BusinessDay 30 Mar 2018
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NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I **FRIDAY <strong>30</strong> MARCH <strong>2018</strong> I VOL. 15, NO 22 I N<strong>30</strong>0 @ g<br />
L-R: MD, Aiteo Downstream, Ewarezi Useh; Senate Majority Leader, Ahmed Lawan; Abu Ibrahim; GMD, Aiteo Eastern<br />
E&P Co. Ltd., Chike Onyejekwe; the celebrant - Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu; Fatai Buhari; Aiteo group director,<br />
Abubakar Shehu Tambuwal; chief of staff to Aiteo Group CEO, Haffner Onochie; MD, Nembe Creek Trunk Line, Tunde<br />
Akinpelu, and senior manager, corporate communications, Aiteo Group, Ndiana Matthew, at the Colloquium in honour<br />
of Asiwaju’s 66th birthday in Eko Convention Centre, Lagos, yesterday.<br />
More hotels go under<br />
receivership as loan<br />
defaults grow<br />
OBINNA EMELIKE<br />
More hospitality outfits<br />
are likely going under<br />
receivership for their<br />
growing default in paying back<br />
loans obtained from creditors,<br />
especially banks for the construction,<br />
renovation, or opera-<br />
Inside<br />
Continues on page 33<br />
Bitter Easter for<br />
air passengers<br />
as Buhari’s visit<br />
disrupts travel<br />
plans P. 32<br />
Buhari in Lagos, promises<br />
improved national security<br />
JOSHUA BASSEY & AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE<br />
President Muhammadu<br />
Buhari says the Federal<br />
Government is not<br />
shying away from its<br />
commitment to the creation of<br />
an enabling environment and<br />
improved national security in<br />
aid of new investments in the commercial city.<br />
economy.<br />
According to Buhari, the government<br />
at the centre is also<br />
He spoke, Thursday, at the<br />
opening of the Ikeja Bus Terminal,<br />
built by the Lagos State of transportation architecture<br />
working to change the narrative<br />
government, to raise the standard<br />
and quality of public trans-<br />
extending rail infrastructure. He<br />
nationally by expanding and<br />
portation services in Nigeria’s<br />
Continues on page 34<br />
Killings continue in Benue<br />
despite operation ‘Cat Race’<br />
Trend shows intention to be occupation<br />
State government overwhelmed by IDPs<br />
CHRISTOPHER AKOR<br />
Over a month after<br />
the Nigerian army<br />
began exercise<br />
‘Ayem Akpatuma’<br />
or ‘cat race’ to arrest<br />
the rising cases of herdsmen<br />
killings in Benue state and to<br />
allow the over 175, 070 inter-<br />
BD INVESTIGATIVE SERIES<br />
nally displaced persons (IDPs)<br />
currently taking refuge in ramshackle<br />
camps across the state to<br />
return to their homes, the army<br />
has been unable to stop the killings<br />
in the state and the militias<br />
responsible for the killings have<br />
only grown bolder, extending<br />
... flags off Lekki deep seaport construction<br />
their areas of attacks from the<br />
towns bordering Nasarawa state<br />
to hinterland communities in<br />
the state.<br />
On <strong>Mar</strong>ch 6, the Fulani militia<br />
invaded Omusu in Edumoga local<br />
government area of the state<br />
and killed 26 residents in cold<br />
blood. On Thursday, 22 <strong>Mar</strong>ch,<br />
the herdsmen also attacked<br />
Umenger community in Guma<br />
local government, killing two<br />
and injuring many other farmers<br />
who had gone to their farms to<br />
get food. Just two days ago, the<br />
state commissioner of police,<br />
Fatai Owoseni confirmed that<br />
Continues on page 4
2<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
C002D5556<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong> C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY<br />
3
4 BUSINESS DAY<br />
C002D5556<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
NEWS<br />
Transaction advisers named for<br />
airport concession, MRO, others<br />
... include Infrata, Dentons, Proserve, Olawoyin & Olawoyin<br />
IFEOMA OKEKE<br />
The Federal Government<br />
has unveiled<br />
transaction advisers<br />
for the six projects in<br />
the Aviation Roadmap<br />
in line with the Infrastructure<br />
Concession and Regulatory<br />
Commission (ICRC) guidelines<br />
and public procurement act.<br />
This was made known by Hadi<br />
Sirika, the Minister of State Aviation,<br />
at the 4th Aviation Stakeholders<br />
Forum held on Thursday<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 29th <strong>2018</strong> in Abuja where<br />
he also unveiled the logo for the<br />
59th Airport Council International<br />
Africa (ACI-Africa) Conference<br />
and exhibition next month.<br />
The six projects in the roadmap<br />
include the concession of<br />
the four major airports, establishment<br />
of Maintenance Repair<br />
and Overhaul (MRO) Centre<br />
and Aviation leasing company,<br />
development of Aerotropolis<br />
and cargo/ Argo allied terminals,<br />
establishment of national carrier.<br />
For the concession Sirika, announced<br />
Infrata, Dentons, Rebel,<br />
WSP Parsons Brinkckerhoff,<br />
Proserve as the five Transaction<br />
Advisers for the handling of the<br />
concession of the Abuja, Lagos,<br />
Kano and Port Harcourt Airports.<br />
Infrata is a United Kingdom<br />
based Infrastructure Transaction<br />
Support Consultancy which provides<br />
commercial, technical and<br />
traffic related advice on behalf of<br />
lenders, investors and sponsors.<br />
The Company has acted as<br />
advisor on many high profile<br />
transactions in Africa, America,<br />
Europe, Asia and Africa.<br />
Dentons is an international<br />
law firm based in London with<br />
experience in project advisory<br />
services across both developed<br />
Killings continue in Benue despite operation...<br />
Continued from page 1<br />
over five people were killed in<br />
various parts of the state over<br />
the weekend. He confirmed<br />
two people were killed in Agatu,<br />
another two in Tse-Semaka and<br />
another person along Lower<br />
Benue in Makurdi.<br />
“With the magnitude of the<br />
crisis we have at hand and, given<br />
the on-going killings despite Exercise<br />
Ayem A’ Kpatuma, we appeal<br />
to President Muhammadu<br />
Buhari and the federal government<br />
to convert the exercise to<br />
a full military operation to chase<br />
out the killer herdsmen from<br />
our communities,” the governor,<br />
Samuel Ortom pleaded during<br />
one of his frequent visits to the<br />
IDP camps in the state.<br />
“There is no doubt that the<br />
level of killings and destruction<br />
of property in Benue by herdsmen<br />
is comparable to what is<br />
happening in the Northeast and,<br />
with the rains fast approaching,<br />
the humanitarian crisis may get<br />
out of hand because many of<br />
the IDPs sleep outside, and we<br />
all know what that means if the<br />
rains set in.”<br />
On a visit to some of the IDPs<br />
in the state in February by the<br />
<strong>BusinessDay</strong> correspondent, it<br />
was found that although the state<br />
government and some wellspirited<br />
individuals and groups<br />
have been able to ensure that<br />
the IDPs have food to eat, the<br />
general living conditions at the<br />
camps have been pathetic, with<br />
frequent outbreak of diseases.<br />
Some of the camps were<br />
even relocated due to flood and<br />
there are fears the camps could<br />
become humanitarian disasters<br />
when the rains start in earnest.<br />
Even at that the state government<br />
has reached a breaking<br />
point and the governor is seeking<br />
for federal assistance. Governor<br />
Samuel Ortom of Benue state,<br />
met privately with President Muhammadu<br />
Buhari on Tuesday,<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 27, to seek security help<br />
for the resettlement of the displaced<br />
175,000 Benue farmers.<br />
Governor Ortom who briefed<br />
State House Correspondents<br />
after meeting with President<br />
Buhari, said he was at the Presidential<br />
Villa to seek help on the<br />
plight of farmers whose homes<br />
and means of livelihood have<br />
been destroyed by the conflict.<br />
“I am here to intimate him of<br />
the plight of over 175,000 IDPs<br />
that we have in eight camps.<br />
They have expressed their desire<br />
to go back home”<br />
The crux of the crisis<br />
Although the federal government,<br />
the police and security<br />
agencies always try to portray the<br />
killings as communal clashes,<br />
the reality point to a more systematic<br />
attempt at dispossessing<br />
local communities of their lands<br />
forcefully for pastoralism.<br />
True, Benue state being predominantly<br />
an agrarian state<br />
with virtually all the population,<br />
inclusive civil servants, teachers<br />
and others, into farming, it was<br />
difficult for herders to move<br />
freely without encroaching on<br />
farmlands.<br />
Clashes therefore, with pastoralists,<br />
who move their cattle<br />
around in search of pasture<br />
along the Benue value, which is<br />
ever green, are inevitable.<br />
Fr Solomon Mfa, Parish priest<br />
of St Augustine Catholic Church,<br />
Demekpe, and one of the founding<br />
fathers of a pressure group:<br />
Movement Against Fulani Occupation<br />
(MAFO) told <strong>BusinessDay</strong><br />
that what used to be<br />
a conflict between farmers and<br />
herdsmen over grazing however<br />
soon turned to a quest for occupation<br />
of some part of Benue<br />
land.<br />
Mfa said he discovered while<br />
and emerging markets. It is present<br />
in every continent in more<br />
than 144 locations across over 59<br />
countries.<br />
Rebel specializes in economics,<br />
feasibility, financing and<br />
transaction advisory for projects<br />
in all infrastructure sectors. It operates<br />
globally with headquarters<br />
in Rotterdam (NL).<br />
WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff is<br />
a leading engineering professional<br />
services consulting firms<br />
with over 75 years’ experience in<br />
the aviation sector and based in<br />
more than 39 countries worldwide.<br />
The company has designed,<br />
developed, acted as financial<br />
consultants and managed airport<br />
development around the world.<br />
Proserve is a project coordination,<br />
construction management<br />
expert and local legal expert. The<br />
firm maintains strategic alliances<br />
with highly reputable global and<br />
L-R: President Muhammadu Buhari; Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos State governor; James Faleke, member, House<br />
of Representatives, Ikeja Federal Constituency, and Kemi Nelson, APC South West women leader, during<br />
the commissioning of the newly built Ikeja Bus Terminal by the Lagos State government, yesterday.<br />
working as a catholic priest in<br />
Guma local government, that<br />
starting from 2013, the conflict<br />
started taking a different dimension;<br />
from just mere clashes<br />
between farmers and pastoralists<br />
for grazing land to one that<br />
is targeted at annihilation and<br />
occupation.<br />
He said from around that<br />
time, the Fulanis started arming<br />
themselves – usually with<br />
weapons like AK 47. From then,<br />
they will deliberately direct<br />
their herds into farmers’ lands,<br />
eat up their crops and kill and<br />
sack the community when they<br />
complain.<br />
Surprisingly, they will prevent<br />
the displaced communities<br />
from returning to their homes<br />
and will permanently settle in<br />
the communities. He said, the<br />
Fulani’s stopped the traditional<br />
dialogues and settlements that<br />
had always taken place between<br />
dissatisfied farmers and herdsmen<br />
and are now determined to<br />
permanently settle on the Benue<br />
partners to offer services in areas<br />
of need.<br />
Sirika said the consortium<br />
of five firms are vastly experienced<br />
and are experts in airport<br />
management, Public Private<br />
Partnership Legal Advice, Finance,<br />
Project and Construction<br />
Management and Environmental<br />
and Social services.<br />
On the establishment of an<br />
MRO Centre and Aviation Leasing<br />
company, Sirika revealed<br />
that government approved a<br />
consortium of five firms, Arup<br />
UK, Catamaran Nigeria Limited,<br />
RDC Aviation Economics UK,<br />
Aubert Business Consulting UK<br />
and Olawoyin & Olawoyin.<br />
The firms according to the<br />
minister are experienced in design<br />
and planning, especially in<br />
infrastructure development with<br />
bias for transport, international<br />
valley that is ever green and<br />
provides pasture for their herds<br />
all year round. This, he said, was<br />
accentuated by the coming of<br />
Buhari to power. “They became<br />
more brazen and acted more like<br />
an occupation force than herdsmen<br />
in search of pasture for their<br />
herds,” he charged.<br />
“The way they went about<br />
things was the complete opposite<br />
of the Fulani’s we used<br />
to know. In years past, we have<br />
Fulani’s that come to graze.<br />
They came with their wives;<br />
they came with their children<br />
and they came with sticks. This<br />
was in the time when our forests<br />
had wild animals. We saw them<br />
with no AK 47s. But those ones<br />
who come around these days<br />
that there are no wild animals,<br />
no forests, do not come with<br />
their wives, children and sticks.<br />
They come alone with AK 47.<br />
What is the threat they face that<br />
they go about with AK 47? With<br />
their superior weapons, they<br />
took people’s houses and farm-<br />
PenCom recovers<br />
N13.7bn pension<br />
liabilities from<br />
defaulting employers<br />
MODESTUS ANAESORONYE<br />
Pension regulator, the National<br />
Pension Commission<br />
(PenCom) has recovered<br />
N13.7 billion from employers of<br />
labour who defaulted in the remittance<br />
of their employee’s pension<br />
contributions as provided in the<br />
Pension Reform Act 2014.<br />
The amount covers recoveries<br />
of unremitted pensions and accrued<br />
interest penalties by Pen-<br />
Com appointed recovery agents<br />
between 2012 when they were appointed<br />
to end of December 2017.<br />
PenCom’s report accessed by<br />
<strong>BusinessDay</strong>, shows that, as at the<br />
fourth quarter 2017, the sum of N2,<br />
293,620,725.71 had been recovered<br />
by the Agents.<br />
This brings the total recoveries<br />
made by the Agents since<br />
inception of the recoveries in<br />
2012 to N13,695,155,214.88 rep-<br />
Continues on page 33 Continues on page 34<br />
lands and refused to allow those<br />
people come back to their lands.”<br />
True, after the attacks on New<br />
Years’ eve that killed 74 people,<br />
the National Vice President<br />
of Miyetti Allah Cattle Herders<br />
Association, Husaini Yusuf<br />
Bosso, speaking to the British<br />
Broadcasting Corporation, BBC,<br />
said the only way the killings<br />
would end is for the Benue state<br />
government to rescind the antiopen<br />
grazing law in the state and<br />
provide land for them to keep<br />
their cattle.<br />
Hinting at a deeper grievance,<br />
the association, in a recent<br />
online interview, claimed the<br />
Fulani ethnic group were long<br />
in Benue before the Tivs arrived<br />
and would not allow the Tivs<br />
drive them out of the place.<br />
“Before they moved into<br />
Benue, we were there, grazing<br />
our animals. They were not part<br />
of the Cororofa Kingdom. They<br />
were the last ethnic group to<br />
Continues on page 33
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong> C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY<br />
5
6 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556<br />
NEWS<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
Land administration: Realtors differ on Land Use Act impact 40 years after<br />
CHUKA UROKO<br />
Real estate professionals<br />
and sundry<br />
stakeholders have<br />
expressed divergent<br />
views on the<br />
impact the Land Use Act has<br />
made on land administration<br />
in Nigeria 40 years after the<br />
Act was enacted by the then<br />
military administration under<br />
Olusegun Obasanjo, precisely<br />
on <strong>Mar</strong>ch 29, 1978.<br />
While some of the professionals<br />
say the Act has performed<br />
so badly that it is the<br />
reason for all the pitfalls in<br />
real estate investment and the<br />
sector’s slow growth, others<br />
insist that the land law is the<br />
UBA rewards high<br />
performance, promotes<br />
2,000 across Africa<br />
ENDURANCE OKAFOR<br />
In line with its commitment<br />
to reward excellence<br />
and high performance,<br />
Pan-African<br />
financial institution, United<br />
Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc,<br />
has announced the promotion<br />
and elevation of about<br />
2000 of its work force, representing<br />
about 17 percent<br />
of total staff strength across<br />
the group.<br />
This is in recognition of<br />
the remarkable contribution<br />
the staff members have<br />
made to the bank’s business<br />
growth as highlighted by<br />
the impressive performance<br />
recorded in its recently released<br />
2017 financial year<br />
end results.<br />
The announcement,<br />
which came on Monday, is<br />
especially heartening in the<br />
face of the numerous economic<br />
challenges faced by<br />
major financial institutions<br />
on the continent, most of<br />
who are yet to recover from<br />
the impact of the recessive<br />
business climate that rocked<br />
many companies in 2016 and<br />
a greater part of last year.<br />
It is important to note<br />
that about a year ago, the<br />
bank had promoted 3,000<br />
staff members, 25 percent of<br />
its workforce, while also doling<br />
out cash rewards to deserving<br />
staff for exemplary<br />
conduct and performance<br />
that year.<br />
This year’s promotion, as<br />
with others, have been commended<br />
by human resource<br />
analysts who have noted<br />
that UBA, which was mentioned<br />
in a recent survey as<br />
one of the “Best 100 Companies<br />
To Work For in Nigeria”<br />
has become synonymous<br />
with rewarding excellence.<br />
The announcement has also<br />
been greeted with joy and<br />
enthusiasm by the workforce<br />
of the bank.<br />
The affected staff that cut<br />
across all units, divisions<br />
and 19 countries where UBA<br />
operates were selected after<br />
the completion of appraisal<br />
system that identified high<br />
performers in the bank<br />
among other criteria.<br />
… link real estate slow growth, investment pitfalls to the Act<br />
best thing to happen to land<br />
administration in the country.<br />
“I don’t support the abrogation<br />
of the Act which many<br />
people have called for over<br />
the years,” Olufemi Babalola,<br />
CEO, Gravitas Investment<br />
Limited, the developers of<br />
Gracefield Island in Lekki,<br />
Lagos, said.<br />
He recalled that before<br />
the Act, there was the communal<br />
land ownership system<br />
which, he explained,<br />
stifled development in real<br />
estate, agriculture, industrial<br />
concerns, etc, pointing that<br />
the use of a parcel of land for<br />
any of these purposes could<br />
be stalled if there is just one<br />
dissenting voice among the<br />
native owners.<br />
“The Land Use Decree,<br />
which later became an Act,<br />
was promulgated to take care<br />
of situations like this and so<br />
rested ownership of the land<br />
on the state governors who<br />
hold the land in trust for the<br />
people”, Babalola explained,<br />
adding, “but because some<br />
of the governors are lazy and<br />
un-resourceful, a lot of things<br />
have gone wrong with the<br />
Act.<br />
Continuing, he said, “the<br />
law created a central land<br />
registry; it created a good<br />
land administration, but the<br />
governors are lazy. So, it is<br />
not the law that is bad, but<br />
the operators that make it<br />
look as if it is bad”.<br />
But Chudi Ubosi, an estate<br />
surveyor and valuer, reasons<br />
differently. According to<br />
him, though the objectives of<br />
the Act were, no doubt, lofty<br />
and well-intentioned, it has<br />
turned out to be defective in<br />
many respects, contending<br />
that “the time for its review in<br />
tune with current realities is<br />
long overdue.”<br />
Quoting a data from the<br />
World Bank’s Ease of Doing<br />
Business 2017, Ubosi point-<br />
ed out that as a result of the<br />
provisions of the Act, property<br />
registration in Nigeria<br />
takes an average of 77 days to<br />
achieve as against 59.7 days<br />
in sub-Saharan Africa and<br />
22.4 days in high income Organization<br />
for Economic Cooperation<br />
and Development<br />
(OECD) countries.<br />
“Registering properties<br />
in sub-Saharan Africa in<br />
general and Nigeria in particular<br />
is evidently tough as<br />
demonstrated by the report”,<br />
he said, adding, at an average<br />
of 10.10 percent, Nigeria<br />
is among sub-Saharan Africa<br />
countries with the highest<br />
cost of registration as a percentage<br />
of property value;<br />
the average in sub-Saharan<br />
Africa is 8.00 percent and<br />
4.20 percent in high income<br />
OECD countries.<br />
MKO Balogun, GMD/<br />
CEO at Global Property &<br />
Facilities International Limited,<br />
stressed in an emailed<br />
response to our questions<br />
that one of the biggest problems<br />
around the Land Use<br />
Act is the process of acquiring<br />
the Certificate of Occupancy<br />
from the state governor or<br />
the president in the case of<br />
the Federal Capital Territory<br />
(FCT) in Abuja.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong> C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY<br />
7
8 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556<br />
NEWS<br />
Ogun to jail miners around oil, gas pipelines, power lines<br />
RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta<br />
Apparently disturbed<br />
by unabated<br />
sand<br />
mining around<br />
critical infrastructure<br />
and public utilities<br />
such as electricity towers<br />
and lines as well as oil<br />
and gas pipelines across the<br />
state, Ogun State government<br />
has put up a 24-hour<br />
surveillance on such utilities<br />
with a view to protecting<br />
them, arrest as well as<br />
prosecute erring miners.<br />
These security measures<br />
were taken by government<br />
in response to the<br />
perceived imminent disaster<br />
that could happen<br />
in Bun Village, along Shimawa<br />
Road located at the<br />
back of Redemption Camp<br />
of The Redeemed Christian<br />
Church of God, Mowe,<br />
where dredging around<br />
electricity towers base, as<br />
was earlier reported by a<br />
Herdsmen/farmers clash: Ex-military officer advocates regional forces by ECOWAS nations<br />
A<br />
retired colonel in the<br />
Nigeria Army, Paul<br />
Ogbebor, has called<br />
for the formation of a<br />
regional force by West African<br />
Heads of State to confront the<br />
menace of herdsmen in the<br />
sub-Saharan region.<br />
Ogbebor made the call at<br />
a press conference in Benin<br />
City, the Edo State capital, in<br />
reaction to a statement credited<br />
to Theophilus Danjuma,<br />
a retired army general, calling<br />
on Nigerians to defend themselves<br />
against herdsmen.<br />
The ex-military officer,<br />
who noted that the herdsmen/farmers<br />
clashes were a<br />
regional problem that had also<br />
plagued countries in the West<br />
African region like Ghana,<br />
Sierra-Leone, Cote d’ Ivoire,<br />
among others, described the<br />
Danjuma’s call as a disappointment<br />
taken too far.<br />
Ogbebor, who advised the<br />
national newspaper, could<br />
cause power outage and<br />
blackout in three states of<br />
Ogun, Ondo and Lagos, if<br />
not checked.<br />
<strong>BusinessDay</strong> reports that<br />
illegal mining of sand and<br />
dredging out of earth for<br />
the purpose of excavating<br />
laterites is being carried out<br />
across the three senatorial<br />
districts of the state, especially<br />
along the lanes where<br />
oil and gas pipes are buried<br />
and under electricity tower<br />
bases, which does not only<br />
stand to cause economic<br />
loss, but also poses grave<br />
danger to all residents of<br />
Ogun State and beyond.<br />
Speaking shortly after<br />
Stop Order had been placed<br />
on the illegal mining site<br />
at the back of Redemption<br />
Camp at Mowe yesterday,<br />
Bimbo Ashiru, Ogun commissioner<br />
for commerce<br />
and industry, expressed<br />
worry over the unabated<br />
Nigerian government and its<br />
citizenry to put heads together<br />
and proffer solution on how to<br />
solve the problem, however<br />
advocated for a meeting of<br />
Heads of State in West African<br />
region to fashion out ways of<br />
addressing the issue.<br />
He also called on the Federal<br />
Government to engaged<br />
the service of retired military<br />
and police officers that had<br />
retired over 10 years ago to address<br />
the challenge posed by<br />
herdsmen in the country.<br />
“Retirees from the military<br />
and police should be<br />
engaged to hold ground in<br />
their respective local governments,<br />
because they know<br />
their areas well. They don’t<br />
need to be armed; their duties<br />
as a result of their training<br />
were to give early warning<br />
signal to serving police<br />
and the military for action.<br />
“During the civil war, we<br />
recalled soldiers who fought<br />
in the Second World War<br />
dredging of sand and earth<br />
illegally, which he said,<br />
posed a grave danger to human<br />
lives and big threat to<br />
economic growth and development<br />
of the nation.<br />
“Most time when we go<br />
out monitoring, we find<br />
out that when someone got<br />
mining approval for a place,<br />
he uses the same permit<br />
to work somewhere else. I<br />
have personally gone there<br />
(Mowe) twice, I even arrested<br />
a Syrian and I locked<br />
him up for seven days. I<br />
have warned them that this<br />
is a disaster that is going to<br />
happen and they (miners)<br />
should not allow anybody<br />
to work there.<br />
“Now, we have gone<br />
there and put Stop Order.<br />
We have put a signpost<br />
there, that mining there<br />
is illegal and we are going<br />
to station security people<br />
there 24/7 to monitor them.<br />
I am going to be getting a<br />
and it work for us. We are in<br />
a state of war, we should do<br />
the same thing and engaged<br />
those that have retired from<br />
the police or military to save<br />
the situation,” he said.<br />
“Danjuma is a highly respected<br />
army general who<br />
contributed so much to the<br />
building of this country. I am<br />
sure that was why he made<br />
the statements about herdsmen’s<br />
killing, indicting the<br />
military and also asking Nigerians<br />
to take up arms and<br />
defend themselves. I think<br />
his disappointment over<br />
what is happening in this<br />
country today is taken too<br />
far,” he said<br />
While pointing out that the<br />
internal security of the country<br />
is in the hands of the police,<br />
he said the military had done<br />
their best to ensure that the local<br />
governments captured by<br />
Boko Haram had been taken<br />
back from them and should be<br />
praised for that.<br />
weekly report on this and<br />
areas where such illegal<br />
mining happens across the<br />
state. I have also told some<br />
Redeemed pastors when<br />
they came to my office to<br />
alert us when they see illegal<br />
mining going on there.<br />
“I know we will get them<br />
arrested and prosecute<br />
them. But, what I don’t know<br />
is whether our people (government<br />
staff) are compromising<br />
or not, because each<br />
time we go there to arrest,<br />
we don’t see anybody. There<br />
was a time we were there at<br />
night till 6am, we didn’t see<br />
anybody. We probably have<br />
an insider who gives information<br />
to those people.<br />
“If people have not compromised,<br />
I don’t expect<br />
this to happen. But, now we<br />
are going be firm and strict<br />
on this, any officer that is<br />
found culpable of this will<br />
be dealt with accordingly,”<br />
he said.<br />
L-R: Debola Agunbiade, president, Finance House Association of Nigeria (FHAN); Babatunde Rafiu, MD/CEO, Crownrise Finance<br />
plc; Tokunbo <strong>Mar</strong>tins, director, Other Financial Institution and Supervisory Department (OFISD), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN);<br />
Jonathan Abayomi Babalola, chairman, Crownrise Finance plc, and Elizabeth Ngozi Ehigiamusoe, board member, Equipment<br />
Leasing Association of Nigeria (ELAN), during the stakeholders luncheon in Lagos, yesterday.<br />
Pic by Olawale Amoo<br />
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin<br />
… as miners activities can cause blackout in 3 states<br />
Edo JAAC declares N2.8bn for LGAs as<br />
chairmen pledge judicious use of resources<br />
Edo State Joint Account<br />
and Allocation Committee<br />
(JAAC) has declared<br />
N2.8 billion as<br />
total allocation accrued to the<br />
18 local government councils<br />
from the Federation Account<br />
for the month of February.<br />
This was disclosed by<br />
chairman, Owan West Local<br />
Government Area, Frank<br />
Ilaboya, at the end of the first<br />
JAAC meeting attended by<br />
the newly elected council<br />
chairmen. The meeting was<br />
presided over by the state<br />
governor, Godwin Obaseki,<br />
at the Government House in<br />
Benin City.<br />
Ilaboya, who briefed journalists<br />
after the meeting,<br />
said, “The total receipt for the<br />
month of February shared in<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch is N2, 882,200,775.85.<br />
Salaries for teachers are N1,<br />
129,882,051.95; deduction for<br />
pension is N254, 778,771.98;<br />
while the mandatory deduc-<br />
One out of every three Nigerians experienced<br />
moderate or high poverty in 2017 – survey<br />
DAVID IBEMERE<br />
One-third of Nigerians<br />
experienced<br />
more than average<br />
poverty during the<br />
2017 fiscal year, according to<br />
a survey conducted by Afrobarometer,<br />
a pan-African research<br />
network, released on<br />
Wednesday.<br />
This means most Nigerians<br />
went without basic life<br />
necessities - food, house and<br />
clothing - during the previous<br />
year, a situation that<br />
placed them in the category<br />
of “moderate lived poverty”<br />
or “high lived poverty.”<br />
Ojewale Oluwole, dissemination<br />
manager of Afrobarometer<br />
CLEEN Foundation<br />
on Wednesday, published<br />
the variables of the survey<br />
along with its findings.<br />
Findings form the survey<br />
also revealed that majority of<br />
Nigerians who tried to access<br />
tion is N1, 583, 714, 385.70.<br />
The total distributable fund<br />
shared by the 18 local government<br />
councils is N1,<br />
284,075,386.28.”<br />
He explained that N1.2 billion<br />
had already been shared<br />
by the 18 local government<br />
councils, adding that the sum<br />
had been transferred to various<br />
councils’ accounts.<br />
“We are ready to commence<br />
work. We will ensure<br />
we do our best to deliver the<br />
dividends of democracy to<br />
those at the grassroots. We<br />
have promised to complement<br />
the efforts of the governor<br />
who has urged us to be<br />
dedicated, committed, transparent<br />
and accountable in<br />
discharging our mandates,”<br />
he said. Chairman, Esan<br />
South East Local Government<br />
Area, Victor Emuakhagbon,<br />
urged the people at the grassroots<br />
to support heads of their<br />
councils, noting,.<br />
certain public services found<br />
it difficult and time consuming.<br />
The survey also showed<br />
that payment of a bribe or<br />
favour was needed to obtain<br />
some of those services,<br />
which included health care<br />
services, electricity, pipe<br />
borne water, and police assistance.<br />
Despite government efforts<br />
to combat corruption,<br />
citizens’ responses indicate<br />
that access to basic public<br />
service remains riddled with<br />
bribery, the results of the survey<br />
suggested.<br />
Another independent<br />
survey carried out by Afrobarometer<br />
also revealed that almost<br />
two-thirds of Nigerians<br />
say the country is “going in<br />
the wrong direction,” Though<br />
harsh, this assessment represents<br />
an improvement from<br />
2015, as it recorded a 9percent<br />
increase.<br />
Nigerian states finances remain under heavy pressure<br />
MICHEAL ANI<br />
Nigerian states for<br />
some years have<br />
been under intense<br />
pressure to<br />
raise finance for the running<br />
of its activities, data<br />
from states’ fiscal operations<br />
show.<br />
“The decline in monthly<br />
distributions by the Federation<br />
account allocation<br />
committee or FAAC over<br />
three years has exposed the<br />
fiscal weaknesses of the vast<br />
majority of the 36 states.<br />
The reason, of course, has<br />
been the fall in oil revenues<br />
for distribution,” analysts<br />
at Lagos-based Merchant<br />
bank and Asset Management,<br />
FBN Quest said.<br />
“The Federal government,<br />
anxious to stem rising arrears<br />
in salary and pension payments<br />
by the states, has responded<br />
with five debt relief<br />
packages for the states since<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
mid-2015,” FBN Quest said in<br />
a <strong>Mar</strong>ch 28 note to clients.<br />
A critical look at states’<br />
fiscal operations reveal that<br />
states monthly allocation<br />
from FAAC has been declining<br />
over the past three<br />
years, leaving the states<br />
with no option than to resort<br />
to external and domestic<br />
borrowings.<br />
The external debt of the<br />
state governments and the<br />
Federal Capital Territory<br />
(FCT) amounted to $4.12bn<br />
at end-December, all of<br />
which is guaranteed by the<br />
FGN and included in the<br />
latter’s total obligations of<br />
US$18.91 bn.<br />
The states’ total external<br />
debt increased by US$550<br />
million over 12 months, according<br />
to <strong>BusinessDay</strong> calculations.<br />
Lagos is comfortably the<br />
largest debtor, which is to be<br />
expected for the state with<br />
the highest internally generated<br />
revenue (IGR) and best<br />
credit rating.<br />
The domestic bank borrowings<br />
of the states reached<br />
N3.35trn in 2017, according<br />
to data gotten from the website<br />
of the debt management<br />
office (DMO), representing<br />
a 13.2 percent increase from<br />
the N2.96 trillion recorded in<br />
the same period of the preceding<br />
year.<br />
State domestic debts are<br />
not guaranteed by the FGN,<br />
although the former benefited<br />
from its N575bn restructuring<br />
programme to convert<br />
their bank borrowings into<br />
20-year federal bonds. Other<br />
than Lagos, there have been<br />
no new bond issues by states<br />
since May 2015.<br />
Internally generated revenue<br />
by states in 2017 also<br />
increased to N931.23 billion,<br />
the highest so far since 2010,<br />
according to data released by<br />
the national Bureau of statistics<br />
(NBS).
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
Lagos waste manager engages<br />
PSPs to deepen CLI scheme<br />
In its efforts at bringing<br />
Lagos State to its former<br />
place in environmental<br />
sanitation concerns, the<br />
state’s new waste manager<br />
– Visionscape Sanitation<br />
Solutions – has engaged the<br />
services of former private<br />
waste managers, the Private<br />
Sector Participants (PSPs),<br />
to deepen the Cleaner Lagos<br />
Initiative (CLI).<br />
This was disclosed by<br />
Motunrayo Elias, head, corporate<br />
communications department,<br />
Visionscape, at a<br />
media parley in Lagos, saying<br />
this was so because the<br />
initial brief for the company<br />
over waste management had<br />
exceeded the initial scope,<br />
and therefore it had became<br />
imperative to involve them<br />
to make the CLI scheme<br />
meaningful.<br />
It could be recalled that<br />
the temporal downing of<br />
tools by the PSP operators<br />
when they were relived of<br />
their assignment led to the<br />
state being littered with dirt<br />
across the major streets,<br />
which they all were still<br />
struggling to clean up.<br />
In February, the PSPs<br />
had insisted that reinstating<br />
them to their previous duties<br />
as domestic waste collectors<br />
in the state was the way out<br />
of their protracted dispute<br />
with the government.<br />
The operators, under the<br />
aegis of Association of Waste<br />
Managers of Nigeria at a press<br />
conference in Lagos, said<br />
the government’s decision<br />
to channel their operations<br />
solely on commercial waste<br />
collection would ruin their<br />
businesses.<br />
“Domestic waste collection<br />
forms about 80 percent<br />
of our total operations. The<br />
reason for clamouring for domestic<br />
is because commercial<br />
is just 20 percent of our operations,”<br />
Oladipo Egbeyemi, the<br />
association’s chairman, said<br />
then, saying, “Commercial<br />
waste collection will not be<br />
enough for the almost 400 of<br />
our members.”<br />
Therefore, the engagement<br />
with Visionscape is<br />
hoped to bring succour to the<br />
over 2,000 employees of the<br />
over 400 PSPs in the state.<br />
Elias said further that with<br />
this engagement Lagosians<br />
should expect a cleaner Lagos<br />
in April, as Visionscape<br />
and the PSPs would embark<br />
on total evacuation of waste<br />
from every nooks and crannies<br />
of the state, saying before<br />
the end of April, “Lagosians<br />
will see a marked difference<br />
in their environment.”<br />
However, the Lagos State<br />
House of Assembly recently<br />
took out time to look into<br />
the operations of Visionscape,<br />
which raised concerns<br />
among residents that the action<br />
might affect the operations<br />
of the company.<br />
But, at the media parley,<br />
the company assured that<br />
there was no cause for alarm<br />
over the decision of the House<br />
of Assembly, as the House<br />
was only performing it constitutional<br />
role.<br />
The House had in a resolution<br />
invited Abimbola Umar,<br />
the state accountant-general,<br />
and three members of the<br />
state executive council to<br />
brief its ad hoc committee<br />
on issues surrounding waste<br />
management and the role of<br />
Visionscape.<br />
Meanwhile, Dipo Wintoki,<br />
one of the panellists representing<br />
Visionscape at the<br />
media parley, said the House<br />
was only carrying out its constitutional<br />
duty and there was<br />
no cause for alarm since Visionscape<br />
had a valid contract<br />
with the state government.<br />
Wintoki said, “The contract<br />
was done through regular<br />
and due process. The state<br />
government has an obligation<br />
to fulfil its part of the contract.<br />
The process of awarding the<br />
contract to Visionscape was<br />
not arbitrary. This will be resolved.”<br />
The invited state officials<br />
included attorney-general<br />
and commissioner of justice,<br />
Adeniji Kazeem; commissioner<br />
for finance, Akinyemi<br />
Ashade, and commissioner<br />
for environment, Babatunde<br />
Durosinmi-Etti.<br />
C002D5556<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
Reps seek adequate funding for R&D in oil, gas industry<br />
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja<br />
House of Representatives<br />
on Wednesday<br />
called for<br />
provision of 2<br />
percent of annual budgets<br />
of Federal Ministry of Petroleum<br />
Resources, Petroleum<br />
Technology Development<br />
Fund and the Nigerian Content<br />
Development and Monitoring<br />
Board (NCDMB) for<br />
research programmes in<br />
petroleum technology, and<br />
facilities in Federal University<br />
of Petroleum Resources,<br />
Effurun, Delta State.<br />
The resolution was passed<br />
sequel to the adoption of a<br />
motion sponsored by Daniel<br />
Reyenieju (PDP-Delta),<br />
who emphasised the need to<br />
boost research development<br />
in the oil and gas industry.<br />
In his lead debate, Reyenieju<br />
stated that the institute<br />
is a large one, which<br />
caters for a large cache of<br />
individuals from different<br />
parts of the country.<br />
He stated that it was in<br />
the best interest of the institute<br />
to have all its technological<br />
needs meeting international<br />
standards and on<br />
site, and not to depend on<br />
technology transfer.<br />
“The House notes that<br />
the Federal University of Petroleum<br />
Resources, Effurun,<br />
… assures on cleaner environment by April<br />
Delta State enabling Act was<br />
passed in 2017.<br />
“The House also notes<br />
that the Federal University of<br />
Petroleum Resources which<br />
is the first in Africa and sixth<br />
in the world was set up with<br />
the core mandate of producing<br />
skilled personnel with<br />
the capability to understand,<br />
use and adapt existing technology,<br />
improve on and develop<br />
new ones.<br />
“The House further notes<br />
that this specialized University<br />
is the Federal Government’s<br />
deliberate effort to<br />
strengthen capacity in science<br />
and technology with<br />
special focus on petroleum<br />
resources and other allied<br />
sectors in the Niger Delta<br />
Region.<br />
“The House is aware<br />
that Section 9 (2), (3) and<br />
(4) of the Federal University<br />
of Petroleum Resources<br />
(Establishment) Act 2017<br />
provides that the Federal<br />
Ministry of Petroleum Resources,<br />
Petroleum Technology<br />
Development Fund<br />
and the Nigerian Content<br />
Development and Monitoring<br />
Board (NCDMB) shall<br />
provide two per cent of their<br />
annual budgets for research<br />
programmes in petroleum<br />
technology, and facilities in<br />
the university.<br />
“Petroleum Technology<br />
Development Fund shall<br />
contribute at least two percent<br />
of its gross revenues<br />
for the academic and infrastructural<br />
development of<br />
the university. The general<br />
fund shall be applied for the<br />
purpose of the university.”<br />
“The House is concerned<br />
that paucity of funds will<br />
hinder the capacity of the<br />
University to conduct researches<br />
that will impact<br />
positively on the oil and gas<br />
industry which in turn relates<br />
to low specialised students’<br />
enrolment.<br />
“The House is worried<br />
that if the annual remittance<br />
is not given the budgetary<br />
attention as envisaged under<br />
the Act, it will continue<br />
9<br />
NEWS<br />
to reduce Nigeria’s locally<br />
trained human capacity in<br />
the oil and gas industry,”<br />
Reyenieju stated.<br />
To this end, the House<br />
mandated the Committees<br />
on Petroleum Resources<br />
(Upstream), Tertiary Education<br />
and Services, Finance<br />
and Local Content to ensure<br />
that the Federal Ministry of<br />
Petroleum Resources, Petroleum<br />
Technology Development<br />
Fund and the Nigerian<br />
Content Development and<br />
Monitoring Board to provide<br />
two percent of their annual<br />
budgets to the Federal<br />
University of Petroleum Resources,<br />
Effurun in the <strong>2018</strong><br />
Appropriations estimates.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
10 BUSINESS DAY<br />
C002D5556<br />
COMMENT<br />
OLA BELLO<br />
Dr. Oladiran Ola Bello, holds MPhil<br />
and PhD degrees from Cambridge<br />
University and is the Executive<br />
Director of Good Governance Africa<br />
(GGA).<br />
Africa’s agreement on a Continental<br />
Free Trade Area (CFTA)<br />
is aimed at delivering the largest<br />
regional trade liberalisation<br />
arrangement since the WTO. About 44<br />
African leaders initialed the agreement<br />
in Kigali, Rwanda this past week with<br />
Nigeria surprisingly pulling out at the last<br />
minute. Given the abrupt withdrawal,<br />
debates have raged about the coherence<br />
of Nigeria’s economic governance. We<br />
engaged actively in the CFTA negotiations<br />
from its inception in 2015. So why has<br />
the country – standing to win much from<br />
the agreement – failed enthusiastically to<br />
sign up?One answer lies in our lack of a<br />
national economic vision anchored in<br />
sound analysis that involves government,<br />
citizens and corporates alike.<br />
Crafted appropriately, the CFTA’s<br />
utility is incontrovertible, especially for<br />
the larger economies such as Nigeria.<br />
It will pool the strength of all 55 African<br />
countries with their 1.2 billion people and<br />
combined GDP of over $2tn. It promises<br />
expanded intra-African trade, boost to<br />
regional value chains and a qualitative<br />
African structural economic transformation.<br />
Less than one-fifth of Africa’s trade<br />
takes place among countries on the<br />
continent. Comparable figures for Europe<br />
and Asia currently stand at 67% and 58%<br />
respectively.<br />
Nigeria’s foremost business figure,<br />
Aliko Dangote, averred recently the need<br />
for the Nigerian private sector to lead in<br />
formulating a national industrial plan that<br />
will transcend elected administrations.<br />
On the CFTA and our economic diplomacy,<br />
a similarly activist and disciplined<br />
approach by the private sector will go a<br />
long way towards orienting government’s<br />
external economic actions.<br />
GBOLAHAN JOKO T.<br />
Joko T, a public affairs analyst,<br />
wrote from Port Harcourt<br />
This vexed issue of female genital<br />
mutilation, is a scourge<br />
predominant in Africa. It is<br />
often described as the ritual<br />
cutting of some of the external female<br />
genitalia. The practice is found in Africa,<br />
Asia and the Middle East.<br />
Often times this ritual [which is<br />
synonymous with physical pain] is<br />
carried out by an herbalist using a<br />
sharp object which is most times not<br />
sterilized and is conducted from days<br />
after birth to puberty and beyond.<br />
The ritual process varies from one<br />
community to the other. It involves<br />
the removal of the clitoral hood and<br />
clitoral glands; removal of the inner<br />
labia; and removal of the inner and<br />
outer labia and closure of the vulva.<br />
Recently there has been world<br />
outcry against this obnoxious practice<br />
called FGM, and it has been banned<br />
and criminalized in some countries in<br />
which it is norm. Albeit these laws are<br />
not strictly enforced<br />
In some cases a single hole of 2–3<br />
mm is left for the passage of urine and<br />
Nigeria’s failing economic governance<br />
Shared accountability, enlightened<br />
self-interest<br />
The cancellation of President Buhari’s<br />
trip to the Kigali signing ceremony<br />
was ostensibly forced by the determined<br />
opposition of the Nigerian Organized<br />
Private Sector and labour union. With<br />
an ill-informed business leadership<br />
and a government seemingly incapable<br />
of canvassing stakeholder support in a<br />
timely fashion, Nigeria looks unprepared<br />
to optimise the CFTA’s benefits. At the<br />
symbolic moment, we demurred on an<br />
important agreement which could salvage<br />
Africa from its perennial economic<br />
underperformance. Worse still, our<br />
action might have emboldened those<br />
opposed in Africa to a more enabling<br />
business environment in which our<br />
citizens could freely pursue their entrepreneurial<br />
dreams and help to drive<br />
broader African prosperity.<br />
Nigeria is especially primed to take<br />
advantage. Legions of its citizens live<br />
across the continent, oftentimes as nimble<br />
operators in some of the most stifling<br />
regulatory regimes. Thousands of small<br />
and medium-sized Nigerian enterprises<br />
should enjoy the first mover advantage<br />
in a CFTA scenario. They already have a<br />
foot on the ground, however tenuous,<br />
in key markets. Nigerian banks increasingly<br />
exert their heft across swathes of<br />
the continent too, positioned to help<br />
facilitate access for businesses seeking<br />
to expand or venture outwards.<br />
Nigeria might not be ready to compete,<br />
say with South Africa or Morocco,<br />
in some advanced manufacturing. Nevertheless,<br />
national champions in sectors<br />
such as e-commerce (Jumia, Konga and<br />
Yudala are prime examples) are suited to<br />
exploit markets opportunities beyond<br />
our frontiers. The CFTA proposes 90<br />
percent liberalisation for physically<br />
traded goods and 100% liberalisation for<br />
services. The latter is one area in which<br />
Nigeria has seen rapid growth in the<br />
past few decades. It may even be that the<br />
rewards going to bigger conglomerates<br />
like Dangote will pale in comparison<br />
to the expanded market opportunities<br />
for Nigerian players in sectors like services.<br />
Nevertheless, it appears that lack<br />
of analysis and vision and the inept economic<br />
diplomacy may conspire to help<br />
us throw away opportunities under the<br />
CFTA. The lack of situational and strate-<br />
gic awareness in our private sector seems<br />
rivalled only by the myopia and inertia of<br />
our governance and political leadership.<br />
Of motives and ambitions<br />
South Africa, adroit at exploiting continental<br />
economic expansionist opportunities,<br />
also balked at initialing the CFTA.<br />
Pretoria pointed to the legal and other<br />
instruments associated with the planned<br />
trade bloc which still need to be reviewed<br />
and ratified by its parliament and economic<br />
stakeholders. However, unlike Buhari,<br />
South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa,<br />
presented himself in Kigali where he<br />
enthusiastically declared support for the<br />
pact.Nevertheless, the non-signature by the<br />
two continental powerhouses leaves a big<br />
question mark hanging over the practical<br />
implementation of Africa’s biggest ever<br />
trade opportunity.<br />
Of significance, smaller countries<br />
such as Rwanda have led from the front<br />
as Nigeria prevaricates. Rwanda’s enthusiastic<br />
backing of the CFTA is principled<br />
and consistent. As Chairman of the AU<br />
for <strong>2018</strong>, the Rwandan President Paul<br />
Kagame has helped to propel forward<br />
such important agreements as the Single<br />
African Air Transport <strong>Mar</strong>ket. Much of this<br />
effort is not unconnected with Kagame’s<br />
clear-eyed planfor Rwanda. Following its<br />
catastrophic genocide in 1994, the country<br />
has pursued an ambitious economic vision<br />
which is advancing by the day. Kagame’s<br />
promotion of the CFTA is a logical extension<br />
of his impressive economic record at<br />
home. GDP growth of 6.1% in 2017 and a<br />
projected expansion of 7.2% this year ranks<br />
Rwanda as one of Africa’s star economic<br />
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performersalongside Ethiopia.<br />
RwandAir, the national airline, steadily<br />
increased its capacity with acquisition<br />
of larger passenger jets over 2016-<strong>2018</strong><br />
to give wings to the dream of turning<br />
Rwanda into a major air travel hub. The<br />
target markets include Nigeria as the<br />
east African nation’s airline now find<br />
rich pickings on multiple Nigerian routes<br />
where the defunct Nigerian Airways<br />
and its privately-owned successors have<br />
failed. As AU chairman, Kagame with an<br />
unprecedented display of urgency is confronting<br />
the task of clearing red tape and<br />
inefficiencies across Africa which stand<br />
in the way of his country’s ambitions. For<br />
natural-resource-poor Rwanda, it is a<br />
question of economic survival.<br />
Mind the gap<br />
It is necessary to pursue the sort of<br />
extended stakeholder consultation that<br />
Buhari saw belatedly. Yet, it should precede<br />
the formal signature ceremony not<br />
the other way round. We are consulting<br />
so late that we imperil our own place<br />
at the table. If Nigeria were guided by a<br />
coherent leadership, we would have done<br />
our homework, preparing the ground to<br />
secure key concessions in the negotiations.<br />
Following that, we would happily<br />
sign off on the pact assured that we have<br />
secured sizeable concessions to justify<br />
our opt-in. This author was responsiblefor<br />
drafting the economic case in a paper<br />
prepared by the International Organisation<br />
for Migration in 2017 to facilitate<br />
inter-governmental negotiations on the<br />
freedom of movement and settlement<br />
across Africa. Some of the countries most<br />
reluctant to open up their borders to free<br />
movement – including South Africa and<br />
Morocco – are also some of the keenest<br />
free traders seeing opportunities for their<br />
conglomerates.<br />
Were we more strategic, there exist<br />
issue-linking opportunities for Nigeria<br />
to help push for freer movement of businesspeople<br />
across the continent together<br />
with greater market openness. We could<br />
even use concessions secured to assuage<br />
our domestic constituencies fretful over<br />
freer economic competition. It is true that<br />
cheaper imports pose a particular challenge,<br />
but it is neither a problem unique<br />
to Nigeria nor one that can be addressed<br />
through insularity or shielding inefficient<br />
providers that fail to compete on price<br />
or quality. Working to address structural<br />
Female genital mutilation: Societal damage done to women<br />
menstrual fluid. The vulva is closed<br />
with surgical thread, or agave or<br />
acacia thorns, and might be covered<br />
with a poultice of raw egg, herbs and<br />
sugar. To help the tissue bond, the<br />
girl’s legs are tied together, often from<br />
hip to ankle. At times when these<br />
procedures involve mistakes, they<br />
are repeated until the correct local<br />
practice is affected; this burdens the<br />
victims with unbearable pain and<br />
torture.<br />
The privates of little girls are<br />
opened for sexual intercourse, for<br />
the first time either by a midwife with<br />
a knife or by the woman’s husband<br />
with his penis. In some areas, including<br />
Somaliland, female relatives of<br />
the bride and groom might watch<br />
the opening of the vagina to check<br />
that the girl is a virgin. The woman is<br />
opened further for childbirth (defilation<br />
or DE infibulation), and closed<br />
again afterwards (infibulation).<br />
Infibulation, is cutting the vagina<br />
again to restore the pinhole size of<br />
the first infibulation. This might be<br />
performed before marriage, and after<br />
Nigeria is especially primed to<br />
take advantage. Legions of its<br />
citizens live across the continent,<br />
oftentimes as nimble operators in<br />
some of the most stifling regulatory<br />
regimes. Thousands of small<br />
and medium-sized Nigerian<br />
enterprises should enjoy the<br />
first mover advantage in a CFTA<br />
scenario<br />
childbirth, divorce and widowhood.<br />
Victims of FGM are traumatized and<br />
live like that for the rest of their lives.<br />
These oftentimes lead to serious health<br />
complications like excessive bleeding,<br />
pain, urine retention, and healing<br />
problems/wound infection.<br />
In some cases FGM can lead to fatal<br />
bleeding, anaemia, urinary infection,<br />
septicaemia, tetanus, gangrene, necrotizing<br />
fasciitis and endometritis. It is<br />
not known how many girls and women<br />
die as a result of the practice, because<br />
complications may not be recognized<br />
or reported. It has also often been said<br />
that FGM aid the transmission of hepatitis<br />
B, hepatitis C and HIV.<br />
It has been said that FGM endanger<br />
women and put them higher risk of<br />
problems during pregnancy and childbirth,<br />
which are more common with<br />
the more extensive FGM procedures.<br />
The WHO estimated in 2006 that<br />
additional 10–20 babies die per 1,000<br />
deliveries as a result of FGM. The estimate<br />
was based on a study conducted<br />
on 28,393 women attending delivery<br />
wards at 28 obstetric centres in Burkina<br />
Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal<br />
and Sudan.<br />
Many writers have surmised that<br />
Nigeria has a large population and has<br />
the highest number of female genital<br />
mutilation (FGM) worldwide, accounting<br />
for about one-quarter of the<br />
estimated 115–1<strong>30</strong> million circumcised<br />
women in the world. In Nigeria<br />
the rate of FGM is 41 percent among<br />
adult women and is on the rise.<br />
In the South-South States of Nigeria,<br />
like Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo,<br />
Akwa-Ibom, Cross Rivers States the<br />
level of practice is highest accounting<br />
for 77 percent, followed by the south<br />
east 68 percent and south west 65<br />
percent, but practiced on a smaller<br />
scale in the north. Edo State is about<br />
the worst in recent times.<br />
Recently a family of 3 [pregnant<br />
wife included] from Edo State travelled<br />
home only for family members<br />
to attack the pregnant wife inflicting<br />
series of injuries on her and she was<br />
said to have been circumcised against<br />
her will in the presence of her husband.<br />
The local natives even made<br />
constraints to competitiveness, for example<br />
electricity, will be more effective<br />
whilst driving up quality. Nigeria having<br />
abdicating its leadership responsibility<br />
in Kigali, only 29 countries signed up to<br />
the agreement on free movement and the<br />
African passport.<br />
Looking ahead<br />
Nigeria is caught in a warp in which<br />
citizens take keen interest in the politics of<br />
elections but leave the politicians grossly<br />
unchecked in the aftermath. Between the<br />
election seasons, citizens’ focus should<br />
stay squarely on the more urgent task of<br />
governance, demanding accountable<br />
management of resources and broader<br />
economic policy. Active vigilance is<br />
vital: Nigerian politicians need to face far<br />
tougher questions on their stewardship of<br />
the economy in a way that continuously<br />
puts on guard those vested with guarding<br />
the collective economic interest. When<br />
citizen show little inclination to exercise<br />
real agency, their catalytic role in sensible<br />
economic decision-making is compromised,<br />
and fiascos such as Nigeria’s<br />
no-show in Kigali will be prone to recur.<br />
Looking forward, Africa should proceed<br />
cautiously so that the CFTA does not<br />
become a giant trade zone only in name.<br />
We desperately need the arrangement to<br />
feature more than just a token of African<br />
manufactures. It cannot be a backdoor<br />
for dumping of foreign goods, stifle Africa’s<br />
industrialization, or unfairly hurt<br />
its already weak manufacturing sector.<br />
Yet, systemically important players like<br />
Nigeria risk jeopardizing the rest of the<br />
continent as wesuffer from a shortage of<br />
knowledge-generating institutions and<br />
think-tanks devoted to analyses of trade,<br />
investment and economic diplomacy.<br />
There currently exist a handful of institutions<br />
that fall into this category but they<br />
are too few and far-between for Nigeria’s<br />
economy of 180 million people accounting<br />
for well over 15% of Africa’s GDP.<br />
Without a more solid evidence base, informed<br />
policy engagement by corporates<br />
and citizens becomes impossible. And<br />
unless the outlook changes, Nigeria could<br />
lose out significantly in Africa’s emerging<br />
integration project.<br />
Send reactions to:<br />
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attempt to circumcise their toddler<br />
daughter.<br />
The family has remained traumatized<br />
and the husband has been<br />
depressed. Their case is worsened<br />
by the incidence of ostracism as they<br />
are not allowed to socialize amongst<br />
their kith and kin in all the 36 states of<br />
Nigeria; whether in Lagos where they<br />
live, or Port Harcourt, Abuja or Kano<br />
State. They are now seen as outcast<br />
and cannot live freely amongst them.<br />
The Country has been showing little<br />
or no concern to the plight of the victims<br />
and there has been unreported<br />
of victims committing suicide!<br />
The world needs to show concern<br />
to the vexed issue of FGM before it will<br />
become an uncontrollable scourge.<br />
The West, like the UK, Canada, USA,<br />
Russia Sweden, Holland and even the<br />
giant Asian Tigers need to sit up and<br />
save the world.<br />
This is not one to turn a blind<br />
eye to.<br />
Send reactions to:<br />
comment@businessdayonline.com
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
COMMENT<br />
C002D5556<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
11<br />
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Choosing between talent and attitude<br />
TAJUDEEN AHMED<br />
Ahmed, a strategy expert, with years<br />
of senior management experience<br />
in consulting, commercial banking,<br />
and FMCG, is the General Manager/<br />
Group Head Business Development<br />
at BUA Group<br />
Global Chief Executive of<br />
one of the leading global<br />
management consulting<br />
firms, McKinsey & Company,<br />
Dominic Barton,<br />
was recently reported to have said that<br />
“Today, successful companies recruit<br />
or hire for attitude and not just skills<br />
and the paper qualification”. Having<br />
considered all factors, on balance, I<br />
could not agree less with Mr. Barton.<br />
You may possibly have heard these<br />
said about a colleague at work, or<br />
elsewhere: “The Manager is brilliant,<br />
but his work attitude stinks”. “My team<br />
lead is a bundle of skills, but his work<br />
ethic is appalling”. “Only if the supervisor<br />
had complemented his huge skills<br />
with good attitude, we would have<br />
achieved a lot more”.<br />
In advising organizations to place a<br />
premium on attitude and skills, it may<br />
be helpful to briefly discuss the real<br />
meaning of attitude in this context- it<br />
is simply bad attitude! Such kinds of<br />
attitude may appear in the form of<br />
persistent lateness to work and/or<br />
absenteeism, spreading of rumors<br />
and gossips, unbridled criticism of<br />
colleagues geared toward humiliating<br />
rather than correcting, instituting<br />
a winner-takes-all approach (taking<br />
personal glory for all that is good and<br />
blaming others for collective mistakes),<br />
undermining the leadership,<br />
deliberately flouting rules, procedures,<br />
and established norms; refusing<br />
to accept criticism, deliberately<br />
denigrating the organization among<br />
external audiences, exhibiting distrust<br />
and disrespect, abject lack of commitment<br />
and professionalism, spreading<br />
of negativity among employees, etc.<br />
According to Leadership IQ, a<br />
tracking of 20,000 new hires over a<br />
three-year period showed that, within<br />
the first eighteen months, someone<br />
was a bad hire for attitudinal reasons<br />
89% of the time. Broken down into<br />
the five top groups, 26% failed due<br />
to coachability (ability to accept and<br />
implement feedback from bosses, colleagues,<br />
customers, etc), 23% failure<br />
was due to emotional intelligence<br />
(ability to understand and manage<br />
one’s emotions and accurately access<br />
others’ emotions), 17% was for<br />
motivation (sufficient drive to achieve<br />
one’s full potential and excel in the<br />
job), temperament (attitude and<br />
personality suited to the particular job<br />
and work environment) accounted<br />
for 15%, and technical competence,<br />
which is essentially functional or<br />
technical skills required to do the job,<br />
…a brilliant employee or<br />
leader with excellent skills<br />
but with a terribly bad work<br />
attitude is a potent weapon<br />
for the destruction of an<br />
organization<br />
accounted for the lowest score- 11%.<br />
From the foregoing, it was overwhelmingly<br />
shown that attitudinal issues accounted<br />
for mis-hires (poor hires, low<br />
performers) across organizations.<br />
Agreeing with <strong>Mar</strong>k Murphy, it is<br />
evident that skills matter but the best<br />
skills never matter if an employee is<br />
not open to improving or consistently<br />
alienates coworkers, and lacks drive. In<br />
fact, it was established that bad attitudes<br />
such as being negative, blaming others,<br />
feeling entitled, not taking initiative,<br />
procrastinating, creating drama for attention,<br />
and resisting change were the<br />
top characteristics of low performers in<br />
the 20,000 sample size.<br />
As expected in management theory<br />
and practice, there appears not to be<br />
unanimity regarding the plain choice<br />
between talent and attitude. For instance,<br />
Bill Fischer, co-author of The<br />
Idea Hunter, together with Andy Boynton<br />
and Bill Bole, preferred that, in cases<br />
where real change (otherwise called<br />
“innovation” by the authors) is needed,<br />
attitude was not likely to be enough to<br />
get the organization to its destination,<br />
rather; they claimed many skills are<br />
more important.<br />
Bill Fischer further harped on his<br />
conviction regarding a preference for<br />
skills over attitude in his co-authored<br />
book, Virtuoso Teams, with Andy<br />
Boynton, insisting that “the best environment<br />
for innovation occurred<br />
when the team felt it had absolute freedom<br />
to contribute their ideas, while<br />
at the same moment top management<br />
believed that it was in complete<br />
control! They also posited that “for<br />
everyday work, hire for attitude, train<br />
for skills; but when big change, such<br />
as innovation, is envisioned, then hire<br />
for skills and figure how to deal with<br />
the attitudes”.<br />
The intellectual detour taken by<br />
these respected authors notwithstanding,<br />
my experience in advisory roles<br />
and supervisory/executive management<br />
across diverse sectors clearly<br />
support my agreement with <strong>Mar</strong>k<br />
Murhpy, CEO of Leadership IQ, and<br />
many other thinkers and writers, that:<br />
all things considered, on balance, attitude<br />
trumps skills.<br />
This discourse is not an affront<br />
on skills, in fact having employees<br />
with both requisite skills and positive<br />
attitude is heavenly; it is every<br />
organization’s El Dorado. However,<br />
a brilliant employee or leader with<br />
excellent skills but with a terribly bad<br />
work attitude is a potent weapon for<br />
the destruction of an organization.<br />
When such persons, especially those<br />
in leadership positions, build their<br />
own clones among employees; the<br />
organization may have inadvertently<br />
bred a bad-work-attitude-replicating<br />
viral machine that may signal the death<br />
knell of such organizations. Such organizations<br />
can never attain their true<br />
potentials!<br />
In my view, organizations should<br />
take the middle ground between skills<br />
and attitude. They could blend the<br />
“Bless Their Hearts”, so called by <strong>Mar</strong>k<br />
Murphy as employees who try hard<br />
and genuinely want to please and do<br />
a good job but who repeatedly fail to<br />
get the job done right- they are low<br />
performers and no amazing amount<br />
of attitude is going to make up for it;<br />
and “Talented Terrors”, who being the<br />
antithesisof ‘Bless Their Hearts’, have<br />
great skills but lousy attitudes.<br />
They could train an employee with<br />
a great attitude to develop requisite<br />
skills and also tame the “talented terror”<br />
to give his best to the organization<br />
by coaching him to attain a change of<br />
attitude from ‘poor’ to ‘right’ or ‘good’.<br />
However, organizations are advised to<br />
get rid of employees who are irredeemably<br />
twined with the two extremes, i.e.<br />
dominant poor skills and compulsively<br />
bad attitude.<br />
Send reactions to:<br />
comment@businessdayonline.com<br />
AYO ONIKU<br />
Dr Oniku teaches <strong>Mar</strong>keting at University<br />
of Lagos and a Senior Consultant<br />
at Ayo Oniku & Associates<br />
Another critical factor<br />
of noteworthy is that<br />
a visit to any foreignowned<br />
superstores<br />
or supermarkets and glance<br />
at certain shelves like grocery,<br />
household equipment, and<br />
other consumables will clearly<br />
reveal that technically Nigeria<br />
is gradually entering another<br />
Dumping era. In many instances<br />
items produced locally<br />
are not found on shelves while<br />
foreign substitutes are conspicuously<br />
displayed. One strategic<br />
fact about retailing industry is<br />
that nations use it to promote<br />
local products, SMEs, emerging<br />
indigenous firms’ products and<br />
distinct traditional consumables.<br />
In other words, retailing<br />
industry serves as a platform<br />
for national trade policies and<br />
decisions to show case tradition<br />
and culture in terms of<br />
consumable items, households’<br />
utensils, fashion lines<br />
and other items from SMEs,<br />
indigenous firms and micro<br />
businesses. Equally retailing<br />
outlets project traditional and<br />
national consumption patterns<br />
and behaviours and not to project<br />
nor sell foreign culture. The<br />
contemporary example is the<br />
case of British TESCO in China<br />
where the management has to<br />
offer services in Chinese ways<br />
and not British styles. British<br />
Animal Rights raised uproar<br />
about selling life chicken and<br />
Retailing: Before the hell is let loose II<br />
other aquatic animals but<br />
the arguments that they only<br />
provided retailing services<br />
through the Chinese outlets<br />
- offering what Chinese consume;<br />
and Chinese consumers’<br />
satisfaction is paramount to<br />
the business profitability, won<br />
the case for TESCO.<br />
The indigenous retailers are<br />
not spared from the behaviour.<br />
Many indigenous retailers are<br />
platform to find items on Sales<br />
from the UK and USA on their<br />
shelves. On many occasions<br />
items denominated in British<br />
Pounds Sterling and US Dollars<br />
are found on the shelves and<br />
sharing space with substitutes<br />
produced by local manufacturers.<br />
This is antithetical to<br />
economic development and<br />
promotion of Made in Nigeria.<br />
Therefore, a situation where<br />
foreign retailers will use Nigerian<br />
outlets to project, showcase<br />
and offer their national<br />
products and consumables is<br />
not a healthy development for<br />
our national market and economy.<br />
It only reveals the weakness<br />
in the retailing regulations<br />
and policies of operation for<br />
both foreign and indigenous<br />
retailers.<br />
Secondly, there is an urgent<br />
need for a collaborative effort<br />
for the trio of Bank of Industry<br />
(BOI), Nigeria Tourism Development<br />
Corporation (NTDC)<br />
and Regulatory body for retailing<br />
(if there is any) of responsible<br />
government ministry to<br />
support viable and promising<br />
indigenous retailing firms to<br />
boost economic development<br />
and Nigerian tourism potentials.<br />
It is not farce that ‘to-do-lists’<br />
of many tourists is to visit the<br />
TESCO, Walmart, Sainsbury,<br />
Sears, Aldi, Carrefour, Macy, Lianhua,<br />
etc. of this world because<br />
they equally stand as national<br />
symbols to their respective<br />
countries. In few years to come<br />
the slogan among the potential<br />
tourists to Nigeria is ‘A Visit<br />
to ADIDE, Prince Ebeano, or<br />
Yem-Yem Superstores’ and not<br />
‘A Visit to Nigerian branches<br />
of Shoprite or SPAR’ which is<br />
gradually gaining popularity. It<br />
will only take concerted and collaborative<br />
efforts of government<br />
agencies in the areas financing,<br />
architectural design, tourism<br />
attraction policies, and firm and<br />
attractive retailing policies to<br />
achieve it.<br />
Thirdly, government should<br />
as a matter of urgency come<br />
up with policies or a regulatory<br />
bodies that design modus operandifor<br />
the various operations<br />
and activities of emerging retailing<br />
sector in the country. The<br />
major critical areas that call for<br />
regulation to guide operations:<br />
•The types and nature of retailing<br />
outlet to be promoted in<br />
the economy and the spread in<br />
order to avoid high concentration<br />
in one line. For instance<br />
while the economy is experiencing<br />
increased in the number of<br />
supermarkets and superstores<br />
there is low development in<br />
departmental stores and specialist<br />
outlet like grocery, pharmacy,<br />
etc.<br />
•The projection of local<br />
products and restriction on<br />
imported items with local substitutes<br />
should be entrenched.<br />
Policy should be in place to<br />
regulate the behaviour. Alternatively<br />
incentives should be<br />
given to outlets that promote<br />
local products and Made in<br />
Nigeria brands.<br />
•Training and development<br />
of Nigerians to handle managerial<br />
position in the newlysprung<br />
up retailing outlets is<br />
imperative so that influx of<br />
foreigners to man managerial<br />
positions will be reduced.<br />
Presently, no higher institution<br />
offers courses in retailing management<br />
and this will make it<br />
difficult to produce local manpower<br />
for managerial position<br />
in the sector.<br />
•The international practice<br />
of setting sizes, measurements<br />
and dimensions of<br />
stores should be stipulated<br />
to guide siting and volume of<br />
operations. Contemporarily,<br />
the dimensions and sizes of<br />
retailing outlet determine the<br />
location and proximity to convenience<br />
shops. The practice is<br />
strategic to save convenience<br />
stores from fierce competition<br />
they might face with big retailing<br />
outlets.<br />
•The nascent industry needs<br />
to borrow from Indigenous<br />
decree of 1970s to formulate<br />
rules and guiding policies to<br />
set the industry on right path of<br />
entrepreneurship development<br />
among Nigerians. It is strategically<br />
imperative that certain<br />
retailing specialisations should<br />
be exclusively reserved for indigenous<br />
firms so that certain<br />
heritage can be preserved; local<br />
factors will not be adulterated;<br />
development and entrenchment<br />
of entrepreneurial spirit<br />
among Nigerians; integration<br />
factor with local industries<br />
etc. Thus, specialisations like<br />
grocery, furniture; arts and<br />
artefacts, etc. should enjoy<br />
exclusive right of indigenous<br />
retailers.<br />
By and large, the population<br />
size of the country and other<br />
positive economic indices are<br />
the points of attraction to the<br />
international firms, and the sector<br />
provides opportunity for indigenous<br />
retailing firms to show<br />
case Nigerian products and<br />
culture. However, the success<br />
and sustainability of the evolving<br />
retailing sector in a way that<br />
would engender positive effects<br />
on larger economy is a function<br />
of government’s roles in policy<br />
making, strategic decisions, and<br />
importantly in implementation<br />
and execution of policies that<br />
put a right foundation in place<br />
for the nascent retailing sector.<br />
Send reactions to:<br />
comment@businessdayonline.com
12 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
EDITORIAL<br />
PUBLISHER/CEO<br />
Frank Aigbogun<br />
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF<br />
Prof. Onwuchekwa Jemie<br />
EDITOR<br />
Anthony Osae-Brown<br />
DEPUTY EDITORS<br />
John Osadolor, Abuja<br />
Bill Okonedo<br />
NEWS EDITOR<br />
Patrick Atuanya<br />
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,<br />
SALES AND MARKETING<br />
Kola Garuba<br />
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS<br />
Fabian Akagha<br />
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL SERVICES<br />
Oghenevwoke Ighure<br />
ADVERT MANAGER<br />
Adeola Ajewole<br />
MANAGER, SYSTEMS & CONTROL<br />
Emeka Ifeanyi<br />
HEAD OF SALES, CONFERENCES<br />
Rerhe Idonije<br />
SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER<br />
Patrick Ijegbai<br />
CIRCULATION MANAGER<br />
John Okpaire<br />
GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (North)<br />
Bashir Ibrahim Hassan<br />
GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South)<br />
Ignatius Chukwu<br />
HEAD, HUMAN RESOURCES<br />
Adeola Obisesan<br />
Northern elders on rewriting the narrative of the region<br />
Chibok girls are<br />
still missing. Now<br />
it has gone to Dapchi<br />
in Yobe State.<br />
What happened?<br />
Are we always going to be the<br />
victims? Boko Haram; see<br />
what they did to the Northeast.<br />
They have spread over<br />
to the Northcentral and even<br />
to the southern part of the<br />
country.<br />
“Should we continue to<br />
be regarded on the negative<br />
side? No. We are leaders in<br />
our own right, and we must<br />
exercise this responsibility for<br />
our people”.<br />
That was the Chairman of<br />
the Arewa Consultative Forum,<br />
Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie,<br />
speaking on <strong>Mar</strong>ch 24<br />
as various groups aggregating<br />
interests in the North<br />
met in Kaduna, the political<br />
capital of the region. He<br />
added, “Whenever there is<br />
crisis, women and children<br />
are always the major victims.<br />
Enough is enough. Enough<br />
of killings of our women and<br />
children, enough of the kidnapping<br />
of our daughters and<br />
enough of the destruction of<br />
our property. We are proud<br />
that you have come forward to<br />
meet us to discuss this issue.”<br />
Coomassie made the remarks<br />
as the National Working<br />
Committee of the Arewa<br />
Consultative Forum received<br />
leaders of Jam’Iyya Matan<br />
Arewa, the leading socio-cultural<br />
organisation of women<br />
in the North ahead of a more<br />
extensive meeting of Northern<br />
groups.<br />
Civil society groups in Northern<br />
Nigeria have risen to articulate<br />
their concerns and<br />
aspirations for the region today<br />
and in the future. Their statement<br />
is significant for what it<br />
reveals about their mindset,<br />
the attitudinal shifts and their<br />
perception of the place of the<br />
North in the conglomeration of<br />
nations that make up Nigeria.<br />
While the tabloids feasted on<br />
their statement of non-support<br />
for current politicians, what the<br />
North is saying should interest<br />
the rest of the country in two<br />
critical areas, among others.<br />
The North desires a change of<br />
the narrative of the North from<br />
being the laggard of the federation<br />
and the one with all the<br />
negatives to an association with<br />
positive developments. They<br />
are also willing to sit with other<br />
groups in the country to discuss<br />
the terms of engagement.<br />
Representatives of 16 groups<br />
signed the communique of the<br />
Summit of Northern Groups<br />
held at Arewa House on <strong>Mar</strong>ch<br />
24 “convened to assess the security,<br />
economic and political<br />
circumstances of the North and<br />
Northern communities in other<br />
parts of Nigeria”.<br />
Primary issues of concern<br />
for the groups were the state<br />
of insecurity “under which<br />
virtually all Northerners live”<br />
and “the worsening economic<br />
fortunes of the vast majority of<br />
Northerners”.<br />
Boko Haram and armed<br />
banditry are so pronounced,<br />
the Summit stated, that “the<br />
North has rarely been so exposed<br />
to multiple and varied<br />
threats”. They asserted that “the<br />
economy of the North continues<br />
to deteriorate in spite of the evident<br />
willingness of Northerners<br />
to work hard and earn legitimate<br />
incomes” amidst deficit<br />
in necessary infrastructure and<br />
investment in human capital.<br />
Official accounts present the<br />
North as the locus of substantial<br />
improvements in agriculture,<br />
but the Summit asserted that<br />
“Agriculture shows limited<br />
glimpses of recovery, but almost<br />
entirely through efforts<br />
of peasants and antiquated<br />
processes.”<br />
The Northern leaders of<br />
thought rue the contradiction<br />
in having their people in full<br />
charge of the government since<br />
2015 but with no significant<br />
improvement in the fortunes<br />
of the region. They charge:<br />
“Weak governance, gross insensitivity<br />
and unacceptable<br />
levels of incompetence have<br />
been compounded by battles<br />
of attrition in which northerners<br />
have sapped each others’<br />
strength.” They decry the fact<br />
that politicians failed to lead<br />
but are instead “daily feeding<br />
the people with hate and resentment<br />
instead of searching for<br />
genuine and lasting solutions”.<br />
The Kaduna declaration of<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 24 should interest the<br />
political leaders of the North,<br />
civil society and citizens as well<br />
as the rest of the country. It represents<br />
an increment in the engagement<br />
process vital for the<br />
sustenance of democracy in the<br />
land. Their call for peaceful resolution<br />
of all conflicts in communities<br />
in the North should<br />
resonate with all the groups.<br />
It is timely and necessary to<br />
change the story of the North.<br />
Even more impressive is their<br />
yellow card to all elected officials.<br />
The Group “WARNS that<br />
Northern politicians should not<br />
expect to be voted for in the next<br />
general election unless they<br />
demonstrate a willingness to<br />
champion a massive assault on<br />
poverty and underdevelopment<br />
in the North. In this regard, most<br />
political office holders from<br />
the North are hereby served<br />
notice that they have failed the<br />
test to lead the region towards<br />
economic recovery and growth.”<br />
Significantly for the rest of<br />
Nigeria, the leaders of the North<br />
pledge a willingness “toput our<br />
union as a nation on the table<br />
and discuss with other Nigerians<br />
the relative values of ALL<br />
options and negotiate them<br />
with responsibility and respect”.<br />
Let the engagement scale up.<br />
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Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
COMPANIES<br />
& MARKETS<br />
Company news analysis and insight<br />
BUSINESS<br />
DAY<br />
Fidelity Bank savings base<br />
hit N170bn in 3 years<br />
13<br />
Pg. 14<br />
West Africans collaborate to move up<br />
intra-regional trade beyond 12%<br />
…as WATIF 2019 promises to be bigger<br />
ODINAKA ANUDU<br />
West Africans are<br />
collaborating to<br />
increase intra-regional<br />
trade well<br />
above its current<br />
12 percent to raise employment and<br />
gross domestic product.<br />
At the maiden edition of the West<br />
Africa Trade and Investment Forum<br />
(WATIF) held in Lagos, stakeholders<br />
said there was a need to increase<br />
intra-regional collaboration to grow<br />
the manufacturing, ICT, agriculture,<br />
education and skills development in<br />
the region.<br />
“We are not trading enough<br />
in West Africa,” Michele Branco-<br />
Aiyegbusi, visioner and promoter of<br />
WATIF, told <strong>BusinessDay</strong>.<br />
“Before the event, we went to<br />
Ghana, Togo, Mali and other West<br />
African countries, and people<br />
were very enthusiastic about us<br />
trading with each other. People<br />
have been thinking about it, but<br />
there has been nobody coming to<br />
bring everybody together,” Branco-<br />
Aiyegbusi said.<br />
Forty-four African countries<br />
recently signed the African Continental<br />
Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in<br />
Kigali to open up the continent to<br />
business and a potential $3.4 trillion<br />
opportunity.<br />
Though it was the largest trade<br />
agreement since the World Trade<br />
Organisation (WTO) in 1994, Nigeria<br />
did not sign as it wanted to make<br />
more local consultations.<br />
“I see Africa becoming the global<br />
hub, where the rest of the world will<br />
be coming to,” Branco-Aiyegbusi<br />
said.<br />
“I believe that as a nation, we<br />
need to be open and collaborate<br />
with other African countries. I believe<br />
the fear has been exploitation,<br />
but we need to begin to bring people<br />
together and trust each other,” she<br />
said.<br />
She pointed out that WATIF<br />
would go a long way to enhance<br />
collaboration for regional development,<br />
while bringing people from<br />
West African countries together for<br />
business.<br />
“We realise we should not be<br />
waiting for government. We believe<br />
that with the support of government,<br />
we will be breaking whatever barrier<br />
that hampers trade,” she said.<br />
She added that WATIF 2019<br />
would be bigger and better.<br />
Akinola Olawore, president of<br />
the Nigeria British Chamber of<br />
Commerce (NBCC), said less than<br />
five percent of Nigeria’s exports went<br />
to ECOWAS, pointing out the need<br />
to do more export to the region and<br />
take advantage of opportunities<br />
therein.<br />
Represented by the deputy president,<br />
Kayode Falowo, Olawore said<br />
in line with the vision of President<br />
Muhammadu Buhari to diversify the<br />
economy, the sectors discussed at<br />
WATIF— ICT, manufacturing, training,<br />
education, agriculture, among<br />
others—were apt and relevant to<br />
the development of the Economic<br />
Community of West African States<br />
(ECOWAS).<br />
L-R Nnamdi Onybuchi, executive director, technology and operation, Weco Systems; Hussein Adeieye, deployment<br />
engineer, Weco Systems; Funmi Coker, system engineer, Cisco Systems, and Kehinde Owolabi, Xpress Payments<br />
HOD, IT Infrastructure, during the Weco-Cisco deliver business outcome with Cisco Meraki and core refresh workshop<br />
in Lagos.<br />
Pic by Pius Okeosisi<br />
“The ease of doing business<br />
should extend to easing bilateral<br />
trade. The ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation<br />
Scheme (ETLS) should<br />
achieve more,” he said.<br />
According to the president of the<br />
NBCC, there was a need to find solutions<br />
to funding small businesses<br />
in the region to enable them create<br />
more jobs and contribute meaningfully<br />
to the GDP.<br />
Felix Ohiwerei, former managing<br />
director of the Nigerian Breweries,<br />
said Nigerian products were found<br />
everywhere in West Africa, attesting<br />
to the production potential in the<br />
country.<br />
He canvassed support for SMEs<br />
in the region, saying that they needed<br />
capacity to realise potential.<br />
“What SMEs need most in Nigeria,<br />
apart from money, is capacity.<br />
They need the expertise to manage<br />
available funds and get maximum<br />
result. The future of SMEs in Nigeria<br />
and West Africa depends on the<br />
degree to which they are able to<br />
develop. Where there is weakness<br />
in SMEs, there is weakness everywhere,”<br />
Ohiwerei said.<br />
General Electric delivers fast mobile power generating<br />
equipment to Afam 3 power project<br />
The General Electric (GE)<br />
says it has delivered its<br />
TM2500 mobile aero derivative<br />
gas turbine generator<br />
sets to Afam 3 Fast Power<br />
project site.<br />
GE said this in a statement issued<br />
by Anne Ezeh, Communications<br />
Manager Africa and Melissa<br />
Quesnel, Communications Manager<br />
on Tuesday.<br />
According to GE, the fast trailer-mounted<br />
gas turbine solution<br />
has the capacity to add 240 Mega<br />
Watts (MW) to the Afam 3 Power<br />
plant.<br />
GE and Nigeria had signed<br />
an agreement in 2014, to archive<br />
Nigeria’s additional power generation<br />
of 10,000MW.<br />
GE is providing the mobile<br />
power generation equipment,<br />
electrical balance of plant, installation,<br />
commissioning services<br />
and training to the plant operators.<br />
It is estimated that the Afam 3<br />
power plant will get to commercial<br />
operation later in the year,<br />
pending Federal Government’s<br />
execution of financial structure of<br />
the plant.<br />
The statement also quoted the<br />
Chief Executive Officer of GE,<br />
Lawrence Anagbazo as saying that<br />
“the project is a direct response<br />
to the Nigerian Emergency Fast<br />
Power intervention initiative, and<br />
we are committed to supporting<br />
the government’s strategy.’’<br />
Anagbazo said GE team in partnership<br />
with the Ministry of Power<br />
had taken previously unutilised<br />
site and turned them into viable<br />
modern Power plants.<br />
According to him, the completion<br />
of the project will provide<br />
electricity to 1.5 million Nigerians.<br />
Meanwhile, GE’s Managing<br />
Director in charge of Gas Power<br />
Systems in Nigeria, said the Afam<br />
fast power plant was valued at 186<br />
million dollars.<br />
He said the delivery of the<br />
fast mobile equipment, a crucial<br />
component of the project was<br />
designed to support Nigerians<br />
energy needs.<br />
According to him, the TM2500<br />
generator sets, which is a trailer<br />
mounted can also be installed<br />
faster than traditional power<br />
plants. This, he said was suited for<br />
Nigeria’s energy demand.<br />
According to him, GE’s TM2500<br />
fast Power solution delivers reliable<br />
and efficient Power with<br />
speed.<br />
“It can operate with gas or<br />
distillate liquid fuel and emits<br />
approximately 50 per cent lower<br />
emissions compared to diesel generators<br />
when operating on natural<br />
gas,’’ he said.<br />
The Managing Director of Afam<br />
Power PLC, Olumide Obademi<br />
said the Federal Government<br />
had signed a Memorandum of<br />
Understanding (MoU) with GE to<br />
supply Fast Power in line with government<br />
incremental Power plan.<br />
Obademi said the fast plant<br />
was a 240 MW capacity of eight<br />
turbines of <strong>30</strong> MW each.<br />
He said the installation of the<br />
turbines and generators had been<br />
completed while installation of the<br />
axillaries was in progress with 90<br />
per cent completion.<br />
He also said the job on 132KV<br />
switch yard for Power evacuation<br />
was on the verge of being completed.
14<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
C002D5556<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
COMPANIES & MARKETS<br />
Fidelity Bank savings base<br />
hit N170bn in 3 years<br />
Fidelity Bank Plc.<br />
on Tuesday says<br />
its savings base<br />
has increased to<br />
N170 billion in the<br />
last three years due to the<br />
adoption of retail banking<br />
strategy, “Get Alert in Millions<br />
Promo’’.<br />
Nnamdi Okonkwo, the<br />
bank’s Managing Director,<br />
said this at the fifth/third bimonthly<br />
prize presentation<br />
of the Fidelity “Get Alert in<br />
Millions Promo Reloaded’’<br />
in Lagos.<br />
Okonkwo, represented by<br />
Obaro Odeghe, the Directorate<br />
Head, Corporate Banking,<br />
said that the savings base<br />
rose to N170 billion from N89<br />
billion in 2015, an increase of<br />
91.01 per cent.<br />
“About three years ago,<br />
the savings base of the bank<br />
was about N89 billion and<br />
till date, I can tell you that we<br />
have crossed the N170 billion<br />
threshold and it is still going.<br />
Nnamdi Okonkwo<br />
“So, clearly we have really<br />
demonstrated a lot of attraction<br />
since this promotion<br />
started,’’ he said.<br />
Okonkwo said that the<br />
adoption of retail banking<br />
strategy generated a lot of<br />
deposits from existing customers,<br />
attracted new customers,<br />
and enhanced financial<br />
inclusion in Nigeria.<br />
He said that the bank<br />
would continue to embrace<br />
initiatives that would improve<br />
the lives of its customers.<br />
Okonkwo said that the<br />
promo was introduced to<br />
improve the lives of the customers<br />
as well as reward<br />
loyal customers who had<br />
been banking with the bank<br />
over the years.<br />
He said that the bank<br />
would continue to play<br />
strong in the Small and Medium<br />
Enterprises (SMEs)<br />
base to ensure growth of<br />
small businesses.<br />
Policy consistency, stable economy<br />
will boost PPP – surveyor<br />
Jide Oke, Secretary, <strong>Mar</strong>keting<br />
and Corporate Affairs,<br />
Nigeria Institute of Quantity<br />
Surveyors (NIQS), has<br />
identified policy inconsistency<br />
as a hindrance to the success<br />
of Public/Private Partnership<br />
(PPP) schemes in Nigeria.<br />
Oke said that PPP schemes<br />
would be more effective with<br />
economic stability and regularity<br />
in government directives, in<br />
Lagos on Wednesday.<br />
He claimed that successive<br />
administrations scarcely completed<br />
set projects before their<br />
tenures elapsed. “As such, the<br />
projects are usually abandoned<br />
for new ones by the successors,’’<br />
he said.<br />
According to him, government<br />
should complete projects<br />
and execute policies started<br />
by their predecessors before<br />
embarking on new ones so that<br />
PPP would record significant<br />
progress.<br />
Oke added that government<br />
should respect contractual<br />
agreements with private<br />
firms to enable successful PPP<br />
schemes.<br />
He said that government<br />
should build confidence<br />
among investors, respect contractual<br />
agreements with private<br />
firms and provide special<br />
incentives to encourage private<br />
investments.<br />
“Private individuals and<br />
firms are not charity organisations.<br />
Most times, they borrow<br />
money to execute projects and<br />
need to pay back.<br />
“Once private firms/individuals<br />
notice that the government<br />
does not keep to its<br />
promise in PPP projects, they<br />
will not be willing to partner<br />
again,” he said.<br />
Okonkwo said that the<br />
bank had a lot of initiatives<br />
aimed at supporting the<br />
growth of SMEs apart from<br />
giving out loans.<br />
According to him, the<br />
bank helps SMEs in advisory<br />
services and project analysis<br />
to ensure proper utilisation<br />
of loans.<br />
Okonkwo said that the<br />
bank had given a total of<br />
N81 million in cash and 90<br />
consolation prizes to 183<br />
winners under the “Get Alert<br />
in Millions Reloaded’’.<br />
He said that the bank major<br />
priority was to reward its<br />
customers through different<br />
initiatives to improve their<br />
living standard.<br />
Okonkwo said that the<br />
consolation prizes included<br />
television sets, generators<br />
and refrigerators, noting<br />
that the grand prize of N10<br />
million would be won by a<br />
lucky customer at the end of<br />
the promo.<br />
The new set of winners<br />
emerged from a transparent<br />
randomisation process<br />
monitored by the bank’s<br />
control team and witnessed<br />
by officials from Consumer<br />
Protection Council (CPC)<br />
and other regulators and<br />
stakeholders.<br />
Damilare Emmanuel of<br />
Saka Tinubu Branch, Lagos,<br />
and Isreal Okechi Nwaobialor<br />
of Egbeda Branch who<br />
won one million naira and<br />
two million naira respectively<br />
under the Lagos zone<br />
were rewarded at the event.<br />
Oke advised that PPP<br />
should not be politicised to<br />
avoid jeopardising it.<br />
He called for the right policies,<br />
legislation and regulatory<br />
framework that would guarantee<br />
stable macroeconomic<br />
environment for the success of<br />
PPP schemes.<br />
“If government will put<br />
in place policies and legislation<br />
to guarantee investors’<br />
confidence – assuring them<br />
that there will not be challenges<br />
with their profits/dividends,<br />
there will be respect for<br />
contractual agreements and<br />
that the macroeconomic environment<br />
will be stable – PPP<br />
schemes will thrive,” he said.<br />
Oke urged the Federal Government<br />
to focus on expanding<br />
the country’s investment,<br />
industrial and manufacturing<br />
base.<br />
Shareholders back NAICOM’s directive to insurance<br />
operators on huge management expenses<br />
Shehu Mikail, National<br />
President, Constance<br />
Shareholders Association<br />
of Nigeria<br />
(CSAN) has declared support<br />
for the National Insurance<br />
Commission’s (NAI-<br />
COM) directive to insurers to<br />
cut their huge management<br />
expenses.<br />
Mikail said on Monday<br />
in Lagos, that the cut would<br />
end unnecessary expenditures<br />
embarked on by some<br />
insurers as well as enhance<br />
dividend payment and boost<br />
investors’ confidence in the<br />
sector.<br />
He said the association<br />
was happy with the new<br />
directive by Mohammed<br />
Kari, the Commissioner for<br />
Insurance (CFI).<br />
“This means that companies<br />
would no longer<br />
spend unnecessarily to the<br />
extent that they would not<br />
be able to attend to claims<br />
settlement and give good<br />
returns on investments,’’<br />
Mikail said.<br />
He noted that a data recently<br />
obtained from the<br />
Nigerian Insurers Association<br />
(NIA), revealed that a<br />
whopping N264.15 billion<br />
was spent as management<br />
expenses in five years.<br />
“The data in 2012 financial<br />
year showed that N48.<br />
22 billion was incurred on<br />
management expenses.<br />
“About N48.59, N53.83,<br />
N52.12, and N61.39 billion<br />
in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016<br />
respectively, bringing the total<br />
amount spent as management<br />
expenses to N264.15<br />
billion in five years.<br />
“At a time the industry is<br />
targeting one trillion premium<br />
income in 2020, and<br />
15 per cent of N350 billion<br />
expected premium income<br />
annually is being expended<br />
on management expenses.<br />
“These management expenses<br />
included underwriting<br />
expenses, salaries, rents<br />
and others excluding com-<br />
missions paid to agents and<br />
dividend payments within<br />
the periods,’’ he said.<br />
The CSAN president further<br />
said that it was worrisome<br />
that four insurance<br />
firms in 2016 financial year<br />
had their management expenses<br />
higher than the gross<br />
premium generated.<br />
According to Mikail, the<br />
data showed that Old Mutual<br />
Life Assurance Company<br />
Limited, which had N1.<strong>30</strong><br />
billion as gross premium,<br />
spent N1.83 billion, Spring<br />
Life Assurance Plc, which<br />
had N32 million spent N105,<br />
282 million<br />
“UNIC Insurance Plc had<br />
N38.7 million and spent<br />
N244.9 million, and Investment<br />
& Allied Insurance Plc<br />
had N4.3 million and spent<br />
N169.4 million’’ he said.<br />
Mikail warned operators<br />
that NAICOM may still take<br />
over more insurance companies<br />
if its directive was not<br />
heeded.<br />
L-R: Olukunle Iyanda, president and chairman of council, Nigerian Institute of Management<br />
(Chartered) (NIM); Agu Onwuzuruoha, guest speaker, and Tony Fadaka, registrar/chief executive,<br />
NIM, at the <strong>2018</strong> Corporate Members’ Forum of the Institute in Lagos. Pic by Olawale Amoo<br />
Rivers launches tax management card and TIN<br />
Ignatius Chukwu<br />
Rivers State has reacted<br />
to its low ranking<br />
on the Ease of<br />
Doing Business by<br />
launching two policy actions<br />
in the form of tax management<br />
cards that may eliminate<br />
multiple taxes.<br />
The governor, Nyesom<br />
Ezenwo Wike, recently flagged<br />
off the Rivers State Tax Management<br />
(RIVTAMIS) and the<br />
Rivers State Tax Identification<br />
Number (RIVTIN).<br />
The governor received the<br />
First RIVTIN Card from the<br />
Executive Chairman of Rivers<br />
State Internal Revenue<br />
Service, Adoage Norteh.<br />
Speaking at the flag-off of<br />
RIVTAMIS and RIVTIN, Wike<br />
said the innovations were<br />
part of his administration’s<br />
commitment to entrenching<br />
platforms for the ease of doing<br />
business.<br />
He said that the new tax<br />
reform packages will identify<br />
all formal and informal businesses<br />
in the state, noting<br />
that the details would help<br />
the state government plan for<br />
development.<br />
According to the governor,<br />
with the digital platforms, tax<br />
payments can be made from<br />
anywhere. He said: “From<br />
First April <strong>2018</strong>, all businesses<br />
are required to obtain their<br />
RIVTIN to pay taxes, levies<br />
and fines to the Rivers State<br />
Government. All banks have<br />
been mobilised to generate<br />
RIVTIN for all those who want<br />
to make payments to the Rivers<br />
State Government. Any<br />
business that fails to comply<br />
by June 1, <strong>2018</strong> will be appropriately<br />
sanctioned “.<br />
The chairman, Norteh, said<br />
the tax place has been sanitised<br />
to check multiple taxes.<br />
He said that the process<br />
would facilitate the tax payment<br />
process, enhance selfservice<br />
and improve the revenue<br />
of the state. “Right from<br />
the comfort of your office, you<br />
can obtain your tax clearance<br />
certificate and tax exemption,”<br />
said Norteh.<br />
The chairman said that the<br />
tax payer has a duty to reciprocate<br />
the tax friendliness of<br />
the state government.<br />
President of Port Harcourt<br />
Chambers of Commerce,<br />
Mines and Industry, Emi<br />
Membere-Otaji, said that<br />
the business community was<br />
pleased by the innovations<br />
that have eliminated multiple<br />
taxes.<br />
Spokesman of Heritage<br />
Bank, FB Briggs, assured the<br />
state government that banks<br />
would cooperate to ensure<br />
that the programme succeeds.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong> C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 15<br />
COMPANIES & MARKETS<br />
Showers Schools CEO wants education investors to<br />
focus on self-confidence and entrepreneurship<br />
• Says those who cheat in exams face challenges later in life<br />
Business Event<br />
Ignatius Chukwu<br />
The founder and<br />
CEO of Port<br />
Harcourt-based<br />
Showers Group<br />
of Schools, Ekama<br />
Emilia Akpan, wants<br />
investors in the education<br />
sector to focus on creating<br />
self-confidence and entrepreneurship<br />
in graduates<br />
of today. She said graduates<br />
must be assisted to develop<br />
self-confidence and ability<br />
to cope with the economic<br />
conditions full of strains.<br />
Akpan, who is the national<br />
vice president of the<br />
Manufacturers Association<br />
of Nigeria (MAN) told newsmen<br />
in Port Harcourt that<br />
parents need to be wary<br />
of highbrow schools they<br />
send their children to in the<br />
present Nigeria where children<br />
are destroyed by wrong<br />
values and vices.<br />
She condemned schools<br />
that condoned cheating just<br />
to post wonderful results,<br />
saying in Showers, failing<br />
is good to repeat and get it<br />
right.<br />
The MAN representative<br />
in Small and Medium Enterprises<br />
Development Agency<br />
of Nigeria (SMEDAN) said<br />
her secondary school, Christian<br />
High School, focuses on<br />
building the character of the<br />
child as well as academic<br />
performance, saying both<br />
are crucial in building the<br />
career of a child.<br />
She said she decided<br />
to set up Showers in her<br />
quest for the new child who<br />
should get the right type of<br />
education backed with selfconfidence,<br />
good value and<br />
ability to do things without<br />
external influences.<br />
She said it is wise to allow<br />
children to study up to the<br />
university level in Nigeria<br />
before proceeding abroad<br />
because most of those who<br />
go there end up not achieving<br />
their objective because<br />
of culture shock and extreme<br />
cases of discrimination.<br />
The SMEDAM committee<br />
member said the A-Level<br />
study is another way of developing<br />
the child before<br />
the journey abroad to make<br />
them strong in the university<br />
and to resist forces of coercion<br />
abroad.<br />
Akpan called on the government<br />
to encourage good<br />
private schools but must<br />
enforce ban on those merely<br />
setting up ‘miracle’ centres<br />
for the purpose of writing<br />
wonder results that people<br />
carry out without the confidence<br />
to defend them. She<br />
said children who parade<br />
such results hardly lead a<br />
meaningful life or career.<br />
Akpan, who headed<br />
MAN, Rivers/Bayelsa chapters<br />
says the group of schools<br />
is out to redeem the image of<br />
the South-South in highbrow<br />
and credible classroom feats<br />
in the South-South.<br />
The secondary school is<br />
located in Igbo-Etche area<br />
near Port Harcourt, the primary<br />
school is in Woji area of<br />
Port Harcourt, while the administrative<br />
headquarters is<br />
located on Trans-Woji Road,<br />
also in the Garden City.<br />
Akpan said at a media<br />
briefing at Grace Plaza at<br />
Number <strong>30</strong> Trans-Woji revealed<br />
how she decided to<br />
address the rot in the youth<br />
cadre of the society, saying<br />
the backbone of entrepreneurship<br />
and success of the<br />
economy depend on sound<br />
education system.<br />
She told newsmen that<br />
the hallmark of teaching in<br />
Showers is sound character<br />
of the child and ability to<br />
work independently for the<br />
highest levels of success. She<br />
tabled different results that<br />
showed that the students record<br />
very high scores at both<br />
national and international<br />
examinations.<br />
Showers CEO said her<br />
school has produced hundreds<br />
of medical doctors,<br />
lawyers, engineers and other<br />
professionals from some of<br />
the best universities in the<br />
world. She said she had sent<br />
over 1000 brilliant Nigerian<br />
students to Ghana universities<br />
alone, but said she now<br />
concentrates on Nigerian<br />
universities.<br />
The CEO said she once<br />
lost a major contract to<br />
train students on scholarship<br />
because she would<br />
not remove praying in her<br />
schools, but that some exstudents<br />
around the world<br />
have called to testify to the<br />
power of prayer over money<br />
in educational and career<br />
successes.<br />
The MAN vice president<br />
said a student had once<br />
rebuked an invigilator that<br />
urged the students in her<br />
school to cheat.<br />
L-R: Ovie of Udu Kingdom HRM Barr E.B.O. Delekpe Owhohu 1, Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, Executive<br />
Governor of Delta State, Mr. Prasanta Mishra, CEO & MD of Premium Steel & Mines Ltd., Warri,<br />
Delta., during the Commissioning of Premium Steel & Mines Ltd.<br />
L-R: Chris Umeje, acting managing director, Neimenth International Pharmaceuticals Plc; ABC<br />
Orjiako, chairman, and Florence Onyenekwe, company secretary, at the 59th Annual General<br />
Meeting of Neimenth International Pharmaceuticals held at NECA House, Ikeja Lagos.<br />
Dana Air bags Airline of<br />
the Year 2017 award<br />
Dana Air has been<br />
announced as the<br />
airline of the year<br />
2017, at the eighth<br />
edition of the Nigerian Aviation<br />
Awards and Presidential<br />
Dinner, held recently in<br />
Lagos.<br />
The airline’s CEO, Jacky<br />
Hathiramani, communications<br />
manager, Kingsley Ezenwa,<br />
also bagged the CEO<br />
of the year, and Aviation Corporate<br />
Promotions Personality<br />
of the year 2017 awards,<br />
respectively, while the airline’s<br />
crew members - Collins<br />
Ginika and Chiogo Okani,<br />
won the King and Queen of<br />
the Air contest at the event.<br />
The king and queen of the<br />
air contest is a newly-introduced<br />
initiative by the organisers<br />
of the NIGAV awards,<br />
where the various domestic<br />
airlines’ crew get to answer<br />
questions on how they handle<br />
safety issues, ensure comfort<br />
of passengers and how to be<br />
a good crew member.<br />
The duo from Dana Air<br />
also performed their first<br />
assignment at the event by<br />
presenting cash gifts to an<br />
orphanage present at the<br />
event. They have also become<br />
ambassadors of the NIGAV<br />
awards and will represent<br />
the industry at various aviation<br />
events for their intelligent<br />
display at the awards<br />
and mastery of civil aviation<br />
regulations<br />
Kingsley Ezenwa, the<br />
media and communications<br />
manager of Dana Air,<br />
who received the award on<br />
behalf of the airline, said,”<br />
We thank the organizers<br />
of the Nigerian Aviation<br />
Awards for recognising our<br />
efforts towards providing<br />
safe, reliable and affordable<br />
air transport in Nigeria, and<br />
we wish to assure our guests<br />
of our unwavering commitment<br />
towards maintaining<br />
our standards and upping<br />
the ante on all fronts.”<br />
On the CEO of the year<br />
award, Kingsley said, “A big<br />
thank you to all those who<br />
voted our indefatigable CEO,<br />
Jacky Hathiramani. Our CEO<br />
is a detribalized Nigerian<br />
and one who believes in the<br />
maxim - slow and steady<br />
wins the race. His managerial<br />
acumen is second to none,<br />
and doesn’t believe in noise<br />
making but doing things right<br />
and creatively too.”<br />
L-R: Sakariyau Babalola, deputy president-general, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs<br />
(NSCIA); Bashir Umar, secretary, financial regulation advisory council of experts, Central Bank of<br />
Nigeria (CBN); Momodou Musa Joof, managing director, Jaiz Takaful Insurance Plc and Basheer<br />
Oshodi, group head, non-interest banking, Sterling Bank Plc, at a business luncheon on Islamic<br />
Financial System: A Panacea For National Economic Development organised by Forum of Islamic<br />
Education and Awareness in Lagos.<br />
L-R: Dolapo Coker, member, Nigerian Heart Foundation, Nutrition Committee; Kingsley Akinroye,<br />
executive director, Nigerian Heart Foundation; Moji Adeyeye, director- general, National Agency<br />
for Food and Drugs Administration and Control; Tola Atinmo, chairman, Nigerian Heart Foundation,<br />
Nutrition Committee; Dele Adetiba, director of communication, Nigerian Heart Foundation; Monica<br />
Eimunjeze, director, registration and regulatory affairs, National Agency for Food and Drugs<br />
Administration and Control, and Samson Adebayo, director of ports inspection, National Agency<br />
for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, at an interactive session between Nigerian Heart<br />
Foundation and National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control in Lagos.
16 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
FINTECH<br />
News Products Review Technology Review Personality Review Company Review<br />
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW<br />
Nigeria’s mobile money: All motion, little movement<br />
Stories by FRANK ELEANYA<br />
In 2007, mobile money<br />
was born for the first time<br />
in Africa, to provide financial<br />
services to the<br />
over 80 percent of the<br />
Kenya’s population who were<br />
excluded from the formal financial<br />
sector.<br />
The innovation which came<br />
in the form of M-Pesa allowed<br />
the growing mobile phone<br />
population in Kenya to access<br />
financial services at the click<br />
of few buttons. By so doing,<br />
it eliminated the need to first<br />
visit a bank branch to do simple<br />
tasks such as open bank accounts,<br />
make payments, transfer<br />
money, receive money and<br />
access loans.<br />
The mobile money market<br />
size is estimated to grow from<br />
$21.15 billion in 2016 to $112.29<br />
billion by 2021, at an estimated<br />
compound annual growth rate<br />
(CAGR) of 39.64 percent from<br />
2016 to 2021. According to<br />
GSMA, sub-Saharan Africa<br />
is the global leader in mobile<br />
money, accounting for almost<br />
half of all registered customers<br />
globally. In 2017, mobile<br />
money transactions within the<br />
region reached $19.9 billion, 63<br />
percent of global figure.<br />
Although, western and central<br />
African countries dominated<br />
registered accounts,<br />
Nigeria was absent from the<br />
top three countries consisting<br />
of Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire<br />
and Ghana.<br />
Nigeria does have huge potential<br />
given the large population.<br />
The country is the leader in<br />
active mobile phones in Africa<br />
with over 155 million lines according<br />
to recent data. The total<br />
active subscription and total<br />
active internet subscription in<br />
Nigeria also hit 145 million and<br />
over 98 million respectively in<br />
the fourth quarter of 2017.<br />
The authorities also seem<br />
to be paying attention to the<br />
market. Data from Nigerian<br />
Inter-Bank Settlement System<br />
(NIBSS) show that there are<br />
21 mobile money operators<br />
licensed by the Central Bank of<br />
Nigeria (CBN).<br />
Despite the potential and<br />
the regulator’s interest going<br />
as far back as 2015, in growing<br />
the market, so far mobile<br />
money transactions accounts<br />
for just 1.01 percent of the<br />
total e-payment transactions<br />
in Nigeria. A top UN official at<br />
a recent tech summit in Kigali<br />
disclosed that mobile money<br />
penetration was only one percent<br />
in Nigeria meaning that<br />
majority of the 155 million<br />
phone users in Nigeria are yet<br />
to buy into the innovation.<br />
Nigeria also possess some<br />
of the conditions that could<br />
help mobile money services<br />
to thrive. The National Switch<br />
Service under the CBN since<br />
2011, for example, serves as the<br />
gateway for payment services in<br />
the country. CBN guideline provides<br />
that every bank route their<br />
payment through the switch.<br />
Kenya just recently adopted a<br />
National Switch Service.<br />
There is some growth being<br />
recorded, to be sure. In<br />
2017 for instance, volume of<br />
transaction grew to N1.1 trillion<br />
compared to N756 billion<br />
recorded in 2016. But growth in<br />
transaction does not necessarily<br />
mean adoption is growing at<br />
same rate.<br />
For some stakeholders, a<br />
major challenge for mobile<br />
money adoption in Nigeria<br />
is the regulatory model in<br />
operation. The CBN model<br />
requires it to define the role of<br />
every player in the entire value<br />
chain. The Kenyan model is<br />
also similar in that it is also led<br />
by the Central Bank of Kenya.<br />
However, unlike the CBN, the<br />
Kenyan central bank allows<br />
even non-banks players such<br />
as mobile network operators<br />
(MNOs) to provide mobile<br />
money services.<br />
Ghana started out like the<br />
CBN - allowing only banks<br />
and deposit-taking financial<br />
institutions to provide the<br />
service while MNOs acted as<br />
agents making available the<br />
platforms. When that proved<br />
problematic, the Bank of Ghana<br />
upgraded its rules in 2015<br />
to accommodate non-bank<br />
entities under the supervision<br />
of the apex bank.<br />
Commenting on the growth<br />
of the market in Ghana, a<br />
senior official of GSMA, in an<br />
interview reemphasised the<br />
role regulation played with<br />
the introduction of a new set<br />
of rules by the central bank. Between<br />
2012 and 2017, activity<br />
rates grew from seven percent<br />
to over 70 percent.<br />
In essence, Nigeria central<br />
bank would need to evolve its<br />
framework in order to open up<br />
the sector to non-bank entities.<br />
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW<br />
When ‘Nerds Unite’ for tech infrastructure in Nigeria<br />
The quality of technology<br />
innovation is mostly<br />
determined by the<br />
quality of infrastructure<br />
powering it. To be sure,<br />
infrastructure encompasses an<br />
enterprise’s entire collection of<br />
hardware, software, networks,<br />
data centers, facilities and related<br />
equipment used to develop,<br />
test, operate, monitor, manage<br />
and support information technology<br />
services.<br />
At the second edition of<br />
NerdsUnite organised by MainOne,<br />
several experts emphasised<br />
the need for infrastructures<br />
that power the different<br />
segments of the tech ecosystem<br />
in Nigeria.<br />
NersUnite is one of the largest<br />
tech platforms that bring<br />
together entrepreneurs, big tech<br />
companies, professionals and<br />
experts every year, to discuss<br />
issues around the development<br />
of the tech ecosystem in Nigeria<br />
and Africa.<br />
One of the critical infrastructures<br />
highlighted was cloud.<br />
Cloud infrastructure aggregates<br />
hardware and software components<br />
– such as servers, storage,<br />
a network and virtualisation<br />
software – that are needed to<br />
support the computing requirements<br />
of a cloud computing<br />
model.<br />
Cloud computing alludes to<br />
the practice of using a network<br />
of remote servers hosted on the<br />
internet to store, manage, and<br />
process data, rather than a local<br />
server or a personal computer.<br />
MainOne for example, is a cloud<br />
computing provider.<br />
In cloud computing, virtualised<br />
resources are hosted by<br />
a service provider or IT department<br />
and are delivered to users<br />
over a network or the internet.<br />
Many Nigerian businesses<br />
have over time become reliant<br />
on cloud services for many<br />
reasons. To start with, adoption<br />
of cloud computing could mean<br />
big changes for small business<br />
owners whether tech start-ups<br />
or non-tech start-ups.<br />
Cloud infrastructure has<br />
lower costs implications for<br />
businesses, meaning they can<br />
make significant savings while<br />
fully maximising their hardware.<br />
It also engenders collaboration.<br />
Cloud collaboration<br />
tools like Google Drive enables<br />
employees to upload, edit, and<br />
comment on documents enhancing<br />
the workplace relationship.<br />
Another attraction to<br />
cloud computing is being able<br />
to access work-related files and<br />
information from any device<br />
in any place at any time. It also<br />
promotes simplified integration<br />
for businesses.<br />
There are different industries<br />
that are utilising cloud computing<br />
to disrupt their services in<br />
Nigeria. In the financial services<br />
for instance, the technology has<br />
been responsible for the many<br />
innovations the sector has witnessed<br />
in recent times. Wema<br />
by ALAT, for instance, has within<br />
a short time revolutionised the<br />
banking sector with its innovation.<br />
Aside from making money<br />
transfer easier, the app has a<br />
solution that offers customers<br />
loans in five minutes.<br />
A panellist on one of the<br />
sessions, explained that cloud<br />
computing is a perfect response<br />
to changing consumer appetite<br />
which demands more gratification<br />
speed and convenience.<br />
Beyond gratifying the customer,<br />
cloud adoption also means<br />
Nigerian banks are no longer<br />
thinking traditionally and waiting<br />
for somebody to bring the<br />
solution to them.<br />
One of the panellists harped<br />
on improving the user experience<br />
of mobile applications.<br />
Deji Olowe, executive director<br />
at SystemSpecs, the creators<br />
of Remita App noted that user<br />
interface is critical.<br />
“When you are developing<br />
for the mobile there is a lot of<br />
variations as against when you<br />
are developing for desktops.<br />
So when designing, you have<br />
to design it in such a way that<br />
you meet everybody at their<br />
point. Beyond the screen signs,<br />
you have to look at the different<br />
networks. A smartphone that is<br />
running on a fast network could<br />
within one minute switch over to<br />
a portion of the network that is<br />
not very fast. So user experience<br />
on mobile is like signs, you have<br />
to put in so much effort.<br />
“When you design, you have<br />
to look at the fact that when<br />
using mobile people usually<br />
just have one hand to use it,<br />
hence the form factor is very<br />
important; the speed of loading<br />
and the type of interaction for<br />
example the things you can do<br />
on desktop like Java script you<br />
have to minimise them on a<br />
mobile,” he said.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
15<br />
CITYFile<br />
National<br />
Directorate of<br />
Employment’s<br />
trainees in<br />
a peaceful<br />
protest over<br />
non-payment<br />
of stipends, at<br />
the office in<br />
Asingbi Lane,<br />
Ingbi Road,<br />
Yenagoa.<br />
NAN<br />
Lagos to disagrees with court<br />
over ruling on consumption tax<br />
JOSHUA BASSEY<br />
Lagos State government has disagreed<br />
with a Federal High Court<br />
sitting in Ikoyi, which temporarily<br />
restrained it from enforcing<br />
the provisions of the 2017 Hotel<br />
Occupancy and Restaurant (Fiscalisation)<br />
Regulations 2017.<br />
To press home its rejection of the court’s injunction,<br />
the state government has appointed<br />
Lawal Pedro, a former solicitor general in<br />
the state, to lead a legal that will challenge<br />
the injunction suspending the fiscalisation<br />
regulation until the suit is concluded.<br />
A legal officer in the state ministry of<br />
justice, said while speaking journalists, that<br />
the order was an affront to a Supreme Court<br />
decision that validated the Hotel Occupancy<br />
and Restaurant Consumption Law, 2009<br />
Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High<br />
Court, in a ruling last week, suspended the<br />
fiscalisation regulation until the substantive<br />
Police recover 213 guns from herdsmen, others<br />
suit filed by the Association of the Registered<br />
Trustees Hotel Owners and Managers Association<br />
of Lagos was determined.<br />
The judge equally suspended the Hotel<br />
Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption<br />
Law Cap H8, Laws of Lagos State 2015 while<br />
restraining the state government from enforcing<br />
or implementing it in some parts of<br />
the Lagos State.<br />
But the legal officer said the state government<br />
“is aware of an ex-parte injunction granted by<br />
the Federal High Court Lagos on <strong>Mar</strong>ch 21 in<br />
respect of the new regulations the state government<br />
issued pursuant to the Hotel Occupancy<br />
and Restaurant Consumption Law.”<br />
The officer observed that the lower court<br />
delivered the injunction without taking congisance<br />
of the decision of the apex court that<br />
validated the legality of the Hotel Occupancy<br />
and Restaurant Consumption Law in 2013.<br />
The officer said after the passage of the<br />
law, the Lagos State House of Assembly<br />
had also approved a regulation, Hotel Occupancy<br />
and Restaurant Consumption (fiscalisation)<br />
Regulations, 2017 “to ensure that<br />
all consumption taxes charged by hotel and<br />
restaurant owners on citizens were duly captured<br />
and remitted to the state government.<br />
The official explained that the fiscalisation<br />
regulation was initiated essentially “to<br />
ensure transparency and accountability in<br />
the collection of consumption tax in Lagos<br />
State. The regulation does not in any way<br />
increase the burden of hotel owners.<br />
“The state government will challenge the<br />
interim orders obtained by misrepresentation<br />
of fact and pursue the substantive suit<br />
until its dismissal. Since 2009 when the law<br />
was enacted, there had been compliance by<br />
hotel and restaurant owners.”<br />
The officer said the state government had<br />
put its legal team together “to challenge the<br />
injunction of the federal high court. Pedro,<br />
former Solicitor General of Lagos State,<br />
has been engaged to lead the legal team to<br />
contest the suit.<br />
The police have recovered 213<br />
guns in Ondo and Katsina States<br />
in compliance with the directive<br />
of the Inspector General of Police<br />
(IGP), Ibrahim Idris, to mop up illegal<br />
firearms in circulation.<br />
Fifteen of the 213 guns were recovered<br />
in Ondo while 198 were mopped up in<br />
Katsina.<br />
Olugbenga Adeyanju, Commissioner<br />
of Police in Ondo, who briefed the media,<br />
explained that the submission of<br />
the guns was not, in anyway, connected<br />
with the successful amnesty programme<br />
organised by Ondo State government in<br />
December 2017.<br />
“In compliance with the IGP’s directive,<br />
I am delighted to inform you that the<br />
turnout of the people, who were submitting<br />
their weapons, has been impressive.<br />
“For this latest directive, while some<br />
people were courageous enough to voluntarily<br />
return the arms in their possession,<br />
we have also recovered some guns from<br />
cultists and armed robbers, who had been<br />
prosecuted in Owo.<br />
“Others made their submission by<br />
using one of our suggestion boxes at the<br />
Police Public Relations Officer’s (PPRO)<br />
office in Akure to inform us where they<br />
kept their arms for us to go and pick<br />
them,” he said.<br />
Adeyanju said that though, the submission<br />
date had lapsed, the command<br />
still wanted to give more opportunity for<br />
those who, for one reason or the other,<br />
could not meet up with the ultimatum<br />
but were still willing to submit their arms.<br />
“We want to reiterate that whoever is<br />
found or caught with any weapons out of<br />
the window of grace will have himself or<br />
herself to blame, so it is better late than<br />
never,” he said.<br />
In the same development, the command<br />
also paraded one Abel Joseph, a<br />
taxi driver, who was said to have been<br />
caught with 20 bags of cannabis on Owo-<br />
Akure road.<br />
The police commissioner said that<br />
the suspect would be handed over to the<br />
NDLEA officials for proper investigation<br />
and prosecution.<br />
In Katsina, Mohammed Wakili, the<br />
state Commissioner of Police, said on<br />
Wednesday that most of the 198 guns<br />
were recovered from herdsmen, cattle<br />
rustlers and other criminals.<br />
Wakili explained that the arms included<br />
20 AK47 rifles, 10 pistols, two G3 rifles,<br />
eight pump action rifles and two SMG.<br />
Others were 70 locally made pistols,<br />
one locally made rifle, 80 locally made<br />
Dane guns, five double barrelled guns, 840<br />
ammunition and 50 magazines. He said<br />
that the police would continue to recover<br />
illegally acquired arms from the public.<br />
270 IDPs, youths<br />
empowered C’ River<br />
MIKE ABANG, Calabar<br />
About 270 Internally Displaced<br />
Persons (IDPs) including women<br />
and youths in Cross River State<br />
have been empowered through a twoweek<br />
training session on fishery, poultry,<br />
entrepreneurship and information, communication<br />
and technology (ICT).<br />
The training was held at the University<br />
Of Calabar Institute of Oceanography, managed<br />
by Stones and Jones Nigeria Limited.<br />
Delta Usani Usani, minister of Niger<br />
Delta, flagging off the empowerment<br />
scheme, recently, said it was part of the<br />
President Mohammadu Buhari initiative<br />
to cushion the effect of the economic<br />
recession and put smiles on the faces of<br />
ordinary Nigerians.<br />
Usani who was represented by Ogbiji<br />
Ogbiji said the training programme was<br />
done in collaboration with Mennachimso<br />
Resources Nigeria Ltd, was to empower<br />
women and youths in fish production.<br />
He said the exercise was captured in<br />
the 2017 budget and that of <strong>2018</strong> yet to be<br />
passed by the National Assembly.<br />
Amba Bitty Bisong, one of the beneficiaries<br />
of the programme, commended<br />
the Federal Government for the empowerment.<br />
Another, beneficiary, Felicia Edema<br />
said “this is a laudable programme which<br />
started in 2016 with people being trained<br />
and empowered in different fields such<br />
as fish production, poultry, farming bee<br />
farming, ICT, and animal husbandry<br />
“We are calling on those who have<br />
not returned their illegally acquired<br />
arms to do so before the expiration of<br />
the deadline. We will continue to fight<br />
these criminal elements with a renewed<br />
vigour,’’ he said<br />
Expert urges youths to<br />
shun ponzi schemes<br />
A<br />
financial expert, Emem Udoh has<br />
urged youths in Cross River State<br />
to shun ponzi schemes and take<br />
advantage of credible investment opportunities<br />
available within the Nigerian<br />
financial market.<br />
This, according to Udoh has become<br />
necessary in view of the apprehension<br />
by many to key into the financial market<br />
because of the loss of their hard earned<br />
income through fraudulent financial<br />
schemes.<br />
“The mentality of ponzi schemes such<br />
as the MMM is still in the minds of many<br />
Cross Riverians and Nigerians at large. I<br />
appreciate their fears.”<br />
When you want to succeed in life, you<br />
move ahead. Every successful man had<br />
failed yesterday. If you are serious, you<br />
strive to get up each time you fall. This is<br />
what makes you a real man”.<br />
Udoh, who spoke in Calabar in an<br />
interview with BusinesDay, on the advantages<br />
of the Bit Club, a financial outfit of<br />
which she is a partner.<br />
According to Udoh, “Bit Club is an<br />
investment company different form networking<br />
which requires you to move from<br />
one level to another and no matter how<br />
smart you are, you can’t make it without<br />
bringing in people”.<br />
“We trade on crypto currency” adding<br />
that apart from the high return on investment<br />
(HRI), it also affords you the opportunity<br />
to travel even outside the country<br />
without carrying cash about”.
18 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
Lassa fever: Nigeria records 95 deaths in thre<br />
… WHO, NCDC confirm decline in number of reported cases, deaths<br />
ANTHONIA OBOKOH<br />
Lassa fever has claimed<br />
95 lives in Nigeria with<br />
a total of 394 confirmed<br />
reported cases across 19 states<br />
within three months, in a press<br />
statement released by the Nigeria<br />
Centre for Disease Control<br />
(NCDC)<br />
NCDC’s latest data shows<br />
that the number of new confirmed<br />
and probable cases has<br />
been falling for five consecutive<br />
weeks, indicating that public<br />
health measures are proving<br />
effective, but more infections<br />
are expected until the end of<br />
the dry season, as the viral<br />
haemorrhagic fever is endemic<br />
to the area.<br />
According to the agency,<br />
since the onset of the <strong>2018</strong><br />
outbreak, 95 people have died<br />
in positive-confirmed cases,<br />
while <strong>30</strong> others have also died<br />
despite being negative, with<br />
9 probable cases still pending.<br />
The Case Fatality Rate in<br />
confirmed and probable cases<br />
is 24.1%.<br />
However, the spread of<br />
Lassa fever in Nigeria is beginning<br />
to slow but the epidemic is<br />
far from contained, the World<br />
Health Organisation and the<br />
Nigeria Centre for Disease<br />
Control (NCDC) have warned.<br />
“Between 1 January and 25<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>, the NCDC reported<br />
394 laboratory confirmed<br />
cases. There were 18 new confirmed<br />
cases in the last reporting<br />
week (19-25 <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>),<br />
compared to 54 confirmed<br />
cases a month earlier (19-25<br />
February <strong>2018</strong>)” say the report.<br />
Wondimagegnehu Alemu,<br />
WHO Representative to Nigeria<br />
said, “We should interpret the<br />
recent declining trend in new<br />
cases with caution. The Lassa<br />
fever season is not yet over.<br />
We need to maintain vigilance<br />
and response operations, and<br />
ensure continued engagement<br />
with communities to help curb<br />
the further spread of Lassa fever,”<br />
said Alemu.<br />
The current epidemic is Nigeria’s<br />
largest on record, with<br />
the number of confirmed cases<br />
in January and February alone<br />
exceeding the total number<br />
reported in the whole of 2017.<br />
“By conducting research<br />
as the Lassa fever outbreak<br />
unfolds, Nigeria is pioneering<br />
a new approach. Until<br />
now, research in Africa has<br />
taken place much later in the<br />
response cycle. This is a new<br />
approach which opens the way<br />
to much more effective control<br />
of emerging and dangerous<br />
pathogens,” said Alemu.<br />
“We are researching what<br />
has led to so many people<br />
becoming infected with Lassa<br />
fever,” said Chikwe Ihekweazu,<br />
Chief Executive Officer of the<br />
NCDC. “Even with a downward<br />
trend, until we can better understand<br />
the causes behind its<br />
rapid spread, we must treat the<br />
outbreak as a priority.” Whole<br />
genome sequencing can reveal<br />
‘Healthy Diet, prevents eye problems’<br />
information that contributes to the<br />
understanding and the control of infectious<br />
disease outbreaks.<br />
Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic<br />
illness, transmitted to humans<br />
through contact with food or<br />
SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin<br />
Diet has been described a<br />
key component to protect<br />
our eyes from untimely<br />
damage. Thus, people<br />
are encouraged to watch their<br />
diet and embrace high friendly<br />
foods. Mohammed Ajia Ibrahim,<br />
founder, MAI foundation stated<br />
this while briefing newsmen<br />
shortly after the completion of<br />
the foundation’s Free Medical<br />
Outreach in Kwara State.<br />
Over five thousand Kwarans<br />
have benefited from Muhammed<br />
Ajia Ibrahim (MAI)<br />
Foundation on free eye screening,<br />
treatment and provision of<br />
eye glasses.<br />
The medical exercise which<br />
cut across the three senatorial<br />
districts of the state, within five<br />
days started at Ajia Compound<br />
in Ilorin, the state capital, covered<br />
Offa, Moro, Afon, Share,<br />
Baba nloma, Shonga, Isanlu Isin,<br />
and others.<br />
Speaking on the essence of<br />
the initiative, Ajia Ibrahim, the<br />
founder said it was borne out<br />
of concern for the people at the<br />
grassroots who cannot afford to<br />
treat their eye problems.<br />
“My foundation is borne out<br />
of concern for our people suffering<br />
and do not have means of<br />
solving their problems. We have<br />
rolled out series of pragrammes<br />
to begin in due course. So, part<br />
of it is the health outreach we<br />
embarked on to help Kwarans<br />
protect their eyes.<br />
“The eyes are essential organs<br />
in the body and a lot of people<br />
are having problems with their<br />
eyes and they cannot afford<br />
the expenses, our programme<br />
therefore is aimed at giving the<br />
less privileged the opportunity<br />
to know the status of their eyes,<br />
giving them easy consultation,<br />
and they also get treatment<br />
immediately to deter further<br />
problems ,”he said.<br />
“I know a lot of people have<br />
problems and they do not know<br />
who to talk to so they can be cared<br />
for. We are targeting 5000 Kwarans to<br />
benefit from this programme and from<br />
here, we will move to Offa, and we will<br />
continue to go round through three<br />
Senatorial districts to reach the common<br />
people.<br />
“Out of my passion, I contacted the<br />
consultants from Irawo Optical from<br />
Ibadan Oyo State which is internationally<br />
affiliated to give support so as to<br />
save the people’s vision.”<br />
Ibrahim, who expressed satisfaction<br />
with the turnout of people, disclosed<br />
that, “the turnout of people really<br />
encouraged and motivated me, by the<br />
grace of God, if I get better opportunities<br />
in life, I will establish a free eye<br />
hospital for Kwara state.”<br />
He however, revealed that the third<br />
phase which was targeted at 10, 000<br />
people will commence in a week, just<br />
as he promised to continue to render<br />
service to humanity and enjoined well<br />
meaning Nigerians to help the needy.<br />
Some of the beneficiaries who<br />
spoke to <strong>BusinessDay</strong> commended<br />
the initiator and appreciated him for<br />
the kind gesture. The exercise was well<br />
attended by the children, elderly and<br />
middle aged.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
C002D5556<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
19<br />
e months<br />
Oyo offers free TB treatment for residents<br />
AKINREMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan<br />
MIKE ABANG, Calabar<br />
address to commemorate the <strong>2018</strong><br />
World Tuberculosis Day, with the<br />
theme “Find and notify all TB cases<br />
in Nigeria” and the slogan “Wanted:<br />
Leaders for a TB free world”.<br />
The Commissioner said<br />
that every <strong>Mar</strong>ch 24th of every<br />
year was set aside by the World<br />
Health Organisation since 1882<br />
as the World Tuberculosis Day<br />
when Robert kochs announced<br />
the discovery of the germ mycobacterium<br />
tuberculosis that<br />
causes tuberculosis disease,<br />
stressing that TB is a contagious<br />
disease that affect all ages and<br />
kills nearly 5000 people every<br />
day worldwide due to lack of<br />
access to treatment.<br />
Adeduntan added that over<br />
10.4 million people had TB death<br />
in 2017 and there were 1.8 milhousehold<br />
items contaminated by<br />
infected rodents. Person-to-person<br />
transmission can also occur, particularly<br />
in hospital environment in the<br />
absence of adequate infection control<br />
measures.<br />
Obaseki to build 3 general hospitals in Edo<br />
… Assures enhanced working conditions for medical personnel<br />
Edo State Governor, Godwin<br />
Obaseki, has unveiled plans to<br />
build three general hospitals in<br />
the three senatorial districts in the<br />
state and assured medical personnel<br />
of improved working conditions for<br />
an effective and efficient healthcare<br />
system in the state.<br />
The governor gave the assurance<br />
when he received executive members<br />
of the Association of Resident<br />
Doctors with the Edo State Hospital<br />
Management Board (SHMB) at the<br />
Government House in Benin City,<br />
Edo State on Monday.<br />
Obaseki said, “This administration<br />
is aware of the challenges confronting<br />
the state healthcare system.<br />
We are working to resolve these<br />
challenges. We have held several<br />
meetings to see how to address the<br />
peculiar problems with the healthcare<br />
system in the state. We have<br />
records of medical personnel and<br />
state of facilities in the healthcare<br />
system in the state.”<br />
The Oyo State Government<br />
says it has offered free<br />
screening and treatment<br />
in all the health facilities across<br />
the state for individuals with<br />
persistent cough suspected to<br />
be Tuberculosis (TB).<br />
The State Commissioner for<br />
Health, Azeez Adeduntan, a<br />
medical doctor said that the free<br />
screening and treatment initiative<br />
of the Governnor Abiola Ajimobi<br />
administration is to reduce<br />
the spread of TB in the society,<br />
noting that all health facilities in<br />
the 33 Local Government Areas<br />
and 35 Local Council Development<br />
Areas (LCDAs) have been<br />
mandated and mobilised to effectively<br />
carry out TB screening<br />
and treatment.<br />
The commissioner enjoined<br />
any individual with persistent<br />
cough to visit health facilities<br />
for check-up, explaining that<br />
the most common symptom of<br />
Tuberculosis is persistent cough<br />
lasting 2 weeks or more which<br />
is accompanied by fever, night<br />
sweat, weight loss, chest pain,<br />
loss of appetite, coughing up of<br />
blood mixed with sputum and<br />
tiredness while the spread of TB<br />
could be attributed to living in<br />
an overcrowded environments,<br />
poor hygienic conditions, indiscriminate<br />
spitting of sputum<br />
and poor cough etiquette, malnutrition,<br />
HIV/AIDS, Diabetes<br />
mellitus and smoking.<br />
He stated this in Ibadan in his<br />
L-R: Vice President, Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Edo State Hospital Management Board (SHMB), Ehikioya<br />
Eustace; President, Umakhine Carl; Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki; Secretary to the State Government<br />
(SSG), Osarodion Ogie Esq., and Head of Service, Gladys Idahor, during the courtesy visit by new officials of the<br />
association, to the governor at the Government House in Benin City, Edo, on Monday, <strong>Mar</strong>ch 26, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Obaseki, however, appealed<br />
to the medical doctors<br />
to be patient and continue<br />
to support the reforms of the<br />
state government to revamp<br />
the health sector, noting, “The<br />
state government appreciates<br />
efforts of medical doctors.<br />
lion TB deaths in 2016 making it<br />
the top infectious killer disease<br />
Worldwide, saying “Nigeria now<br />
ranks 5th among the 22 Countries<br />
of the world with highest TB<br />
burden coming up from previous<br />
4th position in 2010. This is the<br />
result of scale up and expansion<br />
of TB treatment centre as an<br />
implementation strategy across<br />
all states in Nigeria”.<br />
He allayed the fears that Individuals<br />
suffering from TB need<br />
not be isolated once they are on<br />
treatment but should be encouraged<br />
by the community to attend<br />
clinic regularly, as tuberculosis<br />
can be completely cured provided<br />
the treatment started early and<br />
drugs are taken regularly for the<br />
stipulated length of time required.<br />
The Commissioner reiterated<br />
Government is working to establish<br />
one General Hospital<br />
per local government council<br />
across the state, while one<br />
on the need to create a neat<br />
and healthier environment in<br />
the state, saying that the state<br />
government will continue to<br />
prioritise cleanliness of its environment.<br />
Adeduntan acknowledged<br />
the unflinching support of<br />
the Damien Foundation Belgium<br />
to the state on TB control<br />
programme, saying that the<br />
foundation has contributed<br />
immensely to infrastructural<br />
and capacity developments<br />
across the State.<br />
He also commended religious<br />
and occupational groups,<br />
civil society organizations and<br />
the media houses for the tremendous<br />
improvements and<br />
support for the TB control<br />
programme.<br />
super General Hospital will be<br />
sited in each senatorial district<br />
for optimal performance.<br />
Noting that the state has<br />
made plans for a health insurance<br />
scheme, he said, “A bill<br />
for a law to set up the State<br />
Health Insurance Scheme is<br />
before the State House of Assembly.<br />
The bill is structured<br />
to make provision for affordable<br />
and accessible healthcare<br />
for people in the state.”<br />
President, Association of<br />
Resident Doctors, Edo State<br />
Hospital Management Board,<br />
Karl Umakhine, said, “The<br />
visit is to enable us present<br />
the challenges confronting<br />
the health sector and to contribute<br />
to the solutions. It is<br />
not true that doctors in the<br />
state don’t report at their duty<br />
post. We work under difficult<br />
conditions but need to be<br />
motivated.”<br />
HBL TEAM<br />
KEMI AJUMOBI, Editor - kemi@businessdayonline.com<br />
ANTHONIA OBOKOH, ANI MICHAEL, Reporters I David Ogar, Graphics
18 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
C002D5556<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
19<br />
Lassa fever: Nigeria records 95 deaths in three months<br />
… WHO, NCDC confirm decline in number of reported cases, deaths<br />
ANTHONIA OBOKOH<br />
Lassa fever has claimed<br />
95 lives in Nigeria with<br />
a total of 394 confirmed<br />
reported cases across 19 states<br />
within three months, in a press<br />
statement released by the Nigeria<br />
Centre for Disease Control<br />
(NCDC)<br />
NCDC’s latest data shows<br />
that the number of new confirmed<br />
and probable cases has<br />
been falling for five consecutive<br />
weeks, indicating that public<br />
health measures are proving<br />
effective, but more infections<br />
are expected until the end of<br />
the dry season, as the viral<br />
haemorrhagic fever is endemic<br />
to the area.<br />
According to the agency,<br />
since the onset of the <strong>2018</strong><br />
outbreak, 95 people have died<br />
in positive-confirmed cases,<br />
while <strong>30</strong> others have also died<br />
despite being negative, with<br />
9 probable cases still pending.<br />
The Case Fatality Rate in<br />
confirmed and probable cases<br />
is 24.1%.<br />
However, the spread of<br />
Lassa fever in Nigeria is beginning<br />
to slow but the epidemic is<br />
far from contained, the World<br />
Health Organisation and the<br />
Nigeria Centre for Disease<br />
‘Healthy Diet, prevents eye problems’<br />
SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin<br />
Diet has been described a<br />
key component to protect<br />
our eyes from untimely<br />
damage. Thus, people<br />
are encouraged to watch their<br />
diet and embrace high friendly<br />
foods. Mohammed Ajia Ibrahim,<br />
founder, MAI foundation stated<br />
this while briefing newsmen<br />
shortly after the completion of<br />
the foundation’s Free Medical<br />
Outreach in Kwara State.<br />
Over five thousand Kwarans<br />
have benefited from Muhammed<br />
Ajia Ibrahim (MAI)<br />
Foundation on free eye screening,<br />
treatment and provision of<br />
eye glasses.<br />
The medical exercise which<br />
cut across the three senatorial<br />
districts of the state, within five<br />
days started at Ajia Compound<br />
in Ilorin, the state capital, covered<br />
Offa, Moro, Afon, Share,<br />
Baba nloma, Shonga, Isanlu Isin,<br />
and others.<br />
Speaking on the essence of<br />
the initiative, Ajia Ibrahim, the<br />
Control (NCDC) have warned.<br />
“Between 1 January and 25<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>, the NCDC reported<br />
394 laboratory confirmed<br />
cases. There were 18 new confirmed<br />
cases in the last reporting<br />
week (19-25 <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>),<br />
compared to 54 confirmed<br />
cases a month earlier (19-25<br />
February <strong>2018</strong>)” say the report.<br />
Wondimagegnehu Alemu,<br />
WHO Representative to Nigeria<br />
said, “We should interpret the<br />
recent declining trend in new<br />
cases with caution. The Lassa<br />
fever season is not yet over.<br />
We need to maintain vigilance<br />
and response operations, and<br />
ensure continued engagement<br />
with communities to help curb<br />
the further spread of Lassa fever,”<br />
said Alemu.<br />
The current epidemic is Nigeria’s<br />
largest on record, with<br />
the number of confirmed cases<br />
in January and February alone<br />
exceeding the total number<br />
reported in the whole of 2017.<br />
“By conducting research<br />
as the Lassa fever outbreak<br />
unfolds, Nigeria is pioneering<br />
a new approach. Until<br />
now, research in Africa has<br />
taken place much later in the<br />
response cycle. This is a new<br />
approach which opens the way<br />
to much more effective control<br />
of emerging and dangerous<br />
address to commemorate the <strong>2018</strong><br />
World Tuberculosis Day, with the<br />
theme “Find and notify all TB cases<br />
in Nigeria” and the slogan “Wanted:<br />
Leaders for a TB free world”.<br />
The Commissioner said<br />
that every <strong>Mar</strong>ch 24th of every<br />
year was set aside by the World<br />
Health Organisation since 1882<br />
as the World Tuberculosis Day<br />
when Robert kochs announced<br />
the discovery of the germ mycobacterium<br />
tuberculosis that<br />
causes tuberculosis disease,<br />
stressing that TB is a contagious<br />
disease that affect all ages and<br />
kills nearly 5000 people every<br />
day worldwide due to lack of<br />
access to treatment.<br />
Adeduntan added that over<br />
10.4 million people had TB death<br />
in 2017 and there were 1.8 milfounder<br />
said it was borne out<br />
of concern for the people at the<br />
grassroots who cannot afford to<br />
treat their eye problems.<br />
“My foundation is borne out<br />
of concern for our people suffering<br />
and do not have means of<br />
solving their problems. We have<br />
rolled out series of pragrammes<br />
pathogens,” said Alemu.<br />
“We are researching what<br />
has led to so many people<br />
becoming infected with Lassa<br />
fever,” said Chikwe Ihekweazu,<br />
Chief Executive Officer of the<br />
to begin in due course. So, part<br />
of it is the health outreach we<br />
embarked on to help Kwarans<br />
protect their eyes.<br />
“The eyes are essential organs<br />
in the body and a lot of people<br />
are having problems with their<br />
eyes and they cannot afford<br />
the expenses, our programme<br />
NCDC. “Even with a downward<br />
trend, until we can better understand<br />
the causes behind its<br />
rapid spread, we must treat the<br />
outbreak as a priority.” Whole<br />
genome sequencing can reveal<br />
therefore is aimed at giving the<br />
less privileged the opportunity<br />
to know the status of their eyes,<br />
giving them easy consultation,<br />
and they also get treatment<br />
immediately to deter further<br />
problems ,”he said.<br />
“I know a lot of people have<br />
problems and they do not know<br />
information that contributes to the<br />
understanding and the control of infectious<br />
disease outbreaks.<br />
Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic<br />
illness, transmitted to humans<br />
through contact with food or<br />
who to talk to so they can be cared<br />
for. We are targeting 5000 Kwarans to<br />
benefit from this programme and from<br />
here, we will move to Offa, and we will<br />
continue to go round through three<br />
Senatorial districts to reach the common<br />
people.<br />
“Out of my passion, I contacted the<br />
consultants from Irawo Optical from<br />
Ibadan Oyo State which is internationally<br />
affiliated to give support so as to<br />
save the people’s vision.”<br />
Ibrahim, who expressed satisfaction<br />
with the turnout of people, disclosed<br />
that, “the turnout of people really<br />
encouraged and motivated me, by the<br />
grace of God, if I get better opportunities<br />
in life, I will establish a free eye<br />
hospital for Kwara state.”<br />
He however, revealed that the third<br />
phase which was targeted at 10, 000<br />
people will commence in a week, just<br />
as he promised to continue to render<br />
service to humanity and enjoined well<br />
meaning Nigerians to help the needy.<br />
Some of the beneficiaries who<br />
spoke to <strong>BusinessDay</strong> commended<br />
the initiator and appreciated him for<br />
the kind gesture. The exercise was well<br />
attended by the children, elderly and<br />
middle aged.<br />
MIKE ABANG, Calabar<br />
household items contaminated by<br />
infected rodents. Person-to-person<br />
transmission can also occur, particularly<br />
in hospital environment in the<br />
absence of adequate infection control<br />
measures.<br />
AKINREMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan<br />
Obaseki to build 3 general hospitals in Edo<br />
… Assures enhanced working conditions for medical personnel<br />
Edo State Governor, Godwin<br />
Obaseki, has unveiled plans to<br />
build three general hospitals in<br />
the three senatorial districts in the<br />
state and assured medical personnel<br />
of improved working conditions for<br />
an effective and efficient healthcare<br />
system in the state.<br />
The governor gave the assurance<br />
when he received executive members<br />
of the Association of Resident<br />
Doctors with the Edo State Hospital<br />
Management Board (SHMB) at the<br />
Government House in Benin City,<br />
Edo State on Monday.<br />
Obaseki said, “This administration<br />
is aware of the challenges confronting<br />
the state healthcare system.<br />
We are working to resolve these<br />
challenges. We have held several<br />
meetings to see how to address the<br />
peculiar problems with the healthcare<br />
system in the state. We have<br />
records of medical personnel and<br />
state of facilities in the healthcare<br />
system in the state.”<br />
HBL TEAM<br />
Oyo offers free TB treatment for residents<br />
The Oyo State Government<br />
says it has offered free<br />
screening and treatment<br />
in all the health facilities across<br />
the state for individuals with<br />
persistent cough suspected to<br />
be Tuberculosis (TB).<br />
The State Commissioner for<br />
Health, Azeez Adeduntan, a<br />
medical doctor said that the free<br />
screening and treatment initiative<br />
of the Governnor Abiola Ajimobi<br />
administration is to reduce<br />
the spread of TB in the society,<br />
noting that all health facilities in<br />
the 33 Local Government Areas<br />
and 35 Local Council Development<br />
Areas (LCDAs) have been<br />
mandated and mobilised to effectively<br />
carry out TB screening<br />
and treatment.<br />
The commissioner enjoined<br />
any individual with persistent<br />
cough to visit health facilities<br />
for check-up, explaining that<br />
the most common symptom of<br />
Tuberculosis is persistent cough<br />
lasting 2 weeks or more which<br />
is accompanied by fever, night<br />
sweat, weight loss, chest pain,<br />
loss of appetite, coughing up of<br />
blood mixed with sputum and<br />
tiredness while the spread of TB<br />
could be attributed to living in<br />
an overcrowded environments,<br />
poor hygienic conditions, indiscriminate<br />
spitting of sputum<br />
and poor cough etiquette, malnutrition,<br />
HIV/AIDS, Diabetes<br />
mellitus and smoking.<br />
He stated this in Ibadan in his<br />
L-R: Vice President, Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Edo State Hospital Management Board (SHMB), Ehikioya<br />
Eustace; President, Umakhine Carl; Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki; Secretary to the State Government<br />
(SSG), Osarodion Ogie Esq., and Head of Service, Gladys Idahor, during the courtesy visit by new officials of the<br />
association, to the governor at the Government House in Benin City, Edo, on Monday, <strong>Mar</strong>ch 26, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Obaseki, however, appealed<br />
to the medical doctors<br />
to be patient and continue<br />
to support the reforms of the<br />
KEMI AJUMOBI, Editor - kemi@businessdayonline.com<br />
state government to revamp<br />
the health sector, noting, “The<br />
state government appreciates<br />
efforts of medical doctors.<br />
lion TB deaths in 2016 making it<br />
the top infectious killer disease<br />
Worldwide, saying “Nigeria now<br />
ranks 5th among the 22 Countries<br />
of the world with highest TB<br />
burden coming up from previous<br />
4th position in 2010. This is the<br />
result of scale up and expansion<br />
of TB treatment centre as an<br />
implementation strategy across<br />
all states in Nigeria”.<br />
He allayed the fears that Individuals<br />
suffering from TB need<br />
not be isolated once they are on<br />
treatment but should be encouraged<br />
by the community to attend<br />
clinic regularly, as tuberculosis<br />
can be completely cured provided<br />
the treatment started early and<br />
drugs are taken regularly for the<br />
stipulated length of time required.<br />
The Commissioner reiterated<br />
Government is working to establish<br />
one General Hospital<br />
per local government council<br />
across the state, while one<br />
ANTHONIA OBOKOH, ANI MICHAEL, Reporters I David Ogar, Graphics<br />
on the need to create a neat<br />
and healthier environment in<br />
the state, saying that the state<br />
government will continue to<br />
prioritise cleanliness of its environment.<br />
Adeduntan acknowledged<br />
the unflinching support of<br />
the Damien Foundation Belgium<br />
to the state on TB control<br />
programme, saying that the<br />
foundation has contributed<br />
immensely to infrastructural<br />
and capacity developments<br />
across the State.<br />
He also commended religious<br />
and occupational groups,<br />
civil society organizations and<br />
the media houses for the tremendous<br />
improvements and<br />
support for the TB control<br />
programme.<br />
super General Hospital will be<br />
sited in each senatorial district<br />
for optimal performance.<br />
Noting that the state has<br />
made plans for a health insurance<br />
scheme, he said, “A bill<br />
for a law to set up the State<br />
Health Insurance Scheme is<br />
before the State House of Assembly.<br />
The bill is structured<br />
to make provision for affordable<br />
and accessible healthcare<br />
for people in the state.”<br />
President, Association of<br />
Resident Doctors, Edo State<br />
Hospital Management Board,<br />
Karl Umakhine, said, “The<br />
visit is to enable us present<br />
the challenges confronting<br />
the health sector and to contribute<br />
to the solutions. It is<br />
not true that doctors in the<br />
state don’t report at their duty<br />
post. We work under difficult<br />
conditions but need to be<br />
motivated.”
20 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
MoneyInsight<br />
Personal Finance: Investing Retirement Taxes Credit Cards Home Buying Small Business Shopping Financing<br />
Uber applies for<br />
e-payments licence<br />
FRANK ELEANYA<br />
After revolutionising<br />
system transportation<br />
around the<br />
world, Uber Technologies<br />
is looking to vie for a share<br />
of the global e-payments<br />
market. The company<br />
formally applied to the<br />
Dutch central bank for a<br />
European payments processing<br />
licence that will<br />
enable it streamline its<br />
payment processes across<br />
businesses such as its core<br />
ride-hailing app and its<br />
fast-growing UberEats food<br />
delivery venture.<br />
UberEats is a food-ordering<br />
app, designed to<br />
leverage the company’s<br />
vast network of drivers<br />
scattered across different<br />
locations to make meal<br />
ordering and delivery faster<br />
and more efficient. Prior<br />
to becoming a standalone<br />
app, the service was available<br />
inside the regular ride-<br />
Women-run businesses in Nigeria<br />
to unlock N19.7bn by 2022<br />
To make money from agriculture devolve to states, private sector players<br />
… Stakeholders at FRANCO/NIGERIAN Chamber of Commerce and Industry advise<br />
ISAAC ANYAOGU<br />
Nigeria has 84 million<br />
hectares of arable land<br />
and less than a third of<br />
that is cultivated. Nigeria possesses<br />
nearly 279 billion cubic<br />
meters of surface water, yet<br />
potential sources of irrigation<br />
from two of the major rivers in<br />
Africa – the Niger and Benue<br />
Rivers – remain unexploited.<br />
This is why experts are urging<br />
for a new engagement with<br />
the agriculture sector.<br />
Ade Adefeko, vice-president,<br />
corporate & government<br />
relations, OLAM Nigeria in a<br />
keynote address at the Franco/<br />
Nigerian Chamber of Commerce<br />
and Industry (FNCCI)<br />
breakfast meeting held in Lagos,<br />
on Monday, said a new<br />
engagement is necessary.<br />
“The bane of Nigerian Agriculture<br />
in my view is a lack<br />
of a structured value chain<br />
that speaks to our production,<br />
processing and storage<br />
capabilities. As I have often<br />
alluded at different fora, for<br />
Nigeria to be competitive we<br />
must play to our comparative<br />
advantage. For Agricultural<br />
development to thrive and be<br />
impactful, we must devolve<br />
to the Sub-nationals herein<br />
referred to as States and Private<br />
sector players and leave<br />
the Big Elephant the Federal<br />
Government to concentrate<br />
on enabling environment as<br />
sharing app for about a year<br />
and half. In Africa, UberEats<br />
standalone app was first<br />
launched in South Africa<br />
before it came to Nigeria<br />
in 2016.<br />
UberEats may not be<br />
very popular in Nigeria,<br />
but the ride-hailing side<br />
of Uber’s business is well<br />
known to many people<br />
living in cities like Lagos,<br />
Abuja and Port Harcourt.<br />
According to an Uber<br />
spokesperson, the ridehailing<br />
company is “constantly<br />
expanding the range<br />
of products we offer and<br />
improving the experience<br />
for those who use our apps.”<br />
Sky News reports that in<br />
a bid to be classified as an<br />
electronic money institution,<br />
Uber has created a<br />
new subsidiary called Uber<br />
Payments BV.<br />
Following the setting up<br />
of the unit, the company has<br />
gone to the market to recruit<br />
a non-executive director to<br />
serve on the board of the<br />
new unit. The supervisory<br />
board will consist of two<br />
members and will operate<br />
in accordance to Dutch<br />
company law.<br />
Uber’s e-payment move<br />
is seen as efforts to clone<br />
the success of its South East<br />
Asian rival, Grab. Grab has<br />
its own peer-to-peer payments<br />
app and recently expanded<br />
its financial services<br />
offerings with the launch<br />
of a dedicated unit and the<br />
introduction of microloans<br />
and insurance products.<br />
Interestingly, Uber<br />
agreed to sell its business<br />
in South East Asia to Grab<br />
on Monday, 26 <strong>Mar</strong>ch, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
The deal will see Grab merging<br />
Uber’s ride-hailing and<br />
food delivery businesses<br />
with its own operations.<br />
Meanwhile, Uber will acquire<br />
a 27.5 percent stake<br />
in Grab and Uber CEO Dara<br />
Khosrowashahi will join the<br />
firm’s board.<br />
FRANK ELEANYA<br />
Businesses that are<br />
set up by women<br />
could create 8.9 million<br />
jobs and unlock N19.7<br />
billion for the Nigerian<br />
economy over the next five<br />
years (by 2022), according<br />
to a new research released<br />
by Facebook.<br />
The report also revealed<br />
that 12 percent of women<br />
within the ages of 25 and 34<br />
will employ 1 to 10 employees<br />
in the next five years.<br />
Facebook announced<br />
the report findings carried<br />
out on its behalf by a<br />
firm called Development<br />
Economics, at the launch<br />
of #SheMeansBusiness in<br />
Lagos, Nigeria on Tuesday,<br />
27, <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>. The launch<br />
was part of the company’s<br />
efforts to celebrate the role<br />
of women in driving the<br />
economy in Nigeria, coinciding<br />
with the International<br />
Women’s Day commemoration.<br />
Abi Williams, SMB Sales<br />
Manager, Facebook said the<br />
goal of the initiative #SheMeansBusiness<br />
is to help train<br />
many more women who are<br />
L-R Moses Umoru, director general FNCCI, Anais Fabre, head subsaharan Africa, Adepta France,<br />
Charles Akhibe, vice chairman, Benin Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Ade<br />
Adefeko, vice-president, corporate & government relations, OLAM Nigeria, Adekunle So nola, executive<br />
director of Union Bank at the FNCCI breakfast meeting in Lagos on Monday.<br />
selves from this shackle and<br />
more often than not policy flip<br />
flops are prevalent and states<br />
do not punt their competitive<br />
and comparative strengths.<br />
Adefeko explained that<br />
critical infrastructure like access<br />
roads, power/energy<br />
are often lacking and states<br />
expect investors to put all this<br />
in place. “Farming should be<br />
all year round and as such<br />
irrigation is critical and the<br />
states should take advantage<br />
of the dams and River Basin<br />
Authorities and this where<br />
synergy with Ministries of Water<br />
Resources and Agriculture<br />
is important.<br />
Panel members which<br />
included: Adekunle Sonola,<br />
executive director of Union<br />
Bank,said security, finance and<br />
market access are critical issues.<br />
per policy framework,” said<br />
Adefeko.<br />
He further said, “In driving<br />
this, State Governments<br />
must identify critical success<br />
factors that will drive the process<br />
and enable same. A few<br />
that come to mind are Policy<br />
and Regulatory framework,<br />
Land Access, Infrastructure,<br />
Security, Finance, Inputs and<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ket Access.<br />
“On a consistent basis, a<br />
framework that guides and<br />
supports the Agriculture value<br />
chain is most times lacking by<br />
the sub-nationals as the Federal<br />
government over centralizes<br />
policy and the states cannot<br />
seem to extricate themalready<br />
in business and those<br />
hoping to start one someday.<br />
“Women are constantly<br />
pushing boundaries, whether<br />
they are working for themselves<br />
or for others,” Williams<br />
said. “When you put a group<br />
of women in a room, they start<br />
to connect. Many women are<br />
just natural entrepreneurs.”<br />
Facebook also announced<br />
its partnership with She Leads<br />
Africa to ensure the success<br />
of #SheMeansBusiness. The<br />
launch of the initiative in Nigeria<br />
is the first in sub-Saharan<br />
Africa and it brings together<br />
thousands of female entrepreneurs<br />
in a series of day workshops<br />
and training sessions<br />
across six cities across the<br />
country. The cities include<br />
Lagos, Kaduna, Port Harcourt,<br />
Ibadan, Abuja and Aba.<br />
Applications opened on<br />
27 <strong>Mar</strong>ch, <strong>2018</strong> at sheleadsafrica.org/shemeansbusiness.<br />
Training sessions will<br />
be followed by post-training<br />
clinics aimed at re-engaging,<br />
advising and mentoring participants.<br />
Abi Williams noted that<br />
the involvement of women<br />
in the Nigeria economy has<br />
seen their businesses grow<br />
“There have been many<br />
interventions, like operation<br />
feed the nation, green<br />
revolution,etc, the challenge<br />
is the programmes have not<br />
achieved what they were designed<br />
to achieve. We need to<br />
stop importation of food and<br />
we need to produce food in<br />
a sustainable manner, there’s<br />
a lot of steps we need to take<br />
and financing is one of them,”<br />
said Sunola.<br />
Some states have served as<br />
hotbeds of communal clashes,<br />
herdsmen attacks and other<br />
sundry security challenges<br />
that discourage investment,<br />
this has to be tackled.<br />
Adefeko called for micro<br />
credits and low and single<br />
digit interest rates from intervention<br />
funds offered by<br />
specialist banks should be<br />
encouraged. He also called for<br />
market access for crops grown<br />
significantly. For instance, the<br />
number of businesses owned<br />
by women on Facebook has<br />
grown by 319 percent.<br />
“We know that when women<br />
do better, economies do<br />
better,” Ebele Okobi, Facebook<br />
Public Policy director, Africa<br />
said. “The study conducted<br />
by Development Economics<br />
further highlights this,<br />
with research suggesting that<br />
an estimated 7 million new<br />
businesses could be set up by<br />
women in Nigeria by 2021 –<br />
placing a greater importance<br />
on the role of women’s entrepreneurial<br />
ambitions for<br />
overall economic and social<br />
development in the country.”<br />
Commenting on the partnership<br />
and trainings Afua<br />
Osei, Co-Founder of She<br />
Leads Africa added “We’re<br />
excited to continue our partnership<br />
with Facebook to<br />
expand access to the digital<br />
skills necessary to move African<br />
businesses forward. We<br />
know that with the right tools<br />
and support, African women<br />
can compete on a global level<br />
and we look forward to taking<br />
these critical digital tools<br />
to entrepreneurs all across<br />
Nigeria.”<br />
urging state governments to<br />
guarantee produce, take excess<br />
production and store in<br />
silos as part of their Strategic<br />
reserve.<br />
“The federal government<br />
should use the states to<br />
achieve this. Farmers want to<br />
know they have a ready offtake<br />
for their crops either by the<br />
state or the investor in the<br />
value chain. And this is where<br />
the private sector comes in,”<br />
said Adefeko.<br />
Laurent Polonceaux, Consul<br />
General of the French<br />
Consulate in Nigeria in his<br />
remarks commended Nigeria<br />
for its economic diversification<br />
programme and called<br />
for sustained action. Moses<br />
Umoru, director general of<br />
the FNCCI said Nigeria can<br />
no longer delay in improving<br />
market access and growing the<br />
agricultural value chain.<br />
T. Mani chief information officer, Olam International presenting an award to Badejo Akinbamiwo, production<br />
manager, Olam Sesame for Excellence in Execution. Olam Nigeria recently held its annual Country Meet<br />
where achievements and accomplishments of outstanding employees in the previous year are recognised.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong> C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY<br />
21
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
22 BUSINESS DAY<br />
C002D5556<br />
‘I get fulfillment when I am teaching,<br />
training or performing music’<br />
From following her mother to choir practices to becoming an MTNF-MUSON scholarship beneficiary, Fatima Uriame Anyekema has become one of the leading<br />
contralto voices in the Nigerian classical music scene. In this interview with OBINNA EMELIKE, the concert artiste/recitalist who has performed celebrated<br />
operas and oratorios talks about her journey into music, recent admission at University of Notre Dame, US, for Masters in Sacred Music, and expectations.<br />
How was your growing up in Benin?<br />
Benin was just a transition<br />
point for me. My father is<br />
a retired police man, so his<br />
job was the reason for our<br />
movement. I was born in<br />
Jos, Plateau State. From there we moved<br />
to Benin, Edo State where I spent a part<br />
of my childhood. I attended Eweka<br />
Primary School in Benin City. At some<br />
point, my dad was forcefully retired<br />
and to ease the pressure of training<br />
seven children, I had to stay with my<br />
uncle. That is how I found my way<br />
to Delta State where I continued my<br />
secondary school education at Ishagu<br />
College, Ogwashi-Uku between 1992<br />
and 1997. From there, I proceeded to<br />
Ondo State Polytechnic, Owo, where I<br />
studied Accounting for about four years<br />
due to many industrial actions. After<br />
graduation, I moved to Lagos, where<br />
I officially found my love for music, at<br />
least the academic part of it so to speak.<br />
How and when did you encounter<br />
music?<br />
I cannot really remember what my<br />
singing life was before age seven but<br />
from there on, I remember going to<br />
church society meetings with my late<br />
mother, Catherine and she made me<br />
and my friends to start leading songs<br />
during their events. From that point<br />
on, around 1988-1989, I discovered<br />
that I could sing and I kept singing<br />
in church mostly. That period for me<br />
was very interesting because everywhere<br />
singing was taking place, I was<br />
part of it. At some point, I became a<br />
choir mistress at a young age and had<br />
to teach songs to my mates. I had a<br />
mentor then who took interest in<br />
my voice, he would teach me songs<br />
to teach the choir. As little as I was,<br />
I was able to conduct and teach the<br />
choir new songs. That period was<br />
very eventful and interesting. When<br />
I got into secondary school, I did not<br />
sing at all for some strange reasons. I<br />
did not join the choir but then I was a<br />
member of the Scripture Union. So,<br />
when we went to other secondary<br />
schools in Asaba or Ibuzor, I would<br />
sing with my school scripture union<br />
group. It was the farthest I went with<br />
music in secondary school. When<br />
I came back to Benin, I went back<br />
to sing with the choir and I learnt<br />
responsorial psalms because as a<br />
catholic, I had to sing responsorial<br />
psalms and people always commented<br />
favourably.<br />
When I moved to Ondo State, I<br />
stopped singing again and did not join<br />
the school choir. I just faced my studies.<br />
But I still knew I had it in me even<br />
though I did not do anything about it.<br />
Eventually, I moved to Lagos in 2004<br />
for my Industrial Training and I needed<br />
something exciting and different. During<br />
my job search, I found MUSON and<br />
it ignited my passion and interest again.<br />
I never looked back and did not even go<br />
back to complete my HND.<br />
Is there any trace of music in your<br />
family?<br />
My journey into music began when I<br />
started going to the choir with my late<br />
mother, Catherine. Then, as a child, I<br />
A celebration of African modernism<br />
The Àdùnní Chair narrates traditional African aesthetics through minimalist elegance<br />
Àdùnní (meaning ‘daughter<br />
of the sweet one’ in Yoruba),<br />
is a celebration of<br />
African modernism. The<br />
chair’s frame is made from Nigerian<br />
teak wood and is upholstered in two<br />
styles of the indigenous Yoruba textile<br />
Asò-oké. The front bears Asò-oké<br />
Gboro-gidi (solid) and behind Asòoké<br />
Onja-wú ati iho (perforated),<br />
both hand-loomed in Nigeria.<br />
The thoughtful material choices<br />
of the chair combine to stage a celebration<br />
of culture and art through<br />
furniture. The Àdùnní Chair is available<br />
in seven vibrant colours, each<br />
with a matching footstool. The colours<br />
are; pupa féré (pink), osàn<br />
(orange), pón (yellow), pupa (red),<br />
elésè àlùkò (purple), ewé (green)<br />
Fatima Uriame Anyekema<br />
and búlúù (blue).<br />
As the outfit formally launches<br />
the Àdùnní Chair, it is delighted to<br />
have Chidinma Ekile as its muse.<br />
Chidinma is a Nigerian singer and<br />
songwriter who rose to stardom in<br />
2010 after winning the third season<br />
of Project Fame West Africa.<br />
“We had the pleasure of producing<br />
the advertising campaign with an<br />
amazing team of creatives to execute<br />
our conceptual approach, ‘THIS IS<br />
US _ AFRICA’. Oladotun Ojuolape<br />
Kayode served for the second time<br />
as our creative director. Emmanuel<br />
Oyeleke, a fashion photographer,<br />
produced the stunning images. Jane<br />
Michael Ekanem, ‘Stylist to the stars’<br />
translated our 1920’s theme into seven<br />
looks”, the managment said.<br />
usually attended practices with her at<br />
St. Monica’s Choir in Benin, Edo State.<br />
There are seven of us in the family - six<br />
girls and one boy. Interestingly, four<br />
of my siblings were also in the choir<br />
at that time but then out of all of us,<br />
I was the only one who chose to do<br />
music professionally. If you look at<br />
some other families like the Sowandes’<br />
and so on, you will see that some of<br />
them played the piano, some other<br />
instruments and they studied music<br />
unlike ours, we were just choristers<br />
singing in the choir. At some point in<br />
my life, I decided to take the decision<br />
to study music.<br />
Aside singing, do you play any music<br />
instrument?<br />
I play the piano, I teach the piano too<br />
although I am not quite proficient.<br />
During the Diploma course at MUSON,<br />
I took grade 2 piano lessons and all the<br />
vocal major students were made to<br />
take piano course. When I went back<br />
to University of Lagos for BA in Music,<br />
I had to improve on it. I teach piano to<br />
beginners now. I did other minor musical<br />
instruments like violin, clarinet, but<br />
the piano came in handy.<br />
As well, hair-stylist Gift Ekhile<br />
and makeup artist, Oriaba Wakana<br />
brought together the concept to<br />
mimic African bronze statuettes.<br />
Others are Oladayo Odunaro, cine-<br />
As an MTNF scholar, what was that<br />
experience for you like?<br />
The sponsorship support covered my<br />
tuition, buying music books and pocket<br />
allowance. I was grateful for these things<br />
because they really came in handy.<br />
Also, the opportunities that the MTN<br />
Foundation provided for me were huge<br />
because I had the chance to perform on<br />
stages and platforms that would never<br />
have been available if I did not have<br />
a scholarship. MTN Foundation has<br />
been at the centre of driving the renaissance<br />
in Nigeria’s art and music space.<br />
Every year, we have valentine concerts<br />
and recitals that provide exposure to<br />
burgeoning talents. I am grateful for the<br />
association with the brand.<br />
How excited are you with the scholarship<br />
at the University of Notre Dame?<br />
Notre Dame came with a lot of exciting<br />
packages. Until now, I cannot pay my<br />
way through a university in the US, UK<br />
or anywhere in the world. One of my<br />
priests who had studied abroad told me<br />
that there is a school in America that is<br />
tuition free and that they study Sacred<br />
Music but then it is a Catholic school. I<br />
said what do I want to do with sacred<br />
music, I am not planning to become a<br />
reverend sister or a religious personage.<br />
He convinced me that they had masters<br />
in different programmes but I did not<br />
want to have anything to do with sacred<br />
music, so I totally forgot about it.<br />
Things took different turn when I<br />
was graduating from the University of<br />
Lagos. Interestingly, my research work<br />
was on the music of the church in Nigeria.<br />
By the time I finished, the priest<br />
asked me what my plan was and I said<br />
nothing yet and he asked if I had tried<br />
the school he told me about. I was still<br />
not sure if I wanted to do it but along the<br />
line, I got an email. It was a strange happening<br />
because over the years, I have<br />
applied for some competitions abroad<br />
and sometimes, they keep sending<br />
emails as updates. I got an email from<br />
of those organisations, which I applied<br />
matographer and editor, documented<br />
the magic of the shoot with music<br />
from SMirK.<br />
Ilé-Ilà, which means House of Lines,<br />
is a lifestyle furniture line designed<br />
for the competition advertising Notre<br />
Dame University, the same school the<br />
priest told me about and I wondered<br />
why I was being followed. By the time<br />
I read through their propositions, I<br />
realized that asides the scholarship,<br />
they had a lot to offer in terms of the<br />
faculty, staff, sourced materials and<br />
master classes. I am so grateful that<br />
the foundation provided by the MTNF<br />
scholarship has propelled me towards<br />
this new adventure and I am excited at<br />
what the future holds.<br />
What is your favourite genre of<br />
music?<br />
Growing up, I did not know I was a<br />
classical singer. My dad was a collector<br />
of different kinds of music; reggae,<br />
soul, and fuji. I did not come across<br />
jazz in his collection, but he collected<br />
so much music that anytime I go back<br />
home, it hits me that this must be where<br />
I was influenced. As a child, I spent time<br />
listening to music and sometimes I go<br />
back and look through his collections.<br />
I do not have a favourite, I sing classical<br />
music, and I may want to say it is my<br />
best but I enjoy all kinds of music. None<br />
stands out.<br />
How do you make money from<br />
music?<br />
Many people are concerned about this<br />
question. My dad also had this challenge.<br />
When he knew that I was into<br />
music full time, he was worried and<br />
asked how I was coping until in 2013<br />
when I invited him to watch my performance,<br />
that was when he gave his full<br />
blessings. There are a lot of things that<br />
you can do with music. You can teach,<br />
perform, attend workshops; you can<br />
write music and so on. A lot can be done<br />
with music. I get fulfillment when I am<br />
teaching, training or performing music.<br />
Do you have any expectations?<br />
I hope that I will subsequently apply for<br />
a PhD after the programme. That will be<br />
like the ultimate goal.<br />
and handmade in Lagos, Nigeria.<br />
The brand focuses on period-conscious<br />
furniture with contemporary<br />
African content. Ilé-Ilà was created<br />
by Tosin Oshinowo, architect behind<br />
the design and execution of the<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>yland Mall Lagos, a commercial<br />
piece of architecture that captures<br />
the rapid development of the subsaharan<br />
region.<br />
As an architect, she has a natural<br />
affinity towards product design. She<br />
is particularly interested in the functionality<br />
of chairs, but also placing<br />
them in a Nigerian-African identity<br />
context. Unlike her minimalist approach<br />
to architecture, which often<br />
uses mute colours, her furniture design<br />
aesthetic is a bright explosion of<br />
colour.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
C002D5556<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
23<br />
Movie Review - MOLLY’S GAME<br />
Molly’s Game<br />
was absolutely<br />
remarkable<br />
and intriguing,<br />
one that you could<br />
connect and recon with,<br />
the movie taught us about<br />
life with its ups and downs,<br />
failures and success, and the<br />
courage not to ever give up.<br />
Although fans might quick<br />
to misjudge and write off<br />
the movie bases on the title,<br />
I was absolutely glad I made<br />
out time to watch. Haven<br />
seen the reviews and excitement<br />
about the movie, it was<br />
key that I also reviewed the<br />
movie. It was a calm movie<br />
with loads of suspense and<br />
drama, but I totally enjoyed<br />
every bit of this movie, as<br />
you couldn’t afford to miss<br />
any scene to avoid being<br />
lost. You know we always<br />
have this myth about children<br />
from strict parents always<br />
turning out good, the<br />
reverse was the case with<br />
Molly, although her dad<br />
pushed her and her brothers<br />
so hard to become the<br />
best in whatever they did, it<br />
turned out that Molly didn’t<br />
really enjoy it and wanted to<br />
just rebel against her dad.<br />
Director Aaoron Sorkin<br />
was at his best in this movie,<br />
he was also the movie writer,<br />
and he did a perfect job.<br />
He made a good blend with<br />
Molly telling her story from<br />
the end to the beginning and<br />
in between scenes, he played<br />
her past life to explain to us,<br />
where she was coming from<br />
and how she turned out to<br />
be what she was. Molly was<br />
a goal getter and one who<br />
will never give up to defeat<br />
or failure. His choice of location<br />
and crew was awesome<br />
and each blended well to<br />
their role Jessica Chastain<br />
was just perfect for the lead<br />
role as Molly. Although Molly<br />
looked weak and calm,<br />
she was very strategic and<br />
coordinated, she knew exactly<br />
what she wanted and<br />
nothing could stop her.<br />
The movie started from<br />
the end with the FBI picking<br />
up Molly and claiming she<br />
was involved with some Russian<br />
guys who played poker<br />
at her high class organized<br />
games. Molly grew up with<br />
her dad and mum is a very<br />
quiet area in the hills, where<br />
she practiced her skiing every<br />
day. Mollys father was a<br />
psychologist and a very strict<br />
dad, while her mum was<br />
very quiet, she hardly spoke<br />
except it was necessary,<br />
Molly’s mum loved her dad<br />
so much and didn’t want<br />
him to feel upset, so didn’t<br />
complain when he pushed<br />
the kids so hard to practice<br />
and when they were tired he<br />
worked on their minds and<br />
called them lazy and quitters,<br />
which they hated and<br />
they kept on with long hours<br />
of practice every day in the<br />
cold, sometimes turning<br />
blue in the cold. The push<br />
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Michael Cera, Bill<br />
Camp, Jeremy Strong, Kevin Costner, Chris O’Dowd<br />
Genre: Drama<br />
Director: Aaron Sorkin<br />
Ratings: PG 13 (for language, drug content and some<br />
violence)<br />
Written by: Aaron Sorkin<br />
Runtime: 140 mins<br />
Studio: STX Films<br />
from her dad made Molly so<br />
tough, that she couldn’t wait<br />
to leave her father’s house<br />
and leave on her own, she<br />
did even without a penny,<br />
but she was destined to<br />
make it big and spite her father,<br />
as she couldn’t ever see<br />
herself going back to beg her<br />
father for assistance.<br />
So Molly set up her on<br />
poker game after understudying<br />
her previous boss,<br />
she was the queen of poker<br />
games and in 1 year of Business<br />
Molly made over $4m<br />
dollars, she was in business,<br />
she was in control, but she<br />
studied hard and played by<br />
all the rules and paid her<br />
taxes, she never mixed business<br />
and pleasure, she was<br />
absolutely amazing and intelligent.<br />
Molly could stay<br />
up for 4 days straight with<br />
no sleep or rest to keep tab<br />
of the games and avoid losing<br />
money. Molly was in<br />
mega funds until one day<br />
the bubble got busted and<br />
she was back to zero, with<br />
no money as all her funds<br />
were seized by the government,<br />
but you know what<br />
Molly was tough and strong<br />
willed, she wanted to protect<br />
her image, name and honor<br />
and promised to go down<br />
along without mentioning<br />
the names of her clients. I totally<br />
loved the verdict at the<br />
end by the Judge as the stars<br />
smiled on Molly and she was<br />
vindicated.<br />
I sincerely loved and enjoyed<br />
every bit of this movie,<br />
which got me thinking even<br />
after the movie, her determination<br />
and tenacity made<br />
me motivated that nothing<br />
is impossible if you believe<br />
and to succeed in life<br />
it doesn’t matter how many<br />
times you fail at something,<br />
what really matters is how<br />
many times you get up and<br />
start again, for me this is a<br />
movie with loads of lesson, if<br />
you listen attentively.<br />
To my verdict I would say<br />
an 8/10 for Molly’s Game,<br />
why because I enjoyed the<br />
suspense, thrill, excitement<br />
and storyline. The end for<br />
me was even better than<br />
my prediction, did I learn a<br />
few lessons here and there,<br />
an absolute yes, was I inspired<br />
and impressed yes off<br />
course, they kind of ticked all<br />
my boxes. Even the cast, locations<br />
and costumes were<br />
precise. I could go on and<br />
on about Molly, but I would<br />
end here for now, for those<br />
viewers who love a highly<br />
intellectual and intriguing<br />
story with a nice twist, then<br />
I am definitely recommending<br />
Molly’s Game for you<br />
this weekend.<br />
Feel free to review any<br />
movie of your choice in not<br />
more than 200 words, please<br />
send us a mail to linda@<br />
businessdayonline.com and<br />
stand a chance to win a free<br />
movie ticket<br />
Linda Ochugbua<br />
@lindaochugbua<br />
Business Etiquette<br />
with Janet Adetu<br />
Sitting Savvy<br />
Who would<br />
h a v e<br />
thought<br />
that simply<br />
sitting<br />
down could play a major<br />
role in determining one’s<br />
level of confidence, selfesteem<br />
and presence. The<br />
act of sitting down and staying<br />
positioned also communicating<br />
the right body<br />
language is all an etiquette<br />
value that should not be<br />
taken for granted. How you<br />
sit therefore tells us a lot<br />
about you, your personality,<br />
and your brand style,<br />
not to mention your level of<br />
etiquette intelligence. I discovered<br />
that many people<br />
tend to overlook how they<br />
sit, they forget the image<br />
they portray after sitting and<br />
the message or perception<br />
they leave in the minds of<br />
others who see them. Your<br />
position while seated creates<br />
a positive image of you<br />
if done correctly. You should<br />
strive to look, approachable,<br />
authoritative, friendly,<br />
assertive, confident, bold,<br />
affirmative, trustworthy,<br />
lively and humble. All these<br />
are secret traits of a business<br />
leader.<br />
As a woman your elegant<br />
position when sitting speaks<br />
to your level of elegance,<br />
personality and character.<br />
As a woman, your charming<br />
poise speaks to your strong<br />
character, your values and<br />
everyday professional practice.<br />
During my training sessions,<br />
I get to experience all<br />
manner of sitting from both<br />
men and women alike, some<br />
decently positioned others<br />
not so pleasant. Sitting well<br />
is a way of life once mastered<br />
it becomes a part of you, you<br />
will avoid breaking protocol<br />
and sabotaging your image.<br />
Sitting to a large extent is<br />
also influenced by where<br />
you are at any point in time<br />
either in a business, formal<br />
or social setting.<br />
I have included a few basic<br />
sitting protocol read on:<br />
BASIC SITTING SAVVY<br />
Prepare for sitting<br />
This is mainly directed at our<br />
women, time and time again<br />
I see our young girls and<br />
women sit on a chair directly<br />
almost sitting on bare skin<br />
when they touch the seat.<br />
Whether you are wearing<br />
trousers, a skirt or a dress,<br />
it is good to always tuck the<br />
back of your clothes in before<br />
finally sitting down. This<br />
way you prepare yourself<br />
for the seat if it is hard, soft,<br />
cushioned or cold metal.<br />
Place your hands at the back<br />
of your clothes brush down<br />
slightly then sit.<br />
Keep knees together<br />
To avoid awkward sitting, it<br />
is ideal to remember to keep<br />
both knees together at all<br />
times. It presents a decent<br />
sitting position whether you<br />
are waiting for an interview,<br />
in a board room meeting,<br />
at a social gathering or in a<br />
formal dinner reception.<br />
Lock your ankle<br />
To secure your sitting position<br />
while your knees are<br />
together, it is safer to cross<br />
your feet at the ankle. You<br />
may do this with your feet<br />
crossed in front of you or<br />
for better positioning after<br />
crossing at the ankle try to<br />
slant your feet towards the<br />
left or the right as you are<br />
comfortable. This provides a<br />
better elegant look for ladies<br />
while seated. Men may keep<br />
feet crossed at the ankle if<br />
they are comfortable with<br />
that too. There is no need<br />
howeverfor the slanting of<br />
legs to one side.<br />
Knees wide apart<br />
Gentlemen, I want you to always<br />
feel comfortable when<br />
you are sitting, however, be<br />
very mindful and vigilant as<br />
to how you look and the image<br />
you portray while seated.<br />
You may not find anything<br />
wrong with your sitting position,<br />
however, the onlooker<br />
may not be so impressed.<br />
Sadly it is very unlikely you<br />
will be told to reposition<br />
your sitting pose, you will<br />
first be mocked unknowingly.<br />
Yes you are free to<br />
open your legs at the knees<br />
but please do with extra<br />
caution, avoid opening your<br />
knees too wide when seated.<br />
Remember the posture of<br />
a leader, a CEO, a business<br />
owner as well as that of a<br />
gentleman.<br />
Crossing your legs<br />
Crossing your legs with one<br />
leg over the knees or a leg<br />
on top of the other knee is a<br />
social sitting position which<br />
is acceptable in social settings<br />
but should be avoided<br />
in a business setting. Overly<br />
crossing your legs is deemed<br />
a position of arrogance, or<br />
waning to be noticed, it is<br />
that little extra sign of over<br />
confidence. At this point it<br />
is not about your socks or<br />
your shoes or your sense of<br />
fashion and style. Beware of<br />
your environment always.<br />
Your hands<br />
Finally, while sitting where<br />
do you position your hands?<br />
This is the finishing touch<br />
of your sitting savvy skills,<br />
it seals the body language<br />
you are portraying. For our<br />
ladies, your hands should<br />
rest on top of your knees, you<br />
should have them free from<br />
holding anything. Let your<br />
hands be prepared to shake<br />
someone, gesture while talking,<br />
receive a phone call or<br />
accept a glass or something.<br />
For men it is easier to place<br />
your hands on the arms of<br />
the chair you are sitting on<br />
for ease and comfort. If there<br />
are no arms then place your<br />
hands on top of your knees.<br />
There is no room for negative<br />
body language here,<br />
that includes facial touching,<br />
hair touching, fidgeting<br />
and any form of distraction.<br />
This indicates signs of<br />
low confidence, dampened,<br />
self-esteem, unassertiveness,<br />
lack of character and<br />
personality and many more<br />
saboting images.<br />
Good luck as you reposition<br />
your image, and your<br />
sitting savvy.<br />
Everyone is looking even<br />
when you do not see.<br />
Janet.adetu@gmail.com
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
24 BUSINESS DAY<br />
C002D5556<br />
Hotels<br />
Global Earth Hour; an hour of<br />
fanciful darkness in hotels<br />
Stories by<br />
OBINNA EMELIKE<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 24,<br />
<strong>2018</strong> was<br />
a very remarkable<br />
day for<br />
many guests in some hotels<br />
in Nigeria. At 8:<strong>30</strong>pm, they<br />
joined millions of other<br />
guests in top hotels across<br />
the world to celebrate the<br />
<strong>2018</strong> Earth Hour, an observance<br />
one hour of putting<br />
off all lights in the hotels<br />
and thereby illuminating<br />
a powerful message about<br />
environmental awareness<br />
and action.<br />
Celebrated on the<br />
theme, “Let Nature Shine”,<br />
the <strong>2018</strong> Earth Hour is<br />
further enlightenment<br />
and campaign on climate<br />
change following a successful<br />
United Nation’s<br />
COP21 conference in<br />
Paris. It was created and<br />
instituted by the World<br />
Wildlife Fund (WWF) in<br />
2007, to emphasise the<br />
threat of global warming<br />
and the need to reduce<br />
carbon emissions. Since<br />
2007, the event has become<br />
an annual ritual in<br />
the hospitality industry<br />
Sheraton Abuja, tree planting to mark Earth Day<br />
across the globe.<br />
However, the observance<br />
is a sacrifice on the<br />
part of the guests who also<br />
have the right to defer. In<br />
partaking in the one hour<br />
light off, guests enable hotels<br />
not only to reduce carbon<br />
emission, but also to<br />
save money from the electricity<br />
that would have been<br />
consumed within the light<br />
off hour. Though hotels,<br />
especially in Nigeria, wish<br />
it could extend to two hours<br />
or more because of the epileptic<br />
electricity supply, the<br />
global observation was just<br />
for an hour.<br />
It is estimated that over<br />
$5 million worth of energy<br />
is saved within this<br />
one hour across hotels in<br />
the world that observed it.<br />
In Nigeria, the observance<br />
was obvious at Transcorp<br />
Hilton Abuja and Sheraton<br />
Hotel Abuja, and other<br />
Starwood hotels in Nigeria.<br />
Sheraton Abuja Hotelwill<br />
go dark for one hour on<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 24 to shine a light on<br />
climate action in support<br />
ofEarth Hour <strong>2018</strong>.The hotel<br />
will join millions around<br />
the world in turning off<br />
its lights at 8:<strong>30</strong> p.m. local<br />
time to illuminate a powerful<br />
message about environmental<br />
awareness and<br />
action. The World Wildlife<br />
Fund (WWF) created the<br />
annual global environmental<br />
awareness event 11 years<br />
ago to emphasize the threat<br />
of climate change.<br />
Sheraton Abuja Hotel<br />
organized two activities<br />
on that day to mark the<br />
event. Associates planted<br />
Moringa trees at the hotel’s<br />
football pitch at 5pm;<br />
later on at 8:<strong>30</strong>pm inhouse<br />
guests and associates<br />
celebrated at the Pool<br />
Bar & Restaurant with<br />
good music as lights are<br />
turned off at designated<br />
areas to conserve energy.<br />
In 2016, nearly 600 Starwood<br />
properties around<br />
the world participated.<br />
In addition to conserving<br />
energy, many properties<br />
hosted events and activities<br />
that engaged associates<br />
and guests. Some projects<br />
and programmes included<br />
themed menus designed<br />
to highlight local and organic<br />
foods and Earth Hour<br />
inspired cocktails; special<br />
performances, tailored<br />
concerts, and displays of<br />
traditional entertainment;<br />
and distinctive campaigns<br />
devised to support individual<br />
community initiatives<br />
and conservation efforts.<br />
Top <strong>BusinessDay</strong> Partner Hotels<br />
Novotel Port Harcourt<br />
Address: 3 Stadium Road<br />
Rumuomasi, Port Harcourt<br />
Rivers State,<br />
Tel: 0809 713 5734<br />
Protea Hotel Apo Apartments<br />
Address: Ahmadu Bello Way,<br />
Apo, Abuja<br />
Tel: 09 480 1818<br />
Chida Hotel International<br />
Address: Plot 224, Solomon<br />
Lar Way, Utako, Abuja<br />
Tel: 0810 871 8882<br />
Transcorp Hilton Abuja<br />
1 Aguiyi Ironsi Street Maitama,<br />
Abuja<br />
Tel: +234-708-060-<strong>30</strong>00<br />
Hawthorn Suites by<br />
Wyndham Abuja<br />
1 Uke St, Garki, Abuja.<br />
Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234<br />
805 7522500<br />
Renaissance Lagos Ikeja<br />
Hotel<br />
#38/40 Isaac John St, Ikeja<br />
GRA100271, Ikeja<br />
Tel: +234-908-780 5555<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>riot woos guests with exciting Easter offerings<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>riot International<br />
is set to<br />
woo its teeming<br />
guests to an<br />
exciting Easter outing across<br />
its hotels in Nigeria. From<br />
Sheraton Lagos Hotel, Sheraton<br />
Abuja Hotel Four Points<br />
by Sheraton Lagos and Le<br />
Meridien Ogeyi Place, Port<br />
Harcourt, the foremost international<br />
hospitality chain, is<br />
promising an unforgettable<br />
Easter experience to loyal<br />
guests and patrons.<br />
According to Barry Curran,<br />
the area general manager<br />
for <strong>Mar</strong>riott International<br />
Hotels in Nigeria, “If you are<br />
thinking of that perfect stay<br />
at any of our venues in Lagos,<br />
Abuja or Port Harcourt this<br />
coming Easter season, you<br />
will not go wrong”.<br />
“Our well planned Sheraton<br />
Lagos Hotel room’s<br />
package commences from<br />
N63,600 only, those who<br />
book these rates will get a<br />
welcome drink on arrival<br />
and 20 percent off brunch<br />
on Easter Monday and complimentary<br />
breakfast for one<br />
kid under 12 years per paying<br />
adult”.<br />
Speaking further, Curran<br />
said, Good Friday and Saturday<br />
evening will feature<br />
a live band at the pool bar<br />
and happy hour from 7-9pm<br />
where unique cocktails will<br />
be sold. “On Easter Sunday,<br />
guests are sure to enjoy<br />
a special brunch for N16,<br />
000 per person inclusive of<br />
non-alcoholic beverages,<br />
while kids 12 and below<br />
will eat at half price. Guests<br />
can equally enjoy a perfect<br />
ambiance during brunch<br />
and kids are also in for a treat<br />
with bouncy castles and face<br />
painting activities to ensure<br />
a great time”.<br />
At Sheraton Abuja Hotel<br />
families and friends will<br />
experience an enriching<br />
Easter brunch at Papillon<br />
Restaurant for just N9,000<br />
per person, while the Easter<br />
weekend package room rate<br />
deal is perfect for families<br />
and goes for as low as N<br />
35,000 per night inclusive of<br />
breakfast, free access to the<br />
internet and the Sheraton fitness<br />
for an energizing experience<br />
from <strong>Mar</strong>ch 29 – April<br />
2, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
As well, children are not<br />
left out as there will be lots of<br />
fun games and activities such<br />
as the “Egg-citing” egg hunt<br />
game by the Easter Bunny<br />
with lots of prizes to be won;<br />
a take home art painting<br />
activity with an instructor<br />
for kids by Art Splash Studio<br />
for NGN 3,000 per kid where<br />
the first 10 children get to<br />
paint for free (one child, per<br />
paying adult).<br />
“For those visiting Four<br />
Points by Sheraton Lagos<br />
our Easter offer is set to run<br />
from <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>30</strong>- April 2, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
On good Friday, guests will<br />
have the opportunity to relax<br />
and unwind with a live<br />
music performance at the<br />
hotel’s famous rooftop bar,<br />
a well-known hang out spot<br />
with a fun atmosphere and<br />
panoramic view of the bar,<br />
barbeque, wine, great beer<br />
and music”.<br />
“The room’s package<br />
will start from N45, 000 per<br />
night for single occupancy<br />
inclusive of buffet breakfast<br />
for one and all taxes,<br />
high speed internet, use of<br />
the gym, swimming pool,<br />
kiddies’ playground access<br />
with a bouncy castle and<br />
PS4 game”. Also, guests can<br />
pamper themselves or their<br />
loved ones with 90 minutes<br />
of invigorating treatments at<br />
the hotel spa which includes<br />
a full body massage and mini<br />
facials.<br />
206 Hotel<br />
Plot 206 Cadastral Zone B02<br />
Opposite Kenuj 02 Mall, Oladipo<br />
Diya Road,<br />
Durumi District, Abuja<br />
Tel: 08119707993<br />
Email: 206abuja@gmail.com<br />
Protea Hotel (V/Island)<br />
Off Ajose Adeogun Street, V/<br />
Island<br />
Radisson Blu Anchorage<br />
Hotel<br />
1A,Ozumba Mbadiwe,Victoria<br />
Island.<br />
Protea Hotel (GRA Ikeja)<br />
GRA Ikeja<br />
Gombe Jewel Hotel, 22, Njamena<br />
Street, off Aminu Kano<br />
crescent Wuse 2, Abuja.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
Harvard<br />
Business<br />
Review<br />
ManagementDigest<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
25<br />
AEI’s president on measuring the impact of ideas<br />
ARTHUR C. BROOKS<br />
In the summer of 2008 I<br />
was happily working as a<br />
professor at Syracuse University<br />
when I received an<br />
unexpected phone call.<br />
For the previous year the American<br />
Enterprise Institute — one<br />
of the oldest and best-known<br />
think tanks in the country,<br />
where I had a part-time affiliation<br />
— had been searching for<br />
a new president. Was I willing to<br />
be considered for the job?<br />
I happen to know I wasn’t the<br />
first choice. For years I’d taught<br />
and written about fundraising<br />
and managing nonprofits, but<br />
I’d never actually practiced either.<br />
But I got lucky. They made<br />
the offer. I accepted.<br />
Between the time I accepted<br />
the position, in mid-2008, and<br />
when I started, the following<br />
January, the nonprofit economy<br />
imploded as a result of the Great<br />
Recession. My new colleagues<br />
and I had to show donors why<br />
their shrinking philanthropic<br />
investments should come to us<br />
rather than go to others, and<br />
how investment in our work<br />
would create tangible impact.<br />
Even before the recession,<br />
demonstrating impact was a<br />
growing concern in the nonprofit<br />
sector. For-profit businesses<br />
can quantify their impact using<br />
metrics such as shareholder<br />
returns, but nonprofits can’t.<br />
That’s doubly true for nonprofits<br />
in the world of pure ideas, like<br />
AEI. Yet modern philanthropists<br />
demand proof that their charitable<br />
dollars are doing real good.<br />
Show impact or fail — that<br />
was my initial major challenge<br />
as president of AEI. Meeting that<br />
challenge turned out to be more<br />
than a question of my personal<br />
survival in a new role. It has fundamentally<br />
changed how we do<br />
business.<br />
Nonprofit leaders typically<br />
make two mistakes when trying<br />
to answer the question “How<br />
do we know if we’re having an<br />
impact?” The first is what I call<br />
the “sui generis error.” It’s the<br />
idea that our work is unique and<br />
our organization is so unlike<br />
Ariel Zambelich<br />
anything else that exists that we<br />
can’t compare it with — or measure<br />
it against — any other organization.<br />
The second mistake is the<br />
“lamppost error,” named for the<br />
story about a guy who loses his<br />
keys in the street and spends<br />
hours looking for them under<br />
a lamppost because the light is<br />
better there. Nonprofits struggling<br />
to measure effectiveness<br />
will frequently turn to whatever<br />
is easiest to see — usually inputs<br />
such as how much they’ve<br />
received in contributions or<br />
outputs such as how busy they<br />
have been. This is obviously inadequate,<br />
because what we’re<br />
really interested in isn’t inputs<br />
or outputs but impact.<br />
The sui generis error leads<br />
to not measuring anything, and<br />
the lamppost error leads to measuring<br />
the wrong things. My colleagues<br />
and I set out to avoid<br />
both pitfalls and create a better<br />
way to understand and describe<br />
our progress.<br />
AEI’s output is pretty straightforward:<br />
books, research articles,<br />
op-eds, media appearances,<br />
public events and so<br />
on. These products effectively<br />
constitute our supply curve. But<br />
nobody contends that simply<br />
writing an op-ed guarantees a<br />
change in how leaders think and<br />
act. As a result, our output metrics<br />
are not particularly interesting<br />
in isolation. To move from<br />
output metrics to impact metrics,<br />
we had to overlay a demand<br />
curve on our supply curve. We<br />
had to find ways of measuring<br />
how much leaders wanted and<br />
sought our work.<br />
In the ideas industry this<br />
kind of demand is almost never<br />
directly observable. Instead of<br />
direct impact measures, we realized,<br />
think tanks need to develop<br />
proxy impact measures, by<br />
searching for where their supply<br />
curve intersects with competitive<br />
demand in the marketplace<br />
of ideas. We had to identify and<br />
track the products that leaders<br />
consume at some cost to themselves<br />
and in a direct trade-off<br />
with alternatives. In isolation,<br />
each of these metrics is a single<br />
point of limited utility. But considered<br />
together, they paint a<br />
pointillistic picture that helps us<br />
assess the impact of our work.<br />
Here is just one example from<br />
the suite of proxy metrics we’ve<br />
come to use:<br />
The most prestigious national<br />
newspapers each receive about<br />
1,000 unsolicited op-ed submissions<br />
every week. Editorial staffers<br />
ruthlessly reject everything<br />
except what they believe readers<br />
most need and want. That selectivity<br />
can reveal competitive<br />
demand for our product. Thus,<br />
although total op-eds written<br />
per year is just an output metric,<br />
the number of op-eds our scholars<br />
publish in a defined set of the<br />
most competitive outlets constitutes<br />
a viable proxy measure for<br />
impact. Though far from a catchall<br />
figure, this metric has one<br />
particularly useful aspect: The<br />
data is by definition public and<br />
thus allows comparison with<br />
peers and competitors. Every<br />
year to date, AEI has maintained<br />
a lead.<br />
The point is not to search for<br />
one perfect proxy. Instead, nonprofits<br />
operating in the ideas<br />
industry can build a dashboard,<br />
outfit it with a wide variety of<br />
variables, and then use it to<br />
gauge the revealed preferences<br />
of public leaders and the uptake<br />
of the organization’s work.<br />
At the same time we began<br />
constructing this impact dashboard,<br />
my AEI management<br />
colleagues and I made several<br />
complementary changes. For<br />
example, we wrote a new statement<br />
of purpose. We tried to<br />
make clear the moral goal of our<br />
ideas, which is to serve others.<br />
We then launched a series<br />
of high-profile entrepreneurial<br />
ventures designed to create<br />
impact and fulfill our new<br />
statement of purpose. Some of<br />
them are quite unusual, such as<br />
research on happiness, experimental<br />
multimedia ventures<br />
and a major collaboration with<br />
the Dalai Lama.<br />
Built and marketed like internal<br />
startups, these ventures<br />
do not displace any of our other<br />
work. We approach would-be<br />
donors as we would venture<br />
capitalists. We talk about the<br />
return on investment and establish<br />
the impact metrics that we<br />
will use to demonstrate success.<br />
Our new focus on impact has<br />
also helped us refine our audience<br />
development and segmentation.<br />
We believe that in the<br />
marketplace of ideas, we can<br />
classify potential consumers of<br />
our products into four groups<br />
according to their receptivity to<br />
a given message: true believers<br />
(who already agree), persuadables<br />
(who are open to hearing<br />
from us), hostiles (who think our<br />
perspective is stupid or evil) and<br />
apathetics (who couldn’t care<br />
less). We cross these four attitudinal<br />
groups with the five key<br />
demographic groups — policymakers,<br />
business leaders, the<br />
media, community leaders and<br />
academics — that form our target<br />
audience. This enables us to<br />
balance our strategies and offerings<br />
across these groups to<br />
maximize impact and more effectively<br />
serve our mission principles.<br />
Despite a few hiccups, our<br />
strategy has paid off. Since 2008<br />
AEI’s operating revenues have<br />
averaged annual growth of<br />
roughly 10%. More important,<br />
we’ve seen the impact of our<br />
research increase among policymakers<br />
and other leaders in<br />
dramatic ways. It’s an exciting<br />
time at AEI.<br />
(Arthur C. Brooks is the president<br />
of the American Enterprise<br />
Institute.)<br />
2017 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate
26 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
Policy Investments <strong>Mar</strong>ket Insight Influencers<br />
INFLUENCERS<br />
Death from toxic generator fumes<br />
birthed Havenhill Synergy – Odunaiya<br />
Sometimes entrepreneurs are those angry enough about a problem to roll up their sleeves and find a solution. OLUSEGUN<br />
ODUNAIYE, CEO of Havenhill Synergy, tells ISAAC ANYAOGU, the inspiration behind the formation of his clean energy company.<br />
Please give us an insight into your<br />
background?<br />
I<br />
had gone visiting a friend in a<br />
semi-rural community in Lagos<br />
State. As I walked the streets of<br />
that community, I ran into a<br />
young boy of school age but who<br />
was not in school. I was able to gather,<br />
having engaged him in a conversation<br />
that his parents could not afford to fund<br />
his education and promised to come<br />
back in two weeks and do something<br />
about his plight.<br />
I returned to this same community<br />
about three weeks later and found<br />
it inordinately difficult locating this<br />
young boy as everyone I enquired<br />
from were reluctant to discuss him.<br />
Fortunately or rather unfortunately,<br />
I met someone who generously<br />
volunteered information about the<br />
boy. He said ‘the boy, his two siblings<br />
and parents are dead’.<br />
I was dazed! Not necessarily by the<br />
concept of death but by the complete<br />
annihilation of an entire nuclear family<br />
in one fell swoop. My questions began<br />
to pour; how can this be? What could<br />
have happened? These and more<br />
questions I asked and was able to<br />
gather that they died from toxic fumes<br />
from a neighbour’s generating set.<br />
Sadly, I have come to know that in a<br />
nation of almost two hundred million<br />
people, this is not an isolated incident<br />
even today.<br />
Broken, this personal experience<br />
was the turning point in my career and<br />
my life. I knew I had to do something<br />
and this was one of the motivations and<br />
driving forces that birthed Havenhill.<br />
Havenhill Synergy is a Cleantech<br />
Company that started operations<br />
in 2010. We use solar energy to<br />
generate clean, safe, cost effective<br />
and sustainable electricity in urban<br />
and rural areas in Nigeria. Our current<br />
activities span both urban and rural<br />
areas.<br />
My first degree is in Physics and<br />
Solar Energy, but I have gone ahead<br />
to take courses in Management &<br />
Business Administration (MBA),<br />
Renewable Energy and Project<br />
Management.<br />
Please tell us about some of your<br />
most important projects?<br />
All of our projects are important to<br />
us as they are helping individuals<br />
and communities end blackout in<br />
a clean way. Our first mini-grid is a<br />
20kW Solar Mini-Grid with 115kW of<br />
storage deployed to Kigbe community<br />
in Abuja. It has been providing 24 hours<br />
electricity access for basic appliances<br />
such as light bulbs, fans and television<br />
to 1<strong>30</strong> homes and 7 businesses since<br />
June 2017. We also deployed a solar<br />
powered water pumping system<br />
providing 50litres of water each to <strong>30</strong>0<br />
persons on a daily basis. Other projects<br />
are a 12.8kW off-grid Solar System in<br />
Kuje, Abuja; a <strong>30</strong>0Watts Solar Home<br />
System to 50 rural household in Dakwa<br />
Community, Dei-Dei, Abuja. We are<br />
currently constructing a 40kW Solar<br />
Mini-Grid in Kwaku community, Kuje,<br />
Abuja and will be ready in another 6<br />
weeks.<br />
How have your operations helped to<br />
improve the lives of the people?<br />
In the rural areas, the living conditions<br />
of community residents have greatly<br />
improved. There has been drastic<br />
reduction of CO2 emission due to<br />
unsafe and hazardous means of energy<br />
Olusegun Odunaiye<br />
generation (generators). We have been<br />
able to stimulate few businesses that<br />
even operate at night. School children<br />
can study at night, clean and potable<br />
water is available to all. We are steadily<br />
and critically addressing the United<br />
Nations Sustainable goals 6 & 7.<br />
We have witnessed firsthand rural<br />
– rural migration, some residents from<br />
rural communities where electricity<br />
& clean water is not available have<br />
relocated to Kigbe where there is 24<br />
hours power supply. Electricity truly<br />
brings life and development.<br />
Your mini grid project in Kigbe,<br />
Abuja, what makes it outstanding?<br />
This is a relatively new industry in<br />
Nigeria and we have tried to put on<br />
ground a system that can stand the<br />
test of time. We made use of some of<br />
the best generating assets in the world,<br />
our meters and prepaid and smart,<br />
we remotely monitor activities, power<br />
generation, electricity consumption<br />
in Kigbe from anywhere in the world.<br />
We also trained a local operator who<br />
perform basic operation and acts as the<br />
vendor within the community.<br />
The industry will continue to grow<br />
especially with the new Mini-Grid<br />
regulation that was passed in October<br />
2017. We will continue to replicate this<br />
success in other communities.<br />
I understand it cost about N40m to<br />
set up a minigrid, please clarify, how<br />
was it easy to secure funding?<br />
Funding is one of the major missing<br />
link in the industry and it didn’t come<br />
easy at. 78% of the funding for Kigbe<br />
project came as grant funding from<br />
one of our major partners United States<br />
African Development Foundation<br />
(USADF). They didn’t just dash us<br />
the money, it was a competition, due<br />
diligence was done, timelines and<br />
deliverables had to be met and we<br />
sure executed that project as if our life<br />
depended on it.<br />
This has led us to attract other grant<br />
funding from the same organization<br />
and debt funding from another<br />
organization to scale up. We are hoping<br />
to see more active investor play in this<br />
industry and the Rural Electrification<br />
Agency (REA) through the World Bank<br />
is working to bring in investment into<br />
this industry.<br />
Projects like yours have benefited<br />
from funding by developmental<br />
agencies, how can these projects<br />
scale, and secure adequate funding?<br />
Any developer going into Mini-<br />
Grid electricity development must<br />
understand that this is a business<br />
that must be proven sustainable and<br />
financial bankable before any investor<br />
or financier will put their money into it.<br />
Havenhill has a scale up plan; we<br />
have rural communities that we have<br />
assessed and profile with accurate<br />
date and site analysis. We are able to<br />
demonstrate to potential investors that<br />
the projects are viable and customer’s<br />
willingness to pay is high. There are few<br />
Mini-Grid developers in Nigeria today<br />
and I know most of them have bankable<br />
and viable scale up plans. Most of the<br />
funding for Mini-Grids development<br />
have been foreign sourced but we are<br />
gradually seeing interest from local<br />
financiers, crowd funding platforms<br />
and equity investors.<br />
Payment systems in rural areas are<br />
still rudimentary, how have your<br />
company weathered this challenge?<br />
When there is a will, there is always<br />
a way. We are constantly fashioning<br />
out ways to improve collections. I can<br />
authoritatively say that our customers<br />
have been paying for the past 9 months.<br />
We have local vendor who do revenue<br />
collection and credit customer’s<br />
meters. The best way for revenue<br />
collection in rural communities is<br />
through mobile Money.<br />
However, if you consider the<br />
development of mobile money in<br />
East Africa to West Africa, you will<br />
see a big difference in the adoption.<br />
This is largely due to government<br />
regulation on the design of mobile<br />
money infrastructure in both areas. As<br />
policies improve, collection will also<br />
improve but we will always find a way<br />
to go around this issue.<br />
What new projects are in the<br />
pipeline?<br />
We have done assessment of over 20<br />
rural communities across 3 states, we<br />
are also pushing our various embedded<br />
generation projects in urban center.<br />
We are hopeful of developing at least<br />
10 Mini-grid this year with sight on 3<br />
already that should come up stream<br />
before the close of Q2 <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
What is your view about the off-grid<br />
energy market in Nigeria? What<br />
is required to deepen the market?<br />
What policies are required when<br />
compared to East African countries<br />
with better markets?<br />
The off-grid market is growing fast and<br />
is the solution for the Nigeria off-grid<br />
power sector. Deploying mini-grids<br />
and Solar Home System to off-grid<br />
rural communities is the cheapest<br />
and fastest way of getting power to<br />
those not connected to the national<br />
grid. Generation, transmission and<br />
distribution challenges in the power<br />
sector are avoided in this situation.<br />
With respect to rural electrification,<br />
the off-grid market is off to a great start.<br />
The Federal Government through<br />
the Rural Electrification Agency have<br />
made available a comprehensive<br />
identification, mapping and<br />
assessments of viable mini-grid and<br />
SHS sites. The current NERC Mini-grid<br />
regulation we have is good for now and<br />
can be better as the years go by.<br />
To deepen the market, we will need<br />
to have a one stop shop where you<br />
have major actors (regulators: NERC,<br />
Ministry of Environment, Customs,<br />
SON, etc.) and all those involved in<br />
the value chain present to attend to<br />
issues especially as related to licensing<br />
and imports.<br />
Since you are involved in backup<br />
systems, what happens to used<br />
batteries? How are they disposed?<br />
How many do you dispose in a<br />
month/year?<br />
We have an agreement with a licensed<br />
vendor who buy back these batteries<br />
from us whenever there is need to do<br />
so. We dispose a couple of batteries<br />
yearly.<br />
Isaac Anyaogu, Email: isaac.anyaogu@businessdayonline.com, 07037817378, Graphics: Joel Samson
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
C002D5556<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
27<br />
BUSINESS SOUTH-SOUTH<br />
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF SOUTH-SOUTH / SOUTH-EAST<br />
South East: 3,000 jobs lost, as Enugu Depot fails<br />
to receive products supplies from Port Harcourt<br />
BEN EGUZOZIE, Port Harcourt<br />
& REGIS ANUKWUOJI, Enugu<br />
Ministry of Niger<br />
Delta empowers 270<br />
displaced women,<br />
youths in Cross River<br />
MIKE ABANG, Calabar<br />
More than 3,000 jobs<br />
would not be restored<br />
around the<br />
Nigerian National<br />
Petroleum Corporation<br />
(NNPC) Enugu Depot after<br />
all, following failure by the national<br />
oil company (NNPC) to revive the<br />
depot in Enugu. In 2016, revival work<br />
began on the Depot, built in 1979 by<br />
the NNPC, and was expected to have<br />
completed before mid-year then; but<br />
sadly, after two years, the hope has<br />
been dashed for millions of people<br />
around the South East, South-South<br />
and North Central states.<br />
The depot has capacity to stock<br />
Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol,<br />
Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK)<br />
and Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), and<br />
was serving Enugu, Anambra, Kogi,<br />
Ebonyi and parts of Imo, Benue and<br />
Cross River states.<br />
With over 500 marketers, it supplied<br />
six million litres of petrol, two<br />
million litres of kerosene and another<br />
two million litres of diesel daily.<br />
The Group Managing Director<br />
(GMD) of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, who<br />
stated this during the 29th ongoing<br />
Enugu International Trade Fair, said<br />
they discovered 685 points of vandalization<br />
on the pipeline from Port<br />
Harcourt refinery to Enugu, which<br />
were inflicted within six months,<br />
while the corporation was trying to<br />
fix the pipeline from Aba to Enugu.<br />
He said that although Enugu<br />
Depot was so essential to NNPC<br />
distribution network, it is not only<br />
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin<br />
Lift Above Poverty Organization<br />
(LAPO) has honoured<br />
three women with its outstanding<br />
women leadership<br />
award for their various contributions<br />
to human, social progress and uplift<br />
of mankind in the society.<br />
The women honoured in the<br />
<strong>2018</strong> edition of the organization are<br />
Patience Adamu, a civil servant in the<br />
employment of Edo State Government,<br />
Oti Justina Onyenaturuchi and<br />
Esther Agbonzikilo.<br />
They were honoured in recognition<br />
of their various endeavours, in<br />
the area of business, professional<br />
and public life.<br />
Patience Adamu, the current<br />
secretary, Agency for Adult and<br />
Non-Formal Education, ministry of<br />
Education, Benin-City was awarded<br />
for her contribution to human and<br />
social progress; Oti Justina Onyenaturuchi<br />
was recognized for building<br />
the skill and capacity of young<br />
women for an empowered adult<br />
life while Esther Agbonzikilo, was<br />
awarded, through her school trained<br />
several hundreds of women and contributing<br />
to employment generation<br />
of the country.<br />
The trio, emerged winners in<br />
strategic to the South-East, but also<br />
to the North Central because it is<br />
from Enugu Depot that products are<br />
pumped up to <strong>Mar</strong>kudi and the North<br />
East up to Yola.<br />
Baru, however, noted that as far as<br />
that speed of vandalization continues,<br />
it would be quite difficult to fix the<br />
pipeline.<br />
<strong>BusinessDay</strong> learnt that the Port<br />
Harcourt refinery stopped supplies to<br />
Enugu Depot around 1996, following<br />
uncontrolled vandalism of the pipelines<br />
linking it with other facilities.<br />
The Depot has installed capacity of<br />
12 million metric tons of products.<br />
Since its inactivity, marketers had<br />
resorted to sourcing products from<br />
Lagos, Warri and Port Harcourt via<br />
trucks, with attendant diversions,<br />
loss of funds. Trucks are said to be<br />
Winners of the <strong>2018</strong> LAPO Outstanding<br />
Women Leadership Award, Justina<br />
Onyenaturuchi (l), Patience O. Adamu<br />
(m) and Esther Agbonzikilo<br />
public life, business and professional<br />
categories respectively.<br />
In his remark, during the presentation<br />
of the award, the managing<br />
director/founder of LAPO, Godwin<br />
Ehigiamusoe, said the outstanding<br />
women leadership award instituted<br />
in 2013 was geared toward reinforcing<br />
the positive image of women<br />
in Nigeria and help in reducing the<br />
influence of negative attitudes and<br />
practices that discriminates against<br />
and exclude women.<br />
Ehigiamusoe, represented by<br />
Eddy Aghimien, a board member<br />
of the organization, noted that the<br />
establishment’s contribution to the<br />
advancement of women has been<br />
most rewarding as well as witnessed<br />
women with poor socio-economic<br />
regularly hijacked.<br />
The depot had not functioned<br />
in the last 22 years, due to constant<br />
breakdown in pipelines linking it with<br />
others, and faulty machines.<br />
The NNPC GMD said as long as<br />
the vandalism continues, “it will be<br />
very difficult for us to supply products<br />
to the Enugu Depot from Port<br />
Harcourt.”<br />
He said that normally when fixing<br />
pipeline, they are subjected to testing;<br />
and that the corporation does that<br />
for six weeks. But in the case of this<br />
pipeline, it was on test, and every now<br />
and then the pipeline is breaching,<br />
and also making insertion. So, it is<br />
our greatest interest that we restore<br />
the Enugu Depot, but we need your<br />
assistance because ECCIMA is the<br />
closest to the people,” he added.<br />
LAPO celebrates 3 women’s contributions to society<br />
and health status transform to highly<br />
motivated women with more control<br />
o dr their lives, and those of their<br />
children while contributing their<br />
own quota to national growth and<br />
development.<br />
He said, the organization sensitized<br />
2,882 women in 2017 on the<br />
dangers and solutions available for<br />
abused women and girls free legal<br />
aid rendered to 32 females on various<br />
issues including spousal abuse<br />
and violence.<br />
He added that 1,115 women out<br />
of 1,457 participants graduated from<br />
the LAPO micro business and financial<br />
literacy program.<br />
Ehigiamusoe, said since inception<br />
of the program, eighteen women<br />
have won the award.<br />
The LAPO boss, who said the<br />
award coincided with the celebration<br />
of the <strong>2018</strong> International Women’s<br />
Day, however urged all stakeholders<br />
to take urgent steps towards creating<br />
a world with gender balanced leadership,<br />
respect and values that uphold<br />
the rights and dignity of women.<br />
He explained, that the organization<br />
celebrated the award winners<br />
who through sheer determination,<br />
hard work and uncommon commitment<br />
have surmounted obstacles to<br />
become successful in their various<br />
endeavours.<br />
He said the worst affected locations<br />
are Ishiagu (in Ebonyi State) and<br />
Osisioma axis (Abia State); pointing<br />
out that it is a serious task, and that<br />
was why they are asking for the support<br />
of the people to stop the vandals<br />
from sabotaging the public asset, because<br />
of the importance of the Depot.<br />
He also called on marketers of<br />
petroleum products in the South<br />
East to desist from over-profiteering;<br />
saying that all petroleum products in<br />
Nigeria today are being supplied by<br />
the NNPC at N133 per liter, and saw<br />
no reason why a marketer should sell<br />
above N145 per liter.<br />
“If the complain is cost of transportation,<br />
other marketers from<br />
the north also lift products from the<br />
same place. Last week, the same<br />
marketer who lifts from Port Harcourt<br />
sold N141 per litre in Maiduguri.” He<br />
warned that any body caught selling<br />
above the government fixed price will<br />
face the law.<br />
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin<br />
Victor Ese Foundation, a non-governmental<br />
organization based<br />
in Italy, has rolled out plans to<br />
address food insecurity by encouraging<br />
Nigeria youths to embrace agriculture<br />
as a business.<br />
The president of the foundation,<br />
Victor Ese, who gave the hint at a press<br />
conference, listed the objectives of the<br />
organization to include helping Nigeria<br />
to be a hunger-free country in order<br />
to derive income growth, accelerate<br />
achievement of food and nutritional<br />
security and transform Nigeria into a<br />
leading player in global food market<br />
to grow wealth for millions of farmers.<br />
Others are to create employment<br />
opportunities for the youth and to encourage<br />
compatriots to obey the Nigeria<br />
call to serve our fathers land with love,<br />
strength and faith.<br />
Ese noted that when hunger problem<br />
is solved every Nigerian shall have<br />
adequate access to free emergency<br />
medical care and qualitative education.<br />
While pointing out that Nigerians<br />
must collectively come together to<br />
build s better country that can be proud<br />
No fewer than 270 displaced<br />
women and<br />
youths in all the 18 local<br />
government areas of Cross River<br />
State have been empowered<br />
through a two-week training in<br />
fisheries, poultry, entrepreneurship<br />
and Information and Communications<br />
Technology (ICT)<br />
at the University of Calabar<br />
Institute of Oceanography, managed<br />
by Stones and Jones Nigeria<br />
Limited.<br />
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs,<br />
Usani Usani, while flagging<br />
off the empowerment scheme,<br />
said, it was part of President<br />
Muhammadu Buhari’s initiative<br />
to cushion the effects of the<br />
economic recession, and put<br />
smiles on the faces of ordinary<br />
Nigerians.<br />
Usani, who was represented<br />
by Ogbiji Ogbiji, said, the training<br />
programme was done by the<br />
Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, in<br />
collaboration with Mennachimso<br />
Resources Nigeria Limited to<br />
empower women and youths in<br />
fish production, among others.<br />
He said the exercise is a continuous<br />
one as the programme<br />
has been captured in the 2017<br />
and <strong>2018</strong> budget awaiting passage<br />
by the National Assembly.<br />
A beneficiary and team leader<br />
of the fisheries aspect, Amba<br />
Bitty Bisong commended the<br />
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs<br />
and President Buhari for the gesture<br />
in empowering displaced<br />
women and youths in the state.<br />
Effiom Ogwa Enang commended<br />
the Federal Government for living<br />
up to its election promises<br />
through empowerment of the<br />
youths and children in the state.<br />
Food insecurity: Group urges<br />
Nigerians to embrace agriculture<br />
of home and abroad, noted that the<br />
objectives of the foundation can be<br />
achieved with sincerity, transparency,<br />
accountability, the support of individual<br />
and that of the state and federal<br />
governments.<br />
He explained that the foundation is<br />
collaborating with international partners<br />
to provide technical support and<br />
funds to empower farmers especially<br />
the young ones to galvanize the country<br />
out of food shortage.<br />
He also added that with the international<br />
supports, famers will be empowered<br />
with the necessary farming tools<br />
such as equipment to tackle hunger.<br />
Ese, disclosed that, the foundation<br />
has gone round the 36 states of the<br />
federation to mobilize for support to<br />
ensure that all the local technocrats<br />
and fabricators of agricultural machineries<br />
are inculcated into the project in<br />
order to reduce the importation of the<br />
machineries.<br />
Ese, who said the foundation came<br />
into existence in 2010, pointing out<br />
that a lot of activities have been carried<br />
in Italy and in Nigeria by empowering<br />
people on skills acquisition, assisted<br />
orphanage homes, the physically challenged<br />
persons among others.
28<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
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Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>
45<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
C002D5556<br />
BUSINESS DAY Online<br />
Highlight of the news reports on our digital platforms this week<br />
Best five stories this week<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
29<br />
BD INVESTIGATIVE SERIES:<br />
Nigeria’s cargo airports fail to<br />
take off after billions invested<br />
by FAAN<br />
Efforts to promote exports across the<br />
country are still a mere dream as most<br />
cargo airports have failed to take-off five<br />
years after the Federal Government designated<br />
13 airports for imports and exports<br />
of agro-allied products.<br />
Milost sued in New York for<br />
fraud, violating US securities<br />
exchange law<br />
There’s a tiny detail that Milost has<br />
deliberately concealed from the unassuming<br />
Nigerian public. Milost Global<br />
Inc, a purported US-based private equity<br />
firm, is facing six different charges in the<br />
United States after being sued for fraud by<br />
one Alexander MacGregor, according to a<br />
document filed at the New York Southern<br />
District Court and obtained by Business-<br />
Day.<br />
New import duty threatens<br />
Nigeria’s N18bn solar market<br />
Nigeria’s bourgeoning solar market<br />
valued at over N18bn is under threat,<br />
operators say, due to the imposition of up<br />
to 10% import duty on solar panels despite<br />
belonging to a classification system which<br />
grants it exemption.<br />
Unity debunks Milost claim over<br />
$1bn financing deal<br />
eries…they are not working, they are liabilities<br />
not assets, old and rusted. Nigeria<br />
is importing Petrol because her refineries<br />
are comatose….but President Buhari does<br />
not want to sell or dispose of the refineries.<br />
ON HERDSMEN, KILLINGS IN THE<br />
NORTH, TY DANJUMA & THE<br />
NIGERIAN ARMY<br />
Last weekend during the 10th anniversary<br />
and graduation ceremony of Taraba<br />
State University in Jalingo, TY Danjuma<br />
spoke candidly about the issue of the<br />
herdsmen and the clashes in the State.<br />
Exasperated and angered by the loss<br />
of lives in his immediate community and<br />
across Nigeria, respected retired military<br />
head General Theophilus Danjuma<br />
threw down the gauntlet on <strong>Mar</strong>ch 24. He<br />
doubted the neutrality and impartiality of<br />
the Nigerian defence forces. He then asked<br />
citizens to defend themselves against all<br />
the militias responsible for the mass killings<br />
across the land.<br />
He said: “The armed forces are not<br />
neutral. They collude with the armed<br />
bandits that kill people, kill Nigerians.<br />
They facilitate their movement. They cover<br />
them. If you are depending on the armed<br />
forces to stop the killings, you will die one<br />
by one. The ethnic cleansing must stop in<br />
Taraba State. It must stop in all the states<br />
of Nigeria. Otherwise, Somalia will be a<br />
child’s play. I ask every one of you to be<br />
at alert and defend your country, defend<br />
your territory, and defend your state. You<br />
have nowhere else to go”.<br />
The Nigerian Army responded, speaking<br />
through the Minister of Defence, the<br />
Federal Government dismissed Danjuma’s<br />
statement as an invitation to anarchy.<br />
Colonel Tukur Gusau, speaking for Defence<br />
Minister Mansur Dan-Ali, said, “This<br />
is highly uncalled for and is an invitation<br />
to anarchy and should be disregarded by<br />
well-meaning Nigerians”. He added, “The<br />
efforts of the Nigerian military towards the<br />
restoration of peace, security and order<br />
in Nigeria are evidently clear, and Nigerians<br />
continue to show appreciation for<br />
changing the security environment from<br />
what it was before. The armed forces is<br />
well organised and highly professional in<br />
discharging its constitutional mandate.<br />
“Therefore, if anyone has evidence of<br />
wrongdoing or dereliction of duty against<br />
our troops, (the person) should please<br />
bring forward such evidence through the<br />
channel for necessary action.”<br />
The Army issued two statements on<br />
the matter within 24 hours. The first,<br />
signed by Brigadier General John Agim,<br />
was conciliatory, voicing regard for the<br />
former Chief of Army Staff and ex-Defence<br />
Minister and affirming the commitment of<br />
the Army to best practice. In the second,<br />
Brigadier General Texas Chukwu, Director<br />
of Army Public Relations, confirmed the<br />
constitutional role of the Army in defending<br />
Nigeria’s territory and supporting civil<br />
authority. It said soldiers have died in the<br />
course of duty in Taraba State.<br />
The <strong>BusinessDay</strong> conducted a survey<br />
to see what Nigerians thought about the<br />
ensuing events.<br />
In a statement filed with the Nigerian<br />
Stock Exchange on Thursday <strong>Mar</strong>ch 29,<br />
Unity bank remained unbending on its<br />
earlier position that no investment of $1<br />
billion from Milost Global was made in<br />
Unity Bank Plc.<br />
Is Mr President Aware The Naira<br />
Has Been Devalued<br />
Another great example are the refin-<br />
Poll of the week<br />
Poll Results<br />
78% were of the opinion that TY Danjuma<br />
was right and that the job of defending<br />
self would have to be left to self. 20% were<br />
of the opinion that the Nigerian Army<br />
could be depended on, while only 2% said<br />
to depend on the police. Some comments<br />
were of the opinion that it was an insult to<br />
put the police on this list.<br />
Tweet of the week<br />
Cartoon of the week<br />
Video of the week
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
<strong>30</strong> BUSINESS DAY
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
NEWS<br />
Retailers slash prices by 60% over Easter break<br />
DAVID IBEMERE<br />
Festive but frugal is<br />
the order of the day<br />
for consumers, especially<br />
Christians, who<br />
are looking to keep a<br />
firm grip on their pockets despite<br />
feeling cheerier than last<br />
year’s Easter celebration.<br />
Despite most retailers in<br />
the country lowering their<br />
prices in a bid to lure shoppers<br />
with aggressive sales<br />
tactics, most retailers are suffering<br />
tepid festive sales.<br />
Online retail stores are not<br />
left out as they are also offering<br />
various incentives on their<br />
platforms with coupons on<br />
Jumai worth over N2,000 daily<br />
during this Easter period.<br />
A visit to various malls<br />
in Lagos State shows most<br />
retailers have significantly<br />
slashed their prices, especially<br />
for groceries, yet<br />
most shops are seen with<br />
no customers.<br />
At Surulere and Apapa,<br />
while most consumers<br />
thronged in with the hope of<br />
cashing in on all sectors, most<br />
consumers were seen leaving<br />
the malls with either bread or<br />
a few grocery products.<br />
Speaking with Business-<br />
Day, a clothing and sales<br />
stores attendant who gave<br />
her name as Adeola, said her<br />
company had to reduce the<br />
… yet shoppers still stay away<br />
The EPWL All Natural<br />
Therapy employs<br />
technology that provides<br />
safe, effective and<br />
detailed regimens that encourage<br />
the body to heal<br />
itself by using moving<br />
magnet energy waves that<br />
change the way body responds<br />
to pain and others.<br />
Speaking at a recent<br />
press conference, Olufunprices<br />
for most of the items in<br />
the store to sell them off, yet<br />
the sales remained the same.<br />
“There is a particular dress<br />
sold for N15,000, and it was<br />
reduced to N9,000, but most<br />
customers still left the stores<br />
without buying it.”<br />
“Nigerians are just not<br />
willing to spend, sincerely I<br />
am yet to make a sale. I made<br />
effort to announce my drop<br />
in prices, yet they only come<br />
in, see and leave,” Nonso<br />
Orji, footwear storeowner in<br />
Ogueleba, said.<br />
Ini Archibong, Shoprite<br />
spokesman, had last week said<br />
the company was planning to<br />
capitalise on various “mega<br />
sales promo” across all segment<br />
this Easter to drive sales.<br />
However, observation carried<br />
out at two of Shoprite stores<br />
in Apapa and Surulere shows<br />
most shopping is only done in<br />
the grocery department.<br />
“Over the years, Easter<br />
sales have grown in popularity<br />
over the past five years,<br />
and the Christian holiday is<br />
now seen as yet another excuse<br />
to offer heavy price cuts.<br />
These price cuts appear to be<br />
a remedy to a number of store<br />
closures, suffering from low<br />
sales,” Madu Hassan, a retail<br />
analyst, said.<br />
A visit a Pep Store in Yaba<br />
shows a good number of customers<br />
sizing up children’s<br />
wares, the attendant who wore<br />
a gloom look said she was not<br />
ready to disclose her sales record,<br />
while reluctantly screaming,<br />
“We are making efforts.”<br />
Spar is another retailer<br />
outlet offering Easter promo<br />
till April 2, and is another store<br />
experiencing low sales. One of<br />
the attendant told Business-<br />
Day on condition of anonymity<br />
Thursday that sales had yet<br />
to improved.<br />
“Our sales have not improved<br />
greatly as we had anticipated<br />
but we hope from<br />
today we get more customers<br />
paying rather than sampling.<br />
“I am still very carful on<br />
what I spend my money on,<br />
I spend not less than <strong>30</strong> minutes<br />
online browsing through<br />
different deals to be sure before<br />
I buy am yet to make a<br />
decision,” Bumni Olajide said<br />
as she works out of another<br />
store in Yaba the third without<br />
buying an item.<br />
A report by Nielsena research<br />
firm in its Africa Prospects<br />
Indicator (APi), shows<br />
that Nigerians are still concerned<br />
about their personal<br />
finances due to limited spare<br />
cash, leading to a conservative<br />
outlook on spending for<br />
first two quarters of <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Senate rejects $350m Kaduna World Bank loan request<br />
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja<br />
Senate on Thursday<br />
rejected approval of<br />
$350 million Kaduna<br />
State Development<br />
Policy Operation Credit Facility<br />
from the World Bank.<br />
This followed the recommendation<br />
by the Senate<br />
Committee on Local and<br />
Foreign Debts.<br />
Presenting his report,<br />
chairman of the committee,<br />
Shehu Sani, who also<br />
hails from Kaduna State,<br />
explained that the state was<br />
already indebted to the tune<br />
of $232 million.<br />
He noted that the approval<br />
of the loan would<br />
raise the debt profile of the<br />
state to $582 million.<br />
This, he said, would leave<br />
huge debt burden for the<br />
C002D5556<br />
next generation, adding that<br />
the state is the second most<br />
indebted state in Nigeria after<br />
Lagos.<br />
“The new debt stock will<br />
likely, further erode the<br />
economic viability of the<br />
State. The Committee recommends<br />
that the Senate<br />
do reject the request of $350<br />
million for Kaduna State as<br />
contained in the 2015 <strong>2018</strong><br />
External Borrowing (Rolling)<br />
Plan of Mr. President,<br />
Commander-in-Chief of the<br />
Armed Forces.<br />
“That with the high total<br />
debt stock of Kaduna State<br />
at the moment, the new borrowing<br />
sought, will make the<br />
debt service to revenue ratio<br />
high, thereby worsening the<br />
State Government’s ability<br />
to meet its other basic obligations<br />
to the people and<br />
milayo Brown, a chief medical<br />
consultant, who notes<br />
that the therapy delivers<br />
naturally-derived energy to<br />
weakens cells, says it makes<br />
for fast, safe and efficient<br />
form of treatment from broken<br />
bones and scars tissue<br />
repair.<br />
The technology behind<br />
EPWL Natural Therapy<br />
has been used extensively<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
further erode the economic<br />
viability of the State,” Sani<br />
stated.<br />
Beside Sani, the two other<br />
senators from the state,<br />
Danjuma La’ah and Suleiman<br />
Hunkuyi also rejected<br />
the foreign loan, saying the<br />
state finances would suffer.<br />
They emphasised that<br />
the loan request failed to address<br />
key issues that would<br />
have aided its approval.<br />
Specifically, Hunkuyi<br />
said it was unfortunate that<br />
the governor of the state, Nasir<br />
el-Rufai, only asked his<br />
commissioner for women<br />
affairs and other special assistants<br />
to approve the loan<br />
at the State Executive Committee<br />
meeting, adding that<br />
it fell short of 18 key government<br />
officials as required by<br />
the World Bank.<br />
EPWL All Natural employs technology to cure pain, others<br />
31<br />
for decades for many condition<br />
and medical disciplines<br />
fully approved by<br />
United State FDA specifically<br />
to fuse broken bones,<br />
wound healing, pain and<br />
tissue swelling, working<br />
to reduce pain, inflammation,<br />
the effect of stress on<br />
the body, platelet adhesion,<br />
fuse broken bones,<br />
she states.
32 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556<br />
NEWS<br />
L-R: Anatoly Sidrov, regional commercial manager, Africa, Omnicomm; Abdul Bamgbopa, MD/CEO, Sattrak Services Limited; Akudo<br />
Ogbonna, head, product and market development , Sattrak Services Limited, and Alex Molochkov, senior specialist, technology<br />
support group, Omnicomm, at the Omnicomm/Sattrak business breakfast workshop in Lagos, yesterday. Pic by Pius Okeosisi<br />
Bitter Easter for air passengers as<br />
Buhari’s visit disrupts travel plans<br />
IFEOMA OKEKE<br />
Passengers travelling<br />
for the Easter<br />
celebration by<br />
road and air yesterday<br />
expressed<br />
their displeasure over the<br />
‘man-made’ grid-lock, making<br />
it impossible for passengers<br />
to access the airport<br />
and major roads in Lagos.<br />
A visit by <strong>BusinessDay</strong><br />
to the General Aviation Terminal<br />
(GAT) and Murtala<br />
Muhammed Airport Two<br />
(MMA2) yesterday showed<br />
that airlines kept announcing<br />
delays in flights just to accommodate<br />
passengers who were<br />
yet to get to the airport.<br />
As a result of the unending<br />
gridlock, some passengers<br />
had to disembark with their<br />
luggage and trek a long distance<br />
just to access the road<br />
leading to the airport, while<br />
others who could not meet up<br />
missed their flights.<br />
The Lagos state govern-<br />
Reps flag off probe of N2bn, $3.8m unremitted<br />
proceeds from sale of power assets<br />
Obaseki expresses shock at killing of APC<br />
youth leader, commiserates with family<br />
Buhari promises improved national security Buhari visit: Transport fare rises 100%<br />
JOSHUA BASSEY<br />
President Muhammadu<br />
Buhari says the<br />
Federal Government<br />
is not looking away<br />
from its commitment to the<br />
creation of the enabling environment<br />
and improved national<br />
security in aid of new<br />
investments in the economy.<br />
He spoke, Thursday, at<br />
the opening of the Ikeja Bus<br />
Terminal built by the Lagos<br />
State government to raise the<br />
standard and quality of public<br />
transportation services<br />
in Nigeria’s commercial city.<br />
The new bus terminal along<br />
Simbiat Abiola Way, Ikeja, is<br />
fitted with facilities such as<br />
passenger concourse for arrivals,<br />
ticketing, waiting and<br />
departure areas, loading bays,<br />
food court, ATM gallery, tax<br />
park and parking lots.<br />
Buhari said at the event<br />
ment a few days ago announced<br />
a 2-day visit by the<br />
President and declared a<br />
public holiday to ameliorate<br />
the hardship that was bound<br />
to follow due to the massive<br />
constructions going on<br />
around the state and the fact<br />
that it had cordoned off certain<br />
areas for security reasons.<br />
Imohimi Edgal, Commissioner<br />
of Police in Lagos State,<br />
announced the temporary<br />
closure of routes including<br />
Ikeja, Agege, <strong>Mar</strong>yland, Ikoyi<br />
and Victoria Island, and affected<br />
areas around the environs<br />
from Iyana-ipaja, Egbeda,<br />
Ikotun, Airport Road, Yaba<br />
and a host of other places.<br />
A situation report in<br />
some places around the<br />
state showed that non state<br />
government workers were<br />
having a hard time getting<br />
around as security agents<br />
blocked strategic areas.<br />
The Presidential Lounge<br />
was once again abuzz with<br />
activities as armed security<br />
details were scattered in and<br />
that government at the centre<br />
was also working to changing<br />
the narrative of transportation<br />
architecture nationally<br />
by expanding and extending<br />
rail infrastructure, just as he<br />
lauded Lagos State for taking<br />
on similar projects to cater<br />
for the state’s increasing<br />
population. The population<br />
of Lagos is estimated at over<br />
21 million.<br />
Governor Akinwunmi<br />
Ambode, justifying the need<br />
for the project, said it was to<br />
meet the daily connectivity<br />
need of the people, who deserved<br />
better transportation<br />
infrastructure and services.<br />
Ambode said in line with<br />
the resolve of his government<br />
to reform the public<br />
transportation space, similar<br />
projects were being cited in<br />
different parts of the metropolis,<br />
while 820 of the 5,000<br />
high capacity buses being<br />
round the airport.<br />
There was traffic jam<br />
building around along the<br />
airport road as vehicular<br />
movements grounded to a<br />
halt, due to security presence<br />
directing and diverting<br />
traffic and the ongoing airport<br />
road construction.<br />
A commuter who spoke to<br />
<strong>BusinessDay</strong> said he trekked<br />
from Mangoro all the way to<br />
the airport despite the fact he<br />
left home 5am. According to<br />
him, there was no traffic flow<br />
as movement was halted between<br />
Ile-zik and PWD.<br />
At Cement area, Lagos<br />
state, an old woman, who<br />
identified herself as Josephine<br />
broke down in tears when she<br />
was informed she had missed<br />
her flight.<br />
“This is the first time I am<br />
travelling by air. My children<br />
pleaded with me to take a<br />
flight to my village at Owerri<br />
for the Easter celebration. I<br />
was just informed that my<br />
flight just took off. I cannot<br />
walk for a long distance, so<br />
… as Lagos injects 820 new buses into transport system September<br />
brought in to strengthen the<br />
system would arrive in September<br />
this year.<br />
“In the last three years, we<br />
have committed to revamping<br />
and providing a new integrated<br />
transport system to<br />
support our growing population.<br />
We have initiated and<br />
completed the provision of<br />
infrastructure that are scalable<br />
and would support the<br />
daily needs of our people to<br />
meet their connectivity and<br />
mobility needs,” he said.<br />
According to Ambode, the<br />
Ikeja Bus Terminal is therefore<br />
one of the flagship transport<br />
infrastructure under the<br />
State Bus Reform Initiative,<br />
as “the first phase of this<br />
programme will see 13 new<br />
bus terminals introduced,<br />
including major terminals at<br />
Oshodi, Yaba, Ojota, Agege,<br />
and the already completed<br />
Tafawa Balewa Bus Terminal.<br />
there was no way I could<br />
have managed to trek to the<br />
airport. I don’t know what to<br />
do now or where to go,” she<br />
lamented.<br />
Airlines took various initiatives<br />
to ensure their passengers<br />
travelling do not get a raw<br />
deal out of the route blockages<br />
around the state<br />
Obi Mbanuzuo, manager<br />
at Dana Air told <strong>BusinessDay</strong><br />
that they had to delay all their<br />
flights and messages have<br />
been sent to passengers on<br />
the developments they were<br />
making to ensure passengers<br />
are taken care of.<br />
“The management of<br />
Dana air has assured guests<br />
that they will be re-accommodated<br />
on the available flights<br />
for free if they miss their<br />
flights,” Mbanuzuo added.<br />
Chris Iwarah, corporate<br />
communications manager,<br />
Air Peace Limited said “The<br />
challenge we had was with<br />
guests who encountered<br />
some difficulty accessing the<br />
airport on time.”<br />
DAVID IBEMERE<br />
Lagosians yesterday lamented<br />
the high fares<br />
they had to pay to get<br />
to their destinations,<br />
as many others who could not<br />
get a bus resorted to trekking<br />
to their various destinations<br />
as a result of road closure due<br />
to the visit of President Muhammadu<br />
Buhari.<br />
The Lagos State government<br />
had on Tuesday announced<br />
that it would close<br />
some major roads in the state<br />
to ensure a hitch-free visit<br />
to the state by the President,<br />
with a promise that alternative<br />
routes would be created.<br />
However, on Thursday, residents<br />
and those working in Ikeja,<br />
Ikoyi and Victoria Island who<br />
narrated their ordeal to <strong>BusinessDay</strong><br />
in the gridlock, said the<br />
alternative routes provided were<br />
impassable from 5am.<br />
“It is not good at all, thou-<br />
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja<br />
House of Representatives<br />
on Thursday<br />
commenced investigative<br />
hearing<br />
into alleged unremitted N2<br />
billion and $3.8 million proceeds<br />
from the sale of assets<br />
of Power Holding Company<br />
of Nigeria (PHCN).<br />
Dennis Amadi, chairman<br />
of the Ad-hoc Committee, assured<br />
Nigerians of the Committee’s<br />
resolve to work assiduously<br />
in the bid to unravel<br />
any unremitted funds from<br />
sales of power assets.<br />
Amadi said the Committee<br />
was also mandated<br />
to unravel the alleged suppression<br />
of interest element<br />
due the Federal Government<br />
from proceeds of sale of those<br />
assets. “This includes the<br />
generation companies, the<br />
distribution companies, the<br />
transmission companies as<br />
well as the banks involved.<br />
“These funds are Federal<br />
Government funds and from<br />
Governor of Edo State,<br />
Godwin Obaseki, has<br />
expressed shock at the<br />
news of the brutal killing of<br />
the All Progressives Congress<br />
(APC) youth leader in Etsako<br />
West Local Government Area<br />
of the state, Samson Sedi,<br />
who was allegedly shot by<br />
armed robbers on Wednesday<br />
night in Jattu.<br />
“I was shocked on receiving<br />
the news of Mr. Samson<br />
Sedi’s death. My heart goes<br />
out to his family. I have ordered<br />
the relevant security<br />
agencies to arrest the killers<br />
and prosecute them without<br />
delay,” Obaseki said.<br />
He described the late Sedi<br />
as “a grassroots mobiliser,<br />
a philanthropist who cared<br />
for orphans and a great lover<br />
of people, whose death is a<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
the whistle blower, which is<br />
the source of the motion, it is<br />
being alleged that the affected<br />
banks have some interest elements<br />
to remit to the federation<br />
account, which has not<br />
been done.<br />
“So, it is an issue of investigation,<br />
we have not proven<br />
them wrong yet until we get to<br />
the root of the matter.<br />
“This investigation is in<br />
furtherance of the motion<br />
moved by the House of Representatives<br />
on <strong>Mar</strong>ch 6, <strong>2018</strong><br />
and subsequently we will<br />
begin to engage stakeholders,<br />
the purported banks that<br />
are involved, owners of these<br />
banks as at today, Bureau<br />
of Public Procurement and<br />
stakeholders in the power<br />
sector. “In the cause of this<br />
investigation, this committee<br />
should be able to draw a<br />
proper recommendation to<br />
ensure that interest accruing<br />
on those monies are being<br />
calculated and remitted to the<br />
federation account,’’ Amadi<br />
said.<br />
huge loss to Edo people and<br />
the APC.”<br />
Sedi was allegedly killed<br />
by armed robbers while attempting<br />
to rescue a female<br />
petrol station attendant in<br />
Jattu, Etsako West Local Government<br />
Area, who was being<br />
robbed on Wednesday in<br />
Jattu.<br />
“I learnt he was driving<br />
into a road around a petrol<br />
station in Jattu and heard a<br />
female petrol station attendant<br />
shouting for help. The<br />
late Sedi drove into the petrol<br />
station to ascertain what was<br />
happening, only to be shot by<br />
the armed robbers who were<br />
operating at the petrol station.<br />
Sedi has been with us in<br />
our party for a long time and<br />
I sympathise with his family,”<br />
the governor said.<br />
… as Lagos residents narrate ordeal<br />
sands of Lagosians have resorted<br />
to trekking because the<br />
roads are blocked. Our driver<br />
took all alternative routes but<br />
met all blocked, we had to<br />
disembarked from the vehicle<br />
despite paying <strong>30</strong>0 against<br />
the normal N150, which I<br />
boarded at Surulere, and took<br />
to trekking to my office in Lagos<br />
Island, which you know<br />
is a good distance,” Chinedu<br />
Imobi told <strong>BusinessDay</strong>.<br />
Wearing a forlorn face,<br />
Tunde Ajao, a resident in<br />
Akowonjo Ikeja, said he had<br />
to trek for close to two hours<br />
before he could get a bus to<br />
his office in Yaba. “Wednesday<br />
night was terrible for me<br />
going home, and this morning<br />
was worst, I spent over an<br />
hour trying to get a bus, and<br />
the few buses available hike<br />
their fee to over 100 percent.”<br />
Another commuter glancing<br />
at his watch, Chinedu Onwubiko,<br />
saw it was 10.10am,<br />
told <strong>BusinessDay</strong> as he tried<br />
to catch the already occupied<br />
bus. “Honestly, my stomach<br />
is churned, you can see the<br />
amount of sweat on me. I have<br />
been trekking for hours, this is<br />
very bad, I do not know why<br />
we have to go through this<br />
pain again just like in 2015.”<br />
“Our leaders should be<br />
proactive in arresting a situation<br />
like this that is capable<br />
to subjecting citizens to hardship.<br />
It is bad,” another commuter<br />
who identified himself<br />
as Wale, a shop owner at Eko<br />
Hotel, said.<br />
“We have been trapped<br />
in this traffic and merry-goround<br />
a lot without getting<br />
to our destination. It is quite<br />
painful that our leaders are<br />
not proactive, I was forced to<br />
pay N500 from Ikeja to Obalande<br />
after many failed attempt<br />
to get a bus.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
Transaction advisers named for airport...<br />
Continued from page 4<br />
business management consultancy<br />
and a legal firm specialised<br />
on corporate, securities, maritime<br />
, foreign investments and<br />
litigation matters.<br />
For the development of the<br />
Aerotropolis and cargo terminals,<br />
a consortium of three firms<br />
were chosen: the Infrastructure<br />
Bank Plc, PWO GIBB and Abdulai<br />
Taiwo & co each specialising<br />
in raising and management of<br />
funds, engineering and a full<br />
service commercial and IP Law<br />
firm.<br />
Sirika also announced that for<br />
the national carrier, UK-based<br />
Airline Management Group, an<br />
airline group with keen strengths<br />
in start-up carriers as well as Aviation<br />
International and Tianerro<br />
FZE have been appointed.<br />
According to Sirika, the Transaction<br />
Advisers will be liaising<br />
with the Project Delivery Team<br />
to ensure it all comes to fruition<br />
in record time. He further stated<br />
that all the Transaction Advisers<br />
except for the National Carrier<br />
were engaged in May 2017 and<br />
have a 9 month contract.<br />
Under their terms of reference<br />
will be the preparation of<br />
More hotels go under receivership as loan...<br />
Continued from page 1<br />
Full Brief Case (FBC), support<br />
Ministry of transportation, aid<br />
in getting compliance certificate<br />
from ICRC, Federal Executive<br />
Council (FEC) approval.<br />
However, Olayinka Abioye,<br />
general secretary, National<br />
Union of Air Transport Employees<br />
(NUATE), told <strong>BusinessDay</strong><br />
that till date, the government has<br />
not made wide consultations<br />
with stakeholders to agree on<br />
the type of turnaround to expect<br />
from the airport concessions.<br />
“We are not against public<br />
private partnership. What we are<br />
complaining about is the attitude<br />
of government when such partnerships<br />
are put in place. They<br />
don’t consult adequately and<br />
even if they consult, they already<br />
have a mind-set of what to do.<br />
“Two committees set up to<br />
monitor these concessions. The<br />
committees were supposed to<br />
have sat with the minister of<br />
aviation who was supposed to be<br />
the chairman of the committee<br />
to determine how and who becomes<br />
the nominated member<br />
of the transaction adviser. How<br />
the minister chose these consultancy<br />
groups, no one knows,”<br />
Abioye said.<br />
tion of the hotels.<br />
At the moment, Lagos Continental<br />
Hotel is battling its receivership<br />
under Skye Bank, as well<br />
as, Best Western Hotel on Allen<br />
Avenue, Ikeja, The Hardley Apartments<br />
in Victoria Island and over<br />
10 hotels across the country that<br />
are awaiting court order for The<br />
Asset Management Corporation<br />
of Nigeria (AMCON) to take over<br />
their management.<br />
The difficulty in refinancing the<br />
loans is mainly due to the impact<br />
of the economic recession of 2016,<br />
which witnessed the worst revenue<br />
generation and occupancy rate of<br />
below 40 percent in the last two decades,<br />
and exchange rate devaluation<br />
that doubled both the value of<br />
the loans and the cost of building<br />
hotels in the last two years.<br />
Although the Nigerian economy<br />
is fast recovering from the<br />
recent economic meltdown, some<br />
hoteliers still lack the capacity to<br />
service their loans due to the challenges<br />
of high cost of operation<br />
amid average revenue generation,<br />
multiple taxation, and recently, the<br />
exit of some international brands.<br />
According to a lawyer with<br />
AMCON who pleaded anonymity,<br />
the Corporation is never happy<br />
taking over investments to turn<br />
them around from insolvency if<br />
the owners and managers were<br />
prudent in their management,<br />
observed financially probity and<br />
met the agreements they signed<br />
with their creditors.<br />
Speaking on the issue, Ademola<br />
Oni, an economist and hospitality<br />
consultant, noted that since the<br />
modernisation of its insolvency<br />
framework with the advent of the<br />
AMCON Act of June 2010, the Nigerian<br />
banking sector is stronger<br />
Continued from page 4<br />
join us when they came through<br />
Obudu. They were only given<br />
permission for hunting, which<br />
is how the Tiv came. The fact<br />
that we don’t domesticate the<br />
land doesn’t mean we are not<br />
indigenous to the land. We are<br />
opportunistic users. We don’t<br />
displace people to collect their<br />
land. We have never collected<br />
land anywhere throughout our<br />
history.”<br />
Explaining why they are opposed<br />
to the anti-open grazing<br />
law in the state, the secretary<br />
general said: “Go to section 19<br />
[of the law], the entirety of it,<br />
they said a herder can only hire<br />
land for ranching for one year<br />
and no land owner is allowed<br />
to sell land for the purpose of<br />
the duration of ranching. And<br />
when they seize cattle, within<br />
7 days they will auction them.<br />
Laws are created to endanger<br />
peace and development, now<br />
you design a law to exclude your<br />
citizens from participating in the<br />
utilisation of the land resources<br />
to carry out their rightful economic<br />
activities. These people<br />
are Benue citizens. Most of them<br />
L-R: Patrick Ijegbai, subscription manager; Emeka Ifeanyi, systems/control manager; Adeola Ajewole, advert<br />
manager; Gbenga Oloke, finance manager; Vwoke Ighure, executive director, digital services; Omosomi Omomia,<br />
assistant research editor; Joachim Adenusi, facilitator/CEO, Conrad Clark; Fabian Akagha, executive director,<br />
operations; Adeola Obisesan, head, human resources; Innocent Unah, managing editor, BRIU; John Okpaire,<br />
circulation manager, and Rerhe Idonije, head of sales, conferences, at the <strong>BusinessDay</strong> in house training on<br />
Risk Management for its executive management staff conducted by Conrad Clark Nigeria Limited.<br />
on recovering debts, and they do<br />
not waste time in pointing AMCON<br />
to the direction of their debtors,<br />
including hotels.<br />
“I always advise my hotel clients<br />
to offer their debtors some equity<br />
to offset part of the loans. It worked<br />
for Agura Resort, which called on<br />
one of its investors to pay off the<br />
bank loan and become a major<br />
shareholder, though other shareholders<br />
kicked,” he explained.<br />
Michael Eluma, a hotelier, said<br />
with 23 percent interest rate, nobody<br />
can borrow enough funds<br />
to complete a good hotel. According<br />
to him, instead of bank loans,<br />
hoteliers should pull resources<br />
together to put up more modern<br />
and functional hotels than having<br />
a thousand 20-room hotels on a<br />
street in Victoria Island.<br />
“To avoid bank traps and seeing<br />
your investments go under receivership,<br />
one should not invest alone;<br />
look for credible partners to share the<br />
risks, profits and success with. There<br />
C002D5556<br />
Killings continue in Benue despite operation...<br />
don’t know anywhere except<br />
there. You now create a law that<br />
either they ranch or the leave; to<br />
where? After creating those laws,<br />
which farmer would want to give<br />
them land?”<br />
“You cannot create a segregatory<br />
law and not expect a<br />
backlash, because these people<br />
have nowhere to go and if<br />
there is injustice this people<br />
will resist it, and that is what is<br />
playing out.”<br />
The Nigerian defence Minister,<br />
Mansur Dan-Ali, after a security<br />
council meeting on January 25,<br />
<strong>2018</strong>, briefed the press where he<br />
gave the position of the federal<br />
government on the conflict between<br />
herdsmen and farmers in<br />
North central states thus: “Since<br />
Independence, we know there<br />
used to be a route whereby these<br />
cattle rearers use. Cattle rearers<br />
are all over the nation; you go to<br />
Bayelsa, you see them, you go<br />
to Ogun, you see them. If those<br />
routes are blocked, what happens?<br />
These people are Nigerians;<br />
it’s just like you going to block<br />
river or shoreline, does that make<br />
sense to you? These are the remote<br />
causes. But what are the immediate<br />
causes? It is the grazing law.<br />
These people are Nigerians; we<br />
must learn to live together with<br />
each other; that is basic. Communities<br />
and other people must learn<br />
how to accept foreigners within<br />
their enclave, finish.”<br />
This position, as many keen<br />
watchers of the polity has noted,<br />
is indistinguishable from that of<br />
Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore – the<br />
group being accused of sponsoring<br />
the killings in the first place.<br />
Pouring petrol on an already<br />
rising flame, the IG of Police<br />
also described the killings as<br />
mere communal clashes and<br />
later, when invited by the Senate,<br />
claimed the killings were<br />
a direct result of the anti-open<br />
grazing law passed in Benue<br />
state and that the only way to<br />
stop the killings was to suspend<br />
the implementation of the law –<br />
a position clearly indistinguishable<br />
from those of Miyetti Allah<br />
Kautal Hore. To make matters<br />
worse, the spokesman of the police,<br />
Moshood Jimoh, launched a<br />
scathing attack on the governor<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
33<br />
NEWS<br />
describing him as a drowning<br />
governor on live television.<br />
Even before the commencement<br />
of the military operation,<br />
quite a number of Benue indigenes,<br />
including the Tor Tiv, Prof.<br />
James Ayatse, openly expressed<br />
pessimism over the success the<br />
mission of the army and its capacity<br />
and or willingness to stop<br />
the killings.<br />
Expectedly, even weeks after<br />
flagging off Exercise Ayem<br />
A’ Kpatuma, or Cat Race, an<br />
island community at Mbalagh<br />
in Makurdi local government<br />
was sacked by the rampaging<br />
Fulani herdsmen dispersing its<br />
5, 000 inhabitants into Makurdi<br />
town under the watchful eyes of<br />
the military. The Fulani invaders<br />
reportedly quietly ordered<br />
residents of the Island to quietly<br />
vacate their homes in order to<br />
avoid bloodshed and that they<br />
were there not to kill but takeover<br />
the land.<br />
When the scared locals left,<br />
the well-armed herdsmen razed<br />
virtually all the homes in the Island<br />
and occupied the territory<br />
which is less than five kilometre<br />
on water from the Wadata area<br />
of Makurdi town.<br />
According to Peter Tachie, one<br />
of the displaced inhabitants of the<br />
island, “They came in their numbers<br />
with their cattle into the island<br />
from Guma local government area<br />
and other places on foot some<br />
weeks ago because the water level<br />
of River Benue has dropped significantly<br />
so they could easily assess<br />
the island on foot. Four days ago<br />
they started destroying our houses,<br />
farmland and food barns and also<br />
taking over the LGEA Primary<br />
school in the island and converting<br />
same for personal use. As we speak<br />
no Tiv person is on that island at<br />
the moment, they have taken our<br />
farms and also uprooted our cassava<br />
from our plantation to feed<br />
their cattle which are also grazing<br />
freely on our farmland. They have<br />
destroyed all that we spent years<br />
to acquire, so we have all moved<br />
into Makurdi main town with our<br />
families to seek government’s attention.<br />
You know that we do a<br />
lot of dry season farming on the<br />
Island and as we speak all that we<br />
planted in this dry season have all<br />
been destroyed by the herdsmen<br />
and their cattle.”<br />
is no need for the many mushroom<br />
hotels around,” Eluma said.<br />
Oni, who is also an expert in<br />
risk analysis, said that there are<br />
lots of money that are idle in the<br />
banks and at home of some people,<br />
especially politicians and all hoteliers<br />
need do is to get closer to<br />
these people and sign watertight<br />
partnership agreement that would<br />
guarantee release of the fund for<br />
hotel projects.<br />
He however noted that the<br />
average Nigerian investors has to<br />
change the mindset of short term<br />
investment for any investment in<br />
hospitality to work.<br />
“Hotel business is long term.<br />
You have to give the business<br />
ample time bearing in mind maintenance,<br />
tax, franchise fees, management<br />
charges, training among<br />
others,” Oni said.<br />
Proffering solution, Trevor<br />
Ward, CEO, W Hospitality, noted<br />
that the challenge of finance is a<br />
genuine problem worldwide as hotels<br />
are difficult to finance because<br />
they are long term businesses and<br />
need long term debt.<br />
“Hotels will not return money<br />
to shareholders quickly, and they<br />
will not be able to pay back debt<br />
quickly. Starting a hotel project<br />
without having raised all the finance<br />
or at least half the commitment<br />
is probably not a very good<br />
idea,” Ward said.<br />
He explained further that, “Interest<br />
rates from commercial banks<br />
are very high and in fact, they are<br />
too high for a long term business. It<br />
may be alright if you are a trader who<br />
needs short term loans. Hotels cannot<br />
survive at 23 percent interest rate,<br />
it is not tenable and hoteliers should<br />
not go for such loans. If that means<br />
you cannot build your hotel, so be<br />
it. There are foreign debts available<br />
from the likes of Afrexim Bank and<br />
IFC at much lower interest rates but<br />
they are only viable and sustainable if<br />
you can raise foreign currency to pay<br />
interest and repay your debt.”
34 BUSINESS DAY<br />
C002D5556<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
NEWS<br />
PenCom recovers N13.7bn pension liabilities...<br />
Continued from page 1<br />
resenting principal contribution<br />
of N6,947,552,487.43 and penalty<br />
of N6,747,602,727.45.<br />
PenCom in 2017 filed cases<br />
against 61 employers that failed to<br />
remit outstanding pension contributions<br />
and penalty as established<br />
by the Agents, and have since<br />
continued to record success with<br />
respect to matters at the tribunal.<br />
During the fourth quarter of<br />
2017, the Commission re-engaged<br />
14 Agents to recover outstanding<br />
pension contributions and<br />
penalties for late remittances and<br />
following the re-engagement, 262<br />
employers were assigned to the<br />
Agents.<br />
“Most of the employers have<br />
requested to settle out of court,<br />
while others have remitted their<br />
outstanding pension contributions<br />
with penalty to the respective Retirement<br />
Savings Accounts (RSAs)<br />
of their employees, the Commission<br />
stated.<br />
The Commission in its latest<br />
compliance report said, it has<br />
continued to apply various strategies<br />
to ensure compliance with the<br />
provisions of the Pension Reform<br />
Act (PRA) 2014.<br />
“This included the application<br />
of sanctions and collaboration<br />
with key stakeholders on public<br />
enlightenment campaigns as<br />
well as engagement of defaulting<br />
employers via pension recovery<br />
agents employed by the Commission<br />
to recover unremitted pension<br />
contributions.”<br />
Other activities of the commission<br />
to enhance compliance was<br />
issuing of compliance certificates.<br />
“During the period under review,<br />
the Commission received<br />
1,288 applications for issuance<br />
of Pension Clearance Certificate<br />
(PCC). Out of that number, 16<strong>30</strong><br />
certificates were issued, while the<br />
sum of N73.9 billion was remitted<br />
into the Retirement Savings Accounts<br />
(RSAs) of 232,150 employees<br />
of 4,953 organizations as at the<br />
fourth quarter 2017.<br />
A review of the aggregate total<br />
contribution shows that the public<br />
sector contributed 51.20 percent<br />
of the total contributions, while<br />
the private sector contributed the<br />
remaining 48.80 percent. However,<br />
during the quarter under review,<br />
the Public sector contributed 51.39<br />
percent of the total contributions<br />
received while the Private sector<br />
contributed 48.61 percent.<br />
The aggregate total pension<br />
contribution of the private sector<br />
increased from N2.12 trillion as at<br />
the third quarter of 2017 to N2.19<br />
trillion as at the fourth quarter of<br />
2017 representing a growth of 3.40<br />
percent. Whereas, the aggregate<br />
total pension contribution of the<br />
public sector grew by 3.42 percent<br />
from N2.22 trillion to N2.<strong>30</strong> trillion<br />
over the same period.<br />
Meanwhile, total pension assets<br />
under management stood at N7.5<br />
trillion as at the end of December<br />
2017, while the number of registered<br />
employees stood at 7.9 million<br />
people.<br />
Susan Oranye, executive secretary,<br />
Pension Fund Operators<br />
Association of Nigeria (PenOp)<br />
had said “the recovery agents have<br />
done a good job when you consider<br />
the amount of money they<br />
Buhari in Lagos, promises improved national...<br />
Continued from page 1<br />
lauded Lagos State for taking on<br />
similar projects to cater for the<br />
state’s increasing population. The<br />
population of Lagos is estimated at<br />
over 21 million.<br />
Governor Ambode, justifying<br />
the need for the project, said it<br />
was to meet the daily connectivity<br />
needs of the people, who deserved<br />
better transportation infrastructure<br />
and services.<br />
Ambode said in line with the resolve<br />
of his government to reform<br />
the public transportation space,<br />
similar projects are being cited in<br />
different parts of the metropolis,<br />
while 820 of the 5,000 high capacity<br />
buses being brought in to<br />
strengthen the system, will arrive<br />
in September this year.<br />
According to Ambode, the Ikeja<br />
Bus Terminal is one of the flagship<br />
transport infrastructure under the<br />
State Bus Reform Initiative. He<br />
disclosed that the first phase of the<br />
programme will see 13 new bus terminals<br />
introduced including major<br />
terminals at Oshodi, Yaba, Ojota,<br />
Agege and the already completed<br />
Tafawa Balewa bus terminal.<br />
“We have commenced the<br />
introduction of 5,000 new buses<br />
into the Lagos economy in the<br />
next 3 years. We will inject 820<br />
environmentally-friendly high<br />
capacity buses in the first phase of<br />
this reform by September <strong>2018</strong>, <strong>30</strong>0<br />
new bus stops, three bus depots,<br />
and an intelligent transport system<br />
which will aid Lagos residents to<br />
plan their journeys on our public<br />
transport system,” Ambode said.<br />
Ambode also acknowledged<br />
the approval of President Buhari,<br />
for the import-duty waiver received<br />
on the buses in the phase one of the<br />
L-R: John Osadolor, director, <strong>BusinessDay</strong> Media Limited; Adebayo Shittu, minister of communications,<br />
Onyinye Nwachukwu, bureau chief, <strong>BusinessDay</strong> Media Limited Abuja, and Abdulaziz Adbullahi, permanent<br />
sercretary, Ministry of Communications, during the presentation of <strong>BusinessDay</strong> 2017 awards of Excellence<br />
in Public Service held in Abuja.<br />
Pic by Tunde Adeniyi<br />
have recovered.”<br />
Analysts at Investment One<br />
Pensions Managers Limited said<br />
the rate of unfunded accounts<br />
recorded in the Pension industry<br />
has become very worrisome not<br />
just to the Commission but also<br />
to the industry operators and as a<br />
result, PenCom appointed some<br />
agents to take up the uphill task<br />
of collecting unremitted contributions<br />
on behalf of the Pension Fund<br />
Administrators.<br />
The Pension Reform Act states<br />
state transport programme, adding<br />
that a further step in the implementation<br />
of the programme will<br />
see the state assemble the buses<br />
in Lagos in what should create jobs<br />
for the people.<br />
Ambode assured that that the state<br />
aside its commitment to the 27-kilometre<br />
blue line rail from Okokomaiko<br />
to <strong>Mar</strong>ina, was in discussions with<br />
various investors and stakeholders on<br />
the Red Line rail which will run from<br />
Alagbado to <strong>Mar</strong>ina.<br />
President Buhari, also on Thursday,<br />
flagged off the commencement<br />
of major construction works<br />
at the project site of the $1.53 billion<br />
Lekki Deep Seaport, 12 years<br />
after the project was announced<br />
with fanfare.<br />
The project is being promoted<br />
by Tolaram Group, the Lagos State<br />
government and the Nigerian Ports<br />
Authority (NPA).<br />
Buhari represented by Vice<br />
President Yemi Osinbajo, said<br />
the deep sea port was particularly<br />
important to the presidency because<br />
it is in tandem with Federal<br />
Government’s plans to diversify the<br />
nation’s economy.<br />
He said:”I understand that this<br />
will be one of the largest deep Sea<br />
Ports in Sub-Sahara Africa, with all<br />
that has been put in place here.”<br />
The Vice president further said<br />
that the promoters of the project<br />
were targeting about 1.5 million<br />
Twenty Foot Equivalent Units<br />
(TEUs) container capacity yearly,<br />
which is expected to grow to about<br />
2.7 million and 4.7 million TEUs<br />
when the port become fully operational.<br />
“With this, the Lekki Deep seaport<br />
will become one of the best<br />
deep water ports in our region<br />
and serve as a hub for port operations<br />
in the whole of West Africa,”<br />
Osinbajo said.<br />
“The promoters also plan to<br />
dredge the port channel to about<br />
16 meters which is not currently<br />
obtainable in any port in the country.<br />
This is an indication that ships<br />
of larger capacity, Panamax, Post<br />
Panamax ships and very large<br />
crude carriers will now be able to<br />
visit Nigerian ports, and achieve<br />
greater efficiency and economies<br />
of scale, which will generate significant<br />
revenue for the Nigerian<br />
economy,” he said.<br />
“This is important to us because<br />
it is in sync with our economic<br />
and recovery plans. Our plan is<br />
to create a private sector-driven<br />
economy, which is crucial. In this<br />
case, the Lagos State government<br />
and the Nigerian Ports Authority<br />
are the face of government. We<br />
will continue to create an enabling<br />
environment for such businesses<br />
to thrive. I commend all the stakeholders<br />
involved, I know there will<br />
be challenges but we will continue<br />
to support you,” he said.<br />
Speaking on behalf of Lagos<br />
State, the deputy governor, who<br />
represented Governor Akinwunmi<br />
Ambode, said the project became<br />
necessary so as to provide berthing<br />
for larger vessels, which is the<br />
growing global trend in container<br />
shipping.<br />
She said the Lekki port would<br />
be equipped with the best infrastructure<br />
and terminal services to<br />
attract and maintain large volume<br />
shipping line customers.<br />
On the economic potentials of<br />
the project, she said: “An estimated<br />
$2.23 billion dollars is expected to<br />
be injected into the economy in<br />
terms of construction and fixed<br />
assets, with the completion of the<br />
Lekki Deep Sea Port. This amount<br />
is expected to rise to an aggregate<br />
that the employer shall deduct at<br />
source the monthly contribution<br />
of the employee in his employment<br />
and not later than seven<br />
working days from the day the<br />
employee is paid his salary, remit<br />
an amount comprising the<br />
employee’s contribution and the<br />
employer’s contribution to the<br />
custodian specified by the pension<br />
PFA of the employee.<br />
It went further to state that any<br />
employer who fails to deduct or<br />
remit the contributions within the<br />
of $3.61 billion over a 45-year<br />
concession period in the Nigerian<br />
economy,” she said.<br />
The Deputy Governor added<br />
that the container terminal will<br />
have a 1,200m long quay, three<br />
container berths and a storage yard<br />
with over 15,000 ground slots. She<br />
added that the terminal is expected<br />
to be delivered in 2020.<br />
“The Lekki Deep Sea Port with<br />
all the facilities will ease the pressure<br />
on Apapa and Tin Can ports.<br />
This journey started in 2007 and it<br />
has been eventful and challenging.<br />
It is expected that 170,000 direct<br />
and indirect jobs will be created as<br />
a result of this project,” she added.<br />
Navin Nahata, Chief Executive<br />
Officer of Lekki Port, lauded Lagos<br />
State, NPA and the major stakeholders<br />
in the development of the<br />
Lekki port project, for unwavering<br />
support so far on the project.<br />
He said that the commencement<br />
of construction could not<br />
have been possible without the<br />
stakeholders. He also commended<br />
the federal ministry of transport<br />
and other regulatory agencies for<br />
their commitment to making the<br />
port a reality.<br />
Nahata assured all stakeholders<br />
especially the shareholders that<br />
Lekki Port and its strategic partners<br />
will work assiduously to deliver a<br />
world-class port that would make<br />
Nigeria the transhipment hub for<br />
West Africa.<br />
Rotimi Amaechi, Minister for<br />
Transportation, commended the<br />
NPA, Tolaram Group and China<br />
Harbour Engineering, the EPC<br />
contractor for the port project, for<br />
the development of the landmark<br />
project.<br />
He said the ports concession<br />
agreement covered 45 years on a<br />
build, own, operate and transfer<br />
basis. “This will be the first deep<br />
time prescribed shall in addition<br />
to making the remittance already<br />
due, be liable to a penalty to be<br />
stipulated by the Commission.<br />
The penalty referred to in the<br />
Act shall not be less than 2 percent<br />
of the total contributions that<br />
remains unpaid for each month<br />
or part of each month the default<br />
continues and the amount of<br />
penalty shall be recoverable as a<br />
debt owed to the employees retirement<br />
savings account, as the<br />
case may be.<br />
seaport in Nigeria, and will help to<br />
improve the capacity of Nigerian<br />
ports to generate both inbound<br />
and outbound cargoes.”<br />
In her welcome address, Hadiza<br />
Bala Usman, managing director of<br />
the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)<br />
said that the funding for the Lekki<br />
Deep Seaport project is structured<br />
at equity and debt ratio of 20:80<br />
respectively.<br />
“In line with the commitment<br />
of the Federal Government to promote<br />
private sector investment, the<br />
NPA has a fully paid 5 percent minimal<br />
investment, enough to give it a<br />
stake and give the investors comfort<br />
that would enable it perform<br />
its oversight technical regulatory<br />
functions without being unduly<br />
hindered by commercial considerations.<br />
The other 95 percent<br />
interest is owned in a 18: 8 ratio by<br />
the Lagos State Government and<br />
the Tolaram Group, respectively,”<br />
she explained.<br />
Usman said that of the 75 percent<br />
owned by the Tolaram Group<br />
however, the Federal Government<br />
holds a further 15 percent shareholding<br />
to the value of $107.78<br />
million converted into shares from<br />
a pre-2002 FG grant to promoters of<br />
Tolaram Group towards financing<br />
the Viva Methanol Project.<br />
Usman said the vision of the<br />
NPA was to provide the enabling<br />
environment for Nigeria to have<br />
the best ports in Africa and the<br />
flag-off event moves the authority<br />
closer to that reality.<br />
“As statutory regulators of ports<br />
in the country, the NPA is committed<br />
to providing the technical<br />
support and regulatory environment<br />
that would see to the timely<br />
completion of construction work<br />
and ensure efficient operations<br />
and management of the port upon<br />
commissioning,” she added.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
C002D5556<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
35<br />
Sports<br />
Act of love as NFF crew visit Carl Ikeme in hospital<br />
Stories by<br />
Anthony Nlebem<br />
The Super Eagles<br />
are heading to the<br />
FIFA World Cup<br />
finals in Russia<br />
this summer, but<br />
the leadership of the Nigeria<br />
Football Federation (NFF)<br />
and the team itself have<br />
not forgotten one man who<br />
toiled for the squad in the<br />
early rounds of the qualifying<br />
campaign but is now<br />
sidelined by illness.<br />
Carl Ikeme became the Super<br />
Eagles’ number one man<br />
between the pipes months<br />
before the Russia <strong>2018</strong> FIFA<br />
World Cup preliminary fixture<br />
against Swaziland and the<br />
first match of the group phase<br />
against Zambia in Ndola.<br />
He kept goal in those three<br />
matches. But nine months<br />
ago, he was diagnosed with<br />
acute leukemia after returning<br />
“abnormal blood tests” during<br />
pre-season testing at English<br />
club Wolverhampton Wanderers<br />
and had to undergo<br />
chemotherapy.<br />
On Monday, 26th <strong>Mar</strong>ch<br />
<strong>2018</strong>, as the Super Eagles<br />
got into their paces ahead of<br />
Tuesday’s pre-Russia <strong>2018</strong><br />
World Cup friendly against<br />
Serbia in London, President<br />
of the Nigeria Football<br />
Carl Ikeme, Super Eagles goalkeeper (2nd right); Amaju Pinnick, NFF president (right); Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, NFF<br />
1st vice president (left) and Mohammed Sanusi, NFF general secretary (2nd left) during a visit to Carl Ikeme in hospital.<br />
Federation, Amaju Melvin<br />
Pinnick led a delegation of<br />
NFF chieftains and team<br />
staff to visit the imposing<br />
goal –minder at The Christie<br />
Clinic in Manchester, where<br />
he is being treated.<br />
In the delegation also<br />
were NFF 1st Vice President,<br />
Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi,<br />
General Secretary,<br />
Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, Super<br />
Eagles’ Team Administrator,<br />
Dayo Enebi, Eagles’<br />
goalkeepers’ trainer Alloy<br />
Agu and team media officer,<br />
Toyin Ibitoye.<br />
Pinnick said: “We have<br />
come on behalf of the Government<br />
of Nigeria and the<br />
NFF to check up on you,<br />
find out how your recovery<br />
is going and to tell you that<br />
you are still very much on<br />
our minds and a member of<br />
the Super Eagles of Nigeria.<br />
“We have also come to<br />
seek your permission to be<br />
our special guest at the pre-<br />
World Cup friendly game<br />
against England at the Wembley<br />
Stadium on 2nd June.<br />
We want you to perform the<br />
customary kick-off of that<br />
game and if you approve<br />
of it, we will immediately<br />
Adepoju says Nigeria vs. Serbia result<br />
good for W/Cup preparation<br />
... confident Super Eagles would impress at the World Cup<br />
Former Super Eagles<br />
midfielder Mutiu Adepoju<br />
on Wednesday<br />
said Super Eagles’ 0-2<br />
defeat to Serbia on Tuesday<br />
night in London in a friendly<br />
achieved its purpose.<br />
He added that the result<br />
would still be useful to Super<br />
Eagles’ coach Gernot Rohr.<br />
“He will make good use<br />
of the outcome. It was a good<br />
game on both sides, and I am<br />
sure the Eagles’ handlers will<br />
be satisfied that the match<br />
opened their eyes to so many<br />
things,’’ he said.<br />
“Rohr must have seen the<br />
strengths and weaknesses of<br />
his players, which will determine<br />
their involvement during<br />
the World Cup.<br />
“It was a friendly match<br />
though, but it is still a better<br />
means of testing players to assess<br />
players and brush them<br />
up ahead of the mundial,” he<br />
added.<br />
The ex-Real Betis of Spain<br />
midfielder however expressed<br />
optimism that the Super Eagles<br />
would still make an impressive<br />
appearance at the <strong>2018</strong> World<br />
Cup in Russia.<br />
NAN reports that Rohr<br />
used the match to expose<br />
some players like goalkeeper<br />
Francis Uzoho to world-class<br />
matches ahead of the World<br />
Cup.<br />
The Super Eagles on Friday<br />
defeated Poland 1-0 in Wroclaw<br />
in another pre-World Cup<br />
friendly match.<br />
They will play three more<br />
friendly matches against Congo,<br />
England and the Czech<br />
Republic before heading to<br />
Russia for the World Cup finals<br />
slated to hold from June 14 to<br />
July 15.<br />
request this of The Football<br />
Association.”<br />
The NFF supremo further<br />
assured the goalkeeper that<br />
he would be fully captured in<br />
the team’s financial benefits<br />
for Nigeria’s qualification for<br />
the FIFA World Cup “as we<br />
all remember the role you<br />
played in helping us get off<br />
to a winning start in the final<br />
phase of qualifiers in Ndola<br />
against Zambia.<br />
“We believe this is just<br />
a phase that will pass away.<br />
You will come out of it stronger<br />
and still be able to do<br />
what you love to do the best,<br />
both for your club and the<br />
Super Eagles of Nigeria.”<br />
Team Administrator,<br />
Dayo Enebi, said: “On behalf<br />
of the team, we want<br />
to reassure you of our love.<br />
The entire team would have<br />
been here to see you if we<br />
were not playing against<br />
Serbia. Coach Gernot Rohr,<br />
the technical and backroom<br />
staff are all praying for your<br />
speedy recovery. The team<br />
asked that I present this autographed<br />
jersey, signed by<br />
all the players, to you. It is our<br />
new kit for the World Cup.”<br />
Ikeme’s immediate boss<br />
in the Super Eagles, Alloy<br />
Agu, had this to say: “As your<br />
goalkeeper coach in the national<br />
team, I know you are<br />
a fighter, you never give up.<br />
I believe these attributes<br />
will see you through. We will<br />
always be there for you as<br />
you recover from this illness.”<br />
An ecstatic Ikeme, moved<br />
by all the kind words, responded:<br />
“I am so overwhelmed<br />
by this show of<br />
love. I am indeed grateful to<br />
Nigerians who daily flood<br />
my phone with prayers and<br />
well wishes. I feel their love<br />
everywhere, everyday, on social<br />
media. I thank the Government<br />
of Nigeria and the<br />
NFF for all the support and I<br />
appreciate my teammates so<br />
much for being there for me.”<br />
Boycott by countries will not<br />
affect World Cup - Kremlin<br />
A<br />
possible diplomatic<br />
boycott of the<br />
FIFA World Cup<br />
in Russia by some<br />
countries after the incident<br />
in Salisbury is unlikely to<br />
affect the upcoming championship,<br />
Kremlin Spokesman<br />
Dmitry Peskov told<br />
reporters on Wednesday.<br />
“In this case, the refusal<br />
by officials to attend some<br />
events as part of the World<br />
Cup is unlikely to have a<br />
negative effect on the sports<br />
holiday in general since the<br />
important thing about the<br />
World Cup is not the arrival<br />
of officials or official representatives,<br />
the important<br />
thing is the game of the<br />
teams,” Peskov said.<br />
UK Prime Minister Theresa<br />
May earlier announced<br />
that none of the British<br />
cabinet or the royal family<br />
would attend the World Cup<br />
following the poisoning of<br />
former Russian military<br />
intelligence (GRU) Colonel<br />
Sergei Skripal and his<br />
daughter Yulia in Salisbury,<br />
UK on <strong>Mar</strong>ch 4.<br />
Media reports suggested<br />
that some other Western<br />
countries would boycott the<br />
FIFA World Cup in Russia at<br />
the diplomatic level over the<br />
Skripal case.<br />
The matches of the <strong>2018</strong><br />
World Cup will be held between<br />
June 14 and July 15 at<br />
12 stadiums located in the<br />
11 mentioned above cities<br />
across Russia. Two of the<br />
stadiums are located in the<br />
Russian capital.<br />
The participating countries<br />
in the World Cup will<br />
be Russia, Brazil, Iran,<br />
Japan, Mexico, Belgium,<br />
South Korea, Saudi Arabia,<br />
Germany, England, Spain,<br />
Nigeria, Costa Rica, Poland,<br />
Egypt, Iceland, Serbia, Portugal,<br />
France, Uruguay, Argentina,<br />
Colombia, Panama,<br />
Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia,<br />
Switzerland, Croatia, Sweden,<br />
Denmark, Australia,<br />
and Pe<br />
Aigbogun<br />
delighted by<br />
benefits of<br />
Egypt tour<br />
Paul Aigbogun, Head<br />
Coach of Nigeria<br />
U20 has declared<br />
that the objectives<br />
of his boys’ two-match tour<br />
of Egypt have been met,<br />
despite the Flying Eagles<br />
losing narrowly 1-2 to their<br />
Egyptian counterparts in the<br />
second match in Alexandria<br />
on Wednesday.<br />
Both teams had played<br />
out a scoreless draw at the<br />
same Borg El-Arab Stadium<br />
in Egypt’s second city on<br />
Monday.<br />
“In friendly matches, it is<br />
not the result that matters.<br />
We drew our first leg and lost<br />
the second 1-2 but I am very<br />
happy that not only have we<br />
come away with vital lessons,<br />
our objectives for the tour<br />
has been met.<br />
“We came here to look at<br />
the boys we have put together<br />
and that we are working<br />
with, and to see if we are on<br />
the right path. On the evidence<br />
of performance by the<br />
boys from the two matches, I<br />
believe we are. We also came<br />
here to see how they would<br />
cope in game situations, and<br />
we were not disappointed.”<br />
Aigbogun contended that<br />
his boys were encouraging<br />
in their output as well as onfield<br />
and off-field discipline,<br />
and that “losing narrowly<br />
against an Egyptian U20<br />
side that had been in camp<br />
for upwards of one year was<br />
not a bad performance but a<br />
message to work harder.”<br />
AFC Bournemouth of<br />
England ace Nathan Nnamdi<br />
Ofoborh, invited by Aigbogun<br />
to come and show his<br />
stuff after he opted to represent<br />
Nigeria and not England,<br />
played his first match<br />
for Nigeria in Wednesday’s<br />
encounter.<br />
Plateau United FC defender<br />
Mike Zaruma lashed<br />
a long –range strike for Nigeria<br />
with 18 minutes to go<br />
to half the deficit, after the<br />
Egyptians had scored once<br />
in each half.<br />
The seven –time African<br />
champions are due back in<br />
the country on Thursday,<br />
and will play the winner of<br />
the Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau<br />
preliminary fixture in the<br />
first round of the 2019 Africa<br />
U20 Cup of Nations qualifiers<br />
in May.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
FT FINANCIAL TIMES<br />
C002D5556<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
A1<br />
Air India offered with no<br />
state interference but<br />
much debt<br />
World Business Newspaper<br />
Donald Trump replaces<br />
veterans affairs secretary<br />
US president to nominate White House doctor to fill role that was held by David Shulkin<br />
BARNEY JOPSON<br />
President Donald Trump<br />
has removed his secretary<br />
of veterans affairs<br />
David Shulkin and<br />
nominated the White<br />
House doctor to replace him in the<br />
cabinet-level role.<br />
Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday<br />
that he would nominate Ronny<br />
Jackson, his personal physician, as<br />
the new veterans affairs secretary,<br />
a role that includes oversight of<br />
healthcare for former military<br />
officers.<br />
Mr Shulkin had been under fire<br />
over ethics issues that included<br />
his acceptance of tickets to watch<br />
tennis at Wimbledon.<br />
His exit is the latest personnel<br />
shake-up in the Trump administration,<br />
which has been rocked by<br />
a spate of firings and resignations<br />
in the past two months.<br />
Most recently the president<br />
abruptly replaced his national<br />
security adviser HR McMaster with<br />
foreign policy hawk John Bolton<br />
last Thursday.<br />
Mr Jackson, whose appointment<br />
to the cabinet is subject to<br />
Senate confirmation, is a former<br />
naval medic who has served as<br />
the White House physician since<br />
George W Bush’s time in the Oval<br />
Office.<br />
Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat<br />
in the House of Representatives,<br />
said: “The lack of [veterans affairs]<br />
leadership experience in Secretary<br />
Shulkin’s successor at such a<br />
critical time for the institution is<br />
concerning.”<br />
Mr Trump had reportedly been<br />
considering replacing Mr Shulkin<br />
as part of a broader shake-up in<br />
SF Motors hopes investment will enable it to avoid White House tariffs<br />
SF Motors has become the latest<br />
Chinese-owned company to<br />
unveil plans to break into the<br />
US electric vehicle market, at a time<br />
when a growing tech threat from<br />
China has rattled Washington.<br />
The push by China’s EV companies<br />
comes in the face of US unease<br />
about Chinese leadership in the<br />
next big technology markets. That<br />
contributed to the White House’s<br />
decision last week to impose higher<br />
tariffs on some Chinese imports,<br />
and to threaten retaliation over the<br />
pressure American companies have<br />
faced to give up their technology to<br />
mend the deal to shareholders.<br />
It would mark the first time the<br />
same company owned the dominant<br />
markets for fixed income and<br />
foreign exchange futures, and their<br />
underlying securities. Nex operates<br />
some of the world’s largest currency<br />
and sovereign debt markets, and<br />
owns assets that process millions<br />
of derivatives, equities and currency<br />
deals.<br />
Nex shareholders will also receive<br />
a final dividend for the year to<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>, which will not exceed<br />
7.65p per share. Mr Spencer, Nex’s<br />
chief executive and largest shareholder,<br />
will net around £670m from<br />
the deal. He will also join the CME<br />
board, the statement said.<br />
CME said it expected to generate<br />
cost synergies of $200m by the end<br />
of 2021 and expected to incur a onethe<br />
top ranks of his administration.<br />
Mr Shulkin has been under<br />
pressure since a damning report<br />
by his department’s inspector<br />
general found that on an official<br />
trip to Europe last summer he<br />
spent much of his time sightseeing<br />
and improperly accepted tickets to<br />
Wimbledon.<br />
He also notched up notable<br />
achievements, helping to shepherd<br />
into law several pieces of<br />
bipartisan legislation to improve<br />
services for veterans.<br />
Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday:<br />
“I am thankful for Dr David<br />
Shulkin’s service to our country<br />
and to our GREAT VETERANS!”<br />
Mr Shulkin was a holdover<br />
from the Obama era, having been<br />
appointed as undersecretary of<br />
veterans affairs for health by the<br />
previous president.<br />
Mr Jackson came to attention<br />
when he gave an energetically<br />
upbeat televised briefing on Mr<br />
Trump’s health after conducting a<br />
physical examination in January,<br />
attributing his good condition to<br />
his genes.<br />
In the past few weeks, economic<br />
adviser Gary Cohn, secretary<br />
of state Rex Tillerson and Mr<br />
McMaster have all left the Trump<br />
administration.<br />
Mr Trump said in a statement:<br />
“Admiral Jackson is highly trained<br />
and qualified and as a service<br />
member himself, he has seen firsthand<br />
the tremendous sacrifice<br />
our veterans make and has a deep<br />
appreciation for the debt our great<br />
country owes them.”<br />
Robert Wilkie, currently an<br />
undersecretary at the Pentagon,<br />
will serve as acting secretary of<br />
veterans affairs.<br />
Chinese electric carmaker sets<br />
up US assembly plant<br />
RICHARD WATERS<br />
Page A3<br />
their Chinese counterparts.<br />
Earlier this month, Tesla boss<br />
Elon Musk complained that his<br />
company was not allowed to own<br />
its own assembly plants outright in<br />
China, while there are “five 100 [per<br />
cent] China-owned EV companies in<br />
the US”. He also pointed to the 25 per<br />
cent tariff on Tesla cars exported to<br />
China, 10 times the levy on vehicles<br />
moving in the opposite direction.<br />
John Zhang, chief executive of<br />
SF Motors, a subsidiary of Chinese<br />
automaker Sokon Industry Group,<br />
claimed his company was on an<br />
equal footing with Tesla in the US,<br />
Continues on page A2<br />
CME Group agrees to buy Michael Spencer’s Nex for £3.9bn<br />
Pact places CME in pole position to shake-up vast US Treasuries market<br />
CME Group, the world’s largest<br />
futures exchange, has<br />
agreed to buy Michael Spencer’s<br />
Nex Group for £3.9bn in a<br />
deal that heralds a shake-up in the<br />
world’s bond and foreign exchange<br />
markets.<br />
The two parties had been in discussions<br />
for several weeks and the<br />
price is at the top end of analysts’<br />
forecasts. If completed, the deal<br />
would be the CME’s largest overseas<br />
acquisition and its biggest since it<br />
bought Nymex for $11bn in 2008.<br />
In a statement on Thursday,<br />
CME said it would pay £10 a share<br />
for Nex. The deal would be structured<br />
as a cash payment of £5 and<br />
0.0444 new CME shares per Nex<br />
share. Nex said it would recom-<br />
German foreign minister Heiko Maas causes waves<br />
Little known appointee shows markedly tougher approach in rhetoric on Russia<br />
Sharp dresser: Mr Maas’s diplomatic approach is starting to become clear © Getty<br />
Heiko Who?<br />
When the name of Germany’s<br />
new foreign minister was<br />
unveiled this month, it left<br />
diplomats and foreign affairs analysts<br />
scratching their heads. Despite a long<br />
career in German politics, Heiko Maas<br />
had no previous international experience.<br />
His most senior job to date was<br />
as minister for justice and consumer<br />
protection. Little was known of his<br />
views on foreign affairs — or whether<br />
he had any at all.<br />
Two weeks, five trips and a diplomatic<br />
clash with Russia later, both<br />
the style and substance of Mr Maas’s<br />
diplomatic approach are starting to<br />
become clearer. Most importantly,<br />
the new minister has been markedly<br />
tougher in his rhetoric and approach<br />
towards Moscow. On his first day in<br />
office, Mr Maas issued a frank warning<br />
about Russian “aggression” and<br />
chastised Moscow for “defining itself<br />
in antagonism to many in the west”.<br />
Russia’s stance, he added, “changes<br />
Chicago’s CME eyes<br />
pole position in biggest<br />
bond market<br />
Donald Trump listens to secretary of veterans affairs David Shulkin during a Department of Veterans Affairs Telehealth<br />
event at the White House in August © Reuters<br />
PHILIP STAFFORD<br />
TOBIAS BUCK<br />
Page A4<br />
the reality of our foreign policy”.<br />
Words were followed by deeds this<br />
week, when Mr Maas announced the<br />
expulsion of four Russian diplomats<br />
from Berlin over the Salisbury nerve<br />
agent attack.<br />
“The Russian government has<br />
so far not answered any of the open<br />
questions and has shown no readiness<br />
to play a constructive role in<br />
clearing up the attack,” Mr Maas said.<br />
Officials in the foreign ministry<br />
have been pleasantly surprised by<br />
their new boss, who seems to have<br />
lived up to his reputation as a quick<br />
and diligent learner who listens to<br />
expert advice. Coverage in the German<br />
media has been favourable and<br />
moved on from an earlier focus on<br />
his dapper dress sense (GQ voted<br />
him best dressed man in 2016) and<br />
his actress girlfriend Natalia Wörner.<br />
In many crucial areas — such<br />
as EU policy and Franco-German<br />
relations — the 51-year-old Social<br />
Democrat has promised continuity.<br />
On Russia, however, the change in<br />
tone is evident, with Mr Maas emphasising<br />
repeatedly the need to defend<br />
off cost of $285m to achieve them.<br />
A combination would put CME<br />
in pole position to potentially reform<br />
trading on the $500bn-a-day<br />
US Treasuries market — the main<br />
market for US government debt.<br />
The deal would also unite CME’s<br />
FX futures business with Nex’s currency<br />
trading venue, as CME targets<br />
the global FX swaps and forwards<br />
market, which trades a notional<br />
$3tn a day.<br />
The Chicago exchange has plans<br />
to create the first ever central order<br />
book that directly links the spot<br />
currency market and its own FX<br />
futures market. FX derivatives have<br />
also been one of the biggest growth<br />
markets in clearing. Last year CME’s<br />
big rival LCH cleared $11tn in notional<br />
contracts compared to $3.2tn<br />
in 2016.<br />
the rule of law as a guiding principle<br />
of foreign policy. In his first speech,<br />
he warned that the “erosion of liberal,<br />
rules-based, democratic order that<br />
we believe in has gone further than<br />
we thought possible five years ago”,<br />
adding: “We have to defend things<br />
that we took for granted until now.”<br />
His remarks were widely read as<br />
a rebuke to Germany’s still-sizeable<br />
contingent of Putinversteher — supporters<br />
and defenders of Russian<br />
president Vladimir Putin — and to<br />
Berlin policymakers pushing for a<br />
softer approach towards Moscow.<br />
Among them was Sigmar Gabriel,<br />
Mr Maas’s popular but erratic predecessor,<br />
who repeatedly held out the<br />
promise of an end to western sanctions<br />
against Russia.<br />
“Maas has obviously decided to<br />
distance himself from Gabriel and the<br />
Putinversteher in the German parliament,”<br />
said Constanze Stelzenmüller,<br />
senior fellow at the Brookings Institution<br />
in Washington. “He is trying to<br />
repair some of the damage inflicted on<br />
the credibility of the German position<br />
by Gabriel. That is important.”
A2 BUSINESS DAY<br />
C002D5556 Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
FT<br />
Chinese electric carmaker sets<br />
up US assembly plant...<br />
NATIONAL<br />
US subprime mortgage bonds back in fashion<br />
Yield-hungry investors turn to assets blamed for financial crisis a decade ago<br />
Continued from page A1<br />
removing the risk of retaliation from<br />
Washington.<br />
“So far we think we should be all<br />
right [as] some of our manufacturing<br />
and servicing is in the US,” Mr Zhang<br />
said just before SF Motors’ unveiling<br />
late on Wednesday of two electric<br />
vehicles it plans to launch in the US.<br />
The first, a mid-range crossover SUV,<br />
is due to go into trial production<br />
before the end of this year.<br />
The Chinese-owned company<br />
has acquired a plant in Indiana,<br />
and claims to be the only EV maker<br />
with its own assembly facilities in<br />
both China and the US. The heavily<br />
automated plant is set to bring “a<br />
few hundred” jobs to Indiana, Mr<br />
Zhang said. SF Motors follows other<br />
Chinese-owned electric carmakers<br />
to base their US operations in Silicon<br />
Valley, including Nio and Byton.<br />
SF Motors is set to benefit from a<br />
protected home market that promises<br />
to give it much better economies<br />
of scale than US competitors. China<br />
is already the world’s largest EV market,<br />
a lead that is projected to grow.<br />
Mr Zhang said his company was<br />
counting on its “global business<br />
model” to give it an edge, leading<br />
to lower unit costs and enabling it<br />
to set its prices below other electric<br />
vehicle companies. “We designed<br />
the product for the global market,”<br />
he said.<br />
The company plans to produce<br />
and launch its first vehicles on the<br />
US west coast, where much of the<br />
current demand is centred. Its US<br />
assembly facility has a capacity of<br />
50,000 vehicles a year but its plant<br />
in China can make three times that<br />
number, said Mr Zhang. At peak<br />
capacity, that points to a global production<br />
volume roughly twice what<br />
Tesla achieved last year.<br />
The spectre of Chinese competition<br />
has led to increasing scrutiny<br />
in Washington of the acquisition of<br />
important US technology. Mr Zhang<br />
said his company had developed the<br />
electric power train for its vehicles<br />
entirely in-house. It is looking for<br />
partnerships in the US to develop<br />
autonomous driving capabilities,<br />
he said, a feature it hopes to start<br />
adding to its cars in 2020.<br />
SF Motors has also acquired American<br />
technology outright, with last<br />
year’s purchase of an electric car startup<br />
established by <strong>Mar</strong>tin Eberhard, a<br />
co-founder of Tesla. The company,<br />
InEVit, “developed and patented a<br />
unique EV chassis architecture, battery<br />
module design innovations and<br />
manufacturing techniques”, SF Motors<br />
said at the time.<br />
BEN MCLANNAHAN AND<br />
JOE RENNISON<br />
Issuance of securities backed by<br />
riskier US mortgages roughly<br />
doubled in the first quarter<br />
from a year earlier, as investors<br />
lapped up assets blamed for bringing<br />
the global financial system to<br />
the brink of collapse a decade ago.<br />
Home loans to people with<br />
scratches and dents in their credit<br />
histories dwindled to almost nothing<br />
in the aftermath of the crisis, as<br />
litigation-weary lenders retreated<br />
to patch up their balance sheets.<br />
But over the past couple of years a<br />
group of specialist firms has begun<br />
to bring the loans back, navigating<br />
a dense web of new rules drawn up<br />
to protect borrowers and investors<br />
in the $9.3tn US home-loan market.<br />
Last year saw issuance of $4.1bn<br />
of securities backed by loans that<br />
would have been called “subprime”<br />
before the last financial<br />
crisis, according to figures from<br />
Inside Mortgage Finance, with the<br />
pace picking up in the latter half<br />
of the year. The momentum has<br />
continued into <strong>2018</strong>, with deals<br />
worth $1.3bn in the first quarter —<br />
twice the $666m issued in the same<br />
period a year earlier.<br />
“The market is . . . starting from<br />
such a small base that it has a lot<br />
of room to grow,” said ca principal<br />
at Axonic Capital, a New York<br />
hedge fund with about $2bn in<br />
Tim Cook: ‘If our customer was our product, we could make a ton of money. We’ve elected not to do that’ © Bloomberg<br />
Apple seeks to take advantage of Facebook’s woes<br />
Cook promotes conservative approach to using customer data amid online privacy uproar<br />
TIM BRADSHAW<br />
Apple is seeking to capitalise<br />
on its conservative approach<br />
to using customer data amid<br />
the online privacy uproar fuelled by<br />
the huge leak of Facebook data to<br />
Cambridge Analytica.<br />
When asked on an upcoming<br />
MSNBC television interview what<br />
he would do in <strong>Mar</strong>k Zuckerberg’s<br />
present position, Apple chief executive<br />
Tim Cook took a swipe at the<br />
Facebook founder. “I wouldn’t be<br />
in this situation,” he said.<br />
He also implicitly criticised<br />
Facebook for failing to review apps<br />
using its social network, like the<br />
personality test that siphoned off<br />
user data to Cambridge Analytica.<br />
“We’re looking at every app in<br />
detail,” he said, referring to Apple’s<br />
longstanding App Store review<br />
process. “We’re always looking at<br />
improving and raising the bar.”<br />
Privacy is a “human right” and a<br />
“civil liberty”, Mr Cook said, echoing<br />
the philosophical arguments he<br />
made when fighting against the US<br />
government over iPhone encryption<br />
two years ago. He also repeated<br />
his call, first made in China over the<br />
weekend, for greater regulation of<br />
personal data in the wake of news<br />
that 50m Facebook users’ information<br />
was used without their consent<br />
by Cambridge Analytica.<br />
In the past, Apple has been<br />
criticised for not being more aggressive<br />
in employing customer data<br />
to improve its artificial intelligence<br />
systems, such as virtual assistant<br />
Siri, an area where some see the<br />
iPhone maker as lagging rivals<br />
such as Google and Amazon.<br />
Now, Apple’s cautious approach<br />
to privacy is starting to look like an<br />
asset rather than a liability, as datacentric<br />
advertising businesses such<br />
as Facebook and Google come in<br />
for widespread scrutiny.<br />
Mr Cook told MSNBC that<br />
Apple was deliberately leaving<br />
money on the table by refusing to<br />
use data to target advertising to its<br />
hundreds of millions of customers.<br />
“If our customer was our product,<br />
we could make a ton of money,”<br />
he said. “We’ve elected not to<br />
do that.”<br />
Instead of giving services away<br />
for free and making money from<br />
advertising, Apple sells highly<br />
profitable hardware and software,<br />
such as its latest $999 iPhone X.<br />
“We care about the user experience<br />
and we’re not going to<br />
traffic in your personal life,” Mr<br />
Cook said.<br />
While tech stocks including<br />
Facebook and Twitter have plunged<br />
in the continuing crisis, analysts<br />
have said Apple could be insulated<br />
from any regulatory fallout.<br />
“We expect over the next year<br />
investors will look favourably on<br />
Apple given the company’s privacyfirst<br />
ethos in an age where privacy is<br />
becoming a more prevalent topic,”<br />
said Gene Munster, a former Apple<br />
stock analyst turned venture capital<br />
investor at Loup Ventures, in a note<br />
last week.<br />
Mr Cook’s comments came as<br />
Apple is preparing to push deeper<br />
into healthcare, where data protection<br />
is an even more sensitive topic.<br />
Apple is opening its own medical<br />
clinics for employees, according<br />
to job advertisements and a website<br />
dedicated to the venture, and<br />
rumours from its supply chain in<br />
Asia point to new health-tracking<br />
features in the next version of the<br />
Apple Watch, due out later this year.<br />
“Although Apple sometimes<br />
speaks of privacy on moral<br />
grounds . . . its business model<br />
makes emphasising privacy easier<br />
than for Google or Facebook,” analysts<br />
at UBS said in a recent note.<br />
“Still, Apple’s policy on not sharing<br />
data for marketing purposes could<br />
turn into a competitive advantage.<br />
People tend not to worry about<br />
privacy — until they do.“<br />
However, Apple has not been<br />
immune from criticism over how<br />
it handles customer information.<br />
Privacy activists took aim at Apple<br />
for moving its Chinese customers’<br />
iCloud data to China, which critics<br />
say could make it easier for the<br />
government there to obtain details<br />
from those accounts.<br />
The full interview with Mr Cook<br />
will air on MSNBC on April 6.<br />
assets under management. “[Investors]<br />
are definitely chasing yields.<br />
Whenever these deals come out,<br />
for the most part, they are oversubscribed.”<br />
Matt Nichols, founder and chief<br />
executive of Deephaven Mortgage<br />
of Charlotte, North Carolina, has<br />
bought about $2bn of non-prime<br />
loans from a network of 100 or<br />
so brokers, and has re-sold about<br />
$1.2bn of that into the mortgagebacked<br />
securities market. He expects<br />
issuance of nonprime MBS<br />
to top $10bn this year.<br />
“The originator appetite to<br />
produce more of it is growing,” said<br />
Mr Nichols, who spent more than<br />
a decade running the residential<br />
mortgage business at Goldman<br />
Sachs. “It’s a question of loan officers<br />
learning about the availability<br />
of the products again and . . . being<br />
willing to teach realtors and borrowers<br />
that there is more credit<br />
available.”<br />
UK businesses caught<br />
between Brexit and<br />
Jeremy Corbyn<br />
Executives unsure who they can support as<br />
politics becomes more polarised<br />
JOSHUA CHAFFIN<br />
Andrew Varga is the quintessential<br />
small manufacturer that politicians<br />
claim to love.<br />
But on a recent afternoon at Seetru,<br />
the Bristol factory his family has run<br />
for the past 69 years, Mr Varga was not<br />
feeling much reciprocal affection for<br />
Britain’s political class.<br />
Scattered around him were trays of<br />
freshly milled safety valves, the successors<br />
to products his father, a Hungarian<br />
immigrant, pioneered decades ago.<br />
One-third of its £11m of sales go to the<br />
EU and Mr Varga has petitioned several<br />
MPs over Brexit, to little effect.<br />
“There is no one that expresses our<br />
voice, I don’t think,” he said. “I feel completely<br />
disenfranchised.”<br />
Since the Thatcher era, British business<br />
has generally felt at ease with both<br />
of the main political parties. Even when<br />
they swapped power, the Conservatives<br />
and Labour maintained a centrist<br />
consensus built around free trade, free<br />
enterprise and a growing role for the<br />
private sector.<br />
But as Britain’s politics become<br />
more polarised in the Brexit era, many<br />
executives are feeling uncharacteristically<br />
shut out.<br />
Their political choice has narrowed<br />
to a Conservative party that is pushing<br />
through policies on trade and immigration<br />
that are antithetical to many businesses<br />
and a Labour party whose leader,<br />
Jeremy Corbyn, is an avowed socialist<br />
who wants to nationalise chunks of<br />
industry and raise taxes.<br />
‘Who the hell do I vote for?’<br />
It has become a parlour game among<br />
executives to debate which is worse —<br />
Brexit or Mr Corbyn. “It’s a real problem<br />
for me — who the hell do I vote for?”<br />
said one grandee who has sat on several<br />
boards and now chairs a large financial<br />
services company.<br />
Like other executives, he was loath<br />
to speak publicly for fear of damaging<br />
relations with the powers that be, or offending<br />
customers. In private, though,<br />
he and others vented their frustration.<br />
The idea, he said, that “if the economy<br />
is strong, if business is doing well,<br />
the country is doing well” was no longer<br />
so widely held. He complained not only<br />
about Brexit, which he opposed, but a<br />
sense that politicians were no longer<br />
listening to business as they drew up<br />
policies for energy, education and other<br />
areas.<br />
A senior executive in the Midlands<br />
said the Labour party under Mr Corbyn<br />
“have no appreciation and understanding”<br />
of business. Yet he was more<br />
perplexed by the Conservatives, who<br />
traditionally pride themselves on being<br />
the party of business.<br />
“The Tory party is so inward-looking<br />
at the moment and tearing themselves<br />
apart over Europe, and not worrying<br />
about creating a positive environment<br />
for business,” he said.
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
COMPANIES & MARKETS<br />
@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED<br />
Air India offered with<br />
no state interference<br />
but much debt<br />
Government looks to sell 76% of carrier with IndiGo the sole known interested bidder<br />
AMY KAZMIN<br />
India has taken the first big step<br />
towards the privatisation of its<br />
lossmaking national carrier, Air<br />
India, unveiling formal plans to sell<br />
a 76 per cent stake in the airline,<br />
which will come bundled with twothirds<br />
of the carrier’s $7.8bn debt.<br />
The ability to sell a controlling<br />
stake in the carrier — which relies<br />
heavily on requirements that all<br />
civil servants fly Air India on official<br />
trips — will be a major test of Prime<br />
Minister Narendra Modi’s ability<br />
to deal with the burdensome state<br />
enterprises conceived during the<br />
country’s socialist era.<br />
New Delhi will maintain a 24 per<br />
cent stake in the airline, but Jayant<br />
Sinha, the minister of state for civil<br />
aviation, said the new owners will be<br />
free of any government interference.<br />
He added the new airline package<br />
will come with debt of $5bn.<br />
“The winning bidder is going to<br />
have full management control and<br />
will be able to operate the company<br />
in the way that will maximise<br />
revenues, profitability and value<br />
Convivial it may have been, for<br />
a while at least, but the party<br />
is now well and truly over for<br />
drinks group Conviviality.<br />
Having failed to raise the £125m<br />
it desperately needed to cover a tax<br />
bill, pay creditors and provide working<br />
capital, the owner of the Bargain<br />
Booze and Wine Rack chains has this<br />
morning announced plans to go into<br />
administration.<br />
It said that following discussions<br />
with lending banks, it has decided it<br />
must file notice of appointing administrators<br />
for the business. So, unless<br />
circumstances change, it will enter<br />
administration within 10 business<br />
days — although secured creditors<br />
may appoint administrators without<br />
the notice period.<br />
In the meantime, it plans to continue<br />
to trade “to preserve as much value<br />
as possible for all stakeholders” as it<br />
explores a potential sale of all or parts<br />
of its business. And Conviviality raised<br />
some hopes for this, saying there have<br />
been “a number of inbound enquiries”.<br />
But it has been a rapid decline into<br />
(a lack of) alcohol(ism) for a company<br />
once valued at £800m. In a space of a<br />
few weeks, it has warned on profits,<br />
discovered a £<strong>30</strong>m unpaid tax bill, lost<br />
its chief executive, and suspended<br />
trading in its shares.<br />
It tried to prop itself up by issuing<br />
new shares through broker Investec, to<br />
raise that £125m and pay that tax bill,<br />
which was due today — plus overdue<br />
payments to creditors.<br />
However, banks said Conviviality<br />
creation,” Mr Sinha told CNBC India,<br />
after the plan was unveiled.<br />
However, he said, “we do want<br />
to participate in the value creation<br />
once Air India is with new owners,<br />
who will take it to great heights and<br />
make it a great global airline”.<br />
Air India’s share of the country’s<br />
aviation market has plummeted over<br />
the past two decades in the face of<br />
competition from ambitious private<br />
carriers and foreign rivals.<br />
But many traditional Indian politicians<br />
still oppose selling the airline,<br />
which they describe as a prized national<br />
asset, despite the huge sums<br />
of taxpayer money required to keep<br />
it afloat.<br />
The airline’s more than 21,000<br />
employees — who have insisted<br />
disinvestment was not necessary —<br />
and even former employees may yet<br />
scupper the sale, which may lead to<br />
an end of their many perks.<br />
But Mr Sinha said New Delhi<br />
was committed to “robust and substantial”<br />
safeguards of the workers’<br />
interests, and would work to build<br />
a political consensus for the sell-off<br />
and assuage doubters.<br />
Opening Quote: Conviviality’s party<br />
is over, Nex’s just starting<br />
Diana Hunter, Conviviality’s former chief executive, stepped down abruptly this month<br />
MATTHEW VINCENT<br />
had drunk enough — or, as the company<br />
put it, there was “ultimately insufficient<br />
demand to raise the full £125m”.<br />
As Kate Burgess points out in the<br />
Lombard column today, the speed of<br />
its collapse is redolent of construction<br />
group Carillion’s — even though it was<br />
shareholders rather than bank lenders<br />
who ultimately refused to buy another<br />
round.<br />
Both were asset-light — Conviviality<br />
was a distributor and off-licence<br />
operator with mainly leasehold<br />
property. Both tried to grow too fast<br />
through acquisitions. Both were overoptimistic<br />
about their profitability.<br />
Both underestimated costs and fell<br />
behind with bill payments. So both<br />
lost control of their cash.<br />
Now shareholders face another<br />
awful hangover. Yesterday, Conviviality<br />
warned its shares could be pretty much<br />
worthless.<br />
However, one wine lover whose<br />
tastes are anything but Bargain<br />
Booze will soon be able to afford<br />
a few more cases of 1982 Château<br />
Lafite Rothschild.<br />
Michael Spencer, founder of financial<br />
technology company Nex Group,<br />
has agreed to sell up to US exchange<br />
operator CME for £3.9bn — in a deal<br />
that will earn him around £670m<br />
personally.<br />
He may well toast his success: CME<br />
has been in talks with Mr Spencer for<br />
several weeks and the price is at the<br />
top end of analysts’ forecasts. If the<br />
deal goes through, it will be CME’s<br />
largest overseas acquisition and its<br />
biggest since it bought Nymex for<br />
$11bn in 2008.<br />
FINANCIAL TIMES<br />
US tech stocks fell further overnight, European equities rebound<br />
CHLOE CORNISH AND<br />
What you need to know<br />
European bourses open<br />
positively<br />
Asia-Pacific equities mixed<br />
Faangs twice bitten on Wall Street<br />
Yen steadies after sharp retreat<br />
US tech stocks are likely to continue<br />
to occupy investors attention<br />
on Thursday, as “the largest firms<br />
may be at an inflection point in<br />
terms of tougher regulation”, said<br />
Richard Hunter, head of markets<br />
at Interactive Investor.<br />
While anxiety over a full-blown<br />
trade war between the US and<br />
China have eased, the threat protectionism<br />
poses to the global<br />
economy remains a concern, said<br />
Mr Hunter.<br />
UK GDP numbers for the fourth<br />
quarter, to be released later on<br />
Thursday, will offer the latest snapshot<br />
of an economy showing signs<br />
of slowing. Trading activity could<br />
be more muted because of the<br />
forthcoming long Easter weekend,<br />
but it is also the final trading day<br />
of the quarter which might prompt<br />
fund managers to trim or add to<br />
their portfolios.<br />
Hot topics<br />
The FTSE 100 and Dax Xetra<br />
opened modestly higher after choppy<br />
trading in Asia-Pacific equities<br />
on Thursday. The mixed session in<br />
Asia follows a sell-off in big technology<br />
stocks, which rattled the wider<br />
market.<br />
Frankfurt’s Dax is up 0.3%<br />
London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.2%<br />
Pan-European Stoxx 600 is up 0.3%<br />
The Topix in Tokyo was up 0.3<br />
per cent, buoyed by a weaker yen<br />
that boosted exporter stocks and<br />
helped offset losses from the tech<br />
sector. The Hang Seng closed up<br />
0.6 per cent, while on the mainland,<br />
the CSI <strong>30</strong>0 index of major Shanghai<br />
and Shenzhen stocks jumped 1.7<br />
per cent. The Kospi in Seoul rose<br />
0.7 per cent.<br />
But in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200<br />
fell 0.5 per cent with gains from<br />
financials offset by losses from the<br />
basic materials and technology segments<br />
as well as some consumer<br />
stocks.<br />
The moves came after Wall Street<br />
closed lower on Wednesday with<br />
the so-called Faang stocks — Facebook,<br />
Apple, Amazon, Netflix and<br />
Google — still under pressure after<br />
their worst one-day drop on Tuesday.<br />
The tech sell-off, fuelled by<br />
increased regulatory scrutiny and a<br />
more defensive mindset from investors,<br />
has spooked the market.<br />
The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed<br />
0.9 per cent lower. The S&P 500,<br />
which dropped 0.3 per cent on<br />
Wednesday, is heading for its first<br />
quarterly loss since 2015.<br />
Fixed income and forex<br />
Sovereign debt markets are mostly<br />
moving sideways. The yield on<br />
10-year US Treasuries is steady at<br />
2.76 per cent. The yield on 10-year<br />
German Bunds were up 1 basis<br />
point to 0.51 per cent, while the UK<br />
10-year yield was little changed at<br />
1.37 per cent.<br />
The pound is slipping against<br />
the dollar, off by 0.2 per cent, while<br />
the euro is holding up at $1.23. The<br />
dollar index, which tracks the greenback<br />
against a basket of peers, is flat<br />
at 90.058.<br />
Commodities<br />
Oil swung back to positive territory<br />
on Thursday after it pulled back<br />
overnight from the one-month high<br />
above $71 a barrel that it touched<br />
on Monday. The international price,<br />
Brent crude, was up 0.4 per cent<br />
at $69.83 a barrel. Gold was flat at<br />
$1,324.60 an ounce.<br />
Alpine advance: Swiss National Bank shares soar 90% in <strong>2018</strong><br />
ADAM SAMSON<br />
Shares in Switzerland’s central<br />
bank have almost doubled<br />
in value this year . . . although<br />
the impetus for the sharp<br />
rally remains a mystery.<br />
Swiss National Bank shares,<br />
traded in Zurich, have zoomed<br />
higher to SFr7,440 on Thursday<br />
from SFr3,889 at the end of 2017,<br />
according to FactSet data. That<br />
gives the traditionally conservative<br />
central bank an equity valuation<br />
of SFr720m ($753m).<br />
It may come as a surprise to<br />
some investors that shares in the<br />
SNB can be bought and sold. But<br />
the institution was founded in<br />
the early 20th century as a jointstock<br />
company. Swiss cantons,<br />
cantonal banks and other public<br />
sector shareholders hold 76.4<br />
per cent of the voting shares,<br />
while private shareholders own<br />
23.6 per cent, according to the<br />
SNB’s 2017 annual report that<br />
C002D5556<br />
An Air India airliner at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel. The carrier’s share of the domestic<br />
market has plunged in the past two decades due to competition from private groups © Reuters<br />
was unveiled last week.<br />
The rationale for this year’s<br />
big advance in the SNB’s shares<br />
is unclear.<br />
The SNB posted a large jump<br />
in its gross annual profits, up<br />
to SFr54.8bn (not a typo) from<br />
SFr24.9bn in 2016. Gains were<br />
driven by large gains in the value<br />
of its foreign equity holdings,<br />
as well as the boon to its stock<br />
and bond portfolio caused by<br />
the weakness of the franc. The<br />
strength of the euro and pound,<br />
up 9.1 and 4.8 per cent last year<br />
against the franc respectively,<br />
was particularly helpful.<br />
At a typical company, this<br />
sort of earnings growth would be<br />
great news for shareholders. But<br />
it doesn’t make any difference<br />
for SNB holders.<br />
SNB pays out a maximum<br />
dividend equivalent to 6 per cent<br />
of the value of its share capital, a<br />
fixed value that equates to SFr15<br />
per share annually. That works<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
A3<br />
out to a dividend yield of 0.2 per<br />
cent — much worse that the 3.4<br />
per cent offered by companies<br />
listed on the Swiss <strong>Mar</strong>ket index.<br />
One argument that has been<br />
cited for the allure of SNB equity<br />
is that it provides a haven for investors.<br />
True, the dividend yield<br />
still represents a premium to the<br />
0.02 per cent offered on Switzerland’s<br />
ultra-safe 10-year government<br />
bond. However, the Swiss<br />
bond yield has actually climbed<br />
since the end of last year, denting<br />
that premium.<br />
Regardless of why shares are<br />
up so much, one man appears<br />
to have benefited handsomely.<br />
Theo Siegert, a reclusive German<br />
businessman, is the principal<br />
private shareholder, with his<br />
participation sitting in 2017 at<br />
6.07 per cent, down from 6.72 per<br />
cent in 2016. His holding of just<br />
over 6,000 shares is worth roughly<br />
SFr44.9m — up SFr21.3m over<br />
the past three months.
A4 BUSINESS DAY<br />
C002D5556 Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
FT<br />
CME’s hard-charging chief executive Terry Duffy has made an audacious approach for Nex<br />
Chicago’s CME eyes pole position<br />
in biggest bond market<br />
Deal for UK’s Nex Group would bring together cash and futures trading in US sovereign debt<br />
PHILIP STAFFORD<br />
Shake-ups are rare in the<br />
world’s largest government<br />
bond market. But a successful<br />
bid from Chicago’s CME for<br />
London’s Nex Group could herald<br />
the biggest change in the trading<br />
of US government debt in a decade.<br />
The audacious approach by<br />
the CME’s hard-charging chief<br />
executive Terry Duffy for Nex, run<br />
by veteran City entrepreneur Michael<br />
Spencer, would for the first<br />
time unite the trading of the cash<br />
bonds — dominated by Nex’s BrokerTec<br />
platform — with an interest<br />
rate futures market that is in the<br />
CME’s grip.<br />
Analysts say the CME’s contemplation<br />
of a takeover underlines<br />
how the post-financial crisis landscape<br />
has forced banks — who have<br />
long favoured keeping the two pools<br />
of trading separate — to recognise<br />
the cost benefits of a common<br />
platform.<br />
For most of its history BrokerTec,<br />
the crown jewel in Nex, only handled<br />
trading by banks before more recently<br />
allowing nimble, electronic firms<br />
like Citadel Securities, Virtu Finan-<br />
PEGGY HOLLINGER<br />
Airbus has slammed attempts<br />
by Brussels to freeze the UK<br />
out of the EU’s €10bn Galileo<br />
navigation project after Brexit, warning<br />
that British participation in European<br />
space programmes is critical to<br />
partnership on security and defence.<br />
Tom Enders, Airbus chief executive,<br />
has urged the European Commission<br />
to rethink its proposal to<br />
exclude the UK from access to Galileo’s<br />
encrypted services or industrial<br />
participation after <strong>Mar</strong>ch 2019. He<br />
called on both sides to find a longterm<br />
solution to retain Britain’s participation<br />
in all space programmes.<br />
“The UK’s continued participation<br />
in the EU Galileo programme<br />
will ensure security and defence ties<br />
are strengthened for the benefit of<br />
Europe as a whole, during a period<br />
of increasing threats to our security<br />
cial and DRW to use the platform. In<br />
contrast, the CME has for decades<br />
catered to a broader spectrum of<br />
traders and institutional investors<br />
who use futures contracts to hedge<br />
and take advantage of price swings<br />
in bonds.<br />
“There are a lot of buyside firms<br />
who trade derivatives with CME. If<br />
BrokerTec were to ever open up to<br />
the buyside, CME could provide institutions<br />
with seamless clearing and<br />
settlement for cash Treasuries,” said<br />
Jim Greco, co-founder of Direct Match,<br />
a start-up trading venue that failed to<br />
break into the Treasury market.<br />
Banks and high-frequency trading<br />
firms say a combination of the<br />
two companies should lower their<br />
overall trading costs as they will be<br />
able to make more efficient use of<br />
the capital that regulations require<br />
them to back their bond and futures<br />
trades with.<br />
According to a person close to the<br />
deal, the rationale for the acquisition<br />
lies in the tougher capital requirements<br />
banks face, their inability to<br />
offer market financing and the savings<br />
they can make from processing<br />
deals through clearing houses. Under<br />
UK takeover rules, the Chicago<br />
and geopolitical instability,” he said<br />
in a statement to the Financial Times.<br />
Describing the UK as “one of only<br />
two serious powers in Europe” on<br />
defence alongside France, Mr Enders<br />
insisted: “Maintaining and enhancing<br />
security and defence ties across<br />
Europe is vital for all citizens across<br />
the continent. Irrespective of the UK’s<br />
membership or not of the European<br />
Union, the UK is an important part<br />
of Europe geographically, economically<br />
and culturally, and must play an<br />
integral role for our mutual security.<br />
“The UK needs to be able to continue<br />
in current and future European<br />
security and defence programmes to<br />
strengthen the successful partnership<br />
that already exists.”<br />
Mr Enders comments come as<br />
London and Brussels are locked in<br />
a dispute over UK participation in<br />
Galileo.<br />
The row follows a letter to the<br />
ANALYSIS<br />
group has until April 12 to firm up<br />
its interest in Nex.<br />
If it does it will be the CME’s first<br />
overseas acquisition, its first major<br />
deal since it paid almost $10bn<br />
for Nymex, the commodities and<br />
metals exchange, in 2008 and only<br />
strengthen Mr Duffy’s position as<br />
one of the most powerful executives<br />
in financial markets.<br />
Banks and traders will be hoping<br />
a deal improves a market that even<br />
the US Treasury admits is inefficient<br />
and presents potential risks, such as<br />
non-settlement of bonds.<br />
A reshaping of the plumbing<br />
of the Treasury market comes at a<br />
pivotal time. The Federal Reserve is<br />
raising interest rates and shrinking<br />
its balance sheet, increasing the<br />
chance of divergences in the value<br />
of futures contracts and cash bonds.<br />
Many banks still perform the<br />
crucial role of underwriting the US<br />
national debt via huge and growing<br />
sales of Treasury bonds each<br />
month. But Kevin McPartland, an<br />
analyst at Greenwich Associates, a<br />
consultancy, points out that banks<br />
have also adapted their trading, and<br />
are as likely to trade futures as they<br />
are the cash market.<br />
Airbus says UK participation in Galileo project post-Brexit is critical<br />
Europe’s biggest satellite maker urges Brussels to rethink plans to kick Britain out of space programmes<br />
UK from the European Commission<br />
in January which explained that it<br />
would be inappropriate to divulge<br />
highly sensitive information about<br />
post-2019 plans for Galileo’s highly<br />
encrypted public regulated service to<br />
a departing member state. Without a<br />
security agreement allowing for the<br />
exchange of highly sensitive information<br />
this would be against EU rules,<br />
according to EU officials.<br />
The PRS which has an added layer<br />
of security, is designed to be able to<br />
function when all other navigation<br />
services are being jammed.<br />
“If the commission shared this<br />
information with the UK (which will<br />
become a third country) it would irretrievably<br />
compromise the integrity<br />
of certain elements of these systems<br />
for many years after the withdrawal<br />
of the UK,” the commission said, according<br />
to an official who had seen<br />
the letter.<br />
Who will fare worse in a<br />
China-US trade war?<br />
China seen as vulnerable, but critics say Trump has squandered a strong hand<br />
GABRIEL WILDAU<br />
Donald Trump earned ridicule<br />
for declaring on Twitter<br />
that for the US, a trade war<br />
would be “easy to win”. But economists<br />
say there is some truth to the<br />
observation that in a trade war, deficit<br />
countries hold an advantage over<br />
those with trade surpluses.<br />
China’s trade surplus swells its<br />
economy each year, while net imports<br />
subtract from the US growth.<br />
From this perspective, economists<br />
say Mr Trump is correct that he<br />
has less to fear from a decrease in<br />
trade with China than President Xi<br />
Jinping.<br />
However, White House actions<br />
to date have offered little reason<br />
to believe that Mr Trump and his<br />
advisers understand how to play to<br />
their own advantage.<br />
“In principle, trade war is something<br />
that deficit countries with<br />
diversified economies should win<br />
and surplus countries always lose.<br />
So it’s not really an even battle,” says<br />
Michael Pettis, finance professor<br />
at Peking University’s Guanghua<br />
School of Management.<br />
“That’s not to say that deficit<br />
countries can’t screw up, and unfortunately,<br />
the approach that the US is<br />
taking isn’t really going to address<br />
the deficit.”<br />
Understanding why surplus<br />
countries typically fare worse requires<br />
stepping back from a focus on<br />
specific products such as soyabeans<br />
or steel and understanding the macroeconomic<br />
forces that create trade<br />
surpluses and deficits.<br />
A basic economic principle states<br />
that the balance between exports<br />
and imports corresponds to the difference<br />
between national savings<br />
and investment. Economists generally<br />
see the latter balance as more<br />
significant: the savings-investment<br />
gap determines the trade balance,<br />
rather than vice versa.<br />
On this view, specific trade policy<br />
measures are mostly distractions. A<br />
steel tariff will cut steel imports, but<br />
if the savings-investment balance<br />
cannot adjust, other imports will<br />
rise correspondingly, leaving the<br />
overall trade balance unchanged.<br />
For the US, closing the trade<br />
gap requires more savings relative<br />
to its level of investment. Fiscal<br />
policies designed to increase US<br />
savings would help, though recent<br />
deficit-financed tax cuts and<br />
spending increases push in the<br />
opposite direction.<br />
“Tariffs won’t have much impact<br />
on a country’s overall trade<br />
balance. As long as US demand is<br />
rising while the economy is near<br />
full capacity, we’re going to be<br />
importing from somebody,” says<br />
David Loevinger, former senior<br />
co-ordinator for China affairs at<br />
the US Treasury and now managing<br />
director of emerging markets<br />
sovereign research at TCW Group.<br />
“It’s like a water balloon. If you<br />
restrict one end it just flows somewhere<br />
else.”<br />
Beyond fiscal policy, the US<br />
could restrict the ability of China<br />
and other surplus countries to<br />
finance American deficits through<br />
purchases of US Treasuries and<br />
other dollar assets.<br />
The imposition of capital controls<br />
would be a fundamental<br />
repudiation of the US commitment<br />
to financial openness and liberalised<br />
capital flows, which underpin<br />
the dollar as a global reserve currency.<br />
Yet there are few signs that<br />
Mr Trump or advisers care about<br />
such things, especially now that<br />
globalists led by Gary Cohn have<br />
been sent packing.<br />
A trade war fought this way<br />
would inflict significant pain on<br />
China and bring some benefits to<br />
the US.<br />
Wei Li, senior China economist<br />
at Standard Chartered in Shanghai,<br />
estimates that a broad-based trade<br />
war between the US and China<br />
would cost China 1.3 per cent to<br />
3.2 per cent of GDP, with the latter<br />
estimate representing an extreme<br />
scenario in which the US bans all<br />
Chinese imports. For the US, the<br />
comparable loss would be 0.2 per<br />
cent to 0.9 per cent.<br />
For an example of how a trade<br />
war using capital controls might be<br />
fought, one need look no further<br />
than China in the 2000s.<br />
Chinese foreign exchange controls<br />
are designed to restrict capital<br />
flight, while the country increasingly<br />
opens up to foreign inflows<br />
through its stock and bond markets.<br />
But when China’s surpluses were at<br />
their peak a decade ago — the current<br />
account surplus hit nearly 10<br />
per cent in 2007 before falling to 1.4<br />
per cent by 2017 — China blocked<br />
financial inflows to domestic financial<br />
markets.<br />
“Any kind of capital flow restriction<br />
is ultimately a way of managing<br />
trade imbalances,” says Mr Pettis.<br />
The difficulty for the US is that<br />
capital controls cannot feasibly<br />
be deployed only against “strategic<br />
competitors” such as China.<br />
Military allies Germany and South<br />
Korea are also big contributors to<br />
the US current account deficit.<br />
This is where China sees its<br />
protection from the ravages of<br />
global trade war. Arthur Kroeber of<br />
Gavekal-Dragonomics, a Beijingbased<br />
research group, says China’s<br />
focus is to isolate the US to prevent<br />
allies such as the EU and Japan from<br />
entering the fray.<br />
“China knows it can hold its<br />
own in a commercial conflict with<br />
any individual rival, including the<br />
US. But a concerted effort by the<br />
industrial democracies to constrain<br />
China’s mercantilist development<br />
programme would cause it much<br />
more pain,” he wrote last week.<br />
Mr Kroeber saw German Chancellor<br />
Angela Merkel’s recent agreement<br />
with Mr Xi to co-operate on<br />
steel overcapacity as a “German<br />
rejection of US efforts to bully it into<br />
an anti-China alliance”.<br />
China’s other main point of<br />
leverage is the reliance of US companies<br />
and China’s huge domestic<br />
market. Such dependence does<br />
not show up primarily in figures on<br />
goods trade but rather in services<br />
as well as corporate earnings by<br />
the local units of US companies<br />
such as Apple, General Motors and<br />
Caterpillar.<br />
US businesses are vulnerable to<br />
myriad forms of disruption, much<br />
of which would likely occur through<br />
regulatory harassment. China Inc, by<br />
contrast, remains more domestically<br />
focused, despite a recent wave of<br />
outbound investment.
WOMEN’S<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong> BUSINESS DAY<br />
HUB<br />
Celebrating<br />
International<br />
Women’s Month<br />
NADINE IBRAHIM<br />
NADINE IBRAHIM<br />
telling enthralling stories<br />
through her lens
EDITOR’S NOTE<br />
Leading Woman<br />
7 BUSINESS DAY<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>WOMEN’S HUB<br />
This is the final edition of our International<br />
Women’s Month series<br />
and it has been an amazing experience.<br />
NADINE IBRAHIM, telling<br />
enthralling stories through her lens<br />
Our cover personality and LEADING<br />
WOMAN for this week is the young, focused<br />
and intentional Nadine Ibrahim,<br />
and she is telling enthralling stories<br />
through her lens.<br />
Adesuwa Onyenokwe, Yougkeh Tamfuh<br />
Rose and Ali Baba, shares with us their<br />
views on an opinion that asks if there<br />
are more independent women at the top.<br />
Jadesola Shawana, is the CEO of Tosh<br />
Coconuts Limited. Her expose of the various<br />
ways coconut can be used and also<br />
its financial advantage is truly enlightening.<br />
She graces our ENTREPRENEUR<br />
section for this week.<br />
KEMI AJUMOBI<br />
Coming from a multi-cultural background, she has an international<br />
outlook, which has provided her with a vast<br />
knowledge of culture and media representations. She<br />
thinks up unique ways to execute the simplest and most<br />
complex ideas.<br />
Nadine has worked on a number of media projects including her award<br />
winning short film ‘Through her eyes’ which tells the story of a young<br />
northern girl affected by terrorism in Nigeria.<br />
She has also worked on Ebonylife TV shows ‘Sons of the caliphate’ and<br />
‘Moving up’. Nadine was associate producer and assistant director on the<br />
Nigerian feature film ‘Hakkunde’, which has made it to cinemas nationwide<br />
and has been selected for a couple of international film festivals.<br />
Hakkunde is an inspirational story of a young graduate from the south<br />
who travels to the north of Nigeria in search for a job and a better life.<br />
Nadine has been featured on a number of blogs and newspapers nationwide<br />
and was listed as one out of three young Nigerian filmmakers<br />
to look out for in the internationally acclaimed film website called<br />
IndieWire, in their Shadow And Act section.<br />
Nadine has previously won awards for her short films at La Independent<br />
Film Festival and Equality Film Festival and has been selected for others.<br />
She has worked with well-known media companies in Nigeria including<br />
Filmone, Ebonylife and core productions.<br />
Nadine is currently working on her first feature film and a documentary.<br />
In our WORKPLACE PALAVER section,<br />
Bisola wonders if she has opened herself<br />
up to experience the brutal reality of first<br />
impression.<br />
How was growing up like for you and how has it helped to influence<br />
where you are today?<br />
I had a pretty privileged childhood. Both parents were inspirational in<br />
their own ways and I thank God daily for their positive influence in my<br />
life. I have learnt a lot from them. My parents, especially my mother, cared<br />
about the world and helping people so a lot of the time, I was exposed to<br />
moving stories that I wanted to shed light on through an artistic medium.<br />
Chisom Ogbumuo was at the recently<br />
concluded Global Festival of Action and<br />
her experience is worth the read.<br />
Why the choice of film making?<br />
I am passionate about telling peoples stories, it is what fulfils me as an<br />
artist. People find fulfilment doing what they love and I am glad that I<br />
am doing same. There is nothing as satisfying as doing what you love and<br />
loving what you do.<br />
These and more we have for you this<br />
week!<br />
Enjoy!<br />
KEMI AJUMOBI<br />
kemi@businessdayonline.com<br />
Do you get intimidated by those who have been in the industry<br />
longer than you have?<br />
Intimidated? No! it only motivates me to do better, set my goals higher and<br />
higher. If anything, I choose to learn from them and their experiences so<br />
I don’t make the same mistakes.<br />
Share you experience and involvement with Hakkunde<br />
I was an associate producer and assistant director on Hakkunde. It was an<br />
amazing experience. It was my first feature film so I learnt a lot. Working<br />
on a set in Nigeria is a lot harder than anywhere that I have worked. The<br />
challenges you face are much greater. I salute Nigerian filmmakers for their<br />
strength and passion for the job because, if there is no passion, you would<br />
quit on the first day. I got to meet a lot of great minds that I’m sure I will work<br />
with again on future projects. Oluseyi Asurf of course was a great director.<br />
Hakkunde is an intriguing story of a young graduate who battles everything<br />
(including love, family, discrimination, drug abuse, culture, tradition<br />
and self) on his journey to self-discovery and actualisation. The story is<br />
characterised by actions and reactions that defines the everyday Nigerian<br />
society, with its ups and downs and with a particular focus on the life of a<br />
job hunting graduate “Akande” who found himself in totality while searching<br />
for a job, and a better life.<br />
The script tells a story of the identity of an average Nigerian graduate’s<br />
struggle for an identity and livelihood.<br />
It highlights the merits of steadfastness, humility and self-denial and also<br />
espouses the gains of harnessing opportunities, delimiting the much<br />
celebrated mediocrity of high handedness, and divulging the demerits of<br />
pride, greed and inconsistency.<br />
Listed among three young Nigerian filmmakers in IndieWire’s<br />
Shadow and Act section to look out for, what has this spurred<br />
you to do?<br />
That was a very humbling moment for me. It felt amazing to be recognised<br />
by an international platform. Since then, I have gone on to make another<br />
short film called TOLU which will be out in April <strong>2018</strong>? I am also fortunate<br />
to be a part of a few projects in the works. So please watch this space, more<br />
to come.<br />
Professional challenges<br />
Age is definitely a challenge. Unfortunately, because I am so young, I know<br />
people tend to give the opportunities to older professionals with more<br />
experience. This is fine because there is wisdom with age. Being a female<br />
is also a bit more challenging because it is a male dominated industry.<br />
You have to be smart with the way you work. Having said this, I believe<br />
everything you set your mind to do is achievable if firstly, you believe in<br />
yourself. If you do not believe in yourself, no matter the age, you will never<br />
feel capable to meet up with what you want<br />
the world to know about what you can do.<br />
As long as you can think it, you can do it.<br />
Conception of ideas is where it starts from.<br />
Experience and responsibilities at Ebonylife<br />
TV and Filmone<br />
At Filmone, I was a content producer. I<br />
produced, edited and directed a number<br />
of episodes of the Filmhouse show. I also<br />
worked on some scripts at Ebonylife. I was<br />
assistant director on ‘sons of the caliphate’<br />
season 1 and ‘moving up’, a reality show.<br />
Winnings<br />
Both my short films have won awards internationally.<br />
It is great to see your films<br />
succeed because it gains you recognition<br />
and most importantly gives you a platform<br />
to share the stories that matter the most.<br />
Background<br />
My mother is British and Nigerian and my<br />
father is Syrian and Nigerian.<br />
Why the decision to stick to Nigerian<br />
films?<br />
I wouldn’t say I am ‘sticking to Nigeria films’,<br />
for me films are films. I am based in<br />
Nigeria and this is where I live so my films<br />
would portray stories from Nigeria but my<br />
audience is global. If I get the opportunity<br />
to make films anywhere else in the world,<br />
I would jump at the opportunity. Film is a<br />
universal language.<br />
What projects are you looking forward<br />
to?<br />
My first feature film as Director. I am currently<br />
working on it<br />
What day in your life is it that you can<br />
never forget?<br />
It is certainly the 24th of <strong>Mar</strong>ch 2017, the<br />
day I married the love of my life. <strong>Mar</strong>riage<br />
is indeed an interesting institution and I am<br />
glad I am in it with someone who means<br />
the world to me. I will choose him over and<br />
over again.<br />
Nollywood is doing well, in what ways<br />
do you believe they can be better?<br />
We have great stories! We just need to pay<br />
more attention to technical details, better<br />
visuals and better sounds. We need to explore<br />
our country and show the beauty in<br />
it instead of always shooting indoors. We<br />
are gifted and creative. He way our mind<br />
works tells a lot about what we have within.<br />
We can do more and I know we will. Nigeria<br />
to the world!<br />
Can piracy be truly eradicated in Nigeria?<br />
What are your suggestions?<br />
It is something to hope for but unfortunately,<br />
it is a universal issue everyone is<br />
trying to tackle. I think if we make our films<br />
more accessible it would help reduce piracy.<br />
How are you encouraging other young<br />
filmmakers like you?<br />
I say to them, ‘Never give up’. Everything in<br />
life is a journey. Learn from your mistakes<br />
and let that guide you knowing well that<br />
mistakes aren’t meant to mar you for life,<br />
but to remind you that your mistakes are<br />
in the past and that they do not define you.<br />
What is the greatest lesson life has<br />
taught you?<br />
Patience! Everything comes in God’s time.
3<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>WOMEN’S HUB<br />
Are there more<br />
independent women<br />
at the top?<br />
KEMI AJUMOBI<br />
Career climb is an uphill task<br />
with any woman in a marriage<br />
setting. The women,<br />
who manage to attain their career<br />
goals, must have had understanding,<br />
supportive and confident<br />
husbands. Many independent<br />
women have no shackles that limit<br />
their strides. Also, many men are<br />
late bloomers. Another angle to<br />
look at it is this, sex still sells, and<br />
many women who are married<br />
are considered by some men who<br />
would have assisted them as of<br />
no sexual benefit. They therefore<br />
believe that the assistance they<br />
would extend to them will be<br />
‘wasted’.<br />
Culturally, certain men still<br />
come from the valley of male<br />
dominance. So any sparks of<br />
ambition from their spouses, that<br />
would make them “look like” (because<br />
it’s not true) they are not the<br />
head of the home is vehemently<br />
resisted. Many men are dependent<br />
on their wives to manage the<br />
home, and that means if she has<br />
to pursue her ambitions, one thing<br />
may have to give way. However,<br />
in most cases, it’s not the man’s<br />
choice. Many of the men who believe<br />
women don’t deserve to be<br />
in places of authority, are the same<br />
one who don’t want to spend so<br />
much on training the girl child.<br />
Such men, with the collaboration<br />
of the kinds of women they marry,<br />
think being married to a man is<br />
the ultimate goal of a woman.<br />
Finally, many men believe<br />
money is power. They therefore<br />
begin to think that when a woman<br />
has it, she will take your power as<br />
the man from you. There is also<br />
the issue of child bearing. Many<br />
independent women either did<br />
not have kids early, or did but<br />
parted ways with their partner<br />
IWOW network hosts 8th global possibilities summit<br />
It was indeed three days of<br />
wow-mazing experience, at the<br />
just concluded annual IWOW<br />
Global Possibilities Summit held<br />
at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Lagos,<br />
Nigeria, on the 23rd and 24th of<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
The summit started with a preevent<br />
cocktail with exceptional<br />
women of worth in attendance. The<br />
Publisher of Genevieve Magazine,<br />
Betty Irabor, shared her deeply<br />
touching story about how she decided<br />
to pick herself up and turn<br />
her life around after a very difficult<br />
experience.<br />
Day 1 of the summit was a day of<br />
learning how to deliberately ‘walk<br />
on water’ in life, business, career<br />
and other spheres of life. The theme<br />
of the <strong>2018</strong> Global Possibilities<br />
Summit is “It’s Showtime” and all<br />
the speakers came out with their<br />
stories that affirmed the fact that<br />
there is power in one’s authentic<br />
story.<br />
The CEO/Vice Chair, Fine<br />
and Country WA and Founder of<br />
IWOW, Udo Okonjo shed more<br />
light on what the <strong>2018</strong> theme<br />
represented. Showtime, she said<br />
is a state of realisation. The state<br />
ATUNYOTA ALLELUYA AKPOBOME (ALIBABA)<br />
Ace Comedian, Content Originator, Writer<br />
before facing their careers headon.<br />
This may either be a hostile<br />
parting or amicable one but,<br />
whichever happens, can be a<br />
major factor in the career climb<br />
of any woman.<br />
Another angle to look at it is<br />
pregnancy. To be pregnant may<br />
not be the issue an independent<br />
woman needs to deal with but<br />
if she is married, and she has<br />
not had a child in the maritial<br />
space she is in, it can mess up<br />
her productivity. Midweek services,<br />
night vigils, prayer meetings,<br />
special Holy Ghost services<br />
of deliberately stepping out of the<br />
ordinary into the extraordinary<br />
through self-discovery, success and<br />
sustainability.<br />
Leke Alder, Principal Partner,<br />
Alder Consulting, gave a masterclass<br />
on branding; how to craft a<br />
niche market and using uniquely<br />
defined branding strategies that<br />
will resonate with the target audience.<br />
A panel discussion followed<br />
where Udo Okonjo, Leke Alder and<br />
Ada Osakwe shared real-life experiences<br />
and strategies they have used<br />
in their various fields to present a<br />
strong and sustainable brand.<br />
Following on from building<br />
great business structures and<br />
and more, just to fulfil marital<br />
pressures of having a baby is also<br />
involved. Especially when she has<br />
started “running out of eggs”... as<br />
the in-laws will remind the son<br />
regularly. Some women actually<br />
prefer partners who don’t have<br />
either parent. They prefer them<br />
dead. That way, no in-law hassles.<br />
All that said, the X factor is actually<br />
the man. The man is the one who<br />
either supports his wife to succeed<br />
like the independent woman, by<br />
giving her all the encouragement<br />
needed, just as the independent<br />
ladies get.<br />
kicking off the second session on<br />
entrepreneurship, Fabian Ajogwu<br />
(SAN), Founding Partner, Kenna<br />
Partners & Professor of Corporate<br />
Governance at Lagos Business<br />
School, talked about the legal aspects<br />
of doing business in Nigeria.<br />
Tara Fela Durotoye, CEO, House<br />
of Tara honed on the fact that your<br />
passion for your business needs to be<br />
backed with efficient working structures,<br />
processes and procedures.<br />
The third and final session of<br />
the day was about Confidence<br />
and Power Negotiation which was<br />
anchored by Nneka Abulokwe who<br />
gave a straight-from- the-heart intelligent<br />
treatise of her journey to<br />
Women are great thinkers<br />
with innate multitasking<br />
abilities that help them<br />
do different things at the same<br />
time with little or no errors in the<br />
desired results.<br />
Women have all it takes to get<br />
to the top in any organisation,<br />
including the ability to identify<br />
and appropriately address what<br />
could constitute hindrances to<br />
their ascension to the position of<br />
their dreams.<br />
If one of these obstacles happens<br />
to be an irrational, insecure,<br />
uncompromising and unsupportive<br />
male in her life, she might<br />
be pushed by that behavioural<br />
pattern to go around it somehow<br />
and move on to the top.<br />
Let me hasten to add that the<br />
married ones who are there, either<br />
have great men giving them the<br />
moral support to excel or have to<br />
exercise patience and tolerance<br />
that are out of this world to stay<br />
focused and succeed in life.<br />
I<br />
wonder if there are statistics to prove<br />
that. With associations like WIMBIZ,<br />
we now have myriad examples of<br />
married women who have made it to<br />
the top with their marriages intact! However,<br />
it is clear that through the journey,<br />
it isn’t easy and may strain marriages<br />
to the extent that women may have to<br />
sacrifice that for their career. The strain<br />
ADESUWA ONYENOKWE<br />
Publisher/Editor in Chief,<br />
TW Magazine<br />
the top of a fortune 500 company<br />
in the United Kingdom through<br />
the power of resilience, persistence<br />
and strategic negotiation.<br />
Day 1 was capped up with another<br />
brilliant panel discussion by the<br />
speaker and renowned Media Entrepreneurs<br />
including Biola Alabi<br />
and Ola Brown- Founder/ CEO,<br />
Flying Doctors Nigeria.<br />
Day 2 morning was a Wealth<br />
and Wellbeing Breakfast Session<br />
hosted by Fine & Country and<br />
Providus Bank. The session was<br />
opened with Udo Okonjo sharing<br />
the fundamental elements of wellbeing<br />
& wealth creation and the<br />
direct relationship between both<br />
concepts. Walter Akpani- MD/CEO<br />
of Providus Bank shared his professional<br />
experience on the need<br />
for Women to develop the qualities<br />
of Teamwork, Tenacity and<br />
Entrepreneurial spirit, whilst also<br />
charging delegates to come into<br />
their spotlight. Renowned beauty<br />
entrepreneur Eryca Freemantle<br />
shared about surviving depression<br />
and making the decision to rise<br />
above it and live a phenomenal<br />
life. Arinola Adeniyi, CEO, Venivici<br />
Spa, spoke about the importance of<br />
YOUGKEH TAMFUH ROSE<br />
Former Adviser to Cameroon’s<br />
Ministers of Finance and<br />
Economy; Planning and Regional<br />
Development.<br />
CEO, REO Consulting<br />
could result from long work hours,<br />
greater financial independence on the<br />
women’s side, which could make them<br />
less tolerant of misdemeanours, and<br />
husband’s less understanding. One<br />
can make these conclusions because<br />
most women who get to the top always<br />
acknowledge the support from their<br />
spouses.<br />
Former Adviser to Cameroon’s<br />
Ministers of Finance and<br />
Economy; Planning and Regional<br />
Development.<br />
CEO, REO Consulting<br />
wellness in wellbeing and Travelstart<br />
Commercial Manager, Bukky<br />
Akomolafe was there to add to the<br />
fact that, getting away so often for<br />
some self-love and replenishment<br />
is important for mental wellbeing.<br />
Travelstart also sponsored a trip<br />
to Dubai.<br />
The morning session ended<br />
with Ndidi Nwuneli and the millennials<br />
taking centre stage to tell the<br />
whole world they are coming and<br />
they know exactly what is required<br />
of them to get exponential results.<br />
It featured inspirational stories by<br />
Seun Awolowo and Kene Rapu to<br />
wrap up the morning session.<br />
The IWOW Global Possibilities<br />
Summit <strong>2018</strong> was crowned with<br />
an exquisite dinner with inspiring<br />
and thought-provoking keynote<br />
speeches from the MD of Seplat,<br />
Austin Avuru and Fela Durotoye.<br />
There was also inspiring spoken<br />
word performance by Bikiya and<br />
comedy by Senator.<br />
Also, the presence of amazing<br />
comperes Bolanle Olakuni, Chico<br />
and Stephanie Coker who gave<br />
their professional skills in adding<br />
colour to the event, made it worth<br />
every minute.
4 BUSINESS DAY<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>WOMEN’S HUB 5<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>WOMEN’S HUB
6 BUSINESS DAY<br />
ENTREPRENEUR<br />
‘The Coconut industry abounds with huge potential<br />
that must be tapped into to grow our economy’<br />
KEMI AJUMOBI<br />
Biography<br />
Jadesola Shawana, the CEO<br />
of Tosh Coconuts Limited<br />
is young lawyer with about<br />
10 years post call experience.<br />
She graduated from<br />
the University of Ilorin in 2006,<br />
and was called to the Nigerian bar<br />
in 2007. She also has a Master’s<br />
degree (LL.M) in Corporate and<br />
Commercial Law from the University<br />
Of Dundee, Scotland and is<br />
currently a student member of the<br />
Institute of Chartered Secretaries<br />
and Administrators (UK) She is<br />
happily married to Kolawole, and<br />
they have two lovely boys Oluwato<br />
and Tobiloba.<br />
The lawyer cum Business woman<br />
is a low-carb-high-fat (LCHF)<br />
advocate who lost about 15kg<br />
through her LCHF regimen and<br />
got the idea for her business in<br />
2016, when she discovered that<br />
there is high demand for coconut<br />
flour in Nigeria by low carb food<br />
lovers and weight watchers. Back<br />
then, consumers had to rely on<br />
imported coconut flour to make<br />
their meals, so she decided to<br />
make the product available locally.<br />
A few months later, she incorporated<br />
Tosh Coconuts Limited, an<br />
indigenous Company that has a<br />
range of Coconut Products such<br />
as Coconut Poundo, Coconut<br />
Flour, Cold pressed Coconut Oil,<br />
Coconut Yoghurt, Coconut flakes,<br />
Coconut Milk and Coconut Cream.<br />
The purpose of the business is to<br />
create healthy low carb meals as<br />
an alternative to the carbohydrates<br />
dense staple meals and snacks<br />
available in Nigeria. She aspires to<br />
grow her business into a multinational<br />
company and looks forward<br />
to seeing their products on major<br />
supermarket shelves, home and<br />
abroad.<br />
In the beginning<br />
I grew up with parents who were<br />
both business people and I became<br />
automatically business savvy too.<br />
Every day after school, I would<br />
go to my mom’s store called “Our<br />
Shop” where she sold fabrics. I<br />
learnt the art of buying and selling,<br />
petty accounting, customer service<br />
and so on, from my early days, as a<br />
matter of fact; I remember getting<br />
into trouble in Primary school for<br />
selling sweets to my class mates.<br />
I was always trading one thing or<br />
the other in the University which<br />
earned me the award of The Most<br />
Enterprising Student in my final<br />
year.<br />
Why the choice of coconut for<br />
your line of business?<br />
My inspiration for choosing coconuts<br />
was primarily because of the<br />
high demand for coconut flour<br />
in the LCHF (Low Carbohydrates<br />
High Fat) and Ketogenic diet community<br />
in Nigeria. This is because<br />
coconut flour is low in carbohydrates<br />
and rich in fibre which is<br />
ketogenic compliant. At the time<br />
we started in 2016, I didn’t know of<br />
any Company producing coconut<br />
flour in Nigeria, all the brands were<br />
foreign, and everyone who wanted<br />
coconut flour had to buy a foreign<br />
brand. I knew that coconut flour is<br />
produced from coconut which is<br />
abundant in Nigeria so I decided<br />
to explore that space and go into<br />
local production of coconut flour.<br />
After incorporating Tosh Coconuts<br />
Limited, the business has now<br />
grown into having more healthy<br />
products from coconuts like cold<br />
pressed coconut oil, coconut milk,<br />
coconut yoghurt, coconut cookies,<br />
coconut flakes and more.<br />
Why the decision to be a LCHF<br />
advocate? Journey so far?<br />
I had my second son in September<br />
2015 and I had added some weight<br />
which I was trying to lose. Jogging<br />
every morning for a few months<br />
did not help and so my sister introduced<br />
me to LCHF (Low Carbohydrates<br />
High Fat) diet which I started<br />
around May 2016, in less than three<br />
months, I lost about 15kg, 10kg of<br />
tion control of all classes of foods.<br />
How has the patronage been?<br />
How far do requests come<br />
from?<br />
When we started in 2016, the reception<br />
was quite shocking and<br />
that was what prompted us to<br />
register the business and increase<br />
our capacity and production. We<br />
started with an online store on<br />
Instagram and we got and still get<br />
loads of orders daily. We now have<br />
over 1,000 customers on our list<br />
and we have distributors in about<br />
10 states in Nigeria, in the UK and<br />
USA. We also get loads of orders<br />
from West Africa. We currently<br />
have our products on the shelves<br />
of about 20 supermarkets and we<br />
which I have maintained in the past<br />
two years.<br />
I believe that a lot of women are<br />
struggling with weight challenges,<br />
especially post-partum weight<br />
gain. LCHF provides a way to<br />
quickly get rid of excess fat in<br />
the body because the diet forces<br />
the body to burn fats rather than<br />
carbohydrates. However, I do not<br />
encourage strict ketogenic diet<br />
for prolonged periods of time for<br />
instance, over 6 months or a year<br />
except for health reasons as prescribed<br />
by a medical professional.<br />
Strict ketogenic diet is slightly<br />
different from LCHF because the<br />
former allows you to eat only about<br />
20 grams carbohydrates per day<br />
which I believe is too strict while<br />
the latter is more liberal. I believe<br />
that all classes of foods are good for<br />
the body and that portion control<br />
will help you manage and maintain<br />
your current weight. So you can<br />
lose weight with LCHF and then<br />
maintain the weight with good porhave<br />
staff strength of 10 people. We<br />
constantly strive to be better and<br />
we believe we can build this company<br />
into a multinational brand.<br />
What is it about coconut that<br />
the Nigerian government needs<br />
to begin to look out for in terms<br />
of economic/financial gain?<br />
There is a popular saying that “No<br />
part of the Coconut is a waste”. This<br />
statement is very true but people<br />
do not realise the extent of its truth.<br />
One coconut palm tree can actually<br />
produce at least up to 50 products<br />
and this is not an exaggeration.<br />
We already produce 10 products<br />
from the Coconut, let me mention<br />
a few more; Coconut sugar, Palm<br />
wine, bags, fan, hut roof, brooms,<br />
baskets, coconut bowls, charcoal,<br />
activated charcoal, coir fibre, soil<br />
conservator, mulch, rugs, furniture<br />
and so on. The government needs<br />
to encourage and steer people,<br />
not only into agriculture but also<br />
processing of agricultural products<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong>WOMEN’S HUB<br />
and manufacturing. Nigerians have<br />
high taste which our manufacturing<br />
industry is yet to meet up to. The<br />
Coconut industry abounds with<br />
huge potential that must be tapped<br />
into to grow our economy.<br />
Has being a lawyer helped in<br />
your line of business? How?<br />
I believe that Law is the most versatile<br />
industry. It allows you to work<br />
in any and every industry because<br />
all industries have laws governing<br />
them which must be adhered to. I<br />
have worked as a lawyer for over 10<br />
years; I also have a Masters degree<br />
in Corporate and Commercial from<br />
the University of Dundee, UK. In<br />
the course of my work and study, I<br />
have learnt a lot about business and<br />
it is certainly an edge that keeps my<br />
business grounded.<br />
There are many products in<br />
Nigeria today that makes use of<br />
coconut, what sets yours apart<br />
from the rest?<br />
I want to believe our Company has<br />
a pioneer status of novelty in coconuts<br />
because we have been able to<br />
create a lot of products from one<br />
fruit; coconuts. This sets us apart<br />
from others. We also have a thorough<br />
understanding and appreciation<br />
of Coconuts, its uses, benefits<br />
and biological composition. We<br />
have carved a niche for ourselves as<br />
the coconut connoisseurs because<br />
our brand is providing healthy food<br />
alternatives, not only to Nigerians<br />
but internationally. Our knowledge<br />
of coconuts has birthed a coconut<br />
academy that runs a monthly training<br />
on how to start a business in<br />
coconuts.<br />
In your line of business, what<br />
are you looking forward to?<br />
I have so many dreams and aspirations<br />
for the business. I want the<br />
name Tosh to be synonymous to<br />
Coconuts. I want our products to<br />
be on the shelves of all supermarkets<br />
in Nigeria and abroad too.<br />
To achieve this, we have to build<br />
a world class brand and we are<br />
constantly learning, unlearning<br />
and relearning to make my dreams<br />
come true.<br />
Why is it important as women<br />
to embrace the entrepreneurial<br />
spirit?<br />
A lot of our mothers were entrepreneurs<br />
to support their husbands in<br />
little ways. However, in our generation,<br />
we have to embrace entrepreneurship<br />
in a bigger way. I tell my<br />
students in the Coconut Academy<br />
that I am not just in this business<br />
to help my husband put food on<br />
our table, but to help hundreds<br />
of other people put foods on their<br />
own tables, build their own homes<br />
and provide for their families. We as<br />
women need to see that we also can<br />
build empires, be business moguls<br />
and create employment for other<br />
people.<br />
Final words<br />
The words of William Shakespeare,<br />
“Some were born great, some<br />
achieve greatness and some have<br />
greatness thrust upon them”. Essentially,<br />
we all can be great, we<br />
just need to identify our current<br />
position and navigate a way to<br />
greatness from there.<br />
Executive Musings<br />
INDRA NOOYI<br />
Chairman/CEO, PepsiCo<br />
“Leadership is hard to<br />
define and good leadership<br />
even harder. But if you can<br />
get people to follow you to<br />
the ends of the earth, you<br />
are a great leader”<br />
“Every year in consulting is<br />
like three years in the corporate<br />
world because you have<br />
multiple clients, multiple issues<br />
- you grow so much.”<br />
“The distance between<br />
number one and number<br />
two is always a constant.<br />
If you want to improve the<br />
organisation, you have to<br />
improve yourself and the<br />
organisation gets pulled<br />
up with you. That is a big<br />
lesson. I cannot just expect<br />
the organisation to improve<br />
if I don’t improve myself<br />
and lift the organisation,<br />
because that distance is a<br />
constant.”<br />
“Anything that’s done to<br />
address unemployment in<br />
terms of massive stimulus<br />
spending is going to<br />
exacerbate deficits. And<br />
anything that’s done to address<br />
deficits in the shortterm<br />
is going to exacerbate<br />
unemployment”.<br />
“The one thing I have learned<br />
as a CEO is that leadership<br />
at various levels is vastly different.<br />
When I was leading a<br />
function or a business, there<br />
were certain demands and<br />
requirements to be a leader.<br />
As you move up the organisation,<br />
the requirements for<br />
leading that organisation don’t<br />
grow vertically; they grow<br />
exponentially.”
BUSINESS DAY<br />
Workplace Palaver<br />
Bisola Peters is a 27 year old<br />
graduate of International<br />
relations with a Masters in<br />
Human Resource Management.<br />
She lost her parents 4 years<br />
ago and has been taking care<br />
of her brother’s welfare by the<br />
profits she makes from selling<br />
lady wears. She completed her<br />
Masters two years ago but has<br />
been job hunting. She is very<br />
optimistic about life. She lives<br />
with her brother (who is always<br />
in school, a <strong>30</strong>0 level student<br />
of Accountancy at University of<br />
Port Harcourt) in a self-contained<br />
apartment.<br />
While going through one of the<br />
dailies, she saw an application<br />
for the position of an executive<br />
assistant in a reputable firm with<br />
top notch clientele. She wondered<br />
however, why the company did not<br />
indicate their name in the ad. Nevertheless,<br />
decided to give it a try.<br />
A week later, she was called<br />
for an interview. On her way to<br />
the interview, luckily for her, there<br />
was no gridlock. The time slated<br />
for the interview was 9am. It was<br />
a quarter to nine and she was<br />
almost there. A she was about<br />
to make her turn to get into the<br />
compound, the car in front of<br />
her refused to move. She kept<br />
honking but the car was blocking<br />
the way. She got down from the<br />
car, walked up to the driver of the<br />
shamrock green 2017 Mercedes-<br />
Benz G500, all tinted in black.<br />
She got to the driver’s side and<br />
tapped the glass. The driver rolled<br />
down the glass and asked what<br />
happened? She was so furious.<br />
How dare he? “He is even claiming<br />
rights” she thought to herself and<br />
responded “Sir, you are blocking<br />
the way, I have been honking my<br />
horm but you obviously didn’t<br />
hear because the music playing<br />
in the car is loud”. The gentleman<br />
at the back seat, who was on the<br />
phone rounded up his conversation,<br />
tilted his head forward<br />
towards the driver and asked the<br />
driver to leave the road for her to<br />
pass. She saw his face briefly, and<br />
walked back to her car.<br />
She quickly parked and walked<br />
briskly into the office. It was an oil<br />
and gas company. She looks at the<br />
clock on the wall and it was 9am<br />
on the dot. She saw 6 seats and<br />
5 were occupied. She walked to<br />
the receptionist and informed her<br />
of the reason she was there and<br />
Friday <strong>30</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
WOMEN’S HUB<br />
For Bisola, experiencing the brutal reality<br />
of first impressions was inescapable<br />
I<br />
was doing a research for an upcoming<br />
project on sustainable<br />
development goals past midnight<br />
on one of my many working<br />
nights on my bed in January this<br />
year and as I researched further,<br />
information about the kind of<br />
content I was looking for on SDG<br />
surfaced. I stumbled on the Global<br />
Festival of Action for sustainable<br />
development goals slated for 21-<br />
23rd of <strong>Mar</strong>ch in Bonn city, Germany<br />
which I had heard about in<br />
time past but never paid so much<br />
attention to.<br />
I signed up because I was excited<br />
to learn and meet global<br />
communicators, social innovators<br />
and activists, change makers<br />
and sustainability experts and also<br />
experience the culture of the host<br />
city which has so much history and<br />
culture.<br />
That feeling and role lasted<br />
for only a week as I got another<br />
mail from The UN Action Sustainable<br />
development goals campaign<br />
(media team) stating that they had<br />
evaluated the most inspiring comshe<br />
said to her “You were the last<br />
person we were waiting for. Luckily,<br />
you made it on time.”<br />
They were all ushered into a<br />
room and they took their seats.<br />
One after the other, they were<br />
called into another room and were<br />
all interviewed separately. Each<br />
one asking the other how the interview<br />
session went when they<br />
got back to their seats.<br />
The Human Resource Manager<br />
, who was part of the interview process,<br />
came back to meet them <strong>30</strong><br />
minutes after to inform them that<br />
they all did well but only one person<br />
would be given the position<br />
of being the executive assistant<br />
while the others would work in<br />
other departments within the company.<br />
They were all excited about<br />
the news and couldn’t contain<br />
their joy. She later informed them<br />
the MD/CEO would like to have a<br />
brief meeting with them and asked<br />
them to remain seated.<br />
Five minutes later, the door<br />
opened, the Human Resource<br />
Manager led the way and the next<br />
person that followed was the man<br />
at the back of the seat in the G500.<br />
Steve Balogun is his name. As he<br />
stepped in, looking dapper, the<br />
Ermenegildo Zegna bespoke suit<br />
was royal blue, sharp-looking, and<br />
well-fitted. Cut to exactness, bold<br />
across the shoulders, the perfect<br />
inverted triangle. Complementing<br />
the blue suit was a plain white<br />
Tom Ford shirt, accompanied by a<br />
Charvet white tie with fuchsia pink<br />
polka dots scattered all over the<br />
tie. The pocket square was fuchsia<br />
pink, correctly folded in and taking<br />
a peep outside the square. He<br />
looked spruce! He spotted Bisola<br />
and turned his look away so fast<br />
like he never saw her. He sat down,<br />
straightened his broad shoulders,<br />
attuned his tie to a rakish angle,<br />
and said in an engaging voice that<br />
took over the room. “Good day<br />
everyone”.<br />
By this time, Bisola was sweating<br />
profusely despite sitting not too<br />
far away from an LG Floor Standing<br />
Air Conditioner (92000 Btu/h). She<br />
began to shiver. She actually wanted<br />
to get up, open the door and run<br />
faster than her legs could allow. “I<br />
am done!” she muttered beneath<br />
her breath “I am finished! Same<br />
man whose driver I harassed…but<br />
he was blocking my way…was I<br />
rude?...but I wasn’t…I merely asked<br />
his driver to leave the way…was my<br />
tone harsh?...NO, he did not really<br />
see me…” she almost went nuts<br />
thinking and revisiting the matter in<br />
her head. She was certain she was<br />
about to experience the brutal reality<br />
of first impressions. She had no<br />
choice but to pay rapt attention like<br />
everyone did. Half of the time, she<br />
was looking above his head and he<br />
did not for a second look towards<br />
her direction.<br />
“Does anyone have any questions<br />
for me?” he asked just as he<br />
ended the welcome speech. Only<br />
two people asked questions and<br />
he responded brilliantly after which<br />
he said “Thanks, the HR Manager<br />
will be with you shortly”. He got up<br />
and left to his office. Immediately<br />
he left, Bisola thought to run out<br />
instantaneously. “There is no way<br />
on earth I am going to get this job”<br />
she thought to herself and after 10<br />
minutes , as she got up to ‘escape’,<br />
the HR Manager calls out to her and<br />
informs her that the MD wanted to<br />
see her. “Ehmm…Ma, do you mean<br />
me?” she asked and the HR Manager<br />
responded “Yes you Bisola”.<br />
There was nowhere to hide or<br />
run. She fearfully and reluctantly<br />
got up but when she realised the<br />
others were looking at her and wondering<br />
why she was acting strange<br />
after such an enviable call, she<br />
adjusted herself quickly like nothing<br />
happened. As she drew closer<br />
to the MD’s office, her heart beat<br />
was almost visible. The HRManager<br />
opened the door, she walked in, the<br />
HR Manager turned around, shut<br />
the door and she stood there utterly<br />
confused. Steve was not facing her.<br />
He was looking for a document in<br />
the drawer behind his seat. “Bisola<br />
Peters, how are you?” he said as he<br />
turned his seat around and this time<br />
he was face to face with her.<br />
Observing she was petrified,<br />
He got up, opened his windows<br />
and wittily said “…or you want<br />
to jump out of the window?”<br />
and Bisola managed to fake a<br />
smile. So he continued, “I have<br />
told the HRManager to give you<br />
the position…” “What?” she<br />
exclaimed and he responded<br />
“Oh!, so you can speak?... Interesting!”<br />
And she said in a<br />
shaky voice, “Uhmm...I am sorry<br />
sir, I did not mean to exclaim, I<br />
was only shocked sir”. He gave<br />
a brief smirk on his face and<br />
continued “I am not a lion Bisola<br />
and I don’t eat people so relax.<br />
You are starting your job next<br />
week. You can leave now” to<br />
which she responded “Yes sir,<br />
thank you sir” and as she turned<br />
around rapidly to leave the office,<br />
walking towards the door,<br />
she heard his voice say “Onomatopoeia!”<br />
she knew he was<br />
definitely talking to her even<br />
though he did not mention her<br />
name. So she turned back and<br />
he said “Onomatopoeia is when<br />
a word’s pronunciation imitates<br />
its sound…`while speaking<br />
to my driver, you said ‘Honk<br />
the horn’. That is an example<br />
of Onomatopoeia…by the way,<br />
you should work on your temper,<br />
it will help you always.”<br />
“Thanks sir” she said and left<br />
so fast because she wanted to<br />
ensure there was no reason for<br />
her to turn again.<br />
When she got out, they all<br />
looked at her like “how did<br />
it go?” and she responded<br />
openly to their thoughts “I got<br />
the job!” And as they all congratulated<br />
her, she said to them<br />
“the congratulation goes to us<br />
all after all, as we have earlier<br />
been told, you all have jobs in<br />
different departments in same<br />
organisation”.<br />
Bisola started a week later.<br />
Jittery at the initial stage but<br />
soon found out that her boss<br />
was one of the easiest persons<br />
to work with. Very meticulous<br />
about his work but truly an inspiration<br />
to her on work ethics,<br />
dedication to duty and integrity<br />
on every level. 18 months and<br />
counting, Bisola has no plans<br />
to change jobs….yet!<br />
From her point of view<br />
CHISOM OGBUMUO<br />
My Global Festival of Action experience<br />
municators, storytelling and social<br />
media advocates and influencers for<br />
SDGs from all world regions and I<br />
had been chosen to be an SDG story<br />
scouter, whose role is to be the main<br />
voice capturing the voices, energy,<br />
atmosphere and tapping the most<br />
exciting stories happening at the<br />
Global Festival of Action for sustainable<br />
development goals.<br />
That automatically meant that<br />
my role in being just a delegate<br />
had vanished and work took over. I<br />
absolutely loved that and grateful to<br />
be accredited for my past jobs done.<br />
A week before the festival, we<br />
had webinar to enable us virtually<br />
meet each other as colleagues and<br />
as well Yusuf Omar, who is a CNN<br />
senior social media influencer, Tedx<br />
Speaker and co-founder of Hashtag<br />
Our Stories, trained us on storytelling<br />
and engaging communities<br />
through social media.<br />
All story scouters as well as other<br />
team members from other departments<br />
arrived at the venue which<br />
is The World Conference Centre<br />
on Tuesday morning for brief,<br />
committee meetings and trainings<br />
to yield the guide and agenda for<br />
the festival, and also collected our<br />
identification cards.<br />
The festival officially commenced<br />
with the sound of beat<br />
boxing and call for actions done<br />
at The SDG studio. Director, UN<br />
Global Festival of Action, Mitchell<br />
Toomey, addressed us about the<br />
purpose of the festival and the<br />
#leavenoonebehind which was one<br />
of the major hashtags for the festival.<br />
The festival featured an SDG<br />
studio booth for a series of dynamic<br />
discussions, cross-generational<br />
dialogues, press moments, webcast<br />
interviews and inspiring talks showcasing<br />
change-making initiatives<br />
and revolutionary solutions to key<br />
global challenges. This interactive<br />
space will serve as a platform to<br />
engage participants in constructive<br />
conversations for the achievement of<br />
the Sustainable Development Goals.<br />
An Innovation fair also took<br />
place to showcase novel approaches<br />
to advancing the SDGs. Over the<br />
course of three days, the fair invited<br />
people to get their hands ‘dirty’ with<br />
some of the best examples of immersive<br />
storytelling, data, tech and<br />
community organising.<br />
A wide array of organisations<br />
showcased some of the best new<br />
tools out there to involve people in<br />
policy decision making, mitigate<br />
the challenges revolving around<br />
the SDGs, make them more accessible,<br />
providing participants<br />
with new chances to discuss,<br />
explore and connect with the<br />
masterminds behind the latest<br />
innovations across the globe.<br />
There was an official selection<br />
of films curated by the UN SDG<br />
Action Campaign to inspire SDG<br />
actors worldwide to scale up their<br />
action.<br />
Key points I learnt at the festival<br />
includes; there is no democracy<br />
without the youth, a collection<br />
of little actions will generate the<br />
largest positive acts in history, we<br />
need more bravery, tenacity and<br />
innovation to get the message and<br />
importance of SGDS beyond the<br />
usual suspects and actors.<br />
Others include: Our voice,<br />
our power, our solidarity are the<br />
success ingredients for any global<br />
ingredients and if we want to go<br />
far, there has to be unity of inclusiveness.<br />
The festival served as a platform<br />
to share ideas and thoughts<br />
and collaborate with every participant<br />
on how to achieve the<br />
agenda 20<strong>30</strong> of the sustainable<br />
development goals.
BUSINESS DAY<br />
Insight<br />
NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I FRIDAY <strong>30</strong> MARCH <strong>2018</strong> C002D5556<br />
Thoughts from a Renaissance man<br />
Corruption, business reforms and the law. When the data don’t<br />
say what you think they will say, criticise the data<br />
We h a v e<br />
discovered<br />
that<br />
corruption<br />
ranks<br />
should not be taken too<br />
seriously<br />
Why has Bahrain shown<br />
the worst deterioration in<br />
the latest Corruption Perceptions<br />
Index (CPI), dropping<br />
from 70th place globally<br />
to 103rd? What went so<br />
wrong with Nigeria’s anticorruption<br />
campaign that it<br />
fell from 136th in the world<br />
to 148th, as its score fell<br />
from 28/100 to 27 when we<br />
thought it could rise above<br />
<strong>30</strong>? And has Kenya really<br />
been so successful in fighting<br />
corruption, such that<br />
its score and rank both rose<br />
in an election year? One<br />
answer (on Nigeria at least)<br />
is that our expectations<br />
were wrong, but obviously<br />
we want to disregard that<br />
absurd possibility. Luckily,<br />
we found a good reason to<br />
avoid self-criticism.<br />
A number of oil exporters<br />
could see dramatic rank<br />
changes in the coming years<br />
It turns out that the CPI<br />
includes an ‘error range’<br />
that reflects what can be<br />
very large variations in responses<br />
to the CPI survey.<br />
That error range narrowed<br />
dramatically in Bahrain this<br />
year, so some respondents<br />
offered virtually no change<br />
in Bahrain’s score, while<br />
others changed their view<br />
(or stopped responding).<br />
We cannot be certain that<br />
corruption worsened at all.<br />
The error range means that<br />
Kenya may have worsened<br />
in 2017 and Nigeria may<br />
have risen to 1<strong>30</strong>th place.<br />
Egypt might be ranked as<br />
highly as Mauritius, instead<br />
of being just above the worst<br />
EM performers Russia and<br />
Mexico. We find a number<br />
of countries that might in<br />
the future see a dramatic<br />
change in rank if there is a<br />
narrowing of the error range<br />
(UAE, Czechia and Egypt in<br />
EM, as well as Saudi Arabia,<br />
Oman, Azerbaijan, Zimbabwe<br />
and Belarus).<br />
Despite this discovery,<br />
we find the CPI useful, and<br />
think that marked improvements<br />
in Argentina, Morocco<br />
and Greece are helpful<br />
in attracting investor attention,<br />
while falls in Hungary<br />
and Poland or a poor score<br />
in Turkey, Russia, Mexico<br />
and Egypt are challenges<br />
governments would do well<br />
to try and address.<br />
We examine the winners<br />
and losers in recent surveys<br />
We also look again at the<br />
World Justice Project (WJP),<br />
which we find is strongly<br />
correlated to the CPI survey,<br />
and the World Bank’s Ease<br />
of Doing Business (EODB)<br />
survey. While we recognise<br />
the EODB can be ‘gamed’,<br />
we think countries such<br />
as India, Thailand, Kenya<br />
and Nigeria, which showed<br />
dramatic improvement over<br />
the past year, are at least trying<br />
to tell investors they care<br />
about the business environment.<br />
We think Ghana and<br />
Egypt will join these reformers<br />
in <strong>2018</strong>/2019. Lastly, we<br />
update our Renaissance<br />
Capital legal scores.<br />
Turkey and Egypt have<br />
a lot of work to do; Nigeria,<br />
Morocco, Argentina, Kazakhstan<br />
are improving<br />
Our theory that FDI<br />
should be attracted to North<br />
Africa and Turkey in the<br />
2020s is supported in Morocco’s<br />
scores and Tunisia<br />
to some extent, but is<br />
threatened by low scores in<br />
Turkey and Egypt. Reforms<br />
are required to improve<br />
their attractiveness. Within<br />
CE3, the Czech Republic<br />
is becoming differentiated<br />
vs Poland and Hungary.<br />
Argentina and Kazakhstan<br />
are showing more improvement<br />
than Vietnam among<br />
Frontier darlings. In SSA, we<br />
see progress in Nigeria and<br />
Kenya, and some positive<br />
surprises in Senegal and<br />
the Ivory Coast. We expect<br />
Ghana to improve in <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
SA should stop deteriorating.<br />
But we find again that<br />
investors do not necessarily<br />
pay up much for low<br />
corruption, a good EODB<br />
score, and an effective legal<br />
system. A large local<br />
pension fund industry can<br />
have more effect on valuations<br />
than improvements in<br />
corruption or the business<br />
environment.<br />
As regular readers will<br />
know, we usually focus on<br />
the strong link between<br />
per capita GDP and the<br />
annual corruption scores<br />
from Transparency International1<br />
(TI). Virtually all<br />
countries with a low per<br />
capita GDP have a corruption<br />
score of around<br />
20-40/100 and aside from<br />
Bhutan, none has a score of<br />
60/100 or more. By contrast,<br />
no rich country with a per<br />
capita GDP of $50k or more<br />
has a corruption score less<br />
than 60, and the majority<br />
have a score above 70. Or<br />
as the cynical might put it,<br />
corruption in rich countries<br />
Our serious point is that even<br />
when the surveys agree, and<br />
purport to show a tight range,<br />
we should be aware they may<br />
be few in number and not any<br />
more accurate in fact than a<br />
country with many surveys<br />
that have wide differences of<br />
views<br />
is legitimised and called<br />
lobbying instead.<br />
As a result, we don’t find<br />
low corruption scores in<br />
developing countries to be<br />
a surprise, nor high scores<br />
in rich countries. Our core<br />
thesis is that a rising middle<br />
class eventually demands<br />
less corruption because<br />
they dislike their taxes being<br />
stolen. In poorer countries,<br />
fewer taxes are collected<br />
from households, and the<br />
average voter (if they have a<br />
vote at all) has more pressing<br />
concerns than whether<br />
the small amount of taxes<br />
they pay directly are being<br />
stolen or not.<br />
What we do find interesting<br />
is the relative scores<br />
of countries at similar income<br />
levels. One obvious<br />
divergence from the average<br />
trend line is the scores of<br />
oil exporters which nearly<br />
always underperform what<br />
per capita GDP would imply.<br />
The implication is that<br />
the only way Russia will<br />
get a corruption score like<br />
Mauritius is if it runs out of<br />
oil and gas.<br />
But even taking this into<br />
account, we argued in 2015<br />
that Nigeria could improve<br />
its score to 35-36 by 2019<br />
despite being an oil exporter<br />
(although it would only<br />
reach 44 in 2050)2. It would<br />
be an impressive achievement<br />
for an oil exporter to<br />
be that close to the trend<br />
line in the graph above,<br />
but we felt that a president<br />
elected on a platform where<br />
fighting corruption was one<br />
of their top three priorities,<br />
could make it happen.<br />
So, we had a problem<br />
with TI’s CPI survey this<br />
year. Kenya’s score rose<br />
while Nigeria’s score fell.<br />
Now, we are not about to<br />
start doing these surveys<br />
ourselves, despite our numerous<br />
travelling experiences<br />
(and one arrest).<br />
However, what we hear on<br />
the ground about corruption<br />
trends suggests that<br />
while Kenya might deserve<br />
a better score than Nigeria,<br />
the trend has been getting<br />
worse, while the opposite<br />
is true in Nigeria. So why<br />
might the TI scores be producing<br />
such different results?<br />
As is so often the case,<br />
our quant analyst provides<br />
the answer.<br />
It turns out that the CPI<br />
survey has always included<br />
a standard error range. This<br />
reflects the fact that the survey<br />
is itself made up of other<br />
surveys. Sometimes they<br />
agree, often they don’t. The<br />
result is that the final CPI<br />
score (and rank) is only a<br />
base-case estimation within<br />
a range that might be 2 ppts<br />
higher or lower (eg Guinea<br />
Bissau) within the 0-100<br />
score, or 25 ppts higher<br />
or lower (Zimbabwe). So<br />
the base score, let alone<br />
the rank, might be pretty<br />
misleading. Moreover, it<br />
is worth noting that tight<br />
survey error ranges may<br />
not be that representative<br />
either. In Guinea Bissau’s<br />
case, there might be just<br />
two surveys each filled in by<br />
the only two sociologists in<br />
the country, who are both<br />
married to each other, coincidentally<br />
share the same<br />
star sign and who always<br />
agree on everything except<br />
whether the toilet seat<br />
should be left down. Meanwhile<br />
Zimbabwe’s surveys<br />
might come from more<br />
diverse institutions. Our<br />
serious point is that even<br />
when the surveys agree,<br />
and purport to show a tight<br />
range, we should be aware<br />
they may be few in number<br />
and not any more accurate<br />
in fact than a country with<br />
many surveys that have<br />
wide differences of views.<br />
In 2017, TI estimates that<br />
Nigeria’s CPI score could<br />
be roughly between 24-35<br />
while Kenya’s was somewhere<br />
between 25-31 or<br />
so. In our charts below, we<br />
broaden the error range to<br />
provide a 95% confidence<br />
interval.<br />
Therefore a two-point<br />
shift up in Kenya’s TI score<br />
and a downward one-point<br />
shift in Nigeria, should not<br />
be taken very seriously. It<br />
is possible that the moves<br />
were twice as large and in<br />
the opposite directions.<br />
When you cluster 179<br />
countries on a score range<br />
from 9-89 out of 100, or<br />
roughly two per point, then<br />
a difference of a point or<br />
two in either direction can<br />
make a big difference to<br />
ranks. So the headlines this<br />
year showed that Nigeria<br />
dropped from 136th to<br />
148th while Kenya edged up<br />
from 145th to 143rd place.<br />
But when we take the error<br />
range into account (just for<br />
individual countries), then<br />
Nigeria might actually have<br />
improved to 1<strong>30</strong>th place and<br />
Kenya may have dropped<br />
back to 154th place3. In<br />
the table below, we show<br />
that individual change for<br />
various EM, Frontier and<br />
African countries. To take<br />
one extreme example, Egypt<br />
might be ranked as highly<br />
as Mauritius or as low as<br />
the DRC.<br />
Source: Renaissance Capital<br />
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