15072019

FINANCIAL VANGUARD
FOOD SCARCITY, BANNED IMPORTS AND THE
GRIM REAPER
“An army marches on its stomach.”
Napoleon Bonaparte,
1769-1821.
VANGUARD BOOK OF QUO-
TATIONS, VBQ, p 14.
NIGERIA has two
armies. The first army,
called “a nation within
a nation”, is the one headed
by General Buratai. The second
army includes 190 million Fellow
Nigerians; not in any uniform,
but responding to the universal
need for food. Just as the
first army can be wiped out if the
enemy cuts off their transport of
food, the second army can also
be demolished by mass starvation
occasioned by acute food
scarcity. Right now the two
armies in Nigeria are endangered
by inevitable very severe
food shortage in the country this
year. Never in the history of Nigeria
have the people of this
country faced such grim prospects
as now. The forecasts are
so dire that unless the Federal
and state governments start to
take urgent measures, the impact
of the food production
shortfall might soon start to be
felt – in mortuaries and cemeteries
nationwide.
As usual, before the reader assumes
this is an exaggerated
alarm which is unlikely to happen
let me make a few disclosures
that will lend credence to
the concerns raised here.
During ten years in the North,
I was fortunate to have worked
and lived in Kano, Kaduna, Jos,
Maiduguri, Bauchi, Karu and
Sokoto. I was also involved in
two major farming projects –
Karu and Sokoto. Before the farm
experiences, I was the Marketing
Manager for a major brewery
in Kano with customers all
over the North. Some of the
friends I made are still alive today.
In a few cases, I was instrumental
to getting their children
to go to school. At least fifteen
of those “kids” (they are
over fifty now) are university
graduates in responsible positions.
They read VANGUARD
because of MM – as I was called
in those days. Some are farmers
or bulk food contractors and they
are located in fifteen Northern
States. So, I don’t have to travel
North to obtain reports about the
food situation in those states. At
any rate, those familiar with
these pages are aware of my
restlessness. I travel all the time.
So far twenty two states have
been covered this year – including
dreaded Zamfara and Katsina.
In all my travels two issues
attract my attention – food and
education. The awful roads have
long ceased to bother me.
To me governments primarily
owe their people two things –
adequate food and education.
Without these infrastructure is of
no use. But, for me, it has always
been “food first”. So, when
I find myself in a state the first
thing I look for is the food supply
situation. And in addition to
talking to my “reporters” in those
states, a visit to markets to price
and buy food stuff is mandatory.
Thereafter my predictions
about likely food prices to one
of my clients who is a major food
processor are always accurate.
This year has not been an exception.
Indeed, for once, he was
sceptical when I first gave him
the bad news about trends this
year until he started experiencing
serious scarcities of raw food
materials for his business. He is
now a believer. Like the Biblical
Joseph, he had taken my advice
and is storing and preserving
food items at unprecedented
rates.
“I hold that man in the right
FINANCIAL VANGUARD
who is most in league with the
future.”
Henrik Ibsen, 1828-1906, Norwegian
Author.
Most of us don’t realise that
the future starts from the next
minute, hour, day, week or
month – not to talk of November
2019. But, what will happen to
our food supply in November
and December this year has already
been decided by what occurred
from January, February
and March.
The first quarter of the year is
when preparations are made for
clearing the land and planting
various crops in anticipation of
early rains. This year, three
events intruded to disturb the
natural flow of farmland activities
– especially in the North;
which is the nation’s food basket.
First, there were elections.
Even farmers were caught in
the national bedlam which elections
induce every four years.
Second, herdsmen, bandits and
kidnappers took advantage of th
FG’s total concentration on second
term to unleash mayhem on
farmers throughout the country.
Third, and this is perhaps the
Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2019 — 29
most important, nature added is
own to the already overflowing
basketful of woes. The early
rains on which farmers had
banked to get the years cycle of
growth and harvest failed to
materialise. The first seeds
planted rotted away without
sprouting; so did the second attempts
at planting. Consequently,
the nation is at least three
months behind where we should
be in terms of harvest of first
crops – vegetables, maize,
yams, sorghum, rice etc. A visit
to any market rural, road side
and urban will reveal the extent
of the problems. Vegetables,
which by now should have been
dirt cheap, are so scarce that the
prices have escalated for the
poorest quality in living memory
Ṫo state that we are in a fix is
to understate the problem. From
my network of “reporters” less
than half of the largest farms in
the North are now being actively
tended. Women, who produce
almost sixty per cent of the
food items no longer go to farms.
Millions of men have also
dropped out. The herdsmen,
bandits and kidnappers have
created a major problem for the
nation because FG failed to read
the danger signals when the terrorists
herding cattle spread
their wings all over the country.
Millions of Nigerians will starve
to death this year.
That brings me to the import
prohibition list now in place by
the Central Bank of Nigeria,
CBN. Given the inescapable
sharp drop in food supply in
2019, it is obvious that the CBN
can no longer place a ban on the
importation of some food items
without exacerbating a potential
nation disaster – which is rapidly
unfolding.
For instance, rice production
Unclaimed dividends: 2.6m investors register for
e-dividends — SEC
THE Securities and Ex
change Commission,
SEC, yesterday, disclosed it has
taken a number of measures to
drastically reduce the volume of
unclaimed dividends in the Nigerian
capital market, adding
that presently, about 2.6 million
account holders have registered
for electronic dividends.
In a statement in Abuja, Acting
Director General of SEC, Ms
Mary Uduk, noted that these
2.6 million investors were already
getting their dividends
promptly, adding that that the
commission would continue to
collaborate with relevant stakeholders
to sensitise investors on
the need to regularise their multiple
accounts as well as claim
their dividends.
Uduk lamented that the volume
of unclaimed dividends
was still huge but the commission
is doing a lot to bring it
down, especially as it had taken
various steps to ensure that
Millions of men
have also dropped
out. The herdsmen,
bandits and kidnappers
have created a
major problem for
the nation because
FG failed to read the
danger signals
shareholders benefit from their
investments in the capital market.
She said, “Only recently, in our
determination to reduce the
quantum of unclaimed dividends
in the Nigerian capital
market and encourage beneficiaries
of deceased investors to
step up efforts to claim such dividends,
the commission exposed
an amendment to our
rules which reduced the time,
processes and costs of the transmission
of shares from a deceased
to the beneficiary.
“The timeline for the transmission
of deceased’s shares has
been reduced from three weeks
to one week. Going by that, registrars
shall ensure that shares
of a deceased are transmitted
within a week of receiving the
request from the administrators
or executors. This effort will
ensure seamless transmission
and claim of a deceased’s
shares by heirs and administrators.
“One of the things the commission
has done is to encourage
these people to come and
regularize their accounts. As I
speak about 2.6 million account
Once you approach
your registrars for
your dividends to be
paid and there is
reason for complaints,
you can
always contact the
commission for the
issue to be resolved
holders have registered for e-
dividend and many can testify
that they are getting their dividends
promptly.”
Uduk added that it was also
the quest for investors to get the
benefit of their investments that
prompted the commission to
release a circular to shareholders
of defunct Skye bank to claim
all outstanding dividends.
She revealed that sensitisation
efforts are going on with other
stakeholders to enlighten members
of the public on the need
to go and claim their shares
through regularisation of multiple
accounts.
“If you cannot claim your
shares, there is no way you will
be talking about claiming your
dividends,” she noted.
This, she stated, would further
help reduce the volume of
unclaimed dividends in the
market and boost investor confidence.
Uduk said the commission has
also directed Cardinalstone
Registrars and STL Trustees to
ensure that all genuine claims
of beneficiary shareholders are
addressed forthwith.
this year will certainly be less
than in 2018 with Zamfara and
Niger States under siege of kidnappers
and bandits and thousands
of farmers abandoning
farms. Even at the best of times,
smuggled rice supplemented
the national harvest. These are
far from the best of times. Catastrophe
is the word for what
will follow if the CBN still maintains
its hard stance on rice imports
this year because rice has
become the most widely consumed
grain in the nation.
But, lifting the ban on rice importation
alone will only solve
part of the problem. The FG and
state governments will now
have to start thinking about how
to avert one of the worst humanitarian
catastrophes to hit Africa
occurring in Nigeria by considering
how to provide food for
their people. Without such a national
effort, the last quarter of
2019 might be the beginning of
Nigeria’s hot spring as millions
of hungry and angry citizens
roam around desperately in
search of food.
Our already over0stretched security
forces will soon have more
potential threats to national security
to deal with. Food-laden
vehicles might soon become the
targets of bandits.
Finally, the grim reaper appears
set for a bumper harvest
in 2019. Right now, in some
parts of Nigeria, Lake Chad
Basin, Mubi, Gwoza in Borno
State, Talata Mafara in Zamfara
State etc parents are now burying
kids starved to death at unprecedented
rates.
“This is a world in which children
are born to suffer”, wrote
Albert Camus, 1903-1960.
Nigeria in 2019 is rapidly becoming
a nation in which children
are born to suffer and die.
MICROFINANCE
The Acting Director General
said since the company was no
longer in operation, these unclaimed
dividends had to be
made available to the rightful
owners that are the shareholders,
as that will go a long way
in boosting investor confidence
in the market.
“They invested in a company
and since the company has gone
under, there is no reason why
they should not have access to
their unclaimed dividends. That
is why we are calling on them
to take advantage of this opportunity
and claim their dividends”
Uduk stated
She stated that the commission
has put in place a complaint
management framework to ensure
that investors get attended
to promptly.
“So, once you approach your
registrars for your dividends to
be paid and there is reason for
complaints, you can always contact
the commission for the issue
to be resolved” she added.