BusinessDay 26 Feb 2018

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Monday 26 February 2018 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY A11 NEWS New report shows how Nigeria can Lagos waste: Your position in bad taste, plug $300bn infrastructure gap … identifies weak regulatory framework as biggest constraint ISAAC ANYAOGU A new report by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a pan-African finance institution, and the Boston Consulting Group, a global consulting firm, says developing a solid legal and regulatory framework is crucial in attracting private capital for infrastructure projects in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The report titled ‘Infrastructure financing in sub- Saharan Africa, best practices from ten years in the field,’ draws on the experience and best-practice advice of experts from both the private sector and the public sector and found that most African countries’ regulatory frameworks remain limited and piecemeal. As a result, SSA has attracted only $77 billion in PPP projects, compared to $124 billion in Turkey alone, or $658 billion in South America (with Brazil alone representing $433bn). In SSA, private investment in core power and transport infrastructure has been limited to only $51 billion over the last 25 years, the report said. “These numbers highlight Africa’s enormous potential for growth going forward,” the report avers. “Infrastruc- ture investment in Africa has the potential to be highly profitable. Returns there, on average, are likely to be significantly higher than in Europe, for example,” the report says. According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), Nigeria’s core stock of infrastructure is estimated at only 20-25 percent of GDP, compared with 70 percent for other middle income countries of its size, leaving an infrastructure deficit of $300 billion. Only South Africa has completed more public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure deals over the past 25 years than Nigeria has. African governments with shoestring infrastructure budgets need to clarify regulation, develop fiscal incentives, and facilitate provisions that promote dispute settlement and licensing. This is because increased private investor involvement in the infrastructure space is the best way to achieve intensive job creation and incentivise funding and skill transfer. The report further said that while projects have prospect of generating higher return on investment than similar projects in other regions, investors walk a minefield of government and financial markets challenges. Complications could arise from limited publicsector capabilities to develop strategic foresight and planning, insufficient political will, policy uncertainty, weak regulatory environments, shoddy law enforcement, and dearth of technical skills. Financial markets in many African countries are narrow with higher actual and provisional risks; longer project durations, significant cost overruns, and currency mismatches make financing issues more complex. “African governments are attempting to address these deficiencies. Of the 49 SSA, 42 now have enacted legislation to provide a regulatory framework for private investment in infrastructure. South Africa, Rwanda, Botswana, and Mauritius offer good examples of advanced and robust regulatory contexts,” the report says. Last year, lawmakers in Nigeria passed the Federal Roads Authority Bill which establishes the Federal Roads Authority (FRA) under the purview of the Ministry of Works, to sustain the construction, rehabilitation and connectivity of roads between states in the country. The National Road Funds Bill (the NRF Bill) was also introduced in 2017 to assist in financing the development, renewal and maintenance of national roads. VAIDS: FIRS targets N6.747trn tax revenue SEYI JOHN SALAU As the March 31 amnesty for tax evaders’ deadline under the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) draws near, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says it target to raise N6.747 trillion tax revenue for 2018. Babatunde Fowler, executive chairman, FIRS, speaking at the Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria, Members’ Evening held in Lagos recently, said VAIDS provided an opportunity to increase general tax awareness and compliance among the general public. According to Fowler, FIRS tax revenue target for the year is based on a N3.776 trillion expected from the non-oil sector and N2.666 trillion from the oil sector, which represents 58.62 percent and 41.38 percent, respectively. Fowler opined that, “Taxpayer makes financial savings that can be deployed to other productive activities while being tax compliant. Government has more resources to provide a conducive business environment (infrastructure and security). “The interplay of gains by taxpayers and the government makes an adequate canvas for economic growth and development.” PSP operators tell aggrieved members ... insist resolve to work with state, Visionscape in best interest of Lagosians DAVIID IBEMERE Concerned stakeholders of Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWMN) on Sunday condemned a statement credited to an aggrieved group within the association faulting the resolve to work with the Lagos State government and an environmental utility group, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions to ensure cleaner environment. The aggrieved group, in a statement by its chairman, Oladipo Egbeyemi, had distanced itself from the agreement to work with the state to rid it of filth adorning major streets and highways, describing the resolution as misleading and untrue. Responding, the concerned stakeholders, in a statement signed on their behalf by Kasumu Afis Olasehinde of Gafista Concepts Limited, said the statement by the aggrieved stakeholders was not only in bad taste but had shown them to care less about the interest of Lagosians. The stakeholders, comprising of 48 Private Sector Participant (PSP) operators in waste management, said their resolve to work with the state to ensure the success of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) was borne out of genuine desire to protect the environment and prevent outbreak of any epidemic. According to the statement, “This kind gesture was warmly received and accepted by the government, but to the surprise of many, a group believed to be aggrieved from AWMN, has come out to disown us for offering a helping hand, you must ask why? Are they angry with progress? Are they peopleoriented at all? Is this challenge a thing of pride and ego to them or service to the people? “We have been rendering unequalled outstanding waste management service to Lagosians for decades, and it is the state of things that necessitated our group’s initiative to offer help and also collaborate with Visionscape. The Visionscape group sees us as partners who will learn a lot from each other and they are willing to collaborate with us to make Lagos clean. “We also state that the wellbeing of Lagosians is utmost in our mind, and as we approach the raining season, we cannot just watch but also intervene to avoid epidemic, which is what the aggrieved group does not care about. “We can’t afford to let the CLI fail, because if it does, we will also be considered as failure, hence a need to take responsibility as a peopleoriented group to render service whether paid or unpaid; laudable to say the least and quite commendable and any progressive would agree with my group,” Olasehinde said.
A12 Remains of the clinic and an ambulance belonging to Plateau State College of Education, Gindiri, which was burnt during students’ protest over school identification cards, in Gindiri, Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, on Friday. NAN I lived in ‘second hell’ in Libya - returnee EMMANUEL NDUKUBA BUSINESS DAY CITYFile One of the returnees from Libya, Victor Ndukwe, an indigene of Awka South local government area, in Anambra State, has described his experience in the foreign country as “living in second hell”. He spoke with journalists after being received by the officials of Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). According to Ndukwe, he was in prison Court sentences 3 herders for open grazing in Benue A Makurdi Magistrate Court has sentenced three herders, Iliya Garba, Hassan Abdullahi, and Lanshak Lonfalk, to a year imprison each, for violating the State Benue Anti-Open Grazing Law, 2017. The convicts were charged with criminal conspiracy and open nomadic livestock rearing and grazing. The offences are punishable under sections 97 of the Penal Code and 19 (2) of the Open Grazing Prohibition Ranches Establishment Law of Benue, 2017. The prosecutor, Michael Iorundu, told the Oyo sinks boreholes in major markets Oyo State government through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) office has constructed 15 motorised boreholes in some major markets as part of measures improve water supply in the state. Abimbola Adekanmbi, the state commissioner for finance and budget, speaking at the commissioning of one of the boreholes at Bodija Market, Ibadan, explained that the project was completed through the conditional grants scheme. According to him, the project is aimed at achieving goals 3 and 6 of the SDG programme, targeting good health for about four months, with little or no food, where he faced severe torture, an experience he said has taught him hard lesson about life. Ndukwe was among the forth batch of Anambra returnees from Libya, received by SEMA officials at the Port Harcourt Airport through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other security agencies, on Friday. The team leader of SEMA, Emmanuel Izuchukwu, told newsmen in Awka, the Anambra State capital, that the returnees …as convicts claim ignorance of anti-open grazing law AKINREMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan court that the joint patrol team of ‘Operation Zenda,’ led by Edward Shinyi, arrested the herders on February, 18 2018. Iorundu said that the accused were brought to the State Criminal and Investigation Department, Makurdi. “The team reported that the three herders and others now at large, were openly grazing their cattle along Yeluwata Road in Guma local government area of Benue. When the case came up for mention, the herders pleaded guilty to the charge against them, saying that they were not aware that open grazing had and clean water sanitation. Adekanmbi, who is the also the chairman of the Conditional Grants Scheme, said that the boreholes tagged ‘Ajumose Water Points’ have been provided with a standby generator, stating that Bola Ige International Gbagi, Ibadan, Bembo market, Apata, Ibadan, Eleeka market, Oyo, Bodija market, Ibadan Saasa market, Ibadan and Towobowo market, Igboora, the largest market in Ibarapa zone of the state, were some of the beneficiaries of the project. He said that two of the boreholes were located at Sabo market, Ibadan, while Omi Adio market, Apata, Ibadan, Obanisunwa market, Ayete, Aaraada market, Ogbomoso, would be taken to skills acquisition centre, at Abagana. Another returnee, David Eze from Nnewi said he was a businessman dealing in electrical parts before he left for Libya. He said that he was misinformed about his prospects in Libya; as his intention was to crossover to Europe through Libya. Eze in appreciation thanked the federal and state governments for saving their lives and called on others nursing the ambition of travelling through Libya to have a rethink. been prohibited in Benue,’’ he said. The magistrate, Lillian Tsumba said that the herders were first offenders who were also illiterates and not even aware that open grazing has been prohibited in Benue. Tsumba said that a law such as open grazing prohibition required massive exposure and education of persons at the grassroots. She, however, said “law is law and must be obeyed in spite ignorance”. The magistrate sentenced the herders to a year imprison each, with N500,000 option of fine each. (NAN) Odo-Oba market, Odo-Oba, Ogo-Oluwa, Oja Agbe market, Iseyin, Olorunda market, Iganna and Owode market, Igboho have one each. Toye Arulogun, commissioner for information, culture and tourism, said that market men and women were integral part of government, assuring that the state government would provide more social amenities for the people. He noted that the informal sector was key to increased internal revenue of the state. Tope Fajana, the special adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on SDG, assured that the Ajumose Water Points would go round all markets in the state. Ambode urges civil servants to acquire problem-solving skills JOSHUA BASSEY Monday 26 February 2018 Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, has urged civil servants in the state to take advantage of the numerous training programmes being packaged for them, to acquire problem-solving skills. Ambode spoke at a training session for select senior civil servants in the state public service, with the theme “Coaching as a vehicle for realising the potentials of the Lagos State public service”. According to the governor, who was represented by Benson Akintola, the commissioner for establishments, training and pensions, every officer in the state public service aspiring to lead must develop, possess and maintain problem-solving skills. He explained that “developing the mind frame for deploying these skills is one of the essential soft skills that is mandatory for success in the today’s rapidly changing world.” The governor explained that the various training programmes were aimed at charting a new path and attaining an optimal state of performance and service delivery, which would ultimately re-energise the economy of Lagos in particularly and the country in general. “As I have indicated at several other for a, once the Lagos State public service is able to attain that optimal state of effectiveness and productivity through aid of coaching, no problem will be too complicated, no task too herculean, no challenge too huge, and no task too complicated for it to confront,” the governor said. He said these were the reasons why the state was constantly equipping its officers with skills and tools as the vehicle for attaining the goals. Thus, we will continue to invest in every public officer by designing and delivering coaching instructions that would increase the knowledge and skills of every officer such that multiplier effect on the public service would be dynamism, responsiveness, effectiveness, machine-like precision, and exponential productivity,” Ambode said. Policeman charged with murder of naval officer An Ebute Meta Magistrate Court, in Lagos, has remanded 36-year policeman, Ismaila Aladuge in custody for his alleged role in the death of Daniel Dukur, a naval officer. Aladuge, who appeared on a charge for murder, is to remain behind bars pending the outcome of legal advice from the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Chinalu Uwadione, the prosecutor, told the court, on Friday, that the offence was committed on July 17, 2017 at N0. 11, Idowu Martins Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. He said that the accused had accidentally shot Dukur, 34, on his abdomen with his service riffle while trying to disperse a mob, which led to Dukur’s death. The offences contravened Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015. The magistrate, A.S. Okubule, has adjourned the case till March 30, pending the legal advice.
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BusinessDay 26 Feb 2018

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