BusinessDay 28 Feb 2018

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34 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Wednesday 28 February 2018 NEWS China Development Bank, UBA sign $100m loan deal to support SMEs in Africa IHEANYI NWACHUKWU United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, a pan-African banking group and China Development Bank (CDB), the world’s largest development finance institution, on February 27, 2018 announced the signing of a $100 million seven-year loan agreement to finance the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Africa. The $100 million loan will enhance UBA’s capacity to provide access to finance to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the 19 African countries where UBA currently operates. “We are excited to partner with China Development Bank (CDB), the Development Financial Institution of the Chinese Government, on this historic transaction, as we strongly believe that the facility will serve as a catalyst to the sustainable development of commerce and industry in Africa through provision of critical financial interventions to SMEs across our presence countries,” said Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA Plc, Kennedy Uzoka. Uzoka noted that this line of credit is timely, as it should complement the recovery of economic activities. It will also further encourage African entrepreneurship particularly as the funds will be applied to SMEs, which are important for inclusive growth on the continent. Speaking during the signing ceremony, Chairman of UBA Plc, Tony Elumelu said that the fund will boost small and medium scale enterprises across Africa, noting that CDB’s interest in supporting SMEs aligns with UBA’s vision in growing business across Africa. “In UBA, CDB would have an enduring partner in reaching out to Africans as UBA provides banking services to over 14 million people across 20 African countries, and like CDB, UBA funds critical infrastructural projects on the continent “ Elumelu said. He expressed that he would like to see an even stronger relationship grow with CDB and UBA as well as with China and Nigeria. Also commenting, the President of CDB, Zheng Zhijie, said the agreement is the beginning of cooperation between UBA and CDB that would translate into an enduring business relationship between China and Africa and Nigeria in particular. “UBA is a leading and dependable bank not only in Nigeria but Africa, and this partnership will help our Bank to accelerate its business objectives in Africa, more importantly as we deepen our investment in energy, road and rail constructions, infrastructure in Africa,” Zhije said. UBA, Africa’s global bank, is one of the largest commercial banks in Nigeria incorporated which operates in 19 African countries whilst providing a wide range of products and services. UBA is a leading bank in infrastructure financing particularly in the Power, Telecoms and Transport sectors. UBA leads in social infrastructure such as hospital and education facilities to various countries in Africa. In Nigeria, the bank operates in each of the country’s 36 states, helping to deepen financial inclusion through its brick and mortar network as well as through its cutting edge digital platforms. Globally, UBA has over 1,000 branches and customer touch points, serving over 14 million customers. Adesola Adeduntan (m), MD/CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, receiving the African Banker of the Year Award from Joseph Beasley (2nd r), chairman, African Leadership Advisory Board; Lalao Ravalomanana (r), Mayor of Antananarivo; Seyi Oyefeso (l), group executive, commercial banking group, FirstBank, and Abdullahi Ibrahim (2nd l), executive director, public sector directorate, FirstBank, at the African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Award in Johannesburg, South Africa. Visionscape issuing N4bn bond priced at... Continued from page 1 waste dumps marring its street corners. The offer which opened on February 26 and closes today is being priced at 15.75 percent and has a 4.5 year tenor, according to sources familiar with the matter. Dubai based Visionscape undertook the Series 1 of the debt programme last year, raising a five-year N27 billion note at around 17 percent. The first coupon for the N27 billion bond falls due March 5, the same day Visionscape is asking investors interested in series 2 to fund the debt. That timing is probably a coincidence rather than a case of Visionscape borrowing to make coupon payments for previous debt, one source told BusinessDay. An email to an address available on Visionscape’s website seeking comment went un-replied. “I suspect the bond offer is to manage their liquidity position rather than fund debt servicing, after all they didn’t raise the full amount they wanted last year; opting instead to do it in tranches,” a source who invested in last year’s bond told BusinessDay. “Perhaps, they will be in a tight position after paying the coupons and are not up for that,” the source added. “Revenues are probably low and they need to buy more trucks. Moreover, it’s just N4bn which can be raised in two days given they have the backing of Lagos state.” The first series last year was backed by an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order by the Lagos state government. Visionscape, whose workers spot lemon overalls with boots to go, popped up the scene last year after contracts with the indigenous Private Sector Operators then under the management of Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) broke down. The Lagos State Government launched the Clean Lagos Initiative (CLI), backed by Environmental Management and Protection Law, last September to protect the environment, human health, and social living standards of Lagos residents. The initiative led to the introduction of a Public Utility Levy and the establishment of an enforcement task force, the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), to facilitate enforcement. It is unclear if the levy is being paid duly by Lagos residents. Visionscape is said to have requested a guarantee from the Lagos state government, because it the firm was unsure when the Public Utilities Levy would be paid. Visionscape’s revenues come from these levies and if Lagos state doesn’t start collecting the levies, the latter doesn’t want to be left with the short end of the stick, a source told BusinessDay, explaining why Visionscape demanded a guarantee from Lagos- whose domestic debt stood at N312 billion and foreign debt of $1.5 billion as of June 2017, according to data by the Debt Management Office (DMO). There have been a lot of speculations about the ownership structure of Visionscape and why Lagos state Governor Akinwumi Ambode decided to dump an arrangement which had, to a large extent, helped Lagos rid itself of its unenviable status of ‘filth capital of world,’ for a new, untested model of waste evacuation. Since Visionscape began operations, the heaps of refuse on Lagos streets have taken a turn for worse, indicating a regression in waste management that has irked most. Lagos state residents complain on social media, using snapshots of mounting refuse dumps in their areas, that Visionscape usually allow refuse to pile up for days before sending their trucks and workers to evacuate them Abiodun Bamigboye, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, said last month that the levy would be handled by a unit in the ministry known as the Public Utility Monitoring and Assurance Unit and that the levy will start being charged when “we start the full activity of Visionscape packing the wastes on the roads.” With refuse taking over major roads, highways and inner streets in the state, threatening epidemic across the state, concerns have grown among the populace over a probable outbreak of cholera and other diseases in the state as a result of the improper disposal of waste in the last couple of months. MTN sticks to June listing for Nigeria... Continued from page 1 provals for the listing including that of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). MTN Group agreed to list the Nigerian unit on the Nigerian Stock Exchange this year as part of a June 2016 agreement to pay a $1 billion fine for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers amid a security crackdown. An insider with knowledge of the MTN Nigeria listing said, “We are sticking to the June date for coming to the market.” BusinessDay reported earlier that new highs of 10.61percent return seen this year at the Nigerian stock market forced the advisors to proposed MTN Nigeria shares listing to renter their boardrooms for proper pricing of their shares. Standard Bank Group Limited and Citigroup Incorporated 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. The Nigerian stock market rose by 42percent last year. MTN group announced in November that it had commenced processes for the proposed listing of its Nigerian unit on the NSE in 2018. MTN crossed major huddles to the Nigeria unit listing after three different Emergency General Meetings (EGMs), the latest of which was held on Thursday last week. At the latest Emergency General Meeting, issues of complaints by different categories of shareholders and that of LATE shares managed by IBTC, among others were resolved. Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange told BusinessDay on the sideline of the 2017 market recap and 2018 outlook that the Nigerian bourse is hopeful MTN Group will fulfil its statement on listing the shares of its Nigerian units this year. “We have always said the Nigeria listing is obviously subject to market conditions but it would seem at this stage more likely a 2018 event,” Ralph Mupita, CFO, MTN Group had said while presenting the group’s third-quarter (Q3) results. He said that the group feels pretty confident that it is seeing value share increase off the back of the investment that they have made in Nigeria. “So a very pleasing growth in service revenue level in Nigeria”. Top on the assignment of the advisers is to reach an acceptable pricing (valuation) of the shares to be listed. MTN is also 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. 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. Nigeria’s $2.5bn Eurobond could trigger... Continued from page 4 borrowing is $20.9bn, narrowing the NGN-USD debt mix to 66:34 (compared to 73:27 in Sept-2017), according to data compiled by research house United Capital Limited. “This indicates that the FGN is one step closer to its fiscal desire to adjust the debt mix to 60:40 by 2019,” said analysts at United Capital. Ayodeji Ebo, managing director and CEO of Afrivest Securities Limited argued that while an increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2017 after shrinking by 1.58 percent in 2016 presents an opportunity to raise cheaper funds, the expected hike in interest rates by the United States Federal Reserve (Feds) may negate this opportunity. The U.S 10-year Treasury yield spiked and held above 2.9 percent on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s assessment that the central bank won’t rush to raise rates even though he expects the economy to pick up steam.
Wednesday 28 February 2018 R-L: Henry Egbiki, EY Nigeria, country leader, with Titilayo Margaret Solarin, tutor-general/ permanent secretary, representing Lagos State Ministry of Education, at the official commissioning of a new refurbished library at Elegbata Senior Secondary School, Olowogboro, Lagos, refurbished by EY Nigeria. Global business fraud jumps a record high to 49% in 2018 DANIEL OBI Global economic crime in business has risen to a record high of 49 percent from 36 percent in 2016, as reported by PwC’s bi-annual survey of business crime. In the Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey, which examined over 7,200 respondents from 123 countries including Nigeria, 49 percent of the respondents globally said their companies had suffered fraud in the last two years, up from 36 percent in 2016. The survey said regionally Africa recorded 62% up from 57%; North America 54% up from 37%, and Latin America 53% up from 28%. These figures are highest levels of economic crimes. According to the survey, the findings from Nigeria followed a similar pattern with more than half of respondents (57%) reporting Lassa fever hits 18 states with 90 deaths, 1,081 suspected cases ANTHONIA OBOKOH More states of the federation are at risk as Lassa fever continues to spread in Nigeria with 1,081 suspected cases and 90 deaths in 18 states, according to a press statement by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Tuesday. According to the agency, following the increasing number of Lassa fever cases, within a week, 54 new confirmed cases were recorded from eight states with 10 new deaths in confirmed cases from five states. “From 1st January to 25th February 2018, a total of 1,081 suspected cases and 90 deaths have been recorded actively in Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Kogi, Imo, Plateau, Lagos, Taraba, Delta, Osun, Rivers, FCT, Gombe, and Ekiti states, making 18 states. … procurement fraud most prevalent in Nigeria that their organisations have been victims of economic crime in Nigeria within the last two years up from 26% in 2016. “Globally, asset misappropriation (45%) continues to lead in economic crime experienced by organisations in the last 24 months, cybercrime (31%), consumer fraud (29%) and business misconduct (28%) are close behind,” according to the report. The report said that Nigeria presents a slightly different picture with respondents indicating that Procurement fraud (38%) is the most prevalent economic crime in Nigeria in the last 24 months. This is followed by Bribery and Corruption (33%), Accounting fraud (32%) and Business misconduct at 31%. “This year’s survey revealed a significant increase “This year, 69 percent of all confirmed cases are from Edo (43%) and Ondo (26%) states. Fourteen health care workers have been affected in six states Ebonyi - 7, Nasarawa -1, Kogi - 1, Benue - 1, Ondo - 1 and Edo -3) with four deaths (Ebonyi - 3 and Kogi - 1),” the report states. Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic illness, transmitted to humans through contact with food or household items contaminated by infected rodents. Person-to-person transmission can also occur, particularly in hospital environment in the absence of adequate infection control measures. The agency further states that since the onset of 2018, 325 cases have been classified as: 317 confirmed cases, 8 probable cases with 72 deaths (64 in Lab confirmed and 8 in probable); Case Fatality Rate in confirmed and probable cases is 22 percent. (+6% to 52%) in the share of economic crime committed by internal actors. There was also a jump in the percentage of those crimes attributed to senior management (from 16% in 2016 to 24% in 2018). However there are regional variations. In Australia (64%), the UK (55%), Canada (58%); Argentina (44%) and the US (48%), most reported crime was committed by external actors”. The results underline the greater awareness and understanding of the types of fraud, perpetrators, the role of technology, and fraud’s potential impacts and costs for a business, comments Cyril Azobu, PwC Nigeria’s Consulting Leader in the report “We can’t equate higher levels of reported crime with higher levels of actual crime. What the survey is showing us is that there is far more understanding of what fraud “There is need for the public to ensure and maintain adequate personal hygiene and environmental sanitation at all times as part of prevention and control measures against the spread of Lassa fever in the state,’’ Jide Idris, Lagos State commissioner for health, said in an interview with BusinessDay. The commissioner urged people to dispose refuse properly at designated dumpsites and not into the drainage, and store food items in rodent-proof containers. “Currently, Lassa fever are being followed up and testing across three laboratories in the country. The NCDC is working in collaboration with The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) and World Health Organisation (WHO) scaling up its support of the response at national and state levels,” the report says. is and where it is taking place. It’s particularly true of cybercrime, where there’s a much greater understanding of the issues, investigations, analysis, and greater investment in controls and prevention. “However, despite the progress in understanding and reporting, the fact that just over half (51%) of respondents say they have not, or don’t know if they have experienced fraud in the past two years, suggests blind spots still exist in many organisations” he said. CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Stella Ebalehita Aghedo now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Stella Ebalehita Ibifunmilola. All former documents remain valid. General Public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as Mrs Ifeyinwa Joy Nwosu now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ifeyinwa Joy Igboanugo. All former documents remain valid. General Public please take note. CORRECTION OF NAME My name was wrongly written as Worgu Future Adindu by my bank instead of my correct name which is Worgu Future Oyekachi. All Banks and General Public Please take note CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Kalu Helen Ijeoma now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Aneyo Helen Ijeoma. All former documents remain valid. General Public please take note. ADDITION OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as Abbey Adeyemi but now am adding Matthew. And i now wish to be known and addressed as Adeyemi Abbey Idowu. genral public please take note. C002D5556 Continued from back page from this humble pastor who was a Field Marshal in God’s vineyard! Billy Graham was the moral sentinel of America and easily one of the towering figures of our century. He condemned the debaucheries of our decadent age; objecting to homosexuality and same-sex marriage on moral grounds. A counsellor to presidents and monarchs; he reinvented the Christian faith to meet the worldview demands of our cruel, nihilistic age. He was a friend of American presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton and the two Bushes. According to Clinton, “When he prays with you in the Oval Office or upstairs in the White House, you feel he’s praying for you, not the president”. He was particularly close to Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. According to him, “No one in Britain has been more cordial toward us than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth…I have always found her highly intelligent and knowledgeable about a wide variety of issues, not just politics.” Her Majesty once confided to him, “You do speak with such wonderful clarity and certainty…Above all things, I do think of myself as just a simple Christian.” Billy Graham was one of the architects of the ecumenical movement. He financed the Lausanne Conferences on World Evangelism; working tirelessly for unity in the body of Christ. A confidante to a succession of popes, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Belmont Abbey College, a conservative catholic institution -- the first protestant leader to be so honoured. He was also close friends with Martin Luther Jr, whom he once bailed out when he was jailed in Alabama. He forbade segregation in all his crusades while ensuring that his evangelistic associates BUSINESS DAY 39 NEWS Billy Graham, moral man and immoral... CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as Meeting Jolly now wish to be known and addressed as Meeting Jolly Teleba. All former documents remain valid. General Public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as Alao Abayomi Oritsetimeyin now wish to be known and addressed as Abayomi Oritsetimeyin Olatinwo. All former documents remain valid. General Public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as Ukatu Chioma Esther now wish to be known and addressed as Oleru Chioma Esther. All former documents remain valid. General Public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as Esther Jumai Amodu now wish to be known and addressed as Esther Shaibu. All former documents remain valid. General Public please take note. were mixed-race. He once warned white Americans that their racial arrogance will stand in judgement against them at the gates of heaven. The passing of his beloved Ruth in 2007 was one of the lowest points in his life. He himself was gradually overcome with several geriatric illnesses which necessitated his eventual retirement. The BGEA is currently headed by his son Franklin Graham. Tributes have come from far and wide. President Donald Trump has tweeted: “The great Billy Graham is dead. There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man.” Vice- President Pence described him as a matchless voice that “changed the lives of millions”. Barack Obama describes him as “a humble servant who prayed for so many - and who, with wisdom and grace, gave hope and guidance to generations of Americans”. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby noted that “the debt owed by the global church to him is immeasurable and inexpressible”. Back home in Nigeria, Musa Asake, Publicity Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, described Billy Graham as “a faithful preacher who worked for God and has gone to be with the Lord”. An ancient Jewish belief holds that the earth has been saved from perishing because of the devotions of a secret conclave of 30 holy ones, the Tzadikim Nistarim. I believe Billy Graham belonged among the Tzadikim. Regardless of your religion or belief system, we can agree in the innate value of having devout and righteous men and women who redeem the earth and serve humanity with loving-kindness, truth, justice and compassion. Billy Graham was such a man. In the inimitable language of Paul the Apostle, “he was all things to all men”. Billy Graham made friends across racial, class and religious barriers. He disagreed with his son Franklin Graham when he made rather uncomplimentary remarks about Islam. The awards and honours showered on him during his lifetime are far too numerous to be recounted here. He leaves behind five children and several grandchildren and great grand children. President Donald Trump has ordered that his simple coffin will lie in state on Capitol Hill before being moved for final interment on Friday 2nd March in his hometown of Montreat, North Carolina. His funeral will be graced by present and former American leaders, among other distinguished personalities. Years ago he commented on the prospects of his own death: “Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now…I will have gone into the presence of God.” It is a fitting epitaph to a remarkable life.
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