BusinessDay 27 Mar 2018

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36 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 NEWS L-R: AbdulGaniyu Mohammed, general manager, small and medium enterprises (South), Bank of Industry (BoI); Waheed Olagunju, executive director, SME, BoI; Simon Aranonu, executive director, large enterprises, and Omar Shekarau, general manager, SME (North), during the Interactive session on the operation of the Bank’s Business Development Service Providers (BDSP) Scheme in Lagos, yesterday. Political aspirants face high nomination fees over stalemate on Electoral Act amendment OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, ABUJA As the stalemate over the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill continues, political parties will continue to enjoy the luxury of imposing arbitrary nomination fees on their aspirants if the proposal is not signed into law. This is because the new bill passed by both legislative chambers of the National Assembly, to which President Muhammadu Buhari has declined assent, prescribes limits for fees payable for each elective office in Nigeria. Recall that President Buhari had withheld assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2018. In a letter addressed to both Senate president, Bukola Saraki, and speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, the President gave three reasons for declining assent to the bill. FAAN security personnel to bear arms across Nigerian airports IFEOMA OKEKE Minister of state, aviation, Hadi Sirika, Monday said aviation security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) would soon be licensed to carry arms at airports across the country in other to complement other agencies in security threat. Sirika, who made this known in Katsina at the 2018 AVSEC retreat, said discussion was at its final stage for approval, saying it would further strengthen the integrity of the airports in view of the growing threats to the aviation industry. “The Federal Government approved for AVSEC to bear arms, which is a notable achievement in this administration’s effort at improving the general safety of its citi- The reasons include: That the amendment to the sequence of the elections in Section 25 of the Principal Act may infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission to organise, undertake and supervise all elections as provided in Section 15(a) of the third schedule to the Constitution; The amendment to Section 138 of the Principal Act to delete two crucial grounds upon which an election may be challenged by candidates unduly limits the rights of candidates in elections to a free and fair electoral review process, and that the amendment to Section 152(3)-(5) of the Principal Act may raise constitutional issues over the competence of the National Assembly to legislate over local government elections. The 2010 Electoral Act is silent on arbitrary nomination fees charged by parties. RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta Having detected 3,222 cases of tuberculosis (TB) and 105 drug resistant cases in recent time with possible prevention of the condition in the future, the Ogun State government has opened 216 treatment centres across 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas for effective diagnosis and treatment of TB cases. Speaking at an event in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, to commemorate 2018 World Tuberculosis Day tagged, “Find and Notify All TB Cases,” Babatunde Ipaye, commissioner for health, said TB was the ninth leading cause of death worldwide and could have been prevented with early diagnosis and effective restatement. According to Ipaye, a total of 3,222 TB cases and addizenry and passengers passing through our airports,” he said. According to Sirika, who was represented by Mohammed Abdulsalami, rector, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria, said arming AVSEC would ensure proper policing of the sector by AVSEC personnel, saying it was part of efforts by the President Buhari administration to give the country dividends of democracy. Rebranding of AVSEC is important in the building brand identity and creating a recognisable corporate identity for officers with the aim of making them much more professional and customer friendly to meet up with the initiative of the Ease of Doing Business, he said. Most countries have shown keen interest in the country’s growing and expanding aviation industry, he said, stressing However, the amended Act abolishes arbitrary nomination fees imposed by political parties and prescribes limits for each elective office to include: N10 million for a presidential aspirant and N5 million for a governorship aspirant. Others are: senatorial aspirant (N2m), House of Representatives aspirant (N1m), House of Assembly aspirant (N500,000), area council chairmanship aspirant in the Federal Capital Territory (N250,000) and ward councillorship aspirant in the FCT (N150,000). In the last general elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) sold its presidential nomination form for N25 million to each contestant, while that of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) went for N20 million. Analysts have expressed concern over the lack of legal framework with less than a year to the 2019 elections. that aviation security was seen as a pivotal tool to sustaining safety in all the airports, which remained a model to the integrity of the nation. He noted that the United Nations decision to establish two aviation security training colleges in the country was another notable achievement of the present administration. This was aimed at assisting not only in the war against terrorism but also to provide a special class of professionally trained AVSEC unit through the training of 30 selected aviation security master trainers who will in turn train others. The certification of FAAN training centre by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority can not be overemphasised, as it will further strengthen and boost the capacity and technical know how of aviation security personnel in the country, he said. They express fear that if the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill is not signed into law, political parties will continue with the practice of imposing exorbitant fees on aspirants. Clement Nwankwo, executive director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), also faults the restraining order of a Federal High Court, Abuja, against the National Assembly from taking further action on the Electoral Act. He calls on both the Executive and the Legislature to urgently resolve the matter, adding that besides the inclusion of the controversial sequence of elections, there are other critical aspects of the amended Act that cannot be discarded. “At this time, we know there is a stalemate. It is a crisis situation, the matter is in court. Certainly, we think the court should have allowed the process to complete. Tuesday 27 March 2018 Edo floats new waste management scheme Ogun detects 3,222 cases of tuberculosis, opens 216 treatment centres Conservationist says urban planning must incorporate green, woodland spaces CHUKA UROKO Foremost conservationist in Nigeria, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), says forests are fast thinning out in the country and has, therefore, advised that government at all levels must ensure that urban planning efforts incorporate green and woodland spaces at every stage of development. At the moment, less than 5 percent of the total land area in Nigeria is afforested, and even the sparse forest remainders are under threat with land use pressures from agriculture, infrastructure, housing and resources-harvesting which, NCF notes, are critical drivers of deforestation. Phillip Asiodu, NCF’s president, recalls that at independence, Nigeria had about 30 percent forest cover, but due to human activities, the for- Edo State government says a new waste management scheme will be launched in April to monitor the activities of waste managers across the state. Reginald Okun, commissioner for environment and sustainability, said this in an interview with journalists in Benin City, the Edo State capital. According to Okun, the new waste management scheme will ensure effective monitoring of activities of waste managers and ensure that the people are better served by the service providers, noting, “Waste managers in the state will be required to register with the state’s waste management board.” Warning that the state will no longer tolerate the practice where operators go about their activities without following the set guidelines, he said, “With the new ests have depleted to about 4 percent, urging for concerted efforts at reforestation of the country. Government at all levels in Nigeria have underappreciated forests, not just for their important ecosystem functions, but also for human survival and sustainability as carbon sinks and oxygen pool, together with the numerous other benefits they offer. “While developing a comprehensive reforestation strategy, we must however develop a national database of tree species indigenous to Nigeria, understand the status and plan a wholesome intervention”, advised Joseph Onoja, NCF’s acting directorgeneral, who spoke at this year’s World Forest Day. Oloja had a few messages on the importance of forests to humanity. According to him, forests and trees store carbon which helps mitigate the imwaste management scheme in place, before anyone goes about claiming to be a waste manager in the state, he or she must be certified by the state’s waste management board.” Those who fail to register with the board will be considered as criminals and will be prosecuted, he said, adding, “Those who also patronise these illegal waste managers will also be prosecuted. Individuals and companies are also required to have waste managers in place for evacuation of wastes.” The commissioner urged Edo people to support the state government in her effort to control and manage waste effectively, saying, “People must ensure they patronise waste managers who are duly registered. We will continue to focus more effort in sensitising people to develop the right attitude to waste management.” tional 105 drug resistant TB cases were detected and managed in Ogun, saying the state currently had Gene Xpert Sites spread to over 10 local government areas of the state with health workers that were regularly trained to provide quality TB management services. He also said several innovation approaches were embarked upon such as increased collaborations with Private Health Practitioners, Patent medicine vendors, Community Pharmacists and active case finding through community outreaches including the Wellness on Wheel project to tackle TB. The commissioner therefore advised religious leaders, private care providers, and health workers as well as individuals to refer people with cough for more than two weeks to provided health facilities for necessary treatment. pact of climate change in and around urban areas, adding that trees also improve the local climate and save energy used for heating by 20-50 percent. “Strategic placement of trees in urban areas can cool the air by up to 8 degrees celsius, reducing air conditioning needs by 30 percent; urban trees are excellent air filters, removing harmful pollutants in the air and fine particulates; trees reduce noise pollution, as they shield homes from nearby roads and industrial areas”, he said. Continuing, he said, “local populations use the fruits, nuts, leaves and insects found in urban trees to produce food and medicines for use in the home, or as a source of income; wood fuel sourced from urban trees and planted forests on the outskirts of cities provides renewable energy for cooking and heating.
Tuesday 27 March 2018 OPS, MOMAN, DAPPMAN kick against one regulator for oil, gas industry OLUSOLA BELLO Strategic groups in the Nigerian economy have kicked against the oil and gas industry having just only one regulatory commission as presently contained in the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), saying one regulator for both the down and upstream is detrimental to the industry and economy. They urge President Muhammadu Buhari not ascent to the bill until he ensures that two different regulatory agencies are created with each of them taking care of upstream and downstream of the petroleum industry, respectively. They also frown at the composition of the board members of the proposed commission, which is alleged to be skew towards civil servant. This situation they Bayelsa, Century Group partner for OML 46 oil/gas development DIPO OLADEHINDE The Bayelsa State Government as a key stakeholder in the oil and gas industry has made giant strides to effectively and efficiently harness her interest in a thousand ways, most notably through its oil company (Bayelsa Oil Company Limited) and its partners in OML 46 Atala field. The field was discovered, drilled, cased but not completed in 1982 by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). In 2004, it was farmed-out to the Bayelsa State Government and operated by the Bayelsa State Oil and Gas Company. This field was dormant for over a decade as the Bayelsa State Oil Company sought out adept ways to fund, develop and produce the asset. This challenge was not peculiar to the Bayelsa State Oil say may deny the industry the necessary operational vibrancy if the President finally ascent to the bill. The groups, which comprised the Organised Private Sector (OPS), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), allege that too much bureaucracy may cause the proposed commission in the PIGB to be inefficient in performing its function, as operations of both the downstream and upstream sectors of the industry are not the same despite the fact petrol is the only link that binds them together. According to Olufemi Olawore, the executive secretary of MOMAN, one regulator for the industry will be too big, or omnibus and may make it to lose focus. He says: “There was a time there was one regulator Company as she was among a league of State owned Oil companies that had been unable to develop fields they farmed into. In the turn of the year 2018, its fortunes changed as it along with her funding and technical partner- Century Exploration and Production Limited (CEPL) successfully defied the paradigm and false belief in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry that state owned oil companies cannot produce oil. The Bayelsa Oil and Gas Company and CEPL have successfully transformed the lot of the ATALA field despite the inherent challenge of funding and technical expertise. They deployed top drawer solutions and leveraged on a vast network of relationships to turn things around. The global energy market is one anchored on complex demand patterns and money moves. in the oil and gas industry, but it could not police the industry and this was what led to the creation of Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).” The downstream needs a regulator that will only focus on what is happening at the sector alone, he says, adding that it may get to a stage that one regulator may not be able to get whatever revenue the government wants alone. With two regulators there will be speed, efficiency and required staff to promptly attend to issues with ultimate urgency, he says, saying, “The downstream and upstream have nothing in common as their characters are different. So, there is need for specialists in both sectors of the industry.” Reginald Odia, chairman, Economic Policy of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), bemoans the fact that the proposed com- L-R: Ayodeji Dawodu, head, research, Investment One; Ivy Ojigbede, group retail sales, Investment One, and Akin Afere, at the launch of the Investment One Top 10 Investment Report in Lagos. mission board members will be mostly civil servants with private sector being schemed out of such an important commission. He states that oil and gas products service the machines used by OPS members, adding that the bill has removed a critical stakeholder from the settings. “Upstream of the petroleum industry does not have much for Nigerians. Nigerians are playing prominent roles in the downstream through generations of employment and other services rendered to the economy,” he says. He says they want two regulatory bodies that will have their board members spread across critical sectors of the economy, saying the OPS want a commission with voice and capacity to make contribution to the overall development of the downstream. ceed as well as the efforts of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to transform the capacity and competence pool of the country. Today, privately owned companies are doing very well in supporting the NNPC, NPDC and IOCs quest to achieve set objectives and this support must be utilized by state governments and state oil companies. The Bayelsa state success must be replicated as it is proof that the financial responsibility to develop and produce fields can be undertaken by indigenous companies and the technical know-how is also not lacking. The blueprint of Bayelsa State shows that states can be involved in the oil business without spending a kobo of tax payers’ money but through quality partnerships geared towards a common good. C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 37 NEWS Economic crisis rife in early days of Buhari’s presidency due to less than 15% GDP - Fowler BOLA BAMIGBOLA, Osogbo Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, on Monday in Osogbo, capital of Osun State, said gains of various initiatives of President Mohammadu Buhari’s administration aimed at reviving the nation’s economy were already yielding desired results. Fowler explained that the report by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank that any nation with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) below 15% was at risk of economic crisis, was the main cause of the past recession experience and a cause of panic in the early days of the present administration. Speaking at the opening session of the 140th quarterly meeting of the Joint Tax Board attended by chairmen of Internal Revenue Service of all states across the country, tagged, “Deepening Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Beyond Personal Income Tax (PIT),” Fowler said the reason Nigeria’s economy could not meet up the 15% GDP benchmark set by the world economic regulators was because it relied only on oil. Oando shares Nigeria perspective at Africa CEO forum FRANK ELEANYA Heads of states, public decision-makers, bankers, capital investors as well as African and international corporate leaders, are gathered at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Cote d’ívoire to discuss and take learning’s from success stories of the African private sector as well as dialogue and propose strategic solutions regarding the development of African enterprise and markets. Nigerian representatives including Wale Tinubu, Group Chief Executive, Oando PLC alongside C suite executives from the Company; Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President, Nigeria; Alhaji Abudulsalam Rabiu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BUA Group; Akinwunmi Adesina, President, Africa Development Bank; Akin Dawodu, Chief Executive Officer, Citi Nigeria, will be sharing their experiences and the Nigerian perspective at the two day event. Africa CEO Forum is the foremost annual meeting of the private sector in Africa. The event has recorded over 3,000 participating businesses from over 63 countries since its first edition in 2012 and continues to grow in popularity as an important setting for publicprivate sector dialogue. The Forum presents CEO’s and investors with the opportunity to meet high-level Government “But with all the measures introduced to diversify the economy since we came on board, our GDP that was 6% in 2016 has increased in 2017. We are not there yet, but we are gradually improving,” he said. Commenting on efforts but the Osun State government to raise its IGR, Fowler affirmed that records had shown efforts by Aregbesola’s administration to stimulate Osun state’s economy with determined efforts to create new spenders and through them, its revenue generation would improve. He called on other states to use Osun’s model of revenue generation policy, which grew the state’s IGR by over 30% within 12 months. He said: “What Aregbesola has done in increasing tax revenue in Osun is amazing; while the Federal Inland Revenue Service is advocating for at least 25% increment from states, it is worthy of note that Aregbesola has increased the tax revenue of Osun above 30% between 2016-2017. “Another significant observation having gone round Osun is that one can easily see that tax players’ money is working, a lot can be learnt from Osun on what taxation can do for a state.” For this reason, stakeholders in the sector simply cannot sleep. The landscape is ever dynamic and this explains why a lot of things that were previously thought to be impossible are now happening. There is now more pressure on field owners to develop and produce their assets to trigger genuine transformation and growth. It is believed that this rebirth initiated by the Bayelsa Oil Company and her partner, CEPL has left the door open for other state owned oil companies to look inwards and partner with indigenous companies to finance, operate, and develop erstwhile comatose assets for optimum youth engagement and improved revenue. Analysts say this is the only way out as privately owned indigenous companies are growing stronger thanks to their strong resolution to sucofficials of African counties to gain deeper insights into economic development strategies on subjects ranging from the business environment to the most important public and private investment projects being implemented in their countries. The Forum also serves as a platform for attendees to expand their network of high-level business contacts, promote their companies, take and share country and sector specific business learning’s, identify new financial partners and be a driving force in the development of Africa’s private sector. Some of the panel themes in the 2018 edition of the Africa CEO Forum include The New Nigerian Economy; Reinventing African Business; Gas: A $2000 BN Opportunity which will be discussed by industry experts such as Wale Tinubu. Wale a fervent speaker at similar events like the World Economic Forum, Davos, World Economic Forum, Africa and the FT Summit, will share his experiences on the best ways to exploit gas deposits in Africa as well as the opportunities and challenges that exists within the Nigerian Gas space. Wale is best placed to speak on gas because Oando who are also Oil & Gas industry sponsors at the Forum, pioneered the private sector distribution of natural gas to industrial and commercial consumers across Nigeria through its midstream Gas and Power business.
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