BusinessDay 17 Apr 2018

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NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I **TUESDAY 17 APRIL 2018 I VOL. 15, NO 34 I N300 @ g 

Budget 2018 faces 

further delay as 

Reps miss deadline 

for presentation 

KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja 

Two weeks into the fourth 

month in the year, there 

are indications that the 

much awaited 2018 budget will 

face further delays. 

BusinessDay learnt on Monday 

night that the deadline issued 

by the Speaker of the House of 

Representatives, Yakubu Dogara 

for the laying of the 2018 budget 

report is no longer realistic. 

Dogara had announced last 

week that the 2018 budget will be 

Continues on page 34 

Police engage El Zakzaky 

group as bloody 

clashes rock Abuja 

STELLA ENENCHE, Abuja 

Police has dispersed followers 

of controversial Islamic 

Cleric, El Zakzaky from the 

streets in Abuja, following violent 

protests that rocked the city 

in the early hours of Monday. 

The protests which started 

from the Unity Fountain in 

Abuja, created tension in the 

Federal Capital city as the pro- 


NCC approves spectrum trading, transfer 

of licence to boost broadband penetration 

JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON 

The board of the Nigerian 

Communications 

Commission (NCC) 

has approved a new 

flexible regulation for 

trading spectrum and transfer 

Iconnect surrenders Infraco licence 

of license rights and obligation 

between operators in order to increase 

broadband infrastructure 

roll-out and deepen penetration 

levels 

Speaking at an interactive 

session with members of the 

media in Lagos yesterday May 

16, 2018, Umar Garba Danbatta, 

executive vice chairman (EVC) 

L-R: Abubakar Jimoh, MD/CEO; Babatunde Folawiyo, chairman, board of director; Cornelia Utuk, company 

secretary/legal adviser; Babatunde Dabiri, non executive director, and Adamu Atta, non executive director, all 

of Coronation Merchant Bank Group, at the 3rd annual general meeting of the bank in Lagos. 

of NCC said that the agreement 

was reached and the new regulation 

was approved on Thursday 

April 12, 2018. 

Telecoms operators and 

stakeholders have applauded 

this as they have in the past 

few years clamored for a spectrum 

management policy which 

would allow sharing, transfer 

and trading opportunities between 

operators in order to further 

deepen broadband penetration 

in the country and to reduce 

hoarding of spectrum license by 

winning bidders. 

Stakeholders are of the view 

that the cost of a spectrum license 

is too huge for smaller 


Inside 

BusinessDay 

journalist 

wins Citi 2018 

excellence 

award P. 4

2 

BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 

Tuesday 17 April 2018

Tuesday 17 April 2018 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 

3

Tuesday 17 April 2018 

4 BUSINESS DAY 

C002D5556 

NEWS 

Rising insecurity- Gunmen abduct German 

in Kano as protest by Shiites turn violent 

Gunmen in the 

northern Nigerian 

state of Kano 

killed a policeman 

and abducted a 

Germany citizen on Monday as 

they travelled to a construction 

site, police told Reuters. The 

gunmen’s motive was unclear. 

Kidnapping for ransom is common 

in parts of Nigeria. 

Five gunmen ambushed a 

vehicle carrying construction 

workers and opened fire on 

them along Sabon Titi Madobi 

road at around 7:45 a.m, a police 

spokesman said. The road is on 

the outskirts of the state’s capital 

city, also called Kano. 

The vehicle was carrying staff 

of Dantata & Sawoe Construction 

Company, a Nigerian firm, to a 

building site, Kano police said in 

a statement. A police sergeant, 

who was part of a protection 

unit escorting the group, was 

killed and the German man was 

abducted, the statement added. 

The “manhunt of the abductors 

is ongoing,” said Kano 

state police in a statement. The 

German embassy in Nigeria 

declined to comment. The company 

also did not immediately 

respond to calls and an email 

requesting comment. 

This is as the Nigerian police 

fired bullets and tear gas to 

disperse Shi’ite Muslim protesters 

marching for their leader’s 

freedom in one of the capital’s 

most upmarket areas on Monday, 

and organisers said several 

demonstrators were wounded 

by gunfire. 

Islamic Movement of Nigeria 

(IMN) leader Ibrahim Zakzaky 

has been jailed since December 

2015, when security forces killed 

hundreds of members in a crackdown 

on a group estimated to 

have 3 millions followers. 

The violent repression of the 

group and the detention of its 

leader have drawn accusations 

that President Muhammadu 

Buhari’s government is abusing 

human rights. The IMN says 

Zakzaky must be freed after a 

court ruled his detention without 

charge illegal. 

The crackdown has sparked 

fears that IMN could become 

radicalised, in much the same 

way the Sunni Muslim militant 

group Boko Haram turned into a 

violent insurgency in 2009 after 

police killed its leader. 

“As we started protesting they 

started shooting tear gas and 

using water cannons,” Abdullahi 

Muhammad, an IMN youth 

leader, told Reuters by phone. 

“We refused to disperse and they 

used bullets as well, and they 

shot so many people.” 

“They want to push us to violence 

but they couldn’t, so that 

is why they are using live ammunition, 

thinking that killing 

will stop us. No amount of killing 

will stop us,” he added. 

Muhammad said he witnessed 

police dragging bullet-hit 

protesters into a van and sitting 

on them, adding that he did not 

know if they were dead or alive. 

At least eight other IMN 

members were hit by bullets 

and were now receiving treatment, 

said Muhammad. An IMN 

spokesman, who was also at the 

protests, told Reuters at least 

four people were injured. 

Police did not immediately 

respond to calls and texts seeking 

comment. 

Nearly all of the Muslims that 

make up around half of Nigeria’s 

population are Sunnis. The IMN 

was founded in the 1980s after 

the revolution in mainly Shi’ite 

Iran in 1979, which inspired the 

group’s founders. 

A judicial inquiry after the December 

2015 clashes concluded 

that the military had killed 347 

IMN members in Zakzaky’s home 

base, the city of Zaria. Soldiers 

buried the bodies in mass graves. 

The group calls the incident “the 

Zaria massacre”. 

A Reuters journalist near the 

scene of Monday’s demonstration 

heard gunshots ring out and 

was stung by tear gas in the air. 

Videos uploaded on social 

media showed wreaths of the gas 

enveloping Abuja’s streets in the 

upmarket Maitama district, near 

the landmark Transcorp Hilton 

hotel. Other videos showed protesters 

pelting an armoured police 

vehicle with rocks before it sped 

away, and people fleeing the area. 

“The only thing that will stop 

these protests is when the government 

frees our leader,” said 

Muhammad. 

L-R: Michel Puchercos, GMD/CEO, Lafarge Africa plc; Mobolaji Balogun, chairman, Lafarge Africa plc; Mosun Belo-Olusoga, 

chairman, Access Bank plc; Herbert Wigwe, GMD/CEO, Access Bank plc; Oscar Onyema, CEO, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); 

Tony Elumelu, chairman, United Bank for Africa (UBA); Kenedy Uzoka, GMD/CEO, UBA; Austin Avuru, CEO, Seplat Petroleum 

plc, and A.B.C. Orjiako, chairman, Seplat Petroleum plc, during the presentation of certificates to Access Bank plc, Lafarge Africa 

plc, Seplat Petroleum Plc, and UBA on their migration to NSE Premium Board at The Exchange in Lagos, yesterday. 

BusinessDay Journalist 

wins Citi 2018 

excellence award 

ENDURANCE OKAFOR 

Isaac Anyaogu of BusinessDay 

has emerged the winner of 

the 2018 Citi Journalistic Excellence 

Award (CJEA). 

Anyaogu is a financial journalist 

and a resourceful researcher 

with a passion for 

impacting society. 

His reports cover a variety of 

topics including energy, health, 

technology as well as human 

interest news and events. 

His goal is to provide actionable 

financial intelligence 

to help business and political 

leaders take sound decisions, 

show the implications of statistical 

data and use his reports to 

promote inclusive growth and 

development for the country. 

Anyaogu’s winning article “A 

harvest of sunshine” focuses on 

the how a small group of entrepreneurs 

developed innovative 

renewable energy solutions that 

significantly improved postharvest 

processing. 

Anyaogu as part of Business- 

Days investigative report series 

visited Ba’awa and Kadabo farming 

communities in Makarfi Local 

government area of Kaduna 

State. Pepper is the key crop in 

this region and a source of revenue 

for the communities. 

The post-harvest process for 

pepper farmers is to leave their 

peppers to dry on roadsides and 

other open spaces. The process 

is wearisome and valuable cash 

crop are damaged by birds, 

rodents and rain, as well as polluted 

by dust and debris. 

In the article, Anyaogu stated 

that Nigeria loses approximately 

$9billion worth of fresh produce 

annually, largely due to the 

absence of an energy plan in its 

agricultural policies. 

A number of small scale farmers 

depend on rain-fed agriculture 

and are unable to preserve 

their produce; hence, 40 percent 

of their harvest is wasted. 

This situation is driving some 


NCC approves spectrum trading, transfer of... 

Continued from page 1 

players, who would only be able 

to benefit if there is an opportunity 

for spectrum to be shared or 

transferred in portions. 

“The cost of the license was 

actually a big factor, especially 

looking at the current exchange 

rate. That is why we continue to say 

spectrum management policy is 

what we should be looking at right 

now so that the cost can be shared,” 

Lateef Akintunde, Director at Airtel 

Nigeria, said while speaking at the 

NCC stakeholder’s forum on the 

licensing of the 2.6GHz spectrum 

auction post mortem in Lagos. 

Another issue arose after winning 

bidders of particular spectrum 

licences including the 2.3GHz 

spectrum were unable to roll out 

broadband services, even after 

one year of issuance, as a result of 

strict foreign exchange policies and 

lack of infrastructure. They were 

therefore stuck with the spectrum 

license with no hope of trading or 

transferring. 

The information of memorandum 

(IM) states that winning 

bidders must roll out modalities 

and preparation from the date of 

license award and spectrum must 

be used for broadband roll out in 

1 year. 

Although the IM also says that 

winning bidders are required to 

negotiate their own interference 

agreements with adjacent users 

particularly at collocation and 

should investigate before agreeing 

to all terms and conditions, Biodun 

Omoniyi, Chief Executive Officer, 

Bitflux Communications Limited, 

winners of the 2.3GHz spectrum 

told BusinessDay in an interview 

that operating environments have 

changed from the time of winning 

several years ago and the company 

did not foresee the recent foreign 

exchange devaluation. 

With these, the NCC took into 

consideration, the importance of 

broadband and resolved in allowing 

operators to trade and transfer 

licenses in order to facilitate the roll 

out of broadband infrastructure 

and deepen penetration. 

Austine Nwaulune, Director, 

Spectrum Administration, NCC, 

said a while ago that the commission 

would make sure that the 1 

year deadline for service roll out is 

strictly adhered to as “this industry 

is so much in need of broadband 

service that we cannot afford any 

delays.” 

Lanre Ajayi, at the time he was 

President of Association of Telecommunications 

Companies 

of Nigeria (ATCON), said he was 

of the opinion that the Nigerian 

market is big enough to have a 

secondary spectrum market. 

“There are a large number of 

idle spectrums in the custody of 

some operators while numerous 

investors are yearning for spectrum 

to roll out services. It makes sense 

to allow such owners to sell to new 

buyers who may have need for the 

spectrum. 

“However, participation at secondary 

market should be limited 

to those who obtained spectrum 

through competitive bidding, like 

auction to avoid a scenario where 

people use their contact to obtain 

spectrum from the government 

and sell in the secondary market,” 

Ajayi said. 

Meanwhile Iconnect, a subsidiary 

of HIS has surrendered the Infraco 

license it recently won for the 

provision of broadband services to 

the North Central Zone. 

This was disclosed by Danbatta, 

yesterday. 

“Very soon we will advertise 

for new firms to take up the North 

Central Infraco license,” he said. 

The EVC in his address to the 

media also mentioned that Nigeria’s 

mobile money penetration 

will grow only on the back of telcos. 

“Kenya has about 60 percent 

mobile money service penetration, 

while Ghana has about 40 percent 

service penetration. Even with a 

lot more population numbers, Nigeria 

remains at 1 percent because 

unfortunately, the Nigerian model 

is bank led. 

However, there are challenges 

on the telecommunications infrastructure 

in Nigeria, including 

security, because the networks 

must be secure and incorporate 

measures that will ensure security 

of financial transactions in Nigeria. 

The networks in this country are 

not secure enough to provide that 

kind of service, so discussions are 

going on about how we can appoint 

telecommunication companies as 

super agents or through the introduction 

of special purpose benefits, 

which is also telco dependent, in 

order to improve on the level of 

penetration,” Danbatta said.


5

6 BUSINESSDAY C002D5556 

NEWS 

Why I proposed 1% private sector contribution 

to healthcare delivery - Dangote 

President of Dangote 

Group of Companies, 

Aliko Dangote, has 

given insight into why 

he is advocating private 

sector operators in Nigeria 

commit 1 percent of their profit 

annually to funding healthcare 

services. 

Dangote suggested to members 

of an expanded National 

Economic Council meeting 

recently the need to have a trust 

fund to revitalise the nation’s 

sorry public health sector similar 

to the education trust fund 

operated at the federal level, 

and security trust fund run in 

some states. 

Dangote expressed the 

conviction that such trust fund 

would go a long way to help 

the nation’s health sector and 

improve the people’s wellbeing 

in the face of multiple challenges 

confronting the nation with 

limited resources available to 

government. 

His advice came on the day 

the co-chair, Bill and Melinda 

Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, 

picked holes in the economic 

policy of the Federal Government, 

when he said “the Economic 

Recovery and Growth 

DANIEL OBI 

Plan (ERGP) being bandied by 

the government does not address 

the needs of Nigerians.” 

Gates said the ERGP was just 

a mere document that identified 

the need to invest in people but 

which had failed to reflect so in 

its implementation, adding that 

though Nigeria had economic 

potential, it had to be maximised 

through investment in people as 

the greatest resource. 

The Microsoft founder stated 

emphatically that Nigeria was 

a dangerous country to give 

birth, as it was the fourth worst 

country in maternity mortality 

rate in the world, only better than 

Sierra Leone, Central African 

Republic and Chad. He therefore 

urged the government to 

invest in healthcare, education 

and human capital because 

Nigeria’s fiscal system is built on 

low equilibrium, which in turn 

produces low level of service. 

Dangote, while speaking 

with newsmen in Lagos at the 

weekend on the proposal for 

1 percent profit for health care 

trust fund, said for Nigeria to 

invest in her people, “the same 

people must have good health 

and it is glaring that government 

does not have enough resources 

to execute all health care infrastructure, 

hence the need for 

private sector to come in.” 

Such fund could be administered 

by government 

and private sector together for 

maximum impact, just as being 

done in the educational sector, 

he said. 

While expressing his readiness 

to offer necessary assistance 

to government on how 

to come about the trust fund, he 

enjoined private sector operators 

to be ready to join hands 

with government “to achieve 

the overall objective of improving 

our public health sector and 

turn around our human capital 

availability.” 

Dangote had through his 

foundation, the Dangote Foundation 

committed billions of 

Naira on critical intervention 

in the health sector by building 

hospitals and equipping teaching 

hospitals. 

His Foundation is currently 

building the biggest maternity 

wards in Aminu Kano specialist 

hospital and state of the arts 

Surgical Operating Theatre and 

Diagnostic Centre (SDC), at a 

cost N7 billion, which soon be 

completed. 

Mining: Why international investors are cautious of Africa 

… the good news of DAMEA’s intervention 

Africa’s resource wealth 

is incontrovertible. According 

to statistics, 30 

percent of the world’s 

mineral resources – gold, iron ore, 

platinum, bauxite, cobalt, graphite, 

manganese, nickel, phosphate, etc., 

– are deposited by nature in Africa. 

While it is true that the mining 

and natural resources of a country can 

contribute meaningfully to growth, 

development and transformation, 

there is a growing question of the 

impact of mining on the environment, 

host communities, social structures, 

tourism, and other industries when 

juxtaposed with the benefits accruable 

from its operations. 

There is also concern about 

policy and regulatory uncertainty, 

such as the view that investors are 

at the mercy of the politics of the day 

in the countries and those in power. 

Analysts cite examples of the 

recent mining legislature change in 

Tanzania and South Africa exposing 

the fragility of investment decisions 

relating to so-called “frontier 

markets” such as Tanzania, and 

emerging markets, such as 

South Africa. 

Only last year in Tanzania, 

the third or fourth largest gold 

producer in Africa, the President, 

John Magufuli, signed into 

law the Natural Wealth and Re- 

Obaseki swears-in two Edo High Court justices 

Edo State governor, Godwin 

Obaseki, has sworn-in Orobosa 

Omotoso (female) and 

Terry Momodu (male) as justices 

of the State High Court. 

At the swear-in ceremony in 

Government House, Benin City, 

Obaseki said he remained committed 

to strengthening the judicial system 

to ensure the delivery of justice 

and sustenance of the democratic 

system in the state. 

He said, “Without an effective 

judicial system, it will be impossible 

to sustain the democratic system. In 

sources Bill 2017, and the Natural 

Wealth and Resources Contracts 

Bill 2017, on July 3, 2017. The laws, 

which have far-reaching consequences 

for foreign companies 

with investment in Tanzania, 

were hurried through the Tanzanian 

Parliament in a matter 

of weeks. 

Before the new legislation, 

however, there had been extensive 

investment in Tanzania’s 

gold mining industry, with a large 

percentage of this focused on 

prospecting operations, which 

are, of course, critical in the creation 

of a pipeline that can later 

be converted into mines. 

The uncertainties flowing 

from the new laws are likely 

to dramatically impact junior 

mining companies who are focused 

on exploration. It will also 

make capital raising exercises extremely 

difficult, if not impossible. 

Where ownership of mining 

assets in a company is put at risk, 

this is likely to scare off potential 

investors, and make existing investors 

exercise extreme caution. 

On June 15, 2017 the South 

African minister of minerals, 

Mosebenzi Zwane, published 

the “Reviewed Broad-Based 

Black Economic Empowerment 

Charter for the South African 

Mining and Minerals Industry, 

2016”. The response was immedi- 

Edo State, we are proud of the reputation 

of the judiciary as a separate 

arm of government, which is independent 

of other arms and has 

continued to discharge its duties 

with integrity and fairness. 

“We will continue to celebrate 

the fact that despite the allegations 

made against judges in other parts 

of the country, the judiciary in 

Edo State has remained scandalfree 

and continues to enjoy welldeserved 

respect.” 

The governor expressed optimism 

that the newly inducted 

ate, dramatic and far-reaching. It 

is estimated that mining stocks 

lost approximately ZAR50 billion 

in value, following the announcement, 

with the Rand 

losing ground. 

The Chamber of Mines, representing 

more than 90 percent 

of the miners in the South Africa 

mining industry, has challenged 

Zwane, through court processes. 

Whilst there was significant discord 

amongst various stakeholders, 

the most recent developments, 

where a group of NGOs 

has applied to the High Court, to 

join the court process initiated by 

the Chamber of Mines is a further 

significant positive step in South 

Africa’s democracy. 

While the South African and 

Tanzanian examples are of concern, 

this does not mean that 

Africa is un-investable. To the 

contrary, Africa has a significant 

and often thriving mining and 

minerals industry, providing millions 

of jobs and opportunities. 

It is likely that demand for certain 

precious metals will continue 

to grow, and that the demand for 

the so-called “battery metals” will 

grow exponentially. All of this creates 

opportunities for investors, provided 

that the investors have a proper 

understanding of the various risks 

that are faced in these investment 

opportunities. 

judges would put in their best 

towards building on the legacy of 

their predecessors. 

In her remarks, Justice Omotoso 

expressed appreciation to the 

state governor for the effort of his 

administration to repositioning the 

state judicial system. 

She pledged commitment to 

discharge her duties as a justice in 

the state High Court without fear or 

favour and in line with global best 

practice. Omotoso and Momodu 

were called to the bar in 1989 and 

1991, respectively. 

Tuesday 17 April 2018


7



STRATEGYBRIEFING 

IDEAS THAT POWER HIGH PERFORMANCE 

Great sales people does not translate 

to a great sales department 

How is your sales doing? 

There are three 

answers I can expect: 

very well, still pushing, 

not well. I meet 

with several senior business executives 

in several industries every 

year and I usually get such answers 

in confidence. No executive talks 

about how lousy his/her sales is, 

they only talk about how great it 

is when its doing great(and even 

when its not). But as every executive 

stands in the shower each morning, 

one thought that keeps him/ 

her company is, ‘what do we need 

to do to capture maximum value 

from our efforts?’ And capturing 

more value is a function of a well 

articulated and executed strategy. 

That’s thesame thought that 

bothered a dejected man whom 

Bruce Burton, American advertising 

legend talked about. The man 

was a sales manager reputed for 

writing winning sales letter. But 

he lost his job and was at the verge 

of committing suicide. Burton led 

the man to a window and began, 

Look out there at those buildings 

” Barton said, Offices of people All 

filled with people who have goods 

to sell and most of whom don’t 

knowhow to sell them ” You say 

you can write sales letters.This is 

your great chance to prove it.Write 

those people a letter that will sell 

them the idea that they need you 

to help them sell their goods.The 

man accepted the challenge. Six 

month later his earning were over 

$25,000 a year! The question is how 

did such a great sales man loose 

his job? Did his company file for 

bankruptcy? How could that happen 

with such a great sales man? 

Well the answer is that great sales 

people does not translate to a great 

sales department. And by the way ‘a 

great sales department’ on its own 

is a pretty big term that may need 

to be broken down. 

A great sales department is 

one which its policies, culture and 

behavior are in alignment with the 

strategic direction of the whole organization. 

That’s dealing with the 

sales department that does the right 

things as against doing things right. 

A confusion between efficiency 

and optimization plagues many 

sales efforts. But while sales efficiency 

initiatives — like CRM, 

training, and KPI dashboards — 

improve your corporate engine 

horsepower. Sales optimization 

decisions — like aligning sales tasks 

with business strategy, customer 

selection, and sales force deployment 

across opportunities — set 

the route which the company takes. 

Like the aphorism, “If you don’t 

know where you’re going, any road 

will take you there.” But if you’re going 

in the wrong direction, getting 

there faster is not the solution. 

According to a report by Boston 

Consulting Group, doing the right 

things such as targeting high-value 

customers and deploying sales 

resources with strategically-appropriate 

criteria, have more than 

three times the impact on revenue 

growth than doing things right. 

The implication is that effective 

allocation of available sales 

resources can be a strategic asset 

and a leverage for more profitable 

growth. 

At the core of sales effectiveness 

is an effective sales culture. 

Having a productive sales culture 

is the effective way to harness the 

potentials of your sales people and 

put their ability to the best use. My 

research shows that effective sales 

organisations focus on building 

four important capabilities as the 

framework for building a productive 

sales culture. 

Strategy and planning: there 

are two things most companies 

do wrong here. The first is a siloed 

approach to strategic planning 

irrespective of their go-to-market 

approach which often spans the 

whole organization. Secondly the 

planning process often takes four 

to five months. While this is going 

on, business has to go on, sales 

people have to keep working based 

on their individual capacity rather 

than what the company strategy 

should direct. This is why survey 

of 1,800 executives more than half 

(53%) of the respondents said their 

employees don’t understand their 

company’s strategy. 

Customer targeting and cost of 

service: All customers are equal 

but some are more equal than 

the others. This principle is what 

underlies prioritizing customers 

so as to make real the crucial 

“scope” component of a coherent 

strategy — i.e., decisions about the 

customer segment to target. Geography, 

frequency of order and order 

size dramatically determines the 

cost of serving customers. 

Many capital costs are embedded 

in cost-to-serve differences 

which affects your return on investment. 

Sales efficiency efforts 

usually do not take capital cost into 

consideration. If this cost is not 

measured sales people will simply 

chase after competing price proposals. 

When sales people focus on 

price and volume and are rewarded 

based on that, sales resources cannot 

be optimized. This also expose 

the business model and ultimately 

profit to risk. 

Performance assessment and 

reviews: successful organization 

take assessment and review very 

seriously. Consider Toyota, when 

they reorganized their performance 

evaluation system although Toyota 

usually develop their system themselves, 

they had to seek the help of 

outside consultants who worked 

with them for three years to develop 

a new process. That’s how seriously 

they take review. Yet many sales 

managers tend to treat reviews as 

cursory, drive-by conversations 

that are mainly about compensation, 

not evaluation and development. 

Reviews are where strategy 

is revealed and emphasized. It is 

where sales behaviours are defined 

and data applied to customer interaction. 

Review meetings can consider 

issues like changing prices to 

reflect cost to serve, reducing technical 

support for certain customer 

segments, changing the locus of 

relevant support, determining different 

ordering or delivery options, 

and perhaps instituting a channel 

strategy that offloads some cost-toserve 

to resellers whose economies 

of scope allow them to perform 

these tasks more efficiently. 

Sales capacity and resource 

allocation: sales productivity depends 

on the capacity of the sales 

people and how much they can do 

to reach target customers. Since doing 

the right thing is the key to high 

performance, resources should be 

effectively allocated towards sales 

optimization efforts like customer 

selection, and sales force deployment 

across opportunities. 

Evaluating sales with the expense-to-revenue 

ratio can shed 

light on the relative cost efficiency 

of selling activities, but not (by 

itself) on their cost effectiveness, 

which is a more complex relationship 

between selling costs, 

revenues, profit margins, and 

customers acquired through one 

or another means of organizing 

sales resources. 

While big data can be a great 

way of evaluation, they are not an 

end on their own. High performing 

companies understand that 

data are not just numbers; they 

are a way of viewing reality by the 

people who should use that data. 

And sales people will ignore analytics 

that they can’t apply to where 

they live: in daily encounters with 

customers. 

Bottom line: performing the 

right sales activities is the foundation 

of a great sales unit which is 

the only way to capture optimal 

value. Among other things, performing 

the right sales activities 

allows sales leaders to grow the 

top line using the resources they 

already have by deliberately focusing 

selling efforts on what will really 

make a difference. 

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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BUSINESS DAY 

9



C002D5556 

COMMENT 

MAZI SAM OHUABUNWA OFR 

sam@starteamconsult.com 

In Africa, it is rare to find political 

office-holders who voluntarily 

resign from office. African politicians 

cling to office against all 

odds. Some achieve it through 

changing the constitution, others 

through changing of political parties 

and a few through blatant seizure of 

power. Recently one Robert Mugabe, 

who ruled his country-Zimbabwe for 

37 years was bent on seeking another 

term at age of 93 and if he failed, he 

would hand over to his wife-’Gucci 

Grace’ until the military intervened 

in a most sophisticated manner to 

ease him out. Some try to play God, 

believing that without them, the 

country would fail, guys like Museveni 

of Uganda, Mbasogo of Equatorial 

Guinea, Nkurunziza of Burundi, Biya 

of Cameroun, Derby of Chad and 

Bongo of Gabon. Even in very serious 

and debilitating sickness, some African 

leaders refuse to bow out, preferring 

rather to rule through proxies or 

to die in office. 

Nigeria has been unlucky (lucky?) 

to have seen leaders who fit into this 

comment is free 

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The worth of a politician’s promise 

mode. Ibrahim Babangida tried 

to perpetuate himself in office by 

political manipulation & force. Sani 

Abacha tried to perpetuate himself 

in office by a combination of force 

and constitutional manipulation. 

Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to get 

a third term through constitutional 

amendment which failed. Umaru 

Musa Yardua was sick before he 

was nominated to be President, but 

claimed to have been healed according 

to Olusegun Obasanjo; he fell ill 

while campaigning and refused to 

accept the fact and eventually became 

very ill while in office and yet 

he refused to resign from office and 

even at death, his gang wanted him 

to continue to rule through proxies. 

The lure to remain in office willy 

nilly by African politicians continues 

to baffle me. Dr Goodluck Jonathan 

was said to have agreed to do only 

one full term, having completed 

Yardua’s term following his death 

in office, but in 2015 he denied that 

commitment and was asking his 

party members to provide written 

evidence that he made such commitment. 

Of course he went on to 

contest in that election, prompting 

rebellion by some of his party members 

who felt offended by his denial 

of what they regarded was a gentleman’s 

agreement. This led to the 

formation of the “New PDP”, which 

combined with the ACN to form APC 

and the subsequent victory of Buhari 

at the presidential poll. 

Speaking about Jonathan’s ‘gentleman’s 

agreement’, an associate of 

...they promised that no Nigerian 

child of school age will 

be out of school, but they have 

repudiated this and actually 

the number of children out of 

school has increased, worsened 

by the Boko Haram activities in 

the North East. 

mine quipped that there were no gentlemen 

in Nigerian politics. I begged 

to disagree and he challenged me to 

name one. I mentioned Senator Mao. 

He asked me to forget that, saying 

that since Senator Mao is my younger 

brother, I could be prejudiced in his favour. 

Then I mentioned President Muhammadu 

Buhari (PMB) and he went 

into a very long laugh. He then sat me 

down to remind me of how many promises 

made either by PMB when he was 

campaigning or by his party (including 

matters included in the APC manifesto) 

which PMB had either denied or repudiated. 

First, PMB covenanted with 

Nigerians he would radically improve 

our healthcare system, that no Nigerian 

would have reason to go outside Nigeria 

for medical treatment.PMB himself 

was the first to repudiate this promise 

as he has made the UK his permanent 

medical abode even after nearly 3 

years in office. Second, they promised 

Nigerians that they would pay every 

unemployed Nigerian graduate youth, 

five thousand Naira monthly stipend. 

They flatly denied this promise and 

many Nigerian graduate youths remain 

dependent on their parents for 

upkeep while they search endlessly for 

jobs. Third, PMB promised to make the 

Naira equivalent to the American dollar 

in value. He has denied this and we 

all know that today, at least 360 Naira 

is equal to one US dollar. Fourth, they 

promised that no Nigerian child of 

school age will be out of school, but 

they have repudiated this and actually 

the number of children out of school 

has increased, worsened by the Boko 

Haram activities in the North East. 

Fifth, PMB & his party promised 

to implement the national gender 

policy including 35% of appointive 

positions for women. The party has 

repudiated this promise and all that 

the women achieved in affirmative 

action in the past seem to have been 

lost. Sixth, PMB promised to continually 

acknowledge Nigeria’s diversity 

and consciously promote equality and 

equity in all government businesses 

and activities. But we can see total repudiation 

of this promise as no time in 

Nigerian history have we seen the type 

of lopsidedness in appointment as we 

have seen PMB do with scant regard 

to the sensibilities and complaints of 

the disenfranchised groups. Since the 

end of the civil war, Nigeria has never 

been as divided as it is now due largely 

to acts of commission and omission 

of PMB’s government. Seventh, PMB 

at inauguration covenanted with Nigerians 

that he belonged to nobody 

and that he belonged to all. Now we 

know very clearly that he belongs to 

the Fulani cattle herdsmen. Eight, 

PMB’s party promised to restructure 

Nigeria and enthrone true federalism 

but when Nigerians began to agitate 

for restructuring, PMB told them he 

did not know what that meant and 

that anyone who was interested in 

restructuring should take his matter to 

the National Assembly. At this point, I 

begged him to stop that he had made 

his point, telling him that most of 

these promises may have been denied 

or repudiated by circumstances beyond 

his control. He seemed to reason 

with me for a moment. 

This week, as I returned to Lagos, 

this associate of mine called to 

welcome me back to Lagos and in 

between thanking God for leading us 

safely during our mother’s obsequies, 

he asked if I had heard that despite 

all the advice from Obasanjo, IBB 

and many other people, PMB has 

announced that he would go for a 

second term? Then he drew my attention 

to Femi Adesina’s comment 

that PMB’s promise made in 2011 to 

be ‘a one term president’ has expired 

and was no longer valid in 2018. He 

then asked me if I still held the view 

that PMB is a gentleman whose words 

could be relied upon? I sighed, raised 

up my hand and exclaimed: when it 

comes to perpetuation in office, all 

politicians are the same! 

Send reactions to: 

comment@businessdayonline.com 

STRATEGY & POLICY 

PMB’S declaration: Why do Nigerians rage? 

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. 

Who says President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

(PMB) is not eminently 

qualified to 

seek second term in office as 

President of Nigeria? Frankly, it 

is PMB’s constitutional right in 

line with the 1999 Constitution of 

the Federal Republic of Nigeria 

to seek second term in office. It is 

equally the constitutional rights of 

Nigeria’s eligible voters to prompt 

a change in leadership across the 

entire political spectrum in the 

coming 2019 elections. For lovers 

of PMB and his style of leadership, 

it was pleasing for them to know 

that he has announced his interest 

to contest for re-election into the 

most prestigious and exalted office 

in Nigeria- the presidency. 

On Monday 8 April 2018, PMB 

declared his intention to run again 

for presidency despite wake- up 

calls from some retired generals 

that he needs to quit the stage 

honorably. His declaration for a 

second term in office according 

to PMB is due to “tremendous 

support from his party and some 

state governors.” Recall however, 

that former presidents Olusegun 

Obasanjo (OBJ) and Ibrahim Babangida 

(IBB) had earlier advised 

PMB not to seek a second term 

in office. TY Danjuma, a former 

Chief of Army Staff and one-time 

Minister of Defence is not left out 

as he released a bombshell in 

Taraba State advising Nigerians 

to self-defend themselves against 

herdsmen attack saying “they will 

kill you one by one.” 

OBJ’s wake-up call to PMB’s 

administration was based mainly 

on increasing insecurity, poverty, 

pure economic mismanagement, 

nepotism and gross dereliction of 

duty amongst others. With PMB’s 

declaration, OBJ’s “clarion call” 

has been declared void. While 

IBB’s homily titled “Towards a 

National Rebirth” is rendered 

ineffective. PMB Baba, I salute 

you! Who says he is not a political 

genius? He knows that letters 

of OBJ, IBB and other retired 

generals aren’t of serious consequences 

when weighed against 

the views of millions of registered 

voters in Nigeria. The retired 

generals’ views would have been 

given due consideration if they 

were party to his emergence 

as the President of Nigeria. Assuming 

the trio were part of 

the “cabal” that brought him to 

power, they’ve got to relax now. 

These retired generals know that 

executive power at the federal level 

is very juicy. Besides, PMB wants to 

do more for Nigerians. Any retired 

general is at liberty to issue a warning 

letter if deemed necessary. It 

is their prerogative to write within 

the ambient of the law as they are 

“protected” by the1999 Constitution 

which confers freedom of expression 

on all citizens. 

Since PMB’s declaration, Nigerians 

rage. Why do Nigerians of different 

tribes and tongues rage over 

the wish of PMB to seek re-election? 

Both young and old including political 

opponents and alleged looters 

appear to have taken a position 

against the “anointed”- PMB. Political 

opponents have taken a counsel 

together as they remind PMB that 

he is too old to continue in office 

beyond 2019. For the opponents, 

the ability to govern is in electing a 

leader who is young with leadership 

skills. That is why PMB’s memory 

needs to be refreshened about what 

he said sometime ago that “old age 

will limit my performance.......Now 

at 72, there is a limit to what I can 

do.” Perhaps, he forgot he made 

such remarks. Above all, where 

is the hand of God in all these 

schemes? He who sits in heaven 

is laughing at them all- politicians 

and the electorate. PMB will be 76 

years in 2019 by His grace. So, at age 

76 there will be no limit to what he 

can do. So help him God! 

There are Nigerians who believe 

that if the septuagenarian is reelected, 

inefficiency will linger on. 

They believe that PMB’s second 

term signals a continuation of 

suffering for Nigerians. It is the 

time of the younger generation 

to be actively involved in politics 

and administration of the country, 

they say. The younger generation 

wants oldies to yield the ground 

for them so that they can show the 

entire world that they are capable 

of running the government at state 

and federal levels respectively. The 

question is: Are Nigerian youths 

ready and competent with good 

intentions and love to do the right 

thing to fellow men and women in 

service to the people? 

Despite the rage, some Nigerians 

are for PMB’s re-election. 

The manufacturers are happy. It 

is speculated that there would be 

stability in the foreign exchange 

market though, uncertainty in 

the economy continues due to 

pervasive insecurity. I hope the 

US$ 1.2 billion released for the 

purchase of military hardware to 

combat insurgents that have been 

“technically” defeated would be 

put to good use. 

The truth is that most Nigerians 

are uncomfortable with PMB’s 

second term bid. Their position 

was anchored strongly on his first 

term campaign promise to provide 

security, strengthen the economy 

and fight corruption; which they 

assessed as barely average. After 

taking the nation through recession, 

the economy remains fragile. 

Economic experts are waiting to 

see if PMB’s declaration to re-contest 

would improve the nation’s 

economy significantly. 

I welcome PMB’s declaration. 

Only the electorate will decide in 

2019 who they want their president 

to be. Then, the decision to 

chose a president of Nigerian’s 

choice will be beyond any political 

party. I sincerely urge the electorate 

to be prepared in all respects to 

cast their votes for a candidate of 

their choice. Blessed are those Nigerians 

who are willing, able and 

ready to prompt change in leadership 

across board through the 

ballot boxes. The country needs 

committed and sincere leaders 

who will create opportunities 

for all. Nigerians should detach 

themselves from sentiments and 

think about their future and that 

of their children before deciding 

those who will steer the ship of 

the nation. Nigerians should not 

forget that “leadership, security, 

development and democracy are 

interconnected components of 

societal trajectories.” In 2019, 

there should be no rigging, no 

catastrophe and no mayhem. It’s 

one man, one vote. 


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)” 

With raised fists, 

mourners shouted 

her name in the 

rain as she made 

her final journey. 

“I am the product of the masses of 

my country and the product of my 

enemy”, she once said; there are 

probably no truer words. Before, as 

her casket rode by the streets of her 

beloved Soweto towards Orlando 

Stadium, bike riders in full gear, 

raised their helmets in salute. Her 

beloved Sowetans ran along, the 

extent they could. She was being 

given a state funeral not as a favour 

but because to have done otherwise 

would have been almost suicidal for 

the government.The people would 

have given her a befitting farewell 

regardless. And they did. Some of 

the ruling African National Congress 

(ANC) party cadres who were belatedly 

now celebrating her were likely 

conscience-striken; mean folks, 

those ones. She bested them all. She 

was at once an open book and an 

enigma. It made sense then that her 

favourite hymn was “Great Mystery”, 

Winnie! 

which her friends and foes sang as 

she lay in her casket likely with a 

mischievous smile. She stirred in 

both, depending on who, almost 

violent emotions of love and hate. 

On 14 April, the day of her funeral, a 

nation was genuinely distraught for 

a leader who did not shy away from 

her humanity nor allowed it stop her 

from achieving her great destiny. 

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was 

celebrated, not because she was 

an appendage to Nelson Mandela, 

the deceased father of the nation, 

but as “Mama Winnie”, mother of 

South Africa. 

Free spirit 

My first inkling of the suffering 

in South Africa was through the 

popular movie “Sarafina”. As I recall 

in the early 1990s, back in Shiroro 

in northcentral Nigeria, where the 

country’s still most modern hydroelectric 

power stationis located, we 

had neighbours from different parts 

of the world; Italians, Americans, 

Egyptians, Namibians and so on. 

One, a nurse from Namibia, was 

the mother of a friend; and perhaps 

the friend of everyone in the massive 

estates housing the staff of the 

power station. I do not recall how 

many times I watched the movie but 

I think Ibrahim had to ask for it back. 

Black South Africans went through 

unbelievable suffering and Winnie 

was right in the thick of it. Who could 

make Jacob Zuma, the former South 

African president, and firebrand 

opposition leader Julius Malema, 

attend the same event? Mama Winnie. 

Her magnetism emanated from 

her genuineness. Of course, she took 

great care with her appearance. Not 

that her beautiful visage required 

Like so many of our people 

she has lived with fear, pain, 

loss and disappointment. And 

yet each day she rose with the 

nobleness of the human spirit. 

They sought to denigrate her 

with bitter and twisted lies, but 

still she rose. They wanted to 

see her broken, with bowed 

head and lowered eyes, and 

weakened by soulful cries, but 

still she rose 

any embellishment. She was as beautiful 

and she was fierce. That lethal 

combination made her at once adored 

and feared. They say she cheated on 

her husband who she could not touch 

for almost three decades. Hypocrites. 

Many of them use public money to 

“bless” young girls with meagre means 

and they dare to point a finger. She defied 

them all. But perhaps what really 

enraged her enemies was that they 

could not control her no matter how 

hard they tried. And no one did. Not 

even Nelson. 

Phony tears 

Unfortunately, the comrades she 

is leaving behind would likely simply 

go on with their corrupt lives after all 

the celebrations. But she did plant a 

few worthy seeds. Mr Malema, who 

gave his most impassioned speech 

yet at her funeral, took her enemies 

C002D5556 

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Send 800word comments to comment@businessdayonline.com 

on. The hypocrites are crying the 

loudest, he shouted.“Those who sold 

you out to the apartheid regime are 

here. Mama, you never told me how 

we must treat them when they come 

here, I am waiting for a signal, Ma... 

all those who resigned from the NEC 

of the Women’s League because they 

said they cannot be led by a criminal, 

they are here. Some of them are playing 

prominent roles in your funeral, 

in a funeral of a person they called a 

criminal, in the funeral of a person 

they were ready to humiliate in front 

of the whole world, they are here, 

Mama. Ma, Ma, Ma, I am waiting for a 

signal on how we should treat them”, 

he remonstrated with an emotionladen 

voice. “Mama, you didn’t 

know that your organisation had 

been rendered incapable of loving 

you back”. The discomfort his words 

caused the ANC cadres that they 

were targeted at was palpable. He 

did not spare Cyril Ramaphosa, the 

South African president. He decried 

the continued deplorable state of dependants 

of protesting miners killed 

at Marikana. Former ANC secretarygeneral 

Gwede Mantashe made 

an attempt at “adult supervision” 

thereafter, saying the funeral should 

not be an occasion for opening old 

wounds. He should have probably 

just shut up. How are the horrible 

wounds that Ms Mandela and many 

poor black South Africans endured 

to be forgotten? Thank God for the 

many brave sons and daughters she 

raised like Mr Malema who will now 

continue her fight. 

Rest in peace 

To his credit, President Ramaphosa 

rose to the moment. Quoting from 

his eulogy: “They thought they could 

BUSINESS DAY 

11 

banish her to Brandfort. They miscalculated 

greatly because in truth, they 

sent her to live among her people – to 

share in their trials, tribulations and 

hardships, to share their hopes and 

aspirations, and to draw courage 

from their daily struggle against the 

tyranny of racial subjugation. The 

enemy expected her to return from 

Brandfort diminished, broken and 

defeated. They expected her to succumb 

to the excruciating pressure of 

years of excruciating pressure of years 

of solitary confinement, harassment 

and vilification. Instead, she emerged 

from these torments emboldened, 

driven by a burning desire to give 

voice to the asipirations of her people. 

To give them hope. To give them courage. 

To lead them to freedom…Like so 

many of our people she has lived with 

fear, pain, loss and disappointment. 

And yet each day she rose with the 

nobleness of the human spirit. They 

sought to denigrate her with bitter 

and twisted lies, but still she rose. 

They wanted to see her broken, with 

bowed head and lowered eyes, and 

weakened by soulful cries, but still 

she rose. As we bid her farewell, we 

are forced to admit that too often as 

she rose, she rose alone. Too often, 

we were not there for her.”If there was 

any doubt about where she was going, 

God left no doubt. Just as the military 

pallbearers made to carry her casket 

at the stadium for her last journey, the 

heavens poured tears of joy. She is in 

a good place. 


comment@businessdayonline.com 

OYINKAN ADEWALE 

Mrs. Adewale is Executive Director, Chief 

Financial Officer, Union Bank. 

Women entrepreneurs in an emerging economy running a bankable business (III) 

Identifying emerging trends that 

could impact your business 

As part of your industry analysis, 

it is important to observe 

the current trends and 

identify which trends you 

can leverage when starting or running 

a business. Co-working, online 

shopping, artificial Intelligence and 

robotics, are some of the global trends 

disrupting businesses today. 

Disruptive technology also presents 

an opportunity to be creative. 

Online retailers require logistics 

companies to help deliver their products. 

Equally, companies such as 

Google and Uber that wish to explore 

driverless cars are venturing into the 

unknown and require lawyers and 

programmers to assist with setting 

up their businesses. As entrepreneurs, 

we need to consider where we want to 

specialise as this might prove to create 

a niche in which to operate. 

The role of social media platforms 

such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram 

should also not be underestimated. 

Social media erodes borders 

by allowing companies to expand 

their market beyond Nigeria, as products/services 

can be advertised worldwide. 

By using the right hashtags, you 

can effectively market your products 

and services. For free! 

In the same way, it is also important 

to note the nature of social media. 

If your products do not do what 

they claim to do, social media is quick 

to call you out, making the need to 

provide products and services of the 

highest quality, every time! 

Underdevelopment and the opportunity 

to be innovative 

In addition to emerging global 

trends, underdevelopment in Nigeria 

provides opportunities to be innovative. 

As mentioned earlier, Nigeria’s 

population of over 180 million people 

presents operators with a large potential 

market. This, coupled with access 

to technology, particularly through 

the use of mobile phones, presents 

vast opportunities in reaching the 

market. Numerous companies have 

used the peculiar nature of Nigeria to 

their advantage. 

For example, LifeBank, a player 

in the Nigerian health service sector 

was able to use Nigeria’s underdevelopment 

as a platform to create an 

innovative and much needed service. 

LifeBank was created to fill a gap in 

the Nigerian health industry - the 

need for hospitals to have critical 

medical products such as blood, 

oxygen and vaccines required to 

save lives. Temi Giwa-Tunbosun, the 

founder of LifeBank saw a gap in the 

market and created an innovative 

solution leveraging technology and 

motorbikes to meet the need of hospitals 

across cities. 

Also, women should not be afraid 

to enter or dominate areas men 

once dominated. For example, Kofo 

Akinkugbe, founder and Chief Executive 

Officer of Secure ID, a card 

manufacturing and personalisation 

company with clients in the public 

sector, financial sector and telecoms 

sector. 

Funding your business 

Funding can be provided either 

through equity or debt. 

Equity funding involves third parties 

providing some of the capital and 

therefore owning part of the business. 

While business owners might not 

always want to give up full ownership 

of their company, arrangements can 

be made to buy out the company over 

a certain period of time. Furthermore, 

equity reduces the strain on cash flow 

which servicing debt can put on a business. 

You should first look to family and 

friends for equity investments as when 

they believe in the business, they are 

usually the last investors to pull out. 

In 1999, the Central Bank of Nigeria 

introduced a Small and Medium Enterprises 

Equity Investment Scheme 

(SMEIS). SMEIS is a voluntary initiative 

of the Bankers’ Committee to promote 

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) 

as vehicles for economic development, 

poverty alleviation and employment 

generation. The program involves 

banks committing some of their profit 

as equity to SMEs across the country. 

Other than equity funding, debt 

funding is another option for business 

owners. While some consider debt 

as a negative, this is not necessarily 

so. Debt can help accelerate business 

growth and position a business to take 

advantage of opportunities in the market. 

Furthermore, debt funding is not 

always expensive. Organisations such 

as the CBN and the Bank of Industry 

(BOI) provide loans with single digit 

interest rates specifically targeted at 

SMEs or/and particular industries to 

encourage growth. 

Some of the CBN loans include: 

Micro small and medium Enterprises 

(MSME) Development Fund, the 

Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing 

System for Agricultural Lending 

(NIRSAL) fund and the Commercial 

Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) 

Fund. 

BOI loans are tied to the CBN 

loans and are targeted at particular 

industries such as Nollywood, fashion 

and agriculture to name a few. 

Some of the loans available from BOI 

include: Adire Kampala and AsoOke 

fund, Fashion Fund, Fish farming and 

processing and Nolly fund targeted 

at the Nigerian Creative arts industry 

‘Nollywood’. 

In addition to the CBN/ BOI loans, 

banks also provide special loan products 

for MSMEs. Union Bank has a 

range of non-collateral products for 

SME customers. For example, we 

have Cash flow lending for which 

customers are required to have an 

average monthly turnover of N50,000, 

and can borrow a maximum limit of 

N3m with zero collateral for those 

who have banked with Union Bank 

over a period of at least six months. 

We also offer School Finance, which 

offers schools up to N5m payable 

within one term. 

When taking on debt, it is important 

to service the loan to prevent your 

name being blacklisted across the 

industry. In 2017, the CBN introduced 

a Credit Risk Management System 

(CRMS). The CRMS aims to identify 

and minimize serial default borrowing 

in the financial services industry 

and it is accessed prior to disbursing 

loans to borrowers to ensure they are 

not blacklisted. Effectively, the CRMS 

is a database of all loans used to enquire 

about borrowers past defaults. 

This means that no banks will lend 

to borrowers who have not serviced 

their loans. It is important to note that 

each of these funds comes with a collateral 

requirement which varies with 

each loan. 

Business owners also have to be 

willing to open up their books/businesses 

for scrutiny as financierswilloftencarryoutduediligenceandexpecttoseeacertainstandardofprofessionalism 

to provide them with the comfort 

that the funds provided will not be 

squandered. As mentioned earlier, it 

is important to take advantage of Voluntary 

Asset and Income Declaration 

Scheme (VAIDS) to prevent facing tax 

investigations or criminal prosecution 

for tax offences. 

Summing it all up… 

21.2% of Nigerian women are unemployed. 

21.8% are underemployed. 

Think seriously about whether you 

want to join that group and wait to be 

employed in someone else’s business 

or you want to take the risk and start 

something of your own. According to 

the United Nations Industrial Development 

Organisation (UNIDO), only 

40% of those who wish to start a small 

businesses do, but only 20% of small 

businesses in Nigeria actually survive. 

If you aspire to be a successful entrepreneur, 

time spent envying Dangote 

and Oprah is time wasted; it is much 

better to get going now and come up 

with a strategy. 

It is not enough to just talk about 

creating bankable projects. Rather, 

what is important is to get to work 

and start planning how to execute our 

ideas and our passions. 


comment@businessdayonline.com

12 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Tuesday 17 April 2018 

Editorial 

PUBLISHER/CEO 

Frank Aigbogun 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

Prof. Onwuchekwa Jemie 

EDITOR 

Anthony Osae-Brown 

DEPUTY EDITORS 

John Osadolor, Abuja 

Bill Okonedo 

NEWS EDITOR 

Patrick Atuanya 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

SALES AND MARKETING 

Kola Garuba 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS 

Fabian Akagha 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL SERVICES 

Oghenevwoke Ighure 

ADVERT MANAGER 

Adeola Ajewole 

MANAGER, SYSTEMS & CONTROL 

Emeka Ifeanyi 

HEAD OF SALES, CONFERENCES 

Rerhe Idonije 

SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER 

Patrick Ijegbai 

CIRCULATION MANAGER 

John Okpaire 

GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (North) 

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan 

GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South) 

Ignatius Chukwu 

HEAD, HUMAN RESOURCES 

Adeola Obisesan 

Illusions of rice sufficiency in Nigeria 

President Muh 

a m m a d u 

Buhari in 

his 2018 New 

Year’s Day 

address said that importation 

of rice will be 

completely stopped this 

year to encourage local 

production, a sentiment 

which, on the surface, 

appears to be good news 

for the local economy, 

but in reality fraught with 

inadequate knowledge of 

current realities. 

Rice importation 

through the ports have 

been technically banned 

since 2015 as a discouraging 

70 percent tariff 

more or less effectively 

dissuaded importation 

through the ports, while it 

remained totally banned 

through the land borders. 

The reality as BusinessDay 

findings show is 

that, as legal importation 

to Nigeria drops drastically, 

neighbouring countries 

such as Benin, Cameroun, 

Niger and others 

have seen their parboiled 

rice imports increasing. 

Ironically, these countries 

mostly consume white 

rice (another variant of the 

staple), whereas they import 

more parboiled rice, 

which, consideration their 

population, can last them 

for a decade. However, 

they continue to import 

parboiled rice every year 

while legal imports continue 

to decline in Nigeria 

as smuggling increases exponentially. 

Data gathered by BusinessDay 

show that Benin 

Republic with an estimated 

population of 11 million 

people imported 609,893 

metric tonnes of parboiled 

rice from India in 2017, 

while Niger, with an estimated 

population of 21 

million people, imported 

98,179 metric tonnes, and 

curiously, Nigeria, with a 

population of 186 million 

imported only 8,726 metric 

tonnes. 

Also, data by the Thai 

Rice Exporters Association 

shows that Benin Republic’s 

imports from Thailand 

from January to November 

2017 stood at 1.64 million 

metric tonnes, a 32 percent 

increase from 1.24 million 

metric tonnes within the 

same period in 2016, and 

an increment of 104.45 percent 

from 805,765 metric 

tonnes exported to Benin 

republic in 2015. Cameroun 

also imported 663, 667 

metric tonnes of parboiled 

rice from Thailand between 

January and November 

2017, a 47.64 percent increase 

from 449, 513 within 

the same period in 2016, 

and 449, 297 metric tonnes 

in 2015. 

An investigation carried 

out by BusinessDay 

some months ago shows 

that smuggling is rife along 

the official border points 

and despite the claim that 

rice importation is banned 

through the borders, traders 

continue to import 

the commodity through 

official border points usually 

after settling customs 

officials. 

Only Nigeria consumes 

parboiled rice among its 

neighbours. We can safely 

assume that a majority 

of the parboiled rice being 

imported by Nigeria’s 

neighbours end up in Nigeria. 

So, while we cite the 

reduced number of rice imports 

to showcase our drive 

towards self-sufficiency, 

the reality is that majority 

of the rice in the Nigerian 

market are imported smuggled 

rice for which Nigeria 

loses the huge duties that 

should accrue to it. 

The reality is that we are 

not producing enough and 

we are heavy consumers. 

To ban the importation of 

a commodity, you must 

produce over 100 percent 

of what you need. As long 

as that is not the case, importation 

whether legal or 

illegal, is inevitable. 

What is more, with the 

price of smuggled imported 

rice being lower than locally 

produced rice, it is 

no wonder to see why the 

problem of smuggling is 

going to remain with us for 

a long time. 

While we agree with 

the president that Nigeria 

needs to be self-sufficient 

in food production, it is 

equally noteworthy to ensure 

that it is done the right 

way and self-sufficiency is 

attained not just in name 

alone, but in effect. 

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Imo Itsueli 

Mohammed Hayatudeen 

Albert Alos 

Funke Osibodu 

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Dayo Lawuyi 

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Maneesh Garg 

Keith Richards 

Opeyemi Agbaje 

Amina Oyagbola 

Bolanle Onagoruwa 

Fola Laoye 

Chuka Mordi 

Sim Shagaya 

Mezuo Nwuneli 

Emeka Emuwa 

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Tunji Adegbesan 

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Tuesday 17 April 2018 BUSINESS DAY 13 

COMPANIES 

& MARKETS 

Company news analysis and insight 

Zenith Bank’s earnings 

surge to N674bn despite 

economic headwinds 

Pg. 14 

Delta Airlines delivers best 

revenue in 5 years 

IFEOMA OKEKE 

Delta Air Lines 

Inc.’s monopoly 

of its 

lucrative regional 

business 

continues to yield fruit 

as the U.S carrier delivers 

best revenue momentum 

in 5 years. 

For the first three months 

through March 2018, Delta’s 

adjusted operating revenue 

increased by 8 percent or 

$715 million to $9.80 billion 

from $9.02 billion the previous 

year. 

The top line growth 

(sales) was partly driven 

by a 23 percent increase in 

cargo revenue and a $78 

million increase in total 

royalty revenue. 

Revenue from Domestic 

operations, which 

makes up 64.23 percent of 

total sales of $9.80 billion, 

grew by 7 percent to $6.30 

billion while income from 

Atlantic operations, which 

contributed 10.17 percent 

of the total figure, spiked 

by 15 percent to $1.05 billion 

in the period under 

review. 

The Delta people delivered 

a strong March quarter, 

and our record revenue was 

a direct result of the great 

service and operational 

reliability they provided 

for our customers. It’s an 

honour to recognize their 

hard work with $183 million 

toward our 2018 profit 

sharing, according to Ed 

Bastian, Delta’s chief executive 

officer. 

“We have confidence in 

our plan to grow earnings 

in 2018 through top-line 

growth, improving our cost 

trajectory, and leveraging 

our international partnerships,” 

said Bastian 

Experts say regional operations 

that sport higher 

fares, profit margins and 

less competition in local 

hubs are the major drivers 

of Delta’s earnings in the last 

few years. 

They added that the regional 

segment makes Delta 

king of profit hill among 

major airlines. 

Delta enjoys a monopoly 

on about 60 percent of its 

regional markets, according 

to a 2017 report by Stifel 

Financial Corp. 

This compares with 53 

percent at American and 

41 percent at United. The 

report added. 

Delta forecasts pre-tax 

margin of between 14 percent 

and 16 percent in the 

second quarter of 2018 as it 

continues to turn each Naira 

invested in sales into higher 

revenue. 

It also estimates an Earning 

per Share (EPS) of $1.80 

of $2.00 in the second quarter 

of 2018. 

“We are seeing Delta’s 

best revenue momentum 

since 2014, with positive 

domestic unit revenues, improvements 

in all our international 

entities, strong 

demand for corporate travel 

and double-digit increases 

in our loyalty revenues,” said 

Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s 

president. 

“With our solid pipeline 

of commercial initiatives, delivered 

with industry-leading 

Delta service, we expect to 

maintain this momentum 

and deliver total revenue 

growth of 4 to 6 percent for 

the full year,” said Hauenstein. 

Delta’s adjusted pre-tax 

income for the March 2018 

quarter was $676 million, a 

$104 million decrease from 

the March 2017 quarter, 

as record revenues were 

offset by higher fuel prices 

and other increased costs 

including a $44 million 

impact from severe winter 

weather. 

Total adjusted operating 

expenses for the March 

quarter increased $817 mil- 

lion, driven by higher fuel 

prices, investments in employee 

wages and profit 

sharing, and higher depreciation 

expense. 

Adjusted fuel expense 

increased $317 million, or 

20 percent relative to March 

quarter 2017, as the yearover-year 

increase in market 

fuel prices was tempered 

by the lapping of prior year 

hedge losses and improved 

fuel efficiency. Delta’s adjusted 

fuel price per gallon 

for the March quarter was 

$2.01, which includes $0.05 

of benefit from the refinery. 

CASM-Ex increased 3.9 

percent for the March 2018 

quarter compared to the 

prior year period driven by 

April 2017 wage increases 

and accelerated depreciation 

due to aircraft retirements. 

Unit costs were further 

pressured by approximately 

1 point from the impact of 

severe weather and foreign 

exchange. Delta expects this 

period will mark the highest 

non-fuel expense growth for 

the year. 

PWC spotlights growth trends in Nigerian gaming industry 

MICHAEL ANI 

portunity to earn from what 

they love. 

Despite the temporary 

dip in economic activities in 

2016, growth prospects are 

positive even as the economy 

rebounds, and income stabilizes. 

Over the years, several 

indicators have been seen 

to have spurred the growth 

of the Nigerian gaming industry, 

according to a report 

by global consulting firm, 

Pricewatercoorpers. 

An important aspect that 

has contributed to the rise in 

gaming industry has been the 

broadening of the customer 

base to include the young 

middle-class Nigerians, repealing 

the stereotype that 

The gaming industry 

in Africa’s largest 

economy has continued 

to expand, 

benefitting from; the large 

and youthful population, improving 

internet penetration, 

and the increasing access to 

internet-enabled devices. 

Sports betting have slowly 

emerged as a lucrative segment, 

leveraging Nigeria’s 

huge football culture. 

Some of the big leagues, 

such as the English Premier 

league, and the Spanish 

La Liga, have millions of 

fans in the country - betting 

provides Nigerians the opployed 

and underemployed 

has provided a boost to the 

base of gaming users – in 

particular, sports betting and 

lotteries. 

According to a 2015 publication 

on Football betting 

in Nigeria, most bets are 

placed in bet shops while 

an increasing number of 

customers are placing bets 

online. In addition, Business 

Monitor International (BMI) 

research forecasts 182 million 

mobile subscribers in 

2021, from the current 153 

million. The expectation is 

that as the number of internet 

subscriber’s increase, so will 

the number of gaming users. 

Another major indicator 

that has contributed to the of 

the Nigerian gaming industry 

is the influx of Foreign entrants 

.The gaming industry 

has started attracting foreign 

entrants, in particular, sports 

betting. 

According to public 

sources, gaming content 

providers like Gameloft, 

Intralot and Sirplay have 

partnered with local gaming 

companies to participate in 

the growing success of the 

gaming industry by providing 

technology services and 

support. For instance, NaijaBillionaire 

has partnered 

with international platform 

providers like Lightmaker 

lotto who offer payment 

solutions and Indus Net 

Technologies who develop 

the industry only succeeded 

in attracting the lower income 

earners. 

This trend has been supported 

by improved mobile 

penetration- Data from Nigerian 

Communications Commission 

(NCC), shows that 

mobile penetration increased 

from 36 percent to 50 percent 

in the last three years, accorded 

to increased awareness 

through aggressive expansion 

and marketing by operators 

as well as technological 

improvements in payment 

platforms. 

To some extent, the need 

for additional income in the 

face of the recent economic 

recession which has left a 

number of youth’s unemand 

provide technical support 

and digital content. 

Partnerships have also 

become important in delivering 

a successful gaming 

experience. Telecommunication 

and payment companies 

are making gaming more 

accessible to mobile users. 

For example: in the lottery 

segment, the Premier Bet 

Lotto popularly known as 

“baba Ijebu”, has partnered 

with MTN, enabling consumers 

to access the lottery via 

short codes. Bet9ja has also 

recently formed a three year 

partnership worth NGN200 

million with Nigerian National 

League to enhance the 

Nigerian League within the 

sports betting segment.

14 

BUSINESS DAY 

COMPANIES & MARKETS 

C002D5556 


Zenith Bank’s earnings surge to N674bn despite economic headwinds 

Onyinye Nwachukwu, 

Zenith Bank Plc, one 

of Nigeria’s Tier 1 

commercial lenders 

has reported a 

48 percent growth 

in its gross earnings from N455 

billion in 2016 to N674 billion 

in 2017 despite headwinds in 

Nigeria’s economy. 

The banks Profit before Tax 

rose by 24 percent from N140 

billion in 2016 to 

N174 billion in 2017 while 

Profit After Tax similarly rose 

by 32 percent, from N119 billion 

to N157 billion. 

During the same period, 

total assets of the bank grew 

by 13 percent from N4.28 

trillion to N4.83 trillion while 

shareholders fund rose by 15 

percent from N616 billion to 

N708 billion. 

Zentih Bank Chairman, 

Jim Ovia told shareholders 

at the weekend that the bank 

“was able to fully exploit the 

opportunities within the environment,” 

which “translated 

into an excellent performance 

that stands as a testament to 

the durability and resilience 

of the board.” 

“The 2017 results are once 

again a reflection of the exceptional 

financial health of the 

bank and the group,” he stated 

at the bank’s Annual General 

Meeting in Abuja. 

According to Ovia, the 

bank’s total deposits stood 

at N2.74 trillion for the year 

ended December 31, 2017, 

representing an 8 percent increase 

over the previous year’s 

figure of N2.55 trillion. 

As shown in the audited 

accounts of the bank, Zenith 

bank group also showed an 

impressive performance as 

profit before tax grew by 30 

percent from N157 billion in 

2016 to N203 billion in 2017. 

Profit After Tax thus grew by 37 

percent during the period from 

N130 billion in 2016 to N178 

billion in 2017. 

The group’s total assets also 

rose by 18 percent from N4.7 

trillion in 2016 to N5.6 trillion 

in 2017, while customers’ 

deposits grew by 15 percent 

during the same period from 

N2.98 trillion to N3.44 trillion. 

Group shareholders’ fund 

also grew by 17 percent from 

N704 billion in 2016 to N822 

billion in 2017; while gross 

earnings similarly grew by 47 

percent from N508 billion in 

2016 to N745 billion in 2017. 

“Clearly, the results are, 

once again, is a reflection of the 

exceptional financial health of 

the bank and the Group,” said 

Ovia at the meeting where 

shareholders applauded the 

bank’s management and board 

for the achievements despite 

huge challenges. 

Ovia said the bank is committed 

to delivering superior 

returns to its shareholders. 

Consequently, the bank 

declared and paid an interim 

dividend of 25kobo per share 

in the course of the 2017 financial 

year. 

At the meeting, the board 

proposed a final dividend of 

245 kobo per share, which was 

approved by shareholders, 

bringing the total dividend 

for the year ended December 

31, 2017 to 270 kobo per share 

as against 202 kobo per share 

declared the previous year. 

The Chairman also reminded 

the shareholders that 

their banks remained the biggest 

corporate social responsibility 

(CSR) contributor in 

the Nigerian financial services 

industry. 

He said the bank’s sustainability 

and corporate 

social responsibility initiatives 

are hinged on the 

belief that today’s business 

performance is not all about 

the financial numbers, as the 

bank believes that institutions’ 

social investments, 

contributions to inclusive 

economic growth and development 

as well as improvements 

in the condition of 

the physical environment, 

all constitute what he called, 

the balanced scorecard. 

He equally announced that 

as a leader in the digital space, 

with an unwavering determination 

for raising benchmarks 

and setting the pace, in financial 

technology, the bank has 

invested immensely in new 

technologies and digital solutions 

within the last financial 

year. 

He said the Fourth Industrial 

Revolution (4IR) beckons 

in Africa, is “to continually create 

innovative solutions that 

ensure convenience, speed 

and safety of transactions for 

our teeming customers.” “In 

clear demonstration of our 

commitment to the ideals 

and tenets of corporate sustainability 

and responsibility 

principles, hinged on the 

triple bottom line of people, 

planet and profit, the Bank, in 

the course of the year, made 

donations towards the setting 

up of ICT centres in several 

educational institutions across 

the country,” he added. 

Peter Amangbo, Zenith 

bank’s Managing Director/ 

Chief Executive Officer 

(CEO) who also addressed 

shareholders said “year 2017 

gave vent to the efficacy of 

zenith bank’s collaborative 

culture and teamwork model 

in a manner that has clearly 

berthed our market leadership.” 

This he said “is a result 

of an opposite deployment 

of a sustainable mix of human 

capital, digital solutions 

and unparalleled customer 

service.” 

Amangbo announced 

that Zenith bank “institutionalized 

a procedure of 

regularly assessing our processes 

and practices in line 

with global best practices 

and variations in corporate 

governance environment.” 

He said as a result, the bank 

“was recognized as the Best 

corporate governance bank 

in Nigeria by the World Finance 

for the fifth time. 

He equally stated that the 

bank has made appreciable 

progress in entrenching sustainable 

ideals in its operations 

and sphere of influence.” 

Central of what we stand for 

is a steadfast commitment 

to continually delight our 

customers,” Amangbo further 

stated. 

“We expect unit cost 

growth of 1 to 3 percent in the 

June quarter, as we lap prior 

year investments in our people 

and our business,” said Paul Jacobson, 

Delta’s chief financial 

officer. “As we move through 

depreciation pressure from 

our fleet retirements and gain 

benefits from our upgauging 

and One Delta initiatives later 

in the year, we are on track for 

our 0 to 2 percent full year unit 

cost target.” 

Adjusted non-operating 

expense was flat year-on-year 

for the March quarter as a $62 

million improvement in pension 

expense was offset by 

higher interest costs and the 

seasonality of joint venture 

partner earnings. 

The company expects 2018 

full-year adjusted non-operating 

expense to be $200-250 

million lower than 2017, due 

to pension expense savings. 

Adeosun, Emefiele join economic experts to 

discuss global issues at IMF/WorldBank meeting 

The Minister of Finance, 

Kemi Adeosun 

and Central 

Bank of Nigeria 

(CBN) Governor, Godwin 

Emefiele, left Nigeria for 

Washington DC on Sunday 

to join other economic experts 

from around the world 

to discuss issues affecting 

global economy. 

Discussions would take 

place under the auspices of 

the World Bank Group and 

the International Monetary 

Fund (IMF). 

The Spring Meetings of 

the IMF and the World Bank 

will bring together central 

bankers, ministers of finance 

and development, parliamentarians, 

private sector 

executives, representatives 

from civil society organisations 

and the academia. 

The experts will discuss 

issues of global concern, including 

the world economic 

outlook, poverty eradication, 

economic development and 

aid effectiveness. 

There will also be seminars, 

regional briefings, press 

conferences and many other 

events with focus on global 

economy, international development 

and the world’s 

financial system. 

The meetings will hold 

between April 16 and April 

22, 2018. 

Nigeria attends the meeting 

each year because of the 

quantum of investments and 

assistance it receives from 

both the IMF and the World 

Bank. 

Although Nigeria currently 

has zero loans with the IMF, 

it enjoys technical support 

from the organisation. 

The World Bank Group on 

the other hand is helping to 

fight poverty and improve living 

standards in the country 

through 33 Core Knowledge 

Product Reports and 29 ongoing 

National and Regional 

projects. 

This is in addition to about 

60 Trust Funds. 

The World Bank Group 

since 1958 supported Nigeria 

with loans and International 

Development Association 

(IDA) credits worth about 

14.2 billion dollars. 

The group in 2017 fiscal 

year alone committed 1.51 

billion dollars to the country 

and so far in 2018, it already 

spent 486 million dollars on 

different development projects 

across the country. 

Some of the projects include 

Electricity Transmission 

Project, Agro-Processing, 

Productivity Enhancement 

and Livelihood Improvement 

Support Project, 

Polio Eradication Support 

Project and Housing Finance 

Development Programme, 

among others. 

NETCO posts N3.257bn profit, declares N750m dividend 

The National Engineering 

and Technical 

Company Limited 

(NETCO), on Friday 

in Abuja said it recorded a 

profit before tax of N3.257 billion 

for the 2017 financial year. 

A statement by Mr Ndu 

Ughamadu, Spokesman, Nigerian 

National Petroleum 

Corporation (NNPC), said 

a breakdown of the figure 

showed that its revenue increased 

by 122 per cent. 

According to Ughamadu, 

the revenue increased from 

N10.13 billion in 2017, to 

N22.46 billion in the year under 

review. 

Quoting Mr Bello Rabiu, 

the NETCO board Chairman, 

Ughamadu said the operating 

profit of NETCO increased by 

134 per cent, from N0.89 billion 

in 2016 to N2.07 billion 

in 2017. 


the profit before tax decreased 

by 34 per cent in the year under 

review when compared to 

N4.90 billion in 2017. 

He said the decrease was 

attributable to the foreign 

exchange gains which constituted 

56 per cent before tax in 

2016, compared to 4.8 per cent 

gain in 2017. 

The NNPC spokesman said 

for the first time since the 

establishment of NETCO, the 

company declared a dividend 

of N750 million to its shareholders, 

the highest dividend 

in any given year 

Ughamadu said the board 

chairman attributed the remarkable 

figures to “strong 

support from the group Managing 

Director of the NNPC 

and that of the shareholders. 

“This is in addition to award 

of some big-ticket jobs which 

NETCO delivered on time 

within budget, and without 

compromising on quality of 

service delivery made it possible 

for the remarkable figures. 

“The performance has reinforced 

the confidence of all 

stakeholders that given the 

right environment, NETCO 

is poised for greater heights,” 

said Ughamadu. 


the Group Managing Director 

of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, 

commended the management 

of NETCO for the unprecedented 

performance and 

received the cheque for the 

dividend. 

NETCO, a subsidiary of 

NNPC, was established in 

1989 to acquire engineering 

technology through direct 

involvement in all aspects 

of engineering in the oil and 

gas and non-oil sectors of the 

economy. 

NETCO is an indigenous 

engineering company with the 

strategic vision of providing 

basic and detailed engineering, 

procurement, construction 

supervision and project 

management services, using 

state-of-the-art technology.

Tuesday 17 April 2018 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY 15 


Nigeria to attract N1.4trn M&A in 2018 

Business Event 

DAVID IBEMERE 

Ni geria will 

achieve a Mergers 

and Acquisitions 

(M&A) 

activity in both 

domestic and Cross-Border 

value of $3.9 billion (N1.4 trillion) 

this year, in 35 deals, a 231 

percent increase from last year 

$1.2 billion, according to Baker 

McKenzie’s Global Transaction 

Forecast. 

Consumer goods and finance 

industries is expected 

to lead in the value of these 

deals, while pharmaceuticals, 

healthcare, technology and 

telecommunication sectors is 

expected to lead on volumes 

growing by four times than it 

did in 2017 

Why this looks like a huge 

growth, the value is just a slice 

of total global expectation of 

US$3.2 trillion in 2018 and also 

lower to other Africa countries. 

South Africa is expected 

to witness 295 M & A activity 

worth $8.4 billion and Egypt 

59 valued at $5.4 billion both 

in domestic and cross border 

transactions. 

Regionally, this is a huge 

improvement from the continent 

total M&A values in 2016, 

which fell to US$37 billion a 

40 percent drop from US$61 

billion in 2015 and also dropping 

further to US$29 billion 

in 2017. 

However, the total value 

of these deals shows Africa is 

still a long way in catching up 

with its peers as it fell below 

M&A value of US$134 billion 

expected in Latin America 

another developing of continent. 

The Global Transaction 

figures which received a 

quantitative analysis from 

Oxford Economics, also predicted 

that Nigeria will received 

a further Initial Public 

Offer(IPO) issuance worth 

$185 million in 2018 out of 

the US$7 billion expected in 

Africa by 2019. 

Technology and telecom 

activity was identified in the 

report to help further add to 

Nigeria attract IPO activity in 

2019 valued at $407 million in 

2019, and $162 million in 2020. 

Again, the report said, 

South Africa and Egypt is expected 

to lead on the value of 

IPOs investment this year at 

$807 million and $507 million 

respectively. 

The report also revealed 

that the total global M&A will 

rise to a peak of US$3.2 trillion 

in 2018, up from US$2.6 

trillion in 2017 but far short of 

the US$4 trillion peak before 

the global economic crisis and 

2020 also looks gloomy as it 

is predicted to witness a $ 3.9 

billion decrease. 

In a recent report by global 

consulting firm, Price Waterhouse 

Coopers(PWC), it was 

revealed that the Nigerian 

Stock Exchange did not record 

a single IPO activity since 2015, 

with investors looking into 

Southern, Eastern and North 

African countries. 

Recently, BusinessDay reported 

that plans are already 

on the way by MTN group to 

push through the highly expected 

initial public offering 

(IPO) in June for its Nigerian 

unit if all necessary approvals 

is given by the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (SEC) 

and Nigerian Stock Exchange 

(NSE). 

Explaining how the report 

came about its outlook for the 

continent, Darryl Bernstein, 

South Africa’s head of the technology, 

media and telecommunications 

practice at Baker 

McKenzie noted that “Africa’s 

growing telecoms infrastructure 

and access to online services 

and platforms continue 

to improve access to the online 

economy. Increased local demand 

for innovative products, 

services and solutions drives 

offshore telecommunications 

and technology companies to 

target opportunities in Africa.” 

L-R: Melvin Mkpuluma, general manager, Lekki Scheme 1 Residents Association; Olumide Ajose, 

chairman, Lekki Scheme 1 Residents Association; Olutunji Oluwole, founder/CEO, VerifyMe 

Nigeria, and Angela Iyeke, general manager, operations, VerifyMe Nigeria, during the recent signing 

ceremony to kick-off the VerifyMe Worker Verification Services for homes and businesses in the 

Lekki Phase One Scheme, Lagos. 

BaoBaB Microfinance Bank to disburse 

N300m credit at new branch 

L-R: Akin Oni, head, trust services/legal, STL Trustees Limited; Funmi Ekundayo, MD/CEO, STL 

Trustees Limited; Oscar Onyema, CEO, Nigerian Stock Exchange; Patience Oniha, director general, 

Debt management Office, at the listing of the N100bn FGN Sukuk, at the FMDQ OTC Securities 

Exchange in Lagos recently 

BaoBab Microfinance 

Bank has opened a new 

branch at Alaba International 

Market, Lagos, 

setting aside N300m to lend to 

traders to boost their businesses. 

The Chief Executive Officer 

(CEO) of the bank, Olanrewaju 

Kazeem, said this at the inauguration 

of the branch on Saturday 

in Lagos. 

He said the Alaba branch was 

the 10th branch of the bank in 

Lagos State aside seven others 

in Kaduna State. 

“At Alaba branch, the bank 

has 50 Portfolio Managers for 

effective mentoring of clients 

beyond their businesses,” he said. 

The News Agency of Nigeria 

(NAN) reports that bank’s 

investors include International 

Finance Corporation (IFC), 

Goodwill and Proparco and 

Bank of Paris. 

BaoBaB Microfinance Bank 

operates in 13 African countries 

and China, with headquarters 

in Paris. 

“The countries include Burkina 

Faso, Democratic Republic of 

Congo, ivory Coast, Madagascar, 

Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia, 

Zimbabwe, China and Paris 

among others,” Kazeem said. 

According to him, the bank 

obtained its National Practice 

Licence in 2016, and caters for 

Small and Medium enterprises 

(SMEs). 

He said the bank, which 

has successfully disbursed 

over 112,000 loans to the tune 

of N32bn, would open more 

branches to get closer to its 

65,000 customers. 

Kazeem said the bank also 

hoped to disburse N25bn nationwide 

in the future. 

He also said the bank had 

employed 400 Nigerians to enable 

its loan portfolio to be effectively 

managed. 

The Divisional Police Officer 

(DP0), Alaba Area Command, 

Abubukar Ali, commended the 

bank for opening a branch at 

Alaba International Market. 

He said the police would 

ensure the safety of the bank and 

its customers. 

Ali, however, urged the bank 

to support the Nigeria Police 

Force, especially those working 

in the area, with modern technology 

and gadgets that could 

help to curb crime. 

The Vice Chairman of Ojo 

Local Government, Idowu Olusola, 

also commended the bank 

for opening a branch at Alaba 

International Market. 

She said the local government 

would support the bank to 

achieve its objective. 

L-R: Taiwo Judah-Ajayi, senior director of people, Andela; Adesina Ogidan, lead consultant, The 

Africa Talent Company; Kingdom-Isaac Orjiewuru, developer, Andela, and Seni Sulyman, vice 

president, global operations, Andela, at the presentation of award for Best Company to Work for 

in Nigeria to Andela by Jobberman, at their EPIC Tower office. 

‘Buy petrol with your FirstBank Verve card and get free extra litres’ 

In partnership withVerve 

International, First Bank 

of Nigeria Limited has announced 

a promotion to reward 

its customers for using their 

FirstBank Verve card to purchase 

petrol at selected Oando filling 

stations in Lagos. 

FirstBank Verve Card holders 

would receive free extra litres of 

petrol each time they use their 

FirstBank verve cards to purchase 

a minimum of N3,000.00 

worth of petrol, The selected 

Oando petrol stations where the 

promo will run are theMaryland, 

Marina, Alapere and Ojodu 

Berger stations. 

The promo which will run 

from Thursday to Monday every 

week between 8a.m. and 8 p.m. 

will end on Monday, May 21, 

2018. 

Verve Card is a secure debit 

card which allows the cardholder 

to conveniently meet 

day to day financial needs 

like the payment for goods 

and services, airtime recharge, 

bill payments, funds transfer 

amongst others. It is accepted 

at all ATMs, POS/Web/Mobile 

Channels, Firstmonie Agent 

Kiosks, and Bank branches 

connected to the Interswitch 

network in Nigeria. 

Walk into any FirstBank 

branch today and pick up your 

Verve card to get rewarded. 

L-R: John Boyega, British Nigerian actor; Colette Otusheso, head, Accelerate TV, Access Bank 

plc., and Seyi Babatope, movie producer/director, at the Accelerate TV masterclass in Lagos.



C002D5556 

FEATURE 

Dangiwa’s 1st year of re-positioning FMBN as Nigeria’s 

leading provider of affordable mortgage finance 

JOHN. T. IKYAAVE 

Today, 17th April 2018, Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa 

and his executive management team marked one year 

of overseeing affairs at the Federal Mortgage Bank of 

Nigeria (FMBN). Most industry experts and stakeholders 

in the Nigerian Housing Sector agree that it has indeed 

been a good year for Nigeria’s foremost housing finance institution 

because of the innovative and progressive leadership of the new 

FMBN boss and his experienced team. 

His intention to make a mark in the challenging Housing Sector 

was clearly stated in his inaugural speech when he vowed to pursue 

“a mortgage finance change agenda”. His words were backed up by 

an aggressive multi-pronged strategy based on key priorities. These 

include the promotion of a sound corporate governance culture to 

ensure transparency and accountability; implementation of a robust 

enterprise-wide risk management framework and an aggressive 

debt recovery drive. Other key planks of the plan comprised cost 

containment to ensure judicious use of resources; improvement 

of stakeholder relationship as well as the automation of business 

processes. 

The performance indicators of the Bank after one year are proof 

of the aggressive implementation and effectiveness of the agenda 

which focuses on the delivery of affordable housing for low and medium 

income earners. In the last twelve months, FMBN disbursed 

N7.1 billion (about 10%) of the Bank’s cumulative N78.2 billion 

National Housing Fund (NHF) mortgage loan, through which 993 

Nigerians achieved their dream of becoming homeowners! In addition, 

the Bank’s Home Renovation Loan portfolio, which provides 

microfinance loans to improve housing conditions, grew from N2.1 

billion to a whopping N9.9 billion and from just 2,579 beneficiaries 

to 11,927. Housing units funded by the Bank also rose from 20,435 

to 25,850 within the review period while the construction loan 

portfolio grew by N12.3 billion (16%) from N79.2 billion to N91.6 

billion. Overall, a total of N27.2 billion was disbursed within the 

review period translating to 15% of the aggregate loan portfolio of 

N179.7 billion. 

The Bank’s process for the refund of NHF contributions was 

greatly revamped in response to the concern of retired workers. 

Within the past one year, the sum of N7.8 billion (42% of a cumulative 

N18.6 billion) was refunded to 64,676 ex-contributors (that is, 

33% of the cumulative 197,281 refundees). Undoubtedly, Dangiwa’s 

focused leadership has brought refreshing dynamism and clarity of 

purpose to Nigeria’s premier housing finance institution. 

Re-Engineering FMBN for Greater Impact on Housing Development 

Any close observer of the Nigerian Housing Sector would know 

that despite being in existence for several decades, FMBN appears 

to be plagued by combination of long-standing structural, institutional 

and policy challenges, which have negatively impacted its 

performance. Some of these include the undercapitalization of 

the Bank, the lack of appropriate legal frameworks to enforce the 

compliance to provisions of the NHF Act and a deficient corporate 

governance system that made it lose the confidence of critical local 

and international stakeholders. 

Dangiwa and his team not only displayed a quick understanding 

of these issues that have mitigated against the performance of 

FMBN but were clear and quick in defining strategic actions to tackle 

them. And they have done a good job of following through, at both 

political and administrative levels, to earn good results: 

Strengthening FMBN’s Financial Base - Progressing the 

N500billion Recapitalization Drive 

One of the most significant outcomes is the stakeholder rally and 

support for the recapitalisation of FMBN to the tune of a minimum 

of N500billion. The Bank’s current N5 billion capital base is grossly 

inadequate, and even at that, only N2.5 billion or 50% of this amount 

is paid up. Although the process had been on for some time now, 

the new management is playing a major role in accelerating the final 

push to actualize it. Shortly after assumption of office, he renewed 

strategic stakeholders and public advocacy, effectively using public 

and media outings, meetings and events, to canvass for support 

and thus kept the advocacy to recapitalize FMBN as a mainstream 

issue in the public mind. Working closely with the Office of the 

Hon. Minister of Power, Works & Housing, Babatunde Fashola, he 

lobbied politicians, housing industry leaders as well as influential 

persons in the executive and legislature to secure their buy-in on 

the need to expand and strengthen the Bank’s financial capacity to 

deliver on its mandate of providing affordable housing. There are 

Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, MD/CEO FMBN 

clear signs that the efforts are paying out. 

Certainly, the new management’s push to actualize the 

longstanding plan to recapitalize FMBN deserves the support of 

stakeholders, so the Bank can provide affordable mortgages to 

more Nigerians through social housing. As the sole governmentsponsored 

housing finance agency, a recapitalized FMBN can 

leverage on its unique status to drive affordable homeownership 

and housing developments throughout the length and breadth of 

Nigeria. A recapitalized FMBN will have deeper pockets to provide 

low-cost funds to housing developers to build decent, affordable 

houses. It will also empower FMBN to provide more single-digit 

housing/mortgage loans. 

Strategic Push to Review the FMBN Act for a Better Regulatory 

Framework & Professionalism 

Dangiwa’s team also did a good job of rallying stakeholder support 

for the Bill to review the extant FMBN Act before the National Assembly. 

The Bill is meant to usher in a comprehensive overhaul of 

FMBN and strengthen its board to make it more effective by including 

stakeholders such as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the 

Trade Union Congress (TUC), the Nigeria Employers Consultative 

Association (NECA) and others. The Bill also supports the recapitalization 

of the FMBN by prescribing a N500billion share capital base 

with sole ownership. According to him, the bank should be wholly 

owned by the Federal Government to avoid conflict of interest with 

its other owners, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria 

Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF). 

Building a New Culture of Corporate Governance 

Under Dangiwa’s exemplary leadership, FMBN has taken bold 

measures to strengthen the institutional system of rules, practices, 

and processes that guide the conduct of FMBN operations as a 

necessary measure to win back the confidence of local and international 

investors as well as critical stakeholders in the industry. 

These include the adoption of a robust Corporate Governance 

Framework which was put together by a reputable consultancy 

firms affiliated to the Institute of Directors. With the recent appointment 

of seasoned professionals to the Board of FMBN under 

the chairmanship of Dr Adewale Adeeyo, the corporate governance 

project is set to be completed. Other areas of the review of the FMBN 

governance structure has been instituting a robust Enterprise Risk 

Management Framework facilitated by one of the world’s most 

reputable consulting firms, and aggressive debt recovery and cost 

containment. 

The hallmarks of the totality of the corporate governance culture 

are to achieve accountability, fairness, transparency and a sound 

corporate culture, all necessary to maintain the integrity of the Bank. 

The emphasis on ensuring that FMBN complies with international 

standards for conducting its operations is critical to efforts to reform 

it. This is especially so, in order to change its past reputation of the 

lack of adequate transparency that made stakeholders lose faith in it. 

If it is to succeed as an institution with the mandate to develop 

a robust housing finance system, create a vibrant housing finance 

market, source funds from the capital market; having an operational 

framework that is transparent and complies with international 

standards is fundamental. It also needs it to win back the confidence 

of global financing agencies such as the World Bank, the 

International Finance Corporation, etc., who have long seen it as 

a government-owned entity that is not primed for performance 

and results but political patronage. 

Innovative Solutions to the Affordability Challenge 

Another area of success is evident in the series of innovative 

solutions developed and implemented to tackle the housing affordability 

problem that has prevented most Nigerian workers, 

particularly public servants, from taking advantage of FMBN’s 

housing solutions. A major challenge is the inability of public 

servants, because of their meager incomes, to come up with 

equity contribution necessary for accessing mortgage facilities 

to purchase housing estates funded by FMBN in collaboration 

with real estate developers nationwide. FMBN’s underwriting 

guidelines require 10% down payments (for loans of under N5 

million), 20% (for loans of between N5 – N10 million) and 30% (for 

loans between N10 – N15 million). The FMBN Management has 

adopted two innovative approaches to overcome this challenge: 

One, the capitalization of equity contributions and mortgage 

perfection fees over a 2-year period for mortgage loans under N5 

million (loan applicants, therefore, do not require to make any 

down payment), thereby reducing upfront costs of homeownership 

by about 20%. This has lessened the burden on low-income 

Nigerian workers and opened up a new window of opportunity 

for more persons to partake in FMBN housing schemes. Arc. 

Dangiwa is making a strong case for the downward reduction of 

equity requirements for the higher loan classes, to be reduced to 

10% and 20% respectively. 

Two, the innovative ‘Rent-to-Own’ Scheme. Efforts are being 

put in to tidy up a ‘rent-to-own’ scheme designed to enable public 

servants and other low/medium income earners own houses funded 

by FMBN across the nation and pay on very convenient terms. 

Once approved for implementation, the ‘rent-to-own’ scheme, 

modeled along the lines of housing solutions in advanced countries, 

will serve as a significant innovative solution. Describing the initiative, 

Dangiwa said “It is almost like the owner-occupier which we 

used to have in the past. For instance, the Festac ‘77 houses built 

in the 1970s were built by the Federal Government for guests of 

the Pan-African Festival and when they left, the houses were given 

out to Nigerians. (The allottees) were paying rent and at the same 

time, owning the house. Most of the (FMBN) houses that are ready 

and are on ground now, can be used as the testing ground for this 

policy. This one is good even for the informal sector”. 

Dangiwa’s strategic efforts to extend FMBN’s reach to more 

Nigerians are also as much, a refreshing development that will 

complement efforts of the President Buhari Administration to 

meet its promise of providing affordable housing to Nigerians. As 

an agency that was specifically set up to provide social housing, a 

vibrant, professionally run, and financially capable FMBN has the 

unique potential to significantly increase the chances of ordinary 

Nigerians accessing low-interest mortgage loans to purchase or 

build their dream homes with convenient payment plans. 

At the heart of FMBN’s mass appeal is its low-interest rates and 

long payback periods. FMBN offers loans at the lowest interest rates 

in the market of 6% and the longest payback period of up to 30years. 

This is miles away from commercial rates that hover above 19%. 

Dangiwa and his team have no doubt started off on a good 

note. He has proven himself a remarkably brilliant technocrat who 

combines the clarity of vision and passion with a robust capacity 

for progressive action. 

At a broad level, his leadership style reveals a multi-pronged 

strategy. First, to strengthen the legal and institutional framework 

of FMBN as a premier mortgage institution with the capacity to 

enforce compliance and recover outstanding loans. Second, to 

tweak and create innovative mortgage products that are friendly, 

and which speak directly to the social and economic realities of 

the target audience. Third, to expand and strengthen the Bank’s 

financial base and capacity to fund social housing projects and chart 

a new course for affordable housing provision. Fourth, to ensure 

adherence to corporate governance principles and risk management, 

towards winning the confidence of local and international 

stakeholders whose partnership and support will significantly boost 

its operations. These are strong pillars of growth and Dangiwa and 

his management team deserves the support of all stakeholders as 

he gears up for another year at FMBN. 

John T. Ikyaave is a public policy analyst based in Abuja


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

17 

Beer war: Nigerian Breweries 

promises competition good fight 

Stories by Daniel Obi 

Media Business Editor 

As players in the Nigeria’s 

beer category 

market of FMCG strategise 

and strongly position 

for more market 

shares, Nigerian Breweries Plc, 

one of the major players in the 

beer market has said that it is ready 

for competition. 

Jordi Borrut Bel, the managing 

director of the company, who addressed 

his trade partners from 

across the country during their 

recognition and awards recently 

in Lagos said emphatically that the 

company is ready for the fight in 

the market. “For competition, we 

are ready to fight this fight in Nigeria’s 

market”, he said. 

He believed that those who will 

win the fight are those who have 

the strongest reason to fight as he 

encouraged the trade partners for 

stronger partnership to face competition. 

Since the entry of SABMiller, 

one of the world’s foremost 

Mobile marketing agency introduces 

solutions to increase revenue for SMEs 

brewers in 2011 and its acquisition 

of majority share in both 

International Breweries Ilesa, 

manufacturers of Trophy Larger 

and Hero, a popular brand in 

the Eastern region, competition 

has intensified in the market 

especially among the three 

major players. 

He also acknowledged the 

Federal Government intention 

to raise excise duties on alcohol 

BetaSMS, a Lagos-based mobile 

marketing agency has 

unveiled a set of industryleading 

business-oriented 

applications designed to increase the 

productivity of businesses. 

The applications, WasherMEN 

and iPrefect are expected to give 

small business owners more control, 

encourage lean operations, reduce 

overhead costs and generate more 

profit to keep them in business. 

According to BetaSMS, Washer- 

MEN is laundry management software 

designed with the one-man 

business model in mind but has the 

capacity to handle both commercial 

and industrial laundry activities. 

“WasherMEN works as an administrative 

tool that has features like auto 

sending of SMS for laundry collections, 

delivery, invoicing, inventory 

management and reporting. 

The application provides the required 

flexibility and makes it easy 

for a single person to seamlessly 

run a laundromat until the business 

is ready to scale; as the front-end of 

the business can be implemented 

through hand-held devices – smartphone 

and tablet – and any computer 

device from any location. With 

the app, one person can easily attend 

to more customers in one day”. 

The Managing Director of 

BetaSMS, Ajibola Awojobi explained 

that WasherMEN was built after the 

company noticed an increased number 

of Laundry Startups had become 

increasingly dependent on SMS to 

notify customers for pickup of their 

clothes. “We decided to create more 

value for such by building the application 

to ensure smooth running 

of their businesses” he said. 

Kolade Adegoke, Sales and Marketing 

Director of BetaSMS stated 

that “First rule of business is to maximise 

profit while minimizing your 

overhead costs, the WasherMEN 

application will look to eliminate 

costs such as salaries and increase 

the sustainability of the business 

owners.“ 

Adegoke also said that iPrefect 

is the latest and most complete 

school automation software built 

for every educational institute– colleges, 

universities, training schools 

aimed to improve management’s 

understanding and interaction with 

students all through their duration 

in the school while reducing the 

workforce needed to achieve same. 

The solution will enable education 

institutions to perform all activities 

in the cloud. Having cloud-based 

Student Information System with no 

local premise footprint of server or 

software means less time and money 

spent on IT and more time is devoted 

to broader education priorities. 

“We decided to create this solution 

because of the incessant 

complaints of missing students’ 

files and records as well as difficulty 

and tobacco products with effect 

from June 4, 2018 and said that the 

company will respond but with 

consumer as major focus. 

Jordi Borrut Bel who has sold 

beer in Europe and Burundi before 

coming to Nigeria described 

the consumer as the company’s 

boss. He said the company will 

continue to do those things that 

will excite the consumer even in 

the challenging economy. 

in tracking students’ performances 

and behaviour. This solution will help 

keep records for various institutions, 

simplify the enquiry processes and 

help instil discipline amongst students” 

said Adebimpe Ayoola, Head 

Also speaking, Uche Unigwe, 

sales director of the company was 

appreciative of the trade partners 

who he said are doing amazing 

things for the company. He also 

thanked the haulage operators 

who move assets including the 

trucks and goods worth millions of 

Naira around the country. He calculated 

that value of a truck and its 

goods is about N40m. 

The sales director further explained 

that the theme of this 

year’s award: “winning more 

together”, was conceived to recognize 

and reward the excellent 

performance of the company’s 

distributors. 

Last year winner, Ken Maduakor 

Group Limited from Nnewi 

in Onitsha marketing zone beat 

two others to clinch the National 

Champions Award and the company’s 

best distributor for 2017. 

Ancapas Global Investment 

Limited from Kaduna won the National 

Key Transporter Award and 

got a plaque, an award trophy and 

a Mitsubuishi L200 double cabin 

4x4 DC van. Other trade partners 

were also rewarded handsomely. 

of Communications. 

These applications - WasherMEN 

and iPrefect - are solutions that will 

enable business owners keep an eye 

on all their ventures regardless of 

their location. 

L-R: Ohioze Unuigbe, managing director, Bureau Veritas; Emmanuel Kattie, 

managing director, CANDEL during the official handover of the ISO 9001: 

2015 Certificate attained by CANDEL by Bureau Veritas”. 

Dentsu Aegis Network ignites 

discussion on management, 

execution of innovation in 

digital economy 

Dentsu Aegis Network, the 

world’s foremost media, 

digital and creative communication 

services business 

last week hosted the innovation 

summit in Nigeria as part of its Africa 

region innovation road show which 

has taken place in Kenya, Mozambique 

and Tanzania. 

The Summit brought together 

a wide range of specialist skills in 

media, data, technology and innovation. 

The event showcased the best 

work from around the globe, as well 

as practical case studies from the 

African continent to bring local relevance. 

Addressing attendees to the summit 

which attracted clients across 

several sectors of the industry, local 

and global media partners and industry 

press, Emeka Okeke, the CEO 

of Media Fuse Dentsu Aegis Network 

noted that the summit was designed 

to help clients and agencies have an 

understanding of how to manage 

and execute innovation in the digital 

economy as innovation has become 

the competitive advantage that sets 

brands apart. 

The 3-hour session kicked off 

with a presentation by Dawn Rowlands, 

CEO for Dentsu Aegis Network 

SSA who ignited a thought 

provoking exchange on how to innovate 

with purpose to garner business 

results. She gave insight into how to 

create a DELI (Dynamic, Exciting, 

Limitless) business environment to 

navigate through the VUCA (Volatile, 

Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) 

digital climate. 

The summit also hosted Michael 

Zylstra, Chief Strategy Officer for 

Dentsu Aegis Network SSA, a rare 

hybrid strategist who has worked 

across multiple disciplines from 

CRM to Performance media to 

Brand bringing a holistic understanding 

of the current marketing 

ecosystem. 

CSR: Promasidor supports 

Empower 54 to eradicate 

malnutrition in Nigeria 

Promasidor Nigeria Limited, 

maker of Cowbell, Loya 

Milk, Top Tea and Onga, has 

donated cases of various 

products to empower 54 Project in 

support of its programme aimed at 

eradicating malnutrition among internally 

displaced persons (IDPs) in 

Nigeria. The recent donation would 

help to boost the worthy initiative 

of the organisation, which is at the 

forefront of eradicating malnutrition 

in the country. Promasidor’s support 

to Empower 54 is in line with its corporate 

social responsibility policy, 

which has seen it contribute to worthy 

causes across the country. 

Expressing delight at the gesture, 

Modupe Ozolua, Founder and President 

of Empower 54, in a statement 

said the products were greatly appreciated 

and the donation worth 

emulating as malnutrition is a major 

concern among IDPs, refugees and 

underprivileged people not only in 

Nigeria but also across the African 

continent.



C002D5556 

LASAA, outdoor advertisers set up 

committee to resolve issues 

Daniel Obi 

The Lagos State Signage 

and Advertisement 

Agency 

(LASAA) and the 

Outdoor Advertising 

Practitioners have set 

up a 15-member committee 

to resolve lingering issues in 

the industry and chat a new 

way forward, source has said. 

Issues to be addressed 

by the committee include 

media buyers, agency rate review, 

vacant board discount 

policy; 12.5 percent in the 

harmonized law, health and 

safety concerns, structural 

stability. 

The decision to set up the 

15-member committee was 

reached at a stakeholders 

meeting recently between 

LASAA and registered Outdoor 

Advertising Practitioners, 

under the aegies of Outdoor 

Advertising Association 

of Nigeria, OAAN. 

The meeting, according 

to the source held at 

the head office of LASAA 

in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest 

Nigeria had major outdoor 

advertising practitioners 

in the state present. The 

constituted committee had 

seven members from OAAN 

and eight members from 

LASAA. 

Addressing the meeting, 

Managing Director, LASAA, 

Mobolaji Sanusi said that in 

the agency’s effort to improve 

the relationship between 

it and outdoor advertising 

practitioners, it visited some 

organisations with a view to 

understanding their challenges 

and the various problems 

in the outdoor advertising 

industry. 

He said the meeting was 

the outcome of the various 

visits, as LASAA had collated 

some of the concerns of the 

outdoor advertising practitioners. 

“In our efforts to ensure 

sanity in the industry, it is 

important to find lasting 

solutions to some of the issues 

that have bedeviled the 

industry,” he said, adding 

that the meeting should be 

an opportunity to strengthen 

“our relations so that in the 

end, it is going to be a winwin 

for all of us.” 

One of the critical issues 

discussed at the meeting 

was media buyers. The outdoor 

advertising practitioners, 

the source said decried 

a situation whereby major 

brands, such Glo, Nigeria 

Brewery, among others, 

frequently owed the practitioners 

after their advertising 

campaigns had been 

displayed. 

President, OAAN, Tunde 

Adedoyin, lamented that the 

inability of the advertisers to 

pay members what was due 

to them had been a major 

reason they had not been 

able to pay LASAA what was 

due to the agency. 

Adedoyin appealed to 

LASAA to intervene in the 

matter, which had been so 

frequent, saying that as long 

as the advertisers, especially 

major brands, refused to pay 

the practitioners, it would be 

difficult for them to meet up 

with their commitment to 

LASAA. 

Ify Onu Kwuba of the Nigerian 

Advertising Service 

Limited also lamented that 

the advertisers did not always 

pay the outdoor practitioners 

as at when due, 

saying that was the reason 

many practitioners were owing 

LASAA. 

“It will be good for LASAA 

to hold meeting with these 

brands so that they can pay 

us on time and for us to meet 

our obligations to LASAA,” 

she said. 

Responding, LASAA MD, 

Sanusi said if the agency 

must assist the practitioners 

on the issue of media buyers, 

it must do it within the ambit 

of the law as LASAA only act 

as regulator of the industry 

structure. 

Djembe Communications 

shortlisted for PRWeek 

Global Awards 

Djembe Communications, 

pan-African 

consultancy 

has been shortlisted 

for PRWeek Global Awards 

2018, including a nomination 

for Best Campaign in Middle 

East/Africa and Global Event 

Activation for implementation 

of the annual Innovation 

Prize for Africa 2017 (IPA) 

event held in Ghana last year. 

Nicole Suter, Managing 

Director for Djembe Communications, 

commented in 

a statement, “We are thrilled 

to be nominated amongst 

other industry leaders. Such 

achievements are a testament 

to our work and success, 

demonstrating that our 

unique business model approach 

works. Operating with 

a single P&L across our global 

network is a tremendous asset 

for clients wherein they receive 

the best, fully dedicated 

team of communications 

specialists to help realize their 

organizational objectives. 

With a strong footprint in 

Africa now, the consultancy 

is also focused on serving as a 

hub for international companies 

entering the continent.” 

The teams across the network 

worked effectively to 

develop the various components 

of the IPA Prize and 

ensured the event was interactive, 

valuable and informative 

for the attendees, the 

statement said. With effective 

cross-border management 

the teams from Ghana, Morocco, 

Nigeria, South Africa 

and the UAE were able to deliver 

this multifaceted event 

and ensure that all media 

and social media content as 

well as the roadshows and 

high-level roundtables, focused 

on the need to invest in 

homegrown innovation. This 

helped to elevate the stature 

of the campaign and generate 

stronger awareness, support 

and participation from the 

onset. Ultimately, the overall 

strategy raised awareness of 

the potential power of harnessing 

African innovation to 

address the challenges faced 

by the region. 

NewBrandsXPO designed to stimulate business relationships 

between African start-ups holds in Nigeria June 

The NewBrandsXPO, 

an experiential expo 

for new and emerging 

brands, is set to 

hold in Nigeria from 29th to 

30th June 2018 at the Federal 

Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, 

Lagos. 

Promoted by Heventin, a 

corporate event and brands 

activation company, and 

Uburu, an integrated marketing 

communications 

consultancy, NewBrandsXPO 

is a one-stop shop 

for organisations seeking 

to launch new products & 

services into the market, 

and get instant consumer 

feedback. 

According to Olanrewaju 

Samson , Activations Director 

at Heventin in a statement: 

“In a world full of buzz and 

surface interactions, people 

are seeking more depth and 

meaning. The NewBrandsXPO 

platform is an ideal 

space for exhibitors and visitors 

to nurture the trust and 

confidence necessary for the 

realisation of business goals 

and fulfilment of personal 

needs.” 

Samson noted that the 

expo would not only connect 

and stimulate business 

relationships between African 

start-ups but also give 

innovators seeking financial 

backers and crowd funding 

the opportunity to pitch 

directly to potential investors 

and possible venture 

capitalists. 

Commenting on the importance 

of the NewBrandsXPO, 

Tony Usidamen, Lead 

Consultant at Uburu, also 

said in the statement: “To 

remain continually relevant, 

brands need not only ensure 

that their advertising messages 

and communication 

channels are fully optimized 

across multiple devices and 

platforms, they must also find 

ways to authentically engage 

with consumers.” 

APRA invites leaders to participate in African survey of ethics, reputation 

APRA has partnered 

Reputation Matters 

to conduct a massive 

survey on ethics 

and reputation, spanning the 

entire African continent. All 

CEOs, managing directors, 

managers as well as Public 

Relations (PR) managers and 

officers working in Africa are 

invited to participate in the 

online survey which will yield 

results regarding ethics and 

reputation impact decision 

making and behaviour at 

three different levels; individual, 

organisational and 

country. 

Regine le Roux, Managing 

Director of Reputation 

Matters said in a statement 

“Measuring Africa’s reputation 

and ethics is an enormous 

task which requires 

input from as many leaders 

as possible, across Africa. 

The more respondents who 

complete the survey, the 

more valuable our research 

results will be. We encourage 

every African leader, from any 

sphere of work, be it politics, 

business, non-profit or otherwise, 

to complete the survey 

online” 

APRA President, Yomi 

Badejo-Okusanya, added: 

“The theme for our annual 

conference is “Re-PResenting 

Africa”. We feel strongly that 

we, as Africans, need to take 

control of creating the narrative 

about our continent 

rather than letting others tell 

our story for us. 

Winners emerge 

in Sesema PR’s 

2018 corporate 

communications 

pitch competition 

Sesema PR, one of Nigeria’s 

foremost Public 

Relations firms in 

conjunction with the 

Alima Atta empowerment 

fund has announced winners 

of the 2018 edition of the 

Corporate Communications 

Pitch Competition (CCPC). 

Mary Adeleye, a graduate 

of the Wesley University 

emerged winner for the PR 

category of the competition 

while Kenechukwu David 

Nwafor a graduate of the University 

of Lagos was named 

winner for the IT/Graphics 

category of the competition. 

They were awarded the 

sum of N150, 000 each and 6 

months paid internship. 

The winners expressed 

gratitude for the phenomenal 

platform given to them to 

venture into the corporate 

communications world. 

“It is a very innovative 

platform and more than anything, 

the pitch competition 

has increased my drive for the 

PR world and has challenged 

me to do more and be more”. 

Mary said 

“I’m super excited about 

winning this competition. 

Thank you Sesema PR for 

pushing me to do more”. 

Kenechukwu said.


19 

BUSINESS DAY 

Energy Report 

C002D5556 

Oil & Gas Power Renewables Environment 

Siemens power technology to boost Lagos 3000MW light up initiative 

OLUSOLA BELLO 

Siemens Nigeria 

says it is willing 

and ready to 

partner with the 

Lagos State Government 

on the light up 

Lagos programme, stating 

that it has the product that 

can be deployed quickly to 

provide electricity and also 

provide financial and turnkey 

solutions that would 

make the project a reality 

within the shortest possible 

time. 

The light projects is 

an initiative of the Lagos 

state government which 

is aimed at providing 3000 

megawatts of electricity 

through embedded power 

projects within three years. 

The projects are to be 

sited in the five divisions 

that make up Lagos for 

the purpose of enabling 

Lagosians have access to 

reliable, steady and efficient 

power supply. 

The German company 

stated that it is also 

ready to provide the much 

needed human capacity 

development so that those 

trained can effectively run 

the plants after completion. 

Nasir Giwa, vice president, 

Power and Gas of 

the company said the company’s 

product, STG A45 

which was developed to 

generated 40 megawatt 

and which is built containers 

on the wheel is best 

suited for these initiatives. 

Giwa said this is because 

the whole process 

of ensuring that power is 

generated from this technology 

would not be more 

Power generation situation last week 

Source: Power Advisary Team 

than 60 days as against 

the usual gas turbine that 

involves construction of 

foundations and other 

physical equipment which 

would take several months 

to build. 

This product he said is 

key solution to what the Lagos 

state government needs 

in terms of light up Lagos. “It 

is a solution that can deploy 

quickly with less sight works. 

Once it arrives, in two weeks 

it would be ready to start 

generating power”. 

One of the reasons Siemens 

came up with the 

mobile unit solution such 

as SGT A 45, he explained 

is because these days there 

are natural disasters that 

cut off power system and 

they are not fixed for a 

long time. 

It is in order to mitigate 

this problem that the company 

came out with a solution 

that can be provided 

within two weeks. The mobile 

unit is the biggest unit 

in the world today which 

can provide 40 megawatts 

on wheel. 

He said this is a new 

product in terms of packaging 

but not new in terms 

of technology, stating that 

it is a well-tested technology 

because the engine is 

the same with the one used 

to fly aircrafts. 

Two of the units are already 

on ground in Nigeria 

here, the company stated, 

stressing that Lagos is not 

going to be used as testing 

ground for the mobile unit 

because the technology 

has being existence for a 

long time. 

Lagos plans to complete 

the first phase of the project 

by December this year. 

This type of projects Giwa 

stated that it is not easy 

to do with the traditional 

gas turbine power plants 

because by time the construction, 

foundation and 

other equipment are being 

assembled at site, the 

process could take more 

than three years to complete. 

But with the mobile 

unit there is no need for 

all that. The mobile unit is 

moved to site in three containers 

and all the things 

needed are already there. 

The most important thing 

is just to be able to convey 

the containers to sites and 

the accessories are fixed to 

the transmission lines for 

power to be transmitted 

from the containers. 

Giwa further said the 

company as part of its 

human capacity development, 

it had set up a training 

academy in Lagos, the 

first of its kind in Africa, 

adding that with the collaboration 

of Lagos State 

Government, the Lagos 

Energy Academy has been 

established so that more 

Nigerians could have the 

advantage of being trained 

in the areas of Power, utility 

and Oil and Gas. 

“So when you talk of 

human capacity development 

it an area that we 

have focused on since our 

advent in Nigeria about 50 

years ago. At the moment 

most of the certificates that 

are issued by the Lagos Energy 

Academy are certified 

by Siemens. Manpower is 

developed for the power, 

utility, and Oil and Gas 

industries”, Giwa said. 

The company said it 

expected the names of the 

developers of the embedded 

power project would 

soon be release soon so 

that serious work would 

commence on the projects. 

The Siemens boss 

stressed that Lagos state 

must be commended for 

being the first to come 

with this type of initiative, 

stating that we should not 

forget that if it is that easy 

the electricity distribution 

companies would have 

done the embedded power. 

The company however 

said that the state government 

should be encouraged 

to move faster than 

they are doing now. 

Commenting on the 

activities of the company 

in Egypt, it says the Egypt 

projects is such a huge 

project. He said Egypt already 

has 33,000mw but 

the government did an 

unprecedented thing as 

in a single transaction it 

awarded a 16,000 megawatts 

project to Siemens. 

The projects which 

is about 8billion euro, is 

combination of gas based 

power plants and wind turbine, 

14,000 mw from gas 

and 2000mw from wind. 

“I wish we can do that 

in Nigeria, this is what collaboration 

can do between 

government to government 

and government and 

the private sector”, he said. 

Achieving Nigeria’s natural gas supplies potential hinged on right framework 

KELECHI EWUZIE 

The success of natural 

gas development 

in Nigeria is 

incumbent on the 

right gas development processes 

been put in place to 

favour the participation of 

governments, NGOs and the 

corporate sector. Industry 

stakeholders have said. 

They observe that the rise 

of Nigeria’s potentials within 

the natural gas market will 

be just as beneficial to the 

multinational corporations 

as it will to the small, local 

participants to the extent 

that workable framework are 

effectively adopted. 

Industry experts opine 

that even though Nigeria is 

among the leading countries 

with huge natural gas 

reserves in Africa, obstacles 

such as regulatory measures, 

infrastructure development 

and malfeasance at 

the government level need 

to be overcome in order to 

develop her vast natural gas 

resources. 

Wumi Iledare, energy 

professional observe that 

Gas exploration is relatively 

inexpensive, but development 

requires massive investment 

and a strategic 

commitment. So while the 

rewards look to be huge, the 

road to unlocking their full 

potential is still long and 

rocky. 

He said that the challenges 

associated with developing 

Nigeria’s vast natural 

gas resources are real, 

and careful consideration 

is needed in terms of how 

best to achieve the objectives 

of socioeconomic and 

infrastructural development. 

Those who know in the oil 

and gas industry are of the 

views that as Nigeria’s move 

toward gas-based economies 

will be greater with 

investment in all areas of the 

supply chain, from utilising 

flared gas to transportation 

of gas from offshore fields. 

To them, Nigeria with its 

vast quantities of natural 

gas if well harnessed has the 

potential to fundamentally 

transform the local landscape 

by uplifting communities, 

and even entire regions. 

Natural gas is one of the 

most widely-used energy 

resources; it is however sad 

to note that Nigeria with its 

huge natural resources in 

the last three decades had 

lagged behind in natural gas 

production. 

According to the International 

Energy Agency (IEA) 

natural gas will take the lead 

in meeting the world future 

energy needs, and demand 

will grow faster than oil over 

the next five year. 

The international energy 

agency projected that by 

2022, gas demand will grow 

at 1.6% per year. By this, 

indication are that annual 

gas consumption may reach 

4, 000 billion cubic metres 

(bcm) with an almost 90% 

of the anticipated growth in 

demand coming from developing 

economies. 

The report expounded 

on the many positives of the 

future of natural gas. It was 

based on the insatiable appetite 

for natural gas, the growth 

in natural gas supply and 

increasing use of natural gas 

in transportation. There are 

some 500 global companies 

exploring natural gas deposits 

throughout West Africa. 

Gas discoveries are stimulating 

sector growth and 

infrastructure development 

in the region as large percentage 

of gas production 

continues to come from Nigeria 

among other countries 

in the region. 

Growth in the sector will 

be stimulated by low prices, 

abundant supply, as well 

as its role in producing a 

cleaner energy source. 

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 

Why moribund refineries should serve as centers for grooming future petroleum engineers 

KELECHI EWUZIE 

Rather than the 

Federal Government 

wasting 

huge financial 

resources on 

turn around maintenance of 

the three Nigeria refineries 

which are at best moribund, 

industry expert have called 

for them to be converted to 

training centers to churn out 

the desired human capital 

needed in preparation for refinery 

like Dangote in 2019. 

They are of the opinion 

that rather than wasting 

huge foreign resource to 

train Petroleum engineers 

in countries like India, the 

refineries can be put to 

good use that will benefit 

the country in the long run. 

Emmanuel Emielu, CEO, 

oil and gas Soft skills Limited 

Lagos in an interview with 

BusinessDay observes that 

Nigeria have big structures 

in Warri, Port Harcourt, Kaduna 

refineries that could be 

turned to a refinery training 

and operation ground for private 

operators like Dangote. 

Emielu said that the engineers 

that Dangote took 

abroad for training recently 

were train based on simulation 

which was more like a 

model environment, something 

that can be achieved in 

country with any of the three 

refineries. 

According to him, “Refinery 

training is classroom and 

workshop. We have classroom 

in the millions in Nigeria, 

what we don’t have is the 

workshop and what better 

workshop than to put people 

in the real environment with 

the actual equipment which 

our refineries can provide. 

He further said that by 

doing this, it represent a 

more innovative way of creating 

local employment, 

conserving foreign exchange 

and the Nigeria content in 

general. 

Speaking on the condition 

of the Nigeria refineries, 

he pointed out that we don’t 

have refineries. The existing 

ones are all moribund adding 

that the people working 

there are just marking time 

and collecting salaries. 

“They all form part of 

Nigerian National Petroleum 

Corporation budgets 

(NNPC) which funds is part 

of the Federal budget. 

He said all these problems 

are laxity in the public 

sector which you won’t find 

in the private sector but 

as you know government 

drivers are different, public 

service drivers are different. 

On the ways to move the 

oil and gas sector forward, 

Emielu said if we can overcome 

the challenges of corruption 

and the government 

has the political will, gas 

has the potential to turn the 

economy around. 

As a matter of fact, there 

are threat to the demand for 

crude oil and global demand 

for gas because of things like 

electric vehicles and shale. 

According to him, “The 

greatest thing Nigeria could 

be doing to herself is using 

her resources to develop her 

citizens because I am sure 

that in a year or two, you will 

see people driving electric 

vehicles in Nigeria”. 

“When you consider Nigeria 

with over 200 million 

people, it is a huge market, 

so if we can use our resources 

to catalyse innovation, 

growth entrepreneurship, 

development, that will be 

super fantastic”. 

“There are so much potential 

for Nigeria if the right 

policy is in place to drive the 

gas master plan which is what 

the government is doing. I 

hope they are successful because 

we have heard all this 

before. The only thing left is 

to fill the gap between policy 

and implementation that we 

struggle with”, he said. 

NNPC to support local investors on 

technology advancement 

OLUSOLA BELLO 

The group managing 

director of the 

Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation 

(NNPC), Maikanti Baru, 

has said that the corporation 

was committed to supporting 

local investors towards growing 

the engineering profession, 

even as he noted that this 

would in turn ensure technological 

advancement of the 

nation’s oil and gas industry. 

Baru disclosed this while 

speaking at the induction ceremony 

of the Group Managing 

Director of ARCO Group, 

Alfred Irabor Okoigun, with 

the Honourary Fellowship 

of the Nigerian Academy of 

Engineering (NAE), in Lagos. 

“NNPC will continue to 

support ARCO Group and 

many other indigenous companies 

alike so that your story 

and the story of others will 

continue to be savoured by 

generations yet unborn” Baru 

stated. 

Okoigun established 

ARCO Petrochemical Engineering 

Company Ltd in 

1980 after a two-year stint as a 

Material Management Officer 

with NNPC’s Warri Refinery 

and Petrochemical Company 

(WRPC). 

The company has since 

grown over the last three decades 

to become a conglomerate 

that not only deals in engineering 

and maintenance, 

but has also diversified into 

marine logistics, maritime 

security, pipelines & facilities 

inspection, property development 

and consumer power 

generation. 

Congratulating Alfred on 

his fellowship by the nation’s 

foremost engineering academy, 

Baru said he was a leading 

example in the development 

and promotion of engineering 

education in the country. 

Maikanti Baru, group 

managing director of the Nigerian 

National Petroleum 

Corporation, has commended 

the Nigerian Academy of 

Engineering for its leadership 

and promotion of policies 

relating to the general advancement 

and promotion 

of excellence in Science, Engineering, 

Technology and innovation 

for better economy 

and society. 

Joanna Maduka, the President 

of the Academy, in her 

address of welcome, said 

that it is the responsibility 


Engineering to ensure the 

advancement of Engineering 

Education and Practice 

throughout the engineering 

family. 

She said this is achievable 

through continuous learning, 

advocacy and strategic 

collaboration with relevant 

professional associations and 

industry. The goal remains the 

significant improvement of 

the lives of our people and the 

state of our society, nation and 

humanity as a whole”. 

Maduka said further that 

part of the roles of the Academy 

is to facilitate information 

dissemination and exchange 

of ideas among ourselves and 

other professionals, act as advisers 

to both the government 

and private sector operators 

on engineering, technology 

and other related matters. 

Explaining the import of 

the induction of Okoigun 

as Honorary Fellow of the 

Academy, she said that only 

a total of four persons have 

been so honoured in a period 

of 21 years of the Academy’s 

existence. She added, “Those 

who had earned the honour 

in the past had demonstrated 

that they understood the role 

of engineering education 

and profession in the development 

of any nation and 

they had devoted their time, 

energy and goodwill towards 

the promotion of both in real 

terms in our country” 

She praised Okoigun for 

facilitating the establishment 


Engineering and Arco Group 

Academia and Industry Linkage 

which will be devoted to 

finding engineering innovations 

that can be patented and 

that can attract funding for 

commercial scale production. 

Geopolitical risk sends oil price soaring 

Despite fears of a 

trade war sending 

global oil demand 

crashing, 

oil prices are set to see their 

largest weekly gain since 

July. 

Brent crude last week 

broke the $72 barrier for the 

first time since 2014 on the 

latest developments in Syria. 

President Donald Trump 

earlier last week threatened 

Russia with missile strikes 

after an alleged chemical attack 

that the U.S. and UK were 

quick to blame on the Syrian 

army following reports from 

rebel-held Douma. 

Despite some cooler 

heads noting that neither 

Washington nor Moscow 

really want to have a third 

world war on their hands, 

markets are more jittery than 

they have been for a long 

time, with the news from 

Syria overshadowing any 

other piece of news about 

the oil industry. 

In fact, as Commerzbank’s 

chief of commodities 

Eugen Weinberg noted, oil’s 

fundamentals do not justify 

such a price jump and yet 

prices are jumping as the 

world watches the Middle 

East yet again. But it would 

all be short-lived, as Trump 

appeared to back down on 

a Syria strike with a ‘maybe 

yes, maybe no’ qualification 

that eased tensions and 

pushed equities markets 

back into rally mode. 

Meanwhile, U.S. crude 

oil production rose further 

last week, hitting 10.525 

million bpd, up from 10.46 

million bpd a week earlier. 

This should have had a 

marked negative effect on 

prices, but it hasn’t because 

of the events in Syria, where 

Washington is effectively 

supporting the Jaish al-Islam 

(the Army of Islam) – a 

Saudi-backed rebel group 

that controlled Douma – 

the town where the alleged 

chemical attack occurred. 

It seems that the heatingup 

in Syria is exactly what 

Saudi Arabia needs to get 

oil prices closer to its target 

level of $80 a barrel, so we 

expect more saber-rattling 

over Syria, even if only to 

raise the specter of tensions 

in appearance to help boost 

oil prices. This is the price 

that the Kingdom needs to 

break even and stimulate 

interest in the initial public 

offering of Aramco. 

The IEA said in a new 

report that the U.S.-China 

trade war could result in lower 

oil demand. The agency 

kept its forecast of oil demand 

growth at 1.5 million 

barrels per day (mb/d) but 

noted that the trade war represented 

a serious “downward 

risk” to that projection. 

The IEA said a 1 percent decline 

in global GDP growth 

would translate into lower oil 

demand growth by 690,000 

bpd. Meanwhile, the IEA 

said that OPEC has largely 

accomplished its goal of 

draining global inventories 

back to the five-year average. 

OPEC production fell by 

200,000 bpd in March, on the 

back of declining output in 

Venezuela, Libya, Iraq, Angola 

and Saudi Arabia. The 

group’s production levels 

are now at a one-year low at 

31.958 mb/d. 

Saudi Arabia’s energy 

minister said that OPEC 

would not sit by and allow 

an oil supply glut to return, 

although the cartel would 

also not let oil prices jump 

to “unreasonable levels.” 

Khalid al-Falih said he was 

content with the current 

state of the oil market, 

According to Reuters, “I 

think a lot of the glut has been 

cleared,” said Falih. When 

asked if $80 per barrel was an 

appropriate price for oil, al- 

When asked if $80 per barrel 

was an appropriate price for 

oil”, al-Falih said “There is no 

such thing as a target price by 

Saudi Arabia,” before adding 

that upstream investment is 

falling short of what might be 

needed in the future. 

“We’re seeing many regions 

declining. The only 

way to offset this is for the 

financial markets to start 

financing and funding upstream 

projects. I don’t know 

what the price that will provide 

that equilibrium is. All 

we know is in 2018 we’re still 

not seeing that.”


BDTECH 

JUMOKE AKIYODE LAWANSON 

CRC Credit bureau introduces USSD code to check credit reports 

CRC Credit Bureau Limited has 

introduced a mobile credit check 

which enables customers to use 

a specific unstructured supplementary 

service data (USSD) code -*565*8# 

to access their credit reports. 

This innovative service, in partnership 

with MTN Nigeria, Nigeria lnterbank Settlement 

(NIBSS) and VAS2Nets, provides an 

alternative medium for individuals and merchants 

to have easy access to a summary of 

their credit reports via their mobile phones. 

CRC says the new development is in 

line its mission “to deliver innovative products 

and services that enable stakeholders 

to build credible profiles that enhance access 

to credit for strategic growth” and promote 

financial inclusion. 

Tunde Ahmed Popoola, managing director/CEO 

of the company, said, the new 

innovation which is introduced for the first 

time in Nigeria, is a quick and easy way for 

people to carry out credit checks on their 

mobile phones. 

A statement released by the company 

reveals that this service is currently available 

to MTN subscribers only. With Mobile credit 

checks your credit history is at your fingertips. 

Simply dial *565*8# on your mobile 

phone to get your credit report in an instant. 

“Effective financial and credit management 

requires a complete understanding 

of an individual’s overall financial and loan 

status by constantly monitoring the various 

accounts and balances. It also involves the 

ability to accurately assess and promptly address 

errors apparent. 

Consumers, now have the power in 

their hands to act swiftly and positively position 

themselves to improve access to finance 

and buy products on credit. 

Speaking further, Popoola said that 

registered merchants or business entities 

alike can also grow business volumes and 

increase sales revenues by instantly knowing 

which customers can enjoy consumer 

products to pay later by dialing *565*8*3# 

and reviewing their customers’ credit worthiness. 

This not only gives them a competitive 

advantage but also builds customer loyalty 

and retention. 

CRC Credit Bureau Limited currently 

warehouses credit transactions and payment 

histories of individuals and companies 

in Nigeria in excess of 15 million records 

provided by about 1,300 institutions. 

In addition to credit information, CRC 

also compiles public data, statutory and 

In association with 

Cloud-based toolset to enable over 30% 

Microfinance institutions, 

microfinance 

banks and Cooperative 

Societies in West 

Africa using Oradian’s 

cloud-based toolset have the potential 

to grow by more than 30 percent annually 

by becoming more efficient, Antonio 

Separovic, CEO, Oradian has said. 

Oradian, the core microfinance 

system that enables easy to use microfinance 

management and is built in 

the cloud to allow for easy accessibility 

has focused on growing financial 

institutions in Nigeria and West Africa 

since its establishment in 2012. 

Speaking to BusinessDay, Antonio 

Separovic, Co-founder/ CEO, Oradian, 

said that customers of Oradian 

continue to attest to cost benefits, ability 

to grow, know and control portfolio 

and serve more end customers with 

Oradian’s software solution. 

Separovic said “the core banking 

system solution includes integrated 

accounting, real time reporting, as well 

as an administrative console, so you 

don’t have to rely on IT services, you 

can actually have business analysts 

who will manage the software, as it can 

be accessed anywhere since its a cloud 

solution, even with low bandwidth.” 

During the networking dinner 

event organised by the company in 

Lagos on April 10, 2018, leaders of financial 

institutions, regulatory groups, 

financial inclusion experts and fintech 

JUMOKE AKIYODE LAWANSON 

providers networked to form strategic 

partnerships that will boost financial 

inclusion in Nigeria and West Africa at 

large. 

The event connected the private 

sector, public sector and financial services 

regulator. 

Attesting to the positive impact 

of Instafin utilisation in rural microfinance 

institutions, Florence Omofonmwam, 

head, LAPO Rural Development 

Initiative, said that through 

Oradian and its CBS Instafin, LAPO 

has been enabled to continuously 

open new branches, reach new clients 

and boost financial inclusion in Nigeria. 

“Oradian has helped us eradicate 

the cumbersome process of monitoring 

packs and client data management 

is now simpler and less stressful. With 

digitization, my team has less administrative 

work to do and they can spend 

more time in the field out of the office, 

finding new clients,’ Omofonmwam 

said. 

Antonio Separovic affirmed that 

their CBS Instafin enables financial 

institutions to eliminate manual, pen 

and paper processes and move to digitised 

operations. 

By reducing the time spent on 

administration through digitisation, 

financial institutions have more time 

to focus on their core competency: delivering 

financial services to clients in 

their communities. 

He added that as part of the process 

to minimise inefficiencies, Instafin reduces 

high operational costs through 

automatic reporting that replaces 

time-consuming month end reporting 

processes. 

The CEO highlighted several other 

tools for such digital transformation 

such as instafin messaging, automatic 

updates, Maximum Data Security, 

training and implementation – including 

data migration from their previous 

CBS or from spreadsheets. 

Onyeka Adibeli, Co-founder and 

Program Director for Africa, Oradian, 

said that financial institutions on the 

Instafin platform can offer time-based 

loans on a weekly, monthly or yearly 

basis. 

He added that the system is not 

customised but parameterised in a bid 

to ensure that every entity can configure 

their products to suit their clients. 

“Providing loans is the main 

service for many microfinance institutions 

and microfinance banks 

in West Africa. Clients don’t just 

come to the institution because 

they want to save, they are saving 

because they need a loan. And in 

anticipation and understanding 

this demand, we create the tools 

that financial institutions need to 

service their clients in the most efficient 

way”, he detailed. 

Oradian builds a cloud-based toolset 

that smart financial institutions 

plug into to access best practice and efficiency. 

Today, the company has over 

60 financial institutions across seven 

countries including 20 in Nigeria using 

its toolset. 

identity information as well as dishonored 

cheque information of individuals and organisations. 

This enables banks and creditors 

generally to have access to accurate 

and comprehensive data which empowers 

them to make quick, fair, responsible and 

informed decisions with confidence. 

CRC says its objective is to improve access 

to credit for consumers and small businesses 

through credible information management 

which lenders can use to appraise 

credit applicants. Numerous institutions 

submit data to CRC and access her platform 

to take informed decisions. They include 

all banks in Nigeria, utility companies, insurance 

companies, cooperative societies, 

leasing and asset management companies, 

pharmaceuticals, retailers, auto dealers, human 

resource recruitment and real estate 

firms. 

BUSINESS DAY 

21 

Canon introduces 

the EOS 6D mark II to 

Nigerian market 

As part of its #Liveforthestory 

campaign in Nigeria, leaders 

in imaging and business solutions, 

Canon Central and North 

Africa have introduced the lightest 

digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) 

camera Canon EOS 6D Mark II, into 

the Nigerian market. 

Canon believes that the camera 

will help photographers unlock 

their full creative potential and explore 

all the different avenues of digital 

photography in a bid to reiterate 

Canon’s commitment to the “Shoot- 

Remember-Share” ecosystem which 

is tied to its consumer- bound range 

of products. 

The EOS 6D Mark II camera is 

designed for advanced-amateur 

photographers looking to improve 

their creative photography skills. 

The camera allows photographers to 

shoot with a Full-frame CMOS sensor 

DSLR camera to capture beautiful 

high-quality portraits and striking 

landscapes, even in low-light 

situations. Resistant to dust and 

moisture, the camera is also ideal 

for on-the-go shooting and gives 

users the power to approach their 

photography in new, exciting ways 

while maintaining reliable high performance 

to unleash their creative 

ambitions. 

The 6D Mark II is a lightweight, 

full-frame DSLR with a 26.2 Megapixel 

CMOS sensor, which offers 

users unrivalled image quality and 

improved performance. Its high 

dynamic range ensures exceptional 

exposure latitude allowing users to 

push their boundaries when shooting 

in bright light conditions. The 

improved ISO 40,000, expanding 

to ISO 102,400, allows flexibility so 

documentary photographers can 

snap scenes with the confidence 

that details will be retained even in 

the darkest nights. Combined with 

the latest DIGIC 7 processor EOS 

6D Mark II’s technology creates high 

quality files straight from the camera 

Ṡpeaking about the new camera, 

Somesh Adukia, sales and marketing 

director B2C, Canon Central 

and North Africa (CCNA), said; “We 

are constantly working to better understand 

the sentiments of our customers 

in Nigeria and introducing 

cameras such as the EOS 6D Mark II 

enables us to better serve them. Our 

‘closer to customers’ strategy has 

been one of the pillars of our growth 

in the African market and with the 

launch of this camera we aim to encourage 

our customers to tell more 

stories using imagery.”

22 

BUSINESS DAY 

BDTECH 

E-mail: jumoke.akiyode@businessdayonline.com 

GDPR: Mere requirement or 

unique growth opportunity? 

John Edokpolor, Lead Commercial Attorney, Microsoft MEA Emerging Markets 


Rack Centre 

listed as 

finalist in 

2018 UK DCS 

awards 

Jumoke Akiyode- Lawanson 

Businesses in 

Nigeria, both 

small and large 

corporates, 

should pay attention 

to the European 

Union’s General Data 

Protection Regulation 

(GDPR), given the 25 May 

2018 compliance deadline. 

This is because failure to 

adhere to GDPR requirements 

could prevent trade 

and other business dealings 

with EU businesses 

after May 25 2018. 

The new legislation is 

a milestone on a journey 

into a new era, where data 

is the fuel powering companies 

of all shapes and 

sizes, from all sectors. 

As a quick refresher, 

GDPR is a new European 

law designed to protect 

the privacy of citizens, 

by setting new standards 

in terms of how personal 

data is handled. As the 

law affects any organisation 

with ties to Europe, it 

is relevant to businesses 

around the world. 

Why is GDPR being introduced 

at this point in 

time? 

As companies increasingly 

embrace the cloud, 

they have an unprecedented 

ability to capture and 

store massive amounts of 

data. In parallel to this, 

advancements in business 

intelligence technology 

have given organisations 

the ability to pull insights 

from this data that are so 

rich they are actually predictive 

in nature. The result: 

businesses can stay 

a step ahead of customer 

expectations and needs, 

versus merely reacting to 

them. 

This is a significant step 

forward and truly marks 

the beginning of a new era, 

one in which data becomes 

the electricity powering 

companies. An updated 

governance framework for 

data protection is a logical 

policy component of this 

new age. Building on these 

rules, innovation coupled 

with trust among businesses 

and citizens will 

unlock productivity, help 

companies keep their customers 

delighted and fuel 

a new generation of disruptors. 

Ultimately, all of 

this translates into growth. 

L R Prof. Umar G. Danbatta, executive vice chairman/CEO Nigerian Communications Commission 

(NCC) and Ahmed Ado Bayero (Sarkin Dawarin Tsakar Gida) during Technology development and 

leadership award received by the EVC/CEO NCC, recently 

But what if I told you 

that many businesses currently 

lack oversight of one 

of their greatest assets? 

The value of data to 

modern organisations 

is undeniable. A recent 

McKinsey Global Institute 

study revealed that “data 

flows now exert a larger 

impact on GDP growth 

than the centuries-old 

trade in goods.” Media 

headlines refer to data as 

the “new oil” or the “new 

electricity” – although 

neither analogy quite 

captures its nature as an 

unlimited, ubiquitous 

commodity generated by 

businesses all over the 

world. Our own customers 

frequently emphasize 

that data is the lifeblood 

of their organizations. 

Data-driven services help 

optimize existing product 

offerings or open up entirely 

new opportunities, 

such as the use of predictive 

maintenance services 

which can anticipate failures 

in manufacturing. 

In short, data is the 

most important asset in a 

modern company’s business 

portfolio – and it 

needs to be managed as 

such. 

In this context, the General 

Data Protection Regulation 

(GDPR) is a logical 

policy development. At its 

heart, the GDPR is about 

guaranteeing the privacy 

and integrity of individuals’ 

data, in our evermore 

digital world. 

With the deadline for 

compliance one six month 

away, many companies are 

thinking about what steps 

they should be taking to 

meet the new privacy and 

data protection requirements 

as efficiently and 

effectively as possible. 

In my view, achieving 

this depends on how 

you address three things: 

people, processes, and 

preparedness. With that 

in mind, here are some 

guiding principles for to 

help you get ready for May 

2018. 

Manage your data like 

you manage your money. 

Every business maintains 

strict processes for 

tracking revenue, costs, 

and all manner of financial 

flows. They don’t just do 

this because it’s required, 

but because it makes business 

sense. After all, you 

can’t map your company’s 

future if you don’t know 

your current state of financial 

affairs right down 

to the bottom line. Companies 

need to maintain 

the same birds-eye-view of 

their data assets, via a solid 

data governance strategy. 

Developing this strategy 

demands that you answer 

several key questions: 

what, where, who, and 

why? 

To begin with, an audit 

is a logical first step. 

Making a comprehensive 

inventory of the data in 

your company’s possession 

will show you exactly 

what kind of data you’re 

collecting and storing, 

where it sits, and why you 

have it in the first place. 

Tools to do this include the 

ISO 1944 standard for data 

categorisation and data 

use. Getting your house in 

order in this manner creates 

a strong foundation 

from which you can ensure 

you are getting the greatest 

ROI from the data you 

have – just as an accurate 

overview of your financial 

assets enables you to make 

smart investment decisions. 

Once you have established 

this baseline visibility, 

consider how you 

can maintain it over time. 

Migrating to the cloud is 

one way to do this, as it 

lets you bring together 

disparate data sets. However, 

before you choose a 

cloud provider, make sure 

they can answer some key 

questions. Who has access 

to your data, and on 

what terms? Where is your 

data stored? How will your 

cloud service provider respond 

to government requests 

for your data, or 

help you meet your compliance 

requirements? It’s 

vital to ensure your cloud 

provider is committed to 

offering full transparency 

over your data. After all, 

you wouldn’t hire an accountant 

who couldn’t tell 

you exactly where your in- 

vestments are at any given 

moment! 

Create a culture of 

data confidence. 

Effective data governance 

demands a peoplefirst 

approach. 

Employees in all departments 

– from marketing 

to finance, sales to 

HR – handle data every 

day. But how many realise 

how valuable it really is, 

and how the right usage 

of data can help them be 

more productive and connect 

more effectively with 

customers? Fostering this 

understanding is vital for 

employees to feel personally 

invested in your company’s 

approach to data 

governance. Once this has 

been established, it will 

also be easier for employees 

to realise the importance 

of adequately protecting 

data, as they would 

any other high-value company 

asset. 

Embedding this culture 

across your company takes 

time. However, placing 

your approach to data governance 

within the context 

of a broader digital transformation 

can streamline 

the process. In this way, 

employees are better prepared 

to explore new, 

sometimes experimental 

avenues for data utilisation, 

to course-correct 

when necessary, and help 

others learn from their experiences. 

The GDPR was 

developed in part because 

in our digital era, people 

want more control over 

their privacy, in order to 

trust technology. Creating 

this confidence, both 

within your organisation 

and with your customers, 

is key to making sure 

you’re making the most 

of data-driven, businesscritical 

insights. 

The May 2018 deadline 

for GDPR compliance 

is not a final destination. 

Rather, it’s just one stepping-stone 

in an ongoing 

journey towards realising 

the full potential of digital 

transformation across 

economies and communities. 

Viewed in this 

light, establishing a firm 

approach to data governance 

represents one of 

the smartest investments 

a company can make. 

For two consecutive 

years, Rack Centre, 

Africa’s premium 

Data Center has 

made the cut as a finalist 

in the Data Centre Solutions 

(DCS) awards in the 

United Kingdom. 

This year, Rack Centre 

has been announced as 

finalist in two different 

categories -- ‘Excellence 

in Data Centre Services 

Award’ and ‘Data Centre 

Hosting/co-location Supplier 

of the Year’. 

This is an indication of 

global recognition of Rack 

Centre’s leadership and 

innovation in the global 

Data Centre industry and 

ground breaking local 

cloud hosting ecosystem 

“CloundonGround”. 

The DCS awards are 

designed to reward the 

product designers, manufacturers, 

suppliers and 

providers operating in 

data centre arena. 

Ayotunde Coker, Managing 

Director of Rack 

Centre said; ‘It is great 

news that Rack Centre’s 

dedication to significantly 

raise the quality threshold 

for the African data 

centre industry and our 

innovation in the local 

cloud ecosystem through 

our “cloudonground” 

cloud exchange has been 

acknowledged by the Data 

Centre Industry. 

We are delighted to 

have been recognised; 

reaching the finalist 

shortlist is a great achievement, 

and we now hope 

to be voted as winner in at 

least one of the categories, 

surpassing our unprecedented 

runners up last 

year which was a first for 

any data centre colocation 

and cloud company in 

Africa,’ Coker said. 

The full list of finalists 

for every category is available 

to view online. Voting 

has commenced and will 

close on May 11, 2018. 

Voting is open for all using 

a business email, address, 

but email domains such 

as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, 

etc. are not accepted and 

will be annulled. 

Rack Centre is aTier III 

constructed facility certified 

data centre in Nigeria, 

offering carrier neutral 

colocation services.


BUSINESS DAY 23 

EDUCATION 

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

Conference for men dares stereotypes, 

invites new beliefs about masculinity 

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU 

Belief in masculinity and 

dominance has rendered 

African men slaves 

of their concepts and it 

is time to start the process 

of changing this, to make men 

understand how much they owe 

femininity. 

The Yetunde Bernard Company, 

set up to help individuals and business 

owners craft and refine their 

messaging and project for maximum 

influence and impact globally 

is organising its first City Centre 

Conference for Men in Africa to deal 

with this. 

Things Fall Apart’s Okonkwo character 

gives insight into how many 

African men want to be perceived. 

Okonkwo despised and refused 

to accept his father Unoka. To the 

community Unoka was weak and 

considered to not be a true man. He 

was a failure in the eyes of society 

and constantly borrowed money. 

Unoka had only taken one wife and 

was unable to support his family. 

This inability to support his family 

stemmed from his bad work ethic 

and laziness. 

Seeing his father’s inability to 

provide for the family Okwonko 

devoted his life to hard work and 

to hate everything his father loved. 

Unoka’s failures sculpted Okwonko 

to the man he was in the novel he 

became hard working and despised 

laziness. He was the complete opposite 

of Unoka, earning many titles, 

having many wives and being a successful 

man. 

Today’s African man needs 

help to better position himself in 

society. In this light, an inaugural 

edition of the Recall Conference 

for Men has been slated for April 

28, 2018 at The Balmoral Convention 

Centre, Federal Palace Hotel 

Victoria Island, Lagos. 

Recall Conference for Men is designed 

and presented by City-Centre 

conference for the urbane man 

aged 20-45 years convened by The 

Yetunde Bernard Company, a personal 

brand development agency 

in Ikoyi Lagos. 

It is a one-day live conference that 

is targeted at providing the African 

man living in today’s urbane, competitive 

and demanding society with 

insights and practical tools to enable 

him meet his evolving world with 

intention, clarity and a deep sense 

of tenacity. 

The inaugural theme, ‘The 21st 

Century Man: The Hustle Is Real’ 

will explore a world currently embroiled 

in an equality dispute, this 

conference focuses on Purpose 

and Passion, the place of identity in 

finding freedom and peace, proffering 

practical steps to create a more 

balanced and fulfilling life for Men. 

RCM 2018 brings organisations 

and delegates from around Africa 

to interact with thought leaders and 

learn how to leverage on the status of 

the African man to create productivity 

platforms on all fronts. 

According to Olakunle Soriyan, 

thought revolutionist, knowledge 

owner, mastermind, and the principal 

transformation strategist at 

the Olakunle Soriyan Company 

and the lead strategist of the Recall 

Conference for Men, “The Recall 

Conference for Men is an invasion of 

the norm. It is designed specifically 

to serve as a resource point for men. 

Men have become the endangered 

species not because they have 

more challenges, but because they 

don’t speak about these challenges. 

This conference is to serve as a 

platform where men can converge 

and connect, sharing thoughts and 

ideas.” 

Visit http://yetundebernard.com/ 

rcm to register for free, and for VIP 

tickets. 

Obaseki deploys Agric College students to world class institutions for internship 

...Interns to earn 20,000 stipends monthly 

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU 

Godwin Obaseki, Governor 

of Edo state, has deployed 

the students of College of 

Agriculture, Iguoriakhi, 

to five world class agricultural institutions 

in the state for internship; 

Okomu Oil Plc, Presco Plc., Nigerian 

Institute for Oil Palm Research 

(NIFOR), Rubber Research Institute 

of Nigeria (RRIN), and the Leventis 

Farm, in the state government’s effort 

to equip the students with technical 

knowledge and revamp the 

institute. 

According to Obaseki, “The students 

of College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi 

have been distributed to 

five reputed agricultural institutions 

in the state, where they will receive 

practical training in their chosen 

field of study and will be paid 

N20,000 monthly for three months. 

“The team that is restructuring 

the institute is almost ready with 

the report that will guide our transformation 

of the institute to a world 

class training institute for future experts 

in the agricultural sector. The 

new vision for the institute is bigger 

and I can assure Edo people that 

they will be happy that we intervened 

in the affairs of the institute 

that was embroiled in accreditation 

and other crises.” 

The governor noted that “what 

was left of the institute could not 

have delivered quality manpower 

that we have set out to achieve. We 

are ready to invest money, time and 

other resources to establish an agriculture 

institute that Edo people will 

be proud of, and which will compete 

with the best of such specialised 

training schools in the world.” 

The consultant to Edo State Government 

on the restructuring of the 

institute, and Oluwafemi Balogun, 

former Vice Chancellor of the Federal 

University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, 

explained that “the internship 

is to keep the students engaged and 

offer them better practical training 

outside the school. The internship 

will last three months but there is an 

appeal to the governor to extend the 

period of the internship for the students 

for one to two months while 

the process of the restructuring is 

being completed. 

“All the students have been contacted 

concerning the arrangement 

for the internship. The College of 

Agricultural Technology, Agenebode 

which was established by law 

in 2015 is also part of the restructuring 

process. “The focus of the school 

was lost and there was a level of mismanagement 

at the institution. The 

school had only 21 students and the 

staff population far outweighed the 

student population. 

“It was on this basis that the governor 

ordered for the school to be 

closed for restructuring. The same 

thing that was done for students of 

the Iguoriakhi college will also be 

done for the students of the Agenebode 

College. They will be taken to 

an agriculture institute for their internship 

while the restructuring is 

ongoing. 

“The restructuring is to eliminate 

the duplication of functions. The 

five programmes and allied courses 

which were offered in Iguoriakhi, 

which was established in 1992, were 

out-dated, and non-compliant with 

the rules of the National Board for 

Technical Education (NBTE), which 

had discredited the programmes, all 

these challenges will be addressed 

by the revamp of the institution 

which is moving at a fast pace. 

University of Ibadan: 

ERC, DSM condemn fees 

increment 

AKINREMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan 

The Education Rights Campaign 

(ERC) and Democratic 

Socialist Movement 

(DSM), have condemned 

the proposed fees increment in the 

accommodation and training fees 

of medical students by the Senate of 

University of Ibadan 

The groups stated that is no doubt 

another tactic to worsen the economic 

condition of poor parents and 

students in the country. 

In a statement signed by Samuel 

Ochoga, ERC Branch Secretary lamented 

that “the decision of the UI 

administration to hike the accommodation 

fees and health professional 

training levies will compound 

the economic hardship of students 

and parents from working class 

background, however insisted that 

“workers, parents and students must 

be united in a struggle to force immediate 

and unconditional reversal.” 

While describing the purported 

fees hike as a “wicked” and an attempt 

to deprive poor students of quality 

education, Ochoga called for “a 

probe panel that will comprised of the 

representative of Parents, Students 

and workers Unions ASUU, SSANU, 

NASU and NAAT must be set –up to 

investigate how money realized from 

the accommodation fees paid by students 

in the last ten years was spent.” 

According to him, “It was gathered 

that the university administration 

in its new schedule of payable 

fees for the 2017/ 2018 academic 

session has increased the accommodation 

fees expected to be paid 

by undergraduate students from 

N14, 000 to N30, 000. The accommodation 

fee for postgraduate students 

undertaking master programme 

has also been hiked from N20, 

000 to N40, 000 while that of those 

undergoing Ph.D. programme has 

also been increased from N40, 000 

to N120, 000 per bed space. To mass 

of students in basic medical and 

clinical sciences, this new schedule 

of fees represents a double tragedy 

to them. This is because an amount 

range from N75, 000 to N100, 000 

is added to their payable fees. The 

implication of this is that medical 

and clinical science students in the 

University of Ibadan will be paying 

close to N122, 650.” 

He said worried by this development 

the two groups joined parents 

and students to strongly condemn 

the increment. 

He said “The DSM and ERC strongly 

condemn this increment in accommodation 

levies and introduction 

of the so called health professional 

training levies. Both the increment in 

the accommodation fees and the introduction 

of a new fee will no doubt 

compound the economic hardship 

under which mass of the Nigeria 

students especially those from the 

working class background and their 

parent groan. Despite the claim that 

Nigeria’s economy has exited recession; 

the socio-economic condition 

of virtually all working class parents 

in the country has gone from bad to 

worse.

C002D5556 



INTERVIEW 

‘Government needs to call on private 

sector to support education’ 

A nation’s development is a function of its human capital stock, which is in turn dependent on the quality 

of education citizens receive. In this interview, SIMON ALADEKOMO, Chairman of Meadow Hall Foundation 

tells BusinessDay’s STEPHEN ONYEKWELU how the Foundation is driving quality education in Nigeria. Excerpts: 

Tell us about the vision 

and objective of Meadow 

Hall Foundation. What are 

your specific contributions 

in advancing the educational 

outcomes of the Nigerian 

child? 

At Meadow Hall 

Foundation, our 

main aim is to advance 

the educational 

outcomes 

of the Nigerian child through 

teaching quality, changing 

mindsets about teaching and 

advocating for the teaching 

profession. 

In terms of our contributions 

in advancing the 

educational outcomes of the 

Nigerian Child, Meadow Hall 

Foundation has championed 

a host of initiatives, some of 

which are the School Adoption 

Programme with our 

flagship adopted school being 

Ilasan Primary School, 

Jakande, Lekki Lagos; the 

annual Graduate Teacher 

Trainee Programme (GTTP); 

the Free Teacher Professional 

Development Training where 

we train teachers on current 

and best teaching methods; 

and our Inspirational Educator 

Awards(INSEA) that 

rewards exceptional teachers 

and school leaders who have 

put in extra effort to better 

the lives of their students and 

their communities. 

What are the key projects 

and developmental initiatives 

executed by Meadow 

Hall Foundation since inception? 

Some of our programmes 

include our Graduate Teacher 

Trainee Programme (GTTP) 

where we develop young 

graduates with a 2.1 or better 

for entrance into the education 

sector. As part of their 

training, these trainees learn 

about best educational practices 

and also teach at Meadow 

Hall and Ilasan Primary 

School (our adopted school). 

This programme has an absorption 

rate of over 95 percent 

into the education sector. 

We have a Free Teacher 

Professional Development 

Programme whereby teachers 

from low-cost private 

schools and public schools 

receive free training on the 

best 21st century teaching 

and learning practices. We 

have a School Adoption Programme, 

which is a school 

improvement programme 

aimed at providing support 

(infrastructure, adequate 

teacher training, teaching 

aids and educational technology) 

to public school students 

and teachers. We also have 

our education convention 

which comprises of an education 

conference and the Inspirational 

Educator Awards 

(INSEA). 

Could you explain more 

about Meadow Hall Foundation’s 

School Adoption 

Programme? 

Our pilot adopted school 

is Ilasan Primary School in 

Jakande, Lekki and developmental 

initiatives that have 

been carried out there include; 

building of a school 

fence, teacher training, distribution 

of resource packs, 

book donations and more. 

What does Meadow Hall 

Foundation’s Education 

Convention entail and when 

will the next one hold? 

Meadow Hall Foundation’s 

Education Convention 

provides an opportunity for 

teachers, school owners, parents, 

government officials, 

policy-makers and other 

stakeholders to gain fresh 

perspectives on pertinent 

educational issues from their 

interactions with teachers 

and educational experts. The 

theme for this year’s convention 

is “Addressing the Quality 

Question in the Education 

Sector”. 

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 

panellists such as Fela Durotoye, 

Folasade Adefisayo, 

Lolu Akinwunmi, Kehinde 

Nwani,Yinka Ogunde, Anthonia 

Maduekwe, Ola Opesan, 

Olufemi Ogunsanya, 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 

Simon Aladekomo 

Ibidapo-Obe (Educational 

Administrator and former 

Vice Chancellor, University 

of Lagos). 

The Education Convention 

is set to hold on Saturday, 

21st of April 2018 from 8am to 

4pm at the Landmark Event 

Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos. 

The Education Convention 

is a must attend for teachers, 

school leaders, school 

owners, parents, government 

officials and policy-makers. 

To register, please visit 

www.meadowhallfoundation.org/education-convention. 

The theme for this year’s 

convention is “Addressing 

the Quality Questions in 

Education Sector”. What impact 

would the convention 

make in Nigeria’s Education 

System? 

Quality has been a major 

issue for us in the past couple 

of decades. 

We have graduates now 

that are not able to construct 

a full sentence. The university 

graduates are no better simply 

because they take their 

input from the secondary 

schools and since the secondary 

schools are bad, the 

university graduates are also 

bad; similarly, the primary 

schools. 

In recent times, we have 

heard about states firing 

practically all their teachers 

because they are illiterates. 

We have heard of Edo and Kaduna 

states. We have worked 

in Lagos as Meadow Hall 

Foundation, individually, we 

have worked in other states 

and the stories abound. 

Now, this Convention is 

supposed to address some 

of the fundamental issues 

that we have in quality. How 

should we approach it? We do 

not have all the solutions, but 

the good thing about Meadow 

Hall Foundation is that we 

have a school running, we 

have the experience, we have 

the expertise to know what 

good, quality education is all 

about; that we are going to 

bring to the table. 

We also have good, experienced 

and capable educators 

coming to speak at the 

event. The keynote speaker is 

Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, who 

has been in the education 

system for so long. He is going 

to dissect and analyse 

these issues for us and proffer 

solutions to the nation 

based on our experience as 

Meadow Hall, and also the 

experience of the speakers. 

Because we are also going to 

have teachers there, it is not 

just going to be a unidirectional 

discussion; there will 

be input from the teachers 

also. How they think quality 

can be improved, without 

neglecting the quantity. So 

you can expect a lot of ideas, 

suggestions and advise to the 

government and to private 

sector participants on how 

we can improve the quality 

of education in the country. 

What is Inspirational 

Educator Awards (INSEA) 

all about? 

The INSEA is a meritbased 

award aimed at rewarding 

passionate, outstanding, 

hard working, and innovative 

teachers and school leaders. 

The award is open to teachers 

in Nigeria who teach in public 

or private schools (primary or 

secondary). 

The Inspirational Teacher 

of the year will receive a 

cash award of N1,000,000.00 

while the Inspirational School 

Leader of the year will receive 

a cash award of N2,000,000.00. 

The two runners-up for both 

categories will also receive 

the sum of N500,000.00 each. 

To learn more about the Inspirational 

Educator Awards 

(INSEA), please visit http:// 

www.inseawards.org/ 

Considering the huge financial 

requirement to host 

the education convention 

and INSEA, What are the 

motivations for the Foundation 

hosting the event every 

year? 

No amount of money is 

too much to positively influence 

a soul, a student, a state, 

a nation. We strongly believe 

it is something we need to do 

and we are going to continue 

to infuse a lot more money 

into the system so that we 

can have good and qualitative 

education for our people. At 

Meadow Hall, our objective 

is to use education as a tool 

for societal transformation. 

Since the government 

cannot do it alone, in what 

areas can the government 

partner with the non-governmental 

organisations like the 

Meadow Hall Foundation to 

improve the quality of education 

in Nigeria? 

The simple thing we 

would like the government to 

do is to give back the schools 

to the communities and the 

NGOs. Government needs 

to call on private sector, religious 

bodies, communities 

and NGOs to help support 

in the education sector. The 

communities consist of the 

parents of these children, and 

so, once they are mobilized 

and empowered to get this 

done, in less than 10 years, 

we believe there will be a 

turnaround in the level and 

quality of our educational 

system. 

Any final words of advice 

to the Federal Government 

and other educational stakeholders 

I would like to first address 

the NGOs, religious bodies 

and the communities. I believe 

we have also failed government 

and our children. 

We all need to sit up! This 

is our nation, these are our 

communities, and these are 

our children. We need to take 

the schools back on; we need 

to advise, coerce, influence, 

motivate government to give 

back these schools and come 

up with policies that limit 

their role to policies, monitoring 

and measurement and 

issuing sanctions. I would 

like to commend Meadow 

Hall Foundation on their efforts 

to facilitate change and 

advocate quality education, 

and it is vital that other NGOs 

follow suit. 

The government and 

their dwindling resources, 

as well as the rapid growth 

of our population makes it 

clear they don’t have the 

capacity to manage the educational 

requirements of 

our people. Some of the 

suggestions that we may 

be coming up with (I don’t 

want to second-guess the 

Convention) is that government 

should consider 

limiting their involvement 

to primary schools only and 

consider privatising secondary 

schools for the singular 

reason that, at those levels, 

the parents can afford to 

start looking at how to pay; 

we can start by having social 

welfare nets, which can aid 

students and parents with 

payment. There is a simple 

way to get this done and 

this will be discussed at the 

Education Convention. 

We need to implement the 

suggestions that this Convention 

will come up with and 

ensure we start in earnest. It 

is not just going to be by we 

submitting papers to government, 

we need to follow up 

those papers and recommendations 

so that they are 

implemented and we will 

support the government to 

the benefit of our people and 

our children.


C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

25 

In association with 

Analysts bet on Eko Atlantic, 

Landmark Village’s upside potential 

…as investors hold back investment, watch market 

Stories by CHUKA UROKO 

As the recession-induced 

slow down 

continues to take 

its toll on the Nigerian 

real estate 

market, especially at the high 

end market, analysts have 

continued to encourage investors 

to take position in those 

projects which have what they 

call upside potential. 

Two of these projects stand 

out in Lagos and these are the 

iconic Eko Atlantic City and 

the Landmark Village being 

developed by South Energyx 

Nigeria Limited and Landmark 

Africa respectively. 

The two projects, according 

to the analysts, are destinations 

for fabulous return on 

investment not only because 

of the integrity and antecedents 

of their promoters, but 

also for the value proposition 

which each presents to the 

commercial and residential 

real estate investment markets. 

A brand new city that is 

being developed on reclaimed 

land adjacent to Victoria Island, 

Lagos, Eko Atlantic 

remains prime real estate 

investors’ toast despite the 

considerable drop in demand 

and values in near-by highbrow 

locations. 

Land in the city still attracts 

premium price at $1,250 per 

square metre and could be 

higher depending on the part 

of the city on offer. The water 

front and the business district 

of the city attract higher prices. 

The developers have created 

10 million square metres 

of prime real-estate on which 

office and residential developments 

are breaking ground. The 

Business District alone will have 

approximately 650,000 square 

metres of gross lettable area 

(GLA) to offer the market. 

Upon completion, the city 

will be home to 500,000 residents 

with an expected commuter 

volume of approximately 

300,000 people. What this 

means to a savvy investor is that 

there are limitless opportunities 

to tap from as diverse businesses 

will be berthing in the city 

and will be creating jobs and 

attracting ancillary industries 

that will also create more jobs 

and offer more services. 

Landmark Village is a 

mixed-use development sitting 

on 38,000 square metres 

of land in Victoria Island, 

offering prospective buyers, 

investors and tenants opportunities 

to live, work, and 

play. This concept is central 

to Landmark Africa’s developments 

and will be the first of its 

kind in Nigeria. 

Landmark Village is aimed 

to mirror nodes like Melrose 

Arch, Rosebank and Illovo in 

Johannesburg and developments 

like Canary Wharf in 

London. The development will 

have two office towers offering 

grade A accommodation, 

residential apartments, retail 

outlets, a 250-room 4-Star 

hotel and a convention centre. 

The development will offer 

other amenities like leisure 

and recreational facilities. 

All these hold promise for 

different levels of opportunities 

ranging from residential to 

hospitality, facilities management, 

project management 

and sundry services, leading 

to additional job creation. 

For these and other reasons, 

analysts advise that investors 

should not only go into 

the market, but also be bullish 

in their investment decisions, 

especially this year as the market 

slowdown persists. 

There is perception of a 

significant overhang of office 

space in the Lagos market, 

but Thomas Mundy, director, 

Research and Strategy Sub-Saharan 

Africa (SSA) at Jones Lang 

LaSale (JLL), thinks differently. 

For him, while this reasoning 

may be true in the short term, it 

remains mere perception. 

“Demand has been so 

weak due to the oil price cycle. 

Longer term, as the market 

rebalances, Lagos remains 

fundamentally and structurally 

undersupplied in all forms 

of commercial real estate”, he 

explains. 

Continuing, he says, “rather, 

we would argue that in a 

growing frontier economy, 

new stock, and a relatively high 

vacancy rate are required to 

absorb the recovery in demand 

when it occurs. Furthermore, 

as the supply of quality real 

estate space grows and liquidity 

improves, it provides more 

access points for investors”. 

He reveals that their experience 

in other heavily pro-cyclical 

markets, with a close tie-in 

to commodity exports, such 

as Russia, suggests that in high 

growth markets, large vacancy 

rates and volatile rental growth 

are necessary at the early stage 

of the real estate cycle. 

He points out that some of 

the pipeline projects including 

Eko Atlantic and Landmark Village 

which, perhaps, while having 

given rise to the perception 

of oversupply in the short term, 

over the longer term, will support 

the institutionalisation of 

the market and greater liquidity. 

Characteristically, real estate 

can be sticky and Michael 

Ch’udi Ejekam explains that 

even when there is improvement 

in economy that could 

encourage investors to develop 

assets to take advantage of the 

improvement, it will take a 

while to do that. 

“There is always a time lag 

before real estate comes around 

after an economic cycle”, he 

noted in an interview, advising 

that investors must have the 

ability to ride out down cycle; 

there should also be the ability 

to anticipant up cycle and 

developments have to be able 

to accommodate all that. 

“What I see is that a lot of 

investors have been hampered 

by looking at short cycles of 3-5 

years, but we should be able to 

have long term outlook. An 

investor should have a longer 

horizon in terms of what he 

is going to see in the market . 

He must always anticipate the 

inevitable down cycle”, he said. 

Beyond the down cycle and 

its negative impact, Mundy 

points to other challenges in 

the market that have to do with 

lack of quality assets and high 

cost of what is available. “The 

absence of quality space means 

that even if capital is willing 

and able to hold on to assets 

through a cycle, it is difficult 

to source the asset in the first 

place and the cost of the asset 

tends to make it uncompetitive 

versus other emerging markets”, 

he notes. 

Infrastructure 

Maintenance 

With 

TUNDE OBILEYE 

Potential challenges facing 

facilities managers 

The facilities manager has 

the primary responsibility 

of managing varied 

services and processes to 

support the core business of 

organizations, and ensure that 

the end users of buildings and 

property get the best possible 

environment. While facilities 

management is essential and 

critical for businesses to run, 

they are not considered core 

functions and facilities managers 

have to constantly justify 

their value. 

This is, however, not the 

only challenge faced by facilities 

managers. In undertaking 

their assignments on a daily 

basis, particular attention is 

required for the common challenges 

they have to deal with, 

and in understanding these 

challenges, they are better able 

to provide quality services and 

also reduce their own personal 

stress levels. 

The major problem facilities 

managers may face in 

Nigeria is pressure to perform 

at very high levels but with 

limited resources. Additionally, 

there are expectations of saving 

costs for services provided. 

Facilities manager must have 

the ability to better manage 

aging infrastructure/equipment 

to not only extend their 

lifespan, but also in ensuring 

that such infrastructure/equipment 

don’t constitute a major 

source of energy waste. 

Taking proper inventory of 

assets, ensuring planned and 

timely maintenance, replacing 

obsolete machines, looking 

seriously into overall energy 

saving of facilities and effective 

waste management are ways to 

deal with this challenge. 

Another challenge is tracking 

the regulatory and compliance 

standards that guide 

the FM industry in Nigeria. 

While there are no standard 

regulations defined as ‘FM 

regulations’, there are a host of 

different laws at federal, state 

and local government levels 

that guide the day-to-day operations 

of FM. 

So as not to fall foul of the 

law, it is important for facilities 

managers to keep abreast of 

new industry developments 

through training, including 

certifications and ensuring 

that issues that may arise are 

dealt with promptly. 

Preparing for emergencies 

is another challenge, especially 

given the security situation in 

Nigeria. Criminal activities 

including terrorism remain a 

threat. Developing a disaster 

management and recovery 

plan falls within the ambit of 

FM, and this should include 

emergency evacuation procedures. 

It is the role of facilities 

managers to ensure that organizations 

being served are 

up to date, and that drills are 

implemented regularly to ensure 

such plan is workable in 

case of real emergency. 

The need to manage aging 

infrastructure with new technology 

is another challenge. 

As organizations struggle with 

productivity and profits, it 

becomes challenging for facilities 

managers to convince 

management to commit more 

resources to repairs. 

This then leads to long delays 

in repairs and maintenance, impacting 

not just how effectively 

FM is delivered, but costing a 

lot more in the long term with 

potential negative impact on the 

core businesses of clients. 

Facilities management 

teams will benefit from having 

access to technology that can 

easily turn raw data on maintenance, 

lifecycles, management 

systems into information 

which becomes easily accessible 

and used for decision 

making. 

Finally, juggling time is 

possibly the greatest challenge 

faced daily by facilities managers. 

As the ultimate organizers, 

they have a million of things 

to do. Fire-fighting problems 

that arise regularly, various 

meetings with users of facilities 

to address concerns, tracking 

budget, reading and responding 

to emails are usually time 

consuming and make their 

work cut out for them. 

Obileye is a UK-trained lawyer and CEO, 

Great Heights Property and Facilities 

Management Limited 

Email: 

Tundeobileye@greatheightslimited.com



Understanding economic, health benefits 

of investing in waterfront property 

Stories by CHUKA UROKO 

Every investment effort, 

especially in property, 

usually anticipates 

return on that investment 

which comes 

in form of rent or capital gain. 

Investment in waterfront properties 

goes beyond these. 

There’s something unique 

about waterfront properties that 

creates a stand-out factor to an 

investor’s real estate investment 

portfolio. This is why experts 

advise that whenever an investor 

sees an opportunity to invest 

in a piece of property that has 

anything to do with water, lakes, 

oceans, rivers, streams or even 

artificially created water features, 

he should take advantage, 

even if you are within view of it 

and not with direct access. 

Direct waterfront access, they 

explain, is however, the golden 

standard. “There is exponential 

increase in value, especially in 

estate developments where it 

is in limited supply”, says Udo 

Okonjo, Vice Chair/CEO, Fine 

and Country West Africa. 

She notes that “sometimes 

people waste time trying to 

negotiate a great deal, and negotiating 

is great, but never lose 

an opportunity to invest in a 

waterfront property if you can 

afford it. Also be ready to pay the 

premium because it always has 

a guaranteed exit. The demand 

and supply ratio will always 

make it worthwhile”. 

Okonjo points out that 

there are three reasons investors 

should invest in waterfront 

property the first of which is the 

health and wellbeing benefits. 

Fresh worries for mall owners as local retailers opt for stand-alone houses 

Owners of structured 

retail malls have fresh 

worries to contend with 

as local retailers, squeezed by 

high exchange rate of the naira 

to the US dollar, are leaving 

such facilities for stand-alone 

houses where rents are lower 

and more convenient to pay. 

Virtually all the formalized 

Research shows that living close 

to water has significant benefits 

to one’s mental state, the theory 

being that water has a calming 

effect. 

Further research also shows 

that living by the water offers 

more fitness and recreation 

options. Also, conscious health 

and wellbeing is becoming a top 

priority for Nigerians, influencing 

how they commute to work, 

spend their leisure time and 

even where they choose to live. 

As a result, it should become 

major criteria for investors to 

opt for waterfront properties to 

facilitate a healthy lifestyle. 

The second reason is the 

rewarding investment and according 

to the CEO, this location 

malls charge dollar-denominated 

rents which retailers, 

including foreign ones, are 

finding increasingly difficult 

to pay following the 60 percent 

fall in the value of the naira. 

A local retailer at The Palms, 

Lekki, Lagos had to shut down 

his shop, citing high exchange 

rate and low patronage. Before 

L-R: Kenneth Nduka, President, Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIOB); Adekunle Mokuolu, 

President, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE); Roland Igbinoba, President/CEO, Pison Housing 

Company, and Bhaskar Rao of West African Ceramics Limited, explaining digitally mastered 

tiles at the opening of the company’s Royal Experience Center in Lekki, Lagos at the weekend 

accounts for a significant value 

in terms of return on investment. 

Waterside properties are 

normally scarce to find and as 

a result, it allows them to retain 

their value over a longer period 

as compared to properties in the 

city hub. Along with its resale 

value, it can also be used for 

lease purposes. People want to 

lease waterfront homes for the 

same reasons that others want 

to buy one. 

Waterfront properties also 

have the demand for water’s 

edge. Everyone desires the 

strong wellbeing and affluence 

factor associated with waterfronts 

so it’s always in demand. 

Research shows that a property 

on the water’s edge is on average 

now, if his rent was $600 per 

square metre, the naira equivalent 

for him was N90,000, but 

today, with the naira exchanging 

for N360/$, he needs about 

N200,000 to pay rent. 

Similarly, a retailer who 

was bringing in goods at $100 

before the devaluation of the 

naira had only N16,000 as his 

cost and so, he could sell what 

he brought in for N20,000. 

But now, if he 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. 

The situation at the malls 

poses challenges to both 

the landlord (mall owner) 

and the tenant (retailer), 

but on unequal proportions. 

Whereas the retailer has the 

option to move into an alternative 

outlet, the landlord is 

not as lucky. 

Many of the landlords 

have had to offer a range of 

concessions including rentfree 

period of up to three 

months, flexible payment 

system—from annual to 

quarterly, assisting in fit-out 

charges, etc, but their best 

is not good enough for the 

tenants who have continued 

to demand for more concessions. 

More than other segments 

of the real estate market, retail 

was heavily impacted by 

worth more than those located 

inland, 

This is the more reason a 

waterfront property in Banana 

Island (Ikoyi) is far more expensive 

than properties even within 

Ikoyi and also in high demand. 

The reason for this comes down 

to the simple laws of economics. 

Properties which are genuinely 

on the water are few and far between. 

“The exclusivity of waterfront 

properties often requires larger 

upfront capital; however the 

long-term capital appreciation 

will be far greater. Therefore, 

ensure your finances are in order 

so you can make an offer the 

minute you have an opportunity”, 

Okonjo advises investors. 

recession, and unlike the 

residential and commercial 

real estate where rents 

are already bottoming out 

with hope to stabilize and 

rise, Gbenga Olaniyan, 

CEO, Estate Links, says 

rents will only start rising 

again at retail malls 

when they bottom out 

at where retailer’s naira 

can afford them. 

“Even the foreign 

retailers have their 

challenges because 

they have to see buyers 

to make sales and 

Nigerians are getting 

clever with shopping”, 

he notes. 

But Michael Ch’udi 

Ejekam, CEO, Arteos, 

advises that investors 

in retail should have 

patience and long term 

view of the market to be 

successful, noting that the 

economy is still in early 

recovery from a 13-month 

recession, though there is 

observable improvement 

in the macro-economic 

environment. 

Event Diary 

Visionscape in new role, 

focuses on infrastructure 

For various reasons including 

its technology-driven 

operations, the need to 

ensure that waste collected across 

Lagos State is disposed according 

to globally accepted standards, 

Visionscape Sanitation Solutions’ 

role in the Cleaner Lagos Initiative 

has been redefined. 

The company is now to focus 

on the development of waste 

management infrastructure that 

will include transfer loading stations, 

biomass plant, recycling 

facility, waste to energy plants, 

land fill and dumpsite remediation, 

and waste water treatment. 

Before now, Visionscape was 

handling the management of the 

13,000 tons of residential waste 

generated daily in Lagos—a mega 

city that is still in urgent need of 

environmental remediation and 

development of waste management 

infrastructure. 

The new role for the waste 

management expert, which is part 

of the resolution of the courtordered 

negotiation between it 

and the Private Sector Participants 

(PSP) operators, was also necessitated 

by the unfortunate fire 

incident at the Olusosun dumpsite 

in Ojota, Lagos. 

John Irvine, Visionscape’s CEO, 

disclosed that though his company 

was about 90 per cent into 

the completion of three transfer 

loading stations in the state and 

have started the construction of 

the first engineered landfill in Epe, 

the need for the development of 

more transfer loading stations and 

other waste infrastructure also 

gave rise to their new role. 

Hope for UPDC over UAC’s 

planned N20bn bond sale 

The plan by the Nigerian 

conglomerate, United African 

Company (UAC) to 

raise N20 billion ($65.4 million) 

this year through a bond sale has 

raised fresh hope for its real estate 

subsidiary, the AUC Property 

Development Company (UPDC) 

as the bond sale is aimed to refinance 

the property development 

giant whose losses have widened. 

Abdul Bello, AUC’s new group 

CEO, told Reuters that the company 

would restructure UPDC, 

which is suffering from a current 

oversupply in the market coupled 

with a drop in Nigerians’ purchasing 

power. 

He told an analysts’ call that 

the harsh economic conditions 

were still affecting the housing 

market and that sales at UPDC 

fell 20 percent in 2017. UPDC 

reported recently that its losses 

widened to N3.05 billion in 2017, 

up from N1.23 billion in the previous 

year. But the group reported 

a pretax profit of N3.25 billion for 

2017 which was down 61 percent. 

“We would use 2018 to refinance 

a short-term facility. We intend 

to have this business restructured,” 

Bello assured, adding, “we 

see long-term growth supported 

by a huge housing deficit.”


BUSINESS DAY 

THE BIG HEART DIGEST 

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

27 

People with Disability in Delta: Migrating from 

blocking roads to successful entrepreneurs 

MERCY ENOCH, Asaba 

The Job and Wealth 

Creation Programme 

of Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa’s administration 

is not just for able 

bodied persons but also for persons 

with the disabilities (PwD), 

thus out of the 3,069 beneficiaries 

of the Skills Training and 

Entrepreneurship Programme 

(STEP) and Youth Agricultural 

Entrepreneurs Programme 

(YAGEP), 80 are persons with 

disabilities (PwD). 

Like the able bodied youths, 

the PwD are now to run their 

choice enterprises. Fifty-one of 

them had been trained and established 

in the 2016/2017 cycle 

of the programme while 29 persons 

partaking in the 2017/2018 

cycle have just ended a one day 

orientation course organized by 

the Office of the Chief Job Creation 

Officer of the state, last week. 

The 29 PwD who are of the 

STEP would now commence 

their three months to six months 

training depending on their enterprise, 

using the Community 

Base Vocational Rehabilitation 

(CBVR) Model Approach in 

which each trainee is attached 

to a relevant trainer within their 

respective communities of residence 

and provided with an 

interpreter where necessary to 

facilitate learning within the 

stipulated period. 

Thereafter, they would be 

established to own and run their 

own enterprises as well as be 

able to train and employ other 

youths. 

The Commissioner for Ministry 

of Women Affairs, Community 

and Social Development, 

Omatshola Williams, a reverend, 

speaking in a interview shortly 

after the orientation course, said 

what is happening is a complete 

turn-around from what obtained 

in the state in the past. 

“Before I came on board, this 

category of people didn’t have 

this type of attention because 

what I learnt from them then, 

2018 BUDGET ESTI- 

MATES 

The governor first 

gave the budget estimates: 

Mr. Speaker, 

distinguished 

Members of this honourable 

House, I now present to you 

the Budget Estimates for the 

2018 fiscal year. 

I wish to announce 

was that they go and block road 

so that they are recognized. By 

force, they collect money. Some 

able people encourage them 

to do it so that they would get 

money but when government 

gave them money, the able people 

collect it”, said Williams who 

became the boss of the ministry 

since the inception of Okowa’s 

administration. 

She frowned at such attitude 

of the able persons against PwD, 

saying “That is wickedness! You 

cannot thrive on this vulnerable 

group of people because you are 

able. No! And that is why we say 

that in every disability there is 

ability.” 

She noted that one of the 

functions of her ministry is to 

rehabilitate the vulnerable in 

the society. According to her, 

the rehabilitation department 

takes care of the PwD, “Under 

PwD, there is deaf and dumb, the 

physically challenged, the blind, 

the ex-pals, that is people who 

have been treated for leprosy. 

There are also those with central 

nervous problem”. 

“Now, you discover that the 

resource person in this orientation 

course is a person with 

central nervous system problem. 

She is a masters’ holder and you 

heard her presentation. The 

essence of that presentation is 

that when other people with disabilities 

listen to her, they would 

have a rethink about their own 

lives”, she said. 

“There are some of them that 

are intelligent, I’m sure you heard 

when the chairman of the Joint 

National Association of Persons 

With Disabilities (JONAPWDs) 

was talking of his own life history. 

He was written off but today, he 

talks with people intelligently 

and manages people”, Williams 

added. 

Williams had while declaring 

the orientation course open, said 

that the inclusion of PwDs into 

the job creation programme is in 

fulfillment of Governor Okowa’s 

promise of prosperity for all 

Deltans in line with his cardinal 

agenda of “Strategic Wealth Creation 

and Provision of Jobs for all 

Deltans.” 

She affirmed that the orientation 

programme was to 

enlighten the trainees towards 

the smooth implementation of 

the programme so as to achieve 

the desired results. 

She enjoined them to take the 

orientation course seriously and 

warned that any trainee who is 

either uncontrollable or reported 

to be absent from his training 

centre will be de-listed from the 

programme. 

The Chief Job Creation Officer, 

Eric Eboh, reiterated the 

state government’s commitment 

to the welfare of PwD, adding 

that their inclusion in the job 

creation programme was to 

equip them with the necessary 

knowledge and skills required 

to make them self-reliant and 

business managers. 

Eboh, a professor, reaffirmed 

that they would be given starter 

packs after their training period 

to establish their own enterprises 

and would be paid a monthly stipend 

of N10,000 within the three 

to six months training duration. 

While informing them that 

the Directorate of Youth Monitoring 

and Mentoring (DYMM) 

Editorial coordinator’s corner: 

Understanding Delta’s 2018 fiscal direction: 

IGNATIUS CHUKWU 

A cross-section of PwDs at the Orientation Programme 

HCDWCSD, Rev Omatshola Williams, and resource person, 

Celine osukwu, and PwDs 

would regularly visit them to 

monitor their progress throughout 

the programme, he charged 

them to uphold discipline and 

hard work at all times. 

The state chairman of JON- 

APWD, Isaac Ogbruche, lauded 

the kind gestures of the state 

governor, for running an allinclusive 

government. He tasked 

the beneficiaries to make good 

use of the opportunities so as 

to become self-reliant and to 

encourage the government to 

continue with the programme. 

Recall that Gov Okowa during 

a luncheon with the JONAPWD 

at the end of last year assured 

them that a directorate would 

be created this year 2018 to manage 

their affairs. Besides other 

promises, he assured them that 

a special school for the PwD to 

acquire entrepreneurial and 

technical skills would be established 

in the state. 

The governor wants them to 

aspire for success in life as according 

to him, “disability does 

not take life away from you, you 

can be a success story.” He wants 

them to start little, work harder 

and become entrepreneurs and 

employ others. 

How we will spend the money: Recurrent & Capital 

a budget proposal of 

N298.078bn for the services 

of Delta State Government 

in 2018. This amount comprises 

the sum of N147.5bn 

or 49.48% for recurrent 

expenditure, and N150.5 

or 50.52% for capital expenditure. 

The summary is 

as follows: 

SOURCES OF FUND 

The main sources of funds 

for the 2018 budget as pro- 

posed are as follows: 

RECURRENT: 

The proposed recurrent 

The main sources of funds for the 2018 

budget as proposed are as follows: 

expenditure estimates for 

2018 of N147.5bn is made 

up of personnel costs of 

N64.3bn or 43.36%, and 

overhead costs of N46.8bn 

or 31.56%. The Consolidated 

Revenue Fund Charges 

has a proposed sum of 

N37.23bn or 25.09%. 

CAPITAL EXPENDI- 

TURE ESTIMATES 

The proposed capital expenditure 

estimates for 2018 

is N150.6bn. The proposal 

is N14.1bn or 9.39% higher 

than the 2017 capital budget 

of N136.4bn. 

Why we want 

Okowa to 

continue till 

2023 – Online 

Coalition 

MERCY ENOCH, Asaba 

As a proof that Delta 

State Governor, 

Ifeanyi Okowa-led 

SMART agenda is 

touching the lives of millions 

of Deltans, a group known as 

Senator Ifeanyi Okowa Online 

Coalition have resolved to 

raise fund to purchase nomination 

form for the governor 

to be re-elected to occupy 

the number office of the state 

till 2023 

Okowa-led administration 

has continued receive allround 

endorsement from well 

meaning individuals, groups, 

nationally and internationally 

recognized institution most of 

who end up seeking for areas 

to assist the governor to succeed 

in his programmes and 

policies. 

Just last November, Okowa 

while presenting the 2018 

budget to the state’s house of 

assembly, announced that 

the World Bank’s Employment 

and Expenditure for Result 

(SEEFOR) had given its endorsement 

to the Job Creation 

Programme. 

This position was made 

stronger as the World Bank 

was present at the Business 

Fair and Product Exhibition 

held in the state capital last December 

by the beneficiaries of 

the Job Creation Programme, 

that is the STEPrenuers and 

YAGEPreneurs trained and 

established by the state government 

to run their own 

enterprises. 

The international body 

at the occasion, pledged its 

commitments to partner with 

the state government because 

of the SMART agenda which 

thrust is to ensure prosperity 

for all Deltans. 

The result of that pledge is 

that since this year 2018, the 

world body has commenced 

its partnership with the state 

in the training and establishing 

the jobless youths in the state 

in line with SMART agenda. 

Now, ahead of the 2019 

general elections, members 

of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa Online 

Coalition who endorsed 

him for a second term in office 

(2019-2023), said they 

observed that the track record 

of programmes and project delivery 

by Gov Okowa has made 

the campaign for his continuation 

in office an easy job. 

The group made the resolve 

at a meeting in Asaba, last 

week, where android phones 

and laptops worth millions of 

naira were given to its members.

28 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Tuesday 17 April 2018 

Harvard 

Business 

Review 

Tips 

& 

Talking Points 

TALKING POINTS 

Cleaning Data 

80%: About 80% of data scientists’ time is 

spent cleaning and preparing data before 

it can be analyzed, according to a survey 

from the firm CrowdFlower. 

+ 

Shortage of Doctors 

40,000: The American Association of 

Medical Colleges estimates that there 

will be a shortage of up to 40,000 primary 

care physicians in the U.S. in the next 

10 years. 

+ 

Organic Wine Is Cheaper 

20%: While adding the term “organic” 

to products usually results in a price 

increase, when wine was labeled organic, 

it was typically associated with a 20% 

price reduction, according to a study 

conducted in 2014. 

+ 

The Price of Burnout 

$300 billion: On-the-job stress costs 

businesses in the U.S. up to $300 billion 

a year, according to estimates from the 

American Institute of Stress. 

+ 

Chronic Disease in the U.S. 

70%: Chronic diseases account for about 

70% of deaths in the U.S., according to 

data from the Centers for Disease Control 

and Prevention. 

When you work remotely, set 

boundaries between home and job 

When you’re 

working 

from home, 

sneaking in a 

load of laundry 

may not 

seem like a 

big deal. 

But without 

boundaries, 

your day is 

likely to feel 

chaotic and 

fragmented. 

Give yourself structure by 

pretending you’re at the office. 

Set up “office hours” (9 

a.m. to 6 p.m., for example), 

and decide what is and isn’t 

acceptable to do during that 

time. Ask yourself, “If I was 

in the office, would I do this 

task during the day?” If the 

answer is no, do the activity 

before or after your set 

hours. Household chores, 

errands, and spending time 

Working parents, incorporate mindfulness into tasks you’re already doing 

We all know that mindfulness can ease stress, 

but when you’re a working parent, it feels 

hard to find the time to fit in anything — even 

10 minutes of meditation. Luckily, you can 

build mindfulness into your busy routine. 

Spend a few minutes writing down the activities 

you do each day: Drop the kids at school, 

stop for coffee, commute to work and so on. 

Next, consider where mindfulness can fit. 

For example, with your morning cup of coffee, 

create a quick routine where you pause 

before the first sip, smell the aroma, feel the 

with friends should all happen 

outside of work. Sure, 

it’s probably fine to take a 

call from a friend during your 

lunch break, or handle an 

urgent task like an emergency 

car repair. But these should be 

exceptions, not the rule. 

(Adapted from “How to Stay 

Focused When You’re Working 

from Home,” by Elizabeth 

Grace Saunders.) 

c 

Good feedback is based on facts, 

not your opinion 

When you’re 

asked to give 

feedback on a 

fellow employee, 

you want it to be 

useful. But unless 

you connect it to 

what matters to them 

— and separate it from 

your personal beliefs 

and preferences — they 

won’t be able to act on it. 

— Emphasize facts, not 

interpretations. This 

means staying away 

from comments that 

are subjective: She’s 

self-centered. He lacks 

confidence. Even if you 

believe an employee’s 

behavior stems from 

lack of confidence, for 

example, that’s just your 

opinion; it may or may 

not be accurate. 

— Point to specific be- 

heat of the mug and take three intentional breaths. 

Similarly, each time you sit down at your computer, 

you can close your eyes, notice the sensation of your 

feet on the floor, and feel your breath come in and 

out. Finding these small but essential moments will 

benefit both you and your family. 

(Adapted from “How Busy Working Parents Can 

Make Time for Mindfulness,” by Michelle Gale.) 

haviors instead: He doesn’t 

contribute during meetings. 

She interrupts me when 

I’m speaking. And ensure 

your feedback includes both 

negative and positive notes, 

which helps to counteract 

your personal biases and 

preferences. 

For your colleague to improve, 

they need to know 

what they are doing well 

as well as where they have 

room to grow. 

(Adapted from “How to Give 

Feedback People Can Actually 

Use,” by Jennifer Porter.) 

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

To think more creatively, 

get advice from someone 

outside your field 

When it comes to solving tough 

problems, tried-and-true methods 

can help — but they might 

hold you back from discovering 

a creative solution. If you’re in 

a rut with a particular problem, 

one way to break out is to solicit 

advice from unlikely sources — 

those who will see the issue 

in a completely different way. 

You don’t want experts in your 

discipline: If you’re working on 

a technology challenge, and 

you’ve talked to 10 technologists, 

the opinion of an 11th isn’t 

going to make a difference. Get 

ideas from someone outside 

your field. If you’re a consultant, 

for example, ask a musician or 

an improv comedian how they 

would solve the problem. And 

don’t discount their ideas just 

because they “don’t understand 

how things are done” at your 

company. The goal is for their 

outside perspective to help you 

see past your assumptions. 

(Adapted from “Simple Ways to 

Spot Unknown Unknowns,” by 

Dorie Clark.) 

Before taking a job, learn whether the 

company’s culture is right for you 

When evaluating a 

job offer, it’s important 

to know whether 

you’ll fit in at the new 

company. But it can 

be hard to get an unvarnished 

view of an 

organization’s culture 

during the interview 

process. Before 

you take the job, find 

people with objective, unbiased 

opinions of the organization 

and its culture. They may be former 

employees or others who 

work with the company, such 

as consultants, contractors, or 

suppliers. Invite them out for 

coffee and say something like, 

“I’m trying to get a fuller picture 

of the company culture.” Then 

ask questions such as: What is 

this organization like to work 

with? Where is it succeeding? What kinds 

of people do well in this organization? 

What kinds of people leave? If you can, 

find out why the person you’re replacing 

is no longer there. Did they move on? Or 

get promoted? Any information you can 

gather will give you an insider’s perspective 

before you decide to commit. 

(Adapted from “How to Tell If a Company’s 

Culture Is Right for You,” by Rebecca 

Knight.)


BUSINESS DAY 

29



C002D5556 

Live @ The Stock Exchange 

Top Gainers/Losers as at Monday 16 April 2018 Market Statistics as at Monday 16 April 2018 

GAINERS 

Company Opening Closing Change 

SEPLAT N698.3 N725.9 27.6 

NESTLE N1385 N1410 25 

UNILEVER N51.5 N54 2.5 

GLAXOSMITH N30 N31.35 1.35 

OANDO N6.9 N7.55 0.65 

LOSERS 

Company Opening Closing Change 

MOBIL N200 N190 -10 

NB N130 N126 -4 

PRESCO N72 N70 -2 

ACCESS N11.45 N11.2 -0.25 

UAC-PROP N2.8 N2.58 -0.22 

ASI (Points) 40,533.37 

DEALS (Numbers) 3,917.00 

VOLUME (Numbers) 192,494,286.00 

VALUE (N billion) 3.127 

MARKET CAP (N Trn 14.641 

NSE migrates Access Bank, Lafarge, 

Seplat, UBA to Premium Board 

Stories by 

Iheanyi Nwachukwu 

The Nigerian 

Stock Exchange 

(NSE) on Monday 

April 16, 2018 

migrated Access 

Bank Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, 

Seplat Petroleum Development 

Company Plc and 

United Bank for Africa Plc to 

its Premium Board sequel 

to them applying and meeting 

the Exchange’s listing 

requirements for the board. 

The Premium Board is 

the listing segment for the 

elite group of issuers that 

meet the Exchange’s most 

stringent corporate governance 

and listing standards. 

The Board is a platform for 

showcasing companies 

who are industry leaders 

in their sectors. Premium 

Board features companies 

that adhere to international 

best practices on corporate 

governance and meet the 

Exchange’s highest standards 

of capitalisation and 

liquidity. The Board gives a 

company access to a global 

pool of investors who are focused 

on companies managed 

in conformity to the 

highest standards in their 

target markets. 

Access Bank Plc, Lafarge 

Africa Plc, Seplat Petroleum 

Development Company 

Plc and United Bank for 

Africa Plc have all passed 

the Corporate Governance 

Rating System (CGRS) 

and have market capitalisation 

of N347.12billion, 

N378.60billion, 

N391.37billion and 

N374.48billion respectively. 

They have joined Dangote 

Cement Plc, FBN Holdings 

Plc, and Zenith International 

Bank Plc who were 

migrated to the Premium 

Board in 2015, bringing the 

total number of companies 

on the Board to seven. 

Oscar N. Onyema, Chief 

Executive Officer, NSE, 

said, “This migration affirms 

the strides our listed 

companies are making towards 

meeting the highest 

standards of corporate governance 

and underpins the 

robustness of our market. 

The new companies have 

consistently demonstrated 

their inherent values to be 

globally competitive brands 

and we congratulate them 

on the attainment of this 

migration”. 

“Companies on the 

Board are already enjoying 

the highest levels of visibility 

and appeal to investors 

Austin Avuru, managing director/CEO, Seplat Petroleum Development 

Company Plc (L) with Kennedy Uzoka, group managing 

director/CEO, UBA Plc at a press briefing on the Nigerian 

Stock Exchange (NSE) shortly after their migration to Premium 

Board. 

looking for large companies 

with highest standards 

of corporate governance. 

From inception to date, 

the Premium Board Index 

continues to outperform 

the benchmark NSE ASI 

with the Premium Board 

recording a total return of 

84.99percent versus the 

NSE ASI’s 41.79percent as 

at 11 April 2018. The Premium 

Board’s performance 

continues to reinforce the 

sentiments of both foreign 

and domestic investors on 

the importance of corporate 

governance and sustainability”, 

he added. 

To be listed on the Premium 

Board of The NSE, 

the aspiring companies 

must attain a minimum 

market capitalization of 

N200billion as at the date 

of application, a minimum 

score of 70percent on the 

Corporate Governance Rating 

System (CGRS), and 

maintain a minimum free 

float of 20percent of their issued 

share capital or a free 

float value equal to or above 

N40 billion, as well as meet 

other standard listing criteria. 

Recall the NSE Premium 

Board and the associated 

Premium Board Index were 

launched on Tuesday, August 

25, 2015. 

The new entrants are expected 

to issue sustainability 

reports to shareholders 

and the regulators. Speaking 

on this, Austin Avuru, 

Managing Director/CEO, 

Seplat Petroleum Development 

Company Plc said 

excellence in corporate governance 

is key to Seplat’s 

achievement, adding that 

the company has always 

had their sustainability reports 

before joining the Premium 

Board. 

Avuru noted that their 

Premium Board listing 

implies more work for the 

board and management of 

the company which trickles 

down to increasing returns 

to shareholders. The 

company which was listed 

on the Nigerian Stock Exchange 

barely four years 

ago has achieved market 

capitalisation in excess of 

N400billion as at Monday. 

Kennedy Uzoka, Group 

Managing Director/CEO, 

UBA Plc noted; “the migration 

of UBA shares to 

the Premium Board of the 

Nigerian Stock Exchange 

(NSE) is well deserved. It 

is instructive to bring back 

memories of our pioneer 

Initial Public Offer (IPO) in 

the Nigerian banking sector, 

following our listing on 

the NSE in 1970. Since then, 

we have remained committed 

to the development of 

the NSE and the broader 

capital market, through our 

equity and debt listings as 

well as strategic partnerships 

with the leaderships 

of the Nigerian capital market.” 

Herbert Wigwe, Managing 

Director/Chief Executive 

Officer of Access Bank 

Plc said: “Access Bank is 

pleased to have attained 

this status. We have always 

adhered to international 

corporate governance best 

practices, which is line 

with the our aspiration to 

become Africa’s gateway to 

the World.” 

UAC appoints new non-executive directors 

UAC of Nigeria Plc 

(UACN) has appointed 

Folasope 

Babasola Aiyesimoju 

and Olufunke Ighodaro as 

non-executive directors of the 

Company while Peter Benedikt 

Mombaur would serve 

as the alternate director to the 

new directors. 

Aiyesimoju, a finance professional, 

has vast experience 

spanning corporate finance, 

principal investing and private 

equity in Sub-Saharan Africa’s 

most important economies. 

He holds a B.Sc (Hons) degree 

in Estate Management from 

the University of Lagos, where 

he was awarded a Certificate 

of Excellence in Real estate 

development and finance, 

and earned the right to use 

the CFA designation in 2006. 

rica’s most successful companies. 

She holds a B.Sc. (Hons) 

degree in Operational Research 

from Salford University 

and is a Fellow of the Institute 

of Chartered Accountants in 

England and Wales. 

Mombaur is an investor 

and entrepreneur with 

professional experience in 

Sub-Saharan Africa, Western 

Europe and North America. A 

co-founder of Themis Capital 

Management and Chief Executive 

Officer and co-founder 

of Terra Education, a learning 

travel company based in San 

Diego, USA, Mombaur was 

co-Managing Director at Tana 

Africa, an investment company 

with an open-ended investment 

horizon backed by 

the Oppenheimer family and 

Temasek. 

EY set to hold audit committee forum 

Ernst & Young Nigeria 

(EY) has concluded 

arrangements to 

bring together banks’ 

audit committee members 

across board, as part of efforts 

to brainstorm on governance 

related issues, bringing into 

perspective, the evolving demands 

of business, regulators 

and investors alike. 

The Audit Committee Forum 

with an agenda ‘The future 

of Governance—Digital, 

technology and innovation’, 

holds on Wednesday, April 

18, 2018, at the UBA House, 

10th Floor, Marina, Lagos. 

Speakers, who are mainly 

experts in financial sector, 

will be looking to unpack issues 

around the role and 

responsibilities of the Audit 

Committee members and 

Aiyesimoju is the founder of 

Themis Capital Management, 

an investment firm focused 

on concentrating capital and 

talent on high-potential opportunities 

in Sub-Saharan 

Africa. Ighodaro is an astute 

and experienced business 

leader with considerable experience 

in executive as well 

as non-executive leadership 

positions with some of Afhow 

their roles have evolved 

in recent time. 

Other areas of interest to 

zero in on will be the impact 

of digital technologies on 

internal audit, with specific 

focus on ways technological 

innovation is changing the 

internal audit function. 

Speakers will also take 

a deep dive into IFRS 9 and 

other developments impacting 

financial instruments accounting, 

among others. 

According to EY, the Audit 

Committee Forum is specifically 

being organised to deliberate 

on the alignment of 

audit committee agenda with 

bank’s priority areas, present 

compliance matters as well 

as new reporting standards, 

among other pressing issues 

bordering on audit.


BUSINESS DAY 

31


C002D5556 


Live @ the Stock exchange 

Prices for Securities Traded as of Monday 16 April 2018 

Company 

Market cap(nm) Price (N) Change Trades Volume Company 

Market cap(nm) Price (N) Change Trades Volume 

PRICES FOR MAIN BOARD SECURITIES (Equities)


Buhari meets May, British Primie Minister 

… Gets an invite to meet Donald Trump on April 30 

TONY AILEMEN, Abuja 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari on Monday in 

London at a meeting 

with British Prime Minister, 

Theresa May said 

his main preoccupation now is how 

to tackle the challenges posed by the 

economy and insecurity. 

President Buhari met with May 

on Monday at 10, Downing Street, 

London, where he said that that 

while other politicians are busy with 

preparations for the 2019 polls, his 

main preoccupation is how to fix 

the economy and tackle insecurity. 

Buhari, at 75 years, has announced 

his intention to seek a 

second term in office on April 8, the 

same day he flew out of the country 

for a two-week official trip to the 

UK, the longest official trip outside 

the country by any Nigerian leader. 

“We campaigned on three major 

issues, to secure the country, 

revive the economy and fight corruption,” 

said the President. “We 

have elections next year, politicians 

are already pre-occupied with 

the polls, but I am bothered more 

about security and the economy,” 

he stressed. 

A statement by the Special Adviser 

to the President on Media and 

Publicity, Femi Adelina, said President 

Buhari who recalled the long 

history between Nigeria and Britain 

on several fronts, also commended 

Britain for the support Nigeria had 

enjoyed over the years. 

“People ought to know how 

they arrived where they are, if they 

would move forward. It was a mistake 

for us to have stopped the 

teaching of history as a subject in 

schools, but we are returning it to 

the curriculum now.” 

The President also commended 

British companies such as Unilever, 

Cadbury, and many others, “who 

have stood with Nigeria through 

thick and thin. Even when we fought 

a Civil War, they never left. 

“But like Oliver Twist, we ask for 

more investments. We are encouraging 

more British companies to 

come to Nigeria. We appreciate the 

support you have given in training 

and equipping our military, particularly 

in the war against insurgency, 

but we want to also continue to work 

with you on trade and investment.” 

Buhari later took time to brief 

Prime Minister May on the strides 

in agriculture, which he said has put 

Nigeria firmly on the road to food 

self-sufficiency. 

“I am very pleased with the 

successes in agriculture,” he said, 

adding: “We have cut rice importation 

by about 90%, made lots of 

savings of foreign exchange, and 

generated employment. People had 

rushed to the cities to get oil money, 

at the expense of farming. But luckily, 

they are now going back to the 

farms. Even professionals are going 

back to the land. We are making 

steady progress on the road to food 

security.” 

On education, President Buhari 

said more investment was being 

made, because “people can look 

after themselves if well educated. 

In this age of technology, education 

is very important. We need 

well-staffed and well-equipped 

institutions to move into the next 

generation.” 

Climate change and environmental 

issues also came up for 

discussion, and President Buhari 

brought up the necessity of interbasin 

water transfer from Congo 

Basin to Lake Chad. 

According to him: “The Lake 

Chad is now about 10% of its original 

size, and it is perhaps one of the 

reasons our youths dare both the 

Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean, 

to get to Europe. But if there 

is inter-basin water transfer, about 

40 million people in Nigeria, Niger, 

Cameroon, Chad, and other countries 

stand to benefit. I made the 

case during the Climate Change 

Summit in France. If Lake Chad is 

recharged, it will reduce the number 

of youths coming to Europe 

to increase social problems. We 

brought back about 4,000 people 

from Libya recently. Almost all of 

them were below 30, and Libya 

was not their final destination. 

They were headed to Europe.” 

Illegal refineries causing soot in PH 

belong to security agencies - activist 

… says Rivers has no blame 

IGNATIUS CHUKWU 

A 

Port Harcourt-based 

activist says most of the 

illegal refining outposts 

causing soot in Port Harcourt 

and other parts of Rivers 

State are owned by security operatives 

sent to police the region. 

Mishack Uyi, who is also an 

environment manager, also indicted 

officials of environmental 

and petroleum regulatory agencies 

for the prevalence of soot in 

Port Harcourt. 

“The security agencies in Rivers 

State, in unmistakable terms, 

are the owners of the illegal refineries 

we see in Rivers State and 

around the creeks of the Niger 

Delta. The security agencies are so 

deeply involved to the extent there 

is no incentive for them to stop illegal 

refineries. They are profiting 

from them,” Uyi said. 

In a press report by the Rivers 

State Government House issued 

by Simeon Nwakauda, the governor’s 

special adviser on electronic 

media, said as a result of the wide 

profit margins for some security 

agencies in illegal refineries, they 

would never cooperate with the 

state government to end the soot. 

The Government House in 

Port Harcourt quoted Uyi to have 

said: “They will never pull down 

their own business. They are 

eating from the illegal refineries. 

Unfortunately, they don’t even 

stay in Port Harcourt. That is why 

they have refused to police the 

pipelines. 

“You ask yourself; what has 

happened to the surveillance 

contracts? Why are the pipelines 

not being policed? What is the 

source of the crude for the illegal 

refineries? 

“Illegal refinery operators are 

not the producers of crude. They 

only tap from existing sources and 

their suppliers. Stop the sources of 

crude and the illegal refineries will 

disappear. Flood the market with 

kerosene and illegal refineries will 

reduce to zero.” 

He said the Rivers State government 

was not to blame for 

soot in Port Harcourt, as he said 

the state government had taken 

measures to check the soot within 

the limits approved for it by extant 

laws. 

He was quoted thus: “Those 

who are saddled with the onerous 

responsibility of policing the 

pipelines and ensuring that crude 

is not tampered with are the ones 

operating these illegal refineries.” 

He stated that the Rivers State 

Government, through the State 

Ministry of Environment and the 

office of the Senior Special Assistant 

on Pollution Control, has 

paid advocacy and enlightenment 

visits to security and regulatory 

agencies. 

NEWS 

EdoJobs: 50,000 youths for Microsoft, Tech4Dev digital literacy training 

To equip youths to exploit 

opportunities in 

Nigeria’s evolving technology 

eco-system and deliver 

on the Edo State governor, 

Godwin Obaseki’s promise to 

create 200,000 jobs, the state 

government has concluded 

plans to partner Microsoft 

and Tech4Dev in training 

50,000 persons on digital 

literacy skills. 

EdoJobs, the state government’s 

job creation and skills 

development platform, is 

coordinating the training in 

the state and will, through its 

portal, supply participants as 

well as other logistics for the 

programme. 

Senior special assistant to 

the governor on job creation, 

Ukinebo Dare, in a statement, 

said of the 50,000 participants 

in the programme, 500 would 

be coached as master trainers, 

who would facilitate the 

step-down training for others. 

According to Dare, “We 

have reached advanced stage 

of preparation for the training 

programme to commence 

in Edo State. Microsoft and 

Tech4Dev plan to train about 

500,000 persons across Nigeria. 

Of that number, 50,000 

people will be trained in Edo 

State. While the two firms will 

be conducting the training, 

we are here in the state to 

coordinate logistics and other 

support structures to make 

the training possible.” 

She said the Edojobs portal, 

which has over 220,000 

registered users, would supply 

some of the participants 

for the training programme, 

noting, “We are excited about 

the training. It serves as another 

addition to the series 

of trainings we are providing 

to Edo people and helping 

them build capacity to work 

for gainful employment or 

run businesses. 

Ogun Customs makes N300m on excise duty, intercepts N58m contraband 

RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta 

Controller in the Nigeria 

Customs Service 

(NCS), Ogun 

State Area Command, 

Sani Madugu, says 

the Customs generates an 

average of N300 million on 

excise duty, monthly, saying 

the increase in number of 

manufacturing companies 

operating in the state are 

yielding results in terms of 

revenue being generated by 

government. 

Madugu, who addressed 

journalists at the state area 

command headquarters in 

Abeokuta recently, noted 

that revenue coming from 

manufacturing activities 

in form of excise duty to 

Customs could be more than 

N300 million monthly if all 

the manufacturing firms pay 

rightly and regularly. 

He lauded the Ibikunle 

Amosun-led government in 

the state for working on all 

economic parameters that 

improve on ease of doing 

business, which in return, 

attract more foreign direct 

investments on daily basis, 

saying the NCS would continue 

to combat all forms of 

importation that negatively 

affect Nigeria economy and 

investments in the country. 

Meanwhile, the Command 

has also intercepted 

The environment manager 

who claimed to be a member of 

the National Democratic Coalition 

(NADECO) said that it is the 

responsibility of the Federal Government 

and its security agencies 

to resolve the soot challenge. 

He particularly said that the 

Department of Petroleum Resources 

(DPR) has failed in its 

duty of checking the excesses of 

the multinationals and refinery 

operators. 

On the protests planned by 

some Garden City residents to 

press for government action on 

soot, Uyi said the focus should 

be on the Federal Government 

and its agencies who he said had 

neglected their constitutional responsibilities 

on the environment. 

He said it was mischievous to 

focus on Rivers State government 

that had limited role to play, noting 

that the action of protesters on the 

soot creates the impression that 

they were being sponsored to 

promote certain interests. 

“The question that I have 

asked the protesters, which they 

are yet to answer is; What is the 

Rivers State Government expected 

to do to stop the soot 

that it has not done within its 

limited responsibility. If you want 

to protest, protest against the 

federal agencies saddled with the 

responsibility by law to protect the 

environment. 

“But what is most impressive 

about this training is 

that it affords people to gain 

in-demand skills, especially 

as the world is moving towards 

tech-driven solutions 

to every-day problems.” 

The training programme 

is designed to train young 

people including those in primary, 

secondary and tertiary 

institutions, foundational 

digital skills required to actively 

participate in the 21stcentury 

knowledge economy. 

The programme will take 

place offline and Microsoft 

will supply teaching aids to the 

educators who will train young 

people in schools and communities 

across the country. 

The module for the training 

includes introduction to 

computer, productivity tools, 

workplace essentials, big 

data and cloud technologies, 

cyber security and digital 

lifestyles. 

1,963 bags of rice concealed 

in two trucks with duty paid 

value of N21.5 million and 

means of conveyance (the 

two trucks) with duty paid 

value of N37 million, the 

goods were seized because 

they were snuggled into the 

country in contravention of 

government extant laws and 

policies. 

The controller also stated 

that Customs seized Cannabis 

Sativa - Indian Hemp 

- carefully concealed in a 

sack and conveyed with motorbike, 

but said the Indian 

Hemp would be handed 

over to the National Drug 

Law Enforcement Agency 

(NDLEA).



C002D5556 

NEWS 

Police engage El Zakzaky group as bloody... 


testers were seen moving in 

their large numbers, chanting war 

songs and calling for the release of 

their leader, Sheik El- Zakzaky, a 

situation that caused tension and 

disrupted traffic flows especially in 

Maitama and its environs. 

The group also known as ‘ Shiites’ 

were seen confronting heavily 

armed antiriot Mobile Police men 

who were parading the city. 

The Police later dispersed the 

protesters with armored tanks, antiriot 

hot water dispensers, tear gas 

canisters and trained Police Dogs. 

The group had since 2016 embarked 

on similar protest across 

Nigeria and especially within Abuja 

following the arrest and detention of 

Sheikh El-Zazaki after the December, 

2016 bloody clash with Nigerian 

Army in Zaria, Kaduna State. 

When contacted on phone, 

the FCT Police Public Relations 

L-R: Angela 

Gittens, secretary-general, 

Airports Council 

International 

World; Boss 

Mustapha, 

secretary to 

the federal 

government, 

and Saleh 

Dunoma, MD, 

FAAN/president 

of the ACI 

Africa Executive 

Board, at 

the Airports 

Council 

International 

Conference, 

hosted by 

FAAN, yesterday. 

Officer, PPRO, DSP Jesse Manzah, 

said the Police was monitoring the 

situation and will issue an official 

statement on the crises. 

“Please give us some time, we 

are closely monitoring the situation 

and will issue an official statement 

very soon.” 

Islamic Movement of Nigeria 

(IMN) leader Ibrahim Zakzaky 

has been jailed since December 

2015, when security forces killed 

hundreds of members in a crackdown 

on a group estimated to have 

3 million followers. 

The violent repression of the 

group and the detention of its leader 

have drawn accusations that President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s government 

is abusing human rights. 

The IMN says Zakzaky must be 

freed after a court ruled his detention 

without charge illegal. 

The crackdown has sparked 

fears that IMN could become 

radicalised, in much the same way 

the Sunni Muslim militant group 

Boko Haram turned into a violent 

insurgency in 2009 after police 

killed its leader. 

“As we started protesting they 

started shooting tear gas and using 

water cannons,” Abdullahi 

Muhammad, an IMN youth leader, 

said. “We refused to disperse and 

they used bullets as well, and they 

shot so many people.” 

“They want to push us to violence 

but they couldn’t, so that is 

why they are using live ammunition, 

thinking that killing will stop 

us. No amount of killing will stop 

us,” he added. 

Muhammad said he witnessed 

police dragging bullet-hit protesters 

into a van and sitting on them, 

adding that he did not know if they 

were dead or alive. 

At least eight other IMN members 

were hit by bullets and were 

now receiving treatment, said 

Muhammad. An IMN spokesman, 

who was also at the protests, said 

at least four people were injured. 

Budget 2018 faces further delay as Reps miss... 


laid on Tuesday, 17th April, 2018 

while Tuesday, 24th April, 2018 

was proposed for final passage 

of the budget. 

A copy Order Paper seen by 

our Correspondent as at Monday 

evening which will guide 

Tuesday’s plenary session of 

the House of Reps shows that 

the 2018 budget is not listed, 

an indication that it will not be 

presented for discussions. 

Efforts by BusinessDay to 

reach the Chairman, House 

Committee on Appropriations, 

Mustapha Dawaki (APC-Kano) 

on the status of the 2018 budget 

proved failed as he did not pick 

calls nor respond to text messages 

sent to him. 

However, a staff working with 

the Committee on Appropriation 

confirmed that most of the 

98 Standing Committees have 

not submitted their budget to 

the House Committee on Appropriations 

as directed by the 

Speaker. 

“You cannot blame us for the 

delay because whatever will be 

collated is dependent on the 

standing Committees” he said. 

“As we speak, not all of the 

have complied with the (speakers) 

directive,” he noted. 

He also told BusinessDay that 

consultation is ongoing with 

the Executive on certain issues 

including the oil benchmark, 

and other vital matters. The 2018 

budget was initially based on a 

budget benchmark of US$44.5 

per barrel but oil prices have remained 

in the high US$60 since 

the beginning of 2018. Sources 

tell BuisnessDay that there are 

discussions about raising the 

benchmark to boost the government’s 

revenue project and cut 

planned deficit. 

But at the Senate, a source 

told BusinessDay that all the 

Clerks of the affected Committees 

have been mandated to adhere 

to the 2018 budget timeline, 

adding that the Appropriation 

Committee is up to date on the 

budget so far. 

According to him, the leadership 

of the Senate and House 

has not shifted to goal post on 

the passage of the 2018 budget 

on the 24th April as announced 

penultimate week. 

But the source also disclosed 

that some of the Committees 

named by the Senate President 

last Thursday are yet to submit 

their report also. 

BusinessDay further gathered 

from one of the Clerks of 

the Standing Committees that 

Monday, 16th April 2018 deadline 

was given to all the Standing 

Committees to submit their 

budget reports. 

It was however gathered that 

the Standing Committees of both 

Senate and House of Representatives 

are already harmonising 

their reports in order to ensure 

ease in the computation of the 

MDAs’ budgets. 

But Abdulrasak Namdas, 

chairman, House Committee 

on Media and Public Affairs expressed 

optimism that the 2018 

budget will be passed before the 

end of April 2018. 

Even if the National Assembly 

is able to pass the budget 

this month, analysts believe 

the executive arm will struggle 

to fully implement the budget 

passed due to time constraint. 

The time it takes to work through 

procurement procedures means 

that it will take a minimum of 

the three months for any capital 

expenditure to be released and 

that will by closer to the 2019 

elections. 

BusinessDay journalist wins Citi 2018... 


smart businesses to look to the 

sun. Some of the solutions that 

have been developed include 

innovative renewable energy 

solutions like solar-powered 

pepper dryers. 

Anyaogu’s original perspective, 

effective use of research and 

ability to precipitate discussion 

is what distinguished him from 

the 19 applications that were 

submitted in Nigeria. 

CJEA is a global Citi competition 

which began in 1982 as a 

way of recognizing journalists for 

excellence in financial and business 

reporting in the markets in 

which Citi does business around 

the world. Now in its 35th year, 

the CJEA is a unique program 

sponsored and co-hosted by Citi 

and Columbia’s Graduate School 

of Journalism. 

According to Anyaogu, “Business 

journalism is too important 

to be left up to reporters, 

news organisations must make 

a conscious investment in their 

human capital and rely on expert 

help in analysing important economic 

issues. This CJEA platform 

is an important one and more 

initiatives like this should be 

encouraged. Congratulations to 

all those who made the shortlist; 

this belongs to us all.” 

A total of 11 business journalists 

from Europe, the Middle 

East and Africa will be joining 

Anyaogu in New York City, where 

they will be participating in an 

8-day business and financial 

seminar which is administered 

by the Columbia University 

Graduate School of Journalism 

and sponsored by Citi. The program 

offers participants rigorous 

workshops in the principles of 

accounting and finance, and 

exposure to institutions, policy 

makers and other thought leaders 

in the United States. 

The CJEA applications were 

reviewed by a committee composed 

of well-known and respected 

local individuals who 

understand the media and how 

it works, are active in the local 

community and knowledgeable 

in international financial/ 

business/economic affairs and 

appreciate good journalistic 

writing. The judging committee 

is responsible for scoring the 

articles and for selecting finalists 

to be considered by Columbia. 

The 2018 distinguished panel 

of judges for Nigeria was made 

up of Ononuju Irukwu, Nimi 

Akinkugbe and 2017 CJEA Winner, 

Caleb Ojewale. 

Nimi Akinkugbe is the Founder 

and Chief Executive Officer 

of Bestman Games Ltd, the African 

distributor of customized 

editions of Monopoly, Hasbro’s 

world famous game. She enjoyed 

a successful banking career 

spanning 23 years first at Stanbic 

IBTC Bank Plc where she rose to 

the position of General Manager 

and Head, Private Banking and 

Director Stanbic IBTC Asset 

Management Ltd. Subsequently 

she joined Barclays Bank Plc as 

Regional Director (West Africa) 

for the Wealth & Investment 

Management Division and Chief 

Country Officer for Nigeria. 

Ononuju Irukwu is the Managing 

Director, Chapel Hill Denham 

Management limited, a 

leading Investment Management 

Company in Lagos, Nigeria 

with responsibility for the 

Wealth and Asset Management 

business. She is passionate about 

financial literacy and is committed 

to ensuring the investing 

public is sufficiently informed 

and prepared to plan, save and 

grow their assets during their 

working life. She writes a personal 

wealth column with This 

Day Newspapers Nigeria and 

speaks regularly at seminars and 

conferences for teenage, women 

and young entrepreneurs. 

According to Irukwu, “It was 

a very keenly contested award 

with the entries touching on very 

topical issues in our financial 

markets. As an award for excellence, 

it was good to see that the 

journalists paid attention to the 

relevant criteria that make an 

excellent and compelling article 

as well as meets the standards 

of the Citi Awards.” She goes 

on to say “As a first time panel 

judge, I am proud of the quality 

and content of the articles that 

we received from Nigeria. I see 

that Citi through this award has 

helped to create a sense of keen 

competition and a drive for true 

excellence among our financial 

journalists. I congratulate the 

winner, Isaac Anyaogu for his 

contribution and wish him the 

very best in all his future endeavors. 

Thank you Citi and thank 

you to all the participants.” 

Caleb Ojewale the 2017 CJEA 

winner is an Analyst and Multimedia 

News Content Producer 

at BusinessDay where he covers 

Agriculture and Technology 

and the economic implications 

of the diverse activities taking 

place in those sectors. According 

to Ojewale, “I am glad to be part 

of the process for selecting this 

year’s CJEA winner in Nigeria, 

as Citi upholds it’s tradition of 

fostering excellence in financial 

journalism. The competition ensures 

many, if not all journalists, 

make a conscious effort to publish 

exemplary works that shed 

light on important economic and 

financial issues in our country. 

There were many good entries 

this year, and I am particularly 

glad at the uniqueness displayed 

in many stories; originality in 

thinking, apt presentation, and 

potentials for stimulating development. 

This year’s winning 

entry has not failed to live up to 

the standards at Citi.” 

Ojewale went on to say “As 

the winner from last year, I am 

glad that this year’s entry further 

lays credence to the need 

to creatively report issues in 

agriculture and its development 

across the country. For an entry 

focusing on this sector to win 

for a second consecutive year, 

shows that agriculture is truly 

becoming agribusiness, and we 

all as a country need to take it 

more seriously.” 

“CJEA is an opportunity for us 

to reward journalistic excellence 

and each year we continue to raise 

the bar for financial reporting in 

the country”, said Akin Dawodu, 

CEO Citibank Nigeria Limited.


Kenya Airways explains rationalisation of 

staff, accuses union of negligence 

IFEOMA OKEKE 

Barely 24 hours after 

the unions in the 

Nigerian aviation 

industry accused 

the management 

of Kenya Airways of unilaterally 

sacking 24 out of its 26 

Nigerian workers, the airline 

has alleged that the unions 

did not do enough to protect 

the interest of its members 

working with it. 

A document made available 

to BusinessDay by a 

source close to the airline 

listed several attempts made 

by the airline to ensure a 

meeting with the unions on 

the planned redundancy 

of some of the workers, but 

the unions avoided meeting 

with the management even 

when some of its officials 

came from its head office in 

Nairobi, Kenya. 

The letter with the reference 

number: IR/NU- 

ATE/11/04/2018/BF dated 

April 11, 2018, sent to the 

General Secretary of the National 

Union of Air Transport 

Employees (NUATE) and 

signed by Bridgette Imbuga, 

acting chief human resources 

officer, Kenya Airways, stated 

that the airline as of January 

15, 2018, notified the union 

of its redundancy plan and 

called for a meeting with 

the airline, which the union 

refused to honour. 

According to the letter, 

NUATE had picked different 

dates ranging from February 

15, 2018, February 26, 2018, 

March 6, 2018, March 16, 

2018, and April 5, 2018, for 

a meeting with the management 

of the airline, but failed 

to honour any of the dates 

and gave excuses for its inability 

to honour any of the 

dates proposed by the union 

itself. 

The letter read in part: 

“Despite our displeasure, 

we dutifully indulged you 

and agreed to hold the 

meeting on the 16th March 

2018. Although, you kept 

us waiting at your national 

secretariat conference 

room for the better part of 

the afternoon, you finally 

turned up for the meeting 

at 4:30pm local time on the 

16th March 2018. 

“However, you declined 

to discuss the redundancy 

subject and instead proposed 

that we pick another 

date to specifically negotiate 

the redundancy payments. 

After considering each parties 

commitments, you personally 

proposed 5th April 

2018, which we mutually 

accepted and firmed up. 

“It was therefore shockingly 

disappointed and unexpected 

that you failed to 

attend the meeting on the 

agreed date without any 

apologies or prior notification 

notwithstanding the 

fact that the management 

team had travelled to Lagos 

and were more punctually 

present for the meeting at 

the appointed venue. 

“From the foregoing, it is 

clear that you are unwilling 

or uninterested in engaging 

management in negotiations 

on such an important 

matter affecting employees 

who are your members. On 

our part, we have demonstrated 

our willingness and 

commitment to use our best 

endeavours to negotiate 

separation terms for the employees 

who will be affected 

by the redundancy.” 

BusinessDay had reported 

yesterday that Kenya 

Airways on Friday sacked 

22 out of its 26 Nigerian 

employees, representing 

86.4 percent of the affected 

workers. 

A source close to the airline 

had told BusinessDay 

that the staff were issued 

the disengagement letters 

at the airline’s office in Lagos 

in the presence of stern 

looking police officers who 

were engaged by the airline 

to scare away the affected 

staff and prevent possible 

breakdown of law and order. 

Only four of its Nigerian 

staff are retained by the 

management of the airline 

after the purging exercise. 

Those retained are Afeez 

Balogun, Country Manager, 

the Station Manager, and 

two other staff. 

IFEOMA OKEKE 

Heritage Bank restates commitment 

to Nigeria’s creative industry 

Heritage Bank plc has 

restated its commitment 

to the development 

and growth of 

the Nigeria’s creative industry. 

Ifie Sekibo, CEO of Heritage 

Bank, stated this in a statement 

issued by the divisional head, 

corporate communications of 

the bank at the weekend. 

Sekibo said Heritage Bank 

was committed to the development 

and growth of the entertainment 

industry, because 

one of the easiest ways to solve 

the unemployment issue in 

the country was to get as many 

people as possible involved in 

the entertainment industry, 

because manufacturing, banking 

and other sectors cannot 

do it alone. 

He said the music industry 

only be sustained and optimised 

through the continued development 

and modernisation of local 

aviation infrastructure, particularly 

at airports.” 

Aliu, who is a Nigerian and 

first African to serve as the president 

of ICAO Council, said the 

major challenge faced by states 

in the development of airport 

infrastructure in Africa was inadequate 

funding, noting that the 

private sector might be unwilling 

to invest in aviation development 

because there was no defined 

institutional, legal and regulatory 

framework that could provide 

the incentive for institutions 

to investment in airport infrastructure. 

“It has become increasingly 

difficult, however, for many states 

and airport operators to mobilise 

the significant and dependable 

funding and investments required 

for high quality aviation 

infrastructure. 

“Another key concern is the 

risk associated with a lack of 

sufficient institutional, legal and 

regulatory enabling frameworks 

in many African states, something 

which makes it very difficult 

for financial institutions to invest 

in airport projects,” he said. 

While welcoming particihad 

done so much for Nigeria 

in terms of employment and 

foreign exchange earnings, and 

if more resources could be put 

into it, the country would be 

better for it. 

Besides supporting individual 

artistes in the industry, the 

bank has also partnered with 

some organisers to perform and 

produce some entertainment 

shows. Some of these include 

partnership with Yibo Koko in 

association with Bolanle Peters 

to produce and perform Seki, a 

dance drama. 

The event which held at the 

popular Terra Kulture Arena 

was graced by members of the 

diplomatic corps, bank officials 

and lovers of arts and it featured 

notable celebrities like Hilda 

NEWS 

L-R: Modestus Anaesoronye, insurance/pension, editor, BusinessDay; Chuka Uroko, property editor; Zebulon Agomuo, editor, BDSunday; Longe Eguarekhide, 

managing director, AIICO Pension Managers Limited/guest speaker; Bill Okonedo, deputy editor, BusinessDay, and Frank Aigbogun, publisher/CEO, during 

the BusinessDay knowledge sharing lecture series on the contributory pension system in Nigeria, held in Lagos, yesterday. Pic by Olawale Amoo 

‘Investment in airport infrastructure to meet surge in passenger traffic is imperative’ 

President of the International 

Civil Aviation 

Organisation (ICAO) 

Council, Olumuyiwa 

Bernard Aliu, has called for massive 

investment in airport infrastructure 

in Africa to meet the 

capacity of surging passenger 

traffic, projected to grow by about 

3.6 percent annually till 2032. 

Aliu warned that if concerted 

efforts were not made in airport 

modernisation and expansion, 

the existing airport facilities 

would become over stretched 

and threaten safety and security 

of passengers. 

Aliu made this known Monday 

at the ongoing 59th Airport 

Council International (ACI) Africa 

Board and Committee Meetings 

and Regional Conference 

and Exhibition holding in Lagos. 

He said, “The current efforts 

being undertaken to reposition 

air transport in Africa, and ensure 

its sustainability, are in clear 

acknowledgment of the fact that 

regional air traffic is still forecast 

to grow at roughly 3.8 percent 

annually through 2032. 

“I will like to reiterate that this 

rapidly-expanding air traffic can 

Dokubo, Monalisa Chinda 

Coker, Ibinabo Fiberisima, 

Julius Agwu, Ovunda Ihunwo, 

Peace Christian, Deborah Job, 

Opereke Jamabo Foh and Mercy 

Albert among others as casts. 

The bank has also partnered 

with MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, 

owners of the DSTV and 

GOTV brands to bring the third 

season of the Big Brother Naija 

to viewers across Africa and 

beyond. 

The Big Brother Naija 2018 

was recently unveiled with 

Ebuka Obi-Uchendu as the 

host with 20 house mates battling 

for the winning prize of 

N45 million which include a 

cash gift of N25 million and 

SUV Jeep among others. The 

theme of this year’s edition is 

“Double Wahala.” 

Libya returnees: Edo approves verification exercise, payment of stipends 

Governor Godwin 

Obaseki of Edo State 

has approved verification 

exercise and payment 

of three months stipends 

for new batch of Libya returnees 

of Edo State origin. 

Senior special assistant (SSA) 

to the governor on Anti-Human 

Trafficking and Illegal Migration, 

Solomon Okoduwa, disclosed 

this during the verification exercise, 

noting, “The approval 

for the verification exercise and 

payment for the new batch of returnees 

are part of the promises 

made by the governor to assist 

victims of human trafficking and 

illegal migration and reintegrate 

them into society.” 

Okoduwa said since the state 

government between November 

7 and 15, 2017, received the 

first two batches of returnees, 

the state had recorded 26 other 

batches totalling 3,165 returnees. 

“The verification exercise for 

pants to the conference, President 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

represented by the Secretary to 

the Government of the Federation 

(SGF), Boss Mustapha, said 

the Federal Government had 

continued to promote infrastructural 

development, facilities 

renewal and the implementation 

of policies aimed at facilitating 

the growth and sustainability of 

the sector. 

Mustapha said two major 

airports in the country were 

certified, namely: Murtala Muhammed 

International Airport 

Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International 

Airport Abuja, and there 

was ongoing construction of five 

new international airport terminals 

in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port 

Harcourt and Enugu, to expand 

passenger handling capacity to 

15 million annually. 

Currently, there is the implementation 

of Aviation Sector 

Roadmap, which was approved 

by the President in 2016 aimed 

at opening opportunities for 

investment in the aviation sector, 

he said. 

Hadi Sirika, minister of state, 

aviation, said the ACI, Africa, was 

being hosted by Nigeria at a time 

the country was poised to transform 

its airport infrastructure and 

the new batch of returnees will 

be processed in the next 12 days, 

after which payment of their 

stipends will commence. Each 

returnee will be paid a stipend 

of N20,000 per month for three 

months. Among them, pregnant 

women will be entitled to 

N25,000 each, while those with 

babies will get N30,000 each,” 

he said. 

Okoduwa assured the returnees 

that they would get their 

stipends, urging them to follow 

the required procedures to get 

verified. 

Assistant secretary, Edo 

State Taskforce Against Human 

Trafficking and Illegal 

Migration, Lilian Garuba, said, 

“The returnees who had been 

verified have been paid. The 

verification is a precondition 

for getting the stipends, so we 

encourage them to come forward 

for the exercise. 

“Those who are yet to be ver- 

regulatory reforms, saying the 

implementation of these policies 

would boost revenue, reduce 

capital flight and reinforce safety 

and security in air transport in 

the country. 

In a speech, Saleh Dunoma, 

managing director, Federal 

Airports Authority of Nigeria 

(FAAN), and also the president 

of ACI, Africa, said he was elated 

that Nigeria was given the honour 

to host the meeting, with the 

theme: Business Transformation 

for Sustainable Airports. 

AC1, Africa, works with its 

members and also liaises with 

other international bodies like 

ACI World, ICAO and others to 

ensure improved human capacity 

development by providing 

various standard and customised 

trainings in different skill areas to 

ensure safe, secure and efficiently 

managed airports, Dunoma said. 

“Last year, Nigeria signed the 

agreement to become one of 

the ‘ AC1 global training centres, 

to further advance the goal of 

human capacity development 

in FAAN and in Africa. The first 

training after the agreement 

was conducted in December 

2017 where Nigeria received 

participants from other African 

countries. 

ified should be patient. We assure 

that the taskforce is working 

to ensure that the directive 

of the governor is fully carried 

out. The exercise is to ensure 

that we monitor the progress 

of reintegration and follow up 

where necessary.” 

One of the returnees, Idemudia 

Grace, confirmed that 

she had gotten her pay for a 

month, adding, “I am here for 

another round of verification 

to receive the second payment.” 

Oghogho Moses, who 

turned up for the exercise, commended 

the governor for keeping 

to his promise to pay returnees 

three months stipends, 

noting, “Obaseki has done 

well for the returnees, he is the 

first if not the only governor in 

the country to make provision 

for stipends to returnees and 

other packages to assist the 

returnees’ reintegration into 

the society.”


A1

A2 BUSINESS DAY 

NEWS 

NCC won’t approve 9mobile sale without 

technical competence – Danbatta 

Internet users in Nigeria 

increase to 100. 9 million 

in February, from 1.2 million 

in January, the Nigerian 

Communications Commission 

(NCC), says. 

The NCC made this disclosure 

in its Monthly Internet 

Subscribers Data for February 

2018 on its website on 

Monday in Abuja. 

The data showed a marginal 

increase of 670,385 new 

subscribers in the country. 

NCC said Airtel, MTN gained 

more internet subscribers 

during the month in review, 

while Glo and 9mobile were 

the big losers. 

The breakdown revealed 

that MTN gained the most 

with over 762,366 new in- 

No fewer than 22 policemen 

sustained 

various degrees of 

injuries as supporters of Islamic 

cleric, Sheik Ibrahim El 

Zakzaky, Monday, engaged 

Nigerians in combat as police 

attempted to disperse them 

from the streets in Abuja, 

following violent protests that 

rocked the city in the early 

hours of the day. 

The Police Public Relations 

Officer (PPRO) of the 

Federal Capital Territory 

(FCT) Command, Anjuguri 

Manzah, a deputy superintendent 

ofpPolice, in a 

statement revealed that 115 

members of the group were 

arrested. 

Manzah said the police 

however succeeded in restoring 

normalcy at parts of Maitama 

after violent protest by 

members of the El-Zakzaky 

Islamic Movement in Nigeria, 

who went on rampage. 

East Zone. 

“A subsidiary of MainOne 

Cable Company Ltd. had earlier 

been licensed to provide services 

in Lagos. IHS was also issued a licence 

to cover the North-Central 

Zone including Abuja.” 

He said much work would 

still need to be done in the deployment 

of 4G LTE infrastructure 

needed to support data 

services. “For now, the directive 

is that 3G should be made 4G 

LTE infrastructure compatible.’’ 

Danbatta said that telecommunications 

contributed N1.45 

trillion to the Nigeria’s Gross 

Domestic Product (GDP) in the 

first quarter of 2017, noting that 

the figure rose to N1.5 trillion 

in the second quarter of 2017 

in spite of economic recession. 

According to Danbatta, telecommunications 

industry had 

investment worth $70 billion at 

September 2017 although the 

sector could not boast of $50 

million worth of investments 

as at 2001. 


reports that the preferred bidder 

for 9mobile, Teleology Holdings 

Ltd. has paid $50 million 

bid price for the acquisition of 

Nigeria’s fourth largest mobile 

operator. 

Smile Communications is 

the reserved bidder for 9mobile. 

Mobile internet users increase marginally 

to 100.9m in February –NCC 

ternet users increasing its 

subscription in January to 

almost 38 million from 37 

million recorded in January. 

It said Airtel also gained 

247.216 new internet users 

in February amounting to 

25,075,110 million users as 

against 24,827,894 users in 

January. 

It said 9mobile however 

lost 146,034 internet users 

in February, decreasing its 

subscription to 11,132,153 as 

against 11,278,187 recorded 

in January. 

The data showed in 

February that Globacom 

lost 193,127 internet users 

decreasing its subscription 

26,733,989 from the 

26,927,116 recorded in January. 

22 policemen injured, 115 arrested as Shiites clash in Abuja 

STELLA ENENCHE, ABUJA 

Police said the group 

“were attacking innocent 

citizens, disrupting business 

activities, obstructing traffic 

movement and smashing 

windscreen of innocent citizens’ 

vehicles in the affected 

areas. 

“Following the unfortunate 

incident which also 

resulted in the destruction of 

some government and Police 

operational vehicles, the 

members of the Shiite group 

also injured 22 police personnel 

during the protest.” 

Weapons recovered by the 

police include, catapults, iron 

bars, stones, ball bearings, 

pink headbands. 

“One hundred and fifteen 

members of the sect 

were arrested at the scene 

by Police operatives. Joint 

Team of detectives from the 

Command in conjunction 

with operatives from the IGP 

Monitoring Unit have commenced 

investigation into 

the incident.” 

Am id further 

growth potential, 

the tourism subsector 

contributed 

a whopping N800 

billion (about $2.2bn) to 

the Gross Domestic Product 

(GDP) of Lagos State in 2017, 

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode 

says. 

Ambode says with consistent 

investment and development 

of necessary infrastructure 

over the next five years, 

this figure is likely to double 

or even triple. 

This comes as John Dramani 

Mahama, former president 

of Ghana, says that 

Lagos has the potential to 

emerging a foremost destination 

for tourism development 

in Africa. 

They both spoke on Monday 

at the first Lagos tourism 

submit themed “Destination 

Lagos: Towards a sustainable 

tourism-driven economy,” in 

C002D5556 

Tourism raised Lagos GDP by 

N800bn in 2017 - Ambode 

JOSHUA BASSEY & OBINNA EMELIKE 

The need to proffer solution 

that will bridge the gap 

between the academia 

and the petroleum industry was 

discussed Monday, in a friendly 

but exciting discussion among 

leading industry professionals, 

vice chancellors, rectors, senior 

executives, government regulators, 

investors, training practitioners 

and service providers across 

the country. 

The discussion was at the first 

National Education Summit with 

the theme: “Sustaining Local 

Content through Quality Education 

and Training: Prospects and 

Challenges,” organised by Oil 

and Gas Trainers Association of 

Nigeria (OGTAN), in conjunction 

with the Nigerian Content Development 

and Monitoring Board 

(NCDMB), and the Petroleum 

Technology Development Fund 

(PTDF). 

OGTAN aimed at using the 

first Education summit to address 

challenge of human capital 

Victoria Island, Lagos. 

According to Mahama, 

with the billions of dollars 

revolving in the sector across 

the world and the over 1.8 

billion tourists, Lagos, with 

steady investment towards 

growing the sector, is heading 

in the direction to becoming 

Africa’s hub. 

He said: “I have been following 

the progress Lagos has 

made on various fronts. There 

are potentials billions of naira 

in revenue that Lagos State 

could earn in the next several 

years with the successful 

implementation of the plan 

that you intend could come 

out of this summit. 

“If you look at the nearly 

$7 trillion that is supposed to 

be earned from tourism, then 

definitely Lagos is positioning 

itself as a favourite destination 

for tourism in order to get 

a share of this huge cake. It is 

a very wise decision by Governor 

Ambode and his team. 

“Thankfully, Lagos in 

preparation for the launch 

of the state’s tourism master 

Nigeria Communications 

Commission (NCC) will 

not approve the sale of 

9mobile to any bidder without 

technical competence, the executive 

vice-chairman of the 

commission, Umar Danbatta, 

said on Monday. 

Danbatta gave the assurance 

at an interactive session with 

journalists in Lagos, saying a preferred 

bidder for 9mobile had 

emerged with the full participation 

of NCC, adding that the 

bidder was already undergoing 

financial evaluation. 

“Once the Central Bank of 

Nigeria has done the financial 

evaluation of the bidder, NCC 

will also examine the technical 

capacity of the preferred bidder. 

“If the financial evaluation 

process was not done properly, 

the CBN would address questions 

on that; the examination 

process is meant to be open 

and transparent. The board of 

9mobile was given the mandate 

with these requirements in 

mind,” he said. 

He also said the NCC had 

licensed four infracos, saying, 

“Recently, Zinox Technology 

Ltd. was licensed for broadband 

infrastructure provisioning 

for the South-East Zone while 

Brinks Integrated Solutions Ltd. 

was issued licence for the Northdefect 

by bringing industry stake 

holders and the academia to a 

round table in order to identify 

issues bedevilling human capacity 

development in the industry 

and to proffer sustainable, 

private-sector-driven solutions 

that would enhance in-country 

value addition. 

OGTAN noted that fresh 

graduates from Nigeria’s tertiary 

institutions are ill-equipped to 

grab the opportunities the oil 

industry offers, and as a result, the 

multi-billion dollar industry contributed 

a paltry 10 per cent to the 

nation’s Gross Domestic Product 

(GDP) as of third quarter 2017. 

OGTAN’s president, Afe Mayowa, 

in his address, said the 

body was working on a couple of 

projects to encourage researches 

between oil and gas practitioners 

and academia. 

He listed some of the projects 

as categorisation of member 

companies in line with international 

standard, issuance of 

guidelines for standardisation of 

training establishment of National 

Occupation Standard (NOS) 


Oba Otudeko, group chairman, FBN Holdings plc (2nd l), receives the Lifetime Achievement Award; flanked by Ike Nwachukwu (l); Sam 

Amuka, executive chairman, Vanguard Newspapers (2nd r), and Olusegun Osoba, former governor of Ogun State (r), at the Vanguard 

Personality of the Year Awards 2018 in Lagos. 

… as Mahama, experts pick Lagos to emerge African hub if … 

Need to boost local content dominates OGTAN’s Educational summit 

DIPO OLADEHINDE 

plan has began upgrading 

and expanding critical infrastructure 

including transportation, 

roads and of course 

the recent reclamation that 

is ongoing.” 

Governor Ambode said 

his administration was consciously 

investing huge resources 

to develop an enduring 

infrastructural architecture 

that would ensure that 

the state’s tourism potentials 

were fully harnessed for all 

round economic growth and 

development. 

“As a government, we are 

conscious of the fact that infrastructure, 

security, stability 

and partnership with all 

stakeholders are fundamental 

ingredients for tourism development. 

We have channelled 

a lot of resources into creating 

an enduring infrastructural 

architecture for the business 

of tourism to thrive,” he said. 

Other speakers at the 

event, however, added that 

the state could attract additional 

N10 billion annually 

from Meetings Incentives 

Conference and Exhibitions 

(MICE) if it improves on infrastructure, 

adopts strategic 

marking and bidding for the 

hosting rights of some global 

events. 

In his paper on MICE, 

Ikechi Uko, CEO, Akwaaba 

African Travel Market, noted 

that despite the huge business 

volume in Lagos, the 

state was not ranked among 

10 top MICE cities in Africa 

because of the lack of efforts 

at developing needed infrastructure 

to support such 

global events. 

He regretted that the likes 

of South Africa, Morocco 

and most recently, Rwanda, 

were making over $2 billion 

annually from hosting global 

events. 

As well, Wanle Akinboboye, 

CEO, La Campagne Resort, 

Lagos, noted that Kenya 

makes huge foreign exchange 

from its less than 50km coastal 

beach at Mombasa while 

Lagos is yet to make a sizable 

revenue from its over the 

150km coastal beach. 

in conjunction with the National 

Content and Development 

Management Board (NCDMB), 

fostering collaboration between 

regulatory bodies, academia and 

the oil and gas industry to help 

close gap between the University 

theory and the practical of the oil 

and gas industry, and others. 

Former minister of education, 

Oby Ezekwesili, who was 

also the chairman of the occasion 

urged the Nigeria government 

to diversify now stressing that 

continuous dependence on oil 

and gas will not take Nigeria to 

promise land. 

“With the development of 

human capital and local content, 

Nigeria’s vast natural resources 

would amount to nothing when 

put at par with developed countries 

of the world,” Ezekwesili said 

“It doesn’t matter what quantity 

if oil and gas, and minerals still 

existing in our grounds, without 

developing human capacity and 

local content, we might as well as 

we are heading for collapse. 

“OIl and gas is a means to an 

end. The end is about the development 

of human capital.” 

Ezekwesili added that discretionary 

allocation of oil blocks 

gave rise to “massive” corruption 

in Nigeria. 

“I guess politicians assumed 

marginal fields would be distributed 

to them without due process; 

the discretionary allocation 

of oil blocks led to massive and 

grand corruption in Nigeria; so 

to this end, we entrenched the 

system of licensing and marginal 

fields’ allocation in order to encourage 

local players.” 

According to Ezekwesili, right 

policies need to be put in place 

in the oil and gas sector to avoid 

political sentiments. 

Also speaking, Group 

Managing Director, Nigerian 

National Petroleum Corporation 

(NNPC), Maikanti Baru, 

represented by the Managing 

Director of Nigerian Engineering 

and Technology Company 

(NETCO), Siky Aliyu, urged 

for collaboration between academia 

and the industry on researchers 

to attract investments 

into the country.


FT FINANCIAL TIMES 

C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

A3 

World Business Newspaper 

WPP shares tumble 

after Martin Sorrell’s 

departure 

Putin support for Assad 

paints Russia into a 

dangerous corner 

Insouciance after allied strikes fails to mask vulnerable position 

KATHRIN HILLE 

Four months ago, Vladimir Putin 

appeared in firm control of 

the agenda in Syria: Moscow’s 

military intervention, the Russian 

president confidently declared, had 

accomplished its aim of crushing Isis 

and all parties needed to move on to 

a political resolution. 

But the US-led missile strikes 

on Syria have underlined the risks 

Moscow’s staunch support for Syrian 

president Bashar al-Assad carries, as 

it pushes Russia into an increasingly 

dangerous corner and is damaging 

Moscow’s broader interests, diplomats 

say. 

“They cast themselves as the protector 

of Syria’s sovereignty, the fighters 

against western schemes to push 

for regime change and partition that 

country, but they risk becoming partners 

with Assad in being international 

outlaws,” said a diplomat from a European 

country whose government is 

usually seen as Russia-friendly. “They 

are beginning to look like a pariah 

state, and more and more they are 

behaving like one.” 

In aftermath of the suspected gas 

attack in Douma that killed dozens of 

people, US president Donald Trump 

made a point of criticising Mr Putin, 

saying Russia, along with Iran, was 

responsible for backing Mr Assad, 

while warning there would be a “big 

price to pay”. 

Moscow has fiercely rejected accusations 

that the Syrian military was 

responsible for the attack and even denied 

that chemical weapons were used 

at all. Those denials were the latest in a 

series of Russian steps to block the extension 

of a 2013 inspection regime for 

Syrian chemical weapons and shield 

Mr Assad from international pressure. 

Now, this position appears set 

to create new risks for Russia both 

economic and political. Nikki Haley, 

the US ambassador to the UN, said on 

Sunday that Washington planned to 

impose new sanctions against Russia 

over its support for Syria, little more 

than a week after Washington triggered 

a sell-off in Russian markets 

with punitive measures against seven 

oligarchs, including Oleg Deripaska, 

that pushed Rusal, the country’s largest 

aluminium producer, to the brink 

UK and US move on Chinese 

group citing national security 

Telecoms company ZTE hit by sanctions amid growing backlash in west 

NIC FILDES, SHAWN DONNAN AND 

PAN KWAN YUK 

Page A5 

of collapse. 

Meanwhile, the US has pledged 

not to pull its estimated 2,000 troops 

from north-eastern Syria where they 

have been fighting Isis, until its goals 

are accomplished, while Mr Putin has 

warned against further strikes. 

Diplomats in Moscow believe 

the Russian leader may well keep up 

his support for Mr Assad. Mr Putin 

deployed troops and fighter jets to 

Syria in 2015, turning the civil war in 

Damascus’s favour. 

“He has waded in so deep now that 

he has become Assad’s hostage,” said 

a European diplomat. 

Indeed, even as Mr Assad stands 

accused of having used chemical 

weapons against his own people again, 

Russian Middle East experts believe 

that Moscow does not have the option 

of dropping him. 

“We recognise that the divide 

between Assad and large parts of the 

opposition looks almost insurmountable,” 

a Russian diplomat with experience 

in three Middle Eastern countries 

said. “But we do not see an alternative 

figure that could guarantee stability 

and territorial integrity.” 

This stubborn backing for Mr Assad 

is not so much a reflection of trust or 

a personal preference for the Syrian 

leader than of the underlying rationale 

for Russia’s engagement in the conflict: 

containing the US in the Middle East 

and on the international stage more 

broadly. 

A political transition brokered by 

Russia, Iran and Turkey, in which Syrian 

opposition groups would be forced 

to accept elections that Mr Assad 

would be virtually assured of winning, 

remained “the only reasonable option 

because the US is bent on dismembering 

the country”, said a Russian former 

ambassador involved in Moscow’s 

talks with Syrian opposition groups. 

Moscow’s approach to Syria has 

been driven by a mixture of policy 

goals: protecting economic interests 

in the region that eroded after Soviet 

times; countering Islamist threats 

to Russia’s neighbours and its own 

Muslim areas; taking advantage of a 

distracted US to resurrect Moscow’s 

influence in the Middle East; and 

preventing regime change, which Mr 

Putin has long viewed as a source of 

global instability. 

Britain and the US have moved 

against one of China’s largest 

telecoms equipment makers, 

adding to a growing list of restrictions 

imposed by western governments on 

Chinese companies on national security 

grounds. 

The measures taken against ZTE 

Corp, which cuts it off from US suppliers 

and bars it entirely from doing 

business in the UK, comes amid a particularly 

aggressive move by the Trump 

administration, which has already used 

the Committee on Foreign Investment 

in the US, a secretive national security 

body, to block or force changes to several 

Chinese-linked deals. 

It also is likely to add to mounting 

Continues on page A4 

James Comey claims 

Donald Trump may 

be compromised by 

Russians 

Russian president Vladimir Putin, left, and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in Russia in November 2017 © AP 

China’s Xi Jinping says he is opposed to life-long rule 

President insists term extension is necessary to align government and party posts 

TOM MITCHELL 

Chinese President Xi Jinping has 

said that he is “personally opposed” 

to life-long rule, adding 

that foreign observers have “misinterpreted” 

a recent constitutional amendment 

that revoked the two-term limit 

on the presidency. 

Mr Xi expressed his views at three 

recent meetings with foreign dignitaries 

and Chinese officials, according 

to people who either attended the 

meetings or were briefed on the discussions. 

They added that Mr Xi justified 

the decision in terms of needing to 

align the country’s three top government 

and Communist party jobs. Mr 

Xi’s two more powerful posts — party 

general secretary and chairmanship of 

the party’s Central Military Commission 

— are not subject to term limits. 

Merck lung cancer trial boosts immunotherapy hopes 

Company says test results show ‘unambiguous’ improvement in survival rates 

DAVID CROW 

Immunotherapy is set to become 

the default treatment for the vast 

majority of lung cancer patients 

after a clinical trial from drugmaker 

Merck & Co showed that adding its 

novel medicine to chemotherapy 

boosted survival. 

Unlike traditional cancer drugs, 

immunotherapies work by encouraging 

the body’s immune system to attack 

tumours. They have been hailed 

by oncologists as one of the biggest 

advances in decades. 

Some recently diagnosed lung 

cancer patients already receive a 

type of immunotherapy known as a 

checkpoint inhibitor if their tumours 

have high levels of a protein, PDL1. 

But the standard treatment for most 

is still chemotherapy. 

That looks set to change after 

the publication of a large, late-stage 

clinical trial on Monday in Chicago at 

the annual meeting of the American 

Association of Cancer Research. 

The study showed that combining 

chemotherapy with Merck’s check- 

Page A6 

Two people said Mr Xi had surprised 

his guests by raising the issue 

himself. “President Xi said he was 

‘personally opposed’ to [lifetime rule] 

and the outside world had ‘misinterpreted’ 

the amendment,” one of the 

people said. 

Mr Xi did not say at the meetings 

whether he intended to serve as president, 

party general secretary and CMC 

chairman for three or more terms. 

On February 25, the official Xinhua 

news agency announced that the Communist 

party’s Central Committee had 

recommended scrapping the two-term 

limit on China’s presidency, paving the 

way for Mr Xi to remain president for 

life if he wishes. 

The Central Committee’s “recommendation” 

to revoke the presidential 

term limit was taken at a closed-door 

meeting in mid-January but kept secret 

for more than a month. 

point inhibitor significantly increased 

survival rates in patients with the 

most common type of the illness, 

known as non-squamous, non-small 

cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 

Patients who received Keytruda, 

the checkpoint inhibitor, in addition 

to chemotherapy were 51 per 

cent less likely to die during the 

trial than those taking chemo on its 

own, according to the study of 616 

participants. 

“These clinical data now suggest 

this combination as a new standard 

of care for the first-line treatment 

of these . . . patients,” said Dr Leena 

Gandhi, an oncologist at the NYU 

Langone Medical Center, who led 

the study. 

Dr Roger Perlmutter, Merck’s chief 

scientist, said the “unambiguous” 

results had exceeded the company’s 

expectations. “As a first-line treatment 

this is better than anything we know 

about.” 

However, the combination still 

burdened patients with the debilitating 

and sometimes life-threatening 

side effects associated with chemo- 

The amendment has stirred unease 

among many urban elites, including 

college graduates, intellectuals and 

civil servants, who worry about a return 

to the excesses of one-man rule 

that tarnished Mao Zedong’s 27-year 

reign. 

Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping, 

had term limits written into China’s 

constitution in an effort to bring more 

predictability to leadership transitions 

in the world’s most populous country. 

“The amendment sends a terrible signal 

about institutional rule,” said one 

former Chinese government official. 

A senior executive at a large listed 

Chinese state-owned enterprise added 

that he had been forced to answer 

awkward questions from investors ever 

since the amendment was announced. 

“Investors have been asking lots of 

questions about it,” the executive said. 

“It doesn’t look good.” 

therapy. 

The findings mean that from now 

on most untreated lung cancer patients 

will be given an immunotherapy 

by default. The question would then 

be whether they should also receive 

chemotherapy as a second treatment 

— or whether they can be spared the 

punishing drug altogether. 

Patients with higher levels of the 

PDL1 protein — who tend to respond 

very well to immunotherapy on its 

own — might be able to forgo chemotherapy, 

especially if they are frail 

or elderly, said Dr Perlmutter. 

“A lot of it has to do with state of 

health of individual,” he added. “It’s 

a very personalised decision, but the 

fact you see such a dramatic difference 

with the combination is, I think, going 

to make people eager to use it.” 

The recent trial cements Merck’s 

position as the leader in the race to 

bring immunotherapy to lung cancer 

patients, which is seen as the most lucrative 

market given the large number 

of sufferers: more than 200,000 people 

in the US are diagnosed with NSCLC 

each year out of 1.8m worldwide.


C002D5556 Tuesday 17 April 2018 

FT 

NATIONAL 

Deutsche Bank and VW pay price for shambolic governance 

Shortcomings of two-tier board structure evident at teetering German titans 

PATRICK JENKINS 

Germany’s biggest bank and 

its biggest carmaker are not 

obviously comparable. But 

look under the bonnet and they have 

a surprising amount in common. And 

not in a good way. 

Consider three obvious parallels. 

Both Deutsche Bank and Volkswagen 

have been through scandal and 

existential crisis in the past few years. 

Both have Qatari investors as leading 

shareholders. Then, last week, both 

ditched their chief executives two 

years earlier than expected. 

The circumstances of the defenestrations 

of John Cryan at Deutsche 

and Matthias Müller at VW were 

quite different of course. Mr Cryan 

had spent nearly three years successfully 

raising fresh capital, resolving 

significant legacy litigation and 

launching a big cost-cutting effort 

but he was ousted after failing to turn 

around performance or lift the share 

price. Mr Müller did a better job of 

reviving the stock price following the 

emissions rigging scandal, but an 

ambitious successor was standing by 

to push through a big restructuring 

of the group. 

Investors welcomed both new 

brooms. Deutsche’s stock price rose 

3 per cent last week after Christian 

Sewing was revealed as the bank’s 

new CEO; VW’s was up 9 per cent on 

the appointment of Herbert Diess. 

Whether that optimism is justified 

remains to be seen. Deutsche’s strategy 

— de-emphasising investment 

banking without a strong alternative 

to replace it — is unconvincing. VW’s 

inefficiencies have thus far proved 

tough to crack. 

The different challenges these 

companies face are horribly complex. 

But underlying their ills are flawed 

corporate governance systems — an 

important fourth parallel. 

UK and US move on Chinese 

group citing national... 

Continued from page A3 

economic tension between Washington 

and Beijing, which are locked in a 

rhetorical trade war that threatens to 

impose tariffs on $150bn in bilateral 

trade. 

US commerce department officials 

insisted the move was not related to 

other actions taken in recent weeks 

by the White House, noting ZTE’s 

violations were first investigated by 

the Obama administration. But experts 

said the sanctions were part of a 

growing anti-China backlash not only 

in London and Washington, but also 

Germany, Australia and Canada. 

“Things are pretty rocky right now,” 

said Matthew Goodman, an expert on 

US-Asian economic ties at the Centre 

for Strategic and International Studies 

in Washington. 

“The timing of this is somewhat 

unfortunate because it could make 

it seem like they are connected,” 

acknowledged a senior commerce 

department official. It also came just 

hours after Donald Trump resurrected 

an accusation Beijing was manipulating 

its currency. 

The double blow could prove devastating 

to ZTE, a Shenzhen-based 

group that was founded in 1985 as an 

offshoot of the aerospace ministry. It 

came to prominence in the 1990s as 

a mobile networks supplier and has 

grown rapidly to become one of the 

world’s largest equipment makers both 

in China and the US. 

The UK’s cyber security watchdog 

warned British telecoms operators in a 

forcefully written letter on Monday not 

to use ZTE equipment because its state 

ownership raises security concerns. 

That effectively shuts it out of billions 

of pounds in contracts to upgrade the 

UK’s telecoms infrastructure to 5G and 

full fibre networks. 

The US commerce department 

banned American companies from 

doing any business with ZTE for seven 

years after it charged the company 

with violating a 2017 settlement over 

allegations it illegally sold equipment, 

including US parts on a list restricted 

from export, to Iran and North Korea. 

The move would prohibit any US 

company from doing business with 

ZTE anywhere in the world. ZTE did 

not respond to requests for comment. 

“This is literally cutting them off 

from any activity involving the US and 

any US items whether it’s a pencil or 

whether it’s a router,” said one former 

US official familiar with the case. 

ZTE pleaded guilty to criminal 

charges and paid $1.2bn to the US as 

part of the 2017 settlement, but US 

officials said the company lied to the 

commerce department about carrying 

out disciplinary actions against employees 

involved in the scheme — in 

some cases even rewarding those staff 

with bonuses. Investigators also found 

ZTE lied to US authorities as part of the 

settlement talks going back to 2016. 

US president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing in November © AFP 

China caught off guard by unpredictable Trump 

Chinese leaders are confident they can withstand a Sino-US trade war 

TOM MITCHELL 

When Donald Trump escalated 

trade tension with China this 

month, President Xi Jinping 

cited a Chinese saying in vowing to defend 

global trade rules. “When the sky 

falls, big men must hold it up,” he said 

in private meetings, according to four 

people briefed on his remarks. 

The Chinese president and his top 

advisers, including vice-president 

Wang Qishan and vice-premier Liu 

He, were initially confident the US and 

China could bridge their differences 

through talks, according to people who 

have recently met them. 

“China and the US are like an old 

married couple, we fight a lot but we 

still need each other,” Lou Jiwei, a former 

finance minister, said in a closeddoor 

exchange with an international 

delegation in late March, according 

to two people briefed on the meeting. 

But China’s view of the US presi- 

A 

prominent Australian start-up 

backed by News Corp co-chairman 

Lachlan Murdoch has applied 

for a UK court injunction to prevent 

it being banned from Google’s app store 

and mobile advertising inventory. 

Unlockd, which develops technology 

that enables mobile phone users to 

opt in to advertisements in exchange for 

rewards, said on Monday that Google’s 

plan to ban its service was an abuse of 

its dominant position and a breach of 

competition rules. 

The case marks the latest challenge 

to Google, which has faced an intensifying 

backlash from app developers, 

shopping comparison websites, media 

publishers and other businesses as its 

influence over internet and mobile 

users grows. 

dent began to shift after Mr Trump 

threatened to put tariffs on another 

$100bn of Chinese imports. Mr Trump 

had already enraged Chinese officials 

in March by signing the Taiwan Travel 

Act, which urges more US exchanges 

with the self-ruled island that Beijing 

regards as Chinese territory. 

Beijing’s previously sanguine view 

of Mr Trump was partly due to the 

fact the US president did not use his 

first year in office to follow through 

on some of the pledges he made during 

the campaign about getting tough 

with China. 

While Chinese officials now realise 

Mr Trump meant what he said in Beijing 

in November — that the Sino-US 

trade relationship was not “fair and reciprocal” 

and had to be solved — they 

also believe they can emerge from a 

trade war relatively unscathed. 

“Trump has certainly got [China’s] 

attention,” said Peter Mandelson, the 

former EU trade commissioner who this 

week led a British delegation to China 

Unlockd seeks injunction to halt ban from app store and advertising inventory 

Unlockd relies heavily on the Google 

Play app store for downloads of its technology, 

which is deployed under other 

brand names including Tesco Mobile in 

the UK and Sprint in the US. 

Users who agree to watch ads in 

exchange for discounts or other rewards 

from Tesco Mobile or Sprint see content 

that the start-up has sourced from 

Google’s AdMob inventory. 

A decision to ban Unlockd from the 

app store and AdMob would upend the 

business, which said it had been forced 

to pull an initial public offering on the 

Australian Securities Exchange because 

of the uncertainty created by Google’s 

change of policy. 

“It is particularly striking that 

Google’s warnings emerged at a time 

of speculation around an Unlockd 

IPO in mid-April 2018,” Unlockd said. 

“Google’s anti-competitive conduct is 

that met Mr Wang. “Chinese officials 

are confident and sure of their direction. 

They don’t want a fight [with the US], but 

if they get one they’re going to give as 

good as they get.” 

China was surprised again on Friday 

after Mr Trump said he would consider 

re-joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership 

trade deal. Chinese officials had seen his 

move to leave the TPP, which did not 

include China, on day one in office as 

a “grand gift”. 

“We have our problems with Trump,” 

said one western diplomat in Beijing. 

“But he has taught us that when you 

push back hard against the Chinese, it 

knocks them off-balance.” 

Two senior Chinese officials told the 

Financial Times that the Taiwan Travel 

Act and Mr Trump’s additional trade 

threats limited Mr Xi’s room for manoeuvre 

in a major speech last week that had 

been previously billed as a blueprint for 

aggressive economic reforms. China’s 

president did not want to give the impression 

he was yielding to US pressure. 

Australian start-up accuses Google of breaching competition rules 

JAMIE SMYTH AND ALIYA RAM 

preventing Unlockd from raising capital 

to continue its rapid expansion and innovation, 

and therefore protecting Google 

from a growing and potential competitor.” 

Google’s advertising policies prohibit 

publishers from paying users to view 

ads. The company said it had engaged 

with Unlockd about its policies, which 

it argues are designed to protect the 

interests of advertisers, publishers and 

phone users. 

Google said: “We explained our 

concerns to Unlockd, outlined how 

they could fix the problems or use alternatives 

and gave them time to make 

changes. And despite having agreed at 

the outset to comply with our product 

policies, their app remains in infringement.” 

However, Unlockd has argued that 

Google is threatened by the idea of 

returning advertising revenues to users. 

Guggenheim under SEC 

investigation over 

mansion purchases 

Investment management division says 

it is co-operating with US regulator 

SUJEET INDAP AND JAMES 

FONTANELLA-KHAN 

The Securities and Exchange 

Commission is investigating 

the purchases of three California 

mansions as well as loans to 

a now-bankrupt retailer involving 

Guggenheim Partners, the sprawling 

US financial services firm. 

Guggenheim Partners Investment 

Management, the asset management 

division that looks over more than 

$300bn, is regulated by the SEC and 

is the subject of the inquiry by the 

agency’s enforcement arm. 

In a statement, Guggenheim 

Partners said: “We are cooperating 

fully with the SEC’s investigation of 

our subsidiary, Guggenheim Partners 

Investment Management (GPIM), 

and we cannot comment further.” 

The Wall Street Journal first reported 

the SEC inquiry on Sunday. 

The investigation is looking into 

the role played in the transactions by 

ABS Capital, a Miami-based firm with 

close ties to Guggenheim founder 

Mark Walter. As the Financial Times 

first reported in 2017, Mr Walter and 

Scott Minerd, Guggenheim’s chief investment 

officer and leader of GPIM, 

had been at odds over the management 

and direction of the firm. The 

SEC investigation could become another 

source of tension between the 

two; while the investigation focuses 

on Mr Minerd’s GPIM unit, the transactions 

targeted involve ABS Capital, 

the firm with ties to Mr Walter. 

Mr Walter and ABS had together 

purchased a Malibu mansion from 

Hollywood mogul David Geffen in 

2017 for $85m. Separately, ABS had 

bought two homes in nearby Pacific 

Palisades, in one of which Guggenheim’s 

global head of institutional 

distribution, Alexandra Court, lived 

for a period. 

Ms Court’s dramatic restructuring 

of the sales team had rankled Mr 

Minerd and was a source of broader 

tension at the firm. Multiple sources 

told the FT that Mr Walter and Ms 

Court had a close personal relationship. 

Guggenheim has said that no 

non-business relationship existed 

between them, but if it had it would 

have been properly disclosed to the 

Guggenheim board. 

A person close to Guggenheim 

Partners said Ms Court no longer 

resides in the Palisades home. This 

person also said that GPIM had no 

involvement in the purchase of any of 

the three homes nor any relationship 

with ABS Capital. 

The SEC investigation is also 

interested in Guggenheim Partners’ 

involvement in BCBG Max Azria, the 

women’s retailer. When BCBG filed 

for bankruptcy protection in early 

2017, GPIM lost hundreds of millions 

of dollars in debt and equity investments 

it had made in the years before 

the Chapter 11 filing.



@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED 

WPP shares tumble after 

Martin Sorrell’s departure 

Analysts suggest advertising group could be broken up and sold off 

MATTHEW GARRAHAN AND 

ATTRACTA MOONEY 

WPP shares fell almost 7 

per cent on Monday as 

investors absorbed the 

departure of Martin Sorrell, the 

advertising group’s chief executive 

of more than three decades. 

Sir Martin quit late on Saturday 

after an investigation into an 

allegation of personal misconduct, 

which he has denied. 

One top 20 WPP shareholder 

told the Financial Times his departure 

would avoid a “protracted 

battle” with the board “which 

wouldn’t be good for either side”. 

WPP has appointed Mark 

Read, chief executive of WPP 

Digital, and Andrew Scott, WPP’s 

chief operating officer for Europe, 

as co-chief operating officers, 

with chairman Roberto Quarta, 

becoming executive chairman. 

However, the owner of advertising 

companies including J 

Walter Thompson, GroupM and 

Kantar Media is looking for a 

permanent successor to Sir Martin 

and is considering external 

candidates. 

“Uncertainty is likely to linger 

until a new CEO is appointed and 

a new strategy outlined to the 

market,” UBS analysts said. 

Shareholders canvassed by 

the FT said they feared a talent 

drain following his departure. 

One investor said several top 

employees had stayed with the 

company in the hope of being 

Sir Martin’s successor. “You will 

have some people leave who had 

been a number-one hopeful,” the 

shareholder said. 

WPP has had a torrid time over 

the past 18 months, losing more 

than a third of its market value 

S&P chart showing that bluechip 

dividend payers no longer 

shine 

Is trouble looming for the dividend 

aristocrats of the US stock 

market? 

Buying shares in companies 

that have proved themselves reliable 

dividend payers has been a 

winning strategy in the era of low 

interest rates and aggressive central 

bank policy. 

The S&P Dividend Aristocrats 

index — made up of 53 companies 

that have increased their annual dividend 

each year for the past quarter 

of a century — has generated a total 

return of about 440 per cent since 

the bull market for stocks began in 

March 2009. In contrast, the S&P 

500 is up 372 per cent in the same 

period, including the reinvestment 

on earnings downgrades as the 

biggest consumer brands cut their 

spending on advertising. Sir Martin’s 

exit has focused attention on 

WPP’s future, with some analysts 

expecting it to be broken into its 

constituent parts and sold off. 

“Sir Martin could arguably be 

called the glue that bound much 

of WPP together,” said Liberum 

analysts. “With his departure, we 

think the chances of significant 

chunks of the business being sold 

off have dramatically increased.” 

Kantar Media, WPP’s data investment 

and market research 

unit, is among the companies most 

likely to be sold, said analysts. 

“WPP is unusual among the 

big global agency groups in having 

such a large exposure [to 

market research],” said Liberum, 

adding that WPP’s PR businesses 

were also likely to be put on the 

block. “We suspect WPP’s PR assets 

could also be put up for sale 

although this is less likely than a 

sale of the data investment unit.” 

A top 30 shareholder in WPP 

played down the likelihood of a 

break-up. “It’s far too easy to say 

it should be broken up,” the shareholder 

said. “How do you do it? It’s 

fiercely complicated.” 

A break-up would unravel a 

company that took Sir Martin 33 

years to assemble, although he 

is free to start his own ad venture 

because he does not have a noncompete 

agreement with WPP. Sir 

Martin continues to own about 2 

per cent of the company. 

His departure could hurt WPP 

in other ways. “We are uncertain 

how important his relationships 

with CMOs was in winning and retaining 

clients,” said UBS analysts. 

Shares in WPP closed down 6.5 

per cent at £11.11. 

Is trouble looming for US dividend aristocrats? 

Holding cash has become a more viable investment decision 

MICHAEL MACKENZIE 

of dividends. 

However, this year the aristocrats 

index has fallen 2.2 per cent versus a 

0.1 per cent decline for the broader 

S&P 500, including the reinvestment 

of dividends. 

Part of the explanation is that 

holding cash has become a more 

viable investment decision. As the 

Federal Reserve tightens policy, the 

rise in yields for short-dated government 

bills — seen as cash-like 

instruments because they can be 

sold very quickly — has for the first 

time in a decade become an attractive 

element for portfolios. 

At an implied yield of 2.08 per 

cent, the 12 month T-bill sits above 

the S&P 500’s 12-month trailing dividend 

of 1.95 per cent. Bills also look 

competitive against the low yields of 

longer-dated Treasury notes. 

If T-bills stay competitive, it 

does not bode well for the dividend 

aristocrats. 

FINANCIAL TIMES 

DAVE SHELLOCK 

What you need to know 

• S&P 500 up 1%, back in positive 

territory for the year 

• Markets relieved at lack of escalation 

in Syria crisis 

• Oil prices retreat after reaching 

four-year highs last week 

• Rouble adopts steadier tone 

• Sterling back above $1.43 for first 

time since January 

Overview 

US stocks started the week on 

a firm note and oil prices fell 

as concerns that the crisis in 

Syria could escalate in an uncontrolled 

fashion proved unfounded 

— for now at least. 

“The markets breathed a collective 

sigh of relief that air strikes on Syria 

conducted by the US, France and the 

UK were relatively constrained and 

limited to Syria’s chemical weapons 

capabilities,” said Piotr Matys, strategist 

at Rabobank. 

“That said, geopolitical risk has 

not evaporated and tension between 

the US, supported by its allies, and 

Russia is set to prevail.” 

Mr Matys noted that while the 

rouble had stabilised following its 

sharp fall last week, it remained vulnerable 

after the US vowed to impose 

more sanctions against Russia for 

supporting the Assad regime. 

C002D5556 

All the sectors of the S&P 500 

were higher at midday in New York, 

although financials once again lagged 

behind. Bank of America shares fell 

in spite of a robust set of quarterly 

results from the lender. 

The better tone to US equities left 

US and German government bond 

prices drifting lower, pushing the 

two-year Treasury yield to its highest 

in almost a decade. 

But the dollar failed to benefit 

from the rise in yields — with sterling 

outperforming as it climbed 

back above $1.43 for the first time 

since late January. 

The dollar’s broad retreat came 

in spite of data showing a rebound 

in US retail sales last month. 

“Despite the stronger 0.4 per 

cent month-on-month gain in underlying 

retail sales in March, real 

consumption growth looks to have 

slowed to around 1 per cent annualised 

in the first quarter,” said Andrew 

Hunter at Capital Economics. 

“Nonetheless, with incomes 

boosted by the recent tax cuts and 

a strong labour market, the conditions 

are in place for spending 

growth to pick up again in the second 

quarter.” 

The weekend’s events in Syria 

overshadowed news that the US 

Treasury had decided not to accuse 

any country of being a currency 

manipulator. 

However, President Donald 

BUSINESS DAY 

Sir Martin resigned on Saturday following an investigation into an allegation of personal misconduct © Reuters 

Wall Street forges ahead as Syria concerns ease 

Oil prices fall, 2-year Treasury yield touches highest in a decade 

Intesa set for record €11bn sale of non-performing loans 

MARTIN ARNOLD 

Intesa Sanpaolo is close to agreeing 

the Italian bank’s biggest ever 

sale of non-performing loans after 

receiving a binding offer from Sweden’s 

Intrum to buy its debt-collection 

operation and €10.8bn of bad loans. 

The board of Intesa is due to meet 

on Tuesday morning to decide whether 

to accept the deal, which marks a strategic 

shift for the bank and is a further 

sign the European Central Bank’s efforts 

to reduce the toxic loans weighing 

down European banks is bearing fruit. 

Intesa said in a statement on Monday 

evening that Intrum had made a 

binding offer to buy €10.8bn of bad 

loans from the bank for €3.1bn, which 

is close to their book value. 

The Swedish debt collection specialist 

is also taking on 600 employees 

from Intesa’s debt collection unit, 

which is being merged with its own 

Italian operations. The deal will create 

a new Italian debt collection business, 

which will be 51 per cent owned by 

Intrum and 49 per cent by Intesa. The 

new business will manage more than 

€40bn of bad loans in total. 

The deal allows Intesa to deconsolidate 

the bad loans from its balance 

sheet and means it is halfway towards 

the four-year target it set recently to 

reduce its bad loans by €26bn. The 

Italian lender, which had until recently 

resisted pressure from the ECB to 

dispose of its bad loans, said the deal 

would generate a net capital gain of 

about €400m. 

Italian banks have been stepping 

up their disposals of non-performing 

loans in recent years in response to 

intensifying pressure from regulators 

and investors. 

Last year, UniCredit set a new record 

for the country by selling €17.7bn 

of bad loans to Pimco and Fortress, the 

US fund managers. Monte dei Paschi di 

Siena, the partially nationalised lender, 

A5 

Trump claimed on Monday that 

Russia and China were “playing the 

currency devaluation game as the US 

keeps raising interest rates 

Equities 

By midday in New York, the S&P 

500 was up 1 per cent at 2,683 — taking 

it back above where it ended 2017. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average 

was 1.2 per cent higher and the Nasdaq 

Composite was up 0.8 per cent. 

Bank of America shares were 

down 0.5 per cent as the S&P 500 

financial sector gained 0.5 per cent 

— the worst sectoral performance 

in the index. 

Across the Atlantic, stock markets 

appeared more constrained by the 

strength of the euro and — to an even 

greater extent — sterling. 

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index 

and the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt fell 0.4 

per cent, while the FTSE 100 in London 

shed 0.9 per cent. Evraz, the UKlisted 

Russian minter, fell 7 per cent. 

Tokyo’s Topix added 0.4 per cent. 

The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was up 

0.2 per cent and Seoul’s Kospi ticked 

up 0.1 per cent. 

Forex and fixed income 

The dollar index, a measure of the 

greenback against a basket of peers, 

was down 0.4 per cent at 89.43 as the 

euro gained 0.4 per cent to $1.2380 

and sterling climbed 0.6 per cent to 

$1.4324 — not far from the day’s high. 

The dollar was down 0.2 per cent 

versus the yen at ¥107.14. 

is in the process of selling a €25bn portfolio 

of non-performing loans. 

The Italian banking system accounts 

for around a quarter of the 

eurozone’s stockpile of NPLs — by 

the far the largest in the bloc — built 

up during Italy’s triple-dip recession 

and as a result of poor lending and 

supervisory decisions. The bad loans 

have weighed on banks’ profitability 

and the wider economy, stifling lending 

to new businesses. 

New dynamism in the Italian 

economy has started to reduce the 

burden on the banks, although the 

growth of an active market for NPLs 

is seen as crucial to their reduction in 

the short term. 

Data from the Bank of Italy showed 

the stock of gross non-performing 

loans fell 5.5 per cent in November 

2017 to €173bn compared with the 

preceding month, and were down 

6.4 per cent compared with the same 

month in 2016.


C002D5556 Tuesday 17 April 2018 

FT 

George Stephanopoulos of ABC News interviews James Comey © AP 

James Comey claims Donald Trump may be compromised by Russians 

Former FBI head attacks ‘morally unfit’ president who treats ‘women like they’re pieces of meat’ 

KADHIM SHUBBER 

Donald Trump “treats women 

like they’re pieces of meat” 

and may be compromised 

by the Russians, according to James 

Comey, the former FBI director 

who was fired by the US president 

last year. 

The claims were made in an 

ABC News interview broadcast on 

Sunday night in the latest round of 

an extraordinary slanging match 

between a sitting president and a 

former top law enforcement official. 

Mr Comey, speaking before the 

release of his memoir on Tuesday, 

called Mr Trump “morally unfit to 

be president”, referring to the clashes 

between white supremacists and 

anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville, 

Virginia last year. 

“A person who sees moral equivalence 

in Charlottesville, who talks 

about and treats women like they’re 

pieces of meat, who lies constantly 

about matters big and small and 

insists the American people believe 

it, that person’s not fit to be president 

of the United States,” he said. 

In one portion of the interview, 

Mr Comey claimed Mr Trump was 

reluctant to criticise Vladimir Putin, 

the Russian president, even in private, 

and suggested the Russians may have 

compromising information about the 

US president. 

“I think it’s possible. I don’t know. 

These are more words I never thought 

I’d utter about a president of the Unit- 

Russian journalist dies in fall from apartment building 

Maxim Borodin had written articles about Russian mercenaries fighting in Syria 

MAX SEDDON 

A 

Russian journalist who wrote 

about the deaths of Russian mercenaries 

in Syria has died after 

falling from his fifth-floor apartment. 

Maxim Borodin, 32, a reporter for the 

website Novy Den, died on Sunday after 

neighbours found him on the ground 

outside his apartment building in Ekaterinburg 

on Friday. 

Police investigating Borodin’s death 

said they were not treating it as suspicious. 

Borodin did not leave a suicide 

note, and the door was locked from the 

inside. 

Polina Rumyantseva, Novy Den’s 

editor, said police suspected that he had 

fallen off his balcony while sitting on a 

ledge to smoke. “He was going to move to 

Moscow and get married to a girl there,” 

Ms Rumyantseva said. “It looks like a 

terrible accident.” 

Borodin’s death nonetheless struck 

ed States, but it’s possible,” he said. 

The provocative new book by Mr 

Comey — and the media campaign 

around it — comes as the president’s 

legal woes continue to build. Mr 

Trump is grappling not just with the 

investigation by Robert Mueller, the 

special counsel, into alleged Russian 

election meddling, but also a criminal 

investigation of his personal attorney, 

Michael Cohen. 

On Sunday evening, shortly before 

the ABC News interview aired, lawyers 

for Mr Trump asked a New York 

court to stop prosecutors examining 

materials seized from Mr Cohen in 

raids earlier last week. Mr Trump’s 

legal team requested that any seized 

information relating to the president 

be reviewed by him first to protect his 

attorney-client privilege. 

Mr Comey’s book recounts his career 

up until he was fired by Mr Trump 

in May 2017, a decision the long-time 

prosecutor learnt about on television. 

It details the relationship between the 

former FBI head and the president, 

which has become a key part of the 

story of the early Trump White House. 

Mr Comey is a witness to the 

case that the president attempted to 

obstruct justice and said Mr Trump 

asked him to drop the criminal investigation 

of Michael Flynn, the former 

Trump national security adviser who 

pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The 

president has denied the claims. 

He also said Mr Trump asked for 

personal loyalty, comparing him to a 

Mafia boss. 

a chord on social media, where users 

pointed out that he was the latest of 

many Russian independent journalists 

to die in unexplained circumstances. 

Since 1992, 38 journalists have been 

murdered in Russia, while only five of 

those murders have been successfully 

prosecuted, according to the Committee 

to Protect Journalists. The Organization 

for Security and Co-operation in Europe 

called for a full investigation into Borodin’s 

death. 

Last year, independent newspaper 

Novaya Gazeta said it would arm its reporters 

with guns that fire rubber bullets 

after a man broke into the studio of Ekho 

Moskvy, a state-owned talk radio station 

popular among the liberal opposition, 

and stabbed host Tatiana Felgenhauer 

in the neck. Ms Felgenhauer survived the 

attack and later returned to work. 

Borodin had recently investigated 

the deaths of Russian mercenaries who 

fought alongside President Bashar al- 

Assad’s forces in Syria. CIA director Mike 

ANALYSIS 

The book, A Higher Loyalty, has 

kicked off a political firestorm, with 

Republicans branding Mr Comey 

“Lyin’ Comey” in an effort to discredit 

him. 

Mr Trump has responded furiously 

and fired off no fewer than five tweets 

on Sunday morning, calling the book 

“badly reviewed” and Mr Comey himself 

a “slimeball”. 

“I never asked Comey for Personal 

Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy. 

Just another of his many lies. His 

‘memos’ are self serving and FAKE!” 

said the president in one tweet. 

Mr Trump tweeted later: “Slippery 

James Comey, a man who always ends 

up badly and out of whack (he is not 

smart!), will go down as the WORST 

FBI Director in history, by far!” 

On Monday morning, the president 

tweeted again, accusing Mr 

Comey of lying to Congress and committing 

“many crimes”. 

The media war between the pair is 

unlikely to end soon, with Mr Comey 

due to do further television interviews 

in the coming week. A nationwide 

book tour is also scheduled. 

The former FBI director has not 

been wholly critical of Mr Trump. In 

the ABC News interview, Mr Comey 

recounts meeting the president for the 

first time at a meeting at Trump Tower. 

“He had impressively coiffed hair, 

it looks to be all his,” said Mr Comey. “I 

confess, I stared at it pretty closely and 

my reaction was, ‘It must take a heck 

of a lot of time in the morning, but it’s 

impressively coiffed.’” 

Pompeo said last week during hearings 

for his nomination to be US secretary of 

state that “a couple hundred Russians” 

died during an attack on US-backed 

forces in February. 

Russia denies that it has anything 

to do with the mercenaries and has 

acknowledged only five deaths in the 

incident. Western officials and Russian 

analysts say the deaths show that the 

Kremlin is using hired guns to mask its 

official involvement. 

Many of the Russians who died in 

Syria come from depressed industrial 

towns near Ekaterinburg, a major city in 

the Ural Mountains near Siberia. 

Viacheslav Bashkov, a friend of Borodin’s, 

wrote on Facebook that Borodin 

called him at 5am the day before his fall 

and claimed that several camouflaged, 

masked men were outside his apartment 

and a man with a gun was on his balcony. 

Borodin then called Mr Bashkov back an 

hour later and said the men were probably 

conducting a training exercise. 

Bank of America shareholder 

return tops double-digits 

Second-biggest US bank reports stronger-than-forecast first quarter 

ALISTAIR GRAY 

Bank of America has generated a 

double-digit shareholder return 

for the first time in seven years, 

the latest sign that the industry bellwether 

has put its post-crisis malaise 

behind it. 

Lower taxes and higher interest 

rates helped the second-biggest US 

bank by assets produce a return on 

common equity — a closely watched 

measure of profitability — of 10.8 per 

cent during the first three months of 

2018. For years, its return has fallen 

short of the 10 per cent threshold that 

investors in the sector have traditionally 

demanded. 

In spite of the stronger-thanforecast 

results, however, shares in 

BofA ticked up only 0.3 per cent on 

Monday, showing how much bank 

investor expectations have risen. Bond 

trading revenues fell in the quarter, 

and bearish analysts said they were 

underwhelmed by the bank’s lending 

volumes. 

Paul Donofrio, chief financial officer, 

highlighted that BofA’s net income 

of $6.91bn, up 30 per cent from a year 

earlier, was the highest it had ever 

produced. 

While profits were boosted by a 

lower quarterly income tax bill, which 

dropped more than a quarter from a 

year ago to $1.5bn, Mr Donofrio noted 

that pre-tax income was also up 15 per 

cent. “This quarter is not an anomaly,” 

he added. 

The figures follow upbeat updates 

from rivals JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup 

last week. Taken together, they 

suggest that the promised “Trump 

bump” — which has driven S&P 500 

bank stocks 44 per cent higher overall 

since the 2016 presidential election — is 

finally flowing through to bottom lines. 

It marks the first time since the third 

Syria and Russia accused of blocking 

investigators from Douma 

The UK delegation to the international 

chemical weapons 

watchdog has accused Syria 

and Russia of preventing investigators 

from reaching the site of an 

alleged chemical attack near Damascus. 

On Monday evening, investigators 

had still not gained access to 

Douma, site of the April 7 attack 

that prompted Saturday morning’s 

air strikes against Syria’s chemical 

weapons infrastructure by the US, 

UK and France. 

Investigators arrived in Damascus 

on Saturday but were unable to 

reach Douma, just 16km away. The 

UK delegation to the Organisation 

for the Prohibition of Chemical 

Weapons (OPCW) blamed Russia 

and Syria for not allowing the investigators 

to access the site to collect 

samples. 

Peter Wilson, the UK permanent 

representative at the OPCW, told 

Reuters the UN had cleared the 

inspectors to go to Douma but that 

Syria and Russia had said they could 

not guarantee their security. 

“We are obviously keen to make 

sure the inspectors have every 

means that they can to carry out their 

quarter of 2011 — when profits were 

supported by one-time gains — that 

BofA produced an return on equity 

above 10 per cent, according to S&P 

Capital IQ. Analysts have forecast a 

10.3 per cent return for the full year, the 

strongest annual performance since 

the financial crisis. 

Despite this, David Hendler, founder 

of Viola Risk Advisors, said the bank 

was still playing “catch up” to JPMorgan, 

which produced an ROE of 15 per 

cent in the quarter. 

Steven Chubak, analyst at Nomura, 

said: “The results can best be described 

as good, not great.” 

BofA is regarded as among the biggest 

potential beneficiaries of higher 

interest rates because of its particular 

mix of assets and liabilities. 

Revenues from consumer banking 

rose 9 per cent from a year ago to $9bn 

as the lender increased charges for 

borrowers while keeping deposit rates 

little changed. Borrower default rates 

meanwhile remain minimal — the 

bank wrote off only 0.4 per cent of loans 

in the quarter. 

Executives have also expanded the 

loan book — balances for residential 

mortgages, credit cards and US commercial 

lending balances each rose 

between 4 and 6 per cent — although 

the level of increase disappointed some 

analysts. 

“Bank of America has a huge deposits 

cost advantage and needs to demonstrate 

greater levels of loan volume 

growth,” Mr Hendler said. 

The performance of the investment 

bank was also mixed. 

The return of volatility to financial 

markets helped equities, where sales 

and trading revenues leapt 38 per cent 

to $1.5bn, but it failed to boost the larger 

fixed income division. Revenues from 

fixed income, commodities and currencies 

fell 13 per cent to $2.5bn. 

International watchdog held back from site of alleged chemical attack, says UK team 

REBECCA COLLARD 

job and carry out their investigation 

as soon as possible,” Mr Wilson said. 

“We see no reason why they should 

not be able to get to Douma.” 

Russia denied the allegations and 

blamed the US-led strikes against 

Syria for the delay. 

The Syrian government retook 

control of Douma over the weekend 

after rebels surrendered in return for 

safe passage out. 

The US also accused Russia of 

blocking the investigators from 

reaching the site and raised concerns 

that evidence could be tampered 

with, while opposition activists 

and medical workers expressed 

fears evidence could be diluted or 

destroyed before investigators arrived. 

The OPCW mission is to determine 

whether chemical weapons 

were used in the attack, not who carried 

it out. Graphic images of dead 

bodies, people foaming at the mouth 

and panicked children being hosed 

down following the attack drew 

global condemnation last week. 

Syria and Russia have denied 

chemical weapons were used in 

Douma. But the US said it had proof 

before the air strikes, which hit at 

least three targets with more than 

100 missiles.


CMA CGM Group seals deal with LPLE to 

operate Lekki Port’s container terminal 

AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE 

Lekki Port LFTZ 

Enterprise 

(LPLE), promoter 

of the Lekki 

Deep Seaport, 

on Monday, said it had 

signed a memorandum of 

agreement with the CMA 

CGM Group, a player in 

maritime transport, to operate 

Lekki Port’s container 

terminal at the completion 

of the port project. 

The Lekki Deep Seaport 

project is being developed, 

built and operated 

by LPLE, a joint venture 

enterprise led by the Tolaram 

Group, the Lagos 

State government and the 

Nigerian Ports Authority 

(NPA). 

As the container terminal 

operator, CMA CGM, 

through its subsidiary CMA 

Terminals, will be responsible 

for marketing, operations 

and maintenance of 

the container terminal at 

Lekki Deep Seaport. 

BusinessDay understands 

that LPLE formerly 

has an agreement with 

the International Container 

Terminal Services 

Inc (ICTS) to operate the 

container terminal in Lekki 

Port, but the later renounced 

the intention to 

continue with the agreement 

few years back, leaving 

the LPLE the option 

to seek new investor to 

operate the port terminal. 

Lekki port, Nigeria’s 

first deep seaport, upon 

completion in 2020, will 

have two container berths. 

Upon completion, the container 

terminal will be 

equipped with a 1,200-meter-long 

quay as well as 

13 quay cranes and will 

have capacity of 2.5 million 

Twenty-foot Equivalent 

Units (TEUs). With the 

port’s 16-meter depth, it 

will allow the Group to 

deploy ships with capacity 

of up to 14,000 TEUs. 

Speaking on the development, 

Navin Nahata, 

CEO of Lekki Port LFTZ 

Enterprise, described the 

signing of the agreement 

with the CMA CGM Group 

as another step in the right 

direction towards the actualisation 

of the port, which 

would become the deepest 

port in sub-Saharan Africa. 

“We are excited about 

this development because 

CMA Terminals is a world 

class port operator, and 

can be relied upon to provide 

international port 

standard delivery services 

at par with most modern 

ports around the world to 

the Nigerian port customers,” 

he said. 

Farid T. Salem, executive 

officer of the CMA 

CGM Group, said: “We are 

pleased to sign this Memorandum 

of Agreement with 

LPLE to operate Lekki 

Port’s container terminal. 

“As Nigeria’s first deep 

seaport, Lekki Port represents 

a strategic choice 

for the CMA CGM Group. 

Thanks to its position and 

capacity, Lekki Port will 

allow us to bring to Nigeria 

larger containerships from 

Europe and Asia to better 

serve our customers and 

pursue our commitment 

to the development of the 

entire region. 

“With CMA CGM’s 

unique service offering 

and expertise combined 

with our logistics and inland 

services, our presence 

in Lekki Port will benefit 

the entire Nigerian supply 

chain and market as well as 

neighbouring countries.” 

Recall that three weeks 

back, the Federal Government 

pledged its total 

support to the Lekki Port 

project during the official 

flag-off ceremony by President 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

who was represented by 

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. 

C002D5556 

Congestion: Lagos evacuates 

abandoned vehicles from roads 

… as N77bn property saved from fire incidents 

JOSHUA BASSEY 

Against the background 

of traffic 

challenges being 

experienced in Lagos and 

their implications on safety 

and emergency, the Lagos 

State government is set to 

commence evacuation of 

abandoned vehicles from 

roads within and around the 

metropolis. 

This comes as the state 

disclosed on Monday that 

properties worth N76.9 billion 

were salvaged from 

various fire incidents in the 

last one year, while others 

estimated at N12.8 billion 

were, however, lost to the fire 

incidents. 

The evacuation of the 

abandoned vehicles, according 

to Oluseye Oladejo, 

the state commissioner for 

special duties and intergovernmental 

relations, will 

complement emergency 

recovery efforts and prevent 

mishaps on streets and major 

highways across the state. 

Oladejo spoke with journalists 

at a media briefing 

in preparatory to the third 

anniversary of Governor 

Akinwunmi Akinwunmi-led 

government, as the move 

would further address the 

traffic menace and security 

related challenges on the 

roads. 

The commissioner disclosed 

that the state government 

had approved the 

creation of Vehicle Recovery 

Unit solely charged with the 

responsibility of removing 

abandoned and accident 

vehicles on the roads, adding 

that plans were being 

perfected for the unit to 

take off. 

“I am happy to inform 

you that we have gotten approval 

from the governor, to 

set up a towing and recovery 

unit in my ministry to 

complement the emergency 

rescue efforts of the state. 

“This speaks largely to efforts 

in terms of prevention 

to mop up abandoned vehicles 

in all nooks and crannies 

in the State and also 

to make sure that broken 

down vehicles are promptly 

removed to prevent mishaps 

on the highways. For the 

smooth take off of the Unit, 

the Governor also directed 

that equipment and towing 

trucks of various capacities 

be procured to be able to 

remove vehicles of whatever 

make and size,” he said. 

BUSINESS DAY 

A7 

NEWS 

Buy petrol with FirstBank Verve 

card, get free extra litres 

In partnership with Verve 

International, First Bank 

of Nigeria Limited has 

announced a promotion to 

reward customers for using 

their FirstBank Verve card to 

purchase petrol at selected 

Oando filling stations in 

Lagos. 

FirstBank Verve Card 

holders would receive free 

extra litres of petrol each 

time they use their FirstBank 

verve cards to purchase a 

minimum of N3,000 worth 

of petrol, The selected 

Oando petrol stations where 

the promo will run are the 

Maryland, Marina, Alapere 

and Ojodu Berger stations. 

The promo, which will 

run from Thursday to Monday 

every week between 

8am and 8pm, will end on 

May 21, 2018. 

Verve Card is a secure 

debit card which allows the 

card-holder to conveniently 

meet day to day financial 

needs like the payment for 

goods and services, airtime 

recharge, bill payments, 

funds transfer amongst 

others. It is accepted at all 

ATMs, POS/Web/Mobile 

Channels, Firstmonie Agent 

Kiosks, and Bank branches 

connected to the Interswitch 

network in Nigeria. 

Walk into any FirstBank 

branch today and pick 

up your Verve card to get 

rewarded.


Malabu: Rights group seeks withdrawal 

of charges against Adoke 

A 

human rights group 

has called for withdrawal 

of criminal 

charges against former 

Attorney General 

of the Federation (AGF) and 

Minister of Justice, Mohammed 

Adoke, for the alleged Malabu 

oil scandal. 

The organisation, Citizens 

Advocacy for Social and Economic 

Rights (CASER), made 

the call in a letter addressed to 

the incumbent AGF, Abubakar 

Malami. 

In the two-page letter dated 

April 16, and signed by its Executive 

Director, Frank Tietie, 

CASER said the charges against 

Adoke were “manifestly without 

basis.” 

The group’s action came 

barely three days after the Federal 

High Court in Abuja ruled 

that the former AGF could not 

be held liable for his role in the 

controversial Malabu oil deal. 

In a judgment delivered by 

Justice Binta Nyako on Friday, 

the court agreed with Adoke 

that his involvement in the 

controversial sale of Nigeria’s 

oil well, OPL 245, was within his 

constitutional duties. 


reports that the judgment was 

on a suit filed by Adoke against 

the incumbent AGF asking to be 

freed from any criminal liability 

in the transaction. 

The embattled former min- 

Ogun devises e-channel mechanism for 

collection of consumption tax 

RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta 

As part of measures to 

further prevent financial 

leakages in the 

collection of consumption, 

Ogun State Internal Revenue 

Service (OGIRS) is introducing 

electronic mechanism for the 

collection of consumption tax, 

which it says will be a ‘win-win 

situation for government and 

the owners of bars, hotels, restaurants, 

event centres where 

such a tax is being collected 

electronically. 

The state revenue board 

said such a move would also 

be adopted and extended 

to Pool and Betting as well 

as Lottery, saying electronic 

mechanism being adopted in 

tax collection would not only 

help in blocking financial leakages 

and revenue generation 

for government, but for those 

who also pay taxes to the state 

government. 

Speaking on the e-channel 

mechanism for tax collection 

in Abeokuta, the state capital 

on Monday, Adekunle Adeosun, 

chairman, OGIRS, said 

the e-channel mechanism 

was being adopted to monitor 

sales and consumption of 

goods and services at hotels, 

bars, restaurants and event 

centres across the state, adding 

that all sales made on a daily 

basis would be well recorded 

and financial leakages will be 

effectively controlled. 

“The owners of those bars, 

restaurants, hotels and event 

ister said his involvement in 

the entire transaction was in 

compliance with lawful directives 

given to him by former 

President Goodluck Jonathan, 

an argument accepted by the 

court. 

Adoke and others are currently 

on trial by the Economic 

and Financial Crimes Commission 

(EFCC), which is accusing 

them of fraudulent diversion of 

1.1 billion dollars in the controversial 

deal. 

CASER said Friday’s court 

judgment had shown that Adoke 

had no case to answer since 

he acted within the “precincts 

of his constitutional duty as a 

Minister of the Federal Government’’. 

The group said, “As a citizens’ 

rights protection organisation, 

we at CASER strongly 

object to the continued trial of 

the former AGF. 

“We, therefore, urge you to 

exercise your constitutional powers 

under Section 174 of the Nigerian 

Constitution to immediately 

withdraw the charges against 

Adoke on the grounds that they 

are manifestly without basis. 

“Adoke, from the outset, has 

not only maintained innocence 

and full legal compliance in discharge 

of his duties as minister 

of the Federal Government, the 

recent judgment of the Federal 

High Court has corroborated his 

consistent position.’’ 

centres where we want to 

collect 5% consumption tax 

will also benefit from the electronic 

monitoring of taxes. 

“Some owners would say, 

I see lots of bottles in the day, 

lots of people come in, but 

when I prepare my Accounts 

the following day, the Accounts 

will not justify the sales. 

This our effort will control that, 

electronic monitoring will 

reduce that. Financial leakages 

will be reduced on our 

part and also from the owners 

of such properties”, Adeosun 

said. 

While commending Muhammadu 

Buhari-led Federal 

Government for extending period 

of Voluntary Assets and 

Income Declaration Scheme 

(VAIDS) from March 31st to 

June 30th, 2018, Adeosun 

said the extension of VAIDS 

window would offer more 

investors and other people 

additional opportunities to 

file for VAIDS as many people 

are coming forward to declare 

their assets and income. 

The chairman of OGIRS 

also declared that about 100 

high networth individuals, remitting 

N10 million and above 

as taxes had been covered 

by the State-owned Revenue 

Board, as against what was the 

practice in 2016 where only 

two persons were covered, 

saying more efforts would be 

exerted to capture more high 

net worth individuals and 

people in the informal sector 

of the State economy. 

C002D5556 

BUSINESS DAY 

Dangote prioritises UHC, bags 

ABU’s top Corporate Award 

President of Dangote 

Group, 

Aliko Dangote, 

has vowed to prioritise 

Universal 

Healthcare Coverage (UHC) 

in the country just as he was 

conferred with the prestigious 

Ahmadu Bello University’s 

top Corporate Award 

over the weekend in Abuja. 

The 2018 Corporate 

Award was presented to the 

industrialist in view of the 

numerous contributions 

of his conglomerate to the 

development of the educational 

sector in Nigeria, the 

University’s Alumni Association’s 

national president, 

Ahmed Tijani Mora, said. 

Mora said the interventions 

of the Aliko Dangote 

Foundation in the educational 

sector over the years 

had been unprecedented 

through, especially, the 

Flying Doctors Nigeria steps up to save sickle cell patient 

In desperate need of surgery to 

alleviate the ravages of sickle 

cell disease and previous 

medical care that worsened 

his condition, university student, 

Abiodun Bakare, was about to give 

up hope when he discovered the 

cost of his surgery would be N18 

million (about $50,000). 

Bakare, his family and friends 

had done their research and discovered 

that a hospital in India 

could provide him with the care 

he needed, but the cost of the care 

and the journey was well beyond 

his reach. 

Digging deeper, Bakare was 

determined to solve his challenge 

locally, and finally his search 

connected him with a hospital in 

Nigeria’s northern state of Sokoto 

where medical experts agreed 

to perform the operation for a 

nominal fee. 

sponsorship of various 

scholarship programmes. 

Dangote, who was represented 

by the company’s 

executive director stakeholders 

management and 

corporate communication, 

Ahmed Mansur, at the award 

presentation ceremony, said 

the award would spur the 

conglomerate to scale up its 

intervention programmes in 

all sectors. He said Dangote 

Group would not rest on 

its oars in ensuring that the 

educational sector achieved 

its rightful place in Nigeria. 

On the UHC, Dangote, 

through his Foundation’s 

chief executive, Zouera 

Youssoufou, said the Foundation 

would continue to 

work with governments 

and civil society organisations 

for the development 

of impactful health sector 

programmes in Nigeria and 

Bakare’s friends jumped in, 

launched a social media fundraising 

campaign, and pulled 

together the money needed for 

the operation. However, Bakare 

still had to overcome one huge 

hurdle: how to get to the hospital. 

The 18-hour overland journey 

was out of the question due to 

Bakare’s critical condition. Fortunately, 

a friend stepped in again 

and discovered a solution: Flying 

Doctors Nigeria, which agreed 

to fly Bakare to the hospital free 

of charge. The offer reduced a 

journey that would have taken 

longer than a day, to just over 

an hour. 

“I knew we had to support 

Bakare with air ambulance services 

because it would have 

been impossible for the student 

to pull together the funds to pay 

for the service,” explained Dr 

Ola Brown, founder of Flying 

Doctors Nigeria, West Africa’s 

first and leading indigenous air 

ambulance service organisation. 

The news came as a surprise 

to Bakare. “I didn’t even know 

there was an air ambulance 

service in Nigeria. I thought these 

services exist only in the Western 

world. My health condition 

opened my eyes to the fact that 

this kind of service is available in 

Nigeria,” Bakare later said. 

He appreciates the support 

of Flying Doctors Nigeria and 

understands its value. “This is a 

journey that the firm could charge 

over a million naira for. It is still 

like a dream to me that this kindhearted 

firm would intervene in 

my situation and provide their air 

ambulance services at no cost to 

me,” he said. 

Brown said that there were a 

A8 

NEWS 

Africa as a whole. 

Youssoufou said the 

Foundation over the years 

had expended billions of 

naira in supporting the 

causes of health through 

its strides to eradicate Wild 

Polio Virus in Nigeria. 

She said the Foundation 

had made significant social 

investments in health, education, 

economic empowerment 

and disaster relief. 

Recently the Foundation 

made a pledge to commit 

$100 million to fight malnutrition 

in some parts of the 

country, she said. 

“Dangote Foundation 

in partnership with Bill and 

Milenda Gates Foundation 

have been supporting the 

government in the eradication 

of polio,” she said. 

Speaking at the second 

ThisDay Dialogue, with the 

theme: ‘The Journey to Universal 

Health Coverage in 

Nigeria,’ she said Dangote 

Foundation would do all 

within its reach to ensure 

that an average Nigerian 

have access to good healthcare 

in the country. 

She commended the 

ThisDay Newspaper for 

bringing together stakeholders 

to find solution to the 

country’s health challenges. 

Also speaking at the 

event, Minister of Health 

Isaac Folorunso Adewole 

who commended Dangote 

Foundation and other stakeholders 

said the Muhammadu 

Buhari administration 

is not resting on its oars 

in trying to achieve a UHC. 

“Healthcare is a key driver 

of our socio-economic 

development and that is why 

our future success depends 

on our investment in the 

health sector,” he said. 

L-R: Emmanuel Ikazoboh, group chairman, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated; Jospeh Makoju, acting managing director, Dangote Cement plc; Aminu Waziri 

Tambuwal, governor, Sokoto State; Emeka Anyaoku, former secretary-general of the Commonwealth; Ernest Ebi, chairman, board of directors, Fidelity Bank 

plc; Elizabeth Ngozi Ebi, wife of the Fidelity Bank chairman; Ike Nwachukwu, former minister of external affairs, and Nnamdi Okonkwo, managing director/chief 

executive officer, Fidelity Bank plc, at the conferment of the 2017 Zik Award for Professional Leadership to Ebi at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island in Lagos. 

number of reasons air ambulance 

services were essential to both 

the patient in particular and the 

healthcare community in general. 

“The first hours of an emergency 

situation are critical and 

the life of individuals shouldn’t 

depend on how far they live from 

the medical facility best equipped 

to handle their injury or illness,” 

she said. “And we know that the 

sooner patients receive the proper 

care, the sooner and better they 

recover,” she said. 

“Further, a firm like Flying 

Doctors Nigeria helps us solve 

the logistical problems involved 

in providing good healthcare in 

Nigeria, where the roads are often 

poor and the distances between 

the patient and healthcare are 

wide,” she explained. “Ultimately, 

this allows us to save money by 

centralising healthcare services.”

BUSINESS DAY 

Insight 

NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I TUESDAY 17 APRIL 2018 

C002D5556 

Nigeria’s gas infrastructure blueprint as a base 

for expanding regional gas market 

From the beginning 

of oil 

exploration 

in Nigeria it 

was discovered 

that the oil fields 

of the Niger Delta were 

richly endowed with 

enormous amount of 

gas reserves that have 

increased today to a 

value of about 185TCF. 

The country is 

ranked 7th in terms of 

proven natural gas reserves 

in the world, the 

natural gas reserves/ 

production being estimated 

as 109 years. 

These resources are 

evenly distributed between 

associated and 

non-associated gas and 

are greatly characterised 

as some of the best 

quality in the world. 

However, due to low 

utilisation in domestic 

and industrial usage 

of natural gas and the 

limited gas distribution 

infrastructure, 

Oil industries producing 

natural gas in 

association with their 

crude oil production 

have been compelled 

to flare these gases due 

to among other things 

Limited numbers of 

appropriate reservoirs 

conducive for gas reinjection 

and storage 

and the economics of 

the process. 

Domestic gas market 

Nigeria domestic gas 

utilization opportunities 

are tremendous; 

some of the demand 

centers are power generation, 

cement industry, 

fertilizer, iron and 

steel plants. Others are 

petrochemical, aluminum 

smelting and 

distribution to industrial 

centres as source 

of energy supply. 

Currently the largest 

single consumer of natural 

gas in Nigeria is the 

Power Holding Company 

of Nigeria which 

accounts for about 70% 

of the gas consumed 

domestically. The company 

currently operates 

power generating gas 

plants at Afam, Ughel- 

li, Sapele and Egbin. 

The combined daily 

requirements of these 

plants at peak are about 

1500mmcfpd 

Government is encouraging 

Joint Ventures 

and multinational 

oil companies operating 

in Nigeria to embark 

on Independent Power 

Plant [IPP] Projects as 

part of the power sector 

reforms. 

The Reform Act reviewed 

the generation, 

transmission and distribution 

of electricity 

in the country to improve 

its performance. 

Nigeria gas master 

plan 

The aspiration of the 

Master Plan is to reposition 

Nigeria in the 

shortest possible time 

as a regional gas supply 

hub with concurrent 

presence in the domestic, 

regional and export 

market. 

To accomplish this, it 

aims to create fully liberalised 

market within 

five years which is underpinned 

by: 

•A robust, scalable 

and fully connected gas 

infrastructure that supports 

the three markets 

concurrently and cost 

effective gas from any 

source can get to any 

market. 

•Transformation of 

the domestic market 

into a vibrant and fully 

•Gas Pricing Policy: 

this policy is to ensure 

natural gas is supplied 

at affordable prices to 

all domestic sectors, 

mainly power and other 

sectors that have a 

significant multiplier 

effect on the nation’s 

economy. A stratified 

pricing mechanism 

The regulation will 

penalise any defaulter as 

they will be made to pay 

compensation to any 

purchaser for losses 

suffered as a result of 

default to supply gas in 

compliance with the order 

of the Gas Aggregator 

commercial gas market 

where the gas price 

stimulates investment 

in supply and the sustainability 

of the market 

compliments the other 

regional and export 

LNG markets enabling 

a balance portfolio. 

•Attracting a more 

widespread participation 

by new players so 

as to stimulate competition 

and efficiency. 

Elements of the gas 

master plan 

In order to achieve 

the above said objectives, 

the Nigeria Gas 

Master Plan was developed 

into three critical 

elements: 

have been adopted for 

this policy as listed below; 

•The strategic Domestic 

Sector: this being 

the sector with the 

greatest multiplier effect 

on the economy 

namely power and 

also to residential and 

light commercial users. 

Thus this sector will be 

supplied at the lowest 

commercially sustainable 

price. 

•The Strategic Industrial 

Sector: This 

comprises industries 

that require gas as their 

main feedstock, such 

as fertilizers, methanol, 

GTL etc. The policy 

is expected to make 

prices as competitive 

as obtainable in other 

parts of the world. 

•The Commercial 

Sector: this being the 

sector that uses gas 

as industrial fuel e.g. 

manufacturing industries. 

Each of these sectors 

has a dedicated pricing 

regime which sets out a 

transparent structure 

for the determination 

of the floor price of 

gas. The floor price of 

gas for the strategic 

domestic sector will be 

determined on a costof-supply 

basis using 

pseudo-regulated pricing 

regimes. 

This regime establishes 

the lowest cost of 

supply that will allow a 

15% return for the supplier. 

The forecasted 

average domestic price 

from all three sector 

will be known as the 

Aggregate Domestic 

Price (i.e. the price 

all gas supplier will 

be paid). The aim is 

that buyers will pay for 

gas at the sector price 

while suppliers receive 

an aggregate gas price. 

The Strategic Aggregator 

will be the first 

contact point for the 

gas trade and will issue 

Gas Purchase Orders 

after due diligence on 

buyer. 

The proposed Gas 

Aggregator will be empowered 

to open and 

manage an escrow account 

with an escrow 

agent approved by the 

Department of Gas and 

direct purchasers of 

gas to make payment 

for gas supply into the 

account in accordance 

with the payment 

agreed by the suppliers, 

gas purchasers and 

the Aggregator. 

The Gas Aggregator 

shall prepare and provide 

annual detailed 

audit report of the escrow 

account to suppliers 

of gas and ensure 

transparency dealings 

between gas suppliers 

and purchasers. 

The Government 

also introduced a securitization 

framework 

to assure investment 

in gas supply to the 

power sector. Both of 

these steps will provide 

a much needed boost to 

gas supply. 

•The Domestic Gas 

Supply Obligation: To 

ensure the success of 

the Gas Master plan, the 

Domestic Gas Supply 

Obligation was formulated 

as part of the elements. 

The regulation 

mandates all gas players 

in the country to set 

aside a predetermine 

amount of the produce 

gas for the domestic 

market. Following the 

Gas Management Model 

through which the 

demand and supply of 

gas in the country will 

be forecasted, each of 

these producers will 

be required to submit 

a gas production and 

supply plan consistent 

with the obligation 

under the Domestic 

Gas Supply Obligation 

Regulation. 

The regulation will 

penalise any defaulter 

as they will be made 

to pay compensation 

to any purchaser for 

any losses suffered as 

a result of default to 

supply gas in compliance 

with the order of 

the Gas Aggregator. The 

policy sets a penalty of 

$3.5/mcf of obligation 

that is under supplied 

and otherwise flared 

and an environmental 

surcharge of 0.5c/mcf 

is levied over this. 

Culled from a World 

Gas Conference Technical 

Paper written by 

Ukpohor, Excel Theophilus, 

Nigeria Liquefied 

Natural Gas Company, 

Bonny Island, 

Nigeria. 

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. 

Tel: +233243226596: email: mail@businessdayonline.com Advert Hotline: 08116759801, 08082496194. Subscriptions 01-2950687, 07045792677. Newsroom: 08169609331 

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

BusinessDay 17 Apr 2018

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