BusinessDay 10 Sep 2020

How Bank CEOs were threatened, forced out of NESG Board

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hree bank CEOs who are also directors of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) were called separately Wednesday by a senior official of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to leave the NESG immediately.

One said he was told if he did not want his bank to face severe consequences, he must resign from the board of the NESG. Not long after the separate encounters, the three bank CEOs began to send in their letters one after the other, each of them offering to dis-

continue membership of the board of the summit group. The banks CEOs feared their banks would be denied access to foreign exchange by the regulator.

The three directors Kennedy Uzoka, group managing director, UBA plc; Adesola Adeduntan,

frontline corporate lawyer, said to his colleagues “by now we have all seen the rejoinder by the CBN to our press release on ‘Urgent Matters of the Nation’ that we agreed require immediate attention.

“As surprising as the tone of the

managing director, First Bank, and Abubakar Suleiman, managing director, Sterling Bank plc, all handed in their letters Wednesday and this was confirmed by the NESG. In a statement to the board seen

by BusinessDay, NESG chairman Asue Ighodalo, who himself is a

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businessday market monitor FMDQ Close Benchmark NTB* & CP*

Bitcoin

NSE Biggest Gainer FIDSON N3.71

Everdon Bureau De Change

Foreign Reserve $35.8bn

Biggest Loser

25,424.91

GBP-$:1.29 YUANY - 55.76

Commodities

OKOMUOIL

7.28pc N79.00

Cross Rates

-1.27pc

Cocoa US$2,562.00

Gold $1,946.77

news you can trust I ** THURSDAY 10 september 2020 I vol. 19, no 648

Crude Oil $40.90

I N300

Market

₦ 4,555,776.44 +2.41

Foreign Exchange

Buy

Sell

I&E FX Window CBN Official Rate as at September 7, 2020

ntb

www.

MTN Nigeria plc CP

386.00 379.00

-0.29 1.51

-0.25 4.53

3m 2m 28-oct-20 25-nov-20 392.38 395.23

0.13

-0.01

8.77

8.72

6m 12m 24-feb-21 25-Aug-21 403.75

420.81

@

g

Caleb Ojewale

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Continues on page 31

Dangote Cement plc

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

-0.01

-0.39

9.61

11.05

60m 36m 30-aug-23 27- aug-25 498.32

590.10

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

Outrage as CBN gives 4 foreign firms nod to import maize here is outrage among farmers around Nigeria after it was revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted a waiver to four foreign firms to import 262,000 metric tons of maize barely weeks the apex bank announced a ban on the importation of the commodity to spur domestic cultivation.

The companies - Wacot 60,000 tons; Chi Farms 60,000 tons; Crown Flour 22,000 tons, and Premier Feeds Mills 120,000 tons - were also assigned the rare privilege of banks that have been instructed to facilitate their foreign exchange requirement.

The central bank waiver ap-

FGN

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

$-N 430.00 444.00 1m £-N 550.00 578.00 Currency Futures 30-sept-20 389.54 €-N 490.00 520.00 ($/N)

g

Benchmark Sovereign & Corporate Bonds

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Nigeria demands $1.1bn damages from Eni, Shell in graft case DIPO OLADEHINDE

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he Federal Government of Nigeria on Wednesday asked a Milan court in Italy to order international oil firms, Eni and Royal Dutch Shell, to pay it $1.092 billion as

damages for the corrupt purchase of one of Africa’s most valuable oil blocs worth about $1.3 billion.

The Nigerian government is demanding $1.092 billion, an amount close to the alleged bribes of $1.1 billion paid to win the licence to explore

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Banks pull credit lines from hard hit private schools P. 30 Babajide Sanwo-Olu governor, Lagos State (5th l); Julie Okah-Donli (5th r), director-general, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP); Obafemi Hamzat, deputy governor, Lagos State, (4th l); Hakeem MuriOkunola (3rd l), head of service; Moyosore Onigbanjo (4th r), attorney-general, and chairman, Lagos State Task Force on Human Trafficking, ; Daniel Atokolo (3rd r). Task Force co-chairman, and other members of the newly inaugurated Lagos Task Force on Human Trafficking and State Executive Council, after their inauguration in Lagos.

NAN

Obaseki trumps Ize-Iyamu 57% to 40%, emerges winner in Channels TV preferred P. 30 debaters’ poll

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Bankers’ c’tte promotes financial literacy with ‘Moni Sense’ initiative ISAAC ESOWE

L-R: Abayomi Awabokun, chief executive officer; Olabanjo Alimi, corporate development lead, Habiba Abubakar, sales and marketing Lead, and Fernando Madeira, chief financial officer, all of Enyo Retail and Supply, during the unveiling of Velox in Lagos.

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Nigerian engineers doing a lot in designs, infrastructure space - experts …but undermined by pseudo professionals, foreign influence CHUKA UROKO

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igerian engineers who play pivotal role in the country’s technology space are also doing a lot in project designs and executions, housing and infrastructure development, experts have said.

Civil and structural engineers, particularly, have been involved in the development of iconic projects in Nigeria. Most civil jobs like roads, bridges, high-rise buildings, water/waste water facilities, etc, have been designed and their construction supervised

by Nigerian engineers.

The experts note that despite the feats the engineers have attained, for a developing country like Nigeria, expectations from them remain high.

According to Ali Rabiu, president, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), “The attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depends on the production of sufficient engineering capacities to provide infrastructure and sustainable technology.”

Though Ndubuisi Ekekwe, founder, First Atlantic Semiconductors and Micro-electronics, believes that Nigeria has companies that can fix its challenges in the areas of transportation, electricity, water and other infrastructure problems, Johnson Onoja, a civil engineer, has his concerns.

“The government does not provide enabling environment for the involvement of engineers in the contracts award; politicians hijack the process

such that there is no due process,” Onoja said.

Continuing, he said, “Nigerian engineers lack the capacity to set up reputable companies due to the huge cost involved. Most civil jobs like roads, bridges, etc, which are done by governments are given to expatriates because of benefits accruable through estacodes and commissions.”

Some projects are given waivers, making their production abroad cheaper than local, he said, noting further that the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar makes it unprofitable for a Nigerian engineer to engage in any project that has foreign component.

MKO Balogun, an engineer/CEO, Global PFI, shares this view, adding that one of the challenges facing engineers in Nigeria is the control

of pseudo professionals also called quacks and illegal contractors unlike other professions that have stringent controls.

Like Onoja, who notes that the engineering institutions are not well standardised like other disciplines in Nigeria such that there is scarcity of raw materials and modern machines, Balogun also said training institutions needed to be further equipped.

Funding, according to Damola Akindolire, managing director, Alpha Mead Construction Company, is a major problem faced by Nigerian engineers, explaining, “We have not been able to replicate the success of local content in the oil and gas industry into other sectors of the economy; so, there is limited knowledge transfer and narrow practice.”

COVID-19: NNPC/Chevron JV donates laboratory to Delta State FRANCIS SADHERE, Warri

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igerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/Chevron Nigeria Ltd Joint Venture (CNL) has donated a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) laboratory facility to Warri Central Hospital to support the fight against Covid-19 in Delta State.

The provision of the state-ofart molecular laboratory testing centre with a brand new PCR

machine brings to two the number of Covid-19 testing centres in the state, the first being the once located at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba.

Also donated to the new centre at Warri were test kits, medical consumables, five air conditioners, refrigerators and a 50-KVA soundproof generating set as well as the renovation of the four-bedroom laboratory building.

Speaking at the handing over of the facility, general manager,

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policy, government and public affairs of CNL, Esimaje Brikinn, said the gesture was a part of the overall contributions of CNL to the fight against Covid-19.

The donation, he said, would ensure early detection of Covid-19 cases for isolation and treatment in Warri and environs.

“The aim is to support the government in the fight against the spread of Covid-19 in Delta by enhancing early detection of cases for isolation and treatment within Warri and environs. This

is why we are fully involved in the NNPC-led initiative to provide both tactical and strategic support to the coordinated efforts of government in the fight against Covid-19 in our country by halting its spread,” he explained.

Brikinn, who was represented by the area manager, PGPA field operations, Warri, Sam Daibo lauded the leadership of the Delta State government in the coordination of the oil and gas sector’s response in the containment of the virus in the state.

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ Committee of Nigeria have launched cyber security and fraud awareness campaign tagged ‘Moni Sense,’ to educate the general public on protecting themselves against cyber fraud and scams.

The committee believes as the end of year business season begins, comprehensive fraud and cyber security awareness remains important in ensuring the general Nigerian public is informed on their role in protecting their banking information from fraudulent activities.

Emeka Emuwa, chairman, financial literacy and public enlightenment sub-committee (FLPE), said fraudsters and scammers continually devise new ways to deceive the unsuspecting public, usually to lure them to inadvertently disclose confidential bank information.

“We encourage Nigerians to always be cautious and ignore any text message, phone call, or email asking to update your bank information, provide sensitive bank details, disclose online banking details, debit card numbers, bank verification number (BVN) or PIN to anyone,” Emuwa said.

Elucidating the essence of the programme, he said financial literacy and public enlightenment are critical pillars of the committee’s mandate.

Emuwa said developing initiatives like this was critical to the goal of increasing the number of financially included citizens in the country.

In March 2020, the CBN and the bankers’ committee introduced credit support schemes for households, MSMEs, and businesses across several sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, trading, and aviation.

The bank further unveiled a succession of targeted facilities starting with N50 billion credit facility to support households, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), followed by another N100 billion credit support intervention for the health sector as part of efforts to combat the negative impact of coronavirus (COVID 19) on the Nigerian economy.

With the ‘Moni Sense’ initiative, the CBN and the committee aim to ensure Nigerians are empowered with critical information and knowledge necessary to make important financial decisions, enhance economic prosperity, stay fraud aware and cyber safe.

CBN integrates NIA’s marine insurance certification as requirement for processing e-Forms ‘M’ HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday added the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA)’s digital marine insurance certificate as part of documentation requirements for processing eForm ‘M’.

Form ‘M’ is a mandatory statutory document to be completed by all importers for importation of goods into Nigeria.

This takes effect September 14, 2020, according a circular to all authorised dealers, Nigeria Custom Ser-

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vice, and the general public, singed by Ozoemena Nnaji, director, trade and exchange department of the CBN. The CBN said the use of the hard copy marine insurance certificate for processing e-Form ‘M’ is discontinued from the effective date of the circular.

Part of the circular reads, “this is to inform all authorised dealers, Nigeria Custom Service, and the general public that the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) digital marine insurance certificate has been integrated with e-Form ‘M’ on the Nigeria trade portal.

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Alternative fuel: What government should do to enable more vehicles convert to autogas - MOMAN OLUSOLA BELLO

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ajor Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has urged the Federal Government to create a special fund to facilitate the conversion of more vehicles in the country from petrol usage to autogas.

Chairman of MOMAN, Tunji Oyebanji in a telephone conversation with BusinessDay, on Wednesday, said the move would deepen gas utilisation in line with the objectives of the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP).

According to Oyebanji, creating an alternative source of energy for Nigerians was imperative in view of the increasing prices of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) due to the deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector.

He said aside from the fact that the price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is favourable to vehicle owners; the cost of conversion of vehicles to use gas needs to be supported by setting up fund for the purpose of using gas as alternative fuel.

Through this, a good number of number owners would be encouraged

to key into the scheme.

“For a car to start using autogas, it requires conversion switch which costs over N100, 000.

Government should make funds available to assist car owners who want to switch to autogas.

“The people doing the conversion will convert a certain number of cars and ask government for refund. Other countries have had deliberate policies to encourage use of gas and I know Bangladesh is one of them.”

According to him, government should also look at the possibility of granting tax holiday to investors in gas facilities and also grant waiver on importation of gas equipment to accelerate the process.

He said that gas pricing should also be right to encourage switch by vehicle owners while domestic allocation to the market should be increased by the Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG).

Oyebanji commended the government for inaugurating the NGEP chaired

by Mohammed Ibrahim, noting that it had already begun engagements with stakeholders, including MOMAN. “I believe that the programme will reform and

implement the promotion of a market structure which would ensure the utilisation and development of gas infrastructure, assets and facilities on a common carrier and co-sharing basis.

“The ultimate goal is to deepen the use of gas across the country by promoting its advantages as a cheaper and cleaner alternative source of energy.

“MOMAN supports the gas initiatives of the government and is keying into the autogas space to give Nigerians across the country a cleaner and greener alternative to power their automobiles, homes and other equipment.

“The idea of deepening the use of gas comes at a very auspicious time as we grapple with increasing PMS prices due to the deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector.”

Oyebanji said new policies on alternative energy, the total deregulation and liberalisation of the petroleum downstream sector and the coming on stream of new mega and modular refineries would be great for Nigeria.

He said that the country could quickly develop into the refining hub for West and Central Africa, becoming a net exporter of refined products.

Report shows rising liability exposures for insurance companies MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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actors such as rising litigation, collective redress and large court verdicts, costly and frequent recalls in the automotive and food sectors, the disruptive impact of civil unrest and riots in a growing number of countries, and environmental concerns will likely impact businesses and their insurers in the future.

This has been worsened by the challenging global pandemic, according to a new report from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) which highlights five trends for the sector.

According to the report, “Pricing in the liability insurance market may have turned in recent months, however, social inflation trends and large court verdicts continue in the United States.

This combined with expanded exposures for non-US companies doing

business in the US and an increase in automotive part recalls are putting pressure on liability insurers,” says Ciara Brady, global head of Liability at AGCS. “Overlay this with the uncertain economic outlook, political instability and unknown impacts from coronavirus and this is creating a challenging market for clients, brokers and insurers alike.

“While we have to react to new loss trends in underwriting, AGCS remains committed to supporting our clients with solid risk transfer solutions and capacity to address today’s liability exposures.”

Social inflation is a phenomenon especially prevalent in the US, driven by the growing emergence of litigation funders, higher jury awards, more liberal workers’ compensation claims, as well as new tort and negligence concepts.

The median settlement amount of the top 50 US verdicts from 2014 to www.businessday.ng

2018 nearly doubled from $28mn to $54mn.

Litigation funding is not only on the rise in the US, but also in Europe and elsewhere around the world, contributing to a growing trend of collective redress as hurdles for consumers are lowered to embark on class actions.

Countries that may not be historically associated with this development, such as Saudi Arabia and South Africa, are classified as being “medium risk” that a company may face a collective action in these jurisdictions, according to AGCS’ litigation funding country guide.

According to AGCS experts, it is too early to identify a reverse trend, but court closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic may slow down social inflation as plaintiffs realise that it could take years before their case is tried before a jury and therefore may be more willing to settle outside court. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

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Over N96bn paid to pensioners in one year - PTAD ...to recover N44bn from underwriters GODSGIFT ONYEDINEFU, Abuja

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he Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), on Wednesday, said over N96 billion had been paid to pensioners across all operational departments, including arrears and gratuities between July 2019 and August 2020.

The directorate, however, regrets that legacy funds and assets to the tune of over N44 billion, some of which are domiciled outside Nigeria, are still in the custody of 12 insurance underwriters which the directorate is working assiduously with to recover.

Chioma Ejikeme, executive secretary, PTAD, disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja in Wednesday. While giving a breakdown on the total money paid to pensioners in the last 14 months, Ejikeme said over

N77 billion was paid to 244,643 pensioners as at July 2020.

The executive secretary said 87,842 pensioners were paid arrears and gratuities of over N19 billion, while N670 million was paid to 418 Next of Kin of deceased pensioners.

“The above payments include the balance of 33 percent arrears for the parastatal pensioners, which had been outstanding since 2010 and was fully paid to the pensioners and NoKs in November/ December 2019,” she said.

Following its successful conclusion of the nationwide Parastatals Pensioners’ Verification Exercise in November 2019, Ejikeme said a total of 21,227 pensioners on payroll were found to have not been verified, while informing that PTAD had sent the list of the affected pensioners to the pension unions and agencies to enable those who were on

the list and alive, make themselves available for verification.

She also informed that deceased and unresponsive pensioners on the list would be removed from the payroll from October 2020.

She further disclosed that in 2019, PTAD collaborated with Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) on Bank Verification Number (BVN) Authentication, which led to the suspension of 5,834 pensioners from the payroll.

“However, 2,416 of those removed have been restored after undergoing positive review and validation,” she said.

The executive secretary assured that PTAD was working assiduously on the recovery of the legacy funds and assets, saying the Directorate had got positive responses from the custodians that the funds would be recovered.

Naira weakens by N3.50k as BDC await second allocation HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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igeria’s currency on Wednesday weakened by N3.50k to an average rate of N443.50k per dollar from N440 on Tuesday on the black market.

The depreciation was due to speculative activities of traders as the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators had yesterday funded their account in anticipation for the second tranche of the dollar allocation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The CBN had in August 27, 2020 circular said the purchase of foreign exchange by BDCs shall be on Mondays, and Wednesdays in the first instance.

The BDCs are to ensure that their accounts with

the banks are duly funded with the equivalent Naira proceeds on Fridays and Tuesdays accordingly.

Investigation shows that dollar was going for N442 (selling/traders) and N438 (buying/traders) on Wednesday as against N435 (selling) and N430 (buying) at Festac.

At Eko Hotel the greenback was trading at N445 (selling) and N438 (buying) on Monday from N440 (selling) and N435 (buying).

The foreign exchange market at the investors and exporters (I&E) forex window, opened with an indicative rate of N386.46k on Wednesday. This signalled a marginal appreciation of N0.02k when compared with N386.48k opened with on Tuesday.

After trading on Wednesday, the market closed with the dollar being quoted at N386.00k, representing an appreciation of N0.21k over N386.21k quoted on the previous day at the I&E window, data from FMDQ indicated.

The CBN is expected to allocate another $10,000 to each of the over 5,000 BDCs on Friday. The CBN chose a gradual foreign exchange supply of $10,000 twice a week to BDCs to edge out speculation in the market.

With the new amount of FX allocation, the BDCs are losing about 73.3 percent or $55,000 when compared to $75,000 they were getting from the CBN before the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.

Dawn Project plants trees to combat climate change KELECHI EWUZIE

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L-R: Ibrahim Boyi, executive commissioner, corporate services, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Haruna Jalo-Waziri, managing director, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc; Lamido Yuguda, director-general, SEC, and Adeyinka Shonekan, divisional head, business development, CSCS Plc, during a courtesy visit to SEC in Abuja by the management of CSCS Plc .

Waste recycling laws key to promoting circular economy BUNMI BAILEY

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or Nigeria to become a circular economy, efforts must be channelled towards legislation and effective implementation of waste management law.

This was the consensus by environmental experts at the Lafarge Africa’s fourth and final sustainability series themed, “Roadmaps to Progressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Opportunities in Circular Economy and Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

The webinar series which ran on a weekly basis from August 19 to September 9 brought together diverse national and international stakeholders to discuss and create a national blueprint towards accelerating the achievement of the SDGs in Nigeria.

Speaking at the webinar on Wednesday, Axel Pieters,

corporate and regional head, Geocycle, said legislation and enforcement of laws in embracing proper waste management practices was important.

“Nigeria as a fast-growing nation with a high population needs to have a clear, clean and healthy environment,” Pieters further said.

According to Wikipedia, a circular economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. It employs reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a closed-loop system, minimising the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions.

It also helps to accelerate implementation of the SDGs 2030 agenda.

But waste management has become a critical challenge in Nigeria; thus, daily, significant amounts of waste produced in the country end www.businessday.ng

up indiscriminately in the environment. By 2025, it is estimated that waste generation in Nigeria would make up 25 percent of Africa’s total wastes generation.

However, with environmental awareness on the rise globally, there have been various policy attempts at effective waste management. One of such is the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which makes manufacturers and retailers responsible for the management of their postconsumer products.

“It is an innovative and industry-based waste management approach that promotes circular economy. And the private sector are the ones that are well positioned to take this on, by creating new value chains which will foster competitive advantage and rigidity in the circular economy,” Aliyo Jauro, director- general, National Environmental Standards and Regulation En-

forcement Agency, said.

He further added that the government’s only role is to make sure that things are done in the right way.

Apart from the conversations on the circular economy, there were also discussions on the low participation of students especially girls in STEM programmes.

“From the students that we have trained so far, we have observed that the ladies come top of their classes. So, there is need to encourage other sectors of the economy to embrace this, so that we will be able to train a major chunk of our population,” Tanko Ibrahim, MD, Peugeot Automobile Limited, said.

STEM, a key factor in the economic, social and environmental development of a country leads to sustainable development. But it has been traditionally viewed as more a track for men as opposed to women.

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he Dawn Project, an advocacy and education initiative with focus on preservation of the environment, has flagged off a tree planting campaign in and around Lagos State.

The Project is also raising awareness on the dangers of emission of harmful gases into the atmosphere.

The programme which is set to donate trees to communities and individuals to ensure a widespread of the tree planting across the state, kicked off recently with Angela Emuwa, a collaborator of the Dawn Project overseeing the ceremonial planting of the first few trees within LUFASI Nature Park in Lagos. Everyone is to reach out to the Dawn on social media pages to arrange pickup of tree sapling from any part of Lagos.

Desmond Majekodunmi, managing director, LUFASI Nature Park and collaborator of The Dawn Project said that it was important that for Nige-

rians to take action to save the earth. “The coronavirus and other natural disasters that we have witnessed recently in different parts of the globe are warnings and signs that the earth is fighting back; the earth is not very forgiving,” he said.

Pamela Ajayi, collaborator, the Dawn Project said the organisation would host its first hybrid webinar on September 26, 2020, which is also the World Environmental Health Day. Ajayi noted there was too little discussion and understanding about zero emissions in Nigeria, saying “we hope to use the webinar to raise a consciousness about environmental issues in Nigeria.”

According to her, “human activity, related to fossil fuel use in cars, factories, generators release greenhouse gases such as Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen etc into the atmosphere.

And the quantities released are getting so large and seriously damaging the environment, causing climate change and compromising the health of individuals on the planet.

Halogen emerges Nigeria’s top security risk mgt firm CHUKA UROKO

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or the third consecutive time, Halogen Group has emerged Nigeria’s top security risk management company with an award that describes it as Nigeria’s Outstanding Contract Security Company.

The group emerged tops from a keenly contested selection process at an international webinar marking the 2020 edition of the Nigeria Outstanding Security Performance Awards (OSPAs).

OSPAs organizers, who coordinated the awards in partnership with Securex West Africa, explained in a statement in Lagos on Thursday that the awards recognized exceptional industry talent and innovation @Businessdayng

in different categories.

It added that “the winners were selected by an esteemed panel of industry figures who judged entries using the same criteria which are applied across the world. Each winner demonstrated that it has performed at an exceptional level and has shown commitment and outstanding performance within the security sector.”

In a triple win which marked a major milestone in the security industry awards, two of Halogen Group’s operating companies, Avert Halogen which is its technology solutions company, and Academy Halogen, its degree awarding security risk management training institute, were also voted as the outstanding security technology installer/integrator.

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Magu: I will testify before Ayo Salami panel if invited - Malami FELIX OMOHOMHION, Abuja

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he attorneygeneral of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami has expressed readiness to testify before the Ayo-Salami panel investigating the suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, if invited to do so.

Malami in a statement by his spokesman, Umar Gwandu, said he was prepared to appear before the panel whenever he is invited. The minister was quoted in the statement to have spoken on “The Morning Show” aired by Arise Television on Wednesday morning.

While discussing the recent developments related to Nigeria’s arbitration on the P&ID contract agreement, Malami stated: “Within the context of the rule of law, I have a responsibility as the chief law officer of the country

as attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice to assist in whatever investigation taking place locally or internationally”.

“For your information, I have signed and executed about eight witness statements before the Commercial Court in UK which translated to the victory we are celebrating today.

“So, the idea of testimony, the idea of appearance of the office of the AGF and indeed with the particular reference to Abubakar Malami before any panel, before any tribunal local and international for the purpose of supporting an investigation that will see to the establishment and unravelling the truth associated with an issue under consideration is not new. I will in no way exercise any restraints as per as honouring an invitation for the purpose of supporting any inquiry.

“So, if Ayo Salami panel invites Abubakar Malami as a person or the attorneygeneral of the federation,

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for any testimony or any clarification, for any examination or cross-examination for that matter, Abubakar Malami will definitely and gladly within the spirit and context of rule of law be there to testify and will submit myself to be crossexamined within the context of the rule of law”.

Malami said his position was to be submissive to the rule of law, maintaining that “the rule of law component requires that when called upon to clarify issues, be examined or cross-examined, Abubakar Malami will wholeheartedly be there and gladly cooperate with the inquiring institution” The minister said that he has along the chain of arbitral process submitted to uncountable invitations and responded to uncountable requests to clarify issues and indeed executed uncountable witness statements for the purpose of putting the record straight and the case of Salami will certainly not be an exception.

NAICOM: Insurance expert wants stiffer penalties for claims payment defaulting insurers

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n insurance consultant, Ekerete GamIkon has encouraged the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to be stiffer on recalcitrant insurers who subject their clients to hardship due to delay in payment of claims.

Gam-Ikon stated this in Abuja on Wednesday, stressing that the development, which had caused trust deficit among citizens, was a serious challenge in the sector.

According to him, NAICOM should not look the other way while an insurer puts a policyholder-turnclaimant through undeserved stress.

The consultant said that the absence of a visibly and well-articulated campaign to inform and educate citizens about insurance and how claims were processed and paid was another challenge in the sector.

“Even if NAICOM penalises an insurer, the public should be aware so that at least a new customer can deal with more reliable players,’’ he said.

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On recapitalisation, he noted that the exercise was critical for the sector.

Gam-Ikon said that insurance business was capital intensive which required adequate capital at all times to provide cover of different quantum.

“The nature of insurance business entails insurers giving promises to their customers and when you have a huge number, claims are bound to happen.

“A number of insurers today do not have money and cannot honour their claims obligations, so recapitalisation is critical though not the only ingredient for success,’’ he said.

On whether people should key into insurance now, the expert said that though it was a challenging time, there was a need to reconsider how scarce resources were spent.

“We need insurance to avoid being in the state of dire need in future. That is what having insurance does – taking care of your trou-

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bles and giving you peace of mind in the midst of panic,’’ he said.

Reacting, Rasaaq Salami, NAICOM’s commissioner for insurance directorate said that the commission was alive to its responsibility as far as the issue of settlement of claims to the insured was concerned.

Salami said the commission had always applied the provisions of the law cautiously, adding that penalties were spelt out in the law for any claims payment defaulter.

“NAICOM tries to adhere to the provisions of the law; the commission is not silent on this.

“When we receive complaints of non-payment of claims, the commission always attends to it.

“As it is right now, there is an adjudication meeting going on in the commission between an insured and an insurer on claims settlement. These are the things we do to ensure that the customer does not suffer unnecessarily,’’ he said.

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Suicide is preventable Positive Growth with Babs

Babs OlugbemI

T

oday, September 10 is the World Suicide Prevention Day. It is an awareness day observed every year, to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003.

The International Association for Suicide Prevention champions this in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and other localised entities.

Suicide is preventable. The act of deliberately or inadvertently killing oneself is gruesome to all, especially the family members of the victim. Killing oneself intentionally is a global pandemic with age-long history across the divides and with reasons ranging from personal volition and society’s contributory negligence. Whichever way, both individual and institutional suicide missions can be prevented. Every suicide intent can be detected if we are aware and mindful of specific suicidal signals. I will throw my lights on the signs of potential suicide after considering a few statistics.

In the ranking of the suicide rates of 136 countries as published by Wikipedia, countries like Russia, Lithuania, Lesotho, Cameroon, Uganda, and Guyana maintained their top slots for 2016. In Russia, for example, the suicide rate per 100,000 population was at a record high of 41.4 percent in 1995, reduced to 13.8 percent in 2017. The income classification of the victims is revealing. High-Income countries accounted for 24.5 percent of the global suicide rate compared to 10.2 percent from Low-Income countries.

In Nigeria, as reported in the Business-

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Day newspaper of December 29, 2019 ‘the Suicide Research and Prevention Initiative (SURPIN), which partners with the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), has found that about one-fifth of suicide cases seen at its affiliated institution are those aged 13-19 years and that the majority of the callers were aged 2039 years, and 63.5 percent of them were having thoughts of suicide at the time of calling; 28.2 percent were students’. The 63.5 percent of suicide thoughts within the age of 20-39 years is alarming. If this group manifests their mission to commit suicide, the current and future productive workforce’s capacity of the country will be threatened with the impact of colossal honour killings. We, therefore, need to take actions and prevent the suicide rate from increasing to the top roof.

Suicide actions are intentional and individually driven for numerous reasons ranging from mental health illnesses.

These mental health illnesses include depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorder and a whole range of causes. However, social, and environmental factors are known to have aid suicide aside the underlying mental health illnesses.

In our society, aside from the manifestation of suicide by a depressed individual, the country has also taken numerous rides to the Island of Suicide. We have as a country allow our leaders embarked on many suicide missions which are depressive enough to breed suicide thoughts and actions. Our leadership selection and the political process have made Nigeria poorer and poorer with little hope of survival for the poor masses. Take, for example, the deliberate decision to place religion and politics above education and seek for power has always produced for the North of Nigeria the highest number of idle and uneducated youths. These are the banditries and the Insurgents, causing security challenges in the country. Let the trust be told, the perceived injustice in the revenue allocation formula where the goose that lays the golden eggs receive less revenue than the idle components is a suicide journey that is dividing the country.

The abandonment of agriculture for

oil was among the greatest suicide missions we have embarked on as a country.

That mission was facilitated by our flawed leadership selection process, which is based on religion and ethnic considerations instead of capacity. In Nigeria, an incompetent person can be elected to a powerful political position, and the same masses who elected the person based on sentiments will be praying for the person to perform. Our whole political system is devoid of ideology. That is why our politicians crisp-cross from APC to PDP on a mission to enrich themselves with money and power but provide a suicide platform for the majority. We have entrenched the politics of the carrot as a nation which has impoverished the majority; an institutional platform for suicide save for the tenacity of an average black person.

At the individual level, aside from the resultant mental illness from the inability to deal with life stresses, economic hardship from poor management of the national resources, relationships breakup and various misconception about religion are also the causes of suicide.

Some of the youth are oppressed, and the desire to get rich like their counterparts makes life meaningless to them.

How do we prevent the increasing rate of suicide in Nigeria? The most straightforward answer is to be aware and look after one another. In a country, the government cannot help the poor given the enormous resources, and political offices have become self-gratification platforms; we have no choice than to look after ourselves. The suicide victims are not from the moon. They have family members, friends and colleagues that would have been helped to prevent their death if someone had spotted the signals of their suicide missions. There are things we can do from the individual, organisational and national perspectives to prevent suicide.

To celebrate and create awareness for today and reduce the rate of successful suicide actions among our people, I want you to see yourself as one of the agents to watch over others. The starting point is to watch over your emotional and mental wellbeing. I wrote an article on how to mind your mental balance during uncer-

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How do we prevent the increasing rate of suicide in Nigeria?

The most straightforward answer is to be aware and look after one another

tain periods like COVID-19 a few weeks ago. If you can maintain your mental balance, you can help others by paying more attention to your family members, friends, and colleagues at work.

There are three signals to watch out for in preventing suicide. The UK’s Oxford Health Foundation Trust identified thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness as the primary factors that can lead to suicide desire. If combined with acquired capability, it will encourage a successful suicide act. Our role as our brothers’ or sisters’ keepers is to watch out for the vital warning signals of suicide. These signals include but not limited to dramatic and behavioural mood change, insomnia, anxiety or increased agitation, increased self-harm, rage/anger, increased substance abuse, disengagement, preparation and rehearsal behaviours, hopelessness, cannot see reasons for living, social withdrawal from family, and incessant talking about suicide. These factors are the combination of signals required for the presence of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. The opportunity to execute will be inevitable with access to suicide means. If you notice any of the above in your friends, colleagues, and family members, please go beyond seeing it to discussing it with the person and taking necessary precautions.

In the workplace, it is high the time we deliver a robust occupational health policy covering emotional abuse and traumatisation. Every work environment should have a wellbeing department that sees to the emotional balance of the staff beyond delivering on their key performance indicators. At the national level, the politicians need to stop embarking on suicide missions with self-less policies that provide the minimum standard of living for people. A situation where few are exotically rich and yet encircled by a multitude of poor and illiterates masses is an invitation to suicide in the immediate and long run.

Olugbemi FCCA, the Chief Responsibility Officer at Mentoras Leadership Limited and Founder, Positive Growth Africa. He can be reached on babs@babsolugbemi.org or 08025489396.

A call to the executive governor of Edo state, Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki

H

istory has it that the then MidWestern Region which was created in June 1963 from the Benin and Delta Provinces which was changed to State on 27th May 1967 and later renamed Bendel State on 17th March 1976, birthed what we now call Edo State, separated from Delta on 27th August 1991.

Since 1991 till date Edo State has had 10 Governors and Administrators altogether (incumbent Governor inclusive) of which had served in their various capacities and endowment in managing the State resources both humans and materials towards the realisation of the dream and vision, “The Heartbeat of the Nation”.

Edo State being a settlement of great resources is the home of the Bini people. A people well-known for ancient civilisation, coordinated traditions and advanced political administration. Edo State was the first kingdom/State in Nigeria to be exposed to civilisation being the first State to welcome the Europeans in 1472 though arguably to be 1485/86 and whose administrative organogram attracted diplomatic relationship with a European super power (The Portuguese).

Therefore a lot was expected by Nigeria as a whole from Edo State.

Where is our Crude oil, our Natural Gas, Marbles, Limestone and Clay Chalk? Where is our Rubber, Cocoa and Palm? Where is our

Bronze casting and where is our Tourism?

Where are our Values, Morality, Patriotism, Courage, and Lion’s heart (Oduma), oh the great Bini!

Great salutation to Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, the revolutionary, visionary, tenacious, courageous, fearless, indefatigable, uncompromising leader and governor of the great Edo State. With your hallmark, you have my vote and support as well as the vote and support of every onward and forward oriented Edolites. You have stood and remain an outstanding Role Model to the youth in your courage and refusal to be oppressed despite the strategy of the oppressors, rather you took your destiny by your hands, within the ambit of the law and constitution, and you fight on and refuse to give up.

If and only if this personality trait is what you have, you have my support but in addendum, your dynamic and strategic developmental strive, and achievements over the last three years and few months especially in education, infrastructure, industrialisation, electricity, security, agriculture which being a modest man that you are, had failed to rant about, is crystal clear in the eyes of every Edolites who does not suffer refractive errors in eyes and hearts in the order of myopia and hyperopia.

For those who come to tell us they have all sorts of agenda and that we should hold

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them accountable if they fail to deliver, we are very sorry. We have not been able to hold accountable those that promise us constant power supply in six months, those with the agenda of one naira (N1) to one dollar ($1), when it was about N230 to $1 but today $1 is about N385. They promise to reduce pump price from N87 to N40 but today pump price is about N143. They promise to make the price of kerosene N50 but today is N334 per liter.

They promise free daily school meal for every primary school pupils, they promise to ensure that no Nigeria will have a reason to go outside Nigeria for medical treatment, they promise to cut down the cost of governance, they promise that no force external or internal will occupy even an inch of Nigeria soil, they promise to fight corruption but today will have not even be able to hold them accountable and we will not want to promise anyone what we cannot keep. We know the kind of country we are and we are now very enlightened and standing to defend our wisdom.

I want to use this medium to further buttress that the Esan people cannot wait for another eight years again to have the baton of governor in the hand of their son or daughter.

It is appalling that Ekpoma has remain almost the way Late Prof. Ambrose Ali left it in 1983, Uromi reduced to a castle, Irua relegated, Ubiaja a hamlet, likewise other Esan towns like Ewatto, Igueben, Ewohimi, Ebele, Ug-

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OBED UMUENYEN borha etc, and this is causing every Esan born sleepless night.

The great Esan land cannot be so bewildered not to coalesce with the development on the shores of Benin, Auchi, Etsako and the others metropolis. We want to categorically state that any further move either politically or otherwise to delay Esan the governorship ticket by 2024 will amount to the great Esan Land resorting to becoming a State with an all holistic approach.

Finally, it is my plea to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), every Stakeholder, Agencies, Commissions, Groups and Individuals to remain unbiased in the Edo 2020 gubernatorial election and avoid the wrath of God and Edo kingdom. Even as the election remain a not “do or die affair”, the great Edo people are behind Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki and Philip Shaibu and they must promise to maintain the developmental strives and focus more on security, infrastructure, education and the five major key macroeconomic variables, because we never put them to shame, the should not disappoint us.

God bless Edo State, God bless Nigeria.

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Thursday 10 September 2020

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Coro-palliatives: The substance and the politics

ik MUO

P

alliative is a medical treatment that relieves suffering without treating its cause or an action designed to minimise the effect of a problem without solving the problem. Concerning the WAC (War against Coro), palliatives are the interventions by governments, organisations, associations and even individuals to ameliorate the impact of the triple locks (lockup, lockdown and lock-in) on the economies of individuals and businesses. In Nigeria, the issue in contention is whether the government is extending palliatives to the people or whether the people are the ones “palliativising” the government.

Now, earlier on, Britain picked up 80 percent of private sector wages and just recently, it subsidised lunch to the tune of 50 percent for Britons; food for the people and business for the restaurants.

Ghana gave the poor free electricity till 2021. In Nigeria however, while Ogun and Lagos state governments reduced land-charges by 50 percent, the FG on 1/9/20, increased the price of fuel from N148 to N160 and doubled the price of electricity while interest on savings was reduced to 1.25 percent when inflation is around 13 percent. Long before now, the same government had increased the Kaduna-Abuja rail fare by 100 percent, Airport Service Charge by 100 percent and access fee by 300 percent. So, who is “palliativising” who?

Meanwhile, the government said that the hikes in the prices of petrol and power were by discos and oil companies but that the ‘wicked’ increment would transform the economy while the ruling APC says it was in the interest of the people. Some mischievous and unkind Nigerians (I am not among them) reminded them, with some wicked pictures, how they “occupied Nigeria”

in January 2012 over a small version of the same matter! This is an appetizer.

The other day, the FG approved the $3.1bn customs modernisation project on a PPP basis. My mouth is too holy to mention the amount in Naira. I am not a quantity surveyor but the shiver that went through my body when I heard that figure was similar to what happened to me when I heard about N1.7bn for Abuja runway consultancy (just consultancy) and N64bn for Unimaid fencing. The other interesting news is that NARD is on strike over Covid allowance and other small matters (their ultimatum expired two weeks ago); just as ASUU is also on strike. Some people will argue that Customs earns the money and any money expended on them is an investment. Fine! So, the amount spent on health and education is not an investment? That is by the way.

Last week, some people asked me why I addressed Coro as an Oga and a celebrity. There are two reasons; first, it has taken the front-page and primetime spots in global print and electronic media. Second, it hangs out with celebrities and that enhances its celebrity status.

In the last week, Neymar, Paul Pogba, Tanguby Ndombele (Tetenham) Silvio Berlusconi (former Italian President), Robert Pattinson (producer of Batman), Deayne “The Rock” Johnson, and his entire family, Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City) and Kylian Mbappe have all been “coronised”.

Thus, even if we wanted to ignore coro, we cannot do so because of the association effect!

I thank the NDDC for responding to my “query” last week as to the suspiciously low figures from Kano. It is due to non-collection and non-testing of samples. Whereas it was a general feature across the country, that of Kano was worrisome. Kano, which generally accounts for about 10 percent of the tests in Nigeria, tested 11834 samples in the 14 days between 8-21 July but tested only 1364 between July 19 and September 1. So what it tested in the 6 weeks from 19/7/20 was 11 percent of what it tested in the preceding 2 weeks.

Back to the scramble for vaccines.

Last week, it was reported with fanfare that Nigerian had received the Russian Vaccine, which the Minister of Health

assured us would be referred to NAFDAC et al for assessment. The following day, in our very before, the Minister of State for health, said that Nigeria never received the vaccines; that the Putinfellows merely came to the ministry to update them on developments in the vaccine! Is the “Chinese Doctor” scenario repeating itself? And you want us to trust the government?

Meanwhile a report on the Russian vaccine has shown that at least, it is safe though it accused Russia of “vaccine nationalism”. While our VP is calling for equity and accessibility in vaccine matters, Australia, (25m citizens) has signed agreements for 85m doses ($1.2bn and from universities), which puts it at the “top of the queue” while the US starts mass distribution on November 1. Mr Bogillot, of Sanofi has estimated that ultimately, a vaccine would cost about €10. Cheap, isn’t it? At the bank rate, that is about N5000 apiece and if countries are procuring in multiples of their population, we need about 500m doses.

International flights have started and I note that elite irresponsibility is not a Nigeria-only disease. Surf the net and see a demeaning “love letter”, which a passenger served a hostess who asked him to mask his face.

The uncertainty about school reopening continues unabated. Iran begins a new school year despite the coro concerns while France shut down 22 schools days after reopening. Wales provides face masks for students at £2.3m while pupils are being asked to stay off school due to positive results. In other climes, parents fake sickness for their children so that they would not attend school. Ogun state has just adopted a staggered school opening timetable while private universities are pushing to be allowed to resume.

The novelty of coro continues to stun the world with new discoveries and surprises. On the surprise side, Kate Wise, in Texas, is battling for survival as a bottle of hand sanitizer exploded while she was lighting a candle while 50 year old Solomon Ede, was suffocated to death by a tightfitting nose-mask which he wore to bed. On the discovery side, it is a sign of relief to hear that “coronised” people are less likely to transmit the disease after one week in

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The novelty of coro continues to stun the world with new discoveries and surprises. On the surprise side, Kate Wise, in Texas, is battling for survival as a bottle of hand sanitizer exploded while she was lighting a candle while 50 year old Solomon Ede, was suffocated to death by a tightfitting nosemask which he wore to bed

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https://businessday.ng Dr Muo is of the Department of Business Administration, OOU, Ago-Iwoye

The future of payments in Africa

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y 2050 the population of Africa is expected to grow to 2 billion, while the rest of the world experiences flat or declining population curves. Globally, about 1.7 billion adults (31 percent of adults) remain unbanked — without an account at a financial institution or through a mobile money provider.

In 2014 that number was 2 billion.

Account ownership is nearly universal in high-income economies - virtually all unbanked adults live in developing economies, according to the Global Findex. Women are also overrepresented among the unbanked in most economies.

In Kenya, where only about one-fifth of adults are unbanked, about two-thirds of them are women.

Beyond individuals, there are a large number of unbanked small and micro businesses in Africa.

For them, part of the problem is that financial institutions have no insight into their business transactions, which are largely cash-based.

Hence, the banks are unable to see the value in their businesses and are not offering them suitable and affordable products.

As Africa digitises payments and opens its markets, even the informal sector, which the ILO notes provide for 85.5 percent of employment on the continent, will thrive. Finding ways to include the unbanked and the underbanked in the formal economy, and increasing competition for providing financial services to the majority

of people are critical to unlocking the economic growth the continent needs.

Fortunately, some exciting developments are taking place in the digital payments arena, which promises to open up new services to Africa’s SMEs. Ghana has just announced its EMVCo QR Standard for universal QR customer push payments. Every merchant can now be identified and registered with a static QR code, which any consumer can scan and send a message to their bank to pay the merchant directly.

Although banks in other African nations already offer QR code payments, Ghana is the first to offer a countrywide standard, which simplifies things tremendously. Expect many other nations to follow this example.

The system depends on all banks in Ghana being connected to an Instant EFT switch that has a clearing agreement with the national payment gateway. This is part of a general trend to reduce friction for digital payments and afford merchants the opportunity to accept payment alternatives, connected directly to the bank account or any other consumer-funding source, avoiding cards and the costly infrastructure associated with card payments.

The typical economically active African adult makes 1,500 payments per year, almost all of which are small cash payments for transportation, food, and the necessities of everyday life.

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At the same time, the World Bank reports that about 15 percent of adults in developing economies have received payments into an account for the sale of agricultural products in the past 12 months.

On average across developing regions, only one in five recipients of agricultural payments reported receiving them into an account. But in some Sub-Saharan African countries, a much higher share of recipients received such payments into an account. In Ghana, Kenya, and Zambia about 40 percent of recipients, and in Uganda 32 percent — more than 10percent of all adults in these countries — reported receiving agricultural payments into an account, in most cases a mobile money account.

Mobile remains a leading payment technology in many African countries, often without the benefit of a card. For instance, says the World Bank, in Kenya less than half of account owners have a debit card, and among those who do, only about one-third used it to make a direct purchase. In developing economies 19 percent of adults (30 percent of account owners) made at least one financial transaction in the past year using a mobile money account, a mobile phone, or the internet.

In its Global Findex Report, the World Bank states that shifting payments from cash into accounts can have benefits beyond expanding

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coro-captivity; and according to BBC, that there is a positive relationship between our poverty and low coro fatality.

Curiouser, is the report that traces were found on frozen chicken imported to China from Brazil. That shows that coro is also a stubborn fellow, surviving in the frozen state for the 12893 nautical miles distance between the two countries that last about 43 days. And then, a discovery from an unusual quarter: Pope Francis has just discovered “a plague worse than COVID” and that is…gossiping!

Finally on the global coro medal table, India has now won the silver medal, with 4.2m cases and 50 percent of these are from just 5 states and in Nigeria, it is bye to facemasks. Just a week after Anthony Sani, a former ACF scribe asked PMB to lead by example by masking his face, I have just gone around town, and I note sadly that 99 percent of the people I met on the trip from Okota to Akoka and back were mask-less. May be they are learnt from the oga at the very top!

Now to the issue of palliatives.

We started today’s discourse with the strange practice of “reverse-palliatives”, in which we, the people, are “palliativising” the government. When I raised this matter earlier, I recalled that while each state was given 3 trailer loads of rice et al, Kano was giving 101( one hundred + one) trailer loads and that NDDC people expended N1.7bn to take care of themselves out of which the fainthearted Prof-CEO received 10m.( The politics of palliatives, 16/7/20). Anecdotal evidence shows that the government palliative has been all politics and little or nothing in substance.

Just the other day, the Oyo Commissioner for Information, Wasiu Olatubosun, alleged that the Federal Government intentionally neglected the state in the allocation of special funds and resources to prevent control and manage COVID-19. The Benue State Government also accused the FG of giving them 1800 bags of expired, inedible, hazardous rice.

Murray Gardiner account ownership and increasing account use.

“Research suggests that digitizing payments can improve their efficiency by increasing the speed of payments and reducing the cost of disbursing and receiving them. It can also enhance the security of payments and thus lower the incidence of associated crime. And disbursing payments through digital channels rather than cash has been shown to increase transparency and reduce corruption. Moreover, by providing an important first entry point into the formal financial system, shifting to digital payments can lead to substantial increases in saving as well as the substitution of formal for informal saving,” the report says.

For businesses and governments alike, however, the challenge is to ensure that digital payments are indeed better than the cash-based alternatives — safer, more affordable, and more transparent.

For now, cash is the barrier to digital transformation in Africa. Empowering local payments with feature-rich interactions, valuable merchant support and financial services is the key to success.

An interoperable universal payment platform will enable the digital future of Africa.

Gardiner is the MD, Bluecode Africa

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Subsidy removal: Coming full circle CHRISTOPHER AKOR

I

n January of 2012, I watched with dismay as the labour unions, youth groups and civil society groups shut down the country in protest over the government’s deregulation of the downstream sector and the removal of subsidy on petrol. What started as mere protests by the youth caught fire and became a popular movement that almost brought down the government of the day. Despite the rationalisations of some of the protest leaders, it was apparent Nigerians were resolutely against the removal of the subsidy on petrol.

But I just could not see the sense in the protests/strikes. In 2011 alone, about N1.5 trillion ($9.3 billion) was spent on subsidising imported refined petrol. This represented about 30 percent of Nigeria’s government’s expenditure, 4 percent of GDP and 118 percent of the capital budget. In comparison, Nigeria’s education, health and works/roads’ budget for 2011 was just a mere $2.2 billion; $1.32 billion and $680 million respectively. This is besides the obvious fact that Nigeria was exporting its jobs and what it does not have while importing what it has.

How could any right-thinking government accept this nature of expenditure? It was quite clear to me then that the government was right in wanting to do away with the subsidy regime so as to free up such huge funds for other priority areas like

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education, health, infrastructure, and security among others. Besides, the removal of subsidy will ultimately lead to private investments in refineries that will obviate the need to spend hard-earned foreign exchange on importing petrol. The later revelations that the subsidy regime was riddled with fraud were all the more reason why I thought it should go.

What was more; evidence from other climes then showed that removal of subsidy on petrol was a global trend. It happened even in Ghana under late President John Atta Mills, who came to power on the strength of his virulent criticism of the Kuffor administration for daring to remove part of the subsidy on fuel. Atta Mills had to finally accept the inevitable and end the subsidy regime arguing with all humility that “subsiding fuel is not sustainable, and removing it is the right thing to do, so we can sustain our fiscal consolidation”.

But not in Nigeria! Buoyed by a sense of entitlement, Nigerians felt they should not be paying much for fuel and that it is part of the benefits they should enjoy since their country produces oil. And since it sold the cheapest fuel in West Africa and amongst its neighbours, those countries stopped spending their foreign exchanges to import fuel altogether and depended on Nigerian marketers who are all too willing to claim subsidy on importer petrol in Nigeria and divert the same to those countries and make huge profits.

But arguing for subsidy removal wasn’t a popular position to hold in Nigeria in January of 2012. Some of us who did were called names and I was even labelled a traitor by my close friends. Perhaps that is why thought leaders, prominent citizens and academics decided to bury their heads in the sand with some hypocritically claiming to side with the people when

it was clear the people were being seduced into demonstrating against their true interest.

Organised labour on its part was only interested in protecting its interests – which is better served by government regulation of the industry so it can retain the privilege of protesting and going on strike anytime an increase in the price of petrol is announced. That was how they seduced late president Yar’adua into revoking the sale of 51 percent equity stakes in the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries to the Bluestar Consortium Limited for a princely sum of $721 million promising him, together with the NNPC, that the NNPC was capable of turning around the fortunes of the refineries to make them functional at 100 percent capacity within months.

Of course, the refineries now produce nothing but the country still spends a princely N120 billion annually to maintain them.

Much more shameful however was the behaviour of opposition politicians who saw the protests/strike only through the prism of their ambitions.

From Bola Tinubu to Muhammadu Buhari, they were vociferous against the removal of subsidy by the Jonathan administration. They not only fuelled the protests by concocting figures and arguments to show that there was nothing like subsidy and petrol should actually be selling below N45/litre, they actively participated in the protests and did all they could to weaken the government of the day and get it toppled through popular revolt. Of course, Jonathan was overwhelmed and had to give in and reinstate the subsidy.

By 2015 when the opposition came to power, it was confronted by the subsidy regime they vociferously defended in 2012. Going by their utterances before coming to power, many Nigerians were even expecting

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It is truly interesting to see a Lai Mohammed and other All Progressives Party apparatchiks that were vociferous against the removal of subsidy now arguing to justify its removal. One cannot say whether they were recent converts to the subsidy removal school or had all along known the truth but choose to play politics with the issue

the president to reduce the price of petrol upon coming to power.

Sadly that hasn’t happened. During the recession in 2016/2017, the government increased the price of petrol to N145/litre. Still, spending on subsidies continued. Now the country is flat broke and can no longer afford to continue the irrational subsidy regime, the government has done the only rational thing left – which is to do away with the subsidy.

But for me, the most shameful aspect of the subsidy removal is the positive spin the government is trying to put to it. Some days back, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu came out to offer a dishonest statement to the effect that successive administrations have lacked the courage to remove the fuel subsidy.

Ordinarily, I do not rate someone like Garba Shehu whose only preoccupation appears to be serving any government or politician in power since 2003, but since he spoke for the president, it is good to remind them that they were to a large extent responsible for thwarting the efforts to remove the fuel subsidy in 2011.

It is truly interesting to see a Lai Mohammed and other All Progressives Party apparatchiks that were vociferous against the removal of subsidy now arguing to justify its removal.

One cannot say whether they were recent converts to the subsidy removal school or had all along known the truth but choose to play politics with the issue. For the hapless masses, the civil society and youth groups that were used against their interests, the reality will now begin to hit home.

There is however, one more subsidy that needs to go – the foreign exchange subsidy. This has now supplanted fuel subsidy as the largest source of corruption and pilfering of scarce natural resources.

Post COVID-19: A call to diversify the Nigerian economy through agriculture for sustainability

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oing through the current happenings across the globe in the face of the pandemic, it’s practically obvious that most developed and underdeveloped countries are being faced with economic challenges as a result of the deadly viral disease, novel coronavirus. However, a country like Nigeria is not exempted from the fight against COVID-19; this has deepened and crippled the economic activities of our dear nation.

Businesses have been affected by coronavirus all over the world, countries are still counting their losses and yet to recover from the havocs and damages caused by the viral disease.

The aftermath of the pandemic would definitely leave countries no options than to checkmate and tackle economic loopholes in their countries. Nigeria is one of the countries being affected by the virus and it has spread across the 36 states, staff are being laid off, companies, enterprises and businesses are trying to find their feet amidst the pandemic. “Hence, the need to diversify the economy is paramount”.

It’s a known fact that Nigeria is a monolithic and import dependent country, whose only major export is crude oil. The country had long discovered oil in 1965 and had been exploring and exporting oil to the international market. This has contributed significantly to the gross domestic product GDP and has also added monetary values

to our international reserve account immensely. It’s rather unfortunate that Nigeria is now drifting toward economic recession according to the international monetary fund IMF, with less than < $2billion in its foreign reserve accounts. A tree cannot make a forest, “it would take varieties of tree to make a forest”.

Apparently, Nigeria needs to look beyond the revenue generated by this sector of the economy, and consider the need to diversify its economy through exportation of “agricultural products” for additional revenue. Before the advent of crude oil, the agricultural sector had contributed up to 60 percent to the total national GDP Ukeji (2003), through its major export of cocoa in 1960. The outbreak of COVID-19 has exposed the country’s inability to diversify its economy, this of course had led to the adjustment of the budget to more than two consecutive times vis the fuel price at $70 / barrel of oil in the market.

It’s a sure fact that food is the most essential to stay alive in such a time as this.

The world hardly negotiates for oil products during the outbreak of the pandemic, which was why the Nigeria oil could not be sold in the international market or get a substantial buyer and this has resulted in adjusting the budget in line with price and demand for oil.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics NBS, the effect of the corona virus would really be felt by the lower class people and

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those who are vulnerable to have access to good health care facilities during and after the pandemic- analysts.

In the 60s before the oil boom, “agriculture has been the major mainstay of Nigeria economic”. Agriculture was and still remains a source of employment opportunities, provides food security, eradicates poverty and contributes to the national growth of the economy for the teeming population. Why the shift in that aspect of our economy? A call to revive and resuscitate the economy through agricultural products and exportation, we hereby call on the national figures the legislatives, executives, federal ministry of agriculture, stakeholders and NGOs for paper review on modus operandi of Nigeria economy through agricultural sector. Let’s ensure that the agricultural sector contributes and as well adds to the GDP of our great country, Nigeria again.

At this critical time countries are hit with economic downturns, and a solution is inevitable to regain economic stability out of this economic dilemma amidst the pandemic. Great Nigerians, it’s time to let go of mono-cultural or monolithic economy, as a country specialises in only oil export.

Let’s involve the agricultural sector with workable policies and schemes of operation for better sustainability of our dear country, Nigeria. Let there be a stable policy on loan disbursement with low return rate for farmers from the central bank of Nigeria CBN.

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Francis K. Daniel

According to the prediction by the economists, that there would be a shortage in revenue from oil activities for four years or more, if that’s true how do we navigate from here? That’s why it’s necessary to diversify the economy’s activities for sustainability.

To be candid, there’s unemployment in the country presently, the federal and state governments cannot employ close to two hundred million of its populations, not even the half of its growing populations. That’s why we must diversify, in order to avail our able bodied youth the opportunities to be gainfully employed and also showcase their entrepreneurial skill, through training in agriculture with less resources available at their disposal. Great Nigerians, let’s hope and trust for strong economic growth and development through diversification.

There’s light at the end tunnel.

Daniel is the founder and CEO of DanModern’s Farm Concept

@Businessdayng

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BUSINESS DAY

Thursday 10 September 2020

Editorial Publisher/Editor-in-chief

Frank Aigbogun editor Patrick Atuanya

DEPUTY EDITORS John Osadolor, Abuja Tayo Fagbule NEWS EDITOR Osa Victor Obayagbona NEWS EDITOR (Online) Chuks Oluigbo MANAGING DIRECTOR Dr. Ogho Okiti EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STRATEGY, INNOVATION & PARTNERSHIPS Oghenevwoke Ighure ADVERT MANAGER Ijeoma Ude MANAGER, CONFERENCES & EVENTS Obiora Onyeaso BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (South East, South South) Patrick Ijegbai COPY SALES MANAGER Florence Kadiri DIGITAL SALES MANAGER Linda Ochugbua GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (North)

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

6.1% GDP contraction is unacceptable There’s work to be done

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he 6.1 percent contraction in Nigeria’s GDP in the second quarter of the year may have outperformed contractions witnessed in most advanced economies of the world. However, the reality of things is darker, especially when the GDP is unpacked.

For instance, the wholesale and retail trade sector of the economy recorded its biggest contraction ever at -16.59 percent. This sector is home to Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) which accounts for about 80-85 percent of jobs in the economy.

A contraction of this magnitude explains, to a large extent, the direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on households.

Relative to the US, retail grew by 2 percent which reflected government’s $1.6 trillion stimulus package to households to ameliorate the effect of the pandemic.

Therefore, in contrast to the “not-so-bad” conclusion of the

Presidency, we maintain that Nigeria’s current economic situation is very bad and unacceptable given years of snail-paced growth in GDP, high unemployment rate, widening poverty net, accelerating inflation and declining disposable income among other disturbing issues.

Hence, instead of pride in a performance obviously poor, we advise that policy makers must focus on matters that require urgent attention if we must lessen the suffering of the people and restore the economy on a path to prosperity.

For a guide, we encourage the federal government to listen to the advice of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) not to encourage policies that make Nigerians poorer. NESG in a recent document highlighted the need to address the high level of insecurity across the country and its impact on the business environment and investment flows, which has contributed massively to the current food crisis, unemployment, poverty, increasing community clashes, rising bloodshed and the absence of

peace and tranquillity in the land.

More so, it emphasises the need for a better structured and effective diversification of the economy, address distortions in the liquidity and interest rate management of Nigeria’s financial system which is at disadvantage to domestic investors and pensioners.

Government should re-open Nigeria’s closed borders given its negative impact on trade and employment, consider a strong communicating strategy that engages the people and prepares them for tougher times ahead whilst the current reforms take effect.

It should address the mutual distrust and build institutions that work regardless of persons; do complete overhaul of the management of and support for the Agriculture sector and all related sectors with a view to getting more value for our investments, among other things.

In agreement with NESG, we commend the federal government on the political will to end the petrol and electricity subsidy and deregulate these key sectors. How-

ever, according to NESG, policies, processes and procedures must be put in place to ensure that all the reforms (beyond price deregulation) necessary to facilitate the smooth functioning of both the fuel and electricity markets are effectively and conclusively implemented.

Though COVID-19 pandemic may have accelerated the impending woes of the Nigerian economy, on the flip side, it has clearly provided opportunities that must be seized and lessons that must be learnt.

It is our expectation that policies should be people-oriented and market stimulating. We advise that bold reforms must be encouraged while myopic policies are discouraged. It may hurt now but we see promise of medium to long-term gains.

Nigeria is likely going to experience the worst recession this year.

While this may sound inevitable, a quick recovery should top the priorities of our policy makers. Above all, there is much work to be done and the government must have the political will to alleviate people’s suffering.

GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South) Ignatius Chukwu HEAD, HUMAN RESOURCES Adeola Obisesan

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Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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13

14

Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES & MARKETS

COMPANY NEWS ANALYSIS INSIGHT

AIICO’s MD emerges winner of the Top CEO Award MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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abatunde Fajemirokun, the managing director/CEO of AIICO Insurance Plc, has emerged one of the winners in the prestigious Top CEO Award for 2020. The award, jointly organized by BusinessDay and the Nigerian Stock Exchange was held on Saturday, September 5, 2020.

This year’s edition was tagged “Advancing Against All Odds”.

The Panel of Judges awarded AIICO Insurance PLC the recognition for its performance on stock price appreciation, profit after tax (PAT) growth and unblemished regulatory compliance for the 2019 accounting year.

Fajemirokun in his acceptance speech said “On behalf of the stakeholders in AIICO Insurance Plc, I thank the leadership of BusinessDay Media Limited and the leadership of

Nigerian Stock Exchange for this award. We thank our customers, employees, the Board and our many Shareholders for their enduring support. And personally, I thank my family for the enduring support. We are deeply grateful for the con-

sideration.”

The Top CEOs Awards recognizes the CEOs of listed companies who through sound strategy, disciplined execution, world-class governance and indoctrination of a customer-first ethos have delivered alpha, there-

by creating competitive shareholder value on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

AIICO Insurance is a leading composite insurer in Nigeria with a record of accomplishment of serving its clients that dates back over 50 years. Founded in

1963, AIICO provides life and health insurance, general insurance, investment management and pension management services as a means to create and protect wealth for individuals, families and corporate customers.

L-R: Folorunso Ogunekun, legal practitioner; Ayodele Adeniran, internal auditor, Photo Journalist Association of Nigeria (PJAN); Tony Eguaye, assitant secretay; Pius Okeosisi, vice chairman; Abiodun Ajala, chairman; Odutayo Odunsanya, secretary; Akeem Salau, treasurer; Suleiman Husaini, financial secretary, and Oluwaseun Bola-Hassan, legal practitioner during the Inauguration of Photojournalists Association of Nigeria new Executive held at the LTV 8 Agidingbi Ikeja Lagos

FITC, NIBSS collaborate to host largest cybersecurity conference in Africa JOSEPHINE OKOJIE

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gainst the background of increasing high profile data breaches with increasing sophistication, FITC in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System is set to host the largest financial services sector cybersecurity in Africa.

The conference with the themed “Combating Cybercrime: Strategies for Strengthening Emerging Markets,” which is scheduled to hold on Thursday, September 10, 2020, will seek to address the sheer viciousness of growing cyberattacks and threats in Africa that has made it imperative for security efforts to focus

on prevention measures.

FITC and NIBSS as socially conscious, innovation-led, and technologydriven organisations, have collaboratively designed the conference for individuals and organisations, driven by a collective commitment to divergent thinking and global sustainable development, to proffer and co-create solutions to this cybercrime menace, particularly focusing on Africa and emerging markets.

The event will bring to the stage thought leaders from the financial services sector inclusive of banks, technology, and fintech companies across sub-Saharan Africa.

It will attract top c-suite

executives, subject matter experts, and professionals from across the world who will share insights on contemporary issues around cybersecurity, relevant to the sustained growth, development, and survival of businesses in Africa.

According the organizer, the conference is set to achieve the following objectives amongst others, share survey findings on recent incidence on cybersecurity issues facing the financial services sector, provide industry expert insights on building cybercrime fighting capacity relevant for today’s sophisticated digital world and share organisational resilience strategies adopted

by developed economies in protecting organisation’s digital life.

Cybercrime is now being perpetrated on a commercial scale, even amid the pandemic, by very wellconnected and sophisticated professionals and firms, but continuous education and sensitization will create the awareness and collaboration needed to win this war.

Some of the high profiled lined up speakers include industry giants such as Aishah Ahmad CFA, deputy governor - financial system stability, CBN, Ademola Adebise MD/CEO, Wema Bank, Niyi Ajao, deputy managing director, NIBSS, Mitchell Elegbe MD/CEO Interswitch, and Adedoyin Odunfa CEO,

Digital Jewels among others.

The speakers will share comprehensively, tried, and trusted practices on how they have stayed afloat in combating cybercrime, proffering apt solutions, and resolves in combating cybercrimes in their various industries both in Nigeria and beyond.

The seven-hour event will have four power-packed sessions, with over 25+ renowned speakers.

There will also be networking arenas, exhibition booths, sponsors booths, meeting lounges, and other interesting features guaranteed to make the experience feel like an actual physical conference, the organizer says.

Alpha Morgan gives palliative to teachers to cushion effects of Covid-19 AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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lpha Morgan Capital, a fast-growing investment banking institution, Portfolio/Fund Managers and Issuing House, has given financial support to 10 teachers in Lagos State to ameliorate the impact of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic on their livelihood.

According to the company, the teachers were randomly selected from a two-minute online video submission in which teachers were asked to narrate how they have been coping financially despite the Covid-19 lockdown that resulted to closure of schools for over five months across the country.

Speaking at the presentation of the palliatives, Ade Buraimo, Group Managing Director of Alpha Morgan, which has offices in Lagos and Abuja, explained that the gesture was part of the company’s commitment to securing the wealth of its clients across generations.

B u r a i m o a l s o e xplained that the company, which has experienced close to 400 percent growth during the period of the pandemic, has also decided to support Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu’s ‘Greener Lagos Initiatives’ by adopting the road median between 1004 Housing Estate and the Bar Beach known as Ademola Adetokunbo in collaboration with the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK).

RyteGate Technologies introduces platform to help entrepreneurs drive analytics DIPO OLADEHINDE

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yteGate Technologies, a Lagos based information Technology Company has announced the introduction of Stride ERP, a platform designed to accommodate the changes in the modus operandi of various businesses in Nigeria.

For most companies, surviving in a coronavirus world

involves not just the treatment of data as a corporate asset but also as leverage for competitive advantage through the application of digital technology like Stride ERP which helps firm gain insights and foresight that enable the optimization of business decisions as well as in the modelling and automation of business processes.

“With Stride ERP, business owners can as well access

their information anytime of the day and from any part of the world on a secured webbased platform,” Oby Amaka, director corporate development at RyteGate Technologies said.

Stride ERP, according to Amaka, is a dynamic solution, designed to be adaptable to different business models, allowing entrepreneurs to apply it to a wide variety of industries and processes.

“It’s a user-friendly interface and its role-based features help keep business units to remain focused on their tasks/deliverables,” Amaka said in a statement.

According to her, business analytics and reporting have become very easy using Stride ERP as employees can report their transactions, evaluate performance, and process client activities electronically.

After analysing the usage

of data & analytics in Nigeria’s business environment, a report by one of the “Big Four” accounting and advisory firm KPMG revealed that businesses are yet to grasp the true potential that data can bring to decision-making as more than half of the businesses in the country prefer to base their decisions off intuition.

“Stride ERP offers a lot of financial control measures

ensuring that business owners don’t overspend on their budgets, and projects are implemented within the approved budget,” Amaka said.

Regarding the firm’s major success in the last few years, Amaka noted that the company have been able to navigate challenging moments through its unique products and solutions which continue to provide results for the company’s client.

Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

15

ENERGYREPORT Oil & Gas

Power

Renewables

Environment

With oil industry talent fired, what comes next?

OLUSOLA BELLO

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alk of a talent shor tage when the oil industry is laying off workers enmasse may sound counterintuitive.

However, a few years from now, the industry will recover, if its past cyclical boom-andbust nature is any guide.

And when that happens, the oil industry will have to hire again. But it may not find enough talent to fill in the gap.

According to Oilprice. com, some of the more than 100,000 workers laid off in the U.S. oil and gas industry in the past few months alone are likely to consider changing their career path - permanently. Tesla, for example, has plans to hire as many as 65,000 workers by the end of this year, and people are scrambling for any open spot in the attractive company.

Others who have been let go in the oil industry have simply retired.

This means that a whole new kind of talent will need to be tapped. Although it is unlikely that the same number of additional jobs will be needed again in the future, consider-

ing the increased automation in the industry, oil and gas companies will have to hire employees among the younger generations to fill the gap.

The young generations, however, are not particularly attracted to work in the fossil fuel industry because they see

it as misaligned with their values of working for a social and environmental-conscious employer. Other employers and sectors don’t have the same problem.

The current crisis and the tens of thousands of layoffs every month since March are

setting the stage for a massive talent shortage in just a few short years - but oil companies are not sitting idling by.

Despite cutting jobs enmasse, Big Oil is not giving up on internships as it looks to avoid repeating the mistakes it made during the previous downturns when it had to pay retirees to train the new recruits once prices and markets recovered.

Super majors such as Chevron and BP are keeping their internships and university graduate recruitment efforts even though they are slashing around 15 per cent of their respective workforce, HR executives told The Wall Street Journal.

In Nigeria some of the oil companies that had already assembled teams for some of their projects had to disband them and those employees were asked to go because the chances of executing the projects for which they are assembled in the near future

is highly remote.

According to Jeo Nwakwue, chairman, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Nigeria Council stated that many projects may have been sanctioned, may be those that would break Prices in the region of $50 and $60 rate but they can no longer go forward, you cannot employ people for those projects. So it has had negative impact on the industry especially petroleum engineers.

If the outlook for the prices are not rosy, people may not be thinking that price of crude oil would recover in the near future because, he said.

In terms of growth we are in a turbulence period because at $45 nobody knows how long the price would be in this range. At this price many projects would not be economical and if they are not economical, you can’t hire and you can’t grow. So it is not good for Petroleum Engineers globally.

Shell dismisses Angiama 45,000 barrel oil spill report Despite COVID-19, MOJEC installs over 32,000 meters in August …donates ultramodern medical centre OLUSOLA BELLO

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he Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has dismissed a report that it spilled 45,000 barrels of oil from an incident at its facility in Nun River in Angiama area of Bayelsa State in March 2020.

“The outcome of the government regulator-led Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) into the spill incident of 27th March 2020 was published in a report that is available on the publicly accessible SPDC spill website and the volume of oil spilled from the regrettable operational incident was 43 barrels,” SPDC’s Media Relations Manager, Bamidele Odugbesan, said in a statement.

According to Odugbesan, the spill JIV report, including photographs of the conducted on 28th March 2020, was signed off by the regulator, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), and representatives of the community, representatives of the Bayelsa State Government and SPDC. Responding to an enquiry on its twitter handle, NOSDRA had erroneously said 45,000 barrels of oil were spilled from the wellhead leak, but the agency admitted the error in a subsequent tweet where it claimed that the actual volume of oil spilled should be 45 barrels, Olusola Bello, Team lead,

even though the official report of the investigation into the incident stated that 43 barrels were spilled.

Explaining how the incident was managed, Odugbesan said, “No spill is acceptable to us and we work hard to prevent spills from occurring in our operations.

Immediately the incident was reported on 27th March 2020, we took promptly steps to stop the spill and contain the spread within the SPDC JV wellhead slot right of way. The recovery of the spilled oil was completed on 5th April 2020.”

Meanwhile the company has donated an ultramodern medical centre to Ogijo community, Sagamu Local Government in Ogun State.

The 20-bed ultramodern medical centre donated to the community as a model of primary health care facility worthy of replication across the state.

Tomi Coker, Ogun State Commissioner for Health, who took delivery of the facility said the donation was timely, coming at a time that the state was struggling with the dearth of facilities to manage the increasing cases infection of the novel coronavirus in the state, adding that the state government alone could not bear the burden of public healthcare delivery.

The medical centre, with doctors’ quarters, alternative power system, water treatment plant and a medical ambulance was built, equipped

Graphics: Joel Samson.

and furnished by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) in partnership with SNEPCo’s co-venture partners.

Bayo Ojulari, Managing Director of SNEPCo, Bayo Ojulari, who handed over the facility to the state government noted that the focus of the social investment policy of the company was on health and education, and that SNEPCo would continue to strengthen its relationship with governments across Nigeria for better healthcare and education systems.

“Our health intervention programmes have been delivered in many states and our secondary school and university scholarships are continuing to grow. With the support of NNPC and our co-venture partners, we will not relent.”

General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, an NNPC subsidiary, Bala Wunti, who was represented

by NNPC’s General Manager, Services, Yahaya Yunusa, charged the state and Ogijo community to provide effective management of the facility in a manner that will provide the required healthcare services to the people.

“Sustainability should be paramount in the management system to ensure that the facility serves the purpose for which it is meant.”

www.businessday.ng

OLUSOLA BELLO

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eading meter asset provider, MOJEC Meter Assets Management Company (M3AC), a subsidiary of MOJEC International Limited has so far been able to the install over 32,000 prepaid meters in August 2020, despite the restrictions necessitated by the Coronavirus (COVID-19 pandemic).

The company has also announced the opening of a reconciliation platform to prevent delays in the meter acquisition process. The reconciliation platform has been provided in response to delays experienced by customers in the installation of meters due to incorrect details provided during payment.

The web platform has been developed to solve two major challenges – provision of wrong

Application Reference Number (ARN)/MAP Number and incorrect contact details when registering for Meter allocation.

Customers who may have entered a wrong ARN/MAP Number or no ARN/MAP Number can now update their profile by simply visiting www.reconcile.mojec.com. The platform also allows customers who have been surveyed to generate their payment advice at www. retrieve.mojec.com.

Speaking about this development Chantelle Abdul, managing director, MOJEC Holdings Company said, “Our commitment to bridging the metering gap has remained unwavering even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant restrictions.

Our team has doubled up on its efforts to provide innovative solutions that will further simplify the metering process

and ensure constant delivery of superior service. This platform will, therefore, ensure that all outstanding processes resulting from incorrect information are resolved speedily and that there are no further delays to customers who have requested meters.”

In fulfilling completed orders for meters, Chantelle Abdul noted that “Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and its unintended consequences, the team at MOJEC and our execution partners have been able to successfully install over 32,000 meters in the month of August alone. This is indeed a milestone for us. I must state that I am pleased with the outstanding job the team at MOJEC has done in recent months.

The display of hard work, efficiency, and dedication to ensure Nigerians are metered are indeed noteworthy.”

Lumos Nigeria unveils new products in partnership with MTN

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umos Nigeria in partnership with telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria Plc, has announced the launch of two new product offerings - Lumos Prime and Lumos Eco. The new products will enable Lumos’ customers to save up to 70% on their power cost, whilst also helping them power a variety of their electrical appliances.

This reiterates Lumos Nigeria’s commitment towards providing reliable and affordable access to power for average households and small businesses across Nigeria.

These two new products, Lumos Prime and Lumos Eco, will replace Lumos’ existing home solar system as more technologically advanced variants that enable longer use. The new products can better power CCTV, bulbs, fans, laptops, television sets, radios, mobile devices and more.

Lumos Prime comes with two solar panels, thereby allowing faster charging. It is suitable for customers who are looking to enjoy longer, lasting power using their electronic device. Lumos Eco comes with one solar panel and is designed for consumers with

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basic power needs.

With Lumos, consumers no longer need to worry overpower issues or rely on generators to meet their power needs.

Speaking at the unveiling of the new products, the CEO of Lumos Nigeria, Adepeju Adebajo said, “Since its launch in Nigeria over five years ago, Lumos has been committed to solving the energy needs of Nigerians and we will continue to do so by building revolutionary products that meet the growing needs of the underserved populace. We are very excited to launch these new products in partnership with MTN.”

16

Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

RESEARCH&INSIGHT

In association with

A WEEKLY PUBLICATION OF BUSINESSDAY RESEARCH & INTELLIGENCE UNIT(BRIU)

briu@businessday.ng

08098710024

Appraising cross-border operations of Nigeria’s tier-one banks ADEMOLA ASUNLOYE

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he banking sector in Nigeria continues to thrive, as Nigerian banks with international banking licenses keep spreading their presence across borders.

Just like we have foreignowned banks which ply in the Nigerian market, four tier-one banks in Nigeria, Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Zenith Bank Plc also have their banks operational in other African countries and in Europe, showcasing that good and globally acceptable brands could be nurtured from Africa’s biggest economy-Nigeria.

BusinessDay Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU) presents some highlights from tier-one banks’ financials in respect of their foreign operations. These are parts of the on-going analysis of banks for the forthcoming annual Banking and Financial Institutions Awards (BAFI) 2020.

After all the necessary deductions were made, the total profit after tax (PAT) of all the foreign subsidiaries of the four Nigerian tier-one banks combined increased by 22.07 per cent from N103.40 billion in 2018 to N126.2 billion in 2019. Interestingly, none of the 4 banks recorded a loss, despite the economic conditions in some of the countries they operate in.

These banks have a total of 38 branches spread across 22 countries outside Nigeria and in the UK. Together, the tier-one banks generated a total operating income of N410.19 billion in 2019, which represents a 6.15 per cent increase over the N386.42 billion made in 2018.

Throughout the analy-

Source: Companies’ AFS 2019

Source: Companies’ AFS 2019

sis, First Bank was excluded from the rest of the tier-one banks because the group only listed its holdings company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) which makes certain data publicly inaccessible.

In 2019, Access Bank had a total of seven branches outside Nigeria- DR Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Zambia and UK; GTB had a total of 8 branches outside NigeriaCote I D’voire, Gambia,

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Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and UK; and UBA had a total of 19 branches outside Nigeria- Benin, Congo Brazza ville, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Chad, Congo DRC, Cote D’ Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and UK. Also, Zenith had a total of 4 branches outside Nigeria- Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and UK.

The analysis of the PAT separately for each bank showed that Access Bank generated N28.79 billion while GTB made N24.67 billion and that was an increase of 34.61 per cent and 33.41 per cent respectively in 2019 compared with 2018. Zenith Bank with N29.15 billion trailed with 21.5 per cent growth in PAT, while UBA made N43.6 billion to record a PAT growth of 12.1 per cent in 2019 compared with N38.8bn in

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2018.

Although Access Bank recorded the least revenue between the period of 2018 and 2019, it became the most profitable tier-one bank as it recorded 34.61 per cent increase in PAT from N21.38 billion in 2018 to N28.79 in 2019. This represents a contribution of 22.81 per cent of the total N126.2 billion that the tier-one banks recorded as combined PAT from overseas.

Among the countries where Access Bank operates, Sierra Leone outperformed the remaining 6 countries as the PAT grew by 394.91 per cent between 2018 and 2019. On the contrary, Access Bank in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) recorded a decrease of 88.69 per cent within the same period.

The shared contribution of Access Bank in the United Kingdom (UK) and in Ghana represents 55.37 per cent and 40.50 per cent of the total PAT that Access Bank recorded overseas in 2019. While Access Bank Zambia contributed 1.77 per cent, the remaining countries had a shared contribution that is less than 1 per cent. This means that the bulk of Access Bank’s international profit (95.87 per cent) for the year 2019 was from the branches in Ghana and UK while the remaining 4.13 per cent was from the other five foreign branches.

Similarly, GTB recorded an increase of 33.41 per cent from N18.49 billion in 2018 to N24.67 billion in 2019; with a shared contribution of 19.54 per cent of the total 2019 PAT by the four banks. GTB in Cote d’ Ivoire recorded the highest PAT growth of 171.99 per cent among the countries where GTB operates.

Of all the eight foreign countries where GTB had

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its branches, the bulk of the total PAT was contributed

by Ghana, culminating in 63.43 per cent. On the other hand, GTB Tanzania did not contribute much to the bank’s total PAT in 2019. By implication, Ghana drove the profit that came from the foreign subsidiaries of GTB in 2019.

During the same period, Zenith Bank was able to realise an increase of 17.86 per cent in PAT from N24.74 billion to N29.15 billion.

That was responsible for about 23.10 per cent of the total tier-one banks’ profit in 2019.

Although it has operations in only 4 countries, all but Zenith Bank in Sierra Leone recorded positive growth in PAT for the year 2020, especially Zenith Bank in Gambia which recorded the highest PAT growth of 53.69 per cent. While Zenith Bank in Ghana at 56.91 per cent contributed the bulk of the total PAT for Zenith Bank’s foreign subsidiaries, Zenith Bank in Sierra Leone at 1.80 per cent contributed the least.

UBA recorded the highest PAT at N43.61 billion compared to other banks in 2019. This is because of its operations in 19 countries, including the UK. In comparison to the previous year, UBA recorded a PAT growth of 12.43 per cent when compared with N38.79 billion in 2018. The expanded network of UBA also revealed in its shared contribution to the tier-one banks’ combined PAT which represents 34.55 per cent.

Within UBA territory, UBA Kenya had the highest PAT growth of 377.19 per cent. The country that contributed the bulk of the PAT that UBA recorded in 2019 was UBA Ghana at 25.44 per cent; whereas, UBA Congo DRC recorded a negative contribution of 0.38 per cent—affecting the performance of other countries.

Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

17

LegalBusiness BD Business Law Industry Report Practice Intelligence Partnerships

These attempts to undermine the NBA because a Non-SAN is President is unfortunate – Lawyers Cry Out

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onths after its last gaffe, which sparked the rage of young lawyers and nonSANs across the country, it would seem that the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) is at it again, as it has made yet another unpopular move, which has been promptly condemned and adjudged ill-motived by members of

the Nigerian bar across the country.

The body who met on Friday September 5th has set up an audit committee parallel to that of the NBA President, to also audit the 2016, 2018 and 2020 elections. This is coming on the heels of the NBA President’s first official task, where he announced the inauguration of a committee to audit the 2016, 2018 and 2020 elections; with a view to proffering solutions to the challenges and flaws of these past elections and designing a much improved framework for elections in the NBA in the future.

Many have questioned this move, describing it as being tantamount to undermining the authority and capacity of the President to address the

issues – being a non-SAN. One of such groups who have strongly condemned the move, is the Open Bar Initiative (OBI). In a statement to the press, the cofounder of the group, Silas Joseph Onu said: “My attention has been drawn to the sinister activity of a group known and referred to as the Body of Senior Advocates of

Nigeria (BOSAN), an independent incorporated trustee, with no connection to the NBA whatsoever, as it constitutes itself into a supervising body of the Nigerian Bar Association which has announced a committee of that body to audit the just concluded NBA Election. It is evident that many Senior Advocates who personally felt defeated by a non-SAN are now working overtime to supplant the Nigerian Bar Association with a group formed only for the SANs. The statement continued, “This is not the only overbearing activity embarked upon by the group without any authority from Nigerian Lawyers.

They have also constituted themselves into the drafters of the proposed Continues on page 21

Dorothy Ufot honoured as

INSIDE African arbitrator of the year

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FCCPC’s investigation of pay-tv providers …and the burden of market definition in a dynamic tv broadcasting industry CHUKWUYERE EBERE IZUOGU

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n 1 September 2020, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) commenced an inquiry into the activities of pay-TV providers in order to establish a possible violation of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Act (FCCPA).

According to the press release issued by the FCCPC, the scope of this inquiry will include whether any particular pay-TV provider has entered into any form of restrictive agreement and/or has abused (or is abusing) its dominant position in the TV broadcasting industry, conducts which are both anti-competitive and prohibited under the FCCPA. In this article, I explain the intricacies of, and the fundamental issues that should guide a proper definition of the relevant market for competition law purpose in Nigeria’s dynamic TV broadcasting industry.

Market definition As a general rule in many competition frameworks, market definition is the first step for a finding of the existence of an anti-competitive conduct. Market definition for the purpose of this inquiry would enable the FCCPC to make a proper assessment as to the actual or likely effect of an existing restrictive agreement; and/or whether any pay-TV provider is dominant in a particular TV broadcasting market, and if so, whether that pay-TV provider has abused its position of dominance in the defined market. The relevant market is comprised of a product and geographic market. For the purpose of this article, I will focus on only the product

Legality and practicability of the guidelines on GSI: the Central Bank Of Nigeria got it right

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Chukwuyere Izuogu

market as it is assumed that the geographic market will in most cases be national in scope.

Product markets in competition law are defined after a careful and thorough consideration of multiple factors chief of which is the demand-side substitutability, that is products identified as substitutable (or interchangeable) by consumers on account of their characteristics, price, utility and convenience of use. This is consistent with Section 71 (b) of the FCCPA, thus demand-side substitutability is a function of consumer behaviour or how consumers perceive a particular product. On a conceptual level, the analytical framework proposed for product market definition by the FCCPC in the draft of both the Merger Review Regulations and Merger Review Guidelines is the hypothetical monopolist or the small but significant and non-transitory

We have unanimously agreed to support the new leadership of the NBA - Northern Bar Leaders

increase in price (SSNIP) test. Although this test is proposed to be applied by the FCCPC when exercising its merger review powers over notifiable merger transactions, it is unlikely that this test would change with any significant modification, and would be equally applied by the FCCPC in non-merger cases, such as in restrictive agreements and abuse of dominance cases. The SSNIP test asks whether a significant and non-transitory increase (for example between 5% – 10%) in the price of a candidate product by a hypothetical monopolist would compel consumers to switch to another product which they consider to be substitutable to the candidate product so as to render the price increase unprofitable. If such a switch were to occur then the candidate product and the substitute product belong to the same product market.

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Relevant product markets in TV broadcasting The TV broadcasting industry comprises several elements including the component parts of the value chain, the two-sided nature or otherwise of a market, extent of vertical integration of broadcasting activities at the upstream level and downstream level, trading conditions between partners, existing conditions of competition, type of media content whether films, sports, T V series, shows, live events, news, documentaries, etc, their prices and the role of advertisements. Thus, product market definition is not a clear-cut mechanical process as the boundaries of the relevant TV broadcasting market is not so precise as one would expect.

In the light of this fact, an argument (whether valid or not) can therefore be made that the relevant product market in TV broadcasting should be defined in accordance with the SSNIP test, on the basis of whether the TV services is subscription based or financed via advertisements, or according to the different modes of transmission of the TVsignals, or categorisation according to the TV viewing experience whether linear or non-linear, or whether TV channels are supplied on a wholesale basis or retailed to consumers, whether the TV content is licensed from a third party or commissioned by the TV broadcaster in which case it may be sub-divided by content type such as films, sports, etc,. In most cases, a segment of this market is complementary to another segment.

Irrespective of how the relevant TV broadcasting market is eventually defined by the FCCPC, the evContinues on page 19

CAMA 2020 - Giant Step towards standardizing Nigeria’s Corporate Law and Insolvency Practice

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Dorothy Ufot honoured as African arbitrator of the year

I

t was a celebration of excellence recently as one of Nigeria’s leading arbitrators, Dorothy Udeme Ufot, SAN won the keenly contested African Arbitrator of the year Award 2020, hosted on the sidelines of the annual East African International Arbitration Conference 2020, which took place virtually on Friday 28th August, 2020 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Africa Arbitration Awards aims to celebrate, recognise and honour outstanding practitioners and leaders in the Africa arbitration ecosystem. According to the award organisers, the Africa Arbitration Awards is an opportunity to shine a light on exemplary leadership and success in African Arbitration.

The organisers state that the “Africa Arbitration Awards forms part of our vision of building international arbitration capacity, expanding Africa’s networks as we promote, profile and celebrate Africa’s success in international arbitration.”

The Awards comprise of 5 categories where in each category, individual nominees must be of African nationality, and nominee organizations must have incorporated offices located in Africa. The categories are: (a) African Arbitrator of the year (over 40 years); (b) Young Arbitration practitioner of the year - under 40 years; (c) Leading case counsel team; (d) Leading Arbitration service provider, and; (e) Innovation in Arbitration.

This year’s awards received thousands of nominations from across the Arbitration community.

A shortlist of three nominees per category was determined by highly respected, competent and independent judges who themselves are renowned arbitrators and heads of Africa’s leading international arbitration centres.

The 2020 Nominations Judges

Masengo, the Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Kigali International Arbitration Centre (KIAC); and Lawrence Ngugi, the Registrar and Chief Executive of the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration (NCIA), who previously served as Chief State Counsel (Head of Commercial Litigation & Arbitration).

The 2020 Nominations judges worked tirelessly to produce a shortlist of nominees, taking into account various criteria, including, demonstrated knowledge and experience in International Arbitration, use of innovation, teamwork and collaboration, observance of confidentiality, use of African centres, training and mentorship.

According to the organizers, thousands of votes were cast by the arbitration community globally and the winners reflect the best Africa has to offer in international arbitration expertise.

The 2020 Africa Arbitration Award winners were announced and celebrated in a virtual ceremony that was broadcast live on Zoom, YouTube and on the conference portal.

Nigeria’s Dorothy Udeme Ufot, SAN, defeated her counterparts Prof. Mohammed Abdel Wahab from Egypt and Dr. Jamsheed Peeroo from Mauritius to emerge as African Arbitrator of the Year 2020. Speaking to Arise TV in Nigeria, Dorothy said that the win came from a journey of several years of involvement in complex investment and commercial disputes, with the international arbitration community watching you.

Dorothy Udeme Ufot, SAN, FCIArb(UK), Chartered Arbitrator is the founding partner of Dorothy Ufot & Co, a leading law firm in Nigeria since 1994 where she heads the International arbitration and litigation departments of the firm.

In 2009, Dorothy was elevated to the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) (equivalent to the English Queen’s Counsel), in recognition of her vast work in commercial litigation.

She is a former member of the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Paris (2006 – 2018), and a member of the Court of Arbitration of the Casablanca International Mediation and Arbitration Centre Morocco, since 2016.

Dorothy is a former vice chair of the Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA). She is a former global vice president of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, and is cur-

rently a member of the council of the ICC Institute of World Business Law and vice chair of the arbitration and ADR Commission of ICC Nigeria and the Treasurer of ICC’s Nigeria committee.

Dorothy is on the panel of arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association (AAA)/International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), Korea Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) International, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), the Singapore International Arbitration Centre(SIAC), the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (now AIAC), the Lagos Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, the Energy Arbitrators List and the International Dispute Resolution Specialists (the IDR Group).

Dorothy has extensive experience as an arbitrator in adhoc and institutional arbitration (UNCITRAL, ICC, SCC, ICSID, LCIA, DIAC, AAA/ICDR and RCICAL).

She is a member and past director of Arbitral Women. A past board member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Chevron Oil Nigeria PLC and MRS Oil Nigeria PLC, Dorothy is currently a Non-Executive Director of Dangote Cement PLC, the first female to be so appointed. She also serves on the board of Dangote Cement Ethiopia, SO&U Ltd and the Nigerian Prize for Leadership.

A member of the advisory board of the Journal of International Arbitration, Dorothy is recognized in the GAR’s International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitration practitioners annually since 2009-2020 as one of the world’s experts in the field of International Commercial Arbitration.

pendent production company can acquire a TV broadcasting license in any category, or whether a TV broadcaster can easily enter the market for premium TV content, or whether an advertisement based TV provider can easily transition to a pay-TV provider, etc or vice versa, may play a role in the definition of the relevant TV broadcasting market, however it is too early to tell the extent to which this will form the basis of market definition for the purpose of this inquiry nor will be able to offset the conclusion of consumer behaviour arising from a proper application of the SSNIP test.

Undoubtedly, the TV broadcasting industry in Nigeria has changed from the legacy period (colloquially referred to as the “olden days”) when it was solely dependent on television sets and now in constant evolution due to technology convergence, that is the ability of different network platforms to carry similar kind of services or the collapsing of

consumer devices such as telephones, television sets and personal computers/mobile devices into a single device capable of accessing triple play services, which in turn has affected how consumers perceive and consume media contents, especially in response to a price increase and/or quality.

Taken collectively together, these factor should form the foundational analysis of market definition in the TV broadcasting industry lest one falls into the trap of the “cellophane fallacy” where the defined relevant market is overly broad leading to the false inference that no particular TV broadcaster is dominant in the relevant market, or in the alternative, narrowly defined so as to improperly exclude substitutable products, thereby also leading to the false inference that a particular TV broadcaster exercises market power in the relevant market.

Indeed, as shown by multiple cases from several competition jurisdictions, an improperly de-

fined product market is very fatal to a competition case, See; Ohio v. American Express Co. 138 S. Ct. 2274 (2017), United States v.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 351 U.S. 377 (1956) from courts in the US; and Case 27/76 United Brands Company and United Brands Continental BV v. Commission of the European Communities [1978] ECR 207; C6/72 Europemballage Corporation and Continental Can Company Inc. v. Commission of the European Communities [1973] CMLR 199 from courts in the EU. From the foregoing, herein lies the true burden of a proper and accurate product market definition in Nigeria’s dynamic TV broadcasting industry.

Dorothy Ufot, SAN

were: Dipna Gunnoo, the Head of the MCCI Arbitration & Mediation Centre (MARC) at the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI); Prof. Ike Ehiribe, a fellow of CIArb, London, a Chartered Arbitrator, an accredited mediator and a professor of law at the Centre for International Legal Studies (CILS) in Salzburg, Christchurch Canterbury University SOAS and Queen Mary in the University of London; Dr. Dalia Hussein, the Deputy Director of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), an Adjunct Professor of Law at the American University in Cairo, and Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Zakazik University; Dr. Fidele

FCCPC’s investigation of pay-tv providers Continued from page 17

idence adduced must not only be unimpeachable, it must also be factually accurate in explaining how the various products comprised within a relevant product market substitute themselves and capable of sustaining its conclusion in this regard. Such evidence could be derived from an “objective” based rigorous economic analysis or could be subjective in nature such as statements and/ or conducts of firms (potentially) operating in the TV broadcasting market, although the former is more likely to be reliable and thus of more evidential value than the latter. Some examples of such economic evidence are the existence (or not) of different customer groups for the same product, switching costs arising from apparently substitutable products not belonging to the same product market, the application of statistical models to

measure the extent to which the demand for a product changes in response to a change in its price, or in response to the price of another product, how steep are the barriers to entry in the relevant TV broadcasting market and previous instances (if any) of price increase and its effect on consumer consumption patterns.

Conclusion It is pertinent to also mention that supply-side substitutability factors that considers the possibility or otherwise of producers currently producing another product would be deemed part of the relevant market if they are able to switch production to the candidate product in response to a price increase without incurring significant additional costs, for instance whether a telecommunications operator is able to commence the production and/ or licensing of TV content for distribution through its network to consumers, whether an indewww.businessday.ng

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Chukwuyere, formerly a Tech Policy Fellow at Mozilla Foundation, presently a Research Fellow at the African Academy Network on Internet Policy and Senior Associate at Streamsowers & Köhn.

Thursday 10 September 2020

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LEGALPERSPECTIVE

Legality and practicability of the guidelines on GSI: the Central Bank Of Nigeria got it right “The law relating to contractual obligation is only binding when there are offer, acceptance as well as consideration without which no valid contract can exist.” Per OGUNBIYI, J.S.C.

MUYIWA ATOYEBI Continued from last week

Section 32 (1) of the CBN Act provides: “The Bank may, subject as is expressly provided in this Act generally conduct business as a bank, and do all such things as are incidental to or consequential upon the exercise of its power or the discharge of its duties under this Act.” (Underlined is for emphasis) Section 33 (1) (a) & (b) of the CBN Act provides: “(1) In addition to any of its powers under this Act, the Bank may – i. require persons and institutions having access thereto at all reasonable times, to supply, in such forms as the Bank may from time to time direct, information relating to or touching or concerning matters affecting the economy of Nigeria; and ii. issue guidelines to any person and any institutions under its supervision.” (Underlined is for emphasis) Section 42 (1) (b) & (c) of the CBN Act provides: “(1) The Bank shall wherever necessary, seek the co-operation of and co-operate with other banks in Nigeria to – i. ensure high standards of conduct and management throughout the banking system; and ii. further such policies not inconsistent with this Act as shall in the opinion of the Bank be in the national interest.’’ (Underlined is for emphasis) Section 45 (6) of the CBN Act provides: “The Bank shall have power to prohibit any bank which fails to comply with any directive issued under this section, from extending new loans and advances and from undertaking new investments, until the bank complies with the directive to the satisfaction of the Bank; and may, in addition, levy fine as appropriate under the provisions of section 13 (5) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act.’’ Section 61 (6) of the BOFIA Act provides: (1) The Bank shall have power to­ supervise and regulate the activities of other financial institutions and specialised banks. (Underlined is for emphasis) A Cursory look at the above provisions shows the powers of the CBN to issue guidelines such as the GSI and while creating these guidelines, it has not gone ultra vires of the powers given to it by the enabling Acts.

It is important to state that, the execution of the GSI Mandate is one of the requirements that must be

fulfilled by an account holder seeking to obtain loan from Borrower Banks. The GSI Mandate operates only when a Customer is in breach of the Loan contractual obligation.

It is only at this point that the CBN, as the regulator, steps in, with its fundamental purpose, that is, to promote a sound financial system in Nigeria. This is of course bearing in mind the utilitarian principle of making laws or issuing directives that are for the good of all as opposed to the benefits of a single party.

THE CBN AND ADJUDICATIONS One of the views from certain quarters about these guidelines on GSI is that it usurps the power of Court especially as regards disputes. This view is far from the correct position, as same is misconceived as the guidelines on GSI recognize the power of Court and do not in any way interfere with the powers of Court. The guidelines on GSI recognize restrictions placed on accounts by the Court and excludes such from the GSI Trigger. We strongly maintain that the amount of loan and interest left unpaid cannot be in contest, since it is regulated by the Loan Contract. The only part that could be in dispute is the penal fees for default in repaying the loan which has been expressly excluded by the Guidelines on GSI. In addition, there are penalties in place for the wrong use or trigger of the GSI. Moreover, there is no provision in the GSI Guidelines excluding any aggrieved party from seeking redress in a Court of Law. The entire provisions that run through the pages of the guidelines has not in any remote way ousted or usurped the jurisdiction of the Courts to determine grievances that borrowers may raise from its application. In fact, it has further enthroned same. This position of ours has been re-emphasized in the case of THE MISCELLANEOUS OFFENCES TRIBUNAL & ANOR V. OKOROAFOR & ANOR (2001) LPELR – 3190 (SC) Pp. 62-63, Paras.

D-D Per Karibi-Whyte, JSC stated that: “An ouster clause may be absolute whereby there is a total exclusion of the exercise of jurisdiction, or a limited ouster, where the exercise of jurisdiction is excluded only in www.businessday.ng

certain situations. In considering the ouster provision the words used must be carefully construed to determine the effect intended.

Hence where the words connote an ouster only in certain situations, the jurisdiction of the superior court is only excluded on the fulfillment of those conditions. Superior courts of record guard the exercise of their constitutional jurisdiction zealously with jealousy. Hence whereas they may tolerate the exclusion or restriction by statute of a personal right of access to the courts the language expressing such exclusion or restriction will be carefully watched by the courts, and will not be extended beyond its least onerous meaning.

Only clear and unambiguous words will be allowed to have such effect” See also; Sode v. A.-G., Federation (1986) 2 NWLR (Pt.24) 568 at p.577; Nwosu V. Imo State Environmental Sanitation Authority (1990) 2 NWLR (pt.135) 688; Fawehinmi V. Abacha (1996) 9 NWLR (Pt.475) 710.

Thus, since it is abundantly clear that there is nothing from the provisions of the guidelines having the implication of absolute or limited exclusion of the exercise of jurisdiction by the Courts over an executed GSI mandate, the guidelines cannot therefore be said to oust or exclude the adjudicatory powers of Courts.

CONTRACTUAL RELATIONS The general legal relationship of bank and customer is contractual which requires the borrower to execute documents and offer security to the bank before utilizing the credit facility. Consequently, the parties are bound by the terms and conditions of the documents.

It is in fair consideration of this that clause 3.2 of the Guidelines on GSI provides a waiver clause that ensures that the borrower waives his right that allows the creditor to act on his account(s) even in other banks, without seeking and obtaining his consent before any debit can be posted to his account.

The GSI is an agreement which recognizes that waiver clause and it serves as sufficient consent to waive the implied confidentiality obligation that other participating Banks owe to their customers (borrower).

In order words, the consent of the borrower as expressed by signing the terms and conditions for the credit facility negates any provision

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of any contractual legal relations.

Upon executing the GSI Mandate Agreement with NIBSS, Participating Financial Institutions become necessary party to the GSI general agreement with the borrowers. Subsequently, the voluntary consent of a borrower to the terms and conditions of the agreement waives his rights of confidentiality with other participating financial institutions.

For all objective intents and valid purposes, the CBN guidelines do not in any conceivable way seek to regulate simple contracts and/or obligations binding the concerned banks and its customers, what it merely undertakes to achieve is to ensure the regulator bank’s effective collaboration with all other banks in Nigeria with the aim of making policies in the nation’s interest, as contained in Section 42 of the CBN Act and in further exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 1 of BOFIA. Besides, contractual obligations only take effect once the acts to which the parties have agreed begin to occur and, in this case, such obligations will arise the moment the loan is advanced to the customer by the crediting bank. Conversely, the execution of the mandate by the borrower as specified in the guidelines takes place even before the loan is given, it is a condition precedent to the grant of the facility to which the borrower has an unhindered option of walking away from. At that point, neither the prospective creditor (the bank) nor the would-be debtor (the borrower) is under any obligation of sorts, in fact, no contract has been entered by the parties. The mandate simply operates as a guarantee assuring the bank of the preservation of its pecuniary interest on the one hand and according the borrower knowledge of what is at stake should it be in default, and does not extend into the territories of the bank-customer contractual relationship itself.

To support this position, the decision in the case of DANGOTE GEN. TEXTILE PRODUCTS LTD & ORS V. HASCON ASSOCIATES NIG. LTD. & ANOR (2013) LPELR-20665 (SC), where the Court made recourse to the basic elements of a contract in establishing the existence or otherwise of a contractual obligation, is instructive. It held: @Businessdayng

JOINT ACCOUNT ISSUES The core plank of the guidelines on GSI is to improve credit repayment culture, and the creditor banks are required by Clause 3.2.2 (a) of the guidelines on GSI to properly educate borrowers about the GSI mandate, its implications and to enshrine same in their loan application process. In all cases where an eligible account holder (borrower) is a signatory to a joint account, the creditor bank is required to educate all the signatories to the joint account on the implications before the consent of the borrower is sought and obtained. Suffice therefore, to say that the GSI seeks to protect the rights of the non-defaulting party of a joint account by first educating the party before executing the agreement on the implications.

CORPORATE INTERESTS Even though Clause 2.0 of the GSI Operational Guideline expressly specified the eligible account types, which clearly excludes corporate accounts save joint accounts, it is however unclear as to what happens when a borrower is a signatory to a corporate account which he is either a director or not. Two options seem practicable: Where the borrower has control over the corporate interests of the corporation and can convince the corporation and the signatories to agree to the terms and conditions of the GSI agreement. In which case, it is feasible.

Where the borrower is merely appointed as a signatory to a structured corporation, which the borrower does not have control over.

How then can the veil of incorporation be lifted? It would seem that the creditor bank would be handicapped in such circumstances.

In addition, banks by their very corporate nature have juristic personalities, they are an artificial creations of the law and before its eyes, they are legal entities capable of not only suing but equally being sued against in a Court of competent authority. A customer/borrower who wishes to challenge the receipt of the loan facility or who admits it but disputes the amount of the sum in the account upon which the GSI has been triggered, is not barred from ventilating such grievances in Court, besides the guidelines provide in Clause 3.2.1 that the content of the mandate must have been fully understood by the defaulter before execution.

Muyiwa Atoyebi, SAN is the Managing Partner at O. M. ATOYEBI, SAN & PARTNERS (OMAPLEX LAW FIRM)

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We have unanimously agreed to support the new leadership of the NBA - Northern Bar Leaders

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he President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata, recently held a critical interactive session with stakeholders of the Nigerian Bar Association in Northern Nigeria. The meeting was attended by over 40 serving Chairmen of various NBA Branches in the North, including several past and current Bar Chairmen. The session lasted for 3 hours and ended on a productive note.

At the meeting, which was organised in line with President Akpata’s commitment to run a United and All-inclusive Bar, attendees appointed Yunus Ustaz Usman, SAN, a respected leader of the Kaduna Bar, as their spokesman. In his speech Mr. Ustaz, SAN speaking on behalf of the other attendees, affirmed their support for the administration of the President and resolved that the NBA remains one indivisible body while dissociating themselves from any splitter groups. They further pledged continued support for President Akpata and the NBA during Akpata’s tenure.

The attendees further noted the challenges that had trailed Akpata’s emergence as expressed confidence that Akpata will surmount the challenges and run an all-inclusive Bar, and called for widespread support from across various parts of the NBA for Akpata’s government.

At the end of the session, Elisah Kura, SAN, acting Chairman of the Arewa Lawyers Forum spoke to the press on behalf of the Chairmen of the various branches of the

NBA as well as other senior members of the Northern Bar. He said, “We the undersigned individuals, who are Chairmen of the various branches of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) that make up the Northern Geopolitical Zone as defined in the NBA Constitution 2015, and other senior members of the Bar have today Wednesday 2nd September 2020 in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, met with the NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata and the National Officers of the NBA. We have unanimously agreed to support his leadership of the NBA, and we hereby restate our true allegiance to the NBA and dissociate ourselves from the “New NBA” or any splitter group whatsoever making the waves in recent weeks as a new association/body of lawyers in Nigeria.”

The leader of the Arewa lawyers further noted that the NBA has historically and in recent times been fraught with several challenges but assured the president and his ExCo that the NBA under their leadership will surmount these challenges and birth an all-inclusive Bar that will work for all Lawyers in Nigeria regardless of any part of the divide one may belong.

“We were gratified to hear the NBA President during his inaugural address restate that the Bar that he wants to lead henceforth is one that is united on all fronts and which recognises that our diversity is our greatest strength. Mr. Akpata has reassured us that his ad-

NBA president, Olumide Akpata surrounded by bar leaders from all northern branches across Nigeria.

ministration is very keen on ensuring that we not have only a united Bar but also an indivisible one, and we verily believe in him,” he said.

We therefore urge all lawyers not only of the Northern Geopolitical Zone, including those behind the establish-

ment of the NNBA but indeed all legal practitioners in Nigeria to please come together to support Mr. Olumide Akpata and the new national officers to ensure that they deliver on all their core mandates whilst indeed putting the rule of law, the welfare and capacity

development of our members at the fore front.

We thank the NBA President, Olumide Akpata and all the national officers of the NBA for having this meeting with us as one of their first official acts after their inauguration last Friday, which is

only indicative of the value they place on the need for an all-inclusive Bar and we wish them a very successful tenure and also reassure Mr President of our total support for his administration and pledge our allegiance to the NBA at large.”

Capital Market Solicitors’ set to hold virtual conference on healthcare sector

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he Capital Market Solicitors’ Association (CMSA) Virtual Annual Business Luncheon The themed “Financial Opportunities in the Capital Markets – An Aid to Improving the Nigerian Healthcare Sector” is scheduled to hold on 15th September 2020.

Speaking on the theme of the conference, Efeomo Olotu, Chair of the Planning Committee said, “The Nigerian healthcare sector has faced numerous challenges ranging from poor funding and inadequate health infrastructure to a great loss in revenue of over 1Billion USD annually from medical tourism. Similar to any other form of organized economic activity, easy access to capital is important for the efficient delivery of high-quality medi-

cal services in any healthcare sector worldwide.

At the 2020 Virtual Annual Business Luncheon, we intend that discussions focus on the current climate in the Nigerian www.businessday.ng

healthcare sector following the COVID-19 pandemic, governmental response and the role of the capital market in creating pathways in strengthening a stunted healthcare sector

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through easy access to capital in resolving the prevalent challenges against affordability, accessibility, liquidity and funding.”

This premiere virtual Lunch@Businessdayng

eon promises to be engaging and a conversation opener with the Opening Address and Keynote Speech delivered by Mr. Lamido Yuguda, Director–General of the Securities & Exchange Commission and Mr. Olabode Agusto, Founding Managing Director of Agusto & Co., and Chairman of the Advisory Board of First Cardiology Consultant, respectively.

The CMSA is an independent self-regulatory association of solicitors and commercial law firms engaged in capital market practice of over 50 members with access to a pool of expert professional market knowledge. Registrations are now open for the Capital Market Solicitors’ Association, 2020 Virtual Annual Business Luncheon.

Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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AELEXNOTES

CAMA 2020 - Giant Step towards standardizing Nigeria’s Corporate Law and Insolvency Practice President Muhammadu Buhari recently assented to the new Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, bringing into effect widely-lauded changes in the Nigerian business environment. Recently, BD Legal’s Onyinyechi Ukegbu sat with Olanipekun Orewale, partner, Ælex Law Practice, who was involved in drafting provisions of the Act. EXCERPTS… Continued from last week

Q

ualification to act as insolvency practitioner was introduced into the Act as a result of the need to regulate insolvency practitioners such that only competent professionals with requisite specialism in insolvency, in the light of these fundamental provisions, can act as insolvency practitioners in Nigeria. Other jurisdictions also have provisions for the specific qualifications of insolvency practitioners as well as the agency or board or organization responsible for certifying such insolvency practitioners.

It is not the first time that a professional association would be recognized under the Act. Afterall, Nigeria Bar Association was recognized under the LPA. Under CAMA, BRIPAN was specifically identified because it is the only professional body in Nigeria which sees to the education, training and certification of insolvency practitioners, and it is also a member of INSOL International, a worldwide federation of associations of accountants and lawyers who specialize in business turnaround and insolvency.

Before becoming a member of BRIPAN, an applicant has to undergo a compulsory insolvency training in stages, and like any other professional body in Nigeria, BRIPAN charges a fee for the training, and induction of members.

Thereafter, the inducted members pay the annual membership dues.

This procedure for membership has been in force for a long time, prior to the passing of CAMA 2020.

Section 851 of CAMA also requires a person challenging any fees by the CAC to

Olanipekun Orewale

appear before a CAC panel made up of the Registrar General of the CAC, five (5) officers of the CAC, and someone from the Ministry of Trade and Investment.

Some say this is tantamount to making the CAC a prosecutor and a judge in its own case. Do you agree?

Section 851 of CAMA sets up an Administrative Proceedings Committee for the CAC, with the specific functions to: • provide the opportunity of

being heard for persons alleged to have contravened the provisions of the CAMA or its regulations; • resolve disputes or grievances arising from the operations of CAMA or its regulations; and • impose administrative penalties for contravention of the provisions of CAMA or its regulation, in the settlement of matters before it.

Section 851 was included for administrative convenience, and anyone dissatisfied with the decisions of the Administrative Committee may appeal to the Federal

High Court. I do not agree that where the Administrative Committee presides over any challenge of fees imposed by the CAC, ipso facto, it would be tantamount to making the CAC a prosecutor and a judge in its own case.

There is nothing sacrosanct in these provisions relating to the composition of the membership of the Committee. Other statutes in Nigeria have similar provisions.

For example, the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) have similar provisions on the membership of its Administrative Proceedings Committee. In the case of Securities & Exchange Commission v.

Osindero Oni & Lasebikan (2008) JELR 46696CA, the Court of Appeal held that the mere fact that the Administrative Proceedings Committee set up pursuant to the provisions of ISA comprising of the members of the Securities and Exchange Commission presided over an allegation of violation of the breach of the provisions of ISA would not amount to the breach of the fundamental right of the Respondent.

The fundamental objective of the provision is to create an internal administrative procedure for the resolution, in timely manner, of any complaints arising from the challenge to the statutory fees and the operation of the provisions of CAMA. What are the most beneficial changes in CAMA for the Nigerian business environment?

The changes in CAMA were made for the purpose of benefiting the Nigeria business environment and to improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria. For example, the introduction of business rescue regime, will ensure that distressed companies and their

creditors consider business rescue first, before taking steps that may lead to the winding up of the company, which would affect certain stakeholders, like shareholders and employees of the distressed companies.

Any final thoughts?

The CAMA 2020 is a giant step towards standardizing Nigeria’s corporate law and insolvency practice with international best practices. I firmly believe that the provisions of CAMA 2020 promote the interests of all stakeholders in the Nigeria economic/business arena and will act as a catalyst for foreign investment.

Notwithstanding the robust insolvency provisions in the Act, I am of the considered opinion that there is need to have a standout Act on insolvency as it were in other jurisdictions. Happily, BRIPAN through its distinguished professional members had drafted and presented a stand-out Bill on Insolvency before the National Assembly which is yet to be passed into law. The need to pass the bill into law becomes necessary to cover all the fields which this Act have not covered. Noting also that majority of the insolvency has cross border elements and issues coupled with the fact that Nigeria has no statutory provisions on cross border insolvency, it is therefore imperative for Nigeria to ratify the UNCITRAL Model on cross border insolvency, subject to local adaptation, to promote unrestricted access to foreign courts, recognition of foreign insolvency practitioners and proceedings, cooperation and coordination of proceedings among courts and enforcement of judgments and orders.

These attempts to undermine the NBA because a Non-SAN is President is unfortunate Continued from page 17

amendment to the Legal Practitioner’s Act and therein attempting to give the body a statutory flavour. These attempts to undermine the Nigerian Bar Association simply because a NonSAN is the current President by promoting another platform that will speak for and on behalf of lawyers, is unfortunate and hereby condemned. It cannot stand and must be resisted by all well-meaning Nigerian lawyers.”

Onu further pointed out that senior advocates, like Young Lawyers, have the right to come together under a forum that is subject to the Nigerian Bar Association. “However, incorporat-

ing an independent body with the aim of surreptitiously taking over the core responsibilities of the Nigerian Bar Association is, sadly, demonstrative of the rot that some of these Seniors have brought to this profession. The only reason for such a body is to show a distinction between “ordinary” lawyers and the “extraordinary” Senior Advocates, who have now surpassed the level of being called lawyers, or so I imagine,” he said According to the group, the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, being an independent incorporated trustee have no business meddling with the NBA Election under any guise and thus, urged the body to www.businessday.ng

discontinue its attempt to so interfere. “They can organise an election for their preferred candidates to lead their own body and it won’t be our business at all,” the group said.

“Also, BOSAN is not known to the legal practitioner’s Act and has no place in the proposed amendment of the said Act. If they have any input to make, it should be routed through the recognized body of lawyers, the Nigerian Bar Association. They cannot constitute themselves as a body acting for or on behalf of lawyers. Their entire membership is less than 600 and as such, they aren’t in any position to act or speak for the over 120, 000 lawyers in

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Nigeria. They are to desist from further usurpation of responsibilities that does not fall within their purview.

“We have resolved to drag that body to Court if BOSAN insists on acting unilaterally in ways that undermine the core purpose and responsibilities of the Nigerian Bar Association. I know that not all Senior Advocates subscribe to the objectives of this body and therefore call on the very respected Senior Advocates of Nigeria, properly so called, to dissociate themselves from this attempt to undermine the Nigerian Bar Association simply because a Non-SAN is presently the President. @Businessdayng

In the same vein, foremost Professor of Law, Professor Ernest Ojukwu SAN has dismissed the action by BOSAN as a mere attempt to look relevance by the lawyers elite organisation.

Leading the BOSAN audit are, JK Gadzama,SAN; Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN; Ètigwe Uwa, SAN; Osaro Eghobamien, among others.

BusinessDay recalls that a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Adeboyega Awomolo had in June written to BOSAN, stating strongly that certain positions in the NBA were the preserve of SANs. Like this, the letter resulted in various lashbacks from younger lawyers, non-SANs, non-lawyers and even fellow SANs.

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Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Investor Helping you to build wealth & make wise decisions

Market capitalisation

NSE Premium Index

The NSE-Main Board

N13.203 trillion

2,194.86

N13.358 trillion

2,213.55

NSE All Share Index

Week open (28 -08–20)

25,309.3

Week close (4- 09–20)

25,605.64

Percentage change (WoW)

1.17

Percentage change (YTD)

-4.61

0.85 4.60

NSE ASeM Index

NSE 30 Index

NSE Banking Index

NSE Insurance Index NSE Consumer Goods Index NSE Oil/Gas Index

1,074.60

740.58

128.80

426.99

187.36

1,839.57

426.99

973.72

1,090.26

1,074.57 1,088.70

293.97

728.51

135.00

433.37

194.20

1,846.38

1,124.23

995.27

1.46 -5.34

0.00 0.00

1.31 -7.57

302.09

2.76 -15.34

1.96

1.49

7.30

-26.90

0.00 -26.03

NSE Lotus II

0.37 0.63

NSE Ind. Goods Index

NSE Pension Index

0.44

2.21

4.52

-5.58

These are analysts’ expectations from Nigeria’s stock market this week Storeis by Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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wo important factors –inter im dividend payments and resumption of FX sales –will determine the direction of Nigeria’s stock market this week, according to analysts’ views collated by INVESTOR. While interim dividend suppor ts the buy side, the resumption of FX sales provides foreign investors a long-waited opportunity to sell their stakes and limit exposure in Nigeria stocks.

Despite pockets of profit taking activities last week, Nigeria’s listed stocks still booked over N155billion gain amid renewed interest in the bourse.

The gains were supported by activities of investors who bought some of the banking stocks to qualify for their interim dividends as proposed by the lenders in their recently published half-year (H1) financials.

Meristem research analysts anticipate lingering positive sentiment following the release of half-year (H1) results from most Tier 1 banks (including GTBank,

Access, Zenith Bank and UBA).

“We also expect corporate actions to be top of mind for most investors as they take position ahead of declared dividend payments announced in the

previous week”, said Meristem research analysts.

“In addition, we envisage that the elevated system liquidity following the maturities in the fixed income space, and a dearth

of attractive alternative investment options would influence market direction this week”, Meristem stated.

Un i t e d Cap i t a l Re s e a rc h said, “We expect to see some

profit-taking given the bullish performance seen across the b o a rd l a s t w e e k . A l s o, t h e resumption of FX sales at the I&E window might provide previously locked-in foreign investors the long-waited opportunity to exit their stakes or limit exposure to Nigerian equities”.

“With the consecutive gains recorded last week, we expect the market to trade mixed this week, with continued bargain hunting in some counters and profit taking in others”, according to Vetiva research analysts .

“We expect the overall market performance to be positive this week as more investors position to benefit from the interim dividend declared by some bellwethers”, said GTI Securities in its September 7 note to investor.

“While we expect the soft gains in the domestic market to be sustained, we note that investors are likely to pocket gains. Also, the resumption of FX sales could provide foreign investors a longwaited opportunity to sell their stakes and limit exposure. Thus, we anticipate a mixed performance this week”, Afrinvest Research analysts said.

Domestic investors account for 61.04% of N1.10trn equities deals in 7 months

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ut of N1.106trillion w o r t h o f Ni g e r i a n equities exchanged on the Bourse in seven months to July 2020, domestic investors accounted for 61.04percent or N675.55billion, while their foreign counterparts accounted for 38.96percent or N431.22billion, report on domestic and foreign portfolio participation in equity trading shows.

Though the value of equities exchanged in the seven months to July 2020 represents a decline from N1.201trillion in same period of 2019.

In the period under review, domestic retail investors exchanged N318.95billion worth stocks while domestic institutional investors accounted

for N356.60billion. The market saw N143.65billion foreign inflow as against N287.5billion foreign outflow.

O n a monthly basis, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) polls trading figures from market operators on their domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment ( F P I ) f l ow s. A s at Ju l y 3 1 ,

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2020, total transactions at the nation’s bourse decreased by 19.92percent from N128.88billion (about $333.25million) in June 2020 to N103.21billion (about $265.55million) in July 2020.

T h e p e r f o r ma n c e o f t h e review month when compared to the performance in July 2019 (N113.47billion) revealed that

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total transactions decreased by 9.04percent. In July 2020, the total value of transactions executed by Domestic Investors outperformed transactions executed by Foreign Investors by circa 32percent.

Total domestic transactions decreased by 5.40percent from N72.54billion in June to N68.62billion in July 2020.

However, total foreign transactions declined sharply by 38.60percent from N56.34 billion (about $90.89million) to N34.59 billion (about $89million) between June and July 2020.

Institutional Investors outperformed Retail Investors by 6percent. A comparison of domestic transactions in the current and prior month (June 2020) revealed that retail transactions increased @Businessdayng

marginally by 0.62percent from N32.34 billion in June 2020 to N32.54 billion in July 2020; while the institutional composition of the domestic market decreased by 10.25percent from N40.20 billion in June 2020 to N36.08 billion in July 2020. Over a thirteen (13) year period, domestic transactions decreased by 72.30percent from N3.556trillion in 2007 to N985billion in 2019 while foreign transactions increased by 53.08percent from N616billion to N943billion over the same period.

Total domestic transactions accounted for about 51percent of the total transactions carried out in 2019, while foreign transactions accounted for about 49percent of the total transactions in the same period.

Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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BUSINESS TRAVEL Sluggish improvement in air passenger demand continues in July Stories by IFEOMA OKEKE

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he International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that passenger demand in July (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs), continued at critically low levels--79.8 percent below July 2019 levels.

This was somewhat better than the 86.6 percent year-over-year decline recorded in June, primarily driven by domestic markets, most notably Russia and China. Market reopening in the Schengen Area helped to boost international demand in Europe, but other international markets showed little change from June. Capacity was 70.1 percent below 2019 levels and load factor sagged to a record low for July, at 57.9 percent.

“The crisis in demand continued with little respite in July. With essentially four in five air travellers staying home, the industry remains largely paralyzed. Governments reopening and then closing borders or removing and then re-imposing quarantines does not give many consumers confidence to make travel plans, nor airlines to rebuild schedules,” Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO said.

July international passenger demand collapsed 91.9 percent compared to July 2019, a slight improve-

ICPC inaugurates FAAN anticorruption and transparency unit members

ment over the 96.8 percent decline recorded in June. Capacity plummeted 85.2 percent, and load factor sank 38.9 percentage points to 46.4 percent.

European carriers’ July demand toppled 87.1 percent compared to last year, improved from a 96.7 percent drop in June, year-over-year, reflecting relaxation of travel restrictions in the Schengen Area. Capacity dropped 79.2 percent and load factor fell by 33.8 percentage points to 55.1 percent. Asia-Pacific airlines’ July traffic dived 96.5 percent compared to the year-ago period, virtually unchanged from a 97.1 percent drop in June,

and the steepest contraction among regions. Capacity fell 91.7 percent and load factor shrank 47.3 percentage points to 35.3 percent.

Middle Eastern airlines posted a 93.3 percent traffic decline for July, compared with a 96.1 percent demand drop in June. Capacity tumbled 85.6 percent, and load factor sank 43.4 percentage points to 38.0 percent.

North American carriers saw a 94.5 percent traffic decline in July, a slight uptick from a 97.1 percent decline in June. Capacity fell 86.1 percent, and load factor dropped 53.0 percentage points to 35.0 percent,

second lowest among regions.

Latin American airlines experienced a 95.0 percent demand drop in July, compared to the same month last year, versus a 96.6 percent drop in June. Capacity fell 92.6 percent and load factor sank 27.1 percentage points to 58.4 percent, highest among the regions.

African airlines’ traffic dropped 94.6 percent in July, somewhat improved from a 97.8 percent contraction in June. Capacity contracted 84.6 percent, and load factor fell 47.1 percentage points to 25.4 percent, which was the lowest among regions.

he Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) has inaugurated members of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU).

At an inauguration/induction ceremony held at the Conference Center of Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Rabiu Yadudu, the Managing Director of FAAN, stated that corruption constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to national security and socio-economic development of Nigeria.

Commending the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari led administration at curbing the menace of corruption and its attendant effects in Nigeria, Yadudu emphasised that FAAN as an organization under the Federal Ministry of Aviation have taken steps in ensuring the implementation of various anti-corruption measures one of which is the ACTU that is being inaugurated.

Assuring the Chairman ICPC of Management’s commitment towards the success of the Unit, he charged members of the Unit to be of exemplary conduct and maintain personal integrity at all times in the discharge of their duties.

Five ways Delta is keeping lavatories safe and clean for passengers

Ethiopian Airline expands Bole International Airport, unveils new aviation infrastructure

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leanliness across travel and particularly in airplane lavatories is of utmost importance, especially in the COVID-19 era, but Delta customers can rest easy.

“Over the past few months, our customer satisfaction scores have skyrocketed by double digits, including those for onboard lavatory cleanliness,” Bill Lentsch, Chief Customer Experience Officer said. “But that’s not stopping us from going even further to make sure customers feel safe and comfortable when they travel with Delta.”

Here are five ways we are keeping lavatories – and the rest of your onboard experience – safe, clean and comfortable on every flight, with even more enhancements to come: Hand sanitizer stations are coming to your flight soon: Delta will become the first U.S. airline where customers can find hand sanitizer stations near the boarding door and bathrooms on every Delta aircraft.

Now, you’ll truly never be more than a few feet away from hand sanitizer, with stations available from curb to claim.

Depending on the size of the aircraft and the number of customers, each Delta aircraft will have up to five hand sanitizer stations. Installations begin on Aug. 28 with the Boeing

757-200 fleet.

Flight attendants are wiping down high-touch surfaces in lavatories frequently during each flight: While in the air, flight attendants regularly make sure lavatories are clean, tidy, fully stocked with supplies and ready for customers. Using kits that include disinfectant spray, wipes and gloves, flight attendants ensure the thorough sanitization completed prior to boarding stays fresh.

Look out for hands-free features already in many lavatories: Bathrooms on Delta’s A350s, A330900neos, 767-400s and 757-200s already have some hands-free features such as touchless faucets, flush levers and waste lids. As we continue to look for more ways to reduce touch

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points, we’ll be exploring how we can bring touchless features forward throughout the travel experience.

Hand-washing reminders will be in each lavatory: Already installed on more than 130 planes, all aircraft bathrooms will soon feature handwashing reminders.

Delta continues to use electrostatic sprayers before every flight, every day: Every interior surface is thoroughly sanitized prior to boarding using electrostatic sprayers. Following this process, cleaning crews complete an extensive checklist of cleaning procedures using this same high-grade disinfectant to wipe down personal and common areas of the cabin – including lavatories.

Delta’s employees then perform spot

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checks throughout the aircraft and if it doesn’t meet their high standards before you board, our teams are encouraged to hold the flight to call back the cleaning crew.

The new hand sanitizer stations were designed in partnership with Delta Flight Products – the airline’s innovative industrial manufacturing subsidiary that quickly shifted its capabilities earlier in the year to focus on responding to the pandemic.

In June, Delta and Delta Flight Products teams went to work to find ways to make hand sanitizer accessible and available on board.

Delta’s new Global Cleanliness Division is working with teams across the airline and with partners to advance safety and cleanliness throughout travel.

Building on Delta’s already robust onboard cleanliness efforts as part of the Delta CareStandard, these new, industry-leading cleanliness features create a safer, more comfortable onboard experience for customers and employees alike.

From blocking middle seats into January 2021 to changing high-grade HEPA air filters twice as often as recommended, the airline is constantly updating best practices and improving the new standard of care based on expert medical advice and the feedback of customers. @Businessdayng

thiopian Airlines Group has announced that it has successfully completed a new passenger terminal at its hub Addis Ababa Bole International Airport with emphasis on BioSecurity and BioSafety measures.

The new terminal has a check-in hall with sixty check-in counters, thirty self-check-in kiosks, ten selfbag drop/SBD/, sixteen immigration counters with more e-gate provisions, sixteen central security screening areas for departing passengers are the new faces of the airport.

In addition, it has three contact gates for wide body aircraft along with ten remote contact gates with people mover – travellator, escalator, and panoramic lifts.

It will house thirty-two arrival immigration counters with eight e-gate provisions at the mezzanine floor level.

Regarding the expanded infrastructure, Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines remarked, “I am very pleased to witness the realization of a brand-new terminal at our Hub. While Addis Ababa Bole International Airport has overtaken Dubai to become the largest gateway to Africa last year, the new terminal will play a key role in cementing that position. What makes the new terminal unique is that it’s the first terminal in the world to be completed after Covid-19.

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Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

Garden City Business Digest $35bn investment coming to Rivers in next 5 years – Rivers Entrepreneurs and Investors Forum Ignatius Chukwu

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nvestors in Rivers State hint that about $35Bn worth of investments are headed to the state in the next five years.

The president of the Rivers Entrepreneurs and Investors Forum (REIF), Ibifiri Bobmanuel, who dropped the hint in an exclusive interview in Port Harcourt recently, said there is need for the state government, the investors and the citizens to adopt proactive attitudes that would facilitate the investments and habour them as they come.

Bobmanuel said a look at the strategic fact on ground would reveal that the state is actually on upswing. “Train 7 ($10Bn), Bonny.Bodo Road

by Julius Berger; Bonny Deep Sea Port at the stage of ground breaking; Finima Dry Dock at the verge; etc. If you put all this investments together, you have about $35Bn in the next five years streaming into Rivers State.

You cannot wish such an investment away. It shows you that what is being done is done well, but more can be done.”

Ibifiri Bobmanuel

On job opportunities, he said this would be talking about 200,000 jobs; and that it is a good place to start with.

What the state should do The problem is how to midwife this process. We as a people should look at important issues and not the euphoria. These are investments that have private sector initiatives, either fully embarked upon or by PPP with the private sector. Even factor what the state government is doing such as in infrastructural facilities, you will come to a conclusion

that the prospects in Port Harcourt are very high in the short while.

He went on: For us to get to benefit from this whole spin-off, we must work hard from all angles to sell out the right narrative. These investments have their own attractions; such as the dry dock, the deep sea port, etc.

If you do not put out the right narrative, you will not attract the fallouts.

The Train 7 today is important. We at the REIF are hearing funny things about the engineering works to

be done elsewhere. We are investigating this; You ask yourself, why would they have to even do this? It hit us in the face. You have a consortium made up of Daewoo, Shrouda and Daewoo.

If they sat down to make such decision, they should have known that the REIF would kick against it vehemently. Knowing the high level of professionalism in the NLNG, we do not think the NLNG would succumb to such. They know what is acceptable and what is not.

We trust them to do what is right.

We would put our feet down to say, look, in as much as we have this volume of investment trickling into the state, we must be on our toes and ensure that nothing goes wrong. If this is done outside Rivers and just brought down to Rivers, it means the project is not here. That would be another way of under developing this place.

We in REIF usually looks at a matter deeply and properly before taking any action.

We usually set up a committee to investigate very grievous matters and when the reports come out, we usually know what to do. We usually would sensitise the people

and the state government so they would understand that it is no longer business as usual.

With the advent of REIF, it has never been business as usual. All those investment and business meant for not just Rivers but Niger Delta but taken outside the region would not work. It worked in the past when we were not well constituted to look at the investments for what there were. Now, we have a body like REIf with the mandate to drive the local economy. We as a people must call a spade and call those state and corporate actors to book.

New lease of life: Look, we are experiencing a new lease of life in Rivers State and the Niger Delta because we think a lot of things have changed.

We feel its within our right to decide where businesses should be domiciled. We all cannot live in Lagos. Some of us have investments and office in Lagos but we all cannot live in Lagos. There must be reason for us to disperse in different parts of Nigeria.

A whole lot of us are sticking together because we think Rivers State is a good

place to do business. You cannot sabotage that by taking businesses meant for Rivers to other regions of Nigeria. Each time we conclude investigations, we usually say if such a project must be carried on, it has to be in the proper way.

These projects have positives and negatives. The positives include jobs, expression of interests, execution of the projects, etc. the negative far outstrips the positive especially the environmental point of view, it’s a lot.

Degradation alone is huge.

So, you cannot take away the good part and leave us with the negative. We know both the federal and state governments would frown at this, and even the international community we are deeply affiliated with would frown at any time projects meant for the region are taken out. Any time our investigations find out it is going to be diverted, that project would really be in danger.

Some of us may not have direct interest in Train 7 or some other projects because we are diversified but that does not mean that we would turn our eyes off when we see a huge infringement.

It does not work that way.

Port Harcourt: Victory after just one brief meeting Port Harcourt

by Boat

IGNATIUS CHUKWU

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he Rivers State Government (RSG) and the Organised Labour or Labour Movement in the state have just called a truce, thus staving off a strike action that ought to start the next.

Violence was much on the card. Little cheers for this because it was avoidable.

Labour Congress led in the state by Beatrice Itubo had consistently accused the Nyesom Wike administration of refusing to discuss or tell Labour how it arrived at the minimum wage calculations. This dispute began since January 2020 when the implementation of the year’s budget containing the wages began. Instead, the government moved with sledge hammer, first by sealing the Labour House it built for workers and next by stopping the remittance of check-off dues to labour so as to cripple their finances.

On the other hand, insiders in government accused Labour of refusing to exploit informal contacts to reach the governor and get problems solved. They said threat does not work.

At the background of it all may be the suspicion that the Itubo-led NLC is pro-APC. Nobody has presented facts to this but every statement made by Itubo is read in politics.

Now, as both sides crawled to sword lines, they suddenly realized there was something called dialogue. The violent-sounding opponents suddenly found space in the council hall of the Government House, sat down, and pronto, reached agreements on almost all the sore points. Thereafter, they called of the strike and the expected dangers behind it.

In all strike actions, hidden interest groups usually line up behind the strikers.

Often, if the strike is called off, these forces get disappointed. You will hear them pressing Labour not to concede anything but to press on to total victory that may humiliate the government.

In labour matters, nobody wins everything and not winning everything cannot be used to insult any side. We must realise that it was demand for proper minimum wage that started this problem. The concessions they have won are a strong point.

This crisis began in January when labour craed for dialogue but govt seemed felt insulted. Labour issued threat, government fumed. Labour declared strike in March,

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2020, the RSG declared war, COVID separated the fight.

Labour returned to warpath after the lockdown was called off, RSG welcomed it, no negotiation. Labour declared strike, RSG chose to go to court, as if Court has ever stopped any strike. Government unleashed their youth supporters instead of releasing mediators.

Deadlines were issued, tension grew. Now, at the point of crossing the swords, government suddenly sat down for dialogue, strange?

Worthy of note is the fact that the NLC boss is from Bauchi, Gov Wike went to Bauchi at the weekend, any connection? If so, why would Rivers issue be discussed in Bauchi?

Is it not evident that no single mediation

Beatrice Itubo

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mechanism or platform remains active in Rivers State anymore, that also being the reason why every single matter in the state escalates to high heavens?

Now, did court help? Could this send a lesson to the Governor that court is not everything? Also, government supporters shouted that labour was being sponsored by the APC. Now that both parties sat down for once and peace returned, what happens to the allegation? Has the sponsorship expired or has PDP taken over the sponsorship?

Why was promotion demand forgotten, are there no workers anxiously waiting for it? Why is there no timeframe given for the actions agreed?

The only strange thing is; why did the RSG easily surrender on these points, why then did it apply such high level of high-handedness all this while and shut all negotiations?

Finally, we agree that issue of promotions should at least be mentioned for further dialogue, but that is not enough for Labour to refuse to call off the strike.

Finally, when was the invitation for meeting tabled? Was it reason for their visit to PH or did their songs at the airport scare the government to plead for a meeting? If a meeting was on the card all along, why were both parties charging and grandstanding like WWW wrestlers, only to suspend the fight? Whatever the case, its good to see peace again.

Welcome, dear Peace! Goodbye, ugly Tension.

@Businessdayng

Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Here’s why 54gene is betting big on precision medicine in Africa FRANK ELEANYA

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deal with Illumina, a global medi c a l re s e a rc h o rga n i s at i o n , over the week to expand sequencing-based research and molecular diagnostics capabilities, is the latest indication 54gene is placing a long-bet on precision medicine in Nigeria and Africa.

54gene is arguably one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Nigeria, closing an impressive amount of funding in a field of medicine that until now was relatively unknown to Nigerians.

Within six months of its establishment, 54gene secured $15 million. Barely one year it was founded, the company has amassed $19.5 million in total funding according to Crunchbase.

54gene’s ambition is to deepen the practice of precision medicine also known as personalised medicine, a new frontier for healthcare genomics, big data analytics, and population health.

“The addition of Illumina’s cutting-edge technology to our research and diagnostic capabilities is a critical step for 54gene in fulfilling our mission of equalizing precision medicine. This is part of our wider commitment to building capacity and infrastructure in Africa which will allow us to significantly expand genomics research, while also improving health outcomes on the continent,” Abasi Ene-Obong, CEO of 54gene said of the partnership with Illumina.

Ene-Obong founded

54gene in 2019 alongside his friends Damilola Oni, Gatumi Aliyu, and Ogochukwu Francis Osifo.

The partnership with Illumina provides support for the establishment of a new genetics facility in Lagos, Nigeria, equipped with a suite of Illumina’s sequencing and high-density microarray technology platforms, which will generate genetic information for health research and drug development.

What is precision medicine?

The Precision Medicine Initiative defines it as an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person.

Essentially, precision medicine allows doctors and

researchers to predict more accurately which treatment and prevention strategies for a particular disease will work in which groups of people.

It is one of the most promising approaches to tackling diseases that have thus far eluded effective treatments or cures. Cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and rare genetic conditions take an enormous toll on individuals, families and societies as a whole.

The Nigeria healthcare system has been adversely impacted by widespread incidences of medical misdiagnosis or inaccurate diagnosis. Many Nigerians have had bad experiences in the hands of doctors who misdiagnosed their ailments and went on to prescribe the wrong drugs and the wrong treatment. Not many of these patients lived to tell

their stories In October 2019, the Nigerian medical council said it was investigating 120 doctors for various professional misconduct, while 60 others were awaiting trial at a tribunal.

Earlier in March 2019, Ebun Anozie, executive director of Care Organisation Public Enlightenment (COPE), told the Vanguard Newspaper that 70 percent of cancer patients are misdiagnosed.

54gene’s ambition 54gene sees precision medicine as a continent-wide challenge, this is why its name reflects the 54 countries in Africa. The company plans to build the largest biobank on the continent.

A biobank is a type of biorepository that stores biological samples (usually human)

for use in research. Biobanks have become an important resource in medical research, supporting many types of contemporary research like genomics and personalized medicine.

Africa contains more genetic diversity than any other continent because the African genome is the oldest human genome. Yet it is estimated that fewer than 3 percent of the genomes analysed come from Africans, making it a potentially rich source of new genetic information for health and drug discovery research, which 54gene intends to leverage as a global research resource while ensuring Africans benefit from medical innovations.

In line with that ambition, it launched in January, a study to sequence and analyse the genomes of 100,000 Nigerians. That effort was still ongoing when the COVID-19 struck and forced 54gene to enlist in the fight to stop the virus from spreading. It could have also been a blessing in disguise as it gifted the company an opportunity to test a wider number of Nigerians.

54gene, along with a number of key stakeholders raised $500,000 to support testing efforts across the country. The money was used to purchase and deliver vital molecular testing instruments to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other public laboratories in Nigeria.

These included items such as multiple high throughputs and low throughput PCR machines, automated RNA extractors, magnetic racks, heating blocks, microcentrifuges, vortexes, laptops, and

other items.

With the COVID-19 efforts winding down and isolation centres getting closed, 54gene appears to be back on track with its ambition, hence the partnership with Illumina.

Although 54gene would not reveal how much it will cost to set up the genetics facility, BusinessDay’s research finds that the cost of human genome sequencing could go as much as $1000 for one person. But 54gene said having a local facility could reduce the cost of genetics testing.

“Our new facility will enable our team of molecular scientists to genotype, sequence, and analyze our samples without the need to send them overseas. The facility will also enable us to make advanced molecular diagnostics more accessible to the African region. Having local infrastructure will greatly reduce costs and turnaround time for test results,” 54gene told BusinessDay. Through the partnership, African samples stored in 54gene’s de-identified Biobank will be genotyped, sequenced, and analysed without the need to send samples overseas.

“It is incredibly important to ensure equitable access to genomic sequencing technology across the world so that genomes can be interpreted in the context of global diversity,” Paula Dowdy, SVP, General Manager EMEA, Illumina said.

“Through partnerships such as this with 54gene, we aim to remove barriers of access to sequencing and expand the benefits of genomics to as many people as possible.”

Internet Solutions gets new name, appoints country manager for Nigeria FRANK ELEANYA

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nternet Solutions, an integrated IT solutions provider, now has a new name Dimension Data as part of a corporate rebrand effort that will also see Olugbenga Olabiyi assume the role of country manager for its Nigerian unit.

In a statement BusinessDay received, the company said the rebrand is to enable

the company to consolidate its businesses, enhance efficiency, and better deliver the changing technology needs of its clients in Nigeria.

The new name is to also refocus the company to sustain its product and service delivery in an evolving industry. The COVID-19 pandemic not only impacted the revenue of many companies, but it also changed the way businesses carry out their operations, with greater em-

phasis now levied on technology adoption.

As part of the name change, Dimension Data will be reoganised around five go-to-market segments including intelligence infrastr ucture; intelligent workplace and customer experience; intelligent business applications; intelligent innovation; and intelligent cybersecurity.

“We are happy to have received the government’s

approval allowing us to rebrand and operate as Dimension Data,” Olabiyi, the newly appointed country manager for Nigeria said. “Our vision is to be a partner of choice for businesses; delivering innovative, game-changing technology and solutions not only in Nigeria but in the Middle East and Africa.”

As part of the rebrand Richard Hechle, former managing director of Internet Solutions will now be head-

ing the group’s consolidated business in East and West Africa.

“Bringing all our people and operating companies together will allow us to effectively and efficiently execute our go-to-market strategy and enable our clients’ success in a digital-first world,” Hechle said. “This digital-first world is characterised by technologies that are converging to deliver unified, hybrid and holistic

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solutions for real business impact.”

He also said the company’s biggest value-creation model will be based on the way it collaborates with clients. Hence, the more Dimension Data focuses on seamless client experiences, the more focused it becomes on delivering solutions that work.

“We believe that when we understand our clients’ needs, we deliver better solutions,” he said.

Thursday 10 September 2020

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Corporate Social Impact

Onuwa Lucky Joseph Editor, (08023314782)

Nigeria’s Sustainability Does Require Some Work ONUWA LUCKY JOSEPH

T

he term sustainability tends to throw people off nowadays seeing as it has assumed an exclusively academic toga and therefore requiring diligent research to unearth its meaning and practice.

To be sure, there is a solid academic aspect to the term, which was what enabled its popularity in the public imagination. And this is usually with regards to man’s interaction with the environment and his ability to replenish as quickly as he takes. Is man lopping off more than he needs, chopping down massive acreages of forests in the Amazon, in the Congo Basin, and distorting the coral reefs of the world’s oceans? Is there an imbalance in the ecosystem such that the components that mediated the planet’s wholeness are being destroyed at such an alarming rate that it’s now far more difficult for them to reproduce themselves?

Is there a crazy level of CO2 emissions leading to an ever widening hole in the ozone layer that then makes the sun more poison, fierier than its traditional role as our planet’s major source of warmth and life? And what’s with the plastics which have found their way into the ocean in increasing quantities as micro granules are ingested by fish and other life forms in the oceans? The fear is that plastics, being indigestible are likely to alter the genetic map of the lives there, and man being the apex predator, those same plastics undetectable to the ordinary eyes could find their way into our body system and maybe alter a thing or two, leaving today’s indifferent man maybe an altogether different being.

The burgeoning field of sustainability is teeming with folks involved in tackling, crusading against and trying to manage the situation so our world as we know it stays replenished rather than depleted. The irony is that the sustainability quest was brought about in the first place by man’s pursuit of better living conditions.

It’s ironic that man’s quest for a living upgrade is ending up degrading the very environment that his children will inhabit someday.

Don’t we all recall that classic and oft quoted definition/ description of sustainability?

“Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. So to the point! That’s why the UN Sustainability Goals are about today but more importantly about tomorrow, because our careful husbanding of today’s resources is what guarantees any future worth looking forward to.

And that is why it is needful that we defrock the word of its assumed academic toga every once in a while so that we can see its applicability in our everyday lives. The 17 UN SDG Goals help to bring that home. And so, how

President Muhammadu Buhari with Goodluck Jonathan

Olusegun Obasanjo

does it all apply to Nigeria?

For Nigerians who grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s thinking that in a few years they would have the world at their feet, it’s been a case of degradation, frustration and yet more degradation. Although, to be fair, the graph did experience some bump upwards before another tragic slide.

Nigeria experienced a steep economic decline in the 1980s, beginning under Alhaji Shehu Shagari, who, seeing no way out, chased the Ghanaians out believing their presence here was responsible for shortening the Nigerian’s ration. Major General Muhamadu Buhari’s intervention via a coup in 1983 did little to right the boat. It was careening further downhill when General Ibrahim Babangida stepped in and ubiquitously deployed his supposed magic wand which worked no wonder in all of eight years. His Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) weaponised poverty via the devaluation of the Naira and subsequent hyperinflation. It then fell to Sani Abacha (Let’s not talk about the Interim Govt: a clear waste of everybody’s time); who held forte and successfully made of Nigeria a pariah country. We became a ‘landlocked state’ as sanctions hit us from everywhere, but Abacha would not budge. He actually would have become a civilian president as he empowered Youths Earnestly Ask for Abacha (YEAA) for the 2Miliion Man March that was supposed to validate the ‘public yearning’ for his transmutation.

This piece rather than being a history lesson is just a quick scan of what we’ve been through as a nation. So, yes, we’ll miss out on details. Abacha’s untimely but ‘welcome’ demise, as corroborated by the wild celebrations that spontaneously broke out on the streets all over Nigeria at the news of his death, saw near asphyxiated Nigerians dancing the freedom dance in the streets.

Olusegun Obasanjo, give him credit, did some wonderful things with the Nigerian economy especially in his second term. Prior to his presidency, Nigerians were

Excess Crude Account (ECA) created by the OBJ administration.

When the Sovereign Wealth Fund was created under Jonathan, the 36 state governors were up in arms declaring it as illegal. For them, we had to chop everything that accrued to the national till. The middle class was in full bloom, Nigerians were returning from the West to resettle in the country seeing as the country’s trajectory looked all positive.

How does this historical flight figure in our discussion on sustainability? Because, essentially, nations are about sustainability.

And it’s the effort of government and the citizenry that helps bring this about. The right policies go a long way. Implementation of those policies helps everyone breathe easier and reduces tension. No country can survive that is not secure; where banditry, armed robbery, kidnapping, etc., become the norm, and where citizen engagement is disregarded despite howls regarding infrastructure decay on the roads, in our schools, hospitals, water supply, etc.

The business of keeping Nigeria together and ensuring its competitiveness should be a serious one, particularly when cries of marginalization are emanating from everywhere. The Federal Government needs to work towards bringing everyone under a big tent that has them covered from the stress faced daily in the country and outside the country. Citizens should be proud of

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nothing but a poor and impoverished people, the middle class having been totally decimated.

He committed to rebuilding the middle class via his economic reforms which, in his second term, had liquidation of Nigeria’s external debts as a major goal.

This was ticked off with the stellar economic management team that had Atiku Abubakar, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Charles Soludo, Oby Ezekwesili, Nasir El-Rufai, and others working to achieve it.

And for whatever it was worth, the Oputa Panel, headed by the late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, which was about checking for human rights violations from 1966 – 1999, gave citizens ample opportunity to air their grievances and for old foes to make up in an atmosphere devoid of acrimony.

Ultimately, the Panel received no due government imprimatur. But it was good for letting out some of the bad air that had built up over the years. The EFFC under Nuhu Ribadu was not perfect but it was clear that ill-gotten wealth would be tracked and violators prosecuted. Federal character was important in high office allocations. Every part of the country needed to feel a sense of belonging. OBJ had his many issues, his not so democratic soldierly inflexibility abandoning its camouflage every now and then. The high profile murders and assassination, including that of a sitting Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, still unsolved, also happened under his watch.

But in the big department of nation building, or is it cobbling, for sustainability, his time in office would be a major reference for as long as Nigeria survives.

Obasanjo’s successors, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan did their bit, and despite the prevalent negative narrative, the economy was generally on course, growing year on year until 2014. According to the World Bank, the Nigerian economy grew, between 2000 and 2014, at an average rate of 7%. And it was lauded in all the economic circles around the world. Nigeria rode out the economic recession of 2008 largely on account of its savings from its

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the green passport but that’s not something that will happen for as long as we are a country that does not look out for its people.

Nigerians like to talk. And so we should be allowed the freedoms as guaranteed in the constitution, of speech, association, etc. These are fundamental rights that should not be denied citizens. A sustainable Nigeria is one that cannot keep borrowing at the rate we are borrowing, and not now with sovereign assets clearly within the crosshairs of Chinese borrowers.

More than anything else, the Nigerian Federation cannot survive with the deepening poverty which is everywhere. The label of poverty capital of the world is a despicable one. Unfortunately, we seem to be digging deeper into mire. The double whammy of tariff increase for power and PMS pricing have the potential for driving more and more people towards the edge and to a point where they would sabotage the country that has failed to guarantee any meaningful life.

Government cannot be about mowing down viewpoints from the other side. We are all invested in this country that we like to prefix ‘beloved’ and should be heard and our position respected. Without a strong sense of sustainability the people in government today will come out to the woes of the general citizenry tomorrow. A sustainable Nigeria must be about responsible development, one that increasingly leaves no one behind.

Moses Simon Delivers Boreholes to His Community

2

5 years old Moses Simon, popularly known as Daddy, who currently plays for Nantes in France as a striker has done the fatherly thing for his Obagaji Agatu Community in Benue State by drill@Businessdayng

ing three boreholes to ensure his people get clean drinking water.

Chief James Ocheche, Head of the Community said that before Simon’s intervention they were reliant on stream and rain water.

“You can see that he is a boy who wants the development of his community. May God lift him up.” And to that we say a big Amen!

(Kindly send feedback to 08023314782 / csrmomentum@gmail.com)

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Thursday 10 September 2020

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Thursday 10 September 2020

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FEATURE

Understanding the Water Resources Bill BASHIR IBRAHIM HASSAN

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e always thought that sports, notably international football, was one area in which Nigerians achieve a unity of purpose.

However, with the recourse, in recent years, to the clamour for a republic of Biafra for the Nigerian federation, the concerted support for teams representing Nigeria at international competitions has lately been waning. These days, you could hear remarks more in applause of individual members of the team than of the prospects of Nigeria coming out victorious from the encounter. These days, the anti-corruption war has come up against an even more formidable opponent named cynicism than the culprit. “You’re shouting about the N20 billion stolen by my kinsman, but what have you done about the N60 billion stolen by your people?”

Yes, nobody is willing to be shocked any longer by the sheer notion that someone dips into our common patrimony and help themselves to resources direly needed to provide badly needed infrastructure. And while we’re figuring how to confront this cynicism, another variant of dis-unity has recently reared its ugly head.

Nigeria is currently in a situation where the nation’s health is in danger of being undermined by unsafe drinking water available to millions of the nation’s population; where the agricultural system is reeling in underproduction and hunger is buffeting millions of people; and where sources of water are subjected to the levels of abuses that threaten the environment and the ecology.

What to do? The federal government, in conformity with global best practices, decided to take action to enable the citizenry get the maximum benefits of the nation’s water resources and potential. However, what we have seen can be likened to a dam that has overflown its bank.

“The controversy is needless and purely a political mischief,” fumes Suleiman Hussaini Adamu, a seasoned engineer, Fellow Nigerian Academy of Engineering and Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources. He is baffled by the controversy and hot air.

Mr. Adamu says the water resources bill has been turned upside down. “I am so shocked about what people are saying.

If I show you that the Water Resources Act 2004 and the new

Aliyu Bahago Ahman-Pategi

Suleiman H. Adamu, Minister for Water Resources

water resource bill, 90 percent of what is in this Act is what is in the bill, the only reason why we are bringing this law is that we have four laws under the water sector which we want to consolidate into one statute”.

On 10 July 2017, the House of Representatives passed for second reading “A Bill for an Act to Establish a Regulatory Framework for the Water Resources Sector in Nigeria.” The legislation, which originated from the Executive, was up for debate in November 2017 during plenary when the then Majority leader of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila led the debate on the general principles of the Water Resources Bill.

He stated that the Bill sought, among other things, to provide for the equitable and sustainable development, management, use and conservation of Nigeria’s Surface Water and Groundwater Resources and for Related Matters. He added that passing the Bill would effectively unbundle the Water Resources sector to be better positioned to create economic gains to the nation. The chairman, House Committee on Water Resources, Hon. Aliyu Pategi Ahman further revealed other components of the Bill including the Water Resources Institute Act that saddles Institute with the responsibility of research and development as it relates to Water Resources.

If it is ratified by the Senate and accented to by the Presiwww.businessday.ng

dent, the bill will be “the best thing to happen to the water resources sector, with a proper and effective regulatory framework in the best interests of all Nigerians,” says Mr. Adamu.

That obviously entitles the young, brilliant and dynamic Minister to commendation, rather than condemnation by all Nigerians for taking the “bull by its horns”.

And the man has several authorities, in the forms of Acts of the nation’s parliament, to justify his actions – notably the Water Resources Act 2004, the River Basin Development Authorities Act and the Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency Act. The process for the enactment of the controversial bill started in 2006, with support from the EU. Its final draft was finished in 2008; whereupon it has been presented to stakeholders at meeting in all the six political zones.

“When I came into office,” recalls the minister, “we brought together all the experts in the sector, and the people that have set up the vision of the water resource ministry, and every one of them was saying we cannot make progress in the sector if we do not pass the bill.

So the Ministry of Water Resources took the bill to the Federal Executive Council and it was approved in September 2016.

Then we took it to the Federal Ministry of Justice, which vetted everything and gave it back to the ministry, which then submitted

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it to the National Assembly.

The House passed. That’s where the uproar started, following a question by then Senator Godswill Akpabio from Akwa Ibom State, who is now the Minister of the Niger Delta.

Nigeria has remained divided on the bill, North versus South, Muslim versus Christian.

“I was shocked because it has passed several hands without any issue,” the Minister says with deep concern. “Suddenly it’s about Fulani herdsmen, Ruga… that they want to take the banks of rivers. With the kind of people that were talking, it was so unbelievable.”

Not helping matters, some say its about inland water ways for a bill about water resources, while inland water ways is about navigation.

My concern is that the controversy has the potential to impair a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to provide a broad framework to harness our natural resources for the benefit of the greater majority of our population.

And, given the ethnic, religious and political emotions the issue has excited, you wonder how many of these disputants have even read the bill! And you wonder if people aren’t just seizing another opportunity to heat the polity unneccessarily.

Really, about the only other thing in that bill is the concept of integrated water resources management. Integrated water Resources management means that whatever water resource development that you are working on, you must take account of issues of land degradation and must ensure there is harmony between land use and water use to protect the land for future generations. What is wrong with that?

People must also appreciate the accountability elements in the Act. While previously Minister of Water Resources could issue water license to anybody, this will be impossible under the proposed law. The regulators at the integrated water resources management commission will have those powers. And the commission will have different catchment committees to carry out its regulatory functions.

For example, if you want to build a dam in an area, the catchment committee will set up a town hall meeting, the people will sit down and debate; the person bringing the development must defend it and, of course, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report must be there, and if there will be any adverse effect, the proposed developers provide remediating measures and agree with members of @Businessdayng

the catchment areas before the project can be allowed to commence.

In addition to deference to community concerns and sensibilities, the Act contains provisions for regulation of boreholes, with the states vested with the powers to provide guidelines.

These guidelines will enable states monitor the activities of factories, notably breweries, beverage bottlers and mining companies, in terms of extraction and disposal of industrial waste and effluent.

Critics of the Act, particularly from the southern states, also need to step back and understand that most of the major water sources in this country, except from the south west, are from rivers Niger and Benue or from Jos-Plateau or the Mambilla highlands, which are all in the northern parts of the country. In the South-South most of the rivers in the Obudu, Calabara and Akwa-Ibom areas are from the extension of Mambilla highlands River Niger flows to the other parts of the country from Kebbi state, while River Benue is from Cameroon mountains. If there is no national law to regulate them, Kebbi state can decide to build dams on river Niger; Adamawa can decide to build dams on the Benue and cut everyone else off. Then, what happens to the Niger Delta?

If federal highways are not controlled by the states but the federal government, why should it not be the same principle with rivers? Unknown to many of those making the noise, they are the ones who will be mostly protected by the Act. It’s quite unfortunate that, despite extensive and determined efforts to explain these facts, an unnecessary controversy has erupted over the simple case of delegating powers previously exercised by the Minister to the integrated water resources management commission under the water resources Act 2004. People should be more excited by the existence of an independent regulator, the increased prospects of private sector investment in water delivery through running of water works, introduction of metered billing and other efficiency devices.

It needs to be highlighted that the federal government is investing $495 million to reactivate the nation’s irrigation system under the TRIMING project.

But the Federal Ministry of Water Resources needs to be allowed to address pertinent issues and nomenclatures that offend the sensibilities of different groups so that consensus can be quickly around the Act.

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news Obaseki trumps Ize-Iyamu 57% to 40%, emerges winner in Channels TV preferred debaters’ poll … poll result gives insight into election outcome - Osagie

IDRIS MOMOH

E

do State governor and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in this month’s governorship election in the state, Godwin Obaseki, on Tuesday trumped candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osagie Ize-Iyamu, by well over 17 points in an online poll conducted by multiple award-winning broadcasting station, Channels Television, in partnership with Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room.

Obaseki scored 57.73 percent compared to IzeIyamu’s 40.07 percent.

The poll, according to the organisers, was put together to enable the general public select their preferred gubernatorial candidates that will feature in the station’s forthcoming debate programme.

Members of the public were asked to vote for the gubernatorial candidates of their choice from among the 14 listed, including Godwin Obaseki, PDP; Osagie IzeIyamu, APC; Jones Osagiobare, YPP; Lucky Osagie Idehen, APGA; Felix Obayangbon, SDP, and nine others.

The poll, which lasted over three hours, saw the APC candidate, Ize-Iyamu, in an early lead, only to be trounced by Obaseki, the PDP candidate, who sustained the lead, 57.73 percent to 40.07 percent, till the poll closed.

Crusoe Osagie, special adviser to Edo State governor on media and communication strategy, commenting on the poll result, noted, “It reflects Governor Obaseki’s popularity and gives insight into the outcome of September 19 poll”.

GTBank eyes one of its executive directors as Agbaje’s successor

Keep up with the work, readers tell BusinessDay in face of CBN attack LOLADE AKINMURELE

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eaders of BusinessDay have been calling by telephone and sending text and mail messages of support for the ground-breaking work the newspaper is doing to hold the powerful and those in authority accountable.

It followed the response by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the story published

by BusinessDay in which the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), the leading private sector think-tank, called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign a new bill seeking to expand the powers of the government of the apex bank under the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Bill now awaiting presidential assent.

Rather than respond to the concerns raised, the CBN took to attacking the group and the newspaper for seeking to question the law.

In one of the messages to BusinessDay, a reader said, “It

will be interesting to see what the reaction from the president himself will be. The NESG letter was sent to him, not to Emefiele. Yet, it is Emefiele that is taking the NESG’s pushback as a personal affront and lashing out blindly. Speaks great volumes... and it needs to be addressed frontally. CBN is not Godwin Emefiele’s personal estate. It is a public trust and must be open AT ALL TIMES to scrutiny, questioning and enlightenment. BusinessDay should not back down on asking a CBN that is becoming an alternative government, to be accountable.”

Another BusinessDay reader said, “The points raised by NESG in its letter about which the CBN has gone wild are so, so germane that a responsible leadership would have first deeply reflected on the issues and thereafter seek to meet with NESG team to articulate a joint response to those issues in the interest of the overall economy. I am very angry that this is what we get from an important organisation like the

CBN. Power indeed corrupts.”

Yet another BusinessDay reader said he read “this belligerent response from the central bank that failed to answer genuine questions raised by concerned and committed association of businesses and who are the real engine of economic growth in Nigeria”.

“I continue to be disappointed in this CBN with their display of infallibility while there are abundance of evidence to the contrary. The leadership of CBN seems to believe that all other Nigerians should go to hell once they have ingratiated themselves to the president and his handlers,” another BusinessDay reader said.

According to yet another reader, “On a realistic basis, it is easy to see the moral hazard into which the FGN has put itself. The Government is betting heavily on CBN financing the N2.3 trillion Economic Sustainability Plan. Is this Bill payback to CBN, a case of he who pays the piper?”

“The CBN attack is the clas-

L-R: Atedo Peterside, chairman, National Steering Committee, National Development Framework; Olusola Idowu, permanent secretary, Ministry Budget and National Planning, and Clem Agba, minister state for budget and national planning, during the inaugural meeting on National Development Planning Framework for 2025, 2030, and National Agenda 2050, in Abuja. / NAN

… advances into having HoldCo structure by Q1’21

Iheanyi Nwachukwu

O

ne out of the five executive directors of Nigeria’s Tier-1 lender - GTBank plc will be selected as a successor of Segun Agbaje, the current managing director, who will be completing his maximum 10-year tenure by 2021. Agbaje said this during GTBank half-year (H1) 2020 investor earnings call session that the bank was working with a consulting firm in the United Kingdom.

“We are working with a consulting firm in the United Kingdom. We are looking at what

we think the future would hold and what we think the Nigerian banking industry would look like.

“What we are looking for now is a Managing Director for Guaranty Trust Bank Nigeria. The process has started and I have always told people that we have five Executive Directors and so all of them are going through a process at the moment,” Agbaje said, who also noted that that bank had gone far into its arrangement to have

Continues on page 31

How Bank CEOs were threatened...

Continued from page 1 CBN response was, it is now clear we have bigger issues to contend with. Earlier today, I was duly informed by three members of the board who are bank chief executives of their immediate intention to resign from the board.

It appears they were coerced into this decision by the powers that be.

“While still considering our next line of action these resignations have been published in the media. We will continue to engage with all key stakeholders in the knowledge that our duties and responsibilities to the Nation sustain.

“We must protect and uphold our institution and its integrity. In the interim, I will advise that we all stay calm. I will revert with periodic updates and as events unfold.”

An official of the NESG told our reporter that there had never been a single dispute among the board members of the NESG in all of the group’s history, none so recorded anywhere in the books of the summit.

According to him, even the statement by the NESG which has been attacked by the Governor of the CBN received unanimous support from the directors and there is no record to show that any

director had taken exception to any section of the statement in question.

In the main, directors of the NESG are invited to the board in recognition of the position they hold in their respective companies and become directors of the NESG when their predecessors who are directors of the NESG depart the seat.

The CEOs of UBA and First Bank were invited to the board when the former CEOs of their respective banks ceased being bank CEOs. The current saga began playing out after BusinessDay’s well sourced story revealed that the NESG as well as other business groups including a former governor and former deputy governor of the central bank had railed against a new bill awaiting presidential assent and which seeks to grant sweeping powers to the CBN governor.

So far, the CBN has neither responded to specific fears raised in the story about how the bill nor has the apex bank said how this controversial bill will foster Nigeria’s desperate quest for inward investment. www.businessday.ng

sic Trumpian method,” said another reader. “You attack the messenger instead of responding to the substance of the message. You guys at BusinessDay should take solace and be strengthened in what happened with the FT and Wirecard. Wirecard has now collapsed in the face of all and those in authority in Germany who mocked the FT reports can now see for themselves.

In the end, the truth will come out. Just stand in there, bullying and intimidation will work but for just only a little time.”

A senior economist with a development institution told BusinessDay he was shocked that a CBN filled with economists would issue a press statement responding to the matters raised by the NESG in such a manner.

“On the matter of ‘immunity’, even if the clause was already present in the current version of the Acts, the questions raised by NESG are valid.

Should a regulator be immune from court processes?” the economist said.

Banks pull credit lines from hard hit private schools

... as Covid-19 lockdown dries up cash-flows …Proprietors may rethink relationship with lenders Iheanyi Nwachukwu, Hope Moses-Ashike, and Kelechi Ewuzie

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ayo Ogundipe (not real name) is a private school owner.

Before Covid-19 pandemic, his office as an administrator/proprietor of a renowned private school in Lagos was an attraction point for many bankers who jostled for audience to manage the school’s various accounts.

Before now, private schools’ bank accounts were lucrative and worth hunting for because of the students school fees worth millions of naira paid every academic term (three times within a year) through the bank accounts.

Not until the Covid-19 pandemic made governments shut schools did Ogundipe realised that not all the financial institutions would be there for him in

times of need.

“Students went on vacation as schools were shut. My teachers managed to go home with just a month pay. Barely one month into the Covid-19 lockdown, I approached my bank for a short-term facility to aid payment of my teachers’ salaries at least to cushion the effect of the lockdown. I was surprised my request for the facility was not granted as my bank insisted that uncertainty over schools resumption remains a big risk,” Ogundipe said.

Reacting to BusinessDay questions on this information, a banker who prefers anonymity, said, “Banks lend against cash-flow and the decision to approve or disapprove a loan request is based on expectations and comfort about the viability of the future cashflows, against which banks lend. Without sentiment, no

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bank will want to lend against an uncertain cash-flow.”

He further stated, “While there is always an element of risk in the realisation of future cash-flows, against which a bank lends, a situation where there in absolute uncertainty on the future cash-flows of schools puts banks in difficult situation to approve loans, without clarity on resumption date.”

Incidentally, the cash-flows of schools may also be relatively weak on resumption, given the current slowdown in the economy and waning income levels, which may affect the ability of some parents to pay their wards’ fees as at when due.

“Hence, banks may have taken this hard decision to wind down exposure to schools to mitigate the already rising Non Performing Loans (NPLs) from the education and a number of other sectors, as the economy gradually emerge from the @Businessdayng

unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic,” our banking source said further.

The haste in which banks declined the request for overdrafts to school owners at this period of Covid-19 was very disheartening, Onyeka Jalobo-Ojigbo, owner of Nemvas Schools, Lagos, said.

According to Jalobo-Ojigbo, even though the banks may be acting in their own interest, “the decision to deny her and other school owners at their point of needs is really not good for business going forward.

“If my bankers cannot support me at the slightest business challenge, there is no point staying with them once things become normal again.”

Even though banks are in business to make money, “their decision to assist should be merit-based; they should look at the inflow and outflow of the schools,” she noted.

Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

31

News Outrage as CBN gives 4 foreign firms...

Continued from page 1

proval was revealed in an August 6 memo by TM Isa,

a deputy comptroller-general of Nigeria Customs Service, listing the four companies and seeking compliance by Customs men at the ports.

It is not unclear why it is not the Federal Ministry of Agriculture that is co-ordinating this and the CBN itself has not said if it consulted with key stakeholders before this selective reversal, how the four firms were selected and why the CBN did not mount a fair, transparent and welladvertised bid process for the selection of the lucky four firms that had been granted this controversial waiver.

The one-page memo written on behalf of Nigeria’s comptroller-general of Customs, was titled, “Re: Importation of maize and corn into the country,” said the move was to “meet anticipated shortfall.”

The apex bank, which had granted a total of N73.24 billion in credit to maize farmers in the last five years, sought to gain national limelight when in its July 13, 2020, memo it announced the sudden ban of the importation of maize “as part of efforts” it said, “to increase local production, stimulate a rapid economic recovery, safeguard livelihoods and increase jobs.”

Kabir Ibrahim, national president, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), called the CBN action ‘shocking and destructive.’

According to Ibrahim, “This is just coming immediately after the CBN announced that forex would not be available for anybody to import maize. So, we don’t know how this violation by the CBN will be taken by the generality of Nigerian farmers.”

Bello Dogondaji, national general secretary, Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN), said, “Any policy against importation is welcome because it means home production is encouraged. It also raises hopes of Nigerian farmers. This backtracking as demonstrated by the CBN dashes the hopes of the same farmers.”

It is believed that by October when the 262,000 metric tons of maize would have arrived Nigeria, local farmers would be concluding their maize harvests, especially in the North where the bulk of maize used by industrial consumers is produced, and this is bound to create a flood in the market and may lead to price collapse.

“Several people are disappointed that it is happening. The farmers are really disturbed that this kind of thing should happen,” Ibrahim said.

The initial announcement of forex restriction by the CBN

had been met with mixed reactions of support and opposition, with the poultry industry claiming the import restriction could lead to the collapse of the poultry sector owing to expected insufficient maize supply required for animal feed.

A CBN source told BusinessDay, “We are spending a lot by way of credit to local farmers and have no interest in seeing more imports. This was the motivation for stopping the imports ... we now expect the huge investment that has been made over the last five years to start yielding fruit.

“However, these four companies are only being allowed to complete the importation process that had started before the ban. And so far this year, 314 Forms M have been processed for maize importation alone.”

However, maize farmers on their part insist the country could produce enough to meet both human and animal feed demand, and they now say the flip-flop by the apex bank showed it did not think through the initial policy nor did it held wide consultations.

“When the pronouncement was made, I was on our radio programme and I said to farmers don’t go and plant corn on this basis of this ban for you will fail,” said African Farmer Mogaji, chairman,

Agric & Agro-Allied Group, at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), in a phone interview. “In terms of confidence, it affects a lot of players in the private sector who took the word of government to rush into the sector,” he said.

At the price of N150,000 per ton, the 262,000 tons of maize is valued at N39.3 billion and that is the sum that should have been earned by local farmers.

Ayodeji Balogun, CEO of AFEX, a leading commodity trading platform in Nigeria, had told BusinessDay in an interview when the import restriction was announced that the country could muster enough local capacity to meet consumption requirements.

He cited FAO data showing that Nigeria’s local maize production in 2018 stood at 11 million metric tons (MMT), while consumption was 11.4MMT, leaving a 400,000 ton deficit, about 4 percent.

The data, he further explained, suggest that on a monthly basis, about 950,000 tons of maize is consumed in Nigeria and if the deficit is about 400,000, statistically it means a deficit of about two to three weeks. In his analysis, this deficit often occurs in October before the new harvest comes out in November.

Emmanuel Ijewere, vice president, Nigeria Agribusiness Group, expressed the view that the situation had “brought to the consciousness of people,

the shortage and importance of maize in Nigeria,” and also thinks it would incentivise more people to now invest in it.

According to a university professor who spoke with our reporter, “The price of maize has been on the up in Nigeria. So, let us assume this waiver was intended to expand availability and stabilise price, but the way it has been handled is the cause for the disaster we have on our hands today. If the CBN had consulted widely as it should, it would have found a better way of achieving the same objective.

“But it did not and I am afraid, we are increasingly seeing dictatorial tendencies by this CBN as it seeks to impose its authority all over the place, whether it is arts and culture, aviation, agriculture, healthcare and technology.”

“When there is policy inconsistency, investors are always very afraid,” said Bolarin Omonona, an agricultural economist at the University of Ibadan, saying, “You can imagine people who were already planning to invest, for instance, based on the forex restriction that would ultimately have led to reduction in the importation of maize into the country.”

People planning to invest in it are already discouraged, Omonona said, explaining that if they had started investing by way of planning or committed (funds) to it, that would have amounted to a loss because maize would come in at a cheaper price.

Nigeria demands $1.1bn damages...

Continued from page 1

the field, which, because of disputes, has never entered into production.

Thecaseinvolvesthe2011acquisition of oil bloc prospecting licence by Eni and Shell, following the payment of $1.3 billion to the Nigerian government for the OPL 245 offshore field. However, it was alleged that about $1.1 billion of that amount ended up in the account of Malabu Oil and Gas, which was owned by a former petroleum minister, Dan Etete, and was used to pay political bribes.

According to the lawyer for the Nigerian government, Lucio Lucia, Shell and Eni’s illicit profits from the OPL 245 deal are certainly higher than the $1.1 billion they paid and the harm to Nigeria is also certainly higher.

Lucia narrated to the court how Eni and Shell took a huge reputational risk in dealing with Dan Etete, a convicted money launderer, and his company, Malabu Oil and Gas, a company whose record could not be found and who they never completed due diligence on.

“Hence there is a need to define the damages that Nigeria should therefore receive,” said Lucia, who was quoted

by Barnaby Pace, an international investigator with Global Witness. Lucia said the lack of any tender denied Nigeria the opportunity to find the value of the licence.

Nigeria’s lawyers accused the trio of former President Goodluck Jonathan, former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and former attorney general of Nigeria and minister of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke of having personal interests in the $1.3 billion deal.

Lucia outlined that Adoke and Alison Madueke were the signatories to the final contracts, but Adoke’s role was crucial as he agreed on key clauses in the contracts and pushed back on objections from civil servants at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and the Department for Petroleum

Resources (DPR).

Nigeria’s lawyers further narrated to the court how Adoke pushed back on Nigeria’s technical experts rather than protect Nigeria’s national interests.

According to Lucia, “Adoke managed all the meetings with the companies and even when the NNPC raised some issues in negotiations in February 2011, Shell emails say that Etete spoke with Goodluck Jonathan and the NNPC issue was solved.”

Despite an initial valuation of $4.5 billion and $3.5 billion, Lucia said Shell’s expert questionably used third-party data to assess the value of the bloc, whereas Nigeria’s expert used Shell’s own data that was disclosed in their email at the time of the deal. Shell’s internal assessment was also valuing the bloc at $3.5 billion.

Lucia argued that Shell and Eni’s illicit profits from the OPL 245 deal were certainly higher than the $1.1 billion they paid and the harm to Nigeria was also certainly higher.

Financial experts claim the Nigerian treasury could have lost more than $5 billion because of the poorly negotiated fiscal terms of the OPL 245 deal.

That is on top of the $1.1 billion the Nigerian state already lost due to corrupt payments, according to the Italian prosecutors. Both Shell and Eni had strongly denied that they knew of any corruption linked to the deal, and said they did not think bribes were paid at all.

Shell said the 2011 agreement was a settlement of longstanding litigation, following the previous allocation of the bloc by the Nigerian government to Shell and Malabu.

Etete, Eni, Shell and the managers accused in the Milan court case, including Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, have all denied any wrongdoing.

Eni said in a statement on Wednesday that the purchase price for OPL 245 was “congruous and reasonable” considering the value of the field and investment needed to bring it into production.

Keep up with the work, readers tell...

Continued from page 30

a Holding Company (HoldCo) structure by first-quarter (Q1) of 2021.

“At the end of the process, which would end at the beginning of the fourth quarter (Q4), we will have a Managing Director for GTBank Nigeria. We are on track. Succession to GTBank Nigeria is well under control,” he said.

GTBank is working to secure all regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in other regions to achieve the HoldCo structure, he said.

GTBank recently released its audited financial results for the half year (H1) ended June www.businessday.ng

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@Businessdayng

30, 2020, to the Nigerian and London stock exchanges. The half-year result reflects GTBank’s leading position as one of the best managed financial institutions in Africa.

Operationally, GTBank will split into three when the HoldCo structure is achieved.

This will lead to having Guaranty Trust Bank Nigeria; Guaranty Trust Bank East Africa, almost operating as a region and Guaranty Trust Bank West Africa operating as a region.

The HoldCo will have other business units like Asset Management, a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) and a payment company. Hopefully this week, GTBank would put in its application for final approval for the payment company, according to Agbaje.

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Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

POLITICS & POLICY We are set to conduct credible, transparent election – OYSIEC

REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan

T

he newly inaugurated Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) has promised to conduct a transparent election that citizens of the state would be proud of.

Isiaka Olagunju, chairman, OYSIEC, who made the pledge during the courtesy call of members of the board to Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS), Ibadan, said: “Our plan is to conduct an election that is transparent and acceptable to all; that every citizen of the state will like”.

Olagunju said that the commission would not engage in any act that will affect the interest of the public because of personal gains at all stages of electoral processes.

“Also, our personal interest will not be above the interest of the people and a level play ground would be adopted to ensure all political parties participate in the poll,” he said.

The commission’s chairman hinted that concerted efforts would be made to change the perception of the public on form of conducting local government elections over the years to enhance massive participation during the poll.

While commending the leadership of BCOS for adding value to various communities through its lofty programmes, Olagunju reiterated the commitment of the commission to conduct a transparent election that citizens of the state would be proud of.

He however, sought the support of relevant stakeholders in the electoral processes, with a view to achieving a hitch-free local government election.

In his remarks, the Chairman, Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS), Dotun Oyelade, expressed confidence in the leader-

Isiaka Olagunju

ship of the commission considering the track record of the members.

Oyelade, who frowned at the happenings during the last local government election in the state, assured the team of maximum support of the corporation towards a successful poll.

“We do not envisage probably there will be any challenge concerning the mandate which His Excellency gave to you, which is to principally conduct a free, fair election that will be acceptable to all.

“We don’t envisage any challenge from your team because you as the leader did not have political colorations which you will not start now. On our part at Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State, we are privileged to have you here as the first point of call. Our doors are not closed for anything you might be needed from us,” Oyelade said.

Ondo 2020: INEC to deploy 17,000 ad-hoc staff …trains journalists on election KORETIMI AKINTUNDE, Akure

T

he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Wednesday revealed that 17,000 ad-hoc staff would be engaged for the October 10 governorship election in Ondo State.

The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voters Education Committee, Festus Okoye made the disclosure in Akure at a workshop organised for journalists in the state on election processes and procedures in line with Covid-19 protocols.

According to Okoye, the commission is fully ready to conduct Edo and Ondo states governorship election peacefully without going back despite Covid-19 pandemic.

“The global pandemic has led to the acceleration in the use and application of technology in the electoral process. Prior to the pandemic, the commission maintained an electronic voter register and carried out electronic verification and accreditation of voters using the Smart Card Reader.

“With the pandemic, the commission has introduced additional measures and innovations aimed at improving the transparency of the electoral process especially in collation and transmission of election result,” Okoye said.

According to him, “All protocols issued by the NCDC, Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, State Committees on Covid-19 and other relevant health authorities shall be

observed by election officials and all stakeholders.”

“There shall be a two-tier queuing system at the polling unit one outside and the other in the voting area. Voters will be brought into the voting area periodically to prevent overcrowding. Tags and twines may be used to ensure crowd control and maintenance of social distance,” he said.

Contrary to speculations that National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) members would no longer be used for elections, Okoye said 15,000 corps members would be deployed as polling officers out of the 17,000 ad-hoc staff.

The other 2,000 ad-hoc staff, according to him, would be drafted from civil service and senior officers of tertiary institutions of the country as collation and presiding officers.

Okoye, who posited that the conduct of Ondo gubernatorial election became imperative to pave way for new government, avoid constitutional crisis and executive vacuum, said by constitution, the incumbent governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and his deputy Agboola Ajayi must leave office by 24th of February, 2021.

“In compliance with section 178(2) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) the commission could not shift or postpone the tenure. Based on this the commission moved fast in a proactive manner and designed policies and programmes that ensured the continuity of electoral activities even in the midst of the uncertainty caused

by Covid-19,” he said.

www.businessday.ng

Abiru not in power contest with Sanwo-Olu – Media Office Iniobong Iwok

T

he Media Office of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Lagos East senatorial by-election, Tokunbo Abiru on Wednesday clarified that Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu endorsed his senatorial aspiration and worked for his emergence as the APC senatorial candidate.

The media office, therefore said that there was no basis for power struggle between Sanwo-Olu and Abiru as they are both party faithful, committed to the progress and prosperity of Lagos State and Nigeria at large, contrary to reports in some section of media, In a statement Wednesday, Abiru’s media office faulted publications that his emergence as the APC candidate for Lagos East senatorial by-election set the stage for power struggle between Sanwo-Olu and him.

The publications had also claimed that the APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu imposed Abiru on the party leaders in Lagos East and Lagos State and that Abiru’s sudden resignation raised suspicion that might lead to power struggle in the state ahead of the 2023.

However, the media office noted that the publication misconstrued the extensive consultation and consensus that preceded the emergence of the former GMD/CEO of Polaris Bank Limited, Tokunbo Abiru, as the APC candidate for Lagos East senatorial byelection scheduled for October 31.

According to the statement, “The publication erroneously claimed that the APC National Leader, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, imposed Abiru on the party leaders in Lagos East and Lagos State. This claim is far from the truth.

Asiwaju Tinubu, as an unrepentant democrat and a former governor, encourages all party adherents and faithful to seek their aspirations while promoting the values that the APC stands for.

“However, in order to manage conflicting interests of all aspirants seeking the party nomination for the senatorial by-election, the leadership arm of Lagos APC, Governance Advisory Council (GAC), embarked on broad consultation with all party leaders and aspirants in Lagos East Senatorial District.

After the all-inclusive consultation, consensus was reached in favour of Abiru, hence his subsequent affirmation.”

On power struggle, the statement said the publication claimed that Abiru’s nomination has set the stage for power struggle with Sanwo-Olu. “This claim is as good as the figment of the author’s imagination. His Excellency, Sanwo-Olu is a strong supporter of Abiru’s senatorial aspiration. He also endorsed him.

There is no basis for power struggle.

“Rather, both Sanwo-Olu and Abiru are party faithful with interest to work for the progress and prosperity of Lagos and Nigeria at large,” the statement said.

Specifically, the media office expressed concern that the publication misrepresented, even muddled up the resignation history of Abiru.

For the record, the statement said: “Abiru joined Skye Bank Plc in July 4, 2016 as GMD/ CEO for a term of two years. His engagement was renewed in 2018 for another term of two years.

“It is on record that under his leadership, Abiru successfully repositioned, restructured and transformed Skye Bank to Polaris Bank.

He also transformed the bank from liability to profitability.”

“On this note, Abiru did not just resign from the bank at the expiration of his twoterm engagement, he successfully reached the peak of his career in the banking sector and retired after 29 years of his 32-year private sector career.

“He chose, as a core professional, to go into politics to bring invaluable experience in corporate world to bear on the development of his people and state,” the media office said.

Edo guber poll: We’ll vote massively for Obaseki – Butchers Idris Umar Momoh & Churchill Okoro, Benin

T

he Association of Butchers in Edo State chapter on Wednesday threw its weight behind the re-election bid of Governor Godwin Obaseki.

The association made its position known during a solidarity rally in Benin City.

The butchers carried placards of various inscriptions.

Addressing newsmen in Benin City, chairman of the association, Akhere Odijie, said they have resolved to vote for Obaseki so that he can sustain the developmental strides geared towards ensuring better lives for Edo people.

Odijie said the endorsement of the governor was due to his numerous developmental contributions to the state, particularly the administration’s provision of enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the state.

“We are here to endorse Godwin Obaseki and his running mate, Philip Shaibu. We, Edo butchers, have agreed that Godwin Obaseki shall continue to occupy Osadebey House for the next four years.

“Today, we shut down meat sellers to endorse him and we shall vote for him. The government has proposed a blueprint for butchers and he will fulfil it once he wins.

“We commended the government for creat-

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ing the enabling environment for businesses to thrive, stability and abolishing extortion in the state,” Odijie said.

“We the butchers have agreed in totality that Obaseki is our next governor and that he shall continue to occupy the seat of government till 2024 because of his developmental strides and laudable programmes for butchers.

“Today, we have shutdown our abattoirs and other meat shops and meat sellers across the various markets in Edo State to endorse Godwin Obaseki”, he further said.

Odijie added that since the governor’s assumption of office there has been peace the unity.

He enjoined all butchers as well as meat sellers in the state to come out en masse to vote for the governor for second term.

Responding, Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Edo State Council, Roland Osakue, commended the group for their peaceful disposition.

He commended the efforts of members of the association for coming out to endorse the governor in spite of the rainfall.

“It is your fundamental right to endorse any candidate of your choice because it is your fundamental human rights.

“Do not allow miscreants to infiltrate into your midst. We owe it a duty as citizens to protect government property which belongs to all of us.

“Tax payers’ money must be used judiciously for the benefit of our people,” he added.

@Businessdayng

Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

33

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Wednesday 09 September 2020

Top Gainers/Losers as at Wednesday 09 September 2020 LOSERS

GAINERS Company

Opening

Closing

Change

N3.71

N3.98

0.27

FIDSON PZ

Company

Closing

Change

N79

N78

-1

OKOMUOIL

N4

N4.25

0.25

UNILEVER

N4.8

N4.95

0.15

ZENITHBANK

WAPCO

N12.05

N12.15

0.1

FCMB

N2.2

N2.26

0.06

CUSTODIAN

Opening

CILEASING UACN

N

igeria’s stock market failed to rebound on Wednesday September 9, 2020 following record dip in prices of equities like Okomu Oil Palm, Unilever Nigeria, Zenith Bank, C&I Leasing and UACN. The record dip seen on Wednesday, the third time this week at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) helped increase the market’s negative return year-

to-date (YtD) to -5.28percent. Also, the positive returns seen month-to-date (MtD) has decreased to 0.39percent.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (ASI) decreased by -0.28percent to 25,424.91 points from preceding day’s high of 25,497.32 points while the market capitalisation stood lower at N13.263trillion as against N13.301trillion recorded the preceding trading day.

Investors lost N38billion.

In 4,155 deals, investors traded 269,629,692 units

N15

N14.4

-0.6

N16.4

-0.5

N3.9

N3.55

-0.35

VALUE (N billion)

N6.3

N6

-0.3

MARKET CAP (N Trn)

valued at N2.87billion.

Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings, UBA, GTBank and Access Bank were actively traded stocks. Okomu Oil decreased most from N79 to N78, losing N1 or 1.27percent. Unilever Nigeria followed from N15 to N14.4, down 60kobo or 4percent.

Zenith Bank decreased from N16.9 to N16.4, losing 50kobo or 2.96percent. C&I Leasing dipped from N3.9 to N3.55, shedding 35kobo or 8.97percent; UACN dropped from N6.3 to N6, down by 30kobo or 4.76percent.

25,424.91

DEALS (Numbers)

N16.9

Okomu, Unilever, Zenith, others cause stock market’s new lows Iheanyi Nwachukwu

ASI (Points)

VOLUME (Numbers)

4,155.00 269,629,692.00 2.871 13.263

Global market indicators FTSE 100 Index 6,012.84GBP +82.54+1.39%

Nikkei 225 23,032.54JPY -241.59-1.04%

S&P 500 Index 3,403.32USD +71.48+2.15%

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 13,237.21EUR +268.88+2.07%

Generic 1st ‘DM’ Future 28,012.00USD +487.00+1.77%

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 3,254.63CNY -61.79-1.86%

DVCF Oil & Gas raises equity stake in The Initiates Plc …acquires additional 3million units Iheanyi Nwachukwu

D

VCF Oil & Gas Plc, the substantial shareholder in The Initiates Plc (TIP) has increased its equity stake in the company.

The latest being DVCF Oil & Gas Plc purchase of additional 3million shares of The Initiates Plc at 63kobo per share. The Initiates Plc has shares outstanding of 889,981,552 units.

The transaction valued at N1.89million was done on September 2, 2020 at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

DVCF Oil & Gas Plc had on August 28, 2020 bought 120 units of The Initiates Plc at 70kobo per share.

The Initiates Plc (TIP) shareholding structure and free float status as at halfyear (H1) period ended

June 30, 2020 showed DVCF Oil & Gas Plc accounted for 332,174,967 units or 36.91percent; Ossai Reuben M (190,695,237 units or 21.19percent); Afolayan Samuel (65,453,152 units or 7.27percent); Oboh-Ozoherebe Gordon (58,568,412 units or 6.51 percent).

These four substantial shareholders accounted for 646,891,768 units or 71.88 percent of the company’s issued share capital as at June 30. The Initiates Plc with a free float percentage of 21.49percent as at June 30, 2020 is compliant with the Exchange’s free float requirements for companies listed on the ASEM Board.

Details of directors shareholdings (direct and indirect), excluding directors’ holding substantial interests show Anosikeh Joe Ogbonna held 18,295,796 units or 2.03 percent.

Alikor Achi Edward (1,126,761 units or 0.13 percent); Ebinum Joseph (Indirect - Bell Iyke Limited) holds 34,550,000 units or 3.84 percent; while Oboh Charles Aroawode holds 1,000,000 units or 0.11 percent.

TIP is a professional Waste Management company delivering Waste Management, Industrial Cleaning and Decontamination services to both Private and Public sectors. TIP is quoted on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The company’s halfyear (H1) 2020 financials show revenue of N246.35million as against N266.98million in H1’19, representing a drop of 7.73percent. Gross Profit in H1’20 decreased to N66.99million from H1’19 high of N105.12million, a shortfall of 40.08percent.

Mitsubishi supported Aspiring Entrepreneurs Programme: Winners emerge

T Fidelity Bank eyes N50bn bond to refinance existing debt

N

igerian midtier lender, Fidelity Bank Plc plans to issue up to N50 billion ($131.3 million) in local bonds by the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020 to refinance existing debt amid falling yields.

The bank’s Chief Operations and Information Officer, Gbolahan Joshua told an analyst call that the new issue will be made to redeem an existing N30 billion bond issued at 16.48percent.

Bond yields have declined on the local debt market after an oil price crash triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic caused foreign investors to dump naira assets, leaving money

markets awash with liquidity.

Debt market yields have dropped from a high of 18percent three years ago. Yields on the one-year Treasury bill are quoted under 5percent.

Nigerian banks need more capital to meet demands from customers as businesses ponder negative impact of Covid-19 pandemic, decline in crude oil prices and naira devaluation.

Despite the economic challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, Fidelity Bank has sustained the financial performance trajectory of recent years, with another set of impressive financial results.

Details of the Audited www.businessday.ng

Half Year results ending June 30, 2020 for the top Nigerian lender, released on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) show strong growth in profits and other indices.

The bank recorded a surge in Profit Before Tax of N12billion from N9.8billion in 2019, which translated to a 22percent growth. Net profits for Fidelity Bank grew by 33percent from N8.5billion to N11.3billion in the reporting period.

In other indices Total Assets rose by 13.7percent from N2.1trillion in 2019 to N2.4trillion this year whilst Total Deposits rose by 14.8percent from N1.2trillion to N1.4trillion during the same period.

hree young aspiring agribusinesses have been announced as winners of the Mitsubishi supported AEP: Agribusiness Business Pitch Competition The Mitsubishi Corporation supported Aspiring Entrepreneurs Programme (AEP): Agribusiness is targeted at Nigerian youths between the ages of 18 to 35.

The goal of this programme is to promote entrepreneurship and stimulate entrepreneurial thinking amongst the selected entrepreneurs, particularly startups in the agribusiness sector.

Mitsubishi Corporation was able to support 40 Entrepreneurs with Enterprise Training, Business Incubation and Advisory Services, Mentoring and Funding valued over N8 million.

Speaking about the programme the Managing Director, Mitsubishi Corporation Nigeria Makoto Saito stated “I hope beneficiaries of the Aspiring Entrepreneurs Programme: Agri-

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business make the best of the opportunity they have been given and I’m looking forward to hearing about your positive contributions to the development of the Nigerian agribusiness sector.”

Stream 1of the AEP: Agribusiness began December, 2020 rounded up with a business pitch competition on August 29, 2020.

The winners of the competition are Olowo John of OhRich Nigeria who came in 1st and received a cash prize of N500,000. Ante Joseph of Maatalous Nasah who came in 2nd and received a cash prize of N200,000 and Ronke Aderinoye of Agrinerve Ventures who came in 3rd and received a cash prize of N150,000.

“We also awarded the Innovation cash prize of N150,000 from our 2019 ScaleUp Lab Agribusiness entrepreneurs to Shoremi Adeniyi of Dufma Solutions. The total sum of N1million was divided amongst the 4 winners”, Saito said.

The entrepreneurs pitched their businesses to @Businessdayng

expert Jury comprising of Yemisi Obe (the Entrepreneur in Residence), Uyi Ima Edomwonyi and Sherif Ibrahim. The Jury also determined the winner of the ScaleUp Lab Innovation Fund.

Speaking about the event, the Executive Director, FATE Foundation, Adenike Adeyemi congratulated the winners and stated “Aspiring Entrepreneurs Programme: Agribusiness provides a unique opportunity to young agribusiness entrepreneurs and we are proud of the success of the programme and the achievement of the entrepreneurs.

The Entrepreneurs have proved to be resilient, socially impactful and innovative, by developing sustainable solutions pre and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We congratulate them for rising above the challenges and look forward to collaborating with private companies in supporting more young entrepreneurs in Nigeria”.

34

Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

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Thursday 10 September 2020

BUSINESS DAY

35

Live @ The STOCK Exchanges

Prices for Securities Traded as of Tuesday 09 September 2020 Company

Market cap(nm)

Price (N)

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PRICES FOR MAIN BOARD SECURITIES (Equities) BANKING ACCESS BANK PLC. 231,043.97 6.50 -2.99 267 19,165,328 UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC 208,616.47 6.10 -3.17 307 29,782,755 ZENITH BANK PLC 514,902.50 16.40 -2.96 593 35,836,453 1,167 84,784,536 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FBN HOLDINGS PLC 177,681.70 4.95 -1.98 259 33,440,474 259 33,440,474 1,426 118,225,010 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES MTN NIGERIA COMMUNICATIONS PLC 2,432,364.31 119.50 -0.17 122 4,410,187 122 4,410,187 122 4,410,187 BUILDING MATERIALS DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 2,283,427.99 134.00 - 66 137,760 LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. 195,709.72 12.15 0.83 96 7,253,726 162 7,391,486 162 7,391,486 EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC 235,377.82 400.00 - 15 3,360 15 3,360 15 3,360 1,725 130,030,043 REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS (REITS) SFS REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST 1,386.00 69.30 - 0 0 UNION HOMES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST (REIT) 10,163.30 40.65 - 1 20 UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST 10,139.42 3.80 - 7 23,640 8 23,660 8 23,660 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS NIGERIA ENERYGY SECTOR FUND 411.91 552.20 - 0 0 VALUEALLIANCE VALUE FUND 3,692.74 115.05 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 23,660 CROP PRODUCTION FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC 572.00 0.26 - 0 0 OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. 74,404.98 78.00 -1.27 37 1,916,009 PRESCO PLC 49,000.00 49.00 - 13 65,698 50 1,981,707 FISHING/HUNTING/TRAPPING ELLAH LAKES PLC. 8,500.00 4.25 - 0 0 0 0 LIVESTOCK/ANIMAL SPECIALTIES LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. 1,800.00 0.60 -9.09 23 1,716,590 23 1,716,590 73 3,698,297 DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES JOHN HOLT PLC. 217.92 0.56 1.82 8 308,337 1,903.99 2.93 - 1 200 S C O A NIG. PLC. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC 24,795.27 0.61 1.67 78 15,884,731 U A C N PLC. 17,287.78 6.00 -4.76 53 4,206,591 140 20,399,859 140 20,399,859 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION ARBICO PLC. 152.96 1.03 - 0 0 0 0 INFRASTRUCTURE/HEAVY CONSTRUCTION JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. 26,928.00 17.00 - 23 162,683 165.00 6.60 - 0 0 ROADS NIG PLC. 23 162,683 REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC 18,374.37 0.99 -1.00 21 371,624 21 371,624 44 534,307 AUTOMOBILES/AUTO PARTS DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC 954.53 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 BEVERAGES--BREWERS/DISTILLERS CHAMPION BREW. PLC. 7,046.55 0.90 - 0 0 GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. 829.98 0.81 - 0 0 GUINNESS NIG PLC 30,665.36 14.00 - 76 714,378 INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. 98,046.55 3.65 - 38 677,256 NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 327,872.98 41.00 - 68 360,463 182 1,752,097 FOOD PRODUCTS DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC 144,600.00 12.05 - 100 947,823 FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. 77,907.21 19.00 - 66 2,086,905 HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 7,137.18 0.90 -4.26 34 1,354,944 MULTI-TREX INTEGRATED FOODS PLC 1,340.10 0.36 - 0 0 N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. 801.90 4.50 - 6 40,396 NASCON ALLIED INDUSTRIES PLC 26,626.86 10.05 - 4 15,193 UNION DICON SALT PLC. 2,993.06 10.95 - 0 0 210 4,445,261 FOOD PRODUCTS--DIVERSIFIED CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 14,556.07 7.75 - 22 38,495 NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 931,371.10 1,175.00 - 46 54,200 68 92,695 HOUSEHOLD DURABLES NIGERIAN ENAMELWARE PLC. 1,680.31 22.10 - 0 0 VITAFOAM NIG PLC. 7,117.30 5.69 -4.69 22 610,963 22 610,963 PERSONAL/HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. 16,874.53 4.25 6.25 37 1,287,903 UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. 82,728.08 14.40 -4.00 33 255,075 70 1,542,978 552 8,443,994 BANKING ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED 75,233.16 4.10 -1.20 67 2,551,984 FIDELITY BANK PLC 52,154.63 1.80 0.56 54 8,046,138 GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 715,177.66 24.30 0.21 395 24,893,628 JAIZ BANK PLC 17,678.55 0.60 -3.33 19 1,443,920 STERLING BANK PLC. 33,684.79 1.17 -1.68 119 4,434,321 UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 142,691.69 4.90 - 41 362,254 UNITY BANK PLC 6,312.24 0.54 - 9 142,630 WEMA BANK PLC. 19,672.98 0.51 -1.92 29 8,054,804 733 49,929,679 INSURANCE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES AFRICAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC 4,117.00 0.20 - 0 0 AIICO INSURANCE PLC. 10,197.18 0.90 - 31 552,292 AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC 19,215.00 1.83 - 3 12,800 CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC 3,639.53 0.34 - 0 0 CORNERSTONE INSURANCE PLC 11,989.82 0.66 - 5 3,394 GOLDLINK INSURANCE PLC 909.99 0.20 - 0 0 GUINEA INSURANCE PLC. 1,228.00 0.20 - 0 0 INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INSURANCE PLC 487.95 0.38 - 0 0 LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. 1,904.09 0.26 - 9 493,139 LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. 4,854.85 1.13 - 1 205 LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC 4,200.00 0.42 - 1 48,000 MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. 2,234.55 0.20 -4.76 24 15,119,493 NEM INSURANCE PLC 11,881.13 2.25 - 17 30,752 NIGER INSURANCE PLC 1,547.90 0.20 - 0 0 PRESTIGE ASSURANCE PLC 3,307.82 0.52 - 0 0 REGENCY ASSURANCE PLC 1,600.50 0.24 - 7 810,550 SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC 2,272.89 0.20 - 0 0 STACO INSURANCE PLC 4,483.72 0.48 - 0 0 STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. 2,582.21 0.20 - 0 0 SUNU ASSURANCES NIGERIA PLC. 2,800.00 0.20 - 1 3,000 UNIC DIVERSIFIED HOLDINGS PLC. 516.46 0.20 - 0 0 UNIVERSAL INSURANCE PLC 3,200.00 0.20 - 0 0 VERITAS KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC 2,773.33 0.20 - 0 0 WAPIC INSURANCE PLC 7,917.25 0.33 -2.94 14 809,543 113 17,883,168 MICRO-FINANCE BANKS NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 2,904.03 1.27 - 7 75,098 7 75,098

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MORTGAGE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES ABBEY MORTGAGE BANK PLC 6,784.62 1.05 - 0 0 ASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC 7,370.87 0.50 - 0 0 INFINITY TRUST MORTGAGE BANK PLC 5,671.82 1.36 - 0 0 RESORT SAVINGS & LOANS PLC 2,265.95 0.20 - 0 0 UNION HOMES SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC. 2,949.22 3.02 - 0 0 0 0 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AFRICA PRUDENTIAL PLC 8,760.00 4.38 -1.57 32 729,571 CUSTODIAN INVESTMENT PLC 29,115.23 4.95 3.13 7 160,133 450.00 0.30 - 0 0 DEAP CAPITAL MANAGEMENT & TRUST PLC FCMB GROUP PLC. 44,754.13 2.26 2.73 41 3,616,605 ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. 1,389.25 0.27 -10.00 6 728,195 STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC 404,441.24 38.50 - 23 186,165 UNITED CAPITAL PLC 17,760.00 2.96 -3.58 195 18,737,691 304 24,158,360 1,157 92,046,305 HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS EKOCORP PLC. 2,991.61 6.00 - 0 0 UNION DIAGNOSTIC & CLINICAL SERVICES PLC 888.28 0.25 - 4 250,000 4 250,000 MEDICAL SUPPLIES MORISON INDUSTRIES PLC. 593.50 0.60 - 2 10,000 2 10,000 PHARMACEUTICALS EVANS MEDICAL PLC. 366.17 0.50 - 0 0 8,303.71 3.98 7.28 19 547,436 FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. 5,979.38 5.00 - 28 695,458 MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. 5,175.70 3.00 - 4 5,165 NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC 3,380.50 1.78 -2.20 15 295,539 NIGERIA-GERMAN CHEMICALS PLC. 556.71 3.62 - 0 0 325.23 1.50 - 0 0 PHARMA-DEKO PLC. 66 1,543,598 72 1,803,598 COMPUTER BASED SYSTEMS COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS PLC 710.40 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS OMATEK VENTURES PLC 764.87 0.26 - 0 0 0 0 IT SERVICES CWG PLC 6,413.06 2.54 - 0 0 NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. 216.00 2.00 - 0 0 TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. 217.78 0.44 - 0 0 0 0 PROCESSING SYSTEMS CHAMS PLC 986.17 0.21 - 5 501,252 E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC 10,962.00 2.61 - 1 5 6 501,257 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES AIRTEL AFRICA PLC 1,428,097.57 380.00 - 23 27,046 23 27,046 29 528,303 BUILDING MATERIALS BERGER PAINTS PLC 1,753.43 6.05 - 3 2,160 BUA CEMENT PLC 1,364,733.47 40.30 - 8 14,354 12,215.00 17.45 - 33 3,543,327 CAP PLC MEYER PLC. 265.62 0.50 - 0 0 PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC 1,769.32 2.23 - 1 450 PREMIER PAINTS PLC. 1,156.20 9.40 - 0 0 45 3,560,291 ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS AUSTIN LAZ & COMPANY PLC 2,192.12 2.03 - 0 0 CUTIX PLC. 3,082.31 1.75 - 21 753,106 21 753,106 PACKAGING/CONTAINERS BETA GLASS PLC. 27,698.45 55.40 - 2 802 GREIF NIGERIA PLC 388.02 9.10 - 1 4 3 806 AGRO-ALLIED & CHEMICALS NOTORE CHEMICAL IND PLC 100,754.14 62.50 - 0 0 0 0 69 4,314,203 CHEMICALS B.O.C. GASES PLC. 1,814.83 4.36 - 2 6,400 2 6,400 METALS ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION IND. PLC. 1,781.64 8.10 - 0 0 0 0 MINING SERVICES MULTIVERSE MINING AND EXPLORATION PLC 852.39 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 PAPER/FOREST PRODUCTS THOMAS WYATT NIG. PLC. 77.00 0.35 - 0 0 0 0 2 6,400 ENERGY EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC 1,252.54 0.20 - 22 4,255,922 22 4,255,922 INTEGRATED OIL AND GAS SERVICES OANDO PLC 28,219.31 2.27 -1.30 53 1,158,972 53 1,158,972 PETROLEUM AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTORS 11 PLC 69,414.59 192.50 - 22 12,502 ARDOVA PLC 16,411.26 12.60 - 17 39,449 CONOIL PLC 10,582.77 15.25 - 18 26,237 ETERNA PLC. 2,960.41 2.27 - 26 306,550 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 3,794.59 12.45 - 6 20,301 TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 27,161.75 80.00 - 25 64,977 114 470,016 189 5,884,910 ADVERTISING AFROMEDIA PLC 887.81 0.20 - 1 10,000 1 10,000 AIRLINES MEDVIEW AIRLINE PLC 15,796.05 1.62 - 0 0 0 0 AUTOMOBILE/AUTO PART RETAILERS R T BRISCOE PLC. 235.27 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 COURIER/FREIGHT/DELIVERY RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 3,334.87 3.60 -3.23 28 631,382 TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. 351.64 0.75 - 1 20 29 631,402 HOSPITALITY TANTALIZERS PLC 642.33 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 HOTELS/LODGING CAPITAL HOTEL PLC 3,763.54 2.43 - 0 0 IKEJA HOTEL PLC 1,746.19 0.84 - 0 0 TOURIST COMPANY OF NIGERIA PLC. 7,076.28 3.15 - 0 0 TRANSCORP HOTELS PLC 30,401.62 4.00 - 0 0 0 0 MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC 3,960.00 0.33 - 1 150 1 150 PRINTING/PUBLISHING ACADEMY PRESS PLC. 175.39 0.29 - 1 300 LEARN AFRICA PLC 802.31 1.04 - 2 23,000 STUDIO PRESS (NIG) PLC. 1,064.85 1.79 - 0 0 UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. 733.40 1.70 - 10 95,104 13 118,404 ROAD TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC 646.50 0.39 - 4 27,360 4 27,360 SPECIALTY INTERLINKED TECHNOLOGIES PLC 688.80 2.91 - 0 0 SECURE ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY PLC 1,126.31 0.20 - 1 1,000

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BUSINESS DAY Thursday 10 September 2019 www.businessday.ng

FX scarcity: Time to promote non-oil exports Odinaka Anudu

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is investing efforts in managing Nigeria’s foreign exchange (FX) crisis to prevent the economy from plunging into abyss.

But Nigeria’s problem is bigger than managing the foreign exchange crunch every now and again. In 2016, the FX crisis led to the death of 54 manufacturing firms, according to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN). This year, nobody has recorded the number of businesses that have gone under as a result of coronavirus-induced FX crisis, but analysts say the damage is much worse.

The truth is that Africa’s biggest economy is not exporting much, and the federal government is still doing little to improve non-oil exports, despite its promises of restoring Nigeria to an exporting nation.

Cr ude oil and minerals have continued to occupy a prominent place in Nigeria’s export chart. In the first quarter of 2020, crude oil accounted for 72.12 percent of total exports, while other non-oil export products made up the rest (27.9 percent).

During this period, COVID-19 had no impact on exports or the Nigerian economy. In the second quarter, crude oil and minerals accounted for 84.3 percent (N1.87 trillion) of total exports while the non-oil exports comprised the rest, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data show. Total amount of money received by Nigeria from both exports of crude oil and non-oil products was N2.219 trillion within the quarter, which was just $6.16 billion as of that time. Other non-oil exports earned N347 billion, which was less than $1 billion. Nigeria’s annual earnings from non-oil exports in recent times have hovered around $2 billion to $4 billion.

This is not good enough for an economy that is highly volatile and susceptible to internal and external shocks.

Bangladesh, though still a relatively poor country, earned $3.52 billion in December 2019 from exporting of garment alone as against $3.05 billion earned in November of the same year. The interpretation is that Bangladesh earns in a month what Nigeria gets in one year from non-oil exports.

And Bangladeshi’s earnings have always come from one product- garment- while Nigeria’s receipts are usually from more than 25 products.

In 2018, Nigeria’s total nonoil export earnings from more than 25 commodities amount-

ed to $3.3 billion, according to the NBS, but Bangladesh earned 10 times that amount ($33 billion) from exporting only one product.

Similarly, between January and December 2018, Vietnam earned $244.72 billion from export of finished products from garments and shoes to smart phones, according to General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Giant phone makers such as Samsung, Intel and LG produce smart phones in Vietnam today and export from there.

In 2018, Vietnam fetched over $50 billion from export of phones and their components— the biggest turnover among expor t items— according to the country’s General Statistics Office. It earned $27.3 billion from phones between January and July 2019.

The Southeast Asian country attracted Foreign Direct Investment of $16.74 billion between January and July 2019, according to the country’s Foreign Investment Agency. One of the key things Nigeria must from Bangladesh or Vietnam is the need to initiate reforms that will attract deep-pocket investors.

According to Vo Tri Thanh, a Vietnamese economist, key to Vietnam’s growth was market reforms.

The countr y w orked on private business right ; and macroeconomic and social stability, while opening and integrating its economy into the regional and world economy, especially in the areas of trade and FDI. In an article entitled ‘Vietnam’s manufacturing miracle: Lessons for developing

countries’, three economists Sebastian Eckardt, Deepak Mishra, and Viet Tuan Dinh said Vietnam has numerous bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, which dramatically cut tariffs, anchor difficult domestic reforms, and open up the economy to foreign investment.

“Vietnam has achieved its success the hard way. First, it has embraced trade liberalisation with gusto.

Second, it has complemented external liberalisation with domestic reforms through deregulation and lowering the cost of doing business. Finally, Vietnam has invested heavily in human and physical capital, predominantly through public investments,” they said.

The World Bank said in its 2019 Doing Business report that Vietnam made paying taxes less costly for companies by reducing the corporate income and value added tax rates while eliminating the surtax on income from the transfer of land use rights.

Nigeria has achieved some improvement in doing business, but the states and the federal government are always not in the same tune. Local governments in many states still harass businesses with multiple taxes and levies, with

government agencies now in revenue drive.

One of the major reforms that must be pursued by the Federal Government of Nigeria is to provide the enabling environment that will encourage value addition. Value addition is expensive to embark upon, and many small and medium firms in Nigeria cannot afford it, even though they understand its merits.

Brazil, a country with 2019 million people, is a typical example to mimic. The South American country turns its sugarcane into raw sugar and exports to Nigeria, while Nigeria sells its own cocoa to the United States and in turn buys chocolates from the world’s biggest economy. As a result, Brazil’s GDP is $1.85 trillion while Nigeria’s is $397 billion—nearly five times bigger.

It earned over $8 billion from sugar alone in 2018/19, even with 24 percent decrease in production. But their firms are supported in terms of funding and infrastructure.

Secondly, though Nigeria is facing fiscal challenges, it must find a way of plucking leakages and then investing same to the export sector through a transparent Export Expansion Grant (EEG) scheme. For over four years now, the scheme

‘‘

Nigeria must begin to look at the bigger picture rather than shorttermistic projects that end with individual administrations

has not been very active. Available data show that the EEG was able to raise non-oil export from $600 million in early 2000 to nearly $3 billion in 2013. One of the 10 principles of economics propounded by Gregory Makiw, a professor of economics at Harvard University, is that people respond to incentives. Any moment incentives are transparently given, there is always a positive reaction from economic agents, which translate into economic growth.

Another cr itical area is funding the value chain. While it is good to fund rice and beans, it is better to put more funding in commodities with high value chain. Food crops such as rice have smaller value chains than palm oil and cocoa. In palm oil, for example, there are oil palm plantations, palm oil milling, palm olein, vegetable oil, among others. And all these mean jobs for an economy with 27 percent unemployment rate.

Nigeria must begin to look at the bigger picture rather than short-termistic projects that end with a particular administration.

Think about this: Nigeria had a 45 percent share of world’s palm oil market in 1960, which should have given the country access to over $15 billion annually had it maintained that spot today. Nigeria’s share is just 1.7 percent currently, having relinquished that position to Malaysia and Indonesia. In the chase for oil wealth, Nigeria has abandoned everything from palm oil mills to rubber and there is no better time to go back to the glory days than now.

Furthermore, infrastructure is a key element in boosting the non-oil exports and the competitiveness of Nigeria’s products in the global market.

When moving raw materials from Apapa in Lagos to Ikeja in Lagos costs the same as shipping out products to China or Europe, local manufacturers cannot be competitive even if they wish to export. The roads, broadband and logistics must be in the right order for Nigeria to begin to compete.

Finally, barriers to trade must be removed. One of the key impediments to export is the closure of Nigeria-Benin border which has been on for over one year. Many exporters are out of business already because they cannot export to West and Central Africa due to the closure. Should this linger, the economy will be in deeper mess and the country’s seriousness and commitment to the African Continental Free Trade Area, starting in January 2021, will be questioned.

Published by BusinessDAY Media Ltd., The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos. Advert Hotline: 08033225506. Subscriptions 01-2950687, 07045792677. Newsroom: 08169609331 Editor: Patrick Atuanya. All correspondence to BusinessDAY Media Ltd., Box 1002, Festac Lagos. ISSN 1595 - 8590.