BusinessDay 12 Dec 2017

Tuesday 12 December 2017
CVL convenes 15th annual lecture to
address quality of leadership in Africa
The quality of leadership
in Africa and its
implications for development
and growth
on the continent is the major
focus of the 2018 edition of
CVL Annual Lecture and International
Symposium to
which five former and current
presidents in Africa have been
invited as speakers.
The one day event, taking
place in Lagos on February
6, 2018, has the theme ‘Leadership
and Performance in
Africa: The Challenge of the
Continent’s Economic Competitiveness.
Speakers invited to this
very symposium include but
are not limited to the following
former and current presidents
of countries in Africa:
Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria);
Thambo Mbeki (South Africa);
Benjamin Mkapa (Tanzania);
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia),
and Paul Kagame (Rwanda).
Also invited to give a view
from outside: Alojz Peterle,
former Prime Minister of Slovenia
and member of the European
Parliament.
Former President of Ghana,
Jerry Rawlings, has been
invited to chair the symposium
while the tone for conversation
at the lecture will
be set by the keynote address
to be delivered by Kandeh K.
Wife of the Governor
of Ondo
State, Betty Anyanwu
-Akeredolu
officially launched her
initiative, Forum for Wives of
Ondo State Officials (FOWO-
SO) at an event that witnessed
display of cultures from across
the 18 local government areas
of the state.
The event drew governors
and politicians across
the country such as Governor
of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello
as the chairman of the occasion,
Governor of Ondo State,
Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the
wife of Edo State Governor,
Betsy Obaseki, the wife of
Ondo State deputy governor,
Ajewole Agboola Ajayi, wives
‘We can develop South East with our collective wealth’
Senator representing Anambra
North in the National
Assembly, Stella
Oduah, has called on
all South Easterners to plough
some of their investments back
home to develop the region.
With particular reference to
indigenes of Anambra State,
the former aviation minister
said any wealthy indigene
of the state who refused to
invest in the region was not
only doing a disservice to
the region in general but the
state in particular.
Speaking in an interview
with newsmen in Abuja on
Sunday, Oduah said according
to a World Bank definition,
which she aligned with,
one could only be said to be
Yumkella, the former director
general of the United Nations
Industrial Development Organisation
(UNIDO) and now
presidential aspirant in Sierra
Leone. The chief host is Pat
Utomi, founder/CEO, CVL.
The 2017 edition of the lecture
series took a critical look
at the theme – Living Well Together,
Tomorrow: The Challenge
of Africa’s Future Cities
with Prof. Paul Collier, Director,
Centre for Study of African
Economies, Oxford University,
UK as the keynote speaker.
Prominent among past
speakers at the annual lecture
are: His Excellency, Yemi Osinbajo,
Vice President, Federal
Republic of Nigeria; His Excellency,
Paul Kagame, President,
Republic of Rwanda; Akinwumi
Adesina, President, African
Development Bank; Ekwow
Spio-Garbrah, Former Minister
of Communications, Ghana;
Ibrahim Gambari, Former
Under-Secretary General and
Special Adviser to UN Secretary
General; Lady Olga Maitland,
MP (Sutton & Cheam)
UK; Babatunde Fashola, Former
Governor of Lagos State;
Mr Richard Dowden, Director,
The Royal African Society and
Former African Editor of the
Economist; and Governor Akinwunmi
Ambode, Governor
of Lagos State.
Betty Akeredolu launches FOWOSO,
empowers women of Ondo
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
of past governors in the state,
royal fathers, among other
leaders in the state.
Addressing the gathering at
the M.K.O Democracy Park in
Akure, the initiator, Akeredolu,
stressed some of the objectives
of FOWOSO, noting that it
would help in developing and
executing programmes that
would build capacity in young
and old women in the state.
She explained that FOW-
OSO will stand for and create
equal opportunity for women
of the state so as to prepare
them to take charge when
called upon. While stressing
the need to urgently address
low representation of women
in position of real authority
and decision-making.
wealthy if the people around
such individual feel and
benefit from the wealth.
Championing the campaign
tagged “Aku Lue Uno”
(which means ‘wealth should
get home’), the senator said
Anambra State and indeed the
South East had very wealthy
people who could develop the
region if they invested their
wealth back home.
The lawmaker explained
that ‘Aku Lue Uno’ was a
prosperity sharing gospel
that the South East must
adopt for their well being as
well as the growth and development
of the area.
She therefore called on
all South Easterners, especially
those from Anambra,
to bring back some of their
wealth to develop the region.
C002D5556
BUSINESS DAY 37
NEWS
‘Our aspirations is to build a word-class
ecology of mineral, mining in Nigeria’
HARRISON EDEH, Abuja
Minister of Mines and
Steel Development, Kayode
Fayemi, said the Federal Government
was determined to
turn around the mining sector
by building a world-class
ecology of mineral and mining
in the country.
Fayemi made this known
during the sensitisation/
consultation with Nigerian
Economic Summit Group
(NESG)/Industry Stakeholders
in the mining sector,
which took place at the Lagos
Court of Arbitration International
Centre, Lekki Lagos.
“This government is serious
about taking mining out
of the dungeon and listening
to players and drivers of the
industry and we are working
with key enablers, particularly
enabling ministries to ensure
that this done,” Fayemi said in
a statement issued on Monday.
The country is focusing
more on rebuilding Nigeria
mining and mineral sector,
which has been comatose for
quite a long time. To ensure
L-R: Alaba Lawson, national president, NACCIMA; Rotimi Ogunleye, commissioner for commerce and industry, Lagos
State; Babatunde Paul Ruwase, president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI); Nike Akande, immediate
past president, LCCI, and Isma’ila Muhammadu Zakari, president, Insititure of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN)
during the Investiture of Babatunde Ruwase as president of LCCI in Lagos.
She however stressed that
it was not a call for all investment
in other regions to be
collapsed adding that the
Federal Government should
also be mindful of its responsibility
to the region.
“Aku Lue Uno is a concept
that encourages indigenes to
think of their homes in their
investments. It is not just the
right thing to do, it is economically
viable to invest in our
homes, particularly for those
from the South East and Anambra
in particular.
“We have the enabling
community, we have the
population and current government
initiatives have provided
enabling environment.
So, what we need is to plough
back our investment, our
commercial ability.
that this is done, he said the
Ministry has come up with a
Roadmap and constituted a
committee called Mining Implementation
Strategy Team
(MIST), he said.
MIST, according to Fayemi,
is not a government body
but a body independent of the
Ministry but supported by the
various pillars of the Ministry
with the sole objective of
monitoring and ensuring the
implementation of the ministry’s
Roadmap.
Addressing the issue of
continuity of policies in the
sector, he said, “ continuity
is important to us, the mining
law that we are operating
now is 2007 law and we are
still working with because the
sector needs predictability, it
needs certainty so we are not
changing law but enforcing
the law.”
He said it would no longer
be business as usual for those
who obtain mining licenses
without operations, as those
who do not use their licenses
would loose them to those
who are serious and ready to
do the mining business
There are indications
that the Nigerian
Ports Authority
(NPA) has allegedly
commenced recruitment of
fresh hands against the directive
of President Muhamadu
Buhari that Ministries,
Departments and Agencies
(MDAs) should not embark
on any fresh recruitment.
Mr. President, while presenting
the 2018 budget to the
National Assembly, placed
embargo on recruitment
in federal MDAs, except by
presidential approval. He said
the embargo was to manage a
rising personnel expenditure
that was expected to increase
to 12 percent in 2018.
According to the Presi-
The minister stressed the
need to improve the partnership
among the federal government,
state and the host
communities.
He said efforts are already
being made to ensure that the
States get their own dues on
whatever is derived from the
mining sector and that the
government is also working
on the most effective way to
ensure that those in the industry
derive maximum benefits
and government does
not loose revenue as well.
He, thereafter appealed to
Nigerians to be patient with
government as ‘mining calendar’
do not align with the
‘electoral calendar’ as mining
is not a 4year agenda, as
exploration might sometime
last for 10 years in some cases
before getting solid result that
could go into production.
Earlier in his welcome address,
the Chairman of Mining
Implementation Strategy
Team (MIST), Gbenga Okunlola
said the meeting was part
of the continuous consultation
the ministry is doing to
evolve new strategies for the
implementation of the Roadmap.
This, he believed would
among other things integrate
the ministry with the manufacturer,
the off-takers and the
processors.
Okunlola stressed the
importance of value addition
and utilisation, he said what
the country intend to achieve
is with the Roadmap is wealth
creation and employment
generation. “The need to have
many more people not only
doing the mining but also
having more industries using
the mining products that are
available locally which enables
the country to generate
wealth and provide employment,”
he explained.
In his paper titled, “An
overview of the Roadmap and
Industrialisation Prospects”
Director Planning Research
and Statistics (PRS), Olabode
Davies believed that Nigeria’s
large deposits of mineral resources
could be the driver
for a diversified economy and
that right policies and industrial
strategy could be a catalyst
for a commodity based
industrialisation.
NPA in alleged secret recruitment against FG directive
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
dent, the overhead cost will
also rise by 12 percent to N26
billion in 2018. But in a flagrant
disregard of the presidential
directive, the Hadiza
Bala Usman-led NPA was alleged
to have begun secret recruitment
into the authority.
Investigations showed
that the human resource
manager, Bukar Yahaya, in
Kano State, did series of recruitment
exercise on November
10, held at the Tahir
Guest Palace, for selected applicants.
It was further gathered
that the Kano’s recruitment
was sequel to similar one
done in the North-Eastern
part of the country. It was
gathered also that those invited
gathered at AbdulAzeez
Yari conference hall of Tahir
Guest Palace.
A source very close to
NPA, who does not want to
be quoted, said the selected
applicants were handpicked
because they had connection
to influential individuals
in the society.
Reacting to the secret recruitment,
Lucky Amiwero,
national president, National
Council of Managing Directors
of Licensed Customs
Agents (NCMDLCA), said
it was cynical for a Federal
Government agency to embark
on secret recruitment.
According to Amiwero,
there is need for Nigerians
to react to this by suing the
agency for embarking on recruitment
in a section of the
country without making it
public.