BusinessDay 23 Aug 2018

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Thursday 23 August 2018 12 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Editorial PUBLISHER/CEO Frank Aigbogun EDITOR Anthony Osae-Brown DEPUTY EDITORS John Osadolor, Abuja Bill Okonedo NEWS EDITOR Patrick Atuanya EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL SERVICES Oghenevwoke Ighure ADVERT MANAGER Adeola Ajewole FINANCE MANAGER Emeka Ifeanyi MANAGER, CONFERENCES & EVENTS Obiora Onyeaso 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 EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Dick Kramer - Chairman Imo Itsueli Mohammed Hayatudeen Albert Alos Funke Osibodu Afolabi Oladele Dayo Lawuyi Vincent Maduka Maneesh Garg Keith Richards Opeyemi Agbaje Amina Oyagbola Bolanle Onagoruwa Fola Laoye Chuka Mordi Sim Shagaya Mezuo Nwuneli Emeka Emuwa Charles Anudu Tunji Adegbesan Eyo Ekpo Fuelling poverty through import ban The federal government recently announced that it plans to close Nigeria’s border with Benin Republic to tackle the menace of rice smuggling into the country. The minister of Agriculture, who announced the move, said shutting the borders had become necessary to encourage local production and sustain the economy of the country. The federal government and even the president had been claiming that Nigeria was on its way to self-sufficiency in rice production as the country’s rice import was down by 90 percent. The president also boasts that rice import will be completely stopped later this year to encourage local production. Well, 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 though, as BusinessDay findings have shown 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 by the Thai Rice Exporters Association shows that Benin Republic’s rice 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. It is safe to say that most of the imports to these countries end up in the Nigerian market through smuggling. An investigation carried out by BusinessDay some months ago also shows that smuggling is rife along the official border points and despite the fact that rice importation is banned through the borders, traders continue to import the commodity through official border points usually after settling customs officials. What is more, the prices of the smuggled rice are way lower than those of locally produced rice. Consequently, poor Nigerians have continued to patronise the imported rice, which they feel is also of higher quality than locally produced rice. Now that the reality has dawned on the government, it is planning to shut the border with Benin Republic and also use drones to monitor smuggling so as to prevent or stop them. But we need to ask: does the government also plan to shut the borders with Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroon also? Does it plan to expel all the custom officials at the borders that connive with smugglers to bring in the rice? We must stop chasing shadows. We cannot at one instance, be advocating free trade and be putting barriers to free trade all over. Secondly, the government cannot be stifling competition just so to support and protect some inefficient but big cartels of local rice producers. The government cannot be claiming to be interested in addressing poverty and at the same time encouraging or supporting monopolies that always results in higher prices. Imported rice have continued to appeal to Nigerians because they are way cheaper and of more quality than the local ones. Instead of fighting the wars of the local rice cartel, the government would do well to improve their operating environment to be able to compete favourably with imported rice. ENQUIRIES NEWS ROOM 08023165438 08169609331} Lagos 08033160837 Abuja ADVERTISING 01-2799110 08034743892 SUBSCRIPTIONS 01-2799101 07032496069 07054563299 www.businessdayonline.com The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria. 01-2799100 LEGAL ADVISERS The Law Union MISSION STATEMENT To be a diversified provider of superior business, financial and management intelligence across platforms accessible to our customers anywhere in the world. OUR CORE VALUES BusinessDay avidly thrives on the mainstay of our core values of being The Fourth Estate, Credible, Independent, Entrepreneurial and Purpose-Driven. • The Fourth Estate: We take pride in being guarantors of liberal economic thought • Credible: We believe in the principle of being objective, fair and fact-based • Independent: Our quest for liberal economic thought means that we are independent of private and public interests. • Entrepreneurial: We constantly search for new opportunities, maintaining the highest ethical standards in all we do • Purpose-Driven: We are committed to assembling a team of highly talented and motivated people that share our vision, while treating them with respect and fairness. www.businessdayonline.com
Thursday 23 August 2018 Suspected killer of Ekiti monarch arrested The police have arrested a mentally challenged person who allegedly stabbed and killed on Gbadebo Ogunsakin, a traditional ruler of a community in Ekiti State. Caleb Ikechukwu, the spokesmen of Ekiti Police Command, confirmed this in Ado on Tuesday. The suspect, according to the police, stabbed Oba Ogunsakin of Odo Oro Ekiti, in Ikole local government area on Monday, August 20. Ikechukwu gave the name of the suspect as Kaduna warns residents of imminent flooding Kaduna State government has urged communities along riversides to maintain vigilance to avoid being victims of imminent flooding in the days ahead due to intense rainstorms Abdullahi Rigasa, the general manager, Kaduna Environmental Protection Authority (KEPA), stated this in Kaduna, warning that it was no longer safe for residents living along the river banks. He listed Igabi, Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Soba and Kaura local government areas as the places likely to be affected. Rigasa said the mandate of KEPA was to pre- Foundation disburses N1m to students SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin As part of its efforts to empower young ones and prepare them for the future, Saliu Mustapha Foundation has awarded first five best students and their teachers with over N100, 000. Saliu Mustapha, founder of the foundation told journalists in Ilorin that the foundation was established to touch the lives of the downtrodden in the society, students and people with different health challenges. He noted that the foundation aimed to impact on the lives of the people in the immediate environment, saying that govern- Omoniyi Stephen and was arrested around 4.30 pm on Monday around Ajao Market in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. “I can confirm to you that the suspect has been arrested. “He has confessed to the act and our investigation continues. “The matter has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for more investigation.” He assured that the police would be professional in their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killing. vent the occurrence of flood and ensure that residents were well prepared for any imminent floods. “Last year, flooding was recorded in 14 local councils namely; in Kaduna South, Kaduna North, Kaura and Chikun local government areas with no casualties.” He advised residents of the area to take proactive measures such as clearing water channels and avoid activities that could block the free flow of water. He further advised relevant agencies to perfect their emergency evacuation plans and activate them as quickly as possible. NAN ment alone should not be saddled with the responsibility of providing for the people, hence the need for non-governmental organsations and wealthy individuals to support government at all levels. He said: “This for me is a way of giving back to the society, and when you look from a strategic position where I stand, if you don’t educate people then you’re bound to be in an insecure environment. When people are educated, they will know their left from their right, then you can rule out ignorance from what they are doing, but when you ignore them, then for those of us that believed that we are successful, we are only living in the mist of dangers.” The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Cross River has threatened to withdraw medical services from the state over incessant kidnapping of its members. NMA issued the threat in a communique jointly signed by the association’s chairman, Agam Ayuk, and the secretary, Ezoke Epoke, after its emergency general meeting in Calabar. The association said that the decision to withdraw its services became necessary due to increasing cases of kidnapping of its members in the state. It recalled that the wife of The Federal Government has given the go-ahead to the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to provide electricity to rural areas, using hybrid solar systems, which would be procured using the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. Chidi Izuwah, the director-general, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), who made this known, added that the commission has issued an Outline Business Case (OBC) and Full Business Case (FBC) compliance certificate for the BUSINESS DAY 13 CityFile Ongoing construction of the J.K Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History at Onikan, being built by Lagos State Government. Kidnapping: NMA to withdraw services in C’ River MIKE ABANG, Calabar one of its members was kidnapped on August 15 and released the following day. “The recent kidnap of the spouse of a medical doctor is the second incident of doctors’ targeted kidnap in Cross River in the past one month. In the last 18 months, within Calabar alone, five doctors and five dependents/family members have been kidnapped at various times and locations. “The release of affected victims has been conditional including payment of ransom in most instances. This has caused great psychological, emotional and financial distress to the affected families. “NMA in Cross River wishes to reiterate that we project. According to Izuwah, the compliance certificates issued by the ICRC meant that the project proposal as presented by the REA is economically viable and of huge benefit to the country. “In support of this noble objective of government, we in the ICRC today issued a joint OBC and FBC compliance certificate to enable the REA commence a pilot long term PPP. “The focus will be on providing affordable and economically rewardshall withdraw all medical services without any notice, anytime a doctor or dependent is kidnapped. “Medical doctors cannot continue to save lives while their very lives and those of their dependents remain under constant threat by criminals.” The association said that henceforth, it would demand refunds from the state government for any conditional release anytime a doctor or dependents was kidnapped. It further said that the resolution became imperative due to the devastating financial condition that doctors found themselves due to kidnap incidents. “We wish to remind ing hybrid solar power to some rural communities. “On successful completion of the pilot, massive roll out will occur nationwide,’’ Izuwah said in a statement. He added that the certificate was received by Sanusi Ohiare, the executive director, Rural Electrification Fund of the REA on behalf of Damilola Ogunbiyi, managing director of REA. The African Development Bank (AfDB) recently identified infrastructure deficit as one of the biggest constraints to competitiveness, economic the state government that it is her duty to provide adequate security for the citizenry at all times. “The NMA in Cross River remains fully committed to partnering with the state government in providing quality healthcare services to the general populace. “We therefore, implore the Cross River government to double her efforts in stemming this new surge of kidnapping in the state,’’ it said. The association however, thanked the state governor, Ben Ayade and security agencies in the state for their efforts towards ensuring the safe release of the abducted wife of its member. Rural electrification: FG approves procurement of solar systems growth and diversification in Nigeria. The bank put the crippling infrastructure challenges in the country at about 300 billion dollars. Given the government’s limited access to international debt, revenue constraints and competing priorities, PPP remains the sustainable option for the country. To bridge this gap, the ICRC believes that power must attract investments of about 20 billion dollars, rail tracks, 17 billion dollars, road, 14 billion dollars and oil and gas, 60 billion dollars.
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BusinessDay 23 Aug 2018

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