BusinessDay 21 Sep 2017

Thursday 21 September 2017
Africa will become the food basket of the world...
Continued from page 1
rica, to hear Africa’s richest man,
Aliko Dangote, and Rwandan
president, Paul Kagame, openly
converse on Africa’s opportunities
and challenges.
Both leaders underscored
the ongoing movement to diversify
African economies. In
the case of Nigeria, Africa’s
largest economy, Dangote stated
“we should pray that oil prices
remain low. This helps wean us
off the dependency on revenues
from petroleum. We must take
oil to be the icing on the cake. We
already have the cake,” he added.
In addition to agriculture,
Dangote cited Nigeria’s vast mineral
resources and gas, as well
and the need to manufacture
more goods locally for domestic
consumption. Both he and President
Kagame cited continued
need for heavy investments in
education and connected the
need for young people to be well
trained for the jobs of tomorrow.
Dangote predicted that “five
of the twelve million jobs needed
in Africa soon must be created
in Nigeria.”
Dangote’s fortune which
stems from cement, sugar, and
other household commodities,
has expanded into fertilizer
and other processed high-value
goods. “Technology of course
helps us a lot and our factories
L-R: Omar Shekarau, general manager, north, Bank of Industry (BoI); Olukayode Pitan, managing director,
BoI; Muhammad Sanusi, Emir of Kano, and Joseph Babatunde, general manager, large enterprise, BoI, during
the bank’s visit to the Emir in Kano.
FG bars discretionary oil bloc awards in marginal...
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idle because some of the bidders
who acquired divested assets,
lacked financial and technical
competence to run them, said
Osten Olorunshola, chairman,
Energy Institute, Nigeria and former
director in DPR, at an oil and
gas conference last year.
Discretionary award of licenses,
violates global best practices
and also negates the Extractive
Industry Transparency Initiative,
(EITI) of which Nigeria is a
signatory.
This provision has been prohibited
in the Petroleum Industry
Governance Bill (PIGB) passed by
the Senate in May this year. The
bill still awaiting passage in the
are state of the art, with the use
of robotics but we shouldn’t be
overly tech oriented to create
wealth,” he told investors.
Dangote, who is often cited
as one of the most inspiring
business leaders in the world
today and a model for young
entrepreneurs, offered advice
to Americans who tend to rely
on outdated news and wrong
perceptions of Africa, “Don’t be
lazy. Go there and find the real
story for yourself. Things have
changed.”
Dangote noted the Rwanda
success story, where he has
business interests, is an example
of positive change, good governance
and leadership, and where
corruption has been cured. He
cited a personal experience of
offering a $100 US tip for services
at the Kigali Airport to staff who
refused to take money for work
they were paid to do. President
Kagame was praised for delivering
the environment for growth
he promised. “There is nothing
African about corruption,” the
Rwandan president added.
The session was moderated
by Rosa Whitaker, former US
Trade Representative and author
of the AGOA (African Growth
Opportunity Act), whose business
consultancy is credited for
helping both African governments
and US companies.
House of Representative before
being sent to the President for assent,
vests approval for allocation
of oil blocs in a new regulator, the
Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory
Commission (NRPC).
The NRPC now has the power
to issue, modify, amend, extend,
suspend, review, cancel and reissue,
revoke and / or terminate
upstream licences made in compliance
with applicable laws and
regulations of the country.
DPR admitted there are plans
to conduct oil bidding rounds,
but these exercises would only be
conducted when the agency has
been given requisite authorisation
by the Minister of Petroleum
Resources, to submit operational
C002D5556
Jim Ovia recognised in America as Africa’s...
Continued from page 4
General Assembly in New York,
the United States. He was recognised
for impacting hugely on
enterprise and human resource
development on the continent.
Ovia, founding Group Managing
Director and CEO of Nigeria’s
largest bank, was honoured
along with President Nana
Akufo-Addo of Ghana (National
Achievement); Nicole Amarteifio,
(Leadership in African
Media and Arts); and Bozoma
Saint-John, Chief Brand Officer,
UBER (Innovation & Technology)
as Africa’s best.
The Africa-America Institute
was set up in 1953 to help
increase Africa’s human capacity
for development, through
training and education and
recognizes Africans who have
demonstrated remarkable
achievements in various fields,
the intention being to present
the award winners at the high
profile stage of the UN General
Assembly, as representatives of
the great work going on in Africa.
The AAI awards, which is
announced annually and showcases
Africa’s best, has honoured
individuals who are working to
fulfill AAI’s mission of increasing
Africa’s human capacity for
development and promoting engagement
between the African
continent and America.
The awards are presented
at a special gala night bringing
together African Heads of State
and diplomats, international
guidelines and technical frameworks
with which to midwife the
process.
The agency further said that
when such approvals have been
secured, appropriate mechanism
would be activated to properly
appraise interested participants
and investors, within Nigeria and
the international community,
as to how the process would be
managed, reminiscent of the transparency
and openness that have
become sacrosanct guiding principles
of the current administration.
Nigeria is planning to conduct
bid rounds for its marginal fields
to raise funds to mitigate a slump
in crude earnings and finance the
N7.4 trillion, 2017 budget.
Marginal fields are undeveloped
discoveries located in oil
Jim Ovia
and senior U.S. government officials,
business and civil society
leaders, educators, journalists,
philanthropists and other prominent
figures who are working towards
advancing economic and
development progress in Africa.
Ovia was at the helm of affairs
at Zenith Bank, from inception,
for 20 years, until his resignation
in July, 2010 but was reappointed
the Chairman of the bank in
2014. He was a member of the
National Economic Management
Team of Nigeria and he
is a member of the Honorary
International Investors’ Council.
Jim Ovia is a philanthropist
and the founder and proprietor
of James Hope College, Agbor,
Delta State. His foundation, the
Jim Ovia Foundation, which
focuses on providing scholarship
to the less-privileged, has a
number of beneficiaries that are
now qualified medical doctors,
engineers, etc.
He is also the founder of
several enterprises and philanthropic
institutions, including
the Youth Empowerment & ICT
Foundation, which focuses on
improving the socio-economic
welfare of Nigerian youths by
empowering them to embrace
Information and Communication
Technology.
In recognition of his achievements,
particularly in support
of the Nigerian economy, Jim
Ovia was conferred with the
national award of Commander
of the Order of the Niger (CON)
in November, 2011.
Jim Ovia holds a Master’s
degree in Business Administration
(MBA) from the University
of Louisiana, Louisiana, USA
(1979) and a B.Sc. degree in
Business Administration from
Southern University, Louisiana,
USA (1977). He is an alumnus of
Harvard Business School (OPM).
blocks held by oil majors operating
in the country. A total of 30
marginal field licenses have been
awarded since the policy was introduced
in Nigeria, of which the
current licensees, only around 12
fields have reached commercial
production. While a bid round
was proposed for 2013, it never
held and the guidelines did not
take effect.
As at 2016, four oil mining
leases (OMLs) and 24 oil petroleum
leases (OPLs) have expired.
In the next five years, 47 OMLs
will be expiring, while 27 OPLs
will be available for renewal. The
DPR has not said which blocks
would be up for bids and when,
and as can be deduced from the
agency’s public notice, neither
do they.
BUSINESS DAY
33
NEWS
Briefs
Toshiba to sell chip unit for $18bn to plug losses
Toshiba has sold its prized
semiconductor business to a
group led by US private equity
firm Bain Capital in a bid to keep
its struggling business afloat.
The $18bn (£13.3bn) deal
is designed to cover billions
of dollars of losses incurred in
Toshiba’s US nuclear unit.
US markets calm as Fed outcome looms
US markets opened little
moved on Wednesday, as investors
awaited the outcome of
the latest policy meeting by the
Federal Reserve.
In the opening minutes, the
Dow Jones rose 4.96 points or
0.02% to 22,375.76, while the
wider S&P 500 index gained 1.92
points or 0.08% to 2,508.57.
NotPetya cyber-attack cost TNT at least $300m
Delivery company FedEx
says a recent cyber-attack cost
its TNT division about $300m
(£221m).
The company was one of
several to have its computer systems
severely disrupted by the
NotPetya ransomware outbreak
in June.
HTC shares suspended on Google takeover rumours
Shares in the Taiwanese
smartphone firm HTC will
be suspended from trading
on Thursday amid rumours
Google’s parent Alphabet is
planning a takeover.
The company issued a statement
in response to a report in
the China Times, and a request
from the Taiwanese Stock Exchange.
Rise in female workers suppressing wages, says OECD
A rise in the employment rate
for women since 2008 is holding
back wage growth globally, the
OECD has told the BBC.
Chief economist Catherine
Mann said women were paid less
in general, while male employment
rates remained weak, and
that this had skewed the figures.
Waymo seek $2.6b from Uber for one trade secret
Alphabet Inc’s Waymo unit
is seeking about $2.6 billion
from Uber for the alleged theft
of one of several trade secrets
in a lawsuit over self-driving
cars, a lawyer for Uber said on
Wednesday.
Uber Technologies Inc attorney
Bill Carmody disclosed
the figure in a hearing in federal
court in San Francisco, where
both companies are discussing
whether a trial in the case will
begin next month.
Pfizer files suit against J&J over Remicade contracts
Drugmaker Pfizer Inc (PFE.N)
on Wednesday filed a lawsuit
against Johnson & Johnson
(JNJ.N), saying its rival’s contracts
with health insurers for
blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis
drug, Remicade, were anticompetitive
and blocked sales of
Pfizer’s new biosimilar.