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46 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020 vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES 018773962, 08052867058 British Airways plane in flight. File photo. Diversion of flight to Ghana: Apologise to passengers, Olajumoke tells British Airways *Recounts experience By Charles Kumolu & Olamide Ogunjimi LAGOS — ELDER states man, Senator Bode Olajumoke, has recounted his experience aboard British Airways, BA, 075 Flight that was diverted to Ghana after failing to land at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport,MMIA, Lagos last Tuesday, saying the passengers were made to go through a harrowing experience. Olajumoke, who said the airline cared little about them while in Ghana, lamented that they had no choice but to make alternative arrangements for their return to Nigeria after waiting in vain for BA to fly them back to Lagos. He explained that the passengers were left to their fate in Ghana, saying their luggage was dropped at Kotoka Airport Terminal 2 without any security personnel in sight. Ill-treatment In an exclusive chat with Vanguard yesterday in Lagos, Sen. Olajumoke said apart from the ill-treatment, he was particularly concerned about passengers, who couldn’t have afforded an alternative flight back to Nigeria. Continuing, he condemned Nigeria's response to the incident, saying it was shameful that MMIA lacked modern lighting equipment. Olajumoke, who was on his way back from Russia, described the incident as a horrible experience, adding that his health was adversely affected. He was on the flight with his wife, Princess Remi Olajumoke. Consequently, he urged BA to apologise to all passengers aboard for the manner it handled the incident. His words: “We were almost landing when I heard the pilot telling the cabin crew to prepare for landing. As I was talking to my wife, there was an announcement. When I heard landing, I quickly went for my briefcase but I didn’t see people standing up. I asked why it was so and was told we landed in Accra, Ghana. Fourth day "There was an announcement that we should leave our luggage behind. They said there was free duty. After spending three nights, on the fourth day, they said we would be leaving at 1 pm. I was going to town to buy a charger because my phone batteries were down when they said I should come back, insisting that we were going at 1 pm. By the time we got back, there were massages in our email stating that British Airways would not be able to go back to Lagos. They said we should find the means of getting to our destination. In the message, it was stated that if we wanted to go back to London, there were limited seats. I had to call my agent to book me on Air Peace because Air Peace was coming and leaving while we were there. We even heard that Virgin was also coming and leaving. Shoddy and unde serving “The treatment was shoddy and undeserving. If I could organise my ticket on another airline, how many passengers could have afforded that? Many could have been stranded. People were so frustrated and disenchanted. Some even said they were going to write a petition. Everybody was shocked. I am more concerned about those people who could not have been able to afford transportation by road. It is not a proper way to treat people. There is a board meeting I would be attending, I am supposed to use British Airways but I have canceled it. When I am in Europe I would fly British Airways because they do not treat passengers like that in Europe. It has affected my health. I have aches all over my body. I am disillusioned and have not recovered. Why would they be able to land in Ghana and not Nigeria because it is almost the same weather ‘’ Spokesperson of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria ,FAAN, Henrietta Yakubu, had said the flight was not diverted to Ghana over lack of basic navigation and landing equipment at MMIA, but due to poor weather condition in Lagos after the aircraft had arrived the country. The BA075 while regretting the incident promised to convey the passengers safely to Nigeria last Wednesday but failed to do so. Over 1,500 Nigerian British Airways passengers stranded in Ghana By Lawani Mikairu LAGOS — MORE than 1,500 Nigerians are currently stranded in Kotoko International Airport, Accra, Ghana, after they were dumped there by British Airways, Delta Air, and other foreign airlines. Their flights were diverted to Ghana due to the inclement weather in Lagos and poor visibility at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. Instead of thinking of alternate airport within Nigeria where visibility is good for landing, the foreign carriers took the unilateral decision of diverting their flights to Ghana and subject Nigerians who had urgent engagements in Nigeria to untold hardship. British Airways is reported to have told some of the stranded Nigerians who could not get airlines from Ghana to bring them to Nigeria that they would take them back to Britain, if they could no longer endure their hardship at Accra airport in Ghana. In their advisory, British Airways said: “ We would like to sincerely apologise for the disruption to your journey to Lagos. Due to adverse weather at the airport, we were unable to safely land into Lagos Airport. ''We regret to inform that due to operational constraints, we have had to cancel this flight. We recommend you make your own travel arrangements to Lagos as we are unable to operate safely in the coming days. Border closure: Nigeria's neighbours should stop smuggling banned products —IMF *Calls for major reforms to FG’s fiscal deficit By Babajide Komolafe LAGOS — THE International Monetary Fund, IMF, yesterday called on Nigeria’s neighbour to stop smuggling of banned goods into the country as part of measures necessary to resolve issues that led to the ongoing border closure. Making this call in a statement issued at the conclusion of the IMF Staff Article four consultation to Nigeria, Amine Mati, Senior Resident Representative and Mission Chief for Nigeria, IMF, said: “Nigeria’s border closure will continue to have significant economic consequences on the country’s neighbours. It is important that all involved parties quickly resolve the issues keeping the borders closed—including stopping the smuggling of banned products.” On the other hand Mati Senator Bode Olajumoke. called on the federal government to implement major policy adjustments, including further tightening of monetary policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to contain shortterm vulnerabilities and unlock Nigeria’s growth potential. He said: “The pace of economic recovery remains slow, as declining real incomes and weak investment continue to weigh on economic activity. Inflation—driven by higher food prices—has risen, marking the end of the disinflationary trend seen in 2019. External vulnerabilities are increasing, reflecting a higher current account deficit and declining reserves that remain highly vulnerable to capital flow reversals. The exchange rate has remained stable, helped by steady sales of foreign exchange in various windows. “High fiscal deficits are complicating monetary policy. Weak non-oil revenue mobilization led to further deterioration of the fiscal deficit, which was mostly financed by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) overdrafts. The interest payments to revenue ratio remain high at about 60 percent. “Under current policies, the outlook is challenging. The mission’s growth forecast for 2020 was revised down to 2 percent to reflect the impact of lower international oil prices. Inflation is expected to pick up, while deteriorating terms of trade and capital outflows will weaken the country’s external position. “Recognizing these vulnerabilities, the authorities have taken a number of welcome steps. These include measures to boost revenue through the adoption of the Finance Bill and “If you wish to travel from Accra to London, Heathrow, there are a limited availability of seats to book on. Please speak with our colleagues at the airport to adjust your ticket, subject to availability. BAO78 Accra to London Heathrow is schedule to depart at 23.00 local time,” it added. The advisory further said,“ We understand this is not what you expect when you travel with us …..” The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, while expressing concern over the diversion, noted that the flight diversions and, in many cases, outright cancellations, due to the inclement weather conditions were regrettable. He, however, decried the diversion of flights to another country, stating that the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, could have conveniently handled those flights. He revealed that Qatar Airways was already diverting Lagos-bound flights to Abuja. Sirika said: “On the diversion of incoming international flights to neighbouring countries, we wish to reiterate that the decisions are purely those of the airlines which we have no control over. ''However, it should be noted that those flights could, and should have been rerouted to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja which is shorter or equidistant from Lagos to the foreign airports to which some of the flights have been diverted”. Deep Offshore Basin Act and; and improve budget execution by adopting the 2020 budget by end-December 2019. The tightening of monetary policy in January 2020 through higher cash reserve requirements to respond to looming inflationary pressures is welcome. Progress on structural reforms—particularly in Doing Business, finalizing power sector reforms, and strengthening governance—is commendable. “Major policy adjustments remain necessary to contain short-term vulnerabilities, build resilience, and unlock growth potential. “Non-oil revenue mobilization—including through tax policy and administration improvements—remains urgent to ensure financing constraints are contained and the interest payments to revenue ratio sustainable. Recourse to central bank overdrafts should be limited and the mission supports the authorities’ plans to use the low domestic yield environment to front load their financing requirements. “Further tightening of monetary policy—albeit through more conventional methods—is needed to contain domestic and external pressures arising from large amounts of maturing CBN bills. The mission reiterated its advice on ending direct central bank interventions, securitizing overdrafts to introduce longer-term government instruments to mop up excess liquidity and moving towards a uniform and more flexible exchange rate. Removing restrictions on access to foreign exchange for the 42 categories of imported goods would be needed to encourage long-term investment."
Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020 — 47 BUSINESS GROWTH: From left, Regional Programmes Coordinator, The Leadership Project, Piboere Okukulabe; Regional Coordinator, West and Central Africa, Global Leadership Network; Francis Olubambi; Convener, The Leadership Project, Godman Akinlabi; Client Service Manager, Zenera Consulting, Idongesit Edet and General Manager, Sales, The Leadership Project,Olusola Oyawale at a press conference announcing the maiden edition of The West African Business Leaders’ Summit in Lagos. Photo Lamidi Bamidele 2020 Outlook: SEC mulls tax, other incentives to drive investments By Emeka Anaeto, Business Editor There are indications that the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, is working on tax incentives for capital market investments against an unsatisfactory provisions in the 2020 Finance Bill. The Acting Director General of the Commission, Mary Uduk, had commended the new initiative of an annual Finance Bill as a way of bypassing the long and winding process of legislation for policy changes, but indicated that the SEC’s expectations on tax as well as the overall incentives and cost reduction in the capital market were not met by the 2020 Finance Bill. She stated: “There are a number of initiatives that is in support of the capital market in the Finance Bill. But we had expected more because we had been working on some of these initiatives for many years with FIRS (Federal Inland Revenue Service) and other relevant stakeholders. “The government has through the Finance Bill answered some of our prayers, but there are others we thought that should have been done, for instance the issue of taxes. “We had thought that the taxes would have been more far reaching, but we will continue to push for more tax reductions in different areas. “We also expected that government would give us some other palliatives, maybe to some companies to encourage them to come to the market. But we are still working with government to ensure that those are done. LBS, Jnr Achievement prepare NYSC members for work-life Junior Achievement Nigeria, in partnership with the Lagos Business School (LBS), has organized a capacity building for selected 50 members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, in a bid to prepare them for successful entry into work-life. The programme, in its 20th edition, sponsored by African Capital Alliance Foundation and Total E&P Nigeria Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited, is aimed at introducing the Corp members to the different facets of managing a business, making crucial business decisions and developing skills for management. The week-long programme prepares future world business leaders for the responsibilities, opportunities and demands of tomorrows business world. Mr Uchenna Uzo, Academic Director, Venture and Management Programme, LBS, said one of the distinguished things about the programme is that it helps people starting or running their own business to acquire basic skills that would help them succeed and also think beyond themselves and think about the impact on society and immediate community. Mrs Adenike Adeyemi, Executive Director, FATE Foundation, said that the Venture in Management Program, VIMP, experience is a lifetime investment that keeps yielding. “This is just the beginning, because if we have to wait for the government, to go to National Assembly to amend or repeal certain bills or come up with new ones, it will take years. But the Finance Bill, if we have to do this every year, now we know what they have done, we will start again to work towards next year.” Fielding questions on the outlook for the capital development in 2020, SEC boss added: “We should focus on in terms of driving investments and for us to drive investments you ought to bring capital into key areas. The issue of tax is very critical, infrastructure funds; government can’t fund infrastructure, so the private sector will do that. “So we should be able to have infrastructure funds and the investment vehicles should enjoy tax incentives. “We have private equity funds that also drive investments in SMEs and things like that. These are critical areas, and the government can look at private equity funds and operators who invest in certain core areas like mining agriculture, and others, and also grant them certain incentives. “So these incentives would drive inflows of capital into those areas. These are the kind of things that should be done, having more incentives for more investors to come into the market, enlarge the market, SMEs and all of that. “So we need to consider that area of tax because the issue is that you want to bring in more people into the tax base and just tax them.” Local Milk Production: CBN, 3 coys in deal for Abuja plants By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief The local milk produc tion policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) received a boost yesterday as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello, promised to provide land for the establishment of three diary companies in Abuja. This followed the meeting with the Governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Elefiele, who led a delegation of the Chief Executive Officers of Nestle Nigeria Plc, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and L- AND-Z Integrated Farms Nigeria Ltd to the Minister in Abuja. To demonstrate commitment to granting the companies’ request Bello immediately set up a committee to work with the CBN and the companies on how to make the land available with a directive to submit a report within a week. Emefiele told the minister that the companies submitted land applications to the appropriate departments of the Ministry but that the meeting became necessary in order to facilitate the process of land allocation, as funds were already available for them to establish milk processing plants, under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP). According to the governor, “Nestle Plc and Friesland Campina Plc have signified interest to establish Milk processing factories in the FCT and the CBN is ready to work with them to actualize the deliverable of these projects. We therefore request you to please assist in the allocation of land in FCT NASD advises investors to go for unquoted stocks By Peter Egwuatu Amid the sustained bearish market, the Nigerian Association of Securities Dealers Over-the- Counter (NASD-OTC) has advised investors to go for unquoted stocks that have recorded significant returns of not less than 70 percent in the last two years. In a statement made available to Vanguard, NASD- OTC said: “Amid the bearish equity market over the past two years, the shares of Central Securities Clearing System, CSCS rallied strongly, gaining over 70 percent over the past two years, delivering stellar return to its shareholders. The performance of the stock partly reflects the steady dividend payment culture of the Company. “Beyond the steady cash flow that the CSCS dividend provides to investors, the expeditiously. “We have come today to engage you on two key areas vis laying before you some key initiatives of the Bank that will help create jobs and to fastrack the processes leading to the allocation of land to some investors in dairy and agric sector whose request have been submitted to relevant offices in your office” He added, “It is CBN’s desire to make states selfsustaining and economically viable entities by supporting projects and programmes that will help realize this, including the Federal Capital Territory. “As you are aware the CBN has rolled out a series of intervention initiatives such as the Anchor Borrowers Programme that addresses the credit needs of farmers at the bottom of the production ladder. We have the accelerated agricultural development scheme. “We are all residents of the FCT. We move around the Suburbs and we see that there are potentials for us to partner your administration in engaging our able body youths and other entrepreneurs in agriculture and processing activities.” Mr. Emefiele said that the CBN programmes, if embraced by the minister, would boost investments and drive rapid economic development of the capital territory. He added that the partnership with milk importing companies was to develop the local dairy sector and harness its potentials in the interest of the nation, through the backward integration. strong fundamentals of the company has been a compelling attraction to investors.” Reacting on its performance, the CSCS said: “We posted N6.1 billion profit before tax in 2018 and poised for growth in 2019 full year, FY based on the quarterly performance, our diversification strategy has proven effective. Renowned for our strong governance, stable profitability and increasing earnings diversification, CSCS remains a prime toast of investors. Despite being unlisted, the stock attracts notable liquidity on the NASD Over-the- Counter.” Meanwhile, following two consecutive years of bearish performance, the Nigerian equity market is recovering fast in recent times, with the Nigerian All Share Index rallying four percent Year-to- Date, YtD.
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