BusinessDay 23 Feb 2018

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NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I **FRIDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2018 I VOL. 14, NO 552 I N300 @ g 

Ghana IPO offers clues 

to MTN Nigeria valuation 

Pricing may hit $8.6bn at top of range 

Peer valuations range from 1.5 – 3Xs sales 

LOLADE AKINMURELE & ENDURANCE OKAFOR 

An upcoming initial 

public offering of 

MTN Group’s Ghanaian 

unit may have 

helped unravel the 

valuation of its Nigerian business 

which is set to be listed on 

the Nigerian Stock Exchange 

(NSE), as soon as mid 2018. 

Africa’s biggest mobilephone 

company by subscribers 

is preparing to raise as much 

as 2 billion cedis ($447 million) 

through listing 35 percent of the 

subsidiary on the Ghana Stock 

Exchange in what will be the 

largest share sale in the country’s 

history. 

Drawing from the above, 

MTN Ghana is worth some $1.27 

Inside 

Uju - For the 

love of aesthetic 

medicine 

P. 17 

Investors are 

“more relaxed” 

about Nigeria 

- Standard 

Chartered 

P. 4 

billion, according to Business- 

Day estimates. 

MTN Ghana raked in revenues 

of $416 million in the 

six months through June 2017, 

according to its financial statements. 

For the lack of their 

full-year earnings report, we 

multiplied half-year earnings by 

2, which gave $833 million. 

For the purpose of extrapolating 

the worth of the Nigerian 

subsidiary, BusinessDay proceeded 

to calculate the price to 

sales ratio of the Ghanaian unit, 

which came to 1.5. We then multiplied 

that by the Nigerian unit’s 

estimated $3 billion revenue in 

2017 (the revenue was derived by 

Continues on page 4 

L-R: Paschal Dozie, founder, Diamond Bank plc; Benedict Oramah, president, Afrexim Bank, and Uzoma 

Dozie, CEO, Diamond Bank plc, during a courtesy visit to Afrexim Bank head office, Cairo, Egypt, recently. 

NNPC’s N286bn fuel 

subsidy losses since 

October symbolise 

failed model 

DIPO OLADEHINDE 

The inability of the Nigerian 

National Petroleum 

Corporation (NNPC) to 

operate as a fully integrated 

oil company is taking a toll on 

the country and is a symbol 

of growing pains at the state 

owned oil firm. 

NNPC said on Tuesday it 

had spent $5.8 billion (N1.8 

trillion) on fuel imports since 

October 2017, to combat a fuel 

shortage that has left many 

Nigerians queuing for hours at 

filling stations. 

BusinessDay estimates that 

the oil firm has lost some N286 

billion on the transaction as 

under-recovery, which is the dif- 

JOSHUA BASSEY 


PSP operators, community 

leaders embrace Cleaner 

Lagos Initiative 

... as normalcy gradually 

returns to Lagos streets 

The differences that gave 

rise to emergence of refuse 

across Lagos State over the 

implementation of a new waste 

management policy, encapsulated 

in the Cleaner Lagos Initiative 

(CLI), have been resolved, 

with the key players agreeing to 

sheath their swords and collaborate 

in order to ensure cleaner, 

prosperous and healthier environment 

in the state. 

The resolve to collaborate was 

reached yesterday at a meeting 

held between officials of the 

Continues on page 4

2 BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 

Friday 23 February 2018

Friday 23 February 2018 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 3


C002D5556 

Friday 23 February 2018 

NEWS 

Investors are ‘more relaxed’ about 

Nigeria – Standard Chartered 

LOLADE AKINMURELE 

A 

flurry of improved 

economic indicators 

is helping Africa’s 

largest economy 

warm its way back 

to foreign investors, according 

to Steve Brice, the chief investment 

strategist at Standard 

Chartered, who says he is dealing 

with fewer questions about 

Nigeria compared to some 18 

months ago. 

“During my previous visit 

to Nigeria in November 2016, 

everyone wanted my view on 

Nigeria from an investment 

perspective,” Brice said. 

“This time I’ve had very few 

questions and investors appear 

a lot more relaxed given the improved 

macro environment,” he 

told BusinessDay during a visit 

to the country this week. 

Though foreign investors remain 

a tad cautious, Brice says 

“the uncertainty of 2016 has 

largely subsided.” 

This is as a result of improved 

oil prices which are at their 

highest in almost three years, 

Ghana IPO offers... 

Continued from page 1 

multiplying half year earnings of 

$1.5 billion by 2). 

After multiplying, we arrived 

at $4.5 billion, as the valuation 

of MTN Nigeria. 

However, given that MTN 

Nigeria probably boasts a better 

price to sales ratio than its 

Ghanaian counterpart, BusinessDay 

then looked at the 

price to sales ratio of listed 

telcos in countries with comparable 

population as Nigeria 

and a similar subscriber base 

as MTN Nigeria. 

Advanced Info Service (AIS), 

Thailand’s largest telco has a 

price to sales ratio of 3.6, while 

Indonesia’s Telkom and India’s 

Bharti Airtel boasts price to 

sales ratio of 3.12 and 1.9 respectively. 

This gives an average 

price to sales ratio of 2.87. 

Using this average, MTN 

Nigeria is potentially worth as 

much as USD$8.6 billion. 

“The peer valuation gives 

a better sense of the Nigerian 

unit, given that the Ghanaian 

Unit is not as large as the 

Nigerian subsidiary. A look at 

their EBITDA margins would 

also paint a good picture,” said 

Wale Okunrinboye of fixed income 

and currency research at 

Ecobank Group. 

There was however no readily 

available detailed breakdown 

of Nigerian operations in the 

Group’s financial statements 

to derive the Earnings Before 

Interest, Depreciation, Taxes 

and Amortisation (EBIDTA). 

MTN Group Ltd. plans to 

raise about $500 million from 

the sale of shares in its Nigerian 

business during the first 

half of the year, fulfilling the 

terms of a deal struck with the 

West African nation to settle a 

record fine. 

If successful, the Lagos share 

sale will be the biggest on the 

and dollar liquidity- being the 

after effect of flowing petrodollars 

and the creation of a market-driven 

FX window last year. 

Some $30 billion have been 

transacted on the I & E window 

since inception in April 2017, 

according to data provided by 

trading platform, FMDQ, and 

that has boosted foreign activity 

in the stock and bond markets 

of Africa’s largest oil producer. 

The convenience offered by 

the window in obtaining dollars 

is a departure from the acute 

dollar shortages that haunted 

Nigeria in 2016 and made it difficult 

for investors to repatriate 

dollar profits. 

Things have since changed, 

however, with foreign investors 

swooping for Nigerian assets. 

Brice even suggested that 

the country’s latest $2.5 billion 

Eurobond sale was partly driven 

by large appetite by foreign investors 

who can’t get enough of 

the country’s allure. 

“It was about investors asking 

the government to issue 

longer term paper because they 

wanted to buy it. So this is ac- 

Nigerian Stock Exchange after 

Starcomms Plc, which raised 

$796 million when it listed in 

2008, according to data compiled 

by BusinessDay. 

Working with the valuation 

derived from emerging market 

peers, MTN Nigeria may 

be selling a 5.8 percent stake, 

when it makes an initial offering 

this year. 

Standard Bank Group Ltd. 

and Citigroup Inc. have been 

advising Africa’s largest mobile-phone 

company on the 

disposal of as much as 30 percent 

of the Lagos-based unit on 

the Nigerian Stock Exchange. 

Local brokerage firm, IC Securities 

Ghana Ltd, will handle 

the Ghanaian sale, according 

to sources familiar with the 

matter. 

MTN agreed to list the Nigerian 

unit as part of a June 2016 

tually investor demand driven 

rather than the government 

saying we want to do this, (and) 

can we find somebody to buy it.” 

This month (February 2018) 

Nigeria sold USD2.5 billion 

worth of Eurobonds via a dual 

series offering of 12-year and 

20-year maturities issued at par 

yields of 7.14 percent and 7.69 

percent respectively. 

Despite recent turmoil across 

global financial markets, following 

a rise in US Treasury 

yields, with the 10-year yield at 

four-year highs, the Eurobond 

offer was oversubscribed with 

bid-cover of 4.6x (relative to 

3.8x at the last Eurobond sale in 

November) which drove a tightening 

in issuance yields from 

IPT range originally marketed. 

The large order book for the 

sale reflects improved credit 

risk perceptions over Nigeria 

following the recent upswing 

in oil prices, according to Wale 

Okunrinboye, head of research 

at Ecobank Group. 

Oil prices averaged USD69 

per barrel in January 2018, 

which is more than double the 

amount in January 2016 in the 

thick of a supply glut that is now 

being drained by OPEC cuts. 

The proceeds from the Eurobond 

sale would provide a 

boost to an already fast building 

FX reserves which will climb to 

USD45.3 billion (10.8 months of 

imports) from current levels of 

$40 billion. 

In terms of pricing on the 

sale, the 12-year Eurobond was 

priced at a spread of 425 basis 

points over comparable US 

Treasuries, while the 30-year 

was issued at spread of 455 basis 

points (bps) down from IPT 

spreads of 450bps and 488bps 

respectively. 

Given the robust demand at 

the sale and comparing spreads 

on closer maturities (with Nigeria 

2032 and 2047 closing yesterday 

at Z-spreads of 418bps 

and 460bps respectively) it 

would appear Nigeria had to pay 

slightly more. 

However, given the rise in 

US Treasuries and increased 

African Eurobond supply (after 

Egypt’s USD4 billion issuance 


L-R: Thomas Forgacs, chief operations officer, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions; Abiodun Bamgboye, permanent 

secretary, Ministry of Environment; Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, Lagos State commissioner for environment; 

Babatunde Hunpe, special adviser to the Lagos State governor on environment; John Irvine, CEO, Visionscape 

Sanitation Solutions; Bamidele Garko, CEO, Bamitony and Company, Ikoyi, and Lanre Wilton-Wawdell, CEO, 

Cleanway Limited, at the Waste Collections Operators Participation roundtable meeting at the Ministry of 

Environment office, Alausa Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday. 

agreement to pay a $1 billion 

fine for missing a deadline 

to disconnect unregistered 

subscribers amid a security 

crackdown. 

The penalty, originally set at 

$5.2 billion, led to the resignation 

of the Johannesburg-based 

company’s then chief executive 

officer, a first ever full-year loss 

and a slump in the share price 

that’s yet to be clawed back. 

MTN, Nigeria’s biggest mobile-phone 

company with just 

over 50 million subscribers as 

of end September, slumped to 

a loss in 2016 as it absorbed 

the financial impact of the 

fine, though said last month it 

returned to profit the following 

year. 

Nigeria and other sub-Saharan 

African governments 

are trying to gain more from 

international mobile-phone 

operators taking advantage 

of rising smartphone use and 

faster data speeds. 

MTN has also agreed to sell 

shares in Ghana as one of the 

conditions of a deal to gain spectrum 

rights, while Vodacom 

Group Ltd., South Africa’s market 

leader, was ordered to list 25 percent 

of its Tanzanian business last 

year, raising $213 million. 

MTN had 230.2 million subscribers 

in 22 countries across 

Africa and the Middle East as 

of the end of September, with 

Nigeria, Iran and South Africa 

its three biggest markets. 

The Group’s share price fell 

0.26 percent Thursday February 

22 2018, to 12,590 rand in 

Johannesburg, giving it a market 

capitalisation of 236.853 

billion rand ($20 billion), according 

to Bloomberg data. 

Telco’s like MTN are grap- 

PSP operators... 


Lagos State Government, Visionscape 

Sanitation Solutions 

and Waste Collection Operators 

(WCOs), also known as Private 

Sector Participant (PSP) operators. 

Speaking at the meeting, the 

state’s commissioner for the environment, 

Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, 

said government was 

interested in easing challenges 

being experienced in Waste Management 

at present by creating 

synergy between Visionscape 

and the WCOs in their spheres of 

operation, stressing that resolving 

the challenge in a mutually 

beneficial manner was the best 

approach. 

“Government more than ever 

believes in this partnership and 

that is why it has not only provided 

a facility of up to N2.5 billion with 

state government guarantee, 

which PSP Operators could access 

to upscale their operations, but 

has also opened another channel 

through the Employment Trust 

Fund for loan facilities at reasonable 

interest of not more than 12 

percent per annum,” he said. 

The environment commissioner 

stated that the Lagos State 

Government was determined to 

remove all bottlenecks hindering 

seamless waste disposal operations, 

adding that it was making 

the bold move of targeting a turnaround 

time of thirty minutes at 

the dumpsites by encouraging 

concerned stakeholders to create 

additional platform at the sites. 

He emphasised that no efforts 

would be spared to return the 

dump sites to sanity by reducing 

the menace of indiscriminately 

parked trucks and scavengers, 

both of which add to the loss of 

time at the dump sites. 

On his part, Visionscape’s CEO, 

John Irvine, applauded the new 

found understanding between 

his company and the Waste Collection 

Operators and stated that 

challenges being experienced in 

domestic waste management in 

Lagos State had to do with the fact 

that the domestic waste operator 

was just in its first cycle of operation, 

meaning that it must contend 

with some teething problems. 

His words: “It is not unusual 

to face this kind of problems 

especially in the first cycle of 

operations. It takes some time to 

build the superstructures and to 

ameliorate the present hiccups; 

we are buying locally and taking 

steps to have waste container bins 

manufactured locally.” 

Speaking on behalf of the 


pling with declining voice 

revenues as consumers turn to 

data-based platforms such as 

WhatsApp to make calls. 

In the six months to June 

2017, MTN’s voice revenue in 

South Africa — where SIM-card 

penetration far exceeds MTN’s 

other markets — fell 5 percent. 

But voice revenues in Nigeria 

and other African markets rose. 

MTN has about 49.5 million 

customers in Iran, just under 

Nigeria’s 50.3 million and has 

repatriated almost $1 billion 

from the country in the last 12 

months. 

Founded at the end of white 

rule in 1994, MTN’s clashes 

with regulators in the past few 

years had held back growth and 

threatened to tarnish its image 

as one of post-apartheid South 

Africa’s biggest commercial 

successes.


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

Dangote reiterates commitment on Nigeria self 

sufficiency in sugar, rice, milk productions 

DAVID IBEMERE … rewards 77 distributors 

plan; focus on sustaining high 

tel in Lagos on Wednesday. 

At the event, Dangote 

Foods, comprising of Dangote 

Flour Mills, Dangote 

Sugar Refinery and NASCON 

Allied Industries, rewarded 77 

customers who distinguished 

themselves in 2017. 

Eleven winners emerged 

from each of the nation’s geopolitical 

regions, while the 

balance was in the national 

category. A total of 23 distributors 

won awards from 

Dangote Sugar Refinery, 27 

from Dangote Flour Mills 

and 27 from NASCON Allied 

Industries. While praising 

the awardees for their efforts 

in making the companies 

products available to Nigerians, 

Dangote said as part of 

his plan to achieve the sugar 

backward integration project 

targets of 1.5MT/PA in the 

next 10 years, he had already 

acquired 150,000 hectares for 

sugar plantation in Adamawa, 

Taraba, Nasarawa, Kwara, 

Kogi and Niger states, and 

had recently signed a MoU 

with the Nasarawa State government 

for the construction 

of integrated sugar complex 

located at Tunga. 

These sugar plantations, 

he noted, will generate over 

100,000 employment opportunities, 

help the nation achieve 

sugar sufficiency and extend 

the values chain through establishing 

integrated sugar 

President, Dangote 

Group of Companies, 

Aliko Dangote, 

has reiterated 

his commitment to 

fully invest over $4.6 billion in 

the next three years in sugar, 

rice and dairy production 

alone. 

This, he said, will help 

eliminate the country’s reliance 

on imported materials 

and make Nigerian households 

self-reliant, as raw materials 

needed for massive 

scale production abound in 

the country. 

He disclosed this at the 

Dangote Food’s customer 

celebration and distributor 

awards night held at Eko Homills 

within these locations, 

generate power, which has 

been a major challenge in the 

country, produce molasses, 

ethanol (fuel) and biomass. 

Dangote also revealed 

that the company will begin 

the production of milk 

this year, and will embark on 

massive Tomatoes farming 

packaging and production 

of vegetable oil through his 

company NASCON Allied Industries 

Plc. 

“We are planning new investments 

in NASCON Allied 

Industries that would boost 

efficiency and enhance better 

returns,” he said. 

“At Dangote Flour Mills, 

we have a three-point growth 

product quality, improving 

customer engagement and 

strengthening supply chain 

capabilities, our new new improved 

pasta product called 

“Excellente,” spaghetti and 

macaroni products are already 

a delight to consumers and 

distributors as they come with 

a new taste and in new packs.” 

He stressed that in the coming 

years, he is determined to 

make Nigeria, Africa largest exporter 

of Petroleum products, 

petrochemical and fertilizer. 

“Our world’s largest single 

train petroleum refinery, 

which is being built in Ibeju- 

Lekk in Lagos at the cost of 

$12 billion will address Nigeria’s 

energy needs and eliminate 

importation of refined 

5 

NEWS 

petroleum products.” 

In her welcome address, 

Bennedikter Molokwu director, 

Dangote Sugar Refinery plc, 

described the distributors as a 

valuable partner in completing 

the chain of distribution. 

“I promise this partnership 

will continue to remain 

mutually beneficial, with 

enduring values for all stakeholders,” 

she concluded. 

Highpoint of the event is 

the awards to distributors, 

customers across Nigeria, 

which includes, Maabsa 

Integrated, Felicia Module 

Oluwa, Sabo Dankoli, Sank 

Adamu, Austin And Bros, Edison 

Ukeh, Bofik Nigeria Limited, 

Ali Hassan, in various 

categories in sugar, flour, and 

NASCON.

6 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 

NEWS 

Groups renew demand for $100bn 

Niger Delta clean-up fund 

IGNATIUS CHUKWU 

Even while the $1 billion 

recommended by the 

United Nations to clan 

up Ogoni land in Rivers 

State has not been unrealised 

since 2011, Friends of the 

Earth and top environmental 

activists have renewed the call 

for a $100 billion fund for the 

clean up and remediation of 

the entire Niger Delta. 

This is as annual camps 

have been initiated for youths 

in the Niger Delta to groom 

future environmental activists 

and renewable energy entrepreneurs. 

The call was represented 

in Port Harcourt, the Rivers 

State capital, by the head of the 

Environmental Rights Action 

(ERA) and Friends of the Earth 

Nigeria (FoEN) group. 

The executive director of 

ERA/FoEN, Godwin Uyi Ojo, 

speaking on the sidelines at 

the Visa Karina, venue of a twoday 

training on Environmental 

Education and Renewable 

Energy, said people should 

stop looking at the amount demanded, 

but the impact of oil 

exploitation in the region over 

the decades. 

He said: “The environment 

impact of oil is devastating. 

You can imagine the amount 

that was taken from a small 

Ogoni in the days of oil there. 

Now, the UNEP Report is requesting 

that an initial sum of 

$1 billion be set up as environment 

fund for clean up for the 

first five years. This is a clean 

up that is supposed to last for 

30 years. 

“So, you can see the monumental 

impact; the social impact, 

the social cost, the environment 

pollution and deaths 

that have occurred. They are 

unquantifiable in monetary 

terms. This is where the ERA 

is calling for $100 billion clean 

up and Restoration Fund to be 

set up for the clean up of the 

entire Niger Delta region.” 

Renewing the call to leave 

oil in the soil that started over 

20 years ago, Ojo said it might 

be true that there were immediate 

gains of oil proceeds, but 

when one weighed the costs 

and benefits, it was bound to 

be negative. 

Explaining the essence of 

the two-day training that got 

youths from Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, 

Rivers and Akwa Ibom 

states, the director said: “We 

as an advocacy group, we try 

to signal things that are wrong 

or things that should be done. 

We felt it is not in talking alone 

but we also walk the talk. That 

is why we have started an environmental 

camp for youths 

that way that we catch them 

young. Hopefully, these ones 

will ignite their schools and 

then the knowledge that they 

are gaining here will be replicated 

in communities and 

schools.” 

The programme manager, 

Mike Karikpo, said everything 

being done was in line with 

the Paris Agreement and that 

Nigeria had a lot of issues to 

resolve in the area of environment. 

A key resource person, 

Austin Osakwe from the Foundation 

for Good Governance 

and Social Change, discussing 

the role of youth in nationbuilding, 

insisted there was 

need to capture the critical 

mass to react to ugly situations 

and misdeeds in the land and 

create what he called islands of 

integrity in Nigeria. 

He said there was classical 

corruption (by public officials 

that divert public funds to personal 

use) and cyclical corruption 

that turned the citizens 

into corruption to survive the 

impact of the classical one. 

Some of the students and 

participants said they had 

fallen in love with the message 

of renewable energy and 

prospects of a healthy environment, 

ready to shun oil 

bunkering and pipeline vandalism. 

Tammy Tuasi Steven 

from Goi community, Gokana, 

Rivers State, said, “If we 

actually learn about renewable 

energy and apply the 

skills that we acquire, it will 

help us in so many ways. If 

am able to make a gadget that 

will supply light, kerosene 

would no longer be needed 

because people would now 

rely on electric cooker. Gas or 

generator would no longer be 

needed. 

Lassa fever: Edo’s intervention halts mortality at Irrua hospital – Obaseki 

No Lassa fever death 

has been recorded 

in the past two 

weeks at the Institute 

of Lassa Fever Control and 

Research domiciled at the Irrua 

Specialist Hospital, since 

equipment purchased by the 

Governor Godwin Obasekiled 

administration were deployed 

to the institute, the Edo 

State government says. 

In a statement signed by 

Crusoe Osagie, special adviser 

to the Edo State Governor 

on media and communication 

strategy, the state 

said the equipment, which 

include two dialysis machines, 

one x-ray machine, a 

ventilator and Personal Protective 

Equipment (PPEs), 

were deployed to the center 

to fast-track the state’s preparedness 

to ward off Lassa 

Fever outbreak in the state. 

He said other aspects of 

the intervention include the 

refurbishing of the institute, 

especially the renovation of 

the water system at the facility; 

the state-wide awareness 

creation campaign on television, 

radio; market storms to 

major markets in the three 

senatorial districts; reactivation 

of the contact tracing 

system and the emergency 

response systems in the state. 

According to Osagie, “The 

State Government was proactive 

in its response to the 

Lassa fever disease outbreak 

and this was evident with the 

swift deployment of human 

and material resources after 

careful analysis of the situation 

in the state. That no death 

has been recorded since our 

intervention goes to show that 

we read the signs correctly, 

mobilised skilled manpower 

and tackled the challenge 

head-on. 

“Governor Godwin 

Obaseki is truly committed 

to the plight of the common 

man and he has demonstrated 

this in a number of 

ways. The battle against Lassa 

fever is another avenue he 

has shown his commitment 

to providing for the ordinary 

man on Edo streets with basic 

amenities to live a healthy life, 

irrespective of what happens 

elsewhere.” 

Noting that the governor 

was not one to pass the bulk, 

he said, “Though the facility 

in which Lassa Fever victims 

are being treated belongs to 

the Federal Government, the 

governor deployed resources 

to ensure that all that were 

required to address the outbreak 

were made available.” 



L-R: Fisola Folayan, CEO, GTL Registrars; Bode Ayeku, vice president, Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of 

Nigeria (ICSAN ); Asue Ighodalo, chairman, Sterling Bank plc/chairman of the occasion, and Catherine Nwosu, chief operating 

officer, African Prudential Registrars plc /representing the keynote speaker at the 2018 company secretaries and registrars forum 

organised by ICSAN in Lagos. 

Pic by Pius Okeosisi 

Nigeria can learn from SA, Kenya, 

Ghana students’ loan scheme 

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU 

Rising numbers of 

qualified students 

demanding higher 

education in Nigeria 

is putting financial 

strain on government, 

which has played a major role 

in funding higher education 

but unsustainable because of 

dwindling government revenue 

from oil. 

In light of this challenge, Nigeria 

has lessons to learn from 

South Africa, Kenya and Ghana 

in order to review and reintroduce 

the use of student loan 

schemes, which has become 

popular in different African 

countries including Rwanda 

and Uganda, recently. The reasons 

for opting for the student 

loan schemes are diverse. 

State-supported student 

loan scheme not only eases 

government budget, but also 

helps the students and their 

families because, besides easing 

the pressure on public 

funds, it would enable students 

study now and pay for 

their education later when 

they are in receipt of the higher 

salaries that generally accrue 

to university graduates. 

HMCAN, stakeholders ask court to declare 

NHIS boss appointment unconstitutional 

ANTHONIA OBOKOH 

The Health and Managed 

Care Association 

of Nigeria (HM- 

CAN) and other 

stakeholders in the health 

sector have asked the Federal 

High Court sitting in Abuja 

to declare the appointment 

of the executive secretary 

of the NHIS, Usman Yusuf, 

as invalid, unconstitutional, 

null and void. 

In the originating summon 

sighted by our correspondent, 

the plaintiff 

which are the healthcare 

insurance stakeholders and 

an enrollee said the unilateral 

appointment of the 

NHIS boss by the President 

of the Federal Republic of 

Nigeria without the recommendation 

of the minister 

of health, Isaac Adewole, 

However, while the student 

loan schemes have been successful 

in many countries, particularly 

in the developed nations, 

there are also countries 

where the experience of the 

loan schemes has been rather 

disappointing. 

It costs approximately 

N270,000 on average, per annum 

to train a science student 

in some federal universities in 

Nigeria. It costs over N800,000 

on average, per annum, to 

train a medical student, BusinessDay 

investigation shows. 

This means the Federal 

Government of Nigeria subsidises 

tuition leading of most 

federal universities; charging 

tuition fees of between N9,000 

and N25,000. When in 2017 

Adamu Adamu, the minister 

of education, said the government 

was making efforts to increase 

tuition fees in all federal 

universities to about N45,000, 

there was an outcry and the 

move was shelved. 

Systems of grants, bursaries 

and allowances that were 

set up to overcome grave 

shortages of skilled manpower 

impose a heavy burden on 

public funds at a time of severe 

financial pressure, and this 

was a flagrant violation of 

the National Health Insurance 

Act CAP N42 LFN 

2014. The President and attorney 

general are defendants. 

Meanwhile, more revelations 

continue to emerge 

about the alleged corrupt 

activities perpetrated by the 

reinstated suspended executive 

secretary of the NHIS. 

In a memo with Ref Number 

ICPC/SDD/TB/53/2017, 

sighted by our correspondent 

from the ICPC, Usman 

Yusuf and other four officers 

were mandated to return 

the sum of N14,883,000, being 

the fund advanced to 

them for an aborted trip to 

the Netherland for Oracle 

Health Insurance management 

system. 

The reinstated executive 

secretary was given 

threatens both quality in higher 

education and the achievement 

of other important goals, 

including the provision of basic 

education for all. 

“This is telling on the quality 

of the products of our federal 

institutions. In some federal 

universities, you find a lecturer 

teaching a class of 400-500 students, 

three or four courses in 

a semester. What quality of research 

goes into the work, and 

you expect quality education? 

“At the MIT, two lecturers 

may handle a course with an 

army of sometimes 10 teaching 

assistants. The quality you get 

from such a system would definitely 

be outstanding. It comes 

down to availability of funds,” 

Victor Odumuyiwa, lecturer, 

department of computer sciences, 

University of Lagos, said. 

In South Africa, the students’ 

loan scheme started on 

a small scale without a law in 

1991, but National Students Financial 

Aid Scheme (NSFAS) 

was established by an Act of 

parliament in 1999. It offers 

loans and bursaries to eligible 

citizens; charges subsidised 

rates of interest on loans, and 

collected through employers 

and tax administration system. 

an advance payment of 

N4,344,000 with the breakdown 

of N2,484,000 for estacodes, 

N1.8 million for 

air ticket and N60,000 for 

fuelling and transportation 

from Abuja to Kaduna, and 

back to Abuja. 

The ICPC said Yusuf Usman 

and the four officials 

violated the provision of the 

corrupt practices and other 

related offences Act 2000, 

by not returning the amount 

since the trip was aborted. 

The suspended executive 

secretary was reinstated 

to the NHIS by the President 

some few weeks back 

despite a panel report that 

found him culpable of alleged 

nepotism and theft of 

public funds to the tune of 

N919 million. 

In a similar vein, the PDP 

in a statement issued on 

The NSFAS led to increased 

access to higher education for 

the poor and disadvantaged 

persons; increased number 

of beneficiaries; lower rates of 

interest on loans; and supportive 

to higher education institutions 

in terms of funds. 

“A student loan scheme 

will surely help. I was in Ghana 

three years ago to give a keynote 

address at the 2015 Conference 

of the Association of 

African Higher Education Financing 

Agencies (AAHEFA) 

and was pained to note that the 

student loan scheme exists in 

many countries in Africa” Peter 

Okebukola, former executive 

secretary of the National Universities 

Commission (NUC), 

said in an emailed response. 

In Ghana, the students’ 

loan scheme first started 

without a law in 1971, reintroduced 

in 1975 and later 

1989. It was first managed by 

Ghana Commercial Bank and 

later by the Social Security 

and National Insurance Trust 

(SSNIT), and now by Student 

Loan Trust Fund and an Act. 

It charges subsidised interest 

rates on loans; demands for 

no guarantors, and loans collected 

through employers. 

Monday by its spokesperson, 

Kola Ologbondiyan, referred 

to an exclusive report 

on the theft that showed 

how the recently reinstated 

executive secretary of the 

NHIS, and other officials 

made unauthorised withdrawals 

from enrollees’ 

funds in two instalments 

of N5 billion each from 

the Federal Government’s 

Treasury Single Account 

(TSA) with the CBN, which 

is under the direct purview 

of the Presidency. 

According to the PDP, 

the country is being pushed 

daily to the precipice by 

the Presidency’s incompetence. 

It added that it was 

the height of hypocrisy for a 

government superintending 

over illegal withdrawals and 

stealing of funds to parade 

itself as fighting corruption. 

C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

7 

NEWS 

Edo to provide key infrastructure 

for dry port, transit park 

Edo State governor, 

Godwin Obaseki, has 

assured that the state 

government will provide 

the needed infrastructure 

required for the Edo Inland 

Container Depot (ICD). 

Obaseki disclosed this 

during a courtesy visit by a 

delegation from the Federal 

Government agencies in the 

maritime sector led by officials 

of the Nigerian Shippers’ 

Council, at the Government 

House in Benin City, 

the state capital. 

Commending the delegation 

for the efforts to ensure 

the establishment of a 

dry port and Truck Transit 

Parks (TTPs) in the state, 

Obaseki said, “The state 

government is keenly interested 

in the completion 

of these projects as they are 

in line with the vision of this 

administration to boost industrialisation 

of the state. 

“The state government 

will provide the supporting 

projects to complement 

the establishment of the 

dry port. Road networks 

Lawmakers show satisfaction over CBN’s 

N9.5bn ASCON intervention projects 

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE 

Nigerian lawmakers 

have demonstrated 

satisfaction over the 

intervention projects 

worth N9.5 billion at the Administrative 

Staff College of Nigeria 

(ASCON), Topo, Badagry, by the 

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). 

The project is one of the 

several intervention projects 

across sectors of the economy 

undertaken by the apex bank. 

The House of Representatives 

Committee on Banking 

and Currency, which visited 

the site as part of its oversight 

function, adjudged the project 

as strategic to the country’s economic 

growth. 

Part of the project sites 

visited by the lawmakers 

include three blocks of two 

and three-storey hostel 

buildings and an adjourning 

500-seater auditorium at the 

ASCON, Topo, Badagry, at a 

total cost of N9.5 billion. 

Jones Onyerere, chairman 

Top Africa CEOs, business leaders to receive 

corporate Leadership Excellence awards 

In recognition of their excellent 

contributions to 

the growth of the African 

economy, African Institute 

for Leadership Excellence, in 

collaboration with Fast Track 

Brand Communication and 

Strategy, has concluded plans 

to honour selected African 

business leaders through the 

African Corporate Leadership 

Excellence Prize 2018. 

The award is geared towards 

honouring excellence 

in leadership for some selected 

African corporates that 

have made impact in the development 

of Africa’s economy 

through their innovations, 

creativities and inventions in 

different fields of endeavour. 

The event, scheduled for 

February 28, at Sheraton Hotels 

and Towers Ikeja, Lagos, 

will honour winners that have 

made outstanding contributions 

to the development of 

the continent, the economic 

aspirations of its citizenry and 

connecting the sites for the 

projects will be fixed. The 

electricity project to provide 

power supply to the site for 

the Inland Container Deport 

would also be provided 

by my administration.” 

The governor urged stakeholders 

responsible for the 

dry port project to fast-track 

their activities, noting, “It 

would be exciting if the ICD 

and TTP projects come up on 

schedule alongside the Gelegele 

Seaport and Industrial 

Park. It will boost the industrialisation 

of Edo State.” 

Acting director, Infrastructure 

Concession Regulatory 

Commission, (ICRC), 

Chidi Izuwah, who was part 

of the Federal Government 

delegation, said, “The siting 

of the Inland Container Port 

in Edo State would complement 

the industrial activities 

at the industrial parks which 

the state government is developing,” 

noting, “The projects 

which is Public Private 

Partnership (PPP)-driven, 

would be completed within 

18 months.” 

of the committee, said what 

they saw surpassed their expectation, 

“We didn’t think 

that we would get this kind 

of outcome judging from our 

first impression. By looking 

at the project as it is, I think 

it’s so far so good.” 

He said the CBN had created 

a conducive learning environment 

for participants in 

the institution, which he said 

was lacking before the CBN’s 

intervention, adding that the 

three bedroom flat for the 

staff, hostel accommodation 

and restaurant for the participants 

and a very good auditorium 

would create room for 

learning process. 

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to report and write political 

stories. Interested 

journalists should 

please contact us 

through 08023283822. 

the transformation of Africa’s 

image in the international 

market, while displaying high 

standards of good corporate 

citizenship, social and environmental 

responsibilities. 

Desmond Esorougwe, 

secretary, organising committee, 

said Africa in the last 

decade had experienced significant 

economic growth 

that had not only put it in the 

spotlight, but had also made 

it attract foreign investments 

like never before. 

According to Esorougwe, 

“The African new growth factor 

has been attributed to the 

Leadership Excellence of some 

selected African corporate organisations 

that have demonstrated 

uncommon initiatives 

in the African economy.” 

He opined that the event 

would bring together prominent 

CEOs, business leaders, 

entrepreneurs and high-ranking 

government officials from 

across Africa.


NEWS 

Nigeria missing on list of 84 countries 

expanding 4G LTE technology 

FRANK ELEANYA 

new data that 

show that Afri- 

A 

can countries like 

Morocco, Cote 

d’Ivoire, South 

Africa, Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria 

are doing well in terms 

of 4G availability and speed 

have Nigeria conspicuously 

absent. 

4G stands for the fourth 

generation of data technology 

for cellular networks 

– following 3G, the third 

generation. LTE stands for 

Long Term Evolution and 

is short for a technical process 

for high-speed data for 

phones and other mobile 

devices. The specification for 

4G standards was decided 

in March 2008, by the International 

Telecommunications 

Union-Radio (ITU-R), a 

United Nations official agency 

for all manner of information 

and communication. 

The ITU-R decided that 

LTE, the name given to the 

technology used in pursuit 

of those standards, could be 

‘UK’s research collaboration to promote economies of Nigerian universities’ 

International director of 

the international office of 

the University of Portsmouth, 

Bobby Mehta, 

says collaboration with universities 

in Nigeria will help 

improve research and teaching 

capacities for Nigeria and 

help promote the economies 

of Nigeria and the UK. 

Mehta said the setting 

up of the University of Portsmouth 

office in Nigeria was 

aimed at creating the avenue 

for students exchange programme, 

adding that this 

would help to improve Portsmouth 

and also help to improve 

Nigerian universities. 

Speaking at a reception of 

some of its alumni in Lagos 

and presentation of the new 

Nigeria/West Africa country 

representative, Chinelo Konwea, 

Mehta disclosed that 

there were no restrictions to 

the areas of research this partnership 

could accommodate. 

labelled as 4G, if it provided 

a substantial improvement 

over the 3G technology. A 

user that requires a lot of 

data each month or relies on 

their smartphone or tablet to 

browse the internet, 4G LTE 

is usually the best choice. 

Telecommunication 

companies in Nigeria such as 

Spectranet, Smile, iPNx, Glo 

and MTN, have been rolling 

out 4G LTE internet services 

to subscribers. However, 

availability to more consumers 

and speed of the services 

has yet to be felt. Broadband 

is also growing at a very snail 

pace. In 2017, fixed broadband 

grew only 1 percent. 

Customers experiences of 

the existing 4G LTE services 

mostly negative puts a question 

on the claims of most of 

the telecom companies. 

According to OpenSignal 

the company that conducted 

the 4G LTE research 

and released it in February 

2018, how fast a country’s 

4G speed is can depend on 

many factors including how 

much spectrum is devoted to 

According to Mehta, 

“The partnership will build 

on several researches fields 

of human endeavours. University 

of Portsmouth is a 

comprehensive institution 

that has a wide range of 

courses covering many disciplines. 

So, we are open to 

partnerships and researches 

in many different fields.” 

In his presentation at the 

event, he said the university 

recently received the Gold 

rating award by the UK, 

which now put the institution 

at par with universities 

like Oxford and Cambridge. 

“One of the good things 

about the university with this 

Gold rating, in term terms of 

teaching, we rated among 

the top universities in the 

world,” he said. 

On his part, Spenser 

Onuh, director/CEO of the 

Centre for Satellite Technology 

Development (CSTD) 

Abuja, called on Nigerian 

universities to embrace col- 

LTE, whether it has adopted 

new 4G technologies like 

LTE Advanced, how densely 

networks are built and how 

much congestion is on those 

networks. Countries with the 

fastest speeds tend to be the 

ones that have built LTE-Advanced 

networks and have a 

large proportion of LTE-Advanced 

capable devices. 

In terms of availability, 

Morocco with 69.34 percent 

to rank 60th on the globe, 

led other countries on the 

African continent. Cote 

d’Ivoire followed closely at 

69.30 percent (61st). Open- 

Signal measured availability 

by tracking the proportion 

of time users have access to 

a particular network. 

On the whole, consumers 

in five countries had access 

to an LTE connection 

more than 90 percent of the 

time – up from a mere two 

countries just three months 

ago. 

While nations like Singapore, 

Netherlands, Norway 

and South Korea occupy 

the top four positions of 4G 

helped to alleviate the issues 

of non-payment of salaries of 

all national team coaches and 

bonus and allowances of Super 

Eagles World Cup qualifications 

and campaign. 

The Nigeria Football Federation 

and Nigerian Breweries 

Plc on Friday, February 

9th signed a five-year contract 

worth N2.2 billion aimed to 

support Nigerian football. 

Jordi Borrut Bel, NB 

Plc’s Managing Director/ 

CEO pledged the total 

commitment of their establishments 

to every letter 

of the contract. 

Bel reiterated: “We are 

indeed delighted about this 

partnership between Nigerian 

Breweries plc and the 

Nigeria Football Federation 

(NFF). This relationship provides 

us an opportunity to 

celebrate the true Nigerian 

spirit that is fuelled by patlaborations 

with universities 

from developed economies 

because they stand to gain 

through effective exchange 

of global best practices. 

Onuh called on managers 

of the Nigeria education 

sector to follow the examples 

of most Western countries in 

running the nations education 

sector, especially universities 

as an industry. 

According to Onuh, “I will 

advocate that Nigeria should 

think of making their educational 

sector an industry because 

when this is done, managers 

of the sector will do all 

they can to attract the best students 

to their universities and 

ensure the universities compete 

among the best globally. 

Onuh opines that the solutions 

to Nigerian university 

education challenge must include 

the need to professionalise 

lecturing; address the issue 

of infrastructure in the universities 

and the need to make 

university product saleable. 

speed in the world, South 

Africa leads the rest of Africa 

as the country with the 

fastest 4G speed. 

“There is no hard and 

fast rule, though. Countries 

can have highly accessible 

networks, but 

their speeds can be limited 

by capacity constraints. 

Meanwhile countries with 

new LTE networks may 

have limited 4G availability 

but, due to their light 

loads, can support considerably 

fast speeds,” Open- 

Signal noted in the report. 

The report suggests 

that the industry may have 

reached the limit to what 

current technology, spectral 

bandwidth and mobile 

economics can support on a 

national level. Citing previous 

reports, OpenSignal says 

the average LTE download 

speeds appear to have stalled 

at just over 45 Mbps. 

“The industry is still waiting 

on that spark that will 

push speeds beyond 50 

Mbps on a national level,” the 

report noted. 

L-R: Adetola Aibangbee, partner, tax, regulatory/people services, KPMG Professional Services, Nigeria; Zacheaus Olusegun, 

senior manager, management consulting, KPMG; Ade Adefeko, vice president, corporate/government relations, OLAM Nigeria 

Limited; Audrey Joe- Ezigbo, co-founder/executive director, Falcon Corporation Limited, and Ini Ebong, group executive treasury/ 

FI, First Bank plc, at the KPMG tax breakfast seminar on 2018 budget i n Lagos yesterday. 


KELECHI EWUZIE 

Nigerian football attracts over N5bn 

corporate partnership investments 

ANTHONY NLEBEM 

In the last 12 months, Nigerian 

football has seen 

significant progress owing 

to more partnership 

from corporate investors. 

The coast looks clear for 

Nigeria at the FIFA World 

Cup in Russia with the Nigeria 

Football Federation (NFF) 

more motivated than ever, as 

the Federation steps up its bid 

to attract formidable investors 

into Nigerian football and the 

Super Eagles. Super Eagles 

have improved tremendously 

in their performance and 

have restored the confidence 

of esteemed Nigerian fans. 

For instance, Aiteo Group 

last year signed a five-year 

mega sponsorship deal worth 

N2.5billion with the Nigeria 

Football Federation (NFF) to 

boost football development 

in the country. The deal has 


Ondo flags off accelerated 

birth registration 

Governor of Ondo 

State, Oluwarotimi 

Akeredolu, has 

flagged off accelerated 

birth registration of 

children between ages 0-17 

in Ifedore Local Government 

Area of the state, a project 

of Olori Connection, which 

aims at bridging gaps in the 

state’s healthcare system. 

Akeredolu, who noted 

that it was the first time in the 

history of the state that wives 

of monarchs were directly involved 

in governance, urged 

monarchs across the state to 

provide the needed support 

for their wives to succeed. 

The flag off ceremony, 

which is the first to be kick 

started in the state and across 

the nation on Accelerated 

Birth Registration, an initiative 

conceptualised by the 

wife of the governor, Betty 

Anyanwu-Akeredolu to help 

actualise the goals of Reproductive, 

Maternal, Newborn, 

Child, Adolescent, Health 

and Nutrition (RMNCAH+ 

N) initiated by the wife of the 

Access Bank wins Euromoney’s best 

commercial banking capabilities award 

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE 

Access Bank plc has 

emerged winner of 

the best ‘Commercial 

Banking Capabilities’ 

award by Euromoney, 

a leading global financial 

publication. 

The award was presented 

to Herbert Wigwe, the bank’s 

CEO, at the Euromoney Private 

Banking Awards 2018, 

held in London yesterday. 

The awards are the most 

prestigious in the growing 

area of wealth management 

and cover over 60 countries 

each year, as well as global 

and regional awards. 

Euromoney in its recently 

released results of 

the annual Private Banking 

and Wealth Management 

Survey noted that Access 

Bank’s Commercial Banking 

Capabilities showed significant 

improvement within 

the past year. The award is 

given to honour firms that 

President, Aisha Buhari. 

Earlier, Akeredolu paid 

homage to Oba Francis Adefarakanmi 

Agbede (Ogidi 

III), the Olowa of Igbaraoke 

in his palace, acknowledging 

that the flag off ceremony 

was a milestone event, which 

would go a long way in combating 

maternal mortality. 

The wife of the governor 

explained that the initiative 

will make birth registration 

easy for mothers and will also 

go a long way in helping the 

government to plan for the 

development of the state. 

Delivering a lecture on 

the importance of birth registration, 

Banke Oluwafemi, 

explored the advantages of 

birth registration stressing 

that it is a continuous and 

compulsory exercise which 

parents must undertake for 

their children as part of the 

fundamental rights 

In her remark, the chairperson, 

Ifedore Local Government, 

Oladipupo Ajibola 

thanked the First Lady for 

picking Ifedore as the first 

point of call. 

have proven to be leading 

providers of exceptional 

commercial banking services 

and have also shown 

outstanding contribution to 

the banking sector. 

Speaking at the presentation 

ceremony, Wigwe 

said, “This recognition highlights 

our commitment and 

dedication to serving our 

customers innovatively and 

putting them at the forefront 

of our business. We want to 

say a big thank you to our 

customers for entrusting us 

with their businesses and we 

look forward to our continued 

partnerships in years to 

come. 

“We provide bespoke 

services tailored to meet the 

needs of this segment including 

building a socially 

responsible business portfolio. 

This award is in recognition 

of our regional expertise 

as we continue to work towards 

being Africa’s gateway 

to the world.” 

riotism, passion and desire 

for victory, through the platform 

of Football.” 

NB Plc is set to commit 

the sum of N450million to 

the relationship every year. 

Mike Itemuagbor, a sports 

marketing titan who had 

brokered several relationships 

for Nigerian Football 

over the decades, said: “The 

important thing is not just 

the amount of money being 

paid as rights fee; it is the 

activation of the contract, 

which Nigerians Breweries 

and us as the Sponsorship 

Agency are committed to 

doing in a big way.” 

Amaju Pinnick, president, 

Nigeria Football Federation 

(NFF), mentioned 

that the potential in Nigerian 

sports is limitless, adding, 

however, that the government 

needs to create enabling 

environment for sports 

industry to thrive.


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

9



C002D5556 

COMMENT 

EUGENIA ABU 

Dear Reader, 

It was towards the end of 

2016 that I wrote this column 

last after writing consistently 

for about eight 

years. I went away to take 

stock and boy did I need a break? 

A column is like a boyfriend with 

whom you are constantly in bed 

and with no break or a holiday 

by yourself. Sometimes without 

that break, it can be somewhat 

suffocating. I did go on a break as 

you might have noticed but the 

boy friend’s friends kept calling. 

Where are you? We miss you. We 

miss your jokes and your excellent 

double decker chicken sandwich, 

your egusi soup and that mean 

goat pepper soup you offer when 

we watch football at your end. 

After a while and major stocktaking 

and a well-deserved break, 

I am back with this boyfriend with 

whom you are all connected at the 

hip. I am pleased to be back on the 

page and it is my hope that some of 

the knotty issues on the platform 

will be resolved so I do not have to 

second guess my relationship with 

all going forward. 

I have truly missed you all, your 

A New Year missive 

response to us and your many 

letters, contributing, approving 

commenting and sometimes disagreeing. 

The relationship I have 

with my teeming fans nationwide 

is humbling and I would never take 

it for granted. Therefore, it is New 

Year for us as the year has only 

begun with February coming to an 

end. Our New year just began as 

we have neither spoken nor shared 

this year. I am pleased to be back 

and I hope you are all as chuffed as 

I am to be back on the page. 

So much has happened while 

I was away and I just want to let 

you know that I see them all but 

today we will focus on all those 

things we often talk about in this 

column at the crack of a new year 

and more. 

1) So what was your new year 

resolution? Let me suggest that 

if you have been giving up something 

for years and years every 

year for five years, it should now 

be clear to you that it is never going 

to happen. To give something 

up needs commitment and if 

smoking is your Achilles heel, 

for instance, and you are not 

committed to quitting, then you 

will never quit; so give whatever 

you want to give up this year your 

100% if you mean it. 

2) Happiness is a much sought 

after thing these days and those 

who make it happen are all 

around us. When there is a dearth 

of happiness, it is easy for depression 

to set in and it is very difficult 

It is scientifically proven that 

people of faith tend to deal with 

the world better. They find some 

calmness which those without 

faith do not have and spiritual 

exercises are recommended for 

people going through depression. 

More importantly, it helps 

us make sense of an increasingly 

difficult world 

to overcome. So in 2018, wear your 

happiness hat and do those things 

that make you happy to release the 

serotonin in your system. In addition, 

be a happiness giver, a burden 

bearer as well and you will be 

surprised that you may have saved 

a life. With suicide rearing its ugly 

head all around us, we cannot afford 

to feel guilty for not listening to a 

friend, sister or brother who ended 

up in a bad place. In doing all of 

this remember that being mean, 

slanderous, and impossible when 

we could have been kinder is a 2018 

no, no. What reward do you get for 

being a mean boss, for driving your 

friend to tears, for being rude to 

your boyfriend, wife or relation? 

Your name is being written in a 

spiritual book that says “does not 

deserve mercy” and honestly you do 

not need that. It’s theLenten season, 

come on… be kinder, be nicer, be 

gentler; you get stripes for these, 

and guess what, you are lighter and 

comment is free 

Send 800word comments to comment@businessdayonline.com 

happier yourself. 

3) Do not be the foot mat and 

stop being a people’s pleaser. Believe 

me 2 and 3 are not mutually 

exclusive. At one point in my life, 

I could not say No to people who 

asked me to do things for them. 

I did it even when it was hurting 

me. It made me unhappy and also 

made me resent the people. No 

one forced me to say yes but I was 

not doing it from a heartfelt point 

of view. I hated the things they 

were asking as favors and I did 

them reluctantly with resentment 

in my heart. so I went on a Yes fast 

because you see if people know 

you say yes to everything they ask, 

they take you for granted. It was 

truly a defining moment in my 

life. I would often give a friend my 

car and driver for different days 

and she would overstay the two 

hours she requested for and then 

will strand me and I would begin 

to be inconvenienced because she 

would keep the car for five hours 

with no care for how I felt. One day 

in her usual breezy manner, she 

asked for my car and I said,” Sorry, 

you can’t have it today” Then she 

asked if she could have it the day 

after or the day after. I said, “Sorry, 

I am busy all week” and you know 

what, I got my life back. Since then, 

I have never looked back. This 

2018, get out of that toxic relationship 

where the other person is just 

using you for what they can get 

because you are kinder and more 

giving. Be brave. Tell yourself this 

year, I will be happier and do only 

what makes you happy. Start by 

learning to say No. It is possible. 

4) This year, get closer to your 

children, your siblings and be 

kinder to each other. The children 

are critical, no matter how impossible 

they are and millennials can 

be. Tell them you love them; how 

proud you are of them or going 

forward you may never get the opportunity. 

Do it even if they doubt 

if you are genuine or even if the 

response is a grunt. 

5) Hold your faith tightly. It is 

scientifically proven that people 

of faith tend to deal with the world 

better. They find some calmness 

which those without faith do not 

have and spiritual exercises are 

recommended for people going 

through depression. More importantly, 

it helps us make sense of an 

increasingly difficult world. 

6) Volunteering and Charity. 

Need I say more? Do for others 

for free. Be amazed how it completes 

you and gives you a sense 

of purpose. 

I thank you all for staying true 

to the column and I wish you a 

purposeful 2018 with God’s choicest 

blessings. Amen. 

- Contact me on an alternative 

e-mail: abu_eugenia@yahoo.com. 

I look forward to reading from 

you. 

Send reactions to: 

comment@businessdayonline. 

How much is strategy working in your organization? 

What does strategy mean 

to your organization 

or has it become a 

cliché? The reality is 

some people in organizations are 

continuously seeing strategy as a 

cliché, something that exists more 

on papers, something that is complex, 

to some managers as something 

dictated by leadership, and to 

those in public service as something 

imposed by government. But should 

strategy be seen in that light? 

It is imperative for organizations 

to first and foremost understand 

the relationship between competitors 

and strategy. The existence of 

competitors in one’s business usually 

makes organizations to start 

considering having strategies – all in 

a bid to have what is usually called 

competitive advantage among other 

players. And like, the Japanese Kenichi 

Ohmae rightly said: “without 

competitors there is no need for 

strategy”. Now that competitors 

abound no organization can afford 

not to take strategy seriously. 

So not having strategy or seeing 

‘UJU ONWUZULIKE 

WITH 

Uju Onwuzulike is Nigeria’s leading authority on Systems 

Thinking and Strategic Management. He was a Steve 

Haines trained strategy and systems thinking expert and 

a former global partner of Haines Centre for Strategic 

Management, California, USA. He is the founder and Chief 

Results Officer of MCL – a strategy and outstanding performance 

specialist firm. He can be reached on 09091142093 

or uju.onwuzulike@mclgroup.net. 

it as a necessary evil is akin to the 

man who out of anger removed 

the battery of his wrist watch and 

thinks that his action will affect 

others, while in reality he would 

be the only one affected. Worst 

situations organization can be is 

not just having no strategy, but 

include having one with wrong 

worldview or notion, having one 

with no uniform understanding 

across board, having one without 

people’s involvement, and having 

one without knowing what strategy 

is all about. On a lighter note, 

not taking strategy serious will 

make “your competitors like you”. 

So when we don’t, we have only 

stopped our own organization’s 

clock from working and not that 

of competitors. 

I would want everyone reading 

this insight to ponder on this 

question: “Has strategy really being 

made complex in organizations”? 

Naturally, you may have your own 

answers, but mine is yes. Because, 

strategy is seen as being complex, 

same people in the same organiza- 

tion do not understand strategy the 

same way, and most times do not 

contribute to the success of organization’s 

strategy. In most organizations, 

what they understand to mean strategy 

is nothing but a goal, objective 

and tactics. A good way to confirm 

is to check some organizations websites 

and see what they wrote as their 

strategies. 

To make strategy work for us in our 

organizations, we need to understand 

what strategy means and also the essence 

of having one. I understand we 

have all learnt strategy in our MBAs 

and we all have different notions of 

what it is (I have also seen that playing 

out teaching MBA students Strategic 

Management in Rome Business 

School). Now, we need to understand 

that an organization creates a sustainable 

competitive advantage over 

its rivals by deliberately choosing a 

different set of activities to deliver 

unique value. So, one can easily see 

that that strategy requires making 

choices of what to do and what not 

to do and also building business 

around those choices. This why I am a 

believer of the fact that “strategy is an 

integrated set of choices that uniquely 

positions the firm in its industry so 

as to create sustainable advantage 

and superior value relative to the 

competition” – as explained by A.G 

Lafley and Roger L. Martin in their 

book “Playing to Win”. 

Now, a way to go is for everyone 

in your organization to see strategy 

as a set of choices about winning and 

this means the essence of strategy is 

for you to win in your organization 

– and not just to be a “player”. An 

important lesson is that everyone 

in the organization is expected to 

make strategic choices – that would 

position the organization uniquely. 

Before now, two mindsets have 

existed in organizations. The first 

is that leadership thought that they 

are the only one equipped to make 

strategic choices. The second is that 

lower level staff also thought that 

they have no business with strategic 

choices and decisions? Remember 

in organizations, it is not only the 

CEO or top management that works 

in the organization or faced with 

making complex choices. Other 

junior or lower level officers are also 

faced with making best choices for 

their organization. The difference 

is that the lower level officers’ challenges 

or constraints might come 

from the demands of the customers, 

and from the strategies of their 

competitors, or choices made by 

superiors. Then for the CEO, the 

constraint can come from issues 

like the directions of the board, 

capital raising issues, and increasing 

profitability etc. As we can see at 

the CEO’s level up to the entry staff 

level, everyone is expected to make 

strategic choices at the day goes by 

– the only difference is the scope of 

the choices and the precise nature 

of the constraints. 

Finally, organizations, must 

also understand what is strategic 

to them if they really want to make 

strategy work for them. So how do 

we determine “if our initiatives and 

objectives are strategic”? First, we 

need to understand that determining 

what is strategic is about deciding 

whether something matters 

to the organization’s success and 

demands being addressed with 

insight and innovation. Second, 

by providing answers to these 

questions below, we would quickly 

know how much strategic the initiative 

or objective is to us. 

* If we don’t pursue this opportunity, 

will its absence be widely 

noticeable 

* If we do pursue it, will its impact 

be widely noticed? 

* If we ignore the underlying 

situation or opportunity, will it 

create significant issues? 

Now, answering yes to all the 

above questions show that you 

have strategic issues at hand. I also 

know there are others ways one can 

determine what is strategic to them. 

Strategy, when seen as an integrated 

set of choices everyone 

in the organization – regardless of 

position would have to make for the 

unique positioning of the organization 

– automatically makes it something 

everyone can be involved in 

– and that takes away the complex 

nature of strategy. Would you agree 

with me that the best thing that 

can happen to any CEO is to have 

people who are constantly making 

decisions on how their organization 

can win? 

Always feel free to share your 

thoughts or ask your questions. 


comment@businessdayonline.com


COMMENT 

C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

11 

comment is free 

Send 800word comments to comment@businessdayonline.com 

Why Nigeria should resist Western dietary influence 

OLUWADARA ALEGBELEYE 

Oluwadara is a writer as well as an 

academic researcher. She is currently a 

PhD student at the Department of Food 

Science, University of Campinas 

In Nigeria, food consumption 

patterns in the different agroecological 

zones is ethnically 

and culturally diverse. All of 

these diets, however are historically 

local- meals were solely based on 

starchy staples and soups derived from 

locally grown vegetables, prepared 

using local herbs and spices. Insidiously 

however, the Nigerian diet has 

been largely westernized, featuring a 

dangerous surge in consumption of 

ultra-processed and junk food options. 

These food types are characterized by 

high sugar, salt, refined carbohydrates, 

saturated fat, industrial additives 

and low plant fiber content, all of 

which have been associated with an 

increased risk for chronic diseases 

such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, 

diabetes, and hypertension. There are 

numerous factors that have contributed 

to this shift. Some of these include 

the rapid (largely uncontrolled) 

urbanization, higher income earnings 

(translating to higher disposable 

income), better education, changing 

work roles, which has led to increased 

entrants of women into corporate settings, 

adoption of contemporary (erroneously 

perceived as ‘hip’) lifestyle, 

and so on. Over the last few decades, 

the country has witnessed very rapid 

rural-urban migration, which has 

yielded a stunted agricultural sector 

and overpopulated big cities. In the 

cities, life can be very hectic. Daily life 

is fraught with numerous challenges. 

Commuting to and from work in poorly 

planned cities that have atrocious 

road networks and unreliable public 

transport systems, sitting in traffic for 

long hours, and the incessant need 

to ingeniously improvise to provide 

virtually every fundamental necessity 

of life, which individuals living in sane 

societies can take for granted leaves 

a strain on many people and little 

time to prepare meals. There is also 

a cultural element to this- as being 

plump and round is perceived as sexy 

(in the case of women) and associated 

with affluence, overall wellbeing and 

social status. 

These days therefore, there are 

numerous overweight Nigerians. We 

now have so many full faced, rotund 

bellied children and adults, who are 

morbidly obese and grossly unaware 

that their wellbeing may be in peril. 

The unhealthy trends and tastes of 

Nigerians is being fed by pre-packaged 

and ready-to eat food products 

marketed and supplied by many 

multinational companies; from Leba- 

We now have so many full faced, 

rotund bellied children and adults, 

who are morbidly obese and grossly 

unaware that their wellbeing may be in 

peril. The unhealthy trends and tastes 

of Nigerians is being fed by pre-packaged 

and ready-to eat food products 

marketed and supplied by many multinational 

companies; from Lebanon, 

Indonesia, India, China, Europe and 

other parts of the world 

non, Indonesia, India, China, Europe 

and other parts of the world. Many of 

these products are poorly labeled as to 

their actual ingredients and processing. 

Some of these products or constituents 

have been anecdotally or scientifically 

implicated as potentially unhealthy or 

even toxic. Some ingredients, flavor, or 

other additives indicated on labels are 

known or suspected toxicants but continue 

to remain on the market. The main 

regulatory bodies;- NAFDAC (National 

Agency for Food and Drug Administration 

and Control) and SON (Standards 

Organization of Nigeria) established 

to regulate food/cosmetics/medicine 

production and distribution as well as 

stipulate and enforce safety standards 

and protect consumers are so corrupt 

that it is imprudent to consider them as 

functional entities at this point. Therefore, 

these companies roll out products 

with virtually no control or regulation 

whatsoever. 

Admittedly, the causes of obesity 

are widely acknowledged as complex; 

in addition to diet, evolving lifestyles, 

sedentary habits and genetics have 

been suggested to be contributing 

factors. However, available research 

demonstrates a relationship between 

dietary habits and long term deleterious 

health effects. More bothersome 

is that in addition to dietary changes, 

certain experts have reported increased 

cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption 

and inadequate exercise among 

Nigerians. These days, many people 

own cars and drive where they might 

have walked in the past. Also increased 

internet usage in cities means that 

more people now sit for protracted 

periods both at home and at work. The 

best evidence indicates that all of these 

factors have great potential to induce 

or aggravate potentially fatal health 

problems. It is however, difficult to 

estimate the magnitude of the problem 

or to substantively correlate obesity/ 

eating habits/lifestyle with mortality 

or morbidity due to a pervasive lack of 

reliable statistics. Some people may argue 

that the influx of these companies 

is generating commerce and creating 

jobs. However, this is largely untrue as 

the lack of appropriate trade unions 

and government protection permits 

these companies to exploit Nigerians. 

Poor career progression, extremely 

poor remuneration, lack of benefits and 

maltreatment/abuse particularly in the 

case of women is rife. 

First, enlightenment campaigns 

and programs are necessary to inform 

Nigerians of the importance of dietary 

choices and lifestyle. We now need financially 

and politically independent 

organizations that will inform consumers 

and advocate for policies and 

regulations that will keep Nigerians 

healthy. It is important that we better 

scrutinize ingredients, processing, 

packaging and marketing practices. 

Nigerians are on a fast track- emulating 

the lifestyle and practices of 

affluent countries, but then we are 

landed with problems of catastrophic 

dimensions, we tend not to cope with 

them effectively. The most important 

consideration is that we lack the medical 

structures, resources and facilities 

to manage the resultant health crises. 

For example, the treatment of diabetes 

and hypertension is very expensive and 

medication is sometimes unavailable 

in certain regions. Many people therefore, 

continue to move around with 

various types of untreated metabolic 

syndromes. It is not uncommon for 

people to just suddenly drop and die. 

The country continues to grapple with 

countless other challenges; insecurity, 

infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS 

and malaria, malnourishment and so 

on. We really should prioritize health 

protection by emphasizing the importance 

of healthy food and food products. 


comment@businessdayonline.com 

AKINTOLA BENSON OKE 

Dr Oke, is Lagos State Commissioner 

for Establishments, Training 

and Pensions, Lagos State 

The ultimate goal of every 

organisation is to attain 

that optimal state of performance 

and effectiveness 

where its units and teams and 

departments are headed by persons 

who understand what leadership 

means and who have developed 

their leadership potentials and have 

enhanced their performance skills. 

It is only at such a point in time 

that organisations can experience 

exponential growth. 

However, no matter how often 

or how seriously the importance 

of leadership skills is discussed, 

especially for pubic officers, the 

efforts would be meaningless and 

would amount to little except a clear 

path to acquiring the critical leadership 

skills is created and adopted. 

Once this is done, mostly through 

coaching, no problem will be too 

complicated, no task too herculean, 

no challenge too huge, and no task 

too complicated to be confronted 

head-on. 

It is in view of this that the vision 

of Lagos State Government, under 

the leadership of Mr. Akinwunmi 

Ambode, for the State Public Service 

is for government to invest in every 

Imperatives of higher performance coaching in public service 

public officer by designing and 

delivering coaching instructions 

that would increase the knowledge 

and skills of every officer such that 

the multiplier effect on the public 

service would be dynamism, 

responsiveness, effectiveness, 

machine-like precision, and exponential 

productivity. 

It is instructive to draw attention 

to the general benefits of coaching 

as identified by top human 

resources and productivity practitioners. 

The Institute of Coaching 

has identified both personal and 

organizational benefits of coaching. 

This suggests, for instance, that 

when effectively coached, officers 

of the Lagos State Public Service 

stand to benefit as individuals and 

the Public Service also stands to 

benefit as an organisation. 

According to the Institute, the 

personal benefits of coaching are 

as wide-ranging as the individuals 

involved. Numerous clients report 

that coaching positively impacted 

their careers as well as their lives by 

helping them to establish and take 

action towards achieving goals, become 

more self-reliant, gain more 

job and life satisfaction, contribute 

more effectively to the team and 

the organization, take greater responsibility 

and accountability for 

actions and commitments, work 

more easily and productively with 

others (boss, direct reports, peers) 

and communicate more effectively. 

Coaching in organization and 

leadership settings is also an invaluable 

tool for developing people 

across a wide range of needs. The 

benefits of coaching are many; 

80% of people who receive coaching 

report increased self-confidence, 

and over 70% benefit from improved 

work performance, relationships, 

and more effective communication 

skills. 86% of companies report that 

they recouped their investment on 

coaching and more. 

Furthermore, coaching provides 

an invaluable space for personal 

development. For example, managers 

are frequently presented with 

employees struggling with low confidence. 

The traditional approach 

would be to send them to an assertiveness 

course and hope this addresses 

the issue. In the short-term, 

the employee learns new strategies 

for communicating which may improve 

confidence. Unfortunately, in 

isolation these courses rarely produce 

a sustained increase in confidence. 

Although external behaviour 

may change; it needs to be supported 

by changes in their internal thought 

processes. This is often where coaching 

is most effective. 

Indeed, superiors have been 

advised not to underestimate the 

impact of coaching on their people 

as it frequently creates a fundamental 

shift in their approach to their 

work. For example, increased selfconfidence 

enables employees to 

bring more of themselves into the 

workplace. This results in employees 

being more resilient and assertive. 

In terms of benefits for an organisation 

such as the Lagos State 

Public Service coaching empowers 

individuals and encourages them 

to take responsibility, increases 

employee and staff engagement, 

improves individual performance, 

helps identify and develop high 

potential employees, helps identify 

both organizational and individual 

strengths and development 

opportunities, helps to motivate 

and empower individuals to excel 

and demonstrates organizational 

commitment to human resource 

development. 

Consequently, the Lagos State 

government places high premium 

on regularly organizing strategic 

coaching sessions for its workforce, 

especially those that frequently 

have interface with the public as 

well as those that provide essential 

services. The intention is to ensure 

that they become impactful, 

influential and productive to such 

degrees that the output of the Public 

Service will engender greater 

productivity and prosperity for the 

society. 

Additionally, the intent of the 

Lagos State is to achieve is a Public 

Service where every officer is 

able and empowered to set a clear 

vision regarding his/her duties 

and effectively communicate it to 

colleagues, providing them with a 

clear understanding of the desired 

direction, understands that effective 

planning is important when it 

comes to meeting organizational 

goals, able to provide stability, 

inspiration, courage and direction 

during times of crisis and when 

dealing with relationships between 

co-workers, aims at improving employee 

relations and more closely 

aligning the team and individual 

objectives. Any organization where 

all these are attainable would, no 

doubt, enjoy steady growth and 

enhanced output. 

It is in view of the foregoing 

that the Lagos State Civil Service 

has always been in the forefront of 

innovation and dynamic effectiveness 

in the nation and the Ambode 

administration is dedicated to the 

maintenance of this noble position 

in the country. It is for this reason, 

among others, that diverse trainings, 

workshops and seminars have been 

approved and organized for the 

benefits of the critical and invaluable 

human resources in charge of 

the institution of the Public Service. 

The overall goal is to build a crop of 

public officials who could efficiently 

assist the government in proffering 

possible solutions to complicated 

problems. 

At present, the state government’s 

focus on training and retraining 

of its workforce is progressively 

bringing about results. Consequently, 

the vision of achieving 

a Lagos State that is managed by 

a dynamic and competent public 

service is progressively being attained. 

Thus, by and by, we are 

marching towards the realization 

of the state government’s vision 

for a Lagos State that can compete 

with the most admired global cities 

through prompt and effective 

service delivery. 

This, indeed, is the real essence 

of the public service. This is what 

makes Lagos a model to others and 

this is a convention that the Ambode 

led government hopes to preserve 

and, indeed, exceed. 


comment@businessdayonline.com

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Finally, a new mortgage standard that targets the informal sector 

The recent launching 

of a uniform 

mortgage underwriting 

standard by 

the Central Bank of 

Nigeria (CBN) in conjunction 

with Mortgage Banking Association 

of Nigeria (MBAN), Nigeria 

Mortgage Refinance Company 

(NMRC), Federal Mortgage 

Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and 

the Nigeria Deposit Insurance 

Corporation (NDIC) marks a 

major turning point in Nigeria’s 

mortgage system. 

The new standards, which is 

focused on the informal sector 

of the economy, will, for the first 

time, attempt to bring the operators 

in this sector, who constitute 

about 67.54 million of Nigeria’s 

81.15 million workforce, into the 

mortgage and housing net. 

There is high expectation 

that the new mortgage standard 

is going to be a game-changer 

for the economy in the area of 

housing and homeownership 

because it is going to increase 

access to housing by narrowing 

the affordability gap which 

has been blamed for the wide 

housing demand-supply gap in 

the country. 

Operators in the industry 

have always argued that the 

housing deficit has been closed 

because of the exclusion of 

the informal sector, which is the 

largest segment of the Nigerian 

population, from having access 

to mortgages to build their own 

homes. The informal sector is 

estimated to account for over 

60 percent of the country’s GDP, 

which means that housing provision 

will not gain traction unless 

the country is able to bring them 

into the housing net. 

But the launching of the new 

underwriting standards has put 

these fears to rest as it will capture 

the self-employed and business 

owners categorised under the 

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises 

(MSME). 

On paper, anyone who earns 

up to N3,000 and above monthly, 

is entitled to a mortgage loan but 

practically, even those who earn 

several times the amount has no 

access to mortgages. The National 

Housing Fund (NHF) set up to 

facilitate loans for those who want 

to own their own homes have 

been largely ineffective. Workers 

have deductions made from their 

salaries monthly but hit a brick 

wall whenever they attempt to 

access mortgage based on their 

contributions. 

We, therefore, commend the 

CBN and its allies for the launch 

of this standard and hope that, 

unlike earlier failed efforts to 

bring the informal sector into 

the mortgage net, this current 

effort would succeed. We are not 

unaware of the fact that most 

initiatives solely funded and run 

by the government as social housing 

programmes were usually not 

successful. But this is privatesector 

driven, hence our hope it 

will succeed. 

We share the optimism of Adedeji 

Adesemoye, Head, National 

Housing Finance Programme 

(NHFP) at the CBN, who believes 

that the new initiative will give 

those without structured salaries 

access to mortgage loans for their 

housing needs. It is just proper 

that this new standard does that. 

Suggestions had been made 

in the past for the inclusion of informal 

sector in the contributory 

pension scheme, which is hoped 

will help in narrowing the housing 

affordability gap, which has been 

estimated at 17 million units. That 

suggestion is yet to receive the 

needed attention that it should. 

We also commend the effort 

of the CBN at giving fillip to the 

plans to introduce a public private 

partnership scheme that seeks to 

increase access to housing finance 

by selecting 34 primary mortgage 

banks and four commercial banks 

to stimulate housing finance for 

low-income earners in the formal 

and informal sectors. 

The banks will join nine other 

micro finance banks in the ‘My 

Own Home’ scheme, which is an 

offshoot of the Nigeria Housing 

Finance Programme (NHFP) set 

up by the Federal Government 

and implemented by CBN with 

the support of World Bank’s $300 

million loan. 

NHFP was primarily set up to 

catalyse the growth of the housing 

sector and also to increase access 

to housing finance and housing in 

Nigeria. It is also aimed to inspire 

young Nigerians on the need to 

key into mortgage process and 

start owning homes. 

It is expected also that NHFP 

will be creating the enabling environment 

for strengthening the 

nation’s housing sector by setting 

up sustainable framework by mortgage 

originators such as financial 

institutions to access long-term 

refinancing. The scheme is also 

expected to scale-up mortgage and 

housing finance awareness through 

mortgage literacy, customers’ right, 

responsibilities and education. 

We have high hopes that the 

scheme would revamp the housing 

finance sector and also make 

access to housing finance a lot 

easier, especially with the NMRC 

which has a mandate to increase 

liquidity in the mortgage finance 

system, by facilitating long-term 

funds for refinancing of mortgages 

backing it. 

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www.businessdayonline.com


BUSINESS DAY 

13 

CITYFile 

Keep Lagos Clean 

Taiwo Shittu (m), group 

executive director, Lanre 

Shittu Motors Nigeria 

Limited, handing over the 

truck keys to representative 

of Vision scape, during 

the first batch of JAC waste 

disposal heavy duty trucks 

to VisionScape in Lagos. 


Oyo, Niger move to avert 

farmers/herdsmen scuffle 

In a move aimed at averting clashes 

between farmers and herdsmen, in 

Niger, the Nigeria Security and Civil 

Defence Corps (NSCDC), is deploying 

124 armed personnel to secure all 

licensed ranches in the state. 

The state commandant of the corps, 

Philip Ayuba, told newsmen in Minna, the 

state capital, that the deployment would 

check possible conflicts in the state. 

He said that the state having already 

launched its Agro Rangers Unit to guarantee 

peaceful coexistence among the 

rural dwellers, desired that the peace be 

sustained. 

“We have provided all the required 

needs to our personnel to enable them to 

discharge their primary assignment without 

any hindrance,” he said, adding that the 

command would continue to be proactive 

in dealing with any form of security threat 

in the state. 

Ayuba said that the personnel had been 

given operational orders on how to ensure 

the arrest and prosecution of all those found 

wanting. 

He solicited the support of traditional 

Ex-banker charged with N5.8m theft 

A 

32-year-ex-banker, Isaac Ajagbe, 

who allegedly stole N5.8 million 

from his employer, Guaranty 

Trust Bank (GTB), has 

been charged before an Iyaganku Chief 

Magistrate Court, in Ibadan, Oyo State. 

Ajagbe, a resident of Christopher Street 

in Ologuneru area of Ibadan, is facing 

a two-count charge of conspiracy and 

stealing. 

The prosecutor, Lekan Adegbite, told 

the court, on Wednesday, that Ajagbe, a 

former employee of GTB, Bodija branch, 

rulers in the state in the area of sensitisation 

of the people, especially with regards 

to volunteering of useful information that 

would assist the field officers in apprehending 

criminals. 

In Oyo, the government is to begin the 

registration of herdsmen and their cattle 

to separate genuine herders from criminal 

elements. 

The state is also create a surveillance 

unit under the Oyo State joint security 

outfit known as ‘Operation Burst’ to curtail 

the menace of cattle rustlers, murderous 

herdsmen and farmers who may take the 

laws into their hands by poisoning cattle 

grazing on farmlands. 

Governor Abiola Ajimobi gave the directive 

at a stakeholders’ meeting aimed 

at dousing the tension triggered by the 

incessant herdsmen-farmers clashes. The 

meeting was attended by the representatives 

of farmers, Fulani herdsmen and 

security agencies. 

Ajimobi also directed security agencies to 

begin the immediate arrest and prosecution 

of Fulani herdsmen caught with guns and 

other dangerous weapons across the state. 

“Why would a herdsman be carrying a 

gun? Henceforth, any herdsman found with 

Ibadan, allegedly conspired with one 

other now at large to commit the offence. 

“Ajagbe allegedly stole N5.8 million 

from his employer, Guaranty Trust Bank 

(GTB), between September 2016 and February 

16, 2017 at Bodija branch, Ibadan,” 

he said. 

Adegbite said that the offence contravened 

sections 390 (9) and 516 of the 

Criminal Code, Cap 38, Vol. II, Laws of 

Oyo State. 

The accused pleaded not guilty to the 

charges. 

guns should be arrested and prosecuted. 

Owners of cattle found grazing on farmlands 

and destroying crops should also be 

arrested and prosecuted. Any farmer that 

poisons cattle should also be arrested and 

prosecuted. 

“We must realise that some of these 

herdsmen come all the way from Niger Republic 

and Chad for grazing. Not all of these 

herdsmen are Nigerians,” Ajimobi said. 

While calling for a monthly stakeholders’ 

meeting at the state and local government 

levels, the governor urged the residents to 

join hands with the government to secure 

the state by being vigilant and reporting any 

form of security breach to appropriate security 

agencies rather than resort to self help. 

“Both the people and government have 

their roles to play in finding lasting solutions 

to the menace. We must all participate in 

the security of our communities. Yes, it is the 

responsibility of government to guarantee 

the safety and security of the citizens, but 

we cannot do it alone,” he said. 

Abiodun Odude, the Commissioner of 

Police, in charge of Oyo, said that his command 

has the men, equipment, the will and 

capacity to deal with any criminal element 

under the guise of herdsman. 

Omolodun Aina, counsel to the accused, 

urged the court to grant his client 

bail in liberal term. 

The chief magistrate, Kehinde Omotosho, 

admitted the accused to N2 million 

bail with two sureties who must be 

responsible and reliable. 

Omotosho also demanded that one of 

the sureties must be a blood relation to 

the accused, while the other should be a 

public officer of not less than grade level 

10. She adjourned the case until April 10 

for hearing. (NAN) 

15 die as Edo records 521 

suspected cases of Lassa fever 

Osamuwonyi Irowa, director of 

disease control, in Edo, has confirmed 

the death of 15 persons 

from Lassa fever with 521 suspected cases 

recoded in February alone. 

Irowa disclosed this at the inauguration 

of the Emergency Operation Centre 

on Lassa fever in Benin, the state capital, 

on Wednesday. He said 124 cases have 

been confirmed out of the 521 suspected 

cases recorded in 13 local government 

areas of the state. 

The director said 509 cases were under 

surveillance, while 10 suspected cases 

had developed symptoms. 

Inaugurating the centre, the deputy 

governor, of the state, Phillip Shaibu, said 

that the Lassa fever response mechanism 

was aimed at ensuring a coordinated 

control of the epidemic. 

He charged the Nigeria Centre for 

Disease Control (NCDC) to encourage 

volunteers to support their staff for effective 

control of the disease. 

Shaibu assured that the state government 

was working towards building 

isolation centres to decongest the patient 

population at the Irrua Specialist Teaching 

Hospital. (NAN) 

Lagos commissioner 

tasks civil servants 

... as NSCDC deploys personal to secure ranches JOSHUA BASSEY 

AKINREMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan 

Lagos State commissioner for home 

affairs, Abdul-Hakeem Abdul- 

Lateef, has charged civil servants to 

key into the vision of the current administration 

to transform Lagos into a 21st 

century mega city. 

Abdul-Lateef gave at a three-day retreat 

with the theme: “systemic growth 

strategic in 21st century”, organised for 

staff of his ministry, to add value to governance. 

He said there was the need for the 

civil servants to think less of themselves 

but more about what they could do for 

the state. “This is the only way you can 

be sought after as 21st century leaders 

capable of achieving maximal positive 

impact on others,” he said. 

Delfarm fire: Obiano 

inaugurates panel of inquiry 

EMMANUEL NDUKUBA, Awka 

Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra 

State has set up a panel of inquiry to 

investigate the cause of recent fire 

disaster in Delfarm, Igbariam in Anambra 

West local government area of the state. 

The panel has Dan Ogbuefi as chairman, 

Afam Mbanefo, Lawrence Anikpe, Chikodi 

Anara, John Ahwen, Obi Nwankwo and 

Martin Agbili as members. 

Delfarm Songhai is one of the farms in 

partnership with the state government, 

geared toward promoting food security in 

Anambra. 

While inaugurating the panel at Government 

House, Awka, Obiano urged the members 

to visit other farms and make recommendations 

that would end fire outbreaks 

in various farms within the state. 

He gave the panel three weeks to submit 

their report, stressing that their recommendations 

would enable him provide lasting 

solution to fire disasters.


MoneyInsight 

Personal Finance: Investing Retirement Taxes Credit Cards Home Buying Small Business Shopping Financing 

Bitcoin volume sees marginal traction 

in Nigeria after 4-week hiatus 

FRANK ELEANYA 

The global upsurge 

in investors’ 

confidence 

in bitcoin and 

the entire cryptocurrency 

market appear 

to be impacting positively 

on Nigerians. Last week, the 

bitcoin market in Nigeria 

regained a little of its lost 

territory in three weeks to 

hit N1.441 billion in the second 

week of February, 2018. 

The last time the market 

saw growth in Nigeria was 

on the second week of January 

when it rose to N1.8 billion 

before going on a three 

weeks drop. 

On the Luno platform, 

the price of one bitcoin was 

exchanging hands at over 

N3.792 million as at time 

of writing this story. It was 

slightly higher on the Naira 

Exchange and Tanjalo.com, 

two local exchanges, where 

it was trading at N3.923 and 

N4.0 million respectively. 

The price of bitcoin hit 

$11,000 mark over the weekend 

for the first time since 

Funding for young entrepreneurs 

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU 

Entrepreneurs often 

come across as a rare 

breed of human beings. 

This is often due to the 

fact that it takes a certain 

bent of mind to become 

one. It takes among other 

factors, integrity, discipline, 

courage, the right choice of 

spouse and hard work to 

be successful as an entrepreneur 

and these qualities 

take both time and persistence 

to develop. 

In addition to developing 

these qualities, at some 

point in their quest to grow 

and develop their businesses, 

entrepreneurs need 

life lines in the form of reliable 

and cost effective seed 

money. 

Seedstars Africa 

Seedstars Africa is a 

member of Seedstars 

Group, a Swiss-based venture 

builder that is active 

and invests in 35+ countries 

around the world especially 

January. It saw a record low 

of $5,947.40 on February 6. 

Since then crypto’s price has 

been climbing higher. On 

Tuesday new offers drove 

the price to above $11,700 

according to the Coindesk 

Bitcoin Price Index, representing 

a growth of 85 

percent from the February 

6 low. 

Although some local 

exchange operators confirmed 

drops in volume of 

transaction, Owenize Odia, 

Country Manager of Luno 

Nigeria said it was not the 

same with the platform. 

While other exchanges were 

in emerging markets in Asia, 

South America, The Middle 

East and Africa. 

Through Seedstars 

World, its popular, highly 

competitive and exclusive 

start-up competition 

for start-ups in emerging 

markets, the company is 

able to identify promising 

companies to support with 

capital and technical help. 

In 2014, Seedstars invested 

$330,000 in SimplePay, 

a young Nigerian 

third-party payment proimpacted 

by investors wavering 

confidence in the 

cryptocurrency, trade on 

the Luno platform held 

stable. 

“We found that many 

people are beginning to 

realise that the best time to 

buy bitcoins is when prices 

are very low,” Odia said. 

Notwithstanding, trade 

in rival crypto, Ethereum 

declined on Luno last week. 

Odia says that Ethereum is 

fairly on the Nigerian market 

hence the confidence 

has to be earned over a long 

period of performance. The 

platform has however seen 

cessing company that created 

a solution to disrupt 

payment services in Nigeria 

and Africa. 

African Women’s Development 

Fund (AWDF) 

The AWDF is the first 

pan-African women’s grant 

maker in Africa. Since the 

start of its operations in 

2001, AWDF has provided 

$17 million in grants to 800 

women’s organizations in 

42 African countries. 

The AWDF is an institutional 

capacity-building 

a user base growth of 1.6 

million. 

The price of bitcoin 

dipped to $10,647 representing 

10 percent decline 

on the Coinmarketcap as at 

time of writing this article. 

Analysts on Investopedia 

say there are no clear triggers 

for the fall in price, 

although the news comes 

as the Dhaka Tribune in 

Bangladesh reported a rise 

in crypto crackdowns, indicating 

local police are “on 

the hunt for bitcoin users.” 

Trading volumes of other 

cryptocurrencies were also 

in red. 

and programme development 

fund, which aims 

to help build a culture of 

learning and partnerships 

within the African women’s 

movement. In addition to 

raising money and awarding 

grants, the AWDF will 

attempt to strengthen the 

organisational capacities 

of its grantees. 

The AWDF only awards 

grants to organisations, not 

individuals. It awards grants 

ranging from $8,000 up to 

$50,000. 

Okomu faults illegal 

closure of its office by 

FIRS, demands apology 

CALEB OJEWALE, 

With Agency Report 

Okomu Oil Palm Company 

Plc, one of Nigeria’s 

most profitable 

companies on the stock exchange 

is faulting the closure 

of its offiace in Benin by the 

Federal Inland Revenue Service 

(FIRS) over alleged tax 

evasion, an action later found 

to have been executed in error 

and its offices reopened, 

even after subjecting the 

company to embarrassment 

and panic from stakeholders. 

The company which has 

described the action of FIRS 

as hurtful to the reputation 

of its company, according 

to NAN, further urged the 

agency to always cross check 

its records before sealing up 

business premises for tax 

evasion. 

In the larger picture, the 

action if unchecked and affects 

many other businesses, 

may see the Federal Government’s 

drive to further 

improve Nigeria’s ease of doing 

business at risk of underperforming 

expected goals if 

tax officials discharge their 

duties with prejudice and 

impede the ability of businesses 

to thrive. 

Earlier this month, the offices 

of Okomu Oil Palm Plc 

in Edo State was sealed by 

officials of the Federal Inland 

Revenue Service (FIRS), for 

alleged tax evasion of about 

N8 billion, but reopened later 

as the agency’s action turned 

out to be unfounded. 

The company in a statement 

on Tuesday, quoted 

Graham Hefer, Okomu’s 

managing director reiterating 

that “FIRS illegally sealed 

its premises located at Okomu 

Village, near Benin on 

Wednesday Feb. 14.’’ 

Fidelis Olise, Communications 

officer for Okomu, 

particularly bemoaned the 

action of a certain Anita 

Arinne, the FIRS Head of Enforcement 

Unit, Abuja, who 

according to him “unilaterally 

sealed up the company 

after refusing to speak with 

the managing director to 

verify if the company owed 

tax or not.’’ 

Olise, however, said that 

Okomu Oil Company was 

unsealed after FIRS Benin 

office confirmed that the 

company had never defaulted 

in payment of its taxes to 

government. 

According to Olise, the action 

has caused the company 

great embarrassment, as 

banks, investors and shareholders 

have been on the 

phone consistently asking 

questions on the development. 

“The action of FIRS could 

affect the future income of 

more than 14,000 Nigerian 

shareholders, aside from 

soiling its good reputation 

with financial institutions,” 

said Olise. 

Olise said although, FIRS 

had issued a verbal apology 

for its action, “we demand 

a written apology from the 

Chairman of the Board of 

FIRS, an apology letter from 

Erinne and a full retraction 

of the article placed by the 

Service in the social media to 

stem the negative impact of 

their action on the company. 

“We feel that this would 

not be out of place as the 

company’s name has been 

smeared.’’ 

According to Olise, the 

company will be forced to 

take legal action to the tune 

of N5 billion against the FIRS 

for the damage its action has 

done to the company’s reputation, 

and loss of income to 

shareholders. He, however, 

expressed optimism that 

FIRS would do the needful 

to avoid any legal action 

against it. 

BusinessDay called Anita 

Arinne, the FIRS Head of Enforcement 

Unit, Abuja, who 

reportedly led the exercise, 

to ascertain the accuracy of 

the procedure and its alleged 

flaws, but the calls were not 

answered. 

Okomu Oil Palm Plc has 

been on what analysts describe 

as “a continued sales 

winning streak” as forex restriction 

on palm oil importation 

has given it the opportunity 

to reap the benefits of 

years of investments in the 

local economy. 

BusinessDay had reported 

last November that, profit at 

Okomu, increased by 51.39 

percent in the nine month to 

September as sales jumped 

53.14 percent to N6.39 billion, 

according to results 

published in October. 

Okomu Oil palm Plc in 

2017, had its stock having 

a return of 73.56 percent in 

one year. 

The company’s strides 

in being profitable even as 

the economy desperately 

requires such local development, 

may however be hurt 

by unwarranted attacks such 

as that perceived to have 

been meted out to it by the 

FIRS.

Friday 23 February 2018 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 

FINTECH 

15 

News Products Review Technology Review Personality Review Company Review 

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 

Race for Nigeria’s first unicorn thickens as SureRemit list on Coinmarketcap 

Stories by FRANK ELEANYA 

The word ‘unicorn’ is 

by no stretch a new 

word neither was it 

coined by tech companies. 

However, 

the first person to use the word 

to describe a startup company 

valued at over $1 billion was 

Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy 

Ventures, a seed-stage fund that 

backs entrepreneurs. 

The use of ‘unicorn’ to describe 

tech companies valued 

at over $1 billion by private and 

public investors was to represent 

the statistical rarity of such 

successful ventures. As Lee 

puts it, “Unicorns don’t exist, 

and these companies do. But 

we like the term because to us, 

it means something extremely 

rare and magical.” 

In 2013, Lee identified 39 

of these ‘unicorn’ companies. 

By 2017, there have been 223 

unicorns identified across 

many countries according to a 

report by TechCrunch. 

The growth of technological 

innovations in Africa and the 

attendant growth in investment 

have seen some local companies 

being regarded as potential 

unicorns on the continent. 

Companies like Jumia and Africa 

Internet Group are already 

in pole position in this regard. 

Nigeria is one of the countries 

on the continent that is 

said to have the potential to 

produce the first unicorn on 

the continent. Despite a difficult 

business environment, 

tech start-ups in the country 

have managed to stay among 

those attracting the most investment 

in Africa. 

Nigerian fintech firms in 

particular, have led the list of 

tech companies getting the 

most money from investors. 

Last year, Fluterwave, a fintech 

firm secured over $10 million 

representing the most funidng 

from a startup in Africa in 2017 

according to Disrupt Africa’s 

latest Tech Ecosystem report. 

SureRemit, a global non-cash 

remittance service, closed $7 

million from an initial coin offering 

(ICO). 

Last week, SureRemit also 

announced that its token Remit, 

has been listed on the Coinmarketcap.com. 

Coinmarketcap 

is by far the most prominent 

global index of cryptocurrency 

prices. It is also the most dominant 

checking site in the cryptosphere, 

with Alexa making it 

the 44th most popular site in 

the US. For all its might, overreliance 

on a centralise data repository 

has its drawbacks, and 

goes against the very principles 

of the decentralised ecosystem. 

Listing a coin on Coinmarketcap 

has become almost 

critical to its survival. 

SureRemit may be young 

in the remittance global landscape 

but there is a reason 

why its claim to unicorn status 

should not be taken for granted. 

The company is aggressively 

making impressive steps to 

addressing a problem that affects 

a segment of the global 

market hungry eagerly awaiting 

a solution. 

According to the World 

Bank, remittances to emerging 

markets represent a $441 million 

opportunity. Incumbents 

are already feeling the heat 

from new comers such as WorldRemit 

and Transferwise. In 

2017, Transferwise re-entered 

the Nigerian remittance market 

citing renewed confidence 

in the central bank’s handling 

of the naira. 

Kelechi Nwokocha, a VC investor, 

observed in a recent post 

that the ability of SureRemit to 

capture a mere 0.1 percent of 

this market can throw into the 

arena of companies with $100 

million valuation based on 

comparable revenue multiples. 

“The company’s customer 

base and market opportunity 

makes it a comparable asset 

to the likes of WorldRemit 

and Transferwise. These two 

comparable companies com- 

mand valuations of $650m to 

$1.5bn with revenue profiles of 

$57m and $93m respectively. 

In other words, this represents 

a comparable revenue 

multiple between 11x to 16x. 

We can then comfortably conclude 

that SureRemit needs 

to capture 0.6 percent of the 

emerging market remittance 

opportunity in order to remit 

over $2.6bn and earn over 

$79m in revenue (Assuming 

they can successfully charge 

local merchants 3% on each 

transaction),” Nwkocha noted. 

SureRemit’s leverage on 

blockchain technology could 

be its biggest advantage. The 

ICO offer and the listing of 

Remit on Coinmarketcap open 

up an alternative source of finance 

that does not encumber 

its shareholders in the long 

term. With Remit on the global 

index and ICO finance secured, 

SureRemit is capable of funding 

its growth ambition over time. 

Hence, 2018 might possibly 

welcome the first unicorn in 

Nigeria. 

PRODUCT REVIEW 

How fees reduction can redefine USSD competition landscape 

Unstructured Supplementary 

Service Data 

(USSD) technology 

is becoming a dominant 

force in the financial services 

industry in Nigeria. The 

potential to reach Nigerians 

without bank accounts and 

capacity to empower millions 

without access to internet is 

largely behind its popularity. 

Hence, the competitive landscape 

for USSD technology 

adoption is ever widening and 

lately, one of the banks took that 

competition to another level. 

USSD is just like connectionoriented 

SMS communication. 

In other words, USSD is to SMS 

what IM (Instant Messaging) is 

to email. It is a protocol used by 

GSM cellphones to communicate 

with their service providers’ 

computers. 

USSD can be used for wireless 

application protocol (WAP) 

browsing, prepaid callback service, 

mobile money services, 

location-based content services, 

menu-based information services, 

or even as part of configuring 

the phone on the network. 

Some of the major drivers 

of its rise in Nigeria include 

internet penetration. Users do 

not need internet connection 

to carry out transactions; hence 

it is ideal for persons in regions 

where broadband are either 

non-existent or very poor. It is 

also driven by adaptability. It is 

easy to understand. In fact anyone 

who can dial a phone number 

is capable of doing USSD 

transaction. Finally, literacy level 

is of little consequence. 

The technology came into 

limelight in 2014 when the 

Guarantee trust Bank (GTBank) 

introduced the *737# code. Today, 

about eighteen commercial 

banks have unique USSD 

numbers. The banks include 

Access Bank (*901#); Diamond 

Bank (*426#); Ecobank (*326#); 

Fidelity Bank (*770#); First 

Bank (*894#); FCMB (*329#); 

Heritage Bank (*322#); Keystone 

Bank (*533#); Skye Bank 

(*833#); Stanbic IBTC (*909#); 

Sterling Bank (*822#); Union 

Bank (*826#); UBA (*919#); Unity 

Bank (*7799#); Wema Bank 

(*945#); Zenith Bank (*966#); 

and Jaiz Bank (*389#). 

“USSD is going to dominate 

in Africa long term,” Mark Essien, 

founder of Hotels.ng said 

in a Tweet. “In Nigeria, USSD 

access to bank account is huge 

and growing. It is like mobile 

money in East Africa, but owned 

by lots of banks. A lot of transfers 

happen this way.” 

Alongside growth and popularity, 

USSD have also faced 

criticisms of high transaction 

fees. Prior to August 2017, Banks 

could charge as high N100 on 

each transaction. 

“USSD banking is really 

huge, but still needs innovation 

around bulk transfer and 

charges. The banks charge for 

transaction, interbank transfer, 

stamp, SMS and of recent the 

telco increased charges. There is 

uncertainty around actual cost,” 

Chibuike Goodnews, founder of 

DoChase noted in a tweet. 

The Central Bank of Nigeria 

(CBN) had released a Guide to 

Bank Charges Circular in August, 

2017, which officially pegged 

the fees banks could charge on 

USSD transactions at N50. 

Essentially, the CBN circular 

was suggesting that banks 

could choose to reduce their 

transaction fees but they are not 

permitted to increase it beyond 

N50. There are banks however 

that charge N52, with the extra 

N2 meant for VAT. 

Nevertheless, GTBank has 

decided to take a chance with the 

CBN and on Wednesday it notified 

its over 3 million customers who 

use the famous *737# that it is reducing 

its transaction fees to N40. 

According to some Fintech 

experts, GTBank’s latest move 

could be in response to customers’ 

complaints that the 

bank was charging higher than 

the official CBN rate at N80 per 

transaction. 

It is also a strategy meant tilting 

the competition in the space 

to their advantage. Reducing 

fees charge on USSD transactions 

makes it more affordable 

and attractive for customers 

to adopt. First Bank of Nigeria 

Limited made a similar move 

when it allowed customers to 

do USSD transaction without 

having to necessarily recharge 

their phones with credit. 

Price reduction nonetheless 

can be undermined if 

telecommunication operators 

like MTN, GLO, 9Mobile, and 

Airtel decide to increase call 

charges. Thus, banks need to 

deepen their collaboration 

with telcos in order to sustain 

growth in USSD transactions.


Policy Investments Market Insight Influencers 

Nigeria tackles power challenges in industrial clusters with offgrid power 

Stories by ISAAC ANYAOGU 

Industrial clusters and 

business hubs around 

the country will soon 

breathe a new lease 

of life upon completion 

of off-grid projects in 

locations around Lagos, Aba 

and Kano, BusinessDay has 

gathered. 

The Rural Electrification 

Agency (REA) is supporting 

the construction of a 4MW 

off grid power plant for 

Shomolu printers in Lagos. 

The project is being handled 

by Total Support Energy, 

a clean energy company. 

Over 50,000 shops in Araria 

market will soon experience 

better power supply 

when the 7MW plant is 

completed. 

Similarly, Sabon Gari 

market in Kano will experience 

better power when 

a solar power plant being 

built to serve the 11,000 

stores there are completed. 

The state is also proposing 

a bill to ban generators in 

the market. 

Businesses in industrial 

clusters around Nigeria 

have been badly affected 

by lack of power. Mohammed 

Abubakar, registrar 

Chartered Institute of Professional 

Printers of Nigeria 

(CIPPON) in an earlier comment 

said, “the problem 

of poor power supply is 

threating to put us out of 

business.” 

Shomolu, in Lagos mainland, 

is the biggest printing 

cluster in Nigeria, employing 

over15,000 people 

including printers, lithographic 

machine operators, 

binders, paper dealers and 

artisans. 

Printing presses spend 

over 30 percent of their operating 

cost on self power 

generation as they accuse 

the Ikeja Electric f abdicating 

their responsibility to 

provide power for them. 

However the DisCos has a 

tough balancing act to do, 

as it gets around 400MW 

to deliver to over 10million 

users. 

Damilola Ogunbiyi, the 

managing director of REA 

had served in the Fashola 

government in Lagos who in 

December 2011, announced 

an initiative to ease power 

challenge in Shomolu by 

building a dedicated independent 

power plant for 

her facilities in the area 

to reduce pressure on the 

national grid and free up 

power for the community. 

Seven years later, the project 

is set to commence. 

Babatunde Fashola, minister 

of Power, Works and 

Housing, had said the Nigerian 

Electricity Regulatory 

Commission (NERC) has 

issued regulations that will 

govern mini grids and to 

help scale up and serve the 

many underserved people 

of the country and assist 

them to leverage upon the 

existing opportunities. 

He said that rural electrification 

has become the 

crux of the federal government 

adding that the government 

is developing very 

useful data that will help 

those who see the opportunities 

that exist in this 

market to reach them very 

quickly. 

“We propose to intervene 

through many ways, 

one of which is solar home 

systems, another way is 

to create partnership that 

help us energize business 

in communities markets like 

Araria in Aba, Sabon Gari 

in Kano, Shomolu in Lagos, 

Nnewi industrial cluster in 

Anambra and so many trade 

hubs in Nigeria,” Fashola 

had said. 

Ogunbiyi in remarks at 

the mini grid conference 

in Abuja last December 

said “From our studies, we 

realize that Nigerians spend 

about $14 billion a year on 

inefficient generation, we 

also believe that offgrid alternative 

like creating mini 

grid and solar home system 

can easily be at $9.2 billion 

a year, which will save the 

Nigerian public and citizens 

$4.2 billion.” 

She added that Nigeria 

with 180 million population 

is the biggest and most attractive 

off grid opportunity 

in Africa, and one of the best 

locations in the world on developing 

mini grid and solar 

home system, stressing “we 

are not just saying it, we also 

have the World Bank banking 

us and the Rockefeller 

foundation and we have 

actually done independent 

study of people to come up 

with substantive data.” 

Although 30 percent 

of the population is with 

limited and low energy access, 

she pointed out that 

Nigeria has a significant 

mark of the population 

having small scale generators, 

which relates to 

something in the region 

of 10 to 12GW, which she 

said can be translated to 

sustainable power supply. 

“Nigerian markets have 

the potential to take up to 

10,000 mini grids investments, 

this is the place you 

can create your business 

in scale. 

She said that with the 

support from the World 

Bank, on how to change the 

game, the Nigerian Electrification 

programme, is 

expected to bring in $350 

million with $150 million 

dedicated to mini grids, 

which she hoped will serve 

200,000 households and 50, 

000 local entrepreneurs. 

Asteven to launch first private sector financed renewable energy academy in Nigeria 

Asteven International 

Group, an indigenous 

renewable 

energy company 

in Nigeria, is set to launch 

the very first private sector 

financed comprehensive 

renewable energy and energy 

efficiency Centre in Nigeria 

– The Asteven Renewable 

Energy and Energy Efficiency 

Academy. 

The academy, a 100% 

solar powered institute, is 

conceptualized to build technical 

knowhow and capacity, 

creating solar entrepreneurs, 

competent solar/renewable 

energy technicians, installers 

and engineers in its state-of– 

the-art facility equipped with 

the latest high tech equipment. 

The Academy’s training 

curriculum and modules 

have been developed in 

collaboration with Global 

Energy Institutes, the company 

said in a release. “It is 

dynamic in nature with a 

strong focus on local content. 

It seeks to promote 

backward integration in the 

renewable energy sector and 

create green jobs for women, 

youths, and university graduates. 

Overall, it is set to address 

the skills gap that is so 

prevalent in the renewable 

energy sector in Nigeria,” said 

the release. 

The Centre will be officially 

opened by Bukola 

Saraki, Senate President, with 

Ibikunle Amosun, governor 

of Ogun State as chief host. 

Special guests include 

the Babatunde Raji Fashola, 

Minister of Power, Works and 

Housing, and his counterpart 

from Sierra-Leone, Amb. Ing. 

Henry O Macaulay, Minister 

of Energy. 

Over the years, the dearth 

of skilled manpower has 

impeded the growth of the 

renewable energy sector in 

Nigeria. Many renewable 

energy companies in Nigeria 

are presumed not to have the 

required technical capacity to 

embark on renewable energy 

projects. This assumption is 

fueled by the array of failed 

renewable energy projects 

seen all over the country. 

Some installers also patronise 

dealers of substandard 

solar panels mostly in markets 

in China exacerbating 

the problem. 

As the first of its kind, the 

Academy says it will provide 

superior, globally competitive 

training and specialist 

certifications to trainees at 

this state-of-the-art Academy. 

“The Academy shall develop 

forward looking curricula, 

identify career pathways, 

share labour market 

data and resolve issues related 

to trainings on Renewable 

Energy Technologies 

and workforce development. 

Isaac Anyaogu, Email: isaac.anyaogu@businessdayonline.com, 07037817378, Graphics: Joel Samson 

This shall be done through 

multiple offerings, including 

train-the-trainer workshops 

and webinars, distance learning 

courses, and mobile laboratory 

training modules,” says 

the company statement. 

Associated with the Academy 

is a ‘centre of excellence’ 

which is the entrepreneurship 

arm of the Academy 

that focuses on empowering 

the society in a more evolving 

environment dealing 

with energy issues. The goal 

according to the company 

is to provide trainees with 

the requisite skillsets and 

opportunities to be entrepreneurs, 

contributing towards 

Nigeria’s socio-economic 

development. 

With the launch of the 

Academy, the renewable 

energy sector is poised to 

grow in Nigeria powering 

Eco-Development and driving 

enhanced Green Growth 

Awareness. The Academy 

is endorsed by the various 

associations in the industry 

in Nigeria including; The 

Council for Renewable Energy 

Nigeria, Renewable 

Energy Association of Nigeria 

and Sustainable Energy 

Practitioners Association of 

Nigeria. The Academy has 

built a strong partnership as 

well with Global Legislators 

Organization for a Balanced 

Environment, G.L.O.B.E Nigeria 

Chapter.

Women In Nollywood 

SOLA SOBOWALE, 

Woman of 

Substance 

Entrepreneur 

NELLY AGBOGU’s 

biggest challenge 

birthed her business 

journey 

>> >> >> 

NIKE ADEYEMI 

18/19 20 20 

Executive Musings 

“Your ability to make things 

happen is what makes you 

different.” 

Women’s hub 


C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 

Leading Woman 

I would love to be the go-to aesthetic centre for 

clients visiting Nigeria from other countries – Uju 

17 

KEMI AJUMOBI 

Biography 

Uju Rapu is a medical 

doctor. Her speciality is 

in the area of Aesthetic 

Medicine. 

She pursued clinical 

medicine for a period but with an 

evident passion for Aesthetics, went 

on and trained with some of London’s 

Harley Street Aesthetic Specialists and 

later on worked with Dr Akhere Aire 

of Airesthetics, in the performance of 

cosmetic and anti-ageing treatments. 

She currently performs and advises 

on a range of aesthetic and minimally 

invasive anti-aging treatments including 

Mesotherapy, Micro needling and 

facial rejuvenation, Non-Surgical Face 

lifts, Intravenous supplements, nonsurgical 

weight loss treatments, Botox 

and Dermal filler injections, micro 

blading, permanent hair removal and 

more. She set up her clinical practice, 

Bel Fiore Medical Aesthetics a year 

and a half ago, bringing the best and 

latest anti-ageing cosmetic treatments 

with particular focus on skin of colour. 

Growing up 

Growing up was great. I was in Nigeria 

till secondary school, then the 

UK and eventually the Caribbean, 

before moving back to Nigeria. I was 

fortunate to be well exposed. As a 

kid, I was encouraged to work hard, 

study harder, chase my dreams and 

make my own decisions. I believe 

this gave me the confidence that I 

have now to run my own practice and 

also the necessary skills such as hard 

work and discipline that it has taken 

to maintain it. 

Why the decision to study Medicine 

and why the choice of your 

area of specialisation? 

I loved the sciences. I loved to read 

and chase anything that posed a challenge 

to me. Medicine did this. My 

area of specialisation stemmed from a 

passion that I discovered I had during 

my housejob at St Nicholas Hospital. 

Why is skin care important and 

how must we take care of it? 

The skin is the largest organ of the 

body and the first thing you notice 

when meeting someone. It definitely 

affects one’s first impression of you. 

Features of ageing also show first on 

the skin, and as such, good skin care is 

important to keep you looking good. 

Do men age faster than women 

or vice versa? 

Factors that influence the ageing 

process may be intrinsic (genetic) or 

environmental (sun exposure stress, 

cigarette smoking, alcohol intake and 

so on). Skin ageing has less to do with 

your gender. 

How important are vitamins to 

the body 

Vitamins are required for healthy 

functioning of all cells in our body, 

essentially to keep us healthy and 

keep our energy levels up. Ideally, we 

obtain most vitamins from a balanced 

diet but, as many of us don’t eat as 

well as we should, supplementation 

is an option. Intravenous vitamin 

supplementation is more effective as 

it allows us introduce a larger dose of 

these vitamins directly into the blood 

stream. Tablets will go through a process 

of digestion where some of these 

vitamins are eliminated by the time 

they reach the blood stream. 

What are the ways to fight ageing 

and how long do the procedures 

last? 

A good skin care routine involving 

daily washing, regular exfoliation and 

a daily sunscreen use would be the 

first tools to fight ageing. With more 

advanced features of ageing, cosmetic 

procedures such as the anti-wrinkle 

injections (botox), mesotherapy, 

collagen induction therapies and 

dermal filler treatments will help 

reverse and treat visible ageing. With 

the minimally invasive procedures, 

results may last a period of 6 months 

to 24 months. Top up treatments are 

advised to maintain results. 

Some Nigerians prefer going 

abroad for the procedures you 

do. Would you say it still boils 

down to lack of trust on Nigeria’s 

healthcare system? 

Possibly. A few also do not know that 

these procedures are available at the 

standard that they would like in Nigeria. 

And lastly, a lot of Nigerians are 

not as open to discussing these treatments 

so they may be going abroad to 

maintain discretion and their privacy. 

How can Nigeria’s healthcare be 

better improved? 

I believe the Nigerian health care 

system has very intelligent minds and 

great skills that have not been given 

the right environments to flourish. 

The system can be improved with 

better funding of our hospitals. Many 

do not have the most basic equipment 

Continues on page 18


Women’s hub 

‘I would love to be the 

go-to aesthetic centre... 

From her point of view 



required for diagnosis and treatment 

of common conditions. 

How was your experience starting 

up your practice when you 

returned to Nigeria? From then 

till date, what changes have occurred 

in your business? 

It has been very exciting seeing what I 

have always dreamt coming into actualisation. 

Since I started, I have moved 

into a bigger 2 room space, increasing 

my working capacity. We have grown 

our team and our client base, and we 

are offering more services than we 

started with initially. 

Challenges 

Challenges I have faced so far have 

been my first clinic being flooded. 

Electricity issues have also been a bit 

of a challenge. 

Business projections 

I would love to expand out of Lagos 

and eventually out of Nigeria. I would 

love to have my own branded skincare 

line. I would love to be the go-to aesthetic 

centre for clients visiting Nigeria 

from other countries. 

Side effects of your procedures 

All procedures come with potential 

side effects, most of which can be 

reduced or eliminated following pretreatment 

advice and after care and 

also ensuring procedures are done 

only by trained and qualified medical 

personnel. 

Are most of your procedures 

tolerable in terms of pain? 

Very tolerable! We make use of numbing 

creams were necessary. 

Exodus of Medical professionals 

from Nigeria 

Sad! Many of my colleagues have 

been granted employment into reputable 

institutions abroad with more 

comfortable working conditions 

and better pay. I think that it is very 

unfortunate for Nigerians to be losing 

such great doctors, then paying to go 

abroad to be treated by these same 

doctors! 

Workplace Palava 

Bimpe Adedoyin, though 

the youngest staff in her 

department, she is very 

intelligent and proficient 

at work. No matter how 

complex the situation is, she always 

finds a way to give her opinion and 

solution to issues, so well that her 

colleagues referred to her as Mini 

Genius or MG. 

Her direct boss, Patrick, is often 

occupied with a lot of responsibilities 

from his own superior. They 

often expect a lot from him because 

like MG, he also always knew how to 

efficiently execute projects. 

He got to the office that day and 

called Bimpe to his office. “Good afternoon 

sir” she said as she got into 

his office and closed the door. “How 

are you Bimpe?” he began to which 

she responded “fine sir”. 

“My wife’s birthday is coming 

and I want to do something special 

for her. I am travelling in two days’ 

time to return few days to her birthday. 

I have run out of ideas, think of 

something really nice and present 

to me when I return. Do you need 

assistance from any other person 

Toyin Poju-Oyemade 

Host, Chapters 

Founder, StoryTeller Media Nigeria 

Sometimes you have to 

lose yourself to find yourself. 

Yeah I’d say it again 

“Sometimes you have to lose 

yourself to find yourself”! Because 

the pressure of life and 

living is real, the pressure of 

“becoming”, the pressure of 

making it now, the pressure 

of “blowing”, the pressure of 

‘being somebody’, we fear the 

days of confusion, loss, setbacks, 

delays eand so on. But 

it’s in those very days we can 

then discover who we really 

are! #IDENTITY! 

So, instead of going on day-today 

in the constant “rat race”, 

Bimpe would 

have lost her job 

KEMI AJUMOBI 

in terms of ideas or should I leave it 

to the office ‘Mini Genius’ alone?” 

She laughed and responded “Yes sir, 

I can handle it sir. I will surely have 

the ideas on paper when you return 

s i r ”. 

Bimpe got on it immediately. She 

began to make calls, she had just two 

weeks to deliver from the day her 

boss informed her. She contacted 

everyone who would help and they 

all came in handy. 

By the time her boss returned, 

everything was sorted. He looked 

through all Bimpe had done and was 

truly impressed “You did an amazing 

job Bimpe, my wife will certainly 

be surprised, she will never see this 

coming. I know she is going to know 

a professional hand put this together 

LIVE!!! 

some days just choose to sit 

back and observe. Observe your 

own life. Ask yourself questions; 

the deep questions, the scary 

questions, the seeking questions. 

Take time out with God 

to discover who He has made 

you to be and not who you have 

been labelled to be!!!#SELAH! 

Life is way more than constant 

continuous acquisition; in fact, 

life is not at all about that!!! 

Life is finding you, finding purpose, 

seeing the world beyond 

you, knowing your place in this 

vast existence and then seeking 

to manifest it day by day by day! 

LIVE!!!!! 

because she knows this is certainly 

not my field. God bless” He said to 

her and she said “You are welcome 

sir. I will be expecting your words 

to be written in her birthday card 

by the Calligrapher.” “That’s fine. 

Cheers!” he said and she left. 

Few days later, Patrick was at 

home and he got a message from 

Bimpe, showing the style of writing 

the Calligrapher chose. Patrick 

Okayed it and responded “Thanks 

B i m p e ”. 

While having breakfast, Patrick’s 

wife, Nneka, stylishly asked, “So 

where are we going for my birthday? 

It’s just 3 days away and you 

haven’t said anything about it yet” 

and Patrick responded “Sweetheart, 

you know how tedious my work is, I 

am sure I can always make up for it 

some other time” he said and Nneka 

responded “Of course I know, I am 

Sola Sobowa 

Woman of Subs 

If there is one woman 

who thrills me whenever 

I watch her, it is the 

affable Sola Sobowale. 

Her acting skills are 

second to none. We thought 

we had seen it all when she 

featured in Wale Adenuga’s 

Super Story where she played 

the role of Toyin Tomato. She 

was simply Amazing. 

She went on to do other 

amazing movies but fresh on 

my mind, is her role in Wedding 

Party 1 and 2. Her delivery 

of her lines, her energetic 

display of character cannot be 

over emphasised. She strikes 

me like that mother who will 

do everything to make her 

children happy both on screen 

and in real life. It feels natural 

to think you are safe if any 

family member tries to upset 

you because you are certain 

she will defend you to the last. 

In Wedding Party, she 

played the bride’s mother who 

is excited about her only child 

getting married and decided 

to leave no stone unturned 

to announce to Nigeria’s elite 

that a new family has joined 

the 1% richest. She plays the 

role of ‘Tinuade Coker’, the 

mother of the bride and in 

only just pulling your legs, certainly, 

we will celebrate it much later.” He 

was done with breakfast, gave his 

wife a peck on the cheek and left for 

w o r k ”. 

He got to work and as he was 

Wedding Party 2, her role was 

same except that this time, her 

daughter was pregnant. 

Sola is an Actress, Screen 

Writer, Director and Movie 

Producer. She started her acting 

career when she joined 

the Awada Kerikeri Group under 

the leadership of Adebayo 

Salami, where she starred in 

hit movie ‘Asewo To Re Mecca’. 

She is a multiple award 

winning and well known face 

in the Nigeria TV industry 

cutting across the younger 

and older generation and has 

played lead roles in both English 

and Yoruba home movies. 

Sola Sobowale as a brand, 

identified with Corporate 

Social Responsibility (CSR) 

initiative(s) with the motive 

of giving back to her community. 

Sola led the walk 

among notable personalities 

to show her support for the 

visually impaired students of 

the Federal Nigeria Society for 

the Blind (FNSB). 

She scripted, produced 

and directed, Ohun Oko Somida, 

a 2010 Nigerian film 

that stars Adebayo Salami 

(Oga Bello). 

She also featured in Dangerous 

Twins, a 2004 Nigerian 

about to step out of his car, he remembered 

he forgot his phone at home so he sent his 

driver, Shina, back and told him to tell his 

wife where the phone was, by her dressing 

table. Off Shina went and when he got home, 

Nneka asked him what happened and he


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

19 

Women’s hub 

Against All Odds 

le, 

Stacey Simon 

TROMBERO SURVIVED 

tance 

drama film produced by 

Tade Ogidan, written and 

directed by Niji Akanni. 

She was in Family on Fire 

produced and directed by 

Tade Ogidan. 

The journey to showbiz 

started when she opted 

out of College of Education 

to follow her dream by 

going to Ibadan then the 

hub of entertainment in 

Nigeria. Initially, enrolled 

as a Secretary in training at 

Sight and Sound, Ibadan, 

Tunji Oyelana, (Sura Di Tailor) 

who married her elder 

sister, Kikelomo, got her 

enrolled in the University 

of Ibadan’s Department of 

Music. 

Eventually, she chose the 

thespian art. From rested 

Village Headmaster, to Lola 

Fani Kayode’s Mirror In The 

Sun and a couple of stage 

productions including Femi 

Osofisan’s Our Husband Has 

Gone Mad Again, it was a journey 

of upward progression. 

We all are looking forward 

to another spectacular 

delivery in a soon to be released 

film by the ace filmmaker, 

Kemi Adetiba called 

King Of Boys! 

informed her that his boss forgot his phone 

by her dressing table. 

Off she went to the room, picked up the 

phone, and as she made her way downstairs, 

the phone vibrated, she saw a message from 

someone called Bimpe MG that said “You are 

welcome sir”. She got curious and decided 

to read further. She found only one message 

sent by whatsapp, she saw a beautiful writing 

with words that were very emotional and 

romantic. There was no ‘From’ or ‘To’ and it 

ended with ‘I love you with all my life”. She 

was furious but managed to keep calm. She 

gave the phone to Shina and as he left, she 

burst out in tears “Patrick is cheating on me? 

Why?? Why did I have to find out today when 

my birthday is just few days away, what a 

birthday gift” she said as she cried so much 

that her head hurt. She called her office to say 

she would not be able to make it for that day. 

When Patrick came back from work, she 

was cold towards him. He did all he could to 

understand why she was cold but she didn’t 

say anything. After much persuasion, she 

asked him “Patrick, who is Bimpe MG?” to 

which he responded, “She is my staff at work, 

what happened? I saw her at work today, so I 

know nothing can be wrong with her…what 

is it Nneka?” 

She took his phone, went straight to the 

message and asked “Patrick, what is this? 

Why Patrick?? Why??...MG means My Girl 

right?? Deny it you liar…deny it…those were 

words you would naturally use for 

me and you said all that to her?? 

Patrick, what have I done to deserve 

this”. She asked and he held her two 

hands and looked straight into her 

eyes and said “Nneka, my phone 

has no password, if I had anything to 

hide would I leave it for you to see? 

There is a reason behind this, if I say 

it I will ruin everything” and Nneka 

interjected “No! Just say it now 

Patrick, say it…she is pregnant right? 

And you intended telling me after 

my birthday right? Go on say it, I am 

listening, what is more to ruin if not 

this?” she said in tears. 

“Nneka, I promise you that in two 

days’ time, if I don’t proffer a solution 

for this, report me to my Pastor, 

my father and everyone you want. 

Just give me two days please, it will 

come together but please I beg you, 

do not get in touch with Bimpe at 

all, again, it will ruin things and you 

won’t be happy about your actions”. 

For some weird reasons, she found 

herself believing him and couldn’t 

wait for two days to be over so she 

could unleash her venom, even 

though the second day of the two 

days was her birthday. 

Her birthday came and one after 

the other she received gifts from 

her husband and they were coming 

in in two hours interval. Everyone 

at her place of work couldn’t help 

but admire the way the gifts were 

coming in. She was happy and loved 

the gifts but she kept thinking it was 

her husband’s way of bribing her for 

being ‘caught’. He had never done all 

these before. As long as Nneka was 

concerned, Patrick was either going 

to sack Bimpe or she would leave 

him and take her children with her. 

Her husband got back from work 

early and was waiting for her at 

home. As she opened the door, rose 

petals were on the walk-way, she 

followed it until she got to their bedroom. 

He embraced her and asked 

her to sit. He gave her the card and 

as she opened it, she realised the 

words in the card were same with 

the one Bimpe sent. “What is this 

Patrick? Are you trying to rob it in?” 

to which he responded “I wanted to 

give you a birthday that will cover 

up for not always being around for 

your birthday and I gave the assignment 

to Bimpe MG. MG means Mini 

Genius. That is what we call her at 

work. I gave her an idea of what I 

thought was ok and she added more. 

The words you saw were the words I 

wrote which she sent to me after the 

Calligrapher was done with the writing, 

so I could approve before it was 

finally written in your card, which 

you now have in your hands”. “Oh 

Patrick, I feel so ashamed of myself 

right now” she said. “That was why 

I insisted you waited till today. If I 

had told you, it would have ruined 

the surprise”. Patrick said. Nneka 

went on her knees and apologised 

“I am feeling like one ‘wicked’ 

school prefect right now, so since 

you are on your knees, just raise up 

your hands and close your eyes for 

distrusting me” he said and they 

both burst out laughing. “Thank 

God you ensured I didn’t reach 

Bimpe, goodness gracious, I would 

have been so embarrassed. Thank 

you darling” She said. “That’s not 

all, close your eyes” he said. By the 

time she opened her eyes, she saw a 

mini box, she opened it and found 

the key to a brand new 2017 Nissan 

Pathfinder. She could not contain 

her joy, “Thank you MG!!” she teased 

“OK ooo Madam, so what does your 

own MG mean o?” and she said “My 

Guy!!!” then she jumped on him and 

they had a nice laugh. 

I guess the words “patience is a 

virtue” can never be over emphasised. 

Trombero was just beginning 

her career in cancer research in 

2006 at age 49 when one day she 

felt a pain in her chest that wouldn’t 

go away. Her job was to manage the 

regulatory aspects of clinical research 

(informed consents, budgets, etc.) and 

she was having a busy day – too busy, 

she thought – to seek immediate medical 

help, even though she worked in a 

hospital. At the end of the day the pain 

was still there and a co-worker, a nurse, 

escorted her to the emergency room. 

Doctors suspected a possible heart 

problem and ordered a chest x-ray, then 

called her back for a second one. A few 

days later, a doctor called her to say they 

had seen a mass on the upper left lobe 

of her lung. She had several more tests, 

including a CT scan, a PET scan and a 

biopsy of the mass. She was diagnosed 

with small cell lung cancer, a type that 

accounts for only about 10% to 15% of 

all lung cancers. It tends to grow and 

spread quickly. But fortunately, Trombero’s 

cancer was found while it was still 

considered to be limited stage disease, 

which means it was confined to a relatively 

small area of her lung. 

When she heard the diagnosis, 

Trombero says she immediately assumed 

she was going to die. Because 

of her work, she knew enough about 

her type of lung cancer to know how 

serious it was. She started getting her 

affairs in order. She says the hardest part 

was telling her father, who is now 90. “He 

accuses me of aging him,” she says. “We 

joke about it now.” 

Trombero’s other thought on hearing 

her diagnosis, was to get busy. “I felt like 

somebody slapped me from out of nowhere,” 

she said. “I thought, ‘I can’t dwell 

on this. It’s going to be my demise, but 

I can take care of business. I’ll do whatever 

the doctors tell me to do.’” 

In all, she was in treatment for about 

7 months. She had chemotherapy, then 

surgery to remove part of her lung, then 

more chemotherapy. The drugs were 

strong and Trombero had many unpleasant 

side effects, including fatigue, 

hair loss, taste changes, and constipation. 

She received care and support from 

her father, her husband, her sister, and 

her niece. They called, visited, coaxed 

her to eat, and helped her take baths. 

These days Trombero still works with 

cancer, but now as a certified tumor 

registrar. She has some shortness of 

breath as a result of her treatment, but 

otherwise feels good. “You learn to live 

with it,” she says. She has a scan once a 

year to check that there’s still no cancer. 

She had a scare once – doctors thought 

they saw something suspicious. But 

when she was re-checked a few months 

later, it had disappeared. 

For advert, sponsorship and 

participation, contact 

kemi@businessdayonline.com


Women’s hub 


Women’s hub 

C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

Against All Odds 

19 

‘I would love to be the 

go-to aesthetic centre... 

From her point of view 



required for diagnosis and treatment 

of common conditions. 

Sola Sobowale, 

Stacey Simon 

How was your experience starting 

up your practice when you 

returned to Nigeria? From then 

till date, what changes have occurred 

in your business? 

It has been very exciting seeing what I 

have always dreamt coming into actualisation. 

Since I started, I have moved 

into a bigger 2 room space, increasing 

my working capacity. We have grown 

our team and our client base, and we 

are offering more services than we 

started with initially. 

Challenges 

Challenges I have faced so far have 

been my first clinic being flooded. 

Electricity issues have also been a bit 

of a challenge. 

Business projections 

I would love to expand out of Lagos 

and eventually out of Nigeria. I would 

love to have my own branded skincare 

line. I would love to be the go-to aesthetic 

centre for clients visiting Nigeria 

from other countries. 

Side effects of your procedures 

All procedures come with potential 

side effects, most of which can be 

reduced or eliminated following pretreatment 

advice and after care and 

also ensuring procedures are done 

only by trained and qualified medical 

personnel. 

Are most of your procedures 

tolerable in terms of pain? 

Very tolerable! We make use of numbing 

creams were necessary. 

Exodus of Medical professionals 

from Nigeria 

Sad! Many of my colleagues have 

been granted employment into reputable 

institutions abroad with more 

comfortable working conditions 

and better pay. I think that it is very 

unfortunate for Nigerians to be losing 

such great doctors, then paying to go 

abroad to be treated by these same 

doctors! 

Workplace Palava 

Bimpe Adedoyin, though 

the youngest staff in her 

department, she is very 

intelligent and proficient 

at work. No matter how 

complex the situation is, she always 

finds a way to give her opinion and 

solution to issues, so well that her 

colleagues referred to her as Mini 

Genius or MG. 

Her direct boss, Patrick, is often 

occupied with a lot of responsibilities 

from his own superior. They 

often expect a lot from him because 

like MG, he also always knew how to 

efficiently execute projects. 

He got to the office that day and 

called Bimpe to his office. “Good afternoon 

sir” she said as she got into 

his office and closed the door. “How 

are you Bimpe?” he began to which 

she responded “fine sir”. 

“My wife’s birthday is coming 

and I want to do something special 

for her. I am travelling in two days’ 

time to return few days to her birthday. 

I have run out of ideas, think of 

something really nice and present 

to me when I return. Do you need 

assistance from any other person 

Toyin Poju-Oyemade 

Host, Chapters 

Founder, StoryTeller Media Nigeria 

Sometimes you have to 

lose yourself to find yourself. 

Yeah I’d say it again 

“Sometimes you have to lose 

yourself to find yourself”! Because 

the pressure of life and 

living is real, the pressure of 

“becoming”, the pressure of 

making it now, the pressure 

of “blowing”, the pressure of 

‘being somebody’, we fear the 

days of confusion, loss, setbacks, 

delays eand so on. But 

it’s in those very days we can 

then discover who we really 

are! #IDENTITY! 

So, instead of going on day-today 

in the constant “rat race”, 

LIVE!!! 

some days just choose to sit 

back and observe. Observe your 

own life. Ask yourself questions; 

the deep questions, the scary 

questions, the seeking questions. 

Take time out with God 

to discover who He has made 

you to be and not who you have 

been labelled to be!!!#SELAH! 

Life is way more than constant 

continuous acquisition; in fact, 

life is not at all about that!!! 

Life is finding you, finding purpose, 

seeing the world beyond 

you, knowing your place in this 

vast existence and then seeking 

to manifest it day by day by day! 

LIVE!!!!! 

Bimpe would 

have lost her job 

KEMI AJUMOBI 

in terms of ideas or should I leave it 

to the office ‘Mini Genius’ alone?” 

She laughed and responded “Yes sir, 

I can handle it sir. I will surely have 

the ideas on paper when you return 

s i r ”. 

Bimpe got on it immediately. She 

began to make calls, she had just two 

weeks to deliver from the day her 

boss informed her. She contacted 

everyone who would help and they 

all came in handy. 

By the time her boss returned, 

everything was sorted. He looked 

through all Bimpe had done and was 

truly impressed “You did an amazing 

job Bimpe, my wife will certainly 

be surprised, she will never see this 

coming. I know she is going to know 

a professional hand put this together 

because she knows this is certainly 

not my field. God bless” He said to 

her and she said “You are welcome 

sir. I will be expecting your words 

to be written in her birthday card 

by the Calligrapher.” “That’s fine. 

Cheers!” he said and she left. 

Few days later, Patrick was at 

home and he got a message from 

Bimpe, showing the style of writing 

the Calligrapher chose. Patrick 

Okayed it and responded “Thanks 

B i m p e ”. 

While having breakfast, Patrick’s 

wife, Nneka, stylishly asked, “So 

where are we going for my birthday? 

It’s just 3 days away and you 

haven’t said anything about it yet” 

and Patrick responded “Sweetheart, 

you know how tedious my work is, I 

am sure I can always make up for it 

some other time” he said and Nneka 

responded “Of course I know, I am 

Woman of Substance 

If there is one woman 

who thrills me whenever 

I watch her, it is the 

affable Sola Sobowale. 

Her acting skills are 

second to none. We thought 

we had seen it all when she 

featured in Wale Adenuga’s 

Super Story where she played 

the role of Toyin Tomato. She 

was simply Amazing. 

She went on to do other 

amazing movies but fresh on 

my mind, is her role in Wedding 

Party 1 and 2. Her delivery 

of her lines, her energetic 

display of character cannot be 

over emphasised. She strikes 

me like that mother who will 

do everything to make her 

children happy both on screen 

and in real life. It feels natural 

to think you are safe if any 

family member tries to upset 

you because you are certain 

she will defend you to the last. 

In Wedding Party, she 

played the bride’s mother who 

is excited about her only child 

getting married and decided 

to leave no stone unturned 

to announce to Nigeria’s elite 

that a new family has joined 

the 1% richest. She plays the 

role of ‘Tinuade Coker’, the 

mother of the bride and in 

only just pulling your legs, certainly, 

we will celebrate it much later.” He 

was done with breakfast, gave his 

wife a peck on the cheek and left for 

w o r k ”. 

He got to work and as he was 

Wedding Party 2, her role was 

same except that this time, her 

daughter was pregnant. 

Sola is an Actress, Screen 

Writer, Director and Movie 

Producer. She started her acting 

career when she joined 

the Awada Kerikeri Group under 

the leadership of Adebayo 

Salami, where she starred in 

hit movie ‘Asewo To Re Mecca’. 

She is a multiple award 

winning and well known face 

in the Nigeria TV industry 

cutting across the younger 

and older generation and has 

played lead roles in both English 

and Yoruba home movies. 

Sola Sobowale as a brand, 

identified with Corporate 

Social Responsibility (CSR) 

initiative(s) with the motive 

of giving back to her community. 

Sola led the walk 

among notable personalities 

to show her support for the 

visually impaired students of 

the Federal Nigeria Society for 

the Blind (FNSB). 

She scripted, produced 

and directed, Ohun Oko Somida, 

a 2010 Nigerian film 

that stars Adebayo Salami 

(Oga Bello). 

She also featured in Dangerous 

Twins, a 2004 Nigerian 

about to step out of his car, he remembered 

he forgot his phone at home so he sent his 

driver, Shina, back and told him to tell his 

wife where the phone was, by her dressing 

table. Off Shina went and when he got home, 

Nneka asked him what happened and he 

drama film produced by 

Tade Ogidan, written and 

directed by Niji Akanni. 

She was in Family on Fire 

produced and directed by 

Tade Ogidan. 

The journey to showbiz 

started when she opted 

out of College of Education 

to follow her dream by 

going to Ibadan then the 

hub of entertainment in 

Nigeria. Initially, enrolled 

as a Secretary in training at 

Sight and Sound, Ibadan, 

Tunji Oyelana, (Sura Di Tailor) 

who married her elder 

sister, Kikelomo, got her 

enrolled in the University 

of Ibadan’s Department of 

Music. 

Eventually, she chose the 

thespian art. From rested 

Village Headmaster, to Lola 

Fani Kayode’s Mirror In The 

Sun and a couple of stage 

productions including Femi 

Osofisan’s Our Husband Has 

Gone Mad Again, it was a journey 

of upward progression. 

We all are looking forward 

to another spectacular 

delivery in a soon to be released 

film by the ace filmmaker, 

Kemi Adetiba called 

King Of Boys! 

informed her that his boss forgot his phone 

by her dressing table. 

Off she went to the room, picked up the 

phone, and as she made her way downstairs, 

the phone vibrated, she saw a message from 

someone called Bimpe MG that said “You are 

welcome sir”. She got curious and decided 

to read further. She found only one message 

sent by whatsapp, she saw a beautiful writing 

with words that were very emotional and 

romantic. There was no ‘From’ or ‘To’ and it 

ended with ‘I love you with all my life”. She 

was furious but managed to keep calm. She 

gave the phone to Shina and as he left, she 

burst out in tears “Patrick is cheating on me? 

Why?? Why did I have to find out today when 

my birthday is just few days away, what a 

birthday gift” she said as she cried so much 

that her head hurt. She called her office to say 

she would not be able to make it for that day. 

When Patrick came back from work, she 

was cold towards him. He did all he could to 

understand why she was cold but she didn’t 

say anything. After much persuasion, she 

asked him “Patrick, who is Bimpe MG?” to 

which he responded, “She is my staff at work, 

what happened? I saw her at work today, so I 

know nothing can be wrong with her…what 

is it Nneka?” 

She took his phone, went straight to the 

message and asked “Patrick, what is this? 

Why Patrick?? Why??...MG means My Girl 

right?? Deny it you liar…deny it…those were 

words you would naturally use for 

me and you said all that to her?? 

Patrick, what have I done to deserve 

this”. She asked and he held her two 

hands and looked straight into her 

eyes and said “Nneka, my phone 

has no password, if I had anything to 

hide would I leave it for you to see? 

There is a reason behind this, if I say 

it I will ruin everything” and Nneka 

interjected “No! Just say it now 

Patrick, say it…she is pregnant right? 

And you intended telling me after 

my birthday right? Go on say it, I am 

listening, what is more to ruin if not 

this?” she said in tears. 

“Nneka, I promise you that in two 

days’ time, if I don’t proffer a solution 

for this, report me to my Pastor, 

my father and everyone you want. 

Just give me two days please, it will 

come together but please I beg you, 

do not get in touch with Bimpe at 

all, again, it will ruin things and you 

won’t be happy about your actions”. 

For some weird reasons, she found 

herself believing him and couldn’t 

wait for two days to be over so she 

could unleash her venom, even 

though the second day of the two 

days was her birthday. 

Her birthday came and one after 

the other she received gifts from 

her husband and they were coming 

in in two hours interval. Everyone 

at her place of work couldn’t help 

but admire the way the gifts were 

coming in. She was happy and loved 

the gifts but she kept thinking it was 

her husband’s way of bribing her for 

being ‘caught’. He had never done all 

these before. As long as Nneka was 

concerned, Patrick was either going 

to sack Bimpe or she would leave 

him and take her children with her. 

Her husband got back from work 

early and was waiting for her at 

home. As she opened the door, rose 

petals were on the walk-way, she 

followed it until she got to their bedroom. 

He embraced her and asked 

her to sit. He gave her the card and 

as she opened it, she realised the 

words in the card were same with 

the one Bimpe sent. “What is this 

Patrick? Are you trying to rob it in?” 

to which he responded “I wanted to 

give you a birthday that will cover 

up for not always being around for 

your birthday and I gave the assignment 

to Bimpe MG. MG means Mini 

Genius. That is what we call her at 

work. I gave her an idea of what I 

thought was ok and she added more. 

The words you saw were the words I 

wrote which she sent to me after the 

Calligrapher was done with the writing, 

so I could approve before it was 

finally written in your card, which 

you now have in your hands”. “Oh 

Patrick, I feel so ashamed of myself 

right now” she said. “That was why 

I insisted you waited till today. If I 

had told you, it would have ruined 

the surprise”. Patrick said. Nneka 

went on her knees and apologised 

“I am feeling like one ‘wicked’ 

school prefect right now, so since 

you are on your knees, just raise up 

your hands and close your eyes for 

distrusting me” he said and they 

both burst out laughing. “Thank 

God you ensured I didn’t reach 

Bimpe, goodness gracious, I would 

have been so embarrassed. Thank 

you darling” She said. “That’s not 

all, close your eyes” he said. By the 

time she opened her eyes, she saw a 

mini box, she opened it and found 

the key to a brand new 2017 Nissan 

Pathfinder. She could not contain 

her joy, “Thank you MG!!” she teased 

“OK ooo Madam, so what does your 

own MG mean o?” and she said “My 

Guy!!!” then she jumped on him and 

they had a nice laugh. 

I guess the words “patience is a 

virtue” can never be over emphasised. 

TROMBERO SURVIVED 

Trombero was just beginning 

her career in cancer research in 

2006 at age 49 when one day she 

felt a pain in her chest that wouldn’t 

go away. Her job was to manage the 

regulatory aspects of clinical research 

(informed consents, budgets, etc.) and 

she was having a busy day – too busy, 

she thought – to seek immediate medical 

help, even though she worked in a 

hospital. At the end of the day the pain 

was still there and a co-worker, a nurse, 

escorted her to the emergency room. 

Doctors suspected a possible heart 

problem and ordered a chest x-ray, then 

called her back for a second one. A few 

days later, a doctor called her to say they 

had seen a mass on the upper left lobe 

of her lung. She had several more tests, 

including a CT scan, a PET scan and a 

biopsy of the mass. She was diagnosed 

with small cell lung cancer, a type that 

accounts for only about 10% to 15% of 

all lung cancers. It tends to grow and 

spread quickly. But fortunately, Trombero’s 

cancer was found while it was still 

considered to be limited stage disease, 

which means it was confined to a relatively 

small area of her lung. 

When she heard the diagnosis, 

Trombero says she immediately assumed 

she was going to die. Because 

of her work, she knew enough about 

her type of lung cancer to know how 

serious it was. She started getting her 

affairs in order. She says the hardest part 

was telling her father, who is now 90. “He 

accuses me of aging him,” she says. “We 

joke about it now.” 

Trombero’s other thought on hearing 

her diagnosis, was to get busy. “I felt like 

somebody slapped me from out of nowhere,” 

she said. “I thought, ‘I can’t dwell 

on this. It’s going to be my demise, but 

I can take care of business. I’ll do whatever 

the doctors tell me to do.’” 

In all, she was in treatment for about 

7 months. She had chemotherapy, then 

surgery to remove part of her lung, then 

more chemotherapy. The drugs were 

strong and Trombero had many unpleasant 

side effects, including fatigue, 

hair loss, taste changes, and constipation. 

She received care and support from 

her father, her husband, her sister, and 

her niece. They called, visited, coaxed 

her to eat, and helped her take baths. 

These days Trombero still works with 

cancer, but now as a certified tumor 

registrar. She has some shortness of 

breath as a result of her treatment, but 

otherwise feels good. “You learn to live 

with it,” she says. She has a scan once a 

year to check that there’s still no cancer. 

She had a scare once – doctors thought 

they saw something suspicious. But 

when she was re-checked a few months 

later, it had disappeared. 

For advert, sponsorship and 

participation, contact 

kemi@businessdayonline.com


Women’s hub 

ENTREPRENEUR 

Nelly Agbogu’s biggest challenge 

birthed her business journey 

KEMI AJUMOBI 

Nelly Agbogu is the 

brain behind NEL- 

LIES healthy food 

and snack company 

in the heart of Lagos, 

Nigeria. Nelly isn’t your average 

business owner who dreamt 

of entrepreneurship 

from an early age like most 

CEO’s would tell you. She is a 

woman (and a mum) who had 

struggled with her weight and 

faced hurting body shaming criticism 

for years; and in the course of 

finding a solution to losing weight, 

and also being a mom of a baby 

who eats gluten free products, she 

had to find her passion for baking 

healthy options to help herself 

and her children. She then decided 

to build a brand out of it. In 

her words, “My biggest challenge 

birthed my business journey.” 

Transitioning from working 

with an oil company to starting 

your own business? 

I will say it was a smooth transition 

at the end. I have always 

known I will one day leave my 

paid employment but how I was 

unsure. First it was all about me 

trying to lose weight and having 

a healthy alternative until I discovered 

one of my children could 

only eat gluten free products, 

so I started making research on 

how to create a gluten free snack 

for my baby in nursery school. 

Saddled with the fact that I could 

not sustain importing gluten free 

snacks, I took to Google/YouTube 

(again) to see how I could create 

his snacks. I remember then I will 

post pictures on my BBM handle 

and a lot of people would want it. 

So I started thinking this may be 

a market untapped. I made my 

research, I realized there were 

a handful of healthy stores but 

nothing really in healthy snacks 

especially gluten free so i decided 

I would just start and see how I 

will make the business scalable.` 

By day I was a 8-5 worker and by 

night I owned Nellies and baked 

my heart out till 5am where I will 

get the kids ready for school and 

head to work. I am usually the 

first at work so I will just lock up 

myself in the toilet and sleep to resumption 

time. By the end of 2015 

I knew I was ready to open a store 

because I created a “ quit-yourjob-plan-in-one-year” 

where if I 

was able to make my gross in one 

year as a side hustle I will quit but 

I did it I did it in 6 months. By 11th 

of March 2016 I got redundant 

from my oil servicing job and 

16th of March I opened my first 

store store in Victoria Island. You 

see why I said it was a smooth 

transition. 

ness to give samples, learn from 

our mistakes and being open to 

criticism. 

Soaring above body shamers 

and advice for those who do it 

At first, dealing with criticism 

was a lot to swallow. People see 

you and assume that because you 

are big, you are unintelligent or 

you do not qualify. But I have a 

child who needs me, who really 

doesn’t care if I am big or not, he 

just needs his mom to help him 

find an alternative. He is my WHY 

that people don’t get to see, so I 

don’t blame them. As time went 

on, I started seeing things from a 

360 point of view, I realized that 

people who criticized me were 

doing so from a place of love, they 

want to see Nellies as a brand 

grow beyond what it is, they are 

passionate as we are about our 

vision and any little way to could 

help they did. By understanding 

that, we at nellies have been able 

to make changes where we can 

and be a work in progress where 

we should. 

Training over 300 business 

owners 

I have trained over 300 business 

owners but not at Nellies but a 

side business. I started something 

birthed out of passion called 

Naijabrandchick, where I train 

people on how to leverage on 

Instagram to grow their business. 

Instagram has been a big factor to 

the growth of Nellies so I thought 

What made Nellies the reputable 

brand it is today? 

It’s our passion, creativity, innovation 

and consistency. It’s about 

us taking a risk in a market and 

carving a niche, it is all about us 

discussing our struggle and our 

openness to learn. It’s our willingthe 

best way to give back is to 

teach the tools and tricks I have 

used to become an authority in 

the healthy food space in Nigeria. 

Greatest challenge and how 

you surmounted it 

My biggest challenge initially was 

being able to identify if the business 

was worth going full time. I 

was working at the time I started 

and focused on next day deliveries 

but as the business began to 

grow, I knew I had to develop a 

new strategy. So I started by dropping 

my products in stores, and 

since my products were without 

any form of preservatives, I will 

have to ensure that I sold out 

or they will all go bad, now this 

was a challenge. What I did was 

to take to Instagram, to create a 

buzz to direct my customers to 

stores where my products were 

stocked. I did that and created 

more buzz and people began 

to know me and my brand. The 

quit-your-job plan I set myself 

for one year, I hit my goals in 6 

months so I knew it was time to 

start looking for my store of my 

own. The most rewarding part of it 

all was seeing my innovation and 

creativity being appreciated. We 

gave out samples at first to new 

customers since our products 

were unique and very different, 

now we get a lot of referrals on 

our products and with the help of 

social media and the buzz we are 

creating, business has started to 

become more rewarding. 

How can government and 

private individuals encourage 

small businesses? 

I feel the best way the government 

and the private individuals 

can help small business owners is 

to be lenient when it comes to the 

laws for start-ups. There should 

be some waiver in paying some 

taxes for the first 5 years. Also, I 

feel that private individuals should 

seek to help small business owners 

by being open to long term profit 

sharing to help reduce overheads 

from some business owners. 

What day in your life is it that 

you can never forget? 

Hmm… The day I was locked up 

for not having regulatory number 

for my innovative healthy snacks. 

But now, I see it as my business 

learning curve, I was still new in 

business not sure what to expect. 

Today, we are fully compliant and 

cannot wait to have our numbers 

out so that we can start distribution 

all over Nigeria. 

What informs your choice of 

menu and how do you create 

new ones? 

Our choice of menu is borne out 

of if they are Gluten free, Low 

Carb, Ketogenic , Vegan or Organic. 

So we try to have a wide 

range of items based on the seasons 

since 80% of our produce are 

proudly Nigerian. 

How has your business survived 

despite the challenging 

economic situation? 

Fairly good! We opened our store 

when we had the dollar increase in 

2016 and this stabilized my projections 

however, it made me look inwards 

on the healthy alternatives 

which we could use here in Nigeria 

instead of looking at importation. 

Also, the government ban of some 

food items and the BUY NAIJA 

TO GROW NAIJA campaign also 

pushed our business. 

How do you ensure your 

treats remain delicious yet 

healthy? 

Remember that why I started 

this on a full scale was because 

of me and my son. So cooking a 

meal for a toddler who is a picky 

eater has to be delicious. Also, 

for snacks, I needed to ensure he 

does not miss out on what other 

kids are taking so I tried to make 

the snacks as close as possible 

to the popular ones. Ugu chips 

was made to mimic Chips, Acha 

crackers was made to mimic 

graham crackers, Zobo jam was 

made to mimic the jam we have 

but without the sugar … and so 

on… 

It’s your birthday today, what 

are you grateful and hopeful 

for? 

I am grateful for the gift of life! I 

wish to be able to use this gift God 

has given me to touch lives. My 

projection for Nellies is to be out 

of Africa’s first innovative healthy 

food and Snack Company. 

Executive Musings 

NIKE ADEYEMI 

Founder, Real Woman Foundation 

Inspirational teacher, Speaker 

Invest your time and love 

in your children as well, not 

just the girls but boys too! 

It’s easier to build wellrounded 

children than to 

repair broken adults... 

You are a bundle of gifts and 

talents, discover what those 

gifts are and develop them to 

the level of excellence. Whatever 

you are called to do - 

teacher, doctor, entrepreneur, 

preacher, do it with passion 

and a sense of purpose. That 

is your ministry! 

Complaining never yields 

good fruit, it only creates 

an atmosphere of 

gloom and doom.. Choose 

thanksgiving! 

Our world needs you to 

discover your unique gifts 

and step into your area of 

influence to effect lasting 

change... It’s the season 

for game changers! 

You don’t need people’s 

validation to move on 

with your life, it feels good 

though. You are not a feeling, 

you are who God says 

you are. He has validated 

you by His obvious unconditional 

Love.


COMPANIES 

& MARKETS 

Company news analysis and insight 

BUSINESS 

DAY 

21 

MX Oil raises further 

£500,000 to develop Aje 

Field Project 

Pg. 23 

Analysts downgrade Guinness to sell ratings 

BALA AUGIE 

Analysts have advised clients 

to dump the shares 

of Guinness Nigeria Plc 

as the company continues 

to grapple with declining 

margins and bloating debt in its balance 

sheet. 

Analysts at Cordros Capital say 

the share price of Guinness Nigeria 

has gone up way too far and they do 

not see an upside for the stock in the 

near term. 

“At our revised TP of NGN68.59 

(35 percent downside), we find the 

shares of GUINNESS expensive at current 

market price of NGN104.90,” said 

analysts at Cordros Capital. 

While a N40 billion rights issue 

has helped reduce debt, the inability 

of the company to spend money on 

new research into new product has 

left vulnerable to intense competition 

from rivals. 

For instance, Anheuser-Busch 

InBev NV, (AB InBev) is seeking to 

consolidate its three businesses into 

one listed entity on the Nigerian 

Stock Exchange (NSE) as early as next 

month; sources familiar with the matter 

tell BusinessDay. 

AB InBev acquired SABMiller last 

year which owns International Breweries 

Plc, Intafact Beverages Limited, 

and Pabod Breweries Limited. 

Experts say Guinness will have to 

introduce new champion brands into 

the market because some of its existing 

brands have been hit by demographic 

change. This means a lot of the new 

generation beer drinkers have shifted 

to other brands. 

For the half year December 

2017, Guinness’s cost of sales or 

input costs increased by 13.25 

percent to N46.67 billion while 

cost of sales ratio improved to 34.01 

percent in the period under review 

from 30.86 percent as at half year 

ended December 2016. 

The Nigerian consumer goods giant 

is struggling with a weak consumer 

spending despite the country existing 

its first recession in 25 years. 

Guinness ability to meet interest 

expenses is questionable as its interest 

coverage ratio of 1.38 times operating 

profit is lower than the generally 

acceptable benchmark of 1.50 times 

operating profit. 

The interest coverage ratio is a debt 

ratio and profitability ratio used to 

determine how easily a company can 

pay interest on its outstanding debt. 

The interest coverage ratio may 

be calculated by dividing a company’s 

earnings before interest and taxes 

(EBIT) during a given period by the 

company’s interest payments due 

within the same period. 

“On our estimates, Guinness trades 

on FY18 P/E and EV/EBITDA of 36.4x 

and 10.3x, which we view as expensive 

vs the SSA peer averages of 23.0x and 

10.1x, respectively,” said analysts at 

Renaissance Capital (Rencap). 

“However, strong EPS growth in 

FY19E should help drive its two-year 

forward P/E down to 22.6x with EV/ 

EBITDA down to 9.5x. While still 

more expensive than the peer average 

on forward P/E in FY19E, two-year 

compounded EPS growth of 111.4% 

in FY19-20E helps drive its FY20E P/E 

down to 17.2x, on our numbers,” said 

analysts at Rencap.

22 

BUSINESS DAY 

COMPANIES & MARKETS 

C002D5556 


MX Oil raises further 

£500,000 to develop 

Aje Field Project 


London based AIMlisted 

MX Oil announced 

it has 

raised £500,000 before 

expenses via 

a placing of 100 million new 

ordinary shares at a price of 

0.5 pence per share for the 

further development of the 

Aje project. 

Application has been 

made to the London Stock Exchange 

for the Placing Shares 

to be admitted to trading on 

AIM. It is expected that Admission 

will become effective and 

that dealings in the Placing 

Shares on AIM will commence 

on or around 6 March 2018. 

“I am very pleased that 

investors continue to be supportive 

and these new funds 

will go towards the further 

development of the Aje project. 

I very much look forward 

to providing an update on the 

first phase of this work which 

will be the completion of the 

CPR in March 2018,” Stefan 

Oliver CEO of MX Oil Plc, said. 

AIM, the London Stock Exchange’s 

international market 

for smaller growing companies; 

a wide range of businesses 

including early stage, 

venture capital backed as well 

as more established companies 

join AIM which is also the 

most successful growth market 

in the world, seeking access to 

growth capital. 

“This capital inflow will 

increase the funds for developing 

the Aje field,” said Emmanuel 

Afimia, Energy Economist 

at Afimia Consulting Services. 

The Aje field within the 

OML 113 licence area commenced 

production in May 

2016 and is expected to 

achieve a plateau production 

ranging between 50,000 and 

80,000 barrels of oil a day. 

OML 113 covers an area 

of 835 sq km offshore Nigeria 

close to the Benin border 

and holds the Aje field as 

well as a number of exploration 

prospects. Aje, which 

Capital market expert seeks 

collaboration on sustainable 

was discovered in 1997, has 

multiple oil, gas and gas 

condensate reservoirs in the 

Turonian, Cenomanian and 

Albian sandstones, similar to 

the producing Jubilee field 

offshore Ghana. To date five 

wells have been drilled: Aje-1 

and Aje-2 both flow tested oil 

and gas condensate at high 

rates, while Aje-4 intersected 

significant pay in four productive 

reservoirs. Aje-4 and the 

recently drilled Aje-5 have 

both been completed. 

MX Oil also provided an 

update with regard to OML 

113, the offshore licence in 

Nigeria, in which it has an 

investment. 

One of the two current 

production wells, Aje-5, 

has been producing from 

the Turonian Oil Rim since 

May 2017. Based on the data 

gathered from this well, MX 

Oil now believes there are 

significant oil volumes to recover 

from this interval which 

it believes will be confirmed 

by the updated Competent 

economic growth, development 

A 

capital market expert, 

Peter Ashade, has 

urged both the private 

and public sectors to 

collaborate for sustainable economic 

growth and development 

in Nigeria. 

Ashade, Managing Director, 

African Prudential Registrar’s 

Plc, made the plea on Wednesday 

at the 2018 Company Secretaries 

and Registrars’ Forum, 

organised by the Institute of 

Chartered Secretaries and Administrators 

(ICSAN) in Lagos. 

Theme of the forum is entitled: 

“Company Secretaries 

and Registrars: A Functional 

Partnership For Capital Market 

Development.’’ 

According to Ashade, both 

private and public sectors must 

work together to develop the 

country in term of infrastructural. 

“The capital market plays a 

key role in the development of 

any economy and we know that 

for infrastructural development 

and other, long term funding is 

very important. 

“You cannot develop critical 

infrastructure with short term 

funding; so, capital market offers 

that opportunity for long 

term funding,” he said. 

Ashade said that the manufacturing 

sector had suffered 

greatly during the nation’s economic 

recession as many companies 

folded up and lots of 

people lost their jobs. 

He said that there was hope 

if each sector could play its role 

in the development of the nation’s 

economic. 

“We are hoping that if the 

private sector plays its part, 

public sector its part, and capital 

market plays its part, the 

country will be back fully and 

people will begin to have foods 

on their tables. 

“To build a robust capital 

market capable of supporting 

the economy of sustainable 

growth, ICSAN have a vital role 

to play. 

“We must work together 

to ensure that confidence is 

completely restored in our capital 

market, which will lead to 

growth and development, both 

in our market and economy,” 

Ashade said. 

In his remarks, Samuel Kolawole, 

the ICSAN president, 

said that the forum aimed at 

exposing participants to the 

modern day practices and practical 

solution to problems on 

corporate secretarial and other 

related issues. 

According to Kolawole, 

this is a very apt theme that 

underscores the overlapping 

functions of the corporate secretaries 

and registrars and the 

imperative for synergy between 

these two classes of professional. 

Kolawole, represented by 

his vice, Bode Ayeku, said that 

the forum would offer wider 

latitude of opportunities between 

company secretaries and 

registrars. 

He said that the institute had 

organised various programmes 

for its members, professional in 

allied fields, other stakeholders 

as well as members of the 

public. 

Kolawole said that ICSAN 

was the only professional body 

authorised in Nigeria to conduct 

the examination leading to the 

qualification of Chartered Secretary 

and Administrators. 

Also, Nkechi Onyenso, the 

Registrar of ICSAN, said that the 

institute had consistently promoted 

the ideals of corporate 

governance through issuance 

of communiqué, policy papers 

and guidance materials on 

corporate and public administration. 

L-R: Omodiya Rafiu, sales manager; Yetunde Shogo, sales manager; Barbara Aleshe, sales 

manager; Gbite Oduneye, co-founder, and Temitayo Sanusi,director, operations, all of Eagle Global 

Markets (EGM) , during the press briefing on trading global markets by EGM in Lagos. 

Pic Pius Okeosisi 

Persons Report (CPR) and the 

development of an integrated 

oil and gas development plan 

of the Turonian reservoir is 

now being discussed. 

Field production has 

now stabilised at around 

3,300 barrels of oil per day 

and on the basis of this level 

of production, combined 

with a focus on reducing 

operational expenditure MX 

Oil has calculated that lifting 

Statistician-General seeks support from 

households on Living Standard Survey 

Yemi Kale, the Statistician-General 

of 

the Federation, has 

solicited for the support 

and collaboration of 

households and communities 

in Nigeria to provide 

requested information on the 

“Nigerian Living Standard 

Survey (NLSS)’’. 

Kale made the call at the 

inauguration of the Technical 

Committee and Signing 

of a Memorandum of 

Understanding (MoU) for 

the conduct of the NLSS on 

Wednesday in Abuja. 

The MoU was signed between 

the National Bureau of 

Statistics (NBS), and the National 

Social Safety Nets Coordinating 

Office (NASSCO). 

Kale said accurate provision 

of the information 

would ensure that the bureau 

produced indicators 

that reflected the true living 

condition of households in 

the country. 

He said that accurate information 

would ensure that 

the government and partners 

had the best possible information 

to work with, thereby 

giving their policies and programmes 

the best chances of 

success. 

The statistician –general 

said the bureau would 

costs are currently around 

US$40 per bbl. 

Nigeria had earlier approved 

the Aje Field Development 

Plan (FDP) in March 

2014 and by October 2014; 

the Final Investment Decision 

(FID) for the project was 

agreed. The FDP involves a 

three phase development programme. 

Phase 1 will focus on 

the Aje Cenomanian oil reservoir 

and include the tie-back 

be publishing the preliminary 

findings of the survey on 

quarterly basis throughout 

the next 12 months. 

He said just like all NBS 

household-based surveys in 

recent terms, NLSS would for 

the first time be conducted 

using electronic means of 

data collection. 

“This is no small task 

when you compare the size of 

our country and the number 

of households to be visited. 

“Trained enumerators 

will be deployed to selected 

households across the country 

over the next 12 months, 

to collect information on 

consumption, expenditure 

and general living conditions. 

“As you can imagine, this 

is expected to be a very long 

and thorough process, requiring 

the cooperation of households 

and communities that 

will be canvassed,’’ Kale said. 

In his remarks, Idris Mohammed, 

Acting Coordinator, 

NASSCO said the NLSS 

would be an instrument for 

regular monitoring of welfare 

and social trends for different 

population groups, especially 

the poor and vulnerable. 

Mohammed said that 

the report would be useful to 

the Federal Government, all 

states, Non-Governmental 

of two existing subsea wells 

and a leased Floating Production 

Storage and Offloading 

vessel (“FPSO”). Phase 1 production 

commenced in May 

2016. The planning for Phase 

2 is now underway and will 

see additional wells drilled in 

order to increase total Cenomanian 

oil production. Phase 

3 will target the development 

of the Turonian gas condensate 

reservoir. 

Organisations, international 

development partners and 

other institutions involved 

in monitoring welfare and 

poverty across the globe. 

Also speaking, World 

Bank Economist, Abul Azad 

said the bank had been working 

with NBS on different 

surveys and would work with 

the bureau on NLSS. 

“It is a big and important 

survey; the data from the survey 

will be used to measure 

poverty and welfare in the 

country. 

“The data from the survey 

will also be useful for many 

ministries such as Finance, 

Education, Agriculture and 

Health for evidence based 

policy making. 

“We are here to provide 

necessary support to conduct 

the survey,’’ Azad said. 

Earlier, the National Coordinator 

of NLSS, Tunde 

Adebisi, said the last first time 

NBS conducted NLSS was in 

2013/2014. 

Adebisi said the bureau 

conducted Harmonised Nigerian 

Living Standard Survey 

in 2008/2009. 

He said that the survey 

was a combination of two 

surveys – Consumers surveys 

and Core Welfare Indicator 

Questionnaire Survey.

Friday 23 February 2018 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 23 


Sovereign Trust Insurance boss urges young 

entrepreneurs to embrace insurance 

MODESTUS ANAESORONYE 

A 

call has gone out to 

all Young and budding 

Entrepreneurs 

across the country 

to make insurance 

an integral part of their commercial 

enterprise. 

Olaotan Soyinka,managing 

director/CEO, made the charge 

at the 5th edition of the Moreklue 

All Youth Awards, (MAYA), held 

in Lagos recently. 

MAYA Awards Africa is an 

annual award ceremony instituted 

to honour young Nigerians 

and other African descents 

that are doing great exploits in 

all fields of human endeavour 

such as Entertainment, Fashion, 

Media, Confectionery, Sports, 

and Music. 

The Managing Director of 

the Underwriting Firm and one 

of the Sponsors of the event applauded 

the initiative behind 

the Award Ceremonyremarking 

that the future holds great 

potentials for the Nigerian Youth 

both home and abroad but also 

cautioned that conscious effort 

must be made to channel their 

energy towards positive initiatives 

that will propel the Nation 

and the continent to an enviable 

height. 

He further posited that 

Insurance should form a very 

pivotal aspect of whatever 

business venture any young 

Entrepreneur decides to go 

into. According to him, “the 

adoption of insurance for 

any business venture is the 

smartest decision that can 

ever be taken. He encouraged 

them to take time and educate 

themselves on the workings of 

insurance and how it can help 

them protect their business at 

every point in time. 

The brain behind the initiative 

and Managing Director 

of MAYA Awards, Muyiwa 

Ademola, thanked Sovereign 

Trust Insurance Plc for the 

encouragement and support 

given to his organization 

and called out to all other 

corporate organizations to 

take interest in matters that 

concerns the youths as they 

will always remain the Stars 

of the future. He admonished 

the youths to constantly work 

in developing themselves and 

refrain from living in pity or 

waiting on the government or 

the society in giving directions 

to their dreams in life. 

Dangote sees Petroleum, natural resources 

as a platform to deepen intra-African Trade 

...Urges Nigeria to adopt technology in refineries to ensure competitiveness 

Business Event 

L-R: Oladipo Ojo, managing director, Just Media Productions; Cherry Eromosele, chief marketing 

officer, Interswitch Group; Charles Uwakwe, registerer, National Examination Council (NECO), and 

Olawale Akanbi, marketing manager, Interswitch, during the launch of Interswitch new tech/ education 

initiative called SPAK in Lagos. 

Pic Pius Okeosisi 

HARRISON EDEH, Abuja 

Worried by low 

profile of intra- 

African Trade, 

the Chairman of 

Dangote Group,Aliko Dangote 

said African countries could 

leverage on growing demands 

on consumption of Petroleum 

Resources to deepen intra- 

African Trade. 

He also said a vast natural 

resource the continent is 

blessed with is also a platform 

to deepen intra-Africa trade in 

the continent, as well as growing 

the economy. 

According to statistics, intra-African 

Trade is currently 

put at $1.3 billion, which some 

analysts say is still abysmally 

low given the level of global 

companies, situated and doing 

different kind of business 

operations in the continent. 

Represented by Babajide 

Soyebi, the Technical Consultant 

of Dangote Group, at 

the on-going Nigeria International 

Petroleum Summit, on 

Wednesday in Abuja, he said, 

“Nigeria must improve its 

refining assets, due largely to 

its strategic location in Africa 

and must position rightly for 

exports of Petroleum products” 

”Our refining technology 

must take into consideration 

clean and renewable energy as 

well as grow with global technology. 

Indeed, Africa must be 

prepared for the next industrial 

revolutions, he pointed out. 

He also remarked that 

transforming the strategic gulf 

of Guinea into a Global hub for 

Petroleum Trade is very important 

and Nigeria must play that 

leading role in that regard.” 

Speaking on how Africa 

could explore trade advantages, 

he said “Africa must develop 

the continent using its vast 

natural resources and huge 

potentials. It must begin to 

consume what it produces and 

improve its intra-African trade. 

“Africa must build electricity 

capacity to empower growth 

and development; connect 

with modern transportation 

system to facilitate continental 

movement of goods. We 

must improve refining margins 

through technological 

integration and add more value 

through Petro-chmical industries 

month others. “He adds 

further. 

Dangote is currently building 

a 650 000 barrels per day 

capacity refinery in Lagos, 

which is expected to contribute 

immensely to 51.3 million litres 

per day growing consumption 

of Premium Motor Spirit. 

L-R: Taiwo Oyedele, former council member, Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) 

UK; Helen Brand Obe, chief executive; Cyril Ede, president, Chartered Institute of Taxation of 

Nigeria (CITN); Olajumoke Simplice, vice president, and Babajide Ibironke, chairman, ACCA Nigeria, 

during the courtesy visit of executive team of ACCA to CITN in Lagos. Pic by Olawale Amoo 

L-R: Mannie Udoh, managing director, Katunga Media; Thelma Okoh, general secretary, Lagos 

NIPR; Joseph Edgar, director, Katunga Media; Olusegun Mcmedal, chairman, Lagos NIPR; Goddie 

ofose, chairman, Brand journalist Association of Nigeria, and Clara Okoro, vice president, at the 

katunga media unveils partnership to boost Brand journalism in Lagos. 

NLNG may take over Bodo Bonny road 

KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja 

There are indications 

Nigerian Liquefied 

and Natural Gas 

Limited may take 

over the portion of 

the Bonny-Bodo road project to 

ensure an uninterrupted project 

delivery as the House of Representatives 

has urged Federal 

Government to grant tax rebate 

to the company. 

The resolution was passed 

sequel to the adoption of a motion 

sponsored by Randolph 

Brown, during Wednesday plenary 

session. 

Recall that Babatunde 

Fashola, Minister of Power, 

Works and Housing, recently 

signed an agreement to hand 

over the Apapa area comprising 

Creek mRoad, Liverpool Road, 

Marine Beech, Mile 2 Oshodi, 

Oworonshoki to the Lagos end 

of the toll gate on the Ibadan 

Express way to Dangote Group 

for construction through tax incentive 

policy for individuals to 

benefit from tax remission and 

to recover investments made on 

public infrastructure like roads 

which other members of the 

public can utilize. 

In his lead debate, Brown 

who applauded the gesture of 

NLNG, emphasized the need 

for the company to take over the 

maintenance of the road. 

He noted that Nigeria derives 

immense benefits from the 

oil and gas industry that is being 

exploited by companies which 

include the NLNG situated on 

the Bonny Island, in the Bonny 

Local Government Area of Rivers 

State. 

“The House also notes that 

despite the location of a company 

of such importance to the 

Nigeria economy on the Bonny 

Island and the obvious devastating 

effects of oil and gas exploration 

on the community, Bonny 

Island has no road linking it to 

the outside world. 

L-R: Tope Ashiwaju, group public relations and events manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc; Robin 

Campbell, chairperson, Adunni Olorisa Trust, and Hugh Campbell, during the cheque presentation 

of N4m cheque to the trust.



Family 

Another look at family values 

In our fast paced modern 

world, everybody 

is in so much of a 

hurry that they gloss 

over certain aspects 

of their lives which deserve 

a lot more attention. 

Everyone must have a 

livelihood, especially if they 

have children. It is very easy 

to focus on putting bread 

on the table and keeping 

clothes on our children, and 

spend all our energy doing 

so. By the time we get to bed 

at night, we are so worn out 

that it does not even occur 

to us if we are instilling 

in our children the same 

traditional values that we 

learned from our parents 

growing up. 

It is of utmost importance 

to everyone to feel part of 

something, more specifically 

part of a family.The sense 

of having a strong family unit 

reinforces a child’s sense of 

belonging. What could be 

more important to a child 

than stability, knowing that 

his or her family will always 

be there to support when 

things go pear shaped. Lack 

of this family unit can lead to 

all sorts of problems, namely 

a lack of identity, which can 

often lead to anxiety, depression 

and low self-worth 

in later life. But not to get 

too downbeat, these problems 

can easily be avoided 

with reassurance. We must 

tell our children often that 

we love them, and support 

them in all their endeavours. 

Doing so will instill one of 

the most important family 

values into their consciousness. 

Another important skill 

to teach our children is to 

empathise. When we teach 

our children to take the 

feelings of someone else 

into consideration, put the 

shoe on the other foot as it 

were, we are teaching them 

respect. It is very easy to go 

through life without noticing 

the feelings of others as 

focus on our own goal and 

achievements. To live as 

such is to live disrespectfully. 

If everybody took the 

time to teach this subtle skill 

to our children, the world 

would be a much more 

pleasant place to live. There 

is hardly any feeling which 

can trump the feeling one 

gets from feeling respected, 

and if we could pass this lesson 

alone down through the 

generations, our lives would 

have been well spent. 

Teaching our children a 

lesson or two about respect 

is one thing, but making 

sure we are listening to our 

children is an entirely different 

subject, and one of 

paramount importance. 

Every child should feel 

like they have someone to 

turn to, and what better way 

to strengthen the family 

unit than making sure that 

person is Mummy or Daddy. 

Children are the same as us 

adults; they have feelings, 

doubts, worries and fears. 

It is important to check in 

with them often and to reassure 

them that you are always 

there to listen, without 

judgement, to whatever they 

might have to say. This is the 

best way to develop a trusting 

bond with your child. 

If we slow down for a 

second, and consider what 

is best for our children, can 

we honestly say that we are 

instilling into them a great 

set of values which will give 

them the strength to face 

the challenges of modern 

society? We would hope so. 

To be a mother is not a day’s job 

ther is motherhood. It takes 

time, hard work, patience, 

prayer and a lot of all that 

you have in you. It can never 

be achieved in a day. Immediately 

you realize that, you 

find out that the pressure you 

put on yourself as a mother is 

reduced and you can actually 

take a deep breath. 

Sometimes you think you 

need to get and understand 

everything at the same time. 

It is simply impossible. It gets 

better as time goes by and 

with God’s guidance, you will 

do well. 

Years ago, as a young 

mother, I had to tell myself 

it was okay to learn the 

ropes one step at a time. I 

discovered that motherhood 

is learnt. You are not born 

a mother, you become one 

and it is okay to be clueless, 

as long as you are willing to 

learn. So lighten the load, if 

Nigeria is a very 

interesting place 

to live. In this part 

of the world, there 

are things that you see every 

day that can be so hilarious. 

For instance we have writings 

on buses that read the most 

hilarious things. One of my favourites 

is this: “To be a man 

is not a day’s job.” Obviously, 

what the write up is trying to 

say is that being a man is a 

lot of work and entails a great 

deal of responsibility. 

Well, taking a clue from 

the bus writers I have come 

up with my own: “To be a 

mother is not a day’s job.” I 

am sure every mother agrees 

with me. If you are like me, 

you have seen mothers with 

grown up daughters who 

have developed a very close 

knit relationship and you 

think: “What a wonderful 

pair! I can’t wait to be a mum”, 

or you have seen sons dote 

on their mothers and think; 

“That mother must have had 

it easy.’’ 

Parenting is not easy neiyour 

child doesn’t listen to 

you the first time, keep at 

it, soon he’ll know you are 

serious. What if you can’t 

come up with healthy meals 

for your children? Keep at it, 

ideas will come. You don’t 

know how to keep them occupied, 

talk to friends, pray 

to God, go on the internet 

and before you know it, you 

are buzzing with ideas. 

It gets better with time. It 

gets better the more you ask 

God to teach you. It gets better 

the more you read, study 

and think. It gets better with 

time. 

One day, you’ll realize 

the schedule is no longer so 

crazy, that child is listening 

more, they are eating healthier, 

and you have somehow 

managed to keep your sanity. 

I had one of those moments 

years ago when my 

toddler just sat beside me 

and played with me. I had a 

Parenting in the 21st century 

with 

Sola Oguche – Agudah 

Website: www.solaagudah.org; Email: sola@solaagudah.org 

Facebook: solaogucheagudah; Instagram: solaogucheagudah 

Twitter: solaogucheagudah 

house full of girls; my cousin 

and a house helps. My daughter 

had gone to be with the 

ladies, so it was just him and 

me. Guess what? I had fun, 

no “don’t do that, or stop 

that or ‘be careful.” It was just 

us having fun and playing. I 

couldn’t help remembering 

when I was hoping he could 

just grow up and do things for 

himself so I could have some 

space to other stuff. And here 

he was, grown up a bit, and 

we were having a civil conversation. 

I rested my head 

on the seat and realized that 

it was indeed getting easier. 

Well, all that was short 

lived; when he decided to 

remind me he was still a child 

and turned my legs to a ladder. 

What did I expect? One 

more thing, about being a 

mother, it is an unpredictable 

journey. 

No matter how crazy, I’ll 

be a mother any day.


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

25 

Hotels 

It’s blissful at Flourish Resort 

Stories by 

OBINNA EMELIKE 

It is not for nothing that 

The Gambia is known 

as the smiling coast 

of Africa because as a 

tourist destination it 

sure offers visitors all sorts 

of attractive and fascinating 

options to explore the best 

of the leisure world, leaving 

them with exciting and 

pleasurable memories. 

Flourish Wellness Resort 

is one of its top rated hospitality 

properties, a luxury 

boutique property, which 

besides its leisure appeal, is 

classified as Africa’s number 

one wellness and health 

resort, as it offers patrons 

premium wellness facilities 

and services while basking 

in the euphoria of its well 

crafted facilities and professionally 

delivered services. 

Arafang Saine, marketing 

manager of the resort, 

says Flourish is a class act 

designed to give first class 

treatment to patrons with 

discerning taste, particularly 

the high-end client 

desirous of private and 

exclusive treat. According 

to him, the resort, which 

has Nigerian ex-international 

football player, Kanu 

Nwankwo, as its ambassador, 

cherishes its patrons 

and is devoted to attending 

to their needs at all times, 

hence the resort is highly 

rated when it comes to 

personalised services. 

“No matter how sophisticated 

your taste is, how 

well-travelled or exposed 

you are, Flourish Wellness 

Resort is designed to meet 

them and encourage you 

for a repeat visit,” said Saine 

while making a pitch for the 

resort. 

Rooms 

Located in a beautiful, 

naturally alluring landscape 

and nestled against 

the ocean in the Kotu area 

of Banjul, the resort offers 

40 exclusively furnished deluxe 

suites, all offering good 

view while enjoying rich 

décor and amenities such as 

free high speed WIFI, cable 

TV, fridge, tea and coffee 

making facilities and telephone, 

bathroom/shower 

and Jacuzzi, kitchenette and 

entertainment centre. 

The exclusive suites offer 

expansive and aesthetically 

inviting living rooms 

with large and beautifully 

furnished bedrooms with 

inbuilt wardrobes while you 

have the luxury of enjoying a 

free walk to a private veranda 

or balcony to relax and 

explore nature and bathe 

under the canopy of stars. 

Wining/dining 

Given its luxury nature, 

it delights patrons with fascinating 

restaurants with 

rich aesthetics and appealing 

sceneries on display at 

its two terraced restaurants 

where rich continental and 

African menus are served. 

There are two bars offering 

cocktails, beverages and 

wines from Flourish’s cellar, 

and a juice bar where guests 

can pick from 50 locally 

brewed fruits. 

As a resort which places 

high premium on wellness, 

eating healthy food is a major 

concern as it offers dedicated 

healthy diets. 

Fitness/sports 

Offers a number of fitness 

and sports facilities, ranging 

from tennis to beach volleyball, 

and for golf enthusiasts 

there is a lush green Fajara 

18-hole golf course, which 

is located 15 minutes away 

from the hotel. 

Wellness 

Its wellness facilities and 

offerings are regarded as 

top range with its Ayurveda 

spa services leading the 

pack. 

If you are seeking to 

maintain a healthy regime, 

with a trendy look, lose 

weight and cleanse your 

system or have a detox and 

eliminate stress as well stay 

young then this is where you 

should visit to experience 

their prized services as the 

resort is designed to be the 

ultimate getaway for a wellness 

retreat for adults, promote 

relaxation and inspire 

rejuvenation and overall 

well-being while encouraging 

a change of life style. 

Ayurveda spa offers include 

whole body wellness 

retreat, which improves 

wellbeing and healthy life 

style; stay young and healthy 

(Anti-aging) retreat, designed 

for those aged 55 and 

above - as it is to keep them 

looking young and trendy; 

cleanse detox de-stress retreat, 

ideal for those seeking 

an escape from hectic and 

stressful lives and to experience 

the benefit of a holistic 

treatment programme; and 

then there is the healthy 

weight loss retreat, which is 

geared towards sustainable 

weight loss. 

Promotional packages 

The resort also offers 

a variety of promotional 

packages, which include 

residence stay at Flourish, 

offering a residence stay of 

between 14 and 28 nights 

among others; Stay four 

nights pay three nights 

with incentives such as 

daily breakfast and Flourish 

exclusive gift set; Stay 

three nights pay two nights 

with the offering of daily 

breakfast and mini bar with 

beers and snacks; Family 

escape vacation with two 

nights’ accommodation, 

daily breakfast, Flourish 

special gift set and complementary 

in-room minibar; 

luxury honeymoon for 

three nights or more with 

daily breakfast for two and 

welcome drinks with cold 

towels and Spa romance 

offering three nights or 

more, daily breakfast for 

two, complementary minibar 

and pool, tennis and 

gymnasium. 

Shopping 

Shopping for gifts items, 

souvenirs and other items, 

the resort comes with a 

well stocked shopping 

mart where appealing and 

uniquely crafted African 

arts and crafts are on display 

among other treasured 

items. 

Outdoor activities 

You can also explore a 

number of outdoors activities 

on the bill of the resort, 

this include biking, hiking, 

bird watching, River Gambia 

excursion and safari. 

Top BusinessDay Partner Hotels 

Four Point Hotels 

(Oniru Chiefatancy 

Estate,Lekki) 

The Wheatbaker 

#4 Onitolo(Lawrence Road), 

Ikoyi, Lagos. 

InterContinental Lagos 

Plot 52, Kofo Abayomi St, 

Lagos 

Tel: 01 236 6666 

Best Western Hotel 

Hotels 12, Allen Avenue 

C/O Funmi (Front Office Manager) 

Transcorp Hilton Abuja 

1 Aguiyi Ironsi Street Maitama, 

Abuja 

Tel: +234-708-060-3000 

Hawthorn Suites by 

Wyndham Abuja 

1 Uke St, Garki, Abuja. 

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 

805 7522500 

Renaissance Lagos Ikeja 

Hotel 

#38/40 Isaac John St, Ikeja 

GRA100271, Ikeja 

Tel: +234-908-780 5555 

Transcorp Hilton Abuja wins 2018 Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Award for hotels 

Transcorp Hilton 

Abuja has emerged 

winner in the Top 

10 Hotels for Service 

in Nigeria category of the 

2018 TripAdvisor Travellers’ 

Choice® awards for Hotels. 

Travellers’ Choice Award 

winners were determined 

based on the millions of reviews 

and opinions collected 

in a single year from TripAdvisor 

travellers worldwide. In 

the 16th year of the awards, 

TripAdvisor has highlighted 

the world’s top 8,095 properties 

in 94 countries and 8 

regions worldwide. 

This year, the awards 

celebrate hotel winners in 

10 categories, including 

Top Hotels Overall, Luxury, 

Bargain, Small, Best Service, 

B&Bs and Inns, Romance, 

Family, All-Inclusive and 

Value for Money. The hallmarks 

of Travellers’ Choice 

hotels winners are remarkable 

service, value and quality. 

“This year’s Travellers’ 

Choice awards for Hotels 

recognise thousands of exceptional 

accommodations 

that received the highest 

marks for overall experience, 

including service, amenities 

and value, from travellers 

worldwide,” said Brooke Ferencsik, 

senior director of 

communications, Tripadvisor. 

“The global TripAdvisor 

community informed this list 

of winners that will inspire 

and help travellers find the 

hotel that’s right for them as 

they plan and book their next 

amazing trip.” 

Commenting on the 

accomplishment, Etienne 

Gailliez, general manager, 

Transcorp Hilton Abuja, 

said “We are proud to be 

recognized by discerning 

travelers as part of the 

elite circle of hotels who 

exemplify great service. 

The award is a fitting testament 

to our commitment 

to the consistent delivery of 

exceptional experiences to 

our guests.” 

“We are delighted to start 

the year with the 2018 TripAdvisor 

Travellers Choice 

Award”, said Valentine Ozigbo, 

MD/CEO, Transcorp Hotels 

Plc, the owning company 

of Transcorp Hilton Abuja. 

“I am proud of the achievements 

of our great team at 

Transcorp Hilton Abuja and 

glad that our guests appreciate 

the value we add to their 

travel experiences.” 

Transcorp Hilton Abuja 

has remained the leading 

light of Nigeria’s hospitality 

industry providing world 

class facilities and service 

experience to business and 

leisure travellers for over 30 

years. The multi-award winning 

hotel is currently undergoing 

a major refurbishment 

that will further upgrade the 

guest experiences in every 

aspect. 

Protea Hotel (V/Island) 

Off Ajose Adeogun Street, V/ 

Island 

Radisson Blu Anchorage 

Hotel 

1A,Ozumba Mbadiwe,Victoria 

Island. 

Protea Hotel (GRA Ikeja) 

GRA Ikeja



‘Many Nigerians use wrong coping 

strategy to manage stress’ 

RICHARD ADEBAYO is a consultant Psychiatrist/clinical Psychologist at Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Yaba, 

Lagos. In this interview with ANTHONIA OBOKOH, he explains what stress is, the implications for physical and 

mental health, wrong coping strategies and offers solutions to manage it. Excerpts: 

What are the implications 

of 

stress on the 

society? 

The implication 

of stress to the society is enormous, 

for instance, in a busy city 

like Lagos state after a bad traffic, 

people walk into the office and 

complain about their experiences, 

which leads to conversations 

about bad traffic and bad drivers. 

The mental consequences of 

stress can lead to anger, frustration 

and when individuals can 

no longer tolerate, they become 

impatient and it leads to road 

rage. Not only that, it can also 

lead to avoidable road accidents 

that will not only affect the person 

but other vehicles and lives 

that would be involved. Another 

implication of stress to the society 

is the effect at the place of work. 

The productivity of someone who 

is undergoing stress as a matter 

of fact nosedives with time, the 

productivity will go down and if 

it is a student, failure upon failure 

occurs. On this part, the effect on 

the society will affect the nation 

and over all national productivity. 

Family is a society, stress can also 

affect relationships, it can disrupt 

family life, it can cause harmony 

in the homes and it can affect 

internal personal relationships 

negatively. 

What is stress and how is it 

caused? 

Stress is an everyday event that 

human beings pass through. 

Stress can be physical and emotional. 

Reactions due to excessive 

pressure can cause stress, or it can 

arise when we cannot cope with 

pressure. Stress has both positive 

and negative aspect; we need 

some measures of stress in life for 

every human achievement either 

as a push or motivation to accomplish 

our objectives, aims, plans 

and goals. Without some pressure 

of stress, you might not likely be 

able to live up to fulfilment and 

you need some level of stress to do 

this, we called that positive phase 

of stress. But when the pressure 

is becoming too much, and your 

coping mechanism or strategies 

seems not adequate enough to 

take care of this increasing pressures, 

then you find yourself in the 

negative phase of stress. Negative 

events are clear to cause a whole 

lot of stress. Often time, when 

we use the word stress, we are 

referring to the negative phase 

of stress, but I want to point out 

that we need some level of stress 

to push us as human. 

What are the signs, symptoms 

of stress? 

What determines stress is on 

individuals’ tendency or personality 

traits and your constitutions 

physically and psychologically 

may also go a long way to determine 

your ability to do a lot of 

things. Sometime, what goes on 

in the body can be stressful to 

people, medical issues, physical 

issue, work schedules, mental activities 

some may be considered 

stressful. Signs and symptoms 

of stress can vary, an individual 

can complain of lack of energy 

most of the time, get easily tired, 

fatigue, malaise, headache, sleep 

disorder, inability to concentrate, 

failures, committing unavoidable 

mistakes, memory deficit, 

tendency to be forgetful may also 

be early warning signs of stress 

or irritability, getting easily angry 

and all that. 

What are the health implications 

of stress? 

There are so many health implications 

of stress; we defined stress 

earlier as physical and emotional 

reactions to excessive pressures 

which have effect on both physical 

and mental health. Looking at 

the physical aspect, an individual 

who is undergoing stress, the 

body metabolism could be affected, 

the hormones in the body 

could be disrupted, and the alert 

system in the body, the adrenaline 

and non-adrenaline will also 

be on the hyper level because the 

person is always agitated most of 

the time. For instance, if you do 

not eat on time because you are 

undergoing stress, or you do not 

have the time for food, it can affect 

the nutritional state and also the 

immune system, when then ability 

for the immune system to fight 

against common infections will 

be lowered and affected. That is 

one of the reasons you see people 

who are undergoing severe stress, 

tend to have common symptoms 

like catarrh, cough, sneezing, 

allergies issues ,the body is not 

able to fight common infection 

and are easily down with malaria, 

gastrointestinal problems , ulcers. 

However, a woman undergoing 

stress may see her menstrual 

cycle earlier than usual or may 

not see it at all. So there is a 

disruption in hormonal balance 

because of stress and they may 

not even get pregnant on time 

because the hormones regulating 

all this process in the body will go 

a wire or disrupted. They are no 

longer in equilibrium where they 

are supposed to be. Likewise, a 

man that is undergoing severe 

stress, the sperm production 

may be lowered, because these 

are hormones, hormones related 

functions in the body which can 

lead to infertility and as I have 

mentioned, stress can disrupt 

all the system in the body. So, 

stress on the mental aspect, an 

individual undergoing stress, 

emotionally will be affected and 

they tends to be in the state of 

anxiety, they are usually anxious. 

Anxiety disorder can come up in 

so many ways, depression may 

eventually set in because they are 

not able to achieve their goals and 

are not happy with their life and 

fill frustrated. 

If an individual has a genetic 

tendency of coming down with 

mental disorders, the person may 

be quickly pushed into the disorder 

such as schizophrenia, a real 

major disorder. We know here that 

a patient can easily relapse into 

mental illness when they are undergoing 

severe stress. Stress can 

make some people to become addicted 

to psychoactive substances 

such as alcohols, cannabis, and 

cocaine as a result of wrong coping 

strategies, I mentioned that 

earlier. Some people use wrong 

coping strategy and invariably, 

they get addicted to those substances. 

This could lead to mental 

and behavioural disorders as a 

result of all the consumption of 

different substances and is a major 

psychiatric problem because 

of their wrong coping strategies 

born out of stress so to say. 

Would you have any advice for 

Nigerians on lifestyle moderation 

to reduce stress? 

Understanding yourself is very 

important to know your limit, 

boundaries and when you reach 

the breaking point of stress and 

take thing easy. You must be able 

to know when to delegate duties 

and when to say no to give yourself 

time to do little things like 

relaxation. Lifestyle moderation 

is important, what you eat, drink 

and what to avoid, you do not 

have to wait till diseases like diabetes, 

hypertension before getting 

adjusted. Avoid junks and key 

into natural fruits and food items 

with high fibres, vegetables, dieting, 

mediation, regular exercise, 

nutrition and especially finding 

time to rest. 

Physical relaxation is very 

important, spending time to relax 

on weekends not working seven 

days a week, twenty four- seven. It 

is not proper if you want to enjoy 

your life, you must also be able to 

do something about your lifestyle. 

An individual who is sleeping 

poorly now, also has chances of 

losing appetite because, those 

who are stressed up, find it difficult 

in eating and some people 

use wrong coping strategy, when 

they are stressed up, they think 

the next is to smoke cigarettes or 

take alcohol.


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

27 

Adopt family planning to drive 

economic prosperity – Expert 

MICHEAL ANI 

Experts in the health sector 

have urged the need for 

Nigerians, who are yet 

to be involved in family 

planning, to adopt it in a 

way to regulating population growth 

and reducing maternal deaths. 

Family planning is the practice of 

controlling the number of children in 

a family and the intervals between 

their births achieved through use 

of contraceptive methods and the 

treatment of infertility. 

“Making Family Planning (FP) 

a social norm in the country will 

boost the economy and discourage 

Nigerians from migrating to foreign 

countries in search for better life”, an 

expert said. 

The current population of Nigeria 

is 194,057,214 as at Wednesday, February 

21, 2018, which is equivalent to 

2.57 per cent of the total world population 

of 7.6 billion, making Africa’s 

most populous nation maintain 

the 7th spot in the list of countries 

based on the latest United Nations 

estimates. 

Olatunde Afolayan , a medical 

practitioner said “Family planning 

should become a ‘must’ in Nigeria 

of the 21st century because, we 

cannot continue to give birth in an 

The pervasive scourge of malnutrition in Nigeria 

BASHAR ABUBAKAR 

The fact that little Ibrahim and 

his mother are both healthy 

and thriving in Yalwa flies in 

the face of malnutrition statistics 

for Jigawa and northern Nigeria as 

a whole. Jigawa bears the highest 

burden of malnourished children 

in Nigeria, where 62.7% of children 

under-five are stunted, 11.9% are 

wasted and 40.2% are underweight. 

UNICEF estimates that a staggering 

2.5 million children suffer from 

severe acute malnutrition in Nigeria, 

with an alarming 2.2 million 

(88%) of those children in Northern 

Nigeria. 

These numbers are large, and 

the reasons behind them are many. 

The continued insurgency in the 

North-East, ravaging poverty, and 

illiteracy have all played their part 

in entrenching the malnutrition 

crisis in Northern Nigeria. Compounding 

the already dire situation 

is the consistent lack of nutrition 

funding by state governments in 

Northern Nigeria, lack of political 

will to implement existing policies, 

continued reliance on donor agencies 

and international partners to 

finance nutrition interventions, 

and to a large extent utter negli- 

unplanned manner. Having multiple 

children in unplanned manners can 

be very overwhelming because you 

cannot cater for them adequately 

and this is why poverty, hunger, 

unemployment, maternal and child 

mortality are on the increase. 

“Multiple births can also disrupt 

government plans, with the country’s 

economy and infrastructure, struggling 

to cope with volatile population 

growth. A population growth that is 

not properly managed will in most 

cases, give rise to mass unemployment 

and mass migration to cities 

gence of the growing malnutrition 

problem by local and state political 

office holders. 

In the face of these challenges, 

little Ibrahim’s community of Yalwa 

seems to have found a way to beat 

the odds when it comes to nutrition. 

Ibrahim’s mother is full of 

smiles when asked how she has 

managed to keep Ibrahim so boisterous 

and healthy. She speaks 

Hausa haltingly, but is eager to 

share her story. “My son Ibrahim 

has been eating healthy foods since 

he was in my womb,” she says, then 

like in the case of Libya,” Afolayan 

said. 

“We need to adopt family planning 

so that our society and country 

can be like the White man’s’ country; 

the land that we envy so much. The 

beginning of their development was 

through birth control, which is why 

they are able to plan their family, 

society and their countries,” Afolayan 

said at a recent family planning Sensitisation 

Programme in Lagos. 

According to the experts, the 

Nigerian environment, its natural 

resources, economy and facilities are 

laughs as she continues to explain 

that when she was pregnant, she 

made sure she followed the advice 

given to her by the health workers 

in the Yalwa Community Clinic, 

as well as attending ante-natal 

clinic days. She and other pregnant 

women in Yalwa also received 

training on nutrition and hygiene 

from a special group of volunteers. 

“I ate vegetables, carrots, water 

melon, soya beans, groundnuts,” 

she says, adding, “I used to buy 

meat and fish once in a while. I 

cooked eggs, and made sure my 

fast being degraded and consumed 

as a result of human population 

increase. 

Nze Egbule, a public health expert 

said, “A major factor that triggers 

population growth is increased birth 

rate, and there is a need for Nigerians 

to be properly educated on the 

need to control birth rate and the 

consequent advantages. 

Nigeria is a country with the 

largest human population in Africa 

and popularly regarded as the `Giant 

of Africa for its population. 

Some of the imminent and 

soup was full of tomatoes, spinach 

and palm oil. I also drank malt and 

milk.” She says that after the baby 

was born, she fed him with only 

breast milk for the first six months 

after which she introduced him 

to lighter foods such as pap made 

from moringa or groundnuts, eggs 

and soya beans. 

Ibrahim has a brother who is 

four years older. His mother says 

that Ibrahim at his current age is 

healthier and smarter, compared to 

his older brother at the same age. 

She says this is because her older 

son was born at a time the community 

had no knowledge about 

child nutrition and how to keep 

their children healthy. 

Evidence suggests that using 

community volunteers to both 

sensitize and teach pregnant women 

proper nutrition from locally 

sourced foods, combined with a 

nutrition-focused conditional cash 

transfer system may give communities 

like Yalwa added advantages 

in the fight against child malnutrition 

in Northern Nigeria. 

According to the Director of 

Primary Healthcare in Buji LGA, 

an estimated 4,000 women are benefitting 

from the program in Buji 

LGA alone. “We knew malnutrition 

unavoidable results of the continuous 

increase in human population 

include human congestion, high 

unemployment rate, environmental 

pollution and degradation, 

depletion of resources and weather 

modification. 

Unhygienic living conditions, elevated 

crime rate, conflicts, political 

instability, scarce resources, hunger 

and high rates of disease spread. 

Nigeria contributes about 10 per 

cent of global maternal mortality 

case load and it is second only to 

India. 

India’s population is about 

1.2 billion people, while Nigeria 

is over 193 million people but 

Nigeria contributes about 33,000 

maternal deaths annually which 

is equivalent to about 90 women 

dying daily as a result of pregnancy 

complications in Nigeria. This also 

translates to about four women dying 

per hour. 

Trends on maternal mortality 

show Nigeria as having less than 

two per cent of India’s population 

or global population, yet contribute 

to about 10 per cent of global 

maternal mortality. 

In terms of ratio, one in 13 Nigerian 

women is at an elevated and 

high risk of maternal deaths, compared 

to one in 26 for sub-Saharan 

Africa. 

is the cause of many problems, but 

we never thought a program would 

come from either the state or local 

government or any organisation 

that could address this issue like 

this one is currently doing,” he said. 

Despite these gaps, still, today in 

Yalwa, children like little Ibrahim 

are exclusively breastfed for six 

months, then gradually introduced 

to semi solid nutrient-filled foods 

like ground nut pap, soya beans, 

and moringa. Their mothers access 

most of these foods locally and 

keep themselves properly nourished 

while pregnant, with the help 

of a cadre of knowledgeable health 

workers, community volunteers 

and a conditional cash transfer 

system that provides them funds 

to purchase nourishing foods for 

themselves and their children. This 

is a significant achievement in light 

of the prevalence of malnutrition 

in northern Nigeria, and is an important 

reference point for others, 

be it state or local governments 

looking for models with which to 

tackle their community’s under-5 

nutrition concerns in Nigeria. 

-NigeriaHealthwatch 

HBL TEAM 

KEMI AJUMOBI, Editor - kemi@businessdayonline.com 

ANTHONIA OBOKOH, ANI MICHAEL, Reporters I David Ogar, Graphics



C002D5556 

FEATURE 

Abia’s Vibrant 2017, it’s wealth and 

investment opportunities 

SAMUEL T. WABARA 

In the southeastern part of 

Nigeria, Abia state occupies 

4,900 square kiliometres of 

land. Its capital is Umuahia, 

but its major industrial hub 

is located in Aba, Abia south. It 

shares boundaries with the north 

and northeastern parts of Anambra, 

Enugu, and Ebonyi. To the west 

of Abia is Imo State, and the east and 

southeastern borders are shared 

with Cross River State and Akwa 

Ibom State. Abia has been known to 

the world for its conscientious people 

who are industrious by nature. 

Aba’s products gained a name in the 

past for producing replica products 

of global brands. Unfortunately, this 

was the only way that the producers 

could guarantee sales, as Nigerians 

at the time were more interested in 

imported brands. With the worst 

economic downturn that plagued 

Nigeria for the past few years, it has 

become imperative that we begin 

to look inwards and encourage 

local producers in Aba to create 

a “Made-in-Aba” brand name. A 

huge development within the state 

is the supply of over 2 million leather 

shoes per month, to neighbouring 

countries such as Ghana and Togo. 

It reveals the reach the state government 

has gone to ensure investment 

and partnership. Although, 

Abia is an oil producing state, Dr 

Okezie Ikpeazu PhD is focused on 

developing other key areas of the 

economy. He sees these areas as viable 

and sustainable. These sectors 

are manufacturing, agriculture, and 

education. 

As a result of the sudden drop 

in federal allocation from the fall in 

oil prices, the state is now looking 

inwards like never before. From a 

monthly N4 billion received as federal 

allocation, it fell to N1.8 billion 

naira. However, recurrent expenditure 

was at N2.6 billion monthly. 

Furthermore, Governor Okezie 

Ikpeazu Ph.D. made adequate effort 

in reducing these costs by conducting 

an employee audit within 

the state ministries; he was able to 

reduce recurrent expenditure to 

N2.1 billion. 

The state government is now 

unveiling the state strengths to 

the nation, and the international 

community. This strength lies in 

a few areas. Firstly, the manufacturing 

characteristics of the Aba 

hub. The workforce in the state is 

always willing to do some work; 

many of the unemployed decided 

to go into craftsmanship, which is 

something that has been inbuilt 

into the typical Abian. Ideally, these 

are the employees that are needed 

for manufacturing organizations. 

For this reason, the state is making 

efforts to revitalize companies 

such as Golden Guinnea Breweries 

located in Umuahia, International 

Glass Industry in Aba, Aba Textile 

Mills, and Aba modern ceramics. 

The initiative was 

designed to provide 

the essential tools 

for job seekers, 

entrepreneurs and 

university students 

to tackle the challenges 

that are faced 

to achieve success in 

their career path 

Aba has already begun attracting 

direct sales through military boot 

and election material orders. These 

direct sales have injected N1.2 billion 

into the industrial hub from just 

within Nigeria. 

For the past several months the 

state government has been determined 

to reach out to manufacturers 

to attend fairs and educate them 

on the great opportunities in the 

southeastern part of Nigeria. One 

trade fair which was a great success 

was the “Made-in–Aba trade fair”, 

held in Abuja in March 2017. The 

event attracted legislators, enterprise 

development agencies, and 

citizens, in a bid to showcase Abia’s 

talent and to renew Nigeria’s confidence 

in the Aba brand. 

Secondly, the agricultural capacity 

of the state has gained a lot 

of attention from the state govern- 

ment attracting an injection of N2.3 

billion into the sector in 2017. There 

is substantial focus on cassava, 

cocoa, cashew, poultry, oil palm 

and mushroom farming. Brazilian 

researchers have distinguished the 

good fertility of the Abia soil, compared 

to many other states in the 

country. The federal government 

is resuscitating the Abia Golden 

Chicken Company that sits on 360 

hectares of land, the Abia Cashew 

Company on 160 hectares of land 

and the Abia Cocoa Estate on 220 

hectares of land. The state government 

wants to empower the youths 

and women in farming, in order to 

create farming cooperatives that 

can access tailored credit facilities. 

Thirdly, education in a developing 

nation is paramount for the 

continued economic growth of the 

economy. Abia state has excelled 

by producing the best results in the 

2016 and 2017 WASSEC results. The 

state government continually lauds 

the performance of the schools. 

About N4 billion was injected into 

the sector in 2017 to give individuals 

access to affordable and quality 

education in technical, vocational 

and tertiary education. The Dangote 

Group launched the “Education 

For Employment Job Centers” 

in Abia recently. The initiative was 

designed to provide the essential 

tools for job seekers, entrepreneurs 

and university students to tackle 

the challenges that are faced to 

achieve success in their career path. 

The initiative is digitized and will 

provide continuous updates on unemployed 

youths, and their demographic 

within the state. Likewise, 

the introduction of skill acquisition 

centres has become an important 

scheme being driven by the state 

government. Abia was selected 

as the southeast Centre for the 

N-power skill acquisition centre, 

chosen by the Federal government. 

The minister of labour Chris Ngige 

visited the multidisciplinary skill 

centre located in Obingwa LGA, in 

February 2017. N-Power is a joint 

federal government programme 

supported by the state, which mobilized 

3200 youths to the facility. 

Fourthly, The state government 

launched the “ Water Must Flow 

Initiative” focused on driving the 

increased availability of water supply. 

Much focus remains on the 

Umuahia and Aba regional water 

schemes. Although, Phase 1 of the 

Umuahia water scheme has been 

completed, work is still ongoing for 

the Aba regional water scheme. The 

state also attracted a World Bank 

assisted programme through the 

3rd National water sector reform 

project. This programme involves 

the introduction of meters to monitor 

individual consumption. 

However, as it is, all over the 

world, there are threats to the economic 

growth of the state. These 

threats are largely infrastructural 

issues which are being tackled with 

great focus by the state government. 

Firstly, the access roads 

have been deteriorated for years 

and serious floods have occurred 

due to bad drainage, similar to 

the drainage problem faced in 

Lagos, Nigeria’s business hub. As 

a result, the state government has 

begun standardizing the drainage 

system of major roads and clearing 

blocked sewage passageways. 

With the heavy-duty trucks on the 

roads of Aba and its environs, the 

conventional tarmac roads have 

not been the most sustainable. The 

state government has introduced 

the use of “Rigid Cement Technology”, 

although more expensive than 

tarmac, it is guaranteed to last up 

to 20 years without repairs. Major 

construction is ongoing on roads 

such as Faulks road that leads to 

Ariaria market, a huge market in 

Aba, and to Port Harcourt, Rivers 

State. Considerable work is ongoing 

for the creation of flyovers at 

Osisoma, the best access route to 

Aba, and at Isiagate in the state 

capital Umuahia. These road projects 

should be completed by the 

end of 2018. On the other hand, 

power is a critical infrastructural 

need for any industry to excel, it is 

particularly essential for continuous 

production and longevity of 

machinery. This is why the Aba 

integrated power project (Aba 

IPP), a partnership between Geometric 

power, US-based General 

Electric and Orascom of Egypt to 

build two separate 500 megawatts 

power plants in Aba will soon be 

implemented to provide Aba with 

its own electricity supply for manufacturing. 

The 2017 budget titled, “Budget 

of Prudence and Self Reliance” 

which was presented by Governor 

Okezie Ikpeazu Ph.D. harmonizes 

with the past and current 

activities of the state. Revitalizing 

these industries through capital 

expenditure and partnership are 

now necessary steps being taken; 

some have already begun yielding 

some development. Focusing 

on various sectors and forming 

strategic partnerships with private 

equity firms, venture capitalist 

and international investors can be 

seen as sustainable ways to achieve 

some level of economic balance 

and generate considerable internal 

revenue. Now, this very much 

feeds into the state’s 2018 budget 

called - “Budget of Partnership and 

Opportunities”. Thus, giving investors 

a sense of direction regarding 

what they should expect from Abia 

state in 2018. At the Abia-Turkey 

Investment forum held in 2017, 

the Turkish ambassador to Nigeria 

commended the business environment 

in the state, and the Turkish 

community pledged to invest $100 

million towards the country’s new 

collaboration. This alliance is aimed 

at the manufacturing of clothing and 

shoes in the state. The potential of 

the state is immense and requires 

domestic and international partnerships, 

to ensure that the resources 

mentioned above are efficiently 

utilized. 

Wabara, Special Adviser Industries 

Abia State


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

29 

FEATURE 

Blockchain primed to plug 

Africa’s infrastructure deficit 

JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON 

From streaming content 

to intra-African trade, 

blockchain technology 

is set to transform Africa, 

says Yahaya Maikori, 

gaming and e-commerce 

lawyer/founder of Nigeria-based 

Law Allianz. 

According to Maikori, Africa’s 

infrastructure deficit creates a 

kind of paradox, “It means Africans 

are more eager to adopt 

technologies than anywhere else.” 

For the record, it is easy to turn 

a blind eye to something as abstract 

as bitcoin and blockchain, 

when one’s debit card is accepted 

virtually everywhere. In a world 

saturated with financial and legal 

institutions, new and disruptive 

technologies present themselves 

as threatening to an established 

system on which many livelihoods 

depend. 

For the vast majority of Africans 

however, this simply is not 

the case. With limited access to 

banking, and systemic mistrust 

of formal institutions where they 

do exist, blockchain has far less to 

disrupt, and is rapidly being seen 

as an immediate solution to many 

areas of economic life. 

Unbridled by scepticism and 

institutional resistance, governments, 

private enterprise and 

consumers from all over the continent 

are diving in. 

“For the first time we can see 

Africa trying to adopt any kind of 

technological solution that helps 

to empower the un-empowered. 

“And blockchain cuts across almost 

every part of human life. We 

just have to make it easy to use, 

and easy to access – especially for 

those in the low income bracket, 

because that is where it will really 

help,” he says. 

He notes that Africa is still a 

much under-banked economy, 

unlike in Europe, where conventional 

banking is affordable, accessible, 

trustworthy and virtually 

instantaneous – while cryptocurrencies 

are associated with crime, 

trafficking, money laundering 

and hacking – in Africa almost the 

inverse is true. 

In Nigeria for example, of 

around 70 million account owners, 

barely a third of them have 

debit cards. But for those that do, 

the fear of being scammed often 

overwhelms the convenience of 

using them. 

“Everyone knows someone 

who lost their money, so they 

don’t like using their card details. 

That fear is pushing people to 

adopt other payment systems,” 

he explains. 

The restrictions the above puts 

on economic development is hard 

to overstate. And only recently 

have innovative, albeit rudimentary 

solutions been adopted to try 

and bridge the gap. 

In East Africa, MPesa, a payments 

initiative from the Vodafone 

group, allows people to use 

basic phones as a virtual wallet. In 

any one of 300,000 outlets across 

10 countries, people can deposit 

hard cash into a mobile account 

– and use their phones to pay for 

things. 

In other countries consumers 

can simply trade the airtime they 

use to make calls, for goods and 

services in store or online, using 

SMS or USSD protocols. It’s not a 

niche system either; in some cases 

airtime sales are the equivalent 

to another country’s GDP. 

“The mobile phone has been 

the saviour to that demand, for 

that kind of commerce. But these 

are local solutions that are basically 

helping to circumvent the 

hurdles of infrastructure,” he 

states. 

From the consumer’s perspective, 

using bitcoin is only a small 

step from using mobile payments 

like MPesa – but a giant leap forward 

in terms of engaging in a 

more global economy. 

Adoption of bitcoin is already 

happening at pace. With bitcoin 

rising by a factor of 20 throughout 

2017, many have begun using the 

returns from ownership as passive 

income -“as if it will never go 

down,” Maikori regrets. 

Governments are of course 

wary, and advise people to be 

cautious. But when it comes to the 

wider applications of blockchain, 

they generally take a more curious 

approach: letting the private 

sector experiment with the possibilities 

before they step in with 

regulations. 

“With technology, practically 

everything is liberalised,” he says. 

Enterprises that use it are allowed 

to move forward at the speed at 

which the market accepts it. Until 

eventually governments will 

wake up and say: ‘we can’t ban it, 

we just have to work with it, and 

minimise the damage.’ But for 

now they just want to see where 

it’s applicable.” 

Kenya and South Africa are 

‘open-minded,’ while Nigeria, 

the largest purchaser of cryptocurrencies, 

has already set up 

a committee to work on the full 

application of blockchain here. 

One area where blockchain is 

already being applied in Nigeria 

is entertainment and intellectual 

property. A PwC recent report 

stated that in the next three years, 

Nigeria’s entertainment industry 

will become the fastest growing 

in the world, because of the sheer 

population, and because the entrainment 

is the most consumed 

content across Africa. 

Internet penetration is rising 

rapidly across board, and with 

it consumers are moving away 

from terrestrial TV and streaming 

more contents online. But the sector 

has struggled to monetise it: 

many people don’t have a way to 

pay for it, and many international 

sites such as Spotify don’t accept 

Nigerian cards. 

“Blockchain solves the problem 

by firstly, enabling producers 

to register their content on the 

intellectual property exchange, 

and secondly enabling the viewer 

to pay for them. 

But perhaps the most profound 

application of blockchain 

is in international trade. “African 

countries don’t trade among 

themselves,” Maikori laments. 

“Again because of the financial 

burdens, the logistics involved 

and the amount of paperwork to 

make transfers through the central 

bank. So, Africans do more 

trade outside Africa than within. 

Yet it’s potentially the biggest 

market in the world,” he says. 

As blockchain structures transactions 

and facilitates the payments, 

it enables the credible 

trade of goods – agriculture, raw 

materials and so on – as well as 

services, between individuals, 

firms and governments, without 

relying on inefficient or untrustworthy 

institutions. 

To Maikori, it’s hard to be 

overly romantic about what this 

means. Interdependent trade is 

not only the surest mechanism for 

peace (of which the EU is only the 

most clear example), but economists 

estimate the gains of intra- 

African trade would sit between 

$6trn and $12trn in the long run. 

“The implications for African 

trade will be massive. For now 

it’s all private sector-driven. But 

there are all sorts of conversations 

happening about how blockchain 

can be used to boost commerce 

and trade.” 

Anyone keen to invest in blockchain 

should consider themselves 

“very welcome” in Africa and 

“should not be apprehensive 

about regulatory changes”. 

“Eventually, once the technology 

moves industries forward, 

you are then going to see governments 

start deciding how they are 

going to regulate it – but only to 

minimise the damage.” 

“Right now the awareness is 

amazing, and adoption is happening 

incredibly fast. In the next 

three years you’re going to see a 

massive amount of transactions 

taking place. It only depends on 

how blockchain is made available. 

If it’s affordable and accessible 

it won’t be hard. We are already so 

inclined to the technology and the 

currencies.”



C002D5556 

‘In Telemundo, we take risks 

to do something different’ 

Recently, Telemundo took over Lagos with Carmen Aub and Alberto Agnesi, two of its frontline stars who literarily stole 

people’s hearts while in Nigeria. However, Carmen who is known for her award-winning role as the villainous Rutila 

Casillas in Lord of the Skies, reveals to Obinna Emelike in this interview, how she has grown from a child-actor, teenager 

and now a woman in the TV series. She also unveils her feelings about Nigeria, what it takes to be a Telenovela actor, the 

growing popularity of Telemundo across Africa, why the genre is a must-watch among other issues. 

How did you feel when you were 

told you are coming to Nigeria? 

When I was told I was 

coming to Nigeria, I 

was shocked. I said 

okay, I am going but 

not expecting anything 

because I really did not know 

what to expect. But on arrival in the 

country, I met a people with energy, 

friendly nature, rich food, environment, 

and their shaku-shaku dance 

(laughs). I love how the people I met 

related with me. I am impressed on 

how you guys manage the vehicular 

traffic and driving. I will not be able 

to drive here (laughs), but it is exciting 

you know. I would like to come 

back again. 

What do you hope to gain from 

the Nigerian-leg of the Telemundo 

country tours in comparison with 

other countries you have been? 

Oh! I love travelling. Travelling opens 

my eyes. It gives me perspective that 

there is no right in wrong like the 

drug dealing in Mexico. Sometimes 

you are very close-minded and you 

grow up and sometimes you want 

to do something and you discover 

it is wrong. 

When you travel, you realise that 

what is wrong in Mexico may not be 

so in another country. So, traveling 

opens your eyes and makes you yourself. 

So, coming to Nigeria and seeing 

how people are nice and friendly 

made me feel good. But sometimes 

in the USA, we forget it can be ‘hi, 

how are you? Maybe it is because 

they are rude or so involved in their 

life. But here in Nigeria, it is different; 

the people are so nice, friendly and 

receptive. So, travelling gives me the 

opportunity of experiencing different 

cultures as I have done in Nigeria. 

‘Lord of the Skies’ is truly stealing 

people’s heart here. What is 

the new Telemundo TV series all 

about? 

Thank you. Yes, the Lord of the Skies 

is stealing fans heart across the 

globe. We love that. It tells the story 

of a Mexican drug dealer. It is a very 

interesting story because it is the first 

season you guys are going to see. We 

are doing the sixth season now in 

Mexico. So, we are going to start all 

this with drama that will be going on. 

And I think he is out of jail now 

because of that. So, he decided to 

write a book about it... And it is the 

sixth series. It is full of actions and 

passions. In the first season, I am 

actually this little five years old. 

And as time goes by I am going 

to start realising that life as daughter 

of an icon I am going to be a strong 

woman; I’m going to betray him at 

a point. I love my character of that; 

there is really something going on that 

even though it is the sixth season in 

Mexico, I never knew what is going to 

happen playing the character. I really 

believe you guys will enjoy the movie 

in Mexico, USA and even Nigeria. 

With much focus on Mexican culture, 

how much popularity does 

Lord of the Skies enjoy in Nigeria? 

I think that we the Mexicans have 

different culture as a people. But we 

have one thing in common - love. 

You know, love is universal and I 

remember going to one museum 

and it is so surprising to me that it did 

not matter where the story is from; 

whether Africa, Japan or Mexico. It 

was a story about someone with a 

broken-heart. We all are the same. 

Our relationship is not only with our 

parents, but could be with our sisters, 

brothers or friends. 

So, in the soap operas, we have 

those kinds of stories that everybody 

can relate with. It does not matter 

whether the soap is produced in 

Mexico or Nigeria. But one thing that 

is clear is that we have something in 

common (love) and that is amazing. 

What do you think about your character 

in Lord of the Skies? 

What I think is that I am not good and 

I am not bad either. But it is not a cliché 

kind of character. It is a character 

that is always growing. I keep growing 

with the character too. When I started 

this character, I was 22 years old and 

I have been learning. But I have been 

given the opportunity to prove that I 

am a woman. 

Also as an actress, it is not simple 

to cross over as a kid, teenager or 

woman. Sometimes, you see an 

actress doing crazy stuffs to prove 

that they are growing up. And I did 

not have to do that because I have 

been growing with my character, and 

every time I make decision whether 

it is right or wrong. Sometimes I ask 

why I am doing this. But we are able 

to understand the decision because 

we have been following up so many 

series and there is something very 

good about this super series. 

Mexico seems the best in soap opera 

production. What is the secret? 

I think we take risks. In Telemundo, 

we take risks to do something different. 

In our generation, you can watch 

what you want on television. But 

before now you only had the classical 

kind of novella - the good and the 

bad, the rich and the poor. Then, you 

had to stick to that because that was 

it. But now we have many options. 

So, I think the something different 

in Telemundo is risk taking. 

Telemundo has the super series, 

biography among others and it 

does it with passion. But sometimes 

some of the productions are good 

and sometimes they are bad. So, in 

the end we are still learning to know 

the taste of the public and give them 

what they want. 

What lessons can we take home 

with Lord of the Skies? 

There are a lot of lessons here. Number 

one is loyalty. You must be loyal if 

you do not want to get into troubles. If 

you are not loyal you might be killed. 

So, we have got to be loyal. 

In real life, we have got to be committed 

to someone or something - relationship 

in order to make it work. It 

is one of the most important lessons. 

Are you the same character you 

play soap operas in reality or you 

are different? 

I think I am completely different. 

Sometimes people get to know me. 

I even talk differently in soap opera.


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

31 

Movie review – Black Panther “bringing 

the African culture to the world” 

“All hail the king of Wakanda” 

The Black Panther 

movie was released 

on Thursday the 

15th of February 

2018 and in 4 days 

has surpassed the world’s expectations. 

Most analysts are 

speculating that it is presently 

the highest grossing movie in 

the history of time and marvel 

production records. The 

movie which was screened 

on Thursday night had most 

fans showing up in their African 

attires in solidarity to 

the African race and culture. 

This has immensely increased 

the revenue to African print 

across the global market. The 

loyalty and excitement with 

this movie was so beautiful 

it looked like we hadn’t seen 

any black movie prior to it. 

The thoughts of having an 

all-black marvel movie, with 

lead actors and actress mainly 

as blacks made it more interesting 

and mind blowing for 

many African Americans and 

their counterparts across the 

globe. The movie revealed 

and impeded varying African 

culture together and yet they 

were all well represented. 

There were a lot of lessons 

learnt in this movie 

about how the African culture 

though different have a lot in 

common, our communal life 

and brotherliness. Although 

they have being a lot of fears 

among movie directors and 

producers around making an 

all-black movie and the acceptance 

in the market, this 

movie definitely opened their 

eyes to a whole new market 

and an unlimited expectations, 

this movie surely has 

opened their eyes to whole 

new world of movie and revenue. 

There were predictions 

that they will gross $120m in 

the 1st week, but they surpassed 

that grossing in $170m 

and $427m worldwide, shattering 

box office records, there 

are talks that they will even 

surpass marvel award winning 

records. 

Ryan Coogler a young 

black director, who was also 

one of the writers of this 

beautiful movie, sure will be 

winning awards for this awesome 

movie. They absolutely 

did put in a lot of work to 

achieve this level of perfection 

that has got everyone 

talking across the globe. Till 

date there hasn’t really being 

a single negative remark 

or down score to the movie, 

it seemed like everyone absolutely 

loves the movie. To 

the blacks it’s seen as our 

pride and heritage, that a 

group of people could put 

together something unique 

and different to help portray 

our culture in a positive light 

rather than our shortcomings. 

One word for this movie 

is perfection as they left no 

detail untold. Each character 

was well represented and 

it looked like they couldn’t 

have found anyone better, 

there was a perfect blend 

between each cast and role 

selected, even across the 

cultures and kingdoms each 

story looked so real. 

Cast : Chadwick Boseman, 

Michael B. Jordan, Lupita 

Nyony’o, Danai Gurira, 

Martin Freeman, Daniel 

Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, 

Wimston Duke, Sterling K. 

Brown, Angela Basssett, 

John Kani etc 

Ratings : PG13 (for prolonged 

sequences of action 

violence and a brief rude 

gesture) 

Genre: Action, Adventure, 

Drama, Science Fiction & 

Fantasy) 

Directed by: Ryan Coogler 

Written by : Joe Robert 

Cole, Ryan Coogler 

Time: 135mins 

Studio: Marvel Studios 

The vibranium powered 

movie talked about how the 

people of Wakanda had extraordinary 

resources that 

could save the world. They 

have the 5th highest opening 

ever for a film, by raking in 

a beautiful sum of $201.8m 

, it’s the 3rd highest gross in 

history for a 4 day opening 

weekend according to “Box 

Office mojo” it also records 

the highest opening of all 

time for a movie in February, 

as well as a movie released 

over a Presidents day weekend, 

surpassing the previous 

earnings of “Deadpool” at 

$152m. The movie has the 

2nd highest earnings for a 

Sunday according to variety 

racking in $60m making it 

possible for the movie to surpass 

Marvel history by grossing 

in $25.2m on the first day 

of release “Thursday night” 

making them the 2nd highest 

grossing movie in the studio 

history, narrowly beaten by 

Avengers “Age of Ultron” with 

$27.6m. The movie Black Panther 

has the 2nd highest 3days 

earnings of $201.8m in domestic 

opening for a Marvel 

film overall, just being slightly 

behind Avengers who earned 

$5.6m more. 

According to Twitter this 

movie by Marvel has seamlessly 

overshadowed one of 

DC’s most recent releases. 

In only 4 days Black Panther 

“Wakanda” has earned about 

$228m. At the pace the movie 

is headed it is obvious that 

“Justice League” won’t be the 

only movie to be walloped, 

because the movie has still 

got weeks to trend in the cinema, 

with no serious rival or 

competition in this month of 

February, they sure will flourish 

higher and better in the 

weeks to come, by then they 

would have also launched 

in the Chinese and Russian 

markets. With great reviews 

coming in and the huge word 

of mouth referrals they are 

definitely going to break all 

records. 

The Wakanada movie 

started on a very excited note 

and not long gone in, it was 

action and suspense all the 

way. T’Challa who was also 

refered to as Black Panther 

played the lead role with Nikia 

and Okoye the strongest 

of the king’s guards. Following 

the death of his father the 

great king, it was apparent 

that he had to return home 

to take over the kingdom left 

behind for him as the next 

heir. On arrival he was taken 

round the kingdom with his 

beloved girlfriend Nikia, who 

had returned with him for his 

swearing in and opening ceremony. 

He loved her so much 

and wanted her to be his 

queen, but she wanted to remain 

on earth to assist the humans 

in crisis, she had a very 

good heart. For T’Challa to be 

made king he had to defeat 

anyone from any of the tribes 

who challenged his authority, 

whoever wins becomes 

the king and is taken through 

the ritual. “Wakanda is an 

isolated city somewhere hidden 

behind mountains in Africa 

and they were known for 

their technological advancement. 

His reign was good and 

peaceful, from time to time 

they will fly to earth to assist 

those in distress. The kingdom 

was calm till his long forgotten 

cousin returned to challenge 

him and take over the throne, 

he felt was stolen from him 

and his father. He fought and 

defeated T’Challa and took 

of the throne. There was sorrow 

and pain in the land, until 

some days after T’Challa 

returned from the dead and 

defeated his cousin “Erik 

Kilmonger” and he restored 

Wakanda back to peace and 

tranquility. The peak of this 

movie for me was the scene 

where “Shuri” T’Challa’s sister 

had to drive the virtual car 

from “Wakanda” moving her 

brother around on earth, the 

scene got everyone excited 

and thrilled. 

To my verdict this movie 

deserves a beautiful and soul 

exciting 10/10, it looks like 

we haven’t seen anything 

like this before, everything 

was perfect from the locations 

chosen, sound track, 

cinematography, cast, crew, 

photography, costumes, colors, 

timing, suspense, action 

and thrill. The expectations 

were absolutely met and 

surpassed, making it even 

better than the hypes and 

the adverts before the movie. 

For many they believe that 

it will take a very long time 

for any movie to surpass this 

thrill and excitement that 

Black Panther “Wakanda” 

has created. 

Business Etiquette 

with Janet Adetu 

Are you an 

UnCivil Driver? 

Every day now more 

than ever there is 

always a reason to 

complain about 

your journey to 

work, office, an event etc. If 

it is not screaming at a public 

transport driver, or playing 

the blame game after a slight 

collision. Somehow no matter 

how careful you may claim to 

be you may just fall victim of a 

number of the following bad 

motorist habits. Uncivilized 

behaviour on the roads is a 

huge problem that needs to 

be tackled by the authorities. 

Some of these behaviours 

have become habitual, 

annoying and prone to be 

the cause of many accidents 

causing accidents. Here are 

some of the bad behaviours 

we see regularly: 

Are you an uncivil driver? 

Speaking on phone while 

driving 

How many times have you 

multitasked speaking on your 

phone whilst driving at the 

same time all without using 

an earpiece? Psychologists 

argue when you’re talking 

on your cell phone, you’re as 

likely to cause an accident as 

when you are drunk. What 

annoys most is that the other 

driver is willing to risk your life 

because of that mere phone 

call. No matter if it is for just a 

few seconds you become an 

uncivil driver each time you 

do this avoid all distractions. 

What should you do: Ignore 

your phone while driving, 

stop to take or receive 

calls, then proceed. 

In spite of the speed limit 

driving too fast 

Residential estates are becoming 

more venues for accidents 

where in spite of the 

free road accidents continue 

to occur. Some drivers simply 

love the freedom of an empty 

road so tend to speed down it 

regardless of the speed limit 

expected in residential areas. 

Other drivers still speed even 

when the road is bad filled 

with potholes and have a 

slippery surface ideally this 

should trigger you to slow 

down. 

What should you do: Be 

safe always and consider the 

condition of the road, the 

environment you are in and 

observe all speed limits. 

Inability to signal before 

turning or changing lanes 

or leaving a signal on 

Signalling your intentions is 

one of the most basic facts 

of courtesy you can engage 

in. Some drivers are signalling 

one direction but end 

up going the opposite way. 

Others simply forget to stop 

indicators even after navigating 

the said road confusing all 

other road users. If we can’t 

predict what other drivers are 

going to do, we can’t make informed 

decisions about what 

we should do, and the result 

is mayhem. 

What should you do: 

Always use your indicators 

or signals while driving and 

turn them off after making 

the change. 

Driving with a beaming full 

light 

Driving at night introduces 

a variety of risks, all related 

to the fact that our vision becomes 

limited. The less well 

you can see, the less well you 

drive. There are two dangers 

of being on full light. You blind 

oncoming motorists and even 

those driving your way since 

the lighting can reflect on 

their side mirrors, hurting 

their judgement. Too many 

drivers careless about fellow 

road users 

What should you do: 

Ensure your headlights are 

properly timed and use full 

lights when necessary, dim to 

oncoming vehicles. 

Eating & Texting while driving 

Lunch on the go is a major 

source of uncivil driving 

prone to multiple accidents. 

More so is texting while driving, 

there are way too many 

unfortunate incidents occurring 

when drivers take that 

one second life changing 

risk of texting while moving 

the vehicle. Either way both 

are extremely bad behaviour 

habits that risks the lives of 

you and many others. 

What should you do: Ensure 

you refrain from eating 

and as a must never text while 

driving 

Use of unroad worthy and 

unserviced vehicles. 

Is your car burnt out? Too 

many cars are patching on 

our roads today forming ticking 

time bombs. From the 

wrecked body to worn out 

tires, broken headlights, poor 

wiper blades you name it 

all risks your life and others’. 

Some cars produce so much 

fumes which are not only a 

health risk to you but also to 

other road users. 


your car is well maintained 

and road worthy always. 

Occupying two spaces in a 

parking lot 

Bay parking is not so common 

in Nigeria so the tendency is 

for drivers to take up two spots 

instead of aligning well with 

other parked cars. Sometimes 

parking can be so tight it is an 

act of incivility to dominate a 

large parking space meant for 

more cars. 


your car is aligned to 

the well drawn marking lines 

showing the parking space. 

Driving slowly on an overtaking 

lane 

Do you know what lane is the 

fast or slow one? There is a 

specified lane for overtaking 

too are you in the wrong lane? 

Too many times drivers 

meander anyhow on our 

roads and fail to keep to a dedicated 

lane even with heavy 

traffic delays. Some drivers 

permanently maintain a slow 

speed while on a fast lane, 

then forcing others to follow 

behind them at all costs. 

What should you do: Keep 

left unless overtaking and 

on the left, don’t block other 

drivers, return to the left after 

overtaking. 

Drive Safely Always!!! 

Janet.adetu@gmail.com

32 

BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 


BUSINESS SOUTH-SOUTH 

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF SOUTH-SOUTH / SOUTH-EAST 

Ayade superhighway: communities decry 

destruction of their livelihoods 

…our women, children now begging to survive – Clan head 

MIKE ABANG, Calabar 

Arta Ophot Nelson Etoi, 

the clan head of Ikot Esai, 

Owai and Ifumkpa communities 

in Akamkpa 

Local Government Area 

of Cross River State have made a 

passionate appeal to the State government 

to urgently compensate them 

over the loss of their major sources of 

income, as a result of the construction 

of a 275.344km Calabar-Ikom-Katsina 

Ala superhighway project. 

Addressing a press conference 

in his country home on Tuesday, 

the clan head said shortly after the 

ground-breaking ceremony of the 

superhighway by President Muhammadu 

Buhari on 30 October 2015, 

to commence construction of the 

275.344km Calabar-Ikom-Katsina 

Ala superhighway, without delay 

Cross River government mobilized 

machines to the communities, with 

clearing of farms and cutting down of 

economic trees which are the major 

income base of the inhabitants. 

He said the people of Owai, Ifumkpa 

and Iko Esai were also not left out; 

adding that “this was done without 

consultation and compensations 

paid to the affected community land 

owners. No inventory was taken by 

government, of the number of plants 

and crops destroyed. Until this moment, 

no plan has been made by the 

State Government to pay compensa- 

BEN EGUZOZIE & 

REGIS ANUKWUOJI, ENUGU 

The Enugu Chamber of 

Commerce Industry Mines 

and Agriculture (ECCIMA) 

has officially announced 

that the 29th edition of the annual 

Enugu International Trade Fair will 

hold from Friday, 16 March to Monday, 

26 March, this year, informed 

Emeka Udeze, the newly elected 

president of the chamber. 

Udeze, who stated this during 

his installation along with other 

elected executive members of 

the Chamber, pledged to deepen 

efforts to improve on the fortunes 

of the major city chamber. 

ECCIMA was established in 

1963 for the promotion and protection 

of commerce and industry, 

and to represent and express the 

opinion of the business community 

on questions affecting 

commerce, industry, mines and 

agriculture, firstly in Enugu, the 

then Eastern Nigeria (its main 

catchment area), and where applicable, 

the whole Federation. 

The Chamber, which is today 

one of the biggest city chambers 

Gov Ben Ayade 

tions to affected communities and 

individuals.” 

The clan head lamented that: 

“With the clearing of trees, and destruction 

of forests and farmlands, 

our sources of livelihood, especially 

regarding women and children, 

have been destroyed, as most of our 

women and children now resort 

to begging for survival, with high 

incidences of youth restiveness and 

crime, due to idleness and lack of 

reasonable sources of income in most 

of the affected communities.” 

According to the clan head, they 

in Nigeria, began organizing international 

trade fairs in March 

1990. And without a single break, 

the incoming fair is the 29th in 

the series. 

The new ECCIMA president also 

said that the Enugu International 

Trade Fair is a major and key economic 

event that has been in place 

to help foster the economy of the 

South East zone, and indeed the Nigerian 

economy; hence he appealed 

to the five South East governments 

to fully participate in the fair, and 

invite other state governments. 

The ECCIMA president pointed 

out that his executive was not unaware 

of the challenges and tasks 

that are before them, to ensure that 

the chamber’s mandate and vision 

became visible and impactful to 

the community; emphasizing on 

the need to enhance institutional 

capacity building of the Chamber, 

and human capital development, 

renew efforts towards the promotion 

of commercial agriculture, 

industrial and entrepreneurship 

development; and also to consolidate 

public policy advocacy. 

The Chamber also accepted 24 

new inductees into the council, 

and gave ‘Keyman Award’ to five 

are facing untold hardship occasioned 

by the construction of the 

superhighway, which has been mired 

in deep controversies over the issue of 

its environmental impact assessment 

(IEA) report. 

“The (superhighway construction) 

exercise has left us with nothing 

but pain, increase in number school 

dropouts, as parents can no longer 

pay their children fees, due to loss of 

our livelihoods and severe infringement 

on our right to living,” Etoi said. 

He said his communities was 

not against development, but said 

ECCIMA announces date for 29th Enugu Int’l trade fair 

…since first fair in March 1990 

distinguished Nigerians, who it 

said, have excelled in their various 

fields of professions. 

The chairman of the event and 

former minister for Power, Barth 

Nnaji, commended the Chamber 

for the role it is playing in the development 

of small and medium 

entrepreneurs in Enugu and other 

states in the South East zone. 

He called on the leadership of 

ECCIMA not to relent on its advocacy 

programme; and advised that 

the Chamber should support the 

Enugu State government in her investment 

promotion programme; 

saying it would go a long way to 

helping investment in the region. 

One of the Keyman Award 

recipients, Christian Odinaka 

Igwe, who described the Enugu 

Chamber as one of the best in 

Nigerian, called on business men 

from the South East zone to look 

inwards and bring some of their 

investments back home, to help 

governments of states in the zone 

to create employment for the 

teeming youths. 

“If our people can bring threequarters 

of what they have outside 

Igbo land, we would not be talking 

about unemployment here. Sec- 

“for any development to take place, 

there must be alternative measures 

for survival of the citizens, especially 

when it has to do with land acquisition.” 

The Clan head therefore, wants 

the state government to be compelled 

to pay compensation to the 

communities and individuals affected 

by the bulldozing already 

carried out. 

“The (Cross River State) government 

should embark on massive 

regeneration of the cleared lands in 

order to restore the ecosystem.” 

ondly, our states’ internally generated 

revenue (IGR) will equally 

increase. I advise that we should 

look inwards to develop our area,” 

he said. 

He also called on Igbo youths 

to stop the idea of quick money 

getting attitude and get back to 

vocational training and apprenticeship 

which an average Igbo 

man was known for, pointing 

out that when one is trained and 

experienced in a profession he or 

she would likely become the best 

in that field. 

One of the Representatives of 

Abia state government Okey Igwe 

emphasized on restructuring of 

the country, he said it is necessary 

to remove the control of mineral 

deposits from the exclusive list of 

the federal government to enable 

States develop with what they 

have and at their speed. 

Also, one of the newly admitted 

members into the Chamber, 

Ekene Chukwu, the chief executive 

of Eone Food Industries Nigeria 

Limited, appealed to state governments 

to kindly empower new 

companies by making favourable 

polices that are suitable for businesses 

to thrive in the South East. 

NUC ranking: EDHA 

commends Edo 

University over feat 

IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin 

The Edo State House of Assembly 

(EDHA) has commended the 

management of Edo University, 

Iyahmo in Etsako West Local 

Government Area of the state for its 

recent ranking as first among state universities 

in the country by the National 

Universities Commission (NUC). 

It is recalled that the NUC had in 

January this year, ranked the Edo University 

first among state owned universities, 

and the third ranked university in the 

country. 

Commending the university for the 

feat, the House Standing Committee on 

Education in its oversight function to the 

institution, noted that the management 

has within the short life span of the institution, 

justified the state government’s 

investment in education. 

Chairman of the committee, Foly 

Ogedengbe, noted that it was not always 

easy to come third among Nigeria’s universities, 

for a school that was barely two 

years in existence. 

He urged the school management 

to sustain the tempo, as well as improve 

on its human capital development for 

better results. 

“I also want to congratulate the 

acting Vice-Chancellor because he has 

shown that he is capable of managing 

the University, as members of the management 

have shown that they are able 

to sustain the facilities they met and also 

improve on it,” Ogedengbe said. 

He commended the state university 

management for what he described as 

“some work they are doing without a 

third party intervention;” adding that 

“the recruitment process (in the University) 

is fantastic, and that is why they are 

ranked third best university in Nigeria.” 

Earlier, the Acting Vice Chancellor, 

Emmanuel Aluyor, a professor, said, 

as a world-class university, the institution 

would continue to improve on its 

academic learning for future rankings. 

“I want to say it is a major milestone 

coming within two years of our coming 

on board as a university; and for us, it is 

an indication that we are actually doing 

something right,” he said. 

The acting VC said: “I believe we 

are doing something right, which has 

already been applauded. We want to 

promise that we will continue to move 

in that direction, and hopefully, in the 

near future, we will not just be number 

third, we will be number one.” 

Members of the state Assembly 

standing committee on Education 

were taken on an inspection tour of 

the University, to inspect all ongoing 

and completed infrastructural projects 

within the university. 

The NUC, ranking which was the first 

ever conducted by Open Educational 

Resources (OER) of the Commission, 

resulted in the ranking of Nigeria’s 160 

universities in both public and private. 

The ranking initiated by the NUC 

incumbent executive secretary, Abubakar 

Adam Rasheed, saw the Federal 

University of Technology (FUT), Owerri 

coming out first, followed by the faithbased 

Mountain-Top University in 

Makogi Obu, Ogun State and Edo University, 

Iyamho, respectively. According 

to the ranking, the Universities of Lagos, 

Ibadan and Covenant University came 

in the fourth, fifth and sixth positions 

respectively.


Non-transparency in data, key cause of 

price fluctuation in energy sector - OPEC 

FRANK UZUEGBUNAM & HARRISON 

EDEH & CYNTHIA EGBOBOH 

Head, Data Service 

Department, Research 

Division 

of Organisation of 

Petroleum Exporting Countries 

(OPEC), Odulaja Dapo, 

yesterday said non-transparency 

with data in the 

energy industry was a major 

contributor to price fluctuation 

in the country. 

Odulaja said in Abuja at 

the ongoing Nigeria International 

Petroleum Summit 

that the energy industry had 

gone through cycles of price 

fluctuation, which was not 

convenient for both producers 

and consumers, stressing 

on the data intensive nature 

of the industry. 

According to Odulaja, 

“The industry has gone 

through cycles of price 

fluctuation and this is not 

convenient for the producers 

and consumers alike. 

There is need to promote 

more data collection as the 

industry is becoming data 

intensive.” 

He pointed out that Africa 

should not be left behind 

in the contribution to data 

gathering initiative that was 

recently launched by OPEC 

Nigeria warns on ECOWAS currency integration 

ONYINYE NWACHUKWU 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari has 

cautioned member 

countries of the 

Economic Community of 

West African States (ECOW- 

AS) against forcing through 

the planned currency integration 

in the sub-region by 

2020. 

President Buhari, who 

was represented by the 

governor, Central Bank of 

Nigeria (CBN), Godwin 

Emefiele, issued the warning 

on Tuesday, at the fifth 

meeting of the Presidential 

Task Force on ECOWAS 

Currency Programme in 

Accra, Ghana, saying Heads 

of Government had not 

properly articulated and 

analysed a comprehensive 

picture of the state of preparedness 

of individual 

countries for monetary integration 

by 2020. 

He reiterated that the 

and others, adding that the 

initiative was being embraced 

by more countries 

but only few contributions 

from African countries. 

He further stressed the 

need for a unified system 

of data collection in Africa, 

adding that there was also 

a need for data operators to 

be trained and retrained on 

how to handle, process and 

disseminate relevant data. 

Mohammed Tumala, director 

of statistics at the Central 

Bank of Nigeria (CBN), 

said, “The future of a nation 

is determined by what it decides 

to do with its available 

data,” adding that petroleum 

data play vital role in the 

economy of Nigeria. 

Tumala, however, noted 

that the challenges facing 

the data system in Africa 

were lack of integrity, consistency 

and standardisation 

of data, explaining that it 

was necessary for a nation’s 

data to be accurate and reliable 

when compared with 

data from other countries. 

There is currently a fight 

against cyber intrusion, 

which breeds insecurity in 

data dissemination, he said. 

He said, “Some of the challenges 

we face in data gathering 

and dissemination is lack 

non-preparedness of some 

member countries, the attempt 

to water down the 

criteria, and the continued 

disparities between macroeconomic 

conditions in 

ECOWAS countries, continued 

to be major issues 

of concern that members 

must examine in order to 

make progress. 

Buhari further observed 

that ECOWAS Heads of 

Government had not been 

adequately briefed on the 

full implications of forcing 

through the integration by 

2020, particularly where 

some countries were not 

individually ready domestically. 

While pointing out that 

there were still outstanding 

issues in the roadmap 

to an integrated currency 

union, he noted that the 

macro-economic fundamentals 

of many countries 

in ECOWAS were diverse 

and uncertain. 

of consistency, integrity and 

lack of standard data, as the 

data of a nation can as well be 

useful to other countries. We 

also have to fight with cyber 

intrusion, which brings data 

insecurity.” 

Meanwhile, Yemi Kale, the 

statistician general of the Federation, 

represented by Lola 

Tolabi, said the agency was 

working with other ministries, 

departments and agencies in 

collecting and disseminating 

relevant data to the public. 

Kale identified data harmonisation, 

integrity and 

timeliness as major challenges 

in data gathering and 

dissemination processes in 

the country. Stressing that the 

way people accounts for data 

in the country poses as a challenge, 

as it is difficult to get 

everyone involved in data collection 

to discuss extensively 

on the reported data before 

dissemination of such data to 

the public. 

“Most of our challenges 

include lack of integrity, commitment, 

timeliness and 

harmonisation of data. Most 

times the data may be correct 

but the way it is accounted for 

May be the problem, also getting 

everyone together to discuss 

on the collected data is 

always a challenge,” Kale said. 

He also noted that the 

inflation targeting regime 

recommended as framework 

was not feasible, as 

it was based on adoption 

of a flexible exchange rate 

regime. He equally noted 

that real convergence was 

nowhere near achievable, 

despite efforts made so far. 

The President therefore 

called for a push towards 

ratification and domestication 

of legal instruments 

and related protocols, and 

the harmonisation of all 

fiscal, trade and monetary 

policies and statistical systems, 

with a view to limiting 

the extent of current 

policy divergences. 

He also advised that the 

West African Economic and 

Monetary Union (UEMOA) 

countries to make a presentation 

on a clear roadmap 

towards delinking from the 

French Treasury. 

Furthermore, he called 

for a review of the fast-track 

JOSHUA BASSEY, OBINNA EMELIKE 

& MIKE OCHONMA 

C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

33 

NEWS 

As Lagos implements ERA system, hoteliers, others kick 

Lagos State government 

says it aims to 

shore up its revenue 

profile with the introduction 

of the Electronic Revenue 

Assurance (ERA) system 

in tax collection. 

The ERA enables automated 

collection of consumption 

tax from hotels, restaurants, 

eateries and nightclubs operating 

in Lagos, in what will 

see the state rake in more 

money through its internal 

revenue systems. The state’s 

IGR currently accounts for 77 

percent of its annual budgetary 

expenditure as it collects 

between N30 billion and N35 

billion monthly as IGR. 

Governor Akinwunmi 

Ambode, represented by his 

deputy, Idiat Adebule, at a 

meeting, Thursday, to sensitise 

stakeholders on the 

implementation of the electronic 

collection of the consumption 

tax, said the objective 

was to enable Lagos 

dependent less on federal 

transfers to build infrastructure 

that support business 

and grow its economy. 

But stakeholders, majorly 

hoteliers and operators 

of bars, quick service 

restaurants, and nightclubs 

are contending the 5 percent 

Consumption Tax Law 

R-L: Herbert Wigwe, GMD/CEO, Access Bank plc; Stuart Culverhouse, global head, macro and fixed income research, Exotix 

Capital; Giulia Pellegrini, portfolio manager, frontier markets economist, BlackRock; Nathan Sheets, chief economist/head 

of global macroeconomic research, Prudential Financial Inc. and Tim Adams, president and CEO, Institute of International 

Finance (IIF) at the 2018 Frontier Forum hosted by Bloomberg, Exotix Capital and the IIF at Bloomberg›s London headquarters, 

United Kingdo on Thursday. 

approach to monetary integration 

and the harmonisation 

of plans by ECOWAS 

members with that of the 

African Union Programme 

of monetary convergence 

that had recommended a 

convergence deadline of 

2034 for the for the establishment 

of Regional Central 

Banks in all sub-regions 

of the continent. 

He also used the occasion 

to call for the establishment 

of an Ombudsman 

with powers to invoke 

sanctions when member 

countries were in breach of 

agreed standards, protocols 

and convergence criteria. 

of the state, saying although 

passed and signed into 

force, it comes down to multiple 

taxation on consumers 

of goods and services. 

The stakeholders premise 

their contention on the 

fact that the Value Added 

Tax (VAT) being collected 

by the Federal Government 

from the same consumers 

is shared among all states of 

the federation, of which Lagos 

still gets its share. 

Akilu Adekunle, president, 

Lagos Hoteliers Association, 

the umbrella body for hotel 

owners and operators, at the 

meeting said businesses were 

confronted with all manners 

levies from federal to local 

government levels. 

He emphasised the need 

for proper harmonisation of 

taxes collectable by federal, 

state and local governments, 

stressing that this would allow 

businesses plan their budget, 

factoring in taxes that should 

go each level of government. 

The ERA system, using an 

electronic fiscal device, is a 

Inside the bribery scandal sweeping 

through the oil industry - WSJ 

Continued from back page 

which made it to the U.S., 

court documents show. Mr. 

Etete splashed out nearly 

$57 million to buy a private 

jet in Oklahoma in 2011 and 

another $670,000 for three 

armored cars in the U.S., according 

to court documents. 

He even was able to pay off 

$7.4 million in fines for the 

money-laundering conviction 

in France. 

The FBI turned over 

much of its evidence to authorities 

in Italy, where Fabio 

De Pasquale, a high-profile 

prosecutor in Milan, had 

begun probing the deal in 

2014. Mr. De Pasquale had 

made a name for himself 

in the 1990s as a dogged investigator 

willing to take on 

powerful forces in Italy, including 

former Italian Prime 

Minister Silvio Berlusconi. 

He presided over separate 

corruption investigations 

against Eni that have forced 

it to overhaul its compliance 

practices and restructure 

its former oil services subsidiary. 

Italian investigators 

turned up the heat on executives 

who might provide 

useful evidence. One 

was Vincenzo Armanna, 

a senior executive in Eni’s 

sub-Saharan Africa business 

at the time of the deal. Prosecutors 

allege he received 

a kickback of more than 

$1 million when the deal 

closed, according to Italian 

court documents. 

Mr. Armanna acknowledged 

he discussed the final 

destination of Eni’s money 

with his bosses. “We were 

aware that most of it would 

go to the political sponsors 

of the deal,” he told prosecutors 

in 2014, according 

to the court documents. Mr. 

Armanna didn’t respond to 

requests for comment. 

Another Eni executive 

received a delivery of $50 

million in cash to his house 

in Abuja, according to Italian 

software application that issues 

invoices and receipts to 

consumers bearing a unique 

QR code. It generates details 

of the items and/or services 

ordered and an embedded 

automation of consumption 

tax remittance in real time. 

It guarantees financial 

transparency, accountability 

and efficiency for 

tax collecting agents and 

ensures accurate deduction 

and transparent remittance 

of consumption tax. 

Akinyemi Ashade, the 

state commissioner for finance, 

said the introduction 

of the ERA system was 

in line with global best 

practice in the use of technology 

and automated solutions 

in tax collection. 

He said all that was required 

from the hotels, restaurants, 

night among others 

was to collect the tax and remit 

same to government, to 

avoid going against the law, 

which provides a penalty up 

to six months jail or fine of 

N500,000 for defaulters. 

prosecutors. By that time, 

the Italian investigation was 

zeroing in on the top levels 

of Eni’s management. 

“It’s believed that Scaroni 

and Descalzi organized 

and managed the illegal 

activities,” Milan prosecutors 

wrote in a 2014 document 

saying they had put the two 

under investigation. 

In 2016, Shell’s offices 

in The Hague were raided 

by Dutch police, who spent 

hours combing top executives’ 

rooms for information 

on the deal. A cache 

of internal emails widely 

leaked to the media revealed 

details about the company’s 

yearslong negotiation for the 

oil field. 

Dutch investigators also 

tapped the phone of the 

company’s current CEO, Ben 

van Beurden, even though 

he wasn’t running the company 

when the Nigeria deal 

was struck and faces no 

charges. 

“There was apparently 

some loose chatter between 

people from the team,” said 

Mr. Van Beurden on a wiretapped 

call to his chief financial 

officer at the time of 

the raid. He said on the call 

that discussions of the deal 

included comments such as, 

“I wonder who gets a payoff 

here.” 

Mr. Van Beurden declined 

to comment. A Shell 

spokesman said the company 

was cooperating fully 

with regulatory authorities. 

The executive was on 

vacation in France with his 

children when police were 

rummaging through his office. 

“I don’t think they have 

found anything that was 

clearly incriminating or that 

sort of suggested that we 

were colluding or doing anything 

inappropriate,” he said 

on the tapped call. But referring 

to the chatter, he said, 

“Nevertheless, it’s there.” 

—Gbenga Akingbule and 

Aruna Viswanatha contributed 

to this article.


C002D5556 


NEWS 

Investors are ‘more relaxed’ about Nigeria... 


and planned sales by Ghana, 

Kenya, Angola and Cote d’Ivoire 

in Q1 2018), Nigeria probably 

paid a fair price in the light of 

market conditions. 

Given fiscal plans to refinance 

a portion of outstanding 

Nigerian Treasury Bills (NTB), 

there is scope for a normalisation 

in the NGN yield curve 

(from the largely flat pattern) 

as softer paper supply exerts 

downward pressure on shortdated 

maturities. 

Africa’s biggest oil producer 

is struggling to raise enough 

revenue amid the worst economic 

slump in about 25 years. 

Gross domestic product expanded 

from a year earlier in 

the three months through June 

after contracting for the previous 

five quarters. 

Acute dollar shortages that 

were exacerbated by capital 

controls in 2016 sent investors 

fleeing and left the economy 

bleeding. 

However, Nigeria is regaining 

its allure for international traders, 

thanks to the rise in Brent 

FAAC disbursement increases 

7.4% to N655.18bn in Jan, 2018 


The Federation Account 

Allocation 

Committee (FAAC) 

disbursed the sum 

of N655.18 billion to 

the three tiers of government in 

January 2018 from the revenue 

generated in December 2017 

representing a 7.41 per cent increase 

compared to December 

2017, according to the National 

Bureau of Statistics (NBS). 

The amount disbursed comprised 

of N538.51 billion from 

the statutory account and N83.96 

billion from Valued Added Tax 

(VAT). Also N14.713 billion and 

N16.055 billion were distributed 

as FOREX Equalisation while 

excess bank charges of N1.938bn 

recovered was also distributed. 

Babatunde Fashola (l), minister of power, works and housing; Suleiman Zarma Hassan (r), minister of 

state for works, and Mohammed Bukar, permanent secretary, works and housing, during a meeting with 

stakeholders of the Bodo - Bonny Road and Bridges Project at the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing 

Headquarters,Mabushi,Abuja, yesterday. 


ference between the landing cost 

of imported petrol (close to N171 

per litre) and the subsidised retail 

price (N145 per litre). 

Analysts say a normal and rational 

government would have 

cut its losses, end the subsidy 

and allow market forces dictate 

price, but not so in Nigeria, and 

especially, not a year preceding 

elections. 

“There are lots of secrecy, 

nobody is even asking question 

surrounding 450,000 barrels 

NNPC gets daily; also despite 

doing so much under recovery 

how come a loss making organisation 

has not gone bankrupt,” 

said Luqmon Agboola, head 

of energy and infrastructure at 

Sofidam Capital. 

Contrary to popular belief, 

it is the rich not the poor who 

disproportionally benefit from 

Nigeria’s fuel subsidy. 

With the government subsidizing 

the market to keep 

domestic fuel prices artificially 

low, it is those who consume the 

most that have a greater benefit 

crude prices and an easing of 

dollar shortages, which are 

helping Africa’s largest economy 

recover from its worst slump 

in 25 years. 

More dollars piled into Nigeria 

than exited through the 

Central bank in 2017, as inflows 

outpaced outflows for the first 

time since 2012, according to 

data compiled by BusinessDay 

and sourced from a report on 

the apex bank’s website that put 

net flows at $12 billion. 

An equal share of increased 

inflows and reduced 

outflows led to the positive 

net flow in 2017, as inflows 

surged 15.59 percent to $41.7 

billion from a seven-year average 

of $36.1 billion within 

2010-2017, while outflows fell 

identically by 15.43 percent 

to $29.1 billion from an average 

of $34.4 billion. 

That’s the first positive net 

flow since 2012, when inflows 

outpaced outflows by $10.4 

billion. 

The rise in external reserves 

and relative exchange rate stability 

confirm improved dollar 

flows to the CBN coffers. 

NNPC’s N286bn fuel subsidy losses since Oct... 

from the subsidy. 

“The oil majors concentrated 

in Lagos are still selling PMS at 

N145 but the moment you cross 

to others states you can’t get it at 

N145 again, the least you get it is 

N160,” Agboola said by phone. 

The Nigeria Bureau of Statistic’s 

Premium Motor Spirit 

(petrol) price watch for January 

2018 showed that on the average, 

Nigerians paid N190.9 per 

litre for the product as against 

the N145 government-regulated 

price and for which the government 

and the country as a 

whole is sustaining huge losses 

in subsidy payments. While 

some consumers in states like 

Osun, Abia and Benue paid as 

high as N228.89, N227.5 and 

N223.33 per litre respectively 

for the product in January, others 

such as Zamfara, Gombe 

and Kogi states were lucky to 

pay far lower prices of N159.12, 

N157.73 and N152.83 respectively 

for the product. 

“As long as we keep the PMS 

price at the present level we 

continue to have these intrinsic 

subsidies that NNPC continue 

... as Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers get highest allocations 

Foreign Exchange Equalization 

Account is the section of 

a country’s central bank which 

uses the country’s foreign currency 

holdings to operate in 

the foreign exchange market in 

order to stabilize the country’s 

currency exchange rate. 

“This increase is mainly driven 

by higher oil prices, increase 

in production and higher exchange 

rate compared to January 

last year, Dolapo Ashiru, 

CEO, MegaCapital Financial 

Services Limited said. 

BusinessDay calculations 

showed an increase of 52.31 per 

cent when compared with total 

disbursements of N430 .16 billion 

in January 2017. 

Also, State by state breakdown 

of the FAAC allocations showed 

Akwa-Ibom State received the 

highest total allocation of N16 

billion, followed by Bayelsa State 

with a total allocation of N12 

billion. River State came third 

with a total allocation of N13 

billion, while Bayelsa State got 

N105.3 billion to take the fourth 

position. 


WCOs, Kasumu Afis Olasehinde, 

reiterated their commitment to 

the success of the Cleaner Lagos 

Initiative and pledged to roll out 

more trucks to rid Lagos of Wastes’ 

black spots. 

“To show our total commitment 

to a cleaner, healthier and 

safer Lagos, we have not only 

resolved to work with the Government 

of Lagos State and the 

domestic waste operators as 

partners, we have also resolved to 

commence free Operations every 

Thursdays to mop up black spots 

in our re spective areas,” he said. 

It was agreed at the meeting 

that a seamless process should be 

put in place on how Visionscape 

Federal government received 

a total of N278.73 billion from 

the N655.18 billion shared. States 

received a total of N175.55bn 

and Local governments received 

N132.48 billion. The sum of 

N51.74 billion was shared among 

the oil producing states as 13 per 

cent derivation fund. 

Revenue generating agencies 

such as Nigeria Customs Service 

(NCS), Federal Inland Revenue 

Service (FIRS) and Department 

of Petroleum Resources 

(DPR) received N4.12 billion, 

N7.44 billion and N3.10 billion 

respectively as cost of revenue 

collections. 

Further breakdown of revenue 

allocation distribution to the 

Federal Government of Nigeria 

(FGN) revealed that the sum of 

N240.98 billion was disbursed to 

the FGN consolidated revenue 

account; N5.06 billion shared as 

share of derivation and ecology; 

N2.53 billion as stabilization 

fund; N8.50 billion for the development 

of natural resources; 

and N5.83 billion to the Federal 

Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. 

PSP operators, community leaders embrace... 

to absorb; the only respite is that 

as crude prices drop subsidy 

will most likely drop as well,” 

Jubril Adedayo, Energy analyst 

at Ecobank research said. 

Nigeria’s fuel subsidy continues 

to crowd out other development 

spending; By comparison 

in the 2018 proposed budget 

important ministries such as 

National primary health care 

agency had a total budget of N23 

billion, Ministry of Education 

capital expenditure had a budget 

of N22 billion, while Universal 

Basic Education commission 

had a budget of N113 billion; 

By virtue of its role as a state 

owned corporation, the NNPC 

sells on behalf of the Federation, 

Nigeria’s share of its oil 

production with its joint venture 

partners. But this oil is bought 

at a subsidised cost in terms of 

foreign exchange. 

Nigeria opened the investors 

and exporters foreign exchange 

window in April 2017, where 

dollar is exchanged around 

N360/$1. 

But the NNPC, as a stateowned 

enterprise is not compelled 

to follow the exchange 

rate of the I&E window throughout 

the period. Even in the 

Direct-Sale-Direct-Purchase 

(DSDP) arrangement, where 

the NNPC signed agreements 

with some oil companies to exchange 

around 300,000 barrels 

per day of crude for imported 

petrol and diesel, the NNPC has 

been allowed to operate at the 

CBN favourable exchange rate 

term of N305. 

The federal government has 

been struggling to explain the 

current subsidy regime without 

actually calling it subsidy. In 

December 2017 when the fresh 

round of fuel scarcity began, the 

Group Managing Director of the 

NNPC admitted that the landing 

cost of petrol at N171 per litre 

is now above the pump price of 

petrol at N145 per litre, which 

simply means that government 

is effectively having to pick up 

the difference in cost of importation 

of N26 per litre. 

Then Vice President Yemi 

Osinbajo in December tried to 

explain away the new “subsidy” 

regime by claiming that it was 

a cost borne by the NNPC and 

not the Federal Government. 

This left Nigerians wondering 

if the NNPC is now owned by 

and the PSPs will partner on the 

door-to-door collection of waste 

from March 1. 

It was also agreed that Visionscape 

would take the PSPs on a 

tour of the Epe Landfill, the first 

engineered landfill in West Africa. 

The meeting also agreed to set 

up a committee comprising all the 

stakeholders to ensure smooth 

operation of the project. 

At a meeting with the Oba of 

Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu at City 

Hall, Lagos Island on Wednesday, 

community leaders and market 

leaders also embraced the Cleaner 

Lagos Initiative. 

With the reconciliation efforts, 

normalcy has started returning to 

Lagos streets. 

a foreign government or the 

government had already sold its 

stakes in the corporation. Current 

records show NNPC is 100 

percent owned by the Nigerian 

Government which also means 

that if it runs into a loss, it is the 

government that bears the brunt. 

The Minister of Finance, 

Kemi Adeosun speaking to 

the media, after the federal 

executive council meeting on 

31 January, said ‘technically’ 

speaking, the federal government 

was not paying subsidies. 

However, like the Vice President, 

she also admitted that the 

price differential or ‘subsidy’ is 

appearing on NNPC books as 

‘under-recovery.’ 

Group Managing Director of 

the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, said 

the NNPC imported 9.8 million 

metric tonnes of Premium Motor 

Spirit, PMS, in the period 

(October - till date) to tackle 

the scarcity. 

“The solution is full deregulation 

of the down-stream sector 

where prices move alongside 

cost reflective importation cost 

and margins of the market,” 

Adedayo of Ecobank research 

concluded.


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

35 

Sports 

Aiteo disburses N540m to boost Super 

Eagles World Cup campaign 

Stories by 

Anthony Nlebem 

AITEO Group 

in partnership 

with the Nigeria 

Football Federation 

(NFF) recognised 

the greatest talents 

and legends of Nigerian 

football at a gala held on 19, 

February 2018 in Lagos. 

A first of its kind, the 

event brought together the 

biggest names in Nigerian 

football as 15 awards were 

handed to deserving current 

and ex-players as well as officials 

who have popularised 

football in Nigeria. 

The collaboration between 

AITEO and NFF 

is the latest in a series of 

partnerships that have delivered 

superior quality of 

football in Nigeria. So far, 

AITEO has paid the sum of 

$600,000 and N320 million 

to cover its contractual obligation 

of providing support 

to the technical crew 

of the Super Eagles for the 

whole of 2018, well beyond 

the World Cup. 

A cross section of dignitaries at the AITEO-NFF Awards held on Monday at the Eko Hotels & Siutes, Victoria Island, Lagos. 

AITEO has also made 

enormous contribution to 

supporting local football by 

sponsoring the Federation 

cup. 

Speaking at the gala 

night, Francis Peters, Deputy 

Managing Director, 

AITEO Group said, “Aiteo 

is an organisation that is 

committed to the vision 

of every African, particularly 

the youth. Our business 

principle is framed 

around encouraging and 

empowering the teeming 

youth population in Nigeria 

and Africa to realise 

its potentials whether in 

sport or any other chosen 

endeavour. This is the reason 

Aiteo, Africa’s leading 

energy solutions company, 

is investing in the game.” 

FIFA President Gianni 

Infantino, said, “I was told 

that in Nigeria football is 

passion, but it is a lie because 

it is more than that. In Nigeria 

I was told that football is 

love, but it is a lie it is more 

than that. In Nigeria, football 

is life.” 

Key leaders attended 

the event from the global 

and continental football 

community. Among them 

were FIFA President, Gianni 

Infantino, CAF President, 

Ahmad Ahmad as well as the 

entire leadership of the NFF. 

Present at the event were 

key political figures including 

Lagos state governor, 

Akinwunmi Ambode, and 

his Delta state counterpart, 

Ifeanyi Okowa. Also present, 

was the majority leader 

of the House of Representatives, 

Honourable Femi 

Gbajabiamila as well as two 

former governors of Delta 

state, Emmanuel Uduaghan 

and James Ibori. 

The high point of the 

event was the unveiling of 

the winners. The award for 

Player of the Year, male category, 

went to Victor Moses 

while Asisat Oshoala was 

named Player of the Year, in 

the female category. 

The NFF Legends 11, a 

team of ex-footballers who 

have made an indelible 

mark on football in Nigeria, 

was also unveiled. Ann 

Chiejine, Austin Eguavoen, 

Okechukwu Uche, Christian 

Chukwu, Segun Odegbami, 

Nwakwo Kanu, Felix 

Owolabi, Thompson Usiyen, 

Mercy Akide, Adokiye Amesiamaka, 

and Austin Okocha 

made the list. 

Moses, Oshoala shine at Aiteo-NFF Awards 

Chelsea of England 

and Super Eagles’ 

ace Victor Moses 

and reigning African 

Woman Player of the Year, Asisat 

Oshoala were among the 

winners at a hugely entertaining 

inaugural edition of the 

AITEO-NFF Football Awards 

held on Monday February 

19th at the Eko Hotels and 

Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. 

Governor Akinwunmi 

Ambode of Lagos State, with 

his retinue of cabinet members 

and senior aides, joined 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of 

Delta State, FIFA President 

Gianni Infantino, CAF President 

Ahmad, FIFA Secretary 

General Fatma Samoura, a 

couple of former governors, 

the Permanent Secretary in 

the Ministry of Youth and 

Sports, AITEO and NFF bigwigs, 

NFF Congress members, 

presidents of 17 Member Associations 

of FIFA, industry 

chieftains, political movers, 

legends of Nigerian Football, 

media owners and heavyweights 

and foremost artistes 

to witness a spectacle at Eko 

Hotel’s Grand Ballroom. 

Ambode declared that his 

government was determined 

to continue to support worthy 

sporting projects, with 

an eye on extensive sports 

tourism that could have major 

economic impact on the 

“fifth largest economy in the 

African continent” and make 

Lagos a sports hub of gargantuan 

proportion. 

NFF President Amaju Pinnick 

praised President Muhammadu 

Buhari (GCON) 

for creating the enabling environment 

for sports to thrive 

again, and Infantino and the 

FIFA and CAF hierarchies for 

tremendous support to the 

Nigeria game. 

AITEO’s Deputy Managing 

Director Francis Peters, 

in obvious elation, said: “The 

amazing power of football to 

heal wounds, enrich the gifted 

and entertain the majority 

is the reason why AITEO, Africa’s 

leading energy solution 

company, is investing in the 

game. We remain grateful to 

the Nigeria Football Federation 

for giving us the opportunity 

to begin charity at home. 

We also praise the leadership 

of the Confederation of African 

Football for providing us 

with the platform to be part of 

the continental terrain. 

“AITEO is an organization 

that is committed to the 

vision of every African realizing 

his potential, whether 

they be in football or some 

other profession, and our 

Amaju Pinnick, president, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), with Gianni Infantino, president, FIFA at the FIFA Executive 

Football Summit Press Conference held in Lagos on Tuesday. 

operating business principle 

revolves round encouraging 

and empowering the teeming 

youth population of this 

country, and of this continent, 

to take their destiny in their 

own hands and aim for the 

very top.” 

The Permanent Secretary 

in the Ministry of Youth and 

Sports, Mr. Olusade Adesola 

commended the NFF leadership 

for institutionalizing “a 

project that will reward and 

encourage Nigerian footballers 

and in turn inspire 

their commitment and sense 

of patriotism to national assignments,” 

while Gianni was 

delighted by the presence of 

Nigerian legends, insisting 

they are also legends of world 

football. 

Former Nigeria captain 

Olusegun Odegbami declared: 

“This is highly fulfilling. 

An Awards ceremony of this 

nature has been long overdue, 

but it is not surprising that the 

present NFF administration 

that has been taking giant 

strides and instituting a level 

and scope of development 

never before seen in Nigerian 

Football is the one to finally 

make this happen. 

“On behalf of all generations, 

male and female, young 

and old, I salute the NFF and 

wish them the very best in 

their journey to take Nigerian 

Football to new levels of 

excellence.” 

Other winners on the 

night included Super Falcons’ 

star Rasheedat Ajibade, 

Enyimba’s FC’s Ikouwem 

Udoh, Ann Chiejine, Kennedy 

Boboye, Plateau United FC, 

Elkanemi Warriors FC Fans, 

Remo Stars FC, Channels 

Television and MFM FC’s 

Sikiru Olatubosun. 

Universally –acknowledged 

dancer Kaffy, Miss 

Vee from Ghana and Nigerian 

raves Patoranking, Tiwa 

Savage, Reekado Banks and 

Falz thrilled the audience 

as Mimi Fawaz and A-list 

stand –up comedian Mr. Bovi 

compered. 

AWARD WINNERS 

Young Player of the Year 

(Women): Rasheedat Ajibade 

Young Player of the Year 

(Men): Ikouwem Udoh 

Fair Play Award: Remo 

Stars FC 

Fans of the Season: El- 

Kanemi Warriors FC Fans 

Coach of the Year (Women): 

Ann Chiejine 

Coach of the Year (Men): 

Kennedy Boboye 

Goal of the Year: Sikiru 

Olatubosun (MFM FC) 

Team of the Season: Plateau 

United FC 

NFF Development Award: 

Channels Television (Channels 

Kids’ Cup) 

Legends Eleven: Ann 

Chiejine, Austin Eguavoen, 

Felix Owolabi, Nwankwo 

Kanu, Christian Chukwu, 

Uche Okechukwu, Segun 

Odegbami, Mercy Akide- 

Udoh, Thompson Usiyen, 

Augustine ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, 

Adokiye Amiesimaka 

Special Recognition: Nigeria’s 

1973 All-Africa Games 

Gold Medallists 

Platinum Award: Gianni 

Infantino 

Carabao 

Cup final 

exclusively on 

Kwesé TV 

The final of the EFL 

Carabao Cup is upon 

us and the showdown 

will air live 

and exclusively on Kwesé TV 

this Sunday 25 February. The 

match is scheduled to kick-off 

at 5.30pm local time on Kwesé 

Sports 1, channel 300. 

With reigning champions 

Manchester United knocked 

out of the competition by 

Bristol City in the fifth round, 

the faceoff will be between 

Manchester City and Arsenal. 

Manchester City had 

proven unstoppable in the 

race for four major titles this 

season until suffering a shock 

defeat to Wigan in the FA Cup 

on Monday. 

As all roads lead to Wembley 

for the Carabao Cup final, 

football fans will be looking to 

see if it will be Pep Guardiola’s 

dream team or Arsenal, who 

have yet to win the League 

Cup under the management 

of Arsene Wenger, that will lift 

the trophy. 

Kwesé Sports, Econet Media’s 

exclusive sports content 

platform available on the 

Kwesé TV network holds exclusive 

rights for the Carabao 

Cup and some of the most 

popular sporting leagues 

including; the Copa del Rey, 

NBA and NFL. Kwesé Sports 

is also an official broadcaster 

of the Russia 2018 FIFA World 

Cup.


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

A1

A2 

BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 



FT FINANCIAL TIMES 

C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

A3 

World Business Newspaper 

Silvio Berlusconi 

touts moderate as 

Italy’s next premier 

Support for MEP Antonio Tajani is way of stamping 

authority on centre-right coalition 

JAMES POLITI 

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s 81-yearold 

media mogul, has sought 

to stamp his authority on his 

unruly centre-right coalition 

ahead of next month’s general 

election, dismissing the rise of his Eurosceptic 

rightwing allies and touting his 

own moderate choice as the country’s 

future prime minister. 

In a radio interview on Thursday, 

Mr Berlusconi said Antonio Tajani, the 

president of the European Parliament, 

would be a strong pick to lead Italy’s 

government if the centre-right were 

to win an absolute majority of seats in 

parliament in the March 4 vote. 

Mr Berlusconi had previously suggested 

Mr Tajani would be a good choice 

for the job but his public support so close 

to the election shows the idea is gaining 

traction. 

“[Tajani] would make Italian interests 

count in the EU. He is very well 

regarded,” said Mr Berlusconi. “We need 

Italy to be stable and we need Europe to 

be friendly.” 

Mr Berlusconi’s comments come as 

the centre-right — comprising his Forza 

Italia party and two rightwing Eurosceptic 

allies, the Northern League and the 

Brothers of Italy — have grown increasingly 

optimistic about their chances of 

winning an outright majority. 

However the coalition is split over 

some issues, such as Italy’s membership 

of the euro, and there is huge competition 

among the three partners to establish 

who will be in control after the vote. 

Matteo Salvini, the anti-euro, antiimmigrant 

leader of the Northern 

League, has said he would expect to be 

prime minister if his party receives one 

more vote than Forza Italia, a prospect 

that is still possible. 

Mr Berlusconi sought to dismiss that 

scenario on Thursday, possibly fearing 

that it could alienate his base of centreright 

voters in the final stage of the race. 

“Matteo Salvini has a big desire to lead 

the coalition, but in the last polls he is 

What is driving the multinational’s choice of location for unified headquarters 

Unilever has a big call to make 

on whether it will choose the 

Netherlands or the UK for its 

main base. The decision — which 

would end the company’s current 

structure of having headquarters in 

both Rotterdam and London — is 

for the next 30 to 50 years, says chief 

executive Paul Polman, and is being 

made in the supercharged political 

atmosphere of Brexit. 

The UK government is bracing 

itself for Unilever to pick Rotterdam 

though the final decision is not expected 

until next month. In the meantime, 

the fight to win the Anglo-Dutch 

consumer goods giant is shining a light 

on the different approaches of the UK 

and the Netherlands on issues ranging 

from the treatment of hostile takeovers 

Kenya insists it will 

implement reforms 

to extend IMF deal 

four points behind us,” said Mr Berlusconi. 

No new polls are allowed in Italy in 

the 15 days before an election. 

“The Northern League will get more 

votes than ever, and I will have the 

honour of being the prime minister and 

choosing the best team,” Mr Salvini said 

in response to Mr Berlusconi’s comments. 

“No one has to fear a thing, except 

maybe the corrupt and bureaucrats in 

Brussels.” 

The most likely outcome of the 

March 4 poll remains a stalemate involving 

the centre-right, the ruling 

centre-left Democratic party and the 

anti-establishment Five Star Movement, 

leading to a grand coalition or a government 

of national unity. In that case, Mr 

Berlusconi has said he would be open to 

renewing the term of Paolo Gentiloni, 

the current prime minister. 

Mr Berlusconi cannot attempt to be 

Italy’s next prime minister himself because 

he is banned from public office 

because of a 2013 tax fraud conviction. 

Mr Tajani was a monarchist activist 

in his youth and helped Mr Berlusconi 

found Forza Italia in 1994. Mr 

Berlusconi tapped Mr Tajani as his 

spokesman during his first stint as 

prime minister in the mid-1990s. As a 

native of Rome, Mr Tajani ran unsuccessfully 

for mayor of the Italian capital 

in 2001. His political career truly took 

off in Brussels where he was an MEP 

and became both transport commissioner 

and industry commissioner in 

the EU commission led by José Manuel 

Barroso. 

As well as Mr Tajani, others floated 

as a possible centre-right prime minister 

include Gianni Letta, who is 82 

and Mr Berlusconi’s long-time adviser. 

If the Northern League were to 

win, it is unclear whether Mr Berlusconi 

would accept Mr Salvini as prime 

minister, given his extreme views. More 

moderate members, including Roberto 

Maroni and Luca Zaia, respectively the 

governors of the Lombardy and Veneto 

regions in northern Italy, could be palatable 

to Mr Berlusconi. 

The reasons why Unilever may leave London 

SCHEHERAZADE DANESHKHU 

Page A4 

to tax reform. 

Why is Unilever reviewing the 

future of its HQ? 

The shock of Kraft Heinz’s $143bn 

takeover bid last year brought home 

to Unilever the fact that the world of 

consumer goods has changed and that 

size can no longer protect companies, 

however long and venerable their history, 

from ruthless predators. 

The company behind household 

names such as Dove soap, Lipton 

tea and Magnum ice cream wants to 

change its legal structure to make it 

easier to issue new shares if it wants, 

say, to complete a big takeover itself, or 

a de-merger, like that it considered for 

its margarines business before selling 

the unit in December. 

In choosing between the Netherlands 

and the UK, it will resolve an 

Continues on page A2 

ECB minutes reveal fears over Trump currency wars 

Eurozone central bankers shared concerns that US could ditch strong dollar policy 

Eurozone concerns over the 

weakness of the dollar were laid 

bare in a set of European Central 

Bank minutes that highlighted fears the 

Trump administration was deliberately 

trying to engage in currency wars. 

The account of the ECB’s January 

monetary policy meeting also reveals 

that its hawkish members pushed for a 

change in the bank’s communications, 

arguing economic conditions were 

now strong enough to drop a commitment 

to boost the quantitative easing 

programme in the event of a slowdown. 

Mario Draghi, ECB president, last 

month hit out at US Treasury secretary 

Steven Mnuchin’s claim that a weak 

dollar was good for the American 

economy. Mr Draghi said Washington 

needed to uphold the rules of the 

international monetary system, which 

UK bid to agree Brexit line faces EU scepticism 

May’s aim for cabinet unity around ‘Canada plus’ model unlikely to impress Brussels 

Theresa May has begun gathering 

with her inner Brexit cabinet to 

hammer out a British strategy 

for future ties with EU but has already 

been warned by a fellow European 

leader over the way ahead. 

Meeting the British prime minister 

in Downing Street on Wednesday, 24 

hours before the Chequers summit, 

Mark Rutte, Mrs May’s Dutch opposite 

number, urged her to ditch the idea of 

a “three baskets” trade deal. 

This idea, floated by Mrs May in the 

past, seeks to divide a post-Brexit order 

into three areas; one where the UK 

maintains the same regulation as the 

EU; another where it uses rules of its 

own for the same outcomes and a third 

where the UK takes a fundamentally 

different approach. 

“It would be better to say nothing 

at all,” Mr Rutte said, according to 

officials familiar with Wednesday’s 

meeting. 

His blunt assessment captures the 

fundamental dilemma facing Mrs May 

as she seeks to unify her government 

around a common line: avoiding flareups 

at home may only store up trouble 

in Brussels. 

For Mr Rutte and other EU27 lead- 

Rising tide of debt to 

hit rich countries’ budgets, 

warns OECD 

Silvio Berlusconi (centre) and Antonio Tajani (right) in Rome on Thursday. Mr Berlusconi said that Mr Tajani ‘would make 

Italian interests count in the EU’ © AP 

CLAIRE JONES 

GEORGE PARKER, ALEX BARKER 

AND JIM BRUNSDEN 

Page A5 

forbid nations from deliberately devaluing 

their currencies. 

Mr Mnuchin’s remarks were seen 

as a signal that the US could ditch its 

strong dollar policy — which could 

lower eurozone exports and make it 

harder for the ECB to hit its inflation 

target. 

Mr Mnuchin later said his comments 

were “completely consistent 

with what I’ve said before” and that he 

had merely made a “factual statement” 

that a weaker dollar would help the US 

on trade in the short term. President 

Donald Trump has also since reaffirmed 

the strong dollar policy. 

The accounts of the ECB meeting on 

January 24-25, published on Thursday, 

show Mr Draghi’s fears were widely 

shared among the bank’s decision 

makers. “Concerns were . . . expressed 

about recent statements in the international 

arena about exchange rate 

ers, the onus is on Mrs May to set out 

a credible plan that is “clear” and free 

from hybrid constructions that mask 

an unwillingness to make choices. 

“One has to accept the costs [of 

different models],” said one senior 

EU diplomat. “There is a tendency in 

the UK for politicians to mention lots 

of different specifics they would like. 

What we want is coherence, realism. 

I’m not saying it is easy.” 

A senior French official said: “We 

don’t need lots of details. The issue 

is: can the UK government simply say 

they want a free-trade agreement?” 

Some British ministers also favour 

a more conventional free trade deal 

rather than a broader accord with 

Brussels. 

David Davis, Brexit secretary, was 

said to have his “tail up” ahead of the 

Chequers meeting in the expectation 

the cabinet would converge on an approach 

based on what he has called 

“Canada plus plus plus” — a more 

ambitious version of the EU/Canada 

trade deal. 

The model would see Britain pursue 

a traditional free-trade agreement 

with the EU as a third country, while 

trying to secure unprecedented levels 

of single market access through a commitment 

to high regulatory standards. 

But, contentiously for Brussels, the 

model would still be underpinned by 

developments and, more broadly, the 

overall state of international relations,” 

the account said. “The importance of 

adhering to agreed statements on the 

exchange rate was emphasised.” Those 

agreements explicitly rule out competitive 

devaluations. 

The volatility in the euro was, the 

account said, “a source of uncertainty 

which required monitoring”. 

The decline in the greenback following 

Mr Mnuchin’s remarks led the 

euro to soar to $1.25 in the days following 

the January 25 meeting of the ECB. 

The euro is now trading below $1.23. 

The minutes highlighted dissent 

over the bank’s communications on its 

policy intentions, an element of what 

policymakers dub “forward guidance”. 

The dissent was over the ECB’s 

promise to boost QE should economic 

conditions disappoint or financial conditions 

worsen. 

“mutual recognition” of rules and 

supervisory systems, allowing London 

regulatory freedom to set rules that remain 

equivalent in outcome to the EU. 

On Wednesday the European Commission 

circulated a 58-page document 

to EU27 member states making 

it plain that whatever compromise is 

agreed at Chequers, it is unlikely to fly. 

It includes a “staircase” chart that 

shows how — if Mrs May sticks to her 

negotiating red lines — the only option 

available is a traditional, unvarnished 

free-trade agreement along the lines of 

the EU deals with Canada and South 

Korea. 

More worrying for British officials, 

it also suggests that even bending the 

UK’s position on respecting the rulings 

of European courts would not 

alone be enough to secure privileged 

single-market style access in areas 

such as aviation. 

That requires the full EU’s full regulatory 

“ecosystem”: the institutions 

enforcing and supervising compliance 

and developing law. Meeting high 

regulatory standards is necessary but 

not sufficient. 

The paper reinforces the strong 

view that Britain cannot cherry-pick 

single market membership in certain 

sectors. It says: “Preserving the integrity 

of the single market excludes 

sector-by-sector participation.”

A4 BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 Friday 23 February 2018 

FT 

NATIONAL NEWS 

Roku shares rocked by underwhelming forecast 

JESSICA DYE 

Roku is headed for one of its worst 

days since going public last year, 

after the TV streaming company’s 

guidance for the current quarter 

left Wall Street reaching for the remote. 

Shares in the California-based 

company, which makes television 

set-top boxes and video player 

software, were down more than 15 

per cent to $43.15, putting it on track 

for its biggest one-day drop since its 

initial public offering in September. 

The drop comes a day after it 

reported earnings for the fourth 

quarter of 2017 that generally beat 

analysts’ estimates. The results 

showed net revenue growth of 28 

per cent year-on-year to $188.3m 

and a 44 per cent jump in active 

accounts from a year ago to 19.3m. 

Net income attributable to shareholders 

was up to $6.9m, or 6 cents 

a diluted share. 

Despite the generally upbeat 

earnings, Roku’s forecast for the 

first quarter of the new year was less 

sunny than investors and analysts 

were hoping for. For the current 

quarter, it is looking for revenue 

of $120m-$130m, and a net loss of 

$21m to $15m, versus the $131.7m 

in revenue and $19.2m loss that 

analysts had expected, according 

to Thomson Reuters. 

The company acknowledged 

that its first-quarter earnings would 

be affected by a change to its revenue 

recognition standard, and it 

is continuing to invest in areas with 

strong growth potential, including 

its platform segment. On a seasonal 

basis, the first quarter is expected to 

be the weakest from a revenue perspective, 

following a strong holiday 

shopping season, chief financial 

officer Steve Louden said during a 

call on Wednesday afternoon. 

For 2018, it is targeting sales of 

$660m to $690m and a net loss of 

$55 to $40m, versus the $512.7m in 

revenue and $63.5m loss attributable 

to shareholders it pulled down 

in 2017. 

The reasons why Unilever 

may leave London ... 

Continued from page A3 

identity crisis dating from 1929 when 

British soap maker, Lever Brothers, 

merged with Dutch margarine producer, 

Margarine Unie. 

At the moment, Unilever operates 

as two separate legal companies, one 

based in Rotterdam, the other in London. 

This allows it to have two full stock 

markets listings — as a PLC in the UK 

and an NV in the Netherlands. 

It also means both countries can call 

Europe’s biggest diversified consumer 

goods group their own. 

By market value, Unilever is the 

second-biggest company in the Netherlands 

and the third-biggest in the UK. It 

employs 7,500 in the UK and 3,000 in the 

Netherlands out of a total workforce of 

169,000 and has significant investments 

in both countries through large research 

and development centres. 

What does Rotterdam have that 

London lacks? 

Unilever has not yet made a final 

decision but the Netherlands does have 

a prime minister who appears far more 

engaged and energetic about trying to 

keep Unilever than a UK government 

preoccupied by Brexit. 

Mark Rutte, the Dutch PM and a 

former Unilever employee, is happy 

to take calls from Mr Polman but it has 

been harder to win a hearing from UK 

ministers, although Mr Polman told the 

Financial Times in November that the 

UK government had finally “woken up”. 

The UK has also made sympathetic 

noises about regulatory changes that 

would have helped Unilever in the Kraft 

Heinz situation — last year’s Conservative 

party manifesto promised to reform 

rules on takeovers and prevent “aggressive 

asset-stripping or tax avoidance”. 

But there has been no action. 

Mr Rutte, on the other hand, took 

the political risk and attracted protests 

by pushing through plans to make the 

country more attractive to overseas 

companies. He scrapped a 15 per cent 

tax on dividends, for example, and plans 

to lower corporation tax. 

“If there are serious companies that 

want to have their headquarters in the 

Netherlands, we’d love to have them,” he 

told the Dutch parliament in October, 

adding that Brexit gave the Netherlands 

a chance to attract businesses based in 

the UK. 

How different are the takeover rules? 

Dutch rules give more protection 

against unwelcome takeovers and take 

a broader view of the interests of stakeholders 

than in the UK. They require 

company boards to consider the effect 

of a bid on jobs and not focus solely on 

shareholders. The country also allows 

“stichtings” — legal entities that can 

protect the independence of companies. 

Mr Polman has been a critic of what 

he calls shareholder primacy in the UK, 

arguing that short-term and greedy 

investors can destroy companies. But if 

Unilever chooses the Netherlands over 

London, it will need to assure investors 

that the decision was not motivated 

by takeover protection and that it will 

stick to the promises it made after 

the Kraft-Heinz bid about improving 

financial performance. 

Henry Rotich: ‘We don’t need the IMF resources at the moment but we need ... an insurance arrangement’ © AFP 

Kenya insists it will implement reforms to extend IMF deal 

Finance minister to halve the government’s budget deficit by June 2021 

JOHN AGLIONBY 

Kenya’s finance minister has 

promised to implement contentious 

reforms demanded 

by the International Monetary Fund 

to extend a frozen $1.5bn emergency 

standby facility that expires next 

month. 

Henry Rotich told the Financial 

Times that he will halve the government’s 

budget deficit by June 2021 

and repeal or reform an 18-monthold 

cap on bank lending rates that 

has resulted in a massive fall in loans 

to the private sector. 

The announcement comes two 

days after the IMF said that Kenya’s 

access to the standby facility, which 

is designed to alleviate a balance 

of payments crisis, had been suspended 

since last June. The fund had 

blocked access because it had been 

unable to conduct a review amid a 

prolonged political crisis over disputed 

presidential elections. 

“We don’t need the IMF resources 

at the moment but we 

need a precautionary or insurance 

arrangement,” Mr Rotich said. “So 

The US economy is by many 

measures in its rudest health 

since well before the financial 

crisis, a top Federal Reserve policymaker 

said as he reiterated the central 

bank’s intentions to gradually 

increase short-term interest rates. 

Randal Quarles, the Fed’s vicechairman 

for financial supervision, 

told a conference in Tokyo that 

growth has been showing more momentum 

since the second quarter of 

last year, and that unemployment is 

at its lowest levels since the 1960s 

apart from a brief period from 1999 

to 2000. 

we’d definitely like to continue with 

the same facility.” 

He said he would curb spending 

and boost revenue to reduce the 

budget deficit from 8.9 per cent last 

June to 4 per cent by June 2021 and 

“come up with a package of reforms 

that will help us get out of the current 

[interest rate cap] arrangement so 

we can extend credit to the private 

sector”. 

Jan Mikkelsen, the IMF’s Kenya 

resident representative, said the two 

reforms were “key” to extending the 

facility. 

An IMF team is in Nairobi to 

discuss how the programme could 

be renewed. 

Kenya is east Africa’s dominant 

economy and for many years until 

2017 was one of the best performers 

in the region. But last year growth 

slowed to an estimated 4.8 per cent 

from 5.8 per cent in 2016 because of 

the political crisis, a severe drought 

and the fall in lending to the private 

sector. The ratio of Kenya’s debt to 

gross domestic product has swollen 

from 42 per cent in 2012 to about 51 

per cent. 

“Against this economic backdrop, 

with a strong labour market and 

likely only temporary softness in 

inflation, I view it as appropriate that 

monetary policy should continue 

to be gradually normalised,” Mr 

Quarles said. 

The Fed has been signalling 

an increased determination to lift 

short-term rates, with officials in 

their January meeting emphasising 

the need to “further” tighten policy. 

While the arrival of Jay Powell, the 

new Fed chairman, coincided with 

an outbreak of volatility in financial 

markets, central bankers have 

suggested the gyrations have not 

derailed their plans for higher rates. 

Ministers and investors are now 

optimistic, however, that the economy 

will recover quickly with both the 

drought and political crisis seemingly 

over. On Wednesday Kenya priced 

its first 30-year US dollar sovereign 

bond, a $1bn issuance, along with a 

$1bn 10-year US dollar bond. Traders 

said that the 8.25 per cent coupon 

rate on the 30-year paper was high 

but not excessive. 

Mr Rotich said the fact the bonds 

were seven times oversubscribed 

showed “the credit story of Kenya 

remains positive”. He added that 

about a quarter of the bonds would 

be used to pay off debt and the rest 

spent on development projects. 

However, analysts are sceptical 

that Mr Rotich will be able to deliver 

on either reform. 

Razia Khan, chief Africa economist 

at Standard Chartered, said the 

“need for fiscal consolidation is fully 

realised” at the finance ministry. 

“Whether this is taken on board 

by all actors in Kenya is a different 

matter,” she said. “There will have to 

be a broader buy-in that this is the 

way to go.” 

Fed policymaker Randal Quarles hails buoyant US economy 

Comments by central bank’s vice-chairman suggest further rate rises lie ahead 

SAM FLEMING 

One of the reasons for more increases 

is the added fiscal stimulus 

being injected into an economy that 

is already at full employment. In 

their latest rate-setting meeting at 

the end of January a number of Fed 

policymakers said that the effects of 

Congress’s $1.5tn tax-cutting package, 

while still uncertain, “might be 

somewhat larger in the near term 

than previously thought”. 

Extra public spending is set to add 

to the stimulus, potentially driving 

annual budget deficits beyond $1tn 

as soon as next year. After the Fed’s 

January meeting Congress agreed to 

lift caps on discretionary spending by 

$300bn over two years. 

Trump suggests arming 

US teachers after 

Florida shooting 

President hears emotional appeals from 

survivors to end school attacks 

COURTNEY WEAVER 

Donald Trump has floated the 

idea of arming US teachers, 

intensifying a fierce debate 

over how to prevent school shootings 

after last week’s massacre in 

Florida. 

The US president first raised the 

suggestion during an emotional 

White House meeting with survivors 

of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman 

Douglas high school in Parkland and 

the parents of children killed by gun 

violence. 

And he signalled further support 

in a quartet of early morning tweets 

on Thursday in which he said arming 

up to 20 per cent of American 

teachers would be a “great deterrent”. 

But also on Thursday he promised 

to push Congress for new 

measures that could limit gun ownership, 

including comprehensive 

background checks and an increase 

in the legal age for owning a gun, 

marking a further evolution of the 

White House position as the gun 

debate has intensified over the past 

week. 

In the Florida attack, the deadliest 

US school shooting since 26 died 

at Sandy Hook elementary school in 

Connecticut in 2012, 17 students and 

teachers were killed with an AR-15 

assault rifle. Nikolas Cruz, a former 

pupil, has been charged with multiple 

counts of premeditated murder 

in the Valentine’s Day tragedy. 

“Highly trained, gun adept, 

teachers/coaches would solve the 

problem instantly, before police arrive,” 

Mr Trump tweeted. 

“Our schools are soft targets,” Mr 

Trump told people at the White House 

listening session on Wednesday. “We 

need to harden the targets so that the 

potential murderer knows that that is 

not going to happen. I think we need 

to get started right away.” 

Mr Trump said that one possible 

solution would be to allow certain 

teachers and school staff to carry 

concealed weapons. “Firearm solutions 

would obviously only be for 

those who are very adept,” he said. 

“And it would obviously be concealed 

carry. And it would no longer 

be a gun-free zone.” 

When Mr Trump asked how 

many of those attending the White 

House meeting approved of the 

idea of arming teachers — which he 

acknowledged was “controversial” 

— several hands went up. However, 

a greater number were against. 

Mr Trump also told attendees 

that the administration could push 

to raise the age at which Americans 

are allowed to buy firearms, as well 

as institute tougher background 

checks before gun purchases can go 

through. “The background checks 

are going to be very strong,” he said.


FINANCIAL TIMES 


@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED 2015 

Rising tide of debt to hit rich 

countries’ budgets, warns OECD 

Members’ total sovereign debt has increased 

from $25tn in 2008 to more than $45tn 

KATE ALLEN AND CHRIS GILES 

Developed nations face a rising 

tide of government debt 

that poses “a significant 

challenge” to budgets as interest 

rates increase around the world, the 

OECD has warned. 

Low interest rates have helped 

sustain high levels of government 

debt and persistent budget deficits 

since the financial crisis, according 

to the OECD, but the “relatively 

favourable” sovereign funding environment 

“may not be a permanent 

feature of financial markets”. 

Fatos Koc, senior policy analyst 

at the OECD, cautioned that most 

members of the organisation — 

sometimes dubbed the rich nations’ 

club — confront an “increasing 

refinancing burden from maturing 

debt, combined with continued 

budget deficits”. 

The warning on the longer-term 

consequences of high public borrowing 

marks a shift in stance by the 

OECD, which as recently as November 

was praising countries for easing 

fiscal policy to help global growth. 

In an Economic Outlook, published 

at that time, the Paris-based 

organisation said that “even a lasting 

increase in 10-year government 

bond yields of 1 percentage 

point . . . might worsen budget balances 

on average by only between 

0.1 per cent and 0.3 per cent of 

GDP annually in the following three 

years”. 

But Ms Koc now argues that the 

wisdom of using fiscal measures as 

economic stimulus depends on an 

Hedge funds fight to save 

M&A arbitrage strategy 

SUJEET INDAP 

Hedge funds which use the 

US courts to wring higher 

prices for merger and acquisition 

deals are fighting to save 

the lucrative investment strategy, 

after a Delaware court ruling that 

threatens to shut it down. 

Verition Partners, an investor 

in Aruba Networks, which was acquired 

by Hewlett-Packard in 2015, 

has asked a judge to reconsider a 

ruling last week that not only refused 

to raise the price of the deal 

but cut the payout to the hedge fund 

by 30 per cent. 

The judge said that the efficient 

markets hypothesis suggests the 

fair price for a takeover target is 

the share price that prevailed in the 

run-up to the deal — not including 

the premium an acquirer agrees 

to pay, and without regard to any 

financial model that might suggest 

a higher fundamental value. 

Matthew Giffuni, managing 

partner at Quadre Investments, another 

hedge fund that has mounted 

legal challenges to deals, said the 

strategy was in limbo until the efficient 

markets hypothesis ruling 

could be challenged in Delaware’s 

Supreme Court. 

“We all know that private equity 

excels at finding large-cap stocks 

that are not priced correctly,” he 

said. “Warren Buffett wouldn’t be 

Warren Buffett if every large-cap 

individual country’s budget position, 

and that it is “important to create 

strong fiscal roots in an economy 

while times are good”. 

The total stock of OECD countries’ 

sovereign debt has increased 

from $25tn in 2008 to more than 

$45tn this year. Debt to GDP ratios 

across the OECD averaged 73 per 

cent last year, and its members are 

set to borrow £10.5tn from the markets 

this year. 

Because much of the debt raised 

in the aftermath of the financial 

crisis is set to mature in the coming 

years, developed nations will have 

to refinance 40 per cent of their total 

debt stock in the next three years, the 

OECD said. 

Many countries’ credit ratings 

have fallen as their debt levels have 

risen over the past decade, diminishing 

the attractiveness of some 

sovereign debt for investors looking 

for high-quality credit. 

Fitch, the credit rating agency, 

warned last month that rising interest 

rates would pose a fiscal challenge 

for governments, which are set 

to increase borrowing from private 

investors this year for the first time 

in four years, a recent analysis by 

JPMorgan Chase found. 

The global economy is experiencing 

a co-ordinated upswing in 

growth and policymakers are gradually 

unwinding the unprecedented 

monetary policy measures they 

implemented after the financial 

crisis. As central banks’ holdings of 

government debt reduce and interest 

rates begin to rise, bond yields have 

started to shift upwards. 

stock were priced correctly.” 

Mounting legal challenges to 

valuations after a deal has closed 

has become a significant niche 

for merger arbitrage hedge funds. 

These “appraisal” cases seek to 

profit by convincing judges in Delaware, 

where most US companies are 

incorporated, to give them a higher 

payout. 

Billions of dollars flooded into 

the strategy after the Delaware 

Court of Chancery awarded big 

premiums to dissident shareholders 

in the 2014 buyouts of Dell and 

DFC Global, but the state’s supreme 

court later upheld the existing deal 

prices. In those rulings, the higher 

court also endorsed the use of the 

efficient markets hypothesis in 

some instances. 

The latest surprise ruling introduces 

new and significant downside 

risk for challengers. 

“After Dell and DFC, it appeared 

that in many appraisal actions, 

the lowest amount an arbitrageur 

would likely receive was the deal 

price. Aruba makes appraisal arbitrage 

even riskier,” said Ann Lipton, 

a law professor at Tulane University. 

“The door is, however, not totally 

closed for dissenters who seek 

to profit from an appraisal action. 

They can argue that the market was 

not efficient, or that information was 

concealed from the market . . . But the 

bar is very high now to get a price that 

meaningfully exceeds the deal price.” 

Announcement follows decision to pay ex-chief Stuart Gulliver $8.5m 

EMMA DUNKLEY 

HSBC is capping bonuses for 

thousands of operational 

staff globally to streamline 

remuneration, just as former chief 

executive Stuart Gulliver receives a 

bumper payout. 

The UK-headquartered bank, 

which makes most of its profit in 

Asia, said in an internal memo that 

it would restrict bonuses paid next 

year to junior employees within its 

back office by limiting payments 

to the equivalent of two-and-a-half 

months’ salary. 

The move affects 2,600 people 

in Hong Kong and thousands more 

across the rest of the world, according 

to people involved. 

Europe’s biggest bank by assets 

said in the note to employees that 

it would increase the base salary 

for some staff from this March, “to 

C002D5556 

ensure an appropriate balance between 

fixed and variable pay”. The 

move is unusual among banks, most 

of which do not have such caps for 

junior staff. 

One person briefed on the HSBC 

decision said the move was aimed 

at shifting away from discretionary 

bonuses towards fixed pay, to 

“simplify” processes and free up 

management time. 

The internal memo said: “It is 

important to note that employees 

are generally in an equal or better 

position as a result of this exercise, 

assuming they achieve the same 

performance and behaviour ratings 

as the prior year — this is simply a 

‘rebalancing exercise’.” The news was 

first reported in Hong Kong’s Apple 

Daily newspaper. 

Separately, the bank is planning 

to streamline its board, cutting its 

members from 17 to 14 with the 

BUSINESS DAY 

HSBC caps back-office bonuses for thousands despite profit bounce 

Barclays swings to net loss of almost £2bn 

UK bank hit by one-off charges as it tries to cheer investors with promises on dividend 

MARTIN ARNOLD 

Barclays has reported a fullyear 

loss of almost £2bn, hit 

by one-off tax and disposal 

charges, as it boosted its flagging 

share price by promising to restore 

its dividend back to levels 

before it was cut two years ago. 

The British bank said on Thursday 

that revenues fell 2 per cent 

and pre-tax profits rose 10 per 

cent. But at a net profit level it 

sank back into the red after taking 

big hits from selling its African 

operation and to cover the one-off 

cost of US corporate tax reform. 

It kept the 2017 dividend flat 

at 3p, having cut it by more than 

half two years ago, but said the 

payout to shareholders would rise 

to 6.5p in 2018. 

Barclays said recent US corporate 

tax reform meant its overall 

tax rate should not exceed mid-20 

per cent, even if it is hit by the new 

US Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse 

Tax that is expected to mainly affect 

foreign banks. Most analysts 

had pencilled in a tax rate of 30 

per cent this year. 

Jes Staley, chief executive, told 

analysts that Barclays would look 

at where it booked certain activities 

to weigh moving them to the 

US after the tax cut, but ruled out 

“any strategic move”. 

Shares in Barclays rose 4.4 

per cent, despite the net loss 

of £1.92bn it reported for 2017, 

which compared with a profit of 

£1.62bn the previous year. 

Mr Staley said he was “confident 

in the capacity of this business 

to generate excess capital 

going forward” and pledged to 

return “a greater proportion of 

that excess capital to shareholders 

through dividends, and other 

means of capital distribution, 

including share buybacks”. 

Tushar Morzaria, finance director, 

said that in US dollar terms 

the investment bank’s quarterly 

revenues were down 10 per cent, 

compared with declines of “20 per 

cent or more” at its main US rivals. 

Mr Staley said he “felt pretty 

good” about the investment bank, 

as it had “continued to take market 

share”. He said investments in 

“people, technology and balance 

sheet” at the investment bank 

would only start fully paying off 

in 2019. 

Fourth-quarter results fell 

below expectations, after the US 

tax charge and a £240m provision 

for “foreign exchange matters” 

dragged the bank to a net loss of 

£1bn, against a profit of £380m 

in the year-ago period. Quarterly 

revenues inched up to £5bn. 

Barclays trimmed its bonus 

pool by 2 per cent to £1.5bn, of 

which £864m was paid to frontoffice 

staff in its corporate and investment 

bank. Mr Staley’s overall 

pay fell 8.5 per cent to £3.87m, 

after he was awarded a £1.1m 

bonus — half the potential total. 

The corporate and investment 

A5 

The total stock of OECD countries’ sovereign debt has increased from $25tn in 2008 to more than $45bn this year © FT montage; Dreamstime 

departure of several non-executive 

directors — including Deutsche 

Börse chairman Joachim Faber — at 

this year’s annual meeting. 

The memo to staff comes a day 

after HSBC reported an 11 per cent 

increase in annual pre-tax profit 

to $21bn. Analysts said the results 

were buoyed by strong loan growth, 

particularly in Asia, but said the bank 

was not gaining as much from rising 

US interest rates as they had hoped. 

The bank awarded Mr Gulliver, 

who left the lender on the day of the 

bank’s results, a £6.1m ($8.5m) pay 

package for his final year at the helm, 

marking a 7.2 per cent increase on 

the previous year. His bonus increased 

by a quarter to £2.1m. 

Mr Gulliver, who has worked at 

the bank for almost four decades, 

has been replaced by John Flint, 

head of the bank’s retail and wealth 

management arm. 

bank sank to a quarterly loss of 

£252m after it booked a £127m 

provision for losses from the collapse 

of UK construction group 

Carillion and absorbed a hit from 

the non-core unit that was folded 

back into the group last year. 

Revenues in the corporate and 

investment bank fell 11 per cent, 

as some activities were shifted to 

its UK division to meet ringfencing 

requirements. Fixed-income, 

currency and commodity trading 

revenues were down 21 per cent 

in the quarter, outperforming 

many big rivals. 

Mr Staley said he was “pleased 

with the start to the year, in particular 

in the markets business”, 

which benefited from a surge in 

trading activity as markets turned 

more volatile. 

Joseph Dickerson, analyst at 

Jefferies, said Barclays’ investment 

banking revenues “looked 

resilient versus peers” and the 

increase in the bank’s capital 

ratio and its outlook for tax “will 

be taken positively”. 

The bank’s UK business increased 

quarterly revenues slightly, 

but its net profits fell by more 

than a third to £245m, hit by a 

jump in operating expenses. 

Jason Napier, analyst at UBS, 

said: “Once clarity is had on 

one-off items in head office and 

outlook for these, we think the 

market will focus on Barclays’ attractive 

valuation and improving 

return profile.”

A6 BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 Friday 23 February 2018 

Harvard 

Business 

ManagementDigest 

Review 

The parts of customer service that should never be automated 

RYAN W. BUELL 

In Pixar’s “WALL-E,” oversized 

humans recline on 

levitating barcaloungers 

and are dressed, primped, 

polished and served, entirely 

by robots. Fiction? Maybe 

not, at least according to a wave 

of media coverage pointing to a 

dizzying array of service innovations 

on the horizon. 

Look no further than the public 

debut of Amazon Go, the company’s 

first cashierless store. Digital 

imaging technology monitors 

which items shoppers select from 

shelves, and when a customer 

leaves the store, the person’s 

online account is automatically 

charged. Down the road in Santa 

Clara, California, room service robots 

are being designed that can 

navigate a hotel’s floor plan and 

interact digitally with its elevator 

and phone systems to deliver towels 

and beverages to guests. Various 

Silicon Valley startups have 

deployed robots that make pizzas, 

craft salads and assemble artistic 

bistro sandwiches. In Boston, a 

robot works with labor nurses to 

schedule baby deliveries. 

Managers using these forms 

of automation and others cite 

customer satisfaction benefits 

from increased convenience and 

customization, and from giving 

customers more control over their 

own experiences. They also tout 

cost savings, a tempting proposition 

against a backdrop of rising 

labor costs. 

So is the levitating Barcalounger 

inevitable? Hardly. 

For starters, the economics of 

service automation aren’t universally 

rosy. When a nationwide 

retail bank introduced online 

banking, customers who adopted 

it increased their total transaction 

volume and began visiting and 

calling the bank more, increasing 

costs and decreasing overall 

profitability. Similar dynamics 

can be observed in health care. 

Patients who adopted e-visits, for 

example, actually began showing 

up at the doctor’s office twice as 

often. One explanation for this 

pattern is that current technology 

is functionally limited, requiring 

people to seek out in-person help 

in addition to using automated 

services. But as innovation progresses, 

functional limitations 

are bound to fall by the wayside. 

Another explanation is that humans 

are inherently social creatures 

who get emotional value 

from seeing and interacting with 

one another. Research shows 

that taking away the opportunity 

for this kind of connection can 

undermine service performance. 

In one study, my colleagues and I 

found that when banking customers 

used the ATM more and the 

teller less, their overall level of 

satisfaction with the bank went 

down. 

We think this is because the deck 

is stacked against automation in 

several important ways: 

— SERVICE CAN BE EMO- 

TIONAL; TECHNOLOGY CAN- 

NOT. When we’re anxious about 

whether a check will clear or why 

our migraine won’t go away, we 

become advice-seeking. Even if it 

has the answers and can read the 

tone of our voice, or the expression 

on our face, people find the 

idea that technology “feels” and 

“senses” to be unnerving, and 

when a technology is deployed 

for such a purpose, the results can 

be unsettling. For example, customers 

who call MetLife to settle 

a death-related insurance claim 

are treated to digital condolences, 

delivered through an IVR system: 

ROBOT VOICE: “We at Met Life 

want to express our sincere condolences 

for your loss.” 

Automating sympathy is certainly 

cheaper than having a human 

employee comfort the bereaved, 

but the tradeoff can come across 

as disingenuous and is unlikely 

to be sustainable. Perhaps it’s not 

surprising that the public reception 

to Pepper’s funeral offerings 

— which cost $350, relative to 

$2,200 for a human priest — has 

been tepid to date. 

— WE STILL PREFER HAVING 

PEOPLE HELP SOLVE OUR 

PROBLEMS. In many ways, the 

capacity and computational power 

of technology far outstrips our 

own. Google has become our goto 

for answers to a broad range 

of queries; machine learning 

determines which ads are shown 

to us online, which fulfillment 

centers our Amazon orders are 

shipped from, and which movies 

are recommended to us by 

Netflix. And research shows that 

we’re perfectly happy engaging 

through digital channels to look 

up information. Nevertheless, 

when we’re looking for creative 

solutions to service problems, 

we still seek out other humans. If 

we get stuck, if there’s ambiguity 

in the information, or if we need 

help making a purchase decision, 

we still opt for a person. 

— LESS WORK FOR EMPLOYEES 

OFTEN MEANS MORE WORK 

FOR CUSTOMERS. Scanning and 

bagging our own groceries, while 

circumventing cumbersome 

(though not wholly unwarranted) 

fraud-prevention measures, is actually 

harder for us than having an 

employee help us who is trained 

to do the work. Advances in technology 

like Amazon Go make the 

customer’s role objectively easier, 

but automated solutions may also 

give us the impression that the 

company is expending less effort 

on our behalf, which can make 

us wonder what, exactly, we’re 

paying for. 

But if you think smart companies 

will use less service automation 

in the future, you’re wrong. Businesses 

will continue to seek new 

ways to use technology to improve 

the quality and efficiency of 

service. Some will do better than 

others. Based on what we know 

so far, successful innovations are 

likely to: 

1. AUTOMATE TRANSACTIONAL 

INTERACTIONS, WHILE FA- 

CILITATING HUMAN CONNEC- 

TIONS. Grab-and-go shopping, 

or giving customers the option 

of hailing an Uber or Lyft, reporting 

a pothole, or ordering a pizza 

from a mobile device, improves 

service quality by making transactions 

easier and faster to accomplish. 

However, companies 

shouldn’t strand customers in a 

digital transaction. When they 

need help, an instantaneous 

connection to a gracious and 

well-informed human should be 

a short stroll, click, or tap away. 

Although the Amazon Go store 

does not have cashiers, it has 

plenty of helpful humans ready to 

lend support or expertise. Making 

the pivot to a person simple allows 

customers and companies 

alike to achieve the convenience 

and efficiency benefits of automated 

service, while ensuring 

the customer feels supported. If 

designed correctly, automated 

interactions should improve satisfaction 

and loyalty, not erode 

them. 

2. SUPPORT EMPLOYEES WITH- 

OUT GETTING IN THEIR WAY. 

There are many opportunities 

to create technologies that support 

employees’ efforts to create 

value for customers. The trick is 

how to design these solutions so 

that they don’t undermine the 

human connection that people 

are uniquely equipped to make. 

If properly designed, technology 

should help craft an environment 

that enables employees to excel 

comfortably, without stress or 

angst, while not hindering the 

interaction. 

3. ENHANCE CUSTOMER AND 

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT. 

Service can be more efficient 

and satisfying when customers 

and employees are visible to one 

another. Rather than increasing 

the gap between customers and 

employees, technology can be 

used to enhance the connection. 

For example, customers who order 

pizza from Domino’s can use 

Domino’s Pizza Tracker to “see” 

the work employees are doing for 

them as they’re doing it. Customers 

can also send pre-specified 

messages back to the employees 

who are doing the work to express 

their appreciation. 

4. ENGAGE CUSTOMERS IN 

WAYS THAT WON’T MAKE HU- 

MAN SERVICE PROVIDERS 

CRINGE. If an action would be 

seen as annoying when performed 

by a person, chances are it 

will be annoying when performed 

by technology. 

Remember: the devil’s in the details 

of service design, but the best 

uses of technology are likely to 

make customers and employees 

feel more, rather than less, valuable 

to your organization. They’re 

also likely to make the service feel 

more, rather than less human. 

(Ryan W. Buell is an associate 

professor at Harvard Business 

School.) 

c 

2017 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

A7


A8 BUSINESS DAY

NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I FRIDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2018 C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

The investigation series 

Inside the bribery scandal sweeping 

through the oil industry - WSJ 

A 

top oil executive 

walked into the 

marble lobby 

of an exclusive 

Milan hotel on 

a chilly winter night. His 

dinner date was a former 

Nigerian oil minister offering 

to sell one of Africa’s biggest 

untapped oil discoveries. 

Eight years later, the 

question of whether the $1.3 

billion paid for the license 

to that prized oil field was 

mostly a bribe is at the heart 

of one of the biggest bribery 

scandals the oil industry has 

ever seen. 

Part of a broader crackdown, 

the case has reached 

into the highest levels of 

the executive ranks of Royal 

Dutch Shell RDS.B -0.04% 

PLC, the second-largest 

Western oil company—including 

wiretaps on its chief 

executive—and into Eni E 

+0.39% SpA, Italy’s statebacked 

oil company. 

Italian prosecutors say 

Claudio Descalzi, the senior 

Eni executive at the Milan 

dinner, and high-level 

Shell officials approved an 

arrangement that allowed 

them to pay the government 

while knowing most of the 

money would be transferred 

to a company controlled by 

Dan Etete —the ex-oil minister 

Mr. Descalzi met that 

night, according to court 

documents. The prosecutors 

say executives knew Mr. 

Etete would pay off Nigerian 

officials and send kickbacks 

to Eni executives. A criminal 

trial begins in Milan on 

March 5. 

The scheme went as high 

as former Nigerian President 

Goodluck Jonathan, who 

received payouts during his 

presidency, the prosecutors 

say. Mr. Jonathan has denied 

involvement. 

The case is a rare example 

of top executives from giant 

Western oil companies facing 

accountability for corruption. 

Scrutiny of foreign 

bribery is growing. More 

than 500 ongoing investigations 

were taking place in 

member countries of the 

Organization for Economic 

Cooperation and Development 

in 2016, up about 

25% from 2015, according to 

the 35-nation group’s latest 

analysis. 

British authorities are 

investigating alleged oil-industry 

bribes in Iraq, and the 

U.S. has sought to recover 

more than $100 million as 

part of a wide-ranging investigation 

into oil-industry 

corruption in Nigeria. 

The amount of money 

that allegedly changed 

hands in the Eni-Shell case 

could prove to be one of the 

oil industry’s largest ever 

bribes, said Global Witness, 

a London nonprofit that 

investigates allegations of 

wrongdoing in the resources 

industry. 

Mr. Descalzi, now Eni’s 

chief executive, will face 

criminal charges of international 

corruption and 

bribery in the Milan trial, 

along with the company’s 

CEO at the time of the Nigerian 

deal, Paolo Scaroni. 

Shell executives, including 

Malcolm Brinded, Shell’s 

global exploration and production 

chief at the time of 

the deal, will also be tried 

on those charges, as well as 

both companies. 

Eni and Shell both deny 

wrongdoing, saying they 

simply paid the government 

and didn’t know the money 

would be used for bribes. 

“Eni and Shell paid the 

consideration for this license 

to the Nigerian government,” 

Eni wrote in emailed responses 

to questions from 

The Wall Street Journal. “It 

was the prerogative, right 

and at the discretion of the 

Nigerian government to 

decide…how to use the price 

received from Eni and Shell.” 

“The board has said 

clearly that it has full confidence 

in the company 

and in Claudio Descalzi,” 

Eni Chairwoman Emma 

Marcegaglia said in an interview. 

“It smacks of a Hollywood 

movie,” said Razak 

Atunwa, a Nigerian member 

lion, according to the court 

documents. 

In 2001, Shell agreed to 

acquire a 40% interest from 

Malabu in the oil field. Shell, 

already a dominant producer 

in Nigeria, hoped 

the move would expand 

its footprint in the oil-rich 

waters off the coast. But 

within months, Malabu’s 

ownership was revoked by 

the new, democratically 

elected president, Olusegun 

Obasanjo. 

Shell won a new tender 

in 2002 that gave it exclusive 

rights to operate the field as 

a contractor for the state oil 

company, pledging to pay 

the government $210 million. 

But Mr. Etete, who was 

This account of the deal is based 

on interviews with more than a 

dozen people with knowledge of the 

case, internal company emails and 

documents, and hundreds of pages 

of court documents from cases in 

Britain, Italy and Nigeria reviewed by 

the Journal 

no longer in office, and later 

Mr. Abacha’s son separately 

maintained their claims to 

the site. Successive Nigerian 

governments flip-flopped 

on the decision to rescind 

Malabu’s license, helping tie 

up the ownership question 

in court. 

A Shell spokesman said 

the company didn’t believe 

there was a basis to 

prosecute Shell. “If the evidence 

ultimately proves that 

improper payments were 

made…it is Shell’s position 

that none of those payments 

were made with its knowledge, 

authorization or on its 

behalf,” he said. 

Eni’s Mr. Descalzi, who 

was appointed by the Italian 

government for a secof 

parliament investigating 

the case for the government. 

“You’ve got nefarious characters 

mixing with ministers, 

nefarious characters mixing 

with the presidency.” 

The struggle over OPL 

245 dates back to 1998, when 

the Abacha government 

awarded the oil rights to a 

newly minted Nigerian firm 

called Malabu Oil and Gas. 

According to court documents, 

the company was 

ultimately owned by figures 

close to Mr. Abacha’s regime, 

including his son and Mr. 

Etete, then the country’s oil 

minister. 

The company was meant 

to pay the government $20 

million for the license, but 

paid only a little over $2 mil- 

ond three-year term as CEO 

in April, Mr. Scaroni, who 

left Eni in 2014, and Shell’s 

Mr. Brinded, who left the 

company in 2012, denied 

wrongdoing. 

Shell and Eni also face 

prosecution in Nigeria, one 

of Africa’s biggest oil producers. 

The country’s financial 

crimes watchdog has threatened 

to strip the companies 

of their claim to the oil field. 

Shell and Eni in 2011 

jointly acquired the license 

to the area known as OPL 

245 in the waters off Nigeria’s 

coast, but so far development 

has been stalled amid 

the investigations. 

This account of the deal 

is based on interviews with 

more than a dozen people 

with knowledge of the case, 

internal company emails 

and documents, and hundreds 

of pages of court documents 

from cases in Britain, 

Italy and Nigeria reviewed by 

the Journal. 

The deal pulled in top 

executives for Shell and Eni, 

who were required to approve 

and in some cases 

negotiate the transaction, 

bringing them into contact 

with a host of now discredited 

figures in Nigeria. 

Chief among them is Mr. 

Etete, a Nigerian politician 

who was an oil minister in 

the mid-1990s during the 

reign of military dictator Sani 

Abacha, and who personally 

claimed ownership of OPL 

245. Mr. Etete’s career has 

been dogged by corruption 

allegations. In 2007 he was 

convicted of money laundering 

in France and was 

pardoned in 2014. A lawyer 

for Mr. Etete, whose whereabouts 

is unknown, didn’t 

respond to requests for comment. 

He faces corruption 

charges in both Milan and 

Nigeria. 

In an attempt to resolve 

the dispute, Shell executives 

spent years alternately wooing 

Mr. Etete and threatening 

him with legal action. They 

negotiated over lunches accompanied 

by Champagne 

and discussed taking him on 

a stag hunting trip to Scotland, 

according to internal 

company emails reviewed 

by the Journal. 

In the emails—some 

with the subject line “Loony 

Tunes”—Shell executives 

openly speculated that any 

settlement they reached with 

Mr. Etete would be used to 

pay off his political sponsors 

and fretted over the risk he 

might seek to strike a deal 

with another company. 

In early 2009, John Copleston, 

a former British 

intelligence officer working 

for Shell in Nigeria, sent an 

email to colleagues that reported 

Mr. Etete was claiming 

he would keep $40 million 

of the $300 million Shell 

was offering at the time. 

“Rest goes in paying people 

off,” Mr. Copleston wrote. 

Mr. Copleston couldn’t be 

reached for comment. 

Eni became involved in 

2010. After discussions with 

Mr. Etete, the Italian firm, 

which already had major 

oil holdings in Nigeria, proposed 

to buy out Malabu’s 

disputed stake. The company 

aimed to end Malabu’s 

legal claims and join Shell 

in a 50-50 partnership to 

develop the offshore field. 

Shell executives were 

pleased. According to internal 

emails, they were 

impressed by Mr. Descalzi’s 

personal, “privileged” relationship 

with Mr. Jonathan, 

who was serving as acting 

president and would soon 

fully succeed the Nigerian 

president at the time. According 

to the emails, the 

two men met in southern 

Nigeria in the 1990s and had 

stayed close. 

“Let’s hope Eni can succeed 

where we have struggled 

to close on this,” Shell’s 

then-chief financial officer, 

Simon Henry, wrote in an 

email in October 2010. 

Beginning that year, Mr. 

Descalzi for a period met 

twice a month with a middleman 

who claimed to be 

working on behalf of Mr. 

Etete, sometimes at a luxury 

hotel in London’s Belgravia 

neighborhood, according to 

court documents. The Eni 

executive, a 36-year veteran 

and longtime Africa hand 

who led Eni’s operations in 

Congo and in Nigeria, also 

oversaw months of talks with 

the Nigerian government 

and with Shell, according to 

internal Shell emails. 

Meanwhile, two external 

risk reports commissioned 

by Eni in 2007 and 2010 

had raised red flags about 

Mr. Etete. The documents, 

reviewed by the Journal, 

warned of past corruption 

allegations against the former 

oil minister and questioned 

aspects of his ownership 

of the oil license. 

Pressure was mounting to 

settle the deal. Shell feared 

other companies such asTotal 

SA of France and China’s 

Cnooc were also negotiating 

with Mr. Etete. Cnooc 

didn’t respond to requests 

for comment. Total declined 

to comment. 

“We need to move fast 

as the wolves are indeed 

circling,” wrote Mr. Brinded, 

the global exploration and 

production chief, in an October 

2010 email to colleagues. 

Eni and Shell soon hammered 

out a complicated 

deal with the Nigerian 

government, according to 

emails and court documents. 

In a deal that included 

Shell’s previous promise 

to pay around $210 million, 

the company agreed to pay 

a total of just under $320 

million for a 50% stake. Eni 

would pay a little more than 

$980 million for the other 

50%. 

The deal was made on 

the basis that $200 million 

would be kept by the Nigerian 

government and that $1.1 

billion would be passed on 

to Malabu in exchange for its 

dropping all claims to the oil 

field, court documents say. 

The two sides completed 

the deal in April 2011, but 

within months, it began to 

unravel. Initial efforts to 

transfer the $1.1 billion from 

a Nigerian government bank 

account at JPMorgan Chase 

& Co. in London to an account 

in Switzerland was 

blocked by bank authorities 

for reasons of “compliance,” 

marking an early red flag. A 

second attempt to transfer 

money to a bank in Lebanon 

was also blocked. The 

transfer was eventually completed 

to two Malabu accounts 

in Nigeria, according 

to nonpublic Italian court 

documents. 

In the U.S., the Federal 

Bureau of Investigation 

traced the flow of dollars 

from the deal, millions of 


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BusinessDay 23 Feb 2018

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