BusinessDay 11 Dec 2017

42 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556
NEWS
Adeosun insists public service rules
were followed in Gwarzo’s suspension
HARRISON EDEH, Abuja
Nigeria’s finance
minister, Kemi
Adeosun, weekend,
struggled
to convince the
worried public and investors
that adequate public
service rules were followed
in the suspension of Mounir
Gwarzo, director-general, Securities
and Exchange Commission
(SEC), 11 days after
she asked him to step aside
to allow investigations into
an alleged misappropriation
of funds.
Adeosun rather accused
Gwarzo, while briefing the
media on the matter of blackmailing
her through claims
that his suspension from
office was as a result of his
“refusal to stop the forensic
audit of Oando plc.
“The Federal Ministry of
Finance would like to place
on record that Gwarzo’s suspension
is in line with the
Public Service Rules (PSRs),
to allow for an unhindered
investigation of serious allegations
of financial impropriety
against him. Some of the
allegations with documented
evidence include the awards
of contracts to companies related
to him and members of
his family.”
The finance ministry
had, last week Wednesday
said Gwarzo was being suspended
over allegations of financial
impropriety bordering
on the payment of N104
million to himself when he
retired as an executive commissioner
of SEC in 2015,
against the counsel of the former
acting head of the commission’s
legal department,
Chukwuogor Frana. Gwarzo
has since been replaced with
an acting director-general.
Meanwhile, reports in
some section of the media
allege that Gwarzo’s suspension
was on the heels of the
minister’s verbal directive
to discontinue the Oando
probe, which he apparently
objected to.
At the briefing – the first
media reaction since the story
broke, Adesoun said, “We
have to go for some kind of
fact checks with the Corporate
Affairs Commission, and
based on the evidence we
got, it became that we have to
apply the Public Service rule
to effect the suspension.”
She said suspending a
very senior member of the
financial regulatory agency
must be taken seriously, and
“so, when there are grey areas
in respect to what we have
found out and what is on the
files, we have to look at them
before we took the step we
took.”
Speaking further on the
matter, the minister explained
that given the degree
of speculation and the potential
impact on the capital
market, there was a need for
the record to be set straight.
“The integrity of the
capital market is vital to the
growth of the Nigerian economy
and must be managed
in an orderly and transparent
manner to ensure investors’
confidence. Its leadership
must maintain and be
seen to maintain the highest
standards of integrity,” she
said.
According to Adesoun,
“The original decision taken
by SEC on October 20, 2017
to suspend the shares of
Oando plc and conduct a
forensic audit was approved
and endorsed by the Federal
Ministry of Finance. The SEC
team, led by Mounir presented
adequate evidence to the
minister of finance and her
team, that Oando plc had a
clear case to answer with regard
to infractions of the ISA.”
She added that, “No contrary
evidence has been presented
and thus, the investigative
work on Oando and all
other ongoing investigations
being undertaken by SEC in
the discharge of its statutory
functions have continued.
Indeed, our information is
that the forensic auditors
have resumed at Oando.”
UNIBEN partners Schlumberger to curb waste in oil/gas industry
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin
Authorities of the
University of Benin
have entered into
partnership with
Schlumberger Technology
for the deployment of software
operation to curb wastage
and errors involved in the
oil and gas industry valuechain
in Nigeria.
Ifeanyi Nwagbogu,
group managing director of
Schlumberger, said the plugin
module was expected to
increase the market value,
put the research on global
scale and make it acceptable
worldwide.
Nwagbogu said the Centre
of Excellence in Geo-Sciences
and Petroleum Engineering
Department of the
University of Benin powered
the technology. The Schlumberger
boss spoke at the closeout
meeting of selected
nine final year undergraduate
students from the faculties
of physical sciences and
engineering of the school
that had successfully completed
the plug-in software
basic training programme.
According to Nwagbogu,
what we are doing through
the STEP programme is
about developing problemsolving
skills for brilliant
minds and mentor them
properly to develop a lot of
solutions that have potential
economic and commercial
value within our industries.
“We try to spread it around
for people to interact with
this software. It focuses on
the exploration and production
(A&P) industry, which
also include the life circle of
drilling, petrol fundamental,
geology, geo-physics and
how to do convincing presentation,”
he said. He said the
scheme would be expanded
to other Nigerian universities
in no distant time based on
the availability of funds.
In his remark, Faraday
Orumwense, vice-chancellor,
University of Benin, directed
the various heads of
nine departments and the
deans in the faculties of physical
sciences and engineering
to workout a template on
how to further develop the
research. Orumwense, represented
by the deputy vicechancellor,
Administration,
Jacob Ehirobo, said the institution
was planning to establish
a Centre for Research
Development.
Monday 11 December 2017
Raw materials, machinery get higher share of CBN $303.9m supply
HOPE MOSE-ASHIKE
Raw materials and
machinery received
the largest share of
$303.9 million foreign
exchange injection into
the market by the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The CBN on Friday, December
8, closed the market
for the week with sale of the
sum of $303.9 million in the
foreign exchange market.
The breakdown of the total
sales indicates that much
priority was given to the real
sector of the economy with
the sale of 75 percent of the
day’s sales amounting to
$229.89 million for raw materials
and machinery.
Confirming the sales,
Isaac Okorafor, acting director,
corporate communications
department of the apex
bank, said various sums
were also offered to other
vital sectors like the agriculture
and airline, which got
$24.68 million and $12.467
million, respectively, while
petroleum products got
$36.89 million.
On the performance of
the foreign exchange market
in the out-going year, the
director said with nostalgia
that the naira exchange rate
had not only remain stable
and considerable accretion
to the foreign reserves,
but the bank had so far met
all the legitimate demands
from genuine customers.