BusinessDay 12 Apr 2018

Thursday 12 April 2018
TEXEM to discuss building successful
organisations that endure
happen by chance; strong
partnerships and cooperation
are key. For too long,
a lack of cooperation has
blighted our great continent’s
development.”
But change is happening,
he pointed out. Nearly
all Africa’s leaders recently
signed the framework agreement
to set up the African
Continental Free Trade Area
which, when implemented,
will be the biggest free trade
agreement since the establishment
of the World Trade
Organisation.
Should all African countries
join the continental
free trade area by 2030, it will
create a market of 1.7-billion
people with a consumer and
business spending capacity
of $6.7-trillion.
Separately, but compli-
TEXEM, a business
management training
outfit, is inviting
editor of a top British
journal in May to discuss with
senior managers in Nigeria
what it takes to build a successful
business organisation.
The training is against the
background of a research carried
out by the National Federation
of Independent Business
(NFIB) in the USA, which
showed that 56 percent of new
companies fail within just four
years of establishment.
Evidence shows that the
failure rate even for established
brands in Nigeria is
worse. It is therefore vital for
senior executives to consistently
develop strategic leadership
skill sets to position their
organisation for success.
Due to the propensity
for Nigerian organisations
to fail as a result of the harsh
contextual realities inherent
in Africa’s largest economy,
Respite for Nigeria airline operators as Afreximbank
partners Russia on aircraft acquisition
IFEOMA OKEKE
Respite is finally here
for airline operators as
African Export Import
Bank (Afreximbank)
Wednesday partnered the
Russian Export Centre to provide
brand new aircraft for operations
in Nigeria.
This partnership is coming
at a time airlines operators
have struggled to pay 26 percent
interest loan to banks to
acquire new aircraft, and facing
strenuous conditions from
United States and European
countries on aircraft leasing.
Announcing the partnership
in Lagos, Rene Awambeng,
global head, client
relations, Afreximbank, said
the bank had entered into a
strategic partnership with the
Russian Export Centre, the
export bank of the Russian
Federation, to promote aviation
in Africa, so that it could
meet one of its strategic goals.
The Russian aircraft type is
the Sukhoi Superjet, a low cost
Amid controversy, Lagos tells businesses to report ‘illegal billing’ on boreholes
JOSHUA BASSEY
Amid controversy
and public outcry
against its imposition
of charges on
borehole drilling in Lagos,
the state government has
asked residents and business
organisations to report
cases of ‘illegal billing’ or
borehole closure by its officials.
Babatunde Durosinmi-
Etti, commissioner for the
environment, at a meeting
with heads of agencies
and parastatals under
his supervision, including
Lagos State Water Regulatory
Commission and Lagos
Water Corporation, warned
that the government would
not allow the closure of any
borehole, except where
leaders need actionable and
practical toolkits that would
assist them to drive effectiveness,
efficiency, innovation
and lasting legacies.
In a move to ensure businesses
in Nigeria excel in
these hard times and beyond,
Texem UK Limited has developed
an executive development
programme titled
“Building Successful Organisation
that Endures: Aligning
Purpose, Process, Performance
and People”- a unique
opportunity that executives
cannot afford to miss.
To gain insights on how to
develop innovative, commercially
valuable and sustainable
competitive edge, Texem is
inviting the world-renowned
professor, Pawan Budhwar,
editor-in-chief of British Academy
of Management, and professor
of Work Psychology at
Aston Business School on May
2 and 3, 2018, at Eko Hotel,
Victoria Island Lagos.
aircraft, a 100-seater aircraft,
depending on the configuration,
with enough legroom
and Italian Style Interior.
“The Russians have invested
significant amount in
research and development in
their aircraft which are very
efficient in terms of fuel consumption
and are ecologically
very friendly.
“We have partnered with
Russian Export Centre, to
provide solutions so that African
entrepreneurs either
private sectors, national airlines,
private sectors, operators
of airlines can acquire
these aircraft through asset
structures to meet our objective
of moving people
from one part of the country
to another,” Awambeng said.
He explained that part
of the partnership is to work
with Nigerian authorities to
certify the Russian aircraft to
be able to operate in Nigeria,
adding that the bank will enter
commercial negotiations
such was found to be contaminated
and unfit for domestic
use.
It would be recalled that
the Manufacturers Association
of Nigeria (MAN) led by
its president, Frank Jacobs,
during a visit to Governor
Akinwunmi Ambode in
April 2017, raised the alarm
over high charges placed on
member companies by Lagos
State Water Regulatory
Commission on sinking of
boreholes.
Jacobs said: “We have received
complaints from our
members of charges up to
N800,000 by the Lagos State
Water Regulatory Commission.
We are constrained
to draw your attention to
recent activities of the Lagos
State water Regulatory
Commission, on which we
C002D5556
BUSINESS DAY
35
NEWS
Investors edgy as 10% rise in transaction
fail to lift property prices in Q1’18
CHUKA UROKO
For investors in the
Nigerian property
market, it is not yet
‘uhuru’ as property
prices remain unchanged
despite the slight
improvement in the country’s
macro-economic environment
and an estimated 10
percent rise in closed transactions
at the end of the first
quarter of this year (Q1 2018).
Close market watchers
note that the market has seen
a significant change this year,
as against what was seen in
the second quarter of last
year, although the change is
still very gradual. “We can say
that things have started getting
better in terms of closing
transactions, which can be
measured,” Gbenga Olaniyan,
CEO, Estate Links, said
in an interview.
The 13-month economic
recession exited in Q2 2017
dealt a devastating blow on
real estate sector such that
construction activities were
paralysed; completed houses
could not find buyers or tenants,
and demand became
flat with residential vacancy
rate rising to almost 50 percent
in the highbrow locations.
Up till now, both residential
and commercial property
prices are still flat, which,
analysts say, provides opportunity
for home buyers, businesses,
and investors that are
patient and have long term
view of the market to move
cash to the market.
This becomes all the more
compelling considering that
prices will surely go up, as
many people are not building
now and, according to
Olaniyan, those who are doing
developments are going
to deliver at prices that will
L-R: Hakeem Adeniji-Adele, chief technology officer, Microsoft Nigeria; Joel Ogunsola, executive director, Tech4Dev; Akin Banuso,
general manager, Microsoft Nigeria; Olusegun Mimiko, former governor, Ondo State, and Ukinebo Dare, senior special adviser to
the Edo State Governor on Skills and job creation, at the launch of the Basic Digital Education Initiative (BDEI) at the Microsoft
Nigeria office, Lagos.
have received numerous
complaints and petitions
from our members.
“It is pertinent to draw
your attention to the fact
that there is no country in
Africa and for that matter
any state in Nigeria that is
charging licensing fee for
borehole or any charge for
water abstraction. The association
believes that the
state has the responsibility
to provide water for which
the citizens would pay.
“Companies are forced
to provide their own water
because of the inadequacy
of public water supply.
Asking companies to pay
for this would appear that
we are being penalised for
making up for the inadequacy
of government to
provide this vital utility.
… but analysts see prices rise as construction cost goes up
IATA calls for greater cooperation on Africa aviation
MIKE OCHONMA
Collaboration between
aviation
stakeholders in Africa
is essential if
the sector is to realise its full
potential and accelerate the
development of the continent.
This was the word of
Raphael Kuuchi, International
Air Transport Association
(IATA) vice president,
Africa, in his address to the
African Airlines Association
Aviation Stakeholders Convention
in Zanzibar.
“Over the next 20 years,
air travel is forecast to grow
at nearly 6 percent per year
in Africa,” he highlighted,
saying, “This represents significant
opportunity. Fulfilling
this potential will not
reflect new market realities.
Completed houses that
came to the market a year
ago at N50 million per unit,
for instance, are still selling
at that old price, but because
construction costs keep rising
despite the lull in the
market, those that are being
developed now will go for
higher prices.
“I see a situation where,
because developments have
slowed down, the economy
is recovering, and 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 price any longer,”
Olaniyan said.
It is expected, however,
that with the economy starting
to pick up, if in a whole
week early last year sellers
were getting three serious
enquiries, they are sure to get
10 this time around, though
as it is now, a lot of the prospective
tenants are still inspecting
and raising funds,
which raises hope that one
day transaction will happen.
One segment of the market
where prospects are not
so clear is retail, which was
heavily impacted by the fall
in the value of the naira. A
retailer who was bringing
in goods at $100 before the
devaluation of the naira had
N16,000 as his cost and so, he
could sell what he brought in
for N20,000.
Now, if the same retailer
brings in his goods
at the same $100, his cost
has moved from N16,000 to
N36,000, but the buyers are
not yet ready to pay N40,000
and so, that poses challenges
to him, leading to his decision
to leave the mall.
mentarily, the African Union
recently also launched the
Single African Air Transport
Market, intended to bring
the “Open Skies” concept to
Africa and increase the continent’s
air transport connectivity.
In those other regions
of the world in which
Open Skies policies have
been implemented, the results
have been increased
air traffic, economic growth
and job creation
“We expect no less in Africa.
An IATA report indicates
if just 12 key African countries
opened their air transport
markets, the increased
connectivity would foster 155
000 additional jobs and the
creation of an extra $1.3-billion
in annual GDP (gross
domestic product) in those
countries,” he affirmed.