BusinessDay 10 Apr 2018

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NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I **TUESDAY 10 APRIL 2018 I VOL. 15, NO 29 I N300 @ g 

Why Buhari dares Obasanjo, IBB, 

others to declare for re-election 

Seeks waivers for serving APC officials to contest 

Obasanjo to respond soon What it means for markets 

TONY AILEMEN, KEHINDE AKINTOLA & 

INNOCENT ODOH, Abuja; CHRIS AKOR, 

MICHAEL ANI & DIPO OLADEHINDE, Lagos 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari on Monday 

finally shrugged off 

relentless criticisms 

and pressure from 

three of his retired colleagues to 

L-R: Roosevelt 

Ogbonna, group 

deputy managing 

director, Access 

Bank plc; Aigboje 

Aig-Imoukhuede, 

founder/chairman, 

African Initiative for 

Governance (AIG); 

Winifred Oyo-Ita, 

head of the civil 

service of the federation, 

and Herbert 

Wigwe, group managing 

director/chief 

executive officer, Access 

Bank plc, during 

the visit of the team 

from AIG and Office 

of the Head of The 

Civil Service of the 

Federation (OHCSF) 

to Access Bank head 

office in Lagos, yesterday. 

Pic by Olawale Amoo 

We did not take money from FG for tomato concentrate – Erisco Foods 

ODINAKA ANUDU 

Erisco Foods Limited 

says it did not take 

money from the Federal 

Government or 

the Central Bank of Nigeria 

(CBN) at any point in time for 

tomato concentrate. 

Erisco Foods is reacting to the 

story published by BusinessDay 

on April 4, which said the com- 

dismount the horse and allow 

young Nigerians take over, to 

declare his intention to run for 

office again in the 2019 presidential 

elections. 

“People have been asking me 

to declare for re-election and 

some have been asking me when 

I am going to declare. I want to 

give the NEC the honour to be 

pany took N2 billion from the 

CBN for concentrate. 

Eric Umeofia, chief executive 

officer and chairman of Erisco 

Foods, told BuisnessDay at his 

Lagos factory on Monday that he 

got money with the sole purpose 

of converting fresh and dry tomatoes 

into paste, which he is doing. 

According to Umeofia, his 

company is genuinely processing 

tomato, and his factory is up 

the first to hear it. I have decided 

to contest the 2019 elections,” 

Buhari told a closed door meeting 

of his party’s National Executive 

Council (NEC) at the party’s 

secretariat in Abuja. 

In the last few months and 

although he had said he had not 

made up his mind on whether to 

contest or not, there has been a 

and running. 

He, however, adds that his 

factory is only operating at 10 

percent capacity due to policy 

inconsistency and frustrations 

by the Ministry, Department 

and Agencies (MDAs) of 

government. 

Umeofia says the Tomato Policy 

made last year is good for the 

industry but the system, made 

up of MDAs, is frustrating its 

new spring in the steps of the 75 

year old former general and his 

famed body language suggests 

one who was already investing 

in his re-election project. 

The official declaration erases 

any doubts that he may succumb 

to the criticisms and pressures 

from the trio of Obasanjo, Ba- 

Continues on page 4 

Eric Umeofia, CEO/chairman, Erisco Foods 

CBN sees external 

reserves hitting 

$50bn by year-end 

... finalises creation of 

N500bn fund for local 

manufacturers 

HOPE MOSES–ASHIKE, Uyo 

Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor 

The Governor of the Central 

Bank of Nigeria (CBN) 

Godwin Emefiele expects 

the nations gross dollar reserves 

to hit the $50 billion mark later 

this year, the highest level since 

at least 2009. 

Emefiele who was represented 

by Edward Lametek 

Adamu, deputy governor, corporate 

services, disclosed this on 


Shell paid FG $4.32bn 

for 2017 production 

entitlement 

…NNPC got $3.1bn yet records 

N6bn loss in December 

OLUSOLA BELLO & ISAAC ANYAOGU 

Shell Corporation has said 

its payments to the Nigerian 

government grew to 

$4.32 billion in 2017, up nearly 

19 percent from $3.64 billion 

in 2016. The bulk of these payments, 

$3.197 billion, in all, 

went to the Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) 


implementation with impunity. 

Umeofia says he cannot service 

his bank loans owing to lack 

of funds to get raw materials and 

run the factory, stressing that 

poor policy implementation 

and support given to importers 

by government officials are crippling 

the manufacturing sector. 

He added that 70 percent of 

Continues on page 33

2 

BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 

Tuesday 10 April 2018

Tuesday 10 April 2018 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 

3

4 BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 

Tuesday 10 April 2018 

NEWS 

Direct electricity complaints to DisCos, Fashola tells Nigerians 

ISAAC ANYAOGU 

Nigerians undergoing 

harrowing experiences 

in the hands 

of electricity distribution 

companies 

(DisCos) who are directing their 

grievances to the minister on account 

of the incompetence of the 

regulator, the Nigerian Electricity 

Regulatory Commission (NERC), 

may no longer get a listening ear. 

Babatunde Fashola, minister 

of Power, Works and Housing 

in remarks yesterday at the 26th 

monthly power sector operators 

meeting which held in Ohiya 

Transmission substation, Umuahia, 

the Abia state capital, confirmed 

that the ministry is getting 

many complaints from different 

parts of the country. 

“They should appropriately go 

to the DisCos and the private investors 

who own them.Government 

has handed over these assets as 

a business and no longer collects 

revenue for power from consumers 

since the sale of PHCN in 2013. 

Those who bought the DisCos and 

bill consumers must rise up to the 

responsibility of resolving consumer 

complaints,” Fashola said. 

However, it is not difficult to 

see how customers are reluctant 

to send their complaints to NERC 

the sector regulator. On its website, 

it lists a three-step process to have 

complaints addressed. 

First take it up with the DisCo 

in charge of the franchise area, 

then fill a form and forward to 

NERC consumer forum, then it can 

render a decision. But there is no 

indication regarding how quickly 

these complaints can be resolved. 

The clearest evidence of the 

futility of this process is seen in 

the crowds of dissatisfied electricity 

consumers milling the halls of 

DisCos in their different franchise 

areas. Last week, our correspondent 

visited a customer care centre 

of Ikeja Electric on Ikorodu Road 

and found over two dozen complainants 

angry about the quality 

of the service. 

On social media sites, Nigerians 

reel out their frustration with the 

process that seemed rigged in favour 

of DisCos who are allowed to 

play footsie with their consumers 

money and electricity supply. 

Meanwhile, NERC on its website 

lists consumer rights to include 

that all new electricity connections 

must be done strictly based 

on metering before connection. 

That is, no new customer should 

be connected by a DisCo without 

a meter first being installed at the 

premises; all customers have a 

right to electricity supply in a safe 

and reliable manner. 

It further said that all customers 

have a right to a properly installed 

and functional meter, all customers 

have a right to properly informed 

and educated on the electricity 

service, all customers have a right 

to transparent electricity billing. 

“All Un-metered customers 

should be issued with electricity 

bills strictly based on NERC’s estimated 

billing methodology, it is 

the customer’s right to be notified 

in writing ahead of disconnection 

of electricity service by the DisCo 

serving the customer in line with 

NERC’s guidelines and all customers 

have a right to refund when over 

billed,” NERC says. 

For millions of electricity users, 

this sounds like a pipedream. The 

Consumer Protection Council, at 

different forums have confirmed 

that complaints from the electricity 

sector tops the key issues consumers 

are angry about in Nigeria. 

At a recent public interactive 

forum with NERC on March 24, 

Babatunde Irukere, director generation 

of CPC said “In other 

countries, you cannot even disconnect 

people anyhow, even when 

they owe. People in Nigeria are the 

same, and must be treated fairly.’ 

“And when people do business 

with you, and pay money to you reluctantly, 

it is social exploitation. It 

is because they have no choice. And 

that is mistreatment,” said Irukere. 

Fashola urged the DisCos to 

improve service and ramp up collections 

but it is clear emphasis for 

the DisCos is placed on the latter. 

“We have various payment options 

to make paying your bills easy 

and convenient. With options like 

internet/mobile banking, http:// 

ie-payments.com/ , http://quickteller.com 

, the *565* USSD code, 

self-service POS points, etc. you can 

pay your bill anywhere, anytime,” 

Ikeja electric said on their social 

media post. 

But customers do not have the 

same varied options to have their 

complaints resolved. 

Why Buhari dares Obasanjo, IBB, others to... 

Continued from page 1 

bangida and indirectly, Danjuma 

to perish the thought of 

running for a second term in office 

following what they perceived as 

the failure of his administration to 

revamp the economy, improve the 

living conditions of the people and 

also stop the genocide and killings 

by Fulani pastoralists across Nigeria’s 

north-central states of Benue, 

Taraba, Plateau and Kogi states. 

What is driving PMB to run 

again? 

Despite the heavy criticisms 

that has trailed the president and 

his administration’s handling of 

the economy, jobs and security 

of late, the president has enjoyed 

tremendous support from his 

party and state governors under 

his party, who are desperate to ride 

on the back of his popularity and 

cult-like followership especially in 

the northern part of the country, 

to get re-elected for a second term. 

Of late, some of these governors, 

especially those of Kogi, Kano, 

Plateau, Niger, Yobe, Kaduna, and 

Adamawa states have been making 

comments to suggest they will 

compel the president to run for 

a second term whether he wants 

to or not. 

On one of their visits to the president, 

the governors were reported 

to have said “We are politicians and 

those of us that you see here want 

the President to contest for a second 

term of office. So, everything 

is about 2019; there is no hiding 

that. We have no apologies for that. 

“We believe in the President, 

we want him to keep running the 

country in the right direction. So, 

people can speculate about 2019; 

we have no apologies,” governor 

el Rufai spoke on behalf of the 

governors. 

Besides, as former president 

Obasanjo seems to suggest in his 

open later of January 2018, many of 

the president’s ‘nepotic’ court who 

have gained tremendous power 

and influence due to the president’s 

passive and deliberative 

style of governance, have walled 

him off from majority of Nigerians 

and are reinforcing the message 

of the governors that he is the only 

one suited to run the country. 

What is more, some analysts 

have pointed out that the attempt 

by Obasanjo, Babangida and Danjuma 

to force Buhari to stand down 

may have helped the president 

make up his mind to contest the 

elections. “What I do know is that if 

you want a Fulani man to do something 

for sure, tell him not to. So 

the...former army generals should 

probably think of another way,” 

says Rafiq Raji, Chief Economist at 

Macroafricaintel Investment LLC, 

an Africa-focused macro research 

& investment consultancy based 

in Lagos. 

Jets off to the UK 

Just immediately after announcing 

his decision to run again, 

President Buhari left for the United 

Kingdom (UK) ostensibly to attend 

a meeting of Commonwealth 

Heads of States and Government, 

coming up from 18 to 20th of April, 

2018. 

However, his office did not give 

a date of his return fuelling speculation 

that he may just be using the 

Commonwealth leaders meeting 

as excuse to go on his customary 

health vacation to treat his mysterious 

illness. 

At the NEC meeting which he 

attended ahead of his departure 

for a one-week official visit in 

UK, the President also proposed 

suspension of provision of Article 

30 Section 1 and Subsection 3 of 

All Progressive Congress (APC) 

constitution which requires any 

serving officer desirous of seeking 

re-election to resign from office 30 

days before the election. 

The President said the waivers 

had become necessary because 

it is practically impossible for the 

present serving officers to meet 

this condition. 

The President said he believed 

that the current executives should 

be free to run for elective position 

in the party if they so wish. 

“Considering the provision of 

Article 30 Section 1 and Subsection 

3 of our party constitution which 

requires any serving officer desirous 

seeking re-election to resign 

from office 30 days before the election, 

I’m not sure of the practicality 

of the present serving officers’ ability 

to meet this condition” 

“Accordingly, the party may 

L-R: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; John Odigie-Oyegun, chairman APC, with President Muhammadu Buhari, 

during APC NEC meeting in Abuja, yesterday. 

Pic by Tunde Adeniyi 

consider granting waivers to party 

executives at all levels so that they 

are not disenfranchised in participating 

in the elections provided 

this does not violate our rights or 

our rules.” 

“Necessary waivers should 

also be extended to executives at 

the ward level whose tenures may 

have elapsed and indeed to anyone 

knocking on our doors from other 

parties,” he stated. 

Buhari said his intention to seek 

re-election in 2019, was in response 

to demands by Nigerians. 

A statement by Senior Special 

Assistant to the President on Media 

and Publicity, Garba Shehu, 

confirming the development said 

Buhari made the declaration at a 

closed-door meeting of the Council. 

“The President said he was 

responding to the clamour by 

Nigerians to re-contest in 2019, 

adding that he wanted to give NEC 

the honour of notifying them first,” 

Shehu said. 

Declaration portends danger 

to Nigeria – Junaid Muhammad 

Meanwhile, Buhari’s intention 

to seek re-election for the 2019 

presidential election has elicited 

mixed reaction from politicians, 

political parties and public affairs 

analysts. 

Reacting to the President’s 

declaration, Second Republic 

lawmaker, Junaid Muhammad 

told BusinessDay on Monday that 

Nigerians have nothing to cheer 

with the president’s re-election bid 

adding that it probably portends 

danger to the country. 

“I don’t know if Nigerians have 

a say in it. If Nigerians have a say 

in it there would have been no 

such declaration. Nigerians are 

going to be bystanders in the sense 

that in spite of all the urges not to 

run, Buhari will probably rig the 

election and unleash mayhem 

and catastrophe the like of which 

Nigerians have never seen,” Muhammad 

said. 

“The government has the capacity 

to rig the election and they 

are shameless enough to do that. I 

find myself unable to justify under 

any circumstances the reasons for 

the President to want to run for a 

second term because he has failed 

in everything he said he was going 

to do. He has said several times that 

he will not go beyond one term, 

now he has set that aside and has 

decided to go for power no matter 

the consequences for the country. 

That is not my idea of a statesman; 

Buhari has pathological lust for 

power. 

“I don’t believe that Nigeria will 

see peace and of course Nigeria has 

never seen good governance under 

Buhari and the same pattern will 

continue unfortunately. Buhari 

said he was going to bring security 

and control the Boko Haram he 

has failed in that. He said he was 

going to fight corruption he has 

failed in that. He said he was going 

to bring the militants of the Niger 

Delta under control he has failed in 

doing that. He promised to better 

the economy he has failed woefully 

on that. The best thing is for him 

to leave so that Nigerians can have 

their county back,” he said. 

Also contributing, the National 

Chairman of the National Unity 

Party (NUP), Perry Opara, in his 

reaction told BusinessDay that 

President Buhari’s bid to seek reelection 

is good for democracy, 

Continues on page 34


5

6 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 

NEWS 

CSOs, groups pick holes in PIGB, ask Buhari to decline assent 

KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja 

Coalition of Civil Societies 

and community 

groups drawn 

from five oil producing 

states have raised alarm at 

the inherent gaps and danger 

in the moves to sign into law 

a petroleum bill that is allegedly 

fraught with defects in 

the areas of environmental 

protection, industry-standard 

regulation and preservation 

of the rights, health and livelihoods 

of local community 

members. 

To this end, the coalition 

urged President Muhammed 

Buhari not to sign the Petroleum 

Industry Governance 

Bill (PIGB) as passed by the 

National Assembly, until the 

grey areas were addressed. 

BusinessDay check reveals 

that the clean copy of 

the PIGB passed by the National 

Assembly is yet to be 

transmitted to President Buhari. 

In a 17-point position 

unanimously adopted by the 

Civil Societies and Community 

Groups from Bayelsa, 

Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Delta and 

Edo states at a town hall meeting 

on the PIGB recently held 

in Port Harcourt, the groups 

pointed out that the deliberate 

silence of the bill on the 

outlaw of gas flaring with a 

definite date was not only 

ominous and a major setback 

for the environment, but also 

a big blow to the people of the 

Niger Delta who have been 

unjustly subjected to gas intoxication 

through mindless 

gas flaring for decades since 

the commencement of petroleum 

exploitation in Nigeria. 

The groups stated that 

they had hoped that the lawmakers 

would have used the 

opportunity created by the 

petroleum legal regimes review 

to put an end to decades 

of the deplorable practice of 

gas flaring that had put Nigeria 

for decades into ‘Hall of 

How Nigeria can navigate present security challenges - experts 

JOSHUA BASSEY 

Security experts say 

technology, intelligence-based 

policing 

and logistical supports 

are basic ingredients to reconfiguring 

the security architecture 

of the country. 

This is as Edgal Imohimi, 

commissioner of police, Lagos 

State, is advocating for the 

enactment of a legislation to 

compel businesses around 

the country to install Close 

Circuit Television (CCT) cameras 

within their premises to 

facilitate crime detection. 

The experts spoke at the 

first security summit held in 

Lagos, on Monday, while also 

pointing out the need for the 

involvement of traditional institutions 

and investment in 

the regular training of security 

personnel, to bring about 

efficiency. 

Imohimi, who presented 

a paper at the summit, called 

for increased manpower and 

a system that discourages 

the practice whereby peo- 

ple spread fear and rumours 

through the social media. 

“Policing like we all know 

is more about strategy and 

technology but there are other 

factors that come to play 

such as logistics and all that 

but when there is a clear-cut 

strategy backed with the right 

technology, then the war 

against crime would be won,” 

Imohinmi said. 

The police chief, who, 

however, gave statistics 

showing there had been a 

decrease in crime rate in 

Lagos, said from 2014 till 

date, a total of 1,315 armed 

robbery attacks, 359 cult-related 

cases and 392 kidnapping 

cases were recorded, 

with several arrests made 

and prosecutions ongoing. 

He said based on community-based 

policing and 

security partnership he put 

in place upon assumption 

of office in 2017, militants 

groups hitherto operating 

in the state had been degraded 

and incapacitated 

from carrying out attacks. 

N/Assembly okays HND programme in Official Reporters at NILDS 

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja 

National Assembly 

has endorsed the 

commencement 

of Higher National 

Diploma (HND) course in 

Official Reporting at the National 

Institute for Legislative 

and Democratic Studies 

(NILDS). The Institute is the 

research arm of the National 

Assembly. 

The programme will commence 

in June this year, following 

its approval by the 

National Board for Technical 

Education (NBTE). 

Ladi Hamalai, directorgeneral 

of NILDS, stated this 

on Monday while declaring 

open a two-week certificate 

training programme on Of- 

ficial Reporting. 

The event was put together 

by the Institute for staff of 

Anambra and Ogun Houses 

of Assembly. 

Represented by Adeyemi 

Fajingbesi, director of 

Research and Training in 

the Institute, Hamalai said 

the training was specifically 

designed to acquaint 

participants with information, 

methods and modern 

tools to report parliamentary 

practices and proceedings 

accurately. The directorgeneral 

said topical issues 

to be discussed at the training 

include: Principles and 

Elements of Speed Writing/ 

Shorthand Development, 

Hansard Styles Manual, ICT 

in Official Reporting, Edit- 

Environmental Shame’ by enacting 

clear-cut provisions for 

its criminalisation. 

The stakeholders regretted 

that the failure of the National 

Assembly to do this effectively 

reinforced the region’s feeling 

of oppression and state injustice, 

adding that such acts by 

state institutions as the National 

Assembly, and the consequent 

sentiments would 

ultimately make peace and 

security elusive in the region. 

The groups, which railed 

the fragmentation of the 

bill further pointed out that 

many of the provisions of the 

piece-meal bill were not in 

tandem with best practices as 

obtained in the global oil and 

gas industry, positing that it 

was antithetical for Nigeria 

to seemingly be reviewing its 

Petroleum laws to streamline 

with global industry standards 

and at the same time be 

proposing legal provisions 

that were at variance with best 

standard practices. 

He also said the strategy 

had also helped in checking 

the activities of dreaded cult 

groups such as Badoo, with 

all their shrines demolished, 

while from January till date, 

no attack had been recorded 

from the militants. 

“Based on the partnership 

with the community and 

other security outfits within 

our communities, we have 

been able to bring the activities 

of Badoo cult group to an 

end and also discovered suspected 

notorious shrines in 

Ikorodu and environs used 

for suspected ritual killings 

and other form of crimes. 

These shrines have all been 

demolished,” he said. 

On his part, Lagos State 

governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, 

advocated the concept 

of collective vigilance where 

all stakeholders in security 

management had properly 

defined roles and relationships 

to stay ahead of all form 

of violent crimes such as terrorism, 

cyber and transnational 

organised crimes. 

ing, Keyboarding, as well as 

Record Management and 

Archiving of Parliamentary 

Reports. 

“The central role of the legislature 

in the overall development 

of the nation, particularly 

in the areas of lawmaking 

for the good governance of 

the country, oversight of other 

arms of government and representation 

of their respective 

constituencies cannot be 

overemphasised. 

“The present certificate 

programme is therefore part 

of NILDS efforts to assist the 

state Houses of Assembly to 

develop skills of Official Reporters 

to meet the present 

global challenges, especially in 

the area of the use of modern 

technology,” Hamalai said. 



Senate did not 

query NIWA over 

N800m security 

vote – NIWA 

National Inland 

Waterways Authority 

(NIWA) 

says contrary 

to some media reports, 

there was no time the 

Senate queried it over 

a N800 million security 

vote when it appeared 

before it last Friday to defend 

its 2018 budget proposal. 

In a press statement 

signed by Tayo Fadile, 

general manager, corporate 

affairs of NIWA, 

in Lokoja, it said in the 

entire budget defence of 

NIWA, there was no single 

items that captured 

the issue of security, and 

said the publications 

made on Friday over the 

issue, were false and misleading. 

The statement read in 

parts, “The distinguished 

Senators of the Marine 

Transport Committee in 

the Senate of the National 

Assembly were referring 

to the Council for Regulation 

of Freight Forwarding 

of Nigeria (CRFFN) 

and not National Inland 

Waterways Authority 

(NIWA) as erroneously 

reported. 

“The truth in respect 

of the story can be confirmed 

from the chairman 

of the Senate Committee 

on Marine Transport, 

Senator Sani Yerima, 

and the video tape of the 

proceedings can also be 

made available by the 

Clerk of the committee of 

Marine Transport of the 

Senate. 

“As a matter of fact, 

NIWA was the first agency 

to be attended to by the 

distinguished senators, 

while the CRFFN was the 

last agency that the committee 

invited. Secondly, 

in the entire budget defence 

of NiWA, there was 

no single item that captured 

the issue of security 

and the acting managing 

director of NIWA did not 

make any comment regarding 

the security issue 

as reported by the newspapers 

since NIWA did 

not ask for any security 

vote in the 2018 budget 

proposal. 

“It is not also true that 

2017 was the first time 

NIWA will get approval 

from the National Assembly, 

since NIWA was established 

in 1987 and has 

been securing approval 

from the National Assembly 

since its inception as 

an Authority.” 

The statement therefore 

called on the general 

public to disregard the 

earlier publications. 

CardinalStone leads $18m equity capital raise for HealthPlus 

DANIEL OBI 

CardinalStone 

Partners Limited 

says it acted 

as the exclusive 

financial 

adviser to Health Plus 

Limited, for the health 

company’s recently concluded 

$18 million equity 

capital raise from Alta 

Semper Capital LLP, a private 

equity firm based in 

the UK. 

HealthPlus is West Africa’s 

foremost retail pharmacy 

chain, and the investment 

by Alta Semper, 

according to a statement, 

will enable the company 

continue to expand its 

store footprint, invest in 

best in class human capital 

and develop regional 

distribution centres in 

commercial hubs across 

Nigeria. 

Olubukunola George, 

founder/CEO of Health- 

Plus, says in the statement, 

“CardinalStone 

was very instrumental in 

spearheading an efficient 

and competitive process 

that ultimately paired 

HealthPlus with the ideal 

partner. Its commitment 

and demonstrated professionalism 

throughout 

the capital raising journey 

was extremely commend- 

able.” 

Michael Nzewi, managing 

director of Cardinal- 

Stone, in the statement, 

says, “We were honoured 

to have assisted Health- 

Plus as it embarks on its 

next phase of growth. We 

believe that this strategic 

combination will serve as 

a major catalyst in greatly 

improving the access of 

the everyday Nigerian to 

healthcare products and 

will provide HealthPlus 

with the right platform 

to continue delivering 

exceptional service and 

quality products to its 

customers.” 

CardinalStone is an 

C002D5556 

indigenous, full service 

investment banking firm 

that provides comprehensive 

financial advisory 

and capital raising services 

to its clients across 

various sectors of the Nigerian 

and the broader 

West African region. “This 

transaction represents 

another successful milestone 

for CardinalStone 

in the healthcare sector, 

with the company having 

completed five transactions 

in the space, cutting 

across both equity and 

debt deals, over the last 

year alone,” according to 

the statement. 

CardinalStone’s 

BUSINESS DAY 

focus 

7 

NEWS 

is to avail best in class financial 

advisory and capital 

raising services to leading 

entrepreneurs and 

businesses with a view 

to assisting them achieve 

their strategic goals and 

ambitions of becoming 

market leaders within 

their respective sectors. 

“CardinalStone aims to be 

a long-term trusted adviser 

and financing partner 

to its clients and has built 

a competence in supporting 

businesses as they 

navigate economic headwinds 

through the course 

of their operating lifecycle,” 

it notes.

8 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 

NEWS 

L-R: Oye Hassan-Odukale, chairman, Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF); Ademola Abass, special adviser to the Lagos 

State governor on overseas affairs and investment, and Abdurrasaq Balogun, executive secretary/CEO, LSSTF, during the 2018 

Lagos State Security Summit, with the theme “ Securing Lagos State: Towards a Sustainable Framework for Modern Mega City” 

in Lagos, yesterday. 


Northern states worst in Nigeria sub-national 

poverty rates, with Zamfara’s 92% 

BEN EGUZOZIE 

Despite having 

the best opportunities 

till date, 

in governance 

of the country 

since independence (that is in 

the number of years as head 

of state), the northern region 

of Nigeria still lags behind as 

highly poor and worst in human 

development of all its 

constituent states. 

This is according to data 

from the Oxford University 

Poverty and Human Development 

Initiative (OPHI) “Nigeria 

Country Briefing,” 2017. 

The OPHI data indicate 

that the region, with vast 

landmass, posted as the worst 

performing in “multidimensional 

poverty index data 

bank.” 

The region, according to 

states ranked, posts an average 

of 85.36 percent in poverty 

rate in the period under 

review (year-to-date, 2017), 

Refugee crisis draining Cross River economy – SSG 

IGNATIUS CHUKWU & DAVID EJIOHUO 

The recent crisis 

in Cameroon has 

caused huge influx 

of fleeing populations 

into Cross River State, 

therefore compounding the 

problem of Bakassi refugees. 

This is said to have drained 

the resources of the state government. 

There are over 1,000 

Bakassi refugees already 

causing nightmares in Cross 

River State, according to the 

secretary to the state government 

(SSG), Tina Banguo 

Agbo, who spoke with newsmen 

at the Port Harcourt International 

Airport, Omagwa. 

The Cross Rivers government 

was now at crossroads 

in the crossfire of crises from 

both the Bakassi crisis and 

the Anglophone crisis in 

… Lagos least poor, while Ebonyi most poor among the pack 

with six northern states 

ranked as “worse states.” 

These are: Zamfara, the 

worst state, with 92 percent 

poverty rate, Jigawa 88 percent, 

Bauchi 87 percent, Kebbi 

86 percent, Katsina 82.2 

percent, and Gombe 77 percent. 

Data from five other 

core northern states: Kano, 

Sokoto, Adamawa and Boko 

Haram ravaged Borno and 

Yobe, were not available in 

the Oxford University Poverty 

and Human Development 

Initiative, Multidimensional 

Poverty Index Data Bank. 

In the same vein, Taraba 

State (with 78%), recently enmeshed 

in herdsmen attacks, 

along with Plateau (51.6%) 

in the North Central Zone 

were also listed among Nigeria 

Country Briefing’s “worse 

states” in sub-national poverty 

rates rankings. 

However, data from herdsmen 

harried Benue State 

were not available. 

Cameroon, with the fleeing 

populations finding Cross 

River as a landing pad. 

The state government 

and people could not have 

minded, but considering the 

economic hardship in the 

country and near-zero allocation 

from the Federal Government 

According to Agbo, all the 

oil wells in Cross River had 

gone to other states, thus 

making the state almost a 

non-oil state, and now being 

compounded by refugees 

from two major crises. 

She said the state was trying 

to build over 500 flats to 

relocate them from the refugee 

camp, but the new influx 

from Cameroon had put 

Cross River on a high jump 

economically. 

Cross River, she said further, 

was seriously in prob- 

The only exception among 

the northern region is the 

Federal Capital Territory 

(FCT) Abuja, which poverty 

rate is 24 percent, and strike 

traumatised Kogi State with 

26 percent, according to the 

OPHI data. 

Meanwhile, Ebonyi, a 

salt producing and a largely 

agrarian state, majoring in 

rice production, in the South- 

East region, is the only ‘worst 

performed and poor state’ in 

the entire southern states of 

Nigeria. The state, currently 

under the leadership of David 

Umahi, elected governor 

in 2015, was ranked with 56 

percent in the Nigerian subnational 

poverty rates. 

The OPHI data posted 

state in the southern region 

as largely performing fairly 

well in poverty eradication 

policies. Lagos State, with 

a gross domestic product 

(GDP) economy of $136 billion, 

and by far, Nigeria’s eco- 

lem because apart from the 

problems of the Bakassi returnees, 

and the new ones 

from the Anglophone crisis, 

the state also had to contend 

with all the militants that 

were driven from Rivers, Delta 

and Bayelsa states. 

The Federal Government, 

she said, recently sent relief 

materials to the IDPs in the 

state, but pointed out that the 

relief materials were just a tip 

of the iceburg. 

“We need much more 

than that because the refugees 

problem is causing us 

millions of naira,” she said. 

Due to lack of job opportunities 

and to create a future 

for most refugees, the SSG 

noted that the state governor 

had to expand his appointments 

to over 1,000 persons 

with monthly salaries just to 

put food on the table. 

nomic capital, which recently 

emerged as Africa’s seventh 

largest economy, bigger than 

Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya, two 

of the continent’s most promising 

economies, is surveyed 

by OPHI as the least poor 

state in Nigeria, with only 8.5 

percent ranking in sub-national 

poverty rate. 

Other states in the South 

West zone are: Ogun 27 percent, 

Oyo 29 percent, Osun 

11 percent, and Ondo 28 percent. 

Data from Ekiti State was 

not available. 

In the South-South zone, 

Edo State came off with a 

promising 19 percent subnational 

poverty rate, while 

Rivers ranked with 21 percent 

and Bayelsa 29 percent. 

For the South East zone, 

Imo, a state currently governed 

by Rochas Okorocha, 

whose recent voodoo economics 

have swayed it to 20 

percent, from initial 15 percent 

in 2014-2015. 

Lufthansa cancels Nigeria flights over airport strike 

FG to sign power purchase 

agreement with prospective GenCos 

Experts advocate for Local Content drive at ISPON presidential dinner 

Technology experts, 

policy makers and 

top executives of 

firms in Nigeria’s 

technology sector have advocated 

for the proper implementation 

of the local 

content policy in Nigeria. 

This happened at the 

Institute of Software Practitioners 

of Nigeria’s (ISPON) 

ninth annual presidential 

dinner night in Lagos. 

The event, themed The 

Fourth Industrial Revolution, 

was attended by the 

minister of communications, 

Adebayo Shittu, who 

said local content was not 

about foregoing foreign solutions 

but consolidating on 

the Executive order 003 and 

005 to build a stronger economy 

for the country and to 

create a win-win situation 

for all. 

IFEOMA OKEKE 

Over 1,000 passengers 

who have booked 

Lufthansa flights 

from Nigeria and 

Germany Monday and Tuesday 

had their flights cancelled 

as a result airport workers’ 

strike in Germany. 

Lufthansa operates an average 

of two flights every day 

from Nigeria and two from 

Germany, with an average of 

250 passengers. 

This implies that on Monday 

night and Tuesday morning 

when the airline cancelled 

its Nigeria flights, over 1,000 

passengers would be affected. 

Passengers emanating 

from various countries across 

the world where Lufthansa 

operates, including Nigeria 

would be affected by the strike 

action. “Due to this strike tomorrow, 

Lufthansa will have 

to cancel 800 out of the 1,600 

scheduled flights, including 

58 long-haul flights,” the group 

CYNTHIA EGBOBOH, Abuja 

Federal Government 

is to sign Power Purchase 

Agreements 

(PPAs) with Prospective 

Power Generators 

through Nigeria Bulk Electricity 

Trading (NBET) and 

Transmission Company of 

Nigeria (TCN), in efforts towards 

improving the power 

sector. 

Babatunde Fashola, minister 

of power, works and 

housing, disclosed this at the 

monthly power sector operators 

meeting in held in Abia 

State, stressing that the Federal 

Government through the 

NBET and TCN was working 

to improve the power sector 

by signing PPAs with Prospective 

Power Generators. 

According to a statement 

from the ministry, “The government 

is investing in the 


While speaking with 

journalists after the event, 

Emmanuel Eze, chief technology 

fficer, SystemSpecs 

Limited, who received an 

award on behalf of John 

Obaro, CEO of SystemSpecs, 

said, “There is a lot of talents 

and many companies within 

the country doing a lot of 

great things for the economy. 

Implementing the local 

content act helps to consolidate 

on that.” 

Answering questions on 

the implementation of the 

TSA, Eze said billions, and 

perhaps, trillions of naira 

was being moved onto the 

TSA platform monthly, and 

praised the system for helping 

to block leakages. 

“It has been widely acclaimed 

that TSA has helped 

the country to block leakages 

and helped to engensaid 

in a statement, adding 

that around 90,000 passengers 

would be affected. 

Service would be back to 

normal on Wednesday after 

the strike, which will see 

groups like ground crew and 

airport firefighters walk off the 

job between 5am and 6pm local 

time (0300 to 1600 GMT), 

Lufthansa said. 

Frankfurt airport - Germany’s 

largest - warned on its 

website of “significant delays 

and cancellations” affecting 

many airlines, asking travellers 

to check with their carrier 

whether their flight would 

go ahead. Even passengers 

whose flights were not cancelled 

should plan to arrive at 

the airport earlier than usual 

as longer queues are expected, 

Lufthansa said. 

“It’s totally unacceptable 

that the union is waging this 

conflict on the backs of uninvolved 

passengers,” Bettina 

Volkens, Lufthansa human resources 

chief, said. 

expansion of the transmission 

capacity through TCN 

by building more substations 

and expanding existing ones 

to improve service capacity, 

where the consumer demand 

has increased, and reinforcing 

the capacity of existing 

transmission lines. 

“At the moment, there 

are over 90 TCN projects for 

transmission expansion, 

which TCN will be commissioning 

nationwide in the next 

few weeks and months. Some 

are completed and some are 

nearing completion.” 

He further urged, “NBET, 

on its part, must also improve 

on the timelines it takes to 

process payment to the Dis- 

Cos and, in addition, adopt a 

business orientation of ensuring 

that it collects as much as 

it can from the DisCos, who 

help her to retail the Bulk 

Power. 

der transparency within the 

government space, especially 

with regards to payments. 

A number of other African 

countries are trying to do 

something similar,” Eze said. 

Eze also advocated for 

more private-public sector 

collaborations to set up incubation 

centres and programmes 

to equip youths 

with the right ICT skills. He 

mentioned ‘Code Lagos” in 

which SystemSpecs was collaborating 

the Lagos State 

government as one of such 

programmes. 

Olorogun Emadoye, 

ISPON president, praised 

the executive orders 003 and 

005 as milestones in achieving 

local content, and emphasised 

the importance of 

the software industry in the 

economic development of 

Nigeria.


9


10 BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 

COMMENT 

STRATEGY & POLICY 

The fallacy of Nigerian democracy 

comment is free 

Send 800word comments to comment@businessdayonline.com 

MA JOHNSON 

Johnson is a marine project management 

consultant and Chartered Engineer. He is 

a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, 

Science and Technology, UK. 

Since Nigeria chose the path 

of democracy in 1999, 

there has been undulating 

progress made by successive 

governments in all 

spheres of the nation’s polity. Nigerians 

thought that democracy will 

provide a platform through which 

good governance will reduce the 

rank and file of the poor. Nigerians 

were fed up with military misrule. 

They wanted something different, 

and thus, settled for democracy. 

Many Nigerians accepted democracy 

because they thought it would 

build bridges and not walls between 

the rich and the poor. Since then, 

democracy has barely given the 

poor any hope. 

High inflation, underemployment 

and unemployment now make 

millions of Nigerians very miserable. 

Most Nigerians find it difficult to 

believe that current economic challenges 

facing the nation today have 

been conceptualized, orchestrated 

and implemented since independence 

not by colonialists but by the 

political elites. It has been realized 

that democracy alone will not 

solve all the problems of the nation 

with multiple ethnic, cultural, 

and religious backgrounds. Why? 

Democracy will only bring about 

national development when it is 

operated by a corps of sincere and 

committed leaders who are willing 

to produce more leaders and not 

followers. 

Rather than have a nation 

whose economy is improving, 

Nigeria is mired by insecurity, 

fragile economy and corruption. 

At the peak of corruption and impunity 

in 2015, Nigerians aligned 

themselves with a few politicians 

who thought there was need for 

a“change” in governance. The electorate 

was desperate to have a new 

government at the federal and state 

levels without due consideration 

for the quality of politicians and 

their agenda. The “change” mantra 

reverberated throughout the four 

corners of Nigeria. So, most Nigerians 

chorused change! change! 

change! They wanted the immediate 

past PDP-led government 

out of office at all cost and by any 

known democratic process. Nigerians 

wanted freedom from bondage 

immediately. But Nigerians missed 

the opportunity big time to negotiate 

a deal with politicians on how 

to reduce poverty in the land. So, 

the struggle continues! 

Though the nation’s economy 

is out of recession, there is still 

insecurity and corruption. With 

insecurity across the nation, there 

cannot be any meaningful development. 

The nation’s economy 

cannot be thoroughly analyzed 

without factoring corruption into 

the analysis. In Nigeria, corruption 

is now an invisible enterprise and a 

highly profitable concern that does 

not pay tax. 

There can’t be a better definition 

of Nigerian democracy if governors 

and lawmakers served for 

only 4 years and they haul severance 

allowance and pension 

worth millions of Naira when 

public servants who served for 

more than 15 years have not 

been paid gratuity and pension 

after retirement 

Secondus, the Chairman of PDP 

asked Nigerians to forgive all his 

party members. He has forgotten that 

forgiveness comes with repentance. 

Since he did not say that PDP members 

have repented, Lai Mohammed, 

the Minister of Information released 

the list of looters-original and first 

supplementary. Other lists to follow. 

In the past nineteen years, the 

challenges of Nigerian democracy 

far outweigh opportunities it provides 

to the nation. The challenges 

are numerous, multidimensional 

and complex. Perhaps, that is why 

political scientists always say that democracy 

is a very complex endeavor. 

Although, democracy is a fallacy in 

practice, this writer loves it more than 

any military rule. 

Some Nigerians reason that democracy 

in Nigeria means “government 

of politicians, by politicians, 

for politicians only.” There can’t be 

a better definition of Nigerian democracy 

if governors and lawmakers 

served for only 4 years and they haul 

severance allowance and pension 

worth millions of Naira when public 

servants who served for more than 

15 years have not been paid gratuity 

and pension after retirement. 

There is already an outcry in the 

country over senators’ N13.5 million 

monthly allowance. While workers 

minimum wage is still N18,000 per 

month. Lawmakers at state and federal 

levels have been short-changing 

Nigeria and Nigerians for many 

years. Such allowances paid to our 

lawmakers do not match Nigeria’s 

circumstance as a technologically 

and industrially backward nation. 

When Abraham Lincoln defines 

democracy as “the government of 

the people, by the people, for the 

people,” he was perhaps referring 

to Western democracies. Lincoln’s 

definition of democracy doesn’t refer 

to democracies practiced by politicians 

of African genre. Some commentators 

and analysts expressed 

some condescending perceptions 

about Africans in their remarks. 

One George Louis Beer claims that 

the “black race has hitherto shown 

no capacity for progressive development 

except under the tutelage 

of other peoples.” Justifying this 

derogatory assertion, he affirms that 

Africans existing stage of civilization 

in the late Twentieth Century is far 

below the potentialities for progress. 

Other commentators and analysts 

painted an apocalyptic portrait 

of African nations more than 

two decades ago because of the 

immense human tragedy that pervaded 

the continent at that time 

under assorted military regimes. 

These commentators need to see 

Africa now, and find time to visit 

Nigeria where some states are 

barely performing their statutory 

responsibilities of providing security 

to citizens. Due to high level of 

insecurity in the country, Olusegun 

Obasanjo’s clarion call for a coalition 

of Nigerian movement was issued. 

While Ibrahim Babangida 

released his letter titled “Towards 

a National Rebirth” to the APC-led 

federal government. Their concerns 

were followed by Theophilus Danjuma’s 

controversial self-defence 

strategy which is considered a call 

for anarchy by critics. These are 

not calls for anarchy but wake-up 

calls to those in the government to 

do more for Nigerians. When one 

reflects on these messages, it is 

difficult to have a contrary opinion 

because most of those serving currently 

in the APC-led government 

have not demonstrated sufficient 

knowledge of the imperatives of 

good governance. 

When all known indices of good 

governance are examined, Nigeria 

is always at the end of the ladder. 

Indeed, the economic profile of 

Nigeria in comparison to most 

industrialized nations is embarrassing 

because democracy has not 

improved the quality of lives of citizens. 

Democracy has made many 

poor such that poverty in Nigeria 

is at a disturbing level. Nigerians 

want democracy to open windows 

of opportunities to them. 

As 2019 approaches, development 

challenges facing Nigeria 

are numerous and could better be 

solved when committed and sincere 

leaders emerge at state and federal 

levels of government. Nigeria needs 

visionary and committed leaders 

across board. Leadership is key to 

national development. 

Send reactions to: 

comment@businessdayonline.com 

CALEB ADEBAYO 

Caleb Adebayo is a lawyer with 

WoleOlanipekun and Co., where he 

straddles the busy dispute resolution 

team and the nascent commercial 

team. He is keen on the intersection 

of Energy, Finance and Environmental 

Law. He can be reached at 

calebadebayoc@gmail.com 

In recent times, a lot has been 

happening, and rapidly too, 

in the Nigerian Electricity 

Supply Industry (NESI) in 

terms of regulations, guidelines, 

policies, and laws. Only about 

nine months ago, the Minister of 

Power, Works and Housing announced 

the Eligible Customer 

regime, and with it came much 

furore from the various value 

chain participants. Recently, a 

new set of regulations emanated 

from the industry, the Meter Asset 

Provider (MAP) regulations. 

Amongst other things, it seeks 

to close the metering gap which 

it estimates stands at over four 

MAP regulations and the hope for a more efficient distribution regime 

million meters, attract private 

investment and of course, eliminate 

estimated billing. 

I must commend the regulations, 

and the firm posture 

it adopts in mandating Distribution 

Licenseesto ensure 

metering for their customers 

within a set time period. It is 

also economically advantageous, 

as it, while stretching the NESI 

value chain, opens new vistas 

for investment in the industry 

from private sector players. The 

matter-of-fact tone of the regulations 

has ensured that a carte 

blanche standard of metering is 

not adopted where every Meter 

Asset Provider (MAP) operates 

at his behest in terms of quality, 

instead it has laid down certain 

technological benchmarks for 

MAPs seeking to participate in 

the procurement process. In addition, 

the process for approval 

seems to be quite well thought 

out, commencing with the ‘No 

Objection’authorization which 

is granted after conducting due 

diligence. For me, the interface of 

the public sector and organized 

private sector at the back-end of 

the NESI value chain, meeting 

at the intersection of providing 

value and solving a problem 

which has for a long time affected 

all players along the chain, is a welcome 

development, and one that 

must be extolled. 

It is equally impressive the high 

level of transparency encouraged 

by the regulations. The necessity 

for a newspaper publication of the 

monthly metering service charge 

and detailed roll out plan evince a 

system that intends to provide close 

monitoring not just from NERC, 

but from everyday consumers. Additionally, 

the alienation of companies 

for the bid rounds who have 

in them any participatory interests 

from distribution licensees aids the 

process to be as open as possible. 

The clear distinction too, of the 

metering service charge from the 

energy charge and the ring-fencing 

of the payment of the metering service 

charge to a dedicated account 

from which payouts will be made 

to the MAPs is a step in the right 

direction. 

The requirements for MAPs to 

acquire insurance and the mandated 

securitization framework for 

distribution licensees are very laudable 

steps that will ensure the financial 

sustainability of the metering 

drive.It is a value-add too, that 

under the regulations, the rights 

and obligations of all players in the 

metering activity are outlined, with 

the end-user being assured in no 

mean terms that he has the right 

to be metered. Furthermore, the 

capping of unmetered customers 

after a defined period will serve 

as a motivation to accelerate the 

rolling out of meters. 

I am worried though, about certain 

provisions. First, while I have 

no bone of contention regarding 

the length of time as per the 120- 

day deadline given to the distribution 

licensees for procurement, my 

worry is that the ‘Nigerian Deadline’ 

factor that has affected every 

other thing from BVN to National 

Identity Card Registration, possibly 

to the VAID scheme, will arise 

here again, and defeat the essence 

of the provisions under the MAP 

regulations. Perennial excuses 

like technical glitches, counterparty 

failure and late funding are 

likely to arise at the point where 

the deadline looms and the law is 

to be enforced. The requirement 

for several permits where a Meter 

Asset Provider intends to provide 

its services to a string of distribution 

licensees is worrying too. To 

my mind, it would be an overly 

herculean process, and except 

the turnaround time for the process 

is fluid -which is an unduly 

high expectation considering the 

bureaucracy surrounding government 

exercises- then investors 

will also be discouraged by the 

repetition of the same process. It 

would have been preferred if all 

that was required was perhaps 

a No Objection authorization 

for the Meter Asset Provider to 

deal with another distribution 

licensee, or like upstamping, in 

property law parlance, the Meter 

Asset Provider could only have 

to obtain an ‘upstamping’ on 

their permit in order to deal with 

a different distribution licensee. 

With all said, the regulations 

have come a perfect time; a time 

when electricity consumers have 

started to ask questions, protest 

estimated billing and demand 

accountability from these privatized 

distribution companies. It is 

hoped that the regulations will 

birth a more efficient distribution 

regime, attract investors, and aid 

the troubling illiquidity in the 

industry. It is likewise the hope 

of the public that the regulations 

will live up to its firm and nononsense 

mandates for all the 

relevant actors and will continually 

demand the highest levels of 

performance, transparency and 

optimal delivery from the MAPs 

and distribution licensees. 


comment@businessdayonline.


COMMENT 

RAFIQ RAJI 

“Dr Raji is chief economist at Macroafricaintel. 

He was previously an 

Africa Economist at Standard Chartered 

Bank, London, UK. (Twitter: @ 

DrRafiqRaji)” 

The United States 

hasn’t had a trade 

surplus with China 

in 40 years. They 

must end unfair 

trade, take down barriers 

and charge only reciprocal 

tariffs. The US is losing $500 

billion a year, and has been 

losing billions of dollars for 

decades. Cannot continue!” 

This was American president 

Donald Trump venting about 

China in a recent tweet. At the 

ongoing Boao Forum for Asia 

(BFA) in Hainan, China, today 

(started on 8 April), Chinese 

president Xi Jinping would 

finally get an opportunity to 

make remarks in public about 

the trade spat between his 

country and the United States. 

His officials have been the 

ones responding to President 

Trump’s rhetoric since America 

fired the first salvo in February 

by announcing tariffs on 

aluminium and steel imports. 

Mr Trump escalated trade 

tensions further in March by 

C002D5556 

comment is free 

America cannot stop China’s advance 

announcing tariffs on goods 

more directly punitive to 

Chinese interests. (China is a 

fringe exporter of aluminium 

and steel to America.) The 

Asian nation has announced 

retaliatory tariff measures 

of its own. Even so, Mr Xi is 

likely to be conciliatory in 

expected remarks on the issue 

at the BFA on 10 April; that is, 

even as he would likely make 

sure to echo China’s capacity 

to beat Mr Trump at his own 

game. 

Already ahead 

America has also filed a 

complaint against China at 

the World Trade Organisation 

(WTO), claiming it has been 

stealing American companies’ 

intellectual property; 

on the back of its compulsory 

technology sharing policy for 

foreign companies operating 

on its soil which must enter 

into partnerships with local 

ones. As the slow-winding 

process of the WTO is 

not likely to the taste of the 

restless American president 

(“The WTO is unfair to U.S.” 

goes one recent tweet), the 

complaint is probably just a 

formality. Mr Trump wants 

results now. Of course, this 

is wishful thinking. Even if 

he were a magician, he would 

find conjuring up a trade 

surplus with China to be an 

arduous task indeed. In any 

case, China’s advance could 

hardly be stopped now. What 

…as Africa’s trade with 

America is quite meagre 

and is in fact declining, 

there is probably 

no cause for significant 

concern. Considering 

Mr Trump’s volatile nature, 

however, I suggest 

the continent’s leaders 

should not be complacent. 

its engineers and scientists do 

not already know is not likely 

known to any of their contemporaries 

in America or elsewhere 

either. America can only 

slow China’s advance a little bit 

by creating a few difficulties 

here and there. But such an 

approach could hurt America 

more than it does China over 

time. With China so integral 

to global supply chains, there 

are limits to the punitive trade 

and investment actions the 

Americans can undertake. Besides 

Mr Trump does not have 

the capacity to play the long 

game like his Chinese counterpart 

could. Unsurprisingly, 

Mr Trump has left the door of 

negotiations open; even as he 

maintains his stern anti-China 

rhetoric. 

China is currently well-posi- 

Send 800word comments to comment@businessdayonline.com 

tioned to be the leading innovator 

of the next century. With 

some clairvoyance, the Asian 

nation not only aggressively 

invested and built enviable 

capacity in new technologies 

like electric vehicles, solar 

power, robotics and so on, it 

has more or less locked in the 

primary resources that would 

be needed to power them. Mr 

Trump’s irritation is understandable. 

Still, it is probably 

too late for America or any 

other country to do anything 

about it. Most of the goods 

China produces and sells to 

the world, it is able to manufacture 

more cheaply. Those 

that it cannot do less dearly, 

its neighbours are taking up; 

with some bound for African 

countries like Ethiopia. And 

for the high-end manufactures 

it is now focused on, it 

is increasingly attaining cost 

leadership. And if Mr Trump’s 

protectionist measures make 

China jettison its hitherto 

feigned posture of obeying 

global trade rules, it is marketdriven 

economies like America’s 

that would probably suffer 

in the long run. Mr Trump is 

undeterred: “Trump Defiant 

as U.S. Adds Trade Penalties, 

Will End Barriers And Massive 

I.P. Theft.” 

Be alert 

Should African economies 

be worried about the Sino- 

American trade squabble? My 

views on this are published in 

BUSINESS DAY 

11 

the current April 2018 issue of 

Forbes Africa magazine (“Will 

Trump’s trade war hurt Africa?”). 

I argue that as Africa’s 

trade with America is quite 

meagre and is in fact declining, 

there is probably no cause 

for significant concern. Considering 

Mr Trump’s volatile 

nature, however, I suggest the 

continent’s leaders should not 

be complacent. Soon enough, 

after going to press, Mr Trump 

announced plans to suspend 

duty-free treatment of clothing 

from Rwanda under the African 

Growth and Opportunity 

Act (AGOA). The move was a 

potential retaliatory measure 

to Rwandan restrictions on 

American used apparel and 

footwear in the event that it 

did not reverse them 60 days 

from the date of the announcement 

in late March. Tanzania 

and Uganda were similarly 

warned for the same measures 

but were allowed their 

AGOA benefits after corrective 

actions. Still, the Rwandan 

example brings to light how 

even small economies might 

find themselves in Mr Trump’ 

firing line. 


comment@businessdayonline.com 

GBOYEGA ATOYEBI 

Gboyega Atoyebi, FCA, is a Financial 

Services Executive and an alumnus of 

Lagos Business School. He wrote via 

abayomiato@yahoo.co.uk 

As an avid student of 

history and a keen 

observer of the sociopolitical 

transmutations 

in my country Nigeria 

since 1983 being my personal 

socio-political awakening, 

I have been intrigued by so 

much change yet everything 

remains the same and some 

people will daresay worse. 

I remember in Technicolor 

December 31, 1983, the outburst 

of joy and jubilation 

that greeted the news of the 

ouster of a democratically ‘selected’ 

government midwifed 

by a certain General Olusegun 

Obasanjo (OBJ). The juntas’ 

action was justified by one 

Brigadier Sani Abacha with 

the opener “you are all witnesses 

to the great economic 

predicament and uncertainty 

which an inept and corrupt 

leadership has imposed on our 

nation in the last four years”. 

Thus a group of ill trained civil 

managers hijacked the country 

and plunged us into a worse 18 

months period of excruciating 

socio-economic tumult signposted 

by a foreign exchange 

conundrum, unprecedented 

inflation, general scarcity 

Who has beguiled us? 

and factory shutdowns. This 

general economic downturn 

combined with a physical 

and verbal assault on the citizens’ 

human dignity aka war 

against indiscipline resulted 

in buyer’s remorse and suddenly 

the Alhaji shehu Shagari 

led government was no more 

as distasteful. 

Enter August 1985 and yet 

another intervention justified 

in the coup speech opener 

thus “the intervention of the 

military at the end of 1983 

was welcomed by the nation 

with unprecedented enthusiasm. 

Nigerians were unified 

in accepting the intervention 

and looked forward hopefully 

to progressive changes 

for better. Almost two years 

later, it has become clear 

that the fulfillment of expectation 

is not forthcoming”. 

This ushered in a new ruler, 

General Ibrahim Babangida 

(IBB), another intervention 

by a small select ill equipped 

gang determining the destiny 

of the majority. This intervention 

was an extended period of 

experimentation and certainly 

lots of motion but little progress 

from SAP to MAMSER, 

political transition to election 

annulment and finally from a 

Federal Military Government 

to an Interim National Government. 

Due to the brevity and impotence 

of the Interim National 

Government, I fast forward to 

November 1993, where I see 

nothing but a power grab with 

no raison d’être or vision for 

the nation thus leaving the 

country in an impasse with a 

self acclaimed elected president 

in prison, a sitting president 

leading a pariah nation towards 

Armageddon, then suddenly 

another intervention (where 

from, I know not) and tea drinking 

and apple eating became 

suicide missions. 

Permit me to skip the bearded 

one and fast forward to 1976, 

apologies 1999 to re-introduce 

a born again general now democrat 

nay civilian President 

Olusegun Obasanjo. In my 

mind, another intervention 

masterminded by yet a few to 

ensure continued dominance 

of the many. This was a civil 

rule rather than a democratic 

government. This period was 

very symptomatic of Nigeria 

with flashes of individual brilliance 

but yet a collective lackluster. 

Subsequently bitten by 

hubris, he sought to elongate 

his stay, but was battled by his 

vice, Abubakar Atiku (AA) not 

for love of country but personal 

glory and in retaliation bedeviled 

the nation with a retiring 

sick former governor of a provincial 

state and a reluctant 

lucky governor as his vice. 

From assumption of office 

in 2007 to his death in 2009, 

Nigerians were subjected to a 

pseudo government of sorts in 

a captured presidency led by a 

very sick president and a weak 

vice. The President was either 

a prisoner or too sick to resign 

neither could the weak vice 

act until the doctrine of necessity 

was activated by ‘well 

meaning Nigerians’ as if the 

constitution did not suffice. 

Thus entered the shoeless but 

lucky one, President Goodluck 

Jonathan (GEJ) with a promise 

of transformation. His tenure 

was however stigmatized and 

very likely characterized by ineptitude 

and or corruption just 

like Shagari’s 30 years earlier. 

And with the same gusto albeit 

without force or guns but a media 

blitzkrieg and an unusual 

congregation of a few strange 

fellows, an unprecedented one 

party to another party democratic 

transition was effected 

in 2015. 

This heralded the triumphant 

enthronement of, wait 

for it President Muhammadu 

Buhari (PMB), not the son of 

General Muhammadu Buhari of 

1983 fame, just a tuxedo wearing 

born again general with the 

same promise of CHANGE! As it 

was in 1983-1985, so it has been 

so far; the government says it’s 

the mess they met, the previous 

government (aka opposition) 

says they are being victimized 

and tried via media and the 

people as usual are groaning. 

This brings me to here and 

now, the eve of another intervention, 

the threshold of a 

transition and the same coterie 

of voices (fill in any acronym 

alias here) that have beguiled 

us these 40 years oscillating 

between their anointed surrogates 

are shopping for a 

replacement. And that’s when 

I had the nightmarish thought 

that if General Sani Abacha 

was alive or General Ibrahim 

Babangida was strong enough, 

either could have been packaged 

for us as an alternative. 

But as it stands, we might be 

faced with a 1983 reincarnate 

in PMB or 1999/2003 sub incarnate 

in AA, either way, as it 

was for me in 2015, it may still 

be in 2019. Six and half dozen, 

same difference. 


comment@businessdayonline.com

12 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Tuesday 10 April 2018 

Editorial 

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Charles Anudu 

Tunji Adegbesan 

Eyo Ekpo 

State police: How desirable? 

On February 8 2018, 

at a security summit 

in Abuja, vice 

president Yemi 

Osinbajo appeared 

to endorse the creation 

of state police. 

“We cannot realistically police 

a country the size of Nigeria 

centrally from Abuja. State 

police and other community 

policing methods are clearly the 

way to go,” Osinbajo told participants 

at the two-day National 

Security Summit organised by 

the Senate. 

“For a country our size, 

meeting the one policeman to 

400 persons ratio prescribed 

by the UN would require us to 

triple our current police force, 

far more funding of the police 

force and far more funding of 

our military and other security 

agencies.” 

Then taking a cue from the 

vice president, the 36 state governors 

also threw their weight 

behind state police. Chairman 

of the Nigerian Governors 

Forum, Abdulaziz Yari, at a 

security summit organised by 

the Senate barely a week after 

the vice president spoke, said 

“We cannot realistically police 

a country the size of Nigeria 

centrally from Abuja. State 

police and other community 

policing methods are clearly the 

way to go.” 

He gave example with Zamfara 

state. “There are about 4 million 

people in Zamfara and we have 

fewer than 5000 policemen...We 

in governance agree that we can 

find a way through which we can 

fine tune the issue of state police.” 

But Yari wasn’t unaware of the 

problems associated with state 

police. How can state governors 

who are unable to pay workers 

salary take on the additional burden 

of setting up a state police? 

Yari has an answer. He explained 

that, “It is not all the states 

that are supposed to have the state 

police. Those that could should 

be able to have it” and those that 

can’t can continue with the present 

arrangement. 

“It is something we cannot take 

off at the same time. We were created 

differently.” 

Of course, we know for now 

only Lagos and a handful of other 

states could afford to maintain an 

effective police service. 

It also appears the authorities 

are coming to a realisation that 

the current police arrangement 

cannot adequately respond to the 

complex security situation in the 

country such as the Boko Haram, 

cattle rustlers, farmer-herders 

clashes, armed banditry, Niger 

Delta militancy and kidnappings. 

But even if states have the resources, 

the question remains: Is 

state police desirable in Nigeria? 

Although the constitution 

vests operational control of the 

police on the president, it still allows 

state governors to exercise 

authority and give directions 

with “respect to the maintenance 

and securing of public safety and 

public order within the state” 

to the commissioner of police. 

However, it circumscribed the 

powers of governors by adding in 

Section 215(4) of the constitution 

that “provided that before carrying 

out any such directions... the 

Commissioner of Police may request 

that the matter be referred 

to the president or such minister 

of the government of the federation 

as may be authorised in that 

behalf by the president for his 

directions.” 

While it is true that the powers 

of state governors to control 

or issue directives to the police 

have been severely curtailed, the 

creation of the Nigerian Police 

Council by the 1999 constitution 

was meant to ameliorate the loss 

and make control of the police a 

federal affair and not that of the 

president alone. 

The Constitution defined the 

powers to include: 

•Organisation and administration 

of the NPF and all other matters 

relating thereto (not being 

matters relating to the use and 

operational control of the force 

or the appointment, disciplinary 

control and dismissal of members 

of the force; 

•The general supervision of the 

Nigeria police force; and 

•Advising the president on the 

appointment of the IGP 

Curiously though, since its 

creation by the Constitution, 

there is no evidence that the Nigeria 

Police Council has ever met. 

Governors seem not to be aware 

or even interested in the NPC. It 

appears the overriding interest 

is in control and not efficiency of 

the police. 

We must realise the dangers 

of state police. In fact, it was the 

gross abuse of the local governments 

and regional police forces 

by the Nigerian political elite and 

ruling parties that necessitated 

the centralisation of the police in 

the first instance. Even the recent 

experiment with traditional vigilante/traditional 

police organisations 

such as the Bakkassi boys, 

OPC and others demonstrates the 

clear danger that the society faces 

if state policing is allowed. The 

fact that no state electoral commission, 

to date, has been able 

to conduct simple credible local 

government gives an indication of 

what goes on in the states. 

We recommend the comprehensive 

restructuring and repositioning 

of the police and the 

revival and strengthening of the 

Nigerian Police Council where all 

governors and the president can 

jointly exercise positive policy 

control over the police. 

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Tuesday 10 April 2018 BUSINESS DAY 13 

COMPANIES 

& MARKETS 

Company news analysis and insight 

AIICO Insurance 

disappointing performance 

could stir up a hornet’s nest 

Pg. 14 

May and Baker’s strategies begin 

to bear fruit as margins improve 

BALA AUGIE 

May and Baker 

Nigeria 

Plc’s efforts 

to harness 

the potential 

of recent investment 

and cost control mechanism 

has yielded fruit as the drug 

maker was able to turn each 

Naira invested in sales into 

higher profit. 

The company’s stellar 

performance in the period 

under review amid a tough 

and unpredictable macroeconomic 

environment 

validates its growth strategy. 

For the year ended December 

2017, May and 

Baker’s gross profit margin 

increased to 34.84 percent 

from 30 percent the previous 

year; thanks to improved efficiency 

and focus strategy. 

Cost of sales ratio declined 

to 64.91 percent in 

December 2017 from 70.0 

percent the previous year. 

This means the company 

has spent less to produce 

each unit of product. 

Earnings before interest 

and tax (EBIT) margins 

followed the same growth 

trajectory as it increased to 

12.83 percent in the period 

under review as against 9.69 

percent the previous year. 

A 12 percent profit indicates 

the drug maker earns 

12 kobo in profit for every 

Naira it collects. 

May and Baker’s implementation 

of many growth 

initiatives are paying off as 

investors continue to buy 

into its stock, signaling they 

are upbeat that the company’s 

aggressive expansion 

plans will magnify their 

earnings. 

The drug maker’s shares 

have gained 23.08 since the 

start of the year, outperforming 

the Nigerian Stock 

Exchange (NSE) All Share 

Index (ASI) of 6.79 percent. 

Last year, the Federal 

Ministry of Health signed 

a Memorandum of Understanding 

(MOU) with May 

and Baker for the production 

of vaccines under the Public 

Private Partnership by 2019. 

The ministry stated that 

the country would need 

$738 million for vaccines in 

2014, 2017 and 2018. 

Analysts say they expects 

investors to swoop on the 

drug maker’s stocks given 

an array of projects in the 

pipe line that are expected 

to trickle down to the bottom 

line (profit). They added that 

they expect further margin 

expansion by the time these 

copious investments crystallize. 

Despite the tough and 

unpredictable macroeconomic, 

May and Baker 

posted a profit after tax of 

N370.86 million in December 

2017 as against a loss 

N41.09 million it posted the 

previous year. 

Sales increased by 10.05 

percent to N9.35 billion in 

the period under review 

while gross profit spiked by 

29.24 percent to N3.27 billion 

in December 2017 from 

N2.53 billion as at December 

2016. 

The year 2016 was horrendous 

for May and Baker 

and other drug makers in 

the country as a severe dollar 

scarcity brought on by lower 

oil price hindered them from 

importing raw materials to 

meet production. 

In short the country 

slipped into its first recession 

in 25 years that same 

year as drugs on the shelves 

of pharmaceutical stores 

shrank. 

However, the introduction 

of the new foreign 

exchange window by the 

central bank in mid 2017 

coupled with the rebound in 

crude oil price and production 

saw the country exist a 

recession. 

The gross domestic product 

of Africa’s largest oil 

producer expanded for three 

straight quarters last year after 

a 1.6 percent contraction 

in 2016, with year-on-year 

growth reaching 1.9 percent 

in the final three months of 

2017. 

The above gradual economic 

recovery means May 

and Baker’s future profit will 

get a boost as the availability 

of dollars will enhance its 

ability to import plants and 

raw materials. 

Shareholders and investors 

should expects a higher 

returns on their investment 

as the inauguration of the 

board of Biovaccines Nigeria 

Limited, (a subsidiary of the 

company), has raised the 

prospects that the subsidiary 

will soon begin to impact 

positively on the group performance. 

The company’s worldclass 

manufacturing facility 

in Ota, Ogun State, is fast 

growing into a hub of pharmaceutical 

manufacturing 

in West Africa; the imminent 

commencement of 

operations by Biovacccines 

Nigeria Limited will open up 

a new vast vista of growth for 

the group. 

The board of directors 

of the company has recommended 

distribution of N196 

million as cash dividend 

for the 2017 business year, 

representing a dividend per 

share of 20 kobo. 

2018 TAMS summit to reward productivity amongst Nigerian workforce 

FRANK UZUEGBUNAM 

ria Work: The Imperative of 

Youth Engagement and Empowerment 

in Corporate and 

Public Workplaces.” 

“We chose the theme, 

‘Making Nigeria Work: The 

Imperative of Youth Engagement 

and Empowerment 

in Corporate and Public 

Workplaces’” because of the 

critical role the bulging youth 

demography plays in the 

economic growth of Nigeria. 

So, we felt that by motivating 

them to work harder, 

dream bigger and go further 

in their careers, we will be 

setting the tone for the future 

of our country,” said Afolabi 

Abiodun, the convener of the 

summit and chief architect of 

the TAMS workforce management 

solution. 

The TAMS Productivity 

Summit started in 2016 as a 

platform for national discourse 

about issues and factors 

that enhance workplace 

and national productivity. The 

Summit examines the interrelationship 

of elements such as 

time management, employee 

performance and workforce 

productivity vis-a-vis their impact 

on operational efficiency, 

resource optimisation and 

service delivery in all sectors 

of the economy. 

In addition to aiding organizations 

to digitally monitor 

employee’s timeliness and 

optimise Human Resource 

The 2018 edition of 

the foremost Time 

Management and 

Productivity Summit 

in Nigeria organised by 

IT powerhouse, SB Telecoms, 

will hold on May 17, 2018 at 

the Agip Recital Hall of the 

MUSON Centre, Onikan, 

Lagos. The focus this year is 

on youth engagement and 

empowerment in corporate 

and public workplaces a priority 

as a catalyst for national 

growth. 

The theme of the TAMS 

Summit 2018 is succinctly 

captured: “Making Nigemanagement, 

the TAMS 

Summit also celebrates exemplary 

employees in Nigeria 

who have consistently 

exhibited top performance 

markers in term of productivity 

and time management, 

as measured by the TAMS 

Solutions Software. 

Now in its third year of 

driving the conversation for 

workplace and national productivity, 

TAMS Summit 2018 

will be conferring the prestigious 

TAMS Ambassador recognition 

on top 50 employees 

out of about 50,000 in over 

1200 organisations in Nigeria. 

While discussing the rationale 

for such a large number 

of awardees, Abiodun 

enthused: “Our dream of a 

Great Nigeria is achievable 

when we all invest in human 

capital development by creating 

a team of change agents. 

The TAMS Ambassadors are 

imbued with the change culture 

where they influence 

their immediate workplace 

and the larger community to 

achieve a Nigeria that truly 

represents our heritage and 

our future.” 

Speaking to these issues 

are experts and social influencers, 

including Ndidi 

Nwuneli of LEAP Africa, Andrew 

Gbodume of MRS Oil, 

Emily Liggett of Stanford 

University, Fola Tinubu of 

Primero, Andrew Hanlon of 

TVC, and a host of others. 

At the centre of this spectacle 

is the revolutionary 

Time and Access Management 

Software (TAMS), an 

easy to use workforce management 

tool for SMEs and 

large corporations alike, 

with functions such as remittance, 

appraisal, shift, 

leave and payroll management 

at the fingertip. 

Abiodun said “TAMS has 

made a positive impact to our 

client organisations and business 

owners who have seen a 

significant rise in employee 

punctuality and productivity. 

When we set out to develop a 

homegrown human resource 

management solution.”

14 

BUSINESS DAY 

COMPANIES & MARKETS 

C002D5556 


AIICO Insurance disappointing 

performance could stir hornet’s nest 

BALA AUGIE 

AIICO Insurance 

Nigeria Plc’s recurring 

disappointing 

performance 

in the past 

few quarters due to its inability 

to grow premium income 

and curtail costs could stir up 

a hornet’s nest among shareholders 

and investors. 

The Nigerian insurer has 

been grappling with deteriorating 

underwriting performance 

as spiraling combined 

ratios (CR) are increasingly 

eroding profit margins. 

Also, the insurer has failed 

to utilize the resources of its 

owners in generating higher 

profit while each Naira invested 

in revenue is yet to 

bolster profit. 

Analysts say such recurring 

underperformances calls 

for urgent strategies such as 

the introduction of market 

penetrating products, employment 

of skilled workforce, 

and adoption of latest technologies 

to trim costs. 

Perhaps more worrisome 

is that AIICO Insurance’ total 

operating expense (sum 

of total underwriting and 

management expenses as a 

percentage of net premium 

income) is 1.81 times net 

premium income. 

In the common law of 

torts, res ipsa loquitur is a 

Latin word that connotes “let 

the thing speak for itself” but 

in this case the numbers will 

validate the first five paragraphs. 


2017, AIICO Insurance 

recorded an underwriting 

loss of N4.02 billion from an 

underwriting profit of N12.44 

billion the previous year. 

Receding premium income 

and rising claims expenses 

are responsible suppressed 

margins. 

Total claims expenses 

spiked by 58.87 percent to 

N20.77 billion in December 

2017 from N13.09 billion as at 

December 2016. 

Claims ratio otherwise 

known as loss ratio surged 

to 118.95 percent in the period 

under review from 48.57 

percent for the year ended 


A loss ratio of 119 percent, 

therefore, means AIICO Insurance 

is in poor financial 

health and not profitable because 

it is paying more claims 

than it receives in revenue. 

Expectedly, combined 

ratios (CR) climbed to 135.65 

percent in the period under 

review from 60.58 percent the 


The combined ratio after 

policyholder dividends ratio,” 

is a measure of profitability 

used by an insurance company 

to gauge how well it is 

performing in its daily operations. 

The combined ratio is calculated 

by taking the sum of 

incurred losses and expenses 

and then dividing them. 

A ratio below 100 percent 

indicates that the company is 

making underwriting profit, 

while a ratio above 100 percent 

means that it is paying 

out more money in claims 

that it is receiving from premiums 

Investors and shareholders 

will be bemused that a firm 

with the largest written premium 

among insurer quoted 

on the floor of the bourse is unable 

to use deploy its resources 

in generating higher profit. 

However, AIICO Insurance 

could lose that top spot when 

other firms start releasing 

financial statement on the 

website of the NSE. 

The tough and unpredictable 

macroeconomic 

environment and inability to 

lunch new market penetrating 

products undermined the 

insurer’s revenue. 

Gross premium income 

spiked by 29.02 percent to 

N21.29 billion in December 

2017 as against N30.02 billion 

as at December 2016. 

Net premium incomes 

were down 34.40 percent to 

N17.50 billion in the period 

under review as against N26.68 

billion as at December 2016. 

AIICO Insurance’s net 

income slumped by 87.48 

percent to N1.28 billion in 

December 2017 from N10.23 

billion in the period under 

review. 

The Nigerian insurer’s net 

margin fell to 7.38 percent in 

the period under review from 

38.41 percent as at December 

2016; raising concerns about 

its ability add value to shareholders’ 

wealth. 

AIICO Insurance has failed 

to utilize the resources of its 

owner in generating higher 

profit as return on equity 

(ROE) fell to 11.69 percent in 

December 2017 from 123.26 

percent the previous. 

Law Union and Rock Insurance 

posts 67% profit in 2017 

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU 

The Board of Directors 

of Law Union 

and Rock Insurance 

Plc have recommended 

a 4Kobo per share 

dividend for approval by its 

shareholders at its next annual 

general meeting. 

This is contained in the 

Company’s audited financial 

statements for the year 

ended December 31, 2017 

which was approved by the 

National Insurance Commission 

on March 29, 2018 

LUR posted a Profit Before 

Tax of N1.099billion, 

representing a 66.80 percent 

growth from the PBT 

recorded in 2016 performance. 

Also, its profit after 

tax jumped by 62 percent to 

N910million from N561million 

recorded in 2016 financial 

year. The growth in the 

bottom line was mainly driven 

by its investment income, 

signposting the company’s 

improved liquidity. 

The Gross Premium Written 

stood at N4.252billion 

representing an 8 percent 

modest improvement from 

N3.936billion recorded in 

2016. The Company’s total 

assets also posted 16.90 

percent growth as it stood 

at N10.031billion from 

N8.58billion reported in 2016 

financial year. Also, the Shareholders 

funds grew by 28.60 

percent from N5.03billion to 

N6.47bilion. 

Within the same period, 

its earning per share rose by 

31 percent to 21Kobo from 

16Kobo reported in 2016. 

In demonstration of its 

commitment to reward its human 

capital for its invaluable 

contribution to the company’s 

performance, the Board 

has set aside 7.50 percent 

of the 2017 Profit After Tax 

as profit sharing pool for all 

members of its staff. 

With a dividend yield of 

5.48 percent at current market 

price, LUR is positioned 

within the group of good dividend-yield 

stocks such as Custodian 

and Allied Insurance, 

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and 

Zenith Bank Plc within the 

financial services sector. This 

is coupled with its sustained 

high standard of corporate 

and ethical governance. 

The Company has consistently 

posted improved incremental 

growth within the last 

three financial years, with the 

2017 performance recording 

the highest improvement. 

This is in spite of the turbulent 

economic climate over 

the periods. 

‘Nigeria still Africa’s biggest market’ 

Transsion Holdings, 

giant mobile phone 

(Tecno Mobile), has 

described Nigeria as 

still the biggest market in Africa 

in spite of some challenges. 

Andy Yan, Vice President, 

Transsion Holdings, parent 

company of Tecno Mobile, 

made the assertion in Lagos at 

Tecno’s Global Spring Launch. 

The News Agency of Nigeria 

(NAN) reports that Tecno 

unveiled Camon X Pro smartphone 

at the event held at the 

Andy Yan, vice president, 

Transsion Holdings 

Eko Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos. 

Yan said that Nigeria had 

provided a huge market for the 

organisation in spite of challenges 

of fluctuating foreign 

exchange. 

The official said that the 

company had contributed to 

the growth of Nigeria’s economy 

through job creation. 

According to him, Tecno 

has also impacted on Nigeria 

through its corporate social 

responsibility. 

Yan called for consistent 

policies to encourage investment 

in Nigeria, saying that 

unstable business environment 

discouraged investment. 

Yan said: “Investors, most 

importantly, must have a stable 

environment and policies to do 

businesses. 

“Where there is no continuity 

as regards policies and business 

relationship, businesses 

will be affected. 

“We are trying to keep very 

healthy relations, discussing 

the possibilities and opportunities 

to impact on the society,” 

he said. 

He said that fluctuating foreign 

exchange been a problem 

to businesses. 

Yan said that the company 

regularly carried out a study 

of the Africa business environment 

before manufacturing 

more products. 

“This has kept the company 

going in spite of challenges.” 

According to him, the Tecno 

Camon X Pro smartphone has 

unique security features such 

as Face ID. 

Yan said that the Face ID 

could be used to unlock the 

phone when lighting up the 

screen by grasping the face 

formation. 

He said that the face formation 

had 50ms recognition rate 

and was more functional than 

the fingerprint identification 

feature. 

“At Transsions, we do not 

adopt a one-size-fits-all approach 

in developing our products,” 

he said.

Tuesday 10 April 2018 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 15 


Ingenious AXA Mansard Insurance 

earns N2.01bn from Treasury bills 

Business Event 

BALA AUGIE 

Interest income from 

short term government 

securities has 

lifted AXA Mansard 

Insurance Plc’s full 

year profit as the insurer 

continues to intensify its 

investment strategy with a 

view of increasing share of 

the market. 


2017, the Nigerian 

net income increased by 


as against N2.63 billion as at 


The slight growth at the 

bottom line (profit) was 

driven by a N2.01 billion 

interest income from short 

term government securities 

that make up 39.33 percent 

of investment income. 

In short, investment income 

increased by 37.86 

percent in the period under 

review, which make up for a 

drop in underwriting profit 

as the insurer continues to 

grapple with rising claims 

and underwriting expenses. 

Deposit Money Banks 

(DMO) and some insurance 

firms in Africa’s most populous 

nation made money 

from fixed income on short 

term government securities 

when yields were attractive 

in 2017. 

High yields on Net Treasury 

Bills (NTBs) issued 

in 2017 (around 13-14 per 

cent on 90-day bills) had attracted 

investors and helped 

to support the naira. 

Yields on 30 days, 60 days 

and 365 days short-term 

paper stood at 14.70 percent, 

15.30 percent, and 15.80 percent 

on Friday, according to 

data from FMDQ Website. 

However, Nigerian banks 

may find it more difficult to 

sustain their profitability 

this year, given the decline 

in net treasury bill issuance 

by the federal government 

this year. 

This mean could the end 

of free money for AXA Mansard 

and other registrars that 

had made money from short 

term government securities. 

“We expect falling treasury 

bill yields and lower 

issuance to put pressure on 

Nigerian banks’ profitability 

in 2018,” said Flitch. 

Further analysis of AXA 

Mansard’s financial statement 

shows underwriting 

profit declined by 14 percent 

to N2.58 billion in December 

2017 from N3 billion the 


The Nigerian insurer’s 

claims expenses surged by 


in the period under review 

as against N9.36 billion 


Claims ratios moved to 

53.39 percent in the period 

under review from 67.27 percent 


AXA Mansard’s gross 

written premium increased 

by 29.50 percent to N26.82 

billion in December 2017 

from N20.71 billion as at 


Net premium income 

followed the same growth 

trajectory as it increased 

by 25.95 percent to N13.78 

billion in the period under 

review from N10.95 billion 


AXA Mansard has a solvency 

ratio of 147.08 percent 

in the period under review. 

In other-words, the insurer 

can meet claims payment 

and other obligation. 

AXA Mansard Insurance 

Plc has agreed with IFC, 

Africa Capital Alliance (a 

Private Equity fund) and 

other strategic investors to 

finance the construction of 

a 150-bed hospital and two 

10-bed clinics in Lagos. 

Upon completion, the 

Project will be one of the 

largest and best resourced 

private hospitals in Nigeria 

and will provide a variety 

of inpatient and outpatient 

healthcare services. The 

project is estimated to cost 

circa N28 billion and would 

be funded through an equal 

mix of equity and debt. 

L-R: Yinka Adelekan, executive director, Agusto & Co; Tunji Kazeem, chief risk officer, NSE, 

representing Oscar Onyema, chief executive officer, Nigerian Stock; Vivien Shobo, managing 

director, Agusto & Co; Isaac Babatunde, executive director, Agusto & Co; Rita Emoefe, associate 

director, Agusto & Co, at the Nigerian Stock Exchange closing ceremony by the Agusto & Co 

team in Lagos. 

Ituah Ighodalo, senior pastor, Trinity House (l); Mike Okonkwo, presiding bishop, TREM (r), presenting 

an award to Teresa Ebuzaju Chukuma (m), she being honored for her immensed contribution to 

education in Ngeria, at the Word and Power conference with the theme “ Enter into a New season” 

in Lagos. 


L-R: Emmanuel Eze, executive director, /chief technology officer, System Specs Limited; Ladi 

Ogunneye, past president, NCS Computer Society, and James Emadoye, president, ISPON at 

the 2018 president’s dinner with theme, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, a golden opportunity 

for Nigeria in Lagos. 

Trump mulls $100bn more tariffs on China goods 

President Donald 

Trump said on Thursday 

he had instructed 

U.S. trade officials to 

consider $100 billion in additional 

tariffs on China, again 

ratcheting up tensions with 

Beijing. 

Trump said in a statement 

the further tariffs were 

being considered “in light of 

China’s unfair retaliation” 

against earlier U.S. trade 

actions that included $50 

billion of tariffs on Chinese 

goods. 

In a statement, Trump said 

the U.S. Trade Representative 

had determined that China 

“has repeatedly engaged in 

practices to unfairly obtain 

America’s intellectual property.” 

Financial markets have 

swung wildly over the past few 

days in response to fears of 

escalating trade tensions between 

the world’s two biggest 

economies. 

U.S. stock index futures fell 

in reaction to Trump’s latest 

statement. 

Before the latest announcement, 

U.S. lawmakers had reacted 

with mounting concern 

on Thursday over the threat 

to the American agricultural 

sector from the trade confrontation 

with China. 

L-R: Abdulazeez Ismail, area sales manager; Samuel Akinwoye, regional medical detailing 

manager; Ololade Jesufemi, junior brand manager, Three Crowns Milk; Omolara Banjoko, senior 

brand manager, Three Crowns Milk; Abdulfatah Adebayo, regional sales manager, and Ehis 

Emokhare, media manager, all of FrieslandCampina Wamco, during the Three Crowns Fitness 

Challenge, Ibadan Marathon in Ibadan.

16 

BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 



C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

17 

Nigeria’s advertising community tasked to 

refocus campaigns from sales to social good 

Stories by Daniel Obi 

Media Business Editor 

The need for Nigeria’s 

advertising community 

to refocus their adverts 

from over-concentration 

on consumption 

and sales to society good and society 

enhancement has been underlined 

by speakers at Noah’s Ark 

lecture marking the firm’s 10 years 

in business. 

Over time, companies and 

agencies have been entangled in 

telling stories about their products, 

most of the messages targeted to- 

wards consumption and sales for 

more market share and profit, but 

the speakers challenged them to 

create a paradigm shift towards 

doing social good and enhancing 

communities 

The speakers who included 

Thomas Kolster, a consultant from 

Denmark; Lanre Adisa, CEO of 

Noah’s Ark; Ikechukwu Obianya of 

School of Media and Communication 

of Pan Atlantic University; 

Kelechi Nwosu of TBWA and Ahmad 

Mohles, Airtel’s Chief Commercial 

Officer, believe that when 

brands develop, educate and do 

good for people and the planet 

it would definitely rub off on the 

brands. 

Leading the discussion on 

‘goodvertising’, Thomas Kolster 

said when brands educate people 

on issues such as climate change 

and address social challenges, 

jobs, health issues, sustainability 

and make other impact in the society, 

they stand to benefit from 

such social impact as consumption 

and sales which is the primary 

focus now cannot continue to 

thrive in a chaotic and disordered 

society. 

Business is beyond just profit. 

Business is not only about consumption 

anymore. There are 

more ways of looking at business, 

L-R: Kelechi Nwosu, managing director, IBWA Concept; Ikechukwu Obiaya, dean, school of media and communication, 

Pan-Atlantic University; Lanre Adisa, managing director, Noak’s Ark Communication; Ahmad Mokhles, chief commercial 

officers, Airtel Nigeria, and Thomas kolster, keynote speaker, during the 10th year anniversary of Noak’s Ark Communications 

in Lagos. 


Thomas told the audience and 

challenged media and creative 

agencies to push the clients on 

ways of building the community 

as a new way of business. 

Tasking agencies and advertising 

companies to think of legacy 

and avoid short termism in their 

operations, Thomas who is described 

as sustainability expert 

reminded them that when government 

is failing, brands should take 

up social challenge of educating 

and doing social good. 

In his comment, Mokhles 

believes that pressure for profitability 

may be driving firms to 

overlook their social purpose. He 

said while companies are looking 

for profit they should understand 

the relevance of consumer behaviour. 

With this understanding, 

they should create impact and relevance. 

Also commenting, Ikechukwu 

Obianya said the brand values 

should be in tandem with consumers. 

He also tasked organisations 

to redefine themselves to 

understand their purpose. 

Lanre Adisa said goodvertising 

is a wakeup call. He said agencies 

and clients are doing well in telling 

stories of their brands but beyond 

that, they should identify their society 

goals. 

He said the world today cannot 

live without brands and 

this confers some power and 

responsibility on the brand 

owners and agencies to use 

this power to enrich the lives 

of people beyond just worrying 

about the bottom line. 

He agreed that the advertising 

industry definitely needs to 

rethink its business models. “We 

need to open our minds to unlearning 

some old things”, he said. 

Chain Reactions restructures, 

appoints Olugbenga Ojo as COO 

Chain Reactions Nigeria, 

one of Nigeria’s foremost 

public relations/reputation 

management and integrated 

communications consulting 

firms and the Nigeria’s affiliate of 

Edelman, one of the world’s largest 

marketing communications firms, 

has appointed Olugbenga Joseph 

Ojo, as its Group Business Director/ 

Chief Operating Officer. 

A multi-disciplinary professional 

with more than two decades of work 

experience, Ojo has served in many 

strategic positions across multisectors 

where he played key roles 

in business growth and turnaround, 

operational efficiency and marketing 

amongst others. 

Olugbenga Joseph Ojo 

Prior to joining Chain Reactions, 

he was the Chief Executive Officer, 

Poise International where he made 

tremendous contribution to the 

firm’s quantum success. He was also 

at various times the General Manager/HBO, 

Interprods–WA Ltd; Group 

Marketing Manager, Global Plus 

Group; Group Marketing Manager, 

Robert Johnson Holdings Limited; 

National Sales Manager, Isatong 

Computer Engineers, and Group 

Marketing Manager, Interworld 

Management & Services Limited 

amongst others. 

Announcing Ojo’s appointment, 

Managing Director/Chief Strategist, 

Chain Reactions Nigeria, Israel 

Jaiye Opayemi, in a statement welcomed 

the new GBD/COO onboard 

and said his appointment was well 

deserved having emerged the best 

amongst tens of candidates that 

pitched for the role. 

OYSAA advises politicians to respect 

guidelines on posters for campaigns 

As politicians gradually jostle 

for the 2019 elections, 

Oyo State Signage and 

Advertisement Agency, 

OYSAA has advised politicians in 

the state to ensure adherence to 

guidelines on use of billboards and 

posters for their campaigns. 

Stating this recently in Ibadan, 

Special Adviser/Director-General, 

OYSAA, ‘Yinka Adepoju said the 

guidelines compelled politicians to 

seek approval and pay for whatever 

structures they intend to use during 

their electioneering campaigns as 

failure to do so will attract appropriate 

sanctions. 

The Agency, he said has equally 

observed with dismay the indiscriminate 

way posters and banners 

are being deployed on fence 

walls, highway-roundabouts, public 

buildings, monuments and city 

landmarks. 

He said the Agency can no 

longer tolerate this absurdity and 

urged those involved to stop forthwith 

as violators will henceforth 

be severely dealt with. “A strong 

appeal is here being made to those 

concerned to contact the Agency 

before posters and deployment of 

banners are effected as failure to 

do this will attract penalties” 

The governor’s adviser also gave 

debtors to the agency two weeks, 

which expires this week to settle 

all outstanding payments failing 

which the defaulters’ structures 

shall be removed and confiscated. 

OYSAA is the Government 

Agency established by Law to 

regulate, control and administer 

the business of outdoor advertisement 

across Oyo State. 

MultiChoice hosts DStv Eutelsat Star Awards in Kampala 

Government dignitaries, 

the academic community, 

scientific world and 

students will convene on 

Kampala, Uganda this week when 

MultiChoice Africa and its partner, 

Eutelsat, host the 7th edition of the 

DStv Eutelsat Star Awards to announce 

continental winners. 

Uganda, popularly called the 

“Pearl of Africa”, has produced the 

most winners since the competition 

began and it’s hoping to achieve a 

similar feat by dominating the competition 

on home soil. 

MultiChoice and Eutelsat have 

once collaborated with European 

Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Paolo 

Nespoli to lead the continental 

awards assessment process, which 

will take place in Kampala on 11 

April. Nespoli has an illustrious career 

spanning stints at the European 

Astronaut Centre (ESA/EAC) and 

NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in 

Houston before being selected as an 

astronaut by the Italian Space Agency 

to fly as an ESA astronaut. 

In 2017, for his third mission in 

space, named Vita, Nespoli spent 

139 days on the International Space 

Station (ISS) during which he completed 

more than 60 experiments. 

Before that, he crewed on the 2007 

Discovery shuttle mission and spent 

over five months in space in 2011 

aboard the ISS, where he was responsible 

for a range of science and 

technology experiments and educational 

activities. 

Nespoli will be assisted by a panel 

of industry experts that consisting 

ofFunso Falade, Dean, Faculty 

of Engineering, University of Lagos; 

Michael Niyitegeka, Country Manager, 

ICDL Africa; Patrice Paquot, 

Deputy Regional Vice-President for 

Sub-Saharan Africa, Eutelsat; as well 

as Patricia Kichoncho, Operations 

Manager, MultiChoice Uganda.



C002D5556 

BRANDING 

Activating your brand within the African market 

Sibusiso Ndhlovu 

The African market, 

a segment 

that accounts for 

38% of South Africa’s 

workforce, 

and was once known to be 

home to the lowest income 

population of this country. 

Facing challenges such as 

unemployment (the largest 

percentage of unemployed 

people are found within this 

segment), slow infrastructure 

growth and poor service 

delivery. 

But it’s not all doom and 

gloom. A recent increase 

in the number of educated 

individuals within the segment 

has given rise to a flowing 

black middle class that 

consists of corporate professionals 

and entrepreneurs. 

Flowing middle class because 

they tend to move out 

once they have made enough 

money but are always replaced 

with the next generation 

thus creating a flow. This 

has brought about a steady 

growth in infrastructures such 

as township-based malls and 

shopping plazas, as well as an 

increase in government built 

and private homes. 

The lack of knowledge 

within this unique market 

has led to a disconnect 

between brands and the 

segment consumers. Let’s 

explore ways in which the 

gap between brands and 

the township segment can 

be closed. 

How do you market to Africa’s 

extremely aspirational 

middle class that is more 

than 100 million strong, with 

a combined monthly spending 

power of R1.3 trillion? 

Township consumers 

are known to be mobile. So, 

you will have to actively find 

them in order for engagement 

to start, the best places 

to target them would be the 

following: 

Shopping centers and 

malls 

The increase in township 

infrastructure has given 

birth to a large number of 

malls and shopping plazas, 

which are located within the 

township. This gives brands 

the opportunity to directly 

engage with consumers 

through brand promotions 

and activations. 

Taxi ranks 

Although a number of 

township consumers do 

own their own personal 

vehicles public transport 

still ranks as the primary 

The days of printing out 

pamphlets and using that 

as a marketing strategy are 

dead. Consumers are spending 

more time online either 

surfing the web or on social 

media, the township market 

is not exempt to this. With 

an increase in smartphones 

and easier access to the 

internet (free Wi-Fi found 

near some libraries, clinics, 

and schools).It would be 

very advantages for brands 

to focus on building digital 

relationships with this segment 

this could easily be 

done through social media. 

Now that we have discussed 

the best ways to 

reach your audience we 

will discuss the four ways 

one can engage with the 

segment. 

These four factors contribute 

to an increase in 

engagement amongst this 

segment: 

Product trial: Product 

or service demonstrations 

allow for an increase in 

positive word of mouth and 

increase product/service 

knowledge amongst those 

present. Positive word of 

mouth is the most powerful 

tool for purchasing decision 

amongst this segment. 

Brand specials: Offermode 

of transport amongst 

the township population. 

It’s not rare to find at least 

two major taxi ranks within 

one township. Brands 

could invest in billboards 

or adverts that are found on 

screen monitors in the taxi 

rank to increase their brand 

exposure. 

Sporting events 

It’s no secret that sports 

are a favoured past time 

amongst the township population. 

Soccer and netball 

are two of the biggest 

sports played, with weekend 

matches being organised 

and monthly tournaments 

which bring a huge number 

of participants as well 

as spectators. These events 

give brands the opportunity 

to increase their exposure by 

sponsoring tournaments. 

Social gatherings 

From taverns to dance 

clubs to monthly social 

events, there is never a 

dull or uneventful moment 

within the township. 

Brands could create their 

own unique promotions to 

target this audience either 

by using activations or by 

sponsoring a social event 

themselves. 

Online 

ing unique package deals 

such as loyalty cards and 

2 for 1 specials as well as 

discount pricing leads to an 

increase in the possibility of 

purchase. 

Social media: This segment 

is one of the fastest 

growing segments on social 

media the use of Facebook 

and Twitter serves as 

a platform for direct engagement 

and could increase the 

brand’s exposure. 

Target by region: Divide 

the segment by region and 

learn how to effectively 

communicate with each 

region. Because the African 

market is so complex something 

that worked in Soweto 

may not have the same effect 

in Mamelodi. It’s wise to 

research the different types 

of languages and cultures 

each region has in order to 

maximise engagement. 

This market has proven to 

be unique and ever-changing 

and as such brands 

need to keep themselves 

informed if they wish to 

effectively engage with this 

segment. Culled from Bizcommunity 

Sibusiso Ndhlovu is a 

brand strategist and owner 

of Arctic Moon, a brand development 

agency. 

Concept Nova unveils solution to 

boost fleet management in Nigeria 

Nigeria’s innovative 

information 

technology company, 

Concept 

Nova has launched a new 

solution that will boost fleet 

management in Nigeria. 

The innovative solution 

known as the FleeTrak Fleet 

Management Application, 

can optimally and efficiently 

manage 5-5000 fleet of vehicles. 

It provides total transparency 

of fleet, providing 

visibility into maintenance, 

vendor management, documentation, 

and fuel consumption 

as well as the 

lifespan efficiency of vehicle 

parts, alongside, other significant 

fleet management 

features. 

Speaking on the FleeTrak 

FMA, the Managing Director 

of Concept Nova, 

Chukwuma Ochonogor said 

in a statement: “The challenge 

of successful Management 

of fleet has been a task 

that has resulted to loss of 

revenue for most organisations, 

as this has been characterised 

with insincerity, 

theft, and mismanagement. 

The FleeTrak FMA has been 

designed to resolve all these 

issues and help organisations 

reduce cost while getting 

the optimum use of 

their fleet.” 

He added: “FleeTrak 

FMA has unique industry-winning 

features that 

set a standard for fleet 

management solutions. 

It is intuitively packed 

with modules that put 

you miles ahead of your 

competition. It was created 

not only to account 

for expenditure on fleet 

but also reduce the cost 

of managing your fleet. 

Concept Nova’s FleeTrak 

FMA has been modelled to 

meet all your fleet’s needs 

and effectively enhance its 

performance.” 

According to Ochonogor, 

the introduction of FleeTrak 

FMA in Nigeria became 

imperative after research 

showed that 95% of fleet 

managers acknowledged 

that a fleet management 

application would increase 

functionality, productivity 

and smart decision making 

about their fleet. 

“Lack of proper and easily 

accessible records can 

deter good decision making, 

efficiency, and increased 

profit. Fleet management 

has become a necessary and 

unavoidable expenditure for 

organisations, yet skyrocketing 

expenditures on fleet do 

not assure fleet longevity,” 

he said. 

For over two decades, 

Concept Nova has remained 

at the forefront of fleet management 

technology in Nigeria, 

providing innovative 

solution for B2B and B2C 

companies. 

Some of its solutions that 

has pioneered in Nigeria 

include the fuel monitoring 

solution and tracker solutions. 

FleeTrak FMA is designed 

to be user friendly to 

address most fleet management 

challenges. 

Marketing: British Airways 

expands African network 

British Airways’ has 

expanded its African 

network by 

starting a twiceweekly 

service to the Seychelles. 

The inaugural flight 

touched down at Mahé 

International Airport on 

Sunday 25 March and the 

schedule will see flights 

departing Heathrow’s Terminal 

5 on Wednesdays 

and Saturdays, returning 

on Thursdays and Sundays. 

British Airways is the only 

airline offering a non-stop 

service from the UK, a statement 

said. 

The service is yearround 

and is operated by 

the airline’s newest aircraft, 

the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. 

There is a choice of 

four cabins: World Traveller 

(economy), World 

Traveller Plus (premium 

economy), Club World 

(business class) and an 

eight-suite First cabin. 

Coca-Cola unveils winners of 2018 

‘Score a Trip to Russia’ campaign 

Coca-Cola Company, 

the foremost 

global beverage 

company has unveiled 

the first set of winners 

in the “Score a Trip 

to Russia’ campaign. The 

campaign which is currently 

running allows the 

consumers have access to 

weekly draws that qualify 

them to an all-expense paid 

trip to go and experience the 

World Cup matches live in 

Russia 2018. 

The Coca-Cola “Score 

a Trip to Russia” promo 

intends to reward 22 lucky 

winners in Nigeria simply 

by buying a bottle of Coca- 

Cola, getting the code under 

the crown and texting the 

code to 5453; then following 

the SMS responses for 

a chance to be a winner of 

an all-expense journey to 

go see the games at Russia. 

This first stage reveals the 3 

lucky winners that will be in 

Russia 2018 in June.


19 

BUSINESS DAY 

Energy Report 

C002D5556 

Oil & Gas Power Renewables Environment 

NPSC to embark on integrity audit of 5000km oil pipeline network 

…as NNPC claims its financial statements are up to date 

OLUSOLA BELLO 

The Nigerian 

Pipeline and 

Storage Company 

(NPSC), a 

subsdiary of the 

Nigerian National Petroleum 

Corporation NNPC 

which was created out of 

the former Pipelines and 

Products Marketing Company 

(PPMC), is to embark 

on comprehensive audit of 

the over 5000km of petroleum 

products and crude oil 

pipelines under its watch. 

The length and breath of 

the 5000 kilometer pipelines 

have been vandalized to the 

extent that for several years 

the NNPC has been unable 

to pump petroleum products 

through them to the 22 

products depots across the 

country which the pipelines 

are to serve. 

This has been responsible 

for the reason why 

most of petroleum products 

from the coastal state to the 

hinterland are trucked with 

it attendance losses. 

According to Luke Anele, 

managing director of 

the Nigerian Pipeline and 

Storage Company (NPSC), 

the project which has already 

been approved by the 

NNPC Management is to be 

executed by the National 

Engineering and Technical 

Company (NETCO) an 

upstream subsidiary of the 

NNPC Group. 

“It covers the conduct of 

integrity test on crude pipelines, 

the products pipelines 

and our depots, with special 

emphasis on refinery attached 

depots and refinery 

evacuation lines,’’ he said. 

The NPSC boss said 

the outcome of the project 

would guide the company 

in arriving at informed decisions 

and enable appropriate 

strategies in the planned 

Private Public Partnership 

arrangement for the pipelines. 

Meanwhile the Nigerian 

National Petroleum Corporation 

(NNPC) said it 

has successfully completed 

outstanding audit of the 

Group Financial Statements 

from the years 2011 to 2016. 

The audited backlog the 

corporation said has since 

been formally approved by 

the Board of the corpora- 

tion in line with extant laws 

governing the operations of 

the national oil company. 

Isiaka AbdulRazaq, chief 

financial Officer/group 

executive director (CFO/ 

GED), Finance & Accounts 

of the NNPC, while providing 

details of the development 

in an interview published 

in the Q1 2018 edition 

of the NNPC Magazine, said 

the delivery of the audited 

financial statements would 

help foster better relations 

with stakeholders and further 

promote transparency 

and accountability in the 

corporation. 

AbdulRazaq said the 

drive to achieve the clean 

slate dated back to August 

2015, when the current 

Management of the Finance 

& Accounts Directorate took 

over the mantle of leadership 

and inherited a total 

of 65 unaudited financial 

statements for NNPC Group 

Corporate and its subsidiaries, 

covering 2011 - 2014. 

“There were, undoubtedly, 

challenges that led to 

the backlog which may have 

been beyond the control of 

the previous managements. 

However, the important 

factor was not to look to the 

past. We saw an opportunity 

to challenge the problem 

and resolved to clear the arrears 

in the shortest possible 

time,’’ the NNPC CFO said. 

The NNPC Management 

he said constituted a Project 

Steering Committee 

(PSC) under the Chairmanship 

of AbdulRazaq 

which met on a weekly 

basis with the auditors and 

all relevant stakeholders 

to identify and isolate key 

challenges and give them 

priority attention. 

“With this approach, 

Management achieved the 

first step of concluding the 

audit of the 2011 – 2012 

financial positions and presented 

same to the Board in 

2016 and in recognition of 

that modest achievement, 

the NNPC Board further 

mandated Management to 

clear the remaining outstanding 

reports for the 

years 2013 – 2016 and the 

result today is the delivery 

and Board approval of the 

audited Group Financial 

Statements as at 31 December 

2016,’’ he said. 

Operators say renewable energy investment will resolve supply-demand gap in electricity 

KELECHI EWUZIE 

Industry stakeholders 

in the power sector say 

investment in renewable 

energy is the next 

big step to resolving supplydemand 

gap of electricity in 

Nigeria. 

They opine that in order 

to ensure that the power 

industry reaches its full 

potential and address the 

energy needs of citizens, 

government must ensure it 

create an enabling environment 

for investors to push 

funds into renewables. 

Industry professionals 

who understand the power 

sector workings are of the 

opinions that as low-carbon 

technologies and green 

energy continue to become 

more commonplace, it is 

important that Nigeria businesses 

realign their investments 

to accommodate 

these modern trends. 

Ayodele Oni, an energy 

expert observes that Renewable 

energy solutions in 

solar have increased markedly 

due to the falling cost of 

these technologies making 

them competitive. Similarly, 

with the low cost of gas more 

latterly compared to several 

years ago. 

According to him, “Connecting 

renewable energy 

onto the grid is becoming 

more affordable as a result 

of the abundant natural resources 

such as abundant of 

sun in the Northern regions 

in Nigeria” 

To them, while Nigeria 

has typically lagged behind 

developed markets in the 

uptake of renewable energy, 

with the right political and 

economic policy support 

from government, this will 

become a feature of the past 

as appetite for renewable 

energy increases. 

Successive governments 

in Nigeria had endured 

challenges with providing 

Nigerians with electricity as 

millions of people in rural 

areas across the country 

remains without power. 

Analysts argue that another 

alternative investment 

that can shape the power 

sector positively is the decentralisation 

of renewable 

energy arguing that if the 

Federal government embraced 

the shift and invest 

in the space, it will yield 

good returns. 

According to them “Distributed 

generation has 

the ability to bring more 

citizens into the energy 

fold through the building 

of smaller power stations 

at specific load centres, 

rather than building bigger, 

centralised stations that 

need to transmit power 

long distance”. 

To them, “The introduction 

of multiple, smaller 

grids can substantially assist 

in transmitting power to 

where it is needed, bringing 

down the number of people 

without electricity” 

Olusola Bello, Team lead, Analysts: Kelechi Ewuzie, Isaac Anyaogu, Graphics: Joel Samson. Email: energyreport@businessdayonline.com, Tel: +234-8023020011; +234-7037817378; +234-8036534708



C002D5556 

Energy Report 

NNPC set for $2.8bn ground-breaking of gas pipeline project 

OLUSOLA BELLO 

The Nigerian 

National 

Petroleum 

Corporation 

NNPC) said 

arrangements were being 

concluded for the 

groundbreaking of the 

40inch x 614km Ajaokuta 

- Kaduna – Kano, (AKK), 

gas pipeline and stations 

in the weeks ahead. 

The corporation said 

following last week’s successful 

execution of contract 

agreements for the 

engineering, procurement, 

construction, commissioning 

and financing 

for Lots 1&3 of the over 

$2.8billion trans-Nigeria 

gas pipeline project, 

measures had been activated 

for the flag-off of 

what has been described 

as the single biggest gas 

pipeline project in the 

history of oil & gas operation 

in Nigeria. 

Upon completion, 24 

months from now, the 

AKK gas pipeline would 

enable connectivity between 

the East, West and 

North, currently nonexistent. 

It would also enable 

gas supply and utilization 

to key commercial 

centres in the Northern 

corridor of Nigeria with 

the attendant positive 

spin-off on power generation 

and industrial 

growth. 

Providing details of 

the contract awarded to 

consortium of indigenous 

and Chinese entities 

under a 100 per 

cent contractor financing 

model, the NNPC said 

Lot 1 with total length of 

40inch x 200km stretching 

from Ajaokuta to Abuja 

Terminal Gas Station 

awarded to the OilServe/ 

Oando Consortium had 

a contract value of about 

$855million. 

Lot 2 whose contract 

agreement is yet to be 

executed covers 40inch 

x 193km, stretching from 

Abuja to Kaduna with 

contract value of about 

$835 million. 

The NNPC said Lot 3 

which runs from Kaduna 

Terminal Gas Station 

(TGS) to Kano TGS with 

total length of 40inch x 

221km was awarded to 

the Brentex/China Petroleum 

Pipeline Bureau 

(CPP) Consortium under 

a contract value of about 

$1.2 billion. 

The above brought the 

total value of the entire 

project to over $2.8billion 

as approved by the Federal 

Executive Council at 

its 46th meeting on 13th 

December, 2017. 

For so long, NNPC had 

activated an aggressive 

gas reforms and implementation 

drive, requiring 

accelerated implementation 

of gas pipeline 

infrastructure development 

with specific focus 

on critical pipeline infrastructure 

to power plants 

and industries. 

Between 2010 and today, 

almost 500km of 

pipelines had been completed, 

commissioned 

and now delivering gas. 

Some of the completed 

pipelines included the 

Oben-Geregu (196km), 

Escravos-Warri-Oben 

(110km), Emuren-Itoki 

(50km), Itoki-Olorunshogo 

(31km), Imo 

River-Alaoji (24km) and 

Ukanafun-Calabar pipeline 

(128km). 

In addition, there is ongoing 

construction of the 

strategic East-West OB3 

pipeline (127km), scheduled 

for completion by Q3 

2018 and the expansion of 

the Escravos-Lagos Gas 

Pipeline System scheduled 

for completion later 

in 2018. 

With the growth in 

infrastructure, gas, hitherto 

inaccessible and 

flared, is now being utilised. 

Nigeria had seen 

the most aggressive drop 

in gas flaring from a 

peak of 2500mmcf/d 

few years ago to about 

700mmcf/d currently 

and reducing. 

Dan Agundi, Kano, 60 MVA 

transformer is in service - TCN 

The Management 

of Transmission 

Company of Nigeria, 

TCN, has denied 

that the newly installed 

60 MVA transformer in Dan 

Agundi Substation in Kano 

broke down two days after 

installation as reported in 

the Nation Newspaper online 

platform credited to 

Sani Bala Sani, Head, Corporate 

Communications, 

Kano Electricity Distribution 

Company. 

In a release by the company 

and signed by the General 

Manager, Public Affairs, 

Ndidi Mbah, TCN said the 

transformer did not break 

down but tripped following 

the fault on the Kano DisCo 

33kV Club feeder. 

TCN’s power transformers 

are installed with high 

efficiency protection devices 

that trip the transformers 

when distribution feeders 

develop faults in order to 

preserve the transformers. If 

the power transformers are 

not adequately protected, 

then any distribution fault 

would destroy the power 

transformers, which cost 

fortunes to install or replace. 

When the Dan Agundi 

Transformer tripped on 

Thursday, 29th March, TCN 

immediately informed Kano 

DisCo representatives who 

patrolled and cleared the 

fault before the power transformer 

was restored same 

day and wheeled 30 MW to 

Kano DisCo load centres. 

The 60MVA Dan Agundi 

Transformer is still in operation 

supplying bulk power 

to the Kano DisCo load centres 

for onward distribution 

to her customers. 

TCN is committed to 

increasing its capacity to 

wheel more reliable power 

to all DisCo load centres 

nationwide. The several 

on-going transmission projects 

in various parts of the 

country are pointers to this 

TCN Management commitment, 

which is supported by 

several multi-lateral donors 

and the Presidency. 

Ikeja electric moves to protect customers from fraudsters 

In a bid to further protect 

her customers 

from unscrupulous 

elements, and shore up 

convenience in electricity 

bills payment, the Management 

of Ikeja Electric has 

partnered with one of its 

payment channel partners 

to modify the receipt for 

payment transactions made 

by customers. 

The online receipts issued 

for bills paid via the 

Ikeja Electric Cards channel 

on computer systems/ laptops 

feature the word ‘original’ 

& ‘IE’ logo watermarked 

at the background with the 

IE watermark randomly 

displayed on the receipts. 

The mobile receipt issued 

for payments via its 

Agent App has ‘Ikeja Electric 

Payment Receipt’ with 

dotted underlines half inch 

from the caption dated with 

time stamp. An inscription 

of the dealer/sub dealer’s 

name coupled with the 

day of transaction abbreviated 

as ‘Tue’ ‘Wed’ with 

GMT time zone with year 

- GMT+01:00 2018 is also 

embedded at the foot of the 

receipt. 

Speaking on the introduction 

of the new receipt 

features, Felix Ofulue, Head 

Corporate Communications 

said the modification 

would help reduce fraud 

in the payment process via 

the channel while easing 

the frustration often experienced 

by consumers during 

payment. 

“Unfortunately, some 

of our customers have become 

victims of fraudsters 

who issued fake receipts, 

hence the Company decided 

to work closely with 

her partners and come up 

with this new measure. 

Nonetheless, we advise 

customers to make payments 

with agents they are 

familiar with and always 

insist on collecting their 

receipts, for any type of 

payment made” he added.


BDTECH 

In association with 

BUSINESS DAY 

21 

Smartphone review: Tecno Camon X 

Stories by 

JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON 

Tecno mobile seems to be 

up to the task with the 

fierce competition in Nigeria’s 

smartphone market. 

The Chinese OEM just 

keeps launching newer and more 

modern devices ever so often – upgrading 

with time and technological 

advancements I must say. 

Last week Thursday, April 5 2018, 

Tecno mobile launched its latest 

flagship devices – the Camon X and 

X pro. Although the Camon X has a 

few similarities to the Camon CM 

released a few months ago, Tecno 

has made some remarkable improvements 

including the new face 

ID, more advanced rear and front 

camera quality and a slightly larger 

screen display, among others. 

I got the Tecno Camon X a few 

days, got to try out its new qualities 

and features and it is safe to say the 

pros of the phone outweigh the cons. 

You decide whether to make the 

switch. 

Design: The relatively light weight 

phone comes in a plastic casing, 

which gives it a less luxurious look, 

however, the plastic casing makes 

the phone much easier to grip and 

less prone to breakage and cracks on 

or around the device. Tecno mobile 

has given an added advantage by 

adding a free phone cover in the box 

of the Tecno Camon X, so there’s less 

worry about having to buy a case to 

protect your phone. The edges of the 

phone are also well rounded which 

gives it a soft, nice look. With 6” (six 

inch) full HD display, 2.5D corning 

third glass and a ratio 18:9 full view 

screen, the phone allows for more 

content with less scroll. It’s also a 

Smile offers 1GB free data, free faulty device swap for 1 year 

In its continued quest to always 

delight its teeming subscribers, 

Smile Nigeria has introduced another 

attractive value adding service 

from its rich repertoire of value adding 

services. This time around, Smile 

is making it possible for its customers 

to enjoy free 1GB data daily for 

365days on a minimum of 500MB 

daily usage from their paid bundle. 

Aptly dubbed “Get 1GB free daily 

for 365Days” the service is specifically 

blessing when watching movies, videos 

or when playing games on your 

phone. 

Specs: Those of you that are not 

so technology inclined might thinks 

of phone specifications as jargons, 

but I’m going to take my time to 

clearly explain in writing, the specifications 

of the Camon X and why 

these are important. First, the Tecno 

Camon X comes with a 2.0GHz Octa- 

Core processor which gives the advantage 

of being able to multi task. 

‘Octa’, as the name implies means 

eight, and in smartphone terms, 

more cores provide more capacity 

to mobile performing many tasks in 

the single instance. Secondly, Tecno 

Camon X runs on Android 8.1 system 

and comes with (16GB ROM). 

designed for customers that have 

not used their Smile device in the 

last 90days. The service ensures that 

those who use a minimum of 500MB 

in a day from their paid bundle will 

get 1GB of data for free to use the next 

day. 

The ubiquitous nature of the offer 

extends to the fact that data can be 

used for voice, internet, video streaming 

and SMS. Another attraction of 

the offer is that data utilisation is valid 

This means 16 gigabytes of space 

used to store files, apps music and 

the operating system (OS) and 3GB 

RAM which is its volatile memory. 

The memory space on the device is 

quite adequate, however, I would 

have preferred a slightly larger memory 

space. With its 3750mAh battery, 

the Tecno Camon X can last up to 

24hours with full usage without having 

to recharge. This excited me, as 

battery power is usually the first concern 

for Nigerian smartphone users, 

due to unstable power supply. 

Camera: Like many other people, 

the first thing I am interested in when 

it comes to smartphone is the camera 

quality. The Tecno Camon X, with 

its 20 mega pixel (20MP) front facing 

camera with dual flash and 16MP 

at anytime of the day. The offer avails 

the customer of free 1GB data that is 

valid for one day. 

In a similar development, Smile 

has given its customers an opportunity 

to have their faulty devices replaced 

at no additional cost to them. 

A statement from the company indicates 

that effective Monday April 3 

2018, customers can swap their faulty 

Smile devices for free. 

Smile launched West Africa’s 

rear camera with ring flash, produces 

clearer, sharper and more defined 

picture quality even in low light conditions. 

Tecno has clearly set itself 

as the king of selfie cameras with its 

precise attention to selfie cameras on 

almost all its smartphones. A down 

side to the camera on the Camon X is 

that it does not come with a portrait 

mode on the back camera. I was anticipating 

a dual camera set up at the 

back. However, its super pixel mode 

will add more pixels to your shot. 

Face ID and other features: The 

face identification technology is the 

newest feature addition to both the 

Camon X and the Camon X pro. Just 

like the new Samsung and Apple devices 

and the Infinix HOT S3, as well 

as some other smartphones, the face 

ID on the Tecno Camon X is a new 

security feature that can be used to 

unlock the device. This is in addition 

to its finger print scanner at the back 

of the device. By grasping the face 

information, the face ID on Camon 

X has 50 millisecond (50ms) recognition 

rate that makes it super fast 

to unlock. However, the face ID does 

not work in extreme low light condition 

so you might be better off using 

the other unlocking options while in 

the dark. Also, during hot weather 

conditions, the HiOS UI (mobile operating 

system that allows for a wide 

range of user customisation without 

requiring rooting the mobile device) 

identifies components causing heating 

in the background and quickly 

cools off the phone through a series 

of methods. 

Pricing: The price of the Tecno 

Camon X is yet to be announced, but 

as mid range phones, I expect both 

the Camon X and Camon X pro to 

be between N58, 000 and N65, 000 or 

there about. 

first true 4G LTE network in Ibadan 

in 2013 thereby revolutionising the 

way people access the internet. The 

company has, repeatedly, been applauded 

for bringing fast, reliable mobile 

broadband service to Nigeria for 

Nigerians. 

It has also received plaudits for 

innovative services and customercentric 

products.One of such is the 

recent win of Telecoms leadership 

prize 2018. 

Pantami, Obaro to lead 

discussions at BoICT 

lecture 2018 

The board and management of 

CommunicationsWeek Media 

Limited, have announced that Isa 

Ali Ibrahim Pantami, director general, 

National Information Technology Development 

Agency (NITDA) and John 

Obaro, chief executive officer, System- 

Specs Limited are keynote speakers for 

this year’s Beacon of ICT (BoICT) lecture 

series. 

It has been confirmed that both ICT 

experts will speak on the theme “Leveraging 

ICT Value for Building Institutions” 

at the prestigious annual ICT event. 

Ken Nwogbo, CEO, Communication 

Week Media Ltd, organisers of the BoICT 

distinguished lecture/awards series, says 

that “the choice of Pantami, DG of NIT- 

DA is deliberate because he is an exceptional 

public servant conducting government 

business in transparent manner.” 

Regarded as the IT sector’s anticorruption 

Czar, Pantami, has redefined 

public service elevating NITDA as one of 

the most respected agencies in Nigeria. 

Prior to his appointment, he worked 

as an academic in various capacities ad 

has authored more than a dozen books 

on many areas ranging from Technology, 

Religion and Peaceful coexistence. 

The DG of NITDA will be joined by 

John Obaro, a technology entrepreneur, 

public speaker and founder of System- 

Specs Nigeria Limited. 

Obaro is passionate about promoting 

and advancing of local software development. 

A mentor and motivator, Obaro has 

given presentations and speeches advocating 

youth empowerment and IT entrepreneurship 

Pantami and Obaro, will join the exclusive 

list of keynote speakers at BoICT 

distinguished lecture series. 

Past speakers include: Ernest Ndukwe, 

then executive vice chairman, Nigeria 

Communications Commission 

(NCC); Yomi Bolarinwa, former Director-General 

of National Broadcasting 

Commission (NBC); Jean Luc Fort, CEO 

at OR System France and a specialist in 

Counterparty Risk; and Professor Chris 

Nwagboso, Chairman, Knowledge Factory 

International, United Kingdom. 

Others are: Uche Orji, managing 

director/chief executive officer, Nigeria 

Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA); 

Biodu Omoniyi, Managing Director/ 

CEO, VDT Communications; Ayotunde 

Coker, Managing Director, Rack Centre 

Limited; and Peter Adedayo Arogundade, 

managing director and chief executive 

officer, Sidmach Technologies 

Nigeria Limited 

This year’s Beacon of ICT Distinguished 

Lecture/Awards Series is scheduled 

for Saturday, April 28, 2018, at Eko 

Hotels and Suites, Lagos.

22 

BUSINESS DAY 

BDTECH 

E-mail: jumoke.akiyode@businessdayonline.com 


Microsoft 4Afrika makes headway in 

drive for innovation 

…Charts progress in promotion of digital skills in Nigeria, Africa 

Stories by 

JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON 

Five years after the launch 

of its 4Afrika in initiative, 

Microsoft prides itself 

in being an innovation 

enabler across the African 

continent having been able to 

successfully develop affordable access 

to the internet, promote digital 

skills and create an environment 

that enables start-up success. 

To give insight on the progress 

of the initiative after five years, 

Amrote Abdella, regional director, 

4Afrika and Akin Banuso, country 

manager, Microsoft Nigeria, hosted 

a showcase event for the media 

in Lagos on, April 4, 2018. They 

shared details around the history 

and impact of the initiative in the 

region, as well as broader insights 

on how Nigeria is progressing in 

terms of its digital transformation. 

According to Banuso, the 4Afrika 

initiative is apt, in response to 

digital transformation which has 

accelerated and has created very 

high opportunities in Nigeria. 

“Nigeria is an important innovation 

hub – one which is largely 

influencing the digital transformation 

of West Africa,” says Abdella. 

“As technology becomes a larger 

part of our lives, businesses and 

industries, it’s essential to ensure 

meaningful and inclusive adop- 

L-R: Yemi Orimolade; Communications Lead, Microsoft Nigeria, Amrote Abdella; Regional Director, 

Microsoft 4Afrika, and Akin Banuso; Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, at a press briefing to highlight 

the five year achievement of the 4Afrika initiative. The event was held at the Microsoft office in 

Victoria Island, Lagos. 

tion. This can only be achieved by 

ensuring that youth, entrepreneurs 

and governments have affordable 

access to the internet, relevant 

digital skills and opportunities for 

innovation. Our three-pronged approach 

is empowering every person 

and organisation to take advantage 

of the technological age.” 

Investing in start-ups 

In partnership with the Tony 

Elumelu Foundation (TEF), 4Afrika 

is supporting entrepreneurs 

in the TEF Entrepreneurship Program 

in Nigeria and across the 

continent. This support includes 

providing access to cloud-based 

software, new markets, technical 

and business training, and 1:1 

mentorship. Start-ups in the program 

can also apply to receive certified 

interns, who spend up to six 

months assisting with day-to-day 

operations. 

The initiative has also partnered 

with local innovation hubs, 

accelerators and SME enablers – 

including AfriLabs, DEMO Africa 

and Seedstars – to offer support 

and training, and identify high 

potential start-ups for investment. 

Some of the Nigerian start-ups 

4Afrika has invested in include 

Gamsole, MyMusic and Space- 

Pointe. 

Investing in skills 

Microsoft 4Afrika says it has 

launched two AppFactories – or 

Apprenticeship Factories – in Nigeria, 

in partnership with local 

partners Lotus Beta Analytics and 

Sidmach Technologies Limited. 

The AppFactory equips ICT 

graduates with in-demand skills 

and experience in designing and 

deploying modern software solutions, 

turning them into highly 

sought after software engineers. 

There are currently 16 AppFactories 

across the continent – including 

in Ghana, Egypt, Rwanda, 

Uganda, South Africa, Malawi, 

Kenya, Ethiopia and Mauritius – 

which have secured full-time employment 

for 85 percent of its 

graduates. 

Investing in public-private 

partnerships 

The 4Afrika Open4Business 

program recently launched in 

Nigeria, in collaboration with 

the Federal Ministry of Industry, 

Trade and Investment 

(MITI). MITI is working with 

Microsoft to digitally transform 

the delivery of services to 

Nigeria’s investor community. 

MITI are vested in reducing 

the complexity, time and cost 

of complying with business 

governance and regulations, 

creating a more agile and investment-friendly 

environment 

and accelerating the pace of job 

creation. 

The Economic Community 

of West African States (ECOW- 

AS) and the Common Market 

for East and Southern Africa 

(COMESA) have also formed 

strategic partnerships with 4Afrika, 

to develop access, innovation 

and skills in its member 

states. 4Afrika works closely 

with these two organisations, 

empowering them to create 

policies and regulations that 

promote ICT growth. 

“These are the kind of innovations 

that will let us leapfrog 

old infrastructure concerns and 

accelerate digital transformation,” 

Banuso says. 

He adds that the initiative is 

currently working with Andela 

on its learning community, to 

train 500 people and is aiming 

to equip even more people with 

digital skills. 

Since 2013, 4Afrika has established 

15 TV white spaces 

connectivity projects in six African 

countries, reached 1.7 

million SMEs, brought 500,000 

SMEs online, trained over half a 

million Africans and supported 

hundreds of local start-ups, enabling 

them to secure $5.1 million 

in reciprocal funding. 

ISPON charges Nigeria to tap into 4th industrial revolution with local content 

The institute of software 

practitioners of 

Nigeria (ISPON) has 

called on the federal 

government to invest in human 

capital and skill in order 

for Nigeria to participate in 

the fourth industrial revolution 

by leapfrogging in digital 

transformation to meet 

up with already developed 

nations. 

Speaking at the 2018 

ISPON president dinner in 

Lagos as the weekend, James 

Emadoye, President, ISPON 

said; “we don’t need Bill 

gates to tell us that we need 

to invest in our human capital, 

we have the people and 

the skill and we know that 

we should start helping our 

people to grow by encouraging 

local content. 

“Software is key, as technology 

is taking over everything 

and that is why today 

we are talking about things 

like Artificial Intelligence, 

Block chain and cloud computing. 

We need an act that 

will allow only citizens to 

develop software so that Nigeria 

can benefit from the 

fourth industrial revelation,” 

Emadoye said. 

Charles Uwadia, President/Chairman 

in Council 

of the Computer Professionals 

(Registration Council of 

Nigeria) (CPN), who also 

spoke at the event referred to 

the fact that the implementation 

of the local content 

policy is vitally important to 

the digital enhancement of 

the country. 

“If we do not implement 

the local content policy and 

ensure that we start patronising 

our local software developers 

so that our money is 

spent to develop our country, 

then we will continue to have 

brain drain in the country,” 

Uwadia said. 

On growing the software 

industry, the experts present 

at the event discussed issues 

sounding Nigeria’s technology 

industry, emphasising 

the need for development 

by embracing local technology 

and the importance of 

data to work with and record 

keeping. They are of the view 

that Nigeria may not meet 

the target to achieve digital 

transformation even in the 

next 20 years if there is no 

data to work with. 

The experts identified 

software as the main domain 

of technology, saying that 

if the potentials in Nigeria’s 

software industry are well 

harnessed, the economy will 

experience a boost, as the 

ICT industry will contribute 

much more than the 12.5 

percent it currently contributes 

to the country’s gross 

domestic product (GDP). 

“It is like running around 

in circles if we don’t have 

data as to how many software 

developers we produce 

each year, what existing softwares 

we already produce in 

country, and the records of 

progression. Let us take software 

seriously because it is 

James Emadoye, President, Institute of Software Practitioners of 

Nigeria (ISPON) 

the only way that Nigeria can 

be classified as a developed 

nation,” Ahmed Ojikutu, 

President, CAPDAN – Computer 

Village Lagos, said. 

The Executive Vice 

Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian 

Communications 

Commission (NCC) who 

was represented by Haru Alhassan, 

Director new media 

and information security, 

NCC, challenged ISPON to 

showcase Nigeria’s software 

solutions to the world. He 

said that although we cannot 

predict the future, Nigeria 

must be ready to respond 

to the global revolution. 

Delivering his address, 

Adebayo Shittu, Minister 

of Communication assured 

that the software industry 

will be treated with high priority. 

“There are several local 

software providers doing 

well but as a whole the 

software industry needs to 

move faster than it is doing 

at present. Because of 

the opportunities offered by 

software, Nigeria will aspire 

to become a global player in 

the creative high value end 

of ICT – the software industry 

will be treated as national 

priority,” Shittu promised. 

On the strides taken towards 

the actualisation of 

the Executive order No.s 

003 and 005 as well as the 

advancement of the indigenous 

software industry, National 

Office for Technology 

Acquisition and Promotion 

(NOTAP) says it intends to 

review upwards the 40 percent 

local software vendors 

to at least 60 percent. 

“We are in line with the 

federal government directive 

that all government 

Ministries, Departments 

and Agencies (MDAs) make 

use of local content and with 

this, there will soon be a 

winding down in patronage 

of foreign software. NOTAP 

also intends to create a database 

for all software, in line 

with the executive orders,” 

Dan Azumi Mohammed 

Ibrahim, Director General, 

NOTAP, who was represented 

by Taiwo Ojo, said in his 

speech. 

During the Annual ISPON 

President Dinner 2018, Fellowships 

were conferred 

upon captains of the industry 

including; Liyel Imoke, 

former Governor of Cross 

River State, John Obaro, CEO 

of Systemspecs, Pius Okigbo, 

immediate past president 

of ISPON and Chris Uwaje, 

CEO, Mobile Software Solutions.


BUSINESS DAY 23 

EDUCATION 

Weekly insight on current and future trends in education Primary/Secondary Higher Human Capital 

Parents, students to heave sigh of relief as 

cloud-based e-books platform launches 


‘ 

Mummy, I find it 

difficult to understand 

what 

our mathematics 

teacher 

teaches in class. She is too fast and 

I find it difficult to follow, I would 

really like to learn at my own pace’ 

15-year-old Ramat told her Mum. 

Ramat’s mother has been particularly 

worried that her daughter’s 

interest in mathematics might 

begin to wane because Ramat’s 

performance has taken a dip and 

she does not know where to turn to 

or how to find help her daughter. 

This is the situation of many 

parents, who find that it is tough to 

curate appropriate textbooks or locate 

tutors who can help improve 

their children’s performance in 

school. Technology is changing 

the way people live, love, learn and 

work but the educational sector 

lags behind. 

With the launch of www.AfricLearn.com, 

this is about to 

change. AfricLearn is a cloud 

based e-book and digital learning 

management system solution 

driven by a vibrant and innovative 

company which applies cutting 

edge technology to, e-book 

content distribution, schools and 

other education settings. 

AfricLearn is underpinned by a 

flexible digital technology which 

enables e-books and contents to 

be easily aligned with the requirements 

of individual readers, teaching 

establishments and various 

curriculums. It provides access for 

publishers of Educational and Non 

Educational (Fiction & Non Fiction) 

e-books to distribute and sell 

their books digitally via a secured 

platform with a piracy protected 

DRM technology. 

“Nigeria and Africa stand to 

benefit a lot from this because it 

is not just a technology solution 

but one that is aligned with curriculum. 

AfricLearn is the first solution 

that is bringing content that 

is flexible enough, for students, 

teachers, and school frameworks. 

It allows government to know in 

which areas they need to intervene” 

Femi Sanusi, Chief Executive 

Officer of AfricLearn said in 

an interview. 

“AfricLearn is cloud-based and 

this makes it very flexible. It is a 

bring Bring Your Device Pedagogy 

(BYDP), it means you don’t have to 

install any hardware. If you have 

a mobile phone, a PC, tablet; all 

you need to do is login and access 

the AfricLearn platform on the go” 

Sanusi said. 

AfricLearn’s e-books and educational 

textbook resources can be 

accessed by users across the following 

types of personal devices: 

iPhone and iPads via IOS reader 

apps, smartphone and tablets 

via android reader apps, laptops 

and Windows PC via browser and 

web access including reader app 

for windows PC to enable offline 

activities. 

Users no longer need to buy customised 

tablets in order to access 

e-books or educational textbooks 

or contents, they can now use their 

personal devices to access their 

purchased books which comes 

with a bank of assessment exam 

questions. 

TESCOM trains 4000 public school teachers in Ogun on ICT 

RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta 

Over 4000 Teachers across 

Ogun state’s Public Secondary 

Schools have 

been trained on rudimentary 

knowledge of computer 

and its usage, towards preparing 

them ahead of their Computer- 

Based Test Promotion Examinations. 

Speaking at the training workshop, 

with the theme; “Towards 

Progressive Evaluation System”, 

held at the Southwest Resource 

Centre, Abeokuta, the Chairman, 

Teaching Service Commission, 

(TESCOM), Olabosipo Ogunsan, 

said the training became imperative, 

in order to integrate the 

participants into the latest trends 

in Information Communication 

Technology (ICT). 

She noted that the exercise 

which was taking place simultaneously 

in Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu, Ilaro 

and Ifo in batches of morning and 

afternoon sessions, would equip 

the teachers for effective service 

delivery. 

“The government of Ogun 

state has indicated its willingness 

to introduce Computer Base Test 

(CBT), for promotion exercises 

throughout the state, for GL 06-10, 

with effect from the 2016 promotion 

exercise. The Commission has 

put this programme together to 

prepare and integrate the Secondary 

Schools workforce into the new 

order of conducting promotion 

through Computer Base Test’’, she 

said. 

The TESCOM boss underscored 

the essence of the training, which 

covered; basic techniques of computer, 

the effective use of computer 

for communication, use of computer 

to answer questions during 

promotion examination and other 

vital purposes of life, which would 

enable them move with the global 

trend. 

This would ride on Nigeria’s 

growing internet penetration, 

which increased to 98,391,456 

in 2017; meaning 50.2 percent of 

Nigeria populations is now online, 

this is a 49,096 percent increased 

according to internet world statistics. 

Nigeria is ranked tops in 

terms of social media usage with 

over 17 million users and the 2nd 

most-active Twitter users on the 

continent. 

“The technology itself is not 

transformative. It’s the school, the 

pedagogy, the policy, the parents, 

the buying power, the teachers, 

the community involvement that 

is transformative” Elvis Boniface, 

Chief Education Officer of Edugist, 

an educational advocacy company 

said. 

Responding, Timothy Adebowale, 

the Full Time Commissioner 

l of the Commission, who 

also doubles as the training coordinator, 

said the exercise was 

aimed at imparting basic computer 

knowledge that would equip 

and update participants for better 

performance. 

Appreciating the state government 

for organising the training, 

Adesola Ayefele and Kehinde 

Afuye, on behalf of other participants, 

said it would enrich and 

prepare them for the task ahead, 

they pledged to make judicious 

use of knowledge acquired for the 

benefit of their respective schools. 

UI staff, students to meet 

today over increase in 

accommodation fees 

AKINREMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan 

The University of Ibadan 

Institution Senate/Parents 

Management Consultative 

forum has scheduled 

a meeting with staff, students and 

parents on the rationale behind the 

slight accommodation adjustment 

for Tuesday March 10. 

The Senate of the institution has 

recommended increment for hostel 

accommodation fee from N14, 000 

to N30,000 for main campus and 

N40,000 for College Of Medicine 

commencing from the 2017/2018 

session. 

The Premier Institution said that it 

currently spends about N100million 

every year over what is collected in 

running the hostel accommodation 

which it says was no longer sustainable. 

It was gathered that while students 

currently pay N14,000 per bed-space, 

the partial economic rate per bedspace 

as at 2012 survey conducted 

by the institution was put at N59,650 

per session. 

The Senate also approved slight 

increment in chargeable fees for 

laboratory and studio (Arts (N5,000) 

maintenance fees; fees for professional 

health training (non-clinical 

(N75,000) & clinical N100,000); 

Pharmacy practice experience levy 

(N5,000), and Science laboratory 

levy (N7,500); Faculties of Agriculture 

(N5,000 to N7500), and Renewable 

Natural Resources upward review 

of the Practical Year levy (N15,000 to 

N17,500) for those in practical year 

while other students are to pay the old 

levy; ITeMS upward review of access 

fee for undergraduates (from N2,000 

to N2,500) for improve internet access 

on campus. 

However, fees payable by students 

in the Faculties of the Social Sciences, 

Law, Sciences, and Technology have 

not been adjusted for the coming 

session. 

Idowu Olayinka, the Vice Chancellor, 

had earlier stated that the Premier 

University “is at a point where it is 

difficult to continue to subsidise the 

running of the Halls of Residence and 

carry out some academic functions 

without a slight adjustment in accommodation 

charges and in some 

fee items payable by students in some 

faculties.” 

In adjusting the fees, the VC urged 

the public to note that it is only the 

increase in accommodation fees that 

cuts across students who desire to stay 

in the Halls of Residence while adding 

that that “residency in the Halls 

of Residence is optional, and only 

about 30 percent of our students can 

find accommodation in the Halls of 

Residence.” 

“It is also important to note that 

the Federal Government, many years 

back, had stopped providing funds for 

the running of the Halls. As a result, 

the University spends about 100 Million 

Naira over what is collected as 

accommodation fees, for the running 

of the Halls.

C002D5556 



EDUCATION 

higher 

How to overcome mathematics phobia among students 


Recent trends in 

mathematics 

results from the 

National Examination 

Council 

(NECO) and West African Examination 

Council (WAEC) 

have shown unimpressive 

performance by candidates. 

Available records of 

WAEC results have shown 

that in 2017; of 1.56 million 

candidates that sat for 

WAEC’s Senior Secondary 

Certificate Examination 

(SSCE), 52 percent had credit 

pass in Mathematics and 

English. Similarly, the 2017 

NECO result analysis shows 

that out of the 1,051,472 who 

sat for the examinations, only 

745,053 of the candidates got 

at least five credits including 

Mathematics and English 

Language. 

Udonsa Effiok, a Mathematics 

lecturer at the Federal 

College of Education, 

Yola, Adamawa State in 

a paper titled: Trends in 

students’ performance in 

Mathematics, published 

in the Journal of Research 

in Education and Society, 

Volume 6, Number 2, August 

2015 identified a number 

of factors that impede 

students’ achievement in 

Mathematics in the Senior 

Secondary School’s Examinations. 

Some of the observed 

factors include; shortage 

of qualified Mathematics 

teachers, poor facilities, inadequate 

equipment and 

instructional materials. 

Others according to him 

are method of teaching, large 

class size, Mathematics phobia/fright, 

parental factors 

and undue distraction from 

unproductive use of social 

network like Facebook, Twitter, 

Instagram, Snapchat and 

Youtube. 

This calls for national action 

because mathematics 

has been foundational to the 

growth of civilisations from 

Mesopotamia to ancient 

Egypt, through the Indus 

Valley (northwest India and 

Pakistan) to ancient China. 

Understood as the study 

of quantity, structure, space, 

and change, mathematics 

is part of everyday life of all 

professions, from cooking, 

farming, to shop keeping, 

medical practice, science 

and engineering. 

Some mental qualities 

attributed to the study of 

mathematics include the 

power of clear reasoning, 

creativity, abstract or spatial 

thinking, critical thinking, 

problem-solving ability and 

even effective communication 

skills. 

However, mathematics is 

a subject that makes students 

either leap for joy or cringe 

on their seats. Either way, it 

is inescapable that as young 

students become adults they 

begin to realise how much 

of mathematics is needed 

to make sense of the world 

around them. 

Stephen Onah, the Chief 

Executive Officer at the National 

Mathematical Centre 

(NMC), has blamed dismal 

performance of students in 

WAEC and NECO examinations 

in successive years 

on unqualified teachers in 

Mathematics. 

“The other factor is 

that because there are not 

enough hands to train students 

in this discipline 

and persons from different 

areas of study even outside 

science-based areas are 

brought to teach the subject,” 

Onah said. 

This has drawn attention 

from the Mathematical Association 

of Nigeria (MAN), 

which attributed the causes 

of poor performance to student-related, 

teacher-related 

and government-related factors 

and observed that quite 

a number of Mathematics 

teachers, especially at the 

secondary school level, were 

weak in knowledge content 

and pedagogy. 

Until some few years 

ago, a pass in Mathematics 

was just required to study 

courses in Arts, Law and 

Humanity in Nigeria. Today, 

a credit pass in Mathematics 

and English is a compulsory 

Joint Admissions and Matriculation 

Board (JAMB) 

requirement for admission 

into all courses. 

What then is the way 

out? Mohammed Ibrahim, 

a former president of MAN, 

maintained that the mass 

failure in Mathematics can 

be eradicated if the following 

measures amongst others 

can be taken - updating the 

teacher on new teaching 

techniques of the subject; 

equipping the library with recent 

and updated textbooks; 

making the learning environment 

conducive for both the 

teacher and the students; 

and making the learning of 

the subject practicable for 

the students. 

Some organised private 

sector players have also 

waded into the the mix to 

help provide solution to the 

problem, such as Promasidor 

Nigeria Limited, through the 

Cowbellpedia initiative. 

This has, for many 

years, provided a platform 

to stimulate interest and 

reward excellence in Mathematics 

among students in 

Nigeria’s secondary school. 

The initiatives in this direction 

include Cowbellpedia 

Secondary Schools Mathematics 

TV Quiz Show, Cowbellpedia 

Radio (a Mathematics 

class on radio) and 

Cowbellpedia Mobile App 

(Mathematics Q&A mobile 

application). 

Through these platforms, 

the company has been able 

to arouse and re-awaken 

the interest of students in 

Mathematics at the secondary 

school level and further 

reinforced the importance 

of the subject 

The National Examina- 

tion Council (NECO) has 

commended it for stimulating 

the interest of Nigerian 

students in Mathematics 

through the Cowbellpedia 

Secondary Schools Mathematics 

TV Quiz Show, sponsored 

by Cowbell, the company’s 

flagship brand. 

Speaking to newsmen 

at the finals of the 2017 

Cowbellpedia Secondary 

Schools Mathematics Television 

Quiz Show in Lagos 

recently, Charles Uwakwe, 

the Registrar of NECO said 

that the competition has 

considerably reduced the 

phobia for Mathematics 

among students across the 

country 

Uwakwe maintained that 

the Cowbellpedia initiative 

has demystified the terror of 

Mathematics that has been 

killing the dreams of many 

students. 

Winners (in both junior 

and senior categories) of the 

past two editions of Cowbellpedia 

Secondary Mathematics 

Television TV Quiz were 

rewarded with N1 million 

each and an all-expense paid 

education excursion outside 

the country. Their teachers 

and schools were equally 

rewarded. 

Anders Einarsson, Managing 

Director of Promasidor 

Nigeria, at the flag off of the 

2018 edition in Lagos and 

to mark 20 years of relation 

of Cowbell and Mathematics, 

recently, stated it is going 

to be bigger and better. 

The prize money has been 

doubled as winners in both 

categories would receive 

Two million naira with an allexpense 

paid educational excursion 

outside the country. 

Meadow Hall Foundation’s Education 

Convention enters second edition 

After the successful 

Education 

Convention last 

year, Meadow Hall 

Foundation is set to host its 

second edition, themed ‘Addressing 

The Quality Question 

In The Education Sector’. 

Quality Education is critical 

for national development; 

the impact of quality education 

on students’ performance 

and nation building 

is far reaching. 

The Education Convention 

provides an opportunity for 

all educational stakeholders 

(school teachers, school 

heads/administrators, 

school owners/school leaders, 

parents, government 

officials and community 

leaders) to gain fresh perspectives 

on pertinent educational 

issues from their interactions 

with teachers and 

educational experts. 

As Meadow Hall Foundation 

continues to advocate 

quality education in Nigeria, 

some of the topics to be 

discussed in the convention 

include- ‘Making Learning 

Authentic for the Nigerian 

Child’, ‘Personal Effectiveness: 

the Key to Unlocking 

your Highest Potential’, ‘Driving 

Quality Recruitment’, 

‘Schools of the Future’, ‘Guiding 

your Child’s Academic 

Career Path’, ‘Raising Godly 

Children in the 21st Century’, 

‘An Enduring Structure: Sustaining 

your brand’ and ‘Who 

Owns the Curriculum’. 

Notable facilitators and panelists 

such as Fela Durotoye, 

Folasade Adefisayo, Lolu Akinwunmi, 

Kehinde Nwani, Yinka 

Ogunde, Anthonia Maduekwe, 

Ola Opesan, and Olufemi 

Ogunsanya. Others are Ronke 

Soyombo, Modupe Adefeso- 

Olateju, Yinka Obafisoye, Nike 

Akerele De Souza, Babajide 

Duroshola and Lola Esan will 

be at the Convention. The 

keynote speaker is Oyewusi 

Ibidapo-Obe (Educational 

Administrator and former 

Vice Chancellor, University 

of Lagos). 

The Education Convention 

is set to hold on Saturday, 

21st April 2018 from 8am to 

4pm at the Landmark Event 

Centre in Victoria Island, 

Lagos. To register, visit http:// 

meadowhallfoundation.org/ 

education-convention/. 

For those who are passionate 

about education and who 

value continuous personal 

development, this convention 

is not to be missed. 

College reiterates commitment to raise ideal Nigerian child 

Rainbow College has 

reiterated its commitment 

to raise 

the ideal Nigerian 

child. 

The college, which is an 

offshoot of Pampers Private 

School, Alaka in Surulere, 

Lagos, made the reassurance 

during a facility tour of the 

college by a select media at Km 

39, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, 

Asese Village, Maba, Ogun 

State, recently. 

According to the college, the 

efforts so far at actualising its 

vision of becoming a worldclass 

college that churns out 

innovative leaders of tomorrow 

with the required knowledge 

and moral training are 

already getting myriad commendations 

from parents, 

students, institutions and host 

community. 

Odulanmi Oludolapo, 

founder/proprietress of the 

college, said the school was 

established to raise future 

leaders that would shape the 

destiny of the country and take 

the nation to greater heights 

in all spheres of human endeavours. 

On a tour of the school, 

the leaning facilities and 

extracurricular activities are 

obvious. The facilities include; 

modern equipment 

for science and technology, 

arts and crafts, sports among 

other facilities that guarantee 

sound learning. 

As well, the college is focused 

on practical approach 

to learning with well-equipped 

science laboratories, functional 

technical drawing lab, ICT 

Room and basic technology 

workshop. Other facilities include; 

Art studio, music room, 

Food and Nutrition laboratory 

and a standard library. 

The college is rated the United 

Nations International Children 

Fund (UNICEF) Nigeria’s 

number one school in science. 

It is also the Essay Champions 

and excels in public speaking, 

art exhibitions, drama and 

inter- school sports competitions. 

According to Adesina Okunubi, 

principal of the college, 

the staying power of the school 

is its all-round child development 

policy that makes a difference 

in the society.


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

25 

In association with 

Exciting office experience beckons as The Wings 

enters market with strong value propo sition 

Stories by CHUKA UROKO 

In the most formal style 

before a distinguished audience, 

The Wings Towers, 

one of the eye-catching 

architectural marvels on 

Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria 

Island, Lagos, walked into the 

property market offering exciting 

office work experience with 

its strong and compelling value 

proposition. 

The Wings, a twin-tower 

building, is a joint venture project 

by Oando Plc and RMB Westport, 

a South African real estate investment 

and development firm. 

Estate Links Limited and Jones 

Lang LaSalle (JLL) are the lead 

promoters/leasing agents. 

The 14-floor, 27,000 square 

metre Grade A office complex 

stands massively by the Five 

Cowrie Creek, giving it an unrivalled 

location advantage which 

is complemented by an existing 

waterways transportation 

system. “This is one-of-a-kind 

development that guarantees its 

tenants world class experience”, 

Wallace Wilkins, a director at 

RMB Westport, explained to 

BusinessDay in an interview. 

At the commissioning of 

the building last week by Ibe 

Kachikwu, the minister of state 

for petroleum, Wale Tinubu, the 

group chief executive of Oando 

Plc, disclosed that, at Oando, 

passion was not only one of 

their core values, it drives their 

ambitions, adding that the idea 

for The Wings Complex was conceived 

in 2009 but construction 

kick-started in 2013. 

Tinubu recalled that the building 

started when the price of oil 

was $100 per barrel, but they still 

pushed on with construction 

despite the 2014 crash in oil price 

to $23 per barrel, the 60 percent 

devaluation of the naira and the 

13-month economic recession. 

“Today, the two towers stand 

tall as a testament to indigenous 

companies like us who continue 

to lead and set standard for excellence. 

The project signifies the 

end to a series of capital projects 

that we have pioneered, invested 

in and built”, he said. 

The Wings actually stands tall 

as a building to beat in terms of 

elevation and façade. Wilkins 

says “it is an elegantly designed 

office building with innovative 

usage of space to give optimal 

day-to-day functionality. The 

building is a seamless business 

environment that combines 

functionality, detail, services and 

comfort for business”. 

It is in the league of Heritage 

Place in Ikoyi and Nestoil Tower 

in Victoria Island which are, so 

far, the only green buildings in 

Nigeria with energy efficiency 

that leaves tenants/occupiers 

with reduced energy cost. Heritage 

Place offers tenants as high 

as 20 percent energy saving. 

Interest in The Wings has been 

quite encouraging, according 

to the leasing agents. Gbenga 

Olaniyan, CEO, Estate Links, confirmed 

to BusinessDay that while 

the West wing of the building 

is occupied by Oando, the East 

wing, which is open to the public, 

is 34 percent let, hoping that with 

the renewed investor interest in 

the economy, the building will 

be up to 80 percent let by the end 

of this year. 

In addition to its high-quality 

finishing and small office plates 

of 1000 square metres which 

features 360-degree views to virtually 

all workstations in any particular 

tenant layout, The Wings 

façade gives an alluring feature 

view of the Lagos city, offering 

comfort plus quality of work that 

is comparable to international 

standards. 

“This façade system allows for 

energy efficiency and adaptability 

to climatic heat conditions”, 

explained Lyall Dukes, Associate 

Executive at Stauch Vorster Architects—the 

architectural consultants 

on the building. 

Offices in the building are climatically 

controlled to facilitate 

maximum comfort with lighting 

and visual stimulus aimed 

at enhancing tenant enjoyment 

and appreciation of the working 

environment. Duke added that 

the building also offers a high 

level of security and comfort to 

businesses with a high priority 

on secure operating facilities and 

peace of mind. 

The building has capacity to 

improve tenant’s operational 

efficiency and boost employee 

productivity. “It is a work environment 

that is a pleasure to use 

and interact with on a daily basis, 

and this will result in better productivity 

and positive attitude. 

This building is iconic and easily 

recognizable, creating an association 

tenants can market and use 

to their advantage”, Duke noted. 

For purposes of security and 

safety, The Wings has intelligent 

building management systems 

(IBMS) which are systems that 

optimize the centralized control 

of heating, ventilation, air 

conditioning and lighting, thus 

promoting its functionality. The 


Event Diary 

Mortgage refinancing 

company underway in Kenya 

As if taking a cue from Nigeria, 

Kenya, the fast growing 

East African country, is perfecting 

plans to set up a mortgage 

refinancing company, the Kenyan 

Mortgage Refinance Company 

(KMRC), which the country’s 

Treasury explains, is to help to 

meet the government’s aim of 

providing 500,000 houses in five 

years as well as make it easier for 

banks to access long-term finance 

for home loans 

In Nigeria, the Nigerian Mortgage 

Refinance Company (NMRC) 

was set up to increase liquidity in 

the country’s mortgage system, 

drag down interest rate to single 

digit and also facilitate the provision 

of affordable housing for the 

largely ‘homeless’ working class 

population in the country. 

But it remains to be seen what 

impact the NMRC has made in 

both the mortgage and housing 

sectors four years after it was 

set up with a mandate to also 

facilitate the delivery of 172,000 

housing units per annum. 

As against Nigeria’s over a 

million units, the East African 

country has an estimated 200,000 

annual housing shortfall, which is 

expected to rise to 300,000 by 2020. 

But President Uhuru Kenyatta has 

assured that provision of affordable 

housing is one of his four key 

priority areas in his second term. 

“Housing finance in Kenya 

remains below its potential,” the 

Treasury said in a document outlining 

the creation of the Kenya 

Mortgage Refinance Company 

(KMRC), to be owned by the state, 

commercial banks and financial 

co-operatives. 

KMRC is expected to be 

licensed by the central bank in 

February next year, with initial 

debt financing of $160 million from 

the World Bank for lending on to 

financial institutions. 

Once it starts operations, the 

company will raise debt from 

markets, including mortgagebacked 

bonds, to lend to banks 

and financial co-operatives using 

their mortgage loan contracts with 

customers as security. 

Kenya had just 24,458 mortgage 

loans valued at $2 billion 

or 3.15 percent of GDP in 2015, 

compared with about 30 percent 

of GDP worth of outstanding 

mortgages in South Africa. 

As obtains in Nigeria, mortgage 

lenders in Kenya, among them 

KCB Group which has the biggest 

share of the mortgages, usually 

shy away from writing housing 

loans mainly due to lack of longterm 

deposits in the industry to 

match them.



Market in gradual rebound with 

significant increase in enquiries in Q1’18 

Stories by CHUKA UROKO 

Characteristic of its 

slow reaction to 

changes in the wider 

economy, the real estate 

market recorded 

gradual rebound in the first quarter 

of this year (Q1 2018) several 

months after the economy exited 

recession and witnessed significant 

improvement. 

The market actually saw an 

increase in enquiries estimated at 

10 percent in the last six months, 

but those enquiries could not 

translate into closed transactions 

or increased prices, leaving the 

property market and asset values 

largely unchanged. 

“We have really seen impact of 

the improvement in the economy 

on the real estate market, but that 

has not largely manifested in true 

transaction”, affirmed Gbenga 

Olainyan, CEO, Estate Links, in 

an interview, disclosing however 

that the number of square metres 

of space his company has rented 

out between June 2017 and now 

from majority of the A-grade 

offices they have in their books 

has exceeded all they did in the 

previous two years put together. 

Olaniyan stressed that eventhough 

the market is still not 

where it should be, there has been 

much more successful outing 

in the last six months than the 

previous two years combined. 

Besides that, he said, enquiries 

are increasing and, though these 

are not translating into closed 

deals, there is hope that in the 

very near future, transaction and 

sales will happen. 

“We are getting much more 

demand. In real estate, the reaction 

time is usually slow and I am 

talking specifically about A-grade 

commercial office space”, he said, 

citing instance of a company that 

Lessons as Sujimoto relives economic recession impact on real estate, developers 

After what was, in relative 

terms, a boom in the real 

estate sector within the period 

spanning 2014 to 2015, the 

succeeding years, 2016 and 2017, 

were a major turning point for 

players in that sector. Many of 

them, particularly developers, got 

their fingers burnt by a crippling 

recession. 

With the drastic fall in oil price 

at the international oil market, 

oil companies were forced to 

contract operations and rethink 

their housing needs; the galloping 

inflation eroded household 

and organisations’ income, while 

import activities collapsed due to 

high exchange rate at the foreign 

exchange market. 

All these combined to not only 

constrict construction activities 

and reduce demand , but also 

collapsed the property market, 

leading to near-zero demand, 

supply glut, high vacancy rate, rent 

default, loan cancellation, project 

planned to change office in 2013 

but suddenly saw the fortunes 

of its business turning around in 

2017. Such a company, he said, 

would have to wait before deciding 

on what to do next. “These are 

the kind of people we are seeing 

now coming to make enquiries 

about rents and the size of space 

available”, he noted. 

The residential segment of the 

market is telling similar story of 

gradual return to profitability. 

The market is not yet back to the 

2014 and 2015 transactions, but 

the situation in the first quarter of 

this year cannot be compared to 

the same period in 2016 because 

the former is a lot better. 

This gives developers and 

potential investors hope of a 

better tomorrow. But there is a 

challenge. Rising construction 

cost in the face of low demand 

has compelled most developers 

to slow down to watch the market. 

“The last two units we still 

have to sell out of 15 units in our 

development are still selling at 

N50 million per unit which was 

the price at which we sold early 

last year when we were selling 

off-plan. That tells me that nobody 

wants to pay more than N50 

million”, Olaniyan said. 

Continuing, he explained that 

if he was to replicate that development, 

clearly, the price of the 

units would not be 50 million 

again because of the rise in construction 

cost and so, he wouldn’t 

be in a hurry to do another one 

but has to wait until the market 

moves. 

“I see a situation where, because 

development has slowed 

down, the economy is recovering, 

money is trickling into people’s 

pockets, property prices which 

had been flat for so long, has to go 

up because a developer who borrows 

to build cannot sell at today’s 

revaluation and downward review 

of project sizes. 

For Sujimoto Construction Limited, 

a frontline developer playing at 

the high end market, it was a period 

of sober reflection, one during 

which the company was compelled 

• Ogundele 

price any longer”, he noted. 

From the buyer’s side, there 

has been a significant shift because, 

with the economy starting 

to pick up, there has also been a 

shift in enquiries and Olaniyan 

explained that if in a week early 

last year they had just three serious 

calls, now they were sure to 

get 10. “A lot of the prospective 

tenants are still inspecting, telling 

you they are raising funds, but 

one is sure that even in real estate 

people have hope”, he assured. 

The fall in the value of the naira 

relative to the US Dollars is still 

haunting and piling pressure on 

the retail segment of the market. 

Retailers are still struggling with 

dollar rents and a good number 

of them are closing shops at the 

structured malls and moving to 

stand alone houses. 

The mathematics is yet to add 

up for that sector. For instance, 

a retailer who was bringing in 

goods at $100 before the naira devaluation 

had N16,000 as his cost 

and so, he could sell for N20,000. 

Now, the same retailer is still 

bringing in goods at $100, but his 

cost has moved from N16,000 to 

N36,000, and the buyers are not 

yet ready to pay N40,000. So, the 

next thing for him to do is to leave 

the mall. So, the structured malls 

are losing local retailers. 

For the retail business, the story 

is different and unlike the commercial 

and residential markets 

where it is expected that rents will 

soon bottom out and stabilize, in 

retail, rent will only start coming 

up again when it bottoms out 

to where retailers’ naira can afford 

it and that will take another 

monetary policy change to happen. 

Even the foreign retailers are 

having challenges because they 

have to see buyers to make sales. 

to think outside the box and to consider 

strange and near-impossible 

options. 

Sijibomi Ogundele, the company’s 

MD/CEO, has a harrowing 

but inspiring experience to share 

which, it is hoped, will serve as a 

lesson on courage and doggedness 

in a challenging economy such as 

Nigeria’s. 

“I had dreamt and developed 

the biggest project in my life with 

$90 million to build the tallest 

residential building in Sub-Saharan 

Africa. I invested all my money, 

time and passion into something I 

believed in”, Ogundele recalled in 

a statement obtained by Business- 

Day at the weekend. 

The statement reads in part: 

Unfortunately for me, the economy 

was very bad and things became 

very rough. I had to let go the best 

people around me. There’s a way 

that life tries to snatch your dream 

away from you and suddenly everything 

you are doing looks incompetent. 

Some people told me that real 

estate is a difficult sector so it would 

be best for me to leave my passion 

and do something else. I visited 

my old-time friend’s water factory 

in Abeokuta and thought about 

venturing into the pure-water 

business. 

I even went back to Ijebu Igbo 

and visited some farms because it 

seemed agriculture and farming 

had become the new ‘oil’. Some 

people began convincing me to 

leave everything and deviate into 

something I knew nothing about 

(agriculture and farming). 

I even tried to sell everything I 

owned to move to New York City. I 

spoke to a successful Nigerian actor 

who had moved to Atlanta because 

of the steep recession. He said life 

was easier there, things were stable 

and I could access credit through a 

flexible banking system. 

I was confused and devastated, 

but I kept the words of Napoléon 

The Wings 

commissioned... 


IBMS is also designed to detect 

potential thieves as warning signals 

will be triggered if there are 

any irregularities from particular 

areas of the building and these 

features make it an IBMS-compliant 

building. 

The Wings is fully sprinklerprotected 

with sprinkler and 

firewater systems supplied via 

dedicated pumps and tanks. Each 

tower is provided with two pressurized 

emergency routes and 

a fireman’s lift, together with an 

analogue smoke detection and 

voice evacuation system. 

Separate digital pulse meters 

are provided to measure individual 

tenant’s electricity consumption. 

These digital meters are 

extremely accurate with negligible 

errors. Independent meters are 

provided for every floor and every 

tenant, in the unlikely event of 

meter failure. 

The building parades such 

features as dedicated jetty, restaurant 

and banking hall which 

differentiate it from its peers. 

Others are concierge, Wi-Fi connection 

throughout the building, 

cell phone reception boosters, 

LED lighting, motion sensors to 

all public areas, high surveillance 

CCTV systems, etc. It also offers 

rental concessions which include 

tenant improvement allowances 

and rent-free periods. 

Apart from these features and 

facilities, The Wings differs from its 

peers in its core design, shape and 

orientation which are configured 

to provide Grade A commercial 

office space with multi-tenant 

flexibility. 

“Tenants will appreciate the 

urban views from this high-rise 

building; there is flexibility and 

energy efficiency of the floor-plate 

integrated into the design coupled 

with amenities and lifestyle/workstyle 

possibilities”, Duke assured 

Hills book on replay in my head. 

I remembered that my present 

situation should not determine 

my destination. 

I told myself that running away 

wasn’t the definition of the Motomatics 

Philosophy I had created. 

The Sujimoto I know and 

advocated wasn’t a runaway loser, 

neither was it lack of focus kind of 

personality or company. 

I developed courage and refocused 

my life. I revisited my 

options and created Guilliano, 

the son of Lorenzo, the grandson 

of Cosimo the Medici. I conceptualised, 

planned and executed 

the project, even though I didn’t 

have all the money. In less than 

six months, though I am still not 

where I want to be, I am thankful to 

the almighty that I am not where I 

used to be. 

It’s been the most inspiring, most 

difficult and most challenging time 

for me. But now, I am thankful I 

didn’t give up, run off or lose hope.


27

28 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Tuesday 10 April 2018 

Harvard 

Business 

Review 

Tips 

& 

Talking Points 

TALKING POINTS 

UPS Goes Electric 

50: Earlier this year, UPS announced 

that it would add 50 electric delivery 

trucks to its fleet in Atlanta, Los Angeles 

and Dallas. 

+ 

A Big Year for Digital Health 

800: Almost 800 digital health startups 

were funded last year around the world, 

according to data from Startup Health 

Insights. 

+ 

Workers and Volunteering 

90%: Almost 90% of companies that offer 

workers opportunities to volunteer for 

various causes see a correlation between 

participation and increased engagement, 

according to research from Boston 

College and the Center for Corporate 

Citizenship. 

+ 

Phantom Vibrations 

90%: According to a study published in 

the journal Computers in Human Behavior, 

90% of college students said that 

at times they felt “phantom vibrations” 

— thinking that their phones were vibrating 

with a message when they were not. 

+ 

From the Military to a Company 

360,000: Almost 360,000 military veterans 

leave the American military every 

year and transition to working in the 

corporate world. 

If your employee annoys people, gently point out how 

If your employee is irritating fellow colleagues, 

don’t let the behavior go. Start by 

making your intentions clear — say something 

like, “I’m always looking for ways to 

help you grow, and I have some thoughts. 

When is a good time to talk?” During the 

discussion, focus on the facts. What exactly 

is the employee doing, and how is it getting 

in the way of their success? For instance, if 

your employee constantly interrupts others, 

you might say, “In the meeting last Tuesday, 

you spoke over the end of three people’s 

sentences.” Then talk about the impact: “I couldn’t 

hear what they were going to say, which matters to 

me because everyone needs to feel heard.” Don’t 

insinuate that the behavior is malicious, or even 

intentional. Your employee should feel that you’re 

an ally in helping them grow. Once they’re aware of 

the behavior, they can begin to change it. 

(Adapted from “How to Help an Employee Who 

Rubs People the Wrong Way,” by Rebecca 

Knight.) 

Keep team communications 

brief, but make sure 

they’re clear 

We sometimes try to be efficient 

by using as few words as possible 

to communicate a message. But a 

one- or two-line email can waste 

everyone’s time if colleagues 

have to decipher the meaning or 

write back to clarify next steps. 

Don’t assume that others understand 

your shorthand. Take 

the time to communicate in a 

way that’s ultra-clear, no matter 

what medium you’re using (or 

how much of a hurry you’re in). 

But don’t go too far in the other 

direction, bombarding your 

team with messages in an effort 

to avoid any ambiguity. If you’re 

clear in your original message, 

you shouldn’t have to follow up. 

And definitely avoid abusing 

multiple channels. No one likes 

a colleague who texts or calls to 

ask if you’ve read their message. 

(Adapted from “How to Collaborate 

Effectively If Your Team Is 

Remote,” by Erica Dhawan and 

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic.) 

When your work experience is 

limited, highlight your strengths 

When you’re starting 

out in your 

career, and have 

limited work experience, 

it can 

be tough to gain 

credibility. Your 

coworkers won’t 

see you as a crucial 

part of the organization 

until 

you prove yourself 

to be one. Start earning your 

colleagues’ respect by conveying 

the value you bring. 

Think about your strengths: 

In which areas do you do 

your best work? What have 

you been praised for in the 

past? Don’t forget to consider 

your personal life—chances 

are you possess some useful 

insights because of your 

geographic or demographic 

background. For example, 

if you’re a 20-something 

and working on a market re- 

search project, you may have 

fresh ideas about the best 

types of questions to ask people 

your age. This approach of 

relying on your strengths can 

be a starting point to building 

credibility and positive regard 

in the organization. 

(Adapted from “How to Gain 

Credibility When You Have 

Little Experience,” by Andy 

Molinksy and Jake Newfield.) 

c 

To Get time off to learn a skill, show 

how it will benefit the company 

If you want time off from 

work to develop a new 

skill — by attending a 

class, going on a retreat, 

or participating in a fellowship 

— you need to 

make a strong case to 

your boss. 

— Start by considering 

the connection between 

what you want to learn 

and the needs of the 

business. How will your 

company benefit from 

your new skill? Can you 

share the learning with 

your team? Are there 

issues at work that you 

could solve as a result of 

the training? 

— Once you’ve answered 

these questions, prepare 

for the conversation with 

your boss. Plot out the 

best- and worst-case scenarios, 

and anticipate 

the questions your boss will 

ask you. 

— Your manager may not be 

the person who approves the 

request, so do your homework 

to understand who else 

is involved in the decisionmaking 

process, and what 

they care about. You should 

be ready to make the case to 

anyone you need to. 

(Adapted from “How to Ask 

Your Boss for Time to Learn 

New Things,” by Rachael 

O’Meara.) 

2017 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate 

Before taking on new projects, 

evaluate your current ones 

It’s important to challenge 

yourself with new projects, 

but taking on more tasks may 

require you to let go of others. 

Constantly evaluate your current 

slate of projects to know 

what else you have time for. 

For each task, ask yourself: 

Does completing this project 

still make sense? Am I the right 

person to work on it? Would it 

be more realistic to push this 

project out to another quarter? 

You can also create a chart to 

help you quickly assess where 

each project stands. Include 

columns for activity name, 

type of project, time required, 

professional importance, and 

the personal satisfaction you get 

from doing it. Use this data to 

determine which commitments 

to hold onto and which to let go 

of, so you can make room to take on new 

challenges. Of course, depending on your 

position, you may not be able to decide 

what you can stop doing. But if you’ve 

taken the time to step back and consider 

the big picture, you’ll at least have the 

information to discuss what’s possible 

with your boss and colleagues. 

(Adapted from “Before You Set New 

Goals, Think About What You’re Going 

to Stop Doing,” by Elizabeth Grace 

Saunders.)


BUSINESS DAY 

THE BIG HEART DIGEST 

In association with Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Developement Agency (DEMSMA) 

29 

Okowa begins moves to turn around seaports in Delta State 

… Intensifies ‘heart-to-heart’ talk with Deltans at town hall meetings 

MERCY ENOCH, Asaba 

IGNATIUS CHUKWU 

Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa briefed 

the people during 

his 2018 

budget presentation 

on reforms to boost 

IGR: The reforms we are 

undertaking in revenue 

collection, the plugging 

of leakages in all revenue 

sources, as well as the anticipated 

return of oil producing 

companies to Delta 

Seaports in Delta State, 

Koko and Warri), may 

soon experience a 

new lease following 

moves by the state 

governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, to 

revive them for the sake of the 

economy. 

This is as the governor has 

continued to engage the people 

in heart-to-heart talk on issues 

relating to the socio-economic 

development of the state. He 

has assured of his administration’s 

commitment to making 

seaports in the state active. 

Last week, he and his deputy, 

Kingsley Otuaro, alongside 

other top government functionaries, 

were in Warri North and 

Warri South local government 

areas where the dredging of 

the Koko and Warri sea ports 

topped discussions. 

Before now, many prominent 

citizens of the state had 

appealed to the federal government 

to facilitate the revival 

and utilization of the Warri and 

Koko ports, saying doing so 

would reduce the problem 

of militancy in the oil-rich 

state. According to them, with 

proper engagement, the seaports 

would contribute to the 

economic benefit of the region 

and the country at large. 

Economic watchers believe 

that if both ports became functional 

and active, it would revive 

the economic activities in the 

state given the volume of oil and 

gas activities in the area. 

They believe the ports were 

the drivers of the Warri economy 

in the past, and see no 

reason why vessels should go to 

Lagos and wait for weeks to discharge 

their cargo when Warri 

and Koko ports stay without any 

economic activity. 

Now, at the town hall meeting 

which took place at Warri 

and Koko, Gov Okowa disclosed 

that his administration 

was working with relevant authorities 

to see that ports were 

dredged for them to function 

optimally. 

Okowa stated his administration’s 

commitment to ensuring 

a state where facilities were 

functional. He also observed 

that making the sea ports active 

would bring a lot of benefits 

to the people, the state and 

Nigeria as a nation. “The cost of 

dredging the ports is alarming, 

but, we are exploring different 

opportunities for the ports to be 

functional,” said the governor. 

Former governor of the 

state, Emmanuel Uduaghan, 

who was also present at the 

meeting, stated that it was important 

for the ports to be made 

functional, noting that while 

Koko has free trade status, “the 

Koko Port is deep but the channel 

is shallow.” 

He also disclosed other efforts 

by his administration to 

improve the socio-economic 

well-being of the people. These 

included the building of infrastructure, 

including markets. 

Okowa assured the people 

that there would be consistent 

efforts for portable water to be 

distributed, and urged the people 

to embrace the compulsory 

health insurance scheme. 

He commended the people 

for their support for his administration 

and explained that the 

town hall meetings provided 

forums for him to tell the people 

what his administration was 

doing and get reactions from 

them about the achievements 

of his administration and their 

expectations. 

Chairman of Warri South 

local government area, Michael 

Tidi, who commended the governor 

for his approach to governance, 

thanked him for providing 

such a veritable platform for the 

people and other critical stakeholders 

in the society to meet and 

interface with the number one 

citizen of the state. 

At each of the town hall 

meetings, people of all walks of 

life spoke freely; while most of 

them commended the governor 

for his numerous achievements, 

others drew his attention to areas 

needing more action. 

About Koko and Koko Port 

Koko town and port, lies 

along the Benin River, in the 

western Niger River. A collecting 

point for palm oil and 

kernels as well as timber, it can 

be reached by vessels of 14-foot 

(4-metre) draft that navigate the 

50-mile (80-kilometre) distance 

upstream to the port via the Escravos 

River entrance (opened 

1940, on the Bight of Benin) 

and the Youngtown Crossing. 

Although its port was eclipsed 

by Sapele, 20 miles (32 km) 

upstream, the town still serves 

as an agricultural trade centre 

for the Itsekiri people. It was 

reopened as a port of entry in 

1958, and in the late 1970s the 

government rehabilitated its 

berths and promoted fishing 

and shrimp operation in the 

town. Koko is the administrative 

headquarters for the Warri 

North local government area. 

The population of the town is 

estimated (2006) at 19,994 while 

that of the entire local government 

area is 137,300. 

Warri and Warri Port 

Warri is an oil hub in South- 

South Nigeria and houses an 

annex of the Delta State Government 

House. It served as the colonial 

capital of the then Warri 

Province. It shares boundaries 

with Ughelli/Agbarho, Sapele, 

Okpe, Udu and Uvwie; although 

most of these places, notably 

Udu, Okpe and Uvwie, have 

been integrated to the larger 

cosmopolitan Warri. 

Osubi houses an airport 

that serves the city. Effurun 

serves as the gateway to and 

the economic nerve of the city. 

The name Warri province 

was once applicable to the 

part of an area now called 

Delta State under the Colony 

and Protectorate of Southern 

Nigeria. Its boundary in 

Editorial coordinator’s corner: 

Understanding Delta’s 2018 fiscal direction: 

IGR and Statutory allocation 

State is expected to impact 

positively on our IGR in 

the forthcoming year. It is, 

therefore, our projection to 

generate the sum of N71.3bn 

as internally generated revenue 

in 2018, representing 

23.94% of the total projected 

revenues. The IGR estimates 

for 2018 is higher than the 

2017 approved estimates by 

N1.1b or 1.67%. 

Statutory allocation 

Using the forecast derived 

from the State’s Fiscal 

Strategy Paper as a guide, 

the sum of N178.1bn or 

59.73% of projected total 

revenue for the 2018 fiscal 

year is expected to come 

from Statutory Allocation. 

This amount is more than 

the sum of N148.9bn projected 

for the 2017 fiscal 

year by N29.1bn or 16.35%. 

The increase is based on 

the optimism that the current 

peaceful atmosphere 

Gov Ifeanyi Okowa (right) and Chairman, Warri South Local 

Government Area, Michael Tidi at Warri Town Hall Meeting 

Cross Section at the Warri Town Hall Meeting 

the Northeast was Sapele/ 

Udu creek near Ughelli and 

Aboh, with Forçados River 

in the Southeast and Jameson 

Creek in the Southwest 

which later changed to Delta 

Province. Warri city is one 

of the major hubs of petroleum 

activities and businesses 

in southern Nigeria. 

It has a population of over 

311,970 people according 

to the national population 

census for 2006. The city is 

one of cosmopolitan cities in 

southern Nigeria comprising 

originally of Urhobo, Itsekiri 

and Ijaw people. Warri is pre- 

in the Niger Delta region 

will be sustained and that, 

with the relative peace being 

experienced, some of the 

oil companies who vacated 

the region will return to the 

State. 

It is also our realistic 

expectation that the gradual 

improvements the Federal 

Government has recorded 

in the agriculture and manufacturing 

sectors will continue 

to impact positively on 

dominantly Christian with 

mixture of African traditional 

religions like most of towns 

in Southern Nigeria. The city 

is known nationwide for its 

unique Pidgin English. 

Movement of goods by sea is 

through the Nigerian Ports Authority 

(Delta Ports), mainly for 

export and import of goods by 

major companies. Also located 

on the main Warri riverside 

are markets and jetties used 

by local traders, which act as a 

transit point for local transport 

and trade. There are local boats 

used for movement from one 

location to another. 

the overall expected returns 

in the 2018 fiscal year. 

Other capital receipts/miscellaneous 

The proposal for Capital 

Receipts for the 2018 budget 

has been scaled down from 

the sum of N64.8bn in the 

2017 budget to N37.9bn 

or 71.09% in 2018. The reduction 

is hinged on the 

overriding objective to reduce 

the loan burden on 

the State. 

Delta begins 

selection of 

poultry 

farmers for 

livestock 

development 

The Delta State 

Government 

through the 

Ministry of 

Agriculture and Natural 

Resources has commenced 

the selection of 

farmers, especially pig 

and poultry farmers to 

participate in livestock 

development programs of 

the state. 

A statement signed by 

the Director of Information, 

Paul Osahor, stated 

that the programmes 

include Pig Multiplication 

and Farmer Support 

Programme and Broiler 

Out-Grower Scheme. 

According the statement, 

the objectives of 

the programmes were to 

facilitate farmers’ access 

to critical production 

inputs and credit, equip 

farmers with modern and 

innovative skills required 

for profitable production 

and integrate small-scale 

farmers into the mainstream 

livestock value 

chain. 

It stated that interested 

farmers were required 

to have facilities for fattening 

a minimum of 30 

pigs for the Pig Multiplication 

and Farmer Support 

Programme and production 

of at least 1,000 

broilers for the Broiler 

Out-Grower Scheme. 

The statement added 

that on selection, the 

farmers would be given 

credit in kind and cash 

after producing credible 

guarantors who must be 

civil servants not below 

salary grade level 12 for 

small scale farmers and 

salary grade level 15 for 

medium scale farmers. 

Interested farmers, 

the statement said, were 

to apply for either of the 

programmes by collecting 

application forms 

from the headquarters 

of the Ministry of Agriculture 

and Natural 

Resources or any of the 

Area Offices in the 25 local 

government areas. 

The statement said 

that while collection 

of the form is free-ofcharge, 

completed application 

forms must be 

submitted on or before 

two weeks.



C002D5556 

Live @ The Stock Exchange 

Top Gainers/Losers as at Monday 09 April 2018 Market Statistics as at Monday 09 April 2018 

GAINERS 

Company Opening Closing Change 

GLAXOSMITH N29 N30 1 

CHAMPION N2.28 N2.48 0.2 

CCNN N17.8 N18 0.2 

MANSARD N2.4 N2.52 0.12 

FIDSON N5.68 N5.8 0.12 

LOSERS 

Company Opening Closing Change 

UNILEVER N59.8 N55 -4.8 

WAPCO N44.2 N41 -3.2 

DANGCEM N254.9 N252 -2.9 

GUINNESS N104 N103 -1 

DANGFLOUR N13.8 N13.15 -0.65 

ASI (Points) 40,429.18 

DEALS (Numbers) 4,285.00 

VOLUME (Numbers) 287,036,155.00 

VALUE (N billion) 4.947 

MARKET CAP (N Trn 14.603 

Nigerian stock market loses N150bn 

…as Unilever, Lafarge, Dangote Cement lead laggards 

Stories by 

Iheanyi Nwachukwu 

Nigerian stock 

m a r k e t 

lost about 

N150billion 

on Monday 

April 9, 2018 as 30 stocks 

lost their values against 

only 17 gainers. President 

Muhammadu Buhari on 

Monday declared his intention 

to seek re-election 

in 2019. 

Stocks that led the basket 

of losers include Unilever 

Nigeria Plc as well as 

two cement makers, Lafarge 

Africa Plc and Dangote 

Cement Plc. 

The Nigerian Stock Exchange 

(NSE) All Share 

Index (ASI) decreased 

by 1.01percent, while the 

Year-to-Date (ytd) return 

stood at 5.72percent. The 

All Share Index closed 

at 40,429.18 points as 

against the preceding day 

close of 40,841.14 points 

while Market Capitalisation 

closed at N14.604 

trillion, against preceding 

day close of N14.753 

trillion, down by N150billion. 

The volume of stock 

traded decreased by 

42.8percent, from 

501.96million 

to 

287.03million, while the 

total value of stocks traded 

decreased by 15.37percent, 

from N5.84billion 

to N4.94billion in 4,285 

deals. At the close of 

trading by 2:30 pm Nigeria 

time on April 9, 

2018, the share price of 

Unilever Nigeria Plc recorded 

highest decline, 

from N59.8 to N55, down 

by N4.8 or 8.03percent; 

followed by Lafarge Africa 

Plc which declined 

from N44.2 to N41, down 

by N3.2 or 7.24percent; 

while Dangote Cement 

Plc dipped from N254.9 

to N252, down by N2.9 or 

1.14percent. Also, Guinness 

Nigeria Plc dipped 

from N104 to N103, down 

by N1 or 0.96percent. 

GlaxoSmithKline 

Consumer Nigeria Plc 

stock rallied most from 

N29 to N30, up by N1 or 

3.45percent; Champion 

Breweries followed after 

its share price increased 

from N2.28 to N2.48, up 

by 20kobo or 8.77percent; 

Cement Company 

of Northern Nigeria Plc 

advanced from N17.8 

to N18, up by 20kobo or 

1.12percent. 

FBN Holdings Plc, Skye 

Bank Plc, FCMB Group 

Plc, Zenith Bank Plc 

and Nigerian Breweries 

Plc were actively traded 

stocks on the Nigerian 

Stock Exchange. 

The Financial Services 

sector led the activity 

chart on Monday with 

229.65million shares exchanged 

for N1.89billion; 

followed by Consumer 

Goods with 31.241 million 

shares traded for N2.855 

billion. 

Lafarge Africa net sales rises by 36% for full year 2017 

Lafarge Africa Plc recorded 

net sales of 

N299billion in full 

year results for the 

year ended December 2017 

which represents a 36percent 

growth compared to 

the corresponding period 

in 2016. Recurring Earnings 

before interest, tax, 

depreciation and amortisation 

(EBITDA) doubled to 

N57.6billion. 

The CEO of Lafarge Africa 

Plc Michel Puchercos attributed 

the strong margins 

in the Nigerian business to 

cost initiatives and more favorable 

pricing. 

Puchercos disclosed 

that Lafarge Africa Plc’s industrial 

operations in 2017 

were stable with plants operating 

at high reliability 

levels. He also noted that the 

energy optimization plan 

for the company has been 

successful with increased 

use of Alternative Fuel and 

Coal to offset gas shortages 

in operations in the West 

while plant operations in the 

eastern and northern part of 

the country relied mainly on 

gas and coal. He said these 

logistic, commercial and operational 

initiatives helped 

to sustain market share in 

the year under review. 

Lafarge Africa Plc, a 

leading Sub-Saharan Africa 

building materials company 

is a subsidiary of Lafarge- 

Holcim, a world leader in 

building materials. Listed on 

the Nigerian Stock Exchange 

with a presence in Africa’s 

two largest economies, Nigeria 

and South Africa, Lafarge 

Africa is actively participating 

in the urbanization and 

economic growth of Africa. 

In 2017, Lafarge Africa 

Plc objective was to optimise 

its ownership and financing 

structure. The simplification 

of its ownership structure 

was achieved through the 

delisting of AshakaCem and 

subsequently a scheme of 

the re-organisation of capital 

which enabled minority 

shareholders to exchange 

their shares for Lafarge Africa 

shares. This was successfully 

closed in fourth-quarter 

(Q4) 2017. Lafarge Africa 

Plc now owns 100percent of 

the shares of AshakaCem. 

UniCem and Atlas were also 

merged into Lafarge Africa 

in Q4 2017 for optimal benefit 

of the fiscal attributes of 

merging entities. 

The South African business 

thrived in a challenging 

business environment, 

operations are set to stabilize 

in year 2018. The Lichtenburg 

plant returned 

to normal operations in the 

course of the year. A turnaround 

plan was initiated in 

order to transform the company’s 

operations. 

A detailed review of key 

projects in Nigeria such as 

the Road in Calabar and of 

mothballed assets in South 

Africa led to an impairment 

of N19.1bn. The combination 

of these impairments 

and the net loss in South Africa 

of N18.7bn led to a Group 

Net loss of N34.6bn compared 

to a profit of N16.8bn 

in 2016. A final dividend of 

150kobo per ordinary share 

payable from the pioneer 

profits subject to approval 

will be paid to shareholders 

whose names appear in the 

Register of Members at the 

close of business on the 27th 

of April 2018. 

Lafarge Africa successfully 

raised N131billion by 

way of Rights Issue, the largest 

Rights Issue by size raised 

in Nigeria so far. Minority 

participation was in the 50s, 

while LafargeHolcim subscribed 

to the un-allotted 

portion. 

This brings the ownership 

of Lafarge Holcim to 

76.32percent from 71.35percent 

prior to the Rights Issue 

“The expected recovery 

in the macroeconomic environment 

in Nigeria is likely 

to have a positive impact in 

the overall cement market in 

Nigeria. 

CPMI, IOSCO provides guidance on harmonisation 

of critical OTC derivatives data elements 

A 

new report provides 

technical 

guidance to 

authorities on 

harmonised definitions, 

formats and usage of a set 

of critical data elements 

for over-the-counter 

(OTC) derivative transactions 

reported to trade 

repositories, excluding 

the Unique Transaction 

Identifier (UTI) and the 

Unique Product Identifier 

(UPI). 

Entitled Harmonisation 

of critical OTC derivatives 

data elements (other than 

UTI and UPI), the report 

is published jointly by the 

Committee on Payments 

and Market Infrastructures 

(CPMI) and the International 

Organization 

of Securities Commissions 

(IOSCO). 

The guidance helps 

achieve the goal set by the 

Group of 20 for all OTC 

derivatives contracts to be 

reported to trade repositories, 

as part of a commitment 

to improve transparency, 

mitigate systemic risk 

and prevent market abuse. 

Harmonised critical data 

elements facilitate the consistent 

global aggregation 

and analysis of OTC derivatives 

transaction data 

reported across trade repositories. 

Authorities can then use 

this information to meet 

their legal obligations and 

prudential responsibilities. 

Aggregating data helps 

provide authorities with an 

overview of activity in the 

OTC derivatives market so 

that they can better assess 

the risks to financial stability. 

The report provides 

guidance on the harmonisation 

of data elements 

related to dates, counterparties, 

regular and other 

payments, valuation and 

collateral, prices and quantities, 

packages, links and 

custom baskets. The guidance 

is global in scope and 

jurisdiction-agnostic, taking 

account of any relevant 

international technical 

standards. The report does 

not prescribe which critical 

data elements should be 

reported in a given jurisdiction. 

Rather, if jurisdictions 

require such data elements 

to be reported, this document 

guides authorities in 

setting the definitions, format 

and allowable values.


NEWS ANALYSIS 

C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

31 

Buhari’s second term declaration: Matters arising 

The declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari for second term did not come to many political commentators 

as a surprise. Owede Agbajileke writes that to most analysts, what would have been news was if President 

Buhari had declined to re-contest for the 2019 general elections. 

They hinged their 

argument on 

the fact that the 

President’s body 

language had 

already indicated that he 

would run for second term. 

Recall that his Chief of 

Staff, Abba Kyari; Secretary 

to the Government of the 

Federation, Boss Mustapha; 

presidential spokesmen, 

Femi Adesina and Garba 

Shehu as well as minister 

of communications, Adebayo 

Shittu; the embattled 

All Progressives Congress 

(APC) national chairman, 

John Odigie-Oyegun, 

among others, had declared 

that Buhari would seek reelection 

in the forthcoming 

general elections under the 

governing party. 

Following his formal announcement 

at the APC National 

Executive Committee 

(NEC) on Monday, the retired 

general has defied elder 

statesmen, retired generals 

and former presidents 

- Olusegun Obasanjo and 

Ibrahim Babangida, who 

had earlier asked him not 

to seek re-election and give 

way for younger generation. 

Buhari, 75, will be contesting 

with other younger 

Nigerians who have thrown 

their hats in the ring, like: 

47-year-old Sahara Reporters 

publisher, Omoyele 

Sowore, and 54-year-old 

former deputy governor 

of Central Bank of Nigeria 

(CBN), Kingsley Moghalu. 

Leader of the Northern 

Elders Forum (NEF), Tanko 

Yakasai, described the declaration 

as “no news,” adding, 

“Nigerians had abandoned 

the APC long ago.” 

The elder statesman who 

stated that the declaration 

did not take him by surprise, 

attributed his reaction 

to how the President’s 

supporters “had been behaving.” 

“His supporters did not 

seem to know that Nigerians 

have changed their 

mind about the APC. My 

advice to Nigerians is that 

they should be more conscious 

about their future 

and the future of their children.” 

Former minister of special 

duties, Tanimu Yakubu, 

while also reacting, expressed 

happiness that the 

President was re-contesting 

the election. 

Yakubu, a chieftain of 

the People’s Democratic 

Party, PDP, in a telephone 

interview with Business- 

Day in Abuja, said the party 

would be happy to square 

it up again with President 

Buhari. 

“We are happy because, 

it is going to be a rematch 

with President Buhari. It is 

the President that we want 

to defeat,” adding, “We are 

happy that the APC is most 

likely to represent him for 

the 2019 Presidential election. 

“Nigerians are fully 

aware of the misrule, fragmentation 

and neglects” 

the APC had visited on Nigeria 

since the inception of 

the current administration. 

“We are not afraid of 

the APC and the President 

because they have 

created more division 

and insecurity among Nigerians 

than they inherited,” 

Yakubu said. 

He added that the PDP 

is however working to 

conduct the most transparent, 

free and fair primaries 

that will produce 

their own candidate. 

“You know the PDP is 

the biggest party in Nigeria, 

we are working to 

produce our candidate 

through free, fair and 

transparent primaries,” 

he said 

In what could be described, 

as a case of ‘one 

man’s meat is another 

man’s poison,’ while Tunde 

Bakare, Lagos cleric and 

running mate to Buhari in 

the 2011 presidential election, 

kicked against the 

President’s re-election, 

Kano State governor, Abdullahi 

Ganduje, had threatened 

to drag the President 

to court should he not seek 

re-election. 

In what 

shocked many 

people, Mrs 

Buhari in 2016 

warned her 

husband that 

she might not 

back him at 

the next election 

unless he 

shook up his 

government 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

By Monday’s announcement, 

Buhari had failed to 

tow the line of late South 

African President, Nelson 

Mandela, who refused to 

seek re-election on the 

platform of the African National 

Congress (ANC) despite 

pressure from many 

quarters. The development 

made him the cynosure of 

all eyes in the international 

community. 

What next for Aisha 

Buhari, Alhassan? 

Observers are watching 

keenly the next moves by 

wife of the President, Aisha 

Buhari, and minister of 

women affairs, Aisha Alhassan, 

who had earlier passed 

a vote of no confidence on 

the President. 

In what shocked many 

people, Mrs Buhari in 2016 

warned her husband that 

she might not back him at 

the next election unless he 

shook up his government. 

In an interview with the 

British Broadcasting Corporation 

(BBC), Aisha Buhari 

suggested his government 

had been hijacked by only a 

“few people,” who were behind 

presidential appointments. 

She said the President 

did not know most of the officials 

he had appointed. 

“The President does not 

know 45 out of 50 of the 

people he appointed and 

I don’t know them either, 

despite being his wife of 27 

years.” 

She said people who 

did not share the vision of 

the ruling APC were now 

appointed to top posts because 

of the influence a 

“few people” wield. 

“Some people are sitting 

down in their homes folding 

their arms only for them 

to be called to come and 

head an agency or a ministerial 

position,” she said. 

In the same vein, in 

2017, Aisha Alhassan, restated 

her position that she 

would support a former vice 

president, Atiku Abubakar, 

for the 2019 presidential 

election. In an interview 

with BBC Hausa, Alhassan, 

popularly called Mama 

Taraba, added, “If President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

decides to contest in 2019, 

she would still support Mr. 

Abubakar. 

“Atiku is my godfather 

even before I joined politics. 

And again, Baba Buhari did 

not tell us that he is going to 

run in 2019. Let me tell you 

today that if Baba said he is 

going to contest in 2019, I 

swear to Allah, I will go before 

him and kneel and tell 

him that ‘Baba I am grateful 

for the opportunity you gave 

me to serve your government 

as a minister but Baba 

just like you know I will support 

only Atiku because he 

is my godfather. If Atiku said 

he is going to contest,” the 

minister said in Hausa. 

Although both women 

are yet to react to the President’s 

declaration, analysts 

say it shows the level of discontent 

with the president’s 

leadership, who was elected 

in 2015 on the platform of 

change. 

Fate of other presidential 

aspirants 

Having declared, the development 

may have put to 

rest the ambitions of other 

presidential aspirants in the 

governing party who have 

tipped as the President’s replacement 

had he decided 

not to seek re-election. 

Those tipped to be nursing 

presidential ambition 

include: former Speaker, 

House of Representatives 

and Sokoto State Aminu 

Tambuwal; former Kano 

State Governor and Senator 

representing Kano Central, 

Rabiu Kwankwaso and Senate 

President Bukola Saraki. 

The development also 

comes at a time Buhari’s 

popularity has waned, following 

what most critics 

have attributed to his inability 

to fulfil his campaign 

promises. 

They buttress their argument 

with the massive 

PDP rally in Katsina State, 

chanting anti-Buhari slogan 

on a day the President 

was in his home state of 

Katsina. They recalled how 

former President Goodluck 

Jonathan and PDP officials 

were pelted with stones in 

Katsina State in the buildup 

to the 2015 polls. 

Mixed reactions trail 

announcement on social 

media 

Meanwhile, mixed reactions 

have trailed the President’s 

announcement on 

social media. While some 

commentators on the President’s 

Facebook page were 

opposed to his second 

term declaration, others expressed 

support for him. 

A Facebook user, Badung 

Joshua, argued that old age 

would limit the President’s 

performance, urging him to 

throw in the towel. 

His words: “For God’s 

sake, at what age do you 

want to still rule Nigeria 

without shame! For God’s 

sake, it’s in this same country, 

we are denied jobs at 

the age of 30 and above that 

we are too old to work in 

any government offices: 

“But the President in this 

same country is ruling at 

above 70 years! 

Tell me what brain, energy 

and leadership skill 

do you still have that those 

youths who are denied recruitments 

at all level do 

not have? 

“It’s only in this country 

that old men are preferred 

at the expense of the young. 

What a shame to an old 

man who can’t wilfully resign 

to allow fresh blood to 

impact!” 

Another user, Akintunde 

Temitope, said: “This can 

only happen in Nigeria 

whereby a man that has 

done nothing will want 

to contest again. You and 

I know that in a civilized 

clime, this inept man would 

have been impeached. 

What a disgraceful act, calamity 

will not befall us in 

2019”. 

Also, Sunday Peters said: 

“Your report card doesn’t 

encourage running again, 

retire and rest. Give the 

youths a chance, you have 

tried your best unfortunately 

it wasn’t good enough for 

today’s Nigeria”. 

But other Facebook users 

expressed support for him. 

Commenting on the President’s 

post, announcing his 

decision to seek re-election, 

Fedeco Mammadi said: “I 

am ever willing to support 

you even with the few resources 

I have because I am 

confident that the future is 

secured with you”. 

Also, another user, 

George Oluwaniyi, said: “I 

was there for you in 2015. By 

God’s grace, I will be there 

for you again till 2019. Don’t 

mind those children of hate, 

Baba you are God sent”. 

Also, Ibrahim Margima 

Ishidi, said: “We the entire 

people of North East are 

happy by this noble intention, 

you should be rest assured 

that our votes for you 

is guaranteed!”.



INTERVIEW 

How technology is helping us tell unique 

stories about tradition and culture in Africa 

Regina Olarewaju, managing director of Komotion Studios recently spoke to Frank Eleanya on how the company is using 

technology innovations such as 3D simulations, virtual reality, animations to create unique stories about Nigeria and Africa. 

What is that problem Komotion 

Studios wants to solve in Nigeria? 

Komotion Studios started 

out as a production 

service providing company 

that catered to 

Brands and Advertising 

Agencies, however we identified a 

gap in the entertainment industry 

that needed to be filled. We have 

evolved to become a content creation 

company that specializes 

in a broad array of entertainment 

solutions from animation, visual 

effects to virtual reality. These specific 

areas aid in creating compelling 

content that is capable of engaging, 

entertaining and passing messages 

across clearly. 

Most recently we delved into film 

making with our pilot project DAWN 

OF THUNDER- THE LEGACY OF 

SANGO. We are utilizing our skill set 

to tell an original African story in a 

bid to export our culture, educate 

our children about tradition and 

culture while also entertaining them 

and ultimately show the world that 

there is more to the Nigerian culture 

than what they perceive. 

Our sister company Gidi Virtual 

Tours specializes in 360 panoramic 

virtual tour creation of locations. 

The goal is to use this skill set to 

attract more tourists to the Country 

as our virtual tours can be viewed 

via mobile, PC or Virtual Reality 

headsets by anyone anywhere in 

the world viewing as though they 

were there in person. We have assisted 

clients such as Greensprings 

School, Corona Secondary School, 

Meadowhall Group, Lagos Business 

School, Federal Palace Hotel, 

Transcorp Hilton, MainOne etc 

to showcase their facilities in the 

most innovative and effective way, 

reaching clients locally and internationally. 

When providing content delivery 

for a client, what do you aim for? 

Two things we always aim for are 

high quality and meeting deadlines. 

We are able to deliver on 

these because we are a flexible and 

versatile team. We believe nothing 

is impossible and no matter the 

creative concept, we can bring it to 

visual reality at the highest quality 

attainable while meeting their 

deadlines. 

How long have you been in business 

and what has been the lessons 

learnt in using technology to solve 

problems? 

Komotion Studios is 2 years old, 

and started with my husband and 

I as founders. As we have grown 

exponentially, we strongly believe 

we have established ourselves as 

a professional creative content 

solutions provider that caters to a 

plethora of industries. 

Regina Olarewaju 

From inception, we have been 

a technologically driven company 

and are always seeking ways to 

utilize both art and technology to 

produce cutting edge solutions for 

our clients. Technology has come to 

stay in the entertainment industry 

all over the world with solutions 

for various tasks. One of the key 

parts of our company is research 

and development (R&D). We try 

to soak up latest relevant global 

trends which enables us generate 

more interesting ways of creating 

appealing content for a wider range 

of audiences. 

Like I said earlier, we delved 

into virtual reality content creation 

in 2016. We wanted to use this 

medium to create more immersive 

experiences for brands who wanted 

a more interactive medium to communicate 

with consumers while 

entertaining them in the process. 

One of our strongest areas of 

expertise is in animation. We create 

animated content for brands and 

have recently delved into animated 

film making. Due to the peculiar 

nature of things in the country with 

regards to infrastructure, power 

supply and access to financing, we 

decided to turn to technology in 

order to cut through time and efficiency 

barriers. By utilizing state 

of the arts computers and motion 

capture technology, most of our 

work on character based animations, 

visual effects and motion 

design can now be executed within 

a shorter period of time while delivering 

high quality results. This 

allows us to be more creative and 

focus on making the story we are 

trying to tell shine through. It also 

enables us keep to a schedule and 

deliver promptly. 

3D technology is still a bit hazy for 

many Nigerian businesses. What 

does it mean and how does it apply 

to what Komotion Studios does? 

3D technology simply means 3- 

dimensional technology which is 

capable of creating anything from 

existing to futuristic. It is mostly utilized 

in the entertainment industry 

to enhance existing content or to 

create new ones that bring imaginations 

to life. 

Our focus as a company is on its 

use for entertainment in the areas 

of Animation, Visual effects and virtual 

reality. We create 3D animated 

content for a variety of clients who 

want to engage their audiences differently, 

emphasize more style and 

glamour. 

In the area of visual effects, we 

create 3D simulations and imagery 

that can be composited in existing 

footage to enhance or achieve effects 

that could not be achieved on 

production sets. 

For virtual reality, most of our 

clients want to utilize the medium 

to interact with their audience 

in a different and more engaging 

From inception, 

we have been a 

technologically 

driven company and 

are always seeking 

ways to utilize both 

art and technology 

to produce cutting 

edge solutions for our 

clients 

way. In these scenarios, we utilize 

a combination of 3D imagery and 

motion graphics to create virtual 

experiences. 

The use of technologies like animation, 

virtual reality, 3D visualization, 

has become mainstream 

in industries like Hollywood, why 

is it taking so long to take off in the 

Nigerian entertainment industry? 

Where there is demand, there is 

always a market. Animation and 

3d visualization have always been 

around but the industry which they 

belong to hasn’t had the necessary 

boost and support to guaranty 

growth. Virtual reality hasn’t broken 

through yet because of a lack 

of proper education on the benefits 

of it to businesses which need to 

interact with customers in a more 

interactive manner. 

Tell us some of the groundbreaking 

works you have done and 

what the response of the market 

has been? 

We released a proof of concept for 

our feature length 3D animated 

movie “DAWN OF THUNDER- 

LEGACY OF SANGO’ in August 2017 

in a bid to garner support to create 

a world class production from Nigeria 

(www.dawnofthunder.com). 

Since its release, we have gathered 

collectively over 3million views 

on various media platforms; our 

work has been featured on various 

local and international platforms 

including BBC World news most 

recently. It has also been selected 

in four international film festivals. 

The reception has been amazing 

from people of different races from 

all over the world; it’s as if the world 

was waiting for something like this. 

With this project, we set out to 

educate the world about our culture 

and tradition. A lot of us have forgotten 

about our roots and have adopted 

other cultures and traditions, 

our children now speak in foreign 

accents and see cultural things as 

local or fetish; but that is who we 

are and we must embrace it before 

we can move forward as a people. 

Even though we haven’t gotten 

the full support we need to pull 

this off, we have started production 

regardless and are optimistic that 

we will achieve our goal. We are 

optimistic that relevant brands and 

investors will latch unto our project 

and make this a reality for Africa. 

How long do you think, it will take 

Nigeria and Africa to produce 

technology driven big successes 

like Black Panther? 

While I’m very proud of the ‘Black 

Panther’ movie, I still feel it did not 

do justice to telling the African story. 

I feel we have to know where we are 

coming from before we know where 

we are headed; our roots are very 

important. 

So to answer that question- 

DAWN OF THUNDER hopes to start 

a revolution in African storytelling 

and we believe it’s happening now. 

Is there a role government policy 

can play in accelerating adoption 

of new technologies to help the 

creative industry grow? 

I don’t think there are any embargoes 

on the adoption of new 

technology in Nigeria. However, I 

believe that the creative industry 

is one to watch out for, this is an 

economy booster. We have thriving 

businesses, raw talent within this 

space but the only things that are 

hindering the growth of this industry 

are access to finance, infrastructure 

and power supply. We have the capacity 

to create world class content 

that can cut across demographics, 

we just need the Government to 

believe in us and invest in us. 

How do you generate your unique 

content? 

For us, the stage of conceptualization 

is key and we believe “content 

is King and everything else is a tool”. 

A deep understanding of your audience 

and what they can gravitate or 

relate to is a major factor in creating 

content that gets their undivided attention 

even if it’s for a short period 

of time. Respecting the power of 

good and effective content, as well 

as proper execution is what makes 

our work unique. 

What are the major challenges 

companies like yours are facing 

in Nigeria? 

The obvious challenges as highlighted 

above are access to funds/grants, 

poor infrastructure, inadequate 

power supply. While technology 

can hasten the pace of producing 

ground breaking work, it comes at 

a price and we still need constant 

power supply to work. 

What is the outlook for digital 

content generation and Komotion 

Studios? 

There is currently an unstoppable 

rise in Digital Content creation 

globally and Komotion Studios is 

contributing its quota to that. We 

believe we have what it takes to tell 

truly African stories and package 

this in a way that gives it a more 

global appeal and acceptance. We 

have started strong with our first 

project which we are turning into 

a feature film, but there is still a lot 

more to be done and we intend to 

take it one step at a time. We are 

optimistic that content will be a new 

currency and the creators will have 

the power to affect the world in ways 

unimaginable.We want to be one of 

those at the forefront.


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

33 

NEWS 

CBN sees external reserves hitting $50bn... 


Monday at the ongoing seminar 

for finance correspondents and 

business editors in Uyo, Akwa 

Ibom State. 

Nigeria’s external reserves currently 

stand at $47.3 billion as of 

April 5, 2018 up 105 percent from 

a low of $23 billion in October 2016. 

Foreign exchange supply has 

improved since the CBNs establishment 

of the Investors and 

Exporters (I&E) Window, with 

autonomous inflows of over US$20 

billion through this window alone 

from April 2017 to date. 

Exchange rate has appreciated 

significantly from over N525/US$1 

in February 2017 to about N360/ 

US$1 today, tapering premium 

across various windows and segments 

of the market. 

The inflation rate has declined 

from a peak of 18.7 percent in January 

2017 to 14.3 percent currently. 

“As the sentiments improve 

in the macro economy and supported 

by proactive monetary, 

Shell paid FG $4.32bn for 2017 production... 


for production entitlement. 

According to the corporation’s 

sustainability report released yesterday, 

the company through its 

Nigerian affiliate, Shell Petroleum 

Development Corporation (SPDC) 

Joint Venture said it has contributed 

$23 billion to the Nigerian 

government from 2013–2017. 

Shell further said the share of 

royalties and corporate taxes it 

paid to the Nigerian government 

in 2017 amounted to $1.1 billion, 

it subsidiaries, SPDC paid $0.4 

billion while Shell Nigeria Exploration 

and Production Company 

SNEPCo paid $0.7 billion. 

When contacted, Ndu Ughamadu, 

NNPC spokesman said he 

would confirm the claims but was 

yet to get back to BusinessDay 

before publication. 

However, if NNPC were a real 

company accountable to shareholders 

including the Federal government 

and States , its reported 

loss of N6billion in December 

alone should raise eyebrows and 

concern . However, this pattern of 

losses has been the norm for the 

past 30 years. 

Between 2012 and 2016, NNPC 

generated N15.5 trillion in revenues 

but it also recorded a deficit 

of N3.1 trillion, and recorded 

expenses valued at N18.6 trillion 

in the same period, according to 

an investigation by a senate committee. 

Former Central Bank governor, 

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, raised 

alarm in September 2013, that between 

January 2012 and July 2013, 

NNPC had diverted the sum of $20 

billion meant for the Federation 

Account. 

Probes carried out by PwC Nigeria, 

a professional service firm, 

revealed unaccounted oil sales, 

including $20 billion established 

for 2014 alone. 

NNPC claims the bulk of its 

losses comes from subsidy on fuel 

importation which Ibe Kachikwu, 

minister of state for petroleum 

resources recently put at over N1.4 

trillion in a year. 

Rafiq Raji, chief economist at 

Macroafricaintel, said the NNPC 

is in the best position to explain 

to Nigerians what it does with the 

revenue it gets. 

trade, industrial and fiscal policies, 

we expect a continued uptick in 

GDP growth with a positive spill 

over to improved unemployment 

rate,” Emefiele said. 

Emefiele noted that GDP recovered 

after five quarters of continuous 

contraction recording positive 

growths of 0.7 and 1.4 percent in 

quarters two and three of 2017, 

respectively, and signalling an exit 

from the recession. 

“We expect a re-doubling of 

strong policy coordination and cooperation 

which flourished during 

the very difficult times. To sustain 

our recovery, the need is greater 

now than ever for a robust collaboration 

between the key members 

of economic policymaking space,” 

Emefiele added. 

This he said would include 

fiscal, monetary, exchange, and 

trade policies, which must be targeted 

at protecting farmers to boost 

agricultural outputs, supporting 

local companies and enhancing 

manufacturing and industrial ca- 

But the organisation is unwilling. 

While it claimed over the 

weekend that it has completed 

outstanding audit on its financial 

statements from the years 2011 

to 2016, it has refused to make it 

public. Scrutiny from the lawmakers 

has made as much impact as a 

wink in the dark. 

Value realised from the sale of 

Nigerian crude have had little impact 

on Nigerians. The life expectancy 

in Africa’s biggest economy is 

a paltry 53 years, in Norway a fellow 

oil producer, it is 82 years and 64 

years in Rwanda. Nigeria has the 

fourth worst maternal mortality 

rate in the world, ahead of only 

Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, 

and Chad and one in three 

Nigerian children is chronically 

malnourished. 

“Tragically, 40 years after Beko 

Ransome-Kuti helped other countries 

set a course for the future, 

the Nigerian primary health care 

system is broken. The evidence for 

this can be found in the epidemic 

of chronic malnutrition, or stunting. 

As the name suggests, chronic 

malnutrition is not a disease children 

catch. It is a condition that develops 

over time because they are 

deprived of a diverse diet and the 

services a strong primary health 

care system provides,” Bill Gates 

told Nigerian leaders in a recent 

address at the National Executive 

Council meeting. 

Africa’s biggest economy relies 

on donor assistance to fund and 

immunise its children and equip 

primary health centres. 

“Your national income level is 

about to make you ineligible for 

certain kinds of development assistance 

and loans that you’ve been 

relying on to fund your health system 

and other priorities. Without 

more and better spent domestic 

money, investment in your people 

will decline by default as donor 

money shrinks—a lose-lose scenario 

for everyone,” said Gates. 

Rising from its 260th Monetary 

Policy Committee (MPC) and the 

first for 2018, on April 4, the Central 

Bank of Nigeria warned that the 

country’s penchant to eat all the 

proceeds from its oil resources 

without a robust savings programme 

to wade-off future shocks 

from falling oil prices, would be 

pacities, with a view to diversifying 

the economy away from oil and 

fossil fuels. 

In his address, Okafor Nwokoro, 

branch controller, CBN, Uyo said 

the naira which had exchanged for 

as high as N540 per dollar a year ago 

has since stabilised at N360 per dollar 

in a record time proving wrong 

the notion that in Nigeria, when 

prices go up they don’t come down. 

The Central Bank of Nigeria 

(CBN) is also in the process of 

finalizing the creation of a N500 

billion fund in partnership with 

the Nigeria Export- Import Bank 

(NEXIM) to assist local manufacturers 

interested in non-oil exports, 

Emefiele revealed. 

This is part of the regulator’s 

efforts towards providing access 

to much-needed credit to sectors 

with the potential to create jobs on 

a mass scale. 

Nigeria has recorded persistent 

increase in unemployment rate to 

16.2 percent in the second quarter 

of 2017, from 8.2 percent at the same 

period of 2015, according to National 

Bureau of Statistics (NBS), data. 

We did not take money from FG for tomato... 


policies in the manufacturing 

sector are inconsistent and 

mean only death for local 

manufacturers. 

“Government should decide 

whether they want tomato 

to be made-in-Nigeria or made 

in other countries. If they want 

indigenous manufacturers to 

shut down, then we are ready 

to shut down and join importers,” 

Umeofia says. 

According to him, foreigners 

are deeply interested in 

the Nigerian economy and 

are ready to sabotage it because 

they want to perpetuate 

importation and kill local 

investors. 

The Erisco chairman says 

he restrained himself from 

retrenching workers (but even 

added more staff) during recession 

and when times were 

tough in the country, but may 

be forced to retrench workers 

if things do not change. 

“This system has made a 

contract with poverty. The 

truth is that President Muhammadu 

Buhari wants to chase 

out poverty but the MDAs 

have signed a contract with 

poverty,” he states. 

He stresses that government 

agencies have refused to curb 

importation of cheap tomato 

pastes into Nigeria, thereby 

killing the factories built by 

people like him that have 

invested billions into local 

manufacturing in the country. 

“Who will see cheap items 

from China and buy Nigerian 

products?” he asks. 

“I have advised the government 

to support indigenous 

manufacturers to develop this 

country but all policies seem 

to be in favour of importation,” 

he added. 

Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing (2nd r); Okezie Ikpeazu, governor of Abia State (r); 

Eze Uhuegbu, traditional ruler of the host community, Ohiya (l), and Emeka Nwachukwu, former commissioner 

for Works (2nd l), during the commissioning of 40MVA, 132/33kv mobile power transformer, shortly before the 

26th meeting with operators in the power sector hosted by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), at the 

Ohiya Transmission Substation, Umuahia, Abia State, yesterday. 

disastrous. 

“MPC observed increasing 

monetization of oil proceeds as 

evident in the growing Federation 

Accounts Committee (FAAC) 

distribution, relative to the 2017 

level of disbursements. The Committee 

urged the Government 

to initiate strong stabilization 

programmes and to freeze the 

growth in its aggregate expenditure 

and FAAC distributions in 

order to create savings; needed 

to stabilize the economy against 

future oil price related shocks,” 

said Godwin Emefiele, the CBN 

governor. 

Shell Petroleum Development 

Company (SPDC) in the 2017 sustainability 

report also stated that 

oil spills in its operational areas 

are caused by oil theft, sabotage 

of pipelines as well as illegal oil 

refining. 

“In 2017, close to 90% of the 

number of oil spills from SPDC JV 

facilities were due to illegal activities. 

Regrettably, spills also occur 

due to operational reasons,” it said. 

It stated that regardless of the 

cause, it cleans up and remediates 

areas impacted by spills that come 

from its facilities and in the case of 

operational spills, it also pays compensation 

to people and communities 

impacted by the spill once 

the clean-up and remediation are 

completed, the work is inspected, 

and, if satisfactory, approved and 

certified by Nigerian government 

regulators. 

Crude oil theft from SPDC JV’s 

pipeline network amounted to 

around 9,000 barrels of oil a day 

(b/d) in 2017, an increase from 

around 6,000 b/d in the previous 

year. The increase in 2017 can 

partly be explained by the militantinduced 

shutdown of the Forcados 

export terminal in 2016, which reduced 

opportunities for third-party 

interference. 

The number of sabotage-related 

spills in 2017 increased to 62 

from 48 in 2016. In 2017, 92 sites 

were remediated and certified 

(out of 251 identified f), with 32 in 

Ogoniland. During 2017, 84 new 

sites requiring remediation were 

identified, of which eight were in 

Ogoniland. In total, there are 243 

oil spill sites that require remediation, 

according to Shell. 

On the Ogoni clean up, the reports 

said the company is working 

with the relevant stakeholders to 

implement the 2011 UN Environmental 

Programme (UNEP) report 

on Ogoniland. 

“Over the last six years, SPDC 

has taken action on all the UNEP 

recommendations addressed 

specifically to it as operator of the 

joint venture and has completed 

the majority of these recommendations”. 

The UNEP report recommended 

the creation of an Ogoni Restoration 

Fund with $1 billion capital, 

to be co-funded by the Nigerian 

government, the SPDC JV and 

other operators in the area. SPDC 

is supporting and contributing its 

share to the fund and on behalf 

of the SPDC JV made $10 million 

available in 2017 to help set up 

the Hydrocarbon Pollution and 

Remediation Project (HYPREP), a 

government-led body to clean up 

contaminated sites.


C002D5556 


NEWS 

Why Buhari dares Obasanjo, IBB, others to... 


good for Nigerians and also good 

for APC. 

“With this declaration, political 

activities will commence immediately. 

As a leader of a coalition 

of political parties, we have now 

gotten emboldened and we will 

re-strategize. I will go ahead and 

call a meeting immediately with all 

the national chairman of political 

parties in our coalition so that we 

can assess and reassess President 

Buhari’s declaration and proffer 

solution on how to move ahead 

for 2019. It is good that the declaration 

happened on Monday and I 

can assure you that between now 

and Friday, a lot of alignment and 

realignments will commence. 

“Nigerians are the people to 

decide whether the type of government 

they have seen for over three 

years is what they want to continue 

with or they need a change,” he said. 

Obasanjo to respond 

Former President Olusegun 

Obasanjo will react to President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration 

to contest for the 2019 Presidential 

election, a close confidant of the 

former president confirmed. 

Opara told BusinessDay that 

Obasanjo, who is implacably opposed 

to the government of President 

Buhari, is not in the country 

now but will surely issue a statement 

when he returns to the country 

soon. 

Opara said that Obasanjo is 

catalyst for the mass movements 

that have swept across the federation 

in the form of Coalition 

for Nigeria Movement (CNM), the 

Nigeria Intervention Movement 

(NIM) which is in grand coalition 

with about 35 political parties, civil 

society organisations, faith- based 

organisations among others, allegedly 

aimed at removing the 

Buhari government and forming 

a Government of National Unity. 

“We are going to commence 

meeting with Obasanjo to reinforce 

our strategy for 2019. Obasanjo is 

not in the country now but as soon 

as he comes back he will issue a 

statement that Nigerians will follow 

and take it from there,” he said. 

Obasanjo has inspired the Coalition 

for Nigeria Movement (CNM), 

which he launched to allegedly 

unseat President Buhari and the 

ruling All Progressives Congress 

(APC). Obasanjo is also mobilizing 

Nigerians against the return of the 

main opposition Peoples Democratic 

Party (PDP) to power. The 

former president has said that the 

two main parties have led Nigerians 

astray and don’t deserve to be given 

any further chance. 

Recall that Obasanjo issued a 

letter to President Buhari in January 

in which he severely criticized 

the president for failing to better 

the Nigerian economy and failing 

to provide security to the people 

following the incessant attacks by 

armed Fulani herdsmen. 

Obasanjo has since received the 

support of former generals who 

also denounced Buhari over his 

shortcomings. 

Declaration anchored on 

failure -NCP chair 

Meanwhile the National Chairman 

of the National Conscience 

Party (NCP), Tanko Yunusa, said 

Buhari’s declaration gives the people 

little to hope for following the 

pervasive hardship in the country. 

The NCP chair told Business- 

Day on Monday that the declaration 

is not news. “For us we already 

have in mind that he was going to 

run. He has 

the right to run and he is welcome 

to the game. We will put up 

our own team to run against him. 

“But it is clear that the president 

and the government itself have not 

lived up to expectations of Nigerians 

and the cry has been huge. 

Look at the issue of corruption, 

people have seen that it has been 

selective and the issue of economy 

which has been woeful,” he said. 

Leader of the Northern Elders 

Forum (NEF) Tanko Yakasai described 

the declaration as “no 

news” adding that “Nigerians had 

abandoned the All Progressive 

Congress (APC) long ago” 

The elder statesman who stated 

that the declaration did not take 

him by surprise, attributed his 

reaction to how the President’s 

supporters “had been behaving”. 

“His supporters did not seem to 

know that Nigerians have changed 

their mind about the APC” 

“My advice to Nigerians is that 

they should be more conscious 

about their future and the future 

of their children.” 

Former Minister of Special Duties, 

Tanimu Yakubu, while also 

reacting, expressed happiness 

that the President is contesting the 

election. 

Yakubu, a chieftain of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, in a 

telephone chat with BusinessDay 

in Abuja, said the party will be 

happy to square it up again with 

President Buhari. 

“We are happy because, it is going 

to be a rematch with President 

Buhari. It is the President that we 

want to defeat” adding that “we 

are happy that the APC is most 

likely to represent him for the 2019 

Presidential election” 

Yakubu said ”Nigerians are 

fully aware of the misrule, fragmentation 

and neglects” the All 

Progressive Congress had visited 

on Nigeria since the inception of 

the current administration. 

“We are not afraid of the APC 

and the President because they 

have created more division and 

insecurity among Nigerians than 

they inherited.” 

He added that the PDP is however 

working to conduct the most 

transparent, free and fair primaries 

that will produce their own 

candidate. 

“You know the PDP is the biggest 

party in Nigeria, we are working 

to produce our candidate 

through free, fair and transparent 

primaries,” he said. 

Pally Iriase, member of National 

Executive Council (NEC) of APC 

commended the Buhari’s decision 

to seek second term in office as 

Nigeria’s President. 

Iriase who doubles as Deputy 

Majority Whip in the House of 

Representatives, in a chat with 

BusinessDay, described Buhari 

as a focussed leader in the areas 

of anti-corruption crusade and 

infrastructural development. 

“One thing that is very clear about 

this President is that no matter what 

anybody will have against him, he is 

much focused and very passionate 

about repositioning Nigeria and his 

single fight against corruption is what 

Nigerians must commend. 

“Secondly within the limited resources 

available, he has been able 

to show that Nigeria can develop 

and work because not many are 

aware about the huge infrastructural 

L-R: Yoichi Sagara, general manager, Africa division, Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan; Shola Olayemi, representative 

of First Bank Nigeria plc; Michael Ade. Ojo, chairman, Toyota Nigeria Limited, and Henry Ojuoko, head, dealer 

development/special projects, Toyota Nigeria Limited, during the presentation of the Evergreen Customer Award 

to First Bank Nigeria plc, at the Toyota Awards 2017 in Lagos. 

Pic by Pius Okeosisi 

development that is ongoing all over 

the country, roads are receiving attention, 

the rail system is receiving 

attention, the airports are receiving, 

and even the power problem is receiving 

consistent attention. 

“This shows the serious mindedness 

of a President that want to 

turn things around for the betterment 

of Nigeria, he came in at a 

time when things have gotten so 

bad and he has since jettisoned the 

easy escape route of blame game 

and he has settled down to work.” 

Rekindles hope? 

Speaking shortly after the NEC 

meeting held in Abuja, Governor 

Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State 

stressed that the decision by President 

Buhari to seek for re-election 

in 2019 has rekindled hope and 

reassured Nigerians that the restoration 

agenda, the war against 

corruption and enthronement of 

good governance for the country 

will sail safely to coast. 

The governor commended this 

decision shortly after President 

Buhari told the APC NEC of his intention 

to contest the presidential 

election next year in a statement 

signed by his Coordinator, Media 

and Publicity, Jide Orintunsin. 

The Governor noted that the 

President pronouncement has 

rekindled the hope of average 

Nigerians for a better tomorrow. 

“It was so heart-warming when 

the President today told members 

of the national executive committee 

(NEC) of our great party of his 

intention to seek for re-election. 

This is the brightest moment for 

our country. 

A moment that has rekindled 

the hope of our people, a moment 

that has reaffirmed that all the 

good works, the good initiatives 

of the President that saw us out of 

economic recession the country 

was plunged into by mismanagement 

of past administration will 

now be sustained to take us to the 

desired enviable position among 

the comity of nations. 

“By this pronouncement, President 

Muhammadu Buhari has exhibited 

high sense of a good leadership. 

He has shown that he listens to 

the yearnings of millions of Nigerians 

who called on him to continue the 

good work he started since 2015. 

“He would have dashed the 

hope of teeming Nigerians, especially 

the younger ones who are 

looking up to him, if he has turned 

down this call to serve. 

“The onus is now on all good 

and well-meaning Nigerians to rally 

round our President and ensure that 

the reactionary forces of the opposition 

and agents of doom are not 

allowed to dash the much cherish 

hope we all have in the new emerging 

Nigeria by doing the needful 

during the next general election. 

“We cannot afford to go back to 

the dark days of extravagance and 

impunity. President Muhammadu 

Buhari has changed the game, he 

has brought sanity to governance, 

the war against insurgency is nearing 

logical conclusion and our 

economy is improving. Posterity 

will not forgive us as a people if we 

allow this golden opportunity to 

slip off our hands, the President 

has declared, we have to do the 

needful as a people by supporting 

him,” Governor Sani Bello advised. 

What it means for markets 

Despite exiting Nigeria from 

its worst recession in decades 

and gradual stabilization of the 

naira, the decision by 75 years 

old former dictatorship ruler 

and current President Muhammad 

Buhari to run for second 

term still may not restore confidence 

in Nigeria’s economy as 

Africa largest economy continues 

to struggle to find its path 

to greatness. 

Four analysts surveyed by BusinessDay 

were not surprised by the 

president’s decision to contest for 

a second term however they differ 

on expectations for the market. 

“Everything pointed to the fact 

that he wanted it so there is nothing 

new; however his decision 

doesn’t affect the stock market and 

FX market in any form,” Bismarck 

Rewane, CEO of economics consulting 

firm Financial Derivatives 

Limited said. 

“What the market will be looking 

out for is what the other opponents 

are bringing to the table,” 

Rewane added. 

Ayodeji Ebo, managing director 

and CEO of Afrinvest Securities 

Limited was also not surprised 

however and said certainty is very 

pivotal in an investment decision, 

so the President’s decision 

to run will provide some form of 

confidence to investors giving the 

assurance there will be continuity 

of policies if he emerges the winner. 

“It is positive news for manufacturers 

and the real sector market in 

terms of FX stability and Increasingd 

the domestic production of 

goods and services,” Ebo said. 

“Generally, for the economy its 

positive news although a lot still 

has to be done in terms of infrastructure 

funding and FX stability.” 

Dolapo Ashiru, CEO at Lagosbased 

Mega capital financial services 

said the market has been 

expecting that President Buhari will 

come out and contest so the announcement 

was really not an issue. 

“In-fact the major reaction that 

we would have seen in the market 

is if the opposite had happens, because 

the market already expects 

a re-run from him as no Nigerian 

president has ever declared not to 

run for the second time,” Ashiru 

said by Phone. 

After becoming the first opposition 

candidate to win power in 

Nigeria at the ballot box, the Buhari 

led-government has been faced by 

several market uncertainties such 

as Boko Haram Islamist insurgency 

and inconsistent international 

crude oil price from which Nigeria 

generates a bulk of its revenue 

from. 

“Governance is likely going to 

be a casualty, though; the longsuffering 

2018 budget and a recent $1 

billion approval for the military, 

could become pawns in the political 

games to follow,” Rafiq Raji, 

Chief Economist at Macroafricaintel 

told BusinessDay. 

The Nigerian economy has 

been hammered by a lengthy collapse 

in oil prices that began in 

mid-2014, and snowballed into a 

two-decade low of $28 per barrel 

in January 2016. 

The pain inflicted by militant attacks 

in the Niger-delta, which sent 

production levels to near decadelows 

of 1.2 million barrels a day, 

dealt an even steeper blow on the 

oil-dependent economy. 

These factors, alongside the 

75-year old Nigerian president 

attitude on holding the naira rate 

unchanged despite reduced dollar 

inflows y, tipped the economy into 

recession and triggered acute dollar 

shortages that stifled the non-oil 

sector, as the latter contracted 0.2 

percent to record is worst performance 

since 1984. 

•Continues online at www.businessdayonline.com

Tuesdau 10 April 2018 

Lagos plans engagement of media 

on policies, development 

JOSHUA BASSEY 

Lagos State says it is 

working out strategies 

for robust engagement 

with the media 

for better understanding 

and communication of programmes 

and policies aimed 

at further growing the economy 

and fast-tracking development 

across the state. 

Kehinde Bamigbetan, 

commissioner for information 

and strategy, stated this 

Monday, at a news conference 

to mark the third anniversary 

of Governor Akinwunmi 

Ambode-led government. 

Bamigbetan said this was 

necessary as the public sometimes 

misinterpreted government’s 

intention, especially 

with regard to new policies. 

It would be recalled that 

two major programmes of the 

state government in recent 

times - the Land Use Charge 

BoA, SunTrust sign pact to 

improve agribusiness in Nigeria 

HARRISON EDEH, Abuja 

As part of efforts at 

revitalising agriculture 

as alternative 

mainstay 

of the economy, the Bank 

of Agriculture (BOA) and 

SunTrust Bank Monday in 

Abuja sealed an e-banking 

agreement described by 

the minister of agriculture, 

Audu Ogbe, as ‘landmark’ 

and instrumental to the development 

of agricultural 

sector in Nigeria. 

The agreement was 

signed at the Federal Ministry 

of Agriculture in Abuja 

in presence of operators in 

the agric sector. 

Managing director/CEO 

of SunTrust Bank Nigeria 

Limited, Muhammad Jibrin, 

and the chief executive of 

BoA, Kabiru Adamu, signed 

for their respective banks, 

Access Bank introduces USSD code 

*901*11# for payday loan product 

With intent to 

provide quicker 

and instant access 

to loans 

for customers, Access Bank 

has launched a special USSD 

code *901*11#, a strategic tool 

for the recently-launched 

Payday Loan product. 

Unveiled in partnership 

with Remita, Payday Loan 

requires no collateral or guarantor, 

enabling customers to 

obtain loans instantly without 

visiting the bank – thereby 

enabling customers to meet 

their urgent financial needs 

before receiving their salaries. 

In a statement released 

by the bank, Victor Etuokwu, 

executive director, personal 

banking, said, “Acquiring 

loans in Nigeria has always 

been known to be limiting - 

either due to access, collateral 

issues, including the dura- 

(LUC) and the Cleaner Lagos 

Initiative (CLI) generated furore 

with different segments 

of the public giving different 

interpretations to policies. 

According to Bamigbetan, 

the strategic engagements 

would involve the interface 

of relevant segments of the 

media and public with ministries, 

departments and agencies 

germane to the implementation 

of policies, such 

that government’s intentions 

are well communicated. He 

believed this would facilitate 

the implementation of such 

programmes and ultimately 

deepen development of Lagos. 

Bamigbetan said the government 

was also expanding 

its engagement with the public 

on social media platforms 

- including Twitter, Instagram 

and Facebook. He added that 

the target was to secure at 

least 2 million followers on 

Facebook before end of 2018. 

which they said would aid 

agric processes as employment 

generating venture. 

The agreement will among 

other things allows SunTrust 

Bank to deploy its banking 

services and other complementary 

e-banking services 

to simplify BoA services to its 

farmer customers across its 

140 branches in Nigeria. 

Jibrin said the deal would 

also allow it to deploy its banking 

platforms technology like 

ATM and other infrastructure 

for the over one million farmers 

in the kitty of BoA. 

“We will also provide 

training support to the BOA 

staff and at the end of the 

day, it will be a mutually benefitting 

agreement to all parties,” 

Jibrin said. 

In his remark, Adamu expressed 

optimism that the 

MoU would revolutionise agriculture 

in the country. 

tion of the approval process. 

With our obligations to our 

customers especially during 

difficult economic periods, 

we are emphasising Access 

Bank’s position in offering 

lifestyle products and services 

that meets their financial 

needs.” 

Access Bank’s Payday 

Loan product offers customers 

and non-customers easy 

access to a platform that 

gives them access to loans 

against their next salary payment, 

and enables customers 

to obtain a loan instantly 

by simply dialling a USSD 

code *901*11# on their mobile 

phones. 

The product is unique as 

recipients only have to be 

diligent salary earners who 

will now be able to obtain instant 

loans without stress or 

involving a guarantor. 

C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

35 

NEWS 

Adesola Adeduntan, MD/CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Subsidiaries (front row m); Bashirat Odunewu, group executive, 

international banking group, FirstBank (front row, 2nd r); with Members of the executive team of FirstBank’s African Subsidiaries, 

at the FirstBank International Banking Group Retreat held in Lagos. 

Survey: INEC explains absence of registration officials 

in PH, counters claims on e-voting training in north 

IGNATIUS CHUKWU & INNOCENT IWARA 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission 

(INEC) has explained 

why many registration 

centres in Rivers State, 

especially Port Harcourt, do 

not have registration officials. 

Citizens had complained 

of absence of INEC officials 

in many designated centres 

but INEC said those 

were mobile centres, which 

should not be busy daily. 

According to INEC’s head 

of department, Voter Education 

and Publicity in Rivers 

State, Edwin Enabor, the unstable 

registration method 

is a novel exercise done by 

INEC’s “mobile units” and 

aimed at curbing crowd-associated 

challenges. 

Enabor, who spoke with 

BusinessDay on telephone, 

said each local government 

area in Rivers State was initial- 

Edo-EU N4bn water, sanitation projects on course 

The various water and 

sanitation projects 

being executed by 

the Edo State government 

in partnership with the 

European Union (EU), under 

the Niger Delta Support Programme, 

are on course, the 

European Union - Niger Delta 

Support Programme consultant, 

Soji Adeyemi, says. 

Adeyemi explained that 

the Edo State government 

had an “extensive water sector 

policy developed by the 

Godwin Obaseki-led administration 

while a water sector 

master plan is being developed 

by the government in 

partnership with the EU.” 

He disclosed that “two 

agencies of the state government 

will eventually 

take over the management 

of water supply across the 

state - Small Town, Rural 

Water Supply and Sanitation 

Agency, that will provide 

water on a sustainable basis 

to all small towns and rural 

communities; Edo Urban 

Water Corporation, which 

will deal with the supply of 

water to urban areas and the 

management of all dams in 

the state.” 

Special adviser to Governor 

Godwin Obaseki on 

media and communication 

strategy, Crusoe Osagie, explained, 

“To set the record 

straight, the Edo State government 

paid N389 million to 

attract N700 million from the 

EU for water drilling and reticulation 

in Ovia South West 

and Etsako West local government 

areas. 

“In Ovia South West, the 

projects are on course and 

are sighted at Iguatakpa, 

Omorodion, Okoro II, Agbontaen, 

Okponha, Oriakhi 

Water Side, Obobaifo, Ikoha, 

ly designed to have only one 

permanent registration centre, 

but when the commission 

discovered unprecedented 

turnout in some areas, eight 

extra permanent centres were 

created and shared among 

high-turnout centres. 

Investigations revealed 

that some persons who saw 

the INEC banners went there 

to find them empty. Archibong 

Monday, who was only 

16 the last time the window 

for voter registration was 

opened, now looked forward 

to voting in 2019. His efforts 

to register have hit the rocks. 

Monday, who resides at 

Abuloma in Port Harcourt 

Local Government Area 

(PHALGA), said the problem 

was that INEC officials had 

not been stable and appeared 

to have no known registration 

centre close to him. 

“I was told INEC officials 

register potential voters at 

U.P.E School here in Abuloma, 

but when I got there, 

I was told INEC no longer 

has a centre there. I was later 

told they moved to Abuloma 

Town Hall. I went there several 

times without seeing 

them, that is why I have not 

registered yet,” Monday said. 

A quick check by our 

reporter shows that U.P.E. 

Model Primary School, 

which is shown on INEC’s 

website as a collation centre, 

used to service as registration 

centre. But a resident living 

just a stroke away from the 

school’s gate said “I have not 

seen them since this year.” 

Like Monday attested, 

the female resident redirected 

this reporter to Abuloma 

Community Town Hall, 

which, upon inspection, was 

found to be locked with no 

any INEC official in sight. 

“The last time I saw them 

here was January,” said a 

woman selling foodstuff just 

beside the Town Hall, about 

Oke-Abata, Oyunmwenyi, 

Iguobazuwa, Ojo Kassim, 

Udo, Obaretin, Ofumwengbe, 

Usen, and Obazumwen.” 

Osagie added: “In Etsako 

West, the ongoing projects 

are located in Elele, Omhemi, 

Egbogio I, Egbogio II 

& III, Amob, Joseph Camp, 

Afowa, Ayogwiri, Ibienafe, 

Iyerekhu, Ughiole and Auchi 

Headworks. 

“In Edo Central Senatorial 

District, the state government 

attracted N700 million 

from the EU with N300 

million counterpart fund 

to reticulate water from the 

dam that was constructed by 

the Federal Government, to 

Uromi and its environs. 

“A meeting with the Federal 

Ministry of Budget and 

National Planning will hold 

in Abuja later this month on 

the commencement of the 

project.” 

25 meters away. 

The same situation applies 

to INEC’s known registration 

centre at Elekahia, the 

Elekahia Community Town 

Hall. Our reporter was told 

that INEC had since relocated 

from Elekahia Town Hall 

to Nkpogu Community Town 

Hall. On reaching there, no 

INEC officials were in sight. 

Residents around Nkpogu 

said the last time INEC 

officials were seen at Nkpogu 

Hall was two months 

back, and that each time they 

came, they spent about four 

days registering prospective 

voters and then disappear for 

a month or two. 

It was gathered that rather 

than be at their known permanent 

registration centres, 

INEC officials utilise the services 

of town criers in consent 

with community leaders, 

notifying community 

members about INEC’s proposed 

visit and registration. 

The governor’s aide said 

further, “Two months ago, 

the state governor released 

N600 million to attract N1.4 

billion for the water, sanitation 

and artisanal training 

projects in Orhionmwon, 

Uhunmwode and Owan 

West local government areas 

under the same Niger 

Delta Support Programme 

of the EU. 

“The N2 billion project 

covers water drilling, reticulation, 

sanitation facilities 

in markets, public schools 

as well as training for 250 

artisans that will maintain 

the water projects, some of 

whom will be absorbed by 

the local councils. 

“The wisdom behind the 

training is to ensure that these 

water projects that are billed 

to come on stream soon, will 

not be abandoned over lack 

of capacity to maintain them.


FT FINANCIAL TIMES 

C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

A1 

Search for 

rationale behind 

US sanctions list 

Selection may be warning to Moscow of how 

much damage new legislation could impose 

While Russian president 

Vladimir Putin attended 

the Orthodox Easter service 

at the Christ the Saviour cathedral 

in Moscow on Sunday, Russian 

and western observers were still 

trying to make sense of the latest 

round of US sanctions. 

Most agree that Washington’s list 

of 24 individuals and 14 companies 

goes further than all earlier Russia 

sanctions — cutting off people and 

entities from US trade, finance and 

investment. They also apply to non- 

US citizens, a proviso that could 

substantially increase their impact. 

But that is where the consensus 

ends. While the Treasury said the 

sanctions were linked to Russia’s 

actions in Crimea, Syria and Ukraine 

and its interference in the west, 

including its cyber activities, some 

observers have voiced surprise as 

to why some oligarchs are on the list 

and others are not. 

A senior official in Mr Putin’s 

administration said on Sunday that it 

could have been worse because Oleg 

Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg, 

two heavyweight members of Russia’s 

oligarchy since the 1990s who 

are among the hardest hit, were not 

members of Mr Putin’s inner circle. 

“This is a blow at the periphery,” 

the official said, adding that from 

the Kremlin’s perspective, plans 

for a summit between US President 

Donald Trump and Mr Putin at the 

White House were still on. “They can 

say they are hitting Russia hard,” he 

said. “But we understand that they 

have passed on some choices that 

would have mattered more.” 

Observers in Washington voiced 

“ 

World Business Newspaper 

KATHRIN HILLE, MAX SEDDON AND 

COURTNEY WEAVER 

Six months into a new career, Lucy Kellaway writes herself a report card 

Everyone hates you, Miss” said 

the 11-year-old boy I had been 

teaching for a few weeks. “We’re 

so happy you’re going. We want Mr 

Diplos back.” 

After two terms as a trainee teacher 

I am pretty used to frank feedback, but 

this still hurt. 

For a second I contemplated crying. 

Teacher training is so tough it is meant 

to make blubbers of almost everyone 

— yet I have so far remained dry-eyed 

and was keen to keep it that way. I swallowed 

and tried to see it from the boy’s 

a sense of puzzlement. “They made 

a big example of Deripaska. I can’t 

understand why Vekselberg is selected 

…It could be the connection 

with Deripaska,” said Anders Aslund, 

a Russia analyst at the Atlantic 

Council. Mr Vekselberg is a former 

business partner of Mr Deripaska 

who holds a minority stake in his 

aluminium company Rusal, which 

has also been sanctioned. 

A former Russian government 

official said he believed the US government 

had settled for a selection 

of names that would also serve the 

administration’s other policies. 

“Targeting Deripaska may make 

sense in the context of their protectionist 

trade policies. Other targets 

make sense because they want to 

push the fight against money laundering, 

against corruption,” he said. 

“It seems that the people working 

on this lost their way a bit,” said 

a former Treasury official who was 

involved in drafting the sanctions 

imposed in the wake of Moscow’s 

annexation of Crimea. “The bottom 

line is that the US government has a 

very shallow bench on Russia. And 

so they end up acting more-or-less 

at random.” 

The seemingly erratic composition 

of Friday’s list reflects the broad 

terms of the latest US sanctions 

legislation in August — and is seen 

by many as a first hint of how much 

more damage could be done if Washington 

so desired. The Countering 

America’s Adversaries Through 

Sanctions Act (Caatsa) gives the administration 

a mandate to sanction 

Russia over anything from meddling 

in Ukraine, its actions in Syria, cyber 

operations, alleged meddling in US 

elections, to corruption and money 

laundering. 

‘Teaching is bending us out of 

shape — in a good way’ 

LUCY KELLAWAY 

Prospect of further 

Trump tariffs keeps 

stocks muted 

Page A3 

point of view. 

Hate is a strong word, but if I were 

him I would also rather have Mr Diplos, 

a 26-year-old dynamo of a maths 

teacher, than Miss Kellaway, a dithering, 

grey-haired trainee with a voice so 

posh one student asked: “Miss, where 

are you from?” 

Though some pupils may be rejoicing 

to see the back of me, I am sad to be 

leaving my second placement school. 

Trainee teachers work in two different 

schools and my second has been a 

delightful place where in just six weeks I 

Continues on page A2 

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill greets Russian President Vladimir Putin at an Easter ceremony in Moscow © AFP 

North Korea tells US it will discuss de-nuclearisation 

Move increases chances of unprecedented summit between Trump and Kim 

KATRINA MANSON 

North Korea has said it is willing to 

discuss de-nuclearisation with 

the US, a Trump administration 

official said on Sunday, increasing the 

chances of an unprecedented summit 

between North Korean leader Kim Jong 

Un and the US president. 

South Korean officials had told Donald 

Trump that Mr Kim was willing to 

meet him to discuss de-nuclearisation, 

but the administration comments on 

Sunday mark the first time the US has 

officially confirmed the information 

with North Korea itself. 

“I confirm that the United States and 

North Korea have been holding talks 

in preparation for a summit, and that 

North Korea has confirmed its willingness 

to talk about de-nuclearisation,” a 

National Security Council spokesperson 

China’s fund industry predicted to grow fivefold by 2025 

At $7.5tn, it would be the world’s second-biggest asset management market 

CHRIS FLOOD 

China will provide the “single 

largest growth opportunity” for 

global investment managers, 

with the country’s mutual fund assets 

forecast to multiply fivefold to reach 

$7.5tn (Rmb47tn) by 2025. 

This expansion could create a fee 

pool for running mutual funds worth 

$42bn a year, a lucrative new stream of 

profits for international managers with 

an established Asian presence, according 

to UBS, the Swiss bank. 

“The opportunity is substantial but 

it all depends on the progression of 

reform and deregulation,” said Kelvin 

Chu, an analyst with UBS. 

China is on course to become the 

world’s second biggest fund market, 

behind the US. 

Beijing unveiled far-reaching reforms 

in November intended to accelerate 

the growth of China’s under-developed 

investment industry with less 

than 5 per cent of Chinese household 

assets held in mutual funds. 

It plans to relax or eliminate foreign 

ownership limits on Chinese financial 

services groups, including asset 

Brazilian court 

orders Lula to hand 

himself in 

Page A4 

told the FT. 

The spokesperson would not say 

who had met with North Korea officials, 

describing the details as internal US 

preparations, but added that “a comprehensive, 

whole-of-government effort 

in support of the president is actively 

under way”. 

The US, which has maintained backchannel 

lines of communication with 

North Korean officials, has accelerated 

efforts to prepare a summit in earnest 

since Mr Trump unexpectedly agreed 

to meet Mr Kim. 

Cliff Kupchan, chairman of Eurasia 

Group risk consultancy, said North 

Korea’s reported commitment to discuss 

“de-nuclearisation” significantly 

increases the chances that Mr Trump 

will meet Mr Kim. However, he added 

that it does not make a positive outcome 

more likely. 

managers, a change that is designed 

to attract greater involvement by large 

international players. 

Foreign asset managers own minority 

stakes in 19 of the country’s top 

30 mutual fund companies, often in 

partnerships with domestic commercial 

banks. 

“The lifting of foreign shareholder 

limits in mutual fund companies 

should be appealing to many [international 

players],” said Mr Chu. 

Some global managers, including 

BlackRock, Vanguard and Invesco, 

have recently acquired or applied 

for wholly foreign-owned enterprise 

licences, which allow them to offer 

private funds. 

The total fee pool for running private 

funds, separate accounts and 

mutual funds could be worth about 

$71.5bn by 2025, according to UBS. 

In his annual letter to shareholders 

this week, Larry Fink, chief executive 

of BlackRock, welcomed the Chinese 

government’s decision to allow foreign 

players to acquire majority control of 

mainland fund companies. 

“China is a significant long-term 

opportunity for BlackRock,” said Mr 

“We don’t know what Pyongyang 

means by the term, and they’ve got a 

record of backtracking on commitments,” 

said Mr Kupchan. “This prospective encounter 

is still a minefield for President 

Trump.” 

Chung Eui-yong, South Korea’s national 

security director, announced last 

month outside the White House that US- 

North Korea talks were possible. 

“President Trump . . . said he would 

meet Kim by May to achieve permanent 

de-nuclearisation,” Mr Chung told reporters 

after meeting with US officials. 

Mr Trump later hailed the breakthrough 

but cautioned that the policy of 

putting pressure on Pyongyang would 

stay in place. 

The Wall Street Journal was the first 

to report that the North Korea had 

confirmed its intent to discuss de-nuclearisation. 

Fink, adding that the world’s largest 

asset manager was preparing to bring 

its expertise in investing, risk management 

and technology to mainland clients 

“if and when” the Chinese market 

opened further. 

Stewart Aldcroft, Asia chief executive 

of CitiTrust, the securities and fund 

services arm of US bank Citigroup, said 

Beijing’s decision to allow foreigners 

to own 100 per cent of mainland fund 

management companies as early as 

2020 had provided a “huge opportunity” 

for international players. 

“The challenge is partly in comprehending 

the scale of the opportunity 

in China, as well as getting set up to 

participate. Many global managers are 

disbelieving, sitting in their offices in 

New York, Boston and London. They 

need to come and see for themselves,” 

said Mr Aldcroft. 

He noted that about $17tn in assets 

is held in unregulated wealth management 

products. 

“Chinese regulators want a large 

proportion of those assets to move to 

the regulated areas so they are making 

it easier for fund management companies 

to operate,” said Mr Aldcroft.

A2 BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 Tuesday 10 April 2018 

FT 

NATIONAL 

Facebook suspends another data analytics firm 

Company linked to Cambridge university developed personality quiz 

RICHARD WATERS 

Facebook has suspended another 

data analytics firm with 

links to Cambridge university 

pending an investigation into the 

potential leak of personal data. It 

also called on UK data regulators to 

look into “the development of apps 

in general” by a research arm of the 

university. 

Facebook’s move has shone a 

fresh spotlight on the work of the 

university’s Psychometrics Centre, 

which was already at risk of becoming 

embroiled in the Cambridge 

Analytica scandal. 

An academic at the university, 

Aleksandr Kogan, drew on work 

developed by the centre when collecting 

data about 87m Facebook 

users. Though ostensibly collected 

for academic research, the data were 

allegedly leaked to Cambridge Analytica, 

and a whistleblower has said 

they were used to target voters by 

the Trump presidential campaign, 

as well as Vote Leave during the UK’s 

Brexit referendum. 

The Psychometrics Centre defended 

itself late on Sunday from 

questions raised by the latest Facebook 

action, taken against an analytics 

company called CubeYou. 

It said it had made it clear that the 

latest app to come under scrutiny 

— a personality quiz called “You Are 

What You Like” — had been clearly 

labelled as being for both academic 

and commercial purposes. It also said 

it would ”be contacting Facebook to 

demonstrate that data collected from 

our apps is being used strictly in accordance 

with the apps’ terms of use”. 

However, the Cambridge research 

group also sought to distance itself 

from some of CubeYou’s claims about 

its work with the company. “Several 

of CubeYou’s claims on its blog appear 

to be misleading and we will be 

contacting them urgently to request 

clarification,” it said. 

In particular, it said it had “not 

collaborated with them to build a 

psychological prediction model”, 

and that the prediction algorithm 

had been fully under the academics’ 

control. 

CubeYou could not immediately 

be reached for comment. 

‘Teaching is bending us out 

of shape... 

Continued from page A1 

have made firm friends with the young 

staff and liked the spirited kids more 

than was reciprocated. 

I am now two-thirds of the way 

through my training year and my 

report card to myself remains mixed. 

The good news is that I am surviving. 

Although I quite often go to bed at 

8.30pm feeling half dead, during waking 

hours I am more alive than I have 

felt in decades. 

The profession is known to be 

exhausting, but is so in a peculiar way. 

The hours are no worse than in most 

professional jobs but every second is 

at full tilt. In my old life I would waste 

hours cyber skiving, which left me restive 

and grumpy. Now I view a spare 

five minutes before a lesson as an 

oasis of free time — long enough to do 

some printing, go to the loo and enter 

half a dozen behaviour points into the 

system. The reward for such intensity 

is that the day appears to be over 20 

minutes after it began. 

As well as surviving (which I count 

as a victory) I’m also positively good (or 

at least improving) at various things. I 

learn names easily and talk to students 

nicely. I am making my peace with 

technology, with the vagaries of the 

photocopier, the whiteboard and the 

snipping tool no longer defeating me. 

Equally my workings on the board 

have gone from catastrophic to rather 

good. The way I lay out a simultaneous 

equation is a thing of beauty. 

The disappointing news is that 

overall I am nowhere near the good 

teacher I want to be — or thought I 

would be. I continue to defy those 

FT readers who emailed 18 months 

ago when I announced I was leaving 

journalism to say: lucky kids, you’ll be 

a marvellous teacher. 

Back then I privately agreed with 

them. I reasoned I would be a natural 

because I like performing. I’m resilient. 

I like teenagers. I like maths. I 

care about social mobility. I like the 

routine of schools. And I am frightening, 

so discipline would not be a 

problem. What else was there? 

It turns out there is a great deal 

else. 

For a start keeping order is far 

harder than I had thought. At my first 

school, rules were so strict that hands 

in pockets constituted bad behaviour. 

At the second, the kids had more 

freedom. And some of them use it in 

the time-honoured way — by giving 

trainee teachers the runaround. 

A low point came after a chaotic 

lesson during which I had written a 

long list of names on the board of 

students who had most flagrantly ignored 

my instructions. On leaving the 

class one of them rubbed the board 

clean when I was not looking, meaning 

none of them got the detentions 

they deserved. 

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban addresses supporters after the announcement of early results 

Orban secures crushing victory in Hungary 

Fidesz party projected to secure 133 seats needed to give it a supermajority in parliament 

NEIL BUCKLEY 

Hungary’s nationalist Fidesz 

party has secured a crushing 

third successive election 

victory on the back of record turnout 

— and seems likely to win another 

two-thirds majority allowing it to 

change the constitution and further 

entrench its power. 

With the majority of votes counted, 

the party of prime minister Viktor Orban 

had won about 49 per cent of the 

vote, ahead of Jobbik, the far-right party 

that has shifted towards the centre, on 

20 per cent, and the Socialists on 12 per 

cent. It was projected to secure the 133 

seats needed to give it a supermajority 

in the 199-seat parliament. 

“We have won!” Mr Orban told a 

crowd of Fidesz supporters chanting 

“Viktor, Viktor” outside the Fidesz 

party headquarters late on Sunday 

night. “This has been a decisive 

win . . . In the future we are going to be 

able to defend our mother country,” 

the prime minister added, before 

leading the crowd in singing the national 

anthem. 

The party and Mr Orban will be 

in government for the fourth time, 

having served an earlier term from 

Central European leaders have 

congratulated Viktor Orban, 

after he secured a crushing 

victory in Hungary’s parliamentary 

elections. 

During his previous two terms 

in power, Mr Orban has clashed repeatedly 

with the EU on issues from 

migration to the rule of law. He has 

often found a close ally in Poland in 

these fights, where Jaroslaw Kaczynski, 

1998 to 2002. 

Record turnout in excess of 70 

per cent — which delayed the closure 

of some polling stations and 

the announcement of results — had 

been expected to benefit opposition 

parties. 

But while the opposition was on 

course to score well in Budapest and 

some bigger cities, Fidesz appeared to 

have been successful in mobilising its 

vote in rural constituencies. 

With 93 seats decided by party lists 

and 106 coming from single-member 

constituencies, the final results could 

still shift. But, if confirmed, they are 

likely to sharpen the stand-off between 

Mr Orban and the EU, which 

has criticised the Hungarian leader 

for centralising power and weakening 

democratic checks and balances over 

the past eight years. 

Opponents and critics fear that 

another big win will embolden the 

premier to take a more hardline 

stance against independent media, 

civil society and opposition parties, 

and seek to extend his control over 

institutions such as the judiciary that 

Fidesz does not yet control. 

It may also stiffen the resolve of 

Hungary’s government, and sympathisers 

such as Poland and Austria’s 

leader of the ruling Law and Justice 

party, has expressed admiration for 

Mr Orban’s quest to establish an “illiberal 

democracy” in Hungary, and has 

similar reservations over the ceding of 

national powers to Brussels. 

Poland’s prime minister Mateusz 

Morawiecki, who met Mr Orban with 

Mr Kaczynski last week, wished the 

Hungarian premier successes in his 

third straight term of office. “The path 

of reform is never easy. The support 

of the majority of society shows that it 

governing coalition — which includes 

the far-right Freedom Party — to oppose 

the EU’s migration policy even 

more resolutely. 

“This strong showing will vindicate 

Orban’s antagonistic stance towards 

Brussels, migrants, [philanthropist 

George] Soros and other perceived 

‘foreign enemies’,” said Mujtaba Rahman, 

managing director for Europe 

at Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy. 

“It places Hungary squarely at the 

centre of the EU’s awkward squad, 

alongside Poland and now Italy. It 

puts Orban on a firm collision course 

with Macron and Merkel as they seek 

to reform and revitalise the EU.” 

Fidesz and the extensive progovernment 

media had focused the 

campaign on the supposed dangers 

to Hungary of mass Muslim immigration, 

and an alleged plot by the 

Hungarian-born financier George Soros 

to flood Europe with 1m migrants 

a year. Mr Orban, who has turned 

sharply to the right in recent years, 

portrayed himself as the defender of 

Christian Europe. 

Another convincing majority on 

the back of such a large turnout is 

likely to be presented by Mr Orban as 

a demonstration of the strength of his 

party’s mandate. 

European leaders congratulate Orban on election win 

JAMES SHOTTER 

is important to undertake this effort”, 

he tweeted. 

Czech prime minister Andrej Babis, 

who is still battling to form a government 

almost six months after winning 

parliamentary elections, followed 

suit, congratulating Mr Orban on his 

“convincing” win. 

“I look forward to further co-operation 

with the future new government 

in the Visegrad Group, both within 

the EU and at the bilateral level,” he 

tweeted. 

Soviet scientist backs UK 

over Skripal poisoning 

Novichok developer convinced of source of 

attack but cautions over finding proof 

KATHRIN HILLE 

A 

key member of the Soviet 

research team that developed 

the Novichok group of nerve 

agents has sided with the British 

government in its row with Moscow 

over who poisoned the former 

Soviet double agent Sergei Skripal. 

Vladimir Uglev, who worked on 

a chemical weapons programme 

called Foliant from the 1970s until 

the 1990s, said he was convinced Mr 

Skripal and his daughter Yulia had 

been attacked with a compound he 

had developed in 1975. 

However, Mr Uglev cautioned it 

would be impossible to prove beyond 

doubt where the nerve agent 

had originated. 

His comments come as the 

Organisation for the Prohibition of 

Chemical Weapons is expected to 

complete its analysis of samples of 

the substance this week. 

Moscow and London have been 

engaged in an escalating information 

war ever since the UK government 

said Russia was the likely 

perpetrator of the attack in the quiet 

southern English town of Salisbury. 

Britain’s defence research laboratory 

at Porton Down has identified 

a military-grade nerve agent 

from the Novichok family — a name 

one of Mr Uglev’s colleagues coined 

for the group of substances — as 

having been used in the poisoning. 

“I have no doubt that it was precisely 

A-234 which was used!” Mr 

Uglev said in comments emailed to 

the Financial Times from his retirement 

home on the Black Sea coast. 

To judge by comments made 

by Porton Down scientists and 

other information he had received, 

the substance had to be the compound 

he had first synthesised in 

December 1975 at the State Scientific 

Research Institute of Organic 

Chemistry and Technology, in the 

southern Russian town of Shikhany. 

Mr Uglev has spoken about the 

Skripal case before but his latest 

remarks go much further than previous 

comments. 

He was also heavily critical of 

Vladimir Putin, Russian president, 

and his administration. 

“As a Russian citizen, I do not 

accept the great-power chauvinism 

fanned by the regime of Kremlin- 

Lubyanka thieves and killers, and 

therefore fully understand and 

support the policy of the British 

government towards Russia,” Mr 

Uglev said. 

The Lubyanka is the Moscow 

headquarters of Russia’s Federal 

Security Service, the KGB’s successor 

and the agency where Mr Putin 

started his career. Mr Putin has also 

stocked large parts of his administration 

with secret services alumni.



@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED 

Deutsche Bank: 

revenge of the nerds 

Decades of experience as risk manager will help Christian Sewing 

ANDREW WARD 

Internal auditors are meant to 

be the eyes and ears of management. 

They are not meant to become 

the management. Christian 

Sewing has nevertheless replaced 

John Cryan as chief executive of 

Deutsche Bank. The erstwhile head 

of group audit — latterly co-head 

of retail banking — looks an uninspired 

choice forced on Deutsche 

because external candidates shied 

away. This is a problem for chairman 

Paul Achleitner, as culpable 

for recent underperformance as 

Mr Cryan. For Mr Sewing, there is 

hefty upside. 

War stories about that time 

he uncovered an undocumented 

cache of ring binders in Düsseldorf 

may not impress other bank bosses, 

typically ex-investment bankers. 

Such tales will appeal more to 

investors, judging from a 3 per 

cent pop in the shares on Monday. 

They know investment bankers are 

the problem, not the solution, at 

Deutsche. 

Last year, the investment bank 

generated only two-fifths of continuing 

profits before tax and central 

costs. The division, primarily 

fixed-interest securities trading, 

meanwhile accounted for threequarters 

of risk-weighted assets of 

Here’s what’s happening 

London-listed Russian 

stocks including Evraz and 

Polymetal fell in response to the 

US government’s announcement 

of sanctions against some Russian 

companies. Global depositary 

receipts of EN+, Oleg Deripaska’s 

aluminium and hydropower conglomerate, 

plunged to a record low 

after the US announced that its own 

citizens cannot do business with the 

company and its Hong Kong-listed 

subsidiary Rusal and have 30 days 

to wind up any positions. 

“The impact on [EN+’s] power 

segment will likely be minimal 

given its sales are almost entirely 

within Russia. However, Rusal may 

find it more difficult to do business 

given that it is the second-largest 

supplier of aluminium to the US 

after Canada,” said BMO Capital 

Markets. “Furthermore, given the 

attempt to limit even non-US citizens 

from facilitating transactions it 

is possible that activities as simple 

as exchanging currencies may 

become more expensive for Rusal 

given the international scope of its 

operations and sales being priced 

in US dollars.” 

Rolls-Royce led the FTSE 100 

gainers after agreeing to sell its 

L’Orange, a fuel injector business, 

to Woodward Group for €700m. 

Analysts said the price, at about 

11 times L’Orange’s 2017 ebita, 

seemed reasonable though not that 

significant in the context of Rolls’ 

£16bn market valuation. 

€324bn. 

The unit’s weak cost-to-income 

ratio of 92 per cent is in line with the 

retail division. But the latter has a 

better chance of fattening margins. 

Rates will rise sooner or later. Lossleading 

competition from US rivals 

will, in contrast, remain a constant 

in investment banking. 

Mr Sewing has a clear trajectory, 

even if Mr Achleitner does not. He 

needs to slim down securities trading. 

This will help him lift leverage 

from about 3.8 per cent today to a 

targeted 4.5 per cent. The German 

loans business should benefit from 

savings from the Postbank merger 

and a focus on corporate clients. 

There will be noise. Doomsters 

will say cutting any part of investment 

banking hard will reduce the 

viability of the whole. They will say 

the German loans market is structurally 

dysfunctional. 

Such existential doubts can be 

dispelled by meeting targets and 

raising returns on tangible equity, in 

negative territory for the past three 

years. Mr Sewing should be helped 

by his decades as a risk manager 

in the London investment bank 

among other outposts. If he succeeds, 

top bankers will suddenly 

become receptive to anecdotes 

about internal auditing. Like that 

time he lost his biro in Stuttgart? 

Classic Christian! Helluva guy! 

Stocks to watch: Evraz, EN+, Rolls-Royce, Xaar, Wirecard 

Seek shelter at the end of the commodity rally, says SocGen 

BRYCE ELDER 

“To us, this looks like a sensible 

price for a non-core asset — more 

important is that it signals a continuing 

simplification of the group 

that should allow the company to 

be more nimble and focus capital 

allocation in its core areas,” said 

Citigroup. 

Sellside Stories 

Peel Hunt upgrades Oxford 

Instruments to “buy” and cuts 

Xaar to “hold” as part of an overall 

bullish review of the UK industrials 

companies. 

With economic indicators in 

the US and Asia remaining firm, 

and the UK engineers operating in 

niche areas with high market shares, 

the threat of a trade war “has taken 

valuation for many of our stocks into 

very interesting territory”, Peel Hunt 

said. It also expected the recent 

acceleration of merger and acquisitions 

in the sector to continue, with 

the UK operators seen both as targets 

and consolidators as industrial 

companies spin off divisions outside 

their core competencies. Peel Hunt’s 

eight core sector buys are Avon Rubber, 

Coats, Rotork, RPC, Synthomer, 

Tyman, Vesuvius and Vitec. It also 

raises IMI and Renishaw to “add” 

and “hold” respectively, on valuation 

grounds. 

Société Générale upgrades BHP 

Billiton to “buy” with a £16 target 

price in a mining sector review, 

which argued that investors should 

be “seeking shelter” at the end of 

a two-year commodity price rally. 

SocGen’s top pick is Glencore and 

it downgrades Anglo American to 

“hold” on valuation grounds. 

FINANCIAL TIMES 

ADAM SAMSON 

Russia’s equities benchmark 

tumbled almost 9 per cent 

on Monday amid renewed 

worries over US sanctions against 

its business sector and after Donald 

Trump criticised the country’s 

support for the Syrian government. 

The Moex index plummeted 8.7 

per cent in mid-morning action in 

Moscow, leaving it on track for its 

heaviest dive in four years. In a sign 

of the breadth of the fall, only two of 

46 constituents traded in positive 

territory on the day. The US dollardenominated 

RTS gauge dropped 

11.4 per cent. 

The fall in the equities bourse 

came amid a broad drop in Russian 

financial markets. The rouble 

dropped 2.5 per cent to 59.63 to the 

US dollar, according to FactSet data. 

It has not recorded such a weak 

C002D5556 

closing level since late-November 

2017. 

Investors have reacted very bearishly 

to the Trump administration’s 

sanctions against seven Russian 

business people and the 12 companies 

they own or control. “Russian 

oligarchs and elites who profit from 

this corrupt system will no longer be 

insulated from the consequences 

of their government’s destabilising 

activities,” the Treasury department 

warned on Friday. 

President Trump also called out 

Russian President Vladimir Putin at 

the weekend over his support for 

the Syrian government. 

The Syrian American Medical 

Society, a medical relief organisation, 

reported that 48 people were 

killed and many more were injured 

in a chemical weapons attack in 

eastern Ghouta on Saturday evening. 

BUSINESS DAY 

A3 

Cuadrilla drilled to a depth of 2,700m and then extended laterally for 800m through a gas-rich area beneath its site off 

Preston New Road, near Blackpool © Bloomberg 

Russian stocks tumble 9% on US sanctions worries 

Rouble drops 2.5% to 59.63 to the US dollar 

Mr Trump said on Twitter that 

there would be a “big price” to pay 

for the alleged attack. 

“Essentially, geopolitical risk 

has increased with the rouble the 

main casualty so far as Russia was 

strongly criticised for supporting 

Syrian President Assad,” said Piotr 

Matys at Rabobank. 

Rusal, an aluminium producer 

targeted by the sanctions, was the 

worst performer on the Moex index 

on Monday, off by about a quarter. 

Oleg Deripaska, the group’s owner, 

was also slapped with sanctions. 

In London trade, Mr Deripaska’s 

EN+ Group dropped 27.5 per cent. 

Evraz, a London-listed steel and 

mining business that derives 40 per 

cent of its sales from Russia, was the 

worst performer on the FTSE allshare 

index. Shares dropped 15.6 

per cent in recent trade. 

Turkish companies kick off IPOs while lira hits new lows 

Pace of listings picks up while global and domestic pressures leave mark on markets 

CAT RUTTER POOLEY 

A 

trio of Turkish retailers 

announced plans to list 

on Monday in a sign that 

the anticipated ‘record year’ for 

initial public offerings may be 

hitting its stride despite intense 

strain in other parts of the country’s 

financial markets. 

On the same day that the 

lira struck a record low of TRY5 

against the euro, grocery group 

Sok Marketler, value fashion 

brand DeFacto and luxury clothing 

and shoe retailer Beymen all 

kicked off the process of listing 

on Turkey’s Borsa Istanbul, after 

a slower than expected start to 

the year for Turkish companies 

coming to market. 

Turkish companies had been 

expected to tap equity investors 

for up to $4bn in 2018, according 

to forecasts from Bloomberg, 

which said that level of fundraising 

would represent a record 

high. 

The IPOs aim to capitalise on 

the rapid growth of Turkey’s consumer 

sector, which has boosted 

retailers. Turkey’s economy grew 

at a clip of 7.3 per cent in the final 

quarter of last year - a slowdown 

from the rate of 11.1 per cent 

year-on-year in the previous 

quarter - as the government has 

poured money in the domestic 

economy to shore up support in 

the wake of 2016’s coup attempt. 

Sok, a supermarket and discount 

grocery store group, said 

it had opened around 3 stores 

a day since 2015 - around 1,000 

a year - and now has a total of 

more than 5,100 outlets employing 

some 24,000 people. Sok was 

now an “unrivalled operator in 

the fast-growing and underpenetrated 

Turkish grocery sector,” 

chief executive Ugur Demirel 

said on Monday. “In each of the 

last three years we have been 

the leading Turkish retailer in 

terms of revenue growth, new 

store growth and market share 

growth,” he added. 

But the revival of companies 

seeking to raise share capital 

from public investors comes 

in the middle of a challenging 

period for Turkish markets. The 

lira sank to its weakest level in 

the history of the modern currency 

last week, which has put 

pressure on companies with 

euro and dollar-denominated 

debt but generate a significant 

proportion of their revenues 

in the domestic currency. The 

weakness persists on Monday, 

with traders doubtful that the 

central bank can get sticky inflation 

under control. Global tensions 

over trade are also taking 

a large toll. 

Sok is seeking to raise $650m 

in new money from its IPO - in 

addition to a possible sale of 

shares by its existing investors 

- in the largest fundraising of 

the year to date. Of that, it says 

it intends “to use a substantial 

majority of the net proceeds of 

the Offering to repay substantially 

all of its current financial 

indebtedness, including its 

bank borrowings and related 

party non-trade payables”, with 

the remainder used for general 

corporate purposes. 

Beyman, which is selling 

more than 62m existing shares 

in its listing, says its selling 

shareholder is committed to 

using the funds to repay intercompany 

loans, which will then 

been used to pay down the debt 

under its syndicated loan facility.

A4 BUSINESS DAY 


STRATEGYBRIEFING 

IDEAS THAT POWER HIGH PERFORMANCE 

The Strategy and Execution Gap 

Closing the gap that breeds corporate mediocrity 

Statistics available 

from statista.com indicates 

that advertising 

spending in Nigeria 

in 2017 amounted 

to US$618.06 million and is 

expected to increase in 2018. 

That’s a lot of money. This 

spending only represents a 

part of what companies spend 

on their sales effort. Borrowing 

from the words of Mark 

Twain, ‘put all your eggs in one 

basket, then watch that basket’. 

Meaning if you are going to 

spend that much money on 

sales, then you better take your 

sales very seriously. Unfortunately 

business executives 

don’t seem to do this. 

Research indicates that 

sales is, by far, the most expensive 

part of strategy execution 

in many companies. 

Yet, on average, companies 

deliver only 50% to 60% of 

the financial performance 

that their strategies and sales 

forecasts have promised. And 

more than half of senior executives 

(56%) say that their 

biggest challenge is ensuring 

that their daily decisions 

about strategy and resource 

allocation are in alignment 

with their companies’ strategies. 

That’s a lot of wasted 

money and effort. This limits 

growth, impedes superior 

performance and therefore a 

case of serious concern. 

What this mean is that the 

decisions, behaviours, allocation 

of time and other 

resources at many companies 

cannot enable them follow 

in the strategic direction 

they have determined. So 

even though a company may 

have committed resources to 

the development of a strategy, 

it cannot translate into 

a superior performance. The 

reason for this is not difficult 

to find. Strategy is still generally 

misunderstood by many 

executives. Of those that understand, 

misconceptions 

about strategy shuts them out 

of strategic effectiveness. For 

example an assessment by 

GrowthPlay, a sales focused 

consulting firm among senior 

executives and sales professionals 

indicates the problem 

stems from gaps between the 

perceptions, attitudes, and 

information flows between 

executives and sales reps. 

The results from the assessment 

shows that executives 

have a high level of 

understanding of their companies’ 

strategic priorities, while 

sales professionals usually 

not involved in the crafting of 

their company strategy did not 

demonstrate the same understanding. 

Senior leaders have a better 

relative understanding of the 

company’s direction than sale 

reps, but are concerned that 

they lack the right sales processes 

and people to executive 

the strategy. 

On their own, sales processionals 

are confident in their 

abilities to produce results 

but admit they have little understanding 

of the strategic 

direction, and its implications 

for their behavior. When sales 

professionals lack the understanding 

of their companies 

strategic direction, they more 

efficient at their routines, even 

when these same routines 

keep the firm, and its top team, 

from gaining experience with 

procedures more relevant to 

changing market conditions. 

Why does this happen? Why 

are the front line sales professionals 

and senior executives 

in such disalignment even at 

the expense of superior performance? 

Well to begin with many 

companies don’t even have 

a strategy even though think 

they do. They have mission 

statements, they have shared 

values, they have particular 

intentions they want to pursue 

like internationalizing but for 

them any of these might be the 

strategy. Unfortunately none 

of that constitutes a strategy. 

If there is no strategy how can 

senior executives communicate 

something that does not 

exist? Strategy is a company’s 

unique approach to competition 

and the competitive 

advantages on which it will be 

based. Its not a particular action, 

its holistic and cuts across 

all the functions. 

Another issues and its a 

pretty one is that most senior 

executives are scared that 

communicating their strategy 

will expose them to strategy 

theft. But come to think about 

it, such executives should understand 

that they stand a 

more serious problem than 

strategy theft. You see strategy 

is useless without execution. 

Preserving your strategy so 

that your competitors don’t 

know about it and at the same 

time shutting your people out 

means it will not be executed 

and that means you will at best 

play along others as a corporate 

mediocre. 

How often have you read 

about the strategy of Google, 

Apple, Bulberry and Nike? 

For example it took US car 

manufacturers many years 

to get good atToyota’s lean 

manufacturing methods,even 

though Toyota willingly gave 

factory tours to it’s rival executives.More 

recently,traditional 

companies continue to struggle 

to adopt the digitally 

powered methods of online 

leaders like Amazon.com and 

Google,although the outlines 

of these methods are well 

known. What does it show? 

Communicating your strategy 

doesn’t compromise your 

position if you really have a 

strategy (read my article on 

‘Nigerian companies rarely 

have a. strategy’) 

In a world with a global infrastructure 

of consulting firms 

and others paid to disseminate 

corporate information, confidentiality 

as a reason for not 

communicating strategy is myopic 

and a pathway to failure. 

Your people cannot execute 

what they don’t understand. 

This gap is the reason most 

companies only struggle along. 

Brian Reuben(@brianoreuben) is an advisor on 

strategy and leadership. He regularly conducts 

keynote presentations and senior executive 

workshops with companies around the world on 

strategy and leadership. He heads BusinessDay 

Training 

Was this article helpful? Share your thoughts with 

us on Facebook @bdtraininglive or email us on 

trainings@businessdayonline.com 

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Insight 

What happened to 10bn Cassava Bread Fund? 

For several 

years now, 

Nigeria has 

been seeking 

ways to fully 

gain from its cassava 

production through the 

cassava flour inclusion 

policy. 

The cassava flour initiative 

started in 2002 

when flour millers’ 

were mandated to substitute 

five percent cassava 

flour in wheat flour 

meant for baking bread 

and production of other 

confectionaries. 

In 2007, the policy, 

which was already 

gaining momentaum, 

was abandoned as the 

Obasanjo led government 

left office, thus 

bringing the whole policy 

process to a halt. 

After five years of 

being abandoned, in 

2012, former President 

Goodluck Jonathan reintroduced 

the cassava 

flour inclusion policy 

to encourage the substitution 

of high quality 

cassava flour for wheat 

flour and the inclusion 

rate to increase steadily 

from 10 percent to 40 

percent by 2015. 

To ensure that this 

objective was realised, 

in 2014, former President 

Jonathan enacted 

a Cassava Bread Fund, 

where 15 percent levy 

on imported wheat 

were accrued to an account 

that is managed 

by the Federal Ministry 

of Finance and 

the Nigerian Customs 

Service. 

Out of the fund, a 

first tranche of N10 billion 

was released then 

for farmers, bakers, 

processors and other 

players in the country’s 

cassava value chain, to 

enhance productivity 

and ensure the success 

of the inclusion policy. 

From the fund, N4.3 

billion was domiciled 

with the Bank of Industry 

(BoI), to support 

small and medium size 

enterprises (SMEs) involved 

in cassava processing 

and N2.4 with 

the Bank of Agriculture 

(BoA) was meant to 

boost farmers’ productivity, 

while the rest 

of the fund was domiciled 

with the Federal 

Ministry of Agriculture 

and Rural Development 

(FMARD). 

Despite the partial 

disbursement of the 

funds, reports from 

beneficiaries and stakeholders 

are not palatable, 

as majority has 

tagged the project as 

a fraud and means of 

officials to siphon government 

funds, while 

attributing it to the failure 

of the policy. 

Most of the players 

who were meant to be 

beneficiaries have not 

been able to access the 

funds despite their successive 

efforts. 

“Only 35 of our 

members were able to 

access the fund partially 

from BoI and 

some of the processing 

machines given where 

not functional. The 

intervention was also 

supposed to provide a 

window for processors 

to access running cost 

which none of us have 

been able to access,” 

Ayo Olubori, chairman, 

National Cassava Processors 

and Marketers 

Association (NCAPMA) 

said in a telephone interview 

with Business- 

Day. 

“We have written six 

times to BoI without 

them replying. Also 

N450 million was released 

to FMARD to 

stabilise the market in 

terms of pricing be- 

cause the flour millers 

off taking price was 

lower than our own 

offering price. So the 

N450 million was to 

take care of the price 

differentials but this 

has not happened. 

“This is major reasons 

why the cassava 

bread policy failed. 

Currently, we have no 

record to the effect, that 

any flour miller in the 

it failed to take root 

amongst flour millers, 

as most of them 

were unable to get high 

quality industrial grade 

cassava flour due to 

inadequate domestic 

capacity to process it. 

Part of the N4.3 billion 

released to BoI 

was meant to support 

millers procure high 

tech machines to increase 

their capacity to 

Only 35 of our members were 

able to access the fund partially 

from BoI and some of 

the processing machines given 

where not functional. The intervention 

was also supposed 

to provide a window for processors 

to access running cost 

which none of us have been 

able to access 

country is adding even 

one percent of HQCF to 

its production of flour,” 

said Olubori. 

While the fund from 

BoA increased Nigeria’s 

local cassava production 

and made the 

country become the 

largest cassava producing 

nation globally, 

produce high industrial 

grade cassava flour, but 

this was frustrated as 

BoI failed to disburse 

the funds to the processors. 

According to the 

National Cassava Processors 

Association, 

the situation has led to 

the shutdown of over 

200cassava processors 

as the policy has failed 

to take root, thereby 

leading to the collapse 

of billions of naira 

worth investments 

made in the subsector. 

The sudden stoppage 

of the cassava 

flour policy and the 

lack of information 

about the remaining 

funds in the coffers of 

BoI and FMARD have 

given players in the 

industry the impression 

that Nigeria is not 

serious with achieving 

cassava inclusion in 

flour and made the 

subsector to remain 

underdeveloped. 

Owing to the cassava 

bread inclusion 

policy, many investors 

put a lot of money in 

cassava farming and 

processing but these 

investments all went 

down the drain as the 

policy died, making the 

country’s entire cassava 

value chain to remain 

underdeveloped. 

Similarly, farmers’ 

huge investments 

made in increasing 

production of the crop 

yielded no result as 

processors failed to 

off-take from farmers. 

“The entire N2.4 billion 

with BoA was disbursed 

to farmers to 

farm 10,500 hectares 

which we cultivated 

but when we harvested 

there were no off takers 

because the processors 

who would have offtake 

the cassava did not 

get money from BoI so 

they could not upgrade 

their machines. The 

agreement was that we 

sell to only the processors,” 

Segun Adewumi, 

president, Nigeria Cassava 

Growers Association 

(NCGA) told 

BusinessDay. 

“As a result, we lost 

our entire investments 

and many of us cannot 

repay the loan we collected 

from BoA then. 

The 15 percent import 

levy on wheat would 

have accumulated to 

about N600 billion now 

which is meant to develop 

the cassava value 

chain. At that time a 

total of N650 billion 

was spent on the importation 

of wheat into 

the country annually,” 

Adewumi said. 

After several calls, 

text message and a visit 

to BoI, the bank decline 

response to Business- 

Day’s questions on the 

issue. Also, efforts to 

reach FMARD to comment 

on the issue did 

not yielded any result 

as well. 

Jude Okafor, publicity 

secretary, Association 

of Masters Bakers 

and Caterers of Nigeria 

(AMCON) said that the 

loan made available to 

bakers in the country 

was in form of equipments 

and training 

which is yet to be carried 

out by BoI since 

the initial tranche was 

given to the bank by the 

government. 

“35,000 bakers were 

supposed to be trained 

and equipped but the 

fund to do this has been 

domiciled with BoI and 

this is part of the reasons 

why the country’s 

cassava project is still 

in limbo and collapse of 

the initiative entirely,” 

Okafor said. 

“Right now there is 

no flour miller including 

high quality cassava 

flour in their flour production 

in the country. 

We need to take a holistic 

view to address 

the issue as this has 

continued to affect the 

prices of bread in the 

country,” he said. 

Data available from 

National Bureau of 

Statistics (NBS) shows 

that Nigeria has spent 

a total of N193 billion 

on the importation 

of wheat from United 

States, Russia, Australia, 

amongst others from 

January to September 

2017. 

Recently, Ibrahim 

Ayokunle Isiaka, a 

house of representative 

member called for 

the need to investigate 

the level of the implementation 

of the fund, 

stating that the fund 

has accumulated to 

over half a trillion naira 

as at date for building 

a robust cassava value 

chain. 

Published by BusinessDAY Media Ltd., The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos. Ghana Office: Business Day Ghana Ltd; ABC Junction, near Guinness Ghana Limited, Achimota – Accra, Ghana. 

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Editor: Anthony Osae-Brown. All correspondence to BusinessDAY Media Ltd., Box 1002, Festac Lagos. ISSN 1595 - 8590.

BusinessDay 10 Apr 2018

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