BusinessDay 08 Mar 2021

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NSE Biggest Gainer morison N0.6

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39,331.61

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trippleg 10.00pc N0.0.8

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news you can trust * monday 08 march 2021 I vol. 19, no 772

Crude Oil $69.36

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Market

₦30,011,690.88 -3.74

N300

Foreign Exchange

Buy

Sell

I&E FX Window CBN Official Rate as at March 4, 2021

ntb

www.

FGN

MTN Nigeria plc CP

Dangote Cement plc

Axxela Nsp-spv Funding 1 (Natural Gas) PowerCorp plc plc

Spot ($/N) 26-Aug-21 5-Mar-21 23-Jul-30 30-Apr-25 20-May-27 27-Feb-34 411.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.90

1.69

0.00

379.00

1.87

3.13

10.40

12.00

12.02

12.59

$-N 470.00 480.00 1m £-N 662.00 672.00 Currency Futures 31-Mar-21 419.08 €-N 570.00 580.00 ($/N)

g

Benchmark Sovereign & Corporate Bonds

3m 2m 28-Apr-21 26-May-21 420.58 422.08

6m 12m 25-Aug-21 23-Feb-22 426.58

435.58

60m 36m 28-Feb-24 25- Feb-26 511.54

605.76

*NTB - Nigerian Treasury Bills; *CP - Commercial Paper

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Nigeria can save N3.7trn N by gutting inefficient MDAs

BUNMI BAILEY igeria can save as much as N3.7 trillion every year by implementing the Stephen Oronsaye report’s recommendation to Continues on page 31

Nigeria’s risk premium hits 1yr high despite rising oil prices Mercy Ayodele

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nvestors are demanding higher returns from Nigeria to be holders of its debt as a Continues on page 31

Inside Interview with Ireti Samuel-Ogbu, MD/CEO, Citibank Nigeria Ltd P. 14

#Choosetochallenge #IWD2021: BusinessDay celebrates its female journalists

Celebrating #IWD2021: Nigerian women #Choosetochallenge P. 30

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Monday 08 March 2021

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NEWS

New policy on remittances will check round-tripping - CBN Hope Moses-Ashike

T

he new policy on remittances by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which offers to reward recipients of diaspora remittances is expected to reduce cost and check round tripping, according to the regulator.

Further to the introduction of its new “CBN Naira 4 Dollar Scheme” which comes into effect on Monday, March 8, 2021, the CBN says the move is aimed at providing Nigerians in the Diaspora with cheaper

and more convenient ways of sending remittances to Nigeria.

Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor, stated this at the weekend while delivering the keynote address to the Fidelity Bank’s inaugural diaspora webinar on the Implications and impact of the new FX policy on diaspora investments.

Emefiele explained that the move was also to increase the transparency of remittance inflows and reduce rent-seeking activities. He expressed optimism that the new policy measure would encourage banks and financial institu-

tions to develop products and investments vehicles, geared towards attracting investments from Nigerians in the diaspora.

He further noted that the policy was expected to enlarge the scope and scale of foreign exchange inflows into the country with a view to stabilising the exchange rate and supporting accretion to external reserves. More importantly, he said it would provide an opportunity for Nigerians living abroad to make investments in their home country.

Reiterating the provision of the new circular, the CBN

governor said the bank introduced the rebate of N5 for every $1 of fund remitted to Nigeria, through International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) licensed by the central bank in order to incentivise the process of remittance.

He explained that the rebate will be provided to the bank accounts of beneficiaries, following receipt of remittance inflows.

Emefiele emphasised that the new measure would help to make the process of sending remittance through formal bank channels cheaper and more convenient for Nigerians

in the diaspora.

Citing cases in other climes, Emefiele said the use of reimbursements of remittance fees had been critical in supporting improved inflow of remittances to countries in South Asia and in improving their balance of payments position following the COVID-19 pandemic.

While noting that the average cost of sending $200 worth remittances to Nigeria from the United States was about 4.7 percent, he said studies had shown that even a one percent decrease in cost of sending remittance could result in a

Friends celebrate Osinbajo at 64

T

o mark the 64th birthday, friends and associates of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s have come together to reflect upon the sterling qualities that define his personal and leadership style and have chosen to support social impact causes that are close to his heart.

It would be recalled that as part of the events lined up for Osinbajo’s birthday last year, 100 young entrepreneurs received business-defining grants of N1 million each that helped grow and advance their businesses, among other incubator support services from close friends and associates of ‘Prof’ as he is fondly called under the auspices of ‘The March 8th Initiative”.

These “Friends of Prof ’ conceptualised ‘The March 8th Initiative” to inspire and promote communal, entrepreneurial and public-spirited endeavours within Nigeria in honour of the birthday of Osinbajo.

In a statement at the weekend, the group which organises the annual March 8th Initiative, stated that for this year’s celebration, the Initiative was expanding its reach and scope with a view to impacting a broader spectrum of Nigerians.

First, the annual Entrepreneurship Development Programme has been reorganised into 4 categories providing more opportunities for young Nigerians between 18 and 35 years old, giving one-off business grants, ranging from N100,000 to N1,000,000 to small businesses in Nigeria.

The four categories cover varying stages of small business growth as follows: Big Idea Business Challenge, Business Support Challenge, Catalyst Support Challenge and the Bold Innovation Challenge.

Second, in addition to the Entrepreneurship Development Programme, the March 8th Initiative will recognise health workers nationwide who, in the face of a global pandemic, demonstrated exemplary courage, compassion, diligence, hard work and professionalism in carrying out their duties. www.businessday.ng

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significant boost in inflows.

“Countries in South Asia such as Pakistan and Bangladesh are aware of this impact and they introduced reimbursement schemes to support inflows. In Pakistan the scheme which is known as free send has enabled record amount of inflows of over $2billion a month even during the COVID pandemic.

“Bangladesh introduced its own scheme in June 2019, which is a 2 percent rebate on remittance inflows. Following this action, they have also seen a 20 percent boost in remittance inflows,” he explained.

Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

EDITORIAL PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Frank Aigbogun EDITOR Tayo Fagbule

DEPUTY EDITORS Lolade Akinmurele John Osadolor, Abuja NEWS EDITOR Osa Victor Obayagbona NEWS EDITOR (Online) Chuks Oluigbo MANAGING DIRECTOR Dr. Ogho Okiti EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha GM ADVERT Ijeoma Ude GM CONFERENCES Obiora Onyeaso GM BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (North) Bashir Ibrahim Hassan GM BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South) Ignatius Chukwu GM DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION SALES Rerhe Idonije BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (South East, South South) Patrick Ijegbai COPY SALES MANAGER Florence Kadiri DIGITAL ADVERT SALES MANAGER Linda Ochugbua

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New African gas producers and digitalisation

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ew gas producers in Africa have a chance of leveraging digital technologies to build competitive edge over their older counterparts who struggle to integrate the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) with legacy assets.

IoT is driving the rapid pace of digital adoption across multiple industries.

The oil and gas industry is beginning a transformation of its own, increasingly looking toward data-driven solutions to boost performance, enhance efficiency and ultimately, to reduce costs.

The gigantic gas discoveries made over the past decade in Mozambique, Tanzania, Senegal and Mauritania have revealed a total of 200 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves, enough to supply two-thirds of current world demand for 20 years.

Indeed, new African gas producers such as Mozambique, Tanzania, Senegal and Mauritania could develop an edge over older ones such as Nigeria with legacy analogue assets as systematic application of digital technologies to gas fields development offers chances of high returns, increased productivity and cost savings.

Analysts at Akap Energy forecast that by 2025 African production capacity will have increased by 150 percent to reach 84 metric tonnes per year (mtpy) of liquefied natural gas (LNG). That is 15 to 20 percent of the world market.

Such growth will depend on investment of more than $75bn, twothirds of which will be injected into Mozambique.

Digitalisation will be essential in

producing these vast gas reserves in Africa because it is associated with improved performance that follows investments in big data, artificial intelligence and other digital technologies.

However, producers run into obstacles with regard to digital adoption. This is because digital technologies must be integrated with legacy systems, as well as with the oil and gas personnel who operate them. Such markets are often characterised by narrow exposure and high resistance to change.

As a result, digitalisation represents a unique opportunity for emerging gas producers such as Mozambique, which discovered major offshore gas reserves in 2010 and took the $20-billion final investment decision on its Area 1 Mozambique LNG development as recently as 2019.

Whilst the benefits of digitalisation can help the Oil & Gas industry significantly, many players within the sector are yet to change their ways of working. As recently as of June 2019, there were reports on the Oil & Gas industry’s failure to score highly on Deloitte’s digital maturity index - which showed the industry falling significantly.

Despite the clear long-term benefits of implementing such systems, there are significant upfront costs to developing digitalisation processes, integrating them with existing workflows and training workers.

In a 2017 survey, nearly 40 percent of oil and gas companies said they were worried about the risk of being left behind if they did not continue to invest in digital transformation programmes - with 70 percent saying they planned to invest more in new digital areas over the following three to five years.

Resistance to digitalisation in the upstream energy space can be ascribed to several factors, some of which apply to hydrocarbon producers regardless of the maturity of their assets or the sophistication of their sector.

For example, the oil and gas industry imposes strict health and safety regulations to protect employees against highrisk environments, such as offshore oil platforms and, as a result, companies cannot be laissez-faire about implementing automated or robotic technologies without ensuring that the new technologies sufficiently address safety precautions.

The sector is also dependent upon an extended global supply chain, in which labour forces vary in skill, capacity, size and cost. Compounding these factors is a frequent market volatility, making digital transformations difficult to roll out in tune with ever-fluctuating oil prices.

For Mozambique (and other new gas producers on the African continent) with the relative infancy of the sector – as the country prepares for first gas by 2023 – building technology into the DNA of its sector as it evolves in real-time would be more profitable than upgrading technologies and systems retroactively.

Oil and gas operations rely on highly technical, physical processes, in which digital transformations must apply themselves to complex, capital-intensive assets, such as offshore platforms, LNG terminals or pipelines.

For its part, Mozambique has been at the forefront of spearheading large-scale gas developments that are the first of their kind both in the country and on the continent, including the Coral South floating LNG terminal, the first newly-built deepwater floating liquefaction plant globally.

Mozambique has also leveraged German technological innovation with Siemens Energy’s supply of four centrifugal compressors and six SGT-800 industrial gas turbines to provide on-site power generation at the Mozambique LNG facility. In short, Mozambique has proven a worthy recipient of foreign expertise and remains in the need of additional technology and knowledge transfer to apply to its range of world-class gas infrastructure projects.

As companies across sectors have had to adopt digital tools for remote work, COVID-19 has accelerated the need for digital rollouts, positioning technology as a means of coping with transformational changes facing nearly every industry.

Within the oil and gas sector, specifically, digitalisation and optimisation of oilfield assets have emerged as principal costcutting mechanisms, as energy companies continue to face threats to efficiency, sustainability and profitability.

Well, integrity, enhanced oil recovery, manufacturing execution systems, cloud computing – such digital applications are capable of uniting real-time data with advanced analytics to improve decisionmaking and boost efficiency and sustainability, especially as the need to allocate capital to assets with the highest returns and operational efficiencies become more pressing.

Digitalisation represents a strategic competitive advantage, whether through advancing seismic surveys that enable companies to make better drilling decisions, or reducing data interpretation time and associated cost of exploration. For Mozambique, digitalisation represents a billion-dollar opportunity that cannot afford to be overlooked.

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Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

COMMENT Cops and robbers BASHORUN J.K RANDLE

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resident Muhammadu Buhari while on a visit to South Africa took the global audience by surprise with his frankness and candour on June 15, 2015.

“I wish I became the Head of State (President) when I was a Governor at the age of 34 as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do.”

Tough luck.

The front page of “Daily Sun” newspaper of December 21, 2020 carried big bold headlines: “ARMY, POLICE FIGHT OVER RESCUE OF 84 STUDENTS IN KATSINA” •We rescued 39 Students – soldiers •We worked with vigilantes to rescue students – Police As for “Vanguard” newspaper, its front page report carried the headline: “HIGH RATE OF KIDNAPPING IN NIGERIA WORRISOME” •Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Most Revd. Ignatius Kaigama

As for “The Punch” newspaper, the front page headline and report on the police spilled over (from page 1) to the middle page: “TRIGGER-HAPPY COP KILLS RIVERS 38-YEAR-OLD FATHER OF THREE.” (i) A trigger-happy police sergeant attached to the Elelenwo Police Division has shot dead a 38-year-old man, Abiodun Jimoh, in Elelenwo community, in the Obio/ Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. he incident happened on Friday night, when a team of policemen arrested the deceased and his younger brother, Ismail Jimoh, while they were returning from a party.

Ismail told journalists in Port Harcourt on Sunday that the killer cop was drunk.

He said, “On Friday night, I was carrying my brother on my motorcycle home when some policemen stopped us with their van. They searched us thoroughly and found our identity cards in our pockets; they didn’t see anything that could implicate us. So, their superior officer told them to let us go.

But one officer insisted that we were criminals and that we must be taken to the station, which we accepted. My late elder brother entered the police van, but I told them that I was going to ride my motorcycle.

So, we started moving to the station. I was in front of the van with my motorcycle, but the van later stopped on the way and I rode back to meet them.

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The officers said since they had arrested us, we must bail ourselves to regain our freedom. They asked how much was on me and I told them that I had just N2,000. When we got to the Elelenwo station, the senior officer in the team returned our phones to us and said we should go. He said I should return later with the particulars of my motorcycle and they would release it.”

Ismail said one of the policemen, however, refused to release them.

He said trouble started when he told the sergeant to listen to his colleagues and let them go.

“The officer that shot my brother was drunk because I could smell alcohol on him. He refused to let us go, saying we must enter the cell.

Other four officers were telling him to let us go, but he refused to listen.

When I told him to listen to his senior colleagues, he got angry and used his rifle to hit me in the face.

While his colleagues tried to hold him, I heard a gunshot, which hit my brother.

When I turned to look, I saw my brother lying on the floor and battling for his life. I saw that a bullet also hit another policeman. The senior officers dragged away his gun from him,” he added.

Ismail explained that several hospitals where his brother was taken to for help refused to admit him.

He claimed that the policemen attempted to kill him while they searched for a hospital to treat his late brother.

“After my brother was shot, the police drove us to several hospitals

‘ The officer that shot my brother was drunk because I could smell alcohol on him. He refused to let us go, saying we must enter the cell

but they refused to admit my bleeding, dying brother. In the process, they stopped their vehicle and asked that I give them our phones. The moment I did, they started driving rough which made me to fall off the van, hit my head on a hard surface and lose consciousness.

The police did not care that I fell off their van; they never stopped, it was a vigilante in the area that saved my life,” he added.

Ismail demanded justice for his brother, saying he must not die in vain.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the late Abiodun, a father of three, hailed from Ilorin, Kwara State.

A spokesman for the police, NnamdiOmoni, said the state Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, had condemned the killing.

Omoni said the cop was in custody, adding that justice would be served.

“The incident is being investigated and the outcome will be communicated to the public. Meanwhile, the police sergeant who carried out the dastardly act is in custody for debriefing and psychological evaluation. His orderly room trial will commence in earnest, for possible arraignment,”

J.K. Randle is a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region. He is currently the Chairman, J.K. Randle Professional Services.

Email: jkrandleintuk@gmail.com

SMEs and the current economy - Our concerns and influence

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s at the end Februar y 2021, we’ve surprisingly come out of a recession. But poverty and unemployment lingers on. The year started straight out of unrests and infrastructural vandalism as a result of the EndSARS protests. We’ve moved on but deeper into the crisis of national insecurity. We are survivors. As SMEs we have survived two waves of Covid-19 Pandemics, but its harder combining that with lower sales, higher tariffs and the hikes in utility bills. All these affect our cost of sales and admin expenses as businesses.

In terms of post COVID supports, SMEs are on their own. The government keeps self-sabotaging itself. There is a loss of public confidence, loads of blame game from a non-communicating presidency flooded with nepotism. Nothing is certain.

Our monetary policy retains its dwindling parallel exchange rates. FDI confidence is on its all time low due to unrest and unease of doing business here. And on the streets and offices, social distancing has changed consumer behaviour. Nigerians are very social, so there is an enterprise implication from halting industries that support our usual lifestyles. These lifestyles fund so many businesses. These businesses contribute to the macro-economic circular flow of wealth that is now shortened.

Welcome to our reality as SMEs. Don’t panic. In the book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey gives a good illustration of how we should categorize our concerns as SMEs. He broke them down into two; Circle of

Concern and Circle of influence. Our Circle of Concern are things or areas in life and our business where we tend to worry about but have ‘no real control’ over e.g. ill health; exchange rates while those things or areas we can work on e.g. strategy, innovation habits, are in our Circle of Influence. Worry overwhelms us when we channel our time and energy to things in our Circle of Concern instead of things in our Circle of Influence.

Let’s explore some of our circle of concerns we have no control over as SMEs. According to the exchange rate, one dollar now equals 400 Naira in banks, and on the black market, a dollar now trades at 475 Naira which harms businesses especially SMEs. The 2021 budget for Nigeria shows an increase from last year’s budget by 21%.

Last year’s budget was about 10.6 trillion Naira compared to this year’s budget of 13.8 trillion Naira. Looking at that budget, one would think that the government has bigger or better plans for SMEs than last year. But that’s really not much of the case.

One interesting fact about this year’s budget is that there is an increase in debt allocation, but a decrease in spending on health and education. This is bad for players in that sectors. The government would have loved to aggressively tax more but dare not. Fiscal policy will have to be a bit slower as the country can’t aggressively go after SMEs on tax matters else they cause an uproar, or we all close shops and cause more supply to the unemployment matter. Nigeria is not just broke but in debt.

The debt servicing is almost 3 times more www.businessday.ng

than the total allocation to education and health, combined. One of the only good news about our national budget is that there is more spending around infrastructure. This rippled effect shows that it will be favourable to those in logistics, real estate and construction.

From that budget, there is a 37% projected increase in revenue from 2020 anchored on forecasted increased oil prices, enhanced operational efficiency in government-owned enterprises which if we’re being sincere is not certain.

But how about our circles of influence (things we have control over); what can we influence from the new dynamics of consumer behaviour?

A very practical example of consumer behaviour leverage is the explosive success of Netflix. During the pandemic, people stayed indoors most of the time because of the fear of contracting COVID 19. People stopped going for physical meetings, people stopped going to cinemas or film houses. People had to look for other alternatives. Netflix and Zoom was that digital alternative. They both blew up the financial chart. What alternative are you providing?

SMEs should explore how macroeconomic changes are affecting consumer behaviour. And then align their competitive advantage from it. Retail for example has become more intimate, has your business become that too? During the pandemic, while the open market shrunk, organized retail stores gained. This is because while the crowd reduced, brand activations moved closer to us via experiential

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EIZU UWAOMA marketing in neighbourhood stores than large ATL advertising. In other words, people’s attention moved from big markets to retail stores, the Internet and our mobile phones. This is a perfect time to either setup a business model around one or go into supply or support services to one.

The winners of our economy will come from SMEs that can organize themselves within the disorganized markets. To do this, they must systemize and be structured. The truth is that the more structure you have in your business, the more freedom you will have in your life. They should also start looking at ways in which they can scale and grow their brands with lesser inputs. With structures, they can franchise or cash out through an FDI or local merger and even acquisition. We all can be freer, we all can dream bigger. We can do more with less by automating our processes. We should also go into strategic partnership with other bigger brands for larger exposure. None of these require government. Dear SME, you are on your own. So, let’s gather around. Let me help.

Uwaoma is a start-up, corporate restructuring and strategy consultant. contacteizu@gmail.com

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Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

COMMENT

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Okonjo-Iweala and Agah: The great Africans bestriding the world of trade GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

OLU FASAN

T

he eventual emergence of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was the work of providence.

After the then US President, Donald Trump, rejected her choice by the WTO’s selection committee last year, her fate effectively hinged on the outcome of last November’s US presidential election.

Had President Trump been re-elected, Dr Okonjo-Iweala would not have become the WTO’s new DG. But providence intervened: Trump was defeated, and former Vice President Joe Biden became America’s next president.

Once in office, President Biden immediately endorsed Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy, lifting Trump’s block. On February 15, the WTO’s 164 members met and finally appointed Dr Okonjo-Iweala, by consensus, as its next Director-General, making her the first female and the first African DG in the 73-year history of the WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, GATT, established in 1947.

In her acceptance speech, OkonjoIweala acknowledged President Biden’s role in helping her make history. “Without the recent swift action by the Biden-Harris Administration to join the consensus of the membership on my candidacy, we would not be here today”,she said, adding: “I am grateful to the US for the prompt action and strong expression of support.”

Unsurprisingly, Dr Okonjo-Iweala, who assumed office as WTO’s DG on March 1, has received messages of congratulation from across the world. I, too, congratulate her on her historic achievement. But congratulations are also in order for another Nigerian, another African, who has left an indelible mark in the field of world trade governance. He is Dr Yonov Frederick Agah, an outstanding Deputy

Director-General of the WTO since 2013, whose tenure will soon expire. This column pays tribute to these two great Nigerians and Africans!

Of course, kudos must go first to Dr Okonjo-Iweala, the history-maker. The WTO is, indeed, lucky to have her as its new DG. For a start, as we have seen, she has given the WTO a bigger profile. With her iconic personality, including her trademark Ankara dress and head-tie, she would, from a public image perspective, be an outstanding public face for the WTO. She will easily give the WTO name-recognition around the world.

ButOkonjo-Iweala will also give the WTO parity of influence with the World Bank and the IMF as an equal part of the institutional tripod on which the world economy stands.

When the Bretton Woods institutions were created in 1945, they were meant to be three: World Bank, IMF and ITO – International Trade Organisation. But the ITO did not survive because the US Congress refused to ratify the treaty creating it. So, only the World Bank and the IMF survived as international organisations.

However, as the ITO suffered a stillbirth, some countries came together and negotiated the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as a trade treaty.

Structurally, the GATT was not intended to be an international organisation like the World Bank and the IMF, although, with time, it began, informally, to operate, more or less, like one. But the GATT’s “birth defects”, as the renowned international trade lawyer Professor John Jackson called them, led to creation of the WTO in 1994, giving it the wherewithal to operate as a bone fide international institution like the IMF and the World Bank.

But being relatively young, the WTO doesn’t have the same level of influence and esteem as the IMF and the World Bank. Dr Okonjo-Iweala will change that.

She will ensure that the WTO’s voice is heard on matters relating to the global economy. Expect to see her standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the President of the World Bank and the Managing Director of the IMF whenever issues about the global economy are being discussed.

Being an economist herself and being a former managing director of the World Bank, she would be listened to whenever

she speaks for the WTO; in fact, the world media will actively seek her views.

Which brings us to why Dr OkonjoIweala was actually selected as the DG of the WTO. Some people have said that she got the job mainly because of her status as a former managing director of the World Bank. But that’s not true. In fact, if all she had to show was her former World Bank role, it would have worked against her.

This is because, at the WTO, the World Bank is seen as too focused on ‘development’ issues and less on trade openness.

When I worked at the WTO in 2005, the World Bank was always viewed with suspicion, because the policies it recommended usually contradicted or undermined those of the WTO. The common saying, then, was that the WTO was not a ‘development’ institution.

So, Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s World Bank experience alone would not have helped her. Indeed, it was her ‘developmentfocused’ experience that the Trump administration cited as its main reason for rejecting her candidacy. In an interview with the Financial Times, Robert Lighthizer, the US Trade Representative (USTR) under former President Trump, said that Dr Okonjo-Iweala was not qualified for the WTO top job because she “has no experience in trade at all”, adding: “We need a person who actually knows trade, not somebody from the World Bank who does development.”

But, despite Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s World Bank background and despite her not being a trade guru, most WTO members supported her candidacy for the DG job.

Why? Well, they saw in her other attributes they liked and wanted. Throughout the selection process, the three things constantly said positively about Dr Okonjo-Iweala were her negotiation skills, her reformist mindset and her anticorruption zeal.

These experiences were linked to the periods she was finance minister: first, under President Olusegun Obasanjo, when she negotiated Nigeria’s debt relief and undertook far-reaching reforms, and second, under President Goodluck Jonathan, when she was believed to have doggedly fought corruption. Dr OkonjoIweala herself captured these experiences in two internationally-acclaimed books –“Reforming the Unreformable” and

‘ Dr Okonjo-

Iweala and Dr Agah have both done Nigeria and Africa proud and deserve our best wishes

“Fighting Corruption is Dangerous” – that have been read by influential people worldwide.

So, it was Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s Nigerianderived experiences – negotiating and obtaining debt relief, “reforming the unreformable” and “fighting corruption” – that ultimately got her the WTO DG job, although her strong American network of contacts – she became a US citizen in 2019 – also strengthened her case with the Biden administration.

But now that she’s got the job, she will certainly need all these attributes to succeed. She has already set out a bold reform agenda, which confirms her reformist credentials. But she will need all her negotiation skills to manage tensions between the US and China. For without bringing the US and China together on most issues, she won’t achieve much.

What’s more, she would also need the support of African countries, because they are obstacles to reforms at the WTO. Put simply, to succeed, she would need her African and American connections!

Which brings us to Dr Agah. He was President Buhari’s first choice for the DG job but was unceremoniously dropped for Dr Okonjo-Iweala. Harsh, but he lacked Okonjo-Iweala’s global profile, and wouldn’t have won. Yet, he has been a linchpin of the WTO for nearly fifteen years and chaired all the main WTO bodies.

In 2011, Dr Agah served as chair of the WTO’s General Council, responsible for organising the WTO’s 8th Ministerial Conference. The conference was predicted to fail, but Agah snatched victory from the jaw of defeat, and ensured its success. Two years later, in 2013, DG Roberto Azevêdo appointed him as one of his four Deputy Directors-General. Now, with OkonjoIweala, a Nigerian/African, as DG, Agah, a Nigerian/African, can’t continue as DDG. Truth is, Dr Okonjo-Iweala and Dr Agah have both done Nigeria and Africa proud and deserve our best wishes. Indeed, Dr Agah, a career diplomat, deserves a new, top-ranking diplomatic job!

Dr. Fasan, a London-based lawyer and political economist, is a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics. e-mail: o.fasan@lse.ac.uk, twitter account: @olu_fasan

As social media restrictions grow, African democracy dies in silence

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n the 18th century, a movement began in Europe that would shortly sweep the world and permanently alter the course of modern human history. It was not recognised as one singular, cohesive movement, but its tenets were irresistibly compelling and interlinked. Rather than military force and inherited power, reason and consensus were fronted as the new ultimate source of authority and legitimacy.

Rather than focusing the state around diktats and commandments issued by a tiny political elite, there was a newfound emphasis on individual liberty and technological advancement.

More importantly, rather than the state being a micro-ethnic institution ruled over by a monarchy or theocracy, this movement prioritised the creation of a constitutional government with separation of powers and separation of church and state. Known in later years as the ‘Enlightenment Period,’ this period’s impact on the subsequent advancement of humanity can be boiled down to the popularisation of one societal paradigm - sharing and mainstreaming knowledge instead of hoarding it.

It took another 3 centuries for Enlightenment ideals to achieve their finest moment with the advent of social media and the rise of global real-time information sharing. Whereas for

10,000 years of known human history, human society in Africa and elsewhere had been structured around restricting the flow of information to a tiny elite in order to maintain a pyramidic social order. Social media had totally upended this order.

For the first time, a university student in Xiangjing could communicate and socialise extensively, cheaply and in real time with a counterpart in Miami. It is no exaggeration to say that the opportunities for cultural and political evolution created by social media are the culmination of the 18th century Enlightenment.

So naturally, certain anti-progressive regimes were having none of that.

The Anti-Enlightenment: Africa leads the way While Senegal has become the latest country to block access to social media including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube in response to protests over the detention of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, it is merely the 64th country to impose similar restrictions over the past 5 years.

The data below from Surfshark describes the situation better than words can.

The continent that has led the way in this reversal of enlightenment ideals and throttling of global convergence by restricting or cutting

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off access to social media is by far and away, Africa. The two tables below illustrate the extent to which African governments have pursued this goal over the past 5 years in comparison to the next most repressive continent - Asia.

Surprisingly, Nigeria is absent from these statistics, with the Buhari government so far managing to resist its instincts. Despite this, it would be a mistake to think that Nigeria is a haven of intellectual and cultural freedom in Africa. Rather, it is more useful to think of the present administration as a chameleon. There is no frontal top-down social media restriction because of how politically difficult it would be, but there are a plethora of regulatory and legislative attempts to achieve the same effect through the back door. Instead of simply banning access to social media, the Buhari government prefers to adopt a policy of illegal arrests and prolonged detention to create a chilling effect via self-censorship.

Refuelling the enlightenment in Africa There is no easy answer for what it would take to reverse this dangerous trend on what is already statistically the continent most prone to dictatorship and regression to the 17th century mean. Some have suggested that internet access that is out of the postcolonial African state’s con-

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DAVID HUNDEYIN trol would fix the problem of the state throttling access to information. That does not account for the inherent risk of potentially exchanging one hostile ruler for another, if ever, African interests were not aligned with those of the entity controlling internet access.

It also does not account for the sheer technical difficulty involved in putting such an infrastructure together. Even if it were possible, why would such a mammoth investment be justified? What does Africa offer to make such an undertaking worthwhile from a commercial standpoint? If the solution is to get funding from the aid/NGO sector, then such solutions cannot be expected to be any bigger than the Radio Kudirat/SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe template, which is to say, geographically limited.

Hundeyin is a writer, travel addict and journalist majoring in politics, tech and finance. He tweets @DavidHundeyin.

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BUSINESS DAY

Monday 08 March 2021

GENERATIONAL WEALTH Family Office Spotlight: Oppenheimer Family Office Services ONYINYECHI UKEGBU

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he world added eight billionaires a week in 2020, taking the total number to a record 3,288 with a total net worth of $14.7 trillion, according to Hurun Global Rich List 2021. This is a marked increase from 2,604 billionaires with a total wealth of $9 trillion recorded in 2019. Of all global billionaires currently, 71 per cent are self-made including 231 self-made women, an increase of 51 from last year.

The number of single-family offices globally, rose from an estimated 1,000 to more than 10,000 in less than a decade.

Following this trend and given that the biggest reason for the increase in the number of family offices was higher levels of individual and family wealth, globally, it is expected that there will be an increase in family offices and/or wealth management companies that offer family office services in response to the spike in the number of billionaires.

The Oppenheimer Family Office Services (OFOS) is not a stand-alone family office but is included as part of the services offered by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. (Oppenheimer). Oppenheimer is self-described as a global full-service brokerage and investment bank of over 130 years’ experience providing individuals, families, corporate executives, foundations and endowments, charities, pension plans, businesses and institutions with innovative, customized solutions, through their financial expertise, to help them achieve their goals. It has four offices globally, an Asia office located in Hong Kong, a Europe office located in London, an Israel office located in Tel Aviv and the headquarters in New York, United States.

OFOS assists “a family office to offload investment management and other ongoing financial services on behalf of their clients, while maintaining oversight.” This could include the day-to-day administration of a family’s affairs; assistance with preserving and growing wealth of multiple family members across generations; providing an investment platform that offers a broad range of carefully selected and monitored funds across various assets classes including alternative investments; philanthropic initiatives; the purchase or sale of businesses that family office clients may own and setting retirement/pension plans.

Oppenheimer Private Client Division Through its Private Client Division (PCD), Oppenheimer provides a comprehensive array

Albert G. Lowenthal, CEO and Chairman at Oppenheimer

Ed Harrington, Head of the Private Client Division.

of financial services – including OFOS, through a network of approximately 1,032 financial advisors in 93 branch offices throughout the US. As of 2019, Oppenheimer’s PCD had $91 billion assets under administration, an increase from $78.7 billion in 2015.

In its 2019 Annual Report, Oppenheimer Holdings reported a gross revenue of $1,033,379,000 of which the Private Client Division accounted for $653.4 million of the revenue. However, clients include

Timothy M. Dwyer, founder and former CEO and Chairman, Entitle Direct Group Inc; William J. Ehrhardt, a retired Senior audit partner formerly with Deloitte & Touche LLP, New York ; Paul Friedman, former COO, Fixed Income Division, Bear Stearns & Co., Teresa Glasser, a Principal with Financial Risk Group, Inc, A. Winn Oughtred, retired Counsel, Oppenheimer Group; R. Lawrence Roth, Managing Partner of RLR. Strategic Partners LLC; Robert S. Lowenthal, Managing Director of the Company’s Taxable Fixed Income business and Albert G. Lowenthal, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Company. ii. T h e M a n a g e m e n t Committee is the leadership team of Oppenheimer. They are responsible for setting and executing organizational strategy as well as implementing and enforcing firm-wide policies. The Management Committee includes Peter Albano, Senior Managng Director, Global Head of Fixed Income; Jeff Alfano, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer; Ed Harrington, Executive Vice President, Private Client Division; John Hellier, Senior Managing Director, Equities; Joan Khoury, Managing Director, Chief Marketing Officer; Max Lami, CEO & Head of Investment Banking, EME A; Robert Lowenthal; Senior Managing Director, Head of U.S. Investment Banking & Chair, Management Committee; Bryan McKigney, President, Oppenheimer Asset Management; Dennis McNamara, Executive Vice President, General Counsel; Leon Molokie, Executive Vice President, Chief Operations Officer, and Douglas Siegel, Managing Director, Chief Compliance Of-

high-net-worth individuals and families, corporate executives, and small and mid-sized businesses, so it is unclear how much of the revenue came from UHNWIs. Forbes’ 2019 Top 250 NextGen Wealth Advisors ranking, included 6 advisors from Oppenheimer. Ed Harrington, Head, PCD stated, “I’m proud to see six Oppenheimer Financial Advisors receive this honorable designation. As we enter a new era in wealth management, how we cultivate the next generation of talent is extremely important to us. These individuals exemplify Oppenheimer’s values and their dedication to www.businessday.ng

serving clients’ evolving needs is admirable. We look forward to supporting their continued success and celebrating their contributions to our firm’s future growth.”

Corporate Governance Oppenheimer Holdings Inc (Oppenheimer Holdings), a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is the parent company of Oppenheimer, and its corporate governance guidelines are applied to all Oppenheimer Holdings companies, globally, including Oppenheimer of which OFOS is a part. The guidelines include an Audit Committee Charter; Code of Conduct; Compensations Committee Charter; Compliance Committee Charter; Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee Charter ; Statement of Corporate Governance Guidelines and a Whistleblower Policy.

Oppenheimer is overseen by the Board of Directors of Oppenheimer Holdings and a Management Committee. i.

The Board of Directors of Oppenheimer Holdings oversees the management of the business affairs of the Oppenheimer group of companies globally and is charged with providing direction and oversight to the senior management, as well as to oversee the strategic direction of the Oppenheimer Group. According to the Corporate Governance Guidelines of the company, members of the Board do not need to be well-versed in the business of Oppenheimer itself but are expected to provide guidance through their business expertise. The current members of the Board include Evan Behrens, Managing Member, B Capital Advisors LLC;

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ficer.

Looking Forward Oppenheimer is keen on digital transformation and is investing in technology relevant to OFOS. In Sept 2020, Harrington announced the launch of a strategic alliance with global fintech firm InvestCloud for the creation of a new digital advisor-client webbased portal for Oppenheimer’s PCD, to be integrated with Oppenheimer’s existing technology infrastructure.

The partnership is expected to significantly enhance Oppenheimer’s ability to deliver the following technology-enabled solutions to its financial advisors and other professionals: • Recruit and prospect transitioning • Client onboarding and retention • Business growth and process efficiency Speaking to this, Albert G. Lowenthal, CEO and Chairman at Oppenheimer, said, “We continue to deploy capital in a disciplined manner as we make great progress on our digital transformation roadmap across our business segments. Our partnership with InvestCloud will provide intuitive, automated, and modern interfaces that improve the wealth management experience for both our advisors and their clients. This investment will optimize and enhance prior investments as we work to anticipate the preferences our clients have for both in-person and digital delivery.”

About the column: Preserving wealth across generations remains a key concern for High Networth Individuals (HNWIs).

This column explores factors that shape the successful transfer and preservation of wealth through the generations.

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BUSINESS DAY

INTERVIEW

The Business Case with Ivana Osagie An interview with Ireti Samuel-Ogbu, MD/CEO, Citibank Nigeria Limited

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aving just taken over at Citibank Nigeria, what are your top 3 priorities?

The first priority remains our clients and I’m focussed on delivering on our mission to serve as a trusted partner to our clients by responsibly providing financial services that enable growth and economic progress.

Second priority is around People - ensuring our teams are supported through these unprecedented times and remain motivated whist delivering excellence and the best for our clients. It’s also key that we stay connected in an era of remote work.

Third is about leveraging global best practice to provide capacity building and thought leadership.

What is your definition of leadership and how would you describe your personal leadership style?

My definition for Leadership is a metaphor derived from a flock of geese who fly thousands of miles in perfect V formation.

Leadership is about inspiring a shared common vision, travelling together, complementing, and positively reinforcing one another. I would describe my leadership style as threefold : a combination of Affiliative (people come first ), Democratic (ask people what they think) and Pacesetting (leading by example).

When you take up a leadership position, it’s not about you, how good you are or how well you execute, it’s about bringing an entire organisation along with you. My natural style is one of collaboration and I have found that it drives momentum because the more people buy in, the more they not only deliver to the vision, but they are empowered, and inspired to take it to the next level.

Citi clearly has a strong gender diversity and inclusion proposition.

You co-founded the Momentum Program for female undergraduates in the UK and the Sapphire Leadership Program for the bank’s talent in MEA. Citi also has the Citi Women Affinity group. This is amazing. The IWD slogan this year is #ChooseToChallenge. What does it mean to you?

It means challenging the status quo, choosing to call out gender bias and to foster a more inclusive working environment.

I think it’s also about taking risks and stepping out of your comfort zone even from a career perspective.

I’ve sought to constantly challenge myself to take on more complex roles which have required learning agility. I’ve tried to choose roles where there’s been a confluence between my areas of interest, my strengths and Citi’s strategic priorities.

I have been fortunate in having great sponsors and mentors who have supported me and hence I have paid it forward through cofounding these mentorship platforms.

nered with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC, formerly known as OPIC) to expand microfinance loans to women in emerging markets around the world We believe microfinance is a path to women’s economic empowerment. Most microfinance recipients are women, making Citi’s work within microfinance a direct contributor to SDG 5, in support of gender equality and empowerment for all women and girls.

In addition, our ESG agenda highlights Citi’s commitments to closing the gender pay gap, to advancing racial equity, and pioneering a green agenda as this is good for business.

How do you think men and women can collaborate to build more inclusive workplaces where everyone thrives and creates value for the organisation? Also, how can male counterparts and colleagues act as allies and support women at work?

Our male counterparts can partner to hire, promote, and retain more women. They can also be bolder champions of diversity by helping to develop policies and solutions that amplify the voices of women whilst increasing representation.

On a practical level, one way to be an ally is by putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes and just trying to understand what a woman might be going through.

Also understanding fundamentally how men and women think differently. For example, if you have an opportunity open up, a woman might need more of a nudge to put herself forward for it than a man would. A woman will put her hand up for the next role if she’s feeling like she’s 80% ready. A man at 50% or maybe not even that, will say, “Can you consider me?”.

So you find the men regularly put themselves forward more not necessarily because they’re more competent but because they’re willing to take more risks. So women are losing out on opportunities not because anybody has held them back, but because they have held themselves back.

Just understanding this simple fact means that as a manager who is looking for the best person for the role, you must understand that a man and a woman present differently when opportunities show up. So, you have to adjust your behaviour. With a woman, you perhaps have to encour-

‘

My definition for Leadership is a metaphor derived from a flock of geese who fly thousands of miles in perfect V formation

age her by saying, “I really think you’d be well suited for this role. Have you given it a thought?”. That will probably be the nudge she needs. Then in the interview, you’re going to find that because you have a diverse slate, the man and the woman get to compete on a level playing field and then the best person gets selected for the job.

Without you giving her that nudge, you may find that rather than say having three men and two women apply, you just have five men apply. So, then it is the best man who gets the role and not the best person for the role.

Mckinsey have pointed out that $316 billion would be added to Africa’s GDP by increasing the participation of women in the economy. Also, according to the AfDB, there is a $42 billion financing gap between male and female entrepreneurs in Africa. Do you have any ideas on how these gaps can be plugged?

Very interesting statistics – the good news is that institutions are becoming extremely aware of these issues.

For instance, at Citi we have part-

Many young people feel pressured to follow the entrepreneurship path but we also need career men and women to support entrepreneurs and help build the economy. What are your thoughts on this?

I agree and it’s also why the Citi Foundation is collaborating with NGO partners like the International Rescue Committee IRC , Junior Achievement, TechnoServe and LEAP Africa, in implementing programs that support young people to move into the workforce, whether into their first job, a career, or to start and scale an enterprise.

Our flagship programme in Nigeria, Rescuing Futures by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) began as an entrepreneurship training programme, but following assessment of the outcomes from the first two years, the programme now also helps to prepare youth for alternative labour market opportunities.

The Citi Foundation and the IRC introduced a Follow-On Programme in Rescuing Futures II, which supports a small group of youth to engage the labour market in alternative ways including through: • Job counselling, training on job search skills, CV development, and interview skills.

• Apprenticeships – a small group of youth who do not seek to start a business are matched with apprenticeship opportunities in order to gain valuable on-the-job learning experience.

The AfCFTA is predicted to have a huge impact on trade and industrialisation in the region. Do you think our payment systems are sophisticated or robust enough to handle what is coming? Where are the gaps and what needs to be done?

Intra-regional Trade in Africa is mostly informal today. However, cross regional payment infrastructure would be an enabler for increasing and formalising trade flows. An accessible, cost effective and efficient cross border payment infrastructure which straddles all the countries is key.

The EU solved the problem by establishing a single payment area and a single currency, the Euro.

There are natural aggregation points

in Africa already that could be helpful building blocks for a similar approach. These are: • Central Africa Economic and Monetary community (CEMAC) which covers 6 countries with same currency CFA franc(XAF) • West African Economic and Monetary union (WAMU) which covers 8 countries with the same currency CFA franc(XOF) One way forward is to leverage existing payment infrastructure within each country for settlement of trade obligations in the local currency. AFREXIM’s regional payment platform is a step in the right direction in this respect. A seller sells in his domestic currency and the importer pays in his domestic currency at daily agreed rates. It is proposed to leverage the Real Time Gross Settlement systems (High value clearing infrastructure in each country). Net settlement positions are established in the settlement currencies. The central settlement bank debits and credits each country, based on net settlement positions at end of day in the equivalent amount of the base currency (USD).

Citi participated in the recent Lagos Economic Summit – Ehingbeti and you were a guest speaker there.

What were your key takeaways from the summit?

Yes we did – three colleagues participated on panels during the summit while I moderated the Digital Transformation Solutions for Smart Cities panel. Some of the interesting conclusions include: • The importance of people in terms of inclusion in all its ramifications- financial services, citizen engagement & tech talent development.

• The importance of data and how it can improve the lives of citizens through automation – “digital by default” • End to end Ecosystems are important - not just cabling and Wi-Fi but also service management Ultimately, we need to better leverage what we already have like the Yaba Tech hub & digital IDs like National Identification Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) Finally, what is your favourite piece of music? What makes it special and what does it mean to you?

I have a play list of “Favourites” with more than 200 songs so very difficult to choose a favourite piece! That said, I like walking/running to “The Man by Aloe Blacc” as it has inspiring lyrics: “Somewhere I heard that life is a test I been through the worst but I still give my best God made my mould different from the rest Then he broke that mould so I know I’m blessed Stand up now and face the sun Won’t hide my tail or turn and run It’s time to do what must be done ~Be a king when kingdom come….”

Monday 08 March 2021

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Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

TECHTALK Innovation

Apps

Start-up

Gadgets

Ecommerce

IOTs

Broadband Infrastructure

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Bank IT Security

Developing skills for people living with disabilities our top priority — DG NITDA Stories by Mubarak Umar

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he Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, has said that nurturing entrepreneurship skills and creating desired social and economic outcomes by facilitating innovative, technology-driven economic growth, through the use of ICT among people with special needs are on top of NITDA’s agenda.

Abdullahi stated this at the opening ceremony of a 5-day training programme for People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs), taking place in Enugu State Technology Hub and Youth Innovation Centre, Enugu.

The NITDA boss, who was represented by the Director, Corporate Planning and Strategy department of the Agency, Dr Agu Collins Agu, noted that the aim of empowering persons with special

needs is for them to acquire ICT skills, digital literacy and its applications and prop up their relationship with people and the world at large.

He said the 5-day training programme is an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy which is being implemented by NITDA. He added that the primary purpose of the training programme is geared towards empowering PLWDs through investments in ICT infrastructure, policies and solutions to enable them live productively, and to give them a sense of inclusion in the IT ecosystem, their immediate society and the country at large.

“The objective of the training is to build capacities of people living with disabilities, make them employable and self-reliant in order to have effective economic independence in pursing their livelihoods,” he said.

He added that the training

will boost all the participants’ digital literacy and proficiency so as to efficiently participate in the fast-growing digital economy and entrepreneur ecosystem.

He argued that the programme is in line with the vision of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, to ensure that the entire citizenry be empowered with Information Technologies skills through development of a critical mass

of IT proficient and globally competitive manpower.

He expressed delight at the theme of the programme, tagged: ‘Training in IT and Entrepreneurship’, which signifies the need to leverage on entrepreneurial technologies and job creation especially in this era of COVID-19 pandemic. He reiterated that, with the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s road map.

He stated categorically that NITDA, through this initiative, has trained over 730

persons across the country and has created over 1000 jobs because the programme which is a ‘train the trainer’ has an exponential ripple effect.

This, he said, necessitated the need for the agency to bring the event to Enugu state with the purpose of using ICT to improve the entrepreneurship skills of persons living with disability in the region.

He averred that studies have shown that people with disabilities experience high level of discrimination in the society which consequently effects their social and economic dispositions.

“The training programme will potentially make significant improvements in their lives. It will, no doubt, give them opportunities to enhance their social, cultural, political and economic integration in the society while at the same time, expanding the scope of opportunities available to them,” he added.

He therefore urged partic-

ipants to take the opportunity of the training seriously and make the best use of it to promote innovation and wealth for a sustainable National growth and development.

Earlier, the Executive Governor of Enugu State, Rt Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi who was represented by the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Hon Obi Kama, expressed his delight to be part of the laudable training initiated by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, and thanked NITDA for the implemention.

He said massive unemployment due to the post COVID-19 pandemic, has prompted the State Government in taking proactive steps in ensuring that youths leverage on the new entrepreneurial and economic opportunities associated with digital economy which led to the establishment of the Enugu State Technology Hub and Youth Innovation Centre.

How NAVSA is Creating Viable Smart Agriculture For Nigerian Farmers

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ne of the major challenges facing Nigeria’s agricultural practices for long is lack of relevant information. The challenges have contribute to inability of farmers to meet the rising demands in foods locally, produce high quality agricultural products that meet international standards, have access to financial security which in turn result into importation of food and other agricultural products, thereby making the sector contributes significantly less to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

World population is expected to grow by over a

third (or 2.5 billion people) by 2050, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

This is much slower rate of growth than seen in the past four decades during which it grew by 3.3 billion people (or more than 90 percent).

Nearly all of this growth is forecast to take place in the developing countries.

Among the latter, sub-Saharan Africa’s population would grow the fastest with 114%. Urbanization is foreseen to continue at an accelerating pace to account for 70% percent of world population in 2050 (up from 49 percent at present) with rural population, after peak-

ing sometime in the next decade, actually declining.

Global economic growth of about 2.9 percent annually would lead to significant reduction or even near elimination of absolute poverty in the developing countries

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(persons living on less than US$1.25/day in 2005 prices).

Nevertheless, advanced countries have focused on providing the agricultural industry with the infrastructure to leverage emerging technology – including big

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data, cloud computing and the internet of things (IoT) – for tracking, monitoring, automating and analyzing operations.

However, the untapped potential of Nigerian farmers is currently being unfolded, as Federal Government of Nigeria, through Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy introduced National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA), to change the face of agric sector in the country.

National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture being championed by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA),

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is an ecosystem-driven digital platform envisioned for the transformation of the agriculture sector in Nigeria.

It is designed to help farmers and other agricultural ecosystem players navigate their journey across the agriculture value chain.

This journey cuts across farm production to management, processing, harvesting, storage, marketing and consumption.

It will be a source for quality and updated information that can be accessed and used by different strata of agriculture stakeholders irrespective of their educational background or language at no cost.

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Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

In Association With

Britain Shelter and fromEurope the storm

Covid-19 has transformed the welfare state. Which changes will endure?

The pandemic may mark a new chapter in the nature of social safety-nets

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UDDENLY EVERYTHING drops out from under you,” says Will, a 30-yearold Londoner. He has had paid jobs in arts marketing since he graduated from university. The pandemic upended everything. Redundancy loomed.

Rescue came in the form of the British government’s furlough scheme, without which he would be jobless and penurious. The experience has made him more supportive of the welfare state—and even of grander schemes, such as a universal basic income (UBI).

Crises, such as wars or economic collapse, reveal societies’ strengths and weaknesses, and change thinking about how they can and should be organised. The pandemic has forced a re-evaluation of the social contract, in particular how risk should be divided among individuals, employers and the state. The covid-19 fiscal stimulus packages have made even the interventions of the global financial crisis seem like minnows. The expansion of the welfare state has been the greatest in living memory. Government bail-outs of citizens, rather than banks, could mark a new chapter in its history.

At its most basic, the welfare state provides some form of social security and poverty relief. In 1990 Gosta Esping-Andersen, a political scientist, identified three models: market-oriented in Anglophone countries, where the state plays a “residual” role; family-oriented in mainland Europe, where the state and employers play a supporting role; and state-oriented for the Scandinavians, with universal protections and services. The balance between state, market and family shifts over the course of people’s lives, but most take out about as much as they put in (in any year 36% of Britons receive more than they pay in taxes, but over their lifetimes only 7% do).

When covid-19 struck and economies locked down, entire industries faced obliteration. Since the start of the pandemic countries have announced over $13.8trn (13.5% of global GDP) in total emergency funding, more than four times the support provided during the financial crisis. Rich countries have done almost all the spending (see map).

Only in 1945, as Europe was rebuilt after the second world war, was government debt as a share of GDP so high. Emerging economies have never borrowed as much.

The shape of the welfare state has been transformed, too. Established principles such as means-testing (welfare only for the poorest), social insurance (only for those who paid in) and conditionality (only for those who do something) went out of the window. Governments wrote nearblank cheques for everything from job guarantees to food. Some simply sent cash.

As the pandemic abates and economic recovery beckons, how much of this expansion will last?

The shift in risk in 2020 came after decades during which risks such as living longer than expected, or being replaced by an algorithm or foreign worker, were gradually offloaded from governments and employers onto individuals. And just as a flood increases demand for flood insurance, the millions reliant on the state for the first time are demanding stronger safety-nets.

Covid-19 showed that the welfare state needed modernisation. It was born in a different social order, and to protect against different risks.

Discontent was rising before the pandemic: in 2019 less than one in five people in 26 countries agreed that “the system” was working for

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them and half said that it was failing, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. That governments had to respond so aggressively to covid-19 shows that the responsibility for some risks sat in the wrong place.

In a new book about the social contract, Minouche Shafik, the head of the London School of Economics (LSE), predicts that “The political turmoil we observe in many countries is only a foretaste of what awaits us if we do not rethink what we owe each other.”

American social security emerged from the Great Depression. Social-insurance programmes appeared in Europe at the turn of the 20th century. But it was the second world war that led to the birth of the modern European welfare state, with universal benefits to guard against poverty and provide health care and education.

Before the war, welfare had primarily been understood as poverty relief through redistribution. But the bombs hit both rich and poor, and Europe emerged with a new appetite for something different, and larger: shock relief for everyone through insurance. Nicholas Barr of the LSE describes this as part of the “piggy bank” objective of welfare: the realisation that even if poverty were eradicated, people still need protection against shocks and periods of dependency over their lifetimes.

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The post-war expansion ended with the stagnation and inflation of the 1970s. A new version of the welfare state focused on getting people into jobs. Benefits were made scarcer and stingier to discourage laziness and dependency.

Work incentives were boosted.

Welfare recipients were stigmatised as “scroungers” and universalism gave way to means-testing and conditionality. America replaced many cash benefits for the jobless with tax credits for the working poor. Britain renamed unemployment benefits “Jobseeker’s Allowance”. The labour market was made more flexible to entice employers to hire. With full employment, fewer people would need benefits, went the thinking.

Most countries used this second phase which started in the 1980s to reduce state intervention and shift risk back to individuals. Unions were successively weakened, and employment protections cut back still further. In the private sector the certainty of defined-benefit pensions was replaced by the uncertainty of the defined-contribution kind. Between 2004 and 2018 the share of real income replaced by a typical mandatory pension for a private-sector worker fell by 11% in rich countries on average. The social-housing stock as a share of total housing decreased, rent controls were trimmed and housing

@Businessdayng

costs went up.

But talk of self-sufficiency ended when covid-19 struck. Governments scrambled to get the money out and ask questions later. The result was a huge increase in the number and generosity of safety-net measures.

By January the International Labour Organisation counted over 1,600 social-protection policies launched since February 2020. Record numbers claimed support. In some rich countries as many as 60% of those getting help during the pandemic, including through furlough schemes, had never received welfare payments before, according to BCG, a consultancy.

The IMF estimates that by January rich economies had increased total direct spending by almost 13% of GDP, about half of it on supporting workers and households. Countries that typically spend a lot on social protection spent comparatively less on emergency funding (see chart).

Support for employment, such as wage subsidies or furlough schemes, was most popular in Europe (including Britain). In the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, over one in five employees have had their job rescued by such programmes.

Governments have spent about the same on supporting households through bolstered unemployment benefits, child benefits and cash transfers. In America, which has favoured such spending over wage subsidies, the $600 weekly increase in unemployment insurance meant two-thirds of recipients earned more on the dole in the first months of the pandemic than they had when they were working. Claims soared: nearly 33m were made in the third week of June, compared with 2m in the last week of February, just before the pandemic struck, and 12m in the peak week of the financial crisis. In Britain the government increased universal credit, the main welfare programme before the pandemic, by £1,000 ($1,290) a year. Some 6m people claimed it in January compared with 2.6m last February.

Britain, like others, snipped some of the strings attached to such benefits and broadened eligibility.

Many also doled out cash. Donald Trump’s administration sent cheques for $1,200 and then $600 to Continues on page 19

Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

19

In Association With

Welfare in the 21st century

How to make a social safety net for the post-covid world Governments must remake the social contract for the 21st century

A

FTER THE Depression and the second world war, voters and governments in rich countries recast the relationship between the state and its citizens. Now the pandemic has seen the old rules on social spending ripped up. More than three-quarters of Americans support President Joe Biden’s $1.9trn stimulus bill, which is due in the Senate and includes $1,400 cheques for most adults. And in the budget on March 3rd Britain extended a scheme to pay the wages of furloughed workers until September, even as public debt hit its highest level since 1945 (see article). Such boldness brings dangers: governments could stretch the public finances to breakingpoint, distort incentives and create sclerotic societies. But they also have a chance to create new socialwelfare policies that are affordable and which help workers thrive in an economy facing technological disruption. They must seize it.

The past year has seen a wild experiment in social spending. The world launched at least 1,600 new social-protection programmes in 2020 (see article). Rich countries have provided 5.8% of GDP on average to help record numbers of workers. Government debts are piling up, but so far low interest rates mean that they are cheap to service. The public’s mood had already been shifting. Britons used to grumble that layabouts sponged off the welfare state; now they are more likely to say help is too stingy. Last year over two-thirds

of Europeans said they supported a universal basic income (UBI), an unconditional recurring payment to all adults. Affluent professionals have had their gaze drawn to the working conditions of those who deliver food and look after the sick.

The struggles of women who have dropped out of the workforce to care for children and the elderly have become impossible to ignore.

The social safety net in many rich countries was creaking before covid-19 struck. Modelled on the ideas of Otto von Bismarck and William Beveridge, it had often failed to cushion workers from globalisation and technological and social change. In 1999-2019 the number of Americans aged 25-54 outside the labour force grew by 25%, or 4.7m, over six times more than the number who received help from the main assistance programme for displaced workers. As healthcare and pension costs soared in recent years, governments cut back support for working-age people.

Between 2014 and 2018 Britain’s state-pension bill grew in real terms by £4bn ($5.8bn), even as the rest of its welfare budget shrank by £16.5bn. A dwindling share of middle-income jobs and the growth of the gig economy fuelled fears that labour markets were changing faster than flat-footed governments could.

With the public and some economists cheering on, it is tempting for politicians to stoke the economy with more ad hoc spending, or put in place vast schemes such as UBI. Instead they need to take a measured, long-term view. The safety net must be affordable. Tight budgets, not milk and honey, will define the 2020s. The annual deficit of big advanced economies was 4% of their combined GDP even before the pandemic—and much ageing is still to come. Already bond yields are rising again (see article). Social spending must flow quickly and automatically to those who need it—not, as in America, only during

crises when a panicked government passes emergency legislation. And governments need to find mechanisms that cushion people more effectively against income shocks and joblessness without discouraging work or crushing economic dynamism.

The first step towards satisfying these goals is to use technology to make ancient bureaucracies more efficient. Postal cheques, 1980s mainframe computers and shoddy data need to be relegated to the past.

In the pandemic many governments temporarily short-circuited their existing systems because they were too slow. In Estonia and Singapore digital-identification systems and a disdain for form-filling became an asset in the crisis. More countries need to copy them and also to ensure universal access to the internet and bank accounts. The call for efficient administration may sound like tinkering but one in five poor Americans eligible for wage top-ups fails to claim them. Nimbler digital-payment systems will reduce the need for costly universalism as a fail-safe, and allow better targeting and quicker response times. Digital systems also permit the emergency option of making temporary cash payments to all households.

That is the easy part. Balancing generosity and dynamism is harder. Part of the solution is to top up the wages of low-paid workers.

Anglo-Saxon countries have done this well since reforms in the 1990s and 2000s. But wage top-ups are of little use to the jobless and are often scant compensation for people who lose good jobs to forces beyond their

control. Paltry support for the unemployed in Britain and America preserves incentives to work but at high human cost. The sparsity of social insurance has undermined political support for creative destruction, the catalyst for rising living standards.

Continental Europe tends to underwrite traditional workers’ incomes more generously. But the distortion of incentives leads to higher unemployment and divisions between coddled insiders and a precariat.

Both sides of the Atlantic lack a permanent safety net that insures gig workers and the self-employed.

There is one country that combines labour-market flexibility with generosity: Denmark, which spends large sums—1.9% of GDP in 2018— on retraining and on advising the jobless. These interventions stop the unemployed from falling into dependency. The inadequacies of policies elsewhere are often glaring.

Britain’s efforts have flopped. America’s comparable spending is less than a 20th as large as Denmark’s, even though the few lucky beneficiaries of its “trade-adjustment assistance” earn $50,000 more in wages, on average, over a decade.

For years social spending has favoured the elderly and an outdated safety net. It should be rebuilt around active labour-market policies that use technology to help everyone from shopworkers who are victims of disruption to mothers whose skills have atrophied and those whose jobs are replaced by machines. Governments cannot eliminate risk, but they can help ensure that if calamity strikes, people bounce back.

Covid-19 has transformed the welfare state...

Continued from page 18 most adults last year. President Joe Biden plans to distribute another $1,400, taking the price tag of the policy to $920bn. In Japan every citizen received ¥100,000 ($930).

The pandemic highlighted the outmoded pattern of some welfare spending: designed to fit a mid-skilled worker of a type that has become rare, and is likely to become rarer still. It exposed the vulnerability of the growing group of labour-market outsiders, and how little job and income security many essential workers enjoy.

Economists were already arguing for the need to plug coverage gaps, especially for the one in four workers in OECD countries in temporary work or self-employed.

Over the past 20 years rich countries’ labour markets have become polarised, with growing shares of low- and high-skilled jobs and falling shares of middle-skilled (and -income) jobs. Before the pandemic hit, a higher share of

people were in work than at the turn of the century, but most of the growth has been in part-time jobs. Bureaucratic, inflexible welfare systems were already showing the strain before the shock of the pandemic made changes that had seemed politically unfeasible look not just possible but necessary.

When Margaret Hope, a selfemployed chef in Canada, lost all her work due to covid-19 last March, she immediately began selling her kitchen equipment.

“Here we go again,” she thought, “I’ll get nothing.” After Alberta’s oil-price crash in 2014 she had received no government support and had to close up. But this time the federal rescue package covered the self-employed. An emergency monthly benefit of C$2,000 ($1,580) was paid to those who earned less than C$1,000 per month between March and September. Some 8.9m Canadians received it—nearly a quarter of the population—at a cost of C$82bn.

Other governments took similar action. America, for the first time, www.businessday.ng

expanded unemployment insurance to freelancers and contractors. Several extended the coverage of sick leave. The public interest in a universal benefit had rarely been clearer.

The vulnerability of workers with family responsibilities became acutely clear when schools closed. In America one in four working women considered cutting their hours or quitting. Public support for better child-care provision is now more bipartisan. The pandemic put child-care policies on the table even in places where it had been overlooked, for example in Italy. Some governments, such as Australia’s, made child care free for a time. Others, including Portugal’s and Germany’s, provided cash for carers and increased child benefits. Mr Biden has proposed a temporarily enhanced child tax credit (a policy which would, almost on its own, halve poverty among children). “There is total commitment…from the entire Democratic caucus to make this permanent,” says Sherrod Brown,

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a Democratic senator from Ohio.

The pandemic also underscored the importance of speed to welfare. Analysis by McKinsey, a consultancy, suggests that the magic “troika” of reaching lots of people, quickly and with little fraud was possible only for countries with advanced financial infrastructure, meaning widespread use of digital payments, digital IDs and—crucially—relevant data, such as tax returns, linked to these IDs. Singapore, which has all three, was able to send wage subsidies to eligible employers automatically.

Other countries had to make trade-offs between speed and fraud, or between scope and successful deliver y, says Anu Madgavkar of McKinsey. Ms Hope, the chef, was “gobsmacked” to receive her money within days of applying online. Most Canadians got their payments within a week.

Canada decided to prioritise speed and ask questions later (it has now started asking recipients to prove their eligibility).

Technology was not the only @Businessdayng

deciding factor in governments’ ability to act with agility; simplifying the claims process proved as important, for example by dropping burdensome tests on assets or assessments of partners’ incomes.

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Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS COVID-19: ONE YEAR AFTER

After rough 2020, optimism rises for investment in Nigeria MICHAEL ANI

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eyi Fadipe, a chief executive off icer in one of Nigeria’s leading investment financial advisory firms, was dismayed after receiving a call from one of his foreign clients.

The client gave her a sorry call, informing her to put on hold an ongoing investment deal, as he and his entourage will not be able to fly into Nigeria for proper inspection due to the imposition of restriction measures in his country, which restricted the movement flow of persons, goods and capital.

The deal was a multi-million-dollar investment in a local agricultural producing firm in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria, which Fadipe had been on since 2019, hoping to bolster her firm’s balance sheet and reward shareholders when it finally fell through in 2020.

“The suspended deal disrupted our business operations last year,” she told BusinessDay. Whether it was the fear of contracting the virus, or the pandemic-induced global lockdown, business leaders, and fund managers had a fair share of the unprecedented year 2020, not just in Nigeria alone, but across the globe.

Total foreign inflows (direct investments + portfolio investments + other investment) into Nigeria plunged to $9.7 billion in 2020, the lowest in three years, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. And the huge collapse is not unconnected with the elevated risk in the global investment environment occasioned by the pandemic.

“The COVID-19 pandemic

had several far-reaching effects on Nigeria’s investment landscape,” according to Toyin Sanni, an investment expert and CEO of Emerging Africa Capital.

Some of these, Sanni noted, include a reduction in disposable income, resulting in reduced demand for investment instruments, and a loss of jobs due to massive layoffs.

“Others include rising food inflation due to supply chain disruptions, among other factors, increased taxes on VAT from 5 percent to 7.5 percent during the year, and the decline in yields following the implementation of expansionary monetary policies by central banks across the world including Nigeria,” Sanni said.

Ijeoma Agboti, managing director/CEO, FBNQuest Fund, told BusinessDay that at the initial stages of COVID-19, investors were generally inclined to avoid aggressive new

investment activity and took a wait-and-hold approach. “This, coupled with a dip in interest rates, was followed by a flight to yield and renewed interest in diversification and alternative approaches,” she said.

But it was not just about the coronavirus induced-lockdown alone, a host of factors including Nigeria’s poor FX management made an already bad situation worse.

Africa’s biggest economy resorted to rationing dollar sales after the pandemic and an oil war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, two of the world’s biggest oil exporters, sent prices tanking to as low as $12 per barrel.

Being that oil accounts for a significant share of Nigeria’s dollar revenue, the fall in oil prices squeezed dollar inflows, sending Nigeria’s external reserve to as low as $33 billion, and limited the central bank’s intervention capacity in the

currency market.

The naira ran into troubled waters last year, suffering a two-time 19 percent devaluation, with rates weakening to N379/$ at the official window and N383/$ at the I&E window, which further eroded investors’ wealth.

It was undoubtedly a difficult time for foreign investors, importers and manufacturers.

A large number of portfolio investors were unable to access the greenback as they sought to repatriate their profit out; while manufacturers found it increasingly difficult to obtain dollars for critical inputs.

The aforementioned scenario alongside negative real interest rates following spiralling commodity prices sent a red flag to the investing public and scared fresh capital from coming, particularly hot money.

NBS data show that not one single foreigner invested in Nigeria’s bond between April

Up L-R: ‘Laoye Jaiyeola, CEO, Nigerian Ecoomic Summit Group (NESG); Taiwo Oyedele, African head for tax practice, PwC Lagos (chairman of the Roundtable); Babajide Fowowe, lecturer, department of economics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Down L-R: Musa Dukuly, deputy governor, economic policy, Central Bank of Liberia Monrovia; Afolabi Olowookere, divisional head, economic research & policy management, Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria, and Kenneth Ofori-Boateng, senior lecturer, GIMPA Business School, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, at the launch of the Debt Management Roundtable to help Nigeria and West African Countries provide a pathway to fiscal sustainability organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA)

Three Crowns begins fitness campaign to promote healthy living JOSEPHINE OKOJIE

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hree Crowns milk, Nigeria’s leading low cholesterol milk brand has commenced its 30 Days Fitness Challenge for 2021 themed, ‘Everybody is Welcome’ to promote a healthy heart.

The Three Crowns fitness campaign was established in 2016 to encourage every Nigerian, especially mothers to live healthy lifestyles by cultivating healthy habits.

The campaign continues to serve as a platform to help mums and families to keep fit while emphasizing the importance of a healthy lifestyle through nutrition.

Omolara Banjoko, mark e t i n g m a n a g e r, T h r e e Crowns said while speaking on the campaign idea

for 2021 that the theme of this year ’s campaign was borne out of the need for inclusivity – meaning that the brand is calling on people of every shape, form, size, and sex to join the fitness challenge.

Banjoko says everybody is welcome to work out with whatever unconventional and household tools in many exciting ways to keep fit.

“Three Crowns 30-day fitness challenge runs twice a year. It is designed to highlight the importance of healthy eating habits especially for Nigerian mums who prioritise t h e ov e ra l l w e l l n e s s o f themselves and their families,” she said. “ Fo r 3 0 d ay s w e w i l l engage consumers within the confines of their homes with exciting workout routines to have a healthy

heart,” she said.

The campaign is scheduled to hold from February 20 to March 30. It will feature daily exercise videos targeted at consumers with different fitness threshold levels like ‘Newbie (Beginners level), Wannabe (Standard level), and Pro (Advanced level) to exercise.

Consumers are urged to register on the brand website Three Crowns Fitn e s s C ha l l e ng e | Fe m i nine Lounge and join the WhatsApp and Telegram groups to connect with a fitness coach who is available 24/7.

The exercise videos will be deployed daily across the brand’s digital platforms and consumers are expected to recreate the same, repost on their social media handles and tag the handle @3crownsmilk, using the campaign hashtag

www.businessday.ng

#TC30DaysFitnessChallenge. Similarly, they can a l s o s ha re t h e i r v i d e o s directly on the WhatsApp and Telegram coaching groups.

Throughout the campaign, Saturday sessions will feature cardio dance exercises, which will be streamed in real-time across the brand’s social media pages. During these sessions, participants will be engaged and rewarded for participating in the weekly mini-workout challenge.

Three Crowns is the first milk brand to show care for mothers while acknowledging the important roles they play in the family.

The brand recognizes that when mothers, socially believed to be primary caregivers, are taken care of, this directly and positively impacts the care they give to their families.

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and December 2020.

Although Africa’s biggest economy recorded a handful of foreign participation in equities and other money market instruments to the tune of $755.12 million and $4.2 billion in 2020, respectively, the combined amount was the lowest since 2016, and they were funds from maturing bonds, rolled into these assets.

“The foreign exchange crisis made what was already a bad situation even worse, as it deterred fresh capital from coming in,” Johnson Chukwu, CEO at Lagos-based investment and financial advisory firm, Cowry Asset Limited, said.

According to Chukwu, the decision is quite understandable since no rational investor will bring in fresh money if the previous investments made are stuck. But it was not all bad for Nigeria when it came to attracting investment last year, as the country recorded some gains concerning direct investment.

Although analysts argue the number could have been more but for the pandemic, foreign direct investments into Nigeria jumped 10.2 percent to $1.03 billion in 2020 from $934.3 million in 2019.

As expected, the bulk of these investments were in the form of private equity, accounting for 99 percent of the direct inflows.

Fintech players had a field day last year. Stripe acquisition of Paystack for $200 million and a $10-million fundraise by Kuda Bank were notable investments in the space, courtesy of the pandemic that made investments in financial technology even more paramount.

Outlook It is barely one year since the index case of the virus was reported in Nigeria, and fund managers and CEOs have put the ugly scenario of last year behind, remaining optimistic about the prospects of the year 2021. Although with a full-year contraction of 1.92 percent, the economy of Nigeria exited its worst recession since 1994, expanding 0.11 percent in the fourth quarter of the year.

Oil prices are also looking bright with Goldman Sachs betting on Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, reaching $70 by the third quarter. There is also an increasing number of countries getting COVID-19 vaccines globally and continentally In the domestic market, yields on treasury bills, bonds and OMO bills are reversing upwards, and it is expected to give some comfort to investors many of which parted with a negative return on their assets last year.

“We are bullish on the growth of investments in Nigeria in the year 2021,” Sanni said According to her, the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, which has begun, offers a path to a swift recovery and return to normalcy.

The equity market also is likely to continue its rally in 2021, despite seeing a pullback in early 2021. Appreciation in stock prices would be driven by the full resumption of business and commercial activities, which is expected to improve corporate earnings, and ample liquidity in the fixed income space, which is likely to find its way into the equity market given the low fixed income yield.

Chinese consul general, Maoming commissions CABC office in Lagos

C

hu Maoming, the consul general of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) in Nigeria, recently commissioned the China Africa Business Council (CABC), The Belt & Road Service Connection, and The Mediation Center in Lagos.

The CABC, headquartered in China, is set up to incorporate Nigerian companies as members with their representative office in Nigeria.

Diana Chen, chairperson, Choice International Group (CIG) and host, said the partnership further cement the ChinaNigeria business relationship.

“The purpose of setting up a representative office here in Lagos is to develop the membership of not only the Chinese enterprises but also enterprises that are looking for business opportunities and investment in China,” Chen said. @Businessdayng

According to Chen, the aim is to enhance and develop cooperation between Nigerian and Chinese companies into a more integrated and efficient platform.

She states further that it will increase the number of reliable, high performing and high-quality Nigerian companies joining the Council’s office in Nigeria. The guest list further included Madame Wang, Chairman of B&R service connection and mediation centre, Beijing, China.

Odein Ajumogobia, principal partner of Ajumogobia and Okeke Law Firm and former minister of state in Nigeria; Linus Idahosa, the vice chairman of the Choice International Group (CIG), Moyo Onigbanjo SAN, attorney general and commissioner of justice, Lagos State, Solape Hammond, special advisor on sustainable development goals and investment.

Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS

Business Event

21

Mandatory digital identity policy key to driving insurance growth - Experts IFEOMA OKEKE

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xperts in Nigeria’s tech and insurance sectors have called for a policy mandate to make digital identity compulsory for insurance.

This was the highlight of the second edition of Digital Identity Matters, a thought leadership webinar series for driving conversations on contemporary issues in identity tech.

The event was sponsored

by VerifyMe Nigeria, a leading identity verification and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) technology company, in partnership with Tech Cabal, a future-focused publication that speaks to African innovation and technology in depth.

Panellists included: Esigie Aguele, co-Founder/CEO, VerifyMe Nigeria, Bayo Adesanya, Chief Digital Officer, AXA Mansard and Adia Sowho, chief executive officer, Thrive Agric. Tunji Andrews, co-founder, Awabah moderated the discussion.

Speaking on the theme: Why Insurance is Important for the Growth of Nigeria’s Digital Economy, Aguele disclosed that the Nigerian insurance market has a $100 billion potential and can become one of the biggest sources for internally generated revenue if properly harnessed.

He said: “Insurance penetration in Nigeria is currently

at about 1%. For a population of 200 million people, we only contributed $1 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year. South Africa, which has a third of Nigeria’s population, has a penetration of 17 percent and a GDP contribution of $50 billion. Stakeholders must put in efforts to ensure that insurance is available to more people to grow the digital economy.

“For a company like VerifyMe, we have the technology and APIs, but there needs to be strong regulation to close the credibility gap in the insurance market and drive compliance, even with the 1 percent who are insured. For instance, we need regulation to ensure that the right ID is matched to the right product. For vehicle insurance, we have to ensure that all motorists have proper insurance and driver’s licenses.

“This will expedite the adoption of data-as-a-product solutions that use ticketing scores to set insurance premiums. These are some of the mandatory regulations that can be put in place while we continue to work on the economic issues that will change cultural perceptions to grow the market much bigger,” he added.

According to Sowho: “The Bank Verification Number (BVN) and National Identification Number (NIN) exercises show that in a low trust environment enforcement of regulation should be balanced

with reward. To drive massmarket adoption in Nigeria, consumers must be nurtured to see how insurance can work for them daily to protect their wealth, in whatever form that manifests in their lives.

“We can start with assurance, a more structured ajò model and as trust is built at that level, people can be up-levelled to more elitist products. As long as we focus on the elitist end of the story, it will be challenging to achieve mass adoption.”

Adesanya noted that: “insurance growth lies in the emerging consumer retail economy. However, most existing products do not cater to this class, so product design needs to be re-imagined to bring affordable, desirable and cheaply consumed alternatives to market. Digital adoption is also the most viable way to dispense these products as you cannot take paper and other literacy-oriented equipment to remote areas where utilization will be ineffective.”

The organisers disclosed that the discussions will be published in a white-paper and distributed to industry stakeholders.

VerifyMe offers digital identity and verification services to a wide range of customers and the retail market.

The company’s products give decision-makers the tools to access customer suitability for financial services and potential staff employment.

L-R: Abiodun Adebanjo, deputy managing director, Aviation Logistics and Management Limited (ALML); Temidayo Kazeem, vice president, Asset, ALML; John Adebanjo, group managing director, ALML Group; Margaret Osa, human resource manager, ALML, and Abimbola Aneke, agency manager, ALML, during the launch of ALML Group TRIPPLUG.COM Customer Friendly Website in Lagos.

L-R: Gbenga Ismail, vice president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI): Victor Liman, acting chief trade negotiator, Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations: Toki Mabogunje, president, LCCI: Wamkele Mene, secretary general, African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), and Muda Yusuf, Director General, LCCI, during the visit of AfCFTA‘s Secretary General to the Chamber in Lagos.

Gradely Platform boosts capacity development with new learning AMAKA ANAGOR- EWUZIE

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radely, a Nigerian education technology startup, has launched a virtual learning management system (LMS) for schools in line with its determination to develop learning capacity among students and to produce globallycompetitive learners as well as resilient leaders.

The startup, which raised $150,000 in pre-seed funding from angel investors and venture capital firms such as Ventures Platform and Microtraction, is Africa’s first truly personalised learning platform that empowers educators and parents to make a positive impact on children’s learning.

Boye Oshinaga, co-founder/CEO of Gradely said during the launch of the platform in Lagos, said it is a teacher-led LMS known as Gradely For Schools, which was built for personalised learning, with features such as live classes that aid engaging class experiences.

According to him, the platform is also an assessment tool

that is fitted with the Nigerian and British curriculum-aligned question pool. “It is a proctored examination system that helps to hold credible remote academic evaluations, and a suite of personalised video lessons, practice quizzes and games library to support in-class efforts with students at home.”

Oshinaga further said it is possible to use Gradely at home as a standalone learning supplement or in conjunction with school so that homework and class material can be viewed directly on the app as well.

On her part, Folashade Adefisayo, Lagos State Commissioner for Education, said the platform is in line with the education and technology agenda of the Lagos State Government.

Adefisayo, who said Lagos State Government is interested in integrating technology into the teaching and learning process, revealed that during the lockdown, the state was able to deploy various forms of technologies in schools to aid learning.

To take education in the state to the next level, she said, www.businessday.ng

the government will fully integrate technology into the teaching and learning process, and also into school administration and governance. “We have decided that we are going to invest in radio stations where we would be running classes across all levels.”

Adefisayo hoped the government would be able to use the platform to assist out of school children and to get them to keep on learning as though they are not in school.

She further lauded Gradely for partnering with the government to support schools by offering 10, 000 students in public schools’ access to the LMS and personalised contents in partnership with some nongovernment organisations that provide the electronic devices for learning.

So far, Gradely has been used by over 5,000 Nigerian parents and 200 schools and made achievements such as receiving “The Adaptive Learning Solution of the Year” 2020 Award by the Federal Ministry of Education and being a part of the Facebook FBStart Accelerator.

L-R : Olatunde Amolegbe, president, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), and Ahmed Idris , accountant general of Federation, during courtesy visit of CIS’ Principal Officers to Idris’ office in Abuja at weekend on collaboration for capacity building.

L-R: Abudulrasheed Bawa, new chairman EFCC with Mohammed Abba, acting chairman EFCC during the handing over ceremony in Abuja

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@Businessdayng

22

Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

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Monday 05 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

23

REAL SECTOR WATCH

Mergers & acquisitions likely as manufacturers struggle GBEMI FAMINU

E

conomic analysts are projecting the rise of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector especially among the small and medium enterprises as local manufacturers struggle to stay afloat under economic headwinds.

Mobola Adu, research analyst at GDL Nigeria, told BusinessDay that the manufacturing sector was facing possible close downs on the back of operational challenges and production costs affecting activities and some may resort to mergers for sustainability.

“The manufacturing sector will witness mergers and acquisitions going forward in order to prevent a shutdown because the macroeconomic condition is not really favorable for their consumers.

Therefore, affecting the volume of sales, in addition, they have to contend with higher production cost, bleak revenue outlook on the back of weak economic output,” Adu said.

Similarly, Jide Bababtope, an economic analyst told BusinessDay that players in the sector are struggling and due to macroeconomic conditions, it will get tougher for businesses. He added that there would be more mergers and acquisitions in the future due to economic recession that will

put pressure on firms’ top-lines and bottom-lines.

“Between the short term and medium term, the cost of doing business will be on the high side for manufacturing outfits as they have to contend with higher production cost even as their revenue outlook is bleak on the back of weak economic output.”

“The impact of this will be more on the SMEs, as such the trend of mergers will be on the rise as these companies come together to avoid closure” he said.

The manufacturing sector in 2020 dropped to -2.75 percent, which was its lowest since 2016.

This was not surprising as the sector slid into recession in Q3 2020 according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

NBS also revealed that out of the 13 manufacturing subsectors, only three recorded positive growth in 2020, while one subsector recorded slower growth. All the other nine subsectors contracted significantly especially the oil refining which plunged -62.22 percent, electrical and electronics fell to -16.48 percent and nonmetallic products declined to -11.55 percent.

Experts affirm that the sector had earlier suffered underlining

challenges hindering its productivity. This was further aggravated by the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic as it induced a supply cut of raw materials and other inputs, crashed oil prices and also restricted mobility.

Still reeling from the impact of the pandemic, the country was hit with the #EndSARS protest, which eventually developed into a civil unrest affecting economic and commercial activities all of which was simply too much for the already ailing sector to bear.

As a result many manufacturing firms have been forced to suspend operations temporarily

or permanently.

Frank Onyebu, chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Apapa branch said, “a lot of manufacturers are struggling with so much debt and other challenges in the business environment, those who cannot cope will be forced to close down” he said.

He added that there might also be attempts of business to merge with other businesses that have harmonizing strengths in order to carry on.

The trend of M&A is not new to Nigeria’s industrial space. In 2018, Dufil, owners of Indomie noodles, acquired 100 percent of the food production line of May & Baker Nigeria Plc, covering its noodles business under the brand name, Mimee Noodles. The deal was worth N775 million.

In 2019, Coca- Cola Company completed the acquisition of a 100 percent stake in Chi Limited, one of Nigeria’s foremost fruit juice and drinks manufacturers.

Similarly Olam International Ltd. acquired 100 percent of Dangote Flour Mills with N120 billion.

Also in 2019, Ohara Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, a leading Japanese healthcare company, increased its shares in Fidson Healthcare Plc, one of Nigeria’s leading pharmaceutical manufacturers to 21.57 percent with N700 million. In 2020, Friesland Campina purchased Nutricima’s dairy business in Nigeria at an

Nigeria missing $49.4mn cocoa market despite free trade benefits GBEMI FAMINU

P

oor engagement in value addition activity and below average output is causing Nigeria to loose from the global Cocoa & Chocolate market valued at $49.4 million and is projected to reach $68.7 million by the end of 2025 according to market watch.

Cocoa is a local crop product widely known for its uses and versatility as well as its economic value, which contributes to a country’s earning. Although abundant in various countries, 70 percent of the world’s cocoa beans come from major West African countries like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Brazil, Nigeria, Cameroon remains some of the top producers of cocoa globally and also some of its by-products.

Repor ts from WorldAtlas show that Ivory Coast is the top cocoa-producing country globally supplying 33 percent of the world’s total cocoa with its annual output of over two million metric tonnes. Presently the country is highly dependent on the crop as it accounts for about

40 percent of its national export income.

Before the discovery of oil in the 1960s, agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy with cocoa as the major driver producing an average of 400,000 metric tons through its cocoa producing states like Ondo, Cross River, Edo, Osun, Oyo, Kwara, Kogi, Adamawa, etc.

Data from The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) shows that over the years, cocoa

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production in Nigeria declined to 210,000 metric tons in 2017 despite the increasing demand for the product ranking it 6th among cocoa-producing countries globally with a production accounting for 5 percent of total market share.

The major export destinations of Nigeria’s cocoa beans are Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia and Belgium where it is converted into products like chocolate, meal spread, Choco

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drink, etc.

According to the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), The global value of raw cocoa export is $ 10 billion while the total value of all finished goods from cocoa annually is $ 200 billion with chocolates alone having $100 billion. This shows that Africa accounts for 73 percent of global production but enjoys less than 5 percent of the wealth in the value addition.

In Q3 2020, Nigeria managed

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to earn N11.41 billion from cocoa beans despite the potential of earning more through value addition Speaking on problems against the country’s cocoa industry, Dara Akala Executive Director of Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta, (PIND) said at a breakfast meeting that “Nigerian cocoa beans are being sold at a discount price in the international market, resulting in low profitability for actors in the value chain especially the farmers.”

He also noted that a value chain study had revealed adding that the poor yields and poor quality of local cocoa beans is a reason for low productivity and profitability of the cocoa industry.

While the government has made efforts to increase non-oil economic activity, the economic diversification process has not been fully delivered. This has impaired Nigeria’s chance to leverage various duty-free bilateral and multilateral trade agreements reached with many countries and regions to boost non-oil exports and earn foreign exchange due to low productivity and poor product quality.

24

Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Friday 05 March 2021

Top Gainers/Losers as at Friday 05 March 2021 LOSERS

GAINERS Company

ASI (Points)

Opening

Closing

Change

Company

Opening

Closing

Change

0.06

TRIPPLEG

N0.8

N0.72

-0.08

DEALS (Numbers) VOLUME (Numbers)

N0.6

N0.66

WAPCO

N20.2

N22.2

2

NEM

N1.72

N1.89

0.17

UHOMREIT

SKYAVN

N3.04

N3.33

0.29

CUTIX

UNITYBNK

N0.67

N0.73

0.06

SCOA

MORISON

TRANSEXPR

N0.9

N0.81

-0.09

N40.65

N36.6

-4.05

N2.01

N1.81

-0.2

N2.93

N2.64

-0.29

39,331.61 4,895.00 587,742,048.00

VALUE (N billion)

13.615

MARKET CAP (N Trn)

20.578

Stocks lose N245bn as investors go for attractive yields Iheanyi Nwachukwu

I

nvestors in Nigeria’s equities market became worse off in the trading week ended March 5 after booking about N245billion loss as funds moved out of equities due to impressive yields in the fixed income (FI) market.

Investors are now battling with the decision to either buy into the recent dip or to stay out of the market pending when there are major positives capable of reversing the negative trend. The market disappointed despite significant increase in prices of crude oil –Nigeria’s major source of dollar revenue, coupled with the attractive dividend yields of a number of dividend-paying counters.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market

Capitalisation moved from week-open highs of 39,799.89 points and N20.823 trillion respectively to close the review week at 39,331.61 points and N20.578trillion.

The NSE ASI closed negative in four out of the five-day trading week, causing the benchmark performance indicator of the Bourse to decrease by 1.18percent weekon-week (WoW).

This negative was fueled mostly by remarkable losses in

consumer goods, insurance and oil & gas stocks as evidenced in their sectoral indices.

NSE-30 Index which tracks the top 30 companies in terms of market capitalisation and liquidity decreased by 1.46percent in the review trading week.

Except NSE Industrial index which rose by 1.39percent, other sectoral indices closed in red – NSE Consumer goods index (-6.30percent), NSE Insurance index (-4.99percent), NSE Oil

Shareholders endorse Vitafoam’s N979mn dividend

S

hareholders of Vitafoam Nigeria Plc have endorsed the proposed a N979.410 million which translates into 70 kobo per Ordinary Shares for the company’s 2020 financial performance, a whopping increase of 64 percent as against the corresponding year.

The elated shareholders, at the hybrid Annual General Meeting (AGM), Thursday, specifically commended the company’s management for the outstanding performance and urged them to sustain it.

The leading manufacturer of rigid foams and other household equipment has announced a 5.2 percent increase in total sales, 8.1 percent drop in cost of sales while the 11.4 percent reduction in finance was a reward for internal cost efficiency.

The company’s After taxes net profit soared by 72 per cent from N2.39 billion to N4.11 billion. Basic earnings per share increased from N1.82 to N3.05 and

Net assets per share hit N7.25 in 2020, 54.3 per cent above N4.70 recorded in 2019.

The Directors have proposed a cash dividend of 70 kobo per share as against 42 kobo paid in 2019.

“I commend Vitafoam’s declaration of 70 kobo dividend per share. The company’s dividend has been on upward trend in the last three years. The company’s Board and Management have demonstrated capacity to compete globally, despite the challenges in the operating environment.”, says a member of Independent Shareholders’ Association of Nigeria, Ayodele Kudaisi, while commenting on the company’s performance during the AGM. Corroborating her, Nona Awoh, a shareholder who also showered encomiums on the company’s stella performance, urged the Board and Management to consider the need to commence interim dividend to further boost the shareholders’ Return On Equity www.businessday.ng

(ROE).

The Chairman of Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Bamidele Makanjuola, in his response, explained that the company’s performance was driven by topnotch human capital who have demonstrated innovative tendencies and global competitiveness in all metrics.

“The Company is blessed with young and vibrant staff. We will drive innovative strategies to sustain growth and profitability despite immense environmental challenges.

We remain upbeat about the quality of our product range and will continue to invest in capacity- building and products development as pathways to sustaining market leadership. I am confident that the uniqueness of our offerings, incredible brands, and the Company’s cost optimization approach will further strengthen our overall business performance, with resultant improvement in returns to all our shareholders “ says Makanjuola.

& Gas (-2.16percent), NSE Pension (-2.83percent), and NSE Banking (-1.94percent).

The stock market of Africa’s largest economy had bullish run in 2020 with a recordbreaking return of +50percent amid unattractive yields in the fixed income space, placing it as world’s best.

Likewise, the market kicked off 2021 with similar trend, gaining 5.3percent in January, but since February (-5.6percent) it has maintained a southward direction. As at close of trading on Friday, the market has lost 2.33percent of its year-open value.

While investors’ confidence remains weak on Custom Street, market watchers at Lagos-based Vetiva Securities said they expect the low prices of major bellwether stocks coupled with attractive dividend yields to fuel some buying interest in the coming week.

Global market indicators FTSE 100 Index 6,630.52GBP -20.36-0.31%

Nikkei 225 28,864.32JPY -65.79-0.23%

S&P 500 INDEX 3,760.18USD -8.29-0.22%

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 13,920.69EUR -135.65-0.96%

Generic 1st ‘DM’ Future 30,946.00USD +68.00+0.22%

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 3,501.99CNY -1.51-0.04%

Ardova proposes final dividend of 19kobo

A

rdova Plc, a Nigerian leading indigenous and integrated energy company, has released its consolidated and separate financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. In the review year, revenue of the Group at N181.938billion stood higher by 3.1percent while that of the company was N181.664billion, up from N176.550billion in 2019.

The Group’s gross profit at N12.130billion in 2020 implies an increase by 7.5percent while that of the company was N12.106billion, up from N11.281billion in 2019.

The group’s profit before income tax (PBT) printed lower by 37.6percent at N2.905billion in 2020 and while that of the company stood at N3.199billion, lower than N4.654billion reported in 2019.

The results at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) show Ardova reported 52.6percent decline in the

Group’s profit after tax (PAT) at N1.857billion in 2020, and company PAT of N2.063billion compared to N3.915billion in 2019.

Basic earnings per share for the company stood at N1.58 in 2020, while that of the company was N1.42.

The N14.65 per share Ardova exchanged on March 4 implies an increase of 8.1percent yearto-date (YtD) The Board of Directors, pursuant to the powers vested in it by the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, proposed a final dividend of 19kobo per share from the retained earnings account as at 31 December, 2020. This will be presented for ratification to the shareholders at the next Annual General Meeting.

Retained earnings for the Group in the review year 2020 was N10.687billion, while that of the company was N10.893billion compared to N8.829billion in 2019 financial year.

PIAfrica drives discussion on pension funds, alternative investment market Modestus Anaesoronye

P

IAfrica, a dedicated Pension Funds and Alternative Investment show in Africa in partnership with stakeholders inducing the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PENOPO) has created virtual platforms to discuss pension fund and alternative investments market in Africa.

This is coming at a time when players in the pension industry are seeking for alternative investment windows to channel growing pension funds to better

the future and wellbeing of their retirees and contributors in the immediate and long term.

With the impact of Covid-19 across the global, this year’s programme is happening online, and will bring several virtual events that will take place during this month of March.

The 4th edition offers to all participants the unique opportunity to attend a total of 8 virtual events: 5 webinars, 2 full days of lead virtual conference, and a masterclass training session.

The event has been designed to provide a comprehensive view of pension funds and African Alterna-

tive investment market.

Leading Pension Funds and Investment Companies will share their views on the current investment climate, the strategies to overcome existing challenges and the opportunities available to savvy investors.

Developed under the theme “The Developmental Impact of Pension Funds – Allocating Capital in a Broad-Based Economy”, the PIAfrica Month offers more opportunities to meet, network and learn from Pension Funds & Asset Managers experts that will determine the scope and value of the developmental impact of pension funds:

Peter Obaseki retires as Chief Operating Officer of FCMB Group

T

he Board of Directors’ of FCMB Group Plc has announced the retirement of Peter Obaseki, the Chief Operating Officer of the financial institution, with effect from March 1, 2021. He was also

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an Executive Director of the Group. His retirement was approved at a meeting of the Board of the Group on February 26, 2021. This has also been announced in a statement to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by the financial @Businessdayng

institution.

The Chairman of FCMB Group Plc’s Board of Directors, Oladipupo Jadesimi, thanked Obaseki for his valuable service and excellent support to the Board for many years.

Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

START-UP DIGEST

In association with

Meet Joan Adewale, designer creating unique clothing line JOSEPHINE OKOJIE

S

ome people have to wait a lifetime to discover their real purpose in life. But for talented designer, Joan Adewale, founder of Agbeke Alaso-Oke, that time came when life presented the opportunity for her while still on a job hunt.

Since then, the young entrepreneur has pursued her passion and turned it into a profitable clothing business through the preservation of some cultural heritage.

Agbeke Alaso-Oke does not just design clothes, but do so using locally made fabrics that has cultural heritage such as Aso-Oke to design its clothing line.

Joan was inspired to establish her business in 2016 out of her desire to preserve the Yoruba culture. While still hunting for a job, the young entrepreneur saw an opportunity in the fashion industry.

“I saw that the new rave at the time was how people embellished their Aso-Oke for weddings. It was really big then and I thought to myself that I wanted to do something different with Aso-Oke,” she explains.

“That was how I started designing my clothing line using

Joan Adewale

Aso-Oke as fabrics,” she says.

The brand communicator-turned-entrepreneur attended a fashion institution to learn about fashion and designs before establishing Agbeke Alaso-Oke. “I wanted to carve a niche for myself and the first step for me was to enroll in a fashion institution to learn about AsoOke. At the time, the tuition fee was high for a job seeker then, but I was determined to go for it,” she says. She started the business with N5,000, an amount she got from her personal savings.

Since starting, she says

25

the business has grown, as its fashion line has been widely accepted by Nigerians.

“My business has grown in leaps and bounds. We have been able to produce unique fashion pieces that have been widely accepted by customers,” she says.

She currently has eight full-time employees working with her. Joan sources her Aso-Oke fabrics majorly from Ibadan, Oyo state.

“Seeing that Oyo state is the home of Aso-Oke I knew sourcing it will not be difficult.

We source our fabrics from Iseyin, Oyo State and Ilorin, Kwara State.”

She noted that Agbeke Alaso-Oke has continued to remain business owing to its urban infusion to its clothing line.

“What we have been doing to remain relevant in business is to have an urban infusion to our pieces such that you can wear on a daily basis,” she says.

She says that the business plans to diversify into interior decoration owing to the opportunities within the subsector in the short run.

While in the long run, to go into large scale production of Aso-Oke clothing line by establishing a world-class production factory. Also, for

Agbeke Alaso-Oke to become a household name all across Africa.

Speaking on the major challenges confronting her business, she says that the high cost of fabrics with cultural heritage has remained the major hurdle for the business.

“Major challenge for us is the high cost of production as well as access to production machines,” she says.

“Due to the nature of the Aso Oke fabric, it is usually woven. You will agree with me that handmade items are pricier than machine-produced items,” she adds.

Joan urges the government to provide key infrastructure to drive down production costs such as power, will calling on them to support local Aso-Oke weavers with technology. Joan is a recipient of the Federal Government MSME 2019 Award for Excellence in Fashion and Style.

Evaluating the Nigerian fashion industry, the young entrepreneur says that the industry is tremendously evolving and many organisations have continued to support it.

On her advice to other entrepreneurs, she says “Stay focused on your craft. Make sure you deliver solutions to the need of your customers.”

US opens centre to boost entrepreneurship, leadership skills JOSEPHINE OKOJIE

T

he United States has opened the first of its kind Window on America in Nigeria to boost youth entrepreneurship and leadership skills.

The Window on America will serve as a community center where young people develop their ideas, as well as their leadership and entrepreneurship skills through programs and workshops designed especially for them.

Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard who opened the centre recently in Lagos explained that the Lekki window on America is as a result of a partnership between the US Consulate General in Lagos and Slum2School Africa, founded by Otto Orondaam, a 2016 alumnus of the prestigious Mandela Washington Fellowship.

Leonard noted that the new window on America is open to everyone in the community offering its services, programs, and resources to the public at no cost. “We are happy to open the very first Window on America space in Nigeria here in Lekki,” she said in a statement. “In the next few months, we will follow with six additional new Windows on America in the south and 12 across the coun-

try,” she said.

“We want our Windows on America to promote mutual understanding between the United States and the people of Nigeria,” she added.

In addition to providing public programming space, the Lekki Window on America will support five core programs: English language learning, educational advising, alumni activities, cultural programs, and information about the US. Visitors to the window will typically include students, teachers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists, civic organizations, government officials, and community leaders among others. Windows on America are American Spaces that provide welcoming environments where visitors can learn about the United States, including its government, history, culture, and educational system through programs, lectures, books, and electronic resources.

In addition to the Lekki Window on America, 12 more will be opened in major cities across the country, including Abeokuta, Awka, Benin City, Enugu, Osogbo, Uyo, Zaria, Minna, Dutse, Makurdi, Gombe, and Lafia, to engage more Nigerian audiences in their local communities.

Tanies Events to host Take the Leap Conference for SMEs JOSEPHINE OKOJIE

T

osin Udo, a serial entrepreneur, and chief executive of Tanies Events Solutions, is set to lead other resource persons to feature at this year’s edition of ‘Take The Leap Conference’ to address pertinent issues affecting Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

The conference themed ‘Reset Your Mindset; is scheduled to hold 20th, March 2021.

She believes that SMEs must

change their mindset to adapt to the new normal and scale amid the pandemic.

“The mind is a powerful tool she added, whatever you conceive in your mind and heart with proper nurturing and guidance will come to manifestation,” she said. “It is expected that all participants at the conference will be grounded and empowered with relevant knowledge on how to scale up their businesses,” she further said.

During the events, all participants will be extensively trained

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on various topics on the business structure by Coach Bisi Sotunde, record-keeping by Samuel Dundun Jr, the business of interior design by Ime Kalu, and on effective communication to boost your business by Coach Adeola Babatunde, she noted.

Speaking further, Udo said participants who register for the event before the deadline stand a chance to compete for a oneoff cash grant to support their businesses.

“To be eligible, participants are expected to post and tag our

Tosin Udo

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

handle: @taketheleapconf from their individual Instagram pages, a video of their business pitch, telling us about their products or services, their five-year plan, and why they should be empowered financially,” she said.

The ten participants with the highest likes get shortlisted. The deadline is 14th March 2021.

During the conference, the winner of the cash grant will be announced. The convener who runs several businesses that cut across Nigeria says as part of the effort to ensure business accountability,

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attendees will enjoy a two-month mentorship engagement with their paired mentee.

She hopes that the government would do more to support SMEs to thrive in Nigeria even as she calls on corporate organizations to partner with her brand to give financial aid to small businesses. She commends this year’s sponsors which include, African Business Radio, Farmfunds Africa, Kleanwaters Laundry, Idowu Specialist Hospital, Cole point Studios, Gorgeous Links, and Joel Drinks.

26

Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

27

Access Bank Rateswatch KEY MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS

Current Figures

Indicators GDP Growth (%)

Market Analysis and Outlook: March 5– March 12, 2021

Comments

0.11

Q4 2020 — higher by 3.73% compared to –3.62% in Q3 2020

Global Economy

Broad Money Supply (N’ trillion)

39.34

Decreased by 0.6% in January’ 2021 from N39.57 trillion in December’ 2020

The Brazilian economy contracted 1.1% year-on- (NIBOR) settled at 4.38% and 7.21% from 2.41%

Credit to Private Sector (N’ trillion)

30.55

Increased by 1.4% in January’ 2021 from N30.15 trillion in December’ 2020

year in Q4 2020, after a 3.9% contraction in the and 5.12% the prior week. This week, rates are

Currency in Circulation (N’ trillion)

2.83

Decreased by 2..7% in January’ 2021 from N2.91 trillion in December’ 2020

previous period as revealed by the Brazillian Institute expected to hover around single digit following

Inflation rate (%) (y-o-y)

16.47

Increased to 16.47% in January 2021 from 15.75% in December 2020

of Geography and Statistics. On a quarterly basis, Open Market Operations (OMO) maturity into the

Monetary Policy Rate (%)

11.5

Adjusted to 11.5% in September 2020 from 12.5%

the economy expanded 3.2%, following a record system.

Lending rate changed to 12.5% & Deposit rate 4.5%

7.7% advance in the previous period. Both household spending and government spending Foreign Exchange Market

Interest Rate (Asymmetrical Corridor)

11.5 (+1/ -7)

External Reserves (US$ million)

34.92

March 3, 2021 figure — a decrease of 0.24 % from March start

Oil Price (US$/Barrel)

66.12

March 4, 2021 figure — a decrease of 0.21% from the prior week January 2021, figure — a decrease of 2.26% from December 2020 figure

1.34

Oil Production mbpd (OPEC)

decreased at a softer pace. In addition, fixed The naira appreciated across most market investment rebounded sharply. For full year 2020, segments last week. The Nigerian Autonomous

NSE ASI & Bond

the economy plunged 4.1%, the steepest annual Foreign Exchange Rate (NAFEX) rose by 69 kobo to decline since available records began in 1996, but close at N409.79/US$ from N410.48 /US$. The

FX Market N/US$

less than the latest government's official estimate parallel market gained N2 settling at N480/US$ of a 4.3% fall. In a separate development, the Bureau while at the CBN official window, the naira remained of Economic Analysis (BEA) revealed that trade stable winding up at N379/US$, same as preceding deficit in the US expanded to $68.2 billion in January week. We also expect the central bank to sustain 2021 from a revised $67 billion in the prior month. intervention in the foreign exchange market this Exports went up 1% to an 11-month high of $191.9 week through provision of funds for designated FX

External Reserves & Oil price

billion, due to industrial supplies and materials such needs such as personal travel allowance/business

Inflation Rate

as plastic materials and other petroleum products travel allowance, medicals and school fees. and capital goods. Meantime, imports increased at a faster 1.2% to $260.2 billion, the highest since Bond Market August of 2019, led by pharmaceutical preparations The bearish sentiment persisted on the longer end and insurance services. The goods gap broadened of the curve as participants continue to anticipate to $85.4 billion from $84.1 billion while the services an increase in yields. Skeletal activities were seen

STOCK MARKET

Indicators

COMMODITIES MARKET

Indicators

2 Weeks Change Ago (%) 5/3/21 26/2/21

Last Week

39,331.61

39,799.89

(1.18)

20.58

20.82

(1.18)

Volume (bn)

0.59

0.51

15.87

Value (N’bn)

13.62

2.44

457.43

NSE ASI Market Cap(N’tr)

MONEY MARKET NIBOR

Last Week 2 Weeks Ago Rate (%) Rate (%)

Tenor

5/3/21

26/2/21

Change (Basis Point)

OBB O/N CALL

15.3300

5.6700

966

16.3300 13.0000

6.3300 8.5000

1000 450

30 Days 90 Days

4.3788 7.2050

2.4051 5.1206

197 208

Energy

(0.21) 0.00

2.58 (10.67)

Cocoa ($/MT)

2,571.00

(1.38)

32.80

Coffee ($/lb.)

Cotton ($/lb.)

Sugar ($/lb.)

131.15 85.88 16.15

(5.78) (3.61) (2.77)

0.73 10.81 5.35

Wheat ($/bu.)

Metals Gold ($/t oz.)

Silver ($/t oz.)

Copper ($/lb.)

650.50

(1.89)

50.06

1,693.50 25.20 401.35

(3.38) (5.62) (3.80)

28.53 46.60 22.44

NIGERIA YIELDS

Last Week Rate (%)

Last Week Rate (N/$)

2 Weeks 1 Month Ago Ago Rate (N/ Rate (N/$) 1 Mnth $) 5/3/21 26/2/21 5/2/21 3 Mnths 379.00 6 Mnths 379.00 379.00

Official (N) Inter-Bank (N)

409.79 0.00

0.00

480.00

482.00

BDC (N)

Parallel (N) BOND MARKET AVERAGE YIELDS

Tenor

410.48

395.93 9 Mnths 0.00 12 Mnths

TREASURY

BILLS

2 Weeks Ago Rate (%)

Change (Basis Point)

5/3/21

TRUE

5/3/21

26/2/21

5-Year

3.47

3.43

7-Year

9.05

6.74

10-Year

8.04

7.67

15-Year

11.20

11.10

20-Year

10.62

10.86

25-Year 30-Year

11.18 11.37

11.55 11.28

12 months. In a circular signed by the Director of 23.54 points to settle at 3,867.7 points last week.

Financial Policy and Regulatory, the apex bank said it This week, we expect similar trend barring any will continue to charge its borrowers an interest rate significant market information. of 5% per annum as against the 9% originally offered. The CBN had on March 20th reduced the Commodities interest rate on its intervention loans from 9% to 5% Last week, the price of crude oil declined slightly as part of its response to the economic crunch amid worries that the OPEC+ would boost oil brought on by Covid-19 induced lockdowns. The output. Traders were also cautious as Saudi Arabia's CBN also offered to rollover moratorium granted on voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day will end this

moratorium starting from March 1, 2020 when the massive build in US crude inventories last week.

26/2/21

Bonny light, Nigeria's benchmark crude tapered

pandemic first gripped Nigeria.

0.88

0.76

11

1.27 2.11

1.27 2.15

(0) (4)

2.49

2.38

11

3.28

3.27

1

Last Week

Indicators Index

231 Mkt Cap Gross (N'tr) 36 Mkt Cap Net (N'tr) 10 YTD return (%)

0.21% to close at $66.12 per barrel. Precious metal prices dipped further last week pressured by a

Stock Market

The bears kept a stronghold on the Nigerian stock s t r o n g e r d o l l a r a n d a g l o b a l b o n d r o u t . market as indicators remained in negative territory. Consequently, gold prices edged downwards The All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalization 3.38% or $59.24 to finish at $1,693.50 per ounce declined further by 1.18% to 39,331.61 points and from $$1,752.74 per ounce. Silver settled at $25.20 trillion, respectively the preceding week driven by week, oil prices might be boosted by the OPEC+ price depreciation in large and medium capitalised decision to keep output quotas largely steady in

2 Weeks Ago

Change stocks. The downtrend was majorly in sectors such April, with Saudi Arabia extending its unilateral 1 (Basis Point)

5/3/21

26/2/21

3,867.77

3,844.22

12.68

12.59

8.86

8.82

57.45

56.50

as information and technology services, courier, real million barrel per day output cut indefinitely. The estate, and industrial goods sector. This week, we triple combination of ultra-easy monetary policy,

0.61 expect that trading activities will remain pressured unprecedented government spending and the 0.68

182 Day 364 Day

47,476.88 123,113.73

1.3 2

vaccination rollout boosted expectations of a

by profit taking from investors.

robust economic recovery which might making it

0.54 Money Market 0.95

(24) YTD return (%)(US $) 0.96 -34.93 -35.89 (37) TREASURY BILLS PMA AUCTION 9 Tenor Amount (N’ Rate (%) Date million) sources 91 Day 0.55 11,388.75 27-Jan-2021

Disclaimer This report is based on information obtained from various believed to be reliable and no representation is made that it is accurate or complete. Reasonable care has been taken in preparing this document. Access Bank Plc shall not accept responsibility or liability for errors of fact or any opinion expressed herein. This document is for information purposes and private circulation only and may not be reproduced, distributed or published by any recipient for any purpose without prior written consent of Access Bank Plc.

extension of its regulatory forbearance for the and 11.37% from 3.43%, 6.74%, 7.67%, 11.10%

N20.58 trillion from 39,799.89 points and N20.82 per ounce, a 5.62% drop from preceding week. This

Indicators

4

five-, seven-, ten-, fifteen-, and thirty-year debt

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced an papers finished at 3.47%, 9.05%, 8.04%, 11.20%

credit facilities had been granted a one-year Petroleum Institute (API) data which showed a

480.00

2 Weeks AgoChange Rate (%) (Basis Point)

trading at sub 11%. Consequently, yields on the

all principal payments on a case-by-case basis. All month. Sentiment was also dented by American

ACCESS BANK NIGERIAN GOV’T BOND INDEX

Last Week Rate (%)

on the 2034 and 2037 bond which are currently

restructuring of its intervention facilities by another and 11.28%. The Access Bank Bond index increased

INTERBANK

Tenor

surplus rose slightly to $17.24 billion from $17.16 around the belly of the curve with much emphasis billion.

Domestic Economy

66.12 2.73

Crude Oil $/bbl) Natural Gas ($/MMBtu) Agriculture

FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET

Market

1-week YTD Change (%) Change (%)

5/3/21

27-Jan-2021 27-Jan-2021

difficult for the bullion to attract investors this

Market liquidity was drained last week at the money week. market on the back of retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (rSMIS) and Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) as the debit wiped off funds from the system.

Short-dated placements such as Open Buy Back (OBB) and Over Night (O/N) rates surged to 15.33% and 16.33% from 5.67% and 6.33% the previous week. The slightly longer dated instruments such as 30-day and 90-day Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate

Sources: CBN, Financial Market Dealers Quotation, NSE, NBS, Energy Information Agency, Oilprice, Bloomberg and Access Bank Economic Intelligence Group computation. * Crude oil (Bonny Light) is as at the previous day.

www.businessday.ng

Monthly Macro Economic Forecast Variables Exchange Rate (NAFEX) (N/$) Inflation Rate (%) Crude Oil Price (US$/Barrel)

Mar’21

Apr’21

May’21

408

408

410

16.7

16.89

16.95

62

65

65

For enquiries, contact: Rotimi Peters (Team Lead, Economic Intelligence) (01) 2712123 rotimi.peters@accessbankplc.com

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@Businessdayng

28 BUSINESS DAY

Monday 08 March 2021

news

Analysis:

Apapa: Has the call-up system collapsed so soon?

CHUKA UROKO

J

ust six days into the implementation of the much-hyped electronic call-up system introduced by the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), questions are rife as to whether the system has collapsed.

This is because contrary to expectations and warning by the Lagos State government and authorities of NPA that no trucks should be seen within the Apapa corridor unless on call-up, Ijora Bridge was on Friday morning blocked completely by trucks, forcing other road users to access Apapa through Marine Beach Bridge.

If the call-up system which recorded some level of success in the first three days of its commencement collapses, it means the party is over for Apapa as the gridlock will return with its bad driving experience, long hours in traffic and crippling impact on businesses and residents of the port city.

The situation was even worse on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway where it appears that the call-up system has not worked because the expressway has been on lockdown as fuel tankers and containerized vehicles park indiscriminately all the way from Second Rainbow to Sunrise/Beachland Estate junction.

Besides the expressway, all the surrounding neighbourhoods have been overrun by trucks, creating what is apparently a transfer of gridlock from Apapa to those areas. All available spaces in Amuwo Odofin, Okota, Ajegunle and the whole stretch of Lagos-Badagry Expressway from Mile 2 to Festac Third Gate have been taken over by trucks.

Police officers, officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), and NPA uniformed personnel who were all over the place in Apapa were confused and helpless as they watched the number of trucks surge uncontrollably.

“We came here this morning to see this. I am a field officer and so I don’t know what those at the top have done to cause what you see here,” a LASTMA officer who did not want his name mentioned responded to our correspondent’s question on what happened overnight.

An NPA uniformed personnel who was busy checking papers presented by some truck drivers told our correspondent that “it seems they are pushing too many trucks out from the parks at the same time and that is why the road is like that this morning”.

The experience on the road Friday morning confirms the fears of Lagosians,

especially residents of Apapa who, though celebrated the three-day sanity the call-up system brought to their environment, said they were apprehensive of what would happen next.

While Bode Karunmi, a resident, spoke tongue-incheek about the sanity that the call-up system brought, Ayo Vaughan, another resident, noted that those who benefitted from the status quo ante would not be happy with the call-up system and so would be all out to scuttle its success.

It was pretty difficult getting into Apapa on Friday morning. Many people had to walk long distances to get to their offices.

“I had to walk all the way from Surulere to Ijora. It was not funny at all,” said Mercy, who works in one of the offices in Polysonic Mall on Liverpool Road.

Lagos State governor Babajide Sanwo Olu has been busy assuring Lagos residents that the government would do everything to ensure that the call-up system is enforced.

“We gave a commitment that we will do everything possible to solve the gridlock problem of Apapa; we will not stop at anything to ensure that anybody that tries to retract and take us back to where we are coming from on the gridlock on Apapa, we will do everything that we have to fight those people,” SanwoOlu said.

“We will name and shame them, we will bring out their names, be it a corporate organisation, company, police officer, Lagos State officer, be it a union, that will say that the solution that we have brought about will not work, they will go and answer to the citizens of Nigeria and Lagos. We will bring them to the public court for them to see that we are about seriousness,” he said.

On Saturday, February 27, the Eto App was launched by the NPA for the purpose of controlling movement of trucks. This electronic callup system is being enforced by the newly created Lagos special task team headed by Oluwatoyin Fayinka, special adviser to Governor SanwoOlu on transportation.

Other members include Sola Giwa, senior special assistant to the governor on Central Business Districts, Ayodeji Laurent, senior special assistant to the governor on Political Security Intelligence, Hakeem Odumosu, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, and Olajide Oduyoye, general manager, LASTMA. It remains to be seen what the special task team is doing to enforce the call-up system that initially proved to be effective in controlling movement of trucks.

Farmcrowdy, others exit crowdfunding before regulation begins CALEB OJEWALE

O

ver the last one year, concerns have heightened among the investing public on regulations of crowdfunding platforms in Nigeria, particularly with recurring complaints of defaults when investments are due. Some had appeared to become ponzi schemes, where claims of investment in agriculture became doubtful, and appeared funds were being revolved to pay investors without actual production as claimed.

However, with regulations finally expected to take off within 60 days, BusinessDay reports that crowd-funding platforms are ditching what was once their pathway to growth. Endeared to the public on the two-pronged approach of helping farmers increase productivity and generating decent returns for investors, the model is now being abandoned, although none would admit it is to avoid the commencement of regulations.

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In March 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had published proposed rules for crowdfunding in the country. BusinessDay later learnt the rules were being subjected to input from stakeholders and as at October, the process of aggregating input for a final document was yet to be concluded.

In January 2021, SEC released ‘new rules and amendments to the rules and regulations of the commission,’ where criteria for operations and other regulations for crowd-funding platforms were spelt out.

According to the document, those operating in the space had 90 days to apply for the requisite registration and comply with the requirements to operate. These guidelines, among other things, were to ensure the investing public was protected from operators whose activities may be suspect.

On March 3, Farmcrowdy announced it was exiting the crowd-funding space. The company, which on its website claims to have raised $15 million for farmers, had said

over the last four years that it was the first to introduce the model in Nigeria, and was in it for the long haul to advance the economic standards of smallholder farmers.

The exit from the crowdfunding space was part of a n a n n o u n c e m e nt t hat Crowdyvest, which had taken over crowd-funding operations for the company was being sold. The buying entity was undisclosed even though Tope Omotolani, who was formerly its managing director was being appointed CEO, taking over from Onyeka Akumah.

“Farmcrowdy has in the past worked with Crowdyvest to crowdfund for farming projects. Following this change, Farmcrowdy now fully exits the crowd-funding space with this sale and Crowdyvest will begin to operate a closed-community model for savings,” read a statement from the company.

It remains unclear if the company’s sudden exit from the crowd-funding space is due to fear of being subjected to regulatory oversight, or perhaps the proposed regulations were overbearing. Following an ear-

lier edition of this story, Onyeka Akumah, the company’s CEO, later replied a BusinessDay email seeking clarifications, claiming the company exited crowdfunding in 2019.

However, the position still goes contrary to a February 2020 position also by Akumah, when he told BusinessDay that Farmcrowdy was working with regulators to achieve a regulatory framework, which they would also abide with.

“I can confirm today that we are in constant conversations with the necessary authorities who will be responsible for regulating the crowdfunding space,” said Akumah in a February 2020 email. “As an innovator in crowdfunding within Nigeria, Farmcrowdy has been carried along concerning a possible road map and eventually a sandbox that will regulate the entire fintech space in Nigeria including crowdfunding. This should be ready according to the authorities before the year runs out and then platforms like ours will conform to the regulations set within to continue to do our business,” he said at the time.

L-R: Ngong Cyprian, senior registrar 1, National Hospital Abuja, first to be administered with the Covid-19 vaccine by Faisal Shuaib, executive secretary/CEO, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) during the flag off of Covid-19 vaccination in Nigeria held at National Hospital, Abuja,at the weekend, Pic by Tunde Adeniyi

Completion of critical projects is priority - Sanwo-Olu Joshua Bassey

L

agos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu says completion of critical infrastructure that add to further boost the economy and empower millions of residents remains a priority.

His position comes as the motoring public in Agege and environs is in for a big relief from the traffic jam that has been their headache for decades, as the state government, at the weekend, opened the Agege Pen Cinema flyover for public use.

The flyover will enhance traffic flow around AgegeAbule Egba axis of the state, as motorists can now navigate through it to connect five other adjoining arterial roads in that

axis: Iju road, Oba Ogunji road, Agunbiade road, Oke Koto intersection and Iyana Ipaja link road which have also been upgraded by the government. A combination of this is expected to give boost to the economy of these areas.

The construction of the 1.4 kilometres flyover was part of the resolutions at the Lagos Economic Summit (Ehingbeti) under the Babatunde Fashola’s administration, as a strategic intervention to improve flow traffic in the densely populated area. However, the immediate past administration of Akinwunmi Ambode, created the right-of-way and set up the structural beams, while the incumbent Governor SanwoOlu completed civil works on the bridge.

The flyover ascends from Oba Ogunji Road and drops

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at Oke Koto area of Agege, as well as opens to the old LagosAbeokuta Expressway through Abule Egba.

Commissioning the bridge on Friday, amid cheering crowd of Lagosians, SanwoOlu described the delivery of the project as a “landmark progress” in the state’s drive towards eliminating traffic bottlenecks and bringing relief to Lagosians.

Sanwo-Olu, who was joined

by Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), among other dignitaries, said his administration places emphasis on continuation and completion of strategic projects in line with the State’s Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP).

According to him, his administration decided to con@Businessdayng

tinue the project because it was in tune with the first pillar of his administration’s T.H.E.M.E.S agenda, which targets the provision of roads for expedited economic growth and seamless mobility.

“I am delighted to celebrate the delivery of this landmark project, which again, reflects our administration’s belief in the principle of continuity in governance and demonstrates our commitment to the urgency of infrastructure development and the welfare of our people.”

The completion of this flyover and five network of roads send a strong message about our determination to accelerate our futuristic vision for a world-class transportation system complemented by a good network of roads for social and economic transformation.

Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

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@Businessdayng

29

30

Monday 08 March 2021

BUSINESS DAY

news EXPLAINER:

What new SEC regulation means for crowdfunding Josephine Okojie

T

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the apex regulatory agency for the Nigerian capital market, has released newrulestogoverncrowd-funding activities in Nigeria.

Crowd-fundingisthepractice ofraisingfundsfromasegmentof the public to fund a project. The funds are raised from the public are often negligible amounts of money raised through an internet platform, in return for equity in the business venture or an ascertainable profit.

Under the new regulation, crowdfunding can only be raised through an online portal that must be operated by crowd-funding intermediaries who must be registered

by SEC and have a minimum paid-up capital of N100 million and a current Fidelity Insurance Bond valued at 20 percent of the paid-up capital, among other requirements.

This means that capital requirement will prove difficult for existing and intending crowdfunding portals to achieve but can be surmounted through raising additional equity capital or consolidation, a report by Advocaat Law Practice notes.

The proposed regulations further state that a person is considered to be facilitating, operating, providing, or maintaining a crowd-funding portal in Nigeria if the platform is operated, provided or maintained in the country or the platform is located outside Nigeria but actively targets Nigerian investors and components of the platform, when taken together, are physically located in Nigeria even if any of its components, in isolation is located outside the country.

A crowd-funding portal that is located outside Nigeria will be considered as actively targeting Nigerian investors if the operator or representative promotes the platform directly or indirectly in Nigeria.

This seeks to put an end to crowd-funding portals incorporating their companies outside Nigeria to avoid registering with the SEC but actively operating and raising funds in Nigeria.

In addition to the foregoing, the regulation places several obligations on crowd-funding portals that must be fulfilled for registration with the SEC, and these include: disclosure of fundraisers that includes details of ownership, management, and overall controls structure in place at the time of the offering; the portal must display conspicuously information on the fundraisers - a general risk warning on participating and information about complaints and a grievance redress mechanism.

Others are: the portal will also have to show business continuity plans, risk management,

data integrity and confidentiality, proper record keeping, and audit trails as part of its application for registration with SEC. Similarly, crowd-funding portals will further be mandated to take adequate measures to reduce the risk of fraud such as obtaining background and securities enforcement regulatory history checks on the issuer and must carry out due diligence, conduct background checks, and verify the accuracy and viability of the business proposition of the fundraisers intending to use its platform, among others.

Forthefundraisers,theregulation states that only MSMEs incorporated in Nigeria and operating for a minimum of two years or less than two with a technicalpartnerwhopossesses a two-year operating record will beeligibletoraisefundsthrough a crowd-funding portal.

According to the SEC document, an eligible fundraiser shall maintain an accurate list and details of all investors postissuance, which shall include the full names, address, email, and the number of units and monetary value of investment instruments and which shall specify investors from countries other than Nigeria.

Also, a threshold has been set for the amount that can be raised by MSMEs through crowd-funding to not be more than N50 million for a microenterprise, N70 million for a small enterprise, and N100 million for a medium enterprise in 12 months.

The Commission notes that the limit of the threshold set above does not apply to commodities investment platforms or such other MSMEs as may be designated by the Commission from time to time.

For commodities investment platforms, SEC says the cash assets ratio requirement for a crowd-funding intermediary shall, without prejudice to the other registration requirements specified, be a minimum of 60 percent liquid assets and 40 percent fixed and other assets.

The SEC document puts the maximum amount of funding that can be raised on a commodity platform for 12 months at N1 billion.

For investors, the Commissionsaysinvestorsareallowedto invest in companies hosted on crowd-fundingportalssubjectto theinvestmentlimitspecifiedby SEC from time to time.

Investorswillbegivenacooling-off period from the time of investment until 48 hours to the close of the offer within which they may withdraw their investment, and if there is a material adverse change before the closing date of the offer, affecting the project or the fundraiser, investors may rescind the investment within seven days from the date the material adverse change became public. www.businessday.ng

Celebrating #IWD2021: Nigerian women #Choosetochallenge Kemi Ajumobi

T

oday, 8th of March, is recognis e d globally as International Women’s Day. It is a day chosen to celebrate women’s achievements.

From business to politics, sports, faith, governance and more, women across the globe are recognised, celebrated and appreciated today.

The theme ‘Choose to challenge’, is a choice to challenge stereotypes and bias, challenge gendered actions or assumptions and chal-

lenge for change of mindset and questionable norms.

For instance, how about challenging the poor representation of women on boards? According to a 2019 report, Women on Boards in Nigeria, by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), there are no specific legal requirements for gender diversity.

However, Central Bank of Nigeria regulations mandate a minimum of 30 percent female representation on the boards of commercial banks. The Securities and Exchange Commission code recommends that publicly

listed companies consider gender when selecting board members. And the Code of Corporate Governance encourages boards to set diversity goals and to be mindful of them when filling board vacancies. However, the SEC and CCG codes do not prescribe gender quotas.

Despite the setback, the goal to challenge stereotypes is gaining ground.

One of such setbacks is the pandemic which has affected women the most.

Which is why the UN Women chose the theme “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19

world.”

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is important to note, that despite the daunting challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the role women must play even in the pandemic cannot be overemphasised or downplayed. More so, they have been affected the most in the pandemic. Making up the lost ground and levelling the playing field will take time.

“Clearly it will require much more than time. It will take a concentrated effort on

Continues on page 31

L-R: Adil Farhat, managing director, P&G Nigeria; Godwin Emefiele, governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Temitope Iluyemi, senior director, Africa, government relations, P&G, and David Feng, managing director, Colori Cosmetics Nigeria, during the Oral-B localisation contract signing between P&G and Colori Cosmetics at the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor’s Office in Lagos, at the weekend.

Okonjo-Iweala’s WTO win is inspirational, but gender equality gap persists at home BUNMI BAILEY

N

o woman has ever been elected governor in Nigeria since independence in 1960, whereas in the United States,43womenhaveservedor are serving as the governor of a US state and three women have served or are serving as the governor of an unincorporated US territory, underscoring Nigeria’s poor record at gender equality.

Although Ngozi OkonjoIweala’s win as the first woman and African director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) serves as an inspiration for women, it does not translate to Nigeria making much progress on gender equality.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), gender equality means that women and men, and girls and boys, enjoy the same rights, resources, opportunities, and protections.

“While we draw up lessons

and inspiration from her, I doubt that it would suddenly change our gender ranking globally because she is just one person,” said Motunrayo Alaka, executive director at Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Alaka said that the country is doing very poorly in terms of intention to change the status quo.

According to data from a 2020 Global Gender Gap Index by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Nigeria ranked 128th out of 153 countries.

The report which measures the progress made towards gender parity also showed that out of the four indicators – economic, education, health, and political empowerment – used to benchmark the ranking, Nigeria improved in economic empowerment index, while the rest regressed.

Fabia Ogunmekan, executive secretary, Women in Suc-

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cessful Careers (WISCAR), said that Okonjo-Iweala’s win would inspiremorewomentosucceed.

“I believe that we will see the ripple effect of what she has achieved in the near future, as institutions will leverage her story as a case study for how women in the workplace can achieve career longevity and success in their chosen fields of endeavour,” Ogunmekan said.

Globally, women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. And it is believed that women now play a very vital role in human progress and have a significant place in society.

However, gender equality in Nigeria is constrained by cultural practices which elevate patriarchy to an absurd degree.

This is why a gender equality bill, designed to eradicate gender inequality in politics, education, and employment, has been marooned in the national @Businessdayng

assembly for close to 10 years.

“Okonjo-Iweala’s win is supposed to improve our march to gender equality but in a society like ours, it is not certain,” said Tinu Mabadeje, a nonviolence training consultant. “We just hope that this will convince our leaders that women can do as well as men if given the right opportunities.”

Prior to independence, and even before the advent of colonial rule, the role of a woman in society had significantly changed as Nigeria had an admirable array of women who had done great, inspiring deeds and even conquered territories.

Glaring examples were Margaret Ekpo, a women’s rights activist and a social mobiliser who was a pioneering female politician in the country’s First Republic and a leading member of a class of traditional Nigerian women activists, many of whom rallied women beyond notions of ethnic solidarity.

Monday 08 March 2021

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31

news

Nigeria’s risk premium hits 1yr high... Nigeria can save N3.7trn by gutting...

Continued from page 1

compensation for tolerating its high-risk environment, even at a time when oil prices are on a tear.

The extra compensation investors demand to hold Nigeria’s benchmark 10year bond rather than the 10-year US Treasury hits 9.4 percent in February from 8.9 percent in the same period last year.

This is a sign that investors’ risk perception of Nigeria has risen over that period.

The trend is curious given that oil prices are rallying.

Brent crude, the international benchmark grade, hits $68 per barrel on Friday, the highest in 14 months after OPEC+ shocked markets with a decision to keep supply limited as global economy recovers from a pandemic-driven slump.

Bismarck Rewane, an economist/CEO of Financial Derivatives Company, says the rising risk premium could be as a result of investors’ perception that the rally in oil prices is largely artificial.

“The risk premium that investors are putting on Nigeria is because they are unsure what could happen if the market comes to normal,” Rewane notes.

A risk premium is the return in excess of the risk-free rate of return an investment is expected to yield.

Rising insecurity in many parts of the country of over 200 million people may have also contributed to the widening risk premium.

“The issue of insecurity has continued to hit the global headlines and this is affecting Nigeria’s risk premium,” Muda Yusuf, an economist/director-general, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

Recently, unidentified gunmen kidnapped about 300 schoolgirls in the Northwest Nigerian state of Zamfara, the second of such kidnapping in a little over a week.

These kidnaps coupled with numerous cases of killings by terrorist have continued to put a dent on the perception of foreign investors regarding the safety of their investments.

Nigeria has been named the third-most terrorised nation in the world, according to Global Terrorism Index.

An asset’s risk premium is a form of compensation for investors who tolerate the extra risk, compared to that of a risk-free asset, in a given investment.

For example, high-quality government bonds issued by a developed country like the US typically have very little risk of default, therefore offering low yields than bond issued by developing and emerging market economies where there is a higher risk of default.

For sovereign bonds, the US bond is considered as risk-free and as such another sovereign’s risk premium can be determined by comparing the yields on the sovereign’s local bond to that of the US treasury.

The US 10-year treasury yielded 1.47 percent as at February 2021, while investors demanded for as high as 10.7 percent to hold Nigeria’s 10-year benchmark bond. That leaves the risk premium at 9.4 percentage points, the highest spread in a year.

The spread between a developed market’s bond and that of the developing market is the risk premium.

Gbolahan Ologunro, a research analyst at LagosBased Cordros, also explains that Nigeria’s currency crisis also continues to be a major problem for foreign investors.

The Nigerian naira has lost over 24 percent in value within the last one year.

“Nigeria’s FX challenges over the past year have also contributed to the increase in the risk premium, so investors would want to cover for this risk,” Ayodeji Ebo, senior economist at Greenwich Merchant Bank, points out.

Dollar shortage was a major challenge that foreign investors faced last year as they were unable to repatriate capital or take out their cash due to the central bank’s attempt to defend the naira.

Experts say investmentled growth is necessary for the country’s economic recovery from the pandemic.

However, investors are reducing their exposure to the Nigerian economy.

According to global investment trends monitor report released by the United Nations’ Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow hit $2.6 billion in 2020, the lowest since 2005.

Foreign portfolio investment fell to $5.13 billion in 2020, the lowest in four years.

Analysts say Nigeria might not seem like a good investment destination compared to advanced countries at the moment despite its status as a frontier market with growth potentials and market accessibility.

“The prospect for recovery is stronger now in advanced economies than ever before considering a number of vaccines that have been developed to tackle the COVID-19 crisis,” Olugunro notes.

This implies that if they will consider investing in a risky economy like Nigeria, it means they would have to give them higher returns www.businessday.ng

Continued from page 1

scrap or merge Ministries,

Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government carrying out similar functions, according to a BusinessDay analysis.

This comes at a time the Federal Government is desperately seeking ways to cut governance cost due to low revenue from oil sales and the effect of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

An analysis of Nigeria’s 2021 budget shows that a total of N5.3 trillion is allocated to all government MDAs. Since there are 541 of them, a back of the envelope estimate puts the average spend of an MDA at N9.8 billion yearly.

Therefore, following the recommendation of the Oronsaye report, pruning the MDAs down to 161, Nigeria will only need to spend N1.6 trillion on them. This leaves the country with savings of N3.7 trillion.

However, scrapping inefficient ministries may not often translate to full saving of the amount it would have otherwise have spent, but it presents a picture of what is possible if the government musters the political will to act.

A further analysis demonstrates how this is possible.

By scrapping just 10 MDAs, whose functions are replicated by other government agencies, Nigeria can save N107.7 billion.

A breakdown of the 2021 budgetary allocation to 10 MDAs obtained from Budgit, a civic-tech organisation that advocates for fiscal transparency and accountability, shows

that scrapping them could save Nigeria over N107.7 billion.

Some of these agencies include: National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Federal Character Commission, Public Complaints Commission, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) and the National Productivity Centre (NPC).

Others are Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), National Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC), Nigerian Institute of Mining and Geosciences (NIMG), National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM).

This analysis validates the Oronsaye report, which concluded that Nigeria can save trillions of naira if it decides to reduce the cost of running its government.

Analysts say Nigeria’s biggest challenge is not necessarily spending more but that it is not spending better. For example, the billions of naira spent on salaries of government officials who perform similar functions across different agencies could be better deployed.

“Personal and overhead accounts for about 70-75 percent of our budget estimate and the remaining 25-30 percent goes into the capital expenditure; this shows that the cost of governance in Nigeria is very high across the three tiers of government,” Moses Ojo, chief economist at Pan African Capital Holdings Limited, notes.

Ojo adds that reducing that

Celebrating #IWD2021: Nigerian women...

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the part of policymakers and corporate power-brokers, and it will take courage on the part of women and the men that champion them”, President/CE O, Image Consulting Group and former vice president, Bank of America, Remi Duyile said.

In choosing to challenge, long standing obstacles that hinder women from being heard or involved in decision making must be removed.

For this to happen, they must have equal access to the resources available. For example, an increase in executive and high paying jobs.

Statistics show that there are many women in low income paying careers. This exposes them to harassment because many are desperate to earn a living and contribute to sustaining their family, especially in the pandemic where many women have lost their jobs.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) however proffers a solution, by urging that a worthwhile monthly investment of 0.07 percent of developing countries’ GDP could help 613 million working-aged women living in poverty to absorb the shock of the pandemic.

They say that it would also contribute to the economic

security and independence that is necessary for women to engage more deeply in the decisions that could change their future.

In the same line of thought, the Managing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Alfred Olajide, reaffirms the importance of creating an economic model that empowers women and hinges on sustainability.

“Women constitute a significant part of the world’s shared success because we recognise their roles not just as homemakers and influencers but as drivers of economic growth and pillars of their communities and business systems.”

The barriers are there for women, but many are rising up to the challenges and are in the forefront of various social reforms, from fighting to end abuse to demanding inclusion.

“We are choosing to challenge all stereotypical thinking that propagates the maintenance of the gender gap. Challenging biases that consistently keep women in the lower income group, challenging biases that women are capable of less and also challenging career and business stereotypes that box women into what are seen as ‘feminine type businesses’ ”. Founder/

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number will make the government have enough savings that will add more to the economy, especially in the area of infrastructure development, but that it could see sizable workers in federal civil service lose their jobs, which would compound the unemployment situation in the country.

Over the years, the cost of governance has been very high and alarming and therefore unsustainable as recurrent expenditure continues to significantly exceed capital expenditure.

This problem has continued to generate public concern and national discourse because of the negative implication on investment, industrial expansion, infrastructural development, and growth of the real sectors of the economy.

Earlier in February 2021, Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker, House of Representatives, reinforced concerns over the bulging cost of governance.

His call came at a time when Nigeria is confronting dwindling income from oil and non-oil revenue, a spending plan that has resulted in over-borrowing and interest payments that leave little for nothing, except paying salaries.

Ayodele Shittu, a lecturer, department of economics, University of Lagos, believes that reducing the MDAs is not the only solution but that the country should embrace public sector innovations in order to use limited resources effectively.

“Let’s be innovative, entrepreneurial and effective in our thinking and by doing so, we can now begin to use the limited resources we have creatively in order to increase marginal

social benefit and reduce the marginal social cost of spending,” Shittu states.

Some developing countries are already making efforts at reducing the cost of governance.

For instance, in 2015, India introduced e-governance in administration in order to reduce the cost of running its government. Also, African countries like Ethiopia, Rwanda, etc. have resorted to a reduction in the number of political appointees involved in the act of administration.

The Buhari administration has said it is committed to implementing an ambitious report of the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commission and Agencies led by Orosanye, a former head of the Civil Service under Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

However, while the cost of governance continues to balloon, the government, including the executive, legislative and the judiciary are yet to summon the political will to do the needful.

“The country should take a holistic evaluation of the Federal Government recurrent structure of budget and scraps those items that are less important. We should also carry out a holistic appraisal of the core mandate of MDAs, e.g. the one that is doing practically the same thing should be merged and those agencies that have outlived their importance should be scraped since their impact is not felt in the country,” Damilola Adewale, a Lagos-based economic analyst, says.

CEO GAIA Africa, Olatowun Candide-Johnson stated.

Olatowun insists that we need big action legislation to close the gender gap and especially the huge gender economic gap.

On challenging the stereotyping of women as they take on leadership positions, Founder/Group CEO, Thistle Group, Ini Onuk says “I challenge the unnecessary questioning of our abilities and skills and of course the systemic difficulties that arise whenever women seek to fill leadership positions.”

For Maymunah Yusuf Kadiri, Consultant NeuroPsychiatrist, Founder/CEO, Pinnacle Medical Services “I choose to challenge the discrimination and stigma attached to people living with mental illnesses by changing the narrative, normalising mental health conversations, and creating safe spaces in order to achieve healthier, wealthier and happier individuals for a just and equitable society.”

Toyin Sanni, Founder and CEO of the Emerging Africa Capital Group, is choosing to challenge all biases against women leadership and equality, where to her, an equal world is a nonnegotiable imperative for a better world.

“I call on all, men and women alike, to support our vision of achieving a whole-

some, super-productive, rich and inclusive world through equitable gender representation.” Sanni said.

Many women across the globe have chosen to challenge their situations by rising up to the challenges they come across on their way to fulfilling their goals.

‘Choose to challenge’ is what Kamala Harris did, as she is the first ever female Vice President in American history.

‘Choose to challenge’ is what Ngozi OkonjoIweala, the Director General of WTO, did when she disregarded what Robert Lighthizer, former US Trade Representative, told the Financial Times, “We need a person who actually knows trade, not somebody from the World Bank who does development,”.

‘Choose to Challenge’ is what the Chairman, First Bank and Founder/CEO The Sokoa Group, Ibukun Awosika did when she became the first ever female Chairman of First Bank, since inception of the Bank in 1979.

‘Choose to Challenge’ was what Leah Shuaibu did for refusing to denounce her faith.

Today, in line with the theme, the question for women around the world as we celebrate International Women’s Day is: What do you choose to challenge?

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How a weak law is killing off nature’s recyclers A law to protect endangered species in Nigeria only prohibits their export but locally they are being hunted into extinction.

ISAAC ANYAOGU, examines how the dwindling number of vultures presents grave consequences for the ecosystem.

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he Oluwo bush market is about 100 kilometers away from the Lagos city centre. It is the place to be if eating exotic wild life is your thing.

Large swaths of young men deliver wild animals captured in surrounding forests to an army of women who skin, cut, smoke and dry them for resale to individuals and businesses who operate restaurants. On the outskirts of the market, where the unsold parts of the animals are deposited, vultures used to forage for food.

“We don’t see as much vultures as before,” said Saidat, one of the traders in the market. “It’s like they know people are chasing them.”

Indeed, vultures are disappearing in Nigeria because, nature’s cleanup crew has itself become a prey. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) keeps a “Red List of Threatened Species.” It defines the severity and specific causes of a species’ threat of extinction.

The Red List has seven levels of conservation: least concern, near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild, and extinct.

Each category represents a different threat level.

Species that are not threatened by extinction are placed within the first two categories—least concern and near-threatened.

Those that are most threatened are placed within the next three categories, known as the threatened categories—vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered. Those species that are extinct in some form are placed within the last two categories— extinct in the wild and extinct.

It takes decades to move down the level from least concern to critically endangered, but in Nigeria, the hooded vulture, moved from least concern to endangered in less than five years.

As far as notoriety goes, this is a record. It is even more alarming that two out of the seven common vulture specie in Nigeria are extinct. The rest are only a short crawl away.

We often squirm our noses at the thought of these carrion eaters. We see a flock of them and conclude it is ominous. The vulture is our trusted metaphor for all that is awful, putrid and stinks of death.

Yet, the vulture does not pose a threat to us. It feeds on the things that turn our stomach. It is nature’s clean-up crew, helping to keep our ecosystem working by recycling filth and carcass that may otherwise endanger our health.

In the past, the problem was

that we were hunting them for food faster than they could reproduce, but now they are being driven to extinction for traditional medicines and spiritual practices. In some communities, vultures are supposedly used to communicate with the dead or to appease certain gods in elaborate sacrificial ceremonies. Others die from eating contaminated food, drugs or pesticides used on livestock. Some fly into power lines and are fried.

Some of our African neighbours too have weird practices involving vultures. In South Africa, for example, it is used for a traditional medicine known as muti, where vulture brains are dried, ground up and smoked as cigarettes to give a supposed vision of the future. Some believe it will win them lotteries, sport bets, help them pass examinations or win new contracts.

It is ironic that our most reviled creature is also our best oblation.

“Killing vultures for traditional medicine, is the greatest threat facing vultures,” said Joseph Onoja, director, Technical Programmes, Nigerian Conservation Foundation, in an interview.

According to a study by R. Buij, G. Nikolaus, R. Whytock, D. J. Ingram and D. Ogada published in the Cambridge Press, 27 percent of 2,646 raptor carcasses on sale in markets throughout the West African region were threatened or near threatened species according to the IUCN Red List.

In West Africa, 73 percent of raptors were traded in Nigeria and 21 percent in Benin, mak-

ing these countries the regional hotspots for this largely illicit trade.

“Raptor parts are sold as meat or for indigenous medicine to cure physical ailments such as migraines and epilepsy, or for clairvoyance” said Ralph Buij of Wageningen University and leadauthor of the study.

Buij further said that given the local extirpations of highlyvalued vultures and other raptors in some countries, such as Nigeria, poachers and traders are increasingly crossing international borders to collect carcasses.

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) conducted a market research in 2017 to see how the birds were traded.

They found that the head used for ritual purposes sells for up to N25,000 while other body parts sell for half the cost.

BusinessDay’s survey in markets in Kano and Ogun state finds that the prices have since doubled and this is because the vulture population is dwindling at an alarming rate.

Poisoned Local merchants pay people to capture these birds. Since they fly high and are only attracted by the smell of death, they are lured and hunted with poisoned carcasses.

These poachers spray snuff - a form of tobacco made from ground or pulverised tobacco leaves - on the carcasses of dead pieces of meat and throw it out for the vultures. The goal here is to catch them alive, in a weakened state.

When they feast on this contaminated food, they become weak, sickly and this often re-

duces their fecundity to lay eggs.

“When you poison a vulture, even if the poison doesn’t kill it, it weakens the shell, when it lays the eggs, it easily breaks leading to failed attempts at breeding,” said Onoja.

Vultures by nature are slow breeders. They build their nests on cliffs and usually lay only one egg per year and nest in loose colonies.

In July 2019, at Eke-Ihe Market in Awgu local government area of Enugu state, there were reported deaths of over 50 vultures splayed on the ground one morning. This led to insinuations that meat supply in the community had been maliciously poisoned.

After investigations, the police found that poachers had mixed local insecticides into some carcass of animals and faeces with a view to attracting vultures. They ate these poisoned carcasses and died.

The use of local insecticides is posing a huge threat to the vulture population in Nigeria.

Dichlorvos, traded under names as Nuvan, Sniper and Ota-piapia used to control insects on crops, household and store products, and also to treat external parasitic infections in farms are the poison of choice for poachers whose intent is to kill the vulture.

Otapiapia Ota-piapia is a vernacular (Igbo) of eastern Nigeria origin and a household name for insecticide/rodenticide/pesticide, which literally translates into “that which completely consumes/devours”, according to Umar Musa, Stephen S. Hati,

Abdullahi Mustapha and Garba Magaji in their study.

The researchers found that local pesticide makers emphasized the potency of their pesticides by the word “Ota-piapia” indicating that such products will completely take care of any pest problem.

Its acceptance and widespread proliferation in Nigeria has been due solely to its cheap production, efficacy, accessibility and affordability.

Dying off According to conservationists, six out of eight African vulture species are projected to decline by at least 80 percent over three generations (56 years), qualifying them as Critically Endangered.

Now vultures are no longer available in Nigeria and Nigerians are going out to import vultures into the country to continue with their medicine, findings show.

Weak law Vultures are classified as endangered species in Nigeria, we are trying to push the conservation of the endangered species list and have canvassed that vultures should be listed on appendix one, it should not be traded at all, said Onoja.

The Federal Government in 1985, promulgated the Endangered Species (Control of International Trade and Traffic Act), to provide for the conservation and management of Nigeria’s wild life and the protection of some of her endangered species in danger of extinction as a result of over exploitation, as required under certain international treaties to which Nigeria is a signatory.

The law prohibits the hunting, capture or trade in the animal species threatened with extinction.

While the law did not forbid hunting and trading of them locally, it places a ban on exports. This gap has fuelled the consumption of animal species threatened with extinction.

Conservation experts say the law has constrained the effort of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), the government agency charged with protecting wild life.

Conservation groups are mounting campaigns to pressure the Federal government to amend the law and adding an addendum that expressly forbids the hunting and sale of vultures locally.

Given the important role of vultures in limiting outbreaks of zoonotic disease, such as rabies, their eradication for trade in West and Central Africa has important implications for human health.

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GENDER DIVERSITY IN CORPORATE AFRICA Women in Corporate Leadership in Africa Women in the financial services industry make up about 30% of the workforce at the senior management level in Africa. This is bested only by the healthcare and TMT (Telecoms, Media and Technology) industries which have higher representations of 39% and 33% respectively according to a McKinsey study. Southern and East African countries outperform their peers from other regions in senior management gender inclusion.

Moving from senior management to the board level, the level of representation drops. The average board representation of females in Africa is 14%. Southern Africa has the highest representation with 20% while West Africa has the second lowest participation rate of 11%. The percentage of women on boards in Nigeria as at August 2020 stood at 20%, well above the world average of 17%, African average of 14% and West African average of 11%. Progress is surely being made but there is clearly still a huge gap to fill.

Effect of Gender Diverse Corporate Leadership Numerous studies including one recently carried out by McKinsey show that organizations with more gender diversity are about 30% more likely to experience above-average profitability.

Gender diversity is of great benefit to any organization, having a significant positive impact on bottom line. Gender diversity in corporate leadership positions also results in more social sensitivity when solving problems, increased chances of effectiveness due to better understanding of stakeholders’ needs (a large portion of whom are women), and a trickle-down egalitarian effect on the rest of the organization.

can lead to higher economic growth as well as lower income inequality.

sector professionals, young professionals, midlevel employees and early-stage entrepreneurs.

EACB particularly focuses on women seeking to develop their leadership skills as there is currently a clear gender imbalance in this area, but will not do so to the exclusion of men.

EACB’s flagship initiative is the Women Who Lead (WWL) Conference designed to guide upcoming female entrepreneurs and working professionals in successfully maneuvering their careers. WWL has had over 6,000 attendees till date and featured some renowned personalities including: Toyin F. Sanni, Chief Dr Mrs. Onikepo Akanda OON, CON, Arunma Oteh OON, Ibukun Awosika, Dionne Searcey, Peace Hyde and Lamia Merzouki.

Emerging Africa Capital also runs its SME funding desk which is particularly interested in providing finance for female led businesses and consequently contributing to closure of the financial inclusion gender gap within the continent.

The theme of 2021’s International Women’s Day is #ChooseToChallenge and challenge the above-described status quo is exactly what Toyin F. Sanni (TFS) and her team at the Emerging Africa Capital Group (EACG) have chosen to do. In the Nigerian and African predominantly male-led financial services industry, EACG is clearly distinguishing itself.

Emerging Africa Capital Group (EACG) The Emerging Africa Capital Group (EACG) consists of Emerging Africa Capital Limited (EACL)- the parent company, EAC Trustees Limited (EACT), EAC Advisory Limited (EACA), Emerging Africa Asset Management Limited (EAAML), and Emerging Africa Capacity Building (EACB).

In the year 2019, EACL signed the Gender Diversity Charter of the Women Working for Change (an initiative of the AFRICA CEO FORUM). The charter apart from ensuring fairness and justice, is also a common sense move that aims to bring better corporate performance and profitability leading to greater prosperity for African economies. The signatories of this Charter commit to striving to fulfil the following principles: • Gender-diverse recruitment • Equal pay • Gender-diverse management and executive committees • Gender-balanced boards In keeping with the charter, below is an illustration of the gender composition of EACG:

Financial Inclusion Another issue to consider is that of financial inclusion. Financial inclusion is defined as the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services. Women face unique obstacles in accessing financial services especially in the African markets. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), close to 80% of women-owned businesses with credit needs are either underserved or unserved. This $1.7 trillion funding gap if met, would provide an additional $330 billion in revenue to the global economy. From an impact perspective, an increase in financial inclusion

Emerging Africa Asset Management (EAAML) recently (on the 27th of January, 2021) launched the Emerging Africa Balance Diversity Fund.

This first-of-its-kind mutual fund invests in securities of companies with proven commitment to gender diversity through significant representation of women on their boards, management, and staff as well as through the offering of products and services which enhance the economic inclusion of women.

Emerging Africa Capacity Building (EACB) provides training and mentorship in technical and soft skills for senior executives, finance

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Emerging Africa Capital Group’s Leadership • Chief Dr. (Mrs.) Nike Akande OON, CON- Group Chairman Chief Dr. (Mrs.) Nike Akande OON, CON, is a prominent Industrialist and Investment Expert, having participated in a number of International Trade and Investment fora both Overseas and in Nigeria.

She is a Two-time Minister of Industry of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and is the immediate past President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

Under her leadership, LCCI led the promotion, of private and public initiatives aimed at improving trade, industry, commerce and agriculture.

She is an author of many outstanding publications and academic papers.

• Toyin F. Sanni- Group Chief Executive Officer Toyin Sanni is Founder and CEO of the Emerging Africa Capital Group, Co-Founder of the Africa Investment Roundtable as well as Board Chairman at Emerging Africa Asset Management Limited.

Toyin sits on several boards and committees including Transnational Corporation Plc, the Off Grid Energy Fund - Financing Energy Inclusion (OGEF-FEI) sponsored by the AfDB and other International Development Finance Institutions, NEPAD Business Group Nigeria and the Pearl Awards Governance Board.

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She is also the Founder and Chairperson for the Women in Finance Nigeria Network and Founder, WIFNG UK. Toyin was declared the All-African Business Woman of the year 2017 by CNBC Africa, & Nigeria’s CEO of the Year 2017 by Pearl Awards.

In 2020, she won the Africa Influencer (CEO) Award by Tech Times Africa.

Africa Investment Roundtable (AiR) The AiR is a research-based thought leadership platform aimed at providing an in-depth examination of the African investment landscape. It was launched in January 2021 and will air on the third Monday of every month. AiR was co-founded by Toyin F. Sanni (Group CEO of the Emerging Africa Capital Group) and Arunma Oteh OON (an academic scholar at University of Oxford who was previously Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank, Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria, Group Vice President and Group Treasurer of the African Development Bank Group amongst other roles).

Unique Positioning of EAC Group Nigerian companies are beginning to position themselves to meet Africa’s financing and investment needs. Emerging Africa Capital however stands out from the crowd not only because of its commitment to solving Africa’s financing and investment challenges but also because of its focus on gender diversity and in its internal operations and external dealings.

Sources: h t t p s : // h b r. o rg / 2 0 1 9 / 0 3 / w h e n -a n d why-diversity-improves-your-boardsperformance# h t t p s : // w w w . b l o o m b e r g . c o m / n e w s / articles/2020-08-21/female-boardrepresentation-shows-nigeria-beats-worldaverage#:~:text=Female%20Board%20 Positions%20Shows%20Nigeria%20Beats%20 World%20Average,-By&text=At%20least%20 one%20in%20five,for%20female%20 representation%20on%20boards. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ fpsyg.2018.01351/full https://www.theafricareport.com/43098/ global-gdp-could-rise-by-3-if-genderdisparity-gap-is-closed/

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Why Surulere, Ijegun are attractive locations in Lagos CHUKA UROKO

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ost people who live in Lagos and are conversant with the metropolis must know or have heard of Surulere, which is also called Small Lagos by reason of its nearness to Lagos Island, the heartbeat of the city of Lagos.

Though Ijegun, a northern suburban community in Alimosho local government area of Lagos, may not be as popular as Surulere, it also has strong reasons for being a good location for living and business.

Surulere is, arguably, a middle-class settlement that is both residential and commercial and passes easily as one of the most exclusive areas on Mainland Lagos.

Besides being a sports city that houses two sport venues, it also harbours some of the most famous streets in Lagos such as Adeniran Ogunsanya, Adelabu, Ogunlana Drive, Bode Thomas, and Eric Moore.

In real estate, location is everything. It determines how much an area could be sought after and also how much home-seekers and business owners have to pay for available property. Surulere enjoys

a good location, being central or a mid-point between Lagos Island and the Mainland.

Surulere is a key transport node in Lagos, connecting the city’s mainland with Lagos Island and Victoria Island.

Since it serves as a mid-point between the island and mainland, people who live there have quick and easy access to both areas. It allows residents flexibility of movement.

For this reason, many home-seekers flock to Surulere and that has made properties in the area hot and pricey. Rents are on the high side, making landlords kings who decide the fate of tenants with a wave of the hand. Rents rise with the speed of light.

A three-bedroom flat in Surulere, depending on the location, attracts as high as N750,000 per annum while a two-bedroom flat could be up for between N400,000 and N500,000 per annum.

The high demand for property has not only pushed up rents, but also provided opportunity for fresh investment in both residential and commercial property. Apart from investing in new property development, investors are also buying off old properties from their owners for either remodelling or reconstruction into mostly two-bedroom apartments which are hot

cakes in the area.

People also like to live or do business in Surulere because it accommodates all kinds of people including young families, the low- and midincome class, grandparents, politicians, successful and struggling artists, students, etc. It is very easy to fit into the different neighbourhoods within the location without fear of segregation or any form of culture-shock.

It is still a matter of argument that the best of Lagos street food can be found in Surulere and at the best rates too. People who want the best Shawarma or Suya travel from as far as the Lekki Peninsula to Surulere for a palatable and affordable taste. Surulere also has more local independent restaurants and bukkas than it is possible to choose from.

This location is also full of independent businesses as could be found in commercially viable streets like Bode Thomas and Adeniran Ogunsanya, and to a little extent, Babs Animasaun.

Apart from restaurants and bars, there are also many businesses in Surulere. It is easy to find clothing stores, interior design boutique, car dealers who congregate around the National Stadium and its environs. There are other businesses in this loca-

tion too and they are such that a shopper will get spoilt for choice when it comes to buying locally. These businesses create many opportunities for jobs too.

The most popular street in Surulere that harbours some of the independent businesses is Adeniran Ogunsanya, where a big mall, named after the street, with Shoprite as the biggest retailer is located. There is literally nothing that cannot be found on the street and many of them are of good quality too.

For socialites, especially night crawlers, Surulere is unrivalled in its active night life. Perhaps, before gridlock overtook Apapa, both locations were at par in night-life activity. In Surulere, in spite of the economic downturn, Fridays are like Christmas Eve in the area and Ogunlana Drive is a place to be.

This offers investment opportunities for night club operators, big restaurants, moderate-sized hotels, winesellers, suya sport and bar operators.

Living in Surulere, one can never be bored at night because there is a load of great bars, lounges, and pubs.

Added to these, there is relative good security in most of the areas. There are bars that open from 10am to 4am every single day including Sundays.

Nigerian among 11 digital founders for Germany training Samuel Ese, Yenagoa

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Nigerian digital founder, Anthony Owei is among 11 digital founders from Africa who have been selected to participate in the 2021 Westerwelle Young Founders programme in Germany.

Owei, founder of the first digital poultry investment platform, ePoultry.NG, and 10 others will benefit from the fully funded six-month programme for outstanding young entrepreneurs from emerging and developing countries.

The programme is aimed at connecting young founders from all over the world and offering mentorship that would meet their particular challenges in order to develop their international network.

BusinessDay gathered that the 11 top performing founders from Africa would be in Berlin in the autumn of this year for the training programme where they would have opportunity to pitch to investors.

They would also participate in workshops and networking events and get

insight into the German start-up scene.

Owei had in February 2019 founded ePoultry.NG to provide the public an opportunity to partake in the poultry value chain where they could sponsor farms and earn profits of up to 50 percent annually.

The main focus of the company is largely on smallholder poor rural farmers in Nigeria who account for about 40 percent of the total population.

It is seeking to lift the smallholder farmers from poverty by providing them with finance through crowd funding platforms, technical skills through continuous training and mentorship as well as access to markets to improve sales.

Through the activities of ePoultry.NG, Owei believes the “twin Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of hunger and poverty could be tackled with a high measure of success.”

According to him, “ePoultry.NG was selected based on its peculiarity to provide debt-free financing, technical skills and mentorship as well as market access to smallholder farmers across the country.”

ACU, BMGA partner to narrow skills gap among women GBEMI FAMINU

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M G A E nt e r p r i s e Limited (BMGA), an EdTech finishing school for the next information revolution and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), an international university network, have signed a partnership agreement.

This partnership aims to provide young women across Commonwealth countries with the knowledge and resources required to gain fundamental soft skills that strengthen their marketability for a successful career in the 21st century. It also aims to support the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals by addressing quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth.

Through the partnership,

female university graduates and final-year students across Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda will be brought together under an umbrella of transformational learning.

The agreement will also see the two organisations collaborating on relevant aspects of the BMGA Fellows Programme and other services.

Gbemisola Abudu, founder/managing partner, BMGA, said: “We are thrilled about this partnership with ACU, the world’s oldest international network of universities.

They are an ideal partner for BMGA as our drive to strengthen university graduates’ marketability aligns with their desire to transform lives and support development through education.”

On their part, Joanna Newman, chief executive/ secre-

tary general, ACU, said: “We are delighted to be working with BMGA through this new partnership. Higher education has the power to transform lives, and this is particularly true for women: a university education can triple a woman’s earning potential.

The BMGA Fellows Programme is an outstanding initiative aimed at developing the skills women need for the future of work, and the ACU looks forward to working with BMGA to extend the programme’s reach to more countries”.

The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) is the world’s first international university network, with over 500 member universities in more than 50 countries. Its network spans over 10 million students and 1 million academic and professional university staff.

AfCFTA critical to Africa’s recovery from COVID-19 - Mene Gbemi Faminu

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amkele Mene, secretary-general, Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has described AfCFTA as a key driver for Africa’s recovery from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mene added that the trade agreement would help the implementation of the continent’s industrialisation growth and development agenda.

He made the assertion durwww.businessday.ng

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ing a courtesy visit to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Friday in Lagos.

“The continent’s ability to trade in merchandise and services inclusive of the airlines industry, tourism and other components is critical to its recovery. With the objectives of the AfCFTA, by 2035, Africa is on the path to industrial development and we are building a capacity to diversify our exports within and outside the continent,” he said.

Mene described Africa as @Businessdayng

a significant market with a growing rate of 3.4 percent annually, and the producer of six out of ten fastest growing economies of the world, but decried that its growth process was disrupted by the pandemic According to him, the projection of International Monetary Fund (IMF) is that by 2022, there will be some positive growth trajectory of 2.1 percent for Sub-Saharan Africa if vaccines are made available on time and AfCFTA implemented.

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NEWS AfDB provides $400,000 grant for SEC to support capital markets Chika Otuchikere, Abuja

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he African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has signed a $400,000 grant agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria to strengthen securities markets regulation and broaden market instruments.

The funds will go towards strengthening risk-based supervision framework, regulation of derivatives and green bonds, and build capacity for green finance. The grant will be sourced from the Capital Markets Development Trust Fund, a multi-donor fund administered by the bank.

“This collaboration further underscores our mutual goal to grow our markets and create viable avenues for sustainable economic development for Nigeria and the region,” said Lamido Yuguda, directorgeneral of SEC Securities at the virtual signing ceremony.

The grant is aligned with the priorities of the bank’s country strategy for Nigeria, which envisages measures to stimulate capital market development to unlock finan-

cial resources for productive sector investments, infrastructure development and private sector growth.

The project will reinforce the implementation of SEC’s Nigeria Capital Market Master Plan 2015-2025 and its vision to position the Nigerian capital market as a competitive and attractive destination for portfolio investments.

Lamin Barrow, senior director of the bank’s Nigeria country department, noted the urgency for speedy implementation of activities contemplated in this project.

“At a time when countries are striving to build back better from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic,

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improvement of the enabling regulatory and supervision framework will boost domestic resource mobilisation efforts and leverage private sector contributions to achieve a greener, more environmentally sustainable and inclusive post-pandemic recovery” Barrow added.

Oscar O nyema, CEO, Nigeria Stock Exchange, thanked the African Development Bank Group and the SEC “for this historic event and partnership, to build in-house capacity at SEC, the Nigeria Stock Exchange, issuers and investors in sustainable finance space, which will help meet climate finance commitments in Nigeria.”

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Special Report on Osun

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Oyetola: Politics of Good Governance, Economics of Development in Osun Osun State was in the past regarded as one of the highly-indebted states in Nigeria going by accumulated debts it owed.

Worst still were the negative impacts of the 2016 recession, which drastically reduced allocations from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) and internallygenerated revenue. The government of the then State of Osun was forced to slash workers’ salaries by half. Other financial obligations and government’s commitments suffered greatly.

But the emergence of Governor Gboyega Oyetola in 2018 on the political platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), changed the political and socio-economic narrative in the State. This is as Oyetola immediately embarked on total political and economic re-engineering to remedy the anomalies, bringing the State back to better pedestal in good governance, economic growth and development.

For Instance, Olalekan Yinusa, a professor of Economics and Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning of the State, declared that Osun was in an appalling governance circumstances when Governor Oyetola was elected Governor, but he combined longstanding experience and exposure in the private sector with that of public sector to change things for the better as he runs a listening and feedback-driven governance.

Yinusa, who spoke with Razaq Ayinla, regional editor of BusinessDay in Southwest on the perceived miracle used to change things for the better quickly, said, “I think basically we need to understand who the governor is and what was his state of mind when he was aspiring to occupy the position of governor of Osun, and what exactly are the specific things he has put in place to actualise the dream God gave him when he assumed office.

“I think, fundamentally, I am going to say that the Governor of the State of Osun, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola, had a very comprehensive and solid training to be able to occupy the position he occupies today, that was the basis upon which he had a robust and comprehensive manifesto, which was the basis of engaging the people to convince them to vote for him as the governor.

“After having that robust manifesto, the next thing that followed was his declarative statement where he said, ‘I am going to run an inclusive government’. By running an inclusive government, he understood from the

beginning that the people own the power and they only delegate that power to whoever they wish to occupy that position to exercise authority on their behalf for the number of years the Constitution permits.

is doing. It is easy for us to connect without any restriction. Osun is not known to be fiscally rich in terms of money, but I must tell you Osun is very rich in terms of ideas, creativity, and innovation in the public sector.

“By saying that, it is clear to me that he went into that election, won and was sworn in as the Governor of the State. Immediately after that, consistent with the earlier declarations of running an inclusive government, he embarked on a ‘thank you’ tour around the nine federal constituencies of the State. He didn’t just say ‘I’m thanking you’ but he requested that they tell him what they expected from the administration that was to be formed in 2018.

“Most of the programmes that are now highflyers at the national level, emanated from the State. The governor was solidly prepared for the position. He was Chief of Staff for eight solid years after spending over 30 years in the private sector.

So, with a blend of public and private sector experience at that level, you will understand why I said that he was prepared for the position he is occupying today.

“He moved round and every federal constituency submitted a memorandum, listing out specific requests at that time. At the same time, the State also collaborated with the then DFID which is now FCDO to conduct Citizens’ Needs Assessment and look at the specific sectors of Osun and what the people’s expectations were.

“When you look at all these areas, you will agree with me that we collated a very comprehensive report which was sent to the governor by the Ministry of Planning and Budget.

“The needs assessment were collated local government by local government, sector by sector because it was partitioned and put together to be the basis upon which the 2019, 2020 and 2021 budgets were built upon. After each of the consultation that starts the budget cycle, what we do is to go back to the people when we are preparing the background for the budget through the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Medium Term Sector Strategies that we are putting in place, which will be a prelude to the budget preparation.

“All these are things that we will still go back to the people to find out from them the things we have been able to deliver out of their needs and these are the area that remains. But I must say that every project this State has implemented since the coming of Governor Oyetola have been requests emanating from the people.

“I have had reasons at the State Executive Council meeting to stand to appreciate him for the fact he has been very consistent with his promise to the people because when we go out to the people on his behalf, they tell us what they want from him, which we document and give him report. He has made our job very easy because what people want is what he

“The question has always been that how have we been able to do some of the things we have done.

I must say that because of all those backgrounds, he brought those experiences in terms of deployment of resources and application of funds to the various budgets and programmes to meet the needs of the people. He has been very creative. Those that are following him will know his depth in terms of financial management and content, which is why he has provided leadership in that dimension to ensure that we convert all our hard and soft knowledge in creativity and innovation to be able to bring to bear some of the few things that we see today.

“People keep asking how we are paid salaries, even at the peak of the lockdown. Osun was paying salaries and that is strange. This is because the governor has been very innovative and creative, and this has been responsible for everything we are doing. No investor will go to a place where there is no peace. So, within a short period of time, he has been able to attract interesting investments to the State.

“The ethanol company is here because of the goodwill of the governor and character of the state. Mining is also ongoing in the state.

“Osun and one other state were chosen for the Presidential Artisanal Mining Initiative in Nigeria. There is mining of gold in Ijesa, Osun. Development partners coming to Osun are so many. Unlike before, many are still trooping in because of the character of the State. You have the UNDP, Save the Children, UNICEF, UNFPA and DFID. They are working with us to contribute to the good work we are doing.

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development and security. Principally, the governor aspires to make sure people are educated, healthy, have access to and get efficient health services.

“Immediately the governor assumed office, he had to make sure health is accessible and affordable; he set out to make available 332 health facilities, one primary health centre per ward. As I speak to you, all 332 health facilities have been completed because what the governor wanted was that people did not have to travel before they receive health care services.

“This means that health facility is at a walking distance from anybody’s home and they are able to receive services without any problem.

“One other challenge we have discovered from developing countries is that health expenditure is always huge. That was why the governor energized the Osun Health Development Insurance Scheme (OHIS), basically to ensure that citizens, whether those work for the government, private or artisans, have access to health wherever they want it. All you need to do is register for the scheme and pay a token, say about N12,000. With this, you enjoy health facility for one year and pay only 10% on every medication as an individual and pay about #60,000 to enroll a family (husband, wife and two children). In a way, this has reduced the burden of health services. This is part of the human capital development goal. Another aspect is education, there are lots of reforms going on in that sector to ensure that the products of our system are world class.

“On infrastructure, there are road constructions ongoing on several parts of the State; that is also innovative. The unique thing about us is the fact that we are delivering infrastructure and it is not putting strain on the State. We have an innovative alternative strategy which has not affected other commitments. We are paying salaries and pensions.

“In terms of ease of doing business, the governor organized the Economic and Investment summit in 2019 and the purpose is to lay a template for all organizations to follow, where private sectors can come in to augment the government knowing full well that the government cannot do it alone. Don’t forget the governor spent 30 years in private sector. He understands the energy there and he is willing to tap into it for the benefit of the Osun people. I can tell you a lot of investors are coming in. All these are the things that the current administration has been able to do in the last two years.”

For Adegbite Ademikaran, chairman, Osun Internal Revenue Service (OIRS), the stories of financial re-engineering is the same.# “We have experienced significant growth over the years in terms of our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) collections. Even from the website of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), you can pick the figures.

“But let me give you the summary. In 2017, we did about N10.2 billion. In 2018, we moved to N15.1 billion. In 2019, we did N17.5 billion and in 2020, despite the problem the country faced (COVID-19 and lockdowns) for which we can say we worked effectively for nine months, we closed at N18.3 billion. So, if you extrapolate, you will see that if we had done 12 months, we would have clocked not less than N22 billion or thereabout.

“What is the magic? The magic is the leadership of the governor, because he gave us the freedom to come up with strategies and each time we present those strategies to him, he has never hesitated to approve our strategies. One of those we did in recent times that has assisted us in blocking those leakages we are talking about is that we have deployed some forms of technology. Most times, if your collection is being done manually or you are collecting cash here and there, there is the probability of people supress-

ing cash and revenue leakage will be very high.

“Last year, our target was N24 billion; and like I told you, we had issues. If these issues didn’t arise, we would have met our target and that is why I told you to extrapolate what I gave you; N18 billion in nine months, effective nine months and so we could have done N24 billion.

Our target last year was N24 billion and I think we did close to about 86 percent of our target.”

On industrialisation and investment, Osun State Government is exploring and exploiting tripartite opportunities offered by the Osun State Investment Promotion Agency (OSIPA), Omoluabi Holdings and Living Trust Mortgage Bank PLC to open up the State for business, with the provision of Omoluabi Free Trade Zone that has started welcoming both local and foreign investments, proposal of Dagbolu Inland Container Terminal and Dagbolu International Trade Centre.

For Osun, all economic opportunities should be explored and exploited. Hence, there has been a frantic effort to tap from the opportunities being offered by the Lagos-Kano railway as the State Government is seeking to decongest the Apapa Port through the Dagbolu Inland Container Port that will be located along OsogboIkirun highway.

It should be noted that as part of efforts to decongest Apapa, where the Premier Port is located in Lagos, and attract investments to the State, government has initiated multiple partnerships with Federal Government agencies and some investors to construct an inland port that will run on Lagos-Kano railway with inland container terminal within Dagbolu International Trade Centre on Osogbo-Ikirun highway.

BusinessDay reports that the Dagbolu Inland Container Terminal located within Dagbolu International Trade Centre, which enjoys multiple partnerships from Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Shipping Council, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Living Trust Mortgage Bank plc, Cititrust Financial Services, among other investors, will not only decongest Apapa port, but will also attract unprecedented investments to Osun State when completed.

Speaking on the effort of Government to open up Osun for business, Adebayo Jimoh, Chairman, Board of Directors, Living Trust Mortgage Bank PLC, declared that the State Government’s focus is on critical infrastructure, agriculture, mining and tourism to attract huge investments, begining from the ongoing Dagbolu Inland Container Terminal, which he said, is the brain child of the Living Trust Mortgage Bank Plc. He said: “We at the Living Trust Mortgage Bank PLC, which is a merger between Osun State Government and Cititrust Financial Services, are supporting the Dagbolu International Trade Centre and Dagbolu Inland Container Terminal on the Osogbo-Ikirun highway. We are having partnerships with the Nigeria Railway Corporation, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Shipping Council, Federal Ministry Industry, Trade and Investment and other investors.

“We are constructing the Dagbolu Inland Container Terminal that will run on the LagosKano rail to decongest the ever congested Apapa Port and attract unprecedented investments to the State. Attracting investments and providing security are what Governor Oyetola’s administration is much focused on and we are doing several things at a go to develop and sustain the socio-economic activities ongoing in our State.”

While making comments on housing units being constructed to domesticate growing population of new investors in the State, Jimoh hinted that a Social Housing Scheme had started in the State where major cities within the nine

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We have done well and on track to achieving our goals - Oyetola In this interview with John Osadolor and Razaq Ayinla, Oyetola speaks on the activities and achievements of his government in the past two years. Excerpts:

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degboyega Oyetola, executive governor of Osun State, is the winner of BusinessDay States’ Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards 2020 as the Best Governor of the Year.

In this interview John osadolor and Rasaq Ayinla, Oyetola speaks the activities and achievements of his government in past two years.

Question: What was the state of Osun State as at the time you became governor in 2018 and what have you done to better the State?

When we assumed office, our State was reeling from the impact of the drastic fall in earning power as a result of the recession, which inadvertently put us in an uncomfortable situation financially. So, naturally, there were a few challenges that sadly slowed us down.

Upon assumption of office, therefore, we were confronted with the challenge of stabilizing our financial base to be able to deliver on our priority needs. We swung into action and shored up our revenue base, revitalized the economy for improved performance and further positioned the State for optimum productivity and prosperity. I am convinced we have done well and are right on track to achieving all the goals we have set for ourselves.

Question : Of all you have done so far, what would you say is your greatest accomplishment in the last two years?

It is difficult to say, really, because there have been several achievements of our administration that I find truly heart-warming.

For instance, I derive a lot of joy when I consider the number of lives that are daily accessing qualitative healthcare through our interventions in the sector. I’m also delighted to note what we have achieved with the welfare of our workers because we are now able to pay salaries as and when due. The fact that we have also started implementing the minimum wage and lifted the embargo on promotion of staff also excites me. I could also think about how the mining sector is being sanitized or even some of the roads we are constructing that were largely neglected for decades. Among these and many others, I think the greatest joy is our administration’s inclusive governance framework and how we have given our people a voice and made them to count in governance. This, for me, is very important as it further empowers our people to determine what the priority of our government should be. You will recall that when the administration started, we embarked on a Thank You Tour and a Needs Assessment exercise to take in the inputs of our people in areas they would love us to concentrate. So, what you see in the last two years is the result of listening to the voices of our people and a culture of prudent use of our resources.

Question : In what ways has your previous experiences in both private and public

service enhanced your performance now as governor?

Indeed, my experience as a private sector player has helped in some ways. I think the area where this appears the most profound has been in the management of resources.

In this regard, I speak of putting resources to judicious use for maximum result. You will agree that in the last few months we have achieved more with less and we have reduced waste to the barest minimum.

Question: What are the key challenges facing Osun State currently?

As far as I am concerned, the challenges the State faces are not significantly different from what any other states in the country face, but what is most important really is what we are doing to address these needs.

The first challenge, one may talk about is in the dwindling resources available to prosecute development needs. Again, for us, this is being tackled frontally by ensuring that we revitalize and sufficiently diversify to open up new channels of wealth creation. What we have done in the last few months is to aggressively open up new revenue vistas through effective tax collection, while leveraging on our capabilities in agriculture, tourwww.businessday.ng

ism and mining. Through our reform efforts, we are beginning to see results in these areas as significant contributors to our economy.

Question: How do you feel about the level of insecurity in the country and how is your administration tackling the issue?

The reality that stares us in the face is one in which the security situation is getting more challenging by the day. The truth, of course, is that no part of the country is now spared. What was once thought of as the headache of some particular parts of the country has now exacerbated into a hydraheaded monster harassing every other part of the country. The experience in the Southwest is becoming really disturbing, with increasing cases of banditry, kidnapping, robbery, rape and other heinous manifestations. While it is convenient but unfair to label an ethnic extraction for this evil on account of the sort of manifestation constantly being reported across the States, the truth also is that criminality is what it is and it has to be treated as such.

The challenge then goes to our security operatives to do what is right -- go after the criminals, not minding the ethnic group they belong, and prosecute conscientiously. It

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needs also to be mentioned that the menace of terrorism and insurgency in the North East requires that the armed forces are sufficiently motivated and provided with the requisite machinery, more than ever, to implement the counter-insurgency operation.

We need to do more to improve the quality of intelligence gathering that is available to our security operatives. We must ensure that we further sensitize our people, mobilise them and work towards getting their buyin in this fight. Since these delinquents are members of our various communities, it is possible to have citizens volunteer information on them.

I take it that it is possible to win the battle against the insecurity situation in the country, if we would all join hands, volunteer expertise and provide the requisite support as may be necessary.

In Osun, what we have done is to ride on the cooperation of all key stakeholders to ensure that we tackle extant security challenges. Early in our administration, we held a security summit that allowed us to receive relevant feedback and develop a strategic framework for tackling issues as they arise.

We have also put in place a joint taskforce

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Monday 08 March 2021 of all security operatives to secure lives and properties in our State.

Question: Do you see Amokekun as solution to insecurity in the Southwest?

I think it has to be noted that Amotekun is a child of necessity. Truth be told, the police is over stretched, among other existential issues that hinder them from performing optimally. So, what Amotekun has come to do is to complement the work of our security operatives, with special attention to intelligence gathering - especially from the point of the strength available to it since all its men are products of the same communities and society they are seeking to protect.

Question: You started off by prioritizing health care in Osun State. What informed that decision and how would you rate the impact?

Globally, health is recognized as an important component of human capital development. Therefore, any nation or state seeking to achieve economic growth and development must prioritize the health sector. In Osun, we do understand that our people can only achieve their potential and contribute to the economy of the State when they are healthy. More importantly, caring for women and children as well as elderly people has been very key to our administration.

BUSINESS DAY the general and tertiary hospitals in the State.

Particularly, people living in the rural areas who are unable to seek out care at secondary health facilities due to long distances or prohibitive transport costs can now visit the nearest PHCs to them.

and multidisciplinary firm, The MGT Group, has expressed readiness to invest in building a world-class specialist hospital and a medical diagnostic centre in our State. We will be hosting the firm soon in our State.

Generally, the State health indicators are showing significant improvement as a result of our commitment and investment in the health sector.

Question: Osun is one of the states blessed with mineral deposits and arable land. In what ways has the State under your administration harnessed these potential to boost agriculture and industrialisation?

Question : In 2019, your Government held an Economic and Investment Summit with investors pledging to bring in significant investments into the State. What level of investments has the state attracted since then in real terms?

There is no doubt that Osun has arable land and mineral resources, but what is more important are the policies and programmes designed and implemented by the government to transform the economy through agriculture and industrialization.

One of the priorities of our government is to revamp the economy of Osun and position it as one of the top investment destinations in Nigeria. In view of this, we considered hosting an economic summit, which is unprecedented in the State, to bring people all over the world to see what Osun has to offer.

The objectives of the Summit were to share with critical stakeholders, the economic roadmap of the current administration and to showcase the investment opportunities in the State to both Nigerian and international investors.

Our administration is building on the achievements recorded in the area of agriculture. Our Ministry of Agriculture and Osun Land Bank are being supported to deliver on their mandates by providing and making land accessible to farmers and interested investors. Beyond land accessibility, farm inputs, including fertilizers, agro-chemicals, seeds, cassava stems, among others, were distributed freely to over 12,000 farmers in the State to boost food security.

The revitalization of all the existing farm settlements in the State and massive con-

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agencies to ensure a hitch-free business registration for entrepreneurs.

Question: What efforts are you making to reduce unemployment and poverty in the state and are the efforts bringing the desired impacts?

Globally, unemployment is currently a major problem that calls for urgent action.

The State Government is noted to be at the forefront of fighting unemployment in the country. The continued implementation of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) in the State attests to our seriousness in combating unemployment. Under the Osun Youths Empowerment and Social Support Operation (YESSO), we have empowered the youths with N1.2 billion.

In addition, various interventions and programmes of government in key sectors of the State economy are designed to create employment opportunities for the youth. For instance, the State Government has commenced the construction phase of the proposed International Trade Centre and inland Port, codenamed Dagbolu International Market. The project is set to be the largest free trade zone in South-West Nigeria, once it is fully operational. This would create employment opportunities for the people of Osun and reduce poverty. Additionally, in this year’s budget alone, we have set aside about N1.5 billion to engage our youths in Agriculture, mining, culture and tourism and even commerce among others.

We are also investing in technical vocation education to provide technical skills for our people to make them become competent job creators.

Question: Finally, how do you feel about the award ?

I am humbled by the recognition. Let me once more express my profound appreciation to the Management of Business Day Newspaper for the kind recognition of our Administration’s modest effort at redefining governance and impacting the lives of our people.

Like I said in Abuja when I was being presented with the award, I never knew our two years’ modest efforts at re-engineering the economy of Osun and applying time-tested principles to transform a State grappling with depressed economy will catch the eagle eyes of the 2020 States Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards Committee and qualify us for the award.

With the rehabilitation of 332 Primary Health Care Centres, nine General Hospitals and construction of medical facilities across the State as well as funding of the Osun Health Insurance Scheme, our people will continue to enjoy access to qualitative and affordable health care services. We also established OHIS Drug Distribution Centre to ensure that medicines and consumables are promptly supplied to 16 OHIS-accredited government secondary health facilities across the State, putting an end to the perennial out-of-stock syndrome of medicines in government secondary healthcare facilities for health insurance enrollees.

Consequently, a large number of pregnant women are visiting the new PHCs and this has reduced workload and pressure on

Truly, a number of investors came and showed interest in key sectors such as mining, agriculture, tourism and ICT, and other areas. Notably today, FarmKonnect, Messrs Crown and others are already investing heavily in the agriculture sector of the State through its Wave City Project, Segilola Gold Company in the mining Sector, La Campaigne Tropicana and Osun in collaboration with Sterling Bank Team have visited and developed plans to invest in our tourism sector, just to mention a few.

The State Government, through the Osun Investment Promotion Agency (OSIPA), is working with other private actors for investment partnerships in key sectors identified as growth drivers for the State. For instance, a United Arab Emirates-based multi-sectoral www.businessday.ng

struction of Farm-to-Market Roads in different parts of the state under the Rural Access Mobility Projects (RAMP) are also geared towards boosting agriculture in the State.

Through access of SMEs to micro-credit system in the State, we are also strengthening Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) so that their productive capacities can improve and contribute meaningfully to job creation and economic growth in the State.

The State Government is also open to partnerships with the private sector to industrialize the State. We are working earnestly to improve the ease of doing business through reforms targeted at State institutions facilitating investments. The State Government is partnering with the Federal Government

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The award is a product of faithfulness to my conviction after over three decades of meritorious service in the private sector that, service to the people is the best service and that it can only yield its best when people of integrity and honour venture into the fold; that it is possible to provide services to the people and build sustainable economy and development in the public service, the inherent challenges, including bureaucracy and paucity of funds, notwithstanding.

Let me conclude by saying that if our modest efforts at giving our best to our people in the most-challenging two years in the country have earned us this award, it is an invitation for us to do more and surpass our accomplishments in the two years ahead.

I dedicate the award to the people of Osun for their show of understanding and support.

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POLITICAL, ECONOMIC PROSPERITY IN OSUN IS OUR MAIN FOCUS UNDER GOV OYETOLA - CoS, AKINOLA Dr. Charles ‘Diji Akinola is the Chief of Staff (CoS) to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State. In this interview with JOHN OSADOLOR AND RAZAQ AYINLA, Dr. Akinola bares his mind on the policies and programmes of the Oyetola administration.

Excerpts:

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uestion: What is the general overview of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola’s administration in the last two years, in terms of critical policies of government?

The policies of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in the last two years have largely focused on a renewed drive to position the economy in a manner that supports the sustainable prosperity of the Osun people. Mr. Governor rode to office on the promise that he would reform the economy of the State, using agriculture, tourism and mining as key drivers of the economy. So, what you have seen in the last two years are the concerted efforts targeted at achieving this all-important goal.

As an administration, we realised that the only way to achieve the Osun of our dreams is to depend less on the dwindling allocation from Abuja, but rather grow our earning capacity internally.

So, that exactly is what we have done so far. The result of this clinical intervention is that the State has become largely stabilized with payment of salaries, pensions and other obligations of government being met. It is good to note that Osun is one of the only first five States in the country to have implemented the minimum wage, in addition to lifting the embargo on the promotion of our civil servants.

Governor Oyetola has also managed resources creatively. He has been extremely prudent. He has reduced wastes. With significant improvement in tax revenue, alongside a unique alternative funding approach which has enabled the administration to execute some of our key infrastructural projects, the days of abandoned projects are over in Osun.

The State is indeed very fortunate to have a man of Governor Oyetola’s pedigree in the driving seat.

Another significant policy is the inclusive governance policy of the administration that has made it possible for our people to have their inputs in the daily running of the administration. To demonstrate his exemplary leadership as a great listener, upon assumption of office, Governor Oyetola undertook a Thank You Tour and a Need Assessment exercise across the State. The feedbacks from these exercises have guided the execution of the administration’s Development Agenda.

Question: How are the policies and steps taken

by Government affected the populace positively and what are the feedbacks from the people?

Just as I had mentioned, Governor Oyetola is a pragmatic leader who is passionate about putting smiles on the face of the good people of Osun. It was this passion that drove him, for instance, to prioritize investment in the health sector which has resulted in the revitalization of 332 Primary Healthcare Centres – one per ward across the State – which, really, is unprecedented in the history of our nation; the refurbishing of our general hospitals and the aggressive execution of the State Health Insurance Scheme, which is about the best run in the country today. Also, he has also seen to it that the State established two molecular laboratories to diagnose COVID-19 and other diseases.

I should also talk about the reform in education, which has been widely received by the public.

The last administration invested significantly in

infrastructural developments. What Governor Oyetola has done is to focus on the soft side of things by ensuring that we look into critical reforms to strengthen the sector, just as being clamoured for by residents of the State.

Mind you, we didn’t have a knee-jerk response to it. In a fashion typical of the inclusive model of this administration, Governor Oyetola constituted a team of some of the finest education practitioners and policy wonks such as Prof. Olu Aina, Emeritus Prof. Pai Obanya, Prof Yemisi Obilade, Dr. Iyi Uwadiae, Prof Adeyemi and others, with the leadership of the various sector groups such as the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), National Union of Teachers (NUT) to have a painstaking look at the burning issues. It was their recommendations that gave birth to the reforms we are implementing. And you only need to go out and conduct a state-wide opinion poll to see how well this has been received by the people.

I could go on and on talking about the various policies that have been implemented in mining, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, environment, among others. I think what has made the difference really is the underpinning philosophy of the administration as one that promotes inclusive governance. This has indeed played a tremendous role in ensuring that all policies are well-thought out and back stopped with rigorous engagement of key stakeholders before any implementation is attempted.

Question: But some people had alleged that reform was targeted at humiliating Mr. Governor’s predecessor?

There is no iota of truth in that at all. You will recall that Mr. Governor and some of us serving in the current administration were part of the last administration. So, there was no way that could have been the intention. As a development policy www.businessday.ng

expert, I can tell you that the life cycle of policy development revolves around policy design, policy implementation and policy review. So, there is nothing wrong with taking a second look at the policies an institution has made and seeking ways to improve performance. That is how to build sustainable programmes that create public value.

Again, you only need to look at the line-up of experts who engaged this process. They are globally-renowned education experts who have so much at stake with regard to their hard-earned reputations. You only need to see the interests the reform has generated among our old students associations, development partners, the Federal Ministry of Education, among other stakeholders, to understand that it was not misplaced.

Question: What are the short, medium and long-term policies and programmes of Osun State Government to improve on the quality of lives, businesses and entire socio-economic growth and development?

The vision of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, as enunciated in his manifesto, is to make Osun work for all classes of our people, with adequate physical and social infrastructure to support industry, and where there is economic prosperity for all. This has informed his policy interventions in different sectors of the economy in the short, medium and long terms.

The policies of the current administration are geared towards agricultural development, rapid industrialisation through the establishment of light manufacturing, small scale industries, infrastructural development, security of lives and property, promotion of inclusive governance, robust health care system as well as women and youth empowerment. Also, government has been working consciously and creatively to position Osun as a top investment destination for both local and international investors through the ease

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of doing business reforms.

To develop the agriculture sector, government has continued to support innovative programmes such as the private sector-led Farm Input Supply Programme, the Osun Agricultural Land Expansion Programme (the Land Bank) to ease access to arable land by farmers, massive construction of Farm-to-Market Roads in different parts of the State under the Rural Access Mobility Projects (RAMP), Osun Broilers Out-growers Production Scheme (O’BOPS), among others.

In view of our industrialisation quest, the administration has begun the execution of the mid-regional market hub and the completion of the Osun Dry Port in Dagbolu through Public Private Partnerships – a policy objective enunciated about 10 years ago but is now being actualized.

In the area of health, Governor Oyetola instituted the Osun State Special Health Intervention and Revitalization Programme. The main objective of the programme is to rehabilitate and revitalize all Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) and General Hospitals in Osun, with a view to ensuring that our citizens have access to qualitative and affordable health care.

The passage of Amotekun Security Bill into Law in 2020 is part of the current administration’s efforts to secure the lives of the people of Osun.

Also, the institution of Apero has provided an ideal platform for citizens to contribute and suggest solutions on issues affecting them to government.

We have also set up the Civic Engagement office that constantly engages diverse interest groups to ensure the running of an inclusive and participatory government.

These policies and programmes, just to mention a few, have had far-reaching implications on the livelihood of our people and the overall development of the State.

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Prof. Olalekan Yinusa - Commissioner for Economic Planning, Budget and Development Federal Constituencies in the State would host mass housing units. He added that the Social Housing Scheme is being constructed in partnership with the Osun State Investment Promotion Agency (OSIPA).

He said: “Our primary activities and core competence are mortgage services and financing of major capital projects in housing. We are also committed to the development of housing scheme. We financed the completion of the Osun Shopping Mall and currently, we are, in partnership with the Osun State Investment Promotion Agency (OSIPA), constructing mass housing in major cities of Osogbo, Ife, Ilesa, among other major cities in all the nine Federal Constituencies in the State.”

For Folorunsho Bamisayemi, Commissioner for Education, there has been total overhaul in the education sector as the morale of teachers has been boosted with the payment of prompt and full salaries alongside other incentives.

Science and technical education is being given priority in order to empower students even beyond schooling and lots of things are being done to change the narratives in the sector.

According to him, “We are working with the teachers we have, because we are not sacking anybody. The assessment we do is to know how we can help or know where we can come in to help so that we can have a teacher-capacity training, so that those coming will go through rigorous process as soon as we employ them.

They are not just going to the classrooms but will go through four weeks of induction program which will be on classroom and students management.

“We are also working on how to streamline and screen those going to the classrooms. We have met with the management of the NYSC to screen corps members that will be going to our classrooms and also offer a class training program to assist them and prepare them for classroom experience in order to supplement the teachers we have already.

“We are also working on the digitalization of education. Twenty first century education cannot be delivered without ICT. We must produce students that will be globally competitive and innovators of tomorrow. So, we need to digitalise

education and introduce ICT to all our schools.

“Luckily for us, we audited the system and about 77% of students benefited from the NCC ICT program (USPN) and about 17 schools were equipped in Osun State. We’ve met with the principals of these schools and have ascertained that these equipment are in good condition, with some schools having free WIFI. We are working on the employment of ICT teachers to put to use, these facilities. So, it is not just to teach our students how to use it but to take advantage of the internet.

“We’re also looking at overhauling our science education. Most of the laboratories are not in good condition and we are also looking at renovating our science laboratories. By the Grace of God, this is our first project in the present cabinet. We inherited the 2019 State budget; that’s why most of these projects have to wait till these new projects.

“Another achievement is that we’ve been able to partner with a donor ICT agency known as EMIS (Education Management Information System). So from the Ministry of Education, we can monitor what is going on in our schools and we have created a website for every school.

Through that, we can communicate with them and they can communicate with us.

“We have several portals in which we can upload past questions, virtual lessons.

“On welfare of teachers, you all know Osun was paying half salaries before we came in. By the Grace of God, Osun State is consistently paying its teachers full salaries and that has played a big role because the teachers are motivated and happy. Even with the giant strides in other sectors, the new administration is still able to pay full salaries and also paying gradually the outstanding debts, pensions and gratuities. Mr. Governor has over the past 2 years paid over N2 billion, releasing recently almost N1billion. On December 24th last year, he released another N1 billion and prior to that he released over N800 million. We all know that whatever we do to retirees will affect those in service. With this, workers know they are in good hands if they retire.

“We have a listening governor who places people’s lives and welfare above brick and mortal projects.” www.businessday.ng

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Governor Oyetola has quality plans to save Nigerians huge foreign exchange spent on medical tourism - Isamotu

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oing by the series of quality interventions being made in the entire healthcare services of the State of Osun by Adegboyega Oyetola-led Administration which have prompted revitalization of 332 health centres across all political wards in the three Senatorial districts, coupled with aggressive move to construct a world-class tertiary referral centre which will not only reduce huge foreign exchange spent by Nigerians annually on medical tourism abroad, but will also make the State of Osun, a medical tourist attraction for many African countries, Rafiu Isamotu, an Overseas-trained physician and Commissioner for Health, spoke to RAZAQ AYINLA, Southwest Regional Editor, on the giant strides being made by Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in the health sector. Excerpts:

is the basic health care provision fund that caters for health insurance, PHC boards and Emergency.

We’ve not been officially empowered in terms of finances, but Mr. Governor has graciously approved some money to recruit essential workers, among others, for us to be able to complement the efforts of doctors. We believe we must have adequate sanitation in our facilities. To this end, we have sunk boreholes in all 332 centres. These are the basic things we have done in our primary health care centres.

Question: COVID19 has affected almost every facet of life and the health sector is most stretched, what are you doing to cope with the situations at hand?

Question : What are you doing to improve on the entire healthcare services in the State of Osun, especially as regards primary healthcare services?

You’ll agree with me that majority of our people live in the rural areas and the primary health care centres are the closest to our people. If we take care of the existing primary health centres, we’ll have little problems with the secondary and tertiary health centres. That is why the governor took it upon himself to put it right at the PHC level immediately he was sworn in. He set up a committee to look into the problems and challenges in the health sector. I was part of the Committee and Mr. Governor was the chairman then. And he kept on emphasising that we must look at the PHC sectors. That was when we embarked on revitalization of 332 health centres -- one per Ward. I want to say we are the first state to embark on such massive programme. Works on the majority of the 332 PHCs have been completed and commissioned by Mr Governor. As at last week ( Monday), the contract for the construction of the remaining 15 PHCs was awarded to contractors.#

Health Commissioner, Dr. Rafiu Isamatu Now, what we did is not only about infrastructure. I believe that we must have drugs in our health centres and other basic medical necessities. We want our people to go to health centres to check their blood pressure, glucose level, etc. We want pregnant women to have themselves fully checked, including their babies. So, if we are able to get those basic things right, our secondary and tertiary centres would also be okay.

The challenge we have is about personnel. There is massive brain-drain in Nigeria and a lot of our doctors are moving out of the country. Pretty much soon, we’ll recruit doctors and health personnel into our health centres. We have have employed mid-wives into our health centres, so we can effectively manage our health. And on drugs, we’ve spent over 100 million Naira in providing drugs to our centres. This

Firstly, no government prepared for COVID-19, Nigeria and our state inclusive. But honestly, Mr. Governor has tried massively to help us fight COVID-19 in our state. In Osun, here in Asubiaro Specialist Hospital, it’s one of the places we have our treatment centres in Oshogbo. We have 20-bedded isolated ward here. We have ICU here with eight functional ventilators. As we speak, we have a theatre that we are renovating here, a theatre with a state-ofthe-art equipment. Our biggest isolation centre is in Mercyland here in Oshogbo with 180 beds; we have 15 beds in OAC Ile-Ife; we have 130 in Ejigbo.

So, we have done well in fighting COVID-19 in our state. At the beginning, we knew we were entering into a journey that might not end if other diseases like malaria suffer because of COVID-19. But we have made provisions for this and majority of those who worked for us during COVID-19 were drawn from our tertiary centres. UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital is where we have them most -- nurses, doctors, lab scientists, and others. So, people suffering from other ailments won’t suffer because of our attention to COVID-19.

Question : Apart from primary healthcare, what are your interventions to other layers of health institutions. I mean Tertiary and Secondary health

centres?

Since Mr. Governor came on board, we have embarked on massive renovations of our health facilities, we have rehabilitated our Emergency Centre. As we speak, we have built a 120-bed wards in Asubiaro.

We have a lot of semi-private wards in that place.

We have completed a building of 30-room flats for our junior doctors here in Asubiaro. We equally sank borehole; we have our Psychiatric ward.

Our general hospital in Ifetedo was in a sorry state previously but is now better. These are all secondary and tertiary health centres. We equally reworked the one in my village in Ogbagba, and a few other places like that. We do not forget any of our tertiary health centres. And now, our UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital is majorly our source of manpower, since its detachment from LAUTECH. Those recruited since 2012 have been duly promoted and Mr. Governor has taken care of that.

Mr. Governor has given money for recruitment of staff in UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital. As far as we are concerned, we haven’t gotten to where we want, but we are not relenting.

Question: What are your plans to make sure Osun health sector is completely rejigged even after your government leaves office?

We will have a referral centre in Osun. Mr Governor. was in United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he met with some investors and that was discussed.

So, we believe before the end of this administration, we would have a referral centre of international standard. A lot of our money was taken abroad for medical tourism and that is what we want to stop and replicate the same facilities and manpower here in Osun. Those investors will come soon. We have had meetings with them and they will come physically and do presentation to us at the Cabinet meeting. So, we believe as far as health is concerned, we will leave a mark that will be hard to beat in years to come.

‘We bank on water-tight security to attract investors, tourists, others to Osun’

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sun is one of the most peaceful and secured States in the country, thanks to effective security architecture being put in place by Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and his Cabinet. In this interview with Abiodun Ige(Mrs.) a retired Commissioner of Police and Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, the State of Osun is said to have several layers of strategies and planning on security in order to protect lives and property as well as to attract more people and investments to the State. Excerpts:

about home-made solutions to insecurity with the establishment of the Amotekun Security Outfit.

What has been the effectiveness of the Corps in the state’s security architecture?

Question: Security of lives and property is imperative in political and socio-economic drives, and of course, Osun State is now welcoming various companies from manufacturing to arts and culture to mining and agro-allied, among others.

What is the magic in terms of security?

Question: What has Government been doing to support the conventional security and the Amotekun Corps?

I want to say that in Osun, the synergy between the security agencies is superb. They relate very well and exchange information and if there is any need for them to go out on operations together, they so do and it’s really helping the state.

You know, they speak with one voice and act together. The government too is doing a lot to encourage the security agencies to put in their best. This a state where you have the government ensuring that you do what is necessary, and you in return will want to do your best.

Question: No doubt, Osun State, like other sister states in Southwest Region, has brought

with the JTF positioned at critical points where we envisage that we can have threats and the Government is making efforts to give whatever necessary assistance they can give and they giving it promptly. Osun state is surrounded by six or seven states, and we are lucky the Police and other agencies are proactive. If anything is happening around us, we think and act ahead. If they say something is happening in Ekiti, for example, we promptly act so it will not spill into the state and it has been helping us. We are proactive and we are lucky we have a proactive governor too.

Before you will go to him, he’s going to call you first on what you are doing. And we always ask our people to give us prompt actionable information. You know when you see something, you say something, so that we can take action.

AMOTEKUN is to support the conventional security agencies and they’ve been doing well, because once they are called to give their support, they do so promptly. You can see them everywhere doing what is necessary, which is good for the security of the state. They are doing their best.

The Government is trying. We have the Joint Task Force that all the security agencies are members of. They are on one side and AMOTEKUN is on the other side. Of course, the JTF is a combination of the Police and other agencies put together.

And it’s the Government that bought the vehicles they are using, solely for patrol, anti-cultism, antikidnapping, anti-banditry and anti-robbery. They are doing well. We have them to complement the efforts of the security agencies and to collaborate with AMOTEKUN just to make sure that people in the state sleep with their two eyes closed.

Question: It is a known fact that Osun State connects lots of States from South to the North, what are you doing to tighten up your border areas and highways to neighbouring states?

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Question: What are plans and strategies being put in place for short, medium and long-term in the state to convince and attract investors to the State?

Mrs. Abiodun Ige, former CP and SA Security We have Safer Highway Patrolmen stationed close to our border points, you’ll see them on the Ilesha-Akure road, on Osogbo-Okuku road,

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Every action we are taking is to ensure there is peace. We have peace in Osun State. The security situation is not bad in Osun State. We are enjoying the peace and we thank God for that. We always make sure we take necessary steps towards ensuring that peace is sustained. We don’t take things for granted. Once we notice anything is happening, we promptly take action and then we look forward to what we can do in case we have such situation and we start working on it.

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