BusinessDay 23 Mar 2018

4 BUSINESS DAY
C002D5556
Friday 23 March 2018
NEWS
Oil gains amid US crude inventories
drop, Middle East tensions
DIPO OLADEHINDE
Drop in U.S crude inventories
and growing
Middle East
tensions seems to
bearing much fruit
as Brent oil held above $68 as Organisation
of Petroleum Exporting
Countries supply cuts gain more
momentum.
The oil market extended its
bullish run on Thursday after the
Energy Information Administration
(EIA) reported on Wednesday
a drop in crude oil inventories of
2.6 million barrels, which implies
inventories in the U.S which is
taking less of OPEC - produced oil
than ever are below the five year
average for the first time since 2014.
“If inventories are coming down,
it means oil producers will need to
restock, leading to increase in demand
which will obviously lead to
the increase in price we are currently
seeing,” Adeola Adenikinju, oil and
gas analyst and professor of economics
at University of Ibadan said.
“The Saudi Arabia and Iran
clash will create a transitory effect
which is temporal because of
the uncertainties in the market;
however the fundamental factor
is the OPEC and its ally’s agreement
which is very important,”
Adenikinju, a confirmed member
of the Monetary Policy Committee
of Central bank of Nigeria told
BusinessDay by phone.
Geopolitical threats to crude
output also continue to support
prices as both the U.S. and Saudi
Arabia have criticized a 2015 international
agreement to curb Iran’s
nuclear ambitions.
U.S President Donald Trump
has threatened to pull out of the
deal and re-impose economic
sanctions on the Islamic Republic,
a move analysts say would disrupt
oil output of OPEC’s third-biggest
producer as Venezuela’s production
slides continues.
“The present US government
is currently showing the world
that it’s not a country that honours
agreement, so it won’t be a surprise
if they don’t honour the agreement
which will likely increase the price
of oil,” Luqman Agboola, head of
research at Sofidam Capital said.
“The regional rivalries between
Saudi Arabia and Iran have always
being there; however the crises will
go beyond the crude oil prices that
might lead to a negative impact on
the global economy if not properly
handled,“ Agboola said.
Brain drain: Nigeria loses high-skill...
Continued from page 1
medical doctors but needs no
fewer than 237,000 to meet the
World Health Organisation (WHO)
benchmark of 1:600, that is, a medical
doctor for every 600 persons,
Folashade Ogunsola, a professor
of medicine and chairman, Association
of Colleges of Medicine of
Nigeria, said.
In 2016, 300 doctors left Nigeria
to practise in foreign countries,
according to the Nigerian Medical
Association.
A recent NOIPolls survey
showed that the reasons for the
looming brain drain in the health
sector included challenges such
as high taxes and deductions from
salary (98 per cent), low work satisfaction
(92 per cent), poor salaries
and emoluments (91 per cent) and
the huge knowledge gap that exists
in the medical practice between
those abroad and in Nigeria (47 per
cent), among others.
“All the doctors at the health
clinic I go to are from Nigeria, they
are polite, gentle, educated men
and women with great sense of
humour who are fitting into society
well. But again, they are doctors,
they have good careers. If you
don’t have a good education and
job prospects Canada is not the
place for you,” Judy Riley, born and
raised in Eastern Ontario, Canada
said in response to questions about
immigrating to Canada, on Quora,
a website for professional exchange
of ideas.
Canada has a strong reputation
for multiculturalism and presents
many socio-economic opportunities
for Nigerian immigrants.
As one of the leading G-7 countries,
it is highly developed and
enjoys outstanding education
and health care systems as well as
excellent working conditions. A
long life expectancy, 82 years as at
2015, and relatively low crime rates
also contribute to Canada’s high
quality of life.
Canada’s strong economic position
could largely be attributed to
the contributions of its immigrant
workforce.
To this end, the Canadian government
has one of the most
positive immigration policies in
the world, with the government
admitting over 200,000 immigrants
each year. Canada also allows dual
citizenship, allowing Nigerians to
retain their national identity.
Immigrants from Nigeria usually
find employment opportunities
in Canada in high-growth sectors
through the Federal Skilled Trades
Class. This programme allows
workers with in-demand trades,
such as welders, crane operations,
and electricians, to obtain Canadian
permanent residency.
That Nigeria is losing its strong
human capital that took enormous
resources to nurture and produce
represents a significant loss and a
major shift of paradigm.
As heir to the Saudi throne,
Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman has been on a three-week
visit to the U.S and has met with
President Donald Trump and
administration officials at the
White House and plans to meet
with energy executives to discuss
the country’s plans to build two
nuclear reactors by year’s end
and 14 more over the next quarter
century, according to the non-governmental
U.S. Energy Association.
The Saudi prince is championing
a new vision 2030 for the desert
kingdom, one that is technologically
savvy, religiously moderate
and has a global influence beyond
its oil prowess.
Also, uncertainties about Venezuela’s
falling production, whose
output has been halved since 2005
to below two million barrels per
day due to an economic crisis, are
also supporting the oil market.
The International Energy Agen-
Teleology details
10-point plan to turn
around 9mobile
... Partners with East Africa’s
telecom giant, Safaricom
JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON
Teleology holdings limited
has revealed its proposed
plan to revitalise the debt
ridden 9mobile, after it finalised its
takeover of the company by transferring
a non-refundable completion
deposit of $50 million to the
Trustee for the bank syndicate
which held ownership of 9mobile.
The company which is still
expected to pay the balance of its
$500 million bid for 9mobile in the
next 90 days, in order to take full
possession of the telecoms firm is
certain of ownership having signed
Share Purchase Agreement (SPA)
and other contractual documents
pertaining to the acquisition.
Teleology has therefore detailed
an ambitious plan of action that
will guide its rapid overhaul not
only of the network but all aspects
of the operations.
Adrian Wood, Teleology’s Director
and pioneer managing
director of MTN Nigeria, says,
“9mobile is transiting into a new
phase that will be defined by optimal
value delivery: value to our
employees, value to our customers,
value to local communities and
indeed to all stakeholders.”
He added that the new organisation
to emerge would be “engineering
led and brand driven.”
In delivering service, “we will
strive to ensure that 9Mobile operations
deliver fulfilment to our
Continues on page 34
L-R: Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, director of partnerships, Tony Elumelu Foundation; Alex Trotter, member, board of trustees,
Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF); Tony Elumelu, founder, TEF; Parminder Vir, CEO, TEF, and Awele Elumelu, member,
board of trustees and wife of the founder, during the selection announcement of 1250 entrepreneurs in the 4th cycle of
The Tony Elumelu Foundation’s (TEF) 10-year, $100 million TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, held in Lagos, yesterday.
cy said last week that Venezuela
was “vulnerable to an accelerated
decline” and said such a disruption
could tip global markets into deficit.
Oil prices are approaching the
highs of January after a global equity
market rout. While investors
continue to deliberate on surging
U.S. crude production, OPEC and its
allies have resolved that the market
will rebalance between the second
and third quarter of the year.
OPEC and 10 members outside
the cartel, including Russia, have
been holding back crude production
by 1.8 million barrels a day
since the start of last year, as part
of an effort to rein a global supply
glut and boost prices.
Nigeria’s oil production on
the other hand has recovered to
1.8 million barrels as at February
2018, according to latest OPEC
data, from as low as 1.2 million
barrels daily in the thick of militant
disruptions.
The price of Brent crude, Nigeria’s
benchmark grade, fell 0.14 per
cent to $69.37 per barrel Wednesday,
according to Bloomberg data.
“When crude price enters its
volatiles stage Nigeria is expected
to rely on Excess Crude Account
(ECA) or Sovereign Wealth Fund
(SWF) to fund its projects; however
we have a situation where a lot of
states cannot pay salaries putting
a lot of pressure on this account
which have poor decisional framework
with zero legal backing,”
Adenikinju concluded.
•Continues online at www.businessdayonline.com
Any country with outflow of
emigrants loses critical human
capital in which it has invested
resources through education and
specialised training and for which
it is not compensated by the recipient
country because there is no
bilateral agreement on the transfer.
“A number of reasons may account
for brain to different countries.
I can say that Canada has
a skills based point system that
eases the path to residency and
eventual citizenship for qualified
professionals and educated persons
and their families from all over
the world,” a talent manager, who
pleaded for anonymity, said.
Experts say it is cheaper for developed
nations to encourage, by what-
ever means including immigration
policy orientation, the influx of the
best brains from developing world.
Unfortunately, poor governance
systems in developing nations
like Nigeria with their attendant
poor planning and disregard
for future generations are all too
conducive for the maintenance of
the status-quo.