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MTN sanctions create ripple effect as investors rethink Nigeria ODINAKA ANUDU & dipo oladeinde

T R-L: Rolake Oladapo, daughter of Late Oluseye Oladapo; Gbenga Daniel, former governor, Ogun State (behind Rolake in black); Dayo Oladapo, widow; Ayomide Oladapo, son; Rotimi Oladapo, son, his wife Mojisola, at the funeral service of Late Oluseye Oladapo, at the RCCG City of David in Lagos, yesterday.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

Pressure piles on economy as CBN pursues naira stability at high cost LOLADE AKINMURELE

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he Central bank of Nigeria is showing it will do all it takes to keep the naira from weakening against the dollar even if comes at a cost of starving the private sector of credit or burning through the

country’s external reserves at a record pace.

Keeping the naira as strong as possible against the dollar is popular in Nigeria, which imports the bulk of its needs from other countries. That has been a priority for most central bank governors whose fixation on exchange rate stability is also in

recognition of its impact on price stability, a core mandate of any central bank.

With two currency devaluations under his belt, the current Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, is prepared to fight off another naira depreciation in the months leading up to the general elections in February 2019 even

though the rate of foreign capital outflows make it a daunting task.

Foreign capital outflows are expected to intensify on the back of rising yields on US Treasuries and heightened political risk premiums on Naira assets which implies more downside pressure Continues on page 34

he ripple effect of perceived negative regulatory actions against MTN Nigeria is spreading as investors and their representatives question whether it is still worthwhile to do business in Africa’s biggest economy.

The Central Bank of Nigeria in August asked MTN Nigeria to refund $8.134 billion which it said the telecoms giant illegally repatriated. This was followed in September by an imposition of $2 billion tax arrears by Nigeria’s attorney-general.

“There is a huge interest in the UK to invest in Africa, especially Nigeria. Investors from the UK see Nigeria as huge potential, given the size of the market. But the MTN issue shakes the confidence of investors and questions Continues on page 34

Inside Vitol acquires 50% of Petrobras deep-water Nigerian field for $1.4bn P. 2 Olu Fasan on Monday “Atiku is giving hostages to fortune in quest for power”

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Apapa gridlock drives haulage costs higher as Christmas approaches ... productivity in industries slide CHUKA UROKO & AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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ollowing the rush and high volume of business activities that come with Christmas, analysts are projecting that the cost of moving import and export cargos in and out of the ports in Apapa and Tin-Can Island would go up before the end of the year.

Expectations are also high that haulage costs will go up on account of the congestion in and around Apapa caused by collapsed roads infrastructure in the port city. Apapa and its dilapidated roads and bridges have become permanent parking lots for trucks heading to the ports and tank farms for imported cargos and petroleum products.

Usually there is a surge in business activities within the ports during this time of the year due to increased demand for fast moving consumer goods including clothing materials and wares, finished and semi-finished food stuff, containerised items, industrial chemicals and used vehicles needed for parties, weddings and other celebrations.

There is also an uncommon rush in the ports as many companies and individuals strive to bring their businesses for the year to a close.

Statistics from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) shows that about 373,955 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containerised cargos have so far been handled in the nation’s seaport between January to September this year.

Within that period, about 35,909,125 million metric tonnes of dry and liquid bulk cargos, general and containerized cargo, were discharged at the seaports.

The NPA shipping position also shows that the number of vessels bringing in different types of cargo into the Lagos Port Complex alone has increased from a little above 20 to a minimum of 35 vessels on monthly basis in addition to about 15 motor tankers waiting to discharge

petroleum products in the various oil jetties in Lagos. This number is different from close to 40 vessels that berth at the Tin-Can Island port on monthly basis.

However at the moment, Apapa is in deep trouble due to persistent traffic gridlock that is impacting negatively on the entire metropolis as container-carrying trucks, tankers and other articulated vehicles find it difficult to gain access into the ports to take delivery of consignments for importers of these cargos.

The negative impact of this situation is not on maritime business alone. Most offices and industries in Apapa are today operating below installed capacity with declining productivity.

Because of the gridlock, office and company workers report for work very late and become weak and tired after spending quality man-hour in traffic. It takes over four hours to go to Apapa and a corresponding length of time to come out of the port city.

“Many offices have dropped their operating hours from 9hours to 7hours. Instead of resuming at 8am and closing by 5pm, offices now open by 9am and close by 4pm. This is to allow sufficient time for their staff to come in and leave Apapa before they are trapped completely in the gridlock”, Emma Ameke, a port operator, told BusinessDay. Continuing, he said, “There are also instances where companies allow their workers to take one-day off a week, as a way of ensuring that they have sufficient health fitness to continue to do their duties”.

The implication of this, he explained, is that “it now takes such companies longer time to produce fewer products which, in the long run, makes such companies not competitive in the market”.

Presently, the Apapa gridlock has assumed an alarming proportion

Continues on page 34

R-L: Haruna Jalo-Waziri, MD\CEO, Central Securities Clearing Systems plc; Adedoyin Odunfa, MD/CEO, Digital Jewels; Aliyu Aziz, DG/CEO, National Identity Management Commission, and David Isiavwe, chief audit executive, Union Bank plc, during an information value chain forum, theme: Cyber security, data privacy and the standards organised by Digital Jewels in Lagos, yesterday.

FG’s cost of borrowing jumps on 2019 election concerns ... analysts see further increase into 2019 IFEANYI JOHN

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esults from this week’s Treasury bill auction held on Wednesday showed that the spread between the 91-day Treasury bill and 364-day Treasury bill rose as high as 350 basis points. Analysts say the yield curve is steepening due to rising inflation expectations, and risk aversion as investors demand higher rates to remain invested in government issued securities through the election season.

Rising treasury yields means higher cost of borrowing for the government to fund the trillion naira plus fiscal deficit.

About N263.4 billion worth of treasury bills were subscribed by investors on Wednesday in the pri-

mary market with 364-day Treasury bill alone accounting for N212 billion (80% of total). Investors avoided the lower yield 91-day bill with a stop rate of 10.9 percent, instead opting to purchase the yearlong bill with a stop rate of 14.4 percent. The 184-day bill had a stop rate of 13.49 percent, giving investors a 250-basis point premium above the 91-day bill of 10.9 percent.

The 91 and 184 day treasury bills were both undersubscribed while the 364-day bill was oversubscribed by 240 percent showing investors’ appetite for high yield investment.

“Investors just wanted to buy the most attractive instrument, which was the one-year tenor. At the OMO Auction held last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hiked the oneyear stop rate to 14.5 percent, so the

expectation going towards Wednesday’s auction was that, one-year rate will also go up to match up the OMO clearing rate,” Omotola Abimbola, fixed income and currency research specialist at Ecobank Research said.

The 91 day treasury bill are set to mature in January before the general elections while the 184 day treasury bill should mature in April after the election but before democracy day which is typically the handover period. 1 year Treasury bill investors are set to hold all through the election, to handover and formation of government which may explain the 350 basis point spread between the 91 day and 364 day bills.

•Continues online at www.businessdayonline.com

Agric, power set to receive attention at maiden Nigeria, Canada Investment Summit Vitol acquires 50% of Petrobras deepConrad Omodiagbe

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n line with the diversification mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari, non-oil sectors, agriculture, power, mining, aviation, infrastructure and financial technology are set to receive major attention at the forthcoming maiden edition of the Nigeria – Canada Investment Summit.

Taking place at the Shehu Yar’adua Centre, Abuja, from November 5 – 6, 2018, the summit will focus on the theme “Fostering Strong Business Partnerships into the Future” as Nigeria plays host to Canadian businesses, government agencies and organisations.

Organised by the High Commission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Canada in collaboration with Prime Essentials Development and Investments Limited (PEDI), the summit’s keynote will be presented by Vice President Yemi Osibanjo and chairman, National Economic Council.

High Commissioner of Nigeria to Canada, Adeyinka Asekun, is spearheading the initiative with the goal of bolstering trade relations

between Nigeria and Canada, and also providing a fruitful platform for networking between businesses from both countries.

Hoping to open up opportunities for Canadian companies interested in investment, the summit will have heads of several non-oil sector agencies such as Minister for Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, among others, who is set to speak at the summit.

Other speakers at the event include: Derek Kokpe, president, Matrixspec Solutions Limited, Nadeem Syed, CEO, Air Meridian and Peter Gunther, President, Smith Gunther Associates, among others.

With the World Bank stating that Nigeria is poised to be a significant market and talent pool and a population projected to be the third largest behind India and China, Nigerian agencies will speak on the bountiful investment opportunities in the country.

Members of the organised private sector and businesses are implored to attend, in order to promote their businesses and secure collaborations with Canadian businesses and investors looking into the Nigerian market.

water Nigerian field for $1.4bn DIPO OLADEHINDE & ENDURANCE OKAFOR

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n order to reduce debts and regain itsglorydays,Brazilianstate-owned firm Petrobras announced it has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) to sell a 50 percent ownership interest in Petrobras Oil and Gas (POGBV) for $1.4 billion to a consortium led by Vitol, the world’s biggest independent energy trader.

Petrobras, one of the world’s most indebted oil majors has been trying to regain its fame of 2011 and has targeted $21-billion in asset sales for 2018, but only succeeded in unloading $9.5billion worth by the end of the first half as net debt stood at $73.66billion by the end of June 2018, down 13 per cent from $84.87 billion at the end of last year.

“Brent prices were considerably superior in 2011,” Ivan Monteiro Petrobras chief executive officer said in August, citing the global benchmark for crude. At the same time, he said the profit was the “result of discipline’ in spending.

The agreement which is based on a purchase price of $1.407 billion is on a cash and debt free basis as a deferred payment of up to $123 million may be due to Petrobras depending on the date and ultimate OML 127 tract participation in Agabmi field which is subject to a redetermination process.

Russell Hardy CEO of Vitol said the company has a long history of investing in Nigeria’s energy sector and is proud to add this significant upstream asset to infrastructure and downstream Nigerian investments.

“POGBVhasastrongnon-operated portfolio, managed by Chevron and Total and which represents circa 20 percent of Nigerian production, Vitol looks forward to continuing to grow and invest in Nigeria,” CEO of Vitol said.

Emmanuel Afimia an energy expert at Afimia consulting said the reason indigenous firms in the upstream sector like Seplat can’t bid for project like this is because the company faces the same problem other indigenous oil companies are currently facing in Nigeria which is,

inability to secure large funds.

“I was part of the team that developed the first ever third party finance model in Nigeria for OMLs 83 & 85, and I know what NNPC/FIRST E&P JV, the owners of the assets, went through before they could find a financier (Schlumberger),” Afimia told BusinessDay. The consortium buying the assets comprises Vitol Investment Partnership II who owns 50 percent, Africa Oil Corporation (a Canadian oil and gas company with assets in Kenya and Ethiopia) owns 25 percent and Delonex Energy (backed by International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group) owns 25 percent.

The consortium’s funding required to ultimately close the transaction will be reduced by any leakage paid to the seller by POGBV including dividends and increased by any contributions made to POGBV by Petrobras during the period between the effective date and completion.

•Continues online at www.businessdayonline.com

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Nigeria needs a leader, not a saint TOCHUKWU EZUKANMA Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria. maciln18@yahoo.com 0803 529 2908

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rior to the 2015 presidential election, a lady on a radio program, summed up the frustration of many Nigerians with the Goodluck Jonathan administration when she said, “even if Buhari presents a NEPA bill as his certificate, I will still vote for him”. In our certificate-conscious society, for many to choose to vote for a man with a questionable West African School Certificate over an incumbent president with a doctorate degree was momentous.

Nigerians desired a change from what they considered Jonathan’s spineless and directionless governance. Moreover, they were sold on Buhari’s lickerish electoral promises, and his much vaunted incorruptibility and integrity.

Nigerians thought that these much hyped qualities, of his, will translate to responsible leadership and that he will make good on his electoral promises. And thus, lead the country out of the morass of offi-

cial corruption, economic decline, insecurity and unprincipled distribution of the national wealth. More than three years of Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency has proven him a terrible president. He has failed to make good on any of his electoral promises and is literally running the country aground. The Nigerian economy continues to deteriorate. A reality made evident in the more than hundred percent depreciation of the naira in relation to the dollar, and the dramatic increase in extreme poverty in Nigerians. Not surprisingly, Nigeria now has the highest concentration of extreme poverty in the world.

Secondly, Buhari failed to deliver on his promise to secure the country from Boko Haram insurgency. Boko Haram remains a formidable terrorist group; it continues to strike with impunity on both military and civilian targets within Nigeria. And compounding the problems of insecurity in Nigeria is the murderous menace of Fulani herdsmen. Fulani herdsmen armed with automatic rifles rampage through farming communities in the Middle Belt raping women, murdering hapless men, women and children and burning down villages. Due to its sentimental attachment to Fulani hegemonic and expansionist designs, the Buhari administration has refused to either protect these communities or punish the herdsmen and their sponsors.

In addition, his war on corruption has failed. Devoid of personal charisma, oratorical flair and intel-

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More than three years of Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency has proven him a terrible president. He has failed to make good on any of his electoral promises and is literally running the country aground. The Nigerian economy continues to deteriorate

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lectual depth, President Buhari failed to connect with Nigerians emotionally in his war against corruption. As such, his anti-corruption message failed to strike a responsive chord in Nigerian minds. His war on corruption is also hampered by the nepotism and partiality that attended it. While the war targets and hounds political opponents of the Buhari administration, the president remains very tolerant of corrupt activities within his entourage and amongst his cronies and loyalists.

Muhammadu Buhari’s incorruptibility and integrity, and other aspects of his purported sainthood have not translated to good leadership. It has therefore crystallized to Nigerians that it takes more than enticing electoral promises and the flaunting of a squeaky-clean image to lead a country, especially, a complex and multifarious country like Nigeria. To successfully lead Nigeria demands other qualities that are conspicuously lacking in Buhari.

These qualities include knowledge (or, at the least, the willingness to learn), open-mindedness (as opposed to nepotism, ethnic chauvinism and religious bigotry), vision, etc. Nigeria needs a new president that will lead her out of the ravages of Buhari misrule: economic decline and hitherto unknown levels of severe poverty, insecurity, and the willful mass-murder of the innocent by Fulani herdsmen. That new president does not have to be a saint.

There is no dearth of theories and postulations on the attributes and temperaments of good leaders.

Some of them focus on the moral character of leaders. Borrowing from Socrates maxim, “Let him that would move the world first move himself”, they postulate that good leaders must be men of high moral fiber because he that should rule others must first rule himself. But, paradoxically, many outstanding leaders have moral and character flaws.

For example, Mahatma Gandhi was “exquisitely vindictive, curtly cold to family and others close to him, with an insatiable love for pow-

er and implacability in its pursuit”.

However, he was one of the greatest political and spiritual leaders of the 20th century. In summing up Ghandi’s greatness, Albert Einstein said, “generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood”.

Martin Luther King Jr., in addition to crusading against racial injustice in America, preached against womanizing, smoking and other aspects of the hedonism of American life, but was himself a reckless womanizer and smoked in private. Yet, he broke entrenched and seemingly intractable racial barriers with the power of the spoken word, and got America attempting to live up to her creed, “we hold this fact self-evident that all men are created equal”.

The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has what it takes to lead Nigeria. Interestingly, he is not beguiling Nigerians with pretensions to faultlessness.

He is experienced in government, business and politics; and has an understanding of the complexity and diversity of the Nigerian society. He is also enlightened, broadminded, tolerant of alternate views and receptive to new ideas.

He has demonstrated leadership capabilities; and can lead Nigeria out of its present quagmire of economic chaos and deepening poverty, Boko Haram insurgency and murderous rampage of Fulani herdsmen.

Send reactions to: comment@businessdayonline.

Designing robust business–HRM strategies

JUDE ADIGWE Adigwe is a certified Human Resource Management (HRM) professional and is the Human Resources and Administration Manager at Sharemind Lagos

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uman Resource Management (HRM) is a totally strategic profession, make no mistake about this. A business cannot function completely without humans.

Even with an increase in the use of robots, humans would still remain relevant because business is not solely an economic activity, it is a social one. Customers will still crave that human touch in the course of doing business. Bringing the best out of humans in the workplace requires efficient and effective management which is the very essence why human resource management should be taken seriously.

Some of my colleagues in the HRM profession believe that HRM is about the business and I agree with them but to some extent. I say to some extent because I am mindful of the fact that the profession is a robust strategy aimed at driving business objectives nonetheless I do not pitch tent totally with them because they subscribe to the somewhat narrow view of business held by their principals (i.e. their employers) – a view that considers profitmaking as the sole aim of business. I believe that business is not solely about making profits – it entails obligations to the government and responsibilities to the immediate community, the employees, clients, and of course, the business itself. It is broader than the narrow perspective held by many. A model organization strikes a fine balance among all the aforementioned areas. Business is different from hustling.

As earlier hinted, the strategic bent of HRM is a given. It is a coordinated approach to drive businesses in an optimal manner.

There is no gainsaying that part of the overall corporate strategy should be an HRM strategy. In my opinion, a robust HRM strategy must take into consideration the industry and the organization.

The HRM strategy must never lose sight of the industry that the company is embedded in. Such strategy must ensure that the company competes favourably with competitors in that space — better still, the strategy could be to dominate the industrial space. A simple way to go about this is to ensure that there is sufficient investment in talent attraction, development and retention. This is very important because human resources (symbolic of knowledge, skills and abilities) are one of the resources residents in organizations that is not easily replicated or imitated by competitors. The HRM strategy must be sensitive and proactive (i.e. not reactive) in order for the company to stay above board – this strategy must factor in industrial trends in order for necessary predictions to be made which will in turn guide swift and tactical actions when necessary.

Also, the strategy should take into consideration the organization.

Organizations are primarily about people. For the company to compete favourably in or dominate the industry, the people who harness the material resources and drive the processes must be sufficiently motivated and deeply engaged. There can be no profit without optimal performance.

It is important to quickly mention that while taking into consideration

the organization (during the design of the HRM strategy), the financial capacity of the organization must be kept in mind. At no point should expenses on human resource activities exceed the company’s revenue.

It is crucial to state here that I left out customers from the mix because a properly crafted business objective (which is what the HRM strategy seeks to drive) should factor that in – that is, a good business objective presupposes an aim to meet customers’ needs because this is what brings in the revenue and of course, profit (when revenue exceeds operational, capital expenditures etc.).

Furthermore, a robust HRM strategy should be guided by core values so that execution of such a strategy further reinforces and strengthens the culture and ideals of the organization (progressive organisations understand this). The culture of the organization should not be compromised in the course of achieving corporate objectives. This is very important because organizational culture helps in shaping performance across board which has implications for achievement of corporate objectives.

For feasibility reasons, the HRM strategy should be considered at the inception of the design of objective(s) and strategy(ies) at

the corporate level. This is to avoid situations where the HRM strategy would be beaten into shape to fit the existing strategy (which Execs already have a strong psychological attachment to). One of the implications of this is that it might result in a compromise of best practice.

I would be remiss if I fail to stress the fact that strategy sessions yield best results when actors are broadminded, critical and practical. It is not about sentiments because one poorly planned and executed strategy could cost a company huge sums of money.

It is my considered opinion that all strategies (HRM strategies inclusive) should stay sensitive and amenable to change. They should be designed in ways that enable modifications in line with unforeseeable changes in the industry and organization. As we implement designed HRM strategies (through HRM functions/processes which they are mapped on), let us never lose sight of what business truly entails because this will determine whether our strategies are robust or simply narrow quick fixes that are not sustainable in the long run.

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Blockchain technology is disrupting payment processes in the agricultural sector

BOLAJIAKINBORO Akinboro Co-Founder and CEO of Cellulant Nigeria Limited

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lockchain technology is a decentralized digital ledger that keeps immutable records of transactions. It maintains a network of computers working together as well as independently, to keep and verify records in such a way that once a record has been written and accepted by all the computers in the network, it cannot be altered. It therefore provides a means to record, certify, and transfer assets without needing to rely on a bank, or other middlemen.

In Africa, the agricultural market– despite its $330billion size in 2015 and projected growth to $1Trillion by 2030– is not only unorganized but also has a complex value chain. Blockchain technology can provide stakeholders with a system that organizes and digitizes this value chain as well as provides access to potential investors in a

central database. It can serve as a real-time management system for supply chain transactions and financing to provide information (on the state of farms, inventory, contracts etc.) and maintain an identity database of partners (including farmers, insurance companies, financial institutions, government and development partners).

According to the World Bank, the demand for food is expected to increase by 70% by 2050; as the global population continues to grow exponentially and the demand for higher value agricultural products in developing countries continues to increase. This forecast earmarks at least $80 billion annual investments to address this. Hence, an increased investment in the agricultural industry is especially needed to prevent a global food crisis.

Innovation around access to finance for rural farmers is an essential starting point ; it has great potential to improve farming outputs. In Africa, rural farmers – mostly without access to financial services – dominate the agriculture value chain. The challenges of setting up traditional financial service institutions in rural communities prevent them from accessing these services; causing them to go through lengthy payment cycles and/or seeking help from middlemen.

For a potential agriculture investor, it is difficult to carry out due diligence checks in aspects of agriculture such as produce off take, processing and marketing by providing the needed financing either as a loan or grant to the various actors starting from the farmer. This is due to several factors including lack of access, inability to monitor/evaluate and ensure best practices, complex supply chains, and a lack of leverage in retrieving the returns from the investments.

Leveraging digital technology is a proven viable way to solve these problems. Players in the agricultural sector have already begun to exploit this trend. AgriDigital, an Australian platform, allows all the players across the agricultural supply chain to operate and interact on one platform for the transaction of their commodities using blockchain. Similarly, TE-Food offers Farm-to-table fresh food traceability for emerging markets through tracking systems built on blockchain.

In Nigeria, Agrikore, (powered by Cellulant) leverages on the capability of blockchain to increase access to financial services by creating smart contracts which present a mechanism to ensure that payment for a particular service is done after the service provider has met the initial terms of agreement. In the way Uber organized disparate single drivers into an organized ecosystem; Agrikore does the same for agriculture.

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As the public and private sectors continue to appreciate the benefits of blockchain technology, the closer this disruption will be in addressing wider issues especially among rural farmers in emerging economies

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By organizing players in the ecosystem, it eases the flow of financing into the system. Agrikore also incentivizes production and other value-added services by ensuring that resources are available to farmers on time. It enables people in the value chain to create and capture economic value sustainability because the economic activities are now visible in one transparent ecosystem.

This system also solves 3 main issues preventing Africa and its constituting countries from being able to feed themselves and use agriculture –the sector where Af-

rican has a competitive advantage (weather, arable land, water) – to compete with the rest of the world.

These issues are: access to markets which arises from the asymmetry of information that make inputs and produce trade, access to credit and inclusion in Digital Financial services and the simplification of the market entry process for investors.

Other capabilities of the platform include: repayment of agro-loans, produce delivery, storage contracts, warehousing, and grants. Agrikore’s blockchain technology also provides aggregated information on the agriculture supply chain in Africa; bypassing middlemen who may charge high fees to connect investors with farmers. It maintains an infrastructure that allows strangers to transact directly.

A major part of payments in the agriculture sector is international remittances. Through blockchain, robust platforms can be built to facilitate payments in a faster and cheaper way and most importantly connect rural farmers to a network of potential clients.

As the public and private sectors continue to appreciate the benefits of blockchain technology, the closer this disruption will be in addressing wider issues especially among rural farmers in emerging economies.

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Governance: Another critical look

ONYINYECHUKWU MBIDOM Mbidom is a banker and holds a B.Sc. in Economics

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h e U n i t e d Na t i o n s Development Programme (UNDP) in its 1997 policy paper defined governance as “the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels. It comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate interest, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligation and mediate their differences”. In 1993, the World Bank defined governance as the method through which power is exercised in the management of a country’s political,

BOLAJI ODUMADE

dumade is of the Features Unit, Min-

economic and social resources for development’ The UNDP further notes that governance has three legs: economic, political and administrative. Economic governance includes decisionmaking processes that affect a country’s economic activities and its relationship with other economies. It clearly has implications for equity, poverty and quality of life. Political governance is the process of decision-making to formulate policy. Administrative governance is the system of policy implementation. Encompassing all three, good governance defines the pro cess es and structures that guide political and socio-economic relationships.

The World Bank also def i n e d g o o d g ov e r na n c e a s “sound public sector management (efficiency, effectiveness and economy), accountability, exchange and free flow of information (transparency) and a legal framework for development (justice, respect for human rights and liberties)”.

Looking at governance in Nigeria, it begs the question, d o w e h av e g o o d g ov e r n ance? Is there a relationship between the governor and the governed? In a true democratic setting, the leadership

gets its power from the people who set tasks and appoints an elected few to implement the set task on their behalf. So the government are supposed to act on behalf and in the general interest of the citizenry.

The interest of the citizenry ought to be paramount on their minds. One without the desire to achieve public good for the populace ought not to come near power for when power is vested in the wrong hands, it becomes destructive. How else will the citizenry feel a sense of belonging and protection?

They begin to feel shut out and marginalized.

The government cannot afford to become privatized that is looking after the interest of a particular few, probably family, friends, sycophants and godfathers. Absolutely not. The government is the main vehicle to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots not further divide it. It should be the mouth pie ce for the oppressed and downtrodden not further oppress and reject them. When certain individuals start taking laws into their hands or deliberately flaunting the laws and is not made to face the consequences, will one say there is a good government.

When the citizenry cannot hope in the government to meet their

political, and socio-economic needs, then there is an issue.

It suffices to say that government is a very high office and should be taken with all the seriousness, determination and doggedness that is required especially in a nation that is the largest black nation in the world. We cannot afford to pay lip service, we cannot afford to rest on our oars and we cannot keep throwing blames. We are to get to the work and do what is required. It is not a work that can be completed by one person or in one election term.

Certainly not. We continually need people that have been able to build character.

We cannot neglect the need for capacity development. It is an important tool in achieving good governance. Capacity development is the process by which individuals, organizations, institutions and societies develop abilities to perform functions, solve problems and set and achieve objectives. “Specifically, capacity-building encompasses the country’s human, scientific, technological, organizational, i n s t i t u t i o na l a n d re s ou rc e capabilities. A fundamental goal of capacity building is to enhance the ability to evaluate and address the crucial questions related to policy choices

and modes of implementation among development options, based on an understanding of environment potentials and limits and of needs perceived by the people of the country concerned” (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development). The UNDP also recognizes that capacity building is a long-term continuing process in which all stakeholders participate. In recent times, co-founder of Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Bill Gates has been emphasizing the need for African governments to invest in human capital development as the sure means of curbing the rising poverty level. We cannot keep plunging the nation into debt whilst our human capital development investment remains low.

We must strive to achieve g o o d g ov e r na n c e. T h e ga p between the governor and the governed must be br idged.

We must set aside what easily besets us (tribalism, nepotism, religious divides, power play, lack of political will etc.) and r u n t h e ra c e t owa rd s g o o d governance so that we are not left behind globally and generations after us suffer for our mistakes.

Send reactions to: comment@businessdayonline.com

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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 GENERAL MANAGER, ADVERT Adeola Ajewole ADVERT MANAGER Ijeoma Ude FINANCE MANAGER Emeka Ifeanyi MANAGER, CONFERENCES & EVENTS Obiora Onyeaso SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Patrick Ijegbai CIRCULATION MANAGER John Okpaire DIGITAL SALES MANAGER Linda Ochugbua

Friday 02 November 2018

Subsidising fuel amidst crushing poverty

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his year, the federal government has bandied several figures as expenditure on fuel subsidy or under recovery as it prefers to call it, since it officially denies that it still pays subsidy on petrol. The current figure we have is from Ibe Kachikwu, the hapless minister of state for petroleum, who, in April avers that Nigeria’s annual expenditure on fuel subsidy has risen to over N1.4 trillion ($3.9 billion). Going by the figures, it means about N3.76 billion is spent daily on subsidising petrol. This was a staggering 386 per cent higher than the earlier figure of N774 million daily given on March 5, 2018 by the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, for the importation and distribution of petroleum products in the country.

As the price of petrol has continued to rise in response to the price of oil in the international market, that figure is now outdated and may soon reach or has even reached $5 billion a year. If Nigeria were a developed economy like

the United States with massive and adequate investments in education, healthcare, and infrastructure and the economy is booming, that would be understandable.

But no; this is a country adjudged to be the poverty capital of the world, with the highest number of people – over 87 million people - living in extreme poverty in the country. Worse is that the situation is getting worse with approximately six Nigerians sliding into the extreme poverty gap every minute and about 8,000 daily.

This is a country where the health, education and social infrastructure are almost broken and with little or no investments in these sectors. This is a country with record high unemployment rate, high dependency rate, security challenges and the absence of right economic policies and programmes that will be a catalyst to lifting people out of poverty.

Yet instead of concentrating on these concerns, the government is more interested in subsidising elite and middle class consumption of petrol.

Pray, what rational and sensible government could afford to leave millions of its citizens

in poor health, ravaged by avoidable diseases such as malaria, yellow and Lassa fever, cholera, typhoid etc while it continues to spend billions of dollars and trillions of naira yearly to subsidise consumption of petrol by the rich and the middle class? Despite Nigeria being a signatory to the World Health Organisation recommendation for every government to spend at least 13 percent its annual budget to health, Nigeria has not allocated more than 6.57 percent of its budget to the health sector. A good example is the 2018 budget where only N340.45 billion, representing 3.9 percent of the N8.8 trillion expenditure plan, was allocated to the health sector.

It took a Bill Gates recently to remind the Nigerian government of global statistics we are all aware of – that “Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth, with the fourth worst maternal mortality rate in the world, ahead of Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, and Chad,” and that “one in three Nigerian children is chronically malnourished.”

Pray, what rational government with a modicum of conscience could spend such

humungous amount yearly on frivolous consumption of petrol that adds very little to the economy while allocating only a meagre N605.8 billion to education in a country of nearly 200 million people with a clear majority young population desperately in need of education?

What country with a sensible government will be happy allocating far more to its consumption of fuel than educating and developing its future workforce and human capital?

We believe there can no longer be any rational or sensible explanation for the humongous amount of money spent daily on subsidising the consumption of petrol to the detriment of other critical sectors and needs in society. Petrol is a commodity like any other that is best left to market forces of demand and supply. The little political capital derived from maintaining the huge and extremely corrupt fuel subsidy regime is not commensurate with the long-term damage that is being done to the economy, growth and development of the country by that wasteful expenditure. Nigeria cannot afford to be travelling down an escalator that is clearly going up.

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Friday 02 November 2018

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MoneyInsight Personal Finance: Investing Retirement

Taxes

Credit Cards

Home Buying

Small Business Shopping

Financing

Stakeholders see automation as future of tax administration in Nigeria Stories by FRANK ELEANYA

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new study conducted by Deloitte finds that the next five years will be quite significant for many businesses as the professional environment becomes almost overwhelmed by rapid change, with an increased demand on the time and energy of those practicing in it. Technology is also expected to impact satisfaction level positively.

The current administration of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has made some progress through digitalising significant aspect of tax administration in Nigeria. For instance primary tax legislations are being reviewed to have a single tax administration law. FIRS has also commenced the publishing of the country-by-country regulation report as well as other tax guidelines that has helped ease the problem of clarity around tax administration in the country.

“We are modernising and introducing technology in tax reforms to plug revenue leakages,” Matthew Gbonjubola, head of international Tax, FIRS said at a Deloitte Nigeria Tax Breakfast

The panellists take a group picture after their discussion at the Deloitte Tax Breakfast Dialogue

Dialogue on Tuesday.

However, some stakeholders believe the tax regulator is not doing enough to reduce the challenges companies face with regards to compliance. Hence, automating every step in the tax process could go a long way in removing the bottlenecks.

Automation is also seen as the way forward for companies that intend to efficiently plug every

leakage.

“With the increasing regulatory environment, penalties are going to be a given,” Yomi Olugbenro, partner and West Africa Tax leader, Deloitte said during a presentation. “Hence, companies cannot be looking at making money and allowing leakages. They need to leverage technology because that is the only way you can be accurate

and avoid time wasting.”

Mark Freer, digital leader, Africa Tax and Legal, Deloitte highlighted five digital trends that will define the future of tax and the legal profession.

There is big data as organisations and authorities begin to critically analyse the data in their possession and to leverage the insights for better tax services.

Second, is the process auto-

mation which requires robotic automation and integration of financial and other systems.

Third is decision making, as artificial intelligence in integrated in compliance and consulting capabilities.

The fourth trend is democratisation of knowledge. More people are gaining access to large information as result of the different new channels that now exist.

“Clients no longer pay for information, they pay for insights,” Yomi Olugbenro, The fifth trend Freer highlighted is open networks which speak to talent sourcing, crowd problem-solving and sharing ecosystems.

“Tax teams are no longer entirely based on traditional or full-time employees. However, crowdsourcing or open talent models in the tax and legal market seem further off when compared to the use of IT graphic design and finance,” Freer noted.

Olugbenro further explained that the chief tax officer should be part of the conversation at the highest level. It is also important that conversation also get more strategic, beyond just filing tax returns.

Triggr, first emergency mobile app takes on crime control in Nigeria

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ith the spate of criminality rising and many people needing to take emergency measures to safeguard their lives and property, a Nigerian startup has come up with a solution that not only allows people to call for help hey are in distress but also show their location in real-time.

Triggr is the first emergency mobile app that has a big ambition of reducing crime by keeping people safe and helping those in trouble get the help they need quicker. The innovation is coming at a time when many Nigerians trust levels in existing security establishments such as the police have dropped significantly. Rather than recourse to police for safety, large amount of money is invested in procuring private security.

Tr iggr ’s entr y therefore could potentially reduce the cost people now have to bear in providing their own security.

In a statement sent to BusinessDay, co-founders of the mobile application, Okey Madubuike and David Echieanu explained that “Triggr is a new personal security and emergency

coordination mobile application for real-time location sharing, event notification and collaboration among family members, friends, and associates.”

The app is designed for both individuals and corporate organisatons “who when threatened by circumstances, desire the quickest engagement with their most trusted allies regard-

less of physical distance, and their most approximate, reliable service providers.”

There are twelve features on the launch version. These include car breakdown, accident, robbery, flood, rape, kidnap, riot, fire, gas leakage, stalking, sickness, and suicide.

The co-founder noted that Triggr majorly addresses the

challenge posed by loneliness in times of distress. Users of the app can easily press a few buttons to broadcast useful information such as emergency type, location, time, physical distance of each preset ally, and more.

In other words Triggr could help bridge the widening gap between security agencies and the people who need their help. For instance, people in an emergency situation needing the attention of the police can easily send a broadcast which can be seen by policemen with the app on their phone and this could lead to a rescue.

“The app instantly loops all the alerted allies into a dedicated virtual Group Coordinated Response (GCR) chatroom, to synergize their efforts, an prevent conflicting response activities,” the co-founders said.

There is also a self-help feature to both the user and the allies to find nearby service providers (within expandable 40km circumference), giving their names, contact addresses, contact phone numbers, distances from the distress location, public ratings, and

whether they are still open or closed for business at the time.

The app therefore offers a feature for service providers in different locations within the country to register and be verified; and if approved, be listed for service referencing in emergencies within their localities. As an added support for the community of users, Triggr also provides a free list of government-approved emergency numbers for related agencies at different locations in the country.

With many more exciting features in the works, it is no doubt a very handy tool for households, friends, travelers, vehicle owners, employers, employees, medical service providers, law enforcers, drivers, businesses, groups, security operatives (including vigilante and estate securities) and every one in communities.

The Triggr app is easy to use and available for download on Google playstore. It is revolutioning emergency and security management in Nigeria, and is your best friend in that critical time of need. “Your safety is a triggr away.”

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B/Haram: FAO donates to displaced families

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he Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has distributed 11, 000 fuel-efficient stoves to families displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno.

Patrina Pink, FAO’s communication officer said in Maiduguri that the stoves were provided under the Norway supported Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) programme.

Pink disclosed that 5,000 deserving families have so far benefited from the programme while additional 6,000 stoves would be distributed before the end of December.

She said that the programme was designed to address the energy needs of the displaced households; enhance protection and control deforestation, as well as checking violence against women and children.

She revealed that the organisation has established three production centres in Maiduguri, Jere and Konduga local government areas of the state, adding that 100 artisans were trained in the making the stoves.

The FAO official said that the stove lessened the demand for firewood by about 65 per cent and drastically cut the amount of smoke produced, compared to traditional cooking methods.

Yobe: Emir calls for religious tolerance

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mir of Potiskum in Yobe, Gidado Ibrahim, has called for the setting up of institutions on comparative religious studies to deepen understanding and tolerance among adherents of various religions in the country.

The Emir made the suggestion on Wednesday in Kaduna when he visited Pastor Yohanna Bury, President, Interfaith Dialogue, Peace and Reconciliation Foundation.

Ibrahim stressed that deepening understanding of the various religions would break existing barriers and misconceptions as well as promote peace and mutual respect among Nigerians.

The Emir urged the youths to be peace, law abiding citizens and help government to ensure peace and stability in their communities.

He said religious leaders also have a very important role to play in peace building through the promotion of peaceful coexistence and reconciliation among communities.

According to him, they also have a prominent role to play in tackling extremism by preaching tolerance and brotherliness at all times.

“Tolerance is the beginning, the first stage in a longer, deeper process of developing a culture of peace. Without tolerance, peace is not possible,” the Emir said.

1000 pregnant women get grants in Bayelsa

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ver one thousand pregnant women in Bayelsa, who have been captured in the state government’s free maternal care for pregnant women programme, have been given grants for their transport fare to access ante-natal clinics.

The stat governor, Seriake Dickson announced this during the official launch of the state’s Safe Motherhood Campaign in Yenagoa.

He said N3000 grant would be given monthly to all pregnant women in the state, for their transport to hospitals and clinics to access medical care until their babies are born.

The governor said, “In July, we convened a summit to deliberate on the issues of maternal and infant mortality, we arrived at the resolution that a policy on Safe Motherhood be introduced, with the Primary Healthcare Board and State Ministry of Health as partners.

“Since then, we have been working to implement the policy, and with the launch of the campaign today, the issue of maternal and infant mortality will be reduced in our state,” he said, adding that every pregnant woman in the state must register for ante-natal care.

The governor said that the state government has established medical facilities in almost every ward in the state to take care of the programme.

L-R: Babatunde Adewale Ajayi, Akarigbo of Remo; Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, communications, public affairs and sustainable development director, Lafarge Africa, and Tunji Lawal-Solarin, chairman, Remo Growth and Development Foundation, at the presentation of the Akarigbo Corporate Council and Remo Distinguished Corporate Citizens’ Award to Lafarge Africa plc in Lagos.

Flooding: Group seeks dredging of River Niger …calls for scrapping of Ecological Fund

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orld Igbo Environment Foundation (WIEF) has urged the Federal Government to urgently consider dredging the River Niger and de-silting of water bodies to solve the perennial problem of flooding in Nigeria.

The foundation has also called for the scrapping of the National Ecological Fund, as it has become “free money for politicians” rather than solve the problems it was established for.

Odili Ojukwu, the foundation’s executive director, who made the call in Awka, the Anambra State capital, while speaking with journalists, expressed worry over continued losses in human and materials to flooding in different parts of the country.

Ojukwu said dredging the river would mitigate the impact of flooding in many of the affected communities and on the national economy. According him, the issue of climate change has come to stay with all its consequences and therefore behooves on the Federal Government to come up with sustainable ways of managing it and exploring other opportunities.

The foundation said dredging would

also facilitate the development of vibrant economy along the coastal lines and decongest some major cities of the country.

“River Niger needs to be dredged for the benefit of the entire Nigeria; this flood would have been effectively contained if river Niger was appropriately dredged before now.

“The streams and rivers which serve as flow corridors for floods are clogged up, they have to be de-silted so that they can withstand flood considerably when it comes.

“The benefit of dredging is so enormous; it will increase coastal transport system, easier and cheaper movement of goods and also enhance irrigation for farming,” he told NAN explaining the causes and benefits of dredging.

“Again, it will help to develop the glass industry because sand is a major raw material in the production of glass and reduce the indiscriminate mining of sand which leads to erosion of the environment.

“Why should we continue to neglect a critical sector like that which borders on the human person, ecology, environment, economy and industry.

“We are having issues of congestion in

Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Kaduna while we can open up other areas for economic purposes and move some of our population there,” he said.

He also called for an environmental policy that would be proactive, people oriented and cost efficient. He decried the huge amount of money spent on relief materials and rebuilding of destroyed properties and livelihoods on account of flood disaster.

“I can challenge anybody; the cost of responding to flood and erosion emergencies (relief materials and repairs) is much higher than the budget for environment ministry both at the federal and state levels.

“The approach of government to these emergencies is more of reactionary that proactive, when the alarm is sounded by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) the next move is `what can be done to reduce the effect’ “But they are busy setting up Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) camps without working on possible mitigation of factors like what we see in Asia and America.

“They don’t have to wait until erosion by flood cuts off major roads and vehicles plunge into them and when it begins to claim human lives,” Ojukwu said.

Amnesty office to train 2,500 beneficiaries on fishing SAMUEL ESE residential Amnesty Office has signed a deal with leading fishing companies to train 2,500 beneficiaries in the amnesty programme.

Murphy Ganagana, special assistant, media, to the special adviser to the President on Niger Delta/Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty, Charles Dokubo, disclosed this at an interactive with newsmen in Warri on Wednesday.

According to Ganagana, the programme which is a Public- Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement will be held

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in Burutu local government area of Delta.

The coordinator who assumed office in March 2018 had listed the companies to include: Akawe Global Service Limited and Concept Amadeus Limited, both indigenous companies and five Greek companies.

“It is a Public Private Partnership involving Akawe Global Service Limited, Concept Amadeus Limited and five Greek companies.

“The Greek companies are: FINTRILIS S.A; TEL Western Greece; KRETA MARE; EL MARE and THEO-MAN Limited.

“The project involved the building of 100 fishing trawlers in Burutu,” the media

aide quoted Dokubo as saying.

He noted that the Amnesty office had commissioned an Oil and Gas Vocational Training Centre in Agadagba, Ondo, adding that 200 beneficiaries of the amnesty would begin the training on welding and other skills in the next two weeks.

He also said that the office had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta, to train 200 delegates in various vocational skills.

He said that the Amnesty office was committed to building human capacity to attract sustainable development to the Niger Delta region.

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Dangote Sugar revenues slide in 9 months on increased smuggling CYNTHIA IKWUETOGHU

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L-R: Wunika Mukan, project director, Art Summit; Azu Nwagbogu, director, Lagos Photo Festival; Adenrele Sonariwo, founder, Art Summit, and Victor Ehikhamenor, artist, during the Art Summit Nigeria, with the theme “The Future of Art: Artist as the Nucleus” in Lagos. Pic by Olawale Amoo

that the company is working with regulatory authorities and others in the sugar industry to curtail the influx of poor quality unlicensed sugar into country. While we view man-

Edufirst kicks off campaign to reposition education in Nigeria ODINAKA ANUDU

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dufirst, an education technology (Edutech) company, has launched a campaign it hopes will help reposition and revolutionalise education in Nigeria, with more focus on technology adoption in education to address the poor standards of education, leveraging Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

The key aim of the campaign is to reinforce the need for quality education for all, while making quality education a priority for both public and private schools in Nigeria.

Moses Imayi, co-founder and chief executive officer of Skool Media, Edufirst’s parent company, said the campaign became necessary owing to the decaying state of the education system in Nigeria, stating that the standard of education must be raised for Nigerians to compete favourably among their peers globally.

“What we are doing with this campaign is to leverage the power of technology to reposition the standard of education in Nigeria.

As a business, we are poised to reinforce the need for quality education in the Nigerian landscape, hence our decision to commence a campaign focused on raising the standard of education in Nigeria,”

Imayi said.

According to Imayi, the campaign will stimulate learning among Nigerians, change the narrative of the education sector to bridge the gap and enhance the standard of education in the country while advocating for an all-inclusive education system.

The campaign seeks to address the need for improved educational standards, leveraging technology to transform and make teaching/ learning fun and productive. “We want to identify and establish partnership with relevant organisations and institutions for the advancement of quality education for the Nigerian child,” said Imayi.

Idris Oladipo, one of the partners of Skool Media, while giving his overview of the campaign, said education remains a vital resource for development. According to Oladipo, the Edufirst platform provides schools, parents and other stakeholders the opportunity to access a rich directory of schools and relevant educational programme.

In the course of the campaign, the Edufirst platform is expected to be unveiled as an online platform that allows for student-teacher collaboration, online assessment, students records management, scholarship information, study abroad opportunities and unique education contents.

agement’s action in a positive light, we do not foresee a significant improvement in revenue going forward.”

Profit after tax (PAT) for the nine months period declined

by 37 percent to N26.5 billion from N16.7 billion recorded a year ago. From the result, the dip in PAT was driven by a huge growth in interest paid on bank loan by 475 percent.

1 million teachers sign training partnership with Sterling Bank JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON

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Million Teachers (1MT) a Canadian educational technology startup, has signed a partnership agreement with Sterling Bank Nigeria to kick off a training programme for teachers in Nigeria. Also included in the partnership is the adoption of the learning curriculum by the bank.

In similar vein, 1 Million Teachers had a few week ago, signed an agreement with Queens University, Canada on its teacher education programme, which will be run by the school’s faculty of education and will be deployed using traditional and online methods in developing countries of the world starting from sub-Saharan Africa with Nigeria being the leading participant. Presently, the 1 Million Teachers foot-print has been registered in 15 African countries with more to be added before the end of 2018.

Commenting on the partnership, Hakeem Subair, global chief executive officer (CEO) 1MT who was represented by Oyeyinka Banjo, regional director for West Africa, 1MT, said the milestone

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BIEL pushes value proposition, entrepreneurship skills to check human trafficking

C O M PA N Y N E W S A N A LY S I S A N D I N S I G H T

arnings report of most consumer goods companies have been soft as Dangote sugar recorded declines in sales as well as its earnings, reported in its nine months results ended September 2018.

The top Nigerian sugar maker saw a decrease in sales by 28 percent to N116.8 billion from N163 billion in nine months ended September.

Businessday analysis showed that the fall in revenue was primarily driven by a 29 percent fall in revenue from sale of 50kg sugar and 14 percent fall in revenue from sale of retail sugar.

“We link this to lower sales volumes, further amplified by the resurgence in smuggling of imported sugar due to improved liquidity in the foreign exchange (FX) market,” analysts at CSL Stockbrokers Limited stated in an email sent to BusinessDay. “We however note that management has explained

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partnership with Sterling Bank sign-posts the commitment of 1 Million Teachers towards providing an enabling platform for the development and advancement of teachers in Africa. The partnership is aimed to attract, train and retain one million teachers as well as develop the capacity to significantly train several millions more.

“Education has been identified as a key driver for the eradication of poverty and economic rejuvenation of the African Continent and it is our belief that the training offered on the 1 Million Teachers (1MT) platform added to the exposure to a world class community of trainers and teachers including performance rewards and exchange programs will motivate the teachers towards offering the best to their students”; he said.

During a visit of the 1 Million Teachers team to Nigeria in July, which was endorsed

by Muhammad Sanusi II, Emir of Kano, Peter Chin, associate dean of undergraduate studies, Queen University, said the programme holds mutual benefits both to teacher candidates at the faculty and teachers in Nigeria.

Operating profit likewise dropped by 32 percent to N24.2 billion in the period from N35.9 billion posted in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, operating

expenses grew during this period especially selling and distribution expenses as Dangote Sugar reported 65 percent growth which was mostly incurred from costs of transporting goods.

Earnings per share (EPS) declined 25 percent to N1.07 in nine months 2018 compared to N1.43 in 2017.

The third quarter result from July to September revealed the company had a decline in its profit after tax by 58 percent to N3.9 billion from N9.4 billion recorded in the same period a year ago. Revenue dropped by 26 percent which was driven by “weak top line performance”, Analysts said The company’s expense -to- sales ratio increased to 5.8 percent from 5.3 percent in Q2 and 4.7 percent in Q1.

This implied that 6 percent of the company’s revenues are used for operating expenses.

However, the shares of Dangote Sugar Plc was up 7 percent to close at N15.30 at the close of the market on 31st of November 2018. Year to date the shares are down 25 percent.

ITB in aggressive push for green architecture, construction industry digitization CHUKA UROKO

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n line with global shift in traditional building and construction methods, ITB Nigeria Limited, one of the foremost construction firms in the country, is pushing for the digitization of the construction industry, leading to green architecture and smart buildings.

The company hopes that digital technology will foster the growth of the construction industry, minimize project delays, reduce the occurrence of accidents and guarantee costeffective building projects.

“The adoption of digital technology will pave way for the emergence of green and smart buildings, which brings about positive benefits for the environment”, ITB, an innovative engineering firm in Nigeria, explained in a statement obtained by BusinessDay in Lagos.

Ramzi Chidiac, the company’s managing director, is of the view that if adequate and collective attention is given to the value of technology in construction, “we can better

control the quality and standards upheld in engineering; as Nigeria moves closer to its vision 2020, it is imperative that all sectors are challenged to uphold the best standards. I believe that the way forward for the construction industry is to embrace digitization.”

“At ITB, we recognize the huge benefits that technology can bring to human lives and to the environment, and that is why we are committed to providing advanced building solutions. Evidenced by our use of steel and concrete, and the construction of the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building in Nigeria, we continually seek efficient ways to adopt new technology to improve the standard of living”, he added.

ITB Nigeria has already made a strong mark in the country with several projects.

The full range of their services is constantly challenged by the desire to revolutionize how buildings are erected and the effect they have in the overall aesthetics of the city and its environment.

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BIEL pushes value proposition, entrepreneurship skills to check human trafficking SEYI JOHN SALAU

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oved by the desire to stop the tide of human trafficking in Nigeria, Beauty in Every Life (BIEL) Foundation, a non-profit organisation focused on empowering youths, women and children, is out to provide an alternative value proposition through life skill and entrepreneurship education. This was revealed at the inaugural interactive session organised recently in Lagos

by BIEL on the danger of human trafficking.

It is alleged that many Nigerian youth and women seek greener pasturesoutsidetheshoresofNigeria.

This type of migration arises because of economic hardships experienced duetothehighunemploymentratein the country. However, in the process of looking for a way out of this difficulty, many have fallen victim to false international immigration promises which, in most cases, turn out to be the entry point to slavery and human trafficking. They unknowingly enter a contract to repay their agents, who later subject them to all sorts of inhumane treatment, including prostitution to repay their captors.

Ebere Akadiri, the founder of

BIEL Foundation said there are an estimated 20.9 million people trapped in some sort of slavery globally today. According to her, it is sometimes referred to as ‘Modern Slavery’, or ‘Human Trafficking’.

“Human trafficking is present in all countries around the world but not in the same way. In order to understand and solve the trafficking problem in Nigeria, there is a need to get to the root of the matter,” said Ebere.

BIEL through its Keep Dignity Alive Project is set to tackle human trafficking, criminality and hunger by educating and empowering Nigerian youth to come out of poverty and step into further education or self-employment. “We achieve this goal by creating awareness on the dangers of trafficking and educating Nigerian youth on the signs and prevention of trafficking.

“Train schools and communities to detect and prevent trafficking and provide entrepreneurship and life skills education for victims of trafficking and vulnerable youths.

It also seeks to partner with international organizations to provide learning resources for local NGOs workinginthefieldofhumantrafficking in Nigeria,” Ebere stated.

JulieOkah-Donli,theDGofNAPTIP said the agency is expecting to receive in its care another 180 victims

of human trafficking this week and hope to have more of them back home for proper sensitisation and empowerment.

Okah-Donli who was represented by the director Lagos command, Daniel Atokolo stated that the 180 victims of human trafficking, mostly women and children, were brought back to the country on Thursday, October 25, from The Netherlands, Europe, Germany.

She however urged Nigerians to be careful of falling victim of human trafficking, and should rather follow then right procedure in engaging house help. “House-owners must go through registered firms to hire cooperate domestic helps, instead of enslavingyounggirlsfromthevillages.

Thisisamajorformofhumanslavery and we are against it,” said Julie.

According to Julie, members of thepublicaretoreportanycaseofhuman abuse and help sensitise people on the dangers of human trafficking whiletheagencyiscollaboratingwith customs,policeandfederalministries to curb human trafficking.

It is pertinent to note that the United Nations defines ‘human trafficking’ as the recruitment, transportation, transfer or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation.

L-R: Thomas Oloriegbe, group chief operating officer, Nosak Group; Oluwole Iyamu, solicitor general and permanent secretary, ministry of justice; Osarodion Ogie, secretary to the Edo State Government; Uyi. J Oduwa-Malaka, principal private secretary to the Edo State governor; Toni Ogunbor, chairman, Nosak Group, and Frank Evbuomwan, managing director, Edo State Geographic Information Service (EDOGIS), at the tour of Nosak Group’s facilities in Apapa and Amuwo Odofin in Lagos.

Hubmart Store rewards loyal customers in new Awoof Promo

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s part of efforts to provide superior customer shopping experience,HubmartStoresis settodelightitsloyalcustomersonce againintheupcoming1straffledraw in a series of three slated for 12 noon tomorrow Saturday at the Hubmart Stores outlet on Isaac John Street, Ikeja G.R.A. The draw which is part of the ongoing Hubmart Awoof Promotion will see Hubmart Stores give out prizes worth up to N3.5million free shopping in addition to other instant and consolation prizes to its loyal customers.

Murat Bektaslar, chief executive

officer, of Hubmart Stores Limited, informed journalists that the promotion is one of the ways in which Hubmart was looking to give back to customers who had supported its growth over the years. He said “We have come a long way from one outlet in Victoria Island to three outlets which will soon become four – with Omole coming on stream this quarter. We take pride in our capabilities in fresh and our acceptance by our teeming customers is testament to the good work we have done. The Hubmart Awoof Promotion is a small way of telling our customers,

thank you”.

Cheng Fuller, vice president, Marketing stated that for customers to be part of the Hubmart Awoof Promotion raffle draw, they would need to make minimum purchases of N3, 500 or N5, 000 to qualify in differentcategories.Hecommunicated to journalists that Hubmart Stores Limited was looking to give prizes in excess of a whopping sum of N10 million during the promotion. Fuller further stated that there would be draws every month in which customers would win prizes worth up to 3.5million naira.

L-R: Desmond Adeola, chairman, Anti Counterfeiting Collaboration of Nigeria and Head Of Brand Protection For Africa, Unilever; Segun Ajayi-Kadir, director-general, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), and Uche Nwokocha, partner, Aluko & Oyebode/member of board of director, International Trademark Association, at the Anti Counterfeiting Collaboration of Nigeria and International Trademark Association - annual roundtable 2018 in Lagos.

SPAR intensifies mega store competition, opens new outlet

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s Nigerian consumers’ battle with a weak purchasing power identified as an obstacle to Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) growth in the country, the management of SPAR Nigeria recently opened a new mega store outlet in Leisure Mall, Surulere, a move seen to offer choices to consumers. The new store is SPAR’s 8th store in Lagos and 14th store in Nigeria.

Emmanuel Isangediok, the marketing managers of SPAR Nigeria said, SPAR understands the hyper market chain in Nigeria better, having been around in the country for 30 years. “You can see from our competitors that you can just get, maybe grocery items from their store: so from our own end you can get a lot of

things other than grocery; that is why we are different,” he said.

According to Emmanuel, one important thing for consumers and any economy is choice, hence SPAR is providing a wider choice for consumers in Surulere to choose and shop. “Consumers want a nice and well secured environment to shop from – look at this place, it is well secured. Well lit and more importantly is the choice without going from one trader to another; in one single place you gets everything under one roof,” he stated.

Speaking further on the market competition the new SPAR outlet is out to create, Emmanuel opined that South Africa with population of 56 million have

over 5000 modern stores; while Nigeria with population of over 180 million, only have an handful of 100s modern stores.

“Looking at the development index of South Africa and Nigeria; Nigeria has a long way to go. Again, every SPAR store employs directly and indirectly close to 350/400 staff, therefore retail stores are big employment generator in any economy. In every developed economy, the biggest employer is not the government, it is the private sector, and the retail sector is critical to the development of any economy. Nigeria is currently playing catch up, and the market is so big enough to accommodate everyone without hampering each other,” he concludes.

L-R: Abimbola Olulesi, acting registrar; Joseph Afolayan, vice chancellor, and Johnson Fatokun, dean, faculty of natural and applied sciences, all of Anchor University, at the press conference on the approved 14 new courses for the university by National University Commission in Lagos.

Pic by Pius Okeosisi

African Award sets stage to recognise resilient brands

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heAwesomeBrandsMagazine in association with some strategic partners is set to host the annual Outstanding Brands Awards and Summit Nov. 22 to recognise brands that have been resilient and innovativedespiteNigeria’schallenging business environment.

Some businesses in spite of the challengesarethrivingandcontributing totheeconomicgrowthofthecountry.

To celebrate some of these companies whose brands are thriving, ABR Institute in conjunction with Awesome Brands Magazine, with some strategic partners is ready to reward Brands which have excelled in all ramifications. The award is aimedatidentifying,recognisingand rewarding corporate organisation

that applied innovations and best quality practices.

Similarly, the Summit is an annual event that focuses on the need for the country, businesses, organisations, entrepreneurs in Nigeria to become more innovative and use innovation to drive sustainable development.

This Summit helps Nigeria embrace innovation and move in the direction of digital transformation through the use of emerging technologies and trends, research, development, commercialisation, entrepreneurship and investments as the key drivers of an innovation ecosystem.

This platform creates awareness on the need for Open Innovation in

Nigeria, and challenges Nigeria to leverageinnovationtobecomemore competitive in the global economy.

Both events will take place at Sheraton Hotel and Towers Ikeja, Lagos at 10am. Over 150 policy makers,brandsleadersandindustry innovators from Africa will converge in Nigeria for these events.

A line-up of high-level speaker will deliver presentations, share some case studies and innovations, with demonstrated solutions on the day of the event.

George Nwachukwu, publisher of the Magazine said the African outstanding brands Awards and Summit is rewarding products and corporate organisations who are leading the way in African markets.

L-R: Peter Sands, executive director, The Global Fund; Njide Ndili, country director Pharmaccess, and Kees Van Lede, chief executive officer, Carepay, during the visitation to Subol Hospital Lagos, for the proof of concept Lagos State Health Insurance Scheme In Lagos

Friday 02 November 2018

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LegalPerspectives

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BUSINESS DAY

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Odunayo Oyasiji

The doctrine of Nemo Dat Quod non habet in commercial transactions

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his doctrine means that – you cannot give what you don’t have. This means that if you buy something from someone who does not have the ownership then it deprives you of the ownership of what you bought. This goes a long way to establish the fact that we must be careful of the person or source from where we buy things. The person transferring ownership cannot transfer a better title than what he or she has. This is a common law rule.

There are some exceptions to the nemo dat rule.

It means conditions under which the buyer will acquire good title despite the fact that the seller’s title is faulty. These exceptions are1. Sale under condition of estoppel- This simply means that the real owner by conduct has presented to the buyer that the seller has the authority to sell.

2. Sale by a joint ownerwhere one of many owners sells the property then the buyer acquires a good title if the joint owner selling has possession with consent of the other owners and the buyer acted in good faith without knowledge that the seller lacks the authority to sell.

3. If the person selling obtains the possession under a voidable contract- i.e. the buyer gets a good title although the possession of the property by the seller was obtained without free consent.

The buyer acquires good title if the seller obtained possession under voidable and not void contract, the voidable contract must not have been rescinded, the buyer must not know about the defective title of the seller.

4. Sale by person in possession after sale- this refers to a situation where the buyer leaves the good with the seller after buying it and the seller sells the good to another person. The new buyer acquires good title if he has no knowledge of the earlier sale.

5. Sale by a mercantile agent- mercantile agent is someone who deals in buying and selling of goods on behalf of a principal. The conditions attached are- the agent must be a mercantile agent, he must be in possession of the

goods or its title documents with the consent of the owner, he sells it in the usual course of his business and the buyer must not be aware of his lack of authority to sell.

6. Sale by a buyer in possession of a good after agreement to sell- A buyer and seller agrees on the sale of an item and the payment is

to be in three instalments.

However, the ownership of the item is only to be transferred to the buyer after the payment of the third instalment.

The item was delivered to the buyer who hasn’t paid fully and therefore had no title.

He (buyer) sells the item to another person who is not aware that the person selling

does not have title. The buyer will get a good title.

7. Sale by a finder- If a lost good is found by someone and he sells it under circumstances that are permitted by law then the buyer will acquire a good title. The circumstances permitted are- when the owner cannot be found after reasonable ef-

forts on the side of the finder, when after finding the owner, he refuses to pay the finder’s lawful charges, if the good will perish or lose its value and if the lawful charges of the finder amounts to two-third of the value of the value of the lost and found property.

8. Sale by an official appointed by the court- example is a receiver or liquidator.

Someone that buys from such a person will acquire good title.

In conclusion, there is need for caution when buying things. It is essential that the person transferring title has the right to do so. An example of situation where most people fall into the trap of fraudsters is in the sale of land. People buy without conducting search at the lands registry to investigate the title of the person selling and ascertain that the property is not encumbered.

The principles that should guide when buying anything are - exercise extra caution, make findings from the appropriate places and do not buy when the circumstances seems suspicious.

The advantages and limitations of limited liability partnership under the partnership law of Lagos State

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artnership is the coming together of two or more people to do business for the purpose of profit. Usually, the liabilities of the partners are not limited and they do no enjoy legal personality. Partnership usually operates as business names in Nigeria. Therefore, both legal personality and limited liability features of a registered limited liability company are absent.

The concept of a limited liability partnership came into existence in a bid to confer the benefits of registering a limited liability company on a partnership. This makes carrying on business as partners to be more attractive as limited liability partnership is a hybrid system formed from the balancing of the features of a limited liability company and a partnership.

It must be noted that by virtue of statute of general application, the UK Partnership Act of 1890 is still the applicable law in so many states in Nigeria except

for few states like Lagos state.

The Lagos law did not provide a definition for the Limited Liability Partnership. Section 58(4) of the Partnership Law of Lagos State confers the quality of legal personality on LLP. It states that it can sue and be sued its registered name. However, there are situations where the partners can be sued directly under Section 58 (4) of the Law. It provides that “A Limited liability Partnership may sue and be sued in its registered name...however a limited liability partner will be liable to be sued in his personal capacity for acts of the partnership in the following circumstances: (a) Cases of fraud, misrepresentation and other conduct alleged to have been committed by the limited liability partner; and (b) With the written consent of the Commissioner where it is established that it is in the reasonable interest of the public for an action to be maintained

against an individual limited liability partner.”

The above simply indicates that there is a limit to the protection being enjoyed by the partners. Under the normal partnership, the partners are jointly liable for all the debts of the partnership. This liability even extends to the estate of the partners after they must have died. However, Section 75 (3) of the law limits the liability of a partner to the amount subscribed by such partner.in the course of registration.

Section 60 of the law deals with what it takes to register a limited liability partnership.

The following are essential1. Having an existing partnership 2. Partners need to take out an indemnity bond 3. Professional liability insurance must be in place 4. The partners must subscribe their names to the registration documents that goes to the registrar.

5. Statement by subscribers

must also be provided.

It must be noted that the use of LLP is not the conclusive evidence that a partnership is a limited liability partnership. It is the presentation of the certificate of registration as LLP that matters-Section 62. It must be noted that LLP is not recognized under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA). An LLP can be registered under business name to bring it within the scope of the Act-Section 81 of the Law. Another important issue is the status of an LLP when it is operating outside Lagos state.

It may retain the use of LLP but it will be subjected to the rules or laws of the state where it is operating. Therefore, an LLP operating outside Lagos can either operate as a normal partnership or as a business name if it is so registered under CAMA. In conclusion, the protection offered a partnership registered as LLP in Lagos is limited to Lagos. The status changes when its operation extends beyond Lagos to other states of the country.

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BUSINESS DAY

Harvard Business Review

Friday 02 November 2018

ManagementDigest

Research shows immigrants help businesses grow: Here’s why NATALY KELLY

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t has been well documented that immigrants contribute disproportionately to entrepreneurship. This is true both in the United States, where they represent 27.5% of all entrepreneurs but only 13% of the population, and in many other countries around the world.

On average, immigrants contribute twice as much to U.S. entrepreneurship as native-born citizens do. But immigrants aren’t just creating more businesses; they’re creating more successful ones. A Harvard Business School study comparing immigrant-founded businesses with native-founded ones showed that immigrantfounded companies perform better in terms of employment growth over three- and six-year time horizons.

Not all immigrants or nonimmigrants are the same, of course, and there is obviously a tremendous amount of variability between individuals. However, many of the qualities that would seem to make immigrants more likely to succeed in building their own businesses are reasons you should consider hiring them to help build yours.

A GROWTH MINDSET Success in today’s business environment requires having a “growth mindset.” A person with a growth mindset believes her talents are not stagnant. She believes she can do more by working hard, coming up with good strategies and taking input from others. The concept of a growth mindset is closely related to that of an “immigrant mindset.” Migrating to a new country takes a high level of confidence in one’s ability to change and a high level of tolerance for uncertainty.

More important, immigrants believe in their ability to figure things out and adapt once they get there.

Being unafraid of new challenges and proactively reaching for them is essential for long-term business survival. Those companies that do not continually innovate and adapt along with advances in technology and

changes in society eventually see their products or services fade in importance. Immigrants, who are veterans of change, would appear to be likely to help businesses remain competitive and thrive.

ADAPTABILITY Surviving, let alone thriving, in a new place also requires adaptation skills. When you’re in a brand-new culture, the need for change isn’t a one-off, but rather a continual daily requirement. Adapting can be a painful and difficult process, one that takes place on an ongoing basis.

It forces a re-examination of the familiar and requires a person to make changes to how they think and act.

Here, too, immigrants may offer a benefit for employers. Businesses are increasingly finding that rapid adaptation is necessary for success in today’s competitive environment. Hiring immigrants may help you build the organizational muscle of adaptability that will enable your company to be more receptive to, and act upon, the continual change that is required of businesses today.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION Immigrants usually improve a company’s ethnic and linguistic diversity, and they also bring a

plethora of unique experiences, backgrounds and knowledge to the workplace. And companies are paying attention to research finding that firms with more diverse people on staff have healthier financial performance, largely because nonhomogenous teams tend to outperform teams with lots of similar people.

But hiring a more diverse workforce is only half the equation.

Without giving all people equal chances to participate and integrating them into all aspects of the business, teams won’t reach a state of high performance, and the unique aspects of individuals won’t be leveraged to the highest degree. This is where inclusivity comes in.

Immigrants know what it feels like to be an outsider, and they tend to be more inclined to promote an inclusive way of working. They are also more aware that others might contribute experiences different from their own. So, they tend to be more willing to hear voices that might otherwise go unheard in a business environment. Because they have experienced firsthand what it’s like to be different, they can also be more attuned to the realities of discrimination. This, in turn, may make them eager to help prevent their colleagues

from experiencing it.

GLOBAL READINESS One of the most frequently overlooked benefits that immigrants bring to a business context is their international experience. Knowledge of other cultures and languages might not seem critical for a business that isn’t yet selling outside its home country, but in order to keep growing, nearly every business hits a point at which it needs to expand beyond borders.

Going global is usually a painful process filled with organizational learning and growing pains.

People who bring experience from a different country and cultural context may be more likely to prevent a company from having to deal with such pains, while accelerating its organizational learning about how to become global. EImmigrants tend to think about potential international challenges much earlier than their colleagues and have a more global outlook on life itself.

How can you make sure that your company is recruiting adaptive people with a growth mindset and cross-cultural experiences?

Here are some practical things you can do: — INVEST IN MOBILITY AND IMMIGRATION EXPERTISE: Often, candidates who have immi-

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

grated might require additional support to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, especially where visas and work requirements are concerned. Make sure your legal team can support you with the ability to advise on the specifics in this area.

— ADD INTERNATIONAL OR CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIENCE TO YOUR RECRUITING PRIORITIES: Clearly explain your priorities to your recruiting team.

They can help add international experience as a desired quality in job descriptions, screening tools and so on.

— FLAG PEOPLE WHO KNOW SEVERAL LANGUAGES: It’s not always easy to tell if someone came to your country from another just by looking at his resume, especially if he obtained higher education once he got here. Professional profiles, such as those on LinkedIn, enable you to filter by language to quickly find people with international experience.

— KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR CANDIDATES WITH AN ADAPTIVE MINDSET: You don’t have to be an immigrant to demonstrate many of the qualities that make immigrants successful in business. Give consideration to employees who don’t shy away from change and have a track record of choosing the foreign over the familiar. Look for people who have made major career pivots, have overcome significant challenges or otherwise show signs of willingness to explore uncharted territory.

— ENCOURAGE EMPLOYEES TO OBTAIN INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE: If you have offices abroad, consider creating incentives for employees to spend more time in them. Nothing replaces the value of living and working in another country, no matter how long, to help them contribute in a more meaningful way to your business, especially if international business is a key part of fueling your overall global growth.

Nataly Kelly is the vice president of international operations and strategy at HubSpot.

Friday 02 01 November 2018 Thursday November 2018

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Stakeholders deliberate on supporting safe births in Nigeria ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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igeria’s reported high maternal and newborn deaths has been severely criticised and stakeholders in the health sector are exploring means of enhancing safe birth in Africa’s most populous nation.

According to the World Health Organisation, of the more than 130 million births occurring each year, an estimated 303 000 result in the mother’s death, 2.6 million in stillbirth, and another 2.7 million in a newborn death within the first 28 days of birth. The majority of these deaths occur in low-resource settings and most could be prevented.

The National Demographics and Health Survey (NDHS, 2013) showed that Nigeria loses as many as 576 women per 100,000 childbirths and 37 newborn deaths per 1,000 live births, placing the country among the worst ratios for both maternal and newborn deaths globally.

Safe Birth Initiative (SBI), which was sponsored by Coca-Cola in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health, the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals and a Non- Governmental Organisation, Medshare International Inc. is designed to address this challenge.

The Safe Birth Initiative aims to support the attainment of the SDG targets on maternal and newborn deaths reduction.

It focuses on strengthening the capacity of selected public hospitals through procurement of vital maternal and neonatal medical equipment and supplies.

It also focuses training biomedical engineering technicians to improve equipment maintenance and uptime; and reactivating a large stock of abandoned medical equipment wasting away in public hospitals.

“We have always believed that our healthcare would improve with active collaboration and partnership from the private sector,” Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health,

L-R: Clem Ugorji, director, Public Affairs and Communications, Coca-Cola West Africa Business Unit; Bala Yusuf, technical director, Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs; Chinyere Ezeaka, Professor of Paediatrics, Lagos University Teaching Hospital Idi-Araba; Adedamola Dada, chief medical director, Federal Medical Centre, Ebute-Metta; and Amaka Onyemelukwe, head, Public Affairs and Communications, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, during the Coca-Cola Stakeholders Parley on ‘Enabling Safe Births in Nigeria’

represented by Adedamola Dada, the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, EbuteMetta, Lagos said.

According to minister, the Safe Birth Initiative is a good example of such a partnership.

“Meticulous planning and identification of the needs of the beneficiary hospitals have been carried out with active involvement of partners and beneficiaries”.

“We commend our partners on this programme, Coca-Cola, the SDG Office, Medshare International and the Engineering World Health and use this opportunity to call on other private sector players to join us in this battle to free our nation from diseases and major challenges in maternal and childhood health,” Adewole said.

“There is a limit to what our doctors and nurses can do with just their skills and passion, in the absence of the vital life-saving equipment required for effective diagnosis, testing and treatment”, said Clem Ugorji, public Affairs and Communications director for Coca-Cola West Africa.

Ugorji said Coca-Cola’s commitment goes beyond donating equipment.

“Through the SBI, the company hopes to promote effective maintenance culture by empowering biomedical engineering technicians

with the knowledge, skills, tools and confidence to take responsibility for ensuring maximum uptime for the new equipment.”

“It also aims to empower them on reactivation of abandoned biomedical equipment in the target hospitals,” he said.

Similarly, Bala Yusuf, representing the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said, “The Coca-Cola Safe Birth Initiative is working towards the third sustainable development goal – Health and Wellbeing for all, including our mothers and our children.

“This partnership is a classic example of what we can do when we combine our expertise and resources in support of the 2030 SDG agenda.”

“We hope this event will strengthen our resolve to continue to work together as policy makers, development practitioners, academics, but more importantly as concerned citizens, in support of the 2030 agenda of the sustainable development goals,” she said.

The official launch of the Safe Birth Initiative and inauguration of the first set of SBI equipment in the country will be performed by the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, at the National Hospital in Abuja next week.

Friday 02 November 2018

What helps with insomnia during early pregnancy?

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nsomnia during early pregnancy is usually due to factors such as hormonal changes. Many people experience insomnia at some point, during pregnancy.

Better sleep hygiene, relaxation techniques, and cognitive behavioural therapy can help.

According to a 2018 study of 486 pregnancies, 44.2 percent involved insomnia during the first trimester. The study concludes that insomnia is more likely to occur in those who have sleep problems before they become pregnant. However, anyone can experience sleep disturbances in pregnancy.

Insomnia tends to get worse as pregnancy progresses but can occur at any stage.

In the first trimester, hormonal shifts are the most likely cause.

What causes insomnia in early pregnancy?

Levels of the hormone progesterone are high during the first trimester, and this can cause sleepiness and napping during the day.

Aside from hormonal changes, factors that may make insomnia worse include: hunger, spicy foods, which may cause digestion issues, especially if eaten near bedtime, nausea, anxiety or depression, physical discomfort, frequent bathroom trips and restless leg syndrome (RLS).

Other less obvious causes include difficulty breathing, with this difficulty sometimes affecting a person’s breathing at night when they are pregnant. This can cause snoring and brief pauses in breathing called apnoea.

Breathing problems during sleep at the end of the second and during the third trimester are more common.

Simple home remedies According to early studies, use of sleeping pills during pregnancy requires caution.

This restriction may feel frustrating, but some natural remedies can safely treat insomnia:

Practice better sleep hygiene Sleep hygiene refers to habits that make it easier to fall asleep. Good sleep hygiene signals the brain to wind down and begin sleeping.

People may wish to try the following: Only sleep in the bed and not anywhere else, Wake and go to bed at the same time each day, keep the bedroom dark and cool, make the bed as comfortable and inviting as possible, do not use screens in bed, such as phones or television, get up if you cannot sleep after 15 to 30 minutes, limit caffeine before bed, or eliminate it throughout the day and limit fluids in the hours before bedtime.

Try dietary supplements People who are pregnant should not use dietary supplements without first talking to a doctor. Herbal and dietary supplements may help with sleep, however. Supplements of the naturally occurring hormone melatonin

may also help.

A limited body of research suggests melatonin may also support healthy brain development in a baby. However, a 2016 Cochrane review emphasizes that more research is necessary to confirm this possible effect.

People with RLS may be deficient in iron and folic acid, so if RLS keeps a person awake at night, they should ask their doctor to test them for nutritional deficiencies.

Relaxation techniques Relaxation exercises can help calm an anxious mind. People can try progressive relaxation, which involves slowly and steadily relaxing each muscle in the body one at a time, beginning with the toes.

Meditation may also help.

A 2015 study in the journal Obstetric Medicine concludes that meditation may help insomnia in pregnancy. The study says that meditation is a non-pharmacological way of managing insomnia and that prenatal hatha yoga may help.

More studies are needed to make this a definite recommendation, but people may find it useful to try yoga.

Cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT A model of CBT therapy known as CBT for insomnia can help people manage their thoughts and feelings about sleep and sleeping while changing their behaviour.

CBT for insomnia can treat people with severe sleep deprivation get better sleep. It can help a person: understand their insomnia, talk through emotions that play a role in insomnia and make healthful changes that reduce insomnia. CBT may be particularly helpful for those facing anxiety or depression.

Physical activity The physical demands of pregnancy alongside steady weight gain can make it difficult to keep active.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, there are many benefits to exercise during pregnancy. These include: lower risk of gestational diabetes, less back pain and improved heart health.

Gentle exercise can also help with insomnia. Any exercise during pregnancy should come with the recommendation of a doctor.

A 2016 study from the Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences suggests around 30 minutes a day at least 4 to 6 hours before bedtime.

Some conditions may make it unsafe to exercise during pregnancy, so people should consult a doctor before starting any new workout routine.

Culled from Medical News Today

Clinotech takes over Ibom specialist hospital ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, UYO

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new management has been engaged by the Akwa Ibom State government to take over the running of the Ibom Specialist Hospital in Uyo, the state capital.

The hospital was initially managed by Cardiocare services but the state government discovered that the agreement it had was not working.

Cardiocare then left the hospital with allegations that it carted away some equipment.

Speaking in Uyo, the Commissioner for Health, Akwa Ibom State, Dominic Ukpong said Clinotech from Canada has renowned medical personnel in all fields of medical practice, including kidney transplant, CT scan, radiology, cardiology among others.

“We wanted the best, we had

applications from nine consortia all over the world, we screened and visited their facilities, toured round and they also visited here. What we were looking for was expertise to be able to manage this kind of facility, we wanted to be able to transfer the technology because you wouldn’t be here forever, and a local content should be able to manage after you”.

We visited their facilities because we needed to be sure that you are managing something similar, so that our medical doctors from here can have an attachment in your hospital abroad. We needed to be sure you can provide the various specialties for surgery, plastic surgery, ontology, Intensive care unit, cardiac surgery and all others. We have provided all the facilities for emergencies on helicopter to land”.

Ukpong said the new team had the capability to complete the other

two uncompleted floors of the facility. Of the two uncompleted floors within the facility, the Health Commissioner said one full floor would be dedicated to dialysis and the other for theatre.

“They have the financial leverage to be brought in. They have a group of companies; they make syringes, drips and all other kinds of hospital materials “We signed the agreement on May 2 and we handed over to them in August. The first two teams had since arrived; the next arrived on the 26th of October. They have many expatriates; a world renowned radiologist, a biomedical engineer, specialists in kidney transplant, CT scan, MRI, teams are still arriving. They have also acquired accommodation in an estate. The hospital didn’t die, it went down In performance”.

He said the hospital had between

the pull out of the previous management and now, ran skeletal services with medical personnel drawn from other health care facilities in the state.

To fully position the quaternary hospital for optimal performance, the Health Commissioner said the present administration has committed billions of naira to the renovation of secondary health facilities in the state.

He recalled that two days after taking his oath of office, Governor Udom Emmanuel paid a visit to the 78 years old Premier St. Luke’s Hospital Anua. As a dividend of that working visit, a New Administrative Storey building block named after Ann Ward was built and Commissioned

by Governor Udom Emmanuel.

Two other buildings, he said were completely renovated including the Gynecology block and the Male block. Internal roads in the

Anua hospital were tarred and the perimeter fence renovated. All these achieved in a record 70 days in office.

“The Etinan General Hospital has been completely rehabilitated, upgraded, and equipped with modern hi -tech health care facilities. The Ikono General Hospital has been overhauled, refurbished, repositioned and upgraded for efficient secondary Healthcare delivery”.

“The Ituk Mbang General Hospital has been remodeled and upgraded courtesy of Governor Udom Emmanuel. Considerable medical supplies and consumables were distributed to General hospitals including Immanuel Hospital Eket”.

He said the state has also benefited from the federal government intervention in primary health care facilities in the state, to improve healthcare delivery in rural communities in the state.

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Lagoon hospitals conduct breast cancer walk in commemoration of awareness month

ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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agoon Hospitals, Nigeria’s leading healthcare facility, recently conducted a Breast Cancer Walk in its immediate environs in commemoration of the International Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The goal of breast cancer awareness Walk was to raise the public’s awareness for breast cancer, its detection, its treatment, and the need for a reliable, permanent cure.

“We are delighted to hold such an event in honour of the breast cancer awareness month and to create awareness about the disease,” said Rajeev Bhandari, chief executive officer of Lagoon Hospitals.

Bhandari said, early detection is key, and as the leading healthcare service provider in Nigeria, we take it as our duty to educate the public, while also encouraging people to get screened.

“Nigerian women die of breast cancer due to lack of access to accurate information, affordable screening, and treatment options. Breast cancer is currently one of the leading causes of death among women and late detection is a major factor”.

“Every year, the month of October is used for breast cancer awareness to support women battling with breast cancer, also educated and advised on early detection with free cancer screening done for all women,” Bhandari said.

The 6.8km Walk held on the 27th of October, 2018, starting and ending at the Lagoon Hospitals Ikoyi facility. After the Walk, a Medical Outreach was conducted with a short talk on Breast Cancer and the essence of early detection by Ajibike Oyewumi the clinical director for Lagoon Hospitals.

Also speaking, Franklyn Ovbigbahon, head of business development, Lagoon Hos-

pitals, said that, we believed the Breast Cancer Walk would be a powerful and inspiring opportunity to unite with the community to educate and raise awareness in a fun but also intentional way.

“We understand breast cancer screenings can be costly and we felt the free breast cancer screenings conducted after the walk, would be a great way to make the screening more inclusive and accessible”.

“Whatever your age it is so important to get to know your breasts, and if you do spot anything unusual – be it a lump or redness – it is important to get it checked out by a doctor immediately. Currently, to make the service even more accessible, we have a 50% discount on our Mammogram and Breast Scan services running till the end of November.” Ovbigbahon said.

Participants had the opportunity to examine breast moulds, and free breast cancer screenings were conducted for the women participants.

Over 1.5m citizens benefit from Oyo free health programmes – Ajimobi

…2500 more set to benefit as UK-based health mission arrives the state AKINREMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan

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ver 1.5million people have so far benefited from the present administration’s free health programmes across the state from 2012 till date, Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has disclosed.

Ajimobi disclosed this during a visit by a delegation from UK-based Jesus House Mission; officials of the Access to Basic Medical Care Foundation (ABC), led by the Founder and wife of the governor, Florence Ajimobi; and state health ministry officials.

The team had visited the governor preparatory to the commencement of a five-day free health services, starting from Monday and targeted at 2500 beneficiaries across the state for the period.

With the support of ABC, Ajimobi said that many people suffering from minor to major ailments, including surgeries have been attended to under the free health mission in the

HBL TEAM

last six years.

He said, “This is the first time since 2012 when started the free health mission that we are having a team of Nigerians in the Diaspora giving us support. This is very commendable.

“It is pertinent to inform you that our free health programmes, which berthed in 2012, have covered 1.5million people in the state, including the local communities. The coverage spanned various ailments from minor to major, as well as surgeries.

“The support Jesus House Mission is giving us today will go down in history of healthcare in Oyo State, just as the ABC has done in the area of preventing deaths through cervical cancer through collaboration with the state government.”

The leader of the delegation from the Mission, Agu Irukwu, said that the programme was billed to complement the efforts by the state government in combating health conditions.

He said that the JHM was inspired to support the government in acknowledgment of what he called its noteworthy efforts to bring healthcare to the doorstep of the ordinary citizen.

Apart from free medical examinations, distribution of drugs and free eye glasses, he said that the team came to the state with over 1000 birth kits for pregnant women.

Irukwu said, “We are here because it gives us an opportunity to support the great work the state government is doing in the health sector.

“We must also commend another partner in the health sector which is ABC, among others, for taking care of our people especially on prostate cancer, which is the second common cause of death in the world today.

“We will be giving birth kits to over 1000 pregnant women within the five days of this programme like we did in other African countries and some states in Nigeria.”

BUSINESS DAY

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LASG, Hypo sensitise Lagos residents on environmental hygiene

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n its bid to promote cleanliness and hygiene, HYPO has partnered with the Lagos State Government, to sensitise the public on household and environment hygiene as preventive measure against diseases.

The exercise, ‘Team Up To Clean Up’ was part of activities to mark this year’s National Make A Difference Day, as residents of Ifelodun Community in Bariga, participate in clean – up exercise clearing the streets and drainages in the community to enhance their wellbeing.

The initiatives aimed at cleaning, sensitising and influencing positive behavioural changes towards good hygiene and sanitation habits in the people in order to maintain environmental hygiene so as to prevent disease-ridden environments.

“If we have a cleaner environment, there is a good chance that most of the avoidable diseases tormenting us like malaria, typhoid, dysentery and Lassa fever would be far away and this can only be achieved through individual responsibility to manage the waste generate on a daily basis by disposing them the right way,” said Tolulope Adeyo, assistant director, Waste Management Division, La-

gos State Ministry of the Environment.

Adeyo urged parents, guardians and community leaders to imbibe cleanliness as an essential way of life.

Timothy Arowosegbe, marketing manager Hypo, said being the leading brand in the category of household cleaning, the protection and promotion of public health which meant the improvement of the environment is our cardinal responsibility to the society through this, therefore deemed it right to make contributions to the betterment of our society.

“Hypo has become a phenomena household brand and there are no better ways to give back to its consumers than through this initiative of influencing a positive behaviour for hygiene among residents of communities,” Arowosegbe said.

Also speaking at the exercise, Babatunde Musa Ifelodun local Council Development Area (LCDA) Bariga Chairman explained that the decision to partner with Hypo was to collaborate with a health incline brand that has the wellbeing of the community as their number one desire through the realisation of a clean and healthy nation.

“We believe that Hypo have started with the intro-

duction of affordable bleach for all and also affirmed that this would definitely not be the last partnership between the company and the community.” He said.

The clean-up exercise led

by Ace actress Dayo Amusa gained huge participation by immediate residents as everyone joined hands using Hypo products to clear the gutters with unprecedented enthusiasm.

While appealing to parents, women and guardians as a mother, Dayo places an emphasis on the importance of healthy living through good public health practices that influences and impacts of the physical environment and sanitation of the community.

Hakeem Musa, Ifelodun Community Development Area executive, explained that the decision to partner with Hypo was to collaborate with a health incline brand that has the wellbeing of the community as their number one desire through the realisation of a clean and healthy nation.

“We believe that Hypo have started with the introduction of affordable bleach for all and also affirmed that this would definitely not be the last partnership between the company and the community.” He said.

DiagnoseMe Africa to provide diagnotics treatment tools for health care providers IFEOMA OKEKE

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iagnoseMe Africa, a platform that provides diagnostics and treatment tools for healthcare providers in Africa has been unveiled in Nigeria.

The online platform is also a patient specific dynamic digitalized problem solving platform with numerous advantages made available to both patients and doctors across the 36 states in Nigeria.

The free doctor portal is said to provide one of the most innovative tests, improve patients’ experience and save costs while also getting to the route of their ailments.

Speaking during the unveil of the DiagnoseMe Africa, Ani Nchiewe, a medical adviser at Stacks Diagnostics, said the platform affords doctors the unparalleled ability to improve healthcare service delivery and uptake in Nigeria, eliminating certain avoidable needs for referral abroad for test not usually done in Nigeria.

Nchiewe further explained that on the platform, there is availability of tools that help improve precision medicine

based on personalized therapy, adding that hindsight of the genetic makeup of the patient helps to eliminate 50-50% errors in patient management, ultimately ensures high success rate in cases such as cancers breast, prostate, colon, autoimmune and hormonal diseases.

More importantly is that it improves the delivery of telemedicine and explores the use of ICT in health care service delivery.

According to Nchiewe, benefits for patients include “Ease of HC service delivery and uptake. Patients can now find specialist on the platform to provide specific, targeted patient centered care, less stress, saves time, Improved Patient doctor’s navigation.

“Create a provider account on DiagnoseMe provider portal, Order and pay for tests in test section of account, DiagnoseMe will pick up tests (in some geographies, providers may take tests to partner locations), Diagnostic Experts analyze your samples in one of our CLIAcertified laboratories. You will receive a prompt notifying you that the test result is ready and you can view it on your secure

provider portal account,” she explained.

Speaking on the idea behind the online diagnotics platform, Abasi – Ene-Obong, founder and CEO of Stacks Diagnostics said the platform will partner with health stakeholders to provide solutions that actually work, adding that the company is Nigeria’s first molecular diagnostics and personalized Medicine Company.

“We provide genetic testing services and other hard-toaccess services to providers and patients, using a centralized lab approach, and an online marketplace for ordering tests, receiving test results, confirming diagnosis, and referring patients for secondary and tertiary care,” Ene-Obong added.

He assured that some of the services the platform offers directly to consumers consist of hereditary breast, ovarian and endometrial cancer test, cervical cancer test, pharmacogenetics (drug metabolism) tests, non-invasive prenatal test (Down syndrome, Patau syndrome, Edwards syndrome, sickle cell, amongst others), early detection cancer screen with CTC and paternity tests.

ANTHONIA OBOKOH and ANI MICHAEL / Reporters. Email: obokoh.anthonia@businessdayonline.com I David Ogar, Graphics

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BUSINESS DAY

FINTECH News

Products Review

Technology Review

Personality Review

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Friday 02 November 2018

Company Review

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

Did Nigerian banks shut down MTN’s mobile money ambitions?

FRANK ELEANYA

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fr ica’s biggest mobile network, MTN’s ambition to become the largest bank on the continent is not going as planned as the Central Bank of Nigeria appears under pressure not to allow telecommunication operators to be part of the mobile money business in Nigeria. Several sources has alluded to intrigues from top guns in the banking sector aimed at ensuring telcos do not come to the mobile money party ever.

Mobile money, an important offshoot of financial technology (Fintech) is a payment solution that enables customers pay for goods and services using their mobile phones.

It is typically offered by mobile operators and includes person-to-person transfers, disbursements, bill payments, merchants payments, airtime top-ups, getting cash into the system, as well as getting cash out.

Growing mobile penetration numbers in Africa – overall subscriber penetration reached 44 per cent in 2017 according to data from GSMA – and telecommunication companies’ push in countries like Kenya, Ghana and Ivory Coast has largely been responsible for the popularity of mobile money. It is also seen as the biggest ally to achieving financial inclusion target of 80 per cent set for the year 2020 0by the CBN. While it has seen significant success in places like Kenya and Ghana, mobile money has failed to live up to

expectations in Nigeria where it is closely associated with financial inclusion.

In the case of Nigeria, a combination of regulatory apathy and big banks’ suspicion of ‘outside’ players has ensured the growth of mobile money remain a toddler even at the expense of increasing foreign interest in the space.

Apart from telcos, companies like Transsion, Google, Alibaba, Opera are known to be waiting for the CBN to give the go-ahead for non-financial institutions to acquire mobile money license.

The CBN’s Guidelines on Mobile Money Services in Nigeria excludes non-financial institutions particularly telcos to own a license.

However, according to our source, MTN Group found an opportunity to bend CBN’s arm while battling with the apex bank over the $8 billion fine it imposed on it. As part of the settlement with the federal government, MTN demanded that it be allowed to do mobile money as it was already doing in 14 African countries.

“The core digital service we have decided to put our money on is mobile money,” Rob Shuter, CEO of MTN said during the Deloitte Africa in 2018 Outlook conference in Woodmead.

The company is the second largest mobile money operator on the African continent with 21.8 million active customers. MTN believes that a

licence in Nigeria will help it surpass Safaricom which holds the top position on the continent with 33.3 million customers.

“Mobile Money is a vitally important opportunity for MTN, especially in markets where most of their customers are unbanked, and where MTN has a dominant market share (like Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda),” Paul Theron, CEO of Vestac said in an interview earlier this year.

In its settlement negotiation with the federal government, MTN is believed to have also informed the regulator that its failure to get a license could continue to cut off Nigerians living in northern Nigeria who form the majority

of the unbanked people in the country.

“The federal government agreed and passed this to CBN.” The source said.

Left with no choice, the CBN approved in principle MTN’s license application.

Buoyed by this development, mobile money operators in Nigeria including MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9Mobile met on Tuesday September 4, 2018 in a show of solidarity.

Apparently, MTN’s manoeuvre was not done in secret as some bank CEOs got wind of it. The CEOs convened an emergency meeting at the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN). Two tier 1 bank CEOs were said to have chaired the meeting.

“The banks were furious, and they vowed that if CBN goes ahead to give the license to MTN, they will stop funding MTN’s distributors which effectively would kill MTN,” the source disclosed.

Apparently the CEOs had banked on MTN’s inability to provide credit to their distributors as they do not have the credit management skills, nor do they have the assets of their distributors as collaterals should they default in paying back.

The bankers seem to have prevailed. Again, the CBN was forced to retrace its step and back off from issuing a license.

As compensation to the CBN, the bank CEOs agreed to fund the Shared Agency Network Expansion Facility (SANEF) with N25 billion.

In keeping MTN at bay, the banks can also count on NIBSS which provides the national central switch that enables all the mobile mon-

ey licensees to operate. At a recent function, the acting managing director and CEO of NIBSS, Ezekiel Oyeniyi Ajao, told BusinessDay that “the regulator is very clear in Nigeria about those that can have mobile money licenses are banks and the non-banks who are not telco-led.

“The telcos need to make sure the signal strength of their frequencies is strong enough all over the country.

Let them focus on it and get that to work well,” he said NIBSS committed N7 billion to the SANEF project. N4 billion will be used to purchase Biometric Verification Number (BVN) devices, while N3 billion will be used to fund agents doing the BVN capture.

In terms of metrics, the project is expected to net 500,000 new agents, 30 million additional bank accounts which correspond to 75 per cent reduction in financial inclusion. The super agents NIBSS gave the mandate to drive the initiative include Inlaks, Capricorn Digital, Innovectives, UPSL, 3 Line, and IFIS (Interswitch). The super agents would get fees from the services they perform for the banks such as BVN (N100), account opening (N200), card linking (N200), cashin (N100), cash-out (N150), transfer 1.5 per cent, airtime, 4 per cent, etc.

In all, the CBN, banks and NIBSS committed N32 billion to the SANEF project.

On August 2018, the project was extended to 25 states. We should note that telcos have been given a role to play in the SANEF project with regard to their mobile agent licences.

Friday 02 November 2018

AgriBusinessInsight Market Insights

Analysis

Commentaries

Experts/Industry Views

Commodities watch

Policy Reviews

BUSINESS DAY

23

Send in Commentaries to caleb.ojewale@businessdayonline.com

Agric lending is gaining more ‘bank converts’, this is why CALEB OJEWALE Twiiter: @calebtinolu

W

ith a lot of focus on agriculture in recent years, funding has remained elusive for millions of smallholders and other players in the sector, as commercial banks find it difficult to commit substantial funds.

However, if feelers from a hall packed with bankers from pretty much all the financial institutions in Nigeria is anything to go by; then things may change for the better in a very near future.

“I am now a serious convert of the agric sector,” said a rather excited Georger Uwakwe, chief risk officer, Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria’s biggest bank by market capitalisation. His excitement after a two-day retreat of Chief Risk Officers of all banks in Nigeria, was borne out of a new orientation of sort, on how commercial banks can better finance agriculture through a model which was proposed by the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) at the retreat.

Uwakwe’s declaration is especially significant, as the bank has been perceived as not so inclined to lending to the agric sector. During a conversation last week on agric finance, Segun Osofisan, a director with Abso Agro-allied Limited, had even expressed the view, “Guaranty Trust bank is averse to agric lending”.

But as Uwakwe told BusinessDay “it is time to begin lending to agriculture big time”.

His view on the risky nature of the sector, like that of other bank CRO’s have been redefined with the proposal of financing mechanism that will ensure agricultural production is done seamlessly, and with guaranteed markets for everything that is produced; both domestic and international.

L-R: Emeka Emuwa, MD/CEO Union Bank; Folakemi Fatogbe, chairman, CRO Forum and director, Risk Mgt Dept CBN; Aisha Ahmad deputy governor, Financial System Stability, CBN; Aliyu Abdulhameed, MD/CEO, NIRSAL; Patrick Akinwuntan MD/CEO, Ecobank; Tunji Owoeye, MD/CEO, Elephant Group

Uzoma Dozie, CEO, Diamond Bank, told BusinessDay at the retreat, that while his bank has been lending to agriculture for a long time, it has been more from a large scale perspective, not the primary end. He however expressed optimism in going all the way down to the smallholder farmers if the value chain fixes being promoted by NIRSAL can take effect.

“In recent time, with support from the central bank, and emphasis on achieving food security, we are now looking at the primary end (of agriculture),” Dozie said.

He explained that Diamond Bank is currently providing finance for over a thousand farmers across different belts, and this number will increase exponentially as more players come into that market.

But for his bank to do more, he says there have to be more

investments in storage, processing, and even availability of farm equipment to improve the odds that farmers will be able to produce optimally, sell profitably, and be able to pay back promptly.

With the value chain fixed, especially as being promoted

by NIRSAL, “There is a bright future in agriculture,” Dozie said. He further explained that, Diamond Bank’s total lending to agriculture is “currently around five percent, and we expect that to grow,” to match the assurances of de-risking.

Aliyu Abdulhameed, NIRSAL’s MD/CEO, had told the CRO’s and bank CEOs in attendance, of his agency’s finance intervention model, which would optimise the farm to market process; offering assurances of minimal losses in the value chain. He explained exhaustively, how millions of

farmers and other players in the agric value chain can be supported without the need for direct transfer of cash.

With the sector segregated into four areas; pre-upstream, upstream, midstream, and downstream, banks can target companies in different aspects of the value chain, and helping them to really make impact on food security, and invariably, wealth creation.

“Despite the contribution of the agricultural sector to the economy, contributing 24 percent to GDP as at 2017, there has been no corresponding flow of finance and investment into Agribusiness,” said Abdulhameed, charging banks to take advantage of de-risking opportunities to make more impact in the sector.

With paucity of funds by the Federal Government to drive economic recovery programmes, Abdulhameed

reiterated NIRSAL’s concept of “leveraging on de-risking mechanisms.”

“Although commercial banks may want to focus on investing in money market instruments as against investing or financing the real sector (non-oil), in reality, agribusiness and other non-oil sectors, offer a much higher Return on Investment in comparison to the money market,” he said.

Added to this, the hundreds of thousands of additional jobs that would be created, when work force requirements that would come with increased investments are considered.

However, there are reasons why the banks have been reluctant to lend as much as would have been preferred.

Muhammad Kagu, group head, Corporate Banking, First bank of Nigeria, told BusinessDay, that the fear of losses is not all that scares banks away from

agriculture.

“Just like any other business, it is natural that there has to be losses. There is no way a business can be 100 percent successful,” said Kagu. He however explained that in agriculture, there are knowledge gaps that make many people who venture into it perform far below expectations.

“Some people venture into agric just to make the name that they are into agric business. They do not have prior knowledge of what they want to do, but they will continue going into that business. Definitely, if you enter agric blindly, you will run into losses. But if you plan it well and follow the real managerial practices, you will definitely succeed,” said Kagu.

Uwakwe, Guaranty Trust Bank’s CRO, also explained that before coming to the retreat, the belief was that “the agricultural value chain is not fixed. It is one thing to provide funds to the farmers, but when they produce, most of the time substantial portions of the produce get spoilt before getting to the market. If the producers cannot sell, the truth is that banks will also not be paid back.

“We have always advocated that they should fix the value chains. What stops us from having tomato farmers and tomato processors so tomato as a raw material is moved into processing as paste. The same applies across different crops; maize, wheat etc those are the major issues,” explained Uwakwe According to him, discourse at the retreat has allayed these fears, including the issue of cash flows, not trusting the farmers in fund disbursement (not knowing if they would come back with the money or not). “There is now an approach which solves this as NIRSAL has proposed,” he said.

Organized private sector approach to make funding agriculture easier

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ggregation of players in different spheres of the agricultural value chain has been described as an effective way of getting the commitment of financial service providers, particularly banks. It makes verification, and invariably trust, easier to achieve when agribusinesses seek financing.

Even as discourse on financing agriculture continues to gain traction, a fragmented approach by different players in the agriculture value chain, will make it difficult for financial institutions to commit funds required to spur agricultural productivity, experts say.

Tunji Falade, chairman, Agriculture and Agro-allied group, LCCI, noted at the group’s symposium on

‘Bridging the funding gap and de-risking agricultural finance’, that working collectively as an organized private sector makes it easier to put strong proposals forward to financial institutions.

As Falade noted, dealing with individuals is perceived to be more risky by banks, who are unsure the funds disbursed will either be utilized for purposes claimed, or even repaid as and at when due.

Falade also advised that those who wish to apply for loans from the Central Bank of Nigeria obtain an enterprise development certification. According to him, this shows that an intending lender has been adequately guided on the rudiments of managing a proper agricul-

Antti Ritvonen, CEO, Dizengoff; Tunji Falade, chairman, LCCI Agric. & Agro- Allied group; Babatunde Ruwase, LCCI president, Major General MS Yusuff, representative, Chief of Army Staff (COAS); Babatunde Obrimah, Senior Manager CPDS (NIRSAL); Lanre Olawale, head of Agribusiness, Union Bank

tural business, and not just planning to run the venture as a hobby; an attribute which would make agriculture subsistent, and less of a business venture.

Generally, speakers at the symposium advocated a change of perceptions in

how individuals approach agriculture, assuring the audience that, by doing away with the old ways, agricultural financing will become easier to achieve.

Olanrewaju Olawale, head, Commercial Agribusiness, Union Bank, noted that

even when banks are willing to lend to agriculture, the inability of many farmers to show records to convince the bank, either of existing operations, or ability to execute the proposed project, often discourages lending.

Without showing the bank their books, farmers are unable to convince them that they are able to utilize the funds being requested, and repay. Like other speakers, he noted that, the need for fast and complete implementation of a de-risking mechanism in the sector, will spur disbursement of more funds.

“Investments in agriculture, unlike many other business ventures, are exposed to a wide range of risks and uncertainties.

There are risks associated

with input and prices, agricultural yield, post-harvest losses, product prices fluctuation, and vagaries of nature such as inclement weather conditions; flood, drought, fire, outbreak of pests and diseases,” noted Folashade Joseph, MD, Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), in an addressed presented on her behalf by Dayo Mobayo, NAIC’s head of its Lagos office.

Joseph emphasised that the application of insurance to agriculture could provide risk management, income stabilization and reduction of economic wastage. This will to some extent address challenges of risk, which financial institutions cite when they develop cold feet in lending to the sector.

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BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 01 November 2018

Hotels Is value-for-money service a reality in hotels?

OBINNA EMELIKE

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s an intending guest moves from first-class airline lounge and boards first-class seat where he is treated to a five-star service, he looks forward to the best of services and world class facilities in the hotel he intends lodging in. He often walks up to the concierge with high expectations in service delivery, facilities efficiency and luxury that befits his status.

But are they met?

The Lagos hospitality market is often described as burgeoning with more options now than before for the business and leisure travellers who expect more value for money services from the brands. However, value for money offering, which many hotels promise to offer, is often not reality in some cases.

Some guests and hospitality stakeholders bare their minds on the issue.

Edna Makori, a logistics manager of an oil servicing company in Port Harcourt, said that most of their consultants decry poor services even in so-called foreign brands. “One of our consultants from Netherlands complained bitterly about his room in a five-star hotel in Abuja and asked why we paid so much for a room that should be under renovation”, she said.

Amos Amama, a Nigerian hotel owner, thinks that foreign brands are inconsistent with their quality and service delivery because of weak regulations here, hence value for

money promises are often not fulfilled, leaving guests with bad impression of the brand.

Amama said the emphasis on foreign brand is because they are the ones that promise the most, charge the highest rates and are regarded more than indigenous brands, no matter the quality.

As well, Aliu Sesi, a Gambia hotelier, who lodged in a foreign branded hotel in Lagos recently, said international brands often relax their standards depending on the country they operate. For him, the standards in Sheraton hotels he visited in West Africa are not same. He insisted that the standard at Sheraton Gambia is higher than those in Nigeria, which he lamented, are high-priced.

Didier Bayeye, marketing and sales manager at Sun International, noted that value for money service is key to attracting quality guests because hospitality business thrives on experience; when good, more guests will come, and when it turns bad, the guests will look elsewhere.

Citing instance with his brand, Bayeye said Sun International goes to the basis, which is training staff to understand what service is all about, how to deliver it, sustain it and maintain facilities that aid such services. We also make our staff happy to ensure that they deliver their best, he noted.

For him, most international brands are coming in with the standards they uphold in their outlets in other parts of the world and if so, guests are treated

equally like elsewhere in the world.

But Danny Kioupouroglou, general manager, Eko Hotel and Suites, said the development in the hotel, particularly Eko Signature, is informed by the need to meet the luxury and service needs of the guests whose tastes keep growing day by day. Guests’ expectations, according to him, are continually met and guests can testify to that.

The managers unanimously subscribe to the fact that today’s guests are after best of luxury and hotels now go out of their way to provide them in order to retain the guests in their loyalty book.

“I wonder the kind of luxury you are looking for that is not here. I will go get it because that one guest means a lot to me”, he said.

There seems to be much emphasis on the way the rooms look, the colour, the furnishing and facilities. “Virtually, the rooms are what hotels sell, we need to bring additional comfort on our bed to make it home away from home”, a hotel room division manager at Federal Palace Hotel said.

The game is fast changing because of the competition and proactive hotels are not taking chances.

“On arrival, we ask what colour the guest like just to make him feel more at home and doing his things his own way. It is a personalized service sort of and it is working for us”, the room division manager continued.

There are new attractions like never before.

Many hotels are now in-

Top BusinessDay Partner Hotels

stalling rooftop swimming pools, luxury spas, rooftop tennis courts among others just to do things in a different way. Upcoming hotels are following with restaurants in places you will never imagine, introduction of some specialty menus and services on demand.

Big and glamorous hotel lobbies seems to be in vogue as well. But the guests think walking on them make no sense when the service is not worth their money value. Lots of guests still stand firm on the fact that Nigerian hotels are among the most expensive in the world.

They still think the employees need more training and maintenance should be taken seriously.

“I was embraced when an attendant in a so-called five-star hotel brought wine glass for me instead of water glass. My annoyance is that when I politely confronted him, he insisted that he did the right thing.

You don’t expect me to go there until he and his likes are better trained”, Mercel Ekwu, a guest voiced out.

Damilola Davies, another guest in a four-star hotel in Abuja, disliked the way rates are rather going up with the opening of more hotels in the Nigerian capital city. “I am used to paying certain amount for standard room in my choice hotel in Abuja, but I left their service a year ago because a better one opened just opposite them, and yet they keep increasing their rates. I need some change.”

In a nutshell, guests are battling with choice, but right pricing, facilities and service are what Davies says will determine patronage from now going forward.

But while the international brands have their name to protect, and are making efforts at fostering a win-win bargain for their guests and owners seriously, some indigenous brands are yet to wake up to the clarion call by guests for value for money services.

While hotels attribute whatever poor service, high room rate and inconveniences to the Nigerian situation and challenges, guests’ feelings and needs must be respected and met because they are the reasons hotels are in business.

Four Point Hotels (Oniru Chiefatancy Estate,Lekki)

Transcorp Hilton Abuja 1 Aguiyi Ironsi Street Maitama, Abuja Tel: +234-708-060-3000

The Wheatbaker #4 Onitolo(Lawrence Road), Ikoyi, Lagos.

Tel: 01 277 3560

Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Abuja 1 Uke St, Garki, Abuja.

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

InterContinental Lagos Plot 52, Kofo Abayomi St, Lagos Tel: 01 236 6666

Radisson Blu Hotel Ikeja #38/40 Isaac John St, Ikeja GRA100271, Ikeja Tel: +234-908-780 5555

Best Western Hotel Hotels 12, Allen Avenue C/O Funmi (Front Office Manager)

Protea Hotel (GRA Ikeja) GRA Ikeja

Protea Hotel (V/Island) Off Ajose Adeogun Street, V/ Island

Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel 1A,Ozumba Mbadiwe,Victoria Island.

Friday 02 November 2018

BUSINESS DAY

25

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Friday 02 November 2018

The new kids on the block Stories by OBINNA EMELIKE

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overs of hip pop genre across the country are in for excitement as two young music artistes grace the stage with fresh vibes.

Judging from the performances of Amani Boss (13 years) and AOD (17 years) over the weekend in Lagos, the two boys are set to become the next Nigerian wizkid.

The new acts were discovered

by Tabic Records, a Lagos-based recording label, during the 2017 Christmas music talent show titled, ‘’Oturkpo Got Talents’’ powered by the Senator David Mark Foundation.

Amani Boss, who is in senior secondary school in a private school in Lagos, started singing (rap) from the age of ten, while AOD who is passionate about music since brith, has completed his secondary education with good WAEC results.

The ability to write and rap music excellently endeared the new acts to Tabic Records and also offers them a promising future in the very competitive music scene of Nigeria

L-R: Bayo Ajayi; Amani Boss; Pascal Atuma, CEO, Tabic Records and AOD at the unveiling in Lagos recently.

and Africa.

Explaining his passion for music, young Amani Boss, said he is talented and intends to use music to make his widow mother proud, as well as, improve the economic condition of his family. ‘’I decided to go into music because I want to make my mother proud and also banish poverty in my family. I have the talent and I want

to utilize it.”

For AOD, whose ambition is to study electrical engineering in the university to add value to his musical career, said ‘’music is everything to him because he derives joy in singing (raping).’’

AOD has recorded two songs entitled; Emergency and Important’’, all to his credit.

Paschal Atuma, CEO, TABIC (The

Meet the hosts of 5th AFRIMA

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he African Union Commission, AUC, in partnership with the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ghana, have announced Michael Blackson, Pearl Thusi and Anita Erskine as the host and hostesses who will hold the live stage of the 5th AFRIMA-Ghana 2018 Main Awards ceremony scheduled for Saturday, November 24, 2018 at the Accra International Conference Centre, AICC, Ghana.

Renowned Ghanaian-born American actor and comedian, Michael Blackson, popularly referred to as ‘The African King of Comedy’ started his career in stand-up comedy and acting where he moved up the ladder despite challenges faced as a young black man in America.

The talented comic entertainer has featured in several on-screen performances, TV series, comedy shows, and tours. Some notable ones include; The Mo’Nique Show, Martin Lawrence’s 1st Amendment Standup, Meet the Blacks, One Night in Vegas, and Hip Hop Squares. Michael hosted the first ever BET Social Awards in Atlanta in February 2018.

As well, Pearl Thusi, South Africa’s fierce and talented TV personality, will also co-anchor the awards event. The actress, model, radio and television personality has earned accolades for her top-notch acting, television and radio hosting skills.

She is a former host of ‘Lip Sync Battle Africa on MTV’, ‘Moments’ on EbonyLife TV, and currently the new host of the third season of MTV Base’s ‘Behind the Story’. Her international acting career includes role in Universal’s ‘The Scorpion King: The Book of Souls’ alongside Zach McGowan, and recurring role in ABC’s Drama Series ‘Quantico’.

Pearl has appeared on magazine covers like Elle, Cosmopolitan, True

Love, Grazia, Glamour and Women’s Health in both South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Also bringing her admirable skills to the AFRIMA stage is Ghana’s media personality, Anita Erskine. A radio/TV presenter, producer, writer and oral narrator applauded for her hosting skills, Anita has anchored several live events, radio and television programmes including popular shows on the DSTV platform such as “The Making of a Mogul”, “Cooking with Anita” and “Pamper Your Mum”.

She is also known for her role in the advancement of women empowerment and girl-child rights using her various TV and radio programmes.

The award-winning multilingual media entrepreneur will bring her charm and feistiness to play at the 5th AFRIMA main awards.

The dynamic trio will add their unique hosting abilities and on stage chemistry to the spectacular offerings for the 5th edition of AFRIMA that is geared to be a glittery, star-studded, world-class event with exhilarating performances from A-list artistes, including some of the 5th AFRIMA nominees, past nominees and winners. Live broadcast of the main awards ceremony begins at 7.30 p.m., while the live red carpet where all the glam, glitz, and high fashion of the 5th AFRI-

Michael Blackson

MA-GHANA 2018 will be on display, opens at 4.30 p.m.

Sharing her excitement, Matlou Tsotetsi, director, brand communications, AFRIMA, said; “It has been an exciting journey for AFRIMA. AFRIMA-Ghana 2018 gets more exciting as we are in Ghana for the first time. In the lead up to preparations, we have felt the Akwaaba warmth and welcome of the Ghana people, I am certain that the rest of the world will feel this - even through our live broadcast.

May the best of Africa win”.

Similarly, Nathan Kwabena Adisi, Ghanaian entrepreneur, expressed optimism about the coming awards.

The CEO, Excellence in Broadcasting (EIB) Network Ghana, stated, “I am elated that Ghana gets to host the prestigious 5th AFRIMA. The choice of comperes is super and we look forward to an ecstatic and electrifying awards event. Africa is Gold!”

Also, African artistes on the 5th AFRIMA Nominees list are still canvassing for votes from their fans, as winners of each category will be determined by votee via the AFRIMA voting platform on https://afrima. org/voting2018. Voting ends by 23:59 CAT on November 23, 2018.

Other lined up events scheduled to precede the main awards ceremony include: AFRIMA Welcome Soiree on November 21; Africa Music Business Summit (AMBS) on November 22 at the Ballroom, Kempinski Hotel, Accra; AFRIMA Music Village also on November 22 from 5.00 p.m. till dawn at the Independence Square, Accra; a Guided Tour of the notable sites and landmarks in the Host City on November 23 followed by 5th AFRIMA Nominees Party from 10.00 p.m.

The 5th AFRIMA main awards ceremony and the red carpet will be broadcast live to 84 countries on 105 viewing media platforms across the globe.

Atuma Brothers International Company), believes that the boys are raw talents, ready to learn and would be heard internationally soon.

As well, TABIC Record, according to Atuma, has entered into a legal agreement with both parents of Amani Boss and AOD with a decision to finance the boys’ education up to the university level, hence transferring Amani Boss from his

former school in Benue State to a private school in Lagos, so that the boy would be groomed in music by the record label.

AOD on the other hand, dreams to study Electrical Engineering possibly at the University of Lagos that is close and will offer him time for further grooming.

For a start, Amani will be making music for children because he is a juvenile; he will do music that would appeal to children and not love songs yet.

The record label also plans to work with notable Nigerian artistes and record producers like Don Jazzy, Masterclass and producer for Tecno’s music to take the children to the next level.

Atuma further explained his company’s exploits in films and television productions motivated the organisation to start a recording company to leverage on their experience to help the children grow musically.

He assured that the company, which is a social enterprise, is into music to help identify talents in young people from indigent families in the country to find their feet in music, and will continue to do so.

The Chronicles debuts, unveils undocumented African stories

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o doubt, there are many undocumented stories across different tribes and tongues in Africa. As well, there are misconceptions some people have held over the years about a people, issues, and life experiences without effort at questioning the rationale for the misconceptions.

The Chronicle, a new movie, has debuted to tell some of these stories, as well as, disabuse people’s mind on some misconceptions held over the years.

The movie is a story told by a grandmother (Onyeka Onwenu), whose grandchildren are not connected to their paternal root in Mbaise and are often subject of caricature in their school by fellow students who insist that Mbaise people are terrible. After several humiliations, the children demand explanation from their father who takes them home in search of the reason for the bad image of Mbaise people from their grandmother.

On getting home and hearing from the grandmother, the explanation is unraveling, factual and soothing. But you need to watch the movie to know discover more.

Produced and directed by Frank Ufomadu and Calif Ibn Uzar, The Chronicles is a true-life story of events that happened many years ago. It centres on the interactions, which Africans had with the Europeans, especially the British imperialists on the soil of the continent when they came to Nigeria through Calabar via Opobo till the 21st century during the advent of high-life music in the 1970’s.

The story expanded through three generations- the colonial period and the present day 21st century events.

On the European missionary journey in the movie, the film tells the fact that many people are ignorant that the

Onyeka Onwenu

colonial Europeans brought the Christian missionaries on the African soil to achieve their selfish economic interest; they used the priests to preach peace and love in order to pacify Africans from revolting against them.

Shot in several locations across the country including; Imo, Oyo and Lagos states, The Chronicles features world class casts such as Onyeka Onwenu (grandma) Segun Arinze, Victor Osuagwu, Collins Talker, Daniel Lloyd, Giovanni Grossman (Italian), Avinanash Bhavanni (British-Indian), Okey Jude, Felix Omorkhodian and Zikky Aloy.

Speaking on the rationale for the movie, Frank Ufomadu, executive producer of the movie, who hails from Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government, Imo State, noted that most people call Mbaise people wicked and dangerous with little or no understanding of the real issue on ground.

He said, The Chronicle, a movie based on facts and truth has been packaged to change the narratives and correct the misconception about the people, as he described Mbaise as peace-loving and accommodating people.

Friday 02 November 2018

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Business Etiquette

Movie Review: VENOM

with Janet Adetu

LINDA OCHUGBUA

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ou will agree with me that Venom had the right amount of hype - a very good marketing plan and budget. They started promoting this movie for months, which left that high level of anticipation in us. But, even with the entire “buzz”, our high expectations weren’t totally met (for most of us).

I guess it was more of us not wanting to see too many unrealistic scenes and production.

The storyline was basically centred on a very young scientist who was experimenting with humans, to see those who could withstand Alien venoms in order to be shipped to outer space to start a new life.

It didn’t hold so much strength or tenacity; it seemed like a basic storyline, the everyday super hero kind of movie. There was something wrong along the line about the movie, and this destroyed the initial flow we all had.

There were numerous loopholes that needed to be filled. The costumes and production were ok, but some of the scenes looked so tacky and not properly edited.

A glimpse into the movie sees Eddie and Anne - as they were referred to in the movie - living a simple and

Making a positive first impression

J

peaceful life. Eddie was an investigative journalist that worked for a renowned TV station; he had his own show and was doing well, while his fiancée, Anne, had a well-paid CIA job.

They were planning to get married until the moment he went through her work flies and decided to go investigate a very young controversial businessman.

That was when his world came crumbling; he lost his wife, then his job, his home, his cars and all his finances, he couldn’t even get another job as he was given a bad record. He almost lost his mind in the process and couldn’t find a way of moving on with his life.

The movie took a whole new twist when one day, he went back into the lab and found his friend from the street who was captured. In a bid to rescue her, she passed the venom

unto him; but this time the venom worked perfectly with his body and had no complications as with other human bodies that were tested and failed.

That welcomed the villain – VENOM. My Verdict The movie was quite okay and action filled from start to finish even though it didn’t quite cut it for everyone.

Science-fiction movie lovers will enjoy this one and if not, well let me know why.

Feel free to review any movie of your choice in not more than 200 words and send via mail to linda@businessdayonline.com You also stand a chance to win a free movie ticket if you answer the question of the week correctly.

Twitter and Instagram - @ lindaochugbua

Music legends headline The Monarch Experience

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ome of Nigeria’s most celebrated music icons are about to set the stage on fire with their timeless songs and stellar live performances at a LLve concert tagged, ‘The Monarch Experience’ scheduled to hold on Saturday, December 8, 2018 at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The night of rich Nigerian music variety is packaged by leading creative agency, Temple Management Company (TMC), the producers of the highly-successful “Sunny On Sunday - 2016 Concert” marking Juju Maestro, King Sunny Ade’s 70th birthday. It was the same concert that spurned the record-breaking auction sale of the Juju King’s Fender Telecaster Guitar.

To take the audience on a nostalgic journey are some of the finest to ever rock the stage presenting a cocktail of eclectic genres such as

fuji, juju, highlife and contemporary Afro music. On the line-up for The Monarch Experience are; Kwam 1, OnyekaOnwenu, Sir Shina Peters, Queen Salawa Abeni, Bright Chimezie and Gloria Ibru.

Expected to grace the high-class event are the crème de la crème of the society, including high networth individuals, government officials, culture custodians, music lovers, style and fashion connoisseurs among others.

Shina Peters

According to Mark Redguard, head of entertainment, Temple Management Company, The Monarch Experience offers more than just entertainment.

Mark explained, “With Sunny On Sunday, we delivered a live music concert experience of world class scale that can be taken anywhere in the world. We have put in more work because we have set a higher standard for ourselves from what we achieved previously. The end goal is to raise the bar with The Monarch Experience and indeed deliver a memorable event that everyone will be proud of.”

“It will provide the right ambience for socialising and networking. We envision that it has been a busy year for everyone and The Monarch Experience presents the perfect atmosphere for people to reward themselves with an unforgettable experience”, he concluded.

ust as I settled in my seat ready for the plane to take off, I heard a voice saying ‘Hello’ asking me a question. I turned and saw a woman smiling at me, very welcoming. Interestingly we kicked off a very educative, and informative conversation, I find her young at heart, friendly, a leader indeed. In her cool sophisticated way, I could not believe when she told me her title, the President of her organization, her age 67years and the fact that she was a grandmother of five.

I was pleasantly surprised as my first impression was that we were age mates. As we disembarked the plane we exchanged pleasantries, leaving me with an impressive lasting impression, so much so I can talk to her today, needless to say we built a great business relationship.

What impression are you leaving in the minds of those who meet you for the first time?

It takes seconds to create an impression, it may take 20 years to build a reputation but if care is not taken the same time it takes to make an impression can be used to kill your reputation.

I find that in business this is taken for granted most especially among those who feel quite successful in business. No matter what you have been doing in the past, there will always be room for improvement. Confidence and knowledge will grow with etiquette and protocol intelligence.

Going by the famous saying, “good manners open doors that position and money cannot”. In a bid to leaving a good or positive first impression, you will need to consider the relationship you want to build, the message your appearance sends, the impact of your behaviour and how you communicate.

Are you one who is very particular about how you are viewed and the perception people have of you or is it a case of you just do not care?

Beyond having a vast knowledge in your business or products, the extent of your first and last impression can make or break your business.

S T E P S T O C R E AT I N G YOUR IMPRESSIVE IMPRESSION Your self awareness: You are your own ambas-

sador should know yourself better than anyone else.

Do you portray the right attitude to work, to life, to people or to your business?

Everything is not just about you alone; your attitude has a huge significant impact on everything you do. What you do or say and how you conduct yourself should be significant to you, with the right mindset and your attitude in check, your attention to detail and personal selfawareness can open good business opportunities in a iod to creating that great first impression.

how 20% of your actions explains 80%of your unspoken words. What are you communicating without knowing? Your body language can easily ward off others who ordinarily would have come over to say hello. Your expressionless face may just be uninviting, instantly you are deemed unapproachable whether for business or otherwise. Simply you will need to smile more often, hold youPosir head straight, hold your posture in precision, walk with charm and grace, watch your gestures and uphold good eye contact.

Your greeting stlye: Greeting does not come so easily or readily for a few, whether they call it sizing up first or forming an opinion before the greeting it immediately impacts ones first impression. I also discovered that many adults just do not feel comfortable approach-

Your grooming graces Beyond what wear your day begins with your style of grooming. Your great clothing can be sabotaged with scruffy hair or the famous unpleasant body odour.

Grooming is the small detail that makes the big difference, most times you may be in a

ing an unknown person first, they would rather someone else initiates the conversation.

Manners is a skill that is learnt and practiced, it takes a level of discipline, confidence. In stepping up your greeting style practice a quick introduction of yourself, include your name, what you do and where. Be quick to greet with a handshake where necessary. Be the first to greet, be warm in connecting to others. Introduce yourself loud and clear try to remember names of those you have been introduced to. After your greeting requires small talk of pleasantries, you may end your meeting there or strike up a more meaningful intellectual conversation based on the impression you have given. All these create the cornerstone of a great first and lasting impression.

hurry to leave the house, you then jump into your vehicle this certainly allows for one to overlook your grooming graces. Before every meeting or gathering a personal audit should be conducted.

This is a simple routine that directly impacts both first and lastng impressions. A simple case of stepping into any office or attending an interview can only be meaningful and advantageous with time spent on the attention to detail as seen in well - groomed hands and nails, clean breath, pleasant body aroma, cleaan shave where necessary, healthy end wellr looked after clothing and much more. You execute presence in dependant on your grooming style too. style. Your business success ultimately is directed by how you are perceived. This perception is the outcome of a good and last impression.

Body language: If you follow the new 80:20 rule you will understand

Please share your experience.

Janet.adetu@jsketiquetteconsortium.com

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BUSINESS SOUTH-SOUTH

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF SOUTH-SOUTH / SOUTH-EAST

New Princess Medical facility capable of stemming Nigeria’s $2bln medical tourism – NMA boss EFEGADIRIM MADU, Port Harcourt

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he Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has described the facilities and health services offered by the new Princess Medical Centre located in Trans-Amadi area of Port Harcourt as one of the best medical facilities in the country, comparable to other world class facilities in India and other parts of the world.

The NMA said the world class medical facility is capable of stemming the $2 billion spent by Nigerians on acquiring medical treatments abroad, especially in India and Europe.

Francis Adedayo Fajuyile, national president of NMA, when he led a delegation of national officers of the NMA to assess Princess Medical Centre’s facilities and services at the Trans-Amadi Industrial Area, Port Harcourt, said the management has shown commitment to bring dynamism to healthcare operations in Nigeria.

Their visit was part of events to mark the 2018 annual Physicians Week in Port Harcourt.

According to him, a cursory look at the multi-specialty, emergency,

diagnostics and other facilities and healthcare services offered by the hospital, the management has shown their commitment to bring another dynamism to hospital operations in the country; adding that the hospital was bringing a value that will make the facility locally accessible to patients, while contributing in stemming the tide of medical tourism in this part of the country that gulps millions of dollars annually.

Similarly, the first national vice president of NMA, Kenneth Mengeh, commended Emi Membere-Otaji, the chairman of Princess Medical Centre, Port Harcourt for “opting to make this huge medical investment in the country.

He described Membere-Otaji as a distinguished medical practitioner, who had successfully forayed into other business interests, but is still committed to his primary constituency, the medical profession.

In a brief remark, the chairman of Princess Medical Centre, who was a onetime commissioner for Health in Rivers State, Membere-Otaji, thanked the NMA delegation for their visit; noting that the new hospital called ‘The Signature’ is designed to be the first hospital to combine the Patient-Hotel concept with care-

giving in Nigeria.

Built on six floors, with technologically advanced medical equipment and patient concierge system,

…ask FG to intervene

S

ome licensed sand burrow-pits owners have kicked against the closure of their sites by the Edo State government. In a letter of protest to the South-South zonal office of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in Benin-City, the pit owners appealed for the intervention and assistance of the Federal Government.

Spokesperson of the operators and managing director of Jose Sharp Sand, Joseph Enaruna noted that the closure of their sites have negatively affected their businesses, as well as those of their employees.

Enaruna opined that the state government acted out of its jurisdiction, as the business of mining was within the purview of the Federal Government.

On September 11, 2018, Edo government announced the immediate closure of what it described as “10 illegal burrow-pits” in Benin-City, citing health

and environmental concerns.

The state Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Omoua Alonge Oni-Okpaku, said the closure was a renewed drive to safeguard the state’s environmental integrity.

But Enaruna in their protest contended that the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended, prescribes mines and mining activities in the exclusive legislative list.

He said: “In line with the provision of the Constitution 1, the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 vested the control and governance of mines and mineral resource development activities in the ministry of Mines and Steel Development. There is no doubt that the state, local governments and host communities are critical stakeholders in the development of the nation’s mineral resources. It is in recognition of this that the Mining Act prescribed the establishment of the Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee (MIREMCO) to serve as interface

between the federal, state and local governments for addressing conflicts of interest arising from conduct of mining activities in the states of the federation.”

He also noted that as a result of the provision of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 and ancillary regulations, the state government has no jurisdiction in regulating mining activities and such, has no power to close down any licensed mining site in the state without recourse to the provisions of the act.

Efforts to get the reaction of the Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Omua OniOkpaku, was unsuccessful as calls put to her mobile phone failed to connect.

But a source within the ministry who pleaded anonymity, said the closure of the burrow-pits was not intended to raise any constitutional question on the control of mining activities, as has been erroneously believed nor to contest the authority of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development to issue license.

NEPC trains 500 participants on food processing, packaging, labelling for export MIKE ABANG, Calabar

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n their continued efforts at boosting grassroots participation in the nonoil export sector, the Nigeria Export Promotions Council (NEPC) and the Cross River State Ministry of Commerce and Industry last week organized a three-day workshop on food processing, packaging and labelling for export for over five hundred participants.

The training, which was declared open by the executive director of NEPC, Olusegun Awolowo, who was represented by Veronica Oriere, a deputy director in charge of NEPC Export, reiterated the commitment and fulfilment of the Federal Government towards aggressive development of the non-oil sector of the economy.

According to him, the training was in partnership with critical stakeholders, the ministry of Commerce and Industry and the private sector, so as to generate foreign

exchange for the state and country.

She said we need to export our excess food; and commended Anambra and Ebonyi, for exporting rice and vegetables; stressing that packaging and labelling were very critical in processing the value chain.

Trade promotion adviser at NEPC, Calabar, Emmanuel Etim said the agency remained committed to growth in non-oil export activities, increase in foreign exchange earnings, creating jobs, grow the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), promote industrialization in an era the government was working on zero oil National Economic Development Plan (NEDP).

He said the three-day export capacity building workshop on food processing, packaging and labelling for export, in collaboration with the Cross River State Ministry of Commerce and Industry held at the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC), Calabar,

The NMA delegation was treated to a welcome cocktail party at the residence of Membere-Otaji in Port Harcourt.

(R-L) Chairman of Princess Medical Centre, Emi Membere-Otaji and the national president of Nigerian Medical Association, Francis Adedayo Faduyile exchanging pleasantries during a cocktail party for the NMA delegation which visited the medical facility in Port Harcourt

Miners tackle Edo Govt over closure of sites

IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin

he said Princess Medical Centre is a multi-specialty hospital where fivestar hospitality meets quality and affordable healthcare.

was deliberate and strategic.

According to him, the workshop was meant to expose stakeholders to proper practical food processing, packaging and labelling techniques, in compliance with international standard; stressing that packaging and labelling were quite critical in processing value chain.

In her goodwill message, the SouthSouth regional coordinator of NEPC, Azuka Ikejifor disclosed that in 2015, Nigeria’s non-oil export products suffered a colossal humiliation in the inglorious beans, fish, melon and sesame seed export saga at the European markets.

She said that monumental loss could have been averted if there were adequate and conscious control checks and sanitary measures within products value chain points. Consequently, and till date, the woeful outcome of those transactions had persistently refused to diffuse.

NDDC SOPAFON empower orphans, vulnerable women, aged in Niger Delta EFEGADIRIM MADU

T

he Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation, Solace Place Foundation International (SOPAFON) last weekend gave out cash and materials to lift several hundreds of orphans, vulnerable women and the aged drawn from the Niger Delta region.

At the event, which took place in Umuahia, Abia State and Uyo, Abak and Eket in Akwa Ibom State, saw the Commission giving out cash and food items worth millions of Naira to the orphans, who numbered more than several hundreds.

For the vulnerable women, the Commission also gave out cash and other items to enable them start some petty trading; while the aged received food items and money for their upkeep, as well as some medical treatments.

Speaking at the occasion, Mercy Gani, president and founder of SOPAFON, which is into reach out and support for rural dwellers and the less-privileged, said her organisation had embarked on the programme to alleviate the plight of the rural women, the vulnerable and their families.

She said the programme was a continuous one, as they plan to undertake similar thing in the years ahead; adding that it allows the women the opportunity for self-realization through the acquisition of relevant skills.

Gani however, urged the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta and other well-to-do members of the society, to always see their support for the ‘very downtrodden as a viable means fighting poverty, disease, creating employment and curbing crime.

She commended the NDDC management led by the managing director, Nsima Ekere for the gesture; saying that it would go a long way in assisting especially the vulnerable women to come out of poverty and illiteracy; while it would give the orphans some sense of belonging in the society.

The SOPAFON boss however, prayed the NDDC to do more, as there are vast number of needy persons in the oil region; adding that there was need for a continuous partnership with her organization to reach out to these unreached groups.

Responding, some of the beneficiaries lauded the NDDC for the reach out ; saying the gesture would go a long way to lift them out of their precarious states.

Friday 02 November 2018

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BDSUNDAY Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Alfred Adewale Martins speaks:

“It is necessary that we think of a way of decentralising things in such a way that the different parts of this country will be motivated to generate resources, generate revenue. And, in any case, there is no point in pretending that we are operating a federal system of government when, in actual fact, we are operating a unitary form of government.” Read the full interview on Sunday.

Complicated 2019

BUSINESS DAY

29

Neither Buhari nor Atiku has convinced Nigerians how they intend to move Nigeria forward - CEO, Footprint to Africa The changing phase of ‘Obioma’, the itinerary tailor And ‘Mr. Fix It’ dies …The life and times of Tony Anenih

Three months to the general election, the dust is yet to settle on the party primaries, and in many states some political parties remain unsure of their flag-bearers. Too many issues remain unresolved…

Read these and many more on Sunday

Camps fight to finish in Rivers, Bayelsa over NDDC CEO slot

30

BUSINESS DAY

BD

C002D5556

Friday 02 November 2018

Markets + Finance ‘Providing proprietary research, commentary, analysis and financial news coverage unmatched in today’s market. Published weekly, Markets & Finance provides all the key intelligence you need.’

Stanbic IBTC Holdings records strong profit growth amid headwinds ...NPLs falls to five year low BALA AUGIE

F

irst glimpse of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Nigeria Plc’s finances shows the lender’s return on common equity (ROCE) of 35.72 percent- recorded in the third quarter of 2018- is the highest in the industry, according to data gathered from the Bloomberg Terminal.

An investor could conclude that the lender’s management is above average at using the company assets to create profits.

This is unsurprising as the lender has been trading at book value above peer rivals.

Its shares are trading at price to book ratio of 2.70 times earnings, this compares with Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank); 2.11 times earnings, Access Bank; 0.48 times earnings, Zenith Bank; 0.95 times earnings, and First Bank Holdings Plc, 0.42 times earnings.

This means investors are attracted to the liquidating value of assets, which is why profit growth has been in tandem with share price appreciation.

While other lenders have had stocks beaten down by sluggish economic- as evi-

denced by latest GDP report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) - and global economic shocks, Stanbic IBTC’s shares have been growing since the start of the year.

The Bank’s excellent risk management strategy has yielded fruit as asset quality has improved, while impairment on financial asset also reduced, further adding impetus to profit.

The Bank’s digital banking performance as at September 2018 represents 39 percent year-on-year increase across all digital banking channels.

The improvement in digital has also been identified by “Agusto& Co” as SIBTC Bank emerged best digital bank in 2018.

Stanbic IBTC’s market capitalization grew by 11.6 percent during the period due to share price appreciation.

Increased noninterest revenue drives gross earnings Gross earnings increased by 10.10 percent to N168.80 billion in September 2018 from N154.22 billion as at September 2017.

Interest income was down 2 percent to N87.68 billion in the period under review from N89.68 billion the previous year; largely due to declining

Yinka Sanni, Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic Ibtc Holdings Plc

interest rate environment and asset pricing as well as 10 percent growth in interest expense.

Expectedly, net interest margin declined as a result of net interest income decline and growth in total asset though cost of fund was flat year-on-year.

However, noninterest revenue was up 24.40 percent

to N79.97 billion in the period under review as against N64.28 billion as at September 2017.

The growth in noninterest revenue was driven by 27 percent increases in trading income to N25.72 billion and 22 percent growth in net fees and commission to N52.91 billion in the period under review.

BD MARKETS + FINANCE Analysts: BALA AUGIE

“Our asset management, custody, brokerage and capital market businesses also witnessed improved business patronage which contributed to the growth in non-interest revenue,” said the bank.

Profit spikes despite rising operating expenses Stanbic IBTC’s profit after tax increased by 58.61 percent to N59.75 billion in the period under review from N37.67 billion the previous year. Profit before tax followed the same growth trajectory as it rose by 54.17 percent to N70.38 billion in September 2018 from N45.65 billion the previous year.

Total operating expenses were up 17.84 percent to N72.13 billion in September 2018 from N61.24 billion the previous year.

A breakdown of total operating expenses shows staff costs were up 13.35 percent to N31.33 billion in September 2018 as against N27.64 billion the previous year. The increase in staff cost was due to one-time adjustment to staff salaries to cushion the effect of currency devaluation and inflation.

Other operating expenses were up 21.52 percent to N40.83 billion in the period under review from N33.60 bil-

come ratio rose to 52.1 percent in September 2018 from 48.1 percent recorded in prior year.

The increase in profitability impacted positively on return on average equity (ROAE) resulting in an increase to 39.0 percent in September 2018 from 28.9 percent achieved as at December 2017.

Non-Performing Loans improves on reclassification of loans Stanbic IBTC’s Non Performing Loans (NPLs) reduced to N21.6 billion in September 2018 from N35.30 billion as at December 2017.

Expectedly, NPLs ratio improved to 4.7 percent in September 2018 from 8.60 percent as at December 2017.

The bank attributes the improvement in asset quality to the declassification of some its loans following positive outcome on recovery and rehabilitation efforts.

Stanbic IBTC’s gross loans and advances were up 27.84 percent to N438.64 billion in September 2018 from N381.71 billion as at September 2017 on the back of continuous lending.

Customer deposits declined by 2 percent to close at N738.4 billion from N753.6 billion as at December 2017 as the lender continues the

lion the previous year; driven mainly as a result of growth in information technology cost, AMCON charges and deposit insurance premium on customer deposits.

AMCON and deposit insurance charge increased by N3.7 billion, accounting for 52 percent of the N7.2 billion growth in other operating expenses.

Consequently, cost to in-

drive to replace expensive term deposit with low-cost deposit.

Stanbic IBTC maintained adequate capital with total capital adequacy ratio at 24.5 percent, which is above the regulatoryrequirement of 10 percent.

Its liquidity ratio closed at 90.30 percent against a regulatory minimum of 30 percent.

Friday 02 November 2018

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Friday 02 November 2018

NIMASA moves to enforce 0.5% NNPC, BP sign PMS supply agreement ACT improves funding opportunities sulphur limit on bunker fuel by ships to sustain product supply for non-profits in Africa AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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irector general, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside, has assured that the agency will enforce strict compliance to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulation on 0.5 percent sulphur cap on all fuel used by vessels by the year 2020.

Peterside, who made this known during an interactive session with journalists at the ongoing maritime week in Dubai, said part of the requirements adopted at the 73rd meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the United Nations maritime organ was to reduce the sulphur content permitted in ships’ fuel oil globally to 0.5 percent with effect from January 1, 2020.

According to Peterside, “The 2020 fuel challenge is geared towards energy efficiency, environmental pollution control, and health as well as core regulatory enforcement issues. As a maritime nation, we cannot afford not to comply with the IMO standard which will

also do a lot in mitigating global warming and other related environmental issues.”

The IMO ban, which relates to fuel intended for combustion, propulsion and operation purposes on board ships will enter into force on March 1, 2020, he said, adding that all member states are expected to comply with the stated standards by this date.

He further said it was in the best interest of Africa to ensure compliance considering the fact that majority of the countries on the continent do not have the technology to mitigate harmful effects of high sulphur fuel on the environment, ocean life and human life.

The NIMASA DG enumerated some of the steps the agency planned to take to manage the transition and ensure compliance. He noted that NIMASA would embark on massive enlightenment, stakeholders’ engagement and liaison as well as collaboration with fuel refiners and suppliers, adding that the agency would have a schedule for pre- enforcement information before the commencement of the proper enforcement.

HARRISON EDEH, Abuja

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n a determined drive to ensure robust supply of petroleum products across the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has signed a six-month Direct Sale-Direct Purchase (DSDP) agreement with the British Petroleum’s (BP) trading arm, BP Oil International Limited, for the supply of petrol.

This initiative will ensure hitch-free supply of petrol as the yuletide season draws closer, NNPC says, while ensuring sustainable product supply beyond the season.

This latest agreement will represent 20 percent of NNPC’s total PMS supply under the DSDP arrangement, which basically allows the corporation to exchange crude oil with international oil traders for imported petroleum products over a period of time.

Speaking shortly after a brief signing ceremony at the NNPC Towers yesterday, the group managing director of the corporation, Maikanti Baru, said as the nation’s products supplier of last resort, NNPC was committed to products availability by inviting new and old players to play in the Nigerian oil sector.

He said over the years, BP

had demonstrated the capacity and robustness to augment the forecasted shortfall

by NNPC, especially as the winter period approaches and as the nation’s elections get underway early into the New Year.

“As a reliable supplier, we think BP is a brand that we can always partner with.

We trust the company and we have a good relationship with it. We also believe in the company’s commitment towards the development of local content,” Baru stated in a statement yesterday.

The NNPC helmsman also commended BP for choosing to partner with AYM Shafa, a local oil company, which he said had been expanding its downstream footprints across the nook and cranny of the country.

“BP’s partnership with AYM Shafa towards delivering on its DSDP obligations makes it a perfect fit for our plans to ensure that there is adequate supply of products throughout the coming Yuletide and even beyond the election period. In AYM Shafa, you are talking of a local company with over 150 retail outlets, depots as well as a good network of trucks nationwide,” he said.

IFEOMA OKEKE

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spire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation has announced a call for application to its 2019 Grant Cycle. The announcement was made earlier this week

by Osayi Alile, the foundation’s CEO. Application for the 2019 ACT Foundation grant cycle, which commences on November 1, and closes on November 30, 2018, is opened to non-profits, communitybased organisations (CBOs) and social enterprises who proffer innovative solutions to the continent’s socio-economic problems.

Recognised for its continuous efforts aimed at addressing lingering challenges in the areas of entrepreneurship, health, environment and leadership on the African continent, ACT Foundation has successfully impacted over 160,000 lives across 32 states in Nigeria since its inaugural grant cycle in 2017.

The leading grant maker has further shown its commitment to grassroots development in Africa through its strategic partnerships, grants and capacity building.

In the area of health, ACT

Foundation’s focus is directed towards cancer particularly prostate, breast and cervical cancers, maternal and child health and malaria.

Resulting from its commitment to youth development, its entrepreneurship focus is gazed on vocational skills acquisition and financial literacy.

As for the grant maker’s leadership focus, youth development and capacity building, while its environment focus area will see sustainable waste management programs implemented extensively.

Alile, while speaking on the 2019 ACT Foundation grant cycle, said the organisation was focused on partnerships geared towards stamping the footprints of sustainable development in communities across Africa.

Alile also noted that the 2019 ACT Foundation grant would be extending its partnerships to countries on the African continent. She said, “A particularly interesting element in the 2019 grant cycle is our launch into other parts of Africa. We are excited about exploring new grounds after successfully implementing two impactful grant cycles.

Obaseki cuts barriers to trade as MADE II proposes £10m investment inflow for 30,000 business groups

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overnor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State says his administration has cut barriers to trade, such as multiple taxation, unruly land allocation practices, such as the old Community Development Association (CDA), and strengthening a host of investment enablers, to make the state attractive for investors.

The governor disclosed this while declaring open a one-day investment promotion summit in Benin City, the state capital, organised to intimate businesses in the state with a £10 million potential investment inflow proposed by the Market Development Programme in the Niger Delta (MADE) for the state.

The summit, which was organised by the Edo State Investment Portfolio (ESIP) in collaboration with MADE, featured deliberations on solutions to irregular migration by exploring alternative means of livelihoods and opportunities for income generation by members of vulnerable groups.

The event also kick-started the process of developing an investment brochure that will attract firms, industries and boost economic activities in Edo State.

Obaseki, who was repre-

sented by his Chief of Staff, Taiwo Akerele, said in the last two years, his administration has continued to push key reforms that have stimulated business growth through improved ease of doing business in the state.

He noted, “As a government, we want businesses residing here to flourish and we will continue to formulate policies that will continue to stimulate the state’s economy. We have witnessed the nflux of businesses and many others have indicated interest to relocate their businesses to the state from other states in the country.”

The governor said some of the key reforms being put in place by his administration include flexible tax system, galvanised security architecture and fully automated, speedy and fraudfree Geographic Information System for land allocation.

Representative of the Investment Portfolio Management of the Market Development Programme in the Niger Delta (MADE II), a programme funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), Rufus Idris, noted that vital aspects of the programme will x-ray how Edo State can be positioned for marketability to local and international investors.

Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode (4th l); chairman of Island Club, Olabanji Oladapo (4th r); Trustee member of the club, Samuel Adegbayibi (3rd r); member of the club; vice chairman, Oladiji Vera-Cruz (r); past chairmen of the Club, Olumuyiwa Falomo (3rd l); Femi Adeniyi-Williams (2nd l), and Akeem Awe (l), launching the Club’s Anniversary brochure during the 75th Anniversary Business Lecture of the Club with the topic - Nation Building: Communities, Inclusion and Prosperity, at Onikan, Lagos, yesterday.

Firms’ confidence in economy dropped to 23.2 in October HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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he overall confidence by Nigerian firms on the macroeconomy dropped to 23.2 index points, in October, indicating less optimism when compared with its level of 24.8 index points recorded in September 2018.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday released the October 2018 Business Expectations Survey (BES), which it carried out during the period Octo-

ber 8-12, 2018, with a sample size of 1050 businesses nationwide.

The respondent firms were made up of small, medium and large organisations covering both import- and export-oriented businesses.

However, the businesses outlook for October 2018 showed confidence on the macro economy at 64.4 index points.

The positive outlook by type of business in October 2018 was driven by busi-

nesses that were neither import- nor export-oriented (18.6 points), import-oriented (2.4 points), both importand export-oriented (1.9 points), and those that were export-related (0.1 points).

According to the report, the positive outlook in the volume of business activities (69.8 index points) and employment (27.5 index points) indicated a favourable business outlook in the next month. The employment outlook index by sector showed that the services

sector (30.3 points) indicated the highest prospects for creating jobs, followed by wholesale/retail trade (29.9 points), industrial (24.4 points), and construction (10.3 points), sectors.

The analysis of businesses expansion plans by sector next month showed that the services sector indicates greater disposition for expansion with an index of 25.3 followed by wholesale/ retail trade and industrial sectors with 17.9 and 6.5 index points, respectively.

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AfCFTA to focus on challenges, opportunities in trade bloc TVC gets new brand identity HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

… as Nigeria hosts Africa trade forum

igeria will today and tomorrow hosts the Africa Trade Forum 2018, being organised by Nigeria’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and co-organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), The Rockefeller Foundation, and the African Union Commission (AUC).

The Forum will bring together stakeholders from across the continent, from political and governance spheres, the private sector and entrepreneurs, philanthropies, academia, researchers, and development partners, to discuss the process for realising the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The AfCFTA was signed in March 2018 by 44 African countries and, if ratified, will become one of the world’s largest trading blocs. It is also the biggest trade agreement

signed since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was established, bringing together 1.3 billion people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $2 trillion in a single market. The agreement aims to provide improved competition and lower business costs.

The Forum’s purpose is to look into the challenges and opportunities of the AfCFTA in individual African states, and to better understand how AfCFTA can drive economic development and prosperity on the continent for all of Africa’s citizens.

“The idea of an integrated African market to industrialise Africa, spur growth, enhance welfare and create jobs has been around for a long time. However, with the actual emergence of the AfCFTA in 2018, the decision was taken by the government to mobilise stakeholders in the Nigerian economy to understand its details, interpret its

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opportunities and reorganise our economic system for coherence and coordination, if the opportunities of the AfCFTA are to be realised and maximised.

“This Forum is a unique opportunity to proactively engage with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that AfCFTA works for Nigeria,” Okechukwu Enelamah, Nigeria’s minister of industry, trade and investment, says.

The AfCFTA offers a longawaited platform for Africa to ramp up its industrialisation through various channels such as eliminating tariffs on intra-African trade, which will result in more competitive services that reduce business costs, improve business efficiency, and enhance value to consumers.

Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) executive secretary, Vera Songwe, says in an age of trade wars, Africa is sending a strong message that trade deals and reforms can be

approached through consensus-building and cooperation, leaving no one behind.

“In order to ensure the African Continental Free Trade Area has a game-changing impact on African economies, we must now develop clear strategies for product diversification and inclusive implementation.

The speed at which countries have signed and are now ratifying the AfCFTA agreement underscores the momentum behind this African flagship initiative,” the ECA chief says.

According to ECA studies, Africa is less industrialised today than it was three decades ago. The continent’s manufacturing share of output and exports has steadily declined, and Africa’s exports remain largely concentrated in primary commodities and raw materials. Through AfCFTA, industrialisation will help create employment for Africa’s growing youth population, thereby improving livelihoods, access to education and health.

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leading independent TV, radio and on-line broadcasting firm, TVC Communications, yesterday unveiled a new brand identity for its family entertainment channel, TVC. The on-air changes, unveiled yesterday, are the result of extensive market research among audience and advertisers, which revealed that many believed the channel branding was outdated, dull and unreflective of a modern and young Nigeria.

“Today, we have unveiled a new brand identity which is reflective of all the key elements identified in that research and is the creation of some of Nigeria’s most talented graphic artists and designers, from both within and outside TVC,” Andrew Hanlon, CEO, TVC Communications, said at the unveiling yesterday.

“Our new brand is reflective of our core audience of 15 to 39-year-olds who are young and modern, ambitious, bright, international in their outlook, yet very

much Nigerian and fiercely proud of it,” Hanlon said.

The new brand identity, Hanlon said, reflects the values and interests of today’s modern entertainment audience, which will be placed across all TVC programming genres, content and formats.

“TVC is watched by almost 4 million Nigerians every day, and as one of the country’s biggest and most successful broadcasters, we wanted to re-imagine our brand to reflect the ambition of our viewers and the renewed direction of our channel,” he said.

Aside from the new channel marque, viewers will see promos and channel idents, which capture the richness, diversity and ethnicity of Nigeria and its people in highly-crafted visuals, shot in 4K digital motion photography, which highlight the country’s youth in traditional tribal costume. In other sequences, TVC viewers will also see iconic Nigerian personalities explaining what “Pure Entertainment” means to them.

Simba Group reinstates commitment to women’s empowerment IFEOMA OKEKE

T L-R: Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content; Okey Okoli, deputy managing director of Halliburton Energy Services Limited; Dino Melaye, and Abdulahi Gumel, members of the committee, when the committee visited the company as part of monitoring of compliance with Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday.

ARM exits from ownership of Four Point by Sheraton MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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sset & Resource Management Holding Company Limited (ARM) has announced the successful exit from Oceanwinds Hospitality Limited (OHL), owner of Four Points By Sheraton Lagos Hotel, Oniru, Victoria Island Extension, Lagos.

ARM’s sale of OHL to Westmont International Development Inc., a Canadian-based investment firm, is in furtherance of the strategy for its hospitality and retail business, which invests in opportunities within the high growth hospitality and re-

tail sectors in Africa.

The Four Points by Sheraton Lagos - OHL’s single asset - is an internationally branded 234-key hotel, with eight meeting and conference rooms, four Food and Beverage outlets and a full service Spa and Fitness centre.

ARM initiated and managed the development of the hotel that began operations in 2010, following which it provided asset management services that has seen the hotel’s Revenue Generation Index (RGI) consistently rank among the top two in its competitive set.

Sade Hughes, managing director of ARM Hos-

pitality & Retail, said: “We are pleased to have been a part of this laudable investment in the first Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Africa. Our exit culminates the full cycle of our investment process, and further reinforces our belief in the potentials of Africa’s hospitality segment.”

ARM’s track record in this sector includes its prior investment in the Moorhouse Sofitel Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos (now Hotel Moorhouse M Gallery by Sofitel), which it exited in 2004, and the Oluwole Urban Mall, Lagos, exited in 2012. ARM is currently developing a number of pipeline projects in key cities across WestAfrica.

he Simba Group participated in the recently held celebrations of the Day of the Girl Child event in Abuja, on 17th and 18th October. The programme, organised by the National Centre for Women Development in collaboration with The Office of the Wife of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, included a number of activities ranging from cultural events and debates to the proposed action plans for the benefit of women in Nigeria.

Manish Rohtagi, business head of Simba Group, who spoke about the group’s commitment to the empowerment of Nigerian women, said the company has in the past involved in various initiatives in this area, including enhancing access to education, creating employment opportunities and training.

He said further that the Group has been commended for their Queen Rider’s Programme – an initiative aimed at enhancing access to Mini Entrepreneurship for women, though the ownership and/or operation of Keke (tricycles), under their flagship brand TVS King.

UNIDO, Edo to construct 2mw micro dam in Benin

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he Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, says his administration is working with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to construct a 2-megawatt (mw) micro dam on Ikpoba River to improve power generation as well as job creation in the state.

Obaseki disclosed this when he led some members of his cabinet on a condolence visit to the family of late industrialist, Iyayi Efionayi, whose passing was announced last month.

Extolling Iyayi’s trail blazing role in the econo-

my of the state and nation, the governor noted that the late Efionayi made enduring positive impact in the lives of Edo people and residents through his philanthropic activity.

He assured that his administration was committed to creating the enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the state.

“We share the dreams of Iyayi that you must create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. We share his dreams and we will do all in our power as a government that the dream of creating jobs for Edo people is realised during my tenure,” he said.

The governor explained

that the construction of the 2mw dam would commence next year, and on completion would supply power to a 30-hectare estate, with an entertainment park that would host Nollywood investments.

He added that the state government is working on a 50-megawatt power plant that would be fired by gas, produced in the Ologbo area of the state.

“Two weeks ago, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approved a licence for one of our partners in Ologbo for the first phase of a 50 Mega Watts electricity plant which will be fired by gas produced in the area.

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Pressure piles on economy as CBN pursues...

Continued from page 1

on the exchange rate.

At a special window for investors and exporter, the naira has already weakened from N360 per US dollar at the start of the year to an average of N363 in October and N363.32 at close of trading, November 1.

But as pressure mounts on the exchange rate from foreign outflows, the CBN has reiterated a firm commitment to nominal exchange rate stability.

However, the means by which the CBN has set out to achieve that goal is piling pressure on an economy still struggling to recover from a 2016 recession caused by low global oil prices and a decline in production volumes following militant attacks on oil infrastructure in the country.

To fight off a weaker exchange rate, the CBN is bidding short term interest rates higher, a scenario that could further batter the government’s ailing finances and take affordable credit away from the reach of the private sector.

At an auction Wednesday, where Treasury bills worth N145.29 billion were issued, the stop rates on the Tbills trended upwards compared to

the stop rates at the previous auction.

The stop rate on 91 day T-bills was 10.975 percent compared to 10.96 percent at the previous auction, while the rates of 182 day and 364 day T-bills rose to 13.49 percent and 14.4 percent respectively from 12.69 percent and 13.45 percent.

With average bond yields at around 14 percent, the rise in T-bill yields is gradually leading the country’s yield curve towards an inversion last seen in 2017 when short term rates outpaced long term rates and mounted pressure on government’s debt service costs which had spiralled to a record high of 69 percent by the end of the year.

Faced with the possibility of a larger budget deficit that could hit N4 trillion in 2018 amid disappointing revenues, the government is likely to overshoot its borrowing and that will come at a larger cost with the uptick in interest rates, thus limiting the government’s ability to implement its proposed capital expenditure.

The private sector will also bear the brunt of higher interest rates in the form of limited access to affordable credit. Higher interest rates also tend to be negative for stocks as investors interpret it as a possibility

for higher finance costs and reduced profitability for listed companies (which have already taken a beating this year over foreign capital outflows and political uncertainty).

The All Share Index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, which tracks the average price movement of listed companies, was down 1.42 percent Thursday, extending a two day losing streak.

“When the effective yields on one year T-Bills is as high as 17 percent, the incentive is against risk taking and credit growth to the private sector,” said Wale Okunrinboye, head of research at Lagos-based Pension Fund Administrator, Sigma Pensions.

“The banks won’t lend to the private sector when they can park cash in safe government assets and that’s not how to grow a struggling economy,” Okunrinboye said in an interview with Business Day. “It’s the price we are paying for pursuing a strong naira, but it is not worth it,” Okunrinboye added.

Bank lending to the private sector is already dipping on account of weak economic activity and political uncertainty, with the big banks all cutting their loan books in the first half of 2018, according to data complied by Business Day and obtained

L-R: Chris Nnakwe, head, CSR & sustainability, Fidelity Bank plc; Toyin Adesola, founder and executive director, Sickle Cell Advocacy and Management Initiative; Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River State; Folusho Philips, chairman, Philips Consulting, at the presentation of a special recognition award to Fidelity Bank during the 10th anniversary of Sickle Cell Advocacy and Management Initiative (SAMI), in Lagos.

MTN sanctions create ripple effect as...

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whether investing in Nigeria is

worthwhile,” Laure Beaufils, deputy high commissioner, British High Commission, said on Thursday at the International Investment Conference organised by Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos.

Beaufils said investors are worried about regulations in Nigeria and rule of law, stressing the need for government officials to be upfront about the risks in the economy and how to mitigate them.

Ifeanyi Okeleke, CEO of Kenfrancis Integrated Farms Limited, an agriculture and agro processing firm, told BusinessDay in an exclusive interview that he wanted to bring two partners from the UK but met a brick wall when they pulled out citing regulations.

“They specifically told me that it was better to go to Ghana, and they eventually went to Ghana. They told me that if the government could turn against MTN, it could as well turn against them any time,” Okeleke said.

F. John Bray, consul-general of US High Commission, said American private firms have invested $1.3 billion across sixsectorsinNigeria,butwarned that Nigeria must buckle down as more

businesses are moving to its neighbours, notably Ghana and Ivory Coast.

“It is a great market and I want it to succeed. But it is a global market.

Nigeria is not just competing with Ghana and Ivory Coast but also Singapore,” Bray said.

“We have a lot of entities visiting Nigeria from the United States. Yesterday (Wednesday) we had the Federal Express. This is a hub, a great location.

But issues like the MTN scare a lot of investors. It creates more uncertainty.”

Nigeriadroppedto146thspot(from 145 last year) on the World Bank 2019 Doing Business Index despite an improvement in the business score from 51.52 to 52.89 points. The country had, last year, moved up 24 places from 169 to 145 on the basis of federal government’s fronted reforms on taxes, and ports, among others. The government set up the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to undertake reforms on various sectors, but investors still see risks in enforcement of contracts, getting credit (above 20percentinterest),protectinginvestors and resolving insolvency.

Babatunde Fagbohunlu, chairman of LCCI International Arbitration Centre, said there is a similar problem like the MTN saga looming across other

sectors of the economy such as the oil and gas, where the government plans to recoup $1.4 trillion from losses it incurred in production sharing contracts of 1993. Fagbohunlu said doing this could scare away foreign investors.

Funke Opeke CEO of MainOne Cable Company Nigeria Limited, said there is an incredible appetite by international investors for Nigeria but noted that the local market is still inefficient.

“Foreign investors find it very challenging to operate in this environment and when they look at the obstacles, they go elsewhere,” Opeke said at the event, moderated by BusinessDay editor Anthony Osae-Brown.

“We need to move beyond attracting investment and make sure the investments already made are successful,” Opeke said.

Opeke noted that the biggest risk facing investments in the telecom sector are macroeconomic challenges and enabling environment because the telecoms sector is borderless.

Moses Imayi CEO of Skool Media Limited, said being an investor in Nigeria’s education sector is tough because many do not prioritise education.

“Working in Nigeria as a local investor is very tough because there is no enablingframeworktosupportthesystem as everything seems to focus on foreign investors,” Imayi told the audience.

from their financial reports.

The loan books of Guaranty Trust, Zenith, Access, United bank for Africa and First bank, shrank cumulatively by 6.6 percent as at June 2018 compared to the level at the end of 2017, with the country’s largest bank by market capitalisation, GTB, and the largest bank by assets Zenith, contracting the most by 11 percent a piece.

Rising interest rates compounds the woes of the private sector as the banks have a viable alternative to invest in, leaving business starved of credit and putting the economy at risk of retardation.

“The banks that are already reluctant to lend would have an even thinner appetite for lending,” said Ayodeji Eko, managing director of Lagos-based investment bank, Afrinvest Securities.

According to Ebo, the banks also face the threat of slower deposits mobilisation in the event of higher interest rates as people redirect idle cash lying in their bank accounts to government securities to make returns much higher than the 2 percent on savings accounts.

Yields as high as 18 percent in 2017 saw bank deposits grow at the slowest pace since 2010, as investment-savvy depositors put money in government securities.

Banks also made a killing from investing in treasury bills last year but were already starting to adjust to a lower yield environment informed by reduced government borrowing in the domestic market as yields collapsed to 12 percent at the start of 2018.

Yields on government securities are however heading north again and are now at around 14 percent.

Analysts are unsure how much the Central bank is willing to bid interest rates higher to achieve its goal of exchange rate stability but say the Abuja-based bank will give it whatever it takes at least until after the 2019 elections.

The CBN, in its bid to keep the exchange rate stable, has also had to up its dollar interventions to save the naira some face against the dollar as emerging market currencies buckle under a market sell-off.

The interventions have come at the expense of foreign reserves which has shed 10.6 percent or $5 billion from a peak of $47 billion as the end of July to $42.1 billion at October 26, according to official data.

In the space of one month, the foreign buffer of Africa’s largest oil producer is down by $2 billion, having stood at $44.02 billion in October, marking the biggest monthly decline

Friday 02 November 2018

since February 2015. Never mind that oil prices crossed a a four-year peak of $80 per barrel in October but have since cooled to $75 per barrel, November 1.

Recent data for September shows that the CBN sales at the I&E segment climbed 41 percent to USD 2 billion from August levels, which mirrors recent comments by the CBN governor about a firm commitment to nominal exchange rate stability.

After hitting a record high of $2.14 billion in the week ended September 14 2018, turnover at the I & E window, created by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ease a dollar crunch that starved the economy, declined to a year to date low of $880 million in the week ended October 19, according to data from trading platform, FMDQ. “This is expected in light of the capital outflows in the past months,” Ebo, who thinks the external reserves are still at healthy levels compared to when they tanked to $28 billion in 2016, said.

“The domestic demand for dollars has grown significantly due to the speculations that the naira may depreciate after the 2019 general election, hence increasing buying interest,” Ebo said in an emailed response to Business Day. Muda Yusuf, who heads private sector advocacy group, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and industry (LCCI), said rising interest rates would crowd out the private sector and put a cap on economic growth but admits the CBN may face a dilemma in deciding whether to allow the naira weaken and watch inflation accelerate or to stimulate credit growth.

Headline inflation has consistently risen in the last two months following an 18-month consecutive decline as low base effects fade and the outlook is for price growth to gradually increase through the year.

The Monetary Policy Committee at its last meeting in September held interest rates at 14 percent, where it has been for two years now, citing election spending risks to inflation, despite flailing economic growth.

Nigeria’s economy expanded 1.7 percent in the first half of this year and is tipped by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to grow 2 percent by year-end compared to 0.8 percent in 2017 and -1.6 percent in 2016. In GDP per-capita terms, the economy is still in doldrums with economic growth rate below the population growth rate of around 3 percent.

Apapa gridlock drives haulage costs higher...

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with long delays running into weeks and months for trucks to access and exit the ports, which have resulted to additional cost for transport owners.

To defray such losses, truck owners recently increased the cost of moving cargo from Lagos ports to warehouses within Lagos, to the north, south-east and south-west.

For instance, transporting 20-foot containers from Tin-Can and Apapa ports to any warehouse in Lagos that used to cost between N40-000 and N120,000 now costs N400,000.00, while 40-foot containers that used to cost between N50,000 and N250,000 now costs N700,000.

Also, moving 20 and 40-foot containers from Lagos to the north that used to cost between N500,000 and N600,000, now costs between N900,000, N1 million and N1.3 million. Taking consignments to the south-east which used to cost N250,000 now costs between N550,000 and 750, 000.

Lucky Amiwero, a maritime analyst, who blamed the rising cost of transporting cargo on port inefficiency and the present mismanagement of backlog of cargo at the ports resulting to the gridlock, said that the haulage cost from Apapa/ Tin-Can Island ports, in most cases, has become higher than the import duty paid on the containers.

Amiwero said that the cost of haulage, which has associated cost on the total cost of doing business at the port, will keep going up if the government and other agencies involved in managing the ports, fails to work towards ameliorating the traffic situation in Apapa.

“The increase in transport cost started two years ago following the difficulty of trucks and persons in accessing the ports. This difficulty constitutes serious delays running into weeks and months, leading to the astronomical increase in transport cost, which also encourages diversion of cargo to neighboring West African ports,” he explained.

Friday 02 November 2018

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Conversations at Ake art and...

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sentenced to thirty years imprisonment in absentia shortly afterwards.

Another novel, ‘Sweet and Sour Milk’ took matters beyond the pale. He was sentenced to death by the government of Siad Barre.

As Nuruddin explained to the audience on this Lagos evening, the protagonist in the novel went to confront the President after he murdered several opposition clerics and told him he had violated the constitution.

‘I am the constitution’ replied the President.

Shortly after, the protagonist was himself murdered.

At a point, several years later, when he was a lecturer at Makerere University and his country was undergoing a cataclysmic explosion, he tried to work with the government of President Museveni to broker peace among the warring factions in Somalia. It was a frustrating process, and at a point he said something critical of his host – Museveni.

‘I had to escape from Uganda in the night … leaving all my things behind…Museveni is still there now…’

Nuruddin had a theory about the origins of religious terrorism.

‘People in rich Arabian states pay these people to go and cause havoc in

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BUSINESS DAY

other countries, selling them the false narrative about going to heaven.

They kill more Muslims than anyone else…’

And the solution?

‘If people were educated and employed, they could not be recruited to fight for a hopeless 13th century utopia and a false narrative about going to heaven.’

H e s u f f e r e d a p e rsonal tragedy a few years back when his sister, who worked for a UN agency, was killed by Taliban bombers in Afghanistan on the eve of her return home from a tour of duty.

The event almost exactly mirrored the drama in a novel that he had just then written and published. He tried, unsuccessfully, in his grief, to withdraw the book

from circulation.

A case of life mirroring fiction.

Why were there so many dictators in Africa, he was asked?

Nuruddin’s view was that it was a mirror of a patriarchal family structure, with oppressive fathers lording it over hapless females. Each family was a dictatorship, and the state was merely an aggregation of several million dictatorships.

The crowd wanted him to go on and on, and some even wanted to dispute his viewpoint. But Lola Soneyin was hovering in the background, giving the ‘Time Up’ signal.

It was time to close the discussion, for now.

The festival itself would go on for another day.

question of human capital.

People in private and public sector organisations need to be equipped with the right skills to drive the financial inclusion process.

Thirdly, the requisite infrastructures need to be put in place: sustainable energy systems, roads, in addition to physical security.

Fourthly, understanding the nature of risk in the informal sector remains a real challenge. Financial providers need to be able to design effective risk systems, including robust customerrelationship-management solutions that ensure sustainability over the longterm.

And finally, the regulatory environment needs to be appropriate to nurturing financial inclusion programmes. Central banks and other monetary authorities need to understand financial inclusion as well as microfinance institutions and how to regulate them for the benefit of all.

The implications for Nigeria are considerable. Since the banking consolidation reforms of 2005—2007 the CBN has been committed to creating a robust and stable banking and financial system for all Nigerians.

Several policy initiatives are being undertaken ranging from FSS2020 that aims to make our country the financial hub of the continent to reform of microfinance institutions, articulation of financial inclusion policy, overhauling of the payments system and the so-called “cashless policy”.

To be fair, some progress has been made in certain areas. But, I think, most people will agree with me that we are not yet where we ought to

be. Millions of our countrymen and are women are still outside the financial loop.

Indeed, as a result of the recent economic recession, several bank branches, particularly in rural areas, have been closed down, thereby worsening the incidence of financial inclusion. The fight against corruption, welcome as it is, has forced many Nigerians to withdraw from the banking system. Many in the informal sector prefer to keep their money at home.

From the foregoing, it is clear that we need not only to restore confidence in the banking system but also provide adequate incentives to get millions of subscribers back into the financial system. Access to banking services, as we have maintained, ought to be a fundamental economic right for all citizens. We need robust policies that will not only expand access but also provide credit and resources at rates that are reasonable, fair and affordable. We also need to rapidly digitize payments systems.

And if I may conclude by echoing the legendary founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, ours is an age where we ought to do business at the speed of light. Digitalised financial inclusion is not only good for human welfare; it is good for the overall economy and for enhancing the quality of lives for all citizens – good for business and good for economic freedom of all our citizens.

Financial inclusion as an imperative for national...

Continued from back page

First, there is the persistence of the challenge of global poverty, at a time when the world is approaching the new society of abundance; a new gilded age of widespread prosperity.

The persistence of poverty, particularly in Africa, south Asia and Latin America, have led development experts to place greater focus on the phenomenon of socio-economic exclusion and disempowerment.

Secondly, the globalisation, which has turned our world into a single global marketplace, has within it a tendency to deepen inequalities by making the rich even richer while the poor continue to suffer even deeper immiserisation. The noted French economist, Thomas Pikkety, recently became an intellectual celebrity when he published his book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2014). In that book Piketty makes a distinction between income inequality and wealth inequality. The first refers to what people earn while the other refers to what people actually own. While inequities are widening across the world in terms of income, the most worrisome inequalities are actually in terms of wealth. The most affluent people invest their incomes in assets which continue to increase even in defiance of inflation, while the workers and lower-income people with little or no investment assets are stuck in poverty.

It has become clear to many observers that lack

of access to financial services is the principal factor explaining deepening equalities in both advanced industrial countries and in developing and emerging economies. There is yet a third consideration.

Thirdly, the opportunities opened up by the new ICT revolution have immense promise not only for improved welfare for all but particularly for the poorest of the poor in rich as well as poor countries. Mobile telephony, for example, has opened up new vistas for impoverished rural farmers who are now able to access information for fairer prices for their farm products as well as for inputs such as fertilisers, tractors, pesticides and affordable credit.

The ICT revolution and its related fintech services, provide practical and cheaper ways of linking those who need financial services and those who can provide them.

But let’s get it straight: the logic underpinning financial inclusion today is not so much about growth, poverty and economic development.

It is predicated on nothing less than the imperatives of national transformation.

While it is true that access to affordable credit is vital to empowerment and economic development; it is, clearly, far more than that.

It is about life itself and the human prospects of billions of people on our planet.

According to the McKinsey report that we referred to earlier, financial inclusion based on deployment of digital finance could add some US$3.7 trillion to the GDP of emerging economies by the year 2025, amounting to about 6% of GDP. An additional job-creation for 95

million people could also be created by deploying digital financial solutions while widening access to financial services. An estimated US$4.2 trillion in new deposits could be hauled into the financial system that would in turn generate US$2.1 trillion in additional loans. Public finances will also be improved through plugging leakages of more than US$110 billion in government revenues. And depending on their starting points, it estimated that for some countries, notable among them Nigeria, Ethiopia and Nigeria, the relevant reforms could add between 5 – 10 percent to their GDP. In a recent survey of 26 countries, Kenya came top with a score of 86% in terms of financial inclusion. The country was rated as having 89% mobile telephony capacity while the regulatory environment scored 94% and country commitment was scored 89 percent. The top 5 in the sample were Kenya, followed by Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and South Africa. Nigeria was number 10 in the sample, with a financial inclusion score of 74%, mobile capacity of 83%, a country commitment of 94% and regulatory environment of 89 percent.

Egypt came last with a financial inclusion score of 53%, mobile penetration of 67% and a regulatory environment of 72% and government commitment of 61 percent. According to CBN, only 58 million Nigerians out of our 195 million people have access to financial services of any kind. This translates to a mere 29% financial inclusion rate. In fact, it has been quite a regression for a better figure of 40% that was achieved

in the past.

Several factors account for success in financial inclusion.

First, leadership and commitment matter. Countries with leaders committed to development of their people tend to show more positive outcomes than those who do not. Secondly, a vibrant financial sector anchored on mobilisation of savings and deployment of new technologies provide avenues for greater financial inclusion than others. Particularly important in this context is the development of microfinance institutions that are both well managed and well regulated to ensure vehicles that provide affordable as well as safe savings and credit for the poor.

Thirdly, public-private partnerships enhances capacity of countries to mobilise for financial inclusion. And finally, availability of robust data for monitoring and coordination of policies is vital.

But there are no quick-fix solutions. A solution that may work in Kenya might not necessarily work in Nigeria or Ghana. What is crucial is to understand the specificity of national conditions and to design solutions that work for that country.

Several barriers need to be overcome.

There is, first, the issue of distribution. The geography of some developing countries compounds the access to financial services. A good example is Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago consisting of thousands of small islands. It is estimated that developing countries have an average one bank branch and one ATM machine per 10,000 people.

Secondly, there is the

•Text of a Presentation During the 24th Session of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Annual Conference Held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, 22 – 23 October 2018.

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Minimum wage: We won’t be cowed by ‘no work no pay’ threat - Labour JOSHUA BASSEY

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L-R: Dominique Friedl, general manager Africa, PAYJOY; Shina Atilola, group head, strategy and new business, Sterling Bank plc; Gozy Ijogun, managing director, Technology Distributions Limited, and Adekunle Adebiyi, sales and distribution executive, MTN Nigeria, during the formal unveil of Sterling-MTN Pay Small Small service in Lagos, yesterday.

Off-grid energy tariff shows contradiction in Nigeria’s electricity pricing ISAAC ANYAOGU

... regulator is unfair, partial, Discos say

hile offgrid energy projects like the recently completed Sura Shopping Complex independent power project are allowed to charge N50 per kilowatt hour, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) insists electricity distribution companies (Discos) must sell power between N32-N38, even though both operations are supposed to be private businesses.

This discriminatory pricing model, analysts say, distorts the market and magnifies the liquidity crises in the sector.

“The prevailing Disco tariff today was modelled against variables that have been overtaken by time and events, and therefore does not reflect the true pricing

of electricity. MYTO 2015 for Discos was built on 196/$1, 8.3% inflation rate, certain available capacity and therefore the final tariff was a product of these variables, while they have changed, tariff has not,” Chuks Nwani, energy lawyer, said, Through the Energising Economies Initiative (EEI), a programme by the Federal Government, implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), it seeks to support the rapid deployment of private offgrid electricity solutions to MSMEs within economic clusters (such as markets, shopping complexes and a g r i c u l t u ra l / i n d u s t r i a l clusters) in Lagos, Aba and Kano states, allowing operators charge market rates for electricity.

Damilola Ogunbiyi, managing director of REA,

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recently told journalists in Lagos that these off-grid IPPs were to solve the inadequate power challenge of small businesses. But Discos say poor supply follows the regulator’s refusal to let them charge market rate for electricity. The Discos accuse NERC of lacking independence.

“The major problem in Nigeria’s power sector is a regulator that is partial, unfair and incompetent and until we get it right nothing will move forward,” Sunday Oduntan, executive secretary of ANED, said on a television programme in July.

Oduntan criticised NERC for failure to dutifully implement the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO), a regulatory provision that specifies a bi-annual review electricity tariff until it meets a threshold that would allow the investors who bought

over electricity distribution assets in 2013, recoup their investments.

The Federal Government has since proscribed ANED, and Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, has declared Oduntan an interloper.

BusinessDay’s efforts to get the Discos’ reaction were unsuccessful as both their representative group ANED and their individual spokespersons refused to speak on record.

An official of the Discos said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is harassing their directors issuing invitations to their office.

The Commission did not respond to BusinessDay’s request for comment. The Discos say they fear there are surreptitious moves to disband them and recover the privatised assets.

Guinness, WaterAid partnership lifts rural community with access to water CHUKA UROKO

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strategic partnership entered into

by Guinness Nigeria, a subsidiary of Diageo, with WaterAid, is aimed to lift a rural community and businesses by ensuring sustainable access to water, sanitation and hygiene, while helping the community and its people take action to improve their health and well-being.

Poor access to water is a general problem in most Nigerian communities. On the whole, access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services has remained low in Nigeria and, according to the UNICEF/

WHO Joint Monitoring Programme, about 60 million people out of a population of nearly 190 million still lack access to clean water while only 33 percent have access to basic sanitation – meaning approximately 120 million people in Nigeria do not have access to toilet facilities.

The Guinness-WaterAid partnership has the Guinness Nigeria ‘Water of Life’ programme and WaterAid Nigeria working with the Kebbi State government through the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (Kebbi RUWASSA), alongside the technical support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in implementing

a sustainable water project to contribute to building thriving communities in Kebbi State.

Viola Graham-Douglas, corporate relations director, Guinness Nigeria, explained in a statement in Lagos Thursday, that “the Guinness Nigeria ‘Water of Life’ programme is aimed at providing access to clean water, basic sanitation and hygiene in order to reduce poverty, promote better health, wellbeing, gender equality and empower women and girls. We’re working with key partners to beam searchlight on these issues and find lasting solutions, one community at a time.

“This project is also ex-

pected to support local development as the financial model to manage the water point will also help small businesses to thrive and make local financing fund pool available to support larger community development initiatives. This supports Guinness Nigeria’s focus on supporting local livelihoods and prosperous rural economies.”

The project is aimed at providing inclusive access to clean water to an estimated 2,500 people in D’kwa village, Danko/Wasugu LGA, Kebbi State and strengthening the capacity of the community management structures to support sustained operations of the water facility model.

rade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria on Thursday dared the Federal Government to make good its threat to invoke the “no work no pay” rule against workers ahead of the planned nationwide strike, saying workers would not be cowed by such threats.

TUC said past administrations in the country had tried similar threats but failed woefully, insisting that the right of workers to protests or strike was constitutionally guaranteed.

The union also insisted that the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) was not recognised in law as a party to minimum wage negotiation and therefore its position on the national minimum wage remained null and void.

The National Executive

Council (NEC) of the union, which met in Lagos, also directed all affiliate unions to continue their mobilisation as there was no going back on the planned nationwide strike to drive home labour’s demand for N30,000, as new minimum wage in the country.

Bobboi Kaigama, president, TUC, told journalists that negotiation on the minimum wage had been concluded by the tripartite committee comprising labour, government and the organised private sector, and there was no going back.

“The committee has concluded its job and has come up with N30,000 and TUC stands by this decision. The threat of “no work, no pay” shall not deter the workers from carrying out legitimate duties to actualise the minimum wage,” he said.

Aregbesola flags off Ilesa new town

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esterday, November 1, 2018, marked another historic day in Osun State as Governor Rauf Aregbesola officially flagged off Ilesa New Town called Palm Dale Estate, located on Osun Ankara Road, Ilesa.

According to Muyiwa Ige, director general, Osun New Towns and Growth Areas Development Authority, the estate plan is in three phases. The phase 1 flagged off yesterday covers an ap-

proximately area of 299.764 hectares and accommodates among others, Presidential plots numbering about 700 plots in all which are of low, medium and high densities of average of 800m2, 1200m2 and 300m2, respectively.

The project is one of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the state and the first building in the new estate is expected to be completed by the end of November 2018.

Manufacturing sector expands for 19 months in October PMI reading HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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entral Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday, released the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) that showed that the manufacturing sector of the economy expanded for 19 consecutive months in October.

The Manufacturing PMI in the month of October stood at 56.8 index points, indicating that it grew at a faster rate when compared with 56.2 index in the previous month. 13 out of 14 sub-sectors reported growth in the review month.

These include electrical equipment – 65.8; petroleum and coal products – 61.9; printing and related support activities – 61.5; cement – 59.2; chemical and pharmaceutical products – 59.1; textile, apparel, leather and footwear – 57.9; furniture and related products – 57.5; transportation equipment – 57.0; plastics and rubber products – 56.2; food, bever-

age and tobacco products – 55.6; fabricated metal products – 55.2; non-metallic mineral products – 54.2; and paper products – 53.4. The primary metal subsector declined in the review month.

The October 2018 PMI survey was conducted by the Statistics Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria during the period October 8-12, 2018. The respondents were purchasing and supply executives of manufacturing and non-manufacturing organizations in all 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The PMI report revealed that production level, new orders, supplier delivery time and inventories grew at a faster rate; employment level grew at a slower rate in October 2018.

The composite PMI for the non-manufacturing sector stood at 57.0 points in October 2018, indicating expansion in the Nonmanufacturing PMI for the eighteenth consecutive month.

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NSE down 16% but world stocks start month firmly ENDURANCE OKAFOR

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he Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index was down yearto-date by 16.31 percent yesterday, despite the fact that global stocks kicked off the month on a firm note.

After a brutal October, global stocks started November on stronger ground while sterling rallied on reports that Britain and the European Union are close to a post-Brexit deal on financial services.

The MSCI All-Country World Index, which tracks stocks in 47 countries, was up 0.3 percent on the day.

October was the index’s worst month since May 2012 – a loss of 7.5 percent – as shares globally took a battering on a number of factors ranging from trade wars to concerns about the global economy and higher US interest rates.

On the other hand, the Nigeria bourse, which was the third best performing in 2017, also had its share of the October bearish market and industry experts are however pessimistic about the exchange repeating such record in 2018.

This is because they have cited the major constrictive factor that is leading to weak performance of the Nigeria equities market to be the present political uncertainties, emanating from the unforeseen circumstances surrounding the forth-coming 2019 elections.

The stock market in Africa’s largest economy as the market closed yesterday, reported a day decline of -1.42 percent from N32,466 trading price it opened the market with to N32,006, the figures compiled from the Bloomberg terminal show.

Also, the volume of transaction for the day stood at 355.7 million valued at N4.8 billion and it NSEASI reported a market

capitalisation of N11.6 trillion for the period under review.

Meanwhile, a look into the European markets saw a strong start in Asia, with robust company earnings helping the pan-European STOXX 600 index hit a twoweek high.

Britain’s FTSE 100 however fell 0.1 percent as the pound strengthened on a report Britain and the EU are close to a deal that would give financial services firms in the UK continued access to European markets once Brexit happens.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.7 per cent, adding to modest gains the previous day.

The improved mood had filtered down to Asia from Wall Street, which rose for a second day on Wednesday as strong company results and bargain hunting of beaten-down technology and internet favourites lifted spirits.

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APC crises: Tinubu is ignorant, 5m persons have left APC - Okorocha TONY AILEMEN, Abuja

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mbattled Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Thursday, berated the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, for throwing his weight behind the party’s national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

“No, may be he is being misinformed. If he is properly informed he will not say what Oshiomhole is doing is the right thing,” Okorocha said, adding, “Already, the APC lost 5 million persons since he took over.”

Okorocha, who is also the chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, said it was wrong for Tinubu to have backed Oshiomohole, as over 5 million members had left the party since he (Oshiomhole) became the party chairman.

Speaking to State Houses correspondents after meeting with President Muhammmadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Thursday, Okorocha, however, ab-

solved President Buhari of the crises rocking the party, saying Oshiomhole had no backing of the Presidency for his actions.

According to Okorocha, “I am here to clear the air that the Presidency is not behind what Oshiomhole is doing in some of the states and which has affected our party negatively; and from my understanding from Mr President, there is no such directive for Oshiomhole to do anything illegal or create any sort of injustice.

“So, Oshiomhole is on his own in this whole thing.

There is no Presidency’s support for him to refused candidates who won elections and give wrong candidates who didn’t win election.”

The party has been engulfed in several crises resulting from the recent party primaries, with aggrieved members blaming the National Working Committee of the party for inconsistencies in laying down rules and guidelines for the primaries.

They also accused the Os-

hiomhole-led NWC of imposition of candidates regarded as unpopular at the grassroots, an allegation the national chairman had denied.

“I have just met the President, l can authoritatively tell you that the national chairman does not have the backing of the Presidency in all that he is doing that is causing crises in the party,” he said. Okorocha had stormed the Presidential Villa to protest rejection of his anointed candidate for the Imo gubernatorial election, Uche Nwosu.

The visit was connected with the decision by the APC National Working Committee to substitute his preferred candidate and son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, as the Imo State candidate of the APC. The NWC of the party is said to have concluded plans to replace Nwosu with Hope Uzodinnma in preference for the Ahmed Gulak committee, which had conducted and returned Hope Uzodinnma as the duly elected candidate.

Lifemate at trade fair in style

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ifemate Nigeria Limited will be at this year’s international trade fair taking place at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, in a grand style starting from November 2 to November 11 2018.

The public relation officer of the company, Ejiemhen Orebayo, stated this in a press briefing that the firm had put in great effort to ensure that customers got excellent services at the fair beyond their expectations.

She said we had acquired a large space covering over 400 square meter at the trade fair venue, where the firm will also be unveiling and showcasing its new products at the trade fair. The product ranges from home, office, outdoor furniture, kitchen cabinet, sanitary wares, massage chairs.

She reaffirmed that the firm will showcase all its new designs that are mind blowing at a giveaway prices, which they cannot get elsewhere.

The Firm has put in a lot of side attractions to make the event a memorable one for their esteemed customers. There will be free gifts items. The firm will be giving away free gift and instant gift items for every item purchased.

The firm will be offering mouth-watering discounts.

Customers will be given special discounts cards at the trade fair, which they can use to claim special discounts at any showroom of the firm located in Lekki, Ikeja, Warri, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Abuja after the tradefair throughout the month of November 2018.

L-R: Uzoma Dozie, chief executive officer, Diamond Bank; Ronke Bamishedu, founder, BWL Agency; Reni Folawiyo, founder, ALARA Concept; Folake Coker, founder, Tiffany Amber; Bola Adesola, chief executive officer, Standard Chartered Bank, and Helen Jennings, co-founder, Nataal, during the ALARA awards for young African creatives held at the ALARA Concept, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Manufacturers, telcos strategise as Lagos trade fair starts ODINAKA ANUDU

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anufacturers, exporters, telecoms firms and importers are putting measures in place to tap on the 32nd edition of the Lagos International Trade Fair, which starts on Friday.

The fair, which is organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), is expected to attract between 2,000 and 2,500 exhibitors from over 20 countries. The fair will run for a total of 10 days at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos.

Muda Yusuf, directorgeneral, LCCI, said, “In addition to the general interest fair, the annual international business event will feature the business-to-business

meetings simultaneously with the fair.

“The exhibition will also facilitate networking among exhibitors and between exhibitors and visitors. The fair is expected to attract a huge traffic of visitors seeking to take advantage of the networking opportunities and discounted prices.

“Corporate organisations including multinational corporations, indigenous conglomerates and financial institutions as well as SMEs have indicated interest to participate at the exhibition.

Exhibitors expected at the fair include companies from China, Japan, Ghana, Cameroun, Russia, the US, Pakistan and some countries in the European Union.”

The Investment confer-

ence, with the theme, ‘Promoting Investment, Connecting Businesses,’ will create a platform to discuss strategies for economic diversification and development, as well as business sustainability.

Yusuf emphasised that relevant agencies and departments of the government will be available to exhibit and attend to other exhibitors and visitors. He stated that agencies that have confirmed attendance to provide information and educate exhibitors and visitors are Bank of Industry (BOI), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Federal Institute of Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), NAFDAC, and Corporate Affairs Commission, amongst others.

NPA seeks framework to drive efficient cargo clearance AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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anaging director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, has called for a framework targeted at enhancing cargo delivery and the efficient of logistics in Africa.

According to Usman, it has become imperative to eliminate encumbrances affecting trade liberalisation and facilitation in the region.

Usman stated this during the second continental conference of the African Women in Maritime (WIMAFRICA), themed ‘Trade Facilitation in Africa: Challenges and Prospects.’

She urged the women to

proffer an integrative approach that would eliminate the increasing complexity and cost associated with transaction processes of trade in the continent.

She further enjoined members of WIMAFRICA to key into the concept of trade facilitation, which she said was a major driver of economic development and growth of nations, adding that this would enable Africa to effectively maximise the tremendous benefits of trade facilitation.

“For us in the continent to get trade facilitation right, it is imperative that our regulatory environment must be tied with best practices and strengthened to ensure that operators in the trade corridors and border – post

adhere to the various article of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Trade Facilitation Agreement.

We need to redefine our trade processes to ensure simplification of documentation, automation, efficiency, transparency and professionalism; this no doubt will engender ease of doing business,” she advised.

While asking WIMAFRICA to unravel critical issues militating against the continent from taking the advantages of the prospects of trade facilitation, she admonished them to come up with strategic plans that would upscale the desired growth and development of the economy of the continent.

A6 BUSINESS DAY PHOTOSPLASH At the Art Summit Nigeria in Lagos

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Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osibanjo giving the keynote speech

Victor Ehikhamenor speaking about his artistic practise

L - R: Emeka Emuwa, M.D, Union Bank; Yemi Osibanjo, Vice President; Adenrele Sonariwo and Gbenya Oyebode, chairman, Aluko.

Adenrele Sonariwo, director of Rele Art Foundation, organisers of the Art Summit Nigeria, giving opening remarks

A guest teaching at the event

L-R: Kehinde Wiley and Azu Nwagbogu, director, African Artists Foundation

Ibrahim Mahama in conversation with Wana Udobang on her artistic practice

Iheanyi Onwuegbucha, Associate Curator, Centre for Contemporary Art Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi, Curator of African Art at the Cleveland Museum

Kehinde Wiley in conversation with Azu Nwagbogu

A guest speaking about her artistic practise

A cross section of participants

Ronke Akinyele and Prince Yemisi Shyllon in conversation about the importance of patronage

Nnena Okore speaking about her artistic practise

Paul Onditi at the Art Summit Experiential Pavilion

Visual artist, Nnena Okore and Moderator, Wana Udobang

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PHOTOSPLASH

Funeral Service for Oluseye Oladapo at RCCG City of David in Lagos

L-R: Dayo Oladapo, widow of late Oluseye Oladapo; Rotimi Oladapo, son, his wife Mojisola; Rolake Oladapo, Tokunbo Adesanya, praying for the family of the late Oluseye Oladapo daughter, and Ayomide Oladapo, son.

Idowu Iluyomade, pastor, RCCG City of David, delivering his sermon.

Adewale Adeeyo, giving his tribute.

Tonye Cole of Sahara Group (l), with Funke Aboyade

Gbenga Daniel, former governor (c), Ogun State with other guests L-R: Sholayide Olaghere; Segun Mimiko, former governor, Ondo State, and Nike Shadipe.

Mosun Olawoye (l), and Yemi Akisanya L-R: Fola Adunnola; Bukola Adunnola; Ajoke Oladapo, and Abimbola Oladapo

Pictures by Olawale Amoo

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Highlight of the news reports on our digital platforms this week

Best five stories this week Ogun west monarchs dump Amosun’s APC governorship candidate for ADC Isiaka

consensus governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the party now has a fresh window to correct the mistakes it made during the recent primary elections and reposition itself to take over

in the United Democratic Party (UDP) for a drive to the Taraba state government house.

In what seems to be a 360 degree u-turn on political calculations ahead of 2019 governorship election in Ogun state, the Ogun West Traditional Rulers from Yewa -Awori extraction on Wednesday threw their weight behind the candidacy of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as against the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC).

Why we can’t reconstruct AtanIgbesa-Agbara road - Amosun Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state has given reasons that hinder Ogun State Government’s plan to reconstruct Atan-Igbesa-Agbara road, saying the Federal Government’s failure to cede the road to the State Government seriously impedes all efforts towards reconstruction of the said road.

the state in the 2019 general elections.

Taraba Politics: Mama Taraba and the new political gear Senator Aisha Jumail Alhassan, the immediate past minister of women affairs and social development who just resigned her position, has engaged a new political gear

Why the Economist expects Atiku to defeat Buhari next year The prediction by the Economist Intelligence Unit that President Muhammadu Buhari will lose power in the 2019 elections to Atiku Abubakar appears to be driven by a bleak economic outlook for the country, which the Buhari administration appears unable to surmount.

For more visit our website at businessdayonline.com to catch up on full news stories.

POLL RESULTS: BusinessDay asked our digital audience this question: Who will you vote come 2019 based on what you want your president to look like in terms of carriage?

48% of Nigerians on our digital and social platforms that the seating president Muhammadu Buhari would be their candidate based on how a president should look in terms of carriage while 52% of Nigerians believe that Atiku Abubakar is the candidate of choice when it comes to the presidential carriage a Nigerian president should have.

Share your opinions with us at digital@ businessday.ng to let us know what your preference is.

Poll of the week

APGA: One last chance to right the wrongs, reclaim Imo in 2019 With the emergence, Tuesday, of Ike C. Ibe, a former acting speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, as the

Video of the week

Tweet of the week

Cartoon of the week

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Lagos 2019: Agbaje picks Busari as running mate JOSHUA BASSEY

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imi Agbaje, the governorship candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos has announced Haleemat Busari as his running mate for 2019 gubernatorial election.

Felix Oboagwina, director of media and publicity of Jimi Agbaje Campaign Organisation (JACO), said that the choice of Busari followed wide consultations with leaders of the PDP in the state as well as stakeholders outside the opposition party.

Oboagwina said Haleemat Busari, a lawyer, was in the course of the consultations, highly recommended and widely endorsed.

“Stakeholders all agree that

Jimi Agbaje, governorship candidate, Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Lagos

Nigeria is passing through turbulence time under APC, says Reps member MIKE ABANG, Calabar

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member representing Akpabuyo, Bakassi, Calabar South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Essien Ekpenyong Ayi, has said described the experience of Nigerians in the current government as turbulence.

Ayi made this comment while fielding questions from journalists in Calabar, opine that “Well, you do not need a soothsayer to tell you that all is not well with the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nigeria.

Ayi put in plain words, that when APC was coming with the campaign of change, they promise Nigerians lots of changes in government

Essien Ekpenyong Ayi

policies, which will transform Nigeria economically and improve the livelihood of Nigerians which included the reduction of the pump price of petrol to N45 per litre.

He said they have instead increased the pump price of petrol from N87 to N145. He said exchange rate is now N360 to a Dollar, as against N160 to one Dollar during President Goodluck Jonathan’s controlled government.

Today, there is hardship and hunger in the land and APC is going on preaching about corruption.

Ayi also lamented that Nigerians are now paying more for anything they buy in the market; equally a bag of rice has gone up from N7,500 to N15, 000.

He said his achievement is there for everyone to see, from Bakassi to Akpabuyo, to Calabar south constituency according to him, he said he has touched the lives of his people by providing succour for them for over 16-years now and therefore canvas for votes in 2019 to enable him to do more for the people.

“From the look of things, Nigerians are fed up with this government ; I, therefore, wish to also call on every citizen of this country to vote overwhelmingly for every PDP candidate and Atiku Abubakar as the president come 2019 as we have what it takes to lead this country to the promised land which President Muhamadu Buhari-led administration could not,” he said.

without any iota of doubt, the Jimi-Haleemat combination is a winning ticket on every count.

“Busari will be bringing to the joint ticket her versatility and connections as a professional in corporate governance, as a Muslim activist and as a bona-fide daughter of native Lagos,’’ said Oboagwina.

Busari was born in 1964 to the family of the Late Ahmed Tijani Shehu Giwa, an Epe born businessman and Vice President of Jamatul Islamiyya of Nigeria and late Mujibat Abeni Mopelola Giwa (nee Shonibare), a princess of the Kosoko royal family of Lagos.

Married to Teslim Olatunde Busari (SAN), the law graduate of the University of Lagos is on the board of several blue-chip companies, including Airtel Nigeria and

First Bank, Sierra Leone.

Busari was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1991 and an active member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA).

“Oluwayemisi’s life and beliefs are guided by her strong Islamic faith, which has been her foundation all her life,” the statement said.

It would be recalled that Babajide Sanwo-Olu, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Agbaje’s major opponent in the 2019 governorship election, had on his part announced Obafemi Hamzat, a former commissioner for works and infrastructure in the state, as his running mate. With the two major parties now through with their candidates and running mates, the stage is now set for the epic battle in 2019.

Buhari’s contempt of court fuelling Shi’ite/ security agents’ clashes - Afenifere, PDP … urge President to pay N30,000 minimum wage Iniobong Iwok

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he Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, and the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have stated that the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to obey court orders that he should release the leader of Shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, was responsible for the current clashes between the group and security agencies in the country.

Members of the Shi’ite Islamic group have in recent days been protesting the continued detention of

their leader by the Federal Government in Abuja, which has resulted in the death of several people, while several vehicles belonging to the Nigerian Police and the military have equally been damaged.

But speaking in an interview with BusinessDay yesterday, the Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, blamed President Buhari for the continued brutalisation and killings of members of the sect, stressing that the action of the government was an embarrassment to the nation.

Odumakin warned that the current clashes if not taken seriously could degenerate into serious crisis in the country, while urging the Federal

Government to immediately release the sect leader.

Speaking further, Odumakin urged the President to pay the N30, 000 minimum wage demanded by Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), stressing that the N22,500 proposed by the Federal Government was ridiculous going by the current economic realities in the country.

“What s happening now is regrettable and unfortunate; the continued use of force by the Nigerian military against the Shiites is embarrassing.

These people would not be on the street if the government had obeyed a court order that their leader should be released.

I remain loyal to APC - Yaman declares …Pledges support for Abdulrahman SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

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huaibu Yaman, one of the aggrieved governorship aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Kwara State, has reaffirmed his commitment and loyalty to the leadership of the party.

Yaman, who disclosed that he has accepted the outcome of the primary election which produced Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq as the APC governorship candidate in the state, appealed to his supporters to accept the outcome as the will of God and support the flag bearer.

He made the declaration in Ilorin on Thursday while addressing

journalists and his supporters at the Yaman Support Group campaign office.

According to him, it is pertinent for the party members to come together and be united for it to be able to achieve the desired goal.

While assuring Kwarans the readiness of the APC to take over mantle of leadership from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in 2019, he said: “The issue of who actually gets there is secondary and that is why I am calling on all of our supporters to come together, stay within the party and support Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for us to be able to clear off those guys.”

Speaking further, Yaman ex-

plained, “It is my heartfelt gratitude to you for your overwhelming support and for honoring me with your votes at the recently concluded primary election. It was truly my privilege to be your preferred candidate and it was a battle we fought right to the end because of the cause we believe in.

“Unfortunately, we did not get the result we hoped for and despite the irregularities that beleaguered the process, we must accept the outcome and move forward as a united entity.

We may have lost the battle but let us unite to win the war to ensure the liberation of our dear state from the hands of those who have piloted us into this state of degeneration.”

A10 BUSINESS DAY

FT

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FINANCIAL TIMES

World Business Newspaper

Five things to watch as Alibaba reports second-quarter earnings Shares in China’s biggest tech company have fallen by a third since January LOUISE LUCAS

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t is a luckless time for a tech giant aiming to parlay free trade into a commercial enterprise: the US-China trade war is escalating, and Big Tech is being viewed sceptically by regulators, investors and consumers.

Alibaba, China’s most valuable tech company, has already been hit. Its shares have fallen by around a third since their January peak, and investors will scour the company’s secondquarter earnings on Friday for any signs of weakness.

But Alibaba has continued to strike an upbeat tone, with chairman Jack Ma writing in his annual letter to shareholders on Tuesday: “Today’s conventional business model and regulatory framework for global trade is facing enormous challenges.

This has presented the perfect opportunity for us to make globalisation a priority.”

Global ambitions Major Chinese tech companies have struggled to expand internationally, and Alibaba is no different. The company’s subsidiaries AliExpress.com, which targets customers in Russia and Brazil, and Lazada, which is based in Singapore and operates sites across south-east Asia, make up just 5 per cent of Alibaba’s revenues — a share that has barely changed in recent years.

Higher revenues Alibaba is better at generating sales than profits — a trend that is likely to continue as it ramps up spending on lower-margin

Under the founder and chairman Jack Ma, Alibaba has built strong cloud computing and financial services operations © FT montage; Bloomberg; Getty Images

businesses, such as bricks and mortar stores and logistics. The company has consistently beaten analyst forecasts on revenues, which rose 61 per cent on an annual basis in the past fiscal year, while growth in adjusted ebitda narrowed by 2 basis points, to 40 per cent.

Analysts are looking for revenues of Rmb86.58bn ($12.4bn) in the second quarter, according to Bloomberg, compared with Rmb55.12bn in the same period last year. The consensus forecast for adjusted ebitda in the second quarter is Rmb27.43bn, which would be a 10 per cent year-on-

year improvement.

Cloud computing As it did with its payments business, Alibaba stole an early lead with cloud computing and now dominates that market in China. It has since built out a network of data centres in other countries, most recently in the UK. Alibaba Cloud is now available in 19 cities and regions around the world, including Hong Kong, Sydney and Frankfurt. The company’s revenues from its cloud business have been roughly doubling in recent quarters, but the unit has yet to break even.

Ant Financial In February, Alibaba announced it had pressed the button on the long-awaited restructuring of its relationship with Ant Financial, the payments affiliate it carved out of the parent company in 2011. Alibaba plans to swap its profit-sharing agreement for a 33 per cent stake in the company, which was valued at $150bn at its most recent fundraising this year.

It was broadly assumed that the announcement would not have been made without a tacit nod that government approval would be forthcoming. But the mood in Beijing towards its tech

champions has cooled somewhat this year, and investors will look to see if Ant Financial, which is engaged in its own battle for market share, has fallen back into the red.

Friday’s earnings will be Alibaba’s first set of results since Mr Ma announced his intention to stand down as chairman next September. While Mr Ma has always left earnings calls to his chief executive, chief financial officer and other bosses, analysts are unlikely to get through the call without at least one question related to the man who built Alibaba from a modest Hangzhou apartment nearly two decades ago.

Pound rises on Brexit hopes while stocks recovery holds

Ex-Goldman bankers charged in Malaysian 1MDB scandal

China shares lifted as Beijing signals new round of economic stimulus measures

KADHIM SHUBBER

MICHAEL HUNTER, EDWARD WHITE AND ALICE WOODHOUSE Hot topics terling was lifted further above its October lows on more signs that Brexit talks between the UK and the EU were getting closer to coming up with a deal on the terms of the country’s departure from the bloc.

Meanwhile, European stocks made a steady start following further gains for China’s equities after authorities signalled a new round of economic stimulus measures to shore up confidence, as China faces headwinds from slower growth and the US-China trade war.

The pound rose as much as

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0.9 per cent on the session to $1.2878 — taking its two-day advance to 1.5 per cent, the biggest such advance since January. It kept the currency heading back toward the $1.30 mark, which it has struggled to hold when expectations for a Brexit deal falter. It also represented a five-session high.

“If the UK and the EU can reach an agreement on Brexit by 21 November as another report, GBP/USD will rally towards $1.32 before long” Qi Gao, Scotiabank foreign exchange strategist Against the euro the pound was 0.6 per cent stronger, with £0.8808 required for a unit of the shared currency.

Continues on page A11

Financier Jho Low accused of conspiring to launder billions from sovereign wealth fund

The US has charged Malaysian financier Jho Low and two former Goldman Sachs bankers with conspiring to launder billions of dollars in connection with the 1MDB scandal.

The criminal charges on Thursday are the first from the US Department of Justice’s investigation into the 1MDB affair, in which $2.7bn was misappropriated from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, according to prosecutors.

Mr Low was charged with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes and violating circumventing internal accounting controls.

Roger Ng, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs in south-east Asia, was indicted on the same charges. He was arrested in Malaysia on Thursday morning,

according to the justice department’s announcement.

Tim Leissner, Goldman’s former south-east Asia chairman and once a rising star at the bank, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the FCPA by paying bribes and violating Goldman’s accounting controls.

Mr Leissner (48) has been ordered to forfeit $43.7m. Mr Low (36) remains at large, the DoJ said.

Marc Harris, an attorney for Mr Leissner, did not immediately return a request for comment, nor did the Kasowitz firm, which represents Mr Low. Mr Ng (51) could not be immediately reached for comment. A DoJ spokesperson said he had no known attorney at present.

A spokesman for Goldman Sachs said: “We are reviewing the filings.”

The charges unveiled on Thursday accuse Mr Low, Mr Ng and Mr

Leissner of conspiring to bribe government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi in order to “obtain and retain lucrative business” for Goldman Sachs.

In 2012 and 2013, the bank underwrote three bonds issued by 1MDB that raised $6bn for the state fund. Goldman made $600m in fees and revenues from the bonds, according to the DoJ. The justice department alleged that Mr Ng and Mr Leissner knew that Mr Low intended to use the funds raised in the bond issuance to pay bribes to officials and also “kickbacks” to the two former Goldman bankers.

The three defendants allegedly conspired to launder the misappropriated money by purchasing “luxury residential real estate in New York City and elsewhere, and artwork from a New York-based auction house, and by funding major Hollywood films,” according to the justice department.

Friday 02 November 2018

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NATIONAL NEWS

FT Corporate America sticks to Republicans despite...

New York hedge fund takes 3.1% stake in Deutsche Bank

Continued from page A10

Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, told parliament on Wednesday that Britain could conclude a withdrawal agreement with the EU by November 21. However, ambassadors on the EU side have been told by negotiators that more time is likely to be needed to resolve the issue of the Irish border.

The rally gained further momentum on Thursday after The Times reported that British and European negotiators had reached a “tentative agreement on all aspects of a future partnership on services”, which included exchange of data, the newspaper said, citing government sources.

The Bank of England’s quarterly Inflation Report — due at midday alongside November’s decision on interest rates — is likely to test the currency’s rebound and influence investors’ thinking on the pace of UK interest rate rises.

Monetary policy is expected to remain on hold this month.

The pound’s rally hit UK stocks, making exports more expensive and increasing the cost of repatriating revenue earned abroad. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4 per cent in opening trade, underperforming its continental peers.

Equities With the sustained recovery for China’s stocks helping sentiment, European bourses slipped only marginally after the previous session’s strong rally.

Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax 30 inched down 0.2 per cent, while the Paris CAC 40 was 0.3 per cent weaker.

China’s CSI 300 rose 0.7 per cent, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 1.4 per cent.

An official gauge of Chinese factory output weakened to its lowest level in more than two years in October, in the latest sign of pressure on the Chinese economy. A private sector reading of manufacturing activity, released on Thursday, was slightly stronger.

Seoul’s Kospi Composite slipped 0.3 per cent, with Tokyo’s Topix down 0.9 per cent.

Wall Street’s S&P 500 rose 1.1 per cent overnight and the Nasdaq Composite added 2 per cent, as global stocks ended a rough October on a brighter note.

Forex The US dollar index was 0.4 per cent weaker at 96.861, moving off a 16-month high hit on Wednesday. The yen was 0.1 per cent firmer at ¥112.86.

Fixed income The yield on US 10-year Treasuries was 2 basis points higher at 3.159 per cent, while that on the Japanese note was 1bp firmer at 0.122 per cent.

Commodities Brent crude was down 0.6 per cent at $74.57 a barrel, while gold was 0.3 per cent higher at $1,218.

A11

Lender’s shares climb after Hudson Executive Capital becomes fourth-biggest investor OLAF STORBECK

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Central role: Emmanuel Macron waits for the crown prince of Japan to arrive at the Palace of Versailles in September © AFP

Macron’s EU influence to rise as Merkel’s fades Allies of French president believe he can create new dynamic in bloc BEN HALL

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or Emmanuel Macron, she was the indispensable partner. So Angela Merkel’s decision to stand down now as CDU party leader and as chancellor in 2021 has forced the French president to rapidly reassess prospects for a critical relationship with Berlin.

Mr Macron is a convinced proEuropean with an ambitious agenda to revitalise the EU and fend off the populist threat. Since coming to power in 2017, he has set out to make France once again a reliable and credible partner for Germany in the hope that Berlin will back his reform ideas. But soon he could be dealing with a German chancellor who is less accommodating than Ms Merkel.

For the moment, Mr Macron is reduced to the role of bystander to German political developments that could shape the future of Europe — a position often held by European leaders during a decade of EU decision-making dominated by Ms Merkel.

With Britain preparing to leave the EU, a Eurosceptic Italian government at loggerheads with Brussels over its budget and a weak government in Spain, Mr Macron is dependent on Berlin for furthering his EU agenda.

On the face of it, Mrs Merkel’s forth-

coming retirement and her diminished political authority are a setback for the French president’s European plans.

An already dysfunctional grand coalition will now be further distracted by a contest for the CDU leadership of Ms Merkel’s CDU party, with a vote on December 7-8. Then there is a potentially difficult cohabitation between a new party leader and a lame duck chancellor. The CDU’s choice could in turn prompt the fractious Social Democrats to pull out of the grand coalition, potentially triggering elections.

“For Europe this is not good news,” said Alain Lamassoure, a French centreright member of the European Parliament. “This risk is that for the rest of the German parliamentary term we have a Germany that is more or less paralysed.”

French officials concede that Ms Merkel’s announcements have injected further uncertainty, but say her grip on power had already weakened during the difficult formation of a new coalition and a series of spats between its parties over the summer. “This is not a game changer,” said one.

“Macron has surely known about Merkel’s departure for some time,” said Pascal Lamy, a former European commissioner. “The bad news for him came when she started drowning so early on in her last term in office.”

Paris is still hoping for progress

from Berlin on measures to bolster the eurozone, arguing now is the time to fix the flaws in monetary union before the next crisis hits. The bloc’s leaders will meet in December just a few days after the CDU congress. It will be an early test of the chancellor’s willingness to grant any further concessions.

At a summit in Meseberg in June, the French and German leaders agreed to make further progress towards banking union and to set up a eurozone budget by 2021 to invest in skills and innovation. They also agreed to “examine the issue of a European Unemployment Stabilization Fund, for the case of severe economic crises, without transfers”. These fall well short of French proposals for a countercyclical measure to help a eurozone member in a crisis.

Even a modest reinsurance scheme for national unemployment funds, which would provide loans (but not transfers) to countries to cope with a jobless surge, put forward by Olaf Scholz, Germany’s centre-left finance minister, was shot down by his conservative coalition partners.

Mrs Merkel’s successor may not have her European instinct or experience but that does not necessarily mean they will be more hostile to Mr Macron’s ideas.

Somaliland steps up push for international recognition World’s failure to grant statehood risks reigniting war with Somalia, minister warns TOM WILSON

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he self-declared state of Somaliland is stepping up its push for international recognition, warning that the world’s continued refusal to formally accept its independence threatens to plunge the breakaway region back into armed conflict with Somalia.

“We have made a lot of progress in the past 27 years and now we are recognised as a de facto state” Saad Ali Shire, foreign minister, said in an interview in the capital, Hargeisa. “[But] the next 27 years is not going to be like the first,” he said. “War is bound to happen unless the problem is settled peacefully one way or another.”

This year Somaliland’s army has already clashed with troops from the northern Somali region of Puntland in an escalation of a long-running stand-off over contested territory.

So long as Somaliland’s statehood and national boundaries are not formerly recognised, the risk of renewed conflict will increase, Mr Saad said.

The former British protectorate of

Somaliland united with Italian Somalia in 1960 following independence and then broke away in 1991, when clan militias overthrew Somali dictator Siad Barre’s government.

Ever since, as Somalia collapsed into three decades of civil war marked by corruption, violence and religious extremism, Somaliland has delivered relative peace and stability to its 3.5m people, establishing its own parliament and holding four national elections since 2003.

The breakaway state issues its own passports, prints its own currency and has begun to attract foreign investment. Dubai-based DP World is embarking on a multimillion dollar port expansion, while London-listed Genel Energy plans to drill for oil.

The vote of confidence from international business will help Somaliland intensify its diplomatic efforts to win recognition, Mr Saad said. “It is clear we are a responsible international player.

The international community has no valid reason [not to recognise our independence]” he said.

In a diplomatic coup for the country, Somaliland this year signed a deal with Ethiopia to invest in its port alongside DP World. Last month Harriet Baldwin, UK minister of state for Africa, visited the country.

Somaliland has diplomatic representation in dozens of countries around the world, including the UK, and international engagement between Britain and Somaliland is frequent. The UK’s international development department spent £25m between December 2012 and September 2018 on a national development fund to improve governance, accountability and public service delivery in the self-declared state, but like the rest of the world, it does not officially recognise the country.

The biggest obstacle to recognition remains Somalia, which is mired in conflict and refuses to endorse the breakaway region. Countries that have achieved independence in recent times, such as South Sudan, Eritrea and East Timor, have had the ultimate approval of their former parent state.

US hedge fund has taken a 3.1 per cent stake in Deutsche Bank, in a bet that Germany’s largest lender will finally emerge from years of losses and turmoil.

Hudson Executive Capital, run

by JPMorgan Chase’s former chief financial officer Doug Braunstein, has built a position worth about €550m, revealing the stake on Thursday after Deutsche’s shares hit an all-time low.

“This is quite a compelling opportunity,” said Mr Braunstein. “It’s been beaten up for so long, people have stopped really thinking about it in a fair way.”

ChristianSewing,whowasappointed chief executive of Deutsche this year, welcomed the investment and noted Mr Braunstein’s “deep background in financial services companies”.

“We appreciate Hudson Executive’s confidence in our ability to execute on our strategic objectives,” said Mr Sewing, who was promoted to the job in April after his predecessor John Cryan was ousted.

Hudson’s investment was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The fund is now Deutsche’s fourth largest shareholder after Chinese conglomerate HNA, which holds a 7.6 per cent stake, two Qatari funds that own 6.1 per cent between them, and BlackRock, with 5 per cent.

Hudson’s stake is slightly larger than the 3 per cent one built by private equity group Cerberus a year ago.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Braunstein did not rule out a further increase in the stake but said he hoped “that the stake grows in size because of the market movement”.

Deutsche’s shares, which slipped to an all-time low after disappointing quarterly results last month, rose 3 per cent in midday trading in Frankfurt.

Mr Braunstein, stepped down as CFO of JPMorgan in 2012, and started Hudson in 2015. The position in Deutsche comes as Matt Zames, another former senior executive at JPMorgan, is advising the bank on its restructuring.

In a written statement, the hedge fund stressed that it was backing Deutsche’s management team led

by Mr Sewing and its strategy. It said that there was “significant long-term value in Deutsche Bank”, which it described as “well-capitalised and highly liquid”.

Hudson, which has spent more than a year analysing Deutsche’s strategic challenges, said that Mr Sewing was right in focusing the lender on its “traditional banking business” in retail and commercial banking, global transaction banking and asset management. Hudson described these areas as “steady, compounding, capital-light businesses”.

Talking to the FT, Mr Braunstein described himself as a “long-term investor” who is not overly focused on the performance over the next three to six months.

He suggested the shares could roughly triple within “several years”.

He argued that Deutsche should be able to earn its cost of capital if Mr Sewing successfully executes his strategy. The shares “should trade at least at one times tangible book value”, which stands at €25.81 per share. “The stock is currently trading at a little under €9. If we can get to tangible book value, that’s a spectacular return.”

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FINANCIAL TIMES

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

‘Red October’ wrongfoots bets on market bull run

Investors now positioned more defensively after sell-off hammers hedge funds

ROBIN WIGGLESWORTH

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ith investors’ confidence shaken, the hunt is on for what caused a “red October” for global equities. While stock market reversals are normal and healthy, this one has wrongfooted many.

Dissecting a broad market selloff— and identifying and grading the various catalysts — is tricky given the complexity of modern markets.

Reversals are rapidly evolving beasts, with different narratives and technical drivers waxing, waning and interacting with each other in unpredictable ways. But with October over, here is a provisional postmortem.

First tremor The initial trigger seems fairly clear. US Treasuries had been quietly selling off since the summer, but strong economic data and unusually bullish comments by Jay Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, in the first week of October fanned fears of faster interest rate increases and sent the 10-year US government bond yield spiking towards an eight-year high of 3.26 per cent.

The ferocity of the Treasury reversal was probably exacerbated by a dislocation in money markets. US interest rate increases and heavy issuance of US Treasury bills has made dollars scarcer. That has increased the cost of hedging the currency exposure of US investments by overseas investors, which has major implications.

Treasuries might boast a far higher nominal yield than virtually all other major government bond markets, but in late September the net currency-hedged yield offered by 10-year Treasuries to Japanese and European investors suddenly slumped into negative territory. That makes US debt far less attractive to some of the biggest global buyers of fixed income.

European and emerging equity markets had already been soft since

the beginning of the year, on fears that the synchronised global growth spurt of 2017 was fading. But the bond sell-off triggered a repricing of US equities as well — especially high-flying technology stocks that had powered much of the rally.

Other factors played important roles, such as the growing sense that the tech rally was overdone, trade tensions, rising short-term interest rates making cash a less unappealing asset, worries over the Fed’s balance sheet shrinkage, and concerns that corporate earnings will not remain as strong as they have been in 2018.

Systematic selling A gradual decline in US stocks suddenly turned into an unnerving slide on Oct 10 — the day after Treasury yields peaked — when the S&P 500 suffered a 3.3 per cent decline.

Investors were becoming more nervous, but the swoon was driven by computer-powered algorithmic investment strategies that ratchet their market exposure up and down according to the level of volatility, argues Marko Kolanovic, head of quantitative strategy at JPMorgan.

The trigger points and swiftness of these systematic “ volatility-control” strategies vary widely, from faster-responding variable annuity accounts managed by insurance companies to trend-following hedge funds and slower-moving, more ponderous “risk parity” funds.

Analysts blame them for exacerbating previous tumbles, such as in August 2015 and February 2018.

Mr Kolanovic estimates that volatility-sensitive strategies, coupled with bank trading desks having to cover their market exposures, sold about $150bn of equity positions in the first weeks of October.

Managers of these funds scoff at the accusations, arguing that these controls are not nearly as sensitive to spurts of turbulence as claimed.

“The larger driver is the quantitative investment strategies de-risking,” said an executive at a major US market-maker.”

Vanguard chairman Bill McNabb to step down, replaced by chief exec OWEN WALKER

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anguard, the world’s second biggest money manager, has announced its chairman, Bill McNabb, will step down at the end of the year.

Tim Buckley, who replaced Mr McNabb as chief executive, will take on the chairmanship from January.

Mr McNabb helped establish the $5.3tn asset manager as a global player and pushed it into a ferocious battle for market share with BlackRock, its main rival. He left his position as chief executive in January.

The move is another example of fund managers combining the chairman and chief executive roles, a leadership structure that is typically looked down on by corporate governance specialists. Larry Fink combines the roles at BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager.

“Bill’s legacy is keeping our clients at the centre of everything that we do and supporting the development of our [staff ],” said Mr Buckley. “Vanguard delivered unrivalled value under his leadership. He leaves our firm deep in talent and ready to give our clients the best chance of investment success.”

Mr McNabb joined Vanguard in 1986. He became chief executive in 2008 and was elected chairman a year later. Mr Buckley will become the fourth chairman of Vanguard in its 43-year history.

“Tim has been a strong, focused leader at Vanguard during times of tremendous company growth, as well as periods of significant market uncertainty,” said Mr McNabb. “The board of directors and I have tremendous confidence in his ability to lead Vanguard through this next chapter for the firm.”

Good conversation’ had with Xi Jinping on US-China trade — Trump US president said two leaders discussed ‘many subjects, with a heavy emphasis on trade’ JAMES POLITI AND SAM FLEMING

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onald Trump, the US president, said he had “a long and very good conversation” with Xi Jinping, his Chinese counterpart, offering some hope of a thaw in the trade dispute between the two countries.

In a tweet on Thursday morning, Mr Trump said he had discussed “many subjects, with a heavy emphasis on trade” with Mr Xi. The two are expected to meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina later this month. Officials have been playing doing expectations of any big breakthrough, but Mr Trump said talks were “moving along nicely”.

Commercial relations between the US and China have soured sharply in recent months, after the US imposed tariffs on about half of Chinese imports. That prompted China to respond with retaliatory levies, raising the prospect of a protracted trade war.

There have also been mounting tensions on the security front.

However, on Thursday Mr Trump said he had a “good discussion” with Mr Xi on North Korea.

The downward spiral in trade relations between the US and China was a contributing factor to the decline in US equity markets last month.

Larry Kudlow, the president’s chief economic adviser, said at a Washington Post event on Thurs-

day morning that he believed the agenda for the talks between Mr Trump and Mr Xi would include trade, but that he was not 100 per cent sure.

It would be a very formal, bilateral sit-down meeting, he said. If the Chinese did not make a satisfactory offer the president would continue to “aggressively pursue his agenda” and he was right to do so, Mr Kudlow said.

The former CNBC commentator insisted the US economy was on track and predicted 3 per cent or more growth for next year. Asked about the recent falls in the stock market, Mr Kudlow said that valuations of some big technology stocks had got toppy and they were due a correction.

US stocks extend rebound as November kicks off Trump’s optimism on US-China trade talks helps sentiment, while pound jumps Hot topics S stocks kicked off November on a solid footing, as a combination of corporate earnings and hopeful comments from US president Donald Trump on trade talks with China helped sentiment.

Equity markets had ended a grim October on a brighter note, as some investors judged that the worst month for global stocks in six years generated buying opportunities.

Anxiety that a slowing global economy is beginning to hurt corporate America’s profitability contributed to October’s sell-off, but there was at least some reassurance on that front on Thursday.

Shares in DowDuPont, the US chemicals company, surged as much as 10 per cent after its third-quarter results beat analysts’ expectations and executives said their global operations had not seen signs of a slowdown.

The S&P 500, which is up 2 per cent for the year, extended its gains after Mr Trump tweeted that he had enjoyed a “long and very good conversation with President Xi Jinping of China.”

The index of large US companies was 0.6 per cent higher in late morning trading, while the

U

Nasdaq was 1.1 per cent firmer. On Friday, investors will have to digest third-quarter results from Apple, the world’s largest listed company, which releases its earnings after the US market close on Thursday.

Europe’s stocks rally came after well-received third-quarter figures from UK telecommunications operator BT, Dutch chipmaker ASM and Swedish technology company Hexagon. The Stoxx Europe 600, a benchmark for Europe, gained 0.5 per cent.

There were also sustained gains for China’s equities after authorities signalled a new round of economic stimulus measures to shore up confidence, as China faces headwinds from slower growth and the US-China trade war.

China’s CSI 300 rose 0.7 per cent, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 1.8 per cent.

Forex Sterling soared as much as 1.5 per cent to beyond the $1.29 mark after the Bank of England signalled that it would have to raise interest rates at a faster pace should the UK achieve a smooth exit from the the EU. The UK currency had received a boost earlier in the day after a report that Downing Street and the EU had reached an agreement on trade in financial services

after Brexit. The report was later described as “misleading” by the Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator.

Against the euro the pound climbed as much as 0.9 per cent, with 87.86p required for a unit of the shared currency.

“The pound’s rally says nothing about the negotiations more broadly and nor does it say anything about the domestic political hurdles the government has here in the UK. “I still like looking for opportunities to get short again, though we may have to be patient.”

Stephen Gallo, head of European FX strategy, Bank of Montreal The US dollar index was 0.8 per cent weaker at 96.38, easing from a 16-month high high on Wednesday.

Fixed income The yield on US 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 3.14 per cent, while the yield on the 10year UK government bond lagged as the yield rose 2 basis points to 1.45 per cent.

Commodities Brent crude tumbled 3.5 per cent at $72.90 a barrel, while gold was 1.2 per cent higher at $1,218 an ounce.

BUSINESS DAY

C002D5556

NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I FRIDAY 02 NOVEMBER 2018

Opinion Financial inclusion as an imperative for national transformation

A

few years ago I found myself in one of the souks in suburban Ca i ro. T h o s e who have visited the Egyptian capital would recall how crowded and vibrant it can be. The traditional Arab souk, or open market, is where the word bazaar originally came from. From Amman to Tunis; from Fez to Tripoli, Casablanca and Khartoum; the souks can be noisy and quite disconcerting if you’ve never experienced them. I had gone to buy my favourite art works - imitation ancient Egyptian paintings made on papyrus.

As is the custom, you sometimes have to bargain and shout your voice hoarse. At the end, a deal is struck and it all ends up in a win-win.

On that particularly sweltering July afternoon in Cairo, I happily got what I wanted. The pleasant surprise was that a mobile ATM was swiftly brought out for me to complete my payment. It

was quick, orderly and safe.

According to recent data, as much as 54.0% of the world’s population have no access to financial services of any kind. For developing countries, the percentage is as high as 70 percent of the population. According to McKinsey, the global management firm, an estimated 2.5 billion people and over 200 million businesses are excluded from access to banking and other financial services.

The situation, of course, varies from country to country. According to a recent international survey, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, for example, less than 1% of households have bank deposits of any kind whereas in Japan the figure stands at 100 percent.

According to the World Bank’s 2014 definition: “Financial inclusion means that individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial

products and services that meet their needs – transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance – delivered in a responsible and sustainable way.”

According to the Asian Development Institute, an affiliate of the Asian Devel-

‘

... it is clear that we need not only to restore confidence in the banking system but also provide adequate incentives to get millions of subscribers back into the financial system. Access to banking services, as we have maintained, ought to be a fundamental economic right for all citizens

,

HumanAngle FEMI OLUGBILE Physician, psycho-profiler and essayist

T

his year’s Festival was holding, not in Abeokuta, as in the past, but on a whole floor of the Radisson Blue, a posh new hotel on the swank Isaac John Street in GRA, Ikeja.

In your mind’s eye, you had conjured up pictures of bohemian writers in their torn jeans and faded sneakers looking uncomfortable as they trod gingerly on the spick and span marble titled corridors, fearful their hands might stain the wall.

In the event the festival seemed to settle easily into its new accommodation.

Writers came in all varieties. New books were being published by authors ranging from fresh-faced youths just out of school, to scarred old veterans. It was an exciting, exotic mix.

The Vice President was there on the Friday to declare the festival open. He was voluble and engaging as usual, that man, and he started off by telling the audience a story of an early love he had pined for at the age of ten who had driven him to writing poetry. However,

opment Bank (ADB), the attributes of an inclusive financial system is characterised by 4 elements: first, all families and enterprises have access to financial services (such as deposits, short-term and long-term loans, mortgages, insurance, pensions, payments, and domestic and international remittances) at fair and affordable prices; secondly, those financial institutions should have forward-looking and robust leadership and management systems, industrial performance standards based on robust market mechanisms under a fair and rational system of prudential regulations; and thirdly, the financial viability of those institutions should be clear and should be the anchor for provision of longterm financial services; and fourthly, there should be a diversified pool of financial service providers (including individual informal providers, nongovernment organizations, and formal financial

institutions) that provide profitable and variable financial services under accessible as well as affordable terms.

An increasingly important element of financial inclusion is digital payment, i.e. the use of electronic means instead of outright cash for all payments and transactions. This is also an important factor in determining the level of financial deepening as well as inclusion. The 2017 report by the global consulting firm McKinsey ranks Norway (with 78%) in first place among a sample of countries that use digital payments in their financial system. The next five are all advanced industrial economies: Australia (77%); Denmark (62%); Belgium (61%); and Sweden and Netherlands (57% each). The bottom 5 were all developing or emerging economies, all of them scoring 1% (Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ethiopia).

they enjoy it?

‘Yes’ the audience chorused.

‘It is fiction’ he announced. There was a great deal of laughter round the room.

Every year there is a headline guest at Ake. For

lived in the country and been married to a Nigerian before.

After Lola Soneyin, the affable moving spirit of the festival introduced the writer and his interlocutor, you could feel a wave of excitement course through the audience. The two men took their seats on the podium.

Kunle has made an artform out of these interviews. You have watched him in conversation with Ngugi, as you have with Niyi Osundare. There is a certain earnestness about him which makes him able to draw out the most intimate details from his guests, and to humanize them before the audience, establishing a bond. Lately you have been seeking to persuade him to compile these masterclasses in artistic conversation into a book, even offering to edit the volume.

Nuruddin Farah is a seventy-three-year novelist, playwright and essayist from Somalia. His country has the dubious distinction of being one of the worst places on earth to be born, or to live. He was born into a large family of eleven. His father was a merchant, and his mother an oral poet. His earliest memory was that his father dealt cruelly with his mother and his female siblings. He developed an early passion for the feminist cause, long before the term ‘feminism’ was in-

Conversations at Ake art and books festival his mother, and later his school teacher, had not thought it was a good idea, and they had taken turns

to beat the daylights, and the poetry out of him. He went on thenceforth to deliver the usual pitch about

how the government of the day was keen to create an enabling environment for the creative arts to thrive.

At the end of his delivery, he reminded the audience about the story he told them at the beginning. Did

this year, happening on the Saturday, it was Nuruddin Farah.

Nuruddin knew his way around Nigeria, having

‘

‘People in rich Arabian states pay these people to go and cause havoc in other countries, selling them the false narrative about going to heaven. They kill more Muslims than anyone else…’

‘If people were educated and employed, they could not be recruited to fight for a hopeless 13th century utopia and a false narrative about going to heaven.’

,

THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

OBADIAH MAILAFIA Dr. Mailafia is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a development economist and public finance expert with a DPhil from Oxford obmailafia@gmail.com; 08036590990 (text messages only)

The paradigm of financial inclusion has come to the forefront of the lexicon of international development discourse in recent years for several reasons.

Continues on page 35

vented. He has written over fifteen books and plays, mostly on the subjects of nationalism, colonialism and feminism. His work has been translated into several languages. He has won a number of literary prizes and been nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature.

On the podium with Kunle, he was a jovial affable man, full of wisecracks.

He knew four languages from early – Somali, Amharic, Arabic and English.

At the age of nine, he had earned pocket money by hanging out at the post office and offering to write letters for people in any language of their choice.

He wrote his first major book – ‘From a crooked rib’ while he was an undergraduate in an Indian University.

‘I wrote it to avoid reading for my exams…I failed the exam, but I was allowed to do it again…’

‘Is it true that because the book was so favourable to women’s rights, it won you a lot of female admirers?’ asked Kunle, coming at him from a blind side.

The author smiled coyly, admitting guilt.

The interviewer brought him to the subject of the collapse of his country Somalia.

One of his early books ‘Naked Needle’ led him to voluntary self-exile. It was a timely move, as he was Continues on page 35

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