BusinessDay 11 Apr 2018

Wednesday 11 April 2018
Abacha loot: Adeosun refutes reports
on over $16m payment to lawyers
HARRISON EDEH, Abuja
Nigeria’s minister
of finance, Kemi
Adeosun, has refuted
claims that
payment of over $16 million
was made to lawyers working
with the Federal Government
on the restitution of Abacha’s
loot being facilitated by the
Swiss government.
Adeosun, refuting the
claim in a statement issued
by Oluyinka Akintunde, her
media assistant on Tuesday,
refuted the claim in some
section of the media that fees
were paid to two lawyers for
the recovery of Abacha funds.
Adeosun said in the statement,
“The attention of the
Honourable Minister of Finance,
Kemi Adeosun, has
been drawn to false media
reports of a “strongly-worded
letter to the President” objecting
to the payment of $16.9
Buhari seeks Senate’s approval for 26 nominees
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
President Muhammadu
Buhari has
sought the approval
of Senate for the confirmation
of appointment of
26 nominees.
The nominees include:
23 federal commissioners
for the National Population
Commission (NPC), two
non-legal practitioners as
members of the Federal Judicial
Service Commission
and one national commis-
CHANGE OF NAME
I, formerly known and addressed
as Daniel Wills Osagie now wish
to be known and addressed as
Daniel Osagie. All former documents
remain valid. General Public
please take note.
CONFIRMATION OF NAME
This is to inform the general
public that Edefu Ikenna
Azubuike and Onwunabon
Ikenna Azubuike refers to same
and one person. All former
documents bearing any of the
two names remain valid. General
public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
I, formerly known and addressed
as Mrs Lois Ifeyinwa
Onori now wish to be known
and addressed as Miss Lois
Ifeyinwa Bartholomew. All former
documents remain valid.
General Public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
I, formerly known and addressed
as Miss Ndidi Racheal
Nkonyenme now wish to be
known and addressed as Mrs
Obidalo Racheal Nkonyenme.
All former documents remain valid.
General Public please take note.
CORRECTION OF NAME
This is to inform the general public
that my name was wrongly written
as Ezejimadu Ugochukwu instead
of my correct name which is Ezeji
Ugochukwu Marcellinus. All banks
and genral public please take note.
million fees to two lawyers for
the recovery of Abacha funds.”
The minister dissociated
herself and the Federal Ministry
of Finance from a media
report in the said reports that
she described as misleading,
stating, “I had at no time written
any letter to the President
or any member of the Federal
Executive Council (FEC) on
the payment of lawyers for
the Abacha recovery.”
Also, Adeosun refuted
the flawed media reports of
controversy surrounding the
Abacha recovery, disclosing
that $322,515,931.83 was received
into a Special Account
in the Central Bank of Nigeria
on December 18, 2017, from
the Swiss Government.
Clarifying further, she
said: “For the avoidance of
doubt, there is no controversy
concerning the recovery of
the Abacha monies from the
Swiss Government.”
constitutes health hazards
to millions of residents.
In a bid to address this
challenge, the government
last year finalised a deal
with Visionscape Sanitation
Solutions to collect and
manage domestic wastes to
the exclusion of PSP operators
who, before the advent
of Visionscape, collaborated
with Lagos Waste Management
Authority (LAW-
MA) to collect and dispose
of wastes in the state.
The exclusion drew flaks
from the operators who
went to court to challenge
the action of the government.
The court subsequently
gave the parties the
option of out of court settlesioner
for the Independent
National Electoral Commission
(INEC).
The requests were contained
in three separate letters
read by Senate president, Bukola
Saraki, on the floor of the
upper legislative chamber on
Tuesday. The Senate had embarked
on two-week Easter
break on March 29, 2018.
The NPC nominees include:
Nwanne Nwabuisi
(Abia State), Clifford Zirra
(Adamawa), Chidi Ezeoke
(Anambra), Isa Buratai (Borno),
Charles Ogwa (Cross
River), Richard Odibo (Delta),
Okereke Onuabuchi
(Ebonyi), Olusegun Aiyejina
(Edo), Ejike Ezeh (Enugu),
Abubakar Danburam
(Gombe), Uba Nnabue
(Imo), and Abdulmalik Durunguwa
(Kaduna).
CHANGE OF NAME
I, formerly known and addressed
as Akinlosotu Kehinde
Precious now wish to be known
and addressed as Adeyosoye
Kehinde Precious. All former
documents remain valid. General
Public please take note.
CONFIRMATION OF NAME
This is to inform the general
public that Juliet Olisa Akpan,
Juliet Oluwakemi Ada-Obi Olisa
and Juliet Oluwakemi Akpan
refers to same and one person.
All former documents bearing
any of the two names remain
valid. General public please
take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
I, formerly known and addressed
as Miss Adefeye Folashade
Omowunmi now wish to be
known and addressed as Mrs
Fadele Folashade Omowunmi.
All former documents remain valid.
General Public please take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
I, formerly known and addressed
as Godwin Obinna Felix-
Onuwudiuruba now wish to
be known and addressed as
Godwin Obinna Felix-Ubah. All
former documents remain valid.
General Public please take note.
C002D5556
BUSINESS DAY
41
NEWS
Economy, Dangote Group struggling
to get talents in finance -Dangote
CHUKA UROKO
Nigerian economy
and big
ticket businesses
like Dangote
Group are
struggling to get talents in
finance, especially with the
rapid changes in business
and technology, Aliko Dangote,
president/chief executive
of Dangote Group, says.
Dangote Group has a revenue
projection of over $30
billion in 2020, which underpins
an increasing need
to have people with business
agility to deal with changes in
business models, a situation,
Dangote says, poses more
challenges to his company.
The business mogul, who
played host to a visiting team
from the Association of Certified
Chartered Accountants
PSPs join Visionscape as contractors to tackle wastes in Lagos
JOSHUA BASSEY
Visionscape, the
metropolitan waste
manager Lagos
State signed a deal
with to collect and manage
wastes, is opening the space
for Private Sector Participants
(PSPs) as contractors
to jointly tackle the challenge
of wastes in the state.
Lagos, a city with an estimated
population of 21
million people, is said to
be generating about 13,000
metric tons of waste daily.
But the ineffective manner
this huge waste is being
managed has continued to
pose a challenge to the government
and residents, as it
(ACCA) led by Helen Brand
OBE, told the visitors that
his company did not have
enough ACCA professionals
in its employ.
Dangote, who received an
ACCA-award in recognition
of his continuing support
as a key employer of ACCA
members, acknowledged the
relevance of its members,
pointing out that an ACCA
member with an entrepreneurial
mindset was more
solution-driven than others
in similar profession.
The ACCA chief executive,
who acknowledged
Dangote’s concerns, told
him about the results of the
‘ACCA employer-led global
research, social mobility,
purpose and the profession,’
which revealed that social
mobility is transforming the
potential talent pool for professional
accountants.
Brand OBE highlighted
the seven quotients developed
from ACCA’s research
titled ‘Professional Accountants:
The Future’ and how the
ACCA qualification ensured
the sustainability of these skills
through the recent changes in
the qualification and its association’s
work around policy
development through its professional
insights.
Taiwo Oyedele, partner/
head of tax, West Africa, PwC,
affirmed that policy contribution
was even more practical
with business owners
and entrepreneurs, adding
that the highest risk of doing
business was inconsistency
of government policies.
But Dangote noted that
the future was bright globally,
assuring that he would
continue to work towards
wealth creation, as the future
in Africa was huge.
He disclosed that the
profitability of Dangote
Group doubled during recession
due to the urgency for
cost effectiveness that was
created, and was considering
doing more business outside
Africa from 2020, as the African
environment tended to
pose barriers for businesses.
According to Dangote,
“developing capabilities is
critical to the growth of businesses
and the economy in
Nigeria and the future is the
small and medium (SMEs).”
Brand OBE highlighted
further the ‘Professional Accountants
and The Future’
follow-up research titled
‘Generation Next,’ with particular
emphasis on the finding
that 81 percent of over
18,000 young professionals
in over 150 countries saying
they want to own their businesses
at some point.
ment.
Findings by BusinessDay
reveal that although over
200 trucks and machinery
had been brought in since
Visionscape sealed the deal,
the company has yet to fully
develop capacity in terms of
manpower and equipment
to collect waste from residences.
Checks show that
many areas of the state are
still replete with refuse spilling
over waste bins placed
in street corners and junctions.
Kehinde Bamigbetan,
commissioner for information
and strategy, confirmed
to journalists, on
Monday, an arrangement
whereby the PSPs were joining
Visionscape in the implementation
of the Cleaner
Lagos Initiative (CLI) of government.
“With this, the state is
getting cleaner,” Bamigbetan
said, while responding
to question bordering
on the waste situation.
Also affirming this, John
Irvine, managing director/
CEO of Visionscape, said
existing PSPs willing to work
with his company were being
engaged as Waste Collection
Operators (WCOs).
According to Irvine, the
WCOs will be working directly
for Visionscape as
contractors; they will be
monitored and paid by Visionscape.