginally to N69.33 

billion from N68.5 billion indicating 

increasing efficiency 

in cost management. This 

was on the back of a 2.4% 

rise in interest income from 

N105.3 billion to N107.85 

billion. 

Interest income is an indicator 

that helps explain how 

well a bank is doing in its maturity 

transformation quest. 

The bank’s headline and 

bottom-line profits in the 

period under review were 

tempered by impairment 

charges, regulatory payments 

and higher operating cost, 

tion in Northern Nigeria) and 

the Criminal Procedure Act 

(in operation in Southern Nigeria) 

by repealing both Acts. 

It also seeks to establish 

a central criminal records 

registry with the police headquarters. 

The central criminal 

records registry system 

established in Part 2, Section 

16 of the bill will serve as a 

veritable database of all offenders 

in the country. 

The registry system will 

also provide a snapshot to 

courts and prosecutors, as 

regards whether an accused 

person is already on the 

registry, thus aiding in the 

administration of criminal 

justice. In its part 44, the bill 

introduces the non-custodial 

sentences including 

community sentence orders 

and probation for minor offences. 

It also limits the time 

spent for the remand of suspects 

in custody, without 

arraignment, to a maximum 

of 14 days before a review of 

such cases by a magistrate. 

This provision also limits 

the number of times that the 

detention order of 14 days 

can be obtained. Where, 

on the third occasion, the 

detaining authority cannot 

show why the suspect should 

be detained without cause, 

then the suspect may be 

released from custody, with 

or without application from 

the suspect or his counsel. 

including cost of acquisition 

of Mainstreet Bank, among 

other costs. These muscleddown 

pre-tax profit of 46.7% 

from N19.65 billion to N9.74 

billion. 

The bank has over the 

last year grown assets 27% 

from N1.12 trillion to N1.42 

trillion, helping to provide a 

stronger cover for deposit liabilities. 

The metric improved 

to 1.5 from 1.3. This is as the 

bank has grown deposits 

15.7% to N952.3 billion from 

N823.3 billion. 

A robust deposit base 

is an indication of a bank’s 

strong marketing ability especially 

in the area of attracting 

and mobilising deposits. 

The Group’s liabilities 

consisting of deposit base 

and other accruals rose to 

N1.29 trillion during the 

period compared to N995 

billion achieved a year ago. 

Speaking on the results, 

the bank’s group managing 

director/chief executive officer, 

Timothy Oguntayo, said 

that in spite of the challenging 

operating environment, 

the bank carefully grew its 

risk assets portfolio, attained 

a 15.7% growth in deposits, 

supported customers in critical 

and productive sectors of 

the economy, and declared a 

fairly decent profit.


7



NEWS 

PIB: Reps approve establishment of 

petroleum host communities’ fund, 3 others 

…approve 7.5% as host community fund 

KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja 

The House of Representatives 

on 

Thursday approved 

the establishment 

of the 

petroleum host communities’ 

fund (PHCF) in the Petroleum 

Industry Bill (PIB) 

being considered in the 

Committee of the Whole. 

Clause 116 provides for 

the establishment of the 

fund, clause 9 provides for 

the establishment of the Petroleum 

Technical Bureau 

(PTB), clause 43 provides 

for the establishment of 

Downstream Petroleum 

Regulatory Agency while 

clause 73 provides for the 

establishment of Petroleum 

Technology Development 

Fund. 

The PTB, according to 

Unit holders of 

VETGRIF30 to get final 

distribution May 28 

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE 

Vetiva Griffin 30 

Exchange Traded 

Fund (ETF) has 

concluded plans to 

make payment of final distribution 

for the 10-month 

period ended December 31, 

2014. Consequently, a final 

distribution at the rate of 

10 kobo per unit of the ETF 

will be paid to unit holders, 

whose names appear in the 

register of unit holders of the 

ETF as at 5p.m on Thursday, 

May 28, 2015. 

“To enable our transfer 

agent (Central Securities 

Clearing System Plc) prepare 

for the payment of the 

final distribution, the ETF’s 

register of unit holders will 

be closed by 5p.m on Thursday, 

28 May, 2015”, Damilola 

Ajayi, managing director/ 

CEO, Vetiva fund manager 

said in a statement, noting 

that payment date for unit 

holders will be Monday, June 

01, 2015. 

Ajayi had explained that 

Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange 

Traded Fund represents a 

convenient and efficient way 

for investors to have access to 

the top 30 most capitalised 

and liquid stocks on the Nigerian 

Stock Exchange, both 

from a potential capital appreciation 

and distribution 

income points of view. 

The VG30 ETF is the first 

and only equity-based ETF 

to be listed on the Nigerian 

Stock Exchange following 

the listing of the new gold Exchange 

Traded Fund (a commodity 

based ETF) in 2011 

(in which Vetiva Securities 

Limited acted as sponsoring 

broker). 

the bill, is to develop exploration 

strategies and 

portfolio management for 

the exploration of unassigned 

frontier acreages in 

Nigeria as well as stimulate 

the interest of local and 

international oil and gas 

companies in exploration 

of the frontier basins in Nigeria 

to increase Nigeria’s 

petroleum resources. 

The House, however, 

stepped down the consideration 

of clause 117 of the PIB 

which provides that the fund 

“shall be utilised for the development 

of the economic 

and social infrastructure of 

the communities hosting 

petroleum fields in the petroleum 

industry.” 

The Petroleum Technology 

Development Fund is to 

be used for training of qualified 

Nigerian graduates, 

professionals, technicians 

Electricity: Nigeria loses 1,800mw to vandals, says Igali 

As Nigerians groan 

under epileptic 

power supply, 

Godknows Igali, 

the permanent secretary, 

Ministry of Power, has 

disclosed that the country 

loses nearly 2,000 megawatts 

of electricity to activities 

of vandals in less 

than two months. 

This comes as the Senate 

Committee on Power 

and Steel has summoned 

the director general, Bureau 

of Public Procurement 

(BPP), Emeka Ezeh, 

and other heads of agencies 

and parastatals under 

the ministry to explain the 

reason behind the poor 

supply of electricity across 

and craftsmen in the field 

of engineering, geology, science 

and management and 

other related fields. 

The lawmakers also adopted 

clause 111 which 

provides that the net surplus 

revenue recoverable 

from a petroleum products 

marketing company shall 

be calculated based on the 

volume of the affected products 

sold on zonal basis and 

to the amount by which the 

uniform prices at which 

the products were sold exceeded, 

or were less than 

the prices of those products 

prevailing immediately before 

fixing of the uniform 

prices of the products. 

According to clause 112 

of the bill, PPMC board is 

empowered to impose 10 

per centum of the amount 

unpaid per month on any 

operator who fails to pay 

the surplus revenue within 

21 days. 

the nation. 

Igali, who appeared before 

the Senate committee 

to answer questions bordering 

on poor electricity, 

blamed the situation on 

vandalism. 

Speaking before the 

Philip Aduda-led committee, 

Igali, on Thursday, 

hinted that 200 vandals 

have been arrested within 

the last two months, 

adding that Nigeria is left 

with 1,800 megawatts from 

about 4,500 megawatts it 

reached earlier in April. 

He said: “We have been 

able to explain to electricity 

consumers that the 

current power outrage 

is as a result of high rate 

of pipeline vandalism. 

They vandalise both the 

crude pipelines and gas 

On the reporting standard, 

the House adopted 

Clause 114 which provides 

that all petroleum product 

importers including National 

Oil Company and petroleum 

products marketing 

companies shall prior to but 

not later than 21 days of each 

importation, report details 

of all petroleum products 

imported into Nigeria to the 

Equalisation Fund including 

the quantities, date of delivery 

and place of discharge. 

It also provides that all 

licensed petroleum product 

storage facilities, including 

storage facilities belonging to 

National Oil Company shall 

on monthly basis, deliver to 

the board, the log of product 

movements into and out of 

the facilities and returns of 

bridging and equalisation 

allowances collected from 

petroleum products marketing 

companies and remitted 

to the board. 

Januario Quibato (l), Angola ambassador to Nigeria, and Chris Ndulue, Arik Air managing 

director, during the visit of the ambassador to Arik on Thursday. 


pipelines. When the crude 

pipelines are vandalised 

because people want to 

steal crude, and condense 

some, that affects the gas. 

“But the more sinister 

one, which is with a lot of 

pain, is when people deliberately 

blow up pipes written 

clearly ‘gas pipeline’. 

They blow them up almost 

every day. They blow them 

up and that denies the 

power plants some gas. 

“Unfortunately, our 

country depends on a 

lot of gas. We have hydro 

pipelines at Shiroro, Jebba 

and Kainji (dams). 

“Security agencies 

have arrested 200 people 

vandalising gas pipelines 

in the last two months, 

and they are interrogating 

them.” 

Nigeria to start exporting 

seafarers soon, says NIMASA DG 


Nigeria will soon 

start to export 

seafarers to other 

countries of 

the world, Ziakede Patrick 

Akpobolokemi, the director 

general, Nigerian Maritime 

Administration and 

Safety Agency (NIMASA) 

said on Thursday. 

Akpobolokemi, who 

was speaking against the 

backdrop of the newly approved 

Maritime University, 

also stated that not less 

than 2,500 Nigerians have 

benefited from the Federal 

Government’s scholarship 

scheme set to train seafarers 

by NIMASA. 

These Nigerians are currently 

undergoing training 

in different fields all over 

the world as part of government 

efforts to boost the 

nation’s seafarers’ capacity. 

The programme, he 

said, is expected to place 

Oil marketers debunk 

NNPC 300 ships on high 

seas laden with fuel claim 

OLUSOLA BELLO 

Oil marketers have 

debunked claims 

by the Nigerian 

National Petroleum 

Corporation (NNPC) 

that it has about 300 vessels 

carrying about 1.2 billion 

litres of fuel on the sea, saying 

that the shortages in fuel 

supply would continue for 

as long as marketers are still 

being owed. 

They claimed that they 

are still being owed over 

N200 billion in spite of the 

fact that the Federal Government 

had paid about 

N154 billion to them for both 

subsidy and interest on the 

capitals they took from the 

banks. They said because of 

the huge outstanding, they 

are not able to pay banks 

and those who supply the 

marketers with products 

have also lost confidence 

in them and because of this 

they are unable to bring in 

the product. 

Olufemi Olawore, executive 

secretary of Major 

Oil Marketers Association 

of Nigeria (MOMAN), said 

although all the members of 

the association have gotten 

the latest payment made 

by the Federal Government, 

another critical sector supply 

segment which is Depot Petroleum 

Marketers Association 

(DAPPMA) is still being 

owed huge outstanding and 

unless this is resolved fuel 

crisis would linger on for a 

long time. 

He said there are currently 

about 6,000 tankers 

in Lagos trying to lift products 

about at the same time 

hence the gridlock that is 

being experienced in Apapa 

and environs. 

Pipeline carrying 

Nigeria’s Bonny 

Light crude for 

export shut down 

The Trans Nigeria Pipeline 

that carries Nigeria’s 

Bonny Light 

crude oil to an export terminal 

has been shut down 

since May 12, a Shell spokeswoman 

said on Thursday, 

reports Reuters. 

Neither the reason for the 

shut down nor its expected 

duration was immediately 

clear. Traders have said Bonny 

Light loadings have been 

delayed by up to four days 

over the past week. 

Boko Haram: 

Maiduguri attack 

death toll hit 12 

Nigeria in a better position 

to export seafarers, joining 

the league of countries 

like the Philippines, which 

generates about $6 billion 

United States annually 

exporting seafarers. 

“This is unprecedented 

in the history of this country. 

No government in this 

nation has been able to 

achieve this feet. 

“I promise that in a couple 

of years, Nigeria should 

be able to export seafarers 

to other countries all over 

the world”, he said. 

Fielding questions from 

journalists in Abuja on the 

construction of the permanent 

site of the newly approved 

Nigerian Maritime 

University, Okerenkoko, 

Warri South West Local 

Government Area of Delta 

State, Akpobolokemi noted 

that already construction 

of its infrastructure which 

will be the best in the industry 

has commenced. 

At least six civilians 

and six members of a 

youth vigilante group 

were killed in an attack by 

Boko Haram militants on 

Maiduguri, two military 

sources said on Thursday, 

reports Reuters. 

The attack was reported 

late on Wednesday in Maiduguri, 

the capital of Borno 

State. One of the sources 

said the vigilantes in the 

so-called civilian joint taskforce 

died after they mistook 

female suicide bombers for 

residents fleeing the Boko 

Haram raid. 

However, Wednesday’s 

assault shows Boko Haram 

is still capable of pulling off 

bloody assaults. 

Defence spokesman, 

Major General Chris Olukolade, 

said the insurgents 

began their attack on the 

outskirts of Maiduguri with 

the detonation of two female 

suicide bombers in Ladi 

Kayamla area.


9



COMMENT 

KOFI ANNAN 

Annan is the former secretarygeneral 

of the United Nations and a 

recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Harmony is a universal 

aspiration. The 

English word comes 

from the Greek harmonia, 

meaning 

concord. In China too, I am told 

there is an expression – “Harmony 

is the beautiful way” – that dates 

back to the Analects of Confucius. 

In Africa also, we have a proverb – 

“In harmony, everything succeeds”. 

From these references, we can 

see that the search for harmony 

is an eternal human quest, but 

it has often been frustrated by 

man’s thirst for wealth and power. 

The Charter of the United Nations 

provides that the organisation shall 

be a centre for harmonising the 

actions of nations. As secretarygeneral, 

I felt that my role was to 

try to maintain or bring harmony 

among states, and indeed within 

countries that had fallen into 

violent conflict. So I have gained 

some experience in the difficult art 

of creating harmony among states 

and communities. From that experience, 

I have arrived at the conviction 

that harmony is grounded on 

three, mutually-supporting pillars: 

peace and security; sustainable 

and inclusive development; and 

human rights and the rule of law. 

I will say a little more about each 

of these pillars of harmony and 

why I believe that they are the 

foundation of successful societies 

even though I recognize that 

every society has its own unique 

characteristics. 

First, peace and security, without 

which there can be no harmony. 

In historical terms, the world 

has seldom been as peaceful. We 

have not had a war between major 

powers in decades. The world is 

I firmly believe that 

there can be no lasting 

harmony without 

peace and security, 

sustainable and inclusive 

development 

and the respect for 

human rights and the 

rule of law 

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Towards a more harmonious world order 

ever more orderly. Life expectancy 

is rising around the world. By and 

large, we are far less likely to die 

violently than our ancestors. 

Despite this progress, we live 

in uncertain times. The familiar 

contours of the international order 

are shifting. In the western world, 

the financial debacle of 2007-2008 

created a sense of crisis, which allied 

to the lengthy and costly wars 

in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 

conflict in Ukraine have led to calls 

for disengagement and retrenchment. 

At the same time, ancient 

civilisations like China and India 

are reclaiming their historic place 

in world affairs. Today, China is 

the world’s biggest economy based 

on purchasing power parity. Asia 

as a whole is the world’s richest 

and fastest-growing continent. It 

is also home to more than half of 

the world’s population. 

These tectonic shifts in wealth 

and demographics will have profound 

geopolitical consequences. 

Yet it is increasingly obvious that, 

more than ever, international 

cooperation is necessary if we 

are to manage these changes in 

the world order. Let us recognize 

that these changes have brought 

challenges for the Asia region as 

well. Asia faces numerous threats 

to its own peace and security: the 

resurgence of nationalism; ethnic 

and religious tensions; territorial 

disputes, including between 

states with nuclear weapons; 

and competition for military preeminence. 

This time of change 

is fraught with risks that must 

be carefully managed. That will 

require wisdom and moderation 

on all sides. 

The second pillar of a harmonious 

world is sustainable and 

inclusive development. The world 

has created more wealth in the last 

two centuries than ever before in 

the history of mankind, improving 

the lives of billions of people in 

the process. But it is becoming increasingly 

obvious that economic 

development can have huge social 

and environmental costs that must 

be addressed. 

This is a global challenge, but 

China is at the heart of it, having 

achieved extraordinary economic 

growth over the last thirty-five 

years. Never before in human history 

has a country grown so fast and 

lifted so many of its people out of 

poverty. China has also helped the 

rest of the developing world through 

its demand for raw materials and its 

international investments, much of 

which has been directed towards 

my own continent of Africa. Indeed, 

China has contributed enormously 

to the achievement of the MDGs, 

mainly through its domestic growth 

and poverty reduction, but also 

through its impact on the rest of the 

world’s growth. 

But that spectacular economic 

achievement has come at a cost, 

namely income inequality, which is 

now one of the highest in the world, 

and pollution, with major consequences 

on the environment and 

public health. China is now taking 

measures to address both problems. 

This is vital because to be sustainable, 

economic growth will have to 

benefit everyone and be protective 

of the environment. 

I come now to the third pillar – 

the respect for human rights and the 

rule of law. International relations 

have often been a tense contest 

between international law and 

power politics. Yet all countries have 

recognised that a global rules-based 

system is vital for harmony. Indeed, 

one of the problems of the last few 

decades is that so many powers have 

selectively applied and respected 

international law. 

Regarding human rights, there 

is a common misunderstanding in 

many developing countries that, 

somehow, these are Western luxuries 

that must be sacrificed for de- 

velopment. Yet history, and even 

current events, teaches us that this 

is a false dichotomy. 

In 1948, the General Assembly 

of the United Nations proclaimed 

the Universal Declaration of Human 

Rights as a common standard 

of achievement for all peoples and 

all nations. We see that societies 

that do not respect their citizens’ 

human rights, or where some 

categories of citizens are seen as 

above the law, are less harmonious 

and, in the long run, more fragile. 

There is an African proverb that 

teaches us that wisdom is like a 

baobab tree – no one person can 

embrace it, so a country as great 

and ancient as China has no lessons 

to receive from me. However, 

I would like to share with you some 

final thoughts and recommendations 

for your consideration. 

First, as secretary-general and 

afterwards, I have pressed for 

reform of the international system; 

this would serve all nations. 

Together with my fellow Elders, I 

have put forward proposals that 

aim to make the Security Council 

and the international financial 

institutions more democratic and 

representative. I also see value 

added with the new financial institutions 

that China is initiating, and 

from which Africa could benefit. 

They should complement existing 

global organisations. Inadequate 

infrastructure and energy are two 

of the biggest challenges to development 

in Africa. I urge existing 

and new institutions to work with 

the countries in Africa in effectively 

addressing these constraints. 

Second, I would argue that 

as the world’s most populous 

nation with its huge economy 

and global trade and investment 

networks, China’s national interest 

has changed. China therefore 

has a vital interest in a prosperous 

and peaceful world based on common 

rules on international trade, 

investment and market-based 

exchange rates. This has many 

implications for China’s domestic 

and foreign policies. 

In achieving that vital national 

interest, China may be called 

upon to play, in concert with other 

nations, a more active role in addressing 

threats to international 

peace and security, upholding 

international law and addressing 

such global challenges as climate 

change. China’s recent announcement 

on carbon emissions is a 

welcome step in that direction. 

The fate of the world might be 

decided by the decisions that are 

taken, or not, at the climate change 

conference in Paris at the end of the 

year. Chinese policy will be one of 

the keys to the success or failure of 

this great global effort to address 

one of the most important issues of 

our time. It will be an opportunity 

for China to play a leading role in 

making the world safer for all our 

children. 

Finally, and of course not abandoning 

the principle of non-interference 

in the internal affairs of 

states, China can help bring harmony 

to troubled countries where 

it maintains a strong strategic and 

commercial relationship. When a 

friend’s house is on fire, one must 

help to put out the flames. 

We are living through a period 

of historic change in world affairs. 

Power and wealth are no longer the 

prerogative of one region. Global 

institutions must adapt to these 

shifts. The twenty-first century 

might very well prove to be the 

Asian century but this should not 

mean the end of the rules-based, 

open international system that has 

served China and most of the world 

so well over recent decades. 

Thanks to domestic economic 

reforms and openness to the world, 

China has already reasserted its 

centrality in global affairs. So China 

has everything to gain by upholding 

a rules-based international 

order while also working to reshape 

that order to fit the new realities. 

That harmonious world order 

should be founded on the three 

pillars that I have just described. I 

firmly believe that there can be no 

lasting harmony without peace and 

security, sustainable and inclusive 

development and the respect for 

human rights and the rule of law. 

Being the text of an address at 

Peking University, Beijing, 22 April, 

2015. 

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Sanitising the real estate sector of stolen government loot 

ROTIMI AKINLOSE 

Akinlose, managing director, 

Residential Auctions Company (RAC), 

With just about three 

weeks to the inauguration 

of a new federal 

government in what 

has been described as a victory for 

many Nigerians who sought change 

at the helm of government in the 

country after years of misrule and 

total negligence, industry observers 

such as myself are eagerly looking 

forward to the changes that the 

new government will bring as we 

usher in the Gen. Muhammadu 

Buhari administration. 

The real estate sector will no 

doubt be one of the strategic sectors 

of the economy that stand 

to gain positively from the new 

administration, not just in terms 

of the implementation of new policies 

that will stimulate the sector 

and increase contribution to GDP 

but also in the provision of infrastructures 

such as power, roads, 

bridges, schools, hospitals, etc 

needed to improve and enhance 

the quality of life for all Nigerians. 

Perhaps most importantly for 

the real estate sector is that the 

new administration will curb the 

flow of illicit funds being chan- 

nelled into the country’s real estate 

stock by taking a hard stance against 

corruption from greedy politicians 

and civil servants who have been 

accustomed to using stolen public 

funds to finance their lavish lifestyles 

and self-aggrandizement. 

The inflow of ill-gotten public 

funds into the real estate sector 

largely through oil revenue, i.e., oil 

subsidy, has had an adverse impact 

on the sector and this is clearly 

evident in the wave of new “luxury” 

high-end residential properties that 

can be seen across the major cities 

of Nigeria such as Lagos, Abuja and 

Port Harcourt that are being sold at 

exorbitant prices. A visit to the more 

affluent parts of Lagos such as Old 

Ikoyi and New Ikoyi (Banana Island), 

Victoria Island and its annex – Oniru 

Estate and Lekki Phase 1 – leaves 

one bedazzled at the amount of 

vacant “luxury” properties on the 

market with agency signage either 

for sale or to let. 

Aside from undertaking proprietary 

developments, corrupt 

politicians and civil servants also 

“launder” ill-gotten funds through 

established real estate firms using 

real estate as a front to disguise their 

wealth. Backed by rich politicians, 

and with no bank loans to service, 

real estate developers have become 

culpable and are reluctant to drop 

property prices preferring to hold 

out on the market until they get 

highest possible price for their projects 

to the detriment of the average 

income earner whose salary cannot 

even qualify for a mortgage with 

current interest rate charges. 

The onus is therefore on the new 

administration to sanitize the real 

estate sector of illegal money and 

ensure transparency in real estate 

financing and transactions. For 

years, property prices in the country 

have been climbing higher each 

year due to the circulation of public 

funds with no hope of prices dropping 

to realistic values. Under this 

new administration, we hope that it 

will not be business as usual in the 

real estate sector if the fight against 

corruption is taken seriously and 

loopholes in the system plugged. 


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LATEEF RAJI 

Raji is special adviser, Information & 

Strategy, Lagos State. 

Nigeria’s presidentelect, 

Muhammadu 

Buhari, no doubt has 

a huge burden upon 

his shoulder. Nearly 

every sector throughout the country 

is threatened and in predicament. 

The 16-year reign of the People’s 

Democratic Party has been a matter 

of one step forward, two steps backward. 

In particular, the six-year period 

in office of President Goodluck 

Jonathan has been a huge disaster. 

It is obvious, from all indications, 

that President Jonathan ran a truly 

clueless and visionless government. 

The economy is currently in coma. 

The nation’s foreign reserves have 

been recklessly depleted by the 

spendthrift Jonathan administration. 

To worsen things, inflation and 

unemployment are at an all-time 

high while, like never before, corruption 

has become the order of the 

day in the corridors of power. When 

the president of a country affirms 

on national television that ‘stealing 

is not corruption’, you don’t need 

to be a prophet to know that such 

a country is in trouble. The truth, 

however, is that Nigeria is actually 

in trouble. 

This, of course, is why I don’t 

envy General Buhari. The Nigeria 

JOSEPH S. NYE, JR. 

Nye, a former US assistant secretary 

of defense and chairman of the 

US National Intelligence Council, 

is University Professor at Harvard University 

and a member of the World 

Economic Forum Global Agenda 

Council on the Future of Government. 

©: Project Syndicate 

Last month, the Netherlands 

hosted the Global Conference 

on Cyberspace 2015, 

which brought together 

nearly 2,000 government officials, 

academics, industry representatives, 

and others. I chaired a panel 

on cyber peace and security that 

included a Microsoft vice president 

and two foreign ministers. This 

“multi-stakeholder” conference 

was the latest in a series of efforts to 

establish rules of the road to avoid 

cyber conflict. 

The capacity to use the Internet 

to inflict damage is now well established. 

Many observers believe the 

American and Israeli governments 

were behind an earlier attack that 

destroyed centrifuges at an Iranian 

nuclear facility. Some say an Iranian 

government attack destroyed 

thousands of Saudi Aramco computers. 

Russia is blamed for denialof-service 

attacks on Estonia and 

Georgia. And just last December, US 

President Barack Obama attributed 

an attack on Sony Pictures to the 

North Korean government. 

Until recently, cyber security 

was largely the domain of a small 

that President Jonathan is leaving 

behind for Buhari is one that is in 

a complete mess, and we should 

make no mistake about it. One of 

the very daunting tasks that General 

Buhari and his team would 

have to tackle, in earnest, is that of 

unpaid salaries raging across the 

country as this could become a 

clog in the wheel of democracy in 

the country. In the last 16 years, the 

norm in budgetary planning, formulation 

and execution has been 

for recurrent expenditure to be excessively 

higher than capital outlay. 

This is not, in any way, peculiar to 

the Federal Government (FG) alone 

as nearly all the state governments 

in the country operate a similar 

unproductive budgetary planning. 

The consequence of this is the 

poor state of social and physical 

infrastructure across the country. 

Almost all federal roads are in terrible 

conditions. The inept PDP-led 

government, after 16 years in power, 

could not fix the nation’s refineries 

as we shamelessly continue to 

import refined petroleum products 

from neighbouring countries. This 

is what happens when a nation 

fails to prioritize its developmental 

needs. No nation in the world, not 

even the almighty United States of 

America touted as the number-one 

economy, could develop via the 

kind of budgetary system we have 

been operating in the past 16 years. 

High wage bills, as well as escalating 

cost of governance, remain a 

major threat to the survival of democracy 

in the country. Presently, 

aside from the various Federal Government 

agencies and parastatals 

that are being owed various degrees 

of salaries and emoluments, about 

26 state governments in the country 

owe workers salaries in arrears of 

months. The State of Osun readily 

owed pensioners. As things stand, 

the amount that stands to the credit 

of each of the states monthly is not 

enough to pay workers’ wages, and 

this means all other similar recurring 

expenditures would suffer. A 

few of them that try to embark on 

capital spending do so through 

loans from banks and bonds earlier 

negotiated, which must be serviced 

regularly at huge cost. 

With this stark reality, it has 

therefore become highly imperative 

for the incoming Buhari administration 

to take a holistic view of the 

whole issue with a view to saving 

our fledgling democracy from an 

imminent collapse. Bureaucracy 

is meant to help drive the pace of 

development in a democracy. In 

any nation where bureaucracy has 

become the problem rather than 

the solution, democracy would certainly 

become endangered. This is 

where General Buhari and his team 

need to take decisive steps to save 

the country from what has become 

a chronic and nagging problem. As 

a stop-gap measure, one is actually 

canvassing that the incoming 

Buhari administration bails out the 

states that owe excessive workers’ 

wages by offsetting such, and give 

them enough to pay pensions and 

gratuity. We have done it before. 

Unpaid salaries have always 

plagued civil administrations in Nigeria. 

Military takeover had always 

been the quick fix, but with its recurring 

nature, it’s obvious we have 

not found the solution. Yes, government 

is always the biggest employer 

of labour, but we cannot continue to 

bring idle hands into governments 

without a commensurate analysis 

of what is actually needed. This 

is to avert undue labour disputes 

that could cause needless troubles 

in the land. A sound employment 

BUSINESS DAY 

11 

COMMENT 

Unpaid salaries: A major challenge for Buhari 

comes to mind here as the state has 

been singled out for target of media 

attack on this issue. I am piqued 

about this, though, since the state is 

not the only one in this dire financial 

strait. The governor, Rauf Aregbesola, 

was, in fact, the first person to call 

national attention to this financial 

disaster in 2013, when he alleged that 

the FG had declared war on the state 

as allocation dropped to 40 percent. 

It will be difficult to query his record 

as a worker-friendly administrator. 

In some states, in order to ensure 

workers go home with something, 

salaries are paid in bits, and my lawyer 

friend told me this was a breach 

of contract. Expectedly, in most of 

the states, workers are threatening 

to go on strike in a bid to press home 

their demands for prompt payment 

of their wages. Things are not looking 

up at all. At the time of writing this, 

the April allocation has not been 

disbursed. 

With the decline in revenue accruing 

to the Federation Account 

through the sale of crude oil, some 

of the states might not be able to pay 

workers’ salaries, not to talk of paying 

arrears of pension and gratuity being 

Governments across the 

land need to cut all avenues 

that open the door 

for wastages in governance. 

Again, we have taken the 

issue of taxation too lightly 

in this country. No nation 

attains greatness without 

the adequate contributions 

of the citizens in the forms 

of taxes 

International norms in cyberspace 

community of computer experts. 

When the Internet was created in 

the 1970s, its members formed a 

virtual village; everyone knew one 

another, and together they designed 

an open system, paying little attention 

to security. 

Then, in the early 1990s, the 

World Wide Web emerged, growing 

from a few million users then 

to more than three billion today. In 

little more than a generation, the 

Internet has become the substrate 

of the global economy and governance 

worldwide. Several billion 

more human users will be added 

in the next decade, as will tens of 

billions of devices, ranging from 

thermostats to industrial control 

systems (the “Internet of Things”). 

All of this burgeoning interdependence 

implies vulnerabilities 

that governments and non-governmental 

actors can exploit. At 

the same time, we are only beginning 

to come to terms with the 

national-security implications of 

this. Strategic studies of the cyber 

domain resemble nuclear strategy 

in the 1950s: analysts are still not 

clear about the meaning of offense, 

defense, deterrence, escalation, 

norms, and arms control. 

The term “cyber war” is used 

very loosely for a wide range of 

behaviors, ranging from simple 

probes, website defacement, and 

denial of service to espionage and 

destruction. In this, it reflects dictionary 

definitions of “war,” which 

include any organized effort to “stop 

or defeat something that is viewed as 

dangerous or bad” (for example, “war 

on drugs”). 

A more useful definition of cyber 

war is any hostile action in cyberspace 

that amplifies or is equivalent 

in effect to major physical violence. 

Determining whether an action 

meets that criterion is a decision 

that only a country’s political leaders 

can make. 

There are four major categories 

of cyber threats to national security, 

each with a different time horizon 

and (in principle) different solutions: 

cyber war and economic espionage, 

which are largely associated with 

states, and cyber crime and cyber terrorism, 

which are mostly associated 

with non-state actors. The highest 

costs currently stem from espionage 

and crime, but the other two may 

become greater threats over the next 

decade than they are today. Moreover, 

as alliances and tactics evolve, the 

categories may increasingly overlap. 

During the Cold War, ideological 

competition limited US-Soviet cooperation, 

but both sides’ awareness of 

nuclear destructiveness led them to 

develop a crude code of conduct to 

avoid military confrontation. These 

basic rules of prudence included no 

direct fighting, no first use of nuclear 

weapons, and crisis communication, 

such as the Moscow-Washington 

hotline and the Accidents Measures 

and Incidents at Sea agreements. 

The first formal arms-control 

agreement was the 1963 Limited 

Test Ban Treaty, which can be considered 

mainly an environmental 

treaty. The second major agreement 

was the 1968 Nuclear Non- 

Proliferation Treaty, which aimed 

at limiting the spread of nuclear 

weapons. The US and the Soviet Union 

perceived both agreements as 

positive-sum games, because they 

involved nature or third parties. 

Similarly, the most promising 

areas for early international cooperation 

on securing cyberspace are 

problems posed by third parties 

such as criminals and terrorists. 

Russia and China have sought a 

treaty for broad United Nations 

oversight of the Internet. Though 

their vision of “information security” 

could legitimize authoritarian 

governments’ censorship, and is 

therefore unacceptable to democratic 

governments, it may be possible 

to identify and target behaviors 

that are illegal everywhere. Limiting 

all intrusions would be impossible, 

but one could start with cyber crime 

and cyber terrorism. Major states 

would have an interest in limiting 

damage by agreeing to cooperate 

on forensics and controls. 

Of course, historical analogies 

are imperfect. Obviously, cyber 

policy would still address the problem 

of unemployment. 

Equally, the idea of the FG entering 

into wage negotiations on behalf 

of the state governments should be 

discarded. Since the revenue base 

of each state differs, it would be 

inappropriate for both the FG and 

the labour unions to force state 

governments to pay their workers 

wages being paid by the FG. Each 

state government ought to employ 

and pay according to its capacity. 

Equally important is that labour unions 

must desist from the incessant 

act of demanding for an arbitrary 

wage increase. While the workforce 

deserves better pay packages, government 

has responsibilities to the 

larger society through the provision 

of social amenities and infrastructures. 

In the same vein, governments 

across the land need to cut all avenues 

that open the door for wastages 

in governance. Again, we have taken 

the issue of taxation too lightly in this 

country. No nation attains greatness 

without the adequate contributions 

of the citizens in the forms of taxes. 

We must start emphasizing our tax 

systems to make governments and 

citizens more fiscally responsible. 

Democracy is about bringing development 

to a greater number of 

the people. It is about human and 

capital development. It ceases to be 

democracy when just a few individuals 

or groups corner the commonwealth 

while the rest of the society 

languishes in abject poverty. Now 

that change has come, it is indeed 

the right time to get things done in 

the right way in order to get the right 

result. God bless Nigeria. 


comment@businessdayonline.com 

technology is very different from 

nuclear technology, particularly 

because non-governmental actors 

can exploit it much more easily. 

Nonetheless, some institutions, 

both formal and informal, already 

govern the basic functioning of the 

Internet. The US wisely plans to 

strengthen the non-governmental 

Internet Corporation for Assigned 

Names and Numbers (ICANN) by 

having it supervise the Internet “address 

book.” There is also the Council 

of Europe’s 2001 Convention on 

Cybercrime, with Interpol and Europol 

facilitating cooperation among 

national police forces. And a UN 

Group of Government Experts has 

been analyzing how international 

law relates to cyber security. 

It is likely to take longer to conclude 

agreements on contentious 

issues such as cyber intrusions for 

purposes like espionage and preparing 

the battlefield. Nonetheless, 

the inability to envisage an overall 

cyber arms-control agreement need 

not prevent progress on some issues 

now. International norms tend to 

develop slowly. It took two decades 

in the case of nuclear technology. 

The most important message of the 

recent Dutch conference was that 

massive cyber vulnerability is now 

nearing that point. 


comment@businessdayonline.com



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Tunji Adegbesan 

Eyo Ekpo 

A vote for independent 8th National Assembly 

In the past few weeks 

the leadership of 

the All Progressives 

Congress (APC) has 

engaged in intense 

search for new leadership 

of the nation’s bicameral 

legislature, the 8th National 

Assembly that will be inaugurated 

in June. The party 

appears to have arrived at a 

consensus on which zones 

to produce the next Senate 

president and speaker of the 

House of Representatives. 

There is no contention 

about the role of a ruling 

party anywhere in the word 

in the determination of 

principal officers in the parliament. 

We are aware that 

anybody who contested and 

won election on a party’s 

platform must abide by the 

decisions of that party which 

is supreme. 

To that extent, we agree 

with the view of Itse Sagay, 

a senior advocate of Nigeria 

(SAN), that you cannot win 

an election on a party platform 

and then decide to go 

on a wild goose chase, or 

become a misguided missile. 

“No, it does not happen 

that way. Any disciplined 

party member must abide 

by the rules of that party. 

There are leadership decisions 

that must be carried 

out, otherwise the party will 

collapse.” 

Zoning is a party’s matter; it 

is neither a Senate nor a House 

of Representatives’ matter. This 

is to ensure that a ruling party 

does not begin to have an opposition 

in the legislature that is 

under its (the party’s) control. 

But we strongly canvass that 

the legislators must be allowed 

to vote for the best candidate 

that they think will lead them 

more properly and more efficiently. 

In our view, a rubber-stamp 

National Assembly emerges 

the very moment the executive 

shows interest or manipulates 

the formation of leadership of 

the federal legislature. If we 

are going to have the promised 

“change”, it must begin 

from the selection or election 

of principal officers of the National 

Assembly. 

It is therefore our belief that 

if we are going to have a clean 

8th National Assembly, an independent 

legislature that will 

perform its own constitutional 

responsibility, the two chambers 

must be allowed to determine 

the leadership from the 

inside. Forces from outside of 

the NASS influencing decisions 

of leadership could be very detrimental 

to the country. 

A few days ago, Aminu Tambuwal, 

speaker, House of Representatives, 

called for the 

autonomy of the legislature to 

enable it function optimally. 

Citing instance with his experience 

at the National Assembly 

since 2011, Tambuwal said, 

“Here at the national level, 

we have secured our independence; 

that is why both the 

Senate and the House of Representatives 

function with or 

without the cooperation of the 

executive arm of government.” 

It is ennobling that some 

elected members of the National 

Assembly, on the platform 

of the APC, are already 

speaking up against any act of 

imposition of officers and have 

voiced their determination 

to withstand outside interferences 

in that regard. Ahmed 

Sani Yerima, a former governor 

of Zamfara State and deputy 

minority leader, was vehement 

that they would not want to 

be dictated to in the choice of 

their leader(s), saying that the 

senators might defy the party if 

the Senate presidency was not 

zoned correctly. 

Shehu Sani, human rights 

activist and senator-elect, Kaduna 

Central, also said he was 

opposed to external influence 

in the selection of principal 

officers in the Senate. 

It is also reassuring that Muhammadu 

Buhari, presidentelect, 

the other day said he was 

not in any way trying to influence 

the choice of leadership in 

the National Assembly, saying, 

“I am prepared to work with 

any leaders that the House or 

Senate selects. It doesn’t matter 

who the person is or where 

he or she is from.” 

The president-elect also 

reminded Nigerians that the 

much-expected change had 

truly come and it would not be 

“business as usual”. “Nigeria 

has indeed entered a new dispensation. 

My administration 

does not intend to repeat the 

same mistakes made by previous 

governments,” he said, 

adding, “There is due process 

for the selection of leaders of 

the National Assembly and I 

will not interfere in that process.” 

It bears mentioning that 

legislative oversight over the 

executive encourages checks 

and balances; it enthrones 

fiscal discipline, good governance, 

accountability and 

transparency in public offices. 

It promotes accountability in 

government through enforcing 

efficiency and cost effectiveness 

in course of generating 

people-centred policies and 

programmes necessary to address 

the numerous challenges 

confronting governments at 

all levels. 

We therefore urge the incoming 

lawmakers to strive 

to be independent-minded 

in choosing their leaders and 

resolve to serve the Nigerian 

people that gave them the mandate. 

Anything to the contrary 

would amount to a return to the 

square-one. 

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COMPANIES 

& MARKETS 

COMPANY NEWS 

ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT 

NESG’s new CEO calls 

for complete deregulation 

P.14 

BUSINESS DAY 

13 

Mother’s Day: Three Crowns 

excites consumers with 

Dubai trip 

P.16 

Presco Nigeria expansion drive 

pays off as earnings surge 

BALA AUGIE 

Presco plc, a Nigerian 

palm-oil producer, is 

reaping the benefits 

of aggressive expansion 

as it ended 2014 

with a surge in profits. 

For the year ended December 

2014, the company’s 

net income increased by 95.48 

percent to N2.60 billion from 

N1.33 billion the previous 

year. Sales increased by 7.68 

percent to N9.13 billion as the 

company is ramping up plants 

to boost production. 

Earnings per share (EPS) 

spiked by 107.75 percent to 

N2.68k in 2014, from N1.30k 

in 2013. 

“We believe topline growth 

in Q4 and Q1 2015 can be 

attributed to Presco increas- 

Unilever Nigeria goes aggressive on cost reduction for sustainable growth 


Unilever Nigeria plc 

has said it will be 

more aggressive 

about driving costs 

and actively finding savings 

throughout all facets of its 

value. This will enable the 

company to grow sustainably 

into the future. 

The company’s decision 

is against the backdrop of 

the tough operating business 

environment, where the Nigerian 

consumer faced severe 

headwinds, which have been 

reflected in the average - 3 

percent earnings decline for 

the consumer sector in 2014 

with the exception of certain 

segments such as the nonalcoholic 

beverage segment, 

which has continued to grow 

in double digits. 

The consumer goods sector 

has continued to battle 

with stiff competition from 

cheap low quality alternatives, 

counterfeits and grey imports. 

However, in recognition 

of largely untapped opportunities 

inherent within the 

consumer goods sector and 

the ever increasing population 

and urbanisation trends, 

Unilever Nigeria has further 

reinforced the business for the 

challenges of the future. 

“We remained relentless 

ing volumes while margin 

expansion may have been 

supported by lower COGS per 

unit through the year,” said 

Kingston Nwosu, equity research 

analyst with FBN Capital, 

in an emailed statement to 

BusinessDay. 

“Also, it appears Presco is 

benefitting from its expansion 

programme and acquisition 

of industrial assets earlier in 

2014,” said Nwosu. 

The company is cost effective 

as cost of sales reduced by 

17.10 percent to N3.2 billion 

in 2014 from N3.86 billion 

in 2013. Cost of sales ratio 

reduced to 35.04 in 2014 compared 

with 45.51 percent the 

previous years. 

This impressive cost margins 

culminated to improved 

profit margins as gross margins 

increased to 64.95 percent 

in 2014, as against 54.33 

percent in 2013. 

Gross profit moved to 28.46 

percent, which means the 

company is efficient in managing 

direct costs attributable 

to projects. Net margin, 

a measure of efficiency and 

profitability, jumped to 27.47 

percent in 2014 from 15.68 

percent in 2014. 

Presco doubled processing 

capacity at its palm-oil mill to 

70 metric tons an hour in 2013, 

and is expanding its refinery 

to 300 tons a day from 100. It 

already has 11,760 seedlings 

planted. 

The company is planting 

1500 hectares by 2020, a further 

boost to future earnings. 

Presco is also diversifying 

into rubber and cocoa to stave 

From left: Kyari Bukar MD/CEO CSCS Plc, Lamido Yuguda director of reserve management, CBN), Kemi Adewole president AACN and 

head, Citibank Securities Service.), Adeolu Bajomo (ED, market operations and technology, NSE) at 4th AACN London Investors conference. 

in our business bid to secure 

a pride of place in the fast 

moving consumer goods sector 

and took deliberate measures 

to step up investments 

in our brands and market 

off the effects of glut in palm oil 

that erodes earnings. Presco 

total assets increased by 6.98 

percent to N34.94 billion in 

2014, as against N32.66 billion 

the previous year. 

Return on equity (RoE) 

increased to 13.03 percent in 

2014 from 7.65 percent in 2013, 

while the return on assets 

(RoA) jumped to 7.44 percent 

in the review period as against 

4.07 percent the previous year. 

The increased return on 

investment (RoI) means the 

company is utilising shareholders 

resources in generating 

higher profit. 

Presco supplies palm oil to 

food and consumer-products 

companies operating in Nigeria, 

including Nestle SA, 

Unilever, PZ Cussons plc and 

Dangote Industries Limited. 

execution while addressing 

operating cost more aggressively,” 

Nnaemeka Achebe, 

chairman, said at the 90th 

annual general meeting held 

in Lagos. 

Olam set to start milling 

200,000MT of paddy rice 

ODINAKA ANUDU 

In line with the country’s 

target at achieving selfsufficiency 

in rice production, 

Olam Nigeria 

Limited has unveiled plans to 

kick-start the milling of 200,000 

metric tons of paddy rice in 

Doma Council, Nassarawa, by 

June 1, 2015. 

This move is part of the efforts 

targeted at sustaining the 

backward integration policy in 

the industry and complementing 

job creation efforts of the 

Federal Government. 

Reji George, general manager, 

Olam Rice, disclosed 

the company’s plans recently, 

while saying that the backward 

integration plan in the sector 

was expected to aid local rice 

production and job creation. 

Olam recently earlier this 

year unveiled its locally produced 

rice to the Nigerian 

market. 

Anil Nair, Olam’s business 

head for rice, had during the 

event explained that the launch 

was designed to meet growing 

local demands for the commodity 

as well as reduce its 

importation. 

He said the launch of the 

commodity in Lagos was strategic 

since the state held the 

largest market of consumers 

of rice. 

“There are lots of paddy 

being produced and Lagos 

being the biggest market in 

the country is having local rice 

coming to it. It is a sign of good 

things to come and we hope 

that two years from now, we 

will be able to bridge the gap. 

We have a milling capacity 

of about 800,000 tons in the 

country and we hope to help 

this country eliminate import 

completely,” he said. 

On placing a total ban on 

the commodity, George said, 

“I believe it should be a gradual 

process. Before you ban rice or 

any agricultural commodity 

you must have to develop the 

local strength of rice production. 

If you plan the ban of 

importation of rice, companies 

like Olam is into commercial 

production of rice with 6,000 

hectares in two cities, making it 

12,000 hectares that would definitely 

help bridge the demand 

and supply gap, and with 

support from other companies, 

in addition to the role 

government is playing. 

“In few years time, we 

would be able to bridge the 

demand and supply gap and 

we would be able to be self 

sufficient in rice production.” 

Kushunta Adi, community 

leader of a settlement in 

the Doma area, said: “Before 

the coming of Olam to our 

community, most people in 

this area were idle, which is 

not good, but today, the story 

is different. In fact, at that initial 

time, most of excavators 

on the project were foreigners, 

but today, the company 

has employed many of our 

youths and this is helping 

many families here. 

“In fact, what they have 

done here is enormous. I 

believe if the Federal Government 

can copy them, the 

country would be better. If we 

have one or two other companies 

like this in Nigeria, it will 

be difficult for us as a country 

to import rice.” 

Michael K. Aondoakaa, 

former attorney-general of 

the federation and secretary 

of the Rice Farmers’ Association, 

urged government 

to urgently protect the local 

rice industry from being 

thrown out of the agriculture 

sector. 

Aondoakaa, at the House 

of Representatives hearing recently, 

was worried that corrupt 

actions by some rice importers 

could destroy government’s 

policy and truncate the local 

rice sub-sector. He disclosed 

that some firms behaved like 

another government and had 

resorted to dubious activities 

in apparent bid to frustrate the 

local rice manufacturers, and 

called on all and sundry to stop 

this untoward activities in the 

best interest of Nigeria, especially 

local farmers and others.



COMPANIES & MARKETS 

Nigeria’s forex dealers draw up 

proposals to ease central bank rules 

Nigeria’s foreign 

exchange dealers 

say they are 

drawing up 

proposals to 

persuade the central bank 

to ease restrictions on forex 

trades to revive the secondary 

market. 

Nigeria’s central bank 

restricted dollars sales in the 

interbank market in February, 

a move that has sharply 

reduced liquidity in the interbank 

market and put off 

foreign investors from buying 

equities and bonds in 

Africa’s biggest economy. 

The naira currency traded 

at 197 on the interbank 

market on Tuesday. It has 

been stuck in the 197-199.50 

Diamond Bank plc 

has through its 

businessxpress 

enterprise series 

developed and empowered 

over 75,000 entreprenures 

across the country. 

“We train about 15,000 

people every single year. 

We have done this for five 

years in terms of impact. 

We always use every opportunity 

we have to improve 

what businesses are doing, 

all the operational structures 

they need to put in place, all 

the legal, governance structures 

they need to put in 

place. The whole human 

resource, finance, operation 

components are very critical,” 

Aishah Ahmad, head, 

retail banking, said at the 51st 

Business Enterprise Series 

held in Lagos. 

Diamond bank is very 

committed to small businesses, 

she said, saying “we are 

not talking about short term 

commitment. Every single 

day we show commitment 

because this is one of the 

biggest segment we focus on. 

range since February, after 

the central bank pegged 

the rate. 

Two members of Nigeria’s 

Financial Market Dealers 

Association (FMDA) 

told Reuters that they were 

finalising proposals “to find 

a way to resolve the problem 

of liquidity and curb speculation.” 

Another source with direct 

knowledge of the matter 

said that the central bank 

was aware of the talks by the 

dealers. 

The central bank did not 

respond to requests for comment 

on whether it would 

consider a review of its measures. 

Its Monetary Policy 

Committee is due to meet 

Apart from this, we also have 

online portal where people 

can go and get information. 

We do smaller clinics across 

different branches to ensure 

all businesses around benefit 

from this.” 

According to her, it is well 

known that Diamond is a 

SME bank, that is it focuses 

on micro small and medium 

enterprises. “It is not just financing 

but by making those 

businesses viable to be able 

to approach those finances, 

because it is for a purpose 

and the only way the business 

can be sustainable to pay that 

loan is for it to sell. So, we try 

on May 19. 

A relaxation on the interbank 

restrictions would 

likely mean a swift drop in 

the naira currency, analysts 

said. 

“The naira exchange rate 

has remained unsurprisingly 

stable following the introduction 

of the ‘order-based’ 

system in February,” South 

Africa’s NKC Independent 

Economists said in a note. 

The naira hit a record low 

of 206.6 naira to the greenback 

in February while the 

black market, considered the 

“real” value, was even lower 

at around 223-227, triggering 

the action by the central 

bank to restrict foreign exchange 

trading. 

Live-Your-Dreams conference holds Friday in Lagos 

The third edition of 

Live-Your-Dreams- 

Africa comes up on 

May 16, 2015. The 

yearly conference is an initiative 

of award winning author 

and life coach, Bankole 

Williams. 

Live-Your-Dreams-Africa 

is a platform to help Africans 

bridge the gap between the 

potentials they possess and 

their current reality. This 

third edition will showcase 

people from different walks 

of life who have, against all 

odds, consciously pursued 

Diamond Bank empowers 75,000 entrepreneurs 

via businessxpress enterprise series 


their dreams and are today 

celebrated for what they do 

and for the impact they have 

had in their chosen fields. 

Live-Your-Dreams-Africa 

offers a platform to glean 

from the experiences of 

speakers and panellists as 

they share their true stories, 

triumphs and all. The 

organisers strongly believe 

that these stories will serve 

as a driving force for participants 

to begin forging 

a life of purpose. Through 

the platform, the organisers 

hope to see a continent 

where human capacity is 

fully optimised and where 

dreams are actualised. 

Sola Fajana, managing 

director, MacLester 

Healthcare, says “I attended 

the last edition, and 

heard success stories from 

people and it challenged 

my thoughts, spurring me 

to do more. Today, I have 

founded MacLester Healthcare, 

an organisation that is 

focused on helping people 

to stay healthy. I’m living my 

dream. God bless Bankole 

Williams.” 

to prove access to market 

by connecting companies,” 

she said. 

One of the facilitators at 

the seminar, AudreyJoe-Ezigbo, 

co-founder and executive 

director, Falcon Corporation 

Limited, told participants 

that they should think big, 

think synergy, think excellence, 

think impact because 

they can transform this country. 

She sees the challenges 

facing businesses as not having 

the right person with the 

right idea run a business, lack 

of finance and competition, 

among others. 

Business Event 

L-R: Jyoti Lalchandani, group vice president & managing director, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, 

Mark Walker, associate vice president, Sub Sahara Africa, Stephen Elliot, vice president, Cloud and IT 

Infrastructure, and Bola Adisa, country manager, all of International Data Corporation at the West Africa 

CIO summit in Lagos. 

L-R: Tochukwu Nwosu, MD, Zeph Associates,. Mike Ikpoki, chief executive officer, MTN Nigeria,. Mike 

Ojiakor, MD, Correspondence Ltd, and Richard Iweanoge, general manager, consumer marketing, MTN 

Nigeria at the 2015 MTN Golf Championship Dinner in Lagos .Pic by Pius Okeosisi 

L-R: Nosa Omorodion, NAPE president; Olusola Falodun, GM, Drilling &Completions Systems, Oando 

Energy Services (OES); and Kareem Folorunsho, NAPE coordinator, and asset manager, Nigerian 

Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) at the April 2015 edition of Nigerian Association of Petroleum 

Explorationists (NAPE) business and technical meeting 

L-R: Martins Awofisayo, MD, HarvestField Industries Limited, Adjo Mfodwo, manager, Anglophone West 

Africa; Sylvestre Jobic, country group manager – Sub-Saharan Africa, both of Bayer Environmental 

Science and Ayo Ogunyadeka, President, Pest Control Association of Nigeria (PECAN) at a stakeholders 

training and seminar on pest control in Lagos.


15




Mother’s Day: Three Crowns excites consumers with Dubai trip 

… 30 win N50,000 shopping vouchers 

In commemoration 

of the 2015 Mother’s 

Day celebration, 

Three Crowns 

Milk from the stables 

of FrieslandCampina 

WAMCO, has rewarded 

its consumers in the 

Mother’s Day activation 

campaign. 

The grand prize winner 

Olamide Olaleye, who 

emerged as the ‘Mum of 

the Year,’ won an all-expense 

paid trip to Dubai 

alongside a companion 

of her choice, while 29 

other mothers were also 

rewarded with a whopping 

amount of N50,000 

shopping voucher each. 

The Three Crowns 

Milk Mother’s Day Activation 

is a Facebookbased 

campaign in which 

consumers were expected 

to write on the Three 

Crown’s Facebook wall 

why their mum is the 

best mum in the world. 

These posts were judged 

on a daily basis starting 

from April 28 to May 7 

(10 days) and three winners 

were picked daily, 

while the overall winner 

emerge was adjudged on 

the last day of the campaign. 

According to Tarang 

Gupta, marketing director, 

FrieslandCampina 

WAMCO, the Three 

Crowns Milk Mother’s 

Day campaign is in line 

with the brand’s new 

theme campaign that 

is deeply rooted in recognising 

the key role of 

mothers in the family. 

Gupta noted that 

Three Crowns Milk, as 

a low cholesterol milk 

brand that cares for the 

health and well-being of 

its consumers, was joining 

the rest of the world to 

put a smile on the faces of 

mothers for their love and 

care for the family. 

“The Mother’s Day 

campaign is another way 

Three Crowns Milk is 

reaching out to all mothers, 

especially in Nigeria 

at this year’s occasion of 

the Mother’s Day Celebration 

for their significant 

role in the family,” 

he said. 

Also speaking on the 

campaign, the senior 

brand manager, Three 

Crowns Milk, Maureen 

Ifada, said celebrating 

mothers, especially on 

the occasion of Mother’s 

Day, was staying true 

to the brand’s tagline 

‘Healthy Mums, Happy 

Families while also 

further entrenching the 

brand affinity with the 

consumers. 

Ifada further said beyond 

the Dubai trip for 

the Mum of the Year and a 

companion of her choice, 

she would also get one 

year product supply from 

Three Crowns throughout 

her reign as Three 

Crowns Milk Mum of the 

Year until a new winner 

was crowned next year. 

She also said that 

the winners of the gift 

voucher will get a customised 

Three Crowns 

Milk verve card loaded 

with the sum of N50,000, 

which can be used to 

shop for their mothers, 

saying the brand would 

sustain the Mother’s Day 

initiative as an annual 

brand activation platform 

for rewarding consumers. 

“Mother’s Day celebration 

is an occasion 

when individuals express 

their love and respect that 

they have for their mothers. 

It is usually characterised 

with presentation 

of gifts like cards, flowers, 

and presentation of 

poems and stories about 

mothers,” she said. 

In her reaction, the 

grand prize winner, Olamide 

Olaleye expressed 

her appreciation to 

FrieslandCampina WAM- 

CO and passion for the 

brand with the promise 

to remain a Three Crowns 

Milk brand ambassador 

for a life time. 

“I am indeed very 

delighted to be named 

the Three Crowns Milk 

Mum of the Year, I want 

to thank the company for 

the opportunity and also 

my son for celebrating 

me,’’ she said. 

Three Crowns has 

consistently delivered 

good quality milk for over 

25 years, and is trusted 

by families and medical 

practitioners to help 

Nigerians stay fit and 

healthy. Three Crowns 

milk can be used in your 

tea, coffee, custard, cereals, 

fruits and all kinds of 

dishes that can be prepared 

with milk. 

Three Crowns milk is a 

brand of FrieslandCampina 

WAMCO Nigeria, 

maker of Peak and Friso 

brands of milk, Nigeria’s 

foremost dairy company 

and an affiliate of Royal 

FrieslandCampina in The 

Netherlands, one of the 

largest dairy cooperative 

in the world.


BUSINESS DAY 17 


NESG’s new CEO calls for complete deregulation 

OLUSEGUN ABISOYE 

The Nigerian Economic 

Summit 

Group (NESG) 

has appointed 

‘Laoye Jaiyeola 

as its new CEO. The new 

CEO calls on the incoming 

government of Muhammadu 

Buhari to cut the cost of 

governance, plug leakages 

and embrace a complete 

privatisation of the downstream 

sector of the nation’s 

oil and gas industry. 

Following the retirement 

of Frank Nweke last November 

as director-general, 

the board of the NESG announced 

the appointment 

of Jaiyeola as its helmsman. 

While fielding questions 

from the media after his 

announcement as the new 

NESG CEO, he called on the 

incoming government to 

ensure a total deregulation 

of the nation’s downstream 

sector of the oil and gas industry 

as a lasting solution 

to the intermittent scarcity 

of petroleum products being 

experienced around the 

country. 

“We have always been 

an advocate of complete 

deregulation all the way and 

we hope that we will look at 

it. But more importantly, we 

should begin to encourage 

domestic production. 

“Let us have domestic 

refineries. Let us get our 

refineries privatised and 

get them to work because if 

we have sufficient domestic 

production, we won’t have 

the problems we are facing 

now,” Jaiyeola said. 

Speaking on the reduction 

in government revenue, 

the new NESG CEO urged 

Buhari to cut overheads and 

plug leakages in the system 

as a way to tackle the current 

economic woes occasioned 

by the fall in crude oil prices. 

He said: “There are two 

ways you grow revenue; you 

either create new income 

sources or reduce expenses. 

The first thing is that expenses 

that we don’t have to 

incur should be cut off. We 

should look at the leakages 

and plug them. 

“More importantly, we 

need to grow income. You 

find out that our economy 

is reasonably diversified, 

but by way of generating 

revenue, it is not growing 

revenue.” 

On his plans as the 

helmsman for the thinktank, 

Jaiyeola revealed that 

NESG would continue to 

ensure that its recommendations 

to the government 

were well-researched. 

“Before now, people actually 

thought that all that 

the NESG stood for was 

the three-day summit we 

do in Abuja, but we are 

stronger than that. We have 

robust policy commissions 

in the various sectors of 

the economy, where ideas 

are discussed, distilled and 

analysed. In fact, they run 

public dialogues by themselves. 

“So, we are going to 

strengthen this and make 

sure it is much more factual 

and research-based so that 

whatever it is we are recommending 

to the government 

is well-researched and wellactualised,” 

he said. 

The new CEO, who 

brings over 30 years of diverse 

experience and proven 

achievements from the 

financial services industry 

to his new role, will take up 

the task of managing the 

affairs of the private sector 

funded think-tank, research 

and policy advocacy group. 

Prior to his new appointment, 

Jaiyeola, known for 

his commitment to innovative 

and pragmatic leadership, 

retired as the managing 

director of Kakawa 

Discount House, having 

served for 20 years. 

He also has more than 

15 years’ experience in the 

Summit process, running 

through the policy commissions, 

the central and 

joint planning committees 

of the annual summits as 

well as a serving member 

of the Board NESG until his 

appointment as CEO. 

He is a graduate of 

Economics from Obafemi 

Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, 

and holds a master’s degree 

in Banking and Finance 

from University of Lagos 

and a Chartered Banker 

MBA from Bangor University 

Wales, United Kingdom. 

He is a fellow of the Chartered 

Institute of Bankers of 

Nigeria (CIBN), member, 

Chartered Institute of Bankers, 

Scotland, and a fellow 

of the Institute of Chartered 

Accountants of Nigeria 

(ICAN). Furthermore, he 

is an alumnus of the Lagos 

Business School and Harvard 

Business School. 

L-R: Akan Ekong, GM, finance and admin. Continental Durable Goods Ltd; Inyang Ekere, dealer, Beko 

and Grundig Products; Inyang Ekere, branding and marketing manager; Isaac Fumis, CEO; Bunmi 

Akpabio and Njideka Esomoju, regional manager, Diamond Bank PLC and Bishop Edoka Amuta, 

bishop of Evangelism and Discipleship, Methodist Church Nigeria during the commissioning of the 

new Beko showroom in Lagos.

18 

Friday 15 May 2015


BUSINESS DAY 

OFFDUTY 

19 

If you want to liberate your body, liberate your mind - Sam Kutesa 

Recently the United Nations declared 2015-2024 as the International Decade for the People of African Descent. Africa Renewal‘s MasimbaTafirenyika 

sat down with the president of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly, Sam Kutesa, who is also Uganda’s foreign minister, to 

discuss why the global body is so concerned about discrimination against people of African descent. The following are the excerpts: 

Africa Renewal: 

When we talk 

of people of African 

descent, 

who are we including 

in this definition? 

Sam Kutesa: People of 

African descent are people 

who are scattered all over 

the world, who originally 

came from Africa or from 

the same African culture. 

They were dispersed largely 

by the slave trade or colonialism. 

These are people 

who are Africans but live 

mainly in the diaspora. 

Why did the UN declare 

a whole decade in their 

honour? 

The reason is that these 

people, being dispersed 

worldwide and having come 

as slaves, remain marginalized 

and racially discriminated 

against. The UN felt 

that in order to fight racism 

and sensitize the world 

against racial discrimination 

and marginalization of 

people of African descent, 

we have to have this decade 

to popularize and find ways 

of ensuring that discrimination 

and racism are treated 

as evil. We believe that this 

decade should draw attention 

to these dangers. The 

UN views all of us as born 

equal. 

The slave trade ended 

more than a century ago. 

Why we are still being reminded 

of such a painful 

past? 

We are reminded of this 

painful past because its 

consequences are still with 

us. The consequences of 

discrimination and marginalization 

that resulted from 

slavery are still rampant in 

the world. It is important 

that we work to eliminate 

them. We already have conventions 

that talk against 

them – the 2001 World Conference 

on Racism, for example, 

acknowledged these 

consequences. That is why 

we are now dedicating a 

whole decade to remember. 

And let me tell you that it 

ENTERTAINMENT 

Two Kings in concert 

p.20 

Kutesa 

is important to remember 

so as to make sure it is not 

repeated. For example, we 

remember the Holocaust – 

it is not because it was not 

painful, it was very painful, 

and so was slavery. We must 

remember slavery to ensure 

that it doesn’t happen again. 

Of course, it is also important 

to know that slavery 

goes on in some parts of the 

world. If you don’t condemn 

what took place a hundred 

years ago, you won’t prepare 

yourself to tackle what is 

happening now. There is still 

trafficking of people; there is 

still slavery of black people 

in countries like Sudan. 

There are arguments 

that the victims of slavery 

should be compensated 

just as we have seen compensation 

for Holocaust 

victims, which you just 

spoke about. What is the 

UN position? 

There is no UN position; 

but there are national positions. 

Some countries’ jurisdictions 

admit that people 

should be paid reparations. 

But the UN has so far not 

considered a resolution 

on reparations. However, 

Article 4 of the UN Declaration 

on Human Rights talks 

about the right to an effective 

remedy by competent 

national tribunals for acts 

violating fundamental rights 

of people. You have to go to 

national jurisdictions to be 

able to claim reparations. 

Even that too depends; I 

know that there are some 

jurisdictions that have made 

the decision to claim compensation 

very difficult because 

the claims could be 

phenomenal. Our best bet 

may not be reparations but 

to ensure we end discrimination 

and marginalization 

so that it doesn’t happen 

again. That’s the best bet 

we can look for as a remedy. 

Reparations will depend on 

the jurisdictions and legislation 

within countries. 

Even in this day and 

age - you gave the example 

of Sudan - there are countries 

including Niger and 

Mauritania still practising 

slavery. What is the UN’s 

role in ending modern-day 

slavery? 

We need to condemn 

ENTERTAINMENT 

I’m yet to decide if 

I’ll stop film acting 

as a lawmaker - 

Desmond Elliot 

p.21 

them. We need to isolate 

them. We need to sanction 

them because these are 

against fundamental human 

rights. We should do 

that both at the level of the 

UN and regional organizations 

to make sure we end 

slavery because where there 

is slavery there is marginalization, 

there is trafficking 

and there is under-paying 

of people. 

Do you see this happening? 

Yes, there are moves to 

isolate these countries and 

to name and shame them, 

to make sure this practice 

ends. 

Studies have shown 

people of African descent 

have limited access to services 

like education and 

health. What is the best 

way to address these inequalities? 

The most liberating tool 

in the world is education. 

If we can ensure they get 

access to education and 

skills, then they become employable 

and can live their 

lives more freely and also 

educate their children. We 

should urge all governments 

where people of African 

descent live to give them 

access to education because 

it is the biggest solution and 

cure. 

How about a strict enforcement 

of some of the 

anti-discrimination laws 

enacted by national governments? 

That is also very important. 

But what I am saying 

is yes, even when you are 

not discriminated against, 

if you don’t have the tools, 

if you don’t have the right 

skills, if you don’t have the 

education, you remain unemployable 

and you remain 

unable to access those rights 

that would otherwise be 

available. So the first fight 

for them is to get access to 

good education. If you want 

to liberate your body, you 

liberate your mind. 

Ghana has adopted the 

“Right of Abode” law which 

gives people of African 

descent the right to live 

and work in Ghana. What’s 

your comment on this? 

FAMILY 

What exactly 

pushes teenagers 

to armed robbery? 

p.23 

It should be emulated 

by other countries. Some 

of the people in the diaspora 

have acquired skills 

that could be useful to African 

countries. Some have 

resources to invest. I also 

think that it’s culturally and 

morally correct to give them 

an anchor to their cultural 

heritage. I don’t know if you 

remember the book, Roots, 

which traced the origins of 

Africans in the diaspora. 

The African Union has already 

passed a resolution 

that divided Africa into five 

regions, with the diaspora 

being the sixth. 

One of Martin Luther 

King Jr.’s most famous 

quotes is about his dream 

that one day his children 

would live in a nation 

where they will not 

be judged by the colour 

of their skin, but by the 

content of their character. 

Will his dream be ever 

realized? 

First of all, even now 

– even before the Decade 

of African Descent was declared 

– so many things are 

different from what they 

were in 1963 when Martin 

Luther King talked about 

his dream. Racism is on the 

decrease. Judging people 

by their merit is now more 

visible than ever before. 

Black people are occupying 

some of the highest offices 

in the world, including the 

presidency of America. That 

was something that Martin 

Luther King dreamt about. 

Of course, there remains 

segregation, there remains 

marginalization, and as I 

say, we need to fight these 

things but there has been 

progress since 1963. The 

very fact that he had this 

dream in itself set a target for 

people to say it is possible. 

And so much has been realized 

since then. This Decade 

for the People of African 

Descent should be used 

to sensitize and engage in 

dialogue with other people 

until this dream is realized 

in full. 

EDITOR: FUNKE OSAE-BROWN HEAD MOTORING: MIKE OCHONMA STAFF WRITERS: SHADE WILLIAMS . OBINNA EMELIKE . ANNE AGBAJE . KEMI AJUMOBI 

ADVERT: KOLA GARUBA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: PHILLIP ISAKPA



Entertaiment 

music movies arts 

Two Kings in concert 

For the first in their 

music career record 

was made 

when of one of the 

leading telecom 

firm, Airtel Nigeria sponsored 

one-in-town concert 

tagged “2 Kings,” a late Fela 

Anikulapo Kuti Music Dynasty 

held at Eko Hotel and 

Suites on April 24, 2015. 

It was a fufiling night 

for lovers of Afrobeat from 

within and outside the 

country as they came in 

to witness the unbeatable 

performance of the two 

kings, Femi and Seun Kuti. 

The concert, which was anchored 

by Olisa Adibua, an 

on-air personality, who said 

Airtel believe in the meeting 

of two stars. 

The Afrobeat legend son 

Seun Kuti launched his new 

album titled ‘A long Way to 

the Beginning,’ in which he 

entertain the audience in 

unusual way that put the audience 

in hailing mood. He 

took over the entire stage by 

dancing, playing the piano, 

the saxophone and conducting 

his band and singing. He 

also hailed his brother and 

that he remains loyal, even 

with the title king, that Femi 

will always be a big brother 

no matter what. 

After Seun Kuti’s per- 

formance his brother Femi 

came on stage, the hall was a 

beehive of excitement. Femi, 

in his typical manner, also 

delivered a very energetic 

performance, accompanied 

with non-stop puff on 

his saxophone that lasted 

beyond 10 minutes, which 

accurately brought the roof 

down. 

The engrossing show 

also featured other notable 

artistes in the likes of 

Adekunle GOLD, Museba 

(Cameroon), Simi, Ayoola, 

Ruby, Niniola, Rayce, Lil 

Kesh, Black Magic, Oritsefemi, 

Jesse Jagz, Jagadot, 

Seyi Shay, DJ Caise and DJ 

Jimmy Jatt. 

The Afrobeat kings remind 

their fans of their father 

when they merged to 

sing their father song “Water 

E No Get Enemy”; there on 

the stage audience felt the 

synergy the brother shared. 

Airtel in their sponsoring 

mood also gave out Samsung 

Tab and Iphone 6 to its 

customers after a raffle draw 

conducted by Olisa Adibua 

was presented by Oladokun 

Oye, general manager, 

enterprises operation Airtel 

Nigeria to Tosan Isichei, and 

Obinna to Idris David Saibu 

which was collected by his 

wife Mojisola Saibu. 

Some of the notable faces 

in the audience were the 

immediate past managing 

director of United Bank 

for Africa, Tony Elumelu, 

and his predecessor, Philip 

Odozua. Audu Maikori, the 

chairman of Chocolate City 

Music, was also in attendance. 

“I am impressed that 

Femi and Seun could take 

time off their busy world 

tours to perform together on 

Lagos Island instead of their 

usual abode: the Shrine,” 

he said. 

In the same vein, Ikhane 

Akhigbe, the chairman of 

Aboriginal Music, also urged 

the Kutis to perform more 

in Nigeria and urged other 

Nigerian artistes to emulate 

them and their style of 

performance. DJ Jimmy Jatt 

described Femi as the best 

artiste in the whole of Africa 

and said Nigeria was proud 

to have him. 

Giving kudos to Airtel 

in association with Perception 

Media, Fela live, Egypt 

80 Record; Eko Hotel and 

Suites; Africa Shrine and 

Alliance Franchise made 

the night memorable for all 

Afrobeat lovers. 

Two evicted from Nigerian Idol 5 N7.5m Race 

Two more contestants 

in the 

ongoing Season 

5 of the Nigerian 

Idol TV reality show have 

lost the chance to win the 

coveted multi-million 

naira show after they 

were evicted at the weekend. 

They are P.Scholes 

and Uloma. 

Show anchor, Illrhmz 

announced their names 

during the weekly eviction 

show held at the 

OMG Dream Studios, 

Omole-Ojodu, Lagos, at 

the weekend. The eviction 

of the contestants 

has now swelled the 

number of evictees to five 

after three others - Prime, 

Modele and Ayoka were 

evicted last weekend. 

The duo, alongside 

Sther, polled the least 

number of votes and were 

accordingly expected to 

exit the show, but the 

judges threw at Sther a 

lifeline to stage a comeback 

to the show and 

escape the inevitable fate 

that befell the other two. 

Sther’s journey on the 

show appears to correspond 

with the proverbial 

cat with nine lives. From 

a raw, tomboy living in 

Port Harcourt, she has 

emerged to be the face 

of the show’s themed 

transformation after putting 

up a host of energetic 

performances to 

the admiration of the 

judges and fans alike. In 

this process, she has also 

survived two eviction 

scares, requiring in each 

instance a last-minute 

breather from the judges. 

“I feel normal,” 

P.Scholes said after his 

eviction, “though a little 

bit sad that I could not 

scale through. It will be 

somehow sad breaking 

the news to my family because 

they gave me all the 

support I needed. I think 

I have learnt a lot, but 

putting it into practice, 

I don’t think I have been 

able to put into practice 

what I have. I will go back 

to school.” 

Beside Sther, six 

other contestants remain 

in contention for 

the top prize. They include: 

Ogunmoyero Modolowamu 

(Dolu), Oyinkepreye 

Deborah Toun 

(Preye), Godson Goodluck 

(Classic Tunez), 

Ogunrombi Kunle (K- 

Peace), Adigwe Brenda 

Ada (Brenda), and Ese- 

Amadasun Imuetiyan 

(Nex2). 

The seven altogether 

will face further eviction 

tests through the public 

voting process to determine 

the eventual winner 

of the N7.5 million top 

spot cash prize as well 

as other multi-million 

naira juicy offers, chief 

among which include a 

recording deal with South 

Africa-based Universal 

Music label. 

Nigerian Idol Season 

5 is sponsored by Etisalat 

Nigeria, Payporte, Cool 

FM, Tantalizers, Cadbury 

Nigeria, Zaron, Dabur 

Toothpaste, So-Klin, ORS, 

and Ellis Suites. 

Nigerian Idol focuses 

on discovering Nigerian 

youths with talent in music 

and giving them a 

unique platform to take 

shots at stardom. The 

eventual winner goes 

home with N7.5 million 

cash reward, a brand 

new car, a recording deal 

worth N7.5 million with 

Universal Music label and 

some high-end devices.


Facebook, She Leads Africa, host 

women influencers in media 

Recently, Facebook 

and She Leads Africa 

brought together 

60 women 

in the creative, 

media, journalism, entertainment 

and technology fields 

to network and discuss how 

social media is being used to 

build local brands and connect 

with users. 

The event titled “Building 

Your Brand and Lifting Your 

Voice” was hosted by Ebele 

Okobi, head, Public Policy 

for Africa, and Ngozi Dozie, 

head, Partnerships, West and 

Central Africa, for Facebook. 

During their first ever event 

for women influencers in 

Lagos, the two women met 

some of Lagos’ most inspiring 

women. They discussed 

Facebook’s mission to make 

the world more open and 

connected and the company’s 

desire to be a platform 

for the innovation, entrepreneurship 

and creative local 

content that make Nigeria 

such an exciting market and 

online community. 

The representatives of 

Facebook listened to recommendations 

from the vocal 

and engaged group of women 

about how the Facebook fam- 

ily of platforms (including 

WhatsApp and Instagram) 

could be more relevant and 

valuable partners to Nigeria’s 

entrepreneurs, content 

creators and tech innovators. 

During the networking 

and relationship building, 

the guests were treated to 

an endless flow of premium 

champagne brand; Laurent- 

Smirnoff’s true double side style 

Smirnoff has launched 

its new variant, 

Smirnoff Ice Double 

Black with Guarana 

in an epic style at the 

Smirnoff Double Side party 

held in Lagos over the weekend. 

Guests at the party witnessed 

an interesting double 

side courtesy of Smirnoff, as 

the iconic brand renowned 

for world-class parties, transformed 

an auto workshop 

into an amazing party scene. 

The unfamiliar party scene 

set the pace for an exciting 

night for the ecstatic crowd 

who were eager to experience 

every moment of the party. 

The combination of City 

FM presenter, Sensei Uche 

and MTV Base OAP, Ehis set 

Ifeoma Williams, Ngozi Dozie and Ebi Atawodi at the event 

Entertaiment 

music movies arts 

the tone for a spectacular 

night of double side of fun 

as they got the party off to 

a thrilling start with loud 

cheers from the expectant 

crowd. 

Guests at the event got 

their appetite wet when a 

real boxing ring transformed 

into rap battle. Participants 

engaged themselves in an interesting 

rap contest, landing 

great punch lines of smooth 

rap lyrics and showcased 

their street credibility to 

the delight of the rapturous 

crowd. 

At the end of the contest, 

GDK proved a worthy rap 

gladiator in the ring, against a 

number of other contestants 

who paled in comparison 

to his rap prowess. The unstoppable 

pair of DJ Spinall 

and DJ Nana arrival showed 

up in their double side appearing 

in complete native 

wear, an outfit very unusual 

for such an event. The duo 

later squared up in an impressive 

DJ battle as they 

both dropped their particular 

brand of mix that left the 

crowd breathless and excited. 

R&B crooner Kola Soul 

took live performances at 

the party to another level 

with his delectable rendition 

before the Ginja Master, Terry 

G then took the centre stage. 

Terry G, spurred on by the 

appreciative crowd delivered 

an outstanding performance 

of both his old and new tunes. 

He also showed his double 

side by playing the Saxo- 

Perrier. 

Also present at the event 

was emerging shoe brand 

Thando’s Shoes (3rd position 

She Leads Africa Pitch 

Contest 2014) which were 

provided as complimentary 

gifts for all of the attendees. 

The fun, foldable flats were a 

big hit with the crowd as their 

stylish design and comfortable 

fit were perfect for these 

busy women on the go. 

Social enterprise, She 

Leads Africa is dedicated 

to supporting high growth 

female entrepreneurs on the 

continent. This is the first of 

a series of events they have 

lined up all through the year 

to support women in as many 

fields as possible. 

phone for the guests to sing 

along. The night reached its 

crescendo when the number 

one African rapper, the 

incredible M.I hit the stage 

and delivered a stunning performance 

that got the crowd 

screaming for more. 

Speaking at the launch, 

Liz Ashdown, the head of 

marketing, Spirits and RTD, 

Diageo Brands Nigeria said: 

“Smirnoff Ice Guarana isn’t 

your ordinary drink as it 

contains Smirnoff spirit with 

extracts of Guarana and Soda 

so it was important that the 

double side party was anything 

but ordinary. It was an 

opportunity for the bold to 

experience the unexpected, 

double side of the Lagos party 

scene and enjoy the hottest 

new drink in the market. The 

drink has been produced to 

be the bolder choice when 

the night steps up.” 

Other performances at 

the event included upcoming 

talent, the Dot Man and 

Nigeria’s foremost dance 

group, Dance Na the Ma 

Thing (DNMT) who showed 

their own double side by 

starting their performance 

acting as doctors and nurses 

before transforming into an 

incredible dance team. 

According to the Smirnoff 

team, a series of consumer 

activities across major cities 

have been lined up for the 

product launch starting from 

July through December 2015. 

I’m yet to decide if 

I’ll stop film acting 

as a lawmaker - 

Desmond Elliot 


Nollywood actorturned 

politician 

Desmond 

Elliot has said 

he is yet to decide whether 

to continue acting while 

serving his first four-year 

term as a lawmaker. 

The actor and director, 

who was elected into 

the Lagos State House of 

Assembly to represent Surulere 

1 Constituency in 

the April 11 general election, 

says the nature of his 

new task as a lawmaker 

will determine whether 

or not he would continue 

acting. 

While admitting that 

lawmaking is distinct from 

film acting, the All Progressives 

Congress (APC) 

Lagos Assembly member 

says being a political neophyte 

makes the business 

of lawmaking much more 

interesting, as it avail 

them the opportunity of 

learning from the job and 

bringing in their wealth 

of experience from their 

respective fields. 

He promises to use his 

new position to defend 

the entertainment industry 

as well as ensure stiff 

anti-piracy laws. 

In a chat with our correspondent 

in Abuja, he 

says: “I can’t tell (if I will 

abandon acting). It depends 

on how demanding 

the job (of lawmaking) 

is. But most importantly, 

I am going to defend, to 

the best of my ability, 

entertainment as a whole 

which has to do with film, 

BUSINESS DAY 

21 

music, comedy and all 

the behind-the-scenes 

as far as it concerns that 

job; making sure that we 

are protected. Our rights, 

royalties, anti-piracy laws 

are being enforced.” 

On the election of principal 

officers of the House 

on the basis of ranking 

and to the disadvantage 

of new lawmakers, he says 

it is too hasty to condemn 

the act, adding that when 

the House convenes it 

would decide whether to 

overrule or retain it. 

He harps on the need 

for Nigerians to be patient 

with the incoming administration 

of Muhammadu 

Buhari, and not expect 

miracle overnight. 

“I will only plead with 

Nigerians to be very patient. 

And as the president-elect 

has said, a lot 

of mess has happened. 

So, it is for us to make sure 

that we clear it. I am very 

hopeful,” he says. 

According to him, legislators 

are not only saddled 

with the tripartite 

mandate of lawmaking, 

representation and oversight, 

but also to meet the 

needs of their constituents. 

“You must feel the 

bite and make sure you 

bridge the gap between 

yourself and the people, 

and between yourself 

and the government. You 

represent a whole lot of 

constituents, which goes 

beyond just making bills. 

So, if you sit down there 

and say your people are 

demanding too much, 

then you are making a 

problem,” he says.



Family 

parenting + family fun + values 

What could extinguish the 

spark in your family? 

FUNKE OSAE-BROWN 

Tomi and her 

husband 

have been at 

loggerhead 

regarding 

their family finance. 

Severally, they have 

had difficulty in resolving 

who should handle 

what in the family budget. 

Tomi claims she 

spends more on the 

family monthly needs 

than the housekeeping 

allowance her husband 

gives her, as she 

had complemented the 

budget many times. 

Money has been regarded 

by experts as 

one of the top factors 

that could extinguish 

the spark in family relationships. 

In a survey 

conducted by ICM 

research, 44 percent 

of recipients in Africa 

say that money worries 

have extinguished the 

spark in their relationships. 

Biodun Adelagun, 

an expert on family 

matters, says anyone 

who has the responsibility 

of running a 

household must know 

that financial fitness 

is crucial to the health 

and well-being of every 

family. “Managing 

the family finace appropriately 

must not be 

toyed with,” he argues, 

“if someone’s financial 

situation has reached 

the point where he 

finds himself struggling 

to settle bills or feed is 

family adequately then 

he must wake up to the 

responsibility of making 

things right.” 

Aside finance, children 

have been noted 

as one of the factors 

that could extinguish 

the spark between man 

and wife. The ICM research 

further states 

that 28 percent of respondents 

say children 

contribute to the extinction 

of the spark in 

their relationship. 

However, Adeayo 

Ojo, a psychologist, observes 

what has been 

the trend, that children 

are no longer viewed as 

essential to a happy relationship. 

According to him, 

children have their 

roles to play in the family 

and they do not in 

any way stop the passion 

between their father 

and mother from 

burning. 

“Children are very 

important in a relationship. 

The way they 

are handled says a lot 

about how intimate 

the parents can still be. 

For instance, children 

can be made to spend 

the holiday with their 

grandparents while 

their mother and father 

be at home or travel to 

spend quality time together. 

Couples can go 

on dinner dates together 

without the children. 

There are so many ways 

to handle children.” 

Furthermore, the 

ICM research reveals 

that 23 percent of respondents 

say that 

the man’s family and 

friends can contribute 

to removing the shine 

from the family. Ojo 

observes that giving up 

personal friends should 

not be a requirement of 

being in a relationship. 

Neither should it be assumed 

that one’s partner 

will like one’s personal 

friends as much 

as one does. 

To him, a partner 

should not share with 

his partner a friend 

who she or he does 

not enjoy. “It is important 

that families 

and friends should be 

shown their place in a 

relationship. Any kind 

of interference should 

not be tolerated at all,” 

he says. 

However, experts on 

family matters have 

said favourite outfit, 

soft skin, fragrance 

and passion are some 

of the factors that can 

boost the spark in a relationship. 

“The spark 

is important to the African 

woman,” the ICM 

research states, “but 

two out of five find it 

hard to keep it alive. 

She is happier when 

they both initiate the 

romance in their relationship. 

African women 

look up to family 

members and strangers 

for relationship inspiration.”


Family 

parenting + family fun + values 

BUSINESS DAY 

23 

Access Bank W: Giving women a voice 

FUNKE OSAE-BROWN 

Penultimate 

Thursday, 

women from 

all walks of life 

gathered at the 

Access Bank head office 

situated at Victoria Island 

Lagos to discuss the place 

of women in the Nigerian 

health sector. Many issues 

were on the front 

burner for discussants 

and attendees, such as 

lack of funds for female 

entrepreneurs who have 

distinguished themselves 

at home and in their professions 

at various levels. 

The event tagged ‘W in 

Health’ was organised by 

Access Bank’s product for 

women to discuss some 

of the challenges they 

face as practitioners in 

the healthcare industry. 

While giving her opening 

remark, Clare Omatseye, 

managing director, JNC 

International, said the 

number of women practicing 

in healthcare sector 

in the country was too low 

as there were only 17.5 

percent of women in the 

sector. According to her, a 

forum as the ‘W in Health’ 

is necessary for women to 

voice their concerns. 

“You can count on 

your fingers,” she said, 

IKEOLUWAPO OLUBANJO 

As a teenager, can 

you imagine you 

were at home 

one afternoon 

with your family watching 

television and having 

a snack, then your dad 

got a call and went to a 

business centre to make 

a photocopy of an important 

document, but everyone 

else was at home. 

All of a sudden, you 

heard gunshots around 

the area and people 

shouting, running helterskelter 

but your dad was 

still outside. You tried 

peeping out of the window 

and sighted dead 

bodies on the floor, your 

dad’s phone number was 

not going through either, 

it sent coldness down 

your spine, you couldn’t 

go out either but laid flat 

on the floor. But then a 

relief!, the police came, 

they chased the criminals 

away, but not sure of your 

L-R: Odunola Oyegade, Managing Director, Mopheth Nigeria Limited; Titi Osuntoki, Executive Director, 

Business Banking, Access Banking, Access Bank Plc; Clare Omatseye, Managing Director, JNC International 

and Ope Wemi-Jones, Head, Inclusive Banking, Access Bank, during the workshop for women in 

healthcare, organised by Access Bank W initiative in partnership with International Finance Corporation 

(IFC) and Healthcare Federation of Nigeria in Lagos on Thursday 

“how many women are 

in leadership positions 

in healthcare. Household 

responsibilities inhibit 

women to rise in their 

chosen fields. Nigerian 

women are known to have 

low rate in the number 

of female entrepreneurs. 

Women need to become 

bedrock of businesses 

not just the household. 

Women are more astute 

and frugal. The chances 

of women defaulting with 

loans are low. Special 

packages must be made 

for women by banks,” she 

said. 

The event was divided 

into sessions where different 

issues bothering 

on women in healthcare 

sector were discussed. In 

first session, a presentation 

tagged ‘Gender and 

risk entrepreneurship’ 

was made by Eileen Shaiyen, 

CEO, H. Pierson Associates 

Limited, saying 

“when it comes to entrepreneurship, 

women are 

still struggling.” According 

to her, being a successful 

entrepreneur is about 

balancing business and 

the home. 

“There are so many 

issues women have to 

deal with,” she observed. 

“There is the issue of stereotypes. 

Women are considered 

to have less will 

power than men. To be a 

successful female entrepreneur, 

you must work 

with innovation on your 

side. For you to be successful 

in business, you 

need innovation. Innovation 

will make it easier for 

What exactly pushes teenagers to armed robbery? 

owner was part of the robbers 

caught. The question 

is what made them do it? 

It surprises me why 

they are involved in 

armed robbery because 

they come from rich 

homes, but in most cases, 

it is peer pressure that 

leads them into it. When 

children go to school, 

they mix up with different 

people from differdad. 

But thank God!, the 

sound of the gunshots 

moved about three streets 

away. 

You went to the balcony 

with your mum and 

people started coming 

out slowly, still no sign 

of your dad and his line 

wasn’t going through still. 

Your mum then decided 

to going to check, and 

then you saw him coming 

up the stairs. 

This was what happened 

to me, we were 

very happy to see him and 

he narrated everything to 

us, we were so thankful. 

After a while, we heard 

the culprits were later apprehended. 

Rumours had 

it that the robbers came 

to rob a big store around, 

but what baffled me was 

that the son of the store 

you to compete.” 

In addition, she said 

self-confidence was important 

for a woman to 

succeed in business. “We 

need to begin to talk to 

ourselves. We have an 

incredible fear of failure 

as women. We are very 

risk averse. It is a good 

trait but we should take 

it to the positive. As an 

entrepreneur, you need 

finance and inner courage 

to grow,” she said. 

To make the sessions 

more interactive, a panel 

of notable women in 

healthcare was constituted 

to discuss the challenges 

female entrepreneurs 

face in the sector. One of 

the issues raised by the 

women is lack of access to 

finance by startups. 

“Collateral is a big issue 

when we want to access 

loans as entrepreneurs,” 

said Odunola Oyegade, a 

pharmacist, saying “women 

with great business 

ideas cannot access loans 

because they cannot provide 

collaterals. I believe it 

is about the value we have 

on our inside. Women 

are better managers and 

entrepreneurs.” 

Also, Abiodun Eke- 

Aluko, a pediatrician, said 

the interest rates charged 

by banks were great hindrance 

to entrepreneurs. 

ent backgrounds and 

they sometimes may not 

be lucky to meet good 

friends and thereby be 

influenced negatively. 

Parents should also 

be blamed for not giving 

proper attention to 

their teens, if you have 

watched ‘Jennifer,’ a movie 

by Funke Akindele, 

we all enjoyed the film 

but I feel the problem 

of Jennifer was caused 

by her parents, leaving 

her alone to manage her 

life, believing she is in 

the university. She was 

never given attention by 

her parents and she went 

on the wrong part. This 

is same in real life where 

teens join bad gangs. 

In some teens, it is 

poverty that leads them 

into it. They first start by 

bringing home what does 

not belong to them and if 

parents notice this, they 

should quickly ask the 

child to return it and keep 

proper monitoring of the 

“The interest rates are 

killing,” she argued, but “it 

is a different thing to have 

collateral and a different 

thing to get good interest 

rates.” 

However, Titi Osuntoki, 

executive director, 

Business Banking, Access 

Bank, said what was 

important in accessing 

finance was the quality of 

business plan. “You must 

be able to communicate 

your business plan to the 

financier. Access Bank has 

put in place a process for 

women to access finance. 

We usually advise women 

on how to put together a 

workable feasibility plan,” 

she said. 

Ope Wemi-Jones, head, 

Inclusive Banking, Access 

Bank, also said through 

the W Initiative, Access 

Bank had put in place a 

viable process to assist 

female entrepreneurs. 

“For Access Bank, our 

interest in women began 

in 2006. For us, W stands 

for what every woman will 

want. The essence of this 

forum is to help women 

in healthcare by providing 

finance. The interest 

rate is 14 percent for the 

W Initiative. We have a 

women banking team 

dedicated to addressing 

female entrepreneurs in 

Access Bank.” 

school bag and room for 

strange items. 

Armed robbery just 

don’t start in a day; it 

first start with pick pocketing, 

and apart of parents 

taking care, I think 

our government should 

introduce a kind of programme 

where teens 

and youths are taught 

the dangers of armed robbery, 

they should provide 

for those who do not have 

and there should be more 

NGOs ready to finance 

others. 

Also, children should 

be careful in their choice 

of friends, so that they 

don’t get into trouble. 

Finally, our parents 

should always listen to 

us and not just giving us 

money thinking that is 

all, we need more of their 

attention. 

Ikeolwapo Olubanjo is 

a SSS1 student at Lagos 

Anglican Girls’ Grammar 

School, Surulere.



Wheels 

Forester: Segment contender lacking Nigeria push 

..Upmarket interior, more space and cleaner engines 

MIKE OCHONMA 

Perhaps not many car 

shoppers would still remember 

that the Subaru 

still retains its franchiseship 

in Nigeria. However, 

the brand and Forester; one 

of its flagships has been around 

since 1997. But while the Sport Utility 

Vehicle (SUV) market has grown 

many-fold in Nigeria since then, 

thanks to the arrival of other competing 

brands, some lovers of the 

brand have picked holes for Subaru 

Forester lacking the needed market 

push in Nigeria regretting that 

it would have remained a niche 

choice among car shoppers. 

One feature that stands it out 

among its peers is because it uses 

relatively thirsty boxer petrol and 

diesel engines, comes with a fulltime 

four-wheel-drive system and 

does not offer the style of its rivals. 

The fourth-generation Forester, 

however, has a more upmarket 

interior, more space and cleaner 

2.0-liter engines than before. 

On the global market, the automaker 

may seem to have been 

openly targeting predominantly rural 

customers for the new car, rather 

than those after a road-biased SUV 

that’s more style over substance. 

Subaru has also listened to its customers 

and reintroduced a Turbo 

petrol model, which is essentially a 

turbocharged version of the engine 

found in the Subaru BRZ coupe. 

Subaru prides itself on its engineering 

pedigree, which means that 

form often follows function. 

By description, the Forester 

doesn’t stand out from its rivals, 

but not a bad looking car. Its curvaceous 

bumpers, swept-back headlights 

and gently sloping roofline 

soften the bluff shape of its predecessor, 

and also help to cut aerodynamic 

drag. 

A giant bonnet scoop used to 

mark out the Turbo model, but that 

is no more. Instead, all cars have a 

creased, aluminium bonnet, while 

top-spec cars have large but purely 

cosmetic gill vents in their front 

bumpers and 18” alloys. 

The interiors of all cars are very 

similar to the Subaru XV, which 

means they’re not exciting to look 

at but are very solidly built. The 

Forester has always been a sharp 

drive and the latest model is no 

exception, thanks to a permanent 

four-wheel-drive system that ensures 

the car has very high levels of 

grip. 

Admittedly, I have never got to 

test the Forester both on smooth 

road surfaces or off-the-beaten 

track, but the Forester has a reputation 

for being thoroughly engineered, 

well-built and extremely 

reliable. A lot of the technology is 

already well proven, and the engines 

are carried over or adapted 

from other models already on sale. 

All Foresters have a five-star 

Euro NCAP safety rating, while the 

excellent visibility afforded by the 

high driving position and superb 

grip from the four-wheel-drive system, 

should help you stay out of 

trouble in the first place. 

Comparatively, the latest Forester 

is larger than its predecessor. 

The A-pillars are further forward 

than before, which gives extra 

space in the front. The mirrors are 

now mounted on the doors, too, 

which reduce the front blind-spot. 

In the rear, the floor has been 

lowered to create more space for 

feet, while elbow and shoulder 

room is good in the front and back. 

The boot has a low, flat lip, making 

it easy to load. The flagship XT 

model, which we drove, was fitted 

with an electric tailgate, while midspec 

cars upwards get rear seats 

that fold at the touch of a button. 

Depending on the market, there 

are three engines to choose from 

and all with stop-start technology. 

There is a 2.0-liter petrol that can be 

had with manual or CVT gearboxes, 

a 2.0L diesel that’s manual only, 

and 2.0-liter turbo petrol that’s only 

available with a CVT. All engines 

have a distinctive sound, and all are 

quite smooth. 

The 2.0-liter Turbo is the most 

powerful model. A new X Mode 

system helps traction off-road, 

while Subaru’s SI-Drive allows you 

to select from up to three different 

levels of throttle response. In Nigeria, 

it is a pity Subaru has not done 

well as one would have expected. 

It’s a reliable brand, has a great 

heritage in racing, and car freaks 

would like to see more of them on 

our roads. 

Passengers of commercial 

vehicles in Lagos State are 

now at risk as some bus 

drivers have resorted to 

take hard drugs. Recent reports 

from the Lagos State Ministry of 

Health revealed that of the 801 

bus drivers tested for hard drugs 

in three motor parks in Lagos 

State, 442 of them tested positive 

for cocaine, marijuana, morphine, 

opiate, ketamine and others. 

The 442 drivers tested for different 

levels of drugs influence 

represents about 55 percent of 

the total number of drivers tested 

and showed an increased intake of 

hard drugs by drivers while conveying 

passengers on Lagos routes. 

The tests were carried out in 

Mosafejo, Mushin and Oshodi/ 

Obalende motor parks between 

December 15 and 18, 2014. The 

report revealed that the number 

of drivers that tested positive for 

using hard drugs while driving 

in 2014 is far higher than the 

same number discovered when 

a similar test was conducted the 

previous year. 

In 2013, out of the 434 bus 

drivers tested for hard drugs, 74 

of them were found to be driving 

under the influence of cocaine, 

marijuana and the rest. Also, in 

2012, of the 820 drivers screened 

for hard drug intake, 215 of them 

tested positive. 

Similarly, many of the bus 

drivers have tested positive for 

alcoholic intake while behind the 

wheels across the state. The test 

conducted in three motor parks in 

December 2014 showed that of the 

929 drivers screened, 202 of them 

tested positive for taking alcohol 

while driving. 

In 2013, of the 440 commercial 

bus drivers tested for alcohol intake, 

226 of them tested positive, 

representing 51 percent, while in 

2012, of the 885 drivers tested, 215 

of them were under the influence 

of alcohol while driving. 

Of the 930 bus drivers screened 

for diabetes and hypertension in 

2014, at least 220 of them tested 

positive. In 2013, of the 576 

screened for the same ailment, 

130 of them were positive, while 

in 2012, at least, 233 of the 959 

screened tested positive for diabetes 

and hypertension. 

Commissioner for Health, Jide 

Lagos bus drivers under hard drug influence 

Idris, the Motor Park Health and 

Safety Programme was an initiative 

of the Health Ministry, whose 

main aim was to reduce the prevalence 

of road traffic accidents by 

ensuring the safety of the driver, 

passengers and other road users. 

He said the programme was 

flagged off in 2012 following the 

high number of deaths due to road 

traffic accidents, saying that to 

date, 1,985 commuter bus drivers 

and other transport workers have 

been screened. 

“It is a multi-sectoral effort with 

the Ministry of Transportation as 

partner. The focus is on diagnosis 

and management of hypertension, 

diabetes and eye screening 

in addition to substance and alcohol 

abuse among road transport 

workers.


25



Hotels 

The luxury offering at 

Victoria Crown Plaza 

OBINNA EMELIKE 

A 

stroll to Victoria 

Crown Plaza on Ajose 

Adegun, a busy 

business district on 

Victoria Island, Lagos, 

connects a conscious leisure 

buff to the luxury feel of the indigenous 

hospitality outfit. 

From the concierge to the 

lobbies, bars, restaurants and 

rooms, the luxurious designs 

only but appeal to a discerning 

aesthetics lover. The rich décor 

tells more of the niche the owners 

want to create in the hospitality 

business. 

However, the hotel is back 

and better after undergoing renovation 

recently that now gives 

it an edge in marketing luxury 

for discerning guests on Lagos 

Island. 

The conviviality of the cozy 49 

well-appointed and full serviced 

non-smoking rooms furnished 

to taste and from where you can 

as well connect your world with 

its state-of-the-arts facilities 

and internet service that makes 

the room your office, making 

you feel very much at home. No 

matter your taste, you will find 

comfort in one of the six-room 

categories. 

It affirms the fact that the 

hotel basically sells luxury and 

good-night rest to all its guests, 

comprising high-profile personalities, 

corporate, and business 

executive whose very busy daily 

schedules require the soothing of 

a good-night rest. 

Also committed to sustained 

luxury offers and personalised 

services is the hotel’s new team of 

hospitality experts led by Neville 

Paul, the new general manager. 

The Sri Lankan general manger 

with experience in West Africa 

over the past five years is leading 

a team of 90 staff including 

Neville Rogers, food and beverage 

manager, Adeyinka Oloyede, 

sale executive, among others, to 

deliver the best of luxury offerings 

to guests. 

No matter the room category, 

the added luxury-bedding package 

unique to the hotel enhances 

one’s sleeping experience. What 

more can you ask for when your 

mini bar in the room is stocked, 

your laundry and toiletry needs 

are met with perfect room service, 

courtesy of attendants whose 

stock in trade is guests’ comfort. 

Its world-class presidential 

studio suite is fit for a king and 

comprises a large quality furnished 

luxurious dining and living 

room area, with fully stocked 

kitchenette and a master’s bedroom 

with sizeable spa bath and 

seven valve massage shower 

room. The luxury feel as well extends 

to the penthouse leisure 

suites, each comprising a luxurious 

dining and living room area 

with kitchenette, a master’s bedroom 

with on suite Jacuzzi. 

The luxury feel as well extends 

to the other leisure suites. 

The rooms are very competitively 

priced, depending on the 

kind of guest and services required. 

While a full English breakfast 

awaits the normal guests, a 

red carpet reception, complementary 

butler services await VIP 

guests of the Presidential Suite 

that expands the entire fifth floor. 

The suite expands the entire fifth 

floor with a very large master bedroom 

adorned with best of decorations, 

Jacuzzi, internet, with red 

carpet reception and separate 

guest bedroom. It also comes 

with complementary food basket 

and chocolates. 

There are ample dining and 

wining options. From Alo-Alo 

restaurant, Onyx Bar & Lounge, 

Pool Bar, Marc Anthony, among 

others, the experience is more 

than a gastronomic and wine 

tour. 

Dany Assi, the executive chef 

and his team of culinary experts 

are waiting your visit to fete you 

with the best of menu - African, 

continental, among others. 

Meetings, seminars and conferences 

at the hotel are resultoriented 

with well-equipped 

halls. The biggest of the halls can 

host about 800 guests banquet 

style and 3,500 guests theatre 

style. 

With management that means 

well for guest and staff with years 

of experience in the hospitality industry, 

the outfit is ready to create 

fun and sustain guests’ memorable 

experience. 

“With the renovation in the 

hotel and innovations in our conference 

packages, we have the 

satisfaction of our guests in mind. 

We hope to deliver the best conferencing 

experience to our corporate 

guest, and also help them 

feel very much at home while 

conferencing here,” says the general 

manager. 

Part of the innovations that 

come with the renovation is the 

introduction of Sunday Brunch, 

Ladies Night, Friday Chop’s Night, 

Businessmen’s Lunch, among 

others. 

Yet, the hotel is training the 

staff in line with its focus on selling 

luxury. Farm trips to luxury 

hotels to enable them understand 

what luxury is all about, 

in-house training among other 

exposures are ongoing to ensure 

sustained commitment to marketing 

luxury at the hotel. 

“We want to take this hotel to 

s a different level. We have the 

product; all we need do is to promote 

the product to the guests. 

Part of our strategy to achieve this 

is educating our staff to understand 

the product they are marketing,” 

the new general manager 

says. 

In all, he notes that his target 

is to exceed customers’ expectations.


Retail&ConsumerBusiness 

BUSINESS DAY 

27 

Bicycles as alternative? 

ANNE AGBAJE 

As Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial 

capital and 

megacity, continues 

to struggle for stability 

under the throes 

of another lingering crisis of petroleum 

products scarcity which 

has entered its third week, and 

an intractable traffic gridlock that 

has seen transportation cost for 

motorists and commuters in major 

parts of Africa’s fastest growing 

megacity, there may just one very 

cost-efficient way to turn the negatives 

around: bicycle riding. 

With about an estimated million 

vehicles plying the Lagos 

roads on a daily basis, and an additional 

half a million motor bicycles 

and tricycles (Keke Napep) whose 

movement all require a constant 

visit to the filing stations, acquiring 

and taking to the use of bicycles 

may be a long-lasting way to beat 

the system. 

Some major cities around the 

world like China have for a long 

time used bicycles as a means of 

transport. It believed to be a more 

cost-effective means of transiting 

from and reducing dependence 

automobiles. 

Bicycles, according to studies, 

are the fastest growing and 

predominant mode of access to 

express public transportation 

services in many Western communities 

and some parts of Asia. 

Ironically, the best way to move 

around town and cities in Nigeria 

is by ‘Okada’ – motorcycles, because 

they are fast and not very 

expensive, but dangerous times, if 

you are in a hurry to get about or 

to meet up with an appointment, 

especially in Lagos reputed for 

long traffic jams. 

Naturally, bicycles are inexpensive 

compared with motorcycles, 

they are good for keeping the body 

healthy and are environmentally 

friendly mode of transport. It obviously 

liberates the owner from 

oil consumption and frees the 

environment from the resulting 

pollution. It is at least energy efficient, 

unlike walking. 

Emmanuel Akachi, who sells 

bicycles of different types at Apapa, 

Lagos, stated: “I started by 

repairing bicycles and this has 

been so for the past five years, and 

then two years later I started selling 

children’s bicycles, now I have 

added bigger bicycles for adults. 

It is not an all-new bicycle market 

but imported used bicycles, and so 

far sales has really been good since 

I started with high patronage in the 

used bicycles. Only a few customers 

ask for new ones. 

“I sell an average of 10 bicycles 

in a week, sometimes less than 

that but recently sales have really 

increased and per bicycle the rate 

differs, depending on how new 

and strong it is. Sometimes, the 

price is also determined by the 

type of bicycles, for instance, we 

have Front Shock, Raleigh, Chevrolet, 

among others.” 

In the past six months, market 

trend has been fluctuating until recently 

when demand became high 

and price has not really changed 

too, he says. 

With over one billion of it 

worldwide, twice as many as automobiles, 

it is the number one 

vehicle in the world and also the 

principal means of transportation 

in many developing countries. 

Now, bicycles have become 

part of everyday life in most of the 

Asian countries. Apart from transportation, 

bicycle is also a popular 

form of recreation, and has been 

adapted for such uses as children’s 

toys, adult fitness, racing, postal 

and courier services. 

As nations become wealthier, 

their use of bicycles declined due 

to the increasing affordability of 

cars and motorcycles. But recently, 

several major cities around the 

world are encouraging people to 

take up the two wheels by adopting 

cycling as an integral part of the 

planned transportation system. 

For those who grew up in the 

village, they can testify that the 

use of bicycles in the countryside 

contrasts sharply with what happens 

in the cities, especially the 

South Eastern Nigeria; the bicycle 

is still a part of life as it has been so 

for decades. 

People still go to farm, market 

and stream on bicycles, and 

almost every house you entered 

had a bicycle and both male and 

female can ride on it. However, it 

is almost a taboo to ride a bicycle 

in the streets of a place like Lagos, 

where the latest brands of cars 

compete for space on the busy 

highways. 

Without the provision of dedicated 

bicycle lanes on the busy 

roads in towns and cities, cycling 

portends great danger and risk of 

accident. 

In a bid to give Nigeria’s most 

populous city an effective transport 

system, the state government 

has also announced plans to introduce 

bicycle lanes on major roads 

across the city of Lagos.



SportIllustrated 

Fan shares experience on 

Star Football SuperFan 

game show 

If you ever thought yourself a ‘crazy’ 

football fanatic, then wait till you 

read the story of 46-year-old Ejike 

Maduekwe who says watching his 

favourite club, Arsenal FC win matches, 

helps him sleep well. 

He revealed this while taking part 

in the fifth episode of the Star Football 

Superfans TV game show powered by 

leading beer Star Lager. 

“I love football, I love watching football, 

and I eat football. It gives me joy 

especially when I watch Arsenal play on 

their good day. Their winning makes me 

sleep very well,” Maduekwe said. 

Maduekwe, who was part of Five Star 

FC had James Samuel, Trust Monday, 

Mmadu Chinedu and Kelechi Ohaju as 

team mates. They won the N1million star 

prize after defeating Ultimate FC made 

up of Chelsea fans, Babatunde Clement, 

Chukwuma Oragui, Colins Ugwu, Timothy 

Ike and Patrick Oti. 

The show tests the knowledge of football 

fans regarding the game, its history, 

characters and everything else that makes 

it Nigeria’s number one sport. The show is 

aired every Thursday and Friday on Africa 

Magic and AIT respectively. 

2017 AFCON qualifiers: Keshi 

to name squad for Chad 

Keshi is not Super Eagles’ 

problem – Weah 

ANTHONY NLEBEM 

The news of Stephen Keshi’s 

return as the coach of Super 

Eagles is still generating comments 

from soccer pundits. 

George Weah, a Liberian 

former African and world footballer of the 

year, has absolved Keshi of any blame as 

regards the problems facing the national 

team. 

Weah said the struggle with Nigerian 

football over the last two years has nothing 

to do with coach Stephen Keshi, but 

rather with the team. 

The Liberian was speaking with regards 

to the concerns over the Nigeria 

Football Federation’s decision to award 

Stephen Keshi a 2-year contract extension 

despite failing to lead the country to this 

year’s Africa Cup of Nations. 

“Nigeria is a great nation and the fact 

that they didn’t qualify for AFCON 2015 

doesn’t mean they don’t have a good team 

or a good coach,” he said. 

“They need to find a rhythm, try again 

and redouble their efforts and get back on 

the world stage. 

“Sometimes it is not about the coach, 

but about team work because Nigeria 

may not have a team but they have lots of 

players but you should know players win 

games and teams win championships. 

“So I hope they rebuild their team so 

they’re seeded again at the world stage,” 

Weah added. 

Weah is a member of the Liberian 

parliament, representing Montserrado 

County in the Senate. 

Super Eagles of Nigeria, the Pharaohs 

of Egypt, both past winners of the African 

Cup of Nations (AFCON), have been 

group together in Group G with Tanzania 

and Chad, ahead of qualifiers for the next 

edition of the biennial tournament billed 

to take place in Gabon. 

Keshi had memorable and success 

moments with the national team in 2013 

where he guided the Super Eagles to 

winning the AFCON trophy. But things 

fell apart after then as he failed to qualify 

Nigeria for the 2015 edition of AFCON 

where the Eagles could not defend their 

title and the poor run of Nigeria at the 

2014 World Cup in Brazil. 

Now that Keshi is back as coach of the 

Super Eagles, soccer-loving Nigerians 

who have waited patiently and painfully 

for NFF to name a new manager are expecting 

him to deliver on the job. 

The 2017 AFCON qualifiers kick off 

in June. 

Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi 

is set to name a 26-man squad 

for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations 

qualifying game against 

Chad. 

The players will be picked for the 

domestic league as successful ones will 

battle for place in the final squad with 

the overseas-based players who will be 

called up. 

It’s time to “return to basics” as he 

looks to “build a solid squad that will 

make Nigerians happy again”, Keshi 

said. 

“We have to return to basics and do 

the things we did that helped us win the 

2013 AFCON in South Africa. 

“I want to start from scratch to build 

a solid squad that will make Nigerians 

happy again. 

“It is important to give players in the 

local league a chance to show us what 

they can do and that is why I am inviting 

26 of them to prove themselves,” 

the former Mali and Togo coach told 

supersport.com. 

He added that the overseas-based 

players who will be handed call-ups are 

those who “play regularly for their clubs”. 

“Anyone who knows me will tell you 

that I am not a coach that will invite 

players based on what they have done 

in the past. 

“Only those who play regularly for 

their clubs will be called up. 

“There is no automatic shirt for anyone. 

If anyone thinks that we just need 

to turn up and beat Chad that person is 

making a big mistake. 

“They are a good side and we have 

to work hard to beat them. We will approach 

the game with all seriousness 

and hopefully we will get good result,” 

he said.


HealthBusiness & Living 

BUSINESS DAY 

29 

Health workers threaten 

nationwide strike in govt hospitals 

REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan 

... issues seven-day ultimatum to FG 

The Nigerian Union of 

Allied Health Professionals 

on Tuesday in 

Ibadan threatened to 

embark on nationwide 

strike if the Federal Government 

fails to address its demands. 

The union at a press conference 

issued a seven-day ultimatum, to 

inform the Federal Government of 

its decision to go on strike again in 

all government hospitals. 

The newly elected President 

of the union, Obinna Ogbonna, 

and the out-going President, 

Felix Faniran said the union had 

to suspend the last strike after 

appeal by President Goodluck 

Jonathan that their demands 

would be looked into after the 

general elections. 

According to Ogbonna, the 

health workers have been patient 

but had been deceived by the 

government saying “there will be 

a nationwide strike by our members 

if the government refuses to 

meet our demands. 

Some of the demands since 

2009 are the urgent need to release 

a circular to implement an 

agreement on adjusted salary of all 

health professionals as it is done 

for the Nigeria Medical Associa- 

tion members since January 2014. 

The union is also demanding 

the payment of arrears on 

skipping of CONHESS 10 since 

2010 in compliance with a court 

judgement, the promotion of its 

members, who have spent 15 

years on CONHESS 14 and designate 

the most senior one as a 

director or head of department 

and members to be appointed 

Chief Medical Directors of various 

tertiary hospitals rather than 

skewing the position in favour of 

medical practitioners only. 

Other issues include immediate 

circular from the government 

to seal the agreement reached in 

2012 on the extension of retirement 

age from 60 to 65 0r 70 years. 

Among other demands, the 

health workers are also calling 

on the FG to issue a circular 

amending the extant circular 

for medical laboratory science 

interns to include post National 

Youth Service Corps placement 

on grade level 09. 

On alleged unfavourable government 

position to NUAHP demands 

and the ultimatum issued by the 

union, Faniran said the looming 

strike was meant to address the 

rights of the health workers. 

The union, made up of all 

health workers except the nurses 

and doctors claimed that after 

suspending the last strike on February 

2, 2015, government had 

refused to address the agreement 

it had with the health workers. 

The strike lasted for about 

four months, when the hospitals 

declined to offer medical services 

to the public. 

The latest position was adopted 

by the workers after the 

union’s 6th triennial delegates’ 

conference held between May 

5 and May 8, 2015 at the NLC 

Secretariat Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. 

Carlisle healthcare embarks on ‘Walk-a-thon’ in support of World Hypertensive Day 

Carlisle healthcare has 

moved to save a lot of 

lives that may be wasted 

ignorantly or reluctantly 

through its ‘Team Up for Health 

Walk’ initiative in commemoration 

of the World Hypertensive Day. 

The ‘Team Up for Health Walk’, 

sponsored by Carlisle healthcare 

limited, will benefit a vast number 

of people living in Lagos and 

as far as the media reach. These 

individuals will become aware of 

the ills of high blood pressure, and 

a quick intervention approach to 

nipping it in the bud. 

Consequently, the ‘Team up 

for health’, a Carlisle Healthcare 

initiative is inviting participants, 

individuals and the organizations 

that are willing to look out 

for a neighbor to join the walk for 

Hypertension. The theme of the 

walk scheduled to hold on the 

16th of May 2015 is ‘Know Your 

Blood Pressure.’ Participants can 

register online at www.teamupforhealth.org. 

Shade Animashaun, CEO Carlisle 

HealthCare Limited, who has 

been a community pharmacist for 

25years said over the years she had 

watched her customers gradually 

become hypertensive and made 

the hypertensive check done in 

her Pharmacy for free but a lot of 

people still don’t bother to check. 

As regards to this, she said 

she made it compulsory for her 

patients to check their blood pressure 

and when this was done, she 

found out that an alarming number 

of people were hypertensive. 

According to Animashaun, 

“Health they say is wealth, for 

the busy populace of Lagosians 

over 70% of adults stand the risk 

of having high blood pressure. 

This makes creating adequate 

awareness a life saver. Team up 

for health will also be introducing 

a BP Apparatus, compact and 

user friendly with extra features to 

detect arterial fibrillation, a traffic 

light indicator that interprets the 

blood pressure level showing the 

ideal, safe and danger zones during 

the walk.” 

She noted that this apparatus 

is available in pharmacies and 

stores nationwide and registration 

of the event is free. All participants 

will receive a gift bag containing 

T-shirt, face cap from the event 

sponsor and community advocates 

who canvass for others to 

join the walk and save lives will 

be recognised. 

“The walkathon starts at 7am 

from Ikoyi Baptist Church and 

ends there too. Sign up will be 

online and also at the registration 

corner at Carlisle Pharmacy 113b 

Awolowo Rooad Ikoyi Lagos. Various 

stopping stations will be set 

up along the path for supporters 

to watch and sponsors to distribute 

water and other items,” she 

disclosed. 

Animashaun further revealed 

that this is the maiden walk by 

Team Up for Health, adding that 

they hope to hold many more 

walks sensitizing the general public 

especially those at the grassroots 

level on prevention and intervention 

approaches to chronic 

health issues. 

Following the event, participants 

are invited to a refreshing time, 

catered by taste pot and entertainment 

provided by a surprise local 

celebrity. Prizes will be awarded for 

the first to cross the finish line, and 

most enthusiastic walker. 

HBL TEAM 

kemi@businessdayonline.com 

KEMI AJUMOBI 

Head, HBL 

MONDAY FESTUS AGHAEZE 

Graphics



HealthBusiness & Living 

UI begins annual 

screening for students 

...as committee to investigate death of student submits interim report 

NGO, others sensitise community 

on hepatitis/cervical cancer 

IFEOMA OKEKE 

As the global agenda 

tilt from development 

goals to attaining 

sustainability by 

2030, Healthy Living & 

Women Empowerment Initiative 

(HELWEI), a non-governmental 

and not-for-profit organisation, 

in collaboration with CHI Pharmaceuticals 

Ltd and Dave Star 

Hospital (as lead partners) recently 

made a giant stride in 

its commitment towards health 

awareness and economic productivity 

through a community health 

outreach in Lagos titled: ‘Genital 

Infections and Hepatitis: Threat 

to Healthy Living.’ 

Speaking at the three-day community 

health outreach, Ebere 

Okey-Onyema, executive director, 

HELWEI, explained that the whole 

objective of the intervention was 

to have a total woman, hence, the 

knowledge-sharing on Cervical 

Cancer and free screening for all 

interested women. 

Okey-Onyema said that the 

outreach, which centered on 

Hepatitis and Cervical Cancer, was 

not exclusive for women as other 

community members including 

men and children participated in 

the hepatitis screening because 

“it is not gender-based, it affects 

everyone”. According to her, 

“Hepatitis affects vital organs in 

the body, including men’s sexual 

health, thus it is critical to family 

health and stability. Our advocacy 

is centered on preventive rather 

than curative measures in disease 

control.” 

On the impact of the intervention 

in the community, Okey- 

Onyema said it’s been worthwhile. 

“In 2014, we engaged communities 

through our ‘Save a Woman, 

Save a Generation Campaign’ 

with focus on family planning, 

pre-natal and nutrition. Participants 

were advised to give birth to 

children they can train and cater 

for as this would help to reduce 

poverty and health-related challenges 

in the society. She further 

stated that this very intervention 

is meant to create awareness on 

the ‘Silent Killer’ diseases; ‘Hepatitis 

and Cervical Cancer’ with its 

roots in genital infections. This is 

why the planning of the outreach 

integrated all stakeholders in 

the health sector such as private 

health providers, pharmacists, 

faith-based groups, artisans and 

trade groups,” she said. 

Emphasising on the importance 

of the outreach, David O. 

Akinola, deputy director, Federal 

Ministry of Health, Lagos, said: 

“The programme is a communitybased 

awareness health outreach 

on genital infections, hepatitis and 

cervical cancer with free screening 

for healthy living and economic 

productivity. Both genital infections 

and hepatitis are threats to 

healthy living and constitute risk 

factors to the development of 

cervical cancer.” 

“These viruses are major killers 

among women in developing 

countries, and could lead to low 

economic output of victims. He 

explained that the purpose of the 

health outreach is to screen women 

against cervical cancer; men 

and women and children against 

hepatitis in order to achieve a certain 

level of control of the diseases 

especially as most awareness programmes 

focus on HIV, malaria 

with few on tuberculosis; hence, 

this one is on cancer of the cervix 

and hepatitis differing from others,” 

Akinola further said. 

Oluyemisi Laitan Babatunde, 

medical officer, Dave Star Hospital, 

Isheri-Oshun, Igando-Ikotun 

LCDA, Alimosho, Lagos, said the 

event was a community outreach 

that targets men, women and 

children for a better living through 

health education and screening 

for hepatitis and cervical cancer. 

She added that Hepatitis and Cervical 

Cancer were chosen as focal 

points because both viruses have 

minimal awareness in rural/semi 

urban-communities. According to 

her, “these diseases are preventable, 

yet people die of them daily 

because of knowledge gap.” Urging 

families to cultivate the habit of 

going for regular screening, she 

advised participants encouraged 

to put into practice the preventive 

measures they were exposed to 

during the intervention. 

The event drew participants 

from stakeholders in the Federal 

Ministry of Health, private medical 

providers, health workers, faithbased 

groups, members of Lagos 

Patent Medicine Dealers Association, 

Nigeria Medicine Patent Association, 

trade groups, artisans, 

civil society organisations, among 

others. It was sponsored by Viju 

Milk industries, Leventis Foods, 

Lacasera, CWAY Foods, Pardee 

Biscuit, Fruittal Juice, Super Engineering 

Ltd., Tropical Naturals 

(Dudu Osun), Niger Biscuit, Axian 

Industry Technology and Johnson 

Wax. 

REMI FEYISIPO, IBADAN 

The management of the 

University of Ibadan 

has concluded plans to 

conduct a yearly medical 

screening for students of the 

institution to ascertain their 

health status. 

This followed the death of 

Mayowa Alaran, a 200 level 

student in the Human Kinetics 

Education Department who 

slumped while watching Barcelona 

and Bayern Munich match 

last week. 

Alaran was rushed to the 

Jaja clinic and was alleged not 

to have been attended to by the 

staff in the clinic. 

Addressing journalists, Vice- 

Chancellor of the university, 

Isaac Adewole, a Professor, 

while stating the position of 

the university over the death 

of the student said the entire 

university was in shock over the 

unfortunate incident. 

Adewole noted that the annual 

screening was in continuation 

of a similar one introduced 

for staff of the institution four 

years ago. 

The VC however noted that 

in order to prevent future occurrences 

in the university, has 

intensified efforts in reforming 

the health services in the institution. 

According to him, “we are 

aware as management the feelings 

of our students, perception 

is very important and we will 

continue to decentralize the 

health services. I am aware that 

some are doing part service, you 

cannot be in Jaja Clinic and be 

doing part-time service, we are 

also going to inject new staff 

for effective management and 

proper execution of duties. “ 

He said the university in its 

bid to provide good and qualitative 

health service for both staff 

and students is planning to establish 

student’s health service 

which will be different from the 

normal health service. 

Part of the reform of the 

institution’s health service, he 

pointed out, was to ensure that 

all ambulances should be at 

alert at all times and every night. 

He however disclosed that 

training would be provided for 

students on how to handle first 

aid. Adewole who was accompanied 

by principal officers of 

the university noted that the 

university has also introduced 

plans to train the students on 

how to handle grief. 

The VC had earlier set up a 

committee headed by Deputy 

Vice Chancellor (Administration) 

Ambrose Ayelari to investigate 

the matter. 

The committee has submitted 

an interim report to the VC 

and seeks memorandum from 

the university community. 

The death of Alaran led to 

protest by students of the institution 

last week Thursday in 

which both the academic and 

non-academic activities were 

paralysed. 

Adewole, was said to have 

addressed the students at the 

Jaja clinic early in the morning 

setting up a five-man committee 

to harmonize the demands of 

the students and assuring that 

the university would investigate 

the matter.


Cyvette M. Gibson, The Liberian Mayor improving 

and empowering communities in Paynesville 

KEMI AJUMOBI 

Leading Woman 

BUSINESS DAY 

31 

C. Cyvette M. Gibson was 

appointed as acting Mayor 

of the City of Paynesville on 

November 14, 2012. As the 

youngest Mayor to serve the 

position of City Mayor in Liberia, Gibson 

has focused her administration on improving 

and empowering communities 

in Paynesville by providing infrastructure, 

education, access to employment and 

entrepreneurship, and basic services 

such as water, energy, sanitation, housing, 

health, and safety. 

Born on December 2, 1974, Gibson 

is the tenth (10th) Mayor of Paynesville, 

a city with a growing population of 

over 347,000 residents and over 300 city 

employees. Mayor Gibson has been a 

community advocate for many years, 

both as a government official and as a 

private citizen. Before ascending as Acting 

Mayor, Gibson served as Chief of Office 

for the capital city of Monrovia under the 

administration of then Mayor Hon. Mary 

T. Broh. As the Chief of Office, Madame 

Gibson, with the MCC team, successful 

accomplished transforming the nation’s 

capital from a city of debris to an immaculate 

metropolitan. While at the Monrovia 

City office, Gibson was instrumental in 

progressive programs such as the installation 

of portable toilets and demolition of 

dilapidated buildings left abandoned and 

bullet-ridden after the 14-year civil war; 

the re-enactment of City Ordinance Number 

One, originally passed in 1975 under 

the Tolbert administration and revised 

in 1988 under the Doe administration; 

Introduced a parking ticketing system; 

Enforced city ordinances 

t o 

the letter; the Presidential 

Proclamation 

for First Saturday to 

ensure that Monrovia 

was clean at all times, 

renovation of the City 

Hall, implementation 

of the Emergency 

Monrovia Urban 

Sanitation Project, 

establishment of the 

Bill and Melinda 

Gates Foundation 

project, erected the 

MCC Patio, networked 

the MCC 

Financial system, 

created data base 

to capture revenue/ 

municipal taxes, 

developed additional 

city departments 

and services, 

vetted new 

City Police and 

employed over 

300 casual laborers 

and acquired 

waste removal 

equipment. 

Since becoming 

Mayor, she has 

accomplished the 

following: Established 

sister city relationship with the City 

of Paynesville, Minnesota (USA) and the 

City of Bagcilar, Istanbul (Turkey); Implemented 

the City Ordinances; Implemented 

The City Beautification Project to help 

improve the image of the city; Completed 

the ELWA Junction Beautification Project 

which curve the pollution and littering 

at the gateway of Liberia; Secured Compacting 

Trucks and garbage bins from 

TIKA of Istanbul to empower the city on 

improving waste and sanitation within 

the municipality: Provided training to 

drivers working within the municipality 

to be able to operate the compact trucks; 

Transformed 

the Red-Light 

District, the 

largest commercial 

district, 

by implementing 

and enforcing 

the waste 

management 

system; Employ 

over 50 

people in the 

Red-light district 

who mans 

the area 24 

hours a day; 

Successfully 

kept Tubman 

Boulevard, the 

major roadway 

leading into 

the capital city 

clean, Prevented 

illegal dumping 

of waste in 

various areas; Provide communities 

with legal garbage disposal point; 

Constructed fruit and vegetable stands 

throughout the city to empowered local 

market women to have a habitable 

area to sell their goods; Construction of 

water pumps and community latrines 

in communities; Established “Buy Your 

Dirt Stations” to lower the cost of the city 

daily waste collection and directly create 

opportunities for marginalized citizens to 

make a daily income; Enforced First Saturdays 

Clean-up in the city to encourage 

citizens participation in cleaning the city; 

Implemented a progressive accounting 

management system for accountability 

and transparency, which has help 

to increase the city revenue; Renovated 

the building and grounds of the Paynesville 

City Corporation; Established new 

departments in the Corporation (i.e., 

Environmental Health, City Planning, 

Community Services, Youth Focal Person, 

Special Projects and the Public Relations); 

Created Employee Handbook and a Human 

Resources Handbook; Created Job 

Description for all employees in the Corporation; 

Collaborated with Coca-Cola 

to create employment opportunities for 

60 unemployed women; Conceptualized 

project for the youth of the city to create 

sustainable employment; Closing the 

gap on prostitution ranks in the city; Prevented 

illegal erection of structures in the 

city; Cleared alleyways by demolishing 

illegally built structures in main alleyway; 

Conceptualized the Paynesville Mapping 

Project, to create a cohesive mailing system, 

street names, and create a systematic 

approach for collecting taxes; Due to the 

lack of Playgrounds in the Municipality, 

Mayor Gibson hosted a Bi Monthly movie 

night for kids, Conceptualized a Parks and 

Recreation Act to preserve the natural and 

cultural resources and values of the park 

system in the City of Paynesville; Enforcing 

the zoning ordinances of Paynesville 

to help segregate land use, and limit the 

density of development on each parcel 

of land. 

Her love for community involvement 

has been evident through her previous 

service as a volunteer in various capacities 

on International Women’s Colloquium 

Secretariat, Liberian Girls Organization, 

The Angie Brooks International Center 

and several local community outreach 

programs. 

Mayor Gibson has received many 

honors for her leadership skills and commitment 

to diversity. She was recognized 

in 2013 as the “Best Mayor of Year” by 

the Progressive Alliance of Liberia. She 

has also received 2014 Awards from the 

Paynesville Youth for Education and 

Development for Financial and Moral 

support given to the Young people of 

Paynesville. 

Mayor Gibson attended the College of 

NW London and over the past 17 years, 

she has worked professionally in women’s 

empowerment, legal and city administration 

in Liberia and the United States. 

Mayor Gibson motto “Maintaining the 

Green” has restored the City of Paynesville 

to a clean environment.



Harvard 

ManagementDigest 

Business 

Review 

Two keys to sustainable social enterprise 

ROGER L. MARTIN AND SALLY R. OSBERG 

Social entrepreneurship has 

emerged over the past several 

decades as a way to identify and 

bring about potentially transformative 

societal change. A hybrid 

of government intervention and pure 

business entrepreneurship, social ventures 

can address problems that are too narrow 

in scope to spark legislative activism or to 

attract private capital. 

To succeed, these ventures must adhere 

to both social goals and stiff financial 

constraints. Typically, the aim is to benefit 

a specific group of people, permanently 

transforming their lives by altering a prevailing 

socioeconomic equilibrium that 

works to their disadvantage. 

The endeavor must also be financially 

sustainable. Otherwise the new 

socioeconomic equilibrium will require a 

constant flow of subsidies from taxpayers 

or charitable givers, which are difficult to 

guarantee indefinitely. To achieve sustainability, 

an enterprise’s costs should fall as 

the number of its beneficiaries rises. 

Over the past 15 years we have studied 

successful social entrepreneurs up close 

through our work for the Skoll Foundation, 

established in 1999 by the Internet 

entrepreneur Jeffrey Skoll. Each year the 

foundation confers the Skoll Award for 

Social Entrepreneurship (SASE) on a small 

number of people. More than 100 social 

entrepreneurs representing 91 organizations 

have received Skoll awards to date. 

In studying these leaders and their 

ventures, we have found that they all focus 

on changing two features of an existing 

system - the economic actors involved and 

the enabling technology applied. 

THE ACTORS 

Social and economic problems often 

reflect an imbalance of power among 

the economic actors involved. India’s 

handwoven-carpet industry offers a prime 

example. In the early 1980s the children’s 

rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, joint 

winner with Malala Yousafzai of the 2014 

Nobel Peace Prize, saw that poor children 

were easy prey for labor brokers who 

recruited workers for a number of Indian 

industries, including carpet weaving. Captured 

by these middlemen, the children 

were sold to business owners who forced 

them to work 12 or more hours a day under 

brutal conditions. Three groups of players 

- owners, labor brokers and retailers 

- dominated the country’s handmade-rug 

industry, their interlocking interests perpetuating 

a particularly ugly equilibrium 

that benefited them by exploiting children. 

In situations like this, we have observed, 

social entrepreneurs aim to transform 

the equilibrium by adding new actors 

to an existing system. These actors fall into 

two categories: customers, whose role is to 

shift the power balance; and government, 

whose role is to alter the economics. 

- Customers and power. Satyarthi 

began his career in activism primarily 

through advocacy and organizing raids 

on companies, in the hope that he could 

raise awareness of child exploitation. 

Eventually he discovered that what could 

make a real difference was enlightened 

consumers who would refuse to buy rugs 

that had been made with slave labor. In 

the mid-1990s he launched Rugmark 

(now GoodWeave International) as the 

first voluntary labeling scheme to certify 

rugs produced without child labor in South 

Asia. Today GoodWeave operates globally. 

More than 130 carpet importers and retailers 

- including Target - have signed on, 

pledging to source woven rugs that have 

been certified by GoodWeave. 

- Government and economics. A number 

of successful social entrepreneurs have 

generated a better equilibrium by moving 

government from the sidelines to a far 

more productive place in the system. The 

Amazon Conservation Team tackled the 

problem of Amazon basin deforestation 

by rendering Brazil’s government a more 

effective actor in a system that previously 

pitted primarily indigenous peoples 

against the loggers, ranchers and miners 

who were razing millions of hectares of 

forest in the basin - often illegally. ACT’s 

core innovation was to equip tribal peoples 

with handheld GPS devices and train them 

to chart their ancestral lands. The resulting 

maps enabled them to advocate more 

effectively for their own interests by supplying 

the government with information 

needed for rain forest conservation. 

THE TECHNOLOGY 

Economic and social agents use 

structures, business models and tools to 

achieve their desired ends in an existing 

equilibrium, which often is unjust and 

suboptimal. A second way, therefore, to 

effect change is to dramatically improve 

a system’s technology while leaving the 

current actors in place: 

- Replace a key technology with a 

lower-cost one. A number of SASE winners 

have succeeded by identifying a lower 

cost technology that can substitute for a 

prevailing standard in a given function 

or product component. In Africa, mothers2mothers 

trains “mentor mothers” to 

monitor HIV-positive pregnant women. 

Such help has been shown to increase 

the latter’s adherence to the demanding 

treatment regimens required to increase 

their chances of delivering healthy, HIVnegative 

babies. 

Create a new enabling technology. 

Social entrepreneurs also succeed by sup- 

plying or creating a new technology that 

allows users to do things they could not 

previously do. Before Matt Flannery and 

Jessica Jackley created the Kiva platform, 

it was nearly impossible for small-scale 

lenders in wealthy countries to lend to 

small-scale borrowers in poor countries. 

The Kiva platform provides a technology 

to break through these barriers, enabling 

microlenders worldwide to make loans as 

small as $25 to microborrowers in poor 

countries. Transaction costs on both sides 

have plummeted as more lenders and 

borrowers have begun to use the platform. 

Kiva is on track to facilitate more than 

$1 billion in microloans within the next 

couple of years. 

- Repurpose an existing enabling technology. 

The SASE winner Victoria Hale, a 

former pharmaceutical company scientist 

and U.S. Food and Drug Administration 

staffer, created the Institute for OneWorld 

Health (iOWH) to scour pharmaceutical 

company shelves for drugs deemed 

unsuitable for developed world markets 

and incapable of generating profits in the 

developing world. Hale identified a drug 

that had been fully developed but was 

no longer in production, paromomycin, 

which she believed could be used to cure 

leishmaniasis (black fever). Clinical trials 

in India proved her right. Eliminating the 

huge costs of drug development enabled 

iOWH to persuade the Indian government 

to make paromomycin available, turning 

“prohibitively expensive” into “life-saving” 

for those afflicted. 

To be sure, pursuing a social goal while 

being constrained by the requirement of 

financial sustainability is difficult. Yet the 

evidence we see from our work at the Skoll 

Foundation shows that many entrepreneurs 

are succeeding, in settings all over 

the world, at creating scalable social ventures 

to transform unhappy circumstances 

for a great number of people. The clearly 

emerging pattern in their successes can 

serve as a valuable road map for others, 

thereby speeding society’s journey toward 

a better, fairer future. 

(Roger L. Martin is the former dean of 

the Rotman School of Management at the 

University of Toronto and a co-author of 

“Playing to Win” and a director of the Skoll 

Foundation. Sally R. Osberg is the president 

and CEO of the Skoll Foundation.) 

c 

2015 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate


This is M NEY 

A daily guide to your Personal Finance 

BUSINESS DAY 

• Savings 

• Travel 

• Debt & Borrowing 

• Utilities 

• Managing your Tax 

33 

Should you be giving your children money? 

TIAMIYU ADIO ISMAIL 

There’s no rule 

that says all 

kids should be 

given the same 

amount of 

money as “allowance” 

daily, weekly or monthly. 

Money awareness begins 

at a fairly early age, no 

doubt. Kids as young as 2 

years old understand the 

concept of money. They 

may not be able to count, 

but they know what it’s 

used for. But to be realistic, 

allowance should 

be given to them from 

the age of 5, the amount 

you decide on should be 

sufficient to provide your 

child with some extra 

money so he or she will 

learn how to handle it. 

These are some factors 

involved in fixing your 

child’s allowance: 

Child’s age: Obviously, 

the older your child, 

the bigger the allowance 

(up to a certain point, 

at which your child may 

become too old for an allowance). 

Young children should 

get a smaller allowance 

than older children. 

While some families give 

the same allowance to 

all their kids even though 

they’re of different ages, 

this isn’t the usual approach. 

Most families give 

more money as to their 

older kids than younger 

ones. 

Using a rule of thumb 

to set an allowance is only 

a starting point. 

An allowance of N500 

per week may be okay for 

a 10-year-old, but N1000 

maynot be enough for a 

15-year-old. You need to 

make some realistic Judgments 

about what the allowance 

will buy. 

As your child gets 

older, you’ll have to adjust 

the allowance. Part of 

this adjustment is simply 

because of added age. Because 

your child is older, 

she must pay for more 

things and needs more 

money to do it. For 

instance, being at college 

means that your 

child has to pay for many 

of the things you used to 

buy when he or she was 

at home, such as toiletries, 

airtime for his or 

her phone and what have 

you. Of course, inflation 

also puts pressure on you 

to increase allowances so 

that your child’s buying 

power isn’t eroded. 

What if your children 

are of different ages? 

Generally, you’ll want to 

give them an allowance 

appropriate to their age. 

If they’re close in age 

such as, two years or less 

Tips for incorporating credit cards into your budget 

It’s easy to get caught 

up in the idea that 

credit cards are evil. 

However, the reality 

is that, just like anything 

else, they can be a financial 

tool. It’s just all about 

your perspective and how 

you use them. 

Mike Scanlin, the CEO 

of Born to Sell, points 

out that credit card can 

be helpful in managing 

your cash flow. With the 

right rewards programs, 

you can even make a little 

money and gain other 

benefits from your credit 

card use. 

Here are tips for incorporating 

credit cards into 

your budget. 

1. Always Pay Off the 

Full Balance 

Rule number one of effective 

credit card use is to 

pay off the balance every 

month. You don’t want 

to be forced to pay interest 

since that destroys the 

value of your rewards, 

and carrying a balance 

leads to loads of debt. 

Scanlin recommends 

setting up autopay if you 

can. If you’re confident 

you will be able to pay 

off the card balance each 

month, you can arrange 

to have your card issuer 

automatically withdraw 

the balance amount from 

your bank account. 

2. Use Low-Interest, 

Low-Fee Cards 

“You’re not planning 

to pay interest or fees, but 

you should have these 

types of cards, just in 

case,” Scanlin says. Sometimes, 

the unexpected 

means you have to carry 

a balance for a month or 

two, and you want to pay 

as little as possible. Seek 

out low-interest, low-fee 

cards and use those for 

regular budget purchases 

each month. 

3. Set Up Your Bills 

to Auto-Charge Each 

Month 

If you want to earn 

points quickly, you 

should have your bills 

automatically paid using 

your credit card account. 

Instead of a direct 

debit from your checking 

account, most utili- 

ties, telecom companies, 

and gyms will allow you 

to use a credit card instead. 

You might not be able 

to pay your mortgage 

or car loan with a credit 

card, but other bills can 

usually be paid this way. 

This frees up your checking 

account in cash flow 

situations, and builds 

rewards faster — using 

money you’d spend anyway. 

4. Beware of Cards 

apart, maybe you’ll give 

the same amount. A child 

may complain that it’s not 

fair that her older brother 

gets more than she does. 

Fairness doesn’t mean 

that everything has to be 

equal, though: It’s fair to 

base allowance on several 

factors, with age being an 

important one. 

Your income: You 

know how much you 

earn and also know the 

amount you can afford 

to allocate to allowances. 

You may like to pay a generous 

allowance, but your 

limited resources may 

dictate otherwise. You 

have to be realistic about 

what you can afford to pay 

as an allowance. 

If you can’t afford to 

pay an allowance or set 

it at the amount you really 

think appropriate, 

be honest about it. Make 

clear to your children that 

your finances prevent you 

from giving your child the 

amount you’d prefer. 

Where you live: To be 

frank the neighborhood 

you live in can certainly 

influence how much allowance 

you give your 

child. What your child’s 

best friend receives may 

not be a deciding factor, 

but it’s a factor nonetheless. 

What the allowance is 

supposed to cover. If you 

expect your teenager to 

buy all his own clothing 

from his allowance, then 

the money paid to him 

each week must be sufficient 

to allow for this 

extensive purchase. If you 

supplement an allowance 

with spending money, 

then a less generous allowance 

may be in order. 

You can bet that the 

kids who live in Victoria 

Garden city (VGC), Ikoyi 

and Victoria Island 

(VI) here in Lagos don’t 

receive the same allowances 

as the kids in 

Ajegunle, Mushin and 

Ikorodu, Lagos. You may 

feel that this is really just 

another way of saying that 

a family’s income should 

influence the allowance. 

But there’s more at work: 

There’s peer pressure to 

get the same allowance 

that the other kids do. 

Also costs of living too are 

different in those areas 

mentioned above. 

Of course, you can take 

your neighborhood into 

account when fixing your 

child’s allowance or you 

might decide that this element 

shouldn’t be factored 

in. It’s your wish. 

With Foreign Fees 

“If you travel abroad, 

get a no-foreign-fee card,” 

suggests Scanlin. “This 

will save you 3% on all 

foreign purchases.” If you 

travel abroad frequently, 

or expect to in the future, 

look for a card without 

foreign fees attached to it. 

This will allow you to earn 

points without forfeiting 

money on overseas fees. 

5. Get at Least Two 

Cards 

You should have at 

least two different cards, 

says Scanlin. He points 

out that you’ll want one 

for your personal purchases 

and another for 

business expenses. 

This tip is especially 

important if you own a 

business. “This will make 

your life much simpler at 

tax time,” Scanlin points 

out. 

6. Don’t Get Too Many 

Cards, Though 

Even though you 

want at least two different 

cards, Scanlin warns 

against getting too carried 

away. “Don’t get 10 different 

cards just because of 

10 different promotions,” 

he says. “It sounds enticing 

at the time, but once 

you get 10 statements in 

the mail, and you can’t 

remember which card 

should be used for which 

purchases, your plan falls 

apart.” 

7. Ask for a Credit Limit 

Increase 

“Every six months, call 

the card companies and 

ask for a credit line increase,” 

suggests Scanlin. 

“If you’ve been using the 

cards and paying them off 

on time, they should give 

you an increase at least 

once per year.” 

This can enable you to 

put all of your expenses on 

your cards, racking up the 

points, and using them for 

free travel or cash back. As 

long as you stick to your 

spending plan and don’t 

use the rewards as an excuse 

for excessive spending, 

Scanlin says there’s 

no reason that you can’t 

reap the benefits while 

easing your cash flow.

34 

Friday 15 May 2015


CITYFile 

BUSINESS DAY 

35 

Apapa gridlock: Relocation of ports as solution? 

JOSHUA BASSEY 

Stakeholders have thrown up the 

idea of relocating the ports from 

Apapa as the search for a lasting 

solution to the perennial gridlock 

in the area continues. 

For over a decade now, Apapa, a commercial 

cum residential community in 

Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, has become 

one of the world’s worst business environments 

as petroleum tankers and dry cargo 

trucks in their thousands daily swarm the 

roads and bridges leading to this port community. 

Efforts in the last 16 years to end the 

traffic mess and return Apapa to its lost 

glorious past had been most unsuccessful 

– compounded by a system that savours 

parochial political interests at the expense 

of the well-being of the economy and the 

citizens. 

When in 2012 Lagos State and the federal 

government came together to tackle 

the problem of indiscriminate parking of 

tankers on the roads leading to Apapa, hope 

was high that the problem would be solved. 

But it was hope dashed as all that collaboration 

could do was the towing of trucks 

from the roads with the support of armed 

policemen. Since after the operation which 

brought temporary relief on the Mile 2-Tincan-Apapa 

road, that supposed partnership 

has yielded no result in terms of finding an 

enduring solution to the challenge. 

Lagos has continued to blame the 

federal for reneging on the agreement to 

financially back the state in the effort to regenerate 

Apapa. As the problem continues 

– made worst by the current fuel scarcity, 

the state seems to have given up under the 

current administration, turning hope to the 

incoming administration of the presidentelect, 

Muhammadu Buhari. 

The state governor, Babatunde Fashola, 

who is also due to leave office by May 29, 

recently expressed his frustration over 

Apapa in an apologetic manner when he 

addressed the residents during the occasion 

of his 2,900 days. 

“It is a sad story of our nation. I apologise 

for the inconveniences that the residents 

of Apapa go through daily due to the traffic 

caused by the tankers who come to that axis 

to lift fuel and by extension the traffic has 

spread to other parts of the state especially 

on Ikorodu Road. 

Continuing, Fashola said “if you can 

avoid going to that axis, please do so. I urge 

you to always listen to the Traffic Radio and 

get an update as you plan your journey. 

For me, if you can do that business on the 

phone rather than going to such place, 

please do so. 

“Specifically, Apapa is one of the many 

reasons people voted for change at the 

last elections. This was because it was an 

inappropriate way to transport petroleum 

products by road. They must move by rail 

and the state government doesn’t control 

the importation and distribution of petrol 


“It is a federal responsibility but the 

residents of Lagos are the victims of the 

circumstances that we don’t control. This is 

because the federal government isn’t doing 

its job effectively. I hope that we will be able 

to transport fuel properly over the next few 

years by rail. 

A gridlock from Ijora into Apapa in Lagos. 

“More importantly, I hope that we will 

stop the idea where the entire nation will 

depend on only one source for fuel. What 

we have now in Apapa that is causing pain 

is that about 6,000 tankers are in that axis 

daily trying to lift fuel to supply every part 

of the nation. 

“Normally on a day where there isn’t any 

fuel shortage, you have between 2,000 and 

3,000 tankers coming to Apapa to lift fuel. 

Now that there is a backlog, essentially, the 

entire country is waiting for fuel from this 

axis and that is why there are 6,000 tankers 

in Apapa at the moment, trying to lift fuel. 

“They are there to serve us, but they have 

become a problem because it isn’t the appropriate 

way to load fuel. We hope that all 

these will change in few years so that the 

entire country will not depend on this axis 

for fuel again. Please bear with us. 

“Our men in Lagos State Traffic Management 

Authority (LASTMA) and the special 

taskforce are doing their best to ensure that 

traffic in that axis is managed well. But it 

is just a challenging situation. If we are all 

patient, things will get better.” 

A week after the governor’s remarks, a 

meeting of stakeholders at the state ministry 

of transportation battled in vain to point the 

way forward for the Apapa logjam. 

Presided over by Kayode Opeifa, the 

commissioner for transportation, the meeting 

went back and forth on familiar issues 

and suggestions which several stakeholders’ 

meetings before it had deliberated and 

agreed on implementation but failed. 

Such issues as tankers maintaining one 

lane, avoiding Apapa when they do not have 

any business to do there, using of call-up 

system that allows only a truck invited to 

proceed to depot, building of parking lot 

and all that. 

In attendance were the familiar organisations 

who see everybody else as being 

the cause of the problem but themselves. 

They include Petroleum Tanker Drivers 

(PTD), Nigerian Association of Road 

Transport Owners (NARTO), Association 

of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Ibru 

Organisation, Nigerian Union of Petroleum 

and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Independent 

Petroleum Marketers Association 

of Nigeria (IPMAN), Major Oil Marketers 

Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), among 

others. 

At the end of the long session came also 

the familiar ultimatum by Lagos State handed 

down by the commissioner. Opeifa said 

Apapa is one of the many reasons people 

voted for change at the last elections. This was 

because it was an inappropriate way to 

transport petroleum products by road. They 

must move by rail and the state government 

doesn’t control the importation and 

distribution of petrol in the country 

Pic by Pius Okeosisi 

law enforcement agencies – police, Federal 

Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Lagos State 

Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) 

would start with persuasion and would 

only begin towing trucks and arresting 

recalcitrant drivers with effect from Sunday. 

On his part, Babatunde Edu, the general 

manger of LASTMA lamented the disorderliness, 

indiscipline being perpetrated 

by the drivers on Eko Bridge/Funsho Williams 

Avenue. 

He stressed that it has become necessary 

to checkmate the excesses of tanker drivers 

to prevent further hardship on innocent 

residents “This act of insensitivity has crippled 

the economy of the state denying other 

people their right to livelihood,” he stated. 

The meeting agreed that tankers currently 

staying 300 metres to any fuel depot 

should vacate while the call-up arrangement 

be strengthened. The NNPC was 

called upon to refrain from issuing tickets to 

marketers to start heading for Lagos when 

there is no fuel to lift from Apapa. 

However, Obafemi Olawore, the executive 

secretary of MOMAN, came up with a 

suggestion to relocate the ports from Apapa, 

saying that it was the practice all over the 

world to relocate ports that developments 

have caught up with. 

“It is the practice world over to relocate 

ports from where developments have 

caught up with them,” said Olawore at the 

meeting. 

As the Apapa residents, businesses, 

motorists and commuters continue 

to experience the pain and frustration 

thrown up by the activities of the tankers 

and tank farms indiscriminately located 

within the area, the question being asked 

is would the relocation of the ports be the 

solution at last?

Friday 15 May2015 


Business South-South 

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF SOUTH-SOUTH / SOUTH-EAST 

Udom should float start-up academy 

to fast-track A/Ibom economy – Akpan 

Gabriel Adolphus Akpan is the chief executive officer (CEO) of GreenOcean Petroleum Limited, located in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. In this 

interview with IGNATIUS CHUKWU, the gas expert and oil investor wants the incoming administration in his home state to build his strength 

in the private sector. Excerpt: 

Can you assess the pulse of the 

private sector to the emergence 

of a man like Udom Emmanuel 

as governor-elect of Akwa Ibom 

State 

The man Udom Emmanuel 

cannot be called a 

typical politician per 

se. He is seen more as 

a business manager, 

someone who came from the 

private sector, from the banking 

industry. 

So, people think that since Akpabio 

has done a lot in infrastructural 

development of the state, and 

has brought out the people of the 

state from the menial job (houseboy) 

mentality to that of self confidence, 

through education and skill 

acquisition, what is now needed 

is a drive for massive job creation 

through empowerment projects 

and economic boosters to create 

wealth and jobs. That is where 

Udom is seen to excel and be best 

suited. And that could be why most 

people think his emergence could 

be regarded as a stroke of luck. 

What makes anybody think 

Udom is the man to execute this 

task, to drive entrepreneurship 

in Akwa Ibom State 

He has a loaded private sector 

experience. His antecedents at 

Zenith Bank where he worked, and 

the positions he held, and did very 

well. When one listen to his various 

postulations and his very position 

on the economy you cannot but be 

convinced that he has the capacity 

to unlock the industrialisation 

potential in my State. 

He needs to quickly put his private 

sector experience into use to 

drive investment and industrialise 

the state. He seems to have two 

strong ingredients namely: experience 

and the ability to harness 

it. Because it is one thing to come 

from the private sector, and another, 

to have the ability to harness 

the various ingredients needed to 

build a virile economy, to have 

the capacity to govern a state and 

create an economic drive-path and 

make impact, to have the private 

sector spirit to drive the economy. 

If you were to make suggestions 

on how to harness the gas 

wealth of Akwa Ibom State, what 

would you advise 

First, the outgoing governor has 

been able to transform the mindset 

of the citizens from servile mentality 

(house-boys and house-girls 

mentality) to those of people who 

can take their destinies in their 

hands. The next thing is to drive 

that mentality to make the people 

excel in areas of entrepreneurship. 

On oil and gas, the proposed 

Quantum Petrochemical Plant 

to be cited in the state should be 

given all the attention, support 

and push required. Investments in 

deep sea ports, modular refineries, 

modular process plants and oil 

and gas city/ industrial zone are 

important steps. All these are immediate 

and strategic investment 

areas to embark upon. There is 

need for a robust public private 

partnership (PPP) law (if this does 

not already exist) to attract potential 

investors to the state. 

The new governor should go a 

step further to set up an Academy 

of Entrepreneurs made up of people 

who do not have political bias, 

but who are pure entrepreneurs 

with great entrepreneurial zeal, 

to offer him purely business and 

private sector-related advice. The 

Governor must be ready to hear 

the bitter truth at all times from 

these people. 

ExxonMobil is a reliable supplier 

of crude oil and natural gas 

from fields located offshore of the 

state, indicating the availability of 

feed stock for oil and gas related investments. 

The incoming administration 

should seriously consider 

taking advantage of the available 

oil and gas related opportunities 

offered by the availability of feed 

stock in the area of refining and 

processing. 

Akwa Ibom State has the potentiality 

of becoming African refining 

and petrochemical hub; we have 

the feed stock, we have the right 

environment, we have the coastal 

leverage or channels for shipping 

refined or processed petroleum 

products to all parts of Africa: 

Things can be done. My state with 

huge oil and gas potential can fuel 

the nation’s economy, and Africa 

by extension. 

Cost of businesses is escalating 

in most states; is there 

anything you think Akwa Ibom 

under the new administration 

can do to reverse this trend, and 

thereby attract investors 

Yes, when you provide infrastructure 

(power, roads, hospitals, 

rule of law, etc), you have taken off 

almost 60 percent from cost of doing 

business for a company. What 

that means is that maintenance 

cost will crash. If you provide vi- 

Adolphus Gabriel Akpan, CEO Greenocean Petroleum PH 

able rail transportation, you reduce 

cars on the road, reduce need for 

fuel, etc. 

The saddest problem of businesses 

is power. Businesses have 

been providing power at huge cost. 

Since the state has an independent 

power plant, the incoming administration 

can negotiate to inject 45 

percent of the generated electricity 

from the state power plant into the 

state grid. 

This will boost businesses in the 

state. The incoming government 

should create industrial clusters 

with adequate infrastructure provided, 

and centralise tax system 

implemented within the cluster. 

Do you think new governors 

would be ready to trust private 

sector people with new proposals 

I do not have details on why the 

project was stalled. I think there 

may have been some primary 

or irreconcilable disagreements 

between the investors and the 

government. I was worried when 

I read about the collapse of the 

project in the press. 

Sincerely speaking, politics is 

not a good friend of business. If 

a governor can muscle the will to 

say, I have two friends; ‘Politics’ 

and ‘Business’, and I will keep 

them apart, things would be better. 

He should ensure that whatever 

frustration he encounters with his 

friend, ‘Politics’, he drops it whenever 

he is crossing over to see his 

friend, ‘Business’, and vice versa. 

This will be good. Else, if you 

bring both politics and business together 

at any point in time in your 

administrative life, there could be 

transfer of aggression on the most 

vulnerable. 

But professionally speaking, 

most refinery projects are stalled 

by transactional and/or funding 

challenges, most especially 

where the project relied on equity 

financing. Also, refinery business 

is basically a business of margin, 

therefore inventory and prices as 

well as availability of feed stock are 

highly essential. 

Bitterly importantly, crude oil 

refining business in Nigeria will 

not blossom until we stop subsidy 

regime on refined petroleum products. 

We do not know if this was 

part of the problem with Amakpe 

Refinery project or if there were 

other factors. I would advise the 

incoming administration to find 

a way to separate politics from 

business. 

Where should the governor 

start, is it empowerment or from 

small and medium scale (SME) 

business boost 

First, he has to start with his 

team that is not political, the Academy 

of Entrepreneurs whose members 

should be drawn from various 

sectors; oil, gas, manufacturing, 

name it. They will have different 

committees or sub-academies and 

look at what is on ground and set 

up short term and long term goals, 

of four years (short) and long term 

(beyond four years). 

You cannot say because you are 

building a manufacturing plant 

that would take over six years, 

that the people should starve. The 

people will have to eat before the 

sixth year. Now that we have oil/gas 

reserves, that is good. Petrochemical 

plant is coming, the Academy 

would ask what other plants can 

be set up to take advantage of the 

plant. 

The quick things to do are: First, 

the new administration must review 

tax policy so that businesses 

see fairness in the administration 

and know the right tax to pay. 

Next, the Government must do a 

one-stop shop. This means any 

businessman that wants to set up 

will do all things in one office, all 

in one day. If there is any reason 

to come the next day, it would be 

genuine. This helps a businessman 

to ensure efficient time management. 

Next, create a solution centre 

where all partners and entrepreneurs 

can come and obtain 

solutions to their business challenges, 

especially as to relate to 

taxes and administration. Next: 

Do a job-based empowerment 

programme, not asking the youths 

to go and learn bogus skill scope. 

They should be trained in line with 

the private sector requirement 

based on projected or readily available 

job opportunities, as provided 

by the Academy of Entrepreneurs. 

You can do your four-year plan, 

all phased with the project plans. 

Training goes on along the projects 

from construction to operations. 

At the end of the day, you don’t 

end up training people you do not 

need, to go back to their homes or 

go to business centres to become 

computer operators. I have no 

doubt that Udom Emmanuel will 

know exactly what to do. 

Above all, he must keep his 

business friends/advisers away 

from his political friends/advisers. 

These are the few things I think he 

can do to boost the economy of 

Akwa Ibom State in the coming 

years.

Friday 15 May2015 

Business South-South 

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF SOUTH-SOUTH / SOUTH-EAST 

BUSINESS DAY 

37 

Calabar monorail takes off 

in weeks at Tinapa, CICC 

...as Imoke delivers Nigeria’s first light rail 

BEN EGUZOZIE 

The Calabar monorail 

project, a light single 

track rail transport 

system that would 

connect visitors to 

and from the alluring Tinapa 

Business and Leisure Resort 

(TBRL), Calabar with the incoming 

prestigious Calabar International 

Convention Centre 

(CICC), thereby upping tourism 

offerings at the two sites, would 

take off in weeks, said Governor 

Liyel Imoke, while taking delivery 

of passenger coaches of the 

monorail. 

The 78 passenger coaches 

were delivered in Calabar last 

weekend. Governor Imoke received 

the coaches, which were 

earlier planned for the state in 

2006/2007, but later shelved. 

Work has reached 80 percent 

completion, with only few materials 

to be received, said Hahn 

Wolfgang, the chief executive 

officer of Ponent, the constructing 

firm. 

Imoke said “it is gratifying 

to see that the monorail project 

which was planned for the 

state years ago has been finally 

delivered. In a matter of weeks, 

It has been two years since 

you were elected executive 

chairman of Owan East local 

government area. How far 

have you been able to carry on the 

governance of the council? 

We have done quite a lot in the 

area of health, schools, roads, water 

and electricity. We embarked on 

massive construction of schools 

across the 11 wards in the local government. 

We constructed a total of 

18 schools equipped with furniture 

and commissioned. 

They include 14 blocks of three 

classrooms; two blocks of 6 classrooms 

were reconstructed and 

constructed among others. The 

council distributed over 200,000 

free exercise books to pupils in the 

public primary schools across the 

council, with each pupil getting six 

exercise books. 

The council distributed over 

3,000 benches/desks to public 

primary schools. These reduced 

financial burden on the parents. 

In the health sector, we took part in 

immunisation. Upgraded primary 

healthcare centres. Completed 

facilities in our referral centre in Afuze. 

We constructed a new health 

centre at Emai, Afuze. Across the 11 

wards in the local government area 

Gov Imoke taking delivery of the 78 passenger coaches of Calabar Monorail 

the rail will link the Summit 

Hills and Tinapa, thus bringing 

the Business and Leisure Resort 

closer to Calabar metropolis.” 

He said the Monorail line 

project has been on the books of 

Cross River State for many years. 

“For us to see that the trains 

are finally delivered to site, and 

work is going on, is gratifying,” 

he said; adding that “in a couple 

of weeks, we will have this train 

running, linking Tinapa to the 

city of Calabar and berthing at 

Calabar International Convention 

Centre.” 

all our Primary Health Care centres 

are doing well. 

In the area of electricity, we 

extended electricity to some communities 

that were before now not 

enjoying the facility. We bought 

and installed transformers in Ake, 

Uanhumi, Ihievbe, Afuze communities. 

The council bought and 

installed 500 KVA transformers in 

Ohanmi, Ihievbe, extened electricity 

supply to Igboro community. 

In transportation, we bought 

eight new buses to boost our fleet. 

The council has opened route to 

Abuja. Plans are also underway 

to commence operation in Lagos 

route. 

Four water projects were executed. 

We are embarking on 

constructing additional eight water 

projects to meet the implementation 

of the Millennium Development 

Goals (MDGs), which unfortunately 

I think Nigeria is going 

to miss. 

Water and sanitation is one of 

the key components in meeting the 

MDGs goals, and as such people 

should have access to safe drinking 

water. We also hosted the first and 

second editions of the late Michael 

Imoudu memorial sports competition 

here in Afuze. 

“This is a realisation of a 

dream and an indication of 

growth and economic expansion 

particularly in the area 

of tourism which the state is 

known for. This is growth for 

business and leisure, which 

should be appreciated by the 

people,” Imoke stated. 

The monorail will run across 

Lake Tinapa, an artificial lake 

that separates Tinapa business 

resort and the Convention Centre, 

which would be Calabar’s 

newest tourism attraction, and 

perhaps, Nigeria’s first light rail 

How was the council able to 

meet its workforce obligations, especially 

in the payment of salaries 

and other financial entitlements 

given challenges of funds? 

We have that foresight of setting 

aside certain money every month 

for the payment of salaries, but 

with the dwindling allocation we 

have gone into our savings, and 

transport at a tourist site. 

The governor, whose administration 

leaves office on 29 May, 

said the state would continue 

to build and strengthen the 

tourism sector, as the train will 

further enhance that. 

The rail would be used for 

both business and pleasure, as 

Imoke said he expects everyone 

to come and enjoy a ride of this 

nature that links the two great 

tourist attractions. 

He said though he would not 

take a ride on the train before 

his exit in about two weeks, but 

he informed that every facility 

has been procured and delivered 

on site, and just waiting 

to be coupled for the train to 

be up and running, becoming 

the nation’s newest tourists’ 

attraction. 

“If you take an aerial view of 

these facilities, I don’t think we 

have any site in Nigeria that can 

be compared with them, except 

may be the Obudu Mountain 

Resort,” Governor Imoke said. 

Meanwhile, an agreement 

has been signed with the technical 

partners to train locals on 

the equipment maintenance 

when they take over, like other 

high tech projects in the state. 

‘Prompt payment of workers’ salaries my major satisfaction’ 

Jimoh Ijegbai, executive chairman of Owan East local government area, Edo State spoke with IDRIS UMAR MOMOH 

on how his administration motivated workers through regular payment of salaries. Excerpt: 

Jimoh Ijegbai, executive chairman, Owan East local government area, Edo State 

it is eventually now that we are 

exhausting it. 

We used to set aside one month 

salary, so that at any given time, 

even before Federal allocation 

comes, we will pay our staff. Consistently, 

since last year we have 

been having shortfall of funds 

from the Federal allocation. This 

has made us to go into the savings. 

Dickson inaugurates 

council to diversify 

local economy 

SAMUEL ESE, YENAGOA 

Governor Seriake Dickson 

of Bayelsa State has inaugurated 

a 12-member 

council with the sole task 

of advising the state government 

on ways of diversifying the local 

economy. 

The council which was inaugurated 

in Government House, Yenagoa 

on Tuesday is an offshoot of the 

state Elders Consultative Forum. 

Dickson said the development 

is necessitated by the continued 

drop in federal monthly allocations 

which have seriously affected 

the infrastructural development 

programme of his restoration administration. 

Several key projects are now 

lying fallow and the governor believes 

that the existing atmosphere 

of peace and stability can only be 

sustained if there is a boost in economic 

activities. 

He stressed that absence of a viable 

private sector to complement 

government employment drive 

has resulted in a situation where 

most people depend on government 

which is a key ingredient for 

instability. 

Giving reasons for inaugurating 

the council, he stated: “There is 

wisdom in forming the council as 

things do not go wrong in every society 

that has elders because of the 

important role they play in helping 

to develop our communities, state 

and country.” 

Dickson said the council will 

also liaise with the Ijaw National 

Congress (INC), Ijaw Youth Council 

(IYC) and other bodies in order to 

interface with other parts of the 

country towards galvanising support 

for the people in the Nigerian 

project. 

He commended members of 

the council for their advice, support 

and sacrifice describing them 

as a people with track record of 

service to the state and country as 

well as true elders in every sense of 

the word. 

Speaking, Francis Doukpola, the 

chairman of the Bayelsa State Elders 

Consultative Forum, outlined the 

objectives of the council which 

include crisis intervention and 

mediation within the state and the 

Ijaw nation. 

Doukpola said the council will 

advise discreetly on complaints 

from the people and encourage 

government to embark on welfare 

programmes for the elderly, interact 

and interface with similar bodies in 

the country as well as protect the 

socio-cultural values of the state. 

According to him, the forum will 

also play a political role the by interacting 

with various political office 

holders and elected representatives 

to give account of their stewardship 

and to encourage government towards 

achieving the aspirations of 

the founding fathers.

CITN 

Wednesday Live coverage of 21 the May 17th 2014 Annual Tax Conference of Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria 



17th Annual Tax Conference 

Taxation crucial in promoting 

economic activity, growth 

IHEANYI NWACHUKWU, Abuja 

Participants at the ongoing 

17th annual tax 

conference of the Chartered 

Institute of Taxation 

of Nigeria (CITN) 

are unanimous in their submission 

that taxation plays a crucial role in 

promoting economic activity and 

growth. 

The benefits of taxation in an 

economy cannot be over emphasised 

as they: provide funds to cover 

the cost of general administration, 

internal and external defence, 

maintenance of law and order, and 

the social services provided by government; 

income redistribution so 

as to reduce the gap in income and 

wealth in order to reduce inequality; 

through the use of multiple tax rates, 

to control the consumption of goods 

and services considered harmful; 

to check inflation by reducing the 

volume of purchase of power; and 

to direct investment to preferred 

sectors of the economy through tax 

incentives. 

At the conference themed “Inclusive 

Economic Growth and 

Sustainable Development: Fiscal 

Imperatives, Prospects and Challenges”, 

Mark Anthony Dike, president 

of the Chartered Institute of 

Taxation of Nigeria insists that the 

heartbeat of any economy is its ability 

to generate revenue for economic 

sustainability, adding that taxation 

plays a crucial role. 

He noted that this year’s conference 

theme was chosen “after careful 

inquisition on the kennels upon 

which activities in the economy has 

sprout over the years.” 

President Goodluck Jonathan 

“Through taxation, government 

ensures that resources are channelled 

towards important projects 

in the society. Thus the imposition 

of taxes is essential to economic 

and social development in any given 

economy”, Dike added. 

“Nigeria has for decades, been 

over relying on oil to drive its economy. 

Following the massive decline 

in global oil prices and the damage 

it has done to the Nigerian economy 

and the 2015 budget, it is imperative 

now for the incoming administration 

to seriously explore other viable 

means of saving the economy from 

total collapse.” 

He further noted that in the 

last nine months or more, global 

oil prices have been experiencing 

sharp decline leading to severe fall 

in revenue. 

As a result, the country’s budget 

benchmark price for this year is 

pegged at $53 per barrel. 

Dike added: “The continuous fall 

Muhammadu Buhari, president elect 

in the global oil prices has forced the 

federal government to adopt austerity 

measures, reduce oil benchmark 

prices severally; from $78 per barrel 

to $65 while the Central Bank 

of Nigeria has devalued the naira 

severally too. 

For the Nigerian economy that 

is largely import-driven and oildependent, 

this implies a shortfall 

in revenue gap, increase in prices 

of goods and services and inflation, 

if nothing drastic is done to cushion 

the effect. Hence, the need to start 

diversifying the Nigerian economy.” 

This implies that government 

cannot but engender an economy 

that is vibrant enough to guarantee 

the needed income stream that 

would enhance quality of socio 

economic life and reinforce further 

growth and development. 

According to CITN 

president,”taxation is the major and 

safest source of revenue available 

to government. In view of this, and 

in consideration of benefits listed 

above, every government should 

give due attention to its tax system.” 

On multiplicity of taxes, he said: 

“The Institute has consistently maintained 

multiplicity of taxes as the 

bane of a good tax system. As a major 

stakeholder in the tax system, the 

Institute recently compiled a charter 

of tax demands for the attention of 

the incoming administration stating 

the apparent challenges of tax issues 

and making its recommendations 

known to them. 

Some of the demands amongst 

other things are: rewriting of tax 

laws to remove obsoletes and making 

them relevant to the present day 

realities, easy to read and understand 

which in the long run would 

engender voluntary tax compliance 

and thus easy and cost effective 

administration of same; annual appropriation 

acts should legitimise 

the yearly expected revenue and 

expenditure. Note should be taken 

that the realisation of revenue estimates 

depend on the effectiveness 

of tax systems vis-à-vis the tax laws. 

Therefore, tax laws should be updated/amended 

annually to support 

and make the achievement of the 

expectations of appropriation acts 

possible; creation of the Office of 

Adviser on Taxation on Federal and 

State levels of government: This has 

been the hue and cry of the Institute 

and we have often emphasised this 

in our memoranda to Federal and 

State Governments. The creation of 

this portfolio is expected to facilitate 

the information flow/ understanding 

and urgency required on tax 

issues. It will also bring taxation to 

lime- light at national level, which is 

required. The same Office should be 

created in States that have not done 

so .In addition, autonomy and nonpoliticization 

of tax administration 

should be promoted and guaranteed 

at Federal and State levels. 

Other recommendations include 

that of abuse of tax waivers/ incentives. 

“In as much as the Country 

desires more direct investments; tax 

incentives and waivers, if granted at 

all, should be sector based and granted 

through tax laws so as to promote 

transparency. Government indication 

to narrow the window of incentive and 

waivers would send a clear message 

that government no longer wishes to 

do things ‘business as usual” 

On taxation of the informal sector, 

he said “The Institute calls for 

enhanced and enforced tax compliance 

of the informal sector with 

a view to expanding the tax base as 

the more the taxpayers that are in 

the tax net, the higher the yield of 

taxes imposed and administered in 

the system. This will in itself encourage 

sustainable development in the 

Nigerian economy.” 

In his paper titled “contentious 

issues in Nigeria tax laws” 

Ajayi Julius Bamidele, coordinating 

director field operations group, 

FIRS noted that legislative amendments 

to some of the provisions of 

the enabling tax laws will provide 

further clarity to contentious issues 

in Nigeria tax laws; adding that judicial 

interpretation to the issues will 

also provide some level of clarity to 

the contentious issues. 

“FIRS in partnership with stakeholder 

should regularly provide 

guidance note on the topical provision 

in the various tax laws”.


BUSINESS DAY 

CITN 


39 

Contentious issues in Nigeria tax laws 

INTRODUCTION 

The tax system of any nation 

is made of three major 

components namely 

(a) Tax Policy 

(b) Tax Legislation 

and 

(C) Tax Administration 

Legal structure to actualize the objectives 

of tax is made through tax 

legislations which provides the basis 

for tax administration. Generally, tax 

laws provides for the sources, basis, 

reliefs, payments, penalties and 

dispute resolution mechanism etc. 

However, tax laws are not perfect; 

they are not cast in stone and the dynamism 

in the social, economic and 

political environment will require 

that the laws are regularly reviewed 

to keep abreast with current realities. 

Furthermore, in the operations 

of the tax laws, areas of ambiguity, 

confusion and gaps could be identified 

for necessary remediation. In 

Nigeria, the above situation is true 

and applicable to all the tax laws. 

TAX LAWS CONSIDERED 

It is practically impossible to cover 

all the tax laws in this type of presentation. 

However the contentious 

issues in the following tax are 

considered as much as time limit 

can allow: 

Petroleum Profits Tax Act (PPTA) 

Companies Income Tax Act (CITA) 

Capital Gains Tax Act (CGTA) 

Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) 

PRESENTATION OUTLINE 

Relevant Enactments 

Overview 

Highlight of Issues under Contention 

Discussion of the Issues. 

Way Forward 

RELEVANT ENACTMENTS 

The following tax legislations are 

relevant to this discussion: 

1. The Petroleum Profit Tax 

Act Cap P13 LFN 2004. 

2. The Deep Offshore and 

Inland Basin Production Sharing 

Contracts Act 1999. 

3. The Companies Income 

Tax Act Cap C24 LFN 2004. 

4. The Capital Gains Tax Act 

Cap C1 LFN 2004. 

5. Federal Inland Revenue 

Establishment Act of 2007. 

6. Personal Income Tax 

(Amendment) Act 2011 

OVERVIEW OF PPTA 

Petroleum Profit Tax Act (PPTA) 

Cap P13 LFN 2004 imposes tax on 

profits of any company engaged in 

petroleum operations. Petroleum 

operations means the winning 

Ajayi Julius Bamidele 

or obtaining and transportation 

of petroleum or chargeable oil in 

Nigeria by a company or on behalf 

of a company for its own account 

by any drilling, mining, extracting 

or other like operations or process, 

not including refining at a refinery, 

in course of a business carried on 

by the company engaged in such 

operations, and all other operations 

incidental thereto and any sale of or 

any disposal of chargeable oil by or 

on behalf of the company. 

HIGHLIGHT OF ISSUES UNDER 

CONTENTION IN PPT ACT 

The tax administration in the Upstream 

Sector of the Oil and Gas 

industry has brought to fore a lot 

of issues with diversify opinion on 

the part of the taxpayer and the tax 

authority. 

Most of these issues are pending 

at various levels of arbitration and 

courts for determination. 

The following issues which are not 

exhaustive are discussed in this 

paper: 

1.What incomes are incidental to 

petroleum operations? 

2.Whether Withholding Taxes should 

be paid on Dividends Distributed 

out of Gas income. 

3. Should Petro- 

leum Investment Allowance (PIA) be 

considered in computing Balancing 

Charge under the PPTA. 

4. Restriction of 

Capital Allowance chargeable on 

Assignment of Mineral Right. 

5. Whether sole cost is deductible 

under the Deep Offshore 

and Inland Basing Production Sharing 

Contract Act (DOIBPSCA) in 

determination of chargeable Tax for 

the Contract Area. 

6. Whether the disposal of 

interest in an Oil Mining Lease is the 

disposal of asset or several assets for 

the Purpose of Paragraph 14 of PPTA. 

7.Fiscal Price of Crude Oil : Realizable 

Price (RP) or Official Selling 

Price (OSP) 

8.Investment Tax Credit (ITC)- 

whether the ITC should reduce the 

value of Qualifying Capital Expenditure 

or not? 

9.Whether IPP costs should be 

allowed as expenses against PPT 

payable. 

10.Is crude oil a Pioneer Product 

Approved by the IDITRA. 

11.Whether there is a different tax 

and PIA rates for indigenous oil 

field or marginal field operations – 

(55% / 20%) 

1. What incomes are incidental 

to petroleum operations 

Section 9(1)(c) of the PPTA states 

that “subject to any express provisions 

of this Act, in relation to any 

accounting period, the profits of 

that period shall be taken to be the 

aggregate of the of- 

“All income of the company of that 

period incidental to and arising from 

any one or more of its petroleum 

operation”. 

Incomes incidental to petroleum 

operation are not expressly stated 

under the PPTA and the only income 

expressly exempted is transportation 

of chargeable oil by ocean going oil 

tankers by companies engaged in 

petroleum operations (see Section 

14 of PPTA). 

Hence in administering PPTA over 

the years the issue of what incomes 

earned by companies engaged in 

petroleum operations are incidental 

to such operations and therefore 

taxable under the PPTA as distinct 

from incomes not incidental to such 

operations has been a major debate. 

An example in this respect include: 

interest income earned on Bank 

Deposits 

Rental income from a building used 

for petroleum operations. 

The view of the Tax Authority is that 

any income earned in the ordinary 

course of petroleum operations is 

incidental income for this purpose. 

2.Whether Withholding Taxes should 

be paid on Dividends Distributed 

out of Gas profit 

Section 60 of the PPTA exempts dividend 

paid out of any profits which 

are taken into account in computing 

chargeable profits under the provisions 

of the PPTA from further tax. 

Section 11(2) (d) of the PPTA provides 

for the taxation of gas income 

and profit under the Companies 

Income Tax Act (CITA) as amended. 

FIRS argument is that the value of 

natural gas is not taken into account 

in determining profit chargeable 

under the PPTA, then any dividend 

paid out of such profit cannot enjoy 

the protection offered by section 60 

of the PPTA. 

The taxpayers on the other hand 

opines that taxation of natural gas 

under the CITA is an incentive which 

is embedded in the PPTA and do not 

nullify the provisions of section 60 

of the PPTA and also, that pursuant 

to section 9 (c) of the PPTA 1959 as 

amended, the value of chargeable 

natural gas is to be taken into account 

in determining tax liability 

under the PPTA 

The Tax Appeal Tribunal sitting in 

Lagos has given judgment in the 

matter upholding then FIRS position. 

3. SHOULD PIA (Petroleum 

Investment Allowance) BE CONSID- 

ERED IN COMPUTING BALANCING 

CHARGE UNDER THE PPTA. 

Paragraph 9 of the Second Schedule 

to the PPTA imposes balancing 

charge on disposal of asset on which 

qualifying expenditure has been incurred. 

The balancing charge is the 

excess of the value of the asset at the 

date of disposal over the residue of 

that expenditure at that date. 

Provided that the balancing charge 

shall not exceed the total of any allowances 

due under the provisions 

of this schedule in respect of such 

asset. The residue of qualifying expenditure 

in respect of any asset, at 

any date is the qualifying expenditure 

less the total annual allowance. 

(Paragraph 10 of second schedule) 

The allowances due to a taxpayer 

under the second schedule of PPTA 

are Petroleum Investment Allowance 

(PIA) and Annual Allowance. Hence, 

in computing balancing charge, 

should PIA be included irrespective 

of the definition of “Residue”? 

The relevance of PIA is to the extent 

of determining the value to benchmark 

against and not the determination 

of residue that has been clearly 

defined in the Act 

4.Restriction of Capital Allowance 

chargeable on Assignment of Mineral 

Right. 

In the Upstream Sector of the Oil 

and Gas Industry, questions often 

arisen as to what is the cost for tax 

claims in the hands of the buyer of 

Mineral Right. 

This is in the light of the provisions 

of paragraph 2 (3) of the Second 

Schedule to the PPTA which suggests 

that the cost should not exceed the 

original cost of acquisition of such 

rights. 

The only exception to the above 

seems to be where the company 

originally incurred such costs is 

engaged in the buying and selling 

of mineral rights. 

5.Whether Sole Cost Is Deductible 

Under The Deep Offshore and 

Inland Basing Production Sharing 

Contract Act (DOIBPSCA) In Determination 

Of Chargeable Tax For The 

Contract Area. 

The tax treatment of operator and 

non-operator costs for the Contract 

Area PPT Return under the (DOIB- 

PSCA) is a burning one. 

The view of the tax authority that 

sole cost is not deductible for the 

Contract Area PPT return is hinged 

on the following provisions. 

Section 8 of the Act provides for allocation 

of cost oil for the recovery of 

Continues on page 40



CITN 


Contentious issues in Nigeria tax laws 


operating costs. The sole cost of the 

partners are not re to the operation 

of the contract area otherwise would 

have formed part of cost oil allowed 

by the Act. 

The taxpayer argue that S 3 of the 

Act provides that the PPT payable 

under the PSC shall be determined 

in accordance with the PPTA. That 

in accordance with the PPTA, the 

basic rule for any expenditure is the 

Wholly, Exclusively and necessarily 

(WEN) Test and the sole costs pass 

these test hence deductible. 

6. Whether the disposal of 

interest in an Oil Mining Lease is the 

disposal of asset or several assets for 

the Purpose of Paragraph 14 of PPTA. 

This is also an issue arising from 

recent sale of producing leases in 

the Upstream Sector of the Oil and 

Gas Industry. 


to the PPTA imposes balancing 

charge on disposal of asset on which 

qualifying expenditure has been incurred 

and hence capital allowance 

claimed. 


of PPTA defines value of an asset at 

the date of disposal to be the net 

proceeds of the sale thereof or of the 

relevant interest therein. 

Paragraph 15 of Second Schedule of 

PPTA provides for apportionment 

of value where several assets are 

disposed in a single bargain. 

The issue here is that in disposing 

a right to producing lease on which 

the taxpayer had incurred different 

kind of qualifying expenditure and 

claimed capital allowance will the 

disposal meet the definition of asset 

in paragraph 9 and value of asset in 

paragraph 14 of the second schedule 

of the PPTA. 

Or will it be lawful to apportion the 

consideration received on the disposal 

into the underlying assets contained 

in the lease for the purpose of 

balancing charge computation. 

This issue is currently before arbitration 

7. Fiscal Price of Crude Oil – 

RP or OSP? 

Whether the Official Selling Price 

(OSP) or the Realizable Price should 

be adopted for the Fiscalization of 

the value of crude 

PPTA provides for posted price 

which is no longer in use while 

COMD of NNPC as practice normally 

advises OSP in place of posted price 

as the alternative provided for by law. 

However, the methodology for the 

OSP computation has to be agreed 

with the IOCs as specified in the law. 

The IOC (International Oil Company) 

insists that the RP which has 

been agreed with government under 

the abolished ‘MOU’ as required by 

Sections 9 (2) (a) and 23(5) subsists 

until a new agreement is reached. 

This is pending for determination 

at appeal. 

8. Whether ITC should Reduce 

the Value of QCE or Not? 

Investment Tax Credit is granted to 

companies who executed PSC on 

or before 1st July, 1998 on QCE employed 

in petroleum operations in 

the deep offshore and inland basin at 

the rate of 50%. It is an offset against 

tax liability. 

The relevant authorities opines that 

ITC should reduce the value of QCE 

for capital allowances. 

The IOC insists that the PPT Act 

which is the relevant legislature 

makes no reference to an offset against 

any other allowance. What were the 

ITC in the law before and how were 

they treated 

10. Pioneer Status: Is Crude Oil 

Products among the Pioneer Products 

listed in the Act. 

The principal Act for the taxation of 

income accruing from petroleum 

operations is the PPTA. 

The Industrial Development (Income 

Tax Relief) Act (IDITRA) which makes 

provision for tax relief for certain 

industries that may be issued with 

pioneer certificate on the other hand 

defines the “Principal Act” as the 

Companies Income Tax Act 

Following from the above, can a 

company engaged in petroleum 

operations enjoy pioneer incentive 

offered under the Companies Income 

Tax. The general consensus is that the 

two Acts are not the same and what 

was not given by the Act cannot be 

smuggled into it. 

11. Whether Marginal Field 

Operators should enjoy a special tax 

regime? 

A marginal field is any field that has 

reserves booked and reported annually 

to the Department of Petroleum 

Resources (DPR) and has remained 

unattended for a period of ten years. 

In order to encourage marginal field 

producers, the government through 

a side letter provided more general 

fiscal terms: 

PPT 55% 

Investment Tax Allowance (ITA) 20% 

Can side letter amend tax laws? 

The issue here is whether the provisions 

of the side letter can modify or 

amend the extant provisions of the 

PPTA. 

Treatment of QCE Incurred on IPP 

In order to encourage gas utilization, 

section 11 of PPTA allows capital 

investments for gas developments 

to qualify for capital allowance under 

PPTA whilst operating expenses 

incurred exclusively in the utilization 

of gas is allowed against the 

gas income and taxable under the 

CITA. Recently the IOC’s through 

a Memorandum of Understanding 

with the Federal Government of 

Nigeria has invested in Independent 

Power Projects. 

The confusion arises from the couching 

of the title for section 11 “Incentives 

for utilization….” While the 

content emphasize development. 

A clarification from FIRS linking 

the title to content and relating it to 

the intent will resolve the possible 

dispute arising from ordinary interpretation 

of the section. 

CONTENTIOUS PROVISIONS IN 

THE COMPANIES INCOME TAX ACT 

(CAP C21 LFN 2004 AS AMENDED) 

The sections in CITA that could be 

contentious in context and interpretations 

include but not limited 

to the under listed. This list is not 

exhaustive. 

1. Section 9 sub section 3 on definition 

of dividend. 

9(3)(a) defines dividend in relation 

to a company not being in the process 

of being wound up or liquidated, 

as any profit distributed, whether 

such profits are of a capital nature or 

not, including an amount equal to 

the Nominal value of Bonus shares, 

debentures or securities awarded to 

the shareholders; and 

(b) In relation to a Company that 

is being wound up or liquidated, 

any profits distributed, whether in 

money or money’s worth or otherwise, 

other than those of a capital 

nature earned before or during the 

winding-up or liquidation 

Comment: 

In practice, FIRS have not started 

taxing bonus issues or other distributions 

that are not made in cash. 

However, the service is reviewing 

this to see how to implement taxation 

of dividend that are not cash 

based. It is not clear whether WHT 

is due on bonus shares, Debenture 

or security awarded 

2. Section 9 (Charge of tax) 

Subsection (d) states “any source 

of annual profits or gain not falling 

within the preceding categories. 

Comment: 

Should the Export Expansion Grant 

(EEG) qualify to be taxable under the 

above section, especially if the above 

section is read in conjunction with 

section 28 on waiver or refund of liability 

or expenses or should it not 

be taxable? 

It I often overlooked by the FIRS that 

section28 started with “when a deduction 

had been allowed to a company 

under the provision of section 24 or 25 

of this Act” Grants were not allowed at 

any time under section 24 or 25 hence 

could not be treated as income, rather 

double dipping treatment should be of 

interest to tax man 

3. Section 16 – Taxation of Insurance 

Companies 

The crafting of this section has created 

opportunities for diverse and multiple 

interpretations in respect of taxing 

non-life business. 

Comment: 

Some of the areas of concern are: 

(i) Basis of computing minimum 

tax in insurance business – section 

16(8) b and 16(9) c of CITA 

(ii) Restriction of years for 

losses to be carried forward – section 

16(7) of CITA 

(iii) Restriction on expired risk 

and deductibility of expenses – section 

16 (8) a and 16 (8) b of CITA 

4. Section 19 – Tax based Dividends 

The section provides that in any year 

of assessment where a Company dividend 

is paid out of profits for which 

there is no total profit/tax or total 

profit which is less than the dividend, 

then the dividend would be taxed 

at 30%. 

Comments: 

This provision was inserted during the 

military era when companies made 

losses, declare no taxable profit and at 

the same time distributing dividends 

to its members. Decided cases on 

this subject have remained in favor 

of the FIRS. 

5. Section 23 – on profit Exempted. 

Section 23 (c) provides that profits of 

any company engaged in ecclesiastical, 

charitable or Educational 

activities of a public character in so far 

as such profits are not derived from a 

trade or business carried on by such 

Company, would be exempted from 

tax 

Comment 

What is a public character in this 

context? Is a private school an institution 

of public character? Or a private 

business to make profit? 

6. Section 24 (7) of the 2nd schedule 

of CITA – on restriction of Capital allowance 

claims. 

The section stated that the amount 

of Capital allowance to be claimable 

except for Agro and manufacturing 

business shall not exceed 66 2/3% of 

Assessable profit. 

Comment: 

Can a Company be allowed to claim 

less than 66 2/3% of capital allowance 

in a year of assessment when there is 

enough assessable profit to accommodate 

the allowances due. Some 

tax payers have argued that the law 

stipulated that they cannot claim 

more than 66 2/3% but may claim 

lower. FIRS practice is to restrict it to 

66 2/3 and not less. Idea of claiming 

less than 66 2/3 is to avoid the application 

of section 19 on Dividend tax. 

To be continued


CITN 


Second day of the 17th annual tax conference 

BUSINESS DAY 

41 

Mark Anthony Dike, president, CITN, giving his welcome address 

Teju Somorin, deputy president, giving her address at the conference 

Bashiru Yuguda, ministerfor state for finance, giving his speech at the conference 

Elemanya Ebilah, chairman, annual tax conference committee, giving her 

opening remark 

Kunle Qadir (l), past president, CITN with Kunle Adeola, exco council 

member, CITN 

Gabriel Foluso, past president, CITN, with Kamoru Adigun, past president, CITN 

Olusoji Odukoya (l), deputy registrar/CE, ICAN, with Omonayajo Benjamin, 

vice chairman II CITN, exam committee. 

L-R: Dele Ogun, managing partner, Ogun the law firm; Joseph Ebeatu, assistant 

manager, FIRS, and George Irechukwu, managing partner, Irechukwu & Co 

Abeki Enizedie (l), chief accountant, Bayelsa State Hospital Management Board 

with Odunowo Olatunde, partner, Ijewere & Co Tax Consultant 

James Kayode Naiyeju (l), past president, CITN with Elemah Oseni, executive 

chairman, EdoState Internal Revenue Service 

Sunday Jegede (l), past president, CITN withTeju Somorin, vice president, CITN 

Wasila Talib (l), managing director, Wasila Talib & Co, with Idongesit Orok of FIRS 

Caro Iroha (l), supervisor local payment, NAPIMS with Agnes Akosua Adu- 

Boateng, head medium tax office, Ghana Revenue Authority, Kumasi. 

Macaulay Abayomi Olusegun (l), revenue manager, with Ajenifuja Adeniyi Luqeman, 

deputy revenue manager, both of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service. 

L-R: Babatunde Abozos, revenue manager; Waidi Ogunnorin, deputy revenue 

manager, and Aribigbela Kayode, assistant revenue manager, all of Lagos State 

Internal Revenue Service. 

Pics by Olawale Amoo



THOMSON REUTERS 

Royal Marines lead migrants to safety on a landing craft of HMS Bulwark after their rescue from the Mediterranean between Italy and 

North Africa, May 13, 2015. REUTERS 

Kenya’s Equity Bank plans 

10-nation Africa expansion 

•Expansion will be via acquisition or new operations 

DUNCAN MIRIRI 

Kenya’s Equity 

Bank plans to 

enter 10 more 

African countries 

in the next 

decade, in addition to the 

five it already serves, by 

building operations from 

scratch or acquiring existing 

lenders, its chief executive 

said on Wednesday. 

James Mwangi told Reuters 

the bank, Kenya’s largest 

by number of customers, 

had extended his contract 

by 10 years in April, to steer 

the expansion. 

During his first 10-year 

term as CEO, Mwangi 

turned a specialist in small 

loans with 600,000 customers 

in Kenya into a full-scale 

commercial bank with 10 

million customers, now also 

Britain criticises EU over Mediterranean migrant plans 

NAVEEN THUKRAL 

Britain’s interior minister 

Theresa May on 

Wednesday criticised 

the EU’s approach to stemming 

the flow of migrants 

crossing the Mediterranean 

into Europe, saying that 

by not sending economic 

migrants back, the bloc was 

encouraging them to travel. 

International focus on 

the issue of migration into 

Europe has been sharpened 

by a series of disasters 

in the Mediterranean in 

operating in Uganda, Tanzania, 

Rwanda and South 

Sudan. 

He said the bank’s expansion 

strategy aimed at 

moving into Democratic 

Republic of Congo, Burundi, 

Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, 

Mozambique, Botswana, 

Ghana and Nigeria. He also 

wants to enter Ethiopia, 

currently off limits to any 

foreign bank. 

“It involves seeking to 

raise the number of customers 

from 10 million to 

100 million over the same 

period,” Mwangi said. 

Equity will consider 

acquisitions in Nigeria, 

Democratic Republic of 

Congo and Ethiopia, once it 

opens up, he said, adding it 

planned new operations in 

other markets. 

“Our best experiences 

which hundreds of migrants 

from North Africa 

have drowned after attempting 

to cross the sea 

in unsafe vessels. 

After briefing the United 

Nations Security Council 

on plans to deal with such 

migration, the EU’s foreign 

policy chief Federica 

Mogherini on Monday said 

no refugees or migrants 

intercepted at sea would be 

sent back against their will. 

Home Secretary May 

criticised Mogherini’s 

statement. 

have been on greenfields, 

so for the small countries 

we know greenfield it will 

be,” Mwangi said, referring 

to Equity’s experience of 

expanding in east Africa. 

For bigger markets, he 

said “sometimes you need 

an engine to scale as opposed 

to a greenfield.” 

With the exception of the 

move into Nigeria that may 

require a cash injection, the 

10-nation expansion would 

be funded from operations, 

Mwangi said, citing Equity’s 

return on assets of 5.5 percent 

and return on equity of 

31 percent last year. 

Equity has also committed 

to preserving its dividend 

policy of paying out 

40 percent of available profit 

after tax even during the 

expansion, he said. 

The bank is testing a mo- 

“Such an approach 

would only act as an increased 

pull factor across 

the Mediterranean and 

encourage more people to 

put their lives at risk,” she 

wrote in an article in the 

Times newspaper. 

About 1,800 migrants 

have perished in the Mediterranean 

this year, the 

United Nations refugee 

agency said. Some 51,000 

have entered Europe by sea, 

with 30,500 coming via Italy, 

fleeing war and poverty in 

Asia, Africa and the Middle 

bile phone-based banking 

service, Equitel, which it 

aims to formally launch in 

July and break even by September, 

he said. 

Equity has 768,000 active 

SIM card users after launching 

its network in partnership 

with telecoms operator 

Airtel Kenya, aiming to take 

on market heavyweight Safaricom’s 

M-Pesa service. 

Equitel users can transfer 

money, access credit and 

make payments by phone. 

It also offers typical mobile 

services of calls, text messages 

and Internet browsing. 

Equity leases Airtel’s 

telecoms infrastructure 

network, so it keeps all the 

revenue. “We have really 

focused on what we believe 

is the future infrastructure 

of banking,” Mwangi said. 

East. 

On Tuesday Britain said 

it would opt out of any EU 

plan to resettle refugees using 

country quotas, saying it 

preferred to focus its efforts 

on tackling people traffickers 

instead. 

“We must - and will - resist 

calls for the mandatory 

relocation or resettlement 

of migrants across Europe. 

Such an approach would 

only strengthen the incentives 

for criminal gangs to 

keep plying their evil trade,” 

May said 

Africa’s CEMAC bloc to move HQ 

back to Central African Republic 

NAVEEN THUKRAL 

Africa’s six-nation 

CEMAC economic 

bloc plans to move its 

headquarters back to Central 

African Republic’s capital 

Bangui this month, it said in 

a sign of confidence that a 

weekend peace deal will hold. 

Fighting between rival 

Christian “anti-balaka” militias 

and mostly Muslim Seleka 

rebels prompted CEMAC 

to move from Bangui to Gabon’s 

capital Libreville more 

than a year ago. 

A disarmament agreement 

signed at the weekend 

between rival armed groups 

seeks to draw a line under 

a two-year conflict that has 

Obama meets two Saudi 

princes after King sent regrets 

JEFF MASON 

U.S. President Barack 

Obama on Wednesday 

went out of his 

way to praise two of Saudi 

Arabia’s top leaders before 

meeting privately with 

them at the White House 

and played down the absence 

of King Salman, who 

pulled out of the visit last 

week. 

“The United States and 

Saudi Arabia have an extraordinary 

friendship and 

relationship that dates 

back to (President) Franklin 

Roosevelt,” Obama said 

at the start of the meeting 

with Saudi Arabia’s Crown 

Prince Mohammed bin 

Nayef and Deputy Crown 

Prince Mohammed bin 

Salman in the Oval Office. 

“We are continuing to 

build that relationship 

during a very challenging 

time,” he said. 

Obama said they would 

discuss how to build on 

a ceasefire in Yemen and 

work toward “an inclusive, 

legitimate government” 

in Saudi Arabia’s impoverished 

neighbor, where 

Iran-supported Houthi 

rebels have been under 

attack by a Saudi-led coalition. 

King Salman decided 

abruptly to skip the White 

House meeting and a summit 

of the Gulf Cooperation 

Council at the president’s 

Camp David retreat 

in Maryland outside 

Washington on Thursday. 

The White House has 

sought to counter perceptions 

that his absence was 

a snub that would undermine 

efforts to reassure 

the region Washington 

killed thousands of people. 

“Within a month, the government 

of the commission 

and essential services will 

be relocated to Bangui,” said 

Pierre Moussa, president of 

the CEMAC commission on 

Tuesday. 

CEMAC is made up of 

Cameroon, Central African 

Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, 

Equatorial Guinea 

and Gabon. 

Central African Republic, 

rich in gold and diamonds, 

has seen multiple coups and 

rebellions since independence 

from France in 1960. 

A transitional government 

led by President Catherine 

Samba-Panza plans to hold 

elections later this year. 

remains committed to its 

security against Iran. 

U.S. officials have said 

the right leaders were 

attending the summit, 

which they portrayed as 

a working meeting rather 

than a symbolic get-together. 

The Gulf Cooperation 

Council includes Saudi 

Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, 

Bahrain, the United 

Arab Emirates (UAE) and 

Oman. 

The absence of many 

top Arab leaders, in addition 

to King Salman, is 

viewed as a reflection of 

frustration with Obama’s 

pursuit of a nuclear deal 

with Iran and a perceived 

U.S. failure to support opposition 

fighters in Syria. 

The president called 

Saudi Arabia a critical 

partner in the fight against 

Islamic State militants. 

Obama highlighted his 

interactions with his two 

guests. “On a personal 

level, my work and the 

U.S. government’s work 

with these two individuals 

... on counterterrorism 

issues has been absolutely 

critical to maintaining 

stability in the region but 

also protecting the American 

people,” Obama said. 

Obama does not have 

private meetings on his 

public schedule with the 

leaders from the other 

countries, although a dinner 

is planned on Wednesday 

for the full group at the 

White House. 

Crown Prince bin Nayef 

said his country attached 

great importance to the 

“strategic and historic relationship” 

with the United 

States.


BUSINESS DAY 

43 


U.S.’ Kerry to take tough 

approach in China over 

South China Sea 

DAVID BRUNNSTROM 

U.S. Secretary of State 

John Kerry will leave 

China “in absolutely 

no doubt” about Washington’s 

commitment to 

freedom of navigation and 

flight in the South China 

Sea when he visits Beijing 

this weekend, a senior State 

Department official said on 

Wednesday. 

Setting the scene for possibly 

contentious encounters 

with Chinese leaders, 

including President Xi Jinping, 

the official said Kerry 

would warn that China’s 

large scale land-reclamation 

work in contested waters 

could have negative 

consequences for regional 

stability - and for relations 

with the United States. 

On Tuesday a U.S. official 

said the Pentagon 

was considering sending 

military aircraft and ships 

to assert freedom of navigation 

around rapidly growing 

Chinese-made artificial islands 

in the disputed South 

China Sea. 

China’s Foreign Ministry 

responded by saying 

that Beijing was “extremely 

concerned” and demanded 

clarification of the remarks. 

The senior U.S. official 

said “the question about 

what the U.S Navy does or 

doesn’t do is one that the 

Chinese are free to pose” to 

Kerry in Beijing, where he is 

due on Saturday and Sunday 

for meetings with civilian 

and military leaders. 

Kerry’s trip is intended to 

prepare for the annual U.S.- 

China Strategic and Economic 

Dialogue scheduled 

to be held in Washington in 

June and Xi’s expected visit 

to Washington in September. 

But growing strategic 

rivalry rather than cooperation 

look set to dominate 

the talks. 

China’s Foreign Ministry 

spokeswoman Hua Chunying 

said on Wednesday 

that freedom of navigation 

did not mean that foreign 

military ships and aircraft 

can enter another country’s 

territorial waters or 

airspace at will. 

“We demand the relevant 

side talks and acts cautiously 

and does not take 

any actions that are risky 

or provocative to maintain 

regional peace and stability,” 

she said. 

The senior U.S. official 

dismissed the idea that 

constructing islands out of 

half-submerged reefs gave 

China any right to territorial 

claims. 

“YOU CAN’T BUILD 

SOVEREIGNTY” 

“Ultimately no matter 

how much sand China piles 

on top of a submerged reef 

or shoal ... it is not enhancing 

its territorial claim. You 

can’t build sovereignty,” 

he said. 

“He (Kerry) will leave 

his Chinese interlocutors 

in absolutely no doubt that 

the United States remains 

committed to maintaining 

freedom of navigation and 

to exercise our legitimate 

rights as pertaining to over 

flight and movement on the 

high seas.” 

He said Kerry would “reinforce 

... the very negative 

consequences to China’s 

image and China’s relationship 

with its neighbors 

on regional stability and 

potentially on the U.S.- 

China relationship from 

their large-scale reclamation 

efforts and the behavior 

generally in the South 

China Sea.” 

Beijing claims sovereignty 

over most of the 

South China Sea, through 

which $5 trillion in shipborne 

trade passes every 

year. The Philippines, Vietnam, 

Malaysia, Taiwan and 

Brunei also have overlapping 

claims. 

Last month, the U.S. military 

commander for Asia, 

Admiral Samuel Locklear, 

said China could eventually 

deploy radar and missile 

systems on the islands it 

is building in the Spratly 

archipelago that could be 

used to enforce an exclusion 

zone should it move 

to declare one. 

The U.S. official who 

spoke on Tuesday said 

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash 

Carter had requested options 

that include sending 

aircraft and ships within 

12 nautical miles (22 km) 

of the reefs China has been 

building up. 

U.S. President Barack 

Obama announced a strategic 

shift towards Asia in 

2011 in response to growing 

Chinese power and influence, 

but critics have questioned 

his commitment 

to this “rebalance” given 

U.S. security distractions 

elsewhere in the world and 

stretched resources. 

News of the possibly 

tougher U.S. stance came 

as the key economic pillar 

of the rebalance suffered 

a blow at the hands of 

Obama’s Democrats in the 

U.S. Senate, who blocked 

debate on a bill that would 

have smoothed the path for 

a 12-nation Trans-Pacific 

Partnership (TPP) trade 

deal. 

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (C) leaves a court after a hearing in Moscow, Russia, May 13, 2015. A Moscow court on 

Wednesday rejected a bid by law enforcement officials to have Kremlin critic Navalny jailed for violating the terms of his suspended fiveyear 

sentence on embezzlement charges. A judge ruled that any violations of his suspended sentence were not “systemic” and that he 

could remain at liberty. REUTERS 

Egypt media criticism of Sisi raises 

questions on allies’ support 

MICHAEL GEORGY 

Unprecedented 

media criticism 

of Egyptian 

President 

Abdel Fattah 

al-Sisi suggests he may no 

longer enjoy unquestioning 

support from the diverse 

groups that helped him to 

stage an army takeover two 

years ago. 

But diplomats and analysts 

say there is no immediate 

danger to Sisi’s 

presidency, and he may 

even by the victim of his 

own success in crushing 

Islamism and stabilising 

the economy. 

Egyptian newspapers 

have begun suggesting that 

Sisi is fallible. This would 

have been unthinkable 

when, as then army chief, 

he removed the Muslim 

Brotherhood from power 

in 2013. 

The criticism is guarded 

and often indirect. For instance, 

Al Watan has identified 

factors undermining 

SABMiller profit beats expectations, sees tough year ahead 

SABMiller reported 

full-year profit above 

analyst expectations 

as performance picked up 

in the latter half of the year, 

but said trading would continue 

to be tough in its new 

financial year. 

The maker of Peroni, 

Grolsch and other beers 

reported operating earnings 

fell 1 percent to $6.37 billion 

in the year ended March 31, 

above analysts’ average estimate 

of $6.23 billion, according 

to a consensus compiled 

Sisi, including corruption 

and nepotism. It has also 

alleged violations committed 

by the police. 

“There is probably no 

institutional reason for this 

limited push back in the 

Egyptian press. What it may 

show is yet more evidence 

that the power structures 

in Egypt are not as cohesive 

as everyone outside 

of the country seems to 

think,” said H.A. Hellyer, 

a specialist in Arab affairs 

at the Brookings Centre 

for Middle East Policy in 

Washington and the Royal 

United Services Institute in 

London. 

Sisi toppled Islamist 

President Mohamed Mursi 

after mass protests with the 

full backing of the generals, 

the “securocrats” of the 

intelligence services, top 

businessmen and most local 

media. 

He went on to become 

president at least partly 

by rallying them behind a 

crackdown on the Muslim 

Brotherhood, which he 

by the company. 

Net producer revenue 

fell 2 percent to $26.29 billion, 

also ahead of analysts’ 

estimates of $26.23 billion. 

Excluding the impact of currency 

fluctuations, revenue 

was up 5 percent and earnings 

before interest, tax and 

amortisation (EBITA) was up 

6 percent, helped by price 

increases and cost cuts. 

The strong U.S. dollar 

reduced the value of international 

sales and profits and 

increased raw material costs 

declared a terrorist group 

that threatened Egypt’s 

existence. 

But his success in neutralising 

the Brotherhood 

and reducing the number 

of attacks staged by 

militants based in the Sinai 

means his diverse supporters, 

no longer so worried by 

the Islamist challenge, are 

re-directing their attention 

to their own interests. 

“This is less conspiracy, 

more normal bread-andbutter 

politics returning,” 

said one Western diplomat. 

“(It’s) a sign of Sisi’s 

success in dialling down 

the economic and security 

crisis, but (also) a sign of his 

weakness so far in managing 

the other power centres 

- securocrats, judges, 

bureaucrats and businessmen.” 

Autocrat Hosni Mubarak 

managed Egypt’s staggering 

political, economic 

and social problems for 

decades through his National 

Democratic Party 

until his overthrow in 2011. 

since commodities are often 

traded in the U.S. currency. 

SAB had already reported 

that worldwide beer volume 

was flat last year, with soft 

drink volume up 8 percent. 

Growth in Africa and 

Latin America was offset by 

weakness in North America 

and China, though China returned 

to growth during the 

last three months of the year. 

Looking ahead, the company 

said it expected the 

trading environment to stay 

challenging and that its busi- 

Sisi, however, has no allpowerful 

state entity to 

help him. 

“Sisi’s presidency is far 

more cohesive than any 

in the past four years - but 

not compared to Mubarak,” 

said Hellyer. 

FRICTION SEEN WITH 

BUSINESSMEN 

Businessmen who 

helped Mubarak to hold 

on to power for so long illustrate 

the complex problems 

Sisi faces. Some want 

him to accelerate reforms 

while others seek a return 

to Mubarak-era crony capitalism 

for personal gain. 

Security sources blamed 

powerful businessmen with 

links to the media for this 

week’s criticism. “The ongoing 

differences between 

Sisi and businessmen is 

the cause,” said one, adding 

that the company bosses 

opposed what they see as 

Sisi’s dependence on firms 

owned by the military and 

former intelligence officials 

for projects. 

ness would continue to be 

hit by currency volatility. 

“However, we are confident 

in our strategy to drive 

superior long-term growth,” 

the company said, without 

giving a specific forecast. 

“We’re giving a sense of 

confidence over the longer 

term but we’d rather avoid 

short term forecasts,” Chief 

Executive Alan Clark told 

reporters. “Things can shift 

so quickly in the short term 

that it’d just be too risky for 

me to give a forecast.”




S.Africa’s AMCU union wants gold 

mining firms to double minimum pay 

ZANDI SHABALALA 

South Africa’s Association 

of Mineworkers 

and Construction 

Union 

(AMCU) wants 

the basic pay for entry level 

workers in the gold mining 

industry to be more than 

doubled, setting the stage 

for tough pay talks at a time 

when companies are complaining 

of dwindling profits. 

Joseph Mathunjwa told 

reporters on Wednesday his 

union, which led a record 

five-month long strike in the 

platinum industry last year, 

would seek a monthly wage 

of 12,500 rand ($1,045) for 

workers who currently earn 

around 6,000 rand. 

“The mineworkers are 

enslaved across the country. 

Whatever we put forward is 

to liberate the mining workers 

from this oppression,” 

Mathunjwa said. 

However, Africa’s top bullion 

producers AngloGold 

Ashanti , Sibanye Gold Harmony 

Gold and Pan African 

Resource’s Evander Mines 

say that high pay increases 

would lead to the decline of 

a struggling industry. 

A spokeswoman for the 

gold mining companies said 

the firms would consider job 

security and the sustainability 

of the industry in wage 

talks. 

“We have to consider 

that up to 50 percent of gold 

production is either unprofitable 

or marginal,” said 

Charmane Russell in reaction 

to AMCU’s demands. 

AMCU had also called 

for a doubling of wages in 

the platinum sector last 

year, sparking the costly 

industry stoppage. In the 

end, it settled for raises of 

around 20 percent annually. 

Platinum companies 

found the increases and the 

long strike hard to swallow. 

Lonmin said last week it 

would cut 3,500 jobs at its 

South African mines. 

Mathunjwa told Reuters 

the union was talking to 

Lonmin over the retrench- 

ment plans. 

South Africa’s mostly 

black mining labour force 

is increasingly restive two 

decades after the end of 

apartheid, with perceptions 

prevalent that the 

earnings which have been 

made in the industry have 

not flowed fairly to workers. 

AMCU swept to popularity 

in the platinum sector 

by poaching thousands of 

members in a bloody turf 

war with arch-rival the National 

Union of Mineworkers 

(NUM) and has since 

spread its influence into the 

gold and diamond sectors. 

The AMCU union represents 

29 percent of goldmining 

workers, according 

to an industry website, with 

NUM claiming 54 percent 

of the workforce. Some 

workers belong to smaller 

unions. 

The NUM secured a wage 

deal with Gold Fields in 

April, and will seek up to 75 

percent wage hikes from the 

rest of the sector, a source 

familiar with the matter said. 

Global glut threatens West African iron ore ambitions 

UMARU FOFANA 

Red piles of iron ore 

and rusting railway 

wagons in the deserted 

stockyard at the port of 

Pepel bear silent witness 

to a crisis engulfing Sierra 

Leone’s mining industry and 

threatening others across 

West Africa. 

The conveyor belt out to 

the jetty on the slow-moving 

Rokel river has remained 

idle for most of the past few 

months as only a handful of 

ships have anchored at the 

moribund port. 

At the height of the commodities 

boom last decade, 

West African countries became 

magnets for miners 

seeking untapped iron ore, 

diamonds, gold, bauxite and 

other minerals. 

In Pepel, locals anticipated 

an economic surge 

for their civil war-ravaged 

country when London-listed 

firm African Minerals started 

shipping ore four years ago 

from its Tonkolili mine. 

Discovered in 2008 and lying 

some 200 km (124 miles) 

to the northeast, Tonkolili is 

one of the world’s largest iron 

ore deposits. 

But a 60 percent slump 

in iron ore prices over the past year, 

amid a slowdown in Chinese 

consumption, brought 

a bonanza that had been 

expected to last 60 years to a 

screeching halt. 

The iron ore slump hit 

debt-strapped African Minerals 

hard. Prices fell below 

its high costs, forcing it to 

shut operations in November, 

and it went into administration 

in March after 

failing to repay its partner, 

China’s Shandong Iron and 

Steel Group. 

“We were devastated 

when we heard that the company 

was closing down,” 

said Pepel’s chief Alhaji Bai 

Adam Kabbah. “We don’t 

want this company to leave 

us, as we have started deriving 

some benefits.” 

Shandong acquired the 

75 percent stake in Tonkolili 

it did not already own last 

month and has pledged 

to invest $600 million and 

increase production by 25 

percent. 

Yet, despite an announcement 

by President 

Ernest Bai Koroma this 

month that production 

would restart soon, it was 

not clear when that will 

happen and if it would be 

profitable. 

A spokesman for Shandong 

said the timing of 

the reopening and the expansion 

had not yet been 

defined. 

Across the region, dozens 

of mining projects that 

attracted investors when 

iron ore hit $190 per tonne 

in 2011, have either stalled 

or been abandoned as prices 

hover around $60. 

With analysts saying 

prices may stay low for 

years, it could sound a death 

knell for West Africa’s iron 

ore industry. 

BHP, the world’s largest 

mining company, and rival 

Rio Tinto are locked in a 

battle to become the lowestcost 

iron producer, cranking 

up output from mines in 

Australia as they seek to 

squeeze competitors out of 

the market. 

Paul Gray, iron ore analyst 

at research firm Wood 

Mackenzie, said supply from 

West Africa could fall from 

25 million tonnes this year 

to zero by 2017 if the market 

conditions persist.


45

46 

Friday 15 May 2015


Policies • Issues • Debates 

BUSINESS DAY 

47 

POLITICS 

Mark eulogises 

Zik’s son, says he’s 

a distinguished 

diplomat 

Crisis in Ekiti PDP as 

factional chairman emerges 

Election spending 

does not boost 

economy, says YECCIMA 

SAMUEL ESE, Yenagoa 


President of the Senate, 

David Mark, has 

commiserated with 

the family of Nigeria’s 

first president, the late Nnamdi 

Azikiwe over the demise of his 

son, Chukwuma Azikiwe, saying 

he (Chukwuma) was a distinguished 

diplomat. 

In a statement issued in Abuja 

by Paul Mumeh, his chief 

press secretary, Mark sent a 

message of condolence to the 

larger family of the late Nnamdi 

Azikiwe, government and people 

of Anambra State. 

The Senate President said the 

late Chukwuma lived an exemplary 

life by sustaining the legacies 

of his late father through 

selfless services. 

He said his demise has left 

a huge vacuum, pointing out 

that the deceased died at a time 

when the nation needed his services 

to address some national 

issues. 

Mark recalled the philanthropic 

gesture of the late Chukwuma 

which endeared him 

to his immediate community 

and beyond, saying his services 

earned him the title of “Owelle 

of Onitsha” conferred by the Obi 

of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe. 

“He (Chukwuma) was known 

for his hard work, selflessness 

and dedication to duty. This, 

he brought to bear during his 

sojourn as an Ambassador before 

he returned to private life”, 

Mark noted. 

He called on the government 

of Anambra State to give the 

late Chukwuma Azikiwe a befitting 

burial just as he urged the 

people to take solace in God. 

OLUWASHOLA SOLOMON, Ado-Ekiti 

…Raises panel to appraise Abia-PDP performance in last polls 

GODFREY OFURUM, Aba 

Governor Theodore Orji 

of Abia State has said he 

would not tele-guide 

his successor, Okezie 

Ikpeazu, the Abia governor-elect, 

but to rather allow him to use his 

discretion to run the State. 

Orji, who stated this at the 

Government House, Umuahia, 

when he received in audience 

the Ukwa Peoples Assembly, who 

paid him a courtesy visit, said that 

once his tenure ends on the May 

29, that he would be off from the 

state, except on invitation, pointing 

out that he would not want to 

be seen as controlling anybody. 

The governor said that having 

been elected by the people 

as their governor, his successor 

Political crisis Tuesday 

hit Ekiti State chapter of 

the People’s Democratic 

Party (PDP) when 

some party officials 

rocked the boat and removed 

state party chairman, Idowu Faleye 

from office for alleged gross 

misconduct and briskly appointed 

another party chieftain as a replacement 

in acting capacity. 

The state executive council of 

the party was said to have sidelined 

Governor Ayodele Fayose 

and quickly appointed Olatunde 

Olatunde, vice chairman, Ekiti 

North senatorial district, as acting 

chairman at an emergency 

meeting of party held at the PDP 

secretariat along Ajilosun road in 

Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, pending 

the time the vacancy will be 

filled. 

Although, the allegation of 

gross misconduct was clarified 

by state executive council who 

removed the party chairman, 

BusinessDay gathered that the 

alleged impeachment of the party 

chairman was not unconnected 

with the chairman’s failure to 

release N11 million given to the 

state executive council out of total 

fund allocated to them by PDP 

headquarters in the last general 

elections. 

While addressing journalists 

in Ado-Ekiti after the meeting, the 

new chairman, Olatunde claimed 

that the allegedly impeached PDP 

chairman “voluntarily resigned 

from office to correct the mistakes 

made in his appointment as the 

state chairman, having come from 

the same Ward 1, Ido-Ekiti with 

the State Youth leader, coupled 

with his inefficiency in office”. 

When asked whether the re- 

Ayo Fayose, governor, Ekiti State 

Orji promises not to tele-guide successor 

should be given a free hand to 

govern the state and pleaded with 

the people to cooperate with him 

for the rapid development of the 

state. 

Orji explained that he ran an 

inclusive government in the state, 

stating that it was his belief that 

the next governor should also 

follow in the same vein and have 

a listening ear. 

“As the first Ukwa-Ngwa governor, 

he knows the enormous 

expectation of the people from 

him, he will not disappoint the 

people,” he said. 

He assured the Ukwa people 

that their rights would come their 

way and urged them to remain 

patient and tolerant, while using 

the opportunity to apologise to 

all those he might have offended 

moval of the chairman was in 

connection with misunderstanding 

between Governor Fayose 

and Adamu Mu’azu, PDP national 

chairman, Olatunde denied that 

the removal had anything to do 

with the altercations going on between 

the two and the poor outing 

of PDP in the last elections. 

He also added that the change 

in the state executive council had 

not been communicated to Governor 

Fayose, saying that Faleye’s 

removal was not an attempt to 

spite the governor and the governor 

remains a respectable leader 

of the party at the state level. 

In a swift reaction, Faleye said 

he neither stepped down nor resigned 

his post as being declared 

by Olatunde, saying that nothing 

of such happened during the 

Orji 

in the course of his duties as governor 

to forgive and forget. 

Adolphus Wabara, former 

Senate president and leader of the 

delegation, had earlier explained 

meeting and that “he remains 

authentic chairman of the party”. 

Faleye said: “How will I resign 

from my duty post with overwhelming 

victory our party got in 

the state during the last elections, 

nobody impeached me neither 

did I step down for anybody. As 

far as I am concerned, I remain 

the authentic chairman of PDP 

in Ekiti State. 

“Those who call themselves 

the new party officials are fighting 

me because of their honorarium 

which is about N11 million and 

I can’t sign a cheque without notifying 

and getting approval from 

our leader who is the governor 

of the state and I told them to 

be patient. They are fighting me 

because of that money,” Faleye 

further explained. 

that their visit was to thank the 

governor for supporting fully 

the Ukwa-Ngwa cause, noting 

that without him the governor 

of Ukwa-Ngwa extraction, would 

have been a mirage and urged 

him not to forget Ukwa people. 

Meanwhile, Orji has inaugurated 

an 18-member committee 

to appraise the performance of 

the People’s Democratic Party 

(PDP) in the state in the last general 

elections. 

The committee headed by 

Ndidi Okereke, a former chairman 

of the party in the state, will 

among other things, ascertain 

the perceivable problems and 

constraints faced by the party at 

the just concluded elections. 

Governor Orji, while inaugurating 

the committee at the 

Government House Umuahia, 

urged the committee to review 

Against the backdrop of 

high expectations among 

some stakeholders, the 

Yenagoa Chamber of 

Commerce, Industry, Mines and 

Agriculture (YECCIMA) has said 

election spending does not contribute 

to economic growth. 

Idikio Warmate Jones, directorgeneral, 

stated this in a chat with 

BusinessDay in Yenagoa on the 

state of Bayelsa State economy 

after the 2015 general elections. 

Idikio explained that election 

spending does not affect the real 

sectors of the economy and as 

such “usually does not have robust 

long term effect on the economy.” 

Many Bayelsans had expressed 

hope that monies released by political 

parties and their candidates 

during the election period would 

go a long way in stimulating the 

state economy. A few weeks after 

the general election, both traders 

and consumers are nonplussed 

that the state of the economy does 

not reflect the huge amount of 

money allegedly released by political 

parties and their candidates. 

But Idikio maintained that 

election spending provides only 

consumption investment where 

services provided are geared towards 

consumption and does not 

reflect the kind of purchases that 

characterise economic activity. 

According to him, “Post election, 

the economy remains slow 

especially as oil prices have not 

picked. No real investment has 

taken place in any economy, especially 

in Bayelsa State.” 

Idikio, however, expressed 

hope that the local economy 

would soon experience a boost as 

the state government continues 

with efforts to access the Central 

Bank of Nigeria (CBN) N220 billion 

Micro, Small and Medium 

Enterprises Development Fund 

(MSMEDF). 

and appraise the performance 

of the party in the last polls and 

ascertain the remote and perceived 

problems faced by the 

party in that election with a view 

to proffering solutions capable of 

leading to improved performance 

in future polls. 

The governor said that even 

though the PDP won in many of 

the contested elections in the last 

poll in the state, the victory did 

not generate the usual euphoria 

that characterise the party in the 

previous elections. 

To that end, he affirmed that 

the committee is to provide the 

way forward for the party, including 

requirements for reforming 

and rebuilding a stronger and 

more resilient PDP in the state, 

and gave the committee two 

weeks to complete the assignment.

BUSINESS DAY 

NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I FRIDAY 16 MAY 2015 

TheExecutive 

Primary Mortgage 

Banks (PMBs) are 

the temples of mortgage 

financing and 

their CEOs the high 

priests. In nine and half years 

one such temple called ASO 

Savings and Loans Plc has 

these results to show: 

Funded the development 

of 5000 houses across Nigeria; 

helped 15,000 Nigerians own 

houses through mortgage facilities 

and boasts of over 100 

billion Naira balance sheet and 

over 20 billion naira shareholders’ 

fund of tiers one and two. 

The high priest is Hassan 

Tanimu Musa Usman, the 

47-year old CEO of ASO Savings 

& Loans Plc, who has few 

months to relinquish the enviable 

position. But his cumulative 

knowledge and experience 

in the mortgage industry will 

continue to be in demand as 

the industry is set to blossom, 

especially, with the coming of 

the Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing 

Company (NMRC), 

which is poised to provide the 

liquidity the mortgage industry 

in Nigeria has been craving for. 

Already, Hassan, as his colleagues 

call him, sits on the 

board of the NMRC and his 

bank holds a handsome equity 

in the public-private partnership 

initiative of the President 

Jonathan administration. With 

23 branches spread across the 

country, ASO is a clear market 

leader in the industry. 

However, despite the efforts 

of PMBs like ASO Savings, the 

delivery of adequate and affordable 

housing in Nigeria, 

over the years, has not met the 

desired target. Today Nigeria, 

with a population of over 170 

million people, is facing a national 

housing deficit of about 

17.5 million units, and requires 

a minimum of additional one 

million housing units per annum 

to reduce that deficit. 

In 2012, the World Bank 

published an assessment of 

levels of financial inclusion 

around the world in the form 

of the Global Financial Inclusion 

(Global Findex), which 

indicated that 30 percent of 

Nigerians over the age of 15 

have an account at a formal 

financial institution. It also 

indicated that only two percent 

of Nigerians over the age of 15 

have a loan from a financial 

institution, and almost none 

(0.6 percent overall) have an 

outstanding loan to purchase 

a home. Borrowing for home 

construction is more common, 

although still miniscule: 1.7 

percent overall, or 1.5 percent 

of the top 60 percent of income 

earners and 1.9 percent of the 

Hassan Usman 

bottom 40 percent of income 

earners had a loan for home 

construction. 

This was re-echoed by 

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating 

Minister for the 

Economy and Minister of Finance, 

recently when she said: 

“Although we have 84 primary 

mortgage banks (PMBs) and 

20 commercial banks, most 

Nigerians typically rely on 

private savings to pay for their 

homes. The size of the mortgage 

market has grown from 

N54 billion ($342 million) in 

2006, to about N224 billion 

($1.42 billion) in 2011. Yet, this 

still accounted for only roughly 

0.5 percent of GDP. For our 

commercial banks, mortgage 

loans accounted for less than 

1 percent of their total assets.” 

To the key players in the 

industry, like ASO Savings, 

underneath these realities 

lie great opportunities. This 

is attested to by the National 

Bureau of Statistics which reported 

in 2014 that the real 

estate market contributed 8.02 

percent to GDP in 2013 and 

the building and construction 

industry 3.12 percent for the 

same period. The figures may 

seem small, given the nation’s 

high rate of urbanisation, at an 

estimated 3.8 percent. However, 

the good news is that both 

sectors are growing rapidly 

-- real estate by 11 percent and 

building and construction by 

13 percent between 2012 and 

2013. 

Overall the Nigerian financial 

system is also becoming 

more sophisticated with deeper 

penetration of the insurance 

and pension industry. In 

general, as of December 2013, 

the country’s financial system 

grew by 10 percent in terms of 

operators; with 21 commercial 

banks, six development 

financial institutions (DFIs), 

82 Primary Mortgage Banks 

(PMBs), 820 Microfinance 

Banks (MFBs), 61 finance companies, 

and 2,889 Bureaux de 

Change (BDCs). 

At the 6th Global Housing 

Finance Conference in Washington 

held in May last year, 

the Minister of Finance and 

Co-ordinating Minister for the 

Economy outlined four interrelated 

issues that needed to 

be addressed to unlock the full 

potential of the housing market 

in Nigeria: 

First, to maintain conducive 

macroeconomic policies, 

which provide for stable and 

low inflation; low interest rates; 

and stable exchange rates; 

to improve access to longterm 

finance, in particular 

by deepening liquidity of the 

housing finance market; third, 

to simplify transactions in land 

registration and foreclosure 

processes; and fourth, to promote 

good quality and efficient 

building and construction in 

the country at reduced costs, 

underscoring the need to address 

the existing supply-side 

concerns in producing houses 

at affordable costs; and also investing 

in the training of skilled 

labour for the housing sector. 

Already actions are being 

taken on all these four fronts. 

In particular, the key players 

in the mortgage industry are 

happy with the establishment 

of the $300 million-capital base 

NMRC, which is essentially a 

re-financing institution that 

provides PMBs with increased 

access to liquidity and longterm 

funds. By deepening 

the available liquidity in the 

housing finance market, the 

NMRC will help to bridge the 

funding costs for residential 

mortgages in the country. Of 

the $300 million sum, about 

Phillip Isakpa 

phillip@businessdayonline.com 

08094000025 

Hassan Usman: Looking to Bequeath 

a Legacy in Housing Finance 

$250 million will be disbursed 

in instalments to NMRC as Tier 

2 Capital subject to various 

performance indicators. Another 

$25 million is also allocated 

for the establishment of 

a Mortgage Guarantee Facility 

for lower income borrowers; 

while $25 million will support 

the development and piloting 

of Housing Microfinance 

Products. 

In a recent interview Hassan 

enthused about the NM- 

RC’s promise in these words: 

“Creating an NMRC means 

that we could use our shortterm 

money and create a long 

term mortgage asset, sell those 

assets in NMRC. NMRC would 

give us the cash, we would 

value that cash and do similar 

mortgages. So, it also means 

we could do more activities in 

the mortgage market, in much 

longer terms. We could expand 

whatever we are doing at the 

moment by expanding the 

mortgages between 15 to 20 

years, rather than doing just 5 

to 10 years, which means that 

people can afford this aspect of 

development” 

According to Hassan, there 

are lots of opportunities the 

NMRC presents to the market 

operators, but it would take 

at least two to three years for 

the full benefits and for the 

Mortgages to become more 

substantial. He strongly believes 

that when that time 

comes, mortgages will inch 

towards single-digit interest 

rate, in addition to 20 year 

Mortgages. In addition stamp 

duties will come down significantly, 

with charges payable on 

home acquisition significantly 

coming down. At that mature 

stage new instruments will be 

created, which would enable 

pension funds to play a greater 

role in the Nigerian Mortgage 

industry. That mature stage 

will also mean ability of the 

industry to link the housing 

market with the capital market 

and the bond markets, to provide 

more affordable housing 

for Nigerians. 

Meanwhile, ASO Savings 

& Loans Plc is pushing ahead 

with its takeover of Union 

Homes, a transaction valued at 

N20 billion, a further testimony 

that ASO is a market leader. 

If the deal sails through, 

then Hassan Tanimu, the high 

priest of ASO temple, would 

have left a monumental legacy 

and an indelible mark on the 

Nigeria’s mortgage financing 

industry for many years to 

come. 

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan 

07043185277 (Text only) 

myspace@eugeniaabu.com 

Listening as a last resort 

A 

lot of experts in the field of psychology and psychiatry have 

often described support, a listening ear, empathy as a strong 

antidote for depression. In the western world where family 

values are almost completely eroded, suicide is on the rise 

affecting more men than women. The statistics are dire. 

In African countries, on the other hand, there is the family support 

system where a cousin, a sister or uncle are bouncing boards. But even 

this is being eroded with western ideas, rural-urban migration, distances 

and busy schedules that are beginning to eat into one-on-one opportunities 

among family members. 

These days at home and abroad, help-lines are open for the sad, 

depressed and manic-depressive. While they provide a certain service 

and reduce the number of those who might otherwise have brought 

themselves to grievous bodily harm, nothing can substitute for that 

one-on-one discourse with a real friend or a family member. The opportunity 

to find a shoulder to cry on is becoming less and less available. 

Churches, counsellors, religious leaders/mentors used to provide 

these services and elegantly so in the past. It is not so straightforward 

anymore. Our drive for money and our greed have thrown up certain 

religious leaders who are charlatans and pretend to have answers to 

many problems while ill-advising their congregation. Stories have been 

told of some pastors and priests who have taken advantage of their 

members. History is replete with extremists, psychopaths and low level 

humans who have taken their members to the grave playing on their 

vulnerability, e.g., Rev. Jesse Jones. This is how fragile the human mind is 

and that is why listening is such an important part of human psychology. 

The number of genuine burden-bearers in the world is depleting. More 

often than not people take advantage of your lowest ebb and demand 

something else for listening, which the depressed person believes will 

help get more attention. 

Manipulation has always been the way of man. Psychiatrists, psychologists 

and book aficionados often describe depression as extreme 

sadness. Before you know it, the depressed person no longer cares 

how they look, and are seemingly out of their depths. We often miss 

the signs and they finally lose sight of reality and go naked in the public 

space. There are signs but we are too busy in our lives to pay attention 

to another. If they talk at all, look out for paranoia. They tend to talk a 

lot about the same things or persons causing them grief. An attentive 

person and burden-bearer re-directs the energy into the positives of 

the depressed person and helps them to see the other person as the 

problem. This is an assurance to the depressed person that they are 

not overreacting or stupid. 

Another method is to listen and re-assure: “You know I went through 

this myself, it will pass.” This empathy allows the victim to stabilize and 

know that they are not alone. 

Listening may seem blasé but it’s the last resort for persons who are 

depressed or on the brink of suicide. In the end they are unable to find 

someone who is willing to listen, not in their family, nor in their workplace, 

not even friends. Sometimes when they do, these same persons 

betray them and then they shut the door to their hearts. Suicide begins 

to play up in their minds. 

As a mini-expert on psychology/guidance and counselling, here are 

some useful tips on listening: 

a) Pay attention when a loved one or someone you care about or 

even someone random is trying to tell you their problems. Fiddling 

with your phone or diverting the conversation suggests that you are 

uninterested. 

b) Body language is key. Listen with your eyes and ears. Shutting your 

eyes, reading a newspaper and saying, “I can hear you”, does not help the 

sad person. Nodding your head, agreeing verbally soothes this person. 

c) Never betray the trust of a depressed person and carry their stories 

to the neighbourhood “amebos”. 

d) Don’t let them become dependent on you. Always say after the 

second outburst, “Maybe you need to talk to a trained counsellor”, 

“Maybe you should confront this person”, “Maybe you should seek 

another job”, “Have you spoken to your imam/pastor?”, “Talk to a family 

member and see their perspective”, etc. 

e) Don’t be quiet throughout. This suggests that you are uninterested. 

f) Don’t spend time interrupting or telling your own pity story except 

as an example to support the person. Keep it short. This is someone else’s 

sorry story. Listen. Don’t turn it to your personal story time. 

g) If it’s getting dangerous, subtly seek help for the person. 

h) Don’t get involved knee, head and neck until you are now smack 

in the middle of a knot where you can neither help nor get out of the 

problem. Don’t become the problem. 

i) Refer them to their spiritual mentors. Faith helps, heals, resolves. 

Finally, these ears were made for many purposes. Listen. It might 

be the last resort before a suicide, deep hurt or a life changing moment. 

May we never get to the point where we say, “I wish I had listened.” You 

can save someone. 

Published by BusinessDAY Media Ltd., The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos. Ghana Office: Business Day Ghana Ltd; ABC Junction, near Guinness Ghana Limited, Achimota – Accra, Ghana. 

Tel: +233243226596: email: mail@businessdayonline.com Advert Hotline: 08116759801, 08082496194. Subscriptions 01-2950687, 07045792677. Newsroom: 08022238495 

Editor: Phillip Isakpa. All correspondence to BusinessDAY Media Ltd., Box 1002, Festac Lagos. ISSN 1595 - 8590.


Fuel scarcity: PPMC can’t stabilise 

nationwide supply, says PENGASSAN 

JOSHUA BASSEY 

The Petroleum 

and Natural Gas 

Senior Staff Association 

of Nigeria 

(PENGASSAN) 

said it would be almost impossible 

for the Pipelines 

and Products Marketing 

Company (PPMC) to stabilise 

fuel supply across the 

country, unless repositioned 

by the Federal Government 

to allow for efficiency in 

petroleum products’ distribution 

and equal pricing 

across the country. 

According to the trade 

union, PPMC was not only 

central to the distribution of 

refined petroleum products, 

but also central to the efficient 

and effective performance 

of the refineries as it 

supplies crude oil, which is 

the feedstock for the refinery 

operations. 

“PPMC has depots in 

Nexus unveils first brand shop in Nigeria 

Port Harcourt, Enugu, Calabar, 

Aba, Gombe, Yola, 

Ibadan, Ilorin, Makurdi and 

other major state capitals 

throughout the federation, 

but most of the pipelines 

lack petroleum products 

due to vandalism,” the union 

said, adding that if the company 

was repositioned and 

the pipelines function as 

they should be, there would 

be more jobs and reduced 

pressure on Nigerian roads. 

Francis Johnson, president 

of PENGASSAN, who 

said the repositioning of 

the pipeline company required 

urgent attention, 

listed some of the challenges 

affecting the effective and 

efficient operations of the 

company to include insecurity 

of pipelines and staff 

of the company. He also 

named inadequate funding, 

ageing equipment, supply 

of substandard operational 

equipment, shortage of 

manpower and irregular 

A 

leading maker of 

home appliances 

with outstanding 

colour designs has 

opened a showroom in Lagos 

as part of its plan to 

expand consumer touch 

points in Nigeria as it reaffirms 

its commitment to 

delivering quality customer 

service, counting on its years 

of experience in the business. 

The official unveiling of 

the Nexus brand shop in 

Nigeria witnessed by a large 

crowd of enthusiasts, media 

and celebrities which included 

top Yoruba actress, 

Mercy Aigbe; Wazobia FM 

popular on air personality, 

Yaw; musical artiste, Skales; 

Uti Nwachukwu of the Big 

Brother fame, amongst others, 

promised uncompromised 

quality and affordability 

for all its products 

in Nigeria with a two-year 

warranty for consumer convenience. 

Speaking to journalists 

at the event on the launching 

of the home appliances, 

managing director, Deekay 

Group, Kavine C. Vaswani, 

said, “We have been around 

growing with the range of 

our products for 10 – 15 years 

now. The Nexus arrangement 

has been around for 

10 years and everything we 

have done is as a result of 

our partnership with China, 

India and our source from 

Hong Kong”. 

“So we provide much 

quality control and designing 

and branding from our 

sources and our own origins. 

This is the right time to bring 

our products to the doorstep 

of consumers rather than 

relying on distributors and 

wholesalers. This way we 

feel we can get the products 

hand on to the man on the 

streets. This is our objective 

and desires to get closer to 

capacity building for existing 

staff of the company and 

lack of reliable fire trucks 

and good safety standards 

as the other factors militating 

against efficient delivery. 

The union noted that the 

greatest challenge confronting 

the PPMC had been 

vandalism of pipelines by 

criminals and economic 

saboteurs. 

Explaining the implications 

of the challenge, 

the president said that “the 

negative impacts of the 

pipeline vandalism on the 

nation’s economy and the 

oil and gas industry are 

enormous. Such include 

non-functionality of existing 

refineries, increased 

operational cost, job losses, 

reduction in investments in 

the downstream sub-sector 

and inability to attract new 

investment, and inadequate 

supply/availability of refined 

petroleum products 

in other parts of the country. 

our consumers rather than 

being away or being at back 

s t a g e”. 

As part of their unique 

service, Vaswani said, “We 

do provide after sales service 

and that is one aspect if 

anyone requires our need, 

saying that we are here to 

push our warranty pay so 

that no one can feel that any 

product bought from us will 

not be serviced tomorrow. 

Also, we do provide a wide 

range of colours and space 

that an average brand might 

not provide. 

“We have done enough 

research with partners in 

India and China on our 

products before they are 

shipped to make sure that 

during transit or product 

site, they will last long and 

withstand power surge for 

an average Nigerian user 

and most importantly we 

provide spare parts of our 

products.” 

APC insists FG not cooperating with Buhari’s transition committee 

...as Joda declines comment 

KEHINDE ABDULSALAM, Abuja 

The All Progressives 

Congress (APC) 

has insisted, for the 

umpteenth time, 

that the Jonathan administration 

is not cooperating 

with the party’s transition 

committee, while describing 

PDP’s spokesman, Olisah 

Metuh, as a man with an incurable 

disdain for the truth. 

“‘We say, with all sense 

of responsibility, that as of 

today, May 14th 2015, just 

about two weeks to the May 

29th handover date, no shred 

of information as to the status 

of governance from any ministry, 

department or agency 

of government has been 

given to our transition committee,’’ 

the party said in a 

statement issued in Abuja on 

Thursday by its national publicity 

secretary, Lai Mohammed. 

It insisted that the first 

meeting both committees 

had was “a mere photo-op”, 

saying nothing concrete was 

done as far as the handover 

was concerned. 

“What happened was 

that, following the request 

by our transition committee 

to meet with them, they 

invited us to what was the 

first formal meeting between 

both transition committees. 

But the meeting was a mere 

photo-op, as it yielded nothing 

concrete as far as handover 

notes are concerned. 

“In fact, what we met at 

the so-called meeting was 

far worse than what we had 

thought. Whereas we had 

hoped to get their handover 

notes on May 14th (the 

date they had indicated to 

us informally), they told us 

point blank that the notes 

won’t be ready until May 

24th. Because this date falls 

on a Sunday, that means we 

won’t be getting the handover 

notes until May 25th, just 

four days before the May 29th 

handover date. 

Assets, liabilities of discount houses 

decline by 20.4% to N135.2bn 


Total assets and liabilities 

of discount 

houses stood at 

N135.2 billion at the 

end of February 2015, showing 

a decline of 20.4 percent 

below the level at end-January 

2015, Central Bank of 

Nigeria (CBN) has said. 

The development was 

accounted for, largely, by the 

80.2 percent and 10.9 percent 

fall in claims on banks and 

Federal Government, respectively. 

Correspondingly, the 

decrease in total liabilities 

was attributed to the 76.1 

percent and 14.0 percent fall 

in borrowings and moneyat-call. 

The CBN’s Economic Report 

for the month of February 

2015 revealed that discount 

houses’ investment 

in Federal Government securities 

stood at N51.98 billion 

and accounted for 52.7 

percent of their total deposit 

liabilities. 

Thus, investment in Federal 

Government securities 

was 7.3 percentage points below 

the prescribed minimum 

level of 60.0 percent. At that 

level, discount houses’ investment 

on NTBs fell by 0.8 

percent below the level at the 

end of the preceding month. 

Total borrowing and amount 

owed by the discount houses 

was N29.37 billion, while 

their capital and reserves 

amounted to N29.6 billion. 

This resulted in a gearing ratio 

of 1.8:1, compared with the 

stipulated maximum target 

of 50:1 for fiscal 2015. 

Available data from the 

report indicated that total 

assets and liabilities of the 

commercial banks amounted 

to N28.486 trillion, showing 

an increase of 2.9 percent 

over the level at the end of 

January 2015. 

According to the CBN, 

funds were sourced mainly 

from unclassified liabilities; 

central government deposits 

and claims on the central 

bank. 

BUSINESS DAY 

A1 

NEWS 

Ado Bayero family 

has no stake in 

Intels, says NPA 

The management of the 

Nigerian Ports Authority 

(NPA) has disclosed 

that the Ado Bayero family 

of Kano has no stake in the 

ports development company, 

Intels Nigeria Limited. 

A few days ago, there had 

been reports alleging that 

the family had connections 

with Intels. However, the 

NPA in a statement stated 

that the Ado Bayero family 

of Kano has no stake of any 

kind in the port operating 

firm, Intels Nigeria Limited. 

The statement reads: 

“Our managing director, 

Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Ado 

Bayero is the first son of the 

late emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado 

Bayero. 

“Contrary to reports in 

a major national daily and 

response to other enquiries, 

the Nigerian Ports Authority 

asserts as follows: Neither 

the late Emir of Kano nor 

his estate holds any subsisting 

equity in Intels Nigeria 

Limited.”

A2 

Friday 15 May 2015

BUSINESS DAY 


FT FINANCIAL TIMES 

A3 

US oil veteran rejects 

Saudi shale claims 

Page A5 

World Business Newspaper 

Brazil - Oily mess 

Page A6 

In association with 

US oil chief rebuffs 

Saudi ‘gloating’ with 

pledge shale will 

bounce back 

ED CROOKS AND 

BARNEY JOPSON 

A 

leading figure in the US 

oil industry has insisted 

the shale slowdown is 

temporary and rejected 

claims by Saudi Arabia 

that it was succeeding in squeezing 

American shale producers. 

Harold Hamm, chief executive 

of Continental Resources, rejected 

claims by a Saudi official, reported 

in the Financial Times yesterday, 

that the lower oil price had deterred 

investment in higher-cost sources 

of oil, such as shale. 

“They want to stop shale oil,” 

he told the FT. “They might for six 

months but not for the rest of time.” 

He also argued that the Saudi 

comments would be likely to 

strengthen political support in the 

US for a relaxation of the country’s 

decades-old ban on crude oil 

exports. 

Opec, the producers’ cartel, kept 

output steady in November, despite 

the plunge in crude prices, in effect 

relinquishing its traditional role of 

adjusting production to support 

prices. Saudi Arabia later said its 

aim was to put pressure on highcost 

producers such as the US shale 

drillers, though it denied seeking to 

target American companies directly. 

The weakness in the oil price 

has curtailed drilling activity in US 

shale. But Mr Hamm reiterated his 

view that a price of about $70 per 

barrel for West Texas Intermediate 

- the US benchmark crude - which 

is currently trading at about $61, 

would be enough to stimulate 

increased activity and production 

growth. 

“[The Saudis] need to be a little 

slow to gloat,” he said. 

Bombardier slows private jet output but 

rival expects more lift from world’s rich 

ROBERT WRIGHT 

Canada’s Bombardier yesterday 

blamed a waning appetite 

for private jets from Chinese 

tycoons and Russian oligarchs for 

forcing it to cut 1,750 jobs and slow 

down production of its high-end business 

aircraft. 

The production cutbacks for the 

Global 5000 and 6000 - which whisk 

chief executives and plutocrats between 

continents - are the latest 

setback for the company as it grapples 

with the high costs and lacklustre 

order book for its C Series commercial 

jet. 

But Bombardier’s description 

of the market bemused its leading 

competitor and a senior analyst, 

who both predict continued strong 

demand from the rich to fly around 

in the ultimate luxury. 

Bombardier said that “current 

economic conditions and geopolitical 

issues” in Latin America, China and 

Russia had hit its new orders across 

the business jet market. 

Yet Richard Aboulafia, an analyst 

at the Virginia-based Teal Group, 

insisted that the global corporate jet 

market continued to enjoy growth 

- “not great growth, but OK growth”. 

Demand for the very largest corporate 

jets has remained robust since 

the financial crisis, according to Teal 

figures. The aggregate value of annual 

deliveries of jets costing more than 

$26m grew 29 per cent between 2008 

and last year. Annual deliveries of 

aircraft costing less than $26m fell 52 

per cent over the same period. 

Mr Aboulafia blamed Bombardier’s 

rapid recent increases in production 

for its decision to cut back. 

Its two rivals in the large business jet 

market - France’s Dassault Aviation 

and General Dynamics’ Gulfstream 

- had increased production more 

slowly and reported no such need to 

slow down. 

“This idea of shrinking in this 

market - that’s so far a Bombardier 

problem and I think it will stay that 

way,” Mr Aboulafia said. 

Gulfstream confirmed it was 

standing by its forecast that this year 

it would produce 115 large-cabin aircraft, 

about the same as last year, and 

10 more medium-cabin aircraft than 

in 2014. Bombardier declined to comment 

on how its strategy compared 

with competitors’. Teal predicts that 

Bombardier will produce 75 Global 

5000 and 6000 aircraft this year and 

69 in 2016. 

The company built 80 of the two 

models in 2014. 

Up to 1,000 of the Bombardier job 

cuts will fall around Montreal, 480 

around Toronto and 280 in Belfast, 

Northern Ireland, the company said. 

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (C) departs the Senate floor after a vote at the U.S. Capitol in 

Washington, yesterday. President Barack Obama’s trade agenda, which focuses squarely on developing stronger ties 

with Asia, gets a shot at new life on Thursday when the U.S. Senate is set to hold an important test vote on legislation to 

help him complete a Pacific Rim deal. REUTERS 

Draghi warns central banks against 

‘blind’ risk-taking 

ECB president alert to danger of financial instability and inequality 

CLAIRE JONES 

Mario Draghi has warned 

central banks to beware 

of the risk that aggressive 

monetary easing, including 

mass bond buying, could lead to 

financial instability and worsen 

income inequality. 

The European Central Bank 

president said the apparent success 

of policies such as the ECB’s 

€1.1tn quantitative easing package 

should not “blind” policy makers 

to the potential consequences 

of their actions on risk-taking in 

financial markets and in exacerbating 

wealth disparities. 

“Because the use of these new 

instruments can have different 

consequences than conventional 

monetary policy, in particular 

with respect to the distribution 

of wealth and the allocation of 

resources, it has become more important 

that those consequences 

are identified, weighed and where 

necessary mitigated,” Mr Draghi 

said at the International Monetary 

Fund in Washington. 

Central banks have faced criticism 

that their response to the 

financial crisis is stoking assetprice 

bubbles and increasing inequality. 

But this was the first time 

Mr Draghi has spoken in depth of 

concerns about aggressive action 

by central banks. He defended the 

decision to launch QE and other 

easing measures unleashed over the 

past year and claimed there was little 

to suggest imbalances in the financial 

system had already emerged. He 

also noted that all monetary policies 

had effects on wealth distribution 

and inaction by the ECB would have 

penalised young people. 

Mr Draghi argued that while 

the impact of QE on asset prices 

and economic confidence had 

been substantial, what ultimately 

mattered was what happened to 

investment, consumption and 

inflation in the eurozone. 

In an attempt to play down 

talk that the ECB could slow the 

pace of its €60bn per month asset 

purchase plan before the planned 

cut-off point of September 2016, 

he said: “We will implement in 

full our purchase programme as 

announced and, in any case, until 

we see a sustained adjustment in 

the path of inflation.” 

There was no inflation in the 

eurozone in the year to April 2015. 

The ECB targets a level of below 

but close to 2 per cent. The restated 

commitment to QE follows weeks 

of volatility in German bonds. They 

suffered a dramatic sell-off amid 

speculation the ECB would taper 

its bond-buying following signs 

of economic improvement in the 

eurozone. Figures published this 

week showed the region’s economy 

outpacing its US and UK rivals in 

the first quarter on the back of a 

spending spree fuelled by cheap 

energy prices and low inflation. 

“After almost seven years of a 

debilitating sequence of crises, 

firms and households are very 

hesitant to take on economic risk,” 

said Mr Draghi. “For this reason 

quite some time is needed before 

we can declare success, and our 

monetary policy stimulus will stay 

in place as long as needed for its 

objective to be fully achieved on a 

truly sustained basis.”


A3 BUSINESS DAY 

FT 

NATIONAL NEWS 


Court blows whistle on Spanish football strike 

TOBIAS BUCK 

Spanish football fans breathed 

a collective sigh of relief yesterday 

after a Madrid court 

issued a last-minute ruling to 

suspend a player strike that had 

threatened to bring the star- studded 

La Liga to a premature end. 

The decision means the league 

leaders, FC Barcelona, can still be 

beaten to the title by second-placed 

Eurosceptic UK 

foreign minister 

backs reformed bloc 

ALEX BARKER 

Britain’s eurosceptic foreign 

secretary has given his most 

enthusiastic backing yet for the 

UK’s place in a reformed EU, offering 

reassurance to countries that doubt 

the UK’s long-termcommitment to 

the bloc. 

Philip Hammond, one of the 

foremost eurosceptics within David 

Cameron’s cabinet, told the Financial 

Times he intended to support 

the Yes campaign in a referendum 

after a “fast” negotiation of membership 

terms. Significantly, he made 

clear that EU treaty change was not 

a political goal in itself for the Tory 

government. 

“That is how I want this process to 

end up: a good package of reforms; a 

Yes vote; and a step change in the way 

the relationship works, with Britain 

being really engaged and a loud voice 

in the union,” he said, speaking on the 

sidelines of a meeting of Nato foreign 

ministers in Antalya. 

Echoing Bank of England governor 

Mark Carney’s call for the government 

to move with “appropriate speed” 

towards a referendum, Mr Hammond 

said that the negotiation would be 

conducted “as fast as possible” and 

potentially in time for a referendum 

before 2017. The timing would depend 

“entirely on our partners”, he said. 

“If they enthusiastically embrace 

the [reform] agenda . . . we would 

move as fast as possible. We want to 

finish this as soon as we can. 

“But it is most important to get 

it right. There may be an appetite in 

some of the powerful member states 

to move fast.” 

Along with Mr Cameron and the 

chancellor, George Osborne, Mr 

Hammond will form a triumvirate 

handling the negotiation for Britain’s 

new membership terms, which begins 

in earnest in coming weeks. The 

prime minister is aiming to lay out his 

wishlist at a summit of EU leaders in 

late June. 

Real Madrid, though the Catalan 

team are expected to defend their 

advantage. 

It also means that bottom-ofthe-league 

teams such as SD Eibar 

and Granada CF still have two 

more matches to climb out of the 

relegation zone and so avoid dropping 

into the less lucrative second 

division. 

According to the interim ruling 

by Spain’s national court in Madrid, 

the strike would have caused “grave 

organisational disorder”, especially 

so late in the season and with little 

prospect of playing the cancelled 

matches at a later date. Javier Tebas, 

the president of Spain’s professional 

league, had earlier warned 

that the stoppage could inflict 

financial damage of up to €100m. 

The court decision did not include 

a ruling on the substance of 

the case, which turns on the right 

of players to strike against a new 

Spanish law on broadcasting rights. 

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush speaks at a town hall meeting on topics ranging from education to U.S.-Israeli relations to business 

support in Tempe, Arizona, yesterday. REUTERS 

Asean’s big three hit by shopping slowdown 

MICHAEL PEEL 

Multinational companies 

drawn to Southeast Asia 

by hopes of a long consumption 

boomare witnessing a 

reversal of fortunes in its three biggest 

economies as shoppers lose 

their mojo. 

Household debt, sluggish wage 

rises and political uncertainties are 

dragging on spending growth in 

Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. 

Urbanisation and a growing 

middle class will continue to drive 

long-term thirst for goods from cars 

to fridges in the 10-country Association 

of Southeast Asian Nations, 

economists say, but the dream of 

miracle growth now comes with 

qualifications firmly attached. 

“Corporate executives were 

rubbing their hands because of 

spending in Asean,” said Frederic 

Neumann, co-head of Asian 

economic research at HSBC. “In 

the long term that may well hold, 

but this soft patch in household 

spending is likely to stay for quite 

a while.” 

Indonesia’s economy, Asean’s 

largest by far, slowed to its lowest 

pace of annual growth in more 

than five years in the first quarter 

of this year, driven in part by a fall 

in government spending and flat 

consumer demand. 

Thailand, the region’s secondbiggest 

economy, has seen consumer 

confidence steadily decline 

alongside rising household debt. 

Malaysia, number three in Asean, 

has recorded weak manufacturing 

wage growth and credit card 

spending. 

Global winds are buffeting this 

region of more than half a billion 

people, due to launch a single 

market later this year. Spending in 

Asean is normalising after a post-financial 

crisis binge, while member 

states are also hit by the economic 

slowdown in their neighbour, and 

crucial trading partner, China. 

“Consumption downturns in 

Asean are cyclical,” said Anthony 

Nafte, a senior Asia economist at 

The clash is part of a broader conflict 

playing out across European 

football as clubs, players and federations 

try to maximise their share 

of the vast sums offered by pay-TV 

companies and other broadcasters. 

AFE, the union that represents 

some of the world’s best-paid footballers, 

including Iker Casillas of 

Real Madrid, had called the strike 

earlier this month. The players said 

they would refuse to play the last 

two matches of the season, along 

CLSA brokerage in Hong Kong. 

“But there are aggravating factors 

in individual economies.” 

One big drag on consumer 

spending is rising household debt 

in countries such as Thailand and 

Malaysia. Rural income has also 

been falling sharply in some areas 

because of depressed prices for 

commodities such as rubber and 

rice. Earnings in Thailand’s countryside 

fell 12.5 per cent year on 

year in the first quarter of this year, 

according to CLSA. 

Cars have been among the worst 

affected consumer sectors in the 

region, with sales tumbling 12.1 

per cent year on year in March in 

Indonesia - the seventh straight 

fall. In Thailand, the industry has 

been hit by the end of government 

tax breaks on new purchases. Kevin 

Kwek, a senior analyst at Bernstein 

Research in Singapore, says 

Indonesia is suffering a “temporary 

fallback”, whereas Thailand’s 

decline is more serious due to an 

ageing population and a reduction 

in wage earners. 

with the final of the Copa del Rey, 

the domestic cup competition. The 

strike was supported by Spain’s 

national football federation but opposed 

by Mr Tebas and the league, 

which initiated legal action that led 

to the suspension. 

The dispute centres on the 

familiar issue of how to divide up 

the spoils from the hugely lucrative 

broadcasting deals struck by 

the top flight in Spain and other 

European countries. 

BoE chief presses 

Cameron on 

Brexit vote 

GEORGE PARKER 

Carney warns that ballot is unsettling 

for business and must be resolved 

The governor of the Bank of 

England yesterday called on 

Prime Minister David Cameron 

to act with “appropriate speed” in 

holding his planned EU referendum, 

warning that the impending vote is 

causing business uncertainty. 

Mark Carney said it was “in the 

interests of everybody” to resolve the 

question of Britain’s EU membership, 

and that the election and referendum 

had created an uncertain investment 

climate. “We talk to a lot of bosses and 

there has been an awareness of some 

of this political uncertainty, whether 

because of the election or because 

of the referendum,” Mr Carney said. 

The governor said statistics suggested 

that so far businesses had “not 

yet acted on that uncertainty” and 

were continuing to hire and invest, 

but he said the matter should be 

resolved as soon as possible. 

“The government has made it 

clear it’s a priority,” Mr Carney told 

the BBC. “I’m sure the government 

will act with appropriate speed in 

developing the negotiations and 

putting forward an appropriate 

question.” 

The prime minister has promised 

an in-out referendum on 

Britain’s EU membership by the 

end of 2017, but ministers are talking 

about holding the poll in 2016 

if they can. 

Mr Cameron would prefer to 

hold an early referendum to capitalise 

on his newfound momentum 

after last week’s election win, 

building on his mandate to secure 

a quick renegotiation with Britain’s 

EU partners. But there are some 

constraints, not least the willingness 

and ability of the 27 other EU member 

states and the European Commission 

to conclude a deal with Mr 

Cameron within a matter of months.


@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED 2015 

US oil veteran rejects 

Saudi shale claims 

ED CROOKS AND 

BARNEY JOPSON 

One of the leading 

figures in the US oil 

industry has insisted 

the slowdown in US 

shale is a temporary 

phenomenon, as he rejected claims 

by Saudi Arabia that it was succeeding 

in squeezing American shale 

producers. 

Harold Hamm, chief executive 

of Continental Resources, said he 

disagreed with claims by a Saudi 

official, reported in the Financial 

Times yesterday, that the lower 

oil price had deterred investment 

in higher-cost sources of oil such 

as shale. 

“They want to stop shale oil,” 

he told the FT. “They might for six 

months, but not for the rest of time.” 

He also argued that the Saudi comments 

would probably strengthen 

political support in the US for a 

relaxation of the country’s decadesold 

ban on crude oil exports. 

Last November, Opec, the producers’ 

cartel, kept output steady 

despite the plunge in crude, in 

effect relinquishing its traditional 

role of adjusting production to 

support prices. Saudi Arabia later 

said its aim was to put pressure on 

3i calls time on three-year 

portfolio pruning 

JOSEPH COTTERILL 

Buyout firm generates return for 

shareholders of 20% after careful 

buying and selling 

3i has called time on its three 

year-long restructuring after 

the British private equity 

group sold a number of assets into a 

strong market for selling and listing 

companies. 

The owner of Agent Provacateur 

and Hobbs said yesterday that it 

generated a total return for shareholders 

of £659m, or 20 per cent, 

in the year to the end of March, 

compared with £478m or a 16 per 

cent return in the year before. 

Returns were aided by £831m in 

proceeds generated from selling off 

3i’s existing investments or listing 

them on stock markets, versus the 

£369m it invested in new buyouts. 

The buyout group will also pay 

a final dividend of 14p, making a 

total payout of 20p per share for 

the year ending in March - the 

same level as the previous year. 

“3i is demonstrably a more resilient 

business, both commercially 

and financially, than it was when 

we started the restructuring three 

years ago,” said Simon Borrows, 3i’s 

chief executive. 

One of the oldest private equity 

names in Europe, 3i was caught out 

FINANCIAL TIMES 


high-cost producers such as the 

US shale drillers who are behind a 

recent surge in North American oil 

production. 

The weakness in the oil price has 

curtailed drilling activity in US shale. 

But Mr Hamm reiterated his view 

that a price of about $70 per barrel 

for West Texas Intermediate, the US 

benchmark crude, which is trading 

at about $61, would be enough to 

stimulate increased activity and 

production growth. 

“[The Saudis] need to be a little 

slow to gloat,” he said. Speaking at 

an FT conference in New York, Mr 

Hamm said he expected the Saudi 

comments to “make a lot of people 

very angry” in the US, drawing an 

analogy with a Japanese politician 

who, in 1992, notoriously described 

American workers as “lazy”. 

In the 1990s, Mr Hamm formed 

a pressure group that petitioned the 

US Department of Commerce to 

impose import tariffs on crude from 

Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela 

and Iraq, which it accused of dumping. 

The complaint threatened a 

diplomatic stand-off with Opec. 

US oil producers such as Continental 

oppose the export ban on US 

crude, which they argue forces them 

to accept lower prices for their oil 

than the international benchmark 

Brent. 

after the financial crisis by collapsing 

valuations in an overstretched 

and difficult-to-manage portfolio. 

In 2012, frustrated shareholders 

brought in Mr Borrows, a former 

banker, as chief executive. The firm 

announced a strategy of cutting 

costs and refocusing its business 

on core regions. 

The number of companies in 3i’s 

portfolio has fallen from 124 in 2012 

to 65, and it is aiming to reduce the 

number to 40 over the longer term. 

Earnings at 3i’s companies, 

growing at 9 per cent a year three 

years ago, have grown 19 per cent 

in each of the past two years as it 

rebalanced the portfolio. 

But like many other private 

equity firms in recent years, 3i has 

especially benefited from ebullient 

public markets for raising the value 

of portfolio companies and for making 

it easier to exit at high prices. 

In the past three years, 3i has 

generated £2.1bn in proceeds from 

realising the value of old investments, 

compared with the £766m 

it has invested in new private equity 

deals. 

Among deals this year, 3i has 

listed stakes in Refresco, a Dutch 

juice bottler, and the infrastructure 

services provider Eltel. It has sold 

off formerly struggling assets such 

as Azelis, the chemicals distributor, 

which was acquired by the buyout 

firm Apax. 


Alliance buys Stocktrade in first deal since Elliott feud 

DAVID OAKLEY 

Alliance Trust has made its 

first acquisition since its 

feud with activist hedge 

fund Elliott, as it tries to turn 

round performance and tackle 

problems at its underperforming 

subsidiaries. 

One of the Dundee-based 

group’s two struggling subsidiaries, 

Alliance Trust Savings, will acquire 

Stocktrade, the execution-only 

stockbroking business of wealth 

manager Brewin Dolphin, significantly 

boosting its market share 

and assets under administration. 

Elliott, the biggest shareholder 

in Alliance, has given Katherine 

Garrett-Cox, chief executive , a 

year to improve performance or 

face the axe after it forced the 

investment trust to put two new 

directors on the board last month, 

ahead of a stormy annual meeting. 

Ms Garrett-Cox said: “Our strategy 

for ATS is to expand the business 

organically, but when appro- 

Lloyds could be back in private ownership ‘within 12 months’ 

EMMA DUNKLEY 

The chairman of Lloyds 

Banking Group says the 

state-backed lender could 

be fully returned to private 

ownership within the next 12 

months, more than six years after 

its £20bn government bailout. 

Lord Blackwell said after the 

bank’s annual meeting yesterday 

that “it’s possible and would be 

very desirable” for the government 

to finish selling its holding 

in Lloyds in the next year. 

“Whether the government 

can achieve that depends on the 

market conditions.” 

The government announced 

this week that its stake in Lloyds 

had halved since the bailout, falling 

below 20 per cent and recouppriate 

acquisition opportunities 

present themselves that fit with 

our stringent criteria, then these 

will be assessed. The acquisition 

by ATS of Stocktrade is an example 

of us putting this strategy into action 

and pursuing our ambitious 

growth targets.” 

James Maltin, investment director 

at Rathbones, a broker that 

is a shareholder in Alliance Trust, 

said: “This is a very good move 

on the part of Ms Garrett-Cox. It 

is part of her strategy to deliver 

profits at Alliance Trust Savings 

and fits with what Elliott had demanded.” 

ATS, a savings platform for 

retail clients, could add close to 

50,000 customers and nearly £5bn 

of assets as part of the £14m deal. 

Ms Garrett-Cox hopes the group 

will deliver “meaningful profit” 

by next year. 

The acquisition had the potential 

to increase ATS’s assets from 

£7.2bn to more than £11.5bn and 

its customer base from 57,000 to 

ing £10bn of taxpayers’ money. 

António Horta-Osório, chief 

executive, told shareholders at 

the meeting that “the group has 

progressed further towards full 

private ownership”. A six-month 

programme to drip feed-Lloyds’ 

shares into the market was announced 

at the end of last year. 

UK Financial Investments, the 

body tasked with selling down 

the government’s holding, is 

considering another six-month 

plan before launching a public 

sale of its remaining stake to 

individual investors. 

Lord Blackwell said after the 

AGM that there could be a window 

for a retail offering this year 

but ultimately it was a decision 

for the government. Lloyds confirmed 

plans to pay an interim 

BUSINESS DAY 

A5 

(L-R) Supervising Editor Margaret Sixel, cast members Nicholas Hoult and Zoe Isabella Kravitz, Director George Miller, 

cast members Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy and Courtney Eaton (R) pose with producer Doug Mitchell ahead of the 

screening of the film “Mad Max: Fury Road” out of competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern 

France, yesterday. REUTERS 

more than 105,000, Alliance Trust 

said in a statement. 

A top-20 shareholder said: “It 

is a very sensible move and shows 

that Ms Garrett-Cox is fully taking 

on board the complaints of Elliott, 

although the deal has probably 

been in the pipeline for a while.” 

Elliott, which is based in New 

York, was engaged in a six-week 

battle with Alliance over the placing 

of new directors, which culminated 

in a heated AGM on April 29. 

Alliance announced that it would 

place two of the hedge fund’s proposed 

candidates on the board in a 

last-minute deal to prevent defeat 

at the meeting. 

Problems at Alliance’s two subsidiaries 

- ATS and Alliance Trust 

Investments - were among Elliott’s 

main complaints. The activist, 

which has built its stake to 12 per 

cent, was backed by three other 

large institutional investors: Aberdeen 

Asset Management, Legal & 

General Investment Management 

and Brewin Dolphin. 

and full-year dividend for 2015 

at the meeting, after initially announcing 

its first payout since 

August 2008 in February. 

Lord Blackwell said the resumption 

of dividends “reflects 

the transformation of the business 

over the past four years”. 

The 0.75p a share payout is “a 

modest figure but a symbolic development”, 

he added. The bank 

forecasts a payout ratio moving 

to 50 per cent of earnings over 

the medium term. 

Nearly all of the bank’s shareholders 

voted in favour of the 

dividend and the directors’ 

remuneration package, despite 

a call from an investor advisory 

group to vote against the chief 

executive’s “highly excessive” 

pay.


A6 BUSINESS DAY 

FT ANALYSIS In association with 

Brazil - Oily mess 

A multi-billion dollar bribery scandal at the state-owned oil company has shaken the ruling Workers’ 

party. As the corruption investigations widen, former president Lula da Silva has come under direct fire. 

JOE LEAHY 

In Brazil’s hyper-consumerist 

society, people are 

accustomed to paying for 

everything in instalments, 

from fridges and televisions 

to silicon breast implants. But less 

commonly known is that even 

bribes to political parties can allegedly 

be paid parcelado, as the 

practice of paying in instalments 

is called. 

That is what Augusto Ribeiro de 

Mendonça Neto, a former board 

member of oil and gas services 

company Toyo Setal, claimed in 

testimony in March. He alleges 

that he paid bribes to the ruling 

centre-left Workers’ party, or 

PT, between 2010 and 2013 in 

exchange for winning contracts 

with state-owned oil company, 

Petrobras. 

The allegations form part of an 

investigation into a vast corruption 

scandal at Petrobras known 

as “car wash”. As part of the probe, 

Mr Mendonça told prosecutors 

that João Vaccari Neto, former PT 

treasurer, asked him to disguise 

the bribes as payments to a printing 

and advertising company 

named Editora Gráfica Atitude. 

“The collaborator [Mr Mendonça] 

said payments made to 

Editora Gráfica Atitude by his 

companies, SOG/Setal, were in 

the order of R$2.5m ($822,440) 

[and] that these were made in 

monthly instalments,” prosecutors 

cited him as saying as part of 

a plea bargain. The allegations are 

in a court order authorising Mr 

Vaccari’s arrest in April. 

Mr Mendonça’s account is 

one of a growing number alleging 

endemic corruption by the ruling 

party of President Dilma Rousseff 

and its coalition. The accusations 

- which are denied by Mr Vaccari 

and the PT - together with a gathering 

economic recession have 

thrown into crisis one of Latin 

America’s longest-serving ruling 

parties, and are threatening to 

reshape the political future of the 

continent’s largest country and 

most important economy. 

So deep is the disenchantment 

- with critics accusing the 

PT of using Petrobras as a source 

of illicit funds to help it maintain 

power - that even the party’s most 

senior politician and foremost 

champion, Luiz Inácio Lula da 

Silva, the former president, is 

coming under direct fire for the 

first time. A preliminary investigation 

was opened this month to 

look at separate allegations that 

he has engaged in illegal influence 

peddling in his business dealings 

in Cuba and Africa. 

Mr Lula da Silva was one of the 

world’s most popular politicians 

when he left office after eight 

years in 2010. Yet this month he 

was subjected to apanelaço, a 

Latin American protest in which 

people bang pots and pans in their 

homes, when he appeared on TV 

to champion the PT’s stance on 

workers’ rights. 

“Not in recent history has Lula 

faced anything like that panelaço,” 

says Fernando Schuler, professor 

at Insper in São Paulo. “Before, the 

difference was that these movements 

were against Dilma, now 

they are hitting Lula.” 

Seeking payback 

One of the main sources of discontent 

with Mr Lula da Silva, Ms 

Rousseff and the PT are the problems 

at Petrobras, a company once 

regarded as a national champion 

for its prowess in deepwater oil 

exploration. Although not accused 

of direct involvement in corruption, 

Ms Rousseff was chairman 

when much of the wrongdoing 

took place and Mr Lula da Silva 

was president. 

This week, Aldemir Bendine, 

the new head of Petrobras, attended 

an unusual event in Brasília. 

Hosted by the attorney general, 

Mr Bendine received on behalf of 

Petrobras R$157m in 

funds stolen by corrupt former 

executives that investigators had 

repatriated from Swiss bank accounts. 

The money was part of 

large sums diverted from Petrobras, 

some of which allegedly went 

to the PT and the ruling coalition. 

“A day such as this, in which we 

have recovered the first sums lost 

through these practices, reinforces 

Petrobras on the path to overcoming 

this crisis,” Mr Bendine told the 

ceremony. 

He said the company was 

launching lawsuits to recuperate 

another R$1.3bn. But analysts say 

even this amount is tiny in comparison 

with the damage done by 

corruption and mismanagement. 

Mr Vaccari is just one of scores 

of people, including 54 political 

figures, who are accused of receiving 

illicit funds from Petrobras. 

The case is being driven by a 

group of independent public prosecutors, 

federal police officers and 

judges working out of the southern 

city of Curitiba. They allege former 

executives and mostly ruling coalition 

politicians accepted bribes 

from a cartel of construction and 

service companies in exchange for 

contracts. With Petrobras investing 

more than $220bn over five 

years, the flow of such contracts 

was huge. 

Petrobras flirted with technical 

default on its debt this year when 

the scandal forced it to delay release 

of its 2014 financial results, 

a requirement of some bond covenants. 

The move also jeopardised 

Brazil’s sovereign credit rating. 

When Petrobras did finally release 

the results last month, it revealed 

direct losses from corruption 

An armored M1126 ICV Stryker heads a convoy of U.S. and Romanian military vehicles passing Predeal, Romania, 

yesterday. Troops assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the U.S army are in Romania to participate in 

Operation Atlantic Resolve-South, an international military exercise. REUTERS 

of R$6.2bn and an impairment 

charge of R$44.6bn partly related 

to delays on corruption-affected 

refinery projects. 

The release of the results headed 

off the immediate crisis. But the 

company’s situation remains dire. 

The crisis is delaying its development 

of giant oil discoveries off the 

southeast coast of Brazil, known as 

pre-salt - because they lie under a 

layer of the compound up to 7km 

below the ocean surface - which 

will make it harder to reduce its 

net debt load of $106bn, the largest 

in the industry. Energy research 

group Wood Mackenzie has revised 

down its estimates for peak 

production from Petrobras for the 

pre-salt by 900,000 barrels per day 

to 3.2m bpd by 2025. With oil today 

at around $67 per barrel, this implies 

an opportunity cost of $22bn 

a year in missed production. 

On top of the losses from corruption, 

the company suffered 

further damages of R$60bn from 

a Rousseff policy of forcing it to 

subsidise domestic petrol prices 

between 2011 and 2014, according 

to an estimate by André Gordon, 

vice-president of Brazil’s minority 

shareholder association Amec. 

So severe were the losses from 

the subsidy scheme that Brazil’s 

stock market regulator, the CVM, 

this month announced an investigation 

into the former board of 

Petrobras, including ex-finance 

minister Guido Mantega who doubled 

as chairman of the company. 

“The biggest problem at Petrobras 

is not car wash [the corruption 

probe],” former company 

executive-turned-witness, Paulo 

Roberto Costa, told a parliamentary 

commission last week. 

“The [biggest] problem was 

the price policy implanted by the 

majority shareholder.” 

Oil bonanza 

In 2007, when Petrobras announced 

its discoveries of the 

pre-salt, the PT kicked off a wave of 

oil nationalism. The party revived 

a slogan, “The oil is ours”, to call for 

Brazil to exploit its own reserves. 

The original campaignhad led to 

the creation of Petrobras in 1953. 

The PT, a party born out of the 

struggle that helped Brazil overcome 

a 20-year military dictatorship 

that ended in 1984,promised 

the oil from the pre-salt would 

bankroll much-needed improvements 

in education and health. 

These days, critics joke that the 

PT really meant that the oil was 

literally theirs. 

“The PT saw with the discovery 

of the pre-salt that Petrobras could 

become a great instrument to preserve 

themselves in power for the 

next 100 years,” says Adriano Pires, 

founder of the Brazilian Centre 

of Infrastructure who formerly 

worked at the oil regulator, ANP. 

But with the scandal deepening 

and the delays in production stalling, 

the much-promised economic 

windfall is running out of steam. 

It comes against the backdrop 

of the end of the commodities 

supercycle and a weak economy, 

which analysts expect to slide into 

recession this year. 

After winning re-election in 

2014 by one of the narrowest margins 

in recent history, Ms Rousseff 

hired Joaquim Levy, a Chicagotrained 

finance minister, to restore 

Brazil’s sinking finances. 

But many analysts question the 

likely strength of any turnaround 

in the economy and whether it 

will be enough to save the PT. Unemployment 

is creeping up and 

inflation is high. 

The International Monetary 

Fund this week called on Brazil to 

introduce tougher fiscal austerity. 

Worse for Ms Rousseff, opinion 

polls show that the proportion of 

Brazilians who see her government 

as bad or terrible rose to 64 

per cent in March from 27 per cent 

in December. In March and April, 

Brazilians took to the streets of the 

country’s major cities to call for 

her impeachment. 

The weak economy and scandal 

have split the PT. Some dissident 

party members, such as 

former São Paulo mayor Marta 

Suplicy, say it has lost touch with 

its roots. “Every time I open the 

paper, I feel even more horrified 

by the [party’s] excesses than the 

day before,” she said in a recent 

newspaper interview.



NEWS 

Consumer abuse: FG intensifies 

efforts to check business’ impunity 

…as CPC inaugurates first audio-visual studio for consumers 


has 

moved a step 

further in its efforts 

to check the 

prevalent business practice 

of consumer abuse 

with impunity with the inauguration 

of the first inhouse 

audio-visual studio 

at the Consumer Protection 

Council (CPC). 

Olusegun Aganga, the 

minister of industry, trade 

and investment, who commissioned 

the studio in 

Abuja on Thursday, said 

apart from the fact that the 

project would help increase 

consumer awareness, business 

operators would also 

learn to respect consumer 

rights more since it would 

be easier for aggrieved 

consumers to name and 

shame fraudulent operators 

through the various CPC 

studios across the zonal offices 

in Nigeria. 

He noted that whilst the 

advent of industries in new 

2015 budget: NDDC spends N10.4bn on overhead 

Despite Nigeria’s 

dwindling monoeconomy, 

occasioned 

by fall in 

global oil prices and further 

devaluation of the Nigerian 

currency, the Niger Delta 

Development Commission 

(NDDC) has budgeted N10.4 

billion on overheads for the 

2015 budget. 

This was contained in the 

report of the Senate Committee 

on Niger Delta, chaired by 

James Manager on Thursday 

and approved by the upper 

areas like telecommunications, 

information technology 

and online sales had 

brought new challenges 

for consumers as regards 

getting full value for their 

money, the current management 

of CPC was resolute 

in its drive towards 

addressing critical issues of 

abuses across all sectors of 

the Nigerian economy. 

Aganga said: “The Nigerian 

market, like all other 

markets in the world, is not 

perfect. I am aware that 

consumers contend on a 

daily basis with issues arising 

from sharp practices of 

dubious businesses and the 

abuse of consumer rights 

by producers and service 

providers. The advent of 

industries in new areas like 

telecommunication, information 

technology and online 

sales poses entirely new 

concerns for consumers. 

“Economies are dynamic, 

and when they grow 

and add new sectors and 

legislative chamber during 

plenary. 

The Senate approved a 

budget of N299.5 billion for 

the commission. 

Recall that at the 2015 

induction for lawmakers of 

the 8th National Assembly, 

president-elect, Muhammadu 

Buhari, decried the 

overhead cost in this year’s 

national budget and solicited 

the cooperation of legislators 

in checkmating the trend. 

While personnel and 

overhead expenditure represent 

8.9 percent of the total 

expenditure in the NDDC 

budget, capital expenditure 

technologies like we have 

seen in the last couple of 

years, the need for change 

in people’s behavioural 

patterns becomes imperative. 

This underscores the 

important role of CPC in 

enforcing compliance of 

businesses with consumer 

protection laws and educating 

consumers to be assertive 

in the marketplace. It is, 

therefore, gratifying that the 

current administration in 

CPC is resolute in its determination 

to drastically increase 

the level of consumer 

awareness in the country 

and check the impunity of 

businesses.” 

Speaking during the 

event, Dupe Atoki, the director-general, 

CPC, said 

that consumer education 

was a core mandate of the 

council, adding that the 

CPC had already developed 

innovative awareness strategies 

towards addressing 

the problem of consumer 

ignorance and apathy. 

President Goodluck Jonathan (l) receiving visiting President Boni Yayi of Benin Republic at the Presidential Villa in 

Abuja on Thursday. 

NAN 


represents 0.6 percent. 

Breakdown of the N299.5 

billion indicates that while 


5.4 percent) is for 

personnel expenditure; 

overhead expenditure gets 


3.5 percent); projects 

(development) expenditure 

takes N271,089,998,023 

(representing 90.5 percent), 

just as N1,879,769,000 (0.6 

percent) is for capital expenditure. 

Highlights of the N10.4 

billion overhead cost shows 

that the NDDC headquarters 

will get N3.6 billion, chair- 

FG sells N60bn 

bonds, yields dip 

across all tenors 


sold bonds 

worth a total of N60 

billion ($302 million) at lower 

yields on all tenors at an auction 

on Wednesday, the Debt 

Management Office said on 

Thursday, reports Reuters. 

The debt office said 

in a statement that investors 

submitted total bids of 

N183.34 billion compared 

with N184.72 billion at the 

last auction. 

The lower yields reflected 

the trend in the secondary 

market, which remain at 

below 14 percent following a 

sharp rise immediately after 

the country’s peaceful elections 

in March. The 5-year, 

10-year and 20-year tenors 

each received a total of N20 

billion, the debt office said. 

The 5-year paper was 

sold at 13.84 percent, lower 

than 14.44 percent the debt 

attracted at the last month’s 

auction. 

The 10-year bond fetched 

a yield of 13.48 percent 

against 14.22 percent last 

month, while the 20-year 

debt attracted a yield of 13.88 

percent compared with 14.45 

percent last month. 

man’s and managing director’s 

offices are to spend 

N227 million and N457 million, 

respectively, for the 

same purpose. 

In the same token, overhead 

for office of executive 

director, finance and administration 

is N252 million; 

Abuja Liaison Office (N133 

million); executive director, 

project (N252 million). 

Also, the liaison offices of 

the nine oil-producing states 

of Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, 

Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, 

Ondo and Rivers are to spend 

N766,122,097 as overhead for 

this year. 

Nigerian prisons to be decongested as 

Jonathan signs criminal justice bill into law 


Nigerian prisons 

will now be easily 

decongested as 

President Goodluck 

Jonathan has signed the 

Administration of Criminal 

Justice Bill 2015 into law. 

A persistent clog in the 

wheel of the nation’s criminal 

justice system has been 

protracted delay in trial. It 

has been noticed that sometimes 

it takes as long as 10 

years for trial in a criminal 

case to be concluded, resulting 

in prison congestion, 

with about 70 percent of 

inmates awaiting trial. 

The president’s assent to 

the bill was confirmed by his 

special adviser on media and 

publicity, Reuben Abati, in 

an interview with journalists 

on Thursday, stating that the 

president signed the document 

on Wednesday, same 

day he received the bill from 

the National Assembly. 

“The president has 

signed the Administration 

of Criminal Justice Bill 2015. 

He signed it the same day he 

received it from the National 

Assembly. With that development, 

the bill is now an 

Act,” he said. 

The bill, which was 

passed by the Senate on 

May 5, 2015, aims to abolish 

the dichotomy that presently 

exists between the Criminal 

Procedure Code (in opera- 

Skye Bank revs up retained 

earnings to scale up investments 

Skye Bank yesterday 

submitted its full 

year 2014 results to 

the Nigerian Stock 

Exchange (NSE) showing a 

significant appropriation to 

retained earnings, demonstrating 

the banks ambition 

to play and dominate the tier 

1 retail banking space. 

Retained earnings, which 

are an indicator of a company’s 

plans for growth in 

the future, was grown 70.6 

percent from N19.73 billion 

in the 2013 financial year to 

N33.7 billion in 2014. The 

numbers helped swell the 

bank’s total equity level to 

N132.26 billion from N121.4 

billion, a 9 percent rise. 

The IFRS compliant results 

show operating income 

was up marginally to N69.33 

billion from N68.5 billion indicating 

increasing efficiency 

in cost management. This 

was on the back of a 2.4% 

rise in interest income from 

N105.3 billion to N107.85 

billion. 

Interest income is an indicator 

that helps explain how 

well a bank is doing in its maturity 

transformation quest. 

The bank’s headline and 

bottom-line profits in the 

period under review were 

tempered by impairment 

charges, regulatory payments 

and higher operating cost, 

tion in Northern Nigeria) and 

the Criminal Procedure Act 

(in operation in Southern Nigeria) 

by repealing both Acts. 

It also seeks to establish 

a central criminal records 

registry with the police headquarters. 

The central criminal 

records registry system 

established in Part 2, Section 

16 of the bill will serve as a 

veritable database of all offenders 


The registry system will 

also provide a snapshot to 

courts and prosecutors, as 

regards whether an accused 

person is already on the 

registry, thus aiding in the 

administration of criminal 

justice. In its part 44, the bill 

introduces the non-custodial 

sentences including 

community sentence orders 

and probation for minor offences. 

It also limits the time 

spent for the remand of suspects 

in custody, without 

arraignment, to a maximum 

of 14 days before a review of 

such cases by a magistrate. 

This provision also limits 

the number of times that the 

detention order of 14 days 

can be obtained. Where, 

on the third occasion, the 

detaining authority cannot 

show why the suspect should 

be detained without cause, 

then the suspect may be 

released from custody, with 

or without application from 

the suspect or his counsel. 

including cost of acquisition 

of Mainstreet Bank, among 

other costs. These muscleddown 

pre-tax profit of 46.7% 

from N19.65 billion to N9.74 

billion. 

The bank has over the 

last year grown assets 27% 

from N1.12 trillion to N1.42 

trillion, helping to provide a 

stronger cover for deposit liabilities. 

The metric improved 

to 1.5 from 1.3. This is as the 

bank has grown deposits 

15.7% to N952.3 billion from 

N823.3 billion. 

A robust deposit base 

is an indication of a bank’s 

strong marketing ability especially 

in the area of attracting 

and mobilising deposits. 

The Group’s liabilities 

consisting of deposit base 

and other accruals rose to 

N1.29 trillion during the 

period compared to N995 

billion achieved a year ago. 

Speaking on the results, 

the bank’s group managing 

director/chief executive officer, 

Timothy Oguntayo, said 

that in spite of the challenging 

operating environment, 

the bank carefully grew its 

risk assets portfolio, attained 

a 15.7% growth in deposits, 

supported customers in critical 

and productive sectors of 

the economy, and declared a 

fairly decent profit.


A8 BUSINESS DAY

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